#can you believe it.... i started researching and writing at the end of august

[billyshakesp]

Conceptualising 10,000 Years

Yes, this is another post about how the ten-thousand-year-old primordial saints of the Resurrection are, indeed, very old. But the tricky thing about human minds is that they're really bad at comprehending massive numbers. So, in this post, I hope to give you, my dear reader, an understanding of what it means to be ten thousand years old.

Let us imagine, just for a moment, that today (28 August, 2024) marks the close of the myriadic year of our Lord–that far-off King of Necromancers, that blessed Resurrector of Saints!–and the Lyctors reach ten thousand years old today. From this premise, I believe we can better grasp just how old these people are, since we can timeline their lives based on real-world events. So, without further ado...

8000 BCE - The Great Resurrection. Earth is still experiencing the last great Ice Age. Woolly mammoths are still thriving, and, according to some estimates, the last of the smilodon and American lion species still lives. HS Sapiens are still in the Stone Age. Earliest records of ovens used for pottery.

7700 BCE - Lyctors reach 300 years old. Farmers first domesticate wheat in the area now known as Mesopotamia. Humans have yet to develop advanced agricultural technology, instead relying on very primitive methods.

7000 BCE - Lyctors are now 1000 years old. Domestication of goats in Mesopotamia.

6700 BCE- Lyctors are 1300 years old. Domestication of pigs in Mesopotamia.

6200 BCE - Lyctors are 1800 years old. The Bronze Age begins! Earliest evidence of the smelting of bronze dates back to roughly 6200 BCE in Asia Minor. With the advent of bronze, humans are able to make more effective and more durable tools.

6000 BCE - Lyctors are 2000 years old. First settlements along the Nile River

5500 BCE - Lyctors are 2500 years old. Earliest evidence of Ancient Sumer.

5000 BCE - Lyctors are 3000 years old. Major agricultural developments occurred around this time, including the first evidence for the usage of irrigation.

4000 BCE -Lyctors are 4000 years old. Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth. Humans develop the first cities around this time, and wool is first used as in textiles.

3100 BCE - Lyctors are 4900 years old. Construction on Stonehenge begins. Recorded history emerges around this time. The rise of Ancient Egypt begins. Earliest cuneiform texts date back to this time.

2334 BCE - Lyctors are 5666 years old. Sargon of Akkad is King of the Akkadian Empire.

2154 BCE - Lyctors are 5846 years old. Akkadian empire dissolves after less than 200 years wow!

2000 BCE - Lyctors are 6000 years old. Ancient Minoan civilization begins.

1341 BCE - Lyctors are 6659 years old. Birth of King Tut.

1250 BCE - Lycors are 6750 years old. Ancient Chinese and Ancient Olmec civilization begins.

800 BCE - Lyctors are 7200 years old. Start of the Classical Period.

500 CE - Lyctors are 8500 years old. End of the Classical Period. Sorry, too lazy to write all of it out. Plus, there's a billion resources on it.

900 CE - Lyctors are 8900 years old. Start of the Dark Ages.

1492 CE - Lyctors are 9492 years old. Planning of Dios Apate Major begins around here in the Locked Tomb timeline. Columbus "discovers" the Americas (and proceeds to slaughter indigenous peoples)

2000 - The myriadic year of our lord.

I hope you understand how old these people are. DISCLAIMER: Not a historian. Do not claim to be. These dates are from cursory research and could be inaccurate. Furthermore, this is nowhere near a complete account of human history, especially towards the end, when I got really bored.

Ty <3

[okanra]

⚠️ Note: This post is about Dragon Ball Super, and is written mostly for recap and research purposes, but it involves a few real-life related topics and will be pretty long so you should treat this like a blog post. If you’re comfortable with this and still curious to see what this is all about, keep your mind open and let’s go! 🤓

MY THOUGHTS/CONTROVERSIAL TAKE ON THE CURRENT STATE OF DRAGON BALL SUPER and DRAGON BALL FRANCHISE AS A WHOLE, AND THOUGHTS OF THE FUTURE OF THE BRAND

- PART 1: INTRODUCTION OF THE COMICS and TIMELINES -

1. INTRODUCTION:

Hello everyone, if this is your first time seeing me on your dashboard, my name is Kah and I’m an artist who have been working on a Dragon Ball webcomic named “Trunks and Goten in High school AU”, starring Goten and Trunks since 2021 and is still ongoing.

It’s used to appear on Google a lot until the current arc of Super happened, and Elon Musk’s decision to deleted the Moment feature on Twitter (that was the main link that mostly appeared on Google about my comic). It’s an art project that I’ve been letting it sleep inside my head for ~20 years and finally decided to manifest it into existence while infusing my style in it, until it got unexpectedly “canonized” by the Dragon Ball Super creators in late 2022 while the project is still in the beginning stage, in a way that I couldn’t predict it.

It changed everything afterwards of course. For both myself and the fandom, and maybe, the impact of this will be bigger than we think it will be 🤔

I know there’s nothing for you to believe in what I’m about to say, and I won’t force you to believe them too, of course, you have no obligation to do that. That’s exactly why you should try and read this and decide of what to think yourself, it can be something quite worthwhile.

The time this blog post is written is in January the 3rd, 2023. The incident was in December 2022, I will include timelines and many other articles down below, as well as images for you to see things more clearly. For the current me, this post is a recap for research purposes, and since I’ll be using myself and my work as an example, there’ll be some unwanted personal feelings unconsciously mixed in, but I’ll try to keep my mind as most neutral as possible.

You’re about to read my real thoughts on the current arc of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero since chapter 88, the similarity of my webcomic in it and many other deeper things, as well as my theory/glimpse at future of Dragon Ball franchise as a whole. I hope this read would be entertaining to you.

2. THE TIMELINE:

Before we get into the main topic, here’re some of my character designs and background visuals for my webcomic. If you can, read through some chapters as well, it’s not much but it will give you an idea of what to come next.

Ok so the first question to ask is, when did my webcomic project start? I say it’s around May 2021, in the midst of the Covid-era, when mostly everyone was quarantined at their homes. This webcomic art project is drawn so I can practice my drawing, storytelling and creative writing skills. It’s an indie project through and through, that takes a lot of time, effort and love. I don’t profit much from it tho, I mean my patreon is even opened in August last year and I didn’t even promote it much on any social media platform other than Twitter sometimes. So yes, the main purposes of it were mostly what I wrote above.

When did the current arc of Super start? Since 20th, December 2022. After the Granolah arc of the Dragon Ball Super manga ended, this is the arc that is currently running: the Super Hero arc. In appearances, there’re a bit of similar vibes from the manga and my webcomic in 2021, and while it may sound farfetched and like false accusation for everyone else, my intention is not exactly aiming towards that, it aims for something lying deeper. This is just the tip of the iceberg, that I would analyze and share a bit of it with you. Like I said, I would try my best to write it out as neutrally as possible.

From here on out, I’ll begin to list the entire timeline that leads to the current state:

- The last time Goten and Trunks appeared as main characters in canon was almost 30 years ago, I was talking about the Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT versions. Goten and present Trunks were not favored characters by fans, even when they have a small fanbase and have some fanworks throughout the years, they were still mostly listed as a funny dumb duo and unmarketable by the franchise. This leads to these two characters not being developed and touched upon by their creators for many years, because Toriyama is the type of artist that would draw because he likes it, yes, but he would cater to the masses of fans more (for example, a lot of his decision in the writing of Dragon Ball was suggested to alter into something else that fit the general audience more and he would mostly agreed, like his desire for Gohan to be the main character after the Cell arc, but Goku was brought back into the picture due to his iconic popularity and flat-character type, and that’s how we got 30 years of Goku’s journey). (what is a flat character: here)

This personality of his would later have a hand in him selling his ownership and license of Dragon Ball to Shueisha (main license holder), Toei (animation license holder) and Bandai (merchandise license holder). Akira Toriyama is the creator in name only, but big decisions are not depended on him. He’s pretty much like Stan Lee - the creator of Spider Man, but all the copyrights and licenses are hold by Marvel.

- In late 2019, I decided to re-picked up the Dragon Ball manga due to nostalgia. While remembering about my love for Goten and Trunks and seeing the lacked of content for them. Being forgotten by their own creators for unjustified reasons, I decided to write and draw my own story for Goten and Trunks, and published it to the internet since May 2021 on many social media platforms, but Twitter is where I’m the most active. And Twitter is the main international platform for many official account of Japanese brands, including manga, anime and of course, Dragon Ball.

- Any loyal Dragon Ball fans in the fandom community will know they mostly love the Toriyama style, and most will try to make their fan works in his style to honor him and the show itself (and will get more attention from other fans). And even though my webcomic is not as favorable as other Toriyama style fan arts and fanseries/fancomic due to the personal unique art style (I have my own drawing style) and differences in tone and storytelling (while the show mostly veers in the humor/gag/action direction, mine is more towards the dramatic/angsty/introspective side), it did raise the awareness to other fans in the community about the potential of the “forgotten half Saiyans”. Especially when two of my good friends that I usually talked and hyped with on Twitter are a Dragon Ball fanartist (@/amartbee) and a Dragon Ball content creator/YouTuber (@SLOplays) that always share official news of the show on his page, I included their handle names in here just for a few examples, in no way do I want to pull them in this whole mess of course. But anyway, both have a big following on Twitter, have big influences and love Dragon Ball.

- And they love my webcomic. The fanartist shared my webcomics a lot to her page and her community (blessed her), and while the content creator didn’t share it (except for a few times), he felt the love I have for Goten and Trunks that I put in my fan comics, and love them more and shared that feeling to his fans as well. So through my and their influences, the fans during the covid-era began to see the light on these characters, and want to see more of their potential as well as love them more. During this time, the Dragon Ball Super manga was in the Moro and Granolah arc, still focused on the journey of Goku and Vegeta defeating opponents in space, because they’re the fan-favorite, the icon of the brand for many years and Toei/Shueisha felt right to continue milking them for content and marketable purposes. Until the midst of 2021...

- After my webcomic started in summer of 2021 for a few months, the official account/website of Dragon Ball began to dropped the news of “DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO” movie (in production) in late 2021. And everyone was curious over what’s this all about.

- Then in February 2022, we had the full key visual for DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO movie like this. “That’s something we have never seen before right?”. Yes, indeed it was. It was. But everyone was ecstatic, including me.

