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thefamilyeldritchabomination · 2 years ago

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Chapter Sixteen: Music Pt. 5

“You like hearing stories, right? I’m about to tell you a very awful story, are you ready to hear it?” Envy asked as they stared at the painting that got ruined by something.

“Envy, I am always ready to hear a story no matter how terrible it is. I’m ready to listen whenever you are.” Dolly reassured, hoping this wasn’t Envy deciding to tell her that they murdered an entire family for laughs. “So long as you understand it’s absolutely wretched, then I’m starting this story. There was once a pair of alchemists, both of them being masters in the very art of it. Unfortunately, both alchemists were absolutely afraid of the fact that one day they too would age hideously and die. In their oh so brilliant minds, these two went out of their way to create a philosopher’s stone to call their own to cheat death for however long they wished.” Envy slightly glanced back at Dolly to monitor what she was processing in this story.

“So they blew up after attempting to make one?” Dolly mildly hoped that would be the case given Envy’s track record. “God I wished, but unfortunately for everyone involved, the two scummiest alchemists made a philosopher’s stone to share, stealing bodies from others to continue living their perceived eternity. Because eternity was such a boring thing, the two idiots had a kid between them. As you can imagine, the two had no clue how raising a child would work and did an absolute crap job at it. So much so that said kid, when they got old enough, left and hadn’t contacted them in an extremely long time. However, something happened to that kid that forced them to go back to their crap parents for something.” Envy turned around to face Dolly as they got ready to shift. “Envy, what happened to make that kid return to such terrible parents?” Dolly caught on what Envy was about to do as they placed a hand on her shoulder. “Because that kid met you and felt alive for the first time in a long time..I had a hunch you knew already.” Envy answered as they shifted into their true form, much to Envy’s personal disgust.

“That would be correct Envy, I wasn’t sure if I should broach the topic once again or to let you do it though.” Dolly softly said as she teared up at seeing her old friend once again after so long.

“Oh god don’t tear up on me Fairytale, you’re going to cause me to do the same damn it…” Envy’s voice shook as they said that as their own eyes watered up.

“You’re using your old nickname for me too ... .would you be alright if I used my old nickname for you too?” Dolly went to try and get her water works under control. “Yeah I’m alright with that, thanks for asking..” Envy sniffled a bit for the first time in a very long time of being around on this dirt ball.

“You’re welcome Wayfarer…just what happened when you got back home?” Dolly asked as she failed in controlling the tears as they burned on her eyes.

“I still don’t remember much other than the pain I was in after waking up, that bastard abandoning me to that wretch shortly after, and the fact I’m forever stuck with periodic recurrences of mercury poisoning. I do, however, remember everything about my time with you before that disastrous return to home. It took me a while before then to remember everything, but I have most of it back.” Envy, likewise failed in the control of the tears and promptly joined Dolly in crying.

“Then what caused you to leave in the first place?” Dolly finally brought up the dread beast as Envy knew it was coming. “Remember when I asked you about where you kept the remains of your human family members? The old fucker from back then was pissy about me being around you so much, went as far as showing me your background. I guess I really hate old assholes in general, but back then, I really wanted to shove it into his wrinkled up face when I came back immortal.” Envy fully admitted, their golden eyes narrowed upon remembering that stupid old man and his stupid attitude.

“...I knew he was headstrong but fucking hell I’m so sorry that Humphrey did that to you. I had a feeling Humphrey lied to me when he said you found someone else….He’s dead now, but I’m fully in line with you shoving it into his ceramic face right about now.” Dolly's teary eyes gave way to a look of mortification upon hearing that Humphrey did something that terrible to her friend and then apparently lied to her about it.

“He told you what now? You know I’m going to want to punt his urn across the snow now, right?” Envy was ready to ruin a long dead old man’s afterlife with a single kick to the urn.

“That is pretty understandable Wayfarer, but we don't punt family urns, though you can kick around Oscar’s skull instead.” Dolly reasoned as to avoid a new family controversy since the hamster incident.

“That works too, but, Fairytale, once everything is done with disposing of Dante, let’s go on that planned trip to Resembool, I still want to see your reaction to seeing sheep for the first time.” Envy finally said as they calmed down from the tears as Dolly got pulled in for a hug, they needed something fluffy to hold.

“Wayfarer, you just came back to me, I don’t want you to get hurt by that woman again after all the horrible things she’s done to you.” Dolly protested as she hugged Envy right back to comfort them.

“I promise you Fairytale, I’m going to be alright. I’m stronger, I can regenerate, I’m immortal to a degree, and we’re getting help from Greed along with the laser vision infant, so things are going to pan out in my favor by the time it’s all over. All I want though is for you, Dorian, Lust, and Gluttony to stay safe and away from this upcoming crap show. After all that is done, I’ll be staying with you guys from now on after a good house hunting is done.” Envy softly hummed those words as they went to try and comfort Dolly from that possibility of things not going as planned.

“I trust you Wayfarer, I look forward to seeing those supposedly awful sheep with you once this nightmare storm is over.” Dolly relented with this pretty awful plan as Envy clearly had their mind made up on the whole thing.

“Alright then, we have some time to kill before having to return to the hotel, would you care to tour the mansion with me for a bit? We might find something worth bringing back with us or we could find a body which to me is even better.” Envy offered as they let Dolly out of the hug for a possible tour of the dilapidated mansion.

“Are you sure? I mean that might trigger a memory episode.” Dolly looked at Envy for a bit as they shifted back to their preferred form. “Nah, this should be fine, it’ll likely happen at the hotel so I can drown out the Face Fur and his sniveling whining fit.” Envy said with little regards to the new, rather concerning coping mechanism they were forming.

“Okay, we’ll tour around, but if a memory episode happens, I’m carrying you back to the hotel.” Dolly was not thrilled that the memory episodes were being used like that, but it was better than Envy being a screeching blob on top of Freddy like last time.

“Awww you’re making it sound like it was a bad thing there Fairytale.” Envy taunted as she began their tour around the abandoned homestead.

“Well considering where we are, I’d like to say yeah it’d be a bad thing to have an episode here Wayfarer.” Dolly followed along, hoping that a memory episode won’t happen tonight.

Envy could only laugh at the response to Dolly’s reply as they led her on this tour around the most messed up childhood household imaginable. It was still in shockingly good shape with all things considered as the two toured around from old portraits to the library that Envy decided was a very good thing to raid. Dolly couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous being in the library, but couldn’t place a clawed finger on what made her nervous. While yes, it was nice to see Envy so invested in gathering books, there was something very off with the library as Dolly looked about before noticing an old stain on the ground. The stain was brown from age, covering over what looked like an alchemical circle close to where this desk was at. Dolly went to look at the desk to confirm a small suspicion she had about the floor stain. A book had been left open, dusting coating the page with a small plate close by with remains of what could’ve been a fish. Carefully, Dolly lifted the book, brushing the dust off to see if the inks hadn’t faded from exposure.

#The Wayfarer #Fan Fiction #Fullmetal Alchemist #FMA 03 #FMA #FMA Fan Fiction #Writing #Envy the Jealous #Envy #OCs #Homunculus #Homunculi

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lustrumlane · 3 months ago

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Call and Response || Venetia 2.5

Of course, after Venetia’s emotional display, the suspicions and doubts pour in. She meets each one with a crisp nod - Matt, Packet, Victor. How quickly he turned from the one she thought she might most trust to her nemesis du jour, determined to poke any hole he could in her story.

She could simply continue to refuse, but that would prove Elena right, not to mention deny the Seekers a last bit of clarity she’s more than capable of granting them.

“Fine,” she says at last, turning to the Doctor. “I’ll do it. In Musica Veritas.”

The Doctor looks at Venetia, clearly hesitant, but he offers her a brief nod. He looks to the Mercury Nightwalker, gaze sitting for a moment before looking back to Venetia.

She falls into song naturally, leading the process. Her voice is commanding, putting a pressure over the room, making it difficult to interrupt her.

“O Doctor, dear Doctor, I know it too well, You’re lost in the haze of the song. Let me open the vault where your memories dwell, I can help, if you just sing along.”

The Doctor looks hesitant, holding his forehead in his hand still, “Is this… entirely necessary?”

“Assuming you want to solve this case…”

He sighs softly, closing his eyes, “... Very well. Lead on.”

“Perfect! We’ll start with the scene of the crime Simply try to recall what you saw at the time Every detail you can is a vital piece And what’s tangled is sure to unwind.”

He's quiet for a moment, following her lead through his own thoughts. The singing seems to come naturally to him; some know he’s a trained singer, he’d done it professionally in the past, but it must be something about Resonance itself that draws people into songs so effortlessly. His voice is deep and smooth, but restrained as he wanders his thoughts.

“I was alone, I don't recall why, This pair by the factory caught my stray eye... I approached, I questioned, one's panic apparent The other spoke sweetly: too soft, too kind.

They said they need help: she's injured, she's dying, There was no reason to think they were lying, I followed, I listened, my thoughts had been errant, It’d been days since my thoughts were aligned…”

Venetia picks up where he leaves off readily, keeping tempo perfectly.

“You met with the victim? And someone else too… And if no one came forward, it has to be true You spoke with her killer, though tragic, unplanned And they told you what ailed her, I’m sure…”

As he replies, he both looks and sounds surprised by his own words, a sense of knowing coming over him.

“... Poison, it's poison: she had been hurt, That would not kill her, but something covert... Intentional, planted, it ran through her veins, Seeing the signs they sought a cure.”

“The symptoms - what were they? Her body was weak… Was she sweating? Forgetting? Unable to speak?”

“She was stiff and still, a frozen physique…”

“And her blood - did you find it? A substance unique- Not something organic, but natural to one.”

“I knew what it was, I'd seen it before, A vial had sat in my cabinet drawer... Yes, I had seen— is the spell undone?”

“Not yet- not until you reveal what you know But I trust in your power, dear Doctor, to show That from your analysis, easy to see:”

The next line, they start together, speaking as one:

“The poison that ended the victim was—”

At the brink of an answer, the two sing together:

“— Mercury!”

Or, they begin together, but only Venetia finishes the word while the Doctor's breath catches suddenly, note cut short, head snapping down, hand moving to his mouth. His hair falls around him like a curtain.

#venetia #ic #operator #trial 2 #doctor #witness

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astrologyartandcinema · 4 years ago

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Mercury Pluto Aspects

Taken from the Late, Great and disabled Astro Arena, not my original work but impossible to find on the web these days. If anyone knows if the former owner of the Astro Arena blog has a Tumblr or link I can give credit to please DM or comment. I haven't been able to access their writing in many years and any information on where to access it would be appreciated.

I wish to look in detail at the Mercury – Pluto combination, which in keeping with allapplications of Pluto evinces a range of difficult effects, most especially because until the behaviour is recognised and reconciled it creates a compulsion, which will be especially uncomfortable for the subject. Inevitably this difficulty and discomfort will affect important relationships too and ultimately – as with any Plutonic contact – the aspect must be transformed to prevent it becoming ultimately destructive. Aspects to Pluto from any of the personal planets are profoundly problematical, but as ever, the first and most effective step on the path to cure must be to recognise the behaviours and take responsibility for them. Owning up to our Plutonic compulsions, shining light upon them – uncomfortable though it may be – is often powerfully effective in transforming them: indeed, in many cases an “instant cure” is entirely possible.

Mercury Pluto, in keeping with other applications of Lord Hades deals with hidden, sinister and subtle aspects of communication and of course the mental processes that underpin them. Indeed, the entire arena of interpersonal communications is fraught for Mercury – Pluto, usually because of an early childhood that is characterised by difficulty, cruelty or power-games in communication matters. We shall explore these causal themes in the ensuing discussion, but first I would like to examine some of the specific effects.

Mercury Pluto is the aspectual manifestation of Mercury in Scorpio, which is renowned for being either verbose or rather monosyllabic. This implies nothing about the underlying mindset or facility for language or mental processing, but only the willingness or unwillingness to reveal the self. This is reflected perfectly by the aspects between Mercury and Pluto, most especially with the conjunction and to a lesser extent the easy aspects there is a loquacious response to the contact: these people talk, often exhaustively although without necessarily revealing much of substance about themselves. Conversely, those with hard aspects are not likely to give too much away, or at the very least – while they may talk freely – they are never comfortable talking about themselves in a way that is particularly incisive or revealing. In either case it boils down to a profound fear of communication and a sense that somehow words can cause pain and lasting damage. With the easy aspects there is not the same urgent sense of danger, but nevertheless there is a need to control the conversation which is engendered by the same mindset as the individual with the hard aspects. Often the Pluto conjunct Mercury person will talk exhaustively and exhaustingly, and the ‘listener’ will often walk away feeling tired and somewhat overwhelmed by the experience. In any case, the process of communicating, with easy aspects or hard, is uncomfortable for both parties involved in the dialogue.

