#narative parallels

[rosesvineyard]

WAKE UP!! the willscuella children just got dropped!!

EEEEEEE look at these cheeky little sillies!! lore and headcannons underneath!! <3

(mostly about Javier's and Bill's parenting, since I can't fit everything about GJ and Aluzio here, so I'll do it in another post!! :D )

☆

Giulia-Jane and Aluzio are about the same age as Jack M, albeit a few months younger, with GJ being the eldest twin. after the VDL gang broke apart, they just sorta.. showed up. they are biologically Javier's and Bill's-- considering they look exactly like them, and with the amount of paranormal shit in rdr2 and rdr1-- it isn't exactly all that impossible.

Javier and Bill were still pretty much on the run during this period of time after the gang fell. at some point, they found the strange two twins, who looked around the age of three or so-- and since they couldn't just leave them there, they took the kids with them.

the main idea wasn't to get too attached to the little rascals and to try and find some place to drop them off... but at some point, that backfired. all because those two kids reminded Bill and Javier too much of their own childhoods-- too much of themselves. plus, it was hard not to grow fond of the toddlers if they were the ones feeding them and sleeping next to them all the time.

Javier always had hoped to be a father eventually, in some shape or form. to him, the kids were like a blessing and a sign to keep going.

they didn't even have their own identity at the start, so Bill suggested they name the girl Giulia-Jane after Javier's sister and Bill's sister. it was a nice gesture, but it sure did drive the guilt and regret deeper into Javier's heart. they never really talked about it after that, of course they didn't.

Aluzio's name wasn't given much thought, but Bill liked the way it sounded with Elijah, so it certainly was a good combination to choose.

after one particular big explosive argument, they decided to rack up enough (stolen) money to provide for GJ and Aluzio, and get a piece of land in the middle of nowhere in Mexico.

onto parenting; Javier had a vague idea on how to raise a functioning person. He had his mother and sister to go off as food influences in his life-- while his father was overworking himself with intense labour. Javier adores GJ and Aluzio, showering them with words of love and affection, since familial love in his culture is shown more outwardly. still, he'd be the one to sit them down and set firm ideas, teaching them right from wrong. and if either of them misbehaved, he'd make sure they'd learn from it. Javier never thought to raise his voice so often at the twins, since he himself never really enjoyed it when he was younger. those uncomfortable memories of being cornered by his father screaming in his face never really sat with him right. so if he started yelling, someone really fucked up. Javier is also the one getting the twins durable, clean clothes and making sure they're fed every night, since he never wants his kids to go hungry and starve like he had to in America.

As for Bill, he didn't have any good role models in his life. His mother died in childbirth and his father was always drunk and never really in his right mind. he had Jane, but back then she was far worse than he was in terms of.. bad behaviour. still, Bill would try his best with raising GJ and Aluzio, trying to do all the things he wanted to do with his own dad when he was young, because, unlike his father, Bill's better than that

he's not a man of sentimental words, so Bill was always the one expressing his love through physical affection. he became a lot more gentle with his burly hands, probably thinking he'd accidentally shatter GJ like a plate 💔 he'd also go out of his way to get things he'd think his girl and boy would enjoy, also making lots of jokes to make the kids happy, even if it was at his expense. fuck it, he even learned how to braid GJ's hair in a traditional Mexican style with ribbons because he wanted her to be happy. even if he didn't really understand the cultural significance, he still did it because he loved her. honestly, Bill's just awkwardly trying his best.

to have people actually depend on and need him was such a foreign concept to Bill, that he wanted to try his hardest and fulfill those needs.

nothings perfect though, because even in domesticity, the Williamson-Escuella family is not safe from regret.

GJ is rarely called by her full name by her parents, and that's because it hurts too much. so instead Bill calls her 'Sweetpea' and Javier calls her 'Mija'

they just hope their son doesn't make the same mistake as they did.

ARGHH PLEASEEEE I'd love to answer any questions or requests about GJ and Aluzio!!!! please give me any more ideas if you have any!!

hell, I'd be happy to receive any willscuella asks in general, thank you for reading!!! <3

[youweremygoal]

alright haven't gotten a response yet does anyone know what scenes this person is even talking about? on this post

i've checked the flashback chapters (+ the anime version for any additions) and the one shot just in case for the expression thing and i. cannot find anything of 1. kushina hugging naruto that way (he hugs her around the middle + doesn't hug him that way when she disappears) 2. minato making any similar expression saving kushina that naruto has either in this panel or in other moments of saving her like the 5kage scene or anything. are they talking about filler?

[getcuboned]

Okay but like, not even that. Its So Annoying when a book is out of sync with its age demographic.

YA fiction is very often about protagonists who, despite their inexperience or even because of their specialized experience, are uniquely suited to overcome the plot. The focus is very much on their personal journeys of growth and things typically work out in the end, even if the protagonist dies. YA fiction is, as far as I understand, about making a protagonist the reader can see themself being. I hate to break it to some folks, but a 15 year old is of an age where sex is something they're often both interested in and looking to read about.

New Adult Fiction is very often about protagonists who are Very Specifically undergoing the stress and confusion of achieving adulthood (whatever that means to the setting, plot, and the character's culture) and trying to figure out wtf that means going forward. The plot demands the protagonist to step into roles they've never had to do before: Living independently, managing a relationship, being in charge of a work place, finishing college. Sex Can be a part of that, but its more often a subject of personal autonomy becuase of the genre. Example of this particular narrative relationship to sex being Beastars. The setting is less "things are going to work out by the end" and more "things are going to continue to be by the end because that's what life is actually like".

Adult fiction is Basically Everything Else.

Not sure who among my followers could relate but one of my pet peeves is when a book for adults is really just a YA book but with graphic depictions of sex.

[cancercadaver]

buddie is so funny because its like hey bro what if we naratively paralleled each others first loves wouldnt that be so funny

[babylon-crashing]

֍ TEMPERANCE – Card XIV

TITLE: The Pearl-Blood Alchemist / 血珠丹士 (Xuè Zhū Dān Shì)

MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: The Pirate Who Brewed Typhoons

TAOIST PARALLEL: Mazu’s Apothecary who balanced gunpowder and grace, mixing monsoon rains with salted blood to cure plagues.

PIRATE TWIST: Her cauldron is a cannon barrel tipped sideways, boiling tiger’s milk with shark’s tears into liquid harmony.

WHY TEMPERANCE? She doesn’t tame opposites—she makes them dance.

TAOIST PIRATE SYMBOLISM

KEYWORDS (Upright):

Hǎi huǒ hé (海火合, "sea-fire union")—where cannon smoke marries wave foam.

The drunken compass (醉羅盤, zuì luópán)—spinning true only when balanced.

"Moon-blood tea" (月血茶, yuè xuè chá)—a brew that heals mutinies.

KEYWORDS (Reversed):

Zhà táng (炸糖, "exploding sugar")—sweetness turned grenade.

Wèi jiě (未解, "untransmuted")—elements that refuse to marry.

The cracked hourglass (裂沙漏, liè shālòu)—time split by imbalance.

INTERPRETATION: This card is the alchemist’s kiss—where opposite poisons become one medicine.

RITUAL: THE CANNON CAULDRON (炮鼎, Pào Dǐng)

(Inspired by Taoist external alchemy and pirate gunpowder rites)

PURPOSE: To alchemize two warring forces into liquid equilibrium.

MATERIALS:

A metal bowl (or upturned helmet).

Two liquids:

Saltwater (for the sea’s ruthlessness).

Rice wine (for the pirate’s joy).

A pinch of gunpowder (or black tea leaves).

A candle (red).

STEPS:

Light the candle inside the bowl. Name your two opposing forces aloud.

Pour the liquids simultaneously around the flame, chanting:

火焰吞噬潮水， 潮水浇灭火焰—— 双方皆无胜负， 双方都改名换姓。 Flame devours the tide, Tide quenches the flame— Neither wins, Both change name.

Add the gunpowder. Watch it hiss but not ignite—this is controlled fusion.

Extinguish the candle with the mixture. The steam is your new path.

PARALLEL MYTHOLOGY

TITLE: The Sky-Sea's Flow / The Divine Alchemy

MYTHIC ARCHETYPE: Tzovinar (Armenian Goddess of Storms and Sea-Waters)

REGION: Ancient Armenia

FORM: A powerful goddess of rain, sea, and storm. Her name means "Daughter of the Sea" or "Tidal-Nar," and she rides a fiery horse through the sky, bringing life-giving rain from the clouds to the earth and sea.

