#my job is to put in the good faith effort to read and interpret what they present me

[room-surprise]

Hi there, I’ve been reading your Kabumisu fic (SMHTGOTG) and I am obsessed!!! I love the way you interpret Kabru’s and Mithrun’s personalities and adapt their stories to a modern world. I can’t wait to see more of Mithrun’s past and them meeting the Laios gang!

I truly feel like you gave them the love and depth that Ryoko Kui wants for her characters. I really appreciate it after seeing more one-dimensional takes about Dunmeshi characters on twitter (of course it’s twitter) and even tumblr as the series got more popular.

Kui put so much effort in creating a beautiful and heartfelt story, trying her best to reflect complicated social issues through fantasy setting, showing how characters with varied backgrounds/ races overcome prejudices, grow to respect each other’s differences and how human they all are deep down, all while encouraging fans to care for their health, but all some people zoom in is which race is the most obviously problematic, which race is allowed a free pass to hold prejudice, which character is not that great actually did you not know they were racist at some point in the story??? (Growth? Never heard of her. Ignorance? That’s a CRiME!)

Ironically, all of that just reminds me of how performative the canaries are when they act all shocked and offended about Mithrun stating the slur the elves used to say all the time

(So sorry for the long rant 😭, I just really appreciate your fic and the analysis your made about Dunmeshi among the increasing bad faith takes)

OMG... Anon thank you so much for writing to me! This absolutely made my day. You're very sweet. Honestly I have the best readers in the world you're all paying such close attention to what I write and picking up what I put down, and that makes me so so so happy 😭

The #1 thing I ask myself while I'm planning and writing my fics is "does this feel like something that would happen in Dungeon Meshi?" And I guess I'm doing an OK job of that because people keep telling me what my writing feels like :D

And you are 100% right, there's always been bad takes and oversimplifications of the world and characters of Dungeon Meshi like what you're describing, but since it's getting more popular that means more people are talking about it, which unfortunately means, statistically, that there are going to be more bad takes…

On the positive side, there's also been lots of wonderful new fic and art that people are making, and lots of good takes too! Just a bit frustrating to wade through the swamp of bad stuff to get to the treasure.

Gotta just try hard to stay positive and focus on making good stuff you love, and not stressing about stuff that's bad and makes you upset.

And never apologize for writing me a long message!!! I agree with everything you said and I was so happy to read this when I got up this morning, so thank you for taking the time to write to me. You can write or DM me any time (though obviously you can't stay anon if you're DMing me lol)

[promiseiwillwrite]

Things I like about Christianity

I come from Alabama, by way of Kentucky. I grew up in the South, immersed in Southern Culture, Southern Values, and Southern Ideals.

Hard Work, Self Sacrifice, Putting others before yourself, Kindness, Strength, Devotion, Keeping your word.

These were things that were pressed into the mold of my soul before I even knew the concepts existed.

I remember being told to stand in the hall for hours after I asked about dinosaurs in my vacation bible school class. And then looking up at my favorite tree as our car passed it on my way home from there, and deciding that I believed in dinosaurs even if I couldn't be good enough to be with god in heaven. I was five.

But my Grandparents bought me as Many Dinosaurs as I could want, Because I Loved them.

My Grandparents were absolute saints. Their family meant more to them than money or perception. They loved us, and it was unconditional. Even when my mom, with her notoriously bad taste in men kept bringing them home. They welcomed them with open arms because my mother loved them. My grandfather mentored my dad and got him the engineering job that became the foundation for his 40 year career.

And my Grandmother still chased him down the hall of her retirement community building with a bright red Louisville Slugger after she found out that he had abused me and my sister.

My mother came out of the Broom Closet when she divorced my dad. And her next failed marriage was to a man who emotionally and verbally abused me and my sister as well. But this man was a piece of work. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance abuse, Psychotic Episodes, Poor emotional control and other problems. And he was a Hater. He blamed Christians, Christianity and the Establishment for Every problem he saw in his life and his mind.

He considered himself a pagan person. And he thought of himself as strictly countercultural.

He was an Anti-role model for me. I strove not to be like him. I saw his bitter rage and terror, and agoraphobia and I swore to myself I would never be that way.

But despite my best efforts, parts of him rubbed off on me. Like Gomez Addams. My Mother and my Step Father were like Gomez and Morticia, and the Addams's romantic entanglements were like the "relationship Goals" for my parents. I was taught that this was the model for Knowing for sure that it was Love.

For better or for worse.

It is through this lens that I look back at Christianity, and its ideas, and stories, and interpretations. It is from this perspective that I can sit down and try to piece together something worth having.

I always did love the stories of the Folk Devil... Why the Sea is Salt was always my favorite.

I Loved the stories of Saint Martha and the Tarasque, and Saint Francis of Assisi, and Joan of Arc as a kid, but never told anyone because those were Christian things, and I wasn't allowed to like stuff like that. There were some stories of the Knights of Templar protecting folk healers and midwives, instead of crusading and murdering people. There was Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who lived in my lifetime and helped Many people.

I don't know if you've read Madeline L'Engle, but her story called Many Waters is a fantastic read. Lots of Angels, and Nephilim and Unicorns.

I am sure that there are a lot of people who will be upset at the idea of me liking these stories. I was 12. There was no context for me to use to connect these tales to their origins. I could not have known that they had been stolen from Jewish stories and traditions.

The history of my family is very strong in the Holiness Faith. My Great Grandfather received an epiphany and became a traveling minister. He founded many churches in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. He played guitar, and wrote Christian Music. He lived to be over 100 years old.

I like to think that some of what motivated him was love. I never knew him. I have seen a few pictures. My mother has some of the sheet music he wrote.

For such a long time, I did not claim this part of my heritage because All I could see of Christianity was the oppression. The Ugliness portrayed by my Step Father. His burning, righteous indignation at everything it stood for. And my own shame, acknowledging that it was a part of me whether I liked it or not.

But I think this view was limited. As much as Christianity has problematic aspects, so does everyone. So does Every path. And I think that there are good parts, even so.

And like the pieces of fabric that make a quilt, I am going to take some of these good ones, some of these that make up who I am, and I am going to make a blanket to wrap around the shoulders of people I love. I am going to use that blanket to let myself rest, and heal, and learn that safety is a thing I can Make in my life.

And I think I will have done alright by my Great Grandfather, for an old swamp witch.

[lord-squiggletits]

I'm definitely not a member of the crowd comics cater to because the way they're published actually drives me bonkers.

Like, the two other media franchises I've ever loved nearly as much as transformers (Warcraft and the Star Wars sequels) were both almost criminal in their constant retconning and placing of vital lore information in books and shit that were completely separate from the actual story medium (a video game and movies respectively). I hate that shit. My philosophy towards media is that someone should be able to boot up the video game, start on book 1, watch movie 1, etc and just consume the freaking media without having to make constant detours to read author interviews, consult a wiki, find and read some random novel, etc etc. The story should be IN THE MAIN SERIES COMPLETELY and any side materials should only be window dressing that adds depth without becoming something absolutely essential that you won't understand the main story without. And of course I appreciate it when that story is actually a story and I'm not punished for caring about the lore by companies constantly retconning shit and making me feel like trying to understand the story is pointless since I know things will just get retconned next update anyways (looking HARD at you World of Warcraft).

So it's kinda ironic that I ended up getting into a comic series for Transformers. It just drives me a little nuts how comics have multiple authors, so I can hardly make story/thematic analyses because I can't assume the authors planned for certain future plot points, and there are constant retcons and dropped storylines, so I have to just ignore things or make them up in order to come up with coherent plot/character rationales, and if I REALLY want to understand the story I have to hunt for author interviews and behind the scenes factoids to explain why the hell something was dropped or suddenly changed mid story.

It just feels like a super hostile medium for anyone who isn't the 5% of die hard fans who will spend hours researching and combing through in-universe and real-world material to get the best reading of the story. The source material is just incredibly obtuse to read as a continual narrative sometimes without knowing something from cut content and author interviews. IDW1 isn't a series I could imagine casually picking up off the shelf and being able to understand things from just reading it.

I know some people say that comics isn't about reading 100% of the story and you can/should just pick the parts you like to consider canon, but I'm not really a fan of that approach. :/ I guess since I spent the majority of my life being a die-hard novel reader, I kind of expect continuous narratives in a simple 1-infinity format where the story is planned out and doesnt get published until it's been edited to shit for continuity and quality. I guess comics just aren't for me.

[wizardouxie]

MBTI Types in Wizards: Tales of Arcadia!

Author’s Note: Keep in mind that this is simply my interpretation and that if the writers were to ever confirm types for each character, I’d be fine with whatever they went with. Also this is going to be a pretty long post, so strap in and enjoy!

Jim - ISFJ or “The Protector”

ISFJs are industrious caretakers, loyal to traditions and organizations. They are practical, compassionate, and caring, and are motivated to provide for others and protect them from the perils of life. 

ISFJs are conventional and grounded, and enjoy contributing to established structures of society. They are steady and committed workers with a deep sense of responsibility to others. They focus on fulfilling their duties, particularly when they are taking care of the needs of other people. They want others to know that they are reliable and can be trusted to do what is expected of them. They are conscientious and methodical, and persist until the job is done.

Strengths: Practical, Hardworking, Supportive, True to their Word

Toby - ESFJ or “The Provider”

ESFJs are conscientious helpers, sensitive to the needs of others and energetically dedicated to their responsibilities. They are highly attuned to their emotional environment and attentive to both the feelings of others and the perception others have of them. 

ESFJs like a sense of harmony and cooperation around them, and are eager to please and provide. ESFJs value loyalty and tradition, and usually make their family and friends their top priority. They are generous with their time, effort, and emotions. They often take on the concerns of others as if they were their own, and will attempt to put their significant organizational talents to use to bring order to other people's lives.

Strengths - Practicality, Warm/Sensitive, Loyal/Dutiful, Always Steps Up

Claire - INFP or “The Healer”

INFPs are imaginative idealists, guided by their own core values and beliefs. To a Healer, possibilities are paramount; the realism of the moment is only of passing concern. They see potential for a better future, and pursue truth and meaning with their own individual flair. 

INFPs are sensitive, caring, and compassionate, and are deeply concerned with the personal growth of themselves and others. Individualistic and nonjudgmental, INFPs believe that each person must find their own path. They enjoy spending time exploring their own ideas and values, and are gently encouraging to others to do the same. 

INFPs are creative and often artistic; they enjoy finding new outlets for self-expression.

Strengths - Idealism, Integrity, Compromise, Dedication

Blinky - ENTP or “The Visionary”

ENTPs are inspired innovators, motivated to find new solutions to intellectually challenging problems. They are curious and clever, and seek to comprehend the people, systems, and principles that surround them. Open-minded and unconventional, Visionaries want to analyze, understand, and influence other people.

ENTPs enjoy playing with ideas and especially like to banter with others. They use their quick wit and command of language to keep the upper hand with other people, often cheerfully poking fun at their habits and eccentricities. 

While the ENTP enjoys challenging others, in the end they are usually happy to live and let live. They are rarely judgmental, but they may have little patience for people who can't keep up.

Strengths - Fearlessness, Innovation, Adaptability, Confidence

Aaarrrgghh - ISFP or “The Composer”

ISFPs are gentle caretakers who live in the present moment and enjoy their surroundings with cheerful, low-key enthusiasm. They are flexible and spontaneous, and like to go with the flow to enjoy what life has to offer. 

ISFPs are quiet and unassuming, and may be hard to get to know. However, to those who know them well, the ISFP is warm and friendly, eager to share in life's many experiences. 

Strengths: Observant, Bold and Spontaneous, Principled, Individualistic

Steve - ESFP or “The Performer”

ESFPs are vivacious entertainers who charm and engage those around them. They are spontaneous, energetic, and fun-loving, and take pleasure in the things around them: food, clothes, nature, animals, and especially people.

ESFPs are typically warm and talkative and have a contagious enthusiasm for life. They like to be in the middle of the action and the center of attention. They have a playful, open sense of humor, and like to draw out other people and help them have a good time.

Strengths: Showmanship, Supportive, Positivity, Bold/Practical

Douxie - ENFJ or “The Teacher”

ENFJs are idealist organizers, driven to implement their vision of what is best for humanity. They often act as catalysts for human growth because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charisma in persuading others to their ideas. They are focused on values and vision, and are passionate about the possibilities for people. 

ENFJs are typically energetic and driven, and often have a lot on their plates. They are tuned into the needs of others and acutely aware of human suffering; however, they also tend to be optimistic and forward-thinking, intuitively seeing opportunity for improvement. The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place.

Strengths: Peacekeeping, Communication, Persuasiveness, Leadership

Archie - INFJ or “The Counselor”

INFJs are creative nurturers with a strong sense of personal integrity and a drive to help others realize their potential. Creative and dedicated, they have a talent for helping others with original solutions to their personal challenges.

The Counselor has a unique ability to intuit others' emotions and motivations, and will often know how someone else is feeling before that person knows it himself. They trust their insights about others and have strong faith in their ability to read people. Although they are sensitive, they are also reserved; the INFJ is a private sort, and is selective about sharing intimate thoughts and feelings.

Strengths: Practical Insight, Compassion, Keeping the Peace, Decisiveness

Merlin - ISTJ or “The Inspector”

ISTJs are responsible organizers, driven to create and enforce order within systems and institutions. They are neat and orderly, inside and out, and tend to have a procedure for everything they do. Reliable and dutiful, ISTJs want to uphold tradition and follow regulations. ISTJs are steady, productive contributors. 

Although they are Introverted, ISTJs are rarely isolated; typical ISTJs know just where they belong in life, and want to understand how they can participate in established organizations and systems. They concern themselves with maintaining the social order and making sure that standards are met.

Strengths: Perseverance, Planning, Detail Orientation, Loyalty

Morgana - INTJ or “The Mastermind”

INTJs are analytical problem-solvers, eager to improve systems and processes with their innovative ideas. They have a talent for seeing possibilities for improvement, whether at work, at home, or in themselves. Often intellectual, INTJs enjoy logical reasoning and complex problem-solving. They approach life by analyzing the theory behind what they see, and are typically focused inward, on their own thoughtful study of the world around them. 

INTJs are drawn to logical systems and are much less comfortable with the unpredictable nature of other people and their emotions. They are typically independent and selective about their relationships, preferring to associate with people who they find intellectually stimulating.

Strengths: Strategy, Innovation, Determination, Willingness to Learn

Arthur - ESTJ or “The Supervisor”

ESTJs are hardworking traditionalists, eager to take charge in organizing projects and people. Orderly, rule-abiding, and conscientious, ESTJs like to get things done, and tend to go about projects in a systematic, methodical way. 

ESTJs are the consummate organizers, and want to bring structure to their surroundings. They value predictability and prefer things to proceed in a logical order. When they see a lack of organization, the ESTJ often takes the initiative to establish processes and guidelines, so that everyone knows what's expected.

Strengths: Organization and efficiency, Dedication and commitment, Integrity, Stewardship

Deya - ISTP or “The Craftsman”

ISTPs are observant artisans with an understanding of mechanics and an interest in troubleshooting. They approach their environments with a flexible logic, looking for practical solutions to the problems at hand. They are independent and adaptable, and typically interact with the world around them in a self-directed, spontaneous manner. 

ISTPs are attentive to details and responsive to the demands of the world around them. Because of their astute sense of their environment, they are good at moving quickly and responding to emergencies. ISTPs are reserved, but not withdrawn: the ISTP enjoys taking action, and approaches the world with a keen appreciation for the physical and sensory experiences it has to offer.

Strengths: Practical and creative, Problem solving, Common sense and world savvy, Flexible

Nari - INTP or “The Architect”

INTPs are philosophical innovators, fascinated by logical analysis, systems, and design. They are preoccupied with theory, and search for the universal law behind everything they see. They want to understand the unifying themes of life, in all their complexity.

INTPs are detached, analytical observers who can seem oblivious to the world around them because they are so deeply absorbed in thought. They spend much of their time focused internally: exploring concepts, making connections, and seeking understanding. To the Architect, life is an ongoing inquiry into the mysteries of the universe.

Strengths: Analytically brilliance, Objective, Imaginative, Enthusiastic

Skrael - ESTP or “The Dynamo”

ESTPs are energetic thrillseekers who are at their best when putting out fires, whether literal or metaphorical. They bring a sense of dynamic energy to their interactions with others and the world around them. They assess situations quickly and move adeptly to respond to immediate problems with practical solutions. 

Active and playful, ESTPs are often the life of the party and have a good sense of humor. They use their keen powers of observation to assess their audience and adapt quickly to keep interactions exciting. Although they typically appear very social, they are rarely sensitive; the ESTP prefers to keep things fast-paced and silly rather than emotional or serious.

