#it makes them so much easier to write
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secretmellowblog · 1 year ago
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The reason I’m having trouble writing the second chapter of my recent Hugo-pastiche Les Mis fanfic is that, every time I try to write Jean Valjean in the style of Victor Hugo, the chapter just turns into an overlong agonized inner monologue of spiraling self-recriminations and self-loathing. and then the story never moves forward. :P
Originally I’d actually hoped for this entire fic to be a short comic, but I changed it to prose after realizing that most of the comic’s script was just Jean Valjean’s inner monologue and yet somehow all that inner monologue was still not enough to feel like anything even close to resembling something like the characterization of Hugo’s Jean Valjean.
This is why it’s so much easier to write Javert. Javert canonically hates thinking and will not do it. It makes everything so much easier
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denim-wizard · 10 months ago
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Sanji vs homerotic relationships with big cat coded men
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shalom-iamcominghome · 3 months ago
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I've been doing a lot of reflection as of late, especially after this past class.
This past class was about the Torah and Tanakh in general, and the way the rabbi talked about the commandments (specifically the ten commandments) has made me really reflect on how I interpret them, specifically the fifth commandment, or honoring your mother and father.
This is a commandment I have wrestled with for a long time - in fact, it brought me away from g-d at multiple times. I was severely abused when I was incredibly young by my mother, and I used to feel insulted at the implication that I were to honor her while she got to live a better life. It was hypocritical, in my eyes.
But this rabbi surmised that this particular commandment was because parenthood is an act of creation, something that is like the g-d from which we come from. My realization is this: I don't think we're necessarily meant to take even these commandments literally.
I this particular commandment is more of a call to honor creation - creation is a gift, and like any gift, many people simply will not like it and will discard it. The person who abused me created me, but she did not honor creation. She didn't honor me, but I can still honor it.
I have started to honor creation much more. I'm too young, too unstable, not mature enough to be a father (though I fantasize about it), but I create all the time. I create relationships, I create with my hands through crochet. I create memories, I create my world. And I can honor who I am and where I came from that made me who I am. I've been learning one of the mother tongues of my family (Italian, since part of my family originates there) and it was judaism that inspired me to do this.
I don't think g-d wants me to honor my abuser. I think He wants me to remember the Holy action of creation. When I am a father, that act of creation will be Holy, and indeed, I am already joyful about the thought.
I have seen many people struggle with this particular commandment, but I think this perspective helps me personally. I don't think I ever have to forgive my abusers (plural), and I don't think I am commanded to simply because they happened to be family. I am commanded to recognize the holy, to elevate the mundane. In doing so, I will remember g-d. Through creation, I honor g-d and everything he has done for us, for me, and for our collective people.
#jumblr#jew by choice#jewish conversion#personal thoughts tag#abuse tw#i am not sharing this for the sake of pity and i also ask not to be told to divulge my abuse story. that isn't relevant#i have been needing to engage with this topic for a long time though and judaism has helped me a bit in navigating healing#but i decided to share this publicly in the hopes it will help other survivors specifically of familial/parental abuse#i know how it feels (in general). it's so lonely and you can really harbor (understandable) baggage about this particular commandment#i have a meeting with My Rabbi (sponsoring rabbi) and i might bring this up. we've only spoken once face-to-face (zoom)#so that might be really Intense to bring up to him but he is very kind and i trust him (which is why he is My Rabbi)#and he has already told me that he WANTS me to wrestle with g-d and His word *with* him#again i am posting this publicly so i can document my thoughts and keep them straight but also with the hope it MIGHT help others#if it even *casually* inspires another survivor i will feel so grateful (though it is THEIR achievement and not mine to claim)#i want us to survive. i want us to eat well. i want us to smile#i will say that this must be a very sudden whiplash in tone from my last post about sex. from sex to awful horrific abuse#my stream of consciousness is just Like This though in the sense that i have very sudden realizations and tonal whiplashes#so you're just getting a very frank look into how my brain is structured and what my brain thinks are important enough to think about#if i seem much more verbose it's because i needed to write this on my laptop which makes typing and more importantly yapping even *easier*
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icewindandboringhorror · 4 months ago
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I made a few new wax seal stamps out of clay (like the ones I did for my worldbuilding stuff forever ago), this time just of random symbols that I thought might look good done in the style of painting over the raised part of the wax or etc. :0c Some of them aren't carved deep enough to really show up that well, but overall they worked okay for being clay lol
#wax seal#crafts#wax stamp#stationery#Window one is kind of stinky.. I was imagining like a swirly night sky sort of looking thing so it would be a surreal contrast of a night#sky with a window in the middle that shows a daytime sky - but the silver and purple wax kind of mixed too much together#with the black and it just looks very plain black and not all that starry or anything hjbhj.. Of course the eye is probably my favorite#since all I ever do is draw eyes and still like eye imagery for some reason. The four leaf clover is very lumpy and skrunkty but also it wa#the smallest in size out of all of them so was easier to do multiple stamps of just to try it out.#The heart with eyes wax is actually more swirly in person. I wanted it to be a mix of light pink and red and white. and the wax#did kind of all blend together but in person you can definitely see MORE of the intentional swirlyness. in this it just looks plain pink.#I was going to do one eye in the heart but it looked weird. but now two seems too plain. i could have done 3?? in a pattern.. hmm#alas. I wish I could make actual metal ones. With the clay i have to paint them in a thin layer of olive oil before stamping because#otherwise the wax just kind of gets stuck in the grooves of the clay and then you can't pull it up. Very wacky ''unprofessional'' looking#set up where I'm hot gluing circles of sculpey clay to short stumps of a wooden dowel that I sawed apart with a serrated bread knife#and then using an old paintbrush to put olive oil on them whilst holding a spoon over a yankee candle flame hjbjh#ANYWAY.. I think if I were middle class/rich/etc. this would be one of the main things in my crafting room is like.. SO many colors#of wax. and all different custom made stamps designed by me. which could be much more elaborate in actual metal.. muahaha.... >:)c#RHGghhh... I actually don't want to talk much about it since (this is probably just my Obsessed With My Own World Artist Delusions) I#think I have a really cool idea for a game that could genuinely be successful if i ever get to make it and I don't want to give#everything away and spoil the whole plot/concept in hopes that one day I can actually do it - BUT - a game that I'd like to make after the#visual novel I'm making now has partially to do with the main character working as a sort of writer/scribe/artist assistant in an elven#city (set in my world/with my worldbuilding species and versions of elves and etc) and I was thinking of maybe incorporating#somehow being able to collect little writing type items like these like.. you can get different wax seal patterns or pens or etc. when I do#stuff like this in Real Life it always makes me think of that like.. ouh... this is good research.. what it shall be like to be a littol#elf collecting wax seals and such.. indeed... GRR i need to be finished with my current game NOWWW... i MUST work on other#thingss... aughh... ANYWAY.. yay. accomplishment to do One Single Thing other than Sit In The Summer Heat And Rot#though also hilarious as this was the first cool-ish day that was below 80F in a while hgvh#waking up like 'wow.. i actually feel okay today?? like I could do things?? how mysterious.. I wonder why..?? :0'' Its The Weather You Fool#Tis Always The Weather
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isbergillustration · 5 months ago
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Worst thing about making tattoo artist characters is you have to make so many tattoos for them.
