#destroying with freedom. he had a VERY aggressive rebellion

[prism-forgone]

So how long till you drop the Deltarune Classpect expansion featuring the secret bosses? Haha just kidding. Unless... But anyway having not thought about classpects in like half a decade that post was a fun read.

i'm so glad you enjoyed it! ^^ it's nice to know there's a demographic for stuff like that still sksjsjk

the post in question for those out of loop here : x

and now.....

It appears my work is not yet done.

Jevil // Bard of Breath

So this is a bit irregular.

Since classpects are not only an allegory for a place in the narrative but also for character growth and progression, it can sometimes be hard to pin down a title of a character who had already gone through their arc. Jevil is someone like that - he's just hanging out. He fights you because it's fun and he's bored and won't you come outside? Let yourself be free?

Jevil screams Bard from miles away and his theme of freedom couldn't be more blatant but the problem I encountered was pinning down which aspect he was ghosting and which was his own. Bards usually experience a psychic break of sorts - we call it a crisis of aspect - that causes them to stop acting aggressively like they're bound to the opposite aspect. But the problem is - I would describe his encounter with 'a strange someone' as something exactly like that. So is he a Bard of Blood that is still in a way ghosting his opposite aspect, destroying the concept of imprisonment by calling being locked up as being truly free? Or is he a Bard of Breath that destroys through Breath by getting himself imprisoned and twisting the definition of freedom?

I decided to go with the latter because not only do I see his encounter with that strange someone being his aspect crisis as non-negotiable, this is not the only clue we have (even if it's the most crucial one). The way Bards operate before their aspect crisis is destroying their aspect through embracing the opposite one. Being a court jester is a very social role that I would say fits someone who is Bloodbound or ghosting the hell out of Blood well. Blood heroes are leaders, confidants and advisors and I think this fits well pre-crisis of Breath. He realized he's not truly free and never will be so he simply smashed his definition of freedom and remade it.

Spamton G. Spamton // Mage of Life (Kind of.)

So, hear me out. I promise it adds up.

Spamton has clear marks of someone Lifebound. This clingy attitude towards success, recognition and money is a very clear mark of that. Another one is how Life heroes are laughably susceptible to contact or persuasion by some kind of dark forces. His separation from other Addisons to become a big deal on his own has connections to a theme of rebellion, and his subsequent rise to the top of the social ladder is emblematic of the theme of authority, both of which being something that very up Life's alley. ...Also, he can literally heal. There's that.

Mages, as I've discussed in Noelle's case, experience the good and the bad of their aspect and can even experience harm because of it. And the cycle of Life says what rises up must fall down. In fact, I believe that what we're dealing with is Spamton's experience with the one who stopped calling him pulling him to the bottom and straight through, leading to him inverting to being the opposite of his title.

Spamton G. Spamton // ↺ Heir of Doom

Sometimes characters can experience a switch to the opposite title. That is called an inversion. It won't make sense for those who are reading this just for character deconstruction and have no knowledge of HS but think of how Rose acted like a Witch of Void, the inverse or her Seer of Light title, when she went grimdark. This isn't ghosting - it happens when a character actively rejects not only their aspect but their whole title.

This leaves Spamton acting in a way that is contrary to his nature - something isn't quite right. We get a feeling this isn't how he should operate but something happened and left him like this. For all intents and purposes, the narrative treats him like an Heir of Doom now, bringing about all things that have to do with being Doombound - this means he attracts the worst parts of the narrative, acts bitter and resentful, even fatalistic, is prone to visions of an awful end or unfortunate fate (this one I'm bringing up specifically because of his phone) and has a connection with nihilism and fatalism.

The inverse of his class being an Heir is also significant. Heirs inherit and embody their aspect, and Spamton does this two-fold - he serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when you hit rock bottom after trying to climb too high up, and, after the fight in the basement, becomes an omen to Kris that leaves a significant impact on them.

[aroacedavestrider]

okay bestie yknow what i wasnt gonna rb the troll rotations cause i didn't have Braine Energy to actually look at all of them but then i started. reading your tags and youre SO RIGHT on the serket one. i have thought much about this and now i am going to post them each anyway i don't know that ive ever sent you an ask on tumblr this is an experience for sure. pats you on the head

EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY like and then it gets me thinking what the fuck was aranea like on alternia as a child. like. if THAT nerd grew up to be who VRISKA probably would have been as an adult. then. what was vriska like on beforus? who was araneas dancestor? was vriska more aranea-like cause she didnt have a mindfang to look up to? would the rotationstuck aranea.. be who beforus vriska grew up to be? some kind of know it all assassin ?? these are the fucking questions people. why are the dancestors so different on alternia. its gotta be the environment and im willing to bet the descendants are different on beforus too

[lazyliars]

The Quackity Meta: a Tale of Two Absolutes

More than anything else, Quackity wants control, and to never, ever lose his own autonomy. And that is why he despises Technoblade.

But wait, how is Technoblade a threat to Quackity's autonomy? Techno is all for individual freedom! He wants to eradicate the government so that no one can be controlled!

There's the question though... How do people exercise control within the framework of a video game like m/inec/raft?

“a person exercising power or control in a cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary way.”

Power on the Dream SMP cannot be translated one-to-one with real  life power. In real life, yes, a government had infinitely more power than an individual, for numerous reasons. But on the Dream SMP, the government's power is always directly tied to the power of the individuals who are willing to defend that power.

Technoblade is powerful. This is not debatable. How he uses this power, historically, has been a mix of generosity and self-interest*, although primarily the latter.

Generously, He gains resources and then distributes them to his allies during the Pogtopia Rebellion, gearing everyone up and giving them a fighting chance against Dream. However, in the aftermath of Tubbo's being appointed president, Techno turns on them, swiftly and mercilessly. The moment that it becomes clear** that Pogtopia's interests don't align with his own, he crushes them with the aim to prevent them from ever recovering.

( *I use self-interest as a neutral term here. Everyone on the SMP is selfish to some extent – it doesn't make them evil, and in fact has been treated as a positive at times, as well as a negative.

**I want to note that whether or not Technoblade knew of Pogtopia's goal of reinstating the government is unclear. It would seem that from Techno's POV that he didn't know, or assumed that it was a minority who wanted another government. But on the other hand, no one was actively lying to him about their intent, and people like Tommy and Quackity made their goals very clear.  Further doubt is cast on the idea that Techno had no idea when you take into account that he enchanted the Netherite armor in the vault with worthless enchants like Fire Res.

Ultimately, there's no way to know until it is confirmed by cc!Techno himself, and it doesn't pertain that much to this analysis, but I'm aware that it's a hotly debated topic so I wanted to address it.)

It can be argued that Techno's destruction of L'manberg, both the first and especially the second time, was necessary. It can also be argued that it was cruel and a disproportionate retribution against both culpable and innocent parties. Extant of these arguments however, how does it feature into control?

Well, we can’t talk about control without mentioning the most controlling force on the server and the other person on Quackity's hitlist, Dream.

Dream is a tyrant. I don't think anyone can really make an argument against that in good faith at this point. He ticks off every box, no matter how vague or esoteric. This makes the interactions that Quackity and Techno have with him very interesting.

Quackity despises Dream. He's one of the earliest adopters of the hating-Dream-train, to the point that some people have compared him to Cassandra, a priestess who was cursed with the vision of prophecies that would always be true, but never believed. And indeed, Quackity's apprehension of Dream comes in as early as Pogtopia, and grows at a steady pace after the fact.

But despite his rightfully calling out Dream's hypocrisies and his controlling tendencies, Quackity was largely ignored on this front, especially when the time came to exile Tommy and Quackity basically predicted the next arc – If they gave Dream this concession, they would never be able to get out from under his thumb. Flash forwards to the Green Festival, and the moment Tubbo hands over the discs, any illusion of nicety drops and Dream proceeds to destroy them, side by side with...

Technoblade has always had an amiable relationship with Dream. From their first proper interaction on the server being Dream giving Techno some hefty resources, to their snap team-up on Doomsday, they've had a smooth time, with some notable bumps.

Techno fought against Dream during the Pogtopia rebellion, but when it became clear that Dream was more invested in chaos than his other allies, Techno temporarily allied with him to summon the Withers and drive the nail deeper into Manberg’s coffin.

The only time Techno has really bothered to challenge Dream directly is when he came for Tommy in exile. Techno went to great lengths to protect Tommy, hiding him and distracting Dream.

He did give Dream the option to call in his favor and take Tommy, but there are arguments to be made that he did this more as a challenge – that Tommy is worth the favor. Again, we probably wont ever know.

The difference in their relationships with Dream is polarizing. It also reflects the difference in personality – Quackity is an aggressive, ambitious person, whereas Techno leans more towards passivity and caution. Quackity is looking for enemies to challenge, where Techno is avoiding them, people who actually stand a chance against him most of all.

Technoblade is an individual with extraordinary amounts of power. Others have pointed out that he is rarely challenged by other characters or the narrative, and regardless of the merits or flaws in that, it paints him as nearly untouchable. His being in the good graces of Dream only adds to this.

And like with Dream, the only way that people have been able to threaten Techno is when they work together. The Butcher Army, for all it's flaws, managed to capture Techno through numbers – with Tubbo and Fundy (barely) holding off Techno's blood rage while Quackity snuck off to take Carl hostage. And they would have gotten away with it too, if the other most powerful person on the server hadn't stepped in – both by pointing Techno to a totem of undying in the days before the attack, and by getting Punz to cause a distraction and directing Techno to the final control room, where he could escape with Carl.

So, if the most powerful person in the world can only be threatened by people working together, and the most common form of organization is by government, then what does it say about Technoblade, who wants the government destroyed?

People like Tubbo, Fundy and yes, Quackity, all benefit from organizing and working together. They all tend to be less armed, less ready to defend themselves, and completely unable to stand up to titans like Techno and Dream on their own. It's safety in numbers, but it's also control, and control is power.

Ranboo's insistence that Snowchester is a Government is interesting when viewed through this lens. Ranboo is another person who is insanely rich, and able to defend himself and his belongings consistently. Ranboo doesn't need other people to defend him – he's living with Techno and Phil not out of necessity for his survival, but out of need for connection with others.

This seems to be the main difference he finds with Snowchester, which has a more structured environment, geared to defend itself and it's people, if harm should come their way.

Which makes sense, considering it's founder, Tubbo, holds no earthly belongings, and Jack, another prominent member, has made a character trait out of losing his things every other day. The two of them have no conceivable way to defend themselves against people who are stronger than they are. But together, holding the keys to nuclear armaments, they can suddenly play on the field of gods.

The anarchist commune, despite having all members working together and being on good terms, aren't really an organization, they're individuals with common goals and interests. They don't need to live together to be strong, they're all already strong, they choose to be near each other because they want to.

Snowchester is not a government and has no ruler, but together, it's members hold power. They have sway in the world when they work as a collective, and most members have a vested interest in keeping themselves and each other defended because of this. Consequently, the “identity” of Snowchester becomes more prominent, resulting in the flag, the uniforms and the, well, identity.

(Now, the more perceptive among you might have noticed that I basically just compared Techno Phil and Ranboo to the ultra rich 1%, which. Um. Is a pretty serious comparison to make about in a block game rp?

And I wanna say that I don’t think this was necessarily intentional on the parts of either the CCs or the characters, and beyond that, it’s just one way of examining the text. This analysis is by no means the “Right” way to view the story, just a different one.

Regardless...)

Techno uses his considerable power to further his own goals, first and foremost. This is not inherently good or evil, it just is.

Contrast with New L'manberg's cabinet; Four people, pooling their limited power to further their shared goals. Not good or evil, just a way of exercising power.

But power is not static. Power is fluid and changing, moreso now on the SMP than ever before, and Quackity and Technoblade are fighting to define what Power means going forwards.

Techno is fighting for the status quo, knowingly or not. Individuals with power should lead the world, and those without should strive to emulate their betters. He destroys all forms of government, which strip away the rights of the individual in exchange for hierarchy and consolidated power within that hierarchy.

At it's best, this is a very freeing ideology, where nothing and no one can hold back the individual. The world is your oyster if you are willing to work for it.

But at it's worst? “Violence is the only universal language,” is the key phrase. Where does this ideology leave people who aren't strong? Where does it leave those who cannot fend for themselves? If Violence is the only universal language, then the weak have no means to speak.

Quackity is fighting to get a foothold for a contrary ideology – One that prioritizes words over violence and offers alternative methods of gaining and exercising control, such as through currency and conversation. Quackity has tried to varying degrees of success to implement this on the level of his own individual power, such as during the elections, but his attempts at employing this on a grand scale have all been short-lived.

At it's best, this ideology can uplift anyone, regardless of their strength. It encourages more communication, more commerce, and thrives under, you guessed it, strong government.

At it's worst however, it creates a brutally controlling environment. Where a few people gain absurd amounts of power through the complex machinations of a fiat currency, and are then able to use their sway and influence with governing forces to exercise power that they would never be able to hold on their own.

Again, neither of these ideologies are inherently good or evil. They both have flaws and benefits, and benefit no one more than perhaps Techno and Quackity respectively, while hindering the other.

Techno is benefited by anarchy because he holds incredible amounts of individual power. He is the strongest person on the server, he is rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and on a meta level, he's straight up good at the game. The current status quo puts him firmly at the top of the food chain, and this is most obvious on Doomsday, when he and the other two most powerful individuals (Dream and Philza) come together and crush the combined forces of New L'manberg. They are not meaningfully challenged in any way, whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Quackity is deeply hindered by the current status quo. He's not strong, he's poor, and he's vulnerable to anyone who wants to bully him with brute force. On a meta level, cc!Quackity just straight up does not play m/inecraf/t as much as some of the other people that on the server. (To be clear, I do not mention that as a criticism, just to contrast Techno. Neither of their levels of play are better or worse for content, they just add to the experience differently.)

On the other hand, in a government? Quackity “Law Student” HQ is suddenly on top. He's charismatic enough to debate with Wilbur “Can Talk His Way out of Anything” Soot during the elections, and come out of that arena smelling like roses. Back during the days of El Rapids, Quackity held his men back from conflict with Dream, and talked him into a corner of technical truths where Dream had to concede that he viewed El Rapids as an independent nation if he wanted to get involved with their conflicts.

And Techno, while he is brilliant and an English Major, suddenly loses a lot of his intimidation factor if he has to respect laws preventing brutal murder. Techno can certainly debate, but his go to conflict resolution is usually violence, and if you take that away, you take away the threat of challenging him. Because make no mistake, challenging Technoblade right now? Is suicide.

And this duality, this grey morality and clash of ideals, is why Quackity is my favorite character on the SMP. He isn't strong. The power he holds is tenuous and balanced on a knife's edge. It would make more sense for him to stay quiet, keep his head down, and if anything, try to change things from the shadows, where he'll be in the least danger.

But he isn't quiet. He doesn't just challenge authority, he challenges the authority; Dream, Wilbur, and of course, Technoblade.

And in all but one of those matches, he's come out with a concession from his enemy gripped between his teeth. He schooled Wilbur in the debates. He forced Dream to grant El Rapids Independence at a time when he hadn't done so for New L'manberg.

But he failed miserably when he challenged Technoblade. Quackity lost that fight in the final control room before it began. He lost the moment he formed the Butcher Army. He would have lost if he managed to kill Technoblade, and he lost still when he died.

He lost because he conceded that the only way to achieve his goal was through violence. He decided that the only way to establish himself and New L'manberg as powerful? Was to kill Technoblade. And he lost that fight and he always will. There was never a way that he walked out of that fight with the victory; Quackity lost the ideological battle long ago.

But not the war.

As of writing this, Quackity is in the process of introducing an economy to the Dream SMP, on Sam's initiative. There is no action I can think of that is wiser for him to take right now. Now, when Dream has been deposed and there's a vacuum in power; Now, when people are getting tired of endless violence and the loss it brings; Now, when people are looking for something new.

An economy is a direct challenge to Might Makes Right. Trading, supply and demand, politics. It offers a new way for people to obtain resources and a direct alternative to brute force; other methods to pay for slights and breaches of honor and etiquette. No more will pet wars be fought with iron swords and shields, but with money! A healthy sum of cash for the murder of Fungi!

If Quackity can get this system off the ground (and with Sam's help, he definitely can,) the stage would suddenly be tilted in the favor of not just Quackity, but the people who he has associated himself with most closely – Tommy, Fundy, even Schlatt. They're all business men, all scammers. This could be Quackity's world, and he's damn well intending for everyone to live in it.

We’ll have to see what Techno thinks of this - Quackity hasn’t made any moves to start another government, and an economy doesn’t inherently contradict anarchy. But it does hold a potential threat to Techno’s current power.

And as for Quackity? What will he do once he’s at the top? Will he finally become a true tyrant? Will he usher in a new age of equality and justice? Or will he eschew all of that in favor of personal riches. For once, the cards are in Quackity's favor, and we might get the chance to see what he does when he holds real power.

[ignitification]

LoV Colour Analysis Part I: Shigaraki Tomura.

As this analysis would be quite too long to read in one go, I decided to split it into three parts, each covering one of the Three Main Villains of BNHA (Shigaraki Tomura, Himiko Toga and Dabi).

All three do denote a precise and powerful colour scheme, but on today’s episode I am going to focus on the Leader of the League of Villains aka Shigaraki Tomura or Shimura Tenko.