TALE: Tzovinar is a primordial force. In one myth, she quenches her thirst by drinking a full handful of sea water, which leads to her immaculate conception of the twin heroes Sanasar and Baghdasar (founding fathers of an Armenian city). This act—taking the vast, undrinkable sea and integrating it within herself to create life—is the ultimate act of temperance and alchemy. She blends the sky-world and the sea-world within her very being.

WHY TEMPERANCE? She is the act of mixing. The RWS Angel has one foot on land and one in water, pouring between two cups. Tzovinar embodies this more elementally: she is the divine rain (one cup) pouring into the great sea (the other cup). Her act of drinking the sea shows a mastery over elemental forces, not through force, but through careful integration and blending to create something new and balanced. She is the alchemical marriage of opposites.

INTERPRETATION THROUGH TZOVINAR: This card is a call to be a divine alchemist in your own life. You are being asked to blend two opposing forces—logic and emotion, work and rest, the sacred and the mundane. Like Tzovinar pouring the life-giving rain into the vast sea, you have the power to create a new, healed whole from disparate parts. Do not seek extremes. The answer lies in the "just right" middle path, the perfect mixture that brings peace and generative power.

RITUAL OF THE TWO WATERS (For Creating Harmony)

OBJECTIVE: To find balance and a "middle path" between two conflicting areas of your life (e.g., your day job and your artistic passion, your need for solitude and your need for partnership).

MATERIALS:

Two distinct cups or bowls.

Water from two different sources, if possible (e.g., tap water and rainwater, or saltwater and freshwater). If not, just using two separate containers is fine. One will represent each side of your conflict.

A third, larger "alchemical" bowl, which will be your blending vessel.

Optional: a tiny pinch of salt for one water and a tiny pinch of sugar for the other to make them symbolically distinct.

STEPS:

NAMING THE POLES: Place the two cups of water before you. Assign each cup to one of the conflicting forces in your life. Hold the first cup. Acknowledge its nature, its needs, its voice. "This is my need for structure and security." Now hold the second cup. Acknowledge its nature. "This is my need for freedom and creative chaos."

THE INVOCATION OF BLENDING: Place the larger empty bowl between the two cups. Invoke the spirit of the card. "Tzovinar, she who drinks the sea and summons the rain, teach me the art of alchemy. Guide my hands that I may find the middle flow, the path of healing."

THE TEMPERANCE POUR: Now, perform the central act. Simultaneously, or alternating back and forth, begin pouring the water from the two cups into the central bowl. This is not about just dumping them in. It's a slow, mindful process. Watch how the waters merge. Listen to the sound. Your goal is to create a single, unified body of water from the two sources. Find a rhythm. Feel the balance.

CONSECRATING THE NEW WAY: When both cups are empty and the water is blended in the central bowl, dip the fingers of both hands into this new, integrated water. Anoint your third eye (for a new perspective), your heart (for a new feeling), and your hands (for new action). Say aloud: "Not two, but one. Not conflict, but balance. Not extremes, but harmony. I walk the middle path."

CLOSING: Use this consecrated water for something life-giving. Water a plant with it, pour it onto the earth as a libation, or simply leave it on your altar as a symbol of your newfound balance. The ritual is complete.

SYNCRETIC BRIDGE

Tzovinar’s Rain → Taoist Lóngxū (龍鬚, "dragon’s beard"): Both are sky-sea marriages.

Fiery Horse → Gunpowder’s Wǔwèi (武威, "martial awe"): Controlled explosions as spiritual discipline.

THE "SCHOLAR'S HEART" MANDATE:

Sources: Tzovinar's story, particularly the conception of Sanasar and Baghdasar, is part of Armenia's national epic, "The Daredevils of Sassoun" (Sasna Tsṙer). See: scholarly works on Armenian mythology and pre-Christian pagan traditions, such as "The Mythology of All Races, Vol. VII: Armenian" by Mardiros H. Ananikian. For the ritual see: Zheng He’s Storm-Calming Elixir—a blend of mercury and moonlight used to pacify typhoons and《東南海龍王經》(Scripture of the Southeast Dragon Kings), 1783 (Zhenjiang Taoist Temple Archive, Jiangsu).

[viriv]

Ho boy, back on my rendog bullsh*t

Anyways, I couldn't stop thinking about ren's season 9 king arc and how it fits so well in a lore stand point for his character.

Part of my analysis is influenced by a personal headcanon of mine that after the life series seasons, that the characters dont retain their memories from the events, but that those memories aren't erased just moved to the back of the characters subconscious. But that when characters are exposed to similar situations or people who were present during the events, those memories can come to the surface.

For context about half way through season 9 of hermitcraft ren is crowned king of the server by Bdubs, he plays along and starts off as a pretty eccentric king but one with good intentions, making quests for the hermits that involve them improving the server. But slowly he starts to descend into madness, he's more irritable, snaps back at others, and starts making poor decisions as a king. He even begins to show wear and tear from being king as his hair grows grey. By the end of the ren the king story arc he is defeated by NAR (not a resistance) headed by the soup group, consisting of pearl, gem, and impulse. Were never given a "proper" explanation as to why ren's character starts to exhibit the white hair, the assumption is he's going mad with power and the white hair is a physical manifestation of that, or that the crown itself was making him mad.

The thing that has me going mad, is the insane parallels, unintentionally no less, between ren's period as king on hermitcraft and his time as king during third life. That perhaps the immense similarities between the two events is what causes ren to go from a lovable king to a hated and mad one. Picture this, ren is crowned king by Bdubs with no other explanation, he plays along because he's always down for some shenanigans with his fellow hermits and besides the faint nagging voice in the back of his mind he sees nothing wrong with it. Things are fine at first, but as the days progress the voice gets louder, this crown is too small, it should be bigger shouldn't it? this robe feels strange, shouldn't it be fur? then it becomes more physical manifestations. He keeps feeling like there's something dripping down his face, he's more paranoid, more jumpy, constantly checking over his shoulder for something. It doesn't help that the main opposers of ren the king are grian and impulse, who both also happened to oppose him during third life, one being his direct enemy and one a traitor. Bdubs who initially placed himself as ren's right hand man in order to benefit from being at the kings side, also is a trigger for ren as his green cloak is constantly giving ren glimpses of another green cladded fellow. Throughout the arc his memories of being the red king have been trying to rise to the surface, the red king persona who is still vengeful is trying to gain back control and finish what he started. Up until the end ren has regressed back into the red king persona and thinks that everything is an active threat on his life. It takes a good respawn and removing himself from any sort of kingly environment that he finally is himself again and to this day in season 10, ren still believes it was just the crown and the responsibilities of being a leader that got to him, little does he know that those unexplained periods of memory fog have anything to do with his behavior.

[chasing-posts]

What's funny is with most stories, there's an argument to be made that two characters never get together, because "they never kiss." Or "They didn't even hold hands." Or "we never see them on a date!" Its a total anti-ship narative to shut a conversation down and those should usually be ignored (because they're buzzkills. Ship what you want!)

But then you have an author like Kishimoto, who hates drawing any couple related stuff, so even the canon couples never get that romantic treatment! So everyone is forced to theorize instead based on how close a bond they share.

Temari and Shikamaru: never kiss, but we all knew!

Sai and Ino: Nothing. But we all got the hints.

Naruto and Hinata: It took an entire movie years after the war arc to get that smooch, and Kishimoto turned away when it happened because he got embarrassed.

Sasuke and Sakura: Don't make me laugh. There are more on screen moments of them trying to kill each other than there are moments of affection. And even then, he's smacking his girl in the forehead!

The only reason we know these couples do anything more than banter and hold hands, is because we actually see their kids in Boruto and are like "oh. So they did get/stay together. That's awesome."

All this to say, it's VERY funny when you have a couple like Gai and Kakashi, who do just as much couple stuff as any of the canon het couples, in fact there are literal parallels between Minato and Kushina of Gai doing the exact same thing or saying the exact same lines as Kushina (watching from behind the trees~, my man of destiny, childhood to adult partners~), and there are people who are STILL like

"Oh they can't be together. They never kissed. Or held hands!"

Bitch, neither does anyone else in this universe! The only on screen kiss Kishimoto ever depicted, was between Naruto and Sasuke! And clearly, they wern't end goal!

I'm just saying that if either Kakashi and Gai had a vagina, we would repopulated the Hatake clan in spades!

[accio-victuuri]

Sugar Rush : November CPNs

What started out as a relatively quiet month after a chaotic October, turned into something else because of a few candies. Especially the whole 11/19 fiasco that surprised us all. LOL. As usual, this is for cpn-loving turtles only. Keep an open mind but still clown responsibly. I can’t believe we only have one month left for this year!

