#exchange 106

[cactusy]

[mybeingthere]

Wally Dion, born 1976, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Fabric Star Quilts.

Wally (Walter) Dion is a Canadian artist of Saulteaux ancestry living and working in Upstate New York. Working in a number of media including painting, drawing and sculpture.

Wally explains:

"The first fabric star quilt was made as part of a 2022 residency at Wanuskewin Park. It was my way of reflecting upon prairie tall grass and the reintroduction of bison into the Great Plaines. I wanted to make several transparent quilts and superimpose them; one in front another... a quilt for the microbiome, another for the bison, their manure & hooves, another for the summer fires that scorch the ground and a final quilt for the sweetgrass braid.

I was considering how all of these things worked together for thousands of years to create what is known as the 'prairie tall grass ecosystem'. A vast and fertile expanse of land stretching from the foothills of Alberta to the banks of the Mississippi. I wanted to highlight the invisibility of systems when everything is working well, as it should be.

I started with the green quilt because it is the colour of the sweet grass braid that is exchanged in ceremony and relationship building. I considered the nature and tradition of quilting; impoverished craftspeople using tiny scraps of fabric. I considered the act of offering fabric and adherence to tradition. I thought of a thousand tiny prayers and how that might look; invisible acts of respect and adherence to protocols spanning decades. My thoughts travelled across the land, imagining the trees and rocks collecting these prayers like a bush of cloth, or an etched boulders."

[diomedrian]

It's two sizes bigger =/

[dlyarchitecture]

[callester]

An alternative view on the interactions between the Desmonds in Mission 106.

Right after Damian's first attempt of starting a conversation with Donovan at the beginning of the chapter, Demetrius can be seen consuming his dinner in a rather continuous flow to the point where his speed eventually led to finishing most of his dishes first as compared to his family members.

While Demetrius can be seen as nonchalant towards the rare family dinner to the point of aiming to conclude it as soon as possible, his course of action had eventually gave way to a sliver of alone time between Donovan and Damian, right after Melinda similarly taking the cue to leave the table, in which had enabled Donovan to directly address Damian, despite only through short comments that thus strucked a sense of deep satisfaction in the latter.

Another instance taken from the past (Mission 37) would be the brief phone conversation between Demetrius and Damian, where upon the latter's request of meeting up with their father after the Imperial Scholars mixer, Demetrius had spoken up the possibility of Donovan not making it due to his busy nature in avoiding Damian from getting his hopes too high up. And despite the rather formal-like exchange between the two, Demetrius still left a space for Damian in case he needed to ask anything more before hanging up.

Note: Viewing things from the outer perspective of a situation would always grant the viewer with the ability of making effortless judgements, where most would be able to tell if one is better or worse than the other in an almost mirroring scenario, unconsciously leading them to assume which of the two is the "more correct" version and thus, adapting and expecting the said ideal to be a part of the majority's norm or standards.

Despite such ideal assumption, the reality has never strayed from its subjectivity, for not all matters could be addressed and solved simply through spoken words, with an instance being Demetrius' subtle actions showcased in this chapter. Hence, to attempt to fit everyone into the frame of a perceived perfect norm is a lost cause to begin with.

[vampzity]

spidey senses | J.YH

"when nothing adds up i’ll be your number, you’re 106 and i’m 94." — 200, mark

—✫ pairing: spider-man! yunho x gn! reader

—✫ genre: ateez, drabble, spider-man au, fluff, jeong yunho

—✫ synopsis: you were always very close with yunho, but you never quite knew who he really was whenever he made excuses to leave or cancel plans with you. as close as you felt with yunho, you didn’t realize you were close with someone else in the process.

—✫ wc: 923

[warnings]: cursing, really no other warnings but that

—✫ a/n: i love spiderman. i needed a spidey yunho idea to be written so here we are ! mark’s new mv just urged my will to do it. not my favorite piece, but I really wanted to write it and keep it short! *not proofread*

“Where the heck is he?”

You sat on your bed, annoyed as you continued to check your phone. He should’ve been here by now, but of course, he was late as usual.

You and Yunho were supposed to go out to a new cafe that opened in town. It closed at eight and the plan was to leave at five, but when you had checked the time, it was now pushing 7:30.

It didn’t help that today was the day you were planning to admit your feelings to him, determined to take the weight that’s sat on top of your shoulders for so long. You two have been close for some time, so what could go wrong? There was a chance he had felt the same, no?

You sighed heavily, taking off your shoes and jacket as disappointment filled your heart. This was the 4th time this week he had been late, or even a “no-show,” and you were tired. Just as you were going to lay down, a tall man flew in through your window, wearing red and blue.

“What the fuck?!!” you yelled, throwing your shoe at the figure in your room.

The shoe flew at his head, earning a groan out of him as he grabbed the back in pain. Your eyes widened at his suit, realizing the similar spider webbed pattern layered across it.

Did Spider-man really just fly through your window?!

The man sighed heavily and began to turn to you., rubbing the back of his head softly as he held his mask in his other hand.

“Dude, you know I come in through your window all the time.. why would you hit me???”

Your eyes widened as you two stood face to face. Your face in utter shock as he came into view. Did he even realize his mask was off? Surely, right? Maybe he wasn’t the smartest superhero everyone made him out to be.

“Yunho?!” you spoke, your eyes practically popping out of your head as his own did with you.

He quickly looked down, seeing the mask scrunched in his hands. It was at this point that Yunho knew there was no going back, and now he had to come clean. What excuse could he possibly make to you? Especially in such a quick amount of time? It was inevitable.

“Shit.” he brought his free hand up to his face, shaking his head softly as he realized his stupidity. “Well.. uh, let me explain myself.”

You rolled your eyes, shifting to the side in bed as you made room for him to sit down. He took a seat, sighing as he tired to explain the ordeal to you; from how he was bit, to when. How he had gotten used to his powers and ultimately decided to use it for good. It also brought answers to the billions of questions you’d have over his whereabouts, as to why he was always so late to hang out with you or even why he ditched you at times.

You punched him in the arm, crossing your hands as you sat there in disbelief. Yunho looked at you with a shy smile, unsure of how you may take the news.

“You idiot. You should’ve told me.” you mumbled, holding onto his hand.

He shrugged and squeezed your hand softly. “I didn’t want you to worry about me. It’s a big responsibility, you know?”

You nodded, standing up as you pulled him with you. You took the mask from his hand, placing it over his eyes. His face turned red as he felt your hands rest in his, still unable to see where you were.

“I was still worried about your whereabouts, Yunho. I hope you can learn to trust me.”

You both exchanged a smile as you rested your hand against his cheek. Pulling his face to yours, you rested your lips on his softly. Your lips intertwined as his hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his body. His lips were warm against yours, making your heart beat out of your chest.

You pulled away from him, keeping your eyes low as he pulled his mask up from his own. He smiled at you softly, his hand coming up to your chin. He lifted your head slowly to look at him, kissing you one more time before beginning to speak.

“I don’t think you understand how long I’ve waited to do that.” he chuckled softly, his cheeks as red as blood.

You blushed, feeling your heart rest as he calmed your nerves with his confession. The weight you once felt living on your shoulders, was now gone. He did feel the same, felt the exact same as you. Your bond was too strong, not even a mere superhero confession could break that apart. It only made you stronger, and you were grateful for that.

“Does this mean I’m your sidekick?” you smiled cheekly, a laugh escaping you as he rolled his eyes.

“Hmm… I’m not sure..”

Yunho wrapped his arm around your waist, placing his mask back on and bringing you toward the window. He opened it, bringing you both out onto the fire escape.

“How about we go for a ride and find out, hm?”

You looked up at him, your eyes lighting up. You wrapped your arms around his chest and neck, holding on tightly as he prepared to take off. He tilted his head at you, signaling to you that he was smiling under his mask.

“Alrighty spidey sidekick, hold on tight.”

taglist: @skzline @evidive @xoxkii @vrtualsins @sanslovesblog

@dvrktvnnel @scarfac3 @honeyhwaaa @sundaybossanova @kittykat-25

@losrpark @yyaurii @aestheticjoonie @roomsofangel @mingtinysworld

@minghaoslatina @rvereri

*comment to be added to the taglist!*

—divider creds to owner—

[buckrecs]

do you know any bucky stories with alpine in them.!

Alpine

masterlist | req masterlist

WE NEED ALPINE ON THE MCU

Love In Four Acts by @buckybarnesowl

You’re a nurse living in Brooklyn. You’ve got a crush on your next door neighbour who doesn’t seem to know you exist. One day his cat finds its way into your apartment, forcing you both to finally meet. That’s when you learn that he’s James Buchanan Barnes, ex-Winter Soldier. Well, there goes your chances. Or maybe getting close to a superhero isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.

That Darn Cat by @lillywillow

When a white cat enters your life, she decides to adopt you as her secondary human.

Cat Dad of the Year by @bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky

Bucky comes home from a mission, only to be greeted by Alpine. But chaos ensues when he lets her rub her little face all over his dirty boots.

Fur Baby by @buckyalpine

Bucky has a furry little secret.

Not A Fan by @buckyalpine

Alpine is not a fan.

Completely by @rassvetsky

Being one of the few people Bucky Barnes trusted meant having to babysit Alpine when he's away. Luckily for you, Alpine was one hell of a listener and you were sure she got that from her dad.

Bittersweet by @rassvetsky

When it's just you, Bucky & Alpine in the Barnes residence; time seems to stop, only allowing for heartfelt confessions and kisses to be exchanged.

Meditation by @myfirstnameisagent

Bucky, Alpine & You by @marvelettesassemblenow

You didn’t realize that getting in a relationship with Bucky meant getting in one with his cat too.

Alpine by @coffeecatsandcandles

Bucky rescues a stray cat and brings her home.

You’re My Bucky by @subwaysurf45

after a breakdown, Bucky finally asks a question that’s been eating away at him for months.

Love has Four Paws and a Heartbeat by @rookthorne

A shame, really, that he had thought that you had listened, and you wouldn’t make a big deal of it; he was so wrong, and he would be better off for being so, for when a paw touched your heart, it would never leave.

The Matchmaker by @buckysknifecollection

Alpine hates every single date Bucky brings home. He likes you though...

Alpine for You by @tuiccim

Bucky was on a mission. Not for the Avengers or Steve, but to find you the perfect kitten.

Headcanon by @angrythingstarlight

Chubby Bucky and Alpine.

Cat-Napped by @holylulusworld

A cat cat-naps your rat.

meet-cute by @dirtychocolatechai

Bucky and vet!reader.

Little Kitten by @phantomspiderr

Bucky comes home to an adorable surprise

upstairs by @onceuponastory

Bucky Barnes is constantly annoyed by his cat Alpine going to visit his upstairs neighbour for treats. That is however, until Bucky meets his new upstairs neighbour Y/N. Who Bucky definitely isn’t in love with. Not at all. Turns out that a 106 year old man might know more about love than he first thought. And that cats can make excellent wingmen.

navillera by @sgt-seabass

Bucky returns home after a mission, ready to spend time with his two favourite people, you and Alpine.

Cat Dad by @plussizefantasia

Your boyfriend is being held captive and you're the only one who can save him.

the white cat by @lizzie-is-here

a late night stop at the animal shelter, a truck, and a dinner date

Alpine by @eviesaurusrex

YN walks into their kitchen, ready to start baking Bucky’s favorite cupcakes, only for a white little intruder to thwart her plan.

Rooted In Love | Love In Bloom by @jobean12-blog

You and Bucky run into each other (literally) while plant shopping.

[mothyandthesquid]

The famous Wall of Sock at @thewoolmontyshow last weekend. All yarn is now available online. I’m travelling home from my philosophy event today and should be able to get some orders out today and the rest tomorrow.

We also raised £241.34 for the Trussell Trust (£135.34 on Saturday, £106 on Sunday) from donations in exchange for pins at the show, so yay Sheffield for your generosity!

[mysteryshoptls]

It's not really a translation (also apologies for any Grammer errors) but I was wondering how the currency in twisted wonderland works! Do thaumarks take after USD or JPY?

If it already specified it flew over my head 💀

Also, thank you so much for your translations and information!

That's a very good question! It seems to be that Thaumarks is based loosely on dollars. This may be because the English version of the game was originally only run as a "North America" server (before expanding to other locations), so everyone assumed "USD". Now, take a look at this scene from Dorm Uniform Azul's vignette:

600 Madol became 6 Thaumarks. Madol seems to follow JPY currency standards, which makes sense, as it's a Japanese game. When the NA server conversion hit, we had Thaumarks which were 1/100 of the Madol value. This would be true of the general relationship between JPY and USD back in 2020 (although the NA game wouldn't be out for another couple years), when the exchange rate was on average 106 JPY to 1 USD. Fun fact: Because of the fluctuation in the market, the exchange rate is almost 150 JPY to 1 USD now in 2024. Out of the "dollar" currencies, the closest right now would be the Australian Dollar at 99 JPY to 1 AUD. I would like to add as an addendum, however, to be careful to add any kind of "real world" attributes to portions of this game. This is set in a fantastical world, and we like to try to put them into terms that make sense to us, as humans. The conversion seems similar to what we know as dollars and yen, but that does not mean that they are.

[linkspooky]

Yu Gi Oh GX and Alchemy: Citrinitas and the Splendor Solis

Yu-Gi-Oh GX, an anime that exists to sell you Trading Cards is a also a piece of media with some of the most well-researched, and layered symbols and references to the Great Work in Alchemy. The show is built around it's alchemical symbolism, each of the four seasons representing a step is the Great Work of turning lead into gold.

Season is Nigredo or 'blackening', Season 2 is Albedo or 'whitening', Season 3 is Cintrinatis or 'yellowing' and Season 4 is 'reddening,' where Judai achieves wholeness of the self, and completely his journey of growing from a child to an adult.

Season 3 is the yellowing, symbolized by the color yellow, the element of earth, and where Judai completes his final chemical wedding with his opposite and his soul Yubel.

The entirety of GX s a metaphor for the Great Work, with season 3 focusing on the yellow stage. The group that surrounds Judai represents each of the 4 stages of alchemy.

Manjoume, (Nigredo Black, and Fire)

Asuka (Albedo, White, and Water),

Misawa (Citrinatis, Yellow, and Earth)

Judai (Rubedo, Red, the Philosopher's stone, and Air).

Season 3 depicts the drowning of the king, only for him to be reborn again. The king in this situation being Judai who drowns and rises up as the Supreme King associated with yellow, is defeated and dethroned, only to embrace the Supreme King's power and integrate it into himself.

All of Season 3 is a necessary dissolution of Judai, in order for him to be reforged into a stronger person, the way metal is purified through the process of alchemy. Judai even states in embracing Yubel at the end of the season that even if his previous self was destroyed he's fine with that because it's a part of growing up.

The entire season is themed around solve et coagula (dissolve and coagulate, rinse away the impurities to refine yourself into a better version of yourself / reforge the stone). Letting things dissolve away is needed in order to become purified, the same way that death alway proceeds a rebirth. We will call back to these ideas time and time again over the course of this meta. This symbolism starts in the very first episode of the season 106, where Judai experiences a dream premonition of the future.

In this dream Judai wakes up in a desert dimension, the same dimension, Yubel will later teleport the academy to. He sees his friends all turned to sand, only for the wind to scatter them on the breeze.

Not only is this a reference to Dissolve et Coagula, but Judai's friends will also literally dissolve later when they are used as sacrifice materials for Super Polymerization, only to coagulate at the end of the season. This scene also takes place in a desert, and earth is the element associated with citrinitas.

The Exchange Students

This episode also features the introduction of the four transfer students, particularly Johan. Each transfer student is associated with an element and a phase in the four step process of Alchemy.

Austin O'Brien, uses a fire deck, associated with nigredo

Amon Garam, uses a water deck, associated with Albedo

Jim Crocodile Cook, uses an earth deck, associated with Citrinatis

What about Johan, you ask?

So far we've been talking about Alchemy as a four step process, but sometimes there is a fifth step called Peacock's tail (The Prismatic Phase).

The peacock tail is a physical stage in alchemy, a brilliant flash of green which comes to signify that the alchemist is one the right path. It can also be recognized in spiritual/psychological alchemy as a flash of visions that come to the adept as they move through the phases of transformation.

The Splendor Solaris painting of Venus / The Peacock is associated with love (the domain the goddess venus presides over), spirit, spiritualism, and inspiriation. II often compare it to the star Major Aracana in Tarot, which is a card of renewed hope and faith and a flash of temporary insight.

What better step fits Johan who not only plays a deck based around seven monsters, which represent the seven colors of light that make up the prismatic rainbow, but also is a character who is capable of seeing duel spirits like Judai.

The most important part of the prismatic phase though is that it's temporary, it's a flash of insight. Johan most notably, after appearing and burning so bright he captures all of Judai's attention disappears halfway through the season.

The search for the yet to be discovered Rainbow Dragon is also what drives both Judai and Johan the first half of Season 3, especially when it becomes their only way to get home. While the search for Johan himself, is what drives Judai in the second half. Johan really is the star in the distance who's light Judai is following.

Judai's first duel against Austin is meant to invoke Nigredo, the boiling away of impurities. Austn uses a fire themed deck, and over the course of the duel Judai helps "purify them" to the point where they remember they're not supposed to blindly follow orders. Austin invokes the fire symbolism by quite literally saying his father was a man who blazed with passion.

I'd forgotten what my father taught me. My father wasn't jsut a dog who fought as he was told. He was a warrior who burned with passion. And he...Judai made me remember that.

Judai's purifying of Austin's soul also starts his character arc here, as he quickly grows from more than just Professor Cobra's willing collaborator.

Kenzan and Jim's duel is a reference to the step of Citrinitas. Kenzan and Jim both duel with earth centered decks, Kenzan's deck revolves around resurrecting dinosaurs, and Jim's deck digs fossils out of the earth. Jim's deck even revolves around fusing summoning monsters in the graveyards, which is a reference to his career as digging fossils deep out of the ground. Kenzan also wears yellow, and when his dinosaur DNA gets out of control his eyes turn yellow. The two of them have their duel on a dry patch of dirt in the middle of the forest.

Cintriatis is referred to as the drawning of the "solar light" inherent in one's being, and that reflective "lunar or soul light" was no longer necessary [source]. What this essentially means is that the subconscious becomes conscious, or we become aware of what we usually keep hidden about ourselves.

Jim's duel against Kenzan references this because the purpose of the duel itself is to wake up Kenzan from a primal, animalistic, subconscious state activated because his Dinosaur DNA went out of control. Jim is basically attempting to show Kenzan the light by calming him down with a duel, something he'll do much later with Judai. A duel between them is a duel betwee instinct and higher reasoning.

The last duel of the exchange students is Manjoume vs Amon. It's a duel that reveals so much and yet so little about Amon's character.

The second stage of alchemy is called albedo, a latinicized term of "whiteness." It's a purification thatfollows after the nigredo stages where all impurities are washed away. It's associated with water.

Amon invokes this stage in several ways. He plays a cloudian deck, clouds are associated with water. Albedo is associated with water because it features the "washing away" of impurities. They duel each other over a a pool of water, in a duel where the loser will be dropped into water below. Manjoume even refers to himself as the lightning going through Amon's clouds, there's only lightning when it rains.

Manjoume: I'm not a spoiled rich dude, casually gazing up at clouds like you were. Manjoume: If you're a white cloud, then I'll be the black thunder.

Albedo is also a stage associated with purification / purity, and the entire duel Amon is remarked upon as being pure / being unreadable like the white clouds themselves.

Manjoume: I'm beating him. It's obvious that I'm cornering him, but... Manjoume: ...What's with this cavelier attitude of his? It's almost like he's like a cloud. Manjoume: I haven't seen him dueling yet. What could he be hiding in those clouds?

Manjoume is also a character associated with Nigredo as he's wearing black, and plays a dragon deck, and the duel ends with him falling in the water.

The exchange student duels end, as the duel academy kids begin hunting down professor Cobra. There's a few moments of interesting elemental symbolism in these duels.

Judai is forced to duel his professor while Asuka, a character who also wears white and is therefore associated with Albedo is about to drown in a chamber slowly flooding with water.

This also doubles ad Jungian symbolism because this is Judai's first confrontation with his jungian shadow the repressed part of his personality. His professor derides him for lacking darkness of the heart. These words speak of Judai's flaws that have previously remained hidden, his selfishness, his unhealthy habit of taking on other's burdens because he lacks a purpose of his own.

Satou: You can't win. I have something that you lack? Judai: Something that I lack? Satou: The darkness of the heart lying deep within a duelist. Judai: Darkness of the heart? Satou: It is what a duelist burdens his heart with. Judai-kun, you lack anything of the sort. Judai: Something I'd burden my heart with? Satou: Thus far, there hasn't been a single duel which I've dueled for myself. ALthough, because you only think only of yourself, I suppose you couldn't possibly understand. Judai: But where's the fun in dueling like that? Satou: There's nothing fun about it! Being burdened with the expectations of others, yet continuing to stay strong. THat's what it was like.

His entire deck strategy revolves around taking control Judai's monsters and turning them against him. His ace monster is also known as "scab knight", a warrior covered in scars from fighting whil enduring the burden of everyone's expectations. Judai will come to resemble this card later on in the season.

I'll make a brief mention of Giese because this is the moment where Johan's role as the peacock feather come into play. Judai asks if Johan has a goal for dueling other than fun, and Johan shares his.

Johan: Those spirits gave me dueling a purpose! A purpose to become a bridge between spirits and humans... Judai: To become a bridge between spirits and humans?

A goal which Judai clearly admires him for. The prismatic phase shows insight, and Johan gives Judai something to aspire to be like because he admires him for having a goal - and for his relationship with spirits. However, it's only a temporary insight because rather than thinking about his own goal it's moments like these, and shortly afterwards in the Cobra duel where Johan tells Judai that he duels while carrying the burdens of others that Judai simply decides to glue himself onto Johan.

Rather than come up with his own answers, Judai just accepts the answers that Johan gives him. Rather than using Johan as support and inspiration, Johan becomes an unstable emotional crutch.

There's one final reference to the Spector Solaris plates in the vial in which Yubel has been baking in the entire arc as they absorb duel energy in order to reconstitute themselves. Yubel at this stage is a reference to the 12th plate, Saturn Dragon and Child.

The plate depicts a child and a dragon sealed together in a flask. Within the child's right hand is a black flask they are forcing down the throat of the dragon, in the left hand are a pair of bellows which he is holding against the dragon's arc. The child is pouring the black Prima Materia in the dragon's mouth, while he increases the heat of flame. This will result in the decomposition of the Prima Materia into a substance that can be reconfigured and rebuilt.

Yubel represents both the child and the dragon. They are a dragon, specifically a child who underwent surgery in order to become a dragon. Just like the child forces their right hand down the dragons throat, Yubel possesses people by grafting their arm onto them.

Yubel also specifically appears as a child, Cobra's missing son, in order to manipulate him. Then feasts on the darkness of his heart and induces him to commit suicide by covering Cobra's entire hand with their fiend arm, and feeding them a false memory of a scenario where their son actually survived. They then transport the entiretyof the school to a desert, more earth symbolism and where the series begins referencing the seven parables.

Splendor Solis

The Splender Solis are an alchemical text from around the 1500s. They are a series of 22 elaborate images, which symbolize the alchemical processes.

They are divided into 4 groups. 4 introductory plates which depict the typical archetypal characters appearing in an alchemical story. The 7 parables which describe the process of death and rebirth of the king. The 7 flask plates which show the making of the elixir. Then the 4 final plates which shows the spiritual refinement.

The main arc of Season 3 revolves around the death and rebirth of the king, and from now on this meta will exclusively focus on Judai's process of becoming the awakened Supreme King.

As mentioned above he entire school is transported into a desert world. One of the first major events in this new world is the appearance of a Wise Man.

Carl Jung interpreted the process of alchemy as an analogy for psychoanalysis. Each stage of alchemy to him also represented an archetypal schema of the human mind. Nigredo is the shadow, Abledow the anima and animus (feminine and masculine), citrinatis i the wise old man (or woman) archetype, and rubedo is the self that has achieved wholeness.

It's the appearance of Misawa who physically resembles a wise old man, complete with a cloak, long hair and a walking stick that helps clue the protagonist where they are, and how to escape.

I also must make mention of Yubel, who begins enacting their plan to turn Judai into a king. Their first plan involves transporting the academy away to a different dimmension, and slowly taking over from inside by converting the duelists into mindless zombies.

Yubel: Attention, lost duelists. I am the rule of this new world. Yubel: I am the one controlling these zombies as the King of the Martin Empire. Yubel: You are the ones opposing my empire, and doing it well I see...

We don't know exactly what Yubel's first plan was, before they switched to their backup of super-polymerization - but considering Yubel's unique logic they likely planned on converting everyone in the school to zombies, while reforming their body. At which point it would be them and Judai alone together, and they would offer Judai the position as king, which Yubel thinks Judai would be grateful for.

Either way it's Yubel who pushes Judai through the journey of dying and being reborn as king. Yubel goes through a parallel death and rebirth (dissolved) , as they were torn to pieces and enact their plan to reconsitute their body back together and revive (coagulate). Either way Yubel's actions start Judai's journey.

The 7 steps of this journey / 7 parables are:

Plate 5 - Miners excavating a hill

Plate 6 - Philosophers beside a tree

Plate 7 - The drowning king

Plate 8 - Resurrection out of the swamp

Plate 9 - Hermaphrodite with an egg

Plate 10 - Severing the head of the king

Plate 11 - The bath

We'll be going mostly in order with these, as Yu-Gi-Oh GX also references them in order. Here's another post covering similiar spector solis symolism from RWBY which I'm lovingly ripping off. Beginning with:

Plate 5- Miners Excavating a Hill

The search for Rainbow Dragon has been a focus of Johan's arc since his introduction, but when the main characters learn that Rainbow Dragon is their way out of the dark dimension than excavating Rainbow Dragon out of the earth becomes the main focus of Judai and Johan's shared journey.

The plate depicts a mountain mined by two figures, dressed in gold and silver. The contrasting colors represent the dualism of the sun and the moon, which is also shown shining bright in the sky while the moon floats along in the river below.

Rainbow Dragon is quite literally mined out of the side of a hill. The two figures could be referencing both, Samejima and Pegasus who are sent out to retrieve it, Johan and Judai who summon it in their partner duel against Yubel.

The number seven also occurs here. There are seven splender solis plates, seven planets, seven alchemical symbols, seven metals, and Rainbow Dragon is a monster that requires the sacrifice of seven gemstones, which also represent the seven colors of light that make up the rainbow.

Featured on the plate is a picture of a scene from the book of Esthter from the Old Testament. This is a reference to the King Ahasuerus and Eshter. THe king is convinced by his grand vizier to kill the jews, starting with executing chief minister Mordecai. This is in spite of the facthe'd already married Mordecai's jewish cousin, Esther.

Eshther appears and touches the king's golden scepter with her hand. This convinces the king not to kill the jews.

“So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, ‘What do you wish Queen Esther? It shall be given to you – up to half the kingdom!’” (The Holy Bible, New King James Edition, Esther 5.3)

It's a union of opposites (gold and silver, king and queen, sun and moon) based upon communication and empathy. Gx references this story in two ways.

When Samejima and Pegasus are trying to excavate Rainbow Dragon from the mountain, Echo appears and threatens to kill everyone inside in order to allow Amon to remain in a world where he can become king. In a way it's gender flopped because Echo is playing the role of king, threatening everyone at Duel Academy.

The second way is a reference to Judai and Yubel's entire arc of learning to understand people with empathy. Yubel threatens to massacre both Judai's friends, and the twelve dimmensions at large in their painfully wounded state from Judai's abandonment.

This is gender flipped like it is with Echo, where the queen (Yubel) is threatening violence, and the king (Judai) is the one who sways them with empathy. They're linked to queen and king roles, Judai serving as the supreme king linked to the sun, Yubel their feminine bi-gender counterpart and shadow linked to the moon, Judai eventually does so through a union of souls during their final duel, which resembles s a jewish wedding.

Plate 6- The Philosophical Tree

The plate shows three philsophers underneath a tree. The third is a youth, climbing a ladder and handing them down a golden branch.

The two philosophers underneath a tree is a reference to the Aeinid, in order to enter the world Aeneas requires a golden branch from a special tree.

A journey to the underworld is as on the nose for a symbolic journey of death and rebirth as it gets. Judai technically journeys to the underworld twice, the first time when Yubel sends the whole school there, and the second when he like Dante or Orpheus journeys into the underworld to retrieve his lost one - Johan.

The desert world that Judai is transported too is literally filled with zombies, or the wandering dead like in classical depictions of the greek Hades.

Whereas in the world Judai travels to find Johan, losing a duel results in a permanent death for the duelist forcing every character to confront their own mortality.

During that Journey, Judai specifically experiences a death of his ego and a rebirth as the supreme king, before dying a second time and being reborn as the fusion of Judai / Yubel.

The three philosopher's under the tree is specifically referenced when Judai and Johan have their tag team with Yubel, they are the three under the tree. During that duel Johan uses gem tree, a tree that grows a fruit after certain conditions - it grows three fruits in total like the three phases of alchemy.

The duel is fought to return everyone from the dark dimension, a figurative underworld. Whereas in the Aeinid the tree is what grants them free passage into the underworld.

The golden branch and yellow flowers in the splendor solis painting also represent the yellow / citrinitas stage, where light is shed on the unconscious. By the end of the duel, not only is Yubel fully reborn after being torn apart, but they also force Judai to recall the repressed memory of them buried in their subconscious. Yubel's colored yellow when begging Judai to remember them.

Plate 7- The Drowning King

Judai's second journey to the underworld begins after this duel, and this time it's fraught with death. Albeit a necessary death for Judai to be reborn as a whole person.

“The Destruction of one thing is the birth of another.” – Aristotle

The painting depicts an old king drowning in the background, while a new king dressed in yellow emerges in the foreground. While the king is begging to the saved, both the old and new king are actually the same person, being reborn again.

GX references the drowning king in several ways, firstly the entire Supreme King Haou arc is a plan by Yubel to break Judai down and reforge him as the Supreme King.

Not only does Judai experience an ego death first where their mind breaks down and they choose to become the Supreme King going forward and rule with power after the loss of their friends. Judai is also the reincarnation of the original supreme king, which is why Yubel is obsessed with them in this lifetime. Which means he's already died once as king and been reincarnated into a second lifetime.

The king drowning in the river is also a reference to the Nigredo stage of alchemy:

Within the stages of physical alchemy there is a set referred to as the drowning king; this is the dissolution step of the Nigredo process. This is when the alchemists would take their chemically calcified ashes and dissolve them into water. The water itself would absorb the ashes, the word we use to describe this solution, an elixir, comes from the Arabic: Al-iksir translates to “from the ashes”. Elixir.

In order to forge the elixir you have to dissolve away all impurities. Yubel prepares a ritual to literally dissolve Judai's friends away, in order to forge Super Polymerization (which will eventually help Judai and Yubel fuse and become the philosopher's stone).

For now though, the ritual requires five sacrifices, and five of Judai's friend. Just like the five steps of alchemy if you count the peacock stage (the monster Judai fights in his duel is even named Reign-Beaux, a pun on Rainbow).

Manjoume, Asuka, Fubuki, and Kenzan all dissolve while Sho escapes leaving the ritual incomplete. It's after the ritual however, that Judai experiences an ego death and is reforged as the yellow king. Ego death, is the Jungian term which means a "Complete Loss of subjective self-identity." In this case symbolically the Judai identity "dies" as he loses his purpose which was previously dueling for the sake of his friends, and he finds a new purpose in dueling for power alone. A power that will simultaneously bring order to the chaotic world of the dark dimension, but also protect himself from his own insecurities and weaknesses.

Nigredo is also meant to be the dissolving of the ego. While many cultures have negative associations tied to the color black (Islam being an exception, where white is considered an impure colour), there are no such connotations for the alchemist about the Nigrido stage; it is merely the first stage in the Great Work, the dissolving of the self/ego complex. It is probably a fair observation that in cultures without spiritual safe-guards, or even safe-guardians (shamans, priestesses, lamas, et. al.), the spontaneous occurrence of Nigrido may be labeled as a nervous breakdown, or even psychosis. Mythcrafts

Nigredo is again associated with the arhcetype of the shadow in Jungian Psychology. The Supreme King persona first appears to Judai as a vaguely person shaped shadow, before taking on his form. The shadow is also a reflection of the self, Judai's internal landscape is a dark placed filled with mirrors.

Haou: Yuki Judai. In order to defeat evil, one must become evil. In a world with the law of the jungle at work, one must rule with power. Judai: Power, I don't have that power. Haou: In your hand lies the Super Fusion card. Defeat any spirits who may oppose you, and confine their lives into it the perfect card. Judai: Who are you?

There's also two suns in the background. Judai is referred to as being like the sun, by Sho.

Sho: Aniki, You're too selfish, Aniki. All the time, Aniki, I thought of you like a sun, giving us all strength, able to make the impossible possible. Sho: But I guess I thought wrong. For you, Aniki, things were okay if you were okay. It didn't matter who you sacrificed as long as it all helped your plan! Even if you avenge them, everyone you sacrificed won't come back. Sho: Big bro, you've been dueling just to satisfy yourself. Judai: Sho... Sho: Don't say it like that. You're not my Aniki. You're not my Aniki.

There's two suns depicted in the sky, and this scene we're shown two judais, to show just how divided his self is between his ego and his shadow. Sho even says that he doesn't even recognize Judai and that he's not "His Judai" right now.

Plate 8- Resurrection Out of the Swamp

“She clothed the man with a purple robe, lifted him up to his brightest clearness, and took him with herself to Heaven.” -Trismosin

On the left a strange being, dressed in black and red arises from the mud. He reaches forward to accept a red robe being offered to him.

On the right appears a winged woman, dressed in white, yellow and blue waiting for him to emerge from the mud and giving him a cloak to dress himself.

There is once again many different ways in which this painting is referenced. Haou first appears dressed in armor mainly colored in black, with a red cape exactly like the one the woman is handing the man in the painting.

If Judai is the man emerging from the mud, then the winged woman waiting for him is likely Yubel. Yubel is a winged figure and a hermaphrodite who represents both the masculine and the feminine.

On the bank of the river, holding out the red clock to the emerging man is Sophia. She has angel wings of white peacock feathers and is dressed in a floral robe. Upon her head is a crown topped with a six-pointed star, a symbol used in many traditions to signify the union of male and female energies; hieros gamos again.

The masculine king is reuniting with a feminine winged figure. Yubel as a hermaphrodite represents a union of masculinity and feminity. The winged woman is awaiting the man.

Judai's rise as the supreme king is engineered by Yubel as a part of a plan to reunite them. More specifically to get into plot details Yubel sacrificed their body to become a dragon to protect prince Judai in a past life until the day he would become king. After Judai saw Yubel make such a sacrifice he promised them his eternal love, and to eternally love them alone.

Yubel and Judai then both died at some point and were reborn, Judai as a person and Yubel a duel spirit. Yubel was Judai's best friend when they were young and took the role of protector too serously hurting anyone who came near Judai which made Judai decide to send them away (on a satellite into space).

While alone in space Yubel was hit by the light of destruction, which tortured them with terrible agony for ten years straight. Yubel called out to Judai at first, but Judai stopped responding. Ten years later Yubel crashed back down to earth, and when burning up in earth's atmosphere they continued begging for Judai's help only to be met with silence.

They asked why Judai would abandon them and their love, and that silence became their answer. Judai must have intentionally made them suffer both as a show of love, and to make them stronger.

Yubel then resolves to inflict the same suffering on Judai, first making them all alone like Yubel was, then putting them through trial after trial until they died like Yubel and woke up stronger as the Supreme King: at which point Yubel believed they would reunite again as equals. Yubel also had the additional motive of trying to make Judai recall his past life, which Yubel remembered and Judai did not.

Yubel: I was suffering as you came to forget about me... Yubel: It burns... It hurts...It's killing me. But why? I love him so much. Why is Judai treating me like this? Yubel: And then it hit me. This is just a form of Judai's love. Judai is hurting me and making me suffer because of his love for me. But you see, I couldn't possibly forget about you in the time i've suffered. Yubel: So when I solved the riddle that you posed to me, I was delighted. And that fueled my decision. I would try to fill the entire twelve dimmensions with my love for you. Yubel: And once I did you would have to recognize my love for you, wouldn't you? Yubel: That is why I sought to fill all those linked to you - your world - with both sadness and anguish. Yubel: ANd my line of thinking wasn't wrong. Yubel: I mean you are right before my eyes, Judai.

Yubel: Though, I did have your friends help me which pulled out the darkness inside your heart and ushered you this far.

The entirety of Season 3 is Judai's journey of becoming king, which will lead to his eventual union with Yubel, his soul, and his other half.

The union of Judai and Yubel is necessary in a Jungian sense, because his fusion with Yubel mirrors the process of individuation.

The alchemical texts at our disposal offer four distinct stages in the transformation of base metals into gold: nigredo. the black stage, albedo, the white stage, citrinas, the yellow stage, and finally, rubedo, the red stage. Physical chemists took this literally; depth psychologists, following in the footsteps of Carl Jung, took this figuratively. From the standpoint of depth psychology, the black nigredo is the shadow, the things we hide from ourselves. The albedo, the white stage, is the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage of male/female, or anima and animus. The citrinas, the yellow phase, is the wise elder, the shaman. And the red, or rubedo, which seems to be the point of this image, is what Jung called individuation; the point when the raw materia prima of our psyches turns into something whole.

Yubel sort of represents all three of those archetypal schema. Yubel is Judai's shadow, they awakened the supreme king which embodies all of his negative traits his darkness of heart. As a hermaphrodite Yubel is a sacred marriage of male and female, and Judai also fuses together with Yubel becoming a hermaprhodite himself. Finally, Yubel is the wise man by serving as the mind character to Judai's heart.

Heart, Mind and Body are traditional roles assigned to characters in an alchemy story. The male character s usually heart, and their female protagonist is mind. Judai is emotional, hot-headed, and most of all stupid. Yubel is tactical, capable of making succesful plans long in advanced, calm and thoughtful, and also possesses deep insight into things Judai is clueless about like the nature of love. In fact after the two of them are united, it's Yubel who serves an advisory role to Judai the way Aster does with Yuma in Zexal. Heart and Mind characters are often, but not always romantically linked to one another.

Yubel also appears as a wise guide in a twisted sense, as they're the one guiding Judai throughout the whole journey and eventually they reawaken the memories of his past.

Judai therefore needs to unite with Yubel in order for his psyche to be whole.

There's other characters who can also serve as the sophia / wiseman figure in this instance. Jim Crocodile Cook is the first character to fight Judai to try to get through to him. Once again Jim is an archealogist, he likes trying to reach Judai to digging for sleeping fossils under the earth.

He also possesses a special eye, given to him by a wise man which allows him to see inside of Judai's psyche. Jim is quite literally trying to dig Judai out of the mud. When using his power the comet his eye is associated with turns red, like rubedo and the philosopher's stone because Jim is trying to make Judai whole again.

Austin follows through on Jim's iniatitive and succesfully reaches Judai. His fire deck allows for a nigredo of sorts winning with his fire themed deck to boil away the impurities of Judai's soul starting up the alchemical process.

When Judai awakens he's reborn again underneath a tree into a new self, that's both the supreme king and Judai. Another wiseman figure appears to him in the form of Misawa shortly afterwards to highlight to Judai that the Supreme King isn't a split personality, Judai is the supreme king and he did all of that of his free will.

Judai: The supreme king's gone, though... his powers can't be mine. Misawa: Not quite... Your current self and Supreme King Judai are each one side of the same person. We all have a good and evil side. Judai: But... Misawa: Will you quit it, already! You won't be able to rescue the others with powerless heroics! Controlling your powerful Supreme King side will allow you to bring about justice. Judai: The power of darkness? I can't! Just stop it! Misawa: Stop your whining. Someone who was given special powers will have to fight for all those who've placed their hopes on them, won't they?

In that sense Misawa is the Wiseman who appears to guide Judai to integrate the Supreme King into his psyche, to be more whole.

The Nihilixir

Let's take a break from alchemy to talk about reverse alchemy for a moment, because I can't do a Season 3 post without talking about Amon Garam.

The relationship between Amon and Echo form a dark mirror to the relationship between Judai and Yubel. There are many ways they correspond to each other, both features a king (Judai and Amon) and their servant (Yubel and Echo). Amon is named after a sun god (AMon or Amon-Re), he was abandoned in the desert as a child, he's associated with the solar king. Echo is his Echo more or less, she was raised alongside him to be devoted to him, she's named after the nymph echo cursed to be left behind as nothing more than an Echo. She is passive and subservient, Amon is active and dominating.

I once mentioned Echo above threatening to kill everyone present, so Amon can be in a world where he can become king. Just like Yubel it's Echo's deepest desire for Amon to be king, and Echo genuinely believes Amon has the right to stand above others. They're also set up as the only other explicitly romantic couple besides Judai and Yubel. Yubel drops the extremely intimate "aishiteru" to Judai, and Echo confirms she loves Amon with "Aishiteru" when talking with Edo.

Echo and Amon attempt a union, but unlike Judai and Yubel's union it goes wrong, instead of purifying each other they both basically destroy each other.

Instead of forging a philosopher's stone, what Amon and Echo make is what's called a Nihilixir, a negative transformation. The process of reverse alchemy is elaborated on this posts here.

Love’s alchemy had once transformed him to “Sun”--to ”a quintessence even from nothingness.”   A normal, positive transformation. But now he has been transformed in reverse. a negative transformation. For I am every dead thing... He ruined me, and I am rebegot Of absence, darkness, death, things which are not.... I, by love’s limbecke, am the grave Of all, that’s nothing. (”Limbecke” is another word for the alchemical vessel, the alembic.) The reverse of the Philosopher’s Stone, the Elixir, is the Nihilixir 

While Death and Rebirth is a necessary part of Alchemy, Reverse Alchemy is Death without the rebirth. It's a love which should usually redeem destroying both parties instead.

Kate in this post likens reverse alchemy to the relationship between Oz and Salem from RWBY, an incredibly destructive romance. To paraphrase Kate, death and rebirth is necessary for moving forward in alchemy, but reverse alchemy happens when a character resists death and the grief that comes along with it.

Amon's arc is more or less refusing to feel his own grief. He is undeniably an abused child with a terrible lot in life, left to starve to death when he thinks he's finally saved and works hard to earn his parent's love he is replaced by a biological child and learns how conditional his parent's love is.

Yubel basically takes advantage of all the unprocessed grief that Amon has in order to move him forward to his destruction.

Yubel: My power is not especially great. But those with darkness in their hearts can unleash great power in me. Yubel: The pus welling out of your injured heart forms a second heart. I can see that other heart. The darkness in it. Yubel: The darkness in your heart that has nowhere else to go. You desire life-risking tasks because, all you want is a place to die. Yubel: That’s right. That is the darkness of your heart. it’s there, in the depths of your mind. The cream of your other heart, born from your stagnant blood!

In other words Amon is plagued by thoughts of suicidal ideation and takes on risky missions for the sake of the Garam Conglomerate because he's hoping to just die somewhere far away from his parent's - because he thinks he's been shunned from his family and therefore there's no place for him in this world.

He believes that so thoroughly he even leaves this world and doesn't come back, for a chance to be king in an alternate dimmension free from family obligations.

Yubel says that in order to become whole, to become his true self he would need to "kill his god." More specifically kill his iron will, the resolve he made when his brother was born to only exist for the sake of the Garam conglomerate.

However, you cannot kill your own god. That is because it is the role of a devil.

There's an element of truth to Yubel's words, Yubel is the spirit of wisdom after all. Amon needs to accept death, in order to be reborn as someone new.

Kate basically says where Salem and Oz's relationship goes wrong is that Salem cannot accept death or grieve Oz, and imagine living in a world without him. Which is why she's cursed with immortality, literally becoming undying, and unable to change as well.

Amon cannot accept grief. He's still obsessed with the idea of becoming the head of the Garam family, like he was promised when he was younger - symbolically coming king. He can neither let go of that idea and try to find other ways to be happy in life, or grieve his parent's abuse of him by basically raising him to be a tool only to discard him.

In fact, I believe a lot of people have trouble connecting to Amon as a character because he doesn't openly grieve - he remains stoic b/c he's so dedicated to trying to repress all his pain from his terrible life.

This is another way in which Amon foils Judai, they're both referred to as being pure of heart, and therefore lacking a shadow and darkness. This is not a good thing, Judai's lack of darkness of the heart makes him blind to his own flaws until he hits his lowest point. Amon's so disconnected from his own emotions, he can at one point cruelly lure Echo to her own murder, then five minutes later claim to love her. It's this resistance of grief, and lack of darkness of his heart that makes Amon unable to transform into his better self.

Paralleling Judai yet again, Amon conducts a ritual to sacrifice his loved one in order to forge a powerful card, Superpoly for Judai and Exodia for Amon. However, him and Echo don't die together, it's not a union it's a one-sided affair with Echo taking on all the sacrifice herself. As I said, Amon is unwilling to bear the pain in any way. This is something that Yubel gleefully points out to Amon.

Yubel: I get it now... You weren't in love with Echo. Yubel: No. You may have loved her just enough to clear the conditions in place for you to control Exodia. Yubel: But then, you didn't truly love each other. Yubel: You were only unfairly hurting her, while you would stay unharmed. Yubel: You wouldn't suffer. You wouldn't be in pain.

Yubel: And that's why I'm having Judai go through the same feelings! That could be what it means for us to love!

Again there is an element of truth to Yubel's words. Amon and Echo's relationship was fundamentally unequal and Amon has no desire to change it, and even takes advantage of Echo in that way.

Yubel for all the pain they inflict on Judai desires to be equal in their pains, and their goal is connection and communication which is fundamental to the process of alchemy. Yubel does many things, but they're not resisting grief. In comparison to Amon who shows almost no emotion at Echo's passing, Yubel openly cries on multiple occasions from the pain of Judai abandoning them.

Amon's inability to process his grief of let himself feel pain, or just let go of the idea that he was meant to become his parent's heir and inherit the world - he can't see that he could try to live some other way. He's blind to the people who love him in his life. This is also something that Yubel points out, he could have tried to live a different life from what his family set out for him with Echo. Echo who was always there and loved him. He can't get over his parents lack of love to see there was still love in his life. He can't see a world where he can live without his parent's love.

Yubel: That isn't a world! Yubel: I wouldn't even think of living in a world like that. Yubel: You see, a "world" is something that you build with the one that you love! Yubel: For me, it's something I'll build with Judai! That is a world!

Amon could have created something new with Echo, but he refused to change. Which is why in the end they both destroy each other.

Of course, Judai and Yubel's love isn't exactly a paragon of healthy relationship. Yubel is also unable to imagine a world where they can't live without Judai. However Yubel does allow their beliefs to change after a union with Judai, originally Yubel was so afraid of Judai's rejection they wanted to monpolize all of Judai's attention and essentially live in a world with only them and Judai.

However, after their union in season 4 Yubel is able to accept Judai having bonds with other people doesn't mean that Judai will abandon them.

The parallel with Amon and Echo shows that Judai and Yubel have the potential to destroy each other, but by accepting each other's grief thy both changed for the better instead.

Plate 9 - The Hermaphrodite

The hermaphrodite is the smybol of the marraige of Solar and Lunar (Sun and Moon.) This is usually embodied by a chemical wedding. This post will be shorter, because I already detailed Judai and Yubel's chemical wedding in this post here.

The Splender Solis depicts a winged figure with two heads, one male and one female. The masculine side of the figure is solar symbolism, his radiant shield, his red wing, his golden halo. The feminine side of this figure is lunar symbolism, her white wing, her silver halo, the egg she holds in her hand. Menstrual cycle are lunar, eggs are lunar, etc.

Yubel’s design is a Rebis, split male and female down the middle. It’s even implied in their backstory they were more masculine, and through an alchemical process to become a dragon altered their body to look as such, giving them several feminine traits.

Yubel as one boob and one pec, one muscular leg and one femine leg, speaks in two voices a deep masculine one and a light feminine one, defaults to using masculine “boku”, but plays a feminine role to comparison Judai’s more straighforward masculinity, they even have their face split one side being drawn with eyelashes.

he appearance of the Hermaphrodite comes after what Jung called the Conjunctio, metaphorically the marriage of Solar and Lunar, or the physical marriage of alchemical sulfur and mercury. While the imagery of plate 9 is quite explicit in its depiction of the hermaphrodite, it is subtle in comparison to another illuminated medieval text: the Rosarium Philosophorum (Rode Garden philosophy)

Judai and Yubel also literally duel together in a Rose garden.

When opposites are finally reconciled, the great hermaphrodite is formed. Judai even refers to this as an act of finally purifying the light’s corruption from Yubel’s soul by uniting it with the supreme king’s soul. The union is a purifying process, and the end of Yubel and Judai’s long journey of losing each other and finding each other again.

However, in order to be purified they have to both let their old selves die in order to form something new, the final death but one they experience together. In order to do that both need to experience a dismemberment.

Plate 10 and Plate 11

I'm coupling these two together because the Severing the head of the king an the bath represent the final process of death and rebirth.

Alchemy is violent, Solve et Coagula requires things to dissolve away before they can coagulate together again. Before the psyche can rebuild, it has to be ripped apart. Before a relationship can get better, two lovers need to clash.

The image itself is set in a city in a countryside, a man is holding a decapitated head severed from a body lying at his feet. Both Judai and Yubel experience a dismemberment at one point or another. In another classical alchemical text Lunar King and Queen experience this dismemberment together, in order to represent the violent union of opposites.

Judai experiences Ego death after his friends are dissolved and adopts the moniker of the supreme king. When he's finally snapped out of it, Hell Kaiser takes his helmet off and throws the helmet to the crowd below in a symbolic decapitation.

Yubel is torn to pieces when they re-enter earth's atmopshere, and quite literally are reduced to just a hand the way the body's limbs are all cut off. They need to use duel energy to restore each other. The second time they dissolve in the duel against Judai and Johan and they physically dissolve a second time and need to possess Johan's body in order to recover.

Another feature of the Splendor Solis painting is the kingdom by a river in the background invoking water, and Air which is related to the sword suit in tarot like the sword the main holds.

Judai and Yubel duel atop the clouds (air) and recalls the past when the air starts blowing the clouds away revealing a kingdom by the waterside.

While experiencing the past he recalls the violent surgery Yubel endured to be reborn as a dragon, literally tearing their body apart in a painful procedure.

Afterwards Prince Judai touched by the sacrifice Yubel made for their sake, unites with Yubel, promising Yubel their eternal love. He also recalls that he and Yubel were together in their past lives, and therefore they've already experienced one death only to be reborn again and meet each other. Judai: You did this... to protect me. Yubel: It is fine. Protecting you as you grow from a child into an adult is my duty after all. Judai: Yubel, I promise you. My love will only belong to you. No matter what anyone says, I will keep loving you.

The union and promise also take place by the waterside, which is symbolic of the bath which is the final plat of the Solis.

The final image is a man sitting in a bath, with a fire beneath it. The plate is an analaogy for sublimation the boiling fo a substance - Judai experienced a sublimation when the water of the clouds turned to air, in a breeze that revealed his past.

IWhen a bath appear in fiction it's often depicted as a man and woman bathing, though it doesn't necessarily have to involve water. For Judai and Yubel, it's their final union brought about by Super Polymerization fusing their souls together.

Judai even refers to this process of purifying the corruption of the light of destruction by joining his soul together with theirs.

Yubel is not destroyed, but rather pacified with a single touch must like Esther with her king, and ends up giving up on their plans of destruction from one act of communication and understanding.

The parable contains a reference to Medea.

“OVID the old Roman, wrote to the same end, when he mentioned an ancient Sage who desired to rejuvenate himself was told: he should allow himself to be cut to pieces and decoct to a perfect decoction, and then his limbs would reunite and again be renewed in plenty of strength.” (Trismosin 33).

Medea married the hero Jason. When he asked her to strengthen his father, she instead ritually killed him, bleeding his old blood away only to restore him later. Medea's also famous for dismembering her brother so that's kind of fun.

Yubel is a very Medea like figure, the embodiment of a woman scorned, after Jason abandoned Medea to marry a new wife, Medea decided to avenge herself by killing his wife, his children, his new father in law but sparing Jason. Her revenge is making him just as alone as she was. Yubel also cannot bring themselves to kill Judai, but take out their pain on all of his friends so Judai will have nothing left but them.

However, as mythcrafts says:

This image relates the ultimate cost of enlightenment, and the curse of growing up; all growth requires sacrifice. New life demands a little dying.

The path is physically painful. The man in the bath is being boiled. Chemical weddings are violent. Hudai screams out in agony when his soul is being fused with Yubel's. He even says that this fusion might destroy who he is now.

However, acepting that death is what allows both Judai and Yubel to take the first steps into healing together.

The plate is also a metaphor for the Hermes Trismegistus,  “it arises from the earth and descends from heaven; it gathers to itself the strength of things above and things below” often shortned to "As above, so below."

Judai and Yubel's chemical wedding in the material world, also radiates to affect the cosmos or the world of the heavens. We see this in the effects of Super Polymerization changing the world around them, as it cuts to several characters in the outside world as the destruction of super poly spreads outward.

However, after the violent process of disolve et coagula is over, the two are empowered by each other to fight the light of destruction together. The change is now spreading out to the cosmos. They begin a journey of atonement which lasts even beyond season 4 and into the rest of their lives, to make up for the destruction they've caused.

Judai's friends who've been dissolved away finally return at the same time, and even Judai who is pronounced dead makes a return by the next episode changed into a fusion of himself and Yubel.

Death and rebirth, Grief and healing, all of Yubel's grief even dissolves away into tears as they finally let go of the idea they need to hurt others as much as they've been hurt.

Also because this is citrinitas the entire scene is dyed yellow. By accepting Yubel into his soul, Judai has transformed the dark night into a solar light. THe sun has risen for them both, as the lunar queen reunites with the solar king, they are no longer servant and master but equal.

 The third stage, citrinitas, brings forth the light of the sun (the masculine), a light which magically transforms the shadowy and fearful subconscious into valuable consciousness. From the dark night of rubedo, to the pale morning light of albedo, the sun rises in citrinitas to the culmination of day in rubedo.

As Judai and Yubel depart together, we finally move onto the fourth stage of alchemy Rubedo where Judai and Yubel become one whole self!

I'll elaborate more on that on my next alchemy post though, because alchemy is still a four step process and there's still more to come for Judai / Yubel.

[sylusjinwoon]

{ 106 }

feel again.

warnings: unedited, spoilers for lies of p, self indulgent. thank you to @kkyos for letting me know the important plot details pertaining to the king of puppets 🔥

romeo - king of puppets - x fem.reader

{ my heart is numb | but with you, i feel again. }

the king of puppets was left severely damaged after his battle with geppetto's puppet...

the one who simply went by p;

the one who carries carlo's memories within his mechanical heart;

the one romeo tried so desperately to warn about-

yet it was all for naught.

the automaton with the chestnut hair and cold, blue eyes never listened nor believed a single word romeo had told him.

so the king of puppets thought if p wouldn't heed his warnings about geppetto's true intentions, then he might as well kill him himself.

but he wasn't expecting p to be so powerful, and it would be fair to say that romeo had severely underestimated him. p seemed to cut him down with ease. for a mere puppet, romeo had to admit how powerful p's conviction was when it came to their battle. the puppet romeo had been controlling, appearing every bit like the true king of puppets, suffered a great blow that caused an explosion.

it left romeo greatly damaged beyond compare, with half of his face melted in the process. so instead of relying on his facade as the king of puppets, he knew he had to fight p in his true form, doing all he could to defeat geppetto's creation.

yet each time p's blade met with romeo's metallic body, he knew that he didn't stand a chance. if romeo wished to survive, he would have to willingly fall and allow geppetto's wishes to come true.

"maybe this is what freedom feels like. thanks, carlo."

he thinks back to his dear friend and the tragedy of his death, and although romeo understood geppetto's desire see him again, he didn't think it was right nor fair to take away p's life in exchange.

yet each time romeo tried to convey these feelings, p displayed no signs of understanding a single word romeo had said, piercing through his shoulder with a thick blade as romeo slumped forward, landing with his face against the velvet floors of the theater. he waits and hears the faint sounds of a conversation going on... of him congratulating p on his defeat.

romeo could feel the thick oil seep through the openings of his armor, and an overwhelming sensation coursing through his form. every part of his body had been slashed by p's weapon, leaving a permanent mark that he was uncertain he could ever recover from.

so, he lays in waiting, waiting for their presence to disappear, waiting for the scent of oil and rust to dampen down just so he can move once more.

romeo was uncertain how much time had passed, but when he could hear the sounds of rain pounding against the cobblestone streets, he shuts his eyes and basks in the refreshing scent for the briefest of moments.

move, you'll die here if they come back.

with his fists clenched, he slowly stands back to his full height, his stature and gait unsteady due to how much damage he had taken in the fight. he allows his dirty blond hair to fall across his face, covering his damaged eye, now shining a bright red instead of its usual onyx grey.

he takes steady movements, coming out of the opera house as the rain washes over him. strange, gasping noises were heard coming from his parted lips, his movements a slow, crawling pace. the downpour was getting stronger, creating puddles against the streets of krat.

as the rain dampens his locks of hair, romeo was forced to look at the damage he had sustained. his hair was torn in as the left side of his face was completely melted off, revealing a bright red iris settled in the middle of a wide expanse of black. his hands tremble, ready to touch against the part of his face that made him a monster when a sudden gasp was heard.

his ears could detect the sound, facing the sound as his eyes met with a young woman's-

met with your gaze.

the umbrella that was held in your hand drops at the mere sight of him, and even when his mind seemed to short circuit at the fact that someone had seen him in such a vulnerable state, he couldn't deny that you were beautiful.

from the way your hair framed at your face, to the brightness of your eyes and the curve of your lips...despite how utterly long it had been since he was a human, he remembers what it feels like to cherish the beauty in things that he admired-

and you were by far the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in a long time.

he watches you, as if drawn to you, like your presence was pulling him towards you. his hands reach out to you, and he was shocked to find that you didn't flinch away from him. his fingertips were just centimeters away from gracing your cheeks when a flash of lightning cuts through him, illuminating his features once more as he saw his reflection within the puddles.

with a low, anguished cry, romeo was forced to back away from you, turning away as he allowed his legs to carry him away. just what was he thinking? he was a monster, and you were so beautiful- reminding him of all the fairies and princesses he had read about in those fairytales.

you would be disgusted with him, regardless of how much he was drawn to you.

but when he feels a sudden pull against his wrist, stopping him from going any further, romeo turns back to see you clinging to him. "wait, please, don't go...!"

it was strange, but he could feel your hands against his cold, metallic body, transferring your warmth into him as yet another overwhelming emotion fills him.

instead of feeling pain surrounding his body, he felt something pierce into his chest, the place where his own mechanical heart lay as it ached at the sight of your proximity, filling him with a desire to reach out his hand to brush back at your hair. he allows his fingertips to grace your features for a brief second before his vision turns completely black, hearing your voice echoing as he succumbs to his injuries.

{ ... }

the moment he awakens, he was aware of the fire burning brightly from in front of him.

now in a panicked state, romeo sits up, ready to attack had it not been for the fact that you were currently settled before the blazing fire. when his eyes adjust to his surroundings, he was fully aware of how he was safely tucked into a small bed with a comforting fire remaining ablaze within the fireplace.

"ah, it's nice to see that you're awake. you had me worried there." romeo remains silent, simply watching you while admiring the sound your voice. it was hard to explain, but he felt a sense of tranquility each time you spoke to him.

you tell him your name as you were now pacing the room, with your eyes straying to him every so often, "although you are so much taller than me, i was determined to carry you back with me to my home. i managed to clean you, getting rid of all that rust and oil to the best of my abilities before laying you in my bed."

when you finished speaking, you appeared sheepish then, scratching the back of your head while giving him a tiny smile. "i was really afraid that you wouldn't open your eyes, but i'm so happy that you did."

your sudden kindness makes romeo feel a tightness in his chest, making him look away from you. "what made you wish to help a monster like me?"

the cold edge heard in his voice was enough to make you stop in your tracks, ceasing your pacing around the room when romeo continues, "i'm part of the automatons that went rogue. if i so desired, i could kill you irregardless of your humanity."

"but you were hurt, and i could not leave you, even if you can kill me."

you admit to him without hesitation, making romeo face you once more. when he held your gaze, he saw no fear in your eyes, watching you as you stepped closer to him. you never once looked away from him, settling yourself on the bed with him.

no words were spoken, and you find yourself leaning closer to him. romeo flinches away from you, seeing your hands reaching out to him. his actions make you halt for a moment, but you end up pushing through anyways and allow the palm of your hand to caress at his cheek.

with a gentleness romeo had never felt before, he feels the way your hands frame at his face. despite how much romeo held a deep sense of self loathing for what had become of him and his face, he could not bring himself to hurt you by pushing you away. for some odd reason, he just knew that you meant no harm, and the thought of hurting you made his chest display this strange ache again.

"don't be afraid of me...and don't pull away." your voice was as soft and sweet as a lullaby, tracing at each and every part of his features. from his cold, full lips to his pale skin and the few freckles that decorate it. when he feels your fingertips touch at the melted portion of his face, he found himself leaning in to your touch.

"tell me, what is your name?"

as if caught under your spell, romeo closes his eyes, basking in your closeness as he relinquishes his name to you.

"romeo."

he figured that would be the farthest extent of your touches, yet when your face suddenly leans forward and he could feel the sensation of your lips against his ruined features, romeo felt his chest explode yet again with an unknown, overwhelming sensation-

he had read about this action in books before, what you had given him was a kiss, and a kiss was always meant to be shared between those who shared a particular fondness for each other-

shared between those who loved each other.

yet romeo found that he did not dislike your kiss, not even in the slightest.

you keep your lips pressed against his cheek for a few more beats before pulling away to whisper, "i know you won't hurt me, because i won't ever hurt you..."

you meet his gaze once more, smiling brightly at him when you admit, "you are perfect...and beautiful to me."

with your soft kindness and beauty filling him, romeo found himself looking at you with a sense of longing, the once still mechanical heart that was locked in his chest suddenly feeling as though it was coming to life for the first time in years.

romeo acts on this strange desire, hands placing themselves on your neck as he brings you even closer to him, copying your prior movements when he places his own, cold lips against the heated skin of your forehead, allowing them to warm him when he whispers to you,

"with you, i feel again."

a.n. - i am so in love with romeo. after my friend had revealed him to me in a leak, and i could hear what he sounded like, i am so, utterly in love with him. this is so self indulgent and i am soooo sorry.

all stories are written by rei; reposts, translations, and plagiarism are not allowed.

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

Now that I have your attention:

[lostcauses-noregrets]

When Hange and Levi are talking to Yelena and Onyankopon, does Levi actually say something about Erwin laughing about something that Yelena says? I remember seeing someone say that somewhere, but idk if it was true. Do you know what I’m talking about?

I'm tagging @tsuki-no-ura here because this is definitely one to file under A Question of Translation. This exchange takes place in chapter 106 when Yelena explains to Levi and Hange that the pure Titans Marley unleashed on the island, which were originally intended to confine the Eldians inside the walls, were actually preventing Marley from attacking. The panel you're asking about is Levi's response, and I actually have three different versions of it.

The first is from the fan translation of the raws:

The second is from Mangastream, so I presume this is a semi (?) official translation of the chapter:

And the third is from the English edition of the tankobon (I think):

There was a huge amount of debate about this panel when it first appeared. The fan translation did not specifically mention Erwin but, many fans took the "he" to refer to him, meanwhile other readers argued that a better translation would have been something along the lines of "what a joke" or "don't make me laugh". Much as I love the fan translation, I'm inclined to think the Mangastream version is more accurate. The tankobon version seems to lack character. I haven't got a copy of the original and my Japanese is non existent anyway, so I'd be interested to see what Tsuki thinks.

[yfmconfessions2]

Yfm HCs!!!!

Deejay was 5th in his graduating class of 80

Puff was 29th

Axel was 56th of his grad class of 106

Benatar was 2nd of his class

Benatar is really smart but acts dumb to get laughs out of people

Benatar’s favorite song to perform is Complicated bc it reminds him of Axel and puff

Puff hates Thursdays bc that’s the day that his mom abandoned him

Benatar left with his brothers for a foreign exchange program and never went back

Axel’s favorite song is alien bc he gets a solo

DeeJay’s favorite song is Booty Store because he can just say booty several times

Axel hid his singing voice for years but then accidentally let it out and sounded like a saint

Puff loves helluva boss bc it says fuck every three seconds

HAHAHAHA I LOVE THESEEEEEEE

AND YEAH THEY CAUGHT AXEL SINGING THIS TO HIMSELF

AND THEY WERE LIKE "YOUVE BEEN HOLDING OUT ON US???? WHAT THE FUCK?????"

[vault-kid]

May I have a crumb of Luna and Fawkes lore?

YES! you may have more than a crumb... (fun fact: fawkes was one of the first companions i EVER had like 10 years ago! and i had him for a long long time<3)

Luna thought she was hallucinating the first time she heard Fawkes speak through the intercom up until she also saw Butch's confused expression. Unless there was something in the Vault's air filtration system like in Vault 106? But... No. There it— he?— was, talking to them, also confused at the two real humans talking to him inside Vault 87.

Realistically, Luna was very startled at first, but after Fawkes' brief introduction, she felt empathy for him. Butch on the other hand, couldn't really believe she was being nice to him... They argued about trusting Fawkes and whether to bother or not, and I like to think Fawkes mentioned they bickered like two super-mutants themselves. (since i don't think he'd know how an old married couple would sound like)

When he mentioned being able to aid them with their search of the GECK in return of his freedom, Luna immediately agreed. One, she understood how he felt (somewhat) being isolated and mistreated in that room, feeling like you don't belong, and two, she definitely needed the help. While Butch didn't want anything to do with Fawkes, he had no other choice... and Luna had already made that clear before.

Despite her initial shock, Luna was kind to him, having his back as they made their way to the GECK, and he had hers. Butch continued to struggle to understand what the hell was going on, but he couldn't afford to stay behind. Pretty sure Fawkes asked Luna why she was ever traveling with such a particular companion, considering her kindness and wits, and that only riled Butch up more... Regardless, Butch stayed right behind her. After obtaining the GECK, Luna thanked him profoundly, and he did the same.

After Raven Rock, Fawkes startles both Luna and Butch again. All they could hear were giant footsteps running towards them, before Fawkes was suddenly right in front of them. I love to think he even drops his Gatling laser out of pure delight before scooping Luna up in a hug (gentle enough not to hurt her lol).. Butch got a slight nudge which felt more like an intense shove to him than anything, but whatever. Luna, once again, was very happy to see a friendly face after the shitshow that just happened inside of Raven Rock, not to mention both of these kids barely made it out alive from there...

While she doesn't ask him to be a companion, she does ask him for his plans now that he's free. This is when he explains he'd love to learn about the world in the Museum of History (i think thats what he says, right? i dont remember lols). Time to time, Luna goes to visit, asking about the new things he's learned and exchange stories or pieces of information. In all honesty, those pre-war books Scribe Yearling asks you to bring her in Arlington Library? She just brings some to Fawkes instead (ik this isnt canon cus u cant do it in game, but it is now). He is always so thankful and appreciative, so she believes he deserves them way more than the B.O.S. will ever do.

[iwtvdramacd18]

...... wolfkiller directors cut ? >.<

Wolfkiller was made firstly bc I fucking love Claudia as a character, and also when rereading TVL I started thinking about the role of "Wolfkiller" and how it functions in Lestat's story as something that sort of rockets him to this more than human figure: both literally through how the 8 wolf killing feat is ultimately what seals his fate wrt Magnus and also metaphorically within the text. Like much of it IS just Anne Rice having character favoritism and bad writing making Lestat the VC's Most Special Boy ever... but then I got to thinking about what it means to have proximity to the role of Wolfkiller, and how in text it entwines with his vampirism and how his vampirism is something that's both very werewolfish in how he describes how it manifests in himself and how he spreads it, but most applicable to Claudia here something that's also passed down through the blood. And I couldn't get the idea of Claudia as a sort of "heir" to this Wolfkiller title; but Lestat is the wolf. He sees his bloodlust and sharpness and hunger in her but he doesn't really fully comprehend that while Claudia might share these traits she's someone still wholly her own (and that's one of the great tragedies of iwtv-- the fact that Claudia is her own person but is unable to fully live as independent Claudia nolastname, that even in death she is being tied to Louis and described in ways that she explicitly did not want to be used for herself).

There's also a very literal reference to TVL in Wolfkiller:

In her vampiric infancy Claudia developed a love/hate relationship with the bayou. She hated how the mud sucked at her good shoes (and Louis echoed this sentiment, you messin up these good shoes for what, Claudia? ) but she was endlessly, almost overwhelmingly fascinated with its life. A cacophony of countless animal hearts beating in different rhythms. All sorts of strange creatures she could scoop from the ground and turn over in her hands. One night she snuck off to count the toes of every frog she could find, then wrote the findings in her diary.

This is inspired by a passage in TVL about Lestat describing his earlier engagements with his enhanced senses as a vampire (page 106 in this edition I'm looking at right now):

To me, their voices became a mixture of sounds like stew bubbling in a pot. All I could think was that the rat had very tiny feet, and that I had not yet examined a rat nor any small warm-blooded creature. I went and caught the rat, rather too easily I think, and looked at its feet. I wanted to see what kind of little toenails it had, and what was the flesh like between its little toes, and I forgot the men entirely.

But Claudia's interest in animal sciences is something that I originally had planned to explore more in another wip that's been shelved for the moment, a sort of second boat scene between her and Louis where she asks Louis more about his childhood and how he learned he was "Louis" and not the daughter he was originally raised as. There's really only one hint about Claudia being non-binary in Wolfkiller and I wish I added more but I hit fatigue pretty bad towards the end and couldn't figure out a way to really fit in more the way I wanted to.

She could see the faint impression as if she’d looked too long at the picture and now was haunted by its afterimage – her as a grown woman, a human, hunched over her desk scribbling on paper. There was too much wrong with it. He’d forgotten she was a vampire, and not a woman. He’d factored too many of his mother’s features into the equation.

I was really worried about writing Louis and Claudia's moments together at first but in the end I really enjoyed them, and I'm hoping to write more fics in season 2 with them interacting. Here's an exchange that didn't make the final cut:

Last thing I can think of rn is the ending, which was a very last minute addition compared to the process of the rest of the story. And I can't even really remember what reminded me of it in the first place? But the ending is actually inspired by the end of the Killing Joke.

One of my headcanons is that Claudia is also very capable of the Lestat fuck ass laugh that everyone hates, and I liked the unease but also sort of Looney Tunes type violent humor in Claudia hitting her "deer" and then the two of them laughing horribly about it.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ASKING!! <3