#she's supposed to be from Fantasy Egypt

[eliounora]

quick doodle of my oc, haru! I’ve changed her character quite a bit recently

[the-lincyclopedia]

Reading tag game! Tagged by @newtsoftheworldunite (thanks for the tag, love). Tagging @jonsaremembers, @polestarneighbor, @cricketnationrise, and anyone else who wants to play!

Last book I read: A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. I loved it SO much. It's about a trans woman who is presumed dead in the Napoleonic Wars and takes the opportunity to start living as herself, and now she's meeting her childhood best friend for the first time since they got separated in battle two years ago. He doesn't know she's transitioned, and he's wracked by guilt about her supposed death. The queer rep and disability rep really resonated with me, and Alexis Hall's romances have a tendency to be exactly what I want.

Book I recommend: The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. Truly the series of all time. The layers! I have so much trouble explaining to people what it's about, but here goes: it's classified as YA fantasy, but it's pushing the bounds of both YA and fantasy. The main character starts out as a teenager but is very much an adult for most of the series. It's secondary world, but the fantasy elements come in the form of interventions from the gods, not spell-casting. Anyway, some of the books have quest vibes while others are more about court politics and intrigue, but what I love most is how much the characters come to love each other, and also how many well-set-up twists there are.

Book I couldn't put down: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston! I got super burnt out on reading by overworking myself in school, and it took like four years to get back to the point where I could read for more than about 20 pages at once, and the book that finally broke through for me was I Kissed Shara Wheeler. It's a delightfully queer YA romance with an extremely well-developed ensemble cast, and it earns its ending in a way I really hadn't expected. Plus, this is probably the smartest, most hardworking cast of high schoolers I've seen in a YA book, and that made me feel very seen.

Book I've read twice: I'm gonna say King of Shadows by Susan Cooper, which I've actually read more like seven or eight times. It's about a child actor in 1999 who's acting at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London and gets yanked back in time 400 years to act with Shakespeare at the original Globe in 1599. It was my introduction to Shakespeare when I read it for the first time at age 12, and I read A Midsummer Night's Dream by myself because of it. The book has a lot to say about parental-type relationships between adults and kids, as well as about grief and healing. I love it a lot.

A book on my TBR: When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney. It's about the female pharoahs of ancient Egypt, and I got it when an ancient Egypt exhibit came to my local art museum several years ago, and I still haven't read it. The topic is particularly interesting to me because I played one of those female pharoahs, Hatshepsut, in a play my best friend wrote in sixth grade. I'm hoping to read it in the next few weeks.

A book I have put down: Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. As I mentioned, Alexis Hall's romances often really hook me! But this one started with Rosaline lying about basically her entire life to one of the love interests, and it was heading toward a love triangle, so I DNFed about 30 pages in. I was really glad I got it from the library and didn't buy it.

A book on my wish list: I'm honestly trying to get rid of some books because I'm about to move! I wasn't a big book buyer until a couple years ago, anyway, and I'm not sure I like that I've become more likely to buy books recently. I want to get back into a library habit.

A favourite book from childhood: I loved the Dear America series in late elementary/early middle school and read basically nothing else for my entire fifth grade year. I honestly still think about those books almost every day, and there are lines I can still quote from memory. My favorite is probably Where Have All the Flowers Gone? The Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty, Boston, Massachusetts, 1968. It's about a teenage girl whose brother is serving in Vietnam, and it has a companion book in the My Name Is America series (the series with boys' fictional diaries) from her brother's perspective.

A book I would give a friend: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett is popular for a reason, and I loved starting my Discworld adventures with the Tiffany Aching series. Tiffany is only nine years old in the first book, and she is so much like I remember being at that age, angry and underestimated and clever and determined. I love watching her grow up, but I love where she starts, too.

A book of poetry or lyrics I own: I own very little poetry, and I don't really read it, but I do own a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets that my partner gave me, which is good because I'm trying to write more sonnets about my partner than Shakespeare wrote, total.

A non-fiction book I own: Lingo by Gaston Dorren. It's a collection of essays about 60 European languages, one essay per language. I used to fancy myself a linguist, and I had a great time learning about a whole bunch of languages in bite-sized chunks from this book.

Currently reading: The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. I'm a sucker for classic lit spinoffs, and so far I'm enjoying the way the author is basically rolling around in Austen's work in sheer giddiness.

Planning on reading next: Probably When Women Ruled the World, mentioned above, but after that, maybe The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg. As I said: classic lit spinoffs.

[ask-elland-n-will]

OOC Question:

I am sorry, I am sure you already answered that Question, but how did Will and Elland come to life? 💚

How did you come up with their names and personality?

[I'm gonna call this recent series of ooc asks "Lily rambles while on a walk without proofreading anything"!

Cyrus was first, I cannot begin this conversation without bringing him up. I played him in a DnD campaign for about a year. Elland happened a little while later, but was just an NPC, somebody for the game master to bring up to get the plot going. I switched into playing Elland cause I wanted to give another class a go: Cyrus went home to take care of family stuff, and Elland moved into his friendgroup to help prevent the end of the world. Typical DnD stuff.

Elland is supposed to Cy's foil. Their dynamic was great, their differences stood out more when they were paired up. I wanted a really strong bond.

HL came around — and as I was playing Elland in DnD at the time, I used him in HL. When starting a replay of the game, I went with another archetype I always loved, a talkative cute ginger sunshine boy (we know how he mutated since then 🤣). It was a switch from Cyrus into Will, because Cyrus, being an adult in DnD, was, for the lack of the better word, too horny and abrasive. He didn't fit in a school, and at the time the thought of changing him felt like a monumental task.

So I created another foil for Elland. Will now is so far from his original self that I might as well come up with another cute sweet OC. It always happens like that with my characters. When it feels like one has too much of everything, the character branches out into other characters. Will used to be a coward — and don't get me wrong, self preservation is strong in this one but he knows when to pick his fights and is not easily scared when he can explain things logically (pickle was an exception but he got over that fear after a while). But with time Fred took over the coward role.

Lilith was supposed to be sweet — yet now she's unhinged, strong, domineering — those qualities didn't sit right with any other characters.

Elland was supposed to be more like he is in DnD, this figure making tough choices and not being afraid to get his hands dirty to protect family. But it felt wrong for the HL setting, and thus I have Fyodor, who is even more straightforward. Wherr Elland still can tell a white lie — Fyodor is brutally honest, even if it needlessly hurts somebody's feelings.

I'm rambling at this point haha

Names? Elland — I was in a book club at the time, going through The Mistborn series and The City of Brass. There was a character in the first book series, Elend Venture, whom I liked a lot. When I was coming up with names, I wrote "Elland" and only way later realized why it feels so familiar. I got inspired without knowing.

The second book is fantasy set around the world of djinn. That was the inspiration that made Cyrus a genasi, and de Strontiums in general came from the Middle East (still haven't decided if Egypt or Turkey). There were a few centuries of assimilation both in DnD and HL, so Elland and Cyrus are mixed race.

Cyrus is a name of Persian origin with Greek roots. It meant "sun". With how the boy is burning, it was fitting. And in Genshin there is a guy named Cyrus who is the head of the Adventurers guild. So I had a good feeling about the name.

Their last names, too. Strontium is/was added to fireworks to give them red colour. I've mentioned before that their family came from firework making origins. It's a tradition for them, even when they became nobleman. They branched out into firearms eventually, that's how the majority of their family's wealth was accumulated, helping supply the Crown. In DnD — making weapons for the city guards, and a bunch of other experimental projects that had to do with explosives. Cyrus was reeeealy born for this.

William — always loved the name, no other reason. Abbott — I was looking all over the wiki for a family name that would soften their stance on muggles. I don't remember exactly, but later down the line Abbott's married muggles. Even is Sacred families weren't really a think in HL times (I think?) It doesn't make Will any less generationally pureblood.

For personalities - I'll lump Will and Cyrus in the same category. I needed someone fun. Fun, outgoing, energetic, inspired. And to pair them up for a dynamic I liked, I needed someone calm. Supportive, more empathetic, good listener but somebody with a firm hand to direct Will/Cyrus if they get carried away. W/C should hold E in high regard. E is the kind of person to ground them and make them see things they are too blinded to see.

In practice (roleplay) it's a bit harder to do, so don't be surprised if the characters sometimes do things you didn't think they would do. That, and coming from DnD, Elland especially, Tumblr will just never see some of the sides of him I see critical for understanding his character. Now that I made up my mind about my boys' as OCs lore, the dangerous and unforgiving environment that was HL MC lore and DnD lore — it moved aside.

Elland is a Hufflepuff here only because I couldn't decide between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff because I wanted Puff's commonroom. If I made a choose on behalf of the DnD Elland, he is more Ravenclaw than Puff in terms of personality. A lot of it just didn't come to him until he went to magic academy. And again, bringing up harsh MC lore, now I can't really show off how he operates under pressure and how smart and quick-thunking he is, and how passion can cloud his judgement, especially when his loved ones are involved. Dueling might be the only way for that to slip through.]

[horizon-verizon]

Twilight "Mates"

Have you ever wondered what the deal was with the Twilight movies and books having their vampire couples be called "mates"? Well, they aren't exactly soulmates.

I've had this information with me for literal years. I can forget what I had for lunch, but not this apparently. Now it's your turn to share in my misery.

For those that don't know, vampires in Twilight are not at all like the traditional, erotically charged vampires of modern popular media.

Like humans, vampires in Twilight can have many partners or have monogamous relationships but they cannot "break up" with their lovers and move on to new ones like humans can. At least not psychologically and truthfully enough to be in "real", new relationships. Vampire love-grief is a state or emotion they can't "forget" bc they literally cannot "forget" anything, and that's one of many unsettling things about Twilight vampires. which is why they never give up until the murderer of their mate is dead themselves, or if they are like Victoria, whoever they love the most or anything similar to their own sort of love, is dead. Either way, vampires will likely take their revenge. Vampires are forever stuck in the psychological state/personality they had right before they were turned. So they don’t respond to change all, and they really don’t need to except in special circumstances that require it, so they’re even less inclined to be psychologically adaptive. Only falling in love has the influence to significantly change them. As Meyer makes it. 

Because Meyer makes it that vampire’s enhancements apply to absolutely everything.

Twilight is a romance fantasy, not a vampire tale, but there is still a marked difference to how vampires versus humans form attachments, including their romantic ones, that all comes from their particular brand of "vampirism". The vampire lore is meant to build into and support the relationship of the main couple: Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. AND how vampires form lasting romantic connections are majorly inspired by Mormon celestial marriage and the exaltation principles.

A)

In Stephenie Meyer’s world, Bella and Edward are technically soulmates and Edward in Midnight Sun claims that Alice/Jasper and Rosalie/Emmett are, too. Other vampire couples don't seem to have the Cullen "privilege" or state of being soulmates who were drawn together emotionally, though:

AroxSulpicia

AthenodoraxCauis

AmunxKebi

JamesxVictoria

Descriptions:

Aro basically arranges his own mating by courting Sulplicia This clearly is not a spontaneous or freefall progression we'd imagine for how a bond b/t soulmates.

He and Caius lock up their mates so they could avoid the same debilitating grief and vulnerability that Marcus has. It is not necessarily for their wives’ sake.

Back in ancient Egypt when he was worshipped as a god, Amun picked Kebi out of all his slaves.

James had two main reasons to stop trying to kill Victoria when he hunted her down: he wasn’t able to AND he saw she'd useful. He later sees himself as having “won” anyway because now she’s with him forever by falling for him. To me, he considers their relationship to be him “owning” her and her gift, both useful for when he needs to get the hell out of Dodge.

These particular relationships reveal feelings and circumstances of ownership and selfishness, especially on the men’s part.

If soulmate relationships are supposed to be mutually compulsory between the two people, why the emotional incongruencies, power imbalances, and clear rationalization that goes into how most of the shown Twilight pairings are formed? 

And If someone is able to choose a romantic partner based on what they perceive are convenient and the motivation weren't pure-hearted or emotionally-driven...doesn’t it negate the one essential part of soulmateship? That someone out there is absolutely the best romantic option and the perfect match for you even when you didn’t choose them, and they were metaphysically given for both of your happiness?

At the same time, vampires can never forget their lover nor lose the memories of them, nor can those memories lose their sharpness, clarity and intensity. Makenna found herself still in love with Charles even after her first year as a newborn so she went back for him and turned him. He just so happened to still be in love with her after that year. Marcus literally can never forget how he feels about Didyme, nor can he feel less about her than when they first met or when they first acknowledged each other as their “person”.

B)

Soulmates (as a trope) have been depicted as anything from emotional/psychological prisons to psychologically safe havens. Sometimes both depending on the actual pairing’s dynamics, the action of the plot, and the themes of the story.

I think that the “both” sometimes happens in the romantic vision of Twilight when it comes to vampire mates.

This “both” still belies the very idea of a soulmate: that this one person is the best, inevitable, perfect, and only romantic option for one other person. 

If only one pairing are definitely true and real soulmates (as Twilight claims Bella/Edward are) and most of the others are circumstantial first-come-first-serves, can we really claim that mates in Twilight are definitively a destined soulmate? Or that soulmates even exist in the world of Twilight?

Instead, Twilight vampires experience another take/revision of the soulmates trope.

C)

THEREFORE: Twilight vampire mates are not supposed to be ideal nor true “soulmates” like those proposed by Plato and those portrayed in media ever since. 

There are no soulmates in Twilight. Not in either the "purest" nor original meaning of that word.

Instead, as a vampire, calling your "forever" romantic partner your “mate” is a both linguistic phenomenon and a narrative device that describes and realizes the potency, doggedness, and persistence that characterize how Twilight vampires love their "mates".

Meyer has her vampires use the term "mate" because:

Outside of the U.S. and in the U.K., the “mate” part of “soulmate” can be associated with the same word used for someone’s platonic companion or acquaintance. But in the U.S., it's used in with a scientific connotation--particularly observing nonhuman animals--. Thus it is regarded as too formal to seriously use in one’s casual day-to-day in the U.S., or it’s considered way too British and people who do use it casually do it either to be facetious or it's become a habit.

Meyer wanted to further distinguish vampires from humans and used their more animalistic, bestial qualities (their instincts to devour and attack) to characterize them as having “mates”. Paralleling them to nonhuman animals, which again, refers to how researchers and those taking care of the animals call their reproductive partners their “mate”. ironic since vampire women and girls cannot birth vampire or vampire hybrid offspring.

Twilight vampires dissociate themselves from humans, so of course they’d have a different term for their “important” lovers.

