#and he is abel. the first victim of his mothers sin

[zephyr-draws]

Garden of Eden

[nixie-writes]

Being Adam's Daughter (both in life and in heaven)

I've run out of ideas someone please send something to my inbox + I need to keep this blog at least semi active somehow. I spent too long researching to write this please clap

-you were the only daughter to Adam and Eve. You were born into sin via Eve. You spent your entire childhood wishing you could visit the garden of Eden and see what was so bad about it that your mother had to eat the fruit of knowledge after God specifically told her not to.

-you were also very suspicious of your brother, Cain. Though you didn't know it, he showed wrath, envy and gluttony towards your brother, Abel. You, being born a woman, were raised to never question a man, especially not one older than you, so you never got in between their fights.

-then the day came that Cain killed Abel, the brother you were closer to. You witnessed the murder but your parents did not; you did as you were raised to do and didn't speak a word of what you saw. Cain threatened your life if you told them he had killed Abel, so you kept your mouth shut.

-as you lived your life you grew closer to God, closer even than Adam. You spent your days worshiping him, thanking him for every meal you ate, preaching to your parents about how good he was. Adam would always respond with something along the lines of, "hell yeah he's good, he made me!" and Eve would just smile.

-it was late one night when you saw your mother fall victim to the worst sin of all-debauchery with Lucifer himself. You caught her and Lucifer together, doing things you could never describe as the sweet little girl you were. You didn't understand the severity of it at the time but you ran back home and told your father that his wife and your mother was, in your words, "making friends" with the fallen angel who stole Adam's first wife, though you'd yet to have been told the story about Lilith yet.

-Adam stormed out and took you with him, you pointing him in the direction of Lucifer and Eve. He told you to wait behind a bush and he confronted Eve for sleeping with Lucifer. She wouldn't admit how many times she had done so. You were innocent and didn't understand the concept of "sleeping together", you were unsure why your father was so mad. He told Eve she was no better than Lilith, who you'd never heard of before and you suddenly had a lot of questions. Adam bid Eve his final goodbye and told her that if she ever came to him again he would kill her. You were stunned to hear this but seeing how you were raised, you didn't question it. It terrified you however.

-following your father home you asked him who Lilith was. Adam briefly explained that Lilith was his first wife, who refused to submit to him, and she fell in love with Lucifer and resided in Hell. In a rare moment of kindness he knelt to your level and placed his hands on your shoulders. "[Y/N], you're my only daughter and the only woman left in my life. Promise me, you'll never fall into the follies of sin," he spoke in a wavering voice. You understood how serious this was and nodded your head in agreement. He took you back to his hut, his hand in yours.

-you spent the remainder of Adam's life comforting him over the loss of Abel and Eve. You told him about how you saw Cain kill Abel and Adam sentenced Cain to live alone somewhere else, leaving only you and him. Throughout Adam's life on earth he always told you how much he loved you and how he expected to see you in Heaven when your time came.

-as time went by you never had any children, leaving that to other women God created. After learning the harsh reality of what your mother did you never wanted to risk falling in love with the wrong person, so you kept to yourself and became a traveling healer, helping those who were sick and hurt through God's will. You did this until you were around your middle ages, and God called you to Heaven. It was time for you to be with Adam.

-you were met by Sera, the high Seraphim. She told you your time had come, and you had been good enough to come to Heaven. You had done what your mother and brother failed to do, you lived a good and justified life and worked in God's mysterious ways. She brought your soul to Heaven.

-once you arrived in Heaven you saw how much of a dick Adam had become. He was proud, he was gluttonous and he was a jerk. He was always flaunting to the women in Heaven about how he was the first human soul to arrive there, likely to get them in bed with him. You were disgusted by it.

-when Sera brought Adam to the side and introduced you, his daughter, to him he was so stoked. "[Y/N]! You made it at last! That's daddy's little girl!" He rubbed your hair with his first and hugged you. He encouraged you to tell him what earned you a place in Heaven and you were proud to tell him of your years as a traveling healer and of how close you became to God. He was smiling the entire time.

-fast forward a little while, and the ranks of Hell were growing. Adam kept the extermination a secret from you, knowing it would break your sensitive heart to hear that countless souls who could have very well been your mother or brother, were being killed. His little secret was that he killed them both in the first extermination.

-as time went by you remained oblivious to the extermination, Adam never wanting you to know. But that fateful day came, when Adam told you he had to "take care of business", and promised you he'd be back later. He left with Lute, who you considered your true mother, and that was the last time you saw him.

-when Lute arrived back in heaven you rushed to her with glee in your eyes, asking where your father was. You were so excited to know what his business had been and if he'd carried out God's will. Your smile faltered when you noticed Lute clutching Adam's halo in her hand, her other arm missing entirely. Whatever had happened, had been serious. You begged her to let you heal her the best you could but she refused.

-with shame in her eyes she told you Adam died fighting and the last word he spoke was your name. She told you in detail about how she saw the light die in his eyes, his smile slowly falling as he bled out. She admitted to you about the yearly extermination and how he had made the decision to go back twice as fast to stop the hotel, which you had only heard whispers of.

-before Lute left to confront Lilith, she hugged you with her remaining arm and promised to take care of you the way Adam would have wanted her to, and that even though she could never replace him, she would do everything in her power to make you feel loved, wanted and accepted no matter what. She finished by telling you she had an errand to run, but when she was back she would give you Adam's halo to remember him by.

-you were in tears, clutching her remaining arm by the time she had finished speaking. All you could do is nod your head, too choked on tears to give a real response. You couldn't believe your father was dead and gone for good. Sniffling, all you could say at the end was, "thank you mom". Lute kissed your forehead and promised she would be back very shortly to give you his halo.

[soisaidfine]

'The ‘jealousy’ that Cain feels toward his brother is inseparable from the deprivation of sacrificial outlet that defines the character. We can only deceive violence to the extent that we do not deprive it of all outlet, where we provide it with something to sink its teeth into.' (Rene Girard)

Child of Cain by Ethel Cain 'I take my mother’s scissors Carve your name into my chest’

“We are all daughters of Cain.” — Ethel Cain (podcast)

René Girard: “We can only deceive violence to the extent that we do not deprive it of all outlet, where we provide it with something to sink its teeth into. Perhaps this is what the story of Cain and Abel signifies, among other things. The biblical text provides only one detail about each brother. Cain tills the land and offers to God the fruits of his harvest. Abel is a shepherd; he sacrifices the firstborn of his flocks. One of the brothers kills the other, and it is the one who does not have this deceptive violence of animal sacrifice. This difference between sacrificial worship and non-sacrificial worship is truly one with God’s judgment in favor of Abel. To say that God approves of Abel’s sacrifices and does not approve of Cain’s offerings is to restate, in another language, the divine language, that Cain kills his brother while Abel does not. In the Old Testament and Greek myths, brothers are almost always enemies. The violence they seem inevitably called to exercise against each other can only dissipate on third-party victims, sacrificial victims. The 'jealousy’ that Cain feels toward his brother is inseparable from the deprivation of sacrificial outlet that defines the character.”

“with something to sink its teeth into” René Girard, Violence and the Sacred

Adam Raised a Cain (Bruce Springsteen, Live at The Paramount Theatre 2009)

“Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fruit of Springsteen’s growing awareness of these facts. And in a way, its most remarkable accomplishment is its spirit of compassion and reconciliation for everyone and everything that had ever been falsely blamed. The apex of that spirit is “Adam Raised a Cain,” in which Springsteen sees himself not only as a product of a specific social situation, but literally as his father’s heir:

'In the Bible Cain slew Abel and East of Eden he was cast You’re born into this life payin’ for the sins of somebody else’s past Well Daddy worked his whole life for nothin’ but the pain Now he walks these empty rooms lookin’ for somethin’ to blame You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames Adam raised a Cain’

Like “It’s My Life,” this is the story of all sons, all fathers. And by telling it in terms of murder—the first murder, a fratricide—Springsteen makes all generations brothers, understanding once and for all that if there is an enemy, its face is not necessarily human. The fractured chords that lead into the song render the guitar a torture device and establish the motivation of the entire album: determination to break out of the vicious circle of pain and futility that robs people of the best parts of their lives.”

Dave Marsh: Bruce Springsteen

[massacreturtle]

Hazbin Hotel theory of mine:

Alastor is Abel, the first ever victim and son of Adam.

It's a bit convoluted, but I'll try to make my thinking comprehensive.

When you Google the name Alastor it says..

Meaning:man's defender; avenger. An epithet of the Greek god Zeus, Alastor is a striking masculine name sure to inspire its bearer to strive for the greater good. Meaning "avenger" or "man defender," Alastor is by no means a name for the faint of heart

Yes it is a bit farfetched, but hear me out.

First of all, it is odd that Adam was referred to as the first human soul to enter heaven in eposide 6. why is that, when he canonically died after his sons? Because as far as biblically accurate this show is trying to be, Cain and Abel were born from Eve after they had inherited the sin from Eve eating the apple. Adam, the slooth, mustve convinced god that he was tempted by Eve and got out or something like that, but his sons were BOTH already branded as sinners and revengeful for their father. So they must be in hell somewhere,but until now they werent even mentioned. So I think they will be part of the plot sooner or later, and what better way to make the most unhinged, mystical man introduce himself someday as Adams son?

Alastor came into hell and had powers beyond anyones dreams, killing off overlords right from the start. but as the show explaines, power can be gained by owning souls or heritage, like Charlie being born between the first woman created by god, Lilith, and Lucifer, while overlords deal with human souls to become more powerful. So, Alastor being one of Adams sons could explain his powers BEFORE he even made deals presumably, since Mimzy told us that people werent fond of Alastor and stayed clear of him first. So, there shouldnt have been people willing to make deals with him that risked their souls.

(It COULD be that Alastor was already a demon when Mimzy met him in her lifetime, but he disguised himself as a human, like in helluva boss, making deals with humans on earth first, before trying out other demons, like grinding in a video game before fighting underleveled. Would be cool for a backstory but it's more like my second headcanon)

There is also the 7 year time gap where he disappeared, just like Lilith. Now, fans theorize that Lilith is the one owning Alastors soul but I think thats a bit too obvious (for my liking, could be cool depending on how they reveal it). But what if Lilith made contact with Cain then made him own his brothers soul? Or that Cain made contact with Abel and THEN took him to Lilith? She gets both sons of her hated ex husband to her side AND make one help her daughter, rehabilitating sinners and eventually strip heaven of some of its powers.

I mean, why IS Alastor helping Charlie with the hotel? He is an avenger, maybe of his own death caused by his brother, maybe he is repulsed by his fathers actions, maybe he hates all of heaven for punishing him for no other reason than inheriting sin from his mother. Simply being bored and wanting to see the hotel fail feels kinda not right.

But also, IF he gets his orders from Lilith,why is he still killing so brutally everyone who gets in his way? I can't imagine Lilith being a bad person, not when Charlie described her as thriving and singing when hell opened, even when her people are sinners,she would command Alastor to not kill anyone ever. That fact changes when Lilith gives a basic command,but Cain is the one in control of it. So, Alastor would've gotten killed, punished and humiliated and then again owned by his killer like that would turn anyone sour or insane. Alastor said he likes to give off Steam, as if he is stressed for some reason.

We'll have to wait and see.

But in the end he IS the defender of the hotel, so IF he is one of Adams sons, I dont think he would be the first killer but the poor unfortunate brother. (Please note that english isnt my first language and I am severly sleep deprived)

[catboirights]

If you are still wondering about Mikuni's who thing with Abel: basically it's heavily implied to be how he coped with being unable to support Misono/see him for so long. The reason is because Mikado reacts in a similar protective way when he thinks Mahiru is looking at Misono in a weird way and as much as Mikuni may want to deny it him and Mikado are similar in some specific ways.

It also adds an interesting perspective of how Mikuni views his relationship with Misono, as Abel in the Bible was the first murder victim, killed by his brother Cain. So it's possible that Mikuni also views himself as a potential threat to Misono

Oh yeah, after the recent chapters where we get more backstory for the Aliceins I understand the whole thing with Abel a bit more. Especially since she’s also the only remaining thing he has from his mother that might also add to some of his weird compulsion to make sure no one else touches her. Despite his complicated feelings towards his father I feel like he really did love his mother, at least a little bit so having to be the one to “kill” her probably drove him to be even more protective.

And yeah, despite how much I dislike Mikuni as a person I think he’s one of the best characters in Servamp in the way he’s written. His relationship with Misono is so interesting to me because I genuinely cannot tell if he loves him or resents him. Like, obviously Mikuni cares deeply about Misono, that’s not what I mean we’ve seen that more than enough, but the fact he continually does things that hurt Misono really makes me wonder if there’s some sort of hidden resentment or guilt in his heart. Mikuni has consistently hurt Misono’s closest (and only) friends and even almost killed Tetsu, he’s the one masterminding Lily’s betrayal and because of how guarded he is about his facade he really hasn’t shown any obvious guilt. He’s making sure that Misono hates him enough to keep a distance from him but he does it in a way that keeps taking away Misono’s few sources of happiness. It makes me wonder if he feels some resentment towards him for being the indirect reason his mother is dead.

