#oh god i love using water as a symbol in writing

[losver07]

okay we have talked about regulus being a swimmer but have you considered SIRIUS being a professional swimmer and after regs death not being able to go near water?

[ddymarie]

☀︎ Bakugo x reader

OPACAROPHILE

☀(n) A Person Who Loves The Sunsets

☀You had a rare weekend with katsuki and you both decided to spend it with a beach date

☀includes: kissing, rubbing, water, body worship, use of good girl, car sex (back shots) .

☀ a/n : I haven't uploaded in a while ik but I have so many fics in my drafts ready to made! Also some song suggestions are scattered throughout the fiction from my 'random' writing playlist! Speaking of music I haven't been able to get bad by wale outta my head

The sky was filled with orange reds and yellows. The setting sun adding a glow to your brown skin. Katsuki eyes looked as if they glowed from the way the sun had affected them, as he towered overed you, even sitting down.

"Katsu~ " he mocked holding your face in his hands "katsu~, let's go to the beach" he mimicked your voice.

Rolling your eyes lying back on the towel. Black bathing suit (design of your choice) highlighting your curves. Your pretty jewelry added a glow to you. You looked like a goddess.

Your Bluetooth playing partynextdoor. The smirk on your face was quickly wiped away when your boyfriend suddenly picked you up " katsuki! " you screamed giggling "ahh! " the loud splash you caused-caused katsuki to laugh.

" you son of-" swimming back to the surface looking around for your petty ass boyfriend-only to not find him anywhere in sight. Just then you were lifted up from underneath. Katsuki arose from the water with you on his shoulders "look not so bad right, pretty?" he teased looking up at you.

The water dripping off him had you hot and bothered. Fuck he looked like he tasted better then he smelled in this moment. And your favorite thing about him was his caramel scent. It drove you crazy when he sweated.

Retreating from your position on his shoulders. Standing in the water. It came just up to your neck. Paddling your hands on the water as you splashed him. Your small smile soon grew bigger once he began to splash you back " oh, pretty it's on! " he looked into your eye's with a glare hinted with a bit playfulness.

Hours passed before you both decided to call quits on the water fun.

The sky had shined bright even during the night. Stars causing nothing but your silhouettes to appear. Together you both looked like Greeks God's. Especially with your arms around his neck and his on your waist kissing away like you would loose each other to the deep, dark depths of the water. It was majestic.

The sound of your bracelets jingling as you allowed him to lift you up by your thighs. Escorting you outta of the water. Lips just now breaking apart. You both gasped catching breaths you hadn't realized you'd lost.

" you look beautiful in that bathing suit. Might have to buy you more " he said squeezing what he could of your plump ass before smacking it,french kissing you.

Lying you you both down on the singular orange towel. Orange and black the same color of his trunks. Your glasses that once sat on top of your head now falling on the the tip of your nose.

Removing them off your face and setting the black shades a side.

Bakugo began trailing his hands down your body. Lifting a leg of yours over his waist. Licking his lips as he dove in stealing another kiss from you

"Uh-uh" you said looking at the blonded lover in the eyes waving a finger in his face 'no' was what it symbolized " wait til we get home, play boy" you said pushing the muscular man from a top of you

Getting up, taking the blue tooth with you to the car. Katsuki sat there for a moment mesmerized by your jiggling ass before abruptly getting up snatching the towel and your shades up with him trailing behind you...

Laughing as you jumped into your shared foreign car. Katsuki pulling outta the now empty parking lot.

Driving on the empty road one hand on the steering wheel the other on your thigh. It was a small simple gesture of his until it started to trail up your thigh. The car slowed down... Pulling into yet another empty parking lot...it was 10:30 pm

Unbuckling his seat belt while leaning over the the arm rest grabbing your face and kissing you causing you to drop what ever treat you had in your hand. You two had been on the breezy road for about 27 minutes. The large shirt that pulled over your bathing suit. Was now being lifted. The shirt was off within seconds along with your top... And panties.

In this foreign car let it go

You went from kissing in the front seat to receiving back shots in the back of your truck.

" mm~ " you whimpered this man was knocking the air outta your lungs. Leaving you breathless "fuck" he growled throwing his head back. Hands gripping tightly on your waist which was sure to bruise later. Your hips collided. You throwing your ass back meeting his hard forward thrust. " ah-ah ahh~" you moaned as he pulled your hair, Leg up on the seat spanking your ass leaving a visible hand print on your brown skined ass. " fuck, pretty, just like that " he said removing his hand off your ass and onto your neck.

You cried out begging.. Pleading " please~" what were you begging for? Shit you ain't even know. His thrust slowed as he tilted your head down putting you in a face down ass up position and he lurched forward " love this body, baby" he worshipped hands roaming with no destination in sight. The feel of your skin. Your curves. Had this man on his knees everytime he seen em. Whether at home or on the feild. As his thrusts slowed they got deeper. He drew his hips back further it was torture to you. But it felt "soo good~". The pleasure he was giving to you made you arch your back more. You stopped throwing your hips back letting him do his thing. And from there it was nothing but praise~

"Mm~" you whined at his words " ass so soft. " he said gripping your soft ass spreading your cheeks. Slipping a thumb in your butt "ahhh, katsu~" "yea thats right say my name, good girl~"

Take the time to find you out

You love when a young n! go down on it

"Say it baby" he groaned.

" in this foreign car, let it go" he whispered in your ear.

That was all you needed to hear before you let go. " I'M COMING,KATSUKI!" you moaned his name Cumming all over the seats. You both sat there in silence for a couple of moments.

"Guess someone couldn't wait til we got home" you said looking back with a smirk before passing out.

You woke up to the car pulling into your shared pent house parking lot.

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

[blicketdabest33]

FINAL CABIN PLACEMENTS I DON'T WANT TO EDIT IT AFTER THIS

So many of y'all had so many good ideas (and since a lot of these i came up with without any real reasoning) here's my updated version that i think fits A LOT better

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott, Impulse, Ren Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons. Impulse: According to @dawnfire7 Impulse is known for loyalty, which i did not know. He's also known to hold grudges. Perfect Hera kid. Ren: He's apparently known for loyalty (and i didn't really like his Nike placement anyway)

#3 Poseidon Cabin: XB XB: Something about water temple guardians

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Oli, Lyarrah Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl, Gem Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night. Gem: Someone really wanted these girls to be sisters, and I think Gem and pearl should get to hunt at night and be fierce together. Oh, and she's got the whole deer aesthetic.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis, Skizz, Bigb Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak. Skizz: Person in the tags said he was really charming and you can't help but love him. I agree. He's here now. Bigb: Smooth talker. Someone (i think it was Scott) said in one of their videos "It's hard to kill him while he's talking". Charmspeak. Ma man, go do chaos.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef, Cub Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef. Cub: Someone said Cub was really laid back, i liked this idea, he's here now. C'mon, go make ur empire.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Wels Wels: @dingdinghq said something about sleeping during S6 and i completely agree

#16 Nemesis Cabin:

#17 Nike Cabin:

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[lemonthepotato]

Amai’s Week

I didn’t even know until today that Amai had a week, that’s how hard this game fell off. Anyway, boy do I have some criticisms.

1) We need that many ways to enter a building in a mission? Why? It ends the same no matter what. The mission is still linear.

2) The dialogue in this game is so stiff and not how people talk. Never played a Hitman mission where the target said “I’m going to be here at X time, doing Y thing, blah blah blah” but Amai is kind enough to specify the times she’ll be serving food. Yeah, it’s kind of intuitive to not exit the classroom and start serving octodogs, the cooking club should know it’ll only be at morning, lunch and after school.

3) Amai’s sabotage events are so silly. I remember jokingly thinking “what? are we going to be giving him a pink apron or something?” as a JOKE. And then it HAPPENED, essentially. These characters are meant to be adults LARPing as teenagers but even a teenager has more maturity than “oh, you made an apron I didn’t like!” What? Did Ayano draw a swastika on it or another hate symbol? The game refers to it as a ‘lame’ apron, which implies it’s more likely that Ayano used a bland colour scheme. I’m sorry, but “I wanted a black apron but you made me a pink one, that offends me” is not on the same level. And by the way- if Amai’s food is giving people food poisoning due to Ayano’s sabotage, why is she still allowed to run the bake sale???

I was genuinely thinking “surely, it’s more going in this direction” during the picnic talk. It was. So, what? Amai is supposed to control the insects?

