#he has an apprentice currently but he wants to network for me

[maggot-baggage]

MY AUNT FOUND SOMEONE TO HELP ME WITH MY TATTOO JOURNEY YARRRR

[youandmedead]

𝕽𝖊𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 - 𝕬𝖉𝖆𝖒 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖝 𝕲𝕹 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

Warnings: Swearing, heavy angst with no comfort, gory descriptions (it is saw, after all)

Notes: So this is chapter one of the Apprentice Adam fic. I decided to post it on here so I have a better chance at gaining feedback from people so I hope everyone enjoys it (this will also be posted on my A03 account @/Iliketomakeyousuffer as many people also wanted me to post this there, but I'm still trying to work out it's layout/set up)

Taglist: @ghustface737

Darkness shrouded the bloodied and germ ridden bathroom. The stench of bodies beginning to enter their decomposition stages and release their bowels, now that there was no use for them, lingered and entwined with the already nauseating stench that the trap had to offer. So many thoughts and emotions ran through Adam's already haywired brain. Was Lawrence going to survive? He was, right? He had to, he just had to! If he was going to make it, would he send help for him? Would he stick to his promise…after all Lawrence would never lie to Adam.

He said so himself.

With what little strength that Adam had possessed, he adjusted the position he currently resided in. He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them, whilst trying to avoid further agitating the bullet wound around his right shoulder.

He sobbed helplessly - pain, sorrow, fear and anger all melded into one. The only thing stopping him from completely losing it and smashing an object then cutting his lifeout of existence, was the very thought of Lawrence's return or even the presence of another human being showing up, apart from that sick twisted psychopath that threw him in that god forsaken room and forced a man to completely saw his own foot off in order to prove his worthiness of life. As his mind flashed and flickered to the very moment when Lawrence sawed through the flesh, tissue and bone of his ankle in a mad fit of hysteria and rage, Adam's sons became more violent. His eyes hesitantly lingered over to the severed limb where Lawrence was once trapped - he gagged and his gaze hastily rushed back to his dirt covered knees.

-

The decreasing temperatures began to weave its way into the bathrooms foundations. Goosebumps prickled and littered Adam’s skin, his body began to shake and eventually began to feel a biting numb sensation in his feet, hands and the tips of his ear. He assessed the current conditions and assumed that it was night - he decided to try and keep track of the temperatures within the room to help assess what time of day it is, then from this he could potentially estimate how long he has spent in the desolate deathtrap.

The cuff and chain that restrained him to the massive network of pipes began to feel even more uncomfortable than before. The metal was digging into his skin and due to the cold, it burned his skin and thus irritated his ankle more. He attempted to slot his denim trousers in between the cool metal to ease off the sensation, however the material was wrapped around his ankle too tight to do so. He groaned in dissatisfaction and once again laid his forehead on his knees and hugged himself, hoping that someone would eventually come and save him.

-

Time passed at an agonising rate. On top of all of the traumatic events that Adam had been exposed to, the boredom played another factor in his torture. He found himself beginning to turn to hunger and thirst the longer the hours dragged on. Constant growls of starvation echoed throughout the desolate walls, no food was provided to him...except the rotting corpses laid out before him and the tiny bugs scavenging the floor. Would he grow so desperate for food to the point where he'd devour another's life? Well their time was up...

His body ached all over now and not just at the wound site. After crying, screaming and begging for hours on end, his voice grew hoarse and his throat now burned and he slowly began to feel his emotions drifting away from him. There was nothing left for him now. Despite his humanity and sanity still being intact, Adam wondered how long it would be before even those were stolen away from him. He knew that he wasn’t an angel and he knew that he didn’t have the most perfect track record when it came to people, but did he truly deserve this punishment? Was he not aware of how strenuous his sins and the paths he took in life were? The chains he forged in life were now being weighed down by all of his wrong doings and just like the key that was in that rusty, mucus filled bathtub it went down the drain and the possibility of it being retrieved were zero.

He reflected on himself, as a passenger of life and as a person in the lives of others who he cared for. Memories began showcasing in his mind like a presentation at a massive criminal court case - the bad were specifically provided to him in order to prove his guilt and define why he was in the position that he was stuck in now. He had done so many things that he regretted, things he wished he could travel back in time to prevent himself from saying…he should have really thought before he spoke when faced with a conundrum or a situation where someone’s tone seemed off. He always created enemies because of this and it eventually led to a solitary life. As a child, he was too, very much in the same state that he was in terms of a social life now - he only had one or two friends that he stuck to like glue, but he eventually screwed up and pushed them away, he would always misread a situation or go into defend mode when someone provided him with an act of kindness and drove them away through his stupidity and hot headed resolve. Many arguments that he had had with his parents, friends, past lovers and present lover invaded his fragile mind. With a deep sigh, Adam tried to think of some of the positive experiences he had in life. For example all of the memories he had shared with his partner y/n…they’ll be alone now that he’s gone. Will they believe he just randomly disappeared out of cowardice and despise him or will they search for him?

The night that Adam had been drugged and kidnapped, was the night that the two of them had a huge altercation…an argument that wouldn’t have occurred if Adam had just taken a moment to re-evaluate the situation and shut his mouth instead of adding more gasoline to the already blazing fire. A few tears collected and pooled in his eyes, he was such an asshole for leaving them there…and the fact that he was never able to apologise to them before he was led blindly to death's door will forever haunt him, even beyond the land of the living. They certainly were one of the best things that had ever happened in his life but he was such a fool for believing that his happy ending would be closer than he once believed. The two of them will never be able to sit down together and watch a cheesy B listed horror movie whilst taking a drink from a beer every time someone made a stupid decision or broke the rules that almost every horror movie abides by, they’ll never be able to sit on the local park’s bench during the autumn season drinking coffee, admiring and photographing the beautiful scenery filled with crimson, auburn and medallion hues, they’ll never be able to go see their favourite bands together and get absolutely wrecked in the mosh pits.

They’ll never be able to see each other again.

-

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he weakly muttered, “I'm going to get out of here…Lawrence will come, h-he’ll get me out of here. He’s alive, he’s alive and not dead. I’m going to get out. I have to get out.” The man began to rock backwards and forwards as he spoke to himself in a poor attempt to warm and soothe himself.

“Think of good stuff, don’t be dragged down by all of the bullshit, just think of the good.”

He squeezed his eyes closed, the pitch black that he saw was exactly the same as the bathroom’s brightness level - there was no difference whatsoever.

He searched long and hard in his memories until he stumbled upon a time where he was at his lowest as a child. He sat in the backyard of his family home with his beloved pet dog crying to him about how much he hated his life. He was absolutely devastated when he died. The first and only best friend he had was now gone forever. In a strange way, it helped him know what he wanted to do in his life. He wanted to help families and children have a longer time with their beloved pets:he wanted to repay animals for what they had done for him.

Suddenly Adam recalled telling Lawrence about it:

“Yep, I think I can safely say that it’s too late to become a vet”

“It’s never too late”

Adam then pointed to the bloodied corpse lying face down on the uninviting floor of the bathroom, with his brains splattered everywhere.

“Well he’s got fuck all chance of becoming a vet.”

Silence reigned through the room for a bit before Adam let out a chuckle and in turn Lawrence did the same till it died down and the two stared at each other.

Adam nodded and looked back at the photos of Lawrence's family, what was so wrong that he had done to end up in the same situation as a no good, pathetic waste of space?

-

Throughout his childhood, Adam was incredibly resilient. It felt as if everyone (including the world) were trying to knock him down to his lowest. As he sat there, he couldn’t help but think about how glad he was that he stayed in a weird sort of way. Yes he was still sick of all the assholes the world had to offer and yes he was still dealt with horrible cards, yet as pathetic as it may seem to some, he was glad he was able to find himself a person like Y/n. However he probably fucked up with them just like how he fucked up with his parents and everyone else.

-

His parents…

His mother left him a voicemail an hour or so before he was knocked out by a stranger in a pig mask and scarlett red cloak in his own home. “Adam, are you there? Please pick up if you are there. Your fathers not angry anymore. We just want to know if you’re alright. Please call honey…..goodbye.”

Adam’s breath hitched and exhaustion wracked through his body.

Perhaps some day he’ll be able to get out.

[weirdraccoon]

Another idea if you're interested 💕.

Praticamente il seguito di un'idea già realizzata.

MC e Sebastian hanno un appuntamento romantico (o un intoppo di lavoro come preferisci) e chiedono a Eleazar di fare da babysitter alla piccola Miriam per qualche ora e proprio in quel momento Miriam decide di sviluppare una magia accidentale (sparando fuoco dalla sua bocca ecc.)

ohmygodohmygodyeeees!!! (i haven't forgotten about the last one, just these days I'm not feeling up for anything but this one yeeees!!!"

I hope google translate didn't muck it up cause I don't know Italian xd

Practically the sequel to an idea already realized.

MC and Sebastian have a romantic date (or a business snag as you prefer) and ask Eleazar to babysit little Miriam for a few hours and just then Miriam decides to develop accidental magic (shooting fire from her mouth etc. )

will also add a silly drawing later. this gave me "jack jack attack" vibes

Fig waved goodbye from his doorstep, also grabbing little Miriam's hand to wave goodbye to her parents. The young couple had the privilege to be invited to a gala celebrating something or other at the Ministry, or like Sebastian liked to explain it "to suffer through a night of schmoozing and networking".

Well, if EmSea wanted to become Minister she had to schmooze and network as much as possible. And Ominis would be there to help them. Fig wasn't too worried about his girl's ambitions.

"How about we have some dinner and then we listen to music while we do our homework?"

Miriam was only five years old, way too young to go to Hogwarts, but with parents like hers, she had been introduced to magical and muggle culture and history from the moment she was born. Sebastian, mainly, loved to read to her and he taught her how to read in record time. EmSea, on her part, liked to stroll in muggle London, taking her daughter with her so she could understand muggles were as human as wizarkin. So far, it seemed like the little girl loved all the muggle items she saw in her walks, but also all the old traditions wizards practice.

And she was already showing signs of powerful magic.

Fig never saw any of this, but according to Sebastian and EmSea, little Miriam was proficient at the summoning charm. There was nowhere in their house where they could hide the cookies or candy. Miriam always found them or summoned them from their places to her little hands.

At least she hadn't shown any ancient magic yet. Fig didn't know for sure how EmSea grew up or how dangerous her accidental magic was, but he hoped little Miriam didn't face the same obstacles as her mom did.

Miriam wouldn't have to hide her magic, bury it so deep it only came out under duress at her almost fifteen years old... No. Fig, along with Sebastian, EmSea, and Ominis (who has been an excellent godfather so far) would make sure Miriam grew up loved and safe and developing her magic to her full potential.

So, thinking about the books he read about kids' healthy development, Fig played some classic music that was supposed to help with attention and mind awareness.

"I like that," Miriam babbled, dutifully coloring the book her father left her with. "It's... relaxing," she giggled, laying her head on top of the book.

Fig smirked, glad the child liked it. He sat on his sofa with the new year's lesson plan and focused on correcting it. His apprentice was good but still needed some corrections here and there, specifically when organizing the topics from general to specific.

He wasn't sure how much time went by, but suddenly he realized Miriam had been way too quiet for a little five-year-old. He peeked over his papers and froze when he saw her missing.

"Shoot," he jumped to his feet, trying not to panic. "Ok, ok, it's ok. The wards won't let her go out, she has to be here," he looked around. The flat wasn't too big: a kitchen, a dining space, the living space he was currently standing in, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. "Miriam?" He called. "Where are you, you little snidget?"

Nothing.

Then.

Giggles echoed around him, sending shivers down his spine and making him look around with anxiety.

"I knew EmSea was a demon but why did she have a demon baby?" He muttered, then walked to the hallway that led to EmSea's old room. "Miriam?"

Something popped behind him, making him flinch and turn with his wand in hand.

There was nothing there.

Another 'pop'. Then another. And another. Surrounding him.

"Oh my dear Merlin, Miriam, are you apparating!?" He cried. "That's. that's dangerous, dear! Just- Hey! Who wants a cookie?"

Pop!

Miriam apparated right into his arms. He grunted and caught her before she could fall.

"I like cookies, gran'pa," Miriam grinned innocently.

"Yeah, ok," Fig sighed, tightening his hold on her. "But no more apparating. And your mom said only one before going to bed."

Miriam frowned but kept quiet as Fig took her to the kitchen. Her wide brown eyes observed as he opened the cupboard over the sink and revealed the full jar of cookies. He grabbed only one.

"Here, let's go back to sitting, shall we?"

Miriam munched on her cookie, but her eyes were glued to the cupboard.

Suddenly, it caught on fire.

"Fuck!" Fig shouted, placing Miriam on the floor. "Shit. No- Don't- Don't repeat those words, ok darling?" Then he ran back to the kitchen, trying to stop the fire with a couple of spells.

When the fire died out, he turned to make sure Miriam wasn't injured.

He found her munching on more cookies, jar safely guarded between her legs.

"This is going be a long night, isn't it?"

Miriam giggled.

Then floated.

The music didn't sound so relaxing anymore.

[oss-crime]

Chapter 2-Project “Ma” –Eve–; Scene 3

Original Sin Story: Crime, pages 23-37

Apparently the carriage’s speed was enough to outrace their pursuers.

After they arrived at Nemu village, they headed for Eve’s house, which was also the residence of the village chief.

This village had no clinics. As he had some medical knowledge, the village chief also acted as the village doctor.

“Welcome home…And who are these people, Eve?”

Chief Zvezda’s eyes went wide when he saw Eve carrying in two men, one of them injured.

“They were attacked on the plains by the white army. This one’s wounded.”

“It looks that way…Well then, you sit over here. I’ll examine you.”

Seth obeyed the chief’s words, taking a seat in a chair set deeper in the room.

After watching him silently, Eve spoke up to Adam “Are you alright? You didn’t get injured or anything?”

“No, luckily for me. More than that—”

Before Adam could continue his sentence, the village chief cut in as he wrapped a bandage around Seth’s head, “Judging by your outfits…you two are researchers from the royal capital.”

“Ho, you’re quite well-informed.”

“Director Horus of the Royal Research Institute is an old acquaintance of mine. Is he still working hard on research artifacts as usual?”

Adam hesitated for a moment, before telling the chief, “No…He’s passed on. Two years ago. Right now I’m working as director in his place.”

“How…I see, I hadn’t known. I’ve stopped going to the Twelve Royal Capitals lately. And so that would make you—”

“Horus’ adopted son, Adam.”

“I’ve heard your name from him, but I suppose that would make this our first time meeting like this.”

“Yes, and—"

This time Seth butt in. “Erm…I’d appreciate it if you could patch up my wound first.”

“Oops, sorry.”

The chief flusteredly resumed wrapping bandages.

“…Hm?”

He made a puzzled expression, peering at Seth’s face.

“Your left eye looks funny. Is that injured as well?”

“Ah…No, it’s always been like that. I haven’t been able to see out of this eye from birth.”

“A defective left eye…Horus was like that too, as I recall.”

“Ha ha, that’s right. Just a coincidence.”

.

After Seth’s treatment was finished, the researchers bowed their heads to Eve and the village chief and said their thanks.

The chief offered for them to rest at the village for a while.

“The white army wouldn’t go as far as attacking us here,” the chief revealed.

Adam replied, giving him a courteous smile, “Is that because this place is a village of sorcerers?”

“…My my, so the son of Horus is able to glean that much.” The village chief sat down in a nearby chair, a hand on his aching hip. “Let me ask you a question instead, Adam. For what purpose did you all come to this remote place? I’d think that scientists would have little interest in an excavation site, of all things.”

