#all my knowledge is connected to the image not the title!

[fluffykitteninabox]

the exam tomorrow be like:

analyse this painting

me trying to figure out wtf I'm looking at:

[weirdsht]

Disillusioned 1 . Horrible Intuition - Cale/Reader

notes: I'll try to update this once a week

tags: mild cursing

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are open and welcome

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Kim Rok Soo’s knowledge about the new world he is in was all from the novel titled ‘Birth of a Hero’. That and whatever he had read in his study at the Henituse castle.

So when those reddish-brown eyes of his landed on an unknown figure that looked important, he was confused. Good thing Eric Wheelsman has his back, aware that his dongsaeng is not up to date in whatever’s going on in the capital.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard of them but that’s _____ Perduellio, known as Roan Kingdom's Medicus[1], and they are a northeasterner too. They have been adopted by the Perduellio family who is aligned with the Gyerre Duchy.”

The person in question was busy running around healing whoever they could. They were wearing a white robe that reminded Cale of Ancient Greece or Egypt[2]. However, this one looks more luxurious as unnecessary details have been added such as gold linings, sash, beads, and crystals.

Despite all those details what caught Cale Henituse's attention was not their clothing. Rather, the number of guards they have following them.

“It is said that they have a weak body so they have guards everywhere. The story was that the Perduellio couple encountered _____ on the streets when they were 4 years old and immediately felt a connection that’s why they were adopted. Then 5 years later, they manifested a healing ability that seems to be a blessing from the Sun God. Oh, they can also perform small light tricks. In fact, I think they were supposed to showcase some of it today.”

Midway through Eric’s words Cale had stopped paying attention. Instead, he observes the adopted Perduellio. Eric might say that the guards are there for _____’s safety, but to the redhead, it looks as though they are guarding a criminal.

‘Oh well it’s not like I’ll meet them anytime so not my problem’

…Cale spoke too soon.

After the plaza incident, Crown Prince Alberu requested for that very same person to be Cale’s healer. It was to strengthen that image of the crown providing the young master of the Henituse County with the best as he recovered. 

While Cale understands and agrees with the intention, he has a hunch that this decision will smack him in the back later.

“Don’t worry young master, I know all information about young master _____ and have deemed them safe! Actually, the second child of the Perduellio family is said to be something akin to an unofficial maiden of the Sun God. The only reason it’s unofficial is because they are not officially affiliated with the Sun God Church as the Perduellio’s said their health would not be able to handle it.”

Cale, who is now relaxed and lying down on a bed meant for foreign officials, became a bit interested in this fact. Even though the Roan Kingdom has no official religion, families would still consider it a great honour if one of their relatives were deemed a saint or a holy maiden.

“The young master also doesn’t have to worry about political battles. Even though the Perduellios support the third prince, young master _____ is known for not taking any political sides. This is especially true when it comes to helping those in need. It is also why the young master is famous even with the common people.”

What Hans said brought some relief to Cale’s mind. He already has enough on his plate and he doesn’t want to add to it by joining a political strife. But even if he did he’s sure he could make the crown prince act as his shield. 

Hans finishes his report by saying that Cale is to be healed 2 times before the King gathers everyone and makes a proclamation. Each session will last up to 30 minutes only. This was because the crown prince insisted that no guard shall enter Cale’s room while _____ is healing him. The limited time is the Perduellio County’s compromise as they reasoned they don’t want _____ to become sick.

“Humans are odd, why are they healing other people when they are sick? Well, you weak human also save people when you are weak yourself…”

Cale pays no attention to the black dragon’s ramblings in his head as he observes _____ who has come to heal him. 

“That’s odd, I thought the guards were for that human’s safety. Why do they look more relaxed now that those guards are gone?”

He can’t hear anything. Cale can’t hear anything. Blah. Blah. Blah.

He doesn’t need to know any more unnecessary details that might potentially hinder his slacker life. He has already heard too much about the crown prince, no need to find out secrets about this healer that weren’t even mentioned in the book.

However, he can’t deny that the guards are acting odd. They are too strict with the time, and instead of it looking like they are worried. To Cale, it looks as if Roan's Medicus is a prisoner who’s granted limited visiting time.

During the two sessions everyone, Cale and the children averaging 7 years old, could tell that the healer knew that Cale was fine and didn’t need to be healed. This is more prominent by how the only thing they seem to be doing is removing Cale’s stomachache from eating while lying down and replenishing his energy.

Speaking of replenishing his energy.

The Vitality of the Heart works wonders when it comes to keeping Cale in tip-top condition 24/7. However, _____ makes him feel more refreshed. Every time the healer replenishes his energy he feels as though he has taken a particularly good bath. As if he was soaking in freshwater where the temperature was just right. 

Weird considering that their power is supposed to be from the Sun God.

“Human this is weird! That human seems to be using a new power, but don’t worry this great and mighty being can tell that it isn’t dangerous!”

Maybe if Cale tries really hard enough then he will not hear unnecessary comments that can jeopardise his slacker life…

“This is our last session correct?”

“Yes, uhm as you already know young master Cale, this will be the last time I get to officially check on you. You seem to be fine now but try to rest if you can. I heard that you’re going sightseeing in the Ubarr territory, I hope the sea can help you relax.”

Their soft and gentle voice along with tempting words about resting, slacking off in Cale’s vocabulary, sounded like music to the young man’s ears. Unfortunately, his itinerary in the Ubarr territory doesn’t line up with the doctor’s prescription.

“Really weird… Now that I pay more attention to it, they kinda smell like you human…”

But first, Cale is going to pretend to be deaf for his sanity…

Also, smell? Again? Just what does he smell like? First, it was the crown prince, then it was this baby dragon. Why does everyone have questions regarding smell?

In any case, it’s not like they’ll meet again right?

Wrong again! 

Cale was unfortunate enough to encounter the healer again while they were in the Dubori territory of the Caro Kingdom. Poor Cale was planning to pretend he didn’t see anything. But since his luck seemed negative, they made eye contact as soon as he thought of his great plan.

Well, it’s only right to properly greet his healer back in the capital right?

“I didn’t expect to see you here young master _____ much less without guards.”

“Ah no young master Cale, I still have them. They are just currently changing shifts so I have a few minutes to myself.”

A few minutes to themself… Perduellio’s adopted child said in their usual soft, gentle, and almost inaudible voice that Cale wouldn’t have caught it if they weren’t in close proximity. Cale had known since back at the capital how soft-spoken _____ was but didn’t expect that it would be this difficult to hear them.

However, he still caught and heard those words.

Words that again, sound as though there’s more to _____ than being the precious adopted child of the Perduellio’s family.

“However young master Cale, you look as though you are going beyond the territory walls. Please be careful as I’ve read about a phenomenon occasionally happening there.”

“What could that be?”

“I’ve read in an ancient text that dead mana rises there sometimes, but no one knows when it happens…”

_____ suddenly stopped speaking as they noticed a few things:

Their guards are coming over, and;

Tasha caught their eye

“Oh seems like my guards are here. Also, I would like to apologise as I didn’t realise…”

The usual prim and proper _____ is now rushing to get back to their guards making Cale unable to hear the last bit of their sentence. 

Good thing the invisible black dragon did.

“Human! That weird human knows that Tasha is a Dark Elf! While they were bowing to you I heard them say ‘I would like to say sorry as I didn’t realize you have a Dark Elf with you’.”

What now? Cale couldn’t comprehend how _____, whose supposed power was only healing and light magic tricks could know. So he asked Tasha if any nobles knew about her.

“Me as a Dark Elf? No way young master, that’s like asking for a death sentence. However, I am a bit close to Perduellio’s blessed child. Even though they are blessed by the Sun God, their healing powers don't have any purification in them.”

Safe to assume that _____ has known about Tasha for quite a while now but hasn’t said anything.

Cale can feel an additional headache coming. He has a hunch that this would be far from the last time he deals with that healer.

And wouldn’t you know…

Not even a day later Cale encounters _____ again. This time it’s in the most unlikely place you’ll see a child of the Sun God would be. 

The City of the Dark Elves.

Or the City of Life as they named it.

It was a peaceful morning, their stay in the City of Life was extended because of the dead mana rising. Despite that, Cale didn’t mind as he planned to take this chance to sightsee and talk to the necromancer. 

“Young master Cale, young master _____ is now in our healing ward. I don’t know what happened to them but they seem to be in bad shape. I figured I’d let you know as they were your healer previously. I have also sent a message to the crown prince.”

…Who would have thought the first thing Cale gets to sightsee in this city of life is this world’s version of a hospital.

‘Ah damn it, why is my intuition always right?!’

[1] Medicus is the Latin term for healer that stemmed from Medeor that means to heal or cure

[2] my main vision was Claude de Alger Obelia's clothes minus the chest window lol

[mj-ackerman]

Translation of Tatsuya Endo's Interview with Katsumaru: (You can read the original here X)

Katsumaru: My wife and child are both big fans of "Spy x Family", so they were both excited for me to be able to meet you today. Why did you choose the theme "Spy" in the first place?

Endo: I didn't have any particular desire to draw a spy story or something like that, but I had always liked military kinds of things and was interested in war related things, so when I combined those aspects with the theme of "lies", it naturally ended up as a spy story. However, I haven't seen many spy movies, and for movies like "007", I've only seen one or two of them.

Katsumaru: What? Really? The information about spies that appears in the story, even for someone like me who's been an avid follower of the genre, gives an impression that it's very well thought out. How on earth did you acquire such knowledge?

Endo: Most of it is from books. And then some of it is from documentary films and the likes. There was an old movie called "Shiri" (This is a 1999 Korean film), it's about the battle between North Korean Special Operation Forces and South Korean Intelligence Agency. I liked that very much.

Katsumaru: The setting, in which the husband, Loid, is a spy and the wife, Yor, is an assassin, reminded me of the movie "Mr & Mrs Smith"

Endo: When the series was just starting, I see that title being mentioned a lot in the comments, but to be honest I've never seen it before....(Laughs). I didn't have much time to prepare for the serialization, and since it's a comedy, I thought I didn't have to be that particular about the settings as I drew it. I incorporated the knowledge I had gained from books, but since it's still a manga, I kept the "No way, that's impossible" aspects to it.

Katsumaru: I think it has a really good balance between realistic depiction and entertainment. Spies are part of everyday life, and some of them even established a "fake family" as in "SPY X FAMILY". In reality, there are cases where married couples had been living together without realizing that their husbands are spies.

Endo: That balance is what I pay the most attention to. I guess you can say it's a process of determining the "minimum level of reality" in each scene.

