#she's whatever Beatrice was to Dante to me

[ennislamore]

Happiest birthday to my dearest muse, Florence 💌🫀🥀

[nyaagolor]

Howdy again, if it's the meta world VS "real world" thing in Umineko that's got you stumbling, don't worry. The assumption Ryukishi and co. seem to be going with is that the meta world IS real, and everyone's just chilling in a happy magic afterlife post-series (hence how episodes 7, 8, and 9 can even happen). The "07th Expansion All Characters Settings Collection" guidebook even has little epilogue blurbs for the cast, I can link you the translation hosted on the wiki if you want. It's still bleak in the sense that, yknow, everyone was dead from the start and the whole journey was more of a "coming to terms with what happened" kind of deal, but I think it works given stuff like the Divine Comedy references going on (if you read Battler as Dante and Beatrice as uh, Beatrice, a lot of Umineko'll start to make sense). The way I see the split is kind of an "as above, so below" type deal - while Tohya is down in the land of the living trying to write and solve things, Battler and friends really are up there fighting for their lives in purgatory, and the two reflect each other. Of course if that's not the problem you have, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!

hiii thank u for the ask!! (sorry this will be a Long One). I'll admit the meta world / real world stuff tripped me up at first, because looking at episodes 4 and 8 it really seemed to be implying that the metanarrative was the coping mechanism of Ange+Tohya and their way of pretending like their loved ones got the happy endings they didn't get in life rather than something we can actually assume happened. However extra content implies this is not the case, Ryukishi doesn't feel like the author who would do that especially after the thesis of Higurashi, and tbh even if he did there was enough plausible deniability that I would just imagine the Golden Land as real because You Gotta Cope Somehow. I love the "as above so below" vibes too, that's a fun new aspect to incorporate

My biggest hangup with the ending was basically in the idea that Sayo's narrative is fundamentally doomed. I was under the impression that the boat scene was implying that Sayo couldn't be happy even if she did escape due to the burden of the truth / her trauma. The positive framing of the catbox remaining at the bottom of the ocean initially struck me as a "her death is the happiest ending you can hope for because of how fucked up this all is" which is already a nihilistic narrative but downright unbearable when given to an intersex trans woman. I just don't vibe with hopeless trans narratives at all, and felt like I had misinterpreted smth bc Ryukishi isn't really a nihilistic guy. I'll admit I got a little soured to the narrative as a whole when I looked around online and saw people talking about how Sayo getting a happy ending was "missing the point".

After talking to @heartgold I realized that I had reversed the causality a bit. I was under the impression while playing that Ryukishi's insistence that "things had to happen this way" was him not just saying "oh everyone is already dead, the end result is already the same bc we're looking back at past events" but also "it doesn't matter what individual actions people took, it was always going to end in tragedy". I realize now it's more of a "this was totally preventable in so many ways but it already happened and now we have to grieve and cope in whatever way we can manage" kinda thing rather than a "this is fate and Sayo was screwed regardless", so I'm cool with that aspect. (Also I won't lie I prefer to imagine the boat scene as almost entirely metaphorical and more of a representation of the fragmentation of Battler's consciousness due to trauma in a similar way as what happened to Sayo, but that's neither here nor there)

The other part of it, and the thing I'm still really hung up on, is the question of whether or not the Golden Land is actually a happy ending and, if it is real, whether we're supposed to view it as a sorta perverse tragedy. On one hand, the alters are all implied to be separate people and they get their happy endings (yay), but on the other hand that doesn't really fix nor address Sayo feeling like she needs romantic love to be fulfilled (also The Incest(?) I'm genuinely unsure if the whole "alters becoming separate entities" negates the incest or not). The idea that Sayo was so far gone that even the fantasy created from her best memories does not allow her to truly be happy is just so insanely depressing to me, so I find myself stuck with that friction of wanting Sayo to have her prince and her white horse and her fantasy happy ending while also not wanting to downplay the truth. Having this little moral dilemma feels like the point of Episode 8 and really gets us into Tohya's head, which is awesome, but also gives me a lot of mixed feelings. Knowing that Sayo's truth literally has Beatrice married to Battler makes it even tougher bc I can't just use plausible deniability and say they're platonic bc they are uh. very much not as far as Ryukishi is concerned. I'm still working out my feelings on it, mostly because I desperately want Sayo to have everything she's ever wanted but also having to contend with the little part of me that's whispering "it can't and shouldn't happen and you know it". Alas. Umineko.

PS: thank you for telling me about the character booklet, that's SO cute!!! I love the little details about everyone and the cat-ear Bern is everything I've ever wanted

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

The Stranger and my thoughts on where each LCB Sinner is at (Long)

Hey, I actually sat down and read L'etranger, Meursault's source novel. I've got some fucking feelings about it, especially relating it to Limbus Company and what it might mean for his Canto in like 2 years.

Firstly, you should read or listen to this book. It's short, surprisingly punchy, and easy to follow. I (probably) don't have autism but I can absolutely see a read of this where the character does or is neurodivergent in some other way; beyond his relationship and evaluation of social queues and norms he also seems to deal with sensory issues. There are better people than me who should talk about this and I'm probably not adding a lot to the conversation but keeping this reading in my head for the climax added an extra layer of discomfort (intentional discomfort for the benefit of the story's message, I should say) to the whole book. But It's worth experiencing even if you disagree with that reading or have a different one.

Limbus Brainrot/Spoiler stuff from here on in.

There's always the question of where exactly each Sinner is in their story as they're on the bus. Their stories have been reinterpreted and/or jumbled in ways that make it fun to guess, so to go over each Sinner and where they are based on what we know or my theories:

Yi Sang - I'm not gonna front, I don't really get The WIngs, but this seems like a Good End AU for him. He already escaped his "Wife's" control and the sunless room and is now flying again (metaphorically, or maybe literally? i dont know help me).

Faust - Likely in the middle of the part where she's using Mephistopheles' power to do good in the world and prior to her being damned to hell. Side note, she's last to get a Canto and I bet it's not a coincidence that (afaik) she and Dante are the only two with Hell in their stories directly. My long shot call is that Faust is also Beatrice and there will be so much DantexFaust ship art in 2026.

Don Quixote - The biggest enigma. La Sangre de Sancho has gripped the imagination of the fandom and I am no exception. She's next after Heathcliff so we'll get her some time in August at the latest and I can't wait. My best guess is she's currently gallivanting and will be forced home in her Canto, assuming Don is Sancho theory isn't true. Praying her Canto is called The Impossible.

Ryoshu - In Hell Screen, the reason the painter is obsessed with torture is that he can only paint what he has seen and is trying to paint the Buddhist Hell. In his quest for his art he destroys his life and those around him, and ends up committing suicide over it. But there is a villain in the form of the Lord who beyond driving the story by requesting the screen in the first place is guilty of SA and murder. I'm expecting we're post story; the Lord is related to the five fingers, the daughter might be recast as a friend or something, and the sword Ryoshu carries is likely the screen. Nothing revolutionary in my guesses here, but it's either going to be that straight-forward or insanely abstract, where she's the lord and the painter and the daughter and the screen and the sword is the monkey or some shit.

Hong Lu - I have not yet read Dream of a Red Chamber, it's next on the list. Forgive me!

Heathcliff - Oh boy. Like many, I expect he is post-spurning by Catherine and is on his journey for his fortune on the LCB. So, his Canto will be about coming home to a beloved who is with someone else. Yes, the beloved blorbo will suffer for my amusement. Let's go 3 hours Heathmael sex scene!

Ishmael - We now know her story already kinda happened, as many expected, making this a bizarre sequel to Moby Dick. I think it gave PM a lot of room to do whatever they wanted to while still sticking to the themes of the story. Already wrote about what I loved about this and the recontextualizing of Ahab as a whale unto herself (which I don't actually know if it's in the original novel, but it wouldn't surprise me).

Rodion - A weird one. Her inciting incident happened, the murdering of the landlord/pawnbroker, but the unintentional death of the innocent sister was shifted to the entire damn block. So if I had to guess she's in the period after her crime trying to avoid being caught, but no police officer allegory has really been introduced yet. I read Crime and Punishment years ago so I can't say for certain but it feels the most loosely adapted and suffers a tad for being part of the intro. Rodya's story is in no way finished so it's up in the air. Praying for a Petrovich just so people can meet the OG Columbo.

Sinclair - Still need to read Demian, but I have a rough understanding of the plot. Also unfinished in his story, Sinclair has a long way to go to his self-realization. This feels more intentional however, I remember someone made an observation of Cinqlair as representative of his drunken college years where he's popular but unfulfilled, and I think we can extend that to all of his IDs. He seems to have the most potential of all the Sinners, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if there's a mirror world where he's a Color unto himself. I digress, the point is he's pre Frau Eva (who if she turn's out to be the Purple Tear I will lose my mind) who is also called Beatrice at some point so what's up with that PM?

Outis - Another big mystery, especially as she isn't Odysseus but Outis, a name referencing a particular part of the Odyssey with the Cyclops. I have to imagine she's on the Odyssey, journeying home after the Smoke War (which might have some parallels with the Trojan War beyond the obvious). It's interesting all the Greek myth named Abnormalities are Hospital themed, might be something there but nothing I can parse from my limited knowledge of Greek society and folklore. While she' might be a traitor, I'm thinking she's joined Limbus Company to hide while on her journey; she might be wanted dead by something and is concealing her identity after what happened in the war.

Greg - Again, a character post-story. He was locked in a room, he metamorphized, and... well he's alive? So we've diverged from the source novel, as it's taken the allegorical meanings and made them more literal, but Hermann is still around and a major player so who knows where this will go?

Meursault - I have so many thoughts. Meursault could be anywhere in his story, but I'm going to guess it's one of two places. First guess, we're completely pre story. His Canto opens with him getting a message that Maman died today, or maybe yesterday, he doesn't know. So the whole story plays out over the course of the Canto. But more likely, and my prediction, is that he's currently in "jail" awaiting his execution or acquittal. He has already murdered a man (or done some other crime) and instead of being tried for that, he has been tried and sentenced for his peculiarities of character. Bound in the chains of others, the multitudes have tightened their hold (I'm very clever and not cringe at all).

So I have to wonder what light blinded him, overwhelmed him so much that it led to his crime? The Bright Nights and Dark Days are an obvious choice, and I'm not the first to suggest it. Perhaps he distorted? Anyway, his story ends with him having given up on acquittal and instead hoping for a crowd of people hating him as he approaches the guillotine. I'm super interested in how this will play out in Limbus, especially as he must survive for gameplay purposes.

Also, Meursault is so horny. Like, oh my god. Half of his thoughts are of Marie, specifically of wanting her and all the connotations that contains. He spurns God in the face of a Chaplain, saying that He is worth nothing compared to a single hair on a woman's head. Meursault is not a romantic but not just some horndog either, his desire for sex and women and their bodies feels like an extension of his worldview centered on the immediacy of life and not just debauchery or hedonism. It's a part of the idea life is lived as today, yesterday, and tomorrow, and there is joy and happiness in that simplicity. I feel like this will get cut for Limbus but I hope it isn't, I want Meursault to casually admit he desires every Sinner on the bus carnally (yes the men and NB too, probably just a HC but I do believe that the City is a binormative society based on its already loose relationship to gender identity).

So uh, that's the thoughts so far. Merry Christmas, I guess.

[gayest-classiclit]

VIRGIL PROPAGANDA i can't believe i forgot to do this for a couple days </3

SO. i have looked through cantos one through seventeen of inferno so far, and here is a very summarized and somewhat interpreted version with a focus on virgil being virgil-y. bit long (I wrote that before I finished I lied) but I'd like to think it's a fun read so perhaps consider reading? <3

but before that i just want to briefly point out that in virgil's pov, what happens before he and dante start their journey through hell is that he (is dead and) lives forever in a section of hell known as limbo because he was born before jesus - it's explained as like. not painful as there's no physical punishments like there are in the rest of hell, but virgil and the other virtuous pagans still are denied hope and god (which is very much a reflection of dante the author's beliefs), so it's pretty much infinite longing for something that will never happen.

so when a cool lady from heaven (beatrice) goes down and is like "hey can you help guide this soppy crying guy (who is alive btw!!) through hell?", virgil kinda agrees without hesitation. partially out of the goodness of his heart but also because he can't hope for his situation to change (same as all the other dead people in hell), and as a lot of the dead people who appear throughout the poem, all he can do is have memories of him passed onto the living through dante. inherent tragedy counter: 1

(and also btw once virgil does start to personally care about dante he will never be enough to help him completely - virgil's thought of as the embodiment of human reason, and while dante the author thinks that's cool and all, he establishes that this isn't enough to achieve paradise - you need divine love. inherent tragedy counter: 2. which beatrice is the embodiment of. inherent tragedy counter: 3. who btw is the woman that dante is in love with or something despite mixed signals at times. inherent tragedy counter: 4)

((yes i feel really bad for virgil, dante was wrong when he said the divine comedy was a comedy and not a tragedy, what the heck))

cantos 1-3: BUT ANYWAYS, dante comes along, says "have pity on me" as his first words to him, speaks "with bashful forehead", and tells virgil to "regard my manhood, if it be sufficient" (last part is taken out of context but whatever). virgil goes "sure whatever", holds dante's hand and looks happy (which comforts dante), and they both go to hell. dante faints and potentially causes an earthquake

canto 4: dante unfaints in limbo with no explanation of how he got there (virgil totally carried him), and they talk to some other old dead guys who are friends with virgil. here is where virgil gives dante the only smile that is present in the whole inferno

canto 5: they go look around the circle of lust, dante is very sympathetic while virgil is not (as is a pattern with him - virgil does not show sympathy towards sinners not in limbo). dante faints again.

canto 6: dante unfaints in the circle of gluttony with again no explanation of how he got there (virgil totally carried him again). author dante says towards the end that virgil and dante were "speaking much more, which I do not repeat". suspicious.

canto 8: virgil kisses dante "on the face" (hm) in a boat. and also he compliments dante's mother for birthing dante i guess. "Thereafter with his arms he clasped my neck; / He kissed my face, and said: "Disdainful soul, / Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom."

canto 9: medusa appears! virgil goes "dante cover your eyes" so that he doesn't look at her and then covers dante's eyes himself too just in case. kinda cute in my head despite the threat of death

canto 13: virgil holds dante's hand and they walk around in a forest (of suffering reincarnated but we can ignore that). also, not specifically related to my whole virgil moments thing, but author dante wrote this a while earlier: "I think he thought that I perhaps might think"

canto 15: the canto about the circle of hell with sodomy-but-maybe-it's-not-homosexuality! virgil says exactly 5 words (in the original text, number depends on which translation you use). what are you thinking tell me your thoughts i need to inhale them

but for some context on what the circle is, basically, yes, it's the circle for "violence against nature" and there are gay people in dante hell here, but there are also gay people not in dante hell. which has lead people to speculate on whether the people in this section were here for just being gay and dante the author just changed his mind later without editing the section or if the people here did other stuff, like dating people who are much younger than them (don't wanna say a specific age range because i haven't stumbled upon anything talking about just how young but yeah,,).

plus dante the author was more likely at least more sympathetic to gay people than most 1300s medieval people - i've read in several places that the city he lived in, florence, was a lot more casual with homosexuality compared to other italian cities (think the punishments being a fine vs death) dante acts probably the most amicably to the sinners here than to any of the other sinners in other circles sans limbo, and his irl teacher who he looked up to plus a lot of people from florence (which says a lot because he is very very dedicated to his city) are down here

canto 17: virgil tames a a whole dragon looking monster thing for dante and they go ride it in the sky. virgil goes "hey climb on first so i'm in between you and its poisonous stinger tail <3, which dante does. dante also is thinking "i'm gonna fall of the creature, please hug me :(" but doesn't manage to say it out loud. virgil hugs him anyway! (the creature is named geyron and you could totally google it to see images of them riding it btw).

and that reaches the end of the summary for now, but two more things to note about the actual character of virgil:

i was skimming through robert hollander's notes alongside the poem, and at least twice he mentions that it's unclear whether virgil has mind reading powers or can just read dante really well. interesting to think about

on virgil with beatrice: virgil, as he was entrusted by the task of getting dante through hell by her (and therefore by god), references her a bunch when he and dante periodically encounter authorities being like "don't pass". this works and he does it pretty well, doesn't really specifically comment on her personally. i wonder what he's thinking.