Strengths: Can-do attitude, Bold, Direct, Observant/Perceptive

Bellroc - ENTJ or “The Commander”

ENTJs are strategic leaders, motivated to organize change. They are quick to see inefficiency and conceptualize new solutions, and enjoy developing long-range plans to accomplish their vision. They excel at logical reasoning and are usually articulate and quick-witted.

ENTJs are analytical and objective, and like bringing order to the world around them. When there are flaws in a system, the ENTJ sees them, and enjoys the process of discovering and implementing a better way. ENTJs are assertive and enjoy taking charge; they see their role as that of leader and manager, organizing people and processes to achieve their goals.

Strengths: Strong willed, Efficient, Strategic thinking, Charismatic leader

If you have any other characters that you’d like to request for MBTI type, lemme know!

[cloud9in]

The Half of It

A Mc x Poppy fic inspired by the film 

Summary: Bea, the town’s outcast is recruited by the school jock to win Poppy’s heart. But what happens when she starts falling for her as well?

Author’s Note: So this will be a multiple part series that includes scenes heavily inspired from the movie “The Half of It”. I certainly recommend watching it. My version will have different twists and a different ending, and definitely more angst. It will include mature themes as the story progresses.

Warnings for this chapter: Swearing. This is a good thing for now.

Chapter 1- 

“Love is simply the name for desire and pursuit of the whole.”

                                                   - Plato, The Symposium

It is said that when one half finds its other, there’s an unspoken understanding. A unity. And each would know no greater joy....than this. 

 ...Except this is highschool. And in my opinion, there is no other half. Maybe the other half is a paper on Greek God philosophy due at midnight. But make that four papers, including mine. 

 My name is Bea Hughes and let’s just say...this is not a very happy story. Well maybe some parts are, but you’ll have to read to find out. I come from a small town called Farmsville, and when I mean small, I mean really small. Except the highschool seems fucking huge, with never ending hallways and when you do somehow find the end, there’s usually two inbreds eating each others mouths off. Lucky for me I am the epitome of antisocial, reserved, an introvert, or whatever the inferior beings, aka every other senior, calls me when they think I can’t hear. But I hear everything, including that one time Bradley Denbrough, upcoming hotshot actor, or so he claims, found out about a crush a poor unsuspecting freshman had on him. Everybody knew what Bradley and his goons did to that boy, even the adults, but no charges were pressed. This town is as conservative as it gets, but no one knows of my secret. I carry this school on my back when it comes to having everyone graduate, but that’s all I am to them, a pawn. And that’s all I wanted to be, nothing more and nothing less. I preferred to be in the shadows. 

 ***

 ...Except the mandatory Senior Talent Show forced Bea out of her hibernation hole. The thought haunted her as she sat in the dance studio, the last fucking place she wanted to be. Dance was so not a Bea kinda thing, but the blonde knew exactly why she granted herself the misery of picking the class. Poppy Min Sinclair, the golden girl of Farmsville High, the preacher’s daughter on a more serious note. She is...the most fascinating girl Bea ever laid her eyes on even if her boyfriend was a complete asshole who sermonized his duties as her future husband. Like seriously? Poppy has got to have some screws loose to date such a fake loser who plagiarizes all of his speeches at sunday church, and once literally begged Bea to write an apology letter to his father for him after completely upending their summer cabin. Except the blonde wrote the opposite of an apology, it went something like this…

 Dear beloved donkey, I mean dad,

 I am terribly sorry for inviting 20 hookers to the summer cabin. I have these strange impulses and you should at least be grateful I didn’t invite the big boss as well. His wife came though, in many, many ways. You should get the carpet changed. 

 Sincerely, your STD free son

 It was safe to say that Mr. Denbrough had a near heart attack after reading it, and Bea did kinda feel bad, kinda. He never mentioned the letter to Bradley though, instead silently calling up the owner of Teopoli Catholic Summer Camp and essentially deporting the boy to Canada for the summer. No son of his would end up in hell was what the old man preached everyday from then on. It was the quietest summer Bea had ever experienced. 

 Being the towns outcast, Bea could have her fun when she so chooses to, but that didn’t pay the bills. In fact, the multiple essays that people paid her to write was her way of surviving and taking care of her mother. They weren’t very rich but Bea worked with what she had, helping her mother manage the farm, which included getting on her knees and wrestling the pigs. And that’s how she was gifted the name “pig girl”, stupid Bradley and his fake friends just had to wander too far and catch Bea in the act. She swore a remixed video of her hog calling surfaced the web at one point and that gave the blonde her five minutes of fame. Boy was it an awful time in her life. 

 Bea worked her mother’s previous job as station master or signalman for the trains that passed through, even if it barely paid her shit. The secluded feeling of sitting in that booth and having a moment with her thoughts was enough to give her purpose. Bea was fond of poetry and it usually helped her come up with song lyrics.

 Song lyrics…

 That she would have to sing at the talent show. A huge sigh escaped her lips as she slumped further into the ground, maybe hoping she could bury herself six feet under. It wasn’t that Bea hated singing, no she absolutely loved it. Playing her guitar at night and belting out lyrics that only resulted in her mother banging on the ceiling below in efforts to shut the blonde up. But the mere fact that she’d have to sing in front of the ruthless seniors rubbed her the wrong way. Something would go wrong, it always did. Bea was shaken out of her thoughts when Poppy crossed the center of the room, moving her hips slowly to the sound of Rihanna’s voice. The class chose a slow r&b song to choreograph today and of course all eyes were on Poppy.

 If i’m your girl say my name boy

let me know i'm in control

 Her silky blonde locks swayed as she danced to the beat, hands thrusting sensually along her sides. Bea stared in awe, almost like Poppy was the only one in the room and a spotlight illuminated every movement, every curve. Except she definitely wasn’t the only one picturing Poppy in that way. Carter, the school quarterback leaned against the railing, arms crossed and eyes trailing the rise and fall of her chest. 

 Got me wondering, I’m wondering if i'm on your mind

 Bea sat up straighter but nearly lost her bodily functions when Poppy locked eyes with her before spinning away. It was simple eye contact Bea, don’t let it get to your head. You already have multiple lyrics inspired by Poppy offering the bare minimum in human interaction. She doesn’t actually like you. Poppy is popular and has the perfect life...and boyfriend, even if Bea heavily disagrees. Poppy was a bitch of course, but not a bitch bitch. Unlike the other wannabe mean girls, the blonde didn’t give Bea hell, well that was because the girl paid her zero attention. She seemed distant, off in her own world, or well in her parents world learning the strategies of business. Poppy was expected to follow in her parents footsteps and keep up with her reputation of being the richest in town, and of course a faithful future wife. So fun. But the blonde had other prosperous dreams of travelling and following her passion of music and dance. Highschool was her only outlet and she took advantage of it any chance she’d get. Bea knew this because she would ride her bike every friday night to the school and watch Poppy dance from outside the glass window. Maybe Bea realized it was kinda creepy, but she’s dumb enough to not realize her obvious growing attraction. I mean who pedals miles just to watch someone trip on their feet? 

 ***

 The sound of the bell caught everyone's attention and the teacher slowly lowered the music. Bea watched as Bradley approached Poppy and smothered her with kisses and praises. She rolled her eyes painfully, this kind of PDA definitely wasn’t it, she could have gone her whole life without seeing that. She walked silently through the crowd of kids in the hall, everyone was laughing and talking to their friends. All Bea could allow her mind to focus on was the very intimidating billboard of names a few feet across from her. 

 Winter Talent Show Sign-Ups (Mandatory For Seniors)

 Bea glared at it quietly before signing her name on the sheet, sealing her inevitable fate. Through the hustle of students, Carter watched the blonde with a yearning look from afar. This should be great…

 The next few classes were a blur and Bea eventually found herself getting up to hand Ms. Kingsley her paper. The older woman looked at her with a knowing glance as she took a generous sip of her coffee, which was 75% tequila.

 “6 different interpretations on Plato? Colour me impressed Miss Hughes.” 

 Bea shrugs nonchalant, “yeah well would you rather read their actual essays?”

 “Oh hell no.” Kingsley feigns shock as she looks at the stack of papers with a comical expression. She takes another sip, watching her younger, prodigy of a student carefully. “You know there are places outside of this godforsaken town where you can put your talents to use... Real use. I teach at Belvoire University occasionally.” Ina winks and slides Bea an application, studying her initial reaction. “It’s...in New York.”

“Damn right! The Big Apple.”

 “Kingsley you know I have to stay here. It’ll be easier for me to manage the farm and be close to home”, Bea says confidently even though her body language displays otherwise. She predicted the big sigh filling her ears before it actually happened and it still managed to faze her. “Who ever said you had to do anything? What about what you want to do?” Bea doesn’t make eye contact with Ina, that woman could convince you to do just about anything with a certain look. “No we are not doing this. You can take your reverse psychology and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m outta here.” The blonde stomps out of the classroom, the sound of Ina’s chuckles still ringing in her ears.

 “Hey! Everyone in this town fears God, but you know what God fears? My ability to hide a bottle of Don Julio in my left boot.” Ina pulls out the newly bought bottle and cradles it. “Come to mama.”

 ***

 Bea rode her bike alongside the dirt road, Kingsley’s words on replay the entire ride. Maybe she did deserve to experience something more than what this town had to offer. But would her mother manage without her? Sacrifices, sacrifices. Bea was used to making those for her mother after her father’s death. What would her dad think of all of this?

 “Hey!”

 He’d surely smack Bea upside the head for the little antics she pulled occasionally. And then he’d buy her vanilla coconut ice cream and ask for every single detail of what happened as they sat and laughed together. That’s the kind of relationship Bea would have had with her father, she liked to assume so. She also liked to assume that she’d get home safely everyday without a scratch, but then there’s Carter.

 “Hey wait up!” 

 The jock seemed to be running ridiculously fast and crashed right into the rear end of Bea’s bicycle, sending her face first into a mount of dirt. The initial impact was enough to boost the blonde straight back up like nothing happened and into a fighting stance, fists out and eyes wild. Very scary Bea. When she realized it was him...well it only pissed her off even more. “What the fuck Carter! You asshole!”

 “I’m sorry Bea! Here let me help-”

 “No! Move away! You- my bike- I…” Bea groans frustratingly, stepping away from the wreck as she tries to catch her breath. Carter watches her sheepishly, rubbing an envelope between his fingers awkwardly. After a few minutes of painfully uneasy silence he speaks up, “Okay...I didn’t want to ask you this way but I was wonder-”

“Oh, so you practically break my ass and now you want me to do you a favour? Real nice way of communication you have there Mr. Quarterback. What is with you and those freakishly large muscles anyways? Maybe it’s my fault I didn’t hear your avalanche built ass coming from behind.”

 “Hey! They are not freakishly large!”

 “I hate to break it to you Jackson but mine are significantly more appealing to look at.” Bea smirks widely, flexing her arm as best as she could. It’s a work in progress… just bare with her.

 It didn’t take much effort for Carter to break out into a smile and look at her fondly. Maybe there was more to this girl than just being a human dictionary. Well that’s what people called her, and he maybe believed it at first.

 Bea noticed the lack of response and shifted awkwardly, clearing her throat. “Listen, its $10 for three pages, $20 for three to ten, I'm not in the over-ten-page biz.”

 “No..no I’m not here to cheat!” Carter blurts out. “But I’ll let you know if I do plan on- anyways. I uh..” He hesitates before handing her the envelope. “What’s this?

 “Well you see it’s a letter..”

 “Yeah but who writes letters these days?”

 “I thought it seemed romantic..”

 “And I thought women writing Jeffrey Dahmer letters in jail seemed romantic”, Bea says sarcastically, her smile dropping instantly after catching a glimpse of Poppy’s name at the top of the paper. It was like the blood stopped flowing through her body for a few seconds as her mouth went dry. This had to be the work of the so-called God everyone praised in this town, or it was one cruel coincidence. Bea wasn’t sure why seeing her name made her heart beat ten times harder, but it also wasn’t a necessarily uncomfortable feeling…

 “I- I can’t help you.”

 “But if you just add a few more words-”

 “I’m not writing a letter to Poppy Min Sincla- to..to some girl for you. Letters are supposed to be authentic, from the heart, your own words, your...feelings.” Bea hurriedly turns to grab her bike, suddenly losing all interest in being social. 

 Carter was afraid this would happen. But he was stubborn. “But I can pay more for authentic!” 

 Too bad Bea was stubborn as well. “Just get a thesaurus...Good luck, Romeo.”

***

 Bea sat in her room, strumming away softly at the strings of her guitar. Some of the keys were off but the old thing still worked, and that was good enough for her. She could hear the tv blasting downstairs, her mother most likely watching the news. There’s something about old people and news, were they secretly ogling the news anchors? Just like Bea ogled Poppy any chance she could. The blonde frowned to herself, her eyebrows crunching together in question. What so hard about writing a letter to Poppy? It’s not like it's coming from her. Well it technically is, but Carter is taking the credit and Bea never had a problem with people taking credit for her words. So why did this very thought prove to be such an inconvenience? Lucky for Bea, her mind drifted elsewhere when she heard a painful snap. Even if it wasn’t physically connected to her body, she felt a horrible ache. Slowly peering down at the guitar in her hand, Bea found that the neck of the guitar had miraculously split almost clean off, a splinter of wood just holding it intact. She wanted to scream but nothing really came out, except air of course. Much to her disapproval, this was definitely a result of her strength. Stupid muscles couldn’t contain themselves at the thought of Carter being with Poppy. Now how could that be? 

 But now she had no guitar. And no guitar means no strings to strum, and no lyrics to sing, and no talent to show at the talent show. Now she was in trouble. Probably because she knew that the only way to get the money to replace the guitar would be through sealing the deal with Carter. Oh fuck it!

 ***

 “One letter. And enough money to buy a new guitar.”

 “Deal!”

 Bea turns away with a sigh, completely ignoring Carter’s high five. Now all she had to do was write this letter, and pray that Poppy wouldn’t completely consume every fiber of her being in the process.

                                 -------------------------------------------

End note: So how we feelin’? Carter and Bea Brotp??

Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme @baexpoppy @zigxryanz @uselesslesbianfr @aleiramacaii @thedaft1 @alexlabhont @iamsimpforpoppy

[1meengreenie]

A Vent/Update

This is kind of a long post, so I’ll be hiding it behind a read more! This is more for me to get things off my chest, so it’s alright if you skip this. I’m doing my best to resume making art, but it’s been difficult, so if you stay tuned, I truly appreciate your patience!

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that it’s been quite a while since I’ve made any sort of art on this blog. I figured I should probably provide an update to anyone who is concerned that something has happened to me, considering what the world has been like recently.

tl;dr: I am fine and physically healthy, but not mentally. I will keep trying my best, but I will not make any promises.

Long version: As some of you may be aware, I deal with (professionally diagnosed!) major depression and PTSD (though the PTSD isn’t really a factor here, as far as I know). I have been struggling with this for quite a number of years; if you look up “symptoms of depression,” 95% of those boxes would be checked for me, most notably in this situation “loss of interest in things you enjoy,” “fatigue,” and “persistent sad/anxious/empty feelings.” I tend to have good days and bad days, though it is more common for me to go for a period of time feeling horrible, especially if outside factors have affected me. Of note, I was juggling two jobs throughout March and April, with one of the jobs being so taxing that I eventually had to quit due to the stress it was causing me. I would come home from that job, do work for my other job, then be so mentally-drained that I couldn’t do much more than watch stuff on Youtube or play picross to unwind a bit before I had to go to bed.

Understandably, not drawing for months has affected my ability to draw. There was one point of time that I really wanted to make an effort to make art again, then I was told something that made me feel like a failure of an artist and I completely lost motivation again (I believe they meant well, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to receive criticism). Throughout May I have tried to make different pieces of art, and none of them have lived up to my standards; going two months without drawing makes me feel like I’ve lost YEARS of skill. Am I being too harsh on myself? Likely. Is it really as bad as I’m making it out to be? Probably not, but having been a perfectionist my entire life I just can’t bring myself to show others a finished product that I myself am not completely proud of (for the record, I delete pictures from my hard drive that I’m not happy with, finished or no).

I miss being in middle school and drawing absolutely “cringey” fanart, not having a care in the world what other people thought of it. I miss being able to make art for the sake of fun, not having to worry about notes or likes or retweets or growing an audience. I used to draw absolutely tacky neon-colored Sonic OCs using gel pens and shared them with one online friend. Now it feels like if I post something I spent hours on and get 30 likes (which I interpret as “it’s ok, but not good enough to show anyone”), I failed. How can I make art fun again? It’s easy to say “Just do it, who cares what anyone thinks,” but how do you break down those mental roadblocks that have been built up over years? How can I silence that voice in the back of my head that says “You’re not good enough?”