Katsumaru: How concerned are you about the difference between "reality and manga", Endo-sensei?

Endo: This one is difficult. It's a case by case basis, but in manga, there are many parts where I can just go "let's fake the reality at this part for the time being". When you're working alone, you don't have time to do research about this or that fact. However, in anime, you have to create much more detailed settings, so there isn't much room to put on tricks. When the anime team would ask me "What would happen in this part?" I would often reply with "I'm sorry but I haven't thought about it yet...." (Laughs).

Katsumaru: Have you not strictly defined the scene or time period the story is set in yet?

Endo: I had the image of the period setting somewhere between the 1960s and 1970s. I'm trying to explore what I can do with the technologies in this era thinking "This technology might be possible". I also have softened the reality of things, such as the political form. The cold war between the East and West is also part of the motif, but if you just tell the readers that "it's a conflict of ideologies" , it won't make sense to them. So, I put it into a form that is easy to understand as a manga, there are also some parts that I, myself don't know about after all. Similarly, in the real world, for example, spies probably have very few horizontal connections, right? Like for security reasons. However, as a manga, in order to develop the story, it was necessary for me to depict conversations between spies. All the more that this is a comedy story, so it wouldn't work without conversation. It's difficult to find the right flavor between the two.

Katsumaru: It's pretty unique that you came up with the name "Dalc" which is similar to the name of the currency "Mark" (It's Deutsche Mark which is no longer in use since 2002) used in Germany.

Endo: It's actually a combination of "Mark" and "Dollar". I often use names of places and buildings that actually exist in real life. However, I have a pretty bad memory, so I often ask myself later "Where did I get the name of this place again?" (Laughs)

Katsumaru: Is there any expert historical research or supervision of intelligence agencies involved in this?

Endo: I basically think about all the detailed settings all by myself.

Katsumaru: Since the real-life aspects are well-constructed, I thought an expert in international politics was involved in supervising this.

Endo: There are also some readers who read too deep into the historical situation, but I didn't actually put much thought into the details in writing the story. This is just a fictional country called "Westalis and Ostania" after all.

Katsumaru: In "Spy x Family", there are some Russian-speaking names such as "Anya" and "Yuri" that appears, but spies in that country uses more analog method. For example, "flash contact", in which documents are handed over to another person as they pass each other, or a "drop dead", in which documents are hidden in an agreed-upon location and later picked up by a colleague. There is also a method for communication. Although this method is considered extremely inefficient, it is sometimes considered to be highly secure because it prevents interception of communications.

Endo: So there's still that kind of analogs even now huh? Now that technology has developed and everything is digitalized, I certainly think it's much safer now. In other countries, there are organization such as M16 (United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service) and CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency), Japan also has organizations with such characteristics.

Katsumaru: The "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau (Public Safety)", where I worked, is the counterintelligence arm of Japan. In "VIVANT" (It's a 2023 Japanese Drama), which I supervised, Hiroshi Abe and Ryo Ryusei are playing roles with these type of characters. We have obtained as collaborators people who have a lot of information and people who are in position to meet various people such as reporter.

The only problem was that we didn't have enough people. The CIA has a large number of subordinates under it's station chief, and a large budget. When I was temporary transfered to a Japanese embassy overseas, I was alone, my budget was limited, and I was also reponsible for issuing passports, so there is no doubt that working at an intelligence agency overseas with better environment had allowed me to concentrate more on my mission.

Endo: Do you hire locals overseas?

Katsumaru: There are times when we ask locals to work with us by paying them a reward. Or, we can ask them to connect us with people who has information. The Public Safety is very good at finding and training people who can bring good quality information and can do good work.

[circyexistforcontent]

I saw that you're accepting requests. Would it be okay if I ask for a SAGAU with Alhaitham teaching a reader about the Akasha Terminals?

SAGAU AL-HAITHAM BLURB + EXTRA KAVEH HEADCANONS

❀ synopsis: what the hell is an Akasha System?

❀ notes: I'M SORRY THAT I HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR SO LONG-

Depending on the date and time, Al-Haitham will be willing to teach you about the Akasha system and how it works. He will even use his own Akasha terminal as an example to help you understand it better. He would be a bit surprised if you ask him to teach you since, y'know, you're the Primordial one, anyone would assume you have all the knowledge of Teyvat. But since you asked nicely and he has the time he will teach you.

"Wait, it can give you the wrong information?" "Yes, that is possible." "But how?"

If you're like me who hasn't made it to the Sumeru Archon quest you will have a hard time understanding how it works. And because of that, Al-Haitham will recommend some books about the Akasha Terminals. It can range from their history to their legal terms and conditions if you are to ever own one. And if we're talking about Yandere SAGAU Al-Haitham he will use this to his advantage so he can monopolize your attention. Arranging meet-ups so that he can test you about what you've learned in the books.

In those "tests," he will become one of those teachers who will ask you questions about topics you never studied for. And then he will scold you about not studying harder and that these study sessions are going to be scheduled more frequently. If this also includes my paperwork concept in SAGAU then you might possibly disintegrate right then and there just by the mere thought of filling your schedule up even more.

Both Non-yandere and Yandere Al-Haitham won't treat you any differently just because of your title and species as a God. He does have a certain respect for you if you play your role well, but that's it. Yandere SAGAU Al-Haitham will see your status as a hindrance to your future together so he looks for alternatives. He would just try to win your favor by giving you a sense of normality whenever you're around him. It's already in his personality that he treats everyone the same, and by being greeted and treated by everyone like your God (which, in a way you kinda are??) you will grow to appreciate Al-Haitham's indifference to your title.

Yandere SAGAU Al-Haitham is greedy with his time alone with you, so he will do his best to hide the fact that you visit him from everyone in the Akademiya, hell he will hide it from everyone who lives in Sumeru. The moment someone finds out he has connections to the Almighty God? Non-stop pestering from the Paparazzi will be the result of it.

With that being said, his main threat in this situation is Kaveh.

It's not surprising to know that Kaveh is one of your more fanatic worshippers. Whenever there is a Charity hosted by you he makes it his goal to be your top donator, most of the time he doesn't because *cough* the Fatui *cough* TARTAGLIA *cough* But he ends up as one of the highest donators. Aside from donating he also dreams of being your head Architect and working alongside you. Knowing that Al-Haitham has been talking to you behind his back will definitely make him burst a blood vessel.

The argument will be heated, the apartment will be wrecked, and there will just be a lot of bad blood between the two now that you are involved. Al-Haitham thinks that Kaveh's image of you is idealistic and he doesn't see the real version of you, while Kaveh thinks that Al-Haitham is being selfish about your time and that it's not fair that he has you all to himself.

The moment Kaveh finds out about the unfair test and study sessions Al-Haitham offers to you Kaveh will propose to be your second tutor, which Al-Haitham will strive to take down. If you ever agreed Kaveh will be overjoyed while Al-Haitham will be distraught. You already have him as your tutor, why do you need him?

Pro tip if you're ever in a SAGAU scenario: Don't visit Sumeru. Just don't.

[chromatic-lamina]

chapter 1107 spoilers

Howabout that cover? Howaboutthat cover? How ABOUT that cover?

Bepo, with a lovely warming pot of tea (or a kettle at least), and a club? (to protect the captain?), finds him skiving off with a snow leopard, a funnel, and maybe an empty bottle of Vodka. Chapter title is: "I've been looking for you", and it refers to the giants, I think, looking for the Straw Hats, and Usopp (especially), looking (out) for the giants, and Catarina Devon doing what, exactly? But Caribou, snivelling little sop of a man that he is, looking out for Blackbeard (his current lord and saviour). But, I'm with Bepo, looking out for Law!

The Blackbeards' land on Egghead and St. Jay Garcia Saturn says he knows all about Blackbeard's background, and Catarina knows it too, and I think it's maybe something separate from the "D" initial, cos', after all, it is in Teach's public name. But we see Van Augur--(like, why is the anime captioning him as Van Ogre when Augur is written clearly on the screen? But anyway). The last time we saw him

was

here in chapter 1081 when Bepo went Sulong and escaped with Law. Most of us thought that Blackbeard's crew had been split in half because

it was assumed that events were happening concurrently, but

Van Augur and Catarina Devon are here (on Egghead), and perhaps Van Augur could have warped himself there, but here he says

he hasn't mastered the warp warp fruit enough to get him and Catarina off the island, so it's unlikely that he could have warped himself all the way from Winner Island. SO, did they pursue Law and Bepo, and the two are nearby, or with the giants, or, or, or? Or is there some other explanation (about Van Augur--I know that Law's whereabouts is still relegated to cover pages)? I'm not a close reader, so I'm happy to have anything pointed out.

But, looks like Catarina will be able to clone

Saturn, and looks as if Saturn knows it. Of course, this guy below (Caribou) would be relevant. Can't wait to see his role!

I'm out of order, of course! I don't think that Law got recaptured, but I still think there might be a giant connection. And speaking of the giants

Usopp's reaction was just

heartfelt, was, ahhh, my heart, and Nami and Chopper were really cute too. And yeah, it's been some time, so the quick recap was necessary. AND, lots of small things I just loved either for humour or poignancy, like:

Brook abandoning everything for the sake of a cup of tea (even though he says he wasn't stopping for a cup of tea)---and Lilith sending forth messages (to raise the barrier, I'm guessing) because Brook is all too calm that the Sunny is heading towards the barrier, and bound to be fried by it. Lilith is not at all equipped for dealing with Straw Hat madness. And no-one can seriously out-machismo

Zoro. He's just too silly and strong. And!!!

the Pacifistas turn on the army, the army needing to suppress a workers' revolt. And that's Kuma in the bottom picture, isn't it? It looks like Kuzan, but PX is written on the cap, I think, in the picture. Again, let me know, please!

Bonney just

being in awe that

she gets to see Nika (and Nika teaches her how to throw a rubber punch, extra future bad news for Saturn, I hope). And

Kuma and Vegapunk (what's the far right image?) take in Nika too. Love Franky's way with words here:

telling Bonney she needs make use of her legs, and Vegapunk decides he's gonna stay (or die), and Borsalino's gonna make sure of it. But!

the power of love is all pervasive! (at least when Sanji's wearing the boots). Although his love was used for protecting Bonney rather than Vegapunk, and probably has more to do with Germa modifications than love, but it is Sanji's motivator, and attacks Kizaru's knowledge of "how things work"!

