#like pandora is freeing the evil from her box

[tanglepelt]

Dc x dp idea 16

The observant are done watching. They want to command the infinite realm. With the king sealed away they decide the time is now.

They discovered a way to twist the ancients. Doing so hitting both pandora and clockwork. Pandora now seeks to help free evil and wreak havoc. Clockwork is now actively trying to find the worst timelines to force to happen.

The observants didn’t get frostbite as Danny was figuring out his ice core. Which means now he had to deal with those two ancients as well as overgrowth. Maybe even vortex makes an appearance.

The observants game plan is to make all the powerful ghost look bad so they get locked away. The only one who can fix the personalities of the ancients is the king. Take out those powerful and no one can free pariah to defeat him.

Danny returns to amity to find time frozen. Danny the little thief he is stole three time medallions (clockwork let him). Pandora is preventing him from getting to sam and tucker releasing evil from her box.

Danny gets out of amity. Leaving Sam as overgrowths “daughter” his friends and family frozen then guarded by evil beings. He heads out human so they can’t track his ecto signature.

With two extra time medallions he sets out. He finds the justice league. Wonder Woman immediately wants to help. She wants to help free pandora. Superman also heads to amity to help out. Both have rigged up Spector deflectors so they can’t get overshadowed.

John is the one who figures out what caused the personality switches. Bad news the only person who can fix it is evil. Danny was ease-dropping (they had him making anti ghost weapons, Danny only made non lethal ones)

Danny being Danny leaves his time medallion and takes off to free pariah.

John and Batman follow the child. They try and stop him from summoning and freeing pariah. Danny is just like chill i sealed him up like 3 months ago I’m sure i can handle this.

No explanation he just transforms and frees pariah. John and Batman can’t do anything to the ghost king as Danny traps him and the king in an ice dome. No point risking others getting hurt.

Danny wins. Frees pandora and clockwork. Wonder Woman had managed to trap pandora (pandora was definitely fighting the spell and resisting as much as she could). Clockwork just knew it was gonna happen. The observants were silly to think he wouldn’t.

The justice league now monitor amity park for when the next earth destructive ghost escapes. Danny has been forced to take lessons. The first one is risk management and the importance of disclosing powers. It’s just a lecture made by Batman.

[tylermileslockett]

"Orpheus glances Back" (#7 in my Orpheus and Eurydice series) “He stopped, and now, even at the confines of light (thoughtless alas!) and deprived of understanding, he looked back at his Eurydice: there all his labour vanished, and the conditions of the cruel tyrant were broken and a groan was thrice heard in the Avernian lake. Then she; who is it, O Orpheus, that has destroyed miserable me, and thee also? Whose great madness was this? Lo, again the cruel Fates call me back, and sleep seals up my swimming eyes. And now adieu: I am carried away encompassed with thick darkness, and stretching out my hands to you in vain, alas being no longer yours. She said, and fled suddenly from his sight a different way, like smoke mixing with thin air: nor did she see him catching in vain at the shadows, and desiring to say a great deal more; nor did the ferry-man of hell suffer him again to pass over the withstanding lake.” (-Virgil, Georgicks) When Psyche looks upon her secret lover’s face (Eros) against his orders, it sets her on a long journey where she ultimately must perform impossible labors to appease Aphrodite. In the final task, after trekking to Hades to collect some of Persephone’s beauty in a box, the girl can’t help but peak within the box, which renders her unconscious, and she is only saved by Eros in the end coming to remove the sleep. Pandora, the first mortal woman created by Hephaestus, was warned not to open the jar offered by Zeus as a present, but when her curiosity overpowered her, she opened the lid, releasing ills and evils into the world. When King Pentheus, in his arrogance, denied the divinity of Dionysus, the god bewitched the king’s mother and aunts who tore the man apart, thinking him a lion. King Erysichiton, ignoring the warning, cut down sacred trees in the grove of Demeter, and was cursed with everlasting hunger, resulting in him later devouring his own flesh.  As always, Thanks for looking, and please share this image if you can! Xoxo

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[writterracoon]

Hades 2

Lately, I've been a bit obsessed about Hades 2, I've been watching people play the test run , listening to compilations of interactions and scouring theories.

While doing all of that, I noticed something of a pattern, a theme that often came back and I think I may have found out one of the MAIN theme and conflict of the game and I've seen nobody talk about it yet, so here we go.

More under if you're not against being possibly spoiled.

I think one of the major themes of Hades 2 is going to be about Humanity and its complex relationship with the Gods, the way the gods treat mortals and the way mortals treat the gods.

here are my evidences

The interactions

the first thing that put me on this path was this interaction between Melinoe and Nemesis.

In this conversation, Nemesis and Melinoe are talking about Retribution and Justice and how Nemesis believes that Kronos taking over the underworld and challenging the Olympians may be what they deserve. Notice how Nemesis specifically mentions mortals and the Golden Age.

For those who don't know, in greek mythology the Golden Age was the first Era of Humanity and when Chronos was the ruler of the heavens. It was a time of peace and harmony for humanity where there existed no plague or famine, there was no need to work as they could simply pick their food from nature itself. They lived long lives, remaining youthful and died peacefully in their sleep.

Nemesis is I think trying to hint to Melinoe that maybe the situation is not exactly as black and white as it first seems and that humanity may have a bigger role in this than first thought.

A second interaction i want to bring to mind is about Moros and his relationship with mortals.

Here Moros admits that sometimes he because of was simply bored he would knowingly bring doom and pain to Mortals ending their lives painfully.

Archnea's interactions are also the strongest contenders for that theory, as they bring back that theme of divine cruelty, the gods view of mankind and how they callously treat them.

She has been wronged by the gods for the simple reason that she was better than them at something and they naturally couldn't stand it so they cursed her to live as a spider. She is filled with resentment for them and even warns Mel not to trust them. Also, note how she admits she fears the gods more than she fears Chronos.

2. Dora

Now Dora is a bit particular because we don't know much about her, but I have seen a theory and some interaction with Moros seem to be pointing toward it, which is that she might be Pandora, the original sinner of Greek mythology.

the myth of Pandora goes a bit like this: During the Golden Age, after Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gifted it to humanity, the gods decided to punish Prometheus by punishing humanity. They built Pandora, a woman beautiful beyond compare, and gave her a box full of the evils of the world. They then send her to seduce Epimetheus Prometheus's brother, who despite his brother's warning is promptly seduced by Pandora's beauty and welcomes her into his home. She then opened the box and released the evil of the world upon mankind, thus ending the Golden Age. Only hope stays inside the box.

Again if this is indeed true, it would follow the theme of the gods inflicting pain and suffering upon mankind for petty reasons, uncaring about the consequences of those actions.

3. Hades I

During the first game, many interactions points toward the gods general uncaring attitudes about mortals. Demeter thinks it was a mortal who stole her daughter away, so she decides that she will punish them all by starving them with an eternal winter. The other gods make almost mention of it only to say how much it annoys them.

4. Speculation

This part is not so much about evidences and more about speculations about the story of Hades 2 based upon my theory that mankind is going to be central in this tale.

The reason how Chronos is so powerfull, powerfull enough to free himself from Tartarus and claim the Underworld for himself, is that mortal were tired of being the gods' playthings and prayed to him, they prayed for his return, for the return of the golden age, where pain and suffering were unknown to them and the gods weren't using them for their own amusement.

The gods are going to have to deal with the fact that their poor treatment of humanity has consequences and those consequences are the return of Chronos and a second titonomachy.

