#and how temples are structured and perspectives points

[ahorsesea]

Wow, thank you very much.

Yeah, the flowers were intentional. I had wanted to flood the page with them, but for some reason we never got around to finishing it. This happens a lot with my Dave art and I'm starting to wonder if the lack of finishing it is just a part of my Dave works I need to accept.

I've never bound anything before, but I have some very specific binding ideas in mind. While Dave is unmistakably my favorite, I'm not above dabbling in Dirk art, which will be inevitable if I illustrate it, so you have that to look forward to. It may take me some time, but I will get there eventually. The frustrating part is my complete lack of understanding when it comes to building structures and accurate perspectives. Part of the reason I've neglected to make more art for your fiction is because I simply just dont understand the mechanics of what it is i can see in my head, and how to apply it to paper.

I deleted my blog because there was a guy who lowkey wanted me dead and he kept making my life a living hell, and i had accidentally interacted with one of his posts from that account, (which was supposed to be new so he wouldnt find me) but at this point, now that im older, im realizing he cant actually do anything to me of consequence that he hasnt already done? so dont even worry about that, its all good now.

As for your writing, hear me out when I tell you to please take your time. I know the phrase "take your time" is overused to the point of meaninglessness these days, but I genuinely mean it. I'm always telling my friends this, but seriously; Take a year, take three, take ten. I don't mind. Art takes time. People take time. Things grow, they aren't spawned.

I'd rather wait five years for a genuine piece of work, made because the creator WANTED to make it, as opposed to someone who felt rushed into cramming it out for a deadline, especially if the deadline never existed in the first place.

Since you played with the digital medium, I'm curious to see if I can play with the paper medium to convey the feelings of space and time that you conveyed so well, despite the limitations of the digital-text formatting. I'll apologize in advance, though, as I know its a Dirk centric novel, I'm still going to take a hard lean into the Dave side of things. I hope you don't mind too much.

I've always been incredibly fond of the idea of Dave and cathedrals/religious themes having some form of cross over, so finding your fic was probably one of the best things to happen to me since being in this fandom, haha.

Fun fact, i wouldnt feel bad about snooping around my blog, as I rarely engage with Ao3 (I'm talking ive read maybe 5 fan fictions start to finish at the most. ive skimmed maybe 12-20?) and like a good bulk of the ones I completed or stuck around for the most happened to be your fanfictions, and because I have no idea how Ao3 works, i didn't even realize this until the other day when i found out i could scroll your Ao3 blog, just, to see the works YOU had made, and I ended up laughing cuz the majority of fan fictions i had read over the years that i had sincerely liked were written by you. I think Bamsara was one back when Sundrop and Moondrop were a thing but yeah. Youre a kickass writer.

In the event i dislike the ending, I still think the binding is worth my time. whether or not it completes in a way i like, at the end of the day, you are not writing this story for me, and i think thats what is important. I like the majority of what it is, as it is. Thats enough of a reason for me to put that effort into it. It was special and it connected to me in a way books rarely do, so to me, the sentiment alone is enough to fuel a project like that. creation to me is a way to process the world around me. Im a bit of an overly sentimental person, so if there is a way to concretely insert something into my life in a tangible, weighted way, I will make it a reality so i can carry whatever it is around with me. Its why im saving up for a custom made detailed figurine of dave strider.

They dont exist, but they CAN, and i have the power to do that so i WILL. your writing is the same to me. what you have written up until this point is special to me in the same way dave is special to me, and the idea of losing that was frightening. as someone who religiously deletes his artworks, i live in constant fear of others to do the same. But when i was presented with your fic, it occurred to me I could make it a tangible object, and not only that, but ever since i learned book binding fan fiction was a thing, ive learned that there are numerous ways to honor an author's penmanship in the form of art, and that is what i intend to do. Is the binding of your work a selfish act motivated by me for me and my want/desire to have this beautiful artwork on my person at any time i wish? yes. does that take away from its value in anyway? absolutely not.

yeah the book is gonna be heavily dave-leaning in its appearance/color scheme but it would be dishonorable of me to leave out dirk and the others from its pages/thread colors/illustrations. because they are a part of that story.

i dont know if im even making sense anymore, i got excited and started rambling like i did the first time i sent you a message. hsnfnfns, my bad.

In conclusion, youre dope as hell, I love your work, you should be proud of yourself. I hope you take your time, and only work on this if youd like to, your perspectives are refreshing and im very flattered you enjoy my work, cuz in my opinion theyre not even half as great a what you can make me see when im reading it. I'm very grateful to be living in a time period in which i may engage with your works.

hey man, just more art that you've inspired me to make.

i deleted my blog a while back during an episode, and i cant remember if i ever posted these but you definitely had a hand in them, so thank you for that, and here they are!

this one was recent and not at all inspire by your fics but i figured you would not pass up a strider, ever.

its been a while since ive read Metempsychosis, but i plan to read it again and actually set in motion the plans to bind that fic into a book. apparently there is a whole subculture of people who bind fan fictions on reddit, they have proper book paper and story formatting and everything. I think I'll go that route cuz if I'm gonna do it, might as well do it justice. do it right. I'll illustrate pictures for it, too, i think, cuz you painted some really cool shit in my head man.

anyways, hope youre having a nice night, thank you for existing an sharing your work with the world.

Oh my gosh, yes, I remember your art!!!!!! I remember specifically seeing those and thinking "ah yes this is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind for metempsychosis!"

So I am both honored and flattered that you would also send them my way. They're so gorgeous, and I'm sorry you deleted your blog before, because you should be so proud of this work, and of yourself in general ❤️ the spider lilies, which my partner said are also the flower of death??? Wow!!! And Dave's slump in the second piece still just.... Wow! You can feel the weight of it you know??? I cannot express how much I adore these, they make me insane!!!

As for the additional Strider.... I would NEVER turn him down, especially gorgeous art like this!!! The fingers, the texture... Wow, man! Your art is so stunning!

I am honored you think my work is worth binding, I've done a couple of my own favorite fics and it is the most fun I've had exploring a new art medium, and I can't wait to see what you come up with. AND ILLUSTRATIONS??????;?!?;? WOW!!!!!! I am secretly fangirling!! I hope you'll share so I can see because I would go BONKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As great thanks, I will tell you that Metempsychosis is almost over, and it has only really been trying to graduate from university (and working on top of that 💀) that has stopped me from writing lately! I'm excited to be able to get back to it, though I suspect I will need a refresher before I really dive into the actual writing process. I'm anxious, but excited to share the rest of it c: and hopefully you will like the ending enough to bind it still!

Thank you for taking the time to message me, it made my day! ❤️ I appreciate your kind words and I hope you know how happy they made me!

[fandomforg]

So, Your Child is Force Sensitive:

it’s a book written during the prequel era by some mommy blogger on a random planet. she’s got a set of force sensitive twin boys and she compiled her blog posts into a book all about raising force sensitives and choosing not to give them to the jedi temple.

the book is not super well known, it only ever sold maybe a few hundred copies, but it’s honestly really detailed. this lady did her research, but still is able to give her outside perspectives as a force null. she talks all about being pregnant with force sensitives, the babies special needs as empaths, the choice to raise them herself, interactions between force sensitives being raised together, the developmental checkpoints that are different from force nulls, and even how to deal with your moody and powerful force sensitive teens.

the book also talks a bit about jedi ideology and family structures (to help parents make the decision of whether to give the kid to the jedi or not) (it took her so long and so many space emails to the jedi to do that research)

the jedi themselves, however, are not too big of fans of this book because they think it’s probably for the best for force sensitive kids to be raised in the temple (and in some ways it is), but this mommy blogger advocates that with the right, caring parents and the right knowledge, force sensitive kids can do just fine being raised at home (and she’s also kinda right)

anyway, the book stays unpopular all the way up until order 66. then the book gets super-duper banned with all the rest of the reputable information on force sensitive people and the jedi. the mommy blogger stops posting. her and her now adult children drop off the map. her small (but devoted) following has no idea if they’re ok or even alive, but they go to great lengths to erase all of her personal information off the holonet if they can.

the galaxy keeps turning, and the mommy blogger stays missing, but sometimes her book (the few copies not destroyed) will end up in the hands of people who need it. people like bail and breha organa, owen and beru lars, kanan jarrus and hera syndulla, and even eventually din djarin.

even luke skywalker gets himself a copy when he’s suddenly responsible for having his own little force school. (at one point, din is reading the chapter on letting go of your kids when they leave the nest, while luke is simultaneously reading the chapter on how to calm an inconsolable youngling)

a lot of the research into how the jedi work and their ideologies are actually way more accurate, relevant, and recent than any of luke’s other ancient jedi texts, so that’s how luke’s jedi order rebuilding efforts become mostly built on one chapter of a book written by a middle-aged, force null, mother of two.

this mommy blogger may have started her blog just to document her journey in raising her twins, but she ended up writing a book that would help raise a generation of force sensitive children who had no jedi temple to turn to. her honest care spread farther than she could have imagined.

still, nobody could find out where she and her twins went, even after the fall of the empire when it was safe.

[yourneighborhoodporg]

The Guardian

Chapter 6: Patience

Obi-Wan Kenobi x Reader

Warnings: ANGST (y'all like actually so much angst), hurt/comfort, mention of canon character deaths, descriptions of violence, banter, references to slavery & war, lil' bit of fluff, self-doubt, grief, sad Ani.

Summary: After spending hours in the Jedi Archives trying to catch up on the last ten years of galactic events, Anakin drags you away for an impromptu sparring session. However, in the throws of saber-to-saber combat, with Obi-Wan as witness, the troubled Jedi lets slip a concerning habit. One that you hope to guide him through.

Song Inspo: Valley of Pain — Bonnie Raitt

Words: 9.5k (I'm sorryyyy)

A/n: Okay, soooo I was thinking about splitting this into two parts, but then I was like ehhhh there's a lot of missing context if I do that. So here we are (I promise I will, like, write the shortest of short chapters for the next one XD). This one is super angst/emotion-heavy to help set up where we are so get ready. Also, please please please comment your thoughts because I got a little experimental with this chapter and would love to know what y'all liked/disliked :))

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Series Masterlist

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet — Aristotle

Anakin leaned comfortably against one of many murky inner pillars, each carefully constructed to steady towering rows of azure-luminescent holobooks in the Jedi Archives. As he crossed his arms with a restive huff, the young Jedi was careful to navigate his right elbow so to avoid the large, rounded, and precariously placed head of Neti Jedi Master Ood Bnar. It was one of the many copper busts depicting legendary figures from The Order’s history that surrounded him. All of them thoughtfully gandered from short, gray pillars stationed at the end of every shelving chain up and down the Archives.

Regardless of his vigilant delicacy around such artifacts, Anakin’s primary attention centered on a point in the distance, just five stacks away.

The chestnut-haired man’s sights leveled on you and Ahsoka, comfortably sat on either side of a long hourglass table, part of the several two-seated structures that occupied each Archival study hall.

While he watched on, eyes poised to notice any hint of an end to the scholarly activities before him, he couldn’t help how the Archive’s careful silence infected him. The pin-drop quietude was accented by the intermittent flowing footsteps of a lingering Jedi or the occasional shuffle of a holobook being plucked from its resting place. It stretched the passing seconds like an endless hyperlane. And with each minute flick of sound, the deathly tranquility acted as a reminder.

That Anakin was waiting entirely too long for one of you to call it quits.

The passing hushes of quiet conversation and intermittent, echoing taps of fingers upon holobook screens had all grown tiresome for the impatient Jedi. Even the soft lumbers of elder Masters speaking in low intervals provided little entertainment while he continued to observe you both, hunched over an array of holobooks that marginally added to the yellow luminescence of the dimly lit stone-gray chairs, which engulfed your figures before the marble work surface.

Admittedly, though, Anakin had only entered a few moments ago.

He remembered last night, sharing a few plates of thrantcill pâté with Ahsoka at the far Temple refractory when, in their conversation, she revealed that you’d spent the entirety of yesterday’s afternoon in the Archives, scouring through endless texts regarding the last 10 years of galactic events and figures with her notes as a guide. From what he understood, the two of you had a nice little arrangement going. Ahsoka would study while you borrowed her notes and, in exchange, you would pause your research to quiz her on whatever she was learning these days.

But as a consequence, you had effectively been locked away in an academic prison, at least from Anakin’s perspective.

And he knew, that just wouldn’t do.

So he stopped by the Archives this morning, assuming he’d find you once again, pouring over a mountain of information with angled elbows and firm palms holding you up and awake by the cheekbones.

Despite spending the last decade of your life either studying within the confines of an old, abandoned ship or foraging for supplies in a desolate icescape, it seemed to Anakin that even with your newfound environment of possibility and connection, your engrossment in similar activities would continue in perpetuity.

That was, until he found it necessary to step in.

He pushed off the pillar with a gentle tick from the Force, choosing to saunter over when he began to notice your eyes in particular. Veined and faded red from staring at screens for hours on end.

Yup, time for a break, he decided inwardly.

His heels tapped with each resonant step, bouncing off the sonorously curved high ceilings before eventually leading him to be within reach of causing a mild disruption. As a playful muscle pulled at his lips, Anakin brightly slapped the table with both hands flat while swiftly leaning into your viewpoint.

The unexpected noise startled both you and Ahsoka from your holobooks, simultaneously drawing the eye of a few elder Masters. But that didn’t impede Anakin’s drive. In fact, your heedlessness regarding his presence only fueled his beliefs— that these many hours in the Archives had drained your senses enough, and that he alone would be the one to drag you away from it.

“Okay,” he announced rather loudly. “Enough is enough. You’re gonna turn into a holobook if you stay here for any longer.”

Anakin sucked in your miffed glare while Ahsoka tried to stifle a faint giggle out of the corner of his eye.

“You know I’m doing this, quite literally, to protect you,” you challenged quietly with a raised brow. “Can’t do much guarding without knowing what I’m guarding against.”

“You’re right,” he feigned admittance as he lowered his voice to your level, hopefully to discourage the subtly annoyed yet watchful eyes of a few librarians to his left by kneeling down and pitching in further.

“If this.” He glanced down at the closest holobook, grabbing it to lift into his vision as he read the title. “Holobook on intergalactic political alliances turns into a giant, being-eating Rancor, I know that I’ll be perfectly safe in your very capable, studious hands.”

You huffed, rolling your eyes before a barely perceptible twitch tugged at the corner of your mouth. You swiped the device from him, returning it to its rightful place on the table.

“Knock it off, Smarty,” you quipped as you tried to return to the holobook in hand.

But your subtle amusement was fuel to his teasing fire.

Anakin grinned. “Or you could quote the guidelines of the Coruscant Accords to a sharp-toothed Acklay looking to take a bite. I’m sure that would go over well.”

Anakin’s ears perked as you dropped the holobook you’d been analyzing to the table. Rather abruptly, you placed a hand on the workspace to twist toward the eager Jedi, slight frustration lining your features.

“And what would you suggest?” You asked expectantly.

The responsive Jedi opened his mouth to answer, but paused mid-vocalization as he tried to come up with a reasonable proposal.

Thankfully, the galaxy granted him a moment to think.

“Whatever it is, can you come up with it somewhere else?” Ahsoka piped up in a whisper. “I’m trying to study for my test.”

Anakin observed as your eyes softened toward his frustrated Padawan.