- During the time of the movie being in the production stage, several visuals and interviews from the animation staff member as well as Toriyama himself were published online, twitter was always the fastest of course. Toriyama said he wanted to make Piccolo as the main character for this movie only, but Toei wanted to include Gohan as the co-protagonist to lure in the Saiyan fans, which held the more dominant side of the fanbase. Hence why the movie had two protagonists that were Piccolo and Gohan. But the weird thing is, they decided to finally include the Super’s teenager version of Goten and Trunks this time. They were drawn by Toriyama, but I can tell based on how good he was as a character designer, Toriyama himself didn’t think much about their designs due to how simple they were. This made me feel like they were not at the forefront of his mind, and more like he was “told to do”.

- When the movie was finally released across the globe from June 2022 until the rest of the year, we found out about the scene with Goten/Trunks was only about 2 minutes, and they did nothing major in the movie. This would later confirmed my theory of this movie being an experiment and a very clever survey from Toei to know the taste of the international fans at the time with characters other than Goku and Vegeta (because they had been milking them for almost 30 years and even when these two are still the icon, the taste of ithe fans have changed).

Despite that, their 2 minutes on-screen was enough for me, my friends, our friends and followers/fans to expressed our love for these two through likes, shares, fanarts and everything else.

- During this time, I still worked on my passion project aka the Goten and Trunks webcomic series, and with a few fan arts mixed in along the way. Still hyped with my friends and followers as a fan on many social media platforms. Love them, the hype in this fandom is real.

- After the movie was aired for a few months, in August 2022 chapter 87 ended with a note from the editorial staff that said the manga would go on hiatus to prepared for the next arc. This would later confirm my theory of “this break” being the time when the whole franchise and “Dragon Ball” brand’s marketing/research department to check on the stats from the movie (that acted as a survey for international fans) to know which direction to go next.

- Until August 2022, the official account/website of Dragon Ball dropped the visuals of the next arc, which included Goten and Trunks as super heroes, and this arc would be the arc before the Super Hero movie with them as the protagonists.

This is when I began to feel a queasy feeling that whispered something like “that was... Odd. Good but... Odd”. Because from the beginning of Dragon Ball Super until now, it has always been a Goku and Vegeta’s journey to space, there was no build up, no anything to lead to Goten and Trunks being protagonists at this point. Below are some examples from the Moro arc, they still remained in kid’s forms like what they have been for so many years like this.

- In November 2022, there’re leaks about the next arc of Dragon Ball Super aka chapter 88, and we found out this arc will focus on Trunks and Goten’s high school life, with Trunks as a protagonist and learn how to be a superhero.

This was when everything came crashing down on my head, shattered my rose colored glasses and connected all the dots. I decided to wait a bit longer to confirm my theory by reading chapter 88 and see the content in it. While most of the fans were ecstatic, because they finally got what they wanted: Goten and Trunks finally got their spotlight in canon; I was feeling nervous more.

- In 20th December 2022, chapter 88 got released and while it caught the eye of many fans from both Japan and the international, the first chapter of the arc got mixed reviews due to it focuses too much on Trunks’s crush on Mai to the point of forcing readers to accept it. I wrote this thread right after reading chapter 88, giving out my prediction. And later today, it got confirmed by Toyotaro himself in an interview: he did intend to put in lots of romance in this arc.

- But after all of this, I mostly saw the weird and lots of lots of “coincidence” in my theme and the Super manga theme. They are both alike, and TOTAL POLAR OPPOSITE. Imagine two similar (or same) products, but they are being produced under two different brands (in this case, it’s from a company vs a homemade one), with opposite directions and purposes.

We’ll continue the next part after this, it’ll dive deeper into the real life topics to emphasize my points and researchers. The theme of the next post aka part 2 will be:

THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE DRAGON BALL SUPER, THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE MANGA WITH FANS AND FANWORKS, AND THE FUTURE OF THE DRAGON BALL FRANCHISE AS A WHOLE

- end part 1 -

[marengogo]

Rambling in INFJese - Part 7: ARMY across; JM down

Perreo Pesau’ - by Rauw Alejandro  [Afrodisíaco]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

🐺 — 🐺 — 🐺— 

For the longest time now I’ve debated on whether to make this a “Naked - Series” post or an “INFJese - Series”. When I write posts for the Naked Series I am able to dive deep and completely immerse, because I am able to reason through events given on the multitude of provided facts. Hence I can confidently express my opinions, while obviously trading carefully.

In this case however, I ended up going for INFJese because there is so much to unpack and ironically enough, even though they are clearly visible and meant to be so, they are also the one thing about JK we haven’t heard him discuss or ever directly allude to (except for the number “7” of course), which is an indication to just how personal they are to him. Yet, we can still make a couple of educated guesses and respectful speculation about them; about JK’s Tattooes and a bit of JM’s as well.

This post was brought about by this ask → HERE. Originally, I was just going to reply to it directly, sticking to the POLYC question. However, as I kept researching, questioning and reasoning, I had too many questions formulating and all the answers that I found kept slowly taking me back, one tattoo at a time, to the very beginning. So here we are, rambling about tattoos with a naked-series undertone, I can already tell…😬

So 🎵Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start 🎶the date is August 11, 2019. BTS performs at the LOTTE DUTY FREE FAMILY CONCERT, which will turn out to be their last performance before they embark, for the very first time, a period of break as announced by BH in the following statement:

From this point on, our boys will take a “break” and enjoy their free time. For the most part each member spent time doing things they wanted and didn’t really meet with each other, except on one occasion: JK’s birthday. Jimin and J-Hope would visit our golden maknae for his birthday. JM would bring him presents, a cake, take a picture and post it on twitter on September 1, 2019. Now if you are a JKKer you will have already seen that picture, what however you may not have noticed is that, it appears that JK already had the smiley face tattoo on his finger, as pointed out by this person (don’t worry, I’ll reveal the blackout picture in a sec…)

Here is the original tweet so you can see for yourself, and make your own conclusion on whether or not it appears that he already has the smiley face, or a temporary version of it:

At this point in time JK is happily enjoying his break, exercising to his heart content, potentially has his first tattoo, perhaps as a birthday present to himself. He’s also celebrated his birthday with friends, while being surprised by one particular member JM. Considering the important JK places on birthdays, and special days, I’d say that all was more than peachy in KooKooLand. 

However, as life often does, when you reach any happiness-related peak, due to happiness’ ephemeral nature, a descent/fall is bound to happen soon after. September 8, 2019 rolls around. A certain picture starts circulating and trending:

The picture’s source, as always, is uncertain and debated:

Some say it came from JK’s brother's IG account (but by that time he’d already closed his previous account…)

Some say it came from a 2018 picture found on pintrest (which, common now 😑 …)

Some say it came from an OP who mate JK (this is the version I tend to believe, I meddled through a lot of tweets stating this, as I think that picture is indeed JK’s hand, not so much for the ARMY tattoo, but for the 0613 one under his thumb) 

Anyways, as always, the bird app began to chirp:

At this point, in this picture that is circulating, his hand only has:

0613

ARMY 

🥴

Crown

Though we can’t see the full hand from that picture, so the 💜 might have already been there, his hand will eventually have:

(💜)

ARMY logo (this is also a bit debatable, because of the sleeve in the Churro-Pic we can’t tell if it was there, but the first time it was officially seen was October 9, 2019 on their way to their concert in Saudi Arabia)

+ + +

J

Now, it is perfectly normal to go back and finish a tattoo, but this usually is, I do the frame and then take my time and do the coloring, which is what the “The hand tattoo is a representative of the members”-brigade says. However, JK’s hand tattoo has no color filling or complicated design, I believe that if writing the members name had been his intent he would have done it all in one go, as it is NOT a complicated tatt to get, and getting in parts would have made NO SENSE.  

Anyways,  this bird app is chirping and nobody seems to know where the picture came from but eventually the consensus is that it is fake because; “why the hell would JK go around with ARMY tattooed on his hand?!” like so:

And to this point all that JK might be seeing is himself trending for a tattoo he actually has and eventually we would see, not a very bothersome scenario, but most likely one he could live with, but then came September 16, 2019 well into September 17, 2019. They came in like wrecking balls. 

September 16, 2019 JK (and the members) is at Incheon airport getting ready to go to Australia to film Bon Voyage 4, and 🎶Oop! There is! 🎵 his first time publicly showing his tattoos. 

Cool right? But then, and I don't know exactly the time frame because it all seems to have happened at the same time please remember I’m a 2020 ARMY, JK is shown back hugging and drinking with  the now infamous tattoo artist Mijoo on a leaked CCTV camera footage and all hell broke loose. All sorts of speculations are made but the most popular one is that Mijoo is JK’s girlfriend and following are the actions that were instantly taken (by instant I mean 16 were the rumours. 17 the BH statement was made):

Mijoo denied being in a relationship with JK (here → https://www.allkpop.com/article/2019/09/tattoo-artist-denies-shes-dating-btss-jungkook)

BH denied Mijoo being in a relationship with JK (here → https://www.soompi.com/article/1352928wpp/big-hit-entertainment-denies-bts-member-jungkooks-dating-rumors)

I cannot imagine what was going through JK’s mind, given that the way it appeared at the time he took off with people shook at his tattoos and landed with people outraged at him allegedly dating someone and don’t even get me started on him apologising to ARMY on the last episode of Bon Voyage 4 … let’s not get into that right now. 

I cannot imagine, but one thing that is for sure is that, going by the Churro-Pic which I think to be real, somewhere between the 8th and 16th of September he potentially added the ARMY logo (unless it was already there), the + + + and the J; the J.

The most infamous J. Because there are so many opinions about it, I think it is only fair that I should share on this post what I think about it as I really do believe it to be an afterthought. Meaning, JK went to get ARMY related tattoos on his hand (even the ARMY logo) just to display his love for ARMY (the crown and the 🥴tho … who knows, right?).

Admittedly, I’m not sure what the “+ + +” are meant to represent but a “J” is a J and this is where it gets tricky as a Jikooker. We have ZERO INFORMATION relating to what happened between September 8 and September 16. This was after jikook was together for JK’s birthday and before the whole “JK scandal”. I have ZERO INFORMATION but I do believe MY PERSONAL OPINION that something happened to make him go and add the J (and all the other hand tattoos). Following are my 3 POSSIBLE theories:

He had it all planned from the very beginning, even before getting the ARMY tattoo,  but was still hesitant on whether to have such a statement on his hand, but then decided to go ahead with it so went back to get that J. (I feel this to be highly unlikely, but who knows right?).