If you sabotage all of Amai’s events, Senpai should get the sense that she’s a BAD COOK. Literally all. Her sabotage events are NOT enough to warrant being cut off or rejected.

4) I like how no one in this game questions a giant ass water fountain placed randomly in a room.

5) THE LOVE CONFESSION DOESN’T MAKE AMAI LOOK GOOD, EITHER. Who the FUCK says “yeah, I know I’ve known you for a week, but I was actually pissed at you for mourning your dead friend because… what about me???”

OKAY, TO BE FAIR, THAT “MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THAT IN MIND” LINE FROM AYANO GOES HARD ASF 🔥

6) Okay lol I just. I love how funny Kizana is.

I like to imagine Ayano and Senpai are in some Truman Show situation where Info-chan is just hiring all these colourful personalities to rizz Senpai to create the craziest situations ever. Like Ayano is just some institutionalised person who was dragged out by a studio to be exploited in her dire mental state. Can’t wait to get Kizana in 2025 and Oka in 2026.

Look I’m an Amai defender but spitting in someone’s food is VILE. The reason I don’t go to… let’s call it OldRonalds is because three employees spat in my food. I had three occasions. Yeah, wasn’t risking a fourth. AND IT’S IMPLIED SHE DID THIS SEVERAL TIMES. That is NASTY.

7) Yeah I definitely talk to myself when cooking. That’s totally normal.

8) SHE TELEPORTS IMMEDIATELY TO THE FLOOR. ALSO HOW WOULD NO ONE HEAR THAT???

9) A small pet peeve of mine over the years is the line “oh my god! is that a dead body?” when talking about their classmates. Akademi is a small school, where everyone should know each other. Maybe- like “Oh my god! [character’s surname, because it’s Japan, or whatever their nickname is considering Akademi has nicknames]? A-are you okay? I need to get help!”

10) Ben Shoku-ro asks us to essentially stalk Amai. Very normal. See, this is why I headcanon that Akademi is just a mental institution disguised as some… high school LARP. A very ineffective one, too.

11) I like how everyone has the exact same criticism with the exact same wording towards Amai’s cooking.

12) “You shoot 100% of the takes you don’t miss” is such a funny quote. No shit Sherlock.

13) “juvenile delinquent” aren’t they 18? C’mon, if you’re gonna use the “they’re actually 18” excuse, be consistent about it.

14) Welcome to Writing 101. In Inkyu and Sakyu’s conversation on Friday, the pink one (Inkyu, I believe) says “however?” While Inkyu is gathering her thoughts. It doesn’t add tension to the scene, they’re talking about fucking studying. It happens twice, actually. It’s awkward and drags on too long. I’m a writer, not a programmer, but surely there has to be a way to make the dialogue end faster?

Also Horuda canonically drawing kill art is real asf. She is not okay in the head and is expressing her emotions to avoid doing something dangerous. This is what we call showing, not telling. This is something this game struggles at.

15) Wait, Kyuji stalking Osana is a bounty? What if the player match made them? Is the game seriously gonna punish you for doing the pacifist route?

16) Why can Toga walk on bushes???

Okay if Senpai’s new personality is himbo than I kinda fw him.

HELP DID YANDEREDEV FORGET TOGA WASN’T A CREEP SO HAD TO RETCON IT?? Same with Horo, though I think Horo being weird was inferred by the demon Easter egg.

17) Also, another general criticism, but the dialogue in this game is so wonky. Instead of “Hey, blah blah, did you know blah blah dislikes gossip?” It could be “Hey, blah blah, X said to me gossipers were all evil people. Ridiculous, right? Who doesn’t gossip from time to time? Guess that’s what I’m doing” or something shorter than that. And things like money and violence shouldn’t even be discussable topics. I’m sorry but “Hey, Horuda Umetsu, did you know Amai Odayaka dislikes violence” would receive an “okay? don’t we all?” IRL. Like even though Horuda is prone to violence no one’s going around shaming people for disliking it WTF.

(Edit: Btw, before Amai came out, I made my own version of Amai’s week a year ago, along with the other rivals, but honestly? They suck. I’ll add them anyway, if you wanna check them out, but I got lazy halfway through and began half assing stuff: Amai, Kizana, Oka, Asu, Muja, Mida, Osoro, Hanako, Megami. I’m not saying these are better than the game. The way I characterised Kizana, for example? Canon Kizana is much better. The writing on these posts were somehow cringier than the actual writing. Why share it then? Dunno. I like humiliating myself? Oddly, I got a lot of nice DM’s from people about them at the time. I also made a shitty AU.) (I have more posts over there, like a mission mode concept ending) (also, it was only a year ago, but I feel like my writing has improved a ton since then)

Addendum: Not sure if I gave the impression I support YandereDev. I don’t.

[famdommcfanface]

An analysis of alcemy for the Magnus Protocol!

I have just finished the episode I have found a list of alchemical symbols let's fucking gooo baby. Just to clarify it is my belief these are the new entities. I know it would probably be better if they were less rigidly defined but I love sorting things and am hyped!!! This is going to be long so strap in (not all of those though they're just to illustrate)! I am so sorry if you use dark mode (like me!) these images are almost all transparent.

1: Mercury!

Referring to both the metal and the planet, go wild. Mercury is all about transcending boundaries as it's kind of both a solid and a liquid (it's not but whatever), specifically the boundary of life and death, possibly even transcend death. That seems relevant. Also related to snakes so if snakes show up... probably mercury. Also if we ever get some sort of white queen in a chess way? Mercury. It also represents the mind, or spirit maybe? It's got a lot going on. Colin said it'd make the world end. Fuck yeah probably why not.

2: Salt

This is one that is not included on one list I have but is on the other. I'm not guaranteeing all of these are significant I'm finding it hard to find a definite list. If you look into just all the alchemical symbols they've got loads and I doubt they're all significant. Anyway. Salt is the physical body in this trifecta (we'll come onto that). Very to do with physicality, the body, honestly might manifest in a few ways similar to the Flesh. Also to do with purification? In general but also 'purifying' the body which I think medieval people meant in a good way but sounds evil to me. There is also of course, seperate to the whole alchemy thing, salt circles and all that. You've seen supernatural you know what I'm talking about. Although that's also to do with purification.

3: Sulphur

Or sulfur, if you are American. This one's actually got a few different symbols but let's go with this one for now. Honestly, and I know we shouldn't be comparing these to the TMA entities, but this one's pretty desolation. It's all dry heat and masculine destructive energy. Yeah this one's 'masculine' and mercury's 'feminine' for some reason, I doubt that will come up. Which I guess makes salt non-binary. This is the red king, too. This is the soul in the 'tria prima', Mercury, salt and sulphur, which were the three first elements apparently, and also cause disease? Idk. That might be relevant. Hell's meant to smell of sulphur, that tells you most of what you need to know. Again, we've all seen Supernatural. Colin said something about this making you go mad. I think yeah sure but less spiral-type mad more slaughter-type mad.

4: Air

Right, onto the four basic elements. These all have a humour related to them too and air has blood for some reason. Air is life and light and God and passion and all that good shit. I have to imagine it's gonna have some vast shit going on too because I don't think Jonny can help himself, but it's also to do with being changable and generally quite nice. Oh also ideas and creativity. All that good shit!

5: Earth

Basically the opposite of air. The 'masculine counterpart' as all these websites keep saying. It's associated with salt, which makes sense, and is all about stillness and being grounded and again, I feel like there's going to be some buried attributes in there. It's got the humour black bile which is all about sadness and shit. Most of the four basic elements are fairly self-explanatory.

6: Fire

You know what fire does. Passion, emotion, love and hate and all that. Although honestly in an alchemical way fire seems to be more emotional. So far (and I am writing these as I look into them) if you want something based around physical destruction you're gonna wanna look at sulphur. Its humour is yellow bile.

7: Water

Water, humour is phlegm, connected to mercury, honestly alchemically I can't find anyone having much to say about it but y'know. It's water. BUT I HAVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT WATER. Okay so this has gotta be the deep, right? The whole mix of the buried and the vast thing with the sea? That killed the girl Alice saw? Or at least was involved with the death. It's all very water.

8: Lead

Right, onto planetary metals! Which Mercury kind of also was but hey ho. So, Lead is associated with Saturn. So, alchemists believed that lead was the base metal, that all other metals were just lead that had turned into something else. Which means it's really important but also kinda sucks, and is why people kept trying to make it into gold. So lead is also to do with change but also kind of purity as they thought it 'purified' into gold. Also associated with the Roman god Saturn/Greek god Chronos, who are both to do with time so that might be involved.