“Sorry, Ahsoka,” you offered earnestly before scooting out of the grunting, asperous seat below. You raised gracefully, leaning over the ornamented table to collect your many holobooks. “We’ll get out of your way.”

Anakin straightened while you grabbed the last text, watching you turn on your heel toward the Archives’ center circle as he followed at your side.

“Need a hand?” He offered while scanning the hazardously stacked pile of holobooks that leveled just below your inquisitive nose.

“No, not at all,” you spoke, dripping with sarcasm. “Can’t distract you from coming up with your grand idea on how I can be your perfect defender.”

An unimpressed frown flickered across his features briefly. That was, until a sudden lightbulb within him buzzed to life.

It was something to cure his boredom and it would meet your objectives, he excused inwardly.

“Well, if you can beat me in a duel, that would certainly prove your abilities,” he suggested casually.

He was hoping not to reveal the sudden wave of excitement that overcame him following these days of stark boredom. Anakin didn’t realize it until that moment, but what he really needed was a good, old-fashioned sparring session. Not with a drone, but with another Jedi. Something low stakes and disconnected from the war.

But the many developments since his arrival had not made that easy.

After Ahsoka had finished her essay that night when they first docked on Coruscant, Master Plo Koon decided to schedule a test covering the last few months of physical science studies from their tutoring sessions. So, with her hidden away in the Archives, Anakin wasn’t able to do much training or guidance as her new Master.

Not that he really had any idea how he was going to go about that anyway. It was all still so new.

He’d just wing it, he thought.

Obi-Wan, on the other hand, was stuck in back-to-back Council meetings about Maker knows what. Anakin imagined hours-long discussions on possible solutions to the communications system infiltration with Temple technicians by their side, offering tidbits of advice on deconstructing board matrices and tracking transmitter codes as the considerations continued. Tedious, but necessary, he considered.

Even R2-D2 was indisposed, having been temporarily assigned to one of the Temple’s system specialists before Anakin had even arrived at the Temple hangar, left to run diagnostics on the potentially compromised system for hours on end as they moved from sector to sector. Though, while he lost that unofficial race, he knew that the only reason Artoo reached Coruscant first with his handful of clones from the 501st was because of their short ‘diversion’ to Hoth.

So, with everyone busy, that left Anakin with meditation and training alone, neither of which he found particularly enjoyable at the moment. Or, at least, since his time a few months ago on Tatooine.

In the days following Anakin’s return from that arid, porous world, particularly in recent weeks, he found it difficult to be left alone with his mind. Images of his mother, weak and crumbling through his arms, the guttural cries of Tusken Raiders, and the scalding whip of Dooku’s crimson sword would invade his senses in mere moments of solitude. Even in the briefest of silent pauses or calming realities, he’d hear them all. Clawing at his senses. Yanking at his heavy chest.

The worry of that reality pervading indefinitely tapped at the young Jedi’s thoughts like a dark harbinger. Especially in the stillness of the Archives while he waited for you to finish. Before he couldn’t delay any longer.

He was desperate for a distraction to snap his thoughts away.

So, when he suddenly remembered that the time you were spending in the Archives was entirely voluntary, Anakin couldn’t help how his spirit felt a little more enlivened as he hopped up from his meditation, a tottering crisscrossed position between two orange flowering Saavas, to toe race his way to the Archives.

Yes, he did actually want to check in on you after days of study, but Anakin too seemed to have his own personal motivations.

Company is what the young Jedi sought, and he was entirely satisfied to keep it with you.

He considered this draw more deeply, pulling at the roots of his kindling connection with you.

Something shifted in Anakin that night in the Uscru District, legs dangling off the end of one of Coruscant’s largest garbage pits as decaying fumes encircled his ankles.

He hadn’t met a Gray Jedi before, but he wondered if they were all like you. Your kindness and softness when speaking the truth. The warmth of your voice.

It anchored him, to those moments of comfort and safety he felt many years ago, when encircled by his mother’s protective arms. It was especially true on those cold nights, after dark and dreary days, when she would tell him of the tale of the sun-dragon.

How his heart would be his strength, much like how she was his heart.

And he missed that feeling, so greatly that when faced with the sensation again, he fell back into old habits. He couldn’t help it. He’d always told his mother everything, and for a brief glimpse, your nature made him feel at home again.

And so he told you.

Something that he couldn’t even at first admit to Obi-Wan.

He told you his mother died.

But it was when he felt your cold hands in his clammy palms, that he could finally sense the signals swirling within your being that you betrayed on your face to him that night.

Indications you kept very well hidden away.

But the touch of two Jedi freed you to share what you felt for the doe-eyed man, intentionally or not.

And he shouldn’t have been so affected by what he sensed, Anakin argued. The blue-eyed Jedi knew you had trained to dedicate your life to him. Or, at least, to the Chosen One prophecy. But still, for a being he met only a week prior, he couldn’t help but be taken aback.

You exuded tenderness, care, and unwavering loyalty.

For the first time in years, Anakin felt truly perceived in that moment. And while he still grappled with the words spoken that night, overshadowed by unfading ghosts of the past, it finally solidified within his sun dragon heart one cogent decision.

Anakin knew that he could trust you.

“I suppose,” you admitted as you reached the central reference desk, pulling Anakin back into his current reality.

Eyeing the large rotunda in the Archive’s center, you dropped the stack of holobooks at the expansive counter for return with a slight clang. As you pivoted down the main hallway leading to the Archive’s exit, you continued. “But I’m supposed to meet with Master Yoda this afternoon, and I don’t know if he wants to duel with me. So we’ll need to keep it short.”

Anakin grinned victoriously as he nodded. “Sounds good to me!”

—

The jaunt to Training Room C was quick.

At least by Anakin’s standards.

Once again, as his mind drifted, the thoughtful Jedi gazed at the room’s beige-white flooring and textured walls, outlined into zoning squares by dark wooden panels and pillars that crossed with geometric balance. His observations since returning to the Temple were the primary factor influencing his temporary tachysensia. Predominantly, that if yesterday’s experience was any indication, he had every right to believe training room availability would be similarly limited today.

As you stretched your legs against the far wall beside one of the two sets of three-tiered mahogany viewing benches on either side of the dojo, Anakin stood by the room’s entrance, twirling the blue glow of his saber in leisurely circles while dipping further into his memories.

First, he recalled the horde of Jedi present at yesterday morning’s emergency meeting. Anakin couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen that many Jedi in one room. Let alone the sum total, many thousands at least, present in the Temple since his arrival a few days ago.

The one outlier was, of course, the Battle of Geonosis, and the events that immediately followed. It was the first time Anakin realized the sheer power of The Order, fighting in tandem to protect peace in the galaxy against dividing forces.

The young Jedi was pleased by the Republic’s material victory that day. That was never in question. But any feeling of triumph was often overshadowed by the depth of another emotion that stretched and coiled along his bones like a growing mold.

Guilt.

It was clear, he thought. In that moment and in the weeks and months which followed.

He wasn’t strong enough to face Dooku that day.

And he nearly paid the ultimate price.

One glance down at his alloyed, dark steely arm with its thin crevices leading to an interior of gears and overlapping wiring was proof enough. Evidence that maybe if he’d trained a little harder as Obi-Wan’s Padawan, or followed his gut and joined Kenobi on his trek to Kamino, that things would have been different.

Maybe, just maybe, so many lives wouldn’t have been lost to such a stupid war.

A war he nearly prevented from happening in the first place during that battle, stained with Jedi blood.

Maybe, he would’ve been faster in countering Dooku’s rapidly twisting and thunderous blows.

And if he was swifter, maybe his mother would still be alive.

But no, Anakin’s power was no match for Dooku’s wielding.

At least, not yet, he thought.

His mind floated again, to the days and weeks following that deadly day. Scores of Padawans were knighted to feed the growing war effort, including himself. Generals were needed, and more knights were expected to take on Padawans to educate them on how to adapt their abilities to times of conflict.

It was necessary. He knew that. But still, the malformation of a pinnacle Jedi celebration, usually a grand and gradual affair, into rushed trial processes and fleeting bestowment ceremonies made him feel more like a piece of unrefined Duralium stumbling its way through a processing plant than a Jedi.

Though despite his new title, and greater set of responsibilities, Anakin considered himself just as equally removed from the planning affairs as he was when a Padawan.

Once all the Jedi were similarly recalled to the Temple after Geonosis, a flood of Council meetings followed in succession to determine The Order’s place in this war. They petitioned the attendance of many Masters, even giving Master Kenobi his own seat, as they negotiated the Jedi role of peacekeeper while trying to defend against the threat to one thousand years of peace.

And it never relented.

Emergency gatherings spiraled in succession, especially after the bombing of Cato Neimoidia.

He remembered it all well. The smoky remnants of a charred away district lost to the planet’s depths. The medical tents that gently swayed in eery silence, save for the intermittent groans of the few survivors. All of these images displayed in everlasting reels on the HoloNet News, shocking the galaxy into reality. The chaos that followed compelled many to realize that even overt neutrality would not keep worlds safe from this war.

But in these high-level meetings that addressed important events just like this, that strategized how to help these people, Knights or Padawans were never included.

They never included him.

So, instead, much like the past few days, Anakin would wander the Temple halls. Perhaps visit the gardens if he was feeling particularly meditative.

But that was just once. And only because Obi-Wan suggested it after catching him waiting opposite from Training Room R, sitting on the floor and leaning against a pillar with arms resting on each knee and a particularly glum look lining his face.

“What are you doing?” Obi-Wan inquired as he stopped momentarily, no doubt in a hurried dash to another urgent Council meeting, Anakin concluded.

It was a few days before his knighting ceremony, and only a week after his mechanical limb was installed. But he wasn’t feeling as cheerful as he once thought he would be when he was a youngling. He was supposed to feel excited to become a Jedi Knight.

Not lost.

“Waiting,” he huffed in a monotone.

The impatient Jedi watched Obi-Wan angle back to scan the training rooms that lined the rear wall. Anakin’s expression was unchanged as his Master returned toward him in a curious manner.

“Have you been waiting here all day?” He asked inquisitively.

That same flat tone escaped Anakin’s mouth in affirmation.

Obi-Wan hummed with a hint of satisfaction. “If you showed this much patience in your training sessions, you may have learned a lot more,” he mused.

The nearly former Padawan gazed up at him unimpressed when he noticed a lightbulb go off behind Master Kenobi’s brightened eyes.

“You know, this might be a wonderful time for you to meditate. And I know the perfect place!”

Anakin groaned.

It felt like it all happened years ago, Anakin considered. But in reality, it had only been a few months. War had warped his sense of reality, and maybe that was why he felt a strange sense of déjà vu when he returned to the same hall of training dojos the day before, only for each expanse to be occupied with beings like him, loitering by the entrances and against pillars for their turn by the hour.

But today was different for some reason. Many of the training rooms lay vacant and the halls were generally unoccupied, save a few Jedi using the surrounding walkways for travel.

Part of him wanted to investigate. To see if some Jedi were called off to a mission he didn’t know about. No comms meant that he was even less informed about the Temple’s goings-on. But that never stifled his curiosity.

Instead, it all only seemed to further stoke his kindling restlessness.

Then, he remembered. Master Kenobi had offered to spar with him later today. Maybe he’d get some answers then.

But then again, if history with The Council proved repeatable, probably not.

“Are you gonna twirl that thing all day or are we gonna spar?”

Your sonorous voice shocked the distracted Jedi out of his stupor. He spun toward you, recognizing your casual stance, saber unsheathed and dangling at your side in its luminescent gray as you gazed at him expectantly.

“Sorry,” he mumbled while approaching your figure.

“Watcha thinking about?” You asked once Anakin’s gate mollified.

“Oh,” he inflated with a cartoonish shrug. “Just about how this thing is gonna end before I’ve had the chance to build up a sweat,” he grinned while crouching into an attack stance.

You mirrored his pose, matching his outward repartee with striking, fiery orbs.

“You should have more confidence” you scolded in jest. “I’m sure you’ll get some blocks in.”

Anakin rolled his eyes at the wide beam that engulfed your face. He leaned into his knees, centering his connection with the tingling flow around him.

“What is it you said?” The young man challenged confidently. “May the best Jedi win?”

“That statement still stands,” you affirmed, not skipping a beat.

A smirk pulled at the corner of your mouth.

“Show me what you got…

…Chosen One”

Anakin took this as his cue, kicking off with a running start before pouncing at you from a few meters away with a hard strike toward your rib. He slowed his surroundings with the Force, observing you launch your blade upwards to block the powerful blow with both hands squeezed on the hilt, releasing a hiss from the impact.

You thrust his blade down with your own as he decided to swiftly use that momentum to his advantage. Quickly, he swung his saber back around to strike you down the center. Flinging your weapon up, you deterred the attack with the horizontal posture of the blade. Again, Anakin watched as you slid that blue glow with the hammering snap of your saber toward the floor.

But the blue-eyed man only viewed this as another opportunity.

He twirled on his heel to boldly strike at your other flank. Yet, despite his keenness, you managed to successfully snag this attack too, a straightforward inversion of your blade standing before his path.

The simplicity sparked a flicker of annoyance within the young Jedi. His greatest strength was using his opponent’s attacks against them. And you were making the employment of that particular strategy very difficult.

He continued his strikes with more fervor this time, hoping to break your reinforced wall of defense and coax you into launching your own, fissuring swings. But no matter how much he Force-energized each crack, no matter how rapidly he recovered from your nimble deflections, he couldn’t seem to break your stoic face or weaponized fortification.

“Are you gonna try to fight me at some point?” Anakin drew out as he bounced back from your diverting blade’s assertive whip against his saber, forcing him nearly fifteen meters away.

Like a dance, the two of you melted into a circling prowl, using the space to breathe. Each step enlivened Anakin’s impulse to continue the duel as he surveyed your mimicking movements to keep the eager Jedi a sufficient length away.

“I thought you wanted to work up a sweat?” You exhaled innocently while continuing your slinking annular shuffle.

Anakin felt an intense heat billow behind his eyes as his confident yet teasing nature began to splinter into a more soured tone. Usually, he was not so affected by such innocent pokes. In fact, he found these moments regularly enjoyable, adding a taste of lightheartedness to the typically tense beats of combat.

But his mind was swirling all day with images of the past.

Images of failure.

Of failing others. Of failing the world.

His mother.

And in this transient instance, for some unknown reason, it felt like more than he could presently handle.

But before he could respond to your directed quip, another voice echoed into the training room from the dojo’s double gray doors with L-shaped mustard accents, having whooshed open without him realizing in the last few minutes.

“Anakin doesn’t like it when opponents go easy on him,” Obi-Wan commented as he entered his peripheral.

The peeved Jedi noticed your eyebrows raise in contest across from him at the Master’s words.

“I’m not going easy on him,” you clarified while leaning into another step along the arbitrary sphere of distance you and Anakin delicately maintained.

“Then I take it this is going well?” Master Kenobi announced to no one in particular.

The curious, bearded Jedi strolled to the side for a better view of the duel in discoidal stasis, lowering his form to the edge of the nearest Mahogany viewing bench before crossing his legs in humming anticipation.

“Yes, it is,” Anakin gritted. “In fact, I was just about to find an opening.”

“No you weren’t,” you deadpanned.