“That’s not so. After all is said and done we’re researchers of the old legacy. It wouldn’t be all that strange for us to want to see where it’s excavated.”

“But up until this point we have never once had a scientist go visit there. Your aim is not the excavation site.”

The village chief’s tone had hardened, but Adam wasn’t intimidated. “Chief Zvezda—No, esteemed sorcerer Raiou Zvezda. It seems you have something in mind already. As it happens, we also have several things we’d like to talk to you about.”

“So I’m the one you’ve been after.”

“Actually, to be more accurate—” Adam turned to Eve. “—We came here to meet her.”

The peaceful atmosphere that had been in the room just moments ago changed in an instant.

Eve could feel a sense of unease.

This wasn’t a light matter; especially considering they had come here with a retinue of soldiers.

Appearing to guess at Eve’s anxiety, the chief said to her, “Eve, please go outside for a minute.”

But Eve shook her head.

“If there’s a reason why these scientists are interested in a humble village girl like me, then I want to know what it is,” she said, somewhat challengingly.

It wasn’t like she’d never done anything of note. Depending on the situation…there was a chance that she would have to drive off the scientists that she’d rescued herself.

“Oh dear, let’s all calm down now, everyone.” Seth stood in the center of the group, remonstrating all present. “Sorry for being rude. …I’m sure you are as well, aren’t you Adam?”

“…”

“None of us wants to see this turn out like what happened with the ‘Witch of Merrigod’.”

Upon hearing that name, the village chief’s gaze turned even sharper. “So…you two are on a ‘witch hunt’ after all!”

“You’re quite knowledgeable. I suppose you…suspected us of that from the start. You not knowing about Dr. Horus’ death—was also a lie, I imagine.”

“I said this earlier, but I haven’t gone to the Twelve Royal Capitals in some time. I rarely even go outside the village. …But sorcerers have a network that allows them to share information.”

“The spell that uses green onions? Talking to people at long distances…Well, leaving that aside you have several misunderstandings here, so I shall explain.”

Adam looked at Seth with dissatisfaction. “No, I’m the one who—”

“Just leave this to your underling. Mister Director.” After cutting Adam off, Seth once more bowed to Eve and the village chief. “I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Seth Twiright. I work for the Royal Research Institute, and I am the late Dr. Horus’ top apprentice.”

“…Self-labeled top apprentice,” Eve heard Adam quietly mutter.

.

Levianta was called a “Kingdom”, but at present the position of ruler was not something gained by heredity.

In this country that was born to protect the temple and flourishing through the legacy bequeathed by the gods, the “gods” were absolute, and all people were little more than their servants.

The one who ruled the country had to be someone who could hear “the voice of the gods”. And the one they deemed most suitable for that was a virgin who commanded extraordinary magical power.

For that reason Levianta was ruled through the ages by a “queen”, but there were various institutions that existed for selecting that queen.

The special orphanage owned by the Loop Octopus family, the Lighwatch temple managed by the Asayev family, the Royal Research Institute run by the Vaju family, etc…

This also served as a source of political conflict in the senate. Because whichever establishment the queen was born into decided who was the next head of the senate. The current queen Alice Merry-Go-Round had once been a child raised in the special orphanage.

“Naturally, the other families don’t just passively sit and watch. There are a lot of senate members who get worked up over making the next queen show up from their own facility. As for the Vaju family, they’ve been seeking out results from a certain experiment…”

The village chief covered his face with his hand as he listened to Seth’s explanation. “Scheming to artificially birth a child with strong magical potential…How frightening.”

“Be that as it may, if we hadn’t then the institute wouldn’t get its funding for the legacy research. Dr. Horus couldn’t afford not to comply.”

“There have always been shady rumors about the Royal Research Institute. That to birth the ‘next queen’ they abduct potential mothers from all over. …Though Horus never told me anything himself.”

“That’s another misconception. It’s not like the research institute is forcibly making off with these women. It’s all out of their consent—if it means performing a service to the gods then everyone is quite happy to participate in our research.”

The village chief snorted, clearly not believing him. “It hasn’t been like that recently, at the very least. You’ve all been carrying out ‘witch hunts’, even using troops for it.”

“To be accurate, they’re a peace-keeping force. And, well, we’ve found ourselves in certain circumstances that require we hurry.”

“Why is that? As I recall the current queen is still in her forties. Her dynasty should last for another twenty years more at least.”

“…The institute is no longer searching for someone to be the ‘mother of the queen’.”

“--? What do you mean?”

“We are trying to find a woman who can become queen. And the new queen will also become the mother of the gods…The ‘Ma’.”

“You can’t mean…!? The ‘Ma’ is little more than a fairy-tale!”

Seeing the chief’s astonishment, Eve asked, “Father, what’s the ‘Ma’?”

“…It is said that when catastrophe is on the cusp of visiting this world, the dragon god LeviaBehemo with two heads and two wills will have a second coming in this world as human children. And the woman who births these ‘Twins of God’ is ‘Ma’…the divine mother, Mem Aleph…It’s an old myth passed down from long ago.”

“Erm…” Eve then said to Seth, guessing on her own what the conclusion to the story she just heard was then. “…So if the gods must be reborn in this world…Then does that mean that there really is a catastrophe coming?”

Seth briefly clapped for her. “That’s correct, Miss Eve.”

“But what’s your basis for that?”

“It was none other than the dragon god LeviaBehemo who prophesized thus. Through the queen. We’ve never had an oracle be wrong before. The senate needed to come up with a countermeasure post-haste.”

And the countermeasure drafted by the senate head Miroku Loop Octopus was project “Ma”.

They changed the role of the next queen selection measures to search for a woman who could become the mother of the gods.

Once she had safely birthed the children that would become receptacles for the gods, she would obtain the position of queen in place of Alice, as reward for her service. …That sort of thing.

“But if you do that then the current queen will have to step down. Can the senate really decide that on their own?”

“The current queen agrees with this project as well, you see. …I mean, I think that the members of the senate wouldn’t be able to move with this much forward momentum if she didn’t.”

The one who managed to produce the mother of the gods from their institution would achieve glory as the savior who protected the world from catastrophe.

And also the position of next head of the senate.

“…Anyhow, the Royal Research Institute must also search for ‘Ma’ candidates under orders of the Vaju family.

Upon hearing that the village chief gave a sideways glance to Eve with a sullen expression. “And so…you’ve selected my own daughter as an ‘Ma’ candidate.”

“The Royal Research Institute is seen as the most plausible source for completing this project. So the head of the senate has given the institute several authorizations. Such as to freely make use of security forces and their information.”

“But if the Royal Research Institute were to successfully carry out Project ‘Ma’, Miroku will lose his position as senate head. Is he alright with that?”

“Well, I don’t know that far…But I imagine it would be pretty difficult to find the ‘Ma’ in Senator Miroku’s special orphanage. And so…maybe his plan is to be able to continue to wield some influence in the senate even after stepping down by collaborating with the facility most likely to succeed.”

“What an awful power struggle.”

“I agree. Well, anyway, it’s thanks to our information that we were able to learn of some rumors around here…”

That was, the rumors of the “Witch of the Forest” that supposedly would appear in the sprawling “Forest of Held” to the south of the village.

There was a girl who would use magic to drive off the tribesmen that would appear every now and then…She had green hair, and would cast lightning with a blue spoon…Supposedly.

“According to what we’ve heard, she’s the bearer of significant magical power. Only, this region is currently being terrorized by that savage clan. That’s why we brought along minimal guards with us…Though conversely, that seems to have just spurred them on.”

Listening to all that, Eve was reminded of the soldiers that they’d left out on the plain. “I wonder if…those guys are alright.”

Adam had been quiet this whole time, but he replied, “The peacekeeping unit…especially Gammon, are all strong men. They can’t use magic, but they are proficient with swords and guns. They won’t be defeated by the likes of those tribesmen.”

“But—”

“In the worst-case scenario, they’ll seek out reinforcements from the royal capital…Right now it’s us I’m worried about.”

Eve felt her cheeks flush from being looked at by this man so close to her in age.

There weren’t any intrepid, intellectual guys like him in the village.

“Hmph…It sounds like you two are mistaken about something.” The village chief cut in between Eve and Adam. “This ‘Witch of the Forest’…I’ve certainly heard of that story, but that isn’t Eve.”

“B-but, she has the same green hair, and her magical ability—”

As Adam tried to argue, the village chief quietly shook his head. “Green hair is a trait shared by the people of the forest…And as for magical ability, everyone in the village has it in varying measures.”

“…Let me ask then, Chief. Are there any other green-haired girls in this village—”

“No. We’re immigrants who originally wandered here from elsewhere. But Eve is different. She was abandoned and set adrift in a nearby river when she was a baby. My late-wife scooped her out. We raised her as our own daughter.”

“So then—”

“Did the intel you gathered claim that the Witch of the Forest was someone in this village?”

“No, it…didn’t say that…”

“If you’re looking for a girl with green hair, I’d suggest going to the Forest of Held. You’re sure to run into the people of the forest immediately.”

“…Seth.”

Adam gave Seth a prompting glance.

“O.K. Now it’s time for this.”

What he brought out was a small iron rod that forked into two prongs.

“This is an artifact. It can measure someone’s latent magical potential by holding it out in front of them like this…Augh!” Appearing to have realized something, Seth looked up to the ceiling and held his head. “We don’t have the output device! I left it in the carriage.”

“What!?”

“No…It’s understandable. With the way things were there wasn’t any time to take out something so heavy…”

“…Nothing for it. We’ll have to go back there and get it.”

Adam asked if they could borrow Eve’s automated carriage.

Given that it would be dangerous to bring a woman over to where there might still be some tribesmen, he apparently intended to go get the equipment with Seth.

“But you need magical ability to run the carriage.”

“Don’t worry. I have enough myself.”

Thinking on it, he had been riding in a large automatic carriage. Adam must have been driving that one too.

“Don’t break it. It’s very important to us.”

Adam nodded at Eve’s words, and started to move to leave the house with Seth along.

--But that moment, they heard the shrieking sound of a car wheel from outside.

“Huh!? …Could it be?”

Adam leaned out the window.

And there he beckoned over someone who was outside.

After a beat, a long-haired man walked into the room.

He had a gun and a sword sheathed at his hip. He appeared to be a military man.

“So you’re alright, Gammon.”

This man named Gammon exchanged a handshake with Adam.

“It was no big deal. There were just quite a lot of them, so it took some time.”

“You only have the one carriage? And I can’t see the other soldiers outside of your driver.”

“I sent everyone back to the royal capital. They’ll need to appeal for information, and reinforcements, depending on the circumstances.”

“Reinforcements?...If you were able to repel the tribesmen then there’s no need for that, is there? Don’t do anything too dangerous. This is supposed to be a peaceful—”

“I won’t be turning my sword on any witch. This is incidental. I want to take the opportunity to make a decisive strike on the white army.”

Adam heaved a sigh.

“…I suppose that is the official job of a peacekeeping force. But don’t forget. Your responsibility is—”

“Guarding you, I know. Naturally I will accomplish that properly myself.”

“Alone?”

“Is that not enough?”

“…It’s enough. You’re dependable.”

“You could stand to be a bit cheerier. I did bring you back what you forgot.”

Packed in the luggage compartment of the automated carriage that the captain of the security forces, Gammon, had rode in on was the device that Adam and Seth had left behind on the plains.

Once more putting together the magic measuring device, Seth started to take note of Eve’s magical ability.

“Though this isn’t a standard instrument. Using it in itself is quite simple. Please just stand perfectly still right there.”

Seth turned the iron rod's prongs in Eve’s direction.

After a while the box that was attached by wire to the bundle of metal let out a “be-beep”. Seth set it down and started to examine the numbers displayed on the box’s screen.

When he did, his expression grew crestfallen.

“…Your M count is 72. And your other numbers are average. That means you’re only a little bit stronger in magic than the average person.

Adam stood next to Seth and peered at the data output device.

“You’re sure the device isn’t broken?”

“I could check…Hey, Gammon.” Seth did a reading of Gammon’s magical ability just as he had done with Eve. “…M count of 0. Alright! You are, without a doubt, ‘magically impotent’!”

“…”

While breaking out into something of a cold sweat as Gammon glared at him, Seth then measured the magic potential of Adam, and then the village chief.

“…Amazing. The village chief is 200, and Adam exceeds 300. If you two were women you’d most certainly be candidates for ‘Ma’—At any rate, I think the device is working correctly.”

Upon hearing that outcome, the village chief slowly stood before Adam.

“And now we’ve satisfied you that Eve is not this ‘Witch of the Forest’.”

“…At the very least we’ve established that she can’t be an ‘Ma’ candidate.”

“I see…That’s good then, Eve.”

Eve wondered if it really was.

Maybe she had just let a chance for her to become queen slip out from under her very nose.

Queen…huh.

It was an unbelievable honor for a citizen of Levianta to obtain that position.

But I doubt my father would let me become queen.

Eve knew quite well that he was a man who hated politics.

It was only because there was no one else who could fulfill the role of village chief that he had bitterly accepted the role.

I’ve had to work specifically because he rarely takes in any taxes.

She thought her father was a splendid man.

But that didn’t mean she had no complaints.

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[pricechecktranslations]

OSS: Crime; Chapter 2-Project “Ma” -Eve-

Original Sin Story: Crime infomine under the cut

Scene 1

It’s said that the witch of the forest uses a spoon instead of a magic wand.

Eve makes her living selling fruits and mushrooms from the forest. She is the eldest daughter of Nemu’s village chief, but she likes the work—she doesn’t have to stay cooped up in the village all the time, and the Mogura (mogura means mole? Don’t know if it should be left as is or translated) are always looking to buy her wares.

The “Mogura” refers to the people who are excavating Second Period artifacts to the forest’s east, presumably because they have filled what was once an empty plain with holes. The people of Nemu hold little ill will towards them over this, as the money that they spend has made the village prosperous.

Eve bought an “automatic carriage” with this money and is currently driving it, using it to carry her stock. Note—this is not actually a car. It is a horseless carriage that makes the wheels turn through special gears that are powered by magic (Eve’s magic, in this case). If I’m reading correctly, it is controlled by a power crystal ball. This is something the “Mogura” discovered. Her father’s connections allowed her to buy it relatively cheaply, but it was still pretty expensive.

Her father is apparently houseridden, after having injured his lower back/hips/etc two years before (sounds like they give him chronic pain?), so Eve has been doing merchant work in his stead. Eve’s mother is also noted as being deceased.

Eve pulls up to her destination, and the men at work all gather around as it’s close to lunchtime. The most popular item she sells is pfifferling (I believe this is German for “golden chanterelle mushroom”), which the Mogura put in dishes with venison that they buy from hunters. The next most popular is trauben (note that Nemu sells wine made with it too).

Once they’re done with their purchases, almost emptying the cart, the Mogura make soup with it and start to eat. One of them brings Eve a bowl. He goes to get a spoon for her, having forgotten one, and she airheadedly almost admits that she has a spoon of her own (the blue magic spoon that she’s not supposed to show people she has).

While eating, the Mogura talk about the “witch of the forest” using her lightning magic to drive out the “White Army” (白軍) that has been terrorizing the region. They come from the east, all have white hair, and use fire magic. Her father told her they were once nomads, but after some fight with the people of the forest long before, they slowly became a savage tribe. They’ve killed hundreds of people in the forest already, and have also been attacking the excavation site.

Just as Eve is thinking about heading back to the forest, they hear screams coming from the north. They see the “White Army” fighting with a fleeing automated carriage much larger than the kind that Eve is driving. Seeing this, Eve leaps into action, driving her carriage in the direction of the fighting.