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seaweedstarshine · 11 months ago
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“They engineered a psychopath to kill you.” “Totally married her. I'd never have made it here alive without River Song.”
Sources: Let's Kill Hitler, Diary of River Song: My Dinner With Andrew, Closing Time, The Husbands of River Song, Diary of River Song: The Furies, Diary of River Song: Animal Instinct, The Ruby's Curse, Time of the Doctor
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samanthamulder · 1 year ago
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THE X-FILES (1993-2018)
SEASON FOUR — The truth will save you, Scully. I think it'll save both of us.
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13eyond13 · 10 months ago
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love it when a character that's hard to read intuitively for you has like a dedicated fandom interpreter who can just glance at their blank face in a panel and then give you a 3k word essay on their innermost thoughts & desires & fears and neatly tie it back into the themes & whatnot as if it's the most obvious thing in the world
#im talking about griffith btw#guts i feel i get intuitively - maybe because i have some personality traits in common with him#and we get more about his life concretely told to us in canon. so he is a bit easier to pin down as a character and feel attached to for me#but whenever i was reading the manga i just kept wanting more insight about griffith's actions and feelings#like ok yeah its fun to have mysterious antagonists and suspense /tension etc but its also fun to feel like you deeply understand them too#and i felt like that was a bit missing from him for me in canon#so reading about him in analysis and fics is the most fun for me rn#he always felt kinda half unreal to me- which maybe was the point of him - but i wanted a bit more about his childhood or something?#and wished we had more stuff explicitly from his pov in the story to read or explanation about his transformation or wtv#and now he's so much more closed off to me even than he was in the golden age. i keep waiting for him to explain stuff and he does not#ANYWAYS all this rambling to say some people out there are very good at interpreting him and making his like. insecurities#more obvious to me bc i didnt really get that side of him from canon intuitively well#also im really enjoying reading the first few berserk fics ive read#there may not be a ton of them out there but there is def writing talent in the fandom#i'll share some recs once i'm done sifting through most of what's out there to read#also (not to tie everything back to death note but it IS my home fandom after all)#i feel griffith is obvs the more light-like character here and L maybe a bit guts-like? but unlike berserk in death note#light is the one you get to know best and L is the mysterious / unreal one you don't get a lot of concrete insight into#and in the DN fandom I can read the more mysterious character intuitively but had to warm up to the less mysterious one instead#and the mystery of L makes sense to me and doesnt bug me as much due to like - he HAS to hide a lot about himself or else he will die lol#so some similarities there but also some opposite feels as well#berserk spoilers#p
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lovesickeros · 6 months ago
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lord its so dark in here the sahara desert of tsaritsa content you are like a shining oasis. your characterisation of her compels me & mihoyo would be hard pressed to top it imo.!! caaaaan i humbly request yr thoughts on her first meeting w a reader of any kind, or maybe even multiple kinds (sagau, sagau god au, isekai, etc) if you so desire...
it really is like a desert here. being the fan of a character we aren't getting until the last damn nation is driving me up a wall but i will persevere bc if nothing else i support morally bankrupt women in media. we r in a severe drought over here but i do my best. unfortunately nothing i say is ever coherent so pull out your translation notes its abt 2 be messy
also this got out of hand but thats bc first meetings w the tsaritsa are tricky to write + a LOT of her characterization lies in deeper exploration then just surface level yknow...NOT A DIG AT YOU this is just my excuse for rambling. gently pats the tsaritsa she can hold so much complexity i do not have the word count to delve into it completely :]
gonna talk cult au for a bit here though because that's 99% of my content. and honestly? she thrives in sub au's of the cult au like villain au + imposter au. it's basically made for her. i mean, early days, the imposter au had been going around for a little while but one of the first few ideas was the Fatui taking reader in so like. it kinda technically actually was. pretty sure cult au Tsaritsa popped up because of the imposter au. a lot of it's writers kinda left though which. man am i getting old or.
anyway.
there isn't much of a chance her first impression is all that positive. at best it's usually neutral, imo, but rarely if ever positive. specifically because i view the Tsaritsa as someone who isn't as fanatical as most of the acolytes typically are towards the creator. she's not exactly going to worship the ground you walk on unlike a certain geo lizard. which is partially why i think she thrives in the sub au's i mentioned.
imposter au, for example. she meets you at your lowest. there's no gaudy extravagance or pampering from the acolytes waiting for you because your own acolytes have turned on you. for all intents and purposes you aren't a "god" at all. which is why i don't think she meshes well with normal cult au reader. the Fatui are made up of outcasts, basically, and imposter au slots right in just perfectly. you're weak, at your lowest, when you meet the Fatui in the imposter au. and the Fatui can help you, too.
a mutual exchange, really. the Tsaritsa sees a tool she can use to one up the rest of the nations and especially Archons, and she has no qualms about you using her and the Fatui in turn. you both want something out of it, after all. whether you just want to be safe from the rest of the acolytes, or you want revenge, or whatever else..she'll give you the power to fulfill it, and she gains the strongest piece on the chessboard when all is said and done.
the best way i can describe the first meeting is "practical", i suppose. she sees an opportunity in you. the ultimate gamble. because if she "saves" you, and you dont trust anyone else because they tried to kill you, well..she holds all the cards, doesn't she?
but the Tsaritsa, imo, is just as capable of being just as fanatical towards you as anyone else. she just won't worship you as the creator. but as yourself? clawing your way back to your divine power and taking back what belongs to you? the Tsaritsa is, to me, a character who's character flourishes in long-term fics more because she changes a LOT between "just met reader" and after having been with reader for some time. she's practically apathetic at the beginning but a lot of her character, in my characterization, shines through LONG after the first meeting.