Kizaru/Borsalino's face in the first panel really shows how much power he's losing. Sentomaru took a path Kizaru could have taken, but didn't. He's following Bellamy's path, so it'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Because he's too smart to be a blind lackey. Being an aware lackey is some powerful conditioning/mental gymnastics.

And I think that's about it. Hoping Kid gets a cover page soon too!

[mysticode54]

I stumbled across a Japanese article where Fumito Ueda, Yoko Taro, and Keiichiro Toyama had a publicized discussion about their careers and the video game industry as whole. This discussion was organized primarily to celebrate ICO's 20th anniversary in late 2021. So the folks over at Den Faminico Gamer requested concept art from all across ICO's development cycle to present throughout the 3 pages of conversation. And I don't know who was responsible for the task of transferring that, but they gave them A Lot of concept art. Many of these sheets have not been shared by genDESIGN's twitter, or really seen on any other site to my knowledge. There's some exclusive stuff in here. And even if they were seen somewhere before, I still want to translate them to the best of my ability and share the info. So I'm going to guide you through the sheets I found the most interesting. I'll also try to provide context for any cut content and musings on the lore elements being spelled out on the page. [Spoilers for ICO under the cut]

CUT AREAS

Jail

[I've decided to leave the original page untouched in all my translation images, and keep all added text to the black bars at the sides. I'm also including plain Japanese text in dark grey, just so everyone is clear on how I am interpreting the handwritten notes.] This area is titled "Jail" or "Prison" and it was to be put on the second story of the East Arena. This means that, in early designs, the leftmost door was meant to be opened on arrival. It seems you would navigate the diagonal water slope, make it up to this area, and briefly move outside for the sake of slipping into one of these locked cells. After doing so, you move a shelf aside, find the sword, enter a fight, and then use the sword on the rope holding the far right arena door. Having a jail cell next to the arena is very intriguing from a narrative standpoint. Were the cells for those who broke the rules set in place by the arena's organizers? Or was the arena always intended to be sparring matches between criminals and outcasts? Why is the only way onto the balcony found through one of these cells?

Boatshed

[In the black bars, text relating directly to the contents of the sketch will have drawn elements next to them, so you can better see what translation is paired with what part of the drawing. If it ever gets confusing, shoot me an ask and I'll clarify/edit the post.] The day after drawing up the concept for the Jail area, the team sketched the Boatshed, which was also cut. This area is reflective of an earlier, less bombastic ending to ICO, which Ueda briefly mentioned during Sony's "Great Scene Sharing" campaign in 2011.

Also, to be honest we weren’t planning to have the castle collapse entirely like that. We were originally thinking to have the ending of ICO be much more modest, but somehow it didn’t give you a feeling of resolution that way. And so we decided “Ok, let’s make everything crumble into the sea then.” (laughs)

The most intriguing aspect of this cut concept is a kind of Idol Fence Gate that reacts to Yorda in the same way as the Idol Doors, only in this case it is powered by a mask. The mask's face shape is somewhere between a man and a bull, with the moderately sized horns completing the animal resemblance. There seems to be a gem or circular marking embedded into the forehead as well. The text makes mention that the gate 'listens' to the mask (assuming I'm translating that correctly), so perhaps it had a specific auditory or musical cue planned for when it reacts to Yorda? But perhaps not. A concept page like this would be the perfect place to write that idea in clear detail, after all.

Heroine Room Connection

This is not exactly a cut area, but it is certainly a heavily altered one. This spot would later become the floor of Spiral Staircase, where Yorda is held prisoner in the first act of the game. We can see this intention by its proximity to 'The Heroine's Room' and the series of Idol Doors set up as the introduction to Yorda's unique power. (There's even a sketch detailing how this arrangement of four idols are supposed to part when opened, and it matches up with the movement of the idols in Spiral exactly.) The most notable feature of this area seems to be a set of stairs leading up into a small room with a trench in it. In the trench is a box and a small crevice in the wall. The crevice is labelled 'Heroine', which, to me, implies that Ico might have been able to see or hear Yorda through this crack in the wall. But since this room is a dead end, I imagine you use the box in some way to activate the other set of stairs, which seem to have both a upward and downward status depending on whether you've solved the puzzle or not. This is very similar in concept to a puzzle presented elsewhere in the final game. At either ends of the room are two doorways. One direction is labelled 'Ko Building', which we will discuss later in this post. But the entrance to this room is through the Ritual Room... which we also have concept art for!

Ritual Room

Similarly to the last sheet, this sketch depicts elements that would end up placed elsewhere, but the overall design of this room was cut. The Ritual Room was seemingly designed before the team had come up with the final design of the Altar Room. The Ritual Room bears many of its elements, but has a much larger scope and seems to serve as a junction between several parts of the building.

Common elements include:

The floor raising and lowering to open a path to the Stage 13 Elevator. The notes even clarify that this will only occur in the game's "2nd act". In this version of the mechanism, a handrail rises up when the floor lowers.

Capsules in which to place sacrifices. Though they aren't clearly depicted, they seem to be embedded into the ground, rather than standing up.

Restricted access to the high up Idol Doors. In the final game, they lead to The Queen's throne room. Here it leads to Proto, the earliest room designed in the game. It's unclear how you earn access to the doors, but the 'OFF' label indicates that the stairs must rise, or else it remains a vertical wall.

But one big difference that stands out is the palanquin-like structure at the center, which reminds me of the structure that surrounds The Queen's throne. Given the title of the room, we can infer this was meant to be the spot where the Queen's ritual would be held.

Notes in the margins indicate two innocuous, but fascinating things: - The note regarding what might open the Idol Doors for the village men likely marks the conception of The Queen's Sword. - Yorda's voice was meant to be heard from this room, and she would've been singing. She doesn't get to sing to herself in the finished product, though I think that characteristic fits her well.

Flowchart of the Second Half

Once it became clear to Ueda that the ending had to be more resolute and bombastic, they devised the Main Gate Event and laid out a plan for all the places you would traverse on your journey to the throne room. You might notice that locations like Cliff Cage, Cogwheel, and Pipe have different prototype names and some visual differences. The first location on the journey back, later known as Cage, is titled 'Ruins'. It seems to feature a series of overhang structures jutting out from the cliff-side. Presumably, these would catch Ico after his fall. The titular cages of the present incarnation seem to be absent, but we can see them close by, in the area that will become known as Cogwheel. Instead named 'Subterranean Lake' in this document, Cogwheel seems to lack any of its characteristic mechanisms. In this sketch, one of the cages seems to have fallen from the ceiling into the water below. In the final game, we move from Cogwheel to the outer edge of the island, where Ico clings tightly to the ridges of the cliff-side. But in this concept art, all of that distance is spent on a new area, completely cut from the final release, called 'Trolley Jump'. It seems the trolley would make a second appearance in the game's puzzle design and Ico would have to build up momentum to make it over a huge gap in the tracks. The Pipe area is named 'Ravine' instead. And the metallic platform is set far lower than it is in the final game, where you can just walk across it to make it to the elevator. Here, you must descend onto it and then climb up into a cavern, once you make it to the other side. You might've also seen that the the Old Bridge is titled 'ICO Bridge' in this document. This is especially interesting to me, as the name ICO seems to serve a different purpose here than you would expect.

What is “ICO (イコ)”, really?

Kenji Kaido has stated in the Japanese Guidebook for the game that the name 'ICO' was just the title, and initially, was never attributed to the boy protagonist (Page 82). He was nameless and only referred to as 'Boy', much like the protagonist of The Last Guardian is currently. The game's filenames, the concept art, and even Kaido's own presentation of the E3 2000 demo to PlayStation Underground, back this sentiment. The term 'ICO' is never attached to the boy before June or July of 2000, when US gaming publications reporting on E3 2000's demo started conflating the title with the protagonist's name. Seeing as this is dated in March of 2000, it's safe to say the use of 'ICO' here has nothing to do with the boy. So what is it about? Ueda did also say that the name was a shortening of the term ICON... but I have additional evidence suggesting that in this specific instance, it was not serving as an abbreviation for 'ICON Bridge'. Take a look at this rough overview sketch from the margins of a different concept art page.

Aside from the points that indicate land and sea, the labels that plainly stick out are "イ棟" and "コ棟".

"I Building" and "Ko Building". We saw that last label earlier in the Heroine Room Connection section.

Knowing this, we can safely infer that it's called イコ Bridge because it connects the イ and コ buildings... But then why are they split in that way and labelled イ and コ? I still don't have an answer for this, though I do feel like the divide is related to the separation of class. The イ building is dedicated to The Queen. It contains both her daughter and the sacrifices she needs to complete her ritual. It's where her throne is. It's where she resides and does her work. Meanwhile, everything on the other side of this bridge seems to have been built for a larger populous.

Benches, recreational areas, spectated arena matches, a waterfall, a courtyard, a ballroom with a massive chandelier! You don't build a front gate and a bridge to the mainland if you never wanted people to enter... This place undeniably once had people who lived and worked here. They were all designated under the コ building. I have to imagine this is why a distinction is being made, but beyond that, the reasoning for the titles remains a mystery. If someone has further insight into Japanese linguistics or culture, and have additional guesses as to why, please let me know.

Cut Boss Fight

In the West Arena (labelled 'R' for 'Right' in early development), there was going to be another raised cage event. Only this time it would take the form of a boss fight with a massive shadow that overtakes the floor and splays black tendrils through the air. Interestingly, there is already an overhead bridge in this image, but rather than magically appearing in stone segments, it's instead an ordinarily constructed wooden bridge. Here, the notes detail a different kind of puzzle element: Wire. Which, unlike ropes, cannot be cut by the sword. The same note indicates that wire is holding the left and right doors in place. While the concept art doesn't detail it plainly, I believe the only way past this room would be to pull on the "Idol Handle" that the boss is covering. Wire is also presumably being used for the zip-line running across the arena, which is an interesting component to say the least. The vision I'm gathering is that you'd ride the zip-line, hit X at the right time to drop down onto the overhead bridge, run over to the balcony where the 'Cage Switch' is labelled, and activate it to impede the boss. How it is then defeated is less clear. It's also unclear where Yorda would have been throughout this encounter, or if there would be additional enemies trying to drag her into a nest. Its possible the boss itself would be programmed to capture her with a tendril, and itself act as a nest by dragging her into the depths of itself. But we have no evidence one way or the other. [Ok, that's all the stuff I have to present for now. Keep in mind that there's more to see and translate in the article I linked at the very start. This post was only scratching the surface, despite the amount of material we covered. With that in mind, thank you for making it this far.]