Shigaraki’s colour pattern variates from Red (shoes and eyes), Black (his usual outfits, his hair when younger) to Light Blue, Grey and White (colour of his hair, skin and hands).

The interesting fact is how Shimura’s colour evolve with his persona and Quirk. The third paragraph is dedicated to the colour Yellow, which is not part of the palette associated with Tenko, but I included it because it adds to the detailing of Shigaraki’s character.

(Spoilers ahead! & tw/: mentions of canon-compliant violence; death)

I.) From Black to Light Blue to White 

During his growth, evolution as a villain and person, not considering the one spurred from his Quirk, Tenko’s hair undergo a quite big development. While the colour of his clothes stays more or less stable (being black throughout the entire series), what differentiates his eras is the colour of his hair. In his childhood, before manifesting his Quirk, Tomura’s hair was dark (strikingly similar to the one both Touya and Izuku sported). This changed to light blue/grey in his years until last arc, where after being himself an experiment under the hands of Doctor Death (Kyudai Garaki is a very creepy man) to inherit the original AfO’s Quirk, his hair becomes snow white (as a result of the transformation, I would believe - but it might as well mean another thing which I will talk about later). 

Beginning with maybe the easiest association: the colour black. 

A little note of the fear association: in this case, I would like to interpret it as Shigaraki being aware of his decaying Quirk and freak people out because of that, and because of his external looks, which do look like the one of a decaying child.

Power refers definitely to both his position and his Quirk, in this case - which make him stand out even more. However, the strength in this case, in my opinion, is more a smoke screen: black is also worn as a protection from external damage, as in stress and emotional backlash. This creates a barrier between the subject and the world, protecting internal emotions, and hiding its vulnerabilities, insecurities and lack of self confidence. The emotional trauma, the ‘hands shield’ Shigaraki derived, in a way, from his trauma and from being confronted with something, has shaken him to the core since childhood, and in this case the clothes serve to protect him from himself and his ‘actions’. In this aspect, him wearing black as a child might also stand for him trying to shield himself away from his parent’s judgement and stare, while protecting his will to want to be a hero, despite their negative reaction to any hint of that. These meaning are, in conclusion a full circle: one calls for the other, especially in Shigaraki’s case.

Black is also associated with mystery, evil and aggression. Shigaraki is written as an enigmatic villain, cold-hearted, devoid of any humanity and the will to full front destroy everything in its path. And while the meaning perfectly fit to how Shigaraki should be, I do believe that this is a very superficial and banal description of such a complex character. 

One thing which I found particularly interesting about this colour and its relation to Shigaraki, it’s the rocky tie that appears between black and its meaning as in rebellion. This aspect might refer to two different conditions: it might suppose a certain degree of refusal and hate for authority (The society at large), and at the same time the rebellion from his own family/persona/mentor, which could entail a fundamental foreshadow for Tenko’s destiny.

The color black affects the mind and body by producing feelings of emptiness, gloom, or sadness.

 I think here again, this might just an extermination of the feeling that have been torturing Shigaraki from the inside since he was a child, and that he himself has not acknowledged, which also stands to explain how he tries to feel that void or to ‘eliminate the scratch’ that has been tormenting him, and that knows no peace.

Furthermore, In Japanese culture, the colour black mainly denotes non-being (apart from mourning) and evil-heartedness in a person. This meaning is consistent with the personality described to us by Horikoshi: Shigaraki Tomura ceases to be a person at one point, when his consciousness gets subdued by AfO for a while. It is important to note here, how White (on the other side of the spectrum) is also the colour of death and mourning.

Not entirely worth mentioning, is that black is the stereotypical colour worn by villains and bad guys in different fictional environments.

(Light) Blue/Grey.

Just a reminder: neither grey nor blue are explicit colour in Tenko’s palette as a character, but I think they are still important and since greyish blue (the precise colour oh his hair) has not its own meaning, I took the freedom to actually associate the two separate colour in association to describe this period of transition between black and white.

The phase in which Tomura has Greyish-Blue hair is the longest one (in terms of years), but also the phase of passage (which consequently is the phase he is exploring, and is in the ‘grey zone’, where things are just getting defined and there are no absolutes). Grey, in this sense, sports both characteristics from White and Black (depending on the shade used), and even if not explicitly used for Tenko, it still represents a landmine in his development.

The colour grey is an ‘unemotional’ colour. It is detached, neutral, impartial and indecisive - all traits that can be reconnected at Shigaraki. Indeed, it is after his encounter with Izuku at the mall where he recognises why exactly (or so he thinks) he rages and wants to bring destruction to the world as known. This indicates how he has been striving for a real purpose, like the one Stain has, in order to actually understand what he is doing and evolve from the child the Heroes define him as, to a Villain with the capital V. He does relate to reality in partial ways, while he tries to define his identity as something that has died inside of him, Shimura Tenko, and at the same time the part that has lived on through the memories he removed and the hands which accompany him. He does not know which part is stronger, and trying to figure it out he tries and fails, only to try again.  To confirm the shaping of Shigaraki, indeed grey is a conforming colour and most of all it struggles with identity, which is arguably the most prominent trait Shigaraki presents during the first arcs of the story.

On the other hand, Blue symbolises coolness, passivity, fidelity. Somehow it reverberates the meaning of grey, while at the same time enhancing its other effects (it being emotionless and calm, undecided but also flowing). Blue is also indicator of depth, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence (among others). This also confirms the precedent meanings (of especially white) and it adds another dimension to Tenko’s character. It is clear how he feels deeply, and is still very clever in its own way. Still, this development and phase serves for him to obtain the other characteristics proposed by blue, especially wisdom and confidence (refer to Black where I said how sometimes the clothes are a screen to hide his true feelings). 

Blue is a colour that’s constant and unchanging, which contrasts with grey and brings forwconstant struggle in Tenko. Blue is also nostalgic. Curious is how blue lives in the past, relating everything in the present and the future to experiences in the past. I think that this is what blue is about with Tenko: he struggles to look forward, to forgive and let go because he never forgot his dad, his grandma or even society for when they had brought upon him as an innocent child. His bringing up has been focused, after all, on his developing his constant feeling of sadness, rage and gloom and the necessary power to express them in confident ways, which could bring destruction forward. Tenko is a puppet in AfO’s hands since he has ‘saved’ him, so I think this is why the sentence in which Shigaraki tries to break free from AfO’s will is a break point for the story, and for Shigaraki as well. 

Blue is also known for being deceitful and spiteful, depressed and sad, passive, self-righteous, emotionally unstable, weak, unforgiving. It can also indicate manipulation, unfaithfulness and being untrustworthy.

Indeed, it is after that Izuku sees Tenko being kneeled over by AfO and his presence that he understands that Shigaraki too, is human and that maybe the reasons for his rage and absolute hate for everything he comes across have deep roots, which is why even if he cannot forgive him for all the pain he has brought, he wants to save him.  

Finally, the paler the blue the more freedom we feel - which brings me to my theory on what, throughout the years Tenko’s hair have been ‘decaying’ and bleaching out. I think that as a child, Tenko is caged and tries to break free of his cage, of his ‘itch’ but he cannot because he does not realise what it is, and there is no freedom for him to actually understand. The first time he uses his Quirk, he feels finally satisfied for the first time. He tasted freedom for the first time, and now he wants to do it again and again. Growing up, however his ideals become blurry and he does not understand what he actually wants. He does know that the hands on his body represent what he has lost and what is actually still there with him, giving him strength and will, but at the same time he does not know what is beyond there. Which is why, after he goes through the transformation by Garaki, his hair becomes white: he gets rid of the insecurities, of the shackles that have stopped him from actually achieving his goal, or rather to pursue it freely. His ultimate goal, after all, is to get rid of his ‘itch’, which, in its own way, it’s his language to say that Shimura Tenko wants freedom.

As a note, Blue is also the colour of the Throat chakra. It is located in the throat, but it is linked to the throat, neck, hands, and arms. This Chakra is linked to speech. 

Final remark on blue: this colour is one of the most important lucky colors in Japan ( together with yellow, white, purple, green and, red) - and all the colour associated with Tomura, except for black, is indeed considered lucky.

White 

White, is an inherently positive colour, is usually associated with purity, innocence, light, goodness, beginnings, possibility and perfection. However it is also described an dperceived as cold, impersonal and bland. Shigaraki after his ‘transformation’ is the perfect soldier: he is very powerful, to a fault, and represents a new chapter in not only his own life but as well in the one which has been conducted by AfO, as he sees him as his vessel. The fact is that the beginning of a new Shigaraki which is flawless, in appearance, is a very well constructed lie. While he should represent perfection, first of all his transformation has not been entirely completed and furthermore, while it does represent a clean slate in his check, is also the possibility, reality coming through for AfO to take advantage of the body new, which Tomura must preserve. As the new Shigaraki however, has his ideals very present and wants to fight for them, to protect his feelings and his ideas, it is anyway a struggle for both him and AfO to juggle through everything going on Tenko’s mind, and emerge victorious. This is also the most interesting aspect of this colour: the goodness and inherent purity which comes from this colour implies a purification process in Shigaraki’s character, who instead gets fixed even more on him not wanting to forgive society and insisting on going on his rampage, because at the same time he cannot let go of these feelings, because now they are the only thing which make him go forward.

White is usually used in contrast to black, and represents the dichotomy of good and bad.

The psychological meaning of white is wholeness and completion. This also refers to the meaning and falls into the category of ‘perfection’: it is a new beginning, but at the same time it represents the closure of a cycle and the beginning of a new one: a perfect one, which represents closure (‘The Circle’). Tomura is supposed to be the new complete weapon at AfO’s will, but as I states before this is a fought point (between the two of them).

White, in cultures that believe in reincarnation is held in high regard. Indeed, they sustain how white is a sign of rebirth. 

Technically, Shigaraki has been reborn. What I mean is that he has transformed himself into not a new person, but in a better version of himself, he upgraded - and now of course going back is not an option. He has been held in a womb, breeding his new potential and now he became an individual whose strength far surpasses normal, his quirk control is absolutely insane and as well his memories, ideas and feelings are heightened. The theme of rebirth, which I think fits both Shigaraki and Dabi, is used a few times in BNHA, but as for Shigaraki it is very literal and very clear (after all he has been asleep for a time, just to wake up and fight an entire war against the Heroes). It is clear however, how his personality has been rebirth too: while he was not insecure, but more hesitant, now he is sure of his objective and he thrives on achieving it. What distinguishes therefore the old Shigaraki from this new one is the knowledge of being powerful and therefore being able to accomplish what we wants.

Finally, white inherently denotes death and mourning too in the Japanese culture, as well as black. Here, we are mourning the old Shigaraki, and the loss of the traits that instead made him a little bit more human, and a little less like God himself.

II.) From Red Eyes to Red Shoes (in association with both Izuku and Katsuki) 

I already talked about the colour red in regard to Izuku here, but if we take the same meaning and apply it to Tomura instead, we get a different picture. It is no mystery how Izuku and Tenko are foils for each other, and that they resemble each other in different ways (starting from them sporting red shoes, to their characters, being ‘accepted’ and trained by a mentor, and so on).

Red is the colour of extremes. It appears clear how Izuku and Tenko represent the opposite extremes: where Izuku is enamoured of heroes and idolised them to an unhealthy point, even though he comes from a background where he has been discriminated by that same society because he was different, Tenko is disillusioned with the society they live in. He wants to destroy to the ground, because he cannot find it in himself to forgive anyone who could and did not extend him a hand when he needed it. At the same time, both Izuku and Tenko believe that to a certain extent what they had done has been ‘deserved’, and are not entirely focused on their own well being. 

Red is also an attention-bringer. As I already noticed for Izuku, it is very curious how both wear red shoes, as a way to try and separate themselves from the rest, trying to escape the opinions of other which have labelled them in a way, and of course at the same time trying to take control and wanting to be the best in their own ways (hero or villain, that is).  

Red is also the colour of blood, of rage, anger as well as desire, leadership and strength. I want to make a point which I do not know whether is important or not, however, a fact that struck me hard is how Shigaraki’s irises are very very small, and it somehow seems that he tries to compensate the little quantity of red of Shigaraki with wearing red shoes. This might be an indicator how Shigaraki strives to achieve these qualities, but at the same time he needs to put a lot of effort in it, and furthermore it somehow feels different from when we compare it to Izuku: even if both are charismatic leaders, Shigaraki is very dispassionate about it, while Izuku frequently denies how his influence might be fundamental when it comes to other people (Katsuki, All Might, 1A). However, Shigaraki does reflect in his personality, the venous desire to be angry, aggressive and destructive as it what his power entails, and after all what has been taught to him. I noticed as well a post (which unfortunately I cannot find) where it says that Shigaraki has a very high tolerance pain (again, the parallels with Izuku are insane), which also reconnects somehow to the colour red as we saw how Shigaraki himself even if tired (LoV vs Machia/LF) or absolutely bloody and at the brink of death is instead held up by his will to destroy (Shigaraki vs Heroes).

It relates to danger, power, determination and action. Well, Shigaraki and danger go to hand in hand as well as determination and action. After all, Shigaraki’s Modus Operandi is Trial and Error, which means he is not afraid to be wrong and to try things out, even if he is stubborn and ways things to go his way, every time (when that rarely happens in general). 

Red is indeed determined, powerful, impulsive and aggressive. It is also tied to self-preservation. Although true for the most part, the self-preservation is still a massive blank point. 

He is bloody, and even AfO is telling him to rest and preserve his energies (even if here, my counter argument would be that it would be easier for him to overtake Shigaraki’s body if he is weaker, so I do not know how reliable this is).

The color red in Japanese culture denotes strength, passion, self sacrifice and blood. It Also stands for good luck and happiness. Which is still very amusing to me, as Shigaraki feels like the farthest character away from achieving happiness, and his passions and strives are all useless unless he gets rid of his master puppeteer. However, Shigaraki embodies the self-sacrificing spirit. Even if it might sound strange, and he is not very willing to be himself in the front lines (at least not always), he does approach ReDestro himself and takes him on, while leaving the League to deal with the rest.

III.) Yellow

Surprise, surprise! Yellow, in the Japanese culture stands for Courage, while usually the Western culture associates it with Cowardice. It is a funny thing that it also stands for betrayal, sickness, egoism and madness on the negative side, however it is rather a holy colour, usually associated with deities on the other side.

Since I am not going to include yellow in the association paragraph, it is not a case that black reacts badly to yellow, and forms a very unpleasant colour, which means that the circumstances which follow either do not mix well together. However, it is also true how the most resonant contrast between yellow and another colour is given by black. 

Plus yellow is the colour of the Solar Plexus Chakra and it is the symbol of vitality and will. All these elements, however present in a very limited amount in regard to Tenko, are telling of the aspect of authority (reconfirmed and amplified by black) and somehow, the lack of bright colours of Tenko makes the little yellow details resonating of a sad picture, as it embodies more the negative sides (egoism, sickness - and in part sickness). 

Colours in Association.

Black used in contrast–particularly with white or yellow–does create energy (especially the contrast on shapes and just power that the image of waken up Shigaraki creates in the last arc is enough to send this message). It is as well true that black when used in opposition with white, symbolises the eternal struggle between day and night, good and evil, and right and wrong - a thing that for Shigaraki is somehow a metaphor and a literal representation of himself as a character. A perfect example would be the struggle he has with AfO for his body, where he struggles between his internal feelings and dreams and instead the evil will imposed by him by AfO, as well as in terms of consciousness where him being present and conscious is the day, while being subdued to AfO’s will in the Night.

Black usually represent the end, but the end always implies a new beginning. So when the light appears, and black transcends to white, it instead the colour of new beginnings. I already talked about how rebirth theme and the new beginning on new ideals and dreams is represented for Tenko by the colour white, however it is interesting also to note how his change in personality brings him from his childhood dream to being thankful to AfO who raised to him, but wanting to be even greater than AfO himself,- metaphor for Tomura’s life as being free from shackles of reality.

Bluish-Grey is also defined as ‘livid’, an adjective used to describe anger or decoloration of the skin (caused by bruising). This colour gives a sense of detachment - which also goes to review the colour grey and blue, in them being interpreted together as an entity, and how Tomura feels a detachment from his own memories, and past life, as well as his future (When Did We Ever Need A Future?) and instead seek meaning in everything that surrounds him. 

Red and white are prominent traditional colours in Japan. Both colours are used in decorations at events which represent happiness and joy.

On a non serious note, Shigaraki’s date of birth is 4th of April, and casually the colours associated with April are Burgundy (deep red) and White (according to the Japanese etiquette). 

And finally last remark for this post: it is very funny how Shigaraki’s palette is somehow almost the same as Bakugou’s (with the exception of green - which I would like to interpret as if Bakugou did not have Midoriya as his side, he could have ended in a far worse position, with no hope and no one to compare to).

Thank you for reading.

[rhubarbed-triangle]

Dream SMP and the Major Arcana

Hello! I've recently been learning about tarot cards and readings and I realized that there's a lot of parallels between the characters on the Dream SMP and the major arcana cards. I'm not an expert on the cards, so feel free to let me know if there's a character you think would fit that card better or there's a better explanation somewhere.

For the card definitions, I used this website: https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list

I also tried to pick characters for cards that embodied both the upright and reverse meanings as a whole. These descriptions are also all about the characters and not the creators themselves.

