#without the cultural aspects or any deep reasoning or dimension

[lacnunga]

Anyway. Reading the poppy war and I am enjoying it however every time this weirdly contemporary language pops up i am rudely jolted back into reality

[hmatrading]

 We just cannot move forward in life without the best finance management system. We can count it as one of the most critical aspects of our financial security. And a stable and prominent income source reserves the most important place. Most of us trust a secure job as the best option. But the new age youngsters are adding a new dimension to the financial backbone of India. Trading is well-known for ages now, but approximately two decades ago, people used to not consider this as a prominent income source. They used to believe in tips before investing in a stock. Nowadays, as financial education is growing rapidly in our country, we are getting this simple fact that “trading is not gambling” and you should have a proper strategy before chasing the clout.

First, A Demat account is crucial for your upcoming trading journey. Now, the question is which platform is the best trading platform in India? Well, you have a lot of options available in the market. Every single platform works as a broker and promises to deliver the best service from their end. Well, In this scenario, you can have your personal opinion, but in this article, we are going to dive deep into the details of the best trading platform. We will discuss a couple of growing options and we will also give you some ways to find the suitable one for you.

The Best Trading Platform In India: An Overview Of The Most User-Friendly Platforms

As trading has got an increasing graph in India, a lot of trading platforms came to the market. Some of the names are well-known to us while some are not. However, every platform promises the least brokerage and hassle-free services to its users. But let’s take a look at the best in the game and the perfect one for you.

 

●     Angel One:

Among all the leading names in this industry, Angel One is one of the best platforms where you can invest your money into every listed stock. While investing, every trader or wannabe trader wants security from the platform for their money. Well, Angel One is surely emphasizing the new finance-cultured India. Whether you want to take delivery of a certain stock for a long time or you want to do intraday trading, every angle is already covered by Angel One. Future and options can be your mate in this journey or you can trade with gold etc. This platform is not only about trading but also opens a new pathway to mutual funds or SIPs. With over 1 cr+ registered clients and 18000+ authorized persons, Angel One is leading this game without any hassle. The best part comes with a completely free Demat account with zero brokerage. Just download the official app and follow some of the easy and quick instructions for a Demat account. You can even start trading within 1 hour via this platform. Their experts will guide you to make your first and best investment. The authorities do not want you to lose your money, that is where the expertise works.

While talking about Intraday, you will get a leverage of 5X of your total capital amount. Not only that, you can monitor your total loss or profit via this app. Angel One assures to provide the best and most seamless experience to their users. For some justified reasons, this is one of the biggest independent full-service retail houses in India. And above all, this app is powered by ARQ technology which is a rule-based investment engine. These are the primary and most significant reasons why this platform is counted as one of the best trading platforms in India.

●    Upstox:

A well-known brand in this industry is Upstox. But Upstox is yet another significant actor in the Indian market scene. Upstox offers a variety of features to accommodate various trading styles, all of which are supported by a strong trading platform. The platform offers a quick and user-friendly interface, sophisticated charting capabilities, real-time market data, and a broad range of transaction types. Upstox is a desirable option for traders who are concerned about costs because it also offers reasonable brokerage prices. While being there with other competitors in the market, Upstox has successfully created a satisfied user base with its user experience.

Just like any other platform, a trade can also trade in every trading style via this platform. It covers a wide range of user requirements. Starting from “Intraday” or “future and options”, Upstox makes you feel secure by providing you with the best experience. However, it is not only about trading or the stock market, it also gives you flexibility to invest in mutual funds. Uppstox’s experts will guide you to find the suitable one for you. It will not be critical or hard to use for newcomers. A perfect user-friendly interface gives a plus. However, Upstox can be counted as one of the best trading platforms in India.

●     Zerodha:

One of India's top discount brokerages and trading platforms is widely regarded as Zerodha. With its driven-by-technology approach and affordable structure since its 2010 launch, Zerodha has completely changed the market. The platform offers a user-friendly user interface, sophisticated charting tools, and a large variety of investment alternatives, including mutual funds, derivatives, commodities, and stocks. The company's core tool, "Kite," which offers a smooth trading experience across numerous devices, is a favorite among both novice and seasoned traders.

 ●     5Paisa:

The trustworthy online discount brokerage platform 5Paisa provides a seamless trading environment. The platform is renowned for its simple UI and straightforward navigation. It offers a selection of investment choices, such as mutual funds, shares, and derivatives. A special feature of 5Paisa is called "Trade Academy," which offers educational materials to support users in improving their trading knowledge and abilities.

●    ICICI Direct:

Probably no one does not know the name of ICICI Bank. ICICI Direct is an initiative from the same authorities. The prominent reason is to give a push to the Indian stock market and traders. Just like any other platform, this also offers its user every kind of benefit and service. You can trade with every single trading style via this platform. While counting the best trading platform in India, ICICI Direct is a position holder.

The website provides a wide range of investment alternatives, including fixed deposits, mutual funds, IPOs, derivatives, and stocks. ICICI Direct is a good option for investors looking for professional advice because it offers cutting-edge research tools, comprehensive market analysis, and individualized advisory services.

●     Sharekhan:

A well-known brand in the Indian trading stocks sector is Sharekhan. Sharekhan, a trading platform with a history spanning more than two decades, offers a wealth of features for both novice and seasoned traders. The website offers a vast array of investment alternatives, trading suggestions, and substantial research and analytical tools. Investors who seek professional assistance can benefit from Sharekhan's personalized advice services. If you are new to the market and a bit nervous, then there is nothing to worry about your money while relying on Sharekhan. Their experts will guide you on less loss and more profit. For various justified reasons, share khan is holding a position on the list of the best trading platforms in India.

●     Groww:

Groww is bringing the best user experience to its users. With the facility of live monitoring of SENSEX, NIFTY 50, or BANKNIFTY, a trader can easily monitor the loss or the profit. You will get a brief look at upcoming IPOs. Daily, Grow will show you the top gainers and losers of a certain day. With a package of benefits, it is one of the most user-friendly and best trading platforms in India. 

 Conclusion:

Well, just to conclude, we can say that trading is adding a new dimension to the finance industry nowadays. Though not a new concept in the market, trading is motivating our youths to be independent in their financial life. Just to find a relaxation from a daily job or an urge to be your boss, is the primary reason for the craze of trading.

 Choosing the right trading platform is crucial for investors looking to participate in the Indian stock market. Nowadays everyone is in search of The best trading platform in India at their convenience. platforms mentioned in this article, including Zerodha, Upstox, 5Paisa, ICICI Direct, and Sharekhan, have gained popularity due to their user-friendly interfaces, comprehensive features, and competitive pricing structures. Apart from the listed ones, there are also many options available in the market that can fit you better. You have your comfort zone and preference. Choose the right one for you that can walk in your shoes. As a note, if you want to trade in foreign stocks like Google or Apple, many websites or platforms give you the leverage to trade in such brands.

However, investors need to conduct thorough research and consider their trading requirements and preferences before selecting a trading platform that aligns with their needs. By leveraging the power of these platforms, investors can embark on their trading journey with confidence and convenience.

Source - https://sites.google.com/view/possible-way-to-find-it/ 

[morethanonepage]

what would you say are the dynamics and themes that interest you most? Also frankly I'm surprised you read any star wars fic still, I agree on just wanting to read some good finnpoe but that has gotten increasingly futile.

i mean the thing i potentially like so much about finnpoe is that they BOTH have very specific, in some ways very different traumas (finn being a child soldier and growing up in such a highly regulated way where he had basically no bodily autonomy VS poe being mind-raped AND seeing his inability to stop it as having betrayed his own people AND seeing so many of his friends & comrades die in quick succession AND still recovering from the loss of his mother as a child and Muran when he was commanding Rapier Squadron) but they both have a tendency to compartmentalize that and continue to function on their own while being loyal (Finn’s devotion to Rey, which gets a lot of flack in fandom but like -- that’s one of the first people he’s been able to form a connection with!! AND I think he lowkey feels that it’s his fault Rey got dragged into -- everything, so he feels a great deal of responsibility for protecting her) and passionate about a cause (Poe basically killing himself to keep the Ideals Of The Republic Alive, be it through trying to hunt down the FO before he’s even part of the Resistance, to doing everything he can to keep the Resistance afloat once he is). 

like they have those similarities -- a real sense of duty and responsibility toward their friends and those they’re fighting with -- but they have fundamental differences in approach that the movies did a shitty job of extrapolating on when it could’ve been such an interesting conflict: Poe is the idealist and thinks of duty to a higher ideal first and foremost (like Leia and his mother, tbh) whereas Finn is more of a pessimist and a cynic and believes protecting your friends and loved ones from the substantial evil is hard enough without setting up to FIGHT ALL OF THE BAD IN THE UNIVERSE like Poe wants/believes he has to do. and both of these things are based so much on their upbringings! Poe grew up with those ideals and freedoms and parents who fought, successfully, to protect them, and believes he owes it to them to live up to their example and protect them as well; Finn has SEEN the evil of the FO firsthand and seen everyone around him subsumed by it, believes it to be omnipotent bc for him and his squad mates it literally was. escaping all of that was an act of powerful resistance on its own!

idk i just think a lot of the fandom’s take on this is, if you focus on finn ~running away~ in canon or not wanting to join up with the Resistance just ‘cause it’s ~the right thing to do~ you’re feeding into this idea of black men being cowards and/or selfish when it’s like no! that’s the consequence of his trauma: he’s running away from an abuser who controlled every aspect of his life, who’s set up to hunt him down and destroy planets and take over the universe in a way that’ll mean he’s NEVER safe, and he knows every single person he grew up with and had some affection for are a part of it too, which on the one hand he might be reluctant to fight them, but on the other they 100% won’t be reluctant to fight him AND they know him well enough to know his weaknesses. 

all of this is A LOT and it’s heavy and dark stuff, which i GET can be hard to work into like, light fluffy fic about finn finally being happy or learning what sex is or w/e, and not everything about fanfic has to be a ~deep exploration~ of character’s inner turmoil but like -- idk. there’s ways of dealing with these elements of finn’s backstory without making the whole thing drudging tragedy porn (which is ANOTHER fanfic trend i can’t stand -- neither Finn nor Poe are characters entirely without hope and fics that treat either of their tragedies [lbr it’s mostly poe’s that get dealt with] as the focus or main characteristic of either also bum me out) and I just really wish fandom had more interest in it. 

Another factor that KILLS ME is how Poe has (justifiably) developed OBVIOUS distrust for the force and force users, and would have such a fundamentally hard time dealing with the fact that Finn is one. Canon didn’t even let Finn be explicitly force sensitive, and fandom is like YAY FINN IS FORCE SENSITIVE, NOW HE CAN USE THE FORCE TO BONE (POE), and any fic that does touch on it makes Poe out to be ~unreasonable for not trusting Finn, or having his distrust be a consequence of his PTSD alone, and a sign he has to deal with his shit VS a very real issue that Poe might genuinely not be able to get over: the force CAN be creepy and is too easy to abuse, and a lot of what Poe’s seen it used for WAS bad. 

the other dimension of all this is, accidentally or not, these dynamics take on all sorts of real-world implications given both actor’s identities -- the explicit parallels between Finn’s upbringing and chattel slavery (taken from his family at an early age, losing all connection with his birthplace and culture, seen as useful but dispensable by an oppressive, mostly-white empire)  & its legacy for Black Americans (that lack of connection with a historical homeland and the loss of a cultural connection that came from it) VS the first generation latinx immigrant narrative that Poe and his family embody (the sacrifice for and long separation from a child in the service of giving them a better life, the burden that child takes upon themselves to make that sacrifice worth it by excelling in certain spheres, the drive to be the VERY BEST representative of their new culture, the embrace of that culture’s ideals bc they don’t want to think their parents sacrificed everything for a lie [with the creeping knowledge and experience to know many of those ideals are flawed and not always lived up to]). 

and the canon ignores that bc addressing it would require world building that couldn’t center/come back to the Skywalkers in some way (and the only family dynamics it’s interested in is DADDY ISSUES, fucking Free Fall), and fandom doesn’t care about it bc it’s mostly white girls who, AT BEST, decide to focus on the potential ~sexuality conflicts (coming out, family rejection, etc) when writing real world AUS, without dealing with the intersectionality of a black and a brown man, their respective cultural context, and the resultant conflicts those would create beyond, idk, “POCs are always homophobic so finn and/or poe’s parents kicked them out or w/e”.  and like I really don’t WANT these people trying to grapple with the complexity of a queer, interracial relationship where neither participant is white (i’ve seen enough just watching them grapple with either character’s sexuality tbh). 

but idk, that’s what’s interesting to me: finn and poe’s backgrounds and how those set up fundamental conflict points for both of them, both in canon (Poe’s devotion to the cause of liberty and democracy for the whole galaxy VS Finn’s duty to the people he loves over anything else) and in a real world au (Black people have a fundamentally different relationship to the American Ideal than Latinx immigrants do, for very good reasons). And I want those things to be significant elements of the characterization for both, but not the ONLY elements of characterization for both: stories should, in even some small way, be about what characters WANT (even if it is just “to fuck,” as it often is when I write [ok it’s usually “to love but be able to show it without saying it, hence the fucking”]) and so few fics, these days, give me any sense of what finn and poe want besides, vaguely “each other” (”because the author feels like they have to write them bc the actors are hot/for woke points”) and that is just -- boring to me. 

also god i would just love to read some dialogue that isn’t just twitter/tumblr memes and/or mcu level mean quips. like, just in general. 

[wonderworldwonderings]

Do you have any headcanons of Nightmare specifically?? Would love to hear them if you have any !

I’d actually been compiling some for a masterpost, so I’ll just shift some of them into here! Some Nightmare/Nightmaren headcanons in no particular order:

- I’ve spoken about it before, but I like to think Nightmare presents itself as a darker, broodier version of Nightopia. If you travel far enough, you’ll see the clear divide where Nightopia borders Nightmare, presented as a line of deep, dense woods that is impossible to see very far into. Stepping across this border gives a feeling of dread which is almost immediate. The temperature will drop, the air feels heavier, the noises of the world around you seem to be sucked away. It’s like that feeling you get where you can’t go to sleep because it feels like something is there. People often will not willingly go anywhere near Nightmare’s border, Nightopians refuse to be in it’s general radius, and NiGHTS will basically stay as far away from the place as possible.

- The place where Wizeman and his creations live exists as an enormous, intricate castle in the heart of these woods. It’s basically large enough to exist as it’s own thriving city of Nightmaren, with various floors and areas dedicated to certain classes (Wizeman at the very top, First Classes directly beneath, so on and so forth).  Despite it’s foreboding nature, it’s actually quite a normal existence for Nightmaren! They're quite advanced in their social structure and have bit of everything to actually do in the castle, and you’re mostly fine to do what you like so long as you give your complete and utter servitude to Wizeman (he’s ‘benevolent’ like that). 

- The weather surrounding Nightmare is always dreary. 8/10 days it will be raining or thundering, and the remaining two will usually be fairly cold, overcast and generally weather that is best suited for staying indoors. Some people say it’s a tactic Wizeman uses to keep his soldiers inside the castle at all times, where he can constantly monitor all activity. He has eyes all over the castle. Weather Maren are said to exist in the highest towers of the castle to keep this consistent, as directed by Wizeman, but nobody knows for certain. 

- Nightmaren created by Wizeman will all have a marking on their body that resembles an eye, this acts as a sort of 'brand' of loyalty to the god. Some bear theirs proudly, some are indifferent, and some hide them as much as possible, depending on their allegiance to the god. I sometimes like to think NiGHTS and Reala have these on their hands -NiGHTS on the backs, Reala’s on the palms. NiGHTS has taken a lot of measures to hide these markings as they make them feel sick.

- That being said, not all Nightmaren are created by Wizeman! Some dreamers who become trapped in the Night Dimension will slowly convert into a dream being, just like it's said Wizeman once did. Wizeman however, refusing to allow another to gain the same amount of power he managed to attain, usually locks them into a Nightmaren form before they can do anything of their on free will. These Nightmaren will be virtually the same in all capacities as created Nightmaren.

