#alice's spiritual judge

[chiyuki-suishou]

Android Games' Services Termination Announced for several SEEC Mobile Escape Games

Aw, I remember playing these escape games a long, long time ago.. and also requested them to translate their games to English in which they did. So sad to see them go away... (╥﹏╥)

The reason given for the service termination is that the game development engine for these games can't be upgraded, so it was difficult for them maintain the games' functionalities in future updates. This issue seems to be exclusive to Android as the IOS version will continue to have their games be available on their app store. On the bright side, maybe they're planning for remakes ( Yotsume God already has a remake on Steam ) like what they did with TASOKARE HOTEL. Either way is best to play them while you still got the chance. The end of service is scheduled on 25th October 2023.

Here are the details of the games service termination released on their official Twitter :

The games affected are the following :

Alice's Spiritual Judge : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tokyo.seec.arisunoSeisin_en_sai&hl=en&gl=US

The Prison Boys : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tokyo.seec.kangokuboyEng&hl=en&gl=US

TSUMUGU LOGIC : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tokyo.seec.tumulogien Yotsume God : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tokyo.seec.yotumegamiEn&hl=en&gl=US -

While you're at it, please do check out TASOKARE HOTEL as well. Though it's the old version and not included in the games service termination announcement, it's still worth it. There's also a remake for it but there's no English version yet at the time of writing this.

TASOKARE HOTEL : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tokyo.seec.tasogarehotelEn&hl=en&gl=US -

Thanks for viewing and cya all next time - hopefully in lighter spirits!

☆⌒(≧▽​° )

-

For more info, feel free to check SEEC's official social links below :

SEEC Co., Ltd. Website : https://se-ec.co.jp/

SEEC APP EN Twitter : https://twitter.com/SeecInc_EN

ESC-APE SEEC YT : https://www.youtube.com/@ESC-APE_SEEC

- Disclaimer : Images here are sourced from the games' app site on Googleplay and IOS stores as well as their official Twitter account.

[seec-logic]

Welcome to the Mystery SEEC Club

The fandom is pretty active in Twitter with the tag #seectwt , and I thought of bringing the excitement here. Cause, why not?

First thing first,

This blog is dedicated to SEEC ESC-APE games, so that includes:

Alice’s Spiritual Judge | アリスの精神裁判 (JP) | 愛麗絲的精神審判 (CN)

The Caged Garden Cock Robin | 籠庭のクックロビン (JP) | 庭笼的知更鸟 (CN)

The Prison Boys | 監獄少年 (JP) | 监狱少年 (CN)

Yotsume God | 四ツ目神 (JP) | 四目神 (CN)

Tasokare Hotel | 誰ソ彼ホテル (JP) | 黄昏旅店 (CN) | 황혼 호텔 (KR)

Tsumugu Logic | 紡ロジック (JP) \ 纺之逻辑 (CN)

Uyrh no Shohosen | ウーユリーフの処方箋 (JP) | 物语叶的处方药 or 乌尤利夫的处方笺 (CN)

??? Tasokare Hotel - T S U B O M I - ???

SEEC creates other casual games, but I'm not talking about them here. Except for Robin.

Second,

Kei has been wonderful in putting up links: where to download, official social medias, fanwork playlists, and communities. Please do check them out!

We also have a Discord server where you can hang out and ramble about Osoto. Do join us here!

Let me know if the link expires (I hope it won't).

Last but not least,

I'm just a humbled fan. I love discussions and I tend to have ideas or headcanons, but please don't expect much. I ship many pairings and I may not remember to spoiler tag each time, so proceed with caution. . .

Psst psst! By the way, have you heard about Tasokare Hotel Anime (Jan 2025)? Or about Tasokare Hotel Tsubomi?

Anyways, my ask is always open!

Let's be friends and hype together :>

[karasuoc-kai]

More Tasokare OCs

Hello, Kai speaking! Whoa, a Tumblr dedicated for me? This is too good!

How have you liked my stories so far? Do you like the other characters I interacted with? YOU HAVE TO LIKE HISA-CHAN, HE'S THE BEST!

Yes, my friends in Tasokare Hotel are real OCs created by awesome authors! Are you interested to know them? We're all here in SEEC Discord. There are channels for other SEEC games and... OCs!

The number of TasoHote OCs now are, iirc, around 30ish? Crazy, huh? There are many hell creatures too. It's so fun!

JOIN US IN SEEC CULT DISCORD!

[withoutalice]

not to do too much religious yapping but to be honest, the common religious puritanical deliberate ignorance on how medical care has improved over time and what the benefits of hormonal/surgical procedures on quality of life is definitely not what God would want.

(i continue yapping under the cut)

in fact, in part of the Bible, God forbade eating certain animals. when humans had learned how to properly cook/prepare meat (so parasites would not survive), God sent a vision to one of his followers saying all those animals were available to eat now. there was a timeline where it made sense to forbid certain meats.

now in modern times, lots of puritanical culture talks about the Bible forbidding sex for recreation (also forbidding any sort of hormone manipulators on principle) which I think in older times would make sense as people were not the best with germs and hadnt had the pharmaceutical knowledge we have today. God sees how our planet changes and people evolve.

I think if he were to send down a vision today (like the meat vision mentioned earlier) he would say things like contraceptives, hormone therapy, and other health procedures are valid.

we have more knowledge, not complete, but more knowledge. though more unbiased research on women's biology, especially with reproductive health (not just for pregnancy!!), is needed and I recognize that.

I also recognize people in these puritan circles correlate hormonal balance drugs for women (or other vaginal health products in general) with someone being a “slut” or being sexually active in any way at all even if it isn't true.

it's incredibly invasive for doctors and family to treat 8-16 year old girls like they are always having sex behind parent's backs, and i personally think it should be considered verbal sexual harassment or even abuse to make jokes about your pre-teen or newly teen daughter becoming a whore once she starts leaving the house on her own for school/sports; for getting treatment she need to function in a world designed for amab body schedules.

but overall there is no need for such suffering if there are things that have been observed to help. like birth control for women with endo or PCOS. if we can start to help ourselves with the natural, various differences that occur in our bodies, we should. because the 14/15/16 year olds with endometriosis/PCOS and the 6/7/8 year olds with precocious puberty are shamed by family and teachers for being deviant and unpure (for their body shape and) for getting the medical help they need to live full lives.

this culture needs to change, humans have made significant unprecedented progress in medicine. why live on earth paralyzed with pain and scarring? with constant medical abuse because our female bodies are different? it is no different than the changing of how we cook, God would want us to take advantage of the tools and intelligence we have. He has us here so we can take care of this one Earth, our (chosen or blood) family, and most importantly ourselves.

He loves us, no conditions. How your body looks, what your body consists of, what your body and mind have been through doesn't change that.

And i think, that if you loved someone unconditionally, wouldn't you want them to live the best life they can?

[sakuplumeria]

What has been something that you have read/watched/listened to recently that felt unexpected?

Hello again, are you the same anon or different? Anyways I love getting these questions, keep em coming!

