#the maidens' conspiracy

[theimpalatales]

Charlie Cox as Diafebus || Charlie Cox's filmography

Buy me a ☕️

[taffetastrology]

The signs as Tirante el Blanco costumes

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

[tiredwiredanduninspired]

I always forget how unhinged Bobby is since he has to be the firefam’s dad but whenever he is with Michael he’s absolutely hilarious

They destroy each others brain cells

[miyukisaeki23]

Si, sigo viva.

Bueno, otro post de estos para decir que sigo viva. Os voy a contar lo que he ido haciendo en estos meses, aunque no hice muchas cosas.

Simplemente sigo trabajando like always, aunque la gran mayoría del tiempo me toco los huevos porque no hay nada que hacer.

También sigo haciendo directos, aunque ahora duran como mucho dos horas porque tampoco es que pueda permitirme hacer quinientas horas de directo como podía hacer antes.

Actualmente estoy jugando el katrielle layton, que es el último juego de la saga de layton que me faltaba y... no se si será que me he repasado los anteriores y esos los tengo en un pedestal o que, pero este se me está haciendo un poco cuesta arriba.

Que a ver, el juego no está mal, pero el echo de que sea tan infantiloide me causa un no se que que se yo muy raro. Con esto me refiero a que me causa un poco de disonancia, ya que, a pesar de que tiene el mismo pegi que los otros juegos de la saga Layton, siento que te tratan más como un niño pequeño, cuando los otros, a pesar de ser pegi 7, tenían una historia más profunda a pesar de que en algunos metan cosas de fantasía.

En fin, que me voy a esperar a terminar el juego a ver que opino de él, pero ya os digo que no va a entrar en el top 10 de juegos que me haya pasado este año, 2024.

También estoy jugando algunos juegos de rpg maker, entre ellos he estado jugando el fantasy maiden's odd hideout, el cual me ha encantado demasiado.

Ya os pasaré mi opinión sobre el juego en cuanto suba un vídeo de los videojuegos que me he pasado en julio.

Sin nada más que añadir, me despido mis amores!

[toxicmetalzine]

Southtowne Lanes

Southtowne Lanes Releases New Album 'Take Care' Get the album details right here: https://toxicmetalzine.com/post/southtown

[finnismyoriginalsin]

The Maidens' Conspiracy (Tirante el Blanco) (2006) || Classic Movie

The first time I’ve heard this movie in English...and it’s subtitled with voice over in another language argh..and they took out all the sexy parts lol

@vicioux, @lilbreck

[honeyflashbang]

My theory on Sampo's true identity...

(Minor Spoilers for 2.4) (also, I’m no expert in… anything, really, but these are just my ramblings).

So, this has probably been mentioned before, but I have a teeny-tiny theory about Sampo’s true identity, and it relates to Finnish mythology.

So, “Sampo” in and of itself doesn’t have a set meaning, but it has its roots in Finnish mythology, particularly the “Kalevala” which is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry. In it, a blacksmith god by the name of Seppo Ilmari(nen) forges the mythical device known as “The Sampo”. It’s never quite explained what The Sampo really is; some versions depict it as a mill, others as a cornucopia from which bountiful creations flow from, and some even have it as being a world tree/world pillar, so what The Sampo really is, isn’t entirely known. But, what is known, is that it brought riches and good fortune to its holder (again, the same as the cornucopia from Greek mythology).

But why am I mentioning all of this? Why bring up the Kalevala? It could be that Hoyo just chose the name “Sampo” for some flavour—befitting of a character who magics up relics from seemingly thin air and is trying to create riches—and yeah, it’s a possibility…

Until I saw these two screenshots from the 2.4 story:

You know what this means, right? 

Kalevala is a real planet in Hoyo’s Star Rail universe, and I find it awfully coincidental that they would use this name for a planet and not have it related to a certain blue haired conman, especially since The Sampo is such a pivotal element in the plot of the Kalevala—there is no way this is a coincidence (I refuse to believe it).

This leads me to believe that Kalevala is Sampo’s real home world, and is where he originates from.

Now, this is all well and good, knowing where “The Sampo” hails from, but I want to focus on its creator—Seppo Ilmari(nen)—and his parallels to a certain blue haired conman. For one, Ilmari(nen)’s name is quite interesting as the ‘Ilma’ part is Finnish for ‘air’ or ‘weather’, and as we know, Sampo’s element is that of ‘wind’ (And also the fact that Ilmari(nen) is credited as “Godlike smith-hero and creator of the sky”. I could go into a whole spiel about Ilmari(nen) and Qlipoth swinging their giant hammers in tandem together for all eternity (Go Sampard! Geppie is Qlipoth's true heir, you can't convince me otherwise!), but that’s for another conspiracy theory lol).