I used to love making art, but when you have a family that considers it a waste of time and thinks the only “real jobs” are those in the education, business or medical fields, you lose faith in yourself and your dreams. I make art to make others smile. To hear (or read, in most cases) someone say “This is cute!” makes me feel like I accomplished my goal. It is my dream to be able to make a video game that people will enjoy and connect with, and I just hope that one day I’m able to.

I want to draw, I really, truly do, but when I muster the energy to try, there’s a voice telling me “Why bother?” Why do I care so much about what other people think? I can’t even say “I just need to care about what I think” because I’m extremely harsh on myself as it is.

After I post this, I am going to try as best as I can to put an effort into ignoring that criticizing voice and try drawing again. I am going to try to draw things that I want to draw, even if it’s from something people consider unpopular or it’s an OC that only I love and care about. I need to re-teach myself how to draw humanoid characters, and if I have a bit of a learning curve, so what? Everyone starts somewhere.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I haven’t been able to share these thoughts with anyone, and it’s been eating away at me for quite a while (some of it even before this year, honestly). I feel like I can breathe a bit easier. I hope the next time you see a post on my blog, it’s a happy one.

-1MG

[doctorprofessorsong]

I had a tiny little personal victory this week and i'm still thinking about it so here it goes. Story time.

I'm a film major and i love it, but i initially didn't know what i wanted to study and kinda took a leap of faith with this. I love storytelling and the power it holds, so, film, and i don't regret it one bit. My course this semester is scriptwriting, and as someone who loves to write but is used to prose, i was excited, but really nervous about it too. It does help that my professor is an absolute delight and the kind of fun, positive soul that you can't help but love.

We're still in the basics of the class, learning how to format a script properly before jumping into actual writing. To do that, we're watching stuff and transcribing from screen to page. Our assignment for this week was watching a specific movie, choosing two scenes, and transcribing them.

One thing my professor emphasizes a lot is the opening action in a scene: set the stage, but be concise and specific, only mention what is relevant. The first scene I chose opened with a closeup of a paper that character A signs, and then he hands it to character B. So that's what I wrote (what the paper was and what the characters did with it, because it was relevant to the discussion they were about to have) and then I jumped right into the dialogue.

Now picture this. We're in the classroom discussing some of the assignments, and the prof pulls mine up on the board. I get a bit nervous, of course, being put on the spot. He reads that opening action that I wrote and stops. He reads it again. He asks the class what they think about it. I'm now certain that he's going to say I did it wrong. I realize at that moment that I didn't mention the characters are sitting on opposite sides of a desk, shit.

So before anyone else can respond, I say that. Should've mentioned the desk thing.

Guess what. He goes "no no no that's not it", and then compliments me. He says that he loves how in a few short words I managed to convey what was important. That it's exactly what should be done. That he likes that I corrected myself on the desk thing, but that that's a minor detail that could easily be a directorial choice, and that what I'd written was perfect.

And after he reads the rest of my script, he pulls up the actual scene to compare. Right after that opening shot (the closeup of the paper), he pauses the scene, excitedly points at the board, and says "this!!! this is EXACTLY what she wrote in her script!!!" He says that the way i interpreted and wrote it was "masterful".

Moral of the story: Unless I have a reason to, I shouldn't get ahead of myself and doubt myself so much. I have skills and I should trust them more. My insecurities have nothing on the fact that I'm putting effort into this course, because I love what I'm learning. That effort and care and passion pays off. And that feeling, that sense of pride and rush of giddiness at getting it right, it's also further assurance that I made a good choice. Love being a film major. 🥰

Oh that's fantastic. Being concise is such a challenge. Great job!

I actually was a film major for awhile and it is really rewarding to create. I hope you are able to pursue projects that give you joy!!

Send me positivity giveaway

[anextraordinarymuse]

I'm just gonna go ahead and make a new post to respond to your points Katie (@jonesgirl88) so that we're not constantly reblogging and trying to load all of those gifs.

Jump to the DLO dance: there is a war going on in Oliver's head and the fact Eric can act that so we can see it? Brilliant. Chef's kiss. He's so torn and you can feel it and your heart breaks for both of them. He's holding her hand to his heart but Shane is also physically on his right side. Her chin is nearly resting on his right shoulder and he's pulled her close to his right side. What say you?

I noticed this too, of course. But first - Eric and Kristin deserve awards. All of the awards. They act beautifully, and they play off of each other so well - they're wonderful scene partners. Okay anyway. Yes, Shane is physically on his right side and has many points of contact along that side (like you said, her chin is nearly on his shoulder) but I pointed out their hands specifically because they are originally positioned away from their bodies. Shane and Oliver's physical closeness is a given in this moment because dancing is intimate. It requires that a lot of you be in contact with a lot of your partner. But originally Oliver and Shane's hands are extended away from them until Oliver pointedly draws them in and places Shane's hand over his heart. This movement is unnecessary in the context of ... well, anything. It's a purely instinctive and intimate move. He could have simply let go of her hand, or drawn it closer and then held it in some other position, but no: he pulls it right in against him. That's why I included it. I'm sure that it was included in the blocking and written in to the script because we're meant to notice it.

I could write for days about that DLO dance scene. THE. FREAKING. CHEMISTRY. I blush ridiculously easily (seriously it's A Problem and I hate it) and I would have been crimson that whole time if I were Kristin. The Tenderness. The Tension. The way his eyes dart back and forth right before he lets her go because he's so at war with himself: kiss her or let her go? O.Y.E.

They're standing in a line (because they're being given awards) but he's turning towards her and she's turning towards him. I just...I can't with these two.

This is totally A Thing©. Shane and Oliver both have a tendency to turn in toward each other like that - but especially Shane. It's an unconscious attempt to take refuge in Oliver and his strength, I think. She often does it in times when she's seeking comfort and closeness/affection. That moment where Shane is sleeping on Oliver's shoulder is one my favorite moments of it, but there's another one that's a small moment (that apparently was either filmed in a longer moment and cut, or aired as a longer moment/actual hug in one of the international versions).

Right before the scene fades into the next one we see Shane turn herself even more into Oliver's left side and tuck her head, as if she's going to bury her face in his shoulder. I wish we'd been gifted with more of this moment! Look at the way she tucks her arm into him and tips her head - she even kind of pushes her hip into his side. I just love this moment a lot.

1) Shane is shown to be freaking out when closed in the vault. Her fear seems to trigger at odd times? She's fine when she learned there's 13 hours of air; she's fine when she learns there's actually less than 5 hours of air; she's fine when she's bored and wants to play a game; but Katherine might be dead so she freaks out? I get it, she believes their fate to be tied together but then why wasn't she more fearful before they started reading the letters? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

I think for a large part of this Shane was doing a good job of distracting herself and focusing on something else. But reading the letters made them both emotional: they connected with something poignant in those letters. They're reading about two people who fall in love despite their circumstances and share something beautiful even if it's only words - and then find out at the end that these two people may not have actually been able to be together. Not only does that mirror their situation, but all of a sudden it seems like they might never have the chance to be together either (to Shane) because, oh yeah, they're also in danger of not breathing anymore - and I think that just brought her fear to the surface. Also, it's a small moment, but Shane wasn't too thrilled about having to go into the vault at all. When she first sees it she hesitates and says "in there?" like she'd rather not go anywhere near it. I always took it as a small nod to the fact that Shane might not have a love of small spaces. We've never seen it mentioned again though, so who knows.

I know it's part of the story but he literally just wrote he's willing to give things with Holly another chance but then spends his time thinking of Shane when reading the letters.

Yes! And I have always taken this as another indication that, at this point, Oliver is saying what he feels he should have said long ago. He's making the effort he feels duty bound to make. I mean, I think part of him does want to put in the effort - but that part is his head. His rational mind, and probably his memories of Holly and his affection for her, and the importance he puts on his marriage vows. This is another reason why I truly don't think his heart is with Holly anymore, or in his marriage. AT NO POINT after he writes that letter and tucks it away does he think of Holly. He's reading powerful, moving love letters between two people and the only person he thinks about is Shane? And - we don't find this out until later, but still - the letter he does write to Holly isn't that romantic. He promises to try to see her dreams through her eyes, and says that he's willing to change, but there's nothing about how much he loves her or how her absence has affected his heart or his life. Maybe because Oliver didn't really believe when he was writing it that he was in danger? I don't know. But it's interesting.

That hand grab!! ... And then the way she looks at him as he sings along at the end when Rita wins?? I can't with this man. I can't with this woman.

Um, yes. Shane takes Oliver's hand and he just ... short circuits. It's hilarious. And they're so smitten with each other it's ridiculous.

And in that hospital scene, Oliver absolutely would have let anyone sleep on his shoulder like that. But it wasn't anyone: it was Shane, and it was Shane after all of the emotional intimacy they shared in The Treasure Box; and, once again, it was Shane turned into his side like Oliver offered to let her lay her head there, or she knew what she was doing when she did, because she's not facing forward in the chair with her head to one side like she just accidentally fell asleep and then her head sort of slid to one side. She's angled her body into his. Her feet are pointing toward him. Her hand is just under/next to his arm. How did they get to that moment? I NEED TO KNOW.

(I always understood Jordan to just be an angel. Definitely open to interpretation though.)

OLIVER IS THE ANSWER TO HER LETTER. His words, his faith, his person is the answer to Shane's childhood prayer she never forgot. He opens the wound but it's destined he's the one to help her heal.

Oliver is the embodiment of Shane's hope. Jordan couldn't answer her letter because it had to be Oliver, which he realized. And before he leaves the chapel he says to Oliver "take good care of that little letter writer." HE'S TALKING ABOUT SHANE. In the Impossible Dream, Shane tells Oliver that he's given her something she'll never forget: "a little hope for this world." Oliver. Is. Shane's. Hope. Oh my gosh! She's his heart, he's her hope. How tooth-rottingly, disgustingly sweet. I love it.

Extra point: Kristin can rock a leather skirt...like hot damn woman.

A) she always looks so good, but yes, this leather skirt and periwinkle/lavender top is one of my favorite looks on her, and B) I love her fashion and style and aspire to be that fashionable one day.

Holly and Oliver try to have a conversation with words and they fail.

This literally just occurred to me: Holly herself points out that she and Oliver suck at having actual conversations. Physically they click, so they obviously had a lot of chemistry, but they struggle to just talk to one another. Juxtapose that with Shane, who literally understands Oliver so well and on such a deep level that she not only understands him when no one else does, she can actively translate him. The reunion in HG instantly comes to mind here. She translates in real time for the audience what Oliver means ("And I might be the only person on Earth who understands what you just said!") But she also translates what he says for their waitress in OIAM ("Oh, he just means that people weren't having their booshes (or however you spell that) amused in the 20th century.")

In the Pilot and The Masterpiece, things get McSteamy so quickly but it never starts out that way ... He's trying for the sake of his marriage one last time but his head and heart aren't in it.

Exactly! The pull between him and Shane is magnetic. It's natural and impossible to ignore. This is why I maintain that even if Holly had changed her mind and asked to work on their relationship it never would have worked. Oliver was in love with Shane by this point even if he wouldn't say it or wasn't ready to acknowledge it (although Jordan played a part in making Oliver more aware of this truth. Hard to ignore when a freaking angel points out to you how important someone is to you.)

To Holly, kissing Oliver is akin to breaking promises to herself ... To Shane, kissing Oliver is akin to keeping promises.

Well, you just blew my mind. This is so true! Holly tells us that the only way she could see to live her dream was to stop kissing Oliver (insinuating that it was also to leave him behind); Shane's dream seems to just be ... Oliver. Sharing a life with him; delivering dead letters with him; loving him.

BRB, sobbing over this stupid show and these idiots in love.

I do think that Holly and Oliver parted amicably. I can't decide if I think that Holly asked about Shane, or if she made a comment about her (directly or indirectly). I kind of feel like Holly was more the type to make a comment than ask a question.

I am dying over the logistics of Oliver actually buying that porch swing. Well dressed Oliver scouring the aisles of Walmart at like midnight for the perfect porch swing while surrounded by a bunch of people in their pajamas and college kids on middle of the night snack runs because they're marathoning TV shows instead of studying? Hilarious. Headcanon accepted.

Back to the topic at hand...I do think some of the left/right stuff is purely ease of blocking

As do I. I'm definitely reading more into it than I'm meant to at some points, there's just SO MUCH of it and it's so fun to contemplate that I went for it.

THE HUG IN TRUTH BE TOLD.

hahahahahahaaa ... the way that Shane literally just drops everything and wraps her arms around him slays me. The stunned little pause where Oliver's arms are just up in the air for a second, as if he's somehow surprised at the force of her hug despite having watched her move toward him, and then he tentatively puts his arms on her back and then ... he holds her a little tighter. Ugh. UGH. I DIE.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT OLIVER IN FLANNEL WITH THE SLEEVES ROLLED UP??

Yes. A million times, yes. Oliver with his sleeves rolled up? Outstanding. Oliver in flannel? An absolute vision. Oliver in flannel with his sleeves rolled up? I C A N N O T.

There will be more. I need to make the gifs, but there's going to be a part 4. And probably 5. In fact, I think this is just going to become a series of Things I Need To Scream About™ with supporting gif evidence.

I'll try to break it up though, so there's just ShOliver stuff, just Shane stuff, and just Oliver stuff. And then all Postables stuff because they're the cutest little Postal family ever.

[theothewitch]

New Year’s Tarot Spread

let me try to use my intuition to read tarot before i even understand/ research what the cards mean. i’m analyzing the images like how i do in art school.

this spread is a new years tarot spread I’ll write my intuitions before I research the meanings then I will put the actual meanings into bullet points. I rephrased the 2020 to 2021 in this spread.

ok.

overall i feel like it is going to be hard year, as in hard working year. lot’s of labour and i would need to remind myself to rest when I can.

1) What was an important lesson learned in 2020 which will be vital to this year's progress?

(King of Swords)

“ That I was really hard headed last year. and that I did take my place on the throne, like the king in the picture, by being valedictorian, leader of my collective. I (the king) look really stern and wilful that I can take anything that come’s my way.

I think i need to bring this perseverance & leadership through to this year, even though with 2020 it felt like it was a shit year and i didn’t do much after graduation because I am jobless fresh out of school into a pandemic. but actually I really did put the work into projects and my passions and hobbies, although I did not get paid much for it. Continue the professional work and standards you set yourself to have and your group as well.” 

  > Court Card, Vision, Truth, Power, Command, Authority, Law, Intelligence, reason, authority, discipline, integrity, morality, serious, high standards, strict 

  > The King of Swords radiates intellectual power, clear thinking, truth, and authority. He understands that power holds great responsibility. 

  > Because he rules over the suit of swords, he has a special connection to rules, laws, and diplomacy, which are systems of logical thought applied and manifest on earth.

2) What will be my biggest challenge to overcome this year?

( Seven of Wands )

“ It seems like this dude, that actually looks like me because we have the same hair is stressed/ working hard to stick wands into the ground. I think one challenge would be sticking my foundations down to get me going for the rest of the year, to survive, to fulfil my soul and passions, creating, earning money, jobs? priorities need to be set and pushed through. decisions to be placed down and grab the opportunities while you can. I know you are careful and want the best opportunities for yourself. But set a dateline, and stop being so indecisive!”

  > Faith, Standing your ground, protectiveness, standing up for yourself, defending yourself, protecting territory 

  > the man is wearing not matching shoes. This is linked to the symbolism of being on uneven ground or not having a stable footing in life.

  > The overall meaning of the Seven of Wands is to hold your ground, no matter what is challenging your position.

  > setting boundaries in relationship, fighting for romance / fighting off competition, defending your position, facing challenge /  protecting your financial stability, long term success

3) What energy can I work on transmuting to better serve me through 2021? 

( Ace of Wands )

“ It’s a glowing gift from the universe is what it looks like. I think I should work on actively finding inspiration, to fuel me and motivate me to create art. I think I should use my art to actively serve the world. Maybe create a product. Things in the act of giving. I need to be more giving. Resting. Motivation. Creating. Giving. to have vines sprouting out and growing. Stop pitying yourself and the hardships you’ve been through in 2020 and put your energy back into the world, give and interact with more people in your life, in peace, and kindness and give these things, time, to people.”

  > Creation, invention, beginnings, will power, desire, inspiration, creative spark, new initiative, new passion, enthusiasm, energy 

  > The Ace of Wands calls out to you to follow your instincts. If you think that the project that you've been dreaming of is a good idea, and then just go ahead and do it. 

4) What card represents where I'm currently at, moving into 2021?