Melinoe will propably have to face the fact that Chronos is wrong in challenging the gods and that the current status quo cannot be sustained any longer. The Olympian gods will have to change how they treat mankind if they wish to even have a stand a chance against chronos.

(TLDR, The Olympian gods have treated mankind like shit for a long time and now they are dealing with the consequences of those actions when the mortals are praying to Chronos to come back and restore back the golden Age where their lives weren't even half as awful. Melinoe will have to deal with the fact that her family might very well deserve what is happening to them and if she wishes to save them, the gods will have to change.)

[frozenjokes]

After years of thinking... I finally want to know what is CUBGUY and his boyfriend's MBTI aka the 16 personalities

You’ve opened Pandora’s box with this one my man because I am a psych major that HATES personality tests however that did not stop me from taking the test three times (this one which I hate specifically because the commercialization of personality tests to measure worth is evil BECAUSE THEY DONT WORK. THEY ARE NOT A GOOD MEASURE OF PERSONALITY OR WORTH AND HAVING TO TAKE THIS FUCKING FOR LITERALY JOB APPLICATIONS INSTEAD OF IT JUST BEING A FUN THING TODO IN YOUR FREE TIME IS FUCKING AURYRHEUSHDHUDUSHDJSHSJAHSUSUSJ KILLING BITING MAIMING GRAGAGSHGEHWDGSHHS I HATE. HER.) anyway. I can be normal about this subject I promise.

normal elsa: haha hey guys! I took the personality test for my ocs! yippeee!!! from left to right we have Cub, Scar, and Grian. thanks for the ask! this was fun!

but it’s not about having fun is it

so anyway I took notes. So you may have noticed some things don’t look quite right here. I mean, Cub looks fine! That’s pretty accurate even! Scar too, look at him go! … wait a minute. Grian’s not nice!!!! Or poetic!!!!!!! Is altruism even real????????????? (It is and I feel strongly about this but altruistic as an adjective to describe a person i believe is doing a disservice to the definition because what they MEAN is ‘selfless’ not altruistic but while we’re on the topic of selflessness Grian is fucking NOT)

So why did this happen. I don’t really care that the personality test got someone wrong, but I am interested in Why that happened, and why a test like this will never get a character like Grian correct.

Put simply, the answer is that this test wants to make you Feel Good. Now, having fun isn’t a crime and oftentimes personality tests are there to have fun, but the danger of something like this is that the MBTI isn’t presented as a low stakes fun activity, it’s presented as fact. Look. This is you! This is a good, objective measure of your personality, aren’t you great? You’re awesome :)! Here’s a list of vague-enough sentiments that probably apply to you based on the questions we asked. Yippee! its a really clever and extremely affective trick.

While the little blurb for Scar describes him relatively well, nearly every description of his ‘personality��� besides extroversion read pretty inaccurately, and that’s because the focus is so positive. The thing is, Grian and Scar are largely very self serving people (/neutral tone). They are often more worried about themselves than others, they’re impulsive, and that’s not all they are, but it’s pretty impossible to get at someone’s actual personality without recognizing what makes people flawed.

The closest I think the MBTI test gets to probing at this idea of potential selfishness are questions that are meant to test thinking versus feeling. Do you consider someone’s sensitivities in if they conflict with reason? Are you more concerned with facts or emotion? Logos versus pathos. That kinda stuff. But ultimately the MBTI test doesn’t really care about selfishness, it doesn’t care about flaws, it just cares about making you feel good baybe! So these neutral questions don’t really come back in any meaningful way. The MBTI is concerned about making caricatures of people, not accurately measuring their personality and that Matters because its so often treated as scientific, at least good enough to be used in consideration for jobs and work and school and all sorts of stuff.

And I could go on but the problem with modern personality tests goes so so so much deeper, even in more controlled, more science oriented fields like psychiatry. The system for diagnosing personality disorders is somewhat similar to a personality tests are at the very least aided by them, falling on a straight lined spectrum of Openness, Consciousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. But this system Sucks and everyone knows it sucks because comorbidity between clusters (A, B, C) of personality disorders is Insanely High. I wish I had the exact percentages, but I can’t quite find the information I’m looking for, but the point is that if the rate of comorbidity between different disorders is So High, how do you know these disorders are correctly defined at all? If a person more often than not has Disorder A and Disorder B at the same time, who’s to say they’re all that different at all? In general, a lot of the criteria for diagnosing a personality disorders is Really similar, so in general it’s a section of the DSM that needs a pretty massive overhaul.

I don’t envy personality psychologists man their job is Tough (and in my opinion, kind of impossible. there’s too many roadblocks in making an objective test. It is. Eugh.)

TLDR: the MBTI test is about as decisive as a fortune cookie and it literally can’t be anything more because then you would realize its lying to you. amen

[hamartiologic]

Pandora Oración Ylaya (she/he) —

An amicable but distant student who prides himself on opportunities afforded to him through his work and effort. Known to be strict but otherwise reliable, Pandora's earned herself a campus image of a studious academic with no ill sentiments towards others, so long as they carry their fair? share of responsibilities. In actuality, Pandora fosters connections with others for the sake of getting ahead and deliberately keeps his more harsh tendencies tempered to make sure his wide array of opportunities isn't extinguished by fraught interpersonal relationships, even if he thinks the upkeep a chore. Even still, she is a social butterfly at heart and is especially more open and honest with those close to her or those who already know too much.

Harbors a guilt complex towards certain behaviors she has around Milo, trying to will away her compulsion to b̶͍̙͌r̵̘͎̋e̸̡̅̏a̷̺̓͊k̸͎̮̀̍ him, even though the rush she gets from seeing him follow her around and seemingly caring for only her is a high she never wants to rid herself of. In his mind, Pandora calls this a sinful schadenfreude. Despite her internal conflict, she wants Milo to be able to save himself. Though being a savior with such a devout believer wouldn't be so bad either, right...?

Within Pandora's box lies many secrets and contradictions. She'll try and try to keep it closed for the sake of herself, but the extrication of the contents inside is but an inevitability.

Pandora was chosen as the name with consideration of his role as an Eris-adjacent character, and thus, I wanted to keep the mythology inspiration. Other options included Eros, Apollo, and Psyche. I think the myth offers a fun amount of symbolism. Like the myth, this Pandora is essentially artificial, at least in terms of the image she builds. His namesake is also described as a "beautiful evil" and carrying "sheer guile." She's also given a deceitful nature and power of speech, among other gifts. I think the box in the mythos represents this Pandora's capacity as an individual—for both the negative traits that attempt to escape and manifest in his daily life and for the good that rests within the vessel. An expansive array of possibilities making themselves known once the box is opened. (I'm cooking up parallels wink wink nudge nudge.) I find the other readings of the box's symbolism just as curious and just as fitting as well—that being of curiosity and pursuit of knowledge in opening the box, as well as the trials of life and the hope and tenacity that is required to overcome it kept safely within.

Oración means prayer. Pandora is not particularly religious, though she was raised to be. She answers to no god but herself—though acknowledging herself as such makes her guilt complex kick in. He'll try to deny it, but the idea of Milo being his one and only believer is one that he entertains every now and then...

Ylaya is from ilaya, which, among other things, means to set something free in Tagalog. Fitting for the mythology of Pandora, but it can also refer to his own desire to live freely. Additionally, allowing Milo to go his own way despite her desires.

