#now i can re-leave these book through her reactions

[lily4731]

MY FRIEND STARTED READING THE INFERNAL DEVICES.

I am beyond happy.

I have to go buy her a tissue box. She'll need it

[marsbutterfly]

When My Heart First Called Your Name

Summary: In the middle of the night, your daughter has a nightmare and asks for a bedtime story. Little did you know, Hanji had already promised her something far better than your imagination.

a/n: hey everyone, it's been a while! this is purely self-indulgent, like honestly. This was written for myself atp. but I do hope some of you enjoy 🤍

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: non-canon au, fem!Reader, non-binary! Hanji Zoe, not beta read at al, they get hot and heavy at the beginning but it doesn't last, I didn't put a specific name for your daughter but I have one in mind hehehe.

 ao3 | wattpad | wc: 2.6k

Your eyes go through the same words in the book over and over again, the understanding or even the meaning of the sentences they form not truly entering your mind. You grow more annoyed with every re-read of the page and eventually, you place the book down on your lap, letting out a frustrated sigh.

The water sound that comes from the shower finally stops and the bathroom door swings open, filling the room with steam as the naked image of your partner emerges from it. Their body is wrapped in a black towel while a white one goes through their hair, scrunching up all the water out of their brown curls. They aren’t quite able to see without their glasses, but they don’t need them to realize you seem aggravated.

“Same problem as last night,” Hanji asks, walking around the bed so they stand by your side. You nod, using both of your hands to rub your face, a defeated sigh leaving your lips as the sound of their giggles fills the air. “It’s ok, maybe tomorrow you’ll finally be able to finish this chapter?”

You roll your eyes, “Shut up.” and as you attempt to push them, Hanji grabs hold of your arm, gently pulling you towards them. You can feel the warm sensation taking over your cheeks as you blush, their lips ghosting above yours before your bodies lace together in a delicate kiss. 

Your hands go through their face, appreciating the softness that now comes in contact with your fingers, the smell of their clean body enters your nose and it sends your heart ablaze. You can’t help but hum against their lips, the taste of the mouthwash dominating your taste buds as you allow them to take complete control of the situation.

Slowly, Hanji sits on the edge of the bed, pulling you on top of their body. You wrap your arms around their neck and your legs around their waist, your lips never ceasing to touch as your tongues continue to dance in perfect synchrony. Their right hand begins to carefully make its way under your shirt, gliding through your abdomen like it has known this path all along.

Your hips buck against theirs and you notice the goosebumps that rise throughout their body. An amused giggle leaves your throat and they can’t help but grunt in response, knowing you are only doing so to get any sort of reaction you can, they silently claim not to be happy, but you know otherwise.

Before the situation can go any further, you hear small footsteps approaching the room, the faintest knock on the door as a quiet voice whispers from the other side, “Mommy?” In a split second, you hop off Hanji’s lap and begin making your way to the door as they rummage through the closet to find a new shirt to wear.

“Yes, my love?” You ask, making eye contact with the sleepy three-year-old that stands on the other side, her eyes barely open as she holds her teddy bear close to her body, except she nearly drops it when she raises her arms, hoping to be picked up. You oblige, bringing her inside the room, “you should be in bed.”

Her eyes are trying to adjust to the brightness of the TV and you finally notice the mark of the tears that recently streamed down her face. She nuzzles her head against your chest, pouting ever so lightly as she whispers, “I had a bad dream.”

You begin to touch her hair gently, laying her down in the space between your side of the bed and Hanji’s, her little eyes following your spouse’s every move as she eagerly awaits for them to join the both of you under the sheets. Once they’re properly dressed, Hanji nearly comes running towards their family, eager to nuzzle themselves against the two of you.

“I hear you had a bad dream,” they say, whispering as they adjust the covers above your bodies. The little girl nods, hugging her stuffed animal tightly closer to her body. In response, both you and Hanji wrap your arms around her small body, leaving just the perfect amount of space for her to perfectly settle herself in, “would you like to talk about it?”

She shakes her little head in response, snuggling herself in between the two of you. “Would you tell me a story?” Her little voice is barely audible and it cracks in between a few words, a clear sign of how tired she is and how much she wants to go to bed, but is unable to.

“Sure, my love,” you respond, using your index finger to brush a strand of hair off of her face, “what kind of story would you like to hear tonight? Maybe Mama and I can keep the story about the little princess going and maybe tonight we’ll find out if she made friends with the dragon that guards her tower or not.”

You can hear a faint little giggle, closely followed by a yawn. She shakes her head, “No, I want Mama to tell me the special story I was promised.”

Even in the dark, you can tell that Hanji’s face is blushing. A puzzled expression takes over your face, not truly understanding what this mystery story is all about until your partner decides to break the silence, “Why not another time? Maybe when… mommy is at work?”

You look at them with a curious expression. You were always under the impression that Hanji was completely honest with you about things that go around at home while you are gone but, for some reason, you have a feeling that that hasn’t been the case lately, especially in this scenario. The young girl shakes her head once more.

“Mama, you promised,” she whines.

“Yeah, mama,” you join in, poking out your bottom lip as you wrap your arms around your daughter’s shoulders, “you promised!”

A defeated sigh escapes Hanji’s lips, their eye roll not going by unnoticed, but nevertheless, they settle under the covers, making sure their hand is touching your hair gently so they can play with the strands while telling their secret story. You make sure to adjust yourself, one arm supporting your head on the pillow while the other wraps around your daughter and Hanji, pulling both of them as close as possible.

With a deep breath, they turn off the lights, “you have to close your eyes for this one,” they say quietly, their voice barely louder than a whisper. You aren’t quite sure who they are talking to, so you make sure your daughter’s eyes are closed before shutting your own, the last thing you see is Hanji’s silhouette shifting on the bed.

“It was the middle of winter, one of the worst snowstorms I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” their voice is soothing and filled with a warm sensation, it is enough to awaken the butterflies that had finally settled down in your stomach from your interaction from earlier that night, “you weren’t even in your mommy’s belly yet, in fact, I don’t even think I had plucked you up yet, you were still flying around in a cloud, just waiting for the perfect moment where I would come get you.”

You can hear the faint sound of your child’s giggle as Hanji’s hand pokes her little belly. She’s still wiggling around, partially trying to escape your spouse’s tickle attacks and partially trying her best to find the most comfortable position but with no success.

“Anyway, the power was out and we decided to sleep next to the fireplace, under a massive pile of blankets. It was nice, we roasted some marshmallows for dinner and -”

“But you said I’m not allowed to have candy for dinner!” The sleepy voice comes from between the two of you. You can’t help but giggle in response, your eyes still closed as you place a gentle kiss on top of her little head. Hanji’s fingers still dangle in your hair, a smile stamped on your face the entire time.

“And you aren’t,” they responded with a smile of their own, “we ended up throwing up because we also drank hot chocolate!”

“Don’t tell her that!” You gently slap their arm playfully and they laugh, from the sounds they are making, you can tell they are pretending to be offended. Instead of continuing your fake argument, they continue their story, though you aren’t quite sure why this is the story they are telling.

“We ended up falling fast asleep as soon as we started feeling a little better. In the middle of the night, a really loud and scary sound came crashing down around the house and I remember waking up crying. I wasn’t sure where I was or what was happening. It was dark and…” their voice grew a bit quieter and a bit shaky, just ever so slightly that you would not notice if you hadn’t been together for this long, “it brought back some bad memories about some bad times.”

You reach one hand out to touch their arm, stroking the skin with your nails with just enough pressure not to tickle but not enough that it would hurt them. They let out a small sigh, their eyes closed shut in an attempt to shield their mind from the horrible memories that try to pry into their head. In response, your daughter nuzzles herself against Hanji’s chest, her little eyes closed as she silently comforts her parent.

“It’s ok,” you whisper, your fingers brushing against the skin of their cheek gently, noticing how they seem to be fighting off a few tears. Your voice is quiet and soothing as you look for any words that might come in handy in this situation but when nothing comes to mind, you simply offer them a way out, “you don’t have to keep going, she’s already half asleep.”

“I want to,” they say, placing a kiss on your fingertips and you nod, squeezing their arm softly to let them know that you are not going anywhere. With a deep breath, Hanji continues to tell their story. “My heart was beating so fast I felt like it was about to try and run away from my chest, the power was still out and the cold somehow got worse throughout the night, all I could feel was this horrible feeling in my stomach.”

They fall silent for a tiny bit, checking if your daughter is still awake or not, and, in response, they receive a little nudge from the young girl, her voice faltering as it comes out, “more,” that is all she can say. The two of you can’t help but laugh quietly, knowing that there was no denying your little princess anything her heart desired.

“I was crying for a few seconds until your mother woke up. I remember that she asked me what was wrong and when I couldn’t even talk, she just wrapped her arms around me. She hugged me so tightly that it felt like air wasn’t getting in my lungs but, in that moment, that was all I needed.”

You can feel your face burning up with embarrassment, the memory of that night makes your heart skip a beat as the details are coming back to your mind. It was just an ordinary night for you, one where you helped the person you love as they went through something that wasn’t their fault, so why is this the bedtime story your child wanted to hear?

“Even without knowing what was going on or why I was crying so hard in the middle of the night, she made sure to whisper in my ear that she would be with me no matter what time of day it was, she kept touching my arm in some way throughout the night and, if I’m not wrong, she even sang me to sleep,” they giggle and your face feels like it is heating up from embarrassment.

You want to say something in return, to maybe give some extra details into the memory but their voice is so gentle that the words immediately die in your throat. They continue to speak after a few seconds.

“She never asked me what I needed, she just… knew,” you can feel their eyes on you, even in the dark and you can’t help but look away for a second before feeling their fingers brushing against your face, a silent request to get you to look back at them. You comply with a sigh. “I’ve never had anyone just know what I needed like she did that night, and still does.”

By the time they finish speaking, you can hear the faint breathing of your child in between the two of you and you offer Hanji a smile, placing a strand of your daughter’s hair behind her ear. As you are about to tell your partner that you want to take her to bed, they already beat you to it.

Slowly, you watch as they wrap their arms around her small body, lifting her off the bed as gently as they possibly can. The path to her room was not very long so you found yourself walking in front of Hanji while opening the doors for them, it’s a small gesture but it does not go unnoticed.

Finally, the three of you walk past the door with the pink flower print, making your way into the comforting shade of yellow walls. For some reason, the night light that was once connected to the wall now finds itself on the floor and the two of you suspect that maybe your daughter accidentally unplugged it when moving around her bed, maybe that is the reason why she woke up crying this night and wasn’t able to go back to sleep by herself.

Carefully, they make sure to lay the little girl down on her bed, placing her stuffed animal right next to her on her pillow before tucking the two of them in, placing a small kiss on her forehead and one on the stuffed animal’s just for good luck. You can’t help but giggle in response, it was a ritual that you had developed since the day she was born.

“What was that all about? What even was her request?” You ask quietly as you stand against the doorframe, watching Hanji as they make sure the nightlight is completely plugged into the wall. As they walk past you, they wrap an arm around your waist, pulling you close.

“Well,” the blush on their face is clear as day, even in the darkness that engulfs the hallway, in response to their motion, you wrap your arms around their neck, “she asked me when I knew.” When you offer them a confused look in return, they continue, “That I loved you.”

Their response catches you by surprise and you can’t help but laugh quietly in response, your hands going through their hair before messing up their locks, well, at least making them look even messier than before. Your heart beats quickly in your chest and the butterflies who visited your stomach earlier return once more.

“Oh?” You ask teasingly, a smile stamped on your face like a child on Christmas morning, “That’s when you knew that you loved me?”

In response, with a smile of their own, Hanji nods, their fingers digging into the skin of your hips while their lips meet yours for a quick kiss. “You were always meant to be mine.”

“Always and forever?” You ask, placing your forehead against theirs.

In a hushed voice, barely louder than a whisper, they respond with the same intensity as if they had just screamed it at the top of their lungs,

“Always and forever.”

[joannerowling]

Im in the process of re-read the Silkworm. Something I didn't really pay much attention previously was Leonora Quine. Honestly, now that i read it again, I wonder if she is depicted as a kooky middle aged lady or if there are hints of neurodivergency. It's interesting because I remember that depiction of nd characters in TIBH were deemed 'uncharitable' and 'offensive' by the queer peeps. But now that I read and compare, it seems to me that they picked on that partially because these characters were textually referred as nd: that briefly mentioned girl with autism, Ilsa's defendee, and Kea Niven. I doubt they've read The Silkworm or seen what I saw, otherwise they would've known there's a trans character there too, and not in TB.

Leonora seems like a case of a woman going through life undiagnosed. It's interesting also how plot moves because of this. And how people perceive her as opposed to how Quine is treated. He's a terrible person but his colleagues still hold some sentiment towards him even through resentment, but Leonora? She's unlikable and strange, she doesn't react typically to different situations and that alone throws the police off. People think she's stupid for holding onto him so much, not willing to change the situation.

It's probably just an interpretation because I see that the underlying thought is that a divorced woman, who's a sole caretaker of her handicapped daughter, with a husband that probably won't be reliable and won't help her in any way if she leaves him, would have a very difficult time recovering from that. But that would also be a major change in life, I imagine it would be difficult to stomach anyways.

I just found her struggles relatable from the nd lense too. I was undiagnosed until my late 20s, I suspect some of my female relatives were undiagnosed adults too, and a lot of Leonora's behaviours are very familiar, and the reactions to them too.

Im curious if you have any thoughts on it.

Oh yeah, definitely! Nevermind Leonora, Orlando herself (whose condition is never named explicitly but is very clear by the description of the character) is never EVER mentioned by these people, even though i can hardly think of a more sympathetic character than her in that book.

And i think you're right about Leonora. I mean, i'm not a specialist so i'm not going to offer a diagnostic, but to me, she's a bit like Luna. Nobody's going around presenting her to Harry like "and here's Luna Lovegood, An Austitic Girl!", but it's clear that Luna is, you know, different, and not in the way Hermione is "different" because she doesn't believe in astrology lol. And Luna is one of the most popular and beloved characters in the entire HP series, thanks to that very real and heartfelt depiction of neurodivergency.

Just like Luna, Leonora seems to struggle with social cues and people almost instantly suspect her of wrong-doing or make fun of her behaviour. Your interpretation feels very valid to me.

I don't know whether it's always vital to *name* and *diagnose* characters tbh. Who knows what "ADHD" will be called in three or four decades? Maybe we'll have a completely different term to talk about hyperactive behaviour by then. Even the term "neurodivergency" might no longer be in fashion. But a character exhibiting hyperactivity in a clearly recognisable and identifiable way will always mean the same to the reader who discovers them, even centuries later. It's also what sets good writers from bad ones imo.