He wanted to add a J meaning Jungkook and when the tattoo artist asked “where would you like it?” He looked at his hand and realised, to his amusement and probably joy,  that adding it above the M, would actually make “JM” and went with it (this is very likely, but who knows right?) because he obviously was okay for it to be perceived as so. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure he would have found another location for that J  it’s not that hard. 

A mix of 1 & 2. After the ARMY tattoo, he might have eventually decided that he did want a Jimin tattoo and realised how perfectly that M was placed; almost like fate …😬 let’s not forget the seriousness with which he makes sure not to have any ring between J and M (this is the theory I personally believe, but who knows right?).

Now we don’t know the reason/s and meaning of his hand tattoos, but through the good and bad times that JK experienced during his well deserved break from August 11 to September 16, 2019, when looking at his hand, and when I say looking, I mean at first glance, I mean right in your face, I mean you don’t even have to second guess even among all the other symbols; the letters read: ARMY across. JM down. FIGHT ME.

I could go on talking about the progression of all his Tattoos up to June 18, 2022 (which is when POLYC posted the finished Tattoo reveal), but that would make this post 1300 pages long, so I’ll some space here —> [  ] just in case I do another post about the progression, or please let me know if you’d like me to do it. For now, let fast forward 3 years into 2022, so that I can finally answer the ASK 🥴. 

Now, I cannot tell you what the eye might have meant and what the time on the clock means, whereas it is a bit easier to speculate on word-tattoo, speculating on drawing-tattoo is like playing the lottery: it could literally mean ANYTHING depending on the person who got them. It would be a bit easier if JK had said even one thing about his art but it is safe to say that they are things that somehow relate to his life and things he believes in or had believed and not anymore? If I had to make an educated guess however:

EYE: Just by googling you will find this definition about the possible meaning of an eye tattoos - Depending on your chosen design, a tattoo of an eye can mean many things. There are several popular ocular pieces, including the Eye of Horus and the Third Eye. That said, in general, the eye is commonly associated with protection, guidance, knowledge, and clarity. - (from the FAQs of this site → https://www.thetrendspotter.net/eye-tattoos/). 

So he has now changed the eye into Bullet Proof. We all know the meaning of that for JK and all members in particular. In general, something bulletproof, is invincible, free from harm, so in a way a sort of protection as well. But once again … who knows right?.

CLOCK: Just by googling you will find this definition about the possible meaning of an clock tattoos  - x Generally speaking, a clock tattoo might symbolize a range of meanings from simply time to life and death, mortality, existence, infinity, endless love, stability, and structure, or referencing a specific special moment in one's life.  (from this site → https://customtattoodesign.ca/tattoo-meanings/clock-tattoo-meanings#:~:text=Generally%20speaking%2C%20a%20clock%20tattoo,special%20moment%20in%20one's%20life. )

My brother made me draw the design for his clock tattoo which he wanted to have on his shoulder. He wanted the 12, 3, 6, and 9 to be substituted with our names initials (myself, him, mom and dad) as we just so happen to have the same initial letter the devil works hard, but my parents worked harder 🙃🙃, and then he wanted the hands of time to indicated the time he was born. So I am very inclined to think that perhaps it was a special moment in his life, even his time of birth but, unless he tells us, we would never know.  

One thing I will say is that, he seems to have added a hand of time in the new version of the time, so he seems to have changed the time. In the original version it seems to be 3 o’clock, but in the new version it seems to be indeed 3:24. It could be intentional, it could be random, thought would feel weird for it to be random, in my opinion, but once again … who knows right?. 

Aaaand last but not least here is my theory with regards to Polyc_sj arm-signature-tattoo.

As we all know all members have gotten their Friendship-7 tattoo from him as shown by the signatures of the members in his studio, and even though I don’t know why Tae didn’t sign, Polyc confirmed on a live he did on the October 23, 2022 that he did indeed give Tae his tattoo, but we do not know the location they also asked about the location of Suga’s and he said it was a secret 🥴🥴🥴. I would have linked an english translation but all I could find were ones of bitter Capulets so yeah … no.

But here is a link to the tweet I put in the image, google translate is “okay” in this instance: https://twitter.com/hangbokmanhaeu/status/1584054029713539073

So when it comes to signatures, if it were just about having their signatures except for Tae from what we’ve seen he has them all. So my opinion is that those are the dates when both JK and JM came to do an actual piece, so: JK February 25 (2.25) & JM April 22 (4.22). February 28, 2022 will be the last time we would see Jk wearing something akin to a short sleeve, before June 18, 2022, which is why I believe that February 25 is the day JK went in to start working on his sleeve (and of course we don’t really know when the videos were taken but it after this, I couldn’t find any other T-Shirt JK pics before June).

Actually the only other one was when JayPark posted with JK, on April 19, 2022 but that was with his old tattoos, which also bring forth another point. Tattoos are made to be seen. They are personal, they are significant but also you have them on your skin because in most cases is like wearing your heart on your sleeves. So I do believe that JK kept them hidden until they were ready to tell us whatever it is he wanted the world to know, which in this case was June 18, 2022. 

And JM? Well well well. Differently from JK we haven’t seen the rest of the crescent moons yet, even though he did tell us he would show us at some point, but my believe is that Polyc might have been the one to finish the rest of the moons, which is a weird thought because he has a very different style and I am not sure how that makes sense but what I have to go on is the following:

March 13, 2022 - Permission To Dance on Stage  in SEOUL, we see JM’ new tattoos.

June 2, 2022 - Incheon Airport (returning from the USA), we spot that JM seems to have even more tattoos under the crescent moon. 

Now, we know BTS left for the USA March 28, 2022 for PTD in LV IN April where he was still pretty clothed when it came to his back. They then came back April 19, 2022 and stayed in SK until May 29, 2022 when they left to go see president Biden. The signature says 4.25, which is why I believe he might have had Polyc finish the moons on April 25, 2022, after Las Vegas, before DC. However until we see the whole tattoo it is just what it is: my speculation. 

Obviously I don’t know the relationship Polyc have with JK and JM, but him having made an actual piece on them and wanting to have a signature from two members of BTS that also seem to have a great appreciation for tattoos, seems to be plausible. In the same way that JK has POLYC tattooed on himself, probably thinking of him as the person who, as he said, saved his arm. 

But maybe there is more to the story, and if so, how are we supposed to know if the people involved don’t tell us? What I actually do think you should be asking yourself is, if Polyc really did finish JM’s crescent moon tattoos, does JM also have a POLYC signature on his back? … who knows right?.

Always respectfully yours 💜,

Marengo.

[thebraxiatelcollection]

Hey April, I feel so behind. I only started following you for your fun Big Finish takes, not realizing you actually write for Big Finish too. 🙈 I'm just now reading your bio. I've always wanted to be an author, so I'm utterly fascinated. How did you get involved with them?

Hi! *Waves!*

So a couple of years ago, big finish ran a Bernice Summerfield competition for people to write a short story for the Bernice Summerfield: True Stories Collection (Winner ended up being Xanna Eve Chown. I'm sure it was rigged as Xanna had already written for the company before).

I entered it for fun and when the winner of the competition was announced, I thought that was that and I would try again for the Paul Spragg writing competition they do every year. A few months went by, and I received an email from the lovely James Goss saying they loved my entry and if I would be interested in pitching to write for an episode of the next boxset that was released in 2019.

Of course, after fangirling about for the rest of the day and rereading, and double re-reading to make sure I hadn't entered a scam, I said yes, absolutely.

I sent a couple of pitches in, but none felt right but then I had an idea of dead and breakfast came and sent that into James and he loved the idea and he paired me with the lovely Simon Guerrier.

I got on well with Simon and we had the opportunity to meet at Gallifrey one and discuss the idea together at the convention as well as hanging out with Lance Parkin and Paul Morris who said lovely things about my writing and sounded thrilled by my idea. (I still can't believe I got to hang out with Lance Parkin and he was so lovely and kind to me).

I have never written a script before, so I did a lot of research about script writing. At the same time, @doctress was also on a writing project as we both kept vaguely posting about our WIPs but until the boxset was actually announced, we both didn't realize that in fact, we had been working on the same boxset! They wrote Burrowed Time, the last story on the boxset.

After I completed my script, and sent it to Simon for edits and we checked it over a few times, we had a deadline of August and sent the script over to James. James responded a few days back saying it's one of the best-drafted scripts he has seen and hardly needed any editing at all.

I was lucky enough to be invited down to the studio to see the whole thing recorded, and it's still one of my favourite moments. Everyone was so kind to me, and I have met David and Lisa a few times before and Jacqueline King once a long time ago at a convention, but it was my first time meeting Sam Hallion and Zaraah Abrahams who were playing my side characters. I will always remember the surreal moment of James leading me into the recording booth and there's David and Lisa, reading the words from my script. Actors I have both admired and respected for years and there they were. It's something I will never forget.

My only regret was that I didn't ask for any of the folks to sign the script, but I was a little shy and the nerves of being around such talented people kicked in. (And yes, I did get to try the famous big finish lunch!).

Writing Dead and Breakfast has been a huge honour and a great learning curve for me, and everyone has been so lovely and kind about my story it makes me proud at the fact that actually, I can write and this is where all those years of writing fanfiction can lead you too.

Never give up, and just keep writing. You can do it. People have stories inside of them that are just waiting to be told and read by others.

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — January 1-7

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

01-01 → The Legend of AnLe Weibo posted a new promotional still of Gong Jun and Dilireba.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted his schedule for the month: 01-03 Fresh livestream, 01-04 magazine photoshoot, and 01-05 to 01-07 show recording. BGM was Everything by eevee.

→ Charlotte Tilbury posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun posted a collection of travel photos from his trip to Yunnan. (1129 kadian) Caption: “Happy New Year!” He also commented on it, “The last one is because I saw a lot of people wanting the original picture” regarding a photo that had been included in the photos he posted on 12-17. He posted the same photos on his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Happy New Year  It's booming and in a trance!” and as two posts on his Instagram [here] and [here], captions: “Happy New Year! (I hesitated for a long time whether to post a story or add a frame on ins, or post separately, after thinking about it I’ll just post separately😂)” and “Last stop!” He also commented on the second Instagram post, “Sorry, new phone, still not used to the input method 😂”

Half an hour later, Gong Jun commented on his Weibo post, “This is the original picture right?” and “I think it’s 70m, but my colleague said that a picture is only a few hundred k... Reposted” (referring to the photo quality I think.)

