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transfemininomenon · 2 years

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38 and 40 for elizabeth and 62 and 63 for moonshadow teehee

BLESS

38. What fairytale/myth suits your character the best?

oh LOVE this question this is gonna be a Long answer lmao i very much base my characters a lot off of those things

well there's the obvious one with elizabeth in vampire stories in General lol not only is her patron a vampire she herself because of that patron has become a dhampir & draws power from her vampiric pact. surprisingly though i based most of her back story way less on vampire stories but instead off of ghost ones - ghosts are an incredibly inherent part of who she is & have been as far back as she can remember. in particular i drew inspiration from the haunting of hill house, the entire album Ghost by radical face especially, and banshees

the novella carmilla also was what inspired me initially to want to play a Vampire Girl and also inspired her noble background

finally wicked inspired SO much of her, both in the form of her having lost a sister she incredibly cared about and that kinda Breaking her a little bit, and also because pretty much her entire pact is based off of the major theme of misguided needs to "punish the wicked" that turns normally good, ordinary people into bloodthirsty horrors, with that happening both with her making her pact to Begin with after that very thing happened to her sister & now her doing it right back to the people she blames for her death

bonus bit for this question for my dear girl Primrose - i based a lot of her aesthetic, personality, and her drive to become a bard off of my own love for plays & old greek myths, with her initially being drawn to being a bard growing up both because of her mom telling her a lot of stories & her seeing the dnd equivalent of a midsummer night's dream as a child and that really Awakening something in her. her favorite story is also canonically the myth of orpheus & eurydice by flavored for dnd

40. Describe a corruption/redemption arc version of your character.

ohoho this is great because truly depending on how the campaign plays out i fully setup elizabeth to have one of these happen lol

as far as a corruption arc i could see her falling further into her violent & bloodthirsty side that awakens in combat in particular when she uses her form of dread, by either those starting to take over steadily as she fights more or out of desperation to get More Powerful either in the name of protecting those around her so she doesnt lose people she cares about Again or in the name of the vengeance that she swore & hasnt fully come to realize yet is incredibly misguided and will only perpetuate cycles of violence

for a redemption arc both her sister & her Ex-Girlfriend Who She Is Definitely Over were secretly worshippers of the raven queen & ever since things all went Wrong she's developed a real complicated relationship thinking about that goddess. this comes both from worship of her being outlawed in the region she lives in & from her having an INcredibly skewed and weird relationship with death & her simply not understanding why it comes for good people while awful ones get to survive

so that being said i fully expect her to have that strange relationship with the raven queen develop throughout the campaign & probably eventually come to some kind of Understanding and forsake her vampiric origins

62. Who does your character think is the most put together in the party?

honestly fully moonshadow definitely thinks morty is lol overall she actually thinks everyone is more put together than they each give themselves credit for considering all the Wild stuff theyve evidently been experiencing & going through (including some of the stuff she's been there for), but she thinks morty is the most put together in terms of like, seeing all the incredibly Wild shit going on and doing his best to be like "okay, okay, let's try to make SOME sense out of this,"

63. Which party member would they pull a prank on? Who would they plan a prank with?

absolutely would pull a prank on silas because she's endlessly fascinated by him seeming So Serious & yet also having so many goofy aspects of his appearance currently and she'd want to see if he even CAN be pranked. she'd absolutely pair up with elise and/or mal to plan pranks with because she trusts them the most to be up for Wild stuff

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theparadiseproject · 4 months

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How GEORGE PEREZ Saved WONDER WOMAN From Becoming a ‘Raunchy Sex Object’

George Perez: I didn’t realize until I came into the office of the then-editor Janice Race, and they were putting together a new Wonder Woman book, that there wasn’t a single woman working in that company — and you’re talking about a company whose publisher was a woman! — who was happy with the direction they were going to go in.there was just part of me — the inner feminist in me — who was really bothered that she was just kind of being thrown out.I mean without naming names, when I saw the artist who was going to be on that, I said, “The man is more used to drawing stuff like a Penthouse magazine.” Every woman will vilify this — the premier female character, and we’re going to make her into a raunchy sex object? Oh God, that is the worst direction you could ever take for this character!So, I had ideas for her. I was inspired by Walt Simonson and his take on Thor and by Ray Harryhausen. If you’re looking to challenge the gods, fighting skeletons, hydras, I figured what if Wonder Woman were done, before CGI, by Ray Harryhausen? That became a focus for me.Also, one thing that she is not supposed to be — she is not a female version of Superman, she is a character of mythology. Karen Berger agreed and said, “She’s a fantasy character; she’s not a superhero in the strict sense of the word. She’s a fantasy like Sinbad, all the great stories and myths, she’s a mythological character. Let’s play with that.”I said I also needed to clean up her mythology because she was a mixture of so many Greco-Roman plus modern (influences). I said, “Let’s go back to classic Greek and let me do what I can with that.” And I didn’t realize at the time that ever since the death of (creator) William Marston and H.G. Peter, the original artist on Wonder Woman, there hadn’t been a single writer or artist who ever volunteered to do that book. It was an assigned book. No one wanted to do Wonder Woman. I was the first person — particularly at a time when I could have asked for any possible project and they would have said yes to it.

Title should be "How Perez Ruined Wonder Woman for good."

Finding this old article from 2019 before Perez passed away is him simply recalling everything that I have spoken about with his work on Wonder Woman.

He was more concerned with the women in the office and the supposed negative fallout among women in the audience with the character than he was with the actual character herself.

The editor that he worked for only reaffirms his bad decision to take the most iconic and quintessential female super hero in the genre and relegate her to that of a fantasy hero, totally misconstruing her character, and destroying the few good changes that had happened prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earth event that lead to this new reboot.

It was always obvious from the comic itself that Perez was more interested in his political leanings and own ideas for an 80s fantasy themed story feature Ancient Greek aesthetics and Greek mythology than he was in modernizing a faithful and earnest version of the classic character, but hearing him affirm the obvious is good.

He even turned down an artist that apparently drew the character like a "sexual magazine" as if that wouldn't align perfectly with the original career and art of her Golden Age artist H.G. Peter.

He clearly did not have the character's best interest at mind and was more concern with including the sensibilities of people that the character was not mean to appeal to.

While she certainly supported women and spoke of women empowerment and had many important explorations of gender and women in modern day. She was never a feminist, not meant to appeal to people who had issue with sexual art.

It was clear from their own misrepresentation of the character that those in charge did not have Wonder Woman's best interest in mind and it shows. Even the mythology he wrote was horrible and clearly just scrapped together for his ideal fantasy background.

This explains why the fandom is more interested in bad Greek Mythology and feminism than anything that is actually related to the character.

#ray harryhausen #wonder woman #william moulton marston #dc comics #diana prince #George Perez #karen berger #H.G. Peter #Penthouse #thor #80s fantasy #wonder woman meta

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alatismeni-theitsa · 3 years

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Hi! Hope you're doing well <3 I been reading some of your posts about LO and Greek culture in general! And as a non-greek I think your culture is amazing and it should be respected as any other culture, so, I had this question a little while ago

I made a couple of characters based on greek myth creatures, and I kinda had a story for them in an ancient greek inspired world (highly inspired tbh, I think it might take place in an ancient greek ambience as well), but now I think that might be insensitive (?) I don't know how to express it, but I just want to know, would it be ok if I continue with that idea or should I scratch it?

TIIIME TO FINALLY ANSWER THIS

I am really sorry for the long wait! I was trying to think how to answer this properly and also mustering the energy for it xD I will pin it so you can find it more easily, if you come back to the blog.

For starters, you can write whatever you wish. I am hesitant to say to people “you can't write this and that” because it might make people feel estranged and uncomfortable and I believe that distance serves no real purpose. Yes, it’s likely that a xenos won’t be making the story VERY culturally accurate but if the story is 30% culturally accurate as opposed to barely 5% which we see in the popular media today, then it’s still a win. Not to mention that Greeks themselves are not 100% culturally accurate most of the time in their Greek mythology stories. This happens because 1) Americanization has hit us hard 2) They write them just for fun without bothering to research much. We are also lucky if we have a 30% accuracy in our texts most of the time.

(I love percentages if you can’t tell 😂)

You might have figured out I have the tag #writing (and perhaps also #writing advice ??) where I answer these type of questions, so visiting it might help! I'm not gonna tell you if you can write it or not - you can write whatever you like - but I would advise you to treat the Greek culture like any other real or fictional culture. Do a proper “worldbuilding”, let’s say.

THE CREATURES

As you know, some are more serious and some are more playful. They don’t easily “switch” from their behaviors so it’s best to keep a serious creature serious and a playful creature playful throughout most of the story. Some reading is needed, to figure out how the ancient Greeks saw those creatures. Because assumptions are usually not helpful. If we have no clues about their behavior, that’s free real estate I guess 😂

Now, if you are going for the “almost like Greek culture but not quite” thing, that still needs similar studying. You need to know where you are basing those creatures and how they see their world - or how the world sees them. And what elements make sense to change.

You can still not base the characters nowhere and just have a gal with snakes in her head. You can do that xD However, if you like to be more in touch with the culture you need to use some context and the “ambience” you talked about. It’s another thing to say “this gal has snakes on her head“ and another to say “this is THE Medusa“.

Some Greek culture needs to shine through. I mean, it would be great if it could shine though in general, so your references and basis to Greek mythology are better. It would be safe to assume the ancient folklore creatures have some Greek culture in them since they have Greek names, they have been written in Greek stories behaving according to the Greek societal rules and ethics, and generally being symbols in Greece until our days. And your story is about Greek mythology, so you want to emphasize the Greek aspects of your heroes and world.

THE ANCIENT GREEK INSPIRED WORLD

I don't know what research you’ve done so far but I will begin from the basics anyways. Ancient Greek ambience, as you can probably guess, is not “chitons, wine, vines and white pillars” 😂 The ambience specifically doesn’t come from the aesthetics but from the feel of it - the food, the customs, the symbols, the dances, the language interjections, the behaviors and values. Parts of the culture are also how is reverence and modesty are expressed, what makes someone present “manly“ or “feminine”. So, it’s gonna take some research.

People usually write some of the aesthetic and think they are covered, even though their worldbuilding is bad, precisely because they have only presented the very top of the iceberg. No food, no dances, no certain behaviors, nothing. You could say they are “soulless Disney remakes”. 😂 You can also do that, but you need to know how it will come out. It might be quite bland and, if I am not mistaken, you said you want to avoid that. (And I think most of Greeks would tell you that they don’t mind a Greek “soulless” remake but it would be super extra great if you put cultural elements in).