The term--or the idea behind the term--has been used in the vampire world of Twilight since before many vampires existed (Aro and Cauis) and I imagine that vampires would say, “why bother changing it now?” Unless it was a “recent” term, but no evidence suggests that.

Vampires canonically themselves don’t “change” values, philosophies, or mindsets without there being an intense catalyst, the strongest of which Meyer makes romantic (BellaxEdward) or very quasi-familial love (Tanya, Irina, Kate, and Sasha). 

Soulmates, as an idea, are supposed to be nonchanging and unavoidable, or “constant”, permanent, and position two people together inevitably. The word “mate“ illustrates the circumstance of not being able to change/display a “persistence” of the bond being out of the control of the singular vampire. They cannot determine their own romantic feelings but it's because they themselves cannot "change" (no matter how slippery the substance this is under closer inspection, that's the lore we're working with). The persistence associated with the nonhuman animal mate-bond and with any sort of social bond--human or nonhuman facilitates.

And following the assumption being made about nonhuman animals collectively being more creatures of instinct than humans are, like nonhuman animals Twilight vampires are also creatures of mostly instinct. They are “slaves” to their own instincts so that they often lose control and break things and people around them if they don’t practice not to.

D)

So finally, the word “mate” in the Twilight saga seems to be an associative term to express the reality of being a Twilight vampire in love.

Irina quite literally is willing to kill and die for Laurent, a person who didn’t like her as much as she liked him because she will never be able to forget Laurent nor the times they spent together and will always feel the pain of losing him with the same intensity as the first time of losing him.

Love in Twilight appears to be perilous and futile in the sense that it regularly makes vampires risk themselves in foolish ventures to ruin those who killed their mates. Yet (emotionally as well as thematically/symbolically) love for vampires is also necessary.

It both is one of only ways they get any sort of meaning or emotional satisfaction/compensation for their changeless lives. Yet it can easily become the cause of near self-destructive revenge missions that involve other vampires, perpetuating cycles of violence.

E) Mormonism

Meyer has Twilight vampires’ culture (and the central romance) centering itself around overlaps of love and danger when the stakes are desolation and eternal loneliness or loss of autonomy/power. However, if one is also familiar with Meyer’s loyalty to her Mormon faith and the Mormon principles of exaltation and eternal/”celestial” marriages, I think they’d notice that these two principles inform and provide the structure for both vampire matings and falling in the best kind of love.

Exaltation is a principle that:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) [teaches and believes in] that mankind can reach the highest level of salvation, to eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become 'gods' or like God, create worlds, and have spirit children over which they will govern (Wiki).

So exaltation is when you become like God, you become "eternal" and live forever. Because you ha e died and have become literally closer to God. However, it is t enough to just die and go to heaven to be metaphysically/psychologically close to God.

Celestial marriages and sealings between family members--two requirements for exaltation--ensure that the marriage and the family are preserved after death until all the persons are in heaven together as “gods”.

And having children is a huge prerequisite for starting the type of families that religious Mormons seem to believe will bring them closer to God. Sexual reproduction/procreation is understood as a godly power because it provides the means for a devout to be like the creative God himself. God who made Adam and Eve and subsequently all of humanity. God who instructed Adam and Eve to go out and "multiply".

Adam and Eve took the apple from the tree to become more like God and to live in an “eternal relationship” (Weiss142) with God, each other, and their kids. The result, according to Mormons (including the LDS), is that humans struggle to triumph over their fallen state/human nature same term the “natural man”, who isn’t wicked so much as separate and alienated from God....but in practice is imagined as truly bad and wicked. Religious Mormons believe(d) the Joseph Smith (the 1830 Mormon founder) saw and understood all this reading of Adam and Eve in his first visions and wrote it into the Book of Mormon, which al provides the justification of exaltation and celestial marriages, etc.

Vampires in Twilight are very powerful due to venom and are like gods in the DC universe/Superman kind of way, but can’t procreate sexually--instead they have changeless lives and create other vampires usually through violence and carelessness. So they are both like gods but aren’t, possessing also the “natural man” state with their “bestiality”. They are, like Superman, very emotionally detached from humans and even from other vamps. They lack this “godly” power of procreation that humans and that Rosalie envies.

However, Bella gets to have true, valid, the “best” eternal life: a celestial marriage with Edward and having an immortal child that she, like Jesus and the perfect Mormon, put her body and very existence at risk for.

In the End

The idea of mates in Twilight is reserved for vampires and the nature of mating follows the soulmate trope without actually claiming to be the trope itself. 

Mates are not soulmates. It is a shallower re-invention that heavily depends on context and how language forms in a society to describe a social phenomenon set up by a steadfast interpretation of the reality of being a falling in love or entering a romantic relationship as a vampire. 

To repeat myself, when vampires take or recognize a mate, it’s not because that is the one and only person the universe/higher being grants them as a fit partner, so to speak. That person isn’t a mystical other half that completes them so much as the first and only person they fell deeply in love with or wanted to be so intimate with. First come, first serve. 

And the phrase above only applies when the person in love is a vampire in Twilight because it is an conventional, semi-arbitrary social term. Just how “spouse”, “girlfriend”, “lover”, “friends with benefits” are all social terms to label and describe a person who is meant to be one’s prioritized sexual/romantic partner.

So, to repeat myself, Twilight vampires are forever stuck in the psychological state/personality they had right before they were turned. Falling in love has the particular influence to significantly "change" them. As Meyer rules her lore. If they’re single and meet someone they eventually fall so deeply in love with (or become infatuated with), then that person will literally be the only person who could possibly romantically satisfy them. Ever.

In Twilight, mating can be either a decision (or coercion) or a circumstance or a mixture of both. It depends on the person’s intentions and desires and external circumstances. They must be in the right place at the right time to even be able to connect with others, as vampires are also solitary, very territorial and very violent. Still, humans similarly experience forming and getting into relationships circumstantially. 

[bijoumikhawal]

Hunting Abbadon

This is a short story from a larger work I'm working on called Sycamores Before the Flood, a historical fantasy set in 4th century Egypt. It may or may not make it into the final work, but I sort of started working on it as a proof of concept, since most of what I have for it is scattered fragments, and I'm in research hell.

In this, the main character, Kalashire, is invited on a hunting trip by another soldier while they're granted leave. What are they hunting? Why, an escaped unicorn, of course!

(But the unicorn is also a metaphor. No points for guessing what its a metaphor for, however).

Warnings for: graphic violence against animals, depictioms of misogyny, harassment, and homophobia.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

It was not the custom of their enemies, but under the yoke of those same enemies, each man in Kime had been made a farmer, unless he was a Hellene or lucky. So the wisdom prevailed that soldiers, like plots of land, should be switched around so as not to deplete them. This was how Kalashire found himself on leave; it was his first, and he would be returning without his father.

At the thought, he bent his head low, staring at the road dust as he walked. He would need to tell his sister and brother himself.

"Are you on leave as well, brother?" Mina asked him, startling him out of his thoughts. He and Nahroou had caught up with him without his notice.

"For now." Kalashire replied, putting on a mask of wry humor. It was not successful; he must have flinched.

Mina laughed. "Ease yourself. I have a proposal that may cool your desire to be back in the fighting."

"What proposal?" Kalashire asked warily.

"A village a day away claims to have spotted 2 unicorns." Nahroou said, some dourness coloring him. "And- something that's more than gossip- it is known that one of the merchant families of Antiöe was trying to import some- and they failed to arrive."

Kalashire stared at him, taking a moment to catch on. "You want to hunt? Have you lost your sense?"

"That's what I asked him." Nahroou squinted at Mina.

Mina was unfazed; when God made him he had not given him a sense of shame. "If you won't hunt with me, at least accept my hospitality. Unlike you, I have a cart and a horse."

This was true: while Mina was not from down the river, his family was more prestigious, and his personal provisions had been such. Their unit had made use of that very cart while on duty, and it seemed they'd make use of it traveling upriver.

Walking would mean by the time Kalashire reached home he'd have to turn around immediately at best, and hiring a mule had been his current plan. Unfortunately for him, mules thought him foul. He'd been mentally steeling himself for being bitten. "Fine. And I might as well accompany you on the hunt and keep you from getting killed.

"Nahroou looked behind him. "Oh, lord save me."

Onhet, also from their unit, was rushing down the road towards him, Tsanna keeping her pace alongside.

They stopped not far away, and Onhet wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her as she slouched, catching her breath. "Is this a last gathering before heading home?" He asked them.

"Something akin to that. Mina wants to kill a unicorn."

Onhet's face crumpled with disgust. His Prophet had declared even the killing of plants to be sinful; Kalashire doubted he wanted to explain to his Elect that he needed to be cleansed of the sin of going out of his way to hunt a unicorn.

"You can't believe everything you hear. Even if people say there's a unicorn, that doesn't mean it's true."

"What's the harm in seeing if if is?" Mina asked him.

"I suppose there isn't any- if you somehow have no relations that worried about you the past 6 months."

Nahroou glanced at Kalashire, who had his mask firmly in place. Kalashire did not know if it bothered him, truly, but if it did, he did not show it.

Mina laughed. "Well, I certainly don't have a girl to bring back home before I can marry her." He clapped Onhet on the back and winked at Tsanna.

She flushed, corners of her mouth dropping. "I'm his woman, not yours, you dog."

"A dog, am I? Does that make you a hare?"

Onhet knocked Mina's arm off him, also frowning. "You joke too much, Mina. I hope you know how to keep a still mouth during your hunt." He nodded to Kalashire and Nahroou, then the duo took their leave.

Mina stared after them.

Kalashire nudged him. "I thought you wanted to hunt unicorns, not hares. Besides, she doesn't like you and your parents would cast you out if you brought home a follower of Mani."

"Who says I want to bring her home?"

Nahroou frowned and narrowed his eyes, as he often did. "Didn't you say you'd convinced two other fools to come with you?"

"I did, I did. They went on to an inn; it's best that we rest tonight and set off tomorrow. If we start early, we'll be where the report came from by noon."

Kalashire sighed. "Let's go, then."

"Kalashire, Kalashire. You're almost as impatient as that heretic was."

"Much like the heretic, I have family affairs to settle. My brother and sister have bad news to receive."

Mina stumbled for the first time since Kalashire had met him.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

The evening had passed uneventfully. Kalashire had made himself on good terms with the other two men- a Dauid and Harmine, from the same village- and allowed Mina to feel his comment had been smoothed over, but had gracefully turned into bed early so he could get enough rest while accounting for an hour of staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep, and lacking any desire to do anything else.

They set out before the sun.

Nahroou and Dauid elected to walk for a stretch, at which point Kalashire and Harmine would get out and walk, allowing them to rest.Mina started chatter early.

"Everyone's fresh, except the smell of dear Holhol."

"You'd think after being the only one taking care of him for 6 months, you wouldn't be able to notice the stink at all anymore." Kalashire remarked.

"If only." Mina chuckled. "I suppose it's the price one must pay for peaceable feet."

"Oh, god." Nahroou said. "He thinks himself a philosopher."

Kalashire laughed. "From the school of dung. Half his students are beetles."

Mina picked up a spare walking stick and began prodding at Kalashire without turning his head. "Better than yours: a school of hot air, since that's all that's in your head."

Kalashire irritably dodged. "You're one to talk."

"I'd prefer air over dung," Harmine remarked, "but together I'd chose to make companions with a scorpion."

That made then both laugh.

"Surely we aren't that bad a pair!"

"I can hardly say, as a new friend." Harmine tilted his head. "You are the better judges, I can only extrapolate from what you say yourselves."

"Quit being a braggart, Min." Dauid said.

"Will you report me to our Abouna, Dauid?"

"What are friends for, if not keeping each other in account?"

"Fine group of comedians we've gathered here." Nahroou shook his head.

"You act as though we have something better to talk about."

Dauid spoke up again. "The unicorns."

That did effectively halt the prior conversation.

"All unicorns are male, you know." Mina said.

"Nonsense. How do they make more of themselves?"

"Perhaps they pop out of the ground, like plants." Kalashire said with no small sarcasm. It covered the racing of his heart, suddenly remembering a sight he'd seen while visiting the Therapeutae village.

"And what plants them?"

"Demons, obviously."

Harmine tapped his fingers on the side of the cart. "Some churches actually consider the unicorns as symbols of Iesous."

"That's perverse." Nahroou said. "A unicorn is more like a Hromanios than anything else. Certainly as brutal, if the stories can be believed."

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

Mina and Holhol trotted off, looking for an inn. Mina had long decided to put him up while they were out; it was known unicorns were vicious, and would rip a horse to pieces if provoked.

Of course, the best thing to do was not to provoke a unicorn at all.

The town was larger than the one Kalashire had grown up in, and likely many of the villages around here came to it to buy and sell specialized goods. Narhoou looked to Kalashire as if he wanted to say something, but Harmine was scribbling out a merelles grid on the dirt, and cajoled them to set about finding suitable playing pieces.

The playing order was the same as their riding order- Harmine and Kalashire first. It seemed each of their close friends had determined it was best to put two tiring persons together so they could conserve their strength.

There were other people about; going about their normal lives, running errands, coming home from here, leaving home from there. It was not a distracting mass, not the way a true city could get, but Kalashire's attention could not leave them. To them, they could have looked like normal men, sitting in their traveling clothes just outside the town entrance. But the truth was, age and sex marked them out for why they had been traveling.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't win the game.

Dauid and Nahroou were in the middle of play when Mina returned.

Most of their gear had been left in the cart- they need more information before the hunt could begin, and there was no need to openly carry around things that would make people nervous. Harmine had made that clear, though none felt otherwise. It was more reminder to the air around them, that they were on leave.

"According to the stable boy, someone ten houses that way," Mina gestured, "saw them yesterday."

"Them?"

"It seems there are two."

Dauid's head snapped up as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Two?"

Mina snorted. "Don't be afraid. There are still five of us. I managed to catch the butcher as he was about his business- we can go to him once we're done without cutting through town and he'll handle cutting the horn, separating the hide, and the rest."

Nahroou looked at Dauid. "You go with him. Make sure he asks the right questions."

Mina huffed, but only turned, expecting Dauid to follow. Harmine's brow furrowed, and he went along as well.

This left just Nahroou and Kalashire. Nahroou didn't turn his attention to Kalashire immediately. He gathered the stones they'd used been using as game pieces up, making a little pile of them.

"If you're burdened, it's better to relieve yourself quickly." Kalashire finally said, uncomfortable with the silence.

"I've known you a long time."

Kalashire inclined his head, still unsure of where this was headed.

"You've never mentioned siblings. Neither did your father."

Kalashire started to speak, but his mouth froze. That couldn't be right. Surely they'd said something once- yes, before now he'd only seen Nahroou when they traveled to buy special things, but surely his brother had come once?