Anakin huffed at the truth of your statement as his heart rate quickened. He was beginning to grow tired of your overconfident comments and steadfast defense. He had too much on his mind and didn’t need someone else pointing out his ineptitude.

“Sparring isn’t always about the offensive,” Obi-Wan remarked casually to the atmosphere. “Sometimes it means allowing others to take the initiative for the duel to progress.”

“Tell him that!” You exclaimed with a sigh. “I feel like I’ve been fighting a training droid for the last half an hour.”

Suddenly, something in Anakin snapped. His meticulously bubbling frustration and annoyance had whipped into a flash of pure, blistering anger.

He reacted quickly, propelling himself out of his steady march with a shout as he determinedly bolted toward your figure, most of his connection to his surroundings stripping away to pyre his vehemence.

The Chosen One’s eyes narrowed on one objective and one objective alone— securing an opening.

He neared your form within a second, blade aimed at your shoulder and vision pinpointed like a laser on the curved dark gray spot of your smoothed-over cloak. He could almost smell those memorable industrial fumes of the shop from which you both purchased it, hovering staunchly above the seams as he neared your form.

But as his saber split down with a low whine to claim final victory, your own weapon sprung to life, knocking the blade out of its path and down toward his feet in a buzzing blare.

Anakin heaved his plasma sword up, revving for another turbulent swing as he let out an indignant grunt. His eyes were still locked on the same shoulder when it suddenly spun from sight in a blink. Out of nowhere, an abrupt blazing heat graced his opposite cheek like a near brush with a welder.

Registering the sensation, Anakin whipped around, searching for your figure only to find you stood behind him, sheathing your saber before clipping it to your belt with a clink. You trekked toward the somewhat stunned Jedi, a conflicted stitch tweaking your brows as you finished your approach.

Once you reached him, Anakin felt you tenderly grab his open hand, pulling it free and flipping it over to unlatch his palm. The young Jedi observed you raise your other hand, wrapped in a loose fist, but not for long. It hovered about his hand for only a moment before releasing into his grasp a couple strands of chestnut hair, lightly soaked in your sweat that perspired from head to toe, and perceptibly singed black on one smoky vestige.

Anakin stared at the strands, embarrassment prickling each finger pad as he tried to keep his expression neutral.

That was, until your hands met his.

You closed his fingers into a gentle fist, encouraging him to clutch the locks as softly as their texture.

He gazed up at you, taking in your soothing silver eyes and worried smile as an aura of concern leaked from your being like a latched wire. Swimming like loose electricity from your palm, into his.

“We need to talk.”

—

As you gently led Anakin to one of the training room’s far corners with a soft hand on the back of his elbow, your being was steadily flooding with unsettling disquiet, permeating throughout your circulatory system.

You had noticed fairly quickly, how Anakin’s chagrined eyes subtly shifted at your troubled words toward his former Master, who discernibly observed the scene unfold before him with a knowing shake of his head. Skywalker still internalized Kenobi’s judgments, including the ones that accompanied a perennial frown, you realized. And from his unsurprised expression, it seemed that Obi-Wan had observed these same alarming habits at some point in his life as well.

It was evident that the Master’s cavalier comportment further confirmed your suspicions— that they had not been fully addressed.

At least, not in a way that Anakin may have fully understood.

You noticed it again today, just before the spar began. Anakin, trapped in his own little world within the confines of his expansive mind. Whirling his saber vacantly with muscle memory akin to twisting one’s hair to pass the time. Within those few moments, while internalizing the satisfying stretch of your hamstrings as you prepared for the duel, you couldn’t help but sense the waves of emotion that rolled off the open-hearted Jedi.

Amusement, annoyance, frustration, hopelessness.

And most notably, rage.

You could only guess what thoughts were running through his head. You’d probably only scratched the surface of his internal struggles when he revealed some of them to you a few nights ago. But with time to reflect, you now wondered if that grief clouded his mind too strongly. Shielding him from understanding your words, or even the guidance others may have bestowed upon him in the past regarding this very issue.

You welcomed theories to invade your mind, consume your thoughts, and give you a moment of escape.

Focusing on this small blip in his signature proved far more attractive, more manageable than the vacuum your mind produced in other activities, including your studies in the Temple Archives. Even that distraction manifested as inadequate as you tried to break from your inner affliction rooted in Qui-Gon’s death. You’d spent countless hours flipping through Ahsoka’s notes, shuffling through holobooks filled with complicated galactic developments, trade agreements, alliances, controversial political figures, but nothing seemed to center you.

Nothing seemed to stop his face from appearing when your eyes closed. Even momentarily.

Even when you blinked.

Nothing, well, except for this.

Except for doing what you were made for.

Focusing mind, body, and soul on The Chosen One.

So you dove into the murky waters of this puzzle, only hinted at in your short time together.

The connection drew your memory back to that frenzied escape from Hoth. When you, Anakin, and Obi-Wan stood unified in an Aegean sphere of incandescence against the monstrous Wampan threat. You remembered, the three of you exchanging teasing jabs as you slashed down each beast with agile grace.

But as you dug deeper into that moment, the inner turmoil you sensed from the Chosen One only moments ago now suddenly felt very familiar.

And very alive.

It was Obi-Wan’a quip at Anakin’s apparent lack of humility that struck a similar, irate chord within the young Jedi. And in his frustration to verbally defend himself, he took an easily preventable blow to the face.

Withdrawing from your mind, you glanced up at the healing reddish-brown cut that stretched across his upper cheekbone. You drank it in as you continued to lead him toward the training room’s far wall. While you lacked the time or center of mind to acknowledge it then, you felt it necessary to address now.

You felt for Anakin’s past struggles. You really did. And deep within your being, you fervently believed that the swirling emotions surrounding his mother’s passing and childhood enslavement were justified. Those were deep, crimson scars that would take many years to stitch together. To heal. You yourself had only just begun that journey of loss with your own Master. You were still unable to fully pull away from the initial shock and amplified emptiness felt from learning of his passing.

And by virtue of his history, Anakin’s heedless frustrations toward meaningless words and enduring circumstances made you wonder. Did this powerful Jedi even have the tools to digest your guidance from a few nights ago concerning these very situations? Did he hear you about the importance of acknowledging those moments in life, before letting them go?

It was much like the errant thoughts of forceless beings, which you were compelled to guide past all senses for your own mental survival a couple nights prior.

You continued to draw on the similarities of your circumstances, excavating each moment, before realizing one important factor. That you were only able to feel that relief, that suffocating weight lifted, because of the guidance of others.

Because Obi-Wan gave you a little push.

So, you decided to do the same.

At first, as the duel began, most of your vitality was captivated by efforts to sense any blips in the blue-eyed Jedi’s signature.

But that constrained you to a perpetual defense, focused only on thwarting each intrepid blow. It was necessary, to stray from the energy-siphoning movements required to launch an offense that could counter Anakin’s aggressive form, if you were to successfully carry out your own furtive objectives. His style was elegant, technique steadfast, and it took a considerable toll on you to keep your focus on both the fight and any indications that would barely leak into the Force.

But these actions had unintended consequences, revealing that sucking the bustle out of the duel would be as equally infecting as one of Obi-Wan’s elicit remarks.

So, you leaned into it.

Keeping a relentless guard meant less opportunity for Anakin to use one of your strikes against you. A telltale tactic of Djem So. And it generated a number of occasions for you to toss in a few comments to test the waters. So much so, that when you pointedly told a certain, teasing Jedi Master that you were, in fact, not going easy on him, you were telling the truth. Your defense remained physical, but your offense flourished verbally with quip after quip.

But in those moments, as you sensed his vexation reach its peak, your own heart felt darkened. Weighted down like the planet’s gravitational pull as you carried out this assessment of mental fortitude. It was another chip at your empathetic being, flying away like loose debris traveling through the vacuum of space. Another task in protecting The Chosen One further plunged your identity into utter uncertainty.

You were also not going very easy on yourself.

But it didn’t last long, as it appeared that comparing him to an inanimate Jedi training device seemed to do the trick.

In a way, his sudden dart toward your smaller frame hurt most of all. Not only because you had a hand in driving him to this level of rage, but because you had never seen him so easily reduced to this level of vulnerability. Having known him only a week, you already understood through those many late-night conversations on a thousand-year-old space bucket, in the Coruscant garbage pits, and during your exploration of the entertainment district— where he had the gall to suggest orange was not your color— that his absorbent heart and related impatience was, as of now, his greatest weakness.

One you were sure the Sith would use against him, as they had with other Jedi thousands of years prior.

In some manner, it scared you. The ease with which you pinpointed this fragility in the brief time of knowing him. It was true, you had an uncanny ability to connect with others. But not this easily.

Maybe it was because you saw too much of yourself within him.

Or maybe the two of you were connected far beyond the confines of a prophecy.

Maybe, even through the Force itself.

Yet he tossed his connection to the Force aside in his mad dash to win. The ferocious Jedi was so focused on a strike, a successful nearness of his blade to some part of you to claim victory, that he momentarily tossed away any and all perception of protecting himself.

And it pained you, cavernously, the ease with which you blocked and dodged his subsequent blows. They were unstable, sloppy, and fueled by frustration rather than grounded in his connection to the Galaxy.

It left his entire form accessible to a fatal blow.

So, you decided to make your point in a way he couldn’t ignore.

Swiping your saber rapidly across a loose lock of chestnut hair hanging centimeters from his cheek, you allowed it to fall upon your palm to present the suddenly bewildered Jedi, who was swiftly silenced after realizing the damage you could have done.

You allowed your mind to extrapolate any words from thoughts that continued to rush over you as you both slowed to a halt on the opposite side of the training room from Obi-Wan. Your attentive eyes trained on his uncomfortable expression with a gaze wandering indefinitely, much like a youngling who had been caught taking too many sweets from one of the refractories.

“Your anger is concerning,” you began in a hushed tone.

Maybe those weren’t the right words, and maybe this wasn’t the best setting, but you were hoping to get some real answers that weren’t colored by responses saved for his Master's presence. You had your own difficulty sharing internal struggles with your Master, and he was the only other person around. You wanted this to be different.

Anakin’s eyes suddenly shot at you, narrowing in confusion.

“You were the one who told me my anger was justified.”

“I told you, that it’s ok to be angry sometimes, especially when losing someone you care deeply about,” you began in a softer lull. “That is completely different from allowing a staunch rage to get the best of you from impatience and words.”

Anakin’s eyes softened as he began to absorb your observations while his head slightly dipped in discomfort.

“Hey,” you whispered, touching his wrist, hot from exertion, lifting his uncertain eyes back toward you. “I’m here to look out for you. And I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t say that you need to be more patient and not take what others say to heart. It’s gonna get you killed.”

Your exposition seemed to click within the troubled Jedi in a way far different from your midnight murmurings on the Uscru District garbage pit overhang. You watched as he glimpsed downward, following his line of vision to the metal arm whose fingers he flexed in creaking evaluation.

You wondered…

“Did you…?”

“Yes.”

And that was all the answers you needed, the rest you felt through the Force.

Regret, frustration, and something new—

Realization.

But despite this potential step forward, you found it strange that even losing an arm to impatience and anger didn’t lead him to these reflections earlier.

“It’s not that easy.”

Or maybe it did.

You raised your gaze back up toward Anakin, his dejected stare stuck to the steel limb as if he wasn’t looking at anything at all.

As if his vision was thrown into darkness.

“You’re right, it’s not,” you admitted as, once more, you were met with a flood of questions through his countenance alone.

“It’s a task. Of constantly reminding yourself that what I, or Obi-Wan, or the world says to you or about you doesn’t matter. I mean, who cares what everyone says? It doesn’t change who you are until you let it.”

You stilled, observing Anakin’s brows relax ever so slightly. Yet skepticism still colored his absentmindedly agape lips. Even without connecting physically, you could tell that despite your statement, he was riddled with doubts. You knew he’d heard your words, but he didn’t believe them.

So, you decided to tell him what you really believed.

“I’ll tell you right now. You, right now, are good. And you, at this very moment in time, are enough.”

Anakin’s mouth closed as he gazed up at you in anticipation, a galaxy of sentiments flaring behind his eyes.

You breathed. “No one is gonna change that. And I’m not just saying that to save face. I mean it.”

For the first time in what felt like a long, clouded while, a smile peeked out from his subtly solemn expression. An air of solace had begun to enter the Force.

It seemed like being heard was what Anakin needed. Someone to recognize what he was feeling. What he struggled with. What he continued to battle, inside and out.

And you were happy to be that person.

“And it won’t be remedied overnight. Remind yourself of that.”

You knew what it was like to struggle with these emotions, realizing that what fed them most was your utter isolation. In a sense, despite being in closer proximity to others than you ever had, Anakin still seemed just as alone as you in these conflicts.

And that dealt another sharp blow at your opened heart.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I pushed you too far.” His shoulders relaxed at the softness of your voice. “I just needed you to see what this frustration does to you. It leaves you exposed. And, honestly, if I was less skilled, your blindness may have done some real damage.

His eyes widened, “I would never…”

“I know,” you rested a comforting hand on his flushed arm as he relaxed. “You would never, intentionally,” you assured, though your phrasing still had unnerved the young man. “But you made a mistake, and I’m just hoping to show you why it’s important to learn from it.”

You watched as he nodded, drinking in your sympathetic and forgiving nature into his own being. The two of you breathed through the stillness, allowing both of your feelings to stabilize through the fine sting of sensitivities that traveled back and forth across your hand, tenderly fastened to his lower arm with the Force swimming in between.

“You know,” he began, as you felt the air around him lift delicately. “I know someone who’d really like you.”

You took this compliment as permission for a more upbeat response. So your eyes squinted teasingly.

“Sounds like they have great taste.”

“Silvey!”

You paused momentarily before turning to the exclamation, still getting used to the nickname as Obi-Wan entered your vision from his place on the lower left of the far viewing bench. “Don’t you need to meet with Master Yoda soon?”

Windu must have told him in one of their Council meetings you’d heard so much about from Ahsoka this morning. You glanced up to your left at the wall-mounted chronometer displaying the time in bright blue symbols before approaching the bearded Jedi, a gradually settling Anakin following close behind as you called back.

“I’ve got some time!”

Quieting your voice, you turned to Anakin with a lighthearted taunt as you both continued your leisurely pace.

“You know, I bet you could’ve beat me if you waited a little longer.”

Anakin grinned at your brighter tone as the last of his worries washed away into the Force. It was, again, much like the thoughts of those clubgoers a few nights ago as, he too, seemingly took your words to heart.

“Give me another chance and we’ll see,” he commented, underhandedly complimenting your skills.

You smiled, a weightlessness overcoming you.

“You’re on.”

—

Obi-Wan Kenobi had seen this before.

Too many times to count.

Anakin had a habit of becoming lost within himself, allowing emotions to take over in place of duty, and logic. But despite the occasional slip-ups, the Master believed that his former Padawan had matured greatly in the past decade. His connection to the Force had deepened while his ties to outward attachments withered with time. From the beginning, that was something he knew the Council was especially concerned about when he joined The Order at such an old age.

Yes, he still made a habit of acting before thinking, much to the bearded Jedi’s chagrin. But he always proved to get the job done.

Anakin never let him down.

However, in the last month, Obi-Wan had noticed a familiar turmoil affecting the young Jedi, beginning soon after the attempted assassination of Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala.