Ok, I don’t mean make it like an encyclopedia, but presenting some stuff from the culture is how you get the ambience. You might as well take a writing advice list for worlbuilding stuff you must have and see which ones you can find irl from the Greek culture.

Important! Remember that nearby cultures affect each other, so if you change one element from the Greek culture it’s likely it has to be changed in other cultures next to your area. If wearing green makes you manly in Imaginary Greece, it will also make you manly in Imaginary Turkey and Imaginary Bulgaria, let’s say. (there is no “ancient Turkey” or “ancient Bulgaria” as countries - and depending on the era, “ancient Greece” is also not a thing - but you get my point xD)

For the interpersonal relationships/interactions, you can read some ancient translated texts presenting daily life situations of the ancient Greeks (start from Googling stuff, I really don’t have sources for that xD). It’s very likely that the ancient sources won’t give you a very defined feel (try it anyways, if you like). Therefore, I suggest you see interactions of modern Greek people.

Worry not! YouTube - through me xD - has you covered! Searching the tags #greek tv #greek youtuber #greek podcast and #video. On youtube you can even find vlogs of people visiting Greece and see interactions with the locals. (If you have trouble finding them, you can send me another ask).

Similarly, it might take months to find all the Greek language interjections so you can go for modern ones. Besides, many interjections like “popoo“ are ancient. Besides, if you are not making a very “serious” story, the modern touches might help it feel more in touch with the present.

Surely, people are people everywhere and humans between countries share cultural traits, but there are some slightly more predominant stuff depending on the culture. Cultures close to each other share more traits, so, if you can’t find any Greeks around, you might be able to find our neighbors. Middle Eastern, north African, or south European people (and Hispanic/Latino Americans!) around might help to understand the dynamics between friends and family members. If you already belong to some of those cultures, congrats, you have most of the formula figured out!

I gave so much space to the interpersonal relationships because that’s gonna give you an idea where the line of “respect” is. Surely, the ancient interpersonal relationships won’t be like the modern American ones 😂 There is no way a student goes to Chiron being like “hey, man, how you doin?” Knowing how Greek teachers were, as late as the 20th century, that’s gonna earn him a slap 😂

Another thing: saying “Good morning” and “good afternoon / goodnight” when you first and last see people in the day is VERY important and the best social practice! You won’t be considered rude if you don’t say them but in a slightly formal and especially professional environment, better use them. (Other modern Europeans also consider this a good practice.)

The most ancient greeting of Greeks is “be happy” (χάιρε / χαίρετε) but health is also very important and is another old greeting. Xάιρετε is more formal in our days and Γεια/Γεια σας ("have good health”) is the most used formal and informal one. Seeing how people wish health in the middle east, it might be that the Health thing has been here for centuries. Also, if you break something or something bad happens to you, we say “health” because having your health is more important than anything else.

Fun fact, “Charon“ (Χάρων) probably means “the happy one” :P It has the same root with (χάιρε / χαίρετε).

Many other social cues can be found in the tags I mentioned, but you can send me an ask if you need to know something more specific!

As for the food, you can find ancient recipes and even use modern ones (which are usually with the same ingredients). Same goes for dances and symbols. You can google stuff about them, go on Google Scholar and search there, as well. (Also, google pages where you can download those papers for free ;) ) Please do some cross examination to make sure that this element indeed exists and it’s not just one person pulling it our of their a**. 😂

If you can’t find info, you can lean on modern symbols and dances. The dances are similar through the centuries anyways. No one is going to come for you if you say you based an element on a modern Greek thing bc the ancient one was impossible to find with the resources available to you.

I don’t have many more things to add on these cultural elements because I already have tags for the modern ones. #greek cuisine #melomakarona #greek dance #greek custom #greek tradition etc.

And, last but not least, research the weather!! I can't stress this enough 😩 We are not a desert and we are not the Tropics. If your weather is similar to the Greek one, then your creatures most likely will need some serious covering in Autumn and Winter 😂

All in all, it’s certainly not a piece of cake to write about other countries and cultures but, if they are open to let you in, you can learn stuff and do your best depicting them. It might not be perfect (and no work is actually perfect) but it would be a step to the right direction and might encourage more writers to do the same - instead of throwing some chitons in and calling it a day xD

If you have any other questions feel free to send me another message (dm or ask). You - or anyone else - REALLY WON’T BOTHER ME if you ask me many questions on my DMs or here.

#writing #answered #retelling #greek myhtology #excuse my tags i am just making this post easier to find #writing advice

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metvmorqhoses · 3 years

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I'm curious to know what are your favourite things about The Secret History and the things you dislike (if there are any?) I love it when you talk about that book. I've never seen anyone have as much insight about it as you do.

i’m biased, dear anon. i have spent the entirety of my teen years (and now in a more relaxed way my twenties), in a very similar setting to that of the clique of the secret history: i went to a very élite classical lyceum, had a very charming yet manipulative classics professor who was regarded by everyone as a spiritual leader, i only breathed latin and greek for years, marveling at the beauty of it and the shallowness of the people who studied it (only quoting in ancient languages to feed they undeserved superiority complex and to prove their status), and even managing not to kill anyone in the process. it’s a period of my life i’m very fond of, even magnanimously disliking it in retrospect. even if i ultimately think the 98% of the things i know are not a merit of that high school setting but of my personal studies and interests, even if it was a very toxic environment that took a heavy tool on my on health, still i wouldn’t choose any other school.

i’ve been enamoured with the classics all my life. being italian, those are not so much strange and exciting exotic subjects to me as they are cultural roots and pillars. i was told greek myths as bedtime stories, i grew up waking among the breathtaking vestiges of the roman empire and the still standing greek temples. my very mother tongue is ancient greek and latin’s love child. i am a cultural heir of the classics and i feel this role of mine really deeply and i mourn for the fact modern italians don’t really realise their luck, taking all this for granted, not cherishing the cultural greatness history bestowed upon them. studying these subjects is considered outdated and a waste of time at best. still, here i am.

so you see, of course i love the secret history. i relate, i laugh, i recognize myself in it. yet, i have to confess, despite what i have just written, the thing i love the most about that book is the raw writing. donna tartt strikes chords no matter the subject, and that’s still the primary thing that drives me to her books.

that said, the secret history is a far from perfect book, especially since it’s famous to the point of nausea. it’s undoubtedly a bit ridiculous, it’s undoubtedly a bit of a satire, it’s undoubtedly taken much too seriously or not seriously enough. i think the fatal flaw of that book have ultimately been its success. it was probably never truly understood, not by its obsessed fans, not by its fervent detractors. it’s sad it became but a fashion. the problem with it to me it’s the audience it attracted: either young people who enjoy to emulate that “aesthetic” (word that literally lost any true artistic meaning and that is now rather ridiculous itself), probably to spice up their academic experiences, turning everything into dark academia (nothing wrong with it, but it’s become dull af) and causing the rising of disgraceful books like if we were villains, or inferiority complex carriers who think everything concerning “rich white people” (term that doesn’t really mean anything in europe) to be only worth hating on and being set on fire. either interpretations are lame, to say the least, and i’m afraid to say this lameness in same way infected the book itself, at least in my eyes. that book really became famous for the wrong reasons and it’s tiring to always expect people, especially americans who have just no clue about these subjects in general, to respect the classics for what they are and not because they are a cool educational accessory they think they can wear to show off and bend to their own modern ideas. somehow tartt herself bent many things in order to meet her own literary agenda. i suspect her own knowledge of the classics to be at best lacking. but this is not merely a problem of the secret history, as much as it is a problem of the modern approach to classics in general and to greek myths in particular. it’s painful to witness, really. this is also the reason why i now don’t really enjoy anymore answering classics-related questions. every time i do, i feed with rare information an “exploitational” culture i don’t respect, that only uses what i say to make the knowledge that created humanity kneel to their own modern interests (the virgin goddesses? proof of asexuality. hades? a dorky dog owner and best husband of the year. zeus? apollo? rapists and villains). i am not saying that myths cannot be regarded as stories and cannot inspire fiction (in fact, they must), but today the fundamental differences, the line between mythos and fiction is not just blurred, but nonexistent. it’s depressing and disheartening.

somehow, this tiredness of mine applied to the secret history as well. sometimes i really wish it was never famous tbh.

#i hope i wasn't too bleak dear anon #and thank you #tsh #classics #one and one thousands stories lis told #asks/replies #anon

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seeminglyseph · 3 years

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trying to address my brain fog by reading about greek mythology. I’ve found I can watch very few videos on the subject because of the absolute surety people will say absolute bullshit without any acknowledgement of how much we don’t know, how much history and mythology is missing, and do not at any point acknowledge the holes in their research. I swear I hear the words “Persephone only had one myth” and I go a little crazy.

though that being said I do find ganymede really interesting and I know what he’s supposed to represent and that he’s the very root of the word ‘catamite’ but... as his exact age is not directly addressed I can make him a really young looking twink, and technically since Zeus stopped him from aging physically he could be any age. Honestly I like the idea of a ganymede who has grown old in mind and cynical about the world. also helps that there are a few stories where Eros cheats him though I haven’t read the full writings, it could be interpreted as a frustration with Eros inspiring Zeus’ attraction. (though it is interesting to try and think of what the most beautiful mortal should look like. I think the main descriptions are like... ‘young, prince, shepherd, fair haired, so fucking pretty’ I’ll have to look at some greek male models to try and get an understanding for a good face structure. I need to do that regardless because there are far too many greek gods with button noses and tiny chins in modern art. though I admit I have some trouble translating the completely straight bridge into art. I keep thinking ‘it must dip in from the brow’ but nay tis not the case in a lot of art so hopefully I can find some references from multiple angles.

also I have to get better at drawing curly hair because also there are too many greek gods in modern art with straight hair (though admittedly it’s easier to draw ‘cause it’s got no texture or definite shape, you can ignore straight hair for the most part when you’re drawing, and hide a lack of skill easier.) I also need to learn how to draw beards because I do appreciate that most adult male greek gods were drawn with beards. you know to symbolize their strength and masculinity and stuff. but they are hard to draw and I need to figure out different styles for different gods. I think it’s mostly Dionysus, Hermes and Apollo of the main gods that don’t have beards entirely to emphasize their youth and beauty (hence Dionysus losing the beard when adapted to myths where he’s a younger beauty, old old Dionysus had a beard and represented a lot more than I can ever hope to know because of the nature of time and the loss of information. I am giving him horns back though)

I need to sort through the headwear that set the women apart. Hera and Persephone both have a sort of diadem which makes sense since they’re queens, Aphrodite has like a band holding her hair up, Athena has a war helmet.... I know everyone had shorthand clues for less detailed art (trident, hades’ dual headed spear, zeus’ lightning, hermes’ hat so on...) so I want to find a way to keep those things in the character designs somehow. it’s hard sorting art sometimes because so much has been mislabeled and so much art the online source has since been deleted and ‘all pottery art looks the same’ and it’s like ‘here’s zeus reigning as king’ and it’s hades but he’s in a throne so like assumptions were made. And everyone thinks modern aesthetics should effect ancient hades, yes he was dark robed and mysterious but he wasn’t the weird skinny goth of the brother kings. he just like.... doesn’t have as many myths and was faithful to his wife. Didn’t need a story about why you should respect the god of the dead, whether you feared him or not doesn’t matter in the end when he takes possession of your soul.