[acourtofquestions]

Welcome page/post thx 2 A Court of Questions by @lavendarneverlands

This is my (secondary/“side”) blog for my #FirstRead (& adoration of) the Maasverse! — But take this as a heads up: I mix up the two pages frequently😅😂 sorry in advance for any confusion! — Think of this page like Potterless (except probably not half as cohesive & good as the podcast lol😂). I love enjoying the series with the fandom so please feel free to reach out to #ReadAlong or #ReadWithMe (it’s why I’m on Tumblr; no one I know reads these). 🫶 also check out the tumblr community “@maasverse-first-readers” for more :-)

Header image: Blue illusion Art & Profile pic: Beth Gilbert Art

LET’S FANDOM ABOUT IT

This is a Maasverse related blog, thus it does discuss the series & spoilers (depending on where you are in the books) HOWEVER I try to keep up to date with spoiler warnings (often in the form of: #tags, red, 🚨, or what I call the “more” bar of safety) & I hope it makes it accessible for all readers! I also really try to keep this blog inclusive & friendly for everyone (any character, any ship, any reader, any person… or fae I suppose too :-) & use proper content warnings (as I greatly appreciate that in others too) … so thank you!!

As I am unfortunately human here’s a lil up-to-date guide for what is & is not discussed thus far (& as I also try to avoid spoilers for the books I haven’t gotten to yet)

— I have read ALL of ACOTAR,

— I have read ALL of Throne of Glass,

— I am currently reading my way through “CC” Crescent City; & now on Crescent City 3

Be warned: I’m a rambler of posts & content posting, and autocorrect is my true enemy😂🤣 p.s. I’m new here & always trying to learn!😊 I do my best to do my due-diligence and properly credit. And use TW whenever I can (as I need it in my life too <3

I leave most “reaction” posts up from my first reads. Opinions of course change over time! I try to edit & update (& or re-tag) but some stay old.

Currently my favorites and majority are:

ACOTAR

I love the Archeron sisters (Feyre is dear to me, I think Nesta is an important kind of character, and I look forward to more Elain in what I’m calling ACOTAR 5&1/2)

THE Valkyrie (Gwyn esp.)

I can go any which way with the Elriel/Elucien/Gwynriel/Gwynlain/etc. “debate” (like I said though I’m here for all fans and prefer to keep it generally positive/friendly; we’re all just enjoying stories & art😊).

I love Feysand (sry Tam-Tam😅 I struggle with him)

If you want to go give some ship love @gwynlain you can also find me there :-) 💕 because yes I am that fandom obsessed I have a side page for the side blog��

TOG

I adore Celaena & Aelin (for posts on both I tend to call her “Aelin Sardothien” cause I love ❤️‍🔥 fireheart ;-)

Rowaelin is my fav ship (though you will find it was not an immediate love for “bird-boy”😂 from page 1😅) the “Team Chaol” force was once strong long ago (I don’t hate him now, I just like them as friends) though I’ve also shipped all the ships at some point🤣 (I like a lot of fandoms and have a very “SQUIRREL!” personality😅😂 so I do make a lot of references, despite this being my Maasverse page) there was a time for Dorlaena & of course Samlaena too

and Sam Cortland always deserves more (I love him & am still sad😅). My beloved "Assassins of Adarlan"

As will Dorian ALWAYS be beloved as a character,

I think in another life I’d like to be Yrene

Lysandra is a favorite.

Manon and the 13 are everything to me… till darkness claim us & beyond…

I still want a spin off with the cadre

I could make this list really really long because these books are one of my all time favorites

— Abraxos & Fleetfoot (TOG) & “The House” (ACOSF) as characters hold a candle to no other. —

“CC” Crescent City

I finished House of Earth and Blood “CC1”

I finished House of Sky and Breath “CC2”

I am currently reading House of Flame and Shadow “CC3”

I love Baxian! And LIDIA CERVOS IS AN ALL TIME FAV FOREVER!!! (Day x Night are my fav ship in the series aside from Fury x Junoper obvi)

I love my kick-ass gals; Bryce rocks, & of course the pack of devils & Danika (her & Bryce’s friendship meant a lot to me), Fury x Juniper (their my bb’s).

SERIOUSLY I LOVE DANIKA

Syrinx is a fav, I love all the animals!

I wish I liked Hunt more, I don’t hate him, I’m just kinda meh?.. and slowly evolving into dissapointment

THE CROSSOVERS

Thank YOU “fellow dreamers” for welcoming ME! into your feed & Maasverse!

& to my fellow “first time readers” Welcome to you too! 💕

+ All you old-timers THANK YOU for your loving guide notes & support (for ALL THE FANDOM FEELS😂)!

… And yeah… Hi! Much love❤️💚🩷🩵🧡 all are welcome!!! This blog does NOT discriminate & is a safe place to enjoy fandoms (because it’s about enjoying stories!) regardless of race, nationality, ability/disability, gender, sexuality, belief, age, etc. Feel free to message & tag😊 + if it helps in the matter of communicating:

I identify as she/her (please always feel free to tell me your pronouns if you like :-) 🏳️‍🌈Bi🩷💜💙 LGBTQIA+ if you wanna call me by something other than my blog name/names you can call me Lila (short for Delilah), I’m a Zillenial (21+) I primarily speak English (though I’m usually fluent in Sign, & Czech, working on refreshers & learning Spanish), Chronic Illness advocate. & I look forward to enjoying stories with you!

And there’s nothing left to say but…

— LET’S FANDOM ABOUT IT —

[soleil-read]

The last installment of The Reluctant Male Bridgerton Re-watch.

We sat down and binged the last 3 episodes as he was busy on Thursday evening and leaving on Friday morning. So here's the recap until season 3 (in no particular order)

1) "these two have the best chemistry. Much better than the first couple. But i think cuz one doesn't look so young. I have no idea how anyone will beat them." Kanthony for the win!

2) "they tease each other like brothers, they did great casting." A/B/C

3) "ooh, someone is scheming the other one. Is he playing her or is she playing him?" Lord Featherington and Portia

4) "I think Edwina has the right to be pissed. But how are they gonna fix it so those two can marry?"

5) "uhh, Eloise keeps going back to this guy. Remember when I thought it was gonna be the Footman? Oops, got that one wrong!"

6) "so Colin is starting to like Penelope now heh? it's good to see that cuz he was so hung up on the other one, I couldn't figure how he was gonna start liking Penelope but I can sort of see it happening now." Said after the cake-purpose scene. But he unfortunately changes his tune at the end of the episode.

7) "the acting is much better this season. Like everyone is good. I think the Bridgerton mom is really good. And the Queen is good too."

8) "I predict Portia kills Lord Featherington during the ball." Haha! What a scandal that would have been!

9) "I like that there are so many unresolved storylines going into season 3. Like the art guy and Penelope and Eloise. Like it's not just gonna be about a couple, other things are happening. Season 2 was better than season 1 for that too."

10) "not gonna lie, I like this over Pride and Prejudice. It has funny moments and more drama. I'm not as bored. I'll watch season 3 when it comes out." So another Bridgerton fan was made in less than a month, nice!

11) "I like that those two fought. Like it made them interesting, but I think they'll make up, before Colin and Penelope at least." Gosh, I really hope Peneloise are back in season 3.

12) "ouch, she's had a rough night. I thought he was supposed to be kind to Penelope? But I guess that's the way guys are, all talk and everything is for laughs. But the way he says it, I mean, damn!" He actually read the scene as Colin making fun of Pen. I wont post what he actually said cuz I vehemently disagreed that THAT is how the show meant for Colin to perceive Penelope. And I was a bit shocked he viewed it that way. Anyway, he thinks Penelope shouldn't forgive and move on. I spoiled him about the books and showed him the Season 3 pics in hopes to turn the tide. It's interesting to note that his view of Colin hasn't been overly favorable whereas I think Colin is a great character. More impassioned and impulsive than the books but overly a good guy. His views on Penelope aren't as clear. He loves her reactions mostly. Although he says she's a better character in season 2 over season 1.

13) "geez, this show sure likes to show the guys going downtown on the ladies. Its like the Bridgerton sex trademark!" OMG, 🤣

14) "Okay, is everyone just watching these two make out? The moms are right there!" Epilogue, haha

So that's it. It's been a lot of fun watching through the eyes of a non-Bridgerton fan. Kept me more honest. Both Colin and Penelope are not perfect, but I can't wait to see them grow and develop as individual characters and as a couple. Season 3 cannot come soon enough.

Thanks for sticking around! I encourage everyone who can, find a reluctant male (it doesn't have to be your spouse, mine was my ex) and do your own re-watch. We could start a series, lol!

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 26: Discord

Gather around everyone and I'll tell you a tale. It's a tale of my reactions to someone else telling me a different story in book form. Many book form, to be technical. And I already know the story, so my reactions will be very spoilery for all the books. Every book. If that's gonna be a problem, plug your ears or something I guess.

This chapter has a harp icon because it's Thom time! I'm as happy as Rand is to see him.

Rand, I may have been too hasty in leaving Stedding Shangtai the way I did. When I do go home, I may be in a great deal of trouble.

Not sure why you couldn't just lie about being a young Ogier from Saldaea or something, Loial. You all can't keep that close a set of tabs on each other. Or is the unbearded look a dead giveaway?

When they came pounding through the common room, Rand winked at the innkeeper, then laughed at his startled look. Let him think I’m off to play his bloody Great Game. Let him think what he wants. Thom’s alive.

What is it about needing to keep a low profile in inns that makes Rand so reckless? First Baerlon and his channeling sickness, now this when he doesn't even have that excuse.

The innkeeper was a woman with hair as white as Thom’s, and sharp eyes that studied Loial as well as Rand.

Innkeeper size, and therefore loyalty, uncertain.

The slender woman sitting cross-legged on the bed with her skirts tucked under her was keeping six colored balls spinning in a wheel between her hands.

Dena meanwhile has to be small so that Jordan can fit her into the fridge more easily.

“I have never heard of a woman gleeman,” Loial said.

And this frankly makes Dena's fridging all the more exhausting. Why are there no gleegals anyway? Surely there'd be a good source: women who go to the Tower to become Aes Sedai and then get put out again when it's clear they're not worthy but who don't want to go back home now that they've tasted the world. Especially since this world seems to be pretty low on sex work, you'd think that gals who don't have much else in the realm of prospects would pick up the job.

But also, it's infuriating that Dena is intro'd in this way and then killed off and then we never have any other woman who tries to take up the mantle later. One can hardly blame Thom for being in a hurry to pick up a lady apprentice given what happens to Dena and the events of the next few months, but by the time he ended up in Ebou Dar it should have been going again. It's a wasted opportunity.

They hang a scrap of painted canvas behind them, supposed to make the audience believe these fools are in Matuchin Hall, or the high passes of the Mountains of Dhoom. I make the listener see every banner, smell every battle, feel every emotion. I make them believe they are Gaidal Cain. Seaghan will have his hall torn down around his ears if he puts this lot on to follow me.

And here's another apparent revolution in the world's culture that doesn't seem to go anywhere. Theater exists; there's a play held in Andor much later, but apparently Gleemen will stay the preferred style for now. I suppose after the circus it's probably for the best we didn't pick up a subplot of players.

“She listens to a tale once—once only, mind!—and she has it right, not just the words, but every nuance, every rhythm. She has a fine hand on the harp, and she played the flute better the first time she picked it up than you ever did.”

Yes yes, we all know she's too pure for this sinful Earth.

She’ll be court-bard to a king or a queen before she’s done.

Okay but for real Thom, there's only so many monarchs in the world and I doubt many more nobles besides their immediate subordinates could afford court-bards so what are all the women in the world who aren't mind-bogglingly talented supposed to do in the performance arts? They can't all just give up their dreams and move on. Why are they absent?

“Your clumsy sheepherder’s fingers were never meant for the harp.”

There is something very sad in Rand not being meant for the sophisticated forms of art (and science) that he'd really rather be a part of than conquering.

There is even a lord in the city has what he claims is the Horn locked up inside his manor. He says it’s a treasure handed down in his House since the Breaking.

You know, I'm willing to believe that this lord really does have a 3,500 year old horn in his basement. Obviously not a magic one, but still. Stranger things have happened.

“Moiraine says it’s the Horn,” Rand said. Thom’s mirth was cut short.

Thom takes Moiraine as gospel even now.

“I don’t suppose you are talking about simply riding to Shienar and handing the Horn to—who?—the King? Why Shienar? The legends all tie the Horn to Illian.”

I suppose this must be one of those myths that grew in the telling. That or there was some confusion with a Foretelling and the sea that the Horn gets tossed into is off of Illian's coast.

“Thom,” he said at last, “are there any books that have The Karaethon Cycle in them?” Easier to call it that than the Prophecies of the Dragon. “In the great libraries,” Thom said slowly. “Any number of translations, and even in the Old Tongue, here and there.”

Thom of course has to answer slowly because Rand's question has given him a heart attack and he needs to take deep breaths. This might well be one of the more terrifying moments of Thom's life, having a young boy taken from his home on suspicion of channeling asking about the Prophecies while waving the sign of their imminent fulfillment around. Or at least this would be the case if Thom was taking it at all seriously (he's not, not yet).

For a moment, Rand could only gape at him, and when he could speak, his voice was unsteady. “The sword makes five. Hilt, scabbard, and blade.” He turned his hand down on the table, hiding the brand on his palm. For the first time since Selene’s salve had done its work, he could feel it. Not hurting, but he knew it was there.

Moiraine of course thought she was fulfilling prophecy but as Rand points out the coat counts for nothing, though funnily enough the sword and the coat are echoes of the later, true markings: the sword setting Rand on his path away from home and the coat being Moiraine naming him among the candidates as the real deal.

Thom's got to be happy Rand's denying it though.

I suspect Aes Sedai would want to make events fit the Prophecies as closely as they can. Dying somewhere in the Blasted Lands would be a high price to pay for going along with them.

Thom's a very kind mentor for actually telling Rand straight out what the price of being the Dragon is and suggesting that if he's just doing it for the Aes Sedai that it's time to do something.

“Then why ask about the Prophecies? Why send the Ogier out of the room?”

One of the problems of being an expert player of the Great Game is that when a novice shows up and starts blundering around, you're going to mistake his idiotic moves for strategic ones. Thom correctly identifies Rand's got an ulterior motive for his behavior and skips right past the obvious, simple, and true answer in favor of a conspiracy theory.