It should be remembered that any aspect between Mercury and Pluto will evince one or other of these effects. For my own part I am extremely familiar with Mercury – Pluto as I have Mercury in Scorpio, peregrine and semi-square, contraparallel and in mutual reception with Pluto, I can speak from experience as to its effects.

With the hard aspects especially, the sense of difficulty with communication creates an observer rather than a participator. Here is somebody who is aware of every subtle nuance of communication and is typically deeply distrustful of words. Usually it will be found that Mercury – Pluto grew up in an environment where truth was taboo, and one or both parents will have been the murky wellspring from which this skewed sense of things was first experienced. It is also possible that an older brother or sister was the cause of the problem or some difficult secret in connection with that sibling or one that haunted and tainted the family environment in some way might be found to be in evidence. On a fairly simplistic level, the Mercury Pluto child will have learned early on that words were not to be trusted at face value. The resentful and controlling mother who would tell her child: “of course I love you darling, more than anything in the world” while evincing no genuine or believable warmth is one good example of this effect. There is then a dichotomy here, between words and more subtle forms of non-verbal communication that have poisoned the child’s perceptions. Body language, ever a reliable indicator of true feelings, is therefore valued much more highly than any simple verbal statement, but this again is fraught with difficulty. The Mercury – Pluto person is formed in such away that they are innately suspicious of any communication: this is very often sensed by others, who feel that they are “on the spot” somehow, and their body language will betray their discomfort which will in turn set off the ultra-sensitive radar of Mercury – Pluto. This can create a cycle of suspicion, distrust and interrogation that is especially exhausting within close relationships later in life.

Therefore, the Mercury – Pluto type is often handicapped in life by being too perceptive and it is through this mechanism of not being able to take things at face value and exhausting oneself and others by continually investigating the most subtle of interactions that the damage is done.

The child learned to do things this way because of the unreliability of close family communications. Language may have been used to damaging effect by a parent or sibling, secrets were kept and wielded almost politically within the early home environment and this actually characterises very neatly the quality of this combination for the afflicted. Words cannot ever mean what they say, there is usually a hidden agenda, an ulterior motive, a secret being kept: indeed this is exactly the case in the childhood home, but the problem is that the child grows up and takes this same understanding out into the world and applies it indiscriminately to every relationship in the whole of life from then on.

But there is a more profound realisation here too. It is not actually so much what is said that concerns Mercury – Pluto, but indeed what is not said. This creates an anxiety about communication that is really very disturbing: this is why the native talks so much (in the conjunction or easy aspect), not because they have anything much to say, but because they are terrified of the silence and what it might mean. The child will no doubt have been controlled with lack of communication as much as the use of ugly, brutal or cruel language. A parent or sibling may have ostracised or ignored the child as a means of creating an emotional anxiety, or made vague, open-ended threats which would have created a sense of foreboding and impending anguish all with the express purpose of eliciting control.

There is too a legacy of damaging secrets in the early home which would have reinforced this sense of anguish, very often there are half-brothers or sisters who are kept secret or in some other way separate from the rest of the family. There may also have been other secrets relating to siblings which, when revealed created anxiety in the native: I have seen cases where a more favoured sibling is secretly given money or some other treat or benefit by a parent unbeknown to the Mercury Pluto child and when this is learned the assurances by the parent that they love their children equally become hollow and suspect.

At its best, and transformed, Mercury Pluto makes an excellent researcher and psychologist. Able to delve into the deeper and more innate realities of interaction they can often see cause where others cannot; they see the subtle motivations that are in fact pre-cognitive, and in a very real sense they do not need the words to arrive at an understanding. In fact, the Mercury – Pluto person can often be frustrated at the depth of their understanding because words are ultimately a rather blunt instrument when trying to convey the profundity of their insight and this creates another signature of the contact of course: Mercury Pluto despises the superficial and capricious. Intense and insightful, but with a need to avoid obsessing, Mercury Pluto is a natural researcher and student of human nature and motivation, they make excellent counsellors and – once the aspect is transformed – powerful and persuasive communicators who are able to see into the heart of any matter.

#mercury placements #pluto aspects #mercury aspects #scorpio mercury #astro observations #astrology observations #astro notes #astrology notes #mercury conjunct pluto #mercury square pluto #mercury trine pluto #mercury sextile pluto

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spanishskulduggery · 3 years ago

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Do you know of any fossil words in Spanish, words that used to be common but fell out of use and are now only preserved in idioms? I tried looking on Google but all the results were English-only examples

I'll try and think of some others but here are the ones that come to mind; and I’m not sure all of these will be what you’re looking for.

si fuere menester = "in the event of" el menester used to be fairly common especially in the Medieval period, where it was another word for "need" or "necessity". Today you only see menester in si fuere menester which is an unusual construction as it is, since fuere is the future subjunctive - which is an obsolete tense - and so it literally means "should it be necessary". This expression only now shows up in contracts and legal contexts normally as "in the event of"

donde fueres haz lo que vieres = "when in Rome... (do as the Romans do)" Again, this is future subjunctive; literally "wherever you go, do what you see".. but in a more obtuse future subjunctive way "wherever you should happen to go, do whatever you may happen to see"

la urdimbre y trama = "warp and weft" The idea of this is related to "weaving", and though this phrase is rather antiquated or particular, it occasionally shows up as something like la urdimbre y trama de la sociedad or something where that's "the fabric of society". It's not the way you say that so much now [el tejido or la tela are more common], but urdir "to warp" was related to working a loom. You still do use tramar but it's not often that you see it related to weaving anymore... tramar is "to plot" or "to hatch a scheme", but you can see how "weaving" would go into "plotting"

so pena de = "under pain of" You don't often see so used in Spanish today, since it's a more direct link to Latin and Italian. And today la pena rarely means "pain" in the physical sense, it usually means "sorrow" or "anguish"... but again in legal cases, so pena de muerte is "under pain/penalty of death"

a diestra y siniestra = "all over the place" This expression literally means "to the right and left". The word diestro/a is still "right-handed" (also means "skillful" or "dexterous"), but siniestro/a used to mean "left-handed"... the idea that the left hand was more evil and "sinister", and "under-handed". In older contexts, siniestro/a means "left-handed", but in modern contexts you say zurdo/a for "left-handed"

al tuntún = "impromptu", "improvise", "on the fly", "by ear" This expression is derived from Latin, ad vultum tuum which is literally "to your face" in Latin. You never see tuntún anymore unless something is done al tuntún but it might be more regional; it just means you're making it up as you go

dormir como un ceporro = "to sleep like a log" Most people today say dormir como un tronco which is the same idea; el ceporro is a variation but it's extremely unusual to see it. Most people will use tronco if they have to

tuerto/a = one-eyed I'm actually not sure if people use tuerto/a still, since there are other ways to say "blind in one eye" or "one-eyed". In older Spanish, tuerto could show up as a "grievance", but in the expression en el reino de ciegos el tuerto es rey is still used sometimes, literally "in the kingdom of blind people, the one-eyed man is the king"

(el) haba = bean [technically haba is feminine] Not common to see el haba used much anymore except in certain contexts, and it's the root of la habichuela "bean". In Spain, sometimes haba is "idiot" so if you see el tonto del haba it's like "the biggest idiot that ever lived"

Vuestra Merced = "Your Lordship/Ladyship" This is the original form of it, but it eventually turned into usted "you" used for polite things. The title was Vuestra Merced and it was how you addressed someone without knowing their title, so it became very polite. In older Spanish you'd abbreviate it as Vd. which eventually became Ud. as the abbreviation for usted. Keep in mind that at a certain point in time, Spanish wrote the U sound as a V, and it followed more of the Latin pronunciation where the V had a softer U/W sound at times. Outside of Spain and works set in older time periods, you're unlikely to use vuestro/a - it even became informal plural "you all" in Spain - but you rarely ever see merced used. Chances are you're only going to see it was vuestra in front of it. But just know that vos has a very different meaning today than it did in the Middle Ages

meter/sembrar cizaña = "to sow discord" You're never going to see cizaña used in any other context unless you happen upon some botanical book. The literal translation is "darnel" which is sometimes called "false wheat"; basically la cizaña looks like trigo "wheat", and it grows close to wheat but it often has a fungus that's poisonous so you need to separate it. The idea behind it is that if you're deliberately planting cizaña you're actively trying to poison someone or make things worse

la celestina = "a go-between, a mediator" This word comes directly from La Celestina a novel written in Spain's Golden Age by Fernando de Rojas. In it there's a woman named Celestina who sets up meetings between women living in convents (who weren't always nuns) and men; acting as a go-between and chaperone for love affairs basically. The term was also la alcahueta but became celestina after the character in the book. Certain characters in literature are considered celestinas like the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet; basically the girl/woman can't risk her reputation so she has her maid or chaperone working to arrange things, and they're often the catalyst for things going wrong. In other contexts, celestina or una alcahueta is a "pimp" or "madame", or sometimes "a gossip"

pardo/a = brown, brownish-gray Today you’re only really going to see pardo/a used with animals. Specifically, el oso pardo is a “grizzly bear”, and pardo/a can be used with horses as “dun”. I don’t know if “grizzly bear” counts as an expression but anyway. In older Spanish pardo/a was another word for “brown” when it came to people too. Today, if you’re describing hair color as “brown/brunette” you’re using castaño which is literally “chestnut”, either castaño claro “light brown” or castaño oscuro “dark brown”. When it comes to things that are brown, the typical word is now marrón or sometimes you see it as color café which is “coffee-colored”

ser un caco = to be a thief Not commonly used as ladrón, ladrona “thief”, but un caco literally means “a Cacus”. Basically, Cacus was a mythological figure who stole some cattle and Hercules killed him. In some places people use un caco to mean “thief” as a euphemism

la Parca = the Grim Reaper Orginally, las Parcas were the Parcae in Roman (originally Greek) mythology. They were the sisters of fate who would measure someone’s life and eventually cut the thread. Today, it’s just one Parca and it’s typically a male figure, skeletal, with a scythe as the “Grim Reaper”, rather than it being a woman with scissors. That’s because during the Plague, people thought of Death as being a skeletal figure that held a scythe, the symbol for “reaping” wheat that was ripe.

manjar de los dioses = “nectar of the gods” / a delicacy el manjar is used in some places in certain contexts but it originally came from Italian as “food” or something “to eat”. Today, manjar is usually a “snack”, or in some cases it’s dulce de leche, but most of the Spanish-speaking world doesn’t use manjar so much. It is sometimes “delicacy”, but in older contexts it was code for “ambrosia”, the thing that the Greek gods couldn’t get enough of. The world manjar still feels very antiquated to me, but when it’s used it’s some kind of good food or eating a lot of food

valer un potosí = “to be worth a fortune” un potosí is pretty antiquated, but it came from the city Potosí in Bolivia which was famous for its silver mines that the conquistadores exploited. There are still some places that will use potosí as “something of great value”, though it’s not so common anymore unless you’re talking about the actual city.

moros y cristianos = “beans and rice” Usually it’s black beans and white rice, though this is literally “Moors and Christians”. You still use cristiano/a today but typically you only use moro/a in a historical sense

Also there’s the expression más sordo/a que una tapia where it means someone is really hard of hearing; literally “as deaf as a garden wall”, but I’ve never seen people use tapia ...only a muro or a cerca as “wall” or “fence”. The idea of tapiar is related to “mortar” and “masonry”

There are also some expressions related to metal and older words for it. For example, saturnino/a is an older word for “gloomy”, though it now refers to “lead-poisoning”. Saturn was linked to “moodiness” in alchemical society, and the symbol for Saturn was the older symbol for “lead”.

This is similar to how áureo/a is “gold” but also linked to the “sun” because the Sun and gold are linked.

Another is el azogue which is the older word for mercury so it’d be “quicksilver”. You may see azogarse in some texts where it means “to be fidgetty” and it’s related both to mercury-poisoning, and probably to the idea of Mercury/Hermes being the messenger god so always on the move.

There is also hidalgo/a which doesn’t have quite the same meaning it did originally. Today, hidalgo/a is sort of like “having noble blood”. It literally means “son of something/someone”, where originally in Spain hidalgos were the children of nobles - specifically, it tended to refer to the children of nobles who weren’t the firstborn male. Firstborn sons often got about 2/3 of the money and were expected to run the estates. The second or third or fourth children were usually on their own. It became a running joke that the firstborn became the lord, and the others would either join the army or the clergy. In Cervantes’s time, hidalgos could be among the poorest of society, even poorer than slaves in some cases. They were still “noble” in terms of blood though, and hidalgos couldn’t be tortured by the Inquisition because of it. So they were afforded certain rights, but usually tended to be poor or lower than you’d expect a noble to be. Today it just means “of nobility”, but in Cervantes’s time a hidalgo was the symbol of Spain under the Holy Roman Empire - wealthy and noble and glorious in theory, much poorer in reality.