Though I'm still working out details, I've pretty much decided that V!Milo is a veeeery miniscule possibility for Pandora. She's very much focused on puppeteering social interactions to make things go her way when the need arises—I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. I'll have to think about this more, but it's safe to say that all Pandomilos I am to talk about are with either Pre-Milo or M!Milo(-adjacent) in mind.

Other tidbits

4'11". It's the Filipino genes.

Pursuing a degree in the arts.

Genderfluid and bisexual, though she presents herself as a girl just so she doesn't have to explain herself.

Though he's had a fair share of admirers, he's rejected each one—of which includes Ryan. Pandora makes fun of Ryan on the regular and regards him as someone entertaining as a result of his reactions towards her.

Despite his academic standing, he actually has an incredibly hard time focusing on what he needs to do. Additionally, he is cursed with being sleepy all the time.

She takes charge in group projects but always aims to do less work. He isn't as reliable as everyone thinks he is, but his way of getting away with it scot-free is by always being there to pester her groupmates and offering to help them out—which is to say, they'll do all the heavylifting while she just pretties it up. Work smarter, not harder.

She is always looking for an excuse to karaoke. It's one of her favorite things in the world.

ACG nerd. His room has manga and limited editions of games. Not like he'll let his classmates know.

She is self-absorbed, self-important, and self-obsessed. Loving herself is one of her hobbies. If loving yourself was a job, she'd be employee of the year.

[anyablackwood]

Most Likely Tag

Thanks for the tag, @pandoras-comment-box!

Who's most likely to adopt a racoon/crow/skunk/fox/miscellaneous local wildlife for a pet? (Please tell the class how badly it would go. Please!)

Megumi would be the most likely SUCCESSFUL adopter, seeing as she can speak to animals and spends a lot of her free time with them anyway. But that's no fun, so Claire or Sora would probably be the next runners-up, with Claire's being the most disastrous.

Claire would be found in her room, fist-fighting a raccoon she tried to sneak into the cabin at 3 am. They'd become mortal enemies, and the raccoon would spend its time menacing her despite also refusing to leave (magic probably doesn't work on raccoons).

A total wildcard would be Adrasteia. If certain conditions are met, I'd imagine she'd find herself enchanted by an ugly, evil little possum or mole rat or something, and she'd immediately decide it's hers. The whole palace would be forced to deal with an aggressive little demon creature in a pink sweater, because if anything happened to it their heads would be next.

Most likely to verbally eviscerate someone for something petty.

Iris or Adrasteia. It's a toss-up between that and them just stabbing you, though.

Most likely to go viral unintentionally.

Luna or Claire, if they had internet in their world. For OCs in a world WITH social media, I don't know, lol. A lot of my characters are walking disasters, so any of them could easily do something that ends up being caught on camera and uploaded. Luna and Claire are expressly from a comedy though, so they're at the top of the list.

If I had to go with anyone, I guess Sora? She's the most openly impulsive/accidentally destructive, so I could imagine that would be worth putting on TikTok or something, lol.

This was fun! Here are mine for you!

Most likely to crash a car

Most likely to get caught in a "this isn't what it looks like!" situation

Most likely to become a fashion icon

Gently tagging: @mysticstarlightduck, @owlsandwich, @dragonfelling, and anyone else who wants in!

[emotionalsupportjedi]

Love Me, That’s All I Ask Of You: Psychoanalysis and Relationships in Phantom of the Opera

“You can't win her love by making her your prisoner” (Morris and Connor, 2011). This line, said by Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, can be considered a critical line about the relationship between Christine Daaé and the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Phantom of the Opera. The musical details what happens when Christine Daaé, a member of the chorus at the Palais Garnier, rises to take the place of prima donna, and the Phantom takes interest in her and takes drastic measures such as murder to ensure that she maintains her position. Looking at this musical with psychoanalytic theory gives the person watching it an interesting new perspective. Psychoanalytic theory is based on the works of Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis. In particular, his works on core anxieties, defence mechanisms, and trauma are relevant to this musical and its depiction of the Phantom in particular. The main relationship in the musical Phantom of the Opera models the idea of trauma creating more trauma and the negative effects trauma has on relationships.

First, the Phantom’s childhood trauma has started a cycle of trauma in the story, shown in part through his fear of abandonment. In the story, the Phantom was born with a physical deformity, which caused him to be an outcast from society and implied that he was abandoned by his mother. These events are the main cause of his fears, including his fear of abandonment. In Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, Lois Tyson discusses fear of abandonment, defining it as “the unshakeable belief that our friends and loved ones are going to desert us (physical abandonment) or don’t really care about us (emotional abandonment)” (Tyson, 2006). One defence mechanism that the Phantom seems to use in relation to this fear is displacement, which is defined as “”taking it out” on someone or something less frightening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger” (Tyson, 2006). Throughout the first act, the Phantom is seen taking out his anger on Christine when she does something that he does not like or sees as a threat, such as her taking his mask. When she does so in the song I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It, he yells at her and curses her, saying, “Damn you, you little prying Pandora! You little demon! Curse you! You little lying Delilah! You little viper! Now you cannot ever be free!” (Morris and Connor, 2011). Of all the names he calls her, I find “Pandora” to be the most interesting. It is a reference to the Ancient Greek myth about Pandora’s box: the gods and goddesses give Pandora, the first woman, a box filled with all of the evils in the world. Against her better judgement, her curiosity got the best of her, and she released all of the evils into the world. By referencing this myth, the Phantom is telling Christine that now that her own curiosity has gotten the better of her, she cannot be free of him, and she has released his rage onto herself. This use of displacement is a way for the Phantom to protect himself from the fear that Christine will abandon him for seeing his face, but possibly unbeknownst to him, this is a destructive way of reaching this end. This incident causes Christine trauma, and she starts to fear the Phantom and his rage, which will end up with her trying to avoid the Phantom and leaving him.

Another core anxiety of the Phantom’s that drives the relationship side plot of the musical is his fear of betrayal. Lois Tyson defines fear of betrayal as “the nagging feeling that our friends and loved ones can’t be trusted, for example, can’t be trusted not to lie to us, not to laugh at us behind our backs, or in the case of romantic partners, not to cheat on us by dating others” (Tyson, 2006). As with his fear of abandonment, and with most core issues, the Phantom uses a defence mechanism as a way of coping with this fear; in this case, he uses projection. Tyson defines projection as “ascribing our fear, problem, or guilty desire to someone else and then condemning him or her for it, in order to deny that we have it ourselves” (Tyson, 2006). The Phantom uses this coping mechanism throughout the second act, most notably in the final showdown between him, Christine, and Raoul. After kidnapping Christine during the middle of a performance of the opera the Phantom wrote to facilitate this scheme, the Phantom attempts to hang her fiancé, Raoul de Chagny, who has come to save Christine. He tells Christine that it would be her who chooses if Raoul lives or dies by giving her an ultimatum: “Start a new life with me, buy his freedom with your love! Refuse me and you send your lover to his death! This is the choice- This is the point of no return!” (Morris and Connor, 2011). The line “Refuse me and you send your lover to his death” has a couple interesting parts to it. As a whole, it shifts the blame from the Phantom to Christine, as projection does, but when looking at the use of the word lover, it is another way for the Phantom to show how he feels he has been betrayed. In the musical, the Phantom and Christine do not have a formal relationship, whereas Christine and Raoul do. The use of the word “lover” is a way to show that Phantom thinks of their relationship as Christine cheating on him, using the word as a way to deny the couple legitimacy in his mind as he is desperate for her affections. In his mind, since Christine is his, she is betraying him by taking a lover, whereas in reality, Christine is just getting engaged to her childhood friend and her beloved. The combination of her fear from this and earlier situations and the way that Raoul treats her much better is what ends up with a tearful goodbye to the Phantom and their trauma-based relationship from Christine.