The World - Dream and the SMP, could also include the community house

Since The World card signifies community, unification, and traveling, it would make sense that Dream would represent The World. His whole motivation as a character is that he wants the SMP to be unified into one big happy family. And the world is named after him, after all.

Judgement - Jack

The Judgement card represents reflection, reckoning, but when in reverse, also represents self loathing and doubt. The way Jack blames Tommy for his misfortunes but has a change in heart when he finds out Tommy died is the kind of self reflection present in Judgement. And when Tommy comes back and Jack realizes how he meant to Tommy (even if it's not a true reading of the situation), he switches back to trying to hurt Tommy as much as he hurt him. His judgement of Tommy seals both Tommy's and Jack's fate.

The Sun - Foolish, Sapnap

The Sun represents celebration, joy, success. I really don't have a solid connection to the characters here, but it feels like both Foolish and Sapnap could fit this card.

The Moon - Antfrost, Connor

The Moon represents unconsciousness, illusions, and intuition. The Moon reversed is all about confusion, fear, and misinterpretation. When Antfrost was controlled by the Egg, he did his fair share of spreading the fear and showing that the Egg was nothing to be messed with. When he wasn't corrupted, he had a great sense of knowing how the Eggpire was in the wrong even if they didn't have control over their actions. The same could be said with Connor. Connor is one of the only characters of the SMP that seems to know more than what he lets on, getting into shenanigans that others would deem noncanonical.

The Star - Ponk

The Star represents a sense of hope and rejuvenation, and in reverse represents faithlessness and insecurity. The faith that Ponk holds/held for members of the Eggpire before he was corrupted, trying to keep an eye on them, faking being corrupted, as well as the fact that knowing that all of Sam's misdeeds will catch up to him but he'd have a place for Sam to stay regardless embodies the Star's hope.

The Tower - Eret, Eret's Tower, L'Manberg to an extent

The Tower represents sudden change, disaster, and broken pride, but it doesn't necessarily have to be bad. The sudden change from Eret switching sides in the fight for L'Manberg independence was a significant change both for them and for L'Manberg. Still, L'Manberg bounced back, much like Eret did later on when they truly regretted their betrayal. The reverse Tower represents avoided or delayed disaster. The fact that L'Manberg was rebuilt twice after being destroyed until it was destroyed for good just delayed what seemed like the inevitable.

The Devil - Schlatt

Seems self-explanatory, but I can explain just in case. The Devil represents addiction and materialism while the reverse represents freedom and restoring control. Schlatt saw himself rising to power in L'Manberg as freeing the city of the tyranny of the previous rulers. Not to mention, he was heavily involved in many addictions during his life.

Temperance - Ranboo

Patience, the middle ground, and finding meaning is represented by Temperance. Ranboo is one of the most neutral characters on the SMP, and even when he does get wrapped into fighting for a side, he tries to remain as under the radar as possible, not wanting to give any more reason for others to attack. This is apparent with how he's treating Tubbo's outpost outside Las Nevadas versus how Tubbo is treating the outpost as well as dealing with living double lives in the Syndicate and at Snowchester.

Death - Wilbur/Revivebur

Death is the end of a cycle, a metamorphosis into something new, but Death in reverse can also mean stagnation and a fear of change. The way Wilbur's character changes throughout the SMP's history, taking many forms, greatly mimics the political changes as well as meta changes to the SMP. But at the same time, Revivebur has a similar mentality to S1 Wilbur while the rest of the server has moved on without him.

The Hanged Man - Tommy

The Hanged Man is a tragic card, representing sacrifice and martyrdom but in reverse also represents needless sacrifice. The way that Tommy is continually pushed to sacrifice more and more of the things and people he loves may be seen as needless. He could also be interpreted as a martyr when he died in prison as his death marks a shift in the SMP, especially shown in how people reacted when the news broke out.

Justice - Sam

As the warden of the server, Sam represents the law. But the Justice card is more than that. It's cause and effect, truth, clarity. Sam sees things in very black and white: either you're a good person who does good things or you're a bad person who does bad things. The way he's confused when Ponk mentions that all the bad things he's done will catch up to him shows that Sam doesn't think of himself as a bad person and thus couldn't have done anything bad. Justice in reverse also signifies unfairness and unaccountability like the fact that Sam allowed Quackity to visit Dream despite knowing what was going on.

Wheel of Fortune - Karl

The Wheel of Fortune is about cycles of good and bad fortune as well as inevitable fate. The fact that Karl has no choice when he time travels and still must pay the price for it every time fits very well.

The Hermit - Fundy

While most think of The Hermit card as isolation and loneliness, the Hermit also represents inner guidance and seeking the truth. As Fundy is guided by his dreams, he tries to glean the meaning from what they show him. He even isolates himself in the hope that the dreams wouldn't happen anymore (which can be interpreted as he hoped he found the truth about them). Even before he was having dreams, he would isolate himself from the rest of the SMP for periods of time like after the destruction of L'Manberg for the final time.

Strength - Technoblade

While physically strong and confident in terms of his artillery, Techno is insecure in his loyalties with other members of the SMP, as in, he can't fight with words. The two most common ways of fighting, with words and charisma and with brute force, both show up in Techno but as extremely unbalanced. The dichotomy between Strength's physical power and the insecurity in its reverse matches well with Techno's strengths and weaknesses.

The Chariot - Niki

The Chariot represents direction and control, movement, but in reverse can also signify aggressiveness or lack of control. Niki is a very motivated character. She knows what she wants and she will get it. She also knows how other people may feel about what's going on, and she can recruit them to her side. When she knows what she wants, she will get it, but sometimes may lose control of the situation.

The Lovers - Bad and Skeppy

The Lovers card doesn't necessarily have to mean romantic ties between two or more people, the card can also mean partnerships and duality, and in reverse, can mean one-sidedness. The fact that it was implied that the reason Bad is only with the Egg is because of Skeppy and that Dream was planning on locking Skeppy up in his vault to control Bad shows that these two are connected on a much deeper level than most of the other pairs on the SMP. Not to mention, when both Bad and Skeppy were corrupted, it was pretty evident that only Bad cared about their relationship in a one-sided way.

The Hierophant - Tubbo

The Hierophant represents tradition and conformity, morality and ethics while in reverse represents subversiveness and rebellion. Tubbo fights between the good for those he loves and the good for all. This is especially prevalent when he had to choose between Tommy or between L'Manberg. Tubbo also fights between tradition, like when he was president, and disregarding tradition when that doesn't work, like with Snowchester.

The Emperor - Philza

The Emperor embodies authority, fatherhood, structure while also meaning ridigity and coldness in reverse. It's no secret that Philza is seen as a father figure in the SMP. Even to characters that he hasn't fathered, his word and stance on things are taken into great consideration. People trust his authority. Not to mention, he is associated with cold, snowy climates.

The Empress - Captain Puffy

The Empress signifies motherhood, nature, healing. Puffy is another figure on the SMP that is seen as parental. Like Phil, despite not being an official parent to many characters, her word and authority is trusted. She has opened a therapy office to help others heal. She is powerful enough where she is a genuine threat to the Eggpire while also remaining approachable enough for Tommy to seek her out for help.

The High Priestess - George

The High Priestess is very spiritual, very in tune with intuition and the unconscious/inner voice. The fact that George gets messages in his dreams which have included conversations with an inner voice/consciousness is about as blatantly High Priestess as one can get. He is also one, if not the only, character on the SMP that is friends with Dream XD, the god of the server.

The Magician - Quackity

The Magician is a master at getting what they want, seemingly making something out of nothing. The card represents willpower, desire but also trickery and illusionment when in reverse. Quackity, like Niki, knows what he wants, but unlike Niki, Quackity can get the outcome he wants by any means necessary, never losing control of the situation. People will listen to him, it's just taken him multiple different attempts to drive that point across.

The Fool - Charlie, Ghostbur

The Fool represents innocence and new beginnings but when in reverse, can also signify being taken advantage of and inconsideration. Both Charlie and Ghostbur have an air of innocence about them, that they could do no wrong, but for different reasons. Charlie simply doesn't know any better as he has no basis for what is normal, so he can't recognize when he's being taken advantage of. Charlie is also a slime that has been given a second shot at life as a human. Ghostbur simply can't remember the wrong he's done and thus can't atone for it, hurting those he loves further. Ghostbur also is Wilbur's literal rebirth into someone new.

Like I said, feel free to make corrections or additions. I'm sure there are more parallels elsewhere that I missed.

:D

[ikea-lingonberry]

Character Analysis: Hargreeves Siblings

Luther: He grew up being treated as the leader, and readily filled the role. This meant he directly answered to Reginald, and was often expected to play the middleman and peacekeeper. At first this was overwhelming for him, but he and his siblings fell into their roles over time. When the siblings hit their rebellious stage, Luther stayed the course with Reginald. This led to the rebellion often being directed toward him rather than their father. Luther does his best to keep a level head, but once he becomes upset it is difficult to calm him down. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell what will set him off. Sometimes it is big things, and other times it is small things. It depends on how much he has bottles up and what the last straw will be. As an adult, Luther has clung to the way he grew up and struggles immensely to view things differently. Even when he tries, he often falls into the same patterns. He tends to believe that he is always right and that he should lead each thing the siblings do. He knows he shouldn’t do these things, but it is easier said than done.

Diego: We often know Diego has the antagonist to Luther, always pining for that Number One spot. However, it wasn’t always like that. When he was young, and up into his pre-teens, he struggled with a horrible stutter. Grace helped him immensely, but the experience was still scarring. It would not have been, if not for Reginald and Luther hounding him for it. Reginald would constantly ask him questions, and make him respond. When he stuttered, Reginald would say “speak up, boy,” “enunciate your words,” “act like what you’re saying matters,” etc. Luther, always the favorite, began to echo these behaviors even in the absence of their father. As Diego finally improved, he chose to speak often. He became very assertive, and particularly aggressive toward Luther. He couldn’t, of course, be aggressive toward Reginald. He tends to be in a hyper-alert state around Luther, as though always preparing for an attack. While Reginald and Luther were the primary aggressors when it came to his stutter, all of his siblings - with the exception of Ben and Vanya - made fun of it at some point. Sometimes it was in good fun (often Klaus), but other times they used it to attack him in an argument (Allison). As adults, this is no longer a problem. His siblings have long since apologized for their bullying behavior, aside from Luther. He is still very defensive in general and tends to be on high alert nearly all the time. He has a high degree of empathy and care about others a great deal, though he refuses to show emotion himself in most instances.

Allison: She experienced some of the least trauma from her father, primarily due to her ability to alter reality using her “wishes.” This meant she could get away with a great deal. As a young child, she took advantage of this and often bragged to her siblings. As she got older, she changed her thought process. She then began to use what little additional freedoms she had to benefit them as well. She grew up with an indirect fear of Reginald - not so much because of her own experiences (though she definitely had a few), but because of what she saw him do to the others. For a great deal of her life, and into early adulthood, Allison viewed her power as a gift. She used it to help her further his goals, wants, and desires. However, after her divorce and loss of Claire, she flipped this perspective. She now considers her power evil, and does everything in her power not to use it. She actually used her power on her siblings a lot when she was a child, and has considered telling them and apologizing now that she is an adult - but she hasn’t, both shame and fear being the primary stopping force. Moving forward, Allison is going to need to find the balance of when to use, and when not to use, her power.

Klaus: He was generally a fun-loving child, that had a tendency to somehow, someway, get into trouble even in the oddest of situations. He didn’t always play the role of clown among his siblings, but, rather, developed this trait between the ages of 8-10. He had two reasons for this: 1) it was a coping mechanism for his own struggles, especially after being locked in the mausoleum, and 2) he learned it provided an escape for his siblings. He was known to goof-off at the worst times, and, while it seemed random, often did so to take the heat off of one of his siblings - namely Ben, Vanya, and, sometimes, Diego. This absolutely led to extensive punishments for Klaus, who ended up with a great deal of Reginald’s anger and disappointment resting on his shoulders. As an adult, he struggles with the vices he developed during his teenage years, and scraped by as best he can. He siblings have done little to help him - but it’s not their fault, and he knows it. He doesn’t open up to his siblings often, and certainly hasn’t told him why he would do what he did, the struggles he had personally, and the fears he experiences. Much like his powers itself, he prefers to block out these thoughts and move on.

Five: He has always been book smart, inquisitive, and innovative. He often would spend time scouring the library for a book on some obscure topic, and often practiced with his powers in his free time. He did (and does) have a superiority complex toward most of his siblings - with the exception of Vanya and Ben. This came from the observation that the others had a tendency to speak first and think later. This frustrated him, and he had no desire to hide it. After he teleported to the future, against Reginald’s advice, his world came crashing down. He spend several days desperately trying to go back, to no avail. After about a week of scrounging for food and water and sleeping beside the destroyed Academy, he decided he had to do something. The first thing he did was bury his siblings, leaving makeshift headstones of stick and bricks. It was while he was sifting through the debris that he found Ben’s statue, and realized he had died many years prior. He spent two weeks burying his family, and another week desperately searching for Vanya in the debris. Finally, he decided he had to walk away - though it is something he regrets to this day, even now that he has returned to the timeline where his family is alive. His time in the commission was necessary, but he despised every moment of it. He could hear Luther in the back of his mind, still trying to tell him the plan. He could picture Ben releasing The Horror on his mark. And those were his waking hours - his nights were worse. Plagued with insomnia, nightmares, and night sweats, he would often stay up late into the night just to avoid sleep. These issues have followed him into his adulthood. Now that he has rejoined his siblings, he has made an effort to embody the person he was when he was younger. Often this means putting on a mask, and hiding the parts of himself that came to be while he was gone. He is still extremely smart, and very logical. However, he feigns his confidence far more often then he will ever admit - and he is always so tired. But with the apocalypse constantly looming over him, he refuses to show his siblings this side of himself - worried it will discourage them, or make them afraid. Of course, he has desperately wanted to. His arrival at Vanya’s flat is a testament to this. Eventually he needs to be able to rest.

Ben: He has always been flighty and nervous, with The Horror being the primary reason. While the others had powers they could control, The Horror was like a separate entity within himself. It would try to break free. And once let loose? He didn’t really decide what it did at that point. It was horrendous and terrifying, for him and others. Once the siblings began their training in force, he always tried to fade to the background. Of course, it didn’t work. Every time he released The Horror, he felt less like himself. And the others saw it too. They would look nervous and repulsed after he used his power, even if they tried to mask it. If Vanya saw him release The Horror, the fear on her face was enough to make him wish he’d never been born. The next bit is entirely speculation: During a mission, Luther told him to release The Horror is a very confined space in order to eliminate a threat. Ben tried to argue, but Luther ordered him to, and chewed him out for talking back. So... he did. Once The Horror was released in the space, it eliminated the target - but it also didn’t stop. Ultimately, Ben was killed by The Horror itself - when he found himself as the only target the Eldritch creature could find. While it is not something he would tell Klaus, he has found a great deal more happiness in death. He no longer had to utilize The Horror, and it no longer tried to break free. While there were, of course, drawbacks, he was so happy just to be able to be near his family without seeing that endless fear on their faces. Of course, he always wished he could do that in life instead. He never had a chance to see his siblings after his death (other than Klaus, of course), aside from when he was manifested at the concert. And, of course, when he went to save Vanya. While it was hard for him, his ability to talk with, touch, and actually help even one of his other siblings was something he had desired for the last 17 years. He wouldn’t have wanted to go any other way.

Vanya: She grew up at the outskirts of the household. While some parents emphasize that children should be seen and not heard, it was instilled in her that she should not be seen or heard. Once she was rumored to believe she was ordinary, she spend her days in her tiny closet of a room with her violin or doing whatever menial task Reginald had for her. She also, unfortunately, became the scapegoat of the household - after all, she couldn’t defend herself. Reginald would, at times, call her to his office and berate her; sometimes more. He took out his frustrations and angers on her instead. Luther, of course, followed suit. The others then realized they could pin the blame on her and often redirect Reginald’s anger to her from themselves. Of course, as children, they had no idea what kind of harm this would do. After leaving the household, Vanya spent the next decade desperately separating herself from her past. She wrote her book, Extra Ordinary, originally at the recommendation of her therapist, who advised writing about her traumas to help move past them. It did help a great deal and, while she was nervous when she published it, she found that many other people could relate to her experience. That sort of support and understanding helped built her back up. Shortly after, she began putting more effort into her violin, offering lessons, and aspiring for first chair. When she went back home for Reginald’s funeral, she knew her siblings would be mad about the book, even though it had been published years prior. And the tension was heavy, and remained that way. He discovering her power became icing on the already treacherous cake, as she began to struggle with more and more from her past that she had been fighting to avoid for so long. And now, there was something that could have prevented it all along. When Luther locked her in the soundproof box, that cake finally toppled. Her own siblings had hurt her, and now she was alone. Again. And afraid. And she couldn’t escape. A mental break followed her panic attack, that manifested auditory and visual hallucinations and a lack of control. With her power now readily accessible, chaos began. Of course, none of it was intentional; she would later say she remembered it happening, but not actually doing any of it. Her time in the 60s was important for her recuperation, and allowed her to find some rest. However, the unfortunate reality is that when her memory returned, she found herself at Ground Zero all over again. She needs time to rebuild herself, and her trust toward her family, as she moved forward.