“I’ve learned a few things since we parted, Thom. They will come for whoever blows the Horn, even a Darkfriend.”

I'm not sure you've learned that at all Rand, and I suppose we should have taken Thom not knowing that detail as warning enough that it wasn't true.

“Owyn held it off almost three years. He never hurt anyone. He didn’t use the Power unless he had to, and then only to help his village. He. . . .” Thom threw up his hands.

The taint on saidin was an absolutely masterful counterstroke if you think about it. The perfect way for the divisive paranoia of the Shadow to worm its way into the minds of Light aligned individuals. Thom knows that Owyn was a danger to society but he still tries to make excuses out of love.

If Moiraine’s let you go, then you are well out of it.

While Rand outplays Thom through naivety, Moiraine outflanks him legitimately.

“A clean break is best, boy. If you’re always coming around, even if you never mention it, I won’t be able to get the Horn out of my head. And I won’t be tangled in it. I won’t.”

A cruel move by Thom, but one can hardly blame an old man for trying to refuse the call. One can blame the Wheel for how refusing the call plays out for him though.

Ruefully, he realized he was considering whether to tell Zera the truth or let her continue thinking as she did. All it takes is to think about the Great Game, and I start playing it.

Politics as a whole are a rather infectious way of corrupting the Light too, and the fools do it to themselves. It's no wonder part of Rand's coming is resetting the whole damn board on the players.

Coat or no coat, Rand was still only a shepherd. If he had been more, if he had been what Thom once suspected—a man who could channel—neither Moiraine nor any other Aes Sedai would ever have let him walk away ungentled.

Frankly, I think Thom's very much hiding in denial here like Rand does. He has to know that the facts don't add up in any way that's good but he pretends he can send Rand away and not have to worry about it.

Ah well. We have to part ways here too. See you next chapter!

[quietbluejay]

Transformers: Escalation #4

this time: ominous things happen to Hunter, Hot Rod is halping, and Jimmy reads too many detective books

"…prep him for surgery"

gloves put something in one of the IV bags

and now, over to Fort Wayne, Indiana

the car is Ironhide, Jimmy and Verity are sitting in the front

Jimmy: Ironhide?

Ironhide: I could be wrong, Jimmy but there's something inside that I think is a holomatter reader

Jimmy: as in the stuff your faux drivers are made out of?

Ironhide: Right

Verity: then this…has to be the place!

Ironhide turns off his lights

Verity or Jimmy (?): so, what are we waiting for?

(also, wow, holomatter reader, that's wild)

what they're waiting for is "a solid, risk-free strategy" because these guys have already proven they'll blow stuff up to hide their tracks

Ratchet talks about how he can freeze the motion sensors and pressure pads but he can't do anything about the holomatter sensors

Verity and Jimmy argue that, well, they're not holomatter, lol

Verity tackles the argument of "this isn't your fight" by saying it became their fight when these guys kidnapped Hunter

"We have to find him before whoever has him decides he's surplus to requirements"

there's a pause as Ironhide sits there

Verity and Jimmy step out of Ironhide

Ironhide: I'm going to regret this, I know

outmaneuvered by teenagers

…but now back to the USSR (and yes I've been sitting on that joke)

it's a flashback to the end of last issue when Blitzwing was talking about having Optimus in his sights

there's a timestamp that says this was 3 hours ago

(incidentally, it's daylight in Brasnya and Bluejay just spent probably too much time thinking about time zones and what time of year it is)

as you may recall, last time Megatron ended with "...and take the shot!"

now we get Blitzwing's reply

Blitzwing: Peachy

Blitzwing: Time to optimum firing range, six nano-klicks...

"…and counting"

Optimus: Prowl. Sit-rep.

then it runs through exactly the same dialogue with Optimus and Prowl as last time (re getting Koska intact etc)

Blitzwing: Two. One.

Blitzwing: fi-yaaa!

BOOM big explosion

my friend also pointed out that the invisibility is funny here given Blitzwing leaves extremely obvious tracks in the snow

roller??? ROLLER??? ROLLER????

Assuming Megatron is in the area, Optimus is hoping for a reaction

after this i went and checked the wiki to see how they'd explain this and uh, lmao. Take a look for yourselves if you want.

get exploded

Jazz, Wheeljack, and Prowl start driving towards them

Jazz: Oh, dear. Did we spoil your rim?

Prowl gives tactical orders

meanwhile Megatron orders Koska to "begin self-decommissioning"

one of the Autobots: No you don't. Readying nerve paralysis pulse...

nerve paralysis pulse???

Skywarp:…scorched earth!

shots are raining down on the Autobots

Prowl orders evasive action

the facsimile is staggering away

i never want to hear hot rod say that again back to americaaa

"...there's no more nasty surprises"

Jimmy and Verity are walking through a warehouse area with a bunch of large brown boxes

they're looking for the ultralite stuff

Jimmy: ah i like that art im weak for fun with shadows

Jimmy pats the wall gently and tells her to hold the light steady

he pulls out a switchknife and jiggles it into a crack

voila! he gets it open

Jimmy dramatically gestures in front of him

Jimmy: after you

Verity: Hn

Verity: Here we go again...

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE

10/10 no notes

Glasses guy: I…do not understand

Todorof: neither do i, Bresky…neither do I. But I have a bad feeling…

"...we soon will!"

meanwhile Skywarp and Astrotrain as you can see are doing a good job of containing the Autobots so they can't get to Koska

he gets lower…

and suddenly gets shot!

Prowl: who...

???: Autobot reserve artillery...

"…reporting for duty!"

Prowl: Hardhead? But-

Prowl: never mind

he can see Koska and has a direct line to him

whoops

Hot Rod goes robot mode

Prowl screes as he turns to avoid hitting Hot Rod

HotRod: geez!

meanwhile the two guys are still watching

one of them says he's calling it in

but his radio stops working...

the anime pillar of light is never a good sign

Megatron: right here, right now

Megatron: let's finish this…once and for all!

and now time for the stinger

Verity goes to a computer and talks about how they should search for something that would lead them to Hunter

Jimmy reads too many detective novels and decides to look through their trash

Verity: riiight. Knock yourself out

uh oh

and that's it for this issue!

next time, a Florida Man interlude (for real, we're going to meet a guy who wears a cowboy hat in Tampa Bay)

[nace-maisel]

I just finished listening to the happy place audiobook and I have some thoughts.

First and foremost, Julia Whelan is an amazing and I mean amazing narrator, I'm going to have trouble going to other audiobooks now that I have experienced most of Emily's books through her voice. That said, I wanted to talk a little bit about what I loved about this book and what disappointed me, seeing as it is the last book I had to read to finish reading all of Emily's books.

I feel like the magic of Emily's books, the secret ingredient that has absolutely hooked me... Is that all of her main characters have some type of deep emotional trauma that comes from their childhood. It makes her characters more real, tangible, and relatable. It also makes the conflict between the main couple logical, and their resolutions satisfying because the characters have worked through their trauma and communicated openly about it.

The first half of happy place completely broke me. I mean I had to take walks and remember to breathe because the angst from the memories and their impossible "fake dating" situation had my heart all scrunched up.

Harriet believed Wyn had stopped loving her. That she made him miserable, that she couldn't be enough for him to stay or to be happy. We later learn that Wyn was simply overwhelmed with grief and suffering from depression. Harriet's efforts to make everything seem fine, to need as little as possible so he could have space to get better, were received as a sign of disinterest, which is so heartbreaking.

I feel that Harriet is so raw and in so much pain... And we never get a real apology from Wyn. We get an explanation, sure, and it makes sense, but it didn't feel satisfying to me that that man wasn't groveling and begging for forgiveness after breaking her heart like that. I get that things are overwhelmingly familiar between them, that they just fit together, and saying "I'll always love you", "I always want to be near you", "you could never annoy me" seem like totally normal things to say to the woman whose heart you shattered and who you haven't talked to in 6 months.

When they were in the boat and Harry says she wants to call him out for it, I wanted her to do so. We never got to see that fight, the "you shattered me and the fact that you still love me is not enough for me to recover from that kind of devastation" fight. I know they talk a bunch about the why of it all and, logically, it made sense, but emotionally, a Harriet that grew up terrified of people walking out, so much that she makes herself as little as possible to avoid confrontation, need more to go back to a relationship, in my opinion.

My other gigantic nitpick is that I don't feel like her decision to leave medicine completely makes sense. At the beginning of the book Harry likes her residency, even though she isn't that enamoured with the neurosurgery of it all, she enjoys doing scut work, treating patients, and helping in any way she can. Then, suddenly, towards the end of the book, that's not the life she wants. Yes, she is exhausted, and she wants to have a life, and she feels like doing all that work was more for her parents' approval than for herself. I still see her as a family medicine doctor though. Setting up a practice herself and taking care of families or even as a pediatrician.

Most of the book is spent with her processing her life through the lens of medical reactions, it's her way to calm down, to settle. And she is just giving it completely up? ...nah.

Anyway, as per usual I had to ramble on about Emily Henry's books, or else I will go insane. Can't wait to re-read every single one of them!

[storyofmychoices]

Chosen By Light

[Mal Volari x Daenarya Masterlist] [Mal’s Orphanage]

Pairings: Mal Volari x Daenarya (F!MC) Book: Blades of Light and Shadow (Book 1, End of Chapter 6) Word Count: <900 Rating: General, this is pretty tame for them

Synopsis: Mal has some questions for Daenarya after seeing her use Light magic.

As the old pirate ship sailed gracefully toward Undermont, the salty sea breeze kissed Daenarya's face. She rested against the vessel's side, her gaze fixed on the endless expanse of blue. The warmth of the sun's rays bathed her skin as she relished its comfort and beauty. 

Mal quietly made his way to her side, his posture mirroring hers. Yet, his attention was not on the vast ocean but on the intriguing woman beside him. The corner of his lips curled into a faint smile as he observed her lost in thought.

Daenarya felt his presence before she saw him. She tried to suppress the smile pulling on her lips. She kept her eyes on the horizon, pretending not to notice him, yet he remained. "See something you like?" she finally asked.

Mal's gaze shifted from her to the horizon she had been mesmerized by. "Oh, I don't know. That view's not bad, but I've seen better."

She chuckled softly. "Is that so? And where, exactly, have you seen better?"

He leaned in a little closer, his voice lowering. "Right here, on this ship." He tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

Daenarya's cheeks warmed despite herself. She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And how many times have you used that line?" 

"Today?" Mal's tone was playful as he pretended to ponder the question. "Hmm, just the once."

"And was it a resounding success?" 

"You'll have to let me know." He grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

She shook her head in amusement. "Can I help you with something?"

"Are we going to talk about it?" Mal questioned, leaning casually against the ship's railing, his elbow propped up as he rested his head on his closed fist.

"Talk about what?" Daenarya's brow arched in amusement at his pose.

"Since when can you do magic, Kit?" He asked directly, his gaze focused on her.

"Oh, that," Daenarya said with a playful grin, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "You noticed that!"

"It was hard not to," he replied, his eyes lingering on her. "You shot an orb of light at that shadow captain's face."

"I guess I can do magic now?" she shrugged nonchalantly.

"How?" He shook his head in confusion.

"Apparently, I've got the gift?" She explained with a hint of uncertainty.

"The what?"

"That's what Nia said."

"When?" His clever tongue seemed silenced to one and two word questions as his curiosity overtook him. 

"While we were waiting for you to rescue us," she began in exaggeration, placing a hand over her heart and the other pressed to her forehead in mock distress. She nudged him before continuing, "Anyway, Nia did a little magic so we weren't sitting in the dark, and I... Well, I reacted to it. And here we are."

"What else can you do?" He moved closer, captivated by her. 

Her mouth opened to speak, but she closed it quickly, doubling down on his gesture by moving closer. Their faces were mere inches apart, the tension growing between them.

She could admit that it's just the one thing, for now, or she could leave him wondering. She closed her eyes briefly, savoring the warmth of his breath against her skin and the scent of the sea that enveloped them. She focused on the peace and comfort she found there.

At that moment, she let the energy flow through her, summoning a tiny orb of light that flickered to life between them. The soft glow illuminated their faces as she watched his reaction. His captivated expression told her that his thoughts were solely on her, and she hated to admit that was just how she liked it. She had him completely enchanted. 

As quickly as it appeared, she allowed the orb to dissolve, a mischievous smirk forming on her lips. "I guess you'll have to wait and see," she teased, finally answering his question, leaving it open-ended. She resumed her position, watching the majestic ocean expanse.

"Admit it, you just want me to stay," Mal decided, joining her in appreciating the view.

"If that's what helps you sleep at night, Mr. Magnificent." Daenarya smiled as she elbowed him lightly. "But we both know you want to stay too."

His lips pressed together, he hated to admit it, but she wasn't wrong. "Should I expect you to be ascending to priestess once we arrive in White Tower?" 

"I think we both know I'm not cut out to be a priestess." She smirked at the thought. "The stories I could tell might burn their temple down. The scandal it would cause." Daenarya couldn't help but laugh. Nia was the innocent, uncorrupted one. She could never live that life. "I don't think they'd approve of the lessons I'd teach."

He smiled proudly, "I don't know, you might just be my kind of priestess."

"Is that so" she shot him a flirtatious look. "Ready to bow and worship?"

"To a priestess?" He laughed. "Sounds more like a goddess when you put it that way."

"I'm glad you agree." She smiled proudly. "You said it, not me."

"You're trouble, Kit." He shook his head in amusement. 

"Your kind of trouble?" She questioned, recalling their first night traveling together.

"My kind of trouble," he agreed, relaxing beside her.

The pair of them gazed off into the horizon, enjoying a moment of quiet, knowing it'd be over all too quickly.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this. I just love finding little moments early on in their relationship to develop more. We all know their chemistry is fire, but I like to see their friendship developing too.

@choicesmonthlychallenge: favorite book

[deanstudies101]

4x10, Heaven and Hell

[mid-season finale]

Critical theory: Doubt, disobedience. Fathers. Secrets and confessions pt. 2 [Dean]. The handprint <3 Perfectly normal reactions. 

Discussion point/question(s): What do we think about the heaven/hell positioning of Sam and Dean? 

Key quotes: Dean, “How I feel… This… inside me… I wish I couldn’t feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn’t feel a damn thing.” 

Further reading: 

Perfectly normal reaction to seeing your buddy kiss a girl (@bloodydeanwinchester)

Discussion: 

[I love the one perfect tear as much as the next man, but. Damn I love to see Dean sobbing.]

John is God confirmed. 