As a final point of interest in this essay about fear, Phantom of the Opera uses two of its main characters, Christine and the Phantom, as a way to distinguish rational and irrational fears. The fears that psychoanalysis covers are irrational, ones based in trauma, but are often made up in one’s own head. These fears are shown through the Phantom and his actions and lines that have been discussed in this essay. However, the musical also uses Christine to show the rational fears that would come along with being in her position throughout the musical. Throughout the musical, Christine is constantly being watched and influenced by the Phantom, blamed for the situation by the managers and Carlotta, who is competing for the spotlight with her, and still having to perform parts in well-known operas as if none of this is going on. She is rationally afraid of these situations, and throughout the song Notes… / Twisted Every Way she asks many rhetorical questions about her situation, such as: “Am I to risk my life to win the chance to live?... Oh God - if I agree, what horrors wait for me… in this, the Phantom's opera...?” (Morris and Connor, 2011).These rhetorical questions are manifestations of Christine’s fear. The line that stands out the most is “...if I agree, what horrors wait for me”, with the word “horrors” conveying to the audience and the characters on stage that she knows she is in a dangerous situation. At this point, the Phantom has killed someone in the middle of an opera performance, and Christine is rightfully scared that she could be next, that she could be the victim of a man who is unpredictable in the severity of his rage. Another line that stands out is “in this, the Phantom’s opera”, which serves as a way to show who is in power right now. The Phantom has all of the power over her in this situation, and her helplessness is only fueling her fear. Christine has been traumatised by the Phantom and their relationship.

To conclude, the musical the Phantom of the Opera uses its main relationships to demonstrate how trauma is a cycle that negatively affects both of the parties involved. Looking at the musical through a psychoanalytic lens gives an interesting insight into how relationships can be affected by mental health and our coping mechanisms. Ultimately, it is probably a good thing that Christine Daaé leaves the Phantom in the end; who knows what would have happened if they had ended up together in the end? On a larger scale, analyses like this essay can be used to look at real-life relationships, and those watching this musical may relate to the characters and the situations they are in. While this relationship may be uncomfortable, there is still value in engaging with it and similar works.

Works Cited

Dhar, Rittika. “Pandora’s Box: The Myth Behind the Popular Idiom.” History Cooperative, 17 August 2022, https://historycooperative.org/pandoras-box/. Accessed 18 November 2023.

Morris, Nick, and Laurance Connor, directors. The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. Cameron Mackintosh, 2011.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2006.

Tags List

@ablatheringblatherskite

@labyrinth-of-her-heart

@the-crow-goddix-abode

@immabethehero

[bittersweetresilience]

félix and flairmidable as pandora’s myth

because i'm thinking about parallels between them again. this started a month ago:

(plain text in alt. i'm referencing hesiod's myth of pandora in theogony and works and days both because it's the original or, more accurately, oldest surviving account and because it's the one i'm most familiar with.)

briefly, the myth is as follows. after zeus denies mortals the gift of fire, prometheus hides it in a fennel stalk and gives it to them anyway. he is punished with the classic eternal liver eagle situation, at least until herakles rescues him, while mortals are punished with our lovely lady.

hephaistos and several other gods are recruited to create pandora, the first woman. under instruction from zeus, hephaistos sculpts her divine features from clay, athene teaches her craft and weaving, aphrodite gives her grace and desire, and hermes gives her a "dog-like, shameless mind and thieving ways . . . deceits and wheedling words, the habits of a thief." she is named pandora, meaning 'all gifts.'

hermes brings pandora to epimetheus, who weds her, forgetting the warning his brother prometheus had given him against receiving gifts from the gods. pandora has a pithos or greek jar with her containing all of the evils of mankind, and she opens its lid, releasing every spirit within but one: elpis, or hope. elpis stays within the pithos, trapped by the lid pandora has once again closed.

pandora's myth is an etiology or mythological explanation of evil, sickness, human labor, and toil. in a way, to félix, the miraculous are an etiology of the same. why does he feel compelled to obey orders even when they are unfair? why are his feelings troubled whenever he finds something that brings him joy? why is he hurt, blamed, unloved? why does his life seem to be linked to a ring? for him, the miraculous are the answer.

more clearly, pandora is made in the image of men and goddesses and instilled with a devious nature. félix is made in the image of adrien, and by definition their mothers, and he surfaces with a clever, trickster-y nature as well. both are gifts, and both are punishments. the only mixup is which one comes from and goes to whom.

pandora's pithos, funnily also referred to as pandora's box, becomes the miracle box in this story. félix opens the pithos by giving all of the miraculous inside to monarque, leaving only hope, or the miraculous of the peacock. he wears the miraculous of the dog while he does this, with the dog-like thieving ways hermes gave pandora.

with this, the golden age of mankind ends, and an age of toil begins. the released spirits or kwami become the plagues of mankind, such that their concepts replace the names of akumas and sentimonsters as antagonists of paris. and hilariously, the age of toil is the fifth age of mankind hesiod describes, just as the season after félix opens his pithos is the fifth season.

(as an aside, many scholars draw parallels between pandora, made of clay, and her pithos, made of the same. with the miracle box as félix's pithos, félix as a child of magic might mean something new.)

pandora releases every spirit but hope. the meaning of this has always been unclear. was hope meant to be an evil? was its imprisonment meant to be a blessing or a curse? certainly félix wants to keep duusu with him, as elpis with pandora. hope and a weapon, a spirit like her siblings, all at once. and his exchange of the miraculous inspired as much debate about his intentions, origins, and consequences. i don't have answers to the questions about pandora, but with félix in mind, i can raise some more.

both pandora and félix were created the way they were by someone else's hand. for someone else's reasons, with someone else's guiding force, seen or unseen. when pandora opened the pithos, was this an act of free will? what about when she closed the lid? what did she feel keeping elpis inside? was it her fault for being pursued by her nature? could it have been a choice?

the same questions can be asked about félix. his narrative is one of grappling with autonomy. the threat of nonexistence dogs his every footstep. was trading the miraculous a choice or a necessity? was his deception the only natural next step of the life he was made to live? was he free for the first time when the miraculous of the peacock entered his hands? did he feel regret obtaining it? did he feel relief?

in the end, as with all stories, there is room for interpretation. there are countless versions of pandora's myth, because the story changes with the authors, with the culture, and with the meaning of hope. so too for félix's story. he writes his myth himself.

[notmrkillwolf666]

Dead Internet Theory and why you should start an unionize

Ok, let me start off with two things. 1# I never done this before but I fucking corpos push me to do this because of all the AI bullshit.

two# if you don't know what is The Dead Internet Theory is like I was, there 2 video are different on it but they are a still good watch on it.

since it become no sneaking suspicion that corpos are useing AI to trying to replace artist for a lower cost (which it's fucking stupid because hasbro, xbox/Microsoft, others are multi dollar company that end up showing how fucking Greedy they are,)

This will keep happing unless we put our foot down, tell this corpos that this shit is wrong/fuck off with this, and start a union to fight back this mess.

but what this have to do with the Dead Internet Theory?... well, if at some point if we can't tell who human and who AI/bot on the Internet. we have to go outside and meet in-persons to to talk to real people (or on discord or calling your friends on your phone.)

stuff like hardcover book, DVDs, music vinyl, art, dvd movies and so much more are now going to be more rare than gold. I am serious. since AI is making all these stuff that are difficulty to tell which one is made by a human or a bot, unironically we have to go back to the past and start buying these stuff when people used to me that we don't have to buy these things no more. because they will all be on the Internet to buy and get (or you can be a 7 sea pirates to get these stuff for "free" cuz fuck them corpos.)