So, ‘Ilma’ means ‘air’, and Sampo wields ‘wind’.

Cool.

If the parallels ended there, I’d just say I was being crazy… but there’s more.

Sampo’s 4th (and arguably best) eidolon is called “The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate”. Two out of his six eidolons refer to 'love', whilst the other 4 are to do with wealth and riches. The wealth and richest aspect leans towards The Sampo of mythology, whilst the ‘love’ aspect, well…

According to the story, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is the unluckiest bastard alive when it comes to love. Like, seriously. His whole storyline is that he can’t find a woman. For one, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is double crossed by his so called buddy, Väinämöinen, into creating The Sampo for the evil witch Louhi of Pohjola in exchange for her daughter’s hand in marriage (which, Ilmari didn’t even want in the beginning), but when the poor guy actually sees the daughter and falls in love with her (and subsequently creates the Sampo—after failing miserably a number of times, mind you—he creates a crossbow, a boat, a cow(wtf?) and a plough, all which are somehow either evil or flawed), she ups and just leaves him hanging! (in the original runes, however, he is successful in gaining a wife, as his ‘unlucky in love’ spiel was later added by Lönnrot in compiling the Kalevala).

As with any mythology and re-telling of it, there’s so many different versions of the same event. In “The Maiden of the North”, a 1898 opera written by Oskar Merikanto, both Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen compete for the chance to marry Louhi’s daughter, who is then mentioned as being “Ilmari(nen)’s first wife” and who later dies to Kullervo’s curse (apparently she was a bit of a bitch to Kullervo by taunting and tormenting the poor boy—who was a child slave mind you!). Distraught, Ilmari(nen) forges himself a wife of gold and silver, but he finds her to be too cold and callous—he forges her out of love but only finds hate—so he tries to gift her to Väinämöinen (who doesn’t want her either, lol), and suggests he cast her back into the furnace and to “forge from her a thousand trinkets”.

Here’s the accompanying poem:

Never, youths, however wretched,

Nor in future, upgrown heroes,

Whether you have large possessions,

Or are poor in your possessions,

In the course of all your lifetime,

While the golden moon is shining,

May you woo a golden woman,

Or distress yourselves for silver,

For the gleam of gold is freezing,

Only frost is breathed by silver.

It is apparently your standard Aesop’s fable of “money can’t buy happiness”, which is something else I see in our dear old Sampo Koski. During our time in Belobog, we see how different he acts with the Underworld and Overworlders. To the poor, he actually seems approachable (albeit a bit of a nuisance), going so far as to help the Underworlders (an example being the questline “Survival Wisdom” in which he and Peak set up a business together renting out his tools to help the miners make a decent wage to support their families). In contrast, we actively see Sampo being very hostile towards the Overworlders, scamming them and putting the nobles in their place or setting them up to be caught by the Silvermane Guards (an example being during the museum questline where you discover his identity as “Mr Cold Feet”. Sampo clearly states to who he thinks is his mark that ‘we are not friends’ in a very hostile manner, something which we’ve not seen from Sampo before as he is usually quite amicable). 

For all Sampo’s showboating and flashing his money around, he helps where it counts. He wants to make money, sure, but not at the detriment of the people who need it the most, only to those with excess.

Anyway, back to him being unlucky in love…

In another rune entitled “Kosinta”, Ilmari(nen) goes on a journey to compete for Hiisi’s daughter, and wins by completing various feats, one of them being “ploughing a field full of snakes”:

And as we know, Sampo is very heavy on the snake motifs (the head of the snake on his shoulders, the spine wrapped around him, the daggers are its fangs…etc.)

So that’s another interesting link between Seppo Ilmari(nen) and Sampo Koski.

So, why have I gone on this long winded tangent about Seppo Ilmari(nen) when I’m supposed to be talking about Sampo Koski?

Well, that’s because I think Sampo Koski’s real name is (or a variant of) Ilmarinen.

In the Hoyo universe, I believe Ilmarinen came from the planet Kalevala and ‘created’ the persona of Sampo Koski, much like how in the Kalevala, Seppo Ilmari(nen) forged The Sampo.

As I’ve listed above, there’s so many links between the two:

“Air” as a name and “Wind” as an element.

Seppo Ilmari(nen) ploughed a field of snakes to win Hiisi’s daughter’s hand in marriage, whilst Sampo Koski relies heavily on snake motifs for his attire.

Sampo’s two eidolon names that relate to love (which are completely different from the other 4 eidolon names), whilst Seppo Ilmari(nen) is known to be unlucky in love.