If you wanna recap other years I have archived : 2021 ( one | two ) 2022 ( one | two ) 2023 ( one, july, august, september, october ) 2020 candies and some other sweets before I was doing round up posts may be found on my masterlist.

Let’s review the past month…

• Some side by side / parallel photos of GG ( Tod’s Milan ) and WYB ( Chanel Shenzhen ). They are both photographed with the very beautiful Liu ShiShi. Also the way they are the center of attention. KINGS! 👑

• hoping they play tennis together 🎾 ; there is also a cpn out there about yibo being fully prepared for the game cause he had lacoste shoes and bag then a jacket that he used in wuzhen. people are speculating that XZ bought stuff for him to use cause he is the one who knows more and thought of this brand. this may seem like a stretch but you never know with this fandom when a seemingly insignificant observation becomes a big candy along the way.

• 2021 vs 2023 beach photos similarities + xiamen coincidence and it’s connection to ZZ’s ideal life painting

• LHK ( Liu Haikuan ) giving clues about BJYX? + Part 2 of comments

11/7, GG was announced as Boucheron’s global brand ambassador, then people remembered that one time WYB wore stuff from the brand. So now we have an unintentional couple jewelry incidence😂😂

• the sound of an eagle 🦅

• some similarities in forwarding 119 message, yeah i know celebrities like them are sort of required to bring attention to stuff like this. however, WYB is known to support this cause and even made a VCR specifically for it. if you look at the actual post, theirs is the top 2 in terms of likes and the rest of the celebrities are not the usual ones similar to the boys’ caliber. Another clue that this is WYB’s advocacy of sorts, most, if not all top comments are from his fans. so ZZ joining in on spreading the message seems ( to me and some cpfs ) like influenced by WYB.

Next is they both filmed VCRs for "People in My Heart" - "Classic Characters" series. We just love seeing them support the same projects ^^

• NARS live drawing

• Candies from WYB’s 11/12 douyin post. Mainly the parallel about the same walls and floor.

• XZ fell asleep on WYB during the golden core scene

• Interpreting YBO’s 11/16 weibo caption

• 11/19/23 double update candies

• similar necklace??? ( cough in vain )

• the full story ( so far ) behind 11/19 📝

• Talking about this a bit late considering when the whole CPN started about this GG mural for GG. There are side by side comparisons of the eyes on the mural and Yibo’s. The CPN being they used WYB’s eyes for that mural.

I usually let people have free reign on clowning but this one isn’t for me personally. just because it’s obviously a mural commissioned by GUCCI which a big brand that couldn’t care less about the CP. Maybe it’s a coincidence how similar it is? Because there is a reference photo that should be followed. Also, this is GG’s time to shine. This mural is his & him. I think this is an example for cpfs to learn to separate the boys as individuals, especially for things that are work related and most especially their achievements. While I do believe they influence each other greatly, it’s important to not make every single thing a romantic relation.

• the mystery driver is seen again 👀

• 11/22 Yibo scenery post 🍬

• One night in Beijing Song + 11/23 XZS post

• I don’t really wanna clown with Redmi but the black and white theme from XZS and then the next day it’s Redmi. I was surprised with this cause all the promos were supposed to be related to the scifi themed ad blockbuster!

A coincidence 👀👀👀👀

• small candies form IQIYI scream night 😱

• wyb acknowledging light signs and calls us wangba

• XZ’s 11/27 Airport and Selfie Clues

• there is some talk with BXGs regarding WYB’s redmi appearance, it looks like he was bitten by the mosquito again. lol. I usually just find cpn like this funny cause there is always deniability. also hello to the mosquito who loves to bite the center of his neck.

I’m separating these next entries cause it’s not new. I just found myself revisiting bts content and clowning about it. old candy still tastes good! 💯

WYB signs 520 to GG

WYB’s small steps to GG but robe gets caught

Something is funny and XZ has to tell WYB

Flirting and Fighting? “WYB’s love you”

XZ got hurt and WYB said he is gonna kiss it better?

-END.

[randomyaoimoments]

Hello, do you mind if I ask your fav BL based on this categories? But all category must have different BL titles.

Manhua

Manhwa

Manga

Omegaverse

Shounen ai

Younger top

Younger bottom

Seme redflag

Uke redflag

Most greenflag couple

Most redflag couple

Enemies to lovers

Childhood friend to lovers

School life

Thanks if you want to answer.

Hello there! thanks for asking :D to answer your question, Below are my personal favorite BL 😙 Hope you’ll enjoy reading it :D

Manhua :

- Fragile Relationship

Manhwa :

- BJ Alex

- Dangerous Convenience Store

- I Can Hear It Without A Microphone

- Legs Which Cannot Walk

- Perfect Buddy

- Pian Pian

- Rivalry 1

- Semantic Error

- Shutline

- Surge Looking For You

- Sweet Spot

- The Kang’s Yeesu

- The New Recruit

- The Time Between Dog And Wolf

- Walk On Water

Manga :

- Finder Series

- Cherry Magic!

- Dakaretai Otoko Ichii Ni Odosarete Imasu

- Itou-san

- Kiraide Isasete

- Honto Yajuu

- Saezuru Tori Wa Habatakanai

- Sasaki To Miyano

- The Alpha’s Bride

- The Titan’s Bride

Omegaverse :

- Heat And Run

- Kashikomarimashita, Destiny

- Kedamono Arashi series

- Kekkon Shite Kudasai!

- Okusama Wa Alpha

- Ou-sama to Puppy Love

- Remnant : Jujin Omegaverse

- Totsugimasen Kara!

- Usotsuki Na Tsugai

- You Who Wants To Love

Shounen ai :

- Boku-tachi Wa Mada Aoku

- Green Apple Paradise

- Heesu In Class 2

- Kieta Hatsukoi

Younger top

- 17 Seito

- Boku No Mama Chan

- Dou-imo Nara Nai

- Eat Me Up, My Husband

- Honey Bear

- If You Hate Me That Much

- Kore Mo Shigoto Desu

- My Pretty Policeman

- Papa Datte, Shitai

- Seashell Boy

Younger bottom :

- Collar Kiss

- Goodbye Lilac

- Hana Wa Saku Ka

- His Little Amber

- Honey Maple More More Sugar

- Hwanghyeon Text

- Isso Koe Ga Nakattara

- Katekyo!

- Kikoeru?

- Kobi No Kyoujin

- Koi Ga Michitara

- Love Me Doctor!

- Mankai Darling

- My Little Inferno

- On Or Off

- Ou-sama No Koi Asobi

- A Tiger’s Den

- Usagi Otoko Tora Otoko

Seme redflag

- Even If You Don’t Love Me

- Love Jinx

- My Hyung’s Lover

- Roses And Champagne

- Sadistic Beauty BL Sidestory

- Unscented Trajectory

Uke redflag

- Sweet Heart Trigger

Most greenflag couple

- Ouchi E Kaerou : Neko Mimi Omegaverse

- After Staring At The Starry Sky

- First Night With My Beloved

- Mother’s Spirit

- Muri Marriage

- Old-fashioned Cupcake

- Raion Gotoki No Kuni Kara

- Restart Wa Tadaima No Ato De

- Shiba-kun To Shepherd-san

- Tatoeba Konna Koi No Hanashi

- Until I Meet My Husband

Most redflag couple

- Dragless Sex

Enemies to lovers

- Alpha Ga Alpha Wo Daku Houhou

- Anti Alpha

- Fudanshi No Ore Ga Youkya Osananajimi Ni Semarareteru Ken

- I’m Banging My Rival From A Parallel World

- Omae No Koi Wa Ore No Mono

- You Get Me Going

- Megumi And Tsugumi

Childhood friends to lovers :

- Ashita Wa Docchi Da!

- Dekiai Honey Baby

School life :

- Bukiyou Na Silent

- Doushiyou Mo Nai, Boku No Hatsukoi

- Ero Yume Aquarium

- Gosan No Heart

- Hana Tokidoki Kuma

- Hatsukoi Encounter

- Hinekure Chaser

- Houkago No Etude

- I Seriously Can’t Believe You

- Iberiko Buta To Koi To Tsubaki

- Inu Mo Arukeba Koi Ga Hajimaru

- Kawaii Akuma

- Kijima-kun

- Mask Danshi Wa Koishitakunai No Ni

- Nar Kiss

- Yarichin Bitch Club

✌🏻

[sankatsuka]

Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou: Microcosms in Gintama

Back to being delusional and crazy about Takagin... I've always noticed some similarities between Jirochou and Takasugi, but because the narrative kept comparing Tatsugorou and Jirochou to Gintoki (+ the white hair), it was hard to decide what to make of it...