Scene 2

There are three carriages being attacked. All of them have the crest of Levianta on their side. One has stopped, smoking. The other two have soldiers firing at the attackers with guns. Unnoticed, Eve goes to check on the downed carriage, and just narrowly avoids getting stabbed by the occupant inside (Adam), who after a moment quickly realizes she’s not one of the White Army.

Seth is also in the carriage, with a minor head wound. Adam helps him get into Eve’s carriage. She introduces herself as Eve Zvezda, which he notes with some surprise. He introduces himself to her, and bids her leave with haste (when she asks about the soldiers—Gammon among them--he shrugs it off as their job, and Seth notes they’re fairly capable).

Some of the White Army are headed their way, so Eve starts up the carriage to take them to Nemu.

Scene 3

Eve is able to outpace their pursuers, and takes them to her house (Nemu has no doctors, and so her father, who has medical knowledge, is their village doctor in addition to being village chief).

Her father quickly goes about tending to Seth’s wound, and then brings up that he’s an old friend of Horus (horusu), the former head of the research facility (based on context then this is Adam’s “father”). Adam has to share the bad news that he died two years ago (chief Zvezda hasn’t been to the 12 capitals much lately) and that Adam has taken his position now.

He notices that Seth is blind in his left eye, and notes offhand that Horus’ left eye was blind too.

After they’re done, Eve and Chief Zvezda encourage them to stay, noting the White Army won’t attack here (this is a village full of sorcerers—evidently this is not common knowledge).

Zvezda asks what they’re there for (no scientist has visited the excavation site itself until now).

As a note, his full name is “Raiou Zvezda”, and he is a sorcerer too (note—the only reference I could find is to a Yu-Gi-Oh card “Thunder King Rai-Oh”. “Rai ou” literally means “thunder king” with certain kanji, as well).

Adam reveals that they came to this forest to meet with Eve. This puts everyone on edge (especially given they were originally accompanied by soldiers). Seth pipes in then, trying to calm things down (though his efforts don’t feel genuine to me, personally), alluding to not wanting things to be like the time of “the Witch of Merrigod” (which leads to Raiou accusing them of being on a witch hunt).

Seth says that Raiou suspected them from the beginning—that he must have also known Horus was dead (which Raiou confirms—he hasn’t been to the capitals, sure, but mages have their own information network using green onions).

Against Adam’s protestations that it should be him telling them, Seth explains what they’re doing there, introducing himself as Horus’ greatest apprentice (Adam says he just calls himself that on his own).

The explanation is as follows (note—this sounds a bit like a PR spiel, so take it with some salt): Despite being called a kingdom, Levianta is little more than people assembled to follow the will of their gods (given that the very nation was founded around worshipping them and what they left behind). Thus, the leader must be someone who can hear the gods speak, a virgin maiden with high magical power.

Levianta is ruled by a queen, and they have several mechanisms from which to pick them; a special orphanage run by the Loop Octopus family, the Lighwatch temple run by the Asayev family, the research institute run by the Vaju family, etc. Whichever institution the next queen comes from, that family’s senate member becomes head of the senate. The current queen Alice is from the orphanage (hence why Miroku is the only one able to interact with her, because he’s head of the senate—also, on that subject, it seems Loop Octopus is the family’s full last name. So, Miroku Loop Octopus).

The research institute is looking into ways to artificially create a new Queen/woman with extreme magical power (and thus guarantee Vaju as next senate head)—this is the “Next Queen Project”, which has involved women from all over participating to be this new queen’s mother (Seth insists these women participated voluntarily and were not kidnapped, despite rumors to the contrary).

So…I suppose based on context (not entirely sure if I’m reading it clearly), the “Witch hunts” aren’t hunting witches to kill, but hunting witches to kidnap (which has happened recently). Seth explains that circumstances dictate they don’t have time to wait for volunteers—not on the Next Queen Project (as Alice is still in her 40s and not close to death), but on the new project. Project “Ma”.

Raiou dismisses “Ma” as just an old legend (the legend says that when disaster approaches the world, the two-headed dragon LeviaBehemo will be reborn as the “Twins of God”, and the woman who births them is the holy mother Mem Aleph, or “Ma”), despite Seth insisting that it’s all actually happening.

So, not only will the person who becomes Ma become queen, but whoever produces Ma will become head of the senate. Raiou asks why Miroku would give the research institute as many permissions as he has (command of their security, information, etc), knowing that if they succeed he’ll lose his seat to Vaju; Seth speculates that he must acknowledge that it’ll be hard to find “Ma” through his orphanage, and so figures that by collaborating with the research institute he’ll still be able to leverage some political influence after stepping down.

They came here searching for the “witch of the forest” rumored to appear in “The Forest of Held” to the south of this village. Supposedly, she does battle against the White Army attacking everyone here by using lightning and a blue spoon, and has green hair. They had the soldiers with them for protection (Eve wonders if they’re alright, but Adam assures her that while they can’t use magic, they’re all very skilled with swords and guns).

Eve already seems to have a crush on Adam.

Raiou tells them that they’re mistaken—that this witch is not Eve. All the people in the village have magical power, and there are a lot of girls with green hair. While the people in the village are immigrants from elsewhere, Eve is actually his adopted daughter. His wife found her in a river, and they raised her as their own. He says that they should head to Held’s Forest for their search.

Seth then brings out a two-pronged iron rod—a Second Period device that can read someone’s magical potential…but he left the data output device in the other carriage. Adam requests usage of their carriage to head back over there and get it (note, Adam has magic too—enough to make the carriage run, at least).

Just then, Gammon arrives. He reports on what happened—they handled the situation quickly enough (it just took a while due to the higher numbers of attackers). He had his people go to the capital for reinforcements to go on the offensive against the White Army. Meanwhile, he’ll be doing the bodyguarding duties for Adam and Seth by himself. He has also brought over what they forgot in the carriage (meaning Seth can test Eve’s magic now).

The rod is connected to a box that beeps when he passes it before Eve, and also provides the readings numbers. Her “M” level is 72. Just a little stronger magically than the average person (not candidate levels). He tests it on Gammon, showing his level is 0. Raiou’s level is 200, and Adam’s is over 300.

Eve is a little disappointed that she’s missed her chance to be a candidate, but then she knows her father (who hates politics and only became chieftain because someone had to do it) would never let her join. She loves her father, but doesn’t mean there aren’t things she’s dissatisfied with about that.

Scene 4

Seth heads to get treatment at a hospital in the 12 capitals just to be safe, while Gammon and Adam stay in Nemu for a while to look for the Witch of the Forest, with Eve acting as their guide and transportation to Held’s forest (they are paying her a lot to do it). She takes them to some of the villages in the forest that she knows, and they also go around places where the witch is rumored to be. No luck.

One day they’re heading along when the weather turns cloudy, and seems likely to rain (so Adam suggests they turn in early).

According to his information, the witch appears to help people attacked by the White Army. Those saved forget what she looks like afterwards, though, save for the green hair, that she’s a woman, and she uses a spoon to fire lightning. Adam speculates that this witch can manipulate people’s minds (Eve brushes it off jokingly, saying if she had that power she’d use it to make herself queen).

Eve is a little over 20 at this point (and Adam appears close in age to her).

Adam doesn’t know much of magic—he only recently learned of his high potential. Also note: while they are chatting, Gammon is just looking at their surroundings quietly. Eve’s internal monologue notes how much easier Adam is to get along with (and that he doesn’t look down on her like some 12 capital people do).

Adam used to live in a place west of the capitals, by the coast, in an orphanage. It was there that Horus Solntse showed up one day and adopted Adam. He says his only mother figure was a whale (a little confused here but I think basically a whale has been watching over him since before he was old enough to remember things). Eve speculates that this was an incarnation of a forest spirit.

Eve recounts a time when the loneliness of not knowing her true parents led to her running out into the forest at night. She got lost, and came to a stop crying. Then, a fearsome bear appeared (note that it starts raining on them now). Eve pulls up her skirt to show Adam a scar on her thigh (which flusters him initially because why wouldn’t it). The bear, probably hungry, attacked her. Just then, all the forest animals attacked the bear at once, driving it off. Since then she hasn’t seen a bear in the forest. She figures the forest spirits are protecting her now. This is something she’s hardly ever told anyone else.

Adam’s about to say something, but they suddenly hear an explosion from the direction of Nemu. And they see smoke rising from it. The White Army comes out from the trees, circling the carriage and trapping them. They are led by a woman. She is the “White Fiend of Jakoku”, Raisa Netsuma. Raisa says this is a test (vague though on what it’s a test for).

Raisa urges her men to be careful, as Gammon is a skilled fighter and they are with the “Witch of the Forest”, meaning Eve. Eve denies this—Raisa doesn’t believe her, and charges with a long and narrow weapon wreathed in pale flame.

Eve coldly takes out her spoon (which she got from her dad). She recites the “Medvedi ubit” spell, which sends lightning at Raisa and all her underlings (leaving the forest and its animals, as well as Adam and Gammon, untouched). Raisa is the only one who survives. Gammon goes to catch her before she can escape.

The village is still burning. Eve starts the carriage to go save them, but Adam thinks it’s too dangerous (as their main forces will be there). Gammon tosses Adam the sword that Raisa was using to defend himself with, as he has to stay with Raisa.

The people of Nemu were once a famous group of sorcerers, so it’s unlikely they’re being killed so easily. Still, they head there as fast as they can.

Scene 5

Eve is the Witch of the Forest after all. She isn’t too burnt up over Adam finding out, given that he’s clearly trustworthy and doesn’t mean her harm. And being queen doesn’t sound like a bad thing (albeit she’d need her father’s permission, and she’s not the kind to go against his wishes).

Nemu is burning, under attack by men in red outfits. Adam realizes, to his horror, that these are the “Witch of Merrigod”’s forces, the “Red Devotees” (might be a better way to translate that, 赤の信徒たち) She was once an “Ma” candidate, but the senate and the institute deemed her too evil to be made queen.

The men circle the carriage as it arrives. Eve demands to know where the villagers are, but they all stare at her blankly. She prepares to strike, but the men part to let a red-garbed woman walk through—the Witch of Merrigod, Meta Salmhofer (she hasn’t been introduced as Meta yet but it’s obviously her). She has a very adult air to her, but in terms of actual age she looks younger than Eve. Meta makes an offhand comment that Raisa (and all of the White Army, I think) is an inheritor of Salem.

She claims she’s not attacking this place because of the White Army, but rather (among other reasons that she doesn’t elaborate) to get revenge on the institute (and Adam) for “making a fool of her” (it’s a little vague on exactly what went down during her “Ma” candidacy at the time).

Eve asks where everyone is, and Meta points to Eve’s house, telling her to go look. Eve heads that way with Adam. They find her father in the garden, naked, covered in wounds, and crucified on a big cross that was erected there, already dead. He’s surrounded by the other men of the village, who are standing lifeless just like the red devotees.

Eve is horrified and confused as to how this happened, given her father’s power. Adam explains that Meta is an inheritor of Gilles, and as such has the power to control men—she probably used the village men to attack Raiou, and he, not wanting to hurt them, couldn’t properly defend himself.

Eve wants to go attack Meta, but Adam points out she’ll use the villagers to get in the way (as human shields, basically). They’re about to head to regroup with Gammon when they hear reinforcements from the capital arrive.

They came to meet up with Gammon, but as they were already there they fought against the red devotees. Meta and her forces withdrew (including, unfortunately, the men of the village). When the fires have been put out, they find the corpses of all the village’s women piled up in a cattle pen.

Eve goes with Adam to the capital. She has nowhere else to go.

Scene 6

Asmouse is one of the 12 cities that makes up the capital (based on this phrasing I’m now more thinking that it’s less “12 distinct royal capitals” and more “12 cities that are collectively the royal capital”). It’s run by senator Ceci (Seshi) Vaju, and it has the strongest historical backdrop to it. Vaju is himself a descendant of those who first started discovering the Second Period stuff. He founded the research institute using permissions from the previous queen. Horus, who became the head, was a friend of his.

In addition to all the technological advancements of researching Second Period technology (and I should probably say this at least once—I am saying Second Period for clarity’s sake. But they don’t say Second Period. They say “legacy”. Legacy items), they are also researching how to create people with magical power—that is to say, the “Next Queen Project”. But Horus died of illness before it could be realized. Hence Adam taking over. Etc.

Eve doesn’t care about any of that. The only thing that matters is that she’s an “Ma” candidate.

Adam gives her some coffee (which isn’t common outside the capital) to try and calm her down—Eve (imo) seems restless and uncomfortable. She’s wearing bands on her arms and legs connected to a big box (the chair she’s sitting in is also part of the machine, I think) that will help them properly quantify her magical ability (like a larger version of the device they used in Nemu). It turns out that her spoon can both seal and amplify a user’s magical ability (apparently it was originally her mother’s), so that’s why the earlier reading was inaccurate.

Adam runs the machine (Eve notes that it makes her feel queasy at first). It takes roughly an hour to run properly—they don’t have to run it nonstop but she can’t leave the chair until it’s over. She decides to pass the time by asking Adam about Meta.

Adam explains that Meta is from Merrigod (far further east than Nemu), which is used as a citadel for the dangerous organization “Apocalypse”, of which the “red devotees” and “the white army” are simply different units of their forces. Some say they’re looking to overthrow the nation, while others say they’re just criminals. They are led by Pale Noel, and Meta is his girlfriend. They know almost nothing about Pale—even him being a man isn’t set in stone.

Adam, Seth, and some other researchers headed to Merrigod, backed by Gammon and his security unit. But things went wrong, and it turned into a battlefield. The researchers hadn’t wanted that, but Apocalypse and the security force (ie, Gammon) did. The battle failed—Meta used her powers to control the security force, and there was infighting. Adam and Seth were the only researchers who survived, which is why even now the institute is short-staffed (Adam doesn’t say how long ago this was).

Eve asks what an inheritor is. Adam says it’s someone with supernatural powers, different from magic. Like Raisa and her clan (they had originally thought that it was magic, but even those in the White Army who had no magical ability can use fire). They don’t know the source of inheritor abilities though (research into it is being undertaken by the Lighwatch temple run by Yegor Asayev). Adam doesn’t know much more than that, other than that they’re divided up into classifications like “Gilles” and “Salem”, named after the god’s kin.

Adam may be getting Eve hooked on coffee, I think. She finds it too bitter but can’t stop drinking it.

Eve asks what the senate will do about Apocalypse—he says that (according to what Gammon told him), they won’t do anything. They view it as little more than a fringe organization (as it hasn’t attacked the capital much), and not worth the manpower it would take to get rid of them. Eve understands why her dad hated politics so much.

Adam says that’s why she should become ruler, going to write something down. The machine is still processing, but already her score is higher than her father’s was. She seems unsure, noting that she’s just a simple girl from a village, but he reassures her. This leads to a sweet moment between them (confirming they don’t dislike each other, etc—I feel this is probably a point where he’s faking his affection to make her easier to manipulate, however as this chapter is from Eve’s perspective there’s no way to tell).

Note, Adam knows enough swordplay to defend himself.

They still have Raisa’s oddly shaped (probably eastern) sword (she is in jail right now). Adam speculates that even if she fully recovers from Eve’s attack, she’ll likely be executed. Eve reflects for a moment on how much evil there is in the world despite her work as Witch of the Forest, and what she’ll need to defeat it.

Several days later, Raisa escapes from prison, likely with the help of a collaborator. Meanwhile, Eve’s M number exceeds 350, which is more than enough for her to be an “Ma” candidate.

