#and i HATE when people act like we are this mystical group of poor people outside of society so fucking much

[moonshynecybin]

why can’t anyone be normal about appalachia i’m gonna explode

[thealmightyemprex]

Halloweenathon: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo

It aint the spooky season without talkin about everyones favorite mystery solving dog ,and why not talk about the series where he first encountered real ghost and teamed up with Vincent Price

This 1985 series follows Scooby Doo (Don Messick) Shaggy (Case Kassem ),Daphne (Heather North ),and Scoobys nephew Scrappy (Also Don Messick ) as due to the manipulations of two ineffectual ghosts who wish to gain respect , Weerd (Arte Johnson ) and Bogel (Howard Morris) , Scooby and Shaggy have let loose 13 evil ghosts who seek to use the Chest of demons to rule the world ,and with the help of a con artist named Flim Flam (Susan Blu ) and a powerful mystic named Vincent Van Ghoul (Vincent Price),the gang must capture the malevolent ghosts

So my relationship with the Scooby Doo franchise is....Odd .For years I have said I am not a fan ,but realized I kind of am one .Specifically I am I find the Scooby Doo formula kind of a slog ,of the villain just being some greedy captalist dressed up as a monster(Cept for Pup Named Scooby Doo that show rocks ) .....What I love is when the monsters are real ,hell when I was a kid it was a huge deal to see Scooby Doo on Zombie Island where the villains are legit life force eating cat monsters...But older Scooby fan s will know that this was not first time he faced real monsters :There were the movies Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School and Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf(Which I like but I know people dont ) .....And of course The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo

Now while I grew up on reruns of various Scooby shows like the original Scooby Doo Where Are You,The New Scooby Doo Movies ,A Pup Named Scooby Doo and so on......This is one I never saw in reruns,and honestly I only heard about it cause one of my favorite horror actors Vincent Price was a main character ,so for Spooky month I decided to watch all 13 episodes

Now .....THis show might be the weirdest Scooby show I have ever seen .The show was developed by Tom Ruegger ,who would go on to do Animaniacs,Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid and you can kind of see some of his sensibilities in this show,in that it runs on rule of funny ,and there are a lot absurd and fourth wall jokes(The weirdest one involving a woman complaining about fire being used in a kids cartoon in a scene involving a dragon,which then becomes Scrappy calling her racist against Dragons ....This is an actual scene ) ..You also get aesthetic things like to modern fans this show to watch.....Cause Fred and Velma arent in it ,of the main group its just Daphne , Shaggy and Scooby.Also since its the 80's they have their 80's redesigns (I refer to this era as the Red shirt Shaggy era )

As for character depictions Shaggy is pretty much himself,scared of monsters and loving food ,and Casey Kasem is great as always .I think this might be my favorite use of Daphne who is kind of the voice of reason and sort of leader . SCrappy makes his fnal appearence in a Scooby show and I am just gonna say it....I .DONT.HATE .SCRAPPY.I think he has his fun moments and I think this might be the best use of him ,as he really works as a double act with the equally overconfident Flim Flam

Scooby Doo is himself....But this might just be the most interesting depiction of Scooby ,because his fear of ghosts is depicted in a few episodes like crippling PTSD ,like facing real ghosts is taking a toll on poor Scooby .Also....WE MEET SCOOBYS PARENTS !!! I dunno that just blew my mind

Now lets talk about the new characters we meet a kid con artist named Flim Flam ....I think I hate Flim Flam .Not entirely hat,mind you ,he has some funny moments ,Susan Blus vocal performance is good and again I love his double act with Scrappy ....But he is so smug and cocky you just want him to shut up sometimes.Add to that he was a network addition and the writers hated him,and I dont blame them

We also have recurring villains in Weerd and Bogel who basically latch on to which of the 13 Ghosts is the big bad of the episode,and are the comical villains in juxtaposition to the often more serious 13 Ghosts. Not much to say ,they are fine though comedians Arte Johnson and Howard Morris deliver great vocal performances

The best part of the series however is Vincent Van Ghoul,a powerful sorcerer who guides the team .Part of why he works is he is played by the legendary Vincent Price.Much like Flim Flam the inclusion of a big name celeb was a network but which one was up to the creative team,The choice of Vincent Price I think was a brillaint one .Personally I like to describe Vincent Price as a master of Cozy horror,he's spooky but there is sense of fun and comfort to him and the honestly the same goes for Scooby Doo even at its creepiest .He is also just a genuinely good voice actor with a wonderful sense of humor so he is a perfect fit for the show .Now the show could have coasted on being a saturday morning cartoon starring Vincent Price (The character is even designed to look like Price ) but truthly Van Ghoul is a fun character on his own.Van Ghoul is both the wise expostion guy ,but he is also the team dad who will just hang out with the gang .He also has his faults that make him more endearing ,he gets grumpy and one of my favorite moments he's revealed to be an obnoxious house guest .He's truly a funny character and he adds a bit of spice to the show

The shows humor is mixed ,sometimes it is really funny,mostly when they just go off the rails or show off the comedic timing of both Casey Kasem and Vincent Price ......Other times,especially when its Flim Flam it can be annoying .Animation is ....Well its both a Hannah Barbera cartoon AND it was made in the 80's so its not great though there are some good designs

Now my top 5 episodes are

5.Its a Wonderful Scoob-Scooby quits the gang and is shown what the world will be like if villain of the week Time Slime won .Its one where Scooby truly is a hero have to have it

4.The Ghouliest Show on Earth -A circus themed adventure with my favorite the 13 Ghosts ,Professor Phantazmo played by the amazing Alan Oppenheimer

3.Scooby in Kwakyland -The gang are trapped in a newspaper comic ,theres is some great art direction and I adore the side plot about Vincent being a house guest

2.A Spooky Little Ghoul Like You -Vincent is placed under a love spell by the seductress Nekara who plans on draining his power .Good plot and just fun

1.Thats Monstertainment -The gang is sucked into a old Frankenstein movie and must play the parts till they can find a way out.What can I say I love old monster movies and this to me was the funniest episode

Overall its not a perfect show ,but if you like Vincent Price,Scooby Doo and bonkers cartoons I reccomend it

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @angelixgutz @princesssarisa @filmcityworld1

[iatheia]

EDA reviews Part 6 - books 47-55

Previous part 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

47) The Slow Empire - Uh, couldn't really follow this one at all. There are books when the first person narration works, but not here - too many jumps in setting, too little connective tissue, most of it told from the POV of a person who is barely connected to the protagonists? And that's even before they started repeating chunks of text wholesale between various parts - and I couldn't figure out if it was intended, or if it is the ebook was acting out on me. More than half way through the book, I still couldn't entirely tell what the story is supposed to be about, or if the plot has even started yet. Even having finished it, I find myself somewhat aghast. There are a few glimpses of something interesting, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what. 4/10

48) Dark Progeny - Also not really feeling it. It's not a bad story, but I do rather prefer a Doctor Who story to actually feature the Doctor and the companions front and center, whether they are POV characters or not. Here, though, they are barely in it - it's even more egregious than the previous one in actually giving the supposed protagonists stuff to do, and even on rare occasions we do switch back to them, it is all pretty generic. Anji developing telepathic abilities and the Doctor trying to calm her down all the while Fitz is freaking out in the background? Yes, please, more of that. Following around 20 interchangeable OCs that have nothing to do with the trio? No thank you. 6/10.

49) The City of the Dead - If you are invoking magic in a sci-fi universe, you need to be able to handwave it. It doesn't need to be awfully complex, "something something aliens, something something energy" is usually enough, but without it, you can't just throw magic about willy nilly. There are rules.

There are moments when it is a beautiful story, evoking a lot of dream-like wonder, and if it managed to remain a hazy dream, it probably would have been better for it. At the same time there is something very uncomfortably cynical about it, to the degree it left a bad taste in my mouth. There is a narrow line between not shying away from the ugliness of the world and deliberately making something ugly just for the sake of it, and often it felt like it was leaning towards the latter. Dunno, I started out wanting to like it, and feeling rather conflicted about it, but by the end became utterly indifferent. 7/10

50) Grimm Reality - Pure crack. Mind Robber wishes it could be as hilarious and off the wall as this story is. It throws every cliche fairy tale narrative device in the book at the characters and expects them to take it with the straight face, all the while realizing that the rules of the world are completely bonkers. And it manages to sustain this energy throughout, which is a no small feat. It's actually pretty exhausting by the end of it. Fairy tales stories do not belong to a lengthy literary genre, and even taking time deconstructing them, at 95K words becomes it becomes just too much - figuratively, and, on occasion, literally. Still, pretty great, I wish more books had its energy 9/10.

51) The Adventuress of Henrietta Street - *sigh*. My expectations were pretty low to begin with, and I still am somehow disappointed. Credit where credit's due - it is probably most coherent of the books from Miles. And at least it's better than Interference. That's really not saying much, though.

Honestly, if you've read any story about prostitutes, murder, satanic sex rituals bordering on blatant pornography, eastern culture and "mysticism of female sex" used for fetish fuel, written by a dude who clearly gets off on all of this - you've read all of them. There is really nothing revolutionary or compelling about it. On the list of "plots I never want to see in Doctor Who", they are definitely up there. And the Doctor is dying again, because it wouldn't be Miles's book without it. And he's, uh... living in a brothel, trying to marry someone, in order to, uh..... ritualistically tie himself to Earth, for, reasons? Did I read that right? After over 100 years of living on Earth and wanting to do nothing else than seeing the back of it, right. And writing books not quite about sex but definitely about sex. Because that's the thing the Doctor apparently does now. Self insert what self insert. And Fitz and Anji are just... there. On an occasion. All of it exposed on in a dull faux academic style without a shred of characterization, all the while absolutely nothing of note is happening, despite being a singularly longest EDA.

Just, if you hate the characters so much. If you don't understand what makes them tick to this degree. If you don't even care to learn. If you consider any established emotions they should have about the plot you are putting them through beneath you. Why are you writing in a shared universe to begin with? 2/10

(I did have an unintentional moment of hilarity with it, though. There is a character that is referred to as Lord ______, as if his name is censored. TTS would always pronounce it as Lord Underbarunderbarunderbar. Always gave me a chuckle).

52) Mad Dogs and Englishmen - A hilarious story, a very easy read, flowing from scene to scene. There are several occasions of fridge horror treated with levity that I would have rather have avoided. Plus, it is as incestuous as a book about books can get, and yet.... It is just absurd enough to work.

Plus, the whole, “His books are full of black magic, mind control...and perversion - moral and ethical and sexual. He is polluting the atmosphere of our group”, “What’s next? Rewrite War and Peace so it’s about guinea pigs?” - Oh, the shade. It is a good book in its own right, but just for this alone, 10/10

53) Hope - It's a pretty average book. Not outstanding, not horrible. Would have made a decent episode, all things considered, in a bread and butter sort of way. It does have some great ideas - the refuge of humanity, the conflict between Anji and the Doctor finally coming to light - not quite the type of conflict I was hoping for, though. If only it had a bit more nuisance, without neatly delineated black and white, if the antagonist didn't end up being a mustache twirling villain, if the Doctor didn't end up strong-arming everyone in a much more macho manner than he normally goes for (with a rather clunky dialogue). It had potential, even if it didn't end up being realized in full. 8/10

54) Anachrophobia - Very meh. The set up was fairly contrived, it never made me care about any of the characters, including whatever the hell the Doctor and co were doing, not to mention any of the secondary characters. Not terribly engaging, after a point I was mostly flipping through it. There is some big conflict brought up at 95% mark, and it is resolved in just couple of pages via a deus ex machina and a paradox. Overall, I might have said that I would have liked it better if I was in a mood for existential horror, but I took a break in the middle to listen to the Lease of Life - and it actually touches upon several similar themes, but with and outstanding character drama and much more graceful execution, which made this book look even more poor in comparison. 5/10

55) Trading Futures - I will give the author all the points for keeping an eye on the future. Perhaps, in 2002, predicting tablets being used as menus in fancy restaurants wasn’t that big of a reach, but I absolutely had a spit take when TTS has read to me something about “eye-phones”. There are some modestly clever moments throughout the book. Too bad that the rest of it is a complete rubbish. Not terribly original, either - a lot of ideas are copied directly from other books and other franchises. Reasonably entertaining, all things considered, but in a much more slapstick sort of way than was probably intended. 7/10

Overall impressions so far - This batch is, for the most part, fine. Some stories are worst than others, some better. With one exception, nothing horrendous, but nothing to write home about, either. They are, for the most part, serviceable. Individually, they have decent enough plots. But. There is very little character work. They can generally be read in any order, or dropped entirely, and you wouldn’t miss anything. The Doctor is mostly coasting from the excellent streak in the last batch, always in a spot light. I am starting to tire of the whole amnesia arc, though - it was good, but it ran its course, and at this point, with everything functionally back to norm, with barely a stray mention of it here and there, we are starting to be overdue for some semblance of resolution of all that. Henrietta Street is entirely a step in the wrong direction - not only it does nothing worthwhile for the characters, it’s just getting unnecessarily further into the weedworks, adding yet another plot thread that is forced on other writers to carry (they mention it occasionally, but it’s not like there is much to build upon) - rather viciously reminding of the previous mess of an ark “don’t you dare to think that it is over”. And I am so over it. Just, move on.

The companions fare rather worse. They are decent enough, they participate in action, in each book, they are mostly staying in character, with a handful of neat moments here and there (in a blink and you’ll miss it sort of way, though), they aren’t written off as an unnecessary burden to carry, which is an improvement. There is nothing meaty given to them though - they ask the necessary questions, do the things required of them, and generally stay out of the way when they are not needed. I guess Anji has at least some character driven moments, even though most of them are reduced to “I miss my dead boyfriend”. Which is... fine, we’ve all lost people, we all mourn them in our own way, but it has been 14 books since her introduction, and she is leaving in another 10. To have her character reduced to just that bit from her first book, with barely anything else to offer.... Plus, all the while, she rarely felt like she integrated into the team - because she is constantly eying her exit and returning to normality (even though she always decides to stay just a little while longer due to circumstances), it’s like from the very beginning she had one foot out of the door.

But while Anji is a bit of a one trick pony, at least she has that much. Poor Fitz gets absolutely nothing to do. The last meaningful book that addressed his character in any way was all the way back around book #42-43, and even that was just catching up on plot after his prolonged absence. He’s been essentially frozen since early 30s books. He is generally a fun character to have around, and does good supporting work, but can he please get something more impactful any time soon? Heck, by this point I’ll even take the recurrence of “finding a new love interest number 20 who will inevitably die by the end of the book” - it has been overdone, and it is certainly not a very exciting plot, not to mention reductive, but at least it’d be something. Though, I guess only one companion is allowed to carry that staple at the time, and right now Anji is it, two dead lovers is just an overkill.

And it is an absolute shame - especially when considering that on the other side, Big Finish was in the middle of streak of some of the best stories. Over the same time that these novels were published, we had audios such as Project Twilight, Eye of the Scorpion, Colditz, One Doctor, Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, which were full of character.

[impressivepress]

Charlie Chaplin: Jewish Or Goyish?

As nearly as can be determined, Charlie Chaplin is virtually part Jewish almost most of the time. John McCabe, Charlie Chaplin

In March of 1978, Charlie Chaplin’s body was stolen from his tomb in Switzerland and held for ransom. Two months later it was discovered buried in a farmer’s field and returned to his wife Oona, who remarked, dryly, ‘Charlie would have found this ridiculous.’ According to rumour, the Swiss government suspected that his remains had been stolen by anti-Semitic groups, upset that a Jew should be buried in a Christian cemetery. Chaplin’s Jewishness made him an enemy of the FBI and put him on the Nazi’s list of international targets. He is perhaps one of the most famous Jews in American history hence it is all the more surprising to learn that he was not, in fact, Jewish. Since his early days as the Little Tramp, a role he assumed in 1914, Jews had believed Chaplin was secretly Jewish. The fact that his name was not Jewish was irrelevant; it was common practice for Jews to change their names when entering show business (Al Jolson was born Asa Yoelson). In the 1948 edition of a Jewish encyclopedia, Chaplin is listed as a Jewish movie star, and the name ‘Israel Thonstein’ is mentioned alongside the claim that he was from an old Eastern European Jewish family. As proof, the encyclopedia cited a 1931 article from the New York Herald Tribune, which commented upon the way Chaplin’s eyes could convey both sadness and joy in a uniquely Jewish fashion, and a Budapest Jewish paper which claimed to trace his Jewish ancestry (as Thonstein) back to Hungary.

More important than birth records and names was the fact he looked, acted and ‘felt’ Jewish. To Jewish eyes, Chaplin told Jewish stories. Famously, one critic recalled watching The Gold Rush (1925) next to a middle-aged Jewish woman: ‘Oy!’ she wailed, as the Tramp tried to escape from his on-screen tormentors, ‘What do they want with him, the goyim?!! What has he done to them?’ The Tramp, small and powerless, was taunted and hounded by authorities who hated him without reason, in what appeared to American Jews as the enactment of the Jewish condition. Hannah Arendt wrote in 1944 that Chaplin symbolised the ‘effrontery of the poor ‘little Yid’ who does not recognise the class order of the world because he sees in it neither order nor justice for himself ’. Meanwhile, in Sholem Aleichem’s 1916 story, ‘Motl in America’, the hero spends his time watching Chaplin films and extolling the virtues of free America in which a Jew like Chaplin can become rich and famous.

