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skyloftian-nutcase · 9 months

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Have random character references even though I don’t draw and I highly doubt most people care about the information 👍🏻😂

Abel - Dirty blonde hair, light blue eyes, chiseled and weathered face. Muscular but slim, a little shorter than the average Hylian man, very mild tan due to just being out in the sun so much. He mostly burns in the sunlight but he’s cooked himself enough that his skin is attempting to compensate. (Hopefully LoZ has magic skin cream to stave off skin cancer 👍🏻) Has a few scars, including one small one on his chin from being hit in battle. The rest are hidden. Used to keep his face clean shaven and his hair short in his early adulthood. Lost all concern for appearances after the Calamity, his hair is grown a little past his shoulders and he’s constantly got five o’clock shadow because he barely keeps up with shaving. Grew out a beard out of sheer neglect at the beginning but it eventually was itchy and annoying enough that he shaved it.

Was a Knight of Hyrule since he was a teenager. Met his wife on an assignment to Hateno Village. Was part of the entourage selected to go to Zora’s Domain for negotiations. Brought his son, Link, along. Eventually, his skill in battle, leadership, and handling political assignments earned him a position in the Royal guard. He became captain of the royal guard a year before the Calamity.

Tilieth - Light blonde curly hair, brown eyes, freckles, soft and rounded face. Petite build. Has three ear piercings on one ear and two on the other because when she was a teen she heard three piercings was good luck as it symbolizes the golden goddesses, but the third piercing hurt so much she opted out of the other ear and completely forgot to finish the set. Always kept her hair in knotted half up styles with braids until the Calamity. Her hair got caught in debris of demolished buildings and she cut it with a knife and she’s never worn it down since. It’s always in a bun, however messy it might be.

Tilieth was the only daughter of a blacksmith. She loved making things, most especially clothes. She wanted to make clothes for others as well and considered working in the local shop. After getting married she settled for homemaking and was happy with it, though she loved the idea of traveling and seeing everything the world had to offer. She still made clothes too, for family and friends. When Link was little, a bad illness swept through Hateno, and Til caught it. Her parents took care of her while Abel looked after Link and continued with his duties. Once Til recovered and Abel’s mission to the Donain was over, the family got to spend some time together again. Was in Hateno with Lyra and her father when the Calamity struck.

Link, the Hero of Power - Hyrule Warriors Link’s direct predecessor. Half-Sheikah (his dad) half-Hylian (his mom). Platinum blonde hair, red eyes, light brown skin. One of the tallest Links, but slender and stealthy. Always clean shaven. Wore his hair up in a bun.

Not much is known about this Hero by the War of Eras, except that he helped split Ganondorf’s soul to prevent the cycle from continuing. Lana knows a lot more about him than anyone else, though she doesn’t speak of it. Some things that were lost to history included his role in fighting a war against the Gerudo, and his eternal love for the future Gerudo Chief, Hemisi - Ganondorf’s daughter.

Princess Zelda - Also known as the Sacred Diplomat, she is the princess who helped split Ganondorf’s soul in the backstory to Hyrule Warriors. Wavy, shoulder length chocolate brown hair that she often wears in elaborate buns with braids. Somewhat pale complexion, cool skin tone with traditional emerald skin paint that she always wore on her face and neck and arms. Typically wore light blue gowns.

As Queen she unified Hyrule after a bloody war. She is known in history as one of the best of the royal line. She even managed to maintain a shaky neutrality with the Gerudo after the war’s end. She strengthened bonds with the Sheikah through her marriage to one of their own. She is the standard to which many queens are held to. But there is much to her diplomacy that was lost to history.

Chief Hemisi - Leader of the Gerudo after her father’s defeat. Chestnut skin, fiery red mid back length hair that she usually kept in a high bubble ponytail, amber eyes. Six feet tall, very muscular, though not quite to the degree of botw Gerudo women. She had more of a Hylian build, like the Gerudo of OoT. Her ears were pointed, and she had a special earring she always wore that had been given to her by her father. On her other ear she wore an earring decorated with a symbol of the triforce, as she inherited the Triforce of Power after helping defeat her father.

Lost her family to the war that broke out because of Ganondorf. Was in love with Link. Helped defeat her father and seal him away. Was not the same person afterward. Had a twin brother who had been groomed to inherit the throne of the Gerudo, and so she had focused on being a warrior. When her brother was killed in the war alongside her mother, her situation changed quickly. Became chief and helped maintain an uneasy peace between Hyrule and the Gerudo, but did not like or trust the Queen.

#blood of the hero #good ganondorf #these guys are on my mind but I’m not in a space to write so #Have random things about them #abel #tilieth

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divineprank · 10 months

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Let’s talk about Hyrule’s bestiary, shall we? Tears of the Kingdom, and by association, Breath of the Wild makes this implication that all of Hyrule’s monsters are not a side effect but instead, a deliberate action of Ganondorf and his evil intentions, his malice and gloom. In fact, we quite literally see this in the Tears of the Kingdom trailer, and we see this in an in-game cutscene wherein he commands his monsters to rise up. Which, this isn’t the first time that a Zelda game ever suggests the presence of evil commands the existence of monsters, but I argue that this is a story beat that falls flat and in fact, I think there should be something more to these monsters’ existence; after all, this is a game series that reflects Miyamoto’s youth, mirroring his adventures in the Kyoto countryside, his discovery of that cave and his days-long hesitation to explore the inside of it. The creator and executive producer of many of our beloved Nintendo franchises, Zelda is one of the purest representations of Shigeru Miyamoto, but more importantly, it represents his faith and his relationship with Shintoism. Shintō - the way (tō) of the gods (shin), is a broad, native-based faith that draws focus around remaining in touch with and respecting the kami, that is, gods, the nature spirits, or perhaps the spiritual energy, that are believed to inhabit all things: nature, animals, landscapes...

They are, essentially, the soul of everything.

Miyamoto actually lives close to the Fushima-Inari shrine, a beautiful place of worship at the base of a mountain (also called Inari) dedicated to one of the most familiar kami, Inari, (short for Ine Nari, or Ine ni Naru -- the reaping of rice) who is the god and protector of rice cultivation. Miyamoto has a very personal connection to Inari, believing this nature spirit to be his guardian angel. This shrine is considered to be the head shrine, the big boy among the other thirty-thousand other shrines dedicated to Inari across Japan. The shrine has been around since at least 711AD and is where billions of people have come to pray for a bountiful harvest, prosperity in personal endeavors, the safety and thriving of their family and loved ones, and protection of their home. Worshippers will trek through the approximately eight hundred Senbon Torii, these beautiful Torii gates that are erected in honor and deep thanks by those who have prayed at the shrine and have had their desire or wish come true.

I mention all of this in a post about Hyrule’s monsters because it’s this real-world inspiration that permeates Miyamoto’s video games, informing his game design philosophy. Something particularly iconic about Star Fox 64′s levels, for example, are the many arches you can fly your Arwing underneath and receive health rings or power-ups as a secret bonus reward. This is a direct reference to the Torii gates at the Inari shrine.

Purity is a very important component when it comes to Shinto rituals, such as kagura, a traditional dance that is meant to establish and maintain the perfect balance between nature, humans, and deities. Impurity, or more specifically, pollution is driven away by these rituals, as Shintoism suggests that it is considered a contamination and obstruction to the flow of life and thus the blessings from the kami.