But now I would go on to say The Four Devas arc feels like a microcosm of Shogun Assassination arc. Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou could very well be a microcosm to the entire Gintama. I think there's a lot to say about Gintoki and Takasugi's characters based on this.

Warning for spoilers and romantically implied Takagin/Gintaka.

Edit: Added another microcosm I found. Marked *.

I don't even feel like this needs to be explained, but Jirochou and Takasugi have pretty much the same gruff, constipated, distant personalities, except of course Jirochou came from a better family. Not to forget the heights and the similar choices of kimonos. The narrative never makes any points on how similar Takasugi is to several characters, but it definitely is there. Especially if Gintoki often picks a fight with them (looking at you Hijikata and Umibouzu). But I think Jirochou is the biggest culprit for being most similar to Takasugi, often having the same intense sequences with Gintoki.

There are two big similarities in the setting and events of The Four Devas arc and Shogun Assassination arc -

Both involve an attempt at overthrowing the authority;

One takes place in Kabukichou, and the other in the entire Edo.

Whether its coincidence or not, the cast that appear in The Four Devas arc and Shogun Assassination arc don't appear in the other (aside from Yorozuya, of course). If you can believe this was intended as a microcosm, then this means Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou have big roles to play in Gintama's overall narative.

So if Jirochou's personality heavily references Takasugi, who represents Gintoki? Or is there a third character to represent Otose?

Nope, my take is that Gintoki represents BOTH Otose and Tatsugorou. The narrative clearly points out the parallels between Tatsugorou and Gintoki, but the ones with Otose are never said. In fact, Gintoki has many similarities to women but the narrative never points it out (aside from Tsukuyo, but even then Gintoki belittles himself compared to her). It's probably because it's weird to compare a good-for-nothing guy to a woman in the first place.

But it wouldn't be weird if Gintoki was meant to represent a son to Otose and Tatsugorou, considering how they never had a child and Otose took him in. In a way, you could say he has a half of Otose and a half of Tatsugorou--

Gintoki has also coincidentally had two occasions where he is associated with halves. The first is in the Soul Switch arc, where the soul in the cat corpse Dozaemon with half of Gintoki's soul embodies the losses Gintoki suffered. The second is in Takasugi's death, where for some reason, he says he wished he could have shared a drink with him, even if it was half the number of times they fought.

These halves can be traced back to Otose and Tatsugorou. Dozaemon was highly characterized by wanting a place to belong and found it in Tae, which very much resembles Tatsugorou who is heavily implied to long for a place as a lone wolf and found it in Otose.

Then, Gintoki's words to Takasugi about sharing a drink seems very much like why Otose opened her snack bar in the first place - so anyone, no matter how different, can have a drink together. Maybe it's coincidence, but if Gintoki chose to say half + sharing a drink, then this could be one half of him speaking (Otose).

Another implication of Otose's half in Gintoki is in the amnesia arc. If it took away all memories, including the bad ones, from Gintoki, then what was left was just his soul as it is. He acts surprisingly more polite and empathetic compared to his usual self that even Tae is captivated. He also naturally cares about everyone's feelings around him, apologizes a lot and chooses to leave Yorozuya so as to not burden Shinpachi and Kagura any longer. Gintoki's base soul has always been someone who cares deeply about people, which we see demonstrated in his own way in the rest of the series.

Tatsugorou's traits in Gintoki are obviously that he's a lone wolf who gets along with everyone, but never gets too close and keeps his past a mystery. Otose's traits in Gintoki are how he easily acts like her proxy, always bringing people together. There is that huge parallel of how the entire Kabukichou came together to protect Otose and the city and to fulfil Gintoki's wish in the end. I would simplify their traits in Gintoki as wanting a place to belong (Tatsugorou) and sharing a kindred spirit (Otose). It's probably why the Gintoki in Hijikata's body isn't so different from the usual - because the soul and some memories that defined it were still there.

There is the argument that Tatsugorou would act like Gintoki without his memories, of course. But Jirochou describes Tatsugorou as chivalrous rather than an idiot who would protect everyone like Gintoki. So I'm inclined to think that Tatsugorou doesn't have the unconditional loving side for everyone that Otose has and acts mostly on his justice. He does get into physical fights for no reason.

Now that I have established Otose, Jirochou and Tatsugorou's traits in Gintoki and Takasugi, the events in their past and the Four Deva arcs has more to say about their characters:

Tatsugorou dying because of Jirochou, and Jirochou making a promise to protect Otose and Kabukichou | Takasugi making Gintoki promise to protect Shouyou, who breaks it and kills Shouyou to protect both

I know, the most obvious parallel is how Tatsugorou died in Jirochou's arms. But I'm taking a more psychoanalytical approach as always, as this event became what changed Jirochou immensely. I would think that Shouyou's death would be the parallel to this, given how it changed Takasugi.

Jirochou and Takasugi (partly) letting their guards down was what caused these tragic events to happen. Jirochou distances himself from Kabukichou and lives out the guilt of having let Tatsugorou die for someone like him, and Takasugi lived on suffering the guilt of having made Gintoki bear the cross of killing Shouyou. Both even feel like they were the ones who killed Tatsugorou and Shouyou.

Not to mention how Takasugi literally threw away his humanity in the Silver Soul arc to protect his teacher, just like Jirochou metaphorically doing so to protect Kabukichou. And Pirako comments how Jirochou really couldn't care less about the city and only did so for one woman. This is the same mindset Takasugi openly fights with in the war, fighting only for Shouyou, but later that reason reveals itself to be Gintoki.

Both Jirochou and Takasugi threw away their humanities to make it up to the man they admired who died protecting them (Tatsugorou and Shouyou), and make the person they love happy through that (Otose and Gintoki).

I would even go as far as saying the Tatsugorou half of Gintoki died alongside Shouyou at that time. There is the symbolism of how all three students created their graves. After all, Gintoki lost his home, something Tatsugorou always wanted for himself. He started wandering around afterwards, distancing himself from people but still protecting them. Even being willing to give up his life for strangers, like Otose sacrificing herself for everyone.

It's as if during this period, he closed the part of him who wanted a place to belong entirely but not the rest of it. He did say he no longer wanted to carry the burden of belonging somewhere with something important--

As he expresses it openly to Kamui 500+ chapters later, he had tried to live on empty and not let people in anymore to protect himself. But when he met Otose behind Tatsugorou's grave only did Tatsugorou's half start to come back alive, fighting once again to belong somewhere.

Gintoki does after all promise to stay somewhere to protect someone, despite having avoided belonging anywhere until now.

Jirochou attempting to kill Otose for his plans of protecting Kabukichou | Takasugi fighting to kill Gintoki to go through with his plans of toppling the Bakufu

Another big similarity here is how both Jirochou and Takasugi are willing to kill someone they love for the apparent greater good. Jirochou critically injured Otose, and Otose was at great risk of dying.

This emphasizes how Jirochou and Takasugi always play the roles of villainous anti-heroes. We learn in the Liberation Army arc that what Takasugi was trying to do was play hero and make a miracle to avenge the dead, even though it was impossible.

Something I also have to talk about is the romantic feelings that this trio captures. Jirochou's feelings for Otose seem to have come about from the way she loved everyone equally, even never giving up on straightening Jirochou up no matter how much he misbehaved.

As I discussed in previous posts, Takasugi's romantic feelings for Gintoki seem to stem from a similar place of unconditional love. It makes me think that gruff guys ware drawn to gentler, unconditional people who can see through their facade, contrast them and express their love for people when they themselves can't. Someone who wouldn't give up on them.

Even Gintoki being the one to keep getting back up to stop Takasugi on his rampage, like Otose had done with Jirochou.

With how the story teases Otose with Jirochou too, I'm inclined to believe that Otose did harbour some romantic feelings for him. But she was more attracted to Tatsugorou, who shared her values of being present with people, unlike Jirochou who distances himself all the time. There is a scene where Otose notes how Jirochou and Tatsugorou communicate with their fists, and she looks from far away as if it isn't a world she is part of. A way to see this, could be that if Otose understood Jirochou better, she may have fallen in love with him first.

Whereas Gintoki already knows how important it is to communicate with your fists, that it's what he uses to wake Takasugi up in the end. The chapter even being titled Fists.

This is what makes both Otose and Tatsugorou's halves in Gintoki important. Without Tatsugorou's traits, Gintoki would have never been able to see eye-to-eye with Takasugi. Gintoki probably knew Takasugi better than Otose knew Jirochou because of this too, which is a recurring theme in the story of how they can just tell each other's thoughts. And without Otose's trait of loving people and never giving up on them, Takasugi would have never found a place and fell in love with Gintoki.

