#combining things with chocolate can be difficult sometimes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aspoonofsugar · 1 year

Text

Neo's Hecate = The Triple Goddess

Trivia is the Roman name of Hecate, Goddess of witchcraft, crossroads and ghosts. Neopolitan is Roman's Hecate, so her birth name is Trivia. Is that really all there is?

Obviously not. Or at least, Neo's allusion to Hecate can be read in multiple ways. Sure, it might have been an unplanned reference, but by this point (either willingly or not) Neopolitan has grown into Hecate's role. So, let's analyze ice-cream's girl allusion to better understand her story, with a focus on volume 9.

WHO IS HECATE?

Hecate is a Greek Goddes, who is later adopted by the Romans with the name of Trivia. Her origin is probably more ancient than Greek culture, though. In short, she is a foreign deity, who gets integrated into Greek religion. Similarly, Neopolitan is an unplanned character shoved into the narrative. However, she finds her place in the story and grows into herself.

Here are some of Hecate's most famous attributes.

Hecate is the Goddess of crossroads and magic. In particular, she is the master of darkness and the queen of ghosts to the point she is linked to nechromancy. She also rules over demons called Empusas, who are half woman and half beast (either a cow or a dog usually). They eat human blood and are linked to fire. Finally, Hecate is a psychopomp deity (like Hermes/Mercury), so she moves freely among Earth (human world), Olympus (world of the gods) and Hades (world of the deads).

Hecate is often depicted with three bodies and three heads:

She holds torches and keys, which are symbolic of her ability to guide people in the underworld and to travel among dimensions. Sometimes, she can appear as a dog, which is her sacred animal.

Hecate is one of the Goddesses associated to the moon. In particular, she is the falling moon to Artemis's crescent moon and Selene's full moon. According to other traditions, she is a part of Artemis/Diana. This Goddess is the Moon in the Sky, Artemis on Earth and Hecate in the Underworld. Whatever the case, both Artemis and Hecate have a triple nature to them.

This triple nature makes Hecate an example of Triple Goddess in modern Neopagan religions. The Triple Goddess is the archetype of a female deity linked to the three phases of a woman's life. Youth (Maiden), Maturity (Mother) and Old Age (Crone). Her male counterpart is the Horned God.

As you see, Hecate is hard to define. Just like Neo. Both are ambiguous and difficult to grasp. Still, let's try to understand ice-cream girl better by using this mysterious Goddess. Let's focus on three things (obviously :P):

Hecate's link to the number 3 and how it is used in Neo's story

Hecate and Artemis's bond and how it mirrors Neo and Ruby's

Hecate's imagery and attributes and what they mean for Neo

The first is an analysis of Neo's interiority (microchosm). The second explains Neo's role in the story (macrochosm). The third offers a synthesis and a conclusion (balance).

RULE OF THREE (MICROCHOSM)

Hecate is known for her three heads and three bodies. Neo is a normal human, but the number 3 still comes up in her design:

Pink, white and brown. Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. The three flavours of the Neapolitan ice cream. The three sides of Neo's self:

We are ruled by thirds. In fashion we compare no more than three colors. Our personalities are defined by the id, the ego and the super-ego- always warring vying for control. But our goal is harmony. Balance. (Roman Holiday, chapter 13)

According to Freud, the human mind is made of three parts. The id is where fear and wishes lie. It is a primitive and instinctive force. The superego is society’s expectations. It is where morality and ideals are. The ego is what balances the other two parts. It mediates between wishes and duties.

As per Roman Holiday, Neo is a combination of Neopolitan (pink), Vanille (white) and Trivia (brown). So, Neo's color scheme is a metaphorical representation of id, superego and ego:

Pink represents the id - Neopolitan is Trivia's pink imaginary friend. She embodies everything the child is forced to repress, like her pink eye and her wish for freedom.

White represents the superego - Vanille is Trivia's surname and a shade of white. The Vanilles want their daughter to fit into society and despise her disability, which makes her "odd".

Brown represents the ego - Trivia has brown hair, wears brown clothes and a brown contact lens. She is conflicted between her parents' expectations and her own wishes.

In her childhood, Trivia is unbalanced because her family forces her to repress her id. She cancels her pink side and projects it on her imaginary friend Neopolitan. So, Trivia undergoes a transformation and claims this part of herself back:

As the old saying went, “You can’t put the moon back together”. At times you had to destroy something to make something even better in its place. When Mama had shattered Neopolitan in front of their burning house, Trivia finally understood that she had been broken all along. Losing her friend was Trivia’s first step toward putting herself back together and embracing her true, best self. (Roman Holiday, chapter 11)

She re-arranges herself and her three parts:

Pink becomes the color of Neo's ego (her truest self). She stops hiding her eye and dyes half of her hair pink. Similarly, she embraces her Neopolitan persona more.

Brown becomes the color of the superego. It is a color linked to Neo's female authority figures like her mother (Carmel) and her teacher (Beatrix Browning). It is still present in Neo's color scheme, but much reduced. Similarly, Trivia is still there, but feels more like a mask than Neo's real self.

White becomes the color of the id. It is the color of Neo's family name, which she sheds. However, Neo still loves her parents, so her semblance dyes a lock of her hair white as an unconscious response to their death.

Roman Holiday is the story of Trivia Vanille's death and Neopolitan's birth:

As far as she was concerned, Trivia Vanille was buried under that mess, too. Neopolitan was the sole survivor. (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

Neo leaves behind her parents and their strict rules to become a living manifestation of the id:

She just wanted to do whatever she wanted. And for the moment, what she wanted was to help Roman set the world on fire. (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

Neopolitan does whatever she wants, even if it hurts others. She embraces her deepest wishes and chaotic emotions. This is the character we meet at the beginning of RWBY.

Well, Neo's arc in the series is to discard this person and to become someone new once again. After all, Neopolitan's name is linked to renewal and transformation. "Neopolitan" comes from Naples, which means "new city" (neo + polis). Naples's fantastic origin itself is a story of death and rebirth. According to the legend, this Italian city is born from a Siren, who dies for love. Her body transforms into the city and gives new life.

Similarly, Neo is a character able to be reborn countless times (neo = new + poly= many). So is Hecate, whose name may refer to the Greek number 100, as the Goddess is said to have one-hundred forms.

Our Neo/Hecate is then a multifaceted force, who goes through destruction just to embrace creation.

Neo's change in the series starts with a loss:

She loses both Roman and her inner balance:

There was one thing To help escape the misery And now it's all disarrayed You took my whole life away You sent me back to nothing Now you'll pay

So, she needs to rebuild herself once again:

We must live with balance But balance is blind (Lost her world) Vengeance is a riptide In a fairy tale, she'll find Inside A new me, I'm ready But who will I find? Inside I've gotta let go but could I lose my mind?

Volume 9 is where this inner transformation takes place. This time the new found harmony among id, superego and ego is not described by Neo's three colors. Rather, allusions are used.

In the Ever After, Neo is associated to three different Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass characters:

The Hatter, who represents the id

The Cheshire Cat, who represents the superego

The Jabberwocky, who represents the ego

THE HATTER - THE ID

“Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse," said the Hatter, "when the Queen bawled out 'He's murdering the time! Off with his head!'" "How dreadfully savage!" exclaimed Alice. "and ever since that," the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, "he wo'n't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.”

The Hatter is a Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass character. He is famous for the Mad Tea Party, where he, the March Hare and the Dormouse chat with Alice. The original book reveals that the Hatter "killed time" while singing, so Time refuses to run normally for him and his friends. As a result, they are stuck in an eternal tea-party, as it is always tea-time for them. In the 1951 Disney movie, instead, he celebrates Alice's unbirthday.

Neopolitan has been stuck in time since Roman's death. She can't move on, so she focuses all her energies on revenge:

So close to closure The one thing you need Underneath a monument with a dedicated plea

Killing Ruby becomes Neo's One Thing to the point she organizes a special tea party of her own:

Ruby's unbirthday party, to be precise:

Cinder: And you… should have never been born…

Where she can dissolve Little Red in a cup, as if she were a sugar cube:

Kill for kill Eye for eye Blood for blood It's time to die Retribution tastes so sweet

The Hatter is a hostage in his tea party and Neo is a prisoner of her revenge. Both are consumed by their inability to go on. Both have killed time and can't face their future.

In Neo's case, the reason why she murders time is pretty clear. It is a coping mechanism to avoid grief:

In Wonderland, the Hatter can drink tea at every hour. In her fantasy world, Neo can stay with Roman forever:

Neo-Roman: Y’know once Neo realized where she was, everything changed. Always loved the idea of a place to run away from it all. Do whatever you want. I offered that to her back on Remnant.

This is also why the first thing Neo does after landing in the Ever After is to evolve Overactive Imagination and to kill the Jabberwalker:

The creature is symbolic of death, as they kill Afterans permanently. So, Neo metaphorically negates her grief (the Jabberwalker) through illusions (her semblance).

At the same time, Neo enters the Ever After and gives in to her id. She has her desires and instincts control her completely. She loses all filters:

(Then suddenly) Scratched through the surface And you've found a key Unlocking what you thought was safe inside a box But it's somehow been set free (Finally)

Overactive Imagination's evolution is a physical representation of this psychological process. Neo spirals throughout Mistral and Atlas, but in volume 9 she hits rock bottom and stops acting rationally. She becomes the incarnation of her anger, which manifests through her semblance. Her illusions are typically silent. However, in the Ever After they speak, as Neo is letting her inner voices out of the box:

Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting for your ugly mouth to spit it out

This is why she becomes a chatterbox. She tries to communicate through her creations.

In particular, she makes an imaginary Roman (the Hatter), who looks and sounds like the real deal. He becomes the dominant voice in Neo's mind and speaks to and for her. His presence highlights Neo's inability to accept Roman's death. She hides in a lie. Just like Trivia used to cower behind her imaginary friend Neopolitan. As a child, Trivia can't accept Neo is a part of her. As an adult, Neo can't accept Roman isn't with her anymore. In this way, Neo's first real human connection gets reduced to an imaginary friend. This is the tragedy of Neo's adventure in the Ever After.

All happens because Neo surrenders herself to the id (her inner world). Still, it can't last forever. The id is a powerful source of energy and drive, but it is also destructive. So, Neo self-consumes until she has nothing left:

Neo-Roman: (voice in Neo’s head) You’ve finally done it! Little Red’s gone. With your Semblance stronger than ever now, we can take over this whole absurd place! Why not? Offing Little Red can’t be all you wanted… Right?

She puts so much into destroying Ruby, that she ends up empty. A vessel for others to take advantage of.

Curious Cat: You’ve lost something most important, haven’t you? And now you have nothing left. How delightful! An empty host, perfect for me to fill.

THE CHESHIRE CAT - THE SUPEREGO

The Cheshire Cat appears twice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The first time, he guides Alice at a crossroad and points her towards the March Hare's house. The second time, he appears at the Queen of Heart's croquet game as a giant head. The Queen and King are offended by his presence and want to behead him. Still, he is a head without a body, so the execution of this death sentence is complicated. Eventually, he simply fades away and disappears.

The character is inspired by the saying "grinning like a Cheshire Cat", whose origin is unknown. Among the many hypothesis, there is one about a grinning cat-shaped cheese. The cheese was cut from the tail, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

In RWBY, the character who alludes to the Cheshire Cat is not Neo, but the Curious Cat. Still, Neo and the Cat's stories are intertwined, as they destroy each other. The Cat possesses Neo and Neo kills the Cat.

Both characters eat and get eaten. They eat like the two wolves of Ruby's Little Red Riding Hood. They get eaten like the cat-shaped cheese, until only a floating head remains. A head separated from the body. A mind detached from reality:

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Neo and the Cat are mad, so they meet in the Ever After. However, their madnesses are opposite:

Neo loses herself in fantasy (the Ever After) and runs away from the real world (Remnant). She lets her unconscious feelings (id) run wild.

The Curious Cat is trapped in fantasy (the Ever After) and wants to reach the real world (Remnant). They are consumed by an imposed purpose (superego):

Curious Cat: I’m not like the other Afterans here, I’m cursed with curiosity. I need to know everything!

