#epic maternity

[min-pathologica]

i love my dad so i’m never telling him i also have a fictional father figure named yakou furio

[wyrmsandrocs]

I have thoughts about the possible castings I've seen of women as Poseidon in Epic The Musical but I'm not sure if tumblr would appreciate them.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Ah this is the start of Angie and Esmeralda competing for Violetta's affection-

[midnight-in-town]

Ao no Exorcist is a Shonen series written by a woman and it shows

Since the latest chapter, I've been thinking about how several usual Shonen tropes are written rather differently under Kato-sensei's pen. No judgement or anything, it's just cool to observe. Some examples :

1) Rin's mentor is a woman

2) Rin's secret, despite being the MC, was revealed in ch13 to the entire cast, meanwhile Shiemi, The Main Girl, who was introduced to be so helpless is only starting to be explained.

3) Also, the Mysterious plot-relevant Shonen Parent is actually the twins' mother. (Of course Shiro is super plot-relevant too, but Satan is still angsting over Yuri and she's a huge part of the reason why he's the big bad)

4) Rin also changed his view about his future throughout the story: from dropping out of school, passing by hoping to become the Order's Paladin (probably to cope with Shiro's death and also to antagonize Arthur), to finally showing way more interest and potential in the (less epic and heroic in appearance) field of talismanic cooking.

5) When it comes to arcs, mental illness is a valid reason to build a character arc around...

6) And so is making an arc about girls being "cursed" to basically "get married and have children before they hit 30, the age where their beauty fade thus they become useless" :

7) ANE is a story about women becoming traitors to protect their loved ones, like Mamushi

or becoming overwhelmed because men toyed with their feelings like Tamamo

8) Older women can be absolute badasses like Shiemi's grandma

or Lucy.

9) Complicated mother-daughter relationship and girl friendships are given as much focus as complicated father-son relationships and sweet bro friendships (like Bon and his dad during the Kyoto arc, as well as the complicated but deep bond between the Kyoto Trio)

10) And one of my favorites: full time single dad, asking for help to do the job as well as he can and finding his true purpose in life by doing so :D

Hmm and now that I think about it, the only other Shonen series written by a woman I've been as invested in is Kuroshitsuji, by Yana Toboso, and similar examples can be found in it too, namely:

1) If Ciel ever finally admits needing a mentor, his aunt Frances will probably play that role

2) Girls can be super strong & skilled (Elizabeth, Mey Rin) and clever (Sieglinde)

3) (one part of) the Big Bad is a woman (Queen Victoria)

4) maybe Ciel's entire revenge stems from a conflict between Queen Victoria and Ciel's maternal grandmother, Claudia.

5) the Undertaker has been a continuously freaking pain in the ass because he probably fell in love with that same maternal grandmother and couldn't mourn properly

TL;DR we love our boys and their spectacular growth and development under women's pens a.k.a shonen series written by ladies are hella fun to read. :D

[fairy-writes]

I HEARD GOODBYE

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Fandom(s): Kaiju No. 8

Pairing(s): Hibino Kafka x Reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Female!Reader, Pregnant!Reader, Reader is smaller than Kafka, Arguments, Established Relationships,

Notes: Based on the song “I Heard Goodbye” by Dan + Shay and vaguely on the song “My Goodbye” from EPIC: The Musical (mainly the vibes).

PART TWO HERE

__________________________________________________________________________

Kafka should’ve known something was wrong when you kissed him goodbye that morning. But a lot had happened in the last few months, so he blamed it on the stress of everything. 

As soon as he got to work, he thought back on that morning and realized something was off. Something was missing. But he couldn’t figure out what. However, that was pushed to the back of his mind when he received the letter from the Defense Force about his initial exam score. 

He passed!

Kafka was on cloud nine up until he got home. He greeted you the same as he always did, with a kiss on your cheek and a hand on your slightly swollen belly. But the folded paper in his pocket made him giddier than he had been in a while. 

“You’re excited about something.” You mumble against his mouth, thumbing his wedding band before turning back to making dinner. Kafka takes a seat at the kitchen island and tries not to let his grin get much bigger. 

“Just got some good news at work today, is all. I’ll tell you over dinner.” He says, and you just hum. 

That should’ve clued him in that something was wrong. 

Things come to a head at dinner. You’re eating slowly as you are trying to prevent heartburn. You had gotten the idea from your doctor. Something about eating slower and smaller meals could maybe prevent heartburn. And with how often you got it, you were nearly desperate for anything to work. 

The two of you chatted aimlessly at first, with you updating him on your pregnancy and him profusely apologizing for not being there at your appointment. You revealed that your best friend (who had apparently gone with you) knew the gender, but you refused to learn—not until he was home to look with you, at least. 

“Now,” You begin abruptly when cleaning up your mess from making dinner. Kafka looks up from where he’s scrubbing the dishes. “What’s the big news?” You finish after a moment’s pause. Kafka hesitates for barely a second before turning off the sink, drying his hands, and fishing the paper out of his pocket. He hands it to you without a word, and you frown, unfolding the piece of paper and staring blankly. 

Then, you set the paper down on the counter and leave the kitchen silently. 

“Wait!” Kafka gives chase and finds you in the bedroom. You’re packing a bag. He pauses in the doorway, almost dumbfounded, as you continue to shove loose-fitting clothes in your duffel bag. You weren’t pregnant enough for maternity clothes yet, but your regular clothes were getting a bit tight. So you usually just borrowed one of his shirts to sleep in. 

“What are you doing?” He asks quietly, and you look up at him,

“I’m staying with Haru for the night.” You say, brushing past him to head for the front door. 

He’s too stunned to stop you.

You don’t contact Kafka for three days after that. In fact, he’s fairly sure you blocked his number, with none of his texts going through when he tried to talk to you.

It affects his work. He’s slower than usual, not nearly as gung-ho as he typically is. And people notice. Mitsuike notices. Mori notices. Tokuda notices. Hell, even Ichikawa notices! They try to comfort him in their own ways, but nothing helps because Kafka has no idea what he has done wrong. 

At least until you show up again. 

Kafka is sitting at the kitchen island, staring at his exam results—no longer excited when you aren’t there to celebrate with him—when he hears the keys jingle in the lock. He stuffs the paper in his back pocket and slides in slippered feet into the hallway just as you open the door. 

You spot him, looking spooked like a deer in the headlights. 

“I thought you would be working overtime tonight.” You mumble as you shut the door behind you and take off your shoes. You’re carrying a laundry bag full of what he assumes is dirty laundry. 

“They uh… Let me go home early.” He replies, voice petering off slightly near the end of his sentence. You frown,

“You never go home early.” You comment and go to move past him to head to the laundry machine situated at the back of the apartment. 