Scene 7

Eve has to take a “Queen Test” (probably a better way to word that, phrase is 女王の試練)—basically a formality, a ritual to get her accepted by the current queen as a successor. She and Adam are discussing this as they walk through Asmouse. Only the queen knows what this entails.

Having high magical power, in this country, signifies that one is closely related to the gods. The position of Queen used to be hereditary, but then the fifth queen couldn’t have children. So she declared that all in this land were the children of the gods, and that having strong magic was a sign of the gods’ favor. Conversely, those who don’t have magic were said to be unloved by the gods (there’s no actual persecution for that, but advancement for such people became harder). As such, those with magic became able to vie for the throne. Adam learned all this in school after he was adopted.

There was no school in Nemu, and Eve had no need for an education there (outside of which berries were poisonous and how to use magic and so on), so this is all new information to her. Adam says he’ll tutor her on all this stuff.

He takes her to a red-walled building—it turns out to be a shop for dining utensils for her to use. She notices a red glass, and is told what glass is by the old man running the shop (same as with us, but it can only be made by a legacy piece in Asmouse, and colored glass in particular is a rarity). It’s expensive—Adam says she won’t need it, as it’s a wine glass and she doesn’t drink wine. She says she’ll drink coffee out of it, and so he buys it for her. They buy some other things and then leave.

Eve needs clothes, too—she needs a lot of new things. Adam’s not hurting for money (as the head of the institute), so he buys them for her, saying she can pay him back when she’s queen (very certain she’ll succeed). He says that since the moment they first met, he felt like they already knew each other. She does too.

Scene 8

Not even a month has passed, and they’ve fallen in love. Just because they’re similar in age, get along, and are living together. Adam’s the first attractive (both intellectually and otherwise) guy that Eve’s actually been around. Of course, this gets her worried, because one of the conditions of being queen is to be a virgin maiden.

Adam reassures her that while it might be hard for them to be together publicly, he’ll always be by her side. She wonders how, given only the head of the senate can see her—he stumbles for a moment before saying  he’ll maneuver things so Gammon becomes head of the senate, and he’ll be able to change that law to make things easier on them (I feel like he’s bullshitting just to get her to go along with him at this point).

Adam has her drink more coffee (which, when she drinks it, makes all her worries go away—she’s basically addicted to the coffee, yes), and then promises that they’ll get married in secret when this is all over. Eve suggests Held’s forest—as soon as they’ve gotten rid of all the “evil” that’s made it dangerous right now.

Scene 9

A week later, Eve is called to the round hall in Alicegrad. She is greeted by Miroku—they’re about to set up the trial. They are then greeted by a woman in flimsy white clothes, accompanied by a short middle aged man (who is Hugen/fugen Asayev, Yegor’s older brother). She is another candidate for queen (which shocks Eve, which Fugen mocks her for)—her name is Zelarana Chirclatia (zerarana), a priestess of Lighwatch temple.

Miroku and Hugen bicker a little bit. As a note, Yegor apparently went missing very suddenly before this, abandoning his post and leaving Hugen in charge. Zelarana questions Eve on being from Held’s forest, noting an “evil god” lives there. The people of Nemu saw it (Held) as an evil god, but the people of the forest saw it as a guardian deity. Eve isn’t sure which is true. The area with Held in it is inside the border of another country, and Leviantan citizens aren’t allowed to cross the border without permission, so she’s never seen the giant tree Held resides in herself.

Zelarana is a bit pompous, boasting about the training she’s received as a priestess and that Lighwatch priestesses are able to remove the wickedness from someone’s heart. Eve almost brings up that she has brainwashing powers (I mean, it doesn’t say that outright but it’s strongly implied), but thinks better of it, as she knows it’s a power that frightens people more than the lightning and hasn’t even told Adam of it yet.

Miroku reminds them all that this is serious business and a holy ritual, and they back down.

Scene 10

Eve goes first, heading to the Temple of LeviaBehemo where the queen lives. When she passes through the large door on the “First Wall” that only the senate are allowed to pass through, she sees a field of flowers—a garden in the center of Alicegrad. There’s a white building in the center of that—the temple. It’s small, about the size of the house she lived in in Nemu, which disappoints her. Inside is a dim space with four plain white walls. She walks forward and smacks her forehead into a glass wall.

This is a maze, made of glass walls (we later learn it’s called the “Hall of Glass”). Eve makes her way through carefully, growing more disoriented as she does. She calls out, but there’s no reply—though as she goes deeper inside, she sees a humanoid figure in a white dress sitting in a wheelchair. But the air feels like it’s getting thinner. By the time she reaches the queen, she collapses before she can get a good look at her face.

Scene 11

The first scene is a snapshot of her and Adam as twin Irregulars after the end of the world, looking out over all the souls on the world’s ruined surface from inside the Clocktower.

In the scene, when he tells her the world is ruined, she asks if they can return everything to how it was—he says all they can do is do everything over again, putting his hand in his chest. Everything becomes white and disappears.

The next scene is Eve’s showdown with Elluka at the end of the sloth novel. As Elluka starts the body swap thing, Eve realizes that Elluka is the one who destroyed the world. As the light spreads, Elluka transforms into a large monster—one that appears both like a dragon and like a bear. Somehow.

The next scene is Eve in the cabin with Adam, noting he looks like the boy in the first vision but also someone else. They’re making food. The door opens and a cute boy and girl, her precious children, come home. Before she can greet them, everything goes dark.

Personal opinion: It isn’t clear if these are memories, hallucinations, or future vision (given that prophetic dreams are a thing). It does seem to be indicating that, if it’s not referring to this being a loop (one in which Eve retains some faint memories of the previous iterations), that Eve has some way to perceive the future here, albeit in a fragmented fashion. It’s a little too trippy to interpret at the moment.

Scene 12

Eve wakes up in the middle of a conversation with Miroku in the round hall, with no idea what the heck she was talking about. Miroku confirms that she is indeed the next queen, as she was able to meet with the current one and hear the voice of god—or see, more like. It seems she had related to him her vision (or at least part of it), which he took to be future events.

Hugen is heading back to Lighwatch, with Zelarana’s corpse in tow. Miroku speculates that Eve’s lack of memory is a side-effect from receiving a revelation for the first time. After Eve went, Zelarana also entered the Hall of Glass—then she was found running out of the “First Wall”’s door, screaming like a madwoman. She fell unconscious and then died, evidently unable to handle the ritual. Unworthy candidates face “Divine Punishment”, apparently. Everyone knows this. …Except Eve.

Anyway, now it’s back to the institute to be impregnated with the divine seed. Eve has a ton of questions but she’s too exhausted to ask them. She’s also a little cheesed at Adam for not telling her that the ritual was so dangerous.

Scene 13

Eve is lying on a table in the institute. Adam tells her she has nothing to worry about, but she knows now that he lies sometimes (though she hasn’t pressed him on the ritual business). Still, after some conflict she convinces herself that he wouldn’t have sent her into danger if he’d known how bad it was. She’s afraid that their relationship will be over if she stops believing in him. She knows it’s stupid but she loves him.

Adam explains that the ark Sin is underneath the temple. It’s called the Dark Legacy because supposedly the Sin has the power to both save the world and destroy it—and the gods are trying to descend to the world through Project Ma in order to stop their power from running wild and doing just that.

Adam pulls up a cylinder with a cloudy liquid inside—he says this is the “Divine Seed”, which is taken from Sin, and is part of the gods’ body. He’s going to implant it into her to get her pregnant. Eve is nervous, but excited too—she thinks that the twins that she saw in her vision are the ones she’ll give birth to, and is eager to meet them.

She starts to conk out from the anesthesia. He tells her when she wakes up, she’ll be pregnant, and to “Sleep well, sleep princess/sleeping beauty” (nemurihime). It references the song with the whole “after this is over let’s get married at Held’s forest” bit. End chapter.

[omfgtrump]

Hollywood Does What Senate Won’t: Gives Don The Boot!

With his impeachment trial beginning and the possibility of conviction a near impossibility, we turn to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Sag-AFTRA, for inspiration and a moral compass.

The union voted “overwhelmingly” to find probable cause that Trump had violated SAG-AFTRA’s constitution in inciting the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and “sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.” 

On the other hand, the Republican party, who gave a standing ovation to Q lady, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has already decided that inciting an attack on the U.S. Capitol and to quote Sag-AFTRA, “sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists” as well as the Capitol police, members of Congress and the vice president, does not rise to the level of a conviction and being barred from running for public office again.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-gun-facebook-squad

In fact, with such overwhelming evidence against him, The Don’s lawyers won’t even try to argue the facts: their defense will be to claim the proceeding itself is constitutionally illegitimate. A defense ready made by the 45 Republican senators who voted to derail the trial before it started.

It will come down to what I call the Sargent Schultz (of Hogan’s Heroes fame) defense: “I see nothing, I know nothing” and for good measure, I am not even here. In other words, regardless of what you witnessed, it doesn’t matter, because there is no basis for a trial. Since the trial shouldn’t exist, you can’t vote to convict because that would be an acknowledgement of the fact that there was a right to have a trial. Feels a bit Kafkaesque.

Once again, we are confronted with the stark reality that the Republican party is willing to risk the very democracy it is charged to defend and abandon all its principles, to pledge its allegiance to The Don.

But not SAG-AFTRA

The Don, true to form, seeing the handwriting on the wall, beat them to the chase. Resigning before they call to say: “You’re fired,”

 Below is his resignation later. I reprinted it in full because it such classic Don.

Ms. Carteris:

 I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares! While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few!

 I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics) and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others.

Which brings me to your blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union. Your organization has done little for its members, and nothing for me – besides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas – as evident by your massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors,

Who even recorded a video asking, “Why isn’t the union fighting for me?”

These, however, are policy failures. Your disciplinary failures are even more egregious. I no longer wish to be associated with your union.

 As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me. Regards, President Donald J. Trump

SAG-AFTRA’s response was a simple “Thank you.” 

I appreciate the elegance, the high mindedness and the desire not to engage and breath oxygen into the situation.

But here would be my response.

Dear Mr. Trump,

First let’s set the record straight on a few things. What you did in those movies is not called work: It is called a cameo. And even though you are no longer a member, we feel it is our patriotic duty to due justice to your presidency. At present, there are numerous projects being explored. Too bad we won’t be able to consult you or even cast you, but we promise that we will create compelling, dramatic and riveting entertainment. Exactly what you would want.

Here are a just a few that are being considered by two new production companies: Orange Rot Productions and Golden Showers Productions.

Vlad and Me: A buddy picture for the ages. The plot revolves around a president of the U.S. sharing secret information for love. For any old movie fans, there is one scene of Vlad and a certain orange haired president that equals the steaminess of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the beach in “From Here to Eternity.” Purportedly, its climax has a golden shower.

The Insurrectionist: a deep dive into the coordinated attempt between White Supremacy Groups and people in government to overturn an election. The opening scene is one of the scariest things ever produced. Take a seat Chucky. The scene opens with a mob storming the Capitol. The camera zooms in on crazed man taking a fire hydrant and smashing it over a police officer’s head. The camera then zooms in on an orange haired man in the oval office watching TV yelling: “Did you see that shit? That’s better than any WWF thing I’ve ever seen. Do these people love me or what?” The phone is ringing. Aides are trying to get the president’s attention to no avail. “Tell them I’m not in. Look at this shit, isn’t it just amazing.”

From Riches To Rags: This film follows the ruinous descent of a president of the United States as he loses all his friends, money, the debtors who want their due and ultimately is imprisoned. Rumor has it that some of the jail scenes at the end are quite chilling.

Let’s hope that with the current president doing the work of the president and not just making cameos, we will emerge from this nightmare and once again be able to say: “How about we go to a movie?”

Regards,

Disciplinary Board of SAG-AFTRA

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[akrepisworld]

Novel Review: Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru by Bisu

[27.09.20]

TITLE: Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru / Tensei Oujo / The Reincarnated Princess Strikes Down Flags Today as Well

AUTHOR: Bisu

GENRE: Shoujo, Romance, Fantasy, Drama, Comedy

TYPE: Web Novel (JP)

STATUS: Ongoing

SYNOPSIS:

    I was reborn as a princess in the world an otome game with memories of my previous life.

    Wait, what? I’m the Heroine’s love rival? You’re kidding! I have no intention of falling in love with any of those pathetic guys, because the one I like is a support character, the Commander of the Royal Knights.

    Except the Heroine, after being reincarnated in this shitty game where the support characters are way better than the love interests, is threatening to bring down my own life with flags, and I am determined to strike them down.

MY REVIEW:

Rosemarie, "Rose" or "Marie" (whatever you want to call her) retains the memories from her previous life and is reincarnated in the world of a shitty game as the Heroine’s rival.

She has two objectives: destroy the flags and obtaining happiness alongside Leonhard. Destroying flags and continuously avoiding a chaotic future has yielded a situation quite different from the game’s. Although she tries to do everything by herself because she can't tell the whole truth, I think it would be better to relay a little more on others. And also it would be perfect if she has a little more confidence in herself.

    I cried when Rosemarie confessed (unintentionally) her true feelings. I honestly love all of the male characters here, but in terms of romance I feel like Leonhard is the only answer?

    She knows what she wants, and she wants it so badly, but she knows that it won’t happen. As her monologue's readers, what can we do? Support her in her doomed first love? Or not? Will she persevere and win his affection? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not. Read it if you want to know more!

MAJOR CHARACTERS:

Rosemarie von Wervard:

-the Main Character;

-the First Princess of Nebel Kingdom;

-the daughter of the second queen;

-Game setup: Heroine’s Love Rival, 16 years old.)

Christof von Wervard:

-Rosemarie’s older brother;

-the First Prince of Nebel Kingdom;

-the son of the late queen, who died as soon as she gave birth to him;

-Game setup: Support character, critically affects story in the Johan Route.

Johan von Wervard:

-Rosemarie’s younger brother;

-the Second Prince of Nebel Kingdom;

-the son of the second queen;

-Game setup: Love Interest/Siscon.

Georg zu Eigel:

-only son of a Margrave;

-Rosemarie’s fiancé candidate;

-Game setup: Love Interest/Narcissist.

Julius zu Eigel:

-younger brother of Head of House Eigel;

-Georg’s uncle;

-an excellent trader in the process of spreading his network throughout the continent;

-Game setup: Support character, critically affects story in the Georg Route.

Leonhard von Olsen:

-"Black Lion";

-the strongest swordsman in the whole kingdom;

-later becomes Commander of the Royal Knights;

-Johan and Christof’s sword instructor;

-a caring, handsome guy;

-Game setup: Support character, critically affects story in the Klaus Route.

Klaus von Belmar:

-a member of the Royal Knights;

-Rosemarie’s guard knight;

-the second son to an earl;

one of the top five most powerful guys in the royal knights.

-he may seem like a dog, but his true nature is that of a wolf;

-Game setup: Love Interest/Masochist.

Lutz Eilenberg:

-Palace Wizard apprentice;

-a genius of water-attribute magic;

-Game setup: Love Interest/Necrophiliac.

Theo Eilenberg:

-Palace Wizard apprentice;

-a user of fire-attribute magic;

-Game setup: Support character, critically affects story in the Lutz Route.

Randolf von Werfald:

-His Majesty the King, the current ruler of Nebel;

-Rosemarie's father.

Michael von Diebold:

-second son of a Viscount;

-apprentice priest of the Great Temple;

-Palace Wizard apprentice;

-a user of earth-attribute magic (healing magic);

-Game setup: Love Interest/Dark Lord.