Not to mention all the religious imagery in his character like you said, with Cain and Abel and his shop being called the Land of Nod. We know that Jeje was also a member of the clergy back when he was human and Jeje’s form as a snake ties back to Adam and Eve and the first sin. He’s an interesting character I’d love to dissect him like a frog.

[clockwork-recollective]

I'm quite curious about your modified version of EC, did anything besides OSS change at all? Like the Seven Deadly Sins series?

oh boy oh boy I’ve got a LOT to talk about 🤫

with my modified evillious, I’ve changed just about EVERYTHING, much more than OSS !

I’ve got a super established first and second period that ... don’t really follow the bits of canon info, but instead have their own lore and world that I’ve built up over the last few years ☺️ there are both super HUGE changes and more minor changes, but practically every arc has changed!

I would say... gluttony arc has probably changed the least and is closest to canon, but there are still differences!

hmmm I’ll list some changes throughout hehehehe but I definitely won’t be able to list them all since there are so many!

let’s see ...

• lots of color palette changes; most characters have different eye or hair colors

• some vocaloid changes and additions; Irina and Nemesis are now Haku instead of Iroha and GUMI andddd lots of characters without vocaloids have been assigned them ☺️

• villainous Elluka Chirclatia 🤫

• Yegor and Raisa are completed different from canon; Yegor isn’t a traitor and they’re romantically involved hehe

• Pale and Kiril are separate! they were brothers taken in by the Clockworker crafter but there were some bad times ahead and ... yeah 💔 but his original name was Pale Clockworker hehe and he took the name Noël from the maiden name of late wife of the Clockworker 🤫

• Hänsel and Gretel aren’t the names of the twins; they actually go by Cain ( Hänsel ) and Abel ( Gretel )! it makes more sense to me to think that Eve would have named them after her lost children :’D

• lust arc is completely different, with Cherubim’s abused past more prominent and him not becoming ... Duke Venomania. the actual, original Sateriasis is the villain and Duke instead! Yuki Kaina and Lolan Eve weren’t victims, but had connections to victims, and Karchess and Yufina aren’t together 👍

• Irina doesn’t possess a cat plush! Seth instead made a lookalike doll of Irina that was similar to the Clockwork doll, and she possesses that instead, able to be life sized and human-like; she just controls Aybee Cee and her other “bodies” to do her bidding

• Miriam is a Netsuma! her original name was Mirai Netsuma, and that was changed to Neomaria when Irina became her mother

• Kyle, Keel, and Mikina are much younger— 18, 21, and 20 respectively!

• Riliane and Allen are also 16 instead of 14! it helps get rid of the canon age gap between Rili and Kyle 😖

• Kyle and Riliane did have more of a real relationship! Kyle was influenced by the Clockwork Doll to “fall in love” with Michaela because of the Adam and Eve parallels

• speaking of; Adam and Eve are NOT siblings, and have a much healthier relationship

• Adam was much more clearly manipulated and abused by the senate, so that he’s not just this villain that harms Eve just for his own gain. he wasn’t the one that poisoned Eve, rather the senate tricked him into believing it would help her

• Keel and Mikina aren’t romantically involved! they’re close friends that pretend to be married for the sake of getting Mikina away from her strict family and to become successful in Elphegort. Yukina, Shaw, and Aile aren’t their biological kids, but rather orphans that Keel met before he met Mikina! they act as their kids hehe 🤫 Yukina is 12, Shaw is 7, and Aile is 2! ( Aile was taken in under the guise of a new daughter after the Freezis family had already been established )

• Meta does not have her ... canon magic. she has fire based powers ;p

• the inheritor thing? that doesn’t exist! I have something different that I’ve had in place since before OSS: Crime! they’re called Cambions, and it’s a WHOLE BIG DEAL ... I can definitely explain more in a different post!

• Kiril has an actual wife ... my main OC Aerico hehe ... I can also talk much more about her in another post too 🥰

• Kaspar has a... wait for it... personality /lh 🤫 but for real he’s more fleshed out and actually treats Margarita better, actually having feelings for her before an encounter with the Marlon Spoon that corrupted him :(

• the demons actually represented the seven heavenly virtues before they became demons! they were much better people before being corrupted 💔

• Levia wasn’t just a copy of Behemo that he created, she’s something more ... sinister ehehe ...

• Seth has a SUPER established past! he’s not a villain for the sake of it lemme tell u that 🤫

• to make it less... inc*st-y, Gallerian is essentially Eve’s son, while Nemesis is essentially Levia’s daughter. different souls controlled Ma at different times during their births!

• Allen and Riliane are actually Levia and Behemo’s reincarnations! I have a whole theory about that for regular canon as well hehe ...

• Behemo is more of a morally good, just character rather than how he’s portrayed in canon!

waughhhhh this list got so long! and that’s not even the HALF of what I’ve changed! I could talk about so much more 😭 perhaps soon in other posts, I will! buuuut for now that’s just some of what I’ve changed hehe 🥺☺️

[thenightling]

The original House of Mystery (for Sandman fans)

What is the House of Mystery?                          Or A History of The House of Mystery!

Everything you need to know lies below...

 The original House of Mystery comic books were a horror anthology series published by DC.  Cain The Caretaker didn’t make his first appearance until issue 175 for the issue “The Gift of Doom.”  (Sounds like an Invader Zim episode title, doesn’t it?)

Cain was the caretaker for a strange and spooky old house, VERY similar to the one you see in the opening credits of Tales from the Crypt TV series from 1989.  

Notice how Morpheus describes The House of Mystery when he wakes up there in issue 2 of Sandman, after fainting at Cain and Abel’s feet upon his return from seventy-two-years captivity.  

 Each issue of the original House of Mystery comics contained one to three short (one-shot) scary stories told to us by the ghoulish and pun-loving narrator, Cain.  Since the stories were usually stand-alone stories that means you could read them in any order.   So if you want to skip straight to issue 175 to meet Cain, you won’t be lost if you choose to that.   

The House of Mystery began as a supernatural horror anthology but that temporarily changed in the 1950s into the early to mid-60s.

During the comic book persecution and censorship era of the 1950s (which killed EC comics) DC tried to make House of Mystery more a crime drama comic or science fiction short stories and avoided the supernatural.  But the arrival of Cain in issue 175 signaled the end of all that tiptoeing around the comics code.  Cain brought the spooky, supernatural horror with him, back from the proverbial grave.

This is why it’s important The House of Mystery’s roots should not be forgotten.  Cain’s very existence was an “F--- You” from editor, Joe Orlando, and directed toward the ham-handed censorship and prohibition against supernatural horror (That the general public somehow seemed to think was the cause of all their ills).  For modern writers and game developers to downplay the supernatural horror attached to The House of Mystery and to diminish it in New 52 and in DC Universe online MMORPG is a sin against comic book history.       

For a while in the 1960s into the early 80s The House of Mystery was DC’s answer to EC’s Tales from the Crypt.   While EC had The Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch, DC had it’s knock offs own versions in Cain, Abel, and Mordred AKA The Crone from The Witching Hour (or sometimes Eve).

 Nope!  No similarities here!   

Note: I don’t care if they’re a rip-off.  I love them both.

Despite serving the same purpose as The Crypt Keeper, Cain was physically modeled after Len Wein.  Both Cain and Abel were physically modeled after real DC writers.  But their purposes were strikingly similar to the EC characters.  

Len Wein even posed as Cain for a DC staff Halloween party.  

Where Vault Keeper got his own spin-off with Vault of Horror, Abel got his own spin-off from The House of Mystery with The House of Secrets.

Cain was so much like The Crypt Keeper that both would say similar phrases such as “Pleasant Screams!” or “Pleasant Nightmares!” and “Greetings, Boils and Ghouls!”  They both loved their horror related puns.

EC’s characters of the Crypt Keeper, Vault Keeper, and Old Witch only appeared together in media outside of the comics for the entire second season of the animated Tales from the Crypt Keeper horror anthology cartoon series that ran from 1993 until 1999. 

EC comics fell victim to the mid-50s comic book witch hunts where comic books were blamed for all things from juvenile delinquency to mental illness and violent street crime.  EC collapsed but its legacy would live on. Tales from the Crypt would get movies and a popular HBO TV series in the late 1980s, followed by a three season animated series that would run until 1999.   

The House of Mystery comics spawned their own legacy.  DC attempted several other horror anthology spin-offs including The Witching Hour and Tales of Ghost Castle.   The Witching Hour was hosted by three witches who represented the traditional Mother, Maidan, and Crone trinity.  Sandman fans will recognize them as the Hecatae.  Tales of Ghost Castle was hosted by a certain Lucien, The Librarian.

 Lucien’s come such a long way from his humble roots that you might not recognize him now in his current form.

A more dapper suit of clothes and better hairline.

In the early eighties it seemed like the horror anthology comics were a dying genre but Alan Moore kept Cain and Abel in use for Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing began as a story told in Abel’s House of Secrets after all.  (issue 92).

The House of Mystery is where many DC properties can find their roots.  The House of Secrets was a spin-off of The House of Mystery.   Swamp Thing was a spin-off of The House of Secrets.  I, Vampire (the stories of Andrew Bennett)  came from The House of Mystery.   Constantine, by extension, began as a Swamp Thing character.  This is also true of Matthew The Raven who began as the human Matthew Cable in Swamp Thing.  

For a few years in the early 80s Elvira: Mistress of The Dark took over hosting The House of Mystery and took many jabs at poor Cain.

And ultimately all these horror hosts from The House of Mystery and the other DC anthologies found their way to... Sandman.

The House of Mystery gained editor Karen Berger at issue 292 in 1981.  She would more or less single-handedly run DC’s horror line into the 1980s.  Karen Berger was the editor for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman and later founder of the Vertigo imprint.  

 She also once bribed Cain with cookies! 

(Fourth wall?  What fourth wall?)

In issue 2 of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman we get “Imperfect Hosts.”

The title is a pun on the fact that not only was Morpheus a guest convalescing in the House of Mystery with Cain and Abel doting upon him but virtually every character in the issue (other than The Sandman, Morpheus AKA Dream of The Endless, himself,) were former horror host characters.  Let’s count them.

Cain = House of Mystery  Cain’s Gargoyle, Gregory = House of Mystery  Abel = House of Secrets  Eve (AKA The Raven Woman) = Secrets of Sinister House. (Note: Eve can change her form at will to look like a Maiden, Mother, or Crone. Lucien The Librarian = Tales of Ghost Castle (Turns out that was Morpheus’ castle all along!  Don’t you just love retroactive continuity?)    Note:  Lucien had a love of werewolves and a pet werewolf named Rover. 

This is paid homage to in the werewolf issue of Sandman, issue 38.)

 The Mad Mod Witch (AKA The Fashion Thing) = The Unexpected 

Destiny = (Neil Gaiman added the “of The Endless” and gave him a family) = Weird Mystery Tales

The Three Witches (AKA The Hecatae / The Fates / The Kindly Ones - The Furies) = The Witching Hour  

Bonus mention:  Judge Gallows  = The Unexpected.  Neil Gaiman never used Judge Gallows but both versions of The Dreaming spin-off have a version of Judge Gallows.  (I am NOT a fan of Judge Gallows.)   

Thanks to Sandman, Cain and Abel (as well as many of the other horror hosts) were now established as being loyal subjects of the Dream Lord, Morpheus, and their houses (which could appear anywhere in the world) had their roots in the realm of dreams (known as The Dreaming.)

Cain’s own existence in The Dreaming (Realm of Dreams) could be taken as a pun since the Judeo-Christian Cain was supposed to have been banished (or wandered) to The Land of Nod.  In children's’ literature The Land of Nod is an old term for “The land of Dreams”.   

Whether Cain is the literal Judeo-Christian Cain, or just a dream-entity created from the collective unconscious idea of who Cain should be, is left ambiguous even though Lucifer, in Sandman, respects Cain’s mark as if it definitely is the real mark of Cain.   It could even signify the importance of symbolism and belief that it would be respected even if he was just the collective idea of Cain.  

Lucifer is also, apparently, one of the only things that can frighten Cain.

In Judeo-Christian lore Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve.  Abel made an offering to God of a slaughtered lamb. God was pleased.  Cain made an offering of fruits and vegetables he had grown. God showed no interest. In jealousy Cain murdered his brother by bashing his head with a rock.  A version of this tale is told in Sandman issue 40, The Parliament of Rooks.

When God asked Cain where his brother was he replied “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Though a more accurate translation of the scene had God ask where the sheep keeper was and Cain replied with something like “Do I look like a brother keeper?”  Cain was banished for his crime and given a mark that was to serve as protection that others were not allowed to do him harm lest they be punished sevenfold.  

In modern lore this has been used to indicate he was also cursed with immortality.   A nod to this comes up in Sandman issue 67 during Sandman: The Kindly Ones.    

The TV show Lucifer followed an overly simplified version of this lore borrowed from the show Supernatural and its version of Cain the mark just meant he was immortal and served no other purpose. The version of Cain in the Lucifer TV series was very, very different from the version who hosted The House of Mystery and would regularly appear in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. 