9: Tin

To do with the planet Jupiter. It seems to be connected to wisdom and maturity and education and all that. BUT ALSO. It is connected to Lady Mowbray, hell yeah. Because I watched a video about the arg and noted that on the back of Lady M's assistant's clipboard or whatever is this symbol which I recognised at the time as Jupiter! Now. What does tin have to do with dogs and eating people. As far as I can tell fuck all. I thought I'd misremembered for a moment and it was actually the Saturn symbol because that would work with cannibalism at least but no Lady Mowbray seems to serve... tin. Which is kind of funny. I get the connection to nobility at least, Jupiter is king of the gods after all, but as far as I know he doesn't hunt people with dogs? Idk.

10: Iron

Related to Mars and, as I'm sure you can tell, men. Because these fuckers loved gender. Similar to fire it's all about anger and passion, but also seeing as Mars is the god of war I don't think it's beyond belief we've got something similar to the slaughter on our hands here.

11: Gold

Connected to the sun and therefore does not have a classical god I can interpret. Damn. Maybe Apollo? Gold is about having gay lovers. No. So gold's big thing is that it doesn't corrode. Something about staying as you are, the opposite of Air's changability, sort of similar to earth... I could make something out of this.

12: Copper

Well hello ladies. Copper actually has a cooler symbol but I suspect we're sticking with these. Connected to Venus, obviously, which is all about attractiveness and desirability because copper is a very pretty metal. Personally, I would say episode 2 is to do with copper. I don't know if ink5oul themself is (I think they might sort of span entities) but what's her name from the episode and her obsession with looking good seems very copper to me. I know I'm not sorting all these episodes (yet! I have to relisten first) but this one jumped out at me. Copper is also to do with love, of course. I feel like one reason maybe the desire theory got so big is a lot of alchemical elements are to do with love and desire, so that just sort of bled through?

13: Silver

That's right, it's the moon! Very to do with mystery and weird shit. I think if you get the non-literal elements of The Dark you've got Silver. Also keeps away evil, again, Supernatural. Although it also has to do with tides so I think there is a very small chance that actually this is the Deep? I doubt it though.

14: Antimony

So I wasn't going to do the mundane elements because they're less likely to be important (you'll see) but some of them are really interesting! I might not do them all. Anyway, antimony is about the wild and animalistic side of human nature, and is to do with wolves. That remind you of anyone? A certain... aristocratic milf? I know she's connected to tin but it should be antimony okay??

15: Arsenic

Arsenic is cool, we all know it. It's my mum's favourite element on the periodic table. Anyway. Swans? It's to do with swans. Apparently it transforms its appearance like a cygnet to a swan. It also fucking kills people which I'm not convinced the alchmists were aware of.

16: Bismuth

Nobody knows what they were doing with bismuth. RIP. Also, I don't know my astronomy but that is taurus. Does that mean anything? I looked into the metal; it's quite pretty and people get it mixed up with tin.

17: Magnesium

Oh boy. It's hard to extinguish once it's lit, so it represents eternity! That's gotta be something babyy! Some combination of the end and the vast and all that.

18: Phosphorus

They thought phosphorus trapped light. I know it's easy to say this from a modern perspective but alchemists were fucking dumb. I feel like I could disprove this. But they were the first scientists so we have to be nice to them I guess...

19: Platinum

Supposedly a combination of gold and silver, hence the symbol. Possibly something about being bound to something... idk.

20: Potassium

Or potash. Didn't seem to have much historical context. But I believe it has very important modern context.

21: Zinc

They burned zinc to get what they called 'white snow'. You fucking idiots snow is already white.

That's it! Honourable mention to horse dung, which is a more obscure element but gets its own symbol and everything.

also soap and urine and all sorts of shit so I think we should stop there. What have we learnt? Possibly nothing! One of these has got to be to do with plants - I assume earth? That would make sense. One's something to do with luck from the sounds of things and I have no idea what that is, hopefully someone knows more about alchemy than I do for that. There's definitely some sort of watcher and I think either that's the eye crossed into this dimension or possibly mercury? I don't think the names are going to be these because honestly imagine Lady Mowbray being like hey I serve Tin. She's probably going to say Jupiter but we all have to know in our heart of hearts. It's just fucking tin. I am very tired I am going to bed.

[rootbeerrex]

Moot opinions on the calling by tad?????????

it's my absolute favorite thing ever????? I like actually think it's one of the single greatest songs ever written. the lyrics are fucking incredible with all the symbolism of the water and the rain and the fox,,,, and that's without even factoring in Madeline's vocals aka the most incredible performance of all time??? and ofc we can't talk about the calling without at least MENTIONING the transition between secret worlds + the calling OH AND THE FUCKING PERFECT SECTION OF

"Back then, I wasn't hopeful

But now my ink's blood-red, not black

And I'll blink like ripping envelopes

In the hopes that you'll write back

And on the banks of that river

I shiver as a fox stands frozen

And I close them, I close them, I close my eyes

'Cause I'm between that just-one-more

And drank-too-much-again

And I promise you I'll write "I love you"

With my fingers on your sleeping hand

And when that fox howls, I'll howl with it

In its cries I'll find an end

And when I think I'm fine, you'll visit

And then you happen to me, you happen to me all over again

In the waters, I see a face I don't want to look back

Do you like my dress? It's got pockets

The rocks beneath my feet begin to crack

Oh, I look into the waters, long ago that current caught us

And we tried, I tried, I really fucking tried

But the rain kept coming down, I watched that woman drown"

then into the SHOULDER THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYY and YES I HAD TO INCLUDE THE ENTIRE SECTION BECAUSE IT'S SO PERFECT I meant the whole song is perfect but that section ignites something inside of me anyway the calling is a perfect song on a perfect album by a perfect band GOD I love the amazing devil thanks for asking!!!

[lookismaddict]

lookism characters as mythological gods 👀 who would be who

OH SHEEEEEESH, I LOVE MYTHOLOGICAL GODS. ESP GREEK & ROMAN GODS ✨ AYO, YOU A REAL ONE FOR ASKING THIS QUESTION, TY JANN! 💜 I hope you don’t mind this analysis… 😅 (Took a long time to write because there was a lot of research LMAO, I'M SORRY THIS TOOK ME FOREVER TO ANSWER. 🙏🏽) BUT NOW, I CAN PROUDLY POST THIS. 🫡 💖

While matching each god to a Lookism character, I found this very fun because there are so many mythological gods and goddesses that can be associated with any of them. Especially when it comes to their appearances, symbols, and folklore. The depictions of these gods all tie to each of these selected Lookism characters:

Gun and Goo || Fujin & Raijin (Shintoism)

First, let’s start off with Gun. There are many reasons why I see Gun as the Shinto god, Fujin, and here’s why:

Fujin [風神] is known to be the Shinto kami (god) of the wind. A deity that controls the winds of the Earth through his bag of air.

Due to his control of strong wind currents, he is connected to storms, especially powerful typhoons, that would cause the destruction of many trees and and homes. However, Fujin leaves most of the job to Raijin.

According to a Japanese legend from the 13th century, he managed to save Japan by sending storms to Mongol invaders who were trying to conquer Japan. Fujin’s winds were so ruthless, that the Mongol’s fleets were all destroyed in one storm.

Fujin and Gun are both forces to be reckoned with. Fujin’s destructive actions are similar to Gun’s, in which they both initiate both ruin and devastation. Since Fujin had wiped out over a thousand people for centuries, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if Gun’s future would eventually lead to the downfall of many more lives. This man had dealt with so many enemies (100+) all the way up to his current lifetime of about 20 years, that it wouldn’t even be a surprise if he so happens to murder even more people later on.

Also, since Fujin is associated with the use of harsh winds intermingled with water due to typhoons and storms, they are involved in a shared element. The nature element, water, represents them both in some way. Both Fujin and Gun are present whenever it rains. On days when there’s rain, Fujin’s winds are harsh during storms. Whereas, in Gun’s case, he is always present on days when the weather is rainy and gloomy. However, for Gun, he just appears when there’s rain to pass along the message of “the end” for people, especially when it comes to a person not being able to hold their position as Gun’s future successor. You could say, that the both of them also symbolize the presence of melancholy, since they both bring nothing but misfortune upon people during unpleasant weather. They play as the instigators of the end to peacefulness.