Bianka von Diebold:

-eldest child of House Diebold, Michael’s older sister;

-Game setup: Support character, critically affects story in the Michael Route.

Wolf K. Lucca:

-next chieftain of the Kua Clan (the miracle clan);

-chooses Rosemarie as his master.

Crowe:

-assassin;

-Randolf's "bird";

-Game setup: the last Love Interest/gay. 

FAVORITE QUOTES:

"I don’t have a hobby of keeping grown men as my pets!" (Rosemarie)

"To think I’d ever be asked to treat you with rudeness…you really are a genius of messing with me.” (Leonhard)

"That’s right, this way we can kidnap him, and persuade him along the way!" (Rosemarie)

"If you honestly think apologizing will grant you pardon, you are gravely mistaken." (Randolf)

"Even if his master is the only one he cannot bring himself to bite, he is actually a beast who cannot be tamed." (Leonhard)

[aparecium-hq]

Welcome to Aparecium, Wes! You have been accepted for Albus Potter with your planned faceclaim. We love the way you’ve crafted Albus to go against the grain of the rest of his family, and personally I loved your writing sample in particular. We can’t wait to see him around! Check out the new member checklist, and jump right in. 

Character Basics

               Age: 21 years old

               Birthdate: 15 March 2006

               Pronouns: He/Him

               Sexuality: Homosexual, homoromantic

               Blood Status: Halfblood

               Hogwarts House:  Slytherin

               Occupation: Lawclerk for the Wizengamot,

                             apprentice barrister.

               Faceclaim: Chance Perdomo

Any requested changes: Not really?  I took some liberties with the evolution in the Ministry and the apprenticeship for becoming a lawyer.  I figured it would be something of a long process with a lot of work in the guild system rather than going off to law school?  But I’m most interested to know if we need to tweak anything.

Biography:

The middle Potter, the second son of a hero, Albus Potter has lived a certain amount of his life in the public eye.  He’s always been conscious of attention, desiring it less and less as he grew older.  He finds respite in close acquaintances and good friends, small settings and familiar environments.  His family, though sometimes the very people he’s clashing with, are always his first source of solace and comfort.  Whatever tensions they might have, they’re his people.  And woe be told to anyone who crosses the line in his presence.

From a young age, Albus showed a taciturn bent and found himself at his Aunt Hermione’s side with frequency.  Books and stories became his companions as much as his brother.  And sometimes to better effect.  He devoured literature, asked his aunt and parents for lessons and primers, and had a raging row over the fact that other children could go to primary school.  He saw Hogwarts and education as the next great challenge, the next great adventure.  He saw it as where he truly belonged.

How wonderfully cruel that reality can be.

Hogwarts wasn’t the worst thing really.  It was a learning experience to be sure, in more than just the academics.  Sorted into Slytherin and falling into a different vein than his brother and father, he acquired more than a little gossip.  But Albus had been backed into an unfamiliar corner before, so he did what came naturally.  His tongue lashed, far faster than his wand ever could, and he caught trouble with it.  A black eye and a split lip were his reward, but the third year Gryffindor was on the ground and his opinion amongst his housemates was settled: he was a snake, through and through.

He learned quickly, taking in whatever he could from his housemates and classes.  He learned that his reserved nature was a gap people had to cross, that the masks he used out of indifference our out of annoyance with the press were tools at his disposal, he learned that his words were not just barbs, but arrows.  By his third year, he changed tones and temperaments like cloaks, dressing up for some and down for others.  He developed a knack for patterns that spread naturally to arithmancy while his ability to think on his feet endeared him to charms all the more.  They became his best subjects, followed rather quickly by history of magic.  Though that one?  That was a practiced study.  Especially after the Madley Properies came about.

The change of the world while he was at Hogwarts was sudden.  The access to more technology meant access to more information.  Muggle information.  Albus devoured it all, spending hours cross referencing magical history with muggle timelines, building comprehensive understanding of events and their influence on either side of the Statute of Secrecy.  How the pollical actions in the muggle world influenced the economic realities of the magically community, or how a magical malady could seep over into the muggle world and insight chaos because of the tiniest bit of other.  He learned that things were far more interconnected than most people thought.

And he realized how absolutely how absolutely mad changing anything quickly was.

He graduated with respectable marks in his favored disciplines, with his only truly problematic grade coming in Defense.  But he wasn’t looking to join his father in the Aurors.  But he had his eyes on the DMLE.  Eventually.  But first, well he needed information.  His classes were dreadfully sparse on the machinations that drove their society, and that’s what he needed to understand.  He’d never had to fake an interest in his Aunt Hermione’s work, and the right words had him there, running paper and writing briefs and other monotonous work in the danker parts of the Ministy.  But he was there.  That was the important part.  And it paid off, when two years later, the Wizengamot took advantage of his skills and put him to work as a clerk.

Now at twenty-one, Albus has become something of a fixture in the research apparatus of the magical government of England.  His pattern recall and gift for memorization has made him the place where most research inquiries start: ask Potter, he’ll point you where to start.  His analytical mind lends itself to complicated cross application of policy and precedent, and while he doesn’t have the bombastic personality of some clerks or barristers before the high wizarding court, his ability to shift gears and pull references makes him an adept ally in cross examination and questioning.

Sociability:

When he’s not picking at threads in the legal archives or catching up on muggle current events, he tries to still be there for his family and friends.  He tries to keep a social life, between work friends and his large family and the people that give him actual solace in life, he likes to think he keeps a full social calendar.  For Scorpius, his best friend and his roommate, he would literally drop the world to ash if it needed.  And he…tries not to dwell exactly on that why too close.  Somethings don’t withstand scrutiny after all.  He misses the closeness he once had with his siblings, long before Hogwarts and Madley, when things were simpler.  He does boast a large network of acquaintances that he knows only by their handle.  He took to internet culture a bit too well, making friends and associates that he only knows by online handles and pseudonyms.  Some have made the leap to personal acquaintances, especially the collection of muggles that helped him come to grips with his own burgeoning sexuality at Hogwarts, that took him to his first Pride.  He owes them quite a lot, even if they’re kept at arm’s length.

Personality:

Albus still resembles that inquisitive child he was, somewhat quieter and more reserved than his family and always searching for some new bit of information.  He’s lost some of the taciturn qualities however, finding his voice through reasoned arguments and biting wit.  He’s not afraid to speak his mind, but does try to find the path of least offense unless his ultimate goal is to cause offense and put someone on the back foot.  He wears his opinions and language like masks, speaking openly but not always directly.  It’s those that know him best, Scorpius and Rose and his closest family, that see the true Albus.  He’s a stack of books on a rainy Saturday morning, the smell of coffee and old leather in the air.  He’s a passionate debate over dry martinis, the smell of cigarette smoke mingling with gin and the buzz of conversation.  He’s warm cashmere and soft jazz while something bubbles on the stove top.  He’s good friends and late nights, fairy lights low and spirts high and flowing freely.

Appearance:

Much like he appropriated language and history from his housemates, he also picked up on their habits of dress.  Fine robes and well cut wizarding garb are key to his image at the Wizengamot.  But these days, he finds himself draping a cloak over well cut Savile Row suits in greys and blacks with stylishly bright ties in greens or violets.  Waistcoats with patterns shirts and small lapel pins that sing his causes: rainbows, circuits that spark magically, something called an x-wing.  Blazers and jeans with Doc Martens or stylish boots when he slips into muggle London for a drink or a date..  Jeans and hoodies and warm woolen jumpers round out his casual clothes.  He’s looked longingly at some jewelry the muggle university students have, all manner of piercing and decoration of ink on skin, but he’s yet to give into those temptations as they endanger the masks he needs a little too much.

Character Questionnaire (In Character):

What does your character value in a friendship?

Is it cheating to say discretion?  No?  Then that simply must be the answer.  When one grows up with a certain amount of notoriety… a name that is recognizable and splashed across the press of the realm near daily… a friend who knows when to bluff, when to keep things private is worth their weight in gold.  Quite literally.    And there is so much caught up in that word as well.  Discretion.  It’s not just secrecy.  It’s trust.  And with that I believe truly, there must be some level of affection there.  A warmth and familiarity that breed such a level of trust.  There are people for whom I have great affection, and even great trust, but for who I don’t believe are discrete.  It’s that bit extra, that pinch more wit and courage and resolve that make it the better value.

How would a stranger who has just met your character describe them?

Oh Circe, this is such a loaded question.  A stranger?  Well it really depends upon the circumstances you know.  Where are we?  Drinks is very different than a fundraiser than a friendly pick up game of Quidditch.  Though why I made mention of the last, I really haven’t a clue.  But the point remans; where did we meet?  I’d like to think that I leave people at least somewhat assured that I know what I’m talking about, even if that does mean I come off as a bit of an ass.  And as cold as it may sound, so much of this might come down to how I want them to remember me.  It changes the way one approaches a stranger, if they think it’s only for a moment or there’s something more there.  Whatever that more might be.  Well at the very least, it means I try not to burn bridges I’ve only just encountered.

What magical skill or talent is your character most proud of?

Can we consider memory a skill?  A talent?  I’m not sure it’s honed like a blade or conditioned like a muscle.  But I do think I’m very good at it.  Or with it.  Memorizing.  Recalling.  Things just sort of…stick up there.  Referenced and catalogued.  A font of utterly useless information.  But information that can be applied, brought forward when needed to dramatic effect or for some nefarious purpose.  Dreadfully useful, in work and in life.  I don’t forget birthdays.  Though I do sometimes forget to shop for them…so it’s rather an imperfect skill.  Talent.  Part of me, whatever.  

Para Sample

Albus tapped a finger against the stem of his glass slowly, letting the small sound of his nail making contact mark the time.  He’d been watching for the past half hour as patrons moved in and out of the space.  Fresh drinks, greetings, calls to join a group.  It was the happiest of hours and this particular bar was just getting started.

Then again, so was he.

It wasn’t a usual of his, though he found the ambiance quite charming.  Dark wood, shiny brass, and a Botanist martini that was so dry it could be a disaster area.  Start of a good evening.  And it put him on good footing for the chap that he was expecting.  A friend of a friend, a you-should-meet-him sort of person that did…something functionally important in Westminster.  No doubt it would be a topic of some conversation later into the evening.  Best to know enough going in to be interested, but not too much so as to be bored.  Rather like any project, dating was.

Merlin, Scor would chastise him for being so cynical and dry about it all.  He smirked into his glass.

The man that approached a bit before their appointed rendezvous was fit.  Albus raked eyes over the man, taking in the cut of his suit, the fit of his trousers, the twist of his laces.  Cambridge man.  He’d bet money on it.  Eaton too.  He saw a few coy grins flashed at other patrons, a crisp note slipped discreetly to the bartender, a lean up the rail to whisper across the bar.   Albus let his smirk grow as he finished his drink, slipping away to duck into the gents.

He dispelled the subtle notice-me-not once he was in a stall, wafting away the bits that kept him mostly undisturbed.  There was a lot you could see at happy hour after all.  People drinking too quickly, nerves when a joke failed to land, thousand-yard stares into pint glasses.  Frivolity as a mask.  Jocularity as a balm.  He checked his reflection, gave an artful tousle of his hair and straightened his tie, and slipped out with a beatific smile that never met his eyes.

Those?  He liked sharp.

[aseriesofunfortunatetexts]

Fic snippet time! We never got around to fawning over Dewey, did we? A gross oversight. Y’all remember this? This takes place a few scenes after.

You find yourself in a small room, its walls lined with drawers, and its doors adorned with the same symbol that graces your left ankle. The sight of it fills you with a sense of ease you haven’t felt since leaving the Mortmain Mountains.

A large desk takes up most of the space, a single thing lying on its surface; your file from the VFD, open on the first page. You’ve never actually read it yourself, and you’re tempted to take the opportunity, but before you get the chance the door to your left opens, and the third Denouement brother steps through it.

You take back what you said about Ernest looking friendly and open right from the start. Dewey’s smile when he sees you is stunningly bright, and his eyes are glinting with pleasure, as if just meeting you is enough to excite him. You find yourself smiling quite stupidly in return, and you can just imagine what Frank would have to say about that.

“You must be my new apprentice,” Dewey says, holding out his hand. “I’m Dewey Denouement. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” you say, grasping his hand. His grip is firm, his fingertips ever so slightly calloused, no doubt from handling books all day long. “I mean, it’s an honor, really.”

Dewey lets out a chuckle. “I assure you, I’m not that special. At least not as special as you might have been led to believe.”

‘I’ll be the judge of that’ you think to yourself. Out loud, you tell him, “You’re the finest librarian our organization has to offer.”

Dewey smiles broadly at your praise, the slightest hint of a blush lighting up his cheeks. “I try my hardest,” he says. “Although I’ve never had an apprentice before, so you’ll have to excuse me if I do it wrong.”

“That’s okay, I’ve never been a librarian’s apprentice before,” you joke, too late realizing how silly that sounds. And your tone was borderline flirtatious too, this is outrageous.

“Meaning you don’t know what to expect, or that you’re willing to put up with anything?” Dewey asks playfully.

“Probably a bit of both,” you admit. “Although I imagine we’ll get a hang of it easily enough.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Dewey says. He gestures at the door he just came from. “Allow me to show you around.”

He leads you into what turns out to be part of the VFD tunnel network, which brings you the same feeling of comfort as the insignia on the doors. You read all the signs as your move past them, smiling at the familiar names.

You reach a pair of double doors by the end of one tunnel branch, and Dewey throws them open with a noticeable level of theatricality. You get why once you enter.

The library is gorgeous. And huge. Dozens upon dozens of bookshelves are visible from just where you’re standing, so tall that they tower over you. You walk further into the room, noting that it’s several stories tall, with walkways on every level to allow you access to all the books along the outer walls. The place is softly lit by golden light from several lamps, but there’s a rippling blue light coming from above as well. You crane your neck back and discover that you’re currently standing under the pond that you saw outside the hotel. The slight blueish glow lends the room an ethereal quality.

You make your way further inside, passing desks with comfy-looking chairs standing by them, finally reaching a fireplace, in front of which stands two very large padded armchairs with reading lamps on small tables by their side. Above the fireplace hangs a painted portrait of a Denouement sitting in the small office you were in earlier.

“You, I presume?” you ask Dewey, gesturing at the painting.

“Indeed. Although the painter thought it was Ernest he was painting.”

“Of course.” You continue looking this way and that, itching to explore.

“You can snoop all you want to,” Dewey tells you in an amused tone of voice. “There’s lots to see, and you will be working here, it’s given that you’ll have to know where everything is.”

You smile at him and do as you’re bidden, continuing deeper into the library, Dewey trailing behind you at a respectful distance. You notice several little reading nooks, all of them containing two chairs. That’s a bit odd, considering that Dewey works alone down here. Sad, somehow.

You reach a closed set of doors and throw a glance over your shoulder to confirm that you’re allowed to enter. Dewey nods at you, looking like he can’t wait to see your reaction to what’s inside.

It’s a movie theatre. The screen covers the entire wall, and there are a dozen chairs in green velvet in front. “You watch a lot of movies?” you ask.

“For work, mostly,” Dewey replies. A lot of debriefings are sent to me in the form of recorded films, I transcribe them for posterity. Film erodes over the years, as I’m sure you know. I’m also a great fan of Sebald’s work.”

You laugh. “For the artistic value?”

Dewey grins mischievously. “Don’t write them off as simply a mode of communication.”

“I guess I never saw them as anything else,” you confess.

“You should. There’s much to be gained from studying modern cinema.”

“You’ll have to show me some films then,” you say.

Dewey beams at you. “I’d be happy to.”