Had things already been bad then?

"You don't have to tell me your family matters. It just made me realize… you've never told me anything about yourself by your own prompting."

Kalashire could feel the rough stitching of where his tunic had needed to be repaired where it pressed tight against his skin, and the cloying heat from wearing his thoracomacus and cloak, but he felt naked.

It was often said of Nahroou- he had a long and exacting memory.

"I've never thought of it." Kalashire said honestly, and immediately realized that was worse. It had taken him no effort to keep his life in shadow from a close friend.

Nahroou, to his credit, took it like a duck took rain. "I know. You meant nothing by it." He opened his mouth once more, but closed it before starting again. "Last chance to back out."

Kalashire smiled, mask re-donned. "And leave it four to two? That'd be cruel."

"It's dangerous."

"We're all used to that by now."

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

According to the girl they'd spoken to, she'd been out delivering some sheep a distant neighbor had bought when she saw the two glowering at her a stones throw from the edge of the green along the bank. She'd done them the favor of describing the area, and thought it was about two hours away from her house.

According to Harmine, when Mina had questioned the wisdom of sending a girl on such an errand, she'd kicked him in the leg hard enough that he fell over.

"Damable girl." Was all Mina could say about the matter.

Kalashire and Nahroou had already gone and gathered their gear. There was the real purpose of the "walking sticks"; all of them had several spear tips in their gear. In fact, Dauid only carried speartips and a knife, no sword. The weapons were disassembled temporarily so as not to alarm anyone, but could easily be put back together. Some additional nails and a piece of wood, and a crossbar could be fashioned. It was a similar logic to what they'd heard of boar hunting.

Dauid got the honor of carrying the gear.

"I'd feel better if we were doing this with dogs." Harmine admitted.

"If you were anyone here, you wouldn't risk a good dog on some strangers." Nahroou had the rest of the gear.

"And they'd do all the work." Mina snorted.

"Oh, so that's why you're so eager for this."

"Of course. Why did you agree to come along?"

"To keep you from getting killed." Nahroou said.

"And the parts fetch a good price." Kalashire admitted.

Dauid hummed in agreement, and Harmine shrugged. Mina looked at them and shook his head. "No sense of sport…"

"I'm sure you enjoy drinking poison in your leisure time as well."

"I water my wine plenty. You, however…"

Kalashire kicked him in the leg, making Mina swear. "Nahroou, I think Kalashire wants you to fail in your goals."

"I'm playing. If I wasn't, I'd have knocked you down just like that girl did."

Mina rubbed his leg, now limping. "Knock me down after the hunt."

"Yes, reftosh. Shall I fetch you refreshments afterwards as well?"

"You might as well, it's the friendly thing." Mina promptly dodged as Kalashire swiped at him.

"Stop it, you two." Nahroou scolded. "This is serious business. Besides, for all we know we're walking faster than that girl was- it's better to be quiet and alert so we don't get surprised."

Kalashire thought to himself that the girl had only mentioned them looking at her, so how dangerous a surprise would be was in question, but Nahroou had a point. It wasn't really worth arguing.

Were unicorns intelligent? Would they know their aim by looking at them? Kalashire assumed them to be much like horses or some other four legged beast, but what did he know? All any of them had were stories.

He looked to Mina, casual as ever. If none of them had agreed to come, he would likely have given up.

As if he were of the same mind, Dauid spoke up. "Do we need to do this?"

"Mm?" Kalashire said, quietly encouraging him.

"Money is nice, but I'll live without it. So far, they haven't been causing any trouble- no senseless gorings, or destroying property. I don't need to be praised either, I know my skill and bravery well enough."

"If you wish to leave and wait for us at the inn, you're free to do so." Mina said.

Dauid said nothing more, and neither did Kalashire. 

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

They'd stopped not long before the spot the sighting was reported at, having indeed made it there sooner than two hours. To no one's surprise, the beasts weren't still there, though signs they had been were.

Nahroou and Mina went forward to scout and track, as they were the most quiet and least nervous, respectively.

Kalashire, Dauid, and Harmine had set about reassembling the spears. The plan was not to immediately engage the animals, but to see where they were and any obstacles, return and discuss any issues. That said, they both brought their swords with them: unlike Kalashire's single edged semi-spatha, they each carried a gladius.

The matter of their armor wasn't much of an issue. They each had donned a leather thoracomaci and pteryges before even entering the town, and some covering to wear on the road over top. All had had bad experiences with Hromanios soldiers in the past, and while the heat was wretched, they'd rather take the heat than walk brazenly as those men had.

Kalashire discarded his casula, finally too sick of the heat to bear it anymore. They were out of the way of most people, and frightening someone by the sight of his armor was the last concern any of them would have if someone wandered into their hunt.

Dauid readily discarded his lotix as well, before going back to hammering a nail through the wooden crossbar on Mina's spear.

"Do you think our reftosh will scold us if he notices we put a nail through these?" Kalashire asked aloud.

"If he does, I'll remind him he didn't pay for them." Dauid picked it up and examined it closely.

"And I won't be joining you in whatever punishment he gives you." Harmine remarked.

"How cruel. And I thought we were almost like brothers to each other."

Harmine elbowed him. Kalashire was sure he'd only imagined Harmine giving him a look. He hadn't given any inclination of his… affliction. There was no reason to give him a look.

Kalashire settled for double checking his work, and triple checking it. There wasn't a flaw to be found; not one that could be fixed, at least.

Mina and Nahroou were back within an hour of them finishing the work.

"Well?" Dauid asked them.

"We saw two of them, like the girl said." Mina said, stripping off his kaihmic. "They didn't notice us. It's a fairly flat area, no trees. A few large rocks. They're fairly docile now, but on alert."

Dauid hummed. "Not that much cover, then."

"No. Some plants, but none higher than the knee. I expect they might move soon." Nahroou agreed. "You and Harmine have throwing spears, yes?"

"Yes, we do."

"You two and I will be up first: we'll wound, and attempt to kill the two of them. If they don't die, it's Mina and Kalashire, since they know how to use thrusting spears."

"Lucky us." Kalashire muttered.

Mina clapped him on the shoulder. "Really, you shouldn't be so gloomy. It's not like you."

Kalashire give him a look through the mask that he hoped conveyed some flippancy, before standing and taking his weapon and cloak in hand. "Let's be off then, unless there's something else we should know."

The walk was tense. Nothing interrupted them. Kalashire strained his ears, trying to ensure they all kept quiet. The sound of insects only added to his anxiety, somehow.

Mina and Nahroou led, and the latter abruptly held up an arm. He indicated they drop lower to the ground.

They did, placing their cloaks on the ground as well and splitting up to take advantage of the two noted rocks.

Kalashire peeked out.

They were great and terrible things. The body was like that of an oryx, though more dense and powerful. They were larger, overall, with long legs, a hide in red and black, with a stripe of white down the spine. And of course, at the top of their heads was a black horn, on either side covered with spines, giving it a serrated shape.

There was still a good distance between them and the beasts. Kalashire looked to Nahroou, raising his eyebrows. Would he be able to hit either of them from here? Kalashire wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to run to meet them without being outstripped himself.

Nahroou was determined, face set. If he was to turn back, he would have done it earlier that day.

The three of them took aim. They were not lucky enough to kill immediately, though the arc of the three spears as they sailed through the air was certainly impressive.

Puzzlingly, neither of the beasts took flight, instead tossing their heads with full indication they were ready for violence. It was a half mercy that one of then was injured in the flank, making running a chore.

Kalashire readied himself to rush out, but froze upon hearing two small sounds.

No, Kalashire had not seen a unicorn before, and yes, he only had stories, but he was a man who had grown up around a great deal of animals, and knew the call of a yearling beast when he heard it.

Mina had heard too, but paid little mind. After a moment of hesitation, Kalashire joined him, heartbeat loud in his ears.

It was too late to change tack now.

Kalashire was too tense to think, only running and keeping his hands steady. The tip went into its shoulder, and at the same time the animal's leg failed it.

As it fell, it knocked into Kalashire, hard. They both went down, and he scrambled for his blade, putting the edge to its flesh as quickly as he could. His other hand blindly sought a grip, in an effort to hold the head still. He caught the ear at the base, and held fast even as the combination of earth and animal knocked the air from his chest.

He and the beast were still for a moment, both weakened.

Kalashire's grip tightened on its ear, some of his panic replaced by a deep, wretched sorrow. They had only been trying to protect the two young ones.

The creatures dark eyes settled on him, wet, ragged breaths ravaged enough to feel on his thighs through the flaps of his armor and his tunic. It knew it was to die, it knew they were all to die, and it hated him for it. It was an animal, he realized, that had spent much of its life in a cage. Unicorns were never captured once fully grown. Death was better.

Kalashire's eyes stayed locked with it as he pressed the sword edge to its throat, and pulled a good, quick cut across it.

As the blood welled forth, he realized he hadn't given much consideration to this part, assuming distance, or that he'd be in more control. A spare spurt of it hit his lip; nothing from his waist down was spared from the gush of red.

He could not help but remember the weight of his father in his arms on that terrible night a few months prior, blood smearing over his clothes then too. Kalashire had the mad thought that if he was going to spend so much time bloody, it might be better to walk around naked.

He didn't know how long he sat there, legs pinned under the mass of the thing. He couldn't stand those eyes, accusing him even in death.

A butterfly alighted on the corpse, seeking out the tacky blood smeared all over it. Kalashire reached to touch it, but it naturally fluttered away.

Finally, Kalashire felt hands grab at him, and it startled him out of the state he'd found himself in. He wiggled out of the grip. "What am I, a child? Push the thing off me if you want to help."

Nahroou appeared at his side, hands up. "Ease yourself. You looked like you were elsewhere."

"Well, I'm not, you heretic." Kalashire snapped, squirming out from under the corpse at last.

Nahroou's eyes narrowed, and he held his hand in front of his face as the extent of the gore smeared over Kalashire was made evident. "Mina went back to town to get the cart for transporting the bodies." He said, voice muffled.

"I'm going to find my cloak." Kalashire muttered.

He shook his head, trying to steady himself. He looked around for Dauid and Harmine, and wished he hadn't. They were busying themselves with the two yearlings- not dead, not yet, but it wasn't a sight Kalashire found pleasant.

His cloak was exactly where he'd dropped it. The others had already been retrieved. He picked it up and stared down at it.It was still hot.

He didn't want to cover up, truthfully. He wanted to be naked, if anything.

It wasn't that he'd never killed before. He was a soldier. He was a farmer's son. He had. This time simply... struck him. That happened sometimes, surely?

He looked to the river, several meters away, shook his head, and began walking back.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

Mina, wise for once, had managed to find some ratty lengths of fabric for wrapping the bodies in. None of them were keen to sacrifice their cloaks, and Kalashire imagined their owners hadn't minded temporarily parting with them upon hearing what's blood they'd be stained with. He'd also brought water, rope, and fresh clothes.

As he slumped against the wall of the cart to rest, Kalashire wondered, quite seriously, how more unicorns came to be if it was that they were all male. Did they just appear? Did two older ones appoint themselves as parents? Was it two, or simply collective responsibility?

Some of the rope was for the yearlings. They had no horn, and at first might be mistaken for a more common animal from a far away land. It was quick work to bind them to the cart, so they would walk behind. They would sort out what to do with them later. Kalashire had a suspicion as to what was in Mina's head about the matter, but knew whatever it was, he could not be dissuaded.

Mina took the cloth from the cart, handing it to Nahroou. He approached the body of the one Kalashire had not had to kill with rope he had slung over his shoulder.

Kalashire felt frozen in place as several things happened in rapid succession.

First, the loose soil by its nostrils was stirred- it'd been being stirred the entire time, but the movement was so small and subtle he had not noticed it.

Second, Mina had not noticed it either, and was well within the reach of its horn.

Third, that horn slashed through the air, catching Mina hard on the arm. He was knocked back, blood rushing forth as he swore, hand clapping over the wound.

It's head fell back to the ground, a few heavy ragged breaths still in it, before the earth stilled entirely.

Mina breathed through his teeth. After a moment of Mina steeling himself, Nahroou was at his side, having torn off a strip of fabric. He wrapped it around his arm.

Kalashire started to move towards him, a moment too late, and was waved off. The two of them bound it's legs and began dragging it towards the cart.

Kalashire was useful enough to at least help them lift it up into the bed, and again for the second one. Nahroou set about covering the bodies. Dauid handed him a skin of washing water, and poured some of it over each of his own hands.

Kalashire looked at the puddled water, and wiped at his lip, which still had blood on it. Brow furrowed, he wiped again.Soon, he was madly scrubbing at it; in his reflection, the shape remained.

His blade was stained as well, he realized. He'd thought some dirtier water was simply clinging to it, but a flick confirmed the blade was dry. It wasn't as though blood remained; the grey glint was simply now marked with streaks of orange on its edge.

He turned to his companions, still rubbing at it. They were taking care of the blood as well. None of them bore a stain.

Kalashire knew already that when he got a proper bath tonight, he'd find his legs not simply bruised, but stained as well. Mina's scar would be one he bragged about. Kalashire wasn't sure what others would say looking at him.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

Further notes:

This story plays with the older idea of unicorns are horrifying and dangerous. There are plenty of positive associations with unicorns as well in Coptic culture; in my experience they are in fact, more common. For more about monstrous unicorns: https://www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/2019/04/26/jesus-and-the-unicorn-easter-and-the-harrowing-of-hell-in-coptic-magic/

If you're curious about the deal with Onhet, he's a Manichean, which was/is sort of a Christian sect considered heretical and sort of not, especially later on; early Manicheans often considered themselves Christians, but after a certain point they stopped doing so.

Kalashire's sword has a special significance; it's based on a depiction of The Massacre of the Innocents from Abu Hennis. It's basically a rectangular blade with a right triangle cut out of the tip; similar blades were found at the Ballana graveyard in Nubia.

"Kaihmic" is not an extant Coptic word, it's from the words for sheath and mantle to describe a type of fitted coat of Persian origin found in Coptic graves. The evidence for this is a little later than the setting, but I'm not above a little fudging.

Apologies for any inaccuracies with the details of spear hunting, but in my defense neither I nor any of these characters have gone spear hunting before.

