#inverse compassions

[astrumocs]

🗣 oda and seifer >:3

Main Characters: Odarem Mortis (His POV) & Seifer Sanaca Side Characters/Mentioned Characters: Vrikoh Havlok (Odarem's official fleet general) & Seifer's Fleet Captain (Armand Buleis) Setting: Seifers' Newest Fleet Ship, some 2 or so sweeps back CW(s): Mentions of Blood and allusions to a murder

----- Google Docs Link -----

You step off of the small transport vessel that had ferried you to your new assignment, the scent of blood hitting your nose immediately, causing you to raise your face mask into place. Well, you’re actually catching two distinct blood trails coming from different directions, but one is a lot fresher… You can’t help but find this curious, as the murder you’re meant to be investigating happened two days ago. Despite your curiosities, your outward demeanor does nothing to show that as you approach to meet with the captain of the ship.

“Doctor Mortis… good to see you’ve finally arrived. I’m sure I don’t need to waste my time briefing you on the situation at hand, do I?” The seadweller raises a harsh brow, tapping his cane to the floor in obvious impatience.

“Not at all, Sir. I read the report on the way, with permission from General Havlok to take as long as required.”

He studies you, perhaps bothered that he can’t see most of your face to scrutinize your expression for not being respectful enough, given the eyepatch and mask you wear. “I give you free rein of the main floor to investigate and find the culprit as you must. If, for whatever reason, you require access to another floor, my Lieutenant will see to you and handle it from there. I expect this dealt with in the next two hours or less, cusp-blood.”

“Just for you, Captain, I’ll have it done in one.” He may not know you’ve got a smarmy little smirk on your face, or that you would’ve winked there as you give your ‘to attention’ salute, but you know, and that’s what really matters here.

After getting that asshole off your back, you don’t waste a second before you’re turning toward the fresh scent of blood, slipping your mask down as your nose twitches and you head towards it. You’re careful to listen for any footsteps or other noises following after you, but hear nothing besides your own boots hitting the floor.

This isn’t a scent you’ve encountered in some time, you think, puzzling over what it could be, when the scent of something distinctly unfamiliar clouds up the mix in your head. This is peculiar, it wouldn’t match up with the killer's profile at all, as far as you know. This drives your curiosity ever higher, and you walk quickly and with purpose… until you come to the end of a series of shoebox-style rooms for the military grunts and reach a… repurposed supply room?

You lean close to the door, listening in, but only hear a grunt and the creaking of a bed. Perhaps an isolated soldier with some kind of odd illness? Why the blood? Why no medical staff nearby? You can’t help it, you know you’d be able to track the murderer down in 20 minutes tops, so you have some time to spare.

With that, you raise a gloved hand to knock gently on the door and speak only loud enough to hopefully be heard by whoever’s inside. “Hey in there, I’m here under your captain's orders. My name is Odarem Mortis, may I come in?”

There’s a long pause where you wonder if they even heard you, until a rasped voice answers you, hesitant confusion lacing their tone. “What…? You... no, leave me alone...”

You’re really not one to push, but your curiosity and concern for this individual push you to ask once more. “Are you sure..? I won’t pry, but I’d just like to check and see if you’re alright, if I can. I won’t cause you trouble, swear on my last good eye.” Shifting your weight slightly from foot to foot, you await their answer through another pause.

“There is nothing to check…”

As the voice trails off, you’re readying yourself to respect the refusal when the voice interrupts your line of thought.

“But you may come in if you really wish to…”

You open the door slowly, your other hand up in the air passively as the tired-sounding stranger comes into view. The shade of violet he possesses immediately ticks your box for a likely mutant, and your gaze gets a little more sympathetic than it already was. You can’t help but note the dried blood on his clothing, that you must’ve caught the scent of to lead you here. He looks at you warily for a moment before hanging his head, as though hoping to avoid any judgement and conversation.

Still, you can’t help but want to converse with him, shutting the door and moving away from it so he doesn’t feel trapped by any chance. “Are you hurt?” you ask softly, trying to be forthright and genuine, to hopefully ease that heavy tension you can tell sits in his whole body like a rock.

His fins flick, but you can’t tell if that’s good or bad yet. “I have no injuries…” The violet refuses to look at you as he answers.

Cautiously, you approach to sit on the far end of his bed and he tenses, though he relaxes a bit more when you don’t make any further movements.

“Can I ask about the source of the blood?”