(Reverse The Devil)

“ I understand the devil card is about balance. But since it is in reverse. I’ve been imbalanced. I’ve been entrapping myself in short-term pleasures, binge shopping when i’m broke, entrapped in my thoughts of others that are of myself, with the hurts and the pains of broken relationships, this past year needs to go. I need to remove the chain that’s already loose, lift it up and over. I’m moving into 2021 in new but low energy. having to renew myself and my direction. This is me wanting more other than the painful physicality of the world. Going into spirituality to help restore balance and realign my life.”

  > independence, freedom, revelation, release, reclaiming power, reclaiming control

  > The upside down meaning of the Devil card can be the moment when an individual becomes self-aware and breaks all of the chains that come with addiction and poor habits. It might be because they are tired of running in circles and are in need of change.  ( I must say this is where I am now, because even yesterday the devil card came out to a question of what was influencing me in the past )

  > But one thing is usually clear – breaking off these chains, especially those of addiction is never easy.

  > feeling more in control of love life, ending co-dependency/  more accountability in career path, feeling empowered at job/   breaking bad financial habits, feeling independent financially

( girlll, i might’ve interpreted it the opposite way haha )

5) What energy can I harness to get to where I want to be? 

( Nine of Pentacles )

“ Bright, warm, yellow energy. In nature. I need to go into nature more. Interact with lovely animals, eat grapes haha. Go into life and your decisions clear and positive. This serve a purpose for you even if it is money, money is to survive and to support yourself. The pentacles could mean financials, and that going into employment as I should, money won’t take over your life. There is the whole world outside of the office and indulge in mother nature and creations for a bright fulfilled life.”

  > rewarded efforts, success, achievement, independence, leisure, material security, self-sufficiency, prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment 

  > The Nine of Pentacles conveys not only joy, but also the feeling of security and freedom that material wealth can bring.

  > There is something that is missing here - the element of her community and relationships. The gifts of the suits are meant to be shared, and yet this woman is so far from home.

 > Diplomacy and grace will lead to the desired outcome. 

6) What will be the main, overarching theme of 2021?

 (Four of Swords)

“ The lady seems like a warrior, resting and praying. with a golden sword by her side and other three hanging. I think that’s it, I’ll be a like a warrior when I work, and rest as hard as I do. Know that I am honing and using a skill I have in any and everything I’m doing, even if my other skills and talents are put to rest. ( like if i were to work an admin job, my artist lifestyle will still be here and still be part of me ) I think. It should be all in one sentence. Work hard and rest harder. Rest is where all my energy comes from. Charge your body. Charge your soul, keep in touch with your spirituality practices and you’ll be fine.” 

  > Rest, relaxation, peace, sanctuary, recuperation, self-protection, rejuvenation

  > In order to continue and re-emerge in your daily life, you must take the time now to take a breather. 

  > The Four of Swords is a moment of rest. Whether this is from a choice to withdraw, or whether it is from pure exhaustion, it is not clear.

  > The Four of Swords indicates it is time to gather new strength and prepare to face a new challenge. You have faced crisis after crisis, and it is wearing you out. 

  > withdrawing from love life, alone time, taking a break

taking a vacation, mental health day, rest, self-care

anxiety about finances, avoid overthinking about money

[thoughtsfromaclutteredbrain]

I’m comfortable sharing, and I mean future spouse as in I haven’t met them yet. I’m currently single and never had a real adult relationship. I was curious about my future spouse , so I asked another reader and she said he might be prone to cheating. I was wondering if you could do a reading on my future spouse that I haven’t met yet and tell me maybe what he will be like and if you see him as a cheater as well

Thank you so much for coming for me to a reading. To help you out with these questions, I did a nine card spread on your soulmate, and added onto it a three card spread about their faithfulness to you (the column all the way to the left).

Since you've had a reading before I'm sure you know already, but just keep in mind that tarot readings are not fixed. They represent a potential outcome but you can easily change the outcome of whatever using your free will. Even if you know its important to say anyway, especially in case something comes up in your reading that youre not happy with.

All tarot readings are done through Tumblr DMs and are tailored to your specific questions and concerns. If you do not want your reading publicized in this way, you can request for me not to and I will not.

So, this is your spread.

In the soulmate part of the spread, the middle card represents your soulmate. The card to the left of it describes the relationship you had in a part life, and the card to the right of the first describes why they're in your current life. The bottom three cards all represent your soul contract, which is basically why you guys meet and why they come into your life. In the top row, the one on the left represents a lesson they're teaching you. The middle one represents how to deepen your connection between you and your soulmate, and the one on the right represents how you will be able to help them grow.

In the other part of the spread, the top card represents their feelings for you. The middle card represents if they would be involved with other people, and the bottom card (or cards in this case) represents if they would be willing to commit to you solely, and not anyone else.

With all that said, let's get into the interpretation.

CARD 1: SIX OF COINS (YOUR SOULMATE)

This is a great card to draw in this position because it's a card that describes the qualities of a person, and they're all good qualities! Your soulmate is a generous person. They may even be involved in some philanthropic or charity projects. One of the most important things tho; they'll be kind. They may even help you out monetarily, but within reason, and they seem like the type of person who would want to feel like you're grateful for this help if it's offered, and not feel like it's being taken for granted.

CARD 2: KNIGHT OF WANDS (PAST LIFE RELATIONSHIP)

This card talks about travel, but it seems to talk more about why your relationship came to a close in the past. This card usually has to do with someone leaving to continue a journey. Note that the knight on the horse is facing your soulmate six of coins card in the middle, seeming to note that the card is saying your soulmate is the one that left. It also describes a traveler and can have to do with moving, so it seems it wasn't anything malicious that caused them to leave, and seems to be something more like they had to move, maybe because of a job change or something of that nature that made moving the next step they had to take on their journey, which in turn meant moving away from you.

CARD 3: SIX OF SWORDS (WHY THEY'RE IN YOUR LIFE)

This card is super interesting to me, because it notes a lot of the same things that the knight of wands does, and yet they're in a different context. This card seems to say that you will meet in this life because of travel as well. In your previous lifetime, it seems he moved away, but in this one, they seem to move to you. It seems that they move to your city/town/area because of some goal, so I also feel like it's job related. Maybe they weren't having a good time at their job where they were before, so they moved jobs or got transferred in the hopes of more success here. Note that all the swords are facing your soulmate card here too, which denotes that it's talking about them and not you here. This card also represents water travel, so maybe their job has to do with that, or even that you guys meet on a cruise or something like that.

BOTTOM ROW, CARDS 4-6: REVERSE NINE OF SWORDS, REVERSE TEN OF CUPS, REVERSE EIGHT OF CUPS (YOUR SOUL CONTRACT)

You both seem to come into each other's lives when you both need it most. From the nine of swords reversed, you'll probably be suspicious of them when you first meet. You may think they're hiding something, or you may hear rumors about them. However, your doubts and fears will have some reason behind them, and won't be unfounded.

From the reverse ten of cups card, they'll meet you at a time where they're very angry. They may have just lost friends or have problems with their family at the time. It could stem from the move they just made, but it'll ultimately lead to you meeting them when they're unhappy. You also may not get off on the right foot right away, and one of your first interactions may even stem from some difference of opinion. They may even be a bit combative with you.

However, your story is one of perseverance. From the reverse eight of cups, you both will put in the effort into the relationship, through the ups and down, and work to make sure your relationship is successful. One of the biggest moments for your relationship may happen over a holiday trip. Overall, despite all of that, your relationship will be one full of joy.

Notice again the prominent visuals of water throughout this whole card set.

CARD 7: NINE OF WANDS (IMPORTANT LESSON THEY TEACH YOU)

This card is basically someone waiting for something to go wrong. Notice how the character in the card is organizing their wands, and yet seems to be sad, looking like he's expecting more wands to fall at his feet. That's what this card is telling you. You seem to be always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong in some way, for something to mess up the order in your life. Your soulmate will come into you life to help you to let go of this preconceived notion you have in your head, and to help you to not keep anticipating the next disaster in your life.)

CARD 8: FOUR OF CUPS (HOW TO DEEPEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP)

This card is a little bit of a warning. It doesn't quite tell you how to deepen your relationship, but more tells you what to look out for that will hinder your relationship. This card reminds you to notice when your soulmate is unhappy. Notice when they're disappointed. Notice when they're tired. Even if they seem to have it all, that doesn't mean they're happy with it. The character in the card has three cups next to him, and yet still is reaching for that fourth cup just out of reach. Once again, strong displays of water here too. Your partner may have a tendency to feel like they're stagnant, and that leads to their unhappiness. Helping them to work through these times and work through their negative emotions will help you both to deepen your relationship with each other.

CARD 9: SIX OF WANDS (HOW YOU HELP THEM GROW)

You'll help them achieve a lot of success in their personal and professional lives. You'll be a great sounding board to bounce ideas off of, and showing them that their abilities are amazing. You'll help them to embrace themselves and see a new side of themselves that they may not have seen before.

Now, onto the other part of your reading.

CARDS 1-2: EIGHT OF SWORDS AND FIVE OF COINS (THEIR FEELINGS TOWARDS YOU AND IF THEY WOULD BE INVOLVED WITH OTHERS)

So I want to do these cards together, because of their content. Based on the other cards about your soulmate, they seem like a great person, but when things go wrong around them, they tend to spiral. The five of coins usually symbolizes failure and emotional confusion, and can actually symbolize an "other woman". It also symbolizes job insecurity and monetary problems. The eight of swords talks about crisis, turmoil and bad news. So to me, it reads that when they feel like everything is going on, they may have a wandering eye as well. They may think about cheating if they feel like there's heavy turmoil in your relationship, and if they feel like everything else in their life is going wrong. This may be why your card about deepening your relationship is centered around noticing when things seem off with your soulmate, because if they're allowed to spiral without you helping them through it, some problems may arise. But...

CARDS 3-4: THREE OF COINS, TEN OF COINS (WILL THEY BE FAITHFUL TO YOU SOLELY) 

These cards help to ease your mind a bit. The ten of coins talks about family and family values. It also talks about prosperity and the rewards of having experience. If you know how to deal with them, you both will never get to the point where they feel tempted to cheat. The three of coins also talks about art and creativity, and so you may need to take some creative methods to get through to them, but you'll be a master at understanding them, because of everything you've been through.

So to sum up, if things go wrong they may think of it, but it doesn't seem like it'd get to that point. The coins suit is very prevalent in this section of cards, which also relate to your surroundings impacting the thoughts.

I hope this reading was helpful! If you want a follow-up reading or anything like that, you can PM me or just send another ask! You were the first request I got so if you request another, I may or may not be able to do it right away, but I'll get to it as soon as I can! Have a great day!

[faithhudson]

Let Them Eat Cake

Tagging: Faith Hudson and Evan Hummel

Date: September 17

Bingo: Domestic Scene (Faith), Eat Cake during a scene (Evan), Kiss 3 People (Evan)

Summary: A butcher, a baker, and an orgasm maker

Evan

Evan was actually looking forward to doing this scene with Faith. It would be their first actual scene and even though it was a Domestic scene, it was still something that felt like an important moment. It was actually better that it was a domestic scene for this event because if they were questioned, it wouldn't be that odd that they had done something non-sexual in order to gain some points, especially not now that the two of them were actually getting along.

Faith

Scening, as obvious as the statement sounded, was very different than fucking.  Fucking, Fae knew how how to do.  She was well-versed in the mechanics and psychology, and she'd already learned a lot about what Evan liked and what she didn't.  A scene was something completely different.  Aside from one other person, she didn't scene.  Not because she didn't want it - she thought, at least - but simply because the level of trust involved was so much higher.  Despite their rocky past, though, she did trust Evan.  And that would have to be enough. Stepping up to her door, Fae knocked firmly and tried not to fidget as she waited.

Evan

Hearing the knock on the door, Evan opened it up. "Hey, you. Come on in." She closed the door behind Faith and then pressed a brief kiss to her lips to hopefully ease any nerves that she was dealing with. "We're going to move into the living room and I'm going to have you kneel for me, okay? You're with me and you're safe. And everything is going to be really simple today." There were just certain things that needed to be done for Evan to feel like it could truly be considered a scene.

Faith

Fae leaned into the kiss, smiling as she pulled away.  Her pulse raced for just a moment at the request to kneel, but she'd agreed to the scene and wanted to do everything she could to help Evan get a bingo.  If she was going to play the submissive role then she needed to behave appropriately, and that added a few responsibilities to the scene.  "Yes, Miss," she nodded, wanting Evan to be titled the way she deserved.  "Understood."  Following her into the living room, Fae knelt on the carpet and waited.

Evan

She felt a shiver move up her spine when Fae called her 'Miss' and she hummed. It was different, certainly, but there had been a lot of differences that had happened since they both arrived at the institute. "Good girl." Evan said with a smile. "So I have a cake recipe sitting in the kitchen. Your job today is to bake that cake, decorate it, and then clean up the kitchen. Once you have completed all of that, you are going to come sit here with me and feed me the piece of cake."

Faith

Fae's eyes widened a little.  She'd cooked for Madeline, but they'd usually done that together and she'd had someone to help her read the recipe to remind her of what she was meant to be doing at any given moment.  "I...can do that, Miss," she nodded.  "But it might be a bit slow.  It takes me a bit to go back and forth between reading the recipe and actually doing the thing.  I do understand the order, though, and I'm happy to do it, I just wanted to warn you first."

Evan

"That's alright, Fae. I'm not in any rush. I want you to take your time. As long as you do your best, I am going to be extremely happy with you." Evan knew that it would probably be a bit of a challenge for the other Switch, but she very much hoped that it wouldn't be something that frustrated Faith too much.

Faith

It was still an odd sensation, doing a scene where she submitted to Evan and sought her approval.  Fae was getting used to the idea, but it was still new.  "I can do that," she promised.  "I'll do my best, Miss.  Would you like me to go and get started now, Miss?"  Fae assumed so, but she didn't want to try and guess what Evan was thinking or she would likely mess the scene up.

Evan

"Go ahead, Fae. If you have any questions, you can come and ask me. I'll be right here waiting." She lifted her legs onto the couch and curled up into a comfortable postion as she read through some of the school work.

Faith

"Gotcha," Fae nodded, getting up and heading for the kitchen.  She knew she was going to struggle, but it was good to know that all Evan was really expecting from her was an effort.  As long as it was edible - there was no way it was going to look pretty, but she wanted it to be good enough to feed Ev without killing her or something. The recipe wasn't that many steps, and Ev had already left out the cake pan and a mixing bowl for her.  She turned the oven on to the right temperature to allow it to preheat, starting the mix with the eggs and slowly adding one ingredient at a time as she went back and forth between the recipe and the ingredients.  "Uh...shit," she scoffed as the oven finished heating up long before she was done getting everything ready.  "Crap, crap."  She checked the list again and turned the mixer on hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything important.

Evan

She heard Faith cursing to herself in the kitchen and she bit down on her bottom lip. Part of her wanted to just rush right in, but the other part of her knew that it was important if the Switch finished it herself and was able to come ask her for help if she truly needed it. She didn't want to just bombard her or make her feel like she thought that she was incompetent. She did her best to keep focusing on the school work, but was too enraptured by the other's movements.

Faith

As the mixer did its thing, or at least what she hoped was its thing, Fae checked the ingredient list again.  One thing after another she could check off, looking between the bowl and the list, although there was a pinch of sugar that she'd apparently been meant to throw in and hadn't.  It annoyed her to be so poor at following a set of instructions, but as long as it didn't affect the overall product too much she'd be alright.  When the cake batter looked at least somewhat like it was described, she poured it into the pan and then opened the oven to slide it in. Moving back into the kitchen she knelt at Ev's feet again.  "That needs fifteen minutes, if you don't mind keeping track for me, Miss."  She knew she'd forget it otherwise.  "Then I'll decorate it after."

Evan

She smiled down at the Switch when she mentioned that it would need fifteen minutes. "Good girl." She pulled out her phone and set the timer before her attention turned back to the other. She was proud of her for asking her for the help and for coming to kneel in front of Evan when she had the time to do so. She reached out and dragged her fingers against the other's jaw gently.

Faith

There was still tension in Fae's slight frame, mainly because she had no idea whether she'd screwed something up or not.  Cooking was a mystery to her because at some point you just had to put things in the oven and hope they weren't a total mess when they came out again.  The praise helped, though, and the fingers along her jawline made her shiver.  "If you're going to touch me like that, Miss," she emphasized the title, "you've only got fifteen minutes to follow up on it."

Evan

Evan giggled at her words and then tapped her finger lightly against her bottom lip. "Only if you beg me well enough." The Switch stated, shrugging her shoulders slightly and leaning back to see what Faith would do in this instance, because Evan couldn't really say. This was new territory for them at this point.