Blacksmith: A terrible thing to have a broken heart… And there’s nobody to send them (the Cat) back to the Tree for repair.

So, Neo and the Cat are foils, which is why they share the song Chatterbox. Both blabber non-stop. However, Neo's illusions speak her truest self. The Curious Cat instead uses smart words to hide their real intentions. Neo shows her inner beast (the shadow), while the Cat wears a mask (persona). So, Neo is the embodyment of the id and the Cat is her estranged superego. They are an external force, who comes and takes control of Neo's life:

The possession is a metaphor of Neo's state of mind. She goes from moving many characters around to becoming a controlled puppet. From shouting to radio silence. This switch is conveyed through the Curious Cat speaking through and for her.

This is Neo's nightmare, as her life is a struggle to be heard. Among other things, Neo refuses devices that make her sound robotic. She dislikes artificial voices because they sound fake to her. And yet, the Curious Cat forces Neo to speak their words. The Cat becomes Neo's new voice.

This is the result of Neo losing her inner drive:

NeoCat: She has no attachments to your world. Nothing to return to.

She is left with no wishes nor fears. She is a living id, who transforms into a walking superego. However, both extremes are wrong. A person is made of both her id and her superego. Both parts are needed to make an individual, which is why Neo is asked to face herself once more:

The Tree has the girl confront the pain and grief she has been ignoring. And yet, these feelings are what saves her:

NeoCat: No! These cracks, these feelings! I can’t… I can’t!!!

Thanks to them Neo gets back in control of her life. Symbolically, the Jabberwalker she kills in the beginning appears to finish the Cat off:

In this way, the cycle is complete and Neo's ego can finally surface.

JABBERWOCKY - THE EGO

Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

The Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem Alice finds in Through The Looking Glass. She initially can't read it, but then she realizes the verses are written in mirror-writing. She holds a mirror to the text and the poem appears. Despite being able to read it, though, Alice can't understand it:

"It seems very pretty," she said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate."

The poem conveys two main ideas:

It tells about a slaughter:

He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

It is impossible to understand, as it is full of gibberish and invented words

This is true for RWBY's Jabberwalker, as well:

They embody death, as Afterans killed by this creature are negated ascension

They jabber as they walk, which is why they fail to communicate with others

How does this relate to Neo? She kills the Jabberwalker, but assimilates them in her illusions. This happens because the creature is Neo's mirror. They reflect our Hecate in the making.

The Jabberwalker is a monster of grief who dies unheard:

Jabberwalker: Stop… It… Cease! No! NO! NOOOOOO!

Neo is a villain whose grief stays unrecognized:

Ruby: If you’re looking for an apology, you’ve wasted your time!

Not only by others, but by Neo too. She kills a part of herself in the Jabberwalker. Her most vulnerable and real part, that wants to communicate:

Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting for your ugly mouth to Say something real Do you only speak in riddles, chatterbox? I'm waiting on your ugly mouth to spit it out

She is a chatterbox that screams, but is not listened to. She can't talk, then she gains the ability to speak through her semblance. And yet, she can only be heard. Never understood. Similarly, Alice eventually learns how to read the Jabberwocky poem, but doesn't comprehend it.

This is why the Chatterbox song is so mysterious. Is it about Neo? The Cat? Both? Who sings what? Are they singing to each other? Or is it Ruby singing to them? It is impossible to say, just like it is impossible to grasp the full meaning of the Jabberwocky.

So, this song is about Neo and the Cat, but plays while RWBYJ fight the Jabberwalker. That is because the monster represents Neo's frammented self. They are the girl's ego, which is so broken and confused she herself negates it. Her journey in the Ever After, though, helps Neo find inner clarity:

(Waiting for it Sugar-coated All you need is here Come and find what Redefines you Make it crystal clear)

By the end she sees herself crystal clear:

Neo-Roman: To have what they have. What a thing, huh?

Her true wish is the same as ever. She wants a real connection. To succeed she has to let go of an imaginary one:

As a child, Trivia lets go of Neopolitan and finds Roman. As an adult, she lets go of Roman to find someone else. Trivia dies and Neo is born. Neo dies and someone new is born:

Blacksmith: She will have the chance to return her broken heart… And becomes something new. Such is balance.

Life from death. Creation from destruction. This is what transformation is. Symbolically, Neo kills all her three parts. She murders the Jabberwalker (ego), she rips the Curious Cat to shreds (superego) and finally releases Roman's illusion (id). Now, she is ready to move on.

HECATE AND ARTEMIS = SHADOW AND LIGHT (MACROCHOSM)

Hecate/Trivia and Artemis/Diana are two intertwined Goddesses. In particular, Hecate is sometimes described as a part of Artemis's triple identity. This Goddess is:

The Moon in the Sky (The Crescent Moon to be precise)

Artemis/Diana on Earth (Goddess of hunt)

Hecate/Trivia in the Underworld

Doesn't it remind you of anyone?

Ruby is

Associated with the Crescent Moon (Crescent Rose)

The best Huntress of all

A Red Grim Reaper with a Scythe

She is the Artemis (Crescent Moon) to Neo's Hecate (Falling Moon). This is why Neo's role in volume 9 is to play Ruby's Jungian Shadow:

In analytical psychology, the shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow. In short, the shadow is the self's emotional blind spot, projected as archetypes.

The shadow is everything that is repressed or hidden. In Ruby's case that is her emotions over loss and grief. So, Neo becomes what links Ruby to these feelings of death. Just like Hecate/Trivia is the part of Artemis/Diana, who appears in the Underworld. This is why Neo and Ruby fall together in the Ever After.

During their fall, Neo transforms in three people Ruby cherishes: Oscar, Yang and Penny. What do they represent?

They are linked to future, present and past. In particular, Oscar is waiting for Ruby outside (future), Yang is in the Ever After with Ruby (present) and Penny is lost (past).

They are the three people Ruby's conflict is focused on in the Atlas Arc. In volume 7, Ruby disagrees with Oscar on telling Ironwood. In volume 8, Ruby and Yang fight over what to do. In volume 9, Ruby must overcome Penny's death.

These two meanings are linked to two roles Neo fulfills towards Ruby. That of Triple Goddess and that of Goddess of crossroads.

1- The idea of past, present and future ties into Hecate being a Triple Goddess:

The fates are a representation of this Goddess and a declination of the Three Hecate Sisters, also known as Maiden, Mother and Crone. They are archetypes linked to three different phases of life. Youth, maturity and old age. In other words, past, present and future.

As Ruby's Hecate, Neo often brings up past, present and future throughout volume 9. Here is a quick list:

Ruby and Neo's fall in the Ever After (Penny is past, Yang is present and Oscar is future)

Ruby's first meeting with the Blacksmith, which is followed by the appearance of Neo's Jabberwalkers. There Ruby sees three weapons. Penny's sword is Ruby's inner child (past). Alyx's knife is the role Ruby is currently trying to fulfill (present). Summer's axe is who Ruby wishes to become (future)

Ruby's fight with Neo's Jabberwalker, where Ruby hallucinates three people. Cinder is the foe Ruby lost to (past). Penny is her current inner demon (present). Salem is the villain Ruby must eventually face (future)

Neo's crazy tea party, where Neo destroys Ruby by using three loved ones. Penny is a dead friend (past), Oscar is a friend Ruby could kill (future) and Little is a friend that dies (present)

Past, present and future haunt Ruby, so that she can accept who she was, understand who she is and move towards who she will be:

Past Ruby: So, are you a Huntress? Like the ones you read about in books? Ruby: I… I don’t know… Past Ruby: They always saved the day, didn’t they? Always knew what to do. Always won in the end. Ruby: But… life isn’t like a fairy tale… Past Ruby: That’s right! It’s up to you to make things better, isn’t it? Everything all depends on you! Your sister needs you, your friends need you, the whole world needs you to keep fighting, forever and ever, against an invincible monster that took your mother! Past Ruby: Mom was the best… but even she failed. That doesn’t seem fair. None of this seems fair. Ruby: But… What am I supposed to do…? Past Ruby: You can do whatever you want. Be whoever you want! You don’t even have to be Ruby Rose… So, what are you gonna be?

2- Neo brings to the surface Ruby's inner conflicts. She starts with the three struggles Ruby faces in Atlas and she keeps going by using her Jabberwalkers to re-create Atlas's destruction twice:

Finally, she has Ruby fight her inner demons all at once:

Neo-Ironwood: Who were you to think you knew what was best for Atlas? Neo-Pyrrha: I was the best and brightest Beacon had to offer. But I traded my life so my friends could live! Neo-Penny: Just like you were too late to save me at the Vytal Festival… I died in Atlas too, didn’t I? (walks towards Ruby) Can you imagine what that's like? To be completely and utterly failed… time and again… (kneels down to Ruby) by someone who meant the world to you… Neo-Pyrrha: How many more people are going to die because of you?! Ruby: I’m trying to save everyone! Neo-Ironwood: And yet with all your best intentions… Have you ever stopped to wonder if you’d done more harm than good?! Ruby: It’s not my fault…! Neo-Ozpin: How many more lives do you have to ruin before you realize you’re not cut out to save anyone?! Ruby: NO!!!

This happens because Neo is a manifestation of Ruby's id. Just like Hecate is a Goddess linked with crossroads and choice, Neo forces Ruby to transform.

Ruby's hidden self and her conflictual feelings are intertwined in Neo, who is the part of herself Ruby refuses to aknowledge until it explodes.

Let's juxtapose these two scenes:

Ruby: What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?

Ruby: Is that seriously what this is all about? You still blame me for what happened to Torchwick?!

In volume 4, Ruby asks Tyrian why he is after her and mentions Torchwick. In volume 9, Ruby is surprised Roman's partner wants to avenge him. This happens because throughout Mistral and Atlas, Ruby starts shouldering too much responsibilities by herself. Her whole ego becomes intertwined with the duty to stop Salem. By doing so, she neglects other parts of the self:

Maria: You know, you don't give yourself enough credit. Ruby: Oh… Thanks. Maria: That wasn't a compliment.

Which leads to the shadow suffering and festering. Inside Ruby, the shadow is her grief and trauma. Outside, the shadow is Neo. A secondary villain with a revenge agenda, which is nothing compared to the threath Salem represents. And yet, Neo's personal grudge grows until she becomes dangerous for Ruby's own existence:

Neo-Roman: You don’t deserve to die, Red. You deserve to be broken down… Torn apart… wiped from existence.

In this context, Ruby refusing to empathize with Neo is really Ruby refusing to empathize with herself:

Give me anything But this symphony of technicolor rage You call it righteous, meaningful It's anything but love Don't take me for a fool I know this all too well so Leave your tears to someone else cuz It's not just you who lost it all

Neo kills the Jabberwalker because she doesn't want to accept Roman's loss. Ruby doesn't see Neo because it would mean to look at her own pain.

The end result is bad for both girls. On the one hand Ruby is overwhelmed by trauma and chooses to disappear. On the other hand Neo realizes how empty she is after Ruby is gone. That is because shadow and light can't live without each other. They need to integrate, which is what Ruby and Neo do by the end.

Both see themselves more clearly, so they are finally able to empathize with each other:

Their conflict almost kills them, but once they get throught it they are ready to become better versions of themselves. They die and are reborn:

Since she had used her Semblance for the first time to create a butterfly with one pink wing, one brown, with white spots all over- then sent it out her bedroom window and watched it flutter away until she lost sight of it and let it go. (Roman Holiday, chapter 11)

Like two butterflies, who step into a brand new phase of their lives.

HECATE (BALANCE)

Neo's story is about finding balance inside and outside:

Inside- As a child, Neo is too repressed (superego), so as an adult she becomes uncontrolled (id). Her arc has her grow more balanced (ego).

Outside - In volume 9, Neo is Ruby's shadow (id) and brings out all of Ruby's negative emotions. By the end, though, Ruby is able to understand Neo and feels sympathy for her. This is because our LRRH doesn't refuse her own shadow anymore.

