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howlingday · 11 months ago

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My idea for a potential DEATH BATTLE! #7

2023, Nov 28, 29, Dec 1, 2

PREVIOUS POST: SIXTH POST

MASTER LIST

Darth Sidious vs Master Xehanort (Star Wars vs Kingdom Hearts)

Which evil wizard of darkness behind the curtain will prevail?

FIGHTER 1: Darth Sidious, the sadistic and mean megalomaniacal mastermind behind the Galactic Empire.

FIGHTER 2: Master Xehanort, the darkness-seeking body-snatching chess master of Kingdom Hearts.

Wiz: The evil mastermind. The malevolent entity behind the curtain. One of the greatest evil is the one that presents itself as a friend. It leads to the demise of many heroes.

*CLIPS: Evil mastermind: James Moriarity. The malevolent entity behind the curtain: MHA's All For One. Evil fakes being friendly: the ego Death scene from Guy Ritchie's Revolver (Watch that movie, it's cool).*

Boomstick: These two may be geriatric, but they've put their wits to use and have formulated an entire chess plan to carry out their dreams and designs and are just as strong to boot. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

PREFACE (What to know): I am fully aware of how popular this MU is, with its 2021 DBX and its high-ranking position in 2023's Champion Poll, so I wanted to get this out before it becomes an actual episode. I wanted this MU since I played KH: Birth By Sleep in April and May 2020 since the lockdown had started and I had a collection of KH games to play. There is a large collection of Star Wars media and there is the old Legends content to consider alongside the vast history of Kingdom Hearts, so I will try to be careful with how I treat these characters, but as usual, my efforts will go into the "fight" more than anything else. If I am to consider them at their max, then we have Palpatine at the end of the Skywalker Saga and Xehanort with the χ-Blade. I WILL BE TREATING THIS AS A SEASON FINALE because of how much there is to go over for both characters and because it would serve as a beautiful contrast to Yoda vs. King Mickey: one season starts with the light and another ends in darkness. Also, I wanted this to be my 13th suggestion, but I should get this out before DB! beats me to it.

WHY:

Connections (What do they have in common):

1. Both are the main antagonists of the first saga of their series, The Skywalker Saga and the Dark Seeker Saga. (As of me writing this, the main series of SW and KH is those two sagas).

2. Both have concocted master plans in which they would spread their influence insidiously across reality, namely through manipulation and subordinates while maintaining a guise of reliability. Darth Sidious trained Darth Maul, turned Anakin into Darth Vader by manipulating his fear, and used his identity as Chancellor Palpatine to further his political career and deceive his way into accomplishing his goal of orchestrating the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order through the Clone Wars, and then established his reign over the galaxy while Master Xehanort manipulated Terra who trusted him as a teacher into killing Eraqus as well as Ventus through Vanitas to create an ultimate weapon and Riku by exploiting his wishes to explore the outside worlds and even Maleficent. He also created Organization XIII to prolong his life.

3. Both are known for how they cheat death. Palpatine had his clones and attempted to possess Rey's body whereas Xehanort body-snatched Terra, had his Nobody, Heartless, and Organization XIII as his vessels, and even had a time-traveling younger self.

4. Both have dabbled in scientific or science-like research. Palpatine is mostly known for his experiments in Sith Alchemy and Xehanort is mostly known for the creation of the Nobodies and the mass release of Heartless. These are not their only contributions, but I am not listing all of them.

5. Their goal was to have ultimate power in some form. Palpatine wanted supreme control over every being in the galaxy and Xehanort wanted to conquer Kingdom Hearts to obtain ultimate power/knowledge and recreate the worlds the way he saw fit.

6. Both are among the most dangerous warriors trained in their respective ancient ways (Sith ways + the Dark Side of the Force, and Keyblade mastery + Darkness), if not, they are flat-out the most dangerous. Despite that, their greatest attribute arguably is not their strength or their tenacity to see their dreams come true, but their manipulation of others.

Personal reasons (Why I want this battle/like this MU): Back in March and April 2020, I played KH II, BBS, and 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage, and then I played DDD and watched Back Cover. Needless to say, I noticed similarities between KH and SW, namely comparing the plots of BBS & Revenge of the Sith, Terra & Anakin, Xehanort & Palpatine, and the plans of the antagonists. Shortly after, I watched this video, this video, and this video and then looked up more stuff online and found this beauty by Naitsabes89:

Since then, I tried to get a very good friend of mine who's into Star Wars to play KH, crowned Grand Master Yoda vs. King Mickey as my favorite DB!, and listened to BY's "Destined for Darkness", "Birth By Exile", "This Heartless Empire", and Skye T.'s "Insidiosa Tenebrae", none in that specific order. There was also an old article that mentioned how Nomura was wearing his love for Star Wars on his sleeve and how both had a giant conflict that wiped out the ancient wizard knights, namely the 100-Year Darkness and Keyblade War, but I can no longer find it. I also really want to add to DB!'s collection of great SW episodes of the 2020s: 2020's Obi-Wan, 2021's Yoda, 2022's Boba Fett (I wouldn't call it great, but I did enjoy it a lot), and 2023's Darth Vader.

Also, I want their personalities to play off each other: the cunning masterminds trying to coax and manipulate the other to fall into a trap while showing off merciless power.

More than anything, this is my most wanted matchup.

THE FIGHT:

Art and animation: Easy; make it 3D like the DBX and all Star Wars episodes since 2020. 2D may be easier, but the grandiosity of the characters and the matchup demands something of great animation. I do not mean to disrespect the 2D/sprite team considering the phenomenal work from just 2023 alone, but 3D models can allow for more fluid movement and better blade-to-blade combat. If possible, get DevilArtemis again and take inspiration from The Clone Wars' lightsaber duels and high-tier KH III combos (I will do my damndest to do the same).

Possible setup: Cue the Death Star, floating in space, with ominous music and equally ominous vocals. We see the two combatants playing chess like Eraqus and Xehanort in KHIII, both doing their iconic smirks/evil grins; shenanigans are afoot.

"I am disappointed you declined my offer to rule the galaxy with me. Your power and wits would make for an excellent emperor." Palpatine hates how that sounds, but he doesn't stop the smirk; he has a plan, but he does respect the power and wits of his adversary. After all, he foresaw Vader's power surpassing his and even congratulated Maul for surviving his wounds and for his attempt to take over Mandolor. The title of emperor was his and his alone, but he needs to be careful; he can sense the darkness of his foe and he has wits to match. He moves a black pawn, removing a white pawn from the board. We see Stormtroopers and droids aiming and shooting at a giant mass of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, beating them back a bit.

"I am not interested in your galaxy or your army. I do not have any interest in your dark magics or sciences." Xehanort moves a white pawn and removes a black pawn. The forces of Darkness start to overrun the forces of the Empire. "I wish to know of the Force and its Dark Side, and conquer it."

"You think you can match the Dark Side? Your feeble skills are no match for its power."

"Your arrogance and power blind you. They are your weakness." After a few more moves, the black pawns are off the board, but there are a few white pawns left. The forces of Darkness across the Galaxy have killed the Imperial Troops.

"Your faith in your pawns is yours." He does his iconic evil chuckle and moves a black rook. Darth Maul draws his Lightsaber and starts to fend off the dark mass with his wrath, weapon, and the Force, but then Vanitas swoops in and the two engage. Xehanort had moved a white rook, but all the pawns started to disappear off the board in a few short moves; Palpatine had moved his forces. Palpatine moves his second rook. Kylo Ren fights Young Xehanort. Xehanort then moves a knight. The Nobodies of Organization XIII engage the Inquisitorius. Palpatine moves a bishop. Asajj Ventress confronts Ansem SOD. Xehanort moves his white bishop. Xemans duels with Tyranus. Both move their queens. Terranort and Vader clash weapons. Then, we cut to the board: only the kings stood, and they knew what that meant.

Xehanort draws his keyblade, No Name. Palpatine draws his lightsaber, but even its evil red glow does not compare to the wickedness in Palpatine's voice.

"You will experience the full power of the Dark Side."

"The Darkness will end you."

FIGHT! :

1. Palpatine launches himself like in Episode III, but Xehanort only blocks it and parries. They start to duel as Sidious did against Windu. Sidious may be channeling the Dark Side, but in typical Palpatine fashion, he's going to play with his food for a bit. With his sadistic smile, he duels like in the cut fight between himself and the Jedi Council/Mace Windu from Episode III. Xehanort keeps up, playing more on the defensive. He dodges and counters, but Sidious parries and also counters.

2. Channeling a bit more of the Dark Side, Sidious outmaneuvers Xehanort, strikes him hard, and attempts to impale him, but Xehanort teleports away. Sidious chuckles. "Not confident in your skills? Feeling slow?" "I've kept pace with quick opponents before. You're no different." They engage again, like how Sidous dueled Savage Oppress and Maul, only for Xehanort to summon orbs of dark energy, forcing Palpatine to parry and dodge, but Xehanort gets in his Continuous Attack, slashing fast and teleporting. Sidious blocks a strike, kicks Xehanort away, and draws a second lightsaber, rushing Xehanort, and even though Xehanort can successfully parry a lot of the attacks, Sidious is in his element. He is channeling the Dark Side, flipping around and moving dexterously, dodging Xehanort's orbs of darkness and Fire spells. The two engage in a blade-lock, their golden eyes staring the other down. Xehanort is overpowering him a bit despite using two lightsabers, so Sidious pushes him away with the Force.

3. Xehanort is pushed against the wall but uses his telekineses to launch projectiles. Sidious then moves his own, but Xehanort redirects all of them and then uses a lot more objects to form his Blade Tornado. Sidious then uses the Force to stop and rip apart the projectiles. He then uses his iconic Force Lightning only for Xehanort to teleport away, who then casts Thundaga. Palpatine raises his two lightsabers to block the lightning and then leaps at Xehanort again, but he then uses Rising Ground, raising the ground in front of Palpatine, but Palpatine slices it and pushes it like Obi-Wan did to Kakashi's Earth justu and throws it with telekinesis.

4. Xehanort teleports behind the Sith, but the Sith blocks him and they start to duel with blades again, but Sidious channels Force Lightning again. Xehanort struggles a bit, but he uses Firaga to keep his distance. Seeing an opening, Xehanort disarms Sidious, grabs Sidious, pushes him down, and then hits him with cold air, attempting an Ultima Freeze. Sidious uses Force Lightning like he tried to on Darth Vader like in Episode VI, but Xehanort does not stop, so he uses the Force to draw in a lightsaber.

5. Xehanort dodges the attack but is caught off guard by the second lightsaber drawn to Palpatine and is hit, and Palpatine then starts to use Force Drain, recovering a large amount of health, bringing Xehanort to his knees. "You old fool. Now you see the folly of your ways. I have UNLIMITED POWER!" Sidious follows this up with more Force Lightning. Xehanort, struggling in pain, summons the almighty χ-blade. Xehanort then uses Call Calamity, throwing the χ-blade. Sidious uses the Force to throw the χ-blade back, but the χ-blade is cooling the air, smashing 3 fireballs together, and dropping three lightning strikes on them. Palpatine narrowly dodges, and then parries several dark shots, even using the Force to redirect attacks again.

6. Xehanort then uses XIII Combo, attacking using his avatars and several light rays, but Sidious simply "kills" the avatars (I don't think this is possible, but it looks cool in my head) and parries the light rays. Sensing his foe near, he blocks Xehanort's attack, χ-blade having become a double blade. The χ-blade then turns into a pair of chakrams, but Sidious keeps being agile and evasive, but he does not get far as Xehanort then turns the χ-blade into a whip and draws Sidious close. This does not deter the Sith lord, however, as the then uses the momentum to slash Xehanort. Xehanort then turns the χ-blade into its normal form and then, there's another blade clash. Xehanort wins and destroys the lightsabers. (If it was only one lightsaber, he draws in the second one, he destroys it.)

7. Xehanort then summons Kingdom Hearts and attempts to drain whatever light he can from Sidious, but he is unsuccessful. Sidious senses this and laughs. "You fool... You do not understand; I AM the Dark Side! You will be destroyed!" Using Force Lightning again, he shocks the Keyblade master and pushes him away.

8. Darth Sidious wins by using the Dark Side. He pins Xehanort to the wall, immobilizing him so can't even use the χ-blade. He then uses Force Drain again, severely weakening Xehanort. We then see the rest of Organization XIII being defeated; Xehanort can sense it and Sidious knows. "Only now in the end do you understand. You were no match for the Dark Side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision. Now, you will die." Using Force Lightning for a final time, Sidious ends the old master, proving the Dark Side, nay, himself to be the ultimate power.

9. Master Xehanort winds by using his magic and the χ-blade. Pushing through the Force, Xehanort uses Stopza, leaving Palpatine frozen in time. Xehanort ends the fight by using a beam of Darkness like at the end of KH III's final fight. We can then see Organization XIII overcoming the Empire and Sith. “Checkmate. And so, darkness prevails.”

11. KO!

RESULT:

Strengths and weaknesses:

Darth Sidious:

+ Has options for an instant kill.

+ Much more agile in physical combat.

+ Much more ruthless.

+ Precognition.

+ Could likely use Force Persuasion or Possession.

+ Force Heal and Force Drain allow for healing.

+ Drain Knowledge could allow for psychological damage.

≥ Likely the better manipulator.

= Likely equally skilled as both have had extensive training.

- His sadism and wanting to play with his opponent could give Xehanort a chance to attack him.

- As far as I can tell, he does not resist cold air or freezing.

Master Xehanort:

+ If scaled to King Mickey, then he's physically faster, stronger, and more durable.

+ Greater versatility and ranged options with the χ-blade's transformations and his magic, so it is highly likely that he can overwhelm his opponent and keep himself at a distance.

+ His two armor sets allow for greater defense. The first one extends his offensive versatility and even gives him the ability to turn his Keyblade into a defensive wall. The second one even comes from him powering up.

+ Considering his versatility in magic, it is very likely that he has access to Cure.

+ Greater mobility with teleportation and Corridors of Darkness.

+ Stopza allows for instant kill setups.

+ Could likely transfer his heart to Palpatine with complete ease due to the darkness in Palpatine's heart.

= Likely equally skilled due to training and experience.

- It is fair to assume that he has a limited magic pool like Sora and King Mickey, so if he runs out, he would be more vulnerable while it recharges.

- He is very likely to end up winded and tired like in his solo fight against Terra in BBs.

Ending puns:

"Palpatine Sidiously had it coming."

"Xehanort did not have the heart to win it."

MUSIC:

Name: "Imperial Chessmasters"

The name refers to the Galactic Empire and the characters' complex multi-generational plans that involve the manipulation of others for domination and power.

Art:

Foreground: Xehanort's chess piece but the head is the emblem of the Galactic Empire with lightning emerging from the center to the left and darkness emerging from the center to the right.

Background: on the left, it's the Death Star; on the right, it's Kingdom Hearts succumbing to Darkness.

Sound: DUEL OF THE FATES + KH III FINAL BOSS THEME (FRAGMENTS OF SORROW, BUT GRAND), BABY! Slow, dramatic building with slight vocals and piano, and a pinch of drums. It doesn't play during the chess scene, starting when we see that only the kings are left sounding like the introductory strings of the KH III final boss theme. There are strings when they first clash blades. Then the vocals, piano, and strings just keep going from there. It is tense, dramatic, and of course, there are sorrowful moments, changing pace along with the fight: dramatic and fast with the deeper strings and choir or slow and tearful with lighter vocals and higher note strings. Therewolf Media is the ideal pick as he has done Hearts of Light which also beautifully mixes the orchestral sounds of SW and KH. If you want a good idea of what this song could sound like, check out these beauties and gems...

1. Duel of Sorrow ( KH style Mash up Duel of Fates/Fragments of Sorrow)

2. Kingdom Hearts 3 - Duel of the Fates (Battle Theme)

Or I could leave it to the imagination. Seriously, I can imagine it in my head and it is beautiful. Listen to the themes I referred to the original themes you'll hear something great when you try to mix them in your head.

1. Duel of the Fates

2. KH III Final Boss Theme

(strikethrough: I think it'd be something so great that John Williams and Yoko Shimomura would acknowledge it. I wanted to add another element to this mix, but I'll save it.)

FINAL THOUGHTS AND WORDS

I know how weird it would be to have Maul, Ventress, and Kylo Ren as part of Sidious' army, but I did not know who else to use, and I didn't put this in the preface because I wanted the chess army to be a surprise.

I don't know if this will surpass my suggestions of Azula vs. Cinder or Trunks vs. Luminary, but I don't care. I LOVE this MU, and I already said that this is my all-time most wanted. I had fun imagining the choreography and especially the music. I am the least bit worried about the MUSIC because there is so much to take inspiration from whereas the fight itself will need a combination of character interactions, swordplay, and ranged attacks. If it ever becomes an actual episode, I'll temper my expectations because the battle is most certainly not going to be like this idea of mine.

This is my last MU idea for the year.

CHESS PIECES

Kings: Darth Sidious vs. Master Xehanort

Queens: Darth Vader vs. Terra-Xehanort

Bishops: Darth Tyranus and Asajj Ventress vs. Xemnas, and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

Knights: Inquisitorious vs. the Nobodies of Organization XIII

Rooks: Darth Maul and Kylo Ren vs Vanitas and Young Xehanort

THANK YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

_________________________________________

Once again, I am impressed with your presentation. I've seen quite a bit of Star Wars, but I always forget Palpatine has a lightsaber. Also, Xehanort's fight in KHIII forever sticks out in my brain as one of the most frustrating final bosses of the game.

And as for what you've shown, I like it. The poster at the top was hilarious and thinking on it, KH could include Star Wars due to a mutual benefactor (Disney). The videos you have linked well in here are also a neat watch.

And while I absolutely LOVE that opening to the fight, my only criticism is the name of the soundtrack. For me, while clever, it doesn't really invoke anything... I dunno, flashy? Maybe something more along the lines of...

DESIGNS OF DARKNESS

Happy holidays and thank you for your fine creations.

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me-8d9-fan · 2 years ago

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Imagine that Leia, a newly powerful force-user, begins to have concerning visions about the future, and of her family’s complicated past. When her son is born, the visions culminate into a shocking omen. Her son would become one of the most powerful Jedi in history, at one terrible cost: His surrender to the dark side. And he has only one fate: Death.

To save her son, Leia does the only thing she can: she cuts herself off from the Force, and vows that her child will never train in the ways of the Jedi. This only complicates things as Ben grows to be an obviously powerful force-user in desperate need of a teacher. But Leia’s unwanted visions never stop, and Ben’s affinity for the dark side only grows, so she refuses.

Luke, desperate for a way to save his nephew, and attempting to abide by his sister’s wishes, dedicates his time to recovering the remnants of the Jedi Order and training a new generation of Jedi that just might be able to rewrite Ben’s destiny.

Luke soon hears of a young force-sensitive on the planet Jakku. And when he goes to find her, he is instead given a vision, a prophecy of one final battle between the Dark and the Light. Good vs. Evil. Ben was born of the Dark Side, and this young girl of the Light. A Force Dyad. She is destined to kill him, or be killed by him, which would wrench the galaxy into imbalance forever.

Refusing to let this come to pass, Luke leaves the girl on Jakku, unable to imagine a future where this girl kills his nephew, or one where his nephew kills the girl. He returns home to his sister and asks one last time to make Ben his apprentice. He tells Leia he understands, that he has finally seen as she has, and he vows his life to stop it.

But prophecies cannot be unwritten. And although Leia finally approved his training, and Luke swore anything to protect his sister’s child, Ben was lost.

Until one day, many years later, the girl abandoned on Jakku finds Luke on his refuge of Ahch-To to return a once lost lightsaber and ask him for the one thing he cannot give her…

tl;dr I just want there to be a different reason for how/why everything went down, and I always wondered why they never incorporated a prophecy into the sequel saga, because the other two sagas have one. Especially with the Force Dyad stuff, it just needs a good ole’ doomsday prophecy to tie everything together.

#star wars #sw #the force awakens #leia organa #luke skywalker #rey #ben solo #kylo ren #star wars sequels #sequel rewrite #8d9post

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hyenahunt · 2 years ago

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Saga: Rivals - 1

Writer: Akira

Season: Spring

Characters: Hokuto, Chiaki, Tori

Proofreading: 310mc (JP) & Peace (ENG)

Translation: kotofucius

Hokuto: His very existence is evil! My source of stress! Ahh, the peaceful daily life I’d devoted my entire life to building is falling apart!

Location: Empty Classroom

Time: Months later, during winter. A couple of days after Daikagura, on the day Hidaka Seiya makes a visit to Yumenosaki Academy as an interim lecturer.

Hokuto: I just don’t understand!

What the hell is wrong with him!? Somebody, anybody, tell me! Can you see any motive behind my father’s actions besides harassing me!?

Chiaki: Now, now. Don’t blow a fuse, Hidaka. It isn’t like you.

Well, working with you as Rain-bows, I already know that you’re not the unfeeling guy you look like.

But you’re jumping to conclusions too soon! I know just the thing: let’s take deep breaths! Oxygen is our life’s energy…☆

Tori: Yoohoo~♪

Pfft, guess what I heard, Hidaka-senpai! Your Super Idol dad came to school!

You must’ve caused a scene, huh~? I could hear your screams all the way from my classroom ♪

Hokuto: Himemiya… That’s right, it’s really killing me. What should I do? What am I supposed to do?

Tori: W-Whoa, don’t come clinging to me… I was gonna tease you about it, but you’re really sucking the fun out of this. Sheesh, get a hold of yourself, okay?

It’s not like your dad… Seiya-san, was it? It’s not like he came with some evil plan.

Hokuto: His very existence is evil! My source of stress! Ahh, the peaceful daily life I’d devoted my entire life to building is falling apart!

Tori: Ahaha. From my perspective, I don’t think any of you in Trickstar were ever having “peaceful daily lives” in the first place.

What’s another bit of trouble on top of all the others you already have?

Chiaki: Yeah, I think the same, but it does bother me a little… What did Hidaka Seiya come to this academy for, really?

Tori: To teach, obviously? He didn’t teach us first years, so I don’t know much about it… What was his lecture about?

Hokuto: No, he didn't lecture us… He only came for a greeting today.

After introducing himself and harassing me, he made us fill out some kind of questionnaire.

Tori: Questionnaire?

Hokuto: Yeah, he said he wanted to know how we think and what we’re worth to start with.

There were columns asking about our work history and skills like in a normal resume, but most of it were enigmatic questions resembling a personality quiz.

He said we’ll be having a practical test next. So far he feels more like an examiner than a teacher.

Chiaki: Hmm…? Maybe Hidaka Seiya is about to start some job, and came here to acquire the human resources he needs for it…?

In that case, it makes sense that he’d do tests that gauge our abilities.

Tori: So to scout young idols? But if that’s all he wants, isn’t that method strangely roundabout?

What’s the good of coming here yourself, when you can learn an idol’s talent to an extent just with a little research?

Chiaki: Yeah, but you need to come in direct contact with people to understand the real value of their talent. Numbers on paper rarely hold much weight… that’s what I believe.

But I agree, it’s hard to think someone of Hidaka Seiya’s prestige would act based on such a humble reason.

If he’s looking for work partners, all he needs to do is wish and everyone around him would flock together, lifting themselves up for him — Like they’re making offerings to their king.

But the fact is, he came to Yumenosaki Academy in the middle of his impossibly packed schedule. For what sake?

Hokuto: It’s because I can’t figure it out that I’m so confused and anxious…

Sorry, Morisawa-senpai, Himemiya. I know it’s Rain-bows’s first meeting of the new year, but I don’t think I can be very useful in this mental state.

Chiaki: Heheh, don’t be; we understand the situation.

Rest easy, when somebody’s down, the rest of us need only to hold them up. This goes for both Ryuseitai and Rain-bows.

First, let’s find the solution to this Hidaka Seiya problem together. We can’t do much until our leader, Sagami-sensei, comes anyway. It’ll be a good way to kill time.

Tori: …Is Sagami-sensei late again? Doesn’t he lack a little too much motivation?

Hokuto: No, he seems enthusiastic… compared to how he used to be. The reason he’s late today seems to be because there’s an emergency faculty meeting.

You guys know that he’s my homeroom teacher, right? That’s how I heard about it this morning.

…From the timing, I bet they’re discussing how to chase away my father.

Chiaki: No, no, I don’t think they’ll chase him away. Hidaka Seiya is a Super Idol and Yumenosaki graduate. He’s the pride of our school.

They might welcome him, but they’d never dare to get rid of him.

Tori: Oh, he’s an alumnus? Then Hidaka-senpai, did you enroll in Yumenosaki to mimic your dad?

Hokuto: I wasn’t mimicking him… But it’s true that my parent’s recommendation played a part, and that I applied thinking to trace the path they took.

Chiaki: Hmm. Well, I’m sure Sagami-sensei will tell us what he can about the faculty meeting—

But it’s probably just a discussion about the various things that come with welcoming in a new semester.

Plus, Yumenosaki is at an advantage thanks to your unit’s victory in SS, so there are more things they can do now…

The faculty and the management must be brimming with new ambitions to talk about!

Hokuto: Hmph. Good. I’ve always wanted the academy to do their job properly, with how passive they’ve been up till now.

Tori: Mmn~ But that’s what’s allowed Prez—the whole Student Council to be able to do as we please…

I kinda have complex feelings about the executives getting more involved, honestly…

Just the thought of them butting into our affairs from their high horses after all this time gets on my nerves… Prez and Vice-Prez are gonna be graduating too, which means a change of leadership.

I’m not convinced about Isara-senpai being the new president yet. Will he really protect the Student Council’s authority?

Hokuto: Isara will be fine. At the very least, he’ll never work in a direction that’ll make us miserable.

Chiaki: I agree. Isara has a broad perspective and the ability to see the big picture, allowing him to make the right moves when he needs to; I’m sure he’ll be a great leader for the Student Council.

When it seems like he’s having a hard time, you guys just have to support him.

The future is bright. These recent days have especially made me believe it without a shred of doubt!

✦✦✦✦✦

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#ensemble stars #enstars #enstars translation #s: saga #hyenahunttl #hokuto hidaka #tori himemiya #chiaki morisawa

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years ago

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#22: “Constructive Criticism Doesn't Actually Exist! Only People Who Know a Lot About Animation Can Criticize My Show!”

Something that anyone who's at least a little familiar with Astruc is how he doesn't respond to criticism well, and lately, he's made sure we're all aware.

This little ongoing saga started with some random user on Twitter making a joke about Miraculous Ladybug's animation, and Astruc didn't take it well.

It was supposed to be a little clip of footage from Encanto being sped up as a jab at how fast-paced the animation for Miraculous Ladybug can be, especially when they do Unfunny Marinette Slapstick, but Astruc just took it as a personal offense. It's weird because this is a real softball thrown at the animation. Yes, the animation can be weird, but I don't get why Astruc thought the tweet was a comparison between Miraculous Ladybug and Encanto. It was just a slight criticism against Miraculous Ladybug's animation that just happened to use edited footage from Encanto for the joke. The user wasn't trying to say anything about the former being better than the latter. And I think we all know animated movies cost more to make than animated TV shows, Astruc.

Also, notice how Astruc wasn't actually tagged in the post. I'll get to that later.

This soon opened the floodgate of people criticizing the writing of Astruc's show, with Astruc himself using his go-to responses like “There's obviously character development!”, “Chloe was meant to be evil from the start because that's just how people are!”, and “Children obviously understand the show according to surveys I won't show you!” which only led to further discussion on how Astruc handles criticism, leading to an explanation as to why he always blocks any kind of criticism he doesn't agree with.

I think I know what you, the reader, are thinking at the moment. “Wow, it sounds like Astruc said he doesn't take any kind of criticism unless it comes from the network or people he already knows.” And in response to that, I have to say... yeah, pretty much.

He seriously said that any kind of constructive criticism is irrelevant unless the critic in question is either a professional in the animation industry or a close friend of his, so all us peasants have to do is accept the show for whatever happens.

Of course, he says this while talking about current issues like the content used to educate children in schools potentially giving them a biased view of history, even though he isn't a teacher...

The COVID-19 Pandemic, even though he's isn't a doctor...

And this is after he talked about other issues like Jeff Bezos and climate change, even though he isn't an environmentalist...

As well as his views on Donald Trump as a president even though he isn't a politician.

It's almost like you can simply give your opinion on a subject even though you're not professionally licensed to talk about it. Even though he said none of us can criticize his show, it's funny how Astruc is more than willing to give his thoughts on much more serious issues that don't relate to his field of study. Am I saying he shouldn't be talking about politics at all? No. This is just a case of “Do as I say, not as I do” that doesn't help his reputation regarding how he views criticism.

Yet the funny thing is, he still tries to say that people are entitled to their opinions while saying their opinions on the show don't matter to him unless it interests him.

AKA, if it's something he wants to hear.

And as if to back up his point that all critics of his show are people who love to attack him, Astruc started to retweet vocal users who only had rude things to say to him as if to “own the haters” or show how he's the victim in this situation.

Yes, it's obvious a lot of the people Astruc responded to were looking for a fight as they either tagged him or directly replied to him in their tweets, but it feels like he's trying to make it look like those kind of people are the only people online who are critical of his show. And notice how in that last one, he said he was being tagged in all of these responses. Here's the thing...

THIS ALL STARTED WHEN ASTRUC RESPONSED TO A POST THAT DIDN'T EVEN TAG HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE. This time, he was the one picking the fight when the person who made that tweet only mildly criticized the animation in his show in a very vague way.

And when someone pointed out that as light as his criticisms of Encanto were, they were still criticisms, so that's when Astruc used the “It was just my opinion!” excuse.

So let me get this straight. Any kind of constructive criticism, bad feedback, or simply hearing something someone didn't like about the show is bad enough to get an automatic block from Astruc because they aren't as experienced as he is, but Astruc can speak his mind about any kind of subject or other animated properties because it's his opinion?

Yes, the online harassment Astruc has been getting lately has been very unjustified, and I don't condone the tweets above intending to mess with him, but this is still a double standard that needs to be called out in a more calm and rational way. If we want to talk with him about the problems we have with the show, we need to be respectful to Astruc if we want to be heard, and show him constructive criticism isn't a synonym for online hate.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #thomas astruc critical

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lurking-latinist · 3 years ago

Note

Sixie and Evelyn for the AU meme?

I was SO excited to get this ask and I'm so sorry that it's taken me ages to get to it! I really wanted to do it justice and to be honest I'm still not perfectly happy with what I've got--I find Evelyn really hard to write precisely because I love her so much--but hopefully it will be fun and maybe spark other people's ideas!

(As a reminder, the AU meme is in the pinned post on my blog!)

Snippets below cut

1. Wild West

“Now then, Doc,” said the schoolteacher. “I reckon you’re not here to learn readin’ and writin’.”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “As it happens, I’m after a history lesson.”

2. Coffee Shop

“You’ve saved my life,” said the coffee shop proprietor, hands in the pockets of his patchwork apron.

“It’s only a cake,” said Evelyn. “I like making them. I really do!”

“All the same,” he said. “I shudder to think what the patrons would’ve said if I’d had to tell them the only baked goods available were of my cooking.”

3. Pirates

(That’s not an AU that’s canonical)

“You know this is all your fault,” whispered Evelyn.

“Mine?” The Doctor’s face was a picture of cherubic innocence.

“It was you that came up with ‘Evil Evelyn’!” She lifted a hand in an abortive gesture of frustration, earning yet another round of raucous cheers from her new self-appointed followers.

“I didn’t expect you to become a legend!”

Evelyn the Pirate Queen smiled. “You should’ve thought ahead, then, shouldn’t you?”

4. … In SPACE!!

(Space opera crossover: Vorkosigan Saga)

"I'm sorry about him," said the historian, with an obviously fond smile. "Thank you for agreeing to an interview, Vicereine."

"Oh, call me Cordelia."

5. Schoolfic

(Obviously they’re still the teachers)

“Mrs Smythe?”

“Yes, Emily?”

“I thought this was a history field trip,” said the little girl in her surprisingly piercing voice. “Why is Mr Smith from science with us?”

“He wanted to come,” said the history teacher vaguely. “Now you see, boys and girls, it’s never too late to learn about our country’s past!”

From the back of the bus, Mr Smith flashed her an unrepentant, conspiratorial grin.

6. Urban Fantasy

"Now why exactly did you feel it necessary to interrupt my lecture?" Evelyn demanded.

"You won't believe this." The oddly-dressed stranger sighed. "I could... smell there's something wrong."

She gave him a look. "You're one of these people that thinks they're a werewolf, aren't you?"

"Not exactly." He looked uncomfortable and slightly sheepish. "Actually, I'm a were-cat."

7. Regency/Historical

"Sitting out yet another dance together, are we? Do you think I'm too old to be gossiped about?"

He smiled. "I think you're too wise to care."

8. Magic/Fairy Tale

The kingdom was celebrating the birth of twins to the king and queen.

"The princess will be wise and learned and always know her own mind," said the good fairy Evelyn at the christening.

"The prince will be curious and witty and never at a loss for words," promised her companion.

The queen, who was not entirely without common sense, whispered to the king, "Is there anyone we forgot to invite?"

"Nobody," replied the king confidently.

The fairy godparents shared a glance, suddenly preparing for trouble.

(but I cannot let this pass without reccing Kitty @strange-destinations's actual full-length Six & Evelyn fairy tale AU, "live in the along": https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815372)

9. Canon Divergence

INQUISITOR: There is only one way to rebut the evidence of the Matrix, Doctor, and that is to produce witnesses who can support your version of events. Can you do that?

DOCTOR: Well, of course I can't. You know I can't.

INQUISITOR: Then we must accept the Valeyard's evidence.

DOCTOR: Any witnesses I might produce are scattered all over the universe and all through time. How can I find them now?

EVELYN, entering the courtroom: Oh dear. Hello Doctor. What have you gotten yourself into?

(I love Mel, as everyone knows, but I can’t help thinking that Evelyn might have been a more convincing character witness!)

10. Crime/Detectives

“Doctor,” said the deceptively harmless little old lady as soon as her friend picked up the phone, “I think we’ve got another case for you and your box of tricks.”

“Forensic laboratory, Evelyn,” he laughed. “Let me guess—a terrible murder and the police are baffled?”

“Well…” she said. “It’s forgery. At least I think so. One John Draper’s will of 1590, which inexplicably disinherits his daughter Frances—I suspect her brothers tampered with the document.”

“A pressing case indeed. I’ll be right over.”

-----

anyway I love them your honor and this gave me a great excuse to relisten to several audios, thank you lu <3

eta: here’s the ao3 link! https://archiveofourown.org/works/33872827

#doctor who #classic who #big finish #sixth doctor #evelyn smythe #au meme #ask meme #doctor who fic #classic who fic #fic #cross posted on ao3

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yusuke96universe · 4 years ago

Text

Underappreciated Dragon Ball Character: The Crane Hermit's Story

The Crane Hermit is introduced as a very one-dimensional mustache twirling bad guy who quickly faded into obscurity, but after digging into his history and connecting the dots, I found him to be a rare 3 Dimensional villain from classic Dragon Ball.

I mean the dude starts out as a rich snob, humbles himself while befriending his one time enemy and forges a brotherhood with other martial artists under the same dojo. He even is so loyal and brave to the point of fighting alongside his brothers in arms to the bitter end against a horde of Demons. To top it all off, he was even willing to do it again when suggesting they come back and try to defeat King Piccolo again right after barely surviving their first encounter with him. This is very much in tune to what many noble members of the Dragon Team would do, meaning at one point, Crane was a redeemed villain like half the Dragon Ball cast, but willingly CHOSE to return to his old evil ways.

And this only happened after his master gave up the fight which turned his heart away from the light, as if GOODNESS itself betrayed him and/or the lure of the evil King Piccolo's power could've swayed him to be the self-serving man he is today. I would love to explore that side to him because there has to be something still awesome about him for Tien to have held such high respect for him

This is the story that I pieced together from watching a string Crane Hermit related episodes.

He is first introduced in Roshi's picture book as Roshi's good friend and owner of Inoshikacho with early designs before they shaved their heads and started wearing their master's uniform, like in the flashback of them fighting against King Piccolo. Those designs are used two more times, when Roshi climbed Korin's Tower and trained for 3 years gaining the power pole and Nimbus, so they must've looked like that for a few years at least. We get more details on their lives when Mr. Popo sends Goku to the past and meets a sort of cowardly or at least less confident Roshi, we know that this is more of a simulation of the past because this is basically used again for the humans to fight some weak Saiyans in early Z, so the events of Roshi and Crane starting out as romantic rivals in their teens and Crane's highly inflated attitude without any strength yet to combat Kid Goku implies that he came from a wealthy upbringing like a lot of similar people in old Kung Fu movies. You put these together and you got a very interesting character Here is how I rationalize it-

Roshi and Crane's bickering/ fighting over a girl likely got them disciplined hard by their mutually shared master, Mutaito. (Whom they both respected and studied under) Young Crane respected enough to restart his training over from scratch rather than being expelled during the Kid Goku goes to the past episode, so the probability that this would once again apply to a young Crane and possibly young Roshi in this new context seems pretty high. The punishments was probably super harsh and severe, probably was too much for Crane's flunkies to bare and they quit early, but NOT Roshi or Crane. They both are WAY, WAY too stubborn to quit early. Plus the thought of not wanting to be outdone by the other is what probably aided in pushing themselves past their limits throughout the harsh punishments and the intensive training.

So now it's basically two teenagers, one from a humble background and the other from a privileged background. Both with a lot of beef. Now stuck together alone. So while they're busy being bickering and competing, perhaps that girl they both were interested in, Fanfan, found herself a boyfriend in the meantime, leaving both of them heartbroken.

Now, since they are in the same boat together, they can start relating and bonding with one another as teenage punks do. Talking about mistreated they are, how unfair things, mostly complaining and roasting one another, etc. But the important thing is, they put their differences aside to overcome the challenges in front of them and this newfound bond leads them to becoming best friends.

The rivalry while healthier becomes stronger with time though because they're young and brash so Roshi goes to Korin's Tower at some point for bragging rights and Crane probably did something equally outrageous in an attempt to one up him, like maybe he won a Martial Arts Tournament or completed some grand trial of their dojo or something.

After being studying together for many years, they shave their heads and join the other students in wearing the formal uniforms of their master, so this is likely the peak of their disciplined lifestyle as Martial Artists.

Eventually this school made a stand and fought to the last man against Demons that terrorized and devastated entire cities and destroyed armies, harming countless innocents in the process. So in order to face such a threat implies a strong brotherhood and loyalty within the group.

Also the effect of his master giving up the fight being one of the factors for his turn toward evil implied that the Crane had great respect for him and that was the greatest disappointment of his life, plus the allure of power that King Piccolo showed must've been too tempting for him to resist so he left the losing side and returned to a lifestyle similar to his origin, using his skills in service of his own self and living it up in a lavish style (as shown in how much of a big spender he is and comparing his hotel room to the Turtle School's). In doing so, he purposely pushed away all the great teaching his Master had taught him, deeming them as weak or worthless for what he believed to being truly strong in his own distorted mind. He desperately needed someone like his Master to correct his misconceptions, and maybe at one time Roshi tried to, but failed because Crane closed off his heart to his once best friend (kind of like Gintoki and Takasugi frrom Gintama) who exemplifies everything he now hates and stands against.

Though some lessons still stuck, like loyalty, specifically to his brother Tao. Which is his prime motivation in the 22nd tournament was to avenge his brother and he even lamented on how they never patched things up so he tried getting justice for him instead of blaming himself. Dodging accountability, but accepting responsibility. Proving maybe even he is not too far gone, if he felt their was even a point to change.

But that doesn't mean he was the nicest brother. His pride and jealousy couldn't stand the idea that his brother was far more naturally gifted than him and so he attempted to sever one of the few remaining bonds he has in his long life of losses, with his own hand because of his own inferiority complex.

He allowed his greed, anger, pride, and jealousy blind him to what would've been his greatest legacy as a Master of Martial Arts. His students. The most well known are Tien and Chiaotzu. Who he long since failed to guide them to the righteous path which led them pass the point of no return. Tien and Chiaotzu were one in a million prodigies that he wanted to turn into a mere weapons at his command. To make matters worse, these self-centered, cruel and down right malicious teaching actively corrupted Tien's nature and forever shut his Third eye's truest abilities. So he didn't nurture his disciple like he was completely capable of, instead, he actively/incompetently crippled his number 1 student forever preventing him from reaching his full potential by stealing his birthright. Truly failing as a Master.

He makes one last appearance in the 23rd Tournament feeling betrayed and wronged, but leaves as a coward. It is such a shame to see what once was a great man, how far he had fallen.

His Death. Toriyama mentioned that he and his brother Tao Pai Pai got in over their heads and died somewhere in the middle of Z off-screen. In-spite of all of his gifts, he utterly failed as a Master by actively trying to spite everything his Master taught him and what did all of his efforts and years of experiences gift him with? An inconsequential death that will not be remembered, which is heartbreaking for a man who was once and could've forever remained as great as the fan-favorite Master Roshi. It is a shame because unlike his teacher, he never redeemed himself, not even in death. What could've been a Legend, instead turned into a Cautionary Tale.

Honestly, it is such a shame that this character wasn't utilized more. I've got a few more Crane Hermit related headcannons, some from when he was younger, some of how he could've been used after the 22nd Martial Arts Tournament, like a role in the King Piccolo Saga since that is so closely tied to his past, watching his continual, but strained relationship with his students, etc.

#@bushidraw #dragon ball #crane hermit #dragon ball classic #tao pai pai #general tao #tien #tenshinhan #master roshi #muten roshi #headcannon #dbz #cautionary tale #shen #shin #crane shcool #failed master #master mutaito

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sebastianshaw · 3 years ago

Text

Hey there @vvithteeth! So, this isn’t EXACTLY what you asked for the readlist to focus on, but I think it’s worth checking out all the same for a general sense of Emma’s history leading up to her current character!

EVIL 80s EMMA She’s not good reference for who Emma is NOW, but a good look at what she used to be, and what she’s overcome. I think looking at Emma when she was at her worst, helps one appreciate her at her best. If you see what she had to rise above in herself, you understand the self that she’s fighting back, you have a better appreciation for the kinds of things she’s tempted towards---and the kinds of things she no longer does. X-Men (1st series) #129-131 is her introduction, as she tries to recruit Kitty Pryde to her school before Xavier does. One of the most chilling moments, for me personally, is when she threatens to destroy Storm’s mind so that she will be “human only in physical form” And then Jean drops a house on her, which is why she’s not involved in the Dark Phoenix saga, as she was still recovering. Emma continues trying to get Kitty and other kids into her clutches in Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #180 and New Mutants (1st series) #15-17, but in New Mutants (1st series) #38-40 she finally manages it by exploiting their current fucked-up state and having her student Empath use his powers to manipulate Magneto. But when the kids decide to return to Xavier’s school, Emma allows them to do so without a fight, and just tells them that they’ll always have a place with her if they need it. Which seems nice, but then her thought balloons reveal that this is just so the kids won’t believe it when Magneto tells them she’s evil. Firestar #1-4: Whoa mama, Emma is at max abusive here. See, she desires to eliminate Selene, and to this end she trains a young mutant she names Firestar. She does so by manipulating the girl, isolating her, convincing her that she NEEDS Emma to help her control her powers or else she’s dangerous to others, and even KILLS HER PET HORSE. Emma is someone who says “I love children. Teaching is my life.” and she MEANS IT, she has a genuine call to teach and her love for her students is her driving force, but here we see how she USED to treat her students. Then put her against who she is now, it’s a huge contrast. Honestly, I don’t know why SOME WRITERS want to erase her growth by pretending she was Actually Good All Along but yeah, here’s Bad Emma. This is who she fights. This is what she has risen above. EMMA’S BACKSTORY ISSUES Emma’s history is. . . kind of multiple choice. She tells one version in Generation X #24, but this doesn’t fit at all with the Emma Frost miniseries that came out from 2003 -2004, which also doesn’t exactly fit with “X-Men Origins: Emma Frost” single-issue backstory. I personally would read the “X-Men Origins” one and at least the beginning of the miniseries, specifically the parts that deal with her home life. The reason is that both of these show how unhealthy Emma’s home was growing up, and how that made her who she is. When I saw I think Emma is “wired” to be a villain, I don’t mean I think she was born like that, but as in, I think her environment trained her to become like that. It’s kind of like how a lot of personality disorders aren’t something a person is born with, but come from being in a shitty environment where certain behaviors will help you survive better, and then even once that situation is over, you can’t get rid of those behaviors because it’s how your brain is wired now. That’s how I read Emma---she came out of this toxic, duplicitous environment of manipulation and abuse where she and her siblings were set against each other, and that’s now her default for how she interacts with the world, even though she was originally just a sweet little nerd who only wanted to be a teacher. The “Origins” one features a generic Shitty Abuser Shaw and isn’t as good as the more drawn-out miniseries, as it focuses more on physical abuse (like her father suddenly slapping her) to get a point across that her family is toxic, rather than the more drawn-out miniseries, which I think works better for explaining Emma’s specific brand of. . .Emma-ness. But the bit where her mother tells her that her father is hardest on her because he likes her most of all, is really important I think, since that reflects her relationship later with the Hellions, which is also shown in this. Because Emma is cruel to the Hellions, even though she loves them, and in fact because she loved them. Her love for them and her agony over their deaths is what drives her to join the X-Men in the first place. As for which origin story is true. . .I think the miniseries one is probably MOST true, as it’s the only one that Emma herself isn’t telling as a story. But as the friend who helped me assemble this list puts it, “ Think of any origin story of Emma's as "a sort of fairy tale, a parable," where it's the theme that matters, not the precise events or timeline “ 90s EMMA Emma spent most of the 90s teaching Generation X. I don’t remember a lot of stuff for specifically what I’m talking about with her, but here are a couple issues that strike me as significant. Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #311-314: In Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #281-284, the Hellions were killed and Emma Frost was left in a coma, her body taken care of by the X-Men. This is when she wakes up, takes over Iceman’s body, and goes on a rampage thinking she’s the prisoner of the X-Men. When she finds out what happened to her Hellions, she collapses in despair and turns herself over to the X-Men. This is her turning point. This is when we found out Emma Frost had a soul. That she LOVED the Hellions. That they were not just tools. And there’s this one line in the yellow narrative boxes that really sticks out: “As the Hellfire Club’s White Queen, she spent the better part of her life traversing from one mind to another, violating the very essence of anyone she so chose. Losing herself in the memories of others. Altering, at times, the opinions of those who opposed her. This time is different. This time it is about survival. This time. . .it’s for the children.” The words are echoed when she agrees to join Krakoa's Quiet Council, after Charles and Erik tell her their plan and convince her it might just work. "One more time, then. For the children." Emma’s true love, in my opinion, isn’t Scott. Nor is it Namor. It’s teaching. Emma becomes the teacher to Generation X, as mentioned, and in Generation X (1st series) #18-19, during the Onslaught crisis, she’s so terrified of losing them like she did the Hellions, that she snapped, took the kids to a safehouse in Canada, and put them under her telepathic control for their own safety. This is an Emma who has learned that abusing her students isn’t the right way, but still doesn’t respect their autonomy or consent even as she’s desperately trying to protect them, and has to learn from Monet (who is. . . .actually not Monet) that this isn’t the right way to do it either. Emma did not grow up with adult models who showed her how to love and care for a child, she has to figure it out herself, and it’s a rocky journey at times, even though she has the best of intentions. I think this is a good issue to show an Emma who is in the process of evolving. She’s getting better, but she still hasn’t got it “right” yet. CURRENT-ERA EMMA Emma really becomes the Emma we know with Grant Morrison’s New X-Men in the early 2000s. This is where she starts affecting a British accent, calling everyone darling, and the delightfully witty Queen of Mean while also still a devoted teacher with trauma over losing her students. She always was witty and a little mean, but Morrison takes these traits up to 11 and gives Emma the foundation of what a lot of writers would build upon. It’s also when she begins her telepathic affair/seduction of Scott, which is a more than slightly problematic dynamic, as I’ve discussed. Also, this is when she got her now-famous diamond form. We get a lot of lovely Emma nastiness in this series. New X-Men #128-139 all have lots of great moments for her where she’s just WICKED yet still on the side of the angels, and New X-Men Annual 2001 starts us off. However, character-wise, I think what really comes out here is Emma going from blaming her past actions on substances (she tells Scott in the New X-Men Annual 2001 that she just probably out of her mind on drink and drugs all those times she was doing bad things) to being forced to face her past and herself for the first time when confronted by Jean & the Phoenix in New X-Men #139. It’s the first time we get a look at what Emma’s family and home life was like, as well as the first time she’s established as having a brother, but more than that is the emotion that gets brought in. This is also when Morrison decided to retcon the Hellfire Club as a strip joint (which I hate and also shows up in Emma’s “Origins” story) but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, Jean makes Emma face all her flaws and pain and nasty, most vulnerable parts of herself. Emma is left mentally broken...then one page later, physically, shattered by a diamond bullet that we later find out was fired by none other than Esme, the Stepford Cuckoo whom Emma later says reminded her most of herself. There is definitely poetic symbolism there. As my friend put it “This cycle of her students dying and Emma losing it and trying again but never facing the roots of her issues goes on and on until her roots literally kill her, and Jean of all people resurrects her. Jean, who saw right through Emma, saw something there worth saving, and literally and metaphorically put her back together again.” The next place I’d go is Astonishing X-Men, which is the first time Emma and Kitty work together. Kitty HATES Emma at this point, because, as she points out, Emma is the villain in her origin story. And Emma KNOWS this. That’s why she WANTS Kitty there. She knew that Kitty would keep an eye on her, wouldn’t trust her, and that’s what Emma WANTS, because Emma doesn’t trust HERSELF. So this shows that Emma KNOWS her moral compass is a very flawed one, and that she WANTS to be better so consciously that she’s getting someone she knows doesn’t like or trust her to be around because she knows she’ll watch her like a HAWK. This also means Emma is admitting she can fail, and giving some control to someone else. There’s. . . so much that happens from here. Utopia. Phoenix Five. The Terrigen Mists shit. Secret Empire. I feel like there are probably great Emma readlists out there that include these, but honestly I just kinda zoned out through a lot of it. These are some additional read lists for her I found: https://lornahs.tumblr.com/post/87230882649/where-to-start-reading-emma-frost-lets-start https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/2bwwok/emma_frost_reading/ It’s definitely a LOT and I wish you the best of luck tackling it! Also, I wouldn’t feel you have to read EVERYTHING, or incorporate everything into your depiction. Pick and choose what you feel works best for your version!

#out of shirt #readlist

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padawanlost · 4 years ago

Note

What was your take on Dave Filoni's speech on the Duel of Fates & Qui-Got Jinn?

I’m surprised people were shocked by that. I mean, he didn’t say anything new.

His take is the same take that has been explored since TPM came out. I don’t know if people shocked by it are new fans who weren’t around when the movies came out or didn’t have access to the interviews/EU or of if they are in deep denial about the characters portrayed on screen.

“What’s at stake is really how Anakin’s going to turn out, because Qui-Gon is different than the rest of the Jedi.”

FACT since 1999. We know Qui-Gon was a ‘rebel’ since TPM came out. He’s even known as a ‘maverick jedi’ for that very reason, with multiple novels and comics exploring that side of him. Hell, he was Dooku’s apprentice, a guy known for being one of the Council’s biggest critics even when he was still a Jedi Master.

“Obi-wan: Do not defy the council, Master, not again. Qui-Gon: I shall do what I must, Obi-Wan. Obi-wan: If you would just follow the code, you would be on the council.” The Phantom Menace, 1999.

You get that in the movie, and Qui-Gon is fighting because he knows that he’s the father that Anakin needs, because Qui-Gon hasn’t given up on the fact that Jedi are supposed to care and love and that that’s not a bad thing.

FACT since 1999.

He was angry that the Jedi Master would dismiss him so abruptly in favor of the boy, but he realized, too, the depth of Qui-Gon’s passion when he believed in something. Training this boy to be a Jedi was a cause Qui-Gon championed as he had championed no other in Obi-Wan’s memory. He did not do so to slight his protégé. He did so because he believed in the boy’s destiny. Obi-Wan understood. Who could say? Perhaps this time Qui-Gon was right. Perhaps Anakin Skywalker’s training was a cause worth fighting for. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace – published in 2000]

That Filoni himself reinforces in 2013 during an interview about TCW’s season 5: “I’ve always felt that one of Anakin’s downfalls, like it’s never that Anakin was innately going to be evil, but the people around him, the Jedi, in their lack of compassion, in being so selfless that they almost forgot to care.” Dave Filoni

The rest of the Jedi are so detached and they’ve become so political that they’ve really lost their way and Yoda starts to see that in the second film. But, Qui-Gon is ahead of them all and that’s why he’s not part of the council, so he’s fighting for Anakin.

FACT since 1999.

“With Episode I, I didn’t want to tell a limited story. I had to go into the politics and the bigger issues of the Republic and that sort of thing. I had to go into bigger issues.” George Lucas

In The Phantom Menace one of the Jedi Council already knows the balance of The Force is starting to slip, and will slip further. It is obvious to this person that The Sith are going to destroy this balance. On the other hand a prediction which is referred to states someone will replace the balance in the future. At the right time a balance may again be created, but presently it is being eroded by dark forces. All of this shall be explained in Episode 2, so I can’t say any more!- CUT interview 09/07/99?

“The first film starts with the last age of the Republic; which is it’s getting tired, old, it’s getting corrupt. There’s the rise of the Sith, who are now becoming a force, and in the backdrop of this you have Anakin Skywalker: a young boy who’s destined to be a very significant player in bringing balance back to the Force and the Republic. George Lucas - from the American ANH VHS tape in the making of Episode II in the 2000 release.

[The Jedi] sort of persuade people into doing the right thing but their job really isn’t to go around fighting people yet there are now used as generals and they are fighting a war and they are doing something they really weren’t meant to do.They are being corrupted by this war, by being forced to be generals instead of peacemakers. – George Lucas for E! Behind the Scenes - Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

That’s one of the few times in history when the bad guys were very clearly delineated for us. There really was a fight for survival going on between pretty clearly good guys and bad guys. The story being told in Star Wars is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not. . – George Lucas

That’s why it’s the duel of the fates, it’s the fate of this child and depending on how this fight goes, Anakin, his life is going to be dramatically different.

If good and evil are mixed things become blurred - there is nothing between good and evil, everything is grey. In each of us we have balanced these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything. It is dangerous to lose this. – George Lucas

"So, Qui-Gon loses, of course, so the father figure, he knew what it meant to take this kid away from his mother when he had an attachment and he’s left with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he made to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him. Obi-Wan trains Anakin at first out of a promise he makes to Qui-Gon, not because he cares about him.

FACT since 1999. We literally see this in the movie.

He stopped his pacing and stared momentarily at nothing, thinking of Qui-Gon Jinn, his Master, his teacher, his friend. He had failed Qui-Gon in life. But he would carry on his work now, honoring him in death by fulfilling his promise to train the boy, no matter what. [Terry Brooks. The Phantom Menace]

When they find Anakin on Tatooine, he says, “I feel like we’ve found another useless lifeform.” He’s comparing Anakin to Jar Jar. And he’s saying, “This is a waste of time. Why are we doing this? Why do you see importance in these creature like Jar Jar Binks and this 10 year old boy? This is useless.”

FACT since 1999.

So he’s a brother to Anakin, eventually, but he’s not a father figure.

“He is like my brother. I cannot do it.” Obi-wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.

This, then, is Obi-Wan and Anakin: They are closer than friends. Closer than brothers. Though Obi-Wan is sixteen standard years Anakin’s elder, they have become men together. Neither can imagine life without the other. The war has forged their two lives into one. [Matthew Stover. Revenge of the Sith]

[With Ahsoka] I wanted to develop a character who would help Anakin settle down. He's a wild child after [Attack of the Clones]. He and Obi Wan don't get along. So we wanted to look at how Anakin and Ahsoka become friends, partners, a team. When you become a parent or you become a teacher you have to become more respnsible. I wanted to force Anakin into that role of responsibility, into that juxtaposition. I have a couple of daughters so I have experience with that situation. I said instead of a guy let's make her a girl. Teenage girls are just as hard to deal with as teenage boys are. - George Lucas

That’s a failing for Anakin, he doesn’t have the family that he needs. He loses his mother in the next film. He fails on this promise that he made to his mother that 'I will come back and save you.' So he’s left completely vulnerable and Star Wars is ultimately about family.

FACT since 2002.

“Love people. That’s basically all Star Wars is.” — George Lucas

So, that moment in that movie, which a lot of people diminish as a cool lightsaber fight, but it’s everything that the entire three films in the prequels hangs on, is that one particular fight and Maul serves his purpose and at that point died before George brought him back.But he died, showing you how the Emperor is completely self-serving. He doesn’t care, he’s using people and now he’s gonna use this child.

FACT since 1999.

Each Sith has an apprentice, but the problem was, each Sith Lord got to be powerful. And the Sith Lords would try to kill each other because they all wanted to be the most powerful. So in the end they killed each other off, and there wasn’t anything left. So the idea is that when you have a Sith Lord, and he has an apprentice, the apprentice is always trying to recruit somebody to join him — because he’s not strong enough, usually — so that he can kill his master. That’s why I call it a Rule of Two — there’s only two Sith Lords. There can’t be any more because they kill each other. They’re not smart enough to realize that if they do that, they’re going to wipe themselves out. Which is exactly what they did.” George Lucas

Everything that Filoni said has been part of the lore and movies for 20 years now, so I really don’t get why people are so shocked by it. Also, context people! People have been using Disney canon to ‘prove’ Filoni wrong but these movies and the clone wars were written with long before Disney came into play. Filoni, like so many of us, grew up with Star Wars belonging to George and that colors how he look at the franchise and the characters. And don’t get me started on the ‘the EU doesn’t matter’ argument because it absolutely does.

“And then George Lucas tells me one day, ‘We’re gonna put the Mandalorians in the Clone Wars.' And I go 'Oh boy. That’s interesting. Cuz, lemme show you this.' And I move this big pile of material over and I said 'This is everything. This is everything that the Mandalorians are right now.’ And so George and I do what we always do when we come across something that I know exists well in the EU, we go over it all.“ Now, all the history of Mandalore you prior to The Clone Wars⁫ it does exists. It absolutely exists.” — Dave Filoni

There’s actual behind the scenes footage of Filoni and George Lucas working on The Clone Wars and checking the EU to keep everything as cohesive as possible. The guy literately had thousands of conversations with George Lucas – the guy who actually created Star Wars – about these characters but somehow people are now trashing him because he said they should’ve know already?

Look, anyone who knows me know I’m not a Filoni stan but I believe in respecting people’s work and giving credit where credit is due even when I don’t agree with them 100%. If they don’t like his take, fine, that’s their right but please tone down the outrage fest because it’s entirely unjustified (and, to be completely honest, a little desperate for validation). He’s an actual person, not a fictional character there for you to hate or stan.

There’s a lot I don’t agree with it in this life but I don’t go around attacking real people and their jobs. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised, considering the people going after Filoni are the same people who have not problem whatsoever with star wars authors receiving death and rape threats.

#ask #anon #dave filoni #sw meta #anakin skywalker #meta: fandom #meta: anakin #txt

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vajranam · 3 years ago

Text

Phowa Commentary

Commentary on Transference of Consciousness

Practices › Transference | Tibetan Masters › Karma Chakme

Buddha Amitābha, 'Boundless Light'

Courtesy of Himalayan Art Resources

Extensive Instructions on the Transference of Consciousness to the Land of Great Bliss

From the Namchö Wisdom-Mind Treasure

by Karma Chakme, aka Rāga Asya

Guru Deva Ḍākinī Hūṃ!

What follows is a commentary on Transference to the Land of Great Bliss, which is part of the secondary literature connected with the Land of Great Bliss (bde chen zhing) sādhana from the cycle of the profound aural lineage of the Namchö wisdom-mind treasure.

To tell a little of the history of this teaching, “The Chronicle of the King”, which is one of The Five Chronicles, says that at the end of time, thirty-three vidyādharas, lords of secret mantra, will appear. In the prophecy of their supreme enlightenment, it is written:

In the buddhafield of Śākya[muni] known as Do Kham,[1] a yogi who practises the secret mantra of the Great Vehicle, a lord of mantra, Dorje Drakpo, will appear. Having transferred from there, he will perform vast activities. In the northern direction of this three thousand-fold world-system in the pristine buddhafield known as Forest of Sandalwood, he will become a tathāgata, a guide to beings, an unsurpassable teacher nurturing a gathering of three-thousand, the victorious one known as Jñāna Samantabhadra (Yeshe Kunzang).

Thus, the nirmāṇakāya known as Mingyur Dorje, who was foretold in many treasures, such as the prophecy just cited, is the essential embodiment in a single emanation of both the great lotsāwa Vairotsana and Shüpu Palseng. And in the future he will become the buddha Jñāna Samantabhadra.

While performing the deeds of a bodhisattva, at the age of thirteen, on the seventh day of Saga Dawa[2] in the year of the Golden Pendant (hemalamba, i.e., 1657)[3] he actually saw the face of Buddha Amitābha and his two attendants, their bodies as vast as mountains and immeasurable in their splendour. At that time, he received directly the sādhana of the Land of Great Bliss, the method for seeing the Land of Great Bliss in dreams, the longevity sādhana of Amitāyus, the transference of consciousness to the Land of Great Bliss, the prayer for the Land of Great Bliss, the aspiration for the Land of Great Bliss, and the empowerment for the Land of Great Bliss. Then, that evening, having once again seen the face of Buddha Amitābha and his retinue, he was given both the prayer for dream yoga and the oral instructions.

All of this is reminiscent of the following statement from the Bodhisattva Piṭaka:

Bodhisattvas, who remain devoted in this way, are recognized by all the buddhas, the transcendent conquerors, as fit vessels for the Dharma. Appearing before them, the Buddhas perfectly reveal to them the bodhisattva path.

Even though there are many traditions for the transference of consciousness in the school of Early Translations and the New Schools, this is a very recent lineage, one still warm with the speech of Amitāyus, and is therefore especially blessed. Moreover, the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said:

I, the Lotus-born, and those like me

Have, for the sake of lazy yogis,

Revealed the instruction on transference.

Distracted practitioners may have received profound teachings on the Great Perfection and the like, but still not find any time to train. Then there are those who, because of the afflictive emotion of laziness have not yet gained the indwelling confidence of liberation. For such practitioners, this oral instruction is for attaining Buddhahood at the time of death without the need for further training. As a powerful method, applicable even to great wrongdoers, it is a vitally important instruction on attaining buddhahood.

It is best if, by training from now on, you are able to practise the transference by yourself when you are certain that you are about to die. Yet, should you be unable to do that, even to receive the oral transmission for the transference of consciousness now will make it easier for a guru to perform the transference of consciousness for you when you die.

As for the benefits of the skilful means of the transference of consciousness, it is said in The Four Vajra Seats:[4]

Completely untainted by evil deeds,

You will cross to saṃsāra’s supreme and distant shore.

And:

This opening of brahma above

Is directly[5] explained as “transference.”

Emao! It is the path of the supreme teaching.

Emao! It cuts through saṃsāra.

Emao! It remains in the state of freedom.

Emao! Primordial wisdom is amazing!

Also:

One stained by every fault

Is freed through the practice of transference.

The Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna also said:

Through transference at the proper time,

Even perpetrators of the five deeds of immediate fruition[6]

Will gain rebirth in the higher realms or liberation.

Therefore, the benefits are extremely great. It is also said:

If you perform the transference of consciousness in this way, then no matter how severe your evil deeds may be, through the blessings of the visualisation you will take the extraordinary form of a god, or a human being and so on for as long as the teachings of even a single buddha remain. Then, having quickly exhausted your remaining karma, you will attain Buddhahood. And some individuals will attain the state of a vidyādhara in the extraordinary buddhafield of Manifest Perfection.

Moreover, there are several types of transference, including:

dharmakāya transference,

sambhogakāya transference,

nirmāṇakāya transference,

ordinary transference,

forceful transference, and

the transference of entering another body.[7]

Dharmakāya Transference

Through excellent practice of Mahāmudrā, or the Great Perfection’s practice of Trekchö in this lifetime, the mother and son luminosities will meet at the time of death. You will then remain in that state [of luminosity] for seven days or some other length of time. As this is the ultimate form of transference, free from the concepts of something to be transferred or one who transfers, there are said to be no good or bad openings.

If you perform the dharmakāya transference in this way, the outer sign will be a pure, immaculate sky; as the inner sign, the body’s radiance will not fade for a long time; and as the secret sign, syllables, such as a white ĀḤ, or a blue HŪṂ, will appear.

Sambhogakāya Transference

This is the form of transference to be explained here on this occasion.

As a sign of having performed it the sky will be filled with rainbows and lights. As an inner sign, blood or serum will emerge from the brahma-aperture at the crown of the head, and a dew-like moisture will appear there. The same part of the head will swell up, and steam or vapour will rise from it. Just below the brahma-aperture, hair will fall out and the body’s heat will be concentrated there. As a secret sign, as many as five types of relics, or the deities’ bodies and hand implements will manifest.

Nirmāṇakāya Transference

For this you lie down on your right side, and breathe through your left nostril. You place an image of Śākyamuni, or the Lotus-born, or a similar figure, in view, visualize the deity’s presence, and then transfer your consciousness through the left nostril. You then generate the intention to appear as a nirmāṇakāya for the benefit of beings, and make prayers of aspiration. As an outer sign of performing this kind of transference, there will be clouds or rainbows in the form of wish-fulfilling trees, and rains of flowers will fall. As an inner sign, blood, serum or bodhicitta will emerge from the left nostril, or shimmering dewdrops will appear. As a secret sign, the whole skull will remain [even after cremation], or the hand implements of the deities or many tiny ringsel will appear.

Forceful Transference

It is wrong to practise forceful transference. Even if all the signs of impending death are present, you must perform the ritual for deceiving death three times. To enact the transference without having performed such a ritual would be to incur the fault of murdering the deities. Even in the case of punishment by the state,[8] chronic illness or severe pain—no matter what might occur—it is still wrong to perform the transference before the actual time for death arrives, as it would bring about the transgression of killing deities.

Therefore, even when life is at an end, the transference should not be performed until it is certain that the vital channel in the neck has actually been cut. If the lifespan has not been exhausted and there is still a chance of revival, the transgression of killing deities can and will occur. ‘Deities’ here means the assembled deities of the hundred sublime buddha families, who reside within the body. This is the equivalent of killing them all. Thus, to perform the transference at any time other than when the lifespan has definitively run its course will not only be of no benefit, it will actually lead to the lower realms. And this holds the key as to why the forceful method of transference is unacceptable. As The Four Vajra Seats Tantra says:

When the time is right, perform the transference,

But to do so at other times would be deity murder.

It is also said in the verses of an authentic scripture in the chapter on transference:

To transfer at the wrong time is to kill the deities.

As long as you are alive, practise Dharma,

And for that long the flow of virtue will increase.

Similarly, the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said:

Then, earnestly practise the ritual for deceiving death in accordance with the signs of impending death. Even though the signs and marks of death may be complete, if you were to practise transference without having first performed the ritual for deceiving death, you would incur the transgression of killing the deities and the transgression of suicide. As this is even than worse than the five deeds of immediate fruition, perform whichever general or particular rituals for deceiving death are most appropriate.

Transference of Entering Another Body

It is well known that the right interdependent circumstances did not come together for this teaching to be passed on in Tibet. And that is why, although the textual transmission exists, there is no lineage of actual practice.

Ordinary Transference

Even though this is not a forceful transference it is still referred to as ‘instantaneous transference’. As the circumstances of death—which include ravines, water, arrows, piercing weapons, strokes and more—can arise unexpectedly, whenever fear or panic strike train in focusing your awareness on Amitāyus or the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna at the crown of your head. Doing this continually will ensure that if serious life-threatening circumstances should occur all of a sudden, you will direct your consciousness to the crown of your head through the force of habit, and your consciousness will exit there. The Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said, “Directing your intentions toward the guru at your crown is of inconceivable value.”

For the ordinary transference, you should lie on your right side with your head pointing north. Visualize a deity such as Buddha Śikhin, or the Buddha of Medicine (Bhaiṣajyaguru-vaiḍūryaprabharāja) above the crown of your head. Then recite any names of the Three Jewels with which you are familiar, as well as blessed dhāraṇī mantras, and make aspirations. By doing so, it said, you will avoid rebirth in the lower realms.

Furthermore, the vajra song that encapsulates the six dharmas says:

Eight doorways open on to saṃsāra,

One door is the path to Mahāmudrā.

The Profound Inner Meaning, which draws upon several classes of unsurpassable tantras, also teaches:

Then, if the all-ground consciousness departs

From the brahma-aperture this means the formless realm;

From the bindu, the great goddess;

From the navel, a god of the desire realm;

From the eyes, a powerful person in the desire realm;

From the nose, the realms of the yakṣa;

From the ear, a god of accomplishment;

From the door of existence, a hungry ghost, it is said;

From the urethra, we will become an animal;

From the lower door, the eight hells.

This means that if you have not trained in the instructions for the transference of consciousness, and still, under the power of karma, your consciousness leaves the body through the brahma-aperture, you will be reborn in the formless realm. Through the oral instructions on transference, however, departure through the brahma-aperture will lead to rebirth in pure celestial lands. This is one tradition of explanation. The Vajra Verses of the Hearing Lineage says:

When the signs of death arise, be joyful,[9] and cast away attachment.

Block the nine doors, apply substances and adorn with aspiration.

Thus, in this case [i.e., when nine doorways are blocked], another 'brahma-aperture' is being referred to: a cranial opening, which is four finger-widths back from the hairline, and if consciousness departs from there you will be reborn in the formless realm. The actual brahma-aperture, however, is located in the centre of the coil of hair eight finger-widths back from the hairline. And if consciousness leaves from there you will be reborn in the celestial lands.

Although there exist these two traditions of explanation, the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna also said:

There are great differences in the various paths of transference: three each for superior, middling, and inferior, making nine in all. As the brahma-aperture on the crown of the head is the path for travelling to pure celestial lands, if consciousness emerges there you will obtain liberation. Therefore, since this is the supreme path it is crucially important that this is where you direct your intentions. If consciousness departs through the eyes, you will be reborn as a cakravartin king. If consciousness exits from the left nostril you will be reborn in a clean human body. These are the three superior doors. If consciousness exits through the right nostril you will be reborn as a yakṣa; from the two ears, as a god in the form realm; from the navel, a god in the desire realm. These are the three middling doors. If consciousness exits from the urethra, you will be reborn as an animal; from the so-called ‘door of existence’, the path journeyed by the cause and seed, the white and red essences, you will be born as a hungry ghost; from the anus, you will be reborn in the hells. These are the three inferior doors.

Now, as for the actual instruction for the transference of consciousness, The Four Vajra Seats Tantra says:

That to be purified, the one and a half syllables.

Drawn up with the third to the last of eight.

This seed, a fierce fire,

Rests on a maṇḍala of wind.

Focus on this with the mind.

Above, the brahma-aperture

Is supreme on account of the nine.

Without a body, the entity that is mind’s essence

Meditates on entities.

The Vajra Verses of the Hearing Lineage says:

The alchemy of transference, which brings Buddhahood without meditation…

…Draw HŪṂ and prāṇa-mind indivisible up into the central channel (avadhūti).

Visualise the syllable KṢA and propel it through the path of brahma.

Transferring it to the dharmakāya-guru and buddha-realm.

The Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said:

Should you fail to accomplish nirvāṇa without remainder in this life,

Since you wish to find the celestial lands at the time of transference

Apply yourself to the necessary trainings and actions!

And:

This instruction is a powerful means for bringing buddhahood even to great evildoers. This instruction, a transformative golden dharma, through which a yogi can leave the seal of the body and simultaneously awaken, is revealed herein.

What follows is in two parts: 1) training in transference, and 2) the actual application.

1. Training in Transference

In order to request the teaching on the visualisations for training in transference, it is necessary to offer the maṇḍala. For this, repeat the following:

Having transformed this maṇḍala of bronze into precious substances,

And these grains of barley too into gold and turquoise,

I offer them with devotion to the one nirmāṇakāya, the compassionate guru:

Look on me with your compassion!

Then, for taking refuge and generating bodhicitta, repeat the following three times:

Namo! In the three jewels and the three roots,

In all the sources of refuge, I take refuge.

In order to lead all beings to buddhahood

I set my mind upon supreme awakening.

Now, consider that in an instant you appear as the Great Compassionate Lord (i.e., Mahākārunika, a form of Avalokiteśvara), with a body that is white in colour, and with one face, peaceful and smiling. You have four hands: the palms of the first two joined at your heart, and the lower two holding a white crystal rosary and a white lotus flower. With your legs in the vajra posture, you sit on a lotus and moon-disc seat. Your topknot of hair is adorned with the five small crests of jewels. You are wearing silken garments and jewel ornaments, and you are radiant and resplendent with all the marks and signs. Meditate on this vividly.

From the outside, the Great Compassionate One’s body is like a white silk tent, while on the inside it is empty like an inflated balloon.[10] Inside this clear, empty space is the central channel with its four characteristics: as a sign of bliss, it is white on the outside; to symbolize clarity, it is red on the inside; to signify the bodhisattva path, it stands perfectly upright; and to signify that the doors to the lower realms have been closed, its lower tip, which is below the navel, is sealed. To allow for travel along the path to higher realms, the upper tip opens straight onto the brahma-aperture at the crown. Visualize this.

Above the crown of your head,

On top of a lion-throne, lotus, and moon-disc seat,

Is the protector Amitābha, his body red in colour.

With one face, and two hands in the gesture of equanimity,

On top of which he holds an alms-bowl; he wears the dharma robes;

He is seated with his two legs in the posture of Maitreya,

And his two big toes

At the upper tip of the central channel.

To his right is Lokeśvara, Lord of the World, white in colour,

With one face and four hands: two joined at the palms,

And the remaining two, to the right and left, holding a rosary and lotus.

He is in the standing posture, upon a lotus and moon.

To his left is Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might (i.e., Mahāsthāmaprāpta).

He has one face, two hands and is blue in colour.

He holds a vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left.

He is in the standing posture, upon a lotus and moon.

They are surrounded by countless buddhas, bodhisattvas,

Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats.

Light shines out from the three seed-syllables

At the three centres of each of the three main figures,

Inviting the deities from Sukhāvatī to merge indivisibly.

Then, there is the prayer for transference:

Emaho!

Exceedingly wondrous protector, Amitābha,

Great Compassionate One, and Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might,

With a one-pointed mind, I pray to you:

Grant your blessings so that I may master the profound path of the transference.

When the time of death eventually arrives,

Grant your blessings so that my consciousnesses may be transferred to Sukhāvatī.

Pray like this as much as possible, and then consider the following.

At your heart-centre, inside the central channel, is, like a knot in a length of bamboo, an eight-petalled red lotus. On top of it is a moon-disc, about the size of half a grain. On top of that is the essence into which prāṇa-mind and consciousness are gathered, a white bindu, and red syllable HRĪḤ (ཧྲཱིཿ), complete with the long-vowel sign and the visarga, and radiant and bright. Consider that it is on the point of ascending, just about to rise.

From that HRĪḤ there emanates a single ray of light in the form of another HRĪḤ syllable, which seals off the lower gateway, the doorway to the hells. Then, another HRĪḤ emerges to seal the doorway to rebirth as an animal, the urethra. Then two further HRĪḤ syllables shoot out, sealing the doors of the secret place and the mouth, gateways to rebirth as a hungry ghost. Then, another HRĪḤ appears, sealing the navel, which is the gateway to rebirth as a god in the desire realm. Then, two more HRĪḤ syllables shine out, blocking the two ears, which are gateways for rebirth as a demi-god, in the form realm, or as a kumbhāṇḍa. Next, two further HRĪḤs emerge, block the two nostrils, gateways to rebirth as a yakṣa or a human being who must experience birth, ageing, sickness and death. Then, three HRĪḤ syllables shine out to block the spot between the eyebrows, which is the gateway to rebirth in the form realm; the right eye, which is the gateway for rebirth as a human king; and the left eye. Then, another HRĪḤ shoots out and blocks the cranial opening, which is the gateway to rebirth in the formless realm. You can also verbally recite HRĪḤ during this process.

Then, consider that as you utter HIK, your mind, which is represented by the bindu and the white syllable HRĪḤ, shoots upwards through the path of the central channel. It just about touches the big toe of Amitābha, who is on the crown of your head. Then, consider that as you utter KA, it descends again and remains on the moon seat at your heart centre.

You can combine this with expelling the stale breath three times, and holding the prāṇa. While holding the prāṇa, keep it sealed for a long time. Consider that as you mentally utter HIK, the prāṇa from the right and left channels emerges from the central channel at the crown of the head as blue smoke just as the bindu touches Amitābha’s big toe. As you mentally utter KA it falls back down and remains in the heart centre. Then send it up again. As you send it up you can hold vajra-fists at the top of the thighs and gather together the prāṇa, mind, and all appearances in the upper part of the body.

If you do not know how to control the prāṇa like this, you should consider that as you utter HIK the bindu shoots up through the central channel and touches the big toe of Buddha Amitābha’s foot. And as you say KA it descends and remains in the heart centre. Visualise this clearly, sending the bindu up and bringing it back down again, about twenty-one times in all.

Then recite the following prayer of aspiration:

Emaho!

Amitābha, magnificent Buddha of Boundless Light,

With the great compassionate lord Avalokiteśvara to his right,

And Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, on his left,

Surrounded by an assembly of countless buddhas and bodhisattvas

In the place of wonder and boundless joy and happiness

That is the heavenly realm of Sukhāvatī, the Blissful Paradise.

When the time comes for me to leave this present life,

May I go there directly, without any other birth upon the way,

And being reborn there, may I see Amitābha face to face!

May this, my fervent prayer of aspiration,

Be blessed by all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions

So that it is accomplished, without the slightest hindrance!

Tadyathā pañcendriya avabodhanāya svāhā.

Consider that making these aspirations causes a stream of deathless amṛta nectar to flow from the alms-bowl in Amitābha’s hands, dissolving into and filling your body.

Then, as a prayer for longevity, recite the following:

Emaho!

To the perfect Buddha Amitāyus,

The Great Compassionate One, Vajrapāṇi, and

All the countless buddhas and bodhisattvas,

With a devoted mind I prostrate and praise you all.

I pray to you: please bestow the siddhi of longevity!

Oṃ amideva āyusiddhi hūṃ

Recite this for a single rosary or as many times as you can.

Consider that the main deity, Amitābha, and his retinue melt into light and then dissolve into you, and your brahma-aperture is blocked by HAṂ and various vajras.

By practising like this in six, four or however many sessions, the signs of having perfected the transference will arise: warmth and heat at the brahma-aperture, or itchiness, stinging, numbness, and swelling; the crown of the head may feel soft and pulpy; and blood or serum may emerge at the brahma-aperture. When such signs appear, carefully examine the spot eight finger-widths behind the hairline. If you insert a stalk of kuśa grass there, it should stay firmly planted.

When this happens, to persist any further could create obstacles for your life-force, so put the visualisation aside. Don’t send the bindu up and down in the central channel, and don’t recite HIK or KA.

There are also some people who do not have a brahma-aperture or cannot locate it, and who may find that they get headaches or become dizzy. In this case, you should visualize Amitābha a forearm’s length above their head, and consider that the bindu, which is combined with the syllable HRĪḤ, ascends into the sky until it touches his lotus seat. Then, having returned, it remains in their heart centre inside the central channel. By meditating like this for a few sessions the brahma-aperture will open, and blood or serum will emerge from it.

This concludes the explanation of how to train in the transference of consciousness.

2. The Actual Application

i. Transference for Oneself

When performing transference for yourself, if all the signs of death are fully present, perform the ritual for deceiving death[10] three times. If even this should prove ineffective however, then it is said [in The Root Verses on the Six Bardos]:

Kyema! Now when the bardo of dying is dawning upon me,

I will abandon all grasping, yearning, and attachment,

Enter, undistracted, a state in which the instructions are clear,

And transfer my own awareness into the sphere of unborn space;

As I am about to leave this compound body of flesh and blood,

I will know it to be a transitory illusion.

As this indicates, you must offer your own body, possessions and relatives as a maṇḍala to Buddha Amitābha. Then, having offered them, let go of all attachment.

As when training in the visualisation for transference, block the nine doors by means of the syllable HRĪḤ, and meditate on the main deity, Amitābha, together with his retinue, in the sky about a forearm’s length above you. Propel your consciousness—represented by the bindu and HRĪḤ—so that it shoots upwards and dissolves into the heart centre of Amitābha. Repeat this visualization again and again until your breathing stops. Recite the prayer and the aspiration for transference as many times as you can. Dharma friends and others too should also recite these on your behalf. Through this, your consciousness will depart at the crown of the head, and it is certain that you will be reborn in Sukhāvatī in your next life.

ii. Transference for Others

When it is certain that a person who was very ill has died and their outer breath has ceased, arrange the corpse so that the head is upright. Then begin by reciting aloud the verses of taking refuge and generating bodhicitta, as well as any buddhas’ names that are familiar. Then, when it is certain that the vital channel has been cut, go through the visualization for the transference in your mind, while reciting the following verses in a gentle and melodious voice:

Kyema! Noble child, whose life has ended,

Your body is that of the yidam, the white sattva,

Inside your body is the central channel, like an arrow of bamboo,

At your heart, imagine a red syllable HRĪḤ,

Complete with long vowel and visarga.

Repeat this, together with the necessary visualizations, seven or twenty-one times. Recite KA and HIK as many times as you can. Then, utter a loud PHAṬ, and pull a single tuft of hair from the crown of the deceased, eight finger-widths back from the hairline. The hair should come out as easily as if it had moulted. There might also be a “Kak!” sound, and the appearance of steam, or swelling, or serum or dew-like moisture. There could also be some gentle warmth or more intense heat. When practising for someone without hair, you should continue to press your finger until you notice some swelling or serum, or the other signs occur.

Consider that rays of light shine out from Amitābha’s heart, so that the whole retinue and the aggregates of the deceased all melt completely into light, which then dissolves into Amitābha’s heart. Then recite the following prayer three, five or seven times:

Emaho! Amitābha, magnificent Buddha of Boundless Light,

Then, in a melodious voice, recite the following verses of showing the way:

Emaho!

With this, consider that Amitābha travels to the realm of Sukhāvatī as swiftly as an arrow in flight. Then recite the verses beginning, “Not experiencing the sufferings of the lower realms…”[11] and “Like a lotus, unsullied by the mire…”

If you can practise the transference for the deceased in this way, without being corrupted by pursuit of personal wealth, and with love and compassion, it will be of unimaginable benefit.

If there are no signs of the transference having been effected, it might mean that the consciousness had already transferred—for it may remain no longer than an instant or the time taken to eat a meal.

If you arrive to perform the transference before the outer breath has ceased, you should perform the mental visualization of sealing the nine gateways and so on, and spend a long time simply reciting the names of the buddhas and prayers of aspiration, without causing consciousness to ascend and so forth. By proceeding in this way, it is certain that the transference will be effected properly.

It is well known that consciousness remains in the body for up to three nights and a day, and it is therefore crucial that transference is performed during this time. Still, as The Book of Kadam[12] explains that it might remain for three to seven days, it is also acceptable to practise the transference up until the seventh day. Those who conduct village rituals also say that it is appropriate to send consciousness from an effigy or name-card, and they have a tradition of summoning consciousness into a corpse after many days have passed, so that it can then be re-transferred from there. Although this is not taught in the tantric scriptures, I do not think there is any real contradiction.

All this has been by way of commentary. Now, as it is extremely beneficial to cite the root text of the Namchö wisdom-mind treasure itself, I shall do so.

Root Text

The stages of the transference:

At my heart I visualize a red syllable HRĪḤ,

Then, the prayer for transference:

Emaho!

The prayer of aspiration was already cited above.

I, Rāgāsya composed this elaborate explanation of the transference of consciousness to Sukhāvatī, having been urged to do so by the words of the nirmāṇakāya [Mingyur Dorje] himself. Whatever contradictions, mistakes, and faults I may have made I hereby confess. Through this virtue may all sentient beings who see or hear this text be reborn in Sukhāvatī!

| Translated by Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Adam Pearcey, 2016.

Bibliography

Tibetan sources

Padma chos rgyal. "gNam chos thugs kyi gter kha las bde chen zhing du 'pho ba'i gdams pa rgyas par bsgrigs pa" In dKar rnying gi skyes chen du ma'i phyag rdzogs kyi gdams ngag gnad bsdus nyer mkho rin po che'i gter mdzod. TBRC W20749. 21: 171 - 202. Darjeeling: Kargyu Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1978-1985.

Secondary sources

Halkias, Georgios, T. "Pure-lands and Other Visions in Seventeenth-Century Tibet: A gNam chos sādhana for the Pure-land Sukhāvatī Revealed in 1658 by gNam chos Mi 'gyur rdo rje (1645–1667)" in Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century, Bryan J. Cuevas and Kurtis R. Schaeffer (eds) Leiden: Brill, 2006, pp. 103–128.

Kapstein, Matthew, T. "Pure Land Buddhism in Tibet? From Sukhāvatī to the Field of Great Bliss" in Richard K. Payne and Kenneth K. Tanaka (eds) Approaching the Land of Bliss: Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitābha. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004, pp. 16–51. (includes a partial translation of this text)

Patrul Rinpoche. The Words of My Perfect Teacher. Translated by Padmakara Translation Group. Boston: Shambhala. 1998.

Skorupski, Tadeusz. "Funeral Rites for Rebirth in the Sukhāvatī Abode" in The Buddhist Forum: Volume VI. Tring: The Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2001, pp. 137–156 (includes a partial translation of this text)

Notes

i.e., Eastern Tibet ↩

The fourth month in the Tibetan calendar. ↩

The thirty-first year in the Tibetan cycle of sixty years. ↩

Catuṣpīṭha. Although the Tibetan translators took the Sanskrit title of this tantra to be a reference to four seats (gdan bzhi), Péter-Dániel Szántó, has noted that the original meaning of pītha(m) in this context is more likely ‘heap’, and by extension ‘collection’, and by extension of that, ‘chapter’, so that a better translation might be The Four Vajra Chapters. See Péter-Dániel Szántó, Selected Chapters from the Catuṣpīṭhatantra: Introductory study with the annotated translation of selected chapters (D.Phil. Thesis), Balliol College, Oxford University, 2012, Part 1, p. 26. ↩

Although some versions of the Tibetan have “mdo las” meaning “from the sūtras”, the texts of the Catuṣpīṭha preserved in the Tibetan canon have the similarly written “mod las” and it is the latter reading which has been followed here. ↩

1) killing one’s father; 2) killing one’s mother; 3) killing an arhat; 4) creating a schism in the sangha; and 5) with a harmful intention, drawing blood from the body of the Tathāgata. ↩

grong du 'jug pa'i 'pho ba (Skt. purapraveśa) literally means 'the transference of entering the city', but 'city' here signifies another's body. ↩

Literally 'by the king'. ↩

Although the Tibetan of Karma Chakme's text has skol, the original text of Nāropa’s Vajra Verses reads dga’ in all available versions and the translation has been made accordingly. ↩

phru ma phus btab pa. Literally ‘like an inflated bladder’. ↩

i.e., Bodhicaryāvatāra, X, 47. ↩

bka' gdams glegs bam. See The Book of Kadam: The Core Texts, translated by Thupten Jinpa, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008, p. 248. ↩

#wisdomfromthemahasiddhas #wisdom #spirituality #mindfulness #meditation #religion #buddhism #self care #zen #visualization #tibet

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flamesofthebodhisattva · 3 years ago

Text

Phowa Commentary

Commentary on Transference of Consciousness

Practices › Transference | Tibetan Masters › Karma Chakme

Buddha Amitābha, 'Boundless Light'

Courtesy of Himalayan Art Resources

Extensive Instructions on the Transference of Consciousness to the Land of Great Bliss

From the Namchö Wisdom-Mind Treasure

by Karma Chakme, aka Rāga Asya

Guru Deva Ḍākinī Hūṃ!

All of this is reminiscent of the following statement from the Bodhisattva Piṭaka:

I, the Lotus-born, and those like me Have, for the sake of lazy yogis, Revealed the instruction on transference.

As for the benefits of the skilful means of the transference of consciousness, it is said in The Four Vajra Seats:[4]

Completely untainted by evil deeds, You will cross to saṃsāra’s supreme and distant shore.

And:

This opening of brahma above Is directly[5] explained as “transference.” Emao! It is the path of the supreme teaching. Emao! It cuts through saṃsāra. Emao! It remains in the state of freedom. Emao! Primordial wisdom is amazing!

Also:

One stained by every fault Is freed through the practice of transference.

The Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna also said:

Through transference at the proper time, Even perpetrators of the five deeds of immediate fruition[6] Will gain rebirth in the higher realms or liberation.

Therefore, the benefits are extremely great. It is also said:

Moreover, there are several types of transference, including:

dharmakāya transference,

sambhogakāya transference,

nirmāṇakāya transference,

ordinary transference,

forceful transference, and

the transference of entering another body.[7]

Dharmakāya Transference

Sambhogakāya Transference

This is the form of transference to be explained here on this occasion.

Nirmāṇakāya Transference

Forceful Transference

When the time is right, perform the transference, But to do so at other times would be deity murder.

It is also said in the verses of an authentic scripture in the chapter on transference:

To transfer at the wrong time is to kill the deities. As long as you are alive, practise Dharma, And for that long the flow of virtue will increase.

Similarly, the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said:

Transference of Entering Another Body

Ordinary Transference

Furthermore, the vajra song that encapsulates the six dharmas says:

Eight doorways open on to saṃsāra, One door is the path to Mahāmudrā.

The Profound Inner Meaning, which draws upon several classes of unsurpassable tantras, also teaches:

Then, if the all-ground consciousness departs From the brahma-aperture this means the formless realm; From the bindu, the great goddess; From the navel, a god of the desire realm; From the eyes, a powerful person in the desire realm; From the nose, the realms of the yakṣa; From the ear, a god of accomplishment; From the door of existence, a hungry ghost, it is said; From the urethra, we will become an animal; From the lower door, the eight hells.

When the signs of death arise, be joyful,[9] and cast away attachment. Block the nine doors, apply substances and adorn with aspiration.

Although there exist these two traditions of explanation, the Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna also said:

Now, as for the actual instruction for the transference of consciousness, The Four Vajra Seats Tantra says:

That to be purified, the one and a half syllables. Drawn up with the third to the last of eight. This seed, a fierce fire, Rests on a maṇḍala of wind. Focus on this with the mind. Above, the brahma-aperture Is supreme on account of the nine. Without a body, the entity that is mind’s essence Meditates on entities.

The Vajra Verses of the Hearing Lineage says:

The alchemy of transference, which brings Buddhahood without meditation… …Draw HŪṂ and prāṇa-mind indivisible up into the central channel (avadhūti). Visualise the syllable KṢA and propel it through the path of brahma. Transferring it to the dharmakāya-guru and buddha-realm.

The Precious Master of Oḍḍiyāna said:

Should you fail to accomplish nirvāṇa without remainder in this life, Since you wish to find the celestial lands at the time of transference Apply yourself to the necessary trainings and actions!

And:

What follows is in two parts: 1) training in transference, and 2) the actual application.

1. Training in Transference

In order to request the teaching on the visualisations for training in transference, it is necessary to offer the maṇḍala. For this, repeat the following:

Having transformed this maṇḍala of bronze into precious substances, And these grains of barley too into gold and turquoise, I offer them with devotion to the one nirmāṇakāya, the compassionate guru: Look on me with your compassion!

Then, for taking refuge and generating bodhicitta, repeat the following three times:

Namo! In the three jewels and the three roots, In all the sources of refuge, I take refuge. In order to lead all beings to buddhahood I set my mind upon supreme awakening.

Above the crown of your head, On top of a lion-throne, lotus, and moon-disc seat, Is the protector Amitābha, his body red in colour. With one face, and two hands in the gesture of equanimity, On top of which he holds an alms-bowl; he wears the dharma robes; He is seated with his two legs in the posture of Maitreya, And his two big toes At the upper tip of the central channel. To his right is Lokeśvara, Lord of the World, white in colour, With one face and four hands: two joined at the palms, And the remaining two, to the right and left, holding a rosary and lotus. He is in the standing posture, upon a lotus and moon. To his left is Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might (i.e., Mahāsthāmaprāpta). He has one face, two hands and is blue in colour. He holds a vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left. He is in the standing posture, upon a lotus and moon. They are surrounded by countless buddhas, bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats. Light shines out from the three seed-syllables At the three centres of each of the three main figures, Inviting the deities from Sukhāvatī to merge indivisibly.

Then, there is the prayer for transference:

Emaho! Exceedingly wondrous protector, Amitābha, Great Compassionate One, and Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, With a one-pointed mind, I pray to you: Grant your blessings so that I may master the profound path of the transference. When the time of death eventually arrives, Grant your blessings so that my consciousnesses may be transferred to Sukhāvatī.

Pray like this as much as possible, and then consider the following.

Then recite the following prayer of aspiration:

Emaho! Amitābha, magnificent Buddha of Boundless Light, With the great compassionate lord Avalokiteśvara to his right, And Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, on his left, Surrounded by an assembly of countless buddhas and bodhisattvas In the place of wonder and boundless joy and happiness That is the heavenly realm of Sukhāvatī, the Blissful Paradise. When the time comes for me to leave this present life, May I go there directly, without any other birth upon the way, And being reborn there, may I see Amitābha face to face! May this, my fervent prayer of aspiration, Be blessed by all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions So that it is accomplished, without the slightest hindrance! Tadyathā pañcendriya avabodhanāya svāhā.

Consider that making these aspirations causes a stream of deathless amṛta nectar to flow from the alms-bowl in Amitābha’s hands, dissolving into and filling your body.

Then, as a prayer for longevity, recite the following:

Emaho! To the perfect Buddha Amitāyus, The Great Compassionate One, Vajrapāṇi, and All the countless buddhas and bodhisattvas, With a devoted mind I prostrate and praise you all. I pray to you: please bestow the siddhi of longevity! Oṃ amideva āyusiddhi hūṃ

Recite this for a single rosary or as many times as you can.

Consider that the main deity, Amitābha, and his retinue melt into light and then dissolve into you, and your brahma-aperture is blocked by HAṂ and various vajras.

This concludes the explanation of how to train in the transference of consciousness.

2. The Actual Application

i. Transference for Oneself

Kyema! Now when the bardo of dying is dawning upon me, I will abandon all grasping, yearning, and attachment, Enter, undistracted, a state in which the instructions are clear, And transfer my own awareness into the sphere of unborn space; As I am about to leave this compound body of flesh and blood, I will know it to be a transitory illusion.

As this indicates, you must offer your own body, possessions and relatives as a maṇḍala to Buddha Amitābha. Then, having offered them, let go of all attachment.

ii. Transference for Others

Kyema! Noble child, whose life has ended, Your body is that of the yidam, the white sattva, Inside your body is the central channel, like an arrow of bamboo, At your heart, imagine a red syllable HRĪḤ, Complete with long vowel and visarga. Then, as six further HRĪḤ syllables emerge, They seal the gateways to rebirth in the six classes, While the brahma-aperture at your crown is open. Above your crown, on a lotus and moon-disc seat, Is the protector Amitābha, his body red in colour, With one face, and two hands in the gesture of equanimity, On top of which he holds an alms-bowl; he wears the dharma robes, And is seated in a cross-legged posture. To his right is Lokeśvara, Lord of the World, white in colour, With one face and four arms: two joined at the palms, And the remaining two, to the left and right, holding a rosary and lotus. He is in the standing posture, upon a lotus and moon disc. To his left is Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might. He has one face, two hands and is blue in colour. He holds a vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left. He is in the standing posture upon a lotus and moon. They are surrounded by countless buddhas, bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats. Light radiates out from the three seed-syllables At the three centres of each of the three main figures, Inviting the deities from Sukhāvatī to merge indivisibly. Then visualize that this consciousness of yours, In the form of a white bindu marked with the syllable HRĪḤ, Is transferred into the heart of Amitābha. Emaho! Exceedingly wondrous protector Amitābha, Great Compassionate One, and Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, This departed one prays to you with one-pointed mind: Grant your blessings so that their consciousness may be transferred to the land of great bliss!

Emaho! Amitābha, magnificent Buddha of Boundless Light, With the great compassionate lord Avalokiteśvara to his right, And Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, on his left, Surrounded by an assembly of countless buddhas and bodhisattvas In the place of wonder and boundless joy and happiness That is the heavenly realm of Sukhāvatī, the Blissful Paradise. As soon as the deceased transfers from the present life, May they go there directly, without any other birth upon the way, And being reborn there, may they see Amitābha face to face! May this, my fervent prayer of aspiration, Be blessed by all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions So that it is accomplished, without the slightest hindrance! Tadyathā pañcendriya avabodhanāya svāhā

Then, in a melodious voice, recite the following verses of showing the way:

Emaho! Exceedingly wondrous protector Amitābha, Great Compassionate One, and Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, This departed one prays to you with one-pointed mind: Grant your blessings so that their consciousness may be transferred to the land of great bliss! Kyema! Noble child, whose life has ended, Without becoming attached to saṃsāra, And without even the slightest doubt or hesitation, Go directly to the land of great bliss! Phaṭ! Phaṭ! Phaṭ!

If you can practise the transference for the deceased in this way, without being corrupted by pursuit of personal wealth, and with love and compassion, it will be of unimaginable benefit.

All this has been by way of commentary. Now, as it is extremely beneficial to cite the root text of the Namchö wisdom-mind treasure itself, I shall do so.

Root Text

The stages of the transference:

At my heart I visualize a red syllable HRĪḤ, Complete with the long vowel sign and visarga. From this there emerge six further HRĪḤs, To seal the gateways to rebirth in the six classes, Leaving the brahma-aperture open at my crown. Then, at my crown is Amitābha, ‘Boundless Light’, I visualize him and the two attendants as described above. Then my own consciousness appears As a white bindu marked with a syllable HRĪḤ, Which, I consider, transfers into Amitābha’s heart. Without even the slightest doubt or hesitation, I pray that I may be reborn in the land of great bliss. Samaya. Gya. Gya. Gya.

Then, the prayer for transference:

Emaho! Exceedingly wondrous protector Amitābha, Great Compassionate One, and Vajrapāṇi, the one of great power and might, With one-pointed mind, I pray to you: Grant your blessings so that my consciousness may be transferred to the land of great bliss! Samaya. Gya. Gya. Gya.

The prayer of aspiration was already cited above.

| Translated by Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Adam Pearcey, 2016.

Bibliography

Tibetan sources

Secondary sources

Patrul Rinpoche. The Words of My Perfect Teacher. Translated by Padmakara Translation Group. Boston: Shambhala. 1998.

Notes

i.e., Eastern Tibet ↩

The fourth month in the Tibetan calendar. ↩

The thirty-first year in the Tibetan cycle of sixty years. ↩

1) killing one’s father; 2) killing one’s mother; 3) killing an arhat; 4) creating a schism in the sangha; and 5) with a harmful intention, drawing blood from the body of the Tathāgata. ↩

grong du 'jug pa'i 'pho ba (Skt. purapraveśa) literally means 'the transference of entering the city', but 'city' here signifies another's body. ↩

Literally 'by the king'. ↩

Although the Tibetan of Karma Chakme's text has skol, the original text of Nāropa’s Vajra Verses reads dga’ in all available versions and the translation has been made accordingly. ↩

phru ma phus btab pa. Literally ‘like an inflated bladder’. ↩

i.e., Bodhicaryāvatāra, X, 47. ↩

bka' gdams glegs bam. See The Book of Kadam: The Core Texts, translated by Thupten Jinpa, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008, p. 248. ↩

#wisdomfromthemahasiddhas

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aethelflaedladyofmercia · 4 years ago

Text

The Long Walk

(We have a lot to celebrate this month: 30 years from the publication of Good Omens, one year since the series came out. I, myself, have some big milestones: 666 followers, 200k+ on AO3, and 30 fics posted! And I’m about to hit 4,000 Tumblr posts. Naturally, I choose to celebrate with something VERY melancholy

(This fic was inspired by my prompt for @itsthearoway - milestones of Crowley and Aziraphale through history - but was written right after I went into self-isolation. It’s a bit of a reflection on death, life, and hope. I’m not tagging it for death because technically there are no on-screen deaths, but if you are avoiding fic that make you think about mortality DO NOT READ THIS. It’s hopeful, but also very angst.

(Thank you all! I’m working on a longer light-hearted fic about the early days of the arrangement for @itsthearoway that I hope to have the first chapter ready for in a couple of days. Here’s to another 200k!)

The Long Walk - A short saga of the world, two observers, and the question: what is it all for? (1697 words)

Also on AO3

The sands stretch away from the Walls of Eden, eternally in either direction. Endless empty wasteland. Unrelenting heat fills the air, beaming down from the sun, up from the dunes. The kind of heat that nothing can live in.

Through the endless empty wasteland walk an angel and a demon, side-by-side.

“Seems an awful waste,” says the demon. “Build a whole world with nothing in it. If the Almighty is so powerful, why not make everywhere like Eden?”

“Eden was special,” says the angel, sadly. He hasn’t been cast out, not in the way the humans and the demon have. But the Garden’s time is over, and he can move on, or fade with it. “Eden was perfect.”

“Yeah, a perfect prison.” The demon rolls his eyes. “Too perfect for the likes of me.”

“No, not perfect like that. Perfectly balanced.” The angel holds out a hand, tipping it side to side. “The weather, the animals, all life, everything hung perfectly from the slightest thread. The was no…no room for deviation, you might say. No room for evil, yes, but also for good. For knowledge. For choice or free will. Once the humans had that, they had to leave. Even if they stayed, it all would have fallen apart.”

The demon considers as they walked. “That’s your ‘ineffable’ explanation?”

A shrug. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Not really.” The demon looks at their surroundings. “And it still seems an awful waste. Sending the humans out here to die.”

“Oh, I don’t think it will come to that. They may yet find something outside the Garden. Look.”

Ahead of them, a shape bursts from the shade of a dune, a small lizard, mottled brown, running for all it's worth to cower in the next shadow. “There’s still life,” says the angel. “Still a chance.”

A thousand years.

Frozen winters.

Drought-filled summers.

A Flood covers the land, and recedes.

Through lands scoured clear of any trace of life walk an angel and a demon, side-by-side.

“Not much of a chance, if our sides keep interfering,” the demon says, watching the brown river rush past between barren banks.

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” the angel chides.

A snort. “You’d say the same if it were my side that did this.” Silence, apart from footfalls in the mud. “Well, go on. Tell me it’s all part of the Plan. I can practically hear you thinking it.”

“Well it is. I might not understand it, but it must be.”

“Some Plan. A thousand years of struggle and toil, for what? Just to be destroyed like that.”

“Nonsense.” The angel points overhead at a flitting dove. The first bird either of them has seen since the rains began. “It isn’t over yet. And we can’t know until it’s over.”

Two thousand more years.

Cities rise.

Cities fall.

Sodom.

Thera.

Troy.

They walk together through the empty streets of what had once been the world’s greatest city, past shattered walls and burned out homes and the remains of a wooden horse.

“They’ve learned from you,” the angel says, an edge of bitterness.

“They’ve learned from us,” the demon corrects, but without rancor.

The angel pauses to study the remains of a temple, altar within shattered, blood spattered across the floor from more than sacrificial animals. “Either way, they surpassed their teachers.”

“They did.” In the distance, past once-impregnable gates that will never close again, high-masted ships depart. Not the attackers, returning victorious to kingdoms that have been destroyed in other ways; these are the survivors, in search of a new home. “Do you suppose they’ll do any better the next time?”

“We must hope,” said the angel, looking where white flowers grow through the cracks in the path. “We must always hope.”

Phoenicia.

Persia.

Carthage.

Rome.

Empires grow.

Empires topple.

They walk, tracing the path of an aqueduct, still valiantly carrying water to an empty city, miles away.

“You know, I really thought they had something this time,” sighs the angel, watching the rodents burrow beneath the monumental stones.

The demon tosses his head, looking at the endless span of arch on arch, crossing a continent. “They did.”

“Next time,” the angel says, with confidence he doesn’t feel. “Next time they’ll get it right.”

“They will. For a time.”

“Oh, there is no need for you to be…pessimistic,” the angel snaps.

“It’s not pessimism, it’s – oh, never mind.” The demon saunters a little faster. “I think I see a village up ahead. Probably have something to drink there.”

Wars rage, brought by raiders or kings or desperate humans.

Famine crawls from town to town, spurred on by locusts, by ice storms, by greed.

Pestilence crosses the world again and again.

Death. Death. Death.

An angel kneels in the street, holding a human’s hand. The human isn’t moving.

A demon materializes from the shadows behind him. “Give it a rest. You can’t do anything for him now.”

“I know.” He stands up. “But I had to try.”

All around them, the city stands silent. Not empty. Humans locked in their homes, afraid to go out, afraid to be too close, afraid the plague may catch them, too.

“He should have fled,” the angel says sadly. “Left the city while he still had a chance.”

“Not everyone can run,” the demon points out.

“I know.” After a time, he walks again, the demon beside him. Past empty fountains, abandoned marketplaces, homes boarded shut. “The city has changed so much. Do you remember that lovely restaurant we used to visit?”

“Burned down. Almost a thousand years ago.” The demon shrugs. “Vandals. Or Goths, maybe.”

“Ah. Pity.”

From a nearby alley, the stench of death. The demon tries to look away, only to find himself meeting the angel’s eyes.

“You won’t find anyone in there.”

“I know. But I have to try.”

The demon sighs, but follows him in. “I hate this century.”

“You always say that, dear.”

New continents.

New art styles.

New wars.

New technologies.

Until one afternoon the world ends – and is made anew.

And only one small group of humans will ever know – and an angel and a demon, stepping off a bus together at three in the morning. The city isn’t empty, merely asleep.

Not ready to go inside just yet, they walk around the block, listening to foxes rummage through rubbish bins, watching lights flick on, here and there, where another insomniac has risen from bed.

“What do you suppose comes next?” the angel wonders, when the silence becomes too much. “For the humans.”

“Dunno.” The demon tosses his head, hands stuck in his pockets. “More of the same, I would guess. Life, death, love, hate, good, bad. Human stuff.”

“But something has to change,” the angel insists. “The world nearly ended for…for Heaven’s sake,” he finishes, voice full of irony. “But if it was the Plan, it must mean something. What’s it all leading to?”

“We might find out. Depends what comes next. For us.”

“Ah.” The angel slows. Stops. “Do you…do you suppose they’re very angry?”

The demon turns to face him with a snort. “What do you think?”

“I think…I think…” His hands straighten his waistcoat, smooth his tie. “I think that whatever comes next, however much time we have…I should like to carry on as we always have.” His tone is light, his eyes searching.

A slow nod. “Yeah.” The demon reaches out, gently squeezes the angel’s shoulder. “Yeah. Me too.”

When they start walking again it is, as always, side-by-side.

“And, you know, I would like to see how it all turns out.”

“You and me both, Angel.”

More time passes.

The world grows old. Ancient.

Another war. The Really Big One. Bigger than any seen on Earth or in Heaven.

Everybody fights.

Everybody loses.

When it is over – when all things are over – there is nothing left.

No world, no Paradise, no eternal torment. No Hosts of Heaven, no Legions of Hell.

No humans, no Satan, no God.

Just an endless, eternal expanse of nothing and, somewhere in the featureless plane, an angel in white, kneeling, alone.

Slowly, the darkness around him resolves into another shape. The demon steps forward, fighting back a smile. “There you are. You survived.” As if he hasn’t been frantically searching. “Thought as much. You’re very hard to kill.”

The angel doesn’t respond.

“It sure was a mess, though, wasn’t it?” The demon shakes his head ruefully. “Should have expected it, really, but right at the end when –”

“I was wrong.” The angel hasn’t moved, eyes still locked on the endless Nothing. “Thousands of years, millions of sunrises, and for what? There was never any point.”

“No, Angel.” The demon kneels beside him, rests a hand on his shoulder. “I mean, yeah, you were wrong. Because the ending was never the point. It was the journey – all those millions of days, filled with love and hate and smiling children and fighting with friends and favorite foods and annoying songs and struggles and choices and…and life. Everything they never would have had if they’d stayed in the Garden. That was the point. That was always the point.”

“Perhaps,” the angel tries to smile. “It was lovely, wasn’t it? While it lasted?”

“Yeah. It really was.” The demon helps him to his feet. “And, you know, it’s not completely gone.”

He waves a hand, long fingers trailing through the void as they had at the beginning of time, helping to shape the stars. He gathers together every atom, every wisp of matter, closer, closer, into a ball. The angel presses his hands into it, and together they compress it, tighter, denser, until –

A spark. From neither. From both.

BANG.

The void fills once more.

With chaos.

With potential.

With light.

The demon looks around, nodding with approval. “What do you think, Angel? Time for another walk?”

He gazes out at the disks of galaxies forming in the expanding cloud of debris. “Do you…do you think things will be different this time?”

A shrug. “Only one way to find out.”

Through the glowing crucible of a newborn universe walk an angel and a demon, side-by-side.

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scotiaeire · 4 years ago

Text

We were all heathens once...

An article on ritual sacrifice and eating of dogs got me thinking. I do that sometimes. Think. Doesn’t always work out well but, meh. Old age allows for some meandering and blethering.

Besides. It’s my blog. I can say what I like, so...

Y’know, christianity is an incredibly young belief system. And for Europeans, it doesn’t actually belong to us. Since I’m not wasting time on a potted history of a belief system I was never raised in nor am particularly interested in, just know that. It doesn’t belong to, stem from, or align with, Europe. Even though they did manage to force a square peg into a round hole...

There was a time the whole global population was pagan in one form or another and in the timespan of human history, that wasn’t so long ago, yet it *was* a very long time that we were just that..all pagans.

To identify myself if folks ask, I call myself “heathen”, a word that simply once meant “heath dweller”. Now it’s come to mean Scandinavian or Norse paganism. (unless you’re christian, in which case for you it means anyone not christian).

Other folks call themselves “pagan”. *shrug* Same diff. It means we’re attempting to live according to the belief systems of our ancestors, and having to (and in most cases struggling to) adapt their methods of ritual and lifestyle and mindsets for the world we live in today.

It shouldn’t be so hard tbh. Just “pretend” christianity never happened. Most of Europe would still be heathen. It would have evolved over time, with each passing generation and technological advancement, because of course nothing remains static, or it dies.

I’m not going to say I can tell you what the world would be like had the religions stemming from the Middle East not overrun the Western world. Sweden was the last European nation, if I remember rightly, to be forcibly converted to christianity, and still there are pockets of heathenism within the country that have never taken to the conquering faith.

In other nations, such as my own Scotland, a strange amalgamation of traditional Celtic paganism absorbed the church teachings and just got on with it. Thus, the goddess Bride became Saint Brigit, etc, and if you want a prime example of how all that works, take a read at the Carmina Gadelica and other literary collections of folklore up to and including the traditional songs of the Highlanders.

But I was never christian. I was born into a heathen family. It wasn’t a bed of roses. I had the bullying (which included a teacher spitting at me as she walked past) after my parents raged at the headmaster that in no manner was I to be included in morning prayer, lunch grace or assembly prayers.

At the time, it just embarrassed me and made of me an outcast. I hated it. As I grew and found my own heathen path, I was grateful. I see quite a few ex christians struggle with feelings of guilt for “leaving the faith behind” (hint: it was never *your* faith. It’s a foreign one, if you are European or Scots, English, Welsh or Irish) or who can’t quite shake the “sin” shit that was drummed into them.

I see others who, having no roots in heathenry or their native paganism, struggle to find out what they can learn from.

I’m not here to give advice but I’d advise going back to history books, removing the jaundiced eye of any christian authors from the facts if you can, and take it from there. Also, archaeology is your friend here. Folks and fairy tales. Sagas, Eddas, Old Irish Tales. Ancient songs that are traditional to your country. It’s a start. (So aye, I did give advice. Sorry. Ye can take it or leave it, no skin off my nose)

We can’t (sadly) live the lives of our ancestors because, frankly, the powers that be won’t let us. Whereas once, animals would be ritually sacrificed then feasted upon at certain times of year, now the animal cruelty folks’d be visiting your door and you’d be fined or arrested. (Another hint: you get round that by raising meat livestock. Vegetarian heathens, I have no advice for ye’s sorry. Heathenism is an animistic path that doesn’t preclude the consuming of sacred animals. And if you’re actively looking to your ancestors for inspiration, this *is* the type of thing they practiced)

We can’t go to war on our enemies, because governments got the Sole Right to do that, without us having an actual say in who our enemies really are.

Who, today, can *truly* erect a Nidthing Pole (curse pole) on the perimeter of your enemies property without being, again, arrested. Note also the interference of the State in just how pagan or heathen you can actually *be*....

So heathenry has to adapt and change to fit with how we are *allowed* to live these days. And therein lies the shame..the majority allow the minority to dictate how we can live, worship, and be spiritual.

So we do what we can. In quite a few countries, proclaiming yourself as heathen can be actually dangerous. So you keep on the down-low and keep your head down about it and practice quietly, or in secret.

Other places are more tolerant but I have noticed that even though they are “on the outside”, the reality is that if you are openly heathen you will often encounter a backlash from christians or other faiths not pagan on more than one occasion.

And you’ll undoubtedly be painted as some kind of demon/devil/evil person. And it takes some kind of courage to stand against that, to tell people without it disintegrating into a pub brawl, that you’ve the fucking *right* to be who you are when it comes to your faith, and if that means following the faith of your ancestors, nobody has the right to prevent it.

Just, y’know, when you are following the faith of your ancestors, do them justice, eh? Make them proud of you. Let them see that you’re not defaming their ways.

Despite how my posts might appear, I’m a “live and let live” woman. You leave me be, and I’ll do the same for you.

My own personal mindset is that I don’t “do” eclecticism, simply because I feel it’s a bit of an insult if I’d been, say, performing rites to Thor then throwing in a bit of Dianic witchery (Italian) or the like. “Hello Thor, Big Fella. Meet Diana”. Nah. Not gonna work out there...

I’m no purist either though. If christianity hadn’t been forced on some of our ancestors, heathenry would have adapted, evolved and changed over time. But the *roots* of it would have remained. The pantheons would have been unlikely to have meshed with other pantheons, as did the Celtic and Roman deities in some parts of the British Isles. Chiefly, England.

The practices though, would have changed and so we shouldn’t feel downhearted when the State states (sorry) ye can’t go out and blood eagle your worst enemy or shove that Nidthing Pole up in your annoying neighbour’s back garden. If it’s hexery you’re into there are much more subtle ways, if you’re a woman. If you’re a heathen man, you might want to employ a woman to do the job for ye. Ergi, and all that...

Because times have changed we can sometimes feel adrift, not knowing quite how to *be* heathen in a modern world that increasingly shrinks our freedoms to even live.

But there are ways. The article I shared previously to this post spoke of sacrifice. In pre christian, pre nanny State days, sacrifices were serious matters and serious events. They *meant* something of note.

I have to be honest here, “sacrificing” a bowl of fruit or a bunch of flowers isn’t quite the same. Ye can say what you think about that but it’s not.

Because if you need to sacrifice anything to get a god’s attention, if you’re desperate (been there, done that) then what you give *has* to have meaning, *has* to be hard to give, and *has* to be worthy of that god. Or it means nothing.

No, I’m not advocating animal or human sacrifice. But if the thing you give has little meaning to you (and don’t tell me a bowl of fruit or bunch of flowers means the world to you...) then why should a god listen to you?

Anyway...heathenry was more than the rituals of sacrifice, hexing your enemies and going to war. In domestic life little daily rituals kept the household running smoothly. When the partner of a woman left on a journey, for example, she’d sew charms into his clothing for protection and safe return. The hearth of a home..the firepit or fireplace..has a wealth of rituals surrounding it, probably the most prolific of the domestic magics, perhaps apart from spinning and weaving. Charms to keep your children safe, spells to help older folks thrive, all were taken care of in fine heathen fashion.

So if nothing else, that, at least, we can return to.

#Heathen #heathenry #heathenism #meandering thoughts on paganism #ancestors #European paganism #Norse heathenism

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illusion-reality-steve · 4 years ago

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Reaction to the episodes that BLUE up the shipping wars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv1slKoQAhY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5fqjVeKU0c

I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE A LEGIT BLUE STEVE. I AM SHAKING

Orange: RUF RUF

Sabre: OMG. THE CRYSTAL IS GONE

Me: Wow. Wooooow...10/10 Beautiful

******

Nightmare Steve is snatching these crystals Thanos-style. I wonder if the orange crystal will make him able to resist the Darkness more so he can consume more. Will that even work for a Yellow Steve? *gasp* What if he turns an Orange Steve evil? :0

Orange: *hints that he knows more about the Orange Crystal than he knows* Me: *suspicious*

******

These parallels to current times are honestly next level. Like,

Sabre: I thought you had the Rainbow Hub on lockdown, Orange Steve! Why are people just freely travelling to the Rainbow Hub!

It’s hilarious and it also hurts.

******

Yeeeessss. THAT BLUE STEVE SKIN LOOKS AMAZING. JUST. *chef kiss* MMMMMMM.

******

Sabre: O-Orange Steve, is it just me, or is that Blue Steve vibrant? Look at the light bouncing off of him!! The shippers: WRITE THAT DOWN. WRITE THAT DOWN. SABRE IS GETTING A BIT NERVOUS WHEN SEEING BLUEE STEVE. HE HAS A CRUSH.

Then there’s me, who just thinks Sabre just revealed what he finds aesthetically pleasing.

******

So...Blue Steve’s specialty is seeing everything.

*cue flashback of all the crap Blue Steve from Steve Saga Origins went through*

...fitting.

Also...if Blue Steve is spirit...would the Guardian of the Spirit World even be needed in Rainbow Quest’s universe?

******

...

Did Sabre just

TELL ORANGE STEVE THAT HE’S GORGEOUS

I’m.

I’M

*my mind just broke*

WHAT

THIS WAS SO OUT OF THE BLUE (lol pun) THAT EVEN THOUGH I SHIP ORANGE CHICKEN, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY

LIKE, WAS THAT A LEGIT FLIRT?!?!

OR DID SABRE JUST TELL ORANGE THAT HE’S GORGEOUS FOR THE SAKE OF SAYING HE’S GORGEOUS. Because a guy can call another guy that he’s gorgeous without it being romantic! Is that what Sabre means?!

******

Anyways.

YOOOO, THIS YELLOW LIGHT PLATFORM IS BAAAAACK.

Aaaand.

IT’S MY BOI. MY RAINBOW SON. AAAAAAHHHH.

Blue Steve: *is associated with spirit. And spirit = projections, or characters that aren’t real* Illusion: *a person who creates illusions and really wanted to get control of the Spirit World* Illusion: *looks at the camera like he’s on the office*

******

I’m so excited to learn about this loooore.

And the Darkness attempting to wipe out the Red Steves is a harsh parallel in our history. When conquerors take over other civilizations, they kill the teachers or the ones who hold the knowledge first.

Ooooof,

F for Rainbow Steve.

Dang, that’s harsh and deep. It’s good lore though.

It seems like the theme of Rainbow Quest is “saving yourself vs saving your community vs saving everyone.” I really like that theme and I would love to see Sabre explore it more. What role does Sabre’s character play in that theme? He’s interesting because he has no community and this isn’t his world, but he’s still trying to save everyone while the actual inhabitants of that world need convincing to save their world. RQ!Sabre’s a good person.

Though I wish the Blue Steve explained what powers Rainbow Steve had. And the personality he had. I feel like if Blue Steve showed past Rainbow Steve being a good boi, I would feel more sad when we learn that he was taken apart.

******

ANYWAYS

For the record,

I don’t think Sabre telling Orange Steve that he’s gorgeous was meant to be romantic. I think he was going like “bro, you look beautiful. No romo. Just wanted to say that in case you needed to hear it today. Be confident, bro.” So I don’t see it as shipping fuel, even though I ship Orange Chicken.

That said.

To all the people who now ship Orange Chicken because of that line.

Just know.

That I shipped Orange Chicken before it was cool >:0

#rainbow quest #rainbow steve #favremysabre #orange steve #reaction

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ask-de-writer · 4 years ago

Text

WARRIOR CLAN : 1 part : Science Fiction in the Lezon saga.

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Science Fiction

WARRIOR CLAN

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

4874 words

writing begun 2004

//////////////

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Dramatis Personae:

Lezon Treh K’lass: Long time slave of Clan D’ancer. During the events of Lezon found to be the long missing M'cratt War Leader.

T’cass: one surviving sister wife of the Clan D’ancer triad. Injured as a result of happenings in Lezon

K’ress: the second surviving sister wife of the Clan D'ancer triad.

T’lass: youngest kit of Clan D’ancer.

K’sere: middle kit of Clan D’ancer.

T’cill: oldest kit of Clan D’ancer.

//////////////

Lezon sat alone in the control compartment of the small Clan starship, D’ancer. The tachyonic screens showed a rich system falling astern. M’rel was back there, murdered by a M’cratt Talon carrier, the Hand of Claws. All that the Talons’ disruptors had left of M’rel’s unarmed lighter was a cloud of vapor.

They had lost their other lighter to those same Talons but T’cass had successfully put down on the second planet before her lighter was hit and managed to escape the fate of her ship. Unfortunately the planet was a rocky giant and far too close to its blue giant star for long term safety.

Before the attack on M’rel made it necessary for Lezon to reveal her identity to the other members of the Clan, only T’cass knew that Lezon was the nearly legendary M’cratt War Leader, Lezon Treh K’lass, believed to have been lost from an assassination attempt in the battle at M’onafar. The regeneration of the nearly dead Lezon had produced a nearly impenetrable disguise.

In the engagement that followed the M’cratt attacks on their lighters, they were far out gunned. Lezon had succeeded in damaging the Talon carrier enough to make a running battle of it by hitting one of its returning Talons just at the big ship’s shield boundary.

Even in ships that outpace light itself, stars remain immense distances and long travel times apart. The running battle covered several light years. Lezon’s legendary cunning in combat finally succeeded in destroying the Hand of Claws along with an entire triple sun system. It took eight months to return for T’cass.

Now, two months after being picked up, T’cass was still in the MediBed. The reports from that expensive piece of hardware were encouraging. T’cass’ joints and back were regenerating nicely from her eight months in the crushing gravity of the planet where she was marooned.

Speaking of the rest of Clan D’ancer, Lezon keyed the in-ship screens and saw that the D’ancer Clan’s three kits were in the fabrication shop learning metal smithing and machine work along with an obvious lesson in composite plastics. K’ress, one of the kit’s two surviving biological mothers, was teaching the lesson. Lezon appreciated that. Mostly, teaching the kits what they needed to know was Lezon’s job. K’ress had taken up much of the work of the Clan’s slave. With one of the clan’s Triad in sickbay and the other dead, the D’ancer was seriously understaffed.

Lezon consulted her schedule and signaled to K’ress. “It is time for the kits to study their history lessons. Pick up with the treaty of 0947 Treaty Commission Standard. I’ll be down to take the lesson shortly.”

There were predictable cries of, “History! That’s dull!” and, “We want to stay in the shop!”

K’ress looked at the comm panel and echoed the kits. “Look, Lezon! They’ve almost got this pattern welded steel right, see?” She held a blank for a blade to the panel for Lezon to inspect. It wasn’t finished yet but a quick acid wipe brought out the pattern of stars worked into the swirls of the multitude of thin layers of forge welded steel that made up the blade.

With honest admiration, Lezon said, “You’re teaching them very well, K’ress. I could not do better. Another hour, then. It will have to be made up, though.”

K’sere looked up from her screen of history lessons and saw Lezon lounged carelessly by her own console, working on some sort of mathematical problem. K’sere knew that appearances were deceiving. Lezon was working on her problem, no doubt, but she was also alert to everything happening aboard the D’ancer. A little screen split showed the ship condition at all times and, K’sere was aware, Lezon had already noticed that she was looking away from her screen.

She asked cautiously, “Lezon, why do the M’cratt always break their treaties?”

That brought an instant reaction from her M’cratt teacher. Lezon locked her green eyes on K’sere and her pupils narrowed to almost invisible vertical slits. In a totally level tone she stated, “I was not aware that the M’cratt have ever broken a single treaty. Please support your assertion. Snack points if you can.”

Having known her teacher all of her life, K’sere was suddenly far less sure of herself. She forged ahead, now certain that some sort of unexpected thing lurked in what seemed so obvious to her. Where Lezon was involved, the unforeseen was the norm.

“Right here, it says that the M’cratt signed a peace treaty after the War of T.C. 0947 and then made the opening attack of the next war in T.C. 0986.”

Lezon nodded briskly in agreement. The other two kits of Clan D’ancer were watching with interest. History might often be dull but having it taught by one of the true living legends of the last War tended to make things more than a bit interesting at times. It was only recently, since the battle with the Hand of Claws, that they had learned who Lezon really was. She had been a unique War Leader even among the Warriors of the M’cratt. Besides, T’cill and T’lass weren’t the ones having to watch out for their snack points.

Lezon seriously asked, “So, in what particular was the treaty broken? What did the Treaty Commission do about it? If the treaty were broken by the M’cratt, they would have intervened on the side of the Clan. Did they?”

K’sere could see her snack points retreating in disarray, even if she could not yet see the cause of the stampede. “The Treaty Commission didn’t do anything! There was a War!”

“And?” Lezon interposed, “Why did the Treaty Commission do nothing?”

Almost contemptuously, K’sere spouted the common excuse, “Because the T.C. doesn’t interfere in wars. They just protect habitable planets from illegal attacks!”

Lezon frowned, laying her ears so flat to her skull that they were almost hidden in her mane. “K’sere! I know that you have studied the Treaty Commission Charter! They are required to stop treaty violations! Who was it that they stopped?” Lezon purred, “Clan or M’cratt?”

K’sere paged through her information, using all the search keys that she could think of. Perplexed, she looked up and saw her teacher’s tail twitching in amusement. “It doesn’t say.”

Sardonically amused, whiskered lip pulled slightly up from her right fang, Lezon said, “I know. This is a Clan written history prepared for the young by Clan historians. I do need the permission of T’cass and K’ress both to go beyond it. They are the remaining two of your mothers and your Clan’s leaders.”

She keyed the console and spoke briefly to the surviving parents of her charges. In only moments, the little room got smaller. K’ress came in and sat with the kits. “I would like to hear your answer to K’sere’s question too, Lezon. Back before we got married, both you and T’cass did drill it into us that the M’cratt didn’t break the Treaty. I will help with part of the answer.” Thinking of M’rel’s death brought another tear. Would she ever stop mourning her triad wife?

K’ress turned in her seat to face her kits, wiping away the tear, and pointed her ears frankly forward as she said, “The T.C. interfered only three times during the last War. Each time, it was to save a M’cratt world from space-borne bombardment by biosphere destructive weapons.

“The last time, it was M’cratt itself, saved from complete destruction as a planet.” She hung her head in shame. “Our leaders were ready to bombard the Imperial Planet into an asteroid field. That is why there is a Treaty Commission. They stopped us from doing a great evil.

“I know that the M’cratt did not break the treaty. If they had broken the treaty, it would have violated the Warrior’s Way. That is something that they will not do. The Empress Triad ordered the executions of three M’cratt commanders WHO WON engagements because they violated the Warrior’s Way to do it.”

Little T’lass diplomatically put her claws into the discussion and batted it onto a new path. “Maybe we are asking the question the wrong way about. What did the M’cratt sign if it wasn’t a peace treaty?”

Lezon beamed. “Excellent logic, T’lass. Snack points! What did the Imperial Triad sign? Everybody get the treaty on screen in both Clan and M’cratt.” There was a small flurry of activity as screens flickered and keys clicked.

“Got it, Lezon,” a ragged chorus said.

“There it is!” said K’sere, pointing in triumph. “The title is, Treaty of Peace!”

Almost sadly, Lezon pointed out, “In Clan, it does say that. What does the M’cratt translation of the treaty say? Remember, that translation is the only version that was signed by the Imperial Triad.”

K’ress had already pulled up a M’cratt lexicon and was puzzling out the unfamiliar and therefore difficult characters. “It says, Treaty for a Time of No Conflict. Doesn’t that mean peace?”

“No,” said a mellow voice from the doorway. “You can’t say peace in M’cratt. The language doesn’t even have the concept. To say ‘no conflict’ is a contradiction in terms like ‘I can’t stand sitting.’ It negates itself.”

“Mommy T’cass!” the kits called out in excitement. “You’re up!”

“Only for an hour, children. The MediBed is most insistent that I return.” T’cass ruffled their ears and scratched juvenile manes. “Now get back to your desks and I will answer K’sere’s question.”

She seated herself at Lezon’s teaching desk and asked the room, “Does anybody in this room know where I was born?”

At the blank looks from the rest, Lezon replied, “Your mothers were ambassadors to M’cratt for Clan interests. I don’t know where you were born. Is it important?”

T’cass cocked her head at Lezon and said, “You must all decide that for yourselves. I was born on M’cratt, in the Imperial City. My mothers put me into K’lass’s School of All Conflict.”

Lezon interrupted to ask, “How is my old teacher? I have been unable to check, myself, due to remaining in concealment.”

T’cass smiled, showing many teeth, “She not only survived the war, the last that I checked, her school remains the most respected one in the Empire. I was just a kit but I did well and learned the Warrior’s Way along with all the others. By the time that I was half grown, I was translating for my Mothers. My story begins with that.

“Nobody was willing to listen to what I tried to tell them about the treaty that we had with the Empire. When I tried to tell other Embassy staff about the flaws in the treaty, I learned a hard lesson. Some of them had written and translated that treaty. They were not receptive to a juvenile saying that the highest point of their careers was a mistake. They got my mothers recalled and replaced by others less competent.

“The next few years were the most awful time in my life. It was spent as a young adult in Clan Space. I spoke Clan perfectly but had trouble understanding some parts of it. I had been raised as a Warrior and I was now in a place that hated war and failed entirely to understand the nature of conflict. Only Lezon can understand what that means.”

Lezon nodded understanding, saying, “Now I know why you were so patient with me at first. I wasn’t a very good slave back then.”

T’cass smiled softly and pointed her ears directly as she replied, “No, you weren’t. You still aren’t, for that matter, but this Clan would be far worse for not having you in it. You were, and still are, a Warrior. A Battle Friend. I needed someone around who actually understood me.

“The War changed everything. My training allowed me to predict the nature and location of the M’cratt attacks. I spoke perfect M’cratt and could interrogate prisoners. I was the best fighter pilot and tactician in all of Clan Space. I was promoted to the Tactical and Strategic Board.

“I remained unpopular. I was constantly telling off anybody who tried to say that the M’cratt had broken the treaty. It is not the fault of the M’cratt that the Clan’s translation failed to convey what they meant.

“K’ress, the lexicon that you just used to translate the treaty title is the same one the Clan translators used to make the treaty. It is worse than merely wrong, it is almost right. The correct reading of the title would be something like Treaty Governing the Time of Preparation for New Conflict.”

There was a soft hiss of indrawn breath all about the room as the kits and K’ress realized the implications of the mistake.

T’cass went on, “The M’cratt language is built around three fundamental states of conflict, each related to one of the Goddess’ Triad.

“There is preparation for Conflict, represented by Lezon, keeper of the Cave of Life. She prepares the souls of the dead to return to the Conflict of Life. She represents the memory of Conflict won or lost, as lessons to be learned. She is also the bridge from the past to the future.

“There is Conflict itself, in all of its forms. It is represented by Treh, Huntress of the Stars, whose battles bring Light to the world. She also represents Life itself. Life and Conflict are the same word. Conflict is inherent in the present as it is in all tenses.

The last state is death, usually but not precisely translated as the future tense. It is not freedom from Conflict. K’lass is the guide whose wisdom, if followed, leads the souls of the dead through difficult battles. They have to relive every conflict that they ever experienced and learn the best response to each one. Then K’lass leads the souls to Lezon in the Cave of Life. K’lass represents Wisdom in the Management of Conflict which is the source of all perfection.”

T’cill raised a hand. “I thought that Lezon lit candles to light the way of the dead to the Cave of Life,” she said earnestly.

Lezon smiled, “I tried to keep my explanation simple before. The candle is a beacon for K’lass. It assists her in finding the souls of the fallen. Once she finds them, she is their guide. Only she knows where the Cave of Life is.”

T’cass looked directly at Lezon and added, “You risked your life to give me a Warrior’s Return to Clan territory at the battle of K’stall when I ran out of firepower while we were dog-fighting. Someone with that sort of honor could never allow the treaty to be broken in the war she planned and was carrying out … the war that the Clans nearly lost.

“K’sere’s question must be stated as T’lass did it. How could the treaty be kept and still allow a war? Now, you know. It was our own translation error. The Combined Clans only thought that it was a peace treaty.”

Lezon smiled and the world was full of friendly teeth. “When I planned that war, the terms of the treaty were kept carefully. The honor of the Empire and the Imperial Triad were at stake. The war was only possible because it was not a peace treaty. Neither is the current one, by the way. The Clan translators have made the same errors all over again.

“The Treaty Commission does know the correct reading of the treaty and that is why they did not intervene. Their job is strictly limited by their Charter. They can not assist in the making of treaties. They only enforce the treaties that others have made and protect habitable planets from illegal, biosphere destructive attacks.”

“T’cass, when I fought you at K’stall, I met and tested a Warrior. The Warrior’s Way required that I give you the Return. That placed you under an Obligation of Conflict. You balanced the Obligation when you saved my life after M’onafar.”

All of the D’ancer’s Clan listened intently. This was about the foundation of their family, not just history. T’lass asked, “Can you tell us why nobody knew who you were? I know that they searched for some proof besides your wrecked Talon that you died at M’onafar. We’ve all read about that.”

It was T’cass who answered. “Nobody else knew who she was because I knew who she was. This was before I met M’rel and you, K’ress. I had never found anybody who understood me and was willing to accept me. I didn’t know that it was possible for anyone from the Clans to love me.

“Besides the Obligations of the Warrior’s Way, I had my own reason. She was a Battle Friend and wounded seriously. She needed to be shielded from her enemies. They were not only in the Clans. In fact, Lezon was safer with me, among the Clans, than among her own.”

T’cass paused and clicked up a picture that was now famous. It was Lezon’s battle damaged Talon fighter. She rotated the image to show the damaged driver array. “What I am telling you now has been a secret kept between me and Lezon. I shot up the drivers and the life system myself, after I took Lezon out of the wreck.”

Using a pointer, T’cass indicated a section. “Look closely at this area,” she directed.

K’sere wrinkled her brow as she looked at the picture under high magnification. She stated, “That looks like a M’cratt disruptor hit.”

Lezon said quietly, “It is. My Talon was hit from behind by a low powered attack when my vector would carry me away from the M’cratt battle formation. It destroyed the superconducting cables to my drive, wounded me slightly and caused some other damage. Even injured and losing air, I almost got my Talon back home.

“I was only about three inches of superconducting cable short of getting power up. I tried to bridge the gap with copper. It almost worked. The saturation blast from the failure of the superconducting drive circuit is what nearly killed me.”

Puzzled, T’cill, oldest of the kits, asked, “Why did they try to assassinate you? You were winning the war for them.”

Dryly, Lezon answered, “Precisely. And the only reason that the admirals and other leaders took directions from a mere combat pilot was that the Empress Triad ordered them to. The youngest wife of the Empress Triad, S'tand, just happened to go to K’lass’ School of All Conflict at the same time that I did. The Imperial Triad knew that every conflict that I planned or participated in at the School of All Conflict came out the way that I wanted it to.”

T’cill’s snout wrinkled skeptically along one side. “Why were you a fighter pilot then? Why weren’t you one of those admirals?”

T’cass picked that one up. “They couldn’t keep her from fighting. It’s a guiding principle of the Warrior’s Way. A Warrior must be allowed to fight. Those high officers took it poorly when the Empress Triad’s chosen War Leader refused their company and the safety of their positions aboard fortress ships. I think that they felt that it reflected on their courage.”

Lezon said dryly, “As a matter of fact, that was pointed out to them by the Empress Triad in person. It may have had something to do with the assassination attempt.”

A gentle bonging began to sound. T’cass wrinkled her snout at her kits affectionately and said, “Now you know how the M’cratt see those issues that the Clans think of as treaty violations. In fact, the only ones who have violated the treaties are the Clans. They are also the ones who bungled the translations.

“Now, the MediBed is calling and I do have to go. Be as good as you can be and still be the D’ancer’s kits.” She reached over and ruffled juvenile manes, then raised her claws in farewell and left the room. In moments, the bonging ceased.

Lezon turned to the kits and asked, “Does everybody understand the situation that K’sere brought up?”

They all made noises of agreement.

“Enough to take a test on the subject?” Lezon asked looking aslant at them. The agreement was complete but nowhere near as enthusiastic.

Suddenly, Lezon’s tail twitched and her ears shot up jauntily, “Good, because we’re not going to put that test on the computer for the Educational Combine to find! T’lass, for your suggestion, Snack Points! K’sere, for bringing up the topic, Snack Points, after all!

“Let’s go to the galley and get lunch!” Lezon said cheerfully. “Will you kits kill T’cass’ lunch and take it to her? The MediBed will allow her real food now but she still can’t pounce her own.”

A delighted tumble of kits charged out of the compartment. Lezon shook her head in wonderment. Smiling she said, “Kits! Such simple things can make them so happy.”

K’ress smiled fondly after her Clan’s progeny and agreed, “I wish that life was that simple for us.”

Suddenly serious, she said, “I fear that it may get complicated for us all over again, Lezon. I tried to discuss this matter once before. We … were interrupted. It is about manumission. T’cass and I both want to free you. The kits do too. In fact, what we need to ask was first proposed by them.

“Our problem is simply this. We want to ask something of you and by Clan law, the question can only be asked of a free person.”

Lezon was actually afraid. For one who followed the Way of the Warrior there was only one way to deal with fear. It had to be faced. Voice shaking, she replied, “Then let me have you all there and do as you feel you must.” Bleakly, she added, “I did tell you, there is no place for me, if I am freed. Where will I go?”

Sympathetically, K’ress laid her hand on Lezon’s arm said gently, “Come up to T’cass’ bedside and take your freedom from her claws. You know that she wishes you no ill. I hope that you will trust the rest of us, too.”

Bracing herself, Lezon nodded, saying, “I will have to.”

They came in just in time to hear the kits say with pride, “We checked the MediBed computer and chose one exactly the right size for you!” K’sere reached into the serving cage and neatly caught and killed the snack, giving the still quivering creature to her birth Mother.

Smiling in delight, T’cass accepted it and bit into her lunch. Chewing and swallowing, she said, “Thank you, children. I love you all. It was loving you that kept me going while I was stranded.”

Looking past the kits to the door, she said, “I see that it is time for something else. Is everything ready?”

“It sure is!” T’cill exclaimed, practically hopping in excitement. “We finished it just in time, too! Can I go get it?”

“Please,” requested T’cass. “I think that we will have a good use for the things that you made. I also need you to stop by my cabin and get me the item from the locked cabinet as well.”

T’cill fairly flew out of the compartment. Shortly the kit returned with a long bulky bundle and an object carefully wrapped in oiled silk. She carefully laid everything on the MediBed beside T’cass.

T’cass looked sympathetically at Lezon and said, “Lezon Treh K’lass, within this Clan you have never been a slave, no matter what the law might have said. I took your submission and refused the notion of surrender. The time has come to take care of the matter of Clan law. Please come here to my side.”

Lezon stepped up to the bedside of the only M’cratt Warrior that had ever been born of Clan parents and said, “Battle Friend, if you free me, where shall I go? The Clans will try me for the last War. The M’cratt have no place for me either. The new Treaty forbids me from my home if I am ever found. There is no place for me.”

T’cass smiled and replied, “Lezon, trust me in this. It is to discuss your place that it is necessary to free you. Take this from my hands. I saved it from your Talon to give it back to you some day. This is that day.”

She unwrapped the oiled silk and held out to Lezon a pattern welded steel knife. The unique pattern of this knife was perhaps the most famous in either Clan or M’cratt spaces. Against a fall of the finest maidenhair pattern, worked into the form of the Great M’cratt nebula, small star and eye shapes revealed the faces of the Triple Goddess. It was the Warrior’s knife made by Lezon Treh K’lass. T’cass held it out handle first, free of the plain M’cratt fast draw sheath.

T’cass intoned formally, “Lezon Treh K’lass, your service to the Clan D’ancer has been honorably acquitted. By returning your Knife, I arm you as a free Warrior. I hope that you will continue to fight by my side and that of my Clan. I can no longer compel you by either Clan law or M’cratt submission. Take back your Soul Knife and free choices.”

Lezon took the big blade and carefully strapped the sheath to her leg. Placing the knife flat on her palm she offered it to T’cass’ touch.

T’cass responded, “I cannot, in Warrior’s Honor, accept the gift of a favor yet. There is more to do and speak of first. The kits made these. I hope that you find them worthy for the rest of us to bear.” She held to Lezon the long package.

Unwrapped, it proved to be six ceremonial spears. Their blades were of elegantly worked pattern welded steel mounted on hafts of tough composite plastic inlaid with the signs of the Triple Goddess of the M’cratt. Lezon examined them each carefully, with the critical eye of a true expert. The kits held their breath until Lezon smiled.

“These are as well done as any spears that I have ever handled,” she pronounced. Knowing what was needed now, Lezon handed the first spear to T’cass, saying, “Battle Friend, accept this gift of arms and fight by my side.”

Solemnly T’cass nodded and took the weapon. In turn, K’ress, T’cill, K’sere, and T’lass took theirs. Lezon took the last spear and choked slightly as she stated, “As you will stand at my side, so shall I be at yours.” She turned to T’cass and added, “So this is my place? Here with you all? What of the Clans?”

K’ress smiled almost wickedly as she spoke. “They don’t need to know any more about you than they already do. Of course, if they even think about getting uppity, there’s a few practical details that they will need to consider.

“This vessel will fight for your safety and life. They will know that it has just destroyed a powerful M’cratt Talon Carrier single handed. As the cream on that snack, there’s the pesky detail that we also inadvertently destroyed a triple sun system while discharging the weapon that finished the Hand of Claws. Three stars splatted so hard that there is only one is left. Oops!”

“What of my knife?”

T’cass nodded, acknowledging a potential difficulty, and said, “I am known to possess that war souvenir. I have given it to you as a freely given gift after your help in saving our lives.”

Lezon accepted that and asked, “The Clans will believe that, even if no M’cratt would. Now, what was so important that you had to free me to ask it?”

Suddenly very serious, T’cass replied, “First, know that your place with us is secure no matter what your answer to our question. What we need to ask does go against the Warrior’s Way but you have done so already, in a way that gives us hope that you will accept our offer.”

K’ress moved over to where she could hold T’cass’s hand and each of them held out her free hand to Lezon. “Will you marry us, Lezon? Will you make our Clan triad whole and become a true mother to our kits? Please?”

Lezon looked carefully about her, at all of these people that she had known and served for so long. She could see the fear that she would reject them written plainly on the faces of the kits. She loved them. She already knew that. How to show it though? The Warrior’s Way had given her a lifetime of training in repressing such expressions.

Lezon smiled, swept her arms about the kits, gathering them together, and enclosed them in the grip that she gave to T’cass and K’ress. Holding all of them at once, Lezon said, “I would be honored. Knowing you has showed me that there is a truth that goes beyond the Warrior’s Way. It has also showed me that the truth of the Clans is not complete either. I think that we are about to create something new.”

Slightly dryly, T’cass snorted, “Life should be interesting around here from now on. I am glad that you accepted us, Lezon. We do love you. All of us. The D’ancer Clan is going to be a unique one, with two who were raised as M’cratt Warriors in it.”

“It will be strange indeed,” responded Lezon. “After all, how many Warrior Clans are there? Just this one, I think.”

–THE END–

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#WARRIOR CLAN #1 part #Science Fiction #Written by De Writer

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