Faith

Fae almost choked.  They'd been closer lately, sure, and they'd had really good sex, but this...this was a new frontier.  Could she submit to Evan that way and be comfortable?  Would they feel the same about each other when it was done?  How awkward was parent's week going to be, anyway?  The shiver that had went through her, though, had landed right between her legs.  And if she needed to beg to get that itch scratched, well, she'd done far worse than beg in the past for far less.  Looking up into Ev's eyes, she swallowed her pride.  "I...please, Miss?  Please will you get me off while we wait for cake?"

Evan

Evan smiled, in surprise, when the other did beg. She honestly had been expecting Faith to just let everything go and she was pleased to see that that wasn't the case. She laid down on the couch and gestured for Faith to carefully settle over her face. "Get naked and get your ass over here, gorgeous." Evan expressed, eager to taste Faith once again, she certainly hadn't gotten enough of that in the last little while.

Faith

There wasn't any telling what the future held, but damned if she wasn't happy about the present.  "Yes, Miss," she winked, stripping down and climbing up to straddle Evan's face.  If begging made the feeling of warm breath against her sex happen then that was enough for her.

Evan

Her tongue brushed along the Faith's folds and she moaned softly. "Maybe I'll just tease you until the cake is ready, I certainly wouldn't complain about just slowly tasting you for the next thirteen minutes." Her hands slipped up to wrap around her thighs and she drew her down slowly to suck her lips into her mouth,

Faith

Fae groaned, her head falling back a little.  "If you do that, Miss, I will not be held responsible for what gets written on your cake."  As she was pulled down and Evan went to work on her she put all other thoughts out of her head.  The damn cake could start on fire, roll down the hall and end up in the Headmistress' office for all she cared.  So long as Evan kept teasing her.

Evan

She laughed against her. "I'll be looking forward to seeing how incredibly creative you can be." Evan muttered gently, circling her clit with her tongue before then going back to simply running her tongue through the wetness. She was too invested in the idea of only teasing Evan for the entire time, so that's what she was going to do.

Faith

Fae's eyes narrowed at that, because there was only one way to interpret what Evan was saying.  And if that way were accurate, then she actually did plan on teasing her for the entire...however long was left.  "I don't think," she gasped, "I'd be a good...fuck...submissive...if I said the words to you that are in my head right now.  I should have known...you were evil."

Evan

She giggled. "I'm not evil. As long as you're good you're going to get quite an amazing orgasm and you will end up very satisfied. You just need to be good." She muttered, before focusing all her attention on flicking her tongue against her clit. The timer went off a while later and Evan frowned in response, but pulled back anyway. "Better go check on that cake."

Faith

If she hadn't been busy moaning, Fae would have scoffed.  Instead she made a series of noises that began as arousal and turned into something close to agony by the time the damnable timer interrupted them.  "Fuck," she groaned, not bothering with clothes and padding into the kitchen naked.  The cake was...less of a disaster than she'd imagined.  It hadn't risen properly and looked flat, but when she poked it with a fork it actually looked cooked and kind of the texture it was supposed to be.  She added some icing around the edge and some sprinkles before using the icing to write LICK ME in huge letters in the middle.  Grabbing a fork and setting it on a plate, she knelt for Evan one more time.

Evan

Evan couldn't help but laugh at the words that were written on the cake. "Good job on the cake. It actually looks pretty good, babe." She cut a piece and then set the rest of it aside. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to eat this cake. While I'm eating the cake, you are going to edge yourself. If you cum, you're gonna get spanked and then have to watch me fuck myself. If you don't, then I'll fuck you with my strap. Understood?"

Faith

"That's nice of you to say," Fae chuckled.  It looked more like a pie or something given how it had failed to rise, but at least Evan was kind enough not to mention it.  Evan's next words made her let out a strangled cry.  "And then you have the nerve to tell me you're not evil.  I only hope you eat quickly, Miss."  With a put-upon sigh her fingers wandered between her legs and began to work at her clit.

Evan

She laughed softly again, enjoying the words and sounds coming from the other. She was so pretty when she touched herself and Evan was going to need to see this a lot more often. "Good girl." She took her first bite of the cake and hummed. It wasn't the best cake ever, but it also was far from the worst one she had ever had. "Good job, Fae." She then got back to the cake, being nice and eating at a fairly steady pace.

Faith

There was worry etched on her face as Evan took her first bite, because there was every possibility that a horrified expression and a run to the bathroom was going to follow.  When it didn't, she actually felt a little proud of herself even if the cake wasn't perfect.  "Thank you, Miss."  Evan didn't seem completely determined to make her insane, so Fae kept her fingers moving at a steady pace.

Evan

She watched Faith the entire time that she ate the cake, unable to pull her eyes away from her. She was so damn attractive. And to know that she was touching herself just because Evan had ordered it of her? Perfect. Halfway through the cake she stopped eating to speak. "Quicker. And be more firm." She uttered, before returning her attention to the cake.

Faith

Faith's mutterings would have turned the air blue in a Navy bar when Evan admonished her, because her whole plan to take it easy on herself had been foiled.  "Fuck," she groaned as her fingers worked over her clit.  "Fuck," it was more of a plea the second time as her body fought for something she didn't want to give it.  It was enjoyable, even if she did have the urge to poke Evan with a cake fork.

Evan

When she finished the cake, she set down her fork. "Stop touching yourself. You have done well. But now you have to go finish cleaning up the kitchen. When you've done that, then you can come ahead and meet me in the bedroom." Evan uttered, walking into the bedroom and removing her clothing to pull the harness on. She was very, very excited for the way that the rest of their night would go.

Faith

Fae pulled her hand away with great effort, chest heaving and breath coming in quick, uneven gasps.  "You've gotta be kidding me...Miss," she whined.  It wasn't enough that she'd had to edge herself, now she had to go finish the cleaning?  With a sigh she went about her work, dumping the rest of the cake onto a plate before noisily doing up the dishes.

Evan

She could hear Fae in the kitchen, being very, very noisy and she couldn't help but giggle. It made her feel very powerful in that moment that Fae was wet, needy, and yet stomping around the kitchen to finish and order that Evan had given her.

Faith

Fae left everything to air dry, because fuck if she was going to dry the dishes while she was practically dripping on the floor, especially with Ev in the bedroom.  The job was close enough to done, and she marched into the bedroom expectantly.  "All cleaned up.  Miss."

Evan

She smiled at her and then gestured for her to come and sit on her lap. "You've been good. So now you get your reward."

[tessatechaitea]

Kid Eternity #2

This cover says, "Don't look at who wrote it! Just look at how interesting these visuals are! Sucker."

In my review of Kid Eternity #1, I threw out a few theories on why Ann Nocenti's writing is so weird. After reading page one of this issue, I've thrown those theories out again but in a different way. That makes complete sense if you understand English idioms and also understand that everything Ann Nocenti writes is basically pre-trash.

This is page one of Kid Eternity #2 and it will probably get this review banned on Tumblr.

I have a new theory: Ann Nocenti asked what a Vertigo comic book should be and editor Tom Peyer probably joked, "They're mostly tits and profound nonsense." So Ann Nocenti's vagina gobbed in her underwear and she squealed with glee. "That's what I do!" she chortled merrily! I probably shouldn't abuse Ann Nocenti for writing things I don't understand. I have plenty of choices of other people to abuse for it: my elementary school teachers for not calling me out on doing just enough to get by; my junior high school teachers who let me get away with not putting any effort into big year-end projects (In science, we were supposed to make a stone age tool. I rubber glued a carved-to-a-shoddy point stick to another stick (which was worse than my friend Robert who put some pine needles into a split stick, calling the weapon "Ow"); in English, we had one project based on Romeo and Juliet (because all we did that quarter was watch and read various versions of the play) and I refused to do it because the teacher was wasting my time; in Computers, I found Dan Felipe's project, a trivia program, and I just copied it and used it for my own project (changing all the questions and line numbers and other things to make it seem like it wasn't plagiarized but, I mean, come on! In fairness to me, I only did it because the stupid fucking school changed computers halfway through the semester, dropping the TRS-80s for Apples and my project was relying on the Poke images of the TRS-80 to create an animated sequence)); my high school English teacher, Mr. Borror, for reading nearly everything I wrote in front of the class so that I began to think I was the wittiest fucker in Santa Clara High; my college teachers for some reason or another that allows me to not blame my own lack of ability; and probably my parents because if they were any good at their parental jobs, I wouldn't be writing a blog about comic books. In other words, I'm sure Ann Nocenti is a philosophical genius while I'm just a guy who blames everybody else for things I don't understand. Even if I truly felt Ann Nocenti was an underrated genius whose writings I'm incapable of parsing, I would never ask her to explain what she meant by this first page of Kid Eternity #2. I just wouldn't feel comfortable putting her on the spot like that. It's not up to the artist to explain their art to the foolish audience! Only the Christian Messiah bears that responsibility (and, let's face it, he wouldn't have had to explain every fucking parable if he'd been able to convince smarter people of his bullshit). So if it's up to me to interpret this first page gibber gabber, I suppose I should get to business. Or kill myself. I mean, killing myself would be easier and less painful. And I totally would kill myself before reading more Ann Nocenti comic books except I have plans to cut my toenails in a few months. Before I begin trying to understand this hogwash, I'd like to point out that if she'd written it as a sonnet, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I'd read it, think, "Yep, that's a sonnet!", nod my head in sage understanding, and then jerk off to the titties. But this is not a sonnet so it is not allowed to be obtuse simply for obtuseness' sake. So this fucking speech. First off, who is speaking? The serpent trying to fuck the naked lady? Is this the speech the serpent used on Eve to get her to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Although if that's the case, how would talking about Buddha convince Eve of anything? I'll assume the serpent is omniscient (because he may or may not be Satan, depending on what holy men or con artists you believe but certainly isn't Satan if you're simply going by the Book of Genesis. I bet the serpent was God doing one of those Zeus things minus the rape. Zeus loved to trick people so he could get laid; Yahweh tricks people to test their faith). I guess since she had yet to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (come on, God! That name is terrible), she wouldn't know what she doesn't know and can't defend against any nonsense the serpent spews at her. Let's assume the art goes with the speech and it's the serpent speaking. So why is "God in repair" and what the fuck does that mean? And why is it followed by the statement, "Why not call the wisest man a freak?" Does the snake only speak in non sequiturs? Was that a stupid question since I already know the snake's dialogue is being written by Ann Nocenti? It is kind of refreshing to see that her dialogue style never changed in thirty years. The shit the serpent says on this page could be nonsense spewed by Coil from Nocenti's New 52 Katana. You know what? I don't have to continue this because, in the end, it's just a carnival barker's pitch to get people to believe in the freaks in his freak show. He's all, "What's the difference between freaks and religion?!" That's not a riddle I have an answer for. The only religious joke I know is "What do Noah's Ark and The Bible have in common?" That might be a joke that was extant before I came up with it but I did come up with it on my own. And I think the answer is so obvious I would be insulting the intelligence of all four people reading this. Oh, and the snake trying to fuck the lady? It's a tattoo on the Tattooed Lady. The reason the comic begins in a circus freak show? Because Kid Eternity is the newest freak on display! The opening sideshow scene is just one of Kid Eternity's dreams. The demon angel babies get into Kid Eternity's dream and when he wakes up, they've tied his hair to the floor which totally has him trapped for like three panels. That was a close one! Kid Eternity decides he can't truly know what he's doing unless he utterly knows himself. So it's time to get his brain probed.

Let me guess: Carl will blather on about synchronicity and dreams while Freud tries to figure out how big Kid Eternity's penis is.

Carl doesn't initially discuss anything. He's just the straight man for Freud saying all the typical things you'd expect Freud to say: penis this, envy that, fuck your mom, kill your dad, more penises, many more penises, everything is penises. But then he comes on fast and furious with his archetypes and collective unconscious and human mythology stuff, all the biggest Carl Jung hits (aside from synchronicity but I'm sure he'll get around to that later. Ann Nocenti isn't going to miss showing the readers all the knowledge nuggets she mined to make her brain big). If only Nocenti would spend as much time writing the story as she spends making sure the readers know she knows a lot of shit then maybe I would have kept reading this comic book. Meanwhile, Zeus wanders around looking for somebody to trick fuck, Madame Blavatsky hunts down the next best burger before she slips back to the past, Beelzebub and Judas wander through Limbo, Jesus gets drunk and falls off a bar stool, and a phone yells at a woman. That all happens on one page to make sure the reader remembers other things are happening. But why does Ann Nocenti spend two panels of that dense page on Madame Blavatsky when she could have updated the reader on the non-X-File FBI agents who will probably hate fuck each other before the story ends? I also wanted an update on the Buddha Christ Trash Child. But no! Instead Nocenti just moves on to more of her proof that she's read all about Freud and Jung and totally understands the shallow top layer of their theories and philosophies. I don't mean to say I know any more than Ann Nocenti! But I understand how little I know of Freud and everything she's had him say are things everybody knows about Freud from all the dirty jokes about him: ids, supermen, parental relations, and phalli!

Oh, that's why we didn't get an update on the dense update page; Nocenti needed a full page to document the hate/fuck.

My new Ann Nocenti writing theory: Ann Nocenti has never had an original thought. She simply reads things, takes copious notes of bits and quotes she likes, and then shoves them sideways into whatever script she's currently writing. No wait. She does have original thoughts but they're almost not worth having. Like "everything in life is a prison" and then proving it by stating a few things about life that can be cell-like. It's profound in that way that things are profound when you're on acid. If you don't think about it, you can find yourself nodding along going, "Yeah! Yeah! Everything is a prison! Life is a fucking prison!" But if you do stop to think about it, it's like coming down off acid. You start to see how that thought you had about how the number three ties everything else in the universe together because of the way the corners meet didn't wasn't as mind blowing as it was six hours ago. Although the rant you went on about how pressing play on the VCR remote play the show and pressing pause pauses it but then to unpause it you have to hit pause again when you should really hit play was pretty fucking good. Speaking of acid, I'm two-thirds of the way through the acid documentary on Netflix and it's fucking fantastic. I wasn't really thinking a lot about it but I was nodding along going, "Yeah! Yeah! Everything they're saying about acid is absolutely spot on!" throughout. I actually had to take a break because it was making me too happy listening to all Sting and Carrie Fisher tell their acid stories. I don't know why I didn't just spend five paragraphs discussing why the FBI agents were playing Scrabble while they fucked. It's probably just one of Sean Phillips' kinks. Oh, maybe they were just playing Scrabble and not hate-fucking. It's hard to tell because on the next page, Jerry asks Val if they can finally fuck and Val is all, "You're a nerd!" Then she slits his throat. But then in the next panel, his throat isn't slit and he's all, "You feeling better?" And she's all, "Yeah!" So I don't know what the fuck is going on and I don't really care. I've still got like eight pages of this mess to get through and I'd rather just nod along than try to understand it. And then just like last issue, Ann Nocenti sputters out a bit of writing that I totally agree with because I've said basically the same thing before. About how every day, I fall in love with some person I see on the street because of the smallest of things. And then I love them forever.

My story isn't as good but I once fell in love walking through the airport in Minneapolis. I was passing by an attractive woman and she was gazing off somewhere as I looked at her face. She was coming up on my right and then I glanced down at her breasts and back up at her face. And that was the moment she noticed me, as I glanced from her breasts to her face. And, catching me, she smiled and laughed and kept on walking. And I still love her to this day.