- If you adopt the "horns under their hats" idea, the reason you never see a Nightmaren without their hat on is because it's considered indecent to their culture. To be without your hat with your horns exposed is an indirect act of insubordination to Wizeman. And Wizeman will crack down hard on this rule, it’s basically a mandatory uniform if you’re out in the public eye. 

- Nightmare is actually quite advanced in medical and science areas! They’re especially prolific in the use of Ideya for healing. Ideya can promote different types of regeneration in Nightmaren, often referred to as “Ideya Therapy”. White for healing the soul, Green for physical injuries, Yellow for emotional healing, Blue for mental healing, and Red for a little bit of everything (which is the most powerful of all, and why it’s always in such finite supply). Ideya Therapy isn’t a cure all, but it can significantly soothe those aspects. Some say various medicines in Nightmare usually have a core of an Ideya (usually grinded into a powder or a liquid) as the main key ingredient.

- While existing in Nightmare, A Nightmaren doesn’t need to eat or drink if they choose not to. Wizeman’s power constantly flows through the castle and is naturally healing to them, and will keep them alive without the need of outside influence on their bodies (perhaps another reason for Nightmaren to feel like they have to hang around and not entertain ideas of defecting from the cause). Eating and drinking still happens, and it’s more a cultural thing! It strengthens bonds between individuals or groups. 

[bookandcover]

[Note: This post was primarily written in August/September 2020.]

This book was recently recommended to me by friends, and I read it in three days. I was immediately drawn into the energy and structure of the book, with its genre-defying blend of personal memoir and academic research, and I found it difficult to put down. I also appreciate seeing Iowa City through Machado’s eyes (her appearing housemates like familiar characters), as the events of the book occur during Machado’s years in the MFA program. There’s a thrill to this novel (echoing the horror genre Machado loves), but also a deep introspection—each short section of the book reads more like a prose poem than any other genre (packed with imagery, carefully craft syntax, and moments of parallelism and thematic resonance through repetition and reference). Many of the short sections made me pause, stopping to re-read and to process, but they also catapulted me into the next section, pulling me forward less through a drive to follow plot than through a need to trace themes and draw connections.

The concept of this book is inherently both clever and necessary. Machado uses tropes (literary, artistic, historical) to reframe and re-examine her experiences in the Dream House (a physical symbol she uses to encapsulate her time/identity while in an abusive relationship). The different tropes Machado draws on range in type from highly intellectual to brimming with pop culture relevance. As a young(?), literary reader, I enjoyed this a lot. It felt like I was repeatedly contextualizing Machado’s experiences within frameworks I relate to. Although, admittedly, I didn’t relate to each and every one, there were still so many frameworks that “rang true” to me. Machado’s work comes out of a highly-researched, academic space as well (blending this with the deeply felt, personal and passionate aspects of her experience), and I found myself Googling more words and concepts than I normally do when I’m reading. The framework/project of this memoir did, for me, one the things I attribute to the strongest writing: using intellectual framing not as an exercise in intellectualism, but as a necessary tool, a stopgap measure at the place where language fails. I generally recoil from books that I see as using cleverness (tools, structures) that exist because they are clever, because they show off and flex the writer’s intellect and craft skills. If these tools are not justified—by the content, by the real emotional space they create—I’m inclined to dismiss them as posturing. You can be the cleverest person in the world, but if you’re being clever for the sake of being clever, that is a thin, temporary success—glittery, eye-catching, and, ultimately, vapid.

Machado’s framework/project, on the other hand, is born of necessity—of the real, emotional need to try to understand and express the impossible to understand or express. By approaching her topic again and again through these different academic and popular lenses, she recreates the experience of furious problem-solving and unrest, repeated attempts to solve a problem with every tool able to her, and repeated failures. She, herself, explicitly addresses this within the book, characterizing the experience of abuse as something the exists beyond language, beyond attempts to communicate it. I was particularly moved by her description of Dream House as Half Credit, in which she explained the technique she’d learned as a young student of writing down everything she knew that was relevant to a problem on a test when she did not know the correct, exact answer. This book is that kind of attempt, an attempt to catalogue and to circle around, to get repeatedly close to capturing the truth, while acknowledging that this kind of truth must escape her. “Let it never be said that I didn’t try,” Machado writes.

In addition to this book’s framework/project being a genuine attempt to capture the impossible-to-capture, it also feels like the real instinct of someone who is trying to understand themselves in the face of something that they could never imagine would happen to them. When faced with the fact that she endured and accepted her abuse over a significant period of time, Machado is baffled. So many of us must think to ourselves, when reading or hearing about abuse, “I would have walked away if this were my relationship” and Machado, too, had thought this. And yet, in the real situation, she didn’t. And how can she understand this? How can she show us, her readers, that we do not fully understand abuse if we do not acknowledge that we’re changed utterly while within it and that all our promises to and assumptions about ourselves become void? By going through the frameworks and tropes that Machado knows and loves—from literature, to philosophy, to film, to popular culture—that have shaped her and her thinking, she is trying to understand “the dream house” within other frameworks that she can hold onto, frameworks that make sense and that do not sink like quick sand.

Another dimension in which the experience of Machado’s abuse resists her attempts at comprehension and explanation is the absence of other writing on the subject. This is one of the central projects of the book: to collect the existing literature on domestic abuse within female-female partnerships and organize that information into one volume. Machado is repeatedly baffled by how limited this information is, and by the stereotyping and assumptions that override important accounts of abuse. She addresses the rampant idealization of female-female relationships, often prevalent within the queer community, that uphold female-centric spaces as safe ones, that categorize abuse as a male-on-female issue. Our stereotype of abuse is male-on-female for many reasons tied to a long history of systematic sexism and the very real dangers of domestic abuse perpetuated by men and targeting their wives and girlfriends. This stereotype is far from the full picture, but it’s somehow a stereotype so loud that it drowns out other types of abuse. Our image of the abuser and our image of the abused—both are firm and clear in our minds. And, so, when the people involved do not fit these pre-made images, abuse is harder to spot and harder to understand. This stereotype overlooks the overwhelming aspects of abuse that are psychological and focuses on the physical: surely a larger/stronger man is abusing a smaller/weaker woman. Surely two women, both loving/delicate/gentle (and all the strange, sexist things we (through deeply-ingrained systemic sexism) assume women to be), cannot be experiencing domestic abuse within their relationship.

There are many positive and loving female-female relationships. There are probably some (true and valid) reasons these utopian stereotypes around female-female relationships exist. There are reasons why idealization of these relationships would continue within the queer community, uplifting relationships that have not been given sufficient representation and that have been judged and condemned historically and still are by many today. But the silence around this topic, like so many silences, is harmful, as Machado experiences. Without resources, without references, with her own assumptions about female-female relationships as a bisexual woman, Machado struggles to understand and later to explain the abuse she experiences. This book also holds onto the project of raising awareness, of revealing both the personal experiences of one woman and the larger social context of female-on-female abuse, and hopefully this is a book that could help other women facing similar situations. The happy ending of Machado’s story is certainly alive with hope, although of a crazy, boundless kind—in a “truth is stranger than fiction” plot twist that had me gasping aloud in disbelief, Machado winds up very happily married to Val, the woman who her abusive ex also dated (the two met through the abusive “woman in the dream house”). While Machado never strays into moralizing or advising, her book is a powerful act of self-catharsis...and in vulnerability offers comfort to others. 

[hereliesbitches--me]

Full name:  Toruga ( Winchester ) Nicknamed:  The Good Doctor, Father, Doc, Purple Pimp

Gender: Male Species: Demon Age: Immortal, appears to be in his late 30s, early 40s Sexuality: If its a shade of royal purple, its within that field of interest. Otherwise, he couldnt care less Nationality: Travels about, German based design. Dude is a demon imitating human design City or town of birth: The Enigma , The realm of Neikan and the Emotions Currently lives: Moves where there is work, primarily between Europe and the United States, where is assets are located Languages spoken: English, Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, Japanese, variations of the chinese dialect (fluent in Mandarin) , Hindi -- basically a workable understanding of many mainstream languages of varying countries. He’s old, he’s been around, and he is able to retain and learn easily Native language: prefers English and German Accent/diction: Speaks with refined annunciation with his English, but in a more relaxed state he has a slight German accent. Relationship Status: A widower still obsessed with his monsters and his creator but she just wont see him in such a way rip the man

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Height: 6’6 Weight: 160 pounds in human form, his dark form varies in weight Figure/build: Tall, stocky built. His muscle is primarily in his arms, legs, and chest, with a faintly noticeable gut (lowkey dad bod) Hair color: Black, peppered with grey strands Hairstyle: keeps it medium length but professional, Eye color:  A deep orange Skin/fur colour: His skin is a sandy beige complexion littered by dark discolored scars. Having tiger features, he has inverted colors with black fur and white stripes. Tattoos: Neikan’s branding is on his left inner forearm. Tends to stroke it absentmindedly  Scars/distinguishing marks: Toruga is littered by minor discolored scars all over his arms and chest, but his iconic scar is the 3 clawed slashing going down his face. Preferred style of clothing: In a button up collared shirt and black dress pants, coupled with his lap coat, He never really goes anywhere without his labcoat. He has no real sense of.. Dressing casual. If not his lab coat, he still wears a kind of trenchcoat in some way. And suspenders for a touch of extra class

HEALTH

Bad Habits: -Cant form real human connection - sees everything as object variables to dissect ,explore, and use for experimentation. - Regularly abuses the fuck out of the other negatives because they are inferior idiots - Sociopathic murderer (“for Science”). -Obsessed with Neikan, the demon who created him, and will turn on anyone in her defense, friend or foe. -Views any personal connection to a person like having a pet you're fond for, but nothing is above Neikan. -Stress smoker.

Addictions: -Sexually infatuated by the color purple, - Takes Sadistic pleasure in watching the bold break down, - Gets off on taking control and causing pain in the act of intimacy.

PERSONALITY

Personality: Toruga is a deceptive man by nature, a demon conjured up and hand made by Neikan herself, inspired by Josef Mengele which she had seen in the lives of one of her vessels. Being based on the mad doctor, Toruga himself is brilliant in the fields of genetics, biology, and the anatomy of anything he can get his hands on. Despite the basis, Toruga is simply a being that never was a child, thus has formed a persona that imitates human emotion and relations to get his way. He doesn't feel true connection, he doesn't feel empathy, sympathy, or guilt for what he does, as long as it feeds into the goal of appeasing his mistress and furthering her goals. Which makes lying and altering his persona to the liking of his associates quite easy. Toruga presents himself like a fatherly figure -- even tempered, soft but confidently spoken, and constantly utilizing praise and interest in another when he’s looking to make nice. He’s a master of manipulation and will not hesitate to research a person’s history, or gauge a weakness from conversation alone, and exploit it if it makes them more agreeable or himself more appealing.   He doesnt respond to insults or physical attacks,  not a single thing in the world bothers him, save for the failure of the negatives to complete a task, or if the insult is directed at his mistress. Or if it is impeding his work, because that would make him unappealing to Neikan. Only then will he react. And he will do so swiftly and violently to make his point known. He is not afraid of death threats, or to be beaten or dismembered or tortured, because of his inability to die (Thanks to his connection to Neikan. For as long as she lives, he can) He finds those sorts of threats mildly amusing, because he has been here for centuries, and he will continue to be well after humanity is nothing more than bones and Ash beneath their feet. His personality can swivel on a dime, but overall he is a fairly pleasant person to interact and talk with. He;s had plenty of time to master human expression.  Toruga also tends to be very physical when he shows interest, with subtle touches, unbroken eye contact, and closeness. Its simply the spider tossing the silk of his webs to capture the poor fly that has no idea the fate to come. He can be incredibly jealous and spiteful when it comes to what diverts the attention of his mistress

Strengths: Determined, Even tempered, charming personality. Incredibly intelligent and gifted with holding conversations. A great asset if you need a doctor to work on any sort of viral or bacterial bioweapon, or if ya need a guy that likes to alter and play with mortal genetics. His inability to stay permanently dead makes him quite the threat in theory, and with that demonic origin he does have supernatural strength compared to the average mortal. He has no real blood, just inky mass of dark matter that makes up his form and drips in imitation blood.

Weaknesses: Neikan. Divine weaponry and magic also hurt like a bitch and would require he directly return to neikan to get fixed up.

Fears/phobias: Failing Neikan to the point she abandons him or makes another negative to replace him.

Favourite color:

P U R P L E 

Did I say purple?  Very important to know. And any shade that compliments it.

Hobbies: - Kidnapping subjects indiscriminately based on their viability and their chance of being pursued, disfiguring them, wiping their memory, and then using them as test subjects for his viral bioweapon projects. - Making handmade clothing for his test subject children. He’s quite the skilled tailor. He especially loves dressing up his daughter before she ran away - Traveling about to meet with and work closely with assorted allies towards an end goal of toppling human society and shifting power - Taking out his anger and frustration on the negatives because they dont die - Talking to his dead husband he keeps perfectly preserved in a case down in his lab

Theme Song: - “Pet” by perfect circle - “Trust me” from the Devil’s Carnival

SKILLS

Talents/skills: - Tailoring clothing of all materials - Extensive knowledge of the medical field - skilled virologist and biochemist - Manipulative - Skillful liar

Education: Multiple lifetimes of trial and error through multiple dimensions and a variety of different levels of technology he’s explored with. Lacking any formal training, being an extension of his mistress means he also inherits the knowledge of her vessels. Coupled with his own experimentation and studied through multiple worlds.

Abilities: Being a demon made of dark matter means he’s endowed with an assortment of natural abilities, however unlike the more well known hell spawn demons, the negatives and their abilities from Neikan are typically only physical based.  Those abilities include: - Enhanced Strength and Endurance (built up after years of handling monsters, and the lack of human limitations/strains on the body) - Complete Regeneration (as long as the weapon is not enchanted or by divine means) - Minor shapeshifting, limited to his true forms. From human, to the black mass in the shape of a man, to a beastial tiger form - A photographic and auditory memory that retains just about any information he finds worthy of withholding. It also allows him to learn any language with ease after being exposed to it for a period of time

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FOES

Personal history: Created around the time period of Pride’s((The Vessel) lifetime, 6 vessels prior to Nikki, Toruga was formed at first out of curious reasons and the need for a friend, but her intent with him became malicious shortly after her grief in the following life which split her soul into two halves. Left with nothing but malice and hatred for humanity, with the worst aspect of her being, Neikan utilized all her negativity to create a figure that would help speed up the process of ending the lives of the future vessels. Toruga was based on Josef Mengele, which Neikan had been exposed to as a child through the eyes of her second vessel, Hate. The demon was never a child, born as a perfectly capable adult to keep this young grieving woman company, it was at the start of his existence which paved the way to his obsessive love for his Creator. Toruga was her friend, her pet project that she left responsible with overseeing any of her new creations were given a job and set in order. While not active at first, Toruga observed humanity from the distance and learned the art of imitating them perfectly to blend in and manipulate what he understood. He studied their texts, he studied their culture, the array of species, their anatomies, their science and their technologies, absorbed it all until he could put it to use at the very end. Toruga is in love with his mistress, but with her fixation on her vengeance and the delicate heartbreak, she refuses to see him in such a way. Which, in turns, drives his unyielding determination to please her to make her see him. Coming to the existence of the last vessel, Nikki, things got complicated. Neikan assigned him a task to make a malleable beast that can infiltrate, a living machine to be the wolf in sheep's clothing, so when the last life became known, this being would be sent to kill it. Unfortunately for them, that bio weapon became the last life. Once inheriting Neikan and all the previous lives, any of the previous wiring he had instilled in the fetus were completely wiped away with the new presence of thought and free will -- the result, which would send Toruga on a wild chase to retrieve his experiment , all the way back to Earth. He spends years having to establish bases and connections on earth, all while scouring for his little project, taking well over 10 years before finally finding her. When he eventually does kidnap her and attempt to reset her mentally, Nikki retaliates and flees, leaving him with the iconic face scar he has now, but his project was now an unstable mess.  