Immediately his fins flatten and his head turns a little further away from you, indicating that this was the wrong question, so you quickly supply more to follow it up, “You don’t have to tell me anything, your privacy is your own… it would be nice to know your name though, if you’re feeling adventurous?” Your tone is playful at the tail end; non-threatening.

Something about your response eases a lot of the tension he was holding, and he finally turns to look at you, even if his body language remains closed and curled in on itself.

“Seifer…”

The seadweller, Seifer as he’s told you now, studies you- though unlike his captain, his gaze is like that of a prey animal rather than a bored predator. You feel a bit of pain in your chest at whatever put this man in such a state, though instead of showing that, you smile at him brightly. “Nice to meet you, Seifer. I’m Odarem, though you probably heard that through the door already.”

Seifer gives an affirmative sound, eyeing you with a bit of curious interest of his own now as you continue.

“I’m here on work, so I can’t stay long, but… did you want some company? I’ve got half an hour to do something other than my job, give or take, and you seem like you’d be good to chat with. Handsome too, if it’s not overly forward of me to say.” The smile on your face remains relaxed and easy, keeping the pressure as low as possible.

At the compliment to his obviously disheveled appearance, he blushes, fins twitching again. You note that the twitch is probably a positive sign at this point.

“I… y-you can stay, if you would really like, but… I cannot promise I’m good company.”

“I think you’ve done a fine job of it so far, Seif, I’m already having a nice time. And well, you seem like you could use some good company, yeah?”

There’s some hard-to-read look in his ringed eyes like he’s almost in disbelief at how kind you’ve been. He leans slightly closer in your direction, though you suspect it to be subconsciously. You can’t help but wonder if the fact he let you nickname him so quickly and is no longer moving away from you means anything… is he that starved for kindness here? You suppose that you shouldn’t be surprised, given the state you found him in, and the fact he doesn’t even have a proper room- along with the sour attitude his commanding captain wears.

Cautiously you reach a hand forward, stopping when you see him stiffen a bit, though not fully retracting your reach. “Apologies, I should ask… You seem tense, is all. It isn’t my place to ask you why-- though given this place I don’t blame you.”

He seems put at ease by your casual insult to the ship, though, and he doesn’t lean away from you, so you press a little more. “I can loosen up those knots in your shoulders if you’d like. Might make the place a little more bearable? And don’t worry, I’ve got a degree in easing tension.” You joke, keeping it light.

Seifer fiddles with his necklace as he seems to consider your offer, another slight blush dusting the tips of his ears behind his fins, though you’re not sure exactly which part of your words prompted this. 

“Go… go ahead,” Seifer mumbles, looking away from you, but not moving as you shift closer now, slightly behind and beside him on the bed and lifting your hands to hover over his shoulders.

“I’m going to place my hands on you now, just a heads up, Seif.”

He makes a low, appreciative grunt of acknowledgment, and you gently place your hands down on his shoulders, easing into pressing your thumbs into the muscle to work them loose. A little bit of time passes as you feel him melt beneath your hands, giving sounds of approval when you break the tension spots up.

You lean forward to ask him how he’s feeling, right as he seems to turn his head to say something to you, and you nearly bump foreheads as both he and you still. Seifer looks a bit wide-eyed from what you think must be out of surprise until his face darkens with blush once more.

Speaking without thinking too much you ask, “Can I kiss you? I’d be gentle.”

Violet fins flutter even harder than they had before, though this time they remain more upright. Your question seems to do nothing to assuage his blush, though he appears too stunned to answer, so you speak again. “You can say no, of course. If that went too far, I can back off--”

“N... no, I--” He seems surprised by his own sudden protest, eyes glancing downward as he forces out the rest “Please do…”

You smile softly, brushing his lip with your thumb to catch his attention. “Of course.” And when he looks up, you kiss him gently.

[fluffylord]

TWELFTH DOCTOR I THE ZYGON INVERSION

[iruludavare]

{ ooc. Anyway since scvi has confirmed for us that Hisui variants of pokemon do still exist and we already Know eterna forest has some weird stuff going on AND serena's ancestor's whole deal + story with her hisuian zoroark

Serena likely has Sarana's in her possession post-x, after going back home, venturing back into Eterna Forest, and finding her. Like a rite of passage sort of deal. And tbh, I'd like to think said zoroark + any other hisuian zorua in there keep the people from Floaroma Town and Eterna City safe in the forest. In this essay I will- }

[futurefind]

//thinking about how (receiving) anger is so familiar for Sa (derogatory) and how thus it's the worst way to express worry / try to scruff her abt her recklessness :') bc it's water off a duck's back and she'll just sass right back

