#and it makes sense!! this is an adaptation which the author herself was closely involved! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

therealvinelle · 3 years

Note

You've said before that you think Meyer is a good writer. I'm neutral to her myself but you're the first person in the fandom to say that that I've seen and I was wondering what your reasons were.

Sure thing.

First of, some referential links. In this post I explain why I like Meyer’s worldbuilding, and in this one I explain (in the last reblog - you can get away with skipping the previous posts) why I think her character creation is well done, and in this one I talk about why I like Twilight in the first place, though that post got a bit off-topic.

So, let me first do the disclaimer that I do not think Meyer is perfect.

Her greatest flaw, I’d say, is that what she intends to write isn’t always what ends up on page. Edward is for instance supposed to be the ideal man, chivalrous and the very antithesis of toxic masculinity. His relationship with Bella is supposed to be a love story on part with all the classics. Jacob, too, is intended as a dreamboat. Alice is the ideal BFF, Rosalie is the bitchy Regina George, Esme is the ultimate mother, and all the Cullen relationships are wonderfully happy. Aro is supposed to be a sinister villain and the Volturi are all corrupt.

Now, all of the above is how Bella perceives things, and I’m all for unreliable narrators. All narrators are, to a point, unreliable, and inferring things from fiction is one of my favorite things to do (as you can probably tell if you’ve been following this blog). However, so far as I can tell Meyer didn’t intend for Bella to have no clue what’s going on at any given time.

As it happens, I also think this is one of her strengths. This woman is living on a different planet, her mind is on a level I can’t follow at all, only spectate in silent wonder. What I’m saying is, no author in their right mind would write Twilight. No one would write Edward as delightfully unhinged as he is, for starters, not without toning him down significantly (just look at how the movies toned him down). To say nothing of how Bella would be a much more functional person, and in turn much less interesting. Aro would be an actual villain, and Twilight as a whole would not be so overwhelmingly bleak.

Her strengths come through in that she’s consistent about it, and while she interprets things differently than I do, she is still the creator of this bizarre universe and one who knows it intimately well. Does she think Edward is great, yes. Did she also write Midnight Sun without pulling any punches, also yes.

I’d put it this way, the flaw of hers that I’m trying to get at is that she creates this rich and horrifying universe and gets full credit from me for that, but she views it through rose-tinted glasses. Which in turn leads to some interesting writing and plotting decisions.

She has one other significant flaw that comes to mind. She’s not good at cutting things.

This goes for both scenes and plotlines. There’s a lot of filler in these books, from Bella making enchiladas in Twilight, to New Moon taking far too long in Jake’s garage and with Bella’s depression before things start happening again, to Breaking Dawn being 2/3rds filler (the wedding, honeymoon, and vampire euphoria especially come to mind.) There’s a lot of stuff in these books that weren’t necessary to the plot. The Host suffer from this as well.

To say nothing of the bigger things she should have cut, like Jake’s involvement in Breaking Dawn. He’d played out his part, Bella chose to become everything he hated, we were done. The book had more than enough story with Renesmée and the Volturi happening, and Jake’s involvement only served to lower the book’s overall quality. And introduce a pedophilic storyline, which, Meyer no.

Then there are decisions she made where I would have chosen differently, such as Bella returning to Forks at the end of New Moon.

However, this all being said, I am a very difficult person to please. Meyer was never going to tick all my boxes, and while I have points of contention with her, my overall impression is a positive one.

(Just to stress how difficult I am to please: I read Good Omens a few days ago. I liked it very much, but it wasn’t perfect. Shadwell, Madame Tracy, Newt Pulcifer and the Them could all have been cut, for starters.

I’m too critical of everything, and it’s not just Meyer that I think should have cut significant parts of their respective stories and made them into something fundamentally different.)

So, now that I’ve torn her apart, what do I like about her? What, for that matter, do I think constitutes a good writer?

To list a few things I like about her as a writer:

She’s good at writing Her prose is very good, her characters are interesting and engaging people, she’s very good at establishing a scene or a character, and she’s evocative. Her prose never bores me, and it makes me feel things.

She has good ideas Self-explanatory, really. Her lore is extremely original, her characters are interesting, and she comes up with great backstories and worldbuilding. The Southern Wars, for instance, brilliant.

She’s consistent She’s described this herself - she doesn’t get to decide what her characters do, sometimes they do things she very much does not want them to do and she’s quite put out about it. And that, I think, is the key to why her characterization is so consistent - she doesn’t do that dreaded thing where the author forces a character to do what they must to force the plot along, like cramming a square through a triangular hole, she just lets her characters decide for themselves. As her characters are already delightful people, this works out beautifully (Edward conspiring with Jacob that they should forcibly abort Bella’s baby so Jake can then impregnate her comes to mind. Or Aro, whom she views as a powerhungry maniac, showing up at the battleground and being absolutely devastated about that fact.) as they never do anything they wouldn’t do, and their characterization does not change from one book to another. (Counterexample: look at how Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker turns towards the light when we’re closing in on the end of the movie. It’s unconvincing, to say the least, and runs contrary to what has previously been established about him. The movie does not bother to explain why this happens now, what it is that’s so special about one chat with Han and a duel with Rey that makes him turn his life around, nor why it couldn’t have happened sooner. He is redeemed because the trilogy is nearly over, not because it made sense for his character.)

Her plotting is generally good Her plots make sense, I’m invested in them, and they’re reasonably adapted to her characters’ power levels (The clusterfuck that was the Department of Mysteries showdown in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is an example of the antithesis of that).

Of these virtues, I’d place the most emphasis on Meyer’s writing and character creation.

As for what makes a good writer…

It’s difficult for me to pin down.

It’s chiefly whether I think their writing is good, and that means prose, characters, and plot. As Meyer fulfills all of these three, that puts her in my “good writer” box. She’s not perfect, but she has earned her place as a published author.

More, I enjoy reading her books and care about the story and characters she creates. This is a matter of personal preference, but I’m down for what she’s putting out. It would be disingenuous for me to do that and then say “... but of course, she’s a terrible writer”, in part because I feel that’s become a bit of a disclaimer when it comes to Meyer. It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Stephenie Meyer is a bad writer, everyone knows that, if you think otherwise you have bad taste. She has written things, I’ve enjoyed them all, and I’m giving her full credit for that.

#long post #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #stephenie meyer

136 notes · View notes

smol-jinyoungie96 · 3 years

Text

Devil Judge - Episode 5 (i’m not okay)

Right! So review timeeeee this is a long one lol

I love the opening. Facts

This man clearly carries a lot of burden but he loves his brother so much.

Watching the first part made me wonder if they are trying to make the viewers think if he really killed his brother and is guilty, hence the nightmares of his dead brother standing in the middle of his room, or is it because he feels guilty that he was only able to save Elijah and himself… either way they kinda show us that there is guilt somewhere in him.

When Elijah comes to his room she says about him not waking up like that before, could mean that Ga On’s presence is worsening his guilty conscious, or from my perspective, i just think that 10 years worth of forcibly trampled down trauma is threatening to explode.

Devil judge or not, no one can control that amount of severe trauma for long.

Next point! Kim Ga On is so sweet with a kind heart, he initially joined the court to spy on Yohan but just based on him clawing open unhealed wounds, he feels so deeply for Yohan to the point he is willing to quit the bench just so Yohan doesn’t have to look at him and see his brother’s face every time.

He tries to relate to Yohan on an emotional level that they both feel due to losing their loved ones. But a few things that I noticed is that when Yohan says,

“I certainly don’t want to hear that from someone that looks like him”

Again, being called the devil judge or not, but having someone who shares the same face as his brother accusing him of killing the said brother has to hurt deep down.

2. “I wonder how much you’ve discovered”

To me, i think that Yohan knew from the beginning that Ga On was looking into him, and yet he has Ga On in a place where Bambi himself admits to it.

3. “I don’t remember asking you to understand me”

I feel like he is intentionally pretending to push Ga On away because he knows that Bambi will do the exact opposite. It is literally in Ga On’s blood to always try and sympathise with anyone who has any sort of emotional baggage. He knows he can lure Ga On more towards him if he pushed the right buttons.

One part that stuck to me the most is when Ga On says

“hunters mask their scent completely, until the time is right”

Could it be foreshadowing?

It could hint towards him fooling Ga On to believing him until it is too late for Bambi to realise because well, Ga On falls for any heartbreaking story.

But at the same time it is also similar to the way Yohan is so close with the rich socialites to win their trust until the time is right for him to finally reveal that he is in fact a hunter and they’ve been his prey all along.

When Ga On leaves Yohan says that “it’s weird because I’ve never experienced that before”

That, being another human being connecting to him on such a deep emotional level and that’s something he hasn’t felt for almost ten years.

The way he talks about Ga On relating to him with an expression of awe makes me think that it could also be a fact as to why Yohan has this obsession with Ga On.

The minister’s interview was a clever way to show the people that despite being a mother she is a person who has her duty towards the country as a priority but also wanting to make the public question Yohan’s morals.

Please look at his fond little smile,

it’s a genuine reaction to Ga On tricking him into eating proper food by mentioning wrinkles and his age 💀 but also, signs to say that the little annoying pest is growing on him.

The scene with Ga On and Soo Hyun, they talk about the fire and there’s one line that Soo hyun says,

“The list of attendees to the ceremony was covered up, that’s not something Kang Yohan could’ve done 10 years ago. That takes controlling the press and prosecution”

A clear indication that someone who held power over both media and the prosecution was involved in the accident.

Everything Ga On has seen so far after he joined the live show has terrorised him so much but he is still worried about Soo Hyun because he has seen things that she hasn’t.. even when she’s a cop.. even when the reason she became a cop in the first place is because she want to help him and to keep him out of trouble.

Their bond is so pure and cute.

THE TRIAL

The beginning was so cute with the sweetest welcome back to Ga On and then there’s Yohan giving him a fond smile as if Ga On was actually on death’s doorstep and not snooping around his house arguing with a nanny about not being sleeping beauty..

The case was a set up from the get go. It was just a trap from the beginning to push Yohan to a corner.

They wanted him to have no where to turn to when prosecution suggested “physical castration” (gross) because if he gave into the requested sentence,

they would very easily twist it into making him look like a sadistic monster and if he didn’t give in and went with the 20 years of prison time requested by the defendant,

that would make him look like just another person who doesn’t bother with taking people’ opinion into consideration. Which would make his own statements from the first episode wildly contradicting to what he went with.

Even the stupid lawyer tries so hard to push him to this corner by repeating “this is what the majority wants” but Kang Yohan is definitely smarter than they give him credit for because he puts the pieces together as soon as Jung Sun Ah sets foot inside the court room.

I love that Ga On as a judge as come to a point where he genuinely relied on Yohan as to what they were going to do instead of directly challenging his authority like he had done in the first case. Another sign that Ga On is starting to trust his boss.

Jung Sun Ah thinks! That she has him helpless but then this man turns the whole game upside down. (Even here, it’s really just a game in the name of justice, it is a power play between two sides)

If the minister and Jung Sun Ah thought they were a step ahead of Yohan, he definitely proved that he is ten steps ahead of them when he gave that sentence.

I completely adore the trust Ga On and Jin Joo has on their boss. Especially the way Ga On shares a real relieved smile with Jin Joo and the way he looks so relieved that things weren’t going to be as bad as he thought.

Teen Ga On was definitely a delinquent. The sight is just ✨

Another important point is that just when he learns to trust his boss, now he is struggling,

Because from one side there’s Kang Yohan asking him is he’s going to stand by him or stand against him,

And on the other hand there’s the Chief Justice asking him to choose between being an accomplice or an informant.

They’re both essentially asking him to pick a side and it looks like they’re pulling him back and forth between themselves. He’s struggling because as much as he wants to stand by Yohan, he can see that Yohan’s approach to justice is being adapted by the public,

For an example when those three kids were playing, it gives him a notion that the barbaric flogging system is now being used as a playing method by kids.. kids. It genuinely seemed to scare him that the way those kids were laughing and smiling while playfully hitting the small boy.

Kim Ga On is shown as this impulsive, level headed judge with a black and white sense of Justice but he too carries a lot of pain and burden similar to Yohan. But in his case, he’s being put on the spot between the two sides, eventually it will be him who has to face the consequences if he chooses the wrong side.

And being on the wrong side of Kang Yohan doesn’t really seem to be the smartest thing at the moment.

Going back to Kang Yohan and Kim Ga On, i like the way Bambi calls Yohan out for implying that being a monster is better than being a victim when he’s not brave enough to face his own pain.

That genuine shock on Yohan’s face is enough to show that Kim Ga On is really out there pulling out this man’s traumas one by one like he’s pulling out grass from the ground.

Again it shows how much Yohan is suffering inside because ultimately, that mansion is just a giant nightmare for him.

JUNG SUN AH/KANG YOHAN

first of all.

CONSENT!

i felt bad for Yohan.

But Jung Sun Ah is really obsessed with him to the point she jumped from the second floor just because he said he to, when Yohan came to a place of power, she worked herself to her own place of power. Her obsession with him runs too deep.

Tomorrow’s episode is already making me nervous because i feel like Jung Sun Ah is going to use Soo Hyun to drive a wedge between Yohan and Ga On.

If he did his homework on Ga On. I’m sure she has done hers as well.

More or less, Episode 5 was like the calm before the storm.

Unsurprisingly, i hate storms.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for listening to me ranting.

Please send help

64 notes · View notes

yamayuandadu · 4 years

Text

A hidden world that never was: witch cults, matriarchal prehistory and contemporary conspiracy theories

As regular readers of this blog might already know, a particular woe of my online activity over the course of the past year were constant reminders that discussion of history, mythology and religion online is often dominated by dubious, outdated or outright fraudulent claims. Worst of all, this is generally not the result of misguided theories which seemed sound when they were first formulated – there were plenty of these in the history of modern historiography after all, as eventually many research methods are replaced by even better ones (even these of 19th archaeologists whose ideals are not completely baffling to us often relied on excavation methods which would rightfully shock everyone if employed today), and more and more blanks in our understanding of the past are filled. For example, it used to be unclear to researchers if classical Maya predate the Olmec due to insufficient material, while the importance of the Hittite civilization in the ancient Middle East was severely underestimated due to scarcity of discoveries prior to the last 100 years or so. Even properly identifying all the trading partners of well known ancient civilizations with a large corpus of primary sources, such as Sumer or Egypt, can be described as a long, arduous and arguably still ongoing process, with many mistaken assumptions made in the past. The claims which I will attempt to describe here - the so-called witch cult hypothesis, as well as its close relatives, the claims about universal matriarchal religion (the “myth of matriarchal prehistory,” as Cynthia Eller called it) and the foundations of certain new religious movements – cannot be simply described as examples of these, though. As I will demonstrate, they're simply pseudohistory, firmly entrenched in a modern phenomenon which can be referred to as “conspirituality.”