Toruga is a man who juggles many projects at once. Despite a singular failure, he is always looking to make improvements, which would have eventually led to the creation of Malakaid as a failsafe to getting rid of Nikki, then immediately lost after yet another raid by Rosie and the authorities. But there is no stopping, there is always alternatives to getting what he wants. His web is vast, his determination and will unyielding. The world will fall to his mistress, one way or another. As of now, Toruga works closely with a variety of associates, primarily the Branches of Virtues because of their plentiful assets, and acts as a kind of apostle for Neikan to gain more souls willing to join their cause. His main project is a viral mutagen called the Uxoru virus, and helping work towards a modified super soldier serum made from Angel’s blood.

Parents names: Neikan Shadou (Sheila Lunarcrest)

Siblings: The other negatives, including John, Sebura, Kura, and Joku. By technicality, anyone made by Neikan is a kind of sibling.

Relationship with siblings: Toruga is the head honcho of the show, responsible for directing and punishing the others for their failures. Their stupidity and clumsiness prove to be incredibly irritating to him, and because they cant die he has no hesitation in brutally maiming and abusing them for it. They all have a bitterness, but a respectful fear towards him, and he knows it well. None of them are his equal, for he was the first, and he intends to keep it that way.

Partner/Spouse: -Vermont (Former husband, now deceased. Murdered mistakenly by Toruga himself after Vermont questioned Neikan’s intentions and plans. )

Children:

- Nikki Ai (His first experiment, artificially created and planted within a mother. She has no recollection of him as her creator, but rather this monster that hunts her down. She never came back as she was suppose to, and thus is a nuisance he needs dead)

- Malakaid (The second improvement to Nikki’s design , made from Nikki and Jacob’s dna, spliced with his own. Malakaid was stolen as a baby by Rosie and imprinted on her. Because of this, he will not go back to Toruga.)

( From his relationship with Vermont)

- Veronica Winchester (Eldest daughter, ran away at 12 years old.)

- Toby Winchester ( A young boy, still living with him. He drags him around on his work trips when he’s able to. Because he witnessed his birth parent murdered as a toddler, Toby is practically a skittish mute of a boy that fears his father but will not dare leave the way his sister did.)

Enemies:

Basically got beef with everyone bcuz he probably fucked over your loved ones at some point and just doesn't recall it. He primarily has enemies with Rosie( A very personal vendetta) and the Angel Project, the Divine Calvary, and any enemies of the Branches of Virtues. He doesn’t try to make enemies but if people are gonna try to stop him from completing his work because its “unethical” and “Inhumane” then a bitch gonna go into the cage with the rest of the subjects. But he’s a hard man to hate because as long as you are blissfully ignorant, he seems like such a pleasant man to keep company with.

Associates:

- The Branches of Virtue

- Nathair Elerdand

- Neikan and the Negatives

Affiliated verse:

Tag: :The Good Doctor (Toruga):

- Iniquitous Essence (The info above)

- Pokeverse : Toruga is a scientist of the Aether foundation , working on a secret specialized project for Lusamine, to create a world where human and pokemon are one -- as halflings. He experiments using genetic information gathered from the ultra beast data, along with splicing human dna with that of Pokemon, varying from adults to unborn fetuses. Everyone of which failed (dying in a matter of months, if born. Dying and resulting in a stillbirth. Or death induced by the Human body rejecting the intrusive genetics and triggering a shut down response) until finally there was Rosie. He studied her for the entirety of her childhood, a secret success he dare not report until certain she would not die like the rest, only to be lost in a fire (as far as he knows) aimed at silencing her rowdy father.

Much to his dismay, Toruga continues his research on human genetics, milking the foundations of its assets to feed his curiosity, with no real loylty to anyone but himself. But those skulligans are a promising bunch of nobodies to utilize for testing. He’s on the hunt to get his pet project back

[recycledmovies]

‘Parasite’ shows the ugliness of Koreans dealing with their hierarchical society in very high detail. Unlike many other interpretations I’ve seen, I will not deal with the details and the mise en scene, but the overall story, characters and their roles. The details are stunning, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to look away from the main story to focus on the little things. Also, there are two dimensions from a macro and meso point of view that I think are more relevant than finding hidden foreshadows or symbols.

Please note that I am Korean and know enough about Korea to point out the flaws of our society and people, including myself. I know very well that Koreans hate being criticized (just as Gitaek shows signs of anger when Mr. Park points out that he has an weird smell), but the truth is the truth and nothing will improve if we cannot see ourselves objectively. So if you’re pissed at my interpretation because you are a proud Korean, think again about what good pride will do.

The Hierarchical Society

Hierarchy has always been part of Korean culture. But as the movie shows, hierarchy is not based on traditional values anymore but overridden completely by economic status. You can see this in the scene where the young pizza box collector speaks down to the Kims. Traditionally, speaking in this manner to people who are even a year older would be considered absolutely unacceptable. This scene sets the stage as a society where economic values have become the new standard for hierarchy. In reality, money justifies everything in Korea and I’m sure it’s the same in a lot of places around the world. Basic ethics and philosophy is forgotten, or something only the naïve remembers anymore.

Although the Parks have higher economic status, a number of scenes demonstrate that in essence, they are also just human beings and have the same flaws as anyone else. Mr. Park and Yeon-gyo uses Gijeong’s underwear as prop during their role-play intercourse on the couch after criticizing the former driver for indecency and accusing him of drug abuse without any evidence whatsoever. Although the Parks are respectful towards the Kims, they still smell the difference. This is another trait of the Korean middle class. While they act like decent people in general, deep down, they still consider the Parks different. Koreans know very well that this is not a trait of the upper class, but more a trait of the middle class. We like to think that we are different from those that are of lower class in our hierarchy. We may act like we respect others, but deep down, the concept of hierarchy prevails. Even today, when two Koreans meet for the first time, questions go back and forth to subtly reveal the status in hierarchy of the two people. Sometimes this is age, sometimes social status and sometimes economic status, but we always establish the hierarchy. When a difference in status is found, the language that we use suddenly changes. The higher class can speak down and the lower class has to speak the polite version of Korean and show respect in almost every word, gesture and even posture.

Another fascinating feature of Koreans and our hierarchical society that also appears in Parasite is the fact that rather than the middle class cooperating with each other to make their lives better, individuals try to move up to the higher class by stepping on their fellow middle class people. The goal is always to make our own lives better by being better than others rather than making everything better. Choongsook demonstrates this when she finds out that Moon-gwang has been hiding her husband in the cellar. Immediately, Choongsook decides to side with the higher class family and fails to see that Moon-gwang’s family and her own would benefit from a partnership. An example in reality? Although most Koreans get outraged when owners of Korean conglomerates or their family members mistreat and deceive the public, most Koreans would do anything to get a job at Samsung, LG or Korean Air. No matter how inhumanely the upper class treats the lower classes, people will jump at any chance to join the higher class and look down on those that are considered lower once they get there, regardless of how many ethical or philosophical values they have to give up.

The dominance of competition in the Korean mentality is emphasized by the fact that both the Kims and the Parks had gone bankrupt from trying to run a franchise store of a ‘Taiwanese Castella’ chain. Even though the Kims hear that Moon-gwang’s family had gone through the same financial difficulties for the same reason, they fail to feel sympathy and only think about competing with those that can be considered their closest fellows. Sadly, another common characteristic among Koreans.

The Absence Of A Middle Class Family

The middle class is the essence of capitalism. The large portion of middle class sets the norm in most modern societies and creates a barrier for the upper class preventing upheavals from inequality. But there is not middle class character in the movie that influences the plot. It’s hard to see this as accidental and for me it was the single most impressive aspect of the plot.

I have two explanations for this absence of the majority. First is that in a strictly hierarchical society, nobody feels like the middle class. Apart from very close friends, everyone else is either in a higher class or a lower class than myself. In one on one interaction with other I’m either the upper class or the lower class. When two Koreans meet for the first time, we ask questions that can lead to answers which give clues to who is higher in the hierarchy. Usually age, social status or financial status is asked indirectly to establish the hierarchy. Once it is established, it dictates the language, gestures and even postures of the two people. Even if one person is a couple of months older than the other, the hierarchy unfolds.

Another reason I think the middle class was left out was because the majority of the audience would be middle class Koreans and Koreans are terrible at taking criticism. If the plot had a middle class family, most of the audience would related themselves to that family. And if the movie showed any criticism towards them, it would instantly become personal to the audience and Bong would have had a hard time both financially and reputation wise.

The Deranged Husband

Moon-gwang’s husband acts like a crazy person and shows unconditional respect towards Mr. Park, who doesn’t even know that Moon-gwang’s husband exists. But is this really that weird for Koreans? Most Koreans work for tycoons that brainwash their employees to show unconditional obedience while not even knowing their names. We arrive at our desks before our superiors do and leave after our superiors leave even if we have nothing to do at our desks and have to kill time watching Youtube videos. Can we really say that Moon-gwang’s husband is that much different from the average Korean? And just like Moon-gwang’s husband, the middle class does nothing about being forced to show fake respect everyday. We actually encourage it by investing years of studies to pass the company employment exams. Yes. Korean companies have exams because there are so many people trying to become employees. One of them is called SSAT. Guess what the first ‘S’ stands for?

Moon-gwang goes on further by impersonating the North Korean national news caster. The North Korean news caster is a symbol of manipulation and oppression for South Koreans. Are South Koreans really in the position to think that North Korea has extreme issues and we are free from oppression and manipulation?

The Hero

Like in reality, there are always exceptions. The exception in this movie? Gitaek. Gitaek is the only character in the movie that acts against the hierarchical system for values that are innate to humans. As a result, he is forced down into the cellar that Moon-gwang’s deranged husband once lived. This also directly reflects the Korean society where being different is unacceptable. Maybe reality is not as severe as in the movie, but going against popular sentiment brings similar consequences. I remember growing up, people who would had tanned skin were called ‘tanning jok,’ meaning ‘tanning tribe.’ During the cryptocurrency boom, people traded cryptocurrency were called ‘coin choong,’ meaning ‘coin vermin’. Such framing isolates people who show any difference from the majority, regardless of whether the difference is positive or negative. Of course, heroes, who act against the wrong when others don’t, are also often isolated by the majority. Gitaek, the hero of the lower class who couldn’t stay put when Mr. Park showed no concern for other people’s lives than that of his son, ends up in the place where a deranged man once lived. The peer pressure to act the same way that others do in Korea is so strong that they can no longer tell the difference between a deranged person and a hero but can only regard them as misfits.

Socially Acceptable Deception

Although the title ‘Parasite’ has a negative vibe, it must be noted that no character in the film ever shows signs of excessive greed or bad intentions. People might debate that the Kims were greedy, but in reality, lying and pretending is everyday life for average Koreans. It is especially considered acceptable when it’s done for profit. Hell, it’s usually considered clever and smart. You’d get a pat on the back if you were working in Korean company and you showed better performance by deceiving others. The lies can be justified further in the movie considering that the Kims were desperate in terms of finances and they had to deceive in order to survive. Giwoo shows no signs of remorse about deceiving the Parks and justifies his lies by saying that he will enter university once he gets his funds together. Things a lot worse than small lies are justified everyday in reality and this is hardly considered a problem among people that have not been educated properly in ethics or philosophy. Do it long enough, and it becomes a way of life.

When Philosophers Are Considered Failures

There are a lot of interpretations about the rock and what it symbolizes. Overall, the rock was the boundary between cleverness and wisdom. Kiwoo, who had the strongest ties to the rock, was no doubt an intelligent character. He was clever enough to deceive the Parks and actually demonstrated knowledge about teaching high school students. But his obsession over the rock implies the boundaries of his intelligence. The power of the rock is a myth and the rock came to Kiwoo with his new job as a tutor. The reason Kiwoo’s friend came over at the beginning of the movie, was to offer him a job. While doing so, he brought the rock as a gift. But as the story progresses, Kiwoo goes on to believe that the rock brought him the new job and good fortune to the whole family. Such myths are still common in Korean culture and often lead to irrational decisions though not as extreme as the case in the movie. A lot of Koreans still read interpretations about dreams everyday and visit fortune tellers before big events such as marriage, buying an apartment, moving jobs etc. The rock is the hope and last resort that Giwoo chose without any logical reasoning.

When Giwoo first meets Dahye, he captures both Dahye and Yeon-gyo’s attention by saying “I don’t care whether the answer to question 24 is right or wrong. In reality, it’s the attitude that’s important.” It’s a great motivational speech, but at the same time, it shows that Giwoo is focused more on handling situations than the basic truth behind the situations.

The study that focuses on the latent truth is philosophy. In Korea, majoring in philosophy is considered a huge failure. Even if you study philosophy in the most prestigious Seoul National University, people laugh and your degree is a mockery. Giwoo’s attachment to the rock, his short term plans and failure to tend to the truth mimics such aspect of Koreans. Without philosophy, we focus on the wrong things. We live in cramped apartments that cost close to a million U.S. dollars and buy exotic cars to show off. A lot of us focus on the top portion of Maslow’s triangle while sacrificing the bottom portions. In other words, we make our lives better by creating fundamental problems. It’s not just Giwoo.

Mr. Park’s ‘Line’

Mr. Park complains about Gitaek’s smell, but he doesn’t fire him for the fact that Gitaek doesn’t cross the ‘line’ that is so important to Mr. Park. From the moment Mr. Park mentions the ‘line’, the line becomes a big deal not only for Mr. Park, but also for the audience as this line has the potential of becoming the tipping point of a major conflict among characters. This mysterious line becomes so important that the audience forget about the basic moral values or philosophical lines of human society and only focus on trying to understand Mr. Park’s line and whether Gitaek crosses it or not. Ironically, it is Mr. Park that crosses the more important line of basic human ethics at the climax of the story. He reveals that he has no respect for human life other than that of his own family when faced with dramatic situations in reality. In spite of having two people in his garden with critical stab wounds, Mr. Park is only worried about his son who had passed out and manages to show disgust towards Moon-gwang’s husband’s smell rather than being worried about his life. Finally it is Gitaek that snaps, not Mr. Park.

“Your Plan Can’t Fail If You Have No Plan”

This is the life philosophy of Gitaek. I’ve seen reviews saying that this is the basic mentality of losers in society. But is it? How many middle class Koreans have made plans themselves that actually worked out? We show hatred towards the owners of Samsung, Hyundai and all those Jaebols, but most of the middle class try so hard to work for them and become a part of their establishments. Was that the plan so many middle class people had that worked out so well? How many Koreans you know currently work at their dream jobs? Gitaeks philosophy isn’t a sign of his inability. It’s his observation of life as a lower class citizen in a hierarchical society. When absolute powers above us make all of the decisions, your plans often get swept away and you are forced to adapt to whatever those higher class people have in store. In other words, Gitaek knows that ‘plans’ of the powerless are merely dreams in a hierarchical society.

Throughout the movie we laugh at the ridiculous plans that Giwoo makes. But in the end, he comes up with a plan to save his father that makes more sense. But how do we feel about that one? It feels closer to a dream than a plan. This is what plans of the powerless look like. Either short sighted plots or unattainable dreams.

So Who Is The Parasite?

Everyone and no one. All three families leech on another family. Moon-gwang and her husband had been leeching on the Parks while traumatizing Dasong. The Kims leeched on anyone with money. And the Parks leeched on the lower class. Despite the whole family working for the Parks, the Kims couldn’t even afford a motel when their underground apartment got flooded. Moon-gwang and her husband couldn’t afford a home either and had debt problems.

More importantly, both the Kims and the Parks scattered like cockroaches when the light switched on and people appeared. The Kims scattered from the Parks’ house when the Parks returned early from their failed camping trip. The Parks and their wealthy friends scattered when the true face of the capitalist hierarchical society appeared in their garden. The Parks had also been hiding in their dens while leeching on the lower class and accumulating wealth. But when the consequences unfold and real people of the society appear, all they can do is run.

When Koreans get tired of these conflicts among one another, we use the term ‘Hell Chosun.’ It’s a word that represents how Koreans leech and step on one another to get ahead of any and all kind of competition. Maybe this is the real parasite in our minds. It eats away at our rational minds and guides us towards irrational decisions. In the end, Mr. Park, Moon-gwang, her husband and Gijung lose their lives, Giwoo gets impaired and Gitaek has to live like an actual cockroach.