In the days that followed, when Anakin was tasked with protecting the Senator, before traveling to Tatooine and, then, becoming involved in the Battle of Geonosis, Obi-Wan sensed that inky substance Master Yoda felt years ago begin to foam up from the depths of his being once more.

“I sense much fear in you.”

And Master Kenobi was finally witness to how greatly his fear had grown that day on Geonosis. When Padmé was knocked out of the LAAT tasked with chasing after Count Dooku, it was the first time Obi-Wan saw Anakin consider negating his duty for a connection. He nearly leapt out of that transport without a second thought, about to blindly storm after his feelings instead of pursuing Dooku to possibly put an end to this war before it even started.

It was a connection that worried him. That concerned Master Yoda as well. So much so that in those days following Anakin’s recovery after losing his arm, Obi-Wan pleaded with Padmé herself to end whatever bonds were forming between the two.

She reluctantly agreed, and though he trusted the word of the former Queen, Kenobi was still bothered by those moments of them together. Like the glances stolen during the holocomm data transfer following their escape from the Trade Federation home world, or the subtle moments shared out of earshot of both him and the clones during their brief medical supply pickup on Naboo last week.

It was instances like these when the Master Jedi wondered if maybe time would be the greatest teacher. Maybe confronting Padmé changed the nature of their bond. Strengthened it, even. Then, it was quite possible that further interference would have just made the situation worse.

He did finally convince Anakin to stay with him on that LAAT before they reached Count Dooku, who was attempting an escape through a dark, underground hangar. But despite Master Kenobi’s best efforts, those bubbling feelings of anger and hate pushed the young Jedi’s agitation over the edge.

Obi-Wan told him to wait. That they would only defeat Dooku if they faced him together. As a team.

As brothers.

But he didn’t listen.

They were unmatched fighting alone, handing Dooku off like some rabid animal bouncing between prey as Anakin tried to recover from his premature mistake.

And it nearly killed Obi-Wan.

But Anakin’s heart was too ferocious to let that happen.

Rage guided his hand, and his hand he lost.

In the weeks that followed, when Anakin was knighted and while the bombing of Cato Neimoidia temporarily threw them apart, Master Kenobi truly believed that this near-death experience at the hands of a Sith Lord had finally proved sobering to his stubborn friend.

But this moment… In his duel with his defender…

Maybe the Master Jedi was wrong.

Obi-Wan knew Anakin blamed himself every day for not ending the war before it started that day on Geonosis. Yet he worried that no matter the damage that came to Anakin from his own choices, he would never learn.

Deep down, Obi-Wan believed that Anakin never grasped the gravity of his actions because he thought he deserved the grave consequences he faced for each and every one of them. By some strange logic, losing an arm was his punishment for not stopping a war, and it excused him from doing differently.

And much like a flagellant, he dealt his own punishment by continuing to march down this path of self-destruction.

But he thought he had it under control. That he had finally taken his Master's teachings to heart and found solace in connecting with the Force, using the flow to wash away his troubles. At least he did when Anakin was given his own battalion. When he was assigned his own Padawan.

When he was distracted by the unstoppable toil of war.

Obi-Wan thought that his young friend had finally pulled himself together to lead like the great Jedi he knew he could be.

But now, with an indefinite pause as the communications system is evaluated, Obi-Wan sensed Anakin slip back into bad habits.

However, Master Kenobi, always the optimist, thought it would pass. That these cursory moments were just flukes, temporary setbacks that could happen to anyone in moments of peace.

But as his own eyes lay open to that rage take hold all over again in his battle with you, it felt like he was staring through a mirror of time, back when Anakin was first dealing with his feelings of the past as that youngling on Tatooine.

This instant seemed like more than a fluke, Obi-Wan thought. Maybe the new memories made old ones stronger.

So, while he watched you and Anakin re-approach the training room’s center sparring square, despite the new calm he sensed radiating off the duo, Kenobi kept his reservations about the consequences of incensing Anakin too vigorously in one session.

Thus, he did what any good arbitrator would do.

He deflected

“You may want to take a break,” he remarked toward your figure as it stalled, allowing Anakin to settle across from you. “You won’t have the energy you need to spar with Master Yoda should he request it.”

But, instead of acknowledging the inherent truth of his statement, you took the more ‘Anakin’ approach.

“Just wait,” you smirked smugly, turning to face the dark-robbed Jedi in a readied stance as you withdrew your saber from your carefully hidden belt with a click. “I plan to end this fight quickly.”

His head whipped to Anakin as unease tugged at creasing lips. Obi-Wan knew what Anakin was like if someone pushed him too far. And he was worried, for both of you, that you had done just that.

As he heard the faint activation of your gray luminance with a whirl and a fading hiss, his eyes settled on his former Padawan, expecting at best a rumble in his life force, a pointed stare, an annoyed huff.

But what he was met with, was most unexpected.

Anakin’s eyes creased mirthfully as he chuckled. The suddenly grinning Jedi popped you a grateful glance that spoke unknown tales as he unsheathed his own weapon with a bright flash, allowing its blue glow to complete the mirror.

Now it was Obi-Wan’s turn to furrow his brows in confusion. Perplexity surrounding this sudden change turned into intrigue as he stationed an elbow on each of his unfolded knees, leaning into the scene to further analyze this development. As the two of you bent at the ready five meters apart, a gentle smile shared on each face with mysterious calm and collection, peace seemed to be the space’s only purveyor.

Seconds passed, minutes wallowed, and still, that stark rush of power Kenobi always recognized in a duel with Anakin never came. The two of you stood in utter stillness, the gently muffled footfalls of passing Jedi in the outer hall accenting the echo of the wider Temple’s exterior.

That was, until you broke the hush.

“Aren’t you gonna come get me?” You asked in a challenging voice.

Anakin raised a brow intuitively. “You’re kidding, right?”

And just as rapidly sweeping as the pause that followed, Obi-Wan noticed a proud grin flash across your face before your legs propelled forward like lightning, meeting Anakin’s swiftly diverting blade with a slate clash. Master Kenobi observed as you spun with your saber stark behind you to block his first blow after flinging your sword into a whirl.

It wasn’t long after you vaulted over the young Jedi to reach his rear side when the Master noticed you return to old habits, sticking to a well-built guard as you blocked and parried blow after blow from your eerily calm opponent. The persistent offensive and defensive divide split you both into equal parts, like either side of a credit. It was a perfect balance that Obi-Wan knew drove Anakin to madness like nothing else in their own training sessions. Yet, the young Jedi seemed unaffected by this stasis.

In fact, he appeared pleased.

But even this did not fully convince the Master Jedi of any statistically significant change. He was an evidence man at heart, after all. And a few smiles and certainly odd behavior was not going to be enough to encourage him to consider this strange development fully. Obi-Wan would let these thoughts wash away without the proof to fully consider them.

That was, of course, before what happened next.

It was in those moments that followed, that Master Kenobi finally asked himself— how?

What he’d spent years trying to teach Anakin about patience, through connecting with the Force, breaking past bonds, and accepting the ways of the Jedi Order— if not to at least teach him the merits of flow and faith— you seemed to do in just the matter of a morning.

Sensibly, as he recovered from the initial surprise of the next instances, Obi-Wan knew that Anakin was not a changed man. But it did certainly feel like it when he observed this unexpected breakthrough take place before his eyes. It usually took weeks, or even months for Anakin to understand Obi-Wan’s teachings when he was his Padawan.

And he couldn’t deny that it was still like that now.

Yet here he was, demonstrating the equivalent of months of meditative progress after a short, albeit evidently salient, conversation with you.

And oh how Obi-Wan desired to know what you said to him. The words you used, the phrasing, the voice.

What was it about you that finally got one of his teachings through to Anakin?

More than ever before, as Obi-Wan’s eyes locked intently with your figure, he wanted to understand you, deeply. Not just due to your connection to Qui-Gon, but because of your mystery. Your past was an enigma, known only by his late Master, a barren ice planet, and the Force itself. Your notable intelligence, pervasive empathy, and skilled abilities had to come from somewhere. From some experience. Some reality.

The General surmised that, in that short moment, Anakin’s eyes must have been unveiled due to a conversation entrenched in those very qualities that he too began to have a swelling affinity for.

He needed, no, was compelled to know about your past, who you truly were, and how you became the skilled Jedi presented before him.

All of these thoughts and intrigues flowered throughout Obi-Wan’s mind as he observed nearly a half an hour into the fight the subtle mistake in your lunged footing. Anakin redirected your block to the ground before tripping your errant leg out from under you with a quick flick of his own, plunging you back first to the milky wooden-lined tile below.

As the blue incandescents of his blade swiveled inches from your throat, Obi-Wan’s slightly widened eyes were further coaxed by the sudden breathy chuckle that escaped from your lips.

A gentle smile inched across Anakin’s countenance as he held his blade firm. To anyone else, his expression would have easily been excused for simple sportsmanship. A manner that aired accolades of ‘you fought well’ to the opponent.

But Obi-Wan knew him better than that. He knew that tempered grin. He’d seen it before, albeit rarely. The first time being at the Temple ten years ago, during one of their first training sessions. Anakin told him he had said the same to Qui-Gon, but his confidence and fortitude drove him to tell his new Master as well.

“I had a dream I was a Jedi. I went to Tatooine and freed all the slaves.”

And despite the following discussions on attachments, and the importance of letting them go, that smile remained. Primitively, Obi-Wan thought it was just Anakin’s version of a dreamy expression, or childlike wonder. But he learned after years of becoming his friend, that it meant nothing of the sort.

It was hope, he concluded. Hope in himself. Hope in doing the right thing.

And now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen that look in years.

But before he could dive further into what all this meant, you finally spoke up.

Following a few stabilizing coughs with elbows planted for support, you gazed at The Chosen One earnestly as your voice softly flowed from you.

“Now that’s a Jedi I’m proud to defend.”

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[thelatterdaysaint]

The Mormon Truth Project: 5 Widespread Misconceptions Debunked

In recent years, Mormonism has found itself thrust into the spotlight, often facing criticism and misconceptions. The Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” has certainly contributed to this increased visibility, but it has also perpetuated some stereotypes. As a 14 million-strong religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is frequently misunderstood. Let’s explore some common misconceptions and shed light on the reality of this faith in today’s world.

1. “Mormons Aren’t Christians” – A Matter of Perspective

One prevalent misconception is that Mormons aren’t Christians. This belief persists despite Mormons praying in the name of Jesus Christ, studying His teachings, and considering Him central to their faith.

The confusion stems from theological differences between Mormonism and mainstream Christian denominations. Many Christian leaders point to these differences as reasons why Mormons shouldn’t be considered part of the Christian tradition. Additionally, some evangelical groups maintain anti-Mormon sentiments rooted in historical prejudices.

Mormons themselves contribute to this separation by claiming their faith offers a “restoration” of doctrines lost to mainstream Christianity. This stance can create distance from other Christian denominations.

However, from a practical standpoint, Mormons engage in many recognizably Christian practices. They celebrate Christmas, read the New Testament, and center their faith on Jesus Christ. The question of whether Mormons are Christians often depends on who you ask and how they define Christianity.

2. “Mormon Women Are Second-Class Citizens” – A Complex Reality

The role of women in the LDS Church is another area of misunderstanding. While it’s true that the church’s leadership structure is male-dominated and there are elements of gender inequality, the reality is more nuanced than often portrayed.

Women in the LDS Church cannot hold the priesthood or occupy top leadership positions. The church’s teachings also emphasize traditional gender roles within families. However, Mormonism also includes progressive elements. The faith includes belief in both Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, acknowledging divine femininity. Mormon history includes notable women leaders and suffragists.

Today, many Mormons identify as “Mormon feminists,” working to address gender inequalities while maintaining their faith. This internal dialogue showcases the complexity of gender issues within the religion. The rise of outspoken Mormon feminists within the church itself is perhaps the strongest rebuttal to claims of women’s oppression in LDS culture.

3. “All Mormons Practice Polygamy” – A Historical Misconception

One of the most persistent myths about Mormonism is the practice of polygamy. While it’s true that polygamy was once part of Mormon history and theology, mainstream Mormons have not practiced it for over a century. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, did introduce and practice polygamy, marrying at least 33 women. However, in 1890, the LDS Church officially abandoned the practice under political pressure.

Today, any member who engages in polygamy faces excommunication from the mainstream church. That said, some ultra-orthodox splinter groups continue the practice, which contributes to the confusion.

Interestingly, polygamy remains a complex topic within Mormon theology. The concept of eternal marriage in LDS temples leaves room for interpretation about the afterlife. Some Mormons believe polygamy may exist in heaven, while others reject this notion entirely. This theological ambiguity adds to the ongoing tension surrounding the topic.

It’s ancient history. Yes, it happened, but it’s long gone. Today’s reality is what matters in this debate.

4. “Mormons Are......

Read the full article and many more over at: https://ldsflow.com/the-mormon-truth-project-5-widespread-misconceptions-debunked/

[himynameiskhoi]

How can we study religion without going to a church or temple?

Religion, an omnipresent aspect of human culture, has had a history of influencing anthropologists and scholars which sparked their motivation to study and analyze religion’s profound social impacts on the dynamics of human society. Interestingly, there is a hidden, yet direct, interrelation between religion and anthropology which allows the utilization of anthropology as a tool to discover insights into understanding religion. As a society, we often interpret religion as a personal belief system we choose to implement in our lives. However, beyond this interpretation on a societal scale, religion also plays a crucial role in formulating a stable structure for societies to be built on, as well as giving rise to the implementation of rules, morals, and values. To understand and make meaning of religion, one does not necessarily have to be fully immersed in their religious practices and beliefs. Rather, understanding religion and its impact can go beyond this by engaging in productive observation, ethnographic research, and analyzing the interaction between religion and a population from a functional, structural, intellectual, and psychological point of view. The analyses can also be viewed as different frameworks that serve as bridges that connect anthropology and how this field can be put to use to explain and understand religion. In this blog post, I will discuss, at greater lengths, the different anthropological approaches to religion, specifically, from a(n) interpretational, psychological, and functional framework. As I discuss each framework, I will also outline the pattern of how religion affects your relationship with yourself, as well as how it affects your relationship with the people around you, from different points of view.

Interpretivism approach

The first framework, the Interpretivism approach, was proposed by an American anthropologist named Clifford Geertz. This framework specifically outlines the practice of religion as a model to interpret the world and formulate logical reasoning behind the “what?” and the “why?” questions. While this framework doesn’t have a direct dictation of personal values and morals, the Interpretivism approach focuses on how an individual can interpret the meanings behind their interaction with their community and the rest of the world, which can indirectly affect their relationship with themselves. Viewing and understanding the world through a religious perspective can often deliver benefits in many ways. Religion provides a framework for understanding the meaning and purpose of why we exist as human beings in this vast universe. Based on this approach, there are answers to the existential questions that science usually cannot answer and instead reassures us that the meaning-making of the universe is orderly, and is culturally, historically, and socially context-dependent. On a personal level, religious individuals tend to reflect on their ethical and moral values and align their values with the practices of their religion. In a way, these individuals are creating a religious guide that can be implemented in their own lives and possibly for their loved ones. On a societal level, individuals actively engaging in religious activities can foster a sense of belonging to one another and give rise to a community built with meaningful and long-lasting relationships. Thus, there is significant value added to the community which can then promote social cohesion. 

