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husbandohunter · 4 years ago

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Moments of Despair #1 [Genshin Impact/Diluc x Reader]

Synopsis: “The man who was on fire and realized it too late.”

(A series of works where the boys deal with the passing of their beloved).

Albedo's despair

Warnings: angst, tragedy, major character death, graphic depictions of violence perhaps

(A/n): Had these ideas for a while after reading @/serensama To Mourn series of another fandom. So much sorrow and feeling I just was inspired to write 😫

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The moment you fell lifeless in Diluc's arms, he wanted to disappear.

It was raining again, he had always despised the rain. How it trickles down the slope of your cheek, like tears falling from the heavens. The sight of it mixing with your blood creating a thin stream of red rivers flowing beside him. They patter down obnoxiously because time didn't care, the gods don't care, the world didn't care. You were just a small fragile person to their eyes but to him you were his light. A candle that used to shine in his dark world was now dissipitated by the waters of reality.

Many droplets have passed and he was still holding you. Diluc could do nothing but stare. He hadn't shed any tears nor could he make a coherent sound. Perhaps it was because his tears have long run out when his father was held in the very same way. Or it was because he was heartless. He's usually told for being cold and indifferent. But the pain clenching in his chest was proof that he still had one (proof that it was still beating), much to his dismay. It would be better if he didn't.

So why can't he just look away? Your wounds, your bruised features, everything now etched so deep into the back of his conciousness that is was starting to awaken his worst nightmares. They were the source of the bile growing in his stomach. The irony stench filling up his nostrils felt so sickening. He couldn't turn away. You're dead. You're dead. You're dead. As if reality had yet to register, or maybe he refused to accept it, Diluc helplessly gazed down your body with blank and empty eyes.

"Master Diluc..."

Jean's voice called out to him pitifully. He rises up with his back turned, ignoring the stares given to him, "Leave. The knights of favonius are not needed here."

"But she's a Mondstadt citizen," The anemo user retorts, slightly taken aback by his impassive reaction, "It's my responsibility to ensure this case doesn't go unnoticed."

Unnoticed. Diluc scoffs in his mind, what a tasteless joke.

"It seems you weren't listening," he announces as his head was turned ajar so they could see the deep hatred glowing red in his eyes, "Leave. Now."

Jean's lips trembled before barely being able to say, "Alright" and retreating her knights back to the city. Kaeya narrows his gaze at his bother, the sorrow was evident through his pupils. He steps forward until he was arms length away from his brother. Too little too late, another failure was added to the belt.

Kaeya was a man of many words but for once he was at loss of what to say. No underhanded suggestions, no ideas taunting him to spill his thoughts, he simply asks Diluc, "What are you planning to do now?"

Silence. Kaeya couldn't predict what sort of expression his brother was making as he looks at your corpse. It brought a heavy weight of unsettlement upon him and here he thought he had already grown used to his brother's quietness.

Slowly, he turns around while letting the water pour down his face. Kaeya tightens his jaw as Diluc drags his feet towards him, stopping when their shoulders were parallel, "It's none of your concern."

"You're just going to leave her here?"

There was a slight pause which was enough of an answer. The Cavalry Captain sighs when he watched him walk away, what was the point of asking when Kaeya knew Diluc so well? He glances at your form before swiftly shutting his eyes.

It was his concern.

-------

A week later, the staff of the Ragnvindr household could hardly recognize their Master's appearance. They knew not to bother him when he decides to lock himself in his chambers. Diluc drowns himself with work from hours to no end as he connects the findings of the person that took your life. As expected, it was one of his enemies- a fatui member. The question was, which one?

"Master Diluc, I beg of you, please take care of yourself," Elzer pleads.

The pyro user didn't bother to spare him a glance or look at the tray of food he carried.

Food...you always brought them whenever he had to work overtime.

"I do not remember specifiying anyone to be allowed in my office," he voices aloud, "If it's related to business affairs simply leave that with Adelinde and I'll take a look at it tomorrow."

"I understand. But you've been working all day and night yet refusing to take any breaks in between. At this rate, you'll harm your health."

The feather pen in his grip kept dragging it's course, "This is beyond the duties assigned to you Elzer."

"That's because it was a request sent by your father," he adds, knowing that stepping over his boundaries may cost him, "If Master Crepus was still here, I'm sure he would have said the same thing."

Taking a deep breath, Elzer lays out his last card, "And also your wife."

The pen slows into a halt.

No one had brought you up until now. Elzer anxiously watches his Master shifting in his seat, his red bangs covering half of his face but he could still see the frown pressing firmly on his lips. It wouldn't be a surprise if Diluc suddenly bursted at him for mentioning such a sensitive topic, all that matters was his master's well being and Elzer was willing to risk everything for it. But nothing. Diluc turns his attention ever so slightly at the tray he carried.

"Fine, but I'm not eating that."

"What? Wasn't this was her favourite-"

"Do I need to repeat myself?"

Elzer furrows his brows before sighing, "...No, Master Diluc."

He exits the room while carrying the fresh dish of Once Upon A Mondstadt that you loved so much. The door closes with a soft click and he was alone again.

People found it strange how Diluc seemed so vacant to your passing. He didn't even show up at your funeral. Instead, he continues his duties as a Mondstadt nobleman like usual while taking care of business matters associated with the winery. Except those who were close to him could see the difference in his actions. Apathy, he was so mechanical in every task he did. Like a marionette attatched on strings, a doll without a soul. After all, his soul died the moment when yours did too. What remains was a shadow of Diluc and a being existing solely for revenge and duty. He was nothing but a remnant.

Fatigue begins to wash over him and he fights to stay awake. Because once he gives in it will all be over. Once he closes his eyes, he would see your face with a multitude of images from the past. He would hear your voice calling out his name from a distant space as it echoes off the walls of his mind. He would fall into a dream where you were still with him and as always, waking up to see that it was never real.

I should have pushed you away.

Because what hurt Diluc the most wasn't that you were gone, rather, it was how you were still here.

Then you'd still be-

Something breaks and it turned out to be the pen he was holding so tightly. Only now Diluc realized how fast his heart was thrumming as beads of sweat began rolling down his forehead. Focus. Don't waste time. He won't grant himself the liberty of anything when your murderer was still on the run. Every wound they inflicted on you was going to be returned in tenfold. He'll make sure of it. That's why, he refuses to think about you at all. Diluc occupies his mind with other matters since at this point, work was the only efficient method of keeping his sanity in tact.

She needs you to focus.

The door opens and Kaeya enters the room while holding a document, "We found the guy."

His reaction was immediate, "Where?"

"Hm, now that we meet, it's actually quite debateable," The captain notes wryly, "When was the last time you've gotten proper rest?"

"I don't have time for this, either you tell me or I'll do it by force."

Kaeya couldn't help but sigh, "Apologies but you don't seem to be in any state for a fight. I'm sure you know how it would end up if you were to face your enemy right now."

"..."

"Diluc, this isn't healthy," Kaeya asserts, it's been a while since he sounded so sincere, "I'm not here to prevent you from doing what's necessary however, perhaps it would be better if I finished it in your stead."

"No," Diluc stubbornly answers, "Hand that over."

"...Heh, then there's really nothing I can do to stop you it seems," he whispers with a sad smile, "At the very least, be careful."

"I intend to," The pyro user snatches the paper parchment out of Kaeya's hands before opening the window, "Also, if Elzer returns, tell him there's a few errands I have to take care of."

The night was a full moon and the sky was empty, Diluc leaps off the edge and disappears into the darkness. There was no telling of what could happen next. Since you weren't here, it was up to Kaeya to watch over him.

-------

The claymore dropped to the ground with a clang as it soaks up the blood of the fatui he just killed.

Diluc was tired, so tired.

He slumps down against the wall from pure exhaustion, all that adrenaline and hatred went up in fumes, leaving behind whatever was left in his heart: nothing. Two hours, not even that far from Mondstadt, the fatui hid in an abandoned building as he cowarded for his life. When Diluc arrived, he never expected this monster to be so weak. This was the person who murdered you? A pathetic nobody that was simply following orders? This was the reason why he lost you forever?

In the end, the only one to blame was himself, for being weak and unable to protect you. He was supposed to be your hero ("Darknight hero," you'd always tease), the rock that shields you just as you had been the warmth he longed for many years, did he give you enough? Was this enough? He thought avenging your death would grant him a peace of mind and the justice you deserved but deep down, he knew it will never be enough when it comes to his love for you.

"Diluc."

He closes his eyes, he hears your voice. He was so tired, it wouldn't be a surprise if he started hallucinating.

"Diluc."

"I'm sorry..."

The man lets out a trembled breath as he apologized to the image of you in his mind. I'm sorry I failed you. They were repeated like a mantra in hopes to reach you somehow. Of course that was impossible, his feelings, his emotions, love and sorrow altogether will never reach you again. And your arms that once comforted him and brushed his hair with a soothing voice, saying everything will be okay, where are they now?

"Diluc."

"Stop," he didn't want to hear your voice.

"Diluc, I'm here."

"Stop..."

"Diluc..."

He jolts his eyes open and lets out a yell, what was he saying? He doesn't know. All he needed now was to drown out the fake voices mocking in his head. Diluc grabs the nearest object and shatters it against the floor, the dam was broken and it flooded uncontrollably, breaking everything in it's way. The abandoned house was filled with loud cries of a man sobbing with agony like a broken-hearted child. He crumbles to his knees and falls to his side, lifting his forearms while clutching his face.

And screamed.

Archons, what did he do to deserve this? Why do the people he cherish get taken away from him? Diluc never wanted to be the Darknight hero if it meant having his father perish in his arms. He didn't want the feeling of stabs against his chest with every breath he took. He didn't want to feel cold while knowing it was because you weren't here to hold him. He didn't want your voice, your pictures or your memory.

He wanted you.

"(Y/n)..." he chokes. Rolling to his back, Diluc moves his arms to cover his eyes, letting the tears run down to his ears, "(Y/n)..."

For who knows how long, he lays there in the abandoned building and mourns. Diluc doesn't have the strength to move from his position, he found himself staring mindlessly through the cracks of the roof when his voice had gone hoarse. The corners of his eyes still burned and his head was throbbing with so much pain. Maybe he should just stay here but the thought of being in the same room as your murderer was unfathomable.

Picking up his claymore once again, Diluc drags himself out of the door. Where would he go? It's not like he had a home to return to because home was when he was with you. A doll without a soul, the marionette moves as if the strings have commanded him to do so. Where ever it takes him, he didn't care. He just knew he had to go.

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chiseler · 5 years ago

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TWO NEW FILMS

Viewed by Henri Duvernois

Le Bataillon des sans-amour [Battalion of the Unloved]

(The Mayor of Hell)

I was greatly moved by this film. The dreadful existence of some delinquent children, I believe, can never be shown enough. And it is not blindly optimistic to declare most of them capable of reform. During my research for a novel, I discussed this subject with the man most qualified to do so, the head of instruction at the Petite Roquette [a Paris prison for boys 7-20]. He told me flat out:

“Eight out of ten, at least, if they are treated kindly, intelligently, gently, are capable of becoming splendid fellows. And I myself would not hesitate to have them associate with my own children. If you write a book on this subject, your surest inspiration will be pity.”

He told me this at a time when France did not yet have a juvenile court, and where judges, broken-hearted—more than once I saw tears in their eyes—were obliged to condemn a poor tubercular starveling of twelve, guilty only of vagrancy and not the slightest crime.

The effect of these films on the public is healthy. There are still too many martyred children—as recent news items show—but there are, above all, unrecognized, too many unfortunate children. Their sad stories do not always end in suicide, like the poor little Rozentweig child, victim of brutish imbeciles [a minor cause célèbre of 1933: Sonia Rozensweig, 13, a refugee Polish Jew, drowned herself after an encounter involving herself, a 7-year-old brother or cousin, and a local shopkeeper, which ended in the police station; leftwing and rightwing papers gave widely divergent accounts of the affair], or the baby slowly tortured by an appalling stepmother. Children are beaten. Children are, morally, abandoned. I was struck by these lines, during the courtroom scene of the film: “I’m sick of supporting him!” says one father, to which the boy replies, “When did you ever support me?”

The battalion of the unloved, then, is made up of young vagabonds left to the streets by the carelessness or poverty of their parents. A director may, through his careful reproduction of life, make a work of art at art’s finest: the sensitive transposition of truth. So it is here. The actors are between twelve and fifteen years old. Each, by his physical appearance, voice, costume, is a chapter of a novel. Here is the snitch, the traitor, who steals and pillages but can and will sell out his comrades. Here is the leader, quick to deal out chastisement, bolder and more energetic than the others, more dangerous too, in whose generous nature his good and bad instincts are at war. A kind word, a caress may save him. But one must divine his heart and pierce his tough shell to reach it. There is the hate-filled one, who would love with the same fervor if he were given the chance; the fat kid, greedy and lazy; the pickaninny who follows the gang because he’s hungry; the sickly boy who wants to have a little fun before he dies.

The whole gang is condemned to reform school. The latter is directed by one Thompson, whom the film’s authors have perhaps made too starkly a villain. There are (and, above all, there have been) a good many of these civil servants who, without being monsters of cruelty like Thompson, even while undeviatingly pursuing their duty—what they believe is their duty—have produced equally deplorable results.

But there must be a counterforce: Dorothy, the reform school’s nurse. She is not satisfied merely to take care of the boys when they are ill. She wants them to be better treated and better fed. Her smile and her blondeness perform the miracle. An inspector is named, an insouciant young man placed there by crooked politicians. For love of Dorothy, he no longer smiles and approves. He furloughs the savage director and takes his place. Surprise! The mess hall’s foul gruel is replaced by bacon and eggs and cream cakes. The boys are made responsible for organizing themselves; they name one judge, another chief of police, etc. There is laughter and song in what once was hell. But the director returns. By a rather too neat coincidence, Gargan, the inspector, is charged with murder. The other triumphs. Once again the school is a prison. A little TB case, confined to an icy cell, dies of cold. The boys revolt, a torch-bearing mob. Terrified, the director jumps off a roof and falls to his death. Gargan, found innocent, returns. Order is restored and Gargan will marry Dorothy.

The film is full of exquisite details. One, especially poignant, bowled me over. This was not the death of the little TB case, admirably handled though it was. It was the moment when Jimmy, the gang leader, while being upbraided, takes a sheet of paper and a pencil and, in a few strokes, makes a lovely sketch. If someone takes an interest in him, flatters him with a few compliments, he might become a great artist. If he is treated roughly, he will surely become a criminal… The agonizing question of vocation is raised here. And a detail like this honors and illuminates a film.

This film is marvelously interpreted by the boys, headed by Frankie Darrow as Jimmy, very well by Madge Evans and James Cagney as the nurse and the inspector, and with great sensitivity by Arthur Byron as the kindly judge.