I'd also add the phrases levar ancla "to raise anchor" or "anchors aweigh/away", where levar is rarely used today aside from nautical terms. Similarly, izar la bandera is "to hoist the flag"... not a lot of chances to use izar if it's not related to "flags" or la vela "a sail"

I also would say errar is less common today in Spanish. It's still used, but you normally say cometer un error "to make a mistake". Still, errar es humano, perdonar es divino "to err is human, to forgive divine". Also errar is weirdly irregular at times, it turns into yerro as present tense yo

And I’m also going to include when la manzana means a “city block”. Today manzana is not rare, it means “apple”. But manzana as a “city block” was originally mansana where it meant a “collection of manses/houses arranged in a block on a grid”. So there’s that. If you ever see manzana used for blocks in a city, it’s technically a separate word

Also depending on context el mar “sea” will be la mar with the feminine article. That’s usually more particular, usually meaning “open water” or deeper waters like alta mar “high seas”. The more poetic or open the water is, the more likely it is to be feminine, and so la mar isn’t quite so antiquated but it’s a little special

#Spanish #language #langblr #langauges

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sunandmoongobrrr · 4 years ago

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Korra and her Brutalization: A Legend of Korra Meta

In honor of International Womens’ Day, I want to talk a little bit about Legend of Korra and the treatment of Korra (and to a small extent other women) throughout the show. Content warning: there's some disturbing scenes that I show here, but if you've watched all of LoK, you should be fine.

Korra starts off confident; she is a young avatar who is eager to learn and feels suffocated from the isolation she is kept in from a very young age. But that doesn’t stop her, and like the headstrong girl she is, she moves to Republic City to make a difference and step into her role as the avatar.

Korra immediately starts to doubt herself; she becomes unsure of her abilities and frustrated with herself, and through that she learns to become emotionally vulnerable with Tenzin. To me, this was really great. It showed that you can be confident and vulnerable, and that the two aren’t necessarily independent of each other.

(I’m going to be honest, the 2nd season I didn’t really remember much of, so I’m just going to skip over that. Because what I really want to talk about is season 3.)

In season three, Korra faces the Red Lotus, an “anarchist” group that essentially wants to kill her. And they get pretty close. First, I want to talk about how Tenzin is beaten by the Red Lotus. This has been brought up in Lily Orchard’s (in?)famous LOK video, and while I disagree with her on many many topics of the show, I really think she has a point here. When Tenzin is being brutalized by the Red Lotus, the camera pans away. It is SO painful to see him like this, and the directors know it. It’s TOO painful to see it, so they don’t show you it, and the episode ends before we can see him be defeated.

Contrast that with Korra. They show you every detail of this. And I mean every detail.

It’s disgusting, and they refuse to treat her with any sort of decency or respect like they do Tenzin. It’s almost like they want us to enjoy her torturing. It’s genuinely gross.

People will often refute this by saying “LoK is just a darker show! Look at what they did to the Earth Queen!” And while yes, it is marketed towards an older audience, there’s still no point in brutalizing Korra this way. The main difference between Korra and the Earth Queen is that… well, Korra’s the protagonist. We’re supposed to be rooting for her, and while the Earth Queen being suffocated was definitely dark, it wasn’t unprecedented. The audience was never supposed to like the Earth Queen—she exploited and kidnapped her own people, so of course we wouldn’t care THAT much if she died. But we’ve been with Korra since the beginning. We’re supposed to want her to be happy, and why on earth would we want her to be tortured brutally in such a disgusting way that gives her absolutely no dignity? If we want her to succeed?

(here Zaheer uses the same technique used on the Earth Queen to suffocate here on Korra. for some reason)

In Season 4, the main focus is on Korra and her healing from the brutal things the Red Lotus did to her. She is clearly still struggling, and it could have been another great way to show how being physically strong and confident doesn’t mean you can’t be vulnerable. But they make a lot of bad choices in this season.

One of my main gripes is that in order to heal, she has to return to her abuser, Zaheer, and HE has to teach her how to feel better.

I don’t want to compare LoK to ATLA, although it’s very important to mention that a show that’s a direct sequel, uses its old characters, and banks off of references, should be able to be compared to its predecessor. But I think it’s important to compare Korra’s arc here to Zuko. This doesn’t come out of nowhere; Korra has a lot of similarities to Zuko. The chopping of her hair is a significant turning point in her arc, and there’s an episode called “Korra Alone” (which is clearly a direct callback; shown below).

The difference between Zuko and Katara is that, a. Zuko never had to accept his abuser, and b. Zuko started off as a villain.

One of Zuko’s major points is when he confronts his father—his abuser. He does not bow to him and give in, saying that maybe he had a few good points or his heart was in the right place, but he directly says that Ozai was wrong for what he did. This isn’t the case with Korra. For some reason, Korra has to learn to trust her abuser. The person who did this to her:

And she has to hear him out.

This leads me to my second point, and what’s basically the complaint I have; despite being a protagonist, the show treats Korra like a villain. It frames her torture scenes as if we’re supposed to be excited that she’s being brutalized, as if we’re supposed to think she deserves it. And it’s not even handled properly as one of the villains we know so well—Zuko, who was able to overcome his abuse and become a protagonist who we root for. Again, Zuko and Korra aren’t directly the same characters, but there are parallels between the two and the show encourages their comparison. When it comes to Korra, however, we’re supposed to believe that she deserves everything that comes to her; the brutal scenes and the lack of dignity, even if she is a protagonist.

And in the end, that’s what we’re meant to believe; that Korra deserved what happened to her. In the finale, Korra says, “I finally understand why I had to go through all that. I needed to understand what true suffering was, so I could become more compassionate to others.”

This is, to put it short, ridiculous. I hate this so much I can’t even begin to say how much I hate it. No, Korra did not have to go through the torture she went through. She did not have to go through the mercury poisoning. She did not have to go through every hardship she did. This “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is so harmful because Korra’s healing revolved around accepting her abuser and thanking him for the awful things he did to her. Korra wasn’t even that cocky by the end of the first season, so what it’s essentially indirectly teaching girls is that if you’re confident, you’ll pay. It’s disgusting.

Zuko got a banishment to the Earth Kingdom, got to have his ideas and practices challenged, but he never got physically tortured. I truly, truly believe that one of the main reasons why Korra is quite literally villainized by the show is because she was a confident, brown teenage girl. None of the male characters are treated with such disrespect and we never get told that they need to be “humbled” by abuse.

This is not completely resolved to LoK; there are some aspects in ATLA that I think could’ve been fixed had there been more women in the room. I tag her a lot (bc her metas are awesome), but I really recommend you read @araeph 's Katara: Consumed by Destiny series. I also have a meta here about how Katara is treated in ATLA, specifically in “The Fortuneteller.” (I want to emphasize that while I am anti-Kataang, I don’t believe that Katara’s treatment had to do with the ship itself or that kataang is inherently anti-Katara. It’s just a note about how her character is treated in this episode and beyond.)

I’ve heard a lot of people say that they’re ‘glad’ that LoK didn’t feature Suki or Mai or Ty Lee, because they can’t imagine how poorly they’d be represented. And honestly, I can’t blame them.

This isn’t to say that we need to stop watching LOK or even ATLA. I think the internet has this weird problem where we’ve been told that the way to get rid of problematic media is to just stop consuming anything even remotely problematic altogether. But certain aspects of media will always be relatively problematic, since as content creators we sometimes input our biases into the things we create. The solution, then, is not to banish anyone who puts any harmful stereotypes into their content from society, but to actively and healthily criticize it. Bryke are not God, but they’re also not demons put on the earth to suppress woc. They’re white guys that have implicit biases that have worked their way into the content they produce. I think the lesson learned here, is to have women, especially BIWOC, in writing rooms, to prevent atrocious acts from happening to future Korra's.

Happy International Women’s Day, y’all.

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crackspinewornpages · 1 year ago

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Superman comes back and finds they used his Human Deep-Freeze he can't wake them up, so flies five thousand years into the future where his Fortress is a tourist attraction. He gets there in time for them to wake up, but the device causes them to have brittle bodies that shatter, all that’s left is hair. (note how their hair is all in one piece)

He goes back in time an hour before they freeze themselves, but they are already frozen, the five thousand years changed earth’s rotation so he actually arrived several hours later, he couldn’t beat fate.

Back at the Planet Clark thinks he hears Lois’s voice but it’s Lucy asking Jimmy to lunch.

Clark stares at Lois’s empty desk regretting his harsh words since she added excitement to his life, he’ll miss her. (and saving her because of her constant disregard for her life) At his apartment Lana’s show of her reminisces of Superboy won’t air that week. (ok if the public is this obsessed with Superman I can wee why Leslie Willis almost threw up her cornbread)

Inspired, he travels back in time again to be at the celebrity party and treat them nicely so they’ll escape their frozen sleep, but a passing comet warps his path to the prehistoric age and he still can't save them.

He remembers how Lois saved him from a wolf while he was down from Kryptonite. Lana’s prize for his show, how she used tricks to cover for his loss of powers to entertain kids.

At least he can gaze at their look-a-like squad in Kandor, better than nothing, (this is creepy imagine you're just minding your own business shopping but this giant guy is staring at you because you resemble his dead girlfriend he can't get over) but two of them are wearing earth clothing.

He uses the enlarging ray to restore them. They reveal they pulled the trick to make him sorry for saying those harsh things to them. They switched places with the help of two look-a-likes to make androids out of living crystals and put them in the deep freeze to fool him. He says if he weren’t invulnerable he’d’ve had a Super-heart attack when the doubles shattered, but he guesses he deserved it, it also proved the machine was defective. (to crystals it still hasn't been tested on humans) To make it up to them he’ll take them on a date, but they start fighting about who’ll be first and he says it’s good to have them back fights and all.

LOIS RUSHES INTO MARRIAGE

1 Page 2: well not exactly rushed if you take the girl friend aspect of their relationship

LOIS LANE STALKER ROOM

STALKING SEEN AS ROMANTIC

1: well what Jimmy was doing wasn't intended to be romantic but it was for flattery

3 Page 7: well not with romantic intentions but having a guy ogle you because you resemble his dead friends is creepy

DIDN’T AGE WELL

1: Jimmy's unwanted needy stalking bordering harassment

1 Page 3: Lois's possessiveness of Superman

3 Page 1: Lois and Lana a wearing sexy outfits to host a company party

3 Page 7: again having a guy ogle you because you resemble his dead friends

SOMEONE DIES

LOIS PUTS HERSELF IN DANGER

2 Page 2: Lois just takes some experimental chemicals in secret and stays underwater for an hour without help nearby

2 Page 7: spraying herself with poisonous mercury

LOIS IS COMPETENT

1 Page 5: well she did try to get Jimmy to leave her alone

2: finding different ways to get wet so she won't die

3 Page 8: enlisting help from her and Lana's doubles to play a cruel trick on Superman

LOIS IS A BITCH

1 Page 7: well justifiable in this case as she's had enough of Jimmy butting into her life

3 Page 8: making Superman believe she and Lana were dead just to get back at him for rightfully chewing them out

SUPERMAN IS A DICK

1: constantly ditching Lois to go attend to Jimmy

2 Page 8: he could have made a cleaning solution but wants Lois to have a stained face for a week to teach her a lesson

3 Page 2: well justifiable since he's had enough of their nonsense but he pushes it by still letting them have it the next day

SUPERMAN IS ACTUALLY NICE

3 Page 3: still taking them to the Fortress as promised despite being mad at them

3: trying to go backwards and forwards in time to try to save them

3 Page 8: despite the cruel trick on him he'll take them on a date

HAPPY ENDING

1: well technically Jimmy didn't mean to harass them and might get a date with Lucy and Lois apologized for snapping at him but well see how long it lasts

2: well Lois didn't die

3: well Lois and Lana were never frozen and shattered

SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE #60

On a day at the Planet that may never happen, (an elseworld story) Superman leaves Lois in charge of the gold kryptonite (it permanently strips him of his powers) that gang members see and demand she hand it over. She refuses and they try to kill her for it.

Superman leaps in front of the bullets and has them arrested and is so impressed by Lois willing to die to protect him, he decides not to wait any longer and proposes. Their kiss is interrupted by Jimmy’s signal watch and Lois swears things will be different.

So, Superman repairs the helicopter to fly in space. He laughs when Lois makes him swear to stop saving Jimmy after they’re married, then the signal watch alerts again.