Support

Now is as good a time as any to mention I've started up a Ko-Fi, so people can choose to support the work I do to uncover and present obscure info like this. There is, of course, no obligation to give me anything. The tips just help me get a bit of financial security in return for my efforts.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Humans And Mutants - Logan Howlett X Female Reader

Title: Chocolate Milk, Pour Me A Cup

Previous Chapter | Current Chapter | Next Chapter

Logan Howlett X Female Reader

Additional Characters: Charles, Jean (Mentioned), Bobby, Jones, Kurt (Mentioned), and Scott (Mentioned)

WC: 1,958

Warnings: Smoking, killing mentioned, nightmares, experiments mentioned, beer mentioned, Reader wears an eye patch, slow burn, cursing, slight angst, and fluff

(Sorry, if this series is a bit odd, I made this in 2018)

Logan wandered the halls of the mansion looking for Professor X, or Charles. He finally found him in Cerebro, the giant machine that held great power. Charles sat at the console, and adjusted some of the controls, before speaking to Logan. “Logan, my repeated requests about smoking in the mansion notwithstanding, continue smoking that in here… And you will spend the rest of your days under the belief that you are a six-year-old girl.” Charles threatened, not even turning to Logan, who had a cigar in his mouth.

“You’d do that?” Logan questioned, surprise reflected in his voice.

“I’ll have Jean braid your hair. Welcome back.” Charles playfully threatened with a small smile on his face, putting on a silver helmet with two wires connected to the console in front of him; he shut his eyes. The door behind the both of them slowly closed, shutting them both in.

Logan puts out the cigar with his palm, breathing out his nose in pain, and putting the rest of it in his pocket for later; the burn on his hand slowly heals completely. “You want me to leave?” Logan asked, glancing around him at the circle room.

“No. Just… Don't move.” Charles answered slowly, concentrating as the walls fell away with the Cerebro effect. The Cerebro abruptly pulled straight down with stomach-lurching speed, rushing through blackness with hints of light. In seconds, both Logan and Charles were standing inside a giant image of the Earth resembling bright white lights, slowly rotating around them. The white lights were like stars that had fallen to Earth. “Those lights represent every living person on the planet. The white lights are humans.” Charles spoke up, as the white lights then suddenly faded and red lights appeared. “And these are the mutants. Through Cerebro, I am connected to them, and they to me. You see Logan, we’re not as alone as you think.” Charles finished, looking at all the red lights softly speaking and moving around them; multiple whispers swirled around them.

“I found the base. There was nothing there,” Logan suddenly said.

“The broken line represents the path the mutant took to attack the President. Finding it difficult to get a lock on him.” Charles continued, looking at the lights around him.

Logan looked around the room as well, “Can’t you just concentrate harder?” He asked, as if it was so easy.

“If I wanted to kill him, yes.” Charles said, causing Logan to look at the Professor abruptly, surprised. “There. It looks like he’s finally stopped running.” the Professor spoke as the red lights zoom through and slow down to one mutant praying rapidly in German.

Charles closed his eyes, he found what he needed. Suddenly, the Cerebro effect collapses on itself and they are back on the metal catwalk. Charles pulled off the helmet and set it down on the console.

“I need you to read my mind again.” Logan said insistently as Charles sighed softly.

“Logan,” He wheeled back to face him before continuing, “I’m afraid the result will be the same as before.”

Logan narrowed his eyes, “We had a deal.” He stated grumpily as Charles gave him a look.

“Logan, the mind is not a box to be simply unlocked and opened, it’s a beehive-”

“Spare me the knowledge.” Logan said, cutting the Professor off.