In other words, Neo is an id character, who has to integrate both with herself and with the world around her. This fits Hecate, who is a Goddess linked to the Underworld. The Ever After itself is a representation of this kingdom for three different reasons:

It is the world before (under) Remnant

It is the world of the deads (buried under)

It is the world of the unconscious (buried inside)

This is why Neo's semblance grows more powerful while there. Hecate is the queen of ghosts and Neo grows powerful enough to rule the Ever After with her materialized spirits (illusions). On a deeper level, our lady of the deads must face her own grief. So, like other characters, Neo goes through the stages of grief. In particular, Neo's stages are represented by her reactions to different characters:

The Jabberwalker she kills (negation)

Ruby she stalks and tortures (rage)

The Roman she materializes (bargaining)

The Curious Cat she is controlled by (depression)

All these meetings are a part of her journey to find both acceptance and herself. Maybe this is why throughout volume 9 she progressively becomes more and more Hecate-like. As a matter of fact, she aquires many attributes of the mysterious Goddess.

She gains her personal Empusas:

The Empusas are Hecate's demons, who look like girls with some odd body parts. In this case, Neo's heterocromia.

The Empusas are usually monsters linked to fire that appear as half-dogs. Here, Ruby sees the Jabberwalker with Cinder's head.

She finds her own Horned God:

The Horned God is the Triple Goddess's companion in neopagan religions. The Jabberwalker is a horned creature associated with Neo.

She commands a pack of dogs (the Jabberwalkers) and she herself plays the part of Ruby's dangerous wolf. This fits with Hecate's sacred animals being dogs.

Finally, she stands beside a wicked torch:

Torchwick-illusion is her companion in the Underworld and a symbol of her friend's lost soul. She even uses Roman's voice to lead Ruby towards death. Just like Hecate holds torches to guide mortals in the Kingdom of the Deads.

Despite all this, there is still an attribute missing: keys. They represent Hecate's ability to travel through worlds. However, Neo is stuck in the Ever After:

Jaune: So Neo can’t go through the door…

This happens because she has still to fully bloom into Hecate (herself). However, she is making progress and by the end of volume 9 she reaches acceptance. A necessary step to grow.

In particular, she dispels her illusion of Roman. She overcomes her grief by overcoming her own fantasies. This is interesting because it is the opposite of what happens in Roman Holiday:

“He caught a lock of her hair and showed it to her. It was white. “This is new. It suits you,” he said. Why would she have done that with her Semblance?” (Roman Holiday, chapter 26)

There, she represses her sadness over her parents' death, which manifests in her illusory white lock of hair. In the series, though, she lets go of an illusion to move on. Why is that so? That is because Neo herself is a combination of illusion and reality:

“Roman shook his head. “Show them who you really are.” Neo changed back into herself, but swapper her school uniform for her favourite suite. Roman handed her her parasol. (Roman Holiday, chapter 22)

Roman Holiday is the story of how she realizes illusions are a part of who she is. Volume 9 is where she learns she can't live in a world made only of illusions. So, she chooses to face herself for real:

Once she emerges from the Tree, she will gain her allusion's ability to move freely between dimensions (psychopomp) and will go through the door. She will leave her fantastical world (the Ever After) and come back to reality (Remnant).

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #rwby meta #neopolitan #neopolitan (rwby)#neo rwby #ruby rose #roman torchwick #curious cat #jabberwalker #once upon an allusion #my meta

230 notes · View notes

mocolococoffeesimp · 10 months

Note

Hello! May I request some Happy Chaos relationship headcanons? :D

-Chaos likes to cruise on his car, so whenever he wants to go driving he wants you to join him. And, whenever you do he will show off. Driving as fast he can, drifting, whatever he can think off. He will let you, decide the music while you're driving. He couldn't care about the genre, as long as it fits his current mood.

-He has a sweet tooth, even more for regional sweets. So, rarer the sweet the better. He really doesn't have a preference, if its a cookies, candies or sodas, as long as it is sweet.

-He has base skills on multitude of instruments, but the one he has managed to stick is piano. At first, he just messed around with a piano. Hitting the same tone, multiple times. But, at some point he started to learn how to play it. Soon enough, he can pull off impressive and more difficult songs. But, at times he will start hitting the same couple keys, because he's bored.

-He is a chaotic one, in your relationship and overall. You might find him in the kitchen dipping cucumbers in chocolate sauce, telling you its a delicious combination. Or, maybe he will start tap dancing on the street, before he's going to steal a car.

-Tattoos intrigue him, as his mark on his chest is somewhat similar to it. He gets interested in tattoos, wanting to get tattoos. He has a list of tattoos he wants to get. He also has a other list of matching tattoos, he wants to get with you. He would start with small, but slowly have a tattoo sleeve.

-He has a lot of different sunglassess. Aviators, cateyes, heartsunglasses, he got them all. If, you ever want try different sunglasses he got them. Speaking of which, he will mix them up. Meaning, he will have different pair often. He carries one extra pair with him, everywhere never know when the current pair might get broken.

-His horns are sensitive. He doesn't let anyone touch them, but after sometime in your relationship has passed, lets you touch them. He would let you use lotions on them, keeping them shiny and healthy. He forgets to lotion them often, so he starts to rely on you to remember to lotion his horns.

-He has the wildest fashion sense, not in a good way, well at times. He would change his style often, sometimes looking like a absolute fashion disaster. Sometimes, actually looking like he is dressed for the fashion week. He wears heels at times, just to feel taller. He likes the height they give him.

-His gun is one of the few things, his interest doesn't waver in the slightest. You can find him cleaning it once a week, making sure its in good condition. He would more than happy to teach you how to use it. He would go out of his way to get you your own one.

#guilty gear #guilty gear headcanons #guilty gear strive #guilty gear x reader #guilty gear happy chaos x reader #guilty gear happy chaos #guilty gear happy chaos x gn reader

107 notes · View notes

wheels-of-despair · 6 months

Text

Easter Bunday Pairing: Billy Knight x You Summary: Billy and Bunny-Mama sit back and watch their bunnies enjoy a Birthday / Gotcha Day / Easter surprise. Contains: Bunny-related activities, Billy-related reflection, just a cute and fluffy little Easter fic. Words: 900ish

"Ready?"

Billy scans the living room floor one last time, making sure everything is where it's supposed to be. You smile as you watch his eyes dart from place to place in the obstacle course you've created together.

You'd realized a month ago, when Easter decorations flooded every store, that you were approaching a year of being Bunny Parents. You weren't exactly sure when Cookie and Cream were born, but since you'd acquired them soon after Easter - The Designated Bunny Holiday - you'd decided to combine it all and have a party. For your rabbits. A Birthday/Gotcha Day/Easter Party. Or, to make it a little easier… Easter Bunday.

You'd been planning for weeks, and saving all your paper and cardboard to make things out of. Your living room floor looked like a tiny cardboard village. Holes had been cut into boxes for them to play in, a mock-clothesline holding leaves of lettuce had been set up for them to snack on, and Billy had crafted all kinds of new toys for them. Instead of hiding Easter eggs, you'd planted treats in paper tubes and little tufts of hay for them to dig out. It was a Bun-stravaganza!

Billy finally nods in approval and says, "Release the buns."

You chuckle and open the door of their cage. You scurry to the couch to join Billy, and wait for the bunnies' curiosity to get the better of them. It didn't take long; Cookie and Cream hop out shortly and begin exploring their obstacle course.

You and Billy watch with amusement, quietly encouraging them on occasion. "Keep digging, Cookie!" "Your other left, Cream!" The rabbits explore and munch and destroy like it's the best day of their lives. When the bunnies get distracted by the lettuce line, Billy opens a box of chocolate you'd put in his Easter basket and offers it to you. You reach for a piece, kiss him on the cheek as thanks, and pop it in your mouth. Billy never takes his eyes off the rabbits, but you find it difficult to take your eyes off of him.

Billy had only vague memories of Easter with his Mum. You'd tried going the traditional route once, in a bid to help him reclaim his childhood, but it just didn't feel right. And so your Easter traditions became sleeping late, cooking a big breakfast together, and exchanging Easter baskets… in a very loose sense of the word. Your small offerings of candy and sometimes a trinket had come in grocery store bags, they'd been presented in empty tissue boxes, they'd been arranged neatly on the kitchen table. This morning, they'd been in paper bags that were soon repurposed for the rabbits.

This was definitely going to become a new tradition. The smile never left Billy's face, the entire time he watched the rabbits play. His eyes would light up when one of them would discover a treat he'd hidden particularly well, and he'd laugh proudly when they teamed up to destroy a piece of cardboard. He sat on the edge of his seat when they burrowed into a box full of crumpled newspaper and disappeared from sight. The sound of ripping paper and Billy's quiet chuckles filled the room.

After a while, the ripping and the tearing begin to die down, and the rabbits start getting sluggish. Cookie finds a nice resting spot and flops over for a nap, and Cream soon follows.

"Guess the buns have decided it's naptime," Billy smiles sleepily.

"I think they're right," you yawn. He nods in agreement. "You wanna go back to bed or stay here?"

He answers by leaning back against the arm of the couch and holding out his arms. You move so he can stretch out his legs, then crawl onto him and settle into his side. You rest your head on his chest and drape an arm across his stomach. Billy reaches for the blanket on the back of the couch and flips it over you both.

"I think this might be the best Easter ever," he says.

"I think you're right," you agree, drawing little hearts on his chest with your fingertips.

"Think the rabbits had a good time?"

"Baby, we are never going to get them back in their cage," you laugh. "This was the happiest I've ever seen them."

"Cookie is so quick to find her treats," he admires. "Like a bloodhound. Er… treat-hound, I guess? And Cream just rips through cardboard like it's nothing. I love how they work together."

"My sweet Billiam… I do believe we've raised an amazing pair of buns."

"We did, didn't we?" You can hear the smile in his voice.

"Mhm," you hum. "And their amazing dad made them the best Easter Bunday gift ever."

"Their wonderful mum helped," he protests.

"You were the mastermind," you argue. "And it was perfect. So much more entertaining than watching a bunch of kids hunt for plastic eggs. Quieter, too."

"How long d'you think it'll take them to find the rest of the treats?" Billy wonders.

"Oh, I think two or three more nap breaks should do it."

Billy shakes with a quiet laugh and kisses the top of your head.

"Happy Easter Bunday," you whisper, nuzzling your cheek into his chest affectionately.

"Happy Easter Bunday," he mumbles, already losing consciousness.

#writings of despair #billy knight x you #billy knight x reader #billy knight x easter

19 notes · View notes

objectbiologist · 7 months

Note

I am so glad I found this blog oh my goddd… I have so many questions!!!!!!

1. how are objects created/born?? pls I am so curios. I’ve been pondering about this for ages and I literally cannot think of any possible explanation for this

2. if a specific kind of technology goes out of style or just isn’t used anymore do you think new objects will stop being born as that species? I feel like oscar for example would be older because yknow he’s a calculator and we tend to have calculator apps on our phones now. there’s no more need for calculators, therefore they’ll stop being born after some time. whaddaya think?

3. ancient object civilizations. I need to know more about ancient object culture. are there object mummies? if so, what would they possibly look like???

4. is there object species prejudice? e.g. crowns and jewelry are snobs, “unhealthy” foods (like sweets, think donuts and chocolate and candy) are unhealthy themselves

4.5. is there object ableism? e.g. fragile objects shouldn’t exist for their own good bc they are easily breakable

5. DO HYBRID SPECIES EXIST??????? I’m thinking yes but only extremely similar species like, two different flavors of the same food. e.g. a jellybean that’s both tutti frutti *and* butter popcorn

6. Can there be object species of things that are “humans-only” things? Like a t-shirt for example?

Sorry for all dumping all these questions on you :’) if there’s anything you need time to think about, take as much time as needed! Thank you so muchhh <33

~ 🧶

thank you anon! i will answer some of your questions here.

1. 🌈 nobody knows 🌈

2. the object equivalent to extinctions are possible but rare. "obselete" is the term we used. usually the object will still exist, just in a rarer capacity as the species rapidly adapts.