UMMM but that is all for cantos 1-17!

keep in mind that i am in no way a proper literary analyzer, was skimming it, and cannot read normally half the time even when i'm not skimming. in fact, while typing this up, i glanced at a website called "recapping dante" and thought it said "kidnapping dante". therefore this is a pre-emptive "i am wrong about something here even if i do not know what it is"

so please take with a grain of salt and vote virgil for gayest classic lit loser anyways <3

thank you! lucky i didn't miss this :)

(i'm off to school now, i can't post any more propaganda until the polls end)

[thatanthagirl]

”Jung has said that to be in a situation where there is no way out, or to be in a conflict where there is no solution, is the classical beginning of the process of individuation. It is meant to be a situation without solution: the unconscious wants the hopeless conflict in order to put ego-consciousness up against the wall, so that the man has to realize that whatever he does is wrong, whichever way he decides will be wrong. This is meant to knock out the superiority of the ego, which always acts from the illusion that it has the responsibility of decision. Naturally, if a man says, "Oh well, then I shall just let everything go and make no decision, but just protract and wriggle out of [it]," the whole thing is equally wrong, for then naturally nothing happens. But if he is ethical enough to suffer to the core of his personality, then generally because of the insolubility of the conscious situation, the Self manifests. In religious language you could say that the situation without issue is meant to force the man to rely on an act of God. In psychological language the situation without issue, which the anima arranges with great skill in a man's life, is meant to drive him into a condition in which he is capable of experiencing the Self. When thinking of the anima as the soul guide, we are apt to think of Beatrice leading Dante up to Paradise, but we should not forget that he experienced that only after he had gone through Hell. Normally, the anima does not take a man by the hand and lead him right up to Paradise; she puts him first into a hot cauldron where he is nicely roasted for a while.” ~ Marie-Louise von Franz, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Chapter VI, Page 4

"The vision says to our patient: here is this wall and you can only see the other side by turning the eye inward, you can only get over the wall by growing like a tree." ~ Carl Jung, Visions Seminar

”The art of letting things happen, action in non-action, letting go of oneself, as taught by Master Eckhart, became a key to me with which I was able to open the door to the ”Way.” The key is this : we must be able to let things happen in the psyche. For us, this becomes a real art of which few people know anything. Consciousness is forever interfering, helping, correcting, and negating, and never leaving the simple growth of the psychic processes in peace." ~ Carl Jung, The Secret of the Golden Flower

"About a third of my cases are not suffering from any clearly definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and aimlessness of their lives. I should not object if this were called the general neurosis of our age." ~ Carl Jung CW XVI, Par 83.

”Thanks to my isolation I have been slipping away from the world and holding converse not with the men of today but with voices long past.” ~ Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 544.

”The fact that a man who goes his own way ends in ruin means nothing... He must obey his own law, as if it were a daemon whispering to him of new and wonderful paths... There are not a few who are called awake by the summons of the voice, whereupon they are at once set apart from the others, feeling themselves confronted with a problem about which the others know nothing. In most cases it is impossible to explain to the others what has happened, for any understanding is walled off by impenetrable prejudices. ”You are no different from anybody else,” they will chorus or, ”there’s no such thing,” and even if there is such a thing, it is immediately branded as ”morbid”... He is at once set apart and isolated, as he has resolved to obey the law that commands him from within. ”His own law!” everybody will cry. But he knows better: it is the law... The only meaningful life is a life that strives for the individual realization–absolute and unconditional–of its own particular law... To the extent that a man is untrue to the law of his being... he has failed to realize his own life’s meaning. The undiscovered vein within us is a living part of the psyche; classical Chinese names this interior way ”Tao,” and likens it to a flow of water that moves irresistibly towards its goal. To rest in Tao means fulfillment wholeness, one’s destination reached, one’s mission done; the beginning, end, and perfect realization of the meaning of existence innate in all things.” ~ Carl Jung, CW 17, Para 299

"Personality can never develop unless the individual chooses his own way, consciously and with moral deliberation..." ~ Carl Jung, CW 17, Para 296

"For the hero, fear is a challenge and a task, because only boldness can deliver from fear. And if the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated, and the whole future is condemned to hopeless staleness, to a drab grey lit only by will-ò-the-wisps." ~ Carl Jung, CW 5, Para 551

"Solitude is for me a fount of healing which makes my life worth living." - Carl Jung

”The Shadow is anything we are sure we are not; it is the part of us we do not know, sometimes do not want to know, most times do not want to know. We can hardly bear to look. Look. It may carry the best of the life we have not lived." ~ Marion Woodman, and Dr. Jill Mellick

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart." ~ Carl Jung

"No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell." ~ Carl Jung

"It is equally obvious that every insight into what I have called the "Shadow" is a step along the road of individuation without one's being obliged to call this an individuation process." ~ Carl G. Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 468-469

[an-atlas-or-other]

Paradiso – Lyrics Annotations

1| Marks of Cain 2| And strangers of light 3| Each rewarded by merits in life 4| Everything's as it should be 5| Picarda smiles at thee

1| One of the first things Dante asks the souls of the Moon is about the Catholic legend about Cain. At the time a common interpretation of Cain's banishing was that he was banished to the moon, and the dark spots on it were his face (I think? this section confused me), and that was why they were called Marks of Cain. 2| Dante said the faces of the Moon souls glowed bright so they were hard to look at 3| People go to different spheres of heaven based on their Earthly actions. Also a reference to how much he uses the word 'merit.' 4| People are happy and best in their respective spheres, despite sone receiving more or less blessings in heaven. 5| Picarda broke her vows as a nun when she was convinced to marry a man by her brother (who is in hell now). She is on the Moon because she was inconsistent, which is what you get put there for.

1| Ave Maria 2| Sing your amens 3| Beauty, blessed, of Beatrice 4| The mercy shown, the sand in thy soul 5| All shall be repaired

1| A reference to Mary in Canto 4 (I think!!! I read this two months ago) 2| Praising God, because he does that a lot, unsurprisingly 3| Beatrice becomes more beautiful as they go up the spheres, as Dante's human brain is able to tolerate more and more divinity. 4| God is merciful 5| Everything will be perfect for you once you die, no matter where you end up, because you'll deserve whatever you get.

Awaiting nothing In the hands of god 1| Stars and planets, or so he thought Paradiso, paradiso 2| What would Dante know? Paradiso, paradiso 2| Dante couldn't know

1| Everything in Paradiso is metaphorical, not literal, and was just for him to be able to understand with his human brain. 2| Dante couldn't understand real heaven because he was still alive.

1| Mercury served their human lives 2| Venus loved, their spirits fly 3| Theologians bear fruits of mind 4| They know your questions, child

1| Where self-serving and ambitious people ended up. They're not as blessed as the next because they could have used their ambition to serve God instead. 2| Venus was for people who loved a lot. Dante spends comedically little time here. 3| The Sun was where philosophers, theologians, and other scholars ended up. 4| They basically read his mind every time he wanted to ask a question and answered before he could speak. I think this is where he's able to ask his first question verbally though

1| Warriors and martyrs past their time 2| Cross of man, and let him write 3| Souls of Jupiter led men right 4| They're conquered by love's light

1| Mars was for warriors and Christian martyrs. 2| On Mars all the souls make a cross shape with their light, and Dante discusses if he should write about his journey to heaven with his too-many-greats-grandfather. 3| Judges, emperors, and other good political figures. 4| In Canto 20 Dante says they let love conquer them.

1| Don't sing 2| Don't smile 3| Saturn's too close to divinity 2| He'll be as ash Follow your vows He can't understand

1| People can't sing on Saturn (as they were on the other levels) because if they did his brain would melt because of the 'heavenly noise' or however he put it. 2| Direct quote! Beatrice said that if he sees her smile he would get disintegrated lmao. 3| When they get there Dante gets slapped in the face with more Divinity™ and gets Overwhelmed™ because people sighed/groaned when someone was complaining about the Catholic Church.

1| Are we destined? 1| Is time real? 1/2| Not even we could know 2| The angels by God's throne Dante couldn't know

1| On Saturn Dante has a debate about time and predestination, which were pretty hot topics at the time, and they said that it's something so beyond us that not even heavenly souls could understand it. 2| A little interjection here by the seraphim narrating the story of Dante (this isn't part of the poem, just something I wanted to add) saying that they couldn't even know, as the angels who sang for God at his throne.

1| Climb the ladder, our obscured eyes 1| Will become clearer as you rise 2| Hope, love & faith 3| Enter heaven with the saints

1| Dante has to climb a ladder through the Fixed stars and he sees an assortment of historical and religious characters. As he gets closer to divinity, the souls' faces become clearer as he becomes more able to handle divinity. 2| He has to answer questions about these things to get into heaven. 3| So technically Dante hasn't been in heaven this whole time, and now he's getting ready to enter real heaven by climbing through the Fixed Stars.

1| (Peter, James 1| Adam and John 1| Questions answered, access granted 2| "Father, father how did you speak? 2| These three thoughts of thee")

1| Peter, James and John are the ones who ask the questions. Adam shows up after he answers them. 2| Dante has three questions for Adam, which Adam mind-reads off him, the first of which is what language he spoke in Eden, because Dante was also a language nerd. Also, he adresses him as father, because he believed in a literal interpretation of the garden of Eden story.

1| Experience existence differently here 1| Away from space and time 2| Drink from the river, see reality 2| Feel and become divine

1| Reality exists differently in heaven, and concepts like time and space don't exist. Humans only exist time linearly because they aren't divine, which creates the need for memories. 2| Dante has to drink from a river to perceive the true divinity of heaven. He is in synch with divinity.

1| (Let us sing our chorus for him 1| Beatrice takes her place 2| Perfect creation, the children sing 1| Saint Bernard leads thee)

1| Beatrice takes her place in the heavenly choir and leaves Dante. Saint Bernard becomes his new guide. 2| The children who dies young sing in god's heavenly choir.

1| Mem'ries gone, witness god 2| Dante couldn't understand 1| A dream for man, satisfaction 2| Dante couldn't know

1| When Dante looks at god, he experiences pure divinity, and his memories disappear because he experiences time like souls in heaven do. Dante says he can't really remember what he saw, and can mostly remember what he felt during it, like it was a dream. 2| Line repetition because I want it and also reminding the audience that Dante's journey was metaphorical, even in real heaven, and that he would only understand when he really died.

Did this instead of studying for midterms. Yay 🎉

I keep finding myself writing religion-adjacent songs despite not being religious at all. I think I just like the aesthetic, and Dante’s Paradiso, because that’s what this song is about and you bet I’m writing songs for Inferno and Purgatorio too (eventually).

Solaria’s violently American voicebank hurt my soul. I gave up. I thought I could wrangle at least a rolled r but nooooo, not even an ê for me. I wanted her to sing Beatrice’s name like it’s pronounced in the original Italian, and have her pronounce Ave Maria like in Latin, but I guess I put too much faith in her /:

I shoved four verses into the time of two by putting them over each other because the song was getting long and I didn’t want to add another random section. It turned out kind of weird but I don’t know how else I would have structured them. There was too much stuff I wanted to say lmao

I have at least two lines dedicated to each layer of heaven but it goes more into detail after Jupiter because that’s when stuff actually starts happening beyond “Dante asks questions to whoever’s on this celestial body and then they move on.” I also made the opening longer because I underestimated how much space I would have. I write linearly so the lyrics are written at the same time as the music, and it’s very clear how I had absolutely no plan lmfao

I have some direct quotes or references to the (English translation) text and I may annotate the lyrics to show my process if I feel like it, or if anyone asks. A lot of the lines won’t make much sense unless you’ve read the poem though. I’m regretting not having the last line be about the stars, but also it’s too much work to go back and change it. Plus, I like that recurring line about Dante. It’s about how what Dante is seeing is just a representation of what heaven is because it’s too much for a living human to understand. Also, the lyrics are from a seraphim’s point of view, because the words only really makes sense if they’re from some higher power and fuck you its my song okay

[aldryrththerainbowheart]

Place for The Weary

So I have a lot of good pieces stuck in google docs file for me to write in whenever inspiration strucks or I want to read something I made. I don’t know where to go with most of these pieces of text but like hell I’ll let them stay in that file for another year. And since it’s Mental Health Month on Tumblr, I’ve picked three particular oneshots that fits the theme.

Take care of yourself wyrmlings and remember, it’s not a weakness to lean on somebody every once in a while.

Yours

 - Aldryrth (Al) The Chromatic Dragon

(art does not belong to me)

Warnings: angst, comfort

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Characters: Dante, Vergil, Nero, V, Beatrice (OC)

Note:  This is written with an OC, I know this is not everyone’s thing but she’s a nice gal. I’m sure you’ll like her.

As Bea watched the two women running excitedly towards the tree, she started to walk in the same direction when she noticed Dante hadn't moved, watching the tree silently with the pensive expression. 

Before she could say anything, Dante started to walk slowly towards the entrance. She knew something was wrong, she saw Dante this serious only a few times over the long time they knew each other. Whatever was waiting for them behind this gate, it was bigger, much bigger than anything they normally faced. 

Before she realized what she was doing, she quietly reached for lapels on the back of his coat and gave them a soft tug. Dante stopped, heaving a tired sigh before he turned to her, eyes silently asking for a reason they were still standing here. Beatrice opened her mouth, mind scrambling for something to say but couldn’t come up with anything. What was she supposed to say? That it’s going to be fine, that she’s sorry that his life, their lives,  is such a marginal clusterfuck, that whatever it is, he can talk to her? All those things sounded either like a shortsighted foolishness or things that were already repeated in the past, only for both of them to know that one just doesn’t just start to resolve years of trauma, grief, physical and mental battle. And Beatrice learned the hard way that she cannot save everyone, cannot help everyone. Only thing she can do is offer her strength and support. And that’s exactly what she did.

“Whatever it is behind this gate, we get through this together. You don’t have to handle everything by yourself. I know you can, but... you don’t have to.”

She put an arm on his shoulder, felt his warmth even through the thick, worn down leather of his coat, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Dante stared at her for a while, his expression unreadable. She started to worry she might have offended him somehow, or what’s more common, stuffed her nose in things that don't concern her, thinking she’s being helpful.

The last thing she expected was for Dante to envelop her in a tight embrace. He moved so fast, Bea hadn't fully processed what was happening until his strong arms squeezed her, almost painfully. She hasn't felt any warmth or good-natured humor from his stance, only a silent and sad need for comfort. Before she could react the moment was over. Dante untangled himself from her and immediately marched towards the Urizen tree.

Beatrice didn’t like the flash of determined but pained look on his face. It was the look she knew almost too well. 

It was the look of a person who is about to commit atrocity in the name of duty.

“Dammit, Vergil, did you see the size of that thing?!” Beatrice turned to him excitedly, wildly gesticulating with her hands.

Vergil watched her with barely contained amusement, already used to her antics.

“You were so amazing!” She beamed at this and wrapped her arms around him in the heat of a moment, squeezing him tightly.

Vergil froze. He couldn’t remember when he’s been held like this, touched without murderous intention. For those brief seconds he couldn’t bring himself to react, to push her away, stab her, scold her or, lord forbid, return the embrace.

Beatrice loosened her arm around him when she noticed how stiff he was. “Verge? Are you alright? You know I’m not gonna hurt you, so no need to stab me.” She tried to joke her way out of it, but when Vergil kept silent she slowly, as if not to alert him, started to let go.

“It’s not that.” He blurted, his mind scrambling for words, he didn’t know why he bothered to explain himself, but there was something about her, something that allowed him to let his guard down just a little bit.

“It’s just that...it has been a long time since I...I’ve been touched in this...casual manner.” Vergil cleared his throat, hoping she didn’t notice the slight tremor in his voice.

Wishful thinking, she looked at him with sympathetic eyes, eyebrows scrunched with pity and Vergil wished to be anywhere but there. He didn’t want her sympathy nor anyone else's. He doesn’t need her, doesn’t…

“Oh, Vergil…” She whispered and enveloped him in her arms again.

For a while, they just stood there. Beatrice hugging him tenderly and him awkwardly staring at her shoulder. Vergil felt her warmth, smelled the sweet scent of her hair, despite both of them being covered in grime and demon gore, and her arms, still as strong in their hold as before, as if she’s willing to just stand in this dark, grimm void as the time passed around them for all eternity, until she was certain he had enough of her warmth. 

Beatrice didn’t hear him pull yamato out of its sheath, which was a good sign, but she also didn’t feel him move or say anything which...she didn’t know how to decipher. Vergil was bloody hard to talk to, she still couldn’t believe that he consented for them to travel together. Maybe he really doesn’t like to be touched. Not everyone is so starved for affection and protection as she is…

Is what she thought until she felt Vergil slowly pressing his forehead to her shoulder. The arm is still holding the yamato, placing itself on her waist. Beatrice smiled to herself as the blue devil little by little pressed himself closer, closer still until they were both squeezing the grief and loneliness out of each other.

And for the first time in her life, Beatrice felt the alien feeling of content settle in her heart.