#asks#Anonymous#sagau#tsaritsa#like. am i explaining this coherently?? first meetings r GOOD and i could go on a tangent of like. first meetings w zl and make it work#but first meetings w the tsaritsa is like. you just cooked a 5 course meal. took one bite. called it a day.#so much of my characterization lies in the “after” of the first meeting#because her first meetings are generally the same. she's apathetic at best!! she does not gaf abt the creator in the SLIGHTEST#but show that you are more then the creator? that you do not cling to the title like a shield? that you do not rely on it?#youve got the worst person youve ever known ready to kill a man for you.#tsaritsa is very like. EXTREMELY hard to earn the trust of but when you do she will kill someone for you no hesitation no question#which is why she works SO WELL in villain au and imposter au!!!!!!!!!#esp if theres a fake “creator” calling you the imposter. she hates their ass and was .5 seconds from dethroning them anyway#you just made it 10x easier#also cant do just first meetings bc i am incapable of not shoving themes of love into every fic w her SORRY#tsaritsa going on a full multiple month long mental breakdown bc she is not in love with you but she would destroy everything for u..#(shes in denial)#tsaritsa and complex themes of love and what it means for the god of love to be incapable of feeling it + what it means when reader shows u#LIKE UGHHHHHH okay. i guess ill write another tsaritsa fic and put it in my vault#aka my drafts#i hold so many fics hostage there its crazy#this answered like 0 of ur questions sorry i see tsaritsa and black out and this happens#i just think first meetings dont let her character really come thru but my response got out of hand so uhhhhh everyone look away. please#putting tape over my mouth now so i shut up before this gets worse#basically tsaritsa gravitates more towards outcast reader rather then one who has already become accustomed to the adoration of the acolyte#does that make sense........#i havent slept in forever and im running on nothing but spite and dreams atp dont expect coherency when it comes 2 the tsaritsa from me#head in hands someone please stop me i keep rambling abt the tsaritsa it makes me go NUTS#lays down. explodes
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courtney-deserved-better · 1 year ago
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telling myself i can't start another tdwt rewrite but dear god do i want to write one focusing on alejandro and courtney in this weird situationship thats a lot more nuanced than just alejandro manipulating courtney and her falling for it. like theyre best friends they dont trust each other theyre the same person they dont know anything about the other one theres a mutual attraction theyre pining for other people theyre codependent they dont care about each other theyre platonic soulmates like i just want to do a deep dive into how messy that relationship couldve been building off of their friendship that exists in my head except the line between romantic and platonic is so fucking blurred they have no idea what they are to the other person
#they live rent free in my head as you can tell#ive been writing some intense moments for them in amicus curiae and im having a lot of Feelings about platonic alecourtney#tbh the whole concept of them replacing the best friends has been a great avenue for me to do a deep dive into their friendship#aughhhh i just. love them so much#and i do want to explore them in a situation where there is relationship potential even if that relationship never actually happens#because everything between them during tdwt could be so MESSY!!#like alejandro says he's just manipulating courtney but he's also doing it to make heather jealous but he's also genuinely worried about he#after the duncan thing but this is the only way he knows how to express that concern without making himself look weak#meanwhile courtney is falling for the act but she also knows its an act and is going with it for the emotional support it provides and shes#just doing it to make duncan/gwen jealous but she also is starting to see the real alejandro underneath it all because he does care even#though he doesn't want to and they do feel a strong connection that they dont know whether its platonic or romantic because romance is bein#shoved down their throats on this show and theyre both in complicated romantic dynamics with other people that theyre the easier option for#one another but they dont really want to be with one another like it just doesnt feel right#okay okay i legit have to stop and go to bed but just. them. im thinking so hard about them#platonic alecourtney
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bloodandfleshautism · 24 days ago
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just watched the borderlands movie and the only good part was that krieg’s little harness thingo lowkey looked like a very skimpy little bra thing sometimes
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he needs some back support with those jugs ofc
#it wasn’t AS bad as I thought it would be#but it was not good#at all#idk why they changed so much of the story and just like Made It Worse#why did they make Tina’s dad head of atlas? why not just keep her parents killed off? why did they mischaracterise her so badly?#why was she annoying? why was she an experiment? why not use a more compelling villain than Guy Who Looks And Acts As Bland As Possible#the villain was simply. no good#I wish they used jack 😔#I also wish they didn’t do the Lilith’s mum subplot bc it was a little off??? somehow?#and Tannis and Lilith’s relationship wasn’t particularly fulfilling#claptrap was even more annoying#the jokes weren’t funny#the sfx were NOT as bad as everyone said they were I’m sorry I thought they were fine aside from a few weird shots in some chase sequences#another thing I don’t get that much was ppl hating Lilith’s hair bc it’s doesn’t look like in the games#ppl compared the wig to wigs that cosplayers use that look rly accurate and good but#u have to take into account#that it’s rly hard to stylise a live action movie to look something like boarderlands and most cosplays are made to look good statically#things that look good in cosplay and in the game will not look good in a live action action sequences#like if u gave her a cosplay wig it would look great and accurate but it also would be completely rigged in the wind and would not move#like real hair#which would probably be incredibly jarring to see in a live action film especially with all the action#was the hair great? no. I still think it could’ve been vastly improved on while remaining realistic for a live action movie#but I think some people hold it to unrealistic standards in their criticisms or whatever#also costumes have to be actually movable and breathable bc REAL people are shooting REAL scenes and doing stunts and shit in them#but. yeah. the costumes could definitely have had some improvement#I think that if u wanted to make a borderlands film that was accurate to the design of the characters it would be easier to do it animated#and the writing?#we do not speak about the writing good lord#borderlands movie#borderlands