Our journey through the world of historical misinformation begins in the 18th century. The age of enlightenment largely put an end to a fixture of earlier european history, the witch hunts, and historians started to present them as an abuse of power by the church and senseless, baseless violence, while the people who perished in them started to be rightfully seen as innocent victims claimed by what was essentially a historical equivalent of phenomena such as satanic panic, NWO/reptilian conspiracy theories or the sadly very politically relevant at the moment Qanon movement. Modern researchers, especially Norman Cohn, pointed out that there was also a strong antisemitic component to many witch trials, and even the terms used appear to often intentionally demonize or mock Judaism, and reports of the purported witches' activities often mirror the medieval blood libel, rather than any known descriptions of religions of antiquity. Cohn also notes that adapting the idea that witch hunts were linked to blood libel and similar accusations does make for a coherent chronology, while the various “witch cult” and “pagan survival” theories have a glaring issue – they seldom answer any questions about events taking place during the entire time period between the adoption of christianity and times in which witch hunts occurred, different for individual countries. 19th century sadly changed the approach to the history of witch hunts – as the new philosophical movements born in that era aimed to often undermine or subvert the age of reason and its accomplishments (flawed as they were, obviously), the consensus on the past witch hunts likewise started to be challenged. A number of figures regarded as very conservative back then, let alone by modern standards, like Karl Ernst Jarcke, a fanatical monarchist, started advancing the idea that witch hunts were a war waged by the church and its righteous supporters on a nefarious cult, similar to the secret societies common in conspiracy theories advanced by his peers. As the 19th century was also the time when nationalism in the modern sense was born, the theories of Jarcke and his followers had a notably xenophobic flair to them – the “witch cult” was introduced to Germany by slaves and other undesirables, who based it on the religion of ancient Greece, and especially Hecate worship (read: on medieval christian criticisms of it – I debunked some claims present here as well in my Hecate article from last year; also note the idea of Hecate being the goddess of a “pan-european witchcraft cult” remains popular with modern neopagans and wiccans, despite its nefarious origin and inaccuracy) and aimed to overthrow rightful authority of the monarchs and the Catholic church (this was also meant to serve as a rather blunt attack on their liberal contemporaries, presented as godless and anarchic). Similar claims were also advanced in England by Karl Pearson, a mathematician and eugenicist who for some reason decided to dabble in pseudohistory. His notable claim was that Joan of Arc was a priestess of a hidden, malevolent “matriarchal religion” - an accusation so outlandish it would likely even shock her earlier accusers, and one of the few pieces of pseudohistory discussed here I haven't seen adapted by any modern purveyors of it.

While Jarcke is the earliest figure I opted to bring up here, the one whom I'd actually consider worthy of being referred to a the father of the discussed network of puzzling hoaxes and misconceptions was Charles Godfrey Leland, a late 19th century American author. While seemingly a relatively progressive person for his time in some regards (he was an abolitionist – not a high bar, though), he had no real issue with altering, falsifying and entirely fabricating claims (or even artifacts) and publishing them as result of genuine fieldwork. His “impressive” accomplishments include altering a number of Algonquian tales he published as genuine oral tradition merely compiled and translated by him. His aim was seemingly to provide evidence for an outlandish theory that the beliefs and religious practices of the people forming the historical Wabanaki Confederation were derived from Vikings, an example of the ignoble tradition present in early American scholarship aiming to strip indigenous peoples of their history and accomplishments (its main legacy is the so-called “mound builder myth”). His another particularly harmful contribution was the fabrication known as “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches,” which he presented as a genuine religious text shared with him by a purported informant in Italy, who was herself a witch. Needless to say neither the work itself nor even the informant appear to be real, and “Aradia” is quite clearly an attempt to sell similar lies as these formed by Jarcke and his ilk to a new audience. Leland wasn't the first to attempt that – famous French historian Jules Michelet tried to put a progressive spin on witch cult conspiracy theories over 30 years earlier (rather puzzling decision, considering he was the exact kind of person Jarcke reviled and equated with his made up satanic conspiracy – a lifelong secular and republican activist) – but he was the first to present his work as anything other than speculation, and the first whose work gained widespread attention (Michelet's witch-related ventures were treated as an oddity disconnected from the rest of his career). “Aradia” presents a fanciful account of a hidden society of witches venerating the eponymous “Aradia,” a daughter of Diana and Lucifer (sic). Leland claimed that the rituals described in the book probably are a remnant of Etruscan religion, at the time barely researched and still somewhat mysterious today; however the book also claims that Aradia was a medieval figure involved in the struggle between feudal peasants and local landowners – consistency is not its strongest suit. The author also chaotically speculated about his own claims, providing us with such smash hits as equating the biblical Herodias with largely extrabiblical Lilith. There are many well documented instances of religious syncretism in antiquity, some of them even involving historical or semi-historical figures, but none line particularly well with these made by Leland. Rather importantly, none of his claims line up particularly well with the medieval accounts related to purported witchcraft, or any confessions obtained during witch trials. None of them fit with archaeological records, either. They do line rather well with what one could expect from a 19th century hoax prepared by someone with only a vague sense of dedication to uncovering historical truth, though. To a a modern reader claims such as the existence of entire networks of “heathen villages” in Italy are easy to recognize as belonging to the 19th century tradition of “noble savage” literature. Similar ideas were further developed by Margaret Murray from the 1910s onward. Murray made history as the first woman to teach Egyptology professionally in Britain, and was an accomplished archaeologist, but her expertise in one field doesn't exactly balance the fact that ultimately most of her academic work was centered on pursuing increasingly puzzling lies and promoting them to the general public from a position of scholarly authority. Like some of the figures discussed in earlier sections of this article, she claimed that well known accounts of witch hunts were in fact the persecution of a “pan-european religion,” a claim which raises many red flags for anyone even vaguely familiar with history of ancient religions. A particularly heinous aspect of Murray's work was dismissing the fact that many aspects of witch-related texts, including the fact their gatherings were referred to as “sabbaths,” were simply rooted in antisemitism – it's virtually impossible to deny it, considering sometimes even the term “synagogue” was used as well. In her writing there was room for a large scale organized religion unknown to historians, but there was no room for even just attempting to address a very real legacy of religious intolerance. Instead, she created fanciful etymologies for terms blatantly intended to demonize Judaism to disconnect them from their very real legacy of still socially relevant hate. Note this is not something that was only noted in very recent times – Norman Cohn, who was the first author to write extensively about the similarities between religious persecution in ancient Rome, medieval witch hunts, blood libel and totalitarian purges was almost Murray's contemporary! A concept invented by Murray which gained particularly wide recognition among all sorts of fans of dubious claims was the idea of “horned god.” Using disconnected, inconclusive evidence, she claimed that every single horned male figure from every single system of beliefs – Pan, Amon, the Minotaur and other Minoan depictions of bulls, the “master of animals” seals recovered from various Indus Valley Civilization sites, Cerunnos and more – represent a single figure, which was also the central god of her made up witch religion. Naturally, the deities in mention aren't really connected with each other, and fulfilled very different roles in very different societies and time periods. It is possible to make some generalizations about different gods and point out certain archetypes do repeat quite often across mythologies – for example many middle eastern mythologies featured a warlike goddess often with femme fatale characteristics, there are examples of unruly storm gods fighting dragons in a wide variety of cultures, plague-repelling gods serving as afterlife officials are widespread in east Asia, and so on. However, any claims about universal deities worshiped all over the world from the neolithic to present times are nothing but hyperdiffusionism, a long discredited pseudohistorical theory seeking to find a common origin for a given aspect of many cultures. Murray's later followers for some reason ignore some notable aspects of her creed – the firm belief a race of fairies inhabited Britain and shared the faith of the witches, but eventually went extinct, the notion that some English kings died as ritual sacrifices, and the claim Joan of Arc was a witch and adherent of the religion she claimed to “research”. I feel like it's very important to underline that to Murray the existence of fairies and gnomes was more plausible than the existence of religious prejudice still widespread among her contemporaries, which tells you a lot about what sort of person she was. Due to limited interest in relevant topics among more credible historians, Murray's views went unchallenged, and she even managed to secure a spot for them on the pages of Encyclopedia Britannica – her confabulations were only removed in the 1960s, after the damage was done. Murray's baffling works inspired many further writers. Among them, a particularly notable example was Robert Graves – while his main interests and theories differed from Murray's, he was undeniably inspired by her idea of “forbidden” religious remnants and universal deities going back to the stone age. He also embraced the idea of a hidden witch cult existing in England in historical times, though unlike Murray he saw it as matriarchal. Graves was a poet and writer by trade, and for all intents and purposes pretty successful one at that – it's probably his writing style to which the lasting popularity of his works can be attributed. Sadly, their worth as texts about history of religion is dubious at best. The core idea behind Graves' writing was the existence of an universal goddess figure possessing three aspects, which he usually referred to as virgin, mother and crone, though he was not very consistent about it. This figure, in his mind, united the legacy of ancient Greece and Celts and their art (he did not address the much more significant similarities between the culture of ancient Greeks and their eastern neighbors, though – sorry, Carians, Phrygians, Phoenicians etc., you're not cool enough for mr. Graves). He further spread these ideas with his retellings of Greek myth published in the 1950s. A particularly prominent victim of Graves' theories was Hecate, whose modern popular perception was shaped largely by him and later writers who embraced him, and not by historical sources. It's worth noting that Graves' goddess theory was likely in part a way to essentially “mythologize” his encounters with his many lovers, and thus provide a religious justification for having multiple “muses” (some of them teenage) – at least one of them was appalled by this. He notably claimed that contacts with the “triple goddess” were the only source of “true” poetry, and thus she and her many guises were the ultimate muse. It's rather notable that there was pretty clearly no room for female artists in his vision, even though he claimed it to be a celebration of femininity – women were presumably meant to be inspiration, but not authors themselves. Graves' vision of the ideal world was so matriarchal it looped back into being grotesquely misogynistic. While I can think of a few positive things to say about Leland (committed union supporter and abolitionist), Murray (genuinely accomplished archaeologist before she sacrificed her career on the altar of pseudohistory) and even Graves (seemingly entertaining writer – if only he admitted basically all his works are fantasy perhaps he could be remembered as a Tolkien-like figure!), I fail to see a single positive thing about the next person whose legacy I will discuss, Gerald Gardener. His moral conduit was questionable at best, he claimed to possess degrees from universities which did not exist, and his work was nothing but layer upon layer of fiction. Gardener was even more of a disciple of Murray than Graves – indeed, he even knew her personally. He took her theories to the logical extreme, by basically making them into religious dogma – the new religious movement of wicca. While he claimed to merely present what he learned from a “surviving coven” of genuine witches, the inconsistent nature of his writing, his participation in fringe esoteric movements long before his “discovery” and the fact he relied mostly on sources like Murray's books, Leland's “Aradia” and the works of Aleister Crowley are evident, and make it easy to disregard all of his statements as pure fiction. It doesn't exactly help his case that he kept revealing new fragments of purportedly ancient doctrine as he saw fit merely to gain the upper hand in arguments between him and his fellow practitioners of invented religion, claiming them to be law. He adopted Murray's horned god, but elevated his consort to the rank of a full blown divinity, something not found in Murray's writing. His arguably most notable successor was Doreen Valiente. Her main contribution to wicca was forming a new version of the Charge of the Goddess, a prayer or hymn to the “great mother” - a composite wiccan entity similar to Graves' triple goddess (and outright conflated with the latter by some wiccans and other neopagans – as far as I can tell the first to do so was a contemporary of Gardener, Robert Cochrance, who claimed the term is “genuine” rather than an invention of a 20th century writer...). Both Gardener's and Valiente's versions of it and other, newer ones are responsible for spreading false information forcing various disconnected goddesses into the “great mother” or “mother earth” mold. Particularly grating examples include Hecate, who was described by Greeks as a virgin goddess and Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte who were at times associated with sensual love or even fertility (the extent of that has been sometimes overestimated in the past, though – a specific myth depicting a figure as seductive is not quite the same as an association with fertility in religious worship) but were not mother goddesses in any meaning of this term.

A notable episode from Valiente's life was her participation in a neonazi movement, specifically in the organizations National Front and Northern League. The association between nazism and conspirituality of the sort discussed here wasn't new – indeed, at least some nazi officials showed interest in investigating it in hopes of constructing a “truly aryan” religion, so it should come as no surprise that early wiccans likewise often had far right sympathies. Ultimately an argument can be made that the entire field is basically a hyper-conservative fantasy, which I will discuss more later. Sadly, despite her far right sympathies, Valiente remained a celebrated figure in certain circles focused on intentionally obscuring history for the rest of her life, and she can be arguably credited with making wicca into the global phenomenon it is now. It's also worth noting that while some contemporary neopagans sneer at followers of, say, ufo-oriented new age groups, Valiente and her peers embraced that as well, and Atlantis and ley lines feature prominently in her writing. Valiente was also well aware that much of Gardener's writing was completely made up (or plagiarized – for example from a Rudyard Kipling poem of all things), even his grimoire, “Book of Shadows” - instead of exposing it she aimed to “improve” his works and continue the hoax. As a side note, it should be said that some other pioneers of wicca were likewise people of dubious moral character – while not a neonazi, Alex Sanders stole from and defecated in a library, for example. However, the history of this specific brand of pseudohistory doesn't end here! While in the 1960s and 1970s the theories of Graves and Murray were debunked over and over again by credible, experienced scholars, a brand new type of pseudohistorical ideas arose, influenced in part by works like Graves' “White Goddess” - the so-called “goddess movement.” However, while it definitely has Graves' fingerprints all over it, it would be doing my readers a disservice not to introduce its other component – the philosophy devised by TERFs. Of course, everyone on this site is vaguely familiar with this movement – back when we were teenagers, all of us probably had the protective BYF scripture listing this acronym among groups meant to stay away somewhere on our blogs. However, few people fully comprehend how utterly incomprehensible to a normal person TERF beliefs are. Mary Daly, the original “TERF theologian” of sorts (a catholic theologian btw – in case if you're curious how come that you reasonably often hear about TERFs allying with religious fundies...), had a basically cult-like view of reality and society, akin to some sort of feminist extreme gnosticism – a false world existed, and a real world within had to be revealed. The “false” world, material reality, was referred to her as “necrophiliac” and the way to reveal the true world within required de facto genocide, or at the very least purchasing her book containing made up “rituals” meant to unlock secret potential within. Supposedly, this would restore some nonexistent primordial matriarchy, and give women back the ability to procreate through parthenogenesis (no, really). This is obviously similar to the doctrine of a millenarian cult, which I feel needs to be discussed more, though this is not the time and place for it. Being a TERF (arguably the original one), Daly naturally also had many charming things to say about trans people, for example comparing transition to the deeds of doctor Frankenstein and in a weird act of projection presenting transition as a cultic behavior. As a small digression I feel like it's worth noting that in sharp contrast with Daly, the inventor of sex reassignment surgery and arguably father of modern LGBT activism as a whole, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a kind, rational man, whose meticulously researched writing was centered on bringing up historical examples of LGBT people, as well as positive experiences of his patients achieved thanks to his revolutionary work, to argue for tolerance and equal treatment in society. Sadly he's just a forgotten piece of historical trivia, while the ravings of Daly and her followers and derivatives keep influencing generation upon generation of teenagers.. Anyway, back to the goddess movement – from incomprehensible spiritual ideals like these of Daly, mixed with the writing of Graves and with some wiccan influence, the idea of “primordial matriarchal religion” arose. As history likes to repeat itself, once again a formerly credible and accomplished archaeologist opted to sacrifice prominent position in a genuine field for study to instead pursue mirages – enter 1950s bronze age research superstar Marija Gimbutas. Gimbutas was undisputably a very talented archaeologist, and her findings greatly enhanced our knowledge about neolithic and bronze age Europe. However, her interpretation of own finds leaves much to be desired, and today is often honored more by neopagans and charlatans than by historians and archaeologists. She argued that Europe was once a realm of peaceful, matrilineal and economically just societies worshiping an universal mother goddess, whom she eventually started to describe in terms borrowed from Graves' books, adapting even his idea of three forms. She claimed this idyllic reality ended with the “Kurgan invasion” from the eurasian steppe, which “tainted” Europe with warfare, patriarchy and indo-european languages (based on archaeological finds it is hard to say if people speaking indo-european languages started appearing in Europe and the Middle East gradually or not and there's evidence of warfare long before the bronze age and the arrival of steppe-based nomads in Europe, and burials do not support the notion of an universal matriarchal – or as Gimbutas argued, “egalitarian” - society; it's also called into question if every archaic female statuette is a cult object). Today it is evident that at least some of her work was a severe case of seeing what she wanted to see in the past, rather than what actually was there. Personally I do not see Gimbutas as a malicious figure, unlike most of the other people I brought up in this article, though it is evident she responded to criticism and newer evidence not by revising her theories, but by turning them into what essentially constituted self-parody (despite claiming she merely believed the neolithic cultures of Europe were lacking hierarchy and thus perfectly equal, she basically embraced Graves' rhetoric, as I noted before), and as such much of her work aged poorly and is mostly lauded by people with questionable ideas today, as I already pointed out. Some of them allege that any criticism leveled at her amounts to a nefarious conspiracy. It's important to mention that while Gimbutas was for the most part simply a misguided scholar who took criticism poorly in her final years (not an uncommon sight), some offshots of the goddess movement have nothing to do with genuine study of the past, but stay more than true to their TERF legacy, especially the so-called “dianic wicca” of Zsuzsanna Budapest, characterised as such even by other wiccans, who usually defend even the most questionable aspects of their movement (such as, well, falsifying history). This is a feature, not a bug. The idea of the “myth of matriarchal prehistory” espoused by the goddess movement was thoroughly debunked in the early 2000s by Cynthia Eller in her book of the same title. She correctly presents the goddess movement as the product of dubious scholarship seeking to produce an all-encompassing philosophy, and notes that the goddess myth is at best an “ennobling lie” - a concept formed by the philosopher Kwame A. Appiah (probably my favorite contemporary writer) – essentially, a founding myth meant to provide some group with dignity or enforcing positive values. Appiah argues in favor of maintaing some ennobling lies on a case by case basis. Eller argues in favor of rejection of this specific ennobling lie, considering pseudohistory a burden to feminism, rendering its ideals easy to dismiss. She also notes many foundations of the goddess movement simply consistute poor research practises – veneration of female figures didn't necessarily translate to equal treatment of living women, while interpreting every ancient work of art as a cult object is an antiquated idea.