You don’t quite remember the last time you met a man who is so effortlessly likable and easy to get along with. It’s a damn shame that he has to spend his time down here, you imagine he would love spending time with people every day of his life, and they would love spending time with him.

“It’s amazing,” you tell him, mostly meaning the library. “I’m very much looking forward to spending time down here.”

“Don’t think it will be all lounging about, reading and watching movies. A librarian’s work can be tough, and it’s never finished.”

“I’m ready for whatever comes,” you say. “I managed my first day as a concierge all right, didn’t I? I never did that before either.”

“Is F working you hard already?” Dewey asks, half joking and half sympathetic.

“Not yet, but if I imagine he will be in the future.”

Dewey tilts his head. “Got off on the wrong foot, did you?”

You’re torn between being honest and being respectful of your new boss. You settle on something in between. “You might say that.”

“Frank isn’t entirely thrilled that you’re here, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Dewey says. “He thinks bringing other people in is a risk to my safety. And he isn’t in the business of hiding his disapproval.”

“I can sympathize with his concerns,” you begin, “But I have to believe that the VFD wouldn’t have sent me here unless they trusted in my discretion.”

“You should probably try telling him that,” Dewey suggests. “In those diplomatic terms.”

“How do you know I haven’t?” you ask.

“He was down here earlier,” Dewey says, and he doesn’t have to say anything else, you can imagine how it went.

“Right.” You sigh. “It’s important that we get along, I get that.”

“It’s for the best,” Dewey agrees. “Nothing good comes from having an antagonistic relationship with your boss.”

“Even if I have a perfect working relationship with my other bosses?”

Dewey lowers his chin and smiles. “You mean Ernest.”

You frown. “And you.”

“I am, aren’t I?” Dewey replies, looking like he only just realized that and is very pleased. “Your boss. I could ask you to do anything.”

You snort. “I have a feeling you won’t.”

“You’re a very trusting person,” Dewey asserts. “Which is why you should probably watch yourself a bit around Ernest. Just to be on the safe side.”

“What did Frank tell you exactly?” you ask, understanding full well how defensive you’re coming off.

Dewey chuckles to himself before answering, “Something about inappropriate, immature swooning.”

Your jaw drops. “That’s bullshit.” you insist, not caring about your crass choice of words. “I’ve been perfectly professional around him.”

Dewey obviously delights in your swearing. “A little defensive, aren’t we?”

“Defending yourself when you’re being unfairly attacked is an entirely warranted reaction,” you argue.

Dewey holds up with hands in an appeasing gesture. “A fair assessment. And don’t worry, I don’t believe F’s every word just because he’s my brother, I believe in forming my own opinions.”

Well, that’s a relief. “Thank you.”

“That’s enough chatter, I think, we should get to work. Or at least introduce you to it.”

You’re more than happy to put talk of Frank and Ernest behind you at the moment, so you nod. “I’d like that very much.”

“I’ve got plenty of incoming reports from associates all over the world coming in every day, they need to be read, categorized, and filed away correctly. That will be your main job on most nights. It can be tedious work, but it’s important to keep the library updated and functional.”

“Of course,” you say. “Show me where to begin.”

“I admire your attitude,” Dewey tells you, obviously pleased. “I think we’ll get along swimmingly.”

You assume you aren’t blushing, although you’re certainly smiling like an idiot. “I hope so too.”

[inkribbon796]

Snakes and Ladders

Summary: Deceit goes to confront Dark about messing around in Deceit’s business. It’s not exactly how Deceit thought he’d be spending his birthday.

The League was a carefully walked tightrope. With people like Wilford and Anti who could be as murderous as they were impulsive, and Google who had his own murderous streak to boot, a villain or any renown or ability had to learn to read the room.

Deceit prided himself on being the best at reading any situation he was in. The Light Sides had taught him a couple things: they were never going to trust a known liar; and two, he wouldn’t last. Patton’s crutch was to be ethically accepted, and Logan refused to help Deceit convinced Patton that he was wrong. Then there was Roman. Gullible, excitable, energetic Roman.

The League was the only beneficial choice for him and Remus.

So he was standing in the hollowed out shell of the abandoned orphanage that the police had tried to investigate before it had been set on fire. So he was standing in it, an illusion over the dark Side to make him look like a perfect copy of Dark on the outside. However because of the fact he didn’t know Dark nearly as well as he knew the other Sides it was more like an outer shell at best. If he tried to use Dark’s pockets it would shatter the illusion almost completely because they weren’t functional.

It took a bit longer than Deceit thought it would for Dark to confront him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dark growled at him, stepping out of the Void.

Deceit made a show of checking a watch on his wrist, “Getting your attention. We’re overdue a long conversation.”

Dark clasped his hands behind his back, “If I wanted to have a conversation with myself I would have brought a mirror and just took your head off your shoulders instead.”

The trickster side just smiled, and turned back into himself. His typical smug look on his face. “I needed a place the heroes wouldn’t overhear. A place they gave up on seemed like a good location.

The Entity still didn’t look too impressed, motioning with a hand for Deceit to continue. An air of impatience heavy in the room, a shrill ringing that always accompanied Dark’s presence. “Leave Anxiety to me, he was my apprentice, he is my problem. Stay out of it.”

Dark chuckled a bit, as if finding this conversation endearing instead of insultive. He took a couple Something Dee didn’t believe for a second. “You were a big fish in a very small pond. So I suggest you tread very carefully before I throw you off this building and see how functional you can make your illusions.”

Deceit dared to scoff, taking his own step or two forward. “Remus would stop listening to you if you did, I am the only one who could ever hope to contain him. Unless you want a fourth chaotic entity in the city you have to manage, I don’t think I’ve run all the sand in my hourglass out quiet yet.

The greyscale Entity seemed to give it some actual thought, but whether he was seriously considering just following through with murder or just maiming Deceit wasn’t clear, “Careful, shapeshifter, overstep your bounds too much and you might get your toes cut off. That’s usually not very lethal.”

“What are you using Anxiety for, you’ve killed more important to you over less?” Deceit demanded.

“Virgil has some sort of honor to him, very useful, if a bit gullible,” Dark bragged. “How you thought he was ever suited for the League is beyond me, it was obvious for me from day one that he lacked both the bite and the determination needed.”

“They why humor us?” Deceit scoffed, not showing the visible discomfort he had at Dark knowing Virgil’s chosen name. “His powers?”

Dark chuckled at that, “That might be true, if he wasn’t obviously petrified of his own power. No, it got boring to watch him fumble about and it became abundantly clear to all of us that you have no plans on following him.”

“If you have no need for him within the League, leave Anxiety out of your business,” Deceit warned. “You have enough thugs.”

“Oh, you and the heroes can have him back, after he completes his end of the bargain,” Dark threatened. “I gave him a chance to back out, and he didn’t take it.”

“If he’s done, I suppose you’ll be done to him?” Deceit asked.

At Deceit’s words, Dark just laughed. “Yes, I suppose, no matter what he returns to me with, I doubt he’ll be of much further use to me. Not with that pathetic doctor and the rest of the heroes taking pity on him. You should have been rid of him years ago.”

“And should be rid of that puppet you have at city hall,” Deceit warned. “You can practically see its hinges and strings when you move it.”

“My business is not of your concern,” Dark growled.

“Leave Anxiety be, and I won’t care about what you do at city hall,” Deceit threatened back.

Dark just smiled again, and Deceit decided that Dark’s smile was probably his most obvious lie he had. They were dangerously close, but Deceit made sure not to flinch. The Entity was obviously waiting for it, like a wolf surveyed a herd for its old and feeble.

“Then you better help him find what I want, so that you can have him back,” Dark ordered. “Like I said, he’s unfit for the League.”

“You better,” Deceit reminded.

“Well I have to say,” Dark’s smile didn’t fade, neither had the ringing. “You never cease to amaze me, Deceit. You and your little attempts to undermine me. If you weren’t so useful, I probably would have killed you by now. But I’ll offer you this, I’ll give you back Virgil if you can tell me one thing.”

“Which is?” Deceit was eager to just be done with this whole mess.

“I want Captain Morality’s real name,” Dark told him. “Or I want him brought to me alive. I can have him unmasked either way.”

It took every ounce of control and illusions not to show any type of emotion. Not the concern and actual fear he felt at whatever had gotten Patton of all people singled out by Dark and not Logic. Or the desperate clawing need to get Virgil untangled from Dark’s network.

So he managed a chuckle, “Morality? What could that manchild be doing that could threaten you or your Network?”

Dark didn’t like that, his aura starting to curl around Deceit’s feet, “It is my belief that he’s seen something. I aim to figure out what he knows and strangle it out of him. The issue is, as far as Gainesville documents suggest, he has no paper trail beyond his superheroics. Which couldn’t possibly be true, because Average and Marvin have paper trails, so Morality is either being hidden by someone.”

Deceit felt a dangerous tap at his chest, glancing down to see Dark’s aura before casually looking back at Dark’s face.

“Or he’s not nearly who I think he is, and I’m looking in the wrong place.”

“So, I get you the oblivious Captain, and Anxiety is mine?” Deceit inclined his head, going for nonchalance.

“Immediately,” Dark promised, still smiling.

“I’ll give it some thought,” Deceit dismissed. “Morality is no threat, and I’m more intrigued by your need to have him over his cohorts, than turning him in.”

“Either way, I will find what I want to know,” Dark took a step away. “Besides, you’ve given me enough information to start.”

“Best of luck,” Deceit smiled.

Then Dark stepped through a tear in the Void, leaving Deceit “alone” with nothing but the city below and silence.

Checking the streets, Deceit turned into Logic in full costume and left the scene. A couple citizens tried to stop him, but Deceit gave his best impersonation of the side he knew all too well.

He just went back to the apartment he’d been staying at with the other Dark Sides. He felt drained and didn’t want to loop Dark around to Patton. As frustrating and infuriating as all the “Light Sides” could be, they were still Sides. Deceit still needed Virgil if he was ever going to form the Dragon Witch again. The serpentine Side was almost positive that if he was ever going to be Thomas again he needed Logan.

The instant he walked in, Remus physically jumped on him. The unexpected attack almost knocking Deceit over.

“Do you mind?” Deceit glared at him. He took stock of the apartment to find that, to his amazement it wasn’t completely trashed. Orange was on the couch, watching the Room, ignoring both of them.

“Hey, Dee,” Remus smiled, face dangerously close to Deceit’s.

Deceit grumbled, “Remus, you need to take a bath, you smell like sour garbage.”

The dark green villain just smiled, “Why thank you Dee, I’ve been dying to know when you would recognize my new cologne.”

He gave a little shoulder shimmy against Deceit’s arm.

“Ugh,” Deceit pushed him away. “Get off of me, before you make me smell like you.”

“So how’d the meeting go?” Remus asked.

“As well as could be expected,” Deceit took off his fedora to get some ash from the burned out shell he’d been in off of it. “Virgil’s gotten himself into trouble and Patton is not helping.”

“When will they learn to enjoy life?” Remus jumped onto the little table they had, assuming what he usually called his “paint me like one of your French boys” pose. “They’re no fun, Patton least of all. I mean, he’s even making Virge boring.”

Before Deceit could do anything more than stare at his hat, trying to figure out how to frantically dig the other Sides out of the hole they were digging for all of them, Remus took the fedora and placed it on his own head.

“Look at me,” Remus said in a poorly constructed Deceit impresion, even holding his hand up to pretend like it was talking. “I’m Deceit, I whine about everything, and worry too much to have any fun. Blah. Blah. Blah.”

Deceit glared at him, “Give me my hat back.”

Remus shrugged and took it off, reaching his whole arm inside the hat. Which was a talent that would have worried Deceit if he hadn’t become completely desensitized to it years ago. His face scrunched up and Deceit was mentally braced for the intrusive Side to pull out just about anything. He’d once reached in and used his powers to pull out a dead pigeon for a laugh, and that was currently on the hopeful end of Deceit’s expectations.

But to Deceit’s surprise he pulled out a beautiful lion heart lily. The yellow tips perfectly curled. The black and yellow flower looking out of place in Remus’s hand. Remus handed the hat, now looking like it was full of the black and yellow lilies, and knelt on the table to place the lily he’d been holding behind Deceit’s ear. “Happy birthday, my little snake.”

Deceit was completely speechless, just staring at Remus as he took his hat back, looking down at the flowers. Finally he managed out a, “Thank you.”

As if completely unaware of the effect he was having on the other Side, he jumped off the table like a feral raccoon, almost knocking the whole thing over.

“I’m bored, let’s go bother Roman,” Remus decided.

“Sure,” Deceit smiled at the flowers, gathering all five of them put in his hand to admire them.

“Then we can steal and ice cream truck,” Remus grinned.

“Sure,” Deceit was still admiring the flowers, remember to take the lily behind his ear and place it in the vase with the others.

“And drive it into the hero’s base,” he summoned a glass vase with skulls and snakes on it.”

“Sounds like fun,” Deceit place the flowers inside the vase. He carefully set it on the kitchen counter.

“Come on,” Remus told him, grabbing his hand in his. “Ory, try to burn the house down for me, I never got around to it.”

Orange flipped him off, but Deceit could only laugh, his mood greatly improved.

“Let’s go,” Remus pulled him out of the apartment, the two off to cause trouble.

With a hand still tangled in Remus’s, Deceit had to admit, as frustrating as Remus could be, he was a familiar type of frustrating. And the Deceit would take that over any type of villain or hero in the city.

[underdarkgreyclouds]

No one's reading this account anyway so it's the perfect place for a vent I guess.

I feel profoundly lost. This relationship I'm in is suffocating, I don't know if I can trust anyone. I feel like I betray the company I'm working for because I'm literally just sitting there reading memes and trying not to cry every day. My landlord is a premium version of shitty. I want to die.

But I think it's good to start at the beginning. For the past three and a half years, I've been with a wonderful person. She's been through a lot, as have I. But I love her regardless. From the beginning, she needed to be alone sometimes, and her life is packed with a lot of things - work, friends, other relationships, hobbies. There's never been that much time for me and her to just exist together without something else going on. When there is time, we just chill on the couch watching Netflix or something. She doesn't have spoons for big adventures together. I think I'm fine with it most of the time, but I don't have a support network and I rely on her financially, which makes it difficult when I need more time and emotional support. After a couple of bad things happened, I needed her, and she told me she couldn't handle it when I tell her about my feelings. She said that I shouldn't tell her about anything. She has redacted that by now but I still don't trust her to be able to help.

I have moved to her city to get away from my abusive family. It's simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to me. Right now, I am not sure if I can continue to live with her. We sleep in separate rooms, and she can't imagine ever changing that. We have almost zero interaction. She wanted me to marry her, but whenever I bring it up, she has a reason why she doesn't want to talk about it. We're looking for a nicer place to live, but she's never happy with one thing or another. Most of the time, it's because she would have to compromise.

My job is overwhelming and stressful, but I can't say that. I'm going to finish my apprenticeship early and there is no support for this, but I can't live as an apprentice for much longer. I cannot work 8h a day and shortening the workload is only possible for trained people. I fear the reaction of my bosses if I bring it up again, because I was yelled at for considering it last time. I don't do anything at work and I am constantly fearing to be discovered, resulting in immediate discharge.

I am planning on getting a service dog, but when I asked my landlord, he felt entitled to say that I wouldn't need one because I'm not physically disabled. Also he was against a dog in general, so he basically crushed my whole life's joy. There's nothing I currently do except for research on service dogs. Not being allowed to get one is like being told to jump off the balcony.