3. when an object dies, its limbs are the first thing to decompose and this happens very rapidly. mordbidly, this sometimes makes it difficult for bodies to be identified. mummification was not commonly practiced to my knowledge. you'll have to ask roland about this because he is better with that sort of thing than i am.

5. object hybrids really are just a species that is a combination of both parents in material and concept. this is pretty rare and usually the offspring will be one or the other, occasionally inheriting traits like color from the recessive species.

6. yes

#unreality #object shows #object sentience #object biology

14 notes · View notes

pickalilywrites · 1 year

Text

Pickalily's JeanKasa Masterpost

A masterpost of my JeanKasa fics and drabbles. Will be updated accordingly ♪(´▽｀)

Across the Ocean to See You

Canonverse. One shot. Jean crosses the ocean to see Mikasa.

Break My Heart Again

Canonverse. One shot. Jean loves her no matter how much it breaks his heart.

Enough

Canonverse. One shot. Jean doesn't want much for her. Even a little bit of her time would be enough.

Fall Apart

Canonverse. One shot. Mikasa has never let herself fall apart, but even the strongest soldiers fall sometimes.

I Don't Want to Break Your Heart

Canonverse. One shot. Mikasa knows how fragile the heart is. Jean is willing to take all the risks despite that.

Let Her Go

Canonverse. One shot. Eren's perspective on Jean and Mikasa's relationship.

Love Makes You Stupid

Canonverse. One shot. Sasha helps Jean calm his nerves before his big day.

Pull Me In Close and Don't Let Go

Canonverse. NSFW. One shot. Jean and Mikasa go swimming in the lake.

Slipping Through My Fingers

Canonverse. One shot. As Mikasa falls apart, Jean does his best to comfort her.

Take Care of You

Canonverse. One shot. Mikasa picks up her three drunk friends from a bar. Jean is particularly affectionate.

To Love and Be Loved

Canonverse. One shot. Mikasa has always kept Jean at arm's width. Jean's love is a little more stubborn than that.

Welcome Home

Canonverse. One shot. Jean welcomes Mikasa home after the war.

What I Want to Say

Canonverse. One shot. During a quiet moment, Jean takes the opportunity to say what he has always wanted to say.

Who I Wanted to Be and Who You Are

Canonverse. One shot. With Jean, she can be everything she wants to be. With Jean, she becomes someone she cannot be.

⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧

Selfish

Canon Divergent. One shot. Mikasa doesn’t need love. She doesn’t even want it, really, but sometimes in the middle of the night when she’s lying wide awake with only her lonely thoughts to keep herself company … she yearns for it.

⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧ ⌒ ⛦ ⌒ ⛧

A Shining Knight

ASOIAF AU. One shot. It takes years to become a knight. Jean knows this more than anyone. He served as a page in his youth, and he’s still serving his time as a squire. His master works for the Royal House Tybur, although the knight has yet to be bestowed with the honor of becoming a part of the Kingsguard. It was unlikely that his master ever would. Only a few knights were trusted enough to become a part of the Kingsguard, and one spot has been reserved for one person in particular even though she has yet to be knighted.

New Girl

Avengers AU. One shot. Balancing adolescence with crime-fighting would be difficult for any teenager. At least the new girl makes things a bit more bearable.

Tension

Ballet AU. “Delivery,” Jean calls, knocking at the door. He hears a muffled voice reply, “Coming!” and he leans back against the doorframe as he waits to be let in. He raises an eyebrow when the door finally opens. Jean dangles a bag, a carton of ice cream inside of it, in front of his friend’s face. “I thought you could use something nice to eat.”

Real Beauty

Celebrity AU. One shot. Jean is granted permission to shoot photos of the elusive celebrity Mikasa Ackerman.

After You

Coffee Shop AU. One shot. Jean and Annie convince each other to ask out their respective crushes. After the other person goes first, of course.

Indirect Kiss

College AU. One shot. Jean mixes tequila into his hot chocolate. Mikasa thinks it's ... an interesting combination, to say the least.

A Way to Say I Love You

Modern AU. One shot. They say there are five love languages. Jean is pretty sure that feeding your partner strange snacks is another one.

We Broke Up Series

1 | 2. Post Break-Up AU. Jean and Mikasa has broken up, but that doesn't mean their love is gone.

Muse

Reincarnation AU. One shot. Jean paints her over and over again, the woman who has haunted him even in his dreams.

What Was Lost

Reincarnation AU. One shot. In another life, maybe they can find happiness together.

I Find out My Crush Is a Mob Boss’ Daughter

Shoujo Manga AU. One shot. Mikasa Ackerman is eating alone again. It’s been this way since the beginning of the school year. When Jean had first enrolled in Rose Academy, a private high school known for its rigorous education system, Mikasa was the first person he had noticed. It was not the shiny, black limousine nor the suited bodyguards that accompanied the first-year girl to the gate that caught Jean’s attention, although those things certainly did help. Rather, it was the way Mikasa carried herself, her head held high with a mature expression of someone well beyond her years, that intrigued Jean.

#jeankasa masterpost #to edit later #masterpost #pickalily fics

26 notes · View notes

catkin-morgs-kookaburralover · 5 months

Text

day three: carrying

a Vaniah story. word count 2,556.

He had never trusted anyone in his life as much as he found himself trusting Mordecai.

Through the difficult, sometimes humiliating and soul-sucking weeks that followed, Vaniah found himself losing all the things he had once held dear about himself. He was learning to value himself lightly, but at the same time Jim was teaching them to have self-confidence in the areas he was trying to foster. It was a strange combination, and whenever Vaniah thought of his family—which was rarely—he wondered if he would ever see them the same again, in their comfortable, innocent, sheltered existence. He had passed through the fire, and the wounds were not yet healed.

But Mordecai was there every step of the way. So was Maria. When he felt most alone they were by his side, holding his hands and getting him through all the strange, terrible tests they had to do.

There seemed no end in sight. But he was one of the strong ones, one of the people who would make the cut and get through to the end. He might have lost sight of why he’d made the choice, but it was unshakeable. He’d joined originally to protect the people, the civilians who were sheltered and ought to remain so. If that meant losing sight of himself he would do so.

It seemed strange to realise that he had only been cut off from his family for two weeks at this point: not a very long time. Fourteen days. But he was a different person.

Instead of the siren going off at the time he had learned to expect, today, there was nothing. Silence. Everyone stood in little groups and made quiet conversation.

They had learned to fear unexpected change, even though Jim had claimed they were being taught to handle it better. Nothing good ever came of changes to routine.

When he had almost given up on anything happening before lunch, the siren came. Everybody trooped in to the meeting hall.

There was a great buffet there, the tables groaning with food, and every good thing Vaniah could think of being on them. Jim stood behind one, a broad and uncharacteristic smile on his face.

“Come one, come all!” he said. “You’ve all worked so hard in these last few weeks, and you’re getting so close to the end. As a reward, you can eat what you want of this! We have nothing left to do this afternoon, so you can eat as much as you like and sleep it off afterwards.”

Nobody hesitated this time. Vaniah went for a great basket full to overflowing with perfectly cooked dinner rolls. They were hot, but not quite hot enough to burn his fingers as he tore into it without a second thought.

Around him, everyone was doing the same: grabbing what they wanted, not even bothering with plates (it was all finger food) and gulping down the most delicious things they had eaten for weeks. Their diet had been fairly bland since they joined the course, and every bit of this stuff was good to eat and perfectly cooked. Vaniah grabbed handfuls of roast meat and crammed them into his second roll, ravenously hungry. The medications he had been started on a week ago had significantly increased his appetite, said to be a deliberate tactic for increasing muscles. Steroids, or something like that.

There was a stack of cheese cut into massive portions. There was no knife to cut a piece off, and he hesitated before taking a large chunk and biting into it with relish. It was his favourite, a sharp goat’s cheese with vivid and perfect flavour. Next to it sat apples, already half gone. As he watched, Jim came in with a bag of apples and replenished it. Smiling, he said, “Eat what you want: there’s plenty for everyone, and more where everything came from.”

Drinks, a broad variety, were on another table. He spotted Mordecai draining glass after glass of chocolate milk, and went to join him. There was strawberry milk too, and he had that instead. It was a beautiful combination of rich strawberry flavour and sweetness without being overbearing. It was also the requisite pink colour. He drank three glasses straight off, wrote his name on the glass as instructed and left it there to seek more food.

Pears, too, were in abundance, and he split one with Maria. Then he went looking, found a table full of stews with large bowls beside. He took a bowlful of something colourful and delicious. The flavours were precisely to his liking. There were capsicums, added late in the stewing so that they remained crisp, and dumplings, and every vegetable he had ever imagined would be beautiful in a stew, and several he hadn’t. There were loaves of crusty bread to go with it, if one wanted, and butter.

Over on another table were puris and chana masala to eat with them. There was rice, too, but as he saw the puris he realised he hadn’t had puris for—how long now? Three years? Not since the Indian restaurant nearby had closed, and he couldn’t make them himself. He served himself a generous plateful and sat in a corner to eat them. When they were done he went back for seconds.

An indeterminate length of time later, he was full and very contented. He leaned against the wall next to Maria; Mordecai had gone back to his room for a proper nap. Vaniah was just dozing.

Jim’s voice cut through the peaceful silence. “All right, y’all,” he said. His voice held a dark satisfaction that immediately brought Vaniah to full wakefulness. “Playtime’s over.”

“You said we were going to have the afternoon off,” said Seneca. He sounded sleepy.

“Other things have come up that require you all to be going through something. Sorry.”

Vaniah dragged himself to his feet. As he did so Jim went around the room counting them off. Maria was a one and Vaniah a two.

“Find someone of the opposite number to you,” said Jim. Maria and Vaniah promptly turned to one another, grinning with relief.

“I’m going to be marking attendance for this, so if you have comrades who have gone back to their rooms go and get them.”

Vaniah went and fetched Mordecai, who complained loudly and sleepily before properly waking up and looking nervous. Vaniah shared a grimace with him before heading back. Mordecai ended up paired with Seneca. Neither boy looked particularly happy with the assignment.

“Ones, step forward. Remember who you’re paired with. Twos, go outside where you’ll find a truck waiting for you. Get in the back.”

It turned out to be a flatbed truck, and they all squeezed in, though the fit was tighter than Vaniah liked. He wondered, as the truck roared to life, if anyone would fall off the back and be left behind. They bumped their way along roads for perhaps fifteen minutes, then were directed to jump out just next to a creek. They did—some squelching in the mud as they landed unwisely—and the truck roared off, leaving them alone.

“What now?” asked Mordecai.

“Now we wait, I guess,” said someone else.

A few minutes later another, larger, truck came, parked and Jim jumped out. It had a large covered back, and he opened up the back and began, to their shock, extracting limp bodies one after another. Vaniah froze as he saw Seneca, then Maria.

“Are they dead?” said someone in the silence. Vaniah wanted to throw up.

Jim laughed. “Of course not! Just tranquillised. You’re each going to have to get your partner through a series of challenges up ahead.”

It looked like an obstacle course. Too focused on his inner discomfort, Vaniah hadn’t noticed that before.

“How?”

“You’ll have to carry them. Everybody grab your partner.”

They were lying in the mud as if nobody cared for them. Vaniah picked up Maria—small, and slight, and not as much difficulty as he expected, though she was a dead weight—and watched her head flop back, feeling sick. He held her to him like he was dancing, one arm under her shoulders and the other holding her head. Her mouth drooped open.

Then he lifted her more securely into a bridal position, hands behind her shoulders and under her knees, and stood waiting for instructions.

“Cross the creek and follow the obstacle course. At the other end, I’ll be waiting. There are cameras. We will see if you deviate. There will be punishments. And if you get into trouble, nobody will save you.”

Vaniah’s breath caught as he stared at the muddy creek. How would he know where to put his feet? What if he drowned Maria as he tried to get across?

Someone started moving forward. The boy, staggering with a friend taller than he was, uttered a yell halfway across the creek, slipped, and dropped his burden.