“I don’t doubt that your amnesia and enhanced skeleton and claws are somehow connected. Logan, sometimes the mind needs to discover it for itself.” Charles said to a pretty pissed off Logan. “I promise we’ll talk more about it when I get back. Oh, if you will be kind enough to watch over the children tonight, Scott and I are going to pay a visit to an old friend.”

~~~

The night was quiet and still, only the soft wind was heard hitting against the windows. Logan layed in bed, his soft slumber soon falling into a heart-stopping nightmare. Inside his mind, he saw flashes of his forgotten past. Government people, scientists, x-ray scans, and people whispering the words ‘no memory’. He felt pain and confusion rolled up in one. He jolted forward, breathing heavily; sweat covered his chest and forehead. He got up and walked from his room down the great halls of wooden architecture. He walked into a room with a TV on, and a little boy with big round glasses on his nose. The TV's channels changed periodically, as the boy’s eyes blinked.

Logan leaned on the entrance door wall and watched, arms crossed. He watched the boy and then to the tv when it changed again to the report about the attack in Washington DC.  “Can’t sleep?” The boy questioned, not turning away from the TV.

“How could you tell?” Logan asked with a small smirk on his face.

The boy turned to Logan. “Because you’re awake.”

“Right.” Logan simply said before he continued, “How ‘bout you?” He asked the boy.

“I don’t sleep.” Said the boy, who already turned back to watch the TV.

Logan took a moment before leaving, and on his way around the mansion, he found the kitchen. He stopped and noticed Bobby eating a pint of ice cream; vanilla. Bobby stopped mid-way of eating a spoonful of ice cream when he noticed Logan at the door entrance.

“Hey.” Bobby greeted, resuming his bite on his spoon.

“Doesn't anyone sleep around here?” Logan questioned heading to the fridge.

Bobby stabbed his ice cream with his spoon, “Apparently not.”

“Got any beer?” Logan asked, opening the fridge, peering inside.

Bobby gave the man a look, “This is a school.” He answered with a slight smile on his face; filled with amusement.

“So that’s a ‘no’?” Logan directed, making sure.

“Yeah, that’s a ‘no’.” Bobby answered with a nod, confirming.

Logan shut the fridge, turning to the young teen, “Is there anything other than chocolate milk?”

“There should be some soda in the small cupboard.” Bobby said, pointing to the cupboard with his spoon. Logan headed over and opened the cupboard, pulling out a Dr. Pepper. “Oh, hey, could you pull out the chocolate milk from the fridge? The carton?” Bobby asked, gesturing with his spoon again.

Logan looked at him for a moment, confused before he headed back to the fridge, opening it and grabbing the chocolate milk carton. Passing it over to Bobby, he watched as the teen hopped off his stool to grab a glass from a nearby cupboard. Bobby then opened the carton and began to pour a full glass of milk, fully emptying whatever was left in the carton completely. Bobby then slid the glass near the sink before sitting back down, tossing the empty carton into the trash a ways away from him.

Logan then opened his soda, his mind racing in confusion and curiosity. He walked to the island where Bobby was sitting once more and tossed the cap on the counter. He was about to take a sip when he hesitated, he gave it to Bobby, and Bobby blew into the bottle causing the soda to cool off and small frost-like designs on the side of the glass bottle.

“Thanks.” Logan said, sort of impressed before he took a sip.

“No problem.” Bobby said, poking his ice cream again.

Logan took another sip of the soda, before gesturing with his chin at the counter, “So, why the milk by the sink? Seems like a waste.” Logan asked, before taking a sip of his Dr. Pepper again.

“If you want to wait a second, then you’ll see why?” Bobby said, scooping and eating more ice cream. Logan looked at Bobby, even more confused than before as Bobby then looked down at his watch on his right wrist and then went back to eating his ice cream. Moments went on in silence, filled with bites of ice cream and sips of soda until Bobby began speaking. “Five… Four… Three… Two… One… And zero.”

Once Bobby finished his countdown, a small flash of light appeared, slightly blinding Logan before the light faded and a woman stood by the sink. Logan couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was, the way her hair framed her face, and the smile that sat there. But, one thing that stood out to Logan about this mystery woman was that one eye was covered with an eyepatch. She was dressed in seemingly really comfortable clothes, leaning back against the counter as she grabbed the glass of chocolate milk, taking a sip. Looking up, she finally took notice of the extra person in the kitchen.

“Hey, Prof. This is Logan.” Bobby announced, introducing the two, gesturing to Logan with his spoon.

“He’s new I’m guessing?” You asked Bobby, looking at the new guy you had never seen before, giving him a once-over. You were pleasantly surprised by this new guy, finding him incredibly attractive; strong arms, nice hair, cute face.

“Sort of.” Logan answered simply, shrugging, still surprised by your sudden appearance.

You gave a smile and nodded, “Names Y/N L/N, sorry to cut this introduction short. I have to get back to my cabin. My show’s about to come on. Oh, and Bobby, don’t forget to finish your homework.” You replied, pointing at Bobby with your half-drunk glass.

“Yeah, finished it, Teach.” Bobby said, giving her a thumbs up.

You smiled and nodded, “Good, keep the good work up. See you all later.” You said, taking one last glance at Logan before the same bright light appeared around you, and once the light had cleared, you were gone and so was the milk.

Moments passed and again there was silence. Bobby looked at Logan who just had a blank expression; his face unreadable, but his eyes held shock. “I know, she’s pretty cool.”

Logan finally snapped out of it and turned to Bobby. “What does she teach anyway?” Logan questioned him, taking another sip of his drink, it was almost gone at this point.

“Biology, and she is pretty good at it. Even though half the time her class is pretty boring. I mean, she teaches us some cool stuff, I admit that, but after hearing about stuff that is probably not relevant to my future, it gets boring. Don’t tell her I said that through, she would flip, and then give me homework.” Bobby replied, before shoveling more ice cream in his mouth. 

“Doesn't she already give you homework?” Logan inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“No, only when we do something that pisses her off. ‘It’s a bad influence on the little kids’, she says. And the worst part is that the homework is an essay, and she is really into grammar so we have to have everything correct, or we have to start all over again.” Bobby complained.

“Tough.” Logan responded, taking another sip of his drink.

“Yeah.” Bobby nodded, finishing his ice cream, dropping the spoon in the empty ice cream box.

Logan swirled the last bit of his soda around in the bottle before tilting his head back and finishing the rest, “Is there anything else she can do besides teleporting and stealing chocolate milk?”

“Well, I have a theory that she has other powers that she’s hiding.” Bobby said, explaining his thoughts, fidgeting with something on the kitchen island.

“Can’t you ask her about it?” Logan asked, leaning against the island as he sat down his empty bottle.

“No, I did once and she got annoyed, saying I shouldn’t ask personal questions. Then she gave me a five-inch tall essay to finish the difference between meiosis and mitosis. And I had to finish it in a week.” Bobby said, raving dramatically.

Logan nodded, humming slightly. He didn’t really care about the homework and essays, he cared about the person dishing them out.

_____

@powergirlsupremacy

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist

[raayllum]

Because @kradogsrats got me thinking about it with their Harrow and Pip and Viren meta so now I'm throwing in two adjacently related cents

The first is that there is absolutely a fucking Premonition going on with dreams in the show (specifically Viren and Callum's dark magic dreams as well as Janai's nightmare) which only makes sense because all of these are 1) connected to Aaravos and subsequently star magic, and 2) dark magic which loops right back around to Aaravos

There are multiple times that images and ideas are relayed to characters who would have no way of knowing these things in the present

For example, Viren is surprised and asks Kpp'Ar about his arm, even when we know that Viren was the last person to see Kpp'Ar before he got coined, and presumably would've already been hurt / Viren would've been aware it had happened. But that doesn't seem to be the case given the dialogue

This also means that the answer Kpp'Ar gives either has to be not truthful and purely something Viren concocted (about something he didn't know had happened), which wouldn't make sense from a character or an audience standpoint, because in an episode titled "Old Wounds" we're going to remember the one visible wound we see on screen. So if the wounds are real and Kpp'Ar is truthful, there's some wonky magic knowledge time space stuff going on (which does sound like Star and adjacent dark magic to me)

We see this again with Janai's dreams concerning Khessa evolving past the point of a reoccurring nightmare to one that actually gives her, again, what we're supposed to assume is the Truth, even though Janai was leagues away from Aaravos (although she did hear his voice) and the lack of discerning his whisper wouldn't suddenly go away for no reason

And we Know there's some overlap between the dark magic dreams and the current reality happening outside the dreams, considering Viren's material reality in 5x02-5x03 directly informs his dreaming reality ("You keep moving" -> "We have to keep moving" as one example)

Most notably with the flower, Claudia begins discarding it in the dream before she drops it in real life, with Claudia receiving the flower in real life before it appears with her in the dream. So the interplay is not consistent moving in one direction solely to the other, but very much does exist

We even see this noticeably (upon rewatches) with Callum's dark magic dreams featuring foreshadowing for future seasons. Not only does having the Key represent dark magic in the dream make extra sense because it is connected to Aaravos, who is also connected to dark magic of course, it likewise has the Ocean rune on display in particular, hinting at things that haven't yet come to pass, but things that very much will

Why does this matter? Well... when Harrow does show up in Callum's dark magic dream, he is notably chained down

Or, y'know, caged like a bird

Now, this could just be because TDP likes its poignant but hella on the nose symbolism on a regular basis. It likes to use a variety of symbols concerning freedom, with a multitude of metaphors just in this episode alone: navigating a storm and steering a ship; keys and chains; the key; and verbally, books to go along with the idea of fate and destiny being "written" or being rewritten by yourself. And I'm willing to bet that that's Most of it

But also... the Claudia with the flower, Kpp'Ar with his arm, the cube with the Ocean rune, and all that stuff... alongside how blithering little we know about Star magic at the present. Hopefully "Dreamer's Nightmare," which focuses the princes and a town beset by horrible nightmares pre-series and set to come out early August 2024, could give some answers if S6 hasn't dropped by then

Regardless leads me to my second thing regarding what actually happened in that goddamn kindly bedroom between Harrow and Viren (innuendo half intended)

I think Harrow's soul got split

The main reason this makes sense to me is twofold on a plot level and then there's 1-2 things thematically, but let's talk about the most concrete stuff first

1) There is a significant chunk of time between the last possible chance Viren could've done the spell and when we see the binding actually fall

Now to be fair, there's a delay between Runaan's binding falling off and Rayla's (because story constraints) but it's worth noting that as Runaan makes his way to the balcony, only then does it begin to loosen. He's left the room and (rightly) assumed his job is done probably because he knew he was growing weak and still needed to send the arrow, but it's clearly something that gave Harrow a bit of time to like, Live. If Harrow had fully died earlier than that in some capacity, the bindings would have fallen off ahead of time, so Runaan did something and we know (thanks to the Flowers) that Moonshadow elves can enchant objects tied to souls, not bodies, even if other people can be fooled by their appearances

So although the novelization and the show indicate that Viren did something shady as hell ("If Viren wanted to defy his former friend one last time, he'd have to do it tonight"), it isn't something that could've fully killed Harrow at that time

Hence the split. As Kradogsrats pointed out, the Soulfang serpent spell is something that due to the unique nature of the specimen as well as it's not exactly something you can practice (S4 even emphasizes how specific ingredients have to be sometimes in order for a spell to work correctly as well as multiple TDP short stories showing what can go wrong if you lose concentration) it was something that could've gone so wrong so easily.

Some of his soul had to have stayed in his body (but possibly left Harrow momentarily unconscious). Maybe Viren thought he had failed and killed him, and that would explain why he does nothing in the hallway while the assassins are attacking (he seems to kind of know but not fully get what Runaan's binding means in 1x08), although he does seem to have a hint of reservation about Callum being there in the hallway, which wouldn't make sense if he was sure that Harrow was dead, because then who was gonna give a shit that Callum was there?

Another part of his soul could've gone in the bird, as the Soulfang was in the room and so was Pip (quite prominently displayed). Viren at least attempting the spell and it being partially successful would explain why dream!Harrow imprisons him further (after all, why not let it be Kpp'Ar, who literally got coined?) in addition to Pip. Harrow has Runaan's arrow in him during the imprisonment scene as well, so it seems likely that both Viren and Runaan had an equal hand in ruining Harrow's body on that level

The main reason I can see there being at least a partial piece of Harrow's soul in Pip is well

2) Runaan and Ezran

Even if we disregard the thematic irony of Harrow being trapped in the physical symbol of freedom (a bird), there is the fact that Ezran being able to talk to animals is like... the biggest tell that something is coming around with this goddamn bird.