My disorders are still not formally diagnosed. I feel like I fake it all the time. My therapist believes that by doing an assessment, the secondary win of the disease is too high so basically she won't do it. I've never seen a doctor who didn't believe that, but I don't get help from people if they don't see a diagnosis. I'm desperate. I feel like I make up my trauma, that all my problems are fake. I'm pretty sure my headmates are just very vivid fantasies, that I created them to feel like a part of something, to at least not be alone in my head. It feels so bad. I was trans, but I don't know if I still am. The last time I took my T was forty days ago. I don't want to take it again. I'm okay with my masc looks and I still hate my boobs, but I don't think that makes me trans enough. I don't want to think about it anymore.

I don't enjoy walking. Whenever I do it, I imagine myself in a wheelchair, pushing imaginary wheels and struggling with curbs, but without the feeling of dread whenever my foot leaves the ground. I know it's terrible to think that a wheelchair makes me happy when there's nothing wrong with my legs or body, and that it's not a toy. I can't help but feel like it anyway.

I imagine that I have an eating disorder sometimes. I know I should be glad I don't, but I hate my fat body so much, it feels so disgusting and lots of problems would go away if I were thin. I look up thinspo, I find recipes that are probably not healthy but at least make me lose weight, and then I binge on coke and cookies until I feel like shit for doing it. I never work out because I'm too ashamed of myself to see myself struggling with a simple task. I have zero willpower. There's nothing online to help me lose weight. I've spent too much money on things hoping that they would finally flick a switch in my brain.

Money is an issue all the time. I'm close to getting my card disabled. I'm struggling, yet I still buy unnecessary shit because again, zero willpower stopping me. I will probably lose to my impulses until I get evicted.

My life is at a 1/10 today.

[markoftheasphodel]

The New Dawn of the Golden Deer

A retrospective on the Verdant Wind route and its home characters is substantially more difficult for me, personally, to construct because it lacks the overt resonance with earlier games that allowed for Azure Moon’s descent in through FE1/3/5/8, etc. But here goes nothin’...

Part of it is the not unfair sense that the Golden Deer are the catch-all house of Garreg Mach compared to the thematic cohesion of the Blue Lions. The five nobles all bear a King Lear-themed naming scheme that’s slightly obscured in the localization, but it doesn’t appear to mean much of anything. The three commoners are distinctly “common” without the complicated ties to nobility that their Blue Lion counterparts all bear. While Dimitri was a known quantity to most of the Lions before they all enrolled at the Academy, Claude is very much an unknown to his fellow Alliance nobles. That’s part of the point.

If we take Claude’s big motivational speech to his House at face value (and there are reasons we should and yet shouldn’t), the actual through line of the Deer is separate people coming together as one, so we’ll roll with that as a starting point. How do they manage it? Well, the Deer are for the most part A++ in terms of character development-- not the revelation of sad and traumatic backstories, but development beyond where we first find them. 

Hilda, in the face of actual responsibility, grows out of her cocoon of deliberate idleness to be Claude’s right-hand-woman, her ability to delegate and to get others to do work turned into strengths. Lorenz grudgingly adapts his persona of the perfect noble to be more in-keeping with what people actually want and need in a leader (and what a lady wants in a nobleman!), without surrendering his actual core identity. Marianne faces up to the literal Beast of her family history and moves past it, finding value in herself and her life. Ignatz, also hobbled by guilt and low self-worth initially, matures into a thoughtful and capable young man with contributions of value to the Deer war councils. Lysithea perhaps leans harder on the “backstory revelation” than upon onscreen development and Leonie and Raphael are arguably the least developed of the Deer. I’d vote for poor Raphael as the worst-written of the lot, as the decency and humanity we see in his supports and Paralogue is still buried under “muscles” and “food” even in Endgame. 

And then we have Claude, a Fire Emblem protagonist unlike any other to date. Whereas Dimitri is unquestionably in the mold of previous FE princelings, Claude has more in common with a different lineage of character, the Snarky Sniper who often serves as a peer rival or frenemy of the Lord. Said “archetype” dates back to Archanea’s Jeorge, who also stands as the progenitor to a line of characters one might call “Wandering Nobles”-- Lewyn, Elffin, Joshua, etc. Claude, with his deliberate obscurity about who and what he is recalls Jeorge on both counts, and his pride in his stratagems can’t help but recall Innes, the Strategician Prince/peer rival of Ephraim’s from FE8. Innes, though, was quite straightforward in his goals even if his methods could be shady (spy networks, etc). Claude’s means and his end goals are both veiled; from the start we learn we can take nothing at face value including his smile. You can probably count on your fingers the number of times Claude reveals the unguarded and unvarnished truth to anyone.

Fortunately, Claude is able to harness his practiced charm to get and keep the other Deer on-board with his leadership even if he doesn’t trust them with the actual secrets of his full identity or his ultimate goal. I’ve been in FE fandom long enough to see several waves of fans clamoring for a “cool” lord like Joshua, and well... Claude has arrived. And he is, indeed, quite the charmer as well as quite the schemer. I must say I love him, even if his current status as a memelord misses the point (Claude, ever conscious as to his image he projects, would not do many of the things meme!Claude gets up to, sorry).

Claude breaks new protagonist ground even as his character “type” traces back to the dawn of Fire Emblem. Lorenz provides a superb example of the rival/foil to the protagonist-- as Innes to Ephraim, except both Claude and Lorenz fully acknowledge the game. Hilda gives us a noblewoman deft at wielding “soft power” and a reluctant adjutant to Claude who succeeds beyond her own expectations. Marianne steps beyond the shadow of her backstory to show genuine growth. The same goes for Ignatz, though he perhaps treads too hard on the “soft archer boy” trail already defined by Ashe. Lysithea takes the image of the pale-haired, sweets-eating gremlin/loli and gives it some heft, Leonie hits against barriers of class and gender expectation while making a surprisingly shaded portrait of an apprentice in thrall to a flawed master, and Raphael... was done dirty by the developers.

That’s the Golden Deer for you. What does it all mean, beyond the ideal of a bunch of disparate characters coming together under one banner to bring about a new dawn for the continent? Well... I’m not really sure, not least because the Deer don’t entirely understand the scheme Claude’s roped them into! Verdant Wind provides a great counterpoint to Azure Moon in that, thanks to Claude’s own zeal for getting to the bottom of things, we learn things that Dimitri and his route simply weren’t interested in. It’s an engaging crew of characters on a mad adventure that includes magical ICBMs, an underground city with a classic Star Wars/TRON aesthetic, and a final smackdown with the reanimated corpses of legendary heroes.

In the end, though, it didn’t have the sheer emotional resonance for me of the Dimitri and his Blue Lions-- perhaps because its parts are insufficiently tethered to the hoary “archetypes” of FE in a way that Azure Moon handled brilliantly. Or, perhaps because Claude’s reliance on Byleth instead of Lorenz and/or Hilda as his main partner in crime was dragged down by the fact Byleth isn’t really a character. On Azure Moon, Byleth’s presence isn’t enough to eclipse that Dimitri’s posse deeply love and deeply fear for their prince; it’s really the story of the redemption of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, whereas in Verdant Wind Claude makes a chessboard of all Fódlan and the nations beyond, a breadth of scope that does indeed evoke Genealogy of the Holy War even if the Deer themselves don’t summon many spectres of Jugdral.

In the end, neither really works in a vacuum. Azure Moon is deeply, viscerally felt and fails to ask, much less answer, many basic questions. Verdant Wind holds the entire spectacle at arms’ length while digging for answers that lead to more questions that lead to some very strange places. As two halves of the same coin, they make an interesting pair. But they are not, of course, merely two halves, as we now have another house to join and two more routes to consider...

[abtoddler]

I went to lay down an hour ago, but i was working on a post for my projects. I have to post it here as the reason I was able to do this safely in the early years, and only through the support of big brother and daddy, and all my roomies and friends from across the years.

Thank you all, and i need help to explore futher this project.

Hiya all!!

Ive just come out of a wonderful training weekend with one of my apprentices and it was a wonderful success. I would like to scale the possible amount of people and have looked at the presskit for the handlery in san diego, and with the launch of the book pact, which describes the community goals, and each of the other 6 books to accompany it as the rainbow library.

I have to say that I’m trying to figure out a reasonable valuation for my projects. I would love feedback from anyone if you see an area I’ve been missing:

The first week im planning for people to study is a rough exploration of each of the 14 books I will have written by the time the school is accepting students. Each week of a 3 month course has been started to be blocked out with a week to cover the most useful parts of each of the books; including the content pages, what the function of it is for, and all of it tied back into social responsibility that will be handled through the Academy of Sorcery, which is a 501 that ive set up to become the “training ground” for dialog, application, and testing for community works, innovative business development networks, and working with other businesses to establish remote training or provide people a place where they can learn any of the requirements of the businesses in order to be trained staff of those businesses/ or able to begin their own businesses. Repeating this model to get folks trained up in each of the various trades and other such things. The sorcery division of the Academy is my background. However, the application of it that I have to shake up the status quo is strategically done in order to work on the much larger issues of the development that people of the generations lack. Specifically those folks who are hungry for work, and will absorb training via their motivation to become their own forces to be reckoned with.

I am not building this alone, my head master is selected amongst one next generation of elder leadership in the African traditions of Vodu, Palo, Santeria, and Qimbisa. He is, one of my close friends who has been at the head of testing and integrating my methods with his, in order to increase the efficacy of the work which comes from the community. I seek to replicate this process for experienced workers, and folks in these kinds of communities.

This method of immersive work, and personal development is what I am doing through the connections of those Spirits, to concepts which services the needs of those forces to regain communion with the living. The Books I have written, come at the tail of the construction of a community services organization never took off the ground which I would very much like to restore: if people are willing.

In the book Empires, which I am currently drafting, I would like to take the opportunity to create a dialog with others here, business owners, mentorship possibility for anyone who would be willing to help me build this.

The model is Not for you to train in my methods or way of doing things which may be counter to your path as everyones religion is their own. My choices and the type of work I am trying to develop by testing this in those isolated communities which are not generally accessible to the public has proven itself. I am looking for folks i can work with who would be willing to help me work out the details for the leadership forward using the Academy as a model to explore development of trades, crafts, and businesses.

This model is for, coming together as individuals whose shared drive, goals, and projects can move us forward as a people. We share this earth with so many kinds of people, so many types of life. We are each on a variety of paths forward. If you would like to work together to figure out how, to come together.

How your businesses and trainings can fit into this coexisting community, so that together your trainings, your explorations, and your experiences can help those who need something to tangibly serve their own desires. But in a way where there is integrity, and community development and in many cases redevelopment of infrastructure which has been severely damaged by abuses from “leadership” mismanagement.

My hope is to stir the conversation so that those who are interested in joining together so that we can all work together to help those who have a need, so that each of our stories can find their way to those who need them. To

Market this not just as the material of the Rainbow library, but as a network joined by the aims of the library, and the academy to serve as my record of this attempt. I have been working on this since I was in high school. Trying to find solutions to the lacking of training that others and myself didn’t have to prepare us for the world.

The background in doing this came when My life fell to shit shortly after a bunch of horrible things led me to try and run away in the most creative of ways. I did steal a boat. So technically as a pirate, my entire life since has been through traveling across this country working my way through the various subcultures. My employment has been in the adult retail sector frankly because when I went to be promoted to assistant manager of pier 1, their corporate office fired me.

I was working 2 jobs at the time, there unloading the trucks 2 times a week at 530 am with a few others. At the same time I was working for a woman and her daughter who pretty much hired me on the spot. Working my way up to doing every odd job on my days off of the shop in order to earn overtime. Which was what led me into what kicked off my first book series, The Codex Arcanum, volume 1 & 2. These were designed to be training guides for a company whose first goal was to provide folks: religious non denominational offerings to community members so that they could begin to become independent and set their intentions on their studies and their businesses which they sought to grow into whatever their interests were in.

I had at the time two friends Julie and Fatima, who helped me draft out the entirity of the Orders of the Templi Nox corporation. It was to be a sales venue, and training space for the categories of spiritual development in the Order of the Night. The medicines/health: of the order of the Day. With the order of the twilight being business development. We set up each layer, the business plan will be included in Empires. This thing was to big for me to do alone, but after 3 years drafting, and working it. They each stepped away to their various activities. In their period of removal from this, I wrote the Grimoire of Arts, 2011/12, which is my best selling book at one time was #1 in two categories on amazon.

Since then there are 4 unpublished grimoires which are the basis for my personal methods of completing a system of sorcery which combines the material from cuniform tablets described in the ancient Greek Manuscripts and papyri examples from 3000 years back, with material from the judaic texts of the 1300s in sources like the Sefer Ha-lavanah, or the book of the moon, and other renaissance writers whose works have only recently been translated by folks in the last 30 years. With examples from texts on astrology, and esoteric thought from the late 1700s through to the modern day. I have set up a working system of operations whose focus is not specifically on the religious orders, but the social anthropology and the need for the return of a holistic community model that cultivates the needed elements within communities.

This work has taken me 20 years to contemplate and put everything I have ever done into focus for testing these concepts. There is more than money on the line with this type of project, it requires that good folks who are hungry for the day to come where the word doesn’t suck. Every job I have taken, every friend that I have made, the people in my life who are my family come from seeking this path forward.

The foundation for Empires, is the people. So this is where I am, asking for help. Who is willing to help, not with what spirituality does to the individual. That is their road to walk, but rather what a holistic approach to redesigning a social platform, a business community, educational resources, skills training, and mentorship to provide better communities where we can bring back the days when we knew our neighbors. Where good people who take in strays like myself and teach and provide jobs to those who the “many” do not want.

I have been stuck in a chronic pain condition for the better part of 7 years, my ability to grow this concept has been limited. I need help for community development. As writers, thinkers, speakers, and community relationships are not my strong suit due to my health issues/physical limitations. I am trying to find creative ways to bring my work to market, which is the work of helping provide a place where folks can study and learn.

Of those ideas:

If you offer a course for training people, you are welcome to get set up on theacademyofsorcery.com website. So that folks who can have a need for that training you provide so they can reach out to you as our kin in operations. While providing a short paragraph and a link on your page providing a return link to the academy providing possible interests with the means to connect with us, and my friends who are setting this up with me. We are coming from all corners of the country: Maine, Florida, Kansas, Washington, Oklahoma, California.

My apprentice who was here in California has graciously introduced his daughter to the project because she has a farm in Wisconsin that grows food for the homeless vets. While her partner has a background in coding which will be a paid royalty to him if he takes on building the app, which will allow folks to search for everything I have written, everything that is business related, as well as the purpose of the academy: Training videos from those leaders who wish to onboard with me in this process.

Where folks will pay the masters of the field, those folks who run businesses like the Philosophers Stone mineral store here in Ocean Beach, providing video lessons which will become available to purchase on the Academys training pages.

This opens up the employee that was volunteered by the shop owner, to a network he can build relationships with, the shop owner who will be able to cater to the unique needs of my community works/and any collector for her curated collection of rare minerals and the properties they represent.

We are all in a place where we have much to offer, but I am working on the tangible expressions of these by using my Academy for training, development and the donation of time that is required for brainstorming ideas, experimenting with them, and working together with many resources that come from knowing trades, friends in import/export, contacts in other countries for manufacturing, and other business owners. As well as ways to contribute to the education and cultivation of people who become our employees. Training them in all operations of our respective trades.

My service is to produce and cultivate sorcery for those who seek it. My desire is to have as many folks on board with this as possible.

The final book of my rainbow library of Sorcery is Hand: the ways of many. This post, as well as the works and histories of everyone who is going to help with this idea, to figure out ways we can all come together. Many are the hands which make light the work.