Dean wants to be an angel—Anna says angels can’t feel anything. She wants to be human, to feel. He wishes he couldn’t feel anything. 

Dean/Anna, the handprint, destiel. Iga, “This is just a loaf of bread.” Me, “Buddy, this is nothing. We’re just preheating the oven.”* 

[I looked up when Cas was supposed to leave.] [They gave a lot of Anna’s stuff to Cas. Dean and Anna just fucked on screen. So.] So obviously Dean and Anna would’ve had significant romance. And they took her out of the show and replaced her with Cas. And then… Well. [I think certain plotlines, ie. the finale, would’ve been less impactful if it had been Anna. We’ll discuss.] Did Jensen have a say in this character switch, was it partially because of their chemistry? 

[We’ve discussed that demons are camp. I mentioned in the episode that angels are homophobic.] It’s giving disney villain. Was flamboyant demons an acting or writing choice? Was homophobic angels a response to this? Iga, always imagined demons as very emotional, very chaotic (Vampire Diaries vampires, bpd), and angels as stoic, not giving a shit about humans etc. And this… is kinda that? [I’m talking about Paradise Lost, of course. Lucifer is emotional, emotionally driven, persuasive etc. He convinced a whole chunk of the host of heaven to fall.] They have to be like that for it to make sense! 

We’re seeing how humans become demons. They get tortured until they break and start to torture, and we can assume that leads them to becoming demons… so what happened with Lucifer? Did he fall, become human, and then go through this process? Or did he go straight to hell, and go insane because he was alone? [I just read them Paradise Lost Book 1 242-263 aka my favourite bit.] 

Ruby is a real one. She literally put herself through torture for that plan. They love the alliance, the relationship between her and Dean. A lot of feelings

Ruby understands Dean in a way that Sam doesn't. They exchange looks that Sam doesn’t get. He doesn’t feel the need to put up the protective wall, to protect her. He doesn’t need to parent her. And she sees him. And maybe Dean sees her in a way Sam doesn’t, they’ve both had the hell experience, and maybe he respects the fact that she would’ve been in hell much longer than he was. Iga, “Sam doesn’t see Dean and never will, because Dean is his mummy.” And this isn’t an attack on Sam, he’s religious and has a lot of guilt about himself and him and Ruby, and now he knows the angels kinda sucks maybe he’s looking for something to fight for. He sees demons as evil—he trusts her and doesn’t consciously see her as evil—but he does see demons this way, so he has a lot of shame. 

Re: the sex scene. Dean is intimate and soft and… always on the bottom. 

Julio, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but if Sam is the antichrist, Dean is the new Jesus. He’s destined to go to heaven. He masks it in his dedication to his job, but he is sad at the state of the world, and mourns what is going on. Ying to Sam’s yang, which makes him the new Jesus, which is why he has to be kept alive, because that is his purpose. Kai’s addition, Jesus doesn’t have a good time on earth. He suffers. He dies on a cross because God told him to. Deancore. Julio again, Dean has all the elements to be Jesus. 

Anna, even as a two-year old human, was terrified of God. She was convinced he would kill her—and eventually the angel’s orders were to kill her. The demons love Lucifer, they’re excited for him to rise, they worship him in a “chill Christian kinda way.” That’s embarrassing for the angels actually. How is God the good guy? He’s not. He’s a dick. Even outside of the ~they just obey, they follow orders, kill humans, kill their own kind. This child was so scared of her father. [I would like to add, though. A lot of demons didn’t believe Lucifer really existed, he was ~just a story told in demon Sunday school. Whereas the angels truly believe all their orders are coming from God. Does that change things? Is it not easier to love something whose presence you don’t feel as much?] If you know someone better, you see their flaws more.  If Lucifer is just an ideal in their minds, they can project on him. However, it seems like Lilith knows Lucifer in some way? And she’s terrifying. So. Not a good reflection on Lucifer.

Re: heaven/hell positioning. Kind of on the nose. Can’t infer much from it literally, Sam having demon blood, Dean saved from hell, Dena is Sam’s guardian, he fucked an angel. Julio, “angels have an affinity for Dean.” Demons have plans for Sam, angels have plans for Dean. But, before the angels and demons got this involved, Sam was the pious one, Dean was the ‘sinful’ one. So a nice reverse. 

[Cas is autistic. He just stands there like (does the Kubrick stare)] Julio, I feel like he’s not really looking in the eyes though. [The thing is, often when he’s talking to people he’s like. Looking around. But with Dean it’s. Full on intense eye contact. Obsessed.]

Mid-season finale—finale predictions. Iga, Angels will be in the finale. Something about Dean’s time in hell, losing touch with his humanity, he doesn’t want to feel anything, he was transitioning into a demon. Kai, Big clash between heaven and hell. Lucifer is gonna get out, and now God is back too. Lucifer and God have some kind of face off. Julio, Sam and Dean need some time apart, they’re going in different directions. Kai, ohh, maybe Sam and Dean fight each other. Iga, Sam, or someone, comes up with a plan to make both sides fight each other again. Maybe Dean has to choose between his brother and someone else to save. Kai, Dean 1v1 Lucifer. Iga, Ruby gets in a predicament, and they have to sacrifice something to save her. Kai, maybe Dean has to die again… following the Jesus route. Iga, no, it’s Sam’s turn, he’s demon Jesus, and he gets reborn slightly more demon. But we’ve already done ‘came back wrong’. 

Star student: Julio, antichrist/Jesus analysis. Also commented mid-episode that maybe Sam’s powers come from drinking Ruby’s blood. This was ignored by everyone. Good job king. [Iga is annoyed by this because apaprently she knew but didn't say it because it felt too obvious.]

Notes: Visiting student Julio. 

*the trail of breadcrumbs is just entire loaves of bread / "the bread we made on supernatural" post (@tiktaalic), which I reference almost daily with lines such as "there's no such thing as bread" and "wouldn't it be crazy if bread was real" etc. etc. a very common tag on my main

[acourtofthought]

What do you think of that ep of fandomtastic podcast where they are saying how they dont see elucien happening because of no scenes between them in acosf and how seeing a bond rejected is interesting and that Lucien can be her wingman?

You would have to point me in the direction of that specific episode (and if you know whereabouts in the episode it is!) so I can listen to it and give you a more informed opinion on it however.....

As much as I enjoy Steph and Ava's personalities, I've noticed some of the details of the series fall through the cracks when they're talking about the books, they'll at times forget about how something happened or what was said by a certain character. And that makes sense, they are involved in so many projects with so many various authors and they don't have time to tear apart these books the way the fandom does.

But to me, that might also mean they aren't reading and re-reading and re-reading again to find the little hints and clues that can sometimes still come as a surprise to those of us who are scouring the books for anything we might have missed.

And for more casual readers (meaning not obsessed like us 😂), I don't think it's uncommon to wonder what will happen with Elucien because they didn't share much page time and we have nothing new to build on but......why do we need anything new to build on for them to end up together? Didn't SJM start TOD with Chaol not totally over Aelin, considering something with Nesryn, then ending up with someone different? Elain and Lucien are already further along in the game than most SJM couples at this stage (not in terms of their interactions but dropping the mating bond to readers in book 2 is pretty major so now she needs to create a little suspense as to what direction she's taking them in). I think SJM has done a good job of making them mates, normally a sure thing for endgame couples, then turning it all upside down and leaving us wondering if they'll end up together. Why would SJM want to show us any hopeful interactions between them in SF when it's so much more interesting for her to keep them apart? So that if she announced "the next ACOTAR book (whichever book that happens to be) is Elain and Lucien's POV" and it wasn't something we all knew for a fact as happening, then it creates more of a viral reaction.

SJM has said the ending of CC2 was a tightly held secret and she was so excited to finally be able to talk about. Why is it not possible for her to be keeping Elucien's outcome a secret as well, tricking everyone into looking one direction while her real plan is unfolding in the other? Right now it looks like Elucien is not going to bridge their gap (kind of, I mean Lucien still longs for her and it's kind of tough not to notice the pattern of the males longing for then ending up with their mates AND SF does hint at them in two of the same places in future books) but SJM is really clever at pulling off what seems to be impossible.

As far as Lucien playing wingman, I think that sounds a bit odd. You don't have a males first love beheaded in front of him, only to be given a mate who has given him quite a few years of angst, only to have her reject the bond and him to acknowledge that he'll always feel a pull to her, then have him sit there and help her find someone else to be with. A rejected bond is one thing if say, you have a hetero bond between two characters who prefer someone of the same sex. Then it doesn't matter what kind of pull you have to them, you'll never want them in that way. And your new partner isn't going to be all that jealous knowing you have a connection to someone else when that person is not someone you'd ever be sexually attracted to. But knowing Elain is already the most beautiful female Lucien had ever seen, it's difficult to walk back on that and have him end up with someone else, knowing that his mate is always going to be the female he finds more beautiful than the one he's with and knowing that there will always be a tug to her.

Steph is a free spirit and she's all about everyone loving everyone and everyone getting laid, throuples and threesomes, etc. But that does not seem to be the kind of author SJM is and I don't see Lucien being super chill with a rejected bond to the point that he's out helping Elain get laid.

I know at one point Steph shipped Elain and Az. Not necessarily because she thought they were a good couple, she just said that she wanted Az to get laid and he was obviously into hooking up with Elain.

Since then, she's changed her mind and said she no longer thinks E/riel is happening.

So.......if Elucien isn't happening and E/riel isn't happening, then where does that leave Elain? First, SJM would need to have Elain deal with her past with Graysen once we get her POV. Then we'd need her to at least acknowledge that what she had with Az was merely a crush, an attempt to convince herself she could be with someone else if that's what she wanted. Then she would have to have Elain interact with Lucien and end their mating bond. Then she'd need to build up another romantic arc for Elain since these books are dual POV (featuring a new romantic pairing) and wouldn't it be extremely strange for Elain's book to share a pov with her new love interest, without us knowing who the new love interest was?

Really, it comes down to Elain and Lucien's characters. I think she has to keep them apart because neither Elain or Lucien are confrontational. If she can't have them getting together before their book, then she's not going to have them interact before it because Lucien is a really decent male who respects Elain's need to distance herself. And he's never going to push Elain the way Cassian aggressively pushed at Nesta's buttons. So if Elain did start talking to Lucien, she'd see that he's well spoken, polite, charming, funny, social, considerate of her feelings.......

Ummmmm..............

SJM can't given them interactions because the second she does it's over and everyone is going to see how perfect they would be together. Or if Elain said, "please don't come around anymore", Lucien would say, "ok". He wouldn't harass her the way Cassian did Nesta because he's got a different character.

So SJM has them not interact because this way, Lucien keeps coming occasionally coming around because Elain never told him not to, but she also doesn't talk to him so we can't see how impossible it's going to be for her not to like him.

[primal-slayer]

Re-designing Wonder Woman

Various writers/artists talk through redesigning Wonder Woman

CBR News: Diana's new costume was revealed in "Wonder Woman" #41. In her own words, it was finally time for her to leave the 'girl behind' and embrace then woman that she's become. What can you tell us about the new design and why it represents Diana as a god, a queen and a warrior for justice?

Meredith Finch: One of things Dave and I discussed was that the initial costume that she wore was the one that she put on when she left Themyscira and went into the world of men. At that time, she wasn't part of the Justice League. She was just herself. I wanted the costume to be more in line with what other members of the Justice League are wearing. I also wanted it to be in line with the fact that she is a queen now. If you look at the costume that Hippolyta wore -- traditionally, queens tend to put on much more ceremonial costumes. And, she's also a warrior, so I wanted to be a really strong, solid costume. It hints at the Amazon culture but also fits in the modern world.

When making a major decision, like changing an iconic costume, how much credence lies with fandom and those that have loved the costume since the days of the Linda Carter TV series and the George Perez miniseries and what serves your story and new readers of the title?

If you look at the sketch designs that Dave did (published in "Wonder Woman" #41) for the new costume, first and foremost, they are all intended to be reflective of the character. And when you find something that works, it's like a title for a book: It just works. Dave did quite a few costume designs, and once he did the one that we landed on, it worked instantly for both of us. Getting approval from DC Editorial was fairly easy, because looking at it, the costume just has a synergy with the character. It's strong and reflective of who Diana is, and is still very recognizable as a Wonder Woman costume.

Does the costume have any special properties, or is Diana powerful enough that she does not need any extra protection?

The nice thing is that because it's a new suit, if we decide that we want to add something to it, we'll be able to do that. But looking at who she is right now, she's not just Wonder Woman and an Amazon princess -- she's Wonder Woman and the God of War. As a god, she really is invincible. The suit is much more a reflection of who she is than an addition to who she is. But to be fair, it was designed by Hephaestus, so I am sure there is something special in there because he does love her. https://www.cbr.com/finch-on-signifi...ys-redemption/

“She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941,” Mr. Straczynski wrote. “If you’re going to make a statement about bringing Wonder Woman into the 21st century, you need to be bold and you need to make it visual. I wanted to toughen her up, and give her a modern sensibility.”

He added, “What woman only wears only one outfit for 60-plus years?”

Given Wonder Woman’s pre-eminence as a female character in the largely male superhero pantheon, her looks have always been a matter of more than casual interest, to both fanboys and feminists. In a 2006 interview about her work on the series, the novelist Jodi Picoult said: “One of the first things I did was ask if we could give her breast-reduction surgery, because as a woman, I know you wouldn’t fight crime in a bustier. But I was somehow shot down by DC.” The new costume was designed by the artist Jim Lee, who in February was named co-publisher of DC, alongside Dan DiDio. Given the assignment, “my first reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Mr. Lee said in an interview. But he welcomed the challenge: “When these characters become so branded that you can’t change things, they become ossified.”

The new look — with an understated “W” insignia, a midnight blue jacket and a flinty fusion of black tights and boots — is darker than the famed swimsuit-style outfit, and aims to be contemporary, functional and, as Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” might say, less costumey.

Given the hope that the character will one day have her own international film franchise (a feature has long been gestating at Warner Entertainment, DC’s parent company), one test of the design was to imagine how it would look standing next to, say, Batman’s politically neutral ensemble. “The original costume was the American flag brought to life,” Mr. Lee said. “This one is a little more universal.”