Sadly, Eller's publication is obscure (I only stumbled upon it myself because I saw it mentioned in relation to Appiah's ennobling lie concept), while another work influenced by the goddess movement appears to be held in high esteem by users of goodreads, amazon, and many other sites connected in some capacity to literature, and as a result influences online perception of history of religion to a considerable degree – Barbara G. Walker's “The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.” Walker wrote about knitting before deciding the world needs her bizarre conspiratorial rehashing of basically all the bizarre ideas described in the previous sections of the article – she also added a plenty of weird ideas of her own. A particularly funny example of a misconception popular in the discussed circles and spread further by Walker are attempts to present the myth of Marduk and Tiamat as triumph of patriarchal forces over an earlier mother goddess – Enuma Elish was hardly an old myth by the standards of ancient Mesopotamia, and it was based on earlier tales, in which the equivalents of Tiamat – Yam, Illuyanka etc. - are male, and often act disrespectful towards both male and female authorities. It does tell us a lot about Babylon, of coure– as it morphed from city-state to an empire, Marduk absorbed traits of many gods, including the dragon-slaying ones; but there's no hidden matriarchy to uncover there, and Tiamat is absent from earlier texts and from any which are not derived from the Enuma Elish itself. Funnily enough this bizarre approach to Tiamat was also lauded by a person from a completely different ideological movement, online demagogue and self help guru Jordan Peterson. I actually tried to make it through Walker's book, and while it wasn't the most soul-crushing experience I can think of (out of the authors I mentioned here, Daly easily wins in that category), the bizarre stupidity of some entries almost made me wonder if it's a joke of some sort. Some choice tidbits to my knowledge unique to Walker's writing include describing sufism as “tantric goddess worship,” arguing Amaterasu's name contains a made up universal term for motherhood, claiming Japanese imperial house only became patrilineal in the Kamakura period, and asserting Ahriman was an actively worshiped deity from which the “power” of zoroastrian magi was derived. Walter also appears to have a peculiar obsession with describing mixing menstrual blood with wine and other beverages and consumption of such mixtures (that's her explanation for every mythical drink or potion...) – the frequency with which this motif shows up in her confabulations almost made me think of these deviantart galleries filled with poorly edited screencaps of cartoon characters engaging in some bizarrely specific uncanny activity. There's plenty of footnotes in “Woman's encyclopedia,” which might give it an air of authority, but it's easy to see many of the sources are themselves dubious (Graves, Murray and friends), or don't actually confirm what Walter claims they do. Where does this book's popularity come from, considering the fact it's blatantly wrong and it's not hard to notice if you have even just a passing interest in history of religion? Probably from the way it's advertised – this is sadly a problem with much pseudohistorical data: it's cynically sold to people as “exciting,” “forbidden knowledge,” “declassified secrets” and so on. This is partially why they became such a huge part of the modern world – lies often have great PR. How does all of this tie to the currently politically relevant extremist movements? This might not seem obvious at first, but the link is direct. Pseudohistory by design makes one more susceptible to other similarly shaky ideas, and the movements whose history I described here on top of that often appeal to, or even intentionally reach out to, demographics generally not fond of “conventional” conspiracy theories, associated with militias, nazis or christian fundamentalists – to lgbt teenagers, suburban essential oils enthusiast moms, instagram yoga instructors, tech startup hipsters et cetera. As the news demonstrated for the past few months, these demographics too are susceptible to certain aspects of present day doomsday conspiracy cults, eg. Qanon: the Wayfair conspiracy was spread largely by teenagers on tiktok; many Qanon marches, often with overt anti-vaccine messaging, attracted politically moderate stay at home suburban moms; extremism researcher Marc-André Argentino coined the term “pastel Qanon” to refer to this phenomenon. Generally speaking, many people who embrace Qanon were already believers in conspiracy theories before – nephilim, NESARA/GESARA, blood libel, Rothschild conspiracies, new chronology, ancient aliens and more; the demographics which only started to show up in spaces related to the aforementioned doomsday cults seemingly lack connections to such theories most of the time, barring maybe ancient aliens, but I propose that what makes it easy for Q ideas to reach them is widespread acceptance of various “hidden religion” pseudohistorical ideas in even rather progressive circles – this too is “conspirituality” which ultimately feeds the conspiracy monster. Note that the anti vax movement didn't spread just among extremist evangelicals, but also among adherents of various alternative spiritual paths – simply put, among wiccan hippies and similar demographics; and currently, based on research of conspiracy experts, anti-vaxers are almost synonymous with Q adherents. Many articles were also written about the spread of such conspiracies in various “wellness” or yoga communities, which often also feature elements drawn from authors I discussed in the earlier parts of this article. As a matter of fact, at least two people involved in violent incidents come from “wellness” or “alternative spirituality” circles: the “Q shaman” you most likely saw in photos from the recent assault on the American Capitol, and a less known extremist: Attila Hildmann, a German celebrity vegan chef, wellness guru... and also, as of late, neonazi, anti-vax activist and Qanon influencer. A few months ago, Hildmann, whose first name was arguably prophetic, called for destruction of a variety of artifacts held in Berlin's museums as connected to nefarious forces present in Q mythos – some 70 pieces, ranging from ancient Egyptian art to contemporary paintings were defaced, though thankfully no lasting damage was seemingly done. Worth noting that Hildmann appears to also be a believer in a certain prominent strain of pseudohistory centered on the Canaanite storm god Baal Hadad – I will discuss it in detail in my next longer post, stay tuned. What binds together all sorts of pseudohistory – both the genre of it I debunk here and the more “classic” sort – is the belief in a hidden, usually primordial, world to which the initiated few have access, which grants them superior understanding to that possessed by normies. The truths offered by this world are unchanging and an ancient relic, revealed long ago and preserved, rather than developed – therefore progress and modernity are an enemy, and so is the scientific method. This is naturally an atithesis of how cultures actually function – as demonstrated by Kwame Anthony Appiah, cultures consist out of change - therefore “conspirituality” is an anti-culture of sorts, actively pushing its adherents towards more and more false beliefs, and ultimately sometimes towards actual doomsday cults. A good example of this, outide of the aforementioned Qanon phenomena, is the fact that many adherents of ideas dicussed in this article gleefully embrace lies sourced from XIXth century extremist protestants, like the notion that Easter is derived from Ishtar, an etymologically incoherent argument advanced by fanatically anti-catholic pamphlet “The two Babylons.” I sadly see no easy solution to this problem. The rise of currently prominent version of conspirituality was in no small part spearheaded by social media algorithms and sensationalist tv shows like Ancient Aliens, and it's hard to offer an alternative to them to people who are simply interested in history and religion, as false ideas are often providing copious amounts of material for free, while genuine research is hidden behind paywalls difficult to afford even for some institutions, let alone individual private citizens. I am merely a hobbyist sharing what I find interesting myself to show that real history is always more fascinating than nefarious conspiracies aiming to replace it, but without coordinated large scale effort it seems impossible to emerge victorious in the battle against them. Naturally, that doesn't mean trying is pointless, and I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. Further reading:

Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt by Norman Cohn

The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future by Cynthia Eller

Jason Colavito's blog

Conspiracy theories debunkers and extremist ideologies researchers on twitter: Mike Rothschild, Marc-André Argentino, Amarnath Amarasingam, Travis View, Mark Pitcavage

Coverage of the Berlin museum attacks: BBC, The Guardian, DW, Artnet News

#pseudohistory

302 notes · View notes

ikevamp-shrine · 4 years

Text

Thank you @yanderepuck for giving me the courage to post this😊❤

Please ignore the crappy drawing of her, but that's kinda what she appears like in my mind. I will be writing with her character in future posts.

Name: Elizabeth Tudor

Vampire Type: Lesser Vampire

Height: 5’4

Birthday: September 7th

Occupation: Former Queen of England

Appearance:

Long, curly (and extremely thick) strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, red lips, and intense icy blue eyes. Her stance is strong, regale, and respectable. Her skin is littered with smallpox scars (only a few, very unnoticeable ones residing on her face, neck, and hands). Her expression is usually blank and unreadable. Her movements are controlled and polite. Her brows thick and stomach soft. Legs long and fingers thin and graceful. There are patches of freckles on her shoulders that mix with her scars causing a unique blend of color. Thick thighs and pale, maintained feet. Smaller breasts.

Childhood:

When her brother, Edward, was born from her father and his new wife, Catherine, her line to the throne was pushed back even further (she was declared third in line). Thankfully she was not neglected instead her father, known for his cruelty, treated all his children with affection and love. She became very close with her half brother and was said to be inseparable. She was also very close with and benefited from the love her step mother, Catherine, showed her.

She was taught a rigorous education normally only given to male heirs and was applauded for her perseverance and memory. She became fluent in French and Italian which profited when conducting diplomacy years later. Her involvement with the Reformation shaped the course of the nation, but she held no interest in religion.

With her father’s death, her step mother married the lord high admiral, Thomas, which resulted in his decapitation due to his intent to rape and impregnate Elizabeth forcing her to marry him in order for him to rule the kingdom. He was said to be overly flirtatious and acting inappropriately familiar with the young girl when around her (which one of the reasons she doesn’t like Arthur, his flirtatious nature reminds her of her past).

She was raised around sexism and taught that women were likely to act on impulsion and passion making them unfit to rule. Men were taught the arts of war and told they are the ones who dominate women while women were urged to keep their head down, mouth shut, and attend their needlework. She had remained unmarried, her want to remain single overshadowing any thoughts of seeking out relations with a man. She was rumored to have burst out in tears when Queen Mary, her older sister, had proposed to marry Elizabeth to a duke. This became a national concern when Elizabeth became queen and refused to take a husband, going against the belief that a woman’s place was a wife. It also raised worries that she would die childless, ending her bloodline, and giving Elizabeth’s title to Mary, Queen of Scots, a catholic posing a threat to the Protestants of England.

Dislikes:

her privacy being intruded on, loud talking, 3am, those who play weak and stupid or whine to get what they want, people who are lazy but still expect to reach their goals, women who chase men and believe they need a man to be successful in life, messy rooms, fake personalities and cheaters (in both games and relationships)

Likes:

walks in the garden at midnight, the sound of the birds singing their life’s song as the warmth of the day’s first rays of sun trace her skin, reading, learning new things, burning candles, smiling faces, happy children, the smell of freshly baked bread, warm blankets, animals, the laughter of children, hunting, dancing, and horseback (bareback more often than naught)

Personality:

She appears cold at first because of her bluntness and blank (almost annoyed) expression. Unreasonably serious with a strong sense of duty, responsibility, and morals. She is a firm believer in working harder than everyone else to achieve greatness. A highly intelligent woman that believe women are equal to their male counterpart. Extremely stubborn in a non-disrespectful way. She is adaptable, disciplined, dignified, and confident with a wit and tongue as sharp as, if not sharper, than any of the residents. She is blunt, doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, and is always honest. Focused, logical, and exceedingly loyal to those she decides to put her trust in. She is protective and straightforward but rather quiet. She tends to keep to herself. She is paranoid and distrustful when meeting new people but will not show it. She tries to work on it, but she can be very vengeful when it comes to people betraying her or hurting those she loves.

Preferred company:

Theo, Leonardo, Isaac, Jean, Vincent

Relationships (platonic, romantic, etc.):

Jean- platonic with a chance of something more

Has a deep understanding with Jean. They don’t really talk about each other to each other; their conversations mainly consist of stiff, dead toned jokes that you wouldn’t be able to tell they were jokes until specified. She is one of the few people that has actually seen a sober Jean smile. He is extremely protective of her and will stand behind her just so he has the peace of mind that her back is guarded. If she asked, he would show her what is under his eye patch, no matter what lingering emotions he has on the ‘ugliness under the fabric’. His blade is always ready, his mind perfectly clear, when it comes to the safety and well being of the woman he had found himself connecting to in ways no one had before. Often, they go horse back riding together, Napoleon will sometimes accompany but its only when her and the former solider are alone does she throw her head back, her laughs unrestrained while the wind rips through her hair and clothing. Jean will race her and chuckle at how free she looks, but of course she doesn’t hear. Spares with and helps better the woman’s defenses and attacks along with Napoleon

Mozart- platonic

Sometimes Mozart look for her and demand Elizabeth to listen to his new piece until she raises an eyebrow, daring him not to correct his wording. He’ll swallow thickly and glance off to the side, a scoff on his lips as he apologizes. She’ll nod and follow him to music room. Mozart will stare at her impatiently until she gives her honest (and extremely blunt) opinion. He values her words and while alone the pianist will replay the slight quirk of her lips as she praised his efforts. He has a small obsession with her and it drives him insane

Vincent- brotherly platonic and Theo- they horny for each other but don’t want to cross that line of friendship so they dance around their feelings while making out every once in a while

Has a soft spot for Theo and Vincent because their relationship makes her think of her brother. She only sees Vincent as a brother and will only allow him to do her makeup when he asks to, but with Theo its completely different. She sees Theo as a partner, a man she shares many values and goals with. She respects him and their shared opinions on responsibility and productivity. They understand each other intuitively and can conversate with just fleeting touches and quick glances of their eyes. There is a thick sexual tension that builds between them overtime resulting in hurried, frantic, sloppy kisses in hallways where the couple battle for dominance by pushing each other against walls and gripping roughly at the other’s clothing

Napoleon- just housemates (not friends or lovers)

She can and usually feels uncomfortable when around Napoleon. She has chalked it down to the fact they are both the leader ‘alpha’ types that ruled enemy lands. Truly, they just don’t have much in common and find it hard to build a meaningful relationship. Spares with and helps better the woman’s defenses and attacks along with Jean

Arthur- just housemates

Can sometimes get too snippy with Arthur. While she does find enjoyment in his jokes at times, she despises the sexual aspects of the author. Finds his skirt chasing habits understandable but disgusting. Admires his intelligence but can’t stand how he is able to tell you where have been just by the dust on your hand (she likes her privacy). Will play chess and pool with him even though she knows she will lose just because she enjoys playing. Will sometimes have deep conversations with Arthur in front of the fire place, both nursing a glass of alcohol, their eyes never leaving the fire as to not break the imaginary protective barrier around the two that eye contact will shatter. Smirks at his quirks and jokes sometimes and it literally makes Arthur’s heart leap because ‘damn a queen just found amusement in my joke.’ He internally freaked out the first time he met her mainly because the mansion now had two previous rulers instead of one and the newest one scared the living daylights out of him.