In Sandman Cain does have a compulsion to habitually kill his brother fairly regularly. Since they are both immortal beings Abel usually recovers. 

The Aunts in Netflix’s version of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are modeled after Cain and Abel as they were depicted in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.     

The use of Cain, Abel, and Eve in Sandman could also be seen as a nod to George McDonald’s novel, LIlith, which also entailed a mysterious and ghostly “librarian” known as Mr. Raven and a surreal fantasy world.  It’s been told that Lucien was Morpheus’ first raven.  And some believe he may be Adam the way Mr. Raven was Adam in Lilith.  

 Not only did Neil Gaiman salvage nearly all of the old horror hosts who were falling into obscurity after Crisis of Infinite Earths (DC’s first major reboot) but he made these old horror hosts important characters within Sandman lore as either being servants of or (in the case of Destiny) relations of the main protagonist. 

Neil Gaiman, in a way, saved their lives in preserving them as fixtures of DC canon in a now beloved “ever-green” story that is Sandman.  

The Sandman issue Imperfect Hosts (which can be found in the graphic novel The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes) is a treasure trove issue for lovers of old school horror comics.  There are even subtle nods to the artwork of the late Bernie Wrightson (A favorite of mine).

Imperfect Hosts also gave us Abel’s adorable baby gargoyle, Goldie. 

Goldie was named after Abel’s “imaginary friend” that Abel and sometimes Cain would tell stories to.  She was very likely not imaginary at all but real and a ghost who was haunting The House of Secrets. 

It is said this cover is depicting the original Goldie.

In the original House of Mystery comics Cain would sometimes torment his brother.  It wasn’t quite as brutal as it got in Sandman.   And Cain had a soft spot for children, reveling in stories where those who mistreat children get their comeuppance.  (Side note: I wonder what became of Cain’s pet cat, Oskar / Oscar.  Cain still has his gargoyle but not his black cat.) 

Thanks to a repeated running gag that was featured in (and outside of) Sandman,, which carried over into the 2008 House of Mystery volume 2, we can safely assume Cain’s voice is a great deal LOT like Vincent Price.

Cain and Abel appeared in some of the Sandman spin-off comics of the late 90s and early 2000s but those have since been de-canonized (no longer acknowledged as having happened).   

During New 52, DC higher ups decided that they loved the concept of The House of Mystery.  This was during a spike in Doctor Who’s popularity in the US.  They saw The House of Mystery as a mysterious old house that is apparently bigger on the inside and can appear virtually anywhere and latched on to this TARDIS-esque aspect of it (as that is the nature of The Doctor’s ship, The TARDIS, in Doctor Who).  But they seemed to have no love for Cain the caretaker or The House of Mystery’s spooky ambiance...  The House of Mystery became the base of operation for Justice League Dark, and home of Constantine and Zatanna.  

Cain the Caretaker was nowhere to be found but a new Cain, the supposed “real” Cain and “Sire of all vampires” became the main antagonist of the 2012 reboot attempt at I, Vampire... (it only ran for twelve issues and if not for DC Universe Online MMORPG name dropping him, that vampire version would probably mercifully be forgotten by now.)  I usually like vampires in fiction but I hated this.

 At one point those who were unhappy with the New 52 changes to The House of Mystery were told “Oh, this is a different House of Mystery from the one in The Dreaming.  There are multiple Houses of Mystery.” but readers were, needless to say, skeptical, especially considering Cain’s pet gargoyle, Gregory, was IN the House of Mystery that was being used for Justice League: Dark in New 52!  Did Gregory just randomly wander into the wrong House of Mystery?!   No!  Because we were told he “came with the house.”   That means it IS Cain’s House of Mystery.  Nice try to save your asses there, DC.

DC, through their Vertigo imprint, tried to placate fans of the original Cain and Abel and House of Mystery by having Cain and Abel appear briefly in the 2016 Lucifer comics (Now no longer canon) with their own House of Mystery and House of Secrets in the realm of The Dreaming but this only served to confuse readers further...

Especially since, at the time, Hellblazer was referencing a very different Lucifer (New 52-ified and based on the old and generic idea of The Devil) and a very different Cain.  

Finally Scott Snyder decided to fix things.  Scott Snyder discretely brought Cain and Abel with The House of Secrets and House of Mystery (as well as all of Sandman lore) back to mainstream DC continuity during the event known as Dark Nights: Metal.  

That’s Cain in the bottom left.   And that’s Abel in the upper right.  Separated so Cain cannot commit casual and compulsive fratricide (Abel always recovers) during the meeting of the immortals.

In late 2016 Cain The Caretaker made his very first appearance in television animation.   He appeared in the show Justice League: Action for the episode Trick or Threat.   The episode merged the classic Cain’s House of Mystery with the continuity of Constantine owning the House from New 52 by having Cain giving Constantine a key to The House of Mystery by the end of the episode.  Letting Cain essentially be Constantine’s roommate / landlord, It was a fair compromise of merging the lore.  And it was done expertly by the great Paul Dini, with love and respect for both The House of Mystery and Sandman. 

In February of 2017 The House of Mystery would also appear in the direct-to-video animated movie Justice League: Dark.  Though a decent animated feature, unfortunately this was the version from New 52 so no sign of Cain and the house was a little less... spooky.  

The downplaying of the Gothic ambiance of The House of Mystery is a crime against the history of this comic and what it stood for in the 60s when it was used an act of spooky rebellion against the comics code and irrational persecution and censorship.  It was an act of defiance that should be allowed to stand.  

Abel’s House of Secrets made a brief appearance in an episode of Young Justice as a magick shoppe.  It was likely the last thing a little girl ghost saw before she died as her spirit seemed only able to utter the word “Secret.”   (Secret is a heavily modified ghostly character from DC comics.)

In 2019 the Justice League: Dark event was added to DC Universe online MMORPG.  And though the game has Dark Nights: Metal content the game is more heavily based on DC’s New 52 so the House of Mystery in The Justice League: Dark raids does not have Cain The Caretaker and it looks more like the Plaza Hotel in Home Alone 2 rather than anything truly gothic or spooky...

It was very disappointing to me.

In 2018 Cain, Abel, and The House of Mystery and House of Secrets yet again became regular entities in DC comics with the Sandman Universe comics.  The House of Mystery is back to being a creepy old haunted house with a small graveyard separating it from it’s companion, The House of Secrets.  Both are still kept by Cain and Abel respectively within the realm of The Dreaming.  

May The House of Mystery always revert to the spooky old house where Cain will tell spooky stories to frighten his guests!

[passionforfiction]

Cain and Abel (Korean Drama)

I had this drama in my watchlist for years and I finally saw it and finished it today. I must admit that the story captured me in episode 1. It is a story that depicts the complexity of human emotions. . . And the title describes the main plot: a parent that favored one over the other, bringing the downfall of these two brothers. This story explore a variety of themes: jealousy, sin, loyalty, love (parent-child / siblings love / romantic love), illegal emigration and professional ethics. And it is how these themes are weaved into the story that makes it so interesting to watch.

The root of this tragic story is the sin of jealousy that stained the parent-child relationships. Na Hye Joo murdered Lee Cho In’s parents while he was in his mother’s womb because she was jealous of this woman’s friendship to her husband. Lee Cho In’s delicate birth, turned him into an incubator-baby. Lee Jong Min - his parents’ friend - adopted him and shown him love openly; while neglecting to show the same affection to his five year old son, Lee Seon Woo. Na Hye Joo, from he part, devoted all her love and affection to Lee Seon Woo, rejected Lee Cho In openly. So these two boys, who loved each other as true brothers, felt half loved and hide their pain in different ways: Cho In behind a smile and Seon Woo by trying to be what his father wanted him to be. 

But this brotherly love wasn’t strong enough and when Lee Seon Woo returns after disappearing of their lives for 7 years, things begin to crumble for Seon Woo, who had thought Seo Yeon would’ve waited for him only to find that she had decided to give her love to Cho In. Lee Seo Woo feels wronged, not just because the woman he loved didn’t wait for him, but also because his father wanted to give Cho In an Emergency Center over Seon Woo’s dream of a neurological center. Even so, Lee Seon Woo loved his brother and didn’t want to harm him, but this changes as his mother’s greed passes on to him. 

Na Hye Joo, her two friends and Seon Woo come together to plot against the Emergency Center to get the permission to build the neurology center. Here we see the theme of professional ethics. Lee Seon Woo and Lee Cho In are both neurosurgeons, but have two different philosophies. Lee Seon Woo doesn’t take into consideration the life of a patient, only thinks of his reputation and getting the surgery done. He cuts tumor and healthy tissues from a patient, leaving her without her taste buds. He thinks it’s no biggie, but Lee Cho In is quick to point out that she was a chef and needed her taste bud in order to work. Lee Seon Woo decided to do a dangerous procedure on his father against Lee Cho In’s protest. In the end, Lee Seo Woo, used his ability as a doctor to handicap his father even further, ensuring that he would never be able to speak. 

Lee Cho In, in contrast, believes in doing what’s best for the patient. Even when he loses his memory in the dessert, his first memories are of saving lives and when his companions’ or his enemy are injured, he does his best to save their lives. Even when his ethical standards weaver once he knows his brother had tried to kill him, he struggles between not doing the surgery on his brother or doing it. In the ends he does but we are not quite sure if he did his best to cure his brother or not. But after their final conversation, I do wonder if he did what was best for his brother. Again, ethics. Lee Seon Woo and Lee Cho In should put their personal feelings aside when performing a surgery that should safe lives. In that sense are either of them qualified to run a health center?

Lee Seon Woo didn’t want his bother to disappear just to get the hospital board of directors to approve the Neurology Center, he wanted to get Seo Yeon’s love back. And I think this was an even greater motivator. Lee Seon Woo, Kim Seo Yeon and Lee Cho In had been friends since they were children. She had been in the hospital for years because of her heart condition. Lee Seon Woo and Kim Seo Yeon loved each other and when he went missing for 7 years, she waited and suffered his neglect. She felt like he wasn’t there for her anymore. There was no explanation behind his complete disconnection and now, after 5 years, she decided to accept Lee Cho In’s love. But was this a genuine acceptance? She did love Lee Cho In but more as a friend than anything else. And When Lee Seon Woo returns we can see that to be true. She is mad at Seon Woo - not knowing the reason behind his disappearing act - because she loved and missed him and it had hurt her. She desperately looks for Cho In when he disappears in China because she doesn’t want to be abandoned again. But once she learns the truth that Seon Woo had hidden from her, that love that she had professed to Cho In returns to its true owner. 

It is the time Cho In is in China that we see another theme that captured my interest: illegal emigration. Cho In lands in China to find Oh Young Ji - a tour guide - waiting for him. She is an illegal emigrant in China. She escaped North Korea and is trying to safe money to bring her parents and move to South Korea. So, when gangsters approach her with the promise of money if she follows Cho In and tell them his whereabouts, she agrees. She thought he wasn’t a good person but slowly realizes that he isn’t a bad person at all. But her situation as an illegal emigrant makes life difficulty for her. She can’t go to a hospital when she is sick and Cho In operates in a shabby place to safe her life. She is hiding from the law while she works and waits for her brother. She tries to safe Cho In from the gangsters once she learns these people’s intensions but he gets shot and loses his memory. He is saved by Oh Kang Cheol, a leader of North Korean military defectors and Young Ji’s older brother. The struggle these men go through in their quest to leave China and reach the safety of South Korea is really touching. There is disloyalty that causes the death of most of the group. Meanwhile, we watch Young Ji travel in a ship illegally with a huge group of North Korean defectors and reaches South Korea where they go through a process of becoming legal citizens. This story, so relevant still, not just in Asia, but also in the New World where people run away from their countries illegally in search of a better life.

Oh Young Ji hopes to find her brother in South Korea, bring her parents from the north and meet Cho In again. Loyalty brings Young Ji and Cho In together once more and slowly becomes something more, thus Cho In finds someone that truly loves him and that he loves back. But in order to be able to hold on to Young Ji, Cho In will need to find peace of mind.

In the end, Lee Seon Woo and Lee Cho In were trapped in the sin of their parents, victims of those human feelings and needs. They reached the point of no return and so they lost that brotherly love that had anchored them both in a world that wasn’t perfect. Their parents’ repentance and profession of affection came too late; and even when Cho In tells Seon Woo to forgive himself, and even when Cho In forgave him, they could not go back to who they had been before the fatal chain of actions began. 

This classic really is a must see.

Poster from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/CAIN-ABEL-Korean-Region-Version/dp/B004BKGUZ4

[trisscar368]

Rescue is Coming (A Walk through Hell)

Season 3 is all about hell.  Shocker, I know.