Fujin has an appearance of a true Oni, due to his mother Izanami giving birth to him when she reached the underworld. According to Gun’s background when he was still in Japan, many knew him as “Shiro Oni”. In the webtoon, the translation for his name was “White Ghost”. However, the word “Oni” actually meant ogre or demon in Japanese folklore. Of course, it wouldn’t be a surprise that many native Japanese residents would call him a demon due to his infamous yet terrifying background of nothing but merciless violence.

Not only was Fujin’s face alike from Gun’s, but also their attire. Apparently, Fujin usually wears leopard skin. And who else wore something leopard related? Gun Park. That leopard patterned long sleeved shirt really does say something about his fashion. He definitely must be Fujin, but in human form. Both of them really do share the same fashion sense. 💀

In addition to his face and attire, but Fujin only has four fingers on each hand. These four fingers represent the North, South, East, and West. In a way, this association of Gun as Fujin can be symbolic as well. Gun’s affiliation with the Four Major Crews can be shown through Fujin’s fingers since Gun, who had contributed to the establishment of these Four Major Crews, identified the strongest crews in South Korea. Each crew either coming from the North, South, East, and West of the Han River, which splits their territories into four different parts of South Korea.

Gun has the same personality trait as Fujin as well. Fujin is described to be the brother who is less spontaneous in personality, compared to Raijin. He is also unenthusiastic whenever he is met with some sort of issue that he has to deal with and he is more “laidback”, not taking things too seriously against enemies. This is probably due to how aware he is of his own powerful strength. The same goes with Gun. His personality when dealing with those who are against him is also like this as well, with a hint of arrogance, knowing that he can defeat anybody on his own.

Now, let’s talk about Goo as Raijin:

Raijin [雷神] is the Shinto kami of thunder, lightning, and storms. Often times, he’s seen alongside his brother, Fujin. They both mostly appear together as a pair, like Gun and Goo whenever they show up in certain scenes. (However, the only difference compared to Fujin and Raijin is that Gun and Goo aren’t brothers.)

To clarify, Raijin is responsible for the creations of storms, not Fujin. Fujin is only responsible for strong wind currents, so he leaves the work of thunder clouds and lightning to his brother, Raijin.

Raijin’s personality is one of the distinctive factors that many people use to distinguish between Raijin and Fujin. Similarly, with Gun and Goo too. The difference in personalities in each pair are quite the same indeed. Just like Raijin’s personality, Goo’s is very chaotic and he can be mischievous with trickery. Even though Raijin is known as a trickster, he either does good or bad. He produces good in the form of rainfall for crops or he creates storms that destroys both the living and non-living.

Just like Goo, he’s a character that brings good and bad in his own way. In a unique way, he gives people opportunities to help fulfill their own ambitions, by becoming one of his “secret friends”. For example, Goo used to beat up bullies to earn money. In a way, he somehow benefited others, such as that one event when Goo saved his cousin, Vasco, and Jace from school bullies. His encounter with Vasco had led Vasco to become stronger than he was before. In addition to these “good” occurrences, Goo offered Samuel Seo a new chance of power after being rejected by Gun, in which Samuel took him on his offer then became one of Goo’s so called “secret friends”. Another instance of this is when Goo recruited Logan Lee as another one of his “secret friends” too. Logan wanted to get stronger since his goal is to get back at the original Daniel Park, so this event was like Goo opening up a new beneficial start for Logan.

Although this was the case for some people, Goo also managed to cause distruction wherever he goes. Returning to the subject of the bullies, he did beat them up pretty badly. He even found it amusing to see them suffer. With almost every person that he had fought against, he had this maniacal enjoyment that he found in defeating others. It was as if he had fun beating up others just for the sake of his own amusement. Along with his chaotic mind, he took his destructiveness with him, just like Raijin. According to that one chapter when Sinu got a phone call from one of his old friends, his friend mentioned through the phone that he should be careful of someone named “Joon Goo” who had completely wiped out their whole entire crew. Which quickly indicated and foreshadowed, that Goo would eventually cause trouble for Big Deal.

Sinu Han || Heracles/Hercules (Greco-Roman Mythology)

There are some reasons why I believe that Sinu Han should be Heracles:

Even though Heracles was known as a demi-god (only a mortal), he became the god of heroes and the divine protector of mankind when he died. (This is completely unrelated to Sinu in comparison, but just wanted to address that Heracles isn’t a god when he completed his heroic deeds.)

As a defender for all, Heracles acts like a public servant. Throughout most of his lifetime, he protects civilians who are in dire need of help. Just like Heracles, Sinu Han’s mindset is similar. For about 10 years, he protected a street in Gangseo, in which he had dedicated himself to serve as the defender for the women who loved that street. It was his home. Even Heracles loved Greece and had thrown himself into dangerous situations just to defend his home.

Heracles rescued so many beings in need. A special being that he rescued was Prometheus. No matter how bad he may be as a titan to the gods, he was willing to set Prometheus free due to how he had helped humanity for giving them fire. Sinu Han's character is similar to Heracles since he is the type of person to set someone free, regardless if they have done something bad in the past. What matters is how good of a person's character is, and how they contribute to serving others. I can see Sinu letting someone go if they changed for the better, and by giving them another chance to redeem themself. For instance, even though this hasn't been directly approved by Sinu (but by Jake), Lineman used to be a character who caused trouble and lied to others, thinking that he was a big-shot. However, he changed by being accepted by Jake Kim into Big Deal and if Jake approves of these people who he have gained as his friends (or followers), then Sinu approved of them for being good people and they eventually became members of Big Deal. (Hence, believing in Jake's jurisdiction in finding good in others.)

Although he may be a well-known mythological hero, many do not know how much he had suffered. There was a time when Heracles was enslaved, and he was bought by the Lydian Queen Omphale. She made him do many things as a slave, such as forcing him to wear women's clothing (to humiliate him) and spun wool to help her and her maidens. Omphale did fall in love with Heracles, but eventually she set him free (and they got married). Alike from Sinu Han's situation, Mitsuki Soma was head over heels for Sinu, that she wanted him for herself. Treated like a slave, Sinu had to endure hardships of being her "lover". Manipulated and controlled by Mitsuki due to a mystery drug that made him forget his memories, Mitsuki made him stick by her side, in which she made him shower together. Sinu's identity and memories were twisted by her, which gave Mitsuki the power to successfully manipulate him for a long time (until Jake Kim had to rescue Sinu from The Workers).

Jake Kim || Balder (Norse Mythology)

This is why Jake Kim can be seen as Balder:

Balder is known to be not just the Norse god of light, joy, and summer. Jake Kim usually brought light and joy to people's lives, especially during his middle school days when he'd start getting himself involved with Big Deal. He had made a lot of friends and allies along the way, which would influence (I'll ignore Balder's death, and will be focusing more on his personal aspects, features, and his background that are similar to Jake's.)

Like Balder, Jake Kim shares handsome features and is a very attractive man. He has a bright smile just like Balder, and he has fair hair. In Norse mythology, it was said that Balder was so noble and handsome, that light shines down on his body in which flowers would bow down before him as he passes by.

Also he is the representation for the themes of justice, beauty, hope, and sacrifice. During the Jake Kim Arc, he sacrificed himself, especially for Big Deal who sought for the rescue of Big Deal's Former No. 1, Sinu Han.

(Side Note: I didn't want to associate Jake Kim with Eros because even though he's good-looking and is strongly related to the idea of "love" and "Romanticism", Eros is usually described as mischievous and unsympathetic due to him shooting arrows at people regardless of how they think/feel. It is the complete opposite to Jake's personality, in which he is considerate and kind towards others.)

Samuel Seo || Mercury (Roman Mythology)

Let me explain why I see Samuel as Hermes:

Mercury is well-known for being the messenger god AND the god of commerce. Alike from Samuel, Samuel specializes in business-related work and he manages finances really well. At one point, he was very close with Eugene and Samuel acted like a messenger to Eugene, since he reports to him about what goes on in the affiliates when Samuel used to be president for some of the affiliates.

Mercury had a dependent role in managing the gods. Just like Mercury, Samuel as well. He was close with the higher-ups of the Workers (especially Eugene) in which he was positioned by him to manage the 3rd and 4th affiliate of Workers. Both of their roles is to keep the gods or Workers

Even though Mercury’s role might seem “helpful” at first, do not be fooled by Hermes’s appearance, because he isn’t who he seems to be. Just like Samuel when he was first introduced in the Lookism series, we didn’t quite expect him to turn out the way that we know him now.