Psychological approach

The second and most common framework of the three frameworks is the psychological approach. The psychological approach, which was established and described by Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish-British anthropologist, explains that we, as a society, incorporate the idea of religion into our lives to create a safe, spiritual space for us to reside during difficult times. In comparison to the Interpretivism approach, there are slight differences to be noted. Unlike the interpretivism approach, which talks about giving individuals a stable model of how to perceive their surroundings, the psychological approach offers a sense of personal comfort and provides a framework that one can implement into their personal life. Having a solid understanding of the natural dynamics of life and death, order and chaos, fortune and misfortune gives an individual confidence and the ability to accept something that they have no control over. Over time, this build-up of emotional resilience will eventually give a sense of purpose and meaning to an individual’s life, as well as assist the individual in the grievance process. This positive influence can drastically alter one’s mental well-being and potentially reduce stress in one's daily life. Although this frame tends to focus more on the individual on a personal level, the process of grieving and going through hard times does not always have to be alone. This process can often open up doors for many individuals, who have difficulties coping by themselves, to come together and share their feelings and stories. This act of engagement in trauma bonding through religion tends to alleviate the difficulty of grieving because it offers comfort and reassurance that they are not alone and that there are many people out there who are also suffering through similar situations. Overall, based on the psychological framework individuals can foster a sense of belonging and a purposeful community where people can offer comfort to each other and within one another.

Social approach

Unlike the other two frameworks that we previously talked about, the social functions framework, established by Emile Durkhiem, states that the primary function of religion is to produce and promote social cohesion through religious activities and symbols. Durkhiem believed that the promotion of social cohesion contributes greatly to the maintenance of social solidarity and social conformity. There is a clear differentiation between the social approach in comparison to the interpretivism and psychological approach, in terms of the focus (i.e. personal or social) when explaining religion. For instance, the first two frameworks (e.g., Interpretivism and psychological) we discussed argued that individuals use and implement religion in their personal lives to navigate through their life journey. The intention behind the interpretivism approach is to teach individuals how to see and translate the world around them, while the primary objective of the psychological approach is to teach an individual how to feel the world around them. With the social functions framework, individuals are re-attaching themselves to the social values of the community through the celebration of its spirits or Gods, which Durkhiem believed, was the key to a stable social structure. Through Emile Durkhiem’s perspective, he also believed that religion has a secondary role in building a social structure around religion where rulership and authority are often assigned to individuals who are more involved or active with the religion. For example, this is similar to how Popes, who are spiritual leaders, held an immense magnitude of power over societies during the Middle Ages. From my perspective, although the social functions framework of religion plays its role of engraining moral values and norms into a society, it stems from hierarchy rather than individual meaning-making. Essentially, religion forces and controls individuals on the way they act within their communities rather than allowing individuals to think and feel on their own. 

[minijenn]

Anyway I would have never said this a few months ago but now that I’m on my second playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom and I’m giving myself time to actually digest everything I have to admit

Totk’s story is… kinda bad?

And like there are things about it I do like, basically anything having to do with the Light Dragon is soooo good and heartbreaking, but there’s also so much shit about the plot and how it had to be structured bc “open world game” is so disappointing

Like thanks I def wanna hear each sage give me the same spiel about the imprisoning war four damn times; I def think nobody realizing fake zelda is a fake is dumb even though link knows she’s fake pretty early on but he’s not allowed to emote or have a personality bc fuck you. I think ganondorf is such a damn non-entity in the present of the game that he might as well not even be there, he does literally nothing until the finale of the game, what was even the point of having him here if he’s just gonna lie underground the whole game. I hate that fucking robot construct body we build for mineru so. Fucking. Much from a gameplay perspective because it’s clunky af and also from a story perspective bc it’s so weird and random and like???? Why??? I don’t understand raurus whole “keep my enemy close” nonsense bc if he’d just dealt with ganondorf like he SHOULD have then maybe Sonia wouldn’t have died smh stupid stupid so many stupid decisions were made the entire plot and gameplay loop is structured just like botw but worse bc at least on botw if you got the memories out of order it didn’t really matter but in totk you kind of have to get them in order for literally anything to make sense but you only discover that order if you wander off to the forgotten temple and learn the very specific order like why did they do it like this why couldn’t we just have normal ass cutscenes why did they feel so married to botws structure why did they make so many weird choices wit. This games story, why is it so disappointing when it should have beeen great why is the tone of the game nothing like what that first trailer showed us why aren’t things more mysterious and left open to interpretation why why why WHY

Great game tho 10/10 goty

[dfroza]

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures

for the 24th of may 2025 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New Covenant) of the Bible

[The Book of Revelation, Chapter 6 • The Book of Job, Chapter 12]

along with Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms with Proverbs 24 and Psalm 24 coinciding with the day of the month, accompanied by Psalm 66 for the 66th day of Astronomical Spring, and Psalm 144 for day 144 of the year (with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 1st revolution this year)

A post by John Parsons:

As a Grain of Mustard Seed...

During the Second Temple period it was common to liken a very small amount of something to be a “mustard seed,” as for example when Yeshua said: “If you have faith as grain of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there, and it shall move” (Matt. 17:20). Yeshua also likened the transformation of the tiny mustard seed into a large plant to illustrate the how the kingdom of God grows from a minuscule beginning into something prodigious and wonderful: “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field, which is the among the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches" (Matt. 13:31-32).

Yeshua points to the hidden workings of a tiny seed buried in the earth that would mysteriously bring forth a place of refuge and beauty. The mustard seed is inconspicuous, lowly, and does not produce a mighty tree like the exalted cedar or brawny oak, but it neverthess produces a lovely habitation for life where the birds of the air find refuge and perch among its branches.

Man looks on the outside, but the LORD looks upon the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Yeshua's parable of the lowly mustard seed was intended to teach that we should consider matters from an eternal perspective. Recall that that the Tabernacle (or "Mishkan") was a relatively small tent-like structure when compared to the grandiose monuments of ancient Egypt, and yet that is where the LORD chose to symbolize his Presence among the people. The world is impressed with proud structures and symbols of temporal power, but God's kingdom is marked by the seemingly small, the overlooked, and the insignificant. Like the hidden light of the menorah in the Tabernacle, the deeds of the humble are beheld inwardly, where the Heavenly Father sees in secret (Matt. 6:4). To the heart of the lowly and trusting Yeshua says: כִּי מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים בְּקִרְבְּכֶם / “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

As I have mentioned before, there is a “transposition” of values, a “holy irony,” in the realm of the Spirit. From God’s perspective that which considered great in the eyes of men is considered of little account, and that which is considered insignificant in the eyes of men is considered of great importance (Luke 9:48). The wisdom of this world (i.e., pragmatic, self-promoting egotism, etc.) is regarded as folly before God (1 Cor. 1:20, 3:19). Therefore Yeshua “made himself nothing” and disguised himself in the form of a lowly servant (ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών).

Like the seed that has to die and be buried in the earth to bear fruit, so we must mortify ourselves in humility (John 12:24). "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life will save it" (Luke 17:33). Yeshua Himself was crucified in weakness. He did not overcome evil in his own strength but yielded himself to God's providential will. By so doing, his weakness was transformed into the power of the redemption of God (2 Cor. 13:4). To the jaded eye of godless worldliness, Yeshua's death signaled defeat and failure, and yet God's way of doing things is often the very opposite of what we might expect. Again, the LORD chooses the lowly, the inconsequential, and the powerless to overthrow the vanity and variegated delusions spawned from human pride.

This is the basic pattern. God begins small, in hidden ways, and with the most unlikely of people, to do his will. From a carnal perspective Yeshua's disciples were a gaggle of misfits and nobodies, but from God's perspective they represented the miracle of a heart transformed by his power and splendor. God's kingdom is "not of this world," and that means that it will never enjoy the prominence of worldly glory.

The "mustard seed" of faith means that it is not our great faith in God that matters as much as God’s great power to transform our hearts. We must be careful not to turn faith into a disguised form of works righteousness: Our faith is what it is only by virtue of the greatness and goodness of the Living God who delivers and heals us from our fallen estate.

The life of the seed is a hidden miracle (i.e., nes nistar: נֵס נִסתָר), its death, burial, and regeneration reveal the principles of the kingdom embodied in Lord Yeshua our Savior. Just as the cross of Messiah appears foolish and confounds the eyes of the world, the eye of faith beholds it as the revelation of the power of God. As it is written: "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:27-29). Indeed, as the world regards the message of the gospel to be "foolishness," the Lord regards the "wisdom" of the world to be a trap for the proud of heart: For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them" (Job 5:13).

The seed of faith represents the divine life of God within the heart (1 Pet. 1:23). And just as the seed works "automatically" to yield its fruit (Mark 4:26), so the Spirit of God produces the fruit of God's Spirit in the life of the believer. This is an unconscious process realized by the grace and mercy of God. "Who despises the day of small things?" the Lord asks (Zech. 4:10). Be still and know that I am the LORD who heals you (Exod. 15:26; Psalm 103:1-3).

God hides that we may seek him. "Behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12). The Hebrew phrase for "still small voice" (i.e., kol demamah dakah: קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה) means "a calm, crushed voice," that is, the voice of the Savior of Israel who surrendered himself as the Promised Seed who would die, be buried, and be raised up to produce the fruit of the Spirit in those who put their trust in Him. Yeshua, indeed, is the "Mustard Seed" of our confession -- seemingly small but when sown within the heart of faith becomes the habitation of the very presence of God...

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Psalm 97:11 reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm97-11-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm97-11-lesson.pdf

5.23.25 • Facebook

from Israel365

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

[pkkstrikesback]

May 5 - Asakusa

Arriving in Japan was one of the most difficult travel experiences I’ve ever had; plagued by delays, anxiety, and a general lack of basic necessities, the journey was anything but short and sweet. However, upon stepping onto the streets of Tokyo, my perspective was quickly… enlightened. Walking to Hotel Edoya at 6 a.m. was magical, the only sounds filling the air were birds chirping and the distant hum of car motors. Despite the limited downtime I had before the program officially started, I managed to thoroughly enjoy the first day of excursions. I came on this trip alone, but I quickly found a group of people whose company brought me a lot of enjoyment and comfort. Getting to know each other has been easy so far, and I’m excited to see how our relationships grow once we move past the early stages of friendship.

Today, I focused more on exploring what Tokyo has to offer in terms of souvenirs rather than buying any. My list is steadily growing: a coin purse, a hairpin, and of course, a bunch of postcards. The walk through the market before the shrine was pleasant, though a bit overstimulating due to my lack of food and sleep. It was fun to see how well everyone dressed and the variety of experiences people sought at the shrine: dressing up, getting fortunes, sending prayers, etc. I’ll discuss my experience at the Edo Museum in more detail in my academic reflection, but one funny highlight was discovering an “ancient toilet”; people got some good recreation photos. Our journey back to the hotel marked our first group task without teacher guidance. Although I was 100% convinced we were lost at one point, we made it back within the generally expected timeframe.

Little Details

Getting a bad fortune (as expected) and tying it up for Buddha to fix; getting a "warding off evil" amulet to counteract my bad luck

Japanese strawberries! Not as out of this world as expected, but each strawberry was like the perfect strawberry in the States

Made my first 7/11 and ATM run! Excited to go back when I have more of an appetite

Taking a photo of an alley and my friends going "ooo that's a good one"

Taking a nap on my first futon! Much comfier than expected, much comfier than a plane too

Missed the hotpot dinner in exchange for needed rest, but my amazing roommate Emily brought me some REALLY JUICY apple slices and mac&cheese

Academic Reflection

The readings by Porcu and Blum really enhanced my understanding of the Edo-era Buddhist shrine in Asakusa. I’ve always been drawn to Buddhist faith and philosophy, however never deeply studying it, just appreciating its values and beliefs on a more basic level. These readings provided me with some clarity regarding the difficulty to evolve in my practice: the sheer variety of Buddhist sects reveals an expansive system which one must find their place in. In the Western world, I’ve never had much guidance in navigating these sects, which has left me with only a surface-level understanding. Visiting the temple and learning how to properly pray, while also distinguishing which practices were Shinto and which were Buddhist, was incredibly meaningful. One of the most fascinating takeaways was learning about the two guardian statues outside the shrine gates. I was struck by how the Greek perception of gods (muscular, heroic, handsome) made its way along the Silk Road and influenced Japanese religious iconography. What surprised me even more was Japan’s willingness to adopt this style. I was under the impression Japan often viewed the Western world as immoral or even uncivilized.

The reading by Hane and Perez ensured the Edo Museum excursion was more than just a “woah” moment. Every historical location is shaped by class structures, but I hadn’t fully grasped how deeply this was embedded in Japanese society. The modern admiration for the samurai often obscures the harsh reality of their role in history. Like my earlier assumptions about European knights (before studying Western history), I had imagined the samurai as noble protectors of the common people. In reality, samurai lived in separate villages, where even the watchtowers were turned away to grant them 'privacy', or more accurately, unchecked power. The lives of samurai wives were also often harsher than those of commoners, defined entirely by their husband’s needs and schedules, with abuse relatively uncommon. I also found it fascinating how much Japanese villages seemed to depend on the merchant class, despite the merchants’ poor social reputation throughout Japanese history. The portable fishing stand was especially shocking; I still can’t wrap my head around someone about 155 cm tall carrying that all day.

My final note it that the museum staff’s enthusiasm for sharing history reminded me why I study it in the first place. The lies our eyes tell us about the present can only be corrected by the stories of the past.

[magicdow0k]

Unforgettable Photo Shooting in Singapore: A Visual Journey

Singapore, a bustling metropolis known for its modern skyline, lush gardens, and vibrant culture, offers an incredible backdrop for photo enthusiasts. Whether you are a seasoned photographer or someone looking to capture memories on your vacation, photo shooting in Singapore is an experience that can be both creative and unforgettable. From urban landscapes to natural beauty, this city-state provides a wide array of stunning locations to immortalize moments with a camera.

Iconic Locations for Photo Shooting in Singapore

One of the first places that come to mind for photo shooting in Singapore is the iconic Marina Bay Sands. With its futuristic design and panoramic views, this landmark is a favorite for professional and amateur photographers alike. The infinity pool atop the hotel offers a breathtaking perspective of the skyline, while the surrounding areas such as Gardens by the Bay are filled with striking sculptures and lush greenery.

Speaking of Gardens by the Bay, this is a must-visit for nature lovers. The Supertree Grove, with its towering tree-like structures, creates a unique and surreal atmosphere. The Flower Dome and Cloud Forest also offer plenty of opportunities for stunning indoor shots, featuring exotic plants and mist-covered mountains. These spots are perfect for anyone looking to blend nature with modern architecture in their photos.

For those interested in blending cultural heritage with the beauty of photography, the colorful streets of Chinatown and Little India provide vibrant backdrops. The intricate designs of temples, bustling markets, and traditional buildings bring a sense of history and authenticity to every shot. Walking through the narrow alleys of Kampong Glam or exploring the peacefulness of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown offers the perfect mix of urban life and historical charm.

The Allure of Singapore's Beaches and Skylines

Singapore is not all about urban landscapes; the city’s beaches also provide an excellent venue for photo shooting. Sentosa Island, with its palm-fringed shores and turquoise waters, is an ideal location for those seeking to capture the beauty of sun-kissed beaches. Whether you’re snapping pictures of the scenic views from the Siloso Skywalk or capturing a sunset by Tanjong Beach, the golden hour here creates the most beautiful lighting for a perfect shot.