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holmsister · 6 months ago
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Kinda gets me when people age them down in AUs and stuff because to me those characters wouldn't be half as interesting if Chilchuck, Senshi and Mithrun were the tallman equivalent of in their twenties
#just something about having a lot of history you know#like. chills is divorced or thereabouts. senshi spent like 30 years living in dungeon wilderness. mithrun knows kabru's mom#none of this would be possible if they were 20-somethings#dungeon meshi spoilers#dungeon meshi manga spoilers#somewhat i guess#like. yeah kabru and laios and falin (and marci for an elf) are really young BUT have a lot of life exp#but like. the fact that so much happened to them while they are so young is TRAUMA. its BAD#meanwhile chilchuck had like. a pretty average life for a halffoot his age. maybe even successful from a professional standpoint#senshi didnt have an average life but had the time to accumulate an amount of knowledge no 20something could have#and of course mithruns whole life story is like. slowed down because hes an elf#but even then i think its really important to show that it might take several years to start recuperating from a traumatic event#like its what makes his character such an interesting commentary on disability and depression#when you're 25 bouncing back is easier. when you're 40? 50? showing that theres hope#even when you've lost your whole youth to your pain... thats a whole other thing#sorry i started writing serious commentary in the tags#chills#captain mithrun#senshi#even in senshis character up to a point. he spent more years out of society than in it#and YET! even he manages to find a place. somewhat#like. they are all here to show that life goes on even after horrible or simply sad shit happens to you#they are survivors!!!! thats important
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tuesdayscanons · 1 month ago
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Every now and then, I think about The Simpsons RPC and how there's an occasionally a spike of Simpsons muses that inevitably crumbles away and leaves me waiting for the next short lived Simpsons RPC Renaissance
#ooc tag#《 maybe there's still active Simpsons RPers out there and I'm not looking hard enough 》#《 but I'm surprised there's not more of a consistent/active community 》#《 even if the newer seasons are contentious‚ I'd at least expect people to have enough nostalgia for the old seasons to go off of that 》#《 part of me has always wanted to see if i could find an rp partner who could make Homer endearing to me again 》#《 I've been soured on him as a character for so long that finding someone who could make him tolerable is like finding a unicorn 》#《 especially when it seems like no one is interested in writing as him to begin with 》#《 The Simpsons is a big Special Interest of mine 》#《 i had an entire Simpsons RP blog before I gave up and migrated the muses back onto here 》#《 i miss writing my Simpsons muses 》#《 if there's any canon muses that come most naturally to me‚ it'd probably be the Simpsons ones 》#《 that and my Stardew Valley muses 》#《 it's easier to get me to play video games bc that's actively engaging me 》#《 and SDV is a big comfort game for me 》#《 i swear I'll get around to answering some drafts that are in purgatory rn 》#《 some of the replies are mostly done but I've stalled on them for whatever reason 》#《 there's less pressure with my Simpsons muses bc the characters have changed so much that it doesn't feel like i could be ooc 》#《 unless i deliberately tried to make them unlike anything they've ever been like in canon 》#《 and even then‚ there's probably an episode where they acted like that 》
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uncanny-tranny · 1 year ago
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I think if we are to do marginalized communities good, it'll help to remember that often, marginalized people who seem to be "forgotten about" in the mind of bigots aren't being treated well by them either - so many marginalized people are forcibly erased and made invisible. That is not a neutral action; it is a form of violence. Not all violence will present itself in the extreme of facing physical violence. The core of any violence against marginalized peoples will often come from a similar level of hatred for them. That's why it's so important to combat all violence, even the forms of violence you don't perceive "as harmful" as other forms.
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luminousjellyfishy · 2 months ago
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More writing!!!!
This one has been in the works for a while, but it's finally here!
~
Truce Talk
Characters (all Sanses from UTAU/MV): Dream, Ink, Nightmare, Error, and Ccino (in passing)
Word count: 4828
Trigger warnings: Swearing, threats of death, amnesia (kinda?)
Summary: Dream and Ink don't know if it was a mistake to meet Nightmare and Error here in Ccino's café. It's so public and there are so many innocent people that could be killed. What if something goes wrong? This wasn't a good idea. Oh, well that's them walking through the door, so it's too late to turn back now.
~
Both Ink and Dream sat on one side in a booth at Ccino’s café, anxiously awaiting the arrival of their long-time enemies. Dream sat against the wall of their shared side, fidgeting with his hands, seemingly unable to sit still for even five seconds; whereas Ink, sitting near the aisle, was uncharacteristically still.
“Where are they? Are we just early, or are they late? I wouldn’t think the latter would be true since Nightmare had never struck me to be the kind of person to allow himself to be la-”
“Dream. Stop rambling like that, I’m sure it’s fine. Remember, they agreed to meet with us in the first place. They’re probably just running late… or using this time as a distraction for us, so they can go destroy universes while we’re sitting here waiting for them…” Ink interrupted, trying to calm his friend, but trailing off at the end nervously. This thought hadn’t yet occurred to Dream, so hearing it from Ink made him doubt his decisions to be here even more so than he already had been.
Ink’s head fell dramatically to the table, resting in his arms and sighing loudly, drawing a glare from Dream.
“Is being here even the right choice? How do we actually know that they’ll even consider forming a truce?” Dream exhaled deeply, moving from fidgeting with his fingers to playing around with the napkins.
“We don’t. That’s the thing. We can’t know for sure that they’ll consider it, in the same way that they can’t be sure that this isn’t some elaborate plan for an ambush.” Ink shifted his head, looking up from his arms to glance at Dream before closing his eyes and sighing again, clearly bored.
There was no response from Dream, the only noise being the ambient sounds from the other patrons.
The silence between the two continued for a short while until the bell on the front door chimed and all sound in the café ceased as they watched who walked in.