Fan Observations:  -  Some fans believed that the outfit he was wearing in two of the photos is the traditional men’s wedding attire of the Hani people native to Yunnan. Some fans from the region commented that while it is Hani dress, it’s not wedding attire. (Discussed further under 01-03.)  -  He edited the Weibo post at 11:51, 511 kadian, then again at 12:02, a kadian meaning “love us, love you forever.” No apparent changes were made, as far as I can tell the photo quality referred to in his comment is the same.  -  GJ solos bought water armies to inflate the likes on their comments so that they could line up pfps as the top comments under the Weibo post, leading to fighting between them and CPFs. After Gong Jun’s comments, CPFs were able to line up pfps and the fighting lessened.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Colgate posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Honor posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ Tiffany & Co. posted four of Gong Jun’s photos from 12-31 highlighting their jewelry.

→ The Golden Shield Audiovisual Centre posted a New Year’s greeting from Li Xuezheng, ending with “As literary and art workers, we must overcome difficulties, maintain our original intentions, and forge ahead. You may not see spring in the end of winter, but spring will finally come with the east wind!”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted his 2022 year in review video. Caption: “2022 has been loaded, and the time has gathered into a year's full harvest. Witness the training of acting skills with works, and measure progress with the stage. @ Gong Jun Simon collided and developed in many fields, and met the challenge with enthusiasm.  2023 is starting, may the years always be new, and write the unknown into more possibilities.” BGM is French Vanilla by O’SHAN and Celebrate by Joakim Karud. Fan Observation: While there were two things included from August,* neither of them are dated. He erased August again. 🥺 *Things from August: Go Fighting!′s airing (filmed in June and placed there sequentially in the video) and the VogueFilm cover (08-23). He didn’t include the Downy livestream he had on 08-30 despite including other livestreams.

01-02 → Gong Jun posted a promotional video he did for MARRSGREEN to his personal Weibo. This was reposted by MARRSGREEN.

→ A Singapore radio station aired one of the stolen songs, referring to 813 as an “oopsie” in the discussion introducing it.

→ The Instagram posted a video from the bike trip, a photo of various earrings, and two photos of custom earbuds that look like Zhang Zhehan’s.

→ It was found through Douyin follow recommendations that Zhang Su has both of the Chens’ phone numbers in his phone’s contact list. QuelleVous followed this up saying that he also has one of Wang Peiwen’s (the fake girlfriend’s) phone numbers, unsubstantiated at this time.

→ Colgate posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

01-03 → QuelleVous posted screenshots showing that Gong Jun’s manager 大熊 (Da Xiong) has a marketing account on which she profited from posted casting leaks until summer 2021. QuelleVous says that she has another account with more malicious content, and that she is still posting similar leaks. Gong Jun does not know about these accounts.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun advertising their livestream later that day.

→ Hogan posted Gong Jun’s rehearsal photos from the previous week highlighting their coat. They later also posted six of his New Year’s Eve photos highlighting their shoes.

→ Gong Jun appeared in a livestream for Fresh. [recording] [text translation with clips] Fan Observation: He said that the Hani clothing had been rented for him by his parents. Some fans refuted this, saying that it usually has to be custom ordered; other fans refuted in turn, identifying the place the photos were taken as a homestay that rents out these outfits and pointing out that some of the decorations had fallen off of the one he was wearing.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted six photos of him from the livestream. Caption: “At the beginning of the new year, the warmth continues. Freezing boss @ Gong Jun Simon 's working moment, starting a warm winter adventure⛄️”

01-04 → One of Gong Jun’s staff posted a photo of his New Year’s gift baskets to them, which included a candle from BEAST, a 361° frisbee, Charlotte Tilbury lipstick, Fresh products, two L’Oreal facemasks, a Tangle Teezer hairbrush, and Colgate toothpaste. A certain snack brand was notably absent again.

→ Gong Jun posted four photos of himself holding a record of Li Ronghao’s new album signed “To Gong Jun, in 2023 let’s free soul together” to his personal Weibo. (11:00, 511 kadian with the date) Caption: “In the new year, go to the world together!” He left a comment on it that said, “Every song is good, listen to it all!” He also posted the photos to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption “Leave me alone!  Rainbow farts* mode is on!” and his Instagram, caption: “Showy, stinky, rainbow ass, so nice!” *slang for praising excessively, he’s bragging about getting it

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Yang Yang posted three photos of himself and Gong Jun from the livestream.

→ QuelleVous posted records showing that the tea shop was fined 5000 RMB on 12-29 for violating food manufacturing regulations.

01-05 → The streaming release of the third stolen song, which was supposed to be on 12-29 but was delayed with no given reason to 01-06, was delayed again without a specified new date. A rumor spread that iTunes and Spotify had blocked the new song due to the manipulation of the previous songs’ statistics (sources: x x), supported by Xie Yihua making posts emphasizing that fans should “follow rules.” Whether or not this is actually the case remains to be seen.

→ Whalers who had paid the 20k RMB and given their personal information to apply for the brand’s live event that was supposed to be held on 11-23 recieved their consolation gift for it being cancelled: a notebook, an unsigned photo card, and an individually numbered keychain. This was limited to whalers on mainland China.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The clothing brand YES BY YESIR posted photos and gifs of Gong Jun from the Little Shoulders music video highlighting their shirt. (11:50, 511 kadian) Fan Observations: Some candy with this brand: Zhang Zhehan used to wear it quite often. Gong Jun has previously worn it in photos released on Qixi 2020 and Valentine’s Day 2021.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a seven minute deepfake video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing guitar and singing. (Damage control.)

01-06 → #TheRealZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.

→ Colgate posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. They also later posted a photo showing that they have decked out a highspeed train in advertisements featuring Gong Jun, which will remain in place for the next two months.

→ Gong Jun reposted a post by Deng Chao promoting the latter’s new movie. Added caption: “On the first day of the Lunar New Year, go to the cinema to watch ‘Ping Pong of China’!”

01-07 → Addition 01-08: A Malaysian radio station posted its top chart for the week, placing the unreleased third stolen song in #1. These rankings can be bought, so it is likely a sign that the delay of the song’s release was not planned.

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news  → I’ve put together a post collecting sources about the stolen songs. → Just my opinion: I know the “Gong Jun secretly got married in Yunnan” rumors are meant to be fun, but I think it’s best to avoid spreading them too much considering part of the smears used against him last April claimed that he was secretly married. Better to err on the side of caution.

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2023-01-08.

[topaz-eyes]

Fiction ask meme:

You know I want to pester you about Deluge, but I won't. I'll ask about House Victorian Interlude. What was the inspiration behind that? Did you have to do research? Do you have a favorite line/part?

Thanks!

House Victorian Interlude! There's a blast from the past. Going back 14 years...this is a 3-part House/Wilson Victorian era AU, written in 2008-2009. The individual fics are:

Towards An Understanding of the Catabolic Nature of the Human Male (9464 words, Explicit) Even in the Victorian age, it was all about sex.

Ardor Resolutus (2700 words, Explicit) What happened after Wilson appeared on House's doorstep in "Towards an Understanding of the Catabolic Nature of the Human Male."

On the Commission of Unnatural Offenses (9351 words, Explicit) Wilson sadly came to learn, all the heated evenings, all those months sleeping in House's bed, would still leave him woefully unprepared for the most unusual, and disturbing, proposition the man had ever let loose upon him.

What was the inspiration behind that?

Crack. It was all crack. I'd known about the Victorian era diagnosis of "feminine hysteria" for awhile, and the "treatment" for it, but didn't know what to do with it. Until one day in mid-August 2008, I was in kind of a hyper mood, and I thought it'd be fun to write Victorian era House/Wilson. That's all. Oddly, no one else I knew of had done that before (which I thought strange, House MD was a loose adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, it seemed a perfect setting for an AU). I made Wilson a newly-arrived specialist in female disorders, who makes his acquaintance with House, a brilliant but misanthropic doctor and professor of medical philosophy at Princeton. I wrote it in 10 days, 2 lovely people beta'ed it, and "Towards An Understanding..." was posted to LJ end of August.

I never intended to continue the AU, but in late December 2008 I decided I wanted to break 60k words of fic posted for the year. Iirc "Ardor Resolutus" was the original ending for "Towards An Understanding..." but I cut it from the initial draft before I sent it to beta because the fic felt too long otherwise. (It's been 14 years, memory is fuzzy and I didn't take detailed notes at all.) In 2 days I fleshed out what I cut, took 2 more days for beta, and I posted it to LJ just in time to meet my 60k goal for 2008.

I started "On the Commission..." right after posting "Ardor Resolutus". Like "Ardor Resolutus" it rose from paragraphs cut from "Towards An Understanding…". I had 5000 words for it by mid-Jan 2009, but then ended up picking at it over the next 3 months. It was finished in late April, then beta'ed and posted to LJ by the end of April.

Did you have to do research?

I sure did. I had to adapt the circumstances of House and Wilson's meeting, of course, and the source of House's leg injury (falling off a horse); the entire theory of the "catabolic" male vs the "anabolic" female re sex, which House was keen on disproving; and Victorian male fashion, where men were considered immodestly undressed if they didn't wear cravats and vests/waistcoats. (Not to mention the "spermatorrhea" bit for entirely normal wet dreams. The entire Victorian attitude towards sex was seriously more an eye-opener than I expected.) I also wanted to include enough setting details that the story felt grounded in the era and believable. If I'm going to write crack, I'm going all in.

Do you have a favorite line/part?

I like the scene in "Towards An Understanding..." where House explains his theory to Wilson; and the end of "On The Commission..." where House subverts Wilson's expectation of being outed (and arrested).

Thank you for letting me take the trip down memory lane, Phoenix! And you can ask about "Deluge" if you want, I don't mind.

[mbrainspaz]

It's been years since I wrote this short story for my old writer's group and I feel like sharing. I've said before that I hate writing short stories so with this one I cheated. It's actually a prequel to a bigger story about teleporting shapeshifters I've been writing since I was 16. Even then I barely resisted making it into a 200+ page prequel novel. This MINI prequel takes place at the end of WW2 so expect themes accordingly. Please don't expect much from the 'research' I probably spent 30 minutes on. The prompt from writer's group was "I'll go first."

Observe: some of my earliest OCs— the immortal idiots.

1945. April. Berlin.

“I can hardly blame Adolf.”