And for this page alone, I forgive all of Ann Nocenti's past (future?) transgressions and find myself eager to read Kid Eternity #3. Oh wait. I still have a few pages left in this piece of crap. I read a lot of books in college that I sometimes still say are my favorite books but I should probably just say they stuck with me because I know which books are almost always in my top five and a lot of the ones in college aren't those. But Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence always stuck with me. It's possible that I completely missed the message of the novel but to me, the book was about how true love only exists when it's unrequited. Archer Day-Lewis doesn't love Ellen Pfeifer more than May Ryder for any other reason than that she was the one he didn't marry. It seemed to me that Wharton was trying to portray how hard love is and true, phenomenal love only exists in the imagination. Only a love we can imagine can remain magical. Only when we love an object, or the imaginary person we've placed on a pedestal, can we evade disappointment in the reality and flaws of another actual human being. Being in love with Ellen Pfeifer was easy because she wasn't there for all those years. There were no fights or disappointments or multiple times accidentally walking in on her taking a huge shit. She was pure and beautiful and imaginary. But then again, maybe that wasn't the point of the book at all. I was young and romantic at the time and I still absolutely loved the women I'd had unrequited crushes on in junior high and high school while my college relationship was slowly circling the drain due to personality conflicts. But not due to sex. The sex was fucking great! Anyway, Freud and Jung decide Kid Eternity is in denial and they leave. Hemlock and Dog spread some new reality across the world via a computer virus. Madame Blavatsky starts making time go backwards, probably so she can vomit up all the Twinkies she ate and eat them again with their delicious creamy filling. And the devil and Judas wind up in a bar in Limbo with Jesus to make plans for Kid Eternity. There's probably a lot more going on but there'd be too much for me to process even if it wasn't confused by Nocenti's writing style. No wonder I gave up on this book after three issues. There's no way by the third issue I could remember anything that was going on, if I even understood it the month prior. Kid Eternity #2 Rating: C-. A confusing mess that's about 90% Ann Nocenti just vomiting out things she's read. Even the things that, with the benefit of the doubt, I want to believe sprang from her own philosophical musings, I can't bring myself to absolutely believe it. I feel like every thought and piece of dialogue she's placed in this story just came from piles of notebooks filled with notes she's made while reading other people's works. It's practically a collage of philosophical ideas and moral musings pulled from myriad sources and shoved into a Kid Eternity framework "written" by Ann Nocenti. Which could explain Nocenti's penchant for stilted dialogue. If she were making up all the character's thoughts, the dialogue would flow from one character to the next. But when each character can only respond with some profound thought Nocenti read elsewhere, it comes across like a ransom note, each word cut from the mind of somebody else and pasted as a reply to another bit cut from some other thinker, no relation existing between the two thoughts except the proximity relationship Nocenti has given them.

[schraubd]

The Trouble with (Jewish) Anger

If you read contemporary political theory publications, you've probably seen that "anger" is having quite the moment as a political emotion right now. As against a skeptical literature where anger is viewed as necessarily destructive or reactionary, a bunch of theorists have sought to identify and promote the uses of anger as a tool of public mobilization, asking what anger can do or promote under appropriate circumstances. Whenever I go to talks or read articles on that subject, though, I always find myself a bit perplexed. The authors seem to concentrate on defending the thesis that anger is powerful -- they suggest that anger (again, in the right circumstances) can accomplish things that might otherwise be out of reach. But it seems to me that the classical knock on anger isn't that it isn't powerful -- virtually everyone concedes that (how many fantasy novels tie anger to a powerful dark side that allows access to eldritch magic?). The problem with anger is that it's hard to control. Anger is difficult to contain and difficult to cabin. Once it is unleashed, it is hard to bottle back up. It ends up hurting those one doesn't intend to hurt, it lashes out in unpredictable and uncontrollable directions. And, of course, anger has the difficult property of being self-generating against critique -- trying to persuade someone that they should be less angry only makes them more angry (convenient, that!). The Jewish community in America is, I think it is fair to say, getting angry. What are we angry about? Well, a few different things, I suspect:

We're angry that a community and a politics that we've long called our own seems to be increasingly comfortable with the promotion of antisemitic stereotypes, and is indifferent, at best, to our feelings of hurt and fear at that fact;

We're angry that we've been unable to muster any significant public attention towards or mobilization against antisemitism from the mainstream political right, no matter how much effort we expend trying to raise it, and we're angry that media sources who are utterly indifferent when we try to talk about right-wing antisemitism only perk up when we talk about left-wing antisemitism;

We're angry at left-wing antisemitism because we're angry about antisemitism generally but this antisemitism is in our home, and also because this is the antisemitism where we actually seem able to touch it and make people pay attention to it and make its perpetrators take notice of us, and so all the anger over the antisemitism where we can't make anyone care about it gets displaced and funneled into this one social arena where somebody will pay attention to it, even as we realize how unfair that is and we're angry about that too;

We're angry that we're blamed for how other people talk or don't talk about antisemitism, and we're angry that people seem less interested in hearing what Jews have to say than in cherry-picking the Jews whose views are consonant with the narrative they want to draw and trumpeting to high heaven;

We're angry that any time we try to talk about antisemitism in a case that's within a half-mile of "Israel", we're accused of being unable to tolerate "any" (any!) criticism of Israel, or of being in the bag for Likud, or of proving the point that maybe our loyalties are in doubt;

And, I think, we're angry that the Israeli government has been racing off to the right, busily making some -- some -- arguments that once were outlandish now plausible, and putting us in increasingly difficult positions. We're angry that we've been basically powerless to stop this decay of liberal democracy in Israel, we're angry that a community and a place that we care deeply about seems not to care about us in return and is mutating into something unrecognizable to us, and we're displacing that anger a bit.

That's a lot to be angry about. It's not unreasonable to be angry, about any or all of that. And I think it's the case that to some degree, anger has fueled some genuine counterattacks against all of these things. Jewish anger has, certainly, prompted some people to issue apologies who otherwise would've continued about their business, engendered some discussions that otherwise wouldn't have have begun, prompted some solidaristic bonding that might not have otherwise occurred. One could, I think, fairly say that Jewish anger has greased the path towards some accomplishments for the American Jewish community.

But anger, as powerful as it is, is also difficult to control. I don't like the political-me when I'm angry -- and more than that, I don't trust the political-me when I'm angry. My tactical choices are often unwise. And when I look out and say how angry we're getting, I worry. I worry that we're not going to be able to bottle it back up. I worry that it is going to burst it's bounds and rage beyond control.

People have been making a lot of (premature, in my view) comparisons between the Democratic Party and UK Labour. But this is one parallel that concerns me right now. British Jews are angry at Labour, and they're by no means unreasonable to feel that way -- I've been quite vocal in calling out the disgusting cesspool of antisemitism that has taken over the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's watch. That's legitimately anger-inducing. And one could even argue that Jewish anger about this has played a significant role in forcing Labour to come to the table and take what (meager) steps it has taken to tackle antisemitism in its ranks.

But I also worry that this anger and bitterness has gotten so deep that it's almost impossible to imagine any set of steps by which Jews and Labour might reconcile. Even when Labour officials do issue statements or take steps that seem genuinely positive as expressions of the importance of tackling antisemitism, the mistrust runs so thick that they're often immediately rejected -- "what good is this statement or that commitment coming from so-and-so, who's been so terrible to us in the past?"

I'm not saying that these statements or commitments will always be followed through on or even that they're always offered in good faith. I'm saying it almost doesn't seem to matter any more, the efforts that are offered in good faith and would be followed through on are swept away just as decisively by the omnipresent feeling of woundedness and mistrust. At a certain level, what Jewish anger wants out of Labour is for it to have never done such awful things in the first place. But there's nothing Labour can promise to satisfy that demand -- and so the anger can never be placated. And that, ultimately, can only lead us to a destructive place, where Jews and the left must be enemies, because there is no longer anything that can be said or done that is interpreted to be a gesture of friendship (even the most perfectly worded statement can be dismissed as a front or a guise, or insufficient given past sins).

American Jewish anger, I worry, is pushing us towards a similar precipice -- one where we can't stop being angry, where there's no plausible pathway through which our anger can sated. 

Consider reactions to the Democratic leadership delaying a proposed antisemitism resolution, with the suggestion that it be redrafted to more explicitly tie the fight against antisemitism to other forms of bigotry. 

One interpretation of this move is that it helps dissipate the notion that Ilhan Omar is being unfairly singled out, and sends a decisive message that the fights against antisemitism, racism, and Islamophobia are united struggles -- they are not in competition with one another. Another interpretation is that it "All Lives Matters" antisemitism, implies that antisemitism cannot be opposed for its own sake but must be laundered through other oppressions in order to matter, and overall represents a capitulation to those who are upset that Democrats are acknowledging the existence of left-wing antisemitism at all.

Which interpretation is right? Well, one would have to see the newly-drafted language, first of all. But I suspect that the answer will be that there is no one right answer. Either interpretation will be plausible. 

So it's up to us to choose which hermeneutic world we want to live in. We could declare, decisively, that we view such a resolution as not excusing left-wing antisemitism but also not singling it out; not suggesting that antisemitism only matters insofar as it can be tied to racism and other bigotry but rather rejecting the claim that vigorous opposition to antisemitism in any way, shape, or form is hostile to opposing these other hatreds. 

And to some extent, our declaration of interpretation will generate its reality. If we choose to believe that this is what the resolution means, that it is an expression of solidarity and of unity, then that is what it will come to mean. If we choose to believe that it means something else, that it is an insult and a capitulation, then it will mean that instead. It is both weird and, when you think about it, not so weird that it is fundamentally up to us whether any such resolution is an act of solidarity or not.

Viewed that way, the right answer is clear. But I think anger is pushing us toward the wrong choice. Yet know this: there is no resolution the Democratic leadership could write that would make it so that we weren't in this anger-inducing reality where such a resolution felt necessary to begin with. If that is our standard, we will never be placated. So the question is how do we move forward in a damaged world? Does anger get us there?

I think not. Anger doesn't look for common ground. It doesn't look for the positive or the best in people, it doesn't offer much foothold for rebuilding. It hurts those we don't actually want to hurt. Like a fire, it rages past borders and over barriers. Even when anger does do its "job" of mobilizing or organizing or signaling the degree of woundedness a given practice is generating, it doesn't easily return to its cage. Often, anger slaps at hands that really are just trying to reach out, really are trying to figure out how to do better. Which, of course, generates anger of its own. And so a cycle emerges, that is very hard to escape from.

As I mentioned above, one of the most difficult aspects of anger as a political emotion is that telling people to be less angry only makes them more angry. Even still, and even recognizing that we have grounds to be angry, I still find myself imploring my community that we need to let go of our anger here. It's rapidly losing whatever productive attributes it has, and I fear that if we don't bottle it back up now, we will completely lose control over it. 

And that thought terrifies me, because I cannot imagine that a Jewish community that is uncontrollably angry at the political community we've long called home will be a healthy, or happy, or productive place to live.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2UobK0d

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (115/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[10 March, 233 Before Age.   Ristet IV.]

As the Federation-Jindan War continued, Luffa found it useful to keep herself and her star-yacht in separate places.   This kept the enemy guessing as to her exact location, and it discouraged attacks on the ship itself, since no one was entirely certain of how valuable a target it really was.    

Following the liberation of Gorrfeg, the Federation and Seltiss' Saiyan Free Company agreed that Luffa and Xibuyas should split up and tackle Jindan cultists on different planets.   It was important to prevent the cultists from establishing a power base on another Federation world.    Thus far, the Jindan strategy had been to swoop in and attack any Federation planet within easy reach.    Evidently, the only objective was to confound the defenders and spread their forces even thinner.    Luffa could foil this effort, but only by being in the right place at the right time.  

Her secret weapon to ensure this was Dotz, a fortuneteller she had met before the war began.    Dotz was no warrior, but her predictions of enemy activity had been instrumental.   For this reason, Luffa had kept Dotz's role a secret, and took care to make sure she was far removed from the heaviest fighting.  

And so, when the star-yacht needed repairs, it made sense to send it--and Dotz-- to Ristet IV, as Dotz's forecasts had shown no combat in the next several days.  The planet was well-defended by surface-to-orbit weapons, bolstered with a Federation fleet which used the system as a command center.     Given this high level of security, and surrounded by qualified starship mechanics at the spaceport, Dr. Topsas suggested that they use the time to relax and unwind.    

No one, not even himself, took his advice.   Topsas left the ship, but instead of taking in a show in the city near the spaceport, he went to a medical research facility and began looking up ways to improve Luffa's recovery time after each battle.    Dotz remained on board, preferring to stay close to the materials she used for fortunetelling: crystals, a pack of arcane cards, and various other trinkets most people would deem useless and insignificant.     As was her custom, she would sit on the observation deck and arrange these things around herself.   Nearby, Zatte was perched on a lounge chair.    The Dorlun had at least tried to follow Topsas' suggestion.    Clad in a black one-piece swimsuit, she had spent about thirty minutes sunbathing under the dimmer of Ristet's binary stars, but shortly after this she gave up and began running diagnostics on her weapons.    

"If you don't mind my asking," Dotz said, calling over to her.   "Why do you even have all those blasters?    I thought you could shoot ki like Luffa can."

"I can," Zatte said.    "But not nearly as well as a Saiyan, or most other martial artists.   Besides, I like to keep my options open.    Sometimes you can do things with a plasma rifle that you just can't do with a ki blast."    

"Well, there's no need for you to check them now," Dotz said.   "I still don't see any sign of major combat on this planet.    No Saiyans destroying cities or anything like that.   At least not anytime soon."

"Oh, I believe you, Dotz," Zatte said as she reassembled a sight on one of her pistols.    "You haven't steered us wrong yet, but I'm not used to knowing things like that in advance.    I guess I'm a creature of habit.    Can't take anything for granted.    Anyway, if you're so sure this planet won't get attacked, why are you so busy with all that stuff over there?"

"Well, um, I'm trying to refine my ability," Dotz said.    "I'm confident about he Ristet System, probably because... well, because I'm here.   The forecasts are usually clearer when I'm on-location.  But there's a lot of things I can't make out.    I still can't get a decent reading on Luffa, and the outcomes of her missions are fuzzy at best.    I thought I had a handle on her son's destiny, but it was all so muddled.   Your wife keeps telling me how important I am to the war effort, and how grateful she is that I'm here, but I can't even predict how the war will end, or who wins."

"Shoot, I can tell you that one.   We're going to win this war, Dotz," Zatte said confidently.  "You'll see."

"To be honest, I don't," Dotz replied.  "I can see glimpses of the future, enough to make a decent living as a fortuneteller, but I can't always see big picture stuff.  I know the next Saiyan attack won't come for several more hours, but I have no idea how it'll turn out, or what's happening on other Federation planets.  I'm sorry I can't be more useful than that."

"Don't be ridiculous, Dotz," Zatte said, "You've been a big help already.  The challenge with a space war like this is that it's tough to know where to deploy our forces.  Luffa's strong enough to beat the Jindan Saiyans, but if she doesn't know where they'll strike, it could take days to get her to the right place.  You've taken a lot of guesswork out of things.  Tactically speaking, that's huge."

"Oh.   So is that why you've been sticking so close to me lately?" Dotz asked.  "To keep me safe?"

Zatte nodded.  "My people believe in watching each other's backs.  I used to be a soldier, so it was my job to guard the others so they could support everyone else.  But besides that, I was hoping to be close by in case you had any visions about Luffa.  Until the communications are restored with the Fedender System, you're the only way I can keep tabs on her."

Dotz closed her eyes and gently raised her hands to chest height.  She took a few deep breaths, then mumbled quietly.

"I see her," she said warily, as if even commenting on the vision might chase it from her mind.  "She's alive.  I can tell that much."

"But you still can't see her future," Zatte said.  

"No, I can't.  I'm sorry about that.  Um... I know that made you upset before."

"No, I'm sorry.    I overreacted," Zatte said.  "My people has a saying: No news is good news.  I had to remind myself of that.  Just because you can't see what happens to Luffa doesn't mean it'll be bad."

"Is that why you don't want me to read your fortune?" Dotz asked.  "Are you worried I'll see something tragic?"

"No.  I mean...!   Well, yes."  Zatte shook her head and chuckled.  "It's... complicated.  I'm just not comfortable with the idea of peeking ahead at the end of the movie."

"But you're convinced about the outcome of the war," Dotz said.   "What makes you so sure?"

"Luffa," Zatte said.  "She's destined to accomplish great things, Dotz."

"Destined?  It sounds like you had a vision of your own once."

Zatte had been applying lithium grease to a rifle part when Dotz said this.   It startled her enough that she accidentally missed and sprayed it on her work gloves instead.   "I... I guess you could put it that way." she said, looking up at Dotz somewhat anxiously.   "I saw something.  I've been trying to interpret it ever since."

"Now I get it," Dotz said.  "Asking me to tell your fortune would be... well, it would be like questioning your own epiphany.    Even if I confirmed what you had seen, you would feel as though you didn't trust your own instincts."

"Uh...yeah," Zatte said, more than a little amazed.  "I didn't know how to put it into words before, but that's it exactly.    Wow, Luffa wasn't kidding.  You are good."

"In my line of work, you have learn to read people," Dotz said.  "It helps fill in the gaps when the omens don't make sense.  I think I envy you, Zatte.  I'm so used to having glimpses of the future that I've never had to put much faith in anything."

Zatte was about to respond to this, when she suddenly noticed something outside of the transparent dome that covered the deck.    At first, she thought it was the contrail of an aircraft, only brighter, like the ionization trail of a meteorite.    

"What is it?" Dotz asked, when she finally saw what had caught Zatte's attention.

"Could be a starship," Zatte said, "but if it's coming in for a landing, it should be coming here, towards the spaceport.   Unless it's out of control, or a hostile..."