Being kind/fussy about it, however... :') it's like a steel chair to the face (pos) because she's so unfamiliar with it— and, depending on the intensity and explicitness of the worry (ie not liking to see her hurt, or worse/better, that she doesn't deserve to be hurt), is liable to make her crumble like wet tissue or even cry :')

[sscarletvenus]

yes suguru's plans to exterminate a vast majority of humanity is undeniably evil, but to say that he is murderous from the very start, cruel for the sake of being so, or lacks compassion or any emotional nuance is a gross disservice to his character's writing.

suguru is a case study of a romantic idealist and self-sacrificial saviour whose absurdly rigid, quixotic ideals are shattered brutally by reality intervening. the intense hatred he has for humanity is born out of, is an inverse of, the intense love he once possessesed for it. this is also why even though satoru is portrayed as brash and selfish and arrogant in the hidden inventory arc, it is suguru that turns "villainous."

suguru places his faith in the goodness of humanity, believes the duty of shamans is to protect the weak, their existence solely hinged upon saving the lives of non-sorcerers, and for that he is disappointed so tremendously, betrayed to an extent that makes it impossible for him to recover his ideals and past self.

ultimately there are also more than one reasons why satoru doesn't become "evil" : 1) "protecting humanity" was never his cause to begin with. he hardly cared about preserving human life, as is evident in his intentions to kill the cultists who cheered on riko's death, and 2) he had someone shielding his inner self : suguru. for it is suguru that tells him the duty of shamans is to protect non-shamans and the weak, suguru who asks him to sympathise with riko, suguru who persuades him to not kill meaninglessly.

satoru is indeed attached to riko, as well. he is the one who decides not to hand riko over to tengen if she wishes to return home, and tries to enliven her last days as a lucid person. it would thus not surpass one’s expectations if satoru turned to villainy post riko's demise, since he never even liked non-shamans to begin with. and yet, he doesn't. suguru protects his heart, which is a part of why he is able to steadily process his grief and anguish over riko's death.

suguru doesn't have anyone to do that for him, he is strong in his own right but not the "strongest", nobody notices how deep of an abyss his soul has sunken in, and he succumbs to the lethal loneliness, falters in this marathon of sorcery.

suguru is brimming with love and compassion: it is what drives his heroism in youth and villainy as a cult leader. he is able to protect gojo's heart but not his own. he fluctuates between two polar extremes : utter distaste of humanity Vs. a duty to protect it despite its horrors. three things serve as final nails to the metaphorical coffin : yuki's words, haibara's death, miminana's abuse. he describes imbibing curses for curse manipulation is "like eating a rag used to clean vomit". how macabre, how grotesque, how enlightening - who is he doing all this for? the humans who killed riko? it was these humans haibara died serving, these same humans violently mistreated miminana.

toji and sonoda encapsulate evil very blatantly, and aren't enough to shake suguru's belief in humanity. but the turning point is the non-shaman cultists rejoicing : suguru is thus forced to confront the banality of evil.

and suguru responds by rejecting what he once loved, embraces the darkness plaguing him. believes the only way to eradicate curses is to uproot their source : humanity. humans, for as long as they will live, will give rise to curses born out of their negative emotions. there is no one to tell him any better, or protect his self-identity. he loses himself to his own sense of empathy, his own ideals.

he isn't indifferent at all, cannot pick and choose whom he loves and doesn't. his love and hatred is collective, in both he gives his all. even amidst his hatred, he doesn't lose his love.

who does he choose to target first, once amassing enough money, power, and reputation? sonoda, the man who ordered riko's assassination. someone who lies in wait to enact vengeance does it out of love. if he was nothing more than a corrupt tyrant, he wouldn't remember the circumstances of riko's demise or care enough about them. suguru's rise as a hero and his subsequent fall as a villain has always been about love. and it seems, to me, up until his death, he prioritizes satoru over himself. doesn't see satoru as a weapon at all, or he would have directly asked satoru to join his cause. instead he poses to satoru a question, presents him with a choice - which in turn makes satoru shaken enough to question his identity, his place in the system, becoming a teacher and dedicating his all to a fitting reformist centrism from an isolated and dare i say, individualistic person such as himself, who stands on the pinnacle of power. but he wouldn't have come to such a conclusion without suguru's experiences shaping his worldview (he himself apologizes to riko during his fight with toji because rather than feeling depressed over her death, he feels the pure pleasure of the world in that moment. killing toji endows him with a sense of duty towards megumi, and riko's death but obviously impacts him, but the change from full apathy, to neutral indifference except in the case of his students, was losing suguru.)