But he catches your arm. 

“Can we talk?” Kafka’s voice cracks, and you stiffen. 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” You say, your voice as cold as ice, and he flinches back. You shrug off his hand and make it to the washing machine before he manages to catch your attention again. 

“There’s a hell of a lot to talk about!” He reins in his temper at the last second, but you seem intent on ignoring him regardless. “Is this about the Defense Force?” He tries and sees you freeze as you’re dumping the laundry detergent into the machine.

Bingo.

Eventually, you sigh and lean on the washing machine as it rumbles, your wedding band glinting slightly in the flickering light of the laundry room. At least you were still wearing it. He didn’t know what he would’ve done had you taken it off. 

“I never wanted you to join the Defense Force.” You say quietly, and Kafka isn’t upset. Not exactly, at least. He’s just glad you’re talking to him. 

“Why?” His voice sounds broken and oh so small. You knew from the get-go that joining the Defense Force was his dream. You knew from the start that he would apply each year. And each year throughout your four-year marriage, you would comfort him when he got the bad news that he had failed. 

“Because everyone I knew who joined the Defense Force has died. My parents included.” You say bitterly, and he stops in his tracks. 

Your parents?

“I thought they were military?” He said, confused. You shake your head, 

“That was a lie. Because I knew how you felt about it. I had just hoped you would fail one more time and give up on this dream.” You whisper, and he sees a tear streak down your cheek. 

He hated it when you cried. 

But when he got closer, you cringed away. Your hands clenched into fists, and when you look at him with tears in your eyes, he feels his heart break. 

“Are you still going to join the Defense Force?” Your voice is quiet, almost so soft that he can’t hear you. His own hands clench into fists as he fights with himself.

He had made a promise to Mina. But he had also promised you when you got married.

The longer you stare at him, the more the light dies from your eyes. 

“I guess that answers that, then.” You whisper and push past him yet again. You tell him that you’ll be back for your laundry, but he can’t bring himself to move from his spot by the washer. 

Had he just lost you forever?

[elvensorceress]

wip wednesday

tagged by @diazsdimples @hoodie-buck @theotherbuckley @wikiangela @spotsandsocks @exhuastedpigeon @hippolotamus @daffi-990 (though I think these were mostly for Tuesday so consider this me also tagging you for Wednesday 😘💕) tagging @eddiebabygirldiaz @evanbegins @ebdaydreamer @shortsighted-owl @messyhairdiaz @wh0re-behavi0r @rogerzsteven @loveyouanyway @bekkachaos @giddyupbuck @tizniz @disasterbuckdiaz @epicbuddieficrecs @transboybuckley @spaceprincessem @confetti-cupcake @heartshapedvows @monsterrae1 @loserdiaz more Unless firefam silliness that directly follows this scene 💕

“Okay, enough stalling,” Chim waves a hand to redirect their attention. “So far we have heard nothing about what happened after the party and what came of our intervention and what is going on with the two of you?” He points at both Buck and Eddie for emphasis. Like he means business. 

Eddie just turns to look at Buck. “Intervention?”

Buck makes a face and waves it off. “It was— I’ll tell you later,” he says to Eddie and then addresses Hen and Chim. “What do you want to know about our private personal lives that are private and personal and none of your business?” 

Hen and Chim make identical groaning noises. 

“Oh, suddenly you’re not going to say anything?”

“It’s personal and private now but not when we have to hear about infamous firehose escapades?”

“You go on about the reporter and the dispatcher—”  

“—and snake lady and all the yoga teachers and bartenders and dancers and surfers and cowboys and cowgirls and poor, unfairly slandered Lucy—”

“But not about this?” 

“We have to hear disturbing details for weeks, months, years but now you want to plead the fifth?”

“We have to suffer through that and you won’t even tell us what we want to know?” 

“We’re your squad goals family!”

From where he’s sitting, Eddie can clearly see Bobby rubbing at his forehead and possibly contemplating prayer. If that is a thing that can be ascertained by an expression. Eddie’s pretty sure it is. At least where Bobby is concerned. 

“It’s only fair,” Hen says. “If you’ve finally realized you’re both epically in love with each other in a way that puts all tales of fictional love to shame because the both of you—”

“Buck mostly,” Chim clarifies and then says to Eddie. “We had to intervene because red alert reporter demon and questionable 2.0 decisions and did you know he went and broke poor Ravi? Ravi couldn’t take it anymore. He went back to B shift. That’s where he went.” 

Bobby chimes in to very patiently say, “Ravi chose to switch a few shifts because Eddie is back and we still have to figure out a good schedule for everyone while Harper is on maternity leave and Jackson is recovering from a broken arm and Bailey is out on her national guard rotation.” 

“Nuh uh,” Chim eloquently argues. “You were there. You saw it. Buck and the red alert reporter broke him.” 

“Both of you,” Hen persists as if there has been no interruptions. “Are driving us insane with this oblivious, ‘he doesn’t love me, we can’t be together’ thing. So, I think you owe us some information.”

“I swear if you two haven’t figured out something here,” Chim gives them a frazzled, frantic, desperate look. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” He turns in his seat and leans around the edge toward the front. “Cap, what are we going to do?”

Bobby glances back at them, and he could easily disclose that they both signed certain paperwork already only moments ago. Because he knew even without them saying anything. But Bobby just shrugs and nonchalantly turns and faces forward. And probably prays for peace and quiet for them all. 

Leaving the choice to them.

read on to part 3

[readysetimready]

“Mortal characters, as it happens, do not see Hera at all (cf. Il. 1.208). Jason does not know the identity of the old woman he carries over the Anaurus; Hera's agency is mostly hidden from the Argonauts; and it is left to the prophet Phineus to explain that of all the gods the most concerned with Argo's voyage is Hera (2.216-17). At one point the Argonauts do hear her terrifying, aether-shaking cry of warning about Ocean (4.640-42) - an action that recalls the Homeric Hera who gives voice to the natural world: honoring Agamemnon with portentous thunder during his arming scene at Iliad 11.45-46 and granting speech to Achilles' horse Xanthus at 19.407. There is a greater divide between the mortal and divine worlds in Apollonius than there is in Homer, but this division serves to highlight the activity of Hera, who enlists many allies and modes of expression in order to bridge that gulf. As Hunter observes:

“The Argonauts' protecting deity, Hera, works through silent action or suggestion (3.250, 818, 4.11, 1184-5, 1199-1200), through signs (3.931 a talking crow, 4.294 a shooting star, 510 lightning, 640-2 a scream), and through the words and actions of characters. Her only "personal appearances" in the poem are the scene on Olympus which opens Book 3 and her appeal to Thetis in Book 4. 40”

[that-ari-blogger]

Connection (Reaching Out)

In the wind up into a series’ final arc, episodes tend to feel janky. As if they are trying to pad out the series or are unsure whether the arc has started or not. As a rule, these tend to be below average in so far as quality goes.