"But... but that's impossible," Dotz said.   "If the Saiyans were going to invade this planet, I'm sure I would have foreseen it.   I might have gotten the hour or the number wrong, but I'm sure I would have seen something, unless..."

"Let's check it out," Zatte said.   She grabbed the beach robe off the chair and a holster belt containing the weapons she had already finished cleaning.    "You should probably come with me to the bridge.    It'll be safer there."

*******

The people of Ristet IV had orange, scaly skin and long muzzles.  As the planet's Supergovernor was currently on trial for conflicts of interest related to his vast toothpaste business holdings, the vice-Supergovernor had been the head-of-state for the past sixteen months.    He conducted his business in the Red Manor, located at Number 1, Supergovernor Street, Supergovernor City, postal code 00001.   In front of the Red Manor was a reflection pool, which was something of a tourist attraction to visitors to Supergovernor City.   It was now gone, replaced by a crater thirty feet wide, with a small pod resting at the bottom.   Moments after arriving, its lone occupant stepped out, marched into the Red Manor, and introduced himself to the vice-Supergovernor.    

"It's pretty simple stuff," he said to the vice-Supergovernor and his staff.   His skin was pale pink, and his unkempt hair hung from his scalp like the fronds on a tropical tree.  But what caught everyone's attention was the invader's long furry tail, which waved lazily from a hole in his black trunks as he spoke.    

"You all know what I am, and what I can do, and what I must have done to the fleet up there to get this far, right?    Well that's it, then.   I don't see why we should waste time fighting then.   I mean, I like fighting, sure, but your best defenses were topside, and I already took care of those.    Calling for help won't work either, thanks to the jamming device I left in orbit."

"What are your terms?" the vice-Supergovernor asked.   Diplomacy was not his strong suit, though in this situation, flowery speeches weren't going to change the situation.

"I like that," the invader said.   "Straight and to the point.    I have friends coming over, and they need a place to stay.   You will disable your defenses, you will allow them land here without a fight, and no one gets hurt.   Before you know it, we'll be on our way, but you'll get to keep all your fancy buildings and weapons when it's over."

One of the chiefs-of-staff spoke up.    "This planet is a Federation world,"  she protested.   "You're asking us to betray--"

The invader pointed his finger at her and fired a ki blast through her chest, killing her instantly.    "As of twenty minutes ago," he replied, "you people got cut off from the Federation, whether you wanted to or not.   All I'm asking you to do is look out for yourselves.    Once my guys are gone, you'll be free to patch things up with your buddies, assuming any of 'em are still around.   So what'll it be?   If you want to make a go of it, that's fine with me, but this little barnhouse of yours will be the first to go, along with everyone in it.   Now, do we have an understanding?"

The vice-Supergovernor looked down at his chief-of-staff's body and nodded mournfully.  

"Good," said the invader.    "First thing you can do for me is have someone put my ship in storage.   Some place with some high security.    I don't want any busybodies fooling around with it while I wait for my buddies."

"We'll put it in the highest-security facility we have," the vice-Supergovernor said.    "I can assure you, no one will even find it, much less tamper with it."

"Good boy," the invader said with a smile.  

*******

[11 March, 233 Before Age.   Ristet IV.]

"He's not a Saiyan," Zatte said.    

"How did you figure that out?"  Dotz asked.    

"Because I'm sitting inside his ship," Zatte explained. "He wiped most of the logs, he didn't bother to clear the internal sensors, which identify the most recent passenger as a felinoid species.    Felinoids have tails like Saiyans, so they sort of look like Saiyans, but they're not."

Zatte was somewhat obsessive over these kinds of matters.   Over the past 23 hours, she had tracked down the incoming ship to the Red Manor's front lawn, learned the ship had been removed by government agents, and traced it to a secret storage facility.   There were passcodes and sensor grids to overcome, but her ability to manipulate energy  made this a fairly simple task.   She was still wearing the swimsuit and beach robe from when she had first spotted the ship.   Changing clothes had seemed like a luxury she couldn't afford, and so she hadn't bothered.  

Someone, probably the felinoid, had done something to jam planetwide communications, but this apparently only applied to off-world communications.    With the star-yacht on the planet's surface, she could read Dotz just fine on her earpiece.  

"Well, could he have had a felinoid on board with him?" Dotz suggested.

Zatte smiled at the thought.    "You wouldn't say that if you were here," she replied.    This is definitely a one-seater.   It looks more like an escape pod with a stardrive built onto it.   When this is over, I might want to take this baby with us.    Luffa could get some use out of a little ship like this."

"Um, I don't really understand then," Dotz said.   "Why would someone try to impersonate a Saiyan like this?    Especially in a war with Saiyans on both sides?"

"He's probably an opportunist," Zatte said.   "Luffa's dealt with these types before.   They show up on a planet, and shake down the population for whatever they can get, and the planet's leaders cooperate just to get rid of them.    A lot of actual Saiyans pull this trick, but plenty of other aliens do it too, anyone strong enough to blow up buildings and cities with their ki energy.    He may only be using the war as a cover.    He can play at being a Saiyan and trick his victims into thinking he's got backup when he really doesn't.   That's probably why the Federation hasn't stepped in yet.   They may think he's with the cult, and they don't know what the situation on the ground is."

"But you can shut off his jammer and tell them what's really going on, right?" Dotz asked.  

"Afraid not," Zatte said.   "I was hoping he had some kind of controller for it on his ship, but I can't find anything like that.    I could try using his navigational computer to backtrack his flight path, maybe find out where he left it, but if he was smart, his gadget has thrusters and a cloaking device."

"Oh!   But you could take his ship into orbit, outside the range of the jamming device!" Dotz suggested.   "Then you could summon the fleet that way!"

"No.   If he finds out, I'll be a sitting duck, or he might get desperate enough to hurt people on the surface.   Besides, Luffa's forces are stretched thin enough already.   I'd rather tackle this guy by myself, save them the trouble."

"By yourself?   But... but how?" Dotz asked.  

"I haven't worked that out yet," Zatte said.   She opened the hatch on the pod and lifted herself out of it, only to spot a guard making his rounds.    Normally, her powers made this a simple matter, as she could simply warp light around herself to become effectively invisible.   This time, however, she had to deal with the ship, and make certain the hatch was closed before the guard could happen to notice.   While she struggled to close it as quickly and quietly as possible, Dotz continued to speak into her ear.  

"It's just... I didn't even see any of this coming," she said.   "If there's going to be major combat on this planet, and soon, then I have no idea how it will turn out.   And I haven't read your fortune either, so if you go to face him, then... well,  anything could happen.   You might die!"

There was an audible clack as Zatte finished closing the hatch, one that she couldn't avoid, and one that the guard couldn't help but overhear.    Luckily, the acoustics of the storehouse seemed to be in her favor, and the guard wandered off in a different direction.    If he ever came back to check the pod, Zatte would be long gone.    

"Anything's possible," Zatte whispered as she crawled through the metal racks.    Upon reaching the skylight she had used to gain entry, she slipped inside and closed it behind her, then leaped down from the roof and made her way on foot to an airbike she had stowed in the bushes.    "Personally, I like my chances.   It's a risk, but an acceptable one."

"But if something goes wrong--"

"It won't," Zatte said.   "I'm sure of it, just like I'm sure we'll win the war."

"Oh."  

Zatte powered up the bike and sped along a dirt road.   Once she was certain that she was on a public highway, she dropped the invisibility effect she had used and took a roundabout path back to the spaceport.  

Why can't you believe?" Zatte asked.  "You told me before that your power can't foresee everything."

"Because even the things I do see are uncertain," Dotz said.  "I know Luffa's alive--for the moment--but not much else.  She could be fighting for her life right now, or maybe the battle's already over.   I find it's best to react to situations as they happen.   Let things play out and gather more information."

"Why did you join us?"  Zatte asked.  "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have you on board, but you've got no obligations here."

"I had a vision that someone like Luffa would help me, not long before she showed up to bring me out of the coma I was in.  I also knew that my powers would begin to change around the same time that happened.  I'm... evolving.  I don't know how else to put it.  I can't see into Luffa's future, for whatever reason.  I think that might he a sign.  Either way, she helped me once, and she might help me again.  And since I can't predict whether or not she can help me, I'll...um... have to stay nearby and find out the old fashioned way."

"Okay, but is that worth riding out a war?" Zatte asked.

"Uh... maybe not, but I have to find out.  For you, it's a matter of faith.  A foregone conclusion.  For me, it's a mystery."

"Huh.    Well, I'll be back at the ship in about half an hour.    Maybe I can take some of the mystery out of how to take this felinoid down."

*******

At the spaceport's medical facility, Dr. Topsas was poring over data on comparative Saiyan biology.   There was very little useful information on Saiyan-specific medicine, as so few Saiyans bothered to seek treatment.     Much of what Topsas knew was self-taught, or accomplished through his own requests, such as the scans conducted on Bigreen shortly after Luffa first transformed into a Super Saiyan.

He had begun his research on Ristet IV by asking a fairly simple question about feet.    Luffa's left foot had been run through with a beam of ki energy, and this had caused some substantial tendon damage.   Topsas had stitched her back together, but his preference would have been for Luffa to rest and let the wound heal.    As it was, she simply had no time for this.   The battle in the Fedender System was simply too critical.    

"They'll die if I don't get over there, Doc," she had said to him before leaving.    "What kind of a Super Saiyan would I be if I just sat around here taking it easy?"

"The healthy kind," was probably what he had said to her in reply, but her words had left a greater impression on him than he had let on, for they reminded him of an expression from his own culture.    His species was of an arachnoid biology, possessing eight limbs, each terminating with a hand, and eight eyes, positioned about the head in such a way as to see in virtually any direction.   In his youth, he had asked his pastor why they had so many more eyes and limbs than other beings.    At that age, Topsas had already become interested in vertebrate biology, and the bipedal anatomy that often accompanied it.    What strange creatures they were, to manage with only two eyes and two legs and two hands.    

His pastor had explained that their people had been blessed with extra limbs and eyes, so that they would always be able to see those in need, and lend a hand to those who needed it.    This, more than anything, was what had inspired him to become a physician.  But it had always been a matter of helping the less fortunate.   His patients were sick, injured beings in need of his care, and once he had healed them, his work was done.     He had always thought that he was drawn to Luffa because she needed more care than most; more than she was willing to admit.  

But over time, he had begun to realize that it was more than that.    In her own way, Luffa had taken on his brand of charity, and he began to see that there was more at stake than simply keeping her healthy.    Kept in sickbay, and allowed to recover in full, Luffa could save no one but herself.   In the field, she could save thousands, or even millions.    Everything hinged on how quickly Dr. Topsas could get her back in action.    

He had always loathed this aspect of sports medicine, which prioritized schedules and purses over the health of the athlete.    It encouraged risk taking and corner-cutting in the name of getting a warm body into the game.    But now the schedule was a war, and the purse was innocent lives.    He knew how to heal her, but that wasn't enough anymore.    He had to find a way to do even better.  

And so, his original query had transformed into a wider search for other treatments.     He began to stray into the unorthodox, the experimental, the techniques and prescriptions that he never would have considered before, because he lacked the confidence in his own ability to administer them.     And his response to the challenge was always that he would have to rise to the occasion.    If a better doctor was what the galaxy needed now, then he would do all that he could to become one.    He had, after all, too many eyes and too many hands not to try.

*******

While Topsas worked, his absence went mostly unnoticed by his shipmates, who assumed he was enjoying a much-needed day off.   Zatte saw no way the doctor could help, and she preferred not to burden him with this latest crisis.    Whoever this invader was, she was at least grateful to the felinoid for keeping a low profile.  

She now stood in the conference room of the ship, eating a bowl of cereal as she tweaked a holographic model of a city block.    On one particular building, a pair of fourth-story windows were ringed with glowing red rectangles.   Thin beams of green light extended out from these windows and pointed to various other buildings in the vicinity.

She was still dressed in the black swimsuit, beach robe, gloves and boots she had been wearing before.    Her face was somewhat drawn from lack of sleep, and her hair was messier, but otherwise she looked essentially the same as when this had all begun.

"Up here would be the best spot," Zatte said, pointing her spoon at a tall building on the edge of the hologram.   "The altitude, the distance from the target, it's perfect.    I could get off three or four shots and still get out of there before he'd ever find me.   The only problem is the angle."

She put the spoon back in the bowl and tapped a few keys on the table's computer console, which displayed an image over the holographic city.   It was the view from a telescopic sight, which showed the very edge of a window.

"His hotel room has two windows and I can only line up with one of them from up there.   And I had to do some pretty daring stuff with some climbing gear to make that work.   On top of that, I'd need him to be standing right next to the window to hit a vital area."

"What if something happened outside?" Dotz suggested.   "You could stage a diversion, something big enough to make him look outside to see what it was."  

"Maybe, but it'd all be for nothing if he looks out of the other window that I can't hit," Zatte said with a sigh.    "And it's not like we could just try again until it works.   Sooner or later, he'd get suspicious, or he might just stop taking the bait.    I thought about sabotaging his place, maybe screw up the plumbing enough that he'd get fed up and move to another room, but I don't want to drag things out this long.   I really just want to climb up there and take the shot."

She set down her bowl with more force than she intended, then dropped into one of the executive chairs with a frustrated groan.     "You know," Dotz said, "I'm just impressed that you can hit anything from that far away."   She got up from her seat, carefully holding the folds of her purple garments so as not to disturb the cards and crystals she had laid on the table, and pointed at the thread of green light that represented Zatte's proposed line of fire.   "I mean, this is over two miles, isn't it?"

"Nearly three," Zatte said.   "I've made longer shots than that without a problem.    It's just a matter of taking the wind into account, keeping a steady hand.    I had to get used to using the scope with my left eye, but that didn't take long."

"Your eye," Dotz said.  "You lost it in a battle, didn't you?"

"That's right," Zatte said.  "Was that a psychic reading, or simple deduction?"

"Well, deduction," Dotz said.  "You said you were a soldier, and you seem pretty stubborn in your own way.  Did you want me to divine something more than that?"

"Sure, why not?" Zatte said.   "I just need to get my mind off of this for a while."

"I'll need to see your eyepatch," Dotz said.  "If that's all right."

Zatte hesitated, then turned away and removed it from her face.  She handed it to Dotz, but only after making sure to conceal her injured eye with her free hand.

"I only take it off when I'm alone, or with Luffa," Zatte said.  It's a personal thing."

"I understand," Dotz said.   She cradled the patch in her hands for a moment, and made an intrigued noise as she closed her eyes.  "You didn't think she was coming back that day," Dotz said.  "When the shrapnel hit you in the face, you thought you were going to die, and that you'd never see her again."

Zatte didn't know how to respond to this.  She tensed the hand she was holding over her sightless prosthetic eye.

"But you didn't die, and then she came back to fight alongside you.  When you pray, you thank Providence for allowing you to keep one eye so you could see her return that day."

"That's... H-how?  I never told anyone that.  Luffa doesn't even know, unless she picked it up from me telepathically, but we don't..."

"You still feel it in your skull sometimes," Dotz went on.  "Um, your eye, that is.   Sometimes, it's like you never lost it, and it's still there, aching a little."

"Okay, I think I want that back,"  Zatte said.  "This is getting a little too personal."

"Sorry," Dotz said.   As she slid the patch across the table, she paused to look at the hologram.   "Um...What are these other green lines?" she asked.  

"Oh, those," Zatte said.   "I tried finding better angles to shoot from, but they're all too close to the target."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Dotz asked.  "I don't know a lot about guns, but..."

Zatte straightened her eyepatch and checked her hair to make sure it was free of the strap.   "It would be, but the shot from those points isn't a whole lot better than the one I want," she explained.    So the difficulty would be lower, but there's still a good chance that I miss, and then he comes barrelling out of the window to find the shooter."   She pointed at the far edge of the map.   "If I'm shooting from there, and I miss, it's not as big a deal, because I'd have time to get away and hide.   But from over here--"   Now she pointed at a closer position, on the roof of a department store.    "--he'd be on me in seconds."

"But you can make yourself invisible," Dotz said.   "And you can mask your ki."  

"Sure, but he could set off an explosion big enough to catch me before that would do me any good," Zatte explained.    "I don't know exactly how strong he is, but I got a decent idea when I tracked him down to his place.   He's definitely strong enough that I can't afford any mistakes.   One shot is all I get.    If it weren't for these damn windows!"

"Well, why not turn part of the wall invisible?" Dotz suggested.  "You can do that too, can't you?"

"It's not quite that simple," Zatte said.   She lifted her spoon and it slowly began to vanish from sight.    "What I'm doing here is bending light waves around an object.    The spoon is unchanged, but you can't see it because I'm not allowing light to bounce off of it and into your eyes."   She then held up her free hand and placed it behind the spoon.    "You can see my hand because light is bouncing off of that, and then I warp that light around the spoon and into your eyes.    But I can't make a section of the bulkhead invisible, because I'd have to bend light from the other side and bring it into this cabin, and there's no pathway for me to do that, unless you open the door or something."