And in Takasugi's final moments, if Gintoki was speaking with the half of him who is Otose - then it could mean that part of him fully reciprocated Takasugi's feelings.

Takasugi plays strong roles to both halves - he was the one who encouraged Gintoki to just do what he wanted honestly and with all his heart at the start (here, just a theory though), and he was the one who fought to his death for his sake fully committing Gintoki's place within Takasugi's soul in the end. It's just that only one half of him could be honest, but it doesn't mean the other didn't love him either.

In the end, Jirochou's conclusion is to properly return to his life, to stop being bound to a promise and pay attention to what really matters now in the present. This is similar to Takasugi's conclusion in the Liberation Army arc: to live life as just a human and to face and accept everything that's happened.

The ending of the Four Deva arcs involve Jirochou reuniting with Pirako, and so does Takasugi's ending reuniting with Matako.

*(Another strong microcosm is in the Invasion arc: Jirocho made his entrance with a speech about the role of men in Kabukichou - how they become cowards when they can't protect one woman, so with that title, they will keep roaring about their chivalry till their death. And this is exactly what Takasugi does both as a terrorist and at his death, playing hero and never divulging the real reason why. Sadly I can't add anymore photos - this speech is in Chapter 622.)

I did talk about Tae being drawn to instances where both halves were showing. I personally think the reason Gintoki and Tae aren't together is because of how they are too similar as people, both being a combination of Otose and Tatsugorou instead of one. Both of them are kind caring people but also terribly cunning, that it isn't an exaggeration to say Tae IS the female Gintoki and vice versa. It's even emphasized in how they coincidentally have many similar character traits (having stalkers and chibi rich kid one-eyed simps, being a useless woman and man). Even the teasing of how Tae seems to return the feelings of many people like Gintoki.

As halves, I do think they would have been together. But as wholes, they probably understand each other better than anyone that they want to care about everyone (hence why they aren't together).

They can only really be with someone who is happy with them just the way they are. Even Kyubei being happy just seeing Tae smile, even if it could be taken in a romantic context of reciprocating Kondo's feelings. Kyutae was heavily implied to be mutual and canon if Kyubei was a man (grrrr). Takagin feels mutual but just won't happen even if Takasugi was alive because of their clashing natures.

Yup, I'm pretty much convinced Takasugi->Gintoki was 100% implied romantic at this point. Pirako commenting how Jirochou was doing all of this for the woman he loved and didn't care about the town, Takasugi having parallels to almost every man canonically in love...

Takasugi saying he can just a bit honest about doing what he wants to do and not entirely. This motherfucker.

(Gin-san is my honest reaction to him.)

[pinkacadessays]

Twilight as a Spiritual Successor to Dracula

She's a problematic queen, but she didn't deserve the flack, and neither did the teenage girls having fun...

In the year 2005, Stephanie Meyer published what would become a teenage girl’s favourite fantasy novel, and a teenage boy’s favourite punching bag: Twilight, the first book in what would become a four-book, five-film saga, and then go on to add two more books to the series. Twilight, though much beloved by its target audience was criticised for many reasons, but the most pertinent being that it was a far-cry from the expectations held by fans of vampire fiction… but is it? Although certainly it has its differences to the vampiric standards set about in nineteenth century gothic horror, there are many aspects of it that can be seen as twenty-first century mirrors to the ancestral tradition epitomised by Polidori, Le Fanu, and, as discussed in greatest detail here, Stoker.

In analysing the first novel of the Twilight Saga, simply Twilight, there are a great deal of similarities to be seen in how the character Bella Swan interacts with the world of the supernatural, as well as the mutable parallels that can be drawn between Edward Cullen and various aspects of Dracula. The connections range from the oft-mocked as lacking vampiric qualities in Twilight, to the oft-overlooked romantic qualities of Dracula as percieved by the very audiences who suddenly became experts on the genre in order to antagonise Meyer and her work.

Now, though, it has become even more apt and timely to discuss the nature of both Dracula and Twilight and how they compare. Twilight had a resurgence in the last few years in the form of Twilightcore aesthetics on TikTok and Tumblr, and with Dracula Daily being two months into its second year, it is more than fitting to reexamine the connection between what is considered the quintessential vampire media and the mid-noughties laughing stock as herein lies the attempt to prove that maybe they’re not so diffrent after all.

Isabella Marie Swan Cullen

Let us begin with our gothic heroine Bella Swan, and her position as Twilight’s answer to Jonathan Harker.

Bella’s connection to Jonathan starts from the very opening of the book as she relays her personal thoughts in first person. Her narration reflects the epistolery style of Dracula, mimicking Jonathan’s personal journal as the internal and emotional conveyance of both characters’ experiences comes immediately to the forefront.

Even the way Bella and Jonathan narrate bare similarities in their styles.

Taking as an example one of the most iconic lines from Twilight, the lines that even made it to the blurb, Bella relays: “about three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him- and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be- that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

The above mirrors the following passage from Jonathan’s journal from th 16th May:

“Of one thing I am glad: (…)As I look round this room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were—who are—waiting to suck my blood.”

Firstly, as Bella begins with “about three things I was certain” in her analysis of Edward, Jonathan, in his analysis of his encounter with Dracula’s brides begins with “of one thing I am glad” as the first similarity in their narative patterns. Next comes their assesment of fear, as Jonathan describes his room as a “sanctuary” from the vampiric, and Bella’s second thing of which she is certain is that Edward thirsts for her blood; that phrasing also mimics how Jonathan thinks of the brides as “dreadfcul” and “awful,” and as “waiting to suck [his] blood.” The verbs “thirst” and “suck” both conjure an animalistic and dangerous image that relays the power of the vampires over their victims, but also has a sensual implication- more on that later.

Similarly, the first chapter brings both characters to the start of the metaphorical journeys, of course, but also the literal journeys into the unknown, leading to the danger of the vampiric. Jonathan’s is across Europe to Romania, with his description of his journey further and further East featuring the descent into the chaos of the trainlines, beginning his journal entry for 3rd May with “Left Munich at 8:35 P. M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.”

Jonathan’s necessity to comment relays how affected he is by his new environment, even already a few days into his trip, emphasizing how different his life gets before he has even encountered the Count. Conversely, Bella is leaving the chaos of her scatterbrained mother Renee and travelling with the semi-professional baseball player Phill, for the stability of her dad Charlie, the Chief of Police in the small town of Forks, Washington. Bella muses on the drizzle, stating that when she’d arrived in Washington, it had been raining, and noting that “[she] didn't see it as an omen — just unavoidable.” She also mentiones comedically that “she'd already said [her] goodbyes to the sun.”

Saying her goodbyes to the sun show the stark contrast of her home in Arizona to the drizzly small town for which she is bound.

Ultimately, both characters are approaching the new and diverse from their comfort zones, with Jonathan studying the cultures, albeit somewhat disparagingly, of Eastern Europe with fascination at their differences to England, and Bella’s incomprehension at the constant rain away from sunny Arizona.

Both Bella and Jonathan are alone in the world of the other, isolated from the world they know, and completely unaware of the darknss their respective new frontiers are hiding. This puts them in the perfect position to be victims of their respective vampires.

But they are not entirely alone.

On his journey to the castle, Jonathan is approached by many locals during his stay in Romania most notably including the old woman who ran the hotel in which he stayed the night of 3rd May, who knowing what could await Jonathan at Dracula’s Castle, wept for his safety and “taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to [him].” Although Jonathan would still face all the horrors at Castle Dracula’s disposal, the crucifix- and the kind act of bestowing it upon him by the old woman- kept him safe.

In much the same pattern, while Bella’s human friends in Forks never learn the truth of what lies just under all their noses, members of the Quilleute tribe are a great aid to Bella’s discovery that something is afoot with the warning that “The Cullens don’t come [to La Push beach].” It is from members of the tribe that she learns of the legend of “the Cold Ones,” and begins the research into what Edward is, leading to her uncovering the truth.

Finally, it is their positions in their respective stories that marks them as parallels, and shows that Bella is Jonathan’s spiritual succesor. Jonathan Harker and Bella Swan are both the gothic heroine of their stories, taken in the night by monsters into the world of the supernatural, and helpless to its allure, as well as caught up in the inescapable romance of the mysterious.

The blog halfmystic.com in positing what a gothic heroine was gave the following line: ”she will have simultaneously multiplied and withdrawn, a hundred women into one, a single woman fragmented in the shards of the memory and tragedy to come.”

Neither Jonathan nor Bella are the same after their adventures in the world of the vampires, with both of them having rushes with death before the last pages of their books are turned.