  I’m sure there are other interpretations that have different views. I especially found the detail oriented explanations very interesting since by myself, I tend to focus harder on the forest rather than the trees. It would be fascinating to see how people from other cultures interpret the movie as well and whether other hierarchical societies have the same problems. Let me know what you think of my perspective and I hope I’ll soon come across another movie that I can’t resist writing about.

[spirit-of-the-void]

Ebony and Ivory (V x Reader Fanfic) Chapter 31

Author’s notes: I’m so sorry this came out so late, I’ve had a lot of stressful things going on and I’ve been tired af

Chapter 31

(Your POV)

Sunlight was streaming through the open windows of your room, draping you in pillars of golden rays.

It had to be around eight o’clock. You could hear the children just waking up on their end of the house, complaining loudly only to be hushed by Kyrie in their daily trip to eat breakfast. She tried to keep them in a cycle, a pattern of familiarity to get them easily through the day. You did not stir, content to stay in bed for a little while longer at least. It was warm, peaceful. There was a breeze coming off the ocean, making the white curtains of your room drift and sway over your form like gentle, caressing fingers. When was the last time you had woken up before the alarm? You could not recall, but you took this time to relax and savor how comfortable it was, face pressed to the pillow underneath it and blanket tangled around your bare legs.

Shadow was stretched out along your back, providing an extra layer of warmth with their nose pressed to your hair. You could feel faint breath fanning you from their snout, paws twitching with whatever they dreampt of. They always slept in bed with you like this, always. It had grown into such a needed routine, you weren’t sure if you could ever exist without it. Griffon was there as well, curled up in a patch of sun near the window when you opened your eyes. It was a gentle brightness that awaited you, one hand instinctively reaching up to rub the sleep out of your tired gaze. The sunlight made his sapphire feathers glow in a pretty, surreal way.

Peaceful. You decided that much at least, lying there with your eyes half closed and tasting the salty air with each breath. Even with the passing months, you still hadn’t quite gotten used to how lovely it truly was. These moments of peace in the morning were a far cry from the cold, dark corners of the Void, and that was a strange adjustment to make. You decided you far preferred the warmth, and clung to it for as long as the morning would allow. It gave you time to reflect, to think, and to gather your thoughts before the day.

A lot had happened since returning from the Qliphoth.

You had set about making yourself busy, aiding Kyrie in the orphanage and balancing that with helping Nero fight demons. Business was booming now that the portal had been closed, leftover demon nests from the calamity spreading all over the city and surrounding areas. You didn’t mind, fighting the creatures was a cake walk. And it meant more funds for Nero and Kyrie’s household, which was needed to help take care of four children. You also set about using your Void abilities to aid the people of Fortuna, setting about odd jobs and favors to bring in extra food and supplies. A lot of structural damage had occurred since the collapsing of a giant statue of Sparda, so some buildings still needed repair.

It was easy to help Nero with fixing things up, mixing his strength and your ability to conjure Void crystal to weave through the cracking foundations of damaged buildings. The material was strong, and close to unbreakable by normal means. Not to mention it made for beautiful patterns throughout homes, bringing in people from the outside to see. The only complaint heard about the crystal was that it was cold to the touch, bringing chill to homes that had to use it. But on the hottest days on the ocean, those complaints didn’t come about anymore. You were just lucky no one could hear the Void whispers from the crystals like you could.

All in all, things had gotten better. Fortuna was now mingling with other cities and cultures. People were bouncing back from the tragedy brought about by the Order of the Sword, and the orphanage was now running steady without Nero and Kyrie having to pinch pennies. You rarely kept any money, because honestly what did you need to buy? The kindhearted woman insisted on making you clothes, and anything she didn’t make you conjured from the Void itself. Food was always bought and given to the household, and you were generally given items from the people of Fortuna more often than not. Like figurines you kept on your desk, a beautiful lamp that illuminated the room in a pink glow, and tapestries to hang on the wall.

The only thing you had saved up and then bought was a set of cell phones from the town on the coast where the ferry picked you up. The communication through payphones was unacceptable once you discovered that the technology existed in this dimension as well, so you set about working on that once everything at the orphanage was squared away.

It took about a month to get together funds with the help of Trish and Lady--they wanted a better means to communicate with you and Nero as well. After one particularly large job defending a concert from a demon attack, you had enough to cut a deal with a shop near the edge of Redgrave and promptly bought a phone for yourself, Nero, Nico, and Kyrie. Your used your Void abilities to connect the phones without cell service, so that wasn’t an extra fund to worry about. It was promptly given to them as a gift after three months of staying together, making Kyrie flustered and surprised and Nico downright jazzed. As for Nero, he was already guessing you had plans to do such a thing after loudly complaining about it.

Regardless.

You reached out tiredly to grab the phone from your windowsill, turning off the alarm and squinting at the time on the screen. You were right in your assumption, it was already past 8 o’clock in the morning. You let out a light sigh, Setting the phone back where you found it in rolling over so you were spooning Shadow’s extended form. Warm, so warm. You wrapped your arms around their dark fur, snuggling in against their neck and counting the seconds that passed by. Heartbeat after heartbeat. Shadow gave only a light grunt to indicate you had even slightly disturbed their slumber, but that was about it.

It was in moments like these that you knew that those thoughts would come back, the ones about the dark-haired poet and his silver-haired true form—all those memories shared with him, and how the had affected you in the passing months. You closed your eyes, still about to see every aspect of V’s face in your head. His high cheekbones, charming smile, those jade eyes staring into yours like you were the world. You missed him with a fierceness that had not faded, you knew that. But four months had given time to think, to grieve and cry for what was lost and pick yourself off the ground.

Had you moved on? You wanted to say yes, but he was still there in your thoughts . And so was the deep, aching hole in your heart he left behind.

You thought you would stop missing him at some point, stop craving his warm voice, his gentle touches, the way he smiled and held your hand. But those thoughts remained, heavy and filling you with longing. Only now...you tried to teach yourself to see the good in them. These were happy memories, so you tried to focus on the joy they caused instead of the pain. How lucky you were, to get the chance of experiencing a love like that in your life. One so whole and heartbreakingly real, one that eclipsed everything else and brought so much joy that you had grown addicted to it. And if an equal part of sadness and pain had come attached to it, then that was a solid price to pay.

I will not see this love as a burden, not again.

You sighed softly again, curling up closer to the mighty cat and squeezing your eyes shut tighter. Too much thought, time to come back to reality for a bit. The depth of emotion you felt was starting to awaken the familiars, now attuned to your thought process and quick to jump in and help when you needed it.

Griffon stirred, feathers rippling in the shimmer caused by the sun and his maw opening in a light yawn. You opened your eyes part-way to look at him, catching his golden gaze right as he turned to stare in your direction.

“Don’t you know how to sleep in?” He complained tiredly, shaking out his feathers with a light trill, “Go back to sleep and shut off the dumb brain of yours, toots.”

You smiled--he was trying to sound harsh, but there was a teasing air to the way he spoke, his connection to you giving off a light sense of concern and caring. There was no hiding things from you now, that was for certain.

“Mmmm…” You murmured in response, stretching out and wincing when your joints popped a bit. The motion jostled Shadow enough to wake them, the cat’s jaws opening in a large, exaggerated yawn as well, “Can’t...gotta help Kyrie out today. The festival in the town square starts at ten, have to get the kids ready.”

That made the bird groan, rolling onto his back with his talons tucked against his underbelly as he whined pitifully, “So early? Fuck, why can’t you just take them out at like three or four?”

Several reasons. One being that there would be numerous performances occurring throughout the day for the festival itself, and another being that the kids were so excited you couldn’t image forcing them to wait that long.

“Because this is the first festival that allows outsiders in,” You settled on the easiest explanation as you yawned, dragging yourself into a sitting position and scratching him under the chin. He melted immediately, body going limp and a pleased trill leaving his beak. Typical, “Don’t want the kids to miss anything.”

Besides, you doubted there was sleep to be found after going back through the memories of you and V. So you dragged yourself out of bed, sitting on the edge to stretch more and feel the warmth of the sun on your back. Those black tattoos greeted your eyes when you lowered your arms, hands resting in your lap and hair draped around your face. How strange to think that you had already gotten used to them, but they still felt like they belonged to V. You flexed your fingers, letting out a slow breath and gathering yourself a bit. There was so much to be done, to move on from, and you liked to think that it was going well enough. The sorrow was still there, but you were able to handle it a lot better.

That didn’t mean there weren’t still nights when it overtook you, though. There had been many an evening that ended with you falling asleep with tears drying on your cheeks.

Shadow curled around your back, sensing the waxing and waning thoughts of sorrow and trying to provide comfort. Warm, they were always so warm when they leaned against you and purred like that. Griffon got in on it too, the sound of his wings flapping the only signal before he perched on your shoulders as always.

“You still miss him, huh?” Griffon muttered in your ear, shaking out his feathers and sounding both sad and exasperated, “Even after four months? That shit doesn’t really fade away, even after all that he did.”

You smiled sadly, putting a hand to the side of his head and stroking the plumage there, “It’s never that easy, I’m afraid. It’s okay, though...I’m just happy I got a chance to even love him at all--it lead me to you guys, to where I am now. And that’s important to me.”

You could feel he was pleased at your words, that toxic mindset you carried for so long slowly but surely fading away. It took a lot of reminding, self-teaching and the help of everyone to even start shaking it. Like weights attached to your ankles for so long, shackles finally removed one by one. Not entirely gone yet, but it was a process helped further by having the three familiars there to check your thoughts. Griffon remained vocal as always, loudly nosing in before your brain could even fully form the ideas you had before. And in the end...you did feel better from their actions, more alive and less disconnected from yourself.

You smiled, standing up from the bed and carrying Griffon with you to the bathroom so you could brush your teeth. Downstairs the children were chattering loudly as they finished breakfast, mingling with Kyrie’s soft-spoken tones. Was Nero up yet? Couldn’t be sure, he wasn't  a morning person. Plus you three had been out late on a demon hunting mission, difference being you enjoyed getting up early despite all of that.

You slipped into the blue bathroom, tile under your feet cool and soothing. In the mirror was your reflection, making you take brief pause to examine yourself--unlike before, it was starting to feel more and more like you every day. Not the stranger you didn’t recognize, not something that felt like a shell harboring your lonely, damaged soul. That smile, hair, face...that was you, wasn’t it? No longer pale after months of walking around in the sun with the others, skin a healthier color and a bit more tanned. You could see sleep lining your eyes, but no dark circles anymore and no cuts or bruises.

You looked...nice. Like a normal person.

“Lookin’ good, toots,” Griffon sensed your thought process, his eyes staring back at you in the mirror from his shoulder perch, “That bedhead does wonders for your face. Goin’ for the sexy, fresh outta bed look? You naughty girl.”

You rolled your eyes, pulling a brush out of a drawer and try and tame the messy locks, “I see you’re already in full misbehaving mode. Can’t it wait until after breakfast?”

Griffon scoffed, his tone full of mirth and eyes glinting in the mirror, “Absolutely not! Gotta get a head-start on my bullshit--early bird gets the worm as they say.” He snickered at his own bird joke, seeming quite pleased with himself all things considered.

You only fought rolling your eyes again, but there was definitely an unwilling smile trying to creep its way onto your face. Damn your sense of humor, it found his puns and jibes amusing and now he knew it without a doubt. The only other option was to ignore him, setting about your morning process of fixing your hair and then setting about on your teeth. Shadow crept into the bathroom while you started brushing, curling around you and resting their head on the sink. Sniffing the toothpaste, looking like they might take a chance at eating it when you weren’t looking. You hoped they wouldn’t try, but moved the toothpaste back to the cabinet just to be safe.

As you did so there was a commotion downstairs, a burst of laughing and screaming children heard over Nico hollering. What in the world was going on so early in the morning? You exchanged a glance with Griffon, turning with your toothbrush still in mouth to walk down the stairs and see what was going on. You didn’t even make it halfway down when Nico ran past, carrying two kids under her arms, one on her back and another hanging from her waist. You paused on the stairs, taking in the kids laughing, squealing faces of delight and Nico’s mischievous expression. Oh yes, there were definitely shenanigans afoot this early in the morning. The familiars summoned back to you a moment later, not wanting to get involved with the kids when they were already so excited.

You came down in just enough time to witness said spectacle as they came running past, the mechanic looking behind her and yelling as dramatically as she possibly could in that southern accent, “It’s got a mind of its own…!” before disappearing through the kitchen door.

What in the Void was she going on about? You blinked, slowly turning to watch a metal arm scooting its way across the floor after them, almost comically slow in its “pursuit” of the humans it was “chasing”. It looked like a variation of Sweet Surrender, but gutted recently and with different parts attached. The frankenstein-esque creation chugged its way over the hardwood, parts inside whirling painfully and clattering with each step it gained. This had the makings of one of Nico’s all-nighters written all over it, that was for certain. You sat down on the stairs, continuing to brush your teeth and eyes following the arm’s path as it scuttled along toward the kitchen door. Slowly.

This was a fairly average occurrence, but you were still grinning about it.

Kyrie came out of the front room on the opposite side in the next instant, beautiful hair drawn in a braid and looking as bright and lively as ever. There was worry in her expression for a moment, probably having heard all the loud noises in her morning task of watering the plants and coming to see if everyone was alright. No real disaster awaited her, of course. Just the typical antics caused by their favorite, frizzy haired artist. Kyrie paused, staring at the mechanical nightmare creeping along her floor until it grabbed a table leg, the little display table shaking and shuddering with its movements. Yeah, that expression pretty much summed up the whole situation. The exasperation, amusement, and confusion....You echoed it in kind, but there was far more of a smile on your face.

You grinned, popping the toothbrush from your mouth as you greeted her, “Morning, sunshine.”

Kyrie turned, smiling warmly once she realized you were there. She approached, sitting down next to you on the stairs and watching the spectacle as well, “Morning, Y/N. Am I to assume Nico released another one of her spawns this morning?”

“Spawn” was a good name for what that thing was rattling the table with vigor. You cleared your throat to avoid a laugh, which was growing harder and harder with the table shaking away.

“Yup,” You replied, popping the “p” very distinctly before going about brushing your teeth again, “Kids seem to be enjoying it.”

Kyrie giggled lightly, her shoulders brushing yours with the movement. She looked cute, as always, wearing a pretty, pale-pink blouse with a white, pleated skirt. An early bird for certain, already up and fully dressed for the day. Unlike you, still in tank top and shorts, fresh out of bed with a toothbrush in your mouth. Not that you’d ever catch Kyrie saying anything or comparing the two of you. Her stability was always welcome, energy and cheerfulness infectious. It brought your mood up several stages over the growing sadness thinking of V brought, like she somehow knew every morning that you needed it.

“They always do,” She smiled at the sound of the children laughing, yelling that they need to barricade the door from the evil waiting outside, “Nero will hear the commotion and come down soon to slay the beast, as always.”

“I could always do it,” You teased, testing your Void power by summoning a few tendrils. Easy, like breathing and the dull ache it caused barely noticeable, “Thus stealing all the glory.”

Kyrie nudged your shoulder, seeming amused by the very notion as she giggled, “That is true.”

But you weren’t mean enough to steal Nero’s thunder. Instead you stood up, deciding that your teeth were appropriately brushed and ready to rinse your mouth. Kyrie smiled and watched you walk back up the stairs, poking your head into the bathroom long enough to do what you had to do and put the toothbrush back. All the while the familiars rested inside of your body, consciousness seeing your good mood and feeling pleased. After all, when you were happy they were happy too. All of them had worked hard to move you past losing V and meeting Vergil, so seeing clear progress and genuine happiness was a gift to them.

You finally finished rinsing your mouth, hearing Nero’s annoyed, exasperated tone at the top of the steps before you were back out, “What the hell is that god damn noise?”

That was what finally made you laugh, a snicker gracing your lips before you looked down the hall at him. Like you, he was fresh out of bed, hair a tousled mess and eyes so very tired. He was dressed in the most casual set of night clothes you had ever seen, plain black sweatpants and a tattered, white t-shirt. You hoped he had at least gotten a reasonable amount of rest, but judging by his irritable expression that might not be the case. The children’s yelling may or may not have woken him up, which you felt a bit bad about, but you knew he would never be upset at them in a million years.