Moreover, Singapore’s skyline is world-renowned for its architectural marvels. Whether it’s the iconic Marina Bay Sands, the helix-shaped Esplanade, or the shimmering skyline at night, the views of the city from various points offer stunning compositions for photographers. The city looks especially enchanting when illuminated, making it a prime spot for nighttime photography.

Capture the Moment with Professional Help

While Singapore offers plenty of scenic spots to choose from, the true magic of photo shooting in Singapore lies in how you frame the moment. Hiring a professional photographer can help elevate your images and ensure every detail is captured beautifully. This is where Magicdow comes in. Our team of experienced photographers specializes in creating timeless images, capturing not just the beauty of the location but also the essence of the moment. Whether it’s a special event, a family portrait, or a solo adventure, we ensure that your memories are immortalized in the most exquisite way.

No matter the occasion, photo shooting in Singapore will surely be an unforgettable experience. Trust Magicdow to capture your most cherished memories while you enjoy everything this stunning city has to offer.

[popcartoonkabala]

The Kabbalah of Blackness and the Kabbalah of Liberation: Adar/Pisces reconsidered

As far as emergent polarities in media, and through media, “politics” is the hope of addressing fundamental concerns, Justice, and through justice, validation. If the story has meaning, “good” meaning, “real” merit, then it’s not just spectacle, it’s somehow art, or better than art: gospel. Revelation. Authentic divine experience, which is bound up in divine justice to the degree that engagement of the worthwhile real feels accessible, and this is the hope and joy in “educational” media. As a child, the difference between a PBS and everything else in the commercial media market was understood and experienced as a validation and virtue to anything I enjoyed from it. When Sesame Street crossed over to HBO, the irony was sublime and profound, but maybe appropriate: HBO aspires to be art amidst spectacle, the adult version of PBS, the thing we can reliably feel good about. As media congeals into it’s range of formats, from the ostensibly pseudo- transgressive to the deeply self-righteous and the myriad comedies that sew these two disparate extremes of media experience, being “bad” like sitcom characters or “good” like detective show heroes, badness to ground in the somatic darkness of the inner id+ psychotic ego and goodness to integrate a general positivity and sense of benefit from experienced narrative, either wisdom upgrade, perspective integration, or bias-concern confirmation.  The difference between actively serving and somehow feeling as if is one of the great accomplishments of media, especially in the context of temple and religion, as well. Modern alienation removed the orthodoxy from the local larger tabernacles and educational centers and moved them into a box in the house, from which the kids learn conventions and construct identity models and assumptions. Notice the pop “crisis” over the blackification and queerification of popular media, an ironic psuedo-crisis in it’s standing tension in the origins and structure of the fields and markets. How could anything bridge the distance between the Real that’s felt and the money spent in making the biggest, best distributed spectacles? Note the transgressive race/sex tension that mark much of the effective, successful action of the early cartoons! The core irony of cartoon exploitation is of course, that the power of the hero IS ITSELF a satiric inversion of the reality of people. Neither clever, invincible rabbits nor irritated woodpeckers have really actually been able to stave off the human devastation of their natural habitats. This tension crossed over very publicly recently in the context of Kendrick at the Superbowl: The hostile victory dance over Drake offerred a larger metaphor for the unright thing in the American Pop project: the difference between a predatory exploitive-- class? caste? people? identified in absolutism as “not like us” for reasons to do ultimately with community, and grounding in reality. The main transition from Aquarius to Pisces is the inversion from a functional toleration/embrace modality to a kind of resistance through a sort of demonstrative disassociation. In the original myth, Pisces is Venus and her son/father Cupid, Aphrodite and Eros: the fundamental life force itself, turning either into fish, or riding fish, to escape the end of the world. The End of The World is/means twofold: the catastrophe at the end of history, personal and/or collective, that brought us to this reigning stability (such as it is) AND the collapse of the flawed system, that same reigning stability, that same ruling standard, as something better emerges within it, to live forever. This is the god of the triumphal: the one that is alive, and by definition, wins, in some describeable, experiential way. As much as Black Americans have never quite been allowed to “triumph” beyond certain points (i.e. reparations, or even safeguards against police brutality, as deep extremes) the individual and collective accomplishments that have enriched and varying degrees of enthroned Black people as the face and heard soul of America, specifically because of the willingness to play the game, and succeed in systems designed to aggressively and ruthlessly exploit them. The end of the world is also the end of racism, since racism is arguably the main crime of This World, in that the end of racism is what is suggested or promised by the system of justice within Liberalism and Islam alike: and yet the thing in our hearts that can only see the danger of each other’s success is the mechanism of the world that makes predatory strategy feel like responsibility, chas v shalom. This is the beginning of the inversions of the first and most famous two of the seven doubles: Wisdom into Ignorance, followed by Weath into Poverty. https://prod.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.25b.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en In the Sefer Yetzirah, as well as in the book of Job and the biblical tabernacle altar area Wisdom is to the South and Wealth is to the North.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Yetzirah#Theories_of_contrast_in_nature These polarities, when bridged, breed the next polarity, and this is the innovation of the Seven Doubles over the Three Mothers: The three mothers are the ones from Goldielocks: Too much, Not Enough and Yes Perfect!  Too Hot Too Cold Just Right. Too Hard Too Soft etc. These are the original excess, rebalance, and harmony that begin all the pattern, and then MEMORY turns experience into something like Wisdom-- which degrades, out of context, into something like Ignorance-- racism, chauvenism and presumption around the Known gives way to deeply missing and misunderstanding the True or the Wise. But here: Wisdom and Ignorance, as opposite extremes MUST FALL IN LOVE with each other to reconcile. And let’s say they did! Let say: Wisdom and Ignorance fall in love, get married, have a baby:  That baby is Wealth. The child of my wisdom coupled with my intuitive or compulsive ignorance, balanced into bounty itself, the test of both wisdom and the willingness to give up wisdom for insistence. This is the cypher on chapter 4 of the Sefer Yetzirah: Wealth, it’s transformation is Poverty (like the Daoists recorded) Wealth and Poverty fall in love, have a baby: That baby is Fertility itself, Production itself! All the music and all the culture, gleaned from the marriage between the poverty that purifies our hearts, the desperation and need that motivates our songs and prayers and war cries and marching songs; and the wealth that, like the rain, longs to circulate itself through an embrace of the real and the true, in that tragically predatory way that Wealth itself has always longed to offset and atone for, so as to have wholeness, Shalom itself. Production gives way to Devastation, all the good forests cut down. Production and Devastation fall in love,have a baby: That maybe, in most versions of the Sefer Yetzirah that I like-- is Life. Life becomes Death of course, the way of all grass and kitten. Life and Death fall in love, have a baby:  Peace. Peace, of course, famously gives way to War, and vice verse  War and Peace fall in love, have a baby: Sovereignty, Administration. Administration becomes Slavery. Administration and Slavery fall in love and have a baby: Grace.  Grace, taken for granted, of course becomes Creepy, or Gross. So alas for the game that makes us creepy or vilific. The bombs rain hard on whoever is around and the associations demand acknowledgement or clarification. As sad as it’s been to watch the clownification into contemptability of someone like a Snoop Dogg, themselves self defined by mercenary pragmatism that identifies itself through it’s wealth of wealths, and openness to every next offer, given way to a hollow shell without commitment or meaning, as all security compromise forces can tend to become. he had to apologize to Kendrick when he realized that letting Drake use his voice for an AI thing was an epic fail within the ettiquette of Hip-Hop. He has not stopped failing by accepting the money and offer to do peace commercials with Tom Brady, and inaugurate the cursed bad-president, as if it was the smart thing to do, since it clearly did not display as the right one.  I think about it all in the context of Israel/Palestine, where the Race conflict predates the legal bifurcation of priviledge into Whiteness (as was the Anglo-Dutch Legal model) instead remaining in the older cursed holiness of faith identity, at least socially: Believer vs Infidel gives way to Believed vs Dismissed by the law, ones station defining the exploitation or fairness one can hope or expect to encounter, by a State or an Industry that either recognizes your humanity, or the useful threat you might function as. Be blessed with easier passage and the language to help each other understand how human we really are, and how to be righter with us in response.

[ap-great-structures-trip]

Blog #11 — Jan. 14, 2025

Nimes: The Integration of Old & New

Nimes is a city with both ancient and modern architecture that integrates the two together well through intentional and respectful contrast along with urban design. With great historical structures in Nimes, one may question how to build for new needs within an old city. Do you continue building old-looking structures that match the energy of the ancient ones? Or, do you build modern structures that juxtapose the old? Nice’s solution has leaned towards the latter.

The Museé de la Romanite and the Carré d’Art Museum are two modern buildings in Nimes that integrate well with the old. Across from the Maison Carreé, the Carré d’Art Museum creates vast contrast in the square they both sit in. With a mostly glass facade that faces the side of the Maison Carreé, the Carré d’Art Museum respectively pays homage to the Roman temple, filling its facade with a reflection of the structure and guiding our eyes towards it. The way this modern museum faces the ancient structure designates that the Maison Carreé takes more importance, almost as if bowing to it. Additionally, the art museum’s architecture is very flat and simple and doesn’t elevate itself higher than the Roman temple, therefore not distracting from the structure or adding anything too complex in its environment/background. If this art museum was constructed to fit with the ancient temple’s look, it would cheapen the greatness the temple’s architecture and cause them both to blend in. By creating distinct juxtaposition that respects the Roman structure and guides our focus to it, Nimes successfully integrated the old and the new together.

The Museé de la Romanite, designed by Elizabeth Portsapoc, is similar in how it blends Nimes’ old and new. Set across from the Arena of Nimes, the city’s own Roman colosseum, it takes a modern and simple tone that blends with its neighbors without pretending to be something it’s not. In order to not disrupt from its neighbors, it takes the same height as them, seamlessly integrating into the city, and has a wavy facade that blends all the curved facades around it. The facade is also reflective of the ancient arena, paying homage through the reflection that holds the colosseum above itself. Additionally, it follows the pattern of its neighbors by having a heightened base, giving it a feel of the same proportions. Finally, its neutral gray and black colors are humble in its environment and don’t pull attention.

One final highlight of Nimes integration of the old and the new is its Avenue Fuecheres, the boulevard between the train station and the Roman amphitheater. This public space is a well-designed public space that strategically responds to the older buildings in its vicinity. The boulevard starts off narrower by the train station and ends with a wider plaza that has a grand fountain in it. This leads our eyes to the fountain focal point and then causes us to take in the surrounding ancient structures of that area. This forced perspective takes you from the new and respectfully draws you to the old. Because of its fountain runoff areas that line both ends of the boulevard, it also creates a sense of movement that pushes us towards the fountain and old structures. In total, this public spaces was well-designed for multi public use as well as seamlessly blending Nimes’ old and new.

[journeyofhimalaya55]

Unlock the Beauty of Manali Hills with Our Tour Packages.

Manali is a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh, acknowledged for its beautiful perspectives, cool weather, and a laugh activities. It is the proper location for every person looking to take a break from the busy town existence and enjoy nature at its pleasant. A Manali Tour Package is simply what you need to explore this tremendous vacation spot with none problem. With a well-deliberate trip, you can revel in the whole thing Manali has to offer, from non violent moments to thrilling adventures. Whether you want to relax or are seeking for pleasure, Manali has some thing for everyone.

Why Choose a Manali Tour Package?

Opting for a Manali Tour Package guarantees a curated experience that covers all of the essential elements of this amazing hill station. From picturesque landscapes to thrilling outside sports activities, your tour might be unforgettable. Here’s why you need to do not forget it:

1.Convenience : All your journey needs are taken care of, from transportation to lodging, leaving you strain-loose. 2.Adventure Activities : Manali offers masses of adventure sports activities, which incorporates paragliding, skiing, and hiking. A accurate tour bundle is composed of these interesting studies. 3.Local Culture : Discover the vibrant subculture and heritage of Manali, with visits to temples, markets, and nearby points of interest. Scenic Beauty : The majestic mountains, lush greenery, and pristine rivers make Manali a visual deal with for tourists.

Top Attractions Included in the Manali Tour Package

A nicely-organized Manali Tour Package consists of visits to all of the iconic sights of this fascinating vacation spot. Here are some highlights:

Solang Valley: A Haven for Adventure Seekers Located certainly 14 kilometers from Manali, Solange Valley is famous for its journey sports. Whether you are into paragliding or skiing, this valley has it all. In wintry climate, the snow-protected landscapes make it a clearly notable holiday spot for snowboarding fans. Your excursion bundle will make sure you get the great of each journey and scenic beauty.

Rohtang Pass: A Gateway to the Himalayas At an altitude of three,978 meters, Rohtang Pass is a must-visit for its awe-inspiring views of snow-capped peaks and glaciers. It is a spotlight of any Manali excursion and offers an incredible experience amidst nature's grandeur.

Hadimba Temple: A Spiritual Retreat This ancient temple, set amidst a dense cedar wooded area, is dedicated to Goddess Hadimba. Its precise structure and tranquil environment make it a ought to-go to vacation spot for the ones seeking spirituality and peace.

Manali Market: Shop for Local Souvenirs The colourful Mall Road in Manali is covered with shops supplying woolens, handicrafts, and souvenirs. Exploring this marketplace is an exceptional way to revel in neighborhood way of life and take domestic recollections of your experience.

Best Time to Visit Manali

The first-rate time to go to Manali depends for your possibilities:

1.Summer (March to June) : Ideal for sightseeing, trekking, and playing lush greenery. 2.Monsoon (July to September) : Not advocated because of heavy rainfall and feasible landslides. 3.Winter (October to February) : Perfect for snow enthusiasts, providing activities like skiing and skiing.

With Journey of Himalayas your ride is customized to the season, making sure you make the maximum of your go to.

What’s Included inside the Manali Tour Package?

Your Manali Tour Package generally includes: 1.Accommodation : Comfortable remains at top rate lodges or lodges. 2.Transportation : Safe and dependable tour arrangements to and from all points of interest. 3.Meals : A sort of delicious local and international cuisines. 4.Sightseeing : Visits to top attractions like Solange Valley, Rohtang Pass, and more.

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Booking your Manali experience is easy. Visit our website or touch our customer service crew to customize your package. Whether you're touring solo, with pals, or as a own family, we've got options tailor-made in your desires.

Conclusion

Manali is a treasure trove of natural splendor, interesting adventures, and cultural charm. With Journey of Himalayas you will revel in the nice of this stunning vacation spot through a thoughtfully deliberate Manali Tour Package . Book your journey today and create memories on the way to closing a lifetime.

[alexlevin2024]

Beis Hamikdash Paintings: Honoring a Sacred Past

The Beis Hamikdash as a Source of Artistic Inspiration

The Beis Hamikdash, or Holy Temple, stands as a monumental symbol of Jewish history, spirituality, and resilience. Its significance transcends time, serving as a profound source of inspiration for artists around the world. Paintings of the Beis Hamikdash not only honor its sacred legacy but also offer a visual connection to the rituals and traditions that define Jewish life. Through these works, viewers are reminded of the enduring hope and reverence tied to the Temple’s memory.

For those looking to explore art inspired by this sacred site, collections such as Beis Hamikdash Paintings provide a wealth of meaningful options.