Now?... now all I want to do is buy older/hardcover stuff since I know that was not made by a fucking AI bot but made by a human being. now all I want to is unplugged from the Internet and go live in a cabin in the woods somewhere to never be seen again.

this shit is starting to become a real life cyberpunk and I. DO. NOT. WANT. THAT.

So you should do this.

#1: meet in person to talk to people (or discord or any other way) and if that person is a VA, artist, animator, etc. start a unions and make it loud and clear that we don't want this AI shit in our creative industries. (as well if it's somehow possibly to ban AI then do it.)

two#: start to buy all the DVDs, hardcover book, DVDs movies (or VHS Movies), music vinyl, TTRPGs and board games to play with your friends.

and 3#: find hobby in real life, like gardening, swimming, sewing, and or playing older videos games like PS1 to PS3, gamecube, N64, etc.

For one more thing I need to say before I start to wonder how long before AI become self aware. All of this remind me of pandora box, the person who made ChatGPT/OpenAI open pandora box, so much happen in 2022 to 2024 when chatGPT/other AI stuff that I can't put into words of how much this fuck over the creative industries and cost so much people to lost their job because of greedy corpos who want to cut corners. everyone is scared of AI, even the person who made chatgpt for god sake.

but I have forgotten something important to the pandora box story.

"Pandora opened a jar left in her care containing sickness, death and many other unspecified evils which were then released into the world. Though she hastened to close the container, only one thing was left behind – hope."

and you what happening in the gaming industry?... Bethesda had Unionizes. which it own by Microsft/xbox. sure it does now sound much but to me, this sound like a piece of snow that is ready to go down hill into a SnowBall.

IF THERE WAS TIME TO UNIONIZE, THE TIME IS NOW!. NO IFS OR BUTS OR WHEN!.

kick start union, support real artist, VA, animator, indie movies, indie video games, and people who are making books and so much more.

MAKE IT LOUND AND CLEAR THAT WE DON'T WANT THIS AI SHIT IN OUR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND FIND A WAY TO BAN IT!.

thank you for reading my hate on corpos and AI, I fucking hate it here.

[darklinsblog]

Sweet Distraction | Chapter XII

Summary: Y/N must adapt to her new essence, Morpheus can’t seem to accept the woman he loves is forever changed and Morningstar is not pleased when she sees her gorgeous creation corrupted to her core.

Pairing: Dark!Morpheus x Celestial! Reader

Chapter List

Author’s note: Hello my loves! I know I have been quite MIA but I hope you enjoy this chapter

A few days had passed after your… event.

Morpheus didn’t know how to grasp on this situation, it wasn’t like you changed drastically but you were undoubtedly different, the way you carried yourself, your essence seemed much more darker and there were times were you would have raging outbursts over the smallest things.

She was drifting away, sometimes Morpheus wouldn’t see her in all day, it was almost as if she was trying to escape everything and for the first time in eons for a being that had lived as much as him, he had no idea how to help.

The Endless wouldn’t be proud to admit that he recurred to lurking on Y/N’s dreams and nightmares to obtain answers but he achieved nothing as all he would see were faded memories of Y/N’s past.

It was hard to try to conceal all the voices within you, all the anger that seemed to sit at the pit of your stomach.

“Why did you do it?” Morpheus had asked you for the hundred time, you were refusing to give him an answer knowing how apprehensive Morpheus could be, but there you were undoubtedly irritated.

“I didn’t have a choice, it was either taking them with me or letting Pandora’s evils to run free in the world! Could you imagine what that could’ve done to The Waking World? To the Dreaming?!” Morpheus’ eyes watered completely taken back by your words.

He had no words, he inspected your face, reminiscing on all your memories, aching for how much you had changed, you weren’t the same and you won’t ever be and it was all because of… him?

The image of you stumbling down the corridors, your lost and tortured expression being consumed and whining in pain still vividly haunted him.

“Please, let me make this right” he pleaded you, your face went from anger to complete disbelief.

“I am not one of your creations, I’m not something you can deconstruct and reconstruct however you see fit!” You exclaimed, you knew it wasn’t his intent to imply you were broken, in need of fixing, but hearing him say this also light within you the insecurity that Morpheus’ may leave you as he only liked the old you, and if that was the case, the sacrifice you had made was ultimately, nothing at all.

“I have to protect you!” He urged

“And whose there to protect you, then?” You spoke feeling the knot on your throat growing tighter, you came close to him cupping his face in your hands, his went to your waist as you looked at him more tenderly this time.

“Your duty is to protect the dreams of others, to inspire and guide them, why do you not let me be the same for you?” A single tear ran down your cheek as you spoke this words, Morpheus couldn’t understand how could you love him so selflessly, to endure an unspeakable torture out of your love to him, and quite frankly, he wasn’t sure he deserved it.

Because he treated you poorly for centuries, he wasn’t good at admitting his feelings, he had hurt you countless times and yet, here you were still loving him and sacrificing yourself.

“You’re hurting, I can feel it” it was true, but you weren’t only hurting from what Pandora’s box did to you, there was something else you hadn’t spoken of, scared of bringing it up but eventually you knew you had to.

“There’s no pain I am not able to endure” you tried to reassure him even though that didn’t bring the Prince of Stories much comfort.

Lucienne came along interrupting the scene, looking troubled which caught your attention immediately.

“Lucifer Morningstar has requested to see you and Miss Y/N in their domains” she explained, both you and Morpheus shared a look, knowing this was anything but good news.

You knew such request was merely a formality from the angel, but this was a demand.

Morpheus and you were setting yourselves to go, when Lucienne grabbed your arm, she quietly approached your ear after looking for signs of anybody else listening and having found nothing.

“You know you must tell him before you go to Hell, for the safety of both” she looked at your stomach for a second and you grimaced.

“Lucifer won’t try anything” you said, not even convinced yourself but at least for now you had to lie to yourself to get through with this.

Reaching the gates of Hell thousands of looks were upon you and Morpheus, no demon dared to say a word and the air felt dense as you approached Lucifer, whose eyes were shining with rage.

“You take my gorgeous creation and make her your whore…” Lucifer hissed with anger “Then you permit for her to be corrupted and misshaped and now… I have to make this right”

Suddenly you were pulled away from Morpheus’ side into some sort of unknown force into a boundary spell that kept you and Morpheus apart.

No matter how hard any of you tried, you were unable to break free, being kept apart by an invisible wall.

“Morningstar! What do you think you’re doing?!” He exclaimed exasperated looking at the master of Hell.

“I am restoring her to her true form, taking away all those evils that have tainted her soul!” With a single hand movement you were pulled to the ground, groaning in pain.

“NO! MOTHER PLEASE STOP YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!” You cried out trying to conceal the pain, scared of what this was doing to you and knowing the dangers of this process.

“What do I not understand? That he is incapable of protecting you like he’s supposed to?!” You were clenching your fists, digging your nails into the skin of your palms, your knuckles turning white, it was hard to say a word because you felt as if there was no more oxygen for you to hold onto.