“He’s drowning!” he cried. Vaniah dropped Maria and ran to his side, frantically fumbling in the water, finding the boy’s head after far too long and lifting it up. He was completely limp and unresponsive. But then, that was how they all were, wasn’t it? Tranquillised so they couldn’t move and wouldn’t wake up? He was going to be fine, right? His head flopped back like Maria’s had done when Vaniah picked her up first.

The kid wasn’t breathing. He was younger than Vaniah, face white under the mud of the creek he had died in.

Nobody knew what to do or say. The first boy stood in the middle of the creek holding his dead friend and staring down at his face. There was water on his face, and nobody asked if was tears or creek.

“We can go two by two, carrying people across together,” suggested Vaniah after a suitably long pause.

If only I’d thought of that before the kid died. I don’t even know his name.

The rest moved. Half of them laid down their burdens, gently, and helped the other half. They went carefully, talking in low tones as they did so, coming back for the other. Vaniah helped carry Seneca and Maria, hoping he hadn’t done her too much injury when he dropped her earlier. They were breathing shallowly but evenly.

Nobody else slipped. Vaniah almost did, while carrying Maria across, a stone turning under his foot, but he caught himself just in time. The first boy was still standing holding his friend in the middle of the river, even once everyone else had gone across successfully.

“I’m out,” he said dully, then screamed it:

“I’m out! You’ve destroyed my life. Now you take my friend away. This was preventable! You—you evil—”

Nobody came. Nobody swooped on him to take him away, or reprimand him, or anything. It would have been better if they had. They left him alone in the river, silent and sobbing with his dead. The rest went on. Vaniah held Maria bridal style as before, her head hanging forward. She was drenched by the creek water, and he hoped inconsequentially that she didn’t mind the clothing she was wearing getting drenched. He wondered if they’d had any notice about what was happening—or if anyone had expected any deaths out of it. This was the first death Vaniah was aware of in this training. When he’d joined he hadn’t expected any.

They walked across rough terrain for perhaps ten metres before reaching a small opening they’d have to crawl through. But how were they to get their partner through? Vaniah stared at it, waiting for someone else to make the first move, and quickly discovered nobody intended to. They stood there, a small rebellious group, and nobody moved.

“If we don’t go through this, what happened?” Mordecai voiced everyone’s thoughts.

“They’ll leave us here like they left Sam. We’ve got to.”

“I’ll go,” said Vaniah abruptly. He was going to show just how strong he was: he was going to pass through this without being destroyed. He was going to get Maria through. He owed it to her.

He climbed in feet first, someone helped to lift Maria in after him and he began to inch forward, hoping there were no nasty surprises there. He should have left her, climbed through and seen what the terrain was doing. It was a tight fit around his shoulders, and he became very aware of his breathing as he squirmed forward and dragged Maria behind him.

It tilted, then he began to slide uncontrollably as it became more like a slide going down. As he looked down he saw a drop, was barely able to yell and then was propelled out of it. He hit the ground hard, barely managing to cushion Maria’s descent at all. It was just as well he hadn’t gone through on his own; the edge was smooth, and he couldn’t have climbed back up it. He heard grunts, scrambled Maria into his arms and moved out of the way before Mordecai came through, head first. He hit the ground and rolled.

More people were coming through. Mordecai yelled information to the people on the other side, who could apparently hear if he yelled but nothing quieter. Vaniah stationed himself under the chute ready to catch unconscious people or dodge conscious, as it depended. He got several bruises, and several people swore at him.

Eventually everyone was through except for the boy who they’d left behind at the creek. Vaniah scowled hard at the next obstacle, which was a combination of ropes they had to get through. It looked finicky enough on one’s own, but carrying an unconscious comrade?

Mordecai followed his gaze and said, “You have got to be kidding me.”

Vaniah wiped his forehead and closed his eyes for a moment. “I really don’t know how we’re getting them through.”

“Put your arm around her waist, hold her to you and use the other hand to manoeuvre.”

“How strong are you? I can’t do that.”

“You’re lucky; you’ve got Maria,” said Mordecai tiredly. “I have to cart Seneca around.”

“At least Maria and I weren’t switched,” he said, and that drew a laugh from his friend.

“They wouldn’t do that.” Then Mordecai fell silent, because they both knew ‘they’—meaning Jim—absolutely would.

Vaniah juggled Maria carefully, holding her without using his hands. He was going to have to hope he didn’t need to be too flexible.

What was the point of all this? Why were they doing this? Why had no one come to intervene in the death earlier? As he got onto the first rope and eased himself forward the questions kept going around and around and around his head. He nearly dropped Maria, nearly fell himself, and wondered: were they trying to kill them all?

But why would they do that?

‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, but was that true, or was that an adage that nobody who’d been through things actually believed? He was lost and alone and so very, very afraid.

But he had to be strong. Somewhere up ahead were good things, and all the righteous reasons he had chosen this career. The fact that he couldn’t see them right now didn’t mean that they weren’t there.

He just had to persist.

#vaniah #whump #hold on to your hats boys this is a long one

5 notes · View notes

voidedjuice · 6 months

Note

Cecily with 5, 8, 9 and 15 for the OC ask thing!

Answering finally at long last

5. What’s one hill your OC will die on (anything from a guiding moral position to a strong opinion about combining mint and chocolate)?

Growing old and cynical, she's gotten really into believing in life not mattering at all (whether hers or others). People die so fast and are forgotten so quickly, why's it matter if she kills some from time to time for whatever reason? The trick answer to this is that sometimes that random person will throw you in a timeloop for your crimes.

8. What’s something that your OC owns that means the world to them? What’s something they own that they don’t like, but can’t bring themself to part with?

Something she likes to own are her old red ribbon she's kept around since time immemorial, and her growing sword collection. She's also gotten into collecting books and other such things.

Something she dislikes but can't part with is the old castle she lives in. She originally settled in it just out of convenience, winter was coming, she needed a place for herself and this maid she'd picked up from her castle raid to stay in.. now she's millennia in into living in this place she's kind of always really hated, but the modern real estate market is a difficult place for someone like her so she Stays.

9. How do they fare in cold or hot climates, and which do they prefer?

Cecily pretty much only does well in a moderate climate, but she really prefers it when it's warm out. Hot weather makes her sluggish and easily irritated (+ during summer the sun stays up annoyingly long for her), but she hates being cold more than anything else. In the past, during particularly cold winters she's been prone to unstable behaviour if she hasn't been able to warm up for a while (setting herself on fire, trying to take a bath in boiling oil....)

15. How does your OC take up space? What do they do with their hands when they talk, or how do they sit in chairs?

She manspreads like crazy and likes to lounge horizontally on sofas whenever she can :'). On chairs she likes to sit as wide and comfortable as possible.

Since she doesn't want to bother hiding her fangs, she's developed a habit of talking with her hand near/over her mouth. With Ilta she's additionally very touchy feely when they're talking, much to Ilta's annoyance.

#oc lore #asks #several months late but an answered ask is an answered ask

5 notes · View notes

art-of-lilith · 6 months

Text

This is more or less a WIP of Liliths Bio in HxH as i’m debating what other trivia stuff to add :v

|Basics|

Name: Lilith Alecto Necroshade

Aliases: The Shadow Weaver

Age: 35

Birthday: 31st October 1987

Gender: Female

Height: 8’8

Weight: 350 pounds

Appearance: Lilith commands attention with her imposing stature, standing tall at 8’8”. Her presence is both striking and enigmatic, reflecting her dark and powerful nature. Her long, dark scarlet red hair falls in waves, reminiscent of blood-stained silk, framing her face with a big side fringe. It's partially curly in certain parts and very curly and long at the back, reaching the midpoint of her back. Her eyes, a piercing crimson, gleam with mystique and power, accentuated by subtle black markings resembling veins under her eyes. Five blood moon red spider eyes adorn her forehead, adding an otherworldly allure. Her pale anti-flash white skin contrasts starkly with her dark features. Black markings decorate her face, adding to her mysterious aura, while charcoal black tints adorn her hands and feet, with her hands having a blood-moon red tint at the ends of her fingers. Ebony black sharp demon horns grace her head, exuding a regal and formidable presence. Mandibles with black pincers tipped in blood-moon color add to her menacing appearance. Her body is adorned with various tattoos symbolizing her connection to magic and darkness, visible on her back, arms, and front. Her ears are a unique combination of demon, Gerudo, and siren styles, with black webbing between the spikes. Her lips, painted in captivating black cherry, draw attention to her enigmatic smile. Adding to her allure, subtle siren scales appear all over her skin under moonlight, while Twili markings along her arms are visible only at night. Her body features a tail inspired by Striker and Charlie from Hellaverse, with a chocolate cosmos base, a platinum blade tip, and a blood moon red heart at the center, surrounded by chocolate kisses colored spikes. Her impressive spider-leg Wyvern wings, composed of eerie black bones and dark cherry red webbing, grant her a haunting and ethereal presence. She has a stitch along her mouth and across her neck to resemble her origins and where she came from. Additionally, she possesses a long dark sienna tongue that is extremely long, as well as fangs having a combination of varied species, adding to her formidable appearance.

Personality: To her enemies she can be cold and calculative with a slight hint of cunning and sultry but when it comes to people she genuinely cares about,she is kind and protective whilst also being caring and sometimes shy when it comes to her crush but that is super rare of her. When it comes to missions or business things - she takes it very seriously and if things don't go her way well she is very hot-tempered and violent.

Affiliation: Phantom Troupe

Occupation: Occult Specialist

|Relationships|

Parents: Circeluna (decided to rename her), Mother that helped her to learn the occult and witchcraft - Deceased (Burnt at the stake when she was 13 or older)

Her father is unknown as there is nothing she or anyone else knows about him.

Friends: Shalnark,Shizuku,Feitan and Machi

Romantic Interest: Uvogin - Crush (It will blossom into a full relationship - soon 👀)

Other: Hisoka - she genuinely gets freaked out by him and his weirdness in a way.

Pets: Shadowflight, the Raven,Serpentine, the Snake,Midnight, the Cat.

|Abilities|

Nen Type: Specialist

Nen Abilities: Shadow Coven - this Nen ability grants her access to a wide array of mystical and occult powers, including casting curses, divining the future, manipulating elemental forces, brewing potions, and more. The source and limitations to her powers are unknown because of how little information there is about her as her files in certain authorities are scrambled or written in a text that is difficult to decipher.

Mental Abilities: She is quite cunning,able to use weak points to her advantage and due to her mothers teachings as well as her own teachings - she is well-versed in the occult and witchcraft.

Physical Abilities: She is fast,strong and flexible with very good stamina that can outwit any opponent and crush them in her path.

|Stats|

Spirit- 4/5

Skill- 5/5

Strength- 4/5

Nen- 5/5

Talent- 5/5

Intelligence- 5/5

|History|

Lilith's early life was marked by tragedy and persecution. Born into a small town in 1987, her mother, a talented witch, fell victim to a wave of hysteria reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials that started in 2002. Accused of practicing dark magic and consorting with supernatural beings, she was unjustly sentenced to be burned at the stake. As a young child, Lilith had to bear witness to this horrific event, which left a lasting impact on her. But the torment didn't end there. Lilith's unique heritage and emerging powers made her a target of fear and prejudice among her peers. She was subjected to relentless bullying, enduring both physical and verbal abuse. Rocks were thrown at her, insults hurled, and she was ostracized from her community. The cruelty she experienced as a child was a catalyst for her decision to flee her hometown, seeking solace and a place where she could belong.

Driven by a strong determination to embrace her true self and find her purpose, Lilith embarked on a solitary journey. She roamed the world, exploring hidden realms and studying ancient arts. Along her path, she encountered mentors who recognized her potential and nurtured her abilities. Under their guidance, she honed her skills in dark magic and necromancy, becoming a formidable practitioner. The hardships she endured, from witnessing her mother's tragic fate to enduring the persecution of her peers, shaped Lilith into a complex individual. Her experiences have instilled within her a burning desire for justice and the strength to stand against oppression. Now, as a powerful necromancer, she seeks to uncover the truth behind her mother's persecution and to protect those who suffer from prejudice and discrimination in the supernatural realm.