We open up the premier with Hells Bells, AC/DC, which is all about, you guessed it, going to hell.  The first episode is all about the seven deadly sins, the basic categories under which all misdeeds fall, and the reasons you end up in hell.  Sin City (3.04) returns to this theme; all the vices are right there in plain sight, but this time the weight is all on people.  People make choices that send them to hell, and according to the demon bartender, if you give them ‘whiskey here, a hooker there, they’ll walk into hell with big fat smiles on their faces.’  That hits hard for Dean, because for the past three episodes he’s been using alcohol and sex as a coping mechanism.  The theme of sin is mostly dropped, outside of the title of the finale (No Rest for the Wicked), with one exception: kinslaying.

Now, kinslaying is set apart in almost every culture; from Cain and Abel to Tantulus and Sisyphus, kinslayers get a special place in hell, normally a worse one than the average population.  The show plays with this theme in 3.02, where the changelings kill their ‘parents’ and the parents wrestle with killing their child, but it well and truly comes home with Bela in 3.06.  The ghost ship follows people that have killed family members; it isn’t until Bela’s almost hellhound chow (in 3.15) that we learn it was a) her parents, and b) she had a really really good reason to want them dead.

This one is worth mentioning separately; kinslaying is…. it’s supposed to be something that no normal person would do.  It’s beyond the pale, something that belongs to monsters; something that strips away your humanity.  Sort of like Hell.

Now, there are a few themes for what Hell is that are played with throughout the season; the show presents them as either direct “this is Hell” moments, or most of the time it’s presented as repeated motifs.

Hell is being trapped: 3.02, the mothers of the changelings are trapped, living with monsters and unable to tell what is real and what isn’t; 3.03, Sam and Dean are powerless in the face of an outside force; 3.05, our victim of the week is trapped inside her own body for years; 3.10, being trapped with your worst fears; 3.11, Sam is trapped watching someone he loves die over and over again, and then not being able to let go; 3.12, the boys are threatened with being stuck in a small confining cell, alone; 3.13 is all about being trapped, in the house and in death loops, and on a larger level, none of the Ghostfacers learn anything or move on after their experience; 3.15 is filled with images of confined spaces, starting from the cold open with a car trunk and ending with a refrigerator stuck in a grave; and 3.16, where a family is trapped in a nightmare wrapped in the appearance of a normal life.

Hell is being alone: 3.07 tells us that in exact words —

Vampire: Can you think of a worse Hell than staring down eternity alone? Dean: Well there’s Hell. Vampire: I wasn’t thinking.  You know what that’s like?  Like being dead already.   I just didn’t care anymore.

3.08, John was absent and both boys were alone, and then Sam couldn’t bear the thought of celebrating Christmas when Dean wouldn’t be there next year; 3.10, Dean is left alone with himself, and it’s his worst nightmare; 3.11, Sam is alone, the only person who remembers what’s going on, and then he’s separated from all friends and family for months; 3.12, the boys are threatened with being isolated from each other for the rest of their lives.

Hell is forgetting who you are: Ruby tells Dean that exactly in 3.09, and then it comes back in 3.10 with his dream demon; and then the thread continues from there to the end of the season where both Winchesters are confronted with ‘what are you willing to give up to save Dean?’  How far will you go, and and what point have you stopped being human and become the monster?  3.14 hammers this home; Dean loses sight of his morals, almost kills a man out of desperation, trying to save himself.  For a moment, he is the monster.  And then we hit 3.15 and Dean finally snaps.  He shouts “I would rather go to hell” than be like Doc Benton, giving up his humanity piece by piece in order to survive.

That leads me to the other main mirroring arc of s3: Sam Winchester, the Boyking, Antichrist, Freak.  Season 3 for Sam is all about being tempted to the darkside; or rather, not tempted so much as pushed and bludgeoned to it.  We, the audience, get to watch him go through all the shades of Hell alongside Dean; but while Dean is coming to terms with what Hell will mean, and drawing moral lines of what he will and won’t do, Sam is falling apart.  We get to watch him deciding which pieces of himself he has to give up in order to save his brother.  By the time we hit the finale, he’s ready to give up everything; he’ll take Ruby’s deal, he’ll accept being a freak; he’ll do everything and be everything he’s wanted to avoid since s1 in order to save Dean.  He’s been through metaphorical hell.  The concept of being trapped and alone is enough that he starts to forget himself.

Season 3 is a mess, meta-wise; it tugs in a dozen different directions, especially when the show had to change to compensate for the writers’ strike.  The original ending, though, was for Dean to be saved, and Sam to be lost.  Rescue was coming; there was always a light at the end of the tunnel, it was just hellfire.  But the way that made it to the screen, both Winchesters ended up in a kind of hell.  Trapped, alone, with a demon for company, forgetting the things they once knew, the things that kept them human.  Waiting for rescue.

(If you’re wondering about the title, click here)

[kindredconfectionery]

John talking about his age today with Jongkyu made me have a chat with Jake-mun about how old Jake was, from a physical standpoint, since there was a time when he was just a dead soul. That generated the idea for the following drabble about what caused Jake to become The First Hunter(TM) to begin with.

(Takes place approximately 140-150 years following the death of Abel.)

The day had finally come when Naamah had had enough. Cain, regardless of whatever he was calling himself these days, as she never thought of him as anything else, kept saying this wasn’t him reigning over them. Yet he had all these rules they had to follow. All those rules did is diminish what they were. The kindred are stronger, faster, more powerful, and even generally prettier than their human counterparts. Why shouldn’t they do as they pleased, since they’re obviously superior to those they fed from? Livestock isn’t given a place of higher honor than the ones who consumed them, and humans were nothing but unherded livestock to the kindred.

She knew she wasn’t the only one who had started to feel that way. Families talk, and families grumble, and this family is no different in that respect from any other. The biggest appeal, outside of the obvious, is that he doesn’t treat the females any different from the males. If anything, Cain almost seems to revere them. She supposed that made sense in a way, given how his mother pioneered so much for the human race. Sin. Giving birth. Having your children murder one another, ergo also experiencing the aftermath of the first death. Their vaunted leader was nothing if not infamous in multiple ways.

But there comes a time in people’s lives when they need to move on, and this was it for her. She put the word around to those she knew were sympathetic to her ideas. There would be no fight. How can you fight someone who only has to stand there and let whatever happens happen so it can reflect back seven times worse against you? That would just be stupid, and Naamah was anything but stupid.

They gathered the few meager things they would bring with them, not that any of them needed much, and left just before dawn. The family would soon begin hunkering down for the day, making pursuit rather difficult and dangerous. The travel itself would be the same way at first, but scouting had assured them of enough shelter to make it through the day before they would begin their journey in earnest once again at dusk.

As it turns out, they wouldn’t have far to go to find an all you can eat buffet. When there are only four of you, one doesn’t need much. A tiny farming village, a few dozens people, oh how Cain would have loved it. He always had a soft spot for this sort of place. Even if he couldn’t grow a single thing himself without poisoning the ground, he would coach them until they were thriving. He even had leftover knowledge of tending herd animals from his time with Abel before slicing his throat and burning him alive. Maybe helping people like this make it was his way of trying to make reparations for that. Who knows? And frankly, who cares? They’re done with that life.

Explaining things to him time and again had gotten her nowhere, so now it was time to show him what they really should be doing with their powers, instead of soothing people into not questioning why their too helpful guests only come out when the sun isn’t shining.

They started small. A shepherd who wandered too far afield simply wouldn’t come back home with his flock. A gatherer or water bearer would leave their container where it lay out on the path between home and their destination, never to be heard from again. However, this got tedious, waiting for people to come to them.

One night Naamah decided to take it a step further and try to lure someone out. She told her people to stay in the shadows and watch. She stepped into the village, singing an old hymn of sorts. It was mostly wordless, but her voice carried the sentiment, regardless. It wasn’t long before a young man, hardly old enough to be considered one, wandered over to her. After a small bit of conversation, enhanced by their hypnotic power, of course, he came with her. He was practically giddy to be doing so. Why shouldn’t he be? A beautiful woman wanted his attention, and he was going to give her anything she wanted.

What a shame what she wanted from him was to die. Ever the generous soul, Naamah took her share and passed her bounty around between the lot of them until there was nothing left. His body was left where they dropped it, to be discovered by the villagers in the morning.

Thus, a pattern was begun. As it turns out, Naamah unknowingly had a bit of a talent for magic. She imbued her song with it, making it nigh irresistible, even after the villagers became wary of going out at night, especially alone. She would not be the only siren to ever live, but she was one of the first. Most often it was men who would come to them, but some women, and even children proved not to be immune to the effects of Naamah’s song.

One of the other members of her small band of kindred seemed uncomfortable with the wholesale murder of children. She didn’t see how it was any different than taking an adult. Children grow up to be adults, after all, but she relented, promising the next child to wander into their midst would be turned, rather than just eaten. This seemed to quell the unease.

They wouldn’t have long to wait for this to happen. A boy of no more than ten came to them the next week. He was not asked whether he wanted to be one of them. This wasn’t that kind of democracy. Everyone should want to be one of them. It’s a privilege and a gift, one bestowed upon them by Naamah herself. She fed him her blood even as the others drained him of his own.

Then they had to be patient. There weren’t enough of them to stand guard over a child turning for three days and to hunt, not that it mattered. They had fed well enough that a few days wouldn’t starve them. Cain had taught them that much even before they left, despite his proclivity for animal blood over richer, healthier human fare.

Confused could not begin to describe the boy’s reaction upon waking. Fear was a close second, however. Once he had fed and recovered, showing him what he could do now went a long way into erasing those fears. It didn’t take much to convince him he was a small god himself now, and he was more than happy to help them retrieve others. A child could wander into the village and lure people away more easily than just a singing woman or persuasive men, no matter how attractive or quick their tongue.

Occasionally, a fancy was taken to a victim. Seeing no reason not to, they were offered the gift of becoming one of the kindred. Some were more receptive than others.Those who were less than thrilled with their fate were killed and burned.

The village dwindled in number due to death or transformation until there were enough kindred to make their camp unsuitable for their numbers. At this point, Naamah’s family agreed they would simply move into the village. It’s not like the humans could stop them, and there were certainly enough dwellings to go around.

It was nice to finally have some place to call home again. Just because Cain was cursed to wander the Earth, there was no reason they all had to. And life was good for a time. Until the first Hunter appeared from out of Heaven itself to destroy them all...

[casimania]

I love your Chloe/Dan/Lucifer/Pierce. What head cannon do you have for them?

Gosh thank you! I have lots of headcanons actually, I do want to write a couple of fics about them and there’s a lot of ways they could go.

But mainly (goddamn this got so long, I rambled a lot sorry):

Chloe, Lucifer and Dan get together just as season 3 starts. When Pierce shows up they’re still settling in (there’s lot of settling in to do, from Lucifer suddenly seeing on a daily basis Dan and Chloe being parents and having to deal with his own parental issues, to Divine bullshit happening to Chloe and Dan getting used at being in a relationship again with all their past issues). There’s a lot of ways they could come together: Dan and Lucifer sort of stumbling in a relationship while pining after Chloe and Chloe having complicated feelings (she Wants but Dan has already fucked her over once and Lucifer is sometimes erratic and self-destructive and she’s always second guessing everything). Or Dan and Lucifer becoming friends and Dan gets an accidental Devil reveal and gets out of it with a stronger bond with Lucifer and it helps Lucifer deal with his feelings with Chloe and confess (and after they shack up Lucifer belately realizes he has similar feelings for Chloe and Dan has been pining over both the whole time and Chloe has been battling resurfacing feelings for Dan but thinks she’s just being a sappy fool). Or even they just slowly come together at the same pace. They don’t even notice they’re basically doing family stuff together like “we’re just friends what are you talking about ah ah” but daydream about domestic stuff all the time and a lot of people genuinely think they’re all an Item. 

I want Pierce role as the Sinnerman to be different also, just because. Less Murdery Crime Boss, more Espionage. Like a spy network. He’s hold and knows Things. His schtick is that if you fuck up he will know. He torments families for generations until their sins aren’t relevant anymore (but a lot of people do fucked up shit along the way so he gets more ammo for another couple generations). The Sinnerman name comes from this in this AU, he knows you sins and your forefathers’ ones. I really want him to emply the fact he’s the older human on Earth. He knows shit about everyone and he has tangible evidence to twist your arm. He has a chockehold on a lot of families. It’s also useful to reinvent himself or hide his tracks. I got the impression in canon the Sinnerman deal isn’t too old, here instead it’s been going on for longer. Less bloody but more deeprooted. Which is why it’s a big surprise when the Decoy Sinnerman starts offing people in fucked up ways. Pierce left him some liberty while trying to keep himself clean while working for the Law but that’s a bit too much. Also doesn’t make sense, starts getting actually worried when he notices he’s being slowly cut off from most of his sources. While killing the people making Deals with Lucifer the fake Sinnerman has also been offing people Pierce personally dealt with. And Pierce was so focused on Lucifer and Chloe and his goal he only realizes when his only option is to band together with them and Dan to bring him down.