Tôru Ôsawa introduces this concept very, very effectively in Ocarina of Time. Young Link’s adventures across an untainted and pure version of Hyrule introduce us to two nature spirits, two kami, who are integral to the flourishing of their elemental domains. The Great Deku Tree and Lord Jabu-Jabu, both are honored as patron deities amongst their respective tribes. The Great Deku Tree embodies the eternal life, endless youth, and boundless spirit of the mysterious forest and Lord Jabu-Jabu is thought to protect the health and clarity of the water that runs down Zora’s river and crawls through the country, providing Hyrule with fresh drinking water -- the source of life itself.

The early part of Link’s adventure introduces us to these kami. When we begin the game we are introduced to the Great Deku Tree, who has fallen ill after being cursed by Ganondorf, and we are required to travel inside of this great nature spirit and purify him, destroy the monsters, rid our tree-daddy of the impurities inside of him, and cleanse this deity’s soul. When we are almost at the curtain-close of Young Link’s act, we travel inside another kami who is rife with pollution, and as Link, we must heal Lord Jabu-Jabu, who has also become “green around the gills” following a terrible encounter with Ganondorf.

While it’s not subjected to the same anthropomorphization of the other two kami, we know that Death Mountain is alive in its own right. Kaepora Gaebora once whispers to us that the state of the mountain, its mood and its health, can be determined with one glance up at the cloud that crowns Death Mountain’s summit. When Link is a child, he must explore the inside of Death Mountain, purifying one of its many caverns by eliminating the monsters that are infecting it like a virus. Large, dangerous boulders roll down the mountain face and threaten the safety of the sleepy Kakariko Village nestled at the foot of the mountain. These are all symptoms of the natural balance being skewed, of course, brought upon by Ganondorf’s wicked demands not being met.

The beginning of the game doesn’t just introduce us to the controls, pivotal characters and how the world of Hyrule works, but it also establishes this Shinto concept that there is supposed to be a perfect balance between nature, humans, and deities. In fact, this is symbolized in the Spiritual Stones that we collect as we unite and purify forest, water, and fire. While we’re on our journey of healing, we as the player are painted a perfect picture of what a healthy Hyrule looks like – what it should look like.

We know what happens next.

Shintoism doesn’t really promote any commandments for followers to live by in the same ways that a western, Christian-based faith might expect, instead only suggesting that the idea of living a simple and harmonious life with nature and people and is quite simple when adhering to the four affirmations of the Shinto spirit:

Love of nature; nature is sacred, to be close to nature is to be close with the kami

Family and tradition; the family is the primary mechanism by which traditions are preserved

Physical cleanliness; followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouths often.

Matsuri; to participate in festivals in which worship and honor are given to the kami.

While they aren’t particularly “good” or “evil”, kami are imperfect creatures and there are ways to upset them. Negative actions such as living outside of these four affirmations of the Shinto spirit and thus not living a simple and harmonious life with nature and people, or committing negative actions or evil deeds referred to as “kegare”, (literally meaning “dirtiness”), are an equivalent to committing a sin in the eyes of the kami. While most kami are usually fun-loving, benevolent and quite forgiving, there are kami who make mistakes or are quick to rash actions, and some may actively try to hurt people should they feel disrespected or taken for granted. For instance, if a life is taken without gratitude for this ultimate sacrifice, the soul might experience “urami”—that is, it will hold a grudge. During the spirit’s ongoing rage and pain, it transforms into an aragami: a powerful and evil kami that seeks revenge.

By the time Link wakes up seven years later, Hyrule no longer resembles that perfect picture of harmony with nature, the deities, and humans. There’s a terrible gloom settled into most of the major locations of Hyrule that gives off this desolate, dying feeling to the rest of the country. Everywhere you look, dark clouds hang over the once vibrant skies of Hyrule; the forest is infested with wicked monsters that trap the Kokiri children and their fairies in their homes. Death Mountain is angrier than ever with the ring of clouds blazing with fire as a ferocious dragon now inhabits the volcano. The lake has dried up and Zora’s domain is completely frozen. All the while, a violent and vengeful shadow looms over Kakariko Village.

What can be misleading about this part is Rauru stating outright, that Ganondorf’s evil powers radiated from the temples of Hyrule, which kind of suggests what’s happening to the very nature of Hyrule is coming directly from Ganondorf himself as if he’s waving his hand and infecting these temples directly. However, I don’t believe this is the case. This is because of what I’ve established earlier, that due to the mistreatment of Hyrule itself; the balance between nature, humans, and deities has been skewed, the very land as a whole began to sour.

So yes, Ganondorf’s evil power did radiate from the temples, because these were places of worship, sacred temples that belonged to each of the races of Hyrule. Shrines to give thanks to the lands that take care of them, to show appreciation of one another, and to look up to the gods with gratitude. He stole something holy, and thoroughly abused it, disrespecting the Goddesses, abusing the nature of this beautiful country, and caused a horrible rift between the tribes who inhabit Hyrule, and as a result Hyrule rotted. Where gentle nature spirits once roamed, now only horrible monsters remain.

I don’t really believe that many of the monsters that infest the temples and attack Link among his journey are Ganondorf’s servants per se. Certainly, the Iron Knuckles are perhaps one of the only examples of proof of loyalty to Ganondorf’s cause, and even then, with proof of the (probably brainwashed) Gerudo warriors nestled inside of them, I’m not even sure you can call them monsters, anyways.

Why do I think this, then? Well, for starters…

Are we to take Fado’s words to mean that as soon as Grog transformed into a Stalfos, he marched out of the forest and joined up with Ganondorf’s ranks? That’s a cartoonish thought, and while it is possible, it really contradicts with what Fado says specifically: that anybody that comes to the forest will be lost.

Lost is the keyword, there. You see, in a 1999 interview with 64Dream Magazine, Yoshiaki Koizumi, confirms that upon transforming into a Stalfos, Grog instead wandered off to the Forest Temple to live there. He also confirms that this is what happened to the child who stalks around the graveyard in Kakariko, the one who wishes to look scary, just like Dampé. According to Koizumi, five years after Ganondorf obtained the Triforce, the little boy left Kakariko in search of his missing father. Upon entering the Lost Woods, he soon transformed into a Skull Kid, and now fears all adults he encounters.

Even before Ganondorf’s reign of terror, the people of Hyrule were already disrespecting the natural world and its spirits. Taking into considerations the Odd Mushroom that Fado demands back from you upon discovering Grog’s absence because she says it belongs to the forest, or even the Eyeball Frog, who Koizumi confirms in 64Dream Magazine, are often used by those who don’t feel particularly sorry for their sacrifices. Perhaps this is why Stalchildren roam the fields at night, why Peahats often attack any adventurer who wanders too close to their nests, why Skulltulas remain nestled in dark, damp places because even before Ganondorf stole the Triforce, Hyrule was already growing sick from its inhabitants’ greed.

