#theory about poetry

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Placing my bets now that Undertaker's last name is Rossignol, the French word for nightingale. 

In trying to explain to a friend the plot of black butler via the iceberg meme, I've become so convinced that I've figured out Cedric K. Ros-'s (aka Undertaker's) last name that I've rejoined this site to scream into the void.

At least, I haven't been able to find anything on the English/French speaking internet suggesting this theory has been floated before.

Of course, this is assuming you subscribe to the Cedric K. Ros- = Undertaker = Undertaker x Cloudia affair = Grandtaker pipeline. And, that you think he is of French/Breton origin. 

Dates

Important to note that dates and numbers are important in Black Butler's story, both within the fictional narrative and in connection to real historical events (emphasized with the first arc lining up with the actual 'Jack the Ripper' murders). Some examples of this;

1819 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria (and her cousin-husband Prince Albert) were born. 1819 is also the year in which the name 'Cedric' first appears in the novel 'Ivanhoe'. Within the story, this is also right around the time that reaper 136649 attacks Reaper HQ.

1837 is the year in which the real Queen Victoria ascended the throne. In Black Butler, this is year in which Molly G., the first chronological locket on Undertaker's chain, died. 1837 would also be right around the time that Undertaker is noted as having absconded with his death scythe, officially deserting the organization...20 years after a workplace shooting (he must be union).

Vincent Phantomhive is born on Friday June 13th, 1851. Cloudia Phantomhive dies on Friday July 13th, 1866. She is 36 years old when she dies. If you believe that Undertaker's reaper serial number 136649 means he died in the year 1366 (an interesting time period in Brittany, what with the Breton War of Succession, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death...), this would mean Cloudia dies 500 years after he unalives himself.

Prince Albert dies on December 14th, 1861, in the real world. The Phantomhive twins are born on December 14th, 1875 - the 14th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 24 years old when he becomes a father. The manor is attacked on December 14th, 1885 - the 24th anniversary of Prince Albert's death. Vincent is 34 years old when he dies. There's speculation that the story will end on Friday December 13th, 1889 - the twin's last day of being 13 years old, before they turn 14 years old on December 14th, 1889, the 4th anniversary of the attack on the manor.

TLDR, dates matching up with historical events/publications is not coincidental. Yana pays attention to her numbers.

Now, back to Cedric K. Ros-

I've read speculation that the 'Ros-' must have something to do with roses, since Phantomhives are so often associated with roses (and their thorns). Guess what little bird is very commonly associated with roses? Whose song is often associated with melancholy, longing, and mourning? Who so often seems to unalive themselves on thorns?  

"the nightingale...can also be seen to provide a link to something, opening out onto something beyond the self. Heard but not seen, the nightingale represents an intangible presence; a longing that can be either terribly earthly, in the guise of sexual desire, or soaringly spiritual, as when the nightingale represents the soul, rising above."

Some fun facts about nightingales;

Female nightingales are mute, only male nightingales sing - though historically people thought the opposite, so many of the nightingales in literature are female.

It is one of the only birds that sing throughout the night (name means 'night singer').

In Persian poetry, the nightingale is a symbol of a lover who is "eloquent, passionate, and doomed to love in vain" - the object of their affections is the rose, which "embodies both the perfection of earthly beauty and the arrogance of that perfection."

The oldest appearance of nightingales in literature goes back to the myth of Philomela, who was turned into a nightingale by the Gods.

In Shakespeare's poem 'Lucrece', the titular character is inspired to commit suicide when a nightingale leans their breast against a thorn to inspire a song and ward off sleep.

The nightingale also makes an appearance in Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet', when Juliet mistakes the song of a lark for that of a nightingale.

I have read a ridiculous amount of poetry about nightingales recently (there is a lot of it), but I'm going to focus on one Breton piece from the middle ages and two English pieces from the 19th century because they have the most relevant dates (which as previously mentioned, are important).

Laüstic

There is the Breton lai 'Laüstic', composed in the late 12th century by Marie de France (Laüstic' is the Breton word for rossignol/nightingale). Breton lais are a form of medieval French romance literature that often involve supernatural and fairy-world Celtic elements.