“That bastard called me a deadweight!!!” An angry roar echoed around piles of rubble. Nero paced furiously from one side to the other. One hand clenching in a tight fist while the other one was running through his hair. Beatrice watched him quietly from the sideways hands folded on her chest. He needed a time to vent first before he was able to listen to anyones words, that much haven’t changed since his younger years. She understood why he was angry. It wasn’t just the words that got to him. Despite his words, Nero respected and admired Dante, even moreso than her, so being cast away like this was painful kick to the heart. Not to mention Nero’s sensitivity to rejection, something he haven’t got rid off since his earlier years in orphanage. Damn you, Dante. She knew why he did this. It was the same situation like all those years back with her. He wanted to push him away to protect him, to make Nero hate him so if something happened he wouldn’t blame himself. A shitty technique Dante used everytime someone got too close to him. It didn’t even solve anything for anyone, just made things worse. She learned that the hard way. It was only because she recognized Dante’s true intentions and then stubbornly refused to leave him, that the two of them stayed together for this long. The woman let out annoyed sigh. Dante was a mess when it came to his relatives, but what could one want from a man whose life was mostly marked by blood, steel and gunpowder. Nero wasn’t much better. The only reason why he was still stomping around here and not towards the demonic tree was because he knew she would drag him back until he’s calmed down. V’s eyes nervously danced from her to Nero. From the piece of concrete she sat him on, he looked worse then ever. Heavy, labored breaths raked his narrow ribcage and his entire body trembled. He looked like he was about to pass out. She knew they don’t have much time, but sending her devil-boy like this into fray would do more harm then good. V opened his mouth to speak, possibly to calm Nero, but Bice raised her hand in sign for him to be quiet and walked towards the agitated Sparda. Nero was still pacing angrily, his body language growing more aggresive by the second. When she finally caught up with him she caught the words like “dead to me” and “worthless piece of-”, she wasn’t sure if those words were adressed to him or Dante. Bice placed her hand on the boy’s arm when suddenly, a fist flew past her face. The only reason she didn’t get punched in the face was thanks to her quick reflexes. When Nero realized what he had done, a horror flashed in his eyes. “fuck, I-I didn’t mean to…” Nero took a step back, scared and lost, all the emotions laying bare on his face. Beatrice could see it all. “I…c-can’t do anything right!” Head bowed, both hands now clenched so furiously they were trembling and face scrunched in a pained grimace. Beatrice knew Nero was tried to process all of these overwhelming emotions by himself and was slowly losing the battle. “I’m so sorry.” “I’m so…so sorry!” All the turnmoil in his face accumulated in his eyes as they started dangerously glisten. A small involuntarily sob escaped him and Nero buried his face in his hands shame and anger. Curled up like this, he looked just like that little boy clinging to her shirt when the kids in school called him a freak, when Fortuna Defense Forces repeatedly rejected his application or when Credo died. He put on a brave face for everybody, but once he was alone… Nero felt gentle but firm hands clasping his wrists away from his face. He still kept his head down though, too ashamed to show Beatrice, of all people, just how weak he was. But she didn’t let him, she never allowed sadness to cloud his mind and helplessness to weigh on his back. She lifted his head by the finger under his chin and looked in his face. Slowly, he peeled his eyes open, too embarassed to look her in the eyes. He was met with warm golden gaze of his guardian. No judgement in  them, never in those eyes. Her hands framed his face, thumbs wiping away few stray tears that escaped his eyes. At that moment, Nero felt like those palms are the only things that hold him together. “Feeling sad, lonely or frustrated doesn’t make you weak.” He stared at Bice as she gave him a gentle smile. “It makes you human.” Nero let her arms wrap around as his face buried in her collarbone. As he listened to her steady heartbeat, he felt the strong pair of arms squeezed him strongly, as if trying to wring out the stress out of him. As they stood there together, a pair of intense green eyes watched them curiously. There was something about this woman that felt familiar, it burned in the back of his mind but as soon as he tried to chase the memory, it disappeared. A human, hm?

[theannaredfield]

Day 2- Connection to cast

Yes I drew this months ago in preparation. No I don’t know if this post will work either.

So Ivey’s connection to the cast is a bit all over the place, but to summarize

Dante- you see, when a man and a woman love each other very much- yeah Dante and Ivey are a couple. I know, grill me for being unoriginal. While their relationship is a bit on and off throughout the series (mainly because Ivey isn’t around for 1 and 2), after DMC4 they are in a steady relationship. As of 5 they aren’t married or anything, and it’s a bit questionable if they’ll be okay since Dante is currently trapped in hell, but she sticks it out anyway. He was the first person she really got to know, and she admires him, not for his strength but for his humanity and His connection to humanity. He and Lady really did show her what it was like to be human and she felt like she could trust them both more than anything, they’d never judge her. She wants nothing more than for him to be safe, and has a tendency to go against what he says because of this. She nearly got herself killed in 5 just because she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing while he was possibly dead. In short- she is ride or die for this man, and will stand by him no matter what happens. She’s got the time.

Vergil/V- To be honest, Ivey had a feeling something was up with V. Something about him just seemed untrustworthy but she had nothing to go on and so she said nothing. With Vergil it’s a bit mixed, she doesn’t trust him to ever be doing anything good, and she thinks he’s a bit of a selfish dick at times, but he’s Dante’s brother and Dante cares a lot about him, so she doesn’t really speak on it. She tolerates Vergil for Dante but swears if Vergil does anything, she won’t hesitate. She was honestly horrified to find him as Nelo Angelo because “oh my god, what have they done to you.”

Lady- Lady was the first full human she ever met, and because of this, Ivey always had a sort of respect and admiration for her. Despite not having any of the benefits of being a demon, she still had the audacity to try and fight them, head on. She’s very powerful and determined, not willing to back down from a fight. It’s amazing. Her and Lady are friendly with each other, though Lady playfully bullies her for her bad taste in men.

Trish- since Ivey was in hell around the time during Trish’s creation, she had a bit of distrust in her at first, when she first saw Trish with Dante. This mainly stemmed from a self-preserving nature, seeing Trish still as Mundus’ lackey he would use to kill Dante. Though she quickly learned this isn’t true, not anymore, and befriended Trish, who tries to help her blend in better with humans. They have a bit in common, and can understand each other’s problems being fully demon surrounded by humans.

Lucia- Ivey hasn’t met Lucia, actually

Patty- Though she didn’t meet Patty until she was older, Ivey absolutely adores the little girl. She finds it quite funny how Patty nags the crap out of Dante for even the smallest things. In addition to Lady, Patty also is constantly asking Ivey to “do better” because “a pretty lady like you shouldn’t be with this lazy piece of crap.” Also she likes Patty’s dresses and thinks they suit her well.

Morrison- Ivey did actually meet Morrison after the events of DMC3, though she didn’t speak much with him, she always saw him as a respectable business man. Not to mention he’s a bit of a gentleman. He more or less saw her Dante and Lady as a group of dumb teenagers without parental supervision. Was he gonna give them supervision? Hell no. But he’d at least make sure they didn’t die doing something stupid.

Mundus- Ivey fears Mundus, and I mean fears him. He could squash her like a bug if she did anything to disappoint him, and she doesn’t think she could do anything against it. Not only that but he was trying to kill Dante and tried to hire her to do it, and she had to find some way out of it. If anyone found out about her connection to the Son of Sparda she’d be as good as dead. She’s glad he’s gone, he gave her a lot of stress. Now she can just relax and live how she wants.

Nico- Ivey hasn’t interacted with Nico a lot but she finds her… interesting? She’s very smart, especially when it comes to demonic weapons. Very talented as well.

Nero- Despite Nero being her nephew, she isn’t actually that close to him. This is mainly because she doesn’t know this until the end of DMC5 and hasn’t had time to interact with him otherwise. Though she does try to look out for him, he is family and she cares that he’s safe.

Kyrie- has briefly met Kyrie and thinks she’s a godsend. She is such a nice and lovely girl and so friendly. Not to mention she makes good food. She admires her and Nero’s love and honestly hopes to be invited to their wedding.

Sparda- Never met him

Eva- never met her.

Extra!-

Carden Antonio and Juwia Evonna- Ivey’s twin son and daughter. She almost died giving birth to them but every day she still thinks about how worth it it was. These two are her everything, and she will do whatever she can to keep them safe and alive. They were her main reason for becoming the queen of fire hell and the main reason she was horrified of Mundus. She needed to protect them and one wrong move could get them and herself killed. Because of extenuating circumstances, she mainly raised them by herself with some other mythical folks she met in her travels. Dante knew about them but didn’t really get to meet them until the events of 4, which both of them still feel very guilty over. They were just two people trying their best and doing what they thought was best, but they were wrong. The kids love their parents a lot though, and don’t hold anything against either of them. They’re just happy to have their family.

Beatrice Nova- much like Nero, Ivey doesn’t know a whole lot about Beatrice, and doesn’t have a huge relationship for that reason. Beatrice seems a lot like both her mother, Serephina, and Vergil. This both worries Ivey and gives her hope. She wants Beatrice and Nero to both be safe and not get themselves killed. She is happy that Beatrice gets along even just a little bit with Carden and Juwia. They’re cousins after all, and this family has enough drama in it.

[freddve]

meet the npc: matilda ‘tilda’ ritchie golding haum

1. how old are they and what do they look like?

𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚 '𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚' 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐦, 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 | the oldest golding sibling. mother of two dogs and an adopted son. ceo of goldingium & ajaxco. capricorn sun, virgo moon, pisces rising. insufferable genius. sugar-and-ice personality. daddy’s girl. the broken ace. the dutiful child. emotionally tongue-tied. the responsible sibling.

tilda’s the product of an unplanned pregnancy — the sole reason why the marriage between mr. golding & miss nesin was brought forward by almost two years. she’s the voice of reason and a perfect example of how the golding children should behave. named after mr. golding’s grandfather ritchie golding, she was destined for greatness. a lady in her neutral toned power suits. birkin bags & louboutin red bottoms. custom made blue light glasses. nude lips. manicured baby pink nails.

the beatrice to all the dantes out there. she’s the epitome of divinity & she knows it.

2. what kind of a presence do they have in your muse’s life? do they have a positive or negative relationship?

𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡'𝐬 ( she’s always been peach for tilda, never frederica or freddie ) relationship is complicated. being the oldest sibling, there’s a twenty-four year age gap between them. at first, tilda was like a mother — scratch that, she was freddie’s mother; still living with her parents, tilda woke up at odd hours, soothing peach when she just would not stop crying. she was also freddie’s first friend & confidant. days when she was around to keep peach busy, you could hear the sighs of relief coming from the au pairs rooms.

matilda didn’t really grow up in a strict household — mrs golding was twenty-four when she had her; all it took was an army of nannies to raise their first born. still, matilda’s always felt like a burden to her parents, in her mind, she was the final nail in the coffin. so she promised herself she would make it up for it by proving goldings she’s not a fault, but a blessing.

their relationship was irreversibly damaged once she moved out, leaving her little peachy behind. to be honest, freddie’s always been too much to handle and patience has never been matilda’s forté. tilda expected freddie to be like her, a perfect copy of the perfect daughter, the opposite sides of the same coin, but frederica wouldn’t or couldn’t rise to her level, that tilda cannot really tell. 

3. are they revered in irving? do they have bad blood with anyone?

𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, matilda’s never been to irving. freddie doubts she could point it on a map — kinda silly considering matilda’s literally a genius, but yes freddie babe, you do you. 

that being said, she has two beach houses in the area. despite never bothering to visit, she bought those for mrs golding, as she’s a big fan of irving. 

4. if your muse is no longer in contact with them, how did the relationship end? did your muse get closure over this?

𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 haven’t spoken since the day after the wedding fiasco. matilda suggested the location for freddie’s exile, hoping the life away from temptations would set her straight. after throwing a tantrum & calling matilda a mistake, mother wannabe — freddie knew how to hurt her, and she wanted to hurt her bad, matilda left the room and didn’t attend the family dinner aka frederica’s farewell party. at first, it really felt like an exile. freddie believed she was being punished for not being like tilda. or tilda was jealous of her. either way, her sister hated her, and she was sure of it. but now, it’s been over eight months since freddie moved here, and she’s beginning to see why matilda chose irving out of all the places. 

memories are tricky. sometimes they fool you. a few months ago, after not receiving a birthday call from matilda, freddie went through her famous treasure chest and came across a postcard sent by matilda, dated the same summer freddie spent in irving. it looked gross and brown-ish, like she spilled coffee on it, and perhaps she did, but she could still read some parts of it, including “if you like it that much i should come and see there myself, but now baba needs me. you take care of mom + irving sun for me, okay? kisses, tilda”. 

frederica being frederica, she didn’t call matilda, but after years of troubled sleeping schedule, that night freddie slept like peach used to. an old piece of card with smudged writing was the proof she needed; her sister only wants the best for her. 

frederica peach golding’s treasure chest

ok, her treasure chest doesn’t fit the task, but i wanted to include it lol. frederica moved around a lot, sometimes within city limits, sometimes abroad, but often times it felt like she was hopping from one planet to another, always the alien, always the new kid. 

moving was fun. she got the plan her room, mrs & mr golding let her do whatever the hell she wanted. age ten, she even got herself a secret room like hannah montana’s, because why not? but it didn’t last for long. she was rapidly losing interest in decorating room after room, treating them as a c list rock band would with motels,  throwing fits & breaking things, not really including herself. the solution was easy — emptying the box tilda gifted her, frederica began to store her favourite items from each room. if it didn’t fit her treasure box, she wouldn’t take the item with her. so far, she has her signed twilight poster, a few memorable items like her grass ring, glitter pens, the rules of her secret language ( that she’s forgotten about ), family photos, a broken ipod, a piece of brick from the demolition of her childhood room, shrek dvd & finally left leg of her favourite toy, mr lollipop buns ( he was a big, stuffed rabbit plushie and wouldn’t fit the box, so freddie thought it would be best to perform an amputation on him - mr lollipop buns lives with her third nanny, isla’s children with his one leg).  

she has it hidden under her bed. has many colourful yet ugly stickers on it, and she wrote ‘fred’s not secret box’ hoping it would be enough to keep curious individuals away from her treasure box.

[snicketstrange]

The Dark Day and The Sugar Bowl

My theory about having a radioactive stone or the powder of a radioactive stone inside the SB was criticized by very qualified judges. Their names are Dante and Hermes, and they volunteer for Dark Avenue 667.

  Dante      demonstrated that Esmé's sugar bowl could contain information. I will quote you here for clarity: Neither of these statements indicate that the contents of the sugar bowl pose a direct physical danger in themselves; merely that using them would have wide-ranging repercussions. If the villains can't get their hands on the sugar bowl, the risk is always that those repercussions will come to pass; consequently, if the villains can get their hands on the sugar bowl, they'll be able to act with impunity. This is a valid interpretation. Lemony's hint in TSS is as follows: I have at last learned the whereabouts of the evidence that will exonerate me, a phrase which here means "prove to the authorities that it is Count Olaf, and not me, who has started so many fires." Your suggestion, so many years ago at that picnic, that a tea set would be a handy place to hide anything important and small in the event of a dark day, has turned out to be correct. -Lemony Snicket, TSS p. 101 The evidence in question does not only prove Lemony innocent; it proves Olaf guilty - apparently unambiguously and elegantly. It is easy to see why Count Olaf would find this evidence desirable. (The exact nature of the evidence is unclear and seems narrow in scope, which is perhaps one reason why it ultimately could not be revealed.) A point: A container in which to secure something safely may indicate something dangerous, but it may also indicate something fragile. TGG p. 178 clarifies that the sugar bowl has a "tight-fitting lid"; a necessity if you want to keep anything in it while throwing it down rivers and so on, but this also implies that it's watertight, and that whatever is inside may be perishable or otherwise easy to damage. It was generally agreed back in the day that the "classic" use for sugar bowls was probably for something along the lines of privately passing information or small objects during dinner parties or other meetings; consider how easy it would be to place something small inside a sugar bowl whilst seeming to take sugar, and for the other party to then retrieve it. Listening devices have also been proposed, which would allow coded communication to be potentially overheard but would also allow suspicious conversations to be recorded; it's easy to see how such a recording might incriminate a person who had set a lot of fires, for example, or more pertinently, to exonerate somebody who had not. Something like this I think is probably what is indicated by Lemony's statement on the subject in TSS.

Hermes     , however, showed the apparent contradiction in this interpretation. Speaking about the secret letter in TSS, Hermes said:

"This letter is possibly the most paradoxical thing in the whole of ASOUE. It implies that the Sugar Bowl contains the evidence that will exonerate Lemony, although this does not seem to fit what we hear of its significance anywhere else." I believe Hermes was referring to passages like the ones that Dante and I cited in a recent theory that I will write here for clarity: "Our enemies capturing the sugar bowl would be as troubling as their capture of the Medusoid Mycelium." - Dewey, chapter 8 TPP. "The sugar bowl is on its way to the hotel even as we speak, and I'd hate to think what would happen if our enemies got ahold of it. I can't imagine anything worse, except perhaps if our enemies somehow got ahold of the Medusoid Mycelium. " - Kit Snicket , TPP p. 36 I was defending the idea that the SB contained some kind of radioactive material. But even a radioactive stone would not cause a disaster similar to what Medusoid Mycelium can do. Similarly, even information that could clear Lemony and accuse Olaf would actually do similar damage to Medusoid Mycelium. Medusoid Mycelium is a weapon of mass destruction that can cause an epidemic. Medusoid Mycelium can be grown easily and could be used to cause worldwide chaos in the event of coordination of villain efforts. In addition, we have some interesting statements from Captain W regarding the SB content: "My stepfather says that if the sugar bowl falls into his hands, then all of the efforts of all the volunteers will be for naught ... "He said it was better I didn't know ... He said people had been destroyed for knowing such enormous secrets, and that he didn't want me in that sort of danger. "- Fiona, TGG Chapter 3. That's why I haven't told you why the sugar bowl is so very crucial. There are secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know, even as those secrets get closer and closer. - W., TGG, Chapter 4. "It's not the sugar bowl," Captain Widdershins said, "it's what's inside it. - W. TGG, Chapter 6 What Captain W makes it clear is that there is a terrible secret within the SB. Let me fix this. Captain W makes it clear that there are huge secrets (in the plural) within the SB. And from there everything becomes more interesting.