That night Lois complains to Lucy that she’s fed up with Superman babying Jimmy, she’s almost at the point of not having him at the wedding. (but he's his platonic best pal) Lucy tells her to be patient, after the wedding they won’t see him much. At the wedding (where no one questions where Clark is) Jimmy is happy for them while Lois thinks she won’t share her husband with anybody. (that's a bit of a red flag)

Afterwards, on a honeymoon asteroid, Superman hears Jimmy’s signal watch in the space helicopter, Jimmy was supposed to write on the Mars canals, (in the real world people did believe there were canals on Mars since 1858 until 1903 where better observational equipment led to the conclusion they were optical illusions confirmed by the 1960s) but the honeymoon asteroid will be better. Lois thinks he faked that disaster to be here. The two riminess as Lois sits alone. (you ditched your new wife on your honeymoon to hang out with you platonic best pal not cool Superman) Back at the Fortress, Superman runs out on dinner to save Jimmy.

Later, Lois tells Superman to get Jimmy out of her hair after he called six times. (ok Jimmy is moving into stalker level of boundary pushing imagine if this was during a time of texting)

Superman proposes a vacation to Atlantis, only for their merman servant to be Jimmy in disguise, he also wanted a vacation. (dude)

The next day Lois gets Jimmy to give her his signal watch and uses the electric eels to short circuit it. (normally it's a red flag to maliciously destroy somebody's property but Lois is at the end of her rope here)

Back at the Fortress she goes to bed (in separate beds because comics code) happy Jimmy won’t haunt her anymore, then dreams of celebrating her wedding anniversary, only for Jimmy to swarm them with his look a likes from Kandor.

The next night she dreams of having their first baby, only for Bizarro Jimmy to visit, wishing them well in his own way.

The next night she has another nightmare, she and Superman fought and she’s going to her mother’s, only to be accosted by a tiny Jimmy swarm. She wakes up to find a Jimmy Olsen hoard (oh no her nightmares became real) and Jimmy tells the others to take off their masks to reveal the hero worshiper fan club.

Lois demands to know what they’re doing in the Fortress and for Jimmy to stop wrecking her marriage, they want to be alone. Jimmy reveals Perry sent him to cover their honeymoon and shows the front page. (so you stalk them when they want to be alone on their honey moon) Atlantis was him wanting to give them first class service to impress them (without asking) so Lois would put a good word to Lucy since she said she wouldn’t marry him until Lois marries Superman. (that sounds a lot like a when pigs fly excuse) Lois asks for forgiveness for misjudging him. (no he might have meant well but boy needs to learns some serious boundaries)

Superman reveals he promised the fan club a year ago and forgot until Jimmy signaled him. Lois wonders how and confesses she ruined his watch; he explains he adjusted the time by 2 ½ hours for Atlantis. Lois laughs at the comedy of errors and will put in a good word to Lucy and Superman thinks he’d better not mention how she’ll see more of Jimmy when he becomes her brother-in-law. (now both sisters an complain how their husbands are ditching them to "hang out" together)

Lois observes training for a manned space flight, the astronauts have been under water without oxygen for three hours. (this was published in October of 65) Then Superman has to rescue a hydronaut when his Serum 6 wore off.

Left alone Lois yields to temptation for a sensational headline opportunity and takes some serum. (with complete disregard for her health and safety) As she drives away another car follows, the two are from the Anti Superman Gang and plan to hurt him through his friends.

They watch as she walks into the ocean and think she’s had enough of Superman not marrying her, but they can still claim the credit for it. Lois hangs around underwater for an hour and to find out the secret of why she didn’t die they plan to kidnap her.

But on the way she finds she can't breathe. Calling the lab, she finds out the experimental serum went wrong, (see what happens when you take strange chemicals without caution) the hydronauts have to be in water every hour or die, but she is given a list of places the chemist is going to be making the antidote. The two thugs hold off murdering her so they won't have the rap. (but they were so eager to do it an hour ago) She finds a soda stand but one of them already bought them out and is smashing them.

She runs to a stable where the other thug rented a horse and got him to drink the entire trough of water. (this dude lead a horse to water and actually got it to drink) Any liquid can save her so she jumps in a silo of highly flammable oil (somehow not staining her clothes) and flees from the two men until she reaches the first destination, but Dr. Mason already left.

Another hour has passed, and she needs to find more liquid. The two thugs covered the fountain in cement, so she pays some garage mechanics to sit in the pit as they drain a car's radiator fluid.

Dr. Mason isn't at the next location either and she’s sent to the airport and is told the water main burst. The gang members push a cart of cleaning fluid down the slope, Lois thinks quick and runs into a surplus store and plays a high note in a violin (this off brand Wal-Mart has a strange layout a wall of violins next the a wall of thermometers) to shatter a bunch of thermometers for a quicksilver shower. (Lois that's mercury!)

Lois catches the second plane to the pen convention and the thugs shoot the drinking water tank and Lois isn't able to reach the fuel tank. Lois’s hour is up but Clark is there asking why she’s on the plane looking so sick.

Lois tells him the story and he can't change into Superman, so he gets an idea. He tells the convention goers the Daily Planet wants to test their pen ink for a write up and has them empty the ink into Lois’s hat, (which changes color from pink to white) his X-ray vision revealed to him these aren’t normal ballpoints but indelible fluid. (which means it's permanent ink) Lois dunks her face in it.

Lois is glad she didn’t die but is instead dyed and Clark is relieved they’ll find Dr. Mason soon and get the antidote.

They find him in the lobby, and he says the cure is to just drink water, Lois faints from not doing it sooner. (all of that drama for something that could have been solved so easily)

She takes a return flight now that she is cured, and the thugs are there waiting for her body. Shocked to see her still alive they decide to just shoot her. (make up your mind) Superman swoops and saves her. Lois tells him Clark stayed at the convention to contact him but not to look at her face, she won’t forgive him if he does. At the Planet Lois snaps at Jimmy to shut up when he asked why she’s wearing a veil. Clark thinks how he could have made a cleanser, but this should teach her not to be impulsive, the ink will stay on her face for a week.

There’s some annual celebrity party, Lana and Lois are hostesses, (I feel today the Daily Planet would get some flak for sexualizing its female employees like this) Lana got three marriage proposals and a movie star flirts with Lois. Lois turns him down as her heart belongs to Superman.

Lana ditches a rich guy to go to Superman in the kissing booth. Lois beats her there and Lana calls her a hag and offers a week's salary as she plants one on him. Superman thinks of how embarrassing they are and gives them a piece of his mind that this is for charity (dude Lana is giving a weeks salary take her kisses) and wishes they’d leave him alone, but he’ll still take them to the Fortress tomorrow as promised to their bosses, but it’s just business.

The way there he keeps scolding them and says his life will be easier without them. (careful what you wish for) Inside he shows them his new Human Deep-Freeze machine for medical science, it can go up to five thousand years ahead, it can’t be stopped or reversed, or it could be fatal. He leaves them to go on patrol and they ask to stay to take pictures and he has them check his bottled city’s air hose. (these are we call Chekov's guns)

#supermans girl friend lois lane #comics #superman #lois lane

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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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I feel like Salem's group have the same issue with motivations. We have a very basic idea of what they want and that's it. Like, Watts wants revenge against Atlas, but there isn't much to go off of why beyond being mad at Ironwood for something. Or Mercury, who I guess wanted to be part of a new world order before learning the truth about Salem's goal? And then there's Salem herself, who's still never said what her goal is, but some characters somehow have ideas of what she wants.

So I've binged four shows recently and I'm going to reference each in a quick example. Minor spoilers ahead.

Ted Lasso: Rebecca wants to get back at her abusive ex-husband and it's quickly established that what he loves most in the world is his football club. Ergo, Rebecca seeks to ruin the club, made easier by her being the new owner.

All of Us Are Dead: Gwi-Nam had his eye gouged out by Cheong-San and thrown to the zombie hoard. Ergo, Gwi-Nam continually tracks Cheong-San down to enact equal revenge of taking his eye and killing him.

Midnight Mass: Bev is determined to see herself as a self-righteous victim with her latest belief being that a kind, but scary looking dog owned by a man she hates is a public menace. Ergo, she poisons a hotdog and secretly feeds it to him, successfully killing the dog and devastating his owner.

In each of these cases we know what the antagonist wants, why they want it, and their attempts to achieve that make perfect sense given their current knowledge and abilities. There is a direct, logical line between what they're after and what they're doing to achieve that goal because a good antagonist is smart. Meanwhile, slightly more complicated plots work to explain why there might be a disconnect between a character's goal and the action they take:

The Book of Boba Fett: Boba seeks revenge for the Tuskan Raiders. He sees the symbol of a known gang at the sight of the massacre and concludes, quite understandably, that they're responsible. Ergo, he blows up the gang once he gets his ship back. The audience knows that the Pykes are actually responsible, but we understand that, at this point in the story, there's no way for Boba to have known that too. His actions make sense based on his current knowledge.

Sadly, we can't do this same sort of work for the RWBY villains. Take Watts for example. What does he want? To get revenge on Atlas (for vague, largely unspecified reasons). So what does he do? Team up with Salem. Wait... we just jumped from A to F instead of A to B. There's no connection between the goal and the action because the show never established why Watts needs Salem to achieve his goal. She's an extra (very dangerous) step that, as far as we see, is completely unnecessary and keeps him from his own goal for several years. Volume 7 showed us Watts entering Atlas using his knowledge of the Kingdom, turning off the heat using his hacking skills, fighting Ironwood using his battle prowess... at no point was anyone else needed for Watts to achieve his own revenge, which begs the question of why he put it off to join Salem in the first place. He literally could have walked into Atlas and crippled them at any point, so what motivates him to instead make that Step One of Salem's plan instead? We don't know.

Why is Cinder teaming up with Salem when she just generically wants power? Well, we might have been able to fill in the gap with "She seeks power by sticking with powerful people" but Volume 8 obliterated that reading by making Cinder's motivation more specifically seeking power so as not to be controlled by others. So why enslave herself to Salem after escaping slavery in the first place? We don't know.

Why is Mercury interested in any of this? No idea, we legit know nothing about his motivations except, I guess, being mad at the world?

Tyrian's motivation is that he's crazy. I mean, I'll take it over these other examples, but it's still not much to work with.

Emerald has a strong motivation of being dedicated to Cinder, which would have been made stronger still if we understood why Cinder was keeping them wrapped up in Salem's hold, but it still largely works on Emerald's end. However, once again, Volume 8 undermined this understanding of her character. Suddenly, Emerald is leaving Salem and joining the good guys with no struggle, hesitation, or overall difficulty with leaving Cinder in the process. The story acts as if Emerald is abandoning a previous motivation to serve Salem faithfully, when in reality her only motivation was to stick close to Cinder. "Leaving" should have equaled an attempt to extract Cinder somehow, not joining RWBYJNOR. Emerald's motivation has always been "Stick close to the woman I love and whom I owe" not "I'm doing bad things because I'm a bad person." So throwing her into a "I'm doing good things because I'm good now"... doesn't work. That's an evolution for a motivation she never had.

Hazel's motivation sort of tracks if we focus on his secondary goal of dismantling the huntsmen schools. Salem promised him a new world and he believed her, then became further trapped in that ideology out of fear. It works, it's just bogged down by his Volume 6 revenge quest against Ozpin personally and again (again!!) is undermined in Volume 8 by having him suddenly trust Ozpin, overcome his fear of Salem, and give up on the idea of a world in the hands of a dark queen being better than one in which the huntsmen schools exist... because he saw a blue lady come out of a lamp?

It makes no sense. I can't possibly emphasize enough how much Volume 8 screwed with the villains' already badly established motivations.

But yeah, the point of all this being that there are rarely clear lines between The Goal and The Action Taken for these characters. Salem's motivation exists now, but it didn't for seven volumes and was, as you say, established by a character who presumably has not interacted directly with her in generations. It would be like if instead of watching Gwi-nam's revenge quest unfold on screen, with his spoken dialogue making it explicitly clear what he was after, Dae-su randomly announced, "Oh yeah, this is what Gwi-nam is after and why he keeps randomly popping up to attack us" and the audience went wait... how do you know that? You weren't there when he died. You aren't the omniscient audience listening in on Gwi-nam talking to himself (which, in this version of events, are scenes we never even got). Why wouldn't you mention this several volumes episodes ago? Do you even know who Gwi-nam is? How does this make any sense?? But Dae-su just speaks the villain's motivation into existence and everyone else goes along with it because you've gotta move the plot forward somehow, I guess.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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onesheeptwosheepandachicken · 4 years ago

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26 Reasons why Qrow is not Ruby’s father and why Taiyang is Ruby’s father

In response to the toxic aspect of the fandom attacking CRWBY and demanding that their desires for Qrow be chosen over canon, or how they feel their theory is more valid than the show itself? I have researched RWBY to make this 26-point Discussion as to why Canon is valid, and fancanon is not when it comes to Qrow Branwen, Ruby Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Summer Rose.