"In most of Marie de France’s Lais, love is associated with suffering, and over half of them involve an adulterous relationship... In Marie's Lais, "love always involves suffering and frequently ends in grief, even when the love itself is approved."" 

The lais of Marie de France explore courtly love, a popular theme in medieval literature that began with Troubadour poetry in southern France in the 11th century.

"The courtly lover existed to serve his lady. His love was invariably adulterous, marriage at that time being usually the result of business interest or the seal of a power alliance. Ultimately, the lover saw himself as serving the all-powerful god of love and worshipping his lady-saint. Faithlessness was the mortal sin...The courtly lover, while displaying the same outward signs of passion, was fired by respect for his lady."

Basically, courtly love emphasized the importance of a man's respect and devotion to their lover, and I don't think anyone could doubt Undertaker's devotion to his cause.

Sidenote: I think the French story 'Floire et Blancheflor', one of the oldest and most popular romances of the middle ages, is also incredibly relevant to Undertaker & Cloudia's love story. It also explores this concept of 'courtly love' (involving a fake tomb, a prince disguised as a merchant, and an attempted suicide, no less)...and the flowers associated with the lovers are red roses and white lilies... You can read part one of my theory on Floire et Blancheflor here.

A plot summary of 'Laustic' from Wikipedia: 

Two knights live in adjoining houses, in the vicinity of Saint-Malo in Brittany; one is married and one lives as a bachelor. The wife of the married knight enters into a secret relationship with the other knight, but their contact is limited to conversation and the exchange of small gifts, since a "high wall made of dark stone" separates the two households. Typically, the lady rises at night, once her husband is asleep, and goes to the window to converse with her lover; whenever her lover is home, she is kept under close watch.  Her suspicious husband demands to know why she spends her nights at the window, and she says she does so to listen to the nightingale sing. He mocks her, and orders his servants to capture the nightingale. When it is caught he brings it to the lady's chambers, denying her requests to release the bird. Instead, he breaks its neck and throws it at her, "bloodying the front of her tunic just a bit above her breasts". After he leaves, the lady mourns the bird's death and the suffering she must accept, knowing she can no longer be at the window at night. She wraps the nightingale's body in silk, and embroidered with writing in gold thread, and charges her servant to deliver the bird and her message to her lover, who, in response, preserves the nightingale in a reliquary, a small vessel which he has encased with small jewels and precious stones, and carries it with him always. 

From the Wikipedia on reliquaries;

"A reliquary (also referred to as a shrine, by the French term châsse, and historically also referred to as a phylactery) is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a fereter, and a chapel in which it is housed a feretory or feretery."    "Relics may be the purported or actual physical remains of saints...The term is sometimes used loosely for containers for the body parts of non-religious figures; in particular, the kings of France often specified that their hearts and sometimes other organs be buried in a different location from their main burial."    "In Buddhism, stupas are an important form of a reliquary and may be buried inside larger structures such as a stupa or chorten." 

Interesting, because the wooden grave markers Undertaker carries/uses to conceal his death scythe are considered to be a variant of stupa (as far as I can tell). The grave markers are sotoba inscribed with sutra - also interesting to note that in Japan, nightingales are considered a religious bird because "its song is reminiscent of the intonation of a Buddhist sutra", which in turn ties into the Buddhist prayer beads he wears around his neck.

The concept of reliquaries is somewhat similar to that of mourning lockets, especially if you consider that in the context of courtly love Undertaker was whipped likely worshipped the ground Cloudia walked on and would have treated her like a saint (good for her).

"Reliquaries are decorative vessels, often in the form of a hand, cranium, or other body part that contain the fragment of a saint or someone of holy importance. Some fragments could include remnants of a garment worn by the individual or even a piece of bone that was part of their body."

A famous reliquary is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, commissioned in late 14th century France by John, Duke of Berry (this dude has relevance to Brittany and the Hundred Years War) to house a relic of the crown of thorns.