The Owl House, however, exists by subverting expectations, so these episodes are some of its best. Reaching Out, for example, uses the plot limbo to tell a focused story that is by far my favourite episode of the series, as well as being one of my favourite stories ever put to screen.

This episode deals with family first and foremost, specifically through the lenses of grief and legacy. It’s about memory and tradition, as well as connection and love.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House)

The Owl House has a very specific style of story that it likes to tell.

This is different from genre, and part of why I dislike that concept. It’s simultaneously more broad and more specific. The series plays around in fantasy and horror, it takes inspiration from classical epic fantasy as well as shonen anime, it’s a satire of itself.

But that’s just the breakdown of genre, The Owl House’s style of story is centred around quests and humour. Episodes give you a problem that can be tangibly fixed, and either find a solution or work towards it, Understanding Willow gives you a magical accident and a spell to fix said magical accident. It’s self-contained and questy. "Go do x." "Find y." "Bring back the golden hoop of hoopiness." Etc.

This episode does things differently, in the sense that I challenge you to find a tangible solution to the problem of grief and physical distance. Even in The Owl House, dead people stay dead, and there is no foreseeable way to get home within the next day. You can’t fix that; you just have to find a new way of doing things.

It will not have escaped your notice that the episode’s opening scene is the shortest in the series, and that is because it doesn’t need to be longer.

A cold open needs to do one thing and one thing only. It needs to establish the plot of the upcoming episode. It’s a tidy way of getting across the core conflict to come, and let the audience know what they are in for.

This is the issue I have with Batman Beyond, but it’s a minour issue and not the point, so I’ll leave that for a future post.

Reaching Out opens with an event reminder. The scene has no words in it, but it is sold entirely by the acting. The animation conveys the emotions going through Luz’s mind perfectly, and it’s unclear. Guilt, fear, sadness, its ambiguous to allow for a sense of mystery, but you do know that she doesn't feel good about whatever this may be.

Then she presses “Ignore”, and the scene ends.

That’s the entirety of the cold open, any more would feel cluttered, and yet you know exactly what kind of story you are in for. This will be an episode about Luz’s relationship with her mother and will provide detail into how Luz handles her own issues.

That jacket is a gift in this context from Eda. It may be Luz's technically, but this scene sets up Eda giving it to her to help her. Now Luz has a gift from a maternal figure, its a proxy that she will cling to over the course of the episode.

When the episode actually begins, Luz procrastinates on doing the thing she probably needs to do by making a list of everything else in the world that she would rather be doing. So, we get the defining conflict of the episode spelled out more specifically. She’s avoiding something. You could have got that from the opening, but now we get a little insight into why.

“Every year, me and Mom have this little ritual we do. It's nothing big. I just miss her. That's all.”

This episode has a slow burn to it, revealing more and more of the details of this ritual over time. It’s framed as a discovery, which works with the idea of the audience slowly discovering things about Luz.

I want to dwell a little more on the animation of this episode for a moment. I promise I’ll try to talk about other stuff as well, but this episode is just gorgeous to look at.

Luz doesn’t stop moving until the confession. She’s frantic, but in a really smooth way that I find rather interesting. In just the above shot, she flows from one thought to the next, from one action to another.

This creates a feeling of momentum that diminishes over the course of the scene. It’s dynamic, like the series as a whole, but it's slowing down to something slower paced signifies the episode’s decision to focus in on something small.

“What you need is a healthy distraction from your problems.” “I have a problem, and it could distract us all day!”

That’s a very specific word choice to happen twice in twenty seconds, it's almost as if the there’s a theme going on here, and there is. Luz is seeking that distraction from her issue.

Which brings me to the subject of said issue, the grief ritual.

According to a Psychology Today article titled “The Power of Rituals to Heal Grief”:

“Rituals are an important way for people to find meaning when they lose a loved one. Everyone is familiar with rituals. Perhaps you’ve performed them during holidays, in church, or even before ballgames. You may have performed rituals to acknowledge important life changes—graduations, retirements, and even funerals... The power of rituals lies in their symbolism. Consider the ritual of graduation. Walking across a stage and shaking someone’s hand is no big deal as an act in itself. We walk all over the place and shake people’s hands all the time. But this act takes on special meaning when it’s performed at graduation, symbolizing an important transition.”

A grief ritual is crystalised emotion, allowing you to act upon it and let the pain out in a healthy way. In Luz’s case, the picking of flowers brought about a connection between her and her mother. The two grieved together, and now their physical difference means that Luz doesn’t have anyone who understands her pain exactly to share the moment with.

Enter Amity, and I want to cover that scene last, because I believe it to be the series’ magnum opus, and it needs some more build up.

Please remember that this guy helped with the experimentation on the Basilisks. He wasn't just complicit; he was an active participant. Remember that when talking about Warden Wrath.

Amity is going through what I hesitate to call a generic The Owl House plot, but it's definitely something more in the series’ general wheelhouse. She has identified two problems, those being a rift between her and her father, and the decision that was made for her about joining the emperor’s coven; and she has decided upon a solution, win the Bonesborough Brawl.

This is achievable and presents room for hijinks. Its self-contained. But it’s also an example of how well The Owl House handles theme exploration.

Each episode of the of this series has an idea that it wants to explore, and every plot point within it delves into something about that theme. In this case, it’s connection and drifting apart. Amity is drifting away from her father, Luz can’t get to her mother, and the two of them are being driven away from each other by Luz’s increasingly desperate attempts to distract herself.

You would think that grief is a secondary theme here, but it’s not. Connection is a facet of grief as an overarching idea. That’s why this is about grief rituals rather than just the feeling of loss.

The article I mentioned earlier has a passage that goes into this concept in more detail, but from a slightly different perspective.

“For Donald, this ritual was meaningful because it shared his great love of nature with his dad. For his father, it was meaningful, because it kept a piece of his son alive and well. Eventually, Donald passed away. To this day, however, his father visits the preserve four times a year, once for every season. There, he speaks to his son, takes a few pictures, and doesn’t show them to anyone.”

It's about connection to the deceased, with the person gone by. It’s a way of communing with the only thing left of that person, their legacy.

Which reframes Alador a bit here doesn’t it. He’s set up as a mirror to Manny, and yet he’s still alive. Except, is he?

In a physical sense, yes. But the person whom Amity wants to connect with is long gone at this point. Young Alador and Old Alador are very different people, specifically in terms of agency. Young Alador acted, Old Alador reacts.