La Porte des rêves [The Door of Dreams]

(The Keyhole)

The Keyhole tells the story of the beautiful Anne, wife of Maurice, her former partner in a dance act. Believing herself divorced, she has married a rich older man, Schuyler Brooks. But the divorce was not finalized. Maurice takes advantage of the situation, blackmailing his ex-wife by threatening to reveal the truth. He makes her meet with him, extorts large sums, tears her jewels from her.

Terrified, Anne asks her own sister-in-law for help. Maurice must be gotten out of New York. He is a foreigner; they will arrange that his return visa be refused. Anne claims she is going to Cuba. Maurice will follow her there and she will be rid of him.

Brooks thinks she is traveling because she is weary of her luxurious but dull conjugal existence and seeks an adventure. He hires a handsome private detective, Davis, to seduce her and become her lover. When he has done so, he is to telephone the husband, who will fly to Cuba and take the couple in flagrante. But Anne falls truly in love with the detective, and he falls in love with her. He saves her from an ambush arranged by Maurice. When Brooks, alerted by his sister, arrives to take Anne back, the ex-husband flees, falls off a balcony, and is killed. Brooks opens the door. Anne is in Davis’s arms, passionately kissing him. The jealous husband has gotten what he paid for…

Of course, any plot summary is derisive for a film of this type, whose worth lies in its dramatic sweep and the talent of its interpreters. The action is here only to serve the actors and give a pretext for ingenious images, marvelously coordinated. There is no question of psychology. In any event, to disarm criticism, the actors in The Keyhole make the heroine a former dancer, accustomed to a certain liberty and who may thus, over the course of a cruise, swayed by sweet music, the sea, and the starry sky, let herself be beguiled by a mere detective, private though he be.

But what delighted me and must be set apart is, in the role of Dot, a little blonde tart, the charming Glenda Farrell. We have already seen her in certain supporting roles where she struck us by her intelligence and acuteness of observation. Glenda Farrell belongs to that small number of actresses who produce true literary creations, through the amused tenderness with which they realize a character who would be, with another, insignificant and purposeless. She was from head to toe the cruise ship charmer who shares her takings with the barman, chooses lonely and naïve men, and drops them when she sees that the game is not worth the candle. More and more, talking pictures will use and showcase talents of this sort. And it is among them that directors must seek future stars, rather than among the immobile beauties, vamps or victims, inherited from the late silent cinema.

Such a reproach is not addressed to Kay Francis, who has magnetism and authority and, above all, that invaluable advantage for a cinema artist: a ravishing and sensitive shape to the mouth. I do not have the space here to develop this argument, but the mouth is of capital importance in film—more so even than the eyes—and not for the final kiss alone. Smile, emotion, irony, fear, radiant youth and sudden aging, it expresses everything. Take, for example, in France, the mouth of Gaby Morlay and, in America, that of Irene Dunne. If so many actresses disappoint us with their monotony, it is above all because nature has refused them this power of expression.

Henry Kolker has naturalness and ease. He establishes the character of a deceived husband and saves it from convention. Finally, the rhythm of the film is excellent and its technique fully mastered, meaning that it does not intrude and serves the story without overwhelming it.

Translated by Phoebe Green

First published in Pour Vous magazine

NUMERO. 259

2 NOV. 1933

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positivlyfocused · 4 years ago

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Sometimes I Gotta Seethe In Rage

Three weeks ago I wrote how every negative situation is positive. Well this week brought such a crazy-ass example of that, I shared it with all my clients. Now I want to share it with you.

This story is hilarious. I almost wrote "unflattering", but you'll see at the end that this story flatters me in the sense that I saw how this infuriating situation was also a massive blessing.

Summer's sun, blue skies and Oregon's hot breezy air called me out again last weekend. I love working outside along the Willamette River shores. I enjoy Ospreys above and salmon jumping skyward likely avoiding sea lions and their chisel like teeth.

I decided I wanted more of that, so I packed my bike. I packed light, my portable chair, my iPad and nothing more. I planned to finish reading Ross Douthat's The Decadent Society, its insightful take on current reality had my attention for weeks now. I anticipated exploring Douthat's take while enjoying the Oregon summer.

^^The usual spot I work from on summer Oregon days...by the Willamette's beautiful shores...

That's not what happened though

Oregon's governor recently eased lockdown mandates. With her decree, all of Oregon made similar plans. I expected a few people riverside, but wasn't prepared for crowds that showed up.

A forty minute bike ride turned into an hour while I tried finding suitable, solitary rest stop. I finally decided on a rocky shore devoid of human for lack of any sand. But I had my chair. I didn't need sand.

I parked my bike, set up my chair then settled into Douthat's narrative. Thirty minutes later, a couple with two dogs showed up. The young, tattooed Portlanders led their dogs to the water's edge, unleashed them and threw tennis balls into the river. The larger of the two dogs, a pit-bull, leapt into the water while its smaller puppy companion barked in envy. Then the puppy eased into the water, found it agreeable and went for a swim. I smiled then turned back to Douthat.

Minutes later, the puppy was licking at my bare legs. I'm not a dog person, but I can appreciate a cute pooch. On this day though, I just wanted to read in quiet on a beautiful day. It annoyed me that this dog suddenly was licking my leg. But what annoyed me more was the fact that its owner hadn't done his legal duty of keeping his dog under control.

I lifted my legs away from the pooch, clearly annoyed, which the owner saw. He came bounding to my rescue, scooped up his dog with an apology and returned to his spot. There, he put it on a leash. His partner too re-leashed the Pit-bull.

All that was nice. But it was too late.

I got hooked in frustration-momentum

Momentum is a powerful thing. Especially negative momentum born of oft-told stories. I've harbored negative stories about dog owners who don't keep their dogs leashed and therefore under control as leash laws mandate. So much so it's one of my "pet peeves" (oh god! no pun intended!).

Recently when I read about a "Karen" from Central Park Manhattan who made a racist false police report against a fellow New Yorker who politely asked her to leash her dog in an area where a leash law was in force. The fellow New Yorker, a board member of the New York City Audubon Society who happens to be African American, recorded the whole incident. The recording went viral and popular outrage caused the woman to lose her job and her dog. Reportedly, New York is considering banning her permanently from Central Park and the District Attorney is considering pressing charges against her for making a false police report.

This story came to mind as that puppy slimed me. When its owner grabbed it and apologized, I mused whether he also thought about that Central Park incident.

The problem was, I didn't shake the association, which would have been in my best interest. Comparing my experience to what happened to the Audubon Board Member wasn't really fair. But old stories about my pet peeve combined with that viral Central Park experience in my head creating momentum that swept me up.

For the next half hour I couldn't focus on my reading. My mind swirled around the association, my indignation, my annoyance and frustration....

^^I don't hate dogs. Dogs love me as much as I love them...sometimes...🤣

What happened next was no surprise

The couple decided to pack up and leave, having I suppose, had enough time at the water's edge. As they walked to the bike path, I heard the woman say to someone I couldn't see "Sir, would you mind leashing your dog?"

The irony didn't escape me. "Cosmic Justice" I thought. Little did I know said justice was just getting started...

I couldn't hear the what the person she addressed said, but I heard what she was saying. I also got the annoyance in her tone:

"Why aren't you willing to put your dog on a leash sir?" She asked. I turned, hoping to see who she addressed. I couldn't see that person. She continued.

"My dog isn't friendly," she said. The person said something I didn't hear.

"How many years have you been around my dog sir?" She replied. "I'm telling you my dog is not friendly."

Apparently whoever she addressed had done nothing, so she reached down, picked up what looked like a 40 pound pit-bull and scrambled over rocks the rest of the way to the bike path with her male companion in tow.

I was thinking about karmic kickback, wondering how the couple felt now since they themselves hadn't controlled their (little) dog. Which is why I hadn't noticed that not seconds later another dog was sniffing at my leg!

It's my turn...

I turned in surprise, saw the Husky, then darted around looking for the owner. Presumably this was the same person the young woman spoke with earlier. Finally I saw him sitting in a chair he set up behind me on the bike path's edge.

My indignance increased. "Really?" I thought. "Twice in a row?" What did I expect? I create my reality. Here was the Universe serving me a big pile of pet peeve....a second helping if you will, this time via a Husky and yet another irresponsible owner.

But wait...it gets worse. Or rather, I got worse.

I should have known trying to get the owner to do anything about his scofflaw dog would be futile. After all I saw that play out just seconds ago. Never the less:

"Sir, would you please come get your dog!" I said with force ten annoyance.

The owner looked down at me, at his dog and said "he's alright."

"I'm not!" I said.

The owner said nothing.

At that, I'd had it!

Now I was fully in rage. That's right, I was so angry, I was shaking. I wanted to strangle that damn dog and murder the owner. But I also knew it wasn't the dog's fault. So I directed all my rage (in my mind) at the owner. I wanted to first strangle him, then murder him!

I should mention I had the presence of mind at this moment to see the ironic humor here. A part of me knew what I was doing was ridiculous. It's just a dog. But the principle folks, and the momentum of my pet peeve had me firm in its grip.

Clearly this guy wasn't going to do anything about his dog. There was no way I could recover my state of calm at this point, not to mention focusing on Douthat's prose. I decided then to gather my things and head home in a huff, which took all but a couple minutes.

But I couldn't let it end that way. Noooo.

As I pushed my bike up to the bike trail, I made my "offender" clearly: white male in his 40s, beer in hand, listening to a transistor radio, minding his own business and cool as a 🥒. Perfect contrast to my seething rage, which at this point, boiled over and out my mouth:

"YOU'RE EXACTLY THE KIND OF PERSON WHO GIVES DOG OWNERS A BAD NAME!" I yelled in his general direction. I hopped on my bike and peeled away on the momentum of my righteous indignation. 😂🤣😊

That wasn't the end of it.

A half-mile into my return trip, it struck me. What happened here? Why am I letting this situation shape how I feel? How I feel is more important than how I'm treated. In fact, I know by choosing how I interpret what happens in my life, I can create reality. Here I was doing what a noob at all this "you create your reality" business would do...

At this point, I should stop and say I know sometimes I'm going to get pissed. It's just part of what happens when an eternal being comes into physical reality.

Thinking an enlightened person doesn't get mad sometimes indicates misunderstanding about how physical reality works. Physical reality intentionally offers variety: things I want and things I don't want. After all, how am I to know what I want if I don't know what I don't want?

How am I to know what thoughts feel better than others, if I don't have a negative experience every now and then?

That's what I thought one half mile into my return ride. And that's when I decided I had the power here. I had choice.

So instead of continuing to seethe, I decided to put my attention on something else. Something more pleasing. So I noticed the blue sky. I noticed the green trees. I noticed how much I like riding my bike, how good the sun felt on my bare legs and arms, how good it feels on a Oregon summer day. In seconds I felt better. My feelings reminded me how wonderful it is working from Oregon's riversides:

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That's when something amazing happened

The more I thought these thoughts, the better I felt. Then...

Ever had an experience where something happens, you react in a less than ideal way, then, later, you get a thought, an idea, an alternative way you could have responded that might have been more effective?

Well that's what happened. In my increasing happiness I received an alternative scenario that played out in my mind. Rather than throwing a tantrum at the guy, I saw my self calmly rise, gather my things and my chair, walk up to the guy and set up my chair right next to him. So close our chairs touched side by side. Then I sat down, looked at him and began politely talking his ear off.

That's when I burst out laughing, a belly laugh so strong it obliterated my anger. I let this alternative reality play through my mind, adding humorous bits here and there – I saw him looking at me surprised, then trying to ignore me, then suddenly packing up his things and stomping off, dog in tow off leash. I imagined him and I actually having a friendly conversation, chatting away like best friends. I imagined him and I sitting there, me chatting away and he trying to ignore my chatting tsunami in quiet annoyance...

And you know what happened next? The entire situation changed for me. No longer did I see him as the idiot epitome of bad dog ownership. Instead he became a shining example of what I could be.

Consider this:

This guy was doing his own thing, oblivious to what others thought and said about him

This guy was in his own reality, enjoying his life with his dog. So was the dog!

This guy had presence of mind, a centeredness so powerful, he appeared unphased by not only one, but two verbal aggressors trying to knock him off his rocker

As much as I want to vilify him, he demonstrated to me vibrational mastery. And at that point he went from villain to teacher.

I want to be like that. I want to be calm in the face of storms.

And, in fact I am, nearly all the time.

Which is another thing he taught me: that I am that nearly all the time. When I'm not, there's always something great in the experience I learn about myself and about my Positively Focused practice.

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harusha · 5 years ago

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by last 2 gens, I meant SUMO and SWSH. I loved XY, but liked SUMO characters better. USUMO could have made great sequels. Lillie as prof. Gladion as champ, Hau as a kahuna. Etc. Would also make the transition to wormhole traveling more realistic if they were set in a universe where the events took place. I loved Gen 2 for letting us see Kanto 3 years later, and BW2 for letting us see what's changed in Unova. Just frustrating with the direction of things

Whoops, sorry anon. I never got the notification for this, so this is probably a week old or so. Tbh, I feel you though. I don’t want to be a spoilsport, but it feels like the mainline games are riding somewhat on name brand at this point. Making games is hard don’t get me wrong, but there’s a lot going on w/ SWSH rn on release.

I love the whole sequel stuff, but my only concern is “canonzing a protag.” Like…look at Alexio/Cassandra from AC:O. Sheer madness in how those arguments go on “canon. Like, I like ambiguity because I can avoid that.

Tbh alongside the sequel idea and the coherency it would bring, I would love it if wormholes let you go to the OG timelines (RBY–>GSC, FRLG/RSE–>PDPT/HGSS->BW->BW2), and that’s why you get hidden abilities, rare Pokemon, and increased shiny chance. They could just explain it as the wormhole changing the Pokemon’s characteristics. RBY timeline is basically “no one had abilities,” hence the drastic changes, FRLG timeline could be “they decided to go with you, and now they changed to fit your timeline.”

Like they wouldn’t have to put every single region in; they could even just make it to where you visited parts of each region, perhaps the most iconic locations and/or moments, as a post-game/high difficulty thing (everyone is set to lv. 100 and have ideal spreads+sets). Like dropping in on Mt. Silver at the foot of the mountain, and have the area name pop up as “???” and have the player traverse the dungeon (w/ the HGSS encounters but inflated to 80s-90s so the observant veteran player can go “hmm this is familiar”) and have it accumulate in walking in on EthanVSRed on Mt. Silver, and it ending up in a double battle with them. Like that would blow people’s minds and make them realize what the post-game is, a love letter to every single generation so far, and set the stage for the rest of the post-game.

They don’t even have to confirm the canon protagonist for Johto if they just cover them up in snow gear (ie. put a cloak on them and have the hood up), and give them Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Tyranitar, Raichu, and Espeon/Azumarill. The three starters, the Pseudo-Legendary of the generation, Raichu to parallel Red (also small callback to how Ethan was supposed to be Red’s younger brother in the old GBC pamphlet), and Espeon if they want to showcase the OG day/night cycle gen+it being the gift Pokemon and a Easter egg part of Red’s original team. Azumarill is if they prefer to reference the childhood friend.

They could even make this a chance to up the difficulty through the excuse of “alternate universe/wormholes caused their Pokemon to change abilities.” Make Red’s and Ethan’s teams complement each other and have them carry optimized spreads and sets for doubles. Ex. Blastoise or Pikachu with Fake Out and Focus Sash sets up rain and Ethan’s Raichu w/ Air Balloon/Choice Specs and carrying Thunder+Surf and has Lightningrod (wormhole shenanigans gave it a Hidden Ability) and so forth. Give them things such as Magic Bounce Espeon, Dual Screens Meganium, Mega Charizard X (wormholes made it happen), etc. Just showcase them as a bonus challenge and their status as legendary trainers akin to Mameo from Digimon. Perhaps give a reward of something like “Red gave you that extra Master Ball he never used” or a music player from Ethan so you can listen to curated songs from the older games. Or even simply clothes modeled after their original designs (Leaf and Kris outfits for girls and Red+Ethan for boys; or make it all available as unisex outfits where the inspiration is obvious but it’s not exactly the same).

And if they want to make it even more of a nostalgia bomb, have Ethan’s Raichu have a spiky/notched ear to imply that it’s a timeline where the special Pichu evolves and had Surf instead of Pain Split as the special move.

Other iconic moments could be dropping in at Turnback Cave and traversing Distortion World again and saving on Lucas, Dawn, and Cynthia and rescuing them from Giratina. Reward is catching Giratina and a battle against Cynthia, Lucas, Dawn, and perhaps Cyrus. Avoids picking a canon protagonist and arguments over who should have showed up. Focus is single battle gauntlet with each trainer giving a choice on whether you want to heal after each victory (exception is Cyrus).

Have Lucas/Dawn mention how they like trading and that’s why one of them has two starters (or multiple gift Pokemon) to help avoid narrowing down the canon protagonist. Lucas could work in Trick Room (Torterra, Cresselia/Dusknoir, Vaporeon, Magnezone, Heatran, Machamp). Showcases the notorious number of roamers/legendaries in Sinnoh, Mt. Coronet evolution, trade evolutions (GTS), a new gimmick of the gen in Trick Room, and incorporates a gift Pokemon). Dawn could work with Iron Fist Infernape, lead Empoleon w/ Stealth Rock (showcase that infamous entry hazard), Paraflinch Togekiss, Porygon-Z, Lucario, and Glaceon. Gift Pokemon+showcases the (then) new evolutions of that gen.

Have Giratina be like lv. 80-100 with Totem Pokemon stat to explain how in the darn, everyone lost with those sorts of levels.

RSE could be dropping in on Brendan and May going up Sky Pillar and setting Rayquaza off to stop Groudon and Kyogre, and it starts a side quest of following them to experience the climax of the Hoenn Saga. Climax is them itching for a fight from seeing your skills. Have Brendan (Sceptile, Mega Blaziken, Celebi , Salamence, Starmie, and Latias) and team up with Steven and May (Mega Swampert, Gardevoir/Gengar, Latios, Metagross, Jirachi, and Ninetales) with Wallace in a doubles. Both teams have callbacks to stuff like the manga (Brendan with Celebi and Salamence), references the two Pseudos of the generation, the roamers, trading with Orre for the promotions (Celebi and Jirachi for US and JP respectively) and Red/Leaf in Brendan’s case, Wally’s OG signature, or even the OG Mystery Dungeon. Have Brendan wear his Emerald outfit while May wears the Ruby/Sapphire outfit to blur who the canon protagonist is. Bonus fight could be seeking out Archie and Maxie in their atonement/voluntary isolation for a fight.

BW is dropping in on Hilbert and Hilda encountering Kyurem (since it feels wrong to interrupt N’s goodbye tbh). Teams would be [Contrary Serperior, Samurott, Victini, Archeops, Zoroark, and Mandibuzz] for Hilbert and [Emboar, Keldeo, Genesect, Volcarona, Braviary, and Carracosta] for Hilda. Their teams aren’t amazing, but it’s meant to showcase the generation’s fossils, gift/event Pokemon, and version exclusives. Have it be you saving them from the snow and from Kyurem. Have them talk about how they’re thinking of setting off together to find their friend N, and how much they want to see him again. Make it emotional and have them talk about what they’ve learned about Pokemon from him and their interactions on their journey.

BW2 is saving Rosa and Nate from Ghetsis’s murder attack and fight Ghetsis. After you all return to a Pokecenter, have the two of them challenge you to a Rotation and Triple Battle respectively. Rosa runs a rain team with Drizzle Politoed, Octillery, Smeargle, Kabutops, Kingdra, and Ludicolo while Nate runs a Sand Team with Hippowdon, Sand Rush Excadrill, Rhyperior, Garchomp, Scizor, and Gliscor. Have it be a gimmick to where weather is infinite again in this wormhole location since their teams are meant to be a callback to the weather wars of gen v and the stars of those teams.

And have N show up to thank you for saving Rosa and Nate since he was almost too late right as you are leaving through a wormhole. Have the player tell him about what Hilbert and Hilda said and how they want to meet him again+urge him to meet his friends again and have it end with N saying something to the effect of “…I’ll think about it.” and leave it on an ambiguous note to whether he will meet them.

And finally, have it end with Red encountering Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave and have it diverge by you saving him from Giovanni (he lied about quitting and it’s only after you defeat him that he leaves for isolation until Ethan/Lyra/Kris beat him up again). Ends on a note of “this is where it all began.” Reward is catching Mewtwo and battling Red in a single. Here, they can make his team diverge from canon because it’s pre-Mt. Silver Red/alternate universe. Alakazam, Dragonite, Zapdos, Persian, Eviolite Chansey, and Mew. Showcases popular threats of that gen+trade evolution, irony in Red having Meowth’s evolution (Giovanni is associated with Persian b/c anime), the mythical #151 and source of playground rumors, the pseudo, one of the “your reward for exploring” stationary legendaries, etc.

Could even do a bonus of letting you travel to Kalos (but just the port) and meeting Serena and Calem who are both arguing about fashion while waiting for Sina and Dexio. Make their reason for battling you something lighthearted like you interrupting their argument to say “both of your fashion senses suck.”

Have them carry [Delphox, Chesnaught, Tyrantrum, Furfrou, Mega Gyarados, and Goodra] and [Greninja, Talonflame, Aegislash, Mega Kangaskhan, Meowstic-M, and Aurorus]. Showcases starters, Megas, radical gender differences, fossils, popular threats of Gen VI meta, Furfrou cuts, etc.

And if that’s too much, just recreate parts of the legendaries OG encounter dungeons, Cerulean Cave for Mewtwo, Bell Tower for Johto, etc.

Like…Gen VII was the “this is the 20th anniversary of Pokemon” gen and that would have been a great time to pack everything into one gen. Like…they had space for multiple walking Pokemon animations on the cart that they could have taken out or even tweaked these ideas so the dungeons would be slightly smaller (ie. fit to cart) or reduce the weirdly high number of Lillie models in the game. This isn’t an entire region (or regions) either, but snapshots and small locales to revisit. It also incorporates more fights with the Team Leaders at higher levels and difficulty.

Like idk, I made myself sad because I realize this would never happen unless some mad lad decided to create a massive rom hack/expansion, Masuda gets a larger team (and Pokemon stops with the yearly releases so the team isn’t pressured as much), etc.

Idk, I feel like the games for the 20th ani weren’t as good in hindsight for what they made out to be a year of Pokemon. But that’s just me griping again about Alola.

Also perhaps solviing all this gives you a final wormhole where you’re taken to fight Leaf. Give her Clefable (Clefairy’s original yet scrapped mascot thing), Golem, Flareon, Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and Omastar. Showcases fossils, gift Pokemon, other Eeveelutions, etc.

#long post #pokemon #me tooting my own horn in what i'd like to see from the series tbh

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narashikari · 6 years ago

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An Analysis of the Phase 2 Main Riders’ Names

So, before, I made a post about the names of the two-in-one Riders, and it got me curious as to if everyone else’s names were significant in the same way. So, with a little help from Wikitionary, Google Translate and the Kamen Rider wiki (for the kanji in each Riders’ name), I looked at what each of the names mean and if they had any significance to the story arcs in the show. Buckle up ‘coz it’s gonna be a long one....

HIDARI SHOUTARO 左翔太郎

Shoutaro’s last name is an obvious allusion to him being the left side of W. The first kanji of first name, aside from being a homophone for the kanji in Ishinomori’s first name, means “to fly, to soar”, while the last two is a typical suffix for a boy’s name.

Fittingly, the last form W receives is CycloneJokerGoldXtreme, which is formed from the complete unity of Shoutaro and Philip- emphasizing their growth as partners in the series- and also from Fuuto, the city they love and protect, empowering them with her wind. And of course, CycloneJokerGoldXtreme gives W wings.

Even better? This proves that Shoutaro doesn’t need to be alone to reach his full potential. And he doesn’t have to change who he is, either. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. To live up to his name (literally), he should stay the exact way he is... and he should have Philip by his side.

PHILIPフィリプ/ SONOZAKI RAITO 園咲　来人

As explained in the series itself, Philip’s name is derived from Narumi Sokichi’s favorite character, Philip Marlowe, the main character of Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye (as well as various other works), who is a detective. Beyond that, there’s not much significance to the name itself. The name does mean “lover of horses”, and as stated in this post, being a motorcycle rider is as close as one gets in the modern era. Kinda.

His real name, however, is quite interesting. “Sonozaki” means “garden of blossoms”. Which, on the surface, is pretty ironic because he’s a self-described devil, while the rest of the family are literal monsters and the villains of the season. But, it’s also quite fitting because a garden needs proper tending to achieve its true beauty- which is exactly what happened to Philip. He became the best version of himself because he had someone like Shoutaro caring for him. While his sisters, who only had Ryubee, withered away.

His first name, Raito, means “person who comes”- i.e., a person who comes back to his partner, no matter what. Nothing stopped him from coming home to his true family- not his blood family taking him away, nor the doubts his mother plant, nor death itself.

HINO EIJI 火野　映司

“Hino” means “field of flames”. Already, his link to Ankh, who is affiliated with fire (TaJaDor is red and themed after a phoenix, after all), is established. But more than that, the name becomes ironic for Eiji himself- because, as stated in the series itself, the one thing Eiji lacks is a desire of his own. And what element is usually linked to desire?

Fire, of course. So it’s fitting that in the finale, when he remembers what his desire is- to help everyone whose hand he can reach- the last form he ends up using is TaJaDor. Ankh’s form.

(Also, yes, that is also the surname of a certain Sailor Scout. Are they related? Hmmm...)

The kanji for Eiji means “to reflect” and “to rule over”, respectively. It’s an allusion to how Eiji is a mirror image of the King, the previous OOO. The King was a selfish despot who wanted power for the sake of ruling over everything; Eiji wants nothing and is selfless to almost a fault, and even forsakes his political family. Even in Zi-O, where he does become a politician, he’s still kind and wants only what is good for the Japanese people.

KISARAGI GENTARO 如月　弦太郎

You might notice that the kanji for “moon” is present in Gentaro’s last name. The kanji that precedes it means “likeness, to seem, as if”. So... it’s as if Gentaro is the moon itself. Which is rather fitting for a Rider whose home base is on the moon and is themed after space. It also forms a nice pair with Kengo’s last name, Utahoshi (歌星), which has the kanji for “star”. What do you mean you don’t ship it

His first name, however, is rather peculiar. The first kanji means “bowstring” and is also used to refer to stringed instruments (when combined, oddly enough, with the first kanji of Kengo’s surname). In Chinese, it could mean “crescent”- another moon reference- so that might be closer to the actual meaning.

SOUMA HARUTO 操真　��人

So, funny story. When I plugged Souma into Google Translate, it was set to read for Chinese rather than Japanese- and the English meaning came out as “fucking”. I bet the Chinese subbers were at a loss as to how to explain why Wizard’s real name is a curse word.

Anywaaaaays, Souma actually has a way more morbid meaning in Japanese! The first kanji especially- when combined with certain other kanji, it could mean “to control”. And the latter kanji means “truth”. When I plugged them both into Translate, it came out as “manipulation”... which describes what the White Wizard/Wiseman was doing to him to a T.

However, the individual kanji themselves are quite benign. The first kanji, by itself, means “faith”, “fidelity” “chastity” and “honor”, which are all virtues, just as “truth” is. Surely, as a Kamen Rider, Haruto has all of these.

His first name means “a person who clears up (the weather)”. Or, in his case, clear the skies of an eclipse that will turn even more people into Gates. Not to mention, Haruto is the Magician of Hope- and clear, sunny skies are associated with positive emotions... such as hope!

KAZURABA KOUTA 葛葉　紘汰

So.... Kazuraba means “mulberry leaf”. Which is a pretty odd name to give to a fruit-themed rider. Mulberry leaves are known as the favorite food of silkworms. The irony of a man being named after a leaf whose claim to fame is being overfed to larvae becoming a fruit-themed god is rather hilarious. However, the first kanji alone does mean “creeper”, i.e. vines... like the Helheim plants!

His first name is... somehow the most nonsensical thing I have come across. Pasting the whole thing into Translate spat out “moth” (i.e. what silkworms become... ironically enough), while looking up the individual kanji makes no sense- the first kanji doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a given name... while the second one means “to scour”. Whaaaaat?

Gaim’s name makes about as much sense as the season, I guess.

TOMARI SHINNOSUKE 泊　進ノ介

So, the kanji itself actually means “night”, but when read as Tomari, it’s just a surname. It was chosen mainly because it’s a pun on 止まれ (tomare) or “stop”. Of course, as a police officer and Kamen Rider, he’s stopping bad things from happening...

But also, he’s a car themed rider. His main form and his Rider machine, a car (which becomes the armor for his final form) are red. What color does red represent on traffic lights? Stop. Tomare. Tomari. Get it?

For his first name, what really matters is the first kanji since the last two is a generic suffix for boy’s names. That first kanji means “to advance, to make progress”. And if that isn’t his entire character arc in a nutshell, I don’t know what is.

Shinnosuke starts out Drive as a lazy, basically exiled former elite due to his demotivation over what happened to his partner Hayase and his demotion. His father’s death still haunted him despite how long it had been. However, when Belt-san and Kiriko recruited him to be Drive, he was able to get back into “top gear”, as he’d say. He got over the guilt of what happened to Hayase, he solved his father’s case and laid him to rest. Eventually, he moved past all his ghosts and regained his status as an elite police officer... and he moved on to form his own family with Kiriko.