"The jewels, which would have been keenly appreciated by contemporary viewers, include two large sapphires, one above God the Father at the very top of the reliquary, where it may have represented heaven, and the other below Christ, on which the thorn is mounted."

Sapphires and a crown of thorns are not new symbols in this story - imma leave it at that because I'm getting off topic and this is already ridiculously long.

The Nightingale and The Rose

The short story The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde (snake's snakes) was published in the book of bedtime stories The Happy Prince and Other Tales in May 1888 (which lines up pretty closely with when the first chapter of the manga takes place). This is a bleak tale about the selfless and sacrificial nature of true love.

But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against the thorn. ‘Press closer, little Nightingale,’ cried the Tree, ‘or the Day will come before the rose is finished.   So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.  And the marvelous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.  But the Nightingale's voice grew fainter, and her little wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in her throat.  Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.  'Look, look!' cried the Tree, 'the rose is finished now;' but the Nightingale made no answer, for she was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her heart.  

The emphasis on the nightingale's song also brought to mind the Mother 3 theory and the importance of the music in that game - and the idea that the last names of Undertaker's lockets make a chord progression. IDK that much about Mother 3, so I can't say if there are any other further parallels to draw.

Also who would read this to a child as a bedtime story???

Undertaker. Undertaker would totally read this to Ciel as a bedtime story, who am I kidding.

An Ode to a Nightingale

Finally, there is the poem "An Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats (another one of snake's snakes). 

There is a clear theme of death in this poem, and of life after death/immortality. There is also a sense of longing for death, of the relief death brings - very relevant for all reapers.

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: 'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness,— That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

The first stanza mentions 'Lethe', which is one of five rivers in the Greek underworld. "The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated."

Afaik the only reaper to reference their previous life is Sascha, and there weren't many specifics. This could just be because speaking of their human life is painful, given they all made the choice to end it...Or is it possible HQ alters their memories?

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

The reference to Provencal song is once again a reference to the concept of courtly love (seen in Laustic) that began with Troubadour poetry in Provence, France in the 11th century.

Already with thee! tender is the night,   And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,  Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;  But here there is no light,  Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown  Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways. 

Stars and heaven reference (Astre/Sirius & Ciel), and a reference to the moon as in the Oscar Wilde story... The Queen Moon, on her throne...

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,  Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,  But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet  Wherewith the seasonable month endows  The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;  White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;  Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;  And mid-May's eldest child,  The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,  The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 

A reference to May (we will come back to this), to musk-roses (symbolizes 'capricious beauty'), and to 'the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves'. As previously mentioned, Cloudia dies in July...

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time  I have been half in love with easeful Death,  Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,  To take into the air my quiet breath;  Now more than ever seems it rich to die,  To cease upon the midnight with no pain,  While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad  In such an ecstasy!  Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—  To thy high requiem become a sod. 

The suicidal ideation is strong here.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Immortality. The last few lines immediately brought to mind the theory that Undertaker drowned himself.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep In the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

The last stanza has the poet bidding 'Adieu' - the French word for goodbye forever which translates literally as 'until God'. Gotta love how dramatic the French are.

From Wikipedia: 

"The nightingale described experiences a type of death but does not actually die. Instead, the songbird is capable of living through its song, which is a fate that humans cannot expect. The poem ends with an acceptance that pleasure cannot last and that death is an inevitable part of life." 

And here's the thing...Keats composed this poem in one day after a nightingale built its nest near his home. Specifically, he wrote it in one day of May, 1819 - the same month and year in which Queen Victoria was born. 

The rest might be me just grasping at straws but the connection to Queen Victoria's birth is what I find most convincing, since Yana has seemingly already sourced Cedric's first name from literature in 1819. I think the setting/plot of the novel 'Ivanhoe' and her name choice of 'Cedric' reveals a lot about Undertaker's past and his motivations, and I think the same could hold true for his last name. I am convinced his name is Cedric K. Rossignol.

God only knows what the 'K.' stands for.