It definitely explains the existence of the Spiders of the Curse…

That’s why I feel the idea that Ganondorf purposefully raises the monsters out of thin air to act as his “servants” really takes away some larger nuance and deeper meaning from the Legend of Zelda series, but, hey, that’s just an old boomer’s take.

https://jref.com/articles/shint%C5%8D-the-way-of-the-gods.27/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/beliefs/kami_1.shtml https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/texts/stories_1.shtml#h2 https://www.zeldadungeon.net/the-divinity-of-jabu-jabu-zeldas-kami/ https://femhype.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/japanese-environmentalism-shinto-the-legend-of-zelda/ https://killscreen.com/previously/articles/unmistakable-influence-shintoism-videogame-history/ https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/T%C3%B4ru_%C3%94sawa https://zeldauniverse.net/2011/09/14/immortal-childhood/ http://inari.jp/en/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inari_%C5%8Ckami https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushimi_Inari-taisha https://crafttabby.com/explore/nintendo-inari https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPKHbOD_xg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUcwsjyd8Q https://www.neoseeker.com/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time/faqs/162138-zelda-64-script.html https://www.armageddongames.net/archive/index.php/t-61081.html http://forums.legendsalliance.com/topic/17108-list-of-japanese-translations/ https://www.thehyrulejournals.com/what-we-do https://www.learnreligions.com/shinto-worship-traditions-practices-4570821 http://plaza.ufl.edu/sroy12/cgs3066/project2/beliefs.html https://www.patheos.com/library/shinto/beliefs https://archive.org/details/64dream-April-1999-ozidual/64Dream%201999%2004%20%28J%20OCR%29/page/n89/mode/2up https://www.reddit.com/r/truezelda/comments/y13iic/some_minor_lore_details_from_the_developers_of_oot/

#The winds that blew across Hyrule brought something other... :: [HEADCANONS]#Land of Myth :: [OCARINA OF TIME]#Tear Stains :: [TEARS OF THE KINGDOM]#Ocarina of Time analysis #Legend of Zelda analysis #totk spoilers #i guess?

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luimagines · 1 year

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*walks on in casually, this time much more put together and wearing a soaked raincoat, offers you tea, sips coffee, leaves this without elaborating and walks off into a storm*

{Granite Imagine/Origin Short}

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"(Lustrous)?"

"Mhm?", Hummed the being, turning to Sky, sitting down behind Wild, the being with glittering, (Gemstone Type) hair so bright that it could scare away a Redead pointedly giving the wild man a look and sitting him back down when he tried to get up, drawing a soft snort from the other members of the Chain, they were determined to put a brush through his hair and properly neaten it up before the next shift or get shattered trying it seems, though the look on the Hero of Sky's face brought them pause, a shine of recognition passing through their mismatched eyes, "Ah, this is about what I said to Hyrule, isn't it? About Legend not being wrong but not being right either?"

"You did promise you'd clarify once we were fully still you know?" Pointed Legend out, arms crossed and giving them a narrow eyed look, "As generous as what you did was, I'd rather not suddenly know that we basically sold human hair, or that the Smithy basically used your hair and flesh to finally make something Wild doesn't break in one hit."

A small look of discomfort passed Wild's face, pointedly masking a wince and twitch as golden and pale hands passed through his hair, removing tangles and twigs slowly, "... Granted it wouldn't be the weirdest thing we've seen or did and it's still one of the best gifts I've ever got, but it wouldn't make us any better than those people you said hunt your kin right?"

"You're all being dramatic." Sighs their companion, giving Wild an unimpressed look and locking a leg around his back when he shifted away, silently daring him to try and move the gold encrusted stone limb or break it to escape and help Twilight with the food, "It's not like it was a leg or that you all held me at sword point and threathened to shatter me or anything. I did it out of my own free will because I wanted to help and will not hear otherwise- Wild stay still for the love of Adamant or I'll have Wolfie sit on you!" They ground out, a sound vaguely like something cracking ringing out, before they move on, unimpressed, "Honestly! Even Aquamarine was more agreeable on a good day. On top of that it doesn't work like that, losing a bit of gold is nothing to me, and it's not like the hair holds inclusions so no memories lost either."

"Still!"

"Settle down now." Time cut in, "We're getting out of track, clearly they're not going to budge on this."

"Thank you Time, in any case, this is what I know, Kunzite was the one who really researched this stuff with the Admirabillis, but, well..." They trail off, a bit distant, "She's not around anymore, and I haven't been to the sea of slugs in a while..." They shake their head, moving on, "According to their legends, six great calamities once struck the earth one after another, apparently the humans, those who came before that is, had a mean of foreseeing or preventing them but it failed, and so the world ended. You can see the many cities and homes on the ocean floor as evidence to that, to survive, the remains of humanity split and evolved into three, the Admirabillis, the flesh of humanity, went to the sea, they're similar to your Zora's albeit not quite, they're mortal and grown and reproduce, us-", they point to themselves, "The Lustrous, gems, are said to come from the Bone, we've made a contract and rose from the sea, shedding our mortality. To wander eternal in the single isle left, we do not age, but if we break we lose our memories if we don't have all our pieces. It's... A questionable trade off, if you ask me." They laugh slightly, smiling a bit, "It's probably silly, but I think I envy the fact you all don't have to deal with that, gems aren't nearly as kind or adaptable as you all are due to our circumstances. And for the last one..." They trail off, looking up at the moon, for a moment, they saw the same look Time would get on his face looking up at it, conflicted, angry, grieving, "... The Lunarians are the restless rage, remains who couldn't accept the end. The malice of humanity left behind, eternal as us gems but discontent, they hunt the bone and the flesh indiscriminately to bring about a so called revival." They purse their lips, if you look closely, you can spot a crack above their face, "... The things that happen on the moon to the Admirabillis is a fate worse than death, and they use the broken and ground pieces of my kin as decorations, smiling and dancing over our corpses, so if you ask me that's wildly innacurate..." They shake their head, moving on, "Personally, I think there's something they want. They looked within the Admirabillis and didn't find it, so they went for us gems instead. Their king came down personally for both Aquamarine, Kunzite, Labradorite and Citrine now, I wouldn't call that a coincidence. And he certainly was furious when I got in his way, the rest is story." They shrug nonchantly, "Again, Legend isn't wrong, it's not human hair, or flesh, just mineral, but if you want to get technical, it once was. Don't worry about it, again it's not as if it's an eye or anything. I can always find a way to replace the hair, maybe I'll mold the gold into it, wouldn't be the first time." They make a face, clearly exasperated, "Bortz could get... Too rough, it drove Aquamarine up the wall when they'd get too near me or Kunzite, I guess he would at least comfort himself with the fact I'm not as easy to break anymore were he here, so I'm used to it really."

----------------------

Not pictured:

Lustrous Reader, meeting the blind child, gently picks them up and weaves gold in their hair from their arms: I've only had this little pebble for a day and a half, but if anything happened to them I'd murder everyone in the room and then shatter myself.

Also not pictured: Lustrous Reader being casual about the technical body horror on one end, while Citrine is anything but casual about it back home and following in their siblings footsteps (saving that for another ask).

-Signed, Just an Anon on A Stroll.

WELL GOOD MORNING ONE AND ALL

WE HAVE LORE AND STORY

HOLY COW

I totally forgot I had this. It got burried DX

But here it is! A start!

My goodness, I love it. This is phenominal. Fantastic work.

#pinky replies #anon stories #lustrous! reader #its about time i tag this me thinks #someone remind me to put this on the masterlist #blind child #mentioned #although that whole first paragraph was just one sentence #not sure if it was intentional or not

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morallygreyyn · 1 year

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my 2022 anime list

disclaimer: please don’t make assumptions about me and my taste in anime based off of this list. this is literally just watch i watched this year.

so i’m really just making this for me to keep tabs on what i watched throughout the year so feel free to ignore this! if for some reason you do read this and see anything here you like i’m always down for a chat about anime!