So, Amity tries her own ritual to connect with the Alador that once was. Alador gets to see this and is forced to think for a moment. Suddenly, his world has been rocked just far enough for him to start listening.

The conversation is all well and good. But for my money, the look of abject pride on Alador's face here sells the connection more than anything. This is someone who, for the first time, has looked at what his daughter is rather than what he wants her to be, and he is proud of what he sees.

“What? You don’t want to join the Emperor’s Coven anymore? But that’s always been your dream.” “No, that’s always been Mom’s dream. And you went along with it. I bet you didn’t even know I was dating Luz!” “Edalyn’s kid?” “See, you don’t talk to us anymore! You’re too busy making these monsters for the Emperor, and Mom’s been too busy trying to dye my hair green.”

Turns out, when you stop listening to your kids for a while, you miss things. Your assumptions might be wrong. Your understanding of who they are might be way off the mark.

That’s what Alador realises here, that the thing he’s been trying to connect with his daughter over was never truly there. So, he takes a different approach.

“I like your new hair colour. Its abomination coloured.” “Finaly someone gets it. Can you tell Mom that?” “I’ll talk to her.”

The hair dying has been a symbol of agency for Amity over the course of the series. It was green as she sought her mother’s approval, then that faded and she was given the choice of what to do, and she chose the pink. It’s an expression of her own wants and desires, and she wants to be like her father.

Alador’s new approach isn’t to bond with his daughter over expectations, its to take an interest in something she does, and find common ground there.

I like the act of reaching for a hug and getting subverted. The relationship has mostly collapsed, and they’re now rebuilding it almost from scratch.

“It’s a start.”

Connection, relationships, love, loss. We have some key themes, let’s get into that tree scene.

I’m not going to give you the entire scene here, watch the episode. Writing out the words doesn’t have nearly the same impact as the stellar voice acting.

Instead, I want to highlight how this episode achieves its nuance, and that is through the grief rituals that I have kept mentioning. Any story can talk about how loss makes someone feel, but this doesn’t mention that at all. Instead, it highlights how the physical separation interrupts with the process.

Luz’s grief centres around sharing that emotion with her mother, she expresses it through the practiced motion of picking flowers with someone else who can share her pain.

“I don’t know what rituals you have in the Human Realm, but, I’ll help you pick some flowers, and we can do something here!”

Amity doesn’t know what Luz is going through, but she can empathise. She can see her girlfriend is going through something and help her out. She can take the place in the ritual and allow Luz to grieve.

Love isn’t about the good times, it’s about everything. Love is about joy and heartbreak and triumph and loss. Its about sharing emotions together, lifting each other to new heights, and supporting each other in the lowest moments.

The episode doesn’t give us a fix to its issue. Luz is still separated from her mother, but it gives us a substitute, and that leans in to a theme I haven’t really mentioned yet at all in my coverage of the series, distance.

Yes, the obvious of Luz being away from home and wanting to get back has been a core part of the plot, but the series hasn’t really engaged with what that means up until now.

Sometimes distance separates people, whether it be through forced movement, or just the twists and turns of life. And sometimes that comes in the way of rituals like this. Do you bottle up the emotions until you get back? No. You find a new way of doing thing, you adapt, you change. You find the light.

Light, do not faulter.

Final Thoughts

This episode also establishes lore for how the Wild Witches work, specifically through that idea of connection again. The Wild Witches are a group of people who accept and protect each other, you don’t have to be skilled at anything to be a Wild Witch, you don’t have to meet any criteria. Which is good, because Edric is awful at potion magic. But that’s not the point, the point is that he has an interest in going outside the box, the point is the effort not the execution.

Considering how the Emperor made wild magic illegal, the Bad Girl Coven takes on a ton of queer/pride coding. They support each other because nobody else will. Anyone who slips through the cracks has a home in the Bad Girl Coven. Just like pride, where there isn't a bar at a parade that says: "you must be this gay to enter", it's about accepting everyone for who they are.

Next up is Them's The Breaks, Kid, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[monimccoythings]

Mama Wolf

Woah, I've been wanting to write f!Logan since I first saw a drawing about her. She is so butch and gruff and dreamy... And I love the fics where Logan is a dad.

tags: f!Logan and m!reader, pregnancy, Logan has animal traits, a bit of nsfw, chaotic pregnancy because Logan has a very nasty temper. Logan can be a bitch to anyone but you.

It wasn't really a surprise when you two saw the two lines on the pregnancy test. Given how horny and hormonal she had been lately.

Logan had many animalistic traits, her senses were as sharp as the deadliest predator, which was great for tracking missions. But that biological advantage also involved having to deal with less practical animal traits like heats that stroke twice a year.

Oh, you were always so eager for those times of the year, she was unsatiable. You barely could keep up, almost coupling to the point of exhaustion, but you would gladly die just to be buried between her legs one more time.

At first, she didn't know how to react. Her? a mother? Fucking Godzilla had more maternal instincts than her. But you knew better.

Despite her gruffiness and callous exterior, despite how annoyed she seemed to get with the younger mutants, deep down inside her was buried the urge and need to protect them at any costs. There was zero doubt in your mind that Logan would make an excellent mother to your child.

The first months were hard, morning sickness didn't go easy on her, and given her extra sensitive nose, any smell could really send her crawling towards the toilet with you tailing close to gently rub her back.

If anybody at the mansion thought that regular Logan was short tempered and harsh, they just hadn't met a hormonal pregnant Logan. Her already volatile temper grew in unison with her belly. Everything seemed to set her off, claws out and fangs ready to tear anyone and anything apart; some lights were too bright, some whispers where too loud, her highly developed senses were constantly going overdrive and it was driving her insane.

Despite the hormonal changes, Logan did not cry, ever. She would rather vent her pent up frustrations as she had always done: through alcohol. When Hank told her she wouldn't be able to smoke or drink for the entirety of the pregnancy, she threw an epic fit that left the medbay unusable for weeks. Only your reassuring presence and gentle kisses were enough to soothe her down.

When she started showing, Logan also felt the need to start nesting. Soon your shared bed had become a bundle of clothes, cushions, sheets and towels. She reluctantly told you that she felt calmer if she was constantly surrounded by scents that reminded her of you.

The first time she felt her baby kick Logan was stomping through the mansion, in one of her moods. It was so sudden that for a couple of seconds she didn't know what to do, her anger long forgotten. With trembling hands she slowly caressed her belly, afraid that if she made any sudden movement, the magic of the moment would be lost. That was when reality hit her like a ton of bricks. She was going to be a mom, she was going to build a family with you, her partner. That was really happening. Logan was at loss for words, but surprisingly, she didn't feel anxious, in fact, she felt extremely happy.