The chandelier rattled and dust cascaded into two cups of coffee as a Russian shell brought down the building next door. August sighed at the froth of rubble in his gilded cup and splashed the brew onto the carpet. He took his time selecting a decanter of schnapps from a liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass. 

“He did start the war,” I said. 

“Not for—yes obviously. I meant for going mad.” 

“You want me to believe you didn’t have a hand in that?” 

August smirked over the edge of his glass and said, “It doesn’t matter now. It turns out you had the right idea when you defected to America. I think I’ll join you in Chicago soon. Despite everything I did for them the Germans have—” another cascade of shellfire blew out the tall windows. August coughed delicately. “—lost.” 

“You aren’t welcome in America after what you've been a part of here. None of the Allied Nations will have you.” 

August slowly lowered his glass. 

“That’s what I came here to tell you,” I continued without meeting my old friend’s eyes. Once I would have called him family—the older brother I never had. I swilled the muddy coffee in my cup but never raised it to my lips. I'd be a fool to try anything August served me. 

“Andreas,” August pouted my name, drawing hurt from all three syllables. “You know I don’t care if you work for the FBI now. The two of us, we’re bigger than all these squabbles between nations, yes? We’ve known we were brothers since the moment we met. Once the treaties are signed all of this will be in the past. Just like your unfortunate incident last year.” He reached out squeeze my shoulder. 

“Don’t!” I barked, rolling out of my chair to get away. I landed on one knee, pistol raised. 

“Oh dear, you’re still upset about that.” 

“Upset,” I spat. The sympathetic smile on August’s face tested the utmost limits of my restraint. “It was your fault! It’s your fault she’s dead! I didn’t defect to America because they were winning, I left to get away from you. The whole world has seen pictures of the internment camps now so stop pretending you don’t know what you were part of. You crafted this evil. You engineered it.” 

August whistled through his teeth and raised his hands. His schnapps glass hovered in the air near his right wrist until he decided to pick it up. The trick cost him nothing. I could remember a time when we both went red-faced trying to lift pebbles or slip coin purses from pockets. In those early days each new ability was a source of wonder that fueled our dreams. It took me too long to realize how very different his dreams were. 

I waited for August to retreat to the far side of the table before I stood up. I kept my pistol leveled at his head. 

“You’re being unreasonable,” August purred. “Haven’t you realized everything that happened was for the best? She wasn’t like us. She would only have held you back. You proved that when you came back.”

I lowered the pistol before August could see my hands tremble. The memories of that night were still as vivid as the crumbling city around me. They were the ghost of a bullet flashing through my head. The first sight from new eyes imprinted on my mind like a raw scar: Her dead eyes staring back at me. 

August laughed into his drink. There was less remorse in his heart than there was fuel for the German tanks. I had seen all I needed to see. 

“We aren’t as special as you think,” I said. “How closely were you involved with the Japanese?” 

“Not very. I never saw much promise in Japan. I was only ever interested in Germany. I thought that was what you wanted.” 

“So you haven’t heard of the Black Dragon Society.”

“Are they… ninjas? They sound like ninjas. Please do tell me they're ninjas.” 

I drew a photograph from my coat pocket. I flicked it across the room and August’s hand snapped up to catch it. 

“Meet me there in ten minutes.” 

August scoffed and said, “You’ve gotten slow.” 

“I might stop in Brazil for a decent cup of coffee.” 

A cannon shell screamed its final warning a second before the building came crashing down around our ears. 

I stepped out of a shadowed doorway near the FBI building in Washington DC. I slipped into the role of Andrew Stern while I was still brushing rubble from my lapels. The morning was cold and no birds sang over the low rumble of automobile traffic. I took a steadying breath and startled half to death when a hand fell on my shoulder. 

“So, is he dead yet?” John asked. 

“Ah—no. Hitler is hiding in his bunker and the Russians have taken most of the city. Goebbels has stepped in to direct the troops.” 

I let August think that I worked for the FBI but in truth it was blackmail. The sharp-eyed FBI director was the only one who knew about my ability to travel impossible distances in the blink of an eye. It was a secret he would keep as long as I was useful. Luckily he didn’t know my other impossibilities. 

No one knew about August. I couldn't warn the world about him without exposing myself. No, August was a spider pulling a thousand strings and when those strings broke he would disappear and build a new web. The threat about the Allied Nations was pure bluster. For now I was the only thing standing between an unscrupulous man who could reshape matter with his mind and the rest of the world—but perhaps not forever.

John thumped me on the back, took a drag of his cigarette, and said, “I don’t think I’ll rest easy until I finally see Hitler’s corpse. You’re doing a great service to this country, Andrew my boy.”

I exhaled a puff of cold air. At 33 I was technically younger than the director but I wouldn’t have chosen to appear that way. That was my penance as long as the FBI knew me by this face. 

“Oh, that reminds me.” John fumbled through his coat pockets until he produced an envelope. I accepted it after the barest hesitation. “They want you back on the Manhattan Project so your work in Cambridge will have to wait.” 

“I don’t—I have classes to teach.” 

“Andrew Andrew.” John’s hand thumped against my back again. “This is a matter of national security. Play teacher another day.” 

I scowled at John’s back as he ground his cigarette butt into the sidewalk and returned to his office. The Manhattan Project was what had first turned my interest to Japan months ago. I pulled back my sleeve to check one of my seven wristwatches. No time for coffee in Brazil after all. 

“This is quaint,” August greeted me from behind a Japanese face. We stood together on a bridge over the Ōta River just after sunset. A lantern-lit trolley rumbled past, carrying locals dressed in fine evening wear. Most of the pedestrians still wore their grimy work clothes as they rode bicycles or pulled carts. I didn’t miss the petrol-fueled thrum of DC. 

“This way," I said, using a tongue the locals would understand as their own if any bothered to overhear it. I led August to a dark temple on the riverfront. We entered by stepping through a solid wall, a detail that didn't phase him. He'd grown so confident in his own power. 

"Who dares approach the black dragon?” boomed a voice that would have made a sane man’s knees tremble.   

"Oh this is—this is very nice," August said, nodding his head as he crossed the black marble floor in confident strides. As he approached the regal figure on a throne in the center of the hall he raised a hand in a casual Nazi salute, then had to laugh at himself. “Sorry, old habits. I’m August, and you are?” 

Fabric rustled. Two katanas glinted in the low light as they crossed against August’s throat. He went still, not paralyzed but calculating. The warriors who held the blades wore featureless black masks and they had crossed the hall without ever taking a step. 

I coughed to break the tension and bowed my head, saying, “Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, great dragon.” 

The enthroned figure waved an onyx hand and the two warriors vanished from the hall as easily they had appeared. August stepped back from the throne to stand at my side. 

“August.” The powerful voice spoke his name as if to shake it apart and sift through the ruins. “You who call yourself ‘Aryan.’” 

August smiled a curious smile and said, “I am what I am.”

“You know not what you are, nor how you came to be.” 

I knew August was stung by that though he hid it well. A trace of the orphaned boys we once were would always be part of us. 

“Names and titles mean so little,” he hedged. 

“And yet you have given yourself so many, not least the name of an Emperor.” 

August flushed at that, his eyes blazing gold in a rare show of temper. The wooden throne creaked dangerously. The masked figure on the throne only tilted its head in response. August crushed the throne to splinters. The Dragon stayed seated on serenely on empty air, black robes hanging inches from the ground. 

“You are gifted but you are ignorant,” the Dragon boomed. August staggered a half-step back. It was enough to make my heart race. “It is time you learned you are set apart, but not above.”

“Of course I’m above them! I’m immortal,” August blustered, pounding a fist against his chest. 

The Dragon laughed. “Thirty-five years you have walked this earth and you think yourself eternal.” 

“Spit it out then. What do you say I am?” 

“You are Tsukumogami: He who lives for a hundred years. No more and no less. You are not a god, but a tool of the spirits sent to guide humanity along better paths until our time on this earth is past.” 

I knew how hard that revelation had hit me and yet August seemed to take it all in stride. He contemplated the hovering figure for a silent moment before turning on his heel and vanishing from the hall. I knew right where I would find him. 

August didn’t turn when he heard me clambering over the rooftop. He gazed out over the train yard, watching civilians and soldiers mill about like busy ants in a black forest hive. This was the Parisian train station where we’d first crossed paths in 1922. 

“You think he was telling the truth?” he asked. All the bravado had been stripped away along with the disguises. He wore his own face, probably for the first time in a decade. His tightly curled blonde hair suited him better than the slicked back style he’d worn for the Nazis.  

“He knows what he’s talking about. Their order has been around for centuries. You wouldn’t believe how I found them.” 

“Well you finally did it. Found out what we are. Tsuku—whatever. What a ridiculous name.”  

“I hoped it might help you see the world in a different light.”

“I know what it means to you.” 

I shook my head, watching all the people below without really seeing them. 

“I’ll go first,” August said. 

[vreugd-madelon]

One Last Stop Review

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is a 418 page YA LGBT+ Contemporary Romance Stand-Alone Novel.

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train. Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

I rate this book 4.5/5 Stars.

I loved this book and flew through it once I started reading it.  The writing style was really approachable and everything that’s expected of a YA novel. I really love the amount of consent between the characters within this book, whether it’s the romantic acts or the answering of questions. It never feels forced. But while I am on the topic of romance, it did feel like an insta-romance in the very beginning. So, I did like it when it was kinda shoved to the back and let the friendship grow first before we got back to the romance. Love the fact that Nick is trans, but that there is no emphasis on it. It’s just something that all the characters take in, accept and move on with their lives. Especially since it’s not the main focus of this novel. Isaiah is by far my favourite character within the book!!! Love the romance side plots as well, but not the mystery one as it didn’t really feel as fleshed out as it could’ve been.

I bawled my eyes out at the end of the book. Halfway through I had an idea of how the story might end, and while that didn’t some to pass exactly as I’d hoped. I did still like the ending.

I love the snippets about Jane at the beginning of the chapter as it really furthers this idea of August doing her research and due diligence about her.

If you’re a fan of contemporary romances, I do really recommend this one!

Do you have any questions? Or maybe some recommendations? Send me an ask here on Tumblr or tweet me.  If you wish to support me, you can buy me a coffee! Or even buy my debut fantasy novel, The Mending Road.

[mrbensonmum]

TV Show - The Fall of the House of Usher V

This episode was packed with information, even more so than before. There’s a lot going on here. My head is spinning a bit, and I hope I can remember everything. Where should we begin?