Alright, is it time to promote the visual novels I've been playing? Does anybody know the developer, SEEC who makes ESC APE visual novels? Their games are Alice Spiritual Judge, Yotsume God, The Prison Boys, Tasokare Hotel, Tsumugu Logic, and Uyrh's Prescription.

Their most famous game is Tasokare Hotel. The premise of the story is: You arrive at the world between the living and the dead. Most of the times, you don't remember your name and what happened to you. As you remember them slowly, you're becoming a guest at Tasokare Hotel. Or if you're that bored you can become a staff member, like Neko, the protagonist who you're playing as.

Interesting, right? A small group of fans of the game has been creating OCs for the setting. I have 3 OCs to date and combine all, we have like around 35ish? Ranging from hell creature guests who has lingered in the hotel for hundreds of years to staff member who are a human that's came from hell. The stories of the OCs are bizarre and interesting.

Now, there has been announcements of a second Tasokare Hotel game coming soon. Trailers have been made and last Monday the VAs were revealed. GUESS WHAT? One of the characters in this new game came from hell. My jaw hung there for minutes when I watched at the translated version of the trailer. Because like, we have that in our OC world and it's becoming a reality? WHAAAT? I was flabbergasted. It felt unreal. Unexpected. And I'm THRILLED for more updates.

Have I told anyone I made a SEEC dedicated blog in Tumblr? No? Guess I will promote it.

[killpilled]

Hcs on Alerie Florent ?

i think what's most interesting to me is not what alyrie was like in real-life, but what she was like according to alicent. i think for alicent she represents the archetype of the mother - merciful, loving, holy - which alicent strives for but fails constantly. i think it's crucial that alyrie died before alicent could really know her as a person (rather than an ideal) with flaws and contradictions and all. when aemma died, rhaenyra was old enough to know not to idealize her mother's life and see it as a cautionary tale. alicent does not have that at all and she has no realistic idea of what a mother is, she only has a childish, idealized image to follow. i think alyrie dying so young is also the reason why alicent kind of takes her place in otto's eyes. alicent is promoted to The Mother when she's barely an adult and therefore she sucks at it.

that being said, I think she absolutely figured into alicent's relationship with rhaenyra. the maiden is supposed to be chaste and innocent and those are the ideals imposed onto alicent by her mother and imposed onto rhaenyra by alicent. as children, they are both maidens and if alicent could even realize her romantic attraction to rhaenyra, she probably realized them as pure, innocent and very spiritual. she cannot fathom rhaenyra as a sexual being because in her mind, they are both supposed to be holy maidens. i think it was olivia cooke who said alyrie probably caught the two of them kissing once, and i think that would be neat. alyrie probably tried to "course-correct" alicent into a more spiritual, non-sexual kind of love for rhaenyra, which made alicent famously sexually very normal. i think that could also be what alicent tried to get from otto when she tried to tell him about criston, but couldn't get from him.

i think alyrie both connects rhaenyra and alicent (because they both lost their mothers so young, they are both mothers now who love their children, and because they both do not want a war) and separates them (alicent birthing aegon is what drove them apart, rhaenyra being both not chaste and mother to bastards makes alicent look down on her, and of course they keep indirectly killing each other's children). they even both swear on their dead mothers when they are lying/wrong. ultimately, we can only judge alyrie by the influence she had on others. i think alicent tries to imitate what she thinks alyrie was (and fails, fails, fails) and rhaenyra intentionally tries to avoid aemma's fate (and does so sucessfully). and, ironically, rhaenyra is the better mother now.

[absurdthirst]

Kinktober 2023: October 22nd

Day 22: True Monsters, Spiritual Possession, Sexual Exhaustion

Dave York x F!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Death, funerals, mentions of infidelity, rough treatment, spiritual possession, dub-con due to someone possessing

|| Kinktober List || MasterList ||

Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.

“Carol.” Your heart clenches and you chew on the inside of your lip to keep from showing any outward emotion, although your tone has dipped down to one of shocked sadness. “I am- I am so sorry.” 

Reaching out is practically impossible, but you have to. You can’t show that it really affects you beyond the impersonal connection. Feeling like you are going to throw up, you reach for Carol York’s hand. 

Feeling her grip tighten, anchoring around yours like a lifeline, you nearly yank your hand away, but you don’t. You can’t. No one knows so to be repulsed would be strange. “If there’s anything I can do….” trailing off, you let the offer fade into the politeness that is supposed to be accepted and then never actually utilized. 

“I think you’ve done enough.” Her words make you panic, heart starting to pound in your chest and you wonder if she’s known. If he had told her, or if it was just the woman’s intuition. 

Instead of reacting, giving her something to judge, you just wait. She’ll either accuse you, or she won’t. Either way, you won’t argue with her. Not in the receiving line at her husband’s funeral. 

“Dave said he could always count on you.” She chokes out the words, glancing back at the closed casket, her lip trembling and the water rising in her devastated brown eyes. Her world was crashing down around her, completely changed by events that she could not, and would not, ever completely know about. “He- ” 

You don’t know what she was going to say, breaking down into fresh tears and little Alice York, her eyes so like her father’s, distracts her with a hug. 

You hadn’t wanted to come. Didn’t think that you should, although you know that to not show up would be strange. Even if you had tried to use the excuse that there was just too much loss lately. It would be commented on if you didn’t go to the funeral of a man you often worked closely with. Optics were everything in this business. 

You shuffle through, feeling a sense of dread as you approach the coffin. It’s surreal. You’ve known for a few days, unwilling to really accept it. The burner phone that you normally communicated through was silent. He was dead. Not disappeared and presumed dead. He had been found with his spine severed, his eye gouged out and plenty of defensive wounds to prove that whoever had taken him out was a top tier operator. 

You can’t cry. Not here. Not in front of people you worked with. His team is also dead, which makes you wonder what operation they were running. No one claimed to know anything but it makes you feel like someone is targeting agents. First Suzan, now Dave. It makes you uneasy. Your boyfriend, a company man but not an agent like you, touches you back. Making you realize you had been lingering with your hand on the casket a little too long. You snatch your hand back and murmur a quiet apology before you move away. Ready to leave and forget that this is real for a bit. Unable to deal with the fact that he is gone. 

****

The rest of the funeral had gone by with no surprises. Your boyfriend had insisted you leave almost immediately after, not that you were going to protest. His hand on your back as he leads you away from the group was a little surprising, he was never normally the type to lead, if that makes any sense. He was comfortable and yielding, the opposite of the man who you had just attended his funeral. 

Opening the door to the house, your boyfriend hurries you inside and then as soon as the door closes, he’s rushing over to you. Grabbing your arms, spinning you around and bending you over the table. 

Gasping makes him chuckle, a sound that has never been particularly dark, but this time, it sends a shiver down your spine. 

“You think death still stop me from fucking you?” Confusion sets in and you push back, but his hand around the back of your neck keeps you pinned down to the table, his breath hot on the shell of your ear. 