Disclaimer: This includes a LOT of headcanons and predictions! This is just my take!

[youllallriseintheink]

Prison Cell, Chapter 3

Sorry this took so long- it got so long that I had to split it into two parts. Anyhow, from this point forwards, you can expect a lot of violence, so be warned. This chapter will have a lot of interpersonal stuff, and the final chapter will be pretty much entirely action.

---

Sammy unlocked the door. On the other side of it was a demon. The demon. The one that had stolen her blood.

Its body was humanoid and wearing a suit and white bow tie, but its hands were made of ink. The top of its head was covered in black ink, which spiraled up into horns and spilled down its face, leaving only its mustache, mouth and chin visible. Seeing it in the light for the first time, Susie recognized it as the bottom of Joey’s face.

“Joey?” Susie asked, her voice full of wonder and fear.

“Once,” the demon said, and its voice was not Joey Drew’s. It deep, and rough, and horrible. “But I have taken over. Don’t worry- I don’t want this any more than he does. Once I find a way to separate humans from ink, I’ll go back to my dimension and free all of you to yours.” The demon turned and beckoned Susie to follow him. “Come.”

The demon led Susie through the basement, seemingly one large room full of very strange things. Pentagrams littered the floor. Scattered iron cages contained a few emaciated, ink-covered people. Shelves full of sharp tools and unknowable ingredients lined the walls.

“I can still hear him, you know,” the demon mused, taking a syringe and a number of bottles from a shelf, “Joey. His mind. I can see into him. Learn how to manipulate humans. I asked him how to crush your insurrection, and he said that I’d need to destroy your little story.”

The demon led Susie to a door and opened it, and when he did, she lost all her breath.

It was Norman, chained to the far wall. He was wearing the same clothes he had been when he was taken away several weeks ago, but now they were hanging off of him at sharp angles. Susie ran to him, and he cringed away from her. He didn’t want her to see him like this, or to feel how thin and bony he’d gotten.

“What did you do him!?” Susie demanded.

“Nothing beyond the obvious. You see, you thought that some of you could overcome us with physical power. That was your story- that your hope and your resilience would lead to freedom. I needed to show you that rebellion only forces me to take your strength. This isn’t something I wanted to do. Strong, healthy people do better work, and unfortunately Joey’s desire to manage the studio is in me. But... you forced my hand.”

The demon then pulled Susie Campbell up by the collar, pushed her against the wall, and put the syringe to her throat.

“He can’t protect you now,” the demon explained, perfectly calm. “His ability to do so was always under my control, and you made me take it away.”

All Norman could do was bury his head in his hands and listen to her whimper. The chains were too short for him to reach her, and he didn’t stand a chance against the demon anyhow. Not like this. The demon released her blood into one of the bottles, then reinserted the needle, working at an unhurried pace. He repeated the motion several times before letting her go. She fell onto her hands and knees, faint from blood loss.

---

Utterly haunted, Sammy escorted the two sickly individuals back to the music room, carrying with him the two first-aid kits and a message that Joey had written. The second he entered the recording studio, The instruments went silent. A bassist got up from his instrument and tackled Sammy to the ground.

“Okay, someone get these two to the infirmary and look after them,” the bassist ordered, “And Johnny, get the rope. We have a loyalist to hang!”

“Wait!” Sammy cried, “I carry a message from your lord!”

“Can it! You let this happen to them. Why would we listen to your stupid ‘message?’”

Meanwhile, Jack Fain picked up the message from the ground and read it. “Guys! It says if three days go by without incident, they’ll release our prisoners! Let’s not do this. Please.”

The man who’d tackled Sammy got up, snatched the message out of Jack’s hands, and skimmed over it. “Huh. You’re right. Fine. Take him to the elevator and I’ll take this to Abby. Hopefully she’ll actually use it.”

---

Abby read over the letter.

To the upper levels,

A lot of violence has occurred between the upper and lower levels recently, so let me make myself clear: I do not want war, and no matter what level you come from, you should not want loyalists to die. Without our work, you would starve. I’m sorry to have done what I did, but I think you all needed a reminder of what’s coming for you if you keep interfering with our work. I do not wish to have to do this again.

Simply put, be peaceful, do what’s needed of you, and everything will be fine. As a final peace offering, I will release your prisoners three days from now if the rebellion stops entirely.

-Joey Drew

Abby knew the letter was full of lies. That thing wasn’t Joey, and it wasn’t forced to keep them here. She knew that the others knew that, too, and she knew that now that the upper levels had tasted hope, complete compliance would be even more impossible than before. This so-called war was going to happen sooner or later, so she needed to make sure they started at an advantage. She called on Henry to help her make a plan, and called everyone into the recording studio that night to announce it. Thankfully, it seemed to satisfy even the most rebellious of souls.

---

The door to Susie’s room opened, and Abby stepped in. Susie's eyes opened weakly.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Sorry you had to miss the meeting tonight. Big things are happening, and I thought I’d let you know about them.”

“Okay,” Susie said.

“So... Joey, or, his demon, rather, has threatened to come down hard on us if there are any more signs of rebellion- and we both know that there will be. He also promised to release our prisoners if there are three days of good behaviour. So, I’ve decided that we’re breaking out the same night that our prisoners are released. The plan is for someone stealthy to go down there in the dead of night, steal the keys, and come back. After that, we’ll leave in groups of seven in order to sneak out of the portal. We’ll do it as quietly as possible, but we’ll also be packing axes and spears made from the knives you brought up. Hopefully there won’t be too many causalities.”

“Why seven?”

“We’re expecting to have ten injured people, and we’re not leaving anyone behind. There are going to be 68 of us in total, assuming that none of the prisoners died, you know, I thought that one per group would have the least chance of really compromising a group’s chances of escape. Plus, smaller groups will be quicker and quieter.”

Susie nodded.

“Oh, and I’m sure you’ll be better by then. And Norman is fine, too, by the way. Well, physically. We looked him over and he doesn’t have any issues aside from the obvious. He won’t talk to any of us. I don’t know what that’s about. Maybe some kind of spell.”

Susie should have felt something in regards to that, but she was honestly too exhausted from the blood loss.

“Alright. I’ll let you rest now- but tomorrow, I’m going to have to ask you about everything you saw down there- especially anything that might help me plan. Goodnight, Susie.” With that, Abby left.

---

The rebellion required planning, and management. Every axe was pulled off the walls and moved into Sammy’s sanctuary, along with the knives- just in case a loyalist decided to take them away one night. Two people guarded the elevator on each floor and at all times, and not to keep loyalists out. Loyalists were allowed right through, but any especially rebellious souls had to be kept from ruining their plan. Henry and Abby were busy planning the groups and drawing up an easy-to-follow map to the portal room. Every department head struggled to keep the remaining workers to their jobs. It seemed pointless for them to work jobs they’d quickly be fleeing from, but it was essential in order to keep suspicions to a minimum.

---

It was the night before the march. Most were turning in early, knowing that tomorrow, they would have to be on their guard well into the night. Susie had tried to do the same, but she couldn’t sleep. There was too much on her head. Too many factors that had to align if she was ever going to make it out. The horrifying possibility of facing the ink demon again if they failed. And her mind, despite there being there bigger fish to fry, kept going back to Norman, if they could ever have what they had once had again, and if Norman even wanted that anymore.

“Has Norman talked to you, yet?” Susie asked Grant once he entered their room. Since Norman hadn’t rejoined them, there was no real reason for them to still be roommates, but they’d stayed roommates anyhow, just out of habit.

“No. As far as I know, he hasn’t talked to anyone.”

“I saw him speak today. Wally wanted to help him carry something, and Norman snarled at him to back off. So, it’s not a spell- just mental stuff from being imprisoned. I wanna help him, but he won’t talk to me. Can you try?”

“Sure,” Grant said. “I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but I’ll try.”

“Okay,” Susie said, biting back tears. “I just wanna know that he’s in a place where he’ll be able to handle things tomorrow. And... I know that this is the last thing that should be on my mind, but... can you ask why he’s avoiding me?”

“Oh, Susie. I...” Grant tried to find the words to comfort her. “I’ll talk to him.” Honestly, it didn’t seem like Norman was the only one who had to pull themselves together for tomorrow night.

Norman wasn’t used to being pitied. Even as a kid, after all he’d been through, his adoptive family had known that he was a problem child who needed to be set straight before he got even bigger and his aggression became more dangerous. He’d never wanted pity, either, and now that he had it, he couldn’t say that his opinion on it had improved any. He never thought he’d miss his coworkers looking at him like he was a frightening beast. Though he did cut the long, greasy hair he’d grown while imprisoned as soon as he had the chance, he’d been half-tempted to just wash it and keep it, just to somewhat retain that beastly image.

Mostly, he wanted a way to cope. He wanted to talk with his sister, or go for a walk in the woods, or somehow get out of the sight of these people without isolating himself in one room. That had been what he was doing in his off hours- both because there was little else he wanted to do and because he didn’t have the stamina he used to. It wasn’t Susie’s room. Honestly, he’d been too scared to even look at her.

Norman knew of the plan. Honestly, it had happened so quickly after he was released from his imprisonment that it was a little hard to take in. Yes, late tomorrow night, he and everyone else would end up escaping or die trying, and Norman would either reunite with his sister and put his life together from there, or it would be the end of him. It was happening, but it didn’t seem real.

There was a knock at his door. Norman pulled himself up and answered it. It was Grant. Well, out of everyone in the studio it could have been, Grant was the most tolerable.

“Hey, Norman. You... wanna play some cards?” There was a little pity in Grant’s voice. Thankfully not too much.

Norman ushered Grant into the room. They sat down on the floor, and Grant started shuffling the cards.

“So, you ready for tomorrow?”

“I guess. Kind of hard to believe it’s happening.”

Grant’s face lit up. “You’re talking!”

Norman shrugged. “It’s easy when it’s you."

“Uh, thanks. Do you want talk about... you know, what’s happened?”

“No,” Norman said, and the two played cards in silence for a while before Norman spoke up again. “Is Susie okay?”

“She’s fine. She’ll be strong enough to make it out, assuming the plan goes well.”

Norman’s face was unreadable. “Good." A long pause. “Y’know, she’s childish, and shallow, and stupid. But she was impressed with me because I was strong and I could protect her. And so, you know, she was pretty, and we did... things together. I thought that could be all it was, but she was sweet and kind to me and I went and caught feelings for her. Of course, shallow attraction based on one thing won’t last now that I look like starving stray dog, but whatever. So long as she’s okay. She’s a good girl. So long as she’s okay.”

Grant just stared at him. “Have you... looked her in the eye recently?”

“What?”

“Uh, sorry. It’s just that you’re usually so good at figuring this kind of thing out that it borders on the supernatural, and right now, you’re really, really wrong. This entire, organized rebellion started with her trying to put together a rescue team for you. She wanted to be the first one down in loyalist territory, for you. She’s actually the one who sent me, because she’s worried about how you’ll do tomorrow.”

With the last line, Norman’s face went from appreciation and disbelief to twisted anger. “For God’s sake! Joey didn’t cut my fucking legs off!”

“Well, she can’t know how well you’re doing if you avoid her. Look, if you aren’t up for it, I can go back and try to comfort her, tell her you’re fine.”

“No. No. I’ll do it. And I’m sorry that I’m not my most pleasant right now.”

Grant smiled. Nothing ever changed- the best way to get Norman to do anything was to offer to do it for him. Susie slept in Norman’s arms that night, knowing it could be their last chance to be together.

[seymour-butz-stuff]

Over the past century of popular culture, Satan has acquired the souls of delta blues musicians, incited youth rebellions, possessed small children and goats, impregnated unsuspecting women and transmitted evil through backwards lyrics on heavy metal records. But recently, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, the nature of his game has been puzzling us.

The forces aligned against Satan have become so objectionable that he no longer looks like the bad guy. They include such groups as the Westboro Baptist church, notorious for its hate speech against LGBTQ people, Jews, Muslims and other groups, all of which it condemns as “satanic frauds”. There’s the Trump administration, in league with the US religious right, which has been aggressively pushing anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ legislation, not to mention engaging in overt Islamophobia. Those forces would also include the 20,000 people who recently signed an online petition condemning the Amazon TV adaptation of the cult novel Good Omens – about a demon and an angel – as “another step to make satanism appear normal”.

Now, a documentary threatens to rehabilitate Satan. Directed by Penny Lane, Hail Satan? follows the early adventures of the Satanic Temple, an institution that has hit upon the perfect counter-strategy to the evangelicals’ efforts to recouple church and state. Based in Salem, Massachusetts (where else?), the Satanic Temple is officially recognised as a tax-exempt religious organisation. As such, it has been claiming the same rights and privileges as those obtained by evangelical Christian groups – albeit with a prankster sensibility.

Where the city council of Phoenix, Arizona, began its meetings with a Christian prayer, for example, the Satanic Temple demanded that satanic prayers should also be said. The council chose to drop the prayers altogether. When the Child Evangelism Fellowship set up the pro-Christian Good News clubs in US public schools, the Satanic Temple introduced its own After School Satan clubs – promoting scientific rationalism. And when the Oklahoma state capitol permitted the installation of a Ten Commandments sculpture in its grounds, the Satanic Temple campaigned to erect its own 8ft-high statue of Baphomet, the goat-headed, cloven-hoofed deity. 

“It became very apparent that there was a real need for what we were doing,” says Lucien Greaves, the Satanic Temple’s spokesman and de-facto leader. “More and more, they try to whittle away the rights of others and define us as a Christian nation, to the extent that religious liberty applies to them alone. That’s just a scary circumstance for us to be in.”

Greaves is exactly what you would expect the earthly ambassador of Satan to look like. Pale-skinned, well-groomed and dressed entirely in black, and with one clouded eye, he could have walked off the set of a teen vampire series. Harvard-educated, he often sounds as if he is reading from an academic text. There is no mention of God in the US constitution, he points out, but there is a first amendment protecting freedom of expression and religion. The words “under God” were added to the US pledge of allegiance in 1954, and “In God we trust” first printed on US currency in 1956 – so as to differentiate the US from the godless communists. “Up to that point, it had been E pluribus unum – ‘from many, one’ – which was a much better motto.”

Greaves doesn’t believe in God, Satan, “evil” or anything supernatural, he says. Nor does he sacrifice babies or serve a secret coven. The Satanic Temple is nontheistic, and its principles are broadly liberal humanism. The first of its seven tenets, for example, is: “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.”

So why call it “satanism”? “The metaphor of Satan is just as important to a lot of us as it would be to anybody who takes it literally because we grew up in a Judaeo-Christian culture. It really does speak to us in a very pointed and poignant way about our place in our culture and what our affirmative values are … and, of course, it defines what we oppose: these kinds of theocratic norms and authoritarian structures.”

The Satanic Temple’s interpretation is closer to that of Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost, Greaves says. “The rebel against tyranny, who stands in stark contrast to that mindless superstition and that mob mentality that causes people to give themselves the moral self-licensing to create the ‘other’… and thereby victimise people.”

You could say that is in keeping with Satan’s place in pop culture. Only occasionally has he been taken as a literal figure of evil; more often, the devil represents the outsider, the provocateur, the one with the best tunes. To be labelled “the devil’s music”, as jazz, blues and rock’n’roll all were, was the best possible branding. The Rolling Stones expressed their Sympathy and called an album Their Satanic Majesties Request, but nobody considered them serious satanists. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page would have been more qualified; he inserted mystical symbols into the band’s imagery, owned an occult bookshop in London and was a keen collector of the works. He even bought the Scottish home of the occultist Aleister Crowley (whose face also appears on the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album). Page collaborated with the film-maker Kenneth Anger, whose films of the era, such as Lucifer Rising and Invocation of My Demon Brother, brought together a Who’s Who of 60s occult-dabblers, including Page, Mick Jagger, Donald Cammell, Marianne Faithfull, the Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil, and Anton LaVey.

LaVey is acknowledged as the founder of modern satanism, although he, too, was more theatrical showman than genuine prince of darkness. He strove to look the part, with his shaved head, sharp little goatee and black cloak – imagery largely gleaned from old horror movies. He opened the First Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966, synthesising various occult sources into a semi-coherent philosophy, and attracting a few celebrity devotees, including Jayne Mansfield. Greaves acknowledges the Church of Satan as an influence, but rejects LaVey’s beliefs in social Darwinism and police-state authoritarianism as “Ayn Rand with ceremonial trappings”.

The heavy metal acts of the 1970s and 80s caused more alarm in some quarters, from Black Sabbath and Coven onwards through the likes of Slayer, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and onwards to thrash, death and ultimately black metal. Again, the satanic messaging was largely theatrical: occult symbolism, demonic lyrics and horror-movie guitar riffs. The exception was the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, which devolved into genuine horror with the bands Burzum and Mayhem, whose horrific saga involved church-burnings, suicide and murder. “A lot of these movements have always had an inordinate amount of attention for how small they really are,” says Greaves. “Sometimes, they embraced the worst elements of what they were accused of. They become this creation of the hysteria against satanism.” 