Auguste and Roderick met each other when they were young, as even back then, Fortunato wasn’t a great company—it was just like any other shady pharmaceutical company we know today. They tried to work together against Griswold and secretly help the Usher siblings claim their birthright. Because as we already know, before Griswold was Longfellow and he had an affair with the mother of Roderick and Madeline. 

Roderick is hallucinating more and more, and these visions of his dead children are getting stronger. At first, they only appeared in the church, but now they keep showing up in the old family home, where he and Auguste talk. What started as simple appearances has now turned into something more tormenting, making you wonder if these visions are one of the reasons why he’s even talking to Auguste.

Shockingly, we find out that there wasn’t any informant at all. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’m not fully convinced about this. Of course, I can believe that Auguste Dupin would pull off such a clever move, but something inside me says that’s not the whole story. I have two guesses, but I’ll wait and see if more information comes up before sharing them.

Things get intense after they look at photos from a security camera, and there’s a heated discussion between Madeline, Roderick, and Pym about who this mysterious woman could be. Madeline and Roderick recognize her from New Year’s Eve in 1979. We also see Roderick sitting and staring at a brick wall more often now. I wonder if this has something to do with that New Year’s Eve night and what the meaning behind it is.

Victorine meets a tragic end in this episode, leading to her death by her own hand. Up until now, I thought Leo’s death was the most gruesome, but Victorine’s death takes things to a new level. First, she kills her own partner, then there’s that nerve-racking sound, the pressure from her father (which she probably wasn’t fully aware of anymore), and overwhelmed by guilt, she takes drastic measures that lead to her demise.

The Usher family is falling apart more and more, and by now, it should be clear that these deaths aren’t just coincidences. Something horrifying is behind all of this, and Verna plays a big role. By the way, Verna is also an anagram of "Raven." I mention this because the raven isn’t just a symbol of death, but is also closely tied to Edgar Allan Poe (in fact, his gravestone is marked by a raven).

I think the Edgar Allan Poe references are increasing, and I should probably do some more research. I’ll save that for later, though, to avoid spoilers, and I’ll definitely write a few extra posts to dive into those connections.

It’s great to see that the show is still keeping up its quality, continues to be exciting, and is visually impressive. The jump scares are a bit much, though—I don’t really need those. But with Roderick’s decline, I think there might be even more coming.

[crystal-in-nagasaki]

what's next?

After almost three incredible years, my time here in Japan has come to a close. I've shared on this personal blog more than 100 memories that I can keep with me forever and look back on, which I'm so grateful for. Saying goodbye to my students, coworkers, friends, and neighbors has been incredibly painful, but I'm happy with my decision to return home, and believe the timing is right.

That means this blog has finally served its purpose and will come to an end. It's bittersweet, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to share all of my memories here over the years.

In this final post, I'd just like to give an update about what's ahead for me after my return to the US.

As soon as I entered my final year in Japan, I began planning for my future career back home. I was at first at a loss about what to do, because I majored in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in university, but never did student teaching or received a teaching certificate as I had been planning to work abroad for the majority of my career. Although I've loved being in Japan, my priorities have changed, and I now want to settle in the US long term instead of abroad, so I had to begin figuring out a career path using my degree.

Eventually after much research and reaching out to past college professors, I decided to enroll in graduate school to acquire a teaching license in Michigan. I was accepted to an MA program at Western Michigan University in elementary teaching that will begin at the end of August and finish in December of next year, awarding me an MA and a teaching certification in the state of Michigan.

Alongside my course work, I of course wanted to continue to work in schools. Luckily one of my professors told me that due to the current teacher shortage, some schools will hire non-certified teachers as long as they are on a path to a license. Therefore, I began mass applying to schools all over the state to try to find a school that would hire me while working towards my license.

After many late night job interviews over video call, I was finally hired as an elementary ESL teacher by Kalamazoo Public Schools for the 2024-2025 school year. I'm beyond grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to work as a full-fledged teacher while also working towards my MA, and they will even help pay for my graduate tuition.

As many people know, I met my lovely girlfriend Frankie while abroad in Japan, and she is also returning to the US this summer. She's from Louisiana, but as we near one year together, we've decided to make the choice to move in together in Michigan. We've already found a two bedroom apartment in Kalamazoo, where we'll live together with my cat Kiwi and dog Rosie, inherited from my father after his passing. I'm sure it will be an overwhelming time, but we're excited to start our new life with our little family.

I've made so many beautiful memories in Japan that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. Though it's hard to say goodbye to the community that I've built here, I'm excited to head into my next chapter with my beloved partner and pets.

Thank you for reading this blog through the years. It's meant a lot to me to write it and keep these memories alive for me to be able to revisit later. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

I hope everyone keeps happy and healthy from now on, and good things come your way.

Goodbye <3

[hbosscreations]

Gonna be vulnerable on main for a hot second because my special interest is breaking me.

Background: I used to write crazy amounts of fanfiction. I still read an unhealthy amount of fanfiction. I edited so much smut (sadly very poorly) on adultfanfiction.net when I was a teenager. My favorite baby was a Red vs Blue fanfic that as of today hasn't been updated since 2019 and has 314,000 words not including one shots on the side.

I basically stopped writing in 2018. The demons were winning. It was a bad time for me.

August 2023, I rediscovered Hellblazer's existence thanks to tumblr.

I had a vague sort of knowledge about it, the kind of thing one absorbs when you're a kid and your stepfather is really into comics, but you're only allowed to look at the ones he doesn't really care about, so you end up reading about random characters you've never heard of and chunks of event comics that he freaking hates, but keeps buying anyway and also you had to watch the movie in secret because it's an abomination and anyone who likes it deserves to be (all manner of vile harm).

What can I say, the story of a mentally ill person so damaged that they lash out at the world around them and chase people off while also desperately wanting to be liked and not be alone? Of a person who's become good at tricking people because 'normal' interactions are fake and they can't have friends without bribes or manipulation because they feel so unlovable? A person who constantly loses friends, family, and loved ones because they're fucked up and when they fuck up, it directly hurts the people around them?

Let's just say, I vibe hard with the material in question for personal reasons.

I'm 1/4 through my second read of the original vertigo line because I know I didn't absorb everything the first time around. I expect that when I've done this, I'll want round three. I've got the spinoffs, I've got the reboots, I've got several movies, and one of the novels. I haven't had this much energy to read in years. I'm obsessed. It's opening the doors up for other projects I've put on the back burner thanks to my crippling depression.

I have feelings about the 2019 run, Marks of Woe and The Best Version of You. Complicated feelings. Feelings that make my fingers itch in the best way.

October 2023, I started writing again. Really writing. I can't call anything I write good, because it's the reader who decides if something is good or not, and I'm not done being the writer yet.

But I'm finally making the clicky clacky noises on my keyboard again and it feels like coming home.

I'm doing research, I'm throwing scenes together, I'm expanding on characterization for characters that barely exist. Thriving. Vibing. As of today I'm at 111,972 words written, and 18,000 of that was done in the past four days.

I'm so sad.

No one should care this much about anything. It's isolating and frustrating that there is no one in the world who cares as much as I do. And they shouldn't. It's not fair to expect people to care about the things I care about just because I want them to.

I have several people in my life who very patiently sit and let me talk at them about my comics and my writing progress and my feelings about where things are going and the things I've learned. They are so kind to tolerate me, because I know that I'm a lot and not a one of them cares at all about any of it, the way I don't really care about cars or glazing pottery or boho fashion or gel nail techniques.

I sit and listen and try to take in the information because it makes them happy, but it's not fun in the slightest, so I get it from the other angle.

Conventional advice says you should write for yourself, but if I believed that, I would never bother typing anything. I've spent my whole life with my stupidly vivid imagination, a rich inner world was and is necessary for my survival. I'm that person who can use all five sense when imagining a boat on the water, so making up a story for myself is a thing I barely need to think about.

My longest lasting hobby is 'fixing' movies in my head. My grandfather told me once I started 'making stories better' before I was reading (grain of salt with that one).

The act of physical creation has never been something I do for me. I wrote D&D campaigns and settings and painted minis and built model battlegrounds for my friends. I handmade gifts because that was what my family said they valued. I wrote fanfiction because there were people who shared my interest and would talk to me about the topic.

I'm so far into this, and for what? For me? Fuck that, I could have been done with this months ago if this was for me.

But if it's not for me, who is it for? I don't know anyone else who cares this much about a very specific storyline from a niche comic series. No one I know in person is ever going to read it, not a word, and I wouldn't expect them to. Frankly, I think if one of my friends did say they read it and was ambivalent about the actual text as they are about me trying to talk about themes, I might just crawl under my bed and never come back out.

But if it's not for me and it's not for anyone else, why am I doing this? There's not an answer here.

I feel like the demons might be winning again and I just haven't realized.

[thomine]

POST-FIC TALK: say it, love

i started writing this idea for itto about a month ago. the ideation period took about a month, or maybe a month and a half. so the total time spent on this is around 2.5 months?

angstpril was a project for me to extract angst from a character's canon context, which i thought would be refreshing since i played with aus for au august (2023). because of that, i wanted these works to be set in the canon universe.

itto's one was hard. as such a bubbly character, it felt impossible to find a cause for angst. that's why i played with the idea of this story doubling as a piece for angstpril and au august (prompt: superhero au). the idea i had for the superhero au was rather angsty anyways. however, as i was sharing my ideas with a friend, inspiration struck me like an axe that cleanly split a tree bark—although not in equal halves. i realised i would like the superhero prompt to go another route, leaving this piece for angstpril on its own two feet like a baby that just learned to walk. as this story fumbled in the brainstorming cloud, i was listening to music when say so by the sam willows struck me—but this time like someone plucking guitar strings for fun only to create a tune that somehow works.

as such a bubbly guy who cares a lot about image as much as he cares for those around him, i couldn't see him being someone who would admit to his dying relationship. he wouldn't admit to his feelings being gone either, and it would be harder for him to accept that if the relationship has already been so ingrained into his image and life.

what would be bros think of him when he breaks up? it's not like itto hates reader. the feelings just aren't there anymore. does reader still hang around? will reader hang around?

i don't really expect this story to resonate with many itto fans. in fact, some big fans of itto might even see itto as OOC, but i thought this was an interesting route to take. writing itto is hard as i'm not familiar with his EN tone or voice, preferring his CN voice direction instead. although similar in terms of upbeat atmosphere and air of childish wisdom, itto is less air headed and more innocent, imo. with that impression of him, i do believe he can be rather ignorant by choice. i don't think he's ignorant because he's dumb—he's ignorant because he's smart to know that acknowledging it would only mean trouble. my evidence? vibes, lol, sorry.

either way, i wrote about 5 drafts and… shout out to my friend @andromeda-nova-writing who read my initial draft. i was struggling with the ending so i sent her a half-done draft with the climax i had in mind unwritten. she read it and shared that she quite like the ending? so i rewrote it with itto's melting love as the reveal at the end.

but while writing, i somehow felt compelled to add more references to the song that inspired this story, and was even more compelled to leave some things left unsaid. that was inspired by the videos of childhood trauma i've been watching (for research on one of my stories) where the whole gist of it is "not what happened but what didn't happen". i thought that was interesting. so… i guess out of 5, with that number being "this story changed drastically from its original", it can be argued it's 5 since it's a complete 180 from the idea that merged the superhero au with this. but it can also be a 3 if we're considering the point where i split the two ideas as this story's "original" instead.

overall… i probably will re-read this to edit things grammatically, but i am okay with this. i just hope that reader doesn't come off as too… annoying? even if they might have their wrongs, i do want them to be someone you can sympathise with at least.

it's a bit more explorative in nature, so i'm very happy to hear what others think of it!

again, this was not read by anyone before posting, so if you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes, please let me know so i can fix it!