Comte- there is nothing between them

Doesn’t trust Comte as far as she can throw him. She can see the darkness in his heart and his past behind his eyes. She can see the death he’s caused- the pain, and while she knows that she, herself, has caused the death of many, she still has a deeply rooted gut feeling telling her to stay away from the pureblood. He wants her trust but soon realizes her opinion on him is similar to Jean’s. She will not take any gifts other than what is necessary from him (ex. Dresses for parties)

Dazai- just housemates

Dazai tries avoiding her. He feels suffocated when around and the victim of her stare. He feels as if her eyes and actions pick him apart and leave his in his barest, rawest form, and it scares him to no end. She does find his window habit hilarious though and will give him a hand up when he falls

Shakespeare- they don’t get involved with each other

She can tell Shakespeare’s mind is being manipulated, by what is the question she has yet to reveal though. She can tell he is dangerous. One who’s actions are watched and controlled by another always are. His unpredictable nature and mysterious, secret filled smile is what causes her to feel uneasy around him. She doesn’t ignore him, but she doesn’t want to be involved with the playwright and his actions so she tends to just quietly leave the room when he enters. He is polite to her and compliments her when they do talk but his fancy wording sometimes annoys Elizabeth, especially when she just wants to get away from him. She believes he is a good man at heart lead astray by forces more powerful than him, but still finds his company rather unnecessary.

Sebastian- they respect one another, are not friends but have decent conversations

Has an interesting relationship with Sebastian. She wouldn’t call him a friend, she has very few of those so it is understandable, but she does respect him for his work ethic just as he respects her for her accomplishments and standing in history. She let him interview him once and nearly laughed out loud from how excited he got. They always have a cup of coffee or tea in the morning together, Elizabeth not quite woken up yet so they sip in comforting silence. Sebastian usually asks how she slept and she responds by telling him about her dreams if she had one. She’ll end up helping him cook breakfast.

Leonardo- friends with a chance of something more

Elizabeth appreciates Leonardo’s straightforwardness and honesty, so they have a decent trusting relationship, but his matureness makes her feel like a little girl again and it bothers her. Her thoughts tend to be: she was a queen; she ruled a country with a strength that rivaled even the greatest men, she should not look at this chain-smoking man with admiration in her eyes like a giddy school girl, flustered over a boy telling her she is cute, while around the Italian. The start of their relationship was rocky, due to Elizabeth’s personal feelings on the man- Leonardo could have cared less, but soon enough they started to appreciate each other’s qualities. Leonardo is mainly the only one she allows to touch her hair. They often speak Italian together on the balcony as Leonardo smoke a cigarillo and Elizabeth reads.

Isaac- they have the chance of being more than friends but their relationship is mainly just comforting one another through their presence and (when needed) touch- they also trust each other whole heartedly

Adores Isaac and will purposely sought him out just so she can listen to his calming ramblings while he tinkers away, a book in her hand and two cooling cups of coffee on the surface closest to the pair. He gets so red around her; at times he turns snow white from the intensity in her gaze and how her eyes never stray from her company. They share an endless loyalty to each other. Neither knows when the bond form, it just happened on its own (and very suddenly). Isaac has lost control and bit her but instead of reacting in anger she accepted it and pulled him closer, shuddering with each frenzied suck against her neck, her nails gently scratching the scalp of a whimpering Isaac. When Isaac finally came to his senses, he tried pulling away, his voice thick with unshed tears as his panicked words rang through the air until Elizabeth grabbed him and held him close, shushing Isaac as he trembled with regret and guilt in her arms. They had held each other for hours until they feel asleep in each other embraces. Isaac will link pinkies with Elizabeth when he is being picked on without realizing it for support and something to ground him so his thoughts don’t run too wild. Elizabeth will just glare and clear her throat and Arthur will shut his mouth while looking at the former queen as if he was a kicked puppy. She has a habit of fixing his clothing or hair after he nervously pulls, picks, or twists at it- Isaac doesn’t even notice it after a while. His face does burn intensely though when she places a hand on his overactive, bouncing knee when he is anxious.

Fun facts:

Due to her makeup being poisoned by her undetermined enemy, which resulted in her death, she refuses to wear any cosmetics other than what Vincent personally makes (learned how to from Leonardo) and puts on her skin himself when going to events if he asks to.

She tends to wear clothing that covers all skin other than her neck and face when leaving the mansion due to children being scared by her smallpox scars.

She usually never strays from wine unless her emotions become a little too overwhelming for her to just push the feelings down, only then will she drink something stronger.

Elizabeth is a quiet, peaceful drunk that tends to curl up on the couch, her shoes discarded on the floor, her hair loose and flowing over the decorative pillow she’ll grab and hug tightly to her chest.

She died a virgin and has remained one ever since her resurrection.

The former queen is hesitant to allow others to touch her hair from her past concerning the loss of said strands (a result of surviving smallpox), but if she trusts someone enough and knows they’ll be gentle she’ll let them style the curls, even if she is tense the entire time.

Prefers to braid her hair herself and wrap in into a bun due to the protective nature of the style.

Loves sleeping in but is often unable to due to insomnia.

She is highly particular when it comes to cleaning and organization. She has told Sebastian not to worry about cleaning her things or doing her laundry, instead she does it herself with up most focus and determination.

When she does open up or is around the boys long enough, they realize her heart is truly kind and nurturing instead of what she appears when first met (a cold-hearted woman with a resolve like steel). This is especially apparent when around animals.

She is very sarcastic and doesn’t mean any harm but usually her joking words sound hateful due to her dead tone and blank face.

Her voice is deeper and soothing, most times holding no emotion which creeps Dazai and Arthur out

Lives by “no pain no gain”

Doesn’t waste her breath on hate- if she doesn’t like someone or feels as if she can’t trust them then they just don’t exist to her. She won’t hesitate to cut someone off without warning.

Has a bad habit of bottling her emotions which causes her to explode when pushed over the edge resulting in one of the very rare moments where her anger creates an electric static in the room that demands the attention of anyone present. She doesn’t shout or scream but her words are sharper than a blade, her eyes burn with a fiery rage while she takes control of the room, overwhelming anyone (even Napoleon) and making them feel as if they are an ant beneath her boot.

Her eyes freak many people out- they feel as if the ice like orbs are staring straight into their soul, picking apart their insides, leaving nothing but shredded organs and an empty husk of what used to be a strong mind.

Can always tell when someone is lying. It’s a gut feeling, and her gut is always right.

She still wears her coronation ring on her wedding finger as a sign of her symbolic marriage to her people and country

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #ikemen series #ikevam #ikevamp oc #ikemen vampire oc #ikevam oc #elizabeth tudor #Ikevamp Elizabeth #ikemen vampire Elizabeth #ikevam Elizabeth

86 notes · View notes

richincolor · 3 years

Photo

*As is usual with our discussions, there may be a few spoilers ahead, so beware.*

We all were incredibly excited to read Angeline Boulley's FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER when we first heard about it, so we decided to make it our second group discussion book for the year. Come join us!

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.

Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

[Note: While we will not go into any great detail in this discussion, Firekeeper’s Daughter contains murder, suicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, addiction and drug use, racism, colorism, and death of parents/family members.

You can read an excerpt of the book here!]

Audrey: To get us started--let’s talk about this gorgeous cover! The cover art was created by Moses Lunham and designed by Rich Deas. The first thing I noticed when I got my copy of the book was that the two faces at the top had different skin tones. According to this interview, author Angeline Boulley says that “the different shades of the faces symbolizes Daunis claiming her biracial identity,” which is a major part of the book.

Jessica: The cover is so beautiful. It’s next to me on my desk right now and I can’t stop looking at it. Love how the cover ties into the themes of the book.

K. Imani: This cover is absolutely beautiful! I love the design of the faces looking like a butterfly as well as the bird and bear (I think) and the fire. There are so many subtle images in this cover that you can almost find something new each time. And the colors are so stunning. Like you Audrey, I noticed the faces had different skin tones which I found interesting and made me wonder what was going to happen in the book. Knowing the faces symbolize Daunis’s biracial identity now is powerful and really brings home the meaning of the book.

Crystal: I agree that the cover is gorgeous. In addition to the aspects of her physical appearance and physical identity, Daunis’ cultural identity is also displayed within the illustrations with bears representing her clan. In addition there are the birds like the one that guides her and the sun is in the background too which is from the story of the original Fire Keeper’s Daughter. The faces forming a butterfly is also just brilliant for a coming-of-age story. There’s so much to see. Each time I notice more.

Audrey: Daunis, our heroine, is on the older end of the YA protagonist spectrum at 18. She’s dealing with a lot of upheaval in her life, and things only get more complicated in short order. Something I really liked about Daunis was how often she thought about and evaluated what her responsibilities were--to her family, to her friends, to her community, and to herself. These sometimes complementary, sometimes competing, responsibilities strongly influenced her decisions.

Jessica: You mention the complementary and sometimes competing responsibilities -- that’s exactly it. I loved how her thought process was explored throughout the book in such a thorough and complex way. The way Daunis balances and reconciles the interests of her community with what the FBI wants from her and her quest for justice is laid out really clearly. Sometimes, narratives can tend toward simplistic, binary summations of the issues people, especially from marginalized communities, face -- but that’s just not the case, and Daunis really highlights that. To be honest, I was a little nervous at the introduction of law enforcement and the FBI, given the racism and oppression baked into these institutions, but the way Daunis navigates her interactions with them, plus the way other members of the community tell the truth about these institutions, really played out in such a nuanced way. (I really, really hope that the Netflix adaptation keeps these nuances and hard truths in the show, but I suspect that won’t be the case, unfortunately.)

K. Imani: I enjoyed that Daunis was 18 and on the cusp of adulthood. So many YA novels focus on the character’s high school life but a lot does happen and teens do grow and change a lot in that year after high school. Many have left home for college (that was me) or working full time and they are learning how to navigate a life that was not completely so structured. In addition to having to deal with changing friendships as people move away or just become busy. It’s a unique time and I loved that we got to spend time with Daunis as she was going through this change. She was learning how to become an adult in one of the most stressful ways possible, and sometimes I felt she was a little too idealistic, but I’m glad that she kept her truth throughout and was focused on helping her community in addition to helping the FBI. Her perspective helped keep the investigation grounded in what mattered which wouldn’t have happened if she wasn’t involved.

Crystal: Daunis balances a lot of responsibilities and really tries to follow what she’s learned from elders. She considers how her actions may affect all of her relatives within her family, clan, community, and beyond. Boulley embedded a lot of elder wisdom within Daunis’ inner dialogue such as thinking about the seventh generation when making decisions.

Audrey: One of the things that I really appreciated about Firekeeper’s Daughter was the depth of the setting and the characters in it. While Boulley says that Daunis’s tribe is fictionalized in the author note, it’s clear how much care and thought Boulley put into creating Daunis’s community. It’s filled with people who have complex histories (both within and between Native and non-Native groups), with differing opinions and prejudices and goals.

Jessica: This really highlights how important it is to have stories where cultures and communities aren’t portrayed as a monolith. It’s not just the right thing to do, it makes for a better and more accurate story. I read Firekeeper’s Daughter and watched the TV show Rutherford Falls back to back, which really drove home the power of depicting a community with nuance. (Also, sidebar: Highly recommend checking out Rutherford Falls, which does this really well.)

K. Imani: One of my favorite aspects of Firekeeper’s Daughter were the elders in Daunis’s tribe and how we got to hear many of their individual stories which showed the complexity of real life. I loved that Daunis listened to her elders, really took in their stories and learned from them. Her interactions with the elders greatly contributed to her growing sense of self and her desire to help her community. And this is where this novel being truly #ownvoices shines because of Boulley’s connection to her community that she took great care in making sure Daunis’s tribe felt real and authentic as well as culturally accurate. It was not full of stereotypes but filled with real people who had real lives and real stories. I was drawn into Daunis’s community and really cared about the people that made Daunis who she is and becomes.

Crystal: Like Jessica says, there is a lot of nuance here. When you have a wide variety of characters who are not simply good or bad, the story has more power and is definitely more believable. The people in our everyday lives are also complex and have a story if only we take the time to listen. This is what Daunis excels at with elders and others around her. She is paying attention and trying to connect with people. There is a lot of love throughout the book of many different types. The love is beautiful and yet also has some ugliness too in the betrayals. It’s not picture perfect and that makes it so much more real.

Audrey: Boulley tackles a lot of difficult topics in Firekeeper’s Daughter, especially ones that can hit hard on a community level. Much of the plot focuses on drug use and addiction, of course, but violence against Native women also has a significant impact on what happens in the book and affects multiple characters, including Daunis.

Crystal: Daunis and the other women are examples of the many, many, women who have been harmed in the past and the present. That’s not the whole story though. As Daunis is learning, there are many ways of being brave. Throughout the story, we see many women being strong and brave though at initial glance their actions may not seem to be either of those things. There is bravery in speaking out, but sometimes bravery requires something else. These women have done what they needed to do to survive or help their loved ones survive.

Audrey: Firekeeper’s Daughter has a complicated ending, and it left me thinking about two things. The first was how proud I was of Daunis and her character growth. There were a couple of times where she came across as very Not Like Other Girls (particularly with the hockey players’ girlfriends), but that changed over the course of the book. The second was grief at how many people and institutions failed Daunis and her community, both within and without. Just as one example, even though Daunis is a confidential informant for the FBI, the FBI doesn’t come out of this story as a Good Guy.

K. Imani: I was torn by the ending too. I so wanted justice for Daunis and Lily and for others who were murdered, but on the other hand life doesn’t always have a happy ending and I recognize that Boulley gave us that horribly realistic ending because the fight for missing and murdered Indigenous women continues and the fight for justice for Indigenous peoples. It was a heartbreaking reminder of a very real issue. On the other hand, I was so proud of Daunis as well. She was able to achieve her goals of helping out the FBI while staying true to herself and her community. She grew so much as a character and really found her place in her world.