I’m pretty damn sure Sampo creates his own bombs and tinkers with the old relics to bring them back to life, whereas Seppo Ilmari(nen) is a smith who created the dome of the sky! They’re both artificers!

And now the revelation that a planet by the name of “Kalevala” exists is no mere coincidence.

So, either Sampo is Ilmari(nen) - or! - Sampo is a puppet (like Herta) created by someone called Ilmari(nen). 

(I would love if his 5* version is him with this name).

Right, I’m finished rambling. Gonna go huff some copium...

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Hello, what is goetd super race theory?

In the world of ASOIAF, the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, far to the east, is a pretty blatant expy of China. One of their myths -- and it is only their myth, nobody else's -- is the Great Empire of the Dawn, the legendary empire that preceded their own. The Yi Ti imperial dynasties are named after colors (for example, Lo Tho, Lo Duq, Lo Han, and Lo Bu were Scarlet Emperors), but their mythological ancestors were named after various gemstones. The Great Empire is pretty obviously based on the Chinese myth of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and is perfectly straightforward worldbuilding. There's some interest to current ASOIAF since the end of the Great Empire of the Dawn is connected to Yi Ti's legends of the Long Night, and since the Pearl Emperor established the Five Forts (a historical echo of the Wall and likely serving a similar purpose), but that's about all that's really relevant.

However. Because Dany's dream of her Targaryen ancestors used gemstone colors to describe their eyes, a theory has been built up that the Great Empire of the Dawn was not merely Yi Ti (Chinese) mythology, but the ancestors of Valyrians from millenia ago. According to the theory, this master race also founded House Hightower and House Dayne and thus they look Chinese no wait sorry they're all silver-gold haired and purple eyes except they're not, like you'd think if those particular traits were meant to be relevant for House Hightower they would have been mentioned once in all of ASOIAF (excluding Alerie Hightower, who's in her 40s and thus her silver hair may just be prematurely grey).

I find this theory to unfortunately echo various "master race" elements of Theosophy and Nazi race science, in addition to erasing the actual our-world cultural inspiration of the Great Empire. (This sort of thing is why an artist decided to make the Maiden-Made-of-Light, a Yi Ti goddess, a blonde white girl and based on Selene, instead of, idk, Ameratsu or Doumu.) I really truly dislike the theory and everything connected with it, and the fact that it's all built up over a misreading of one line makes it all the more frustrating to me. Like, I don't care for a particular theory Youtuber for most of his crack nonsense, among other reasons, but this one is especially bad.

Of course, the fact that House Hightower also gets hit with the Citadel-related southron ambitions theory and maester anti-magic conspiracy theory, which do have some standing, but have been blown up by paranoid ASOIAF video theorists on youtube and Tiktok to make them the eugenical secret breeders of all the noble houses and the secret reason for anything bad that ever happened to House Targaryen ever and the manipulators of all historical texts so the only true facts are the ones that put your blorbos in a good light, to the point that I've started calling this paranoia "the Protocols of the Elders of Hightower" -- anyway, the fact the Hightowers have these diametrically opposed fan theories attached to them, is something I'd find hilarious if it didn't depress me so much about fandom. 🤷‍♀️

[astonmartinii]

george russell’s the type of guy | george russell instagram au

pairing: george russell x reader 

when george starts to hint at a relationship, the internet can’t quite believe who “white bread” george russell is with. 

f1wagupdates

liked by likedbypierregasly, albono23 and 421 others 

tagged: georgerussell63 

f1wagupdates george posted this on his story recently sparking rumours he’s in a relationship. we don’t know who she is yet but it looks like he took her home to the countryside, very cute. 

view all 21 comments 

yukierreforever george russell attempting a soft launch was not on my 2023 bingo card 

softleclerc the way she looks exactly like the country girl we’d expect

lavenderlewis i wonder what private school she went to 

yourusername 

liked by georgerussell63, y/bffname and 9,087 others 

yourusername a still from a recent project (killing my friend’s exes - jk if you’re the police) 

view all 101 comments 

peachyrussell @georgerussell63​ ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??? 

y/bffname stab me please 

yourusername ur wish is my command 

f1fan34 she’s super cute but like we all know this isn’t the girl on george’s story right??? he’s the type of guy to cry if she rose her voice at him 

lordperceval  omg let him breathe 

georgerussell63 

liked yourusername, alex_albon and 271,430 others 

georgerussell63 a weekend away from the track well spent 

view all 11,629 comments 

alex_albon GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL WHAT IS GOING ON 

landonorris RUSSELL we need answers now !!!!!