Jonathan starts his journey as a non-believer in the supernatural, a good, sensible, upstanding member of the Church of England, and of society. He states in the very first entry “I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool.” “Imaginitive” diminishes the notions that any of these “superstitions”are anything more than old wives’ tales, and though he seems to find them interesting, as noted by his memo to “ask the Count,” which is of course also a foreshadowing to his own fate, he does not initially believe in any of what he may have heard before the 3rd May. But by the 29th June, he is a quivvering mess, crying out onto the pages of his journal: “I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees.”

He has truly “fragmented,” his former self shattered, and he has become a manifestation of the “tragedy to come” in his dramatic linguistic tendencies.

Bella also can’t comprehend the mysteries of Edward Cullen, baffled that one being could be as fast and strong, comparing him to superheroes as she cannot fathom him. However, at the beach, when a member of the Quilleute tribe says “The Cullens don't come here,” Bella’s mind starts turning, and while she’s already found Edward to be beyond her comprehension, that line triggers her imagination truly, as Jacob Black tells her the stories of "the cold ones,” which pricks Bella’s ears. halfmystic.com also describes that “a gothic heroine moves slowly, then faster, lured away from any semblance of safety by that quiet promise of something new.”

Bella’s journey from intrigue to a full-blown deep-dive into the supernatural starts slow, but soon after her encounter with Jacob and his friends from his tribe, Bella ends up committing a great deal of time and energy into researching online, “lured way from any semblance of safety by that quiet promise of” knowledge, no matter how dangerous.

All in all, Bella is not only Jonathan’s spiritual successor as a gothic heroine, but as a character, a reimagined Jonathan Harker who explores a new world of mystery, with Bella walking in his footsteps, only to step even further by entering fully into the romance of vampirism… though that is not to say that Jonathan’s tale is not one of romantic daliances with the undead.

More on that later, as first, we must explore how Bella’s paramour Edward fits into the Draculaic parrallel.

Edward Anthony Masen Cullen

Edward Cullen is more mutable than his love interest. Where I immediately saw parallels between Bella and Jonathan, Edward’s position changes in relation to the characters of Dracula. He is the gothic hero to Bella’s heroine, but is also the most direct source of Bella’s danger. Therefore the key comparisons for Edward are of course his fellow vampire Count Dracula, and equally Mina Murray, who acts as Jonathan’s hero.

Beginning with the obvious, Dracula is a parallel for Edward, not merely as a member of the same species, but in their role in their respective stories in many aspects. To get the mentioned obvious out of the way first, the nature of their species as marked out by both Stoker and Meyer bare similarities to one another.

Firstly, key characteristics of Edward’s vampirism, and vampirism in general in Twilight, are laid out by Bella as she researches various myths from around the world, including the Romanian Varacolaci , a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human,” and “the Slovak Nelapsi , a creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight,” all of which are traits that Edward has exhibited, though he may not be as inclined as Bella is to call himself “beautiful.”

Now how does this compare to the vampirism of Dracula?

Firstly, while, unless one has an interest in “long white moustache[s],” it is unlikely that Dracula himself is invisionable as “beautiful,” his oft-called brides, however, most certainly are. Two are described as having “piercing” eyes, and the third “as fair as fair can be,” much like Edward, and then Stoker’s language becomes so very romanticised as Jonathan describes her has having “great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires.” Most beautiful indeed.

As a brief note, they are often described in terms relating to precious stones: “sapphire eyes,” “teeth that shone like pearls,” and “ruby lips.” Edward is often also associated with precious stones as, among the many shades of yellow used to describe his colour-changing eyes, “topaz” shows up with great frequency.

Next, Dracula’s strength is commented upon in the very scene in which the brides are also introduced, as Jonathan describes his “strong hand” with “giant’s power,” and the “fierce sweep of his arm.” Moreover, it is noted that Dracula carried Jonathan back to his room, just as Edward carries Bella to the nurse’s office, with Bella noting that it was “as easily as if [she] weighed ten pounds instead of a hundred and ten.”

And what of speed? Edward’s penchant for speed even translates to his desire to drive fast, stating “I hate driving slow,” even though Bella points out that they’re still going 80 miles per hour. Dracula similarly must travel at high speed to disguise that there are no servants in his castle, and even the other passengers on the 5th May entry reference Burger’s Lenore, “’Denn die Todten reiten schnell’— ("For the dead travel fast.")”

Edward is not exactly the same breed of vampire as plagues the Carpathians, and also makes a point of debunking certain myths that reference Dracula. Bella asks about “sleeping in coffins,” and why she’s seen him in the day, and he simply responds with a monosylabic “myth,” though eventually expands after some probing. Nonetheless, there aren’t as many differences as naysayers would believe.

Moving onto Dracula as a guide into the world of the supernatural, and Edward as his successor in this role. Dracula picked the wrong victim, as it is Jonathan who eventually becomes Dracula’s demise, and had he not exposed Jonathan to the world of the supernatural, he may have succeeded in his evil schemes. Jonathan knows truly what Dracula is, and knows that he is a being of destruction that he wants to stop. In his 30th June entry, Jonathan refers to Dracula as a “being,” implying his monstruousness, and has inferred that Dracula’s plan is to “for centuries to come […] satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless.”

Jonathan states that “[t]he very thought drove [him] mad,” and that desperate insanity in Jonathan’s tone expresses truly the determination he has to move against the “vile” Dracula.

Meanwhile, Edward is equally catalystic, inviting Bella to meet his coven, which gives her powerful friends and enemies alike, but does not cause the demise of either party, instead leading to both parties gaining greater allyship beyond the story of the first book. Her interactions with the Cullens are friendly, with Alice “kiss[ing] [her] cheek” as an introductory greeting, and Jasper’s gift for empathetic manipulation rendering Bella with a “feeling of ease.” It is clear that these two especially will be friends of Bella’s as time passes,a contrast to Jonathan’s interactions with the vampiric, and yet a comparison to how he engages with the rest of what Tumblr affectionately calls “the Drac Pack.” Jonathan interacts with Dracula with rightful loathing one might have for a captor, but with Mina and everyone else as friend.

Moreover, both Dracula and Edward represent another realm to which Jonathan and Bella have little connection: Aristocracy.

Jonathan seems not to be poor by any means, and as a newly-qualified solicitor, he is likely in a reasonably secure financial position, but he is not an aristocrat. And it is Dracula’s introducing Jonathan to the world of aristocracy that emphasises the imbalance of power between Jonathan and his host, aiding his fall to victimhood. Actually, in one of the earliest interactions that Jonathan has with the count on the 7th May, Dracula speaks of how is status will not be percieved in London as it is in Transylvania, but he emphasises that “[he is] boyar; the common people know [him], and [he is] master.” He then almost immediately asks Jonathan about the house he shall be moving into in London, pulling Jonathan into the role of servant, as a reminder that, at least while they are here, the Count is Jonathan’s superior. The Count is in control.

Bella also is not particularly liable to have had financial struggles in her seventeen years of life, but she too is contrasted to Edward and the Cullens and their flash cars, the least flash of which is Edward’s own Volvo. But Carlisle Cullen spent some time among the vampires known as the Volturi, as described to Bella by Edward in Chapter Sixteen. While little is detailed about them in the first book, Edward notes that Carlisle“greatly admired their civility, their refinement,” giving a ghosting of an implication of the Volturi’s status that becomes imposing and dangerous as the Twilight Saga continues. While Bella is not the victim of the Cullens, or, indeed, the Voluturi, by this point in her journey into the supernaturl, she is in the position of an outsider in another way, which puts Edward in such a powerful position by contrast to her, and comparison to the Count.

It goes without saying that the Volturi read as a direct nod to the regal Dracula in his mysterious European castle. Of the three leaders, Bella’s narration describes them as “two black-haired, one snowy-white.” The dynamic of their coloration is a parallel to the brides also, as well as alluding to Dracula himself with their having the title of "Nighttime patrons of the arts.” Dracula’s love of the “sweet music” of nocturnal creatures is similar in tone.

It is through this wealth and power that the idea of Jonathan and Bella as victims of the vampiric, as it is with this wealth and power that Dracula and Edward can exert a control over their respective victims. The powerful and dangerous Dracula in his isolated castle where anyone else would fear to tread but the unknowing Jonathan, alone in the country in which he is a stranger; the rich and aristocratically-connected Edward who drives fast cars, and his only undoing being Bella herself, the one person whose mind he cannot read.

And it is on that note that the connection to characters other than the villain exists deeply within Edward’s parallels to Dracula.