That hysteria rose to witch-hunt levels in the 1980s and 90s, in what became known as the “satanic panic”. Doubtless inflamed by the imagery of horror movies, such as The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, Christian groups began finding “evidence” of satanism everywhere. They heard subliminal satanic messages in rock records, the most famous being Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven (which supposedly contains the phrase, “Here’s to my sweet Satan,” when played backwards). Then came lurid allegations of satanic ritual abuse around the world – child sexual abuse, murder, torture, cannibalism and gory rituals, ostensibly at the behest of a secret sect intent on undermining the foundations of civilisation.

This is the environment in which Greaves grew up. “I saw peoples’ lives destroyed by the mere attribution of satanism,” he says. “I began to realise that the real evil was in the witch-hunt itself, and not in any of these alleged cults that were supposed to be initiating these activities.” While satanist conspiracy theories filled the airwaves, it bears remembering that there really was an organised sect sexually abusing children on a global scale with impunity: the Catholic church.

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 31: Some Assistance Required

Thursday after school, Ren was on an important mission. She headed down to Dr. Maruki’s office. She stood in front of the door. Morgana popped up. “Are you going in?” he asked.

“I was planning on it,” Ren answered. “But…”

“You’re still worried about what happened with Sumire, huh” Mrgana finished. Ren nodded. “Well, she said herself that Dr. Maruki was fine.”

“I know,” Ren said. She took a deep breath. She knocked.

Dr. Maruki answered. “Oh, are you here from yourself or for business?”

“The latter,” Ren answered.

“Well, either way, I appreciate it,” Maruki responded. “Come on in.” Maruki invited her in. They both took a seat.

“Do I need to be here?” Morgana asked.

“Where would you go?” Ren asked. “Besides I’m only here for metaverse stuff.”

“Hm. I was hoping you’d be ready to open up a little more” Maruki said. “But I suppose I should take what I can get. So, what is your question about the metaverse?”

Ren glanced at him. “I don’t know how deep your research went, so you might not even have the answer, but it’s better than nothing.” She got serious. “We found a new big target. However, their would be assassin has a peculiar trick up their sleeve.”

“Go on,” Maruki instructed.

“They’re in possession of this sort of ink where if it is slathered on the shadows, it takes one hit to destroy them” Ren continued. “I don’t want to bring my team into a fight like that. Venturing in and out of the metaverse is exhausting as is; to bring them into a one-sided fight like that... I couldn’t bear the thought.”

“I see,” Maruki said. He went into a deep thought. “Well you’re right in that I might not have as much in the way of specifics, but I still think I can help you.” Ren looked pleased. “First, I’m going to need to know more about the target, and why the other person targeting them might think it’s effective.”

“Well, I don’t want to give away too much,” Ren said. “But I will say our target is a very prominent figure, whom a lot of people adore. The person wishing to kill them wants to make it known that this person is rotten to the core.”

“I see,” Maruki replied. He thought some more. “You say it makes the shadows so weak that they cannot take even one hit?” Ren nodded. “In our research, we had brief interactions with these creatures. We didn’t learn much, however, in our limited interactions, we discovered that these shadows are disjointed.”

“Meaning?” Ren asked.

“I think he’s referring to how they gather around powerful pressences, like those with palaces” Morgana clarified.

“Precisely” Maruki pointed out. “They aren’t whole, if that makes sense. As powerful as they are, I think they’re at a disadvantage with that ink. From what you’ve described, I think this ink makes weaknesses more pronounced. A shadow doesn’t have any real strength, aside from its raw power. But you have the power of your Personas, which are an extension of yourselves. You are whole. So I don’t think that ink would do the same thing to you as it does those shadows.”

“Well that’s a relief” Morgana said.

“However, if at all possible, you should probably not get hit with it anyways” Maruki added. “I mean, it won’t kill you outright, but it will make you weaker.”

“I see,” Ren replied. She smiled. “Thanks doc.”

Before she could leave, Maruki shouted “Wait!” Ren sat back down. “Um, this might seem a bit sudden, but would it be possible to use our interactions for a paper I’m writing?”

Ren was curious. “Are you publishing something about the metaverse?”

“Well, no,” Maruki said. “But I am doing a study related to the strength of one’s heart, and I feel like the information I gather from you, as well as other students or faculty, would be great for that. Which reminds me, I’ve gotta talk to someone else about this.”

“But we’ve only talked about metaverse stuff today” Ren said, getting slightly more passive aggressive.

“Well, that might be true, I can’t help but get a little analytical, especially when I’m on the job,” Maruki explained. “So, I may have gathered some insight into you. Of course, I won’t write about you if you do not wish.”

Ren smirked. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Of course” Maruki answered. “I’m always serious about respecting my patients.”

“And yet you didn’t want to respect Sumire for who she really is?” Ren asked.

“Oh my” Maruki responded. “I figured you would still be upset about that.”

This didn’t help. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ren snapped.

“Woah” Morgana exclaimed.

“Heh heh. Sorry” Maruki apologized. “I figured provoking you in that moment would get me the best response.” Ren was not amused. “If I’m honest with you, it might make what I say next more believable for you. I really, truly, only wanted to help Sumire out the day she came to my office. She told you herself that she was hardly able to function, and who could blame her? Anyone in her shoes would not take what happened easily. I wanted to help her function again.”

“So why make her think she’s her sister?” Ren asked.

“Well, that’s confidential,” Maruki answered. “I can’t tell you anything about a meeting without consent.”

“Hey” Morgana said, getting Ren’s attention. “Do you think maybe it has something to do with what we saw before her awakening?”

Ren thought about it. They witnessed what Sumire had witnessed the day Kasumi died. They also heard Sumire’s thought. Her self-doubt and her jealousy of her sister. Ren also thought about her previous interactions with Sumire. I guess I can see her wanting to act more like her sister.

“Based on the information given, I suggested she start thinking like her sister,” Maruki explained further. “Of course, you broke her out of that, which also makes me curious about you. What is it about you that shook her out of it?”

Ren was confused. “What makes you think I would know the answer to that?”

“I guess that’s true,” Maruki said. He laughed.

Ren looked at him. “You are very peculiar, you know that?”

“I do,” Maruki said. “You’re not the first, and you probably won’t even be the last to say that.” He cleaned his glasses. “Now, do you want to know what I know about you?”

Ren was a bit hesitant, but she did want to know. “Very well.”

“Hm” Maruki cocked a grin. “Well, before getting to know you formally, I was made aware of your arrest record. People told me to be cautious around you.” Ren got a little frustrated. “But after meeting you, I feel like you’re kind, understanding, and selfless. You’re fairly smart, and aren’t afraid to be yourself. Which does call into question your arrest. I don’t think someone like you gets arrested without a good reason. So, would you mind telling me about how you got arrested?” Ren hesitated. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

Ren looked at Maruki. Well, he’s independent from the school, so he might actually believe me as well. Plus he already knows about me being a Phantom Thief. I doubt this would actually do much. She sighed. “Very well. One night, I was on my way home when I overheard some commotion. A man was trying to force a woman into his car. I stepped between them and he fell over. He blamed me and said I hit him. When the police came, they believed him and he had me arrested.”

Maruki was stunned. “My. The audacity of some people, huh.” Ren was a bit surprised by this. “I’m sorry, but I’m human too. And as good as I am at identifying what makes people tick, it does not make me immune from getting ticked as well.”

Ren reflected on what he just said. “And I guess that means you’re also human enough to make some rash decisions.”

“Exactly” Maruki said. “I knew you were smart. Ah. Sorry. I did it again.”

“It’s… alright…” Ren said. “You know, you’re actually really good.”

“Well, I try” Maruki said.

Ren sighed. “Here I am, trying to deal with many complicated things, while still being unable to really figure myself out. And yet you seem to have me down pat, despite only conversing with me twice.”

“Hm” Mruki said. “Well, I’m sure you know more about yourself than you might think. I doubt you’d have a Persona otherwise. And I think your other friends might know you well too. But I will always be here to help if you want it.”

Ren smiled. “I like the sound of that. And I guess you can use whatever you can glean from our conversations for research. Just don't give me away if you go and publish anything.”

“Duly noted,” Maruki said. “I can also teach you how to fortify yourselves better in the metaverse as well. Ah, in fact, I have something that will help right now.” He fished around through his papers. “Here” he said, handing it to Ren.

She looked it over. “Really?”

Maruki nodded. “Think of it as a thank you for helping me out. As well as a thank you for understanding that I mean no real harm.”

Ren put it in her bag. She sighed. “To be honest, I’ve been wanting something like this, but I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. So, would you mind if we met again?”

“It’s my job, isn’t it?” Maruki said with a smile.

Ren giggled. “Thanks.”

I am thou... Thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Councilor Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

Councilor-Takato Maruki-Rank 1

“Oh, um, if I need to contact you about metaverse stuff in the future, it might be easier to do it via phone” Ren said. “You can give me a heads up on availability and stuff.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Maruki said. He and Ren exchanged contact info. After that, Ren left the room.

While she was on her way to the subway, Morgana popped up. “So, I’m a little confused about what just happened there,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Ren asked.

“Well, it’s not often that I see you go through so many emotions and yet still come out of it feeling fine” Morgana explained. “You were so distrustful of Maruki when you entered, but you trusted him by the end of it. Why is that?”

Ren stopped. “Partially because I probably need something like that.”

“But you have us,” Morgana said. “He even said we might know you better.”

“Which is another reason I kind of turned around on him,” Ren explained. Morgana was perplexed. “He was incredibly open and honest. He easily admitted his faults and made his intentions known throughout the process. The people I tend to keep at arm’s length are dishonest, or at least won’t tell me things.”

“Huh” Morgana thought. “I guess that makes sense. Everyone I know who you’re close with seems like they’re willing to be themselves with you.”

“Yeah,” Ren said. “I guess they are.”

Ren got a message on her phone.

Dr. Maruki: Oh, by the way.

Dr. Maruki: I know you say you have a big target lined up already.

Dr. Maruki: But if you’re looking for a smaller target as well, I have information.

Dr. Maruki: Recently, an old man has been causing all sorts of mischief in Kichijoji.

Dr. Maruki: Whenever he gets caught, he says he’s either lost or confused, and people let him off with a warning.

Dr. Maruki: But people in the area say he’s doing it on purpose.

Dr. Maruki: I don’t know if you go after that kind of thing, but I figured I’d share it with you.

Ren messaged back.

Ren: What’s his name?

Dr. Maruki: I guess you would need to know that.

Dr. Maruki: The person I heard this from says his name is Heiji Ono.

Dr. Maruki: Be careful. I feel like there may be more to this than he’s letting on.

Ren: Thank you. I will take this up with my team.

“Huh” Morgana said. “That was unusual.”

“But it’s the kind of thing we need, don’t you agree?” Ren asked.

“Yeah,” Morgana said.

Ren got another message on her phone.

Mishima: Hey, can we meet tonight?

Mishima: I have a surprise.

Mishima: Also, I want to talk about the Phansite a bit.

Ren: Sounds like a plan.

Mishima: Great! See you on Central Street!

Later that night, Ren caught up with Mishima. “Hey Mishima,” Ren said.

“Oh hi,” Mishima said.

Ren finished walking up to him. “So, what’s this surprise?”

“Get this” Mishima said, excitedly “I got us each a DATE!”

“What?” said Ren, panicking.

“Yeah” Mishima continued. “I found them on the Phansite. This one girl said she was lonely, and this guy said he recently got dumped. So I decided to help them out and offered a double date to the two of them. Oh, but they just think we’re ordinary people. They don’t know I run the site, let alone that you’re a Phantom Thief.”

“Well, that’s good at least…” Ren said. “But what made you decide to do this?”

“Well, they needed help,” Mishima said. “But I don’t think changing hearts to make them happier is exactly ethical. So I offered this up.”

“Well… you know that at least…” Ren said.

“Don’t worry,” Mishima said. “I did some check on them. They’re both fine people. And I will also admit, the guy is incredibly handsome.”

“...Thanks?” Ren said, sweating bullets.

“Don’t worry, we have an ice breaker,” Mishima said. “We came into contact on the Phansite. We can talk about our adoration for the Phantom Thieves.”

“Yay” Ren said. She was dying inside.

Suddenly, Mishima got a call. “Huh? … Oh hey!” He put his hand over the speaker. “It’s the girl.” He went back to the phone. “How’s it going? Are you almost there yet? … Huh? ...Oh! Well that’s neat. … I see … Huh. No no, that’s great. … Right, well see you on the forums then.” He hung up and sighed.

“What was that about?” Ren asked.

Mishima smiled. “It turns out that on their way to meet us, our two dates met up with each other. They clicked right away, and are now going on a date with each other. Crazy how that worked out, right?” Ren sighed. “Wait, what was that for? Do you not trust me on this?”

“Well, in all honesty, no,” Ren said. “Although, I don’t really trust too many people to set me up with someone. I’ve gotten severely burned before.”

Mishima was concerned. “What happened?”

“Well, someone said they would get me a date…” Ren said. She remembered an incident at her old school where someone said that this one girl also liked girls, and would date her, but what ended up happening was a mean trick where she was actually outed, some dudes tried “turning” her, and in the end, she lost some of her friends. “But it turned into a huge public shaming where they embarrassed me. So yeah, I don’t really like getting set up with anyone.”

Mishima got made. “Man, fuck whoever did that to you! You’re a good person! You didn’t deserve that!”

Ren smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “Besides, I’m kind of interested in someone currently.” Even if she isn’t interested in me.

“I getcha, I getcha,” Mishima said. “So that’s a no on any further dates, huh.” Mishima seemed sad. “And she was so cute too…”

Ren looked at him, “Well, you could still try.”

“On my own?!” Mishima said. “I couldn’t. I’d get too nervous.”

“Mishima, look at me” Ren said. “You can do this.”

Mishima looked at Ren and got pumped. “Heh. You’re right! I CAN do this!” He pointed to Ren. “And you can get the guy you’re interested in! I know it for sure!”

Well, he doesn’t know. “Yeah…” Ren said.

“So, that’s a ‘no’ on getting dates for you,” Mishima said. “But what about anything else the Phansite can provide?”

“Hmmm” Ren thought. “Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. Maybe just start running things by me before you jump head first into whatever you’re thinking.”

“Ohhhhh” Mishima said. “That’s an excellent idea. Heh heh. I will.” His stomach growled. “Oh, um, would you like to grab something to eat anyways?”

“I’d like that,” Ren said. The two of them ate at the diner.

“Ah, that was great,” Mishima said.

“I’ll say,” Ren said.

“Hey,” Mishima said. “Thanks for hanging out with me tonight. It didn’t go like how I imagined it would, but I think it worked out for the best.” He sighed a happy sigh. “Before all this happened, I had no one.” He turned to Ren. “But now I have you. And even though you said you wouldn’t date me, I still like hanging out with you. You’re like my best friend.”

Ren smiled. He doesn’t quite seem to get it, but he has the spirit. “You might want to work on your delivery a little if you want to get a date from the Phansite” Ren pointed out.

“Oh” Mishima said.

“But your heart is in the right place,” Ren continued. “You wanted to help someone in need, and you took action to do so. Just maybe think things over a bit before you do anything.”

“Done and done,” Mishima said. “And sorry about setting up a date for you. I didn’t know you had that experience.”

Or a few other things. “It’s OK. Just don’t do it again.”

“Aye aye!” Mishima said.

Ren smiled. “I like hanging out with you too.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Mishima said, flustered.

Moon-Yuuki Mishima: Rank 2

Ren and Mishima went home for the evening.

[rose-in-my-heart]

Mona Lisa Project, tmnt bayverse au. Victoria’s story.

Victoria Tartaruga was from “Mona Lisa Project”, a side project located in Wilmington North Carolina’s countryside. City people thought nothing of the lab, to them it was quite large and bit oddly placed yet very regular building next to forest. Stylish countryside building so to say.

“Mona Lisa Project” was to ensure and expand "Project Renaissance". Original Mona Lisa smiles like she holds a secret and so did “Mona Lisa Project”; man in charge of the project wanted to take over the Foot clan and the world. 

When Shredder was in jail, “Mona Lisa Project” was on hold but the secret project continued. However, soon those who were loyal to Shredder found out the secret and bloody rebellion started and caused great fire. In that fire there were people who wanted to save and those who wanted to destroy the test subjects that contained mutagen in their blood, whatever their reasons were. A few subjects stayed alive and gained freedom because of clumsiness of some destroyers. Victoria was among those who were able to stay alive by a scientist who dropped her down a hole to the lab’s sewer system.

After the fall, Victoria was alone in dry sewer tunnel, separated from other survivors. Her mutation didn’t start right away. In fear of all commotion happening above her, Victoria was able to make her way, luckily, to the open sewer’s exit. There she met Ben and her mutation started. 

Earlier Ben had seen smoke in the sky from his home next to forest and came to take closer look and photos as close as possible. He had passed the lab’s fences easily because of the rebellion taking all men to fight. The teenager accidentally saw Victoria and her mutation while taking photos. When Ben heard firetruck coming, Victoria’s mutation wasn’t completed yet. Ben took her with him. It was instinct, wanting to help as well as selfish desire. Selfish desire of owning something or someone.

Ben took Victoria to his treehouse instead of his home where his aggressive father would be waiting. In the treehouse the teenager’s heart softened when he saw fully mutated turtle baby. Cute little being making baby voices and marveling world around her/him. Ben’s parent instinct kicked in even if he was just a teenager. Ben decided to care for the baby mutant turtle.