“Morning, love,” Kyrie greeted from the stairs, tone soft and full of adoration, “I’m so sorry if they woke you.”

Nero’s tired face softened immediately, walking down to his wife and pressing a kiss to her head while you leaned on the railing above to watch. Seeing how in love they were always warmed you, like it was the sun lighting up the room. Nero was a bit rough around the edges while Kyrie was soft and always put together, so they made for an interesting dynamic all things considered. It did cause a little heartache, which you tried to ignore because it wasn’t fair to the happy couple to associate pain with them. What happened wasn’t their fault, and you refused to let your trauma take away from the joy you felt seeing them so happy.

“I’d rather blame Nico,” Nero grunted, frowning as he caught sight of the monstrosity rattling the table across the floor, “She’s lucky I took the vase off of that table the last time Julio almost knocked it.”

That made you laugh again, finally coming downstairs and patting the taller male on the back, “Get to it, super man,” He turned to look at you, raising a brow at the nickname as you continued, “The kids need to get dressed for the festival today, and they’re not gonna until you take care of the monster.”

All three of you gazed at the twitching, spasming arm as it continued its violent attack on the table leg, knocking it over finally and starting to crawl along the floor toward the stairs. Upon further examination, you could see the kids peeking out the kitchen door at it, debating on what they should do while Nico just encouraged it all. At least they were having a good time, but you were worried about them expending all their energy before the festival today.

“Why didn’t you do it?” Nero huffed at your words, crossing his arms over his chest but with no malice in his expression.

“And take away from you being hero of the day? Nonsense.”

He scoffed at that, shaking his head as he brushed past you and Kyrie. You sat down next to her on the stairs, letting her take your hand and squeeze it once. She did things like that, little showings of support and affection that always made you feel more welcome. You smiled at her, gaze shifting back to watch Nero make a big show out of stomping his foot on the arm, making it sputter and release a metallic groan before it puffed a little smoke. It promptly died, twitching fingers collapsing onto the floor and ceasing to move at all. Ahhh finally, the beast had been slayed once and for all by a sharp hit from Nero’s bare heel. A fitting end for one of Nico’s monstrous creations, at least in your opinion. It was too bad she stayed up all night to make it only to have to be destroyed on the orphanage floor, but these things were inevitable.

The kids burst through the door as soon as the arm was dead, letting out delighted cries and hopping onto Nero in a show of excitement. He grunted, falling onto the floor under the human pile and letting out a light chuckle as they exclaimed at him about defeating the “monster arm”.

“Ahhh, shoot,” Nico snickered from the doorway, walking over to pick up the now-trashed hardware and staring at it in bemusement, “Guess I can scrap it for parts.”

That seemed to spike Nero’s annoyance, the white-haired boy lifting his head from the floor to glare at her as he huffed, “Hey Nico? Can you stop with the mad science crap in the orphanage?”

She shrugged, walking toward the kitchen on her way to the garage and flicking Nero on the forehead, “Ask me nicely, psycho, and maybe I will,” She paused, looked at you and Kyrie with more seriousness in her gaze as she added, “Y’all might wanna wait on the festival today, think they might cancel anyway.”

Cancel? That made you blink, a frown slipping onto your lips while Kyrie stood up. She looked confused as well, clasping her hands in front of her chest worriedly.

“Whatever for?” She asked softly, taking note of the disappointed looks on the kids faces as they hopped off of Nero’s back. She knew as well as you that they had been looking forward to the fun activities.

Nico sighed, pulling up her phone and holding the screen out for the red-headed woman to look at. You hopped off the stairs to stand at her side, peering at the screen as well to see what she meant. Displayed on the electronic was a weather map, a dangerous-looking mass of red, yellow, and green drifting its way along the coast heading toward Fortuna. A storm, then? The island was no stranger to bad weather being out in the ocean as it was, but from what you had seen before there had been no sign of wind or rain for the weekend. These things really did just blow together without a moment’s notice.

“Says here it’s gonna storm startin’ at noon and won’t stop for most of the day,” Nico huffed, tapping at the screen until different pages appeared, “Damn nasty weather. They might reschedule the festival for next weekend, since nobody has set up yet.”

Kyrie let out a low murmur of agreement, a disappointed look in her eyes as she put a hand to her chin. The kids crowded around her, Carlo grabbing part of her skirt and squeezing with tiny fingers. You felt bad--they had been really eager to get out and have some fun, but now it would seem that would have to wait a while. None were the type to throw a fit or have a tantrum, but their quiet sadness was somehow even more heartbreaking.

Not wanting them to remain upset any longer, you desperately tried to think of some way to help. You crouched down, pulling little Emma into your arms and holding her with her head cradled to your shoulder. The children had grown quite fond of you too, precious and so very kind. You would give them the moon if they asked it of you.

“Why don’t we have some fun at home instead?” You suggested with a smile, hefting Emma up a little higher so you could look into her eyes, “I think Nero has a tent in the attic somewhere, we can have a camp out in the front room. How does that sound?”

Emma’s pretty little eyes went round, staring at you excitedly as she whispered in question, “Will we get to play with the kitty and birdie?”

Kitty and Birdie being the familiars, who the kids had been incredibly fascinated with the first time you summoned them forth. They were all intelligent enough to understand not to be rough with the creatures, but they were still eager and easily excitable wherever they were concerned. Not everyday that a child gets to pet a panther, or seeing a glowing bird. Kyrie had been surprised, but easily accepting of the creatures provided that they were kind to the children, which they always had been.

The familiars roused in your thoughts, seeming fine by her question, neither putting up a fuss at the notion of entertaining the kids for a bit.

“Sure thing, sweetie,” You replied, kissing her on her nose and smiling brightly, “We can have snacks and watch movies too, okay?”

She nodded eagerly, her excitement echoed by the other three children who crowded around your legs. You looked to your left, exchanging a relieved and grateful look with Kyrie now that the kids seemed to be in high spirits again. It was the least you could do to try and ease the burden of keeping them happy off her shoulders--hell you wouldn’t mind entertaining them for the day to give them some alone time as well. Storm or not, they could have a nice dinner by themselves while she and Nico had “camp time” overnight.

You smiled decidedly, turning to let Kyrie take the little girl from your arms as she said, “That’s settled then. How about we get your teeth brushed and hair done,” The kind-hearted woman picked up Carlo as well, both children held to her chest as she started for the opposing set of stairs leading to the orphanage second floor, “There will be time for the festival next weekend.”

All the kids voiced their agreements, Carlo nodding with his thumb still in his mouth. You let out a sigh of relief once they were out of sight--it was lucky that none of them put up too much of a fuss, but then again they were all smart and kind little runts. Despite things not working out how they were supposed to, there was still enjoyment to be found. Griffon, however, was annoyed. He squawked on about how he was right about sleeping in, because they ended up cancelling the festival plans anyway. You did your best to ignore all of it, instead turning back to look out the window for any indication of bad weather in the first place. The air outside your window had looked to calm, but the area facing where the ferry came in from was threatened by looming clouds.

“It does look nasty out there,” You muttered, eyes reflecting the greying light of the storm clouds in displeasure. How did you not notice the shift in the air when you woke up? The grey behemoths were moving slowly at the very least, “A shame, too. We should probably make sure all the windows are closed and that the furniture outside is tied down.”

Nero came up behind you to look out as well, blowing some air from his cheeks before turning back for the stairs, “Damn, you’re right. I’m gonna get dressed first, but you guys focus on the camping shit,” He then paused with one foot up on the steps, rubbing the back of his tousled hair as he turned to look back at you, “And, uh...thanks. Y’kno, for helping out with the kids.”

That made you smile, clasping your hands behind your back. The two of them were always doing that, thanking you constantly for every contribution you offered to the house. It was as if they weren’t already letting you live here, helping you out of one of the worst times in your life and being more kind than they had to. You owed them everything, so doing things like this was hardly worthy of praise.

“No problem,” You replied, tone light and cheerful as you added, “If you want Nico and I can take care of keeping them entertained, give you and Kyrie some alone time.”

That made him blink, face flushing a bit as he turned and saw you and Nico wearing matching, suggestive smirks. He rolled his eyes, head shaking as he started back up the stairs again and huffed, “You two are getting more like each other every day, y’know that?”

Nico snickered, slinging an arm around your shoulder and lifting a middle finger up to Nero’s departing figure, “I’ll take that as a compliment, dumbass. We’re a delight.”

He snorted, disappearing around the corner and rubbing his tired neck. As exasperated as he seemed, he was smiling before he went into his room, which you took as a good sign in the face of the constant anxiety. You didn’t want to be too much of a burden on Nero, or become annoying or disruptive in any way. But he and his wife always seemed to enjoy your company, going out of their way to tell you that you were always welcome. And after the remaining traces of doubt and pain left behind, that was so needed and appreciated that they couldn’t possibly understand how much it did for you.

Regardless, you set about completing the task you had created for yourself during the day. You squeezed Nico around her waist, grinning at her before you hopped into the kitchen to get some toast for breakfast. Things went just about how you imagined them after that, giving the familiars their morning meals as well before getting dressed and pulling what was needed out of the attic. You settled on a simplistic, cute outfit for the day you had bought from the mainland--a pair of white short overalls and a black shirt underneath that showed your shoulders. Comfortable enough to move around in warm weather, which was needed in the hot attic. You made quick work of pulling down the tent, happy to find it clean and properly sealed so you wouldn’t have to do to much.

You moved everything that was needed to the living room, all the while finding yourself deep in thought. Things had gotten so absurdly normal, hadn’t they? Even with three demons rattling around your skull, their thoughts wrapping around yours. You had spent months working, cleaning, taking care of the children, laughing with your new family. Crying with them. And that felt so very domestic, almost in a surreal sort of way. After years of being in the Void, living an existence of Gods and those who served them, adjusting to such a lifestyle was fairly odd. Mind you, those Void powers still existed within you and hadn’t grown any weaker despite what had happened--even if the Deity hadn’t spoken a single word to you in all those months.

This time had given you a chance to learn your powers better, finding a sweet spot where you were strong enough to perform strong abilities without exerting for a while, but not losing yourself to the power. And that was all you needed, enough to handle whatever the Devil May Cry missions threw at you. It was just upsetting the V would never be here to see it, to witness you at the prime of your strength and stamina. There were such incredible things you could do now, things that would have impressed him, wouldn’t they? At least...that was what you told yourself.

“You’re thinkin’ about Shakespear again,” Griffon huffed in your head, sounding heavily displeased about this fact, “He’s been on your mind a lot today. You sure you slept enough? Might be why you’re in such a weird mood.”

You shook your head, still in the process of setting up the larger tent as you replied aloud, “I’m fine, Griffon. It’s just a weird day is all, I get them occasionally.”

You sat down on the floor, cross-legged as you laid out some bed mats on the floor so the kids could sleep on them. The tent would be big enough to fit them all, that was for sure. And with the new air conditioning you helped Nero install, it wouldn’t be too terribly hot despite the weather outside. As if on cue, you heard a low rumble of thunder in the distance, punctuating the thought with an ominous tone. You were glad none of the kids were scared by storms too much, they would be easily distracted with some food and things to do.

“Seriously though,” Griffon griped, pressing the matter further and making you sigh, “What’s got your panties in such a twist today, toots? Did you dream of the dumbass last night?”

That made you frown. He knew damn well that you hadn’t, at least not today in particular. Other nights? Sure, there had been dreams of what happened in Redgrave, of lying in bed with V and the feeling of his lips on your forehead. Others had occurred too, ones that hurt even more--images of V sharing in your life in Fortuna, waking up in bed with his arms wrapped around you and his breath on your ear. Those always messed you up the most, because they felt more real than anything else. Waking up after with him still gone was...You shook your head, rising to your feet again to head into the kitchen and make snacks for the kids. At the moment, Kyrie decided that they could catch up on some teachings they had fallen behind on, the camp out seeming like a good reward for them doing their work without fuss.

“Nothing happened, Griffon,” You muttered, rummaging in the fridge and pulling out ingredients as you went, “Just...missing him a lot today, is all.”

Nothing more, nothing less.

Griffon huffed lightly, “You sure are. Wish you’d just forget about him and let Vergil rot in hell where he belongs.”

That made you sigh, tone heavy at the very reminder of where the surly, cold-gazed man was, “Griffon.”

“What? He deserves it after what he did.” Griffon’s tone was cranky, so much so that you could imagine him sulking and puffing out his feathers. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was upset about not just what he did to you, but them as well? Vergil did cast the demons aside, forming their consciousness then leaving them to die once he was fully formed again. It was a harsh thing to do, but where Vergil and V were concerned you didn’t want to put in too much thought.

It took four months to let go of the malice and despair, you just didn’t want to be angry anymore.

“Just drop it for now,” You pleaded, leaning your head against the cool refrigerator door and closing your eyes, “I’ll be fine, no more thinking about him for the rest of the day.”

Griffon snorted, his thoughts wrapping around your own like a warm caress. You paused for a moment, knowing that he meant well with his actions. The bird just didn’t want you stressing any more than you already were, which was incredibly sweet of him. But...sometimes avoiding it didn’t help.

“I’ll behave myself if you can,” He squawked at you, slipping back into your mind to rest a bit, “Wake me when you need the kiddos entertained.”

You managed a smile at that, opening your eyes and setting back on your task of cooking food for them to snack on once they were free of class. Griffon was right, you could manage to keep your thoughts off of V for a little while at least. You instead blanked out, putting all your focus into cutting fruits and vegetables, setting the oven to bake some pastries. Nero was heard walking about the house, double checking windows and heading outside to tie down furniture before the storm really hit. The sunlight was definitely fading now, wind making the trees outside shake and sway with each gust. You hoped the power would remain on, because if it went out it meant resorting to other things to keep the kids happy and keeping an eye on candles to boot.

Time was passing by fairly quickly in your tasks, hands mixing frosting once noon started to creep closer. The storm had arrived earlier than expected, rain pattering on the window around eleven o’clock and the thunder booming loudly soon after. The first crack made you jump, head turning to look out the window to see a churning, uneasy sea. There was most certainly no going out in that--maybe canceling was the best course of action. You got some food into the oven quickly, hoping the weather would yield long enough to let you finish them at the very least. Christ, Fortuna did have the most unpredictable bouts of storm and rain.

It was around noon exactly when a new sound startled you out of your cycle of not-thinking.

You were still in the kitchen, decoration cupcakes with the help of Nico and telling her not to eat the frosting you had so carefully made. The mechanic seemed hellbent on ignoring you, dipping a finger into the remaining bowl while you piped chocolate onto little cupcakes as carefully as possible. But you both were startled by a loud crash outside, followed by the sound of someone pounding on the front door of the orphanage. You almost dropped the damn pipping bag at the sound, Nico letting out a gasp and whipping her head around to the direction the noise came from.

“What the fuck?” She muttered, echoing exactly what you were thinking as she peered out through the doorway, “What moron is here in this kind of weather?”

You set down the bag, wiping your hands free of any frosting and frowning to yourself. Maybe it was someone who needed help, trapped out in the raging weather with no way of getting home? Lots of people had been out and about prepping for the festivities, so maybe someone hadn’t realized bad storms were coming. There was no way in hell you were ignoring it.

“I’ll get it,” You informed her, whacking her hand with a wooden spoon when it started inching toward the bowl again, “Keep your sticky fingers out of my frosting.”

“You’re no fun.” The mechanic huffed, sticking her tongue out at you in mock annoyance and rubbing the spot on her hand you hit. That only made you smile, offering only a responding tongue out in her direction as you headed for the door.

Rain was pelting against the house so hard it sounded like rattling, the wind sending power lines bouncing and making the lights flicker, but not go out. It felt a bit too ominous for your liking, but you tried to shake that off as you headed down a hallway toward the foyer. The banging on the door continued for a second time, rising in tempo and making you frown in annoyance. Whoever they were, they were persistent. Banging like that was a bit rude, but considering how the condition of the outside world was you could understand their urgency. You just hoped there wasn’t anyone in trouble or any emergencies.