In general I need to do so much research on poseidon, poor guy I know like none of his myths.... but I’m landlocked and afraid of the ocean so it kind of adds up. even the myths I do know are confusing because like where DO cyclops come from? fuck the illiad and the odessey are so long and require so much active thinking while reading to translate the sentence structure. And the books that summarize or retell myths in a modern language tend to...leave me feeling like I heard a second or thirdhand story and since they aren’t exactly essays with sources and footnotes I end up like ‘okay where is it that Zeus makes the decision to make Zagreus his heir?’ all I can find is that he was made heir and held the lightning bolt which enraged hera, but I swear there was a particular reason Zagreus was put on the throne and now I’m wondering if it wasn’t just ‘Zeus had a shiny new kid and was tired of people threatening to overthrow him so he made the kid the heir to shut everyone up’ trying to find stories about how zeus and demeter ended up having a child indicates that it was definitely rape but like..... it just goes back to demeter taking her daughter back not how zeus came to have sex with her in the first place? though sometimes it’s interpreted as the snakes? Zeus turning into a snake to have sex with both Demeter and Persephone gives me a feeling one myth got split into two but it’s hard to do research when you are....... not a researcher. and doing it casually with various websites that have archives of data and images. I don’t even know where to start looking into academic essays.

ahhh I know there’s shit talking about having things of cultural significance written down and colonialism but not knowing linear b or what happened in the dark ages is probably going to be my villain origin story. ‘hi yes I invented time travel to figure out the mythology that got lost’ like especially when it comes to trying to split off the christian influences (sorry norse mythology, it’s almost impossible to count what all the christians wedged in there sometimes)

also my knowledge of the heroes is really limited I found the gods way more interesting but I do need to figure out all the stories of like theseus and heracles in order to get the fullest story of the gods. I know the bare bones of heracles but I swear there was a prophecy he would overthrow his father but all I can find is the prophecy about metis’ hypothetical future son. which would be interesting to work with because as far as I’m aware you can’t actually avoid prophecy and if you do something to prevent a prophecy from happening it actually causes the prophecy to happen, right? and last I checked metis was still alive in there, acting as Zeus’ advisor and having forged Athena’s armour.

there’s so much information I need to learn before I start figuring out what to disregard to make up my own story... people are gonna complain about my Dionysus but I do not care, I liked him when he drove people mad for not respecting him and was a god of undesirables.... y’all can think the guy on my calf is there to get wasted but it is my own tiny declaration of rebellion. (I have in my head this idea of Hellenization of Dionysus being a plot point. since Zeus had already decided Dionysus would be the god of wine and relief from stresses, I see Dionysus returning to mt olympus grown and more serious than what zeus wanted with horns that both reminded him of Zagreus and of a more serious and dangerous kind of god. So his horns are broken off and he’s influenced to function among the olympians in a more agreeable fashion until you know... a return to sorts. It’s not a fully planned story and it’s is partially inspired by the lyrics ‘they broke your throne/they cut your hair’ and so on. maybe I am very angry and projecting that anger onto Dionysus but I like it... there’s so much work to do before I can even think of publishing a finished product in some form that my little fictional universe of greek gods can adapt to what I emotionally need in a story being constructed in my head?maybe it’s cathartic to be angry at a dad who is a fictional representation of the king of the gods and not dead in a small box in my parents room.

Also I feel like Dionysus is one of those gods who’s been ‘prettied up’ so much he’s almost unrecognizable and combined with the myths about him being raised as a girl it’s a really relatable idea to have him be forced to perform a version of himself that is untrue to gain approval from his family, but burning up with anger and pain inside until.... I guess in the fictional universe I am creating he starts a rebellion and a new war of the gods? which means I have to research each god thoroughly to figure out whether they’d be with Dionysus or Zeus. (kind of where Ganymede comes in as another man forced into a role of perpetual youth for the enjoyment of others, comes in as a co conspirator. like I know sometimes he’s also the constellation aquarius but I’m thinking... what better ally for the god of wine than Zeus’ official cup filler? I think they would have an ability to connect.)

#just rambling endlessly about greek mythology again #seph talks greek myth #obviously all my observations and interpretations are on a fictional level #the muses are not speaking the truth through me I have an idea and a passion and I want to work with them #my story is not intended to fit in with mythology as being just as true it's a fanfic #and besides that it's in such early stages it'll probably be 2030 by the time anything's collected or created enough to publish #definitely put some 'inspired by' on it #but I want to do proper research... which when I have money and the plague passes may involve me taking as many classics courses I can #which is disappointingly not a lot but one day maybe I'll be able to travel for an education

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gayregis · 4 years

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I like the 900s-1000? setting but is there another time period you think would be interesting for The Witcher books? Just for fun :) I think 1780s, 1890s, and 1920s would be cool with the changes in technology and fashion and music! Or for distant past maybe ancient world like 2nd century BCE (considering the lyre is the ancestor of the lute) I like to think abt the diff biomes/climates for magic creatures (not Northern Europe) would be fun to see more of too since it’s mentioned a bit

oh yea! i think the witcher is great because so many of its characters are translatable to other time periods and settings... think about it: the hansa is comprised of a warrior, poet/musician, archer, medic, soldier, and a bandit ... searching for a princess-turned-warrior and a sorceress... these tropes, or at least the tropes equivalents, exist in almost every situation

i think the ancient greece/ancient mediterrenean inspired setting would be pretty interesting (my classics minor is acting up...). dandelion reminds me of an athenian somewhat LOL, but rather i think he would still also be quite bizarre in that kind of environment because lyric poets were also intended to dedicate themselves to one court in that setting as well as in the regular canon, and - this also relates to geralt - everyone was expected to identify themselves with one city-state or location, one family... i think the only border i have to an ancient greece-themed AU is just how overwhelming the slavery and misogyny of that specific setting period is to me. like, it’s kind of the backbone of the society, you can’t really depict an “ancient greek-esque” situation without slaves, even if you’re just using it as inspiration for a fantasy. and even though places in nilfgaard have slaves in canon, it’s really not at all a focus or something constantly present in the books. i suppose medieval serfdom is just “slavery but make it pretty” but yeah it’s just too much to put your protagonists in for me.

i also like the wild west AU ... i don’t play red dead redemption, but my friends do, and it looks great ... creepyscritches drew the witchers on horses with cowboy hats... i have regis’s backstory translated and planned out... dandelion basically lives and breathes from one saloon to the next... but i still have issues because the “period of the wild west” is extremely political and the “expanding west” literally just = violent colonialism. so i’d also be apprehensive to be too interested in this AU without a ton of research (since this is not a period of my expertise).

i think the warring states period in china would be super interesting to draw upon as a setting. i think the advances in military and intellectualism in this setting really mimic the witcher’s kind of political situation. and idk about the specific origins of the myth but i think it would be fucking funny for regis to have to clarify that no, he does not hop around because his body is stiff from rigor mortis ... but then also i think chang’an from the tang dynasty (like , ~ 1,000 years later) reminds me a lot of novigrad due to the cosmopolitan nature. so maybe it would end up being more of a whole mishmash of ancient china and ancient east asia.

i also like 1920s AU... i’m someone who unironically enjoyed reading the great gatsby so... and i’d be fucking lying if i said i hadn’t thought about a 1970s/80s AU just to be able to put dandelion in nice outfits... but these AUs are more just for aesthetic than for anything else

maybe it’s also boring but i thoroughly enjoy the modern life AU ... maybe it would be different as in there is not a lot of resemblance to the canon story and universe (cahir didn’t like... kidnap ciri) , but rather just to basically show everyone living together happily.

#anon #ask

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sebaekberry · 4 years

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tag game 🌿

Rules are: answer the questions given by the tagger. write 11 questions of your own. tag 11 people.

thanks @cottonhyun for tagging me. I loved your questions, so creative!! might steal some of them for my questions too. I didn’t tag 11 people but if you want to do this, go nuts. tag me in it, too and I’ll happily read it. and if you don’t want to do it, no worries.

your questions:

1. Least favourite fruit

huh I don't think anyone has ever asked me this?? it took some thought ngl. I like almost all fruits, I'm not at all picky. ok maybe except for green grapes. they leave a chalky after-taste.

2. How would you achieve your own ultimate goal in life?

maybe this sounds sappy, but my ultimate goal in life is just to be happy. I've been spending a lot of time lately just figuring out what I want my life to be and how to achieve it and I keep coming up blank. but I've realised that I kept planning for ten and twenty years into the future instead of living in the present and focusing on what makes me happy right now where I'm at. and I think it's important to keep in mind that the future will happen whether you want it to or not so try to make the most of it in the moment. uh rant over, my bad

3. Describe the perfect day

oof it's missing the homies hours rn, big time. I want to be outside, having chill picnics with friends, playing games, and going swimming. or even just the little things, like going to my favourite reading spots, biking through the city, going to the movies, to the shops, to the museums !! if I could do any of those things freely, I'd be super happy.

4. Still or carbonated water?

oh still water for sure. carbonated water is like static in your mouth, don’t come at me

5. Best childhood memory?

is it weird that I don't actually have one? like it's not that I had a bad childhood, not at all. I just...feel so disconnected from my childhood. I know there were things I enjoyed like swimming, picking wild strawberries, greek mythology, painting and climbing, etc but there is no one specific memory that I can think of.