Ben raised his adoptive child in treehouse and gave name Tartaruga since he was unsure of baby’s gender. When she started to speak, Ben kept her old name but gave new first name which he wanted to have powerful meaning. Parenthood was difficult as well as satisfying. Victoria’s life was full of good days and bad days and most importantly: fatherly love from Ben. He taught Victoria to read, write and count as well as how to survive in wild. Her father told stories and about his days at school as well as cruelty of humans. Victoria read dozens of books, newspapers and magazines that her adoptive father gave to her to learn on her own. In her own record, Victoria had perfect life.

On fateful day Victoria was over 7 years old and still living in treehouse, her home. Ben had emergency which lead him no choice but to trust his younger cousin to watch over Victoria. Reasons unknown for Victoria, the cousin called Ben’s father to her home. The man got mad when he saw Victoria and grab her by her biceps. Scared Victoria bite him as defense but doing so the man fell off the treehouse. Ben’s father hurt himself badly and the cousin yelled at her. Terrified Victoria ran off to forest to secret spot. It was unused protocol for cases if someone unwanted saw Victoria in treehouse. The secret spot had food, water and other things prepared for her. It was part of protocol that Ben would pick up Victoria and take her to new place. Victoria waited there three days for her father to arrive. When Sun rose on 4. day, Victoria opened a box full of letters as was agreed in the protocol. She opened and read first letter. It was full of love and an order. Tears in her eyes, Victoria packed the box of letters into backpack of remaining of the spot’s goods. Then she left, without her father, to find new home.

[mllemaenad]

Why is everybody keep forgetting that elves had quite some forces and were not some helpless souls? Why do ppl forget that it's their own racism that initially caused the war in the Dales? Why everybody dismisses Minaeves' story about how her clan treated the unwanted mages? I mean Chantry sucks big time, but can we please stop making elves into some magic creatures that only do good. They do not. None of the races and religions in Dragon Age is perfect, yet one has a particular bias from fandom

Hi Anonymous person.

Um. Sorry, but … what? That’s … a lot of vitriol. I’m … going to do this point by point.

Why is everybody keep forgetting that elves had quite some forces and were not some helpless souls?

No one is claiming that the elves were ‘helpless’ in the sense that they were children, or somehow unable to fight. Elven sources are a bit spotty, for solid ‘in universe’ reasons, but there’s enough on the Emerald Knights to understand that they kicked some serious arse.

But. By the time Orlais set its sights on the Dales, it had already steamrolled over a bunch of other nations, effectively doubling its original size.

The grand nation of Orlais occupies a full quarter of the Thedosian continent and extends its influence far beyond its shifting borders. In ages past, Orlais flexed its military muscle, threatening territory belonging to Nevarra and Tevinter and outright invading Ferelden. One could argue that the Emperor or Empress of Orlais, regardless of competency, is the second most powerful person in Thedas – the first, of course, being the Divine.

…

Together, the two [Kordillus Drakon and Area Montlaures] transformed Orlais from a few squabbling clans controlling their own city states into an empire. Hand in hand, they conquered well into modern-day Ferelden and Nevarra, stamping out any worship of the Old Gods as well as lingering Alamarri and Ciriane Deities.

– World of Thedas Volume II

Sure, we have an account of the massacre of a pacifist nation (note that they are also vilified by the text, even though they are literally ‘helpless souls’ being overrun and slaughtered by an empire), but that is going to be the exception to the rule. Most of these ‘squabbling clans’ would have had warriors and fortifications. It didn’t matter. Orlais invaded, defeated them, forced them to convert – and absorbed the survivors. The Orlesian empire is The Blob.

Do you … not get how massive this thing is? A quarter of Thedas is under direct Orlesian control. That’s what came for the Dales. An almost endless supply of soldiers and weapons and supplies against one newborn nation. That’s what’s so scary about empires, once they get going: they can take the resources of the people they conquered yesterday – including the bodies of the actual people to be used as soldiers or workers – and use them against you today.

So yeah: big picture, they were ‘helpless souls’ being knocked down by the biggest bully in Thedas. They put up a hell of a fight – even took Montsimmard for a while – but they didn’t have the resources of an empire to sustain them, so they were screwed.

Why do ppl forget that it’s their own racism that initially caused the war in the Dales?

Okay so … racism. I feel like I keep saying ‘empires are bad’ and ‘conversion by the sword is bad’ and … these are somehow controversial statements that people want to refute? That’s … just a little bit scary, you know?

The elven people quite famously worked with humans. Specifically with the Alamarri rebels who took down the Tevinter Imperium. You know: Andraste?

At Shartan’s word, the sky

Grew black with arrows.

At Our Lady’s, ten thousand swords

Rang from their scabbards,

A great hymn rose over Valarian Fields gladly proclaiming:

Those who had been slaves were now free.

– Shartan 10:1.

– Dark Moon

There’s even a whole fucking verse about Shartan and his people making a bloody suicide run on the entire Tevinter army to try to rescue Andraste:

The Liberator drew the blade at his side

And charged the pyre, the freedom of the Prophet before his eyes,

But from the legion came a storm of arrows

Blacker than night. And the disciple who had fought side by side

With the Lady fell, along with a hundred of his People.

And among the Alamarri ten thousand swords fell to the ground in a chorus of defeat.

– World of Thedas Volume II

That’s pretty heroic! And pretty tragic! Elven slaves and human rebels standing side by side, fighting an empire. Winning, in the end, although at great cost. And yet what you’re trying to tell me is that the elves are ‘racist’ (also: not a great word to use in reference to an oppressed people because racism requires social power) rather than, say, justifiably worried about the growing power of a nascent empire?

He [Kordillus Drakon] began his holy quest at the ripe old age of sixteen by taking to the battlefield. At the time, each clan had its own variety of the cult of Andraste, its own rituals, traditions and versions of Andraste’s words. Young Drakon unified them by the sword.

– World of Thedas II

Orlais is aggressive and fanatical. It is running around slaughtering people who disagree with its religious beliefs. If you are a non-Andrastian nation sitting more-or-less on the Orlesian border, watching other nations fall and be forcibly converted – and those people just believed different things about Andraste – you have to know what’s coming. This really only goes one way. Are you really going to call closing your borders and prepping for conflict ‘racism’? Is that really the word you want to use?

Halamshiral, “the end of the journey,” was our capital, built out of the reach of the humans. We could once again forget the incessant passage of time. Our people began the slow process of recovering the culture and traditions we had lost to slavery.

But it was not to last. The Chantry first sent missionaries into the Dales, and then, when those were thrown out, templars. We were driven from Halamshiral, scattered. Some took refuge in the cities of the shemlen, living in squalor, tolerated only a little better than vermin.

– The Dales

Relations broke down completely when the Chantry sent missionaries. Because of course they did. The fact that Orlais fundamentally does not believe in religious freedom is the very thing that the elves are afraid of. It is also, you know, a pretext. Provocation meant to push the elves so they start something and Orlais can say it was their fault. There is almost always a pretext. The empire says it’s coming in to resolve a local conflict, or they’re dealing with an incident on the border, or they’re ‘liberators’. And then they stay. And they take.

Do you really mean to blame the elves for being conquered?

Why everybody dismisses Minaeves’ story about how her clan treated the unwanted mages?

No one has forgotten or dismissed Minaeve. Everyone is keenly aware that – on a meta level – Bioware did some quite ugly retconning in Inquisition to make both elves and mages look less sympathetic. Many people have noted that Minaeve’s story is the exact opposite of Lanaya’s story, and that neither Velanna nor Merrill talk about anything like that. Nevertheless, it is raised at least three times in Inquisition: by Minaeve, by Vivienne and by The Iron Bull. So yes, that is a deliberate retcon made at a late stage in the series in order to allow people to do exactly what you’re doing: yell that the elves are ‘just as bad’. It’s gross.

In universe, of course, it’s worth noting that Minaeve was seven when this happened. Whatever it was, it was terrible – but it may not have been what she thought. It’s also worth noting that the Dalish are wandering nomads with few resources, under constant threat from humans in general and templars in particular, and if they did find themselves forced to throw one mage child to the templars to protect the rest – that is fucking horrible, but says more about the world Orlais has created than it does about the elves.

But I have to ask – why do you think it’s so important that everyone remember a twenty-second pro-templar conversation with a minor character, instead of extensive conversations about elven society and losses with Merril and Velanna? Those are two grown women who have lived their whole lives as Dalish and have a keen understanding of the culture of their clans. Or whole novels about Fiona and Briala, respectively the leaders of the mage and elven rebellions?

I know the novels are supplementary material so I’m certainly not blaming anyone for being unfamiliar with them. But if there were things I wish people could always remember when talking about the elves – it would be those stories of oppression and revolution.

I mean Chantry sucks big time, but can we please stop making elves into some magic creatures that only do good. They do not. None of the races and religions in Dragon Age is perfect, yet one has a particular bias from fandom.

It’s … interesting that you brought ‘race’ into this. Because I didn’t. I haven’t been writing criticisms of ‘humans’. I’ve left the Rivaini alone; usually mentioned Fereldans favourably; I haven’t been talking about Antiva or Nevarra. They haven’t come up.

I was talking about the aggression of the Orlesian empire and its Chantry. The elves were brought up as possibly the people who have lost the most to Orlesian aggression. They’re certainly the best sourced of those people. I’ve talked about the Chasind and Avvar where I can (humans!). I’ve talked about dwarves and Qunari. I bring up the Daughters of Song and the Disciples of Andraste where I can, because I have references for them. I know that a whole lot of other cultures were destroyed by Drakon and his Chantry – but alas, I can’t say anything meaningful about them because there are no codex entries, in game dialogue or other reference materials for them.

Of course the elves are not ‘perfect’. While Zathrian’s rage is understandable, his decision to keep the curse going even when it began to threaten his clan was terrible. Merril’s clan was far too easily led to bully and exclude her; they were her family and someone should have stood up for her. Historically, the Dales probably made a mistake staying out of the Second Blight. I mean – I get it. The Blight softened up Tevinter enough to let the rebels take it down. It could have worked again against Orlais. But in retrospect – bad idea. Didn’t work.

Those are just examples. Of course there are more. But it doesn’t matter. That an elven character fucked up at some point does not change the fact that they face racial persecution as non-humans (and are pretty clearly coded as a combination of indigenous, Jewish and Romani people), that they face religious persecution as non-Andrastians and that the Orlesian empire stole their land and forced them into slums.

And I note all of this because of the … tenor of your Ask. Had you said something like “This elven stuff is great, but I’d like to chat about how the dwarves are basically facing an apocalypse and no one will help them, and also wouldn’t a story about a casteless revolution be great?” I would have said “Yes! Let’s talk about that!” Had you said something like “Isn’t it fucked up that the Qunari are treated largely as savage invaders, operating as an ‘Other’ it’s okay to hate?” I would have said “Yes! Yes, it is!”

But … this reads like a list of ‘reasons why people should stop pretending the elves don’t deserve to be oppressed’. And … somehow equates ‘Orlesians’ with ‘humans’?

I mean – surely you aren’t saying that our sympathies should not be with the frequently enslaved minority group who are forced to live as second class citizens in appalling slums, and who have been forcibly converted to a religion they don’t want to follow … but rather with the empire that took everything from them?

Because … I really hope not.

[dailyaudiobible]

10/21/2020 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 37:1-38:28, 1 Timothy 6:1-21, Psalms 89:38-52, Proverbs 25:28

Today is the 21st day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we just kinda come in and take our places around the Global Campfire. How is everyone? How are you doing? Well…no matter how you're doing, no matter how any of us are doing we have kind of created a little oasis where when we come here things kind of get shifted, perspective gets reoriented because when we come in here and sit around the Global Campfire together we know we’re not alone and we’re simply letting God’s word speak to us in whatever way that it does. This is safe…this is a safe place that has been a rescue so many times. And, so, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward. And this week we are reading from the Christian Standard Bible. So, we’ll continue to do that throughout this week and continuing our journey through the book of Jeremiah today. So, today we’ll be diving into chapters 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay. So, I have been in ministry a long time and I have been around ministry my entire life. And, so, I have encountered the word prophetic or prophetic things plenty…plenty of times over…over the years and that's…that's fine but I have also had people introduce themselves to me as profits many times in many kind of weird interesting sorts of ways. But with further conversations like, “no. I'm not sure this…I’m not sure where on the same page. I’m just not sure we’re having the same conversation.” So. well, like what does a prophet look like? What does a prophet do? What does a prophet have to face? That’s something we get a very clear view of in the book of Jeremiah today because in my experience most of the people who have introduced themselves to me as prophets are really really, really trying to be seen that way and are trying to live like a ultra-prosperous sort of life that draws attention to themselves as somebody with some sort of secret special direct line to God. So, we’re reading through the book of…a book of prophecy, the book of Jeremiah, who was a prophet in the Bible and he’s in Jerusalem and there's a blockade around the city and everyone is trapped and the only thing keeping the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, from getting into Jerusalem is the wall. The thing is, the wall is protecting them from the invading army, but the invading army has surrounded the city. And, so, there is a wall between them, but society is falling apart inside the walls. There’s no food, right? Like, and…and there's no law and order. It's all falling apart because the writings kind of on the wall. We’ve been reading through Jeremiah and so in earlier times in Jeremiah's prophetic ministry, there were other prophets around contradicting Jeremiah, like very aggressively contradicting Jeremiah. We’re not hearing any of those prophetic voices anymore. Those prophets, the ones who were like, “no. There's a two-year plan. Everything's coming back. No. Certainly the Chaldeans will never breach the walls.” We’re not hearing any of those voices anymore. Jeremiah is the remaining prophet of God with a voice here and he is continuing to say the message that God had given him from the beginning. He's just the messenger. He doesn't want to be seen. He’s not trying to get notoriety. He doesn't want to be doing this job. Now he’s trapped inside Jerusalem with a blockade. Pharaoh's army from Egypt, the rumor is that he's coming and so the Chaldeans back off and so Jeremiah wants to go inspect the field that he bought. And he can't even…he’s not even allowed to leave. Like his freedom is taken because the accusation is that he’s defecting to the Chaldeans, because he's been saying to surrender to them all along as the word of the Lord. So, this famous prophet is then thrown into prison and then the king whose name is Zedekiah let him out but didn't let him go free. He like kept him under house arrest in the courtyard. But it's not too long then that people aren't...they're looking for somebody to scapegoat. Things are falling apart. Jeremiah's word from the Lord has been consistent and is coming true and the people are furious at Jeremiah for saying the things that he said. So, Jeremiah ends up basically in quicksand at the bottom of a well to die there. That's the life of this prophet. Then king Zedekiah comes to Jeremiah privately. Everybody's watching everybody at this point inside the city. Everybody's trying to figure out how to get out alive. The authority of the king has been diminished significantly. And Zedekiah comes to Jeremiah is like, “just tell me the truth. Just give me it straight.” And Jeremiah's basically like, “I’ve been doing that, my friend. I’ve been doing that for more than a decade for more than two. I've been telling the truth. Nobody's listening to me and if I tell you the truth, you’ll probably kill me. And if I give you good advice you’re not gonna listen, you never have.” That’s kind of how we see the prophetic voices in the Bible. That…that's the response in the lives of the prophets, at least the ones that are portrayed in the Bible. They come with the word from the Lord and a lot of times the word from the Lord is a foretelling of what is to come. And what is to come is not usually a good thing. And the reason that they are foretelling what is to come is because the people are heading in that direction. The prophet seeing and hearing the word of the Lord can see where this is going and speak to it because that's where the road is going. That's where things will end up. And, so, a prophet lay’s that out. This is where you're going. This is what's going to happen. However, it's not too late to change direction. And if you do repent, if you do change your mind, if you do change direction then the outcome will also change accordingly. But the people don't listen. Only rarely do we see examples of people listening. So, the work of a biblical prophet is indeed difficult work, to say the least.

And then we come to Proverbs today and it brings it all very, very near. “A person lacking self-control is as a city with broken down walls.” In many ways that is a prophetic word into our own lives. In Jerusalem the wall was the only thing keeping the enemy out. According to Proverbs, when we lose control of ourselves the wall that keeps the enemy out of our lives falls down. In…in this scenario that we’re reading in the Bible, there were walled cities to keep enemies out and if those walls fell down then the enemy rushed in and conquered the city and in many cases destroyed the city. When we lose control of ourselves the enemy rushes in to destroy us. So, when we have not practiced…and remember we were talking about practicing just the other day, like practicing our faith. Like, this is how we train to be godly, we practice being godly. One way we practice is self-control. It's a fruit of the Spirit. It’s a byproduct that is offered to us who…who have believed and who are practicing a godly life. If we lose that then the walls fall down and chaos rushes in, right? Fear rushes in, loss overwhelms, panic rushes in. You name it. Whatever it is that’s our enemy rushes in to conquer and destroy. And, yeah, similar to what Jeremiah’s saying, the way we will ultimately overcome is that we will surrender, we will surrender to God. And, so again, the Bible greets us as it does most every day with the illumination of pathways and where those pathways lead. The Bible once again…I mean we learn this very very much the very very beginning of the Bible, that wisdom is at every crossroads saying go this way and don't go that way. If we would just listen and slow down. And, so, once again the Bible has brought to us the illumination of pathways and where they go. And what we can see is that if we do not practice self-control then we have a very, very vivid picture of what being surrounded by an enemy with chaos inside the walls, starvation inside the walls, and surrounded by the enemy on the outside, we see what that looks like and we know when the wall falls down that the enemy rushes in. We have a clear view of what happens to us spiritually when we do not practice self-control. Here's the thing. I don't think this is like new revelation. Like, you may have never heard it in this context before, but when you, when I, when we lose self-control it may not have been described as a wall falling down and an enemy rushing in, but we already know that's exactly what it feels like. That's what happens. And, so, let's take the visual that the Bible has given us in Jeremiah and essentially the prophetic word that has been spoken to us from Proverbs and listen because that's what the prophets were doing, saying this is where you're going, this is where it will end, listen, change course. Listen. Are we gonna listen or are we gonna continue to have the wall fall down and our lives be a swirl of chaos? The choice is ours. We’re at the crossroads. Wisdom is speaking. This is the way to go. Don't go that way. Here we are. Which way are we going?