For film scholar Patricia Erens, the Tramp is a variation on ‘dos kleine menshele’ or ‘little man’ of Yiddish literature, the poor and long-suffering antihero, the shlemiel (a little man with no luck), and the luftmensch (the ‘man of air’ who lives on dreams). Erens cites the numerous Jewish references in Chaplin’s oeuvre, in particular the prevalence of skullcaps and Yiddish newspapers as props, and a scene in The Vagabond (1916) in which the Tramp finds a Jewish man eating pork at a buffet and helpfully changes the ‘ham’ sign to ‘beef ’. Many of the characteristics we associate with ‘acting’ Jewish—the nasal voice, the New York accent, and the verbal wit a‘ la Groucho Marx—were unavailable to the makers of silent pictures. Chaplin, however, was a dancer, an acrobat, and a pantomime extraordinaire and able to communicate other, non-verbal cultural indicators to a savvy audience—the comic shrugs, the outdated black coat, the facial pathos combined with frantic body movements, the chaotic presence that mocks the establishment. Above all, Chaplin achieved a subtle gender inversion through the graceful, almost balletic eluding of his macho tormentors. Jewish audiences recognised this physical portrayal from the Yiddish stage and read it as a visual metaphor for the disempowered Jew in a hostile world.

Across the world this misconception raged, gaining him enemies to the left and the right. The German-American Bund helped spread the rumour that Charles Spencer Chaplin was born Israel Thonstein and in the book that accompanied the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew, Thonstein is cited as the maiden name for the mother of ‘The Jew, Chaplin.’ In 1948 the US Navy investigated Chaplin on suspicion of Zionist activity: shipping guns to Palestine, as well as around 36 tanks. But it was the FBI under Hoover that became Chaplin’s greatest political and legal enemy. Chaplin’s FBI file is a comprehensive laboratory for identity construction that began in 1922 and remained open until after his death. The file chronicles Chaplin’s downfall, the suspicion of Communist activities, the Mann Act trial for transporting unmarried women across state lines for deviant purposes, and further rumours and innuendo that led to his expulsion from America in 1952. Chaplin is continually described as ‘of Jewish extraction,’ given the name of ‘Thonstein’ as an alias (though there is no proof that Chaplin ever used this name himself), and assigned attributes such as ‘Jewish accent,’ ‘talks with hands,’ and Russian birth.

Crucially, it was not Jewishness that alarmed Hoover but ambiguity. According to Omer Bartov in his compelling work The Jew in Cinema, Jewish characters are often portrayed as slippery and protean, possessing an insidious ability to obscure their Jewishness and blend in. The emancipation of the Jews from the ghettos of Europe at the turn of the last century had left them free to shave and dress in modern clothing, making them impossible to detect. This new found ambiguity of Jewish identity made them, in many gentile eyes, the most dangerous minority in civilised society. Ambiguity was the dominant paranoia of Cold-War America, which felt itself threatened by the enemy within—the Communists, Jews and homosexuals who were so hard to detect. The insistence on Chaplin’s Jewishness helped reinforce the notion of an ‘authentic American’ by establishing firm conceptual borders through identity construction and categorisation.

Not only did both Jewish and gentile audiences see him as a Jew, but Chaplin himself very nearly became convinced of his own Jewishness. While he did not officially doubt his mother’s version of his parentage, in which her legal husband, Charles Chaplin, Sr., a non-Jewish pop singer, was his biological father, there were times when he clearly wondered if the questions surrounding his lineage were true, and if they were more scandalous than imagined. His step-brother Sydney had a Jewish father and the world’s insistence on Chaplin’s Jewish origins prompted him and many others to wonder whether their birth stories had in fact been reversed.

‘All geniuses,’ Chaplin was heard to remark,‘have some Jewish blood in them.’ Flattered by the widely held misconception about his Jewish identity, his understanding of Jewishness was simplistic and stereotypical: Jews were blessed with superior intellect and financial acumen than non-Jews. Further, he believed that his physical attributes compounded the myth: he was short with curly black hair, ‘Oriental facial features’, and a prominent nose. In footage taken of famed British comedian Harry Lauder’s visit to Chaplin Studios, Lauder draws Chaplin on a chalkboard. Chaplin makes great show of stopping him, pantomimes ‘too Jewish,’ and re-draws the nose. Quite how to interpret this is unclear, but Chaplin either believed himself to be Jewish or was making fun of those who did. In the absence of confirmed roots, Chaplin may have sought to align himself with a group that, although outsiders in mainstream society, seemed to him possessed of an ancient and mystical national bond. When the great cantor Yossele Rosenblatt visited Chaplin’s studios, Chaplin told him that he owned all of the cantor’s recordings and that ‘Whenever I feel a little blue, I take them out and play them. They do something to me. They unite me, oh so closely, with my Jewish ancestors.’

Chaplin was an actor, and he played one role after another all his life. He occasionally told people he was Jewish, which sounded better to his director’s ears than ‘poor English gutter trash.’ But sometimes, including in his interviews with the FBI, he denied it, once commenting, ‘I am afraid I do not have that good fortune.’ Of his anti-Nazi picture The Great Dictator (1940) Chaplin said, ‘I made this film to show my unity with all the Jews of the world’. While American politicians and agents worried about the film’s ‘Communist’ message, the American Jewish establishment feared that an anti-Hitler film made by a Jew might make things worse for Jews in Europe. Chaplin’s own response—‘How can they get worse?’—indicates his own fearlessness. For the Jew in America, it was as if, as Stanley Kauffmann put it, ‘a David had arisen—a comic David—to fight Goliath!’

~

Holly A. Pearse · Oct 19, 2018.

Holly A.Pearse holds a PhD in religion and culture, and specializes in the representation of Jews in art and media. At the moment, her research delves into the portrayals of Jewish-Gentile romance in American film, and she currently teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.

[iseleylaura]

3, 7, and 13 (if you’re okay with it) from the ask game?

you’ve chosen two of my favourite numbers 👀👀 (not for the ask game specifically, just numbers in general lol)

let’s see — I’ll take my time answering these since I have nothing better to do atm!

3🌼Are there any fictional characters you relate to/identify with?

Why of course; this is primarily a fanart blog after all ;)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug): Marinette gets SUPER socially awkward, especially around people she finds attractive or is crushing on. If I see an attractive person in public, it’s all over. I guarantee I will make the interaction the most awkward thing. ALSO she is a seamstress! I love sewing, especially cosplay costumes

Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock): Poor bean is just socially and emotionally repressed to the point where he thinks everyone just hates him so he acts aloof as a façade of self-confidence (uhh haha me??). This is how I’ve been like my whole life irl (Internet-me is v different from actual-me). He’s not the best with empathy, and he uses logical reasoning 99% of the time — which is what I innately do too. Both he and I have had to learn how to be compassionate through the very few people we’ve trusted enough to get close. Selfish and unyielding; can’t be bothered to pretend to be interested in something. HATES small talk. Will be rude if necessary. Needy and clingy af from those they want attention from. We also have a hard time recognizing social cues and get very absorbed in our work when we’re passionate about something. Deep down, we’re both just touch-starved biology nerds.

Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle): she sees herself as plain/vanilla, which is something that I’ve been told I am irl multiple times and subsequently, believe too. Basically I’m waiting for my Howl to show up and be like ‘nah bby ily.’ She also gets petty aggressive when things aren’t clean and is definitely a ‘if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself’ kind of person, which — same. She doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and neither do I. BUT she secretly loves to dote on the people she loves, even if they are high maintenance

707 aka Luciel aka Seven aka Saeyoung Choi (Mystic Messenger): Is literally just vibing and memeing all day bro. He has an eccentric sense of humor, which isn’t quite ‘lol rawr xD’ but LIKE it’s the contemporary version of it that only the people of tumblr.com can truly comprehend. He is definitely a geek/weeb and introverted af, but can be loud and outgoing when he wants to be (me me me me). Doesn’t give a FUCK about gender — let’s horde all the styles, fem today, masc tomorrow. I wish he were real, because we’d get along so well. Honestly — he’s my fictional soulmate, and I can’t complain about it, because at least he exists in one form, real or not. :’))

Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran High School Host Club): Is perpetually unimpressed by the caveats of corny rich people. Is easily won over by the promise of good food. Literally so self conscious of her own behaviour in situations that she cannot tell if someone is flirting with her or being genuinely pleasant. Like Sophie, she doesn’t suffer fools lightly — which again, I do not either lmfao. EASILY EMBARRASSED. BOTH LIVING IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF MORTIFICATION. We’re both also academically inclined/rational thinkers, though Haruhi is probably most certainly going to be more financially successful as a lawyer than I’ll ever be making my crafts :))))

Merlin (BBC Merlin): Moody introvert, good with hands, falls in love with the sunshine extrovert type (oh, me?). Ends up doing the entire group project, is never rewarded individually for it. Feels constantly overwhelmed with the burden of existing and feels like no one will ever truly understand or know their true motives/feelings. Has a lot of secrets/thoughts they’d never voice aloud for fear of rejection (or being #cancelled). Feels really lonely a lot of the time, but has friends that enjoy his company. LOVES animals; considers animals easier to get along with than humans — hard agree. Also, dragons — aspec represent.

7🌼Describe your aesthetic in emojis.

✨🌿👒🐇🦔🍄🌞🍓♥️

13🌼What is your home situation like?

It’s stable, and has always been relatively. I know I am very privileged in that way, especially with my parents always having been together. I have siblings. I live in a house. I have a degree. I have resources that allow me to pursue my hobbies. We’ve always been middle class people.

However, the recession from 2008 ish basically signaled the downfall of the industry that both my parents worked for. Since then, my mom has only worked on yearly basis, and it’s never guaranteed if she’ll be hired again after each year. My dad, after a decade long period of laying off people, is somehow one of the surviving staff members at his work, and will likely finally get laid off by the end of the year bc of the pandemic (and the inevitable death of the industry, as mentioned above).

For me personally, I’ve been unimployed since last August. Mainly, this is bc I was in college until last December when I graduated. Since the new year, I’ve literally just been at home doing personal projects since I can’t get a job since I graduated literally when the pandemic started.

Also, I realized that I don’t want a job related to what I majored in (lmfao so cliche). I honestly feel very lost as to how to progress with my life because while I have specific things I want to do and become and accomplish, I feel like the odds of them ever happening is very slim. I know in my heart that I need to do something creatively fulfilling, but it’s really hard to make any sort of living with your art or Etsy or YouTube channel or whatever.

So basically I’ve declared 2020 a dud year; and I’m desperately hoping that I can find a job/career/sense of purpose in 2021 :’))))

Sorry for the long response, but I enjoyed thinking these things through for all of the internet to see yay.

thank you for your asks!💞

[twitchywitchybxtch]

Can Witchcraft Be Biblical? A Christian Witch Weighs in:

I have been following this discourse for the last several days and feel led to weigh in. Here are the definitions of certain terms I will be using throughout this piece:

The Law/Mosaic Law: the 613 commandments found in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) that Jews abide by in practicing their religion

The New Covenant: the annulment of Mosaic Law for Christians through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ

Yahweh: one of the names of God; used by the Israelites in the Old Testament

Divination: the art of foretelling future events or gaining supernatural insight through the interpretation of symbols, arrangements, patterns, etc.

Witchcraft: an umbrella term that refers to rituals performed to gain insight, influence the physical & spiritual realm, or commune with deities and other supernatural beings

Abrogate: to abolish, do away with, annul

It is also important to define the scope of this discussion, which is solely concerned with ‘Christian witchcraft,’ that is people who utilize witchcraft as an expression of their faith in God. This post will rebut (dropslikerain)’s claim that a Christian faith and the practice of witchcraft are completely incompatible. I recommend reading through the original post explaining their positions before continuing.

A large portion of their argument is based on Deuteronomy 18:10 & Leviticus 20:6, which are part of the Torah (Mosaic Law). However, in doing so, they neglect to mention that:

The Law is no longer binding under the New Covenant. It was abrogated through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.

Consider these verses:

Here, Jesus states that the Law is only binding until “all is accomplished.” What is being accomplished? Christian tradition holds that Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament during his lifetime. And so, Jesus says “it is finished” before his death to mark the fulfillment, and thus, abrogates the Law.

On this topic, the Apostle Paul, stated in his letter to the Romans:

Thus, because we are discharged from the Law, verses from the Torah like Deut. 18:10 & Lev. 20:6 are not a valid basis upon which to condemn witchcraft for non-Jews.

Let’s now address the verses OP cited from the early prophetic portion of the Bible, 1 Chronicles 10:13, 1 Samuel 15:23, and 2 Kings 17:17.

The first thing to remember is that these books were written before Jesus abrogated the Law; worshipers of Yahweh were still bound to the Laws of Moses, including its prohibitions on witchcraft.

Saul, being the king of the Jewish people, was held to a particularly high standard of obedience to the Law, for he was the Jewish representative to the nations. However, he failed to uphold this standard, and naturally, the Jews attributed his death to disobedience.

Because the Jews at that time were still bound by (and subsequently disobedient to) prohibitions on divination in Mosaic Law, it is valid to say that the exile could have been linked to divination. However, I would argue that passages such as Jeremiah 14:14 refer to divination performed as a part of worshiping the Near Eastern deities Baal & Asherah who competed for popularity with Yahweh among the the Jews and their neighbors. Divination in this context would undeniably be a sin, for it also constituted idolatry. However, in Isaiah 3:1-3, the prophet Isaiah makes clear that diviners and enchanters were righteous and necessary parts of the Jewish community by putting them on par with judges, prophets, dignitaries, and warriors. 

OP notably failed to address this in their response to previous users who brought it up.

Because Jesus has abrogated the Law, the standards that Saul and the Israelites were held to no longer apply.

This begs the question, however: If we aren’t bound by the Law, what moral code are supposed to live by? Are laws such as the Ten Commandments now invalid?

Of course not! If we as a community determine that parts of the Law are good and righteous, we are free to follow them. However, we are no longer bound specifically to the Mosaic code. Instead, we are called to live out the words of Jesus Christ.

Jesus sets out a simple test in Matthew 7 for us to distinguish between acts of good and evil:

The Ten commandments are generally believed to produce righteous conduct (good fruit), and thus remain a standard that Christians are encouraged to live by.

We are called not to abide specifically by Mosaic Law but  simply to live in a manner which produces “good fruit” in accordance with the Will of God.

Now, what about the verses in Galatians where the Apostle Paul condemns sorcery? Or those in Revelations?

It is no coincidence that ‘idolatry’ and ‘sorcery’ are grouped together in these lists, for in this time, witchcraft was synonymous with the Greco-Roman pagan religions. The influence of pagan religions on Christian thought is evident in the word choice of authors in the New Testament. For instance, 2 Peter 2:4 describes angels being cast into Tartarus and Revelation 20:13 states that “Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them.” (NRSV) It is clear that New Testament authors had pagan culture (and thus pagan magic) on their mind when writing.

In the same way that Mosaic Law was given to Israel to promote unity and differentiate their tribe from other Near East cultures so that the Yahwist religion could take hold, Paul advises the early Christian churches against practices associated with pagan worship so that the Christian church could unify and differentiate from the pagan cultures surrounding them.

This advice served its purpose, establishing the Church as a distinct and long-lasting entity. However:

Total separation from mystic practices is no longer necessary to maintain the Christian religion.

Paul disapproved of pagan witchcraft, but numerous passages from the Old Testament indicate that God approves of, (or at the very least, tolerates) practices that fall under the umbrella of witchcraft so long as they are used for discernment and implementation of His will.

Numerous others throughout this discussion have explained the Biblical evidence for this, so I will only restate their points briefly:

Urim and Thummim - a pair of gemstones used as divinatory tools to discern the Will of God

Jacob’s folk ritual to produce more valuable livestock; it doesn’t matter whether the results were produced by the ritual itself or through solely through divine intervention, the importance of this passage is that Jacob performed what he believed to be effective folk magic and was not rebuked by God.

Joseph’s gift of oneiromancy (dream interpretation) and divination through the silver chalice

Priestly rituals utilizing curses, sympathetic magic, and divine invocation to determine guilt or innocence (Numbers 5)

(If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to take a look at responses to the original post.)

A close reading of Scripture shows that:

Witchcraft that 1) produces “good fruit;” 2) is used to discern and implement the Will of God; and 3) does not invoke deities other than God, is practiced in accordance with the Scriptures, and thus allows for someone to identify as both a Christian and a witch.

Here are some parting words from the Gospel of John:

We are judged not by adherence to the Law nor by our particular path, but by whether we live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ (who, coincidently says nothing about witchcraft). That means producing “good fruit” --caring for the poor, welcoming the immigrant, living a life of love, joy, and peace. None of those require adherence to a particular creed or church; it is a moral Law written on our hearts simply by virtue of having a conscience (Romans 2:15).

Finally, to the community of witches here on Tumblr, do not be disheartened by those who try to bully you, to put you down in order to raise themselves up. After all, those who spew hateful words in the name of Christ violate His commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” 

(Tags for blogs who might be interested in adding on: pastorwitch, christowitch, secretcatholicwitch, sweetcreamcoven, marymagdalaa, stained-glass-sins, alligorical-rodeo-clown, @spell-bound-life, @religiousdifferencesdating @witchesforjesus @witchylutheran @witchforgod @a-magic-floofer @episcopagan @the-witch-and-her-rosary @christian-witchy-business @witchpriest @lilelvenwitch @sagewolfsbos @tinychristianwitch @queerjesuswitch @minimalistchristianwitch @thesouthernmystic @secretcatholicwitch @thefeatherwitch @magickalwitchblog @herbs-and-nerds @witchyjesuswalk @eclectic-christian-witch @smolchristianwitch @spell-bound-life @the-holiest-witch)

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

I saw TROS earlier today and, well, it was definitely a Star Wars sequel movie, for better and for worse. I can see why some people on my dash hated this movie and why some of them loved it. I can also see why some of them threw their hands into the air over it and shrugged. (FYI, I’m in the third category.) More scattered and spoiler-laden thoughts below the cut:

--“Never underestimate a droid.” This line would have been so much more meaningful if the spy had turned out to be a First Order droid rather than Hux. A droid that had broken free of its programming, just like Finn (and later Jannah and the other unnamed former stormtroopers). But as always, the Droid Revolution that we deserve is probably never going to be a thing, at least not onscreen where it counts.