Dream stiffened as he could feel the two negative auras approaching from behind them. He was internally scolding himself for choosing to sit with their backs to the door, having wanted to seem like they trusted the two not to hurt them.
But he didn't trust them. Not in the slightest.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, both Error and Nightmare slid into the booth seat across from them, with Nightmare closer to the wall. Ink finally straightened, feeling apprehensive about having them across from him in such a casual setting where people could be hurt if something went wrong.
“Hey, losers.” Error snickered once they had settled, his face as mocking as it always seemed to be.
“Don’t be rude, Error. What did we talk about?” Nightmare scolded, a quick glare shooting into Error’s direction. In response was the most crude mocking of Nightmare’s words that Error could muster.
Nightmare rolled his eyelight, then said, “My apologies for being so late, I spent some extra time with Error this morning in order to make sure he wouldn’t make such a fool of himself… although it seems my efforts were rather pointless. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed, so once Cross pointed out what time it actually was, we hurried right here.”
“By ‘hurried here’, he means that he took less time than usual to get dressed, go downstairs, get the morons in line, and make sure that no one has any plans to burn the house down while we’re gone.” Error said nonchalantly but joking at the same time, as though this was what happened every day.
Dream’s face must have been one of confusion because Error asked, in a surprisingly genuine tone, “What? Does Blue not try committing arson every time you leave him alone?”
Ink blinked a couple times, eyelights changing colours rapidly, then laughed louder than was actually necessary.
“No?? I can say for a fact that he does not.”
Error didn’t say anything, just scrunched his ‘eyebrows’ and face into a contorted look of confusion, scoffed, and shook his head.
Before their conversation could continue any further, Ccino showed up beside their booth, pen and notepad in hand.
“Hey guys, it’s nice to have you all here! Also, Error I didn’t expect to see you back so soon, but it’s great anyways! Alrighty then, what can I get you guys?” Ccino asked the group, a bright smile on his face.
“Can I have a strawberry cream frappé, please? They’re so good!” Ink exclaimed, his eyelights taking on various shapes in pink and yellow, and slight drool forming in the corner of his mouth.
“Sure thing, extra whipped cream I’m guessing?”
“Of course!”
“A cinnamon apple tea for me, thanks. Oh, but could I also have a chocolate chip cookie?” Dream inquired, eyes lighting up as he thought about the delicious sweetness of the cookies Ccino sold.
“Yeah, we can totally do that!” Ccino replied, smiling softly then turning over to Nightmare, “What about you?”
“Can I just have a regular coffee?” He asked simply, glancing up at Ccino as he spoke.
“Boooooooring.” Ink interjected quickly.
A soft laugh then, “Yup! And what about you, Error?”
“Uhhhhhhhmm, I guess just a hot chocolate..?”
Ccino began to speak, but was quickly interrupted,
“Oh stars, you're so pathetic sometimes. Just tell him that you want a cookie as well, we all know you do.” Nightmare said tauntingly, grinning over at him with a teasing smile.
Error stared at him, mouth agape and eyes wide, a very slight yellow over his cheeks that you would have to strain to see.
Turning his attention to Ccino briefly, he said reluctantly, quietly, and very unlike himself, “… fine… can I have a chocolate cookie as well?”.
Ccino laughed, “Of course! I probably would have brought one over without you asking anyways - I know you love them so much.”
Error nodded, but looked away sheepishly.
With that, Ccino walked away with his notepad back to the counter, humming as he went.
Error’s attention was turned quickly back to Nightmare, giving him the dirtiest glare known to exist.
“You bastard! Why did you say that? Seriously what the actual fuck is wrong with you?!” Error said suddenly to Nightmare, trying his very best not to speak too loudly as to disrupt the other patrons.
Both Ink and Dream giggled at not just the sudden outburst, but the context behind it. Error’s eyes quickly darting over to them; a warning that they should keep quiet. Their giggles were very quickly stifled, and they looked away uncomfortably.
“Oh, Error, be serious. You and I both know that you are physically incapable of going without chocolate for too long. I was just preventing you from making a scene later, whining about how much you want some.” Nightmare replied quickly, a knowing smile on his face as he shook his head and laughed. Error glared at him, seemingly stabbing him with his mind.
“You really like chocolate that much?” Dream inquired with a nervous smile, apparently very intrigued by the thought of Error liking something so simple as chocolate. The attention of the two bickering skeletons were drawn towards the guardian of positivity, having been caught slightly off guard.
“Yeah, so what? Do you have a problem with that?” Error asked, shrugging and staring at Dream, his previous annoyance directed at him now.
“No no no! There’s no problem with it! I just didn’t expect it was all!” Dream replied quickly, raising his hands defensively. Error rolled his eyelights and said nothing.
Silence followed, although it was deafening among the four.
“Soooooooo, since it’s getting way more obvious with every word you two are saying, we hardly actually know each other. Should we do… I don’t know, mini fake introductions? Before we get to the real reason for meeting, anyways.” Ink said suddenly, breaking the silence before it got too awkward. This quickly drew Dream’s attention, since it might be able to give him the opportunity to make new ties with his brother again. The thought made him smile softly, reigniting his hope for this meeting.
“I suppose. It would make sense to know one another before blindly going into something that may or may not be weighted in favour towards certain people.” Nightmare replied, his ending comment being pointed towards Dream with a quick glance that said he was not happy.
Error groaned obnoxiously at the fact that he would have to do more talking, but was quickly interrupted by Nightmare lightly smacking the back of his head.
He quickly turned his head to glare at Nightmare, saying, “You really have no idea just how lucky you are that I’ve been having a good haphephobia day, because if I wasn’t?” a small laugh, “boy, you’d be DONE.”.
Nightmare didn’t even look at him and just laughed, quickly rolling his eyelight in amusement.
“Okkkkk, maybe we should get to the point. I’ll go first because it looks like you two are about to kill each other and Ink will just keep talking forever. So, as you know, I’m Dream. Um, my favourite colour is cerulean, not yellow haha. It’s my favourite because it just looks so peaceful and quiet, so I just really like it a lot. Don’t get me wrong, yellow is a great colour and it’s my second favourite, but cerulean is just so pretty. Also, I looooooove sweets. Lollipops are the best candy and no one will ever change my mind.” Dream started quickly, interrupting Nightmare and Error, and finished with a smile at the thought of candy.