Crystal: The ending gave me much to think about too. Daunis grew a lot as she worked through this complicated puzzle in her community. She learned much about herself and some of the assumptions folks have about others. I also really, really wanted justice, but unfortunately, would be unlikely in real life with our current justice system. I also found Jamie’s growth to be interesting. He is truly struggling with his own identity as an adopted child with Cherokee roots, but no Cherokee teachings or culture to turn to. I don’t know if a sequel or companion book is planned, but I would be interested in seeing more of their journeys whether their paths cross again or not.

Jessica: Audrey, thanks so much for leading this discussion! Now I have a question for you all -- what YA books by/about BIPOC are you reading right now?

For AAPI month, I’m rereading Turtle Under Ice by Juleah del Rosario. After that, I’m planning on reading The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He, Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth, and Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart! Yes, my TBR pile is excellent. :P

Audrey: Next up on my list are The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani, Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur, and Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud. I feel like that’s a pretty good mix of genres and authors right there!

K. Imani: Since I’m needing some inspiration for my vampire manuscript, I’m re-reading and new reading some vampire novels. Currently I am reading Fledgling by Octavia Butler then up next is Renee Ahdieh’s series The Beautiful and the sequel The Damned.

Crystal: I just re-read Saints & Misfits and then dove into the sequel Misfit in Love. S.K. Ali is an author that I really enjoy and I am loving it so far. Next up is American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar along with Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura. I also think my TBR is pretty stellar.

If you've had the chance to read FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER, please join in the discussion below! We'd love to hear what you think.

#firekeeper's daughter #weneeddiversebooks #group discussion #contemporary #thriller

21 notes · View notes

secret-engima · 4 years

Text

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret DoTF Characterization Rant

OKAY, ME RANT RAMBLING ON LUNA’S CHARACTERIZATION IN DAWN OF THE FUTURE IS A GO.

This is … likely going to get messy, but I’ll try to keep it at least moderately coherent. Lemme start by saying that- for the most part- I did actually enjoy Luna’s chap. I’ve been enjoying the book (kinda-sorta-mostly, I really liked Aranea’s chap at least) and I don’t think it’s like- a BAD book? Necessarily? But I feel like it is extremely telling in regards to how the characterization/lore is treated that my brain is automatically filing this thing under “fanfic that’s not my HC but is okay-ish” rather than “canon I will be gleefully tweaking as I please”. My brain is literally looking at this officially licensed book and equating it to fanfic. To fanfic that NEEDS EDITING.

With that out of the way, lemme attempt to summarize my (main) issues with Luna’s Characterization and then I’ll expand on them from there. Get ready for the salt.

1. Luna’s backstory is inconsistent. She herself states multiple times that Oracle training is grueling and involves both physical and mental trials as well as things like fasting for long periods of time WHILE doing said training, yet she is mostly treated like a well-meaning but overall pampered, naive princess who is only now being forced into hard circumstances and has to adapt accordingly. She is also treated like she doesn’t know “common people” that well and doesn’t know how to interact or pick up things like lies (????). A common example is how she treats Sol as trustworthy but reserved when according to Sol’s POV she is literally debating shooting Luna as a possible threat. And Luna supposedly doesn’t pick up on this danger. But we’ll get back to that.

2. Luna is characterized as being oblivious to how people outside Rich Oracle Circles live. That despite traveling all over the world she has never really seen it’s “ugly” sides because she’s always traveled in fancy guarded processions with the sick brought to her. Pretty sure the book specifically mentions at one point that she’s never “considered” what it would be like to be anything other than an Oracle. Admittedly this issue could go under number 1 or 3a but I’m putting it here because I’m salty.

3a. This and the next problem are heavily intertwined and, not going to lie, I could make an entire rant just about these two issues all by themselves, not just in Luna’s context. The first is that Luna is portrayed as not being able to make her own decisions, not even wanting to make her own decisions, until she is forced to or has her “eyes opened” by Sol, our jaded Long Night survivor character. The author treats Luna’s sense of duty as some form of social brainwashing she needs to “get over” and spoiler alert I hate it with every fiber of my being.

3b. Playing right off the whole “Luna is incapable of making her own decisions and that’s why she does her freaking job until someone ‘opens her eyes’” is the idea that Luna’s faith is a character flaw. Lemme reiterate. The story treats Luna’s faith. As a character flaw. Rather than the entire cornerstone to her character and one of the big reasons she’s as amazing as she is. Her faith is treated as foolish and shortsighted, something that has only survived for this long because it has never been challenged and, heads up, the rant I am going to go into on this one specific thing is going to be long and extremely salty.

Alright I think I’ve covered the basics. Starting from the top, BRING ON THE SALT.

…

1. Luna is pampered, well-meaning but naive and bad at reading ulterior motives of people.

….*slow, deep breath* Luna. The Oracle. Who became the youngest Oracle in history. Because her mother was murdered in front of her while her home was burned down and conquered by the people who then proceeded to rule her country, subvert her brother to their cause, and generally control and monitor every aspect of her life that they could. Luna, who was fully prepared to take a single suitcase and escape her own home and run off alone to get to Altissia and had to be stopped by her own brother (who you’ll note brought a bunch of soldiers with him, which indicates he did not expect a submissive response if he came alone).

This girl who was canonically physically abused as a child by a Niflheim officer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZHzBtIfpdg slow this down if you need to confirm, but she is grabbed and manhandled and hit by an adult man when she only looks to be twelve, around the age Tenebrae first fell), who has spent twelve years living under the rule of a nation that is not only aggressively atheist but has willfully attempted to kill one of the very beings she serves and openly plans to do so again. The woman who successfully survived the fall of Insomnia with only one magic-less glaive as her backup for most of the event, then evaded the search efforts of an entire empire with only her own wits, a dog, a Messenger who has only ever been shown to talk rather than fight, and the extremely grudging on-off help of her brother who works for said empire. All while waking up the Astrals and forging covenants that were slowly killing her from the strain, which is the exact thing the empire was trying to prevent her from doing. Then, when it became necessary to complete the last covenant, turned herself in to the very same empire that has imprisoned her since she was a child and has been actively hunting/trying to stop or kill her since Insomnia’s fall.

That girl. Is pampered. Is naive. Is bad at reading people and telling when they have ulterior motives or are lying.

Pull the other one. I’ll kick you.

But seriously, how are we supposed to believe this? Luna’s life post Tenebrae’s fall to Niflheim is only pampered in the sense that she was given fancy clothes and fed regularly (outside the grueling fasting periods mentioned in this same book). She had no freedom, no privacy, her guards were all either men who wore the same uniform as those who killed her mother or were monsters infected with the very scourge she is sworn to purify. The Oracle is famous, is revered by the people. To keep the people on their side, the Empire would have flaunted her, would have taken her to all the shiny events. Luna would have had to dine with, converse with, even dance with the very same people who ordered and condoned the murder of her mother, her own imprisonment, and the brainwashing of her own brother to the enemy side. She would have been the epitome of a bird in a gilded cage or a dog on a silk leash and humans are not meant to live like that.

Am I really expected to think she survived a situation that oppressive, that toxic, that actively hurtful, for years by being naive and bad at reading people? Am I really expected to believe that she cannot tell when people are out to use her or hurt her or are lying to her? Am I really expected to believe that she is pampered and doesn’t have, at the very least, PTSD from seeing her mother murdered and her brother join the very people who did it, let alone everything else that would have followed over those years?

Really?

Luna didn’t have a pampered life. She suffered abuse. Longterm emotional abuse, likely sporadic physical abuse until she learned to play along well enough to escape such punishments, and almost certainly gaslighting (again: religious leader being held captive by an aggressively atheist nation that wants to kill the pantheon this religious leader communes with).

Luna would have learned to navigate the canonically cutthroat politics of Niflheim while being at best an outsider and at worst a target because of her beliefs, her nationality, and her loyalties to the Lucians (nobody was surprised when Luna went on the run. Nobody. Her continued devotion and loyalty to the Lucians -Niflheim’s enemy- was absolutely a well known factor). She would have learned to pick truth from lie and when to pretend she hadn’t noticed in order to survive. She would have lived twelve years knowing that any mistakes or misplaced moments of trust would be paid for in either her suffering of the suffering of the people close to her like her servants, or just the citizens of Tenebrae in general.

And none of this is taking into account her Oracle training, which the book does not elaborate on but repeatedly states was hard and grueling and she completed it years earlier than any Oracle in history.

There are a lot of words I would use to describe Luna, but pampered and naive are not among them.

…

2. Luna is oblivious to how people outside her rich circles live and has never considered being anything else but an Oracle until Sol specifically points it out.

The book states that she mostly travels in procession (ie, with tons of servants to serve her every need and bodyguards to keep the masses at bay) so clearly she can’t go anywhere too dangerous, otherwise her servants wouldn’t be able to come. Right? Oh boy where do I start with this.

I know! Let’s start with the fact that Luna canonically maintains the blessings on Havens! You know those things. They’re your only safe place to camp at night and they can be found in all sorts of nifty locations like the middle of the wilderness where cars can’t go, chocobos won’t go, packs of wild animals will literally leap out of the bushes to eat you (Voretooth packs can get up to twelve or more members all trying to eat you at once, fun fact), and poor choice in clothes will lead to broken ankles at best? The ones that can be found in the depths of locations so dangerous that even the Hunters are leary of going inside and are actively forbidden from approaching unless they are a very high rank?

Off the top of my head some of the Havens that come to mind is the one in the middle of Malmalam thicket, the top of an active volcano, multiple spots in the middle of the voretooth and coeurl infested desert, two up in Vesperpool aka the home of all demon crocodiles and flocks of cockatrice that are bigger than the average car and can literally turn you into stone if you aren’t careful.

Yeah those places. She maintains those. Depending on how often Havens need to be maintained and if the weather/nature shortens that time then she might also have to periodically enter the dungeons Noctis explores in game that also have Havens hidden inside where it is always dark all the time and infested with daemons.

The book also states that the sick (who are highly infectious and not supposed to be touched by people who can’t heal the scourge and in the later stages of sickness become extremely violent and prone to biting in order to infect other people) are … brought to her…

By whom? Exactly?

Moving on from that giant and obvious plot hole to the “never seen or considered other lifestyles” bit: Luna has traveled literally all over the world. In her duties of healing the otherwise incurable she has gone all over Niflheim, Tenebrae, and Lucis. She has walked through the streets of cities filled with lights and glamor and stood on the dirt roads of towns so small they have to go to the next town an hour or more away to buy groceries or check their mailbox and who’s royal hotel suite is just a caravan with a new coat of paint and “welcome Oracle!” sign. Luna’s work is to cure the Starscourge, which is a disease that I can almost promise the rich don’t get. Because the rich and fancy do not risk their lives by going into daemon territory (Prompto, a middle class Insomnian, didn’t even know what wild animals would be like, you expect the rich and famous to be any better?).

The vast majority of Luna’s patients would be people like Dave the Hunter, or Sania the scientist who wades into the wilds. The truck drivers and the farmers and the electricians risking their lives to repair power lines in the middle of nowhere. She wouldn’t be going to cities except to talk to the refugees who fled there from the outside and thus picked up the Scourge. Her only two social circles would be Niflheim’s cutthroat nobility and the “unwashed masses” who come to her for healing. Guess which ones she’ll be more invested in getting to know on a personal/friendly basis and interacting with.

Of course Luna has interacted with and understands “common folk”. Luna is a caregiver, not just physically, but emotionally. She is beloved by the people because she is kind. That means she talks to them. More importantly, she listens. She has held the hands of the farmer as he begs her to heal him, because the harvest season is so close, and if he can’t work, if he dies, then what will become of his wife or the people his farm feeds? She has embraced the sobbing refugee mother as the other breaks down in gratitude for a child who’s skin is a healthy shade and who’s veins no longer bulge a sickly purple. She has met people who are not rich, but who are content. Who have lives that do not hinge on the razor thin dance of staying true to self and not exposing weakness to those who want to eat her alive. Who can laugh with their neighbors and kiss that nice boy down the street just for the fun of it, who can defy curfew to dance in the rain with the person they love and risk, at most, a lecture and a weekend grounding.

And no, they aren’t rich, no, they aren’t influential or powerful, but they are peaceful. They are happy.

Am I really expected to believe that Luna has not looked on these people’s lives from afar, listened to their rambles as they try to distract themselves from the sickness she is drawing from their veins, and not yearned to be the same? That she hasn’t thought over and over again about running away and being free from her gilded cage? That she doesn’t know anything about the lives of the people she heals even as she walks down their streets and steps into their houses so she can heal those who are too sick or too violent to be safely taken out of their room? That she has never thought about what life could be like if she wasn’t an Oracle as she watches the landscape roll by and walks through the wilderness to find the lonely farmsteads that the townsfolk tell her has sick children that cannot be let out of the shed for fear they will bite?

Setting all of that to one side, what human hasn’t thought of being someone else? What person on this planet, hasn’t looked at another person’s life that is so very different from their own and gone “huh, I wonder what that would be like” even if only for a moment before moving on and forgetting about it? Humans are creatures that dream by nature, that are curious by nature. To assume that Luna is not just because she gets to have the fancy dresses and servants is stupid.

…

3a: Luna is unable to make her own decisions and is only the dutiful Oracle because she doesn’t know any better and needs a “wiser” rebellious character to “open her eyes”.

Okay buckle up. I have tried to suppress the salt until now but over these last two points I don’t care. I will be salty. I will be sarcastic. I will be mean. I will reference Real World faiths (tho I’ll try to keep that to a minimum).

Both 3a and 3b are actually systemic issues in storytelling (particularly noticeable in movies/shows but maybe that’s because I’m pretty lucky with my book choices) that I despise with a passion. Specifically 3a relates to the chronic issue writers seem to have with characters not being allowed to be happy with their role in life. There’s this persistent thought, this narrative push, that if a character is following in the footsteps of their family, is entering the “traditional” profession that their parents (or grandparents, or entire generations of predecessors) have been in before them then they must be unhappy with their lot in life. That this is clearly the character being “repressed” and that if they are content then they are either a bad guy (see: every antagonist from a proud military family or every ruler who thinks they are better than everyone because of bloodline ever) or they are just blind to their own unhappiness.

Now, the basic idea of “character discovers they are unhappy in current role and seeks a new one” can actually be done really well. But those stories that do it well have a lot of internal conflict, a lot of self-reflection and searching and choosing to take a new path after really giving it some thought. Maybe they have help along the way, or encouragement, or another character to show that it’s possible by example and that’s okay.

What is not okay is infantilizing a strong, intelligent character by saying “oh it just never occurred to them until they are told that they are unhappy by this much more worldly wise character and then they went and did it”. That is not okay. It not only trivializes the efforts of every real person who has proudly followed in a parent’s footsteps to become something (a doctor, a missionary, a soldier, an actor, even an electrician, pick a life goal and I promise someone has been inspired to do that by their parent being one before them) but it also takes an otherwise strong, dedicated character and implies that they are too stupid to think for themselves or have any free will until the plot and a Shinier Character demands it.

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret is an Oracle, as her mother was before her, and her mother before her, and all the way back two thousand years to the very first Oracle we see in canon. Possibly back even farther, depending on if any of Aera’s ancestors were Oracles too. That isn’t a suffocating tradition, that is a heritage, that is a culture, that is a necessary, life-saving service that canon proves literally kept the world from falling into eternal darkness (Luna was the last Oracle, the day after she dies is literally the last time we players see sunlight until the end of the game when Noctis dies to restore it). Luna is not stupid or repressed for following in those footsteps, she is breathtakingly strong for shouldering her heritage as the Last Oracle with pride even when the forces controlling every other aspect of her life want her to be ashamed of it and give it up.