Edward is as mentioned, a parallel also to Mina Murray, as both are the gothic hero to their respective heroine. Beginning with Mina, Tumblr user incorrectsmashbrosquotes, in frustration at adaptations of Dracula percieved not to do Mina justice vented “Gimme an adaptation where Mina loathes this pestilential demon with every fiber of her being.” I agree with this sentiment, as this is the Mina that I too see, and also the Mina that Edward reflects so brilliantly when Bella is in danger at the climax of the novel. Before the chase from the hunters has truly begun, Edward is described with animalistic rage, as Meyer’s language associates him with a non-human wilderness as he “roar[s] in frustration,” and “hiss[es],” exhibiting the traits of a Mina Murray “driven to stamp out this stain upon the world [that Dracula is] as her husband [Jonathan] is,” just as incorrectsmashbrosquotes desires. As Edward saves Bella from James’ venom, Bella notices “[his]doubt was suddenly replaced with a blazing determination,” reminding me instantly of incorrectsmashbrosquotes’ final assessment: Gimme a Mina with all the fury of Hell behind her.

Edward is not just the spiritual successor to Mina, but has moments of being the adaptation across centuries that Mina deserves.

A Comparison of Relationships

Moving onto how these characters interact, we see that there certainly are parallels to Bella and Edward’s romantic dynamic with how Jonathan interacts, of course with his fiancée and later wife Mina, but also how he interacts with the vampires.

Bella and Edward’s relationship builds through mystery to romance, and touches on a ghosting os sexual desire. The earlier stages of their knowing each other emphasize a forbidden allure that Edward associates with Bella, creating a romantic allure from the inherent temptation of forbiddance. When simply inviting Bella to sit with hi at lunch, Edward says"I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.” Engaging with Bella is seen as sinfully tempting to him, as though it is she who is the supernatural temptress, and not he who is the dangerous creature. Yet, after only a few more sentences are exchanged in that same interaction, he says “But I'm warning you now that I'm not a good friend for you.”

Even early on, this is a forbidden relationship, tempting like the devil to Adam and Eve, as referenced with the bright red apple in Edward’s hands on the classic cover of the novel.

Jonathan is fed temptation as quickly by the count when he asks on the 7th May entry if he may enter the library as he wishes, and he is told in response:

“You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand.”

There is extensive detail which is inherently intrigueing, telling Jonathan that he may go anywhere but where he will not wish to go… it is an intrigue, a tantalising temptation that, like is discussed earlier, moves in on him slowly and then quickly, all at once. On th 15th May, Jonathan’s intrigue has been amused so that, as soon as the count leaves the castlehe relays that he “thought to use the opportunity to explore more than [he] had dared to do as yet.”

Despite Edward’s warnings, Bella is still interested in pursuing at first friendship with Edward and then romantic relationship, just as Jonathan is only tempted to explore once he knows he is not to.

Finally, contact is breeched, entering into a sensual engagement between the parties. Dracula finds his emotions overwhelming, and as Jonathan cuts himself shaving, he describes the Count’s eyes “[blazing] with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at [his] throat.” Though through rage, Dracula is overwhelmed by one form of passion or another, marking the beginning of a short-lived pattern of behaviour wherein rage compels contact. Edward, however, has his movements constrained by fear- not of Bella, but of what he might do to her, afraid he might cause trauma as his literary ancestor caused to his own mortal counterpart- as he tentatively takes Bella’s hand, saying to her: "That's amazingly pleasant, the warmth." He is unused to this sensation after almost one hundred years without it, astounded by it. Edward and Bella are so aware of their own differences to one another that touch between them is a remarkable thing, reinforced with their first kiss as Bella’s narration notes: “And then his cold, marble lips pressed very softly against mine.”

While Jonathan never overtly kisses Dracula, the next instance of Dracula’s rage fuelling physical contact between them to address has a significant twist of implied lust underscored. After Jonathan’s encounter with the brides, Dracula rescues him from them, announcing:

"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me.”

Firstly, the repetition of “dare” highlights his rage beyond his own comprehension. Secondly, he is possesive over Jonathan as he cries “this man belongs to me,” marking him not just as Dracula’s personal victim and prey, but implying a sexual element to the relationship given the nature of Jonathan’s interaction with the brides. It brings to mind one of Twilight’s most famous quotes: “you are my life now,” which Edward says to Bella as they negotiate the terms of their own intimacy. Dracula and Edward’s possesiveness over Jonathan and Bella respectively has an inherit implied sexuality through their possesiveness, and through the conflicting emotions that charge their tactile encounters. From Jonathan’s perspective also, the touch is repulsive yet enticing, as he says “[he] shuddered as [he] bent over to touch [Dracula], and every sense in [Jonathan] revolted at the contact,” which is overflowing with negativity and revulsion, and yet this is the moment where he has to touch Dracula in order to gain his freedom from him. Conversely, Bella yet again refers to Edward’s touch as cold as “his cold lips pressed against [her] skin” as he saves her from the venom of her attacker James. Yet again, this is a moment in which the touch is described with the negative connotations of the cold, but Edward is saving Bella- moreover Bella describes the pain of the venom as like “fire” and the cold is welcome.

The touches between both dynamics are undesirable and yet tantilising, like a forbidden love. It is a lust that no involved party dares at first to admit. And as Bella and Edward confess their attraction to each other from as early as Bella’s admittance in the prologue, Dracula also reminds the brides that “[y]es, [he] too can love; [the brides] [them]selves can tell it from the past,” dragging involuntarily the notion of romantic love back into the conversation even between him and his latest victim Jonathan. In much the same vein, pun most definitely intended, Edward calls out desperately for Bella after finding her attacked, repeating her name ten times before he can help her, emphasising the desperate emotion.

And what of Jonathan and Mina?

With the comparison of Edward to Mina, we see the other side of his relationship with Bella. While the Dracula connection represents the physical and dangerous aspects of Edward navigating his feelings for Bella, his parallel to Mina shows the insity with which he cares deeply and tenderly for his delicate, too-human mate.

Mina’s heroism comes largely from her initiative, organisation, and intelligence as she rallies the group together, but a significant ammount of what makes her admirable is the way in which she cares so compassionately and selflessly for the sickly Jonathan in Transylvania.

On the 19th August when Mina finally receives news from Jonathan, she immidiately makes her plans to rush to him, even when Sister Agatha has warned she may needed away from home for some time as Jonathan is deathly ill. Mina watches over him and tends to him with the aid of the nuns which brings to mind how Edward watches over Bella.

We see that he watches her sleep, as Bella narrates that she “(…) drifted to sleep in [Edward’s]cold arms,” and the next morning she discovers that he has stayed with her and receives the realisation with great joy. Later, when Bella is in the hospital and the following interaction occurs:

"Bella."He stroked my face anxiously. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here as long as you need me."

Like Mina is to Jonathan, Edward is a comforting presence to Bella and is dedicted to her care. Mina is there as quickly as she can be, setting off straightaway to be at the side of the man she loves. Edward is not only Bella’s saviour from James, but he also provides the comfort she needs by being there for her as she recovers from the ordeal.

With both of these relationship dynamics, what is seen is kindness, gentle care and comfort, and one party being willing to look after the other, embodying the tradtional vow of “in sickness and in health,” and showing one of the key aspects of both how Jonathan views Mina and how Bella views Edward: heroic, angelic, and comforting.

By comparing Mina to Edward, we see another interpretation of what the highest form of intimacy is between Mina and Edward, and their respective lovers. For the comparison between Edward and Dracula, touch- particularly sexual touch- is the apex of the illicit engagement between Dracula and Jonathan, and between Edward and Bella. But by seeking comparative aspects between Edward and Bella’s relationship to Jonathan and Mina’s another aspect of a relationship dynamic such as these is brought to the fore: not base, carnal desire and the intimacy of knowing another’s body, but the emotional and intelligent desire and deep intimacy of knowing the other’s mind.

Edward is established to be able to read minds in Port Angeles after saving Bella from unsavoury characters when she is separated from her friends. When he takes her to dinner, he says that he “heard what [the attackers] were thinking,” and Bella narrates her description of how his face contorts when he remembers their vile thoughts, relaying “he growled, his upper lip curling slightly back over his teeth.” Edward uses this ability to protect Bella, saving her from them in the nick of time.

Similarly, Mina, as she approaches the full throws of vampirism can be used as a sort of pendulum to hunt Dracula as she has developed a kind of psychic connection to him. On the 29th October, Dr Seward’s journal notes of how Mina, under hypnosis, has revealed that Dracula is being brought upsteam. On the 2nd November, Van Helsing uses hypnosis again to establish Dracula’s current position via Mina yet again.