Mercury favors the ambitious, so he supports those who are willing to reach their goals, no matter how wicked they are. Going off by his “work smarter, not harder" ideology, Samuel is quite the ambitious man. He’s willing to reach higher things, in order to accomplish his dream as someone who’s powerful. Or, as he likes to refer to himself someday as a “King”. (As mentioned to Jake.)

As a god who defends tricksters and thieves, Hermes likes toying with others. He even favors cleverness and amusement. During the Workers (3 Affiliates) Arc, Samuel's behavior is shown as one who likes toying with others, initiating the start to Johan's rage when he found out that the Workers' Third Affiliate used to sell drugs to Pungsan, which was the God Dog cult that was ran by the former church pastor.

James Lee || Shiva “The Destroyer” (Hindu Mythology)

Here is why I believe James Lee should be Shiva:

Shiva is mainly known as "The Destroyer" and "The Creator" of worlds, in Hindu mythology. He even represents time as well. James Lee was known to be the man who ended the First Generation by defeating all of the First Generation Kings, which fits his character of being "The Destroyer". Consequently, causing the spark of a new generation, which is the emergence of the Second Generation. In this case, being "The Creator" does suit him because he is literally the catalyst to a new generation of fighters. You can also say, that he manipulates time if he were to be Shiva in this context.

Shiva also represents goodness, benevolence, and is said to be "The Protector". In a way, James Lee shows signs of "good" nature and benevolence, in which he acts as a guide to Daniel Park, in finding the secret to his two bodies. And even though James Lee isn't known as "The Protector", he did protect Charles Choi in the past. By aiding him as the company's head for an entertainment agency, he protected Charles' business by supporting him through this method.

This Hindu god is also named the "Lord of the Dance" or Nataraja, according to a Hindu artwork called, "Shiva Nataraja". From the statue, it depicts Shiva dancing in a halo of fire (which represents time), and Shiva stepping on a dwarf with one foot (which is a creature that represents illusion, who leads men astray from the actual truth). Metaphorically, this relates to James Lee because James Lee had the urge to find out the truth about the secret of the two bodies, and is willing to do anything to achieve his goal. Even if it meant betraying Charles Choi, by allying himself with The Workers, specifically Eugene.

Canonically confirming from the Webtoon, it is known that James Lee has a huge penis. Well, so does Shiva. In Hinduism, Shiva is associated with lingas, or phallic symbols, which represents fertility. 🍆

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2 - 24 Under the Sea, Over the Line

Last dumb episode before the season finale!!! Almost an entire season into MOTLE YAYYYYY

Featuring the dumbest character DUKE OF VERMILLION!

Idk if I've posted this before but here are some old oxymorons doodles vnfjkvns <3 kiss now my perfect potatoes

Although warning when I say dumb episode I mean DUMB episode-

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

The submarine dunks into the ocean. The only passengers that made it on were Logico, Violet, Silverton, Slate, and… the Duke of Vermillion??

VIOLET: I didn’t even invite you! DUKE: Has it occurred to you that I might live here in the ocean? VIOLET: Oh…

Logico looks around and is completely and utterly shocked! The Duke SPOKE? No, that’s not it. 

LOGICO: Who let THAT one on the ship?

He points to… wanna guess? A dead human. 

DUKE: [suddenly sobbing] I just wanted to enjoy a party! VIOLET: Ew! You were there the whole time? DUKE: Yus… [snif] SLATE: Well, this is fun. SILVERTON: I miss Bunny…

The submarine is a very cramped place to try to solve a murder. There’s less room than on the zeppelin! Logico is constantly bumping into everyone, like the Duke curled up on a bed.

DUKE: Could you move… this bed is so small as is… LOGICO: No. I get paid for this. Or at least I SHOULD be…

The king crab lies back down and stares at the metal ceiling, and the water outside. What a miserable life he has! And they cruise in silence for a long time.

SLATE: I’m done with this. Don’t bother me…

She heads into the tiny airplane-style bathroom and never returns.

SILVERTON: Wait a second! She wouldn’t even be able to USE a bathroom! THIS IS HYPOCRISY!!!

As he thrashes around in rage, the Duke catches a glimpse of his face. It’s so shiny and yellow… he immediately falls in love! He grasps Silverton’s arms.

DUKE: Be with me. SILVERTON: What? DUKE: I can’t live like this any longer. I need someone like you. LOGICO: Okay, I’m going to be sick.

But he can’t enter the bathroom, because Slate’s in there!

DUKE: Please… [falls onto Silverton’s chest] stay with me…

Silver shoves him off.

SILVERTON: ARE YOU INSANE?? YOU’RE MARRIED!!!! AND THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'D GO ON A DATE WITH A MOTHERFUCKING CRUSTACEAN!

Duke is so depressed by the revelation, he attempts to pull his own head off.

VIOLET: [cries] I hate all of this so much! 

Irratino is on the zeppelin, approaching Drakonia! But it’s so freaking slow. He squirms in impatience as he waits for the Wifi symbol on his phone to reach just one bar…

IRRATINO: THE FAMOUS ACTOR HAS THE BRIEFCASE FULL OF MONEY!!! AND THE FAMOUS ACTOR, IS SILVERTON THE LEGEND!!!!!!!!

This phone call is so loud, EVERYONE on the sub can hear it. Poor Logico is out cold!

VIOLET: Oh my god, who is this?! IRRATINO: Uh… it’s me :3 VIOLET: You killed Logico-

Once the deductive finally comes to, he announces the Duke as the killer.

DUKE: Well, I had to do it! We were running out of air, or we would have, if my figures are correct. [brings out a piece of paper and stares intently] Oops.

Logico says ‘I can’t believe you’, but only with his eye.

DUKE: All right fine! I’m tired of being portrayed as the forgettable one! I’m SURE all of you will remember me now!

He lets himself out somehow and swims away, probably to return to his boring wife.

The end!

Omg I can't wait to write the next episode it has cupcake muppet in it and so much angst

He deserves the entire world

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[correctproseka]

So @queer-prosekai told me to do my own top 10 list of the sets + my favorite card of each, so here's some rules i set for myself

1- i have to REALLY like the full set, not just really like a card but a little less to the others (cough Saki in no seek no find, for one example. Though other sets have also triggered this rule)

2- i also am judging by card only, not the story, however. I am not completely good at this because a lot of the cards that are already good get to be way better because of the event behind it.

3- only counting the trained cards, not untrained, it would be a very different list.

ANYWAYS. LIST STARTS NOW:

10: LIGHT UP THE FIRE

Oh my poor child are you okay??? Going past how much i like this event. Which would get me here writing for hours mind you. I also just really like the set. The dark colors and the fact that in all 3 cards you can barely see color- its black and then each has their own color showing up, An has red, Toya has blue and Rin has white. It just gives a fucking impact on you looking at them. Would not change a thing, really.

9: WISHING TO THE BLUE SKY FOR YOUR HAPPINESS

Anyone else remembers qhen this set just totally broke us? Oh my god. I do. Shizuku in a suit. An in this pretty ass dress. I just cjsjcjsmcjsncjdj. It was mainly those two that really hit for me, specially An. But when it hit it hit hard man

8: SMILE OF A DREAMER

It was the first lim set, so it was really simple compared to what we get now. But simple doesn't mean bad. I really love the colors and idk man i have a soft spot for it i cant defend everything my brain is a dvd logo bouncing around😭

7: HEAR ME HOPEFUL SHOW

Angel Minori is one of the prettiest sets ever, it just isnt higher because personally i like some others more, doesn't mean this shit isnt fucking gorgeous. The lightning, the setting. I love this mmj card with everyone in it bc this is such a beautiful place???? Just. Licks this set like an ice cream then cries bc i ate the pretty ass set.

6: Someday, from the depths of despair

Lowkey i did not expect this one to be this high before i made this list. But it is just gorgeous setting, gorgeous lightning. It just makes my brain go brrrr looking at it.

5- What lies behind lies ahead

The hermit set has people in a chokehold for years, and for good reason. The hairstyles are pretty, the au ideas one can get out of it are yummy. AND THE CARD THEMSELVES ARE SO CKSJFKDK. All of them having this golden thing around as if hermit was a story told to us by images. It just could be a poster. Its certainly pretty enough to.