The empire that took over her home when she was twelve are actively anti-magic and anti-Astral. Luna is someone who speaks to the Astrals and is born with a magic that can heal the very sickness they want to weaponize. They couldn’t outright forbid her from training to be the next Oracle because that would cause the people to riot, but they could and absolutely would try to make her give up in any way they could. They would have insulted her, demeaned her, hurt her, and imprisoned her. They wouldn’t have wanted a “real” Oracle, they would have wanted a puppet who said pretty promises and then did nothing to stop them.

It would have been so easy for Luna to go down the same path her brother did. To give in to the empire and it’s propaganda that she would have been forced to listen to every single day of her life for twelve whole years. It would have made her life so much easier to be a puppet Oracle who didn’t have to walk miles through the wilderness to maintain Havens, or defy the empire by maintaining loyalty to Lucis, or leave her manor home to heal the sick that could not come to her themselves. As a puppet Oracle she could have stayed in the Manor and only treated cases that could reach her doors and were vetted by the empire. She could have eaten the finest foods and worn the best dresses and never had to worry about a pack of hungry Voretooths or a rogue Behemoth tearing her apart. Most of all, Niflheim wouldn’t have been nearly as oppressive or violent. They would have gladly given her the illusion of freedom and control as long as she played along rather than been fully willing and prepared to run into the jungle with a suitcase just to escape as seen in the movie.

Luna was not blindly fitting into a mold and she was not and has never been incapable of making a decision. The fact that she shows up in canon as a strong, dedicated woman who is in control of her emotions and not afraid to face down a giant sea monster with the power to summon tidal waves with just her words and a glorified pointy stick proves that. The idea that she needs a “wiser” character to come alongside her and “free her” from her own duties is not only stupid, it undermines one of the key things that makes Luna such a strong character despite her relative lack of screentime.

Furthermore, canonically, one of Luna’s main reasons for sticking with her duty as Oracle isn’t because it’s tradition, it’s because of what Niflheim did. In the Kingsglaive movie, when Nyx Ulric is getting angry at Luna for doing really reckless, life-threatening things, she tells him quote:

“I do not fear death. What I fear is doing nothing and losing everything.”

That’s not a woman who is blindly following a path laid out for her. That is a woman who is desperately, furiously fighting against the people who killed her mother in front of her the best way she can: by being the Oracle they cannot stand for her to be.

But sure. Luna is only the Oracle because she doesn’t know better and it never occurred to her to be anything else until some jaded kid with a shotgun made a snide comment about it.

3b: Luna’s faith is a character flaw that has only survived this long because it wasn’t challenged by a worldly wise character who knows better.

Not going to lie but words cannot express how much I hate this trope. This is another thing that shows up a lot in television/movies but also in books too, and that is that a character is not allowed to have a faith in something/religion unless they are 1. Foolish, 2. Brainwashed/tricked into it, 3. A crazy fanatic, or 4. It’s a character flaw they have to overcome by becoming more jaded and atheist and hateful.

Because … that’s not how it works. There are- millions (billions) of people all over the real world who are intelligent, well educated, thoughtful, kind, and religious. And no I’m not just talking about Christianity (tho I am Christian so you can see why this trope grinds my gears so hard). There’s Hinduism, there’s Islam, there’s Buddhism, there’s Judaism, there’s so many faiths and belief systems okay. And no we don’t tend to play well with each other or accept the validity of the others but that doesn’t mean we’re fanatics or brainwashed or stupid. And no we really don’t appreciate it when media introduces a character who follows a religion (even fictional ones!) only to make them an antagonist or rip it away from them in the name of “improving their character”. Just like every other cultural group ever who really doesn’t like their heritage and culture being used as a butt of jokes or is turned into a caricature or used as the basis for the antagonist being Evil™.

But no. We can’t possibly have a character who’s faith makes them strong or gives them comfort in times of hardship unless they are deluded. We can’t possibly have a character who is both intelligent and faithful. We can’t possibly show a character who is breathtakingly courageous and selfless as well as religious unless we point at their faith and go oh look a horrible character flaw to overcome by having non-believer characters open their eyes via sarcastic commentary.

And look. Look. I am well aware that the plot of Dawn of the Future has Bahamut as the Bad Guy™. I am fully aware of that. But if you want to be purely honest and technical, that doesn’t invalidate Luna’s faith because (spoilers) the other Astrals fight Bahamut to save the world. They hear her cries and the come to fight on behalf of Lucis and Noctis and all of Eos and they kill Bahamut even when that ensures their own destruction.

But we’re not actually here to talk about whether the Astrals deserve Luna’s faith in them, we’re here to talk about why insisting Luna’s faith is, by nature of being a faith, treated like a flaw and why it is treated like something so weak it only survived to this point because Luna didn’t face anything “bad” enough to “snap her out of it”.

Spoiler alert, it’s not a flaw and it’s not weak.

Going back to something I have mentioned several times already: Niflheim is an empire run by people who actively want to kill the very beings most of the planetary population worships. The very same people in charge of Luna’s life for twelve years, starting from when she was twelve and very emotionally vulnerable and traumatized, hate the Astrals. I repeat: They hate the Astrals. They have devised weapons to try (and spectacularly fail) to kill them. Half their continent is a winter nightmare-land because they tried to kill Shiva the Glacian and she went “haha, nice try, lemme leave a fake corpse here that constantly pumps out freezing temperatures and blizzards”.

Am I seriously, honestly, supposed to believe that these people didn’t try to tear down her faith at every single opportunity? That Ravus wouldn’t have tried to bully and cajole and harass her into abandoning her faith because he knew that her faith was what kept her walking her chosen path as Oracle and that said path was destined to kill her? Am I seriously supposed to believe that Luna didn’t spend those twelve years having to sit there and bite her tongue to keep from raging at these cutthroat nobles as they gloated and sneered and spat on the names of the Astrals who gave Luna the very magic she uses to heal those in need?

Luna never needed Sol to come along and say “what have the Astrals ever done for you?” because I promise that she’s heard some variation of that exact phrase from everyone in her life. From her own brother to the Emperor himself she has heard some form of this question, this taunt. In the Kingsglaive movie, General Glauca even says something to the order of, “To what god do you pray? The gods do not listen.” Right before he kidnaps her.

Luna’s faith isn’t something blind, and it is not a flaw. It is a cornerstone of her character. Luna’s faith is a bloody, stubborn, tenacious thing that she has nurtured and shored up and been steadied by through twelve years of emotional abuse and physical imprisonment. Luna’s faith is an unshakeable thing that can only come from long nights spent crying into the silent dark of the room and asking “is this real? Am I right? Should I give up? This hurts so much, what do I do?” and finding the answer to be “yes this is real. Yes I am right. No, I won’t give up even though it kills me. Yes it hurts, but what I believe in is stronger than this pain.”

Faith is not optimism and it is not fanaticism. Optimism can be broken by hardship and fanaticism has no room for selfless kindness or acceptance of other people not being as devoted as they are. Faith is personal. Faith is a bedrock, and maybe it’s a bedrock that makes no sense to people on the outside, but it is a bedrock and it can make mountains move.

Just as Luna proves when she runs rings around an Empire to win the respect and cooperation of Titan and of Ramuh, to stand amid the rain and tell an enraged TideMother that “it is in mercy that men offer praise, and in shedding grace that the gods solicit worship” and not flinch because she knows she is right.

Luna’s faith is a fierce, scarred thing that has taken every kind of suppression and propaganda and poison the empire could throw at it and kept on going.

Furthermore. Luna’s faith is treated by Sol as something empty. Because when did the Astrals ever help her or comfort her or save her?

I can answer that. They helped her when they gave her Umbra and Pryna, who kept her company through her life and gave her a way to talk to Noctis. A way to reach out to a person who was not either imperial, warped by imperial propaganda, or too afraid to speak out against the empire for fear of dying. They comforted her when Gentiana became a second mother for Luna after the death of Queen Sylva. A physical shoulder to cry on, a sounding board to bounce fears off of, a well of advice when it was asked of her, a rock to retreat to when Ravus turned away from her and the empire continued to control as much of her life as they could.

Gentiana, who is really Shiva in disguise, has been with Luna since she was a small child.

One of the Astrals themselves has been with Luna for almost her entire life. Has guided her, has comforted her, has led her to safety as she fled Insomnia’s ruins.

Shiva had no reason to do that. The Oracles have done their duty since the time of Aera without her help or company. Shiva didn’t have to stay. She didn’t have to linger and offer comfort and become Luna’s friend. She didn’t have to listen to the last words of a scared young woman who wanted only to see her fiancé one last time and promise to carry them to Noctis in the event of her death. Shiva didn’t have to cry on behalf of Luna. Shiva didn’t have to help Luna remember what it was like to be an ordinary woman (“Yet others need not hide their grief. Is she [Luna] so different from them?”), and in fact, if Shiva had played up to most of the stereotypes, she would have done the opposite and done her hardest to suppress any part of Luna’s personality that wasn’t her Oracle duties.

But she did. Shiva was there, and she remembered. Shiva loved and we as a fandom may yell at the Astrals a lot for not doing more to take care of the Starscourge, but of all of them Shiva gave the most because she came down and she lived, and walked, and loved this Oracle, this scared child, this frightened, weary woman who couldn’t even turn to her own family for comfort. Shiva’s husband Ifrit was betrayed by humankind and yet Shiva still defended them, she kills Ifrit to protect the man (the king) that Luna loved.

And at the end of the game, in those final moments outside the Citadel, when it’s just Noctis and his Retinue against all of Ardyn’s armies of daemons, when Luna calls out to these Astrals whom she has remained faithful to her entire life, even unto her death…

They answer.

Every. Last. Astral. Who is not corrupted like Ifrit, comes down at her prayer and fights. Even Leviathan who’s only voiced lines are screaming wrath against the humanity that forgot her, even Bahamut who otherwise remains aloof in his plane of magic beyond the concerns of the mortal world. Luna calls, and they answer her.

“What have the Astrals ever done for her” indeed.

Luna’s faith is a driving force of her character, it is irrevocably intertwined with her duty, with her choices, with her desire to help people and save the world even if it costs her own life, and in the end her faith is rewarded. Not in the way we want for her, because we love the ultimate happy endings where everyone lives and nobody dies. But Final Fantasy XV was never a story about happy endings. It was a story about coming of age, and tragedy, and sacrifice. Of holding onto hope against all opposition, and of having faith that someday the dawn will return, even if bringing about that dawn requires personal sacrifice.

…

Okay this is over 5k words, I’m tired, and I’m extremely salty so I can’t really figure out how to wrap this up but there we go, my salty personal rant about why I think Dawn of the Future messed up some really critical parts of Luna’s characterization and why it’s Really Bad that they messed up those specific things.

Also I kinda despise them making Bahamut the bad guy in DotF because yes he’s a jerk and yes he really could have done the whole Prophecy thing a ton better, but in the original FFXV one of the things that made the game so heartbreakingly tragic to me is that most of the characters involved weren’t pure evil. They could be greedy, and flawed, and crazy, but in the end the source of the problem was too big to pin on one character.

Do you pin the entire thing on the god of war for his mistakes in trying to bring about peace, or the god of fire for trying to destroy humanity and no longer being there to do his job and purify the plague? Do you blame the Astrals for their hubris or humanity for theirs, because Ifrit loved humanity until they betrayed him so deeply he went mad? Do you hate Ardyn for causing the Long Night or pity him for being a victim of Somnus’s greed? Can you blame Somnus for everything even though the Scourge was going on long before him and kept spreading long after he sealed Ardyn away? The whole thing is a tragedy because at this point it’s a problem too big to fix without someone paying a price too heavy and we hate that because the characters who pay that price are the ones we grow to love over the game.

But that is an entirely different rant for an entirely different day when I am not so tired and my hands no longer hurt from writing this much in one sitting. Thank you and good night.

80 notes · View notes

charlettebffxiv · 3 years

Text

Prompt #17 Destruct

“So, what happens when you can’t keep one?” Maxim stood with his hands on the handle of his rake, the pile of leaves they had been collecting having grown almost as tall as him. Autumn was arriving, and with it the leaves had started to tumble. Willow’s Heart, like most Gridanian-esque villages, was lined with trees all throughout the winding roads and flanking forest. Which meant, plenty of mulch to be found for the Greenhouse, and other projects, and lots and lots of leaves, seeds and nuts to trip, slip and fall into. Charlette had just finished raking a fine mess of them up to the second mountain they had built so far, looking up at Maxim as she wrestled it along. “What? You mean an aberration? Depends on what kind, really. They come in different forms. Enchanted items, crystals, magitek devices, aberrant creatures, ‘afflicted’ or ‘affected’ people.” One of Maxim’s white-blond eyebrows lifted, you could barely see it was there against his pale skin. “What’s the difference between ‘afflicted’ and ‘affected?” turning her rake over, and using it to scoop up the leaves, Charlette dumped them atop the pile, watching plenty scatter back down anyway. “It is simple, really. One is always a victim, the other’s condition was intentional.” Maxim walked around their autumn monument, cleaning up the edges, every leaf swept into it. Neat, orderly, Charlette approved of his technique. “So, like, if someone experimented on me and gave me, say, webbed feet and fingers against my will? That’s afflicted?” Charlette nodded “And if you intentionally experimented with forbidden magics to give yourself webbed fingers and toes, you would be affected. Not the words I would have chosen, but I didn’t write the manuals.”