Logan found herself becoming more protective of her cub as the months passed, always with a hand on her swollen belly and the other arm extended, just in case she needed to use her claws. The animal in her only recognizing you as a non-threat towards the baby.

Don't think that just because she is with child she will want to stop training in the danger room or working out at the gym. She wants to keep herself in shape in case someone attacks the mansion. It takes a lot of convincing on your part (and Hank's, Charles', Jean's, Scott's....) to make her take it easier.

During the third trimester of the pregnancy Logan was more than done with feeling so swollen and out of control of her own body. Everything ached, everything sucked and she was hornier than ever. And believe me, if she gets horny, nothing will stop her from feeling satisfied. She will shove you against the bed, with impressive strength for a pregnant woman; well, this is Logan we are talking about, and have her way with you. Not that you're complaining obviously, your main concern is that she doesn't overdo it and accidentally harms the child.

It was a hard pregnancy for everyone involved, but specially Logan. It pained you to see her so uncomfortable, knowing there was little you could do to help her feel better. Yet you did everything you could to take that weight of her shoulders.

Everynight, when you two laid together in the safety of your improvised nest, with a hand on her swollen belly and her nose nuzzling your neck, you knew that you would die a thousand deaths and endure the cruelest of tortures just to hold the woman you loved in your arms and feel your baby moving inside her.

[apoemaday]

Nearly a Valediction

by Marilyn Hacker

You happened to me. I was happened to like an abandoned building by a bull- dozer, like the van that missed my skull happened a two-inch gash across my chin. You were as deep down as I’ve ever been. You were inside me like my pulse. A new- born flailing toward maternal heartbeat through the shock of cold and glare: when you were gone, swaddled in strange air I was that alone again, inventing life left after you.

I don’t want to remember you as that four o’clock in the morning eight months long after you happened to me like a wrong number at midnight that blew up the phone bill to an astronomical unknown quantity in a foreign currency. The U.S. dollar dived since you happened to me. You’ve grown into your skin since then; you’ve grown into the space you measure with someone you can love back without a caveat.

While I love somebody I learn to live with through the downpulled winter days’ routine wakings and sleepings, half-and-half caffeine- assisted mornings, laundry, stock-pots, dust- balls in the hallway, lists instead of longing, trust that what comes next comes after what came first. She’ll never be a story I make up. You were the one I didn’t know where to stop. If I had blamed you, now I could forgive

you, but what made my cold hand, back in prox- imity to your hair, your mouth, your mind, want where it no way ought to be, defined by where it was, and was and was until the whole globed swelling liquefied and spilled through one cheek’s nap, a syllable, a tear, was never blame, whatever I wished it were. You were the weather in my neighborhood. You were the epic in the episode. You were the year poised on the equinox.

[jedimandalorian]

Dear Sabezraites,

Today the Prophet of the Church of Ezrabine has obtained another of the sacred texts. I am referring to the Star Wars Rebels Visual Guide: Epic Battles.

Although the book’s main focus is on the many battles from the first two seasons of Rebels, the book does reveal important information about Ezra Bridger’s relationships with his fellow Ghost crew members.

For example, Hera Syndulla is a maternal figure in his life.

But, you may be wondering, are the heretics correct in their interpretation of Ezra’s relationship with Sabine as being sibling-like? Nay, I say unto you!

Is she his teammate? Yea. Is she his reliable partner in battle? Yea. Is she his friend? Well, let’s ask Sabine. “Sabine, did you say that Ezra is your dear friend?”

I digress. There’s no mention of anything sisterly or sibling-like here.

In addition, Ezra and Sabine have this glorious two-page spread devoted to their relationship:

It chronicles Ezra’s attempts to impress the girl he fancies and his jealousy of anyone who catches her attention. It describes Sabine’s perception of Ezra evolving from that of an annoying kid or little brother to someone she admires and really cares about. They have a strong partnership and devoted friendship developing at this point in their lives which could lead to something more when they are older.

Also, since we now know that Sabine’s Loth-cat Murley reminds her of Ezra, here are some interesting Loth-cat facts:

And finally, here are some nice pictures of our favorite duo to enjoy.

Keep the faith, Sabezraites. Their song has not yet been written, and I will ship them until it is and beyond.

I have spoken.

[dwellordream]

thoughts on HOTD episode 3, season 2 (spoilers below)

i think the opening scene between the Blackwood and Bracken boys is very well done. some people complained about not seeing the battle itself, but the general audience is not going to care about seeing these minor characters flung into a battle. cutting between an immature, petty teenage fight that then escalates into a pointless slaughter, leaving both sides massacred, does a much better job of showing us how the civil war is going escalate feuds that would otherwise stay barely civil.

Rhaenys lecturing about peace comes across as a hypocritical when she massacred hundreds of peasants during her escape from King's Landing. but i also think it shows that while people like her, Rhaenyra, and Alicent are horrified by the death of highborn children, none of them are thinking in terms of the toll on the smallfolk. they think about the peace between the nobility- not protecting peasants. the deaths of Luke and Jaehaerys are horrifying, as are highborn men and women dying in battle, but not the slaughter or scapegoating of the peasants for the sins of their 'betters'.

the Alicent/Criston breakup seems to be pretty final, though I wouldn't be shocked if they crawl back to each other before the end of the season, more out of mutual self-loathing than genuine love or passion. I think it's pretty clear that while Alicent was attracted to him all along, their affair was moreso both of them venting their frustrations, repressed sexuality, and hatred (or, in Alicent's case, 'hatred') for Rhaenyra, then any actual epic love story.

the scene where Rhaenyra shunts Rhaena off to the Vale to 'protect' the children and their hatchlings is very well done. without a dragon, Rhaena stands no chance of subverting any Westerosi gender norms. Rhaenyra seems to recognize that, but is also prepared to sacrifice Rhaena's happiness if it means giving her sons a maternal figure. I see a lot of meta about how Rhaenyra is a much happier and more affectionate/gentle mother than Alicent, and I don't think that's wrong, per se, but I also don't think Rhaenyra is as comfortable with motherhood as many fans insist. of course, she's in an impossible situation- she cannot be a queen leading a war effort and also a doting parent. but I wouldn't say being a mother is what brings her the most happiness and peace, either. Daemon has disappointed her again and again as a husband and partner, and while her children adore her, they also find her difficult to live up to.