Prayer:

Father, we know the way we want to go. We know the way were supposed to go. We just often don't. Sometimes that is out of rebellion. Sometimes it's just we’re overwhelmed and not paying attention. You have given us Yourself, Your presence. You are here and we get so distracted that we forget that's real. And, so, we run around from chaos to conflict just trying to keep things afloat when there's a better way. Come Holy Spirit and help us practice self-control. We need You now. Actually, maybe more than ever in our lifetimes we need You now. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is the Joy of the Lord calling from the UK and I just want to first of all say thank you to Brian and the Hardin family for all the great work that you’re doing at the Daily Audio Bible. And I was just calling in response to Joel Maddox who called on the 19th October, Monday the 19th of October. Sounded very distressed and ready to give up. And I just want to encourage you Joel that don’t give up. That is exactly what the devil wants you to do. But please don’t give up. I know and I can hear that you are hurting but I know that even though everyone may have left you, even though you may feel alone, I know that Jesus is still with you. Jesus is reaching out. He can never give up on you. He can never leave you. He can never forsake you. He can never forget you. So, I just wanted to encourage you that God is with you at every single point in time. You may not feel like it. You may feel like you’re alone. You may feel like you’ve lost everything but do not give up. As far as there is life there is hope. So, just continue to put one foot in front of the other. Continue to just pray to God and cry out to God and I know that God will surely answer you and surely make you feel like you’re not alone and surely embrace you and encourage you in more ways than you can imagine. I look forward to an amazing praise report after this because I know that God is with you. So, I just want to call you to encourage you. And of course, I’m lifting you up in prayer and I know that my God will strengthen you beyond your capacity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Beautiful Soul from North Carolina. I wanted to call in and say a prayer for Joel Maddox. Joel, I know your pain and I know your…your loneliness and you feel like you’re not loved but you are loved. God loves you and He loves you through His people and you’re not alone. It’s not a time to give up. I’ve been there before where I wanted to just give up and throw in the towel but God kept me and He’s brought me out on the other side. And again, I also want to pray for God’s Smile. God’s Smile, she brought me through some really hard times in my life just by hearing her voice. My mother passed away 12 years ago and not having that mother’s comfort is really hard when you’re going through but to hear God’s Smile’s voice is just like my mother hugging me when I would hear voice. And I wanted God’s Smile to know that I’m praying for her too and I’m here for her to pray and lift her up as he goes through this difficult time and know that she is loved as well. Dear heavenly Father I pray for these two people in our lives that need You so desperately God. I ask that You go to their rescue God and deliver them from whatever the enemies put before them that’s causing them to suffer. I pray God that You get the glory out of the entire situation but most of all God that they draw closer to You. Lord let them know that their loved, they’re kept, and they should be carried through. When they can’t even take another step, You’ll carry them the rest of the way. Lord I not only pray for these two but all those who are suffering. We give You honor; we give You glory we give You praise. You are an awesome, awesome, awesome God and we praise You in Jesus’ name. Thank you, thank you daily audio Bible for this platform. Amen.

Hi siblings this is your sis His Little Cherry in Canada. Would you please say a prayer for my daughter joy? I got an emergency text from her this morning saying that things are not going well, things are not going well for her and for the whole first year class at the vet school. I don’t think I need to give a bunch of details because it’s really a Shakespearean tragedy is what it is. Drama, drama, and more drama with staff and deans and professors and power struggles and I guess there’s been a lot of mid…mid program choices…changes. Partly because of Covid, no one knows what they’re doing or what’s going on and just partly because of politics. And the first-year students are beside themselves as far as overwhelmed and stressed. It’s just…that school normally speaking is stressful enough and then things are just…what are they? Their inhumane, which is interesting for vet school students. So, Joy sent a long middle of the night email to the mental health counselor last night and I’m really worried about her. I’m worried about her marriage, which is only a year old and there’s lots of stress there too. So, I am clinging to Daddy for my treasure, my joyous and asking if you would have time to say a quick prayer for Joy I would sure appreciate it. I love you guys. Bye.

Hey DAB this is White as Snow from Tennessee. Just wanted to thank Soaring On Eagles Wings from Canada for praying for truck drivers. That was just an awesome prayer just lifting us up and, you know, the things we have to deal with. And I just want to thank you for…for praying for us. And I want to pray for unshavn’ misbehavn’ Tavin, which I…I love that. His Little Cherry’s son who had some pain who hopefully by now got the results of the test and just praying for just complete recovery if surgery needs to be involved just whatever that everything will go smoothly, and he’ll be doing great. And I’d also like to lift up his wife whose an atheist. And I just…just praying that God will open her eyes and she can come to know Him. And you never know how God’s working on someone. On the outside you may not see anything but, you know, God can still be working, you know, on their heart on the inside. So, just praying for her and just lifting you up and thanks again for praying for all of us.

Hello, my name is Glenda from central Missouri I’m a first-time caller, but I’ve been listening for about a year or so. Brian thank you so much for your program because I can no longer hold the Bible in my hands, yet I can still pick up the Bible every day. Right now, I’m fighting cancer. I’m not doing so good. I ask for prayer for that. I want to thank everybody for all the prayers in advance. Thank you so much. My names Glenda from central Missouri.

Hello Daily Audio Bible viewers my name is Juan __ and I just needed prayer for me and my girlfriend Cornetto. Me and her have not been going to the best of times right now but I will say this, she has brought me back to Christ when me and her got together and this feels like now she’s running astray now and since she’s been back in New York and her friend from jail got out it feels like she’s been losing her way with the Lord and I just want her to turn her favor back to God because he sent her to save me from myself and used her as a vessel to have me come back to the Lord when I felt like I was veering off and straying off. And there was never no judgment where…I just want the Lord to restore her heart, make her realize she’s woman of God and she needs to come home and that she has a man of God that loves her and I really do and I see the pain that she went through. Hopefully you guys get this, pray over it. And have a great day.

[emersonmanandnature]

November 14, 2020

No Escape

They take anything they want with a little taste of compassion, for they forged their wealth on the shoulders of the poor, their charities, a mirage of silk cloth that feels good to touch, simple distractions,as they exploit another country for profit, they are facades of generosity, their selfishness destroying communities and destroying lives but they always get a good review from their puppets in congress and from the press they own, for these elected mouth pieces for the rich know who pays for their luxuries, their sexual appetites, their lies, their innuendos and the words put into their fork tongued mouths.

If any stand up and spout their own truths of their individuality, their future goals will be stripped from them, their innocence will suddenly feel the true grip of power and the centuries long exploitation of the masses. Their independence will soon be isolation and then abandonment for you have become a liability to the powers that rule us as just pieces on a board game easily replaced.  

We have evolved into a herd mentality waiting in their corrals, waiting for our orders to be announced, our minds numb to the pain and death they bring for they have only one true goal more and more profit for themselves. For they seek ego’s of like kind that put money before human beings.

Our god looks on with boredom for his truth is one of a lookie loo that allows the killing of innocence as a means to ones salvation.

Rebellion doesn’t change the structure of wealth. It solidifies their powerful force of manipulation to be more aggressive in challenging the up-risers and punishing them with prison time as an example to not mess with the minds of the criminally rich.

The manipulation of our lives is their number one priority, in order to maintain their power of deception through the separation of people from each other, encouraging them to fight amongst themselves through a propaganda machine that anticipates their coming threats.

How duped will one feel to finally wakeup and see the truth of their purpose, pitting us the American people against one another in a shallow system of two entities of greedy manipulation, the democrats and the republican servants to the elites.

The criminal minds that have been infiltrating government and business for decades in order to gain social and financial control over the population has finally won its dominance of the world economies and has solidified its power through an intricate communication system they call prepared deception in other words lying to all.

Do you honestly believe that our news organizations give us any reporting of world events, the wars that are still being waged, the human beings suffering in poverty and dying of starvation.  

When have you witnessed a calm informative discussion of climate change that dealt with the facts known for decades and not had to listen to angry words spewing hypocritical nonsense to make you believe that global warming is a hoax?

This saturation of false facts from the powers of convoluted logic interferes with our future lives as climate and viruses rapidly change our life styles and work confusion into an epidemic of fear, anger, distrust and death of our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and our children. And how does the highest office in the land respond to the pandemic of course with lies and mis-direction as they claim everything is back to normal get out there and work and party like it was 1999.

For their lies have become our truth and to deny their manipulation would be a loss of friends in your click of blaming others for your losses, other human beings struggling to survive just like you but have a different skin color. When did white mean anything but exploitation all through our building of an america dream for the wealthy through the slave trade?

Look around all you see and hear is the anger pointed at the wrong groups. The talking heads spewing nothing but an old narrative used to exploit Native Tribes and the exploitation of Black Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Mexican people all exploited for profit and they make these people out to be the reason for our economic collapse of the working class. When actually their migration is from abuse, poverty and violence.

When will America wakeup and see that our jobs were sent over seas not because of the influx of other human beings but because the corporations realized that they could make a bigger profit off the backs of workers in other countries leaving our workforce tattered and angry?  Don’t blame other human beings for the turmoil in America look to the profiteers of exploitation of human beings for their own amoral greed!

And look no further than our elected leaders that cow down to the power of greed over the people they are elected to protect.

We know one thing for certain that the multinational corporation control the information pipeline. The less the people know or realize the better their ability is to squeeze profits from the people working for pennies on the dollar.

It puts all of our citizens of this united state of false freedoms on a narrow, dangerous path toward a universal conformity as we lose our ability to think for ourselves, we seek to be part of something and without thinking of our individuality, we join quickly groups that live in a fear based existence. “They are coming to take our prosperity, our jobs, our homes, our children from us,” why listen to this garbage and just trust your intuitive insights, then we would realize that the wealthy have been stealing from us since the beginning of man walking upright and not the citizens of this planet who are just trying to live another day and feed their families.

And these mealy mouths of power crying about our constitution and the freedoms it gives us have broken every one of its core beliefs, for they show no mercy for their only goal is more money, more land, more deaths, more jails, more, more and more for they believe they are the chosen ones made to rule the little people of this world and change this world into a barren wasteland from their own selfish profits.

Can you hear the evangelicals praising god to take all of the believers right now and let them rise to greet our lord in paradise. Guess what, this was our paradise, mother earth!

These powers of avarice that have dictated to you your entire life by destroying your youthful dreams you had for your future!

We are constantly being manipulated to buy physical objects and never to explore your mind and your intuitive force of perceiving your own uniqueness.

For you can manipulate reality if you choose to express your inner truth not in violent acts but in becoming a conduit to bring people together and show them their own creative purpose.

Peoples of all cultures need to unite and open their minds to a new reality that isn’t based on moneyed interest but on human interests and its ability to shed the chains of the powerful rich that have been given through technology a master plan to control human beings through constant ads and constant bombardment of stories that have no focus but a blame game, it was them not us, setting up barriers between cultures when all it would take to make this world a better place to live for you and your children is empathy toward all peoples plight and not just your own.

As the 1% gain more wealth and power over our world governments, passing laws that benefit them and not the hard working people of the planet we need to break free from the apocalypse of crime destroying this eden for greedy profits.

The media is a pro at playing the blame game on other cultures, other people of color, other people of different religious beliefs, migrations of people that have lost their homelands, lost their ability to find water and what is the cause of all this turmoil and violence on this planet?

Of course it is the elites, the 1% that can’t go back in time and reverse their destruction of this planet and  the people’s lives fighting to survive. And why should they feel the guilt of their destructive natures?

For they are the power god made and we are to respect and do as they say until our god returns in violent anger.

And what makes it worse is their attitude of deceit and mis-direction, blaming a young girl as the true culprit in this battle over pollution and the wealth from that pollution. For greed instills in the rich an addiction for more and more profits and a feeling of entitlement for all the industries they have created to wow the human race but they forgot that their creation is also the reason why we are having a world melt down from violence, pollution, power hungry criminals and climate change becoming a means of the wealthy to use their propaganda machine to manipulate people into thinking they need more protection not less and then we enter into Orwell's 1984!

It is images and words of hate that undermine your freedom of choice by instilling in you fear of change!

We can’t escape the physical space we inhabit and through this reality of objects the powers that be use imagery and products to shift the course of thoughts onto not what is wrong in this world but how can I make my life better through purchasing objects that ultimately are meaningless for my salvation.

We spend more time shopping than we do praying for our heavenly journey. What a system of beliefs that have put us in a quagmire of deceit and violence toward other religions.

Lets get real, if you say you believe in god and his preaching then you must not lie to yourself that you are open to all people and to all lifestyles. Your hate is visible in your angry face screaming at innocent people just being themselves, trying to live the best  life they can.

God is god, he isn’t just your god he is everyones god but then why do we believe we have to interfere with another’s cultural beliefs? It is very simple, the creators of our holy books had no other purpose than to control the people’s emotions, to be disgusted with another’s so called false religion and because they were not of our stature or should we say power, those people needed a violent lesson in god’s punishment and the killings of people of different races for their own religious beliefs began heightening hate toward other cultures for they must be evil in their nature and our holier than thou country wanted to exterminate them. But this wasn’t just about the bible, the bible was the excuse to terrorize other countries and rape them of their property but the ultimate reason was to use these human beings for profit, worker ants.

Listen to us, the powerful external voices demanding respect and conformity to our way of life, the continuous destruction of human beings and mother earth. We the rich demand you peons follow each other and don’t look to the side but straight ahead for we order you to do our dirty work for us, for we are the powers that benefit from your tax dollars and the taking of your land for our own crop production and the destruction of your land for drilling. And of course our bombing of your land and the killing of innocent human beings is the price people pay to our wealthy demands.

Follow each other my herded cattle and do what you have been told to do by the powers that be. Isn’t the bible full of things we must do in order to be saved and just the same logic happens in our everyday life but it is not taught by our supposedly absentee father having fun in his heavenly paradise ignoring the suffering of his flock of beings that react like a gaggle of geese heading to where ever they are told to go.

We have rules to follow and we must obey these laws for if we don’t we will be put in prison and we will suffer gods wrath or a prison guards wrath that doesn’t like your attitude and decides to make your life a living hell.

Maybe that was the idea behind the holy book that didn’t seem to be very logical in their presentation of there all powerful god for we never see or hear him and yet we are supposed to believe he is a silent witness to the destruction of this planet and the killing of innocent men, women and children, because he doesn’t want us to know him for his hateful act of throwing adam and eve out of paradise, our mother earth, and that is his truth for god is just words on a piece of paper, and we exaggerate his love for us because we have lost our love for each other. We live in a detached boredom because we live under the meanness of madmen exploiting people for profit. We de-humanize other cultures because we are the great american dream of power and corruption.

So that is why we never see or hear or feel god’s presence, because his love for us was made-up in order to exploit the populace through the holy hands of the wealthy criminals pretending to be our true saviors.

The elites have their lackey’s, their bribed greedy politicians looking to act powerful in the eyes of their constituents but in reality they are just low end criminals without any moral compass or truth to tell, these men and women of corruption do the dirty work of the rich for they see themselves above the people, the working class and they respect only the lawyers that keep them out of painful repercussions and the priests will absolve their greedy sins for a price, absolve them of their murderous actions with a few hail mary’s and a couple of our fathers, for the rich have a short attention span when it comes to praying for forgiveness when it should be god praying to them for their forgiveness.

A frightening intensity of reality, a feeling of an existential collapse of mind, we need a stronger faith toward our salvation, for our savior will keep us safe, our lord, jesus cavorts through his universe meeting and greeting new civilizations preaching his one religion for he is the truth and the power and the glory, can I get a check cashed on all the money stolen from the people all these centuries of worshipping con games by the religious fanatics claiming they were here on earth to save mankind from exploitation and if they didn’t cough up money so these priests could live in wealth and demand the death of anyone questioning their ties with a make believe god for there are heathens below even the devil in their lies.