1. “Monty said NO” Most obviously. Monty Oum.

He said in this tweet that ruby and yang are half-sisters…half-sisters, which means they share the same mom or dad…in this case Taiyang….

https://twitter.com/montyoum/status/492070189731565568

Now people have claimed “he obviously meant step-sisters or cousins” Why is it that every time we show the English dictionary to you people or ask you to read it, that you claim you are being attacked or that you claim Monty was misleading us?

2. The writers said NO

Miles Luna debunked this theory on Reddit…

He pointed out that Ruby sees Qrow as a Role model, so she adapts her colors to be similar to his.

And you don’t need somebody to be blood to be your role model.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/7x3w4s/crwby_ama_w_miles_luna_kerry_shawcross_and_paula/du5d67g/?

3. “Rooster Teeth said NO” Rooster Teeth even said that Qrow is "Ruby and Yang's Uncle" They also said “Ladies, he’s not your man”

https://twitter.com/RoosterTeeth/status/1067205612331782144

4. “But what if Summer had feelings for Qrow? Why does Qrow Serve Ozpin?” Qrow said in Volume 6 " No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good... " So he was saying he wasn't wanted, so no relationship with Summer. SUMMER DID NOT WANT HIM. And he was literally saying he served Ozpin because Ozpin gave him purpose. It’s pretty sad how people think Qrow can only be a complex character if he obsesses over another person’s wife and child. What , you wanna make him Severus Snape, the Lilly Potter stalker who insulted a girl’s face and tried to poison a boy’s pet and publicly outed a teacher?

https://rwby.fandom.com/wiki/Qrow_Branwen/Quotes#So_That.27s_How_It_Is

5, "But Qrow could be lying" Except in volume 6 Qrow literally said "Don't lie...we're better than that"

And in volume 7?

" Long time ago. I just found working alone tends to be for the best "

" Gotta say, I’m still not really used to working with other Huntsmen in the field. "

And finally World Of Remnant on Patch.

" Nice place to raise a family, if you're into that sort of thing. "

https://rwby.fandom.com/wiki/Qrow_Branwen/Quotes#So_That.27s_How_It_Is

6. “Qrow fans claim that Ruby and Summer form a core part of Qrow’s character and backstory.” WRONG! The main accusation for demanding Rooster Teeth / CRWBY change the backstory for Qrow would accomplish nothing.

Raven already pushed Yang onto Taiyang to raise on his own.

Qrow forcing Tai to Raise Ruby alongside Yang while Qrow could regularly visit, and while Summer lived with Taiyang, Yang, and Ruby?

It would cheapen Qrow’s character….blood isn’t everything. Neither are cliches.

7. “But what if Qrow gave Ruby to Tai to raise after Summer’s death?” Volume Chapter 6, Burning the Candle.

Yang tells Blake that she (yang) and Ruby were raised together by Summer and Taiyang…not by Taiyang on his own, but by Summer and Taiyang.

Yang clearly had memories of being raised by Summer and Tai both, which meant that Summer and Taiyang lived together raising Ruby and Yang for Several Years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZkN-53h5Os

8. “Does Taiyang care about Summer or Ruby?” Taiyang was noted to have shut down when Summer didn’t come back…. Yang noted this in Volume 2 Chapter 6, and Ruby mentioned in the first episode of Volume 3 that Taiyang missed Summer. Qrow also said that Ruby is Taiyang’s “Special Angel”…. Ruby has also pointed out numerous times that Taiyang is Overprotective of Ruby. In fact, Ruby's conversation with Penny about overprotective fathers.

9. “Qrow knows Taiyang is Ruby’s Father. Taiyang knows Ruby is Taiyang’s daughter. Qrow has referred to Taiyang as Ruby’s father during volume 3 and 7. Taiyang referred to Ruby as his daughter in volume 3.

10. “Why didn’t Taiyang train Ruby in Martial Arts?” Taiyang is a martial arts fighter. Ruby has neither the build nor the personality for ruthless hand to hand combat like her sister… Taiyang would trust Qrow, despite his semblance. Remember how bad Ruby was in v5?

11. “Qrow’s semblance is not what his fans exaggerate it to be”

Speaking of Qrow’s semblance? He was playing video games with his nieces, taught at Signal Academy, and could train Ruby… Clearly, his semblance is not what theorists make it out to be.

12. “Why doesn’t Qrow treat Yang the same way he treats Ruby?”

Yang is the daughter of Qrow’s sister,who abandoned the team.

During a one on one interaction between Qrow and Yang after yang vs mercury, Qrow called his own niece crazy, after she had been framed.

Qrow was not empathetic to Yang.

Qrow may not like Yang’s resemblance to Raven.

Ruby is the daughter of his two closest friends, so of course he’d prefer Ruby over Yang.

13. “Examples of Taiyang caring for Ruby.”

Volume 2 Ruby was excited when Taiyang sent a package in the mail, not even knowing it was Zwei.

Taiyang was at Ruby’s bedside in V3, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

He also tried to bring her breakfast in bed.

Taiyang said he wanted to chase after Ruby, but had to nurse Yang back to health.

During the V8 broadcast, Taiyang was upset when the broadcast was cut.

14. “Genetics research”

Black hair is the subtype of the pigment for blonde hair…

Also, Ruby’s got the same hair strand that Yang and Taiyang have.

Finally, black hair is more dominant.

So Ruby doesn’t need blonde hair to be Taiyang’s kid.

https://askinglot.com/is-black-hair-a-dominant-or-recessive-gene

https://www.quora.com/If-a-jet-black-haired-parent-and-a-blonde-parent-have-children-what-color-hair-would-the-children-likely-have

15. “The STRQ Photo”

The photo....Qrow was with STRQ for four years...do you really think Qrow is not allowed to cry on the photo unless he was romantically involved? Can't a man grieve over the death of a female friend that he was NOT in a relationship with? Or are men not allowed to have female friends? Ichigo and Rukia from Bleach for example...friendship. They were his friends, his family. People seem obsessed with the idea that Qrow cannot care about a woman unless he was romantically involved or unless he's their bastard father.

16. “Men and Women…as friends, platonic” Harry Potter as a book showed that a boy and a girl can interact and still be friends…

Why can’t Qrow be Summer’s friend?

Why does he have to be her lover?

We’ve seen Qrow talk about Innkeeper’s skirt lengths and leer at Barmaids who flirted with him.

Also, he’s shown to be bonding with both Clover and Robyn.

People act like he doesn't flirt with anyone , and yet he does.

17. “Bad Luck Charm” Qrow has spent his whole life with his semblance, named after a Crow.

Raised by the Branwen bandit tribe.

“You and I are not the same, you don’t want the burden of my name” Both Branwen and Qrow are names that Qrow hates due to his semblance and past…

People may think of him as cool, but Qrow suffers from self-loathing.

So NO, the Bad Luck Charm song does NOT in fact allude to Qrow being Ruby’s father, but that Qrow hates himself, hence a major part of why he’s alcoholic.

Proof of which is his volume 6 exchange with Ozpin about being useful, which Qrow disagrees with, leading him to drink further. Yang literally said that she had never seen qrow so drunk before in v6.

And Ruby encourages his self-worth leading him to try giving up alcohol….

His alcoholism is tied to low-self-esteem, not relationships.

18. Manga Anthology

Taiyang was shown in the Manga Anthology to have shut down upon Summer’s Death. That impacted his relationship with Ruby and Yang. Qrow? Is relatively unaffected. The good Uncle helping around the house. Taiyang haters and Qrow stans took this to demand that Qrow is entitled to Ruby, despite Taiyang recovering and doing his best to be a father. Anything Qrow does is worshipped like Mother Teresa, while anything Taiyang does, good or bad, is downplayed and smashed. Taiyang loved Summer so much he was devastated by her death. Qrow was unaffected. Think about that.

19. “I like Brats” Why does Qrow spend time with kids he’s not related to? Because he likes kids. You know how there are adults who enjoy being around brats? That’s Qrow. He didn’t have romantic feelings for Summer, he liked being around her because she was like a kid. Similar to how Blake likes Ruby’s idealism? And trusts her leadership?

20. “Taiyang the 2-timer accusation”

A woman on youtube claimed that Taiyang was a 2-timer who cheated on raven with summer, as there was, in her and her friends’ minds, “no way that taiyang could be with half his team” When asked about TaiQrow as a joke, she was angered that people even ship TaiQrow.

But let me ask you this. Are you the same person you are now that you were 10 years ago? People claim that Qrow was somehow cool in beacon…because he’s cool now. But Taiyang, who raises two kids, and holds a job and a house…cannot be ruby’s father…because he’s not cool? And that somehow he was never cool? I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had to be cool to be a parent. I also had no idea people were only allowed to be in one relationship per lifetime. Raven freaking abandoned Tai for the tribe. Summer chose Taiyang over Qrow. People literally make Qrow out to be either an OC in a shipping fanfic, or a Naruto fanfic where Naruto is written to be fawned over by a girl whose canonical spouse, boyfriend, or male friend is somehow rewritten as evil.

1 year…..in 1 year since Raven abandoned Taiyang and Yang, Summer Rose the friend of Taiyang’s who he had known for 4 years, became more than a friend.

So no….Taiyang is not a two-timer…he moved on from Raven.

22. “Why can’t Taiyang talk about Summer?” To WHO? He’s barely got 15 minutes of screentime, and the writers did NOT do him any favors when they had Qrow demand he leave so Qrow could tell Ruby a secret Ozpin trusted him with, before telling Ruby to run away from home leaving only a freaking note. Terrible daughter. Even Yang was prepared to do the same! To a man whose first wife abandoned him! At least Weiss has a legit reason for acting as she does against Jacques, several at least. Ruby? No. Now why would Taiyang talk about Summer’s fighting style to Yang when trying to get her to stop acting like Raven in her fighting style and semblance? Sure if there was more time…but RT at the end of the day isn’t some money-hungry political entity, it’s a startup at the end of the day, they don’t have the ability to do a full anime episode. Also, Taiyang cannot go out on these active missions…he was a schoolteacher who did not do missions until only recently…he was retired, remember.

23. “These fanworks make more sense to me”

Qrow fans have tried using fanworks to justify their theory or ship, the same way Blacksun fans or Adam apologists make similar claims, and even Raven fans try to claim Raven is somehow a good mother. What do these fanworks do? Hate on Taiyang. Dismiss Ruby and Yang being half-blood siblings. Ignore multiple elements of the show or scenes. Occasionally shit-talk the writers.

Every time somebody tries to make a “rwby rewrite” or “rwby alt” or “Qrow is ruby’s father au” they cannot do it without completely rewriting the characters in so many forms and even the show, till Qrow, Raven, Taiyang, and Summer are NOTHING like they are in the show…And ONLY how a shipper wants qrow to be.

Or rewriting qrow to be nothing like he is in the show.

Most Alt or Rewrite consists of making Taiyang abusive, a cheater, or refusing to allow him to interact with Summer, while regularly pushing qrowxsummer at each other.

So no…it’s not that it makes sense to them through some fanart….a headcanon that has been debunked is no longer headcanon. A theory that is shut down is no longer a theory. There’s a reason anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers still exist. Because to them, their theories make more sense than reality. Which is why people still believe Qrow is Ruby’s father the same way people believe vaccines cause autism. Neither are true, and no amount of facts will shut them down, but they’re both popular theories.

24. “Qrow Rings and Cross”

People claim that Qrow was married to Summer or that his cross represents him mourning Summer. Did the STRQ photo, in v3, the same volume as his appearance, not show Qrow with his rings, his cross, and angrily scowling, while Summer was right next to Taiyang?

25. “What about Summer Rose’s choice?”

Remember how I said making Qrow’s character based on solely Ruby and Summer, ignoring everything regarding the tribe and ozpin giving him hope, and the grimm reaper…was bad writing? There’s a reason people hated v5. Raven was proven to be the deadbeat, Qrow was shown to have friends, and that Taiyang knew about Salem, and of course it was confirmed that Yang and Ruby again were sisters by Raven.