“We always talked about how I fucked you better than your little boyfriend did.” It’s your boyfriend’s voice, but it’s different. Lower, raspier, feeding in the pit of your stomach and making your cunt bottom out like his always did. “Now I’m gonna see if his dick is the problem or if you just like being fucked like a whore.” 

Gasping, you mewl his name, horrified by those words. How did he know about that line? Did he see a text? Did he hear you? How long did he know that you had been fucking Dave?

The clinking of a belt, the fumbled rasp of a zipper stills as you struggle and your boyfriend magically feels strong. His body pinning you down and the hardness of his cock press roughly against your ass. 

“Stop.” He hisses, rocking against your ass. “He’s so stupid, isn’t he? He didn’t have a fucking clue when I fucked you at that party, did he? Or in the airport right before you went home to him.” 

You don’t understand why he is pretending to be Dave. Talking to you like he is your dead lover. You whimper his name again but you can’t move, you are pinned. Just like Dave used to playfully pin you when you were sparring. You could never get out of it. 

“Hated fucking Carol the last time.” Your eyes widen. “Didn’t know it would be the last goddamn time I fucked. At least in that body. Would have just come over and fucked you in front of him. But this is even better.” 

“D-D-Dave?” You sputter, frowning and wishing you could see your boyfriend’s face. See his eyes. You could read his eyes but never Dave’s. 

“He loves you.” He snorts. “But he’s gonna be a good boy and let me use this body of his and make you scream or I’ll make sure that I put it through plenty and let him take possession right as the pain starts.” 

“P-Possession?” You don’t understand what the fuck is going on and you feel his hand slide under your skirt to pull your panties down and kick your feet apart. Just like Dave used to every time he fucked you like this. 

“It’s me, sweet pea.” Your nickname. The one that only Dave uses, that Dave knows about, makes you gasp again. He had only ever used it when you were alone. Claiming you were sweet and yet deadly like the rosary pea. He had never even texted that nickname. “Don’t know how it happened, but I get to stick around for a little bit and I’ve missed this pussy.” 

Fingers find your cunt and his touch is different. Rougher. Exactly like Dave would have touched you. This time you moan and push back against him to beg for more rather than fight. That laugh comes to your ears again, rough and thrilling. One you thought you would never hear again. “Good girl.” Dave growls through your boyfriend’s vocal cords. “Now….scream for daddy.”

The scream  you give when he drives the cock of your boyfriend deep into your cunt is one of disbelief and pleasure. Even from beyond the grave, Dave York has managed to find a way to fuck you just like you need. 

[eatmangoesnekkid]

We live in a world where women still go to doctors to find out what is going on with their bodies. When I heard a woman who centers the unseen and spiritual and calls herself a “Priestess” say that she needed to go to the doctor to find out what's going with her body, I was in shock. Not to shame or judge her but I forget how the female collective thinks and perceives as it relates to their bodies, because as a female, as a woman, as a woman who is connected to her heart, womb, and pussy, as a woman who lives the Priestess path, as a mythical playful ancient spirit who lives in a highly pigmented melanated avatar, as a root posterior chain dancing expression, there is absolutely no way any doctor would know more about the inside or outside of my body more than me.

Please consider the depth of divine knowing you hold within your body when you no longer believe that you should go to the doctor to find out what is going on with YOUR body. To hold a high level awareness of the body your soul lives inside of is incredibly valuable and imbues you with precise clear sensation, not only for you, but for your loved ones and this world. You sense and feel what is going on with your body and if you decide to go to the doctor, you wonderfully go merely to receive a second opinion or confirmation. This is what being connected to the divine feminine becomes a real lived experience and not just a bunch of memes. Women have been taught to fear our bodies, to distrust them, and to give our power away to practitioners, doctors, lovers, and entities outside of ourselves. We have not be taught to learn our bodies and how to tend to our vessel so that we can optimize our health and vitality and capacity for more that allows us to create a body and life that we actually have a relationship with and adore.

Modern women spend so much time in their heads or just talking all the time and as a result have very little energy to expand their feeling-body capacities which means that they have no real craft. Learn to sit in stillness. Go into the dark and get quiet. Develop a listening practice with the instrumentation of music like harp sounds from the likes of Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Valérie Milot, Andreas Vollenweider, Loreena McKennitt, etc. Become more aware of subtle details communicated from your body. Doing so will tell everything you need to know about what is living within you (and what is dead).

Once a day I spend some amount of quality time with myself. Hands on-and sometimes hands inside. Temple-tending I call it. It is not masturbation or sexual, as lovely as those experiences can be. If I do orgasm, it is NOT from force, effort, deliberate, intentional, or a concern. Orgasm is always present in our body and when conditions are harmonious, it will happen on its on. The only reason I understand my body and have radically shifted my quality of health is because I have spent quality time with it. That means that I can push out new work in a fast-paced way because my hands-on touch with myself, my taking time to be with my body, is also part of my work and living in my dharma.

But temple-tending, as I experience it, is an actual listening practice. It is how I listen to and connect with what my body is communicating *TO ME.* I don’t care how tired I feel, it is such a gift to myself for me to take time out to feel this body. It not only activates my vagus nerve, but floods my body with oxytocin. At minimum, I slow stretch, massage my breasts and consciously and deliberately say kind things to my skin. I truly believe that it is one of the reasons I haven’t had a cold, bellyache, cramps, virus, or been sick in any other way in decades.

Be willing to make your own self-touch part of your daily practice. It doesn't matter how long the practice is, but the more you ritualize your own self-touch, the more you build a real relationship with your body. Then your desire/need to touch your body becomes second nature and less odd, goal-oriented, or a kind of chore. You won't have ever have to "make time" or remind yourself to do it. It will be like brushing your teeth. —India Ame’ye

[batsplat]

continuing with rgu/motogp and casey&vale thought exercise. during Casey’s ducati days the team (and also some tracks) were sponsored by Alice and they literally had an eye as a part of their logo design. it’s just too good not to use it and one could go in a pretty surrealist direction with it even.

right! yes! agreed anon! absolutely!

the way my ask-answering process currently works is that this genre of asks get a sort of instant prioritisation (the other asks are lovely but I need more active brain cells than I currently have at my disposal for a lot of them), which means I actually did start answering this like... immediately when I got it. then I got side tracked answering this ask about the similarities between casey/valentino, which I kinda feel like has ended up forming a lot of the spiritual foundation for the stuff here. now, quick look behind the curtain - where I'm at right now with life is that most of my ask answering happens a) when I'm commuting, b) when I'm eating, or c) when I'm about to fall asleep. except this past week, this process (and much of my life in general) has fallen apart as I have been ravaged by first a malfunctioning smoke alarm, then the combination of a malfunctioning smoke alarm and fever, and now just the illness. anyway basically this is my lengthy way of putting a disclaimer at the top that everything in this post was written in a state of mild sleep deprivation OR severe sleep deprivation fuelled by a smoke alarm in my bedroom beeping loudly once a minute for six days straight OR illness-induced fatigue. like my brain is empty at this point, there is nothing left, I just sort of long for oblivion. luckily at most three people will read this ask, so it's all good. let's roll <3

you're so rightttttt anon, yes!! that logo!! I had not clocked the surreal possibilities at allllll but obviously. they are there. here's the logo on the bike!

man that was such a nice looking bike. like 800cc was an awful era of racing but you can't argue with the aesthetics

here it is with the ad board backdrop

it's actually quite a nice logo.... here's a clean version of it:

I don't think this company exists anymore in this form, some italian tech thing idk, so no concerns over being a capitalist shill here. also it was still a fair bit less crowded back then, it's one of five logos on the bike rather than one of fifty. I like the idea you have these eyes sitting all around the track, very panopticon-y. as you zip by them and they watch you go round and round. both on the circuit, on the bike itself, on the leathers... in an early 2008 race, in estoril I believe, casey had some kind of issue with a camera dorna was making him test that ended up swinging around during the race. he talks about it in his autobiography in the context of his rough start to 2008 and all his various frustrations, but somehow entirely fails to miss the irony of a literal camera tormenting him. like come on casey, that's the thing you're always complaining about, don't you think that's kinda funny? how it's now not just like, abstractly making your life hell but also literally doing so? come on casey

AND ofc it's there when he's fighting valentino

this will be some time in 2007, I like how it looks like the eye is kinda peaking out at valentino from the side of the bike

you can kind of go in a few different directions with this eye thing, right. in a way, the obvious one is to position casey as the object of observation, of how he was constantly being watched and judged, of how he would have preferred to be riding out on his own without any of this other stuff but he was constantly forced to be part of the world of the paddock. the media was waiting for him to slip up, he was always being assessed, even his bike has sometimes faulty cameras attached to it. that's sports as entertainment - the aspect of his occupation casey was always least comfortable with, which made him so very different from valentino. you can even tap into the uneasy relationship with ducati, how they were watching him and judging him and all of it... blaming him for their troubles, not giving him enough credit for their successes. judging his diet! such a major theme of the 2009 saga, right, how they just refused to give him adequate support.... there's really something to like,, specifically the element of them judging his body, I think, this sort of 'oh, if only he ate and trained directly, if only he wasn't eating so many sweets' (a real bit of rhetoric they used btw!!) that has such a pernicious and controlling and nasty vibe to it that it really fits with having the eye on the bike itself. staring back at casey and demanding perfection from him and not even paying him his dues when he is actually perfect. big brother may be watching you, but he will never love you. creepy. awful

I've been thinking a lot about casey lately (yes yes, I'm sure this'll come as a shock) and what I find so compelling about him. and there's a version of him that I... look, not to judge anyone, do whatever, but there's an interpretation I do 'sometimes' see that I just personally find both slightly off base and also boring as shit. like, you can make casey into this very one dimensional 'always right about everything' opinionated hater who went in, beat valentino a bunch of times, showed everyone how talented and amazing he was but he was the victim of valentino's malevolence and then he left again, and now he keeps dropping correct hot takes about how awful everything is about current motogp. to me, this is all very flat. if casey were just very talented and a great guy and simply a bit introverted, I would find him boring as shit. so I was thinking about like.... how talented he is, how he's kinda the talent in the sport, and how usually the phrase 'the greatest talent this sport has seen' has to be the biggest turn-off imaginable in sports for me. but for him specifically, the sheer extent of that talent I think is a really key storytelling detail. I actually find it an interesting starting point to say that he really might just be as good as it gets on that specific metric. like, I don't care about measuring talent as a literal metric because... idk man, I just don't care, but it is narratively compelling to allow him to have the most raw potential of literally anyone. it's all there. he was born to ride, he was raised in a way that allowed him to become a truly unique rider - the kind you'll never see before or since. it's very primal, isn't it, taps into that early stage of the development curve: you have all this promise as a young child, where there are no other complicating factors, just an expression of raw ability, of a sort of purity... and at that stage, everything is possible. the talent is there to win twenty world titles. the talent will never, ever be the stumbling block

but of course, winning twenty titles isn't as easy as just having a lot of raw talent. I think there's something very nicely bildungsroman-y of casey setting off away from australia to european soils, where it's... you know, every step of the way up the ladder in the australian system, then through the british ranks on a whole different continent, then through spanish where he doesn't speak the language... it's obviously quite radically expanding his horizons, step by step, and it's also this horrifying process where he's slowly being subjected more and more to the world's gaze. you know that thing where casey had thought mat oxley was the guy doing him dirty when riding in the british championships - beyond being a funny story, I think it's actually kinda noteworthy that casey is already so hyper aware of how he is being perceived when he's a fifteen year old riding in a national championship. obviously, casey was making through his ranks with a real lack of security... the hypersensitivity always has to be attached to the context that for so many of his formative years, what people thought about him really, really mattered. he wasn't always the best at distinguishing between what was just, y'know, a journalist doing their job and the sort of unfair criticism that was actually fucking with his chances at career progression - but obviously that's pretty understandable. it's a real vulnerability that stems from... being beholden to that world's gaze. that constant pressure of young athletes, where they simply have to impress whoever happens to be watching. the talent spotter, some management agency representative, some team member who could open a door one day, a random journalist.... it all matters

and of course in that context, it's key how uncomfortable casey always has been with being watched. from his autobiography (in this post, which is about the gnarly topic of how the dream of being a rider was forced onto him by his parents - not irrelevant to this conversation):

well, y'know. that's all right then! if he's just crying because he finds the attention of others so distressing, it's not a problem! it'd only be a problem if he was crying because he doesn't want to ride! I'm sure this is something that casey will just magically deal with by the time he's grown up! nothing to address here if you're his parents, just a normal part of the process of becoming a professional motorcycle racer!

there's a romantic ideal to casey that I do have mixed feelings towards. both fascination and wariness, certainly. I think you can really lean into it with this pure, natural talent business, this sickly child becoming this fragile adult who has this sort of fast burning genius that is very bright very soon but inevitably consumes itself. the mystery illness, the early retirement, all the questions of 'what if'... people really love that angle, the tortured genius of it all, how there was always more possible if their bodies and minds hadn't conspired against them. I have many issues with this, from my distaste towards treating talent as the ultimate metric of worthiness in sports (you don't deserve to win more if you're more talented lol), to my dislike for how casey's mental health ends up being framed in these conversations, and just a general bleh feeling about injecting too much of a tragic note into the discussion of this type of career. you get the sense people pay less attention to casey's actual career than they do to a theoretical idea of the career that exists in their heads, and even then a lot of the time it's to push some kind of an agenda about a non-casey rider. still, listen, we're talking surrealism here - and sometimes you can lean into a trope to critique it, right. like, the trope is clearly there, might as well acknowledge it. and the exact manner of his 'downfall' really does come through the weight of the world's gaze, doesn't it, where he's constantly being exposed and picked apart and taunted. he hated it even when he became a child, and he just was in no way prepared for how big a role that constant attention would play throughout his racing career. it's just this fundamental incompatibility... the way this raw talent ends up running into the brick wall that is the reality of what modern professional sports looks like. again, this isn't a framing I'm a massive fan of - but that kind of prodigious talent does kinda get given a sort of... ethereal dimension, where it's not really suited to the true nature of the world and inevitably gets ground down by the cruelties and injustices. that tension between the elevated, the otherworldly, and the material realities it is subjected to. now, if casey had responded to this by being some sort of suffering shrinking violet poor martyred lamb, he wouldn't be anywhere close to as fun. he might be a prodigy, but he's also a whiny little shit who wasn't always doing himself any favours with how he was dealing with all those material realities. the general point still stands, though - and there's something kinda fun to giving The Gaze itself a corrosive power, the ability to eat away at casey through its mere existence

time to bring valentino back into the picture. I also think the talent element is really key with the valentino rivalry. like, to be clear here, I do not give a shit which one of casey and valentino was literally more talented, in large part because I just don't really believe in talent as a valid construct. everything about this is a boring debate to me when there's so much interesting stuff going on with these two that nobody ever seems to want to discuss :(((( so let's do that discussion here. and let's just say for a minute that valentino does look at casey and at the very least believes he might be as talented as valentino is, if not more so. from the similarities post:

like, we can quibble with phrasing here, but I think if you are saying that someone's 'pure talent' is 'unbeatable', then you might kinda be calling him the most talented guy to ever do it? does kinda live rent free in my head! valentino also said casey was "one of the greatest talents ever in motogp" which, while phrased a little less extremely, does give us a baseline to operate from with regards to how valentino perceived casey's abilities. when we're talking about 'gaze', in my mind there's something fun when you lean into the interpretation that valentino's gaze was not only very much on casey, but on casey quite early. the paddock was all over the place with regards to casey in his early years - where obviously people did spot the talent but didn't clock HOW good he was and also tended to dismiss him for various reasons, including his actual performance (often it really was his bikes that were more to blame) and, well, his personality. the rumour goes that casey was blocked not once but twice from joining yamaha, first in 2005 for the 2006 season with a satellite contract and agreement to join the factory team in 2007, and then in 2006 for the 2007 season. with the second one, casey does kinda imply in a very *wink wink nudge nudge* way that he enjoys deploying that valentino was the one to block him, and this is also something his father has said in interviews (yeah I've watched interviews his father has given, that's the rare level of fan dedication I've reached with this bloke). now, I'm a teensy bit unconvinced by the evidence here because by late 2006 yamaha clearly were leaning quite heavily towards jorge as their future. they also seemed to think valentino might be off to do f1 - or at least that's how lin jarvis more recently sold the decision to sign jorge, as a situation where they never actually intended those two nutcases to be teammates. more recently, casey has also suggested that yamaha were deliberately stringing him along as a way of pushing down the price of the guy they actually wanted to sign, which to me sounds fairly plausible. I'm not saying valentino wasn't badmouthing casey within yamaha - it's entirely possible that this is a thing that was separately happening - I just am way less sure whether it actually achieved anything. which leads us back to the 2005 contract cycle... in all honesty, I do kinda want valentino to have blocked casey here, for the reasons I was talking about above: I think it's fun and narratively spicey for valentino's Gaze to have been on casey early and have already had this malicious quality, where he's actively hurting casey's career prospects. I do feel this would be like... a little bit of a stretch, just in terms of how much long-term thinking and planning and behind the scenes malice and also power we're ascribing to valentino here - to make him block a satellite signing that only maybe possibly could become uncomfortable for him a year down the line. still, by the same token... that's exactly what would make it fun. I'm not going to take a stance on whether it happened or not, but I would like the possibility that it might have happened to bleed into the narrative at all times

and then we've got casey's autobiography line about how valentino was hazing him in his rookie season, putting questionable moves on him in practises and during races. I love this so so so so much. look, casey had a strong start to his rookie season, and he DID fight valentino in his very second race which was very cute. but let's be real, valentino had limited opportunities to fight casey in races that season (I'm still struggling to actually think of a non-qatar race.... and having rewatched that fight a few times, it's one of those things I kinda want casey to talk me through, explain what his issues with valentino were) and really should have had bigger things to worry about. like, the man has four championship rivals and none of them are satellite honda rookie casey stoner. if valentino really was bullying that child in practise, then, y'know, what was the vision there. so obviously I really need this to be true... valentino might be a bit of a dick in general on-track but there's just something so charming about the idea that he had a bit of a special treatment for casey from day one. like, yes, that's my favourite talent spotter!! he knew there was something about that surly, stubborn crash prone kid. I want that malicious gaze directed on casey nice and early. obviously, casey has this entire thing where he doesn't believe valentino rated him until he'd basically already lost the title in 2007 and even then wasn't giving him proper credit, which doesn't entirely stand up when checking the historical record... but crucially, let's just accept casey's stance for a minute and say that valentino wasn't being sufficiently complimentary - for all intents and purposes, valentino did understand exactly how good casey was! going back to those autobiography sections I included in the similarities post, with valentino's whole thing about how he knew exactly why he won and lost every single race... I think it's really key that valentino did recognise just how good casey was, that he had quite a clear-sighted understanding of the level of prodigious talent he was dealing with here. that's why the gaze needs to be turned malicious, right. casey's stance here is the 'well the victory doesn't mean as much if you play dirty' approach, but valentino doesn't care. even if he was open to the idea that casey might be 'more talented' than him, obviously that doesn't mean he's going to roll over and die. because at the end of the day, raw talent really is only one of many tools in an athlete's locker. if the only way you can beat the kid is in the head, then so be it

one thing that does go under the radar a bit with casey is just how young he was during the heyday of the valentino rivalry. like, everyone's always on about how marc was only 22 during sepang 2015 - but for what it's worth, casey was 22 during laguna 2008. casey already experienced crowds booing him when he was 21, no honeymoon period there. maybe it's the lack of such a big age gap with valentino (they clock in at six and three quarter years), maybe it's the perceived lesser severity of valentino's crimes in this relationship, the lack of an active betrayal of hero worship, maybe it's how casey is a bit less baby faced and a bit more ill-tempered, maybe it's just lack of interest in casey in general... (to be clear, I do not want any discourse about this rivalry. like casey, I also do not need The Gaze to be directed at him too much.) but y'know, it is important to remember. laguna 2008 as a formative experience for casey is at its most coherent when we treat it first and foremost as one of humiliation. I talked about humiliation in that black rose arc post and then also did address that a bit in the similarities post:

this is what the gaze does to you, right. nobody is humiliated in private - that's not how humiliation works. you can be embarrassed in private without anyone else knowing what you did to embarrass yourself, even though you can argue about how there's an element there of judging yourself against an imagined external observer. still, though... with humiliation, it's far more direct. humiliation requires an audience. and humiliation has so much potential as a formative experience. the crash itself is really key here imo - it's not a scary crash, it's not a dangerous crash, it's a comically slow one as the bike goes into the gravel and then goes into the slightly deeper gravel and then tips over. it's one the commentators treat as a little bit silly, because it is. it feels like such an anticlimactic end to the battle, but it works perfectly because of it. casey is even denied any real pathos in the moment of his downfall... it's his own mistake, it's one that has so slender, seemingly harmless consequences. and then he has to ride to second place, he has to sit with the sting of that mistake, of knowing everyone watched it.... the entire show valentino puts on in parc fermé, perfect for the cameras, interrupting casey's tv interview and all of it... they both know they're being watched. valentino leans into his triumphalism in a way he never has in quite the same way before or since. casey cannot hide his bitterness and must eventually worsen his own humiliation by apologising to valentino. that's the kind of thing that sticks with you, yeah

and it's predicated on all the watching and studying and learning valentino has been doing throughout the course of the rivalry... valentino has come to understand casey and come to understand just how unbeatable his adversary can be. when you're fighting a god, after all, you kinda need to pull out all the stops. valentino reinvents himself in that laguna race, he's willing to take a massive risk on several counts, and it's all because he knows just how good casey is. it's the coldness of the whole thing, the violence, the radical steps valentino has taken, that make the whole thing so compelling. a series of calculations based on valentino watching casey, assessing not only his talent but also his character. and in that race comes the moment of revelation, where their characters are tested to such an extent that you inevitably expose a lot of said characters. valentino is inviting the audience in on the show... it's a spectacle - that's why it works

so, let's flip it and make casey the observer. after all, it's casey who's got the eyes plastered all over him

including in pressers where it's a backdrop! got it nicely displayed on his chest too as casey watches valentino talk. I did already give a lot of my thoughts on this dynamic in the similarities post - it's such a key theme to me of that entire rivalry that casey is so... actively engaged in the process of learning from valentino. jorge and marc used valentino as a 'reference' before they entered the class; casey felt first hand what happens when valentino focuses in on a rival and knew he needed to learn some of those tricks. luckily, he's talented enough to be a quick study. I really like the angle of this photo because it does kinda make it look like all the eyes are on valentino... which they obviously are. a man who is always aware of where the cameras are! sometimes for better and sometimes for worse

kinda have to bring it in when we're talking eyeballs, right? valentino really is the master of bringing in his own surrealist imagery. as all the best bits of valentino symbolism, you can interpret this in several ways... it's him paying extra attention to where he's riding a year after the leg break, but also him deeply, deeply aware of the eyes of the world on him after his ill-fated switch to ducati. the world gazes - and he shows his awareness of that gaze by gazing right back at it. acknowledging the camera, making his own humiliation into a bit of a show

anyhow... see that overly long post of casey and vale photos WAS good for something because the ask made me take a closer look at some of those photos. check this one out lol

you're right, anon!! this slaps! perfect gaze from casey, perfect placement of the eye right next to him. it kind of functions in two different ways, right, because you've got the element of casey studying valentino and learning from him - but also the gaze of judgement. again, you've got laguna as this decisive moment of revelation... "valentino showed who he really was", after all. casey's gaze is one of moral consideration, of condemnation. it's that duality that's really fun with them, where casey is on the one hand so fundamentally disgusted by valentino and his entire deal, but on the other hand is also learning to become more like him. leaning into his 'worse' impulses to fight him - the spite, the grudges, the determination to hold his own against his enemies that will supersede morals or self-preservation. if you look too long into the darkness, the darkness may end up looking back

it's that kind of vibe where... y'know, there's such a disparity between how the pair of them experience the rivalry, but also just how it functions narratively for them... part of the point I was making in that post is that it's like. valentino is obviously capable of these ultra heartfelt emotionally thorny rivalries. this was not that, but it was for casey - and so in some ways casey ended up taking on the valentino role. spite, grudges, delayed retribution... it's all a lot more straightforward from valentino's end, especially during the time period where they're actually competing for titles, where there isn't any real interpersonal animosity and valentino is just sort of willing to do whatever it takes... it's not like he even massively wanted to make an enemy out of casey; he just had a far more liberal understanding of acceptable tactics than casey did. and then casey's got so much going on... which means these two rivalries just end up operating on completely different levels, where valentino's dealing with this tricky and kinda fun challenge and casey's confronting demons... casey judges valentino, casey learns from valentino, casey never entirely understood valentino. this lingering awareness that he never really knew valentino as a person - that's catnip for this discussion. he can look all he likes, but all he sees is a shell

speaking of... well, valentino having these two natures, valentino's perceived fickleness, valentino being so slippery and tricky to pin down for casey... you can kinda bring in another symbol already featured in one of these posts, right

sun and moon on one rider vs an eye on the other. now, remember, valentino liked using this as a way of distinguishing between two sides of his character:

lovely stuff. not a million miles away with the internal distinction casey sometimes seems to draw between valentino the person and valentino the character. and that's what the eye is supposed to do, right - perceive the truth. see valentino for what he really is. positioning casey as the heretic who won't shy away from seeing valentino's true nature... the callousness casey has been exposed to, an awareness of everything valentino would do to win a race, to win a title. to beat casey

another link I was thinking of going through my lil collection of photos - this pair of photos which I think are both from qatar 2007:

while I generally prefer my sun and moon logos a bit less minimalist, valentino does have a nice helmet design here with the sun on one side and moon on the other. I mean this is just fantastic stuff, isn't it, like it really writes itself. two photos from different pov's, one where you see casey's face and one where you see valentino's. one where you see the sun and one where you see the moon. you can play around with the interpretation a little depending on what you want the sun and moon to symbolise respectively, but it's all in there lol. casey sees the moment one way, valentino quite the other. casey sees one side of valentino, but valentino's other side is already lurking, biding its time. valentino wearing a helmet at all is of course also quite a nice touch - see casey hiding in his helmet as a teenager, embarrassed by how good he was, see valentino deciding against taking off his helmet when he goes to confront casey after jerez 2011. it's a literal mask, a way of maintaining distance. works very nicely, doesn't it

here's a photo of them on-track, where you can just about see both sides of the helmet:

so you get a bunch of nice photos that year where depending on the perspective it's being photographed from, you get a different side of the helmet visible. casey spends so much time in front that season, he really doesn't need to be studying valentino's helmet all too closely. and sitting behind someone is overrated, as laguna 2008 showed so nicely

valentino also has a more intricate version of this design at phillip island 2007

which I'm mainly including because I think the whole thing looks kinda snazzy

but that's!! not!! all!! because there is one last 'casey and eyes' theorem that absolutely needs to be included here. like, this whole thing of casey watching valentino, having all these eyes around him doing the watching, perceiving valentino's true nature... it's all a bit third eye, isn't it, of having another eye open and being able to perceive truths your two regular ones can't. and, well, eyes... if we're talking about eyes and symbolism, then there's one symbolic link you just need to bring in: conspiracy theories. plastering a bunch of eyes on things, it's all a bit illuminati innit, a bit eye of providence, a bit freemason. one of my favourite things like,, narratively with casey is to really lean into the paranoia and the conspiratorial leanings; it's fun and juicy and adds so much to his character. he's just the type of guy who ends up being very attuned to a certain type of pattern! a certain type of colour, even - the bloody luminous yellow thing really is just such a perfect little detail that is so unintentionally revealing. casey noticing it, casey exaggerating it in his mind, casey including it in his autobiography.... he's got such a particular way of seeing the world, such a specific and slightly odd viewpoint that just makes you want to prod at him... and he does have a little bit of the flair of the traditional conspiracy theorist

that built-in wariness, disillusionment from systems and the establishment and all the rest of it, the alienation, the suspicion of malice... the whiff of paranoia! all absolutely perfect to make use of all the eye imagery. I think it's so so telling that casey thinks valentino might have been a victim of a plot like that, like it almost feels a bit counterintuitive the first time you think about it... casey's whole thing with valentino was about how valentino was always being favoured, always being given preferential treatment - casey complains about it several times in that same book! but, like, at the end of the day he really does view the system as the main villain. valentino is almost like an unwitting, unsuspecting, undeserving beneficiary of the whole thing, who doesn't even know what's Really Going On.... it's not valentino's malice behind these neverending injustices - though he might be representative of all of them. apparently, it is possible for valentino to be stitched up too. it is kinda a little bit that classic conspiracy theorist dynamic of gaining satisfaction from being one of the few who actually know the truth... like on the one hand it's frustrating in the isolation it causes, but on the other hand it's also extremely rewarding because it makes you special. 'welcome to my world, mate' - you almost get the sense casey wants to yank valentino behind the curtain and explain to him how the world really works. casey wants valentino to understand him, remember. maybe at the end of the day casey wants valentino's gaze to be a little more finely attuned. oh, please let me moderate a dinner between the pair of them, pretty please

still, for balance, let's chuck in some casey paranoia actually aimed directly at valentino:

10/10, no notes. watching someone closely isn't always a good thing

anyway this is probably the place to wrap up this post lol. basically I agree, anon, the eyes are great. I do not have the energy to edit this, so hope it is at least vaguely coherent. everyone's always watching each other and it's all fun and kinda creepy and unsettling and long live paranoia

[ceremonyanddevotion]

hi!

i'm very sorry to be reaching out to you with this but i really feel like i'm going crazy.

the entirety of r/ghostbc seems to be more than convinced that TF is a freemason. i learned the basics from your videos, and in the iceberg it's stated he himself never commented on the matter in any way, correct? google search would support this. all the redditors have is some mason magazine that wrote about the band a few times. the judge, from articles on music sites, spoke of it as a given thing ("i didn't know he's one of us" essentially) but i can't find anything from TF or really the band as a whole. my takeaway has always been that the ex bandmates who sued just came up with this after the trial wasn't going like they wanted, but i haven't read any actual court documents...

i consider you a voice of objectivity when it comes to matters Ghostly and related, hence this ask, but feel free to ignore it. in the end, TF's life is only his private matter.

hope you're doing well!

Never apologize for reaching out! I like yapping.

To put it bluntly, Tobias has never mentioned anything about the Freemasons, any and all rumor come from third parties.

It was 'revealed' during the last days of the lawsuit, as a way to ruin the court case for Tobias who was set to win his appeal. Because in the Swedish sect members must protect each other, and the Judge was a Freemason.

It was thrown out I think due to lack of evidence that the Judge knew and/or the Judge obviously didn't blindly side with Tobias.

There has been whispers of him being at a couple of meetings, but no proof or even sources I think? I lose track of all the little things.

One thing to point out is that to be a member of the Swedish Freemasons you have to be christian which uh... Tobias is not.

The topic of Tobias and his spiritual/religious beliefs have been overtaken by people who want him on 'their' side. Tobias gives us an inch, they take a mile.

Many satanists will scream that Tobias is a theistic or agnostic satanist till the cows come home, but in interviews where he talks about his feelings on satanism, he always says 'pop satanism'. he looks at Satan through the eye of pop culture and it's impact on society. Hell Ghost, while being a parody of the Catholic church, is a great critique of the satanic panic, Ghost is what parents and many governments thought Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper etc. was, rock stars working for the devil to take over the world by inserting Satan into their music, I mean that is the premise of Ghost!

I do think Tobias got into masonry for the moment, Square Hammer is filled with legitimate Masonry themes, I do remember hearing asking someone if they are on the level is a mason call out to find other members or something.

Ghost has always attracted edgelords who want Ghost to be more than it is, even in the darker days of Papa 1 and 2 it was never meant to be real or a full reflection of Tobias's beliefs.

[seec-logic]

Let's play!

a.k.a you're stuck with the party for the next twelve hours! Which empty seat will you take?

The price? Business class costs 2.5 times the economy class. That's cheating? Yep, those at Buss class are cheaters alright 🫠😌

[thorn-princess]

NOOOO ALICES SPIRITUAL JUDGE IS GOING AWAY???? YOTSUME GOD IS GOING AWAY??? MY HEARTTTTTTTT

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (June 22)

On June 22, the Catholic Church honors the life and martyrdom of St. Thomas More, the lawyer, author and statesman who lost his life opposing King Henry VIII's plan to subordinate the Church to the English monarchy.

Thomas More was born on 7 February 1478, son of the lawyer and judge John More and his wife Agnes.

He received a classical education from the age of six.

At age 13, he became the protege of Archbishop John Morton, who also served an important civic role as the Lord Chancellor.

Although Thomas never joined the clergy, he would eventually come to assume the position of Lord Chancellor himself.

More received a well-rounded college education at Oxford, becoming a “renaissance man” who knew several ancient and modern languages. He was also well-versed in mathematics, music and literature.

His father, however, determined that Thomas should become a lawyer, so he withdrew his son from Oxford after two years to focus him on that career.

Despite his legal and political orientation, Thomas was confused in regard to his vocation as a young man.

He seriously considered joining either the Carthusian monastic order or the Franciscans.

He followed a number of ascetic and spiritual practices throughout his life – such as fasting, corporal mortification, and a regular rule of prayer – as means of growing in holiness.

In 1504, however, More was elected to Parliament.

He gave up his monastic ambitions, though not his disciplined spiritual life, and married Jane Colt of Essex.

They were happily married for several years and had four children together, though Jane tragically died in childbirth in 1511.

Shortly after her death, More married a widow named Alice Middleton, who proved to be a devoted wife and mother.

Two years earlier, in 1509, King Henry VIII had acceded to the throne.

For years, the king showed fondness for Thomas, working to further his career as a public servant.

He became a part of the king's inner circle, eventually overseeing the English court system as Lord Chancellor.

More even authored a book published in Henry's name, defending Catholic doctrine against Martin Luther.

More's eventual martyrdom would come as a consequence of Henry VIII's own tragic downfall.

The king wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, a marriage that Pope Clement VII declared to be valid and indissoluble.

By 1532, More had resigned as Lord Chancellor, refusing to support the king's efforts to defy the Pope and control the Church.