Amidst her descent into darkness,Lilith's path intersected with that of the Phantom Troupe. Drawn to their enigmatic leader and their mission to defy societal norms, Lilith saw an opportunity to align herself with a group that shared her desire for justice and power. With her formidable skills and unwavering determination, she proved herself to be a valuable asset to the Troupe, earning her place among their ranks as a fearsome enforcer and powerful ally. Thus, Lilith became a member of the Phantom Troupe, embracing her role as a formidable villain.

|Trivia|

She learns others abilities and skills through observation as she is a very fast learner and can adapt to any situation.

She fears fires used in a more threaten way - this is because of her mothers passing/torture to death as she doesn’t want to die the same way she did.

She enjoys meditating in the dark and reading/listening to occult stories and learning more things about the darkness.

She is a liquor chic more than a wine chic

She does swear a lot - especially if things don't go her way.

Her language and species are unknown making her more unique to everyone else in a way.

Her birth sign is Scorpio

She is bisexual and polyamorus as she prefers her relationships to be that way however if she is drawn to only one individual - she’ll stick to them.

She can hiss like a snake and purr like a big cat - depending on which she feels like.

She has special vision that allows her to spot her target/prey which can detect heartbeats especially from fear.

She is super Voluptuous and slightly muscular - Both top and bottom heavy with thicc thighs that save lives 💅🏻

(Will draw her in her outfit soon so hope you enjoy!)

#oc #oc bio #hunter x hunter #i tried #please enjoy

2 notes · View notes

tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 1 year

Text

This gets long. It continues my obsession with old Edinburgh Fringe Festival videos. It is of interest to no one in the world besides me.

Okay, the situation is: I’ve just gotten back from a wonderful week-long vacation by the ocean, I am now home where there is no ocean, I’m starting a new job tomorrow, I’m very anxious about it (I did just start another new job a couple of months ago, but I was so desperate for a job at the time that I’d applied for everything and took the first thing I was offered, then something I wanted more came back and offered me something so I took that instead, now I start that other thing tomorrow, I would feel bad for leaving my old job so soon except that they were doing a lot of illegal shit that I cannot get into in one Tumblr post but just trust me that they broke far too many labour laws to deserve my loyalty, this is getting off topic). I just spent some time very carefully going through the Cowgate video to find a screenshot that could be my new cover image, I ended up going with this:

That was taken from this video, of an event that I refer to as Cowgate, due to it being a cow-related scandal that also took place near the Edinburgh neighbourhood of Cowgate:

youtube

I had to go through that video to find the screenshot, and this reminded me of how many questions I have about it, so I have decided to distract myself from new job anxiety by writing a post that lists just a few of my top 200 questions about that fucking video. Let’s go through it, shall we? It’s been a while since I’ve done a post that self-indulgently goes into great detail about that video that no one in the world want to think about nearly as much as I do. Not that I’ve never done that before. But it’s been a while, and that'll be a good distraction.

Essential, all-encompassing question: Where did they get the cow?

There are several possible classes of answer here, all of which inspire different follow-ups. As far as I can see, there are two overall possibilities: the cow was there when they arrived and they did not plan it, or they specifically procured a cow for this purpose. I think it’s more likely to be the former, because at the beginning of this video (a video that I put together myself, by the way, cutting out things from two different videos that I got on YouTube, because somehow this was captured twice and uploaded to YouTube by two totally separate accounts, and I combined them), you see Daniel Kitson sitting on the cow at what seems to be the beginning of the night, and he seems to be figuring out what it is along with the audience.

If it’s the former: How did it get there? Who put it there? Why did they put it there? Where did they get it? How did they feel about it being destroyed?

Did the Chocolate Milk Gang know it would be there before they arrived? If so, did they plan its destruction in advance? If the answer to one or both those questions is no, when and how did the plan formulate? How did they work out that they were allowed to do it? Presumably you can’t just destroy shit that’s on stage without consulting someone. Did they consult someone while the show was happening? Does that explain why the weapons they used all look like things they might have found backstage at the last minute? Why someone walks in during the scene and hands John Oliver a metal pipe like one out of the game Clue/Cluedo? That would make more sense if they had not prepared this beforehand.

Here's one theory of mine on that’s subject: I think the plan was formulated sometime after the first clip in this video, when the audience was shouting challenges at Kitson for things he should do with the cow (ride it, touch it, jump off it), and he told them their challenges were too easy. I think that after the camera stopped filming, the audience started issuing more difficult challenges, and one of those challenges was to rip it in half.

Another question if that’s the case: How were they initially planning to end that night? What got bumped for last-minute cow destruction?

But all my theories could be wrong. They all have the issue that I’m not sure you can get permission to destroy a large installation once a show has already started. So maybe it was the latter of those initial options, and they did plan it beforehand. Which brings up lots of other questions, such as: Why? Who thought of it? Why? What were the plans leading up to it? I still want to know where they got the cow, and how they got permission to bring it to the Gilded Balloon and destroy it on stage.

All of that can be summarized in two main questions: “Where did the cow come from?” and “How did the plan to destroy the cow come about?” But there’s another main, overarching question, which is: “What the fuck was the plan? What were they actually doing?”

I mean, clearly they were trying to destroy the cow. But why? What were the parametres of the challenge? Adam Hills says they have “three chances”, and they’ll either succeed or “bottle it”. Does that mean they tried two other times earlier in the night to destroy the cow, and only succeeded on this third attempt? That’s pretty good, if so, because this is clearly the end of the night (you see Kitson come out afterward to introduce the band, signifying that comedy is over). So it’s some good narrative planning if they managed to space out two failed attempts and then got it right at the end.

That might explain why Kitson got involved. At first he’s hanging back, just doing hype with Adam Hills. At some point, it looks to me like he figures out they’ll be here all night if he leaves them to it. He starts giving specific advice – Adam Hills is yelling Eminem songs at them, and Daniel Kitson starts saying helpful things like “combine the chisel at the hammer”. It’s shortly after that that he, as far as I can tell, decides they won’t manage this without him, even though he’s tried to tell them how to do it, so he jumps in there and helps. That would make even more sense if they'd tried this twice before and it hadn't worked, they'd agreed on some sort of challenge (with the audience, maybe) in which they had to do it in three tries, also it was the end of the night and the last night of the Festival and they wanted to get it fucking done.

I might be wrong, it's difficult to tell, but I think Daniel Kitson was right to think they needed him, because he's the one who actually ended up breaking it. I've tried to figure this out before, mainly because I've decided I desperately want a Taskmaster one-off live task someday in which they wheel the Taskmaster cow on stage in the studio in front of these five people and tell them that the first person to break it in half wins. So even though it was a collective effort, I want to know who actually would win if this were a Taskmaster task. And I think it may have been Kitson. You can see him kick it pretty hard, then hit it once with his hammer, and then it immediately comes apart and he throws his hands in the air in celebration:

It might have been too much of a joint effort to give the points to any one person, though. John using leverage definitely helped.

The other option for what “three chances” means is it was only meant to be three people trying to destroy the cow: David O’Doherty, Demetri Martin, and John Oliver. That would mean they didn’t really succeed in their challenge, since Daniel Kitson ended up helping. But I don’t know if it really makes sense – do three people working together and concurrently count as three separate chances?

Look, let’s go through the lyrics to really understand everything going on here. From Mr. Adam Hills:

If you had three chances... Would you take 'em? Or would you quite literally bottle it?

I've covered the "three chances" thing already; I don't quite know what he means by that. But I'm also not sure what he means by "bottle it". I know that's slang for fucking things up, but why would they literally bottle it? The use of the words "quite literally" imply that an actual bottle is somehow involved in this. I have no idea how.

His palms are sweaty, his hair is sweaty, He's ready to shoot spaghetti

This is a sort of parody ("parody" might be a word that gives it more credit than it deserves) of Lose Yourself by Eminem, obviously, since that's the beat that's playing in the background. I point this out only because it comes back later, when he starts singing a different Eminem song, having apparently forgotten which one he was supposed to be doing.

He's got a cow on stage It's got red horns, it's all the rage

I find those lyrics worth mentioning because here's another video from earlier in that same night (one that I also put together by combing clips from two separate YouTube videos):

youtube

Adam Hills is freestyle rapping there, but he got the idea of rhyming "stage" with "all the rage" from David O'Doherty, who had used the same rhyme in his own on-the-spot rapping earlier in that same Late 'n' Live show.

It's cow tipping, it's not quite shitty Get that cow down in this city Take it up the Royal Mile, attack it with a hammer

The Royal Mile is a stretch of road in Edinburgh that I think is meant to be a central hub of people and bars and whatever wild things happen during that festival. In the YouTube comments of one of those videos (the original one, that I cut up to make the one linked in this post), someone said they did, in fact, carry the broken cow up the Royal Mile after they'd crowd surfed it out of the building. So apparently enough planning had gone into it beforehand so that they knew, at this point, that that's what they wanted to do. Maybe that was part of the challenge? They had to break the cow in half and then carry it up the Royal Mile?

At this point I will skip a few lines, because even I cannot bring myself to type out every word that Adam Hills said around the line "fuck the udder", but I do find it very funny to watch Adam Hills getting really into his role as hype man, while Daniel Kitson watches beside him, tries to look like he's also playing the hype man because that's what he's supposed to do, but he knows he needs to also be actually paying attention to how the whole thing's going and making sure to keep it on track. He's trying to look as though he's fully thrown himself into it and isn't putting any effort into controlling the gig, whereas Adam, I think, has genuinely thrown himself too far into it to keep anything on track. Does that say something about their different styles of comedy and/or compering? Possibly. Adam Hills definitely grew into a host who could keep a live show on track (and has done it on many Fridays for many years), but it never seems as natural for him as it does for Kitson to have one eye on appearing to be fully caught up in stuff, and one eye on keeping tight control over the situation.

Anyway, the result is Adam yelling increasingly nonsensical shit around the words "fuck the udder", and then Kitson puts one hand over his mouth and one in the air in an exaggerated parody of a hype man, but what he actually says is:

Davey, Davey, what you need to do is combine the chisel and the hammer

Not hype. Genuine advice designed to get this done so they can win the challenge and get out of here. I find it quite funny how David O'Doherty was diligently focused on the cow for the whole time, until Kitson yelled that at him, when he suddenly stopped and looked up like "Oh... right, yes, I'll get right on that."

I also enjoy the way John Oliver looked up at him too while he was yelling this helpful advice, like, yep, that's the guy I'm on the same page with, the one who will do the rapping but only with full awareness that it's all bullshit and we just need to accomplish the task and go get milkshakes:

There’s Martin, Demetri Martin The Perrier win has left me smartin’

That is a reference to something that would have just happened, as this is the last night of the Fringe Festival and I assume they do awards at the end. Adam Hills had, in fact, been nominated for the Perrier Award that year, but Demetri Martin had beaten him. He had also been nominated the previous year, and lost to Daniel Kitson. And he'd been nominated the year before that, and lost to Garth Marenghi (Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade). After 2003, he was no longer eligible for the award, putting him in the James Acaster class of people who were nominated several times but never won (not as many times as Acaster, but still).

John Oliver, he’s the man If that pipe won’t do it nothing can

You could make a lot of money if you put that on t-shirts and sold them. People won't even need to know the context.

David O-ha-doch-her-ty He comes from Ireland, the land of the green Daniel Kitson, he’s got a hammer He’s also got one motherfucking stammer

I mean, the way he added several extra syllables to DO'D's name so it'll scan for a song is still far from the least accurate pronunciation of that name that I've heard. What I like about this part is how absolutely no one reacts. They are all so engrossed in their cow destroying task, no one even looks up at Adam. DO'D doesn't want to engage with whether Ireland should be reduced to "the land of the green". Kitson does not retort about his stutter. Martin won't be drawn into competitiveness about the Perrier Award. They all have a very important job to do and will not be distracted.