“Alright, well then, what happens with all of those, if you can’t keep it? Say it’s just too dangerous, like it explodes if you sneeze too close to it.” Bobocufu’s Apprentice Botanist Dylan had pulled his chocobo cart round to their side, and the both of them were hauling their collection into the back of it as they spoke. Pitch forks swung back and forth, their rhythm quite in-sync. Their words were a little wheezy from the effort. “Well, enhanced items can sometimes be destroyed on sight. That is a common one when the item is too big, or too dangerous to transport. They teach a few useful techniques for it, depending on your team composition and specialty. Guardians, like me, learn how to neutralize aether in small areas, but with time and chance, we can completely neutralize an object. Revert it back to being just a bowl or knife or whatever it is. Same with crystals.'' Their work was finished quickly, Charlette and Maxim waving to Dylan as he nudged the chocobo into action and took away a twelvemoon’s supply of mulch. “And if you don’t have a Guardian? What then?” Charlette was not sure if she should be telling Maxim this, then again he is a Willow’s Heart native. Born and bred here. His family must know nearly everything by now, might as well help him along. “If you are an Arcanist of the Order, you may know a similar technique as Guardians, but more concentrated. Usually disposal falls to the Arcanists, so they are the most prepared for it. If this fails though, there is always option number two: destroy it.” Now Maxim was focused, the man having a somewhat worrying delight towards explosives and anything else capable of creating fire. “Arcanists can manage magic strong enough to melt metal, turn entire houses into ashes, burn trees to the ground, freeze constructs and shatter them to pieces. There is a wealth of options for them. If you are a trained Agent of the Order, you generally will know how to make some explosives. A large bomb is an effective ‘neutralizing’ method as well.” Maxim nodded, like he was agreeing with Charlette. She supposed this was a subject that at least he could be about as correct as she would. “What about creatures and people?” It was here that Charlette went quiet, just packing away their tools into their own cart. Hauling herself up into the driver’s seat, Maxim sitting next to her and taking the reins and getting the bo moving. Seems he was patient this sun. The cart trundled down the road, leaves shivering about in the back. Maxim finally turned to Charlette, nudging her with his elbow “Well? That’s long enough. Give up the gory details, do you have giant mouse traps for oversized, aberrant rodents?” That thought was a little horrifying “No, though that would be funny, and horrible. Can you imagine the clean-up for such a thing? Ugh.” She gave a short shiver. Maxim having evoked some all too similar memories of missions passed “With creatures it can sometimes be much the same, though if you use any kind of neutralizing techniques that involve stopping or removing their aether, they generally die. And it is not a pleasant thing to witness or inflict on anything living. It is slow, and they panic, slowly get more and more tired and weaker, they stop trying to run after a little while. Then they just lay down, and die.” Maxim’s brows had furrowed, and his mouth was in a comically deep frown, creasing his cheeks and chin. “That’s grim Charlette, you’ve ruined my good mood.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, then you should not have asked. I find I prefer a bomb, or pyrotechnics that do not waste time and get it over with immediately, but it is not always an option. Aberrations can be incredibly resistant, by design or by adaptation. Sometimes taking the aether is the only way you can harm them. The hardest part is simply that it is not their fault. Never, not when it is a beastkin, or vilekin, or any kin that is not, well us.” Her driving companion needed a little moment to think that through. The differences between their experiences showing a little in his moment of thought. His life in the village and surrounding forest was not devoid of violence, but certainly lacked in the kind Charlette had seen, and had to be a part of. Cruel pragmatism in the face of Conservationist Optimism. It was a strange pairing. “I suppose I can get it. Nature is cruel like that too, sometimes. There’s usually a sense to it though, a reason but without a selfish designer, you know? No insane Arcanist, or deranged Thaumaturge behind it all. No corrupt Conjurer or tempered Mage. Just The Shroud, the forest, keeping itself as it is.” Charlette’s shoulder bumped into his, but not from the sway of the cart. “You sound morose Maxim. Let’s talk about something else.” He looked at her and shook his head “Nah, I’m fine. Just one more thing to go anyway, what happens with the people?” She was hoping to avoid this one. Their arrival at the Greenhouse gave her a precious moment of distraction as they prepared to unload. Leaves hauled into the compost, Chocobo released from the cart and walked back to the stables and their tools set in the shed. Both of them pulled off their overalls and scrubbed the dirt from their arms and faces at the water trough. “People are the hardest part.” Maxim was tying back his long, now slightly damp hair into the tail he usually wore it in, Charlette’s words catching him with a little surprise “What? Oh, yeah. I mean, I thought they would be. Stuff is just stuff, and I guess we’ve all seen animals getting the short end of the stick at some point. What makes it so hard?” Charlette knelt over the trough, running her arm under the tap as water poured out, scrubbing from wrist to shoulder. “That it is never obvious what you need to do. If they are too dangerous to allow to be free, but can be contained, they are. Usually by local authorities if they are capable of doing so, or by us if it is an extreme case. No, I’m not telling you where or how.” That was an actual secret, and she also didn’t think he was ready to know about the stasis process. Few people are, she wasn't when she learned how to do it. “But if they are too dangerous to be contained, or allowed free again, and if they do not self-destruct in the encounter. Well, we kill them. In much the same way as the creatures.” Maxim was moving a little slower now, his thoughts taking precedence on his focus “That’s rather harsh, don’t you think? Afflicted and affected alike?” Charlette nodded, finally more or less clean, and pulled her shirt over her head. “There’s generally no choice when it comes down to that, they often force our hand, whether they meant to or not. It just needs to be done, despite it being a desperately unfortunate situation, it needs to happen. So we do it.” She turned around, her top needing a few laces tied at the back, which Maxim attends to easily. He’s quite nimble with his long fingers. “I’m sorry you have to.” “I am not. It’s a good purpose to have.” “So is Botany, you know. Making life, and you still get to end some if that’s all you’re after.” Once finished he pats her on the shoulder, both of them looking a sight better than before. She does need to wipe a soil stain from Maxim’s nose though, which she does so with spit and a hard rub of her thumb, to his annoyance. “I know. It is partly why I am not rushing them about the hearing. I have… rather enjoyed helping things live, instead of destroying them, for a change.” He was still wiping at his nose with a sleeve, making it look extra red against his pallor. “Yeah, well, you’re welcome to hang around as long as you want. I’m gonna miss you when you’re back to murdering for the good of us all.” “Please don’t call it that.” “Sorry. Fixing things? Sounds a bit better. Like you’re an engineer.” he winked, Charlette gave him what he wanted and rolled her eyes again, with a big sigh, then started walking back home. Maxim ran to catch-up with her. She liked that though, being a ‘fixer’. She had never thought of it that way, and you know what? It helped, with that sadness that hangs around it all.

#ffxivwrite2021 #ffxiv roleplay #ffxiv rp #ffxiv writing #elezen #duskwight

4 notes · View notes

homeformyheart · 4 years

Text

first kid vs. last kid - edward x f!mc (ds)

author’s note: thank you for the ask! i debated for a long time whether or not to write this one because i hadn’t written for DS before and i haven’t written anything involving kids/family. and the prompt itself naturally lends itself to fluff and so overall this was harder than normal XD.

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. series/pairing: distant shores – edward x f!mc (peyton bellamy) rating/warnings: 13+ word count: 1.6k

first vs. last prompts / 4. first kid vs. last kid

first kid

peyton gripped the white stick until her knuckles paled, her fingers purposefully covering the little window that mocked her with two pink lines. she squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears of panic prickling her eyelids to stay away, and trying to force her body to breathe.

as if on cue, the pressure on her lungs gave way and she gulped down as much air as she could, feeling it push through her body like the water pressure on a firehose. once she was done gasping, her mind wandered and led her to the poseidon ii, where she welcomed how the sun beat down on her face as she balanced her way around the rocking deck. her mind continued flipping through her memories like it was her picflix streaming list, pausing every so often to play a 30-second trailer.

she didn’t fight it when her mind took her to the bustling town square in tiburon, where she welcomed the mindless chatter of pointless gossip from the townsfolk. and of course, she pressed pause when her mind took her to that island with the dolphins and shimmering blue waves, where she let herself swim alongside a man who seemed more and more like a dream with every passing day.

she took slow, deep breaths through her nose and let her mind wander back to that island, the beach, and edward sitting beside her. and she knew, even though she wasn’t ready to really think about becoming a mother, that this baby was hers and edward’s – solid proof that he was real, that their love is real.

1 year later

peyton wrapped her arms tightly around the blankets encasing her son, holding him against her chest as he nursed. as soon as he was done, edward gently cradled their child to burp him before laying him down in a makeshift crib they built with materials on the ship.

when she appeared on the docks in tiburon only three months after giving birth, peyton didn’t expect she’d get to stay for very long. the compass had called to her frequently throughout her pregnancy, the weeks that passed in-between trips translated to months in the past. thankfully, time travel didn’t seem to have lasting impacts on her pregnancy, with the exception of amplified morning sickness from constantly being on the water. peyton was also grateful that the compass didn’t call her during or immediately after she gave birth; even though edward would’ve wanted to be there, she was relieved that modern healthcare would surround her at such a terrifying time.

“edward, can we talk?” she said quietly once it was clear their son was asleep.

“of course, my love. what’s on your mind?” edward asked, moving to sit next to her on the bed and wrap his arm around her waist.

peyton leaned into his side. “i don’t know how much longer i’ll get to stay. i want us to be prepared.”

edward slowly tucked some loose hair behind peyton’s ear before locking eyes with her. “what do you mean?”

she felt something lodge in her throat at the same time the tears started prickling behind her eyes. “edward – in case i get sent back, i want you to raise our son. i don’t want to force him to grow up in two very different worlds, it would be so disruptive and i don’t want you to be alone.”

“no, a child should be with his mother. he needs you and you will be able to make sure he grows up in a safer environment. pirating is no life for a child,” edward said firmly.

peyton shook her head vigorously, trying to keep her voice low so as not to wake their son. “a son needs his father. he needs you.”

edward looked at her with such softness, peyton felt her heart break as the weight of her reality settled in – the reality that she may not have a future with the man she loved.

“you must do what is best for you and our son. your whole future is ahead of you. and your time would be better for him,” he said softly, cupping her cheek in the palm of his hand.

“i don’t want to leave you. i love you, edward,” peyton said between soft sobs, her body starting to feel weighed down by fatigue.

“and i love you from the bottom of my heart, miss peyton bellamy,” edward whispered into her ear as he held her tight.

as she drifted off to sleep, peyton vaguely remembered that edward hadn’t responded to her request that he raise their son should she get sent back to the future. it didn’t matter though, because when she woke up, she was in her own time, and alone.

last kid

five years. peyton could hardly believe that it had been five years since she last traveled through time. it was something they didn’t talk about, out of concern that speaking their fears out loud might tempt fate. superstitions aside, peyton was grateful that she was back in time with edward and the crew that had become her family. it honestly felt as though she had returned home – with charlie and ginny echoing those sentiments ten-fold.

she was incredibly grateful that their son was only two years old when she returned. time travel was finnicky but at least she hadn’t disappeared for too long in edward’s time, lest their son’s implicit memory of her fade. even though for her it had only been a few months, their dynamic had changed significantly considering edward had been raising their son on the ship as a single father. it took some time for them to adjust to a new normal with each other given the constant threat of time travel taking her away again and a son to raise.

but to peyton, the challenges and hardships were nothing compared to the pure joy she felt at being with the loves of her life. she would bend over backwards and adapt as well as she could to a pirate life as a mother and wife if it meant she could be with them forever.

for edward, he had to unlearn the hardened ways in which he kept his son close and the protective harshness he deployed to anyone who threatened those defenses. despite his nightmares and worries, their son took to peyton like a moth to a flame, a true representation of what a mother means to a son and vice-versa.

she watched from where she was sitting against a tree as edward played with their son, whose laughter was so carefree and infectious, peyton felt herself getting emotional each time she heard it. edward looked up and made eye contact with her, giving her that loving smile she knew she would never get used to seeing.

peyton didn’t realize she had become lost in thought until edward cleared his throat gently from behind her. she looked over and gave him a warm smile, noticing that their son was preoccupied with chasing butterflies a short distance away.

“what is on your mind, my love?” he asked, sitting down next to her.

she gave him a long, contemplative look. “it’s been five years since i’ve last traveled, and i… i want to expand our family.”

if she took edward by surprise, the only tell was the miniscule movement of his left eyebrow.

when he stayed silent, peyton continued, “i want to have another child with you, edward.”

“are you sure? what about–?”

peyton cut him off with a shake of her head. “i don’t think we’ll have to worry about it anymore. i can’t explain it, but i haven’t been able to sense the compass in years. i think i’m here to stay and I want to grow our family.”

edward touched his forehead to hers. “i would love nothing more, mrs. mortemer.”

3 years later

“mama! papa! can we go explore over there by the trees?”

peyton put a hand on her swollen belly. “yes, but be careful darling. and watch your brother!” she called out.

her oldest son grabbed the hand of his younger brother’s, slowing his gait down to match his brother’s waddle. edward chuckled as he wrapped an arm around peyton’s waist, tucking her into his side and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead.

“those two will be absolute terrors for the crew to keep track of in a couple of years,” he said, his voice thick with affection.

peyton turned to her husband to give him a soft kiss. “that’s why i really want this last one to be a girl.”

“and if it’s not? do you want to keep trying until we have a girl? you know i love having a family with you,” he said softly.

“as much as i’d like to have another female in our house, i think this little one will have to be our last,” she said as edward laid a hand on her belly.

the experience she had during the last pregnancy and birth, which she had to endure without the advances in medicine from the future, was more than enough for one lifetime. but she really wanted a little girl.

“let us hope and pray that this one is the little girl that will complete our family then,” edward said as they walked hand-in-hand after their two sons.

* * * * * mentions: @raleigh-edward; @khoicesbyk permatag: @withbeautyandrage; @agentnolastname; @freckles-spangledvampire;

#choices #reposting for new blog #choices fanfic #choices fanfics #distant shores #pb choices #playchoices #playchoices fanfiction #not twc #my writing #edward mortemer #peyton bellamy #edward mortermer x mc #choices distant shores #choices ds #my prompt fill #choices prompt fills #anon

27 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

INTERVIEW: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and the Directors' Legacy

Additional reporting by Kyle Cardine

On July 7th, Kyoto Animation released the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, the second season of the Dragon Maid franchise. This marked not only the return of a fan-favorite series, but the comeback of the globally beloved studio as a whole. We wrote on Kyoto Animation’s indomitable spirit in our interview with studio president Hideaki Hatta last year, and now we see that spirit communicated through Dragon Maid’s incredible dual capacity for intricately animated sequences and depth of emotional expression.

On the occasion of both Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Kyoto Animation’s latest return to anime, Crunchyroll News had the opportunity to talk with Tatsuya Ishihara, the director of the second season of the series, about Dragon Maid’s return, his responsibilities as incoming director and more.

Ishihara the Director

Tatsuya Ishihara is a long-time Kyoto Animation director who has produced some of anime’s sharpest comedy sequences alongside some of the most emotionally resonant, often in the same series. “I’ve had experience with works that combine comical and serious aspects, and I like them,” Ishihara said when asked about this continuing theme. “I find them rather fun and easy to do.” Though it may be humble, his answer gestures towards his immense talent for finding the poignant within the comedic, as well as the comedic within the poignant, a talent we can trace through his entire career with the studio.

In 2005, Ishihara made his directorial debut at Kyoto Animation with the adaptation of the Key Visual novel Air. His philosophy of negotiating his own interpretation of a work with audience expectation can be seen throughout his career, starting with Air and continuing into adaptations of two more Key visual novels—Kanon and the acclaimed Clannad. “I’m not an artist trying to express my own sense of self. I’m thinking of the viewers and their expectations. My job as director is to marry my own interpretation of a work with viewer expectations,” Ishihara would later say in the Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions limited edition box set booklet.

However, the first title in which Ishihara’s incredible talent would truly be embraced by the masses in the West is inarguably 2006’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. A series absolutely packed with incredible comedy, supernatural intrigue, disarming drama, and pleasurable slice-of-life, Haruhi is dense with directorial flair. Ishihara’s ability to deftly maneuver between comedy and drama truly struck the zeitgeist in mid ‘00s Western anime fandom, to the point where Haruhi cosplayers and “Hare Hare Yukai” flash mobs were inescapable.

Ishihara’s credits continue on to include a second season of Haruhi, legendary comedies Nichijou (2011) and the aforementioned Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (2012), and the coming-of-age drama Sound! Euphonium. All of these series embody Ishihara’s talent for balancing drama and comedy as well as his philosophy of mediating between his artistic expression and giving the audience what they want in different, equally affecting ways, and it is this body of experience that Ishihara has taken with him into his work on Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S.

Ishihara and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S

The relationship between Kyoto Animation and the Dragon Maid manga series was formed quite early. According to a Futabasha editorial representative we spoke to in the making of this article, the publisher received an offer from Kyoto Animation to produce the adaptation shortly after the first volume was released. In January 2017, the studio released the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, quickly met with a warm embrace by fans.