4: Our escape for survival

Sorry for the amount of niigo here. It will happen again. Niigo never misses. Anyways i just love this set sm. The lightning, muffled colors and backgrounds just hit so fucking hard. The rain shared on the 3 cards from the set is so symbolical and so is the clock and the engines on Mafuyu's and Luka's card. It tells us a story before we even read the event and that is beautiful.

3: Close game offline

I had to skip this set and i am still sad about it. Man the the the cmsucksjcjx aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa viddygame and neon.

2- Unnamed Harmony

I like silly, your honor. I also like water. Saki's card has both /hj. No but really i just really like the outfits and colors and just everything in this set it would be a CRIME to not have this here as a Saki stan. Just look at it!!!!

1: Draw your bow in this white world

.. so, who's surprised? I can barely even find a favorite card in this set. From Kaitos . Kaito. (Does he need more?), Shizuku's gracefulness and beautifulness and Mafuyu just pretty and badass breaking the "screen"/mirror/window with an arrow. Its just soooooo ancjamvjsjchsjxncnsicjsv chomps.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Knock the future, which light up the fire took it off on a technicality (i like 3/3 cards on light up the fire and 2/3 on knock the future bc Honami is very meh compared to the others to me)

Anyways if anyone else wants to do this as a challenge id love it. And @probably-not-niigo i challenge u to do the same

[saltlickmp3]

I’d love to hear you talk about PJ Harvey and queerness, if you’re so inclined!

OH MY GOD ANON I LOVE YOU reveal yourself so i can kiss you /joking and platonic (unless...)

this is gonna be really long so TL,DR, A Lot of PJ's work can be interpreted to be about a sapphic and/or gender non conforming experience.

OKAYYYYY SO

PJ Harvey, despite having never actually said she isn't straight, has written some Very Queer music, both in subtext and fully in the lyrics.

a few examples -

Dress could be interpreted to be about feeling the pressure to be a stereotypically girly girl and trying to navigate social situations where it's expected you have a boyfriend -

'Must be a way that I can dress to please him It's hard to walk in the dress, it's not easy [...]

Filthy tight, the dress is filthy I'm falling flat, and my arms are empty Clear the way, better get it out of this room A falling woman in dancing costume'

but failing to do so because it's just not you. feeling uncomfortable in a dress, trying and failing to have normal interactions with guys - which of course cishet girls can feel as well, but hits particularly hard as a queer, gender non conforming, girl adjacent person

O Stella, while the symbolism makes it about a religious idol, could be interpreted to be about idolising an older girl. Oh My Lover is about being totally fine with a partner's hypothetical polyamory.

Man-Size is a big one, before i even knew the term gender envy i was Deeply Aware that that was what man-size is about (in my opinion, at least) - wanting to things that guys do but not being able to cos you're a girl.

'Good Lord I'm big I'm heading on Man-sized got my leather boots on Got my girl and she's a wow [...]

I'm man-sized no need to shout Let it all, let it all hang out / out out out'

fantasising about a reclaiming of power while presenting in a more masculine way - WITH A GIRLFRIEND I MIGHT ADD - before going back to feeling as though that is unattainable -

'Silence my lady head Get girl out of my head Douse hair with gasoline Set it light and set it free'

like, 'get girl out of my head' is a pretty queer thing to say, yknow?

and 50ft Queenie -

'Hey I'm one big queen No one can stop me [...]

Hey I'm the king of the world You ought to hear my song Ah come on measure me I'm twenty inches long'

which is at the same time using male terms - even though the song is called Queenie, and that word is used a lot, she specifically calls herself King of the world, and proceeds to make fun of the perceived importance of a particular male organ, while at the same time saying she's better than them

more songs with gender and lesbian undertones - Yuri G, Catherine, to a degree A Woman A Man Walked By / The Crows Knows Where the Children Go (that one's quite explicit, word of warning if yu haven't heard that one before) - and songs that are covers of songs written by men without any pronoun changing - Shake Your Hips and I Can't Get No Satisfaction are two notable examples of that.

and then there are her songs that are just sapphic without being specifically gendery - My Beautiful Leah, Claudine the Inflatable One - i first thought that Down By the Water was about sneaking out to meet a sapphic lover under the bridge in the dead of night, a doomed romance, but there are lots of better and far more likely interpretations than that.

Polly herself has also said a lot of things that just kinda read queer. Like Patti Smith before her, she has said that she writes her songs from a place 'beyond gender', and just writes them as stories, sometimes from a male perspective. But of course, to a queer audience, you can hear her singing and *know* she's singing from a male perspective, but also can't help but to hear it as queer as well.

bit of a quote to go with that -

You've said that you don't like to think in terms of gender when it comes to music. Why do you think the gender issue, especially the concept of you being a feminist, is constantly mentioned with your work?

'I can only presume that, especially in the early days and early those labels tend to stick, but I know that I really played with gender in my lyrics, and I might sing in the shape of a man or I might sing in the shape of a woman. Or I might be dressing women in a loving way as a man or as a woman, or sometimes as neither. Sometimes more as just an essence, a feeling or an atmosphere. And I think that feels quite natural to me, but I think for some people it's not natural, and that's where the gender issue seems to become quite important.'

she was also adamant that she didn't want to be seen as part of riot grrrl, but rather as part of grunge - grunge was a very very aggressively male genre, and i don't think she thought riot grrrl had the right idea about how to go about empowerment - she took herself more seriously than that i think. she didn't want to be called a feminist, because she didn't want to be called a 'female artist', but rather just an Artist.

her gender presentation, moving from fairly neutral in 1992 (big black leather jacket, black boots etc, to the hyper-feminity of the To Bring You My Love era, 1995, also comes into play - she was showing femininity to be a performance, while also using it to her advantage, she didn't actually dress like that normally, no one wears that much eyeshadow, it was closer to a drag show than an actual outfits, a lot of the stuff she wore on stage. which is another one of those things that makes sense to a cishet girl, but gains more complexity as a queer person.

there's probably a lot more i can say on this, but that's everything off the top of my head! i cannot tell you how excited i was to get this ask, PJ Harvey is so much of how i've explored my own gender and sexuality, i could talk about this for a very long time!

[bonesandthebees]

Hey bee!

It’s been a while, to say the least, since I’ve sent an ask but gods, exams. Who invented them.

Also, GLASS REWRITE

Glass is probably one of my favourite stories (pushes away the list that has glass, stars, and vanderlyle tied on top) and I LOVE all the symbolism and the character arcs in it, like the tattoos and how the Seer slowly realises the trauma they have that they’ve been locking up in a mental box for YEARS-

Also tattoos, have I mentioned that? I love the tattoos and the bird with the rib cage and thorns. And the blindfold, finally letting go off the “proper” blindfold and using the goggles, just the final step of rejecting what was pushed onto them.

And worldbuilding, oh my gods everything just works so well together and you can picture every single detail, and there are so many banger sentences throughout the entire thing.

I love it so so much.

And also the new characters (AND ROMANCE HELL YEAH) and new dynamics are so *chef kiss*???

And I’m really happy for you to have found a story to make into your own original creation, and I wish you the smoothest journey possible and all the best.

One more thing, slightly unrelated.

I went back to reread glass and uh.

I came across two of you?

I just wanted to make sure that you own both these accounts just in case one of them is fake, or if they’re like side account/main account ones.

Or maybe my device is malfunctioning, who knows, I’m not sure.

Anyways, drink more water, rest when needed, and have a nice day(or night)!

Happy to see you here again!! Sorry to hear about exams hope they’re going/went well!!

Awww thank you I’m so glad you enjoyed glass so much! Despite the faults I see in it, there’s so much I love in that story and I just have such a deep love for the world and concept that I’m so excited to keep writing in it. I’m so glad you’re excited for the romance, I really can’t wait to dive into the dynamics there because there’s just so much potential I want to explore

Also, yes those are both me lol. Ao3 has this system called pseuds where you have your main account, and then you can write fics under a pseud which is an alternate username. It’ll still show your main account username in parentheses (hence the bonesandcacti in parentheses after bonesandthebees), but if you were to just click on bonesandthebees and go to the works there it’ll only list my mcyt works compared to if you click the works on bonesandcacti which will show you my mcyt works plus my older mystic messenger fics. Pseuds are basically just a way to slightly separate some of your fics out from the rest of your works. When I first started writing mcyt fic I wanted to separate them out a bit, hence why I put them under the bonesandthebees pseud.