Like Ezran's ability to talk to animals thus far has not had a lot of plot relevance, okay, outside of season one. Like him with Ava and the spider is the last time it's directly core relevant in ways that would be hard to get around. Like his bond with Zym could exist regardless as well as seeing through his eyes. Even if being able to talk to animals absolutely helped set that up, it's not necessary for Ezran to have the communication ability per se to have what he has with Zym, and thus far even as more animals have been introduced (most notably Stella) it hasn't really come into play.

The main reason to give Ezran an ability like this is so that he can talk to Pip. The main reason to remove Pip from the castle as of S2 is because - even in the original plans where Ezran didn't go home in 2x09, he would still would have off screen after S3 and inevitably run into Pip. So there's clearly something with the bird that will become evident upon him interacting with Ezran, hence why they've been separated.

At the same time, I don't think Harrow can wholly be in the bird just because that removes some of Runaan's teeth (and Ezran's subsequent potential beef with him) in ways the show just... doesn't do? I always think about how easy it would've been for Harrow to have no knowledge of what Viren had done with the egg/Zym until it was already over (which 1x02 kinda indicates) only for 3x06 to go "No, Harrow was fully conscious and complicit, even if he had reservations and it wasn't his idea." Our mistakes indeed. So I don't think it'd make sense to let Runaan completely off the hook, especially when we just spent two seasons giving Viren an atonement arc and showing that he can grow and change (and it'll be Runaan's turn afterwards -- especially because within the narrative of the show, killing Harrow is the Only Tangibly Bad thing he's really done, so if he's absolved of that than he doesn't really have a point of being here to the same degree).

Continent Split in Two

If Harrow's soul was split in two, not only would reconciling that (aka maybe letting it Leave Pip, the way the Moonshadow troupe and Sarai's breath had to be released) be a way for the boys, particularly Ezran, to get another shot at processing their father's death... It would also reflect the divide of Xadia itself because of dark magic, and how that literal rift metaphorically, magically, and literally, is being healed and mended over.

It would also have an interesting parallel of Claudia (presumably whether Viren lives past s5 or not) having to likewise learn to let her father go and cope/grieve in a healthier manner, and it would mean that Harrow never comes back fully formed (because Ezran has to keep being King, narratively / arc wise) but we finally understand what truly happened to him.

[barncultus]

Developing Local Cultus: A Companion Library

In preparation for the revamping of my Local Cultus series over on wordpress, I have begun to gather this small reference library for anyone who may be interested. Containing mostly works which inspired me to set out on the path of developing a localized religious practice, as well as some of my research materials. For those interested in the series, and the topic which it covers, I absolutely recommend giving these titles a flip through.

The first of this series, an introduction and mapping out of what is to come, will be up on the Barn Cultus website by the end of July.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Indispensable knowledge of ecological relationships as written by an indigenous woman and professor of environmental biology.

The Green Mysteries by Daniel Schulke An encyclopedia of the spiritual, magical, and folkloric qualities of plants. Written by the Magister of the Sabbatic tradition.

The Golden Bough by James George Frazer Frazer tracks the role of religion and magic up until the modern day, introducing along the way some of the key ideas behind my style of cultus developing (such as re-enchantment). This book is always on my reference shelf, close at hand, and while the anthropology is at times laughably outdated, it is a beautiful read with some interesting groundwork.

Viridarium Umbris by Daniel Schulke I'd be remiss to not include this in my list. Another Schulke work and a comprehensive grimoire of verdant magics. I personally view this book as overhyped, though a should-read, perhaps not a must.

Demons & Spirits of the Land: Ancestral Lore and Practices A foundational text of folkloric land spirits and the operations used by Pre-Modern Europe to interact with them.

Roman Cult Images: The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity In my own eyes, the finding of localized images. Images references the faces, attributes, and fauna of the region in which each divinity of the cultus is depicted. The crafting of cult images, in the forms of eikons and idols, is another aspect of this.

Idolatry Restor'd by Daniel Schulke Schulke speaks to the ensouled fetish, which connects greatly to the idea of the Living Statue and the cultic image. More of a sorcerous read, but worth it nontheless.

We Are In The Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices of Turtle Island on the Changing Earth I hold the strong conviction that those of us in America who find our bloodlines here through the powers of colonialism absolutely must be listening to indigenous wisdom- full stop. Publications like this one are a huge boon to the mending of the rift between the descendants of colonialism and the land which they inhabit. I think this becomes doubly important to those practices land-based religions.

The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade I come with the bias of studying the anthropology of religion full time. This book has in many ways aided in bridging the gap between my academic studies and the building of my theologies, and is a profound read by an author with a storied collection of publications within the field.

Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysus An interesting look into the mystery cult of Dionysus during late antiquity. Mystery cults often operated regionally and with localized aspects to their mysteries.

Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites by Dudley Wright All literature on the Eleusinian mysteries is a boon- this is my recommendation. Following the ritual life of the local agriculture cult which has gone down in history as one of the largest surviving cults into the Christianization of Greece.

Walking the Worlds: Building Regional Cultus Less of an academic read than the others on this list, but one I found equally as inspiring. The articles speak to diaspora and tensions of modern polytheism, and I think without some kind of academic pre-knowledge of these topics the articles themselves would fall a little flat, but a worthy read for the genuine pursuant.

Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World by the MET

Kongo in Haiti: A New Approach to Religious Syncretism by Luc de Heusch This article explores religious syncretism through the lens of Vodou, an African traditional religion known for its syncretic relationship with Christianity here in the US and Haiti. De Heusch explores a little bit of the roots in West Africa, and how the religion operates in both syncretic and nonsyncretic ways across the African diaspora.

Why Cecropian Minerva?: Hellenic Syncretism as System by Luther H. Martin This article explores syncretism in a western context, from the other side of the isle. This is not syncretism brought on by oppression and colonialism, instead highlighting syncretism theologically proposed by the oppressors, a favorite of the Romans. Martin explores the theology of this, the politics of this, and offers interesting analysis of the historical evidence.

Epithets in the Orphic Hymns by W. K. C. Guthrie There's powers in names. You know it, I know it, Guthrie certainly knows it. Behind that power is meaning. While Guthrie does not particularly touch on regionalized epithets, I still find this to a be a great read to get one thinking about cult specific poetic titles.

[becauseimanicequeen]

4 Minutes Theories (Ep. 1-8) Results

The finale was last night, so I thought I would do one last theories post where I gather all the theories I've had since the trailer and the teaser (which were kind of sweeping since the trailer and teaser didn't give me much to get super detailed about), including the theories from episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, episode 5, episode 6, episode 7, and some wild-ass theories I posted in between these posts and episodes. Let's see how wrong I was throughout the show.

Pre-premiere theory: The moments Great sees ahead of time are moments that might help him redeem himself from a past mistake/transgression. (Confirmed)

I could argue that Great's do-overs were based on an obstinate need to "prove" to Tyme that he's not a coward, but I won't (lol).

Pre-premiere theory: The car accident is the trigger for Great’s visions. (Confirmed)

Pre-premiere theory: Title is involved with Korn. (Half-Confirmed)

I half-confirmed this since Title has a semi-connection to Korn through Great, Fasai, and Warit.

Pre-premiere theory: Win is battling some contrasting, opposing forces (internal and/or external). (Confirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for JJay/Win. I solely based it on the red and green contrasting colors.

Ever since it was revealed in the 2nd episode that Win works for the police, I've had the feeling that the contrasting forces he's battling are his attachment/feelings for Tonkla and his duty to uphold the law.

Considering he went rogue to find out who killed Dome, practically gave Tonkla the knowledge of whom killed Dome, and yet tried to arrest him (not to mention shooting him when he got in the line of fire), just to name a few things, I would say that this idiot has been struggling the whole time.

Pre-premiere theory: Den is a neurologist and friends with Tyme. (Half-Confirmed)

I half-confirmed this because I don't think it was ever confirmed that Den was a neurologist, right? I mean, all the brain scans in his office might be evidence that he is. But I half-confirmed it anyway.

Pre-premiere theory: Den has a situationship with Korn. (Wrong)

I kept this theory only because I wanted to see Bas and Job together. It was a delulu wish, and I will keep being delulu about this.

(I'm still on my "Non is alive" agenda, so I can keep this wish alive forever, lmao.)

Pre-premiere theory: Dome is a mystery person operating under the radar without showing his true alliance until the end. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this theory a long time ago.

Pre-premiere theory: Great and Win are brothers who will butt heads from time to time. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: Fasai is the other character with a condition similar to Great’s. (Wrong)

I knew quite quickly that this wouldn't happen, but I kept it unconfirmed all the way to the end because you never know...

Also, it gave me an excuse to add some Fasai/Natty to my post, which is a win in itself!

Pre-premiere theory: Great’s (Bible’s) tattoos have something to do with the story. (Wrong)

I was sure this wouldn't come true ever since someone told me before the premier that those were Bible's real tattoos. But I kept this theory anyway because that meant I could use this image in all my posts:

So, even though I didn't "win" this theory, I still won.

Pre-premiere theory: Great becomes Korn’s target because he can see ahead of time. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this weeks ago.

Pre-premiere theory: Great hit the person with his car at 11:01 (or they died at 11:01) and that’s why he sees clocks stopping at that time. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: 11:01 is when Great can see 4 minutes into the future. (Wrong)

Pre-premiere theory: Someone will die/fake their death. (Confirmed)

As I've written in the previous posts in this series on my 4 Minutes theories, this theory was pretty obvious from the start. Sammon kills characters all the time, lol.

But, I also mentioned in one of the previous posts that I won't confirm this theory until one of the more important characters dies (excluding Great and Tyme). The ones I thought would die were Dome, Title, and perhaps Korn.

I was right about all three of them, so I'm marking this one as confirmed.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Great is having an out-of-body experience. (Confirmed)

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Korn will do some shady shit to prove to his dad that he can take over the family business. (Confirmed)

Korn definitely did some shady shit. Especially in the real past timeline we saw in the 6th episode. You can't convince me he didn't beat up Nan in that warehouse when he came out a wiped the blood off his hands. So, I will confirm this even though I really wanted to see more of what shady shit he got involved in to please his dad.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Tonkla is at the center of it all. (Half-Confirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for Fuaiz/Tonkla. At first, I thought he had a target on his back (which became true as soon as he became the prime suspect in Title's murder), but at one point, it felt like it developed more into Tonkla being at the center of this whole thing (like he was the spider in the web).

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I would only confirm this if Tonkla's timeline was the real timeline (which it seemed to be, even though there were some anomalies in his timeline as well) and if he became the prime suspect in both Great's shooting and Title's death. Since he only became the prime suspect in Title's death, so I will only mark this as half-confirmed.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Fasai has a connection with Korn. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Tonkla will betray Korn. (Confirmed)

I mentioned last week that I would only half-confirm this if shooting Great was the only betrayal we got. And I was totally fine with that. But then Tonkla said that he'd cheated on Korn when Korn was gone, which means that Tonkla himself thought of it as a betrayal. So I will confirm this.

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great's visions of himself and Tyme are his present self's memories of their time together. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great had a cardiac arrest/near-death experience at 11:00. (Confirmed)

Wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Great will get Tyme's heart (after Tyme is shot). (Wrong)

I knew this wouldn't happen. (Besides, this wasn't the Transplant I wanted.)