Mr. Lee has drawn his share of sexy superheroines (the X-Men’s Rogue among them), some in skimpy costume, and knows what many fans will ask: “Why am I covering up her legs?” Ultimately, he wanted her to look strong “without screaming, ‘I’m a superhero.’ ”

The arrival of Issue 600 is a bit of comic-book sleight of hand, or, as DC calls it, a return to historical numbering. Wonder Woman’s first self-titled series, which begin in 1942, ended with No. 329. The character was then overhauled, her previous continuity erased, and she starred in Volume 2 as a heroine new to the world. That incarnation lasted 226 issues. Another new direction spurred a third volume (and, to collectors who care about such things, another Issue No. 1) that ran for 44 issues. Do the math, and what would have been Issue No. 45 is now Volume 1, No. 600.

The new costume will almost certainly be better received than the curveball thrown Wonder Woman in 1968, when she lost her powers, dressed mod and practiced martial arts. It took the attention of no less than Gloria Steinem to protest the change, and to help get the Amazon back into her star-spangled duds. Ms. Steinem went on to use Wonder Woman, resplendent in red, white and blue, on the cover of the first issue of Ms. magazine in 1972. A cover line proclaimed, “Wonder Woman for President.”

That’s the kind of attention Mr. Straczynski thinks she deserves: “Wonder Woman is a strong, dynamic, vibrant character who should be selling in the top 20, and I’m going to do all I can to get her there.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/bo...S8G9WNUsmwNo5Q

I got to design the Wonder Woman costume for our Earth Two series, with just some small tweaks by Jim Lee. It’s my version of her battle armor as apposed to a classic variant. It was the most appropriate direction considering the context.

Truthfully, I like the middle ground between pure fantasy and practicality. I want to know how a costume works, what all the parts are for, where did it come from, what it’s made of. I want there to be a practical nature but for that to not limit the design. https://sciencefiction.com/2012/03/1...-nicola-scott/

IGN: I'm glad you brought up the costume. Both you and Nicola are obviously drawing Diana at very different points in her life. Can you talk about the process of redesigning her look and what influences you drew from?

Sharp: Yeah, there's the basic one from the New 52. There's elements of that. There's also elements from the film version. With the one I'm doing, Greg was like, "Do you like the film costume?", and I said I really liked it. So let's just do that. That's settled. I was very happy to adapt that look for what I was doing with the costume. Nic's has slight variations. I talked about this with Greg. She'll wear different outfits. For instance, the cape is ceremonial. It's not always going to be there. We're of the belief that these characters live in a real universe. Obviously it's a fictional universe, but they wouldn't continue to wear the same clothes all the time. It's just ridiculous to assume that they would. So there are variations, and that's fine with me.

Scott: In the Year One story, I had asked if we could take the film costume and make it just a little more comic book-y and a little brighter and shinier. This is her first outing wearing a Wonder Woman costume. It's freshly minted. The breastplate has just come out of the forge and it's just been dyed. It's fresh. It's her first adventure off the island.

Sharp: Whereas mine is all tattered and beaten up and scuffed.

Scott: And probably has pieces replaced. It's a more mature outfit, where mine is meant to make her look a little more optimistic. https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05...s-diana-prince

MFT: Did you design the costume? How did you approach the task of a Victorian-era Wonder Woman design?

PW: Yes, I based it on a Victorian/Western showgirl. I looked at the original costume, hence the eagle, but stylized it to give it a more turn-of-the-century feel. I looked at Art Nouveau artists like Alphonse Mucha especially and some of the Pre-Raphealite painters like Holman Hunt, Millais, and the more stylistic Dante Gabriel Rosetti and also Victorian painters Alma Tadema and John William Waterhouse. It was important for me to understand Victorian scruples as much as their idealization of beauty. https://fanbasepress.com/press/featu...oman-amazonia/

]JF: From my perspective I’m really inspired by the designs that these film-makers are coming up with in these movies. A lot of the times I sit there and I look at these designs and go, “These are great! Why aren’t we thinking about these designs in comics? How come we didn’t think of that first?” I have to say, it’s really cool to see that Ben Affleck’s Batman costume looks like it does in the comics. It’s taking its cue from the comics, you know? So I made a joke on Twitter that I’d been drawing Ben Affleck’s Batman for the last three years. I draw this guy with a giant chin in a Batman suit.

We came up with our Wonder Woman design, and a lot of people would think that our Wonder Woman design is based off of the movie Wonder Woman, but actually it’s based off of an old drawing I did five years ago that Geoff found and really liked. So we used that as a costume. Then it just so happened that, “Oh, Cool! There’s a Wonder Woman costume that kind of goes in that same direction!” I think with the comics, visually, we want these characters to look as classic as possible. The more classic you make your characters look, the longer life your book has. It can transcend time. It’s not stuck in a time period where it’s, “Well, remember when they did that?” It’s these characters are in their classic looks.

We really talked about that because we want this book to be as big as possible. We want it to be as timeless as possible, and we want fans to come to our Justice League to see the characters in their classic designs, and just dive into the story and go from there. We want to deliver the best visual and story book that we possibly can. We want you to feel like you’re getting your money’s worth with these books, every single month. That’s our goal. http://www.multiversitycomics.com/in...war-interview/

Wonder Woman isn’t wearing her traditional costume but pants. Tell me a bit about how you came up with the look? Which do you prefer? Are these Amazon pants or off the shelf pants?

“You know what Lois like to see when she gets home? Pants. Pants on everyone.” As for these pants, they're store-bought. Or maybe “borrowed.” We’ll get to a more traditional look (or an amalgam of the various “traditional” takes) later in the arc. I had one idea for that one. Jorge took it, and ran with it and gave it his own twist, and it looks GREAT. As for her “vigilante” look when we meet her, we were going for something a little more urban combat-y. Pockets. Knives. Hair up. Some of her Agent Diana Prince look, mixed in with a bit of her (in hindsight, unjustly) lamented “Odyssey" look. Of course, we’d be remiss to not have her bracelets/gauntlets. She can’t NOT have those. Therein lies madness. https://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com...der-woman-once

Themyscira is just the start of Paquette’s visual re-imagining. “My first thought when Wonder Woman with Grant was mentioned was ‘I don’t want her to be dressed as an American flag.’ Not because an American flag is wrong but it made no sense. She’s coming from such a rich, wonderful culture with so much iconography (Greek culture), so why does she not use that, and why would she dress up as a flag? She’s not Captain America. But at the same time, I understood that this kind of iconic colour/texture is something that’s recognizable, so in that aspect it does have value. If I could reach the same design with a few differences, but make it so it’s not coming from the flag, it’s coming from a natural extension of her culture, I could live with this. The retro-engineering of her costume into something that makes sense is already embedded into the story.” He details some of the changes he has in mind. “The animal associated to Aphrodite is a dove so instead of an eagle on [Wonder Woman’s] breastplate, it will be more of a dove. It’s not the American eagle, it’s the Aphrodite dove. Stuff that creates [the letter] W is by accident, so it’s not like she already has a letter of the alphabet on her [costume]. In the end I’ve created a structure so it feels inevitable for Wonder Woman to look the way she does.” https://thatshelf.com/interview-yanick-paquette-on-wonder-woman/

[silverjirachi]

4-6 exile vilify pls

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

The whole thing with Thelem. Since I made the realization about the ending of the book very early on, I was able to shape every single scene and every piece of his dialogue around this point. There are some very subtle things going on with him; things he says, things he leaves out, little things that he does in every scene he has that make his knowledge apparent, and I'm hoping it's one of those things that deepens meaning for the reader with each re-read and recontextualizes things after you get through the book the first time. There's even some bits in the wording and tone of the prose that point to Thelem too.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

Oh god well I feel like I talk about this fic a lot actually, and I've gotten a lot of great questions. But I don't think people have ever asked me just like... what my favorite parts were. So, small list of fav moments:

the scene where Azelphir gives Astor The Prophecy™

Astor's first "prediction" when he says "Because Fate has decreed it" at the ceremony and Azelphir's reaction to that

the time Astor saves the Queen from drinking the poisoned goblet

the time Thelem yells at everyone in the abbey

Astor saving Rose from the Malice (I love this detail because despite how Astor spends his entire life hung up on this fear of killing her, what he ultimately ends up doing is buying her time).

The part immediately after Astor dancing with Rose where she loses her earring and he brings it to her

Astor's short encounter with toddler Zelda just as he is leaving for exile

Astor's "you could, but you won't" moment when the Yiga Clan almost kills him when they capture him

And of course the heart-wrenching..,, "I know, Astor. I always knew."

6. What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself?

Astor is the reincarnation of Ganondorf's royal seer and does not remember the pact he made. This is a big part of the reason Ganondorf is so aggressive toward him. The robes Astor obtains in the Yiga Clan hideout are literally his old robes. I mention the mark of the Order on them, but I'm never direct about how Astor ended up selected by Ganon from the time he was born.

This is my personal headcanon, but took it out because I wanted the focus of the story to be on the cruelty and randomness of fate, not karma. While Astor being unable to escape a pact he doesn't remember making--and made in a past life that should not affect him in the present--does still speak to the cruelty of fate, it also reads as karma to me, and that's different, and not the meaning I wanted to give the book. So that fact is like, canon-but-not-canon. I wrote Exile//Vilify with it in mind, but also in a way that it can also be excluded. It's up to the reader to decide if they like it or not, or even got the implication at all.

Other honorable mentions:

Thelem and Azelphir actually do love each other, but can't be together per laws of the abbey. Thelem is aware of his crush on Azelphir, Azelphir repressed his own.

Azelphir is always the first one into the chapel in the morning per his job. Something very important happens in the chapel toward the end of the book. I will... let you connect the dots there.

Astor loves Rose (I think this is obvious but maybe not obvious to him.. there is a lot of unrequited love in this book). Thelem knows Astor loves Rose.

Azelphir is the prior at the time of the Great Calamity 🤡 poor buddy

The abbey doesn't have an abbot because their abbot is Fate 😊

Check out the abbey's location on the BOTW map!! Isn't that fucked up and bad!!!!!? (There's also a floormaster/gloom hand that spawns at the abbey's precise location in TOTK??? the game's files also apparently refer to it as a "Miasma Lord" which is..... an interesting thing to note, given the circumstance.)

Azelphir has a major gap in his psychic abilities. I want to share it, but also don't so it's a surprise in Trouble Will Find Me. There is one kind-of hint of it in Exile//Vilify, but it's subtle, and in my revisions I'm doing currently I'm going to make it slightly clearer.

Ask me writing things!!

[tipsycad147]

Beginner Witch Terminology

Beginner witch vocab

I’ve been noticing lately that there’s a lot of confusion for baby witches when it comes to certain topics and practices.

Things like the names of tools and how to use them, holidays, what to call yourself even!

So to help clear that up, I’m going to cover some of the things I think should be considered Beginner Witch Vocabulary and Knowledge and hopefully make some more sense of everything.

So some of these terms are up for debate on the ” proper terminology”, with people that use them interchangeably while other think you have to be specific in every way. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

Book of Shadows versus Grimoire

Beginner Witch Vocab-Grimoire

So first we’re going to talk about your journal. Most witches have at least one journal they use to keep rituals, spells and correspondences in. This is referred to as your Grimoire.

A Grimoire is a book used to keep all the general knowledge a witch refers back to during her work. This is the big “spellbook” with all the witch’s magical secrets in it. (Like in the movies)

You can use your computer, a spiral notebook or a fancy leather-bound journal, they all work the same. ( Using a binder or book with removable pages helps let you rearrange or remove pages as needed)

This is where you’ll keep info on things like what to grow in your garden, the moon cycles and what they are good for, the best types of crystals for anxiety or sleep and more. Most Grimoire’s can be left visible to the public eye (aka on your bookshelf) as they aren’t deeply personal.

Try different styles and formats

Don’t be afraid to use different books for various topics or even restart yours if you don’t like your formatting or what you’ve written. My first Grimoire was a red 3 subject notebook with the letters BOS on the front written in gold sharpie!

I had a whopping total of like 5 pages filled with internet spells for things like weight-loss, irresistible beauty and all that preteen hoopla we go through as teenagers. ( Girls( and guys) you are beautiful no matter what you think the mirror tells you, trust me! Don’t rely on magic to change yourself to please others)

Now that I’m older and more interested in noting down my craft, I’m using multiple journals. I like have a different journal for each topic, ( divination, herbology, spell work, etc), so that I’m not covering 17 topics in 7 pages.

Look into Bullet Journals and that style. I like the dotted pages for writing and doodling. There are numbered pages and an index at the front to keep your info neatly organized. There are pre-formatted bullet journals or you can number and label your own.

Beginner Witch Vocab-Book of Shadows

You can also use Bullet journals or what ever your preferred technique is for your other journal. The second Journal witches use is called a Book of Shadows.( Or Book of secrets,Book of Light, Book of twilight, Book of Spells or Mirror Book).

This book is used to track your personal reactions, results and thoughts to your spells, dreams or divination readings. Everything written in your BOS is strictly about YOU.

Most witches don’t let others see or read their BOS. It would be like when your parents read your diary after an argument, just bad all around for everyone.

You can combine the two books together, many witches do in fact. It’s up to your personal preference and how you feel about it.

I’m currently writing down my daily tarot spread and 1-3 keywords about each card. This helps me learn the cards as well as keeps a written record of what my reading was in case I need to refer back on it later.

I don’t typically record results to spells but that may change in the future, idk. However I do try and keep track of measurements for oils, witch balls and other various crafts I make so that I’m not having to re-research it every time.

Where to find Journals

For the broke witch, feel free to use a spiral notebook and decorate the front if you want. If you’re trying to stay on the down-low, keep it hidden with school books or other inconspicuous areas. Use your notebook function on your phone or the computer or create a secret board on Pinterest.

If you do want to get the fancy journals, Etsy has some really cool ones. I personally hit Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million( our replacement for Border’s Books) for their clearance section on blank journals and sketchbooks. I just got like 4 more around Father’s day to update my set.

Check out Our Witches Love Gift Board on Pinterest for some cool ideas on journal designs.

Check out thrift stores as well. If you can find a minimally used journal,( or a brand new one if you’re lucky) you can clean it up and sage it, saving you a few bucks at the same time.( I recommend saging any new item you bring into your home whether new or not, it’s a way to make sure you start on a clean slate.)

Saging vs Smoke Cleansing vs Smudging

While we’re discussing saging your tools and items, let touch on the heavily debated topic of Smudging vs Smoke cleansing real quick.

I’ve noticed in the forums and groups I follow there’s been a lot of discussion on “open” and “closed” practices. What this is referring to if you don’t know, is rituals that are sacred to certain groups of people ad should only be performed by those people.

Beginner Witch Vocab-Smudging

Smudging is one of the newest debates on this as using sage to cleanse your space becomes very popular and “more common”.

The practice of smudging, especially smudging using white sage, is sacred to the Indigenous Tribes here in the US. A sacred ritual preparation, only certain members of the tribes are involved.