6. If someone is visiting your country for the first time, what kind of activities / sightseeing would you recommend them?

restaurants!! I live in stockholm and we have such a wide selection of food places, literally every type of cuisine you could imagine. a stroll through Gamla Stan is nice any time of year, maybe stop for some ice-cream, waffles or afternoon tea, a quick look inside the sci-fi bookstore there is always nice. there are waterways everywhere so I really recommend a walk somewhere along the water. stockholm is pretty small compared to other cities, so maybe bike around as many places as you can? part of our public transport is also by boat. museums and outside exhibits! bergianska trädgården. so many amazing cafés to get cozy in. late evenings on rooftop bars. the only con here is that everything closes pretty early. so if you’re touristing, keep check of the opening hours

7. What’s your favourite song from the year you were born?

ok imma be honest and say I had to look up what songs were released in 1997 and bro..all the legendary songs: barbie girl, bitter sweet symphony, I’ll be missing you, candle in the wind, TORN. I mean the nineties isn’t even my favourite decade of music but damn...the bops. men in black came out in 1997, ain’t that iconic? and the spice girls wow “slam it to the left, if you’re havin’ a good time, shake it to the right, if ya know that you feel fine” indEED. don’t think I even can pick a favourite but everybody by backstreet boys is real contender, huh?

8. Are you happy right now?

hoo boy, ain't that a loaded question...uhh not really? I mean there's a lot to be said about the issues currently surrounding us that are fucking miserable to think about as well as the future impacts but we're not gonna unpack all of that now...ahem. but as for myself, it's not that I'm unhappy with where I am, it just feels like I'm at a standstill. like am I on the right path, is it leading me where I want to go, should I pick another one? actually, this could get real ranty so imma just stop right here lol.

9. Who is your role model?

I don't really have one role model above others, but more of a list of people who I admire (family, friends, musicians, writers, artists and craftsmen), whose qualities all combined inspire me to better myself.

10. Ice cream or ice lollies?

I...would die for ice-cream. sweden and our ice-cream selection, a solid 9/10. it would be 10/10 but there are so few brands that sell mint chocolate. yes I am bitter about it

11. An item you value the most?

about two years ago, I made my own journal out of some fabric, sewed in all the pages and everything myself, and I think that’s probably the most valuable thing I own. I've only filled 15 or so pages in it but I plan on using it for a long time and maybe passing it on to someone else some day.

okayyyy this got way longer than I intended it to, uh sorry lol. if you read all of that, I am half grateful and half apologetic. dunno who I should tag tbh, I haven’t done tag games on here for ages, and usually not on this blog, but I’ll steal some people from my activity feed and tag: @younglingyoda, @bunny-jungkook, @zhangzjs, @fluffyhunnie, @chaichanyeol, @vroomvroombaek 💞💞

my questions:

1. if you could be in any other place, where would you go?

2. drop your skincare routine

3. describe your aesthetic, use images if you want!

4. what’s your favourite song from the year you were born?

5. sour or sweet candy?

6. tell me your favourite story, myth or fairytale

7. what is your favourite sound?

8. a quote, lyric, or piece of advice that sits with you?

9. pick two scoops of ice-cream: chocolate brownie, salted caramel, vanilla, mango swirl, strawberry cheesecake, mint chocolate, salty licorice, pistacchio

10. what motivates you, what keeps you going?

11. if you could live in any fictional universe, which would it be?

#tag game #it's been so long since I did one of these it was fun! i should do more

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kite-writes · 5 years

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ABOUT THE WRITER

hi, i’m abi! i’ve been meaning to post this introduction for a while now - i’ve been dipping in and out of the writeblr community for a few years now, but i recently graduated uni and so finally have the time to dedicate to writing my own stuff. right now nullifidius (more about that below) is my only wip, although i’m also playing around with historical dark academia, a sci-fi plot about elves! in! space!, and a collection of short stories taking inspiration from each of shakespeare’s plays. ok. am not really sure what else to put here and will probably make a better intro soon, but in the meantime here are some facts:

i wrote my dissertation on mothers in early modern tragedy, and news flash: i love medea

i’m 22 and i’m from the uk - i live in a very boring town in the middle of nowhere. i’m gay and i write poems about 1) being gay 2) space

i really love greek myths and ancient greek history

please let me know (either through this post, dm, or ask) if you want to be on any kind of taglist for nullifidius - i’m going to start posting excerpts and character bios over the next few days, as well as aesthetic moodboards (which i am addicted to making) and playlists! it would be great to connect with more writers on here - if you like/rb this, feel free to introduce yourself and i will definitely check out your blog!!

ps. you can find me on goodreads here and my brand-spankin’-new writing twitter is here!

NULLIFIDIUS: THE GODS OF CATS AND BIRDS

GENRE

ahistorical fantasy; new adult

THEMES

lgbt; diverse; mythical creatures; supernatural creatures; astronomy; religion; gods; nature; female relationships; time; betrayal; prophecies; flora and fauna

POV

third person limited; past tense

STATUS

first draft; world-building; outlining

SYNOPSIS (under read more)

twenty and one more makes the wolf white eye waxing, white teeth flashing waiting in time and shadow and flesh.

In the ancient city of Corinth, times have changed. Harpies - females warriors, once known as the winged dogs of the father-god himself - still watch over the city, but the threats that once hammered at its walls are now so distant that they no longer trouble the memory of even the oldest fae: they are consigned to myth, to imagination, to folklore.

In place of War, Peace thrives. It reclines over the city like a well-fed calf - glossy-coated and bright eyed, senses lulled by the scents of sweet-grass and wild flowers, the drone of honey bees burying the sound of the rasping knife. Under its docile tranquility, centaur-drawn carts clatter down streets made cloudy with dust, silk-clad dancers pay a feverish homage to the stars, and selkies forget their water-lust under the intoxicating light of the moon.

And so danger, when it comes - in new stars in the sky, in spectral glimpses of the uncannily familiar, in blades waiting on the hillside - finds no resistance. It slips, weasel-fast, between cloven hooves, and slides beneath an unprotected underbelly undisturbed. When Peace finally startles - smelling the iron threading the breeze, feeling the nosing of claws at its open chest - it heaves itself onto unsteady knees, ungainly and drowsy in the summer heat. Head bowed, legs quivering, it moves to stand.

Too late, of course. It is already dead, even if it doesn’t understand it yet - even if the teeth in its throat feel foreign, and the gore matting its fur it doesn’t recognise as its own. It is dead.

Maybe this was fated. Maybe Peace is only ever meant as a sacrifice, to be bred and fed and fattened until the serrations of its dual existence - security and doom, future and altar, divine and defiled - catch at the skin of something ancient and terrible, which Peace will forever die to sate: a bog-body that refuses to drown blindly beneath the quagmire; a fly struggling against the amber that binds its wings. A forgotten god nursing a fierce and wounded pride, caged under a midnight sky by a people who insult him with their ignorant blasphemy. Peace is not the only thing he will claim in recompense.

When, one night, a trespassing cat witnesses the dark and gruesome depths to which forgetfulness is plunging the city, her path will be forever entwined with those of a stargazing gardener and a reluctant priestess, and together they will learn the reality of dreams, the strength of friendship, and the inevitable cost of outwitting the gods.

it will begin with a bee that does not sting; it will end with four birds who do not sing.

#writeblr #new writeblr #writeblr intro #writers on tumblr #writeblr community #written by // me #wip // nullifidius #here have a very very vague synopsis because i'm trying to avoid spoilers for now #i will say more as i go but basically: gods... lesbians... stars... and dreams #that's it. that's the book #sorry for any typos or anything i have read this 1000 times and rewritten it 1000 moreand i'm nervous #but excited to be here. i promise

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worrywirt · 4 years

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The music video for There There by Radiohead is a masterpiece and here is why

So, as many of you might know already, There There and Nude are my two favourite songs by my favourite band, Radiohead. They are two very unique songs that move me in different but equally intense ways. But what makes There There extra special to me is the video, which managed to combine basically all the things that I love: spooky forests, little animals in clothes, hollow trees with winding roots, references to fairy tales and literature and a dream-like, voyeuristic atmosphere. I am first going to analyse the song itself, then how combined with the video, it is one of my favourite pieces of media I have ever seen.

Lyrics here. As the song starts off, it already feels like the listener is dropped inside a weird, intense primal world. I love percussion-heavy music and when I first heard it, the use of tom-toms and alienating, hardly recognisable sounds already reminded me of one of my other favourite artist’s best-know song: Björk’s Human Behaviour. I can’t really explain it if you don’t hear it, but both have this hypnotic, primal quality that beckons you in right off the bat. Then Thom’s mournful voice sings: “In pitch dark/ I go walking in your landscape/ Broken branches/ Trip me as I speak”. Not to go all A-Level English on his ass because let’s be honest, Thom’s lyrics are often nonsensical and vague, but I love this verse so much. It goes perfectly with the instrumental, starting off in a way that is like the start of a story; the words painting you a picture that is both dreamlike and frightening. To me, it describes falling in love in a way: “I am walking in your world, and I don’t know the way, and it’s all new and confusing and dark and sometimes I say the wrong things but I am still exploring, and it’s beautiful”

After this start that frankly hits you in the chest like a basketball in year 9 PE, we are treated to a combo attack with the lines “Just 'cause you feel it/ Doesn't mean it's there”. In classic Radiohead fashion, all the perceived optimism from the first verse is denied from us, basically saying “just because you feel a connection, it doesn’t mean it’s real”. Trust issues central. But it can also be interpreted to mean emotions in general, which is usually how I (a very emotional person) interpret it: feelings technically aren’t real. And the way you perceive the world while you are Going Through It™ is not always correct. No, everyone doesn’t hate you because their world isn’t centred around you: stop obsessing. It’s okay. There, there. (This is also reinforced later on with “someone on your shoulder”, basically saying it’s just your brain playing tricks.) Additionally, some think it’s referring to a dream, which would fit thematically with the music video.

The next verse to me is about the temptation of a bad decision while Going Through It™. Yes, it would be very easy to do the wrong thing, to go off this path that is making it really hard to get up in the morning: but it would also ruin you. I also interpret “don’t reach out” as coming from the siren (i.e. surprise, surprise: depression) – it wants you to self-destruct, to be a “walking disaster” but that, however tempting, is the wrong thing to do. The use of “we” also works with the “someone on your shoulder” line, and to me (however cringy that sounds) it means that music will always be there for me and help me work things out. It can also be applied to the relationship angle: the couple are in the same boat (/ship), and if one of them does something self-destructive, it will affect both. Both of these options work with the “Why so green and lonely? (…) Heaven sent you to me” lines. It’s interesting because the religious interpretation on Genius always annoyed me – Radiohead are the least religious band ever! This is the only religious reference I can think of from the top of my head, minus “angel” in Creep – but because it’s so rare, maybe it has a reason to be here? Maybe it IS about God after all, but I don’t really think so. Also, to me the imagery of “green and lonely” and the nautical “siren” and “shipwreck” have a much bigger weight visually than “heaven”, so they negate the religiousness in my eyes. I think it’s about two broken people finding each other, but also finding it hard to figure out how to fit together. They’re thinking that it might be a lost cause and destruction is right around the corner, but the best they can do (is good enough) is try and be there for each other while they head towards their ultimate end. Very comforting in a twisted way, which is Radiohead’s specialty.