Let's go back to the TSS secret letter. There is a strong indication that the use of a sugar bowl to protect and hide information was Kit Snicket's idea. Kit Snikcet is more than the sister of Lemony Snicket and mother of Beatrice Jr. Kit Snicket is known as the creator of the submarine Quequeeg. This seems to indicate that in his youth, Kit was able to create highly technological mechanical devices, like a submarine in which only a captain and two crewmen are needed. (Compared to submarine C, in which a large number of humans are required using arm force to move the submarine). I just want to highlight Kit Snicket's genius. Lemony's letter to Kit reveals for what purpose Kit had the idea of ​​using an SB. Lemony wrote: "Your suggestion, so many years ago at that picnic, that a tea set would be a handy place to hide anything important and small in the event of a dark day, has turned out to be correct." - Lemony Snicket on the secret letter in TSS. The original objective of SB was to protect something small and important in the event of a Dark Day. What is a Dark Day? In North America, something called Dark Day happened on May 19, 1780. An unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. (You can search for it on Wikipedia). But what caused this Dark Day? Wikipedia says: "The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires, a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night. " In other words, that Dark Day was caused by a big fire. So the SB's goal is likely to be to protect something small and important from a Big Fire. Although Kit was responsible for giving the idea, the implementation of the idea to protect it came from Esmé. The sugar bowl serves as a protection against fire (and apparently also against water and other weather). But why could a Dark Day be so dreaded as to need a fireproof container? And what could this container contain? One of the biggest reasons that fires are so destructive is that fires destroy libraries. Large libraries throughout the real history and throughout the fictional history of ASOUE have already been lost to major fires. What if it was possible that all crucial information in a library could be compressed to the point of being fit into a portable device? Well ... It exists in our universe! In fact, digital information is just like that. Think about how many books will fit on your SD card on your phone. When ASOUE's books were written, we were in the age of data compression. Daniel Handler spoke about various types of libraries. Did he not leave out digital libraries? After all, there were computers in Prufrock Prep. Of course, we don't necessarily have to imagine a pen drive within the SB. But we can imagine an entire library within the SB. A library that can contain the most different types of secrets, some of which are really dangerous. If Count Olaf (or other enemies)  had access to these secrets, in addition to being able to eliminate important evidence against him, who knows what he would be able to do with all that information! In this case, the damage could be similar to that of the deadly fungus MM. In other words, inside Esme's SB was a big backup with the main secrets kept by VFD. It is likely that there were shameful secrets for VFD, which made Captain W hesitate just thinking about them. In the case of a Dark Day in which all physical libraries were destroyed, the information from those libraries would be saved inside the sugar bowl. And that is why Esme, despite having the SB did not make much use of it. Esme hates to read. She only discovered the value of what she had in hand when she lost it. I mean ... She already valued the SB itself. Let me be canonical so you don't think I took this theory out of thin air. TE chapter 9: The most common use of the word "library," of course, refers to a collection of books or documents, such as the libraries the Baudelaires had encountered during their travels and troubles, from the legal library of Justice Strauss to the Hotel Denouement, which was itself an enormous library–with, it turned out, another library hidden nearby. But the word "library" can also refer to a mass of knowledge or a source of learning, just as Klaus Baudelaire is something of a library with the mass of knowledge stored in his brain, or Kit Snicket, who was a source of learning for the Baudelaires as she told them about V.F.D. and its noble errands." At first glance this sentence seems to indicate that the hotel where people slept was a library and that the sub-aquatic library was the hidden library. However, that doesn't make much sense in that sentence. Lemony is defining the library as a collection of information in some kind of media that can be accessed and read. The hotel where people slept was not that kind of library, although the rooms were organized as if it were a library, the function of the hotel itself was not to store information. Thus, the Hotel Denouement that Lemony is referring to here as a library was the underwater library, which Dewey referred to as the real Hotel Denouement.

I will quote a passage for clarity:

TPP Chapter 8: "Exactly," Dewey said. "The truth has been right under everyone's noses, if anyone cared to look past the surface. Volunteers and villains alike know that the last safe place is the Hotel Denouement, but no one has ever questioned why the sign is written backward. They're staying in the TNEMEUONED LETOH, while the real last safe place-the catalog-is hidden safely at the bottom of the pond, in underwater rooms organized in a mirror image of the hotel itself. Our enemies could burn the entire building to the ground, but the most important secrets would be safe. In other words, what was destroyed was TNEMEUONED LETOH and not the Hotel Denouement. "Hotel Denouement" was the name that was written on the entrance to the underwater library.

So the library that was hidden nearby that Lemony refers in TE chpater 9 to here was something else. And I deduce that this other thing is the content of the SB.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

The Divine Comedy Theory, Part 1

All right, here’s my Divine Comedy theory that I’ve been working on the past few weeks. First, let’s remember that tptb said the golf club in Still represented the 9 circles of Hell. The 9 Circles of Hell come from Dante’s books, including Divine Comedy and The Inferno. So they’re obviously using those books as symbol templates.

But the point is, that much of it isn’t a theory. It’s fact. Tptb CONFIRMED this. It’s now just up to us to try and figure out the interpretation, HOW they’re using it. And that’s what I’m attempting to do here.

We also saw a sign reading, “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here” near Rick and Negan in S8. That is also a Dante thing. In the Divine Comedy (TDC) that sign is seen when one is entering hell. More on that later.

I decided to divide this into 2 parts because it’s very long. Today, I’ll summarize the Divine Comedy itself and talk about how seasons of TWD might correspond to the different circles of hell. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about Still and the “Abandon all Hope” sign. Here we go:

THE DIVINE COMEDY: A BREAKDOWN

The story starts on Good Friday and ends on Easter. Obviously, that's a good sign.

We start with Dante who is lost in the dark wood. Above him, the sun shines on a mountain peak and he attempts to climb it to get to where the sun is, but his path is blocked by a leopard, a lion, and a shewolf. (Yes, I'm side eyeing the she-wolf thing as well.)

Discouraged that he can't get to where the sun is, Dante returns to the dark wood. He sees the ghost of the poet Virgil, who says Dante's path must take him through Hell but Virgil will guide him and eventually he will reach his beloved, Beatrice. He also tells Dante that Beatrice, who is deceased, and two other holy women are the ones who sent Virgil to him. They knew of his plight and took pity on him. (I really think this is probably the tie to the three Marys.)

So, they head into Hell. This is where we get the sign, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." 

The first region that Dante enters is actually the anti-inferno. It's what you might call the antechamber or waiting room of hell. There are still people there, though. Those who couldn't commit to good or evil, fence-sitters who wouldn’t make a choice. They chase a blank banner while hornets bite them and worms lap up their blood.

To actually get to the gate of hell, Dante and Virgil have to go across the river. They do and then they reach the first circle of hell, which is called Limbo. Here, there are pagans. Those who never knew Christ.

The second circle is for those who committed the sin of lust. They swirl about in a terrible storm. The third circle is for the gluttonous. They lie in the mud and endure a rain of excrement.

The Fourth Circuit is for the avaricious and the prodigal. They charge at one another with giant boulders. I was a little confused by why the prodigal would be here. In the Bible, the prodigal isn't generally regarded as a crime or sin. But reading further, the prodigal son did waste the resources that his father gave him before returning to his father and asking for forgiveness. So, these are people who are wasteful in a really bad way. Apparently, they charge at one another around a semi-circle, smack into each other, turn around to go the other way, and repeat it all again.

In the fifth circle are the wrathful. The struggle with each other in the river Styx which is a swampy and fetid cesspool. The Sullen are also there, and they lie beneath the water, choking on the mud.

The sixth circle is for the heretics. The circle is populated by tombs which are surrounded by flames.

The seventh circle has three rings and houses the violent. The first ring is for people who are violent toward others. They spend eternity in a river of boiling blood. The second ring is for those violent toward themselves (suicides). This is kinda interesting. They endure eternity in the form of trees. (I don’t think TWD uses the trees as suicides, necessarily, but maybe more for people who inadvertently caused their own deaths through their actions. I was thinking about Deanna saying of Pete, “Let the trees have him.” Which suggests she’s consigning him to hell. Just a thought.) The third ring is for those violent toward God (blasphemers) violent toward nature (sodomites) and violent toward art (usurers).

The eighth circle is full of evil pockets of people. There are 10 pockets. I opted not to go through them all here because, at least for now, I don’t think they’re relevant. Just ten types of sinners such as flatterers, thieves, people who took bribes, etc.

Finally, the Ninth Circle. In order to reach it, they descend into a well that leads to a frozen lake. In the first ring are those who betrayed their kin and they are standing up to their necks in the frozen lake. The second ring holds those who betrayed their country, and they are standing up to their heads in a frozen lake. In the third ring are those who have betrayed their guests. They lie on their backs with only their faces sticking out of the water. The fourth week ring is for those who have betrayed their benefactors and they are completely submerged.

At the center of this ring is a shrouded, gigantic form which is Lucifer. He has three mouths that are chewing on three sinners: Judas Iscariot, Cassius and Brutus. Those who famously betrayed their masters.

Dante and Virgil climb down Satan's clothing to get to the very bottom of the 9th circle of hell. Interestingly, Dante is carried on Virgil's back. So, we have a serious piggyback going on here.

After they climb down Satan, they cross the river Lethe and emerge from hell on Easter morning before sunrise.

HOW IT MAY CORRESPOND TO TWD:

Okay, so that’s a very broad synopsis of TDC.

Let's talk about a few different ways we can possibly interpret this. First off, my very general theory is that (and we’ve said things similar to this before) that the post-apocalyptic world = hell and in a sense all our characters are Dante. Which means the walkers in this analogy represent the souls who are already in hell. Think of it this way. In the story, Dante is a living person that has to pass through hell. In fact, in many of the circles, the gate keepers and such try to keep him from passing because he’s still alive. But he always gets special permission to do so. So, it’s a “being alive among the dead” sort of theme. The dead, of course, being the walkers.

And the reason that’s important is because some of how we can interpret this is based on how walkers are portrayed throughout different seasons. Let me also say that this is a very loose interpretation and I’m by no means positive I’m interpreting this right. Some of this is hard to nail down.

So, I tried to make different seasons and arcs of the TWD story fit the different circles of hell. For example, I would say this analogy really starts in S4, because I think it's purposefully placed and wouldn't have begun heavily until Gimple took over. So, I think all of S4 was the anti-inferno or antechamber before they got to hell. In the same way that S4 foreshadowed many coming arcs, this was just a little bit beforehand.

Crossing into hell would be Beth and Daryl's separation. I was thinking that the first circle, Limbo, which is described as housing those who never knew Christ, might be Terminus. (Beth is the Christ figure and she never made it to Terminus.) The second circle is for those who lust and they walk about in a terrible storm. I thought of 5x10 and the storm they went through there. The third circle is for the gluttonous. This one stumped me a little bit. Its still rain and a storm, but it talked more about mud and people being blown around in the storm. So, it could be part of 5x10, but I also thought of the big storm they had in FTWD S5. I'm not sure about that one.

The fifth circle talks about people running at one another with huge boulders. I thought of the rock quarry in S6. 

Total side note: I was looking for a picture of the rock quarry to put in here, and I came across this pic below. Quint means 5, and then of course it actually says “Gate 5.” I’ve always thought this pointed back to S5, to show that Glenn’s death fake-out is a template of Beth. But this may also point to this being a symbolic representation of the 5th circle of hell. Just saying. ;D

Then there's the sixth circle. It talks about people struggling with each other in the river Styx and it swampy and fetid. The thing that came to mind here is the swamp walkers in S8. This was when Tara was still trying to kill Dwight and Daryl and co took all the kids away from Alexandria and to Hilltop. Remember, they made a big deal about swamp walkers? So I wondered if this could be in line with that in season eight. The walkers show what circle of hell therein.

Another tier of the sixth circle is tombs surrounded by flames. I think the thing that embodies that more than anything else we've seen would be the Whisperers. We saw the burning of Hilltop and the Whispers represent death anyway. I could see Alpha representing a heretic in various ways, not least because they pretend to be walkers when they’re not.

What I’ve said so far is what I discovered and got super excited about a few weeks ago when I first started doing this. Because it told me that by using this template, we might be able to get an idea of when Beth would return.

But you can probably see the first problem I ran into. If we’re only at the sixth circle, we still have three more circles before Beth returns, right? (Assuming that she returns at the end of this and Dante emerging from hell on Easter will signal Beth and Daryl reuniting.) But I don’t think it will be three more seasons or whatever until we see her. Truly.

So, I kinda got stumped because even reading through the seventh, eighth and ninth circles, nothing was jumping out at me that suggests we’ve seen the events corresponding to those circles, yet. I'm sure we could find some way to compare them to events in the story, but just nothing really obvious stood out.

But don't despair yet. I was originally a little unsure about this, but I started looking at the actual events of Still, it made me feel much better. I think I understand now why it's laid out this way.

So once again, come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about Still, and then about Rick, and maybe about the chess theory. Stay tuned!

[juliandev0rak]

From the get to know my character questionnaire, 1 for all of them (bc I know you named stella after alcohol but i wanna know about the rest lmao), and 7 and 27... also for all of them? i just love them all, hit me with the lore. —leila-of-ravens

ahh thank you for asking about all of them I have way too much fun writing character lore 💗💗💗 @leila-of-ravens

from these asks

these will inevitably get long so I’m putting the answers under the cut!

01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded?

Beatrice

Beatrice started off as a self insert character so I gave her my name and started playing the Arcana as “Bea”, but I soon decided I wanted to make her much cooler than I am lol, so I changed a lot of her personality and named her the longer version of Bea, Beatrice. I also love the name because it reminds me of Beatrice, Dante’s muse in Dante’s Inferno. He travelled through all of the levels of hell to rescue her and it just seemed to fit with the story of the Arcana. Long story short, I sort of named her after me lol.

I chose her last name Viano from googling “Italian last names” and choosing the one I liked the sound of best lol, there’s no deep meaning for that. 

Freya

I named her Freya because I love the name, but after looking up its meaning I felt it fit her really well. It’s a name from Norse origins and means “a noble woman”, and Freya’s whole aesthetic was built off of her being very dignified and elegant. She’s the type of person you’d expect to be nobility, even if she isn’t.

Aster

I googled “space names” because I wanted her to be star inspired and found the name “Astra” which means “of the stars” in Latin. I decided to go for Aster instead because I love the way it sounds. I also like how similar it sounds to Asra, I just think it’s cute that they have similar names lol. 

I decided not to give her a last name because I couldn’t find one I liked, and because I thought it would be an interesting part of her background. She doesn’t remember her family at all, and that includes not even knowing her own last name. 

Cam

I chose the name Camellia because I had the idea of all of Cam’s siblings being named after plants because they grew up on a farm. Camellias are one of my favorite flowers, and I like the way it can be shortened to Cam. Cam is nonbinary and basically defines their gender as “whatever feels right in the moment” lol, so having a name that can be less overtly feminine, like Cam, was important to me. I think both their full name and their nickname really suit them!  

Their last name is Giardini which means “gardens” in Italian, I chose it because it goes along with the gardening / farming theme of their background.

Stella

I know I’ve explained this before but here’s the full story: It was a Friday evening in August, I poured myself a glass of Stella Rosa Black, my favorite red wine, and started playing Lucio’s route for the first time. I knew I wanted to make a new oc for his route because Beatrice would really hate Lucio, so the idea of Stella was born. I just thought it would be funny to have a character based off of alcohol, who lived at a vineyard, and I think the name Stella is very pretty. 

Willa

I debated naming her Willow for a while because I wanted her to have a nature themed name, but I decided I like the sound of Willa better. It’s a sort of delicate sounding name which fits her. I chose her last name Clary because Willa is Irish-coded (because of course, there’s no Ireland in the game lol), and I thought it sounded good with her first name!

07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)?

Beatrice

“Oh dear” is basically her catch phrase, she doesn’t curse much so it’s kind of her go to “oh no” phrase if something goes wrong. 

Freya

She has a very particular sigh that basically means she’s annoyed, she tries to keep her composure in front of people at all times so her annoyed sigh is the only sign she actively hates whoever she’s talking to.

Aster

She curses pretty much constantly but she throws in all sort of non-curse words, for example while fighting the Devil she turned to Asra and said “Fucking gumdrops my dude, this sucks!” which, although confusing, did make sense in the moment. She also says “oh worm” a lot ever since she heard Vlastomil say it. 