Error stared at him incredulously for a second before asking, “The fuck is cerulean?”.
Dream’s face quickly shifted to one of surprise; Ink looked like he had been personally offended; and Nightmare just looked disappointed, placing his head in his hand and pinching his nasal ridge.
“Error. Please tell me you’re joking.” Ink seemingly begged him, hoping desperately that he did in fact know what cerulean was and was just playing around. He knew deep down that he wasn’t though.
Error just stared at the three of them, trying to prompt an answer.
A sigh from Nightmare, then, “Error, what colour are your tear streaks? Be specific.”
“... Blue??? How much more specific can I be with that?”
“Error-” an exasperated sigh, “Yes, your tears streaks are blue, but specifically they’re cerulean.” Ink explained while shaking his head slowly in disbelief.
“Pffft, if you say so.”
A momentary beat of silence.
“Stars, very well I’ll go next. As you’re all well aware, my name is Nightmare. I enjoy reading in my spare time and have quite the collection of books-”
“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. You’ve got the biggest library I’ve ever seen; the morons have literally gotten lost in there.” Error quickly intercepted.
“Hush, that’s not what we’re speaking of. Anyways, I believe that I’ve done enough to introduce myself, how about you, Error?” Nightmare said, a sly smile creeping up his features.
“Oh, yippee fun. Whatever. Um. I’m Error, and I uh… like… chocolate?? What the fuck else am I supposed to say? You already know that I destroy AUs, so what else? Um? I crochet? Man this sucks, I’m done with this shit.” Error said, stumbling and glitching through his words, and making it more and more evident to Ink and Dream that he doesn’t talk to people much.
“Wait wait wait wait wait. You crochet? You create? I didn’t think you’d ever do something like that!” Ink asked ecstatically, his eyelights taking on the forms of bright yellow stars.
“Yeah? I make scarves and stuff. I don’t know. I make puppets too, like sewing or whatever.” He responded, clearly not having expected this kind of reaction and not knowing how to proceed.
“That is so cool!!! You’ll have to show me sometime! I’d really love to see!” Ink replied eagerly, lighting up even more so than he already had.
There was no real reply from Error, just awkward murmurs as he tucked the lower half of his face into his scarf as his glitches increased substantially.
Dream smiled to himself softly in amusement, never having expected to see this softer side of Error before. To him, Error had always been a powerful monster with little care for who got hurt in his rampages, but seeing him like this now made Dream question his whole perception.
“Anyways! I’m Ink! As you obviously know! I mean, if you didn’t I’d be pretty concerned because I’ve fought you so many times and you totally couldn’t forget me. Right? Anyways, let's not go there. Uhhhhhh, I do a lot of artsy craftsy things, but my medium of choice is oil paint! Granted I do love painting in general and also charcoal! Oh! And even regular pencil! You can get so many different results with so many different things! Man, I don’t know if oil paints are my favourite. There are so many choi-” Dream reached over and grabbed his face and muffled whatever he tried to say next, which was a lot because he didn’t stop.
After a short while, Ink finally realized that what he was saying wasn’t getting across, so he stopped talking. Dream was finally able to remove his hand, however he had the most exasperated look on his face. Nightmare just looked on in amusement, and Error looked like he wasn’t even paying attention, likely listening to the Voices.
“Are you done?” Dream asked him, staring daggers and daring him to keep going.
“... fine.”
“Can we get to the point of this meeting? Or shall we waste more time speaking of art supplies?” Nightmare asked, his amused expression having morphed into boredom.
Dream started, “Oh, yes. Um, yes of cours-”
“Here are your orders, guys! Sorry I took so long, the cats made a mess of the flour, so I had to get that cleaned before any orders could go out.” Ccino said as he stood by their booth, setting down their drinks and cookies.
Nightmare looked over to him, “It’s no problem at all, thank you.”
“Mhm, thanks Ccino.” Error mumbled, still slightly in his own head.
“Thank you! I appreciate it!” Dream chimed in.
A small beat of silence as Ccino prepared to walk away.
A sudden movement, then, “Oh! Uh, me too! Thanks!” Ink said quickly while rubbing his ribs where Dream had elbowed him.
Ccino laughed and then said, “It’s no problem at all, thanks for coming here!”, before walking away.
Nightmare picked up his cup and began sipping, clearly not caring that it was hot. Ink stirred the whipped cream into the rest of his drink and took a large sip, smiling and relishing in the taste. Dream stirred his drink softly, then let it sit to cool for a moment. Error sat still and stared out the window towards the street, his eyelights having taken on a hazy appearance.
Naturally, Nightmare noticed this and set down his drink, turning towards the Destroyer.
“Error? Is everything alright?”
Nothing much changed, just Error’s still hazy eyelights shifted to him, indicating that he could hear him.
A soft sigh, then, “Error I just need you to breathe and to focus. Ok? Try and tell me things that you see.” Nightmare said in a calm, quiet voice that seemed very out of character for him.
Error’s sockets blinked a few times as he looked around, his eyelights gaining some clarity.
“... café booths and cats. A couple of them. Um. Dream and Ink in front of us… why are they here? Why are we at Ccino’s?” Error asked shakily through a glitchier than normal voice, clearly not remembering about the potential truce.
Both Dream and Ink looked on in concern and slight shock. They obviously hadn’t expected this from Error of all people. While they were aware he wasn’t the most… stable monster out there, forgetting something like this in such a short amount of time with seemingly no prompting wasn’t what they had imagined.
“It’s alright, we’re at Ccino’s to discuss a potential truce, do you remember that? They made the offer to us before a fight could break out between our two groups in Underflowers. They proposed we meet them here today so we could consider. Do you remember what we’ve said so far?” Nightmare said, not paying any attention to Dream or Ink, instead calmly petting Error’s head in a soothing manner with a tentacle.