I'm glad there wasn't an epic battle of Daemon claiming Harrenhal. the castle itself is supposed to be an eerie, demonic, almost living sort of abomination, and so Daemon takes it with ease, because that's what Harrenhal wants. the Strongs themselves put up no resistance, because there's no point, and because they know Harrenhal is reluctant to let go of anyone who enters its halls. Daemon comes across as massively insecure and paranoid despite his easy conquest, both because Harrenhal itself unsettles him, and because he knows Rhaenyra's faith in him is greatly reduced.

someone told Freddie Fox to look to Jaime Lannister's depiction in the early seasons of GoT for his inspiration as Gwayne, and I don't think that was a bad idea, lol. he nails it as the smug, superior, posturing knight, and I'm excited to see what they do with him. of course, Alicent uses him as a tool against Criston, and Criston takes the moment to embarrass Alicent by loudly requesting her favor- I would not be surprised if his resentment towards her boils over by the end of the season, and he begins to loathe her as much as he does Rhaenyra.

I think the scene between Aegon and Aemond in the brothel was very well done. Aegon is probably right when he claims Aemond has only ever slept with the very first prostitute Aegon forced him to 'sample'. emotionally, Aemond is still that stunted, angry, frightened little boy who loathes being laughed at and wishes people feared him. he refuses to directly challenge Aegon out of a misplaced sense of duty and decorum, but has no issue humiliating a sex worker to preserve his own pride.

Daemon's dream sequence in Harrenhal is fantastic. it's the kind of thing GoT refused to engage in because they thought it too silly or esoteric, but I think future ASOIAF-related shows need to lean into the supernatural, not shy away from it. embrace the fantasy of the setting, please! and of course Daemon's ideal version of Rhaenyra is still a naive, impish young girl- who hasn't seen his flaws or his cowardice. he wanted the dream of a happy, perfect Valyrian family with Rhaenyra, but reality is far harsher. he's abandoned his children and made his wife out to be a kinslayer with his actions.

the contrivance of the Alicent/Rhaenyra sept scene is absurd, obviously. however, i disagree with those arguing that it 'ruined the episode'. it is hardly the most contrived scene in the show thus far, and i can forgive its contrivance because the audience wants- and needs- to see a scene like this between Alicent and Rhaenyra- maybe one of their final conversations in private, ever. yes, Alicent could have seized the moment to have Rhaenyra captured or killed outright, but that still wouldn't stop the war. Daemon and Jace would not suddenly surrender- even if they wanted to save Rhaenyra's life, they would know their own lives would be forfeit the moment they surrendered. and honestly, anyone who thinks it would be more 'in character' for Alicent to have Rhaenyra killed right now is kidding themselves. yes, she hates Rhaenyra- and she also clearly still loves her.

i've enjoyed this episode the most out of all this season. a 9/10, in my opinion, and i hope we don't backslide with the second half of episodes.

[starry-bite]

i love hermes of course and obviously but consider: persephone narrating hadestown

she takes orpheus under her wing

the sweet maternal smirk as she watches him lovestruck for eurydice, remembering what that felt like

during epic i, we learn that she told orpheus the story of her great love (the thought of her singing a song of love from long ago, long time since i heard it though lays me out)

she rages and leads the chorus all through condemning hadestown in way down

even more direct horror and pain at eurydice being taken down

DISILLUSIONED AFTER HER OWN BETRAYAL DURING HEY THE BIG ARTISTE (you'll find another muse somewhere)

a whole new layer and familiarity to our lady of the underground as she introduces the audience to her domain (and what is her crack in the wall for but telling stories and sowing hope?)

more power/standing for the confrontation of how long?

watching the seeds she planted by telling orpheus stories come to bloom in epic iii

then breaking the good and bad news to orpheus and eurydice after his kiss, the riot and giving hard-earned advice

witnessing orpheus fail as she and hades did and retelling the story despite it being an old song. because it's her song to sing.

[cosmic-metanoia]

An Amazing Protagonist (of All Time)

***Warning – Spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI***

Clive is seriously one of the best protagonists I have ever come across not just in a video game but in any media. He is not perfect but the transformation we gradually witness from the age of 15 through 33 is absolutely astounding. As a teenager, he’s incredibly mature and has a strong sense of loyalty to his nation and his brother despite being treated like garbage by his own mother. At 28 during his “revenge era”, we see a brooding and darker side of him and it’s obvious that he has experienced too much. He is hellbent on avenging Joshua only to find out he was the one who killed him. The shame and guilt that burdens Clive and the eventual forgiveness and acceptance of his new identity is something many of us can relate to. We see his heroism when he becomes leader of the Cursebreakers and holds the torch handed over by Cid. Of course, we cheer him on as the warrior that he is with his amazing combat skills and Eikon powers. Yet there is so much more to Clive than his epic presence on the battlefield and his handsome looks. Many heroes (and superheroes) encompass similar qualities I just described but there are a few things that REALLY set Clive apart as a main character.

Clive is incredibly emotionally intelligent and has a lot of empathy for others. He can discern relationships between people and how deep their bonds run. He also has a wonderful sense of negotiation when dealing with tough issues and he is often able to help third parties come to a mutual agreement. He doesn’t need to use intimidating gestures, facial expressions, or harsh words to scare others into doing what he wishes. Even if he cannot convince someone, he knows when it is time to give up and politely step away. (As a random thought – have you noticed that Clive doesn’t just step in and take Bearers away from their masters when he witnesses them being abused in public? I think it’s because he’s more concerned with being on the radar which may lead adversaries to the Hideaway. He has to think about the Bearers currently under his protection. Nevertheless, I can imagine it must be hard for him to watch.) The tenderness he has for Jill makes my heart gleefully burst. The way he treats her as his equal and is so supportive of her is divinely refreshing! Not to mention his absolute loyalty to her even before they revealed their feelings to each other aloud. And I could go on and on about his love for his dearest little brother. One other quality about him is that he's not afraid to weep tears of joy or grief at certain moments - which, in my opinion, makes him more masculine and not less. There’s a TON of evidence to support everything I said but I would just encourage everyone to play ALL of the side quests to really understand Clive.

Generally speaking, many people have lived harsh lives and unfortunately some of those people use that as an excuse to treat others badly. With that logic, Clive could use his maternal issues as an excuse to treat women ill or use his upbringing as an excuse to hate on others but he was MUCH stronger. He chose love, brotherhood, and righteousness. I heard someone on the internet say that “Clive makes me want to be a better man” and that is FREAKING beautiful!