[seventeendeer]

I want to know everything about this new AU, everything about it is just perfect! Id love to hear more of your headcannons!

thank you so much, I really love it too!! and I would love to share some headcanons, thank you for asking!

more Madoka headcanons:

- she’s about a head shorter than a standard rose quartz soldier. her colors are also in the very pale end of the color spectrum for her kind. she doesn’t quite deviate enough from the others to be considered off-color and her powers work just fine, but her differences did make her insecure while she was in Homeworld’s ranks. joining the Crystal Gems and learning that there’s nothing wrong with being different changed her life.- she looked up to Rose Quartz a great deal and saw her as a role model, hence her similar dress. Homeworld had expected her to be a tough, no-nonsense soldier, which never felt right, so seeing someone who was seemingly just like her be soft and kind and caring inspired her to want to be the same way.- like in canon, she also looked up to Mami and admired her for her determination to help others.- in battle, she would often fuse with Sayaka or Mami. it helped her feel more confident.- she spent a lot of time collecting gem shards after battles, determined to bring the dead home where they could rest.- when she was corrupted, she turned into a similar monster to the other quartzes, and in her healed form she has the same horns that they do, as well as having her eyes no longer be visible.

more Sayaka headcanons:

- she wanted to learn how to make her own swords, but never got around to it, so she settled for taking really good care of the swords she was gifted instead.- because of her weak hydrokinesis, she mostly uses her water wings to assist in long jumps instead of taking proper flight.- during the war, she spent a lot of time hanging out with humans and at one point fell in love with one of them. however, she never told him, and before she found the courage to, he settled down with another human. she mostly kept away from humanity after that, afraid that it would happen again.- at one point late in the war, she was close to giving up and would frequently wonder if it would be best if the Earth was destroyed so everyone would stop fighting over it. what brought her back from this mentality was Kyoko finally joining the Crystal Gems - Sayaka realized that if even someone as bitter and violent as Kyoko could change for the better because of what she’d been through on Earth, then maybe all the misery was worth it in the end.- when she and Kyoko were corrupted, their fusion turned into an absolutely massive armor fish with a giant mane. after getting uncorrupted, Sayaka retains its armored face and a few of its fins.

more Mami headcanons:

- she keeps a large amount of loaded guns stored in her gem that she crafted herself. she tends to use these instead of her summon weapon.- while teamed up with Madoka, Sayaka and Homura, she was the leader and the others followed her without question. this made her a little uncomfortable at first, since it echoed her experiences in Yellow Diamond’s court, but she soon realized that the others followed her because they genuinely trusted her to be the wisest and most competent person in the group, not because of her strength or previous rank. from then on, she worked hard to live up to their image of her and drew strength from knowing that her friends believed in her.- she’s under the impression that Kyubey doesn’t really care about her and never did, and it’s difficult for her to cope with this feeling. the two of them remain on friendly terms and spend a good amount of time together even after she set him free, but Kyubey is very open about the fact that he mostly spends time with her and the others because he finds the rebellion and the newly formed branch of gem society fascinating, and they’re the gems most willing to talk to him and tell him about their deeper reasons for doing what they do. Mami cares about him a great deal and she genuinely wants to be friends with him, but after having effectively ‘owned’ him during the time they spent on Homeworld, she feels like she has no right to ask anything of him now.- like Madoka, her corrupted form was the same beastly type as the other quartzes, and she retains the same side effects.

more Kyoko headcanons:

- her summon weapon is a giant spear.- while her physical form looks just fine for a carnelian, being made in the beta kindergarten still left a mark on her abilities; she’s unable to successfully shapeshift for more than a few seconds at a time.- she was the one who came up with the plan that ended with her and her squad committing the mistake that got the others shattered. deep down, she blames herself for their fate.- she was especially close to one of the other carnelians in her squad, whose poor creation process left her with severely limited strength. the entire squad treated her like the baby of the group, but Kyoko especially had taken it upon herself to protect her, both from their enemies and from their superiors. Kyoko took this carnelian’s shattering the hardest.- before she joined the Crystal Gems during the last days of the rebellion, she made a cruel habit of stealing gemshards from the battlefields around the world. she used them as power sources for various weaponry, and while she didn’t accumulate many in the grand scheme of things, they did give her a significant advantage when terrorizing other gems one-on-one.- after being healed, she retains the mane from hers and Sayaka’s corrupted fusion.

more Homura headcanons:

- the design she’s drawn with in the art I posted is actually her post-war form; during the war, her hair was braided and she had a visor covering the upper half of her face. while she was allied with Homeworld, she had diamond-patterns on her pants, like she does in canon.- like other pearls, her summon weapon is a spear, but she also carries a massive bow in her gem that she uses to fire her spears like arrows. she also has an artillery of human-made weaponry stored away in her gem that she’s stolen from humans over the centuries. she prefers ranged fighting.- because of her off-color gem, she lacks some of the usual abilities that pearls are programmed with. she can’t sing or dance well, and she used to be somewhat clumsy. training for battle helped her overcome her lack of coordination so she’d stand a better chance while fighting, but she still refuses to dance in front of others, so she has never fused with anyone before. she secretly wants to try it.

more Kyubey headcanons:

- back when she was his superior, Mami never really knew how to act around him or what to do with a pearl of her own, and so he was generally given more freedom than the average pearl. other gems in Yellow Diamond’s court tended to avoid him, as his independence and frank way of speaking made them uncomfortable.- he’s extremely adept at shapeshifting and uses it to sneak around unnoticed, often in the form of a butterfly, cat, or other unremarkable creature. he’s infamous among Crystal Gems for eavesdropping on other gems’ private conversations.- he’s extremely inventive and uses his long lifespan to learn about all sorts of scientific fields. he occasionally references owning a laboratory somewhere, but he never specifies where it is or what he uses it for.- his corrupted form looked somewhat similar to his canon alien design, though he of course couldn’t talk in that state. his passive nature in his original form probably contributed to his lack of aggression in his corrupted form. when he was healed, he kept his tail and his solid-red bug eyes.

[today-in-wwi]

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

June 28 1919, Versailles--After more than five months of negotiations, the terms of the peace treaty with Germany had been signed by Germany and (almost) all the Allies.

The first article of the Treaty was dedicated to the League of Nations, which Wilson saw as its most important feature.  Initial members of the League would be all the Allied signatories of the treaty, as well as most neutral countries.  Not initially invited were the defeated Central Powers (including Hungary), as well as Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Luxembourg, Albania, Ethiopia, or any part of the former Russian Empire (including Finland).

The League’s overall structure was largely similar to the later United Nations’; an Assembly with one vote per country, and a Council with the Big Five (the UK, the US, France, Italy, and Japan) as permanent members and four other members chosen by the Assembly (to begin with, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, and Greece).  Decisions, by default, had to be unanimous; like with the UN, this gave the permanent members veto power, but it also gave it to the temporary members as well, and to any country for matters to be considered by the Assembly; this would prove to be a problem in the decades to come. The League would be headquartered in Geneva.

The Council was charged to formulate plans for arms reductions.  League members would "undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members...the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled."  Disputes between members were to be submitted to inquiry by the Council or arbitration, rather than war.  If war should occur anyway, it would be considered an act of war against all other League members, resulting in (at least) an embargo and blockade against that country; the Council would recommend what forces countries would contribute in any military effort.

German colonies, as well as Ottoman territory in the Middle East, would officially fall under the auspices of the League.  However, the day-to-day governance would fall to one of the Allied powers, holding a mandate over them on behalf of the League.  The degree to which the local population was to have any say in their self-determination would vary; more so in the Middle East, less so in Central Africa, and very little in Southwest Africa [Namibia] (which South Africa effectively annexed) and in Germany’s former colonies in the Pacific.

Additionally, League members were to endeavor to “maintain fair and humane conditions of labour,” ensure “just treatment” of their colonial subjects, help to prevent and control the spread of disease, and “secure and maintain freedom of communications and transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all Members.”  Furthermore, the League was to supervise agreements against drug and human trafficking, to regulate arms trading, and the Council was to draw up plans for arms reduction.

The rest of the treaty dealt with Germany more directly.  Alsace-Lorraine was to be returned to France.  A large swath of territory was to be given to Poland in the east (cutting off East Prussia except by sea), and small regions were awarded to Belgium and Czechoslovakia.  A plebiscite would be held in northern Schleswig, in areas annexed by Prussia in 1864, to decide whether the region would rejoin Denmark or stay with Germany; if it decided to rejoin Denmark, another plebiscite would be held in southern Schleswig.  Three other plebiscites (two in East Prussia and one in Upper Silesia) would be held in territories disputed between Germany and Poland.  Danzig would become a free city; while it would govern itself, Poland would have free use and service of its port, and full control of its railroads, waterways, and communications.  The territory around Memel, near Lithuania, was to be handed over to the Allies, who would determine its final disposition.

France was to receive ownership of the coal mines in the Saar basin.  The Saarland itself would be under League control, and in 1934 would hold a plebiscite on whether to join France, join Germany, or continue under League administration indefinitely.  If it chose to join Germany, Germany would have to buy the mines back from France in gold within a year. Luxembourg would exit the German customs union.

Germany was prohibited from building, mobilizing, or maintaining any military forces, fortifications, or infrastructure west of the Rhine or 50 km to the east of it.  Doing so would be considered a “hostile act...calculated to disturb the peace of the world.”  All already-existing fortifications in that area were to be dismantled.  Additionally, fortifications and harbors on Heligoland and Dune (in the North Sea) are to be destroyed, and Germany will dismantle all fortifications on her Western Baltic coast, to ensure that she cannot disrupt the free passage of trade there.  Germany is to allow all countries’ ships, civilian or military, passage through the Kiel Canal on equal terms.

Germany was to respect Austrian independence unless the League Council said otherwise.  Germany was to completely repudiate the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest that it had signed with Russia, Ukraine, and Romania the previous year.

All German colonies would be handed over to the Allies, who would determine their final disposition as mandates under the League of Nations.  Japan would receive the German concession in Shantung (around Tsingtao); all China would receive is an end to the indemnity payments owed Germany due to the Boxer Rebellion, and a return of the German concessions in Hankow [now part of Wuhan] and Tientsin [Tianjin].  It is little surprise China refused to sign the treaty.

The German army was to be reduced to no more than 100000 men and 4000 officers, with civilian support staff no more than a tenth of pre-war levels.  There would be no conscription and no system of mobilization.  Military missions could not be sent abroad. The treaty also made attempts to prevent paramilitary organizations: “associations of every description...must not occupy themselves with any military matters.”  This proved exceedingly difficult to enforce.  Severe limits were placed on stores of munitions and ammunition; any manufacture thereof would have to be approved by the Big Five.  Import of any war materiel was prohibited.  Germany was forbidden to have any chemical weapons, and would disclose the full details of their wartime chemical weapons program to the Allies.  The manufacture or import of armored cars or tanks was prohibited.  After October 1, 1919, Germany could not have any military air force whatsoever.

German troops in the Baltic were to be returned to Germany when the Allies deemed it fit; in the meantime, they were not to interfere with the Baltic states’ defense nor seize supplies to send back to Germany.

The German Navy would be reduced to no more than 6 pre-dreadnought battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats--no submarines, no battlecruisers, and no dreadnoughts.  Any ships beyond this number were to be handed over to the Allies or scrapped. The Navy could consist of no more than 15000 men.  Any German ships outside of Germany now no longer belonged to Germany; since the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow, however, there were far fewer ships in this category than anticipated.  Germany would sweep all the mines in the North Sea east of 4° E.

All remaining prisoners of war and interned civilians (by this time, mostly German) were to be repatriated “with the greatest rapidity;” the French and British ultimately had different ideas as to what that phrase meant, and many would not be returned from France until 1920.  Some prisoners who had been kept in Siberia would not be returned until after the end of Allied intervention there in 1922.

The Allies were to hold military tribunals to try Kaiser Wilhelm II and other German war criminals.  These provisions were largely moot, however; the Netherlands refused to extradite the Kaiser, and the Allies did not really attempt to make Germany extradite other war criminals.  A few were tried in Germany; fewer were convicted; none served more than a few days of their sentence.

As justifications for war reparations, “Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.”  Germany was to compensate the Allies for all the damage done to the Allied civilian population and property, for Belgium’s war loans (including interest), pensions to disabled veterans and their dependents, wartime payments to relatives of mobilized soldiers, and any expenses relating to the occupation of the Rhineland.  The amount to be paid was not specified in the treaty, but was to be determined by an Allied commission by May 1921; in the meantime, the Germans were to pay 20 billion marks. 

General Smuts signed the treaty on behalf of South Africa, but left an official note in protest of the harsh reparations terms--this despite the fact that he authored the pension-related terms.

The Germans were also to make in-kind payments of farm equipment, animals, and merchant ships, to replace wartime losses.  Additionally, Germany was to provide large amounts of coal and chemicals to France, Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg.  Louvain’s library was to be replenished with works from Germany.  Loot seized during the Franco-Prussian war was to be returned (though many French battle flags were burned in Germany in the days before the signing of the treaty, to the consternation of the French).  The control of most German submarine cables was to be given to the Allies.

The payment terms (though not technically the overall sum) could be modified based on Germany’s ability to pay.  Germany would also receive credit for the in-kind payments, as well as property lost due to Germany’s border changes (Alsace-Lorraine excepting).  

Germany was not to impose higher customs duties on the Allies than they would on any other country.  Germany was to take action against counterfeit goods, and recognize “regional appellation” of wine and spirits.  In other words, the Treaty of Versailles codified that Champagne refers only to sparkling wine from Champagne.  The Elbe, Oder, Niemen, and Danube were made international rivers; Czechoslovakia was to be given 99-year leases for free zones in Hamburg and Stettin to give that country some form of access to the sea.

The occupation of the Rhineland and three bridgeheads across the Rhine would continue to ensure German cooperation with the terms of the treaty.  The northern region would be evacuated after five years, the central after ten, and the southern after fifteen; these could be extended if “the guarantees against unprovoked aggression by Germany are not considered sufficient.”

Sources include: Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919.

[nam-imperii]

The Empire Is Right

Friendly reminder that the Empire of Tamriel is not a dictatorship and is the most evolved civilization by modern standards, based on multiple cultures and religious freedom

Friendly reminder the Thalmor didn't wanted the White Gold Concordat and signed it because the Forgotten Hero battle abilities and the clever strategy of Emperor Titus Mede II completely destroyed the main army of the Dominion

Friendly reminder Hammerfell is in good relationship with the Empire and will never help Ulfric, because the Empire sended "rougue" legions to help the redguards fight even after the White Gold Concordat and without this backup and Lord Naarfin's army destruction, Hammerfell would have fallen

Friendly reminder the Stormcloak Rebellion, by in-game dialogue, has no allies and every attempt of Ulfric to reach for other states is being ignored or directly refused

Friendly reminder Ulfric IS racist and as leader of the Rebellion he could very easily stop the racism in his movement or at least his city without expending any guard. Galmar own brother threatens of rape a dunmer woman and the Stormcloak leadership does not do jack shit to stop him

Friendly reminder argonians were allowed in Windhelm before Ulfric

Friendly reminder the reproduction rate of elves is way slower of humans and with the destruction of the Dominion main army and the imperial legions at the border the Thalmor government is way weaker than what people thinks

Friendly reminder that the only reason the Thalmor won the first part of the Great War was because they could read and prevent all the moves of the imperials with the Orb Of Vaermina and the Forgotten Hero destroyed that. The second after it was destroyed the Thalmor lost all their battles

Friendly reminder the Empire of Tamriel saved the world and Titus Mede II has done the right thing in signing the treaty

Friendly reminder the only reason General Tullius has not destroyed Ulfric after five minutes of game is because he's not fighting with the true legions but only a small force bolstered by locals and inexperienced recruits

Friendly reminder that while the Imperial Jarls are a mix of good and bad, all the Stormcloaks are utterly incompetent, except the Silver-Bloods, who are literally evil slavers. That's the people Ulfric surrounds himself with

Friendly reminder the Empire decision to abandon all their provinces to themselves during the Oblivion Crisis was maybe not the best one, but if they had not done that, Martin Septim could have died and Cyrodiil conquered too quickly and thus abandoning the provinces to themselves to save the mainland was the best choice in the long run.

Friendly reminder there is an actual stormcloak note if you take Falkreath with the Stormcloaks which says there is an actual, professional legion out of Pale Pass ready to kick their ass if the local recruited army of Tullius fails.

Friendly reminder Ulfric is so deluded that if he wins the Civil War, he proceeds to talk about taking the battle to the Dominion, something not even Tiber Septim was able to do without a magical bullshit robot and would only result in Ulfric getting his ass kicked

Friendly reminder Ulfric never showed any sign of being a competent tactician or strategist. He was captured by Tullius at the start of Skyrim while fighting in a land he knows and his enemies does not know

Friendly reminder Skyrim joined the Empire of their own will and the imperials are the ones fighting in defense against an aggressive warlord

Friendly reminder that all those talks about Skyrim being Fantasy Russia does not mean jack shit against 20 mages with fire spells

Friendly reminder Skyrim depends from Cyrodiil for food and trade routes so much that the East Empire Company has an office in Windhelm, one that Ulfric dumb ass is trying to sabotage in favour of a local captain with less resourches

Friendly reminder that the end of the Septim line does not mean jack shit and the Empire protected Tamriel from other disasters even before the Septims and many Septim ruler were bad. Martin being dead does not mean the fall of an entire civilization

Friendly reminder that the Empire in his history has done many mistakes and will continue to do them but it's the best government Tamriel has and the only hope against the Thalmor and they showed it defending Tamriel already, because even if the White-Gold concordate is not good for the imperials, it's not what the Thalmor wanted and it's only a consolation price for them

Friendly reminder the Thalmor have failed in their goals in the First Great War and so land gained or not the Empire is still the true victor of the war and defender not of the races of man but of everyone