charles_leclerc the boys gives us regular life powerpoints but conveniently left this out 

georgerussell63 we have a group chat for a reason CAN WE NOT USE IT 

cleclerc16 i don’t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist but it was defo that girl whose pic he liked the other day 

chillisainz55  all the pics have been a brunette... you may be onto something 

yourusername 

liked by georgerussell63, lovelysainz55 and 11,338 others 

yourusername word on the street is that i’m cuffed so enjoy this pic before they become one-way traffic to him 

view all 231 comments 

georgerussell63 one of a kind beauty 

yourusername come back home i miss you (all of you) 

alex_albon THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE 

yourusername you can see yourself out 

f1girly12 i honestly don’t even know what’s going on anymore 

totowolffy can someone grab a camera when they show toto who george is with i wanna see his breakdown 

georgerussell63 

liked by lewishamilton, yourusername and 671,349 others 

tagged: yourusername, mercedesamgf1 

georgerussell63 ahhhhhh this is what we’ve been working for, thank you so much to everyone at mercedes. words can’t describe how much this means to me and my family, my maiden win is something i’ll never forget (though thanks to a special someone i don’t really remember the celebrations). 

view all 11,982 comments 

yourusername you’re welcome handsome, congrats on the win lover 

danielricciardo russell george i think i say on behalf of the entire paddock that we love your girlfriend and her parties 

yourusername anytime danny 

georgerussell63 i love her more 

landonorris man you make it so sappy everytime 

f1wagupdates so is this the full confirmation? 

russymerc i feel like i’m the only one who isn’t surprised that george finally went for a girl like her instead of what everyone expected 

yourusername 

liked by georgerussell63, mercedesamgf1 and 24,198 others 

tagged: georgerussell63 

yourusername the paddock looks good on me. oh and congrats georgie boy, (gross shit incoming) i’m so proud of you, here’s to being at your side for the many more in the future xx 

view all 3,091 comments 

russellstar63 they’re so different but i actually love them together so much 

georgerussell63 thank you my love, i intend on winning a championship with you 

lewishamilton now i see what alex was complaining about 

pierregasly be in love somewhere else 

alex_albon god you’re such a loser how did this happen 

yourusername  i think you’re cool babe 

[thelibrarian1895]

Wayne Family Tree- no one believes the official version

Dick regularly calls completely normal reporter Clark Kent "Uncle". Despite uncle being a fairly normal thing to call a male presenting person who not related but accepted as family, people start to notice that there's actually some resemblance between mild mannered reporter Clark Kent and beloved himbo prince of Gotham Brucie Wayne.

As a result, there is a significant number of people between Metropolis and Gotham who strongly suspect that Clark and Bruce are actually biologically related and are either brothers, half brothers, or possibly cousins. Those who suspect this frequently overlap with the portion of the population who absolutely believe that Brucie's adopted children are all actually Brucie's biological children. A smaller handful suspect that Alfred Pennyworth, still infamously thought to have been part of a thruple with Thomas and Martha Wayne, is Jon Kent Senior's brother and the relationship is through that line. There are numerous blogs online that try to piece together the hypothetical "true" Wayne family tree.

More than a few around the Daily Planet or other news companies rib Clark, some kindly and others not so much, for working for his brother. Clark had thought that this would mean he doesn't get assigned to puff pieces at Wayne family events. Unfortunately he is wrong since Perry White points out that Brucie owns the Daily Planet anyway so no matter what they do, the Daily Planet will be accused of bias if they have any mention of any of the Waynes in their articles.

Brucie, when he learns of the conspiracy, 100% feeds the rumors but does not confirm at all because he is a troll and, if pressed, might mention that if he had to pick a brother, Clark wouldn't be last on the list.

Kon, in the meantime, is considering picking out a new surname from the phone book or taking up Martha Kent's maiden name while Tim contemplates dropping "Wayne" from his name.

[theimpalatales]

Is there one part you'll admit you don't want on your record?

Since some of you still need to be convinced *not* to watch The Maidens' Conspiracy 😂😂

Charlie Cox panels || Charlie as Diafebus

Buy me a ☕️

[emptyjunior]

The concept of Riz dying decades or in some cases Centuries before his friends is too sad for me, anyways Riz isekai/regression au. 

So Riz, at the end of his life, I assume a decorated private investigator, maybe in and out of many agencies until he like unearthed corruption in them and got kicked out, you know just general Riz stuff.  

I think he would honestly get Jacked, but in like a wiry way, I think by the time he was old his combat sense and powers of deduction would be Insane even if his body cannot keep up with his mind anymore. 