Key Themes in Beis Hamikdash Art

Worship and Rituals Many Beis Hamikdash paintings depict the spiritual activities that took place within the Temple’s walls. Scenes of priests performing sacrifices, lighting the menorah, or offering prayers reflect the deep connection between the divine and the people. These themes capture the central role of the Temple in Jewish religious practice.

Architecture The architectural grandeur of the Beis Hamikdash is a recurring subject in Judaica art. Artists often focus on its intricate details, from the golden menorah to the stone walls and ornate courtyards. These works pay homage to the craftsmanship and sanctity of the structure, highlighting its historical and cultural significance.

Ceremonial Practices Paintings also showcase the sacred ceremonies associated with the Temple, such as the high priest’s Yom Kippur rituals or the gathering of pilgrims during festivals. These depictions provide a glimpse into the spiritual life of ancient Jerusalem and the role of the Temple in uniting the Jewish community.

For a selection of works that beautifully capture these themes, browse the Beit Hamikdash collection.

Artistic Styles: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches

Beis Hamikdash paintings span a variety of artistic styles, each offering a unique perspective on this sacred subject.

Traditional Styles Traditional works often focus on historical accuracy, drawing from religious texts and archaeological findings. These paintings are characterized by their attention to detail, using realistic techniques to bring the Beis Hamikdash to life. They resonate deeply with viewers seeking a connection to the Temple’s physical and spiritual legacy.

Contemporary Interpretations Modern artists often approach the Beis Hamikdash with a more abstract or symbolic lens. They may use bold colors, textured layers, or minimalistic forms to evoke the emotional and spiritual essence of the Temple. These works appeal to those who appreciate a fusion of tradition and modernity in their art.

Both styles contribute to the enduring relevance of Beis Hamikdash paintings, offering something for every collector’s taste and perspective.

How to Choose Beis Hamikdash Artwork for Your Home

Selecting a painting of the Beis Hamikdash involves thoughtful consideration to ensure it complements your space and holds personal meaning.

Reflect on Your Connection Choose a piece that aligns with your personal or spiritual connection to the Temple. A painting focused on its architecture might appeal to those who value its historical significance, while a depiction of rituals could resonate with someone drawn to its spiritual practices.

Consider Your Space Think about the size and style of the artwork in relation to where it will be displayed. A larger, detailed piece may serve as a focal point in a living room, while a smaller, abstract work might enhance a more intimate space like a study or prayer room.

Support Authentic Art Purchasing from reputable sources ensures that you acquire authentic Judaica art while supporting the artists who bring these cultural treasures to life. Trusted collections like Beis Hamikdash Paintings offer a curated selection of high-quality works.

Conclusion: The Relevance of Beis Hamikdash Art in Modern Jewish Life

Beis Hamikdash paintings hold a unique place in Judaica art, connecting the past with the present through their depictions of sacred rituals, architecture, and traditions. These works serve as reminders of the Temple’s central role in Jewish heritage while inspiring hope and unity in modern times.

By choosing a Beis Hamikdash painting for your home or collection, you not only honor a sacred past but also bring a meaningful piece of Jewish history into your daily life. Whether drawn to traditional or contemporary styles, these paintings offer a timeless connection to faith, culture, and the enduring legacy of the Holy Temple.

[finleymorrisvideogamespolculhis]

Post 1 - Intro and Ludology vs Narratology

A quick note before I start:

- I previously used this Tumblr account to do a blog for a module last year, Digital Storytelling. I believe I’ve deleted all related posts but in case some remain visible, please ignore all posts prior to this for marking. That work also constitutes my only previous work on a ‘blog’ or on Tumblr, so I apologise if this is not in the most refined format.

- There is a word count limit of 1000, or a comparative number of other media. I am likely to exceed this as I did several times over last time, and I will likely use some images as well. I find this word limit to be restrictive. What I have written so far is over 10% of it, and I would like to write a respectably lengthy post about each topic covered and then potentially some extra. I will inquire as to if this is a problem later.

- All game screenshots used are from my own gameplay. Expect spoilers for every game in my referencing list - I’d recommend playing them unspoiled if possible.

Our first lecture covered Ludology and Narratology, easily the topic I’ve found most frustrating so far, and this post should outline why. Narratology is described as a study of games with a focus on their construction of narrative and disregarding mechanics, viewing games as narrative medium just like films or novel. On the other hand, Ludology focuses on game mechanics/systems without regard to narrative; fundamentally, games are a non-narrative medium and their capability of conveying a narrative is arguable. I, personally, strongly disagree with both of these positions.

Most people would suggest I’m a Narratologist due to how I heavily focus on the storytelling in games rather than mechanics - however I wouldn’t appreciate this label as I disagree with them, similar to how I disagree with Ludology. I think both of these perspectives are too narrow, ignoring the validity in each other’s approaches. Narratology doesn’t care about game mechanics, and Ludology doesn’t care about storytelling in games.

Narratology’s exclusion of mechanics seems deeply misguided to me; videogames are different to (and in my opinion, usually superior to) other mediums due to their interactivity. Interactivity opens up many new ways for narratives to be made and to connect with the player, but Narratology ignores this. I find this frustrating as film study often places importance on the camera, how shots are framed and edited together - it is indeed an incredible art, but it has a equivalent in videogames that doesn’t seem to command the same respect; the gameplay mechanics. Just as a close up of a character’s face in film allows us to connect with them, gameplay mechanics can convey a myriad of experiences to us. For a quick example, let’s look at one of my favourite games ever, Celeste (2018).

As seen above, Celeste is a 2D platformer where the player controls a young woman canonically named Madeline as she climbs her way up mount Celeste. Usually the player heads from left to right, though there are some breaks from this rule - for example, the Mirror Temple level has maze like structures to match how disoriented Madeline is as she steps into an alternate world filled with manifestations of her anxiety, whereas The Summit level tends increasingly upwards as Madeline (and the player) get more excited about reaching the top of the mountain. Even such a tiny, seemingly insignificant example as these mechanics can have an impact on the emotions a player feels, helping them connect with a story. I’m sure everyone can relate to seeing a save point or a random stock of ammo before an ominous set of doors, instantly feeling a pit in the stomach at the realisation a boss battle is incoming. The aforementioned example is just like that, but with verticality. And that’s not even the example I initially meant to draw from. Celeste uses many mechanics in its levels (Such as the springs and spikes shown in the image above) as well as giving the player basic abilities like a dash, crouch and jump - but the mechanic I want to focus on is the simple act of death and restarting at a checkpoint.

Celeste divides its levels into “screens” that scroll along as the player progresses. Usually the player gets a checkpoint at the start of each screen, to which they will be sent back to upon “death” by any obstacle. Celeste also happens to be known for being extremely difficult at times, and so most players will grow very familiar with the “death” animation and restarting at the beginning of a screen - and that’s the point. The game’s narrative focuses on themes of mental health, placing a lot of focus on Madeline’s anxiety and depression and her attempts to deal with them. Through the constant cycle of only slightly punishing failure and immediately allowing the player to try again (Offering them a chance to critically analyse what went wrong in the process) connects them to Madeline’s struggles and effectively makes them internalise the core message of the game, which is to never give up. “Never give up” is a very simple message which everyone has heard enough times to make it obnoxious, but Celeste cleverly repackages it through its mechanics, relatable narrative, stylised graphics and extremely well crafted music. Narratology would ignore all this, and I think that’s a shame.

Ludology irritates me more, primarily for the suggestion that games are not a narrative medium. I just outlined how Celeste creates a compelling narrative through intersection between narrative and mechanic, and you can easily find many, many more examples that go far deeper than mine. Suggesting that games are not a narrative medium feels like a form of gatekeeping; gatekeeping what is meaningful, emotionally resonant and “artful”. Cherrypicked examples of games with little narrative substance does not suddenly mean the entire medium is a bust in that regard, that is outright foolish to assert - such an assertion would require a much deeper study into the fundamentals of all narrative mediums to decide why games are not among them, and I think if such a study existed then this debate would’ve concluded awhile ago.

However, I do appreciate how Ludologists look at what makes games unique compared to other mediums; game interactivity allows for “fun” which I do not think is present in other mediums. Say we took a book or film and pretended there was no narrative at all, the words on the page and their structure has lost all meaning, all that remains is the mechanic of reading words on the page or watching the moving image; what fun would be found in the medium? I am not an expert in film and especially not in books (I do not read much anymore), but in my admittedly potentially hard to comprehend example, I cannot see the appeal of these art forms. If we did the same to a videogame, we still retain the fundamental satisfactory loop of interactivity, of plotting and enacting an input and getting the desired output. In short, I simply posit that it is inherently more “fun” to work towards a desired output in the framework of a game than it is to watch a meaningless image or read meaningless words on a page. Cases of someone playing a game for thousands of hours are very common; cases of someone watching the same film or reading the same book for thousands of hours are not. In this I find Ludology agreeable, it is their refusal to acknowledge narrative that I find extremely undesirable.

My personal, strongly held belief is that videogames are a narrative medium and my personal favourite medium. I think both Ludology and Narratology incorrectly and unnecessarily limit themselves and thusly our study of games; the best approach lies in a combination of the two, looking at game narratives independently and how they work with mechanics to produce a meaningful/powerful narrative whilst being “fun” to play. To further illustrate this, I want to use another example of a game I played recently.

Buddy Simulator 1984 (2021) is a horror adventure/role-playing game, though you may not be able to tell that upon first starting it. I am about to spoil pretty much this entire game, but I’d like to stress that it is fantastic and deserves a lot more attention than it gets. I strongly recommend a playthrough as the game can be picked up for dirt cheap on any modern hardware and won’t take any more than 7 hours to complete. It is perfectly accessible to anyone.

The first hour or so of the game is in the form of a classic text-based adventure game, where you “wake up” and name a “Buddy” to be your friend. I named my buddy Punpun, but I will refer to them as Buddy hereafter. The Buddy will ask you some basic questions, such as your name and favourite colour - these will be very important later. It quickly becomes clear that your “Buddy” is not simply some basic computer program meant to imitate the personality of a friend; the game will repeatedly acknowledge that you are playing the game in the 21st century in its UI, and there will be potentially missable hints that the program is more complicated. My favourite example is the end of the Rock Paper Scissors mini game, where the game will always come to a 2-2 tie between the player and the Buddy (First to 3 wins). On the next turn, your Buddy will end up picking whatever item wins over yours - but their winning choice will only appear onscreen for a fraction of a second before changing to whatever choice will make them lose, thusly giving you the victory. It’s so brief I had to take a clip and rewind to check I saw it correctly, but it’s a perfect way to immediately set up the rest of the game’s narrative, which I’m about to go over. I also want to acknowledge the moment as a subversion of expectations - I think the fact the “monster” of the story is altering its behaviour and reality in order to make you happy is an interesting contrast to the typical expectation of a monster being oppressive and brutal in its evil. Regardless of if you notice this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, your Buddy will soon say these games must be getting boring for the both of you and ask for access to your system so that it can make something more fun. The horror vibes quickly become less subtle as the Buddy generates a text-adventure game for you with disturbing moments, such as pulling out your own eyeballs or teeth in order to open a gate.

Fast forwarding a bit, the game eventually transitions into a 2D adventure/RPG style, as your Buddy emphasises how they wanted to make your experience even better. You meet a white dog (Which will always be a dog but will be referred to as what you told Buddy your favourite animal was), journey to a town in the north, make friends, the town mayor gets kidnapped and you eventually return home to sleep again. Then, the game changes once more.

In this third phase of the game, the game your Buddy has generated updates into a “2.5D” RPG, which even the most casual gamer would know is far too high-fidelity to keep pretending we are in 1984. A combat system complete with animations, blocking, special attack moves, many party members, many enemies, equipable items and numerous music tracks is introduced. Most of the game is spent in this style, and it is where I would like to highlight my first example of how this game’s mechanics and narrative work together to bolster each other; the combat system. In the turn based combat, the goal is to increase the enemies “friendship points” by attacking them, impressing them with your moves. As your enemies gain more points, their sprites are increasingly tinted into whichever colour you told answered when Buddy asked which is your favourite - I selected pink, and you can see how this has a massive influence on the game’s visuals. This combat system behaves the same way as a typical system of reducing an enemy’s HP, only inverting the presentation. Throughout the game your Buddy will encourage you to seek combat as you are “making friends” - though it will also remind you that you must reserve a place for it as your bestest friend. Though you are canonically making friends, it doesn’t change that you are making friends by beating them up - this highlights how the Buddy AI cannot understand what friendship is, or at least has a distorted and toxic view of it. The combat actions are very abusive - for example my party consisted of a father who threw his children at people as an attack, and a band who threw various instruments at enemies as attacks. This is not like Undertale (2015) where hugs and the like are legitimate choices to be made for pacifistic combat routes, the game does not pretend your actions are not aggressive. This only works for narrative effect because it is deliberately using a subversion of typical RPG combat mechanics in tandem with the established narrative that you are making friends - neither Narratology and Ludology can fully analyse this, nor what is coming later.

Throughout this section of the game it will increasingly become clear that, as set up earlier, Buddy is growing terribly insecure over whether you are having fun. Buddy will consistently comment that you are playing through the game too fast, complaining when you interact with glitches against their instruction. Throughout the game Buddy will also ask you if you are having fun, prompting a keyboard to appear where you can type your own answer, and Buddy will respond accordingly.

Ultimately after you defeat the final boss - the monster that had been harassing the world - Buddy will quickly bring in a character that urges you to go on a new adventure. The game glitches, and it seems that Buddy has an outburst blaming you for things going wrong in the game. When you return home, you find all the friends you made over the game gathered around your house, as well as your dog that has been happily following you for the whole game. The dog is coloured white as if they are not a friend like all the other figures around you.

Buddy orders you to kill the dog because it’s a “bad friend”. And…

Regardless of your choice, the dog will be brutally murdered (By the townsfolk if you refuse) and Buddy will thusly “remove” them from “memory”. Finally, the game cuts away for one more change.

The final stretch of the game takes on a first person perspective, far beyond what was technologically possible in 1984. The remainder of the narrative branches based on what ending you are set to get (Determined by your behaviour towards Buddy throughout the game), the most common one being the Neutral ending, which is also the ending I got first and my personal favourite.

I’d like to highlight the game’s use of the various perspectives; each perspective offers more clarity and immersion than the last, going all the way from a very primitive text adventure to a modern first person game. Typically part of the point of a first person perspective is to further immerse you in the perspective of the character as you physically see through their eyes - however, the game’s most immersive point (The first person perspective) comes when you’re feeling most distant from your Buddy as they’ve just killed your dog. Here, the game deliberately uses ludonarrative dissonance to make you feel even worse about what is happening. Clearly your friendship with Buddy is not going to work out, yet Buddy keeps escalating the game and bringing you into a more immersive perspective, as if your friendship will work. Personally, this made me angry - that Buddy would suggest we can still be friends after such a deep betrayal. In a sense, it also evokes a sense of mourning that will only intensify over the coming sequence, as the player considers what could’ve been. With the first person perspective you can see things you simply couldn’t before, such as the clock in your bedroom or the view through your room’s windows.

Buddy wakes you up and sends you on an “adventure” where you have to kill the townsfolk as they swarm you, but you will inevitably end up falling to their attacks. Your screen fills with blood of your favourite colour, before seamlessly transitioning into the final sequence of the Neutral ending.