as evil as suguru becomes, he is not a hypocrite. that he kills his own parents is to show the seriousness and conviction he has in his ideals. his code of operation is consistent, even when it turns from pro-human to pro-shaman.

reminds you of what mahito tells yuuji: does yuuji ever consider how many curses he kills? so why should mahito account for how many humans he kills? suguru geto presents us with a possible answer : someone has to care about how many shamans are killed.

you can condemn him for his use of collective punishment, but suguru is a villain!

you can criticize his killing of innocents, but jjk conveys the carefully crafted narrative of a villain who once held staunch traditional and moral ideals.

suguru is evil for proposing collective punishment, but it is incredibly consistent with how emotional he is. he is empathetic because he cares about a girl like riko, doomed by the actions of the rest of the world, forgotten in her misery. he cares and it drives him to the deepest pits of despair, where life loses all color and meaning, despite only knowing her for so long and haibara as well, he enshrines haibara in his memory, when no one other than nanami does. hardly anyone remembers riko's existence, haibara's laughing face, but he does! and for that he spends each moment sinking in the quagmire of his grief and torment. his empathy is a sword of damocles hanging over his neck! to say that he is cruel and unfeeling is to contradict the very agony that drives his (wrongful?) actions. and he is indeed wrong for externalizing this indelible pain, wanting to inflict it upon innocents. but suguru is a villain! has been set up as such!

mahito raises this question to junpei,"is the opposite of love really indifference?" to satoru, it is. but to suguru, it is hatred which is the opposite of love.

[aureentuluva70]

How heartbreakingly jarring is it that in a shrine dedicated to Nienna, the Vala of Sorrow, Mercy and Compassion, we see a numenorean spitefully destroy a relic of her, mock those who are there to honor "those for whom she weeps", and then murder another numenorean for the first time in the show, and one of the Faithful at that. And not just any faithful, but Valandil-whose very name means friend of the valar-who chose to show the kingsman mercy, which Kemen instantly proves himself undeserving of by literally and metaphorically stabbing Valandil in the back.

Kemen then washes his sword, now stained with the blood of one of the Faithful, in the waters of the shrine of Nienna the Compassionate as if bathing the blade in her tears, defiling them. I've heard that as a kind of ritual, swords were once dipped into water in order to receive the blessing of a deity, so with that point of view it feels very much like a deliberate inversion of a divine ritual, a mockery of that which is sacred, the complete desecration of a holy space.

And then Kemen has the gall to lie straight through his teeth, saying that Elendil-the one who convinced Valandil to grant Kemen mercy in the first place-"was the one who started the uprising."

If Kemen is supposed to be a kind of representation of the Kingsman alike to his father, he has sent one message and one message only: that mercy for the Faithful is dead in Numenor.

How incredibly tragic and yet how fitting that in the defiling of a temple dedicated to the Vala of Mercy we see the fruit of violence and the beginning of a kingdom's end sprout. With Nienna's love and compassion gone, it's only inevitable that Morgoth's shadow of terror and of hate is soon to come, and Numenor's doom with it.

[warpfactorseven]

Sometimes I think about how in the last few episodes of DS9, Julian chooses to abandon his moral compass to kidnap and then forcefully enter the mind of a dying man in order to find the cure for Odo, and all the while Garak becomes a revolutionary figure and helps wage a righteous war for Cardassian independence. They almost become inversions of eachother, with Garak stepping out of the shadows to pursue justice and Julian wielding deception and violence with surgical precision. Do you think Garak ever found out what happened between Julian and Sloan? Did Julian begin to see Garak in a different light after he helped liberate Cardassia? Do you think they kissed full on the mouth after their last scene together?

[cipheramnesia]

I don't like taking such an unsubtle reading of the current horror movie temperatures, but I feel like the sudden glut of movies about Dangerous Children isn't operating in a subtle way.

Recently there's been a surge of movies about dangerous and / murderous children, where kids suddenly become different, alien to their parents and threatening. The kids are subsumed by some other, larger threat to the family and social boundaries, and ultimately slip beyond the parents' ability to try to connect back to the children they love but no longer can safely be around.

And the perspective for the most part is that the parents are the victims in this circumstance, while the altered children are the antagonists, evil and remorseless, as if compassion is the last developmental stage and the consequence is that children when taken over by something larger and more dangerous are themselves terrifying and unable to basic human empathy.