[poptod]

i don’t usually talk about my private life unless it interferes with my writing or maybe inspires it, but i wanted to share something with you all. i talk a lot—because i want you to understand—so i will put this under a read more

well, it’s been a tumultuous two or so years since moving with my parents to this beach town in CA. some very good, some incredibly bad. and… it’s coming to an end. it’s a very complicated story and i suppose i don’t really want to share all the details, but i think i will share the big parts

like most people i have a complicated relationship with my parents. they are very kind but they also have done some irreparable damage to my psyche, like a lot of parents do. and maybe irreparable is the wrong word because i do forgive them, but regardless i will be moving out of this home without their knowledge.

i tried to do it once and i got caught. who i thought was my best friend decided to tell my parents and i got yelled at and berated for weeks, and my dreams crushed. i was going to go to egypt. i was going to go with my partner, my soul partner, who lived in another country. don’t worry, i met her in real life first while i was traveling. but.. i was going to go to egypt! the land of my Deities! my beautiful Gods Nefertem and Nuit, Hapy, Heka, Khonsu, and Amun… all of Them. Their beautiful faces. carved in the stone of Kemet. my parents never would have let me go but i was ready, i was willing, i would give up anything i own to be there in egypt with my Gods and my love. and then my friend, who was living in my room since he didn’t want to live with his parents, told my secret and nearly had my passport taken away permanently. he left my house and i can’t talk to him anymore because i won’t. can’t stand his words or his voice. but i forgive him.. i just don’t want to communicate with him anymore. i wish him the best.

i travelled to my ancestral homeland of korea after the separation and heartbreak. i visited many Buddhist temples and learned and engrained myself more with the act of worship and the Buddhas teachings; i fell in love with worshipping. i fell in love with the temples. and i revisited the ideas i’d learned in the sixth grade—idea of giving things up. of releasing material want, which leads to the cessation of dukkha. the idea is beautiful. and i think it’s accurate. stopping our desires for material things of this world will stop our suffering; suffering emanates from our greed. fear emanates from greed. in the end what matters is our connections to people, and in this case, my connection to my Love and my Deities. in korea, i found the knowledge, independence, and courage that has allowed me to bring to realization what i want not from this world, but from my life.

and now i’m trying again. i’m telling no one of my plan. actually, two people know—one is my closest friend of eight years who lives five hours north of me. another is someone i vetted thoroughly to confirm his ideology and make sure he wouldn’t tell my parents. and actually, he supports me! he almost admires my decision, the courage to get what you want despite the odds. and he is helping me. he’s a blessing from Hathor, an aid of Khonsu to help me travel to the airport to see my Love and my holy land.

there is no greater excitement than this! i will be able to feel the Nile through my feet and hands and hair. and the light of Amun-Re and Khons will shine on my face. and my love will hold my hand. does it seem like a fantasy? well, the world is love, the world is hate… the world is what you make of it. i know people who have easy lives and are incredibly depressed. and there is my Love, who has had an incredibly hard life and will talk much about it, but she is incredibly happy. she is enlightened. i want to be like her—i want to be with her.

do i sound insane? probably. but i’ve learned being crazy is a good thing. especially for writers. i don’t know how many more stories i will write about our beloved Ahkmenrah. i still have the Breeding Kings to finish as well as the Night Grows Dim. then i have a story i want to write about Nabataeans, and i might write a long forgotten story i used to call Hiding in the Light. i hope i will get published some day but it’s not my greatest desire. my greatest desire is to see the world with unending clarity, to know things as they truly are; in other words, to be enlightened. to worship my Deities. this is my path towards that.

to put it in perspective, i have two paths. literally two. i can follow what my parents ask of me; go to college, get a job, work for a long while, and then i can travel when i happen to get free time once a year for one or two weeks at a time. i can settle down in america without my Love; she is already a refugee in israel and can’t move to america. so i would be alone. this path has its good parts. my parents will love me, so will my grandparents. i’ll be well-off with many physical belongings tying me to this realm (which is debatably good thing—bad thing in my eyes), and i will be a normal person. how delightful.

the other path is the one i am choosing. i am going to follow my dreams, which is a terrifying thing to hear a 19 year old say. but i didn’t even think i’d live this long. i’ve healed so much. and this will further my healing. i wonder if it is possible for you to understand… maybe not. it’s difficult to comprehend. but i want you to know. i want you to understand. and it’s not because i want you to know what’s going on (though i do of course), actually it’s selfish, because i want to be understood, very desperately i want to be understood because no one except my friend who is driving me to the airport understands me. and even he is a little on the edge with it despite fully supporting me. this feeling of desire to be understood fades slowly from my life, little by little. i come to realize—or perhaps question—is it worth it? most people are incredibly close minded. most people live their lives blind to happiness and the truth of the world. most people do not even care about themselves. and i do not want to end up like that. that is not the future i’ve worked so hard to heal myself for.

everything will go. and all will change.

someday i will die. someday my love will die. someday all my possessions will be dust. someday this land will erupt in lava or sink into the crevices of earthquakes, or maybe it will slowly fade into the ocean. someday this earth will be unrecognizable. someday, our home will not seem like our home at all, and the only indication that we ever existed will be stones in the shape of our skeletons, and maybe even those will not exist. and someday the earth will be gone. our sun will implode, and the black love of space will enshroud everything. at that point, i really don’t want to be walking around talking about how i went to college. i don’t even want to be talking about how i managed to run away from america and go to egypt.

i want to be learned. i want to see it all in its beauty as the earth dies in its many wondrous colors—i want to smile as the sun evaporates into particles of gold, i want to understand this cycle and it’s end. and the way to get here—to this sense of bliss and enlightenment—is to separate from what the modern world wants me to be.

listen to me very well, because no one ever really does this—you have to live.

please live. this word carries weight like love; which means that not many understand it’s depth. you know it’s definition. but the meaning of it is indescribable and beautiful like a supernova the size of a galaxy.

You have to love. You have to live. Please.

[shadowcetra]

Who is Eden?

This page is under construction, the story needs revamping. Forgive me for such a long wait for the change. I hope to get the backstory and information rewritten soon.

Triggar warning: The  backstory contains parental death.

Name: Eden Inbar

Many of the characters in the Final Fantasy Universe have unique names (such as Yazoo, Rude, and Cloud); I wanted to try to stick to that.  Her father gave her the name Eden, in hopes she would be as beautiful and bountiful in blessings, but he had no intentions in her falling into sin like those within the Garden. Eden is to represent the Garden of Eden in that sense. As the story progresses, Eden gradually becomes corrupted with the jealousy and the frustration in her struggle with her heritage and identity, she betrays the Planet and what she holds dear, thus resulting in her losing that spiritual light.

 Not only she represents the fall of Eden, but her story is to illustrate Judas Iscariot, the disciple who committed betrayal out of greed. Ultimately, her story is to reveal that even the most faithful can fall. However, her story is to also show the radical power of forgiveness, how it can revive the dead spirit.

The last name, Inbar, means ���Amber” in Hebrew. The amber eyes are a major characteristic of Eden. They are supposed to be inherited from her Cetran roots. From what I gathered, Ancients are known to have earthy traits; an example being Aerith’s green eyes and brown hair. Eden is given amber eyes not only because it is an earthy color, but it also represents her darker motivations. Amber is the color of sap that bleeds from wounded trees; when Eden betrays the Planet, she hurts all that is connected with it such as the people, animals, plants, and trees.Their blood stains her conscience.

Race: Cetra/Cosmo Canyon Native

Appearance: Eden stands about 5’ 3’’, and has medium tan skin from her mother and father. She is also considered underweight due to her subpar hunting skills. She is not always successful in catching food; and with the gritty, bleak world Final Fantasy VII is set in, many of the population were poor and couldn’t always afford necessities. Eden is one of those who struggle greatly.

She also has various scars from her hunts and battles. Three claw marks are seen on her left collarbone; three huge, jagged scars rip over her left rib cage and reach down her side. She also has scars from a bite wound on her right arm.

I based her appearance loosely on the Egyptian and Middle Eastern backgrounds. She bears the tattoos around her eyes and on her cheeks that are iconic of Egyptian relics, and wears three piercings on both ears (a golden ring, silver stud, and silver ring), the ivory fang gauge is seen only on her left ear. Two thin, silver lip rings are on her bottom lip.

There is also a tattoo on her left wrist, hidden beneath her arm covering. It is a small sun symbol with two eagle feathers. It’s to honor her late mother.

Each of the eight thin braids, each braid held together by a gold band. Her bangs are long, angled, messy, and jagged.

The choker she wears around her neck is hemp braided with a gun-metal, swirled tribal pendant that loosely resembles a beast’s paw. The dark satchel strapped to her hip often carries sleep materia and other small items she can manage to stuff in. She also has hazel eyes, to give an indication of her connection to the Planet. She also wears baggy, acid-stained jeans and furry boots.

From what I gathered from Cetra (Ancients) depicted from the Temple, they resonate with an appearance of those from Egypt and the surrounding area. I am aware that Aerith does not look as exotic (light skin tone, no eye markings) but I wanted to try to reflect what the Cetra ancestors may have looked, or intended to look.

Personality: Eden can be cunning, and she relies on this trait when facing a troubling situation; often choosing to stick to the shadows and tricks rather than facing someone head-on. Eden can’t stand the thought of losing control and is known to fight viciously and dirty when cornered. Preferring to be quiet and simply observe, she struggles with social interactions, especially first time meetings. She is paranoid towards others, thus she doesn’t trust easily. The woman is also victim to envy, as she can become very jealous towards those who are more skilled or more blessed than she is. She broods quietly instead of talking about her problems; and can seem dishonest, selfish, and stubborn.

However, towards those who grow close to her heart, she becomes protective and does her best to be dependable. The Ancient becomes more playful to those she loves and often becomes touchy-feely with them. She is rather insecure, due to her fear of the LifeStream and belief that she is cursed, and often looks towards intimacy as a means to help combat with her insecurities.

Parents:

Her father’s name is Cassiel, which is the name of the archangel of tears and solitude in the Kabbalah. He is an Ancient, and because of his heritage, he questions and fears of what the voices will do to him. Because of his fear, He tries not to get involved with the Planet’s troubles, despite the Planet’s urgings for him to act.

Her mother’s name is Nizhoni, which I found means “Beautiful” in Navajo. She is a Cosmo Canyon native, and a passionate supporter of AVALANCHE and the Planet. She tries to give as much as she can to support their cause.

Past:  A dull thud struck the floor, followed by a tired breath as the disturbed red dust hung around the large, burlap sack. The older man stopped from stocking one of the shelves and turned his head, dark eyes gleaming to see the young woman standing before him. “Nizhoni,” he greeted, taking his small glasses off and wiping the lenses with a worn cloth hanging from his pocket. “It’s good to see you. I hope you’re well.” The woman nodded, “it’s good to see you too. I brought some dried meat and furs for the courier to take to Midgar, hopefully they’ll find some use for them.” The woman was about to reach down for the sack as she continued. “Maybe they can sell the furs for some gil. Cassiel managed to take down some really—“ “Nizhoni,” the man interjected, stepping towards her and taking a gentle hold on her should to stop her from leaning over. “You know you shouldn’t be travelling so far and wearing yourself out like this. Not in your condition.”

        Nizhoni let out a sigh, placing her hand on her full abdomen. “Cassiel already gets onto me about this. I’m a grown woman,” she replied, trying to not let her annoyance show. “I’m fine, the baby’s fine.” The shopkeeper gave an apologetic smile. “I understand, but you look like you hadn’t slept in a while.” His smile faded slightly as he caught sight of the dark circles under her eyes. “These trips are hard on you as it is, and with the baby on the way…” Nizhoni shook her dark messy bangs from her face; an intense light gleamed in her eyes. “This is something I want to do, feel called to do. AVALANCHE is struggling as it is, the least I can do is offer supplies. Besides, this may be my last trip, until the baby is born.”

     The man nodded, bending down to pull the bag up. “I understand,” he repeated; Nizhoni was a headstrong woman, and from he learned in times before, there was no winning an argument with her. “I will make sure these will get to them.” He shuffled towards the counter, pausing to turn back towards her. “Please Nizhoni, just…just take care of yourself, all right?” She gave a slight nod, “I will. I haven’t died yet, have I?” The woman gave him a forced smile before turning towards the door. “Thank you, I really hope that will help them.” With that, she stepped out into the sun-soaked village.

       For another hour, she rode across the crimson earth, dark eyes focused on the familiar path before her. The chocobo that carried her over the sloping rock, her hands tugged at the reins to halt the bird. The chocobo let out a complaint, shaking its pale yellow head.   Her eyes fell on the small adobe house nestled behind the ridge. She sighed, thankful to finally be home. She pulled on the reins slightly once more, signaling for the bird to step down the rocky path towards the house. As she approached the house, a young man stepped out. His large, calloused hand slipped underneath his long chestnut brown hair, rubbing the back of his neck. His honey-hued eyes glanced up to see the smoky black-haired woman riding towards him. He sighed, a weary worrisome look upon his face. He should have known she would go off, he had known since he first opened his eyes to see her side of the bed empty.

      Nizhoni smiled towards him, but it soon faded as she looked into his face. She turned the chocobo towards the hitching post beside the front window, slipping off the bird. “Was wondering why the bed was so cold.” The male Cetra started, stepping closer. “Oh, you just got up?” Nizhoni teased back, tying the lead on the hitch post onto the chocobo’s halter, letting it eat the freshly picked vegetables from its trough.

        “Didn’t get to come back until really late at night, tracking griffins is near to impossible.” He reached over to slip off the bags off the chocobo’s back. “Which brings me to the question…”  Nizhoni sighed, here it comes… “Why were you running around in the canyon so early in the morning? You know how dangerous it is before sunrise.”  The woman looked towards him, putting her hands on her hips. “You don’t think I can take care of myself,” she asked, already feeling weary with her husband worrying over her. “Of course I do,” Cassiel smiled weakly. “It’s just with a baby on the way, I don’t want you to put yourself under so much stress.” He closed his eyes for a moment, almost afraid to know the answer to his next question. “You’ve gone back to give supplies to AVALANCHE again, haven’t you?”

       Nizhoni’s eyes never left his face. “And what if I have?”  A heavy breath escaped from Cassiel’s broad chest, his hand rubbing his face. “Nizhoni, you know the trip over puts a lot of stress on you. The doctor warned you about this. Besides,” he opened his eyes, but kept his focus on the earth. “AVALANCHE is not our concern.” The woman narrowed her eyes to hear such words. “Not a concern? Cassiel, it has everything to do with us! With the Planet! They’re our only hope of saving it from ShinRa’s destruction and—“ “It’s not our fight,” Cassiel spoke, his tone cold. She stared at him, her hands clenched into fists. “Listen to yourself,” she snapped, “If anyone’s, it’s your fight Cassiel! You hear them, those voices! You keep saying they cry out to you. The Planet needs you to—“

       “Enough,” the Ancient roared, his eyes glaring at his wife. She didn’t take a step back, her eyes remained locked defiantly on his. Cassiel hung his head, turning from her to look up at the horizon. “Those voices have also been the ones that killed my people. I can’t trust them.” His eyes grew vacant, “you know I can’t.” “You don’t know that,” Nizhoni urged. “If you just have faith and listen.”  “No,” Cassiel grunted, “I won’t stand here and listen to my loved one speak for those demons.” The Ancient turned his head back towards Nizhoni who bore a glimmer of sorrow in her eyes. “Come on, you need to kick back and rest,” he said, turning back towards the house. Nizhoni watched as he stepped into the house, before looking towards the painted canyon. “Gaia, help us.” The words slipped beneath her breath as she pressed her hand onto her stomach. She stared for a moment longer before following after Cassiel. Rest sounded wonderful to her at that point.

        The several months passed like grains of sand; on a cool, still night, the young couple rushed into Cosmo Canyon’s Inn. The tense air broke with the quaking sobs and pained cries of the woman as she writhed in her bed, her husband and a midwife at her side. Cassiel’s calloused fingers gently caressed the stray strands of her hair that stuck upon her sweat drenched face. Nizhoni let out another cry, tears squeezing free from her tightly shut eyes. “Just relax,” the male Ancient murmured, pressing his head against hers, mind frantically searching for a better way to console her as her quivering hand tightly gripped his. “You’re doing well, Mrs. Inbar,” encouraged the midwife as she made preparations for the birth.  “I just need you to keep taking deep breaths and push for me.” The struggle felt like ages for the three in the room; finally, Nizhoni’s cries suddenly fell into a ragged breath, and the feeble cries rose. Cassiel’s lifted his head slowly, eyes gleaming bright with tears. Never did he believe such a thing could ever happen to them… “It’s a girl!” The midwife announced, excitement brimming in her voice as she took the baby into clean thick cloths. “A girl…” the man repeated, tears streaming down his weary face. “A beautiful girl.”

        He turned his eyes towards Nizhoni, who lay still on the bed, eyes closed. “Did you hear that, love? We brought new life to this world. A girl.” He gently shook her, but the exhausted woman never opened her eyes. “Nizhoni, did you hear me? Our new daughter, Eden, open your eyes and see her.” His eyes widened slightly, worry soon began to thread into his confusion. “Nizhoni?” Glowing orbs formed over her body, sending him into a wild panic. “No! Nizhoni, no! Darling, please!” He shot to his feet, gripping onto her. The midwife held the baby in her arms, horror and tears apparent on her visage. “Oh Gaia…” She turned and threw the door open, crying in vain for help. “No, Nizhoni. Open your eyes… Open your eyes!” His voice rang out in desperation, his large frame trembling like a child. “You can’t let them take you! Nizhoni!” No matter how much he roared, the ghostly orbs continued to float away from the woman. He frantically tried to hold onto her body but within seconds, his panicked hands only gripped onto the sheets. He stared down at the empty bed, and then slowly sank to his knees. He buried his face into the side of the bed, the sheets twisted into his grip as his tears of joy became sobs of heartbreak.

       Two days went by after her passing, the Ancient stood by the window, his hazel eyes glazed as he stared out into the village. The midwife sat in the chair still at the bedside, examining the tiny infant in the bundled carrier “She seems to be getting stronger.” She commented, cradling the drowsy child. “Why did I let her keep giving supplies to this damned place? I should have known this would do something to her.” The older woman looked up as Cassiel’s voice growled, unable to catch all he said. “What?” The man narrowed his eyes, glaring towards the blazing sky. “Taking these trips to help those idiots fighting in Midgar, they wore her down, killed her!” The midwife looked up at him, before gently placing the baby back into the woven, basket-like cradle. “You don’t know that, Mr. Inbar,” she tried to gently reassure him. “These tragedies can happen without cause. I understand you’re in pain, but you have a young one to think about.” He looked back at the corner of his eye, allowing the silence sink in between them. “A young one…” He turned around; his eyes fell upon his sleeping child. “If she were to stay here, she’ll follow her mother’s dangerous path. She’s cursed already, with these damned voices.”

       The old woman stared at him, concern bright in her grayed eyes. “What do you mean?” He glanced towards her, but only for a moment, his wounded heart messily gathering his decision. “No, I won’t let her. Those demons killed my ancestors, took my wife away, they won’t have my child!” The midwife stumbled before him, placing herself between him and Eden. “I’m sorry, Mr. Inbar, but I can’t allow you to take her in the state you’re—“ The Ancient shoved her aside, causing the woman to stagger back towards the bed. Cassiel stepped towards the baby, gently sliding the carrier over him so the baby rested snug against his chest. He carefully supported her head and hurried off from the room. “Stop!” The midwife cried out, but he continued on, determined to save his daughter from the voices of the LifeStream and their manipulations. Surprised squawks rang out from the nearby stable before a chocobo burst from its stall, carrying the wayward Ancient and his child into the wilds.

-To be Continued-

[amidalashandmaidens]

I'm hoping this doesn't clog up and tags and stays away from x r£aders cause,, it isn't, anyways onto the MAIN thing: jot + eileen in 1991-2.

So, Eileen getting pregnant wasn't really the plan, they're both barely into their 20s, in school, still coping w/the aftermath of Egypt, etc.

But hey, Jolyne's born in 1992, + story happening so it goes.

I think both of their families are under the impression that there Has to be a wedding b/c they're having a kid together, and what's stopping them? They both love each other and have known each other for years.

The only thing Is... Well three things.

Eileen would rather be married after having the baby because she thinks it'd be cute to have the kid participate.

The timeline wouldn't be rushed on wedding prep.

And...she has issues.

Expanding on this:

Eileen's parents were never married, it was dating and then 'uh oh'. According to Eileen's mom, they did try to make it work.

Nobuko and Simon lived in Bordeaux up to when Eileen was born, then they moved to Japan so Nobuko would be closer to her family. She never really planned on living in France, it was supposed to be a vacation. During Eileen's first year they tried to make it work, but the kind of work raising a baby and trying to maintain a still relatively new relationship tested her parents. They resented each other, Simon wasn't ready to be a father and wasn't willing to put in the effort to try, there were a lot of arguments. Eventually, they made an arrangement and Simon returned to France. He would send gifts and letters intermittently, so he could be remotely involved in Eileen's life (cause he didn't hate his daughter). Nobuko thought he was a coward for this but it would've only been worse if he stayed.

Eileen wouldn't really know about the messy details of her parents' arrangement until she blew up at her mother about it before SDC. To Eileen, Simon was the cool dad who just couldn't be there and her mother was just bitter and selfish, and Nobuko would rather have Eileen have that opinion than thinking her father didn't really care all that much. That he was immature and couldn't commit (not the entire reason he left).

Up to this point Eileen would dream about living with her mother and father in France, where her mom wouldn't have to work so hard all the time, and Eileen wouldn't spend most of her time at home alone. Having that fantasy shattered, that her father had expressed to her mother that he didn't really want to commit to getting to know his daughter emotionally. Life would've likely been worse, the hypothetical but likely arguments (loud voices, throwing things), that she would have to play the mediator between them, etc. Really hurt.

So here's Eileen, 21, younger than her parents were when they happened to each other... She's scared.

✅It's not because she thinks Jotaro is at all like her father (I think I'll do a separate post for Joot's rxn).

✅They've known each other a total of 3 years as opposed to the months her parents knew each other.

❌ What if rushing into a marriage + having a baby somehow undoes this good?

She worries about resentment, about Jotaro finding some hypothetical flaw of hers that drives him away...so wouldn't it be better to take marriage out of the equation for now?

It sounds cold, that it would be easier to deal with the aftermath of a break up than a divorce. But it can be reduced to that logic.

Ultimately, Eileen and Jotaro end up getting married in 1996, but I think I'll have to get into the beef of what gets them to that point at.....not 3:33?

Wish minute fellas!

[thewickedbohemian]

And while the cultural-preservationist in me wants to find a way to make it good again so that subculture sticks around I'm not sure what would as even if she could be deradicalized (which my autistic brain says could perhaps happen through collective effort/help of fans who don't want to feel like their life was wasted to balance the scales) people would still hate her for the past and if a trans woman could buy the rights from her (whatever Warner Bros. doesn't already own I don't know how that shit works with adaptations) through a fan crowdfunding campaign people would hate the trans woman for giving her money

And even finding a different fandom with a sorting system like that that we could make a subculture around instead makes me afraid any potential candidates would be as problematic (e.g. Homestuck's got a whole separate mess going on I don't want to get into, people are criticizing Rick Riordan for everything from supposed Native stereotypes to inaccurate ADHD representation to "why didn't you set the Egyptian mythology series in Egypt with Egyptian characters", MtG's lore treats its queer representation weirdly etc. etc. and that's only stuff that's problematic-or-potentially-so now and not what could be down the line)

TL;DR I want things to be like they were but I don't know what could make them that way short of either A. JK being deradicalized, publicly renouncing her bigoted beliefs, taking back the money she donated and if not coming out as trans at least releasing a special new edition of the Harry Potter books where the most trans-codable-in-a-positive-way characters are actually trans or B. a completely-unproblematic fantasy book series still in progress with its own personality-type character sorting system we can form a new subculture around and help the author's beliefs keep with the times

What makes JKR's shitshow even harder to process is that she didn't just ruin a book series. Harry Potter was an entire subculture. Like Star Wars and Star Trek fans, Harry Potter fans dedicated their lives and careers to the series. I don't know if I'd call it "underground," but liking Harry Potter got you beaten up when I was in school, so it was more of a dedicated indie culture than a mass-appeal fanbase.

Harry Potter was so huge that fan works developed their own followings. Potter Puppet Pals racked up hundreds of thousands of followers and was nearly as relevant as the series itself. For fanfiction, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality got so big that it has a Wikipedia page. The band Harry and the Potters spawned the wizard rock music genre. A Very Potter Musical developed a fanbase and launched Darren Criss's career.

Harry Potter also has extensive ties to fandom history. Everyone in my generation (millennials) remembers coming home from school to read Harry Potter fanfiction on the Internet. Today, most people just post their stories on Wattpad or Archive of Our Own. But at the time, the fanbase was splintered between fanfiction.net and dozens of individual websites and forums, some made for specific ships. Since they all had individual hosts, a lot of those sites have been lost to time.

And there's the infamous My Immortal fanfiction, which is an Internet legend with people still searching for the author. Everybody read that one (and laughed at it) in middle school.

Pre-social media, fan sites like The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet had massive followings because they were one of few sources for news, theories, essays and fan content. Some of these sites still exist after being around for over a decade and building their own legacy.

Before Deathly Hallows came out, fans were so desperate to know what happened that Mugglenet published a book called What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End? Yep...Harry Potter was so big that people wrote separate books about what would happen in an upcoming book.

And that's not mentioning all the book release parties, Harry Potter-themed events, monuments, fan films, restaurants and even a theme park. A lot of fandoms have those, but Harry Potter infiltrated every aspect of popular culture.

Today, there's a thriving culture of "Harry Potter adults" with themed weddings, baby showers and Etsy stores. Putting your Hogwarts house in your Instagram bio is pretty much a prerequisite for joining the "bookish" community. Warner still produces new content, like the Fantastic Beasts series, although we've all seen what a disaster that's been.

Everyone has at least a few memories associated with Harry Potter even if it's just watching the movies. I had great memories associated with Harry Potter. But looking back at the subculture, history and thousands of fan works, it doesn't seem fun anymore. Studying the fandom or being part of it comes with an awkward tension because you don't want to seem like you're condoning JKR's bigotry but can't divorce her from the series. This subculture was spawned by a woman who turned her legacy of magic and wonder into one of abuse and hatred.

I don't expect people to write paragraphs about how much they hate JKR every time they post about Harry Potter, but it's still uncomfortable to see people make new content or wear their Harry Potter Etsy tote bags like nothing happened. Even if they clarify that they don't support her, it's just a weird, tense situation for everybody.

People dedicated years of their lives to running Harry Potter fan sites, writing fanfiction, cosplaying characters and making fan movies. If I were in that situation, I'd have a mild identity crisis. I'd ask myself "Did I waste all those years? Should I delete my content? Where do I go from here?"

So ultimately, JKR didn't ruin "just" a book series or even "just" a fandom. She tanked an entire culture, which inspired people to look at Harry Potter more critically. The issues that people brought to the light tainted the series's legacy even without JKR's personal issues.

Once, Harry Potter was a series for generations. Now, former fans hope that the series fades into irrelevancy. Unfortunately, JKR didn't just tarnish her legacy--she took decades of history, millions of fans and a worldwide subculture along with her.

[kuithesun]

[6/30, 12:43 PM] Kui.Sun🌞: I used to read Asterix and Obelix, with such joy, and bliss... Not realizing how this "fictitious" tale, was tied to my own, collective destiny...

Now I recently watch "Queen Cleopatra" on the Matrix that is Netflix, and I have resisted Cleopatra for my whole life, the MOST CELEBRATED PHARAOH, by the melanatedly-challenged; I regarded her with suspicion... I thought if she could be favoured among the colonizer, then she must'nt be an ally to the AfroUtopian Cause...

While this can easily be the assumption, it was definitely not due to any "fault" of Cleopatra... She was simply a "victim" of her own ambition, and the Royal Craving to evolve and expand one's borders...

She fell in love with the Idea of a Collaboration with Rome, even before she fell in love with Caesar, it was this idea, that brought her to be before this Roman Foreigner, on Kemetic Soils, it was that idea of trance.send.dance beyond what her for.bearers had achieved,.a need to re:new Kemetic Relevance in an ever-so-quickly changing political scape... The Introduction of the Democracy; a School of Thought, from the Roman Courts, and Cleopatra from a deeply Monarchial State wished to solidify her Land, and Crown, as the Wave of Change Sweeps by....

[6/30, 12:51 PM] Kui.Sun🌞: Now,.somehow back to Asterix and Obelix; who's Story was NOT actually fictitious, but about Indeginous Balkan States. Who not only had a Natural Physical Strength, but they had also master'd the Art of Magic; so much so that they were able to focus this into the Art of War.

This Indigenous Balkans, Vikings, Valhallas; (many names they go by), where the Main Focus of Roman Conquest; there was a few squabbles in the Roman Court, which lead Caesar's Opponent to flee to Kemet, and "force" Ceasar to reach Egypt too...

His plan was to take him back home, he stands trial, and is Exiled.

But, Cleopatra happened.

Having been ousted from her throne, her self, by her siblings, Cleopatra saw Ceasar's arrive in Egypt as an opportunity to build an alliance SO STRONG that here Queen.Ship, the Power of Kemet, will never be question'd again....

[6/30, 12:54 PM] Kui.Sun🌞: But, Ceasar dies.

In the Roman Court...

Where he has been ordained dictator, for life...

Some people fear his "supposed" thirst for Power, and his growing connection to the Kemetic Queen; who stood for an old, and foreign way of LeaderShip, which stood as a threat to Young, Patriarchal Rome.

[6/30, 1:11 PM] Kui.Sun🌞: Here is where Cleopatra's Idea for a Roman Alliance should have died too.... More than the Love of Ceasar, was the Fantasy of this Collaborative Governance ....

So, the Alliance grows into a Political Union with Marc.Antony, hardly the scholar or critical thinker that Ceasar was; things DO NOT go as planned...

When I speak to Cleo, today, my down.loads are all.ways that at this point, we as the Continent of Alkabolone, Ancient Africa, should have come together, the All.ready existing SuperPowers of Timbaktu, Mali, Kush, and The Great Zimbabwe... This is where Cleopatra "should" have turn her focus to...

Cause the perpetual poking of the Roman Bear, brought them to our shores, and with the Kemetic Borders compromised defending Roman Territories, the Pillaged, and Conquered the WHOLE CONTINENT, TILL TODAY.....

Cleopatra is a Key Figure, not only because she was the Last Pharaoh, but because she is the 1st of the dominoes to Fall in the Great Colonization of "Africa"....

She all.most called them here...

In a time when all they wanted was Asterix and Obelix to surrender....

They knew NOT the true wealth and abundance of Alkabolone; and if they did it was not of political interest to them...

Only Cleopatra fell,

So did Kemet.

Kemet being our 1st line of defense,

We were left exposed to a plague that still ravages our Lands,

To this day!

[2000 years later, Pharoah Cleopatra knows better!!!]

[Also of note; Cleopatra is not "famous" for being a "Female Pharaoh"... The role of Pharoah is a Dual Role, one who's roots are born I the Sacred Union of Osiris, and Isis, the founding-father-and-mother of Kemet. For they knew that to lead a Nation into GreatNess you need Divine Masculine Knowledge, and Divine Feminine Trance.formation, to create a Celestial Wisdom, that can stretch across time]...

[6/30, 1:14 PM] Kui.Sun🌞: Seen "Queen Cleopatra" on Netflix yet?

https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81230204?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=more&vlang=en&clip=81636983

[leviathanspain]

Hi! I also need to some ideas for a moon knight fic and here are some prompts I came up with.❤️

Reader is a single mom who brings their kid to the museum, Steven has a massive crush on her, he loves talking to your kid and getting to know you, always with this desperate love sick puppy dog look on his face, so you entertain him. Big mistake.

But then he starts forming an unhealthy obsession about her.

He dreams of this fantasy where your his adorable little housewife and he gets to spoil you and your child, and he’ll give you as many more as you want to!

He just needs to get rid of peoples getting in his way, namely your ex… but Marc is here to save you! He loves you guys just as much and won’t mind helping out!

( he could literally just be making up that your single and that your current husband is actually your ex. He could kidnap her or just infiltrate her life or you whatever else)

Good luck!!!!

adore you

warnings: this is a dark!fic so mentions of sex, unhealthy obsession, abuse, housewife!reader

stalker!steven grant x reader, marc spector x reader, jake lockley x reader

synopsis: your five year old son loves the museum and loves egypt, and the man behind the gift shop counter can’t keep his eyes off you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“mum!” your son shouted for you, his small hands reaching for the plush at the top shelf. he was on his toes, stretching out for the plush when rough hands grabbed the plush and gave it to him. you looked up to follow the hands and saw the gift shop worker, he looked oddly familiar but you came to the museum enough that you didn’t think much of it.

“teddy!” you grabbed your son by the shoulder and led him to the cash register, you bent down to his level and lightly scolded him, “don’t just walk away, you could get lost or worse!” teddy was too young to understand the concept of worse but his expression of fear was enough to satisfy you.

you grabbed the plush from his hands and gazed at it, “what is this?” it was a grey, fuzzy dog looking cat thing.

“it’s a sphinx.” teddy mumbled, reaching out for the sphinx.

“why is it grey?” you questioned and the man at the register cut in suddenly.

“it’s not supposed to be grey but the manufacturers don’t know egypt the way we do.” he looked at teddy who smiled brightly.

you peeked an eye at them before rummaging in your purse for your wallet. you grabbed the debit card from inside.

“theodore?” the man at the counter asked when he saw the debit card ran.

“im y/n.” you responded and hoped he could put two and two together.

steven couldn’t feel anything other than rage at the revelation. his beloved had a psycho ex! the psycho ex who abused her, used her and left her! he was furious, and when you pulled his card out, he nearly lost it! he was so controlling he wanted to monitor your purchases-

hey buddy, calm down. the voice in his head called out, and steven shoved marc back, leave me alone, you don’t understand..she needs me!

marc sighed in response. marc knew what you had going on. your husband was incredibly wealthy and so you spent your time raising your son, taking him to trips and places, and spending time in the park all day basically. he had observed you when steven had gone out on his stalker rampages. but you were married, and completely devoted to being a mother. you were a nice woman, even when you noticed steven behind your shoulder at the park, you chose to ignore him, ignore his glazed over gaze today at the museum when you were in the shop.

you walked out with teddy, holding his little hand in yours as you brushed off the weird feeling you were beginning to get. you and teddy stood outside the shop while you fished your phone out. steven watched you quietly and took note of how your dress was hugging your curves. he loved when you wore dresses. he imagined that you didn’t wear panties under the dress, waiting for anyone and everyone to fuck you and fill you up with their seed.

steven wanted that. he wanted to fill you up to the brim while you begged for him to give you another baby.

“can i take my break?” steven asked to no one in particular as he walked out of the shop, half dazed as he saw a black car pull up in front of you. steven stifled a scream as he saw you get in with your son.

“no!” he shouted, and watched the car speed off. steven had half a mind to chase after you, afraid of you being hurt. but his manager was already yelling for his return, and he obliged, knowing he could just go visit you from your window.

“..and so he was being friendly with teddy but you know how i feel about strangers talking to my kid. you can’t trust anyone these days..” you muttered to your husband as you sat with him on the bed. theodore, also called teddy, was a kind man whom you had been with for a few years. you loved him, and he loved you.

“i understand. are you sure though? that he isn’t just some nice worker? maybe he gets watched at his job?” your husband offered to help calm your suspicions but you shrugged, “you know how annoyed i got when old ladies would come and try to touch my belly. especially when people my age did it!” you grabbed lotion and warmed it in your hands before setting it on your limbs, “i’m not some carnival attraction for people.”

teddy nodded, “well. stop thinking so much and come to bed.” his tone was warm, and so you joined him, letting your head rest on his chest as he thought.

“what if you just stop going?” he asked, and you shook your head, “he’s your son. he’s stubborn as hell and will put up a fight.” teddy laughed and you joined him despite your anger.

teddy pulled back, “i’m going to get water. do you want some?” you nodded, and felt him leave. you leaned back on the pillows and gazed outside the gigantic windows of your bedroom and you closed your eyes and waited for your husband.

steven, you’re fucking crazy. marc cursed at steven who shrugged off the fact that what he was doing was wrong. i just want her to be safe! i need to know she’s safe from that maniac.

you’re the maniac! steven it’s not just you who’ll go to jail, it’s both of us! he screamed and steven was beginning a response until he saw a man coming up to your nightstand, setting a glass of water and going over to the other side and doing the same. steven huffed a breath of anger as he saw the man lie down next to you, and began to kiss your body.

“get the fuck off of her!” he yelled but he couldn’t hear him, and marc couldn’t hear your warning of steven.

you kissed your husband back, hands lightly grazing the stubble of his beard as he ran a hand down your waist and to your supple thighs. he tugged on your hair as he kissed your neck, fingers making their way into your panties, lightly grazing the fabric before pulling them off lightly. you began to moan as your husband touched you but you jumped when you heard the thumping of the front door. your building was supposed to have a doorman that wouldn’t let people come knocking at your door at 1 am. you got a sudden chill as you grabbed your husbands arm, “don’t go.” you begged.

you husband smiled, thinking that you were just needy, but again the door pulsed with anger of the knock. you sighed and watched your husband leave the bedroom.

you listened carefully to hear the stifle of your husbands words as a body thumped to the ground. your blood went cold as you stood up, body fighting to stay frozen before you tugged on your nightgown and began to run down to your sons bedroom.

the apartment was large so you hoped it would take whoever was doing this, long enough to not find you.

you had barely reached the front of your sons bedroom when you felt a sharp stab in your shoulder. you tumbled down to the floor as your head knocked on the vase and glass table, breaking them both and knocking you out.

you felt a cold hand patting your cheek, blinking, you looked up to find the man from the gift shop. you tried to scream but found a ball gag in your mouth. you tried to get up but found you ankles tied to the bedposts. you panicked and rattled the chains on your ankles and found your hands bound on either side of you.

“hi. im steven.” the man above you smiled down at you and you screamed in response.

what the fuck is wrong with you steven?! marc yelled, let her go! so she can put us away in a psych ward!

steven ignored marc’s voice and grabbed the ball gag and took it down to let you speak.

your terror was enough to render you speechless, “wha-why?”

steven shrugged, “your ex husband- he was attacking you. i needed to save you, my precious girl.” he cooed at the end and that’s when you realized who he was.

“marc?” you whispered as you gazed into the man’s eyes.

steven shook his head, anger crossing his features, “n-no- i just- im steven. my name is steven. marc isn’t here.”

you shook your head, “no. you’re marc spector. we went to highschool together-“ you laughed, “i knew i had a bad memory but-“ you had finished school in the states before you met your husband and moved to london. it’s been a long fifteen or so years since.

no way, marc echoed in his head, y/n! we were science partners in chemistry! marc fought steven and suddenly, the man above you pulled back, and the entire demeanor changed.

“let me go, marc..” you begged, tears on your face. “please- my son-“ you cried, “is this revenge for not going to prom with you?”

marc shook his head, memories flooding back to him, “no- i-“ marc found himself stuttering, words were getting harder to form as he fell back, leaning onto the dresser as a third alter, moved forward, past marc and steven.

he stepped up to your side and smiled down at you, finger trailed on your nightgown, pulling up to reveal your bare cunt, “both of them are too scared to do what i’ve been wanting to do.. ever since you rejected me from prom.” the tone of voice was enough to send you screaming, and you fought as the ball gag was placed back on your mouth.

[logicalstroopwafel]

Because this poll of popular LGBTQ books only seems to feature achillean books (through what I understand no particular fault of the author, they just picked the most popular books in a category), I decided to list some books with WLW relationships that I read over the last few years. Also because some people in the notes were asking for recommendations for sapphic books.

Not saying these are necessarily good books, or representative, just that I personally found them noteworthy. The order is mostly what order I remembered them in.

Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree

The seminal work in cozy fantasy, about a former adventurer opening a coffeeshop. Over time, she grows closer with one of her employees. There is also Bookshops & Bonedust, same author, which is a prequel. Focuses more on the adventure, but still considerable more cozy than most fantasy out there.

The priory of the orange tree, by Samantha Shannon

A fantasy epic with political intrigue, a potential apocalypse, and several queer relationships. In particular, two of the people at the heart of all the intrigue and saving the world get together, and an achillean man mourns his lover after years. It’s safe to say that queer relationships are quite intertwined with the rest of the plot. Also possibly worth the read for the worldbuilding alone. One of the nations is based upon the Seven United Netherlands, and I picked up on this on the first page of the book, almost purely based on linguistic clues. It’s quite wild to read a book where you just know how to pronounce made up names in clearly not fantasy English.

Also has a prequel called “A day of fallen night”, which I’m reading through at the moment. Similar to the first book, but with a sapphic relationship right from the start.

Plain English, by Rachel Spangler

Third book in a “series” of romance novels. This one focuses on the relationship between a person of noble birth, and a struggling artist trying to make it in the countryside of northern England. I think this one is particularly noteworthy because of its discussions of (gender) identity, gender roles, and how these things can interact. The relationship is also well written and the leads grow together over the course of the story.

A master of Djinn, by P. Djèli Clark

Alternate history/urban fantasy novels set in early twentieth century Egypt, several decades after the return of Djinn to the world. A woman working for the ministry of alchemy, enchantments, and supernatural entities has to solve a mysterious murder with the help of her new colleague, and her mysterious paramour. The worldbuilding is well done, as well as the main relationship.

Dreadnought, by April Daniels

First part of a series of YA series of books about a teenage transbian super hero. Can be quite heavy on the transphobia, but I think that’s handled well and quite realistic. Mostly deals with the main characters place in the world on account of her inherited powers. The main romantic relationship is written well, though mostly explored in book two, Sovereign. There is supposed be a third book in the series, but it hasn’t come out yet.

This is how you lose the time war, by Amal El-Mothar and Max Gladstone

Poetic sci-fi novel about two time travelling assassins/secret agents slowly falling in love with one another. The sci-fi sometimes felt more like set dressing to the relationship from time to time, but that might be because it’s very soft and not well explained. I think the strength in this book is more the presentation of the two characters communicating through secret letters.

Notes of a crocodile, by Qiu Miaojin

A story about being a queer women in 1980s Taiwan. And also undercover crocodiles. The author was insider by Murakami, and it shows. However she is better at writing women to be full characters than Murakami is, so I found it way easier to read.

Honourable mentions

Ill also take the time to recommend Becky Chambers. The main reason why she is not on the list is because I consider her more of a feminist sci-fi author than a queer one. However, all her books I’ve read explore different ways to love, different ways to build relationships and society, and two (“the long road to a small angry planet” and “record of a spaceborn few”) have main characters in sapphic relationships.

While “Detransition, baby” by Torrey Peters is a good book that centers women and their relationships, it’s much more about motherhood and familial relationships. Whether or not any of the (current) relationships are seen as sapphic is dependent upon how the reader interpret Ames. Similarly, “A lady for a Duke”, by Alexis Hall. While an interesting exploration of possibilities for queer nobility after the Napoleonic wars, the main romance is a straight romance between a cis man and a trans woman. Has some clearly lesbian side characters, but if you’re here for the sapphics, probably not worth it.

Anyway, that’s my selection. Feel free to also add your own so we can get more visibility for these books.

[yamayuandadu]

Do you know of any pop culture stuff that has an at least semi-accurate portrayal of Mesopotamian history?

Well, not quite popculture, I suppose, but there actually is a fair share of genuinely great Gilgamesh-based art, two examples I personally like are M. Żuławski's (left; you can find an exhibition catalogue here) and L. Zeman's (right; you can find more of these illustrations here, I believe they come from an adaptation aimed at children?). There are actually many others, these are just the two sets of illustrations I remember the best rn. I also think that trailer for an animated Gilgamesh movie from a few years ago looked fine, I really like the Siduri design apparently made for it too (she's not in the trailer though, I believe) - I think this is the first time I see a work of media acknowledge she's actually meant to be a goddess and not a random mortal woman like many people seem to assume, lol.

There is also Enrique Alcatena's comic Ziggurat which looks breathtaking but I was not able to read it (yet). It's obviously using art from more than one period as inspiration (also, Elamite and even Oxus Civilization art shows up as obvious inspiration for a few monster designs), but I enjoy that, and arguably given how "antiquarianism" and purposely vintage-styled art were both in the vogue in ancient Mesopotamia it adds to the authenticity in a way.

What surprises me is that, mythological fantasy aside, there seem to be no historical novel set in like, the Ur III period. Most of what I can think of is Bible-based fiction, in which Mesopotamians are obviously one-dimensional villains (just like Egyptians tend to be in this genre, lol) and the familiarity of the authors with history is... more than limited. I think I've seen more detective novels set in Tang period China than I've seen novels set in ancient Mesopotamia, and considering how I actually work with books that's... probably saying something. In terms of games it's... not much better. Megaten has a few genuinely great designs - Mushussu, Apsu, Tiamat, Nergal, both Anzus, I actually even sort of like Pabilsag as a scorpion man design; the Civilization series has a cool Gilgamesh from what I've seen (should've gone with Shulgi though smh... getting 0 respect due to being overshadowed by Sargon and Hammurabi) but I genuinely can't think of many more examples. Straying more from popculture, but I've seen some old Iraqi postage stamps (I think like... 1960s?) with art related to the country's antiquity, I can't find them rn but they were very pretty. Commercial art is popculture too, right? As a side note, if anyone from the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities is reading this, please consider an app with cutesy cartoony versions of famous artifacts like the haniwa one the Gunma prefecture board of tourism made a few years ago, please. I would play it 100% ALSO does graffiti count as popculture? Because I’ve seen a photo of an Inanna mural which is probably one of my favorite Inannas overall a few months ago (source; the link is not nsfw but iirc some of the other photos on this account are) Also, this is not strictly Mesopotamian, but one episode of the French cartoon Papyrus featured traveling priests from Ebla and as far as I can tell their portrayal did match what was known about the city in the 1990s: NI-da-KUL is not really read as "Nidakul" today, but usually as "Hadabal," but the moon god theory is still valid (his cult center was later "repurposed" for Yarikh whose lunar credentials are not to be doubted), and they even managed to build the episode around the worship of this god involving a regular pilgrimage, though obviously its course shown (Ebla->Ugarit->Byblos->Tyre->Ashkelon->Egypt) is entirely fictional (I don't think any kid would be interested in seeing a cartoon about an old dude traveling through Bronze Age countryside though so it's fine).

[mousathe14]

So, my fantasy-to-real-life demographic study of the champions of League of Legends has hit a lot of snags and frankly the snags are more interesting than me trying to explain everything properly in one big post so we’re just going to do some breakdowns by population groups in no particular order

Let’s talk about Shurima first because that’s where I was catching on the most snags at first.

First thing you gotta know is that Shurima is basically LoL’s Fantasy Middle East, but really it’s mostly Fantasy Ancient Egypt.

If there weren’t so many caveats the number of their champions could have rivaled the number of champions that are Ionian(Fantasy Asia).

So the first snag being that a lot of Shuriman Champions have acquired a case of no longer being visibly human.

For example, there are champions who are ascended/nearly ascended which mean they got empowered by gods. Thus guys like Nasus, Renekton, Azir, and Xerath are technically Shuriman but they look like Anubis, Sobek, Horus, and a pillar of energy trapped in a broken coffin respectively.

Then there are the Darkin who are ascended that rebelled against the world due to their trauma and were sealed into their weapons in order to be stopped (Yes I know, it’s a lot to take in). Which means that Varus, Aatrox, and Rhaast are technically Shuriman but they basically look like mutated demons and are dependent on their wielder. Aatrox doesn’t have a consistent body because he burns through them, Varus is made out of two Ionians but is mostly the body of one of them, and Rhaast is wielded by white Sasuke Kayn and Kayn is basically considered the main champion.

I’m sorry, that’s a lot. Darkin are now internally consistent but a mess to explain in the context of trying to explain demographics

The point is that these are 7 Shurimans that count if this was a census, but in terms of representing of Arab people as I try to do this fantasy-to-reality demographic mapping, they can’t.

Then there’s Shuriman folks like Kassadin, Malzahar, and Kai’Sa who are touched by The Void, so they’re a little mutated by an eldritch annihilating force.

Malzahar still retains human skin, other than his face, and we can see in his other cosmetic forms that he’s definitely not white. Kassadin is covered in a bunch of weird armor, and is purple. But there is one “pre-void” cosmetic he has that sort of makes it clear he is Shuriman.

And then there’s Kai’Sa, who is supposed to be Kassadin’s long lost daughter but frankly she looks like Scarlett Johansson was chosen over a person of color to play the role of Kai’Sa. But that’s not Kai’sa’s fault, that’s Riot’s fault for not delivering on the lore concept they wrote.

And no one knows what’s going on with Amumu because he’s a freaking mummy with minimal lore. He used to be a yordle but the lore retcon happened so now he’s a human? But he doesn’t have the proportions of a human child in the art style of League? Who knows.

the point is that when you take only the closest to human as possible into account that leaves Akshan, Taliyah, Malzahar, Kassadin, Kai’sa, Samira, and Sivir.

Which is... Yeah. I’ll admit, this was much less than I was expecting. Because, like, there are a ton of champions from or related to Shurima. But when you start looking at the actual visible humans involved it’s uh... Yeah.

I think I’m gonna look at Ionia next. It’ll allow me to talk about the snags I caught looking at the furries.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

After fifteen years, One Night With the King is a Dumpster fire of a movie that I was OBSESSED WITH when I was like 11 or 12 (I was obsessed with all things Queen Esther as a kid, because it was my sister's name--I took out my church library's copy of the Hannah☆Barbara cartoon so frequently I practically had partial fucking ownership of it and when my church cleaned out all of the VHS tapes I took it home to keep even though I didn't have a VHS player anymore).

It's a bad movie. It's not good. The dialogue is tragic, the costumes are bonkers, and Tiffany Dupont is... wow she's bad.

But

BUT

BUT

I watched it again for one reason

And it's only a so-so excuse because Hellboy: The Golden Army exists and if I want a fix why wouldn't I just watch that?

It was all for Luke Goss, okay?

So I re-watched it, beer in hand, and bring to you a live blog of a terrible movie that's still the only "Faith-based" LIVE-ACTION film that remotely comes close to being what one might consider "well-produced". (I had originally not stipulated live-action, such would have lumped Prince of Egypt in with the rest and that... that's almost Sacrilege.)

Buckle-in.

****

This took 3 reblogs to finish so for my full 3 part liveblog, click here

- This is produced by FoxFaith, which I'm guessing is why it has, like, production values.

- We start with narration by Gimli (John Rhys Davies plays Mordecai and it's pretty great).

- I'll give it this the music is pretty stirring.

- Tiffany Dupont, aside from being a pretty bad actress, is not pretty enough in my estimation to be Esther, because, like, Esther was chosen for her beauty (and I know they try to make it more romantic here by having him fall in lurv with her, but even so) she should be much prettier than that, call me shallow.

- Flashback 500 years to Saul's disobedient ass not going full genocide on the Amalakites like he was supposed to.

- Enter a very angry Peter "The Prohpet Samuel" O'Toole. I feel SO BAD for all the secular audiences who rented this from Blockbuster because they saw Peter O'Toole was in it, because he's only here for like one scene in this pro-logue flashback to give you background on why Haman is such a bitch; and they had the nerve to put him in the top billed cast to lure people in. His shoulder pads just kill me. WTF.

Did I mention this script is tragic? It can't decide whether it's Shakespeare or the Bible and it's clearly trying SO HARD to be both.

- Fleshing out the characters part one: Make Hadassah wanna get out of dodge! She wants to go to Jerusalem babayyy!

- Add one sassy housekeeper, for comic relief.

- Add cute boy-next-door/childhood best friend (the housekeeper's son) who likes Hadassah and wants to run away with her to Jerusalem babayyy!. He's called Jesse. It doesn't go so good for him.

- Tiffany dupont's got a very cozy mid-atlantic accent. I didn't think that was possible.

- Love how Hadassah's like "ooh look fancy rich person!" and her friends are all like "oh hadassah, always dreaming", implying that she's got these Anne Shirley style fantasies of being a princess, but then she's terrified of being rounded up with the opportunity of being queen. inconsistent.

- Ominous riders in black. Very unsubtle and swastika imagery associated with Haman. Not gonna say anything. I look askance at the implications there, though, given that this movie was shot entirely in India.

- So Hadassah sees the evil Agagite swastika. She clearly recognizes it. make note of this for later.

- Ominous night meeting between Haman and. . . Okay, Denethor is also here. He plays a bad guy. Of Course.

- I am so done with Haman's fucking "I'm so evil" bat-man voice.

- Haman just dumps out the money that Denethor just gave him for being evil-schemey behind the king's back. I guess because they make Haman's hatred of the Jews for revenge reasons his primary motivating characteristic, while greed is totally secondary. They really try to make him a ScaryEvilVillain (TM) instead of the snivelling asswipe he is in the Bible. More on that later.

- Okay, so flashback to Hadassah's dead parents giving her her VerySpecialNecklace that's apparently from the Promise Land. This is clearly very important. It's very unimpressive, and it's supposed to do this this where if the light catches it right, it refracts stars of David all over the place, which rotate aaround the room, even though the necklace isn't movie. I take major points away for this. it's so fucking cheesy.

- Mordecai talking with a priest pal who just came into town from Jerusalem "Ah, what ecstacy to stand in the presence of the Almighty, like the intimate embrace of a husband and wife. Foreshadowing the importance of Romance! *jazz hands* in this story. This one's for you, ladies!

- Dumb moth flutters past Hadassah, sitting on the roof, because we needed another cheesy motif here.

- Moth flies to the Palace, of course. Gimli's voice over continues to flesh out the characters. There's a subplot/motivation device here that includes references to going to war with Greece and the season of feasting here is a cause for debate on whether King Luke Goss is going to avenge his father's death and keep fighting Greece.

- Speaking of King Luke Goss. If there was any doubt to the idea that this movie was made for us thirsty Christian gals, this is how they introduce him:

- Very disappointed that they didn't deck the feasting hall with "White and blue linen hangings fastened with white linen cords". And all the cups are supposed to be gold and each one different from the other. #bookaccuracy fail here.

- So because we're fleshing out the characters, Vashti refuses to show up to the feast when summoned, not because she doesn't want to be shown off like a horse, but because she's in protest of the king going to war with Greece. I guess because she doesn't want him to die? Anyway, understandable change, since he's a RomanticHero (TM).

- Hadassah sneaks out to check out the feast with Jesse.

- Ahhh JOKES! WE GOT 'EM!

*pretty sure he said "I would drink also to my guard" the joke makes more sense in that context*

- So then Denethor suggests they drink to Vashti's beauty, knowing the crowd will urge the king to bring her out and show her off. I guess Xerxes kind of has an arc here where he has to decide "are you gonna do what your father would have expected of you or being a peace-time culture king like you want to" and has to decide to face up to his advisers and make is own choices, y'know. He's only been king for three years, so this is a pretty decent character building device.

- The crowd is chanting for Vashti. And because Xerxes has drank at least half a glass of Respect Women juice, so he's like "What are they serious? They expect me to just trot her out?" then his sneaky advisors who want to stir shit up are like "Vashti's protesting the war, this would put her in her place." but Hegai, the cool eunuch (played by the late Tommy "Tiny" Lister, God rest his soul) is like "Sir, don't do it. You know the queen's position on the war." But Xerxes does it anyway. Ya'll know the story from there. Feminist Icon (TM) Vashti is like "Bitch, no".

- Jesse and Hadassah, are watching the feast from the rafters and flirt badly. Hadassah just wants to see the queen too. Jesse tries to kiss her and she's like, nah bro.

- You guys want a laugh?

- King Luke Goss, having opened himself up to having is pride wounded by his women, does indeed have his pride wounded. Denethor and the guys tell him that he's gotta put his woman in her place, lest all the women in the kingdom defy their hubbands. This is from the Book. King Luke Goss's right hand man is like "Well, protocol says you gotta throw her out on her ass so *shrug*".

- Take a drink every time they say the word "Protocol"

- Cue Mordecai's "Oh shit" face.

- Hadassah is like "hey jesse this just escalated. If there's no Queen with pretty dresses to admire, then let's run away to Jerusalem babayyy!

- Gimli explains in voice-over that the king sent out a decree that every eligible young woman be sought out and brought to the palace. Like Cinderalla, but with more police brutality.

- unfortunately for our pal Jesse, they round up young men too. You know, cuz if there's gonna be this huge influx of women in the palace, you need eunuchs to attend to them.

- hadassah is bummed that Jesse didn't show to run away with her. Then we cut to Mordecai explaining that women are being rounded up. "But no worries, I'm sure they won't get you. i mean how many women could they possibly need? I bet the nobles have already gotten their daughters an in through bribes. but uh, just in case, we'll give you a Babylonian name. How about Esther?"

- So Hadassah, having just been told that girls are being rounded up on the streets, decides she's gonna go for a walk. guess what happens then?

- the soldiers who nab her steal her VerySpecialNecklace.

- Hadassah and the gals are brought into a dank looking vestibule. In a neat editing thing she Prays that for God to "turn these dungeons into someplace wonderful". cut to a torch-lit room with marble-tiled floors. I see what you did there.

- Hadassah tries to cheer up the gals by showing them all the cool silks in this nearby chest that's just there, already open. Cuz, you know, she's brave. One girl is like "Am i ever gonna see my parents again?!" and Hadassah is like "No, Im sure we'll be home in no time!" but then this other girl, who is much prettier than Tiffany Dupont is like "OH SO YOU THINK WE'RE NOT PRETTY ENOUGH?" it's tough being the main character.

- ENTER HEGAI, THE COOL EUNUCH.

- That night Hadassah has a flashback to the night the scary riders in black with their swastika braclets killed her parents.

- Hadassah wakes up in the morning and Hegai the cool Eunuch finds her spinning around in the garden because she's such a free spirit. Hegai the cool Eunuch is like wtf is wrong with you?