[mask131]

Arthurian myth: Morgan the Fey (1)

Loosely translated from the French article "Morgane", written by Philippe Walter, for the Dictionary of Feminine Myths (Le Dictionnaire des Mythes Féminins)

MORGANE

Morgane means in Celtic language “born from the sea” (mori-genos). This character is as such, by her origins, part of the numerous sea-creatures of mythologies. A Britton word of the 9th century, “mormorain”, means “maiden of the sea/ sea-virgin”, et in old texts it is equated with the Latin “siren”. A passage of the life of saint Tugdual of Tréguiers (written in 1060) tells of ow a young man of great beauty named Guengal was taken away under the sea by “women of the sea”. The Celtic beliefs knew many various water-fairies with often deadly embraces – and Morgane was one among the many sirens, mermaids, mary morgand and “morverc’h” (sea girls/daughters of the sea).

Morgane, the fairy of Arthurian tales, is the descendant of the mythical figures of the Mother-Goddesses who, for the Celts, embodied on one side sovereignty, royalty and war, and on the other fecundity and maternity. In the Middle-Ages, they were renamed “fairies” – but through this word it tried to translate a permanent power of metamorphosis and an unbreakable link to the Otherworld, as well as a dreaded ability to influence human fate. The French word “fée” comes from the neutral plural “fata”, itself from the Latin word “fatum”, meaning “fate”.

There is not a figure more ambivalent in Celtic mythology – and especially in the Arthurian legends – than Morgane. She constantly hesitates between the character of a good fairy who offers helpful gifts to those she protects ; and a terrible, bloodthirsty goddess out for revenge, only sowing death and destruction everywhere she goes. Christianity played a key role in the demonization of this figure embodying an inescapable fate, thus contradicting the Christian view of mankind’s free will.

I/ The sovereign goddess of war

It is in the ancient mythological Irish texts that the goddess later known as Morgane appears. The adventures of the warrior Cuchulainn (the “Irish Achilles”) with the war-goddess Morrigan are a major theme of the epic cycle of Ireland. The Morrigan (a name which probably means “great queen”) is also called “Bodb Catha” (the rook of battles). It is under the shape of a rook (among many other metamorphosis) that she appears to Cuchulainn to pronounce the magical words that will cause the hero’s death.

The Irish goddesses of war were in reality three sisters: Bodb, Macha and Morrigan, but it is very likely that these three names all designated the same divinity, a triple goddess rather than three distinct characters. This maleficent goddess was known to cause an epileptic fury among the warriors she wanted to cause the death of. The name of Bodb, which ended up meaning “rook”, originally had the sense of “fury” and “violence”, and it designated a goddess represented by a rook. The Irish texts explain that her sisters, Macha and Morrigan, were also known to cause the doom of entire armies by taking the shape of birds. Every great battle and every great massacre were preceded by their sinister cries, which usually announced the death of a prominent figure.

The Celtic goddesses of war have as such a function similar to the one of the Norse Walkyries, who flew over the battlefield in the shape of swans, or the Greek Keres. The deadly nature of these goddesses resides in the fact that they doom some warriors to madness with their terrifying screams. One of the effects of this goddess-caused madness was a “mad lunacy”, the “geltacht”, which affected as much the body as the mind. During a battle in 1722 it was said that the goddess appeared above king Ferhal in the shape of a sharp-beaked, red-mouth bird, and as she croaked nine men fell prey to madness. The poem of “Cath Finntragha” also tells of the defeat of a king suffering from this illness. The place of his curse later became a place of pilgrimage for all the lunatics in hope of healing.

The link between the war-goddess and the “lunacy-madness” are found back within folklore, in which fairies, in the shape of birds, regularly attack children and inflict them nervous illnesses. These fairies could also appear as “sickness-demons”. Their appearance was sometimes tied to key dates within the Celtic calendar, such as Halloween, which corresponded to the Irish and pre-Christian celebration of Samain. Folktales also keep this particularly by placing the ritualistic appearances of witches and of fate-fairies during the Twelve Days, between Christmas and the Epiphany – another period similar to the Celtic Halloween. Morgane seems to belong to this category of “seasonal visitors”.

II) The Queen of Avalon

In Arthurian literature, Morgane rules over the island of Avalon, a name which means the Island of Apples (the apple is called “aval” in Briton, “afal” in Welsh and “Apfel” in German). Just like the golden apples of the Garden of the Hesperids, in Celtic beliefs this fruit symbolizes immortality and belongs to the Otherworld, a land of eternal youth. It is also associated with revelations, magic and science – all the attributes that Morgane has. Her kingdom of Avalon is one of the possible localizations of the Celtic paradise – it is the place that the Irish called “sid”, the “sedos” (seat) of the gods, their dwelling, but at the same time a place of peace beyond the sea. Avalon is also called the Fortunate Isle (L’Île Fortunée) because of the miraculous prosperity of its soil where everything grows at an abnormal rate. As such, agriculture does not exist there since nature produces by itself everything, without the intervention of mankind.

It is within this island that the fairy leads those she protects, especially her half-brother Arthur after the twilight of the Arthurian world. Morgane acts as such as the mediator between the world of the living and the fabulous Celtic Otherworld. Like all the fairies, she never stops going back and forth between the two worlds. Morgane is the ideal ferrywoman. The same way the Morrigan fed on corpses or the Valkyries favored warriors dead in battle, Morgane also welcomes the soul of the dead that she keeps by her side for all of eternity. Some texts gave her a home called “Montgibel”, which is confused with the Italian Etna. The Otherworld over which she rules doesn’t seem, as such, to be fully maritime.

The ”Life of Merlin” of the Welsh clerk Geoffroy of Monmouth teaches us that Morgan has eight sisters: Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Thiten, Tytonoe, and Thiton. Nine sisters in total which can be divided in three groups of three, connected by one shared first letter (M, G, T). In Adam de la Halle’s “Jeu de la feuillée”, she appears with two female companions (Arsile and Maglore), forming a female trinity. As such, she rebuilds the primitive triad of the sovereign-goddesses, these mother-goddesses that the inscriptions of Antiquity called the “Matres” or “Matronae”. In this triad, Morgane is the most prominent member. She is the effective ruler of Avalon, since it was said that she taught the art of divination to her sisters, an art she herself learned from Merlin of which she was the pupil. She knows the secret of medicinal herbs, and the art of healing, she knows how to shape-shift and how to fly in the air. Her healing abilities give her in some Arthurian works a benevolent function, for example within the various romans of Chrétien de Troyes. She usually appears right on time to heal a wounded knight: she is the one that gave a balm to Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, to heal his madness. In these works, Morgane does not embody a force of destruction, but on the contrary she protects the happy endings and good fortunes of the Round Table. She is the providential fée that saves the souls born in high society and raised in the “courtois” worship of the lady. However, her powers of healing can reverse into a nefarious power when the fée has her ego wounded.