Cam

They have a very distinctive laugh which usually turns into snorts if they’re laughing super hard, which is pretty much always. 

Stella

She rolls her eyes a lot and says things like “Oh sure..” in a sarcastic tone of voice under her breath. You can’t blame her, she is dating Lucio after all which means she has to deal with him, and the courtiers, more than any one person should have to. 

Willa

Willa prides herself on being an “active listener” which means that if you’re telling her something she’ll be nodding her head and saying “Uh hu” to let you know that she’s listening. She also calls everyone “sweetie”.

27. If your character was going to get arrested, what would be the most likely reason for it?

Beatrice

“I would probably be arrested for aiding and abetting fugitives. I’ve met a lot of people at the Rowdy Raven who are supposed to be behind bars- but I’ll never tell.” 

Freya

“Tax evasion, money laundering, insider stock trading.. these are just examples of crimes not ones I’ve committed. I refuse to discuss this more without a lawyer present.” 

Aster

“It would probably be for the time I let all of the palace horses loose in the city streets.. or maybe when I accidentally set a building on fire.. or maybe from the time I helped pirates smuggle in certain illegal goods.. well let’s just say it’s a good thing Nadia granted me immunity :) ”  

Cam

“Hmmmm.. I stole a book once when I was a teenager, it was way overpriced and the merchant was super rude so I just took it when he wasn’t looking. The guilt has haunted me ever since...”

Stella

“I broke into Valerius’ house last weekend. It was for a valid reason, he stole something from my brother and I needed to get it back. Valerius called the guards but I just portalled out of there, he knows it was me but he can’t prove anything...” 

Willa

“I smuggled all of the vampire eels out of the city, they weren’t happy living in the canals! They need open water to thrive, everyone knows that!” 

[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

Six Baudelaires AU, Part Three: Reference Guide

A quick guide for everything I intentionally referenced in The Six Siblings, That’s Not How the Story Goes.

{ao3} {tumblr} {part one reference guide} {part two reference guide}

Without further ado…

Chapter One / Prologue - in which the Baudelaires get lost at the train station 

“We’re dead as heck.” Nick shrugged.

Considering the younger age of the children here, they use much lighter swear words.

Klaus had his hands over his ears, and he looked on the edge of tears. “It’s too loud! It’s too loud!” 

Klaus is overstimulated. 

They were in some kind of shoeshop, and a ginger man glanced at them. “Oh, hello!” he said. “Are you- where are your parents?” [...] “When did you see them last?” [...] “Why don’t you have some snacks? It’s all vegan, if-” 

The shoemaker that helps them out is Drumstick from File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, who is noted to have made money repairing shoes. 

“Lilac is almost-nine,” Klaus said, “And she’s got two braids cause she wants to be like Wednesday Addams on TV.” 

The Wednesday Addams reference should be obvious, though I should point out that Lilac wants to emulate the 1960s Wednesday, which is the one she’s seen on TV; the older show once again makes the time period ambiguous. 

“Oh my God.” Beatrice was saying. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” “Kids, are you alright?” Bertrand asked, the second they pulled away. “Did anything happen?” 

Pretty clearly, the Baudelaire parents were terrified that VFD had abducted their children while they were separated. 

“No! No, we’re gonna be fine!” Lilac said quickly. “We just need to find Klaus and Nick. I… I’ve gotta find them. I’m in charge. I’ve gotta find them-” 

Ah, Lilac’s already got Anxiety™.

Rest of the fic under the cut.

Chapter Two - in which Violet saves everyone’s asses

No major references in this chapter. 

Chapter Three - in which Sunny cusses quite a bit

“Their species can completely freeze over in cold temperatures.” Solitude assured him. “So they may stop moving, almost look dead, but they’ll be alright, and they’ll unfreeze when we get somewhere warm. We’ll have to catch them up on whatever happens.”

Babbitt’s based off of a wood frog, which do freeze in low temperatures. 

Also to note: by this point in the fanfiction, Solitude no longer uses babytalk, and instead speaks in full sentences. 

Chapter Four - in which the Baudelaires join the Snow Scouts

“Oh, yes.” Klaus said. “Those snow gnats behaved like Violent Frozen Dragonflies.” “Guys…” Nick whispered, but none of them heard him.

Nick is not a fan of VFD at this point, but his siblings are too busy trying to get help from this scout that they don’t immediately notice his discomfort. 

As her story continued, Nick pulled on Klaus’s sleeve, gesturing that he wanted to talk, but Klaus shook his head; the other Snow Scouts would notice them leaving.

Trying to tell Klaus something about VFD. 

“I mean it.” Nick shook his head. “Things can’t ever go back to the way they were. Even if one- or both- of our parents is up there, and they shove Olaf off a cliff and take us home… it’s not going to be the same. We… we know too much.” His siblings remained silent, processing this, as Nick wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “They won’t protect us.” 

Nick knows how VFD recruits its “volunteers”; his fear is that their parents are alive and consented to them being recruited, and will just turn them over to VFD. 

Chapter Five - in which Nick gets to climb something again 

She hmmed, brushing her bangs out of her face as she considered what she could make with all of this. 

Sunny already has long hair that she’ll need to tie back while thinking, like her big sisters. 

Sunny held out the mug of orange juice, and said, “Aurantiaco,” which meant, “Chip away at the juice until you have shavings, so I can make orange granita.” 

“Aurantiaco” is derived from the Latin adjective “aurantiacus”, meaning “orange.”

Chapter Six - in which Sunny makes a signal 

Quigley gave her a smile, and then looked back down, as the Baudeaires crowded around him- all except Lilac, who was still staring at the smoke. “Well, we’ll have to go back through the Vernacularly Fastened Door, down the Vertical Flame Diversion, hike the path the Snow Scouts are taking- and they might notice we’re gone by now so we’ll have to come up with some excuse, Duncan always said you could never go wrong with an exit pursued by a bear-” 

A reference to a famous stage direction from William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.

Chapter Seven - in which Lilac goes feral 

Nick bit his lip and pushed a charred novel back onto the shelf, before moving to scratch his arm.

TRIGGER WARNING: SELF HARM MENTION

Once again, Nick’s arm scratching occurs whenever Olaf or his troupe are mentioned. 

Klaus walked over, too, and he pulled his siblings into a hug. “We’ll protect each other.” he said. “Okay? No sacrificing ourselves, no kidnappings, no separations. No more.” 

Klaus really wants to make sure Lilac doesn’t try to trade herself, like she tried to do with Nick. 

“Lilac, seriously, I can’t breathe-” “Then suffocate.” 

A reference to the popular meme:

“We hate to interrupt!” came Lilac’s voice, and Violet and Quigley turned to see her and the twins run back into the kitchen, “But we found something!”

Lilac: Y’ALL BETTER NOT BE FLIRTING IN HERE

Chapter Eight - in which the Baudelaires raid the fridge 

Solitude looked up. “Sure, hon.”

A reference to the meme:

“I was making them an anniversary present- a map of all the places they’d traveled.” Quigley sighed. “And I never got to tell them that I don’t…” he hesitated, and then said, “I mean, Duncan and Isadora came out to them, but I never told them that whenever I was doing astronomy class and called myself a space ace…” Violet laughed, and Quigley flinched. “No, no, I’m not making fun of you, it’s a good pun, I’ll have to make sure Nick knows it.” 

Quigley and Nick are both asexual. 

“I think my parents found out when I told them I wanted to marry both Elizabeth and Darcy.” Violet smiled. “Lilac and Nick teased me about that for years. I don’t even know if they remember now.” Quigley stared at her. “Holy shit. Vi… I said the same thing.” 

A reference to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. 

Violet is bisexual, Quigley is biromantic.

Nick slid against a half-collapsed wall, screaming into his lap, hot tears springing to the edge of his eyes and streaming down his face. 

TRIGGER WARNING: PTSD, SELF-HARM

Nick goes away to have a panic attack without his siblings worrying about him; it’s also explained in this segment how his scratching is him desperately trying not to slip into a flashback. 

Chapter Nine - in which Lilac and Nick are very pissed off 

“Nocere!” Sunny said, which meant something like, “I’m alright, they haven’t done anything too bad.”

“Nocere” comes from the Latin verb “noceo”, meaning “to hurt.” 

“Uncus!” “The hook-handed man made it so I didn’t freeze.” 

“Uncus” is the Latin word for “hook.” 

And then she asked, “Senio?” which meant, “Where are the others?”

“Senio” is the Latin word for “six.”

“Nosra,” Sunny said, which meant, “A man with a beard but no hair and a woman with hair but no beard; they’re arsonists who burned down the Headquarters.” 

“Nosra” is “arson” spelled backwards. 

“Coquus.” Sunny said. “I can do that. There’s enough ingredients to make spinach rolls in the trunk, including an eggplant that’s about as big as I am.” 

“Coquus” is the Latin word for “cook.”

“I know, Vi! I know what they’ll do to her, what they’re probably already doing to her!” 

Obvious reference to Nick’s time as a captive, but subtler reference to the fact that Olaf tortured him with the information of what he’d do to each sibling in turn. 

“Yes, she is!” his voice broke. “I was helpless! I thought I wouldn’t be, but I was! And she’s a baby! I was almost thirteen!” Tears streamed down his face, as he pushed her again. “I was almost thirteen, and I was wrong!” 

Reference to a similar line spoken in every All the Wrong Questions book. 

Chapter Ten - in which Nick spills some Bitter Tea 

Title is a reference to Kit’s quote, “Tea should be as bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged sword.” 

“Sure.” Nick said. “We can be Volunteers who want to recruit our innocent little baby. They’ll believe that.” 

A reference to VFD recruitment tactics. 

“Isa had a huge collection of what me and Duncan called ‘goth poetry.’” Quigley said, smiling. “She likes to recite, too. Verbal stim.” 

Isadora (and all the Quagmires in my headcanons) is Autistic. Nick has ADHD and also stims with recitation. 

“It’s not. Snicket’s real. And he…” Nick shivered. “Let’s just say he’s definitely real. Maybe even still alive.” 

“He’s real and he fathered my oldest sister.”

That’s when they heard the crash, and Esme’s scream. They all fell silent for a second, and then Nick let Quigley go. 

An intentional combination of the Book version of this scene - where they decide to warn Esme- and the Netflix - where she traps herself. 

There was a flash of recognition, and then she smirked. “Well, well, well.” she said. “If it isn’t Beatrice’s little angel.” Nick’s hand flew to his necklace, as his glare intensified. “Fancy seeing you here, I thought you were supposed to be smashed at the bottom of the mountains.” 

Something Olaf called him in Chapter Fourteen of Part Two; Nick was very close to Beatrice, whom Olaf and Esme both despise, so you can bet they took a lot of their anger on her out on him. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Nick said. “I thought you were supposed to be somewhere in the second circle of hell, but I guess you can’t have everything, can you?” 

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle of hell is the circle of Lust. 

“Why he’s here doesn’t matter.” Nick said, and then he smiled very coldly and said, “What matters is you’re our hostage now, so I’d suggest you shut the fuck up and do what we tell you to do.” 

Was going to make this more obvious in the text but decided against it, so here’s a fun fact: this is something that was said to Nick during is captivity. He’s getting a lot of joy out of saying it to Esme. 

Chapter Eleven - in which Carmelita gets adopted

Nick took a deep breath, and then said, his voice breaking, “Don’t act like I don’t know what you’d do to her. If you have laid a single fucking hand on my sister, there will be hell to pay.”

Once again, a reference to Olaf torturing Nick with information on what he planned to do to the other Baudelaires. 

“Why are you recruiting us, too?” Colette asked, peering from the net. “We already work for you.” 

Changed from Fernald to Hugo, Colette and Kevin in order to explain their absence in TGG.

Esme glared at him. “We don’t need that ugly girl. Having an infant servant was fun.” 

TRIGGER WARNING: CSA MENTION

Esme knows about Olaf’s attraction to Lilac/Violet and is jealous, instead of being, you know, disgusted and horrified. 

Carmelita just smiled and gave Esme a hug. She turned towards Olaf, starting forwards, and just then, Nick thrust Solitude into Violet’s arms and raced ahead of her, pushing her back. 

Even though Nick hates Carmelita, he doesn’t want her suffering like he did. 

Chapter Twelve - in which Lilac is a Disaster Lesbian

“No- she can curl up inside a diving helmet! Aye! The helmets have a tiny door on the neck just for such a purpose! Aye! I’ve seen it done!” 

Though this doesn’t happen in-fic, this did happen in the original book lol. 

“Actually,” Nick sighed, laying his head on Klaus’s shoulder as Soli wriggled around to try and get a good view of the captain, “He’s the researcher, I’m an… well, I…” 

Nick’s having an identity crisis brought on by the PTSD; he’s not sure who he is anymore.

“Come on, Lilac will be fine in a minute.” Nick said, elbowing Klaus. “She just needs to time to adjust. You know. Like Sappho.” 

Sappho - a famous lesbian poet. 

Chapter Thirteen - in which I bang my head against a table because I have to pay attention to Widdershins 

“No, no, we do!” Fiona looked ecstatic, and Lilac let out a squeal as Fiona grabbed her hands. “One of our previous crewmembers, the one who later turned out to be stealing information on VFD headquarters, she stockpiled a shitton- oh, sorry, I mean a lot of coffee.”

The “spy” may-or-may-not have been an anti-VFD Ellington Feint... 

“Now, I’m sure you have lots of questions.” Fiona said as they walked.  “Definitely.” Nick said. “Number one, how d-” 

A reference to the meme/quote from “The Office” (US) 4x11: 

Chapter Fourteen - in which the Baudelaires encounter a Great Unknown

“Let Violet work on the wheel,” Klaus suggested, “And maybe Fiona can help Lilac with the telegraph.”

These kids are gonna get Lilac a girlfriend if it kills them. 

“Don’t worry,” the captain replied, “We’ll find a spouse for the others, too! Aye! Perhaps we’ll find your long-lost brother, Fiona! He’s much older, of course, and he’s been missing for years, but if Klaus can locate the Sugar Bowl he can probably find him! Aye! He’s a charming man, so one of the girls would probably fall in love with him, and then we could have a double wedding! Aye! Right here in the main hall of the Queequeg! Aye! I would be happy to officiate! Aye!” “Okay, well,” Nick said, as everyone stared at each other incredibly uncomfortably and he finally made his way to stand beside Klaus, “That’s not going to happen, for a number of reasons. First of all-” 

First of all, Klaus is gay.

Second of all, Fiona is gay. 

Third of all, Lilac and Fiona are the ones flirting. 

Fourth, everyone’s too young to get married. 

Fifth, Nick is aromantic. 

Sixth, “your older long-lost brother” is not a good phrase to throw around to a group of children who’ve been trying to escape a man who tried to marry Lilac. 

Seventh, your children are not fucking prizes to hand out???

Eighth, what the fuck dude. 

Chapter Fifteen - in which Lilac and Fiona are Gay as Hell 

“I mean, you could call them King stropharia. I just like the scientific names. They’re fun to say.” “Oh, that’s completely valid.” Lilac smiled. “I learned Russian when I was younger just because the boys read Anna Karenina and all the names were fun to say.”

Autistic verbal stims!!

“Lentinula Edodes.” Fiona said, smiling at some fungus growing on a hardwood log. “Also known as Shiitake Mushrooms.” “Shiitake?” “Don’t start.” Fiona giggled. 

It sounds vaguely like “shit.”

Lilac and Fiona returned to the dorms very late, arms linked together as they chatted about a book they’d both enjoyed, about another sugar bowl whose contents were actually very well known.

A reference to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

Nick, meanwhile, was passed out on a chair near the door, almost having fallen over; Lilac recognized this position quickly, from the many times he and Klaus or Violet would sit at the bottom of the stairs waiting for their parents to come home late at night. “He was waiting for us.”

Nick was waiting up to talk to Lilac, probably to tell her about the Snicket Thing. 

She carried him to a bunk, lowering him onto it. “Go back to being five years old, okay?” Lilac whispered, reaching over to grab a blanket. “We’ll lock you in the closet again and then make ice cream towers.” 

“Lock you in the closet” is a reference to the one-shot. 

Ice Cream towers are a reference to the prologue of part two.

Lilac sighed and pulled the blanket over him. “You’ll be okay. You want me to sing?” 

All the references to Lilac singing someone to sleep are reference to the song “Asleep”, performed by Emily Browning, Movie!Violet’s actress. 

“Good or bad cry?” Lilac shut her eyes. “Both.” she admitted. 

Chef’s Salad. 

Chapter Sixteen - in which the Crew goes swimming 

They heard what sounded like a very suspicious watery noise, and Nick said, “If this submarine is flooding, I’ll take one for the team and die first.”

Reference to this line from Part One, Chapter Four: “Do you think if one of us died, the rest’d get transferred somewhere else?” Nick asked, hanging upside-down from the rotting couch. “I’ll take one for the team.”

“Nobody’s dying.” Lilac sighed, not looking him in the eye. 

Nick’s lowkey suicidal remark scared her quite a bit. 

“How about some of us stay here and do more research,” Violet suggested, squeezing Nick’s hand, “And the rest of us look for the Sugar Bowl? I can stay with Nick and try to work with the submarine. Nick, maybe you can dig through books and see if you can find anything on the Gorgonian Grotto, or the Great Unknown, and read it to me while I work.” [...] He’d found something that seemed to be filed under the Great Unknown, but it was probably misfiled as it just talked about a tearoom and a roadster. 

Probably my most blatant reference to Movie!Klaus’s actor, Liam Aiken, narrating the All the Wrong Questions audiobooks. 

“Ekab!” Sunny said, which meant, “I can stay here and cook!” 

“Ekab” is “bake” spelled backwards. 

“I’m sure someone did, aye.” Widdershins waved his hand. “Whoever got assigned the job. Perhaps R, or her daughter, they may have been nearby at the time. Or Larry, aye! We weren’t told about who was in charge of you, just that we needed to document information and track the Sugar Bowl!” 

A reference to Jacquelyn (the Duchess of Winnipeg, making her either R or her daughter) and Larry Your-Waiter following the Baudelaires in the Netflix series. 

“Don’t you worry, Nicholas! Everything’s for the Greater Good!"

While Widdershins usually calls him Nick, he slips up here, much like Poe always does; Nick hates being referred to as Nicholas. 

“Besides, VFD wouldn’t abandon you! Aye! You’d be a great volunteer! You’re a dedicated researcher! Aye! You’re a saint! Aye! You’re an angel! Aye! You’re a-” Nick stared at him in horror, and then said, “I have to go!” and took off running. 

Nick was already put on edge by this victim-blaming conversation,  the revelation that multiple people could’ve helped him, his siblings leaving, the VFD cult stuff, and Widdershins’s constant bullshit, but the use of the word “angel” sets him off the edge; it reminds him too much of being referred to as “Beatrice’s Little Angel.” 

“Okay, so, I found a box of rubber bands.” Lilac sighed, sitting atop a chest. “And half a gun, a broken mirror, what might be a microphone, and a scattered notebook with sketches of some kind of snake.” Solitude peered over her shoulder, her arms full of bottles. “I don’t recognize it.” she said sadly. “Also, it’s not a snake. It’s got legs, see there?” 

Lilac found sketches of the Bombinating Beast. 

Chapter Seventeen - in which Violet doodles 

“Precisely.” Lilac said. “It’s something that’s not a choice at all. Our Mother used to give us Hobson’s Choices. She’d say, ‘Lilac, you can dust the furniture, or I can play polka music all night.’”

A reference to Lemony Snicket’s dislike of polka music in File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents. 

“She’d do that with the others, too.” Lilac recalled. “Violet could clean her room or we’d stand in the doorway and sing Row Your Boat, and Nick could be nice to guests or be made to read that third book about those kids in a maze, and Sunny could have a bath or a pink dress.” 

A reference to The Maze Runner: The Death Cure by James Dashner. I hated the entire series, but the third book was the worst. 

TRIGGER WARNING: Following references for Chapter Seventeen discuss Nick’s self-harm in detail.

She ran a hand over her ponytail, and then she said, “Nick, I will be right back, but you have to promise not to lock the door.” 

She is scared he’ll lock her out and continue self-harming. 

As soon as she was out of Nick’s sightline, she buried her head in her hands, struggling to remain calm. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Help him now, freak out later. You need to help, Vi. Just keep moving. 

Violet knows freaking out in front of Nick will just make him feel worse

Do the scary thing first, get scared later. 

“No come in!” Sunny shouted. “Surprise!” 

Sunny’s preparing Violet’s cake. 

“Nodnaba,” Sunny said, and Violet heard her sliding from the counter. “He and Widdershins stepped out a moment; they’ll be back soon.” 

“Nodnaba” is “abandon” spelled backwards. 

Widdershins and Phil have “stepped out”, and either right now or very soon will be abandoning ship. 

“Crayola,” Sunny said, which meant, “There’s a whole box of markers right here, for writing labels on cannisters. Can you bring them back when you’re done?” 

Very obvious reference to Crayola art supplies.

“Alzatadispalle,” Sunny said, which meant, “Eh, fine, I don’t care about this submarine much anyway.” 

“Alzata di spalle” is Italian for a shrug. 

But she swirled the marker- a light blue color- around her brother’s arm, until there was just a jumble of color. Then, an idea finally coming to her, she took a black marker and drew some squiggles above it, mirroring the shape of their Uncle’s prized snake, the Incredibly Deadly Viper. It felt like a lifetime since they’d seen him.

A reference to Ink swimming through the sea at the end.  

Violet took his hands, squeezing them softly. “When you feel… feel like you want to scratch without an itch, I want you to take these markers and draw where you… where you want to hurt. Do that instead. It should help. And if it doesn’t, I want you to tell me, okay?” 

This is a legitimate coping mechanism for self-harm; drawing on skin with pens or markers. 

Violet waited until he met her eyes, and she admitted, “About two years ago, I asked Father why he had pen drawings on his arm.” 

Bertrand dealt with depression and self-harming tendencies, as well. Violet was the only kid who knew, and only because she asked. 

Chapter Eighteen - in which Solitude catches a cold

“I found a newspaper scrap.” Lilac said. “I, uh, read a bit. Maybe we could discuss what we’ve read while we eat.”

She read the stuff about Fernald starting the fire. 

“Like… ‘poached egg’ means ‘half the battle.’” Klaus said. “Remember when Nick used that metaphor and we punched him for it?” 

A reference to a tangent Lemony went on in this section of The Grim Grotto. 

Soli nodded, passing Klaus the wasabi and Lilac two cannisters, and soon they put on their diving helmets, suiting up for their return journey. Solitude hmmed as Fiona helped her put her helmet back on, saying, “Sand’s inside, I think.” 

The spores.

“Senso-orario,” Sunny said, which meant something like, “I fell asleep in the kitchen, and when I woke up, Phil and Widdershins still hadn’t returned, and now I can’t find them anywhere.” 

“In Senso orario” is an Italian term for “clockwise.” “Widdershins” means “counterclockwise.” 

Chapter Nineteen - in which Olaf is a dick

“Ha ha ha heepa-heepa ho!” came a villainous laugh from the hallway, and within a few moments, Count Olaf entered, dressed in a similar suit of slippery material, only with a portrait of Edgar Guest instead of Herman Melville. “Tee hee tort tort tort!” “No, no,” Violet looked up, giving him a glare. “Don’t do that.”

A reference to me not wanting to write Olaf’s villain laughter for like three chapters.

He stepped closer, putting a hand on Fiona’s chin. Lilac gasped and ran forwards, slapping his arm away. “You must be Fiona.” he said. “Why, you’re all grown up! The last time I saw you, I was trying to throw thumbtacks into your cradle.”  Nick shot up his head, giving Olaf a glare that could have killed him. “Get away from her!” 

OLAF 👏 IS 👏 A 👏 CREEP

Lilac and Violet glanced at each other, and then around, trying to spot an escape route. This, however, was a mistake; Olaf figured out very quickly what they were planning, and before they could do anything, he reached forwards and ripped Nick out of Klaus’s grasp. 

Once again, Olaf knows the kind of effect he has on Nick, and how protective of him the others are, and uses this to his advantage. 

“My henchperson will simply torture the information out of you.” He smirked down at Nick, who was shaking uncontrollably. “Isn’t that right?” Nick didn’t respond, barely keeping himself from sobbing. 

Nick’s been captured again, with his siblings. Olaf is taunting him, heavily implying that he’s going to follow through on his threat to torture Nick’s siblings in front of him before killing him. 

“Umore,” Sunny said, which roughly translated to, “God, that’s a mood.” 

“Umore” is an Italian word for “mood.” 

“What did we tell you, you little beast?” she hissed. “You can’t get away from us.” 

Most of Nick’s worst trauma came from “punishments” from when he tried to escape, which is why he panics whenever they’re about to be caught. 

“Holy fuck,” said a girl at the oars, “What the hell is wrong with you all?” 

Not really a reference but I just want to point out that none of these recruits have any context for this so they’re probably just. seeing all these crazy shits saying whatever they want 

“I’m getting tired of this.” Olaf said, waving his sword and gesturing at Nick. “You all get to see the first brig, it’s deluxe, as it comes with a noose. I think we should put this one in the second brig for-” 

A reference to Netflix’s The Vile Village: Part Two. 

“I think,” Olaf said, pressing his sword against Nick’s throat, “We should put those two little rebels in with our little Nick.” Nick finally started to cry, tears streaming down his face as he almost collapsed, and Violet shouted, “You bastard! Leave them alone!” 

Once again, Olaf’s planning on following through on the threats that scared Nick so badly. Violet, the only one who knows about what Olaf threatened him with, is the first to start panicking. 

Chapter Twenty - in which Lilac leads a jailbreak 

The title itself is a reference to Chapter Sixteen of Part One: in which Solitude leads a jailbreak. 

Her younger brother finally pulled away, but only to run off to the corner of the small brig, where he leaned over and vomited onto the floor, barely keeping his own balance. Lilac jumped to her feet and dragged him towards the wall, as he shook more and clung to her arm. [...] Nick shuddered beside her, and he finally choked out, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” 

Nick knows exactly what Olaf’s threatening, and he’s falling back into a pure traumatized state; he doesn’t think they can escape, he thinks he’s going to die while Olaf torments his siblings, and nothing is going to stop him. 

“I…” Lilac slid onto a hard bench, where Nick sat beside her and refused to stop clinging to her side. “I glanced at the locks on our way in. They’re ordinary enough pin-tumbler locks, so- hold on a moment. Nick, Nick, please-” 

A reference to a repeated phrase in When Did You See Her Last?

And then Lilac quietly sang, “Pretty when the window blows, I love my tree in autumn… Like I love my tree in summer, like I love my tree in winter… They put me in a room, and I thought of you in autumn…” She shut her eyes, humming the next line, and then she picked up again. Fiona kept working on the lock, and Nick kept clinging to Lilac, terrified to let go, and she kept singing. “Pretty when you sing me a new song in autumn, or a new song in winter, or a new song in summer…” 

The song is “Pretty When The Wind Blows”, sung by Emily Browning, Movie!Violet’s actress. 

The line she hums is one that would definitely not cheer Nick up - “And I’m sad I won’t see you again.” 

Violet leapt in front of her siblings, and Klaus reached out to grab Sunny, who honestly didn’t look too worried. 

Sunny is friends with Fernald, she knows he won’t do anything to them. 

“We could pretend the Great Unknown showed up and is about to eat everyone.” Violet said. “I’m sorry, do you have a small black statue that can imitate its call?” Fernald said. “Why would I-” 

A reference to Violet and Klaus’s escape in Netflix’s The Grim Grotto: Part Two.  

A reference to the Bombinating Beast statue from All the Wrong Questions.

“Smelled like horseradish.” Sunny nodded. 

Sunny, the chef, would remember.

Chapter Twenty-One - in which Fiona is Volatile 

“I-” Nick stuttered. “I know TS Eliot.”  “Macavity,” Sunny said, which meant, “Wasn’t that from your musical phase?”

A reference to a song/character from Cats the Musical, based on a poetry book by TS Eliot.  

“I’ll make this simple.” Olaf smiled. “I could torture you until you tell me, or we can trade information- or a lack of information, if you so prefer.” Then, in a sickly sweet voice, he called, “Nick?”  [...] “We don’t make deals with bastards.” Lilac crossed her arms. Olaf smirked, eyeing her in a way that made her incredibly uncomfortable. “Interesting choice of words, my dear Lilac.” Nick sat up, horrified, as Olaf took a step closer to his oldest sister, and then he shouted, “It’s in the kitchen!” 

TRIGGER WARNING: CSA MENTION

Nick is terrified of Olaf hurting/assaulting Lilac, as well as outing her as Snicket’s daughter to everyone. 

Sunny sighed and said, “Cruciatu,” which meant, “Can they kill us now?” 

“Cruciatu” comes from the latin verb “crucio”, meaning “to torture.” 

“I’ll be fine. If we get caught, we have a potential escape plan that involves a seaside town, a train, and a vineyard.” Fiona said. “And releasing a bunch of wild new recruits to perform chaos.” 

Firstly, a reference to the Thistle of the Valley train that goes out of Stain’d-by-the-Sea.

Secondly, a reference to Netflix’s The Grim Grotto: Part Two. 

As she moved slowly towards the controls, Violet at her heels, Nick curled up on his chair, and he whispered to himself, “But they were fucked up in their turn, by fools in old-style hats and coats… who half the time were soppy-stern…” He hugged Solitude very close, shutting his eyes and trying not to think about everyone who had left. “And half at one another’s throats.” 

The poem later recited by Olaf in The End - “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin. 

“Mr Poe,” Klaus said, looking from the taxi to Poe, “Have you ever heard of a Hobson’s choice?” 

“You can either get in the taxi, or go with Mr Poe.”

The woman smiled at Lilac, as if she’d asked the right question. 

Another All the Wrong Questions reference. 

Chapter Twenty-Two - in which Kit cannot drive

“So,” Nick said, kicking his feet and glancing down at Soli, “Are we in agreement that we are ‘fucked’, a word which here means, ‘holy shit’?”

Obvious reference to Lemony Snicket’s way of defining words. 

They looked to each other, thinking hard. “Well,” Lilac finally said, “In the few minutes we’ve known her, Kit Snicket has broken at least nine safety laws, driven into a hedge, and seems intent on recruiting us to spy for a secret organization.” “I like her.” Violet decided. “Me, too.” Klaus added. “Same!” Sunny said. 

A reference to similar lines in Netflix’s The Penultimate Peril: Part One. 

“Mother said she purchased it during intermission.” Lilac said. “She said it was the most interesting time she’d ever had at the opera, and she never wanted to forget it.” “I’m sure it was interesting.” Nick muttered, curling up a little.

Nick knows about the murder.

She moved behind Lilac, tying back her hair for her. “You look just like your father.” Kit sighed, not noticing the flinch Nick made as he reached for some food to pass to Soli. [...] “Really?” Lilac asked, smiling a little. She’d never told that she looked like her parents. 

She looks like Lemony.

Violet and Nick shared a quiet look, one that their siblings didn’t quite understand, but the two of them read perfectly.

Violet and Nick, after Widdershins’s shit, are very anti-VFD. 

“That’s fine.” Lilac assured her, reaching for a cup. “I like my coffee bitter.” “That is surprising.” Kit said absent-mindedly, still looking through papers.

Considering Lilac is Lemony’s daughter, and Lemony doesn’t like coffee (All the Wrong Questions), this comes as a surprise to Kit.

“That’s why you’ll be together.” Kit said, putting her hand gently over Nick’s. “I’ve received reports on your progress, Baudelaires, and while I haven’t been able to reach you, I have seen that you take care of your own.” [...] Kit gave them all a reluctant and sad smile, and then repeated, almost to herself, “You Baudelaires take care of your own.”

A reference to a line from When Did You See Her Last?: “We Snickets take care of our own.” 

Chapter Twenty-Three - in which the Baudelaires enter the Hotel Denouement 

Nick bit his lip, thinking about everything. VFD. The secrets. The Sugar Bowl. That reminded him of a book Lilac read him. “We’ll live on the moon.” he said quietly, his voice almost blank. “And we’ll have flying horses.” God, he wished he was still young enough to believe that.

A direct reference to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

When it was time to go in, Klaus and Lilac immediately threw their hands over their ears.

Overstimulation. 

Exactly six bells were ringing- the extra bell, 371, 547, 674, 781 and 954. 

371 - Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Education and Social Sciences. 

547 - DDC for Organic Chemistry; Colette’s mission involves her sneaking in here. 

674 - DDC for Lumber processing. 

781 - DDC for Jazz is 781.65; Ellington’s career has something to do with jazz.  

954 - DDC for India and neighboring countries; it’s an Indian restaurant. 

Chapter Twenty-Four - in which the first three bells ring 

The woman smiled, and while Lilac did not recognize the white coat or black uniform underneath, she did recognize the woman standing in front of her, even though she wasn’t bending in any unusual positions. [...] “You see, I am a brilliant chemist, as you can tell from my outfit, but I’m afraid some of these fumes have gone to my head, and I’m having trouble recognizing some words here.” 

A reference to Cleo Knight, the brilliant chemist from All the Wrong Questions, who only wears black-and-white to honor the family ink business. 

“I told you they’d judge us.” Kevin said. “I should’ve just called up my old gangmate.” “She wouldn’t have gotten here in time, she lives on the other side of-” Hugo began. 

A reference to the theory that Kevin is Kevin Old from File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents; his “gangmate” would be Florence Smith, who had a special interest in reading and thus have a large vocabulary. 

Lilac narrowed her eyes. She recognized the chemical compounds- her and Violet had gone through a celebrity crush phase on a chemist about three or four years before- but she was having trouble figuring out what they combined into. “What is this for?” 