And then I assume he’d die peacefully in bed OR in a dramatic and horrifying conspiracy, possibly on a sinking boat or a waterfall, that all his friends would have to investigate in his honour. 

So Riz dead, gone, finally at peace. 

Or at least he Thinks, BEEP BEEP annoying sound of alarm clock waking him up for his first day of school. 

Chronomancy is most likely to blame. 

So general premise is Riz instantly goes from an awkward teen scrambling to solve his babysitter’s disappearance, with no resources or social skills, twitchy and underfed to a calm and seasoned detective. I think that morning when Sklonda goes to see where he is, he’s made her breakfast, bacon and pancakes. And as she sits down in shock at the table, he quietly slides a file over to her which is every active case she’s working on, methodically solved with notes and clearly explained timelines to the culprit. And if she turns it over to the back, there’s also a resignation letter in there and an application to law school ready to be filled out. And when Sklonda looks up at Riz shaken, he just gives her a kiss on the forehead and a smile like he’s seeing someone he hasn’t seen for many years and then calmly goes to class. 

I also want: 

-Dealing with bullies that first day like Ragh and Fabian like he’s greeting loved ones. Darting out of their attempts to grab him with a dancer’s flourish that he could have only learnt from a high elf... 

-I think Fabian would be a Big Part of his plans (because the most fun part of regression time travel stories is when they start Amassing wealth) so I think he honestly just goes straight to his house, tells Bill Seacaster that him and his son are best friends (which Fabian would SCREAM at if he got humiliated by this goblin earlier that day) and then challenges Bill to a shooting contest and thrashes him, which makes Bill keel over with laughter, offer him a place on his crew, offers him his son’s hand (Fabian is hitting critical levels of red anger embarrassed face at this point) 

-Other fun ways to gather wealth, Riz just robs Kalvaxus. Just remembers every little detail about the accounts from his files, goes to the bank, gives all the current passwords, transfers the Entire dragonhoard to his own account 

-And yes the plot would all be decimating Goldenhoard that first year, so Riz just saves every girl before they’re captured, the maidens that have already been taken, hunts them down. I think he goes to the gas station that Johnny Spells and his friend’s occupy, locks the door and walks right into this den of bikers, just full Kingsman fight sequence decimates them. Because I think he would feel So good getting a body back that hasn’t been rung with years of stress and Kristen Shenanigans that he is in like peak condition 

-First Day finds the rogue teacher which is why he has so much time for running around preparing everyone’s future

-I think, honestly, he shoots Coach Daybreak in the head on sight and gets sent to the principal’s office and Aguefort’s like “are you doing a chronomancy?” and he says yea and Aguefort’s like sweet, carry on 

I think he finds Jawbone taking terrible paying bouncer jobs, and just offers him a bodyguard/assistant job so he has a little buddy to investigate with.

Starts a full out war with Helio followers because they had way too much reach in town, and when they try to debate with him he has Way more knowledge about their scripture than they do and some truly dangerous deity blackmail locked and loaded and Helio himself comes down and says haha leave this kid alone he just implied he can reincarnate a God, let’s go, let’s go.

Finds some insane legal loophole that absolutely strips Adaine and Aelwyn’s parents of influence and gives their children power over all their assets. Weirdly becomes very close friends with Aelwyn, maybe it’s because they both have the same taste in liquor now.

I think he’d start an information guild that involves like Zayn Darkshadow, Fig in her many disguises, Aelwyn and surprisingly Kipperlilly. Also Kalina! And he knows exactly how to summon her and keeps saying things to her that are friendly yet intimidating and it freaks her out.

Walks up to gorgug, hands him a study plan pathway to MCAT and walks off leaving gorgug very confused (and probably asking if he was his dad) 

Just fun time travel future knowledge shenanigans! And I cannot restate again, we saw how quick a Junior Year Riz is at investigating and making leaps to the right answer. By the time he is at the end of his life, I feel like he’s reached moriarty levels of detective prowess. The many new enemies he keeps making keep coming to him and he just strips them down with his powers of deduction. He’s looking at how one person favours their left side, or the crumbs on their wrist and knows everything there is to know about them. 

So just Freshman Year, the perfect run, Riz with a lot of angst in a very satisfying detective story getting closure for a lot of things. 

[centuryberry]

Shadowiceflower Adventures

Otherwise known as "Macaque's Extended Bachelor Party" or "What Happened While Wukong and Yue Were Away"

A Brief Summary: For once, Macaque doesn't just sit and wait for Wukong to come back home. Instead, he goes out with Shanzha and RinRin to make some memories and maybe leave a mark on the world.

Macaque, Shanzha, and RinRin last about one (1) week without Wukong and Yue before they break down and cry. They just miss them so much.