So in the context of younger generations increasingly having more gender diversity, more concern about social justice, being less conservative in general, I cannot help but read this trend as related to adults seeing this shift in a younger generation away from conservative values as viewing their own offspring as dangerous, amoral, and evil. It's almost an inversion of Romeros zombie movies, which in a large part were an expression about the horror of seeing humans so far detached from humanity that people could lose their capacity to care about or distinguish humans as human if they were on the wrong end of a gun.

The revival of the killer kid genre feels ominous and foreboding, movies that instead suggest that if a younger generation is different and confusing, they're simply inhuman themselves, subject to grand forces of evil, and they can only be stopped if you can overcome your empathy and kill your children. Sometimes horror is a bellwether and if it is, this one is a pretty bad sign.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hey, I wanted to ask, do you have any tips for numbers and their meanings, For example: what does the number 5 represent?

Writing Notes: Symbolism of Numbers

In symbolism, numbers are not merely the expressions of quantities, but idea-forces, each with a particular character of its own.

The actual digits are, as it were, only the outer garments.

All numbers are derived from the number one (which is equivalent to the mystic, nonmanifest point of no magnitude).

The farther a number is from unity, the more deeply it is involved in matter, in the involutive process, in the“world.”

The first 10 numbers in the Greek system (or twelve in the oriental tradition) pertain to the spirit: they are entities, archetypes and symbols.

The rest are the product of combinations of these basic numbers.

Below are the most generally accepted symbolic meanings of each number.

ZERO

Non-being, mysteriously connected with unity as its opposite and its reflection; it is symbolic of the latent and potential and is the “Orphic Egg.”

From the viewpoint of man in existence, it symbolizes death as the state in which the life-forces are transformed.

Because of its circular form, it signifies eternity.

ONE

Symbolic of being and of the revelation to men of the spiritual essence.

The active principle which, broken into fragments, gives rise to multiplicity, and is to be equated with the mystic Centre, the Irradiating Point and the Supreme Power.

Stands for spiritual unity—the common basis among all beings.

Guénon draws a distinction between unity and one, after the Islamic mystic thinkers: unity differs from one in that it is absolute and complete in itself, admitting neither two nor dualism.

Hence, unity is the symbol of divinity.

Is also equated with light.

TWO

Stands for echo, reflection, conflict and counterpoise or contraposition; or the momentary stillness of forces in equilibrium; it also corresponds to the passage of time—the line which goes from behind forward; it is expressed geometrically by two points, two lines or an angle.

It is also symbolic of the first nucleus of matter, of nature in opposition to the creator, of the moon as opposed to the sun.

In all esoteric thought, two is regarded as ominous: it connotes shadow and the bisexuality of all things, or dualism (represented by the basic myth of the Gemini) in the sense of the connecting-link between the immortal and the mortal, or of the unvarying and the varying.

Within the mystic symbolism of landscape in megalithic culture, two is associated with the mandorla-shaped mountain, the focal point of symbolic Inversion, forming the crucible of life and comprising the two opposite poles of good and evil, life and death.

THREE

Symbolizes spiritual synthesis, and is the formula for the creation of each of the worlds.

Represents the solution of the conflict posed by dualism.

Forms a half-circle comprising: birth, zenith and descent.

Geometrically it is expressed by three points and by the triangle.

The harmonic product of the action of unity upon duality.

The number concerned with basic principles, and expresses sufficiency, or the growth of unity within itself.

Associated with the concepts of heaven and the Trinity.

FOUR

Symbolic of the earth, of terrestrial space, of the human situation, of the external, natural limits of the “minimum” awareness of totality, and, finally, of rational organization.

Equated with the square and the cube, and the cross representing the four seasons and the points of the compass.

A great many material and spiritual forms are modelled after the quaternary.

The number associated with tangible achievement and with the Elements.

In mystic thought, it represents the tetramorphs.

FIVE

Symbolic of Man, health and love, and of the quintessence acting upon matter.

Comprises the four limbs of the body plus the head which controls them, and likewise the four fingers plus the thumb and the four cardinal points together with the centre.

The hieros gamos is signified by the number five, since it represents the union of the principle of heaven (three) with that of the Magna Mater (two).

Geometrically, it is the pentagram, or the five-pointed star.

Corresponds to pentagonal symmetry, a common characteristic of organic nature, to the golden section (as noted by the Pythagoreans), and to the five senses representing the five “forms” of matter.

SIX

Symbolic of ambivalence and equilibrium, six comprises the union of the two triangles (of fire and water) and hence signifies the human soul.

The Greeks regarded it as a symbol of the hermaphrodite.

It corresponds to the six Directions of Space (two for each dimension), and to the cessation of movement (since the Creation took six days).