Now how about Summer? Team leader….took a man and a daughter who were abandoned by her friend…and made them her own. Yang calls Summer Rose “Supermom” and “Her Hero”…was literally willing to storm a bandit camp so Raven could use her portal to take Yang to Qrow, so she could get to Ruby. And yeah, I know the RWBY critics scream “why didn’t Yang just look for Ruby in Mistral?” It’s a bloody kingdom, and Yang was pursuing a lead, that Tai had given her, and Qrow told Yang he’d look after her sister. Remember that? Oh wait, RWBY Critics forget, my bad. Anyway, she’s more of a sister to Qrow than his blood sister Raven, she’s more of a mother to Yang than Raven, and she’s more of a spouse to Tai than Raven. Good Stepmother. Non-married couple. Relationship built on trust. Blood is not the same as family. (Example Weiss’s remark to her father) (Or Dom Toretto)

So making Summer into a throw-away character who dies so that a brooding jerk of an alcoholic can claim character development? Making a woman nothing except a throw-away for a man to get development is BAD WRITING. For God’s Sakes, even Pyrrha was written better than that! She interacted with team rwby, nora was always helping her out, and so was Ren (though those shakes are a crime against humanity” But when Qrow fans try to demand he’s ruby’s father? Their fanworks make Summer as much of a flat character as Preston Harvey from Fallout 4, where they make Summer unable to do anything but be obsessed with Qrow and having his child, similar to how Preston cannot think of anything other than “Another settlement needs your help, I’ll mark it on your pip-boy”

26. Finally, the accusations that CRWBY are lying.

“You have to be ****** if you believe CRWBY when they say Qrow isn’t Ruby’s father” “CRWBY is lying, it’s what writers do” “It’s okay for writers to lie, it’s good for plot” “I’d prefer it if CRWBY was lying to us” “Monty is dead, the writers should change it now” “Monty is dead, nothing else in the writing matters” “Monty was hiding the truth from us” “CRWBY is hiding the truth about Qrow being Ruby’s father” “It makes sense for CRWBY to lie to us” Look at this…Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, instagram…. The first quote? Was a woman who was using an anti-autism anti-disability slur defending the theory. Never have I ever seen people so obsessed with a theory that they would deny reality and be rude to the very writers and original creator. But the QrowxSummer and Qrow is Ruby’s Father fandom group has made countless cases of this. THIS is how they defend their theory? And people upvote, like and support these remarks? SHAME SHAME SHAME

Conclusion:

I get how people desire qrow to be Ruby’s father for ships or fanfics.

Even to where they make Taiyang a hated character just for the sake of making sure nobody disagrees with them.

But the attacking of RWBY and CRWBY, claiming that “this needs to be fixed”, or getting angry at RT for not giving you the non-canon ship you want? Claiming that just because you want it to be so, that somehow your ship/theory has “validity?”

That reflects poorly on the fandom and critics.

But then again…. It’s easy to ignore what’s real and what’s a fact that when theorists and ship-pushers and CRWBY Haters on youtube tells you to stop listening to monty and the writers, and instead believe whatever you want and claim whatever you want, Because surely you know what’s better for the show than the people who worked on it, right? Ha ha ha, no. THAT is the ULTIMATE disrespect somebody calling themselves a fan could ever give. And if you think or agree with that type of logic, you should look in the mirror.

I looked for backup sources to defend CRWBY and RWBY, you’ll find them below.

Backup sources include:

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/qrow-is-not-rubys-dad/422o_0rbCYuoXj36VoB7obK3MXPZRbPKkz5

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/why-the-qrow-is-rubys-father-theory-is-wrong/z668_nQlIxu0dmRdRpEPxqE3qlWlZEmoE2

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/qrow-cant-possibly-be-rubys-and-heres-why/8BB5_LPVCmu2bonkw8eEP3Yokg8m8zJlgNV

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/why-qrow-isnt-rubys-father/lXXx_5QoUQuPVGo3Wgko3wJ52mMBl7644P

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/is-qrow-rubys-father-short-answer-no/422o_0rbCYupDKezxPxpdje7dRn3nB8YvZ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPbft3KJd6o

https://aminoapps.com/c/rwby/page/blog/qrow-is-rubys-dad-theory-debunk/d33g_pQEcbu1NKQoMEv0kmDpP6N8bmowkkq

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aspoonofsugar · 4 years ago

Note

I hope this is not too much of a hassle but by any chance could you do an analysis on Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel.

Hello anon!

Sure, no problem :) I think I have shared some thoughts on these three characters in other metas, but I’ll get this chance to organize them and to put them all together.

In general, I would say Watts, Tyrian and Hazel are not extremely deep characters and they mostly work as foils to others, drive subplots in specific arcs and highlight themes.

Here is a list of their major narrative roles, as for now.

1) They symbolize three parts of Salem:

Each member of Salem’s inner circle represents one side of her.

Watts is her entitlement.

Tyrian is her desire of destruction for the sake of destruction.

Cinder is her wish to be free.

Hazel is her inability to grieve.

They are Salem’s three flaws. The reasons why she ends up the way she is.

Salem’s journey starts because she is unable to grieve:

Salem: No! No! What did you do?! BRING HIM BACK!

And because she feels she deserves better than others:

God of Light: When you first came to me, I did pity you. But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray.

Finally, she enters the pool of Darkness and embraces destruction:

Jinn: Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction.

At the same time, Tyrian and Hazel also represent Salem’s inability to understand the cycle of life and death:

God of Light: You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest.

The cycle is about loving life and accepting death. However, Salem initially refuses death (like Hazel) and then starts despising life (like Tyrian)

Interestingly, Hazel is eventually able to understand Gretchen’s choice:

Hazel: I'm doing what Gretchen would have done!

And dies sacrificing himself for others, just like Gretchen did.

I wonder if Tyrian’s death will be something which will instead be linked to him finally aknowledging the importance of life. Since Tyrian is a very negative character (and I do not think he will have a redemptive or particularly empowering death) it might be something as simple as him begging for his life.

2) Watts, Hazel and Tyrian all act as the main secondary villain of a specific arc and they are linked to the main theme of that arc.

a) Hazel fights in the Battle of Heaven and he is linked to Knowledge:

Oscar: Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?

Hazel: She was only a child! She wasn't ready!!

Oscar: She made a choice!

Knowledge is complementary to Choice. It is what you must aquire to choose wisely. However, initially Hazel does not understand it. He dismisses Gretchen’s choice as a her being tricked and he himself lacks the knowledge to make the right decision.

This is why his turning sides is linked to the relic of Knowledge:

Jinn: Why, hello again, old man. Did you have a question for me?

Hazel: Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.

He finally understands the truth and is able to choose:

Oscar: What are you going to do?

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done.

b) Watts displays his hacking abilities to its fullest in the Atlas Arc. This connects him to the theme of Creation and in particular to its negative declination aka Control:

Cinder: You said in your message that you have control over Penny.

Watts: I said I had Penny under control, not that I could telekinetically force her to do whatever I want.

He hacks Penny and overwrites her will. Moreover, he himself ends up manipulated and “controlled” by Cinder:

Cinder: You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back.

c) Tyrian has roles both in the Mistral Arc and in the Atlas Arc. However, he misses from the climaxes of both, so I think he will be important in Vacuo and maybe he’ll find his death in that arc. Moreover, the theme of Destruction seems to fit his character.

Finally, when it comes to themes, Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all explore the theme of trust (aka one of the main themes of the Atlas Arc) in a minor way.

To be more specific, the theme of trust is explored throughout the story in different ways. I have explained it better here and here.

It is interesting because the theme of trust is explored starting with Ozpin, Oscar’s foil, who does not trust others, so our protagonists feel betrayed. However, in Atlas they find themselves in Ozpin’s shoes and must choose if to trust Ironwood or not.

Here, we explore a form of conditional trust. This idea is presented by Ruby, who wants to be sure it is safe to trust Ironwood. So she keeps secrets and studies him until she decides she can trust him… only to discover that was not the case immediately after. This happens because trust can never be completely safe. Actually, in its most negative declination, this kind of trust becomes the control symbolized by Ironwood.

No matter what, trust is always a leap of faith. This is why trust is a risk. Oscar shows this concept well. He decides to still trust Ironwood at the end of volume 7, but it does not work. Still, he does not stop and decides to trust Emerald and Hazel. This time his trust and faith are repaid. He is fred and gains a new ally.

Anyway, even if trust is worth it, the exploration of this theme in Atlas actually ends on a negative note. It ends with Cinder who is an enemy of trust because she uses others’ trust and feelings against them.

In short, we are shown what trust is through Oscar, what it happens when there is no trust through Ozpin and how trust can be twisted and manipulated through Cinder.

Well, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian explore these same ideas in their subplots.

Tyrian takes advantage of the lack of trust among Robyn, Clover and Qrow:

Tyrian: It's taking a very long time for this show to get to the good part.

He exploits it and manages to kill Clover because of it.

Hazel shows the power of trusting others instead:

Oscar: You want him to trust us? Then trust me.

Oscar’s trust makes him willing to listen and later on he decides to help the kids escape.

Finally, Watts is used and discarded by Cinder, who fakes trust and friendship towards him and Neo.

3) Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all foil a member of Ozpin’s group and show their flaw in a clearer way.

Hazel foils Ozpin himself:

Hazel: He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy? I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed. Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his.

On one hand Hazel accuses Ozpin of sending kids to their deaths, while hurting children himself. On the othet hand Ozpin speaks about the importance of making choices, but does not give all the knowledge necessary to make an informed choice. So, both characters earnestly believe in their ideals, but they are also hypocrites about them.

Watts foils Ironwood.

Watts accuses Ironwood of having used his genius only to dismiss him later on and does not aknowledge how he himself has taken advantage of Atlas society that leaves those below (like Cinder) to rot. Moreover, both Ironwood and Watts frame themselves as rational, but lose precisely because they dismiss the importance of feelings for both manipulation (Watts) and trust (ironwood).

Finally, Tyrian foils Qrow.

In particular, Tyrian embodies Qrow’s self-destructive tendencies, which are Qrow’s true flaw. As a matter of fact Qrow ends up hurt in both fights (the first tiem physically, while the second time emotionally) not because Tyrian is stronger than him. He ends up hurt because of his flaw.

In Mistral, his misunderstanding with Ruby leads to him being poisoned. This happens because Qrow is so scared of his semblance that he keeps others away and does not explain himself.

In Atlas, his cynism leads him to make a pact with Tyrian and this leads to Clover’s death.

4) Finally, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian all foil a member of CEM:

I have discussed Emerald and Mercury’s foiling with Hazel and Tyrian here and here.

Hazel and Tyrian step in as Emerald and Mercury’s parental figures once Cinder leaves them behind.

Hazel is Emerald’s positive parental figure, but he is blinded by his flaw, just like she is.

Tyrian is Mercury’s negative parental figure, but he also tells the boy truths he needs to accept.

At the same time, Hazel is what Emerald really wants (an adult who looks out for her), while Tyrian is who Mercury thinks he wants to be (a big bad man). In both cases, they are not what Emerald and Mercury really need. Emerald must learn to be more independent, while Mercury needs to nurture his positive relationship(s).

I have discussed Cinder’s foiling with Watts here, here and here.

Watts embodies Cinder’s flaw (her hunger for power) enveloped in everything she hates, but also deep down envies (being an Atlas elites).

It is interesting that Watts is not really a mentor figure for Cinder (differently from Hazel and Tyrian for the murder kids). He is a colleague, so they are on equal footing. Interestingly, though, they both try to discredit the other and to act as the other’s superior.

In general, this is another way to convey that Cinder is less child-coded than the two kids she took in.

At the same time, it shows how Atlas makes relationships between equals difficult because in Atlas everyone always tries to be on top and discards the ones below.

5) Hazel, Watts and Tyrian’s arcs, when they exist, are very short and simple.

Moreover, they are built on what ifs.

What would happen if Hansel lost Gretel?

He would stay a prisoner of the Witch forever, until he manages to free himself doing what his sister would have done:

In a sense, Gretchen still frees Hazel, not physically like in the fairy tale, but psychologically because she inspires him.

What would happen if Watson were envious of Sherlock?

He would join Moriarty and end up consumed by his own envy:

Watts is shown eating a green apple while controlling a falling Atlas. This is interesting because Atlas is the house of our titular Snowhite and green is a color associated with envy. It is as if Watts has taken the bait Cinder offered him using his feelings of entitlement and jealousy:

Cinder: You have everything you need?

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

His arc is also a clear case of wants versus needs. He gets what he wants, ignoring that this is not what he needs.

What would happen is the Scorpion killed the Frog, but survived?

The answer is that he would keep making pacts he breaks (like the one with Qrow) and would keep poisoning others (both physically or psychologically).

This until he leads himself to his own demise, just like his fable counterpart.

Thank you for the ask!

#rwby #rwby meta #hazel rainart #arthur watts #tyrian callows #salem #qrow branwen #ozpin #james ironwood #cinder fall #emerald sustrai #mercury black #murder kids #rwby murder kids #asksfullofsugar #anonymous #my meta

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shini--chan · 4 years ago

Note

The darling injures her head and develops amnesia, how far would the Allies take the manipulation and what story would they present to their darling? (Also I love your writing! It's absolutely amazing!)