this is all the anime (new and old) that i watched in 2022 (in order bc i’m that bitch):

the case study of vanitas (6/10):

a solid anime. loved vanitas and noe and their designs were gorgeous. deffo want to get back into it as i fell out of it a while ago

demon slayer (7.5/10):

favourite character(s):

giyu tomioka and zenitsu agatsuma

nah bc the way i was so skeptical of this bc of all the hype so i put it off for aggeess but then i got sick and binged the entire thing within a few days. literally became my life for a solid month and i can’t wait for the next season

blue period (4/10):

such a chill anime that touches on some heavier topics about identity. not the most mind-blowing or groundbreaking anime to ever exist but definitely enjoyable and it did make me want to start drawing even tho i can’t draw for shit

your name (movie) (7.5/10):

i *think* this was the first anime movie that i ever watched and it did not disappoint. animation was absolutely gorgeous and the characters made me want to weep

a silent voice (movie) (7.5/10):

your name kicked off my love for sad anime movies and i’ve never been to close to crying over anything in my life than i was with the main pairing in this damn movie

black clover (9/10):

favourite character(s):

asta, noelle and zora

bro...this one took me by surprise ngl. i thought this was just gonna be another run of the mill shonen jump anime (and don’t get me wrong, it is) but man oh man i wasn’t expecting it to be so funny. literally my sense of humour in an anime. also asta is so inspiring “as long as i don’t give up, i’ll get there eventually” may seem so basic but it struck a chord ngl

bubble (movie) (2/10):

wtf even happened in this movie. the animation was pretty ig

spy x family (7/10):

this deserved the hype, it slapped. unfortunately tho it reminds me of my ex as i used to watch it with them so my memories of it are kinda tainted

neon genesis evangelion (7.5/10):

favourite character(s):

shinji and kaworu

the living aesthetic that is this show. literal perfection until the last three episodes, wtf happened. i also need shinji and kaworu to get together like asap

the way of the househusband (6/10):

sooooo funny. kinda similar to saiki k in terms of humour and short episodes. definitely a comfort anime

to your eternity (3/10):

such an interesting premise! it has a low score bc i dropped it a while ago (idk why) so my memory of it is kinda hazy. will deffo pick it back up again in the future

cute high earth defensive club love (1/10):

don’t ask

one piece (100000/10):

favourite character(s): sanji and then every single other character to exist on the show (apart from the celestial dragons...man fuck those guys)

I was so apprehensive to start this bc it’s over 1000 episodes long but my brother eventually wore me down and oh man, i’ve never been more pleasantly surprised. easily my favourite anime now (which i never thought anything would beat my top two and i’m only 550 episodes in). it’s so funny, the characters are so lovable and the story and world is incredible. it made me cry over a boat. a freaking boat. now that’s a strong story. g8 is canon you can’t change my mind. literally ready to set sail across the seven seas rn. it’s a pirates life for me

idolish7 (tbd):

favourite character(s):

sogo, iori, riku, tenn

started this as a joke but ended up really liking it. haven’t finished it yet which is why my rating is tbd but it’s shaping up to be above a 6! the only con is nagi...god i hate nagi. also secret night by trigger was my third most played song on my spotify wrapped so yeah, this show has some bangers

heaven official’s blessing (it’s chinese but i don’t know the official term) (8.5/10):

favourite character(s):

xie lian, hua cheng, nan feng, fu yao

ah, the show that started my mxtx obsession. hua cheng is my literal aesthetic and i’ve made it my mission in life to dress like him. also him and xie lian are literal perfection. the only downside to this show was the banyue arc/backstory - it was kinda boring ngl but the scene where san lang jumped into the pit.....10000/10. also got covid for the second time a couple of hours after i finished this so it’s memorable for that too lmao. second season when?

the untamed (cdrama) (9/10):

favourite character(s):

xue yang, wei wuxian, lan wangji

riding on the high of mxtx and down bad with covid, i binged this entire series (and read the manhua) in like a couple of days. i didn’t sleep. my only thoughts were wangxian and xue yang. this also made me want to learn chinese....i even bought chinese language textbooks. now i just need to find a teacher and i’m set lmao

classroom of the elite (dnf):

ummm...so this wasn’t for me. decided to start it bc of all the hype but it missed the mark for me unfortunately. the main character is sick as shit and the premise is really cool so maybe i’ll pick it back up again in the future (i probably will) but for now i’d rather watch one piece (pls let me know if this show gets better - i really do think the premise slaps but some of the characters suck)

cherry magic! thirty years of v can make you a wizard? (drama) (7/10):

decided to watch this as i had just read the manga and oml i loved it. the romance between the main pairing is soooo sweet and the actors did such a great job

sasaki and miyano (9.5/10):

fell down the bl hole and decided to watch this.....bro....the way i fell in love with these two is not even funny. i literally adore them. no.1 comfort anime

blue lock (10/10):

favourite character(s): chigiri, isagi, bachira

never thought i’d get so hype about football but here we are. have caught myself saying “i need to watch that goal again” and then reacting in horror as i realise i’m turning into my football loving mother. but can you blame me? their monster modes? isagi and chigiri’s respective goals? literal crack for your eyes. this anime is such a unique premise for a sports anime. fuck team work, it’s kill or be killed in blue lock and i liiivveee bitch

obey me! (7/10):

favourite character(s): levi, satan, belphie

decided to watch this one as i started playing the otome game and fell in love with the characters (levi, satan and belphie specifically) and oh man was this anime hilarious. watched it all in one night. the music in this is also fire. it’s my party, sinful indulgence and on your way? absolute bangers. the bunny boy episode is my favourite for obvious reasons

fruits basket (tbd but shaping up to be a 8/10):

another one i haven’t finished yet but oh lord i don’t know why i put this one off for so long bc its so good. gives me all the fuzzy princess vibes that i want from a shojo and i couldn’t ask for more. yuki one chance please

and that’s it! i didn’t watch as much as i usually do considering one piece is a thing that i started but it’s still a record of everything i watched and what i thought of it! i honestly had so much fun making this - it’s so nice to recap on what i’ve watched throughout the year

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neoyorzapoteca · 4 years

Text

Galaxies Unto Themselves: Lorna Simpson’s Collages of Black Women’s Hair

By Elizabeth Alexander

“We start with the Book of Miss Brooks, and her poem, “The Anniad,” which casts the life of an “ordinary” black girl, Annie Allen, in epic scale and form:

THINK OF THAUMATURGIC LASS LOOKING IN HER LOOKING-GLASS  AT THE UNEMBROIDERED BROWN; PRINTING BASTARD ROSES THERE; THEN EMOTIONALLY AWARE  OF THE BLACK AND BOISTEROUS HAIR, TAMING ALL THAT ANGER DOWN.

In Lorna Simpson’s collages, “the black and boisterous” hair is the universal governing principle. Black women’s heads of hair are galaxies unto themselves, solar systems, moonscapes, volcanic interiors. The hair she paints has a mind of its own. It is sinuous and cloudy and fully alive. It is forest and ocean, its own emotional weather. Black women’s hair is epistemology, but we cannot always discern its codes.

Lorna Simpson, Earth & Sky #17, 2016.

Watercolor is the perfect medium for Simpson here because of how it holds light and appears to be translucent. But it is also a wash, a shadow cast over what we cannot know in these women. Simpson’s portraits invite us to look, by their sidelong glances or direct gazes. We are compelled, always, by the phantasmagorical hair, which both invites and obscures.

In these pictures black women’s phantasmagorical hair is like smoke, but nothing is turning to ash. It is a non-consuming smoke, the mesmerizing beauty of smoke as it curls and wafts and draws a viewer inexorably near.

Lorna Simpson, Ultra Violet 2, 2015.

If black people are “the window and the breaking of the window,” as William Pope.L asserts (we are reminded by curator Amanda Hunt), what are black women, in Simpson’s vision here?

Black women are blue and black and ocher and goldenrod and magenta. Black women are unfathomable.

Lorna Simpson, Jet Problem, 2012.

Black women are composed, necessarily immaculate. A black woman could go off at any moment.

Black women are mighty and terrifying.

Lorna Simpson, White Roses, 2011.

I do not know a black women who is at leisure. I have never known a black woman not efficient. Black women bide their time.

Black women are the shimmering surface and the power beneath.