--Just like TFA, the copy-and-pasting from the Original Trilogy was painfully obvious, but what was forgivable in the first film of a new trilogy is less so in said trilogy’s concluding film. 

--Trần Loan/Rose deserved more screentime and prominence. And did we really have to turn Poe into a former spice runner? Really? *sighs heavily*

--Zorii Bliss felt sort of shoehorned in? I didn’t hate her, but it felt like TPTB only introduced her to give Poe another person to flirt with. And I say this as someone who was not expecting PoeFinn or any other LGBTQIAP+ relationship between named characters to be made canon in this movie at all. Hopefully fans will give her more depth in fic!

--Jannah was really interesting and I would have loved to see more of her. Once again, hopefully fans will take her character and deepen/explore it in fic.

--LANDO! 

--Finn was all but explicitly confirmed as Force sensitive, and it’s What He Deserves. 

--I mean, Finn also deserved his own storyline and a stronger conclusion to his character arc in this film, especially considering he was promoted as one of the leads of the sequel trilogy. But while I’m irked that he was relegated to a side character, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming, especially after TLJ. 

--Likewise, I knew Reyl0 was going to be a thing after TLJ. I found their relationship less grating than Anida1a in the prequels, but it still didn’t do much of anything for me in this film. Do I understand from an objective POV why some people enjoy it so much? Yep. It’s the grand, tortured, Byronic Romance™, where it isn’t really about whether the characters have anything in common or even like each other, it’s about their near-mystical connection and their inability (and lack of true desire) to be rid of it; it’s about the lengths to which they will go for each other/themselves; it’s about the powerful man who is emotionally vulnerable and eager to serve his True Love at the expense of all else. It’s also the whole enemies-to-lovers trope, and so on. I understand the appeal of this mashup intellectually, it’s just not my cup of tea here. YMMV and all that, and that’s as it should be.

--Palpatine back from death is as ridiculous here as it was in the old EU, but I can roll with it. I think the movie made the right decision not to explain all the nitty-gritty details of how he cheated death or manipulated the whole Snoke deal... ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, y’know? Ditto to Rey Palpatine lol.

--Leia’s death felt pretty narratively cheap to me, but I understand that there was only so much TPTB could do with the footage they already had of Carrie Fisher in costume. Still, poor Leia. She drew a deeply shitty hand in life, didn’t she?

--That said, it was nice to see Leia training as a Jedi in flashbacks, however briefly. (Is it just me, or did her saber hilt vaguely resemble Obi-Wan’s?) Does it make a lot less sense that she would then send Ben away to Luke if she’s had Jedi training? Yes. Can I created headcanons to explain this? Also yes. And do I really care about this particular inconsistency when there are far worse ones out there and this one makes dudebro sections of the fandom spitting mad? NOPE.

--I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not inherently against the redemption of Kylo/Ben. But, as I had suspected/feared, they “redeemed” him at the narrative expense of other characters I personally find more interesting... and they still didn’t manage to make said redemption feel narratively earned to me. Is there undoubtedly ancillary material in SW books and comics that give more background behind Kylo/Ben’s turn to the Dark Side and eventual turn back to the Light? Yes. Do I want to read it? Not really, no. Also, unless something happens onscreen in the SW universe, it doesn’t really count as true canon. So it’s disappointing that the movie shoved other characters and plots to the side to make room for Kylo/Ben’s redemption arc and then didn’t even do a good job with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--Also, of course TPTB had Kylo/Ben die saving someone rather than narratively deal with what it means to work towards redemption after having done lots of terrible things, and having to recover from having been manipulated/groomed by Sidious. Not surprised in the slightest.

--I would have preferred a Stormtrooper Rebellion storyline, but I’m not going to blast TROS or the sequel trilogy for being what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. I will, however, blast it for its sloppy execution of its existing storylines. Which leads to my next point...

--Even though TROS was long, it still felt rushed and, like the first two movies in this trilogy, it felt largely disconnected from the other sequel trilogy films. The Star Wars Story Group really should have planned this trilogy out better. If TPTB were going to go with two different directors/writers, they should have made sure said directors/writers were on the same page rather than seemingly fighting each other’s visions of what the overarching story should be at every step.  

--I’m willing to handwave a lot of stuff that happens in TROS, mainly because I’m long past expecting coherence from this franchise... or pretty much any major franchise, tbh. (For instance: Thousands of people show up to aid the Resistance when Lando calls them but not when Leia did in TLJ? OK. Force Ghost Luke shows up to catch Rey’s lightsaber but not to help her against Palpatine? Sure.) These issues don’t really make or break the series for me, so I can work with them with a minimum of grumbling. Which isn’t quite the same thing as letting TPTB off the hook for their laziness and inconsistencies.

--Honestly, I hate to say it, but it would have made for a stronger story if Chewie had died aboard the ship when Rey and Kylo/Ben were fighting over it; that would have driven home the consequences of Rey’s lack of control and lessened the artificiality of the stakes in this movie. But I get that this is ultimately a family film, so it’s more of a minor quibble than anything else.

--It’s kind of weird that Rey’s hair is back in the three buns again for the entirety of TROS after she wore her hair differently for almost all of TLJ. But that’s a fairly minor quibble too, and one of the sort I can easily create a headcanon to explain. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if they didn’t do this at least partially to be able to recycle some of the unused TFA clips with Leia and Rey?

--Frankly, I’m not sure why Rey suddenly cared so much about what Luke thought, considering A. he was a huge jerk to her for most of TLJ, and B. she seemed to have broken with following his advice towards the end of TLJ. And since she didn’t have a great relationship with Luke, it seems weird that she’d take his last name. Shouldn’t she have gone with Organa or even Solo, if she’s naming herself after a mentor? But whatever, I get that it’s about the symbolism more than the character or logic. And I can create headcanons to explain all of this.

--It’s a little weird that there wasn’t any more resolution to Kylo/Ben’s storyline and Rey’s feelings about it after his death. But with Leia dead, I guess there isn’t anyone left who’d especially care if Kylo/Ben turned back to the Light aside from Rey herself. Still, there should have been something more. Especially since Ben didn’t show up as a Force Ghost alongside Luke and Leia on Tatooine.

--While I’m at it, I wish we could have had a minute’s conversation with Rey telling Finn about her heritage, if only because I think he would have understood. But I wish we could have learned more about Finn’s heritage (which didn’t need to be a known SW lineage, btw) too, so... 

--For that matter, I wish we could have had Finn get a chance to tell Rey about his being Force Sensitive, which might have made her feel slightly less alone. I wish we could have seen Finn figure out what being Force Sensitive meant to him. And so on.

--Not sure where people are getting the idea that Lando & Jannah were flirting, because I didn’t read their interaction that way at all.

--General Poe and General Finn were great, but also sort of felt unearned after the events of TLJ.

--The abilities that come from being part of a Dyad are overpowered and a little silly, but hey, they’re also following a long-established SW tradition of overpowered silliness, so... *shrugs*

--Confused as to why Rey suddenly killed Kylo/Ben when she did?? I mean, if it was because she was angry Leia had just died, wouldn’t that be acting from the Dark Side and shouldn’t that have, idk, narrative consequences for her?

--I don’t see why some people loved or hated Rey’s ending so much. It’s pretty open, IMO, just like the endings for all of the surviving characters. Who says Rey is going to stay on Tatooine or be alone there, after all? For all we know, she just stopped there for a few days to bury the lightsabers, grieve for Kylo/Ben, and meditate. For all we know, Finn or one of her other friends from the Resistance is going to drop in any moment now. Heck, for all we know, one of her friends is hanging out inside the Falcon where we can’t see them, giving her a little space. (Was her friendship with Finn and Poe depicted pretty shallowly in this movie? Yeah. But so was her relationship with Kylo/Ben tbh, even with the Dyad Force bond thingamajig.) Rey has a whole world of choices available to her. Does it suck that we didn’t get to see that onscreen? Yeah. Does it mean she’s doomed to be eternally lonely as a hermit on a desert planet? Not in the slightest.

--Someone really needs to tell the writers of these big franchises that using ring structure is pointless if there isn’t meaning behind it. There’s nothing inherently significant about repeating events or revisiting locations. 

--Overall, I felt pretty meh about TROS. I didn’t love it or hate it. As with any movie in a series, there’s good stuff to be mined from it, and bad stuff to be handwaved away or given headcanon explanations. But mostly, I just can’t dredge up the energy to care very much. And I’m not in the mood for TROS fix-it fanfiction so much as I am TROS crack fics. 

--I haven’t talked about everything that worked or didn’t work for me in TROS here, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to answer them to the best of my abilities!

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

An assortment of little-known Marvel characters that I like! Info on them under the cut:

Aqueduct - Peter Van Zante was a soldier in Vietnam who gained his aquakinetic abilities from an experimental medical procedure that saved his life. He originally called himself The Water Wizard and tried to use his powers for simple robbery, but was stopped by the Ghost Rider, who traumatized him so badly that he spent time afterwards in a mental institution. However, he did not change his villainous ways, and later joined Force of Nature, a quartet of supervillains who each had an elemental power and worked as the muscle for a group of eco-terrorists. He renamed himself Aqueduct with them, and has gone by it since. Aqueduct is not a bright man, that’s probably fortunate, as his water powers could be far more lethal if he had more ideas on how to use them effectively. He’s also moody, being very down on himself when he fails, and euphorically egomaniacal the second he starts to win. Overall though, he seems happier since he quit his solo act and joined a team! Asp - A longtime member of The Serpent Society and later the B.A.D. Girls, The Asp hails from Egypt, and is a mutant with the ability to fire what she calls “venom bolts”–  a unique form of radiant bioelectricity that she can channel as lightning-like blasts  that causes a rapid paralysis of the nervous system similar to the effect of the neurotoxic bite of certain venomous snakes. Asp’s real name is allegedly Cleopatra “Cleo” Nefertiti, but given that she is also an exotic dancer in addition to a mercenary, it is likely this is a stage name. Though she is often a villain, Asp is still articulate, polite, intelligent, proud of her dancing, and a loyal friend. Black Mamba - Another member of the Serpent Society, as well as a B.A.D Girl alongside her best buddy Asp, Black Mamba aka Tanya Sealy (who has also used the alias of “Tanya Sweet��) gained her succubus-like Darkforce powers when the Roxxon company augmented her into a superhuman. This granted her the ability to summon “love phantoms”, living shadows that appear as the person that the target loves and desires most, and drain their victim’s life as they embrace them in coitus. Tanya was also given the ability to breathe and otherwise function deep underwater, as Roxxon needed her for an undersea mission, though she’s had little occasion to use this since. Tanya has also worked as a fashion model and professional escort in addition to her supervillainy/mercenary jobs, and was even a superhero in the Women Warriors for a time alongside Asp and Skein. Tanya is a loyal friend like Asp, and considers herself an expert on sex and romance, as well as a great lover of men…and of money! Skein - Sybil Dvorak is a Romanian mutant with the fairly common ability of telekinesis, but due to the fact she can “feel” whatever her telekinesis is manipulating, she refuses to use her powers on anything except soft objects like fur, feather, and fabric. She originally called herself the unfortunate moniker of Gypsy Moth, using fabric wings to lift herself in the air, and attacked high class parties to frighten the rich for fun due her belief that her wealthy actor boyfriend was cheating on her. After his mysterious death left her with his house and money, she nonetheless continued her criminal activities. However, she joined the “good guys” for a short time (and shallow reasons) in the 90s, taking the new codename of Skein, making a new and very revealing costume, and showing a new hyper-sexual, flirtatious, thrill-seeking personality, in contrast to the cold, formal persona she had as Moth. Impala - She’s a mysterious woman from Zambia who is known only by her codename. She has no known superpowers, but is extremely athletic, agile, and skilled in African stick-fighting. Impala is said to be wanted for crimes in her homeland, but she seems to be more simply a thrill-seeking adventurer rather than any sort of villain. For instance, she once joined a fight she had no reason to be in, simply to even the odds, and she aided Asp and Black Mamba simply for the fun of it (making Impala an honorary/temporary BAD Girl too) In addition to loving danger, Impala also seems quite proud of her body, given her revealing costume and the way she taunts other women (such as calling the not-even-overweight Battleaxe “obese one”) who are not as lithe and lean as she is. Dragonfly - Nothing is known about the life of Veronica Dultry before the Maggia altered her for Count Nefaria into one of his Ani-Men to do battle with the X-Men. It is also unknown if her transformation is willing or not. We do later learn that she has an estranged sister, Margaret, who is a famous actress, who tries to take advantage of Veronica when she mutates further into a giant dragonfly-like monster due to absorbing radiation. This transformation is, thankfully, reversed, though Dragonfly has yet to change her villainous ways—or show any actual personality on-panel. Besides her ability to fly with her insect-like wings, Dragonfly can also hypnotize others with a psychic signal that emits from her antennae. Meggan Puceanu - Meggan Puceanu is a British Romanichal mutant with an array of powers, namely control of nature and the four elements, a powerful link to mystical and magical energies, and being an “empathic metamorph” who changes her shape to reflect the feelings and desires of people around her. This last one caused her to be severely physically mutated as a child, and, not knowing she could willfully change her shape, she grew up kept in her family’s camper with only the television for company. As an adult, she took on a beautiful blonde form and join the British superhero team Excalibur, becoming Captain Britain’s girlfriend. Meggan was naive and insecure, and became very dependent on Captain Britain, who often did not treat her well. However, they have both grown considerably since, and the two now have a child. Threnody - Melody Jacobs is a mutant with a unique link to death (hence her codename; a “threnody” is a song of mourning), allowing her to sense when someone is dying, and absorb the release of energy from their passing. What’s more, she can then rechannel this energy as destructive blasts. It seems that this sensitivity to death drove her to insanity, and she was found by Sinister as a delusional, rambling homeless woman. He outfitted her with small “neuro-locks” on the sides of her face helped control her powers, and she regained sanity, but also had to serve him. Seeking to free herself, she attached herself to Nate Grey, and eventually fell in love with him. However, when she became addicted to the death of other people, she found herself feeding on the death energies that clung to Nate Grey due to how his own powers were killing him—and her feeding on him just weakened him further. For his own good, Threnody broke his heart and left him. Her tragedy did not end there, however, for she gave birth to a monstrous child that also needed to feed on death energy. She teamed up with Deadpool so that she could collect the death energy of his kills for her baby, but Deadpool himself ended up killing her child when she tried to murder a pregnant woman for it. Threnody has not been seen since, but wherever she is, it’s doubtful that she is happy. Darkstar - Laynia Petrovna and her twin brother Nikolai were mutants born in the Minsk. Previously it had been the policy of the USSR to kill all mutants, but shortly before Laynia’s birth, they decided that it would be better to use them to serve the state. Thus Laynia and her twin were taken away as newborns and raised, along with a mutant called Ursus who could transform into a bear, at a state facility. Laynia was able to control the Darkforce, enabling her to fly, fire concussive force blasts of darkness, and create constructs out of darkness such as shields or platforms. From this, she took the codename Darkstar, and served Russia as a superhero. She later joined X-Corps and served with them in Paris, where she was killed on a mission. However, as is typical of Marvel characters, she returned to life and has returned to Russia to serve in the Winter Guard, Russia’s post-Soviet superhero squad. Starlight - Dr. Tania Belinsky was a brilliant neurosurgeon in the USSR who struggled with her love for her country and her hate for some of what her government was doing. Though she had no superpowers, she had a secret vigilante identity as the Red Guardian (not to be confused with several other Russian heroes who had this name) and joined the Defenders when she came to America to help Dr. Strange with a brain surgery case. However, she was forced to return by the KGB, who took her to the supervillain known as The Presence (who was also the long-lost father of Darkstar, by the way). He had decided she was his ideal mate, and he exposed her to radiation to give her powers like his own. She gained new powers, such as flight and nuclear blasts and the new name of Starlight, but at the expensive of her free will. Poor Tania was now under the mental thrall of the Presence and served him as both his lover and minion. She eventually freed herself and joined the Winter Guard as a superhero once more. Silhouette Chord - Silhouette Chord was born with the power to control and teleport through shadow. She and her twin brother, who had enhanced strength and reflexes, tried to clean up the streets of their native NYC by infiltrating gangs. After a sting gone wrong, however, Silhouette lost the use of her legs when a policeman’s bullet went through her spine, and her brother became a gang leader for real. Silhouette went the opposite path, joining the superhero team The New Warriors and becoming the lover of fellow member Night Thrasher. She and her brother later discovered that their unique abilities came from being the product of a cult in Cambodia that had sought to create super-powered children through years of selective breeding that would allow them to tap into the mystical energies of “The Well of All Things”. Snowbird - Narya is the half-human daughter of the goddess Nelvanna, part of a fictional pantheon in Marvel called “the Inua” who are associated with the First Nations people of Canada.  The Inua are opposed to a group of monsters called The Great Beasts who seek to invade Earth, and Narya was conceived in order to one day battle them. She was raised by Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen, a Native Canadian and the most proficient shaman in Canada, and she grew rapidly to adulthood. She also grew rapidly into her powers, which included flight and the ability to change into any animal native to her homeland. The two were discovered by the Canadian government and offered membership into the superhero team Alpha Flight. They accepted, taking on the identities of Shaman and Snowbird respectively. Mysterious and aloof, Snowbird is easily overwhelmed by the instincts of her animal form, disoriented by bright lights and colors, prefers to hunt her own own food, and was often very overconfident in her own abilities. After The Great Beasts were seemingly all slain, she desired a normal life…yet returned to being Snowbird at the first subsequent emergency. Cybele - Cybele is an Eternal, a race of immortal and super-powered beings who are a cousin race to humans, engineered by the “space god” Celestials. Cybele has been around since Ancient Greece, where she was worshipped as Rhea, Gaia, and other “earth-mother” goddesses. She is a very minor character herself, but is the mother of Thena, an Eternal who chose to become a superhero among humankind. After the death of her husband Zuras, Cybele chose to leave the other Eternals, and dwells alone in a Colorado forest. In addition to the usual myriad abilities of Eternals, Cybele can also block herself from the senses of others, essentially becoming invisible to them, making it easy to keep herself concealed in the nature she so loves. Saturnyne - Hailing from one of the countless worlds within the Marvel multiverse, Opal Luna Saturnyne is the Omniversal Majestrix, Her Royal Whyness, who dwells with Roma the Omniversal Goddess in her Starlight Citadel as her second-in-command and helps her oversee the Marvel multiverse and all its worlds. Not so much on the side of good as the side of order, Saturyne is intelligent, ambitious, and a ruthless cutthroat bureaucrat with no qualms about wiping out an entire world if it is for the greater good of the multiverse…though she does carry a soft spot for the Captain Britain of Earth 616. Sat-Yr-9 - Opul Lun Say-Yr-9 is the evil counterpart of Saturnyne from another dimension. A dictator in her own world, she was overthrown and imprisoned by her people, until she escaped to the dimension of Earth 616. Once there, she killed her counterpart in that universe (Courtney Ross, an ordinary banker and the ex of Captain Britain), took her place, and bedeviled Captain Britain and the Excalibur team ever since. She in particular seemed to have great plans for Shadowcat, whom she was grooming for as of yet unknown purposes until her true identity was revealed to Excalibur. To the wider world, however, she is still believed to be Courtney Ross, and she even became the White Queen of the Hellfire Club under this identity. Aireo - Aireo is an Inhuman who rebelled against King Black Bolt, and was imprisoned for it. Black Bolt’s treacherous brother Maximus, who desired the throne for himself, freed Aireo and a crew of other Inhuman rebels if they agreed to serve him in his schemes, which they did. Aireo was exiled from the Inhuman city of Attilan for this, and joined Force of Nature with the codename “Skybreaker”. While Aqueduct represented the element of water, Aireo/Skybreaker boasted the element of air, being able to fly and manipulate wind. Aireo is haughty, proud, and disdainful of all humanity, as is typical of Inhumans, though he is also quite critical of how his own species runs their world as well. Poor guy just isn’t happy anywhere!