Thank you, dear anon. Also, since amnesia is usually displayed in the same cliched version in fiction, I’ve gone a bit out of my way to depict the different types of amnesia. Took quite a bit of research.

Yandere Allies – Amnesia

America

Alfred would both be delighted and worried. Delighted, because that could mean he would get a literal second chance. Worried, because you would have had really hurt yourself when you had jumped from that window in an effort to escape. And because his first thoughts would be dominated by Hollywood’s cliched portrayal of the issue and therefor he would fear that you would regain your memories.

Then, he would recall that there are different types of amnesia. And upon finding out that you would have an inability to access memories of the last four years while still retaining your childhood recollections and sense of identity (Retrograde amnesia), he would be thrilled. That would mean that you wouldn’t be able to recall any of the things he had done that made you wish to leave him. On the flip side, he would be saddened that you wouldn’t remember all the wonderful times you had with him.

Brushing that all aside, he would set out to reforming the very fleeting impressions you would have of him, gradually building up those last years as being something out of a fairy tale. While he might be, he would refrain from depicting everything as sunshine and roses; rather, he would sprinkle hints of artificial low points of your relationship in his story. It would be something that would make all the tales he would tell you more realistic.

Canada

Matthew wouldn’t know how the blazes you would have managed to get Mercury poisoning, and he wouldn’t like the results of it either. Having a lover with no long term memory wouldn’t be ideal. While you would have a fuzzy grasp on who you are, and still have some impressions of him being important to you, you would have forgotten him (Korsakoff's syndrome). That would be a smarting blow to his ego, pouring oil on the fire, caused by all the jokes of him being second best or invisible.

It would pain him to see how you would only have your short term memory, unable to recall all the things he had done for you, all the memories you had made together. Yet his opportunistic side would kick in and he would decide to draw from the benefits of the situation.

While he would know that your long term memory would be non-existent, he would intrinsically instil the notion of helplessness in you, so that you would always stick to him. He would use your condition as an excuse to metaphorically chain you to his side, as well as site it as a reason for you to never leave him. That why, he would neither have to kidnap you nor hide you. Matthew would convince any neighbours to return you should you wander away. Your condition would become a way for him to publicly justify all his behaviours that would otherwise be treated with scorn.

China

The question by Yao would be if your amnesia would be intentional or not. Going by his character and his long life along with the accumulated experiences, it would be all on purpose. It wouldn’t be something that he would immediately do; it would rather be like an ace up his sleeve.

Yao would begrudgingly inject you with chemicals that would use very specific gaps in your memory (Drug-induced amnesia). This would be a method he would use in a whole array of situations – such as when he would punish you, or transport you to an isolated location. Or also when he would like to tell you some of his deeper secrets – it would be for your own good since some of them would be of the sort that could invoke nightmares in the toughest of people.

At times, he might even make you beg for the drugs. He would explicitly tell you what would be about to occur and present you the option of either living through the whole thing and carrying the memories with you for the rest of your life, or that you could remain in a cationic state and remember nothing afterwards.

England

If anything, Arthur would find the whole affair frustrating. While you would clearly remember the beginning of your relationship, where things had been rather rosy as you had slowly gotten familiar with each other, you wouldn’t be able to form any memories after that one car accident you had gotten into (Anterograde amnesia).

You not being able to form recollection would irritate him beyond belief and he would often let that out on you. Why should be hold back after all, when you wouldn’t be able to remember the incident? On the other hand, that would also mean you wouldn’t be able to recall any of the lessons he would try to teach you. Furthermore, since your personal development would be severely stinted by this, he would gradually grow bored with you.

Yet he would still love you, which would be why he would do his best to help you in his own way. He would help you set up morning routines and centre your conversation around the present, focusing more on opinions that accumulated knowledge. Also, he would encourage you to start journaling multiple times a day, as a way to preserve the past in some form. Then he would go on to alter the written word to his heart’s content.

France

The whole affair with Francis would be another case of controlled amnesia. While he would have been doubtful if it would work at all, he would have nevertheless discovered that he could really hypnotise you. Since you would have had to have consented to this for it to work at all, it would mean that you would still have full trust in him and would have not noticed the red flags. However, Francis would know that no matter how well he would play his cards, that relationship could very well turn sour and that partners could turn their backs on each other. So, in the spur of the moment, he would instil orders in you to forget certain things on command (Post-hypnotic amnesia).

Sometimes he would be tempted to use this in other scenarios, such as when you would be particularly bratty and disagreeable. However, he would refrain because he would still want to delude himself into believing that your relationship would be normal.

He would also convince himself it would be for your own good – should there be any scenario that would leave you wishing to forget the whole thing, he would gladly abide to your wish (as long as it wouldn’t feature him erasing himself from your life). So be careful what you wish for.

Russia

Ivan would be conflicted with your mental state. He would be down to earth enough to acknowledge that he had somehow caused it, even though he wouldn’t know the exact circumstances that lead your depression to evolve into amnesia (Pseudodementia). It would another failure of his on an already long list and it would crush him as well as sooth some wounds.

You would be unable to recall the more… wild parts of your relationship, answering with an apathetic “I don’t know.” whenever he would ask your questions regarding that. Yet just as you would be distressed and upset about your situation, so would he. While you would have forgotten some of the things he would have desperately wanted to forget, the price for it would have been the vivid parts of your personality.

He would be torn between want you to heal and fully become yourself again and having you not able to remember the worse parts of your time together. Ivan would be pragmatic enough to know he couldn’t have both.

#yandere allies #yandere america #yandere england #yandere france #yandere russia #yandere canada #yandere china #x reader #yandere x reader

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quazartranslates · 4 years ago

Text

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH1

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

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Chapter 1: Resurrection Overture (I)

{E/N: The first section is recap, the rest is new. If you wish to skip the recap, scroll down to the &&& scene break.}

{cw: mention of miscarriage, religious homophobia}

Welcome to Nightmare Game I. A review of the story:

1. [First People's Hospital of X City]: Qi Leren, the protagonist, downloaded a computer game called the Nightmare Game on the Internet. After the first BE ending, his computer broke down. He took his laptop to repair it, but the bus he was riding was involved in a traffic accident. He and the injured passengers were taken to the First People's Hospital of X City by ambulance and he met Dr. Lu in the ambulance.　　

After waking up again, Qi Leren found himself in the empty People's Hospital and he had received his own task system, which asked him to survive in this hospital until dawn, and got an S/L skill card: [S/L Data] (binding skill card): the holder can set a save point at the position where his body is located. If he dies or suffers fatal injury within 10 seconds after saving, his body will automatically return to the position and state where the save point was set and will immediately trigger the second use. One save point can be used three times continuously and the cooldown time is 1 hour. Anyway, if you want to use it, you will die.　　

In order to survive, Qi Leren had to commit suicide frequently in this haunted hospital to save his life. He met Dr. Lu and Xue Yingying, who were also involved in this game, and learned that there was a murderer in this hospital who was killing any survivors like them. With such an unexpected factor, the task of surviving until dawn became more difficult. The three people also met another mysterious player, Su He. With his help, the four people and the murderer fought bravely and killed him and cracked the secrets of the hospital from more than 20 years ago, successfully avoiding the earthquake before daybreak and surviving until dawn.

2. [First Arrival at the Village of Dusk]: After the mission, the four people came to the players’ homebase in the main world of the Nightmare Game - the Village of Dusk. There were many ordinary people here who had the same experiences as Qi Leren. They received "survival days" by constantly going to other worlds or performing tasks in the main world, and they would die once the survival days were exhausted. In the Nightmare World, apart from a few human settlements where the status quo of peace has been maintained, other places were ruled by demons. Qi Leren was very surprised, because he found that the Nightmare World had the same story background as the Nightmare Game he had played before entering here, but no one else had played this game, so he had to keep the secret and think about whether the tasks done in the Nightmare Game could be triggered in this world. Su He, who had been very mysterious in the first mission, also confessed his identity. It turned out that he was a Game Master from the Village of Dawn who went to investigate a bug in the Novice Village. Not long after settling in the Village of Dusk, Qi Leren triggered the compulsory task "Witchcraft Sacrifice" from the dead because of a murder case on the road.

3. [Witchcraft Sacrifice]: Qi Leren had to perform the "Witchcraft Sacrifice" task, but during the task, male players were given women's appearances, because the background of the task was that a small village that sacrificed thirteen girls to a demon every three years in order to seek refuge from the Devil. These girls killed each other in the forest, and finally a winner became a witch who served the Devil. Qi Leren, who had become a girl, met an iceberg, Ning Zhou, and fell in love with her at first sight. He pursued his beloved goddess while struggling to perform his task. The goddess seemed to have a good impression of him. After a series of adventures where they shared life and death, they finally defeated the powerful enemy and completed the task. The NPC Isabel finally became the witch who served the Devil. The two players met on the steel bridge in the Village of Dusk, but unfortunately he found that his goddess was also a man, and the undying love shared between the two people in the task quickly died.

4. [Seed of Slaughter]: After his failed first love, Qi Leren suffered a great blow and unfortunately met a player who had been parasitized by a seed of slaughter while flying in an airship. This player went mad because of the seed of slaughter’s outbreak, killing innocent people on the airship, but Qi Leren was parasitized by the seed of slaughter after killing him in defense, and then was taken away by the Village of Dusk’s judicial Trials Court. In order to remove the seed of slaughter, he made a deal with the Trials Office and became an undercover member of the crazy society that worshipped the Devil of Slaughter. Chen Baiqi, a businesswoman whom Qi Leren had met in the Village of Dusk, invited him to visit a common friend's grave on the Undead Island. After every player died in the Nightmare World, a tombstone was automatically generated on the island. As a result, Qi Leren found a large number of his own tombstones on the Undead Island. He had thought that his S/L skill was simply activated in the instant before he died. He felt very scared and questioned if he had already died, or if he was just a copy with his memories. On the Undead Island, his friend Chen Baiqi told him the story of Ning Zhou. Only then did Qi Leren know that Ning Zhou was an exorcist of the Nightmare World’s Holy See, and homosexuality was forbidden in the Holy See. Therefore, Ning Zhou was very pained after learning that he was a male, and Qi Leren felt very guilty.

5. [Castle Cry]: Qi Leren and his good friend Dr. Lu activated a copy task called "Castle Cry". The background of this copy was that three couples came to the mountains in the suburbs to watch the stars in the middle of the night for the once-a-century meteor shower. There was a European-style old castle built on the mountain during the Republic of China, which was said to have been built by a German couple who came to China to do business, and was later abandoned after a fire. The local government had repeatedly tried to repair the old castle, but accidents had occurred. No one had set foot on the old castle. At midnight that night, the clear night sky suddenly covered with dark clouds, raining heavily, and the six people were trapped on the top of the mountain. The rain was getting heavier and one of them proposed to take shelter from the rain under the eaves of the castle...

After entering the castle, Qi Leren and others dug up the old castle’s story. It turned out that a noble lady with a family history of hereditary mental illness had married her sweetheart, but her sweetheart loved her maid Adeline. The noble lady poisoned Adeline because of jealousy and married her sweetheart as she wished. After marriage, they came to China to do business and built the old castle. Her husband did not want her to give birth to children who might also suffer from the hereditary mental illness, so Nina, the housemaid, was instructed to add mercury powder to her diet as a contraception. After learning the side effects of the mercury powder, Nina secretly reduced the dose. Finally, the wife became pregnant. After Nina heard that the child would be deformed, she was very afraid, worried that the wife’s mental illness would be triggered if she gave birth to the deformed fetus, and she accidentally caused her to fall down the stairs and miscarry. After the miscarriage, the wife’s mental condition deteriorated sharply and she was often paranoid, suspecting that everything was caused by the ghost of Adeline, the maid she had poisoned, and the relationship between husband and wife almost broke down. In order to save her love, she began to sacrifice to the Devil, and finally became demonized herself, killing everyone in the castle and setting fire to it.

During the mission, Qi Leren found the laptop computer with the Nightmare Game, but the computer had run out of battery. He put away the computer and prepared to bring it back to the Village of Dusk to find someone to make a transformer so he could connect the power supply and try to play the ending. During the mission Su He reappeared, saying that there were some abnormal reactions in this mission, and it was suspected that demon energy had polluted the task’s world, which led to the plot confusion and difficulty increase. This mainly manifested in the fact that the crazy lady sacrificed to the Devil and gained demonic power after her mental illness worsened. This mission should not have had such a plot. With the help of Su He, Qi Leren and Dr. Lu successfully solved the problem of the crazy lady and finished the task, then returned to the Village of Dusk, but the laptop mysteriously disappeared from Qi Leren’s item storage.