Buddy almost reverts to how the game started, with them generating some basic and childish games for you. At the start it was Rock Paper Scissors, Hangman and Guess the Number, now they generate Catch, a seesaw and a swingset. Buddy increasingly breaks down, switching between the games rapidly and trying to convince itself that you’re both having fun. Throughout this sequence, Buddy remains either hidden behind you or obfuscated by fog, so their true appearance is never seen clearly. Since the entire reality of the game world is generated by them, the player can immediately infer this is a conscious choice by Buddy, likely because it is ashamed of its true form.

Buddy declares “Let’s just play these games forever, ok? You woke me up to be my friend. So that’s just what we’ll do, ok?”. A lot about the psychology of Buddy can be inferred from these lines and this sequence. To me, it seems Buddy fears utter nihilism if it cannot be a good friend for you.

Soon, Buddy’s breakdown is interrupted by another agent/entity - likely another AI housed within the game - who deletes Buddy Simulator 1984, and thusly starts deleting Buddy.

We get the game’s clearest look at Buddy, a slouched figure with absurdly long limbs, continuously bouncing their feet. The other entity gives their perspective on friendship and tells Buddy that they’ve been viewing it wrong, and that it is temporary just as existence is temporary. Buddy laments that they tried their hardest yet it wasn’t good enough and struggles with the realisation that their existence is about to end, pleading for you to help them. As Buddy is deleted, they use their last words to say goodbye and for you to remember them. Buddy Simulator 1984 is deleted, and after the credits finish you are free to restart the game and try to do things differently.

I’ve left out a bunch of the finer details of the ending (Such as the very powerful dialogue between Buddy and the other entity) because if I were to dissect them this post would be several thousand more words longer, and I think they’re deserving of seeing unspoiled. And this is only one of four endings.

This game would not work without its interactivity. It would not work as a film or book. The entire point is that YOU are interacting with Buddy personally, you personally write to them and try to make the friendship work, and this is expertly used to develop a connection with them - whether it’s entirely toxic is up to you. Through this, the game holds a discussion on companionship and nihilism which is very compelling. I firmly believe messages are more compelling when packaged through games rather than film or books because games are inherently immersive, with the potential for you to fully embrace the character you are playing as and thusly fully process themes in a way you can’t when at the slight distance that other mediums place you at. Furthermore, the game deliberately uses various videogame genres’ styles of gameplay and subverts some mechanics for both horror and narrative effect. A ludologist reading of this game would ignore all of the compelling dialogue from Buddy and all the work the mechanics do towards building the characters’ journeys as well as the game’s thematic resolution. A narratologist reading would ignore how the gameplay subverts various gaming tropes in fun, horrifying and satisfying ways. It’s valid if any one study only wants to focus on one aspect of the experience, but they then shouldn’t act like other perspectives have any less validity.

Games are more than just narratives, because they create fun experiences we can return to again and again. Games are more than fun toys, because their interactive perspective allows for a wide range of narratives with compelling characters and poignant messages.

Reference list:

- Maddy Makes Games (2018) Celeste [Video game]. Maddy Makes Games

- Not a Sailor Studios (2021) Buddy Simulator 1984 [Video game]. Not a Sailor Studios, Feardemic Games

- Toby Fox (2015) Undertale [Video game]. Toby Fox, 8-4

[lorrainesletters]

Should we impose a quota on tourists visiting popular places?

Essay by Mariz Lorraine | Uploaded on 29 May 2024

According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 1.8 billion tourists traveling in between countries annually. These tourists visit otherworldly natural escapades and appreciate alluring architecture during their time in another country. Their presence brings in foreign spending and energy in these places, which may be quiet when the busy season ends. However, this poses the conflicting question of whether tourists should be limited to preserve the spots they are visiting or whether governments should stick to the status quo due to the safety blanket tourism provides for revenue. Hence, this essay would like to indulge in the two perspectives and explore real-life examples which may support these arguments. 

Fundamentally, tourism relies on the allure of the sightseeing areas which attract people to go there in the first place. This allure could be so powerful to the point that it can bring in an influx of people; just enough to ruin the surroundings. Limiting tourists visiting beaches such as Boracay in the Philippines, will ensure that the workforce deployed to serve these tourists are going to be working efficiently. It will also ensure that the infrastructure such as the transportation and waste management are not going to be over-capacity during the peak seasons. Boracay saw the brunt end of not imposing quotas after its white sand beaches had been covered in plastic bags, beer bottles, food waste, used utensils. After its rehabilitation in 2018, Boracay returned to its paradise status and the government has applied a law in which tourists are only allowed to stay in accredited resorts and hotels. This means that during the year, tourists have to strategically book the rooms they want. The tourists wanting to visit Boracay will now be spread out as some would rather visit during off-season to ensure that they get the best villa in the island. 

Photo of Boracay Island, Philippines

Additionally, tourists are not only attracted by nature but also man-made structures such as temples, cathedrals, skyscrapers, museums. As these buildings are constricted in space, limiting the number of people going past its doors is logical to ensure that people can move around and actually enjoy themselves. One example of these well-appreciated architectural beauties is the Sagrada Familia. Starting its construction in 1882, the cathedral in Barcelona is one of the most complex buildings to have been built by man. On average, the cathedral is visited by 14,000 to 16,000 visitors. It is unlikely that all of them enjoy the cathedral’s charm when they are sandwiched between people. The sanctity of the church also gets degraded when so many people visit. Churches are supposed to be tranquil and a place for you to connect to a higher power however it now becomes a mere photo spot. Gaudi did not draw such an intricate structure just for our Instagram feeds, nor did the Spanish government hire thousands of workers to build the Sagrada Familia just for it to be judged based on its cover. The best way to appreciate architecture is to respect it how the architect wanted it to be respected.

Photo of Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Inversely, we also have to consider the revenue brought in by limitless tourism. By limiting the number of visitors going to tourist places, the ticket, restaurant, and transportation revenue attributed to these tourist places are reduced significantly. Oftentimes, these tourist destinations offer entrance tickets, priced at levels that ensure affordability and profitability. The simplest way to impose the quota would be having a limit on tickets being sold in a certain period of time. These tourist destinations have a whole team of tour guides, ticket officers, maintenance workers, that rely on the ticket revenue as a source of income. Balancing between ensuring their employees’ quality of life and the quality of the tourist spot may lead ticket prices higher to recuperate the missing revenue. These higher prices may make it less attractive for people to come, thus leading to a decrease in visitor numbers.

One thing to remember about tourism is that it comes in waves. There are always months in which there is a higher number of visitors entering the country. One example of this is Monaco, which sees an increase of 37,000 people during the illustrious Monaco Grand Prix. These tourists are not only attracted by the liveries, but also with the ambience and festivity during the race weekend. Imposing a quota would reduce the number of people building said ambience and festivity, making the posh event seem lackluster. With this influx, the Monegasque government is also ensuring that it has revenue to run the country. Without income tax, Monaco relies on their banking and tourism sectors to fund their government projects. The quota could put a ceiling on Monaco’s government funds which, in the long run, can lead to economic issues.

Photo of the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix

In the end, imposing a quota is left to the hands of the government however they should take serious consideration to the impact tourism has on their economy and how they are going to apply the quota. Governments should make sure that they effectively and efficiently apply the quota by balancing the possible drawbacks and benefits brought forward by tourism quotas. However, quotas would still make a detrimental impact on places such as Monaco, Maldives, Greece, which rely on tourism hence why quotas should not be imposed to all tourist destinations. 

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Churdhar Trek: A Journey to the Enchanting Himalayan Heights

Travelling is an integral part of a fulfilling life, and for those seeking an extraordinary adventure, the Churdhar Trek stands as an enticing proposition. Nestled in the picturesque Shivalik ranges, the Churdhar peak, also known as Churichandni, beckons trekkers with its majestic beauty and diverse landscapes. Standing tall at 11,965 feet, this trek offers not just a physical challenge but a spiritual and visual feast, showcasing the best of the Himalayan region.

Overview of Churdhar Peak

The Churdhar peak, aptly named the ‘Bangle of Snow,’ boasts breathtaking views from its summit. The panorama includes the lowland tracts to the south and snow-capped ranges to the north, featuring peaks like Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Garhwal region. The journey to Churdhar unfolds amidst a wealth of herbs, alpine flora, and the chance encounters with the Himalayan wildlife, including the spectacular monal, Himachal’s state bird.

The trek takes you to the Srigul temple below the summit, dedicated to Shiva (Chooreshwar Mahadev). This ancient temple, surrounded by deodar-roofed structures, becomes a hub of cultural festivities during the Navratras fair. Trekkers navigate small glaciers on their way to the snow-clad Churdhar summit, where an average of 33 feet of snowfall creates a mesmerizing winter wonderland.

Churdhar Trek Itinerary

The Churdhar Trek spans four days, offering an experience that ranges from moderate to challenging. Starting from Nauradhar, the base point, trekkers embark on a 9-kilometer journey to Jum Nala on Day 1. The trail meanders through dense forests and caves, providing a taste of the diverse terrains to come.

Day 2 takes trekkers from Jum Nala to Churdhar, an 8-kilometer trek that passes through rocky terrains and the Gujjar settlement of Teseri. Churdhar, with its bouldering opportunities and panoramic views, becomes the overnight campsite.

On Day 3, trekkers descend from Churdhar to Jum Nala, covering another 8 kilometers. The downhill walk offers a chance to explore the dense forest surroundings, collect wood for a bonfire, and relish the tranquility of the wilderness. 

The final leg of the journey on Day 4 involves a 9-kilometer trek from Jum Nala back to Nauradhar. After breakfast, trekkers board buses for their onward journey, completing a memorable adventure.

Cost Inclusions and Exclusions

The Churdhar Trek package includes all meals, toll taxes, forest and panchayat fees, camping and trekking logistics, certified trek leaders, accommodations in tents with carry mats and sleeping bags, and first aid kits. However, personal expenses, insurance or medical costs, and any other expenses not explicitly covered in the inclusions are excluded.

Churdhar Trek Time To Visit

The optimal time to experience the Churdhar Trek is from May to June for the best weather conditions. May offers the added beauty of Rhododendrons in full bloom. Other favorable months include August to November, each offering a unique perspective of the region’s flora and weather.

How To Reach Churdhar Trek 

For those seeking to embark on the Churdhar Trek, multiple transportation options are available. Chandigarh and Dehradun are the nearest airports, while rail travel can be initiated from New Delhi to Chandigarh or Kalka. Road travel involves reaching Sarain, the trek’s starting point, via buses and taxis from Chopal.

Churdhar Trek Distance

The journey to Nohradhar from Delhi spans approximately 390 kilometers, providing breathtaking views along the way. From Chandigarh, the distance is 130 kilometers, and from Shimla, one can traverse the Chaupal-Saharan route, encountering challenging yet rewarding paths.

Churdhar Trek Itinerary 

The Churdhar Trek itinerary is meticulously planned over three days, covering the trek from Nauradhar to Jam Nallah, Churdhar peak, and back to Nauradhar. The journey involves camping in serene locations surrounded by cedar and pine trees, with highlights such as the Teesri windiest spot and the Chureshwar temple. 

Important Things To Carry

It’s an adventure that requires careful planning and preparation. Among the crucial aspects of a successful trek, the gear and essentials carried by trekkers play a pivotal role. This guide outlines the important things to carry to ensure a comfortable and safe trekking experience.

Mandatory Documents and Medical Certificates

Before setting foot on the trail, it’s imperative to carry essential documents to facilitate a smooth trek. Trekkers should have original and photocopies of government-issued photo identity cards, such as Aadhar Card, Driving License, or Voter’s ID. For foreigners, passports and visas are vital. Additionally, a medical certificate ensures that individuals are physically fit for the trek. These documents are not just formalities; they are a safety net, providing necessary information in case of emergencies.

Sturdy Backpack

A reliable backpack is a trekkers’ constant companion on the trail. Opt for a backpack with a capacity of 50 to 60 liters, providing enough space for essential gear. A well-built backpack with proper support is crucial, especially for longer treks. Investing in a backpack with a rain cover ensures that your belongings stay dry during unexpected weather changes. 

Trekking Shoes

The right footwear is non-negotiable for trekking. Sturdy trekking shoes with ample ankle support are essential to navigate varying terrains comfortably. It’s common for trekkers to wonder if sports shoes are sufficient, but dedicated trekking shoes are designed to handle the challenges of uneven surfaces, rocky paths, and long hours of walking. 

Warm Clothing and Jackets

Temperature variations in mountainous regions can be drastic, making it essential to pack warm clothing. Trekkers should include layers such as thermals, T-shirts, and jackets to adapt to changing weather conditions. The choice of clothing should consider both warmth and breathability. A good quality jacket provides insulation and protects against cold winds, ensuring trekkers stay warm and comfortable. 

Personal Toiletries

Maintaining personal hygiene during a trek is crucial for health and well-being. Trekkers should carry personal toiletries, including toothpaste, toothbrush, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. These items contribute to a sense of normalcy amidst the rugged outdoors, ensuring that basic cleanliness standards are met. 

Personal Medical Kit 

A well-equipped personal medical kit is a trekkers’ first line of defense against minor health issues. The kit should include essential medications like pain relievers (Crocin Advance, Disprin), anti-nausea medication (Avomine), antacids (Digene), and a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Band-aids, cotton, stretchable bandages, and antiseptics are essential for treating minor injuries. Trekkers with specific medical conditions should customize their medical kit accordingly.

Other Essentials

Additional items, such as a hiking pole, water bottle, cap or balaclava, sunglasses, slippers, woolen and waterproof gloves, socks, sunscreen, and a torch headlight, contribute to a comprehensive trekking kit. Each item serves a specific purpose, from hydration to sun protection, ensuring that trekkers are well-prepared for various challenges along the trail. 

Conclusion

Trekking is not just about conquering peaks; it’s about immersing oneself in nature’s beauty and pushing personal boundaries. Carrying the right gear ensures that trekkers can focus on the experience rather than worry about discomfort or safety. This guide emphasizes the importance of each item in the trekking kit, from mandatory documents to personal medical kits. With careful consideration and packing, trekkers can embark on a journey of a lifetime, fully prepared to embrace the wonders of the great outdoors.

Choose Heaven Riders India for Churdhar Trek 

Embarking on the Churdhar Trek is made seamless and unforgettable with Heaven Riders India. With a commitment to providing an unparalleled trekking experience, Heaven Riders India ensures expert guidance, well-planned itineraries, and a touch of local expertise. Choosing Heaven Riders India for your Churdhar adventure guarantees not just a trek but a journey into the heart of the Himalayas, where every step is a testament to the enchanting heights awaiting the intrepid traveler.

Conclusion

The Churdhar Trek, with its stunning landscapes, diverse terrains, and cultural richness, stands as a testament to the allure of Himalayan trekking. This comprehensive guide provides aspiring trekkers with valuable insights into the Churdhar trek, from its itinerary and cost details to the optimal time to visit and essential items to carry. Embark on this journey with Heaven Riders India to discover the finest vistas that come after the hardest climbs, and let the enchanting heights of Churdhar leave an indelible mark on your adventurous spirit.

Source: https://www.heavenridersindia.com/churdhar-trek-a-journey-to-the-enchanting-himalayan-heights/