Thanks for reading! My ask box is open and I'm always happy to talk about this stuff. You can find a masterpost of my Black Butler theories here - they mostly revolve around medieval French/Breton literature, French history and French Christianity.

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

Taylor Swift: The Lyric Thief- Evermore Edition.

Do y'all know about this?

Swift's lyric "How's one to know/ I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bone" ("Ivy" 2020).

Great, interesting lyric from Swift's own mind, right? WRONG.

Originally, it came from a poem called "Compassion" written by Miller Williams in 1997.

Here is the poem:

Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone. (Williams, 1997)

It's later used as an album title "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" that Miller William's daughter, Lucinda Williams, published in 2014.

She also used the line, that her father ORGINALLY wrote, in a song tribute to him called "Compassion" on that same 2014 album.

Can we please stop pretending Swift is a genius? When, in fact, all of her most "intelligent" and "powerful" lyrics are lines outright taken from other works in literary, and musical, canon.

She's just a derivative fraud who wants all of her fans to think she's the one coming up with all these ideas.

She stole the line from a woman who used it as a tribute to her dying Father- the original author- who is now passed.

Not only did Swift rip the line out of a tribute album written to the original writer- but she also put the line in a dumb song that romanticizes cheating. She writes, "dare to sit a watch what we'll become/ and drink my husband's wine" ("Ivy" 2020). Clearly, the whole song is about a woman who is cheating on her husband.

The original intention of the line itself is about having compassion for other people, while taking care to have humility and resist the allure of cynicism. It's a poem about caring for your fellow man- and resisting despair in life. Arguably, it is also a poem about mental health issues and respecting those who may struggle. Swift twists the line to describe meeting a clandestine hookup and cheating on her husband.

Not only did she yank the line right out of someone else’s work, with no credit given to the original intention of the line or the original author- but she also made it about such a selfish, sick, thing to do- cheating on a spouse.

The original intention of the line was so kind and empathetic. She ruined it with her endorsement of cavalier attitudes towards moral corruption :(

[love-ardour-anarchism]

As I am inching towards being 30 years of age I think I found some utmost truth that I will cling to for as long as I will live

I think that hope is like a fungus, its growing in the crevices of everything that I believe in

and I will hold it like Antonio Gramsci said: the only way that we can truly lose as revolutionaries, as progressives, as people who wish nothing more than for a better world is if we give up hope and I won't sugar coat this mess we're in but I will rise each morning and I will do the dishes and I will ask you what we can do today to be less miserable tomorrow

and I will hold it just the way that Terry Pratchett said, and he made Death the one who said it: I'd sieve the world to finest grain and I will show you molecules of mercy, I'll show you atoms of all of the good things I believe in and I will tell you that that kind of hope starts with the little lies that I choose to believe in cause I think he was right if I can make myself believe in what I say each saturday at our game night table then I can rise another day and I can do the laundry and ask you what we'll do today to make sure that our friends will have enough tomorrow; all capitalistic deprivation will be damned as long as we're together

and Ursula K. Le Guin wrote that any human power can be resisted by our human resistance. She wrote that all these systems of oppression that we've been living in won't always stay the same. That they are as unchangeable as was the right of kings to rule. They said that it was godly-given and yet it did not last. And in the spirit of the same I think that I am holding on to hope because to me its all that I can do. Le Guin wrote that resistance often starts in art and I feel called to that. And everytime that someone says that something that I wrote impacted them I know that I have reasons to hold on aplenty. And I won't act like all is bright and like there's plenty lights on the horizon that don't form mushroom clouds; and maybe all the world comes to an end in horror and in agony but I refuse to yield until that day is here. I still believe in better worlds, and I believe there's dishes to be done and friends to call and lovers' lips to kiss; once there is not then maybe I can have a look at apathy.