Nero was walking down the stairs as you passed them, clearly heading for the door as well. He was dressed now in jeans and a black t-shirt, hair cleaned and eyes sharp and alert. You paused when you met his gaze, reading worry and wariness there in they blue depths--you could imagine Nero wasn’t very partial to strangers considering everything he had been through, which was only confirmed by the sight of his pistol tucked into the back of his jeans. The last stranger who visited ripped off his arm and turned out to be his long lost father, after all. You decided it would be best to let him answer the door, it was his house.

“I’ve got it,” He confirmed your choice, then added loudly to whoever was outside, “Keep up that bangin’ and you can stay out there...!”

You let out a light huff, turning on your heel to head back toward the kitchen while Nero unlocked the door, and unattached the dead bolt. But you didn’t make it very far.

The door was swung open by the annoyed devil hunter, the sound of the storm outside loud and thunderous now that there was no barrier holding it back. It sent a gust of warm, wet air through the house, brushing over your bare shoulders and making you wince lightly. Disgusting. You turned, wanting to see just who it was disrupting the day and half expecting to see someone you knew from Fortuna standing there, soaked from the rain and annoyed. But...you couldn’t have had far worse expectations, not in a million years.

Not in a lifetime.

First thing you registered was Nero standing stiff as a board, hand clenched so tightly on the door his knuckles were white. Every muscle in his back was tensed, the side of his face you could see filled with shock. Your eyes drifted, seeing a familiar form standing in the doorway, supporting someone equally and painfully as familiar. All at once, your swirling energy spiked in anxiety, that clawing feeling of pain dragging its way up your throat and threatening to release in a whimper. But you were rooted to the spot, face blank and body unable to stop staring at who was standing there.

This can’t be, not now. Not after how stable I had finally become.

The red jacket was no mistake, nor was the black pants and white, filthy hair. It had been quite some time since you saw Dante, but you would never be able to mistake him for anyone else. And even more so the one he was bracing with one arm, body limp and unconscious like he had been dragged all the way here. You heart was thudding like a caged bird as you took in his messed up, silvery white hair, the sharp lines of his face and the black coat and vest he wore. His Yamato was not on him, but instead in Dante’s hands, sheathed and dripping rain water. Both men were drenched, filthy, and looked like they had beaten up several times over. But that all was fading in your racing thoughts, the level of panic and conflicting emotions jolting the familiars into action so they could see exactly what was causing you such pain.

But they were just as shocked as you were, unable to process the twin brothers were here in the flesh. You couldn’t take your eyes off his face, couldn’t stop the raging emotions that you thought were tamed where he was concerned.

Because in all these four months, you didn’t think you would ever see Vergil again.

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Tagged: @nightshadow4713 @silentwhispofhope @slightlylunatic @just-call-me-no-name @efiicitia @raven-huntress @shaelin444

[theangrypokemaniac]

There's a sneering attitude that the dub is inherently inferior solely for being a dub, and when I say 'dub' I mean the American one. No one attacks the South American interpretation, funnily enough, or the variety that exist globally.

Why not if foreign languages are so abhorrent?  Do you think it's kewl to hate America?

That's so original you know.

If the moan centres on the dub changing certain things, well that's a pointless stance, because it's impossible to do otherwise.

What's accepted in one country is not always permitted elsewhere, so either you make those alterations or it's never shown. I'd prefer seeing a slightly toned down version rather than have it never reach the West at all.

This is without considering the technical obstacles that a direct translation brings. The words do have to fit the mouth movements, and if they don't, truncation must follow.

America and Japan are different; the population of the former are not going to comprehend the references to the latter's history and culture, which necessitates some divergence from the original to give it mass appeal.

Anime is a branch of entertainment. It has to attract the public's good will to stay in business. If impenetrable, it'll fail, with all the resulting unemployment and finacial losses that brings.

Those in charge of dubbing understandably think they're on safer ground promoting familiarity rather than the strange, but that's not to say Pokémon was stripped of its identity. On the contrary, it was like nothing I'd ever encountered before.

I may have watched Western cartoons then, but the idea of doing so now is silly. I won't give time to any modern animation unless it's Japanese. Growing up on the dub has not produced an ephemeral fan less serious or 'true'.

The 4Kids dub had wit, humour, deep emotion, suggestive comments and flights of fancy. The voices fitted the characters well.

Unlike the current one, where everyone sounds on the verge of vomiting, but then they're clearly working with substandard material on a miserly budget. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all.

Dubs can be bad, but the very state of being a dub doesn't confer worthlessness automatically. Considering the work gone into them, attempting to gain your favour, it seems rude not to appreciate the time and energy spent in production.

Knowing a little about history, sub-only fanatics remind me of the kind of folk who opposed an English Bible, because it was too good for the oiks to read the word of God.

Of course it was alright for them, rich enough to be taught Latin, but not so much the ordinary man.

It amuses me how dozens dismiss the dub, but see no hypocrisy in using its evidence to further their ship or anti-ship arguments, so it can't be that revolting.

It's also bizarre that so many hold sacred the sub of a series currently in a frenzy to shed every aspect of its anime and Japanese origins, leaving a vague, rootless ghost, supposedly making it easier to slip down the gullet of the masses.

Pokémon I've seen referred to as a 'gateway drug', as in the anime that introduced a generation to the entire concept. This means the dub. You would not have got enough kids in the late Nineties to read a screen rather than watch it, and even today most would lose interest rapidly.

Where would you be without that dub? Unless you're Japanese, your first experience of Pokémon will have been a dub, and if not the American, the one where you live, which was only made because there was the funds available.

You may have then progressed to watching the sub, but only because that dub stirred love in your soul.

Where would the franchise be without that dub? You think Pokémon would've grown to be a world-wide obsession raking in billions by itself? No, it'd still be a solely Japanese phenomena, and most likely never lasted this long.

Its decades of supremacy rests on the quality of that dub. It sold games and merchandise to kids by the ton, giving an incentive to keep the series going. If you're not a fan from the first wave, then your favourite era would have never existed had it not been financially attractive carrying on.

The team who wrote the first film actually preferred the dub, moved to tears by its emotive use of music, therefore they aren't so precious as the fans.

Where would anime be without that dub? Pokémon brought it to the West. A handful slipped through previously, but made minor impression.

To those who would dismiss Pokémon entirely in favour of more 'worthy' output such as Studio Ghibli, I would say that Pokémon, first the games, then the programme they inspired, must have an integral quality to have caught on in Japan, which isn't exactly short on similar concepts.

To have gained popularity in a crowded market, and so fervently a dub became an option, can only have come about because it held a certain magic.

It was the dub that smashed a hole in the cultural barrier, setting free the tidal wave to engulf the world. In Pokémon's trail followed Digimon, Cardcaptors, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh! et cetera.

Without Pokémon, I doubt they'd have been translated, and definitely never broadcast on mainstream television. That came about as channels desperately hunted down anything Japanese to serve as the next craze.

I really appreciated the effort made by 4Kids in converting every aspect of the series to suit American tastes, including changing text on signs, letters and books into English. I assumed this was standard practice until I watched others.

I could never be as involved in them as I was Pokémon because of that block. It was like being denied access to the deeper waters, fenced into the shallows, and implied a rushed dub, with little care shown but to chase the same crowd and money.

If personified, the dub 'n' sub wouldn't be one human being, but rather identical twins: the same to a casual observer, but easy to tell apart by the more attentive.

It's like the games: Red and Blue are versions of a single adventure, but not totally one. Take the dub and the sub the same way. They are parallel dimensions running on separate rails, and beyond reconciliation, and that's before we consider that, sub and dub alike, each generation has only a faint relation to its predecessor, working on its own whims.

Everyone has a favourite, or can like both, and there's nothing wrong in that, but so many are proud of the fact they hate the dub, as if it conveys a revered status of supremacy.

When Disney films are shown abroad, they too are translated, and I'm sure references and jokes are redesigned to make sense to the locals. It's no use selling yourself as a comedy then being surprised when the audience refuses to laugh, having no idea what you mean.

If people prefer that one, for being what introduced them to Disney as a whole, or as a fond memory of childhood, then so what?

I don't mind if their view of a character is minutely at odds with mine, having seen the original, because what they think is canon to their version, so can't be wrong.

I don't go round declaring every Disney dub to be pathetic by its nature, that viewers of them are of a lesser breed of fan for preferring their own tongue, even though more of the world's population understand English than they do Japanese.

If you enjoy one tailored to your country there's no crime in it, just as I like one at least comprehensible to mine. It's not even my culture, but I pick it up mostly.

The choice must be made on which to follow, and this blog runs on dub canon, as that has a claim on my heart. Just because I don't acknowledge what takes place in the sub doesn't mean I'm unaware of it, but it has no bearing on what I write.

The idea that the dub alters things willy-nilly without rhyme nor reason is also mistaken. Often it does it because the original does not make sense.

In the sub, I know Nanny and Pop-Pop are just a couple of old duffers taken at random and dropped in to a castle, supposedly as James's far away nannies.

Oh yeah, that's a cushy position. You doing a lot of child care from miles off?

Mind you, it used to describe 'em as 'caretakers' on Bulbapædia, as if Nan serves as housekeeper whilst Pop tends to the garden.

That's right. Ma and Pa finally got some work out of this pair of freeloaders.

They're not related, remember? No, no, absolutely not, no way. Of course their style reflects that. They just gave Pop a 'tache, thick eyebrows and a bigger nose, and Nan got a bun and lines in her hair, but there's certainly no connection. Oh no. Such a thing is ridiculous.

They're NOT family. No. Yet Hoenn James still panics they might learn he's joined Team Rocket, spending the whole episode trying to hide the truth.

Why? Who are servants to criticise the son of their employers? Why should their opinion be of any consequence to Hoenn James, especially when his parents, fiancée and butler are cognizant of reality?

Children of aristocrats are usually brought up by governesses, thus develop a stronger attachment to these figures rather than their parents, but that isn't the case here.

James lived with Ma and Pa, not the codgers minding the castle. He would have very little contact with distant employees compared to those who waited on him daily, so why seek out their approval?

Hoenn James apparently was permitted visits to Nan 'n' Pop, which is strange considering they're not relatives. Why them and not any other house-stters?

That's right, Ma and Pa sent their son to one of their properties without them, entrusting him to the care of two shrivelled pensioners of his size that he barely knew, and who could keel over at any minute. There are no other servants present. Apparently Nan and Pop clean an entire castle by themselves.

Oh, and they run a makeshift Pokémon sanctuary, but since it's not their home it has to be done with Ma and Pa's blessing, who also have to pay for it, but they're eevul aren't they?

The idea that somehow Nanny and Pop-Pop have not cottoned on to James's occupation by now is risible.

Servants gossip about their masters. I bet the entire household of his home know, and so in turn does the county. That Nan and Pop remain oblivious proves how isolated they are, for no one's thought to inform them.

When it came to dubbing it, they were made his grandparents, removing all the above nonsense. Of course he visits his nan and granddad, it's their gaff and their money funding the place, and it is likely his mother or father would keep James's job a secret, for fear the shock would finish 'em off.

It should do really. If they're not bothered by it that's a sign of where his rapscallion ways were inherited.

They aren't facially akin to Ma and Pa, but display the same additions, so if staff it's bloody lazy, as if nannies have to resemble your parents, but inventing a blood link excuses the slothful characterisation.

Every reference I've seen on Tumblr relating to the coffin-dodgers calls them Nanny and Pop-Pop. Apparently the dub decision is met with universal approval. It does have redeeming aspects then.

Now the sub writers, rather than ignore this development, took to it too. They aren't exactly bursting with ideas these days and are probably grateful for the lifelines offered.

Remembering James had parents, they forced a likeness between them and Nanny and Pop-Pop. How else do you explain the inexplicable ageing, even when Sinnoh Ma and Sinnoh Pa are younger than Ma and Pa?

I've also known for years that the sub has this woman as Jessie's foster mother, not Ma Jess, but that's stupid.

I can grasp the idea that Jessie and Ma might have endured extreme deprivation, considering that's what Team Rocket has brought to Jessie anyway, and that they may have lived at the bottom of Mew's mountain prior to Ma's death.

What I find difficult to take in is that social services (or as they're known where I live, the S.S.), however notoriously awful they are, would give a child to a mad bitch in a shack with no running water.

Come on, they have to at least pretend to be concerned for Jessie's welfare.

As Jessie is very young, bereavement can't have befallen her in the distant past, so how can she be happy this soon after becoming an orphan? How could the grieving period be a cherished memory?

If that woman's creaming off the money, why hasn't she fixed the place up by now? Where do the payments go, sniffing glue?

Then there's the depiction. If this is just some daft bint never to be mentioned again, why do they conceal her face? Who cares what she looks like when she's unimportant?

Here's another figure from Jessie's past. She isn't disguised, and why not when she too briefly appears and is then forgotten?

Who was she?

The only sort of characters they tended to hide were other members of Team Rocket:

During the early scenes featuring Giovanni, he was enveloped in shadow, adding both intrigue and a sense of menace.

Madame Boss also got this treatment, even though there was probably no intention to ever feature her in the anime. What's the use in keeping an appearance a mystery if it'll remain masked?

With that pattern, it implies this woman is in the same category, like Ma Jess.

When it came to animation, it definitely was intended to be a foster mother. Not her real one. No.

What did they do?

They gave her Jessie's skin tone and purple hair hanging down her back!

You know, like Ma Jess?

Any colour would've done. Any at all, and being anime I do mean any colour, but no. The choice was made to give her the looks of the exact person she's not meant to be!

Is it that surprising the dub simplified things?

I don't mind if you like the dub, sub, both, or any from around the world, but I'm tired of the smug condescension, as if we all agree the sub is the only one that counts, and that dub fans are grunting troglodytes, or not 'proper' aficionados.

None of us would be here were it not for the dub. Pokémon would not be here. I think it deserves some respect for how much of a difference it made, to my life and to yours.

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 6x06 All the Way

aka not much for the timber

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is mostly Dawn-centric and immensely entertaining with a lot of fun bits… up until the moment it’s not. (That’ll be a YIKES from me, @ Willow.)

Truth be told, All the Way took me by a bit of a surprise, because for some reason I misremembered Dawn’s Halloween adventures as a season 7 plot. (It may be the influence of another episode, Him, although that episode is memorable to me for all the wrong reasons.)

But yeah, Dawn sneaking out, and accidentally hooking up with a vampire happens, and I actually kind of love it? Especially the scene with Buffy, where her and Dawn argue about their questionable choices in men. It’s an absolute delight, and Dawn being immediately turned off by the fact that her vamp boo, Justin, thinks that her sister being the Slayer is what makes her special, is just the cherry on top.

And this kind of wonderful banter rooted in the characters and their dynamics, is carried through the whole episode. The opening alone just filled me with joy. Tara interrupting Anya’s accidental inappropriateness in front of Dawn, and then somehow folding it into a lesbian joke. Willow’s outrage at inauthentic witch costumes melting in the face of a tiny child wearing the same. Xander amping up the ridiculousness of his pirate affectation for the sake of some kids, and being absolutely unafraid of being mocked by them. (Also, the eye-patch…) Giles being a sarcastic asshole about Xander to Buffy with later revealing the reason behind his glass-cleaning habits, and making meta commentary about how if something happens on Halloween, it’ll involve them anyway – much to Buffy’s chagrin, who was trying to quietly take off under the pretense of patrolling, instead of helping out with the wrapping. She also laments how much easier it has been to talk with Spike when he was trying to kill her all the time.

At the end of the day, Anya is extremely happy with all the traffic they had at the shop, and seeing her enthusiasm apparently momentarily wakes Xander up from his fear of commitment, just enough to announce their engagement. Only for him to get once again absolutely overwhelmed by everything, once they start talking about the whole marriage thing. (Hey, Xander, isn’t that supposed to be the whole idea of getting engaged?)

Oh, boy. But there’ll be time enough to analyze Xander’s issues, and how I sympathize with them. (I know, hot take. Except for the part of how he’s handling the post-Hell Bells situation, because that I do not have an excuse for. Own your baggage and the damage you inflict with it, my dude.)

Xander and Anya’s relationship isn’t the only one with cracks appearing in it though. Nope, this is also the episode where Tara starts seriously questioning Willow’s practices, and it gets… bad. It’s real bad.

Okay, so, it starts off rather innocently. Willow does a spell to decorate the house for the engagement party. Tara and Giles share a look, and Tara later gently tries to broach the subject with Willow, that maybe she didn’t need to do a spell for that. They could’ve just bought the decorations if they wanted.

Now, truthfully, the spell itself is rather harmless. Sure, when it comes to house party decorations, part of the fun is the decorating itself, but Anya liked it, and she and Xander are the ones this party is about anyway. But Willow’s defensiveness shows the underlining problem – she has absolutely no restraint or hang-ups about using magic in any situation. And given the amount of power she wields now, and her already existing character traits of wanting to mold the world to her liking, that’s a bit concerning.

Using magic to solve her problems is not a new phenomenon for Willow. Remember, in season 3 she tried to do a “delusting” spell on her and Xander without his knowledge or consent. And in Something Blue, her spell was supposed to cure her heartache in a moment’s notice.

Those spells of course misfired, and so we were mostly left with sympathy for Willow in these instances. I mean, who wouldn’t want to just poof their confusing, self-destructive impulses and pain away? But we can’t. The only way out is through.

Except Willow actually has the power now to change reality to her liking. She could phase hundreds of people into another dimension, just to make finding Dawn easier. Sure, it’s a ridiculous amount of risk for such a small convenience, and obviously no one at the club consented to it, but she can do it. More notably, she absolutely would do it.

Previously I commented about how Giles seemed to have told no one about his confrontation with Willow in 6x03, but he may have talked to someone about it after all – Tara. At the very least, Willow certainly thinks that’s the case.

And Willow deep down knows that she’s out of line. That’s why she’s so defensive, and why she didn’t reveal all the details of the resurrection spell. But she doesn’t want to confront those things about herself, and thanks to her powers, she doesn’t have to. She can just poof things away to avoid that.

She can just change Tara to her liking, so she wouldn’t bring it up.

YIKES. SO MANY YIKES.

So, yeah guys. This is it. Our second major storyline involving highly problematic consent.

Well, Buffy essentially is always fighting the rape metaphor, but as I mentioned in my Who Are You? post, there are three plotlines that especially stand out in that respect. Not just because they involve major characters as the victims, but as the actual perpetrators.

This case resembles more the previous instance with Faith and Riley, in that it’s an issue of a lack of informed consent due to magical circumstances. As a result, it may be easier to somewhat detach it from a real world analogue as a viewer, but it’s still what happens. So we’ll need to address it as such.

I will say though, that this storyline at least recognizes its own yikes factor, as opposed to how Riley’s situation is handled. (A reminder: poorly.) Part of it is “helped” by the fact that Tara already has experience in what a controlling environment is. So once she finds out that Willow messed with her memories, she absolutely fucking refuses to let her get away with it. (“I can’t adjust to this, disgust, we’re done…”)

But that’s for tomorrow and after.

Now, since we’re already at the subject, we could also mention the rapey-ness of the high school vamps, but this is nothing new. Again, that’s sort of the point. Buffy is fighting the patriarchy and rape culture, that’s the most obvious metaphor of the vampires throughout the entire series.

The fact that Dawn’s vamp boo seemed nicer than his friend, Mr. “She asked for it”, also reminded me of Reptile Boy. Although, in that case, the nice guy was revealed to be a conniving snake, whereas Justin seemed arguably clueless somewhat about his own predatory aspects. Almost as if he was socialized to think that it was normal to pressure girls into sex, if he was nice about it and maybe even genuinely liked the girls in question…

The episode also ends with Buffy transferring her responsibilities regarding Dawn to Giles. And while regarding the financial problems, I maintain that Giles bailing out Buffy and Dawn was the least he could’ve done, this is where he should’ve set his boundaries.

Alas, that didn’t happen, and no one seems to be aware yet of Dawn’s little stealing problem either.

So, there. That was All the Way. Please take care of yourselves and be mindful of your fellow humans.

[wisdomrays]

TOWARDS THE WORLD OF "RIGHTEOUS SERVANTS": Part 1

God promises the final inheritance of the world to His righteous servants. So, in order to have a right to this promised inheritance, there must be a group of righteous people. What are the criteria of righteousness, or what qualities should the heir possess, to whom the final dominion of the earth was promised by God?

The first and foremost quality of the heir is perfect faith. The Qur'an determines the purpose of man's creation to be belief in God, which is woven from the threads of the knowledge of God, love, enthusiasm and spiritual fulfilment.

Indeed, it is only in the light of faith that man, by realizing his essential nature with all its dimensions and the existential aims of creation, can penetrate the inner reality of existence. Contrary to this, lack of belief is a suffocating dungeon. In the view of an unbeliever, existence began with chaos, developed in the frightening uncertainties of coincidences, and is speeding towards a terrible end. In this uncertain movement of existence, there is neither a breath of compassion to relieve us, nor a place of security to embrace us in our human desires, nor even a piece of ground to step on.

A believer who knows from where he came from and the destination of his life, together with his responsibilities, sees everything as clearly as 'daylight' and, because of this, he travels to his destination in utmost security. During his sojourn, he carefully studies existence and what lies behind existence. He examines things and events over and over again and tries to establish a connection with everything around him. He never refrains from making use of the studies of others and, where he lacks in sufficient knowledge and experience, goes on with his researches, without tiring and losing hope.

There is an inexhaustible source of power on which a believer relies during his travel – there is no strength and power save with God. This phrase is a source of power which a man who has obtained it, feels no need for another. A believer who has equipped himself with this source of power aims for none but God. He leads his life to secure His approval. He has an abiding optimism with which to overcome every obstacle and challenge all kinds of worldly opposition.

The second quality of the heir is to become overflowing with love. A person with a heart content with belief in and knowledge of God feels, in proportion to the degree of his belief and knowledge, a deep love for all human beings and even the whole creation. It is this person who spends his whole life-span in the colourful fluctuations of universal ecstasies, raptures and spiritual pleasure.

Today, as in every era, there is need for hearts to be enraptured with love and overflow with zeal so that a new revival could be realized. Without love, it is impossible to accomplish any permanent movement, especially if the movement is related to the Hereafter. The Divine love which we feel in order to gain God's approval is a boundless and mysterious source of power. The 'heirs to the earth' should never be heedless of this source and should make as much use of it as possible.

We need to look into the origin of existence from the perspective of the Qur'an and the example (Sunnah) of the noble Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. The origin of man, his place in the universe, the Divine purpose for his creation, and the way he should conduct in his life as well as his final destination, are in such a harmony in these two sources – the Book and the Sunnah – with human thoughts and feelings and man's aspirations that we cannot help but be filled with wonder and admiration. These two pure sources are, for men of understanding, a spring of love and enthusiasm, and a means to ecstasy. Those who have recourse to them with pure intention and with petitions of needs are not refused, and those who take refuge in them gain immortality. They need to do so, however, with the sincerity of people like Imam Ghazali, Imam Rabbani, Shah Waliyullah. They need to approach these sources, and turn to them with the conviction and activity of Khalid, Salah al-Din. Indeed, by combining the love and enthusiasm of those personages with modern methods and styles, we will penetrate into the ever-fresh essence of the Qur'an and arrive at a universal metaphysics.

To turn to sciences with a sensible synthesis of intellect, logic and consciousness is the third quality of the generation who were promised the final inheritance of the earth. This turning, which will also provide a direction for the general inclination of humanity, which is lost among some obscure hypotheses, will be a significant step in the liberation of mankind.

In order to compensate for the last few centuries, it is necessary to rise to the highest level of scientific knowledge and, by removing the inferiority complex from our subconsciousnes, to realize self-assertion. To achieve this, we must re-evaluate sciences in the light of the prism of the Islamic thought and become unique representatives of scientific knowledge.

Since we have not been able so far to assign a true direction for sciences and, consequently, confused revealed knowledge with scientific theories, and sometimes scientific knowledge with philosophy, serious confusions have appeared in scientific thought and scientists have lost considerable esteem. In Turkey, this void were exploited by foreigners very well and many foreign schools sprouted up. The younger generations, as a result, were alienated from their society. After a while, these inexperienced generations lost all their religious and moral values, with the result that as a whole nation we were all degraded in thought, ideals, art and life. In the schools foreigners or native minorities established and ran, to which we entrusted our children without any worries, Western culture and values were given priority over science and scientific thought. It is for this reason that our young generations, although they had to cope with the age in science and technology, split into different parties like Marxism, Durkheimism, Leninism, and Maoism. Some consoled themselves with the dreams of a communist system and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Some were carried away by the existentialism of Sartre, Marcuse, Camus, and the like. Indeed, we witnessed in this land all such deviations, all of which were unfortunately nursed and promoted in supposed centres of science and knowledge. Meanwhile, religion and religious people were unceasingly attacked by destructive representatives of unenlightenment, and evil aspects of modern Western civilization were propagated. It is impossible for us to forget that dark period of our history and those who were responsible for it will always be remembered as the national and historical criminals in the conscience of people.

What remains now is to build a happy, bright future. This requires us to realize a revival through scientific thought which we have to inculcate in the minds of the young generation. The suffering of the people on account of what befell them in the past, the exasperation produced in their hearts by servility to foreign powers, and the national reaction to centuries of exploitation, cause us to sigh and lament in equal proportion to the regret of Adam, the weeping of Yunus (Jonah) and the pains of Ayyub (Job), upon them be peace. Such thoughts and feelings together with historical experiences stimulate and guide us to further exertions towards our destination.

[overthinkingkdrama]

In Encounter do you think that Woo-seok really loves Soo-hyun or he just think that he does? I feel like he doesn't really know who she is as a person because she always tried to fit into the mold that he/his family wanted her to be. He was kind of passive about his feelings too until she got with with Jin-hyuk. What did you think about him going to her office and telling her so in the recent ep?

Hmm…that’s an interesting way to frame that question. Is knowing someone a prerequisite for loving them? How well do you have to know someone before it can be said that you love them?

I’m going to get weirdly philosophical on you here for a minute, so bear with me:

I think we tend to take that idea for granted, that you have to know someone and know them intimately for your feelings toward that person to warrant the name of “love”. That’s why we scoff at the idea of love at first sight. But while I do believe that some level of knowledge of necessary, I’m not confident where that line is.

Nobody really knows anybody else. Not entirely, not really. I think many of us would say–and I think Soo Hyun must feel this to some degree too–that we don’t even fully know ourselves, but that we are in the process of meeting ourselves from birth until the day we die.If we can’t even know ourselves how can we expect someone else to enough to be said to love us? You can know someone else on a lot of different levels, the mental, the physical, the factual and the emotional. You can understand all kinds of things about a person (their likes and dislikes, their history, their values) without actually knowing them. Celebrity culture is a really good example of that kind of knowledge.

Parents, as another example, might know a lot about their children from raising and living with them, but there can also be who dimensions of a child’s life, especially as the grow, important aspects such as their spirituality or sexuality or traumas, that a parent has no knowledge of at all. But does that incomplete knowledge preclude a parent from really “loving” their child or you from loving your partner or sibling or friend? The answer would seem to be self-evident. Of course not.

Because ultimately, loving is something we do on our own.

Largely independently or completely without regard to what the other person might feel. To love someone is one thing, for the feeling to be mutual is something else entirely. And as such, that loved one’s internal life and the things about them that we might not know don’t necessarily affect whether we can love them or not. Love can be ignorant, it can be deep or shallow, it can take on a lot of different forms. And this is where we start running into problems with language, because there are all kinds of shades and degrees of feeling that we refer to broadly in English as “love”.

So to get back to your original question, do I think Woo Seok really loves Soo Hyun? Well, yes. I think he does, because I can see from his actions that he has an obvious esteem for her and desires her happiness, (perhaps even at the detriment of his own). If that love is based on a false or perhaps limited idea of who Soo Hyun is as a person, I don’t think that alters the emotional landscape for him that much. I think his feelings are still sincere, even if they are based on a misconception.

To set up a contrast, while Jin Hyuk may know a side of Soo Hyun that Woo Seok never got to see, he still hasn’t known her for very long and has only had the chance to interact with her in very specialized circumstances. There are still many things about her and her history that Jin Hyuk can’t possibly have knowledge of in such a short period of time. That doesn’t necessarily speak to the depth of feeling he is capable of as a person.

Woo Seok has known Soo Hyun years longer than Jin Hyuk, and what’s more he’s known her as his wife, something that Jin Hyuk has no access to whatsoever. We don’t know for sure if Soo Hyun and Woo Seok’s marriage was ever consummated, but we also don’t have any reason to believe at this point that is wasn’t.  If so, then that’s another type of knowledge Woo Seok has on Jin Hyuk. (I’m holding out hope the show will never bother to clarify that point, actually, because I feel like emphasizing that Woo Seok and Soo Hyun never slept together puts an undue value on Soo Hyun’s virginity that I’m not comfortable with.)

Woo Seok has lived a similar life to Soo Hyun. One of repression and control by their powerful families, of having to fulfill expectations in the way Soo Hyun has. Shared experience is another form of knowledge. Jin Hyuk doesn’t have those experiences, and in a way his innocence (a kind way of saying ignorance) is what makes him so refreshing and healing to Soo Hyun as a romantic partner.

As for the second part of your ask, I’m curious to find out more about Woo Seok’s thought process when it comes to the divorce. Because it seems pretty clear to me that he couldn’t stand the way this life was smothering all of Soo Hyun’s brightness and the way his family, especially his mother, treated her and he knew that faking an extra-marital affair and asking for a divorce was a way out of that household that must have been like a gilded cage for her. I don’t think Soo Hyun would have ever asked for a divorce on her own. But I’m not really sure what his endgame was at that point, because it doesn’t feel like he ever fully gave up on his feelings for her, just his marriage to her. Maybe he just wanted to find a way out of the situation for her and didn’t care that it would likely ruin a chance to have a “real” relationship with her in the future.

I also don’t think he counted on Soo Hyun actually being hurt by the divorce. Maybe he just took for granted that his feelings for her were more or less one-sided. But even though we don’t really have any confirmation on this from the show, I think Soo Hyun might have actually been a little heartbroken by the whole thing. I wonder if maybe she had some feelings for him of her own. Not like the ones she had for Jin Hyuk, but enough to be wounded by his apparent infidelity.

I think part of Woo Seok’s passivity has to do with his family’s continued interest in making him and Soo Hyun remarry. That’s why he kept the fake relationship going with the “other woman” for as long as he did, because it would give him a ready excuse for why he couldn’t possibly get back together with his ex-wife, despite family pressure. But after Soo Hyun went public with her relationship with Jin Hyuk, maybe he felt like he had some space to breathe, he no longer needed to maintain his faux relationship because Soo Hyun now had one of her own, and a real one at that, making her unavailable in his family’s eyes.

I’m a bit confused by his sudden decision to be more demonstrative of his feelings. I mean he’s been low key trying to impress and get closer to her for a while (buying the dress and driving to so Sokcho to see her), but now he’s started to be a little bit more verbal about it, which seems to have thrown Soo Hyun for a loop as well. I think the thing that signaled him there might be an opening there for him was when he heard that Jin Hyuk was being forced to transfer and Soo Hyun hadn’t moved to stop that from happening. Maybe he interpreted that to mean their relationship wasn’t that serious and he considered this his last opportunity to try have something real with her. Idk. Hopefully the new episodes will clarify that point a bit.

Sorry this was long as hell, and sorry for the length of time it took to respond. Thank you for the ask.

Jona

[spearlotion34-blog]

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[rainstormcolors]

emblematik replied to your post:The Legend of Izanagi and Izanami, and DSoD

what do you think the significance of it is?

I think this finally made it clear to me what was meant when I’d come across comments of how Japan holds a somewhat different understanding of the “netherworld” than the West. It finally clicked to me. We all firmly hold the idea of death as such a permanent state, understandably so, but in the land of legends the barrier becomes permeable and fluid.

To be more direct, in Japanese mythology, someone journeyed to the netherworld seeking out a lost loved one and then journeyed back to the mortal world.

This isn’t something I’m a scholar on at all, so please read my thoughts with some big grains of salt.