“I’m with… c-child!” You choked out, all the pain stopped in that moment, when you opened your eyes again Lucifer’s eyes were filled with tears and Morpheus was hit by realization, as if he had just been hit by a truck at full speed.

The pain stopped as Lucifer was staring at her gorgeous creation whom was coughing and gasping for air.

“I’ve tried… but if this darkness is to leave me so will the child I carry”

Lucifer undid the prison with a flick of the wrist, Morpheus and the ruler of Hell shared a glance, a sense of truce now lingering in the air as they shared the common objective of ensuring the safety of the woman they both loved.

Now, the importance relied on ensuring the safety of Y/N and the king’s unborn child.

This time around, Morpheus approached his loved one softly, she was tired, but still had that strength within her.

Morpheus cupped her face in his hands, of course he loved the idea of creating a family with Y/N but part of him wished this blessing was a little less complicated background.

“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted…” she whispered softly, making Morpheus’ heart ache, as in all the years they had known each other she had never stopped caring for him, protecting him even.

“My love… You will always be what I want and anything that comes our way as long as we’re together”

For the first time in centuries, Morpheus didn’t feel the ghosts of the past lingering on his back, his mind was overflowing with contained happiness and a sense of protectiveness towards the mother of his unborn child.

Taglist: @boofy1998 @meganmayhem89 @deniixlovezelda @maramunsonkay @theamuz @pinksirensong @majorcath @aurorarevenclaw1927 @adishax @emiemiemiii @captainmarvels-blog @intothesoul

[lovedrunkheadcanons]

Chapter Contents

(Arranged Marriage Fic) Read on AO3

RATED M

A predator knows how to hide in plain sight; A lion will camouflage with the Saharan grass next to a herd of grazing zebra; A bolas spider will emit chemicals akin to female moth pheromones to lure prospective male moths towards its web; A thousand year old cursed spirit will split his essence into twenty fingers and scatter himself to places forgotten by man, ready to be made whole. Predators understand that to hunt their prey, you must first lower their defenses. Give them a false sense of security. Dupe the fools into believing they are safe and sound and the danger has passed when it lies waiting on their doorstep. Hungry.

Satoru didn’t trust the finger outright. He wasn’t so naive as to think it could ever be that simple. His plan was to monitor. Cursed objects had to be monitored for twenty-four hours when found. Kumari was strong, but if anything were to go wrong she wouldn’t stand a chance, and his wife’s behavior only made him more suspicious, hence why he took the finger home (and maybe also to appease his inquisitive nature). Hannah thought nothing of it when they returned. It’ll be gone in the morning, she thought and cozied up beside her husband on the futon later that night. Satoru would take care of everything. He always did.

So she thought.

From the time she was small, since the tender age of five or six, Hannah had been hearing voices. One hears many voices when inheriting The Sight. Mostly last breaths and dying screams. A curse cackling by the carnage of torn bodies. All of them disturbing and violent and horrible. So why would this be any different?

It rasped somewhere far in the distance. Thames. Over the pine crested peaks of Mt. Takao, the mokoshi penthouse roofs, and the torii gates. Thames. It blew across the school yard, rustling passed the trees, billowing near their house, sighing through the eaves, through the walls, just outside Hannah’s bedroom. Rattling her eardrums.

She heard claws scrape across the floor, repeating a name no longer hers.

Thames.

Satoru’s arm was wrapped snugly around her torso, holding her dear, yet she had no trouble breaking free and rising from the floor, leaving him sound asleep on the futon. “Mmph,” he grunted and stirred at the feel of something missing, but then switched positions and grew still once more, snoring contently on their shared pillow.

Somnolent, Hannah stood and walked towards the entrance, a thin nightgown strap hanging loosely off her shoulder. The door slid open by its own accord, but she did not return to the only person who could grant her safety. Out to the beyond she wandered.

Each step felt lighter than air down the tatami woven corridors, the shoji panels. Door after door after door, adjarring without interruption, her silhouette a mere shadow across the many lantern-lit halls. The voice beckoned louder. Thames. It wanted her. She would answer.

She came to a halt at the twelfth door, riddled in spell-tags. The incantation Satoru recited could be traced back to the earliest of jujutsu, some say since before the monolithic Jōmon began texturing their clay with bands of rope.1 Ancient jujutsu was the purest form of sorcery for good reason. Untainted. Indomitable. Satoru had mastered the secret incantation quicker than his predecessors. Nothing on heaven or earth should’ve been able to cross those barriers and remove those spell-tags.

Hannah did so without lifting a pinkie.

The barrier didn’t object to her presence, and the paper tags unglued themselves, one by one, scattering to the floor like a pile of white autumn leaves. The door slowly parted. Inside over by the corner was the sealed box. That’s it now, come here. Come to me. Five steps and she was hunkered down in front of it like a curious Pandora, nescient of the evil she was about to release upon the world. She flicked open the notches.

The floor beneath collapsed.

Hannah felt she was falling…

falling.

falling.

Her bare feet hardly made a splash in the blood water, wading just above her knees. Something ripe mushed between her toes. The air stank heavily of decay and iron. Though her eyes were transfixed by the large blackened ribs scaffolded above like an animal enclosure.

On a mound of bones, human and beast, buttressed and stacked high, was a notch arranged into a dais. The eery crimson light, emanating from God knows where, began building in strength, and the bone-filled graveyard started to unveil its secrets. She saw the outline of a figure seated atop the bones. Something like four monstrous arms, two sets of eyes, tattoos, and a mouth where a stomach should've been.

Regaining her wits, Hannah’s head began to throb. Her knees quaked. Blood ceased circulating to her legs from the cold water. She couldn’t feel the oxygen exit her lungs, nor her heart crumble and un-crumble like a reused plastic bottle.

“W-Where am I?” she croaked.

She saw one of its two mouths twist into a wry, sinister grin and suddenly felt she had unintentionally signed her death certificate. That’s not human, she thought. Not anymore. An alien life form. A freak of nature. Demonic.

“Woman.” the four-armed demon drawled above its mountain of skeletons, man and beast. “Did Uraume send you?”

Hannah stayed silent, struck paralyzed from the waist down.

“Are you a challenger?” it spoke again.

Tendrils of fear clamped around her throat. “A what?” she said dumbly.

The demon gave out a snorting laugh, “Guess not,” and rose to its feet. In a flash, it was standing in front of her, frame hulking and grotesque, roughly seizing her face between a mass of blackened claws, hooking a thumb to her lower lip. Hannah drew mute. The malevolence in its four vermillion eyes was a raw, insatiable sort.

“Weak,” the demon crooned, and stretched its mouth into that awful, predacious grin that conveyed unspeakable harm. Something knife-point sharp tapped her lower back.

The last thing Hannah heard were cruel peals of laughter before the world was swallowed inside a scarlet sea.

A goodnight’s sleep was a hardfought luxury for a jujutsu sorcerer. Not that it mattered much. Satoru sucked at sleeping anyways. Always had. Always will, so it didn’t take much for him to become gradually aware that the primal, gut-wrenching screams ringing in his subconscious were not a figment of his dreams, but real.

Oh so terrifyingly real.