I am looking to finish my project, and would love feedback, or help to pull this off. Pact, represents the community requirments, that if people apply any concept they are required to fulfill some social development and provide some exchange for their learning. This is mostly as a hook to try and drive creative thought.

Emergence, is the second of the series providing the spellcraft and rituals that I have used to do my aforementioned projects, and how they function for focusing the paths of life ahead.

Breaking Clay, is the book of personal development, the changes I have had to go through, and experiences which result from inviting energies into my life that are reflected in direct manifestation aligned with the texts from so long ago. People do not change, its the “theme” of work that has always been. They want to love their partners, they want justice for slights against them, they want violence against those who have sought injury to them. I have worked for clients for years with all sorts of issues.

The Unencumbered represents evocation and method for interaction with these ancient representations in ways which are tested from client works, or by those folks like Keith, which are Initiated into places I have no right to be apart of, aside from my tenacity to stamp out fraud, corruption, and abuses in those communities by those unscrupulous fuckers who abuse women, the ancestors, and provide antiquated antisocial hatred which serves no purpose when used relentlessly against folks who cannot change things like their way to love, or the color of their skin, or the parents they were born to, or the lack of opportunity due to conditions outside of their control. People should hate this, with a fire that will finally restore peace, because by eliminating the systems of hate, through the necessity of the drive that comes from this internal revulsion to corruption, that is when things begin to change for the better.

Hand, i have talked about; all of the gates, threshold spell craft and ritual bring aligned in similar ways to those of a reiki master is to the spirit of Mt. Fuji, we can use these to change ourselves. These are the methods I have used create this project in full. These are what has allowed me to work directly with those folks whose paths are clad in oaths which remain unbroken, of those most private sacred secrets, but yet shared with me through my seeking the many to help with this project.

The 6th book is the Empires; where this concept I have written about today shares with the world these ideas.

The thaumaturgic Art;7th is the entire method for each of my 2 week courses for introduction to the method, the break down of the 12 categories of magic, and who is helping me in the school’s division, and how each day of the 3 month course will be taught, totaling 72 lessons which I have used across my life and this country seeking a way to establish this model of training so others can replicate it, and the reasons behjnd each lesson, each month, and each day of those 3 years in the academy itself.

The 3 volumes of the Thaumaturgic Craft including the exact methods and reasons why I have created this entire system. Which is only going to be available to those folks who would become my Teachers, offering their services under the Academy as instructors. Not for the propagation of the method, but for their interpretation and application. Which they must demonstrate, and with Keith, as the Headmaster who had himself replicated this process integration of method while I was crafting these notes. These will be for instructors only.

So, now its come to it, when I look to you for help. You each have projects, you each have special interests and we all can work together, and create a path forward which embodies the trust, and care that responsibilities are shared by everyone to make better the world then we have found it. I am not satisfied with how this world has been left by those who are in the drivers seat. I believe that a change is required.

How we seek peace, how we seek community and the freedoms to explore ourselves fully with those who wish to do the same. These are what my academy is for.

Please help with feedback, and if you have seen something which I have left out of my models. I would love to work with everyone who would be willing to help me. Any help is much appreciated.

I have made wonderful friends who are my brothers and sisters in art, friends and family who I do business with, and most importantly this is my attempt to drive the functional and realistic goals of my businesses, my community responsibilities and provide education and a safe environment where people can explore their own desires freely.

Thank you for your time in reading this, and any help is much welcomed. Only together can this be pulled off in ways which I cannot fathom. Please help me bring clarity and unity of intent to those who seek this way as an option.

[elhoimleafar]

From booksellers sorcerers and cyber-pagans. #SocialMedia #ModernPagans “Let your closest relationship be with the gods you worship and not with your social media”.

While it is true that I am very regular with social networks, for me it is inevitable because it is part of my job, managing the accounts of other clients for the two agencies with which I work keeps me very focused in the world of social networks, I graduated as a publicist in 2013 and my area is precisely managing profiles and social networks, and although it is difficult for me to keep my academic/professional life in my spiritual/professional life, I do my best to keep it that way and until now I think I have achieved it.

My Twitter account is permanently active, it is my window to the world, it is literally my way of doing catharsis, sharing with my readers, with my friends, with my followers who support me, it is my way of taking ideas from my head, sharing notes and thoughts, funny pictures, great places, etc... But I try to maintain a line and a firm position between both worlds and over time I have achieved a balance.

While my Instagram may be full of photographs of my candles and amulets, these are taken after the rituals, and mostly I do it to share the recipes with those who follow me, but not to show off, much less will they see me performing a ritual in a live Facebook, not by the intervention of the cameras, I really do not think that the device has any negative effect that I can not control, it is rather for two reasons that I think are quite logical, and which I have maintained against any argument that they have thrown me to defend the opposite.

First, for a topic of concentration, in the middle of my rituals, before and after them I like to feel focused on 100%, I do not tolerate any kind of distractions, and you can not give 100% of you, if 36% of your brain is busy focusing on the photo, the video and setting up snapchat filters.

Second, out of respect for my tradition, I'm not a Catholic, but I do not think Catholics go to mass and broadcast it on video, but I do not know much about their religion so I'm not really sure what I write here, and if They do, well, that's wrong. 

When you are in the middle of a ceremony or a spiritual session, you are having a private meeting with the creator gods of the universe, they descend to listen to you, look at you, encourage you, motivate you and encourage you to follow, listen to your complaints, your laments, and help you Heal in any aspect of your life that you need.

When you are reunited with the ruling god of your pantheon, you dedicate yourself to him or her, just as they dedicate themselves to you, and I do not think you can dedicate yourself 100% to them if you are focused on finding the correct angle of the camera for your Instagram post.

It is a matter of total respect and consideration, if I admire the American pagan community and its community of witches, it is that although they have all the facilities of the internet (much faster than you can imagine outside the USA) and make use of absolutely all social networks, they always seek to organize all kinds of talks, forums, events and festivals where they can meet face to face, celebrate the celebrations of the wheel of the year, perform all kinds of rituals in groups and long forums, talks and workshops to deal with various topics about the esoteric world and sorcery, and although it is true that we can find a lot of prejudice around, because there will always be those who only see the glass half empty and point out that all this is done only for money, beyond empty criticism, the money involved is not able to stain these events in any way, so far I have only attended the events organized in the state of NY, mostly by an agenda item, among other minor things, but to each of the events that I have attended I have found the same result: 

Sorcerers, magician shamans, and sorcerers with real trajectories, mixed with the common sorcerer, the sorcerer of the city, the apprentice who is entering this unknown world.World-renowned authors, many of whom we read in our early years in witchcraft and renowned as Judika Illes and Christopher Penczak, among many others who slip into these events to approach you and hold workshops, in addition, who does not want the opportunity to have signed a book of your favorite author?.

Believers and practitioners of all the diverse pagan and neopagan currents (Asatru, Wicca, Druids, sorcerers, etc ...) Mixed in complete harmony, interrelating, talking, attending together the workshops achieving a peaceful coexistence, thus demonstrating that all this war "who is better than who" and "who has the most beautiful altar" is only a vague idea that exists in the virtual world, but at the moment of truth, we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and that attracts us to these places to realize that if we are part of a huge pagan family that has not stopped growing.

Although I miss those times of going to the esoteric books section of the library, subscribe to the mailing lists of publishers waiting for their extensive catalogs of books to order the newest in the genre, although it was exciting to organize these forums of skype and yahoo where we saw each other's faces, I must admit that now the internet is available to everyone.

The internet makes us realize how big we are as a community, now we can participate in huge virtual forums of conversation, follow our favorite authors (and not to show off but now I'm even friends with several of mine on facebook), and keeps us abreast of the esoteric or spiritual events and organizations that interest us the most.

Likewise, and like the same magic, the internet has its respective pros and cons, is full of trolls, haters, pretty ridiculous memes and fake people with fake names and fake photos with which you must be very careful, in addition the internet unfortunately It supports and promotes piracy in large part, I had to leave several Facebook groups when I noticed that they were uploading files full of books by my favorite authors, at that time I was writing my first book for a small print shop In Venezuela, he was also working for the publishing company Circulo de Lectores de Venezuela, a company that literally sank with the rise of piracy and left a total of 3,500 people unemployed throughout the country.

Who does not miss those long Yahoo mailing lists, where people really wrote, and shared very broad thoughts and reflections, was something made for those who really like to read and study, many times I even print them, because Many of these emails that revolved around a common theme were almost books full of information that went through the filters of many people, and they were gold.

Now in the social networks are saturated with information, much of it information that you do not need, to the point of being overwhelming, and all this without mentioning that in social networks we limit ourselves (because if the post is very broad nobody reads it and nobody shares it) so you have to limit yourself to writing the whole idea in less than 200 characters.

Another problem that brings the internet to the pagan community, is that we find all these bookstore sorcerers, who have read a couple of books and believe they know everything, I have often encountered trolls that harass me on the internet trying to "correct my work" because it does not go with one or two books that they have read.

For example there is a lot with the subject of rituals and spells, you can perform hundreds of spells, and you can do them very well, and have the results you want, but there is always an egocentric to correct you, just to show you "how much they know "in theory, and not so much in practice.

Because to identify an herb, that anyone does based on photos and books, but go to cut the grass personally, dry it in your house and use it for your own spells, that's practice, and in social media times, that practice is worth gold, but not for those who follow you on social networks, but for you.

Yes, it is true that the internet has unfortunately given more power to haters and trolls, and now many people also write in a blog without knowing what they are talking about, so everything we find on the internet must be swallowed with an extra granite of salt, even now it is quite normal to meet people who come to chat with you at 5 am to evangelize and tell you that you worship the devil, understand, "why to bother going to knock on your door on a Saturday morning, being able to just open your chat window to bother you from the comfort of your home?".

Let's not forget that social networks also give us that positive look, that touch of positivism that we study so much in marketing, that "like", that "comment" that tells you that you are doing something right, that makes you believe that you are on the way correct, and that puts you in the same box of those pink characters who do whatever it is for the "like", the problem when people get used to it, when "like", that positive reinforcement you receive, is more important that the content you share, is the problem there, when people get so used to giving everything for that like, and without realizing it, they stop contributing real good material, just because they are focused on the likes, because many times the ego only he asks for more positive reinforcements.

But also the internet has allowed us to form huge discussion groups, these groups where some 5 thousand people are added but only 50 participate, but those fifty people are worth gold, and for those fifty people who are now only a click away, it is worth keeping our presence on the internet, to share the links of our favorite books, to invite others like us to these events of pagan celebrations in our country, and even to chat and share the details and experiences of our spells.

But as I always write, as long as you are light, as long as you know how to shine, no matter how dark the cave you enter, you can be light and illuminate the path to others who come after you.

With Love & Respect

Elhoim Leafar

[longthecomwhist1973-blog]

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[victormendesbcu-blog]

Consumerism

“Capitalism Works For Me! (True/False)” Steve Lambert [2013]

Capitalism Works For Me! (True/False) is a public installation by Steve Lambert. It consists of a 20-foot-long LED sign with flashing lights and a score board. It allows people who are passing by to interact with the sign and publicly decided whether capitalism serves them well by choosing True or False. The purpose of the piece was to evoke a discussion in an informal humorous way from regular people (non-specialists). 

Value Theories

Marx believed value was in human labour and that nothing could have value without being an object of utility. He placed economic value of a good or service on the total amount of coacially necessary labor require to produce it, rather than by the use or pleasure its owner gets from it and its scarcity value. While William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger and Leon Walras proposed in the late 1800s that commodities will have different values for different people at different times. The subjective theory of value is a theory of value which advances the idea that a value of a good is not determined by any inherent property of the good, nor by the amount of labor necessary to produce the good, but instead value is determined by the importance an individual places on a good for the achievement of his desired ends 

Commodity Fetishism 

Commodity Fetishism is the perception of the social relationships involved in production not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade. This can mean that consumers in a capitalist society believe an item has an intrinsic value in and of itself. Things are just commodities, and hence posses value, merely for the fact that a group of people or society as a whole attach to them their relation as producers and consumers, as sellers and buyers.

Macklemore x Ryan Lewis “Wings”

Macklemore references consumerism in his song “Wings” and continues on its music video. The song talks about consumption in American culture mainly in sneaker culture in the 90’s and shoe companies such as Nike. The song explains how people will spend ridiculous amounts of money just to fit in society. In one of the verses he writes “I’m an individual/ But I’m part of a movement/ My movement told me to be a consumer so I consumed it/They told me just do it/ I listened to what that swoosh said/ Look at what that swoosh did/ See it consumed my thoughts” 

The first consumer revolution

The first consumer revolution refers to the early 1700s when wages began to rise and there was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of luxury goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. It marked a departure from the traditional and frugal way of leaving and started an increased mass consumption in society. The middle-class was growing and they embraced new ideas about luxury goods and the growing important of fashion in aesthetic appeal rather than necessity. In 1723, Bernard Mandeville published a controversial book called The Fable of the Bees where he argued that a country’s prosperity and economy ultimately laid in the consumption of frivolous items and we should ensure high demand for these unnecessary things.  

Benefits of capitalism 

It drives national prosperity - apprentices can be trained, hospitals can be built

Incentives to get rich can lead to innovation

Freedom - not only in choice of consumer goods but also in careers

Equality - everyone has the chance to make it big 

Disadvantages of capitalism

Waste - excess of resources leads to waste and inequality leads to waste of goods while other people need it (food, clothes)

Companies would cut corners in health and safety because it costs less. Like refusing to put in environmental measures because it will reduce their profit margins

Propaganda, brainwashing

Class gaps - huge inequality between the rich and poor

Worker alienation

Critics of consumerism

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, was troubled by the impact that “new materialism” was having on his hometown Geneva, he wanted to limit people coming into the town and to impose high taxes on luxury items

Charles Dickens, author, published a novel in 1854 called “Hard Times” set in a fictitious northern town ruined by the impact of consumer society. He believed that capitalism was evil because of the awful conditions provided for the producers.

John Ruskin, English art critic and social thinker, published a book in 1860 called “Unto this Last”. The book was a criticism of capitalist economies, the main criticisms being that people were being exploited and that the environment was being ruined. 

Karl Marx, philosopher and perhaps one of the most well-known opposers of capitalism, believed profit making was nothing more than theft from underpaid workers who had to work in unsafe situations.   

Consumerism and Images

Image plays a large part in personal consumption and purchase of material goods and advertising plays a huge role in our capitalist society. Ad users make the public feel like they need new things through the bombardment of ads in tv, billboards, magazines. Its unclear how many advertisements we are exposed to every day, but common estimates range from around 3000 and above. As well as showing us products, adverts also present us with values, ideals and social standards.

The Society of the Spectacle

In 1967, Marxist theorist and philosopher Guy Debord published a book called “The Society of the Spectacle” which was a critique of advanced capitalism. It dealt with issues such as class alienation, cultural homogenisation and mass media. 

Detournement

French for “rerouting” or “hijacking”, detournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Lettrist Internation, a European group of artists and activist and later by the Situationist International. 

Brandalism

Brandalism is an anti-advertising movement founded in July 2012 in London. Twenty-six British artists ran a “subvertising” campaign where they covered billboard ads in five english cities with art pieces evoking an anti-advertising sentiment. It has been defined as “turning expressions of the capitalist system and its media culture against itself” It is similar to satirical parody but employs a more direct reuse of the original works.  

Adbusters

Adbusters are a global network of artists, writers, musicians, designers, poets, philosophers and punks trying to pull off a radical transformation of the current world order. Based in Canada, they aim to do this via detournement usually creating subvertisements in order to critique consumer society.