The story seems to be this at its most basic:

The god, Izanagi, goes to the shadowy netherworld to retrieve his goddess wife, Izanami, who’d died in child birth. Izanami tells her husband she must prepare before leaving and he is forbidden to look at her until she is ready. The wait is too long and in worry, Izanagi sets a fire to see in the darkness of the netherworld, and in putting eyes upon his wife before she was allowed to leave, she’s revealed to be monstrous and rotting. In shame, Izanami becomes outraged at her husband and sends demons after him. He escapes the netherworld and rejects his wife. And so Izanami becomes Death, and Izanagi continues on as a god of the living.

What I’m most interested in though are the three points I’d mentioned before: 1) He journeys from the mortal world to the netherworld, 2) He does so in the hope of retrieving a lost loved one, 3) He journeys from the netherworld back to the mortal world. There’s been a lot of discourse regarding the ending of The Darkside of Dimensions, and fierce debate regarding Seto Kaiba’s fate. But I see a parallel in DSoD to those first two points of this mythology, and the assumption I can make is the third point follows. I think everybody knows I’ve taken the interpretation of Seto returning from the very get-go, and I’m very self-aware of my biases here. But it’s a facet of Japanese mythology that someone can travel from the mortal world to the netherworld and then travel back to the mortal world at will. The ending of DSoD remains open to whichever interpretation you prefer best, but that Seto returns home is something valid on both the personal level and as something potentially rooted in part of Japan’s culture.

I think there may be other aspects worth considering regarding the parallels of Izanagi’s quest with DSoD. The one that struck me most immediately was the idea of Atem and Seto ascending to a kind of godhood. I actually feel it’s already canon that Atem attained a kind of godhood, both in his golden manifestation to save the earth from an abominable Diva and in that pharaohs were regarded as gods within Ancient Egypt. On that note, Seto Kaiba was also Pharaoh in his past life. I feel more pressingly, it’s how Seto’s technology---the creations of his will---has come to match the magic of the Millennium Items. Even without the context of the legend, I think the conclusion of DSoD firmly frames Seto as approaching Atem as an equal.

The tones of these two narratives are starkly different of course, and so I wonder if DSoD could possibly be a transformation of this myth into something hopeful and warm: the story of Izanagi and Izanami but with a happy ending. In DSoD, there’s so much desperation and such deep wounds; Atem has hurt Seto, and Seto attempts to betray Atem, but in the end they’re quietly smiling at each other. They’ve fought so hard to be here, with so much struggle and pain, and they haven’t even bandaged their wounds, but just seeing each other has made everything worthwhile. And it’s just this gorgeous moment of complete forgiveness and understanding and connection. Perhaps it’s combining elements of Japanese mythology with Ancient Egypt’s idyllic serene vision of the afterlife.

Going back to DSoD being 100% pick-your-own-ending, the legend of Izanagi and Izanami can potentially justify both the interpretation of Atem staying in the netherworld and the interpretation of Atem leaving with Seto to return to the world of the living. An element of the legend’s message seems to be that the dead should be let go of in the end. And thus Seto says his farewell to his friend and the two part their ways in warmth. Or perhaps Atem is able to do what Izanami could not in this optimistic transformation of the two gods’ story: he follows Seto home. The reason Izanami couldn’t return in the myth is because her husband rejected her, but here Seto does not reject Atem.

I admit I’m still personally fond of the Persephone interpretation, and yet if Seto can traverse the worlds at will, there’s nothing barring this interpretation either. It’s the reward after all that effort to find his friend again, the reward for achieving magic with technology, and it’s a symbol for the meeting of Modern Japan with Ancient Egypt and the matching humanity found inside these two different worlds.

I suppose I just find it odd how this piece of Japanese mythology hasn’t been brought up at all in DSoD discussions on Tumblr, and I feel mentioning it adds to the fabric of the discussion and adds substance to several different interpretations, and most pointedly proves the space between the mortal world and the netherworld is two-way.

In any case, this post is mostly me thinking out loud.

[rdclsuperfoods]

At the bookstore, you’ll find diet and nutrition books lumped together. I get why—they’re all focused on health and eating—but there’s an important distinction between them. 

There are so many dimensions to consider when you think about how eating influences our health. Food nourishes our bodies, but it also plays a role in our social lives, our emotional health, and our overall happiness. Nutrition books explore these things and help us better understand how food affects us, without giving one-size-fits-all advice.

Diet books, on the other hand, tend to ignore the complexities of food. They typically follow the trope of identifying a problem and prescribing the reader a clearly defined solution. There’s no shortage of these books out there, and more just keep on coming; ironically, most of them claim to be the last one you’ll ever need. (The last diet book you read probably is the last one you need, but not for the reasons the author may think.)

Nutrition books may seem less appealing than diet books at face value—they don’t promise to solve all your problems—but they’re far more worthwhile. Read a few and you’ll never want to read a diet book again, you’ll be able to poke so many holes in their empty promises. Nutrition books will give you a better grasp of how food affects your physical, mental, and emotional health. From that understanding, you can then determine what the best way of eating might be for you. 

The following five books are a great place to start. They don’t try to sell you on the supposed virtues or evils of certain foods or nutrients, nor do they suggest that you overhaul your own lifestyle to mimic one from another culture, time, or circumstance. (They also don’t distill complex and systemic food issues down to oversimplified advice like “eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”) Instead they’ll teach you why we eat the way we do and how food affects our bodies. Many of them do give some form of how-to-eat advice, but they also talk about policy, history, and the culture of dieting.

1. ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition,’ by Anita Bean

(Photo: Courtesy Bloomsbury Sport)

There are countless sports-nutrition books out there, but none of them go both as broad and as deep as The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition. This isn’t some flashy release chronicling an elite athlete’s very particular diet (ahem, TB12) or a manifesto on how (insert fad diet here) is actually the best way to fuel. Instead, it presents the evidence-based concepts of sports nutrition in a way that’s easy to understand but not oversimplified. You’ll come away with a good idea of how to eat for performance and why different foods affect you the way they do, but you won’t feel compelled to redesign your diet or live and die by a set of rules. Author Anita Bean is a renowned sports nutritionist and former competitive bodybuilder who has worked with the British Olympic Association and many professional teams across various sports, and her book is relevant to athletes of all levels.

Buy the Book

2. ‘The Great Starvation Experiment,’ by Todd Tucker

(Photo: Courtesy University of Minnesota Press)

If you’ve heard that “diets don’t work” but you’re not clear on why, start by learning about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. The 13-month clinical study, conducted in the 1940s, followed 36 healthy, young white men through a period of “semi-starvation” and then rehabilitation, documenting not only how their bodies changed but how their mental health deteriorated. The experiment is rightly considered inhumane by today’s standards, although the men’s diets were higher calorie than those recommended by many trendy diets. (They ate approximately 1,570 calories a day over two meals.) In The Great Starvation Experiment, historian Todd Tucker digs into the study and how it affected participants during and afterward.

Buy the Book

3. ‘Intuitive Eating,’ by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

(Photo: Courtesy St. Martin’s Essentials)

The intuitive-eating approach is extremely popular among nutrition experts today, but it’s not a new framework. Dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch first published Intuitive Eating in 1995 after seeing their clients repeatedly try and fail to lose weight and improve their health with traditional diets. Their book encourages reconsidering your own thoughts and feelings about food, diets, and weight. It draws on relatable anecdotes, as well as a significant and growing body of evidence to back up the idea that eating without food rules and abandoning the pursuit of weight loss can improve your health. Even if you’re convinced that intuitive eating isn’t for you, the book offers a new way of thinking about nutrition that might resonate. You’ll gain insight into how and why food restriction often backfires, and learn how to tune into your own hunger cues and cravings.

Buy the Book

4. ‘Gentle Nutrition,’ by Rachael Hartley

(Photo: Courtesy Victory Belt Publishing)

Most of the messages we see around intuitive eating focus on breaking free from food rules and making peace with our weight and our bodies. One aspect that’s central to intuitive eating but isn’t often discussed is what the original Intuitive Eating authors call “gentle nutrition.” Essentially, it’s about leveraging evidence-based healthy eating principles in a way that’s flexible and individualized. Dietitian Rachael Hartley borrows the phrase and expands on the concept in her book of the same name. In Gentle Nutrition, she guides readers through the basics of nutrition without painting any way of eating as right or wrong. Hartley’s approach is rooted in the Health at Every Size framework, which is all about encouraging healthy behaviors and providing quality health care to people of all body sizes, without suggesting weight loss or assuming that a person’s health is determined by their weight. The book is a helpful and empathetic guide to nutrition, and it’s a great alternative to conventional nutrition books for anyone who feels triggered by mentions of weight and weight loss.

Buy the Book

5. ‘Unsavory Truth,’ by Marion Nestle

(Photo: Courtesy Basic Books)

My recommendation of Marion Nestle’s Unsavory Truth comes with a couple disclaimers. Although it’s an eye-opening look at how the food industry influences policy and nutrition research, I warn you not to panic as much about this as the book might encourage you to. It’s unreasonable to think that food companies shouldn’t have a hand in shaping the policies that so directly affect them, and not all industry-funded research is inherently wrong or bad. (Sometimes the only viable way to fund a study is to take industry money.) Plus, the modern food industry isn’t the pure-evil behemoth that it’s often made out to be; it’s because of this food industry that you’re able to conveniently buy all the food you need.

That said, major food companies and lobbyists regularly overstep their bounds. Unsavory Truth will teach you to think more critically about any nutrition information you come across, and it lends some insight into how often evidence is misrepresented or taken out of context. For me, an indirect takeaway of the book was that it’s really up to you to choose how to eat. Many headlines about “superfoods” or very rigid diets are, in fact, sponsored by companies who have a vested interest in getting you to buy these things. It’s best to ignore them and stick to eating a flexible and varied diet filled with plenty of nutritious foods.

Buy the Book

via Outside Magazine: Nutrition

[thebigladjake]

AX3001: Oddyssey TV Show - Research - The Subconscious and why I think it has huge potential for storytelling.

My fixation of the Subconscious in my recent work stems from the fact that I think it’s a creative reflection of someone’s personality. Even if the person isn’t that particularly creative themselves, we get a view into how they see the world and maybe what they even want. And this fascination I have has come from several places in media. With the first place being an internet animated show known as The Big Lez Show.

The Big Lez Show

The Big Lez show is about Leslie Mackerel and what at first just appears to be a middle aged Australian guy just living his life. However, as the series goes on we learn more about Lez and the fact that he’s technically an alien who was banished from his home planet, has a bitter rivalry with his brother, Norton and eventually an epic hero who saves the world from the Choomahs.

A big part of the show is the stoner comedy aspect of Aussie culture and the friends tend to relax by getting high and talking about the kind of things high people like to talk about. All kinds of deep topics and in Choomah Island 2, several characters talk about the subconscious and Lez goes on a journey of self-discovery to realise what he truly wants in his life.

It’s a bit of a watch, but I thought I might as well include it since it’s free. Choomah Island 2 is the boys going on a mission to finally put this Choomah problem to rest. And in typical Big Lez fashion, once the boys are on the island. They don’t go about their mission, instead they choose to get high and talk about all the mad things in life and the talk of the subconscious begins as Mike Nolan and Big Lez are lying down looking up at the sky.

This is one of the first times Lez gets consensually high and has a trip, previously he was spiked by Sassy the Sasquatch, and here Mike Nolan explains to him how he realised that his dream was all in his head and the fact that all his friends were in the dream means that they all exist within his subconscious.

Mike then goes onto say how we’re all one as when we make others happy, we make ourselves happy and the opposite applies too. That in reality we are all one, Lez doesn’t buy it until he sees a hallucination of his face in the clouds that tells him to listen to him. Setting up a whole karmic retribution theme to this movie.

Lez’s adventure truly begins when he parts from the group to chase a fallen star. After an encounter with the Choomahs, Lez sits down and smokes a joint that Sassy gave to him in case he got lost, getting lost being more figurative than literal. Lez then goes on a journey through his subconscious where he learns the truth about his existence and the fact that it’s a show, however that isn’t the focus. 

Lez learns about the possibilities of Microsoft Paint from Sassy the Sasquatch as he meets him in a dimension of his own creation. Sassy goes onto say that it’s a dimension in his own head and going back to what Mike said, that we’re all connected and we are one, Lez can see it too. Lez doesn’t understand and asks Sassy why he brought him here, but Sassy says it was his decision to come.

Sassy goes onto explain that right now they are outside the box, yet still inside it. Eventually showing Lez the Microsoft Paint GUI and telling him to draw what he wants from life. Lez draws a picture of him shooting Norton, saying how much he hates him and how he can’t stand Norton being in the same world as him. With some guidance, Sassy helps Lez to realise that killing Norton isn’t what he wants and what he really wants is to be happy.

Lez wakes up, physically and spiritually as his trip ends and he realises exactly what he wants. With a little guidance from Sassy, he was able to come to the conclusion that he wants to be happy and viewing things from a more positive angle.

I personally find this kind of development really interesting because technically it’s all the character’s doing and they just needed to really look at themselves to figure out what they wanted. Not only that, we get to see what the characters really think about that other person and we see how important their friendship must be if they’re appearing in each other’s subconscious. Big Lez definitely planted the seed while my playthrough of Earthbound helped me to realise the potential in trippy subconscious settings.

Earthbound and Magicant

Upon many things, Earthbound is the main driving force behind Oddyssey as I believe it could be a really successful formula for a show for kids since it’s actually good and a show for adults to sort of remind them about the magic of being a child. And a really memorable part of the game is Magicant, a moment where Ness is alone once more and has to defeat the darkest part of his subconscious without the aid of the friends that he has made along the way.

Earthbound gives us a little more to chew on rather than Big Lez, since it’s a game that allows us to explore Ness’ subconscious at our own pace. The first thing I want to talk about is Ness’ resting place is viewed as his home. Throughout the game, you’ll need to rest to freshen up all of your psychic points and hit points and you can always go back home to Ness’ Mother and get a free rest, however that can be extremely inconvenient when there are hotels in your current town. You don’t see her often and can talk to her on the phone to cure Ness’ homesickness which effects him in battle.

However, Ness’ family appearing in his mind as his place of rest is really sweet because it shows us just how much they mean to him without Ness saying a word. His Mother gives him a chance to rest and eat his favourite food, Tracey will hold onto any items that may be clogging up your inventory and King the Dog is there for emotional support. 

Ness can also reflect on previous memories here, he can meet his past self, friends from his hometown and several snowmen that he once built. One snowman specifically says something I find could beautiful, “We had fun one snowy day, I melted away but I still exist in your memory.” and I can’t really explain why I love this saying as much as I do. But, there’s something about it that I relate to massively, I feel like it might have something to do with the characters and worlds I used to create using the resources I did have. 

Another character of interest is Pokey Minch, a character who was Ness’ cowardly and rude friend gone bad throughout the story of the game. You can find him in Ness’ Magicant and we see how Ness thinks that he is rude, but on some level wishes that they could still be friends and that he didn’t go down the path that he did.

Another part of Ness’ Magicant is the house of the Flying Men or Man. Half man, half bird figures that are the symbol of Ness’ courage, you can ask for them to accompany you to the Sea of Eden and they prove to be quite capable. Them being a symbol of Ness’ courage dwindles if the Flying Man falls in battle, with each Flying Man getting less and less hopeful. Unfortunately, none of the enemies in Magicant really seem to represent anything significant to Ness’ psyche which is a shame.

Nothing in the Sea of Eden really sticks out as a symbol of Ness’ personality and subconscious. But, the whole reason Ness had to journey here was to defeat a great evil within... Ness’ Nightmare, Ness’ embodiment of evil, he must be destroyed for Ness to succeed in defeating Giygas.

What’s so fascinating about Ness’ Nightmare is that it implies even a good kid like Ness has evil within, and I think we can all picture a version of ourselves that is all of our negative traits incarnate. As if this could happen to absolutely anyone, we all have the capacity to be evil I believe. It’s just some people don’t want to be evil while others may do.

I think making the audience think about these themes and consider their whole past and their whole view of their world is what Magicant is all about and I most certainly hope that this is something that Oddyssey would be able to capture.