So, let’s talk about the VIDEO!!! I’m writing this after an HQ version was FINALLY released on their website, so I’m going to use screenshots of that because oh my god, it’s beautiful.

We start off with the “pitch-dark landscape”, more-or-less just as I imagined it while listening to the song. Although it is kind of drab and boring at the start, this only emphasises the magical quality of what it becomes later, as our protagonist Thom (I’m going to call him by name but I’m obviously referring to the character, not the real person) heads deeper and deeper inside. Oh, how I love forests in the dark. Nothing else has the same perfect ambiance.

Thom is walking in a way that matches the rhythm and the dreamlike atmosphere of the song, i.e. somewhere between an alien who just learned the way the Earthlings walk and the exaggerated, slightly sped-up movements of a silent movie star. We already know he has an affinity towards both bowler hats (Lotus Flower video) and pantomime-like acting (ANIMA) so this is truly on brand. He then sees dark clouds pass at a breakneck pace (again, the dreaminess of it all... chef’s kiss), then confused and lost, heads back into the forest which this time looks a lot less boring and “real” then at the start. The dark clouds can be interpreted as a warning of things to come (“stay out, not safe”), which he ignores or just a sign that something is off and we’re not in Kansas anymore.

So as he turns back, we’re treated to my first Favourite Moment: Thom finding the beckoning yellow light and deciding to follow it. The way he is acting suggests both curiosity and sneakiness, like he suspects the thing emitting the light is much better than his original destination (if he had a destination at all).

I love the way the light is illuminating his eyes here, it again reminds me very much of old movies (and Morticia Addams in the 90s movies, but probably because the filmmakers also took inspiration from the same well)

Oh my god, just look at this shot. Beautiful. Lothlórien who?? I only know magical glowy Radiohead forest. Because yes, we’ve obviously crossed the path between realms the minute Thom decided to pursue the yellow light (which can also be connected to the “siren singing you to shipwreck” in the lyrics). This is now the land of magic and fairy tales, and strange things are afoot.

Again, I gotta stop analysing for a moment and just note that the amount of serotonin this gives me would fuel 10 people for a year. For anyone who doesn’t know me well enough, animals in little clothes living in little well-arranged dwellings inside a tree are in the top 5 things that make me happy, and combined with Thom Yorke Radiohead peeking in the window like an innocuous tourist… and the warm light illuminating the miniatures… perfection. Okay, moving on.

Thom is exploring this strange world of anthropomorphic animals like an awkward giant, without seemingly anyone noticing him. This adds to the alienation seeping from the music: this is a weird and wonderful place but you don’t belong here (sorry for the Creep reference, swear it was not intentional). He first saw a pair of squirrels, chilling in their house; then a big banquet; then a cat wedding (power of 3, the fairy-tale number). If we are going with the dream metaphor here, these might be alluding to things happening in real life, especially the wedding as he actively walks away from it, but this is just a speculation. Mostly it just shows that these animals are living in a happy little community and we love that for them! But it also make me feel like this is a coping mechanism for our protagonist here. Apparently Thom (the real one) got the idea for this video from a children’s TV show called Bagpuss: I had a look and it’s the tear-jerkingly comforting and nostalgic stop-motion series that everyone needs one of in their lives (I have several, both English and Hungarian). The subtitle “The Boney King of Nowhere” refers to a song in episode 2 about a king who wasn’t comfortable on his throne: according to this link, this resonated with Thom, who found himself on a pedestal he never wanted. (It’s kind of funny that a little kid’s song about a king’s bony ass has such a sick name though). He also wanted the original creator of the show (Oliver Postgate) to animate the video but he declined. Anyway, the "fifties East European genre animation, overlaboured and naïve” aesthetic, to me, symbolises comfort and warmth that our protagonist doesn’t feel at home in.

So off he goes, into the dark heart of the forest. Also, important to note the patch of fog that keeps showing him the way: is this the siren’s song physically manifested, pulling him away from the warmth of community? (”don’t reach out, don’t reach out”)

He then climbs up and sees a golden coat on a tree inside some kind of ancient ruin. This to me immediately brought to mind the Golden Fleece from Ancient Greek myth, which was the fleece of a magical ram that hung on an oak tree. It signified kingship, linking back to the subtitle. Thom sneaks to the tree, looks up at the ravens (7 of them: another fairy-tale number) and when he sees they are sleeping, tries on the coat. I found it interesting how at this point the coat looks quite ordinary, drab and brown – possibly a metaphor for a decision that you know is bad but you do it anyway; and by the time you realise it actually didn’t feel as good as you thought, it is too late - he listened to temptation (the sirens). He even takes the boots from inside the tree, which reminded me of SO many of the folktales that I grew up on: it’s not enough that the bad sibling did this one bad thing, they even did ANOTHER bad thing, which cements the listener in believing them to be irredeemable and worthy of the awful fate the tale has in store for them. The ravens (birds of death and in this case agents of justice) wake up – Thom has a little “oh shit” close-up and then start running for his life in his new attire.

Addition: another theory I found interesting among the comments is that this place is Limbo - “

The gothic look of the ravens chasing Thom with the rising full moon is such a huge contrast to the warm, comforting glow of the stop-motion animal town, but it makes sense with the crescendo of the music and it’s dark and menacing cacophony: “we are accidents waiting to happen”. This was Thom’s mistake: and now there is no turning back. (Quick note: his running here reminds me once again of the Human Behaviour video – I am working on another similar essay that concentrates on how Radiohead and Björk are mirrors of each other so look out for that).

He thinks he is saved for a moment by the magical seven-league boots (another folktale reference) but it is only a false hope. He gets his punishment and turns into a tree by what we can assume to be a painful and terrifying process (I love his facial expression so much). The ravens arrive and we realise that this is most likely how the previous tree met his or her fate. The cycle continues. He is now the Boney King of Nowhere.

One of my favourite mental images is people taken over by nature: not in a decomposing way but more like a Hanahaki disease way. Thom turning into a tree reminded me of a couple of things: one, my other favourite piece of entertainment Over the Garden Wall, which is very similar in tone to this video (if I ever meet Thom, I genuinely only want to ask him if he’s ever seen it and if yes what his thoughts are on it). SPOILERS for OTGW: the Beast turns lost children into trees and uses oil from the trees to keep his lantern alive, which is basically his life source – in this case the tree-person seems to be the living beating heart of the forest. The way the tree-curse is transmitted also reminded me of how the lantern was (nearly) passed down to Wirt. Basically, it is an inheritable burden. Two, and this isn’t my interpretation but I thought I’d mention it: Daphne & Apollo, wherein Daphne hides from Apollo’s sexual advances by turning into a tree. This doesn’t really fit the tone of the scene in my opinion, because Thom’s transformation is an involuntary punishment; but it kind of connects to the other reference to Greek myth, Odysseus and the sirens (both chasing after women, or the impossible dream). Three: Dante’s Inferno, in which the second ring of the seventh circle is the Wood of Suicides where “the souls of the people who attempted or committed suicide are transformed into gnarled, thorny trees and then fed upon by Harpies, hideous clawed birds with the faces of women; the trees are only permitted to speak when broken and bleeding”. Whomp whomp, it was a suicide metaphor :/ And it wasn’t a dream, it was Limbo - a thematic preoccupation of the band, so not impossible.

A comment I found relating to this: “After death you have to cross over. He got distracted by the nice and shiny shoes and jacket (don't reach out), hence the siren that leads you to shipwreck (Odysseus). When you want to enter the spiritual realm you have to be able to leave the material world behind or you shall not pass. He was distracted, got caught and changed into a worldly tree (he was still to attached to the material realm). The so-called reality we live now is the dream. (Just 'cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there). He remembered that he died and came back to this illusion. We are stuck in a lift....” I really like this interpretation of Thom’s downfall being too attached to materialism/ fame & fortune. I wonder what he meant by “came back to this illusion”? Also, who are the animals in this scenario: aspects of Thom’s life or other people, stuck in Limbo/ every-day oblivion?

This wouldn’t be the first or last time Radiohead explores the concept of death, so I don’t think it’s far-fetched. And it fits with the lyrics too, as I’ve discussed briefly above: this is what happens when you listen to the siren (the fog, the light) and stray away from the cute animal town, Thomas! I’m joking because it is kind of a bummer to end it on this, but I just love how dense and layered this video is. Most of their videos are top-notch but this one just hits a really sweet spot for me, so yeah! 2500 words! I’m glad you came along, pardner! Goodbye till next time!

#radiohead #thom yorke #there there #the boney king of nowhere #bagpuss #otgw #sorry I didn't go into the sonic side of things I just don't know anything about it #music theory is a scam

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agentargus · 5 years

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Portal, Tomb, Elixir 💖💖

Portal: What’s the inspiration behind your agent(s) code name?

I had SO MUCH FUN choosing code names.

Harry was pretty straightforward: “Argus” is the name of a family of butterflies with eye-spots, named for Hera’s bodyguard in Greek mythology. Argus was transformed into a peacock when he failed to guard something (in some versions it’s the Golden Fleece, in some it’s the Golden Apples, etc.) Argus is also the name of one of the Knights of the Round Table in some versions of the myth. So we have a badass gentleman knight who struts around like a peacock and loves butterflies. It seems pretty appropriate.

Pru (Public Relations Unit) just uses her own name. I just played with potential acronyms until I found one that worked.

For Erik, I live relatively close to the source of the Hicks Road colony legend and was trying to use it in a way that separated it from the ableism of the original. In the original legend, the members of the colony were all albinistic because ableism says albinistic people are scary/weird apparently. “Alvinne” comes from the same root term (meaning “pale/white,”) but it refers to these specific ghost witches in French legend. It tied in nicely with my weird alchemical lore.