Revised/developed wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Tyme is having his own out-of-body experience. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Dome is Tonkla's brother. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme has a precognitive ability similar to Great’s (or might develop one). (Wrong)

I was right that Tyme would also have an OOBE, and I was right that his heart also stopped at 11:00. But we never got to see any precognitive abilities from Tyme. So... Wrong.

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Fasai (and/or her father) is in league with someone within the police force. (Confirmed)

Well, Police Colonel Warit (who they called a general in the subs more than once, btw, but it said Pol.Col. Warit on him on MDL a couple of weeks ago when I needed to double-check on another character's name, so I'm going with Police Colonel) is one corrupt asshole. He's also a corrupt asshole that confirmed this theory for me. So, thank you? I guess?

Pre-ep. 3 theory: There are different timelines at play. (Confirmed)

Well, this one is pretty obvious, right? I've written a long ass post about my thoughts on the timelines and a post with the scenes in the first 6 episodes in chronological-ish order (including both the real past and the different timelines) and then one about Tonkla's timeline (ep. 1-7).

My theory included:

The real past/Tonkla's timeline

Great's OOBE

Tyme's OOBE

The present

A couple of weeks ago, I also wrote that I would only confirm this if I got the majority of these timelines confirmed, which I did.

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Great has 4 minutes to wake up/get his heart to start beating again. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme is getting close to Great because of Great's family and their connection to the illegal gambling sites. (Confirmed)

Wild-ass pre-ep. 3 theory: The number 4 marks a character with death. (Confirmed)

The number 4 (which in Cantonese is pronounced very similarly to the word "death") marks characters with death.

The characters that came in contact with number 4:

Great, who was shot and flatlined at the hospital.

Tyme who was also shot.

Manee, who Great hit with his car and left to die.

Dome, who was killed by Title.

Title, who was murdered by Tonkla.

And the elderly lady in bed number 4 who, most likely, died because of her illness.

I previously wrote that I would confirm this if I got the majority correct. Also, I said that NDEs didn't count.

If I don't count Great and Tyme, I've got half right. But since I believe Great and Tyme didn't come back to life again, I have the majority correct. So, I'll confirm this theory.

Revised/developed pre-ep. 3 theory: Tyme is looking into the illegal gambling sites because his family fell victim to either them or Great's dad. (Confirmed)

Pre-ep. 4 theory: Great's actions during his OOBE won't change anything in the present. (Half-Confirmed)

I will half-confirm this because I'm still not sure whether Great's actions did help Tonkla hear his brother (or if Tonkla was in some weird ass timeline too). And I'm too tired of this show to keep thinking about it, lol.

Pre-ep. 4 theory: Tyme's choices in the real past are the reason Great is in the hospital having a cardiac arrest. (Scrapped)

I scrapped this weeks ago.

Pre-ep. 4 theory: The note saying "Can you forgive me, Great?" is written by the mystery woman in the gallery (Lukwa). (Wrong)

Too bad I didn't use my initial theory in these posts though, especially the part where I thought that particular note came from someone who talked to Great at the hospital in the present. It's just that the words were filtered through Great's mind, which is probably why the handwriting was different.

Anyway...

Pre-ep. 5 theory: The bodies the police find are the people who died in the real past. (Half-Confirmed)

I will only half-confirm this because I initially included the shareholder with the red umbrella in this theory as well (and that Nan's body would show up somewhere at some point). But I did get Dome and Title, so I'll half-confirm it.

Pre-ep. 7 theory: Tyme and Great met as kids (Confirmed)

I based this theory on how Tyme said "You're still afraid of dogs?" in ep. 6.

That was it. Now, let's look at the final results.

Final Results:

Total theories since the trailer: 36

Confirmed theories: 19

Half-Confirmed theories: 5

Wrong/scrapped theories: 12

(Btw, my stats should've included 37 theories, but I couldn't find the 37th in any of my posts, so I chose to omit it from this one.)

Well, that went a lot better than I expected from such an intricate story like this (with different timelines, questions, mysteries, etc.). I was not expecting to have more confirmed than wrong theories. Either way, I'm glad this is over because I need something else to fill my brainspace. (At least until the next Sammon show comes out in November, if I remember correctly.)

That's it for Ice Queen Holmes, at least for now. Over and out.

[sunshine304]

FTH Fanbinding: "Disrespect" 'verse by Khashana

And here is my last fanbinding for the FTH crafts bazaar! @khashanakalashtar won one of the raffles and decided on having their own fic bound, a series of 12 parts for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’m unfamiliar with the fandom; I know some basics like a few characters’ names and the elemental bender thing but that’s about it. But when I read the fic, I found that it didn’t matter all that much because it was a modern AU and was really enjoyable even without knowledge of the show!

As it’s set at Bryn Mawr College, I decided to use that as a bit of a throughline for the design, because it definitely was easier than trying to find many fitting pictures from ATLA where I often can’t even tell if it’s official promo or fanmade stuff. XD

The design for the cover was quite clear early on. Khashana had said that they’d like the colour red for the case (fitting, as Zuko is the central character), and so I settled on this lovely Duo bookcloth. Depending on how the light hits it, the linen looks either red or slightly orange as it mixes threads of different colour.

This was the first time I tried a full linen case and it worked super well! I had no problems and no creases, so I’m very happy that it was quite easy to do, actually. 

I didn’t want to go yet again for the red/gold type of cover, so I decided to write the title with blue, as Katara and Sokka are also heavily featured in the fic and they're colour-coded blue. *g*

For endpapers, I kept to Zuko’s colours, basically. I think it looks appropriate. Same with the ribbon and headbands.

The typesetting, ohhh boy. This took me the longest out of all the books, because I’d gotten it into my head to keep to the 12-part-structure (instead of, say, making chapters out of the parts). That meant that I wanted to make a little title page for each part. Which also meant doing graphics. Lots of them. T_T

Khashana had done graphics for all the fics/podfics, but not all of them worked for this book as they of course came from the show. So I used a few of them, doing some editing to get them to the right size, and then went hunting for more. I settled on a mix of edited photos of the college (like the houses that are mentioned in the fics) and edited screenshots of the characters that did a least look slightly like it could be a modern setting. *g* In any case, I tried to find a connection to the fic when choosing the graphic.

I also added little graphics at the beginning of each part that illustrated something from it in one way or another, sometimes basically repeating the title page, sometimes choosing a different image. 

Halfway through these edits, I was like, "OMG this takes forever, I should've just gone with a text-based title page." T_T But now I was committed! XD

I also added their current map to the book as I really liked how it looked.

I think the book came out really well in the end and it’s a well-rounded concept, but wow, did it take me a while. XD

Anyway, I’m very pleased with this book! :D

Thank you, @khashanakalashtar, for participating in FTH and for letting me work with your fic!

Materials used:

Printed on Clairefontaine Papago 80g

- booklinen Duo 222 - booklinen English Buckram (lantern) - endpapers: Chiyogami paper 60g - hot foil (Action) Link to the fic series:

[thesorcerersapprentice]

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act One:

The Fool: "The Fool depicts a youth walking joyfully into the world. He is taking his first steps, and he is exuberant, joyful, excited. He carries nothing with him except a small sack, caring nothing for the possible dangers that lie in his path. Indeed, he is soon to encounter the first of these possible dangers, for if he takes just a step more, he he topple over the cliff that he is reaching. But this doesn't seem to concern him - we are unsure whether he is just naive or simply unaware. The dog at his heels barks at him in warning, and if he does not become more aware of his surroundings soon, he may never see all the adventures that he dreams of encountering." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act Two:

The Magician: "The Magician is one tarot card that is filled with symbolism. The central figure depicts someone with one hand pointed to the sky, while the other hand points to the ground, as if to say "as above, so below". This is a rather complicated phrase, but its summarization is that earth reflects heaven, the outer world reflects within, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, earth reflects God. It can also be interpreted here that the magician symbolizes the ability to act as a go-between between the world above and the contemporary, human world. On his table, the magician also wields all the suits of the tarot. This symbolizes the four elements being connected by this magician - the four elements being earth, water, air, and fire. The infinity sign on his head indicates the infinite possibilities of creation with the will." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Altaluna (Protagonist), Act Three:

The High Priestess: "[...] she can be seen in the archetypes of Persephone, Artemis, Isis and many more. When you encounter her, you will see her sitting on a cubic stone between the two pillars at Solomon’s Temple, Jachin, and Boaz. Jachin (right) is generally referred to as the Pillar of Establishment and Boaz (left) is the Pillar of Strength. The pillars also depict the duality of nature; masculine and feminine, good and evil, negative and positive. The High Priestess's location between the two suggests that it is her responsibility to serve as a mediator between the depths of reality. She is the third pillar - the path between. She believes that both pillars are equal and there is knowledge to be learned in both worlds. You will also notice that she wears the crown of Isis which can mean that she is a believer of magic. The high priestess wearing of the solar cross denotes that she is connected to the season of the earth and the earth itself. The crescent moon at her feet is seen also in many depictions of the Virgin Mary, and means that she has a complete grasp over her emotion and the pomegranates refer to the ambition of the priestess." - Excerpt from Labyrinthos.co

Tagging: @inkovert, @foyle-writes-things, @sodaliteskull and anyone else who would like to play.

Image Description below the cut! P.S. This format looks so much better on my Tumblr website.

Title: Tag & Ask Games, The Foretelling Description: Assign Tarot Cards representing your character(s) in act 1, act 2, and act 3, the tag some friends!

[total-convergence]

Bámi facial esxpressions

The sheep-descended sophonts again (previously named Auks but my english-animal-name-knowledge-lacking butt did not google it and now I have to change it because that already is an animal. Anyways). Their primary way of expressing themselves non-verbally is mostly using their whole body, and of course, the scent glands. Scent glands of the Bám (located near the eyes) can be extremely everted, or bent in several ways like the human lips. This diagram only coveres the basics. Báms are very emotionaly oriented fellows neurologicaly speaking and they are able to feel a myriad of feelings us humans can't even comprehend.

A diagram showing a few examples of how the Báms express emotions. From top left: Neutral - scent glands and the rest of the body relaxed. Sadness - ears plopped down and rotated slightly backwards, tip of the scent gland bent downwards, tongue hanging aimlessly down. Hapiness - neck erected, tongue flexed, ears aiming forward and upward, eyes widely open, both parts of the scent glands tightly flexed, but slightly everted. Attraction - ears aiming forward and upward, pupils dilated, scent glands completely everted, blushing. Rage - mouth open, tongue raised high above the head, eyes crossed, ears aiming backwards, face turning red, mouth open, neck erected. Frown - ears aiming backwards, lips flexed, back part of the scent glands (closer to eyes) shut, front part slightly everted. Fear - mouth slightly open, breathes more quickly, ears aiming backwards, hunched back, eyes wide open, face turns pale, tongue kept in a "ready to cover my face if something jumps at me" serpentine position. Gratitude - ears bent horizontally, eyes semi-closed, front of the scent gland closed but relaxed, back of the gland almost entirely everted.

[Image ID: A light blue, 8 square diagram titled "Bámi facial expressions". In each square, there is a portrait of a Bám, a creature with beige wool all around its body except for around the eyes and mouth, two short and soft, finger-like "apendages" made of lip muscles and a long, brown furry tongue. They have pale, pinkish skin, blue eyes and scent glands connecting to the eyes, going from the tear canal towards the nose. They are relatively short and look like slits if not everted. Ears are relatively small, human and sheep-like in appearance and almost woolless. Each portrait corresponds with the emotion pictured, and in each corner there is a light brown pictogram of a full body stance. It has muted, yet slightly chaotic graphics. Each portrait is emoting as described above. /.End ID]

[echo-goes-mmm]

Ambrose and Elliot #14

Masterpost

Previous

Next

Warnings: brief murder, offscreen sex

Once upon a time, a hundred years ago or more, there was a temple boy. The title was a bit of a misnomer, really. Ambrose was a grown man at 21. But he was no priest, and if you lived at the temple and weren’t a priest, you were a temple boy. Or girl, or assistant. 

Ambrose’s job was to keep things clean and tidy. To sweep the polished floors, launder the tapestries, water the plants, and secretly open the windows when the priests used too much incense in his opinion. That last part wasn’t in the job description.

It was monotonous, but it was a job. It allowed him some anonymity anyway, his parents wouldn’t think to look for Ambrose here. No one paid attention to the temple cleaners when there was a chance to run into a god. 