It's time break this cow down It’s time to break this cow down It’s not time to chow down It’s time to break this cow down

Is anyone else beginning to suspect that Adam Hills may not have been 100% sober during the recording of this video? Though it is worth noting that the Chocolate Milk Gang got their name because they drank milkshakes instead of alcohol after late-night Edinburgh shows. Stewart Lee called it "a cult of abstinence built around Daniel Kitson" - which probably says more about Stewart Lee than anything else, if he thinks not getting drunk every night is a cult, but still. I think that means that the Chocolate Milk Gang members in this video (Kitson, Oliver, O'Doherty, Martin) all were sober they whole time they were taking apart the cow.

Late 'n' Live, Late 'n' Live, it's the very last night It's time to wrap this show up tight Send out the front, send out... Break the cow, break it in half Lead it out the front to the path

Another reference to bringing it out the door. So that must have been part of the challenge from the beginning, not something the audience spontaneously did. Break it in half, crowd surf it out, take it up the Royal Mile. But why?

Karen Koren, she's outside She's got petrol dripping down her eyes There was a fire at the Gilded Balloon The police found no one else was to blame If this season doesn't go well This fucking venue's going up in flames

Okay, it took me a while to work out the meaning of this part, but I know it now. Karen Koren was (and still is) the owner of the Gilded Balloon venue, which hosted (and still hosts) Late 'n' Live, a show that runs late into the night during multiple nights (most nights or maybe even all of them, I get the impression, at least back then, but I'm not entirely sure of that) of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Late 'n' Live has one person hosting all night, bringing on different comedians who do different stuff throughout the night, the lineup changes depending on availability and other stuff. Then when they're done (around 3 AM, I think, at least back then), they bring out a band to play and it becomes a dance floor. Daniel Kitson hosted it for several years in the late 90s/early 00s, and that's what was happening here, in 2003. It was, as Adam Hills said earlier, the "very last night" of the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and this was that night's Late 'n' Live show, hosted by Kitson with all these other comedians around throughout the night. That's all useful context.

In late 2002, there was a fire in Cowgate, which is the neighbourhood in Edinburgh where the original Gilded Ballon was. The Gilded Balloon burned down, and was rebuilt nearby. So this event, less than a year later, is taking place in the rebuilt version.

So here's what Adam Hills was saying (jokingly, it's worth clarifying) with that verse: Karen Koren, owner of this building, is currently outside with petrol. If this year's shows at the Gilded Balloon don't go well enough to make as much money as she wants, she'll burn the building down (I guess for the insurance money or something, to make up for insufficient revenue). He's implying that that's how the previous year's fire happened, the police incorrectly found no one to blame, and she'll do it again if they don't make her happy.

The cow's in half, the cow's in half Let's hear it for the cow in half! My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I Get out of bed at all The morning sun goes up my window, and I can't see at all Even if I could it'll all be grey But your picture on the wall Reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad...

All those lines after "Let's hear it for the cow in half" are from the Eminem song Stan, which is a different song from Lose Yourself, the one he was doing at the beginning. It is funny that Adam Hills forgot what Eminem song he was singing and started doing the wrong one. But it's not shocking. Because here's a clip from 4 at the Fringe, a BBC Radio 4 show that was recorded at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - this episode was recorded at the Fringe in 2003, with Adam Hills compering, and here is doing some of his material between a couple of the acts:

At the Fringe Festival in 2003, Adam Hills had a bit in which he sang some of the Eminem song Stan. I assume all the bits he did during his compering were taken from his larger set that year, which means he'd have been doing that nearly every night for a month, every time he performed. So it was in his head. When he was, I'm going to guess, drunk, and he was on stage and hearing Eminem, he just automatically started singing Stan because he'd been doing it all month.

Crowd surf the cow, people.

Once the cow is broken in half and being crowd surfed out of there, Daniel Kitson high fives Demetri Martin and David O'Doherty, turns around to high five John Oliver, then hugs Adam Hills, like a sports team that's just won a big game. Great work everyone, real strong teamwork out there, couldn't have done it without you all, okay, hit the showers.

It is, and this is only the slightest of exaggerations, the cutest shit I've ever seen.

This video is going to haunt me for the rest of my fucking life. It's keeping me awake at night. If I could ask any of those comedians one question, my brain would pass by all the interesting intellectual things I want to know about some of my favourite creators of valuable works of artistic merit in the world, would give up the chance to learn anything about any of that, just to ask, "Where did you get the fucking cow?"

#Youtube

6 notes · View notes

rabbitcruiser · 1 year

Text

National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

The only thing better than pecan pie is pecan pie with chocolate. Make your own, or find a bakery that sells chocolate pecan pie for this rare and tasty treat.

For those who have an incurable sweet tooth, National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day is the perfect opportunity to indulge. It isn’t even necessary to feel too guilty about grabbing a piece of pie, because pecans have all kinds of health benefits in them that they come by naturally. In fact, pecans contain more valuable antioxidants than any other type of nut, plus plenty of fibre, minerals and vitamins to round out their nutritional value.

So grab some friends and get ready to celebrate National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day!

History of National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

The word pecan comes from the Native American Algonquin language. As the only nuts native to north America, pecans have been eaten for generations in both the USA and Mexico, but they’ve only been grown commercially since the late 19th century.

Of course, chocolate itself is derived from the cacao plant that has a history dating back approximately 4000 years to Mesoamerica. Originally it was probably used as a medicine or part of cultural rituals. Hundreds of years later, chocolate was consumed as a beverage, often known as “the drink of the gods”.

Cocoa beans were later used in certain cultures as currency, and some historians record it as reaching Europe sometime in the 16th century as it made its way to Spain. But it wouldn’t expand throughout the rest of the continent for another 100 years or so.

Once the industrial revolution came around, chocolate processing became easier and the treat was eventually solidified into the chocolate that is known and loved today.

As for the combination of chocolate and pecans being made into a pie? Well, that’s a much more recent invention. No mentions of this type of a recipe seem to have been published in any cookbooks until the early parts of the 20th century. But whoever started it, the world is sure glad!

How to Celebrate National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day is a delicious, fun-filled day that can be chock full of activities and tasty treats! Try out these ideas for enjoy the day with family and friends:

Bake a Chocolate Pecan Pie at Home

One of the most popular ways to enjoy these buttery, crunchy nuts is to bake them in a pie, and adding chocolate makes it just that much more delicious. The perfect way to celebrate National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day is to bake a pie for family and friends.

Pie making doesn’t have to be super difficult, especially for those who are willing to throw a premade refrigerated pie crust into the mix. Ingredients for the pie include corn syrup, butter, semi-sweet chocolate, eggs, brown sugar, salt, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and, of course, pecans.

The butter and chocolate are melted together, then added to the rest of the ingredients (minus the pecans) and mixed together. The mix is then poured into the pie crust and the pecans are arranged to float on top of the mixture. To protect them the edges of the crust can be covered with aluminum foil.

Bake in a 350 F oven for approximately 60-70 minutes (or until pie is set). Let cool for 2 hours and then enjoy eating this scrumptious dessert!

Host a National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day Event at Work

If the office contains a few people who enjoy baking, this would be a great day to host a Chocolate Pecan Pie Bakeoff! Have a few different people take a stab at baking their own pies (set the rules about whether the crusts need to be homemade or not) and then see whose pie is the best.

To make it a charity event, try auctioning off some pies or selling pieces individually as an afternoon snack.

Try a New Twist on an Old Favorite

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with making and eating just a typical Chocolate Pecan Pie on this day, certainly there are ways to make it even more fun! Try out a few of these variations on this classic pie:

Chocolate Pecan Pie with Bourbon. Just adding a few tablespoons of bourbon to this pie can change everything! The alcohol bakes out, leaving the sweet scent and taste that is a bit like caramel and super delicious.

Spiced Chocolate Pecan Pie. Multiply the decadence of this tremendous treat with the addition of ground spices such as cinnamon, clove and ginger. The flavor gives a nod to the Mexican roots of chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie. While many people like to use semi-sweet or milk chocolate for their pies, the use of high quality dark chocolate can really bring out the flavors of the cocoa.

Mayan Chocolate Pecan Pie. Just a bit of ground ancho chili powder and a tablespoon of coffee liqueur creates a beautiful spicy, chocolate contrast that is perfectly balanced by pecans and sweetness.

Attend the National Pecan Day Festival

While this festival is not specifically geared toward National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day, per se, that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of chocolate pecan pies to enjoy at this festival, located in Albany, Georgia. Other activities include a parade, a contest for pecan-cooking, a special race and the crowning of the National Pecan Queen.

Try Different Toppings for National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

Those purists who like Chocolate Pecan Pie just as it is are to be respected, of course. But others might prefer just a little more adventure when it comes to enjoying this tasty treat! Try these ideas for making the day even more delicious:

Chocolate Pecan Pie A La Mode. It’s amazing what just a scoop of vanilla ice cream can do to make a great piece of pie even better.

Chocolate Pecan Pie with Whipping Cream. Of course, a dollop of homemade, sweetened whipping cream tastes absolutely divine as well.

Chocolate Pecan Pie with Spiked Cream. Instead of putting bourbon in the pie and then cooking it (or in addition to, no-one is judging!), add a few spoons full of bourbon to homemade whipping cream for a delightful flavor.

Learn a Bit of Chocolate and Pecan Trivia

For National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day celebrations, be sure to be armed with these fun facts about pecans and chocolate to impress friends and family alike:

The pecan capital of the United States is highly contested, but one place that calls themselves this is Albany, Georgia. The area contains more than 600,000 pecan trees and also hosts a festival.

Some pecan trees can grow as tall as 150 feet! However, most run in the range between 70 and 100 feet, which is still pretty darn tall. The nuts are often harvested by shaking the trees and collecting what falls to the ground.

It takes around 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate, and each tree produces somewhere around 2500 cacao beans.

While Albany, Georgia is considered by many to be the pecan capital of the United States, the state of Texas has also staked its claim when it adopted the pecan tree as its official state tree in 1919.

Go nuts and enjoy this day with neighbors, friends, co-workers and family! Happy National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day!

Source

#Chocolate Pecan Pie a la Mode #National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day #NationalChocolatePecanPieDay #La Posta Mesilla #food #dessert #original photography #20 August #travel #vacation #summer 2011 #Vanilla ice cream #USA

2 notes · View notes

kjcamilli · 2 years

Text

When You Trap a Tiger Tae Keller Lily has always been quiet and sometimes feels invisible, but her ability to see invisible things only begins when her mother takes her two daughters, Lily and Sam, to move back in with her mother, their Halmoni. Lily begins seeing a tiger from the stories her Halmoni would tell, and bargains with it to try and help with her grandmother’s sickness. As she begins to find new stories and learn more about her family, Lily finds herself grappling with difficult realizations. She has a lot on her shoulders–a fractured relationship with her sister, the hope of curing her Halmoni, new friendships, new places, and finding the truth in the ever changing stories she’s told. Keller combines Korean folktales with original stories to weave a narrative about the importance of family and community, showing how friends and loved ones can help out with even the most confusing and difficult situations. Though Lily begins by feeling like an outsider, she ends the story surrounded by friends and community, and having made amends with her mother and sister. The story showcases the power of stories and knowing your family history in a way that is both metaphorical and easy to understand, while creating realistic characters with interconnected lives. Readers will likely connect with Lily’s conflict avoidant personality and frustration with her own emotions as she navigates uncertain grounds, as well as enjoy her sister Sam’s more direct and sassy personality. Other characters also have room to shine, such as Sam’s crush, the endlessly optimistic Jensen who works at the library, or Lily’s new friend Ricky who loves comic books, adventures, and chocolate pudding. The characters all go through difficult experiences such that this book could help readers cope with loss of a loved one as well as any new changes in their lives. BIBLIO: 2020, Random House, Ages 8 to 12, $16.99. REVIEWER: Katherine Camilli FORMAT: Middle Reader ISBN: 978-1-5247-1570-0

#book review #when you trap a tiger #books

4 notes · View notes

splendourteacuppuppies · 1 year

Text

Miniature Dachshund Puppies - Complete Guide to Mini Dachshund Puppies

Miniature Dachshund puppies for sale are adorable and fun little dogs to love and own. It's hard to own just one of these cute little guys. Miniature Dachshund Puppies are not AKC recognized like their standard sized friends. They usually end up weighing between 8-12 pounds, so if you're looking for small dogs that like to have fun, Miniature Dachshund Puppies just might be the perfect dogs for you!