Except, surprise! In this AU the fake Sinnerman is gonna be involved with Celestial bullshit on an Apocalyptic level so they really really have to work together. Cause since I’m hell bent on woobifying Pierce I need a big bad for them to join forces against. And I always felt like the decoy Sinnerman was heading towards something big only to be offed in an anticlimatic way (I guess it could make sense since the real dangerous big bad ended up Pierce in the end, but it’s nice to expand that role a little). And of course Pierce’s whole Cain deal comes out in the open and differently than in canon. And Chloe and Dan discover too. Which makes for some awkward (for Chloe and Dan) interactions at work. Like this is our boss, who is also literal Cain From The Bible and is Immortal AND a crime boss AND meets up like weekly to be killed by our boyfriend what the fuuuuuck.

Lucifer goes down a self acceptance journey (accepting himself as not a wretched monster who poisons and ruins everything he touches, but also accepting that not everything that happened to him  was personally enacted by his father but it’s either shitty circumstances and consequences and his subconscious acting up) while Pierce gets some sort of redemption arc. Or “take responsibility you self-victimizing asshole”. I see Canon Cain as being Bad(tm) both because he downright said so (his saying Lucifer wanted to be Good was pretty telling that he, instead, embraced the role humanity seemingly gave him and reveled in it). He needs to realize he both has to admit he made mistakes and bad things on his own and to actually make the good choice for once. Cain at first was just like “God, my family and the whole of humanity says I am a mosnter and the source of Evil in man. So there’s no point in trying to be good. I’ll just do bad shit and it will be THEIR fault, not mine. I’ve been pushed into it”. He’ll need to put his big boy pants and do some soul searching. Instead of always running away. Similar to Lucifer, yet Lucifer, even while embracing his Evil Devil Role always desperately wanted to be good in his core. He’s a very human Devil while canonly Pierce was a human who pretty much shed his humanity. So yeah, he’s gonna face reality and I’m gonna find a way to rip a lot of shit out of him he’s bitten into and swallowed down and has been unable to face for thousands of years. I really wanna make him sweat blood about it. I got a few different ideas but he’s gonna come out of it different. Probably gonna fuck him up for a while, he saw the world one way for thousands of years and in the span of one year (and a half maybe) it gets all challenged pretty violently and he can either double down in his convinctions or accept the changes and deal with it. With being the only one responsible for who he is, shit can happen but in the end the final choice is yours, and Cain always ran from this truth.

Lucifer and Pierce come to some sort of understandment pretty soon. They both see each other as someone fucked over by God. Lucifer is desperate for someone who truly gets that aspect of his life while Pierce kinda hates when he find himself when they do get each other. Like it was all fun and games when it was some snarky banter, true heart to heart moments are what usually make him choose a new identity and skip town. Chloe is someone he comes to respect pretty soon when shit starts getting seriou. The choices he always has difficulty with? The good ones? She's good at making them, she can have the literal Devil on her shoulder goading her but she always asks herself “Is it right? Is this the kind of person I want to be? To make myself become?” and she chooses knowing it’s all on her (where he always was “Not my choice, not my fault”). And Dan, damn he has a lot of animosity and contempt for Dan at first. He sees a crooked cop getting off easily due to circumstances and he’s just seeing his one bad deed and undening curse. And he hates the idea of people getting off the hook easily. But they’re all forced in close contact or a while so he unwittingly starts knowing more about Dan and just, he’s still fun to make fun of (and Lucifer agrees with him on that) but there’s some begruding respect there. He’s fucked up he keeps fucking up but he keeps trying and after realizing some shit about himself and the Mark the animosity dies down a bit and he gets a little less petty. Which slowly turns into a moment of understand between them down the line and they’re not sure which one is more shocked.

Also regarding angelic self actualization! Lucifer is gonna get his wings back or devil face off earlier than in canon. He comes to accept hismelf a little bit more and either one of those things changes. The other changes after he’s sent Goddess away, cause that’s a little bit more of self-acceptance. He’s avoided a war and sent him mother off to a hopefully better place. Of course he still thinks it’s punishment first for shacking up with Dan and Chloe and being happy and refusing to go back to Hell (maybe the wings appear first, he thinks it’s God urging him to fly back to Hell) and then for sending Goddess in another dimension (and probs also killing Uriel). But at some point he’s gonna spiral down again, want to fit into this AU something like the plot of season 4 and him going down a self-hate and doubt spiral for a reason or another. Maybe less abruptly, having loved one helps some but can’t fix eons of fucked up slowly crawling back up. And on the issue of God. I’m gonna say neither the Mark nor the Fall were dished out as punishments made to make Lucifer and Cain suffer. Here’ He’s very much a touch and go sort of guy. He gave Cain the Mark because Abel went down to Hell for way less and he doesn’t want that for either of them, but Abel is out of his hands, he can only hope for Cain’s redemption. So he sends Amenadiel to inflict a mark that extends his life, he can get rid of it once he’s finally faced the reality of the murder he committed, then he can fuck up more as he wishes and condemn himself again. The great unending punishment is something Cain and Amenadiel just assumed. Like Lucifer’s Fall. I like to think Hell was God’s way of getting Luciffer as far has his influence so he could act on his Free Will (I have more feelings on this but this thing got long enough). But he’s God and kind of a ass so he never states things clearly. You gotta work for them cause free will. Same with Chloe. He sent Amenadiel down to bless Penelope but didn’t really leave instructions (cause that again would be meddling with free will).

And also Season 4 equivalent is something I want to explore too. Also cause in the mess that would be this season 3 the whole OT4 thing doesn’t really come together immediately. More of a “Pierce does some soul searching and shapes up a little” but after it it’s more like, there’s understanding and respect between them and something is budding but it’s not quite “Here’s the keys Marcus come live with us”. He’s sort of like a stray cat they picked up. He keeps working at the precinct because the Mark is gone and his years are clearly numbered now and he has to decide what to make of them. And he sort of comes and goes, he’s been cutting ties with people for a very long time and he does not quite know how to ease himself back into yet (half the reason is gonna be the wonder trio being there, shit definitely got serious before but now he’s stalling). I write more easily lighthearted stuff and I can see Lucifer, Dan and Chloe just huddling together and discussing him. Maybe something happened in the thick of actions but since stuff chilled down they’re like, what now?? And they’re just being so obvious about it. But I don’t know yet how things will develop between Pierce and Chloe, Dan and Lucifer exactly. I have a rough idea on how each of them relates to the other (I’m excited about expanding on Pierce and Dan, but also Chloe and Pierce getting to know each other without Pierce’s canon machinations) but I have yet to see what will come up when I write them interacting in these situations. The nice thing about polyamory is that you can have very different dynamics in a single relationship. But I don’t have a definite feel of them yet. And Chloe/Dan/Lucifer is gonna happen relatively fast, Chloe/Dan/Lucifer/Pierce is def gonna be a slow burn one. Excruciatingly slow burn.

Also EVE! I love Eve and I want to explore her + her son + Lucifer and everyone else. Abel was clearly her darling boy and she recognized canon Cain got what was coming for him. But here’s like, sort of one foot in one foot out of a relationsip with Lucifer, Chloe and Dan and shaped himself up. Where does Eve’s codepedency issues and unstable sense of self bring her? Does she still seek out Lucifer? Does she force herself not fear or resent Cain because Lucifer seems to like him? How much does it distress her? She’d probably latch on Lucifer but it would be an interesting dynamic with all of them. How much “oh fuck” is Pierce feelinga about all of this? Facing his guilt and faults head on (pretty fucky when you went around millennia going “lalala no guilt in here nope sir!”). Also good to explore some background for the Eden family. Abel and Cain’s mutual fighting. Adam being a stick in the mud apparently. Eve’s own issues and how they relate to her being a mother and wife (did she see herself as a person or was absorbed by those roles? how much did she go along Adam’s wishes instead of hers even while raising their sons, she was made out of Adam’s rib literally for him. this is a hella weird dynamic to have as a family. did she see Lucifer in Abel’s playfulness and lightheartedness? Was Cain more like Adam? Could this have bred more anymosity between them?). And just the idea of Adam and Eve just spawning like that and being looked after by God at first. And Cain is just the first baby they’ve even ever seen. The pregnancy must have been pretty scary for Eve. How confused were they about baby care? His growth? Having to look after him? Did he resent that they were more prepared for Abel? Or that Eve seemed to be kind of a yes man with Adam? I have the impression this family never did much honest “here’s our feelings lets discuss” talk. And in all of this there’s a demon uprising. Because they can’t have ONE normal year, can they?

[joannrochaus]

What do racism, sexual abuse, and abortion have in common?

Virginia continues to deal with scandals engulfing its top three leaders.

Gov. Ralph Northam is facing renewed calls to resign today over a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook. Attorney General Mark Herring has admitted that he wore blackface at a college party in 1980.

And a college professor, Dr. Vanessa Tyson, is accusing Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. He denies the allegation.

Meanwhile, Gucci has apologized for marketing a sweater that appears to mimic blackface. It looks like a black turtleneck that is worn over the nose, with a red-lined cutout for the mouth. After a public outcry, Gucci removed the product.

In other news, President Trump spoke yesterday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. The president stated, “We must build a culture that cherishes dignity and sanctity of innocent human life.” He added: “All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God. Every life is sacred, and every soul is a precious gift from heaven.”

What do these stories have in common?

“An affront to human dignity”

Russell Moore is an ethicist and president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. In a very perceptive article on the Ralph Northam scandal, Dr. Moore notes that both racism and abortion “are rooted in the counter-Christ idolatry that sees human dignity and lives worth living defined by power.” He states that “abortion and racial injustice are alike an affront to human dignity, and to the image of God.”

The first temptation is the heart of all temptation: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche noted, the “will to power” is the basic drive in human nature. From Cain’s sin against Abel (Genesis 4) to those who join Satan’s final rebellion against God (Revelation 20:7-9), all of human history can be read as the story of misused power.

The process is both simple and tragic.

“Products of conception”

Perpetrators of power begin by dehumanizing their victims. Planned Parenthood calls babies in their mothers’ wombs “products of conception.” Racists refer to African Americans and other minorities by a variety of demeaning slurs.

Perpetrators then feel justified in attacking their victims and empowered by doing so.

Racists feel empowered by denigrating and persecuting minorities. Sexual assailants feel empowered by abusing their victims. While pro-abortion advocates claim that they are protecting and empowering women, the fact is that abortion empowers adults to take the lives of defenseless babies.

Every crime is an expression of power at the expense of others. (This is why there are no “victimless crimes.”) Our entire legal system is our consensual attempt to restrict personal power for the sake of the larger community.

Speed limits are intended to keep us from driving as fast as we wish to the endangerment of others. Illegal drugs are illegal because they harm users, devastate those who care about them, and lead to other criminal activity.

If humans could abandon the “will to power,” how different would our world be?

The spiritual power to refuse sinful power

The Christian faith is the solution to the problem of power. That’s because Christianity offers us the spiritual power to refuse sinful power.

Human rules don’t change human hearts. Most drivers speed as much as they think they can without getting caught. Sex trafficking is illegal in the US but escalating so quickly it has been called “the new American slavery.”

The US Congress has passed more than 63,000 bills and resolutions over the last ten years. Would you say our society is becoming more or less moral?

However, Christianity changes the hearts of those who make Jesus their Savior and Lord: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The more time we spend in Jesus’ presence, the more we become like him: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And the more we demonstrate “the fruit of the Spirit”: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a). Note that Paul adds: “against such things there is no law” (v. 23b).

Power the world cannot imagine

Not only does Christianity enable us to refuse sinful power–it empowers us on a level the world cannot match or even imagine.

After Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” at Pentecost, he preached with such power that three thousand were saved (Acts 2:4, 41). When John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” he met the risen Christ and received the Revelation (Revelation 1:10).

Paul testified that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). That’s why he could say, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). And why he could pray for followers of Jesus to be “strengthened with all power, according to [God’s] glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

Three steps that will change the world

Human history will continue to be the story of sinful power and its victims until the King of kings returns to end our fallen planet’s rebellion (Revelation 19:11-16). Here’s how you and I can reject this doomed rebellion and join the winning side.

First, surrender today to the power and control of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Second, ask the Spirit for the wisdom to detect the “will to power” and the strength to resist.

Third, stay submitted to the Spirit as you serve God and others with humility and grace.

The Spirit of God will then draw people to the Son of God, to the glory of God.

Is there a greater power than this?

The post What do racism, sexual abuse, and abortion have in common? appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/racism-sexual-abuse-abortion-common/ source https://denisonforum.tumblr.com/post/182655288952

[denisonforum]

What do racism, sexual abuse, and abortion have in common?

Virginia continues to deal with scandals engulfing its top three leaders.

Gov. Ralph Northam is facing renewed calls to resign today over a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook. Attorney General Mark Herring has admitted that he wore blackface at a college party in 1980.

And a college professor, Dr. Vanessa Tyson, is accusing Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. He denies the allegation.

Meanwhile, Gucci has apologized for marketing a sweater that appears to mimic blackface. It looks like a black turtleneck that is worn over the nose, with a red-lined cutout for the mouth. After a public outcry, Gucci removed the product.

In other news, President Trump spoke yesterday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. The president stated, “We must build a culture that cherishes dignity and sanctity of innocent human life.” He added: “All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God. Every life is sacred, and every soul is a precious gift from heaven.”

What do these stories have in common?

“An affront to human dignity”

Russell Moore is an ethicist and president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. In a very perceptive article on the Ralph Northam scandal, Dr. Moore notes that both racism and abortion “are rooted in the counter-Christ idolatry that sees human dignity and lives worth living defined by power.” He states that “abortion and racial injustice are alike an affront to human dignity, and to the image of God.”

The first temptation is the heart of all temptation: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche noted, the “will to power” is the basic drive in human nature. From Cain’s sin against Abel (Genesis 4) to those who join Satan’s final rebellion against God (Revelation 20:7-9), all of human history can be read as the story of misused power.

The process is both simple and tragic.

“Products of conception”

Perpetrators of power begin by dehumanizing their victims. Planned Parenthood calls babies in their mothers’ wombs “products of conception.” Racists refer to African Americans and other minorities by a variety of demeaning slurs.

Perpetrators then feel justified in attacking their victims and empowered by doing so.

Racists feel empowered by denigrating and persecuting minorities. Sexual assailants feel empowered by abusing their victims. While pro-abortion advocates claim that they are protecting and empowering women, the fact is that abortion empowers adults to take the lives of defenseless babies.

Every crime is an expression of power at the expense of others. (This is why there are no “victimless crimes.”) Our entire legal system is our consensual attempt to restrict personal power for the sake of the larger community.

Speed limits are intended to keep us from driving as fast as we wish to the endangerment of others. Illegal drugs are illegal because they harm users, devastate those who care about them, and lead to other criminal activity.

If humans could abandon the “will to power,” how different would our world be?

The spiritual power to refuse sinful power

The Christian faith is the solution to the problem of power. That’s because Christianity offers us the spiritual power to refuse sinful power.

Human rules don’t change human hearts. Most drivers speed as much as they think they can without getting caught. Sex trafficking is illegal in the US but escalating so quickly it has been called “the new American slavery.”

The US Congress has passed more than 63,000 bills and resolutions over the last ten years. Would you say our society is becoming more or less moral?

However, Christianity changes the hearts of those who make Jesus their Savior and Lord: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The more time we spend in Jesus’ presence, the more we become like him: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And the more we demonstrate “the fruit of the Spirit”: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a). Note that Paul adds: “against such things there is no law” (v. 23b).

Power the world cannot imagine

Not only does Christianity enable us to refuse sinful power–it empowers us on a level the world cannot match or even imagine.

After Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” at Pentecost, he preached with such power that three thousand were saved (Acts 2:4, 41). When John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” he met the risen Christ and received the Revelation (Revelation 1:10).

Paul testified that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). That’s why he could say, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). And why he could pray for followers of Jesus to be “strengthened with all power, according to [God’s] glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

Three steps that will change the world

Human history will continue to be the story of sinful power and its victims until the King of kings returns to end our fallen planet’s rebellion (Revelation 19:11-16). Here’s how you and I can reject this doomed rebellion and join the winning side.

First, surrender today to the power and control of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

Second, ask the Spirit for the wisdom to detect the “will to power” and the strength to resist.

Third, stay submitted to the Spirit as you serve God and others with humility and grace.

The Spirit of God will then draw people to the Son of God, to the glory of God.

Is there a greater power than this?

The post What do racism, sexual abuse, and abortion have in common? appeared first on Denison Forum.

source https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/racism-sexual-abuse-abortion-common/

[bloodyshirtrpg]

♔ OC INFORMATION ♔

NAME/ALIAS & AGE:

Risa, eighteen.

PREFERRED PRONOUNS:

she/her.

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL:

EST. I would place my activity at a 6/10 at the moment. I currently have a pretty heavy courseload, so on some days I won’t be online,  though on weekends I’ll try to make up for it. During school breaks, I’ll definitely be more available, with my activity rising to a 7 or 8/10.

♔ IC INFORMATION ♔

FULL NAME:

Selene Iora Avery

Selene: For moons and goddesses, soft vengeance and honeyed venom. She was named after beauty and mystique, that twilight enigma captured by no man or empire.  Selas (σέλας): for the bright elite, for the numinous and the sacred. People would worship her. She would illuminate their sins like a passing crescent of light.

Iora: Greek for pure; for what true politician could resist the opportunity to prove and prove again his allegiance to his values? She was pure, she was pure like all the others of her status. Through her veins ran the ichor of the highest echelons of her race. But there is no power in the obvious. It was almost pitiful, that her name had to reflect her father’s pointed ambitions: that he would treat her as a bartering piece upon which ‘pure’ had to be written, like an envelope addressed in ink and blood.

Avery: They were immortalized in the 1920s by Cantankerus Nott; and ever since that moment there hasn’t been a day gone by in which the Averys did not strengthen their legacy. To be Sacred. They were a sly family, full of weasels and snakes —  but she would be a raven with wings as black and glossy as night, set apart from her predecessors by her ability to soar.

FACECLAIM:

Nina Dobrev

FUTURE PLANS:

Heartbreak; She was a seductress of the highest degree, a white rose dipped in a sheen of thorns. All her life, Selene has been the most beautiful, the most coveted —  and while her beauty was meant to attract suitors, she used it to devestate them instead. I think that it would be a very interesting plotline to reverse the roles for once: let someone else break her heart, wrench her affections from her. Let them lead her on, let them kiss her and promise her great things, let her believe them. Then, and only then; tear it all away. In a way, there’s a terrible excitement to exploring the tragic and unexpected: and I think that this would be a game-changer for Selene, to finally want someone with all her will, and have them play her dirty.

Sabotage; Did she truly hate her brother, or did she just envy him? It’s a question that I want to explore with Selene in-game. She has very mixed feelings regarding Nathaniel and his inability to uphold their family values, and I believe that there will come a time when she makes up her mind regarding her brother, and acts upon it. If she hates him, then she will cripple him, ruin him. If she envies him, then she will do all that is in her power to steal the throne and crown herself queen: but which is the lesser evil? Essentially, I would love to have her move against Nathaniel and wreak some family havoc. What’s more classic than the story of Cain and Abel; one sibling coveting the other, even to the point of murder?

DATE OF BIRTH:

November 15th, 1959 (age seventeen, nearly eighteen) / Scorpio — “The Scorpio motto might be “What is hidden is more interesting than what is obvious.” Their magnetic personality draws others to them, but they can also be secretive, for they learn early on that when you express everything, others may be afraid of the power of your feelings.  They can become cold and withdrawn when hurt in love, and have the magic to light up the dark, but sometimes they would benefit by looking at the positive side of things rather than going into the darkness at all.”

SEXUALITY/SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS:

I believe Selene to be bisexual at the very least - though she has a tendancy towards hetero-romantic ideals. Her battle is against men, not women: and so she makes them her victims most often, though this isn’t to say that she hasn’t rendezvoused with the same sex before (in fact, I am certain that she has).

I’m very fluid when it comes to ships, so I don’t have a specific answer to this question. I feel that the bio sets the stage for a possible romance between Nikolai and Selene - and I would entirely be up for that, given development. But the possibilities are truly endless, and I imagine that whatever may happen, it’ll form organically as gameplay moves forward. I’m a huge fan of slow-moving, deeply built ships; so I don’t expect anything fast and furious. Angst is my middle name. Tragedy is my son. Anyways; I think you know how I tend to roll by now, and I’m too invested in crying over ships to relent my ways. Slow and steady wins the race…perhaps once in a blue moon. But isnt heartbreak always the more interesting route?

WAND, PATRONUS, & BOGGART:

Wand:

Madrona, 9 & ¾ inch, supple – “A beautiful evergreen from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, it is rare in British wandmaking. However, its distinctive peeling bark denotes its magical powers of change- hence, a powerful wood for Transfiguration.”

Veela hair core – “Veela wands are temperamental like the creatures they come from, and are considered too volatile for a decent wand core in many circles. However, some wizards enjoy the boost it gives to outdoorsy magics, divinations, and Charms. The veela’s inherent intelligence makes finding these wands among the non-Veela blooded most common in Ravenclaw.”

↳ She began with a wand of Rosewood; passed down to her from her father’s mother. The only defining trait was that it was a graceful wand wood, as if that alone merited her trust. To believe in appearances alone is the folly of a weak man. That first year was somewhat disastrous as she fanangled with the weak, graceful wand that had been pushed upon her. It was when Selene went to Ollivander’s herself that he retrieved for her a wand of Madrona, uprooted from his deep archives. Her particular wand was made in the year 1929, and the bark has been polished away from the wood.

Patronus:

Arctic Fox – “Cunning, stealth, persistence. The arctic fox is infinitely adaptable, living its life in one of the world’s most extreme climates. Arctic fox people tend to be sly, graceful, and have a near magic ability to make something out of nothing, utilizing even the most limited of resources. Arctic fox as a totem can teach us the ability to go with the flow of life, changing ourselves to suit our ever-evolving environments.”

Boggart:

“Darling, what are you afraid of?”

It was a sleepy, pleasure-fed rasp in the dark. Selene felt a body stir besides her, the boy at her side raising himself up with one arm in order to press himself to her, mouth at her ear, hands running along her skin like cold satin.

“Why do you ask?” And hers was a coy, soft response.  “So that you can scare me in the dark?” She smiled for his benefit rather than her own. In truth, a trembling sort of doubt had crept into her chest with that one word. She didn’t like the concept of it.

Fear. It signified cowardice, it signified that there were things in this great, grand world which could cripple her with their potency, like a drowned man in the face of god.

He smiles into the nape of her neck. “The dark, then?” And she felt herself being tugged backwards, she felt his lips crash hungrily into her own; and she gave into it, not because she was afraid of the dark, but because she was afraid of the mundane. That fate that lay before her, every night like this one -  it seized her in her most vulnerable moments, and she was entirely, helplessly afraid.

↳ Her boggart would be a vision of herself as a domestic housewife: the most mundane of existences, in her opinion. The idea that she can hold as much talent and ambition as all the world and still be confined to a lifetime of boredom -  it’s more terrifying than the prospect of death. She is desperate to escape her fate and build a new one. She would rather die than be reduced to someone’s prize horse, to be ridden hard, and retired easy.

FOUR CHARACTERISTICS:

Fascinating: She was beautiful, she was full of divinity and consequence. Fascination is a curious thing: it’s striking, it’s memorable; it’s something otherworldly. She was a girl of silk and lace. The people she met, the hearts that she broke - she would never fade from them, they would never forget her. Her very presence cast an impossible imprint upon all those who looked at her and heard her speak. It made her formidable, she supposed. To be known and idolized, to be worshiped and dreamt of. Wetdream, daydream, chiffon-nightmare. Chanel No. 5, pervading their sleep and whispering sweet nothings into their ears.

Pragmatic: Her sharpness of mind was like the glint of a sword; all at once lethal and impressive. She was ambitious, yes. But beyond that, she was intelligent, sensible; possessing an enormous capacity for reason. Crime and Punishment. War and Peace. While the Slytherins followed their blind ambitions to the gates of Purgatory without blinking, she knew well what lay on the road before her. All things, even suffering, can be alleviated by planning. Her judgement is one of her greatest assets; and her mind is her greatest weapon: beyond her lips or her legs or her eyes, her mind is what truly entices. Aphrodite was beautiful, yes - but Athena had ended empires with a close of her fist.

Jealous: Even god himself is a jealous god. It seems that the fate of all divine beings is to want and hoard and hold close to them that which is theirs. Selene is often prone to envy: she envies Nathaniel for his unmerited inheritance, she envies Nikolai for stealing Evan’s affection, she envies and envies until it fills her lungs with thoughts of retribution. Things and people who she sees as “hers” are sacred in her eyes, and she will break heaven and raise hell in order to wrestle them back if they are taken from her.  

Manipulative: She was a raven, but she possessed the cunning of a snake. As Helen had started a war of the ages with her manipulation and beauty, and Delilah had rendered Samson futile with her charming murmurs and a well-placed mouth; so Selene manipulated those around her with her charisma. She could be the devil’s prostitute for those boys who craved a bit of brutality, she could be a heavenly wraith for all the girls who wished to be treated softly. Her manipulation came in many forms - verbal, metaphorical, physical. Even with a single glance, she could convey entire worlds of lies. In the span of one conversation, sinners could be born again, the blinded could again see a pinprick of light. She had the tongue of a seductress, the mind of a empress, the voice of a siren, the hands of a nympth.  

CONNECTIONS:

Nikolai Selwyn — “I don’t want to be around you. I don’t want to drink you in. I want to walk into the heart of you and never walk back out. “ —Nico Alvarado from “Tim Riggins Speaks of Waterfalls”

↳ She wanted him for no rhyme or reason: just that she could. She wanted him to bow before her, she wanted to place her hand upon his cheek and see him shudder at her touch. “You cannot evade me,” she murmurs to him in the twilight. “Not all of us are conquerable,” is his flippant response, matching her every move with a mirror move of his own. In truth, she envies Nikolai: she envies his bond with Evan, she envies his promising future, she envies that he is not hers to touch and hold captive. There is a wine-dark streak of ambition in his soul, and she senses it calling to hers. She’s considered it; my god, she’s considered it. How would they look standing side by side? Would their scepters match in shades of gold? How great an empire could they build, if they were to give into their primal urges and kiss each other like the hungry, insatiable beasts they were?

Nathaniel Avery  — “Do you want it? Do you want anything I have? Will you throw me to the ground like you mean it, reach inside and wrestle it out with your bare hands?” —Richard Siken from “Wishbone”

↳ Her brother had everything that she ever wanted, but he still found ways to hurt her anew. But she loved him, oh she loved him with a lingering purity, an inconsolable affection. They were both children once, after all: those were the best days, weren’t they? She still sees Nathaniel as a child, given his reckless antics, and often she’s the one to clean up his messes. He resents her, she knows this. But as much as she covets what he has innately been given, she doesn’t truly hate him. They both know that she’s more capable, more dangerous, more fit for the throne. But no matter how he might shirk his responsibilities and despise his role, Selene knows that Nathaniel would never, ever relinquish his hold on the Avery legacy to her. Not without a fight, not without a blood-soaked war.

Evan Rosier  —  “You happened to me. You were as deep down as I’ve ever been. You were inside me like my pulse.” —Marilyn Hacker from "Nearly a Valediction”

↳ “Do you love me?” It’s a tradition of theirs, to ask one another this. She asks him now, curled up against his shoulder as they watch the breeze roll in from the mountainpeaks, rippling across the grounds like a ghost. “Until the day the sun sets in the east,” he replies with an absolute certainty. And she smiles. All else can fade, but she’s certain that her bond with Evan will last forever. Contrary to what others might assume from their affectionate touches and deep familiarity, they are not lovers and will never be. They’re platonic soulmates, a different sort of union that is unbreakable by time or war. She worries deeply over Evan. He is her light and her shield, and she can’t imagine losing him to the hysteria which has overtaken the others of their society — he is not Achilles, golden warrior of the front lines. He is Patroclus, and she’s so desperately afraid of letting him go, only to receive him back in ashes. She does everything in her power to save them both from their impending dooms.

FREESTYLE PORTION:

Playlist: The Comets (for Selene & Evan)

Tag: (quotes, images, flashes of who I envision her to be) Click here

Diary Entry:

                                                      JULY 21ST, 1976

There is a misconception that beautiful women are thornless. We are ripe for the picking, simply a commodity to be auctioned and then bought by the highest bidder. It is just as Mary Wollstonecraft wrote: we are flowers, cultivated and planted within the shallowest of soil, so that every breath we draw depends entirely upon the whims of our masters. Our petals are ground to be their perfume, and because we were watered with wine and dreams, we inevitably wilt before our time. I am my father’s flower, a helpless, wilting bloom. I am to be here one day and gone the next, and he is to clink his pouch of gold as he makes the trade.

I fear destruction. It is like oblivion, a monstrous, infallible thing, armoured and willing to face even the strongest of souls. I feel myself hurtling towards it every day, every night. Particularly now, when I cannot breathe for the corset at my waist, and cannot cry for the mask upon my face. The monsters are already closing in. Their eyes pierce into my side and shake every foundation I have built in my seventeen years. They undress me, and I am always scrambling for honour, fighting not to lose it. There will come a day when they become too many, and even I cannot fight them any longer. My weapons are quiet ones - they brandish armories and swords, I brandish only myself.

Today, I nearly lost even that. It sickens me to write of it, but it also is a reminder that must be committed to ink, an admonition to my future and my psyche.

I am always willing to be touched, to be violated, even - for the sake of my games. Like a queen must sacrifice pieces, I must allow certain events to transpire in order to reach my goal. Some are small.

Pawns: a man’s mouth against mine, rough and hard, his teeth clicking against my own, the taste of whiskey in his breath. The warm slithering feeling of a tongue slipping past my lips, intertwining as he presses me against the edge of a table.

Rooks…wandering hands that begin at my waist and then stray to my chest — grasping, handling, lingering over the black lace and dark chiffon we women don for their imagination.

Some are larger, more important, less forgivable…and it is when they are taken from me that I feel like I may be slipping, that I may be losing this match to the enemy.

My knights, my bishops.

Last night, I suffered a loss that haunts me even now. It is not a loss that I have not already seen. And yet his hand between my thighs, thrusting, twisting, drawing this primal, feral thing out of me…I’m almost ashamed to say that I almost enjoyed it, that I arched my back and cried his name out like it meant something. Then there was his mouth, already stained crimson from my lips, and I hated it, I hated him — and yet I fell to those carnal pleasures, the stubble of his chin against my thighs, my fingers grasping the thick locks of his hair, torn between wanting him to stop and wanting more.

This is the danger of the precipice.  

You think yourself powerful, guarded — and yet as your soldiers fall beneath you, you feel the urge to leap into that gorge, to face the beast yourself, to offer everything for the sake of victory. But you lose yourself to the glory, the feeling of love and sweat on your hands, spilling down your thighs like Poseidon’s saltwater spring…unintentionally wonderful and yet utterly pointless.

And that is when you fall.

Or nearly. He was naked, a beautiful youth, Adonis of our age. I did not know him, but his blood was pure like ichor, like those of the gods, he may have been Aphrodite’s favorite. And in the marble bareness of his chest, that moonlit organ hard between his legs, I found a type of twisted satisfaction. But not enough, never enough. He was a bishop, but I am the queen. When I fall, the entire board capsizes.

I left him there with a kiss and nothing more.

There was something ugly, hideous in his gaze; when I pulled from him. He made as if to grab me, to silence my cries and get it over with. I would have killed him if he had.

Perhaps the blood wouldn’t even lie on my hands — I know that there are those who would murder with a single word of my command.

WRITING SAMPLES:

( For this portion of the app, I decided to take the prompt literally, and provide a few flashes, glimpses, and short windows of insight into Selene at various points across time. Some are vague, others are fleeting — but I hope that they come together to give a somewhat holistic view of how I plan on portraying her. )

♚ ONE.

      “Do you believe in omens?” Her voice is quiet, musing, a murmured menagerie of pale interest and cool apathy. She watches the bodies stream pass their perch at the banister, one after another, caught in a bacchic frenzy, food and drink fueled by an anxious trepidation. Her companion looks on at the scene below. They are like lions surveying a stampede of gazelles; choosing their prey, calculating their victories. Selene scoffs, a soft sound.  “In times of war, harbingers like this always promised riots to come. Look at them. Look at their fear.”

♚ TWO.

       It was always an exciting affair to return an illicit volume to its rightful place upon the shelves. A trickyaffair, dangerous, full of sleights of hands and misleading paths to fool the eyes of any beholder. Selene slipped past the stories of magical beasts and their destruction, stepped through the sector dedicated to the most famous of the wizarding race — slowed as she approached potions and alchemy. Her fingers wrapped tighter about the leather-bound notebook at her chest, remembering page 37 and its deadly advice, thinking upon it. A turn of the corner, a glance cutting across the small expanse — and dark eyes reflected dawn’s light as recognition flooded their depths. A sigh, soft, like the grey light. “I don’t trust you with your own judgment this morning, mon cher. It seems to be…lacking.”

         For there Evan was, asleep on the ground. He was graceful even in his sloth, but she nonetheless goes to him, shakes him lightly; presses a chaste kiss to his forehead when he stirs but does not wake.

♚ THREE.

   Her smile wavered before falling into oblivion. She did not play games where others were used as leverage, certainly not those who she had purposely excluded from her board. Nathaniel had crossed some irreversible line, broken an unspoken rule. He had involved a piece that she had expressively hidden away in his convoluted games.

    “Our father must be pleased that a boy like you is his heir and that I’m only the spare.” Her voice was quiet, eerily so; the imperium was not in volume, but in nature. “But to have half a beast inherit his name would be a harrowing blow, would it not? Like Minos and his Minotaur, a creature appeased only by the blood of maidens, confined within a labyrinth where he believes himself k i n g .”

    Now she leans forward as she stands from her seat, her lips inches from his ear, dark locks lending the two Avery siblings a brief moment of seclusion, a heartbeat for her to etch her murmered mark. “I suggest that you heed my warning, little king. You’re running yourself into a dead end.”

♚ FOUR.

    It dripped from her, a seduction as golden-dark and rich as honey; that gilded absence of imperfection. To look at her was to die. Such a mouth, such a face, such fingers, pressing bruised kisses into the flesh of men and women alike; Eros’ executioner, bedecked in a cloak of darkness and lace, feeding upon the misguided love of her victims.

    She stands now, wrapped in that invincibility (that impossibility) of bedroom eyes and smokey murmurs, champagne-kisses and the soft flutter of a dress as it falls to the floor. About her, a dozen beings are having a thousand dreams of touching and being touched by her, and she is fully aware of their hunger. They may deny it, they may suppress it, but the way that she moves, ah, she is from heaven and they are sinners begging for salvation, found in the passionate press of her lips, the flicker of her dark eyes, silver in the moonlight.

  “My darling.” It’s the real executioner sweeping up to her in all his finery, smiling like a wolf, all teeth and hackles and obsidian daggers. Nikolai Selwyn. He is seventeen and already holds himself with the same air which characterizes his father’s dynasty, and though she doesn’t want to play into his game tonight, together they nonetheless exude a sense of power which is both intimidation and seduction.

     Their surroundings pale, their opponents simmer with a quiet envy, daggers in their gazes and an unbidded wanting drying in their mouths. Opulence and wealth become quite inconsequential unless they are inhabited by the sure-footed elite, and in this manor of silk screens and white lace doilies, of ash fireplaces and ancient halls of secrets, they nearly dominate.

  “My tormentor,” she replies to him in greeting, offering him her hand. He smiles, a crooked sort of smile that indicates that he’s genuine, if only for a night. And though she never does tell him, throughout the duration of that night, she is grateful for his company, the shadow-dark solidarity of him. If only for a night. What more should they expect; when they lived lies as extravagantly as if they were the glorious truth?

♚ FIVE.

     There was a certain restlessness to the halls even in their state of solitude: but perhaps the feeling of frenzy was merely the beating of her heart. Once, she had relished its pulse. It was a sign that she was human, that despite all her wrongdoings, she had not yet risen to a place too far to be redeemed. Surely, when the day of her judgement arrived, she would hear it in the beating of her heart; it would skip and wrench, she would know with certainty that this is the end. Wretched organ of love, destroyer of worlds.

 Tonight, as she steps lightly over the marble floors of a castle asleep, there is blood smeared on her mouth.No, it was merely lipstick. Hers? Theirs?

  It had come to a point where she barely blinked after one such entanglement. Kiss them, lead them, lay with them; hear their breaths in the dark. These sorts of excursions had once been sparse, but now, with the last dredges of her humanity coming out in desperate attempt to change her impending fate, the nights were blurring, the sheets tangling one step closer to the ultimate picking of the rose. She was on dangerous grounds. It was her version of delirium, this uncouth consistency, one hard mouth exchanged for another, a different skin against hers each time the moon rose again. Pureblood, halfblood, blood without blood - did it matter? Promiscuity was separated from temptation by a fine division, but she could be characterized as neither. This was not a sport to enjoy, it was a hunt to numb the senses.

   She walked as if in a trance. Dark cloaks drawn about her to make up for the chill of minutes prior (she was told that her collarbones could bring the sharpest of men to their knees), Selene was sweeping through the empty bones of a great establishment, and her mind was fleeing from her. Gaze lost; thoughtless. This was her delirium. And someone else was witnessing it. Darkness’ brother was fear. But she does not fear the boy in the shadows when her black gaze coolly rises to meet his.

    Few specters frequented this twilight realm of hers.

    “If not for your trademark arrogance, Nikolai, I might have passed you by.” She raises her chin by the slightest degrees, adjusting her tired bones to his height, adjusting her mindlessness for weary blades of steel.

    “If not for the smear of your lipstick, I would have let you,” is his quaint reply, light; but carrying a far deeper connotation. He challenges her.

     She meets his eyes across the moon-dark hall, and all at once they understand one another. Not like Evan understands her, no; but there is something familiar and innate in the Slytherin’s face that mirrors the hidden emotions in her own.

     They had been children once. Pure, untainted. Once - though she despised the act of remembering it, she had been defenseless. Perhaps he had been as well. She wonders then, what had brought him to this place, to walk with her in shadows, to see the same dappled halls as she did, with eyes cold, serpentine…a gaze that so mirrored her own.

     For her, it had been the roughness of hands in the dark, a snarling command pressed against her ear by her father and all his male companions alike, the reminder, the constant beratement that she was weak, meant only for another’s pleasure, that her power lay between her legs and no place else. She was in a labyrinth, and it was her destiny to be devoured by the beast who lusted for her flesh. Or so they insisted.

  She would devour them if they spoke to her now. They would see her and want her, and she would tear their filthy hands from her waist, leave them bleeding out like dogs groveling at her feet. She was more powerful than they could ever dream to be. One movement of her hips, and she could destroy ships, obliterate mountains, move men like pawns across a board built from her fear, her anxiousness, herdetermination. There was nothing inevitable but her, and she would make them pay for what they had wished. But Nikolai— he was this world’s gentleman, void of such malignant tendencies, such terrible bigotries. There was a cool charm to him. There is now, as Selene stands across from him, drinking in the image of his dark cloaks, his dark hair, those tantalizing eyes. They may seem like equals, her cold gaze holding his accountable, but she had climbed further, run farther, reached and sacrificed and tiptoed and fought with a vigor that he would never know.

                                                    Fear, know thy master.

        “I’m tired tonight, Nik.” It’s a familar nickname, too familiar perhaps. But it slips from her like water, and she doesn’t try to take it back. “Let me pass.”

    “Let me see you.” He’s looking right at her. But she knows precisely what he means. This is another game, but it doesn’t feel like a game, it feels real; it feels heavy like the weight of a world. Her heart sinks, she feels her exhaustion anew. When she speaks again, her wariness is palpable

       “I’m standing right here.”

       But he’s adamant. Nikolai never did disappoint. His control was impressive, and she sees it now. He wants to let go, but still he holds back. He’s holding back from her. He sighs, for her. Because of her. “No you’re not, Selene. Not the real you.”

      She meets his eyes for a long moment. Then Selene brings one hand to her mouth, and with an almost brutal motion, smears the rest of her lips. A scarlet slash cuts across her face in shades of creme and rose. She looks like an angel of death, just returned from swallowing a mortal heart.

     “See me, then.”

   Now he falters, and she drinks in his fallacy as a butterfly would nectar. Leo Tolstoy once wrote; It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. Did this boy of darkness and torn shirts fancy her in need of his protection? The thought makes her want to laugh, and if she were a being of impulse, who allowed every whim to come to fruition, perhaps she would.

 Instead, a smile. It cuts like a wound, blood-red lipstick. Waning crescent, holding a transcendence like the moon in an unforgiving November sky. There are some things that she has learnt to sense. Darkness is an old friend, she has walked hand in hand with it upon many a lonely, narrow road; and she recognizes it. Tonight, it resides in Nikolai’s chest, fluttering as strongly as a dragon’s wings at her proximity. Selene knows that she has won. She sweeps forward, gliding in the silence, relishing its softness as she draws closer to this proud, tall boy who could not show his concern, could not live without his wand, cannot hope to capture her —

    “I show you only what you need to see, mon amour.” A pause, and she is close to him. She can smell his cologne, and there it is again, the feverish reflection of herself in his gaze. “While you,” and she wraps one hand about his, which is slack at his side. It’s strangely warm. Her fingers intertwine with all those tendons and knuckles, calloused skin against her soft palm. “You show me everything that I want.” That flash of a smile. “Your gaze is feral, Nikolai. There are primal urges that have been awakened within you; but you crave for something more than flesh and blood.”

    “You crave what you don’t understand,” She passes him like a wraith, and he makes no move to stop her. Her whisper lingers.

                                                       “And it consumes you.”

♚ SIX.

       Any other would hide their marks, those shameful scars of being dominated by another. But she is not ashamed, nor is she made so by their words, those sly syllables crafted to strike, to bury themselves within her flesh and wound her psyche. But she was not ashamed. She had awned her head back, felt teeth bite. Her jugular was not so easily split.

    “Do you think this is the first time someone has raised a hand to me?” A musing murmur, and as that velveteen tone slips through scarlet lips, she can see that somewhere, her words have struck a truth. She turns towards the windows, her visage illuminated by night, a small reprieve in which she will allow them to recover. The bruises upon her throat glow ghostly in the night.

        “How do I cope?” It was the unasked question, so she asks it for them. “I like to think of it as a temporary affliction, an insect’s fervored kiss.” And like a velvet curtain falling to reveal the work beneath, a single movement of her head, and her cloak slips from her shoulder, revealing half a dozen more dark compressions, littered like stars upon the smoothness of her shoulder. She makes no move to hide what they already must suspect. Sex is rough. Ambition is rougher.

                 “Don’t worry after me, love. I have very high tolerance for suffering. ”

♚ SEVEN.

       She had promised retribution, and it trembles in her bones, the sound and the fury of it, the echoes of every premonition and terror. He stands before her, gaze averted, and it’s written all over his face: the guilt, the ready admission. It’s too easy - she wishes that it were harder, that he stood tall and straight, unblinking, insisting upon his innocence, proud until the end. But it seems that tonight has changed both of them, turned one into the mirage of another, stuck pins into the hard ice of their hearts, melted them for the sake of preserving what has been tainted.      

    The sincerity of what is to come is heavy in the air between them, and as she swallows the lump in her throat, she thinks: how ironic, that only when a threat of such caliber hangs above them that he can face her like this, without his armour, his barbs, those offenses that would barrage her so, push her until she was gritting her teeth and at the edge of the cliff, tempted by the idea of abandoning all care for the sake of primal revenge. So when Selene does speak, she is past suppressing what has been building in her, for years and years — this is the tipping point, and he knows as well as she how terribly their ship has rocked, how monstrously the storm rages. “Look at me,” she says, once. She is the wolf and he is silent. “What did you do, Nathaniel?” Her voice is eerily calm, but then it breaks, and the anger, the emotion that she has withheld for so long; it begins to leak. She speaks in a hiss, like the snake she almost could have been. “Nathaniel.” It’s not a question, but a command, and you can see it in her gaze — she would kill to see it obeyed. “Were you or were you not part of that despicable affair?”

♚ EIGHT

     Eyes are the window to the soul. It was a timeless phrase, recycled, reused, debated by philosophers who thought themselves privy to the world of inner turmoil, hidden agendas behind flashing eyes and painted smiles. Who thought themselves able to speak of a secret history. She had seen many eyes in her lifetime - met a thousand gazes. Demurely, coldly, sweetly, cruelly — and perhaps it was true, these musings. In those lingering stares, she found more than carnal desire…and oh, if the stars had only hid their heavenly fire, perhaps those veiled depths might have remained today’s gift, tomorrow’s mystery.

      Nathaniel’s were dead wet, the color of sickness. A puerile sickness, all tantrums thrown at twilight and too much force behind thick fists as they pounded against mahogany tables. A vicious jealousy, fueled by rash thinking and a need to conquer all - a boy who thought his future held a crown, and thus acted like a tyrant long before it had ever touched his head. When he campaigned and lost against his self-made enemies, & all his tricks lay slain on the battlefield, the wail of rage that went up was a terrible, terrible thing…such a shame, such a waste of a pretty face, such a waste of p o w e r .

      Hers were hellfire, obsidian dark and ash gray - smoking flickers of a smoldering flame contained in that crevice between her lungs and her ribcage. When you leaned into the crook of that beautiful neck, swanlike, it was the scent of jasmine…and something else. Did a m b i t i o n have a scent? Or was it a subtle thing that she tucked within herself, deep in that cold cool organ which she called a heart? A warrior queen dressed like a lamb: a long-legged, lupine thing, all silver teeth and golden claws, taking on the guise of her prey. She ate the bodies that the boy king left behind, wolfed down the remnants of his mistakes, turned that formidable pair of eyes upon another unsuspecting ruler to do it all over again. Her stealth was her weapon, it was her a d v a n t a g e .

     Girls don’t speak until spoken to - and so she watched the world through heavy lashes until it bent to her bidding, until there was no creature that could resist her charms. She was not a beautiful thing, not in the classic sense, not like they wanted her to be. No, she was the crack of thunder against alabaster stone, a drop of blood in winter’s first snow, the thorn that pricks the unsuspecting finger on the underside of a rose. She was cruel, she was ruination, she was the saccharine taste of poison a moment before it grips and kills, bittersweet until the very end.

     Girls don’t become powerful - and so she was not, at least, not from her appearance. She studied in secret, cut her delicate fingers fumbling with ancient pages in the midnight dark, marred those honeyed hands with the waxen heat of her quiet fury, her searing aspirations. Candlelight was where she stood her vigil, where she planned her battles. It was beneath the sun, in the clasp of daylight, that she played them out. A lovely thing she was, in these hours when she was most dangerous - soft, graceful, a vision of divine absolution, ichor flowing through her veins and making her glow, making her desirable. A lovely thing she was, when she had so much power to h u r t .

     You are man’s plaything, you are their pet, their every whim. You are Eve, made for Adam’s pleasure. Their warmth, their foundation, their dearly beloved — their shadow, their buried support, the thing that they bend across the soft silk of a bed with hands rough and too accustomed to love lost. A mare to be ridden, until the sheen of sweat on her hide was broken by a cry in the dead of night, a child mewling its hallowed name. She knew what they expected, she had known it her entire life, this impending doom above her head, threatening her and constraining her, making it ten times more difficult to rise than to fall into that niche she had been born into - but her resolve was beyond what they ever could have imagined. She knew of legislation and judgement, of landmasses and kings - the history of the world perched upon her palm, and among it, there were so few women queens, so few heroines: but had they existed as she did? Quietly, a simmering force beneath a complacent exterior? Did they paint their lips, smooth the waists of their gowns and chiffon, glance at themselves in the mirror and see the serpent beneath the flower? She had been told to be men’s companion, and so she was. She was bound to them, so she made them her foundation, the poor unfortunate souls who she sucked dry, their blood smearing her mouth. And she laughed.

     She laughed like a god.

[janallotey]

Letter to Eve

Dear Eve,

I know Christendom has portrayed you as the worst idea God came up with, or a close second to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, I don’t buy into that narrative. I think you are an exemplary woman and here is why:

You were the first woman! That in itself is amazing. And to think that you never experienced childhood like we know it today; the state you were in before you ate the fruit may have been quite similar but even then, doing the whole womanhood thing from day one (or day six) couldn’t have been easy. You became a wife and a mother with absolutely no role models or peers. The Bible doesn’t say how long it was between your creation and your incident with the serpent but you probably went through a few menstrual cycles with no clothes. (Can you believe some people still imagine nakedness is the norm in Africa? Let’s not go there though. It makes me angry.) Navigating womanhood all by yourself is an achievement worth applauding.

I have a question about the time you ate the fruit though. Not to bring back bad memories but were you trying to commit suicide? To the best of your knowledge at the time, the fruit would kill you. Maybe you didn’t fully comprehend death but did you not want to live? Having no other women to share in your experiences was probably depressing, and if your conversation with Adam and God is any indication, Adam wasn’t always the perfect ally. I honestly hope you weren’t having mental health issues. I know I do when my hormones go crazy. Oh wait! The world was supposed to have been perfect then so there shouldn’t have been any sickness. Never mind.

So maybe you were fine up until the fruit fiasco but I also wonder how Abel’s death affected you psychologically. You must have experienced an unbearable amount of grief when Cain killed Abel. It was the first murder, with both the victim and the culprit being your sons. That’s rough! You probably questioned your parenting skills. Good thing there were no other mothers to whom you could compare yourself. If it’s any consolation, you did a great job with Abel. I hope you didn’t live with the guilt of Cain’s sins in addition to yours. I understand that sin entered the world after the fruit thing, but it was bound to happen sometime. If I had been in the garden, I bet I would’ve eaten the fruit too.

What I find really inspiring about you eating the fruit is that it demonstrated your hunger for knowledge, literally. You were brave enough to sacrifice everything familiar to learn more. In retrospect, that wasn’t the best idea, but since that is done, I want to be as courageous in my quest for knowledge. I may go about it a little differently though because I have learned that wisdom is more valuable than knowledge. I plan to feast on God’s Word since it has proven to be the best source of wisdom. Don’t you think so too? I will taste and see that the Lord is good.

For some weird reason, men today are hailed as the adventurous sex - thank you for showing me it is more of a social construct than it is biological. Adam tried the fruit only after he saw that you were not dead from eating it. Real brave move on his part, right? I hope that more women will be motivated by your story to step outside their comfort zones. The results might not always be positive, but it can make quite a story. What’s the worst that could happen anyway? I think that already happened in Eden with you. Thanks for taking one for the team.

The only time you are portrayed positively in Christian rhetoric, at least to the best of my knowledge, is as Adam’s helper, created with his rib. What about you as a person? You would think this ‘mistake’ is simply because there is only so much else the Bible says about your story, yet living breathing women today are still reduced to their societal roles. Although this is mostly about marital status, it isn’t the only one; a common reason given for why a woman should be respected is that “she is somebody’s [insert role].” Hopefully sometime in the near future, this phrase wouldn’t exist. It’s high time society saw women as intrinsically valuable. We don’t need to be wives, helpers, daughters, sisters, mothers or anything else to be treated right. We are human beings, made in the likeness of God: that is good enough.

You’re probably tired of this fan mail now. Basically, I think you were an incredible woman. I’m sorry for the countless times people have acted self-righteous about the fall of mankind. I have been guilty of that myself. Despite your part in the original sin, I appreciate that you were daring. The cascade of events resulting from this included the loss of Abel, but you moved on and had Seth. There’s one more lesson from your story I haven’t touched on yet: it is a reminder that we must continually choose the narrow path; no one cares how long you resisted temptation after you have caved. Thank you for being an example to this young woman.

Keep enjoying heaven,

Janice.

PS: Please say hi to my mother for me. Let her know I’ll write to her soon.