Ambrose wasn’t a worshiper but he knew better than the fanatics. He’d peeked and seen the serpent god a few times, and he was certainly divine, but also he was kinda just… a man? A very handsome man with pretty brown-and-gold slitted eyes and lovely black hair and a sharp smile that made his stomach do some interesting maneuvers and-

Still. Not exactly the mind-meltingly powerful image some followers claimed to see. Their offerings usually went unnoticed, and Ambrose bet they hadn’t actually met him.

He was wandering the upper floor of the temple, looking for the rumored records room, when the tell-tale flash of golden light appeared behind him. He whirled around. And yup, the serpent god was right behind him. Shit.

“You’re getting closer,” said the god, in a sing-song voice. Fuck, his teeth were sharp.

“Hm?”

“The records room,” he said, stepping forward, and holy shit he was tall, “you’re getting close to it.”

“Oh, uh, you know about that?” 

“Of course. It’s my temple after all, and secrets are in my domain,” said the god. Right. How could he have forgotten?

“So you know what’s in it?”

“I’ll do you one better,” the god moved to face the wall, pressing on a stone, and a part of the wall creaked open.

Unfortunately, the records were just a log of offerings over the centuries. Incredibly uninteresting, and the serpent god laughed at the face he made.

___________________

Apparently he was the god of a lot of things. Sure, most people knew the “secrets” aspect, but there was much more to the serpent god than most were aware. Self-confidence, Generosity, Indulgence. The list went on.

"How are you the god of all these things?" Ambrose asked. "They're all so contradictory."

“We can stretch our natures. Some of my kin pick up and put down titles like toys. As long as we can connect them. A friend of mine branched from logic to knowledge to science because it interested him,” he explained.

“So how do you connect yours?”

The god smiled at him. “You’re a clever man. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Ambrose learned he was also the god of Revenge when he came to the temple with blood up to elbows, cheerfully informing Ambrose that his abusive parents were now dead. Or was it Justice? It certainly felt like the latter when Ambrose was planning the funeral.

___________________

They were on the grassy hill outside the city. They’d had some pastries, and split a pot of chamomile tea between them. Ambrose wasn’t a tea person, but it was growing on him. Now, though, they were just watching the clouds go by.

“Why do you visit me?” asked Ambrose, after picking out a bird-shaped cloud. “Surely I'm not that interesting.”

“Hm? I don’t know what you mean.” Jay fidgeted with a flower stem. For a god of self confidence and secrets, he was a terrible liar.

Ambrose rolled over, propping himself up on his elbow. “You know exactly what I mean. You could see anyone in the world, do anything you want, but you come see me. Why?”

Jay turned towards him. “Maybe you’re just pretty.”

Terrible liar.

___________________

“I have a gift for you, darling.” Ambrose examined the golden jewelry that Janus presented to him. It was gorgeous. A golden arm cuff in Janus’s signature animal, complete with emerald eyes.

“It’s beautiful, honey, thank you,” said Ambrose, pulling it on. It fit perfectly. He kissed Janus’s cheek, and the smile he got in return was as radiant as the sun.

___________________

Ambrose had never been so happy. The past few years had been sheer bliss.

They were in Janus’s bedroom, in the divine realm. The smell of sex still lingered in the air. Janus was exactly a head taller than him and Ambrose (who had always been taller than his previous partners) laid on his chest with his head tucked under Janus’s chin.

Janus had one arm around his waist, and the other was stroking his back. He hummed, nearly purring as they cuddled. 

“I love you," he murmured. He kissed his forehead. Ambrose's stomach dropped.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. Janus tensed underneath him. Ambrose rolled off, sitting at the edge of the frankly massive bed.

“Wha- Rosey, why would you say that?” Ambrose could hear the hurt in Janus’s voice. He couldn’t stand to look back at him.

“I... I just,” Ambrose sniffed. “I’m going to die someday. And I love you too, and I’m sorry.”

The bed dipped behind him, and Janus’s warm arms wrapped around his waist. He brushed a kiss to Ambrose’s cheek. 

“It’s okay.”

“It really isn’t,” sobbed Ambrose. “I don’t want to do that to you. I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to leave you! I’m so sorry, Jay, you should go, it’s not fair to you-”

“I’m not going anywhere. It’s alright. We can fix it.” Janus tucked a piece of Ambrose’s hair behind his ear.

“We- we can?”

“Of course, darling,” Janus gave him another kiss, this time to his temple.

“You could live forever, if that’s what you want.”

taglist: @cupcakes-and-pain @secretwhumplair@paintedpigeon1 @whump-blog @whump-em @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @starfields08000 @littlespacecastle @mylovelyme

[honeycollectswhump]

Things End | People Change – Staining Touch

this is shameless friendfiction of my dear friend @whumpcloud's story Things End | People Change, featuring poorest little meow meow vincent, my beloved. go check it out if you haven't already !!!

CW: guilt, so so much self-blame and self-deprication, references to past torture and also past SA undertones (vincent is going through it)

Clary has brought him something new, something to slowly fill out the empty space of the basement that is not his but as close as it gets. 

It’s a mirror, almost two-thirds of his height, strange and wobbly and cause of a weird noise Vincent cannot categorize into his existing knowledge when it is bent. Arguably, it is doing a very bad job of being a mirror, besides the fact that it is floppy and almost entertainingly noisy before being put up on the wall, because it distorts his reflection at the edges, pulling him into comical shapes like dough if he moves.

But most importantly, most off-puttingly is the fact that it portrays his reflection at all. 

At first, he can do nothing but stare.

In a little under two hundred years, all Vincent has seen of himself was through the eyes of others and those never regarded him too kindly. Not that he didn’t share that sentiment.

He knows what he can see, from the brown of his hair to the shape of his body, he knows what little is left that connects him to Henry, like the green of his eyes, and he knows what separates him, like the scar that sits right under them, as if mocking. 

And now that he can see his eyes again, for the first time in what feels like an eternity, for the first time in two human lifespans, which is distinctly one more than he had any right to, he can’t look at what remains of Henry without seeing what remains of Lyfelde. 

That man, he… 

Vincent swallows. If it could, his undead heart would be beating faster –skipping like a rabbit– with each step that thought takes.

…He loved to leave marks. 

Not for some desperate desire to be remembered in an ever-changing world, but instead with the same expectations as couples that carve their initials in the bark of a tree, curious to see the way the tree tries and fails to heal the cuts, to see how they will twist with time.

Vincent is no stranger to cuts, to initials carved into his delicate flesh, to being torn open for amusement and to satiate careless curiosity, even though they will never show on his skin, no matter how he twists and turns to get a good look at himself in the mirror.

Lyfelde however never needed force to leave evidence of himself, even if he can proudly wear the title of the last permanent remainder of Vincent’s weak mortality long gone by, and at his hands no less.

After years and years of captivity, of relentless, giddy torture, Vincent couldn’t point out individual marks of memory, couldn’t remember the incisions, the lacerations, the breaks, only the aftermath, the pain ripping at the edges of his sanity.

But when Vincent closes his eyes, when he imagines his being as he sees himself, there are stains on his chest, in the shape of a freezing claw, long delicate fingers decorated with rings much older than Vincent ever hopes to be. 

There is one right over his heart, claiming it rightfully as Lyfelde’s, honouring the hard work he put into tearing him apart just to shape him into a–

Into a toy.

He is collared –like a pet–, marked by two hands wrapping around his throat and squeezing, a brute display of strength Vincent thought could keep him safe. 

Even now, after all of these years, his mind produces the image of his hands clearer than the face that is already blurred beyond recognition by time. Neither time nor the Hunters could beat Lyfelde’s touch out of Vincent’s memories.

Vincent stretches, looking over his shoulder, pointedly ignoring the way his ribs protrude through sickly ashen skin. Even the thought that this is a far cry from his jutting ribcage in captivity, the corpselike result of starvation, turns sour with the sacrifice of those that feed him. 

He is tainted, he knows, from comfort twisted to form a blade –a stake– and embraces that should have been kind and understanding, that Vincent now can’t even bring himself to call “warm”.

He wonders –briefly– if, behind his back, in the security of Vincent’s blindness, Lyfelde’s expressions would have betrayed his intentions. If there was a way a trick of light and precognition could have warned him, if he had just seen it, seen the signs that should have been so glaringly obvious.

Still, at the cost of himself, he had found comfort and solace in the deathly cold touch, and that should have been warning enough.

Almost obsessively, his gaze scans over his own marred, unmarred skin, even as it is stretched and squished by the metal-mirror, now that he finally has the chance to, after decades of nothing. Some quiet, drowned-out part of him whispers back that this is why he avoided anything similar for so long, that the evasion of his own reflection was not only by force of his vampirism but by some self-preserving instinct.

It’s excruciating in a way that is dangerously addicting, a sizzling fire that he cannot look away from. Pain for the sake of pain for the sake of entertainment. 

Curiosity and her twin sister punishment.

If he dares to let his eyes drop lower, his hips will carry two hand-shaped brands of intimacy and trust that were only ever one-sided, burned into his skin deeper than any silver and scratch marks betraying the attempts to rid himself of the ever-present poison seeping from every pore. 

They condemned him to be both poisoned and poison at the same time, always a victim and always a monster and always rightfully so.

Vincent swipes the mirror from the wall, heaving, watching it fall to the ground, deafening but too slow. He wants to fall to his knees, begging and ripping the metal to shreds, ripping his own reflection to shreds so that he will never have to look at it again. … So that it will never be looked at again.

[cliozaur]

Last month, "The Motive and the Cue" moved to the West End (originally staged at the National Theatre), symbolically finding a home at the Noël Coward Theatre, where John Gielgud played Hamlet back in 1934.

After less than two weeks of our read-along of "Emails from an Actor," I was so excited to see this play that I could hardly breathe when I saw "Day 1, The Play’s the Thing" projected on the black curtain! Honestly, this has been the best play I’ve seen in the last four or five months (and I go to the West End almost every week). The entire production revolves around the captivating power struggle between the legendary John Gielgud and the flamboyant Richard Burton, with Elizabeth Taylor acting as a calming force. Act one, aptly titled "The Motive," explodes with conflict, culminating in a public humiliation of Gielgud by Burton, and the second act, “The Cue,” focuses on the peace process and completes with reconciliation and a successful premiere. It’s rare to find an end of the play stronger and more cathartic than an end of the first act, but this play achieves it beautifully.

Johnny Flynn breathes life into Burton, portraying him as charismatic, expressive, and loud, yet hinting at hidden demons. However, I felt that he was trying too hard to mimic Burton's voice and mannerisms. Flynn's natural voice doesn't have the same level of hoarseness, so much of his performance feels more like an impersonation.

Tuppence Middleton steals the show as Taylor. Her captivating presence shines in every scene, offering a nuanced portrayal that deconstructs the stereotypical image of the airheaded Hollywood beauty. The connection she forms with Luke Norris' William Redfield, based on their shared childhood experiences as actors, is a delightful highlight. Redfield is arguably the most prominent supporting character, and his presence is impactful. But, unfortunately, there was no Sterne.

The real star and the absolute best part of it all was Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud. He is so natural in this role: knowledgeable, gentle, charismatic, witty, and extremely vulnerable. (By the end, you yearn to offer him a comforting hug.) This is exactly how I imagined Gielgud from what I’ve read so far in Redfield’s and Sterne’s texts. During the first rehearsals, Mark Gatiss even did something mentioned by Sterne: “he was also acting all the parts with the actors, mouthing the lines, reflecting the emotions in his facial expressions, and kinesthetically making all the gestures.” It was so lovely! And he did many things described by Redfield as part of Gielgud's ‘directing style.’ It was amusing to recognize quotes from both Redfield and Sterne throughout the whole play, even if repurposed for different situations.

The staging was both beautiful and smart. They used three locations: the big white rehearsal room, the smaller red hotel room (of Burton and Taylor), and the smallest blue room (of Gielgud). This last room was the most intimate space, where Redfield came for acting advice (and Gielgud told him that his advice cannot make him a better actor) and where Gielgud himself brought a sex worker boy ('I just wanted to do something reckless') – this is the most touching scene! I also liked the production’s attention to details: for example, when Taylor and Burton host a party in their room, we see vases with flowers – roses and tulips, and when we return to their room a few days later, we see these same flowers withered!

I really enjoyed the play. It was a captivating blend of wit, intelligence, and genuine tenderness. And it was nice to see our guys 'alive.' Gatiss/Gielgud is my big love! The whole experience made me very emotional.

The three rooms:

Our boy William (Luke Norris):

Mark Gatiss/John Gielgud: