#so then hes her ‘chosen’ by technicality. but with her virtue being power it’s maybe kinda one and the same

[kagoutiss]

din’s champion

[aspenhearrt]

ik you said you've been too tired to do bios but i am so so so curious about dragonflystar :eyes:

HELLO anon of course I will tell you all about Dragonflystar! verrry long post under the cut, but let's start with her picture!

Adderstar of RiverClan (who I may occasionally call "Venomstar" by accident, she is a very very old OC and one who used to have a different name lol) abandoned her Clan. She was lonely and made bad choices and then abandoned her Clan. her deputy Reednose stepped up and promoted a deputy of his own, Flameblossom (orange). When a tiny kitten is found in the reeds so near to RiverClan's camp, so freshly placed there that someone would've HAD to have known the exact patrol schedules in order to put her there and get out without being noticed (that cat was Arbor, her biological father and a loner who had been with the clan for a few moons).

Tradition states that the cat who finds a lost kit names them, and she was named Dragonflykit. Grassheart (silver tabby), Flameblossom's mate, had very recently had two kits of her own, called Mudkit (brown tabby tom) and Mistkit (silver tabby she-cat). It was only natural that the tiny kitten would be given to a queen so she could be fed, but rather than simply fostering her, Grassheart and Flameblossom entirely adopted her. (Grassheart would've called her Rainkit-- "Dragonflykit" was a bit much for a tiny baby to pronounce, but alas, the name had been chosen and would stand.)

Dragonflykit was always concerned with manners and cleanliness, even from a young age. She was incredibly confident and certain that she'd be leader one day, although her and Mudkit often fought about it! Mistkit didn't have her ambitions set quite so high, and often ended up being medicine cat when they played clan by process of elimination, but she wasn't exactly begging Spidersight to be his apprentice.

When they hit six moons, the three were apprenticed off to various warriors, with Dragonflypaw being assigned to Beetleclaw. Beetleclaw was a reasonably well-respected older warrior who excelled remarkably at fighting, but under Adderstar, he'd never had an apprentice. He was a big proponent of Thistle Law and had ambitions of becoming the tyrant leader of RiverClan. As he saw it, the Clan had lost something due to Adderstar's acceptance of outsiders and subsequent abandonment of the Clan. They'd been marred by it, and he was going to be the one to fix it. Dragonflypaw was young, proud, and easily manipulated. She didn't seem to quite understand that under Beetleclaw's RiverClan, loner kits like herself would've been abandoned-- in fact, she didn't think about the fact that she was technically an outsider at all. He didn't treat her like one, at least-- he knew that she had potential and he knew that it would be easy to groom her into a successor. like Palpatine unto Anakin Skywalker, he led her towards the inevitable conclusion that he was destined to be leader, she was destined to be his deputy, and they would take it by force if they had to.

When she was eleven moons old, she helped Beetleclaw with a plot that she didn't realize would lead to Flameblossom's death. realizing that she'd caused his death, her father's last words to her were ones of forgiveness, Dragonflypaw was deeply shaken. She began to consider that maybe Beetleclaw was wrong, but he had quite a lot of power over her, and nobody would believe her word over his.

So she stayed by his side, but she began to wonder how she'd escape him.

The incident with the bobcat that led to Flameblossom's death also painted Dragonflypaw as some kind of hero, and she earned her Warrior name early. She was called Dragonflypelt-- a plain name in any other clan, but in RiverClan, it praised her for her beauty, which was quite out of the ordinary! She didn't really fit the beauty standards, but her sheer confidence put her over that line! Beauty is RiverClan's highest virtue, so it was a name she was proud of, but she wasn't proud of how she earned it.

A moon later, her siblings were named Mistberry and Mudcall.

Time passes and eventually Beetleclaw is preparing his elaborate evil scheme takeover event to kill the leader-- he's planning to trap Reedstar in his den and intentionally flood the camp, hopefully murdering him. Dragonflypelt exposes this scheme in front of the whole camp (for safety) and then exposes a bunch of other things that Beetleclaw did-- and that she did. She can't take him down without exposing herself, too-- particularly for her role in Flameblossom's death.

Before anyone can do anything about this, Beetleclaw attacks Dragonflypelt. He claws at her face to steal away her beauty from her and she tears him open like he taught her to do. He's dogpiled by his other clanmates as well but when the dust settles, Dragonflypelt is bleeding (but generally alright) and Beetleclaw is dead, having escaped justice. Reedstar strips him of his name on the spot so that he can't join StarClan and he's buried immediately, without a vigil, so that his soul remains trapped in the dirt.

And then comes the question of what to do about Dragonflypelt.

Mudcall, her beloved brother, declares that she's a traitor. Some of her clanmates agree. Mistberry refuses to take a side and Mudcall rejects her, too, saying that refusing to take a side is essentially taking hers. Grassheart is too broken up over the betrayal of her daughter having basically killed her mate to have any opinion at all.

From the crowd, Spidersight emerges as a voice of reason. The wise old medicine cat boldly declares that Dragonflypelt was merely an apprentice at the time, manipulated by her mentor-- she didn't fully realize what she was doing, for one thing, and furthermore, they shouldn't blame a victim for being victimized. It was the fault of the Clan's leadership that she was put in this situation to begin with: she never should've been placed in Beetleclaw's care, and it is a failing of the Clan that they didn't notice his abuse. Spidersight says that the fact that she was willing to risk exile in order to expose him before he hurt anyone else should show that she's not truly bad and that she's willing and ready to be different. He announces that he will personally put his reputation on her rehabilitation and, reluctantly, the Clan decides to give her another chance.

Her relationship with Mudcall, Mistberry, and Grassheart is never the same. Mistberry and Grassheart eventually reconcile with her, but remain distant; they can never really truly forgive her. Mudcall never even gets that close. He's polite at best and otherwise won't even look at her.

Moons later, after she has proven herself to her Clan time and time again, Reedstar's deputy dies. He selects Dragonflypelt to be his deputy, to the shock of many cats-- including her! After the meeting she tries to reject it, saying that she doesn't want to be deputy or leader, and that she certainly doesn't think that the Clan wants her to be. Reedstar says that he has complete faith in her even though he didn't back then, and her reluctance to become leader is evidence that she deserves to.

Less than a year later, Reedstar loses his final life and Dragonflypelt becomes Dragonflystar. Mudcall is not named her deputy, instead that honor goes to Sharktail, and the rift between them yawns ever further.

Dragonflystar is a cat of contradictions. She is scarred, solid-colored, skinny, and short-furred-- she should be the ugliest cat in RiverClan, but her unshakeable confidence and incredible skill with fighting makes her quite beautiful indeed. Still, RiverClan cats are sometimes heard lamenting that she'd be so much prettier if Beetleclaw hadn't scarred her, and isn't it such a shame?

Whenever Dragonflystar hears them, she's always quick to tell them otherwise. Her scars only enhance her beauty. She has them because she survived. She has them because she is a fighter. That's worth more to her than any silly beauty standard.

Dragonflystar has kept her attention to manners and politeness her entire life. She is prim, proper, and cleanly-- and if you cross the line, she will butcher you into mincemeat. For her beauty, grace, and sheer capacity for violence, she is often called the Leopard of RiverClan, a title of immense honor. Kits in other clans speak of her in hushed whispers and ShadowClan in particular sometimes uses her as a Boogeyman story to keep their kits in line. Dragonflystar is proud, larger-than-life, and menacing beyond measure-- a true living legend, despite her humble origins, and RiverClan couldn't possibly be more proud of her.

[random-thought-depository]

Tangent from my last post: reading over this and thinking about it, I’ve pinpointed a disagreement that I think reveals a fundamental disagreement I have with the ideas I was responding to there.

Seph’s essay talks about liberal sexual consent practices as requiring a shift toward a more Culture A style of social interaction; requiring a willingness to actively assert your own interests instead of engaging in Culture B accommodationism. And that’s true, but I immediately recognized that it’s incomplete in a way that I think fundamentally distorts what’s happening, though it took me a while to think out exactly how. Saying “no” involves a degree of Culture A type assertiveness, but respecting that “no” and pro-actively making sure your partner is enjoying things involves an attentiveness to feelings, an accommodationism, and an attentiveness to maintaining harmony that’s more Culture B.

Like, if you drew up two columns, one labeled “Macho Republican Dad Boomerpost Stuff” and one labeled “Softy SJW Stuff,” and started sorting things into those columns by which group they’re more stereotypically associated with (bacon, guns, capitalism, Christianity, complaining about “cancel culture,” and calling people sissies as an insult into the Republican Dad column, tofu, queerness, feminism, socialism, veganism, accusing people of microaggressions, and being a Wiccan into the SJW column, etc.), I think liberal sexual norms placing a high premium on explicit consent would definitely stereotypically belong in the “SJW” column. And in this context I think that’s revealing.

I think what’s happening here is fundamentally orthogonal to Culture A vs. Culture B. I think, like a lot of left vs. right divides, it fundamentally comes down to hierarchy vs. egalitarianism. Liberal sexual norms emphasizing consent are a rejection of the pecking order method of simply resolving sexual conflicts of interests in favor of the person with more power, whether that power is social status, physical strength, emotional intelligence, or just being more willing to press for their interests. Culture A vs. Culture B is fundamentally orthogonal to what’s really going on here; trying to understanding this issue through that lens is at best like trying to understand the US Civil War through the lens of doctrinal disputes between different types of Christianity (you may get some genuine insights, but you’ve mistaken the fringes of the conflict for its core), and at worst like trying to understand the US Civil War through the lens of doctrinal disputes between Sunni and Shia Islam.

Actually I think the “trying to understand the US Civil War through the lens of Christian doctrine disputes” may be a good analogy, because I think this does tie back to the “the left/liberal side of the culture war is waging a war against Culture A” hypothesis in a way that reveals how that idea is not exactly wrong but misses an important dimension of what’s happening. I think what’s happening is that hierarchy is more explicit and explicitly enforced in Culture A, and therefore as society becomes less like a pecking order hierarchy tends to assume Culture B characteristics.

Culture A is where you find the human hierarchies that look the most like actual pecking orders, which are maintained by literal physical pecking. It’s where you find the openly brutal world of bosses screaming “the leads aren’t weak, you are!” into a cringing subordinate’s face, cops quietly taking an uncooperative suspect into a convenient alley and roughing him up a little to “teach him to respect our authority,” gangsters beating somebody up for being insufficiently deferential to them, some 6′3 250 pound guy in the grips of road rage punching some 5′7 150 pound guy in the face over a smashed bumper, teachers disciplining students by giving them hard blows on the palm with a ruler, a swaggering thug threatening a woman with physical violence because she had the effrontery to object to him groping her, and jocks having some fun inflicting casual physical abuse on the nerds in the locker room and on the playground. Hierarchies in Culture A are often maintained by physical violence and the threat thereof and put-downs and other explicit verbal bullying. When somebody in Culture A thinks you’ve gotten a bit above your station and wants to put your in your place, they’re likely to either actually use physical violence against you, explicitly threaten you with it, or explicitly insult you. Abuse in Culture A tends to look like our stereotypical picture of some swaggering thug openly terrorizing somebody who has some sort of vulnerability.

By contrast, hierarchies in Culture B tend to operate under more polite fictions of relative egalitarianism, cooperativeness, and non-violence. Enforcement of Culture B hierarchies tends to be less overtly violent. Culture B hierarchies are more likely to be covert and legible only to somebody with inside knowledge (e.g. you’ve ostensibly got a group of equals, but some are more equal than others because of advantages that mostly aren’t explicitly acknowledged). Culture B tends to have more of an ideal that coercive power can only be legitimately exercised for moral reasons, while Culture A tends to have more of a “master morality” culture where power is seen as worthy of respect in itself (Culture A is what gave us “Chad” and “alpha” as aspirational ideals), which is why bullying in Culture B tends to have a moralistic and fearmongering nature (see: Tumblr call-out posts) while bullying in Culture A tends to follow a more “master morality” logic of “our victim is weak and aesthetically displeasing to us, and that in itself makes them deserve punishment” - though much like “Culture A rewards strength and technical skills, Culture B rewards social skills and popularity” that’s a dichotomy that can easily be overplayed; most human hierarchies come with a hefty dose of community-minded moralism (even if the community is a pirate ship or criminal gang or something like that), and social skills and popularity are hugely important in almost any culture. Culture B is for people who wouldn’t dream of doing anything so barbaric as yelling at you or punching you because they’re mad at you; they’d complain to the human resources department who’d force you to spend a Friday evening listening to somebody lecture you about the need to “make our store a welcoming environment for our valued customers.”

An archetypal abusive Culture A authority figure is the macho thuggish “respect mah authoritay!” cop. An archetypal abusive Culture B authority figure is the gaslighty Nice Lady Therapist. The former is more-or-less open about the fact that he sees himself as above you in the pecking order and if you dispute that he’ll be delighted to enforce the pecking order in approximately the way chickens do it. The latter pretends to be your friend (and perhaps believes themselves to be that), and expends a great deal of effort tailoring their pecking order enforcement to not look like pecking order enforcement - significantly, they might like to be as openly brutal as the “respect mah authoritay!” cop is, but in strong Culture B that social strategy just doesn’t work; their social strategy represents a compromise with socially influential ideals of egalitarianism and non-violence, a tribute that vice pays to virtue (less charitably, it may simply reflect playing to different strengths and trying to minimize different weaknesses, e.g. the thuggish cop may have chosen that social strategy because he’s a physically powerful but not particularly socially intelligent Biff Tannen type, while the Nice Lady Therapist may have chosen that social strategy because she’s a socially intelligent and Machiavellian but physically feeble 4′10 woman).

In short, Culture B tends to both meaningfully soften the blows of pecking order enforcement and obfuscate them. It follows that as equalizing movements gain ground and explicit pecking order logic becomes more taboo, hierarchy will increasingly take on Culture B characteristics. In 1700, if you angered your boss in some petty interpersonal way he might have whipped you, which was his right as your master. Today, if you anger your boss in some petty interpersonal way she might think a little about how to get revenge on you in a way that doesn’t risk blowback if you take it up with the union, and then find some excuse to arrange for you to have to attend some mandatory HR remedial training that isn’t officially a punishment but let’s be real, totally is. Maybe in 2200 you won’t have a boss because you’ll work in an officially egalitarian syndicalist union, but there will be some union members who are “more equal than others” because of personal connections or charisma or some combination of both, and if you anger one of them in a petty interpersonal way they might through whisper networks arrange a quiet campaign to make sure the union votes against your requests for your favorite foods on the workplace lunch menu.

I guess I’m staking out a position as a hedging kind-of partisan of Culture B here. There’s a lot of talk about how Culture B gets an undeserved good reputation and can be just as unfair and cruel as Culture A but in a more insidious way, and I’m sympathetic to that and I think there’s a lot of truth to that, but, y’know, if I had to choose between pecking order enforcement that has to maintain a plausible veneer of being something else and just open undiluted sadistic pecking order enforcement, I think I’d prefer the former. I think even just adding in a requirement of hypocrisy improves things, because it forces pecking order enforcement to optimize for plausible deniability instead of sadism and effective tyranny. Admittedly, as somebody who finds this very relatable I have a strong personal bias here.

An illustrative personal anecdote: the usual stereotype of high school is that bullied kids (or at least bullied boys) suffer a lot of casual physical abuse, but I noticed that in my school there was a lot of verbal bullying but mercifully little physical abuse; the worst that was likely to happen in terms of physical violence was somebody tripping you up or throwing a box of kleenix at you or spitting their drink at you or something like that. I suspect the reason was that blatant physical violence was pretty much the only form of bullying the school administration would reliably punish (though they’d likely punish the victim right along with the perpetrator), and that’s why it usually wasn’t done. I suspect what happened is that stereotype of chronic casual physical abuse reflects what schools were like when the baby boomers were growing up (and boomers then wrote fiction etc. that reflected that experience that shaped the pop culture stereotype), but then anti-bullying reforms came along and by the late ‘90s and early ‘00s they’d achieved one great success: mostly eliminating that schoolyard culture of casual physical violence. And that was a very incomplete fix, just addressing the tip of the iceberg of the problem and probably often redirecting bullying into psychological abuse rather than actually reducing it... but, y’know, I’m really glad my middle and high school experience didn’t conform to that pop culture stereotype of the school dweeb getting regularly beaten up by four or six bigger kids. I had an awful time in middle and high school, but judging from pop culture stereotypes it could have been so much worse, and if suspensions for kids who punched other kids is what created that difference, then I’m profoundly grateful for that reform.

I think the left is kinda-sorta waging war on Culture A as a side-effect of its war on pecking order culture, in which high-status people enjoy the advantages of Culture A while low-status people labor under the disadvantages of Culture B. It’s not an accident that Culture A is associated with men and Culture B is associated with women. Accommodation (sometimes to the point of self-harm) is a survival strategy for low-status people in a social structure that resembles a pecking order; if you’re going to lose the fight, it often makes sense to pre-emptively accept a settlement that favors the interests of the stronger person (often to the extent of trying to anticipate the stronger person’s wants, performing even the brain work of figuring out their preferences for them). Competitiveness is a social strategy for upward mobility in a pecking order society or defense of a place near the top of the pecking order (it also has more pro-social functions so we probably want to keep it around in some form, but social competition is very much part of its function). Women tend to be reluctant to openly advocate for their personal interests because for much of history a woman openly advocating for her personal interests was likely to provoke status-guarding retaliation from men. Men tend to be reluctant to show vulnerability and see doing so as feminine because for much of history other men were likely to perceive a vulnerable man as an opportunity to increase their own social status by lowering the vulnerable man’s social status, and as a rule of thumb to lower a man’s social status was to give him a social status more like a woman’s. In the context of a pecking order society, a lot of Culture B makes sense as social strategies for people at the bottom of the pecking order with little realistic shot of escaping its lower levels, and a lot of Culture A makes sense as social strategies for people at the top of the pecking order and people at the bottom or middle of the pecking order who have a realistic shot at using high-risk high-reward social strategies to move up in the hierarchy. I think there’s some complicating factors around reproductive dynamics that explain why this is a gendered thing instead of just a class thing, but I won’t get into that here. So it makes sense that as society becomes less like a pecking order that process will involve shifts toward Culture A in some areas and shifts toward Culture B in other areas, because those cultures are probably both somewhat maladaptive in a more egalitarian social context.

A relevant example is that for much of history vigorously advocating their own sexual interests was often very risky for women, so Culture B primes women to pre-emptively accept a settlement that favors the man’s sexual interests, so liberal consent norms work better if women develop more assertiveness about their own interests, which looks kind of Culture A-ish. At the same time, women now have more leverage to effectively demand that men perform pro-social Culture B behaviors of accommodation, empathy, and consideration for the feelings and interests of others in the context of heterosexual sex.

----------

Tangential aside: I think thinking of hierarchy as the fundamental tension point of the left vs. right conflict illustrates a way that post I was responding to might be kind of too meta and you might get an illuminating perspective by stepping back from all that meta-level theorizing about fundamental epistemological differences and looking at the object level.

If you analyze left-wing “cancel culture” at the object level, what does it look like it’s trying to do? It seems to me that it’s trying to lower the social acceptability of what leftists perceive as defenses of hierarchy. Who are the stereotypical targets of campus “cancel culture”? They might be a “race realist” who’s very eager to tell you about how he thinks certain human groups have lower IQs or other congenital traits maladaptive to modern society and darkly hint about political implications. They might be a business libertarian economist who wants to stump for the gospel of the free market. They might be somebody who has a habit of delivering the academic equivalent of boomerposts about kids these days with their coddling and their trigger warnings and their genders. They might be some principled “free speech” type who seems to spend a lot of their energy white knighting for neo-Nazis and other far-right types. They might be somebody who you’d think would be relatively unobjectionable to leftists but who’s said something that can be uncharitably interpreted as bigoted at some point. Besides raw factionalism, the obvious common point is something that can be reasonably interpreted as a defense of hierarchy. The “race realist” at least implicitly says “some groups are smarter or otherwise better than others and may therefore be rightfully deserving of privilege.” The business libertarian economist at least implicitly says “if you’re poor because you can’t get a job or can’t get a job that pays well, that’s basically your problem and the system working as intended; a society with great inequalities of wealth and status may not be ideal but it’s at least better than all the realistic alternatives.” The academic boomerposter at least implicitly says “some people struggle in our education system because of personal emotional sensitivities; their weakness is their own problem and us more functional people have no obligation to accommodate it, if that harms them it may be regrettable but it’s basically the system working as it should to weed out those unfit for it.” The principled free speech proponent at least implicitly says “wanting to kill the Jews and re-enslave the blacks and have white Sharia should be a tolerated opinion in our society, at least insofar as it should not be legally persecuted, and I am willing to devote considerable efforts to defending that principle.” The basically unobjectionable liberal who happens to have a dodgy comment or three in their social media record at least implicitly says “I don’t think I should get too much blowback for once implying that [insert group of concern here] maybe deserves the jackboot to the face.”

And sure, you can dispute the fairness of such judgements, but the over-arching project outlined by these targets seems fairly obvious: to raise the social costs of what leftists perceive as defending pecking orders.

And, like, yeah, there’s some meta-level differences about the role of tolerance and debate too, but I suspect a lot of the disagreement is really more object-level, over how objectionable certain opinions actually are, e.g. a lot of the dispute over “cancelling” the business libertarian guy is probably going to be over 1) how objectionable defense of hierarchy actually is, 2) whether libertarian beliefs are actually defenses of hierarchy.

[therealvinelle]

Your theory on Luca being a predator to his nieces is so interesting! I've never looked at it like that, but it makes so much sense. I've wondered before that maybe Renata had experienced some kind of trauma to make her develop those abilities, but I hadn't considered Luca as the perpetrator before. Do happen to have more headcanons about Renata, and her recruitment into the Volturi aka rescue from her family? I'd love to hear about them if you do :)

It’s something I can’t really unsee. And it might have remained a half crack theory if it was just Luca turning his nieces, Makenna at 26 isn’t even that young, but for the fact that Renata’s gift is exactly how I’d design an anti-rape gift. It doesn’t just make her untouchable, the deflected party don’t realize they’ve been deflected in the first place, meaning no negative repercussions for Renata for not putting out.

That gift would be an odd coincidence if another vampire, any other Twilight vampire had it. But it’s Renata who gets it. So, either she just randomly got herself an anti-rapist repulsion field because the Twilight gift lottery is funny like that, or she was given away as a bride to a monster who could hurt her family if she didn’t comply.

Just, that gift is way too specialized.

Further, I think Makenna’s story gives us a horrifying clue. “Makenna was one of the chosen ones. She looked forward to her fate (...)”

So does this line in Renata’s story: “She was changed into a vampire by her great-uncle, Luca on her 20th birthday.“ Both these women were chosen some time before they were reaped, and in Makenna’s case she was groomed. It stands to reason Renata was as well, and since she was turned at 20, one can only wonder when exactly that happened. Now, in Makenna’s case it looks like her parents thought this was a positive thing, or if they didn’t then Makenna didn’t pick up on the fact that this was not a happy ending. With Renata, we don’t know for sure, although I think her gift is something of a sad, sad clue there.

What I think, given that Luca is the family benefactor and wanted these brides to help protect the family, is that he used their love and loyalty to their families to get these women to sacrifice themselves. Not to mention if they refused, he could just ask another woman in the family, and then you have these women Katniss-ing it up

There’s the fact that Luca wanted the consent of these women beforehand (what consent, I ask, when they’re groomed beforehand, the family welfare is at stake, and the power imbalance is off the scale) which would make them easier to control as vampires. If they’re dragged kicking and screaming to the altar, they’ll just run for the hills when they wake up. Making them agree beforehand ensures their compliance.

Anyway, I think Renata was well and truly stuck with Luca, probably either pretending she couldn’t control her gift or else neglecting to learn how to control it. It would have been an unbearably tense situation, with Luca wanting his bride already, and her family being disappointed in her for failing this simple task, or pretending to be anyway, maybe her aging mother was praising God for protecting her daughter. Renata did have a major saint thing going there, as she martyred herself for her family and God made her untouchable to men so she might keep her virtue intact. I digress.

Enter Aro, and suddenly Renata can leave, and by doing so she’s protecting her family. Luca can’t argue with that, in fact now he has to be grateful to his bride for running off. It’s an all round victory for Renata.

And I imagine the reason why these humans who were technically in the know (more on that when I answer your next ask) weren’t all killed was a courtesy to Renata, and so that Aro wouldn’t eternally have a shield who hated him. Slaughtering the family of the girl who’ll be keeping you alive for eternity is just not a good move. As for Luca living to tell the tale, well, if Aro has just argued the humans aren’t breaking the law, then the vampire responsible isn’t breaking the law either. And the Volturi follow the law to a fault, the furthest they’ll go to take someone out unlawfully is let someone else do it. I also imagine Luca has made the family rather dependent on him, or made them think they are, anyway. He’s had plenty of opportunity to gaslight generations of this poor family. Which in turn would keep Renata from wanting him dead. Ugh, Luca.

Hope that answers your question!

[shihalyfie]

Menoa Bellucci, and her relation to Adventure and 02′s antagonists

I mentioned in an earlier meta that Kizuna has a particularly deep relationship to 02 on a thematic level, with a lot of that being because its primary antagonist, Menoa, has heavy parallels to its two main antagonists (the Digimon Kaiser and Oikawa Yukio). I felt like I should make another post talking about Menoa in particular, and how the themes of both Adventure and 02 relate to her.

Do note that naturally, this will contain heavy spoilers for the movie (although I guess I’ve technically already spoiled it in this post’s premise...).

Before we begin, I’m going to start off with...well, look, I don’t really like starting off with what’s probably going to sound like an indictment, but I’m pretty sure so much of the potential audience for this post is going to be thinking about it that I inevitably need to address it. It’s the part where a lot of people have generally accused Menoa of being a rehash of tri.’s Himekawa Maki. Honestly, I don’t blame anyone for jumping to that connection, because of how similar the surface details are -- she’s a young woman who was a Chosen Child, who lost her partner and did morally questionable things as a result. That, and tri. was only a few years ago, so Himekawa is still recent in memory, and it’s logical to think that maybe the most recent work would be pulling from the second most recent work.

...But that’s also exactly where the similarities stop. Beyond that surface level, there’s not much connection on a thematic level. Mainly: after losing her partner, Himekawa’s main goal was to get said partner back, even if it meant dismantling the same Digital World she’d been originally meant to protect -- she was willing to destroy everything for the sake of that goal (i.e. she was knowingly acting selfishly). Not only that, she’s not even the primary antagonist, because the whole thing ties into her being used as a pawn by Yggdrasil -- so we’re not even sure how much agency she had in this entire arrangement. Meanwhile, Menoa’s motives were definitely very based on her desire to get said partner back, but the whole point was that she thought it was impossible -- she’d certainly tried, but because nothing was bearing fruit, she determined that the only thing she could do would be to prevent everyone else from going through the same thing. So in other words, she was convinced her actions were actually selfless, and her failure in getting her partner back was what motivated her -- all based on her own personal choices and motivations, directed entirely by her. Other than the backstory part being somewhat similar, the way they react to it is completely different.

If Menoa is meant to be relevant to Himekawa, then that can only really be said in the sense that Menoa is a response to and deconstruction of the plot point Himekawa introduced. This is especially because part of Kizuna’s creation involved being a direct response to tri.’s inadequate portrayal of Digimon partnerships, which, unfortunately, Himekawa is...kind of a major symptom of -- we’re never given any serious depiction on what emotional connection Himekawa and her partner had, we’re only supposed to glean this by projecting the old Adventure/02 definition and depiction of partnerships, and everything else we learn about Himekawa’s desperation is after the fact. And...well, I’ll be honest, it’s still kind of hard to even rationalize how Himekawa’s “character arc” makes much sense (especially the part where we’re supposed to figure out how she apparently studied the reboot since university but had no contingency plan for Bakumon not remembering her, to the point where this apparently drove her completely insane...?). So as a result, she’s just killed off unceremoniously, because there’s no real natural conclusion to this arc, nor any underlying logic as to what relationship Himekawa and Bakumon supposedly had.

So it is true that Menoa starts off with a similar base concept, but because Kizuna is dedicated to “defining what it means to have a partner”, it takes a proper step-by-step approach: firstly, what did Morphomon actually mean to Menoa? We’re given tons and tons of depictions of how Morphomon was integrated into her daily life, and was her closest confidant for years. What exactly does it mean to lose a partner? The depictions and descriptions in Kizuna don’t hold back at all; Menoa even says that it feels “like a part of your body has been ripped away”. What is a Digimon partner in the first place, and what does it mean to have one or to not have one? In line with Adventure/02′s portrayal of Digimon partners, a Digimon is portrayed as a part of the inner self whose presence or absence depends on the human’s state of mind, which means that getting a partner back also depends on said human -- and thus, even Menoa is provided an opportunity for salvation at the end, because everyone has the potential to grow again. In that sense, it’s hard to really call Menoa a parallel or a rehash, when, if anything, it’s more like she’s taking that concept and readjusting it to what it should have been more like when under the original Adventure/02 concept of partnerships.

Anyway...

Back to Adventure and 02. On its face, Kizuna does seem to have more pertinence to 02 than it does Adventure when it comes to themes -- after all, Kizuna styles itself as something that’s supposed to be relatable and personal to the modern millennial adult, meaning that it focuses moreso on human drama and introspection more so than it does Digital World and Digimon mechanics. In doing so, it was probably inevitable that it aligns itself more with 02 (which was significantly more about human drama and interpersonal relationships than it was Adventure’s Digital World and Digimon lore) by default.

Still, there is a lot of pertinence in the sense that Adventure was always intended to be “a story of humanity’s evolution” -- recalling that the 02 epilogue was actually the originally intended ending for Adventure, and the result of “everyone in the world having a Digimon partner” being the “evolution” of humanity by having a visible form of their own soul -- and thus, the core of each enemy in Adventure was tied to it in some form. This is made especially clear in the third Adventure novel:

At the beginning of the world, when the Digital world was still in chaos, the Digital world chose the idea of “evolution.” By deciding that this process would involve the Digital world itself “evolving,” it created Homeostasis for that necessity...

...Apocalymon must have sent its thoughts through the “Wall of Fire” into the Digital world. It planted the idea into the Dark Masters’ minds to unconsciously reject “evolution.” The Dark Masters’ plan would permanently destroy the function of the Village of Beginnings. It was possible that, to the very end, they had been unaware of it. In other words, the construction of Spiral Mountain took “evolution” away from the Digital World.

When the kids finally meet Apocalymon in the penultimate episode of Adventure, he has the following complaints:

Apocalymon: We are the Digimon who have disappeared through the evolution process...The resultant build-up of thoughts that have cursed our sad and hateful fates! Sora: You were created from the dark hearts of the Digimon who disappeared? Apocalymon: Dear Chosen Children and your dear Digimon. We have been looking forward to meeting all of you. ... Apocalymon: Listen. While we lay buried under a deep darkness of utter coldness and sorrow, you were on the other side, enjoying yourselves and laughing happily in the warm light. WHY?! ... Apocalymon: What have we done to deserve this?! (tears at self) Why must we weep tears of grief while you enjoy cheerful laughter? Mimi: No, I don't want to see this! Apocalymon: We, too, have tears that flow from our eyes and feelings that flow from our hearts. Just who decided that we were to be deprived of this world and consigned to oblivion?! We wanted to live! We wanted to live and speak of friendship, justice, and love! We wanted to use this body to be helpful to this world! Are you saying that this world has no need for us? That we are meaningless?! ... Apocalymon: Then we shall rule this world! We shall make this place belong to us. All who get in our way will die! (laughs) May the light be forever cursed where it shines!

(Translation by Ryuu-Rogue.)

So, basically, Apocalymon is a “Legion” sort of Digimon, made up of the condensed regrets of Digimon who were unable to evolve, and lived so much in despair that they decided they would drag everyone else down with them, and reform the world into their own. So in other words, his main goal to “inhibit evolution” was in the sense of inhibiting the Digital World’s own evolution and development, while it was growing alongside the human world -- all of this villainous “destroying the world” and “taking over the world” is all tied to a root of “inhibiting evolution”. And this was all intended to be tied into 02 as well, along with even the theoretical third Adventure series that never happened -- an ongoing fight for humanity and the Digital World’s right to continue “evolving” against forces that were trying to block it.

How does this relate to Menoa?

“Evolution” in the context of Adventure and 02 has a lot of meanings, and of course one of the most prominent ones is in terms of the metaphor of “evolution = human growth and potential”. Kizuna brings it to the forefront in terms of explicitly saying that Digimon growth is tied to human potential, but that’s always been there from the beginning -- especially considering how high-level evolution is powered by human virtues, like Crests.

But by trapping everyone in Neverland, Menoa is keeping people from “evolving” -- not just the Digimon from evolving, but humans from gaining any growth or potential, because they’ll be fixated in their childhood memories forever. The namesake of Neverland, the original Peter Pan, was very much about how staying a child forever would involve always being immature -- Peter was not a heroic figure in the end, as he was someone who was ultimately callous and irresponsible, at times even self-serving. No one will grow as people. Everyone will stay locked in the same mentality forever. The Digimon will never evolve. Robbed of Chosen Children to help protect the world, both the human world and Digital World will be left defenseless, and perhaps even be destroyed -- and that would be the end of “evolution” for all.

All because of Menoa’s own grief and projection.

Moving back to 02, this is of course where the parallels start getting really explicit. As I mentioned earlier, Menoa is effectively a combination of 02′s two most prominent antagonists -- the Digimon Kaiser, Ichijouji Ken, who was pressured into being recognized as a “genius” by society and lost a grip on his true self as a result, and Oikawa Yukio, who was cut off from the Digital World in childhood and spent his adulthood trying to grasp at shallow symbols of his past, projecting on others in the process.

Actually, let’s go over these characters in their stages of antagonism!

The Digimon Kaiser:

Was recognized by society as a “genius” and paraded around for those abilities; mentioned to be intelligent enough to skip grades into university (was only prevented from doing so like Menoa did because he lived in Japan, which didn’t have a system for this)

Tried to smash out the aspects of himself that didn’t fit the image he was aiming for, throwing away the “kindness” in his heart under the idea it was “weakness”, trying to become “better than others”

Started pushing away his own Digimon partner in the process, symbolizing a rejection of his own inner self

Ultimately, never got to have a proper childhood of having the freedom to do “meaningless things”, because he and his brother Osamu were “demanded to grow up fast”

Young Menoa:

Was recognized by society as a “genius” to the point she felt isolated from her peers, to the point she decided to skip grades into university because she felt like it would get her recognition and allow her to be productive to society

Stopped engaging in childhood hobbies (e.g. the swing she used to play with Morphomon at) and is implied to have pushed others away in her bid to be independent

Wasn’t even talking to Morphomon much anymore by the time of their separation, because she’d prioritized her studies in order to skip grades

Ultimately turned herself into an “adult” at the age of 14, far too young for anyone to become an adult

The surface details are a little different -- because Ken’s troubles manifested in a way that made him more “consciously reject” Wormmon rather than outright neglect him, and because his reaction to being “demanded to grow up fast” ultimately involved him trying to ditch everything into the Digital World instead of trying to become more mature, he was spared from the fate of having an outright partnership dissolution with Wormmon at the tender age of eleven. (Although he did still have a pretty traumatizing “loss” of Wormmon, so it’s not like he got off scot-free -- especially when getting said partner back involved a necessary epiphany about choosing to face what he did and moving forward with the consequences, something Menoa did not do during the events of the movie.) Either way, though, he managed to snap himself out of it and prevent himself from taking the same path Menoa did -- especially since the two of them are based off the same real-life origin story, the 9-year-old American boy whom Seki Hiromi read about in a newspaper, who skipped grades into Columbia University, causing her to conclude that he’d be unable to make friends his age.

Since Menoa ends up taking a different path and going “all the way”, once Morphomon is taken from her, she veers onto a path very similar to Oikawa’s.

Oikawa Yukio:

Was torn away from contact with the Digital World (and his future partner) by a well-meaning Hida Chikara, worried about him and Hiroki getting into “foolish talk”

Was isolated from the only friend he could relate to (via Hida Hiroki’s death)

Tried to make his own Digimon, implied to at least partially be inspired by trying to fill the void (see 02 episode 47), but only manages to create minions who do his bidding

Kidnapped a bunch of children under the premise that he was just giving them what they wanted; implanted Dark Seeds into them that on the surface gave them what they wanted but actually ate at their feelings

Blamed the fact he was a “tainted adult” for his inability to go to the Digital World without more forcible methods

Menoa:

Lost her partner after discarding her childhood hobbies in order to fit society’s standard of adulthood

Developed an obsession with becoming “independent”; ended up likely having no friends to connect with (states during the climax in Neverland that nobody understands how she feels)

Tried to use “scientific” computer methods to bring back her partner, but only managed to get hordes of soulless husks to do her bidding

Kidnapped a bunch of people (eventually including literal children) under the premise that she would be saving everyone; forced them to experience eternal loops of their childhood memories that prevented them from moving forward

Blamed the fact she’d “made that choice” and become an adult for her loss of her partner

Oikawa didn’t “lose” his partner in the sense of something permanent-sounding like Morphomon, but in terms of thematic parallels, Menoa basically ends up throwing herself into his path after continuing in the direction Ken ultimately chose to tear himself away from.

Ultimately, there are still differences in execution and life circumstances between all three characters -- and that’s how it ought to be, given that it would be inappropriate for Kizuna to be a complete rehash of 02. But considering that 02 was heavily built on the themes of “not drowning in regret and learning to move forward” and “embracing the inner child and not caving to societal expectations”, it makes sense that Kizuna, which is built on “not drowning in nostalgia and learning to face the future” and “not losing touch with childhood memories and experiences nor the childish self to the pressures of becoming an adult”, the parallels between the main antagonists driving the story are going to be very similar.

Although, given the events of Kizuna and how they played out...one wonders if Ken has any idea how lucky he is...

[sepublic]

Alright hear me out; One thing that has been bugging me since YBOS is that Bellos told wild witches how he was the only one who knew how to talk and how things were meant to work. Which doesn’t make any sense since he is said to have come into power in the last 50 years and with what we know about the savage ages I don’t think that would fly w the ppl there.

So what if bellos brainwashed them into believing him? Or at the very least influenced the children into believing him so they would be indoctrinated into his following from a young age and not know any better and would teach their children and so on and so forth

           Well yeah, there’s definitely a lot of propaganda and indoctrination that hypes up Belos as more than he actually is, and exaggerates qualities that while technically present, aren’t as glorious as others such as Kikimora may make them out to be!

           It’s worth noting that the only two characters said/implied to have a connection with the Titan, are Luz… Who specifically ‘listened’ to it in Adventures in the Elements, and Belos, who seems to practically be one with it as someone who can grow living constructs from the earth itself; Almost as if he was triggering the regenerative abilities of the Titan into overdrive and spawning cancerous masses from its necrotic tissue!

           Eda mentioned that early Wild Witches visited the Knee to make a better connection with the Island (which is synonymous with the Titan), as part of her research into Glyphs and the kind of magic that Luz does. Luz’s magic is characterized as coming specifically from the Boiling Isles as a gift, it’s something around her and a part of the environment (just as Belos manipulates the environment with HIS magic), and not something that comes from within like it does with most Witches and their bile sacs!

           Given how Glyphs are revealed by nature/the Titan itself, and Glyphs involve manipulating its form in a sense and using magic specifically as a ‘gift’ from the Titan… It all points towards Glyph-wielding Witches as having had a connection to the Titan, one that was once much more commonplace, hence what Eda mentioned about Early Witches visiting the Knee to hone their magic! Potentially the Knee is special in that it’s ideal for ‘communicating’ with the Titan…

           While not said outright, the way Eda and Bump discuss Glyphs indicates that this was around a LOOONNGGG time ago… That Glyphs ended who knows how many centuries ago to make room for bile-based magic, hence why they’re forgotten! And keep in mind, Principal Bump hasn’t heard of Glyphs before, and this dude is ancient and likely has a lifespan of at least a thousand years or so…!

           And, sure, one could argue that Bump always knew, but it was specifically-banned knowledge… But why would he hide his knowledge of Glyphs from Luz and Eda, who are already wanted criminals defying Belos, and whom he’s already breaking the law for anyway by letting them into Hexside in the first place? This points to Glyphs not only being from before Bump’s time, but by a noticeable margin/generational gap, as the concept is outright new to him! Which, if Glyphs had been discontinued not too long before Bump was born, he’d at least have heard of them as an ‘outdated’ form of magic…

           So potentially thousands of years ago, or at least multiple generations before Principal Bump, Glyphs were forgotten in favor of Bile. Because Bile-Magic comes from within, it doesn’t require as much of a harmonious connection with the Isles and the Titan to manipulate its flesh, ergo, there is less communication with the Titan… And as people forgot about glyphs, they likely forgot they could talk to the Titan to begin with!

           Obviously, this raises more questions than answers about Belos… Given his deteriorating condition, is he actually incredibly old, a remnant of that original era of Witches who relied on Glyphs and communicated with the Titan? And as the last remaining one capable of this –by virtue of seemingly being the only one who remembers- Belos has uplifted this ability of his as more divine than it actually is? Or is he like Luz, a more recent addition who simply rediscovered a lost technique…?

           Regardless, amidst my own speculation of potential comparisons and dark reflections to Luz… I’m of the idea that communicating with the Titan is somethinganyonecan do, if they take the time to actively invest effort, energy, and passion into exploring the island, becoming attuned with nature, listening to the Titan and heeding its advice… Etc. But nobody bothers with this anymore because it’s long-forgotten knowledge, best done in a location as obscure as the Knee, and Bile Magic is seemingly so much more efficient anyway!

           So I do like the idea that Belos is uplifying and hyping up this lone skill of his as way more exlusive and indicative of how special he is than it actuallyis… And similarly, he’s artificially keeping this skill exclusive to him to make himself stand out more, just as Belos sets up his Emperor’s Coven above the rest by letting them access all forms of Magic, while everybody else is bound once they reach a certain age! It’s all about maintaining a certain exclusivity to something that SHOULD be for everyone, and turning it into a special privilege that only the ‘worthy’ can earn, and ‘safeguarding’ that privilege with his Coven System…

           Which, again- Combined with my speculation on thematic connections with Luz, makes me wonder if Belos is someone who felt the need to justify his own separation and outcast role from society by playing himself up as inherently more special and worth more than everybody else, as a ‘Chosen One’ of sorts… Making himself special, but by putting down others instead of actually uplifting himself!

          There HAS to be a hierarchy, and Belos is surely at the top… And if he can’t go any higher, than clearly this means all others must be reorganized at a position lower than him! It’s Belos’ way of making himself feel good about something that makes him different, just as Luz briefly speculated in Episode 2 that she was an outcast because she secretly was a ‘Chosen One’ or whatever!

          But this kind of hype is not productive as it sets Belos as inherently better than others and encourages/justifies a natural hierarchy to begin with, which is just messed-up. Unlike Luz, Belos never realized that people can still have their own unique, separate worth as individuals while still being at the same level as one another, and vice-versa!

           TL;DR Belos is special but he’s not THAT special, but it’s not enough to be his own separate and unique individual like everyone else is, Belos wants to be outright better as some form of universal compensation for being an outcast! So he ensures that his particular ‘skill’ is kept unique to him and maybe a select few others, while everybody else is restricted from this, all to prop up Belos as being more divine and sacred than he actually is!

          Perhaps he once was delighted to realize he could communicate with the Titan, but then began selfishly hoarding his connection with it and preventing others from doing the same, to ensure that Belos himself would remain special and have exclusive access to the knowledge that came from this connection! And Belos gets rid of those who doubt/disagree with him, leaving behind only those who do believe, or are at least neutral to the credibility of his claims.

           Obviously he justified a lot of his initial reign by force and genocide, and still does to this day! Can’t exactly disagree with someone if you’re dead, or don’t want to die! Not to mention, as I said earlier, Belos’ communication with the Titan would come across as novel and unique due to such methods having been long-forgotten, which further adds to the idea of him being ‘special’ and thus having credibility! His uncanny power and skill in Magic definitely helps as well… Like Belos has weaponized his status as ‘different’ from others to set himself up as above them!

[bylolarai]

CHARACTER INFORMATION

CHARACTER NAME: Lola Ophelia Rai GENDER/PRONOUNS: Girl-Flux / She/They DATE OF BIRTH: July 21, 1989 PLACE OF BIRTH: Salem, MA SPECIES/POWER: Witch, Oneirokinesis ELEMENT: Water COVEN POSITION: Member CURRENT RESIDENCE: Brooklyn, New York City OCCUPATION: Creative Director at Kaplan Cosmetics FACECLAIM: Summer Bishil

CHARACTER QUOTE: 

                ❝ The heart is the toughest part of the body.                            Tenderness is in the hands.❞

PINTEREST

PLAYLIST ( under co )

There was no feeling like the autumn crunch of leaves under your boot in Salem, Massachusetts. Lola knew nothing in her life but golden moments, the way the world around her looked as the seasons changed was always fascinating. Some would say as a child she had her head in the clouds and while this wasn’t inaccurate it wasn’t completely true. A young Lola saw the world as infinite, vast, amazing, soaking up every moment she could. On rainy days, she’d watch the rain water trickle down her window for hours and when those same rain drops produced flowers in the spring -- Lola was outside admiring them. Life was beautiful, the witches that raised her were a coven in every sense of the word. The Circle of the Reaping Star. At a young age a strong sense of right and wrong, justice, the opposite of desensitization to the world's injustices was imbued in Lola. Learning and listening to those around her, she idolized her mother Lavanya, amazed that she had come from someone so powerful. Could she be as powerful? Maybe. But her mother would tuck her in every night telling her that she could be anything she wanted to be, power was something that could grow, but her humanity? What tied her to every living thing, every person, the world? That was not something she could ever let go of. So Lola felt everything. Knowing how precious it was, to have the permission to just be and the love and acceptance that came with that brand of freedom? Lola was. It was as simple as that.

Admittedly, Lola was an emotional child. Despite being older than Lysander (she would lord it over them every chance she got, despite the fact that they weren’t that far apart in age), she had moments where many would think it was the opposite. He was everything that she wanted to be, so self assured, so confident once his abilities came in. They studied for hours together, she watched them excel in ways she could never dream of. Many would feel jealousy, envy even, but all Lola felt was the poignant need to protect. To learn. Admire. Love. Oh, how she loved them. She imagined a world in which once their mother stepped down, Lysander would replace her as the Supreme. Lola would be there by their side to advise, to listen, to help guide. But she believed in everything her sibling did and everything they were -- their power was something to learn from. The Sam to their Frodo. If Lola’s purpose was hers and hers alone -- it was to be by Lysander’s side. He was worried that the ancestors would choose him? Lola would do everything in her power to make sure that they did. It may not have been in her control but when it came to Lysander -- they always inspired her to do the impossible. To push herself past what she thought even she was capable of. To be by their side in this journey, to grow on her own congruent with them? That was a life she was content with.

Her own powers were something she became excited to explore. She’d always felt close to the water, always felt at peace with the waves and so when her ability was centered around water? It made complete sense. While she watched Lysander excel and even begin to tap into their ability of astral projection, Lola was still working on figuring out what her secondary ability could even be. Patience was a virtue that Lola did possess then, practicing with Lysander while trying to force them to eat, sleep, and drink some water. She’d tell them that they couldn’t lead their coven one day if they died from dehydration. Don’t you want something much more heroic to take you out than your inability to drink water? Lola would tease as she made sure they had snacks at every now scheduled practice. To redirect them at times, she’d ask them for advice on how to hone her own abilities. Water and fire, she’d say they went hand in hand -- sometimes she’d joke that their abilities would be useless without the other. Fire was untamable without water and water would never know to be still without the presence of fire. To stop moving, bending and become something more than just a source. To be still.

When Lysander was bitten during the summer of solstice of 2004, an almost 15 year old Lola grew up and was faced with questions that she never thought she would ever have to answer.

Are you still a sister if your sibling is nowhere to be found? Are you still a sister if you haven’t hugged them in years, talked to them, laughed, cried? Are you still a sister if they’re more of a ghost than a person in your life?

Lola always believed the answer was yes. It didn’t matter that he would never answer, she could understand why. The anger was directed to their mother, Lola deeply believed in their cause, their coven, but how could she let this happen? Lysander had begged to die rather than leave -- didn’t their mother see how horrible of a decision to make that was? Why should they -- or anyone -- have to be faced with making a decision like that? Her younger sibling. It was a moment like then that Lola was reminded of the fact that she was older than him, while she had technically lived a life without him -- she never remembered it. There was not a time without them in her life.

Until there was.

As Lola grew up, she stopped being all heart on her sleeve and developed her abilities in charm work quite quickly ( some would say as a coping mechanism ) while neglecting her secondary ability of oneirokinesis. There were nefarious things she could do with something that powerful and she didn’t want it. Astral projection, the mind, that was all Lysander’s speciality not hers. So she repressed it much to her detriment, showing up in dreams when she didn’t want to and further trying to ignore it through her use of illicit substances. To cope, Lola chose a creative route -- makeup. Jewelry. Creation. Adorning herself, tailoring her image to something so curated that the girl that was all heart on her sleeve was delicately hidden beneath layers of a foundation that wasn’t just cosmetic. Lola became anew, the girl she was only saved for herself and a select few. Within her Coven, if people wanted their makeup done? Their jewelry enchanted with spells of protection, self love, sometimes luck if she could spare it? Rings that didn’t just tell current moods but made you believe in whatever mood you wanted to be in? The most important things Lola could contribute were her abilities and her voice. The latter came out most venomously in private with their mother as the years went on.

How could I trust you after what happened with Lysander? It wasn’t fair, Lola knew. To blame her mother for every wrong thing that had happened since Lysander was sent away. It wasn’t fair but it wasn’t fair that he was gone either, was it? Lola knew she didn’t have the power herself to think she was even capable of making a cure -- but Lavanya? It had been a decade and there was little progress. Lola had bided her time playing pretend, playing with makeup and charms. More importantly she had gone to protests, helped forge documents when needed to avoid the authorities watchful eyes. While first born, she’d always been second -- contently so. Lysander would come back, she would dream. He would be chosen. Her place was never at the top where their mother was but why wasn’t Lavanya doing more with the power & prestige? The woman she believed to be all powerful, all knowing, all graceful, couldn’t do the one thing a mother was supposed to do -- protect her children. Lola didn’t talk about how she missed Lysander every day they were apart, how she had to cope through parties, drinking and other various forms of escape to subdue the question that always popped up?

Where was he?

Keeping her distance was hard (especially when your subconscious didn’t control where or when you would pop up in someone’s dreams) but she had gotten the message that they didn’t want to talk. Lola empathized but yearned. She respected but deeply felt his absence like a phantom limb. She did everything in her power to not resent her younger sibling but understand where they were coming from -- if anything it hurt more feeling compassion rather than resentment. It was worth it, the pain, she learned that at a young age. But she couldn’t stay in it -- she had to make something of her life, find a purpose that wasn’t just tied to being someone’s right hand. It was easier that way, to live your own life tied to another, to be on her own was a scary but worth it new adventure. First, she had an ETSY shop of her creations to branch out for fun and next she made a Youtube channel doing makeup looks. Her non magical subscribers were amazed by Lola’s special effects and the magical folk knew better -- as the years went by and Lola amassed a small following -- she reveled in her little corner of the internet. However, she wanted more as she found herself straying away from actually finding her purpose and falling into the world of illusions and charms through makeup, videos, her own skills. Hearing about a coven in New York that had similar ideals to her mothers became a goal of hers. While the idea of a cure to lycanthropy fell to the background of Lola’s mind, it was because she thought of a purpose greater than curing something seen as monstrous. She strived for acceptance. A cure would be helpful to those who wanted it but her thinking shifted from it being a necessity to it being a tool, a medicine for some and a balm of knowledge just by potentially being a reality to others. The day would come when she would see Lysander again, she didn’t want him to think that after all these years she only sought to fix him. If that’s what they wanted, she would abide, but she wished for so much more.

As Lola gained more traction in the online makeup world, job offers from companies started to roll in. A few brand deals and Lola started to become uncomfortable with how large her following started to become. Did she enjoy charm & illusion work? Yes, but only when it came to her work. Not her life. The world of social media itself started to feel like its own non-magical illusion, when it started out as fun. None of this was fun, her own hobby became exhausting and she needed a change. Some called her a sell out for taking the job at Kaplan Cosmetic so easily, going from brand coordinator to Creative director within a year. But Lola had seen it as the perfect opportunity to start a new life and more importantly -- align with what she actually wanted. With who she actually wanted to be. Saying goodbye to the Salem leaves, the waterfront walks, her coven, her mother was hard to come to terms with. Had Ly felt an ounce of this pain? Knowing that they had had no choice in the matter made it worse, Lola imagined. If they could survive doing so, their life ripped away from them without looking back, Lola could do this. Besides -- not many makeup & cosmetic brands sought her out because of her charm work. They either had no knowledge of the supernatural world or simply didn’t exist. Kaplan did. So Kaplan cosmetics it was.

While she still maintains her Etsy store, Lola focused her creative endeavors on Kaplan. The makeup she helps create and name are all enchanted based on emotions, experiences, places, even some smells. Her spellwork was also used to help her new coven in any way possible as she navigated her new life in New York. The transition was hard -- leaving behind everything she knew was one of the hardest decisions she has had to make but she knew it was the right one. Her place was not in that coven, not anymore. Maybe one day she’d come back with Lysander, if they could ever reunite and if they could ever gain their full power back, but until then her life in New York, her place in Brooklyn was what was slowly becoming her new home.

[jq37]

It's hilarious how Fabian learned the completely wrong lesson from Gilear dying. Will Gilear level up? Can he actually take a class?

In the context of the world, it was truly an insane decision for them to bring Gilear along. With the overlap in fandoms, Gilear gets compared to Balnor a lot, including by me, but Balnor came in as a fourth level fighter! He was under-leveled compared to the group, sure, but he had levels. Gilear has 5 hit points! 5! He’s just a normal guy!

Fabian somehow jumping to the conclusion of, "Gilear must be the chosen one!" and then half the party also latching onto that while I assume Brennan was considering the very real possibility that that's what the rest of the campaign was going to be if the bit went on for another 30 seconds was extremely wild but also extremely on brand.

Anyway, Gilear should def go home--especially since there are already two capable adults with the party--but since he already refused that, here are the options as I see them:

1. Listen, I didn't want Gilear to die but like...Gilear as a ghost would have a lot of comic potential. Adaine knows a bunch about ghosts from her work with Zayn. Fig would make her anchor him to something stupid like a froyo punch card. And he'd be able to be around for the adventure to do all of his nonsense Gilear stuff while also not being in a ton of danger because, like...he's already dead. Like there are def ways to hurt ghosts in this world but it’s way harder than just being punched in the back of the head. Resurrecting him could be a side objective. Fabian would have to dodge all of his mom's calls about how Gilear was doing. Lots of fun!

2. Alternatively, they could get one of those Pokeball necklaces Vex got for Trinket in CritRole and just bamf him into it whenever combat started. Maybe anyone could send him into it on a bonus action or something.

3. OK like...how hard could it possibly be to take a level in cleric? If Kristen is any indication, I feel like all you need to do is care a bunch, right? He could maybe swing that, especially if some god decided to take pity on him. And, like I always say, you can never have too many healers. 

4.  Alternatively, let's say Gorthalax gets freed from his ruby. He could just do Gilear a solid and make a warlock pact with him. Being a warlock doesn't actually require you have any skills or competence. Someone just has to be willing to make a deal with you. If he wasn't already dating Halariel, I would love for some magic lady extremely out of his league to just decide to bag him for a reason unfathomable to the party (except Sandra-Lynn who has been there) and he just has this sugar mama giving him spells (so, like, his relationship with Halariel but magic is also involved).

5. I didn't plan to put this on my list when I started but I could see Gilear gaining a level in rogue just by virtue of all the hiding and ducking for cover I see in his very immediate future.

6. It would be interesting and I think plausible for all of the Bad Kids to try and teach Gilear the basics of what they know so, by the end of the adventure, he’s level 6 technically but he only has one level in each class. And I have to imagine it’d be faster/easier to learn a little of everything than to become a level 6, say, fighter. So the quick level up wouldn’t be super unrealistic. 

7. Watch Brennan make this chosen one nonsense real like he made Baron real and, in ten episodes, it turns out Gilear actually is the chosen on and he unlocks his sorcerer powers out of nowhere.

8. Gilear gets a gun. 

[mittensmorgul]

Faith on the tnt loop (which, full disclosure, I slept through oopsie, so I pulled out the blu ray because this is NOT one I can skip).

Post 14.20, this episode is... extra-amazing, honestly. I’ve always felt that this episode was unwittingly (possibly, at the time it was written) a window into what this story could potentially do. When I first binged this series, this was the first episode I finished where I had to stop and completely reevaluate what I was actually witnessing. This was the episode that took me from casually consuming a fun lil monster show to 100% invested in this grand narrative. Even without any knowledge of what the ensuing 6 1/2 season (that existed at the time), I felt like I had my first glimpse of a much bigger picture in store for me. This was the first episode that, after a break to absorb what I’d just witnessed, I went back and immediately watched it again. Turns out I wasn’t reading too much into it... in fact, I wasn’t reading nearly enough into it...

The episode begins with Sam and Dean hunting a monster that we’ve only ever seen once more in the entirety of canon-- a rawhead, which earned a mention in 14.01 after an off-screen hunt for one went wrong enough to have left a tooth behind in one of the AU hunters. As if the monster in this case has been rendered doubly irrelevant, by virtue of the fact it practically dies offscreen in 1.12 while Dean's defeat of it and his own actions and choices in defeating it are the actual inciting incident of all the relevant action to follow. And in 14.01, all that remains of the rawahead was a tooth that's extracted from a wound and likely a wild hunter's tale.

Dean explains the use of the tasers they're using to take down the rawhead (specifically that the electricity is deadly to it and each weapon is one use only, "so make it count"). Dean takes his shot, and misses, but they find the children the rawhead had been holding captive. Dean tells Sam to take them outside to safety, and Sam hands over his taser to Dean, leaving Dean alone to face the monster (who we learn in 14.01 moves a lot faster than expected, and fast enough that we never even really see it in 1.12). Dean is literally backed into a corner, on the ground in a puddle of water, with the monster looming over him when he chooses to take his shot. It's not like he had much choice, right? So he shoots, and thanks to the water he's lying in, he electrocutes himself as well, damaging his own heart to the point where the doctor gives him a month to live.

He could've made a different choice, could've rolled out of the water, could've tried to fight off the rawhead (probably ineffectively) but perhaps enough that it would've given up and escaped to hunt children another day, but Dean took his shot, in a circumstance where he felt it was the right thing to end this monster and prevent it from hurting anyone ever again, even when it hurt him in the process. Not that he knew it would necessarily kill him to do it, but he was fully aware of the power of the weapon in his hand and what it was capable of, and accepted that it would hurt him right along with the monster he'd aimed it at since they were “connected” through the puddle of water.

Can anyone else say Hammurabi? Equalizer?

All of this has happened before.

But that's just the beginning. Because Dean survived, even if mortally wounded. This was the first time, though, that they were motivated to defy death, and that brings us to the true Monster of the Week-- Sue Ann LeGrange. Yes, I know it's technically "a reaper," but operating under Sue Ann's control and on her orders. She was the one who chose who lived and who died, based on who SHE thought was worthy, or unworthy in the case of her chosen victims. She was "playing god," deceiving her husband after saving HIS life with this dark magic (which required at least TWO sacrifices on her part-- one to make the altar and talisman to bind the reaper in the first place, and one person to die to save Roy, unbeknownst to him), and letting him think that he was miraculously granted the gift of healing by God.

And Sam decides to look for a similar sort of miraculous cure for Dean, even when Dean had accepted his own apparent fate:

DEAN: Look, Sammy, what can I say, man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story. SAM: Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options. DEAN: What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it. SAM: Watch me.

Sam isn't about to go committing human sacrifice like Sue Ann, but after a tearful phone call plea to John for help, which goes unreplied to, Sam takes matters into his own hands, just as Dean checks himself out of the hospital having accepted his fate:

SAM: You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right through it. DEAN: Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you even slept? You look worse than me. SAM: (Helping DEAN to a chair) I've been scouring the Internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad's journal. DEAN: For what? SAM: For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist. DEAN: You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you? SAM: I'm not gonna let you die, period. We're going.

(aside to lol at John’s friend being named “Joshua,” namesake of the one angel God continued to talk to after supposedly abandoning Heaven and Earth, the angel who told Sam and dean in 5.16 that God refused to step in to help stop the apocalypse, and the angel killed in 12.19 by Dagon before fetus!Jack hijacked Cas to kill Dagon in turn... and even after his death it was Joshua’s amulet in 14.17 that enabled him to summon Chuck back into the story... funny that this hunter we never hear about again was the one to point Sam in the direction of this healer...)

And I'm sorry to just keep pasting in chunks of transcript, but this all goes to Sam and Dean's respective outlooks on pretty much everything, and the Grand Manipulation of Chuck in the entire narrative as we now understand it post 14.20:

DEAN: I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer? SAM: Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean. DEAN: You know what I've got faith in? Reality. Knowing what's really going on. SAM: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday? DEAN: Exactly. We see them, we know there real. SAM: But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too? DEAN: Because I've seen what evil does to good people.

Sam has faith, Dean's a skeptic. Throughout s14 we saw what it would take to break Dean to the point where he would accept the word of God without question. It literally took the entire season, more than half of it revolving around his possession and complete loss of free will and self, building him up when Michael left him again and giving him a false sense of security to begin to feel comfortable building emotional bridges to his entire family (including Jack), only to tear it all down and lose himself to Michael again on a whim, losing Mary again, losing Jack to soullessness because of his own failed choices (in his estimation, at least). This process of showing Dean how little power and control he has over his own existence was furthered by Billie presenting him with the supposed singular solution to save the world, which Dean interpreted to mean the most horrifying iteration of self-sacrifice the show has ever presented to us-- an eternity spent at the bottom of the ocean, locked with Michael in the Ma'lak box. Ironically, just as he was beginning to think of himself as something more than just a weapon, the parallel can't help but be drawn to the First Blade, which Cain had thrown to the bottom of the ocean in a similar fashion. Which should only serve to remind us that even that's not a permanent solution to any problem. And I think THAT was the lesson Billie truly wished Dean to understand. Jack is the one who ends up making the true sacrifice (his own human soul) to kill Michael once and for all, and Dean is left with the guilt of that.

But several other important incidents in s14 tie directly back to this, too. 14.08, playing with life and death, learning about what truly matters in someone's destiny after death, and what the Winchesters are willing to do to save a loved one. Ironically, in the process, Cas is backed into a corner, making a deal with the Empty Entity for his own happiness in exchange for Jack's soul.

Nothing ever comes for free. The Winchesters have been juggling these horrific choices and sacrifices their entire lives, and nothing is ever just as simple as an uncomplicated win.

Which is a key element of 1.12. Dean's skepticism, his feeling of "wrongness" after being healed by Roy, uncovers the larger truth. Sam desperately wants Dean to just let it go, accept it as a miracle, and move on:

SAM: Look, Dean, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Why can't we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on? DEAN: Because I can't shake this feeling, that's why.

A miracle isn't enough for Dean, and the truth is darker and more horrifying than Sam can accept. As he uncovers more and more of the facts of just how Roy is supposedly healing people, he tearfully apologizes to Dean, and they work together to find a way to stop it from happening again. Someone is controlling a reaper, literally trading one life for another. Chuck must've LOVED this episode of his favorite show. It nails all his favorite themes:

DEAN: You never should've brought me here. SAM: Dean, I was just trying to save your life. DEAN: But, Sam, some guy is dead now because of me. SAM: I didn't know.

Ignorance of the truth didn't stop them from becoming entangled in this mess, though. Just like it hasn't stopped them from becoming entangled in every other cosmic mess they've stumbled across over the succeeding 14 seasons. Sam believed it was a miracle, and his faith had blinded him to the truth-- or at least made him want to believe, motivated by the results at Dean's miraculous healing. It's the same faith that led him in early s11 to want to believe his visions were coming from God, that maybe his visions that had plagued him in early seasons were being used for good now-- and with the intervention of Billie in 11.02 when those visions began, it's interesting how the solution that actually saved his life in that circumstance technically came from what she said to him about being "unclean in the biblical sense."

Reapers and their powers and limitations (clean hands!), and their knowledge of the Bigger Picture that Billie herself won't be able to see until she dies and is resurrected with the mantle of Death, have their beginnings in the mythology right here, enslaved to the will of a mortal woman who believed she could make choices about who deserved to live and who deserved to die based on her own corrupted sense of morality.

Even when the concept of Death is introduced in 5.10, he's presented as "lesser" than what he truly is by virtue of Lucifer having bound him to his will for the purposes of the apocalypse, and as merely one of the Four Horsemen equal to War, Famine, and Pestilence. In 5.21, we learn what he's "supposed to be." Practically an equal to God, with the power over all life and death. It's not really until 13.05 that we learn the truth about just how powerful Billie has become, and yet what her limitations still are. We begin to see one side of this massive cosmic chess match, all leading up to the biggest revelation of them all in 14.20.

Back to 1.12 again... (sorry it's impossible not to be continually distracted by the theme spiral here). Dean also is uncomfortable for the first time over the potential for The Lord to be eyeballing him specifically, which is a feeling he's gonna truly grow into throughout s4 "I don't like being singled out at birthday parties, let alone by God," right up through the showdown at the end of 14.20.

DEAN: Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me? ROY: Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest. DEAN: What did you see in my heart? ROY: A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn't finished.

Throughout the episode, they believe it's Roy controlling the reaper and making the choices about who lives and dies, but he was literally blind to the fact it was Sue Ann. He was as much a victim in all of this as the people he believed he was healing, that he believed he had been touched by God to impart new life to. But knowing the full truth, Dean has to stop someone from being healed that even HE believes deserves to be saved, to be spared the suffering of a life cut short by an inoperable brain tumor, after learning an innocent man would die in her place. No matter how much he might feel that Layla didn't deserve that fate, he also doesn't believe the man who'd been protesting Roy's healing ministry deserves to die just for that fact, either.

SUE ANN: I just don't understand. After everything we've done for you. After Roy healed you. I'm just very very disappointed Dean DEAN stares at her, saying nothing. SUE ANN: You can let him go. I'm not gonna press charges. The Lord will deal with him as he sees fit. SUE ANN leaves. The cops turn to DEAN. COP 1: We catch you round here again son, we'll put the fear of God in you, understand?

Once again, in text, Sue Ann is unwittingly labeled "God." It's not God's wrath Dean fears, but Sue Ann's, knowing his defiance has likely turned him from worthy of healing to unworthy of living. Now this has moved beyond idealistically wanting to stop someone from playing god with people's lives right back to the immediate need to stop them before someone else becomes the next victim. And all of their choices-- Dean not being able to walk away, not being able to look the other way, discovering the full horrific truth of how he himself had been brought back from the brink of death, led them to this juncture where it truly felt like they had no other choice but to stop the monster. It literally became a life and death matter for Dean.

I still find it fascinating that as a result of their actions and choices in this episode, the reaper who'd been enslaved to Sue Ann's will was freed when Sam crushed the talisman that kept him bound. I find that highly amusing in retrospect, that while Dean was literally touched by an incarnation of Death several times in this episode, Sam effectively committed services rendered to the Cosmic Order.

We've learned so much about all of this over the years, as well-- the need for balance, order in the universe, and so many of those lessons have come from Death directly. Dean learns some of this firsthand in 6.11, for example, when he takes on Death's job for a day (or at least the life-and-death side of his job, now that we know so much more about his knowledge and understanding of creation as a whole). We learn even more through Billie, and her constant reminders that what's dead should stay dead, and through Billie's reapers once she becomes Death. 13.19 reminds us, through a story about the consequences of killing reapers, just how tenuous the course of cosmic events can be, and what the universe does to self-correct when the balance tilts too far in one direction. It's a lesson Tessa began to teach way back in 4.15, in an episode where Dean once again saves the life of a reaper (not only unwittingly protecting the cosmic balance, but literally stopping the breaking of a seal and staving off the apocalypse for at least another day, and that entire episode, that entire case, only happened through the unwitting guidance of them to the case by Cas-- still operating under Heaven’s orders and pretending to be Bobby sending them to that town to investigate...).

It has always felt to me that the show has subtly revealed more about the truth of the cosmos through death and Death than anything else. And that's on full display now in 1.12. Sue Ann's lies of omission about Roy's "powers," her manipulation of circumstance and her ensnarement of a reaper to do her will, choosing who lives and dies and literally "playing God," is it really any wonder to find out that Chuck has attempted to do the same on the highest cosmic scale from the start? He is a writer, after all, writing the entire story of the universe even as the universe fights to tell its own story. It's only by looking to the center and seeing the truth of the entire picture that they can free themselves from that fate, break the spell that's held them captive to Chuck's narrative and this endless cycle of sacrifice.

Heck I still love this episode. So much that I’ve let the next three episodes play out in the background... This is the entire spiral of the story played out in miniature, wrapped into a single episode.

[chiseler]

The Day They Busted Mencken

In 1922, Baltimore-based journalist, essayist, literary critic and gadfly H. L. Mencken wrote, “I am, in brief, a libertarian of the most extreme variety, and know of no human right that is one-tenth as valuable as the simple right to utter what seems (at the moment) to be the truth.” Toward this end he used his American Mercury magazine and other publications as platforms from which to wage his ongoing war against the more ludicrous expressions of self-righteous morality, in particular fundamentalism, Prohibition and censorship. He once described the Puritan mindset that so dominated the American Northeast as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy,” and his post-mortem evisceration of Anthony Comstock (who had staged the most singularly effective and far-reaching censorship campaign the nation had ever seen) remains shockingly timely. But That’s another story.

Comstock had taken his fight against obscenity national with the conscription of the United States Post Office, lobbying for legislation that made the mailing of materials deemed obscene a federal offense (again that’s another story). But on a local level his New York Society for the Suppression of Vice was an extremely effective weapon when it came to cracking down on New York-based publishers, booksellers, book buyers, art galleries and theaters that displayed or sold material he found personally offensive. The NYSSV was so effective it spawned other bluenose organizations in other major US cities around the turn of the twentieth century, in which holier than thou citizens took it upon themselves to scrub their own communities clean of books and art they didn’t like. It wasn’t just Fanny Hill and pornographic stereographs they were after, but George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Eugene O’Neill, and The Decameron. Among these tight-assed citizen vigilante groups, the most powerful by far was Boston’s Watch and Ward Society, formed in 1878 with the stated purpose of cleaning up corruption in local politics. Perhaps finding that a futile waste of time, in 1906 the leaders of the Watch and Ward Society shifted their focus, aiming their vigilance at any manner of artistic expression they deemed unseemly or that might undermine the upstanding moral virtues of the fine God-fearing Christians of Boston. They did this, with the cooperation of the local vice squad and the blessing of city fathers, by banning anything they found offensive and ordering the arrest of those responsible.  By the second decade of the twentieth century, no city in the nation could approach Boston when it came to banning things, and the term “Banned in Boston” soon became a big selling point in other American cities. If a book or play had been banned in Boston, you could almost guarantee hot diggity sales across the rest of the country.

But in Boston, The Watch and Ward Society—made up of citizens, not politicians, lawyers, or law-enforcement officers—wielded so much power that booksellers and publishers were terrified to cross them. If you bought or sold something they decided could corrupt the morals of your average eight-year-old girl, you could find yourself not only out of business, but in jail in short order.

In 1926, Mencken, well aware of the situation in Boston, decided to do something about it. Publishing essays lampooning our self-appointed moral guardians or condemning censorship in philosophical terms was all fine and good, John Milton and the Marquis De Sade had done the same thing, but what had it accomplished?  Plays were still being shut down, museums were still hiding artwork away in vaults and classic literature was still being banned. Better to take the war directly to the enemy. He began hatching a scheme which, if successful, would lead to a court battle he felt certain he could win. As he would later write in a 1937 article about the event, “{If} [Watch and Ward Society leader John] Chase were permitted to get away with this minor assault he would be encouraged to plan worse ones, and, what is more, other wowsers elsewhere would imitate him.”

The April, 1926 issue of the American Mercury proved irresistible to Chase and his minions. The essay arguing sex should be seen as a simple and pleasant bit of recreation to pass the time would likely have been enough to get the issue banned, as would have the ad for a book already condemned by the Watch and Ward Society. The clincher, however, was an excerpt from Up From Methodism: A Memoir of a Man Gone to the Devil, by Gangs of New York author Herbert Asbury.

Asbury was the  grandson of the first American bishop of the Methodist church, and in 1926, while a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, he set to work on an intentionally profane memoir about his Methodist childhood in Missouri. “Hatrack,” the chapter he submitted to Mencken’s magazine, concerned a prostitute from his hometown who, despite being a devout Christian, found herself rejected by the church. As he tells it, she continued her life of ill-repute, bringing her Catholic customers to the Protestant cemetery to complete the transaction, and vice-versa.

Well, the piece resulted in the predictable shitstorm, and the April issue of The American Mercury was immediately declared obscene and banned by the Watch and Ward Society. Upon hearing the good news, Mencken contacted his lawyer, Boston-based attorney Herbert Ehrmann, and got on a train the next day.

The first thing they had to do, Ehrmann explained when Mencken arrived, was go to the Boston Health Department and meet with the Superintendent of Peddlers to obtain a peddler’s license permitting them to legally sell copies of the magazine in Boston Commons. That done, Ehrmann contacted Chase, asking him to meet Mencken at the corner of Park and Tremont, where Mencken would sell him a copy of the very magazine Chase’s organization had declared obscene a few days earlier. After that, Chase could feel free to have Mencken arrested if he so chose.

There was nothing accidental about the chosen meeting spot. The corner was home to the Park Street Church, where for nearly 120 years evangelical preachers had tried to terrify their congregations into lives of righteousness with fiery sermons about hell and damnation, leading the intersection to be dubbed “Brimstone Corner.”

Chase was understandably suspicious about Ehrmann’s offer. He was clearly familiar with Mencken, and was in all likelihood familiar with Ehrmann as well, a local who’d gained a national reputation as part of Sacco and Vanzetti’s defense team. Chase was used to everyone being terrified of him and doing whatever he said, but now here was this upstart journalist from Baltimore who, like all gentlemen of the Fourth Escape, was obviously up to some devilments. If nothing else, he was there to make trouble for Chase.

It’s unclear why, exactly, Chase agreed to participate in the publicity stunt. It reminds me in a way of Donald Rumsfeld agreeing to be interviewed on camera by Errol Morris. Maybe Ehrmann was simply that persuasive, or Chase was so blinkered he didn’t recognize it as a publicity stunt. An even sadder possibility is that, like Rumsfeld, Chase was convinced he could match wits with Mencken and come out on top.

In any case at noon on April fifth, a week after the magazine had been banned, Mencken showed up at Brimstone Corner, a copy of the American Mercury in hand. Word had spread about the public confrontation, and the streets were packed with onlookers, most of them, Mencken surmised, Harvard students. But instead of showing up himself as agreed, Chase instead sent his assistant to meet Mencken. Although the youngster assured Mencken he was a member in good standing of Watch and Ward, with all rights and privileges that came with the position (including the right to order arrests), Mencken was having none of it. He would only sell the magazine to Chase himself.

The assistant left, and some time later sure enough, the murmurings of the crowd announced that Chase himself had arrived, accompanied by a plainclothes officer and Captain George Patterson, Chief of the Boston PD’s vice squad.

Without much ado, Mencken offered to sell Chase the offending magazine he was carrying, and Chase handed over a fifty-cent piece. In a bit of showmanship, Mencken bit the coin to test its authenticity, and Chase ordered that the journalist be arrested.

Mencken was not billyclubbed or handcuffed. Capt. Patterson merely tapped him on the shoulder, and they made the four-block walk through the crowd to the precinct house in Pemberton Square, where Mencken was booked on a charge of possessing and selling obscene material.

The next day they went before a judge who, clearly no fan of the Watch and Ward Society, declared the April issue of The American Mercury was not obscene, and acquitted Mencken on all counts. Mencken then turned around and sued the Watch and Ward Society, accusing them of restraint of free trade. Again the judge was on Mencken’s side, going so far as to state that the banning of objectionable material was the job of lawyers and elected officials, not citizens.

Emboldened by these two victories, Mencken had the legal footing he needed to go after his real target. After the Solicitor General of the Post Office, ignoring the decision of the Boston judge, declared that issue of the American Mercury obscene, and therefore sending it through the mail a federal offense, Mencken filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service. It would have been a landmark First Amendment case and, had he won, it would have dealt a serious blow to those pinch-faced do-gooders who would tell us what we can and cannot read. That, however, would have to wait until Barney Rosset and Grove Press landed in court three decades later. Mencken’s suit was dismissed on a technicality, and that was that.

Even though in the years that followed the Watch and Ward Society would again shift their focus to more definable vices like gambling, books would continue to be banned in Boston at an  unprecedented clip until the time of Mencken’s death in 1956.

by Jim Knipfel

[drink-n-watch]

I’m writing this on Thursday. This maters because I normally watch Tower of God when it airs and writ my review right after. But I was so exhausted yesterday, that watching anime was too much trouble. Yup, actually watching was more intellectual and emotional involvement than I could muster.

Had I known how happy episode 12 of Tower of God would make me, I probably would have watched it right then and there!

I feel like you can always tell when I’m excited about an episode because my screencaps double!

First of all let me assure you that despite having predicted half of what happens this episode I did not read ahead in the mangwa. This is pure coincidence! This said I’m particularly flattered that Tower of God decided to do everything in its power to make me very very happy. 

Of course,  the only thing it actually had to do was give me some sweet sweet Yuri. The second I recognize that silhouette in the shadows, a smile crept across my face and it didn’t die out for the entirety of the episode.

One dark tiny little fear I have had all this time and didn’t dare tell you all about, was that they would in fact bring Yuri into the main story and then she would be boring. It wasn’t a big fear, Tower of God has been pretty good with creating interesting characters and putting them in even more interesting situations. However, larger-than-life type characters are a little tough to pull off and they have been teasing Yuri since the beginning of the season elevating our expectations so much that it becomes difficult to sustain.

Oh but I am so pleased to report that my fears were completely in vain. Heck, Yuri may have even been cooler than I expected and I don’t even know how that’s possible. She was the best! Now admittedly Yuri is probably a character that is best used sparingly. Seeing her every episode would likely dilute some of the fun. But I still think they could have brought her back a few episodes sooner. Not that I’m complaining. I’ll take any Yuri I can get! Boy out of context this sounds like I’m just the biggest YoI fan!

This really turned into a Yuri appreciation post… Did you expect anything else?

I guess I got so fascinated by her presence I sort of didn’t notice whatever else was happening… Actually that’s not true. You know what was really cool, seeing Endrosi and Anak come together. It really gave m a hells yeah girl power! moment, in the best of way.

And although we didn’t actually get to see anything, I couldn’t help but notice that compared to how she was with everyone, Yuri seemed a little nicer to Leesoo, or at least a bit more trusting. She talked to him openly and trusted him with her gift and message for Bam. Maybe it’s just because I like Leesoo a lot and I would like to think Yuri also saw some of that in him!

Basically, just as I had predicted, or rather requested, Yuri cam in and saved the Anak and Endrosi who are also BFFs now and I can’t wait to see this dynamic!

Meanwhile, on the surface, Khun managed to pull of yet another rather brilliant plan using the resources available to him in the best possible way. It was a good little sequence to swiftly remind us of everyone’s skill and add some sunshine into the episode. It also cemented the fact that everyone really trusts Kuhn. To the point where, as soon as they realized something extraordinary was happening and the tides of war were shifting in their favour, they just naturally assumed it was all Khun’s plan. Not bad for a kid who started out completely and utterly alone in the whole wide world! Khun may have a hard time getting to trust anyone but somehow he has managed to earn the trust of others.

And also, he would look really good with a haircut…cough…

All the hotties came out to play this week and I am not complaining!

Now I have always thought that the concept of families in Tower of God is used a bit like in the mafia. Obviously the Jahad aren’t all related. Maybe none of them are related in any way. So wouldn’t the Khun’s be the same. They don’t seem to know each other. Maybe whoever the Khun leader is also just chooses people for their family but just don’t have that slightly creepy only virgin girls allowed rule. But f so, why do they look like they’re related.

I guess if they are not a biological family, it would make that really passionate relationship Khun seems to have with his sister make more sense. Not that it didn’t make sense to me before. In fact I didn’t even think about it not making sense until this very episode, because, as I have mentioned before, anime has completely destroyed my concept of appropriate sibling relationships!

This said if Khun was “chosen”, it would explain his relative power and knowledge compared to the others. Up to a certain point, I figured he got his intel by virtue of being a light bearer but he always seemed to know way more about the Tower than everyone else. Even before the positions test. But if he’s a “princess”, that would explain it.

Too much think, back to nonsense. Hak and Khun should be besties forever, just like Anak and Endrosie. This episode was the best, I tell ya!

As happy as I was to see Yuri, I do wish we had had a bit more time with her team…

Just when everything was falling into place, we found out that the Bull was sent to get Bam. And the Bull seems to be some type of giant stingray monster. (I really like stingrays, not sure why). Now I know that technically Bam is a Wave Controller but ar we absolutely sure he’s not a Fisherman? Cause he seems to be a real bane for sea monsters! I’ll admit it, I’m proud of that one, so there!

Seriously though, Anak and Endrosi together couldn’t make a dent in that thing and Bam just blew him up. We knew the kid was strong but is he like, Yuri strong? Why isn’t he in a family? Wait is there a Bam family? Oh gaw, can you imagine like a dozen wide eyed innocents with immense power just milling around the Tower aimlessly, smiling at people! It would certainly be a great subversion of the chosen one trope the series has been leaning into!

I had been spoiled by fans of the webtoon that Rachel’s character was more than meets the eye before the series started and me first and really only guess was that she would betray Bam specifically. That’s what has been foreshadowed all along and I was too lazy to go against the obvious. Still, I didn’t think it would be that soon. Bam will probably forgive her though. He just seems like the type.

I like that it came so quickly. An openly treacherous Rachel is bound to be more interesting than the sad sack Rachel we’ve been getting.

What I’m saying is that there is only one episode left and they’ve set up al the most interesting moments of the series so far….great….

Tower of God Ep.12 – Finally! I'm writing this on Thursday. This maters because I normally watch Tower of God when it airs and writ my review right after.

[irenedonati]

On Black Girls Glow, #MotherOfHeirs and me being overwhelmed.

I’m receiving since Sunday messages and acknowledgements for my “help” on the Black Girls Glow project. 

I feel answering with “thank you” or various emojis on twitter cannot be enough to express the feelings of gratitude that I actually have. I remembered I have a blog and that my blog has been silent since forever so... maybe time to start again.

DISCLAIMER: it might be a long post.

It’s my fourth year in a country that I’ve chosen to be my home and it has been four years of ups and downs and rollercoasters. 

One of the reasons why I managed to survive many things it’s because I’ve been able to be surrounded by incredible artistic talents. 

I bless my friendship with Kyekyeku, the beautiful experience with M.anifest in the work environment and the small work I’ve done with Worlasi which is another indisputable talent. All the concerts and art exhibitions and creative power I’ve seen around have nurtured me. And working with Stefania and meeting all these upcoming artists... and then meeting the Nkenten family, which technically saved me. And recently Isaac Opoku and Bright Ackwerh... I feel very lucky for all this. I don’t even want to start mentioning all the amazing people in the fashion industry... you guys know who you are.

I remember the first time I saw Poetra on stage more than 3 years ago, and I remember writing a blog post saying she moved me... and then tweeting “Girl, You Rock!” at Alliance Française, the second time I saw her. 

I know something about art because I come from music... My mum says, I used to fall asleep with Opera when I was a child, my family on my mother’s side has the music in the DNA. I’ve studied piano for 10 years and singing has been my passion for my entire life. Christmas as a kid in my house was special, because of all of us playing music and singing.

Then I’ve worked in the creative industry: advertising is one of the best environments to share passion for art: creatives are usually artists on the side or, like my beautiful friend Guido, they can even decide to finally drop their jobs and pursue their art career. Or like my beloved John, they paint during the night and they go to work during the day. 

I became a buddhist many years ago, and one of my mentors says ‘To strive even higher, to do even better—the creative process is a desperate struggle to go beyond what we were yesterday. It is a battle against resting on our laurels, against the fear of losing what we have. It is an adventure into unknown territory.’

And then I became a Yoga teacher and through Yoga and meditation I’ve been able to express my creativity more. My writings are not public, but I do write.

Now, what happened with Black Girls Glow I would not describe it as me “helping”: what I felt from the moment I’ve started working closer with Ama is that they’ve embraced me. And in a way, they helped me. 

I feel like I needed them more than they needed me: yes I’ve offered my services as Pr, helped with the fundraising, spread the word as much as I could, helped with the event and supported them. But I had the privilege to be chosen to do it. I had the privilege to get their trust. It was my honour to be surrounded by so much talent.

I’m very bad with compliments so all these “thank you” are actually very overwhelming for me. When you struggle with anxiety even too much love sometimes is too much to manage.

But I want to thank you amazing girls. I would like to spend a word for each of you because I am so thankful of the time we’ve spent together in the past days. 

Ama, I feel like in english I can’t even find the words to explain exactly what I think about you. I think sometimes I’m jealous of your strength and the way you know exactly where you are going. I’ve learned so much from you during this experience. Thank you for trusting me.

Dzyadzorm, so much strength and so much fragility.  You are the one I’ve probably interacted less with, but I admire you deeply. And you made me cry... and Bright saw me... and he’s having fun of me now. That poem is a manifesto we should teach in schools. 

Adomaa, you have the talent of those artists who are able to become icons. Amazing presence and personality without making too much noise. Working hard without talking much. Style and brain. And I find you extremely funny which I consider a great virtue. Sense of humour is so sexy :)

Cina, you are a breath of fresh hair (quoting)... like a butterfly. When you are around it’s just easier. And that voice... I don’t know if there’s a god or a someone assigned to give us talent, but that voice just feels right. Keep that spirit through life, you make people feel better when you’re around. 

Ria, ah Maria I feel like we have so much in common. If I could make a wish it would be to duet with you. We share some deep experiences and I see you being able to transform the bad into good through your voice, and I admire you so much for that.

Fu: I didn’t know you, I didn’t even know there was in Ghana a female rapper like the ones I love. Effortlessly musical. You’re a beautiful person and I’m sure other people noticed that you are also very deep. And you rocked the show... you are the biggest revelation of this project and I’m so happy more people have been able to see it.

I don’t know if these words are enough to explain how much I thank you ladies, for the privilege of being around you. And we should all thank you for what you gave us last night.  

I think, Ama who’s been around me a bit more, knows the passion I put in almost everything is the same. But I’m grateful that through this project other people have been able to see it. Yes I’m difficult, I’m blunt, I’m a bit of a troublemaker sometimes, but when I love, that’s how I love. 

So to anyone who expressed appreciation for what I have done, thank you. 

And if you feel we can do more together, my arms are open. Maybe I should work on this more seriously because if I have to tell the truth, it makes me extremely happy.

And let’s keep the attention going on Black Girls Glow because of course, this is just the beginning but we need sponsors and we need to realise what Ama wants: to make it a Pan African platform to help female artists in all the disciplines and performing arts to express themselves. 

Power to the Power.

https://twitter.com/BlackGirlsGlow

https://soundcloud.com/blackgirlsglow 

[gehreslawtina]

Does Your Estate Plan Account for Your Incapacity? ​Benefits of a Durable Power of Attorney

A frequently overlooked part of the estate planning process is deciding who will help you manage your financial affairs if you’re ever incapacitated and unable to manage them yourself. In reality, the likelihood of you needing someone to act on your behalf at some point in time is statistically quite high; accidents happen every day. In order to address the possibility of an eventual incapacitating event, diligent clients (with the help of their estate planning attorney) ensure they have the appropriate documents in place should the need ever arise. Specifically, by executing a Durable Power of Attorney, they have, in advance and with thoughtful consideration, chosen exactly who will help them if or when they need help.

What is a Durable Power of Attorney – An Overview

A Durable Power of Attorney (“DPA”) is a legal document that outlines who will make decisions for you, what decisions that person can make, and when that person can make them.

A Power of Attorney “Agent” is the person or persons you specifically name in your DPA document to act for you if you are ever incapacitated and unable to manage your affairs yourself.

The powers contained in a DPA are generally financial in nature, and usually do not give your named DPA Agent the authority to make any medical or healthcare-related decisions for you. Since we can’t predict what events may transpire in the future, a DPA can and should be quite broad, and drafted to cover a number of different possible scenarios.

This Power of Attorney is “durable” in that it survives a declaration of incapacity. In fact, you can even describe in the document itself what constitutes an incapacity event, or specify who exactly determines whether or not you have the capacity to make decisions (such as your primary care doctor, two licensed physicians, or a panel of family members, for example).

Who should I appoint as my Durable Power of Attorney Agent?

The short answer is: anyone you trust to make legal, business, and financial-related decisions for you.

If you’re married, your spouse is typically listed as your first Agent. This will allow him or her to manage any bank accounts that are in your name alone, or to file your joint-tax return, for example. In addition, it is always advisable to list backup agents as well, especially in the event you and your spouse become incapacitated together, or one of you pre-deceases the other.

Further, a person named as a DPA Agent is under no obligation to act, and may not want to or be able to help you when the time comes (maybe because of their own incapacity). Additionally, an Agent can always resign later on down the road, so having a “next in line” to pick up where your first named Agent left off is always a good idea.

The only real limitation is that a DPA Agent has to be an adult–so your very responsible but not-quite 18 year old child would be a bad choice, at least for now. Keep in mind, however, DPAs are completely modifiable and easily amendable, so when he or she reaches adulthood, you can have your DPA updated accordingly.

When does a POA become effective?

Your Agent usually cannot begin acting on your behalf unless and until there is a formal declaration of incapacity. However, sometimes people chose to make their DPA “immediate”, which means the named Agent can start helping them out upon execution. While this sounds like a really scary thing for some, in the appropriate situation, it is ideal. For example, perhaps an aging parent is starting to need more and more help, and we don’t want to wait until they’re technically “incapacitated” to help them. A few other scenarios where an immediate DPA can be useful is when someone is going out of town for an extended period and would like their Agent to manage their affairs while they are away, or they are going in for a medical procedure and want to ensure they have someone in place that can manage things for them if they end up needing a little extra help while they recover.

How long will my POA last?

Duration: The duration of a DPA can be indefinite, or it can be limited to a specific period of time in advance. Likewise, a DPA can be used long-term or just temporarily. If you are incapacitated for a short time, your Agent can act for you until you regain the capacity to begin acting for yourself once again. If you never regain capacity, your pre-selected Agents can continue caring for you for an unlimited amount of time.

Caveat: Although DPAs are usually indefinite, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be accepted forever. I advise my clients to revisit and “refresh” their DPA documents every few years. Even if they do not want to change their appointed Agents, it’s nice to get “fresh ink” on the document, which ensures banks and other financial institutions will accept them without hesitation as they reflect the relatively recent wishes of the Principal.

Revocation & Amendment: You are free to revoke your DPA entirely, or you can simply amend it to reflect your current wishes. Things change and relationships are fluid. Obviously if you no longer want a person you had previously named as your DPA Agent handling your affairs, you should update the document to reflect your change of heart. Like I tell my clients: you have to plan for what you know now. So, if you know you do not want your brother managing your affairs, don’t list your brother as an Agent. You can always update your DPA down the road when he gets his act together and you feel confident in his judgment.

Expiration: Finally, DPAs expire at death. Let me repeat that: DPAs expire at death! In my practice, I’ve learned that most people don’t know this, and always look remarkably shocked when they find out. As one of my clients put it, “So you’re telling me that my Power of Attorney expires when I expire?” Yes, that is exactly right.

To put it another way, your named Agent will be able to help you between your incapacity and your death, but not afterward. So, while your Agent can manage your affairs for you because you’re incapacitated, they can’t continue managing those affairs for you upon your death by virtue of being named your DPA Agent.

I Have a Trust – Do I Still Need A DPA?

Yes. You absolutely do. A DPA is designed to work in conjunction with your Trust in that it is used to control assets outside of trust title. Examples of assets outside of your trust that would be managed by a DPA Agent (rather than Successor Trustee) include: managing retirement accounts, paying your debts, applying for government benefits, making support payments, managing your business, etc.

Now this does not mean your DPA Agent and your Successor Trustee have to be different people—in fact, the same person can act for you in both capacities. There are certainly benefits of having the same person in both roles, but there are also practical and logistical implications to consider as well. The best course of action is to sit down with your estate planning attorney and decide what will be best for you and your specific situation.

What if I don’t have a DPA? Then what?

If the time comes and you are no longer able to manage your own financial affairs, but the appropriate planning was not done in advance (i.e., you did not execute a DPA), a conservatorship action will be brought before a court, and a judge will decide who handles your affairs for you. Of course, this will cost you or your loved ones in both time and money—who will foot that bill?; but perhaps even more concerning is the chance that the person the court appoints to manage your affairs is someone you would have never picked yourself. Remember, you’re incapacitated at this point- you will have no meaningful say in the matter without a DPA.

Summary

People often think of an Estate Plan as something that will come into effect upon their death; but comprehensive estate planning will also provide guidance in the event of incapacity. A well-crafted DPA can be used to seamlessly transition the financial affairs of the Grantor/Principal into the hands of the people they know and trust, without court intervention, and in accordance with their wishes.

The attorneys at Gehres Law Group, P.C. are pleased to offer a complimentary evaluation to discuss your estate planning needs. Please remember this information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Nothing in this article should be construed as forming an attorney-client relationship. For specific advice concerning your particular situation, consult personally with an estate planning attorney.

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