[mermaidxandria]

Gugudan “Wonderland” Act. 1 The Little Mermaid Jellyfish Entertainment 2016 Dir. Zanybros

Gugudan are a South Korean girl group. They made their official debut in 2016, featuring Produce 101 contestants Kim Sejeong, Kang Mina, and Kim Nayoung. (Of them, Sejeong and Mina appeared in the show’s resulting project group, IOI.) They debuted under Jellyfish Entertainment (heh) as a nine-member group (hence their name often stylized as “gu9udan,” based on the Korean word for “multiplication table,” and sometimes even “gx9″), but became an octet after the departure of Cho Hyeyeon in 2018.

Much ado was made of Gugudan’s debut from the beginning, as PD101 fans were excited to see what Jellyfish would do with its Produce trio. In June of 2016, Jellyfish revealed all nine members of Gugudan and followed it up with their debut music video for “Wonderland,” off their debut mini album, Act. 1 The Little Mermaid.

That Act. 1 bit is important. Gugudan’s concept from the beginning (if you don’t follow K-Pop, just know that concepts are a big thing in this industry) was “theater.” Every one of their concepts is treated like a production in their “Gugudan Theater” and “Wonderland” is the best example of this concept. In “Wonderland,” we quite literally enter the Gugudan Theater and watch its nine performers put on their own unique production of The Little Mermaid. Later “productions” would be based on the myth of Narcissus, the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Puss in Boots (centered around the cait sith of Gaelic mythology), and apparently Ocean’s Eight, but I don’t buy that, because I’ve seen Ocean’s Eight and I’ve watched “Not That Type” and honestly, I don’t see it. Which one of you is the hacker played by Rihanna? Or the jeweler played by Mindy Kaling? Or that one Sarah Paulson character that had a dragon’s hoard of stolen merchandise to resell at a markup on the internet? WHICH ONE ARE YOU SEJEONG??? WHICH ONE??? 

This is a mermaid blog. Let me continue.

Helmed by Korean production company Zanybros (a company behind some of the most iconic videos in K-Pop history), “Wonderland” is a dreamy paradise awash in blues and pinks, pretty pearls and sparkles, iridescence and watery floors. We see shots of the then-nine members of Gugudan just living their best mermaid lives, such as playing hopscotch, sightseeing through a telescope, and spilling pearls all over the floor. You know, as you do. (Get it together, Hana.) These are interspersed with shots of the group dancing in pearlescent rooms that look straight out of the Animal Crossing mermaid series in what look like pink cheer outfits, and more choreography shots filmed on that watery floor (with more cheerleadery costumes). Overall, it is a pastel dreamland that fits right into that “cute/innocent” realm of K-Pop. And the decor? Please. The bedroom Mina and Hyeyeon hang out in alone is just aesthetic goals, right down to the Florida beach souvenir shop fishing net. I even bought one of those iridescent wall fringes for my wall because of this video. Gugudan’s impacT. 

Before I go on, I wanna talk about costumes. People HATED these costumes (a lot of the artistic and musical choices made for “Wonderland” were much maligned, more on that later). Honestly, nah, I don’t care for the oversized iridescent T-shirts they wear later in the pearly room, and the pink cheer costumes are just alright. But those blue dresses. Let’s talk about those.

It should be pretty abundantly clear that these are the mermaid costumes. Nobody wears a tail in this video because these girls have to dance (that’s a huge part of K-Pop). So whoever designed these costumes got around that by essentially creating a shortened version of a mermaid gown and crossed that with a sort of cheer costume. Each costume is different, with different variations on the striping on each one. Some have sleeves, some have Peter Pan collars, and Mina and Hyeyeon even have single-piece dresses where the rest of the members wear two-pieces (Mina and Hyeyeon were minors at the time, which might explain this decision.). The floofy bits at the bottom of the skirts even appear to be ribbed like fins, and the sequins that cover the majority of the costumes are iridescent like fish scales. Some members even wear pearls in their hair. So the thought went into it. These costumes were cute, y’all are just mean.

Is the song itself really about mermaids? Not really. It’s a shimmery synthpop wave of youthful wonder, the intro to which almost seems to borrow from Ariel’s iconic refrain from the 1989 Disney film (Alan Menken was not reached for comment). Like a lot of similarly mermaid-titled K-Pop songs (such as GFRIEND’s “Mermaid” or one-time subunit Mystic White’s “Mermaid Princess”), much allusion is made to the story of The Little Mermaid (surprise, surprise). In the case of “Wonderland,” it seems to be based around the mermaid’s curiosity about the world above. A shared chorus from Soyee and Nayoung seems to sum this up really well:

I’m curious about everything The faraway place, a new world Let’s start one by one, my first step I’m gonna start now baby

The themes of “Wonderland” seem to allude to curiosity, finding oneself, and maybe even transition. Starting anew, perhaps with someone the mermaid loves, in a new world she’s only ever dreamed about. So, I guess, in that regard, it is kind of mermaid-themed, in its own way. It’s not a love song, and even then, if it were, the lyrics are gender neutral. The “you” in “Wonderland” could just as easily be a girl, or not present with any gender at all. No gendered pronouns are used. This gets even more interesting when you remember that Hans Christian Andersen is said to have written The Little Mermaid as a sort of love letter to the object of his affection, a man by the name of Edvard Collin. But again, it’s about whoever you want it to be. Were Gugudan ahead of their time? Yes.

I did say a lot of the commentary toward this debut was negative. That might be an overstatement, though it certainly wasn’t overwhelmingly positive, probably lukewarm to negative. A lot of the criticism toward “Wonderland” was leveled at the “generic” and “juvenile” concept (friendly reminder there were minors in the group), “cheap” production, poor costume design, and a “waste of members’ talent.” I think there’s a portion of fans who view these types of “cute concepts” as regressive, or even submissive, being about love or being in love or men or whatever. Like I said, “Wonderland” isn’t that, necessarily. Perhaps its drawing on the inspiration of The Little Mermaid--a story criticized by feminists for its submissive undertones--could be another reason why fans were not super receptive to “Wonderland.” I could go on about K-Pop concept wars and how one type of concept seems to be favored currently among girl groups...but this is a mermaid blog.

Basically what I’m saying is, stan Gugudan.

[simlovinggirl]

Life is a Pickle Challenge

Hey guys!  So this is the challenge I’ve been working on putting together :D  It encompasses all the things I wanted to do in the Sims 3 but never really get around to.  I’m sharing in case you guys want to play :)  I’d love some feedback and to see you all’s stories! <3 Enjoy!

Rules:

The founder of your legacy can be whatever you like, berry or vanilla, male or female.  The only requirement is that their last name is pickle related (hence the name of the challenge :D )

Lifespan should be set to normal

You can live in whatever town you want, unless specified in the generation rules.

No cheats are allowed with the exception of the freerealestate cheat for the founder's house.

Unless stated in the generation rules, you can do whatever you want for the spouses.

If the traits needed for the next generation are not available during toddler and child stages, use "Testing Cheat Enabled" to go into CAS and change the heir personality once they are a young adult.

Unless stated in the generation rules, you are not required to complete the lifetime wish of your Sim.

Each heir must have the founder's last name and something green. It can be a feature (hair, eyes), makeup, or clothing.

If you do this challenge use #lifeisapicklesims3 so we can see them! :)

Generation 1: Sailor

You grew up in a small snowy town and have always wanted to live near the sea.  Now that you’re an adult you've moved out on your own to the perfect tropical paradise.  You saved up your money and had just enough to buy your first houseboat.  You're fiercely independent, but do hope to find love someday and share your love of the ocean with your family.

Traits: Loves the Heat, Loves to Swim, Sailor, Family Oriented, Eco Friendly

LTW: Seaside Savior

Career: Lifeguard

Rules:

Live entire life on a house boat

Reach Level 10 Scuba Diving Skill

Complete the shells collection

Own a windsurfer and boat

** If you are having lag and crashing issues with Isla Paradiso, see this post on an easy fix **

** Or if your ok with downloading a world fix, you can find that here .  I personally haven’t tried this one but have tried the above fix and it worked for me.**

Generation 2: Drummer

You loved your life and your family growing up.  You will never forget the family music nights and have grown up with a love of music.  Now your off to follow your dream of being a drummer in a successful band.  Love and a family aren't out of the question, but for now you want to focus solely on your music and your band.

Traits: Virtuoso, Slob, Natural Born Performer

LTW: One Sim Band

Career: Self-employed - Band

Rules:

Form a four person band

Reach level 10 of drums

Reach the top of the self-employed band career

Fall in love with a groupie (someone who comes to one of your performances more than once)

Generation 3: Actor

Your parent's band shot you to instant fame and you've relished every minute of it.  Now its time for you to take your fame into your own hands and create a name for yourself.  You've always dreamed of being a big time celebrity actor or actress. On your first big movie gig, there's a terrible accident with an on-set wolf and now you've got a secret that has to stay hidden, but you won't let that scare you away from your dreams!

Traits: Diva, Star Quality, Snob, Charismatic, Dramatic

LTW: Lifestyle of the rich and famous

Career: Actor (Acting Branch)

Rules:

Become a 5 star celebrity

Reach the top of acting career (acting branch)

Max social networking skill

Have a 5 star blog

"Get bit on set" and become a werewolf

Heir for next generation must also be a werewolf

Never be in werewolf form in public

Generation 4: Gaming Nerd

You inherited your parent's condition and unlike your parent don't plan on living in the spotlight. You want to stay hidden and not risk your secret getting out.  You've found a love for all things gaming and technology related though, and have decided that going to University will be the only risk you ever take.  While your at Uni you find a group who accepts you for who you are including your other form.  You never expected to be so accepted in the world and are excited to realize your dream of becoming the head of a gaming studio.

Traits: Supernatural Fan, Computer Wiz, Genius, 2 traits of your choosing

LTW: Chess Legend

Career: Nerd Career (Game Artist Branch)

Rules:

Got to University

Complete the Technology Degree

Reach top Nerd Influence

Become a Game Head Studio (top of Nerd Career)

Have only one child

Generation 5: Kid Crazy

You were the only child of a shut in and have always wanted a big rambunctious family.  Your dream is to have a large family and also own a daycare, lots of kids always around!  You are quick to fall in love with your high school sweetheart and get married right after graduating.  The faster you can start a family the better!

Traits: Nurturing, Family Oriented, Insane, Childish

LTW: Big Happy Family

Career: Daycare

Rules:

Meet someone in high school and marry them the day after graduation

Have at least five kids (or more if you want an even bigger challenge!)

Reach the top of daycare career

Learn all cooking recipes

Have a family outing every weekend

Max Photography skill

Generation 6: Star Lover

Your huge family and loud household meant many days of escaping out into the backyard and relaxing under the night sky.  You have a natural love for anything astronomy and can't wait to explore the night sky.  When a strange device comes crashing down on home lot you explore it to find an amazing future that you never want to leave.  Here in the future you find your dream career and the love of your life, making you never wish to return to your home again.

Traits:  Night Owl, Good, Shy

LTW: High Tech Collector

Career: Astronomy (Astrophysics branch)

Rules:

Travel to the future and live there your whole life

Reach the top of the Astronomy career - Astrophysics branch

Achieve the "End of Universe" discovery (Astronomy Career)

Max Logic and Advanced Technologies skills

Pick up every space rock you come across

Find and fall in love within someone from the future

Generation 7: Partier

You've lived in a time where everything is perfect and easy to get.  You're a social butterfly who loves to go out and party every night, but this has gotten you into trouble.  Quick to anger and mean spirited makes you get into trouble often and your parents have had it.  They've decided to banish you back to the present day where you won't live with luxury anymore.  However, you're not going to let a small change of scenery get you down.  Life is a party no matter where you are.

Traits: Party Animal, Snob, Social Butterfly, Hot-Headed, Mean-Spirited

LTW: Master Mixologist

Career: Whatever you choose

Rules:

Generation starts once you have moved back to present day

Have a poor relationship with your parents

Go out every time your friends call

Max Mixology, Table Tennis, and Laser dancing skills

Own a bar

Fall for a customer and start a family

Generation 8: Athletic Genius

While your parents spent their nights at the bar you stayed at home and studied.  You were always a good student and going to University seemed like the logical next step though your not sure you want to study.  Once you get there you have a run in with the campus tennis team captain who talks you into trying out for their team.  Come to find out you’re a protegee.  Who knew the life of a jock was in your future?

Traits: Genius, Bookworm, Athletic, Friendly

LTW: Physical Perfection

Career: Jock Career

Rules:

Have an A in school as child and Teen

Go to University to study something other than physical education

Switch to physical education degree and complete degree

Reach the top of jock influence

Become a Team Owner (top of jock career)

Generation 9: Loner

Your tired of living in your family's shadow, you have so many celebrities and renowned people in your family your ready to move on and just live a quiet life.  You want to do nothing more than create masterful inventions and maybe one day build a plumbot that your grandparent used to tell you stories of.

Traits: Loner, Eccentric, Hates the Outdoors, Slob, Couch Potato

LTW: Monster Maker

Career: Self-Employed Inventor

Rules:

Move to a new town

Master the inventing skill

Create a plumbot

The heir for this generation should be the only child (see next bullet point)

Adopt a child and/or genetically engineer a child with a random sim

Never have a romantic relationship with another sim

Generation 10: Just Plain Quirky

The only child of a parent who was in love with a robot has made you a quirky individual. You've always believed in the impossible and now your sure you know that the stories of your ancestor being a wolf are true.  You’re out to set the world straight on the supernatural and prove that you can become one too.  You've dreamed of harnessing the powers of the beyond and you won't stop until you achieve it.

Traits: Unstable, Supernatural Fan, Inappropriate, Cat Lover

LTW: Alchemy Artisan

Career: Fortune Teller (Mystic Branch)

Rules:

Reach the top of the Fortune Teller Career (Mystic Branch)

Fall for a Supernatural

Become a witch

Own a cat

Complete both the Turtle and Snake collections (for potion ingredients of course!)

Master the Alchemy Skill

[nightshadow56-blog]

Jaehee Hates Glasses!

A complicated One-Shot I wrote that just went all over the place! Sorry if it is long, but I think it is worth the read! Enjoy~!

Pairing:

Jaehee x MC

Disclaimer: I do not own Mystic Messenger nor their characters (OCs & OOCness is definitely mines though~)

‘I…didn’t really hate glasses when I was forced to wear them. It was a uniform; I needed it to get the job, end of story. I got used to them and that was that…Of course, I did not realize…that I was unhappy at the time as well…so now that I have found happiness…these thoughts occurred. Turns out...I really hate glasses.’

.

.

.

.

.

“This is great~ So enjoyable~” Zen hummed blissfully, enjoying a warm drink in his hand. “Seriously Zen…you’ve been making weird noises at that drink for a while now…” the blond known as Yoosung frowned, sitting across from the good looking male. “Zen’s seriously in love with that drink~” The red haired hero dubbed 707 chuckled.

“Can’t help it, Jaehee has made me another masterpiece~” Zen grinned at the longhaired brunette behind the counter. “I’m glad you think so~” Jaehee beamed. “No need to butter her up anymore, she already named a drink after you…” Seven pouted, Yoosung nodded in agreement. “Don’t be so childish, I’m Semi-famous and Jaehee said I deserved it~” Zen grinned smugly, ‘And she’s your biggest fan…’ the two males thought.