Error took a few deep breaths and blinked a few times in rapid succession before saying, “Um, yeah I think so. It was mini introductions, right? Apparently… um… oh, cerulean is blue, and uh, I couldn’t really come up with things to say and then Ink got all excited because I mentioned that I crochet… um.” He trailed off for a moment, “There was something after, but I’m not sure. Oh, uh Ccino came by with our stuff.” His eyelights darted around, before they found his drink and cookie.
“Yes, exactly. The part that you can’t remember was Ink’s ‘introduction’, he was just rambling about art supplies, it truly wasn’t much.” Nightmare replied, his tentacle still petting the top of his head.
“... Right. Oh, yeah. Fuck.”
An awkward silence passed between them as Error looked between Dream and Ink in what seemed to be a mixture of horror, shame, and embarrassment.
“Are you alright?” Dream asked quietly, concern written all over his features.
Error stiffened, and avoided looking at Dream, “Yeah. I’m fine. It just happens every now and then. It’s whatever. Can we get back to the point?”
A small beat of silence, before Ink said that they probably should.
No one spoke.
“Oh for fucks sake. Fine, I’ll start us off. What do you expect from us for this truce? We can’t just stop what we do because it would disrupt the balance into chaos, so what do you want?” Error snapped, clearly in a rather foul mood after what had just occurred.
Ink winced before hesitantly asking, “What would happen exactly if you stopped destroying? I’m just curious.”
A quick roll of his eyes before he said, “Like I just said, it would cause chaos. For our balance, it could potentially be kept within the quarter ranges instead of perfectly balanced at half… but that’s not ideal. If I stopped destroying, the Multiverse would fill and just keep filling with nothing to keep it in check.”
The only response he got from Ink was question-mark shaped eyelights.
“Ugh, alright think about it like this. Imagine a balloon.”
“What? A balloon? That’s random.”
“No, it isn’t, shut up. Imagine you have this balloon and you’re pumping air into it. You keep pumping in more and more air, so what happens?”
A thoughtful expression crossed Ink’s face before once again settling on confusion.
“It pops?” He asked, clearly not understanding what revelation Dream had just come to that he should have also had.
“Yes, exactly… What aren’t you getting?” Error said, not understanding what was so difficult to comprehend with his very simple analogy.
“You threw me off with balloons. All I’m imagining is a room full of giant balloons now.” He stated simply.
Error’s head fell to the table and he groaned in annoyance.
“Why are you like this? The balloon represents the Multiverse. The air is the AUs. Too many AUs and they’ll push against each other, inevitably causing the collapse of it all.” He explained with his skull still resting on top of the table, clearly tired of this interaction.
There was silence as Ink took this in. Once the information finally seemed to sink in, he abruptly got up from the table and made it a whole two steps to the washroom before he puked.
There were multiple cries of disgust and outrage as Ink vomited his namesake onto the floor, not having been able to cope with the information that he should have been very aware of.
Ccino came over with a mop quickly after Ink began calming down, and offered a soothing pat on the back before guiding Ink back to the booth. He began cleaning up the mess before any of the cats got the idea of trying to lick it.
“Are you alright?” Nightmare asked, his ‘eyebrows’ scrunching in what could have been concern, confusion, or disgust.
A nervous laugh came from Ink before trailing off into silence.
“... You know what? Um, actually. No. Not really. I didn’t realize that it was even like that. Honestly, I didn’t think it was infinite, but I really didn’t think that it would collapse. I just thought that… I don’t know, that maybe any potential creations would just be put on a waitlist or something instead of entering the Multiverse.” Ink said very shakily and unsure. His eyelights were a purple broken heart and a blue inverted triangle.
“Don’t you ever feel extra lethargic at some points? Like you don’t want to move and if you do it almost hurts?” Error asked him, looking extremely unimpressed with the entire conversation so far.
“Well, yeah obviously. Those are the days when you have your mega destroying sprees. I always feel bad because I’m way too tired to even try stopping you.” He replied, ashamed with this admittance.
“You do know that you don’t feel like that because I’m destroying, right? You feel like that because the Multiverse is too full at that time. Making you that exhausted is its way of coping with the over-abundance of AUs by having its Protector too tired to do their job. By not allowing you to protect, it lets me destroy a shit-ton of those anomalies.” Error said as he tried getting his point across.
Dream had taken to fiddling with the napkins again and Nightmare was gazing around at the other customers, taking in their various emotions.
“Wait hold up, so you’re actively destroying when you feel that tired? Wow ok I definitely underestimated yo-”
Error groaned as he cut him off, “No, you fucking moron. I don’t get tired when it’s too full, that would be stupid. I get tired when it’s too empty. It sucks because trust me, I’ve tried working through it. I’ve tried to destroy those stupid glitches even though I’m exhausted.” A sharp laugh, “I’ve only gotten to that point once though, and it really sucked. I eventually got so tired that even just moving my phalanges caused me to crash. Yeah… that sucked big time.”
“Anyways, for the sake of this whole…” A dismissive wave of his hand, “Truce thing. You should avoid encouraging the Creators to create when it’s verging towards full, and I’ll try and keep it balanced instead of on the emptier side like I usually do.” Error said quickly before falling quiet to pick up his drink.
The four were silent for a while, taking some time to enjoy their cooled beverages and cookies.
Finally, it was Dream to break the silence, “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but do you forget things like that oft-”
Error let out a sharp laugh before saying, “I am not talking about this with you. Not now, and likely not ever.”
Silence again.
It was Dream again to speak first saying, “Alrighty then... Well, brother, I’m sure that you’re aware of our balance to maintain and that you've purposefully spread Negativity despite that?”
Nightmare looked away sharply before slightly nodding.
A soft sigh, then, “Ok well, would you be open to maybe… not doing that? I understand that you believe that there should be a surplus of Negativity, but there really shouldn’t b-”
“Yeah, I mean think of when all the apples corrupted! All the villagers got way pissier than normal because of the surplus of Negativity in the AU!” Ink exclaimed, proud of himself for this amazing and wonderful realization that he thought would be a great idea to say aloud.
Unsurprisingly, both Nightmare and Dream stiffened.
“Um, wait, should I have not said that? I feel like I shouldn’t have said that…” Ink said, trailing off nervously and looking between the twins with light blue question mark eyelights.