Typically, smudging is done prior to a prayer, spirit travel or an offering to the gods. Many tribes carry generations of tradition for this ritual and it is to be done with great honor and expertise.

Many of the Indigenous people feel that anyone Non-Native should not be allowed access to white sage nor call what they do smudging. And after researching I can understand their concern. We’ll be touching more on this in a few weeks so I won’t go over board with it right now.

What most people commonly refer to as “smudging” is actually called smoke cleansing( you can also call it saging if you are using garden sage,white sage etc) Smoke Cleansing is burning herbs, wood or incense to purify, cleanse and charge yourself, an area or items to be used.

Beginner Witch Vocab-Smoke Cleansing

Saging and smoke cleansing not only date to here in the US. But there are records the Celtic Druids, European Witches and many of the Nordic and Icelandic areas all used various techniques and plants for their own rituals. Even the frankincense and myrrh used in the Catholic Braziers are smoke cleansing! Many people are finding incense blends that appeal towards their bloodlines to get away from the sensitive issue of white sage smudging.

The coolest part of being a witch is you can make your own blends, and grow your own plants for it as well. Juniper, mint, lavender, rosemary and thyme are some examples of herbs you can burn for smoke cleansing.

So to TL: DR this part..lol Smudging is a Native American practice used in religious rituals using white sage and various herbs. Smoke Cleansing is used across the world using various plants and incense to cleanse a space, a person or an item. No matter which one you choose to do, just make sure your plants are ecologically and ethically sourced and that you are respectful during your practice.

(We will be covering this more in-depth in a few weeks, if there is any info you would like to know more about or share please send me a message I would love to add it in!)

Other Beginner Witch Terms and Vocab

Some of the other confusing topics for beginner witches is when they just start out. How do you know what everything is called? What if you have the wrong item, etc?

Once you get the hang of it, it’s a lot easier. And remember, you don’t have to follow everything specific down to the letter, feel free to improvise how it suits you best.

Beginner Witch Vocab-Tools

Altar(all-tar)– The location set aside to use for magical workings and storing tools. Typically held inside the magic circle when casting. Some witches chose to have big altars, small altars or multiple altars. Use to decorate for the Deity of your choice.

Athame(ah-tha-may)– An Athame is a slim double-bladed knife traditionally with a black handle used during circle casting. Because it’s use is decorative, it does not have to be sharp. Many witches use an ornate letter opener. My original Athame is a decorative knife with a tiger painted on the blade. Most days I don’t use any tools any more but I do still pull it out for special occasions.

Boline(bow-line)– The Boline is the other knife used for magic. Traditionally a white handled sickle shaped blade, Boline’s are used for harvesting plants and herbs.It can also be used for scoring sigils and runes onto candles. I used a black pocket knife when I started out. Mr. Moose actually got me my first legit Boline as a gift this year.

Runes(roon)– Runes are tools used for divination. Made from small slices of wood, bone or crystal, it uses specific symbols to create a reading based on a question(s)asked by the reader. Elder Futhark Runes is the most common type used today.

Magic Workings/ Rituals

Deosil(day-o-sill)/ Widdershins(wid-der-shin)– You’ve probably seen the word Widdershins before and asked “What does that mean?”. Deosil and widdershins are the directions to turn while circle casting. Deosil is clockwise and Widdershins is counterclockwise So if you are to turn widdershins 3 times you would spin to the left 3 times before continuing.

Sabbats(sa-bat)– The Sabbats are the 8 holidays that make up the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. Some groups only acknowledge 4 of the 8 holidays(The Equinoxes and the Solstices. So Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon). The other 4 holidays mark the halfway points between these seasons. All the Sabbats are celebrations of the harvest-time as it progresses and the season changes.

The 8 Sabbats are as followed: (* are the equinox/solstices)

*Yule- December 20-23rd

Imbolc- February 1-2nd

*Ostara-March 19-21st

Beltane-April 30-May 1

*Litha-June 20-22nd

Lammas/Lughnasadh-August 1-2nd

*Mabon- September 21-24th

Samhain-October 31-November 1st

If you would like to learn more about the Sabbats check out my posts so far on Beltane and Litha. I will be posting about Lughnasadh next week on 7/17. Find the posts here.

Esbats(s-bat)– Esbats is the proper term for the monthly ritual performed during the full moon. There are 13 Esbats over the year, covering each full moon and the blue moon.

Coven– A Group or Gathering of Witches who meet regularly and perform together.

Intent– Giving an action, item or thought a specific determined purpose.

Manifest– Turning a thought into action and reality.

Amulet– Powerful objects(usually worn) to ward off negativity or evil energy.

Talisman-Objects worn to attract and give power to the wearer.

Types of Witches

Sometimes when you start out, it’s hard to figure out if/ how to label yourself. Between religious and non religious witches you could probably make a list of a few hundred types. Other than Pagan/Wiccan/ Norse/Celtic/Agnostic witches, here’s some of the common “aesthetic” types of witches.

Garden witches-Loves plants and gardening, typically involved in herbology type healing.

Kitchen Witch- Uses her cooking and baking to invoke magic workings and spells. Commonly calls on ancestors during magic.

Sea Witch- Water witch, normally lives at or near a beach or body of water, uses sea animals, shells and stones for magic.

Hedge Witch-Used to be the village” medicine woman”, knows a variety of magics using pieces of each.

Fairie Witch- Nature oriented, works with the Fae and their magics.

Secular Witch- Works magic with no involvement from the gods at all, energy healer.

Cosmic/Space Witch- Works with Astrology and Zodiac signs, celestial energy.

Divination Witch- Specifically works with divination tools(tarot, runes, i-ching, scrying or palmistry)

Lunar/Solar Witch- Works specifically with the lunar or solar energies in their magic.

Storm Witch-Uses the energy from thunder and lighting storms to channel powerful magic.

Eclectic-Uses pieces out of each type of magic. Most witches acknowledge themselves as a solitary eclectic witch.

Pop Culture Witch- Uses witches in movies and books to follow their style and mannerisms

Gothic Witch- Dresses in all black, very Victorian and romantic based magic and mannerisms.

Elemental Witch- Normally corresponds strongly to one of the 4 elements and uses that in most of their work.

There are also Dianic, Celtic,Augury and more types of witches to identify with. You can find more information and ideas for any of these by typing in ” specific witch type” aesthetic on Pinterest.

Is there any other Vocab you would like to know?

That should just about cover it! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about the terms listed above. Is there any terminology you still need help understanding? Did you learn something new today? Hopefully this helps clear up any confusions for beginner witches out there who are just starting out.

[transition-with-the-torah]

Title: Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life -- in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)

Author: Sarah Hurwitz

Format / Cost: Ebook (free via Libby). As far as I'm aware, the 2019 version is the only edition available.

I've seen this book go around in some 'for conversion' tags/reblogs for a few years now; as far as I've heard, it's written by a lapsed born-Jew who rediscovered Judaism as an adult, so it's less about the nuts and bolts of conversion and more about life questions (and how Judaism tries to answer them). There are two parts. Part One covers chapters one through four, and Part Two covers five through nine. There's also an introduction and conclusion looking at "Why Bother With Judaism?" (Some quotes and notes about each chapter are below the read-more.)

Overall, I appreciated being able to peek into someone else's perspective. There's just enough basic explanation that Sarah Hurwitz didn't seem to have impenetrable jargon, yet I can't fault her for noting when she wasn't presenting absolutely everything (such as not covering every holiday in Ch 8). Personally, I like that type of warning because a certain part of my brain stops wondering why the author skipped a holiday or, more generally, trying to fill in gaps. It's possible that some people will connect with her opinions and experiences more than others – all of the bones to pick about God and liturgical language, the angels of Shabbat are creepy, her first reaction to seeing someone put on tefillin at the meditation retreat was to think it was silly that people were taking a metaphor literally, finding so many things boring. I'm aware that she had to start somewhere with the whole premise of re-examining Judaism and starting out bored isn't too unexpected, but there were a few places where it also felt like I – by not being bored, for example – was being a bit cringe. It's not like she bashed a hypothetical group of readers or anything, but I think at least part of the reason why I appreciated her perspective is that there were some 'if you're nodding along, check out X' moments (and the corollary, 'if I'm not nodding along, I may want to check out Z' self-realisation).

(This has been tagged as #reviews for personal organization on my blog and may not be considered a complete or satisfying review by others.)

Intro

The term "Jews by choice" is often used to refer to those who convert to Judaism. But these days, all American Jews are Jews by choice -- and many of us are choosing to opt out.

On the one hand, I can understand how this is working to segue from the author's personal experience with drifting away from Reform Judaism after her bat mitzvah to the statistics on Jews affiliating with a different movement as adults (mostly becoming less observant), but on the other hand, I definitely feel like I'm side-eyeing this. I'm going to have to pay $180 to the community mikvah as part of conversion, to say nothing of other costs, classes, and efforts to actually join the Jewish People. It just feels a little too much like writing all that off if 'all American Jews are Jews by choice' here, but I will admit that this might just be a personal thing.

Yet, even some of the most disaffected Jews will admit that something inside them feels unsettled. Even if they won't go anywhere near a synagogue, it still doesn't feel quite right to attend their partners' churches on Easter or have Christmas trees in their living rooms. And even if Judaism as they know it leaves them cold, there is something about it -- albeit faint and inexplicable -- that still tugs at them. There is a Yiddish phrase for this: "dos pintele yid," which literally means "that little point of a Jew" and refers to that spark of Jewishness in each of us that we can't quite manage to ignore, no matter how hard we try.

^ I just find the above to be a lovely image considering how often I've run into mentions of sparks (possibly due to Kabbalistic allusions in some Jewish resources or explanations).

I certainly don't want to downplay how important growing up within your community's religion can be, but I can understand where the author's coming from on how some of the deeper questions or more fulfilling answers might be easier to find and understand as an adult.

Ch 1 covers the Torah.

This text, I realized, is not meant to be read for the plot, it's meant to be interpreted for meaning.

While I have no doubt that this seems like a simple realisation for some, I do appreciate addressing the 'you need to read this as a literal, factual account' haunting of certain Xtian approaches to the text.

This belief that every single one of us is created in the image of God has been cited as the defining Jewish idea […] Drawing on an ancient Jewish teaching, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg argues that this idea is shorthand for three fundamental truths, which he deems the "three inalienable dignities": 1. We are each of infinite worth—no one is expendable, and we cannot quantify the value of any human life. 2. We are all fundamentally equal—no human being is any more important than any other human being. 3. We are each totally unique—there is no one else like us, and no one is interchangeable with anybody else.

I can understand how this is important from a historical perspective, but I also must admit that this quote jumps out because of how I've seen people react to an Air Force member killing himself publicly via setting himself on fire [current events, as of 6 March 2024]. He claimed that it was for Palestine, but really, I've mostly run into people being surprisingly pro-suicide and praising him. So indulge me in repeating for emphasis: no one is expendable, no human being is any more important than any other human being [no one is lesser than], and no one is interchangeable with anybody else.

God does not want people to be God's servants. Instead, God asks them to be God's partners. That's what God was doing at Mount Sinai: God was presenting the Israelites with a covenant—a mutual agreement between two parties under which each agrees to perform certain actions in exchange for something of value from the other.

There is another section addressing 'Jews being The Chosen', but I feel like this quote also counters the image of a People/Nation being randomly plucked from all the kingdoms of the time in some sort of Divine Lottery. I don't find myself struggling nearly as much with this covenant and 'Chosen' angle because, as far as I'm aware, that's actually not entirely unique to the Israelites. (My impression of ancient polytheistic societies is that they often had something similar with deities choosing them over their neighbours and having 'I do X, Deity does Y' agreements, and there have been times when I've wondered if people wouldn't be half as weird about Jews still using chosen language in their religious texts if we hadn't had over a millennium of reduced polytheistic interactions.)

A better name for us would be "the choosing people"—the people who chose to accept a particular covenant with the Divine, and who must continue choosing, in each new generation, to honor it.

Ch 2 covers interpretation.

We did not stick the Torah behind glass in a museum simply to be admired from afar. Instead, from the moment the Torah was canonized, we were already arguing about what it meant. And since then, we have interpreted and reinterpreted it, continually breathing new life into it—and allowing it to breathe new life into us—in each new era.

Due to covering some basic history in the first chapter, this chapter continues on, so there isn't too large of a jump from before the First Temple to the current day. In the course of that, there's a brief explanation of how different movements came to be and how there isn't one traditional form of Judaism per se.

This is something I love about Judaism: When Temples fall, we don't just stand around trying to make sacrifices at the ruins. We retranslate our tradition to create something more enduring.

Ch 3 covers God (aptly summed up in the title – Free God from "His" Human-Shaped Cage in the Sky).

Personally, I just didn't really click with the author's personal experience in this regard – "To be honest, I felt like I was too smart to believe in God—like God is fine for other people, who need that sort of thing to comfort themselves in times of distress, or to incentivize them to behave morally. But not me. I was above that." (Yes, the point is that this is where she started, and there's this whole thing with connecting to Something during meditation, but to me, it felt too close to edgy atheists claiming that anyone who believes in some sort of theistic thing is stupid.)

She offers options for approaching God as:

1) God as all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good (more or less) [there's certainly not one unified approach in this broad category, but this is where the author touches on God being seen as "loving and compassionate" in contrast to Xtian influenced ideas of God only being that way in the New Testament];

2) God as radically transcendent [so far removed from us and our physical existence that we can't really know God, though we can emulate attributes];

3) God as everything ["you, me, skyscrapers, grass—it's all God"];

4) God as an actualizing force ["a psychologist might call this 'self-actualization,' what happens when we cultivate our talents, strengths, and passions to become the truest, best version of ourselves"];

5) God as found in relationship ["We connect with God by connecting deeply to others—and not just humans, but animals and things in nature as well"];

6) God in search of man [quoting Heschel there; this God knows us as individuals and "reaches back, yearning for our partnership in the work of improving the world"];

7) God as all-good but not all-powerful [see also: "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Rabbi Harold Kushner];

8) God as found in the predicates of God [predicates are attributes like justice and mercy, so we can "express Godliness" by expressing these attributes to each other]; and

9) God as in process [God adapts to our decisions when offered a choice "so God changes and evolves as we do"].

Ch 4 covers action (since doing is much more relevant than belief in a specific idea of God).