Another reference to Cleo Knight. 

He doodled the shape of a pegasus on his arm, beside the moon. He remembered that book. What else had Merricat thought would be on the moon? Rose petals. He could draw roses next. 

Once again, a direct reference to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

“Can I help you, concierge?” Hal asked. “Um.” Nick froze a moment, panic clutching his chest. You’ve been caught! You’ve been caught! You’ve been caught! 

Once again, Nick is immediately put into a panic by being caught, due to his trauma from his captivity. 

Chapter Twenty-Five - in which the next three bells are answered 

The door swung open just as Klaus stepped back, and he saw Charles exit, blinking over at him in a bathrobe. “Sorry,” he said, “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to call someone just to take me down the hall, but my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, and I’ve recently developed a phobia of optometrists.”

This entire scene is based on a scene that had to be deleted from the Netflix adaptation due to Rhys Darby (Charles) being stranded because of a hurricane during filming. It can be read here. 

“Don’t step on the crack, or you’ll fall and break your back!” Soli sang, laughing a little as she jumped down to Room 781, trying to imitate Babbitt’s hops.

While this is a slight variation on a popular children’s game song, it’s specifically a reference to the scene between Ducky and Littlefoot in The Land Before Time.

The woman looked at her very, very carefully, and then said, “It’s alright. That’s a fake, anyway.” “Fake what?” Solitude turned to look at the statue, as the woman knelt to put it back. “It looks like a snake, but there are those little claw-shapes there, suggesting hands.” “Well, it’s a replica, made by my foster-brother-in-law’s sister-in-law. Just in case we need to switch out.” “Switch out what?” The woman glanced down at Solitude, smiling and brushing the young girl’s hair back; it had fallen a little from her hat. “It’s a long story, and you probably have work to do. I’m sure you have more important things to get to.” 

The woman is clearly Ellington Feint from All the Wrong Questions; she is still very into Jazz music (hence her room), and may-or-may-not have access to the Bombinating Beast statue. 

Her foster-brother-in-law (Kellar)’s sister-in-law is Ornette Lost, implying Ornette married Lizzie Haines. 

Solitude blinked. This woman couldn’t know her; Soli didn’t recognize anything about her, except the record currently playing. She hesitated, and then pointed to the record, saying, “That’s a pretty song.” The woman smiled slightly. “It is, isn’t it? Do you know the name?” “Do you?” 

The song is “Solitude” by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong; aka Ellington’s song in All the Wrong Questions. 

“Really?” the woman sighed. “Okay, sweetheart, you run along. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to find my wife before she can fistfight Geraldine Julienne in the lobby.” 

Her wife is Moxie Mallahan, a journalist who would definitely get kicked out of the hotel for fighting Geraldine Julienne. 

“Plumber,” Sunny said, which meant, “Yeah, but she writes those shitty articles from The Daily Punctilio about us, so she deserves it.”  “I thought that was Ms Poe.” Soli said confusedly. 

A reference to Katherine Plumber, the journalist from the musical Newsies.

A reference to Eleanora Poe and Geraldine Julienne being combined into one character in the Netflix adaptation. 

“Klaus Louis Baudelaire, are you suggesting that we have not been having a good time?” Nick said. 

Klaus’s middle name is taken from his actor, Louis Hynes.

“I mean,” Nick said, considering, “The whole ‘VFD’ thing totally explains that weird-ass letter they sent us from Europe.” “What?” Lilac narrowed her eyes. “You remember?” Nick said. “When they went to Europe for, like, two weeks, and sent us that fucked-up letter about how they loved us and that even if life sucked we’d always have each other and all that bullshit?” Lilac, Violet and Klaus groaned. “Oh, fuck, you’re right!” Klaus said. “That makes so much sense now.” Lilac said. 

A reference to “The Letter That Never Came” scene from the 2004 film. 

Chapter Twenty-Six - in which the harpoon is fired

The Baudelaires sighed, and then Nick said, “Yeah, a little suspicious, isn’t it? Your parents burned to death the same night VFD saw fit to drag you all out.”

Highkey reference to the theory that Volunteers kill the parents who don’t want to give their children up for recruitment. 

Violet nodded grimly, while Lilac and Klaus gave Nick careful looks, and Solitude and Sunny gasped quietly. Dewey scanned him with his eyes. “You would get along with Ernest.” he said finally. 

The implication here is that Ernest joined the firestarters partially due to speculation about their parents’ murder, or at the very least, Ernest is incredibly critical of the way VFD is run.  

“You can’t rely on associates.” Count Olaf said. “More comrades have failed me than I can count. Why, Hooky and what’s-her-face double-crossed me just yesterday and let you brats escape, and then stole my submarine!” “Good for her.” Sunny said, almost unfazed, too furious at Olaf to feel much fear at the moment. 

A reference to the meme from Arrested Development:

“How do you know us?” Lilac asked, putting an arm around Violet. The man looked at her sadly. “That’s the wrong question.”

A reference to All the Wrong Questions. 

Chapter Twenty-Seven - in which Nick finally spills 

“Diviso?” Sunny asked, which meant, “What if they try to split us up?” 

“Diviso” is a Latin adjective meaning “divided.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight - in which Everything Goes to Shit 

The title is a reference to many of my other fanfictions: In the Stranger Things Superhero AU fic Shatter: Pirouette in the Dark, Chapter Nine was titled “Everything Goes to Shit”, and Chapter Thirty was titled “I already used the title ‘Everything goes to shit’ but I need to use it again”, and people thought that was so funny that it became a running joke in basically all of my fics. 

“Lilac Emily Baudelaire.” “Violet Malina Baudelaire.” “Nick Liam Baudelaire.” “Klaus Louis Baudelaire.” “Solitude Theodora Baudelaire.” “Sunday Theo-dora Bau’elaire!”

The first four children have their middle names from their original actors- Emily Browning, Malina Weissman, Liam Aiken and Louis Hynes.

Solitude and Sunny’s middle names are both Theodora, to further confuse people as to what the S stands for. See: S Theodora Markson, All the Wrong Questions

Nick took a moment to respond. “E-Explorer?” 

Identity crisis! Getting a bit better though. 

“He murdered…” Lilac bit her lip. “He murdered Jacques Snicket!” 

Lilac’s realizing here that that was her uncle. 

They all turned to look at Olaf, who didn’t even look uncomfortable. They wanted him to be uncomfortable. They wanted him to be scared. 

A reference to a line from Shouldn’t You Be In School?: Someone cleared their throat and we both looked back at a tall, masked figure, watching us calmly. Too calmly, I thought. I wanted him worried.

Sunny and Soli were crying, too. “Audit,” Sunny said, meaning, “People never listen to children.” 

“Audit” comes from the Latin verb “audio”, meaning “to listen.” 

They stood up, with Nick lifting Solitude and Violet moving to lift Sunny, and then they walked back together, holding their heads high and ignoring the stares and whispers and chills. They sat again in the front row, still holding onto each other and refusing to let go. 

“Bene?” Sunny asked. “Is that good?”

“Bene” is the Latin word for “good.”

The elevator shot down to the basement, and as it did, Nick and Violet leapt onto Olaf, pummeling him with their fists and trying to rip Justice Strauss away. Olaf shouted, and Lilac and Klaus immediately jumped help, managing to pull Justice Strauss out of his grip as Soli and Sunny screeched and started biting at his ankles, with Babbitt jumping over to the judge so they didn’t get squashed. The siblings had been waiting for this a long while, and they weren’t going to waste time. 

a reference to the original shitpost that inspired this au. 

Chapter Twenty-Nine - in which Sunny turns to Arson 

“Alexandria,” Sunny said, which meant, “Unless she has a backup, you son of a bitchass motherfucker.”

A reference to the Library of Alexandria. 

Chapter Thirty - in which the Baudelaires have had ENOUGH

“And the only fucking reason,” Lilac said, sitting up and grimacing as her stomach wound flared up, “That we haven’t thrown you overboard already is that we might need bait to catch larger fish to eat.”

A slight reference to “Shipwrecked” by The Gothic Archies, which was inspired by The End. 

“Cazzo,” Sunny said, which meant, “Which won’t be long, dickhead.” 

“Cazzo” is an Italian curse word.

Chapter Thirty-One - in which Nick is not taking Ishmael’s bullshit 

“You cannot force me to wear white.” Lilac said.

A reference both to Lilac being incredibly goth, and to her trauma from the Marvelous Marriage, where she was forced into a wedding dress. 

Nick said. “Listen up, you- someone cover Friday’s ears.” Klaus reached forwards and slammed his hands over Friday’s ears. “Alright. Listen up, you bitchass motherfucker.”

I’VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS A BITCHASS MOTHERFUCKER-

“I was drugged up once, it’s not fun.” 

I left this to be interpreted in separate ways: one, like Duncan guessed in Part Two: Chapter Twenty, Nick was drugged as part of his torture. Two, like Klaus said in Chapter Twenty-Four, Classical Literature Camp was wild. 

“Yeah, it’s not.” Violet agreed. 

Reference to her being drugged in The Hostile Hospital. 

Chapter Thirty-Two - in which the Baudelaires make camp 

“I feel like we weren’t supposed to do that.” Violet said, as they walked away from the beach.

A reference to me going very off-book. 

Sunny nodded, as they placed them in front of her. “Crusoe,” Sunny said, which meant, “We can drink the milk inside, so long as we don’t allow it to ferment, and I can make us toasted coconut flakes, if you give me some room around the fire.” 

A reference to Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

“Sandstone,” Sunny said, meaning, “Can someone get me something like a bowl?” 

A reference to her first line in the Netflix series: “Can you find a rock that’s not sandstone?” 

They were silent again, and then Lilac said, “Um, speaking- speaking of hard things to tell- oh.” 

She was going to tell them about her biological father. 

Nick’s face fell. “You’re right, we don’t wanna kidnap.” 

Don’t wanna emulate VFD.

Chapter Thirty-Three - in which the Baudelaires begin to heal 

“Wait.” Friday narrowed her eyes. “Bears don’t live on beaches.” “I know!” Klaus laughed. “Shakespeare had no geographical knowledge whatsoever.”

Once again, a reference to a famous stage direction from William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.

“Yeet!” Violet shouted, as she threw herself beside her siblings, and after a second, Lilac flopped over, too. 

A reference to the vine/meme. 

Chapter Thirty-Four - in which Friday goes off-book 

“Kit Snicket?” Lilac shouted. “No, Kit Kittredge.” Solitude sighed.

A reference to the American Girl doll, Kit Kittredge.

Friday sighed and stood up, taking a few steps forwards. She looked at her mother, and her mother’s outstretched arms, and then out at the crowd. Watching her. Waiting for her to listen. And then she stepped back. “No,” she said. “No, I don’t think so.” 

A quick rundown of Friday’s mentality here. 

Chapter Thirty-Five - in which the Baudelaires plan a mutiny 

Klaus nodded. “Cinderella. East of the Sun and West of the Moon. The Juniper Tree. Little Match Girl- might skip that one, actually. Do you want to try to read it?”

Skipping “The Little Match Girl” because she dies at the end. 

“Suit yourself.” said Olaf. “But you know what? I bet those islanders won’t let you back onto Olaf-Land, now that you’ve recruited one of their own.” 

Intentional use of the word “recruit” here, just to taunt them. 

Chapter Thirty-Six - in which we go surprisingly more off-book 

“I know this.” Nick was the first one to move, stepping towards a tall fish statue, the red paint slightly peeling. He shook quite a bit as he ran a hand over it, and Klaus rushed over to put an arm around him. “We were trapped in here. How… how did we fit in here? Klaus, how did we fit?”

A reference to the fact the Red Herring statue can be seen in the arboretum in the Netflix adaptation. 

Nick turned to Klaus, eyes wide. “We did fit? We were in here? I didn’t make that up?”

A very lowkey reference to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson; Uncle Julian sometimes doubts the traumatic arsenic incident that paralyzed him and killed the rest of the family really happened. 

Chapter Thirty-Seven - in which Lilac has a costume change 

“Why would I-” Violet asked as Lilac grabbed a knife, drew it up to one of her braids, and chopped it off. Violet leapt to her feet and gasped, while Nick’s dropped his marker in shock. Soli and Sunny let out tiny shrieks, as Friday stared and Klaus said, “Lilac!” “I need to think.” Lilac said, and she grabbed another braid and chopped it off. “And this hair is getting in my way!” “Lilac-” Klaus started forwards, but she held up a hand to stop him, and then grabbed her loose hair and started cutting. Her braids fell to the floor of the tree, as she kept cutting to get rid of the strands that could reach her face. Within a few moments, her hair was cut even shorter than the boys’, with only a small, thin braid on the side of her head.

Firstly, a reference to the fact the dramatic haircut is my favorite trope of all time. 

Secondly, specifically and heavily inspired by the scene in IT: Chapter One when Beverly Marsh cuts her hair. 

“Oh, fuck yeah! Deus ex Rana to the rescue!” Klaus said, rushing over first. 

“Rana” is the Latin word for “frog.” 

Chapter Thirty-Eight - in which the Medusoid causes a ruckus 

“Hey!” Lilac shouted, stepping forwards. “What in the nine circles of hell is going on here?”

A reference to Dante’s Inferno. 

“So are you, my dear.” Olaf said. He eyed her with his shiny eyes. “Why’d you do that to your hair? It makes you look much less pretty.” 

Unfortunately, another reference to Beverly’s haircut in IT: Chapter One: this was the response it elicited from her abusive father. 

Chapter Thirty-Nine - in which man hands on misery to man 

Solitude looked to her, narrowing her eyes, a seemingly insignificant memory floating back to her. “Question mark.” she said, “Beast.”

When she realizes some stuff about Ellington’s statue. 

Kit looked at her, and Lilac saw in her eyes that her choice not to take the apple had nothing to do with her child. 

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE 

It’s often theorized in canon, and confirmed in this fic, that Kit was suicidal, which was why she decided not to take the apple.

Chapter Forty - in which the Baudelaires go on together 

“We didn’t.” Sunny said, putting a hand on Lilac’s leg. “We have each other.”

A callback to “We lost everything.” “Except each other.” 

“We don’t need to escape.” Violet said. She turned to Lilac. “Do you remember that musical, based on that movie, based on that movie, based on that book-”

The song they proceed to sing, “Finale”, is from the musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is based on the Disney movie, which takes a lot of inspiration from the 1939 film, which was based on the Victor Hugo novel.

Also I made a gifset with those lyrics and I’m still very proud of it. 

“I know.” Violet nodded. “I… I guess we can’t lock you in the closet anymore, huh?” Her smile only lasted a few seconds. “I’m sorry. Just trying to cheer you up.” 

A reference to the one-shot. 

They never told Bea she had the same shine in her eyes as her father. She didn’t need to know. 

Bea is biologically Olaf’s daughter. 

Solitude found all the herpetology books, which Klaus and Friday read to her. She furnished Babbitt’s habitat, and let her hair grow out so that she could braid it.

Just like her big sister Lilac. 

“A statue normally wouldn’t mean anything,” Violet had told Friday, “But, well, Nick found some interesting accounts, didn’t you, Nick?” “Li’s Dad is a wordy motherfucker,” Nick said, tossing a file that had been slipped into a bowl of honeydew melons, “But yeah, I did.” 

Huge reference to All the Wrong Questions. 

Chapter Forty-One / Epilogue - in which Beatrice leaves the island

“Well, maybe we only have to last a year until Lilac turns eighteen, and then we spend our fortune on pop tarts and Pokémon cards.” Solitude said.

A reference to this Alex Hirsch tweet:

“We’ll have to come up with fake names.” Solitude giggled. “I’ll be Sensible.” “You will not, I called dibs!” Sunny shouted.

A reference to Netflix!Sunny’s name in @ornettelosts‘s Nine Baudelaires AU. Love ya, Sammie! :D

“I still wanna know how Babbitt had-” Nick began, but Klaus slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“I still wanna know how Babbitt had sex.” 

Lilac ran her hands over the title. “Yeah. Let’s leave this behind.” She smiled and said, “Time to go. Sound off! One!” 

They’re leaving their series of unfortunate events behind. 

Lilac smiled and said, “Let’s go find something new.” 

There’s always something. 

Perhaps, in ten years, Beatrice would have a much happier message for her uncle than he expected.

A reference to The Beatrice Letters and, lowkey, the happier version of it in Netflix’s adaptation of The End. 

[juleswolverton-hyde]

The Raven on Writing

Top o’ the morning, lads and lasses,

It has been a wee while since a post about a specific literary subject was written and since creating this post has been contemplated many times recently, it is perhaps the time to finally write it.

Some of you may wonder how it is the pencil was first picked up or at least be curious as to how it is able to bring fantasies into words in a style that seems to be marked as ‘’quite unusual’’. This is put between quotation marks since this is the polite term of what has been gathered from comments (both positive and negative) on all publishing platforms (AO3 & Tumblr). However, in personal opinion, it is labelled as poetic prose or prosaic poetry reminiscent of the past. Indeed, the tales and the style aim to make the audience remember the great names who have preceded this wee birdy who can never excel them.