What does it mean for a sister to sing that song?

The repetitions in these images suggest that we are thought of by some as a dime a dozen: undervalued, yes, but also, abundant. Black women are everywhere glorious and unsung.

Lorna Simpson, Jet Double Sit-In, 2012.

The black woman is elemental, of the earth, magma, and gem, “malachite and azurite.”

She is Afro-blue.

Before the serpentine coil, the gravity-defying nimbus of black hair, there is grease and there are plaits and there are headrags and there are silk sleeping scarves and satin pillowcases. Simpson doesn’t show us that. Yet we know it is there.

Lorna Simpson, Unbroken, 2017.

One soundtrack to these pictures: A woman sings Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” to her sister, her girlfriend. Black women, we sing to each other, a black woman artist singing an epic ode to black female beauty.

Ah black. Ah boisterous. Ah black. Ah beauty.

I want to name these women old-fashioned names: Viola, Simone, Mamie, Zora, Fern, Rachel, Daphne, Maudell, Thelma, Wenonah, Alondra, Farah. Adele, Matrice. Look, I’ve named some of them for women I love, whose eternal beauty never ceases to stir me.

Lorna Simpson, Earth & Sky #03, 2016.

Black women are the beginning and the end.  Black women are the law.  Black women are the ground and the sky, the horizon. Black women are the lucky number seven.

Black women are all the books in the Ancient Library of Alexandria, Egypt. Black women are Hammurabi’s code and the Rosetta stone: vexation and answer, secret and revelation.

Black women are surpassingly beautiful, and that is why you cannot stop looking at Lorna Simpson’s pictures.

The word “thaumaturgic” means: performing miracles.”

(via LitHub)

#couldn't choose so they're all here #gorgeous collages gorgeous words #lorna simpson #elizabeth alexander

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jmjafrx · 4 years

Text

“Inside the loophole, you can hear the slave girl’s runaway tongue, after Harryette Mullen’s track on resistant orality; Nina Simone’s lyric about a bird flying high; Assata’s poem about contraband love in hell and her grandmother’s dream-prophecy about the escape from the cell; the subterfuge of noise that Debbie Africa and her cellmates made as they ushered the child into the world; Frederick Douglass recounting, a decade after the Narrative and having abandoned the burden of being a representative man, how he was not a solitary hero, but rather that they were all in open rebellion that morning; Harriet Jacobs instructing other slave girls to be cautious and cunning at an early age; Hortense Spillers explicating the gift and impossibility of the black maternal, with Joy James extending Spillers’s line in the captive maternal and Christine Sharpe in the womb as factory; Nahum Chandler’s lesson on anacrusis, the expectant music of the before, and his step-by-step guide to paraontology in Cecil’s music and Du Bois’s compositions; Tina Campt humming the frequency of black life; Fred Moten amplifying the more-than-pain of Aunt Hester’s scream; Orlando Patterson and Claude Meillassoux expounding on the structural design of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”; Sethe’s refrain, mother make your mark on me; Élisée Reclus encouraging us to let our lives be beautiful, foreshadowing Amiri Baraka, if we could see ourselves, we would dig ourselves; Harriet Jacobs musing aloud in a cramped cell about the feel of the earth under her feet; Hazel Carby spinning a genealogy of black women’s reconstruction and Thavolia Glymph providing the account of the war against the women, the war-within-the-war; Du Bois’s call: How does it feel to be a problem? and Chandler’s response: How does it feel to be a problem of thought?; Zora Neale Hurston chuckling, let’s bring this talk down to earth and make plain that we speak with our sister’s tongue in our mouth; NourbeSe Philip trying her tongue in the discourse on our hidden anguish; Gloria Wekker and Omise’ke Tinsley whispering mati, just friends, the embrace of a lover, life in the hold; still life, still life, Sharpe utters and augments; Frank Wilderson’s full stop: there is nothing analogous to this!; Jared Sexton murmuring about social life and social death to the tune of “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue”; Riley Snorton introduces Mary Jones to the chorus, wedding the fungible and the trans; Dionne Brand cautioning us, do not for a moment forget the casual homicide of the dress, do not forget that nowhere has the assault come to an end; Zakiyyah Jackson speaks on it—the blackness of blackness or sublimity and the void; Rizvana Bradley chiming in about the lyric surplus that always exceeds and escapes; Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts takes it to the bridge: the shape depends on what it is designed to bear and who bears it; Ella Baker and Angela Davis affirming, yes, you have grasped the world at its roots, so you know the struggle is eternal; the chalk screeches against the blackboard as Denise Ferreira da Silva draws a diagram and writes the equation about blackness as matter signaling infinity, building with Gayatri Spivak’s speculations on value, Cedric Robinson’s Das Black Capital, and Sylvia Wynter’s Black Metamorphosis; after the exercises on frequency and tonality, the chorus enters again, Glissant’s refrains about free and forced poetics aerated by Ashon Crawley’s black breath; Paul Gilroy, channeling Ralph Ellison and Seyla Benhabib, stresses the unsayable and the music of transfiguration; Wynter’s laughter precedes the most beautiful cover of Aimé Cesaire’s “Poetry and Cognition” that you have ever heard—poesis as black capacity; Stuart Hall explicates the concept of “articulation” so we might understand the way the world works and how the structure holds together; Rosa Luxemburg decries the dangers of a policeman-like historical materialism and anarchists improvising in the air; Joshua Clover, finding his way to black music like the white boys from Liverpool, says the riot seeks to preserve nothing; Guy Debord mutters shyly about a theoretical account of practical action, because he knows philosophy is nothing compared with what they do in the streets of Watts, not interpret the world, but change it; Katherine McKittrick and Alex Weheliye introduce the deep beats and bass of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, crooning lyrics about black heartbreak, Fred moanin’ about what we owe one another and the generosity of the debtor, the secondary rhythms of the subprime, and Moor Mother making dissident music of all of this.”

Saidiya Hartman, Extended Notes on the Riot – Journal #105 December 2019 – e-flux https://ift.tt/2tZtfft

I wasn’t prepared. What a #BlackTheory shout!

Read the post: https://ift.tt/2vrMSgt

#http://dh.jmjafrx.com/2020/01/28/40461/; Black Life x Ephemera

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rotten-games · 5 years

Text

This is late because I had to pick up my meds but it’s finally here. Have some more sin.

Qora has always been intense. Ever since you met her there’s been something about the way she stands, the way she always has a hand on her weapon. She doesn’t trust you, but you don’t hold it against her because you don’t think she trusts even herself. That cat is the one thing in this world she truly trusts, never going anywhere without it by her side.

Which is why you’re confused when she kicks Zora out of the room.

You still don’t get the idea when she hesitates momentarily before tossing the dagger strapped to her thigh onto the chest at the foot of her bed, the crossbow quickly following it. Next, her boots are kicked off before she sheds her belt and lets it drop to the floor before she, with an irate glance in your direction, stops altogether.

Up to this point your mind has been working on overtime just to understand the situation. Qora has never been this undressed with you before and you realise the implications of such a thought. Still, she told you on know uncertain terms that she would probably never sleep with you, even if she did say she loved you daily. You still don’t know why that’s the case, but you figured she’d tell you if she ever felt ready. Now, you’re not so sure.

After a moment, she sighs and slips from her coat, letting it drop to the floor before approaching you with an irritated twitch of her eye. When Qora plops into your lap with all the grace of a newborn deer, you can’t help but protest, staring at her wide-eyed as she only appears to be getting more and more frustrated with you.