In 1534, Henry VIII declared that every subject of the British crown would have to swear an oath affirming the validity of his new marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Refusal of these demands would be regarded as treason against the state.

In April of that year, a royal commission summoned Thomas to force him to take the oath affirming the King's new marriage as valid.

While accepting certain portions of the act which pertained to Henry's royal line of succession, he could not accept the king's defiance of papal authority on the marriage question.

More was taken from his wife and children, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.

For 15 months, More's wife and several friends tried to convince him to take the oath and save his life, but he refused.

In 1535, while More was imprisoned, an act of Parliament came into effect declaring Henry VIII to be “the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England,” once again under penalty of treason.

Members of the clergy who would not take the oath began to be executed.

In June 1535, More was finally indicted and formally tried for the crime of treason in Westminster Hall.

He was charged with opposing the king's “Act of Supremacy” in private conversations, which he insisted had never occurred.

But after his defense failed, and he was sentenced to death, he finally spoke out in open opposition to what he had previously opposed through silence and refusal.

More explained that Henry's Act of Supremacy was contrary “to the laws of God and his holy Church.”

He explained that “no temporal prince” could take away the prerogatives that belonged to St. Peter and his successors according to the words of Christ.

When he was told that most of the English bishops had accepted the king's order, More replied that the saints in heaven did not accept it.

On 6 July 1535, the 57-year-old More came before the executioner to be beheaded.

“I die the king's good servant,” he told the onlookers, “but God's first.”

His head was displayed on London Bridge but later returned to his daughter Margaret who preserved it as a holy relic of her father.

Thomas More was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 29 December 1886. He was canonized by Pope Piux XI on 19 May 1935.

The Academy Award-winning film “A Man For All Seasons” portrayed the events that led to his martyrdom.

A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)

A Man for All Seasons (1988 television film)

[sakuplumeria]

@hergan416 Thank you for the tag! I am very grateful I still count as a writer to somebody else haha

Rare writer ask game: name three pieces of media that are not novels/short stories or movies/TV that were formative for you, and tag three people.

Reading some of the answers now I see what the question meant. I honestly don't consume that much reading as a writer, I mainly source myself from other things... But true, I don't consider these answers formative to my writing, but to me as a whole being.

Christian songs??? I grew up in a strong Christian circle so my life is surrounded by Christian songs. There are unbelievably many kinds of songs out there, and I just like the songs that I like. Some question the meaning of spirituality and humanity, some are dark—struggling in sin and unworthiness, some are straightforward about hope. They slowly become a part of me.

Visual novels developed by SEEC Inc. There are six titles so far that they developed. I played five which were translated to English: Alice's Spiritual Judge, The Prison Boys, Yotsume God, Tasokare Hotel, Tsumugu Logic. Like usual, they are deep rooted in psychology and humanity (and some, Japanese culture), a theme I mainly surround myself with. The plot twist and point of view captured within each title always astound me.

Soundtracks. BGM, OST, whatever you call it. I'm always attracted to the music in animes and movies I watched. The first ever song I memorized, which was really close to my heart, is Saiyuki Reload Gunlock's 2nd Ending, Shiro no Jumon (doa). Little did I know that the lyrics also resonate with me. This I only discovered years later. It's funny that some of the songs I like, the lyrics turn out to be as important.

Tagging—not a must—3 writers @miwhotep @bijectiveandinvertible @kirathaune

[no1islost]

Hey, girl, hey! I thought I'd send in my own questions for you! I hope you're doing well! 🥰💞

If you had to live in a book world, which book's world would you choose?

What would you say your spirit animal would be?

What's your favorite music artist?

Hi friend! I’m good! Finally finally feeling better after getting a juicy cold this week amongst other things🙏🏻. Thanks for the fun questions!

1. This one is so tough because I feel like a lot of stuff I read has some form of underlying dystopia or are murder mysteries LOL 😂😂. Young me would have 100% said Alice In Wonderland because it was my favorite. I still think that would be something to experience! Adult me is thinking maybe The Witcher…I haven’t finished all of the books yet though. And only if I knew I had an excellent chance of surviving 😂. Like I’d have to be a powerful mage or something. Or maybe in the Gearbreakers world…which I just read the duology. Again minus the war. Pretty cool to pilot giant mechas! Could you imagine if I said The Hunger Games? LOL

2. Oh man, I love animals so much, but have trouble thinking of which I relate to the most! I do love large cats so much…specifically black jaguars…I looked up their spiritual meaning and it feels fitting for me. I feel like I have to call on courage to face my fears a lot…conquering challenges and working hard in the shadows! “It’s overcoming the fears of failure or of being judged and taking action to actively do and create the things that you want in life, without worry about what will happen.” Legit me. They are intimidating creatures, but they are on the smaller side of the large cats…I’ve been told I can be kinda intimidating without intending to be to people who don’t really know me.

3. Hands down Florence + The Machine. Their concerts are spiritual experiences. Florence Welch seems like the kindest of souls with a powerhouse singing voice! I listen to a lot of music and a lot of lesser known artists, too! I’m always making playlists to listen to and love discovering new artists to listen to!

[ziracona]

Do you have any headcanons for Jeff? Not enough people write fic about DBD's best boy!

Sure! Here’s a few:

He’s a good cook and a good baker. One of those little wood boxes on his counter full of index cards of recipes he took down by hand from friends and family and acquaintances, friendly diner owners, farmers market vendors, etc.

One of the nicest and chillest people you’ll ever meet. Very calm and rational. Big on second chances and not judging people by first impressions. Some of this is spiritual, some personal disposition, and some because of how people treated him growing up as a very intimidating looking teddy bear inside guy. Would have always wanted a rescue, but largely picked Alice because of how ‘unadaptable’ she was and what she’d been through, and how pitpulls in general are treated. He knew he had the commitment and time to help her, and she deserved somebody to.

Jeff’s Jewish. He wasn’t raised religiously Jewish in Ormond, but some of his dad’s side of the family was, and after breaking ties with his abusive mother as an adult, reconnected more with his heritage. Has a mix of cultural and religious history and attachments and thoughts as a result of all of this.

Tank in a fight. Not as fast or good at technical sides as Laurie, Jake, David, or Kate, but can outlast almost anyone. Part of this is experience, but a lot of it is just that he’s a big guy. Part of why people go down with 1 hit in horror movies is they’re all skeletons. Fat people can take way more hits, because if a thin person is stabbed it hits organs, if a fat person is hit they got built in armor it has to get through first. This has made him very formidable in stall fights back in the realm. Doesn’t hurt he’s very physically strong, and used to pain.

Actually likes to clean. Makes him feel very zen, and he just finds problem solving of kinds like that fun. Keeps a very clean house. Takes really good care of his hair and beard too.

Is aromantic. He’s known that for a long time. Really really wanted a family, because of how shit his was growing up, but spouse hasn’t ever been a hardcore part of that goal. Like, he would not be dead set against that if it just happened to work out, but it would have to be an unusual set of circumstances. Always kind of thought he would someday adopt, or something like that. I guess he did.