“Ignoring the Narcissist…where’s MC, Jaehee?” Yoosung looked to the bright brunette. “Ah…she texted me earlier that she was going to be late but that she will still come in…that something had come up…” Jaehee’s eyebrows furrowed. “No way, is she ok?” Yoosung asked worriedly, “She informed me that she is alright, but I can’t help but worry too…” Jaehee frowned.

“Don’t be such a Mama bird Jaehee, MC probably went out partying and woke up with a hangover~” Seven chimed, munching on a cookie. “MC would never do such a thing, she is not immature like you.” Jaehee glared at Seven. “Sheesh…I was only guessing…” Seven looked away awkwardly.

“Jaehee, why don’t you just ask MC to come live with you?” Zen suddenly said, “Huh?” Jaehee blinked. “That came out of nowhere Zen, why?” Jaehee asked confused.

“It's just a thought. I mean, like today, you always worry about her. Last week you called me because you sent MC out to buy some ingredients and you were afraid she would get lost.” Zen recalled, “The grocery store is down the street.” Zen pointed, making Jaehee sweat. “Oh~! You made me track her phone when MC took a nap in the park after reading and forgot to call you~!” Seven grinned as Jaehee was sweating even more.

“MC came to play video games at my place…and Jaehee came too and just sat behind us, staring at us playing…It was creepy…feeling Jaehee’s eyes one my back…it was like was being watched over by a ghost!” Yoosung paled, Jaehee looked away in embarrassment. “G-Getting to know MC these last few months…I realized that I have to protect her!” Jaehee tried to regain her confidence.

“I-If I don’t…wh-what if she gets kidnapped or attacked, and I am not there to save her!” Jaehee tried to explain, looking panicked. “But the way you’re acting, it's kind of out of control…” Zen pointed out. “But is it not necessary? The only reason she met us was because she followed the word of a stranger over the phone!” Jaehee recalled, ‘There’s no arguing that!’ The three knew she was right.

“But being possessive, overprotective, and plain stalking her? You’re almost bad as Jumin~!” Luciel snickered. “…A-as bad as…M-Mr. Han…!?” Jaehee flinched, “Dude…that’s a low blow…” Zen sighed. “It's true though~ Everything Jaehee is doing is like how Jumin is with Elizabeth the 3rd~ MC is Jaehee’s pet~” Seven began to laugh, Yoosung could not rebuttal that since it is kind of true.

“Ignoring Seven…”

KICK!

“Ow! Leg!” Seven yelped, suddenly being kicked under the table by the actor. “You should calm down a bit, it might be your first time with a female friend, but you could scare MC like that.” Zen explained, trying to calm Jaehee. “I…I do not want to scare her…” Jaehee nodded, “If MC is in danger in any way, she’ll tell you, since you’re friends.” Zen smiled.

“…You are right. Of course.” Jaehee nodded, “I will be sure to keep a distance and be less protective, for MC’s sake.” Jaehee smiled. “That’s good…” Zen smiled tiredly. ‘I do not want to lose her…she means everything to me…it's fine…MC is safe.’ Jaehee breathed calmly.

DING~!

“Welcome~” Jaehee smiled at the door for a customer to come in. “S-Sorry I’m late…” Mumbled the soft and familiar voice of MC. “Ah, MC, how are…huh?” Jaehee and the males looked to the door, only to remain speechless at the sight. “…” MC was fidgeting at the entrance of the café, “Q-Quit staring…I’m getting nervous…” MC frowned.

“Oh~!” Seven ran up to MC, getting super close and causing MC to squeak in surprise. “You’re wearing glasses~!” Luciel grinned, “Y-Yeah…” MC muttered, her face red. On her face was a slim framed round glasses, it gave of a very mature and beautiful image to the female.

“Wh-why are you…” Jaehee began, MC looked to her friend and sighed. “She wanted to look as stunning as me~!” Luciel posed dramatically, “Uh...no…” MC gently pushed Seven aside and walked forward.

“Y’see…it started from three chatrooms’ ago…when Seven and Yoosung started talking about that Zombie series…um…the Dead are Walking? S-So…I watched one episode last night…and I was curious of how the story continued…and I kept watching and watching…and was way too emotionally invested that I stayed up…all night…” MC shrunk, feeling like a child about to be punished. ‘I don’t know whether to scold her or hug her…why is she so cute…’ Jaehee sighed, blushing lightly.

“I went to sleep late, but when I woke up…everything was kind of blurry and…I couldn’t see so well…so I went to the eye doctor and they gave me these glasses, and said I have to wear them for the next few days…” MC explained. “So it's your fault…” Zen and Jaehee glared at Seven, “Me!? What about Yoosung!?” Seven huffed.

“Still…” Yoosung walked over to MC, ignoring the glares. “…?” MC blinked, watching Yoosung as he stared at her. “You look extra cute in those~” Yoosung smiled, blushing slightly. “Y-You think so?” MC blushed, not expecting the compliment. “Mhmm~ So cute~” Yoosung nodded, “Thank goodness…I was afraid I looked horrible~” MC sighed in relief.

“You look sexy~!” Seven thumbed up, “Shut it.” Zen walked over and elbowed Seven in the rib. “Ow! Why am I the only one getting hit!?” Seven cried. “You do look good, a pretty lady just got way prettier~” Zen ignored Seven and smiled at the smaller brunette. “Thanks~” MC smiled, “I’m so glad I don’t look bad…” MC hummed.

“What do you think, Jaehee~?” Yoosung asked, the group looked to the taller brunette. “…Huh?” Jaehee blinked, “Were you paying attention? We’re hogging your cute employee~” Seven said, “I asked if you think MC looks good in the glasses?” Yoosung crossed his arms. “…” MC waited patiently, looking hopeful. MC’s eyes glittered expectantly, Jaehee had no choice but to answer.

“O-Oh yeah, she looks really…great.” Jaehee smiled awkwardly, which was obvious to Seven and Zen. “Yay~ I’m happy to hear that~” MC beamed, “That’s good~” Yoosung grinned. The two oblivious ones did not notice Jaehee’s discomfort, of course. “A-Anyway, get ready MC, we have to open soon.” Jaehee said, “R-Right!” MC ran off to the back.

BEEP!

“Hm? Ah! I have to get to the office! Jumin’s throwing a fit!” Yoosung ran out the shop after looking at his phone. “Poor guy~” 707 hummed. “You alright, Jaehee?” Zen asked, “Hm? I’m fine, just great~” Jaehee smiled.

‘This is awful…’

‘I was right...this is awful…’ Jaehee looked bitter, almost as bitter as the brew she was currently making. “I’m coming~ Please wait~” MC was racing from one table to the next, delivering drinks to each and every table.

It would look like business as usual, but in Jaehee’s eyes, not so much. The patronage in her establishment were mostly men, and they were all gawking at MC. The younger brunette’s hair was tied up in a high ponytail and her glasses were very apparent. Everytime she smiled, a man would swoon. ‘Before, there was only a few guys who would watch MC, which was normal since she is pretty.’ Jaehee thought, ‘But just because of her glasses she has the attention of the entire store? Ridiculous…’ Jaehee was frowning tightly. “...” Jaehee watched MC worked, the smaller brunette would smiled and speak so easily to the customer, not even once faltering.

‘...Makes sense that she can speak with others so simply...she was able to persuade lots of people to come to the RFA party…’ Jaehee thought. The light from outside bounced off MC’s hair, she looked radiant. ‘...Why does she look prettier than usual...it can’t be because of the glasses…’ Jaehee felt really angered, her dark vibe was nearly spilling out to the customers. ‘I’ve never hated glasses until now...why is this happening…?’ Jaehee was still frowning, her heart was tightening. She was so unfocused, she messed up the coffee she was making. “Oh no…” Jaehee muttered, she looked around to get more beans, but she could not find any.

“...MC, mind going to the back and getting me another bag of beans?” Jaehee called. “Hm? Alright~” MC smiled and rushed off to the back. “Right...oh, we’re out of tea too...might as well go too…” Jaehee sighed and headed to the back as well. She walked over to a box labeled with tea, she grabbed the box but then stopped when she heard a yelp. “Gah!” Jaehee looked to the farther back, putting down the box and walking over. “MC-wah!” Jaehee turned the corner and stumbled when a large bag nearly topple over her. “MC?” Jaehee held one side of the bag, “Sorry, sorry, I slipped…” MC apologized, holding the other side of the bag. “If you were gonna have trouble with this, you could have asked…” Jaehee’s eyebrows furrowed. “B-but I can-ah!” MC nearly stumbled with the bag again. “Let's put this down first…” Jaehee suggested, MC nodded and they slowly put it down. “That's too heavy for you alone, I’ll help you carry it out…” Jaehee stretched her arms. “No!” Jaehee flinched, surprised to suddenly get yelled at by MC. “I-I mean...I-I can do it by myself…” MC muttered. “...MC...you can ask me for help...we’re partners after all…” Jaehee said, MC looked away from Jaehee. “...Did I do something to offend you…?” Jaehee asked, she looked calm but internally she was in a panic. “Huh? No way! I-I just want to be able to help you without worrying you!” MC flailed.

“...You’ve had a frown on all day...I thought maybe I made you mad because I was so childish…and hurt my eyes watching TV so late at night...” MC looked away, pouting and blushing. “...” Jaehee blinked, “Pff-hahahaha~” Jaehee laughed, covering her mouth. “Jaehee…?” MC blinked, ‘How is it she looks mature in those glasses, but still manages to be so cute~!’ Jaehee stifled her laughs. “I’m not one to judge for watching TV so late at night, remember?” Jaehee smiled, “O-Oh yeah! It was worrying when I would see bags around your eyes from watching Zen’s movies all night~ I thought you were a raccoon~” MC laughed, remembering “Raccoon” Jaehee.

“So don’t worry about it, I just want you to get better and to rely on me.” Jaehee reached out and put a strand of MC’s hair behind her ear and then held her cheek. “We’re partners...please rely on me…” Jaehee smiled kindly. “Uh!” MC’s cheeks immediately heated up, she was blushing extremely hard. “MC?” Jaehee felt the sudden heat from the younger female’s cheek, “R-right! I-I-I’ll rely on you! B-b-but I’m fine! I swear! I-I’ll get going now!” MC immediately picked up the coffee bag and rushed past Jaehee before the taller brunette could stop her. “Ah…” Jaehee just stood there, dumbfounded. “...” Jaehee looked to her hand, ‘What happened…?’ Jaehee began to turn red. ‘My heart...is beating too fast…’

“He yelled at me non-stop…I didn’t even do much…” Yoosung sulked, “That sounds hilarious, wish I was there~” Seven snickered. “You’re not helping! I hope Jaehee or MC brews me something relaxing for my lunch break…” Yoosung grumbled as he and the hacker entered the café.

“Yeah…oh…um…” The two stopped in their tracks, seeing a lot of suits in the café. “…Is there a conference or convention going on right now?” Seven asked, “Not that I know of…Jumin doesn’t have anything planned…” Yoosung looked around. “Jaehee!” Seven walked up to the counter with Yoosung trailing behind him. Jaehee was making a brewing some coffee.

“We weren’t gone for long, where’d all these businessmen come from?” Seven asked. “A-ah…well…I did not think such an effect would work…but…” Jaehee pointed at one of the tables, the boys looked over. “Will you like anything else, sir~?” MC smiled kindly at a businessman, her hair tied up in a high ponytail and her glasses very apparent.

“N-nothing else, thank you...”

“You sure? We have muffins and other pastries to go with your drink~” MC smile almost brightened, the businessman blushed harshly.

“A-A muffin…”

“Alright, I will be right back with your order~” MC hummed, walking off from the love-struck man.

“No way…are all these men here for MC?” Yoosung looked around, and sure enough, they were all watching MC as discreetly as they could. “She was outside handing out fliers…and she caught a whole bunch of them…” Jaehee said, not looking too excited. “Isn’t that a good thing? More business is good, right?” Yoosung tilted his head. “I-Its great…b-but-”

“The fact that they’re here for MC doesn’t help…does it?” Seven said bluntly. “…” Jaehee frowned, not denying it.

“But why-”

“Since Jaehee promised to be less protective, she can’t really say anything~” Seven hummed. “Jaehee, you have nothing to worry about, MC is in front of you and is fine~ Nothing bad is happening~” Seven grinned. Jaehee sighed, knowing Seven is right, “You may be right-”

“Eh? What am I doing after work?”

“…!?” The three RFA members quickly looked to their party coordinator speaking to a gentleman, who was furiously blushing. “Um, I was planning on going home and watching this show I have been interested in.” MC innocently replied, not knowing the male had much more impure intentions. “Why? Do you need something…go out?” MC was confused by what the guy was saying to her. “MC! Would you please come to the front!” Jaehee suddenly yelled, startling the smaller brunette. “Y-Yes Ma’am!” MC excused herself and ran to Jaehee. “Wh-Whats wrong?” MC asked in a panic, “We ran out of sweeteners, please go buy more at the store~” Jaehee smiled, “R-Right now?” MC blinked. “Right now.” Jaehee said strictly, still smiling though. “O-Ok…” MC was a little afraid of Jaehee.

“H-Hi guys…bye guys…” MC waved at 707 and Yoosung and left. “…Was that really necessary…?” Seven looked to Jaehee, “...” Jaehee frowned, not looking at Seven. “Jaehee, acting all distant won’t get MC to understand, you have to talk to her.” Seven sighed, Yoosung was confused, not really understanding what they were talking about. “...If you two are going to order, then please tell me now, we are packed.” Jaehee said sternly, ignoring Seven’s remark, and startling Yoosung. “U-Um! Th-the usual for us please! R-Right Seven!?” Yoosung said, feeling Jaehee’s menacing aura. “...Yeah...sure…” Seven still stared at Jaehee, not letting up. “...Then...that will be an hour wait, please be sure to stay nearby~” Jaehee smiled, “What!?” Yoosung yelled.

“Jaehee you can’t be serious-!”

“Seung Gil~ Your drink is ready~” Jaehee walked away. “My break is only for 20 minutes!” Yoosung sulked, Seven sighed and patted Yoosung’s back. “It's alright buddy, we’ll just go to McRonald’s like we used to~” Seven hummed, pushing the empty shell known as Yoosung towards the door. “...” Seven looked back at Jaehee one more time before they left, ‘You really should be more honest…’ Seven sighed and walked out.

“Ah~! The day is finally over~!” MC stretched her arms upwards. “We can finally relax, Jaehee~” MC turned and grinned at Jaehee behind the counter, counting the money in the cash register. “...Jaehee?” MC called, the taller brunette was still too focused on counting. “...?” MC walked over, she stood directly in front of the counter, “Jaehee~!” MC spoke up loudly, “Ah!” Jaehee flinched, dropping all the money. “Oh no, sorry Jaehee!” MC panicked, “Its fine, its fine.” Jaehee calmed the younger girl.

“I was lost in my own world and was not paying attention to you, my apologies.” Jaehee smiled tiredly and began to pick up the money. “...You’ve been spacing out a lot today…” MC’s eyebrows furrowed. “I know you thought I didn’t notice but...I saw you walk into a wall five times today...that was really worrying…” MC recalled the awkward moments of Jaehee smashing her face against the wall, and then smiling reassuringly with a nosebleed. “You scared some customers like that…” Jaehee knew what MC was saying is true, and she felt just as embarrassed as she did earlier.

“What’s wrong~?” MC leaned over the counter, propping herself up with her elbows. “You can talk to me if you’re stressed or have an issue, that's what friends are for~” MC smiled at Jaehee. “...” Jaehee stared at MC, she felt like a fool. She was acting strange all day because of MC’s new look and sudden new attention, and decided to just pretend to be fine, which only worried her friend more. Along with the fact that Jaehee herself was turning red every once in awhile when she saw MC smile, did not help.

‘I was so used to being the only one to noticed how cute MC is...besides the RFA members...I never imagined men that I didn’t know would notice as well…’ Jaehee thought with a frown. Since Jaehee never had a female companion before, she had no idea how to act when someone becomes interested in her friend. Should she protect her or encourage her? It was hard, if she tried to protect her, then maybe MC would find Jaehee overbearing. But she does not know if MC is even interested in dating.

‘Wait…’ Jaehee suddenly realized something, in these few months she has gotten to know MC, she never once heard her speak about having a relationship. More so, MC did not even talk about it during their first meeting. MC would ask how her day was, and comforted her, and wished for Jaehee’s happiness. But she never said she had an interest in a relationship. Is it not Jaehee’s job to assist MC in getting a boyfriend? As a friend? But, just the thought of MC getting a boyfriend irks the Ex-chief assistant. Why is that? Is it because that would mean MC would spend less time with Jaehee and more time with her boyfriend?

‘Ah...jealousy...that's what this is…’ Jaehee came to that conclusion. Of course, that is why she is having a hard time with all the sudden attention on MC. She is afraid that MC and herself will hang out less, of course!

That is clearly wrong…

“Jaehee~!” The taller brunette was startled again but finally sorted the money in her hand, she looked to the new glasses wearer. “You were spacing out again...especially when I was talking with you…” MC pouted, a little frustrated. ‘...So cute~!’ Jaehee blushed, she coughed to calm herself and put the money away.

“I’m really sorry...I’m just having a hard time thinking straight and I guess my thoughts aren’t in order…” Jaehee tried to explain, “Is that so...well, when you know what you want to talk about, I’ll be right here waiting~” MC grinned. “...Thank you…”Jaehee smiled warmly, her heart skipping a beat at MC’s sweet smile. “But, on the bright side, we earned a lot today compared to any other day~!” MC cheered, “Yes indeed, after counting it, I can make the assumption you are correct.” Jaehee nodded. “I’m not sure what the cause is, but this is good~!” MC hummed. ‘It is obvious why...but I’ll just keep the reason to myself for now…’ Jaehee thought.