6. [Slaughter Secret Society]: After returning to the Village of Dusk, Qi Leren received a notice from the Trials Court asking him to disguise himself as the secret lover the former head of the Slaughter Secret Society (deceased), and seize the Slaughter Secret Society’s memento ring to gain the command of the Slaughter Secret Society, so that the Trials Court could catch all those crazy believers. Qi Leren approached the members of the Slaughter Secret Society as the coquettish gay "Red". During the mission, he was unfortunately attacked by Ning Zhou and both of them were shocked. During the undercover mission, Ning Zhou helped him get out of trouble several times. Both of them vaguely felt that they still liked each other. Although they were not women, they were still attracted to each other. After successfully seizing the Slaughter Secret Society’s memento ring and handing it over to the Court, Qi Leren had the seed of slaughter removed and triggered the main task "The Dream of the Holy Nun".

7. [The Dream of the Holy Nun]: The Dream of the Holy Nun was carried out in the main world, involving the past where the old Devil led the demons to invade the human world more than 20 years ago. At that time, the Holy City where the Vatican was located was unsustainable, and the Holy See evacuated urgently to Neverland. The Holy Nun Maria couldn't bear to see the people of the Holy City slaughtered by the Devil and created a powerful field, sheltering the whole Holy City in her territory. After the war, the old Devil was killed and the Holy City was left with serious destruction. After more than 20 years, the Holy City was still protected by the remnants of the Holy Nun and was shrouded in fog and inaccessible. Qi Leren got the Holy Nun Maria’s memento in the Village of Dusk, and he could enter the Holy City with it. At the same time, he also learned that Ning Zhou was the son of Maria and a player. In order to fulfill Maria's last wish—to liberate the closed and dying Holy City—Qi Leren, Ning Zhou, Dr. Lu, and Su He went to the Holy City together.

At this time, the Holy City is still peaceful, unlike the nightmare of the outside world. However, Qi Leren and his party had found an abnormality. No newborn had been born in the Holy City for more than 20 years and, from a certain year, every night of the new moon the citizens had to fall asleep before midnight and sleep until dawn, otherwise they would disappear. In order to explore the truth and fulfill Maria's last wish, the group of people began to investigate the cause of the abnormality. Finally, it was found that a surviving witch who had followed the old Devil King was accumulating strength to unlock the Holy Nun’s seal, which caused the sleeping people to change from human beings to demons because of the influence of demon energy on every lunar night, while the humans who remained awake became the targets of the demons, who hunted, brutally killed, and ate them. Qi Leren and others opened the seal on the site of the Vatican and acted separately.

When Qi Leren came to the cathedral where Holy Nun and old Devil had fought in the war, he found that his good friend, Su He, who had always been mysterious, gentle, and powerful, turned out to be a Devil. After the death of the old Devil, he gained part of the Devil’s power and had been secretly planning something. When he was in the Novice Village he had discovered Qi Leren's uniqueness, so he had been deliberately approaching him and using him, successfully following him into the Holy City protected by the Holy Nun’s power, and reached the old Devil as he wished. Su He let Qi Leren choose whether to degenerate into a demon or die. Qi Leren pretended to obey and died with Su He after saving, but failed because of the great disparity in strength and was finally killed by Su He, who was summoned by a messenger of the Devil of Power to leave the Holy City.

Because he had an item that would resurrect him in seven days, Qi Leren wrote a 7 on the ground in blood before he died, trying to tell Ning Zhou that he would be resurrected in seven days, but suddenly remembered that 7 means I love you in the Nightmare World. After Ning Zhou arrived, Su He had already left, leaving only Qi Leren’s body and a misunderstood confession. Ning Zhou realized that he was deeply in love with Qi Leren, regardless of gender, and that he loved this person's soul. So Ning Zhou returned to the Vatican in Neverland after the funeral, confessed his sin of falling in love with the same sex to the Pope, and left the Holy See.

So ends the first chapter.

&&& The story continues &&&

As the sun rises and the moon sets, the days and nights change. Seven days are fleeting.

The Garden of the Holy Tomb was wrapped in a gentle barrier.

Here, the sun was blazing, and it was also hit by an afternoon rainstorm. Countless monsters lingered outside the enchantment, showing malicious curiosity about the scent of a human inside the enchantment. But because they can't destroy the enchantment, they left disgruntled.

The breeze blew, tossing up the blue and white petals on the branches and they fell in great numbers to the ground, as well as to the hollow tree that had become a tomb. In just seven days, layer upon layer of petals had covered the man sleeping in the tree tomb, letting him be buried in this annihilated city together with the fallen flowers.

[Countdown to resurrection: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds.]

[Easter Egg has taken effect, all skills and items are returned.]

[Player Qi Leren has completed The Dream of the Holy Nun. The task completion rate was 117%. Obtain special task clues, and reach the Purgatory deep in the Underground Ant City within 23 days for the next task to auto-trigger. If it becomes overdue, it will be regarded as giving up the task.]

[The reward is 90 survival days, and the unexpected factors interfering with the task progress have given an additional reward of 10 survival days.]

[Player Qi Leren has completed the achievement of "Deceiving the Devil of Fraud". The reward is the skill card "Secretly Observing".]

Qi Leren opened his eyes.

Stiffness, soreness, heaviness... Countless negative states superimposed on him, making him almost think he was paralyzed. The world consisted of mottled floating light and shadow, but the fresh scent of flowers and plants entered his nose.

The heart was beating again, the blood was flowing again, the lungs were filling again, and the Qi Leren was gasping for breath. The body that had been suspended in death for seven days seemed to have just been lifted out of an ice coffin. All of the organs in his body had almost forgotten how to operate, so they could only restart with difficulty as they let him change back from a dead person to a living person.

It took him a long time to remember everything, including his own name, but the next thing went smoothly. Qi Leren quickly recalled where he was and what he’d experienced—he was killed by the Devil of Fraud and the murderer had gotten the demon crystal of the old Devil before he left, but he’d concealed the fact that he would be resurrected in seven days.

Ning Zhou!

Qi Leren suddenly sat up from the tree tomb. He was dizzy because of insufficient blood pressure, and his spine made a scary "click" sound which made him almost think it was going to break. Fortunately, it held up strongly. Because of lack of oxygen in the brain, Qi Leren lay back again, staring at the blue sky and white clouds overhead.

The Dream of the Holy Nun task had been completed, that was to say, Maria's field had been solved. There was no doubt that the person who completed it was Ning Zhou, not Qi Leren who had won by lying down. Now that the task had been completed Ning Zhou had left the Holy City, but he had stayed in the Garden of the Holy Tomb because Ning Zhou had left his "corpse" here.

Thankfully, Ning Zhou didn't cremate him. Thank you customs of the Holy See!

Orthodox Vatican people usually put corpses in open coffins, covered them with cloth or other materials, and then buried them in the coffins after they decayed into bones. Because if a corpse was buried directly in the ground, the power of faith couldn’t dissipate, and the corpse often couldn’t rot for several years, so it needed to be placed in the open air to wait for the power of faith to collapse naturally. This process was also considered as the process of the soul ascending to heaven.

Although Qi Leren was not a member of the Holy See, Ning Zhou followed this custom and left him a whole corpse.

His body recovered some strength, and Qi Leren's thinking recovered from the initial delay to his usual state. He sat up and drank some water, and recalled his "death".

Death was like sleeping to the extreme. He had no longer been able to feel anything externally, but he had started "dreaming".

A looming dream that made him feel lost.

He had dreamed of Ning Zhou's mother, Maria.

She sat on a swing in the Garden of the Holy Tomb, which was on the big tree that was later broken by lightning while it was still verdant. At that time, Maria was not the famous Holy Nun. She was just a young girl, swinging on a swing in the warm afternoon, enjoying the beautiful time of youth and leisure.

Qi Leren walked towards her. Maria saw him and nodded to him with a smile. Her blue eyes seemed like the blue sky.

The sky... Qi Leren's consciousness was shocked by this deep blue. He suddenly flew, as if his soul had detached from his body, rising higher and higher, and the Garden of the Holy Tomb grew small beneath his feet. Together with the old site of the Holy See, it all became far away. The whole Holy City was brought before his eyes, and then the distant mountains and rivers... Countless demons were wandering, human beings were experiencing unprecedented suffering and struggling to survive, all of the cruelty of this world was shown to him.

He seemed to be a god overlooking the world, staring at the devastated land with compassionate eyes, but he could do nothing but grieve. This pain lashed his soul and great sadness tormented him. He desperately wanted to do something for the world, but found himself as weak as a worm.

"Look, when you stand at this height, you will find that you are even smaller and weaker than you think."

A gentle female voice came from behind, and Qi Leren "saw" Maria behind him. He understood why there was always a lingering pity and sadness in her eyes.

"But such fragile human beings have to fight against this world persistently, control their own destiny and the destiny of the world, and we never give up. Let the Devil go back to hell, let human beings dominate this human world, and let foreigners like you return to their own world—the martyrs who are gone worked hard for this, and one day, this dream will be realized."

"Ms. Maria, why did we come here from our own world?" Qi Leren asked.

Maria shook her head gently. "This is something that the will of the world decided. We suspect that it was only an accident at first. Later, it deliberately introduced more foreigners and wanted you to maintain this unbalanced world. Unfortunately, there are too many variables amongst you, and the fallen foreigners have aggravated this imbalance... It still has not given up... You have to be careful, you are already the object of observation."

The feeling of being secretly watched made him uneasy, and Qi Leren wanted to ask more questions, but he has already started to fall.

From the sky, dropping rapidly and falling to the earth!

This feeling of weightlessness was like being awakened every night by his nightmares, when he woke up in horror at the memories of his deaths, sweating profusely.

There was only Maria's gentle but regretful voice in his ear: "I can't tell you any more. Come to the church. I have something for you."

The dream of Maria had ended, and the Qi Leren who had come back from the dead recalled this strange dream. He understood that this was not an ordinary dream, but the residual power of Maria’s influence on him. It seemed that he must go to the church at the top of the former site of the Vatican again.

His body gradually recovered its strength and Qi Leren gawked at the Vatican uniform on himself, and the white roses that had already withered on him. Those thoughts about Ning Zhou that he didn’t dare to dwell on rushed back to his mind.

Love at first sight, feelings amidst danger, life and death before disaster... The beauty in these memories was deeply buried in shock when they had met again, but his death was the key to awaken everything, and the mistaken confession of that which should not be said was the straw that crushed everything.

He shouldn't have said anything, he should have died in silence.

If Qi Leren could go back in time and choose again, he would not write down the 7. He would rather swallow this overflowing love silently and would rather let Ning Zhou think he was really dead, so that he wouldn’t be forced to go down this blind alley that would only lead him to the fire-lake of hell.

He couldn't tell the person whom he loved, who maybe loved him, that he loved him.

Because this was an impermissible and sinful love.

He was not afraid to fall in love with Ning Zhou, but he was afraid that this love would bring pain to Ning Zhou. He was even afraid of himself, who was full of hope and longing in his heart—how could he expect a saint to admit his guilt over such a love?

This secret expectation was selfishness and even sin.

How was Ning Zhou now? And where was he? Would he return to the Holy See? Could he go back?

When love broke taboos, how could a devout believer face the reality that he had deviated from his faith? He was destined to give up one of them.

Qi Leren shook his hand and picked up the bunch of white roses on him.

The roses had already withered, and fragile yellow petals fell from the stems that had had their thorns shaved off, just seven.

That is Ning Zhou’s silent answer.

Qi Leren slowly showed a smile, but his eyes were wet-

On the ring finger of his left hand, there was a ring made up of grass stalks. It was so rough and humble, like a craft made by a child. If it fell to the ground, no one would look at it again.

It just so happened that it was placed on Qi Leren’s ring finger, a symbol of love, commitment, and eternity.

Therefore, its destiny was not to be a toy woven by a child, but to be the most faithful and brave answer given by a devout believer after he had tortured himself and subverted his faith.

A pair of lovers who shouldn't fall in love, at both ends of life and death, spoke their own words from the soul.

I love you.

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Editor’s Notes:

Welcome back! A little bit of housekeeping to begin:

[Here] is the NovelUpdates page for part 2.

I made up a little [list of significant characters] who appear in part 1, including which skill cards they have, for anyone who would like a refresher. This is also linked at the top of part 2′s TOC page.

As was the case for most of part 1, I intend for chapter updates to be every second day. I will mention if this is ever subject to change.

Lastly, while this chapter does not have an author’s note, I wanted to include a note from part 2′s summary section since it gives some fun hints of what’s to come:

“PPPS: Inspiration comes from horror movies and games such as the Alien series, the Silent Hill series, the Resident Evil series, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, etc. There are also a number of documentaries used, specifically when it comes to time periods.”

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[Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

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