After a night of getting completely hammered together, RinRin gets the bright idea of going on an adventure - just the three of them. Macaque is reluctant to leave FFM but eventually agrees.

The three start small: They visit the Demon Bull Family first.

Everything is pretty chill until Red Son starts to lose control of his Samahdi Fire. Shanzha manages to ease the flames with her ice powers and buy Macaque and RinRin some time as they search for a specific flower known to help manage and repress demon powers.

Red Son is (temporarily) saved though the event makes PIF and DBK consider asking for celestial help since their son's abilities mostly come from the celestial side of the family.

The trio move on. They stop by a Demon Night Market so they can buy rare wares and trinkets for Yue and themselves.

RinRin meets an unpleasant Owl yaoguai and decides to steal their lantern so she can gift it to Macaque. This sets off a chain of events that gets the trio into trouble. They somehow get out of the ordeal intact and alive. Shanzha is upset at RinRin's riskiness but Macaque is moved by the gift.

From there, the trio decides to visit Macaque's homeland. The lands were ruined and ransacked and were a sad sight to see.

Macaque, Shanzha, and RinRin stay in the Macaque Spirit Clan's castle overnight and discover that it's haunted. Or, more like, RinRin is painfully aware that it's haunted while Macaque (part of the bloodline) and Shanzha (a shrine maiden) are oblivious until RinRin decides to deal with the ghosts.

Instead of putting them to rest, Macaque uses his new lantern to give the ghosts shadow forms. They now guard the lands, keeping outsiders out. They also acknowledge him as the current Macaque Spirit King.

Since the Spirit Macaque Clan territory is located between FFM and LoES, they use the land to gather all of the FFM soldiers and generals willing to throw down with some snow monkeys for sending a child bride.

Macaque, RinRin, and Shanzha enter the territory first to gather information and stir up some shit. RinRin and Shanzha give Macaque a makeover and sit back and laugh as LoES falls over themselves to impress and court Macaque.

Macaque gets the ego boost of his life. While he really doesn't have to do anything, he takes the initiative to learn from RinRin how to flirt and seduce. He also learns from Shanzha all the underhanded tricks that the residents of LoES might pull on him. He flourishes during his time there.

Though, in their information-gathering, the trio slowly realizes that there's a conspiracy afoot. They dig a bit too deep and are imprisoned by a clan leader who isn't as moved by Macaque's looks (unfortunately).

Enter: Nezha, who had been scouring everywhere to find the three so he could bring them up to Heaven. He breaks them out of jail and ends up getting tangled as the monkeys continue to unravel a concerning thread of thralls and followers of a Bone Demon.

Nezha was insistent that they come with him at first but then he saw the state of LoES firsthand and witnessed children's lives being threatened daily.

LoES child: "There's a God that Protects Children?"

Nezha: (devastated at their disbelief)

Nezha was onboard with helping after that. He was the one who would evacuate the children whenever the scheming trio upended a clan and dethroned its thralled leaders. Eventually, he was the one who led the charge against the Zodiac Monkey Clan when civil war broke out.

There's this one moment when Macaque enters the compound and finds the room Yue used to live in with Shanzha and RinRin. It was so small and bare and it broke his heart seeing it.

LBD's influence over the clan made it more hellish than it already was. Many of the clan members were all too happy to back Shanzha as the new heir and leader. Anything to escape LBD and Yishan's rule.

Shanzha and Yishan (the Thrall) engage in a one-on-one inheritance battle. Shanzha nearly takes his arm off with her arrows. Yishan nearly takes an eye out but scars her instead. The fight ends up as a draw because of Erlang Shen's entrance, forcing Yishan and LBD to flee.

Erlang Shen takes an exhausted Nezha and the Scheming Trio up to Heaven where they are reunited with Yue and Wukong.

[skyeslittlecorner]

My friend if you take requests may I ask for a scenario where it's mean girls except the plastics are Levi and his little guys and MC is well, the MC, and Satan and Sitri are (I can't remember names rn so I'm gonna use placeholders) Janice and the other guy

If you don't take requests it's no worries

But if you do… 👀

Hi dear anon!

I'm still new to Tumblr and figuring things out as I go, that's why I haven't mentioned much about requests. But of course, I take them! I'm happy to try to bring your lovely idea to life~

Let's tone it down a little just to avoid obvious hanging. A marriage between WHB and Mean Girls is something I never expected, but I bet it will be fun. You had such a big brain with this one.

So what would happen if we agreed to "join" the boys from Hades, but at the same time make a bit of a mess as punishment for kidnapping us.