(Although at this point I am just debating if I should change my main account username to bonesandthebees and just get rid of the pseud so it’s all under a single name. It’s not like I’ve used bonesandcacti for much anyway. Food for thought)

I appreciate the concern though! Hope you have a nice day too!!

[appalachianhearthcraft]

What do you do when you can't feel connected to God or the Saints? Love Ur blog btw 💕💕

Thank you so much! One of my favorite ways to reconnect is through praying a novena. I’ll make it into a ritual/devotional act, by cleansing & blessing the candle with holy water & dedicated it in the name of the Trinity & whichever saint I am praying to.. I will then dress the candle with herbs/spices & oils. I’ll use herbs & oils that remind me of that saint or aspect of God that I am praying to. Same goes for incense. I’ll burn some as an offering & to symbolize my prayers being lifted up to the Heavens through the smoke.

During the duration of the 9 days of the novena, I will further connect by watching video’s & documentaries on the Saint/God. YouTube is a fantastic free source. Same goes for reading articles, blog posts or books about them.

The Psalms are also a lovely way to connect with God. Oh! And with the saints that I am deeply devoted to, I’ll dedicate jewelry & perfumes to them & wear in their honor.

Other devotional acts, such as building an altar space for them can be another way to connect. It doesn’t have to be a physical altar either. You can do this through a blog, Pinterest, etc. Writing poetry, letters and/or songs for them or even painting/drawing them are creative ways to connect, too. I hope this is helpful!

[shoggothkisses]

The Narzissenkreuz Adventure: Initial Thoughts

I want to make sure I write these down before I forget them, so please don't consider this post an "in depth" lore rant so much as some preliminary thoughts I hope to delve into later!

SPOILERS FOR FONTAINE UNDER THE CUT

First: names. Oh my god. Friends will attest that I've been screaming in Discord for the last few weeks, "WHY IS THE FROG NAMED JAK!?," with no context. Now I finally have an answer, and I am sated (for now). While the names of the actual water constructs aren't inherently important - they even say so themselves - we can now conclude that Mary-Ann / Ann pulled the names of people who lived and worked around her at the Narzissenkreuz Institute for the characters in her children's stories. We have Jak(ob Ingold), Al(ain Guillotine), Rene, Kate (possibly Karl??) and Petit Chou (this one is a stretch, but since Chou and Basil Elton are both named after vegetation, I think that's who Chou is supposed to be.)

Also I love that they decided to make Mary-Ann a direct reference to Alice in Wonderland (Mary-Ann is the name of the housekeeper the White Rabbit mistakes Alice for; and the Narzissenkreuz Mary-Ann is a caretaker and governess for the children).

Platonism has SO much weight in Fontaine, and especially here. Ashikai made a video recently that references the Veluriyam Mirage and Plato's Allegory of the Cave, and this time around we have characters who blatantly announce that their physical forms and names have nothing to do with their essence. In their minds, their "purpose" in the story is who they are. This is highly likely to be a reference to Aristotle and Plato's believe in animism and essentialism - all things have souls and the soul is the true form of the self.

JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES!!! This made me extremely excited. The Adventure Team says that "our purposes are our essences," which feels very archetypal. Kate is not Kate, but The Battle Hardened General. Narcissus is not Narcissus, or even an Oceanid, but The Dragon. Ann is not Ann, but The Hero. The repetition of certain archetypes in every single nation we've been to has made me spin in circles the whole time I've been observing it. There have been MANY archetypes that have repeated themselves in each nation (a Dragon, a Dragon-Slayer, a Holy Bird, a Big Tree, etc.) - and if things like archetypes and the collective unconscious are real and have a real effect on the events of Teyvat, it brings up two more questions: which of these archetypes were the "first," and how many times will they keep repeating?

"THE RULE OF THREE IS AN ANCIENT PRINCIPLE" DO I NEED TO SAY MORE? yes. yes i do. SO. despite poking through BOTH Aristotle's Rhetoric and his Poetics, while he loves listing his premises and theories in groups of three, he doesn't actually mention WHY he uses the number three so often. It's more likely thanks to our buddy Pythagoras that the number three is considered a Special™️ number, because he thought that (since it's the sum of all numbers beneath it - 1 + 2), he believed to be a "noble" number representing unity and harmony. Hence, why it's shown up everywhere from Christianity to neopaganism to writing to business marketing (!?) since.

THE NARZISSENKREUZ DOMAIN IS AN ENDLESS DOWNWARD SPIRAL WITH EACH LEVEL ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS GOING TO BE A LONG TOPIC FOR ANOTHER DAY

The only other time we've seen Paimon have such a strong response to a domain was under The Chasm - which was also a time loop of sorts. We've also seen (especially via the Sabzeruz Samsara) that she can't tell when we're stuck in a time loop. She can only feel its effects via fatigue and dizziness. This definitely has to be important.

So these are artifacts right. The pocket watch and the feather. These are symbols of aspects of Ann's story, so they're parts of an artifact set? They hold parts of her soul? We're all on the same page with that right!? RIGHT??

It's not given its proper name, but the Jabberwock's Holy Sword is quite obviously the Vorpal Blade, a well-recognized dragon-slaying sword from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Jabberwocky," which features in Through the Looking Glass.

Speaking of all the Alice references in this world quest - the final chapter of TtLG ("Who Dreamed It?") is a little unnerving in a Genshin context, since "what is life but a dream?" implies that, if whoever is dreaming of Teyvat(?) ever wakes up...well. Let's hope the collective unconscious thing is a more accurate representation for how Teyvat works, since then everyone would have to wake up for the universe to disappear.

EDIT: Ann mentions three cities/civilizations while we're in the Looking Glass Domain: Yith, Arcadia, and Hyperborea. I've posted an explanation about Yith in my Lovecraft References post but I want to mention the other two really quick! In Greek mythology, Arcadia was supposed to be an unspoiled paradise outside of human civilization, where the god Pan lived alongside a bunch of nature spirits (dryads, nymphs etc.). Hyperborea, meanwhile, was a city "beyond the reach of Boreas (the North Wind)," inhabited by people who worshipped and were beloved by Apollo (god of being Booked and Busy, apparently). The former wasn't so much a utopia as a place where supernatural entities could chill away from humans (which reminds me of the lost kingdom of the Seelie?), while the latter was a maybe-real, maybe-not utopia inhabited by 10-foot-tall blondes.

THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR NOW BUT. but if you want to chat about things that happened in Narzissenkreuz, my ask box is open!!

[donnerpartyofone]

ACK I almost stepped on Jesus on my way home from church! Good thing I missed! Actually if I were writing a movie about persecuted Christians where someone tries to make them trample the cross and stuff, I'd have them say "Sure man, I'll trample the cross, I'll shit on the Bible. You think my God is trapped in there? That I step on him like a bug and he dies? Let's try it and find out!" as per the great thing they discuss in STIGMATA. STIGMATA is the one where Patricia Arquette stars as a sexy raver chick who gets possessed and then sexy priest Gabriel Byrne has to solve a religious mystery with her that changes the world. It's the best movie and you should definitely watch it.

LOVE the tag line on poster #2. Anyway one of the priests who is a main reason I've been going to this great church for a year gave a homily this morning about a piece of scripture I'd heard before, but not in this way. Jesus encounters a cripple at a healing spring in Bethesda and asks him, "Do you want to be made well?", and instead of saying "OH MY GOD YES OF COURSE MAKE ME WELL IMMEDIATELY," the guy starts complaining evasively about how he can never get into the water because everyone else is faster than him. Jesus heals the guy anyway and says "Pick up your mat and walk," and then the guy instantly gets in trouble with the authorities for carrying his mat around on the sabbath, and by extension Jesus is in trouble for working on the sabbath. The Bible usually sounds pretty antique to put it mildly, and therefore kind of alien and artificial, but when I heard that story today suddenly it was like "Oh shit, people really act like this right now. All the time." Somebody asks you what you want and you don't know how to say "I WANT THIS EXACT THING AND I'M READY TO GET IT," you might not even know precisely what you want, or you're just so used to making excuses and being passive aggressive and protecting yourself from disappointment and trying not to be inappropriate that you have no ability to be direct or speak from a place of self-knowledge. And then on the part of the Pharisees, they're so concerned with the litigation of their religion that they can't even see the miraculous evidence of God appearing right before their eyes, they're too blinded by their obsession with technicalities and the pre-fabricated template for divinity to notice that what they would ultimately want is happening now. It doesn't appear in the way they expect it to, so they don't even see it. Modern people are exactly like this. You encounter all these behaviors on a daily basis if you interact with other people at all.