Now, how has this rather odd style been gained? How can one create a style at all?

It should be noted that the use of the word ‘odd’ is in comparison to the styles of modern authors.

Kathryn Lasky once said: ‘’I believe that reading widely is the best preparation for writing.’’ It is the manner in which many if not all wordy artists start their literary journeys, allowing themselves to be guided by a skilled author into a world of another’s making. Out of curiosity, the reader might pick up more works from their favourites and create an unconscious liking to the style. Withal, this preference might only become fully known in a creative way upon attempting to put personal fantasies onto paper. These imaginations might be ignited by a disagreement with a scene in the book that could have gone differently or the end is too open and thus begs for a continuation where the original author has left off. Whatever the case, the individual endeavours to make something of their own thanks to the inspiration provided by another’s work.

Certainly, this is essentially true each time a novel project is started since writers tend to follow the principle that originates in Ancient Rome and the Renaissance, namely translatio, imitatio, aemulatio. In other words: translation, imitation, innovation. One might study a language and translate a story they are curious about into their own tongue or find an already existing translation. Afterwards, they might be fascinated with the tale enough that they might try their hand at writing a similar chronicle themselves, imitating the original. A truly radical aspiring novelist will take the original work and give it their own spin.

What if it was Beatrice who had to reach Dante instead of the other way around? What if Athena was not actually raped by Hephaestus but the god was accused of this to worsen his reputation among the Olympians even though she might have actually genuinely fallen in love for the first time?

What if? 

That is the most important question when it comes to writing. Ask it and it will lead to an answer.

Returning to the specified questions above, they particularly pertain to classic literature and mythology which are two of the trademarks that have been absorbed into the pen’s style while reading and following the old law. Admittedly, it was without awareness until the moment of enrolling in university to study English literature and specializing in classic literature and poetry.

And there is the answer as to how this wee birdy writes as if she hails from the sixteenth century or Romantic Age. Major influences and inspirations for the works currently making up the bibliography and the stories yet to tell are: William Wordsworth, William Blake, Shakespeare, John Donne, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney (a more recent name), Lewis Caroll, Oscar Wilde. In hindsight, the novelists of the Victorian and Late Victorian age alongside the Irish appear to be the greatest influences. 

Regardless, style can also be developed in other ways. At university, it is expected of students to write in formal English. Henceforth, it is not allowed to use first and second person pronouns (I, you) as well as colloquialisms (get, a lot of, thing). Now, there is no shame in admitting the pen is guilty of the latter at times and even of the use of the pronouns nowadays. Yet, both of them are noticeably absent from the works unless there inherently was no other option but to use informal language. The use of I is, personally, still regarded as selfish for the reader might not want to accept the role offered to them by the narrator nor be able to sympathise with the character and their point of view.

Alongside the now innate restrictions on use of language, music is another great source to look for inspiration. Find what it is that makes a song attractive and write a tale about it if there is one to be told. Take a whole album and paint the images the songs conjure. ‘’Spring Remembrance’’ is based on BTS’s Spring Day, ‘’Babel’’ is based on the song with the same name by Mumford and Sons and this is the case as well for ‘’Broken Crown’’. Furthermore, references to various songs are strewn about in the chronicles told thus far. Look at the music by Delain, Within Temptation, Stray Kids, BTS, Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin to find the obvious clues. However, nowadays, there is also creative fuel to be found in the soundtracks of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Mumford & Sons’ album Babel.

Last but not least, and unfortunately not everyone has the chance to exploit this means of advancing as an artist, travelling. A couple of true stories might arise in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, but yours truly has had the lucky opportunity to have seen a lot of the world and continue to journey despite work and education. 

Dear reader, before an untrue maleficent thought finds its way, it should be noted that by no means do I come from money. In the gap year before starting university, I had a fairly bad job at the local train station working shifts from five in the morn till half past one, requiring me to cycle to the city around a quarter past four. The pay was good, but mental wellbeing did not particularly take a turn for the best and the liquor bottles emptied pretty fast, too. Still, it allowed for seeing places that would otherwise have been left undiscovered and hear local myths and legends that could not have been as authentic and credible as when they would be told at a later date on local soil. Working (fortunately under better conditions) alongside studying maintains this Romantic and Byronic lone wolf’s ever-wandering lifestyle and supports the development of a wide view on the world that is at times disconnected from. Notwithstanding, all personal negative implications aside, if there is a chance to go out and explore, please take it for it will allow growth as a person and an artist alike.

A truly last piece of advice: do not be afraid to fail. All arts need to be practised in order to be perfected and even then have to be worked on in order to be made distinct from the rest. The first works will not be the best, but eventually, they will become of better quality if effort is continuously put into the craft.

In sum, look to creative outlets that are nearby such as music and books, the latter remaining the prime source for a proper start on the road to becoming a novelist. Of course, there are other means to gain inspiration such as art and travelling as well as academic education. In the end, there are various manners in which to develop as a distinct wordy artist. However, most of all, do not fear failure. If you fall, get up and try again. Translate, imitate and emulate a personal path in the world and artistic growth will come along naturally. 

Until we speak again.

Forever yours,

The Red Raven

[musical-in-theory]

Dante’s Fever Dream

(Yeah this is basically what I’m turning in for my final paper. It’s not my best work, but whatever. It makes many, many references to Inferno. Please enjoy my suffering.)

Dante breathed heavily as he stumbled his way through the streets. He’d already been through several tough years, but it seemed that what little luck he’d had finally dried up. His head throbbed with pain. It pulsed with hunger so great that even the stomach was not enough to contain its own agony. No longer were there kind strangers passing him on the street with spare bread or meat. Only those whose eyes flitted away from his garish sight remained.

It seemed that his past had caught up to him once again. They found out about his exile just as every town before had. In each occurrence, Dante had to pack up his meager few belongings, look his wife in the eye, and admit his failure as a provider time and time again. His wife, who in looks and in demeanor reminded him of his lost love Beatrice, always met his eyes with a look of understanding and patience. However, even that look started to rot away into a budding contempt.

It was not his fault! He had done nothing to deserve these wretched conditions. He served his country. He shed blood in the name of peace. He worked in a position of power to honor those that had put him there. He looked in the face of oncoming tyranny and said no, only to be told that he had no say at all. For all his work, for all his justice he received banishment from his homeland. How could one claiming to be of holy nature do that which is so vile? Dante didn’t know.

On his journey through the streets, these thoughts overtook him. He couldn’t see the jagged quality of the stone that lied in front of him. He couldn’t see until it was too late. The ground came rushing up to meet him, and darkness swallowed him whole. His last thought as the waves of unconsciousness washed him away was, “Now what shall be my reward?” He next opened his eyes to a mountain, a guide, and the start of his own odyssey that would rival those of old.

What he didn’t know was that it was only his mind that traveled to that far away realm. His body still lied in the streets. The cobbled stone ground beneath him leached the little heat remaining within him. For all that he wrote of love, he was dying surrounded by none of it. That was until a lone man happened upon his fallen form.

Dr. Page had not expected to find an ill man at his feet on his day of rest, but lo and behold one was there. Call it divine intervention if the desire so arises, but he knew that he could not leave this man to die such an unbecoming death. He checked to see that he was still breathing or that blood still flowed through his veins. The healer found both signs present but growing weaker.

Being that he was a man of resolve and fast thinking, Dr. Page picked up Dante as carefully as he could and swiftly took him to his place of work not far from where the poet had collapsed. Many fellow healers were already there taking care of the patients that resided within the building. One such healer was able to help Page find an unoccupied bed in which to place his newest patient. Luckily, since so many of them were working late into the evening, Page could devote all of his attention into bringing health back into this poor man.

The first step was to reduce the fever that seemed to be stealing away the energy needed to keep him alive. He shouted for anyone who could to get him a cloth soaked with well water. The seasons were changing from autumn to winter, so the water was cold enough to get the job done. Soon enough, the cold rag was placed across Dante’s forehead. 

The simple remedy was enough to at least stabilize him. Page had heard accounts before of men who had been on the brink of death only to be brought back. They said they saw a bright light but were pulled away from it at the last second. He could only guess that the man lying in front of him had just gone through something similar.

Page grabbed a nearby stool and dragged it over to the man’s bedside. It was most likely going to be a long night, and someone needed to keep watch. Not too long after the doctor had settled into a comfortable position, Dante began to mumble. 

“Too scared. Too scary. Can’t make it. Turn back,” he muttered. It sounded like a delirious ramble. Page looked him over and decided that his soul must be restless. It was the only explanation he could think of for such unconscious conversation. He turned in his seat and walked away to find the only cure he knew.

“I do believe that you will find this to ease your troubled soul. Perhaps then you might wake up, and we can get you proper care, hmm?” Page said as he walked back with a book cradled in his arm. “This is one of my favorite poets. I hope it is to your liking.” With that he began to recite verses from the great poet Virgil. 

After a short while Page put the poems down and sighed, “I do wonder who you might be. It is not often that we receive people unable to tell us their name. Might you be a poet like Virgil? Or perhaps just a farmer? You could be a man down on his luck, or possibly you have always been this way. I wish you would open your eyes and quench my curiosity. I have a great many questions. Do you have anyone that you care about, that you love? If so, they must be worried. I suspect that you have been gone from them for a long time now. I wish there was a way to tell them where you are.

Page chuckled a bit to himself. “Look at me. An old senile fool talking aloud to himself. It might be best for me to quit my rambles. All of these uncertainties can not be good for your rest. Too many questions of ‘perhaps’ and ‘might’ can make a man wary of choice, and to choose is one’s most important responsibilities in life. But I digress. You must rest my new friend. Those dark circles under your eyes shan’t go away on their own.” 

He turned around to put away the poems, but a sudden jerk coming from the bed beside him caught his attention. Page turned back around, and his blood ran cold at what he saw. Dante’s body convulsed violently on the bed. His arms flailed with enough force that Page feared he would break his hand if it connected with anything solid.

The doctor shouted for help in containing him. Page clamped his hands around Dante’s forearms and held them down. A woman Page had worked with before rushed over and followed his lead. She grasped at his legs and tried to keep them still against the bed. She got kicked in the chest and arms a few times, but she eventually was able to gain a firm grip on his legs. She looked up at Page with fear filling her eyes, but he simply shook his head and watched Dante critically. They hadn’t ever seen something like this before and could only wait for it to be over. 

Page was not normally scared by what happened in this building, but this case was certainly one that put him on edge. The weather didn’t help to ease him either. The wind howled with the coming of large storm. Tree branches scratched and scraped against the outer walls. Patients whimpered or wailed in fear of such strong winds. All of it together sent shivers up his spine. Dante was lucky to have been found when he was. Otherwise he would have been tossed around like a rag doll completely at the mercy of the wind.

Nearly four minutes later, Dante calmed down and was once more still. His breathing evened out, and Page believed that it might have been less shallow than it was before as well. He wiped the sweat off of his brow and replaced the rag that fell off of Dante’s forehead during his seizure. “Thank you Francesca. I appreciate the help, but you should return home now. It is getting late. I’m sure that your husband is awaiting your return.”

Francesca turned her face away from him. If he wasn’t mistaken, it appeared as though she was blushing. However he couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or shame. “I would not worry about him. He’s been away for a long time, and I do not know when he will come back. His brother is keeping me company at the moment, and he does not expect me to return home at a certain time. I can keep watch over this man tonight. It is you that should return home to your wife and rest. We will all need you at your best in the coming days if today is anything to go by.”

“Alright. But I expect you to come fetch me if something happens in the night.” Page gave Dante one last look and turned around to head out the door. His home wasn’t too far from the building, so the storm wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Still he knew to be careful with his footing. 

The rain bore down upon him. It hit hard against his skin and caused the dirt beneath his feet to turn to mud. His steps began to stick on the ground and impede his progress. While most of his focus was on reaching his home, some rogue thoughts drifted back toward the hospital. He hoped that the roof would hold up against this barrage, but he knew better than to think that it would be spared of at least of few leaks. Most likely his newest patient would feel the droplets fall upon him. Page was almost grateful. Maybe the cold rain would help with the fever.

He made it back to his home safely and greeted his wife. After eating a meal she had prepared, they both meandered off to bed. The next morning, Page rose as the sun did and gathered his things to return to his work. He hoped that everything and everyone would be as he left them once he got there.

He walked through the doorway and locked his eyes immediately onto the bed that held Dante. Francesca was still attending to him, although she looked worn down greatly. Her hair seemed to stick up at every odd angle, and her shoulders sagged as if she were carrying weights upon them. She was holding a bowl to Dante’s lips and tipped it toward the sky. 

Page walked briskly over to the pair and used his index finger to push the bowl down to a less steep angle. “Careful Francesca. This man appeared to have been starving for a great amount of time. Giving him too much at once is sure to have the opposite effect than what you want. Moderation is surely key in this instance, yes?” Francesca nodded curtly and took away the bowl from Dante’s mouth.

It was then that Page noticed the script laying on the table near the bed. Squinting a bit, he could see that it was a collection of Greek myths. Francesca noticed him and said hurriedly, “Oh I saw that you were reading to him before, and I thought that you would want me to do the same. I have a hunch that he was a literary man at one point and would enjoy some of the great classic tales of old.”

Page laid a hand on her shoulder and gazed at her with kindness in his eyes. “You did well, young one. Now go home and sleep. You can not expect to heal others when you are not healthy yourself.” Francesca nodded again and made her way out the door. 

“Well, my friend, you are taking quite a bit of time on your journey toward health. I shall try to be here every step of the way.” Page smiled down at him and resumed his position keeping watch over his patients. “Perhaps I might even write of your strange situation. Can you imagine?”

(Thanks for reading. I am dead. They don’t call it hell week for nothing.)

[true-crime-central-sweden]

An ‘OOC’ rant:

So there’s been a 49-year old woman missing here on my island  for almost a month now, and Missing People will not be performing any organized searches for her anymore (unless something would come up, of course).

Now, missing persons’ cases have always intrigued me, because well- they’re haunting, and it feels especially haunting when it happens here on this pretty tiny island. I’ve tried to keep my eyes open for something that could help; I wanted to go to the organized searches for her, but I wasn’t able to come to either of them…

But then, there's only been, what- 3 official searches for her over all? I don't read or look at the news anymore but I've heard the local news didn't exactly shout it out to the masses. They only gave the public her first name, one picture of her, her bike and a bag she might've had with her.

The poster of her that first caught my attention was minimal; like- just an A4 paper, and there haven't been many of them either around town (that I've seen). The one article I happened to see in the paper about it STILL didn't mention her by name, just "the missing woman", and the article took up like- a 4th of the page. Fuck, some people didn't even know about it until I asked them if they had heard!

And since a couple days back, the missing posters were suddenly taken down from where they usually were put up. Amazing! Now even LESS people will know to look for her!

(The poster in question) I just feel like there isn't much being done to help locate her. Missing People had to call off one of the searches because not enough people showed up, which is fucking bullshit, tbh. But I guess even the people who live here will be damned before they let anything interfere with their precious vacation time!

What pisses me off the most about this, is thinking back at other missing persons cases in this country. Ones that became national headlines and not just local, miniscule articles. Ones like Lisa Holm and the more recent one involving 12-year old Dante.

If you live in Sweden too, you already know, but I'll say it for those who aren't familiar. The difference between these cases? Lisa and Dante were 17 and 12, respectively. They were kids. People from all over the country came and helped search for them, and even though these two sadly were found dead, they were still found! Because lots of people came together and helped and supported each other in the searches!

Meanwhile on Gotland, 49-year old Beatrice has been missing for almost a month, and barely anyone bats an eye. She hasn't made national headlines and thousands of people aren't flocking to search for her either.

The only proper discussion-thread, or investigation about it over all, that I've seen has been on fucking Flashback (pm Sweden's equivalent to 4chan, without the pictures, but still with edgyness).

It pisses me off because I know, I fucking know, that if Beatrice had been 20 years younger, or a kid, Sweden would be going nuts trying to find her. I can only hope that she's hiding somewhere on purpose, but idk, from the background info I've managed to gather, she doesn't seem like the kind of person to run away. She has a boyfriend she lives with, she has friends and possibly even kids, she has cats and she works as a doctor, even! HOW this is still so swept under the rug as it is just boggles the mind.

More than that, though, I am pissed at the fact that older people are seemingly being just discarded like this. It's fucking disgusting, and dareisay, ageist too.

If YOU were the one who disappeared, whatever happened to you, you would want people to look for you. If it was YOUR loved one going missing, you wouldn't be able to sleep. You'd be out looking on your own too probably, wondering why the world around you keeps going when your own world is falling apart, out of your control.

As long as there's no evidence to the contrary, there's still hope that Beatrice is alive somewhere, but the chances for that are looking slim by now. Why would she be hiding, and how has she been able to hide for this long? I don't know, but I'll keep hoping for her safe return, and I'll keep my eyes open.

If nothing else, remember her. She deserves every bit as much attention as any missing kid. Justice for Beatrice.