꧁:･ ✡ ･:꧂

Satan is the one who would like to piss off Levi first (after you calmed down his anger, of course). Moreover, they know each other well. You can count on many tips and ideas about what a jealous king hates. How about training his monster to respond to your commands? The tentacles will be useful if you want to oppose Levi. Besides, he'll be furious. And that's what Satan loves the most.

Sitri is too calm to propose conspiracies himself. But let him see your sad face and he'll do anything for you. His knowledge will be very useful, after all, he was in Hades for some time. He will give you information on how to train a monster from another dimension and let you practice on his iron maiden so that everything will go according to plan. It's easy and quite quick if you know what you're doing. Although Sitri would prefer it if you weren't doing so well, then he could spend more time with you.

We move on to the first stage. You have to gain their trust. The best person to start with will be Glasyalabolas. You need an ally, if you come to Hades and say that you suddenly want to stay with them, they will be suspicious. But Glasya is the only one who thinks it's fun and let you do anything. Even if he sees that you want to make some trouble, he will only observe amused how his future queen causes chaos.

Step two. You've secured your position in the castle. Time to learn more about the coffins, and Barbatos will help with that. You already know a little bit from Sitri, but who knows, maybe each coffin has a different way of working? Now time to check what these creatures react to, what they don't, and whether they will accidentally eat you. Also, Barbatos have a whole beautiful rose garden in his coffin. "Could you show me?" He will be delighted. Besides, he will want to apologize for poisoning you and show that these roses are not dangerous at all, while revealing how their coffins works. His behavior is so sweet that for a moment you forgot about revenge… stay strong, a plan is a plan!

Step three and the reason why it was necessary to secure a warm place and support in the two previous devils. Foras. Of course, he's been watching you since the very beginning, but now it's time to call him out. This shy boy is no harm as long as Leviathan isn't around. Wooing him will be trivial, start telling him how much you would like to make peace with the king and do something nice for him. "What? Oh, it's a surprise, I can't tell you!" Stroke him a little on these beautiful horns and you will have access to wherever you want. Beautiful, iridescent horns… focus, focus, focus! You will hire him as your sweet little spy. He will show you where the king's room is, and every time Leviathan is near his room, you will know in advance.

And this is the finale. Leviathan's room is nicer than you thought, and his coffin is there whenever he's not using it. Taking the cover off was trivial. Summoning tentacles is even easier than you thought. After two or three days, they started to respond to your not-so-wise commands… Sitri and Barbatos must have been right, it's in your blood!

"What makes you so happy? Of course it is perfectly trained, it belongs to me."

The cold voice behind you made your blood run cold, you didn't notice when the door opened. You turned around only to see Leviathan holding Foras by the noose like a leash. He didn't hang him only because he needed silence.

"What were you going to do with it, turn it against me? I'm not an idiot."

Subconsciously you imagined the knot around your neck. Leviathan threw his subject out the door with a nod and the door closed as quietly as it opened. You were trapped.

"What will you do now?"

You did what came to your mind; just as Sitri and Barbatos showed, you waved your hand to the front. A signal for tentacles to attack. Would they listen when you tell them to attack their true master? Of course not. But they did not remain deaf to your request. They positioned themselves on either side of you, and you recognized the gesture. Just like they wanted to protect you.

You stood tall, ready… you didn't know for what, but definitely not for his barely visible, mocking smile. Leviathan cupped your chin between his index finger and thumb. Anger flared up inside you. He ruined everything. This wasn't supposed to be like this! Slender fingers moved to your neck. You wanted to strangle him, and he could see it in your eyes.

"Now that you've tamed my monster, use it."

You reached your hand out to his chest. As if on cue, one of the thick tentacles wrapped around the swan's neck. You didn't mean to punish him like this, but maybe a good strangling would also work… He fucked your plan, so now you had to fuck him.

Who are you trying to fool?

You had to fight evil, not join it. But who can blame you when the evil stand in front of you all sexy and just waiting to humiliate him.

[formleadsfunction]

I think about the intro to "Give Way to Open Sky" every single day.

transcript:

[the sound of a car door, footsteps, noise like a letterbox being used. footsteps and the car door again. the sound of a phone number being dialed, the ringing, and a connection being established.] soundtrack: Give Way to Open Sky by Jack de Quidt It's me again, Hector. I promise I won't hang up this time. I promise. I had to... I had to put something in the mail, I'm sorry, but I had to, something paper, I do not trust the hands… but I trust the hands more than the air. The waves, radio and ocean and sign and wind and electromagnetic, they, they can't—they've been ripped away from us, they used to be ours, or at least we used to know how to ride them, but they're not free anymore, they ain’t loose, they're tight, they bit down on the line, like in Job 41, “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook, or tie his tongue down with rope, or—” Nothing. It's nothing. It's—we were wrong about what Leviathan is. We thought it was aberrant, we thought it was a creature, or a clever devil, or a conspiracy. We knew it was aligned with the tall city, but we did not know how high Bluff's towers would reach. I'm going. I need to—I can feel it. It wants me to be another me, but I'm going. Don't come after me. Heard is already there, he—we made a covenant. I have to. I, I have to follow him. But I’m having thoughts. I drive between the hills and their shadows are doors to other mes I've already been, but not yet. Electrical wires give way to open sky, and, is there a difference… between me and I—the thread on the wall, I could follow it, I could open other people's eyes, there's more than one mystery. I could put this one— Shh. Shh. Wait, listen. Do you hear it? [brief, faint static] “Can you pet him like a bird? Or put him on a leash, for your maidens?” Bluff City is Leviathan, and I cannot keep silent about its limbs anymore, “its power and its graceful form, who can strip off its outer coat? Who can open its jaws, its rows of scales are its pride. One scale so near to another that no air can pass between them. Its snorts flash with light. Its eyes, like the rays of dawn, smoke billows from its nostrils, as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.” “Nothing on earth is its equal: a creature devoid of fear, it looks down on all the haughty. It is the king over all the proud.”

[becoming-persephone]

Blodeuwedd: The Flower Maiden, Owl Transformation, and Feminist Legacy

Blodeuwedd, a striking figure in Welsh mythology, embodies a rich tapestry of themes that resonate deeply with modern discussions around femininity, autonomy, and transformation. Created from flowers and eventually transformed into an owl, her story is not just a tale of enchantment and betrayal but also a powerful commentary on the roles and expectations of women.

The Creation of Blodeuwedd

Blodeuwedd, whose name translates to “flower face,” was crafted from the blossoms of oak, broom, and meadowsweet by the sorcerers Math and Gwydion. Her creation was intended to serve as a remedy for Lleu Llaw Gyffes, a hero cursed to remain unwed. While Blodeuwedd’s floral origins evoke images of beauty and grace, they also hint at the superficial nature of her creation—she was fashioned to fulfill the desires and needs of the men in her life rather than given autonomy or agency.

A Tale of Love and Betrayal

As Blodeuwedd grows into her own, she encounters Gronw Pebr, a nobleman with whom she falls passionately in love. Their affair leads to a conspiracy to murder Lleu, showcasing Blodeuwedd's desire for autonomy and emotional connection. Yet, this act of agency ultimately leads to her downfall. When Lleu survives and learns of her betrayal, she is condemned to a life as an owl, a being often associated with wisdom but also solitude and darkness.

The Owl Transformation: Symbolism and Significance

Blodeuwedd’s transformation into an owl is multi-layered. Traditionally viewed as a symbol of wisdom and mystery, the owl also represents the complexity of female identity. In many cultures, owls are seen as guardians of the night, possessing knowledge that lies beyond the surface. Blodeuwedd’s new form reflects her transition from a creation of men to a being that navigates the shadows and complexities of her existence.

This transformation can be viewed through a feminist lens as a reclamation of power. Although initially a pawn in a male-dominated narrative, Blodeuwedd’s journey signifies a shift toward self-awareness and autonomy. As an owl, she embodies the wisdom gained through her experiences, and her solitude offers a space for reflection and growth.

Feminist Legacy and Modern Interpretation

Blodeuwedd’s story resonates with contemporary discussions surrounding the roles of women in society. Her experience speaks to the constraints placed upon women, often molded to fulfill the expectations of others. The narrative invites us to consider the broader implications of autonomy, choice, and identity. In a world where women are frequently subjected to external pressures, Blodeuwedd’s journey serves as a powerful reminder of the need for self-determination.

Moreover, her transformation into an owl can symbolize the empowerment that comes from embracing one’s true self, even in the face of societal judgment. By reclaiming her narrative, Blodeuwedd becomes a symbol of resilience, illustrating the strength that can arise from personal trials.

Embracing Blodeuwedd’s Story

Blodeuwedd’s story encourages us to delve deeper into the complexities of female identity and the ongoing struggle for autonomy. Her journey from flower maiden to owl serves as a reminder that transformation, while often challenging, can lead to profound wisdom and understanding.

As we navigate our own paths, may we draw inspiration from Blodeuwedd’s legacy—a testament to the strength found in embracing all facets of our identities, challenging societal norms, and reclaiming our narratives. Just as she embodies the wisdom of the night, we too can find empowerment in our stories, rising like the owl to embrace our truth.