Hence it is associated with trial and effort.

Shown to be related to virginity, and to the scales.

SEVEN

Symbolic of perfect order, a complete period or cycle.

Comprises the union of the ternary and the quaternary, and hence it is endowed with exceptional value.

Corresponds to the seven Directions of Space (that is, the six existential dimensions plus the centre), to the seven-pointed star, to the reconciliation of the square with the triangle by superimposing the latter upon the former (as the sky over the earth) or by inscribing it within.

It is the number forming the basic series of musical notes, of colours and of the planetary spheres, as well as of the gods corresponding to them; and also of the capital sins and their opposing virtues.

Corresponds to the three-dimensional cross.

The symbol of pain.

EIGHT

The octonary, related to two squares or the octagon, is the intermediate form between the square (or the terrestrial order) and the circle (the eternal order) and is, in consequence, a symbol of regeneration.

By virtue of its shape, the numeral is associated with the two interlacing serpents of the caduceus, signifying the balancing out of opposing forces or the equivalence of the spiritual power to the natural.

It also symbolizes—again because of its shape—the eternally spiralling movement of the heavens (shown also by the double sigmoid line—the sign of the infinite).

Because of its implications of regeneration, eight was in the Middle Ages an emblem of the waters of baptism.

Corresponds in mediaeval mystic cosmogony to the fixed stars of the firmament, denoting that the planetary influences have been overcome.

NINE

The triangle of the ternary, and the triplication of the triple.

It is therefore a complete image of the three worlds.

The end-limit of the numerical series before its return to unity.

For the Hebrews, it was the symbol of truth, being characterized by the fact that when multiplied it reproduces itself (in mystic addition).

In medicinal rites, it is the symbolic number par excellence, for it represents triple synthesis, that is, the disposition on each plane of the corporal, the intellectual and the spiritual.

TEN

Symbolic, in decimal systems, of the return to unity.

In the Tetractys (whose triangle of points—four, three, two, one—adds up to ten) it is related to four.

Symbolic also of spiritual achievement, as well as of unity in its function as an even (or ambivalent) number or as the beginning of a new, multiple series.

According to some theories, ten symbolizes the totality of the universe—both metaphysical and material—since it raises all things to unity.

From ancient oriental thought through the Pythagorean school and right up to St. Jerome, it was known as the number of perfection.

ELEVEN

Symbolic of transition, excess and peril and of conflict and martyrdom.

According to Schneider, there is an infernal character about it: since it is in excess of the number of perfection—ten—it therefore stands for incontinence; but at the same time it corresponds, like two, to the mandorla-shaped mountain, to the focal point of symbolic Inversion and antithesis, because it is made up of one plus one (comparable in a way with two).

TWELVE

Symbolic of cosmic order and salvation.

It corresponds to the number of the signs of the Zodiac, and is the basis of all dodecanary groups.

Linked to it are the notions of space and time, and the wheel or circle.

THIRTEEN

Symbolic of death and birth, of beginning afresh.

Hence it has unfavourable implications.

FOURTEEN

Stands for fusion and organization.

And for justice and temperance.

FIFTEEN

Markedly erotic.

Associated with the devil.

OTHER NUMBERS

Tarot

Each of the numbers from sixteen to twenty-two is related to the corresponding card of the Tarot pack; and sometimes the meaning is derived from the fusion of the symbols of the units composing it.

There are two ways in which this fusion may occur: either by mystic addition (for example, 374 = 3 + 7 + 4 = 14 = 1 + 4 = 5) or by succession, in which case the right-hand digit expresses the outcome of a situation denoted by the left-hand number (so 21 expresses the reduction of a conflict—two—to its solution—unity).

These numbers also possess certain meanings drawn from traditional sources and remote from their intrinsic symbolism:

24, for example, is the sacred number in Sankhya philosophy, and

50 is very common in Greek mythology—there were fifty Danaides, fifty Argonauts, fifty sons of Priam and of Aegyptus, for example as a symbol, we would suggest, of that powerful quality of the erotic and human which is so typical of Hellenic myths.

Repetition

The repetition of a given number stresses its quantitative power but detracts from its spiritual dignity.

So, for example, 666 was the number of the Beast because 6 was regarded as inferior to seven.

Contained within a multiple

When several kinds of symbolic meaning are contained within a multiple number, the symbolism of that number is accordingly enriched and strengthened.

Thus, 144 was considered very favourable because its sum was 9 (1 + 4 + 4) and because it comprises multiples of 10 and 4 plus the quaternary itself.