[nightingaleatdawnwrites]

Virtual Assistance Career

Thursday, March 14th, 2024

I used to have low self esteem as I was bullied when I was in Grade 2. But this has changed ever since I began my career as a virtual assistant.

I started from scratch. With only my vast educational history and my previous employment as the assistant manager of our family owned business, I was very lucky enough that clients hired me on Elance. That was in January 2008. Only after a month of job searching, I got hired by a client based in New Zealand for a data entry project. I believe after two months, I got hired as a Support Coordinator for an IT Consulting Company based in Cranberra, Australia and as a Marketing and Distribution Representative by documentary film directors based in Sydney, Australia. I believe my clients who hired me when I was just a newbie in the freelancing world saw the potential in me and believed that I will be a valuable asset to their companies.

In January 2013, I applied for virtual assistance certification with a virtual assistance certification company based in Surrey, Vancouver, B.C. CANADA (VAcertified) and my application was approved in August 2013. I was granted the title VAcertified. I have been working as a virtual assistant for 16 1/2 years.

To those who want to be a part of the virtual assistance world, may I suggest that you take up a virtual assistance course and decide which niche you would like to specialize in.

I specialize in Administrative Support and Customer Service, however, I can also do Data Entry (this is my forte), Lead Generation, Market Research, Real Estate Virtual Assistance, Content and Creative Writing, and Social Media Advertising. I’m a “Jill of All Trades”. What more can you ask for? I plan to study Amazon Product Researcher, Bookkeeping, and Accounting. I have a never ending love for learning!

If you’re interested in hiring me, send me an email at Allyson.Lontoc.VAcertified@gmail.com and I will respond within one business day.

Thank you in advance for your interest in hiring me and have an amazing afternoon!

[hacemorra-death-gremlin]

Interlace: Some other Options

Yo! Are you an artist that doesn’t like drawing humans for any reason? Don’t like the idea of just drawing some guys and want to do something special? Interlace, for me, has been pretty fun because I consistently take it and go “oooh but how would it work if they were x?” So here’s a selection of some of the AUs that you could draw instead of the base stuff. Note that for a lot of these, I don’t have designs fully figured out, so you’re free to take artistic liberties and fill in the unfinished parts yourself, just make sure it’s still the same character in the end :) These are: Furry | Dragons (WoF) | Pokemon Mystery Dungeon | Pokemon (Trainers)

It’s probably dumb but I think it’s fun! So that’s why I’m leaving this open as an option. 

Furry

For this, we’ve got: 

Sam: Pine Marten 

August: Elk 

Gabi: Flying Fox/Vampire bat cross

Leila: Raven 

Izze: Therizinosaurus

I don’t have much art, only some sketches of furry-ified Sam and August. Here they are Dragon (WoF)

THIS one has a lot more information! Copying this from an old post about them “[Sam] Braconid (they/he/she) is a Hivewing. He has a personal weapon, a proboscis that shoots out from under his tongue with some kind of toxin, which causes initial numbness then unbearable pain after hours. They gain animus magic sometime through the story, thanks to The Curse, which also makes them significantly more obsessed with Oleander to an unhealthy amount. She doesn't use her weapon and keeps her animus magic hush hush.

[August] Oleander (he/him) is a Silkwing-Nightwing Hybrid. He starts off the story without any abilities, since despite being 18 (assuming its like late 20s equivalent based on dragon maturity) he has not gone through metamorphosis yet. He does, and afterwards his wings are odd, he has regular silk, and can breathe a bit of fire which is weirdly linear and kinda... sticks. The Curse just kinda loosens his

inhibitions. Just a little.

[Leila] Gloam (she/her) is a Nightwing, who was hatched under a single moon and can read minds. She is extremely nosey and this power is not the best for her. The Curse makes her rampant need to know and curiosity much worse, staining her eyes green, opening more across her scales, and letting her mind reading powers grow until she can split open a mind and look inside like peeling an orange.

[Gabi] Lobo (he/she) is a Sandwing. Like legitimately Lobo's unremarkable. The Curse makes him a little more angry that's about all.

[Izze] Juniper (she/her) is a Leafwing, who has a little bit of leafspeak. Not much. The most she can do is really cheap tricks, not very useful as a weapon. Though Juniper is on a whole other level, seeing as Juniper is immune to The Curse SOMEHOW.

Some character background. Braconid, Oleander, and Juniper's families and ancestors back 250+ years are Pyrrhian. Despite their tribes being from Pantala, they are Pyrrhian dragons in all other ways.

Braconid and Juniper were invited to the prestigious Jade Mountain Academy, and were both put in the Copper Winglet. They got on like a house on fire and when they graduated, moved close to home in Colony. There they started writing scrolls together. They mostly write on draconic folk tales, legends, myths, and most strikingly supposed supernatural encounters. Braconid does most research, Juniper comes up with ideas and handles writing. In public appearances, Braconid acts as the grumpy skeptic and Juniper as the charismatic believer.

Half of Braconid's job is spending a lot of time in Pyrrhian libraries, and the library in Colony is the biggest on the continent. This is where Braconid met Oleander.

Oleander, with no wings, has been left at a major disadvantage. He was hatched just outside Colony, and hasn't gotten the chance to travel further since the ability to fly is kinda important for crossing a continent. So he's stayed in Colony. He works at the library as a librarian, and met Braconid on his walks to work. It started out slow, but they over the years fell in love and now live together. Oleander appreciates that Braconid never pitied him, only trying to be accommodating.

Working at the library, one other coworker convinced the librarians to have game nights every so often, which is how Oleander gets closer to Gloam, the head librarian. Gloam completes her duties, but is well known for getting lost in research of things she finds interesting. She was hatched in Colony, and has seen most of Pyrrhia, just finding Colony the most comfortable place for her.

Lastly for background would be Lobo. Lobo is from the southern side of the desert, close to the mountains, where the sand gets dark and almost red. She joined Queen Dawn's army at 6 (once again, age weird assuming 15-17 here), thinking it would give him the chance to help others. After a few years she figured out she was wrong, and deserted, fleeing back home. He quickly feared being caught by a patrol and moved outside the Sand Kingdom to Colony to avoid court marshall. Lobo now is a gossip columnist, hot on the drama of Colony. On the side he likes to study strange phenomenon and old stories, and runs into Juniper and Braconid on that front. She hates them.”

PMD

This is kinda close to the furry one in the sense I don’t have much information but I DO have what creatures they are and the art. Sam: Tatsugiri August: Dondozo Gabi: Lucario Leila: Absol Izze: Quilava 

Pokemon Trainers No art, just information. I’d personally find this option fun :) Sameeh Hisuian Goodra (Partner) Tatsugiri (curly) Augustine Venomoth (Partner) Dondozo Venipede Leila Armarouge (Partner) Murkrow Gabi Heracross (Partner) Mienshao Houndoom Hisuian Sneasel

Izabel Altaria (Partner) Lapras Phantump 

[zorya-wellness]

Lammas/Lughnasadh Pagan Holiday

Lammas or Lughnasadh is a Pagan holiday celebrated on August 1st. It symbolizes the end of the summer period (yes, even though you may not want to hear that we are on our way to the end) and the beginning of magical fall.

The Lammas holiday is also closely connected to the harvest season.

It is traditionally believed that the period of Lammas celebration was very important in the religious communities, not only from the perspective of Pagan or Christian traditions  but also due to its agricultural significance.

Lammas versus Lughnasadh. What Is The Difference?

First of all, let’s talk about terminology a bit.

Lammas comes from Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, "loaf-mass", therefore also known as Loaf Mass Day and it is a Christian holiday.

The celebration of this holiday by the Christian community is in part similar to what we will be discussing later. The holiday signifies a period of being blessed by the first gifts of the harvest season. The wheat collected is often used to make the Lammas bread that would later be brought to church for a blessing.

Lughnasadh or Lughnasa is the name used by the “Neopagan” community and just as Lammas, marks the beginning of the harvest period. It is the time when we are grateful for the abundance of the Mother Earth.

How to pronounce Lughnasadh?

The term Lughnasadh comes from the Irish spelling of the word. The Modern way of Irish  pronunciation is Lúnasa and pronounced Loo-nuh-suh. The Classical pronunciation is /’luɣ.nə.səð/ like LUGH-nuh-sudh (where “gh” is pronounced as i a word "give" and the “dh” is like the “th” in “that”.) It is probably the most correct pronunciation of Lughnasadh, as Lugh or Lug is the God from Irish mythology and the one this holiday is dedicated to at the first place.

How Lammas Originated?

Lammas came from a desire of people to thank and celebrate the “father” Sun and the Mother Earth for the fruits of their “love” - the harvest.

To bless the marriage of God and Goddess and ask for a buy dance and prosperity in the upcoming months.

It was considered that August 1st marks the first day of fall. And on August 2nd it was already the time to pick up the harvest and so the days of hunger and need would we over.

The holiday was widely celebrated in:

Ireland: the name Lughnasadh comes from the Irish God Lugh and is translated at “the marriage of Lugh.

Scotland

Isle of Man

In Slavic countries (called “medovyi spas”)

Let’s Talk More About The Harvest.