The Six Eyes wielder could recall the time he witnessed the late cauterization of a grown bull, back when the estate was in the business of raising livestock. Most dehornings are performed when the bull is a calf to reduce infection and long-term pain: chemical solutions,"tubes," saws, keystone dehorners, you name it. But the rancher they hired cared little for the well-being of their cattle, and thought axing the bull’s horns with an old splitting maul and cauterizing the wound with a branding iron was the method of choice; highly illegal. Satoru watched him tie the bovine’s head down in a compromising position and with zero remorse start chopping. The agonized lowing that left the animal with each forceful thwack of the maul. The blood. Satoru couldn’t remember much of what he did afterwards, other than running to Makoto in tears. He freed all the estate’s livestock the day he became clan-leader, suppressing childhood trauma he hadn’t told a single soul.

Now twenty years later, Hannah’s tormented screams reminded him of that one bull.

There was no escaping it.

Wide awake and panicked, he twisted himself over to see his wife thrashing wildly on the bedding, her screams not of fear, but of pain; vocal chords cracking and clicking from too much exertion. She couldn’t catch her breath.

But what alarmed him most were her eyes. Hannah’s frightened eyes were like two dying stars, glowing a bright, ember red, inflamed and leaking a flood of tears, staring wide open.

He grabbed her by the arms, shaking, voice pleading for her to wake up, but every attempt failed. She scrambled to get away, wincing whenever his fingers came too close to touching her back.

This did not go unnoticed. Holding her at an angle, Satoru ever so gently slipped a hand underneath and felt his body grow cold at the sensation of something warm and sticky soaking the satin nightgown, the tang of rust. He began praying, Please be sweat, please be sweat, and slowly removed his hand.

The palm was coated so thickly in blood you’d think it was fresh paint, staining the once white futon into a dark, sickly grenache that would never wash out. With trembling hands, Satoru mustered the courage to flip her over and see what his heart earnestly wanted to deny.

Bile rushed to his throat. It was worse than he could’ve imagined.

Gashes like a jagged cuneiform were scrawled all along the expanse of her back; phantom claws, five tallies each, plowing deep into the skin, digging for purchase. Hannah sobbed more violently than ever. Her pallor was like stained glass left exposed to sunlight, faded and drained of color. Blood. Blood everywhere.

To his frustration, Satoru’s eyes detected nothing wrong. He saw no neon trail, no grimy residuals, an invisible enemy he could not see and could not fight; a true ghost. The band of gold on his finger started burning.

What is this?

Hannah’s strangled cries were growing weaker by the second, either from fatigue or something far more life upending. Her lips took a bluish hue from the oxygen not circulating to her brain and the rest of her body, hazel eyes glassy. If he didn’t act now, she’d be gone forever.

“Stay with me, Hannah.”

Satoru scooped his wife in his arms, her cries faint and disoriented, and ran like hell out the door.

“Please, don’t die.”

Chapter Contents

[a-mag-a-day]

I remember the first time listening to this episode and being right there with Jon going: "wait, why did the breaking of the table free the monster," for like a hot moment there. Also, in Jon's defence, what else was he supposed to to with the table he knew was linked to the spooky thing that was pretending to be Sasha? Just ignore it and Rambo Not!Sasha with the ax? Neither scenario was great and the poor man felt he needed to do something about it. There was no promise that he'd even be able to hurt the thing while it was still bound to the table, and he definitely wasn't able to hurt it once it was unbound (other than S5).

Gosh this episode is so good, and it sets up so much for both the immediate pay off in 79&80 plus the later relationship destruction between him and Tim in S3. Like, if Jon hadn't tried to make sure they weren't in the Archives that night, they wouldn't have gone back to try and figure out if he had finally snapped. I feel like I'm watching a Greek tragedy where every choice the main character makes is always twisted against them, and nothing they do will save them from their Fate. Living in a horror movie? Can't save yourself or your friends because the horror movie trope of destroying the evil by destroying their talisman is actually Pandora's Box trope! Want to send your friends away from the horrors so they don't get involved? Too bad! You've been too paranoid and suddenly acting shifty to get them to safety means you're probably about to murder Sasha or Elias and they would really rather you didn't! Want to save your friend from being consumed by the Horrors:tm:? Too bad, she was consumed months ago and you've been chumming it up with the monster that desecrated her corpse!

On the plus side, we got some great one liners that I wish were more applicable in everyday life, because there's just such memeability to the line, "It is remarkably easy to buy an ax in central London". Makes one wonder if Jonny himself went out to central London to see how easy it would be for his character to find an ax there.

Jonny doing some hands on research 👌

Honestly I feel for Jon so much because there's absolutely no winning in this situation and deep down he knows it :'(

[tylermileslockett]

"Orpheus glances Back" (#7 in my Orpheus and Eurydice series) “He stopped, and now, even at the confines of light (thoughtless alas!) and deprived of understanding, he looked back at his Eurydice: there all his labour vanished, and the conditions of the cruel tyrant were broken and a groan was thrice heard in the Avernian lake. Then she; who is it, O Orpheus, that has destroyed miserable me, and thee also? Whose great madness was this? Lo, again the cruel Fates call me back, and sleep seals up my swimming eyes. And now adieu: I am carried away encompassed with thick darkness, and stretching out my hands to you in vain, alas being no longer yours. She said, and fled suddenly from his sight a different way, like smoke mixing with thin air: nor did she see him catching in vain at the shadows, and desiring to say a great deal more; nor did the ferry-man of hell suffer him again to pass over the withstanding lake.” (-Virgil, Georgicks) When Psyche looks upon her secret lover’s face (Eros) against his orders, it sets her on a long journey where she ultimately must perform impossible labors to appease Aphrodite. In the final task, after trekking to Hades to collect some of Persephone’s beauty in a box, the girl can’t help but peak within the box, which renders her unconscious, and she is only saved by Eros in the end coming to remove the sleep. Pandora, the first mortal woman created by Hephaestus, was warned not to open the jar offered by Zeus as a present, but when her curiosity overpowered her, she opened the lid, releasing ills and evils into the world. When King Pentheus, in his arrogance, denied the divinity of Dionysus, the god bewitched the king’s mother and aunts who tore the man apart, thinking him a lion. King Erysichiton, ignoring the warning, cut down sacred trees in the grove of Demeter, and was cursed with everlasting hunger, resulting in him later devouring his own flesh.  As always, Thanks for looking, and please share this image if you can! Xoxo

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[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Readalong. Book One, Chapter Eight:

Continuing with Borel’s multi-genre approach, for this chapter we plunge into the epistolary novel, an ideally intimate (and highly eighteenth-century) genre to depict the secret conversations of the two lovers. Weare not meant to get cosy though, these letters are read out in the cold, at the mercy of the elements and more importantly, Cockermouth’s spies...

Death Omen, from Devises heroïques, et emblemes, by Claude Paradin, 1614.

We learn that Anne’s outer varnish of niceness makes Debby feel guilt in lying to her. Cockermouth’s openly brutal ways make it easier for Debby to lie and rebel, whereas a sweet, loving jailer -who is also a victim- is harder to betray.

“Why isn’t she cruel like my father? it is less painful to deceive a wicked person”

“I am still locked up in my room, and I do not see my father, whom mama hopes to appease soon. He must, she assures me, grant me a general amnesty for his party; he is all the more contrived to do so for the presentation of my new suitor.”

 (@sainteverge ’s translation)

Anne’s naivité leads her to hope that she can persuade her husband, and that this time the tyrant will be lenient, because he will be in a good mood but also because he has to sort of behave, with a larger than usual audience, amongst whom will be Debby’s prospective husband. Hope works here as a motor for passivity. After all, hope was stored in Pandora’s box along with the other forces of evil. Just hoping with no plan of action is merely inactivity.