“Oh, for the love of—” She hisses, raking a hand through her hair before she begins to work at the lace keeping her inside her clothing, “Do you want me to fuck you or not?” You feel like you’re not hearing her properly, blinking in surprise at the statement from your girlfriend’s lips. Did… she say that? With the expectant stare she turns your way you have to believe she did. And yet.

“Are you sure?” You splutter, reaching out to take a hand as Qora gracelessly slips from her shirt and then her underclothes. She seems utterly nonplussed by her exposure, her brows furrowing as she slaps your hand away to start working at your own clothing. It’s not that you don’t want her, you do—very much so—but… “But you said—”

“I know what I said,” Qora sighs, her tone softening along with her expression. Her fingers have stopped where they are, at the belt around your hips. Her one brown eye peers at you as if searching for something and all you can do is take her in. You don’t think you’ve ever seen her naked by any sense of the word; there are scars on her body you never realised she had. Underneath all that clothing, you supposed you never really thought about what she would look like; how she would feel under your hands. Clenching her jaw, Qora repeats herself, “I know what I said. But things change.”

You suppose they do.

There is some hesitation before Qora asks, quietly, “Do you want this?” You realise she never thought to ask, so stalwart with her decision she was that it seemed natural just to get it over with. The thought is cause for concern, but you nod.

“Do you?”

When Qora hesitates some more, you find yourself trying to find some semblance of an idea of what she thinks, but her gaze simply seems confused. Was she seriously only thinking of you in this instant? As flattering as that is, you’re not sure how you feel about Qora not thinking of herself. After a long moment, she nibbles at her bottom lip, “Only… Only if you don’t touch me back. I mean—you can touch me but I don’t want you to touch me.” You think you get the idea.

With a soft sigh, Qora tugs at your belt and feverishly attempts to rip you out of your clothing, leaving you naked on the bed with the woman in question straddling your waist. She doesn’t appear to be taking her slacks off, so you elect not to mention it. She seems to just stare at you for a moment, taking you in as she inspects you with barely restrained interest. Finally, after what feels an eternity, she unfastens the eyepatch and throws it to the side, exposing the mangled skin underneath where once a matching brown eye sat. Were it in any other situation, you might have been startled, but as it is you can’t find yourself caring. Despite all the damage done to Qora’s body, it’s still Qora.

Before you can reach out to cup her cheeks in your hands, she slaps them away to instead press forward into a kiss. Her lips taste bitter, like those berries you shared on one of your hunting trips, but it isn’t wholly unpleasant. There’s a pressure to her kisses, a forcefulness as she pries your lips apart to slide her tongue against your own. Her hands are just as eager, exploring your body as if they’ve never touched another woman in their life. Qora’s scent of sweat and grass is intoxicating, as her fingers glide over your chest, press against your stomach, before finally finding their place at your groin, caressing over your sensitive skin before plunging into your heat with an eagerness you haven’t come to expect from the woman.

It draws a startled groan past your lips, happily letting her do the work as you plant your palms against Qora’s naked back. She’s all muscle under your hands, her breaths hitching against your ear as she soaks up the sounds she manages to wring out of you. You feel hot, incredibly hot, as her body moves against your own, trapping you between herself and the bed as she slips a second finger past your walls and shifts one of your legs out of her way. When you scrunch your eyes shut with a sigh of ecstasy you only have to open them again when you feel a sharp pain rush through your leg. Qora bit you, a pout on her lips before she continues to suck on the sensitive skin of your thigh. When she unlatches from you, she’s left a mark there, her eyes holding your gaze for a moment.

“Don’t look away,” Qora murmurs breathlessly, her pupil dilated and cheeks flushed in a way you don’t think you’ve ever seen. And you don’t, unable to look away from this woman even as she does so herself, however, returning dutifully to her ministrations as her skilful fingers stroke and caress your sensitive insides. Surely, she’s done this before, you find yourself thinking, but it’s not a thought you choose to dwell on. You can’t, because at this rate she’s bringing you closer and closer with each movement of her hand and you don’t think you’ll ever really care all that much anyway.

You don’t think you can hold on for much longer, your feeble attempts at being quiet quickly dissolved as you focus on Qora and only Qora. From the cocky little grin that forms on her face when you look at her again, you can tell she knows it. Just when she’s about to push you straight over the edge, your heart jumps straight into your throat as you hear a knock on her bedroom door. All movements cease, and suddenly you’re acutely aware of how close Qora is and how hard you’ve been breathing. Her face twists into an irritated snarl as she looks towards the door, willing whoever’s behind it to go away. When there’s another knock, however, you both let out a sigh as Qora pulls out of you and wipes her hand off on her slacks. You’re quick to wrap her blanket around your shoulders, curling up and allowing it to cover you. Qora, however, simply puts on her eyepatch and slips back into her coat, buttoning it until it only just covers her enough. The message she intends to send is clear; you’ve been interrupted.

“What?” Qora hisses as she opens up the door, Zora immediately trotting in as if he owns the place. The large cat jumps up on the bed and headbutts you gently before plopping down quite comfortably beside you. With a sigh, you resign yourself to spending the night with a cat between you, but you’ll just have to deal with it.

From your spot on the bed, you’re quite irritated to see Emil standing at the door, blinking in disbelief as he stares between you and Qora. After a long moment of wrestling his shocked, and somewhat saddened, expression into something resembling neutrality, dragging his gaze back to the woman at the door with a distracted sort of sigh. In one of his hands there’s a bottle of wine.

Poor lad.

“I… I was just… Zora was out here so I thought…” Emil is fumbling for his words, cheeks bright red as he looks down at his feet. “Never mind. I’m sure you’re busy. I… have to go.” And with that, he’s off, departing as quickly as possible. You can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the boy; you’re not sure what about Qora got him so smitten but you suppose you’re not much different from him. It’s a sobering thought, but one that’s interrupted when Qora slams the door closed and plops down tiredly onto the bed. She turns to Zora, gingerly stroking through his pelt for a moment before shaking her head.

“I know I should tell him to stop but…” Qora sighs, tugging at her sleeves as she looks at you, “But he’s just a kid. I thought he’d grow out of it. Especially after…” Hardening her expression, Qora shakes her head and sheds her coat again, dropping it to the floor before burying her head into the pillow closest to the wall. Zora curls up beside her, resting his cheek between her shoulder blades and tucking his paws up underneath the rest of his body. “Sleep now. It’s late and I’m taking you hunting in the morning. Someplace where we can actually have some privacy.”

And with that promise, and the look in her eye, how can you refuse?

#I spell lady as ladie because i find it funny #theres just a certain mood it gives me and honestly #Qora #sin bin #eyyy its sad boy hours again god i want to die #writing smut for qora was... interesting #jesus this is almost 2000 words