Lastly: Dante, in the Divine Comedy, has frequent recourse to the symbolism of numbers.

Sources: 1 2 3

More: On Symbolism

Hope this helps, would love to read your writing if it does!

[theredanddarkrobyn]

I really like how Yuji and Sukuna's dynamics in last week's chapter were basically an inversion of their talk in chapter 212:

Sukuna, who measures worthiness solely by strength, thinks the lives of the weak are worthless. He feels nothing about those he tramples over and his sheer lack of humanity enrages Yuji.

On chapter 265 its Yuji who enrages Sukuna by showing him true compassion

After Sukuna spent most of the series being this unstoppable force almost beyond comprehension it feels really cathartic that Yuji can rattle him this much.

Of all the characters in JJK, Yuji is the only one who can truly challenge Sukuna's philosophy.

[astrumocs]

Seifer!! I wonder.. well. Can you share with us a fond memory you have? Something you sometimes think to when things are rough? Surely there is something that helps you carry on?

"I really wish I did but a lot of my good memories feel... tainted after what happened. My life before the fleet was nothing, it was lonely and unremarkable. I had no purpose."

"I did meet this man who came aboard our ship though, briefly... he was kind to me. I think back on our brief meeting as a glimmer of good things still being out there in the world, even if they aren't for me."

[mejcinta]

We see him confront Alicent in this episode and basically accuse her of having too much compassion. Does Aemond see her as an enemy? Is there any affection remaining?

"I think there is. One of the main motivations I’ve played from the beginning of Season 2 was this idea that he wants his mum. In every scene I played with Olivia Cooke, who plays Alicent, I always envisioned Aemond and Alicent sitting on a Dornish beach far from war. Aemond won it for them, and they’re just sipping on piña coladas during peacetime.

In Michael Mann’s Heat, [Robert] De Niro’s character has a line where he says, “Never get attached to a character you’re not prepared to walk out on in 30 seconds flat when you feel the heat around the corner.” It goes back to that line from Heat. What if Alicent is actually the kryptonite of that code? He found a surrogate maternal affection in the madam [in the pleasure house]. He found it in some way in Vhagar, this older she-dragon. But is that enough? He’s always craved for his mom’s affection. I think he’s heartbroken when he says “Would you not have us prevail?” and she says, “Not like this.”

That’s not part of Aemond's vision. When he sent Alicent away in Episode 6, he said, “Look, let me deal with the war. You just wait by the margins, and then when I’ve won this war, we can pick up and work on our relationship.” But the fact that she rebukes him at that moment in Episode 8, he’s heartbroken. It’s horrible for Aemond to comprehend that his mom isn’t on his side."

(Ewan Mitchell for Inverse on Aemond's affection for Alicent.)

[petruchio]

ultimately tbosas is an inversion of thg, and our main three characters in each are inversions of the main three counterparts. snow is an inverted katniss; lucy gray is an inverted peeta; sejanus is an inverted gale.

snow and katniss are both constantly aware of their self as it relates to how they are being perceived. they’re both hyper aware of the unspoken rules of society that dictate how they must live their lives. but while snow uses his knowledge to manipulate others for personal political gain within the rules of that society, katniss uses her knowledge to highlight the injustice of the rules themselves. snow would see a friend killed before he would allow himself to be implicated in a crime; katniss would rather kill herself than lose the boy she’s grown to care for in the arena. snow would kill the girl he loves to avoid the potential for political backlash; katniss cannot even perform the most simple of her political duties until she is reunited the boy she loves. they are mirrors — they show us that we all have the potential for greatness in us, the decision we make is whether we use our awareness of the roles we play in society for self-serving gain or for selfless love and compassion.

lucy gray is the inverted peeta. first, they’re both artists who use their art as a strategy: lucy grays songs and peetas camouflage. but more importantly, they both use their ability to perform and manipulate a crowd in order to help another person succeed — to help another person survive the games. peeta confesses his love for katniss in order to draw the audiences attention as a way to help her win; lucy gray performs her songs to the crowd as a way to help snow win. for both of them, it’s a fairly selfless act — they do it because they believe in the inherent goodness in humanity, because they love another person. only where lucy gray believes snow is compassionate and good, he lets her down. peeta believes the same about katniss, and she proves him right.

and sejanus is an inverted gale. they both believe in the injustice of the regime, and neither one of them can mask their disgust for the society that forces them to live this way. sejanus cannot mask his feelings about the capitol students; gale cannot hide his frustration with madge. but where sejanus cannot let himself lose sight of the human cost of it all, and that is ultimately what leads to his undoing, it is the exact opposite that undoes gale. the minute gale loses sight of the fact that he is capable of perpetuating the same horrors he claims to speak out against, he loses himself. and thus he ends the trilogy where sejanus begins: in district 2.