Mini Dachshunds usually grow to 5-10 inches in height and can come in a variety of colors and coats. Miniature Dachshund Puppies can have coats that are Smooth, Long Hair, or Wire. The Smooth coat is sleek and short, the Wire-Haired coat is a double coat (the outer coat is short and hard and the under coat is soft and fine), and the Long-Haired coat is elegant, usually shiny, slightly wavy, and is longer on the neck, chest, underside of the body, and behind the legs. Their coats can have a color consisting of brindle, sable, or dapple, bi-color of black, chocolate, blue, or fawn, and solid of red and cream. Miniature Dachshund Puppies were originally bred to hunt hares, while their bigger standard sized friends were bred to hunt badgers. These Terrier puppies originated in Germany. Mini Dachshunds are very popular pets and are even occasionally still used for hunting.

Mini Dachshund Character:

Miniature Dachshund Puppies, although small, are a robust and muscular breed. They are most well known for their short legs and long bodies. These cute little puppies are very adventurous, curious, bold, and possess an alert and intelligent expression.

Dachshund Temperament:

Mini Dachshunds are known for being devoted, affectionate, and loving. It is important to keep in mind that when they begin to mature they can become snappish when teased. You should also be careful of their small size, so they seem to do best in a home with older children. Miniature Dachshund Puppies can sometimes grow to be aggressive or jealous of other pets and can be wary of strangers, so just keep this in mind. They are great at alerting their family to visitors or out of the ordinary occurrences.

Wiener Dog Care:

It's good to know that a Miniature Dachshund Puppy is relatively easy to care for. If you own a Smooth or Wire-Haired coat puppy, they require weekly brushing to remove loose and dead hair. Wire-haired puppies also need to be professionally trimmed twice a year. If you own a long-haired puppy, be sure to remember that they require daily brushing to prevent matting and tangling. They do not tend to smell like other dogs do, requiring baths when necessary. Some of the health issues that Mini Dachshunds can encounter in their lives are obesity, hip dysplasia, spinal problems, epilepsy, bloat, and eye disease. Just be sure to look out for these health issues and try to prevent them and care for them.

Mini Dachshund Training:

Dachshunds tend to be a bit stubborn and willful, which can make training a little bit more challenging. They have a tendency to like to do things their way. They are known to be difficult to housebreak, so housebreaking combined with crate training is recommended. Be sure to socialize with your Miniature Dachshund puppies early on, while knowing that obedience is a must. Keep in mind that they will not respond to harsh or heavy-handed methods. In saying that, training your mini dachshund puppies must be done with firmness, fairness, patience, and consistency. Be a calm and assertive pack leader to your dachshund puppies.

Miniature Dachshund Activity:

Mini Dachshunds will do great in city or country living. Although they do not need a ton of exercise, be sure that the exercise you provide them is sufficient to prevent boredom and obesity. Be sure to keep them on a leash when out for walks, as they by nature love to chase!

Overall, Miniature Dachshund puppies for sale are a wonderful dog to own. They are fun-loving, loyal, full of energy, and can be great alert dogs. As with a lot of breeds, Miniature Dachshund Puppies needs plenty of love, training, stability, and consistency. They do love to please their owners, so working with them will be to your benefit. Miniature Dachshund Puppies have been very popular puppies to own and probably will be for a long time. Who could resist such a cute and loveable puppy! Miniature Dachshund Puppies might just be the perfect puppy for you and can be a great addition to your pack.

#Miniature Dachshund puppies for sale

0 notes

sunbeams-and-honey · 4 years

Text

Ceres Part 2

Ceres in Aries: They love any physical activity, and often use it as a way to relax. They have a need to be independent and may be prone to self realisations. A lot of them. They need to be physically stimulated often, so they may fidget a lot or naturally snuggle up to people without even knowing that they're doing it. They value sharing experiences with the ones they love above any other type of gift. They find it much easier to show love, rather than to outright say it. They want to help their loved ones to find their independence. They are very protective but hate asking for help. They may have issues surrounding their own self-worth, even though they are the first person to boost the confidence of others. They need to allow themselves to work through their grief, rather than ignoring it.

Ceres in Taurus: Their love language may be touch; they absolutely love to be held and physically comforted by the ones they love. It's vital that their home is a place where they feel safe and loved, and they may like having physical reminders of good experiences in their home, such as having framed photos on the wall. They probably love comfort food, they just need to make sure that this doesn't become a problem. Eating some chocolate when you're sad is all good, but if you're doing it every day, then you should probably look into other ways of comforting yourself. They love to be pampered, even if they try to deny this fact or try to deny themselves this due to self-guilt. Things like massages may seem very appealing to them. They wish to provide financial stability for others, and find comfort through material matters, such as physical gifts. Any issues surrounding their finances will be particularly hard for them due to the comfort money usually gives them. They may be prone to being manipulated and/or manipulating others. It depends on the rest of their chart. They don't like to let go of their grief, which is very unhealthy for their grieving process and wellbeing as a whole.

Ceres in Gemini: They grow when communicating with new people in a positive way, even if they're more introverted than extroverted. It's important for them to be kind or at least civil with more or less everyone they meet. They may find themselves drawn to education, whether that means following higher education, going into the sector as a career, or just constantly having a need to learn new things. Places like libraries or old bookshops may be appealing and comforting to them. They like to talk things through as a form of care for themselves and for others. They may be more comfortable with verbally expressing their love rather than showing it. They love to spend time with the ones they truly love. Their identity may be primarily built of their intellect, so they may have some confidence issues surrounding this. They can't easily deal with rejection. Despite this, they quite literally reject their emotions during times of grief. They need to talk to others in times of hardship.

Ceres in Cancer: They tune into their maternal side and instincts when caring for others, and like to be treated in a similar way. They are very protective of their family and feel like they have a duty to look after them. Remember that this doesn't necessarily mean your biological family. Just like those with Taurus in this placement, it's important that their home is a safe and loving environment. Their home is their special place and should be treated as such. They want to provide this sense of security for their loved ones, and they really do want to care for them. These people often make great parents if they decide to have children. If not, they would at least be quite good with kids. They love to form emotional bonds and connections with others, and this comes very easy to them. However, they might deal with abandonment issues and/or self-esteem issues. They also may have a tendency to cling on to their grief for fear of moving on and forgetting. They need to remember that it's okay to get on with their life; they shouldn't be bound by their grief.

Ceres in Leo: Self-expression and developing their creativity is vital for their self-growth. They have a strong need to be recognised and appreciated and struggle greatly when they feel like they're not loved. Deep down they are a true artist and may be gifted in a certain form of art. Caring for others gives them a huge sense of pride and they might centre their identity around how they do this. They truly want to do their best with their care and are not ones to do this half-heartedly without good reason. They feel loved when they're at the centre of someone else's attention. They thrive on praise from others but they need to learn how to not always rely on this. They need to be able to motivate themselves and this is something they are destined to learn during their lifetime. They are confident in their care but it can lack a sense of empathy. They are good at raising other's confidence, and often do this by recognising the originality of others.

Ceres in Virgo: As most Virgo placements would also imply, anyone with this one probably has some kind of workaholic mentality. They value their work highly and often won't stop until they feel like they're done. They care for other people through discipline, so their way of showing you that they care would be telling you where you're going wrong and why you shouldn't do that. This makes them sound like an overbearing parent or teacher, but they just want to protect you from making bad decisions, and this seems to be the easiest way to do it. They can be harsh when doing this, so they should be told when to rein it in, but they really do care and aren't being mean for the sake of it. They love to help others improve their general skills because they really want them to go far in life. They generally take criticism well because they understand why they're being criticised and know that it will help them in the long run. They love to learn new things, especially in a tactile way. They define themselves based on their achievements, but because of this they can unrealistically high expectations. They go through grief rather quickly, which means that they can overlook what they need to work through. They need to take more time for themselves more often.

Ceres in Libra: These people are highly focused on helping other people, which they often do by expressing their acceptance of their loved ones, and by building a stable relationship with them. They're very good at adapting to the specific needs of specific people, as they understand that everyone is different, and are very observant when it comes to this. It doesn't take them long to work out what a certain person wants/needs. They thrive on communication and stability with a person, and they love to share with them. They also love general intimacy, and this doesn't necessarily mean just sex. They can be selfless to the point of neglecting themselves completely, and this is a hard thing for them to overcome because they base their identity so much through others. They need to learn how to put themselves first and how to separate themselves from other people. Their identity is their own. They are quite open with their emotions so grief isn't as difficult as it could be.

Ceres in Scorpio: People with this placement want to have real connections with the people in their lives. They care for others through any and all kinds of intimacy, and like to be treated in a similar fashion. They don't favour emotional or physical care, tending to combine the two instead. They try to inspire their loved ones to achieve their very best because they think personal transformation is very important. Growth and control are also valued highly with this placement. They prefer to stifle their emotions, so they unknowingly make dealing with grief more difficult for themselves than it could be. They need to learn how to open up more to others.

Ceres in Sagittarius: People with this placement absolutely love to learn and explore, and they need the freedom to do so in order to feel loved. This is how they best grow and thrive. They want to inspire and support the other people in their lives so that they can help them do their best and get through hard times. Their own confidence and optimism helps them greatly with this. They also tend to use their own past experiences and knowledge to help others. They like to build their identity on these things, as well as their beliefs, morals and, to an extent, their loved ones. They have a tendency to avoid grief, preferring to stay strong for other people. That isn't to say that they ignore their grief altogether. They do work through it at some point, it just takes them longer than most.

Ceres in Capricorn: This placement is an indicator that the native holds recognition and achievement in very high esteem. They feel that other people truly care about them when they try to help them achieve their best. Stability is also very important to them and is the main reason why they want to be successful. They're quite big on responsibility and discipline because it's important to them that the people in their lives also achieve success. This focus that they have can mean that they are sometimes too hard on themselves, so they need to understand where to draw the line. They need to learn that their self-worth is not just defined by their achievements in life, and that failure is not necessarily a bad thing. They sometimes feel guilty for dealing with their emotions and grief because they don't think they have the time to work through that side of themselves. They need to learn that this isn't true.

Ceres in Aquarius: These people like to support their loved ones through genuine friendship and by defending them. They loved individuality as a whole and it's vital to them that the people in their life are accepting of one's individuality. They try to make sure that their loved ones feel wanted and respected. They like to be treated in a similar way but they also need a lot of freedom. They need to feel like they're able to breathe. Their role in their community is important to their identity, as well as their connections, originality and creativity. Their politics and what they believe in is also crucial. They may struggle with intimacy and intense emotions because of their tendency to be somewhat of a lone wolf. They're the type of person to have lots of friends but not many close ones. They prefer to detach themselves from their feelings.

Ceres in Pisces: People with this placement are great at understanding and emotionally supporting others. They're selfless to the point of self-sacrifice when it comes to their loved ones, especially to their children. They want to be strong and dependable for others as much as they can. They are sympathetic, compassionate and hugely accepting. They have a large and very alive imagination which needs to be constantly fuelled. They have a tendency to work themselves to the bone so they need to be reminded that they deserve to have a break and be looked after. They sometimes have issues related to their self-worth because they mainly define themselves by how they support others. They constantly feel like they need to be helping someone. Grief can be difficult for them because they feel their emotions so intensely. They are easily overwhelmed by their feelings so they need to learn how to cope in a different way.

#astrology #ceres asteroid #ceres astrology #ceres #aries ceres #taurus ceres #gemini ceres #cancer ceres #leo ceres #virgo ceres #libra ceres #scorpio ceres #capricorn ceres #sagittarius ceres #aquarius ceres #pisces ceres #ceres in the signs #astrology asteroids

1K notes · View notes