For my main three Repubblica characters, I just straight up took the names of Commedia Dell’Arte characters. Pantalone is the rich guy who the servant characters (including the clown characters) work for, so it made the most sense for Silvano, the fancy senior officer who got saddled with training the disaster siblings. Colombina is essentially the Italian version of the ballerina character in “Petrushka,” so it fit Giu, who I’d originally kind of intended to be a Burton-ized version of Natasha Romanoff lol. “Alichino” is actually a pun! In “The Inferno,” Alichino is one of the demons, but it’s also one of the names for “Harlequin.” In addition, it’s also the name of a species of androgynous demons in a manga I loved when I was a kid. So of course I had to give it to my genderfucked demon clown boy Dante.

Dara and Amira’s codenames, “Umbriel,” and “Abali,” respectively, are both stars. They work in space-time. Self-explanatory.

—

Tomb: Do they live at the manor or on their own? What does their room/place look like?

I only have two actual Roanoke agent characters and the rest work for sister organizations except for Billie, who is basically a squatter at the manor and crashes/charges on the couch. Pru lives there too, but she has her own room. It’s pink and pastel and pretty like something you’d find on an aesthetic blog, except for all the miscellaneous robot parts. It’s a little macabre, things like extra limbs, extra eyeballs, etc. I don’t know what living arrangements are like at Washington Avenue, but I would imagine that Erik probably shares a place with Ginny, whether that be in the manor or otherwise. There are at least five computers, if not more. Also comic books everywhere. I kind of get the idea that when left to his own devices, he leaves piles of clutter for days before flushing it out into the great expanse of the eldritch realms. Poor Ginny.

—

Elixir: How does your agent(s) act when intoxicated? Is there a society event they’ve embarrassed themselves at?

Harry holds his booze well. He has a lot of practice. Merlin could tell you stories about when he was young and stupid, though—despite being one to talk because we know what Merlin is like when he’s drunk lol.

Pru and Billie can only get synthetically drunk but when that happens, both have been known to just sort of stumble up to pretty girls, be like, “I just wanted to tell you’re really pretty and it makes me happy,” before kind of wandering away.

Giuliana is not allowed to drink anymore, even though her healing factor means that it takes a lot to get her drunk. As you would expect from someone with a lot of barely-repressed rage, she’s the least fun kind of drunk. Thus far, she hasn’t actually killed anyone at an Annual Gala, but she’s stabbed enough people that precautions are necessary. The worst time was when she beheaded someone (luckily, this particular individual was able to regrow two heads in its place, so it was fine. Many jokes were made about it for years to come.) Dante isn’t a very fun drunk either, but he mostly just cries a lot, usually about Lorenzo not liking him back. (Eventually, he moves on, but he nurses that crush for years lol.)

Silvano doesn’t drink. He likes to be as in control of his senses as possible. Erik doesn’t really like the taste of most alcoholic drinks. He tends to take one or two sips before “forgetting” where he left his drink.

Dara and Meli are my only fun drunks lol. They do a lot of silly party dances and stuff, it’s all just good fun.

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emmaaspris · 4 years

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Greek Mythology - Historical Research

Monday 27th January 2020

As part of our research, we must include some historical context as inspiration to our final diorama. As the theme of my idea is held in a garden, I thought of the old Greeks and their white statues and mythical aesthetic. There are many stories in Greek Mythology that include gardens, but the one that I think that inspires me most about the aesthetic and backdrop of my diorama is The Garden of Hesperides.

Garden of Hesperides

This was a legend about a garden belonging to the Goddess Hera full of apple trees, all of which bearing golden fruit. These were told to bring immortality to whomever ate them. Nymphs of the sunset protected and cared for the garden. Most sources say there were only three of these nymphs but others apparently point to there being four or seven. Although these nymphs carried a huge responsibility (looking after something that belonged to the queen of the gods), Hera didn’t trust them completely, so she stationed a hundred headed dragon named Ladon that never slept to keep an eye on them.

Inspired by this story, I want to incorporate some of these elements into the diorama. One way I will do this is by making golden fruit out of clay. I will do this using the skills I am learning in my practical workshops and ceramics elective. I will make golden grapes and golden apples as placements in the background and scene of my diorama. By making some of the objects in this scene gold, it makes it more understandable to the viewer as to why the slug character is reaching out and trying to touch them.

In many illustrations produced surrounding the theme of this myth, the garden is depicted as being extremely beautiful and prosperous in fruit and healthy plants. The nymphs are shown usually to be in the middle of their hard work in upkeeping the garden, drawing water from the river or checking the health of the apples. There is usually a source of water somewhere in most interpretations of the garden. This, I think, can be achieved in my diorama by using blue fabric, paper or tuissue paper to create a texture that could trick the viewer in interpreting it as water.

[Source: ‘Garden of Hesperides’ by Italian artist, Ricchiardo Meacci 1856 - 1900.]

The first known use of the word ‘Hesperides was in 1546. It has two definitions, both linking back to the Greek myth. One, a legendary garden at the western extremity of the world producing golden apples and two, the nymphs in classical mythology who guard with the aid of a dragon a garden in which golden apples grow.

—

In response to my research on the Garden of Hesperides Myth, in my electives I had made a pillar (which is to be painted white) for the background of my diorama. This, I plan, is to be semi hidden amounts leaves and greenery. This was an idea mainly inspired from the Italian painter’s interpretation of the garden, where it shows Greek pots on top of white, neat pillars. The flower on the side was something last second I added since I had the time to. I think this really adds to the prosperous message I’m going to try and show in my diorama, trying to illustrate just how beautiful and healthy this garden belonging to the queen of the gods really is.

—

When we went to the British History Museum, I was able to sketch and draw from primary resources. This taught me just how important primary research is, as I was able to gather a lot more information and ideas when I saw the historical objects in person.

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olivianeesan · 5 years

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I-I got tagged in a thing! *furious blushing* Thanks @wildenights! :D

ONE / name

Olivia. Liv. “Hey you.” Whatever you'd like :)

TWO / birthday

April 22nd. Earth Day!

THREE / zodiac sign

Taurus, Aries cusp, but I don't really think I'm particularly like any one sign. :X

FOUR / height

smol-ish, 5'3"

FIVE / hobbies

Writing, anime, games, Good Omens. That's a hobby now, it turns out.

SIX / favourite colors

Ocean colors - sea-green, teal, aqua, etc.

SEVEN / favourite books

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle-Riley; Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum; D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths; The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman; The Princess Bride by William Goldman; The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman + Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, and Steve Parkhouse (illustrators)

EIGHT / last song listened to

"The Betrayal" from the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack - it's on my writing playlist. ^^

NINE / last film watched

oh lord, "The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box" with Michael Sheen. This poor little movie only made $6,400 at the box office and you just kind of want to snuggle it and feed it chicken noodle soup. (Sheen, as always, is lovely.)

TEN / inspiration for muse

Other stories, usually

ELEVEN / dream job

Novelist/short story writer and itinerant philosopher

TWELVE / meaning behind your url

"Olivia" means "Olivia" and "neesan" (oneesan, oneesama, etc) means "big sister" and is used as a suffix here. I have no little brothers or sisters by blood, but I have many of them throughout the Internet/work/the rest of my life and I love them all <3

I guess next I'm to tag people, right?...sorry if any of you have already been tagged! @captain-rusticle, @ialwayssuckatusernames, @michaelsheensteponme, @sadcucumbersalad, @aesthetic-walnut, and @mywingsareinvisible!

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eledritch · 6 years

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So reading all of you amazing works as well as following the content of other lovely Sheith shippers has inspired to finally write some fan fiction and contribute too! It’s been literal years since I’ve written anything though, and of course the story that got me really excited is going to have to be a multi chapter monster. As the master of long and complex fanfics, any advice for beginners?

Good!! I believe in you.

Sure, why the heck not :’) been awhile since I made a big writing tips post and I feel like I have some new things to offer since the last one. I don’t know if your fic is gonna be an AU or canon-compliant, but since my specialty is long and complex multichapter AUs, this is mainly gonna be about that.

First, you can check out my ‘writing tips’ tag for my own tips and tips from others on tumblr: http://saltyshiro.tumblr.com/tagged/writing-tips

The most important advice I can give to you as a writer is to READ. I don’t read nearly as much as I used to, but I still try to when I can. Reading was what gave me the inspiration and knowledge I needed for worldbuilding, which is a vital part of not just AUs, but any long and complex fic. You need to be confident about writing the world you’ve stuck your characters in. You have to know that world better than anyone.

More often than not, books aimed at children actually have better worldbuilding than books for adults. There are exceptions to this (a lot of sci-fi, like Dune & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for example, as well as dystopian fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale), but some of my favorite worlds remain those from children’s books. They include:

The Ever After in the May Bird & the Ever After series

The absurdist and time-period defiant world where anything goes (as long as it’s unfortunate) of A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Other World in Coraline & London Below Gaiman’s adult fantasy novel Neverwhere

The world populated by various small animals like mice, rats, and squirrels in Redwall by Brian Jacques

The medieval kingdoms of Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The eerie surrealist circus world of The Palace of Laughter by Jon Berkeley

I’m also currently working my way through the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, which is some INCREDIBLE worldbuilding in a high fantasy setting.

So what do all of these have in common? Well, contrary to popular belief, I don’t think you have to go Full Tolkien and write a brand new language as well as six thousand maps for your world. Nope. None of that is required. All that is required is that you LOVE the world you created. Love the heck out of it. Even if it’s a shitty world. Doesn’t matter. It’s YOUR shitty world.

The more you love this world of yours, the more you’re gonna want to write about it, and the more reluctant you will be to let yourself drop the project. The pitfall many fanfic writers (and writers in general) fall into when writing long works is that they get burnt out and tired of their own story. You can’t get tired of your story if you keep adding to the world and finding new things to love and explore within it.

Worldbuilding reflects onto your characters, too - people are in many ways a product of their surroundings, after all. If your world is shitty, then your characters might end up a little shitty, too. But - and here’s the clever thing about this - because you love your world so much, and because your characters are an integral part of that world (they should be, if they’re your protagonist/villain/etc), you end up loving your characters, too. It feels like a betrayal if you stop writing their stories, and the world you’ve created should at this point feel almost like a real place, albeit within your head and your imagination. And when that happens, writing about your world and characters doesn’t feel like a chore or an obligation anymore. It feels like an adventure.

That being said, human brains have limits and it shouldn’t ALL exist in your head. You gotta take notes, do some doodles and simple maps if you’re into that, and also use resources made specifically to organize worldbuilding. I tend to just use good ol’ fashioned pencil and paper, but I’ve heard this tool is pretty good for digital organization:

https://www.notebook.ai/

Additionally, don’t be afraid to uh....“borrow” from other worlds that have been made before. The sooner you understand that everyone kinda steals (respectfully) from everyone (i.e. the lion king is hamlet; romeo and juliet is heavily inspired by the greek myth of pyramus and thisbe), the better off you’re gonna be in worldbuilding. You can, and unavoidably will, use worlds you’ve read about and/or experienced in the past in your own worldbuilding. It becomes a patchwork of your own, and once you have a base for your world, it becomes increasingly easy to add onto it and expand with more original ideas.

It can also be helpful to do a ton of research. Say you want your world to somewhat resemble Victorian England. How are you gonna know what that was like? Watch movies set in Victorian England to understand the aesthetic and speech. Watch documentaries to get a more factual basis. Read books set in Victorian England for the language and the societal ideas. Go on a Wikipedia or Google deep dive - almost always, you will end up in a much more interesting place than you expected. Listening to music can also be super helpful to get into a particular tone you want to see in your world, or can help you find the tone if you’re not sure what you want yet. I have playlists for most of my stories.

And, finally, understand that there’s always room for growth. I know my worldbuilding can be better than it is, so with every new story, I strive to make a more vibrant, vivid, lovable world than before. And guess what? Usually, not only does it work, but I also enjoy myself while writing more.

The key to long and complex fics is genuinely enjoying what you’re writing. You may be able to bullshit and slog your way through a shorter fic, but not a 200k monster. Another important key - know where your story is going to end up.

You need a goal to work towards. Maybe it’s a scene you’ve been wanting to write since you came up with the story. It doesn’t have to be the ending, but it helps if it is. You should know the ending by at least the middle of the story. I’m pretty sure I’ve written stories where that wasn’t the case and I was just flying by the seat of my pants, seeing where my world and characters took me next...which is a valid way to approach writing, but riskier, and ultimately rather frustrating when writing fics since you can’t exactly go back and insert foreshadowing for the ending you didn’t know was coming, lol.

I find late-night brainstorms best for figuring out how I want to end stories. I’ll open up a word doc, think for a good while, and then just start typing. Type it out stream of consciousness style. It doesn’t need to be a good explanation of the events, it just has to be an explanation. (This is also helpful in long stories for writing down reoccuring elements you don’t want to forget, such as slang, societal titles, a promise a character made to another than they really need to bring up again sometime...)

For example, here is my stream of consciousness brain-spew for my fic Seal It With A Kiss (this did not all end up happening quite like this, but here it is, warning for nsfw mentions lmao):

Witch Classes: Apprentice, novice, journeyman, master/magus, archmagus

The Wastes – western desert wasteland, Keith is from Blackwater, three days’ ride from the Citadel. It’s bordered by the River Acheron to the west, on the other side of which are the lands where Keith’s father lived with his first wife. The ocean is to the north, with the island of Cobao directly south of the Citadel.

The Citadel – centrally located, perched among Asphodel Peaks, near the lowland Oscuran Woods. Capital, Altea City, is three days’ ride to the east. Shiro’s grandparents live to the south on the shores of Lake Lucanus, a major fishing outpost bordered by the Dalterion Swamplands to the south.

THE VOID: mysterious dimension (or entity?) accidentally opened by witches eons ago (oops), which created Hell and unleashed demons/monsters/old gods (Voidborn). It is made up of what witches call infernal magic – a powerful and supposedly corrupted/corrupting form of quintessence. The Void is largely unknown and inaccessible to humans. Few return, and those who do are always changed by it.

HELL: Thought to be a reflection of the Void on a more physical/less abstract plane. Hell is made up of many pocket realms, including Daibazaal (one of the largest, ruled by the Galra), and Stratonikeia (ruled by Hecate). It is populated by Voidborn, who carve out sections of it for themselves in warlord-esque fashion.

Neither Hell nor the Void are inherently “evil,” though most witches consider them so, and they are dangerous. While the most well-established Voidborn rule with law and order, many other parts are lawless chaos centered around power struggles, and all Voidborn are morally gray to an extent.

VOIDBORN: Despite their vast differences, all Voidborn derive power from human souls & quintessence. Often generalized as demons, Voidborn are secular beings with no “holy” counterpart (i.e. angels), however, they come in many forms:

SPECTERS: generally the weakest Voidborn, they lack corporeal form and often “haunt” areas with histories of death, grief, and bloodshed, frightening humans and feeding off of their fear.

MONSTERS: a large and varied group of Voidborn, not as intelligent nor powerful as demons. They are the mostly likely to directly attack/kill/eat humans and are often hunted, with trophies of their heads displayed outside remote villages to ward off other monsters.

OLD GODS: a more rare group which often overlaps with greater demons; old gods can be benevolent if appeased (i.e. through ritual sacrifice, favors, offerings, worship, etc). They define territories for themselves and over time can become deified by local peoples, since old gods have been known to protect their lands and the people within them in exchange for worship.

LESSER DEMONS: more intelligent than monsters but less powerful than greater demons and old gods, they often rely on contracts and trickery to get their way. They are known to be petty, cruel, and ugly.

GREATER DEMONS: highly intelligent and powerful, they are dangerous beings who chiefly use contracts, torture, manipulation, and possession to take power from souls, which they crave more than any other Voidborn.

*Haggar has been cloaking Keith from Krolia so she cannot find her son since Keith went to the Citadel*

Shiro was captured by Haggar, who experimented on him (gave him the arm, which is powered by infernal energy/Void quintessence and began to corrupt his soul/erode it) and used him as a gladiator, until she managed to capture and slay Kurobasanir, whose quintessence she combined with the remnants of Shiro’s soul. His soulless, empty body was left to fight in the arena as a kind of robotic killing machine, while Shiro’s self became entangled with Kurobasanir. Because Kurobasanir was dead but Shiro was alive and so determined to stay alive, Shiro’s soul (primed with the Void energy which allowed him to stand up against Kuro) took control, though he gained Kurobasanir’s memories, abilities, and personality, while losing/forgetting his own. However as time passes with Keith, Shiro’s subconscious (ironically the only part of him which is still conscious/knows who he is) begins to break through, making him more ‘human’ as he starts to remember who he is/have doubts that he is really Kurobasanir.

He is unable to shift into any other human but Shiro, falls in love with Keith (demons are supposedly incapable of love), experiences sudden surges of emotion/nostalgia and feels protective towards Shiro’s family/horse/possessions/etc, is mostly unaffected by spells that should exorcise or defeat demons, and acts differently than the original Kurobasanir according to the late incubus’s friends. Because Kurobasanir was a sadist, but Shiro is not, so when he fucks Keith in front of the other demons, they know something’s up because he’s not hurting Keith at all.

What he doesn’t remember/know, though, is that this whole thing is a trap set by Haggar in order to lure Keith, who is a cambion (half demon, half human) to her so she can experiment on him in her quest to gain immortality so she can stay with Zarkon forever without surrendering her soul/turn her own soul into a demon’s essence. Because cambion, once mature, are effectively immortal and have a soul, while still retaining dormant Void magic within them which allows for their immortality and more demonic qualities. They are also extremely rare, and Haggar only knows of Keith because Hekate (Krolia) was her mentor and mentioned him.

So when Keith and Shiro go to find Shiro at the Samhain Tourney, Keith sees Shiro’s soulless body fighting and goes to break him out of his cell in the intermission; Shiro, not recognizing him/caring about him/trained to kill on sight tries to kill him, Keith is horrified and unable to bring himself to hurt Shiro, so he is saved by Kurobasanir, who realizes the situation fully once he comes face to face with the body that was once his, realizing his (Shiro’s) soul has been transferred into the incubus’s.

Before he can tell Keith this, though, Keith is captured by Haggar (who he recognizes as Honerva) and the two are separated. Keith cries alone in his cell, thinking Shiro is gone for good and also thinking Kurobasanir betrayed him and/or will be killed or tortured, leaving him utterly alone again. Lots of time passes and Keith realizes Haggar is trying to break the bond between him and Kurobasanir, because they’re both trapped and the contract must be sealed via sex. So Keith is in agony (and very very horny) because he can’t touch Shiro, and the contract is on the verge of breaking (and causing a great deal of pain and harm to both of them, since it was broken against their will) when Hekate/Krolia shows up, kicks BUTT, and bc she’s Mom of the Year, rescues Keith and brings him to Shiro while explaining on the way what happened. She also mentions that Keith’s father left because he was fulfilling the contract Hekate had with him, which was that because he was infertile she would bear him a “human” son (Keith), who would be blessed by her and live a happy/prosperous life, but in exchange Keith’s dad would only get sixteen years with his son, and then Hecate would take his soul.

As it turns out, though, Hekate/Krolia grew pretty darn fond of Keith’s dad (he’s a human teddy bear hedge mage unfazed by demons, what’s not to love), so he’s just chilling in Hell with her and had planned to come back and tell Keith the whole story, but when he returned Keith had gone off to the Citadel & Haggar was hiding Keith from Hecate.

So Keith and Shiro reunite and they’re so desperate for each other that they basically end up fucking while escaping (Keith is VERY EMBARRASSED but Krolia is like boi I am the mistress of dark magic, I don’t care, get that demon dick, proud of u son. Plus Shiro does his best to hide Things), cue a very wild scene in which both Keith and Shiro are kicking ass while fucking, since Shiro has regained his powers and Keith is Restored By The Power of Shiro’s Dick. Amen. Hallelujah.

Thankfully they finish up by the time they find the Holts, who were being forced to do alchemy stuff in Haggar’s lab. Haggar’s druids attack them, but Keith, who has read up on Honerva’s magic/theories, and Krolia, who mentored Honerva and is now pissed at her bc she tried to use Krolia’s son for her experiments, defeat the druids and are about to destroy Haggar’s research. Then Haggar bursts in, and in a desperate attempt to save her life’s work tells Keith that she can separate Shiro’s soul from Kurobasanir if he spares her/her work. Shiro is actually the one who hesitates, since he thinks Keith deserves much better than him and should have him fully human, as he appeared in their future together. But Keith has made up his mind – he loves Shiro in any and every form, and he’s done with Haggar’s shit. Furious at the thought of what she did to Shiro and planned to do to him, Keith’s magic creates a massive explosion which destroys the lab as Krolia uses one of Haggar’s traveling crystals to take them all away from Daibazaal.

Krolia takes them to her realm of Stratonikeia, a much more chill part of Hell. Because it’s Samhain and everyone is partying, Hecate’s palace is hectic and full of drunk demons and debauchery bc demons just wanna have fun, okay? Krolia makes sure the Holts are given safe accomodations so they can rest up and receive treatment before returning home. Meanwhile, Keith and Shiro are very shaken and Keith is weak from using so much magic to destroy Haggar and her lab. He and Shiro manage to escape the party and get to a balcony or something, where Shiro tearfully apologizes for everything, saying he understands if Keith wants to break ties after their contract is over, and that he wishes it didn’t have to end like this. Keith is quiet, then tells him that nothing is ending, pointing out that apparently he’s also immortal, and that technically Shiro gets his immortal soul in return for completing the contract. Shiro misunderstands, panicking and assuring Keith he will not take his soul and will leave him alone, but Keith cups his face and says he wants Shiro to have him forever, because he loves him, and never stopped loving him. Disbelieving but hopeful, Shiro embraces him gently, and when they kiss Keith begins to show his demonic characteristics (little horns, glowing eyes, tail, reddish scales).

Epilogue – Keith and Shiro get married. In Hell. It’s beautiful. They also have the most romantic, tender, kinky demon/cambion sex ever. They’re in love and together forever :’))

I hope that helps, dear!! Best of luck in your writing endeavors.

#ask me things #writing tips #siwak #writing #worldbuilding #Anonymous

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kayliemusing · 3 years

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26: WIP Questionnaire

1. What is the title of your WIP? - Currently I am going by the title "Wake"

2. What is your WIP about? - My main character, Holly Vincent, goes on a quest to find The Cursed Fate in hopes of saving her recently disappeared mother, but she must hurry because her time is running out.

3. What Genre is your WIP? - YA Fantasy-Romance

4. What is the target audience for your WIP? - 12+

5. How long have you been working on your WIP? - I've been planning it for about four years or so. Yikes. But this last year has been the most progress I've made.

6. What draft are you on? - The first draft

7. Did you plot your WIP before you started writing, or are you pantsing it? - I'm trying to plot it to the best of my ability. I've just started trying to write it, but I fall in between planning and pantsing. I like to have an idea of where I'm going but I find I'm most creative while I'm physically writing and in that headspace so I'm giving myself lots of room to make things up as I go.

8. What program do you write your WIP in? - Microsoft Word because I know it the most lol. (I've been considering trying out Scrivner tho)

9. What inspired your WIP/how did you think of it? - I initially got the idea in 2017 so I can't remember the "aha!" moment of my idea, but I was really inspired by Hades and Persephone in Greek Mythology as well as the Moirai in Greek myths. I was also inspired lots by the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas, as well as the Caraval series by Stephanie Garber.

10. Share a song that makes you think of your WIP. - My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift

11. What is your WIP’s aesthetic? - I don't have a name for the aesthetic really, but in my pinterest board, my wip is heavily inspired by: Victorian London, medieval/fantasycore, starry skies, the colour gold, dark green forests.

12. Do you want to publish your WIP traditionally, self publish, post it online, or keep it for yourself? - I plan to eventually publish it traditionally, but I'm open to it also just being kept with me if I decide later on that I don't think it should be published.

13. A little bit about your protagonist? - Holly Vincent is my main protagonist- she's the character I thought of first. She is 18 years old and living within the mortal lands. However she's a little more complicated than the people around her, because she's clairvoyant in a land where magic or any kind of sixth sense is completely forbidden. Her mother was also clairvoyant, and Holly had ended up spending most of her teen years taking care of her mother who eventually lost her grip on reality due to her clairvoyance, and because of this Holly doesn't like to press into her abilities. She's quite scared of them. She's also very loyal, emotionally driven and completely altruistic which kind of sets off her adventure to find/save her mother. She's also very driven to find her purpose.

14. A little bit about your supporting cast? - Arrow is a bandit that runs into Holly and eventually accompanies her on this journey to find The Cursed Fate. Arrow is a very lost character and really struggles with understanding who he is or what his purpose is, which kind of gives him grounds on relating with Holly more than he really realizes. He's very smart, curious, and independent, and he's quite observant. - Becca Davis who has grown up alongside the throne because her father is the King's Royal Guard. She's best friends with the King's son Declan. She also has big dreams to become a Knight, even though girls aren't allowed to be. She's very determined, reliable, independent and strong willed. hardworking. She has a complicated relationship with her father, which is a large driving factor in her story, and she really values his approval. - Another character who was going to be part of Becca's story was one of my favourite characters who I'm in love with. His name is Cassian and he is one of the Fates known as a the Fate of Love and Passion. He's very bougie and loves a life of luxury. He's always dressed immaculately and cares deeply about his outward appearance. He's also very sly, charming, and playful. - Note: Becca and Cassian were originally a part of an idea I had to make this book Multi-POVs, with the POV centered around Becca's journey. I'm leaning towards keeping it part of one book as the events in Becca's journey are in the same world and time as Holly's journey. I'm having trouble mostly trying to tie these two together in a unique/interesting or realistic way. If I decide to cut them from Holly's book, I planned to have Becca and Cassian have their own spinoff. (But I'm heavily leaning towards lacing Becca's journey with Holly's.)

15. A little bit about your antagonist? - There's a couple of antagonists in this book. For Becca, there's Declan who used to be her best friend but due to circumstances (which adhere to her plotline) they have a falling out and he becomes her enemy. Declan is my favourite antagonist, because he's not *really* an antagonist but a victim of tragedy and grief. It's his grief that propels him into becoming the antagonist. For Holly, her antagonist is actually her life's fate, which is to die in her eighteenth year. Because of this, she battles a lot of illness throughout the book which complicates other obstacles as well.

16. What is the setting of your WIP like? - My setting is set in two places. We have the Mortal Lands, which is home to the humans. The Mortal lands known as Estermere is filled with vast countrysides, mountains and hills. Providence is the city where Holly and Becca grew up is very inspired by Victorian London, so big brick buildings, cobblestoned streets, big markets. The weather is often cloudy and grey, but the sun does like to peak out during the summer months. - My second setting is in the non-mortal lands that I call Aeonian. Aeonian is home to those who are not human and is filled with magic. Aeonian is filled with clear, starry skies, crystal-clear lakes and rivers, bright vegetation and just very fairytale-esque. - I don't know if my characters are ever going to explore this place, but a part of the mythology in my story is in a land called The Haven, which is home to deities and gods/goddesses. It's more brutal there, very cold and grey, sharp-looking buildings, rocky and dark.

17. One fun fact about the world of your WIP? - In Aeonian, there's a mountain called Lada's Mountain which was named after the goddess Lada after the god Ozen cast her out of The Haven and she fell into Aeonian. A large mountain grew in her place and now Lada's Mountain is known as a mountain of blessing and prosperity.

18. Do you have any faceclaims/picrews for your characters? - I do! But they're all on my pinterest board and I don't feel like posting them here lol.

19. Share a song that makes you think of your protagonist. - Holly: Oceans by Seafret - Arrow: Natural by Imagine Dragons, alternatively Neptune by Sleeping At Last reminds me of him as well. - Becca: My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift (this song fits a lot of the main characters in my story so I also consider it the "theme song" of my wip) - Cassian: Outgrown by Dermot Kennedy

20. Share a song that makes you think of your antagonist. - My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift also reminds me of Declan. It reminds me of Becca and Declan’s friendship on a whole.

21. Does your WIP have romance? If so, what is your favorite couple? - Obviously!! I live only for romance novels so it's natural that I write them too. Cassian and Becca in my head are my favourite. Arrow and Holly are cute, but Cassian and Becca are the two I'm most excited to write which is a large reason I don't want to cut them from this book because I just *have* to write them, immediately.

22. Favorite friendship in your WIP? - I'm planning for Holly and Becca to have a good friendship in this book but I'm still struggling on working out the kinks. I would also say Declan and Becca because they made such good friends, but their friendship is mostly turmoil and betrayal so it just ~hurts me~

23. Characters with the best dynamic? - Probably Arrow and Holly, even though Cassian and Becca are my favourite couple.

24. Share a song that makes you think of your favorite character dynamic. - I don't think I have another song oops!

25. Easiest character to write? - Cassian

26. Hardest character to write? - Oddly enough, Holly is someone I find hard to write. I've just begun my first draft but a couple months ago I start with writing short stories on the characters just to get a grasp on them as people and I've found Holly very hard to write.

27. Which character is the most like you? - I think Becca is a little bit like me.

28. What is the strangest thing you’ve had to research for your WIP? - I don't think I've had anything too strange yet because I've just started, but there's been tons in other stories lol

29. What is the latest you’ve stayed up/earliest you’ve gotten up to write? - I think I stayed up until 1 AM writing once and the earliest I got up was 9 AM, but I don't like to write in the mornings because I find my creative threshold is usually between 4 pm - 11 pm. (Maybe even starting later than around, around 5 or 6 pm). I've always wanted to be the writer that writes in the morning because I get anticipation anxiety when I haven't done anything but it's just not it for me lol.

30. Do any of the names in your WIP have significance? - Yes! But mostly the places are significant. Holly's mom has a significant name because her name is Asteria which means astrology or dreams, and because she's clairvoyant I thought it fit. I have the name Maeve for one of the Fates sisters; Maeve mostly means 'Intoxicating' I think, but I read on pinterest it can also mean 'evil queen' (but I highly doubt that's for real lmao) but the evil queen was the reason I named that character Maeve, because she's the Original sister Fate that is known as the 'mother of death'. As for my geography, Providence means God's will which can also mean destiny so I thought it tied in with the theme of this novel. Aeonian means everlasting, which I felt also fit with the theme, but that's it as far as names!

31. Favorite line from your WIP? - I don't think I have one yet, because I've only just started lol.

32. Is your WIP action heavy, or more relaxed? - I think it'll meet in the middle. I'm worried about writing action because it's not my strength, but there's definitely a few scenes I have planned in my head that are action packed.

33. What are your favorite tropes you use in your WIP? - Enemies To Lovers baby

34. Sum up your WIP using only emojis. - N/A (I'm on my lap top sorry!)

35. What are some of the themes of your WIP? - Purpose, love triumphs, destiny

36. What is the message you want readers to take away from your WIP? - I don't know this yet. I know I have the main idea of writing about purpose and meaning, because that's something I'm struggling with but that's as far as I know

#I'm avoiding facing the frustration of plot holes so i decided to do this instead #surveys #about my wip

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