“It’s fine, you’re correct in saying that. I hadn’t put the two together, but having it pointed out to me is… troubling. To say the least.” Nightmare said slowly, unsure of himself at this moment.
Nightmare took a deep breath and sighed, clearly not happy with what he was about to say.
“In my spare time, I’ve been keeping detailed reports on the emotional balances within the Universes. By doing so, I can track which ones are suitable for my Negativity intake and which ones need more of a… push. In the event of a truce, then I’ll only alter the Negativity cores… Oh, Ink, cores are the AUs made with a certain emotional trait as their primary factors, like Horrortale or Underfell for Negativity and Haventale or Underswap for Positivity.”
Ink gave a thumbs up in appreciation.
“As I was saying, I’ll refrain from touching the Positivity cores as much as I can and only alter them if the balances begin to tip.” A quick beat of contemplation on Nightmare’s part before continuing, “Actually, Dream. I believe that it would be wise regardless of a truce or not for you to make your own records as well.”
Dream startled, then said, “Oh, actually I have kept some… in a way. Not in the same way that you’re describing, but more so in that I was keeping track of which AUs you and your group attacked. It would let me know where I needed to visit to imbue more Positivity.”
“Is that what you’re always writing about whenever we get back from fighting?!” Ink exclaimed far too loudly, drawing the attention of the other patrons.
A sigh, then, “Yes, Ink. I’ve told you this before. Several times. Whenever you ask. Which is every time you see me writing them.”
“Oh.”
“Ughhh, I’m so bored. What would we get out of this if we agreed? Like yes. I know there are balances to be upheld but come onnnnn, we need some sort of incentive!” Error said out of nowhere, groaning loudly to convey his annoyance and boredom.
“More incentive than the Multiverse not collapsing??” Ink asked incredulously.
“Did I stutter?”
“Ughhhh, man I don’t know! Uhh, how about making me happy? That seems like a great reason!”
Error just squinted his eyes and shook his head in sheer confusion, “Why would I do anything for that sake? That’s so stupid.”
“If you agree to the truce, you’ll be able to destroy the crowding Universes without interference from Ink. You already understand that you’re physically incapable of destroying them all, so all you would need to agree to is to refrain from tipping the balance too far from the center. For the Universes that you do destroy, then I can assure you that neither Ink, Blue, or myself will try to stop you.” Dream cut in, a slightly exasperated look on his face.
Error seemed to contemplate this for a moment, but remained silent.
“As for you, brother, this truce will help keep your gang members safe from unnecessary harm. I know you put on the face of being uncaring and cold, but I see the way you act around and protect them. It will also give you more time to yourself.”
Nightmare refused to make eye contact with the other, staring down at the table and his tentacles curling behind him.
“Damn those sound way better than just making me happy.”
Dream groaned and put his head in his hands.
A deep sigh from Error, then, “Alright. I’ll accept this stupid ass truce.”
“As will I.” Nightmare grumbled, tentacles still curled tightly behind himself.
“But listen, the second Ink tries getting in my way again, it’s done. Also, if he’s ever annoying, I will kill him. Not that it makes a difference… soulless bastard just comes back.” Error said curtly and glaring at Ink.
In response, Ink just giggled and said, “Yup! That’s meee!”
“Alright, I suppose that’s fair. Just no unnecessary torture, if you’re going to kill him, get it over with quickly.” Dream said as he shook his head, never having expected to be condoning Ink’s death in this manner.
“A similar rule applies to you, Dream. If you interfere with my Negativity cores in any way, the truce is off. Just as you’re expected to follow these conditions, Error and I will uphold our end of the deal by refraining from tipping the balances unnecessarily.” Nightmare added, clearly unhappy with the whole ordeal, but accepting on behalf of some… external factors.
“Of course, I would expect nothing less.” Dream looked around the table, “So it’s agreed?” He asked, smiling softly.
Nightmare winced as his brother’s positive aura grew as the potential future where they could all get along seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer.
“Yup!”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
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ravencromwell · 2 months ago
Text
The poem evokes human greatness and human vulnerability. People are “godlike” in their courage and skill, but even the greatest mortals fall and clutch the dust between their bloody fingers. The beautiful word minunthadios , “short-lived,” is used of both Achilles and Hector, and applies to all of us. We die too soon, and there is no adequate recompense for the terrible, inevitable loss of life. Yet through poetry, the words, actions, and feelings of some long-ago brief lives may be remembered even three thousand years later.
--Emily Wilson's introduction to the Iliad
#so. we've come to the Iliad section in my Early World Literature class. and in that context we're utilizing the public domain translation by#A. S. Kline which made me think: you know what would be extremely fucking cool? since I'm going to have access to the Kline text until#the course closes in December. why don't I at least start the Wilson version and see how the two translations differ? so I'm now reading#The Iliad#as translated by Wilson and performed by the utterly masterful Audra McDonald. or well. I _would be except I'm so delighted. stunned. by#the incisive thought-provokingness of her introduction I keep needing to pause and write down various quotes: just this whole idea of#the poem revolving around how all all our deaths shall come too soon and there is no adequate compensation for that awful fact just FUCK#linguistics#mythology#folklore#fairy tales#lit geekery#book babbling#(oh I am already so fucking deep in this fannish hell and I haven't even really started her translation: like the Kline one is fine. but#it's very focused on *trying* to be Homeric you know? so there are all these very archaic references ala to Apollo#as Smintheus. which I then have to stop and look up oh. that means he's the mouse god and being the mouse god is important because#it ties back to him being an oracular god. which is then why the Greeks want to turn to another oracular god when he gets all pissy at them#and on one level. learning that mice were associated with the power of prophecy? extremely cool shit. on the other. well I have to#read a large chunk of this text in a fucking week Kline my good bud was it really necessary to provide an odd mouse reference I then#needed to find the context for *myself* I can already tell Wilson's tendency to provide context. both in the intro and just in general#wanting to make it readable terms will make this so! much easier of an introduction. (Kline. by contrast. would be really fucking cool if#you were a third-time reader and wanted all the marvelous nuance. just *rubs forehead* not a great intro when you're only focusing on#this text for a fucking week)
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