I love this priest and at least one other guy who is really surprising and inspired, enough that I've been going there for a year of my life. But I sometimes feel like I'm leading them on. I love gay people and abortions too much to formally convert, among other reasons. But I also realize that religion is about emotion. You're supposed to love God more even than you concern yourself with his factuality. For me religion is a bit too much of an intellectual exercise. I'm curious about the mechanics of belief, how it rewards people, what kinds of changes it manifests, what it is as a psychological phenomenon. And more abstractly I'm interested in how people seek encounters with the numinous, how they explore deeper meaning through the lens of symbol and allegory. I'm interested in the collective unconscious. Almost my whole life is more of an intellectual exercise than an emotional one, maybe I'm fundamentally not wired to be a religious person. But I do love this church and I love the people in it, and I think it's a net positive for us to get to know a kind of person/people who you don't normally encounter, and get the chance to be kind and curious toward them. Everyone is always welcoming to me even if it seems like they wouldn't like me personally and I find that moving, I embrace the chance to return the favor. I embrace them even though I know they will never watch STIGMATA with me.

[abyssalpriest]

God. Talking to Lev about the religion we're in the process of making together... He's been treating it as a pet project for only the two of us bc it makes me anxious, ie he's hiding what it truly is and I only know that it's hidden and not what is hidden, but slowly hes introducing the idea of it being an actual established thing with more than just us in it (not necessarily big, just that us two was already intimidating in size when it started so even three people feels Established to me), and I just asked him like. OK. You know. I already know Im coming here and incarnating from the future for A Personal Job, is this a part of it? Do the waters of our time mention or talk about this or does it die with me? I'm not getting into what was said because future shit is the one thing I don't want to discuss anything about online, and also I. kinda. shut down him answering bc I don't want to think about it rn

Suddenly though I'm like... A switch is flicking in my head from "I was a part of the pop culture pagan section of my ex's cult, he was having me expand his cult by creating a 'new religion' based on BB secretly connected to it" to "hold on, why did my ex, who knows who I am and when and where I'm from, start trying to get me to create a new religion with him that's eerily similar to the one Leviathans insisting on creating with me?" i already new my ex has been trying to twist fate and time and reorder his downwards spiral and steal shit for his own and so this is a little...... Uh...

Bc like. I keep getting this overwhelming relief and clarity throughout my entire working w Lev - even way before this was ever a broached subject - these past three years of "ohhh THIS was what I was supposed to be doing, THIS is who I was supposed to be doing things with, THIS is the real god of oceans and dreams and the dark shadowy aspects of life and (etc), my ex was just fully playing up all these aspects to fulfill a role" i never.... Stopped to ask why my ex did that.

Why was he having me fashion a religion based on what I'd later come to find was Leviathans attributes, energies, symbols, etc ?? Because my soul already loved him, he didn't need to pretend to be Lev bc I knew lev and not him or something. He could've picked a mask based on anything - he even specifically picked cut content micolash and not even in game micolash because the mask he chose didn't fit micolash's aesthetics and energies so it's not even a "oh well I just happened to be drawn to micolash bc micolash is like Leviathan, so he had to go with it" they. are not alike. he literally had to change his fictional mask to be like Leviathan. He had to warp the character so hard and just count on cut content mic having no fucking content so that he could be as much like Lev as possible. Yes, they are indeed very similar, but like also no they're not. Anyway. and then he spent five years bringing me into this spirituality only to start building a religion with me -

- oh my god. I always brush past "yeah in the months before we broke up was when he started getting me to write stuff on the religion, our religion (called Oceanic Spirituality. bruh) really only started being made just before shit hit the fan and idk what he was trying to get me to do" but like. I. Wasn't supposed to be making it with him. was I.

[danceswithdarkspawn]

1 and 13.

Hello, and thanks for the ask! Oh my god I've forgotten how to be articulate this morning. I hope this doesn't sound unhinged lol

1. What is a piece of symbolism in your fic?

I use birds a lot in my writing, so much that they're a symbol, a motif, and maybe just a particular quirk I have (because my god do i love birds)

anyway, a direct example that comes to mind is a rosebush. This rosebush has absolutely no business being alive after the village gets razed to the ground by the canonical symbol for the Hubris of Man. Like there's no signs of life anywhere (aside from some survivors found in the church, the only building left standing, make of that what you will).

anyway, rosebush. Ariel finds herself in this decimated garden with her romantic interest, who shows her the rosebush, which has two roses blooming upon its branches. The roses in themselves symbolize a number of things; faith, rebirth, love and even the two characters themselves. I'll drop the passage itself under a readmore because words are escaping me.

13. Is there a transition in your fic you're proud of?

I'm not sure if this is a transition exactly, but I think about a slight segway that Ariel does in one of my more recent chapters a lot. Basically, she ends up accidentally injuring herself, and her LI is helping her patch it up (as one does, obviously), and Ariel says something to the effect of, "It's ok you don't have to." You know, "why are you doing this" basically. The LI responds with "Well, we're friends right? Friends help each other."

And Ariel just kinda...blue screens for a second and recalls a traumatic event from her childhood in which she nearly drowned and says at the end, "that's how I feel right now, I feel like I'm drowning" before going on with the rest of the patching-up scene.

From Chapter 10, The Dragon in the Chantry

“Before I stepped out of the cloister, I had a dream,” Leliana says, drawing me along. “In it, there was an impenetrable darkness, and a terrible, ungodly noise. I stood upon a peak, and watched as the darkness swallowed everything.”

“You dreamt of the Blight?” Her eyes flash over to me before going back down. “I’ve had dreams like that.”

She lets go of me to carefully gather her covering as she picks over debris. “I suppose I did. That is what the darkness was, no?” I reach out to offer support, but I stop myself short, snatching my hand back. I fold them behind my back instead. “When I woke, I came here as I always did. And I saw this.”

She motions with her head towards a corner of the garden. At first, I’m not sure what I am supposed to be looking at. Whatever greenery once decorated this place has long since been reduced to ashen sticks and branches. Ravaged and blight-riddled, unwilling to support life.

But two splashes of carmine rest amongst tangled and thorny branches. 

All the ugly emotion I feel—all the doubt, fear, anxiety; all of it flows away like water. Bewilderment blooms in its place instead. My lips part with a soft exhalation as I step closer to the bush. “Oh, wow.” The words tumble out and drift away on the morning air. 

A glove twists off. I thread my fingers beneath the sepals of one flower and tilt it lightly for further examination. Frigid dew collected amongst its labyrinth of petals trickles into my palm and down my wrist. I let my thumb swipe against its face, reveling in a texture akin to rich fabric. 

Leliana drifts into my periphery. She lets an index finger trail along the face of the other flower. “If you think it looks ungainly now, you should have seen it before the horde came here.” I watch silently, unsure of what she means. “Everyone knew it to be dead. It was grey and twisted and gnarled—the ugliest thing you ever saw. And yet there it was; a single, beautiful rose.”

“And now there are two of them,” I manage. I wipe my hand across my pant leg and stuff it into my pocket. I clench my fist tightly, digging my nails into my palm to distract myself from the stinging sensation lingering across my skin. “How can something like this survive the Blight?”

When I look back at Leliana, I find her watching me with a contented look on her face. Her chin dips when our eyes meet.

Her makeshift hood comes down, hair spilling forward. It catches sun rays, etching lines and shadows across her skin. Her hair is nearly golden in the early morning light, falling gently around her face. It’s textured and messy from days without washing, but it does nothing to detract from how beautiful she looks.

And it is her again, I come to realize; the too-beautiful woman I recognize. Soft, innocent and carefree. I know somewhere in my stifled heart that she’s anything but. Somewhere below rests a facade cut from steel and replete on calculation. It speaks of a life before the Maker, of a world I could probably never understand. 

My stomach flips, my throat tightens, and I look away to anything except her.

How, indeed.

“Who is to say?” Her tone is a whisper, almost reverent. “Perhaps it is the Maker stretching out a hand as if to say, ‘Even amidst all this chaos, there is hope and beauty.” She weaves an arm into mine, fingers gripping lightly. It’s a simple tether, but it dredges up and soothes some ache I did not know I possessed. “‘Have faith.’”