Today, outside of traditionally observant circles, you'll be hard-pressed to find many Jews who believe literally in the concept of the Messiah. [...] Instead, many Jews now understand messianism metaphorically to mean that if we succeed in righting the world's wrongs—ending things like poverty, violence, and discrimination—then we can usher in a messianic era, a new, better time for humanity. All three of these concepts—covenantal partnership with God, tikkun olam, and messianism—emphasize that Jewish worship isn't just about contemplation or petition, it's about action.

There's an explanation of mitzvot, though I'm skipping over the "this may all seem primitive and weird" bit where, to me, it seems like the author is apologizing for the reader's assumed negative reaction to the reveal that Judaism involves following some amount of the mitzvot. (At least, the ethical ones of whatever isn't Temple or Israel based, since this is from an American Reform perspective.)

When I do a mitzvah like digging into my wallet to help someone in need or refraining from passing on a juicy piece of gossip about a colleague, Judaism sees that as a spiritual moment, one in which I'm bringing myself closer to the Divine and bringing the Divine down to earth.

Ch 5 covers some moral examples of mitzvot.

This isn't the big, obvious stuff like not killing someone else, but it's the relatively smaller stuff that adds up to: "Having now learned a little bit about Jewish ethics, I stand by my original belief that I don't need Judaism to teach me how to be a good person, or at least a good enough person. But I've come to realize that I do need it if I ever want to become a great person."

First, there's being mindful of speech and not shaming others, including not spreading gossip [lashon hara]. Then there's deceiving people via pretending to be generous with an example of sending a party invite to an annoying coworker only because you know they'll be unable to attend [g'neivat da'at]. There's an overview of a process to build desired character traits [middot] called Mussar, and two broad ethical categories for mitzvot – self-restraint or self-transcendence (thinking of others).

Self-restraint isn't about asceticism, like a monk or nun giving up all worldly desires, but it is about properly channeling "base, animalistic impulses" into something constructive that may involve some limits on the base desire. Self-transcendence is the "ethic of non-indifference" which Rabbi Donniel Hartman defines as the obligation "to see the seeds of others and to implicate oneself as part of the solution." The specific examples of this are tzedakah and ḥesed. Some mitzvot will overlap in self-restraint and self-transcendence with a specific example of animal welfare – there are rules about minimizing pain, but we can still use oxen to plow a field or kill animals to eat [with an asterisk for kashrut—not every creature is considered kosher, there are butchering rules, etc.].

Ch 6 covers spiritual practice.

This covers several areas of connection since the author starts out at a place of: "So I would show up for services twice a year, at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and while these holidays are supposed to be [...] powerful moments of self-reflection during which we come face-to-face with our own mortality and perform an unflinching examination of our souls—I was mainly bored."

On the one hand, I don't want to seem like pulling out this quote is judgmental when explaining the siddur and trying to connect to Hebrew are topics that conversion classes also cover, but on the other hand, I have this self-conscious disconnect from being bored in twice-a-year services. (I'm much more likely to be bored by meditation and unscripted personal prayer while scripted communal prayer at least provides guardrails for what to say and when.)

Areas of connection: Unscripted personal prayer, which can included hitbodedut (go where you won't be heard, though somewhere outside would be ideal, and speak out loud to God) [covered in more detail in the author's meditation retreat in Ch 1]. Scripted communal prayer, which the author doesn't often vibe with [see advice quote below]. Blessings, which are not limited to those included in the siddur such as witnessing the beauty of the natural world. Meditation, which the author vibes with more [this specifically talks about mindfulness meditation and Jewish meditation retreats]. Study, which can include a ḥavruta partnership [at least two students analyze and discuss text together].

First, you cannot read the siddur literally like a textbook designed to relay facts to you. [...] The siddur is also not meant to be read literally, but more like a poem. Some of the conceptions of God in the siddur—as a father, king, ruler of the universe—simply don't resonate for many of us anymore. So my second piece of advice is to avoid getting hung up on the concepts of God the liturgy suggests, and instead focus on the experience of God it evokes and the human experience it reflects. [...] it's not always feasible to real-time interpret and absorb the stream of verbiage to which one is subjected at many Jewish prayer services. [...] if you're particularly struck by a word, phrase, or line from a prayer, then just stay with it for a while. Turn it over in your mind, see how it feels when you hold it in your heart. [...] Prayer works best when it really goes through you. But for that to happen, you have to open yourself up to it. And that is my final piece of advice: to bring some vulnerability to your communal prayer experience.

I also want to pull out a quote from Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk because of the imagery involved:

He asks why the Shema prayer states that God's commandments to us should be "on your heart" rather than "in your heart." His answer: Often, our hearts simply aren't open, but if we place these words on our hearts, then the moment our hearts do open, the words can fall in.

Ch 7 covers Shabbat.

Some measure of observing Shabbat can: "help us stop being such control freaks and just let go for a change" since sunset determines start/end of Shabbat; "help us fight consumerism, materialism, and workaholism" by not being available to social media messaging or employer/employee demands 24/7; "be a mini-holiday that injects joy into our lives each week" even if the joy is more like comfort from being around friends and family in a non-joyous time; "can help us connect to ourselves" by silencing outside noise and distractions (in a way that sounds similar to earlier mentions of meditation); "help us connect with others"; and "offers a vision of the world as it should be, inspiring us to improve the world as it is" since everyone – as equals – rests on Shabbat, metaphorically doesn't light fires by not feeding anger and discord between each other, and tries to be in harmony with nature.

Personally the 'harmony with nature' bit seemed like a comment that I wanted to see some expansion on because it just sounds like general rest from work/electronic devices is the "cease from exploiting the earth's resources for our gain" which isn't necessarily true. How many Jews use lights, drive, and otherwise use electronics on Shabbat, you know? I'm not saying we needed a ton of pages on how environmentalism intersects with Judaism, but immediately going to resting as if all our work is finished doesn't seem to complete this thought.

Ch 8 covers holidays with a note that basic, how-to books will cover the actual details and all of the holidays. This more covers two chunks of holidays for thematic relevance.

Passover and Shavuot work together to tell Jews who they are: "Passover is about reinforcing part one of the logic (knowing how it feels to be a stranger) by ensuring we retain that visceral, bodily sense of being vulnerable. Shavuot is about part two (feeling obligated to care for strangers today), reminding us that our experience of oppression in Egypt is the lens through which we must see the world, and that the laws dictated at Mount Sinai are our instructions for how to act on what we see."

The other chunk of holidays is the season around the Days of Awe, which actually starts back on Tish B'Av and covers the reflection in the month of Elul as well as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Unsurprisingly, the author's not into some of the liturgical choices around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – God is anthropomorphized as a King and "He" will reward or punish us. However, she does go through some interpretive examples from Ch 6 and offer up ways to not disconnect from ancient liturgical language even if you're more towards that agnostic-slash-atheist camp of God. For example, the list of ways to die if we're inscribed in the book of death aren't actual things we can individually control (as paraphrased as the medieval equivalent of drunk driving), and it's more a way of "describing the unavoidable reality that our fate is not entirely in our hands" than a literal threat of punishment from God.

Yom Kippur is Judaism's way of telling us: Do not wait for a nosediving airplane or your final days in hospice to take your life seriously. Have a near-death experience at least once a year (ideally much more frequently [endnote asterisk]) during which your life passes before your eyes, and you ask yourself, "Is this the life I want to have lived? If my life ended five minutes from now, what would I wish I had done differently?"

This is relying on a comparison of Yom Kippur to a near-death experience, so the endnote asterisk is actually about teshuvah: "One of the Rabbis in the Talmud urges people to do teshuvah one day before their death. But since none of us knows when we're going to die, this means we should do teshuvah every day, just to be safe." (Personally, I keep going back and forth from being ambivalent to feeling like a killjoy about the premise of this comparison, but as mentioned earlier, there's been a little more suicide praise happening than I like lately.)

But in addition to its temporal proximity to the Days of Awe, Sukkot seems to have a spiritual proximity to these holidays. We have just spent Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur acknowledging that we're all going to die and have little control over how and when that happens. On Sukkot, we ask ourselves: If this is true—if we're just fragile, mortal beings hurtling to our deaths—how are we supposed to live? [...] On Sukkot, we acknowledge that we all wander the earth in rickety booths, exposed to the elements, and the key to living a good life is finding peace, joy, and gratitude along the way.

Ch 9 covers life cycle rituals (though the author notes that she will mostly be focusing on death rituals due to lack of personal experience with others).

The secular world is not great at helping us cope with big life transitions like getting married, starting a family, or losing someone we love. Instead of supporting and comforting us, it often does the opposite, scaring the living daylights out of us and then selling us products it claims will alleviate our fears. [...] Jewish life cycle rituals, on the other hand, are not consumer experiences—at least they're not supposed to be.

The author touches briefly on most of the commonly discussed life cycle moments, but as someone who is also unmarried and not raising children, I don't particularly mind that she's not trying to cover everything. (There are whole books about weddings, pregnancy and parenting, and other resources for b'nei mitzvah planning.) So, this chapter mostly focuses on death and the afterlife. A shomer (pl. shomrim) guards the body until it can be buried, and the ḥevra kadisha [or chevra kadisha] washes the body and dresses it. This isn't intended to go into great detail (for example, I've encountered discussion of how to include trans and nonbinary Jews in the traditionally single gender groups), but it does clearly focus on how the ḥevra kadisha is supposed to be respectful.

There's a bit about the funeral itself (unembalmed burial is traditional), kriah (ripping some sort of cloth/clothing), sitting shiva (7 days after burial), shloshim (30 days after shiva), and explaining the Mourner's Kaddish. Those mourning the loss of a parent say the Mourner's Kaddish for 11 months instead of just 30 days after shiva, and there's a subsection for 'the rest of our lives' for mending the kriah [historically more important due to how hard replacing torn clothing was], yizkor services (Passover, Shavuot, Shemini Atzeret, and Yom Kippur), and yahrzeit rituals, such as lighting a 24 hour candle on the anniversary of your loved one's death. There's also a bit about placing a small stone or pebble in a cemetery visit instead of flowers.

The next part touches on the afterlife and how Judaism doesn't strictly speaking have one unifying idea about what happens. There's so much focus on living and what happens during your life that there's room for afterlife options:

1) There's no afterlife and there's not really a soul, which can be supported by the Torah - "Unlike a 'soul,' which gives a person their unique personality and consciousness, this Divine spark/breath is entirely impersonal. It is a generic life-giving energy—and when it leaves your body, you die."

2) Inspired by Greek persecution and probably Greek philosophy about souls, the Talmud introduces a soul that lives on after one's physical body dies (and the possibility of bodily resurrection). Your soul can go straight to Gan Eden or it can get purified in Gehenna for up to 12 months before heading to Gan Eden, and then you can wait for the whole Messiah/World to Come part.

3) Kabbalists in the 12th century tended more towards reincarnation, but some of the specifics of the various reincarnation options probably don't make sense outside of an understanding of Kabbalah.

4) In more modern times, the idea of living on from memories and good deeds that your living relatives do in your name may or may not be related to one's soul continuing after death. (The possibility of bodily resurrection came to be viewed as superstitious starting in the 19th century, but not everyone abandoned the general idea of a soul immediately.)

Quite frankly, this is one of those areas where you can ask N people and you'll get N+1 answers. Since certain prayers came to be used during the centuries of the Talmud being created, some people aren't – or at least I wasn't – nearly as surprised as this author was when she found out about Gehenna. I think my first encounter with the idea was someone explaining how it wasn't the same as Xtian Hell. (I think the comparison was to a soul washing machine with a finite 'end of the wash cycle' instead of an eternity of torturous punishment.)

The conclusion presents Rabbi Benay Lappe's 'crash theory' about adapting to changes and covers some crashes in Judaism. The transition from a Temple focused, priest important, and animal sacrifice based religion to Rabbinic Judaism was one big crash, but there have also been others – European Enlightenment (and the possibility of assimilation), the Holocaust, the modern nation-state of Israel (and the complexities and critiques of a nation-state existing over the decades), interfaith marriages, and adapting one's community to be welcoming to everyone (colorism/racism, singlism, and I would add on queerphobia, transphobia, and ableism among other areas).

There's some general advice about exploring Judaism like bringing a certain amount of openness and curiosity to this, persevering after one unpleasant experience (you wouldn't write off all Italian food if you didn't like one dish at a new Italian restaurant), finding a teacher instead of struggling alone, moving through emotional obstacles preventing you from asking for help or clarification, remembering that there's no one true Judaism to follow, and not restricting yourself to an arbitrary time period to figure this all out. This can be a lifelong process, and you're not behind everyone else. (The teacher note includes taking some sort of Judaism 101 class, if available, but you could also have non-literal teachers via workshops, retreats, synagogue buddies, etc.)

There's also an appendix of resources for getting started (with Sarah Hurwitz's commentary still included).

[...] I'd recommend starting with some of the items in the "Introductory Materials" section to give you a broad web of context. Once you have a handle on the basics, you'll be prepared to dive more deeply into whichever topic(s) most intrigue you. Introductory Materials Classes: Introduction to Judaism classes are often offered at synagogues and Jewish Community Centers, and taking one is a great way to find your first teacher and connect with others who are exploring Judaism. I also found the following books and websites to be helpful when I was just starting to learn: The "What" of Judaism ~ Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History: This 750-page book is broken up into essays of about two to four pages, and its title is a good description of what it offers. ~ My Jewish Learning (MyJewishLearning.com): You can find basic information on just about any Jewish topic on this site, as well as plenty of resources for deeper learning. ~ Bimbam (Bimbam.com): This website is filled with (often hilarious) videos on Jewish holidays, values, and rituals, as well as videos on the weekly Torah portion, the Talmud, and more. It also has videos for kids. The "Why" of Judaism ~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion; Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi with Joel Segel, Jewish with Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice; Harold S. Kushner, To Life!: A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking: These books offer answers to the "why be Jewish" question, and they've been influential in my own understanding of Judaism. ~ Rabbi Edward Feinstein, Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life: While technically for young people, Feinstein's explanations and observations are helpful for adults as well. The "How-To" of Judaism ~ Anita Diamant, Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today's Families; Blu Greenberg, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household: Both of these books offer concrete guidance for Jewish practice (and while I'm not the target audience for Greenberg's book, I found it to be quite insightful).

I do want to include the resources for other topics, but I need a visual break between the introductory section and the rest – Torah, Talmud, History, God, Ethics, Spiritual Practice, Shabbat, Holidays, and Death and Mourning.