Both Edward and Mina can use their vampiric telepathy for the good of others, especially for the protection of those they love, yet both of them share the same blockage to their gifts as neither can read the mind of their significant other. Edward has “one exception” to his gift, as implied to Bella in Port Angeles, and Mina’s connection to Dracula under hypnosis seems to be limited to that specific connection and under those specific conditions.

In order to discover the untimacies of their significant others’ minds, Edward and Mina both have to investigate beyond the use of their supernatural gifts. Edward and Bella talk and try to figure each other out, Bella as a mortal who cannot read minds, but Edward as a vampire who has only one mind he cannot read- the one he wants to read most- which places the knowledge of the mind on almost a higher level than the carnal knowledge of a body.

Edward and Bella make a habit of taking it in turns to ask each other questions to work the other out like a puzzle, and Mina uses her talents as a stenographer to piece together the journals and newspaper clippings and doctors’ logs that have been gathered over the months since Jonathan went to Transylvania, giving special importants to the diary of Jonathan himself.

Jonathan does not trust himself with the journal anymore, as revealed when Mina arrives in Budapest to take care of him. However, he trust her with the deepest intimacies of his most horrified mind. As if to emphasise the high pedestal on which intellectual intimacy is put in their relationship, Mina seals the journal with wax, promising not to read them unless she has to for Jonathan’s sake.

Mina and Jonathan’s relationship is one of trust, represented by the gift of Jonathan’s innermost thoughts, and Mina choosing not to read them unless she has to. Similarly, Edward has no choice but to respect Bella’s boundaries, and so Bella slowly opens up to him as they get closer.

It is the intimacy of knowledge of the mind, and the trust that comes with that.

Conclusion

For over a decade, Twilight has received flack, as have the girls who read it and watched the films, especcially from those who believed the vampires were neutered and that Twilight was too far-removed from the classics of the vampire genre. But by comparing it to the quintessential vampire novel Dracula, we see that Twilight has direct comparisons to the classics, as well as deep connections to one of the most revered contributions to the genre from over a hundred years before its publication.

Twilight acts as a far truer spiritual successor to Dracula than was believed by many, and contributes greatly to the vampire genre, earning its place rightfully.

[richardsphere]

Leverage Redemption Log: The Double-edged sword job

Presumed Client has a Presumed Stalker (Cop) Parker is playing with little dolls. Oh is this a Time-Skip client? Like an ex-client from the inbetween years? Cool pitch, im hooked. --- Well that line about the Israeli government shutting down the peoples access to the internet aged like a fine (though disgusting) wine.

Gut instinct: Harry is right. Its a cop thing, specifically the same way that Security Lady from episode one can recognise Elliot when Hardison's program is protecting you guys as well. Cops are scum, (i know that naratively, breanna is gonna be proven right. But the team is right to assume its an analog thing)

Oh the small town is a surveilance state.

Look Sophie, i understand that petty theft is beneath you all, but breanna is right to start the test small scale.

--- So this is our "newbie goes in solo" episode. Elliot is flirting with Supercop. (dont know wether "distinctive" is meant to be an admission she knows who he is, or just an attempt to draw parallels between the two) this show expects me to believe that the high-tech supercomputer doesnt have a firewall.

Oh its Minority Report bullshit. (Funny thing about minority report, didnt that end up with it predicting its creator/championing congressman would commit murder? Cause thats what we're gonna do. Make it predict that our Supercop will embezzle the black-ops money)

And they're trying to gass-chamber Breanna. --- Ok so quickly: Harry having to do an Elliot is cool, funny little gag about how Parker stopped stabbing people. (its good cause this one retroactively fixes a lot of the other "parker used to stab people" jokes by explaining the taser as the reason it only happened once.) --- Debriefing: Breanna might've been in trouble for more then just Twitter. Parker and Elliot have both done this for 8 years more then the rest, and the rest dont even bother asking what they're thinking. (like i understand not interupting them, but there is a reason we're having a debrief) --- Supercop is alledgely not part of the experiment. (she claims she's just investigating the miracle crime-drop).

Elliot gives them all 10 seconds to joke. Back to the debrief. "Just to be clear..." "metaphorically" everyone disliked that. (as do I, if this guy wants to be the only person alive who isnt recognisable to a supercomputer? See if his face ID works on cremated ashes) --- Parker I agree this guy is an asshole to the waitstaff, but if a customer orders something without coconut oil, it is the restaurants responsibility to either accomodate this request or tell the customer they cant make it that way. I know he's just a pretentious twit but allergies exist. (he's definitly an asshole for assuming he's enough of a regular to have "his regular" though)

Oh, RIZ is back. (Supercop works for them) Well looks like Cheng has a robo-nanny (and maybe a crush on robonanny) --- What a stack of hundreds and an awkward story about a roleplaying kink cant let these guys do. --- Ok and we're inside the house. The robot is scanning Parker The AI is scary AF, Parker is looking for a way out. AI is all-seeing, but apparently worse with faces then Searchlight. (Searchlight can recognise you of an out-of-focus nose. Al-Ayna cant recognise him if he lowers his voice) which can only mean one thing:

CHEMICAL WARFARE! Oh how i missed you, we've been waiting for your return all season. --- Private security provides Elliot with a good chance to teach Harry how a choke-out is done with proper form.

Cheng has recognised Breanna and has decided to make the stupid mistake of locking Leverage inside the safe they're trying to crack. By which i mean your house, that has your software, the one they're gonna use to make you look like a criminal.

and now our heroes have a superAI who is going to help them with their witness protection schemes. (Lower Hardisons workload a little as well.) Like how the camera zooms out to end the shot from Alayna's POV. (is she gonna be a recurring character? Probably not in a "regular castmember" way but definitly in a "we have continuity and on rare occasions she might be important" way)

[thenarrativeandie]

I wrote about this a while back and how engaging with this kind of media can actually make us more empathetic:

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AND THE CREATIVE WRITING PROCESS

As much as we might care about the protagonists, there will always be an emotional gap between fiction and reality....But in meta-narrative stories, in-universe behavior reflects on us, acting as a mirror for us to see ourselves as separate from and part of the story. Stories like these create cognitive dissonance, a psychological term that refers to the emotional discomfort or tension we feel when presented with conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or values.

Narratives that spark this discomfort can make us more empathetic and unsettled by the violence in the real world. There are videos online of people who have been unknowingly filmed in various states of undress. Some "comedians” tell jokes at the expense of those with mental and physical disabilities.

Do we accept these things as equally "harmless" entertainment to be viewed from the same emotional distance as other media? Or are we horrified to have become casual voyeurs?

This level of reflection can give a story universality and stay with the reader far longer than a popcorn plot that doesn't make the reader ask: "Could that be me?”

there was a moment when the people in the movie theatre and the capitol audience in the stands were laughing at the same things, having the same reactions to the games, to the deaths, to flickermans jokes, to the doctor's announcement...i wonder aren't we watching it for entertainment too

suzanne collins' books may exist in popular culture as "dystopian", but they have always been a meticulous and startlingly close social critique of our world. at what point does our own idolization of the movies and the books repeat that story? we watch just as the capitol audience does.

all dystopia eventually crosses a line from realistic futurism to current relevancy. how long will it take us to realize we've already crossed that line with these books? and the very people who need to realize this are the ones in that audience...real or fake, we're the same: consuming and consuming.

[reasonedcasesforchrist]

New Age Thinking, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Orthodox Evangelical Christianity: A Comparative Analysis

IntroductionIn my ongoing book review of Dr. Luc Niebergall’s- “The Heart of Heaven”, I was not surprised to encounter subtle yet numerous New Age elements woven into his account of prophetic encounters. I felt it prudent to provide an overview of New Age thinking to help readers more readily identify these parallels.    New Age thinking and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) are two prominent…

[nashali-mga2023mi5014]

Narative plan for the 20 second animation

a spell mistakenly cast by a mage results in a dimensional drift causing the individual named (name to be added later) to be transported into a parallel world.

Finding herself in a meadow she sees a figure of a tall muscular woman who seems to have cat ears(????) And a tail.

Amazed and incredibly astonished to see someone who she would only dream of seeing in works of fiction Young Enia looks in aww at the taller woman who gives her a questing look.

What will the future hold for her life in this new world?

[godsperfectwomanforreal]

We did however have a nice meditation of the parallels of the Flood Narative and Christ’s Crucifixion: one purification of earth with death, the other with life. We did this instead of our job much to managerial chagrin.

Talking to the other Christian guy at work today and he started giving me shit about praying to the Saints. “Let the dead rest!” He said. I was not ready to tell him that the Kingdom of Heaven exists outside of earthly time and space and therefore the Saints are not dead but living with us because I thought he’d look at me weird