:SCRR

[nenoname]

me: oh i totally get it if some folks dont jive with same coin theory, plus it's strange to conceptualise at first--

me when i see people call it lame:

[sqertt]

Some facts about me ᵕ̈

the shows/books can barely be seen lmao 😭

[afantasyoffiction]

sea song

when the sea sings, everybody listens

it’s so easy to hear the music the gentle rhythm, swishing sway the thunderous beat of sand beneath surf

it is easy, too, to hear her voice she croons in whispers, listen, listen, she roars, demanding, when ignored

standing before the horizon, aglow she is vast, all mighty, infinite even a non believer knows to kneel before a god

the sea is vengeful like Poseidon, swallowing sand, sky, beings taking and taking with a hungry and immortal greed

yet the sea is a mother, a sister, a friend and the ravaging tropical rains beat harmless within her gentle arms

listen, child, to her symphony heed the warnings of her roar, do not be entranced by her enticing pull beneath-

from safety, you may cherish sweet music you may worship at her feet whisper praises like prayers, and hope you are understood

i swim within her cradle, breathless, reckless, i feel her chastise me on the edge of ruin a temptress, i must not watch the horizon too long

yet as i leave, i almost think her sheepish she lifts me up, sets me gently on my feet when i go, the surf whispers a farewell

when the sea sings, i always listen i cannot help myself - i love her too well for the sea is my marvellous deity in a godless world

when a deity speaks, even an atheist listens

[inkedwingss]

"(...) attempts to find general laws on literature have always failed."

"Most of these 'laws' (...) could not tell us anything really significant about the processes of literature."

"(...) no work of art can be wholly 'unique' since it then would be completely incomprehensible."

Theory of Literature, René Wellek and Austin Warren, 1948

[euesworld]

"I have so much love for you, theoretically every time you are cold you should be able to warm your hands over my heart like a hearth.. and my warmth would seep deep into your soul, so don't get burned."

Everyone says that I'm trouble, but get in my bubble and you will really find that I'm like winning the lottery by double - eUë

[moon-thestardustwriter]

do you know where your atoms come from?

you are in the universe just as the universe is in you

you are in the ground that you walk on, the air that you breath, the planet in which you are a part of

you are in the sun and the moon and the stars far away

you are in stars in the sky and galaxies near and far and the tiniest of pebbles in space

you are but an immeasurable speck, less than dust in the size of the universe

you are everywhere and everything all at once

you are the universe given life and persona and thought and will

you are the will of the universe

we are the universe given life and breathe

we are the universe given understanding and thought

we are cosmically small and yet we are in everything

if that's not beauty, if that's not purpose, what is?

[lightineventide]

My Train Of Thoughts - Yet Again

To be more specific, it's just one thought. I know the lyrics of the album Poetry For The Poisoned are vague as a whole and even weird at times, but I was wondering if I'm just imagining a pattern. Can any fellow fan share some wisdom with me, please? :)

I mean, have you noticed the little detail in The Great Pandemonium, where the backing vocals repeat the phrase "Red light - hit the brake now" right before the guitar solo (it was omitted in the live versions, I think)? It definitely adds more clarity about the pictured situation, but what does it mean for the rest of the songs? I have a feeling that it is connected to Part III of the title track - All Is Over. The first two parts can be seen as some form of mental analysis of the "character"'s life and "What if all is over?" seems like a logical continuation of these thoughts, given the cruel and dark experiences the rest of the songs portray (The Zodiac, Hunter's Season, Necropolis, etc.). But then, all of a sudden, the character describes a calm and endearing memory of his childhood (Part IV)? Does this mean he's really dead (life flashes before his eyes and all), and that The Great Pandemonium was foreshadowing the end? And is the resolution of Once Upon A Time just him realizing there won't be peace for his soul, so to say?

I can go in a lot more detail, but the whole situation reminds me of Haven and The Shadow Theory - it technically isn't a concept album, but there seems to be a theme progression. My theory is that the protagonist here just realizes that he's had chances to become a better person after the implied crime against the woman in If Tomorrow Came (such a creepy song! But the title could imply that he thinks he won't face consequences...) - for example learning from the trial of the murderer in The Zodiac (Roy plays a very small part in this song, probably as a judge?) and the experience of grief in Hunter's Season, but he wastes all of them, and is kinda conscious of it (My Train Of Thoughts, Seal Of Woven Years) - but it isn't until the implied car crash and his death that he fully realizes what it all means.

What do you think? :) I appreciate any ideas!

[kukekakuningaskris]

since joker out posted a snippet of everybody's waiting (and made me cry) i looked at the form of the lyrics and ordered what i think are also lyrics from bojan's instagram based on the rhyme schemes and syllable counts (as well as the metrical feet used). welcome back to poetry theory!

the real snippet:

hype comes, love goes, everybody fades hiding every day behind the shelter of your shades you can't make it go away ginger shot, vitamins, shower cold, feeling old just do everything the way you are told case closed, soul sold.

what i think is another verse (might not be lyrics and if they are i still might have gotten the order wrong! this is just an educated guess!):

quotas to fill, bills to pay you should be getting ready for the big day starlight effect and a cigarette everyone’s there, no one gives you a call the center of the world on a pedestal, until it's your turn to take the fall

given how the real snippet has an AABCCC rhyme scheme i'm guessing the other verse would be the same, and within the rhyming lines i ordered them based on line lengths. for the CCC cluster i also took into account the fact that one of those lines (the fourth) is dactylic in both instances and the others are trochaic in the snippet while one in iambic in my proposed verse.

also, the lines in the snippet are less strict, having anywhere from 2 to 7 stressed syllables in a line, but with the exception of the fourth line every other line is trochaic with no iambs in sight. but other than that my main sentiments from this post still stand!

[novelconcepts]

do you have any theories or anything you want to happen in season 3 of yellowjackets?

Theories, not so much. Pet desires? Absolutely. I want to see more in-depth work on Taissa, particularly in relation to the no-eyed man. I want to see childhood flashbacks for any of the girls, but especially Van. I would love to get, as I've said, more of the bleeding-in of the 90s cast into the adult timeline situations. I want Akilah to have survived to adulthood. I want Taivan shenanigans in both timelines, and if this means adult Taivan banging it out, I will not be remotely argumentative.

I think my biggest (deeply unlikely) want is a parallel episode to Doomcoming--with the girls prepping for the end of summer/fall with another shindig. This time, they're very much in control and ready for The Rituals. Bonus points if it includes, instead of a cute lil' coming out dance, a Taivan Wilderness Wedding. Bonus BONUS points if, instead of hunting Travis-the-stag in a fit of madness (and letting him go), they hunt Ben-the-stag in a fit of sober fury (and have their first feast for the changing season). I think that's my wildest "yes please" hope, because I love parallels in my narratives, and because it would be genuinely the funniest thing to find out Taissa has been married twice this entire time, and her entire romantic life somehow a bigger mess than any of us thought possible.

[boycritter]

outside infinity

f(x) is continuous on the interval (-∞, ∞). Using the notation and definitions we have learned in class, describe what this means.

this means for every point c on the interval (-∞, ∞) lim(x->c) f(x) = f (c)

this means that f(x) is a smooth line

this means that f(x) is perfect, no pieces missing, no invisible walls hit

this means that all the way to infinity, as far as the human brain can possibly comprehend, f(x) is a truly incredible function

(i must be outside infinity)

i’ve hit countless of those invisible walls

chipped off so many pieces of myself

if f(x) is continuous on that entire interval

where does that leave me?

(i must be outside infinity)

infinity

the universe set

it is unfathomably huge

somehow it is so

so

so

small

because no matter how hard i try

i cannot make my way

inside infinity

[love-ardour-anarchism]

somedays I feel everything at once and I can scarcely tell where my love poems end and where my anticapitalist ramblings start

[requiesticat]

Regarding the Strange Boy's canon name, Ozzy might be a shortened form of Ozymandias, which is the title of a poem about a cursed statue that induces despair in the travellers who look at it:

https://poets.org/poem/ozymandias

"I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

[strangeduckpaper]

What do you mean he "died to finish [Enten]"?

It's phrasing like this that makes me think them swords have human souls in them and Enten has Kunishinge's.