“And~! I made a bunch of tips~! It was great~!” MC pulled out a bunch of money from her apron pocket and showed it to Jaehee. “A-Amazing! That's the most I’ve seen you ever get!” Jaehee was taken aback, “Right~? I guess my courteous service was 100% today~!” MC beamed. ‘She’s talking like Seven...which means she’s getting too hyper…’ Jaehee smiled tiredly. “With this, we can definitely buy that new espresso machine you’ve been wanting~!” MC said, “Huh? MC, this is your money that you earned, shouldn’t you spend it on something you like?” Jaehee blinked.

“It's fine, I want to help you after all~” MC hummed, “You do not need to worry so much on that, the one we have is fine.” Jaehee said. “B-but…” MC tried to convince Jaehee, “It's alright, I’ll be able to save up for it soon enough~ Just get something you want~” Jaehee smiled and reached over, petting MC’s head.

“Now, what do you want?” Jaehee asked curiously, “Um, hmm...I want…” MC began to think. “Oh! I know!” Jaehee smiled, waiting for MC’s response. “I want to get the Espresso machine that will make Jaehee happy~” MC smiled cutely, “...!” Jaehee froze, she pulled her hand away. “...!” Jaehee blushed madly and covered her face. It should be illegal for a person to be this cute!

“Th-That...um…!” Jaehee was in a jumble, her eyes spinning and her face heating up. “Hm?” MC tilted her head, unaware what she did to Jaehee. “...” Jaehee frowned, she really wanted to say thank you, and to tell MC how much she means to her. She really, really wanted to be honest to MC, her heart was screaming at her to do so right now! “MC...thank-”

“What’s this?” Jaehee did not get to finish, as she watched MC’s attention turn to a piece of paper in between her tips. “A business card? I think one of my tippers accidentally gave me their business card~” MC laughed, finding it funny. However, Jaehee was not amused, she could see on the back of the business card, a small note and phone number, clearly asking MC to call for a date. “I’m curious who it belongs to~? Maybe Jumin knows them~?” MC began to read the card. But the card was suddenly snatched from hands.

“What the-!?” MC flinched, surprised. MC looked to Jaehee, who had snatched the card from her. “Jaehee?” MC was confused, “...!” Jaehee realized what she had done and looked equally as surprised. “...Sorry...I just think since it was a mistake, might as well throw it away~” Jaehee smiled, clearly not believable. “...Well, I’ll throw it away...but I kinda want to read it…” MC reached out for the card but Jaehee pulled it away. “...Jaehee.” MC kept reaching for the card, but Jaehee would not let up.

“Jaehee, what gives? Give it back.” MC frowned, a little frustrated Jaehee was doing this. “...Its nothing.” Jaehee said, “If it's nothing, give it back.” MC retorted. “...No.” Jaehee replied, “What do you mean no? It's not yours.” MC’s temper was rising. “And it's neither yours, so leave it be.” Jaehee was getting a bit irritated as well. Why was Jaehee acting like this? The taller brunette knows she’s acting suspicious and childish, but she does not want MC to read this card. And she still does not know why!

“...!” MC was angry now, “Jaehee-”

“I will not discuss this further,” Jaehee turned to toss it into the trash. “Hey!” MC yelled, running around the counter and reaching for the card. Jaehee was startled by MC rushing at her and pulled her hand away quickly. Big mistake.

CRASH!

“Ouch…!” Jaehee groaned, she had fallen on her back. She sat up and flinched a little, the back of her right hand hurt. “...?” Jaehee looked to her right hand, she had landed on her hand and it was hurting a lot. “Owie~!” MC held her head, a bruise forming on her forehead. “M-MC!” Jaehee rushed forward, checking MC for any serious injuries. “Are you okay!?” Jaehee panicked, “Head hurts...but my limbs are still attached…” MC whimpered. “...” The two were silent for a few minutes, MC stared at the ground with her expression shadowed.

“MC...let me check-” MC pulled away from Jaehee’s outstretched hand. “...I don’t get it…” MC muttered, Jaehee stopped, the sweet voice she had always heard was gone. “I don’t get you...you always act so distant...and I understood that it would take time for you to open up...but…” MC’s voice trembled, “MC…” Jaehee muttered. “I can’t read your mind! I can’t know what's wrong if you don’t tell me!” Jaehee froze, MC’s eyes were filled with tears.

“MC...I-I didn’t mean to-”

“If you have a problem with me, if you can’t talk to me, if you don’t trust me...then why am I still here…?” MC sobbed, her tears streaming down her face. “I-I do trust you!” Jaehee was in a panic, her stomach felt like it dropped and her throat had dried up, it was getting hard to breathe. “...J-Just...just leave me alone!” MC stood up and ran out the shop. “MC!” Jaehee called out, but MC was already gone. “N-no…” Jaehee stepped forward.

CRACK!

“...” Jaehee looked down, she had stepped on MC’s glasses and they had broken.

‘...I messed uo again...’

“Hmm~ Hmm~” A silver haired male, dubbed the “Handsome man” Zen hummed as he walked towards his fridge. He grabbed a beer and took one huge gulp and sighed in ecstasy. “Nothing better than having a beer right after a shower~” Zen grinned, taking another sip whilst drying his hair.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Ptttthhhh!” Zen spit out his drink in surprised, “Cough! Cough! Who-Cough! Is it!?” Zen coughed harshly, a little pissed at being startled by the loud banging at his door. “...MC…” mutter the quiet voice of the small brunette. “MC?” Zen blinked, he looked down and realized he was not presentable in only his undergarments. “Give me a sec!” Zen rushed to put a shirt and sweatpants on and then ran back to the door.

“Ahem, good evening, Miss M...C?” Zen opened the door and was surprised to see a crying girl at his door. “Z-Zen…!” MC sniffled, “Wh-whats wrong? What happened? Why’s there a bruise on your head!?” Zen panicked, suddenly very protective and worried about the brunette. But none of his questions were answered since the brunette hugged the silver head tightly and began to sob in his shirt. “Waaaaaahhh~!” MC cried, “E-eh?” Zen was seriously lost.

After a while, MC had calmed down and sat on Zen’s couch. The actor had given her a warm drink and had tended to the bruise on her head, putting a large bandage over it. Somehow Zen had gotten the gist of MC’s sob story during all her crying, so guess he has to figure out how to comfort her.

“So...basically you and Jaehee had gotten into a fight...over a piece of paper…?” Zen blinked, “...I know...it sounds stupid no matter who says it…” MC admitted. ‘Yeah it does…’ Zen sighed internally, the beginning of the argument sounds dumb, but he knows the deep reason the fight started.

“Out of curiosity...how’d you find my place? I thought you couldn’t see?” Zen asked, “W-well...after I ran out, I started wandering...I couldn’t find my way home since everything was blurry, so I immediately got lost…” MC sulked, Zen seriously worried for this girl. ‘Jaehee’s original worry for her getting lost wasn’t wrong I guess…’ Zen huffed. “I remembered that you lived nearby the shop so I kept walking and found the truck that sells fish bread and immediately found your home...I was lucky...or else I would just be wandering still…” MC said. ‘Is all she going to remember about my place is the fish bread truck…?’ Zen began to sweat.

“Ahem, anyway, how about going to make up with Jaehee, huh? I’ll walk you back.” Zen suggested, “N-no!” Zen blinked at the sudden outburst. “...Sorry...but...I can’t talk to Jaehee right now…” MC stared at her lap, not looking up. “...” Zen waited patiently for MC to explain herself. “...I humiliated myself by fighting with Jaehee...I acted like a child...and I’m so embarrassed...but I didn’t know what to do…” MC began, “I knew that Jaehee was the type to take all the burden and troubles she ever faced by herself...and never tell others. But I wanted to share some of that with her...yet...even now she still won’t tell me when she is troubled…” MC frowned. “If I go back now...I won’t know what to say...because I don’t know why she got mad too…” MC’s voice began to break.

“I got mad...because all day she would phase out or avoid talking to me...and when I asked what was wrong she’d tell me not to worry and walk away...it hurt...that she didn’t trust me…!” MC muttered. “And so...my anger kind of...built up...and I exploded...like an idiot…” MC wiped her eyes, trying to stop her tears. “...” Zen watched MC, he closed his eyes and sighed. ‘These two might actually kill me...two innocent girls who don’t get it...guess I’m going to have to set it straight…’ Zen patted MC’s head, petting her to soothe her.

“MC...you’re not an idiot…” Zen began, “...” MC looked up, small tears in her eyes. “You’re an oblivious idiot~” Zen smiled, “...Huh!?” MC felt like she was stabbed by Zen’s insult. “Where’d that come from!?” MC yelled, “Just giving some perspective~” Zen hummed. “...If the sweet talking, girl-friendly Zen is calling me an idiot...am I doomed…!?” MC was pale, she looked completely terrified. “Hey, hey, calm down.” Zen tried to bring her back to reality.

“I’m not insulting you, I’m trying to help…” Zen explained, “Help?” MC tilted her head. “Yes, help...I need you to understand something. You and Jaehee have blown this thing way out of proportion.” Zen said, MC was confused. “Guess I have to point out more...I heard from Seven that the shop was super full today, after we left in the morning...that true?” Zen asked, “Y-Yeah…?” MC nodded questionably.

“It was after you arrived, right?” “Uh-huh…” “So…?”

“...So what…?”

MC was seriously not getting it, “...you know...you and Yoosung might be on the same level of obliviousness…” Zen said. “Am I that bad!?” MC felt stabbed by Zen’s insult. “MC!” Zen grabbed MC’s shoulders, startling her.

“All those businessmen came to see you!” Zen straightforwardly said. “...Eh?” MC took a moment to process what the handsome male said. “...EH!?” MC yelled, finally getting what Zen said. “Wh-why me!?” MC yelled in confusion, “Glasses.” Zen explained. “Glasses?” MC repeated. “Listen, everyone in RFA knows how cute your are...but not many people outside take the time to notice...those glasses seriously put a sign up for people to notice.” Zen explained, “...N-no wonder people kept asking me what I was doing after work…” MC muttered.

“Yeah...pretty much.” Zen nodded, “Then...what does this have to do with Jaehee…?” MC asked. “...W-well…” Zen looked away, ‘Can’t say the entire truth…’ Zen thought. “...Jaehee’s first real female friend is you.” Zen said, MC nodded, trying to follow along. “Since you are her first, doesn’t that mean she would want to help and protect her precious friend?” Zen looked to MC, “...She...was worried for me?” MC crossed her arms.

“Worried...and scared.”

“Scared?” “Yeah...if you suddenly got a boyfriend...most of your free time would go to the guy, wouldn’t it? Less time with Jaehee...of course she’d be scared you would leave her.” Zen tried to explain. “...” MC looked down, taking all this information in. ‘It's the best way I can say that without telling the truth...but if this pressures her to not get a relationship, Jaehee might get really sad…’ Zen thought, hoping MC does not take what he is saying the wrong way.

“That would never happen.” Zen blinked, looking to MC. “I would never stop spending time with Jaehee.” MC said, “...You say that, but you don’t know the future.” Zen pointed out. “No, I know for a fact I won’t do it!” MC looked to Zen, he was surprised to see the confidence in her eyes. “...The truth is...I was asked out before.” MC said, “Huh? You were? When?” Zen asked.

“A week after we opened the shop.”

“Huh!? Why didn’t you say anything!?” Zen yelled in surprised, “Because...I had not thought it was important...until now…” MC explained. “He had said I looked cute and that if we could hang out once in awhile…” MC recalled, “...I guess I was a bit cruel because I flat out denied any chance of a romantic relationship with him then and there.” MC said. “Whoa, that's cold!” Zen paled, “I know! I know! But when I rejected him, I just felt like I had to be honest!” MC flailed, trying her hardest to explain. “You see...I said…”

“I’m sorry...I can’t go out with you...or even spend time with you. I...had just started this shop with someone important to me...and I want to dedicate every moment I have with her and this shop.”

“...” Zen watched MC’s cheeks turn red, and he realized it right then. He was wrong. “You’re not oblivious…” MC looked to him slowly, “...You’re in love.” Zen saw MC blush harder. “Ah...I’m such an idiot...I should’ve realized that…” Zen smiled tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I try hard to hide it...so it's not your fault…” MC was still flushed red, “...then...as someone in love...why can’t you go make up with her?” Zen looked back to MC. “B-but I can’t-”

“MC.” The brunette stiffened, feeling like she was getting scolded like a child.

“Think about it like this, for us lonely guys who do not have anyone, how about attaining that love we all want.”

“...” MC stayed silent, seeing the wishful expression on the actor’s face. “MC...you have to tell the truth...or else you’ll regret it...say it for the first time…” Zen said. “...!” Tears filled MC’s eyes, she hiccuped as she began to cry. “...” Zen smiled softly, petting MC’s head gently.

“Hic...sniffle...Zen...Hic…!”

“Yes…?”

“...I love her…”

“...pant...pant…!” Jaehee panted heavily as she ran down the sidewalk, looking around everywhere. ‘This is not good!’ Jaehee was in a panic. MC is wandering about, not able to see a thing, anything horrible could happen to her. Kidnapping, getting robbed or attacked, getting hit by a-Jaehee did not want to finish that thought. She already called Luciel, who thought she was just in a panic again. But one threat of using him for judo practice sent him working.

‘I...shouldn’t have kept things to myself...I made MC insecure and sad...this all my fault…!’ Jaehee’s eyes began to sting. ‘If...if something happens to her...I won’t ever be able to forgive myself…!’ Jaehee’s vision began to blur.

‘MC!’

“Jaehee!”

“...!” Jaehee quickly looked up, she saw the small brunette before her. “M...MC…!” Jaehee rushed forward, MC ran forward as well, the two hugging without a chance to speak. “I’m so glad you’re okay…!” Jaehee tears began to fall, “I’m so sorry Jaehee…!” MC was crying as well. The two did not let go for a second, as if pulling away would make the other disappear from sight.

“Girls~”

“...?” Jaehee blinked, looking up and seeing a awkward smiling Zen. “Zen?” Jaehee tilted her head, “was I unnoticeable for once?” Zen laughed. “What are you doing here?” Jaehee asked, “Ah! Zen helped me find my way back!” MC pulled away slightly to look at Jaehee.

“Really? Thank you, sorry for causing trouble.” Jaehee looked to Zen. “Nah, it's fine, plus, Seven kind of called me saying you were crying hysterically for MC so I had to rush her back~” Zen smiled. “I...am seriously sorry…” Jaehee blushed in embarrassment. “Really, it's ok, I like saving the day like this, it makes up for the fact that I lost~” Zen hummed, “Lost?” the two girls were confused.

“Don’t mind what I said, just go ahead and make up~” Zen waved off. “...” Jaehee looked to the sniffling MC then to Zen. “I’m really sorry for bothering, but I will be taking MC back,” Jaehee said, “...I see, alright then, be careful you two.” Zen smiled, turning to leave. “Thank you very much.” Jaehee said, then pulled MC along. “Um, bye Zen!” MC called and was dragged away by Jaehee.

“...” Zen looked up to the night sky, seeing some stars despite the city lights. “...How unlucky...I have to watch the stars all alone…” Zen muttered, “But if she’s happy...then it's fine…” Zen continued his way home.

The whole walk back was silent, instead of heading towards the cafe, MC was taken to Jaehee’s home. Guess Jaehee already locked up for the night. MC’s been there a few times, but she’s never stayed over, mostly because it makes Jaehee nervous. After walking through the front door, MC timidly walked into Jaehee’s home, nervous after all. They are obviously going to talk about what happened today, which is terrifying. Thinking about it, the entire day was eventful, it was like the first eleven days she met Jaehee. Those were both exciting and stressful times. Back to now, MC twiddle her fingers, there was nothing but silence, so she tried to start a conversation. “So...your home is still spotless Jaehee, it's amazing how you always-!” MC turned around and was suddenly hugged by Jaehee.

“...do it…” MC muttered, feeling Jaehee’s arms around her, she blushed. “...Um…” MC quieted down, not sure what to say at that moment. “...I’m sorry MC…” Jaehee whispered, “Huh? S-sorry?” MC repeated in confusion. “I hurt you...made you cry...made you feel alone…” Jaehee said quietly, “...” MC listened, not saying a word. “We’re together all the time...yet I did not know I made you feel so alone…” Jaehee tightened her hug a bit. “I-I’m so...sorry…” Jaehee trembled slightly.

“...Jaehee…” MC raised hand to rub Jaehee’s back to relax her. “For what I said earlier...you don’t have to take it to heart...I was just frustrated…” MC said, ‘It's fine...if I keep these feelings to myself...to not burden Jaehee...sorry Zen...guess I’m not that strong…’ MC smiled sadly.

“MC!”

“...!?” MC flinched, feeling Jaehee grabbed MC’s shoulders and pulled her away slightly and stared straight into her eyes. “Everything you say and will ever say is important, I will always be serious and take it to heart!” Jaehee looked completely serious and stoic, making MC’s heart beat faster.

“B-but its not a big deal-”

“MC...every word you’ve ever said to me...spoken or written...has always had a major effect on me.” MC stopped talking, watching Jaehee. “From the moment we met in that chatroom...to now...everything you ever said to me...I always took it to heart.” Jaehee closed her eyes. “You changed everything in my life for the better by just talking to me...I found happiness because of you...I...have never been more happy in my life then now…” Jaehee squeezed MC’s shoulder slightly.

“So...no matter if you say it happily or angrily...your words will always be imprinted on me...that is my one desire.” Jaehee opened her eyes, they were filled with absolute love and devotion. Jaehee’s expression was the most honest it has ever been today, she was willing to suffer and be happy for MC.