all six characters prove the series’ argument. tbosas shows us the other side of everything we’re shown in thg and comes to the exact same conclusion: we all have our own histories, our own baggage, our own traumas, and they all inform how we engage with our society and how we identify and interact with the injustices that are built into our systems. but we all have a choice: and that choice comes down to whether or not we use the skills we learn from our unique histories for self interest, for violence and revenge and war, or whether we use them for compassion, for love, for understanding.

it’s all the same argument; it’s all the same story.

[stardustdiiving]

I really love the implied hat radish dynamic that must exist alongside the Wanderer’s 4.8 character development. He’s already been more civil w Nahida since Inversion of Genesis and her giving him a chance has allowed him to grow enough to rebuild being okay with showing compassion and extending it to others :( I really really want to see them together again I bet they get along even more now!!!

Ppl have mentioned he sort of takes Nahida’s role with him in how he reaches out to Durin and i love the idea he takes after her bc he’s well aware how much it meant to be given a chance. I like to think through this he’s able to reminisce more positively on the people in his past who reached out to him too

[bsof-maarav]

I just talked to one of the handful of friends I have left from my former community and found out that a specific former mutual friend, one who particularly prides herself on being a feminist, is straight up denying the hamas rapes, demanding "forensic evidence" and claiming it's all "Israeli propaganda."

I just have no more words left. I knew it was bad and I left behind what little social media I had in the first days after October 7th because I saw enough to know that I wasn't going to be able to be in this community anymore, I saw enough to know that I wasn't going to be hanging out with this crowd ever again. But I didn't stay long enough to watch every particular individual do and say the monstrous things that it turns out so many of them have been doing and saying.

I just left. And for a lot of them, I deliberately didn't look. I deliberately didn't look too closely at anything this woman was doing, for example--I thought it would hurt too much if it was bad. I thought it was better to just consider this part of my life over, to remember these people as they were to me before. I didn't want to know. I was leaving anyway.

Piecemeal, I saw some egregious things from some of my former friends. Glorifying self immolation...calling for the genocide of Jews...Holocaust inversion...claiming the hostages deserved it...denying that Jews are indigenous to anyplace on this earth...people who have utilized our words and symbols for their own liberation movements, wholesale denying the humanity of the people who made those words and symbols in the first place.

Every new piece of news I learn about who is dehumanizing us and with what rationale is just profoundly dispiriting.

No matter how many ways these people should be able to relate and make a human connection, they refuse to. Everything in their supposed values should enable them to hold the truth of what is happening to us. But it doesn't.

They're willing to treat Jews, especially Israeli Jews, in a way they would never accept for anyone else, in a way they would strenuously resist for anyone else--in fact, they strenuously resist much less serious things for anyone and everyone else! and that just breaks me. It means they never had the values that I thought we shared. It's all been a lie.

I froze things in time for some months, to some degree, accepting it was bad enough to be over, but not wanting to know the details. But with every new detail it's undeniable: there is no moral compass there. That world should have been a home for me and for years, I felt it was, but this hate was there the whole time. I never understood the conditions of my "belonging."

I can never forgive them. Not least because they'll never stop feeling righteous about their evil.

[merrysithmas]

at first i was like mmmmmmm idk about this new scrappy skinny scrawny Jim Kirk but as I think about it as resident JTK expert (Phd) I am coming around to the accuracy of post-Tarsus massacre Commander Kirk desperate to embrace the fleeting impermance of happiness by embodying compassion (towards Uhura and La'an) and appreciation for transient silly pleasures (like cookies or hotdogs) AS WELL AS being actively hypervigilant towards his own & other's safety (La'an, The Enterprise vs the Romulans, Uhura) as a trauma response towards the horrors of genocide he experienced first hand.

Also his devil-may-care mien & deep respect towards command in TOS is replaced by a somewhat less likeable ambition to succeed in SNW... another off-shoot to this trauma. We see he has a desire to climb towards rank (for control & protection) yet does not fully embody the ability to handle it with the grace needed to become the legend just yet.

also I've ended up liking the inversion of TOS physical physique that SNW gives us with a more muscular/appearance-oriented (anxious) Spock & a small scrappy (traumatized) Jim ... it appears to be well thought out & a stepping stone to their eventual comfortable self-actualizations in TOS.