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zolganif · 5 years

Text

A-- I am.... artistic athletic adventurous ambidextrous agitated angry agnostic animated angelic anorexic autistic asexual American African B---I like... books beer baseball basketball bouncing best friends beetles brownies bean bag chairs basements boxes boasting bickering brilliance C--I've met a.... Cameron Cameo Camilla Camille Catherine Carlotta Carly Camden Casey Charlotte Cheri Cheyenne Celeste Chase D---I can... dance draw daydream all day dream big do the splits deck the halls dicker someone down diet do the macarana do a dare drum doodle dump someone without feeling bad dawdle E--I've met someone named... Ellery Eliana Edward Elsa Ella Eliza Ember Ezra Ethan Evonne Erica Emily Eternity Epiphany F--I like the names... Fiona Francesca Felicia Fauna Flora Flavia Felicity Forever Fragrance Flower Fawn Florida Fancy Friday G--I am.... girly graceful grateful generous gorgeous gay gigantic a good guesser a girl a garden gnome collector gentle gleeful going somewhere going nowhere H--I like... hot dogs hula dancing horses hibiscus hummus humming hummingbirds health class hearts hoodies helping others Hannah Montana helmets hating I---I am... imaginative interesting intelligent insane irked irate icy illiterate idiotic impossible intriguing Irish Indian Islamic J--I like... jokes juice juggling jogging jaguars justice jubilee jam jelly J.K. Rowling's books Jimmy Neutron janitors janitorial work jeggings K--I have never been... kissed kicked killed kicked out of my house a klutz a kite flyer kind a kid a king a khaki pants wearer a kindred spirit to someone a kazoo player a Kentucky native a kimono wearer L---I am... lovely lively loving loved loud labeled as a free spirit labeled as worthless liked learning every day laughing right now lucky literate lanky looking fine! M--I want... money more mushy love moccasins a monkey a mansion macaroons a mission to be a missionary millions of dollars mice more Mondays in the week a mother a mixer N---I've met a... Noelle Noel Natalie Nolan Nathan Nehemiah Nicole Nikki Natasha Nathalie Nora Nori Nevada Nina O---I like... orange October oranges oceans orbs odd things opportunities over-dressing ordering take out open doors order oven mitts Oscar the Grouch opals P---I like the name... Penelope Persephone Phoebe Paisley Parsley Primrose Periwinkle Palace Paris Peyton Parker Preston Pixie Paige Q--I own a... quilt Queen of Hearts costume book of questions quarreling tongue questioning mind quarter quacking duck quiet apartment book with "Quest" in the title Quaker Oats product quill pen quadrilateral queasy stomach Quebec souvenir R---I like to... run read race smell roses rock hunt ride horses ride my bike redecorate my room reminisce respond rapidly repeat things raise the roof! ramble on realize things S--I am... serene silly shy stupid smart stylish a soldier sexual spiritual sensitive sore sick senile a soccer player T---I like... toast toddlers Taco Bell tarantulas Texas truth tamales Trix Twinkies turtles total commitment tales the Trinity troublemaking U--I own... a ukelele underwear an umbrella a utensil a useful skill an understanding spirit Uggs something ugly an ugly face an uppity attitude a useless pile of junk a Utah souvenir an Uncle Sam hat a U of M hoodie V--I have a... good voice violin violet rug victorious testimony vision for my future vision problem vein problem valentine veil very common name viola velvet robe voter sticker van W--I am a .... worshipper woman wordsmith whisperer wishful thinker wise person witty person wench witch whale watcher warrior wedding planner wedding photographer wading swimmer X---I am... extreme exciting extraordinary exceptional extra-special extremely rare entertaining egotistic an egghead enchanting enticing echoing an elephant fan English Y--I like... yams yellow yawning yo-yos yachts yacking yarn yodeling Yemen you saying yes yesterday's memories yards yardsticks Z---I have met a... Zoey Zander Zora Zayne Zahi Zayara Zayana Zion Zionna Zoe Zeke Zachariah Zachary Zelda

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surveyhoursss · 2 years

Text

185

[joybucket]

A-- I am....

artistic

athletic

adventurous

ambidextrous

agitated

angry

agnostic

animated

angelic

anorexic

autistic

asexual

American

African

B---I like...

books

beer

baseball

basketball

bouncing

best friends <3

beetles

brownies

bean bag chairs

basements

boxes

boasting

bickering

brilliance

C--I've met a....

Cameron

Cameo

Camilla

Camille

Catherine

Carlotta

Carly

Camden

Casey

Charlotte

Cheri

Cheyenne

Celeste

Chase

D---I can...

dance

draw

daydream all day

dream big

do the splits

deck the halls

dicker someone down

diet

do the macarana

do a dare

drum

doodle

dump someone without feeling bad

dawdle

E--I've met someone named...

Ellery

Eliana

Edward

Elsa

Ella

Eliza

Ember

Ezra

Ethan

Evonne

Erica

Emily

Eternity

Epiphany

F--I like the names...

Fiona

Francesca

Felicia

Fauna

Flora

Flavia

Felicity

Forever

Fragrance

Flower

Fawn

Florida

Fancy

Friday

G--I am....

girly

graceful

grateful

generous

gorgeous

gay

gigantic

a good guesser

a girl

a garden gnome collector

gentle

gleeful

going somewhere

going nowhere

H--I like...

hot dogs

hula dancing

horses

hibiscus

hummus

humming

hummingbirds

health class

hearts

hoodies

helping others

Hannah Montana

helmets

hating

I---I am...

imaginative

interesting

intelligent

insane

irked

irate

icy

illiterate

idiotic

impossible

intriguing

Irish

Indian

Islamic

J--I like...

jokes

juice

juggling

jogging

jaguars

justice

jubilee

jam

jelly

J.K. Rowling's books

Jimmy Neutron

janitors

janitorial work

jeggings

K--I have never been...

kissed

kicked

killed

kicked out of my house

a klutz

a kite flyer

kind

a kid

a king

a khaki pants wearer

a kindred spirit to someone

a kazoo player

a Kentucky native

a kimono wearer

L---I am...

lovely

lively

loving

loved

loud

labeled as a free spirit

labeled as worthless

liked

learning every day

laughing right now

lucky

literate

lanky

looking fine!

M--I want...

money

mushy love

moccasins

a monkey

a mansion

macaroons

a mission

to be a missionary

millions of dollars

mice

more Mondays in the week

a mother

a mixer

N---I've met a...

Noelle

Noel

Natalie

Nolan

Nathan

Nehemiah

Nicole

Nikki

Natasha

Nathalie

Nora

Nori

Nevada

Nina

O---I like...

orange

October

oranges

oceans

orbs

odd things

opportunities

over-dressing

ordering take out

open doors

order

oven mitts

Oscar the Grouch

opals

P---I like the name...

Penelope

Persephone

Phoebe

Paisley

Parsley

Primrose

Periwinkle

Palace

Paris

Peyton

Parker

Preston

Pixie

Paige

Q--I own a...

quilt

Queen of Hearts costume

book of questions

quarreling tongue

questioning mind

quarter

quacking duck

quiet apartment

book with "Quest" in the title

Quaker Oats product

quill pen

quadrilateral

queesy stomach

Quebec souvenir

R---I like to...

run

read

race

smell roses

rock hunt

ride horses

ride my bike

redecorate my room

reminisce

respond rapidly

repeat things

raise the roof!

ramble on

realize things

S--I am...

serene

silly

shy

stupid

smart

stylish

a soldier

sexual

spiritual

sensitive

sore

sick

senile

a soccer player

T---I like...

toast

toddlers

Taco Bell

tarantulas

Texas

truth

tamales

Trix

Twinkies

turtles

total commitment

tales

the Trinity

troublemaking

U--I own...

a ukelele

underwear

an umbrella

a utensil

a useful skill

an understanding spirit

Uggs

something ugly

an ugly face

an uppity attitude

a useless pile of junk

a Utah souvenir

an Uncle Sam hat

a U of M hoodie

V--I have a...

good voice

violin

violet rug

victorious testimony!

vision for my future

vision problem

vein problem

valentine

veil

very common name

viola

velvet robe

voter sticker

van

W--I am a ....

worshipper

woman

wordsmith

whisperer

wishful thinker

wise person

witty person

wench

witch

whale watcher

warrior

wedding planner

wedding photographer

wading swimmer

X---I am...

extreme

exciting

extraordinary

exceptional

extra-special

extremely rare

entertaining

egotistic

an egghead

enchanting

enticing

echoing

an elephant fan

English

Y--I like...

yams

yellow

yawning

yo-yos

yachts

yacking

yarn

yodeling

Yemen

you :)

saying yes

yesterday's memories

yards

yardsticks

Z---I have met a...