“...” MC’s eyes could not take much more, they were still red and puffy from crying so much, but she seriously could not get a break. Tears just did not dry up for her. MC’s vision was already blurry, but it became more so with the tears filling them. Her entire face was red up to her ears, she cannot take much more. “Anything you say MC…” Jaehee wiped some of her tears away, “I will always listen...and keep your words in my heart…” Jaehee whispered, smiling kindly.

“...Jaehee…!”

“Yes?”

“...Sniffle...I love you…!” MC choked on her sobs, trying to stop her tears. “...” Jaehee’s eyes widen. “Love...me…?” Jaehee repeated, her expression hidden. “Not...hic...as my friend...not...as..hic...my best friend...not...as...my...sniffle...family…!” MC hiccupped. “I love Jaehee as Jaehee…!” MC was in such a fluster, her words were in a jumble.

“I’m sorry...for being like this...Jaehee!” MC tried using her fists to wipe her tears. “...” Jaehee grabbed MC’s wrists, pulling them away from her face. “...?” MC looked up to Jaehee in confusion, not sure what the taller female was feeling. And then, MC’s mind went blank, her mind just processed one thought.

‘Soft…’

Jaehee lips were on MC’s, much to her surprise. “...!” MC’s face was just getting redder and redder. After a second, MC awkwardly leaned in, but as soon as she relaxed Jaehee had pulled away. “...” The two panted quietly, silence taking over again. MC looked away in embarrassment, not entirely sure what this meant.

“...If…” MC looked back to Jaehee, “If I...told you...that I loved you...as well…” MC was surprised to see Jaehee blushing so harshly. The warmth almost radiating from Jaehee’s cheeks. “Would you...be completely mines…?” Jaehee muttered, “...completely...yours…?” MC mumbled. “...Yes...I’ve never been...I rarely could...be selfish...and wish for things...it is why it took me so long to find this happiness…” Jaehee said. “But...if this  would be the only selfish...and possessive request of mine...for the rest of my life…” Jaehee looked to MC. “Would you...please be mine…?” Jaehee asked in embarrassment, but with as much love in her words as she could say. “...Of course!” MC hugged Jaehee, holding onto her for dear life.

“If Jaehee asks, I’ll give you anything! My love, my life, my hopes, my dreams!” MC cried. “Life!? Dreams!? Isn’t that a bit much!?” Jaehee panicked at MC’s exaggeration. “No, it's not!” MC denied and looked up at Jaehee, “Jaehee is my life and my dream now! I’m happy like this!” MC said with full honesty, her eyes glazed with love. “...!” Jaehee’s heart skipped a beat, it is dangerous for a person to be this cute.

“Then...MC is my life and dream too…!” Jaehee hugged MC back, pressing her forehead against MC’s. “Like this...we’ll always tell each other everything...we’ll be insecure together...scared together...happy together...always...together…!” Jaehee was about to cry, “Yes!” MC beamed. “I love you, Jaehee~!” MC grinned, Jaehee smiled with tears in her eyes.

“I love you too, MC…”

“Lonely guys club, day two!” Luciel cheered, “could you not say that…” Zen sulked. “But it's true…~!” Yoosung had his face down on the table. “We have to admit it or else we’ll be stuck in denial~!” Seven hummed, as if it did not matter even a little bit to him. “I keep getting more and more depressed...I need something to cheer me up…” Zen grumbled.

“Not beer, I hope.” Jaehee stood beside Zen, holding a tray of drinks. “Hm? No, of course not~ I meant your wonderful drinks~” Zen hummed, trying to brighten up, even a little. “Well, here they are.” Jaehee placed the tray down for the males to grab. “...Yup, that hit the spot~ I’m still sad but it helps to cope~” Zen hummed bitterly as he took another sip. “Sad? Why are you and Yoosung so depressing right now? The day has not even started yet, it's morning.” Jaehee crossed her arms.

“Jumin made me write five reports in one evening...four of which he said he didn’t need anymore and the last one barely passed…” Yoosung sulked, a dark cloud above him. “Harsh…” Zen paled, “Yeah, I remember doing something like that...he made me write six reports, organize three meetings, call several executives from different timezones and buy Elizabeth the 3rd’s new specially important Shampoo all in an evening.” Jaehee recalled bitterly, “Seriously...working for that jerk is brutal…” Zen shivered at the thought.

“It's fine though...I am happy now and I hold no ill will now~” Jaehee immediately brightened, a flowery aura around her. “How come…?” Yoosung looked up tiredly, “Ah...w-well…” Jaehee suddenly became shy and blushed. “...?” Yoosung was confused, “It's because she finally got herself a lover~” Luciel sang. “Eh!? Jaehee got a lover!” Yoosung shot up, “Don’t yell it…!” Jaehee glowered. “Sorry Ma’am!” Yoosung shrunk away.

“I-I didn’t know you had someone you were interested in Jaehee! I assumed you had no interest in love, like Jumin.” Yoosung said honestly. “Insult me like that again and I will kick you out…” Jaehee glared, “I-I didn’t mean that as an insult!” Yoosung panicked. “Hmph...I said I had no time for love, not that I had no interest…” Jaehee huffed, “But Jaehee has plenty of time for it now~” Seven snickered, the tall brunette blushed.

“W-well...that is…” Jaehee stuttered, “And she can enjoy that love practically 24/7~” Zen joined in the teasing. “Z-Zen!” Jaehee was flustered. “I don’t get it...who is it?” Oblivious Yoosung tilted his head.

“...Well, its-”

“Jaehee~!” MC suddenly hugged Jaehee from behind, startling the taller female. “MC? What is it?” Jaehee looked to the smaller female. “I manage to sell all of the morning pastry bread~ Praise me~” MC beamed as she pulled away, “You did? Thats amazing~” Jaehee smiled and pet MC’s head. The smaller brunette looked like a puppy, you could practically see her tail wagging as she leaned in to Jaehee’s hand.

“Since I sold all the pastries before noon, can I have a reward~?” MC hummed, “A-a reward?” Jaehee suddenly turned red. “Pretty please~” MC begged, “...A-Alright…” Jaehee mumbled. The taller brunette leaned forward and pecked MC on the cheek, making the young girl squeal happily. “Ah...look at that love…” Zen said depressingly, the flowery and heart filled aura bouncing out of his dulled expression.

“Its cute~” Seven snickered, “I almost thought I had to intervene when she wouldn’t admit her feelings~ But Zen beat me to the punch~” Seven grinned at Zen, earning a kick under the table. “When does the violence end!?” Seven whined, holding his leg. “...” Yoosung was staring at the girls, the gears were really too slow to catch up to the image before the blond.

“N-no way...Jaehee...and MC...are going out-mmph!”

“Eat a pastry.” Zen shoved coffee bread in Yoosung’s mouth, too annoyed to explain to Yoosung. “Cough! Nearly killed me!” Yoosung barely ate the bread. “Yoosung…” The blond looked up and flinched at Jaehee’s stern glare. “Is it a problem that MC and I have a relationship…?” Jaehee asked, her arms crossed as MC clinged to her. “N-No! I don’t have a problem! I-I was just surprised! I was expecting you guys to end up together!” Yoosung flailed.

“I think it's great you two ended up together...if either of you ended up with Zen, you guys would have low self esteem like me…” Yoosung sulked. “My looks are not the reason you get depressed easily…” Zen sighed, drinking his beverage. “Jumin won’t be happy…” Yoosung said, “That's true…” the others all agreed.

“Question!” The RFA members turned to their ever hyperhacker. “If Jaehee and MC get married, who ends up with Papa Jumin and who ends up with the two mommies~?” Seven asked, “What kind of question is that?” Jaehee raised an eyebrow. “Since I hate the jerk, I’ll go with the two mommies~” Zen played along, “Me too! Me too!” Yoosung flailed. “Don’t go along with it!” Jaehee scolded. “I don’t want to be scolded by Jaehee...but I also don’t want to be forgotten by Jumin…” Seven muttered. “But someone has to go with Jumin or he’ll get lonely~” Luciel said.

“Alright, Yoosung goes with Papa Jumin, and Zen and myself will go with our cute and pretty mommies~” Seven hummed. “Why do I get stuck with Papa Jumin! He’ll make me learn fancy people etiquette and give up LOLOL!” Yoosung cried. “How did it turn out like this…?” Jaehee sighed, “MC, ignore them…” Jaehee turned to the brunette still linked to her arm. “...MC…?” Jaehee blinked, seeing MC was trembled.

“M-M-M-Ma-Ma-Marry J-J-Ja-Jaehee!?” MC blushed super harshly, fumes almost literally blowing out of her ears. “J-just the thought! I-I can’t! T-t-too much!” MC stuttered harshly. “M-MC! Calm down! I-it's not that embarrassing!” Says Jaehee, but she was blushing hard now too. “I-I-I’m gonna go back to work!” MC pulled away and scurried off. “Ah…” Jaehee could only watch MC run away.

“...” Jaehee turned and glared at the males, the three shrunk in fear. “I-I didn’t do anything…!” Zen cried, “S-sorry Jaehee...didn’t mean to embarrass her…” Yoosung apologized. “...Sigh...it's fine…” Jaehee sighed, “I don’t have any reason to be mad actually…” Jaehee said. “You don’t?” Seven tilted his head, “Yeah...it just proves so much to me…” Jaehee explained, confusing the males. “That I can see MC fluster because of me…” Jaehee smiled, ‘she’s smug…’ the males could feel Jaehee’s smile radiating with confidence.

“M-moving on...um...can MC even see right now? I thought she needed the glasses for another few days…?” Yoosung asked. “Hm? Oh,that…” Jaehee blinked, “...I took her to the eye doctor earlier and asked for temporary contacts instead~” Jaehee hummed, ‘So possessive…!’ Yoosung and Zen began to sweat.

“Ah~ Lovey dovey couples all around~” Seven hummed. “No fair~!” Yoosung whined, Luciel just laughed at the blond. “Either way...if you’re happy Jaehee...then its fine.” Zen smiled warmly. “...Mmm.” Jaehee smiled back. “With MC…” Jaehee looked to the flustered brunette taking orders in embarrassment.

“...I’ll always be happy.”

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This is a random thing I wrote and decided to post it thanks to my pal’s (Pupusa-Kween) suggestion! Unfortunately, Jumin did not make an appearance but oh well~ Maybe next time~ I am not a complete expert at Mystic Messenger, I just played the game and enjoyed myself! Anyway~! If you liked this, then please let us know and I might write more! Any requests and/or suggestions for future stuff, let us know that too! I will try to do other couples with MC and such~ Enough rambling, thanks for reading and see ya next time~!

[roguenewsdao]

Stones Are Crying Out (Part 1 of 3)

"If these remained silent, the stones would cry out."  -- Christ to the Pharisees, Luke 19:40

Let's start with the presumption that most of us are naturally repulsed when being told that we're not worthy of some gift because we're too stupid or too poor or just too undeserving. We now live in a period of history where we have seen the systematic dissolution of the middle class. We have this sense that everything we have held up as valuable - whether that be tangible commodities like gold or social norms like moral values - is under attack and being stolen from us by that elitist cabal so often referred to as the Babylonian Priesthood.

In the midst of all that erosion comes a futurist revolution in its mirror opposite: the act of creation as embodied in the rise of the Era of Artificial Intelligence. Now, mankind has experienced sudden technological leaps before. Think of the forward-thinking eruption in the period of Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and the three industrial revolutions sparked by the Enlightenment (steam power, electrical & oil power, and the computer age.) But the revolution that is bearing down on us now comes with a twist. Mankind has finally created, not just a sentient machine, but a machine that is itself capable of becoming a Creator in its own right. The Created has now produced a Creator.

That idea is encapsulated in this short video by Max Tegmark. We might muse: Is AI the last thing that humans will ever invent because, from this point forward, all future technological advancements will be led by The Machine? Have we now spoken to the universal quantum consciousness and declared: "Let us make AI in our image," and thus the whole cycle now repeats itself?

My blog here will pick up on this theme and inspect it from within the context of the very literal Babylonian Priesthood who set a particular chain of events in motion 2,500 years ago. It was Gary Bell's final radio broadcast on Toronto AM640 last month that briefly mentioned a statement on which I've been wanting to expand. The "Spaceman" mentioned that your Bible has been changed. He also asked aloud whether the Roman Catholic Church was itself a Kabbalist project.

Indeed, Spaceman was correct, but, fortunately, a handful of Bible publishers have been correcting that egregious error for a few hundred years. In spite of their efforts, there are powerful Gnostic agendas that have kept mainstream religious indoctrination steered by a criminal act of omission. It's starting to look as if this coming AI revolution and all that is implied along with it was the motive behind that journey.

This subject has been brewing in the back of my mind for many months. I debated with myself over whether the subject of a 2500-year-old scribal omission is relevant to the very real-world blogs that get posted here at Rogue Money, or perhaps the subject is too religious and too "preachy" to be posted in this arena. However, in light of the above idea that Man has now created a Creator, coupled with a statement that A.I. engineer Dr. Ben Goertzel made a few years ago, I decided to present this topic by trying to display that Biblical alteration in a secular wrapper rather than a religious one. In fact, I can see now that the rise of the entire Transhumanist revolution is coming fast and hard to attack your right to their "secret knowledge" of mankind's origins.

In a freely available documentary film entitled "Singularity or Bust," Dr. Ben Goertzel made these statements:

Consciousness and awareness is the base around which all else is formed. Different structures represent consciousness in different ways. If you're around Buddhists or people of other analogous spiritual traditions, they take this for granted. 

In the Middle Ages, they were talking about making a 'golem,' an intelligent person out of clay. It would walk around and talk to people. They were going to create its mind using alchemy or something. So the rational, scientific incarnation of it only started around the 1940's or so. 

(See the 17-minute mark of this video, below.)

By summoning the "golem" in his remarks above, Dr. Ben has, either wittingly or unwittingly, recalled the mysticism of the Kabbalah. Of course, the elephant in the room here is that the AI programmers keep telling us that the arrival of the Singularity is part of man's natural evolution, even though it is self-evident that the new AI creatures like Sophia are themselves a product of intelligent design. Sophia did not emerge from the primordial ooze and I would hope that Dr. Ben would be offended if anybody insisted that she did.

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Judge

Before we dive into the history of the criminally-intentioned motives that altered the Bible, please allow me to set this up from a secular perspective:

Imagine there is a well-respected, important man who has a team of editors compiling his autobiography. Let's suppose the man spent his life as a Supreme Court judge and his career was quite successful with many beneficial precedents having been set by his decisions. Most people in society regard him with affection. Naturally, the criminals who received the blunt edge of his decisions are not so enthralled with him. For the purpose of this metaphor, let's say his name is Judge Thomas and the book he's writing is called "The Bench."

He and his team of editors complete the book and give it wide circulation. The narrative is written in the third-person but Judge Thomas has made it quite personable and compelling. Within the narrative, he makes it clear that he wants people to know him by his name, to understand where "he's coming from," and what the purpose of his actions has always been. He even invites people to get to know him personally once they read the book. He invites his readers to get in touch with him. People love him so much that they even name their children after him in different variations of his name "Judge Thomas."

At first, things go pretty well after publication. However, gradually, a handful of people who blamed the Judge for their sufferings embarked on an agenda to keep people from reading the book and from getting to know Judge Thomas. They regarded the Judge as an evil man and wanted the whole world to believe that too. But they had to do this very stealthily because most people still respected the judge. How do you get people to turn against a person they respect? They did it by taking advantage of the people's own respect for this man. They softly began spreading the notion that this man was so highly respected that it was better not to use his name aloud lest you accidentally besmear his reputation.

Respected elders and teachers within the community began substituting his name "Judge Thomas" for the generic title "the Judge" whenever anybody talked about the man. After a couple of hundred years, people couldn't even remember what his original name was. A couple of hundred years after that, they couldn't even remember if the Judge had been a real person or whether his life story was just some pleasant fictional allegory.

During all this time, his book "The Bench" continued to be copied and translated widely. Some copies began applying the elders' objection regarding the verbal pronunciation of his name to the printed publication of his name as well. Many newly published versions were still faithful to the first edition and did continue publishing his full name "Judge Thomas" in its rightful places. However, some versions did not. A new trend began to evolve where his personal name was getting erased altogether and substituted with impersonal titles like the word "Judge" by itself or even slightly demeaning words like "Mister" and "Bossman."

Judge Thomas had a son, Tommy Jr., who was very concerned about this trend. His father, Judge Thomas, left it up to the people to decide for themselves whether they would get to know him or not, and whether they would defend his reputation or not. The Judge saw to it that some pristine versions of his autobiography would always be available. But his son, Tommy Jr., was moved to stand up in defense of his father. He spent a few years reminding people who his father was and why they should get to know him. 

In the end, that small handful of elite leaders who hated Judge Thomas couldn't get Tommy Jr. to shut up. So they murdered him. Fortunately, a small group of people believed that Tommy Jr. was right and picked up where he left off. They understood that the Judge's reputation was under attack. A social issue like that can't be resolved with some phenomenal demonstration of power. Nor can it be resolved by the Judge issuing some kind of manifesto or even by publishing a follow-up book; that would just make him look more suspect. The only way to resolve a social issue like that is to see if anybody who knows him will come to his defense. When the defense has been made strongly enough, the case can then be closed and the criminals can receive a fair and just sentence for their criminal acts of omission of the author's name from his own autobiography and resultant slander to that author's reputation. 

At this point, you likely can recognize the metaphor in the above illustration. The book "The Bench" is an allusion to one of mankind's oldest books, The Bible. The personal name "Judge Thomas" is an allusion to the personal name of God as it used to be copied in the oldest versions of the Bible. The son of the Judge is meant to represent Jesus Christ, who, ironically, actually told a similar story himself but used the metaphor of vineyard cultivator instead of the judge character that I have chosen. It is a simple tale that you can find in any Bible at Mark, chapter 12, if you'd like to read it separately (or online here, for example).