The lovers comunicate this time with allusions to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Catholicism. The three main monotheistic religions are referred to in equal status, none is depicted as less true than the others. Debby and Patrick are not afraid to compare themselves and their love to these stories. There is no room for fear of blasphemy/pride from them since I don’t think it’s unfair to say, as earnestly as they seem to believe, their love is their true object of worship. Religions seem to take the same place than their love of Hamlet: fictions and mythologies that inform their worldview and help them frame their overwhelming feelings and their circumstances, finding something to compare them with.

Debby also expresses an ambivalent opinion on free will and organized society. She believes the Will of humans to be invincible when put in motion. And yet, most humans let their will go unexerted. This is for the greater good, Debby concludes (compare with Sade’s Libertines and their The Will of the Powerful is the Law credos) since, society would be dead if anyone could do their unrestrained will. However, by escaping, she and Patrick are going to challenge the laws of society together and make the walls of Jericho crumble under their force. And she curiously talks of breaking shackles and deserted dungeons... Thus, yes, the lovers set out to leave their first prison: The Patriarchal Home.

But I think it’s strange that Debby claims society must be preserved while under the same breath saying the laws of society involve keeping some people in the shackles and dark dungeons of social conventions (marriages of convenience, ethnically based serfdom, aphysical and psychological abuse from parents, gendered education etc) even though we will see, plus ça change...

---

So, why letters for this chapter? No 18th c.  pastiche could go without at least some letters. An older genre, apparently originating in Spain in the 1400’s (til), the epistolary novel became a full blown vogue in all the european countries in the 1700’s: Pamela, Fanny Hill, La Nouvelle Heloise, Les liaisons dangereuses, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, countless parodies and more. The genre allows Borel to not only recall a now fading trend from the time the novel is set on, but also, same as the 1700’s authors, provide 1) polyphony and multiplicity of points of views and 2) a poignant contrast between: the confidences the characters allow themselves in private, and the menacing context they are made in. We know before hand since we heard from Chris how both him and Cockermouth know of their meeting point. We know Debby knows she was followed, but she doesn’t know they know of the hollowed willow. Patrick, who has a panoramic view of the movements outside the castle while working on the fields, is aware of Cockermouth’s spies movements, so he knows when to warn Debby to be cautious (but is also unaware of the surveilance on their meeting point) . We also know Debby feels guilt from hiding things to her mother, but although the narrator makes us understand her and her plight, we also know from Patrick’s account and from her dialogues with Cockermouth that she acts as Cockermouth’s agent -unwilling as she might be- So all of this creates suspense -we know all the points of views and things that are happening, not from an arrogantly omniscient narrator, but because we witnessed everything.

Beyond the suspense, this makes us get an intimate scope on Debby and Patrick. We read the letters through the eyes of the lovers. Borel makes us learn how they talk to each other, the jokes they share, their true feelings. This brings them closer to us, we already loved them better, but now we get to know them even more. And of course, fear for their fates and the danger we know is in store for them.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that, although the genre remits to intimacy, Borel has Debby read at night/dusk/dawn, in public spaces: the grounds, at the mercy of spies and killers. These letters are a peril for them and a challenge to their oppressors. A comment on censorship perhaps? And this also drives the point home on how inhospitous the world is to their Love. If Nature operates like a chaotic neutral force (a source of both joys, -"herborizing", safe hiding places-, but a possible threat -> the deadly Devil’s Throat, the river that almost drowns them while they kiss oblivious of being in the water, and water is really consistently framed as a source of peril, and darkness that hides henchmen from their eyes) the fact that Debby has to read out in the cold, stab her knife in the ground to reach for a secret love message... Nature, as it usually does in Romanticism, reflects the emotions/circumnstances the characters.

In a really borelesian turn of phrase -entre chien-et-loup- Debby runs once more to the hollowed willow. She plunges her knife into the disturbed soil to “exhume” the steel chest. But to her surprise the blade does not meet any obstacles. The chest is gone. She thinks Patrick has taken it but, something tells me some certain pirates could have found it before him. 

[writingformeandyou]

a recap of what i’ve been up to

hey there guys. long time no talk. thats mostly my fault im going to be entirely honest here the TL;DR is when i got into my relationship back in late 2018 my creativity kinda tanked. Still i shouldnt have neglected this blog and left everything up to Amic. I really went outside and touched grass for a whole year and then the panoramic happened and that was wild. overall, I’m very sorry. for the longer read should be below the cut.

So, getting into the long story.

In 2019, i had spent nearly the entire year going out and enjoying life of being an adult with free time and a job. Theres not much there to explain. 2020, The Pandora’s Box, right when the pandemic hit a family member of mine as well as myself had caught COVID. That was a wild time in itself and back then we had no idea if anyone could make it if they were sent to the hospital. So when my family member got sent we had said our last goodbyes and could only hope that everything would come out okay. Being sick myself I was not allowed outside to give my family member a hug. Luckily they are okay but we both have long lasting effects from our time. The rest of 2020 went as one should suspect. 2021, Recovery, I spent most of this year truthfully trying to get back to where i was in 2019 but with limitations. It was about celebrating the life that we had and were grateful for another year. not much else happened personally in this year. 2022, Life, last year was spent actually living. with every precaution i could take i went out with friends and touched grass a whole bunch. lots of family issues were happening but in the grand scheme of things it was nothing to waste my time with. I actually had a lot of creativity in this year but didn’t really act on a lot of it.

Back in 2018 i had started playing FFXIV and didnt seriously start playing until like mid 2021. At that point i got serious and made lore for my WOL and wrote some snippets and such for her. It was mostly for myself and i didnt really share it with anyone else but like my friends who were also playing the game. Now im currently in Resident Evil hell and i blame only tiktok to be fair. also a close friend but thats on a different subject. my creativity had really dissipated for a while but now im feeling back in action but unfortunately i will not be taking any requests at the time but i might end up posting my stories on here. im currently in the process of writing a fic for RE. I have had one for ffxiv but i do not think ill sharing that one unless i seriously clean it up. I figured i should update you guys on why i was gone for so long and why Amic had taken over for a while before they left. which i am deeply sorry for i didnt realize that i had been gone for that long or had not had any inspiration for so long. funny that Resident Evil was the one fucking thing that brought me back to writing for fun again. well i hope that was satisfactory enough. im very sorry everyone, please understand thats why this blog had been dead for so long. until next time, Mod Vic

[glitchy-creations]

Fellow Greek Mythology fans i need some suggestions!

I have a bunch of wood left from a class project and I want to do a quick piece inspired by Pandora’s box. For a little context; it is going to be a traditional box shape. I know Pandora had a pithos and not a box like the title suggests, but I don’t have the tools or experience to make a wooden pithos (maybe I’ll try to do a ceramic one in the future?).

For the lid of the box I want something to symbolise Olympus, as in I want a single design that symbolises all 12 Olympians. I had this idea because all 12 Olympians gave her some sort of gift. I’m just not sure what exactly I want to use as that symbol. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

I’m also debating on if I want to decorate the body of the box with just a trim design like you’d see on ancient pottery, or if I want to add symbols around the surface. If I do symbols, I’m thinking either doing symbols of the Olympians or maybe references to the “evils”? I haven’t decided yet so if anyone has ideas for the outside feel free to let me know as well! I’m planing to hand paint everything, I have a lot of extra paint from when I made my Parthénos piece.