"Oh, I see," Dotz said.    

"I could use the windows on the apartment as an opening," Zatte went on, but even so, I'd have to be pretty close to make it work.   Less than a hundred feet, I think.    I might as well knock on the door and shoot him when he answers it."

"Well, why not try that?" Dotz asked.   She stood up and pointed at the building across from the apartment.  "Not... not knocking on his door, I mean.   But you could set up here, and make part of his wall invisible, and then you couldn't miss."

"Dotz," Zatte said, "he'll notice me right away.   As soon as he looks up and sees a hole in his wall, he'll know something's up before I even get a chance to aim."

"He might not look up," Dotz said.    "You could make a small hole, just big enough to see through."

Zatte took a deep breath and put her hands behind her head  as she leaned back in the chair.   "It's too risky.   I mean, if he's facing away from me, there's no problem at all.   At that range the shot becomes child's play, sure.   But if he's facing the wall, and he's already on edge..."

"Oh, but I don't think he is," Dotz said.   "He snuck into a war zone, past a fleet, and then he bluffed his way into conquering this planet.    Right now, he's probably thinking he doesn't need to worry about anything.    He's already won."

"Is that a prophecy?" Zatte asked.    

"Call it a hunch," Dotz said.   "It's just that... if he were worried, he wouldn't be hiding in plain sight like this, would he?   He thinks he's holding all the cards.    The last thing he expects is someone like you to shoot him.    Besides, I have... well, I suppose I have faith in you.   You know your skills, and you believe this is worth doing.   Just like you believe Luffa will win this war."

Zatte leaned forward in her chair and looked at Dotz for at least a minute.      

"You're right," she finally said.   "I have to do this, and I need to do it soon.    It's risky, but it'll only be riskier if I wait.   If Providence has decided that I should fail, then there's nothing I can do about it."  

She stood up from her chair, and then Dotz did the same.    "I'll go with you," she offered, but Zatte gestured for her to sit.  

"No, I can't risk losing both of us," she said.   "And if something does go wrong, I need you to fill in the others on what happened.   But I appreciate the offer."  

"At least let me read your fortune," Dotz said.   "I might be able to tell you if this will work or not."

"Thanks, but no," Zatte said.   "But I'll tell you what.   If I make it back, I'll tell you all about the vision I had.    If I'm going to take a chance, we may as well make this interesting, right?   A little side-bet won't hurt."

Dotz smiled, but not as cheerfully as she might have liked.    She was confident that this plan would work, and it seemed that Zatte believed in it too, but she still felt responsible for whatever came next, as if she had signed the young woman's death warrant.    

But there had been no fear in Zatte's eye when she turned and left for her mission.   Dotz had gathered this much just from handling the eyepatch.   With past clients, such objects often carried signs of regret, or bitterness, or repressed trauma.     Zatte's eyepatch had traces of these, to be sure, but they were overshadowed by a sense of duty and honor, and the notion that her physical loss served a higher purpose.   Dotz didn't know if there was any truth to this, but it didn't seem to matter.    Zatte believed it, and for now, that was enough.  

And so, when Zatte returned a few hours later, alive and unhurt, holding a bottle of spirits to celebrate her successful hit, Dotz was deeply relieved, but not altogether surprised.  

NEXT: ...To She Who Waits.

[blackbatpurplecat]

My Thoughts on Batman: Hush (the animated movie)

The story arc Batman: Hush from 2002 was one of the first Batman comics I have ever read and it quickly became one of my all time favorites. I would have given everything to get an animated movie based on it!

Then the adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke came out and changed everything.

I had to take a closer look at recent DC animated movies and realized their glorious days had been over for a long time. I stopped wishing for an animated movie. One came out anyway. So was I wrong? Was this another loveless adaptation with stiff animation and unnecessary changes?

Right at the start, we see a closeup of Gordon’s hand and he’s wearing his wedding ring on his middle finger so... yup, I’m sure DC invested a lot of money in the film’s production...

I’m gonna assume we all know the comic’s story. We know about BatCat giving their love a try, that Bruce reveals his identity to Selina, that Catwoman pushes Lois Lane off the Daily Planet to help Supes break free from Ivy’s control, how Bruce’s childhood friend Thomas Elliot is killed, how Clayface is mimicking Jason Todd which triggers Batman, that the new villain called Hush actually is Thomas Elliot who had teamed up with Riddler, that Riddler knows who Batman is, and that Batman breaks up with Catwoman because he’s still having trust issues.

Let’s just say the arc is PACKED with story and characters so it shouldn’t be hard to make a movie out of it, right? Sure, I was expecting some changes because of its packed-ness. Not every single subplot and every single character would make the cut, I get it. However, I still wasn’t prepared for what DC turned the story into.

So what were some of those changes and what did I think of them:

- replace Killer Croc with Bane. alright, more people know Bane, it���s fine - replace Huntress with Batgirl. ugggggh, okayyy... more people know Batgirl. I feel bad that this choice removed Oracle’s existence but okay. she had one scene, you already had the character design from that godawful Killing Joke movie and not enough budget to make Huntress, I can see past this - cut Leslie Thompkins. hmmm yessss okay, she wasn’t that essential to the story, alright, I can live with it - cut the entire involvement of the League of Assassins. I’m not the biggest fan of Ra’s al Ghul and co. so I didn’t mind that they reduced it to one cameo of Lady Shiva. HOWEVER she is the world’s best fighter! WHY NOT SHOW HER FIGHTING?! she could have been so much better but they chose to waste her for exposition purposes - make Amanda Waller skinny. yes, they once again turned the baddest bitch into a skinny woman because we can’t have fat people in a Batman movie, no one wants to fuck a fat Waller or jerk it over a fat Waller -__- just get over yourselves, DC you assholes! - Robin was cut entirely. wow. just wow. why do DC hate Robin so much? I don’t get it! - the shit stain rape result popped up in one scene for absolutely no purpose except for poorly establishing a fucked up “continuity” between all recent DC animated movies. something NO ONE in the fucking world wants or needs. just kill that little shit, he serves no purpose, he was annoying as fuck, he wasn’t even created when the original story came out, fuck him, delete him, stop shoe horning him into every Batman-related thing, he’s useless - cut the entire Jason Todd part. again, why the Robin hate?! it was one of the most emotional parts of the story, why cut it?! - cut the BatCat scenes in the cave, including Alfred telling Selina that he thinks the world of her. no words except for “what a disappointment” - change the entire ending and make it worse. S I G H

So Thomas Elliot was just a red herring for everyone who’s read the comics. Instead of Hush having a personal connection to Bruce and having more complex reasons to kill him, we get Riddler who wants to kill him just because he can. Cool. But seriously, who thought that this would make a satisfying ending?!

Kidnap Catwoman, make her the damsel in distress, have Batman come save her, and kill the bad guy - sounds like a quality script to me...

But apart from the poorly written ending, I have a major problem with what the movie focuses on: the Batman x Catwoman romance.

A huge reason why I love the comic is the BatCat relationship. It’s the first time, Batman kisses Catwoman back, it’s Bruce willingly revealing his secret to Selina to include her in his ENTIRE life and trust her with his life. We see them work together really well, we see how Selina loves Bruce but also doesn’t give up her independence. She’s willing to be by his side but won’t turn into his sidekick or change into a to him more “convenient” version of herself. And most importantly, she understands and appreciates and loves Bruce for his moral code.

DC being DC, they of course only half-ass their biggest romance.

While I did enjoy the added BatCat footage like Bruce and Selina in bed (I LoVeD that Selina sounded like they had just had the wildest most erotic experience ever while she was still wearing a shirt and he was wearing his boxers and both Selina and Bruce looked stiff as boards o_O ), having breakfast together, sharing kisses, taking down thugs together, and just the entire pacing indicated that their relationship grew over a longer time period in comparison to the comic, the movie fucked up essential points which I won’t forgive.

Catwoman was portrayed as a murderous, reckless villain. There’s no way around it. It was HER who threw Lois off a building and Bats chided her for it (IN THE COMICS IT WAS HIS IDEA), he has to hold her back from scratching up a bad guy’s face, she cuts the line holding Riddler so he falls to his death (CATWOMAN ACTIVELY KILLS HERE), and in the end, she angrily accuses Bruce of being absolutely insane because he has a moral code to keep himself from becoming what he’s fighting against.

What the flying fuck?!

That ending pissed me off SO MUCH! In the comic’s story arc, Batman breaks it off due to trust issues and it did seem a bit rushed and irrational just to re-establish the comics’ status quo of “Batman has to be single” but it’s a SO MUCH BETTER REASON than what the movie gives us! Catwoman has no problem with killing (one of the reasons I hate Nolan’s interpretation of her) and doesn’t understand Bruce AT ALL, she doesn’t get him as a person, she doesn’t understand that he wants to SAVE and PROTECT. He sums it up quite well, if there’s a chance to save someone, he has to at least try. That’s the hopeful Bruce we rarely see because DC fanboys are all about grim gritty edgy brutal.

And then they part on “maybe we’ll see things the same someday” a.k.a. Catwoman hopes that Batman will someday have NO problem with killing. Fuck. You.

So in this movie, Selina was a reckless murderess, a damsel in distress, and of course willing to change herself for a man and not for herself. Big round of applause for shitting on Catwoman.

Alright, done with my rant on story-related shit. What else was there?

Yes, the additional BatCat scenes were nice as well as the interaction between Catwoman and Nightwing. Just Nightwing in general was awesome. A true BatCat shipper.

The dialogues were bad. Best example is the post-sex one.

I can’t say much about the music, it was so bland that I have already forgotten it.

The animation ranged from nice to fucking bad. They had clearly put more effort into the fighting scenes when the movements were fluid and smooth - and then you get back to stiff, dead characters and nothing moves on them except their mouths. I couldn’t help but compare the shots to the comic’s pages: Superman and Poison Ivy, Joker on the trashcan, the big BatCat kiss - they all looked fucking ICONIC in the books but so boring and bland in the movie, with a color palette that covered mostly black and gray. There was absolutely nothing memorable about the adaptation’s look and style.

(also: yes, we totally needed ivy kissing catwoman so all the fanboys have jerk material again and harley quinn’s costume reveals her shoulders now? what a mUcH nEeDeEd change to the costume, yes, well done)

Also the pacing was weird, there were SO many awkward pauses in-between dialogues. I cringed way too often watching this.

Which brings me to the voice-acting. Did DC have so little faith in one of their most iconic stories that they didn’t even bother to get Conroy + Hamill? I guess so. Once Upon a Time star Jennifer Morrison did a great job at being Catwoman, her voice was a really good choice! Also Sean Maher as Nightwing was a riot. Jason Spisak was a surprisingly good Joker as well as Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn - but how do you cast Tara Strong and NOT give her Harley?!

The biggest dud however was Jason O’Mara again. He has no range at all, he keeps his voice as monotonous as possible ALL THE FRICKING TIME. There’s no Bruce Wayne voice, no Batman voice, he just grumbles everything without any emotions behind it.

Well, I guess that was it. I could go into more detail about every single thing they changed but I think this review is long enough as it is already. ;)

Would I recommend the animated adaptation of Batman: Hush? Maybe. To me, it was an expected letdown because DC’s animated movies are almost on the same very low level of the live-action movies nowadays, so if you’d ask me “should I watch it?”, I’d say “if you like BatCat, yes BUT read the comic first and don’t expect too much from the movie.”

[dfroza]

Love is absolute purity and Light.

and we only see it clear by faith and through grace that renews the heart & mind.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 3rd chapter of the Letter of Galatians:

You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a spell on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.

Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!

Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.

Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed in you.”

So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.”

The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.”

Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.

* * *

Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person’s will has been signed, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say “to descendants,” referring to everybody in general, but “to your descendant” (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier signed by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.

What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.

If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God’s will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.

Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.

But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.

The Letter of Galatians, Chapter 3 (The Message)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 1st chapter of the book of Jeremiah about his True purpose of delivering God’s message to others without fearing what they think:

The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:

“Before I shaped you in the womb,

I knew all about you.

Before you saw the light of day,

I had holy plans for you:

A prophet to the nations—

that’s what I had in mind for you.”

But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.

I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’

I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.

I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.

Don’t be afraid of a soul.

I’ll be right there, looking after you.”

God’s Decree.

God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,

“Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!

See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do

among nations and governments—a red-letter day!

Your job is to pull up and tear down,

take apart and demolish,

And then start over,

building and planting.”

God’s Message came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “A walking stick—that’s all.”

And God said, “Good eyes! I’m sticking with you.

I’ll make every word I give you come true.”

God’s Message came again: “So what do you see now?”

I said, “I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us.”

Then God told me, “Disaster will pour out of the north

on everyone living in this land.

Watch for this: I’m calling all the kings out of the north.”

God’s Decree.

“They’ll come and set up headquarters

facing Jerusalem’s gates,

Facing all the city walls,

facing all the villages of Judah.

I’ll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah

for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—

And courting other gods with their offerings,

worshiping as gods sticks they’d carved, stones they’d painted.

“But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!

Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.

Don’t pull your punches

or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.

“Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.

I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,

Immovable as a steel post,

solid as a concrete block wall.

You’re a one-man defense system

against this culture,

Against Judah’s kings and princes,

against the priests and local leaders.

They’ll fight you, but they won’t

even scratch you.

I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”

God’s Decree.

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 1 (The Message)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, August 14 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about wholeness through humility:

In our Torah portion for this week (i.e., Shoftim) we read: “You shall be wholehearted with the LORD your God” (Deut. 18:13). Note that the word “wholehearted” in this verse (i.e., tamim: תָּמִים) is often translated as “perfect” or “blameless” in many Bible versions, though it is better to understand the word to connote being made “complete” or “whole.” When God said to Abraham, “I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be "tamim" (Gen. 17:1), he was not saying “be perfect” or “don’t ever make a mistake,” but rather be fully engaged, that is, walk before God passionately, sincerely, with all his heart, and by doing so “walk out” the relationship with full assurance that he is accepted and beloved by God. Likewise when Yeshua said “Be therefore perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), he meant that we should be complete, finished, and “made whole” by knowing and receiving the overflowing love and light of God...

“You shall be wholehearted” is a mandate to know who you are, to know what is truly good as distinguished from what is evil, and to be united with God’s passion to be healed from your inner conflicts and ambivalence (δίψυχος). We are made “whole” or “perfect” (i.e., complete) when we resolutely turn to God for healing of what divides our hearts, as it says: “The Torah of the LORD is perfect (תָּמִים), returning the soul” (Psalm 19:8). Understand the Torah’s commandment, then: “You shall be tamim (i.e., whole and wholehearted) with the LORD your God,” to be a prophecy of transformation for your life, friend... Amen: May you know "the love of Messiah that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19).

Note that in the Sefer Torah (i.e., the handwritten Torah scroll), the first letter of the word tamim (“wholehearted”) is written extra LARGE in order to emphasize the importance of the word. Notice also the little word “with” (עִם) that follows in this verse. This hearkens to Micah 6:8: “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice (mishpat), and to love kindness (chesed), and to walk humbly (hatznea lechet) with your God?” Having a humble heart walks with the LORD. Humility begins with the awareness that 1) there is a God and 2) you are not Him.... It is the practice of da lifnei mi attah omed: “knowing before whom you stand” and living your life in light of this fundamental truth. [Hebrew for Christians]

8.13.21 • Facebook

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

August 14, 2021

Questioning God

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)

Whenever one begins a question with “why,” he should realize that the answer must necessarily be theological, not scientific. Science can deal with the questions of “what” and “how,” sometimes even with “where” and “when,” but never with “why”! The “why” questions have to do with motives and purposes, even when dealing with natural phenomena. (“Why does the earth rotate on its axis?” “Why do we have mosquitoes?”) Even though we can partially explain such things by secondary causes, we finally encounter a “first cause,” and then the “why?” can be answered only by God.

The wise thing to do is simply to believe that He has good reasons for everything, whether we can discern them now or not. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). God the Creator “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11), and it is our high privilege simply to trust Him, not to question Him.

On the other hand, He often asks us: “Why?” “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Jesus asked His disciples when they thought they were in great peril (Matthew 8:26). “If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” (John 8:46), He would say to those who question His Word.

Then, to those who doubt His deity, the apostle Paul, speaking in His name, asks: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). As the popular chorus goes: “God specializes in things thought impossible!” Our God is omniscient and knows what’s best; He is omnipotent, so He can do it. He is all-loving and will surely do what’s best for those who trust Him. HMM