- War council shit. they're telling King Luke Goss the budget for the big war. and he's like "You know we could spend that on infrastructure." Denethor is like, nah let's do war things instead because the greeks are all democracy. gag. King Luke Goss's right hand man points out that war costs a bunch, and it's prbably a good idea not to spend so much when you're not militarily gifted.

- Hegai the Cool Eunuch gives the gals a pep talk. "Okay, so you've been kidnapped and held here to be married off to a king who dismissed his last wife for disobedience. This sucks. But, not as much as having your balls cut off. You're in a much better situation, and you get to to keep the jewelry even if you get sent home. He also mentions being blinded in this scene, in relation to his own capture and castration, and I just want to say I think it's cool that they included Tommy Lister's blind eye as part of his character here.

- Cue spa montage.

- Haman puts the works in motion for his big play against the jews, and starts putting it out that the Jews are super into Greek democracy and thus pose a threat.

- Lunchtime for the candidates. Hadassah gets out of eating her ham by throwing it to the monkeys.

- Hadassah complains that the Queen training consists mostly of beauty treatments and not on things like finances and literature other queen shit. Hegai the cool Eunuch is impressed that she can read.

- Hadassah comes back to her room that night to find that Hegai has stocked it with scrolls. Cut to her reading the Epic of Gilgamesh to the gals. Hegai the cool Eunuch listens in, and is moved, lamenting that he can't read it in its original Akkadian, like Hadassah can, and says that reading is one of the few pleasures left to him. This is actually quite an affecting scene.

- Hegai the cool Eunuch lets the gals into the treasury to pick out their jewelry for their interviews. The gals go hog-wild, cuz they get to keep it. Hadassah hangs back and asks Hegai's opinion on what would most suit the king's tastes. Because maybe she is smart? Since King Luke Goss is a man of simple tastes under it all, Hegai gives her a simple necklace. And surprise! it's hadassah's VerySpecialNecklace that got snatched when she was taken!

- Because Hadassah can read and she and Hegai the cool Eunuch are pals, Hegai has her come read the chronicles to the king.

- I see they saved the blue and white linen hangings for King Luke Goss's bedroom. Okay.

- King Luke Goss is making some sculptures because he's arty that way. Hadassah comes in, sits on the bench and starts reading the chronicles (King Luke Goss is obscured by a gossamer curtain)

- "Admiral Xtes was honored for serving twenty years in the Royal Fleet. After a lengthy speech, he promptly keeled over and died. *Giggle*" Even though, reading the chronicles and giggling cutely at them would have been a fine way to endear herself to the king all on its own, she decides to deviate by reciting the story of Jacob and Rachel from memory.

(No Shit, though, Luke Goss's line delivery here sends me.)

- King Luke Goss is all "Pretty sure that's not in the chronicle. But you've got me interested tell me the ending." So then after he asks her name he's like

- And again, bitch is living my best life.

- My kingdom for some chemistry here, because Luke Goss is putting out and I'm just getting nothing from her.

- oh also, he explains the sculpture he's currently working on is gonna be Eros when it's finished. He never actually says Eros because that would be too bow-chika-wow for this ChristianMovie but we know who he means. And I'm here for it.

- Then Hegai comes and collects her and is like "OKay, i pulled some strings for you, this was not your formal interview, you get another one, and you CANNOT tell anyone else that you got an early sitting with him because it's not strictly fair.

- So she goes back to her room and has this fantasy of King Luke Goss coming into her room, and I mean which of us wouldn't?

- Cut to a dusty military camp. King Luke Goss is sparring. The choreography is Season 5 of GoT Levels of bad

Because King Luke Goss is shirtless! As he is for at least a third of this movie. Because they KNEW their target audience.

- Hegai the Cool Eunuch shows up and tells King Luke Goss that the advisors have ordered candidates to be brought for their interviews at the camp, and king luke goss is like "You have got to be kidding me." Hegai is not kidding him.

- Jesse, it is now revealed, has become Hatach (Who we shall call "the Sad Eunuch"). Hatach is an actual figure from the Bible, who became Esther's personal chamberlain. He finds a moment alone with Hadassah, commenting on her change of name. This is the first time she's seen him since he didn't show to run away with her. She comforts him about their having to use Babylonian names by reminding him that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were pagan names too. Jesse, because he's a know-it-all, rattles off their Jewish Names (Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, for those of you who didn't ace your Bible trivia in Sunday school, like i did).

- Jesse/Hatach the Sad Eunuch tells Hadassah that he's found a way for them to escape. Unfortunately for him, Hadassah's pretty stoked on captivity since she's all goo-goo eyes for King Luke Goss now. Jesse the Sad Eunuch feels betrayed, of course, and wonders to her what good could come from their situation. (BECAUSE OLD TESTAMENT PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW STUFF).

- Hadassah says that rather than lamenting their situations, they should make the best of them. Which is easy for her to say, because her situation means that she might get to marry King Luke Goss, while Jesse's situation just means that he no longer has his family jewels. He's resigned to never being able to be involved with Hadassah, but still wants her to run away with him. This poor fuckin' guy.

- It's time for the individual interviews to begin! First up is Misgath of Persepolis, a daughter of a rug merchant, and dumb bimbo. For her interview, she's supposed to go riding with the king. Which does not work out for her because she cant ride a horse, and also put on ten pounds with all the gold jewelry she snagged from the treasury. Hijinks ensue.

- Hadassah is bummed because King Luke Goss hasn't asked her back to read for him again, which he suggested he would. Hegai is like "damn girl it's only been like four days" but because Hadassah is a teenager "a few days is a thousand years". Hegai sympathizes with her and tells her about the girl he intended to marry before he was captured and cut.

- Back with King Luke Goss, he's waiting in his tent for the next candidate, who, he's informed, is having some stage fright. She winds up throwing up. King Luke Goss is done with this shit.

- MONKEYS!

- And now it's time for Esther's official interview (I'll be calling her Esther from here on out). Fortunately for her, her interview is taking place on familiar territory, the king's bedroom.

- Esther is super nervous, even though she has a significant head-start over all the other candidates.

- He has her read to him again, same pattern as before, except this time he seems really impatient. He complains about the endless procession of women he's being subjected to. But then he notices that it's her, and not the other dumb bimbos he's come to expect. She's SUPER nervous now.

- He questions the fact that she's only wearing the one piece of jewelry (her VerySpecialNecklace). She stands by it. He asks if she's simply adorned because she has a low estimation of her self-worth. She responds that the necklace is her only valued possession and she brings it as a gift for him, not as a trinket she expects to keep for herself. Good move. Wonder if Hegai the cool Eunuch taught her that line.

- I just noticed that you can hear the fans that are producing the wind to make the curtains flutter in the background of this scene. Good lort.

- Tiffany Dupont's makeup in this scene is almost as tragic as the script.

~~posting here because I've reached the image limit, so i'll reblog with the next part~~

[nb-lesbian-tkb]

The good thing about being the Game Master in a shadow rpg was that Bakura could have an omniscient presence on it and make things act according to everyone's behavior. The bad thing was they could hear every fucking conversation. By the end of it Bakura felt like they really should apologize to Kat again. And maybe that they should do a proper apology to Ryou too.

It was really easier when they didn't have feelings other than hate and anger.

The group arrived at the north street. The boy who was searching for his dog left, meaning that Kat already got all the information he could give, and the shop owner was still here.

“I'll ask him,” Kek said, mostly to have something to do and calm down. He was still annoyed by Kat's last comment. 

The man gave him more or less the same speech as Kat, to not go out at night because only bad people would do that. But when Kek mentioned red ghosts, the man turned pale.

“It's only a fairytale being told to make children behave,” he said before lowering his voice. “You shouldn't ask those questions. It will get you in trouble.”

“What if I wanted trouble?” Kek grinned.

The man glanced at Ryou and Marik who were waiting further, then at Kek again.

“Then you would head for the east cathedral and wait for the night to come.” The man then cleared his throat. “So if you would excuse me, I'm busy working.”

He then turned his back to Kek to sort out boxes of vegetables. The interaction was over. Kek came to the group with that new information. 

“To wait for the night?” Ryou got thoughtful as he looked up. “The sun is still bright, so we have a few hours before the night. It probably means we have something to do before that.”

“Maybe we could just explore that Cathedral bow and come back at night to see if we see something different.”

“That's a good starting point.”

The group took that new direction. They arrived in front of a massive religious building. Some people were going in and out, civilians and other from the Church. As they approached a tall woman came to them, with a long white dress and red hair attached in a braid that rested on her shoulders.

“Ryou, Marik. How is your investigation doing?”

The two men looked confused for a second, before realizing she matched the description of one of the Church members that Bakura gave them at the beginning. It was supposed to be their supervisor as junior members. Ryou smiled and bowed to her.

“It's going great sister Lu. We have some hypotheses and we are finishing to explore them all before giving you our report.”

“That's wonderful. And who may those persons be?” She asked, pointing at Kek and Kat. 

“Those are adventurers hired by the merchant to help us. I know this is unconventional, but they have been a great help so far.”

“I see.” She smiled at the adventurers. “Come to me when it's over. I’ll be sure to give you a reward for helping our members with such devotion.”

She then excused herself and left.

“So…” Marik cleared his throat. “Do we all agree that she looked creepy as fuck?”

“Yes. I didn't want to tell her what we found for now,” Ryou said. “Not trusting someone smiling like they are reading to bite your throat the moment you look away.”

They went to explore the cathedral then, but there was nothing out of the ordinary here. Ryou went outside to explore the garden next to it. It was really pretty, with a lot of plants and Ryou could help but notice that none of them were common for a mediation fantasy setting. However, Ryou remembered very well when he saw plants like this before. When he went to Egypt with his father as a child. It made him smile softly, a little sad maybe. He sat on a bench next to a pond with waterlilies on it. Ryou looked around and noticed a butterfly on a flower next to the bench. He tilted his head a bit.

“... Bakura?”

“Just because I used a butterfly once to give you one info doesn't mean I'm hiding as one.”

Ryou jumped as the voice came from beside. He turned his head and saw Bakura sitting on the bench with him. The thief smiled.

“So? Are you having fun?”

(continued from here)

“...We broke.”

Marik appeared to slow his pace, so much so that instead of walking in the middle of the group with Ryou, he was now walking closer to the back near Kat with his head lowered.

“I’m at the back because I don’t have as long of legs as everyone else, what’s your excuse?” she asked while walking casually with her hands laced behind her head.

This must have made Marik realize how little space there was between them, because he quickly resumed his pace from before. Seconds later, he’d slowed again and was walking beside her.

“Why did you say you’d trust me with a secret?”

“If you were to encounter the Pharaoh’s former vessel, would you tell him about Bakura and I?”

“No,” Marik replied with a scoff, as though that answer should have been obvious.

“And that is why I trust you with a secret.”

Marik was quiet for a moment before speaking again.

“So…your name is Katrina? This whole time I thought everyone was calling you ‘cat’, because…well…”

“I turn into a cat,” she finished for him. “I am aware of the matching pronunciation between the shortened version of my name and the generalized English term for felines. I am also aware of the irony. I go by ‘Kat’ because I am accustomed to it. It was far easier for the local population of my time to pronounce than ‘Caitriona’,” she said, giving the proper pronunciation for her full name.

“I see,” Marik said, still sounding like he had more questions in regards to her name. “About the whole ‘holding you as a cat’ thing, I didn’t mean-...I didn’t know-...”

“Relax. I was just messing with you. It’s kind of what I do with those I find interesting. A sort of cat-and-mouse game, if you will. Kek and I do it to each other all the time. We both find it entertaining trying to see who can make who crack first. I keep winning, because I am not as easily embarrassed by innuendos as he is.”

“For the record, cheating does not mean you won,” Kek commented from up ahead.

“I’m not the one that’s a walking hentai genre,” Kat retorted.

Kek actually stopped and turned in his tracks.

“Yeah, well…you’re a furry!”

Kat boredly glanced over at Marik.

“You couldn’t have created your personality of anger with some brains?”

For a moment it looked like the vein on Kek’s temple was about to burst out of his head. He stiffly turned and (angrily) resumed the trek to the north street with Ryou not far behind.

“Are you the God of Guilt Trips or something?” he asked, watching as the other two grew further away.

“Nope. Demigod is just a word that means half my blood comes from a god and the other half comes from a mortal. I am not a god of anything.”

“Are you sure?” Marik asked skeptically.

“Trust me, if I was a god, I wouldn’t have spent three-thousand years in the Duat because I was too afraid to return to the Living realm after seeing the city I once called ‘home’ had fallen prey to the effects of time.”

Her head fell a bit.

“I also wouldn’t have reacted the way I did in the museum after seeing all that remains. I didn’t mean to attack you. You just startled me when I was in a vulnerable state. My reaction was purely instinct.”

Marik looked uncomfortable.

“That was partially my fault. I shouldn't have approached from behind.”

“It’s fine. I do appreciate the concern you displayed seeing my obvious distress.”

They continued on after that in silence. Marik apparently didn’t know how to respond to her last comment. As they closed the distance with the other two and it was obvious that the two groups would become one again, Marik seemed to tense a little.

“You mentioned you knew what it was like to feel…’discarded’. How-...Did the person who did it…did they ever-...”

It was obvious he was struggling for the words to the question he was trying to ask, but Kat knew what it was that he was seeking an answer for.

“You want to know if that person ever came back for me and if I was ever able to forgive them. Yes. Well…they didn’t technically ‘come back for me’. We just stumbled across one another. We didn’t even recognize each other at first. But once we did, the first thing they did was apologize to me. I was so angry and sad and hurt…but the fact that they took the time to apologize, to acknowledge that what they had done was wrong…it was something I never knew I needed to hear. I thought the reason they left was because I was too much of a burden, but they explained it was because they were afraid that something would happen to me and they would have to feel the pain of losing someone again. I was angry hearing that, because they forced me to feel the very thing they were afraid of, but in time I forgave them for that as well.”

“But how did you just…forget about everything that they had done?”

“I didn’t and I won’t. It will always be there. No matter how much they reassure me they will never abandon me again, that fear will always linger in the darkest recesses of my mind. It will always whisper to me when doubt takes hold.”

Realization seemed to dawn on Marik.

“Wait…the person…it was Bakura?”

“Yup.”

“And they apologized?”

“Yup.”

“You forgave…Bakura?”

“You seem to find that very hard to believe.”

“We’re talking about the same Bakura that wanted to collect all the Millennium Items to unleash a dark god and bring about the literal destruction of the world, right?”

“Last I checked, that was them.”

Marik had begun rubbing his temple like he was getting a headache.

((@nb-lesbian-tkb))