The life that Tohru and Kobayashi build together is one full of warmth and laughter, woven from the comedy and drama that comes from the differences between the humans and dragons of the series. Despite the supernatural beings that make up half of its cast, the true magic of the series can be found in the deeply touching depictions of everyday life, a place where KyoAni is particularly adept. “In the anime, Kanna’s familiarity with everyday life was more emphasized,” Dragon Maid manga author Coolkyousinnjya said to Crunchyroll News. “There were more details, and a lot of things amazed me when I watched it.”

リリイベお疲れ様でしたー　すごくよかったです pic.twitter.com/FW5pkCtiD4

— クール教信者＠夏アニメ「小林さんちのメイドラゴンS」「ピーチボーイリバーサイド」「平穏世代の韋駄天達 (@coolkyou2) July 24, 2021

An illustration from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid creator Coolkyousinnjya

Before we begin to talk about Ishihara’s involvement in Dragon Maid, we must address a painful, necessary truth: Tatsuya Ishihara did not direct the first season of the series. Rather, it was the late director Yasuhiro Takemoto who first helmed the title. Takemoto directed many of Kyoto Animation’s most defining and iconic works, beginning with the initial two episodes of the 2002 Nurse Witch Komugi OVA (the only two that were produced by Kyoto Animation), 2003’s Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and its 2005 sequel Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. He then directed the lion’s share of the absolutely iconic Lucky Star (2007), Hyouka (2012), Amagi Brilliant Park (2014), and, of course, season one of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Throughout all of his work, but especially in Nurse Witch Komugi, Lucky Star, and Dragon Maid, you can see an absolute adoration for and celebration of otaku culture.

“I'm trying to keep the style of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid that the first anime series and the original work have,” said Ishihara. “I'm taking over from the previous series, so I'm trying not to change the atmosphere.” And, as any fan of the first season will tell you, he has succeeded. From the pitch-perfect fish-out-of-water comedy to the jaw-dropping non-sequitur fight scenes to the sudden moments of deeply human empathy between Kobayashi and the dragons—everything that worked about the first season works here, too.

“I think it is my role to take over and convey the ‘feelings’ of the staff from the previous season while directing this season,” said Ishihara.

Yasuhiro Takemoto’s affinity for a specific period of otaku culture is woven through the first season of the series, especially with the protagonist Kobayashi and the characters Takiya and Fafnir. That aspect of the series identity is carried on in Ishihara’s season as well. “I thought I might be able to have an otaku talk with Takiya and Kobayashi-san, but their ages are so far apart from mine that I might not be able to talk with them,” said Ishihara when asked which member of the Kobayashi cast he would spend a night talking with. “That's actually been happening a lot in real life lately, which makes me sad. That's why I think it's Lucoa. She is kind and seems to be willing to listen to me.”

The comedic set up of the question was undercut with a surprising poignancy at Ishihara’s admittance that otaku culture is moving on from the form he is familiar with. That same emotional resonance is coincidentally echoed in the first episode of Dragon Maid S, when Kobayashi says, “People don’t use the word moe very much anymore, but they’ve kept the spirit of those times.”

Ishihara and the Core of Kyoto Animation

When the name Kyoto Animation is brought up to me, I immediately think of Sound! Euphonium’s Kumiko Oumae, her face contorting in frustration as she runs through the streets of her town, unable to hold herself back from screaming “I want to improve!” out loud. I imagine, for many anime fans, similar scenes come to mind—pathos, love, laughter, tears, all written on the faces of characters rendered in ways few other studios can. To quote Clannad’s first ending theme, “All that’s happy and all that’s sad rolled into one.”

The craft on display in Dragon Maid S is, of course, apparent to anyone that watches even a few seconds of an episode. Effortlessly shifting from subtle character acting and loving renderings of scenic everyday life to mind-melting supernatural battles featuring some of the best fight choreography of the year.

How can one team balance the demands of such polar opposite tendencies in a series? “Even in animation,” Tatsuya Ishihara responded, “if the setting of the work is close to reality, the movements of the characters will be limited to realistic theatrics. However, animation is supposed to be freer, and the designs, movements, and theatrics of the characters themselves should be exaggerated. In this respect, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a fantasy, so it is easy to make use of the original characteristics of animation. By exaggerating the movements and expressions of the characters, I try to make them even more humorous and convey their feelings.” Animation is the medium, not film, and Ishihara and his team are making full use of it.

Animation, no matter how impressive, must be in service of a story to reach something beyond pure spectacle. The staff of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S understands the characters and their feelings, their situations, their histories, and what they care about. Ishihara understands the power that can come from a story about two groups of people with seemingly irreconcilable differences coming together to build a life of found family.

“It is normal that you and others are different, so it is important to accept that and to acknowledge each other's diversity,” said Ishihara. In the age of the Internet, I think we have come to realize that people around the world are not united, but rather that there are people with many different ways of thinking. One of my favorite lines is when Fafnir says ‘The common sense of this [human's] world doesn’t completely mesh with our [dragons'] understanding’ and Tohru responds to him by saying ‘but isn’t reconciling that kind of fun?’”

For the past few years, increasingly, I have felt like we are all living in a broken world; People are divided by distance, ideology, and disease. The climate is changing. And reporting about these topics crashes against us constantly, each day feeling as if it brings more bad news than the last. But I have found refuge in the works of Kyoto Animation, as have many others. In the stories this studio has told, fans are able to see the beauty that can be found in life, no matter the circumstances. Sometimes, in the midst of a reality that seems grim and harsh, you need to be reminded that there is still love and fun to be found. Sometimes, all it takes to bring you to that state of mind is the story of a woman and the dragon that loves her.

TVアニメ「#小林さんちのメイドラゴンＳ」第1話『新たなるドラゴン、イルル！（またよろしくお願いします）』をご覧いただきありがとうございました❣ Illustration：石原立也（監督）#maidragon pic.twitter.com/49wE3HeLrS

— TVアニメ「小林さんちのメイドラゴンＳ」公式 (@maidragon_anime) July 7, 2021

Episode One Thank You Illustration from Tatsuya Ishihara

“I’m sure many of you were worried, but we were able to release Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid without any issues,” said Ishihara. “I would like to continue to create enjoyable works, so please have fun.”

Cayla Coats is the Editor-in-Chief of Crunchyroll News EN. She tweets @ceicocat.

Kyle Cardine is a Managing Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here.

By: Cayla Coats

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

2 notes · View notes

tohappyfamily · 3 years

Text

Balance the role of mother and work is not easy, although more than ¾ of the women choose to work with family life.

To continue the professional path without harming the family and children.Good organizational skills and a rigorous and coherent program must be developed.

Frequently asked questions about working mothers

In his new book, "A ce soir," the famous American pediatrician, Perry Brazelton, answers all the questions that concern mothers.

How can coordination between family life and work?

Dr. Perry Brazelton says: "One of the most common problems that working mothers face is the problem that a mother faces between caring for her child and resuming work.

A woman thinks she can take care of both sides, but she can't do both well.

It takes a woman to be a "superhero" and that's tough, because every woman sets herself goals that are realistically impossible to achieve in both areas.

Today, the various tasks of parents who have a child accumulate, such as feeding, work and marital relationship.

The more parents pay attention, the more difficult each of these tasks becomes."

On the other hand, and through experience, know that children primarily need parents who are more flexible and courteous if they are working.

It is important to tell mothers who entrust their children to other people that they will not be completely unhappy.

But the result is that they get used to being separated from their children without much pain.

But beware the problem affects the man as well, because many men do not like to do household tasks, or prepare food for his child.

Despite the necessity for this to happen, the woman tries to prove herself in competition at work, she leads, makes decisions and completes her mission.

When a woman successfully performs both tasks, the man feels subconscious fear; Where he discovers that the "weaker" sex is in fact the stronger sex.

Few of us as parents actively participate in their homes when they are young, so the young father has to discover something new in himself.

In the past men could only fit into their family life with the authorization of their wives, and today they have to be present.

Their role in their new family is an investment one, they feel a personal happiness overwhelmed by absent fathers.

The importance of the father in the child development :

What are the child benefits when his father takes care of him?

There are several child benefits from the care of his parents.

As the involuntary competition between the parents urges them to idealism that creates a positive environment for the child.

Father Partnership:

Father partnership enables you to reconcile family life and work.

It is necessary to involve the father and share household tasks, the mother must accept the fact that she cannot do everything alone.

On the part of the father, he must participate in family life, and the duties of the parents should be perfectly balanced in the home.

This is very important so that the mother can have a successful job that does not affect her personal life.

Specifically, it is helpful to make a list of different tasks on a daily basis.

They must be classified according to their nature and positioned in such a way that they are adapted to the father and the mother.

So interviews with teachers, and appointments with the pediatrician or dentist do not have to be the mother's business on a regular basis, but rather on a rotating basis.

Having a sense of organization:

The division of tasks indicates a sense of organization.

Again, mothers should not think that they can do it all, and fathers should not think that they can do it all.

The best possible approach is to establish a schedule of activities.

Children can be given some processes that they deal with well, which is a way of showing their parents' confidence in them.

In preparing the 'family' timeline, everyone should express themselves and have a say.

A new opinion is always welcome and will bring about improvements in the organization of the home.

Many studies show that children who have parents participate in care positively.

They reach school age with the best QI scores and also have the best chances of success.

These children have the best relationships with other children, have a mild temperament, and have a strong self-image.

The presence of the father not only provides many opportunities to strengthen the bonds of the family but also for the child.

How can a mother meet the needs of her child?

Only the mother or the father knows how they can provide their child with all the care he needs.

Dr. Perry Brazelton says: “In the United States, about 25% of children spend their childhood with a parent for a variety of reasons.

In such cases, a parent who stays with the child needs more help and understanding.”

"The official, whether the mother or the father, should not hesitate to seek help from the pediatrician, grandparents, friends, etc..,

We must deal appropriately from the outset with the questions posed by children who wish to know the reasons why they or their families are different from others."

"It is not about interfering before the child is at the level of understanding, but the ability to answer the child without feeling the need to apologize or defend."

If the mother is facing this issue, she must be prepared to say to her child:

“It is with us that every family is different and lives in its own way.

In the house there is no father, but on the contrary, there is only a grandfather and he may one day be a father to us. Waiting for this we must love each other very much.”

Children need this kind of conviction tinged with strength and frankness in order to be supported in their classes with their colleagues as well as in themselves.

But beware, parents often tend to keep their child in childish behavior such as feeding for long periods, or using the breast or straw as a pacifier.

Also, the field of nutrition is worthwhile, when neglecting to encourage the child to gain his independence, he may sometimes end up refusing food.

When the mother is alone she should not feel trapped, and she should teach her son to separate in small doses.

If not, she is at risk of making some kind of sudden cut when she pledges her baby to someone else and also by stifling his own feelings.

The mother has to know how to caress her child and create an atmosphere of fun at home.

When she's raising her child alone, it can be hard to remember that having fun leads to a balanced life.

In the work and at home, two different behaviors:

Women do not behave in the same way at work and at home, so how can they reconcile the two behaviors?

"The woman in this situation needs to think carefully about the two roles she must fill and combine them in parallel," says Dr. Perry Brazelton.

Women must summon all their potentials in their dreams and lives.

When a mother feels thriving, it inevitably benefits the family as a whole.

Studies indicate that successful and happy women at work have greater chances of success in their family life and their role as a mother.

At work, women need to be realistic, take distances on the emotional level, and show voluntariness, directness and effectiveness in the way they work.

On the other hand, an active mother is liable to be a bad mother with her children.

Because it should be soft and warm at home and be ready for experiments and lessons.

She has to be open to changes, she has to always expect things to not go well and be able to compensate.

She must be able to move quickly and without hesitation from one character to another and be the secret to success in both very different roles.

Separation - return - things that must be gradual:

Dr. Perry Brazelton says: “Every parent should have their own answer, and a good understanding of their relationships with their child (her child) helps them make the decision.

Whatever the period of separation, both parents or one of them needs a period of respite during which they can learn how to deal with their child.

It is foolish to think that a young child does not realize that he is in the hands of someone he does not know.

On the contrary, we think that the child is fully aware that he is under the care of strangers who take care of him for 4-6 weeks.”

When a child reaches the age of one, he will take his first steps alone or lean on furniture.

They are the first signs towards true independence, accompanied by an increased sense of self-reliance.

Young children show a real fear of new situations when it comes to changing their environment.

These possibilities should be avoided as much as possible.

Thus, the child is less exposed to shock, and we also do not forget that moving away from the child should not be surprising.

Rather, the child must be accustomed to cycles of distance and encounter, by placing him with a third person.

But we must know that all or most of the children regress to an earlier stage of their development when the mother resumes her work.

When the people around him give him confidence too early in themselves, the decline will be temporary and the mother feels that her child is able to tolerate the hatred of separation.

It is a stage that you should not worry about.

The secrets of balancing work and raising a child:

Dr. Berry offers several secrets to balancing work and raising a child.

He says:“Steps should not be rushed, nor should you expect to take control of the situation at short intervals when it comes to fulfilling the two important tasks.

You must bear the difficulty of defining each of them, for example, think carefully before choosing a nursery or a nursery to take care of your child.

If you take the full time breastfeeding, you can devote your time completely to your work, and be in close contact with her. Trust your child's ability to adapt to a third person."

"Feel free to treat your child your way and let the other person do that as well.

Your child will quickly get used to this change, while he will be upset by an angry person next to him forced to deal with him in an unusual way."

If you're under stress during the workday, try to be as extreme as possible before going home.

Your family needs all the energy you can put in to it, and the old English tradition of having a cup of tea upon return will help you relax.

We must point out the importance that the quality of time we spend with our children is more important than the quantity.

Set aside an hour or two a week for each child, during which time you are completely alone with him at his disposal.

It is not important how you spend these two hours, but the important thing is that you are for him alone, even if you can only devote one hour to him.

It will surely be remembered for the rest of the week.

Of course, there will be other times when the child will want to be with you.

If you're too busy, you can say to him, "At the moment it's impossible, but don't forget that at the weekend we have an appointment with the two of us and we'll do whatever you like.

I am so happy to be able to spend some time with you."

And even though you'll feel guilty all week, you'll be confident that these special moments will make up for the hours of separation.

These will be special and precious times that you share with your child and that should not be overlooked.

balance the work and family life?

Other recommendations:

- Teach your child to take part in taking care of the house, and you can motivate him by teaching him this as a real game.

- Participate in household chores with your husband, as these chores are not entrusted to women only.

It concerns the whole family and if you have an emergency it is important that your husband help you at home.

- Be attentive to simple meals and fill the refrigerator.

- Don't get caught up in work all night or weekend, and make sure the time you spend with your child is as enjoyable as possible.

Whether in terms of food, going home, shopping, times when the child is suffering or while on vacation.

- All women who work should take regular breaks to change their thoughts.

But the worst that can happen to him: lack of money, loss of energy, all claims are favorable so that we don't spend too much on fun times.

However, this would change many things.

- You also have to be realistic about what you hope for both for you and for your baby. It is impossible to be a "super mom."

This has disadvantages and may cause them more difficulties than benefits.

The desired goal is the cohesion of the family, and if you succeed in this, you have certainly achieved something great.

- In the end, it is not ingratitude from you to work and raise your children, this matter is within the reach of everyone.

But if we want to do that we have to bear the obstacles, your greatest reward will be when you see your children in a state of balance and in a good psychological state.

And when they reach puberty they will be able to differentiate the two great poles of your business and your family.

4 notes · View notes