Torah ~ Rabbi Reuven Hammer, The Torah Revolution: Fourteen Truths that Changed the World: This book provides an accessible account of some of the Torah's key ideas. ~ Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses: I appreciate Alter's vivid translations, and find his notes to be quite helpful [...] ~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' Covenant and Conversation series of commentaries on the weekly Torah portion (online and in book form) and Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion, vols. 1 and 2: I recommend reading the Torah one weekly portion at a time and reading some of the corresponding essays from Rabbis Sacks and Held, which explore the Torah's spiritual and moral lessons. Talmud ~ Adin Steinsaltz, The Essential Talmud: Steinsaltz offers a clear overview of the history and content of the Talmud. ~ Ilana Kurshan, If All the Seas Were Ink; Jonathan Rosen, The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds: These books provide fresh takes on the Talmud from two people writing about their own experiences studying it. ~ Sefaria (sefaria.org): Sefaria is a free website and app that offers a massive library of Jewish texts—biblical, Talmudic, Kabbalistic, and more—many of them in English translation. History ~ Micah Goodman, A History of Judaism; Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews; Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism: A History: Each of these books is relatively concise and accessible given the scope of what they cover, and together, they provide a basic grounding in Jewish history. God Jewish Theology Overview ~ Rabbi Jamie S. Korngold, The God Upgrade: Finding Your 21st-Century Spirituality in Judaism's 5,000-Year-Old Tradition: This is a relatable journey through various Jewish God conceptions. ~ Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, ed., Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief: This is a collection of provocative essays about the Divine. Specific Theologies/Thinkers ~ Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People ~ Kenneth Seeskin, Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed ~ Jay Michaelson, Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism ~ Shai Held, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence ~ Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, God of Becoming and Relationship: The Dynamic Nature of Process Theology Ethics ~ Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, A Code of Jewish Ethics, vols. 1 and 2, and Words That Hurt, Words That Heal: How to Choose Words Wisely and Well: Rabbi Telushkin distills a tremendous amount of Jewish law into clear prose peppered with anecdotes that make the material come alive. ~ Rabbi Donniel Hartman, Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself: This book is an argument for how to resolve tensions between ritual and ethics (spoiler alert: ritual should serve ethics, not be in opposition to it). ~ Alan Morinis, Everday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar: A user-friendly introduction to Mussar with instructions on how to try it for yourself. Spiritual Practice ~ Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Way into Jewish Prayer: This is a solid introduction to, and overview of, traditional Jewish prayer. ~ Rabbi Mike Comins, Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Difficult and What to Do About It: This book includes excerpts from dozens of thoughtful rabbis about their struggles and successes with prayer. ~ Rabbi Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing: Experiencing the Energy and Abundance of the Divine: This book about the role and practice of blessings in Judaism also offers broader insights about Jewish spirituality.

There are several mediation resources: "What Now?: Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond" by Yael Shy, "Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life" by Alan Lew, and two organization that the author has done retreats with – Or Halev, and Institute for Jewish Spirituality.

Shabbat ~ Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath: If you read just one book on Shabbat, this should be it. ~ OneTable (onetable.org): This website provides ritual resources, hosting tips, and access to Shabbat experts to help twenty- and thirty-somethings create meaningful Shabbat dinners. Holidays ~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ceremony and Celebration: Introduction to the Holidays, and Rabbi Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays: Each of these books provides an overview of the holidays, as well as an exploration of their moral and spiritual meanings. ~ Abigail Pogrebin, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew: A personal account by a thoughtful, funny Jew who spent a year observing all of the Jewish holidays. ~ Alan Lew, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation: This book is filled with profound insight about the High Holy Day season. I know people who read it every year. ~ Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Jonathan Sacks Haggadah: Collected Essays on Pesaḥ: This book includes both a Haggadah and a series of essays exploring the meaning of Passover. ~ Haggadot.com: This website helps you make your own Haggadah. Death and Mourning ~ Anita Diamant, Saying Kiddush: How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead, and Mourn as a Jew, and Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning: These books both explain the death and mourning rituals and are invaluable for mourners and anyone wishing to understand the Jewish approach to death. Lamm's is from a more traditional perspective and provides more detail. ~ Jack Riemer, ed., Jewish Reflections on Death and Jewish Insights on Death and Mourning: These books offer essays about death and mourning from Jews of all different backgrounds. ~ Neil Gillman, The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought: An account of how Jewish thinking about the afterlife has evolved over the centuries.

Posted: 16 March 2024.

[an-aroaces-harem]

Ivy Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I just deepl and google translated my way through this because I wanted to know what’s going on, so there are definitely mistakes but I believe I managed the general gist of the story. Anyway, it’s just a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes. Morganatic Idol belongs to Cybird and ABC Frontier, Inc.

Finn: Greetings, then. Let me do it my way.

Finn-san then grabbed my wrist with his large hand and pulled me in tight.

(Eh … …!?)

I found myself in Finn-san's arms. I couldn't swallow the overwhelming situation--

Rina: Eh, ah!

Finn-san stroked my head vigorously with a frightened look on his face.

Rina: Um, a little ...!

Ivy: What are you doing?

Ivy-san stopped Finn-san in a panic. But my hair was messed up.

When I looked at Finn-san with confusion, he smiled at me.

Finn: You told me to say hello. I'm just trying to do it in my own way.

Finn: This is how you love your dog or cat, right?

Rina: Eh?

Ivy: Dogs and cats?

Unexpected words caused delayed reactions.

Finn: You're probably taking care of her like an abandoned puppy or kitten or something, right?

(Eeh??)

Ivy: What are you talking about? I don't think so.

Finn: Really? Anyway, I said hello, so I guess it's not my fault.

After saying that, Finn-san went back to sleep.

Ivy: You're not going to run an errand?

Finn: Yeah, I'll talk to you later.

As soon as he finished, Finn-san quickly disappeared.

Ivy: Sorry. He messed up your hair. He didn't mean to stroke it so harshly.

Rina: No, I'm fine, but am I really that much like a cat or dog?

When I asked him this, he was silent for a moment, before quickly extending his hand.

(Eh ...)

I was touched on the head again, and my heart jumped at the gentle movement, which was different from that of Finn-san.

Rina: U-umm ...

Ivy: If you ask me, you might really be like a puppy when it comes down to it.

Rina: Eh!?

Ivy: Hehe, just kidding.

He laughed and lightly stroked my hair on either side of my head before pulling his hand away.

(Oh, he smoothed down my hair ...)

With that thought in mind, I find that my nervousness has completely faded.

Ivy: I know it's difficult for the other members, but if you have any problems, you can talk to them.

Ivy: It must be strange to be thrown into a place like this, and I'm a little worried about it.

Rina: Yes, thank you very much!

When I bowed my head once more, Ivy-san smiled softly at me again.

The next day, after the presentation, I went to work for the first time at Needle's Bell.

Female Employee 1: Kawanaga-san, next time, please gather the materials over here.

Female Employee 2: I want you to do this when you're done. I have a lot of work to do because of your absence yesterday.

Rina: I'm sorry. I understand.

As I started walking away with a pile of documents, Mori-san appeared briskly.

Mori Eiko: You two, the meeting is coming up. Get ready.

Female Employee 1: I'll be right there!

Female Employee 2: Now that I think about it, Mori-san. I've been wondering about you since this morning, but your clothes today are really nice.

Mori Eiko: Hehe, it's Connelly's new one.

Female Employee 2: Wow! That's great! I think I should buy the bag I've been eyeing.

(Mori-san and the others are as sparkling as ever. I'm feeling even more miserable.)

(No, this isn't the time to be depressed. You've just been given a chance.)

If I do nothing, as a tempory worker, I will have no choice but to leave without renewal.

(I definitely want to avoid that ...)

-flashback-

Sakura Eito: exe Creed only accepts work that they are truly satisfied with.

Sakura Eito: So I'm giving you a chance to convince them in person. It's special.

-flashback end-

(I absolutely have to make sure the re-presentation is a success ... I have to do everything I can.)

Just as I was pumping myself up, I saw a calendar that reminded me of something.

(Yes ...!)

Rina: Ugh, I think I bought a little too much ...

Today is the release day of the music magazine with exe on the cover.

I remembered this and went to a bookstore on my way home from work to purchase a copy of the magazine to research them.

(But, as expected of exe ... I picked up other magazines and ended up with such a huge pile.)

I was staggering along with a heavy paper bag in each hand.

Xeno: What are you doing?

Rina: Ah, Xeno-san ...!

Jace: What's that? That's the Aegis staff member. Are you really going to work here?

Ivy: I told you so. Didn't you hear what I said?

Behind Xeno-san, I could see other exe members. It seemed that they had returned from work.

Rina: Thanks for your work.

Hugh: I'm tired ...

Finn: Hey, Hugh, don't fall asleep before you get to your room.

As I was about to give way to them heading toward the back of the room, Jace-san looked into the paper bag.

Jace: Oh, that. That's us on the cover. When was it taken?

Ivy: Wasn't it the month before last? There was also an interview at the beginning of the magazine.

Jace: Oh, yeah, yeah. I like the makeup you had for this one.

(Come to think of it, the women on the sales floor were also buying them, saying, "that makeup looks great".)

Rina: I read the magazine and tried to gather as much information as I could ...

Finn: That's why you bought so many? You're always doing that.

Finn: You were dizzy with all that baggage at the presentation. You're really reckless for being so small.

Rina: Oh ...

The vigor of Finn-san's voice made me brace myself for what he was going to do to me again.

Finn: Don't be scared. I'm not going to eat you up.

He went straight to his room.

Xeno: ...

Hugh-san and Xeno-san left next.

Jace: You're too cold. I, on the other hand, welcome girls. Whenever you feel lonely, come to my room.

After Jace-san waved at me, just Ivy-san and me were left.

Ivy: Sorry, everyone's going at their own pace.

Rina: No, it's fine.

When I returned the smile, Ivy-san gave me a troubled smile, then looked down at the paper bag.

Ivy: That's a lot of stuff. It must have been heavy.

Ivy: You should have told me, because all these magazines are sent to us as samples.

Rina: But, seeing things managed by the office without permission ...

Ivy: You want me to help you with your office work, so I don't think that will be a problem, right?

Ivy: Yeah, but it's not organized at all, so it might be hard to see.

Ivy: I should've kept it in the library, but Eito left it in my room.

Ivy: He throws whatever he wants in there, so it stays untidy for a long time ...

(Maybe that's why there was a mess in one corner of his room?)

Rina: If you want, I can organize it for you. I'm in charge of your room, Ivy-san.

Ivy: What? But it's a lot of work.

Rina: I'll be fine. I'll take care of it.

Ivy: I'd like to ask you for a favor, then. I'll be honest, I'd appreciate it. Of course, you can look at the magazines at your leisure.

Ivy: Oh, and I have some sound files and promotional materials that might be helpful, too.

(Sound files and promotional materials ...!)

My heart was excited by this fascinating, albeit coincidental, story.

Rina: Thank you very much!

Ivy: That's my line.

(Okay, I'll do my best ...!)

The next morning, the exe members gathered for a lesson.

Hugh: I'm sleepy ... and hungry ...

Ivy: You need something in your stomach to keep you moving. Here, have a smoothie.

Finn: Jace overslept again. Xeno would get mad if he was late for his lesson.

Xeno: I don't need anyone without a pro mentality.

Ivy: I called him earlier, so he'll be fine. I've got his stuff ready, and he'll be here soon.

Finn: Are you his mother?

Ivy: Finn, I ordered the gym equipment you mentioned the other day, and it should be here today.

Finn: Today? That's early.

Hugh: Finn is taken care of, too.

Finn: Shut up.

Jace: Sorry, sorry. Did I make it in time?

Xeno: You're late. You should have more time to act.

Jace: Yes, yes. I'm sorry.

Sakura Eito: Good morning, everyone is here. I have two things to tell you before the lesson.

Sakura Eito: First of all, the magazine that featured you on the cover came out yesterday ...

Sakura Eito: Their editor called to thank me for tripling their first-day sales.

Jace: Ah, I saw that magazine. Aegis-chan bought it yesterday.

Jace: She also bought a lot of other magazines and wanted to collect information about us. It looked like a lot of work.

Sakura Eito: I see. Kawanaga-chan is a good and serious girl.

Xeno: Enough talking about that. What's the other thing?

Sakura Eito: Oh, that's right. It's the music video for the new song that was released a while ago.

Sakura Eito: Yesterday, we surpassed 100 million official views.

Ivy: Oh ... my God?

Finn: Isn't that faster than the last one?

Hugh: Are you glad ...?

Sakura Eito: Of course! So you're going to be on a music show this weekend, right? I've been asked to do it by the producer.

Sakura Eito: They want to broadcast your performance live to the world.

Jace: I see. It isn't a big deal.

Finn: What we do remains the same.

Sakura Eito: So we decided to make the official exe version available at the same time.

Ivy: Then the office staff will be busy, too. Do you have enough people?

Sakura Eito: We'll take care of that. All you have to do is give your best performance on the day.

Xeno: I'm going to do that without you telling me.

Sakura Eito: Then we're done. Good luck with your lessons.

Hugh: Hm ...

Ivy: Live broadcast ...

Rina: Mori-san. I'm done collecting data.

Mori Eiko: Oh, you're fast. I thought it would take longer, but you can go home now.

Rina: Thank you very much. Now, if you'll excuse me!

(I have to go home early and finish cleaning up ...)

With this in mind, I was getting ready to leave ...

Female Employee 1: Hey, is exe going to be on M-fest this week?

Female Employee 2: Oh yeah, they're singing a new song!

I was taken aback by the sudden mention of the word "exe".

(M-fest is a big music show on Saturday night. I believe it's live.)

Not a day goes by that i don't see exe in action, wheter it be in a magazine or on tv.

(It's really weird to live in the same apartment with such super idols ...)

When I returned, I changed into comfortable loungewear and began to clean up Ivy-san's room.

But thanks to his organization, the room cleaning was quick and easy.

All that remains is the space where the magazines and other materials are kept.

(Let's see what's inside first. I was told I was free to look around.)

When I pulled out what caught my attention, it was a mook book dedicated to exe.

(Looks like it was produced for their first anniversary.)

It included a picture of Xeno-san dancing and a pinup of Finn-san.

There's an interview of Jace-san and an off-shot of Hugh-san.)

Even just flipping through the pages, you'll be drawn in by the charm of exe.

(Oh, here's the interview between Ivy-san and a band from overseas.)

(What!? This band is famous for having topped the US charts many times ...)

(I can't believe I'm talking to people like that ... they're on a whole different level.)

It's hard to believe that was the first anniversary of their debut.

I let out a sigh of admiration as I looked at Ivy-san's photos.

And then--

Ivy: Thanks for your hard work, Kawanaga-san.

Rina: !?

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