TENKUUJI TAKERU 天空寺　タケル

Takeru’s last name means “sky temple”, which is quite fitting for the owner of Daitenku Temple... which is literally just Tenkuuji with the word for “big” in front of it. Of course, it also fits with Takeru being Ghost, since... well, he’s dead for the majority of his series. The Great Eyecon also usually appears in the sky as a sort of heaven stand-in.

(Which, in turn, explains why Takeru has this angelic sub-theme to him. In the OP, his precious people are represented as feathers. Then when he gets his final form, it debuts with him surrounded in pure white feathers to go along his white suit and glittery helmet with rainbow horn.)

Takeru’s name is interesting because it’s written in katakana, not kanji like everyone else before him. The wiki actually says Takeru is the first ever title Rider to have this distinction*. It also makes it damn near impossible to know what his name actually means, since Wikipedia lists five different individual kanji and at least ten two-word kanji that could be read as Takeru.

Although, given his status as a Rider and how his dad was a general bamf, it most likely stood in for 武, meaning “warrior”, or a derivative thereof. Seeing as this kanji is also in the word 武士, which means “samurai”, and that the Luminary most loyal to Takeru is (Miyamoto) Musashi, a famous samurai, it fits.

*Philip’s was written in katakana, but it wasn’t a Japanese name to begin with, so it would be written in katakana regardless and thus doesn’t count.

HOJO EMU 宝生　永夢

So the first kanji in Emu’s surname has a bunch of different meanings, but it basically boils down to “(something) valuable”. The second kanji, likewise, also has various meanings, among which is “life”. And together, they describe Emu perfectly: it fits with his beliefs that every patient’s life is precious.

However, it becomes ironic when one considers how little Emu values his own life. He often fought to his breaking point, and even maimed himself even in the Gorider special... then there’s the implication of him committing suicide as a boy...

His first name, on the other hand, means “eternal dream”. Put together with his last name, and you get a pretty good description of who Emu is as a person and why he ended up in the profession he did.

KIRYUU SENTO 桐生　戦兎/ KATSURAGI TAKUMI 葛城巧

Sento’s last name, as explained in the series, was derived from the name of a barbershop Evolt just happened to see. The two kanji together doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a common last name (for example, Sento shares this with Kyouryuger’s Daigo, aka King). Also explained in the series is how Sento’s name is derived from Rabbit Tank, only in reverse, as an amusing joke to Evolt. It emphasizes how Evolt saw Sento as a war machine first, and a living creature second.

(Not to mention, it’s actually one of our first hints that Souchi isn’t who he seems to be- why would he name Sento after Rabbit Tank if he supposedly gave Sento his name before he trusted him enough to wield the Build Driver? Honestly I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner!)

But. Sento, in actuality, is Katsuragi Takumi, right?

So, the first kanji in Katsuragi is actually the same as in Kazuraba, just with an alternate pronounciation, while the second means “castle”. Or in the Japanese context, “fortress”. So... a “fortress of vines”? It does describe his creepy (pun intended) yet closed off personality quite well. Takumi, on the other hand, means “clever, skillful”. Pretty self-explanatory, given that both he (as himself and as Sento) and his parents are pretty dang smart.

TOKIWA SOUGO 常磐　ソウゴ

“Tokiwa” literally means “a rock that doesn’t change over time”, but figuratively means “eternity”. Of course, this is a reference to him being the eternal king (if Woz had his way), and the eternal Rider, the only one who stood the test of time, as the rest of the Heisei Riders have been lost to history. Additionally, it’s a pun of 時 (toki, ”time”), 時計 (tokei, “clock/watch”) and 時は* (toki wa, “time is”).

“Sougo”, like Takeru, is in katakana, meaning it can lend itself to a variety of meanings. Unlike Takeru’s name, which is a popular boy’s name, Sougo’s is unusual enough that it doesn’t have a list of commonly used kanji for names. When I looked it up, the words and meanings Google gave me were all over the place. 蒼梧 means “firmiana simplex” (a kind of tree), 双互 means “reciprocal”, 齟齬 means “discrepancy, conflict”, 総悟 (which is the name of a Gintama character... portrayed by Kamen Rider alum Ryo Yoshizawa... alongside Masaki Suda...) is a riff off a famous samurai’s name.

This uniqueness may be an allusion to his unique position as a Rider: not only is he a Rider able to use the power of all the Heisei Riders, including his own allies’ powers. He is also the final Rider of the Heisei era, and the first of the Reiwa era.

Edit: as pointed by @kr-shinkuu, Tokiwa Sou is also the name of the place Ishinomori lived in!

#kamen rider #heisei phase 2 #hidari shoutaro #philip #sonozaki raito #hino eiji #kisaragi gentaro #souma haruto #kazuraba kouta #tomari shinnosuke #tenkuuji takeru #hojo emu #kiryuu sento #tokiwa sougo

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 5 years ago

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 32: The Sports Festival Part 5: ROUND ONE… FIGHT!

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

Earlier chapters can be found here

“All right, Spotsfans, Pro-Heroes, and people watching at home! This is Present Mic, freshly fed and ready for the Tournament Round! Eraser here tried to escape during the break, but fortunately he was rounded up by his fellow teachers and returned to the broadcast booth!”

“Hn. Tell Hopper and Skyline I know where they live.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that on! ��Before we begin the first fights of the Tournament, Principal Nezu and Vice-Principal Midnight have asked me to issue the following reminder to any Pro-Hero Parents in the stands or VIP boxes that they are not to interfere with the fights, no matter how much it looks like their kid is getting beat!”

“That means you, Red Riot.”

“For those of you who have spent the last few decades on another planet, let me remind everyone how this is going to go! The top sixteen finalists will face off against each other in a series of one-on-one matches! They’ll win either by knocking their opponent out of the ring or by otherwise rendering them unable to continue. Of course, competitors are allowed to withdraw at any time if the kitchen’s getting too hot! Now that you know the rules, let’s get this show on the road!

“First up is Shiro Monoma of Class 1-B in the Hero Course versus Koharu Kocho of Class 1-F of the General Studies Department! The Master Mimic vs the Moth Maiden! Let’s get to it!”

***

Koharu took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves, trying very hard to ignore the fact that there were thousands of people in the stadium and millions watching on TV, including some of the very best Pro-Heroes in the country. It had been one thing when it was the Obstacle Course or Quirkball. There, she’d been just one face in the crowd. But here, it was just her. Against a Hero Course student.

She wasn’t an obsessive fangirl, but she could definitely recognize names associated with some of the higher ranked Heroes. And the name Monoma was definitely a familiar one. The Phantom Thief was currently occupied the Number Eleven spot in the rankings. Any kid of a Hero ranked that high had to be pretty skilled and well taught.

There were no Heroes in her family, though her uncle on her mom’s side worked the night shift answering the phones in Might Tower. That was about as close as she got.

But she’d worked hard and she’d practiced and she really had to remember that she’d very nearly gotten into the Hero Course. Would have, if not for a run of bad luck. This was her chance to make up for it.

“All right!” Hawkeye shouted, from the edge of the ring. “I want a good, clean fight! Remember, if you become overwhelmed, there is no shame is tapping out early! We will be closely monitoring the fight to make certain you don’t do yourself undue injury.”

She raised a hand. “And fight!”

Monoma didn’t wait, unfurling his Capture Cloth and slinging it out at her. Quickly, she flapped her wings, hard, stirring up enough wind to blow it back. He quickly reeled it in, then started rushing towards her. “Sorry to end a promising showing so early,” he said, “but I have to win!”

“You can try!” Koharu flapped her wings again, pushing off into the sky. She knew, on some level, that even with her impressive wingspan (nearly 3 meters), shouldn’t be enough not allow her to fly, no matter how light she was, especially with how rarely she had to flap her wings. Nevertheless, fly she did, sailing over him as he executed a perfect flying kick.

As he hit the ground, she turned in mid-air, firing a volley of her String-Shot from her mouth, each blast of sticky stuff punctuated with a “Hack!” Monoma was good though, dodging and springing out of the way of each blob. He was fast and agile, but she had even greater mobility and just had to stay out of his range.

The Capture Cloth came out again, further than she thought it could go, wrapping around one of her legs! Caught by surprise, she found herself being yanked down closer to him, flapping her wings hard enough to slow it down, but not enough to keep from getting within striking range. He threw a punch, one that probably would have taken her head off, if she hadn’t been able to dodge at the last moment. She took the blow to the shoulder instead, letting out a cry of pain. But she brought both feet up and kicked, knocking him hard in the chest and loosening the Capture Cloth. She flapped hard again, gaining altitude once more.

That was too close. If she lost here, then it was all over. Sure, Hitoshi Shinso, the Voice, was a legend in the General Studies Department, having come in sixteenth in the Festival twenty-five years ago, and still having made it to the Heroics Department. But that was a long time ago and the standards had changed. Losing her first fight wasn’t going to cut it. She had to win this. And that meant giving it her all, no matter what.

This time, once she had a little space, she flapped her wings hard, unleashing her Wing-Scales. Orange-yellow powder filled the air with each flap of her wings, this time her sleep powder rather than the paralytic she’d used during Quirkball.

“What’re you…?” Monoma started, quickly realizing that he was beginning to slow down, slurring his words with drowsiness. He reacted quickly though, wrapping the Capture Cloth around mouth to try and screen some of her Scales out. He couldn’t possibly have had a chance to have taken a very big breath of clean air though…

Koharu flapped her wings hard again, filling the air with more sleep powder. Just enough to make it harder for him to want to take a breath. She swooped down, wings flapping hard, as she aimed right for him. Monoma dropped into a fighting stance, but she could tell his movements were dull and slowed. His guard was high, ready to protect his face from her fists, but she changed direction at the last moment, flying upwards, bringing her feet up to kick him hard, squarely in the chest.

It knocked what breath he had left out of him, sucking in her sleep powder instead. That much, that fast put him right out. He slumped to the ground, already snoring. Koharu flapped once, steadying herself, and then dropped back down to the ground. She’d done it. She’d actually done it!

“Monoma is unable to continue!” Hawkeye announced. “Kocho wins!”

“WOW!” came the voice of Present Mic. “Score one for General Studies! Koharu Kocho takes the win! I think we’ve got one to keep an eye on, folks!”

“Not the best match up,” Eraserhead added, and for a moment she felt her sink. “Monoma’s Quirk was a poor match up against hers. Then again… almost everyone needs to breathe. Midnight might like this one.”

Koharu took a moment to take in the cheers of the crowd and was surprised to find that it wasn’t just coming from her class or the other General Studies courses. There were people cheering for her in the Hero Course seats too… and even in the rest of the stadium.

Maybe she’d just gotten lucky… but right now, this felt pretty good.

***

Kimiko Ojiro didn’t know much about her opponent, Anime Fukidashi. Other than the obvious, of course, that she appeared to be a cartoon character and that she was the daughter of the Pro-Hero Comicman. Even her gym uniform appeared animated on her body. There was something unsettling about watching her move too, as though there was something missing from her movements, going from one position to the next just a little too quickly. She was aware of the irony of calling anyone else’s appearance weird, but she couldn’t help it.

She needed to be careful how she played this, though. She really didn’t know what exactly Fukidashi’s Quirk did. She was friends with Mineta and Koda, apparently, but that was all she really knew. But her own Quirk was extremely specialized. It offered a lot of stealth options, but not a lot of physical power. That was pure training there.

Present Mic’s voice cut through the noise of the crowd. “And now for our next match, we have Kimiko Ojiro of Class 1-A and Anime Fukidashi of Class 1-B! It’s a Hero Course showdown here, for these two ladies! One’s invisible, one’s animated! Which visual will win out? Keep your eyes peeled, because this one’s going to be hard to follow!”

Kimiko and Fukidashi approached each other in the center of the ring. Both looked to Hawkeye. The teacher looked over both of them before speaking. “As you both have Quirks which provide visual distortion, be aware that we have sensors that will still detect if you step outside the ring when we can’t visually confirm it. Other than that… FIGHT!”

“OMIGOSH!” Fukidashi said, little hearts floating around her head. “I love your blog! I never miss an episode! Is that cutie from the Support Course still single? Can you introduce me?”

Kimiko felt her face break out into a grin. “Let me guess… otaku49?”

Fukidashi suddenly turned two dimensional and significantly less detailed, appearing almost as a rectangle with a rounded head. “How did you know?!”

“Lucky guess!”

Activating her Quirk, Kimiko turned the rest of her clothing invisible, completely disappearing from view. Not for the first time, she was grateful that she didn’t have to get naked in order to use her Quirk to its fullest like her mom did. It would have just made things awkward, really.

She dropped low, doing a leg sweep that knocked Fukidashi off her feet. First points for her! Almost instantly though, she sprang right back up. “Hey!” she shouted, her head suddenly growing to giant size compared to the rest of her body. “What’re you trying to do!? I was complementing you!”

Kimiko readied herself for another strike, when Fukidashi’s head returned to normal size. “Ah, well,” Fukidashi said, “guess we’ve got to fight.” Her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh, which manifested as a small cloud from her mouth. The cloud impacted Kimiko like a solid object, bowling her over!

Her concentration broken, Kimiko’s clothes snapped back into visibility. “How the heck did you hit me?! I’m invisible!”

“Oh, that?” Fukidashi asked. “I just looked around until I could hear the background music. I knew that’s where you had to be!”

Okay, she was officially crazy. She’d read about this in some of the medical books Doc Clock had lent her. Quirk-Induced Psychosis, where someone’s Quirk so colored their perceptions on reality that it made it difficult for them to fit into normal society. Maybe she was reading too much into it, but…

She launched a flurry of kicks, one after the other. Fukidashi was good though, dodging them as fast she could. Suddenly, she reached behind her back and when she brought her hand back, she was holding a giant hammer! “Hiii-yaaa!” Fukidashi yelled, swinging the hammer in a wide arc. Kimiko ducked under it, rolling to avoid a follow-up strike that cracked the concrete of the ring. She quickly made herself invisible again.

She might have one shot at this. All she needed to do was get a hand on Fukidashi…

Fukidashi raised her hammer up again, looking around. “Now, where did you…”

Kimiko grabbed Fukidashi’s ankle and activated her Quirk, turning her invisible. When she made other people invisible, she could pull it back just enough to leave parts of their eyes visible so they could see… or she could just make them all the way invisible. Fukidashi faded completely from sight.

“What did you…? I can’t see! Wait… Aw, crap! You Say Run is playing! I’m going to lose!”

You needed a very strongly developed sense of proprioception when you were invisible. Kimiko had a great one, having been invisible since she was born. Other people, typically, did not react as well. It gave her an opening. Rising up, she grabbed onto Fukidashi with her other hand and executed a judo throw that sent her out of the ring. As soon as she left Kimiko’s grasp, she turned visible again, landing in a slump.

“Fukidashi is out of the ring!” Hawkeye said. “Ojiro wins!”

Kimiko let her clothes return to visibility again and took a bow.

“Well that was… interesting! Did you follow any of that, Eraser?”

“All of it. Of course. Weren’t you paying attention?”

***

“Next up,” Present Mic said, “is another Hero Course showdown! Mika Mineta of Class 1-A and the Yoru Kan of Class 1-C! Horn versus fang! Who will come out the winner?!”

While some of her classmates may have been nervous, Mika definitely wasn’t. She did well in her Heroics Classes and she had a highly useful Quirk, especially for something like this. Her Pop-Horn and the sticky balls it could create had come in extremely handy during Quirkball, immobilizing several people on the opposing team and letting them be taken out easily. Combined with her inherited mutations, she knew she was a formidable opponent.

Plus she looked damn good. That had to count for something.

Not that her opponent was bad looking by any means. Yoru Kan was tall, probably nearly as tall as Akaya or Shoji, with skin nearly as white as snow, blood-red lips, and short-cropped red hair. She was also heavily muscled, the bulges of her arms and legs clearly defined by her uniform in a way that was… very distracting.

Focus, Mika!

Okay, so what was her Quirk exactly? She had little fangs poking out from her mouth. Biting powers? No, that probably wasn’t it. Mika knew she was the daughter of the Pro-Hero and former U.A. teacher Vlad King. The Blood Hero had married a much younger woman, which had been something of a scandal at the time, according to articles that still circulated the internet. Mika wasn’t one to judge in that regard. Unless it was weird or creepy. Or somebody just going after somebody older for their money. That was wrong. Unless it was a whole lot of money.

Right, focus. She needed to focus.

“Let’s have a nice clear match, ladies,” Hawkeye said. “FIGHT!”

“I vas warned about you,” Kan said, baring those fangs of hers. “You vill not distract me with your vords.”

Mika felt her jaw drop. “Okay, I could listen to you talk all day. But I’m kind of sort of seeing someone right now? It’s an open relationship thing though, so you know, I could probably make the time, if you wanted to?”

“Cease your babbling!” Kan roared, charging at her.

Mika’s flirt, fight, or flight response kicked over to fight. She lowered her head, aimed her horns, and hired a volley of purple sticky spheres at Kan. Some would hopefully stick and immobilize her, but even if they didn’t, they packed enough mass and speed to be a pretty effective projectile all on their own.

Unfortunately for her, as the balls neared her, Kan transformed into a shimmering cloud of blood-red mist, clothes and all (disappointing!), letting them pass harmlessly through her. The mist cloud neared Mika then reshaped itself back into Kan, who launched a punch that hit her hard in the midsection, knocking the breath out of her with a mighty whomp!

Kan struck out again with another punch, this one sending her flying. Mika landed hard, bouncing once, but she was still inside the ring. Her head was spinning though, making it hard to focus. Kan was coming at her again though, so she knew she had to act.

Kan was stronger than her, maybe faster, and the mist trick meant it would be hard, if not impossible, to use her Quirk on her. Fortunately, Mika had a secret weapon. She was strong and fast herself, but more importantly… she was annoying.

“So the mist thing,” she said, running out to meet Kan, “can you feel anything when you’re like that? Because I can think of at least six different uses for that. Can you work your way into tight places? Are you cold or warm? Because I’m thinking either one would actually be pretty nice, but it does make a big difference!”

Kan swung a fist, a powerful blow made clumsier as Mika’s words began breaking her focus. “Shut up! Shut up, you perverted freak! I vill make you shut up!”

Her follow-up blow was just as clumsy and Mika got a good kick in, her hoof connected solidly with Kan’s chest. It was a shame she didn’t have a lot of feeling in her hooves, a waste of perfectly good boob contact really, but it was what it was. A small price to pay for victory.

“Third base on the first date?” Mika laughed. “Who knew it was this easy?”

Kan let out an incoherent yell that would have done Kirishima-Bakugo proud, striking out again. Ready for it, Mika dodged and kicked. Kan did manage to turn partway to mist this time and her leg passed through her harmlessly. But Mika kept up the chatter. “Well, I guess I can always say I’ve been inside you now…”

“Why don’t you shut up?!” Another wild blow, which Mika dodged, backpedaling away from it.

There she was, just enough space to aim… “You going to give me something else to do with my mouth, then?” Mika asked.

That set Kan off again, screaming with rage. And that was the moment Mika struck, firing off as many of her sticky balls as she could, filling the air with them. One by one they hit Kan, sticking to her, until she was completely covered in them, leaving only parts of her face exposed, just enough for her to breathe. The multiple impacts must have had an effect on her, because her words were slowed and slurred, punch-drunk. “At least… I no longer have… to listen… to you.”

And then she fell over.

For a minute, there was silence. And then Hawkeye spoke up. “Kan is unable to continue! Mineta wins!”

“I… don’t feel good about having seen that,” Present Mic said. “I kind of feel like I want a shower.”

“Being a Hero is about using every skill you have to your advantage,” Aizawa replied. “Mineta was able to do that quite successfully. And don’t think I don’t know you’re cheering up in the teacher’s box, Midnight.”

“How long is she going to be stuck like that?” Hawkeye asked her, pointing to Kan’s immobilized form.

Mika shrugged. “Kind of varies. At least an hour though. Maybe more.”

Hawekeye just sighed in an “I don’t get paid enough for this” sort of way as the medical robots came to collect Kan. “I’ll see if Power Loader can’t develop a solvent.”

Still, Mika really hoped that if her dad was watching, it wasn’t with the sound or she was due for a loooong and awkward conversation at home.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing

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sesquipunzel · 6 years ago

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Act 2 (307-320)

River in the rain... sometimes at night you look like a long white train Winding your way away somewhere. River, I love you, don't you care? If you're on the run, winding some place, just tryin' to find the sun; Whether the sunshine, whether the rain, River, I love you just the same.

But sometimes in a time of trouble When you're out of hand And your muddy bubbles Roll across my floor Carry away the things I treasure Hell, there ain't ain't no way to measure Why I love you more Than I did the day before

River in the rain... sometimes at night you look like a long white train Winding your way away from me. River... I've never seen the sea.

307 - [S] ==>

307. For John it was wind, for Rose it is rain.

I love the image of the rain as strings between earth and sky, a mystic monstrous mega-harp, or a legion of abstruse violins. And the symphony we all fear to hear played.

308. Confront mother in hall? No, we're changing channels apparently. Yep, we'll just keep changing up the narrative devices here. And this… this must be the fabled Dave.

309. Oh dude, you are like, trying so very hard to be cool. You are, like, totally trying.

310. Mister Insufferable Pri has a katana, and he's not afraid to use it, even on his own text-entry game abstractions.

311. Dave Strider. Cool to meet you. Cool? Cool. Nice sparkle in the glasses there. So cool name, dude — you of the Rivendell Striders, or…? No? OK, that's cool too.

312. Dave's room: a much more active mess than Rose's genteel clutter. Cables and equipment everywhere, many projects in progress. Mattress on floor, and makeshift cinder-block furniture — low on money or low on priority? I'll venture a guess at low moneys, but that Dave will claim that boring mainstream furniture is only a priority for suckers. Can't make much out of the posters and things on the walls yet, just Snoop and the swords.

Thumbs up on the amateur darkroom — that's an art we're losing to camera phones and photoshop. A fascination for dead things is neat too; clearly his bro-guardian is more tolerant of this collection than most parents would be. And of course he lives much of his life online.

313. To arms!

Nah.

Okay, I do like him. He'll talk your ear off with long-winded and mostly irrelevant wit, but he can throw a good laconic strike too.

314. "Dave: Get the damn beta and save your friend's life!" Except we've apparently jumped back in time a bit to give us a chance to get to know Dave, so he knows none of that yet.

So Dave has two copies AND his bro has two? And he loses both of them by the time he talks to John about it? This should be interesting….

315. First the arms joke, now the "X like a Y" bit, then we'll get a bit of Dave's music, and eventually his own [S] moment of atmospheric emptiness, with either earth or fire? Just, yknow, pattern recognition.

I like how much disdain the simple animation conveys. And the dramatic irony of his comment about meteors which will probably never happen.

316. He stores up ideas for future ironies. When he may not have a future. (Or may have more than one.) Isn't that ironic, don’t you think?

317. Yes, he must go into the closet so he can have the apple juice conversation with John. And the blue box was his gift from John — the Stiller shades?

318. Nailed it! Rather like a toddler using a foam mallet on a nail the size of a PEZ dispenser in one of those little toy wooden workbenches, but nailed it nonetheless. For my next prediction, the command "Dave: Take box." will lead to inventory shenanigans that will reveal the esoteric intricacies of his chosen fetch modus.

319. Yup, esoteric intricacies. And math.

320. Aaaand back to the "apple juice", about which he seems unironically happy. And eager to tell John.

But it seems like he'd only be eager to tell John about it in reference to the Little Monsters movie, unless John regularly gets excited about the sustenance found in other people's houses. But that association apparently does not bring back the rest of the context for surprise apple juice found in a closet. Or it does, and Dave's being Socratically ironic about being clueless, knowing that John will be excited about warning him not to drink it. Going with that one. ♪ "Yeah, I really do think."

That’s it for today — back tamorro, after some Captain Movvel-izing!

#homestuck #homestuck liveblog #sesquipunzel reads homestuck #hs act 2 #hs week 005

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chimtaesty · 6 years ago

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desperate pt.3

paring: Jungkook (feat. BTS) x Reader | 1,8k words

warnings: swearing

plot: Y/N is the daughter of Hades the god of the underworld and the dead and goes to the school for demigods. As she is the only demigod related to Hades and the underworld and was actually raised in the more ungodly environment called the underworld and not the human world like normal demigods she is kind of special. She is a loner and doesn’t associate with other gods nor humans as she is the princess of the underworld. But a strange accident including the demons of the underworld collecting the wrong soul forces Jungkook, the son of Zeus, to ask Y/N for help.

A/N: Hi! I've been gone for some days again but I've finished this and am posting this at 1 am. I'll post something later again :) I hope you like it.

masterlist | part1 part2 part3

"Y/N, you should get going. The workers are waiting for you. Take Calix with you!” You smiled and grasped the first two boys you could to drag them to the kitchen. You closed the door and stared at the floor. “So, the underworld isn't that bad? I think being threatened twice and being almost killed once is quite bad” Jungkook spat.

Adalgise - prisoner

You cringed but grasped yourself quite quickly again. “Don't you dare be angry at me sweetheart! If you didn't summon a demon who obviously just did his job and get your friends soul switched up no one of you bitches would be down here because you don't belong here” you spat tapping your finger into his chest. You were at the verge of snapping his neck in two “Y/N, calm down please. Your E-eys” Hoseok hesitated to point at his eyes to signal you. It could happen that your eyes switch when you’re angry but you were able to control your power now. Up to the age of 13 you blew stuff up randomly. “You’re lucky i’m not tearing you apart right here” you spat harshly at him. His eyes were widened to the maximum extend.

You lifted your head calming your nerves fast. “Okay, we are going down right away” you announced breathing in deeply again. You had to get this soul and get the fuck up into the human world again fast. You didn't want them to be down here for too long, this place could be unpleasant if you don't know with what you're dealing.

“But this is going smoothly right?” Namjoon laughed nervously. You nodded and rubbed your eyes “I hope so” you murmured more to yourself in the hope of everything going smoothly. “Just don't piss someone off down there” you murmured into their direction

“Let's go” you stepped out of the kitchen heading straight to the staircase which leaded into the workplaces of the underworld. No one other than you and your dad who lived on this side of the door could enter and no one of the workers were able to enter into your home. You laid your hand onto the door and with some smoke and a loud snap the door opened itself and you were met with a dark ambience, a boat and Louis who was there to transport whatever had to be transported to the workers.

You stepped down the small staircase and waved to Louis. He waved back with a smile on his face. Louis was a nice guys but unfortunately he wasn't the nicest delivery man so he was punished to be the delivery man in hell. Irony much?

A light tug on your left sleeve made your head snap back. Taehyung stood there with a worried look on his face, he had sea sickness so it seemed. You smiled at him stroking over his hand and nodding reassuring. “It's alright” you tried to calm him down. You stepped onto the boat and started to hop and bend to the sides showing them that the boat wasn't able to flip over. They joined more confident and reassured now that the possibility of being hurt was a lot less.

“Soul departure, please” you gave Louis a smile and handed over a small skull which he would add to his collection.

We started moving and floated over the countless objects floating in the heating evening sun, the river of regret and forgiveness. This is the river where objects of the souls or workers here were stranded at. “How have you been Y/N?” Louis tried to start a conversation with you obviously letting out the six men next to him mostly because he wasn't the type to talk to strangers at all. He smiled at you trying to seem bright and guiltless but you knew better. His negotiation was your first to be pleaded guilty. He was part of the mafia in America delivering drugs and guns receiving payment frequently. But after he hasn't been paid for a month he killed his best friend, who was involved with the mafia as well, cut him into pieces and sent it to his chef. Even if he seems nice and friendly he is a tainted disgusting soul.

“I am alright, how are you” you asked back trying to make it less awkward. He nodded and the boys sat there completely quiet. You gave them a pleading look saying something like ‘please for the love of god, help me” you hated having to talk to Louis since he made everything you talked about so awkward.

“Have you thought about the date?” he asked know the silence and you looked him angrily “One more time and I'll throw you down this river without hesitating do you understand me? I denied once and I won't a second time, don't make me angry” you hissed at him letting some smoke emerge from your mouth and eyes scaring him enough to look the other way.

“We are here” Louis rung out an you didn't even gift him a look as you stepped out of the boat all high and mighty because over all you were the princess here.

You started walking down the road to the high building. it was so tall that It shot through the bright orange sky and slightly danced in the strong wind. You reached the small lake in front of the soul-departure-station which prevented unpleasant visitors to get into the building. The green water was poisonous and even bubbled up a little.

“How are we getting over there?” someone whispered and you raised a arm to silence the person. You emerged some dark smoke and tested it out. The smoke stairs were save so you formed some more to reach over the lake “Are you insane? What if it does only work for you?” Jungkook gave you a nasty look and stood there like a small wronged girl. “Oh god, just follow me you pussy” you being pissed was a understatement. First this fatuous boy flirts with you knowing he doesn't even have a glimpse of a chance and now this boy gets on your nerves by acting like a little bitch. You waved aggressively wanting him to step on the stairs as well.

“No” he snarled back. The others didn't even make a move to disagree and you almost exploded. The whole underworld is on a fucking break just for their stupid friends soul and he decided to act like he owns this place. You just sighed and packed them into a smoke box. Slowly the black smoke emerged from your hands and you packed them into it taking their vision. Yelps and screams were heard and you smiled to yourself. These boys had it coming.

You moved the box to the other shore letting the smoke leave them. They were breathless and in shock trying to calm themselves down. You walked over the small smoke stairs and smiled at them with a evil grin “The next time I'll drag you through the lake” you growled into their direction poking jungkook's chest in the process. The time was running away because the underworld won't stand still forever and they are being little bitches. You couldn't have that right now.

You stopped in front of the door turning around “To get this straight, you don't talk unless I tell you to. I don't want you to fight with anyone. Don't touch anything, not even when you knock something over. And the most important thing is, do not leave my side. If you break any of these three rules I'll guarantee for one thing and that will be your death” you stated making them nod furiously.

The door opened and you walked inside with the boys by your side. The smell of death and sweat mixed with alcohol and bad air hit you nose, but you quickly gave yourself a smoke mask which filtered the air quite well. No suffering today. The boys behind you coughed hardly making you roll your eyes and give them one too “This is to help you breath, you morons” you barked back at them. It was loud and the faint sounds of screaming souls could be heard. The workers were conversing loudly behind the machines. “The princess” a voice made all the people in front of you look at you with wide eyes. They threw themselves down on the floor and bowed deeply. You nodded and thanked them “I'm sorry for the inconvenience of having you to extend the period of no work but I need a swapped up soul” you vocalised your reason.

“I can help you, my highness” a smaller dark skinned man raised his arm straightening himself up but still looking at the floor “You can look at me, I won't rip your eyes out. Thank you for your volunteerism. This is a great way into the right direction” you smiled at him slightly. He raised his head and looked you into the eyes, his breath hitched and his face pointed out fear.

You walked over to the man giving the boys a raised hand to stay where they are. You reached out your hand for him to take and help him up and he hesitantly took it bowing to you. “These are my friends, they are a very important thing today so thank you for helping us” you smiled and pointed for him to join the boys to where they were standing.

“Please stand up again, you all don't have to bow for so long, thank you very much” you smiled and bowed to them. You didn't care for the fact that you weren't as scary as your father. You didn't want to frighten them, you wanted them to respect you. As long as they are respectful to you you're being nice to them, it's a take and give for you.

“Let's go” you called out for the helpful man and he started walking. You were led into a elevator. Being eight people you were pressed to the boys because the man didn't dare to touch you “What is your name?” you questioned into the silence earning a frightened look and a hesitant answer “D-Doyoung” he responded to you quietly. The boys were silent and just looked at you being shook. “Thank you Doyoung, for helping us finding our friend.” he nodded and grinned secretly “It's a pleasure, your highness” you nodded and patted his shoulder. His face was priceless and you had to giggle to yourself.

The elevator gave a worrying sound and got stuck. You looked to Doyoung in confusion just to get the same look back. A black light blinked at the top of the elevator four times. This could only mean one thing “Adalgise” you murmured silently at the same time as Doyoung. You sighed and growled frustrated. “Not today, I thought she won't find out I'm here” you spat out. Your eyes went black and you were pure furry “Let's kill a bitch, shall we?”

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space--cadet-glow · 7 years ago

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Theory: The Odd Headcanons of Vaati, Part Nineteen: The Unlucky Colour Purple

I've sort of started the idea that the colour purple is considered "unlucky" in Minish culture. But then, I got to thinking, if it really IS unlucky, then WHY?

I based it off of the idea that Vaati was "secluded" from the other Minish, possibly by his own choice. But what if there actually was a reason why the other Minish avoided him?

Let's see any possible reasons for our unlucky colour purple... 1. They sensed that Vaati would one day go rogue 2. Did a previous Minish ancestor have something to do with it? 3. Does the Earth Element play a role in this?

1. They sensed that Vaati would one day go rogue It COULD be as simple as this: they all felt like Vaati was the type to abandon anything he didn't like, so they THEN associated the colour purple as "unlucky" to shun Vaati BACK? There's a few problems with this: Vaati wasn't PUT into purple robes, he just kind of ALWAYS wore them. Thus, the "unlucky colour purple" thing had to have come first! And if the Minish could sense that Vaati would betray them, why didn't they try to stop him? I mean, it COULD be hand-waved off as "oh, they were too nice to hold Vaati back", but STILL.

2. Did a previous Minish ancestor have something to do with it? Perhaps there is a record somewhere of an ancestor who, much like Vaati, caused some calamity- and he/she also wore purple, causing the colour to go down in infamy with him/her? This half-works/half-doesn't. It works because, like I said in Part Fifty-seven of my "Irony of Vaati" theory series, Vaati couldn't have been the ONLY Minish to not be constantly happy. Maybe this possible ancestor was unhappy as well? Or maybe the ancestor was also an albino like Vaati? And it just became a tradition for the albino Minish to wear purple because the Minish saw the albino subset as "traitorous" and the colour purple was then used as a warning sign? Then, the reason this kind of doesn't work: we've heard nothing but good, heroic tales of the Minish from the past. Namely, the Legend of the Hero of Men, with the Minish descending from the sky to help the human Hero. If there HAD been a villain Minish before Vaati, the game probably would have made a note of something that important and/or paralleling!

3. Does the Earth Element play a role in this? What I mean by this is, I've noticed (in Part Three of this theory series) that the Earth Element was purple for "The Minish Cap", and "The Minish Cap" ONLY. Then, in "Four Swords" and "Four Swords Adventures", the Earth Element is suddenly GREEN and the WIND ELEMENT HAS BECOME PURPLE. I theorised that- since Vaati had become the Mage of Winds at that point- the "unlucky colour purple" followed him to his death. Now, how would this actually work? Maybe the Elements of nature themselves wanted to subtly warn everybody of the future rising of a terrible Wind Mage and allowed the colour swap with Earth and Wind to happen??? I HAVE NO IDEA.

So, where exactly did the "unlucky colour purple" come from? If I had to give it a solid reason, honestly, it was a mixture of all three of the above possibilities.

Like so: the Nameless Ancestor set a reputation up for future albino Minish to wear purple, not because the Minish exactly wanted to "brand" them, they wanted to make them stand out- differences WERE probably encouraged (as I've said in Part Twenty-Two of my "Irony of Vaati" theory series). The Minish wanted to give EVERYBODY a chance for happiness, even if they thought something was awry. However, the Elements of nature setting themselves up (for later) caused the Earth Element to be purple, and the Wind Element green. Vaati is then born an albino Minish, and thus doomed to stick out like a sore thumb in purple robes. With deep-seeded self-esteem issues, size issues, and self-hatred, Vaati (spurred on by many things, such as Ezlo's mistreatment and his many differences from everybody else) snaps and steals the Magic Hat, part of the Light Force, gets himself sealed into a sword, and becomes the Mage of Winds once he busts out. And with Vaati's changes, the Earth and Wind swapped colours: Earth now green, and the Wind purple.

Just to remind him that, no matter what he does, he will never truly escape who he originally was.

#the bard of light rants #vaati #minish cap #the minish cap #the legend of zelda #theory series the odd headcanons of vaati #wow this one got really depressing really fast

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ashfaqqahmad · 5 years ago

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Can religion be logical final

Religious scholars define everything as per their own convenience

Click here to read the previous part of this article

Have you seen the movie ‘Judai‘ where Johny Lever concludes Upasana Singh saying ‘abba dab a Jabba’ as a love acceptance in his own style? Nowadays religious scholars of this type are also found who deduce meanings of symbolic shlokas or verses in this style.

Most religious scholars are Johny Leavers explaining the meaning of ‘abba dabba jabba‘ in their own way. Suppose eighty things proved to be wrong out of a hundred things said, then they will ignore them and will glorify the rest twenty, proved right (by fluke).

Well, it’s an irony that to this day, Muslims consider Jews to be the most dangerous people that they are unpredictable. They will reject any of their writings outright, but in the past, they adopted the boasts, fabricated in the name of this Jewish religion with an open heart because it was in their own interest. The literature like Adam, Eve, Abraham, Lut, Moses, David, Suleiman, Jaboor, Taurat, etc. belonged to them. All these people were clan chiefs in their times, and kings in the future, who often used to make stories to prove themselves as an incarnation or messenger of God and propagate it to the people, so that their power would not be challenged or other interests can be fulfilled.

Most religious literature is only meant for the glorification

In India too, from Mauryan period to Shunga Empire (associated with religion) and from Khilji to Aurangzeb (associated with personal glorification and politics), the same spectacles were repeated. Otherwise, God cannot be so biased to not signify any lower class to send incarnations in India or in West Asia all the family members would have been Prophets. It means that in such large civilizations, populations, it was only Abraham‘s family that Prophets were born one after the other. Don’t you feel this is a strange coincidence? Does it not seem that like the Gandhi family, prophecy is also following a dynastic tradition that after the father, only son or brother after the brother will become Prophet. Almost all of them from Abraham to Muhammad are parts of the same dynastic vine. Does God seem like a man with limited intelligence?

How did humans start their journey on earth

In the initial phase, someone set a format of the divine incarnation or messenger and the next ones followed the same track. Since all was written around Jesus and before that it was alive only in the legends so the Jews adjusted it in their own way at the time of writing and to continue this series, they predicted the next Christ in which Jesus was caught.

From here, the twist came. Since all the written history was being prepared, then how would Jesus be recognized as the Messiah? As a result, the high-voltage drama was created and later when the followers of Jesus wrote their Bible (New Testament) then all the old content was verified. Why? Because it was necessary for their own verification. This was to prove their prophecy in Abraham‘s lineage. Whereas the formers (believers of the Old Testament) have been denying Jesus Christ to be Messiah till this day and have always declared them liars.

In the seventh century, Muhammad Sahab did the same. Either by himself or his followers did it, is buried in the past but it is clear that he carried forward the same sequence. They verified the content of the Jews, who have been hated by Muslims since then. Why? Because it was necessary for their own authenticity. But here too the same thing happened that those formers (Christians, Jews) refused to accept him as the sequel of their concept and held a liar who abducted their concept and the angels.

Suitable editing was done in this borrowed literature

A lot of editing has been done to this literature according to the need and time. I am giving two brief examples. The Jews clearly wrote that the Jehovah ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son, in a dream, so he took Isaac (in their conception son of Sarah, Isaac was the son of Abraham, while Ismail was son of maid Hajra), with the sacrificial goods, and when Isaac asked who will we sacrifice, he answered that the one who has given the order will make arrangements and reached to the sacrificial site and tied Isaac. While adopting the same story, the Muslims have replaced Isaac with Ismail and also modified that Abraham had told the truth and Ismail himself was ready. After all, Ismail had to be proved great.

In the same way, anal sex freak citizens of Prophet Lut’s city were buried by the rain of stones (which is now called the Dead Sea) because sodomy was a sin in the eyes of God. They took that much part but deducted the rest story because the basis of this story was morality, and in the next part, morality was torn apart, where both his daughters, who craved male intercourse, drank him, had intercourse with him and conceived his children. That is, it would not suit that a prophet is drinking wine and having sex with daughters, so they removed that part.

what possibilities are there in the universe outside our planet

However, the stories that are repeated for centuries are automatically accepted as true and then tens of proofs are made to prove them true and the translation like ‘abba dabba jabba‘ containing those stories is prepared according to own convenience. If you read the literature of any religion by being absolutely neutral, then you will see contradictions and holes in fifty places, which the engineers of that religion will try to show you by putting a patch on it.

Both Aryans and Semitic descended from the same stream, but in this case, I would call the Aryans more clever that they coined God in the larger philosophical way so that even after centuries they could justify it in every way, (not the present-day modern Hindu, Vedic religion/Aryasamaji). Whereas the Semitic people started to form God as Jehovah and made a cartoon in the first step instead of a superpower.

The Muslims improved the image due to being the last writers, but even after being described as formless, they made mistakes like long hands to hold the sky and throne, etc. which the engineers have to resort to the ‘abba dabba jabba’ method to cover up.

We can consider incarnations as Gurus

If you want to understand Jesus, then he has to be considered as guru just as the Sikhs do. If you perceive him charmed by the miracles and divine powers, you will probably never understand. He was a social reformer of his time, was a rebel, a revolutionary, but later the writers added many such things with him for his glorification, which made his credibility suspicious. The blame is on the writers and not on him. Similarly, while reading religious books, you have to pay attention to their motives and not on their stories.

If you acknowledge great men as Gurus, then you will be able to understand that they were also human beings, so obviously they can also have some weakness with a hundred characteristics. Or if you will focus on their weaknesses then you will understand their circumstantial reasons too. It can be understood by some examples. There is no solution to blind faith in the world. Everyone is ready to believe some unseen divine power with eyes closed. In such a situation, you pay attention to people around you and you find that they are wild, uncivilized, barbaric and are far away from every rule and regulation. Their life is uncertain and insecure because of their ways and you want to improve them.

If God is there then how can it be from the point of view of science

So much you will know that no such person will listen to you because you are the same person among them. What is different in you that they listen to you? In such a situation, you can attract people to you by claiming to be a divine incarnation. You can prove your authenticity by putting a seal of ‘verified’ on the stories prevalent already.

You will have to struggle with this, but your personality will be different from them. Here your claims are not important, your motive is important which does not depend on any kind of selfishness, but on the well being of the people. However, it needs courage, because for this purpose you will have to sacrifice all your dreams, your future and your personal life.

And then to change those bad people suppose you show them the dream that those of you who drink here do not drink because it has a negative effect on not only you but also on your family. Control yourself here, you will get river of liquor in heaven. Or don’t do lascivious activities here, and believe that if you control your nature here and live a life of decency, then after death, there will be many hoors you will get. These claims may be false because no one has seen them but the reforms can be seen on the ground.

what are the possibilities for new writers

Later, it was the fault of the next generations that they forgot the motive and claimed and spread the same things for their selfishness (like terrorists, martyrdom for jihad, seventy-two hoors, the greed of Jannat (heaven)). Imagine that namaz meant that salat (connection) where humans could connect with God around him in the form of Brahma element for a moment through meditation, but people offering namaz as a formality, indulge in different thoughts of all over the world while looking at other people around, mosque fans and mats. The same situation is of Hindus who spend hours worshipping in temples, who despite having the art of meditation, are trapped in hypocrisy.

We can learn from religious books

All such books were meant to show the path according to the circumstances of that time, to decide the rules of governance but they never became effective. Why? Because instead of understanding their motives people just mugged up. When all religions give the message of love, peace and brotherhood, then why is there so much chaos in the world? When all religious books teach you best practices, then why are their believers in the world full of evils? Why are they full of hate? According to this, religions were designed to turn humans into deities, then how are devils with demonic tendencies coming out of them?

After all, why is there so much hatred, so much violence, so much bloodshed in the whole world? Because the religions that were expected to form the social system have failed. Rather the religions have not failed, people have failed to understand their purpose. And that is the reason that people are pretending to be religious, doing hypocrisy day and night but still, there is disturbance, hatred and backwardness in their lives. And those populations of the west who are called atheists, they have absorbed the core of religion and they are living a better life than us.

How to write a book in Microsoft word

Religion is not what its stakeholders explain to you in the form of millions of words of fraud, but one that is hidden in your nature, but which you keep on pressing because it strikes your interest or selfishness. And if God exists, then he is not observing you from heaven like a magician or executioner, but he is around you, is inside you.

इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिये यहाँ क्लिक करें

#islam #islamic miracles #sprituality #religious books #faith and logic #faith vs fact #religion and science

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sleepingprinceonice · 8 years ago

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Georgi, the 3rd Yuri - Part 4

DISCLAIMER: This is a long meta. I wrote this along with a friend and we spent pretty much a week analyzing a lot of stuff, from the anime scenes to interviews and even song lyrics. There’s a ton of text, many links and it can get kind of pretty image heavy in some parts.

To help with this, and for organization’s sake, we divided this meta in 4 parts.

Part 1 - Georgi, the Chekhov’s Gunman and 3rd Yuri in Yuri!!! On Ice

Part 2 - Georgi, Victor, and The Sleeping Beauty

Part 3 - The types of love and Victor’s long hair

Part 4 - The romantic songs and Victor’s first love

The romantic songs and Victor’s first love

If Yuri!!! On Ice talks about love, then of course we’ll have romantic songs in some of the programs. Stay Close To Me, A Tales of Sleeping Prince and Serenade For Two are the examples we have here, and all of them are praised - and with good reason. A lot has already been analyzed about Stay Close To Me, and it was confirmed that this song is Victuuri’s theme; however, when you analyze the lyrics along with the other two songs, it’s clear that it goes beyond that.

These songs are connected and they communicate with each other constantle, and they tell a story not about Victor and Yuuri, but of a possible old relationship of Victor, in the shadows, with Georgi.

Sounds pretty crazy, doesn’t it? Fanfic fuel, maybe? Honestly, we’d think so at first too, but when you put this together with the fact that Georgi is a Chekhov’s Gunman with huge potential and is someone who’s pretty much Victor’s opposite, it gets clear that yes, there is a real possibility of Victor and Georgi having something in their past.

Before we start to talk about how the songs are related, we need to understand them individually.

Stay Close To Me is Victor’s free skate song. He already told us that his program songs tell stories, and we do have, in fact, a narrative for this song. It tells the love story of a man who lost someone, but hears a far away voice and, even though he doesn’t recognize who’s calling, he goes for them, since the person who’s calling sounds as alone as him.

Here we have a solitary Victor communicating with music to the audience. He is solitary, the ice doesn’t make him as happy as before, and he goes in search of this distance voice without even knowing if the person behind it is alive or dead - and in the end they’re alive, and they both reunite in a happy grand finale.

Sounds familiar with a certain fairy tale?

Great, because we’re now gonna about A Tales of Sleeping Prince. The title already makes a reference to The Sleeping Beauty… But if Georgi lost Anya, why does the song has Tales in its name? Maybe because his heart was broken more than once?

And why is the song called Sleeping Prince if the one who sleeps in the fairy tale is the princess? The answer lies in the fact that Georgi, as we can see in his costume for this program that has elements of both genders, interprets both roles. He is his own prince, and at the same time is the sleeping princess, and he needs to find himself to wake up. Still, even if this is an incredibly personal journey, in The Sleeping Beauty the prince finds the princess with the help of a certain someone: the Lilac Fairy.

Sleeping Prince, then, gives us Georgi’s point of viev about himself, but he also needs external help - someone who can encourage him to wake up, someone who listens to the “wake me up” that is repeated in the backround many times during the song. His Lilac Fairy.

Now Serenade for Two seems to be the one that makes less sense with the characters, since it’s Michele’s free skate song, and the anime made itself clear in showing us his depedency problems with his sister, Sara. The moral of this small arc is that love also sets free, and Georgi points to us that Michele skates with lost love… And this proves us that he knows that sensation.

If Stay Close To Me is Victor’s theme and A Tales of Sleeping Prince is Georgi’s, Serenade for Two is the fusion of both character’s point of view.

And it is through the analysis of these songs, of their word play and metaphors, that we can see that they create a narrative about an past relationship, a hidden one... In the shadows.

In the shadows, like where Georgi stays. In the shadows, just like when Victor lost his long hair in the first scene in episode 1.

Song identification guide:

Stay close to me

A Tales of Sleeping Prince

Serenade for Two

For this analysis we need to start… From the end! It starts exactly at the final echo of A Tales of Sleeping Prince:

[Wake me up!]: This is a desperate plea that echoes far away, Georgi begs to wake up, he can’t take being abandoned anymore. The answer, however, is at the start of Victor’s Stay Close To Me.

I hear a voice crying far away: A voice crying far away… As in an echo?

Have you been abandoned as well?: "You” who? If Victor didn’t knew Yuuri before this program, he wouldn’t be questioning him if he was a solitary as him (and, actually, loneliness doesn’t really applies to Katsuki, because he himself admits to be surrounded by people who love and support him). Is there anyone with a bigger similarity with Victor then, someone as surrounded by loneliness than Georgi?

Tell me now, its dark: Tell me now. Why now and not before? Besides that, it’s dark. Are you in the shadow again, Georgi?

There is no star in the sky: Oh, yes, we see, it’s because Victor, the Russian star, is gone...

Where are you?: Where have you gone, Victor? Well, of course Georgi knows where, but, far away, that distance seems enormous, something he can’t understand.

Come now, lets empty this glass of wine soon: Let’s finish this soon - someone’s in a hurry. Victor, probably, to finish his career as a figure skater. It’s also relevant to know that wine is associated with riches and grace, just like his skating style. Besides that, in European culture in particular, the act of drinking wine is associated with appreciating life. Victor’s anxious to go away from the ice once and for and then finally start to appreciate life and love, two things he lost.

I'll start getting ready: Victor starts to prepare to end his career, to drink his glass of wine

Why are you leaving me?: Why? Has the reason for their separation been made clear enough? Georgi’s stil hurt about this.

Now be silent: Contrast with the next line. Now be silent, to hear me say. Then now, after all this time, Victor will explain himself and make things clear, now that he’ll be leaving the ice, now that he can enjoy life.

Let me hear you say: “Then let me hear what you have to say”. Probably the reason Victor gave him at first wasn’t enough, he couldn’t understand nor accept, but he still wants to hear Victor.

Let me be your love: Explains itself.

With a sword I wish I could cut: Cut with a sword… Like cutting your hair with scissor blades. It’s also interesting that the sword reminds us of a fairy tale imagery, a theme that both Victor and Georgi share in common with The Sleeping Beauty. It’s also important to notice that the part that begins here is not sung on the duetto, the version that Victor and Yuuri skate together at the season finale.

Those throats singing about love: I want to cut all throats that ressonate love songs. Why does he want to get rid of such memories so much? Why do they hurt him or revolt him so much? This part is a lament, and a confession.

Show me your heart: Here, Georgi encourages him to speak. Show me your heart, show me what you’ve been keeping away during all this time.

I see the brightest star: The brightest star, Victor! Georgi sees him again! He’s coming back, the sky’s not dark anymore; Georgi’s waking up.

I wish to seal in the cold the hands That portray those verses of burning passion: I want to cut, I want to end once and for all these lies (love stories and such) that I brought upon the ice. Because he may have felt obliged to cut away his own love to keep working on the ice and tell other people’s love stories, in a painful irony.

I'll give you my heart: Victor’s so hurt… Georgi won’t hesitate to give him his own heart.

This story that makes no sense: It makes no sense. Staying here (on the ice) doesn’t make sense anymore. Skating gave him everything, but also took him everything, at the same proportion.

Will vanish tonight along with the stars: Conection with the beginning of Sleeping Prince, the metaphor of the dark sky with no stars. Besides that, the story will vanish along with the stars, in this case with the stars going away from the scene (Victor and Georgi, both old for the sport, retiring).

If I could see you from hope: The hope of being saved.

Let me be the one I'll always be Be there for you I promise to save you: And the promise to do so.

I'll save you now: Complimenting with the lines above, Georgi promises to be at Victor’s side, promises to save him now. Why, if he couldn’t do it before?

Eternity will be born: The last line of the part that’s not sung on the duetto at the season finale. It’s interesting to see that it speaks about eternity, and yet Victor and Yuuri don’t skate about it... From this information we can deduce narratively that they still have points at their relationship that they need to work on, or, in another hypothesis, that they’re not faded to be together forever - at least not now.

Stand close to me: Asking for someone to stay with him, and the answer comes right away.

Oh baby I'm coming: Expains itself.

Don't go I'm afraid of losing you: Victor didn’t want to break up, that’s why he asks for Georgi not to go away. This brings even more the following question: for what reason did they broke up? Victor’s also solitary. He has the chance to have something special with another person, but he fears losing the conection that’s narrated in the following lines. He’s desperate.

You're not alone I promise to save you I'll save you now: But you’re not alone, Victor! I promise I’ll save you now! Georgi’s answer is clear: he won’t let them to be separated anymore, now he’ll make sure to save him.

Your hands, your legs My hands, my legs The heartbeats: The heart metaphor, also present in Sleeping Prince, making a connection with said song (I'll give you my heart).

Are fusing together: This is a huge metaphor for a deep and real relationship. While the previous lines talk about the physical (sex, basically), the line just before this talks about heart, more specifically heartbeats. The two people in this song are so close that even the heartbeats are syncronized. It’s literally a fusion of souls, something spiritual and really deep - not the fleeting and lustful love of Eros, represented here by no one but Yuuri himself.

Let's leave together: Victor goes away, but not alone. He goes with someone, a person who, just like him, also needs to finish what they started on the ice. In this case, Victor and Georgi will leave, together. It’s relevant to note that Yuuri’s still young enough to skate, so it doesn’t make sense for him to leave with Victor in this context.

Now I'm ready: Now, for what? Now why and, especially, for what? What happened for Victor to be ready now, but not before? Unfinished business with someone of his past?

[Wake me up!]: It’s the plea that echoes itself. Victor’s not the only one that needs to be saved. Georgi wants to wake up again for love, for life.

No matter what I'll save you now: It’s important to see that these lines about saving/kissing have no matter what. This is unconditional love. It doesn’t matter if Victor or Georgi have 1 or 100 golden medals, whatever. Georgi’s ready to save himself no matter the circumstances, and he wants to save Victor too, without the expectation to get something in return.

[Wake me up!]: You can see that the wake me up is distant, just like the voice mentioned at the beggining of Stay Close To Me, who’s calling for Victor. Georgi needs to wake up, and even though he needs to do so alone (since he’s the prince and princess of his own faity tale, evidenced by his costume), he needs someone to guide him - Victor, the Lilac Fairy, who guides the prince to kiss the Sleeping Beauty.

No matter what I'll kiss you now: No matter what and now, which make themselves presents during the whole song, reinforcing that the unconditional love stills exists at the present time (and that it can still manifest itself).

[Wake me up!]: The plea still echoes, until the begging of Stay Close To Me.

No matter what I'll save you now: "It doesn’t matter what they’ll say now, I’ll never let you go again”. There’s nothing that chains them to the ice anymore with the retirement. With no more masks, they owe nothing to the world.

[Wake me up!] No matter what I'll kiss you now I'll always be Be there for you I promise to save you I'll save you now Oh baby I'm coming You are not alone I promise to save you I'll save you now: All of these repeated lines, reinforcing what has been said before: I’m here for you and I won’t leave you. I’ll save you now, Victor, you’re not alone.

You always made me strong: Someone always made Georgi strong. It wasn’t Anya, but someone who was present in his life for more time. In this case, Victor, someone who Georgi saw as an inspiration for him to get better as an skater (since he was always in his shadow, but he wants to be appreciated for his art before anything else).

I'm not alone: I’m not alone! Georgi’s able to save himself so he can save someone else, who’s no one but the person who guided him, since Victor also needs help. It’s the search for himself, for his own love before he’s able to give it to another person.

I promise to save you I'll save you now Oh baby I'm coming: More reinforcement of his promises. Just like a prince, right?

Through the dark: Through the dark, because Victor’s not a star anymore, he’s not in the sky, yet Georgi doesn’t want anything with his status as a professional and wants to save him as a person, even if this means walking through the dark (without Victor) alone.

I promise to save you I'll save you now: Not a question, but a guarantee: I will save you and I’ll save you now!

After analyzing the two songs, you know what else is interesting? A Tales of Sleeping Prince plays at the background, without lyrics, when the skaters in Barcelona are hanging out together. It’s during the scene when Phichit announces Yuuri’s engagement with Victor, and the same scene when Victor told them that he’ll only marry Yuuri if he wins gold. It’s pretty ironic that a song with lyrics about always being close with someone is played during a scene when Victor puts in a condition for their marriage to happen.

Another thing that reinforces the idea of this possible past relationship is that, while Stay Close To Me and A Tales of Sleeping Prince have each a story in their lyrics, Yuri on Ice doesn’t have any. While everyone thinks that Stay Close To Me is about Victuuri only, Victor skated to it alone, telling the story of a lost love and the desire to get it back. Meanwhile, in his free skate, Yuuri skates about the many kinds of love that he feels and that supported him through his career, but this story doesn’t need to be told in words. Contrary to Georgi and Victor, Yuuri doesn’t have a love story to tell, not yet.

And now, to finish with the song’s analysis, Serenade for Two:

Whenever I hear you bands begin to play: Whenever I hear, indicating here communication above everything - something that still needs work in Victuur, and something explicitated in Stay Close To Me and Sleeping Prince, where the lines talk amongst themselves.

It's a serenade: Serenades are songs normally played during the night, in small verses. Normally below a window, to court the person who’s watching from above. Who’s always on the podium? Who’s extremaly artistic in his programs? Besides that, the fact that the serenade is nocturne matches perfectly with the other lines and all of the metaphors involving the moon, the stars and the sky, that are present in all of the three songs.

For two: If it’s “our serenade for two”, here it’s a vision that fits both, because the song is about them together.

How do I forget you: And how could they forget each other if they were side by side, growing together and sharing space in both their lifes and on the rink?

this feeling inside: What happened in the past stays in the past, but the feelings love on, as it can be seen in their individual songs.

I am always watching over you: Always, as in now. Victor, who’s always at the top, can’t watch anyone, but who’s the person that’s always in his shadow?

Whenever I see you: This line can be an alusion to Georgi watching Victor skate, and how he fell in love with his skating in the past, that was once full of life.

Stars in your eyes: Important!! In the anime, during episode 9, the close in Georgi’s face starts right at this line. His eyes shine in nostalgia as he speaks about lost love.

Brighten up the sky: In the anime, the close persists during this line as well. We don’t really have to say at this point that the stars metaphor is an alusion to the other songs now.

For me: The close ends right there.

We're dancing in the moonlight: They’re dancing now! The serenate worked, and as they dance in the night, they’re booth on equal points with each other. This may also mean that they used to meet each other in the shadows, hidden away from other people.

Tonight you will belong to me, only you…: The said soul fusion in Stay Close To Me comes to play here. Sex is something they both can find with other people, but this line makes it explicit that what they had was beyond physical.

You mean the world to me, my lady: Explains itself. Also the lady here is not a problem, since Victor and Georgi don’t care about gender and this is not an issue in the universe of the anime.

I can be as brave as a knight for you: Who’s the prince of his own story?

If you want, I can be like a sharpened knife: A sharpened knife... Like a prince’s sword.

No one loves you like the way I do: OH FOR GOD’S SAKE!!

Let's fly over the moon: Foreshadowing the the song’s ending, until the clouds hide the moon away. Also a metaphor for them to elevate themselves even higher together, since they were dancing under the moonlight before.

Don't get me wrong: This line points to a possible failure at their communication at some point. There may have been a misunderstading, byt what was it? And for what reasons?

Maybe I'm foolish enough to want you to love me: “Maybe this won’t last, maybe I’m just deceiving myself, but that would be enough”.

For only tonight, will you be the one for me Until the clouds hide the moon away...: If the clouds cover the sky, no one can see the stars moving, no one can find out about Georgi and Victor. A secret relationship.

Whenever I touch you, music seems to stop I've never felt this way so true: Again, the line explains itself. The intensity of the feeling is obvious.

In the end, it is possible to see that the songs in fact communicate and tell a story, and it takes us to believe that, yes, Georgi and Victor used to have something in their past, and this something may be a key point to the future development of their respective arcs in the second season.

This can even influenciate Victuuri as well, be it in the (albeit really small) possibility of them breaking up to move forward as individuals and Victor reunites with Georgi again (just like in The Sleeping Beauty) or as narrative fuel for Victor to mature emotionally as he tries not to repeat the mistakes of his past relationship with the one he has with Yuuri now, moving them forward in what they need to work the most: communication.

And it’s not in the songs only that the night is present. In the legend of Akai Ito, a classic seen in japanese romances and inherited from China, there is a story about a God that only appears at night. This god conects soulmates with the red thread of fate e, even if the circumstances separate them and life makes them twist, the two souls are destined to search for each other until they get together. The further they’re away from each other, the sadder they get; the closer, the happier. And the red thread never breaks.

When you put this together with all the hints about Georgi being a Chekhov’s Gunman - the emphasis brought upon his character in interviews, how he’s always in the background of many scenes, his paralels and links with the other main characters -, it’s clear that he can play perfectly the role of a past love of Victor, the first love that’s hinted at the beggining of the anime, and that both his character and this information can still be very important to the series development.

After all, Victor said he had a first love, he just didn’t told us who it was.

And we don’t have only 2, but 3 Yuris here. And one of them was present in Victor’s life before the other Yuris we know. Only him can present us with his role to the narrative.

Georgi is a key character to Yuri!!! On Ice’s narrative, and we all should pay attention to him.

#yoi meta #yoimeta #yuri on ice #georgi popovich #victor nikiforov #meta #my meta

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doctorwhonews · 8 years ago

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Doctor Who Series 10 - Episode 2 - Smile

Latest Review: Doctor Who Series 10 Episode 2: Smile Starring Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas With Kiran L. Dadlani, Mina Anwar, Ralf Little, Kiran Shah, Craig Garner, Kaizer Akhtar, Kalungi Ssebndeke Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce Directed by Lawrence Gough Produced by Peter Bennett Executive Producers: Steven Moffatt, Brian Minchin This review contains spoilers. The tenth twenty-first century series of Doctor Who has been keenly promoted as a new start, but it’s enthusiastic about showing it’s taken old lessons to heart. Smile follows the precedent of The End of the World by taking Bill to the far future, to have (recalling one of the promotional lines of 2005) an adventure in the human race. However, where The End of the World was a celebration of diversity within and beyond humanity, giving the Doctor and Rose a range of different beings to interact with in separate story branches, and a villain who did not appreciate the parable within her own narrative, Smile concentrates much more on how the Doctor and Bill react to each other in an environment where humanity is absent, memorialized by an environment intended to cater to human needs, the murderous machines built to help the last humans, and by the fertilizer made from the skeletons of the slaughtered. Bill’s hope when setting off is to find that the future is a happy one. This is a change from her present, where study with the Doctor provides hope in a background of low aspiration and petty betrayals. The Doctor takes her somewhere which has supposedly discovered the secret of human happiness – and there’s an irony in that the colony building screams its optimism to the Doctor when there are no living (or at least awake) humans present. Bill doesn’t seem to be addicted to crisis and peril in the way that some of her predecessors have been, and Pearl Mackie conveys well her evolving assessments of the situation. Where Rose in The End of the World could phone her Mum when she needed reassurance that her world was still there, it’s the smell of rosemary in the nursery which reminds Bill of home, and that home is the student union rather than her foster mother’s. Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who heroines tend to be detached from family much more than Russell T Davies’s earthly lead characters, and have a corresponding need to build alternative networks. Bill’s search for belonging is not buried so far down as it was for Amy or Clara. Her distress at realizing that the colonists might be the last remnants of humanity bubbles up from Pearl Mackie like an unexpected hot spring on downland. Doctor Who has form for seeing companions bond with abandoned children, which arguably include since Listen the Doctor himself. Here it’s Praiseworthy whose awakening, soon after Bill’s discovery of (I presume) his dead grandmother, gives Bill someone to hope for, and whose protection is the catalyst for the story’s resolution. In the final TARDIS scene Bill has moved on from the abstract ideal of happiness to the more practical question ‘Is it going to work?’ before going on to tentatively accept responsibility with the Doctor for the ‘jump-start(ing of) a civilization’. Given that the Doctor knew the colony by its positive reputation. perhaps she already had her answer, but Bill is still the student working out these questions for herself, perhaps like the young audience at home. The episode sees another accessible, believable performance from Pearl Mackie, immediately well-established in Doctor Who’s soil without obvious need of ground skeletons. Bill’s idealism is balanced by suspicion of deep-rooted prejudice. Her reaction to seeing that the Doctor has been served two algae cubes to her one is to ask whether this is ‘a bloke’s utopia’. However, her sense of the epic survives; even after the cryogenic units have been revealed and the Doctor has acknowledged that he was mistakenly going to blow up the human colonists, he calls the ‘shepherds’ who awoke first ‘those with (relevant) skills’. For Bill they are ‘the brave… the best’. Epic is important, with many of the colonists having names whose meanings are obvious to the listener. Like the warrior classes (at least) of early European cultures, their name patterns claim ownership of their own story. It’s a neat irony, and one which offsets any romanticization of colonization, that to survive the colonists end up having to pay rent to their servant caste. Back in 2003, Russell T Davies’s ‘pitch document’ for Doctor Who emphasized that it should be ‘pioneers’ who take viewers into space in the series, rather than alien creatures. It might be a leap too far to emphasise here the associations of Frank Cottrell Boyce and Steven Moffat with Liverpool and Glasgow, two of Britain’s biggest slave-trading ports, but the case is there for making that connection when considering the story’s shaping of the colonist narrative. Such stories inevitably express debts towards tales of settlement in the American West or in this case, with its intensive agriculture, the American South or European colonies in the Caribbean. Admittedly, as transposed into Doctor Who, these tropes are rarely left uncriticized. Here the enslaved evolve into an indigenous people before the colonists can properly revive, leaving the claims of the colonizing culture hollow. The Vardy robot murders, however, fit less comfortably into a ‘slave revolt’ parallel, but instead suggest the futility of trying to second guess and avoid unhappiness. Perhaps everyone is on better terms with human folly by the end of the story. So much of the episode is a two-hander between Bill and the Doctor, who gradually reveals more of his personality to her. Peter Capaldi continues in a much more relaxed portrayal of the Doctor which is much easier to watch than his disgruntled, tortured Time Lord of series eight or the most midlife crisis-ridden moments of series nine. He’s someone who enjoys his travels again, which have been cast in a new context now he is sworn to stay on Earth to protect the Vault. Capaldi enjoys or makes us enjoy the multiple levels of denial: the evasiveness, the childlike naughtiness – referring to Nardole as ‘Mum’ – and his insistence that he doesn’t set out to save the day, but just passes by and mucks in, delivered in a tone which suggests the Doctor barely convinces himself more than he fails to convince Bill. As Bill says, he’s a great tutor, but the Doctor’s lessons are often in what he does (or does not) rather than what he says. He’s careful not to betray his suspicions about the absence of people in the colony to Bill, who is too curious and too excited to look at the Doctor’s mood badge and see that he is considerably less happy than she is. At the same time, the Doctor wants to protect her from the horror of the situation, leading to a powerful variant of the ‘Let’s get back in the TARDIS and go’ trope. Here the Doctor pretends to himself that Bill will be happy watching movies in the TARDIS while he dodges the robots again to blow up the city, but at the same time he’s not disappointed that she rebels and comes with him. A tidy parallel is drawn between the mood badges and the sign on the TARDIS door. The Doctor denies that he travels the universe putting it to rights, but the TARDIS seeks out ‘urgent calls’ anyway where the Doctor can usefully provide advice and assistance. Smile provides a restatement of the Doctor-companion relationship – Bill’s sigh as she leaves the TARDIS reminds me of Sarah Jane Smith’s resigned plodding after the fourth Doctor as he sets off towards problems, or Turlough’s transfer of the Doctor to Peri’s care in Planet of Fire – ‘Look after him. He gets into the most terrible trouble’ – but nowadays the Doctor’s methods and assumptions are questioned much more, and rightly so. I didn’t find the emojibots as ‘cute’ as I felt it was hoped the audience would. There was an innocence about them – they (and the Vardy robots they represented) wanted to smile, they were unhappy without people but unhappiest when people were incomprehensibly sad. They were more compelling when being sinister, staring out of windows balefully like figures in the 1980s Miss Marple television title sequence. Given that the entire city was made of Vardy robots I expected to feel it brooding a little more, but the light and architecture didn’t lend itself in that direction. Instead much matter-of-fact internal photography was broken into by slightly jarring shots, such as the view of the sun through the latticework of the glass roof, as if we’re looking up through a skeleton’s rib cage. The use of the City of Arts and Sciences in Smile plays with both architectural intention and alternative meanings derived from other angles. The Hemisfèric, according to its website, is intended to suggest a huge human eye but we never see it from an angle which would encourage that interpretation. Instead, it sometimes appears like a sunken, skeletized beast. Soaring optimism lives alongside inevitable decline; that the Wheel Turns (to recall Kinda) is a recurring part of Doctor Who. The robots’ loss of innocence, as they reveal they understand the concept of rent (and the pound sign has survived to Doctor Who’s far future) is the basis for a better society than one based on robot servitude. There’s a contrast in the portrayal of the colonists themselves which could have been better managed. The introductory scenes featuring Kezzia and the Vardys outside in their pastoral idyll, celebrating the pollination of crops in a golden field under a blue sky, impress: one warms immediately to Kiran L. Dadlani, and once inside the city, Mina Anwar is a familiar and reliable television face who does not disappoint here. The costumes, with their suggestions of wings and gauze, suggest holiness but are only introduced when we know everything is going wrong: a tragedy in heaven. One could comfortably spend forty-five minutes with Kezzia and Goodthing, and the ease of their introduction and sudden dispatching is a greatly effective piece of misdirection. However, Ralf Little’s Steadfast and his fellow gun-toting revivees could come from an entirely different society. Their outfits aren’t co-ordinated and one doesn’t have the sense the production has the same grip on these characters than it did on the two Shepherds met and lost before the credits. As with The Pilot, the script is dotted with odd nods back to earlier Doctor Who stories, particularly twenty-first century ones. These deliberate references seem to suggest that a phase of the series including both Russell T Davies’s era and that of Steven Moffat is coming to an end. The Doctor’s mention that an algae emperor ‘fancied me’ recalls the tenth Doctor’s memory of Martha in Partners in Crime, and we learn that yes, lots of planets have Scottish people claiming independence from everywhere they land. These are ironic takes but they suggest that the Doctor’s life and the programme’s is a little more complicated now than it once was: glibness has consequences. The Doctor’s method of winning at chess – knocking over the board – is dishearteningly similar to the gameplay of a neoliberal financier of which I’ve read, though The Curse of Fenric’s change of the rules so that the pawns join forces would have seemed as contrived as it did then and even more out of place. The references to The Ark in Space, indirectly through the Doctor’s expository dialogue, and directly through Steadfast’s self-identification as ‘Medtech One’, are nice in a vague sense of suggesting Doctor Who has a long-term scheme for human future history (though one would be hard-pressed to get anyone to agree on what it is) but it must jar for several long-term fans in that although there is an element of specialization depicted, Smile doesn’t quite portray the same kind of stratified society as that depicted on Space Station Nerva. The most disconcerting features, though, were a couple of lines of dialogue. I’m not sure that the Doctor should be rubbishing a society which communicates through emojis as one for ‘vacuous teens’ – he’s more open-minded than that, surely? Towards the end, as the Vardy robots prepare to strike down the survivors of humanity, Bill has a redundant ‘What’s happening, Doctor?’ which doesn’t serve her previous character development well. This review is based on an advance viewing copy, watermarked as a work in progress, and I wouldn’t mourn those lines if it turned out they had not made it to the broadcast cut. A more pleasing recall was the device of linking the second and third episodes together with a cliffhanger, as the TARDIS fails to return to the Doctor’s study and Nardole’s kettle but lands on the frozen Thames in Regency London and the Doctor and Bill are approached by a curious but not that threatening elephant through the presumably freezing fog. We go from a clinical and almost sterile environment to a cluttered one which pre-dates modern hygiene and where exotic animals replace robots. The Doctor’s magic haddock of fable (and the final, ‘face on’ view of the city as giant fish) is about to be realized as a more intentionally threatening undersea beast – or is the season catchphrase of ‘not evil, just different’ to be repeated? Overall, Smile is a welcome addition to the series. It’s by no means as slow as I feared after reading the Radio Times preview, it uses its locations well, and cements the partnership between the Doctor and Bill, both adventurers in contrast with the cautious, rule-keeping Nardole, and where Bill’s wide-eyed enthusiasm reignites the Doctor’s interventionist wanderlust. It doesn’t always quite come together, but there are strong performances and ideas and design ideas which should keep an audience intrigued and entertained until the end of the episode, together with a not-heavily carried sense of myth, as might be expected from Frank Cottrell Boyce on the strength of In the Forest of the Night. The horror is depicted in a pre-watershed friendly way with enough grim humour to amuse enough of the audience while the youngest have the joke ‘skeleton crew’ explained to them. Perhaps it could all have been a little more buoyant, but on the whole Smile is dramatically convincing and sets the audience up well for next week. http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2017/04/doctor_who_series_10_episode_2_smile.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

#Doctor Who (series 10)

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