Scholars usually refer to the Bible's imprint of the Divine Name as the Tetragrammaton and it is often spelled with four consonants as "YHWH" or "JHVH" or even some other way common in thousands of languages across the globe. Regardless of how one spells it, the story of how that singularly important name came to be erased from the very book that was intended to make it known has a bearing on the Artificial Intelligence revolution that is currently underway.

Only the Most Holy Need Apply

Kabbalah is a belief system that seems to crop up wherever we look. It is one component of a package of other philosophy systems that includes the Hermetica and Gnosticism. In fact, the word "Kabbalah" did not really come into common use until the 12th century A.D., just before the period when the powerful Medici banksters saw fit to begin circulating the "newly discovered" library of ancient books that we refer to today as Hermeticism. As I've mentioned in a much older blog about the Mystical Zero, the Kabbalist/Hermetic revolution of thought in western society took off like a rocket as soon as the Arabic number system was introduced along with this new, esoteric idea that there was such a thing as a "Zero" and "Negative Numbers". Once that New Math was introduced, the foundation of the future Digital Age was laid.

In the extreme levels of Kabbalistic teaching - and yes there are levels in this belief system that even orthodox Jews are at odds with - the cabal of literal Babylonian priests who led its development began to engage in a campaign designed to assist the student to become one's own god. Consider this quote from a well-respected Kabbalah instructional site and think how this resonates with today's current headlong rush into AI Singularity:

Using Kabbalah, we can work with the fundamental forces of reality-reception and bestowal-to our benefit. It doesn’t only teach us the design of creation, but how we can become designers, as omnipotent and as omniscient as the original Designer of reality.

In the sacred writings that many today refer to as the "Old Testament," the personal name of the Creator was originally published over 5,000 times in those scrolls. Fragments of very old manuscripts of the people have been found that show that name being copied in a very ancient paleo-Hebrew script. In modern Hebrew, the four consonants are understood to be "YHWH". When transliterated into the German and English languages, the four letters become "JHVH". Other languages transliterate the same letters according to their lingual custom.

"The ancient Jews considered God's true name so potent that its invocation conferred upon the speaker tremendous power over His creations."  -- Wikipedia article "True Name"

The exact pronunciation of that name is debated but the meaning of the name is quite dynamic and is understood to be something along the lines of "He Causes To Become," a clause that emphasizes the creative ability of the owner of that name. The significance of that nomenclature will become self-evident in the context of the booming revolution now being led by Artificial Intelligence.

For hundreds of years, the use of the Tetragrammaton was cast aside as scholars and Bible publishers willingly went along with a Jewish tradition that insisted that we common, ordinary folk were not holy enough to use it. However, as archaeological discoveries came to light during the past 200 years or so, it became obvious that the ancient people of the Middle East most certainly did not feel that way. Furthermore, the pronunciation and proper use of that name was a regular custom, not just among the Israelites, but even among surrounding nations. When the Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, among other discoveries, was uncovered in 1868, the artificial barriers that had been created two thousand years previously to prevent people from connecting with their Creator began to crumble. The stones literally were crying out!

At the same time in that late 19th century, today's modern "mystery schools," centers of higher education, were busy pumping out the scientists and innovators destined to bring on the ethereal, digital age in which we now find ourselves. The race was on to bring that "court case" that I referred to above in my "Judge Thomas" metaphor to a conclusion.

How a Name Got Defamed

After the death of King Solomon around the year 900 B.C.E., and not long after the above Moabite Stone was inscribed, an elite strata of teachers from among the Israelites wanted a divorce from their covenant with YHWH. They began to look longingly towards the ancient wisdom of their northern neighbors, the Assyrians and Babylonians, descendants of the Sumerian tradition, for a way to achieve their own brand of godship. As a result of the Diaspora of 607 B.C.E. and destruction of Solomon's temple, other rabbinic leaders made their way to Alexandria, Egypt and likewise began adopting the nouveau Hellenized Egyptian traditions. This Wikipedia article on the subject of "Tetragrammaton" explains that the teachers who had once been entrusted with teaching the people the truth about the God of their covenant, and keeping the dynamic meaning of his name alive, actually began to lead them away from it:

Some time after the destruction of Solomon's Temple, the spoken use of God's name as it was written ceased among the people, even though knowledge of the pronunciation was perpetuated in rabbinic schools. The Talmud relays this occurred after the death of Simeon the Just (either Simon I or his great-great-grandson Simon II). Philo calls it ineffable, and says that it is lawful for those only whose ears and tongues are purified by wisdom to hear and utter it in a holy place (that is, for priests in the Temple). In another passage, commenting on Lev. xxiv. 15 seq.: "If any one, I do not say should blaspheme against the Lord of men and gods, but should even dare to utter his name unseasonably, let him expect the penalty of death."

Rabbinic sources suggest that the name of God was pronounced only once a year, by the high priest, on the Day of Atonement. Others, including Maimonides, claim that the name was pronounced daily in the liturgy of the Temple in the priestly benediction of worshippers (Num. vi. 27), after the daily sacrifice; in the synagogues, though, a substitute (probably "Adonai") was used. According to the Talmud, in the last generations before the fall of Jerusalem, the name was pronounced in a low tone so that the sounds were lost in the chant of the priests. Since the destruction of Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the tetragrammaton has no longer been pronounced in the liturgy. However the pronunciation was still known in Babylonia in the latter part of the 4th century.

"Lawful only for those with purified ears and tongues." As you can imagine, every time somebody starts promoting an elitist view like that, bad consequences are bound to ensue. And so it happened that the ordinary people were meticulously led away from benefiting from a personal relationship with their Creator through an indoctrination process designed to make them feel dirty and unworthy of knowing Yahweh. But that wasn't all. What is even more sinister is that the upper crust of these elites "hoarded" this sacred name for themselves with the intent of using it as a key towards the acquisition of ultimate knowledge and power.

This Wikipedia article on the topic of "True Name" says this about the Kabbalah theft of God's personal name:

The true name of God plays a central role in Kabbalism (see Gematria, Temurah, YHWH [the tetragrammaton]) and to some extent in Sufism (see 100th name of God). The ancient Jews considered God's true name so potent that its invocation conferred upon the speaker tremendous power over His creations. To prevent abuse of this power, as well as to avoid blasphemy, the name of God was always taboo, and increasingly disused so that by the time of Jesus their High Priest was supposedly the only individual who spoke it aloud — and then only in the Holy of Holies upon the Day of Atonement.

By the time Christ arrived on the scene, the personal Tetragrammaton name of his Father was rarely verbalized. However, it continued to be written in the scrolls of the ancient books, such as the writings of Isaiah and the Psalms, from which Christ would frequently quote. 

As a matter of fact, that man Philo was a prominent Jewish teacher in Alexandria, Egypt at the time that Joseph and Mary fled Judea with their infant son Jesus. For all we know, the adult teacher and the young child could have met each other. Nevertheless, we can be sure that Philo's ideas did not rub off on the future rabbi and Messiah. During Christ's 3 1/2 year ministry, he made it clear repeatedly that his Father's name should be hallowed, or sanctified, even to the point of including this as item #1 in the "Lord's Prayer." In the week that would lead up to his assassination, even Christ's followers had cast off the elite's prohibition against  uttering God's personal name, as referenced in the quotation at the top of this blog.

On the occasion when Christ entered Jerusalem seated on a donkey, the event that is ritualized every year by Christendom's observance of Palm Sunday, Christ's followers immediately sparked the ire of the elite establishment by greeting the future king with words recorded a thousand years previously in one of the Psalms:

37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; 

38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the LORD: (Jehovah Psa 118:26 ) peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 

- Divine Name King James Bible, Luke 19:37.38

And we can be sure that Christ's followers would have spoken all of the words correctly, uttering the divine YHWH aloud because the scroll copies that they had in the first century were still faithful to the original intent. Also, the following two verses show that the Pharisees demanded that Christ order his disciples to shut up. Those disciples must have been saying something to make the Pharisees mad!

39 But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” 

40 “I tell you, He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.” 

41 As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it.

- The Study Bible, Luke 19:39-40

It is no wonder that Christ wept over the city. This beacon of light had now become a pit of dense darkness. The city that had once been entrusted with keeping alive God's name and God's original purpose for the Earth had now gone completely off the rails. A few days later, Christ would add the proverbial straw to break the camel's back when he restored the life of his dead friend Lazarus, promising to do that same thing for all people who have died. That was a step too far for these elites whose control over the masses was now threatened by a young, handsome rabbi who was bound and determined to honor the name and knowledge of his Father. 

The elites displayed their influence over the Roman status quo by getting Christ executed. 37 years later, their "house," their temple, literally was abandoned to them as the Cabal chose, once and for all, to break their covenant in favor of the new power they had carefully developed over all the kings of the West, the power of a different type of creation that would precede Artificial Intelligence, that is, the power of money creation. Couple that control over the West's monetary system with the ability to divulge or suppress esoteric knowledge traditions at will, and you have the tools you need to drive the productive labors of mass populations along a hidden agenda.

However, that wasn't quite enough to kill the memory of God's personal, dynamic name. And the Cabal wasn't finished either.

(For the sake of brevity, this blog will be continued shortly. Stay tuned!)

My Twitter contact information is found at my billboard page of SlayTheBankster.com. Listen to my radio show, Bee In Eden, on Youtube via my show blog at SedonaDeb.wordpress.com.

[ethicallysourcedhumanmeat]

Lost Boys: Day One: Part One

Noelle Lee had practically been Jumin Han's Step-Sibling, even dated his best friend for a while, now they/she worked in advertising at C&R and did theater in her/their spare time.  Noelle finds their-self in a strangers apartment wondering what her brother's charity group is up to and what the hell any of this has to do with her.

This is a retelling of mystic messenger with a custom NB MC who uses she/they pronouns, it combines things from almost all the routes and will also cover the Secret Ends you can see me ramble about Noelle and the RFA ubder the tag Noelle Vs the RFA or simply check out drawings of Noelle and the RFA members on my art blog under the same tag 

  [Next][Masterpost][AO3]

There was nothing else to do.  On a normal Thursday she’d already be home in jogging pants a dog on her feet and a sketchbook in front of her but the cute flutist had asked her to go for coffee at rehearsal last night and she couldn’t think of a reason to say no.  So she grabs the bag from the back of her car and decides to walk to the rehearsal space.  There’s an audition for a Shakespeare showcase in a few days and she could use an extra day.  Maybe she’d finally settle on someone to read with her.

“Is it the 18th already?” She laughs answering her phone.

“Where are you?” Jumin asks ignoring her. 

“I had a date, it was terrible, I should have stayed home and drew your girlfriend.”

“I am not dating my cat, No.”

“Sorry you wife,” she laughs.

“Noelle,” Jumin starts to scold her but her laugh is infectious and he gives up. “I thought you didn’t do that anymore.”

“Do what?  Go on bad dates?  I wish.”

“Dating, I thought you’d said you were done with that.”

“Jumin you can’t hold me accountable for things I said when I was seventeen,” she laughs. 

“Why make a declaration like that arbitrarily?”

“It wasn’t arbitrary eight years ago.”  She walks in silence for a moment.  She knows he has little else to say at this point, he had just seen her at work earlier in the week to discuss another one of his cat businesses.  Poor Miss. Kang looked ready to break him in half the entire time.  She braces herself for his final enquiry.

“Have you spoken with Jihyun?”

“You really are never going to drop that are you?”

He doesn’t answer and she can practically hear his brow furrow, she can imagine him sitting foreword and crossing his arms across his chest.

“Do you pester Jihyun about calling me or do you save your nagging for family?”

“Could you be an adult for one minute Noelle.”

“Could you stop pretending you’re my big brother for like 3 minutes, Jumin.”

“Noelle.”

“Fine I’m petty, he didn’t call me, not once, not ever, why should I call him now?”

“That’s stupid.”

“I know.”

“I think you could help him, No.”

“That’s cool, I’m at work, I have to go.”

“I hate it when you call that place work.” He growls.  “You barely get paid there.”

“Mr. Han is displeased with me, I’m definitely at work,” she laughs and stumbles up the stairs.  “Shit!”

Someone catches her.  Hands on her elbows pull her back from where she’d tumbled forward and she finds herself resting against someone very tall, taller than her at least and that was saying something.  Smiling red eyes look down at her and she forgets how to move for a moment.

“Noelle, what happened?” Jumin is asking her, something almost like concern in his voice. “Are you alright?”

“I’m ok,” she says, a little nervously righting herself and nodding awkwardly at the tall man who’d caught her.  “Just tripped over my feet, it’s alright though, a giant caught me.”

“Why are you walking,” Jumin asks, but the tall man is laughing and she feels like she should know his name.  She doesn’t hear anything else Jumin says to her, the man’s smiling at her he touches her elbow and tilts his head like a puppy.

She blushes and realizes he’s trying not to interrupt her conversation. “I’m sorry, thank you,” she almost giggles like a teenager.

“You’re alright?” He asks.  “I was worried I’d startled you—”

“When you saved my life? Oh no,” she shakes her head.  Jumin is still talking at her and she can’t focus, she can’t believe she can’t remember this man’s name.  “I tripped over my own feet, can’t walk and talk you know?”

He laughs.  “I’ll see you in there then.”

He’s just going through the door when it comes to her “Zen!” she almost shouts.

“What about him?” Jumin asks irritated in her ear.

Zen turns around and waves to her before disappearing through the door.

“That’s who caught me,” she says.

Jumin groans.  “God, don’t tell me you work with him.”

“Are you jealous,” she laughs.

“Ugh.”

“I’ve been a chorus member in one or two of his shows, keeps my resume from stagnating but no, we don’t work together.  He freelances through the same company as me.”

“Please tell me you’re not in love with him too,” Jumin groans.

She stops outside the door. “What?  That’s stupid, I don’t even know him.”

“Good.” Jumin says.  “I have nothing else to contribute to this.  You should do whatever you have to do and go home, didn’t you take overtime home tonight?”

“You mean the designs for the catfood line that you haven’t even pitched to Pops yet.”

“Please stop calling my father Pops.”

“Bye Jumin.”

It’s loud inside, the band appears to be playing something, and there sounds like seven different singers singing totally different songs.  Thursdays were so chaotic, so many of the musicians rehearsing for some one-off Friday night gig.

Fucking Musicians, she thinks slipping off her coat.  She hangs it up and tucks her shoes on the shelf above it. She stops in the doorway to the big open studio and leans on the frame while she pulls her slippers on.  Two hands shoot up in the back of the room, she waves back and smiles.

“Look who’s here,” Mila smiles at her as she approaches.  “Nervous?”

“Not even a little,” she smiles. 

“Didn’t you have plans tonight?” Ki-jung asks.

“Yeah, please remind me never to say yes to a flutist ever again.”

“That bad?” Mila snickers.

“You can’t imagine how many times he compared playing the flute to cunnalingus.”

“What?” Ki-jung blushes.  “Who does that?”

“People who play the flute apparently,” Mila laughs.

“Yeah well I might have suggested it was kind of phallic for that and left.”

The three of them cackle.  “So who are you going to read for next week?” Ki-jung asks when they’ve regained control.

“I was thinking Ophelia, I’m not 100% on it.”

“Do you even rehearse for Hamlet anymore?” Mila laughs.  “Oh I don’t know who’ll I read for, I know everyone’s lines, give me and Act and a line Mr. Director, I’m sure I’ll recite it perfectly.”  Mila mimic’s Noelle’s slight accent, lowering her voice a few octaves.

“You should go out for the new musical everyone is talking about too,” Ki-jung suggests.

“Nope,” Noelle turns mid-grab for Mila and shakes her head.

“No doesn’t like to sing in front of people,” Mila laughs.

“You sing in front of us all the time,” he frowns.

“You’re not people,” Noelle chuckles, “you’re actors.”

“Why don’t you though?”

She looks away from her friends.  “Reminds me of my Dad,” she shrugs.

“And you miss him?”” Ki-jung smiles up at her.

Noelle curls her lip and snarls. “Not even a little. He used to make me sing for people he was trying to talk into marrying me. Ugh.”

“Rich people problems,” Mila snorts.

“Don’t remind me,” Noelle frowns.  “Too bad I wasn’t old enough to appreciate it.”

Mila laughs.  “At least when you’re famous you’ll be able to balance a stock portfolio and still relate to the average Joe.”

Noelle starts to stretch.  She laughs with her friends, they run lines, joke about her date, and she convinces Ki-Jung to practice fencing with her.  They’re breathing heavy when the smell of food hits them, half the people in the space have cleared out or hit the seats to eat.  She follows her friends to the old piano off stage, practically a prop at this point, it’s barely in tune. 

Mila plunks out a few bars from that new musical everyone had been talking about.  Noelle didn’t like to admit she’d been listening to the soundtrack, anytime she mentioned enjoying musicals someone would get onto her about how if she practiced she could do them too.  Mila elbows her in the ribs and she joins in.

Oh well, she thinks, everyone here is sick of trying.  No one is paying attention to them anyway.  Most of the performers have headphones in while they eat, running lines and melodies to themselves around sandwiches and lemon water. 

Min-ju slides up to where they sit and eggs her on, she snaps her fingers and hums.  Noelle blushes but she obliges her friends, the four of them now singing together, if she doesn’t get a part in this showcase she was going to have to go out for another chorus part just to keep her resume up to date, might as well indulge.

The four of them laugh as the song ends, and Min-ju drapes herself across Noelle’s lap.  “Hey,” she inclines her head stage left and raises her eyebrows as her ponytail swings.  “What’s with the local celebrity making googly eyes at you?”

“What?” Noelle frowns and follows her head tilt.  Zen is standing off stage watching them over his shoulder, or watching her.  “That’s weird.”