III/ The fatal temptress

In the prose Arthurian romans of the 13th century, Morgane can be summarized by one place. After being neglected by her lover Guyomar, she creates “le Val sans retour”, the Vale of No-Return, a place which will define her as a “femme fatale”. This place transports without the “littérature courtoise” the idea of the Celtic Otherworld. Also called “Le Val des faux amants” (The Vale of False Lovers), “le Val sans retour” is a cursed place where the fée traps all those that were unfaithful to her, by using various illusions and spells. As such, she manifests both her insatiable cruelty and her extreme jealousy. Lancelot will become the prime victim of Morgane because, due to his love for Queen Guinevere, he will refuse her seduction. The feelings of Morgane towards Lancelot rely on the ambivalence of love and hate: since she cannot obtain the love of the knight by natural means, she will use all of her enchantments and magical brews to submit Lancelot’s will. In vain. Lancelot will escape from the influence of this wicked witch. In “La Mort le roi Artu”, still for revenge, Morgan will participate in her own way to the decline to the Arthurian world: she will reveal to her brother, king Arthur, the adulterous love of Guinevre and Lancelot. She will bring to him the irrefutable proof of this affair by showing her what Lancelot painted when he had been imprisoned by her. The terrible war that marks the end of the Arthurian world will be concluded by the battle between Arthur and Mordred, the incestuous son of Arthur and Morgan. As such, Morgan appears as the instigator of the disaster that will ruin the Arthurian world. She manipulates the various actors of the tragedy and pushes them towards a deadly end. It should be noted that any sexual or romantic relationship between Arthur and Morgane are absent from the French romans – they are especially present within the British compilation of Malory, La Mort d’Arthur.

Behind the possessive woman described by the Arthurian texts, hides a more complex figure, a leftover of the ancient Celtic goddess of destinies. Cruel and manipulative, Morgan is fuses with the fear-inducing figure of the witch. Despite being an enemy of men, she keeps seeking their love. All of her personal tragedy comes from the fact that she fails to be loved. Always heart-sick, she takes revenge for her romantic failure with an incredible savagery. Her brutality manifest itself through the ugliness that some text will end up giving her – the ultimate rejection by this Christian world of this “devilish and lustful temptress”. “La Suite du Roman de Merlin” will try to give its own explanation for this transformation of Morgane, from good to wicked fairy: “She was a beautiful maiden until the time she learned charms and enchantments ; but because the devil took part in these charms and because she was tormented by both lust and the devil, she completely lost her beauty and became so ugly that no one accepted to ever call her beautiful, unless they had been bewitched”. In this new roman, she is responsible for a series of murders and suicides – and as the rival of Guinevere, she tries to cause King Arthur’s doom by favorizing her own lover, Accalon. Another fée, Viviane, will oppose herself to her schemes.

The demonization of the goddess is however not complete. Morgan appears in several “chansons de gestes” of the beginning of the 13th century, and even within the Orlando Furioso of the Arisote, in the sixth canto, in which she is the sister of the sorceress Alcina. She is presented as the disciple of Merlin. Seer and wizardess, she owns (within Avalon or the land of Faerie) a land of pleasure, a little paradise in which mankind can escape its condition. At the same time the Arthurian texts discredit her, she joins a strange historico-pagan syncretism, by being presented as the wife of Julius Caesar, and as the mother of Aubéron, the little king of Féerie.

After the Middle-Ages, the fée Morgane only mostly appears within the Breton folklore (the French-Britton folklore, of the French region of Bretagne). There, old mythical themes which inspired medieval literature are maintained alive, and keep existing well after the Middles-Ages. Morgane is given several lairs, on earth or under the sea. In the Côtes-d’Armor, there is a Terte de la fée Morgan, while a hill near Ploujean is called “Tertre Morgan”. There is an entire branch of popular literature in Bretagne (such as Charles Le Bras’ 1850 “Morgân”) where the fée represents the last survivor of a legendary land and the reminder of a forgotten past. She expresses the nostalgia of a lost dream, of a fallen Golden Age. True Romantic allegory of the lands and seas of Bretagne, she most notably embodies the feeling of a Bretagne land that was in search of its own soul.

However, it is her role of “cursed lover” that stays the most dominant within the Breton folklore. The vicomte de La Villemarqué, great collector of folktales and popular legends, noted in his “Barzaz Breiz” (1839) that the “morgan”, a type of water spirits, took at the bottom of the sea or of ponds, in palaces of gold and crystal, young people that played too close to their “haunted waters”. The goal of these fairies was to kidnap them to regenerate their cursed species. This ties the link between these “morganes” (also called “mary morgand”) and the Antique “fairy of fate”. Similar names, a same love of water, and the presence of the “land below the waves”, of a malevolent seduction – these are the permanent traits of Morgane, who keeps confusing and uniting the romantic instinct for love, and the desire for death. More modern adaptations of the legend (such as Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novels) weave an entire feminist fantasy around the figure of this fairy, supposed to embody the Celtic matriarchy.

[inumaru-hokashi]

Currently working on new bases on my free time but took some personal time to draw this! this is Hajime, a character in a role play story my partner and i have been working on for years. we both agreed "monster" by ‪Jorge Rivera suited him well. we love the Epic Musical!

Epic The Musical - Underworld Saga: Monster

Music by Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Character Summery Below

And Png

Summery on Hajime:

(This story takes place During and after the feudal era with no progression to modern technology as Inumaru believes it will ruin their home-world which she has taken over at this time)

Hajime, is the the grandson of my character, Inumaru. He's loyal to her and the kingdom of Mawsera (Maw- ze-ra) which is currently at war with his Uncle who is leading a Rebellion Against Inumaru. At his late teens, his father vanished, though not on purpose, for five years. within those years, he was picked on by a group of dog demons in his pack within his homeland. his grandmother having enough of it, decided to personally mentor him and saw him as a potential candidate to become chief in their homeland as she moves to another territory permanently. he was then sent out, within the absence of his father, with a large army for two years to assist in subduing territories across seas, whom were threating to join the rebellion to usurp his grandmother. His grandmother sent him out with the intention to harden his Heart and soul, as she desired someone merciless, full of anger and desolation, as well loyal to a fault to become her heir. In those two years, his mother passed from an illness caused by the rebellion while he was away. upon his return he was heart broken, but showed no grief as he took the responsibly to care for his sister and younger half-brother. at last after the five years, his father returned only to take in a new mate in a short period of time. though his siblings were relieved to have him back along with a new maternal figure, Hajime did not feel the same way and held resentment to their new mother. as our story progresses, Hajime has slayed his love interest with the claims of others stating them as being a potential spy in their kingdom, he slays an enchanted red stag as a test of skill amongst family by his grandmother, and now he's currently being tested by playing leader in his territory for the chance to be chosen as lord of Nepon (japan).