When we hear “Lammas”, we often think about the period of harvest right away. It is the most talked about moment of Lammas or Lughnasadh but we need to truly understand what stands behind the concept of harvest.

If you are a careful reader, you have noticed I specifically say the beginning of harvest. I also want to explain more what I mean by the time of being grateful.

You see, Lammas is the day of the beginning of the harvest period and NOT the time when we are assessing the outcome and are drawing conclusions of how successful we’ve been (there will be another holiday dedicated to this, called Mabon).

But the first day of harvest is the time when the quality of life changes. It is the time when it becomes predictable what expectations we can have and taste the first ripe fruits.

Simply put, it is the moment when something you worked so hard on, finally becomes tangible and it also becomes YOURS.

A skill you were developing is almost acquired but not to the point when it becomes a reflex. The investments you’ve made are starting to produce some cash flow but still need your attention.

You also need to understand that it is not possible to continuously perfect something or wait for an opportune moment.  At some point, you need to release into the world what you have the way it is and improve things on the go.

Where am I going with this philosophical deviation, you probably are wondering…

This is what Lammas period really is about. It is the time when we transition from preparation to action.

What does it mean for you in real life situation?

Lammas gives you are opportunity of the perfect time to do something you were afraid of doing.

It may be that you were working on a website for your very own blog but we’re too afraid to press that “publish” button, thinking it is not perfect yet.

Or you may have been writing a book but haven’t started to search for a publisher, changing and tweaking things in an attempt for it to be perfect.

You may have been doing research for a new job you always wanted or university program you wanted to apply for but haven’t felt ready to finally made the move and submit an application.

Do you see the pattern?

Lammas is the time when you were ALREADY in the process of doing something but haven’t had the energy for the final step. And this period of the first week of August is for you to pull yourself together and make the move.

And when Mabon comes, we will be assessing the results of our actions.

"Can I celebrate Lughnasadh if I’m not pagan?"

First of all, like I mentioned in my other Blog posts related to the Wheel of the Year, you don’t need to be Pagan to celebrate or acknowledge Wheel of the Year holidays.

RELATED: What Is Pagan Wheel of the Year and How to Celebrate It? Beginner Pagan's Guide

You need to be aware of the existence of the energy of the Mother Earth, it’s changes and shifts and how this affects our lives.

So, What Can You Do To Celebrate Lughnasadh/Lammas?

Lammas/Lughnasadh Traditions and Rituals

Do Some Lammas Divination Work

The period from July 31st to August 6th is the perfect time for divination work. Tarot, Runes and oracles will provide with great messages, especially in career/money (material) and love questions (especially compatibility related).

Don’t forget to show gratitude to the Universe and Mother Earth. It is important to maintain the energy exchange, at the very least with the well known gratitude and love practices.

Show gratitude towards others too, don’t forget to show acknowledgment and say “thank you”.

Make Lammas Bread

During this period, it is the great time to infuse your food and drinks with the energy of love and gratitude, as well as thank the Source and the Planet for its generosity. Of course, the best way to celebrate this holidays is to make Lammas bread. I am giving you this quick bread recipe that does not require a lot of products or special skills

Lammas Abundance Bread Recipe

For this little Ritual you will need to make (not buy!) corn bread.

Lammas Bread Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of corn flour

1 1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of sugar 2 tbs of cooled down melted butter

4 cups of milk

2 tsp of baking powder

Instructions:

Mix flour and salt together in a deep bowl.In a separate bowl with milk add baking powder;  then add sugar and butter.Mix all the ingredients together in one bowl until the consistency is that of a sour cream. It will not be similar to regular bread dough you may be making at home.

*While you are mixing, talk into the bowl anything you want to accomplish that is related to the abundance. Whatever the abundance means to YOU. It does not have to be financial. Maybe you will feel abundant and complete when you have a large family. Then go for it.

Pour the Lammas bread dough into a baking dish (don't forget to butter the dish). Bake for about 40-50 minutes at 360 degrees F.When the colour is nice and golden, take the bread out and let it cool.

When you sit down for a meal, break off (not cut) a large piece of Lammas bread and say: "Large piece of bread in my hand will bring me abundance and plenty." Don’t forget to share your food with the Gods (leave some bread in nature, the way you see fit and depending on the type of deity you are working with.)

Lughnasadh Home Blessing and Abundance Ritual

This ritual can be done during the same time as you are making your Lammas bread.

It is done to invite luck and abundance into your home. BUT. You can change your intent to protection, if you’d like.

All you need to do is to set aside some dough when you are making it for your break and create a figure of an animal. My personal suggestion is to select a farm animal due to the nature of the energy of this holiday.

When you are done, you will need to follow basic figure talisman activation steps. I have adapted the suggestions of Vadim Zeland for this.

*If you are interested in who Vadim Zeland is, click here to read more about him. His book Reality Transurfing has changed my life forever.

Animal activation steps:

Come up with a name for your animal

Take a deep breath. Now breathe into the animal, imagining giving it energy and life.

Tell the animal its name. Tell it that you love and care for it and, in exchange, it's helping you with (whatever you want to ask for).

Place the animal anywhere in the house, depending on the task you give it.

Don't forget to revisit daily and remind the animal of your love and the important task it is doing for you.

Don’t forget to check out complete Blog Post on my website for more information on Lammas traditions, as well as my other Blog posts on Pagan holidays, Rune Meanings and more.

[solaria222]

P I C K A C A R D

w h a t y o u n e e d

t o f o c u s o n

this is a timeless tarot reading, it can still be applicable to you regardless of when you see it. take a deep breath and ask yourself "what do i need to focus on right now?" and see which pile you are most drawn to.

P I L E 1 ||

(the video game controller)

Hi, pile 1 (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)! currently you seem very focused on yourself. your energy is like that quote, "work in silence and let your success be the noise". you've been very low-key lately. in a no-nonsense mood. you may have done some things in the past that made you worry about your decisions, you're trying to not make any mistakes. you should focus on getting your stuff together. try to relax, don't focus on all this worry you have. if you're moving to a new house, or getting a new job then focus on that as well. be patient and optimistic with your progress. don't be so hard on yourself. please clean your room. don't focus on what's lost. exciting things will unfold for you, pile one!

extras

self worth

the only one who gets to decide your worth is you. it doesn't come from your bank account or the number of friends you have. it doesn't come from what someone else says you are worth. it's called self-worth for a reason - it comes from being you. it comes from being yourself and being proud of who you are. it comes from being someone that you can count on and someone you love. the numbers will change with time, but what won't change is who you are deep inside - beautiful / handsome, limitless, wonderful, creative, strong, capable - and that is where your worth comes from.

(-nikki banas)

growth

everything will work out exactly how and when it's supposed to, regardless of how and when you may want it to. let your faith in the journey be stronger than your doubts and fears be patient with yourself and your growth, knowing that good things always take time. give yourself time and space to try things and explore different paths. you will get there one day, so don't forget to enjoy the journey too.

(-nikki banas)

february

august

june

8 & 7

P I L E 2 ||

(the doorbell)

Hello there, pile 2 (´｡• ᵕ •｡`). everything in your life may be a mess right now. you feel untethered somehow. you feel as if you are attracting miserliness info your life. you haven't been focusing on particularly anything as of now. (you aren't alone, pile two. i feel the same 😔) you may have been focusing on studies, responsibilities, and the likes. right now, focus on your feelings. don't ignore them. treat yourself to things you enjoy. maybe icecream. do the things you enjoy doing. (a small suggestion here : you can try one of those 30 days of happiness (◍•ᴗ•◍) ) know your worth. once you finally understand it, you'll be disgusted at the things you used to settle for. be more responsible. invest in your relationships with your family.

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start all over

it's okay to start all over its okay to start everything from the ground up. it's okay to try something brand new. sometimes we forget that we aren't stuck and that we can change our entire life in a day, in a single moment of courage. we can move to a new city, we can say hello to someone new, we can join a new group, we can start writing that book. there is no limit to the things we can do if we choose. don't be afraid to start all over, my lovely friend. this is your life. why not make it wonderfully yours?

(-walk the earth)

just breathe

pause. amidst a the busyness. dyeing the days of back to back appointments, celebrations and meetings. during the moments when life seems to be moving at one hundred miles per hour. pause. take it all in, right where you are now. reacquaint yourself with who you are. remind yourself that you're doing your best and that that is all you can do. pause. allow yourself to take a moment to stretch and fe your muscles relax. let any tension fall away. pause. take in as much as air as your lungs will allow and just breathe. you are doing better than you think.

(-nikki banas)

january

november

october

0

P I L E 3 ||

(the teacup)

Hey there, pile 3. have you been focused on money recently? you may be focused on trying to move on from an ex relationship, platonic or romantic. you're very focused on yourself at the moment. if you're spiritual maybe focus on doing some research on that. focus on your independence. persist. believe in yourself. trust that you do have the strength. don't be afraid to express yourself. this is pretty short, but you're on the right track so keep going 💀

extras

growth

everything will work out exactly how and when it's supposed to, regardless of how and when you may want it to. let your faith in the journey be stronger than your doubts and fears. be patient with yourself and your growth, knowing that good things always take time. give yourself time and space to try things and explore different paths. you will get there one day, so don't forget to enjoy the journey too.

(-nikki banas)

"making you happy makes me happy"

august

march

april

wednesday

"days"

P I L E 4 ||

(the paper origami bird)

heyo, pile four. your energy seems to be focused on getting resources to achieve your goals, independence and general bad bitch energy. right now, you're focusing on spirituality. (I heard that some of you have an astrology blog 👀 drop the link) you've been focusing on resting and self-care. you've been incredibly hard-working lately. you should focus more on self-care, and get some clarity. your advice is to not give up. you can do it! fight for your fairytale ending. cut off ties with people who place limits onto you, toxic or jealous people.

extras

free

be exactly who you want to be. be the person who stand up for themselves and their dreams. be the person who is proud of themselves and proud to be themselves. be the person who is strong and vulnerable ; wild and free. these chains could never hold someone like you, I think it's time you finally break free.

(-nikki banas)

decide

you are the only one in charge of your destiny. unfair things things may happen to you, unfortunate times may come to you, but you always get to choose how you respond. you can live in frustration and bitterness, or just be the bigger person and just play the hell out of the cards you are dealt. the truth is that not a single person can choose the cards they receive, but everyone chooses how they play their cards.

(-nikki banas)

have a great day / night! :)

aut viam inveniam aut faciam

- i will either find a way, or make one.