Zoey

Zander (or Xander)

Zora

Zayne

Zahi

Zayara

Zayana

Zion

Zionna

Zoe

Zeke

Zachariah

Zachary

Zelda

#bolding survey #survey

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flaildoodles · 6 years

Photo

#Sidlinkweek: Day 4 - Uncertainty

I know, I know. Image doesn’t seem to fit the theme. I tried my hand at writing (because I didn’t want to draw ANOTHER comic today...) No idea if my writing is any good, so I sketched out my fav part of dialog real quick to make up for it if it’s shit <3

It wasn’t anything different from previous nights.

The railing he was sitting on cold beneath his fingers, but not cold enough to give any discomfort as he held onto it. After all, when given the choice of cold fingertips and the risk of falling to your death… there was no room to complain really. And maybe he should just stand behind the railing instead of sitting on it, but seeing his legs dangle so high above impending doom had some sort of charm to it as the mind wanders into the same old once again.

Mipha’s statue wasn’t far behind him, staring off into the distance. He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye (or, what was sculpted to represent it) as of late, whereas he’d normally feel better after sharing anything that bugged his mind, this was something he’d prefer to keep to himself.

Even with a hundred of years having passed, you don’t really tell your dead girlfriend you’ve got it bad for her brother…

A deep sigh, stating it like that didn’t make it any better.

Neither did the hand that suddenly placed itself on the railing, not too far from his own. A bright, crimson color and the blond already knew the phrase ‘speak of the devil and he is sure to appear’ had never been more fitting than it was right now.

“What wrong, my friend? You seem more… ‘quiet’ than usual.”

The Hyrule Champion bit the inside of his bottom lip, keeping a sigh from escaping as he leaned back, making sure he wouldn’t fall off as his hands carefully let go of the railing. He didn’t even look up to meet the other’s gaze as he signed.

[ It’s nothing really.]

As expected, this answer didn’t please the Zora in the slightest. It never did.

“Link, you are my friend. If something is bothering you to this extent, of course it is important… to me at least.”

A long silence played between the two of them. It was more nerve-wracking than anything, the blond fidgeting with his fingers as he seemed to go over his options in his head. For a small second, blue eyes glanced up to catch a quick glimpse of the prince, looking at him as intensely as ever. Sometimes the Hylian wondered if he didn’t have some kind of sensor, the way Sidon would always find him when he didn’t want to be found.

Someone up there must find his struggles rather amusing.

With a deep sigh, hands started signing once more, a little more shaky than he’d like them to be.

[ You know the feeling when you want something so so SO badly, but there is just no way you could actually ever have it? Like someone is playing some sick joke on you, just for a good laugh?]

“Ah…”

That last part seemed to apply to every bit of this moment, most moments in his life actually. For example, every time he’d think the worst had passed, something ten times as bothersome would be tossed at him instantly. Like that time he had finally cleared out that entire fort of monsters without taking any damage, and then went out to get his ass frozen in place by some Ice Wizzrobe.

Any pride he could’ve had instantly shattered.

Back from his thoughts to the real world, Sidon seemed to have turned his attention to his sister’s statue behind them. Staring at it quite intensely, a sad… no… ‘bothered’ expression on his face. After what seemed like an eternity, the taller of the two let out a sigh of his own before turning to look at Link once more.

“… This is about my sister, isn’t it?”

How he had gotten to that conclusion was understandable, they were only a few steps away from her statue after all. And the blond had to admit, he was being a little bit vague… on purpose of course. Though, maybe he should be a bit more forward with this, before he’d have the prince sinking off into memories of the past again.

[ It’s about you, actually.]

That sure seemed to drag the other out of his own thoughts relatively quickly.

“Me?! Goodness Link, why do you speak of me as if I’m the one that passed on? I see no reason for you to worry about such things!”

A little oblivious. Something he could find to be charming, but right now made it all the more difficult for him to just be blunt about it. Maybe with some more hints he’d figure it out without the obvious having to be stated.

[ You’re the only one next in line for the throne. Aren’t you bound to get married to some girl at some point?]

Something in that sentence seemed to have clicked the puzzle pieces together for the Zora, as his face changed into a mix of confusion and surprise for a moment, before he started laughing loudly. One clawed hand clutched at his stomach as the other held onto the railing, keeping him from toppling over. Soon enough, the prince straightened himself out again, voice shaking as he was obviously trying his best not to have another laughing fit.

“To be fairly honest, I will marry whoever I will damn well please, excuse my French.”

That sentence appeared to have given him the control again, clearing his throat to get the final ‘giggles’ out before continuing with his response.

“Besides, it’s not really something I have put my mind to yet, considering my father is alive and well. Goddesses, I wouldn’t even know what to do if he weren’t, I’m far from ready to follow in his ‘shoes’, so to speak. Mentally mostly. I’d have Muzu on my tail from dusk ‘till dawn, he already calls me ‘unprepared’ with every chance he gets. As I am right now, the throne wouldn’t suit me in the slightest.”

That idea seemed to humor him almost as much as Link’s remark had done before, though the blond still couldn’t really understand why it had been so funny? Heck, he couldn’t even figure out if the other had even realized what he was trying to get through the zora’s thick skull with all this. Might as well be as forward as he could be.

[… you DO realize I just… confessed to you, right?]

Another silence.

“Right… sorry…”

Leave it to the Zora prince to drop in an apology where it is not needed.

[ it’s okay.]

Link didn’t know why he responded to it either, probably just out of habit. In the meantime, the continuous silences where starting to get on his nerves more so than the time he couldn’t even take a nice stroll around the village without getting a bunch of monsters on him. Or worse, villagers with the most STUPID requests imaginable.

“”Find me ten crickets.””

Go find them yourself…

“You know, your words remind me of the one I kind of have my eye on.”

…

Oh.

Now this rollercoaster conversation was heading into a whole different direction. The Hylian was just hoping it wasn’t going to derail, as in, ‘please don’t crush my feelings like a grape’.

“No really! They’re the worst! They rarely respond to my letters, just waltz into the Domain whenever they please and claim absolutely all of my attention. It’s frustrating sometimes really, because they’re a handful, getting themselves into any bit of trouble you can imagine, in worse shape with every visit. I’d almost feel like I’m their medic sometimes!”

The red Zora spoke with as much enthusiasm as he did with pretty much every little thing. Luckily, Link wasn’t as oblivious that he needed much of a hint to whom those words were referring to. BUT… it was fun to give the other a little bit of payback… and playing dumb wasn’t the hardest thing to do.

[ Sounds like a hassle.]

He could barely contain the smirk that dared to creep up on his lips, biting his lower lip once again as to get any control over his facial muscles. For someone so often called emotionless or expressionless, he was terrible at keeping them from showing sometimes.

“Oh they sure are! Honestly, there’s moments where their stupidity and recklessness hits a peak, and I want nothing more than to strangle them with my own two hands.”

Now that, was hurtful.

Link turned to look at the other, obviously insulted and at the sight the other let out a quiet chuckle.

He knew the blond knew who he was talking about. And Link knew that Sidon knew… but chose to drive the ‘oblivious’ act to its absolute maximum and just tilted his head in fake confusion a second later, as if he still didn’t know who this was about. If only to see if it could piss the Zora of in any way.

“… But then there’s that smile, one so real, it just makes any negative feeling fade away instantly… as well as my heartbeat by the way… it’s quite concerning.”

The last bit of his sentence, Sidon put a hand on his chest where, presumably, his heart was beating underneath his ribcage. Giving Link a judgmental look, the blond couldn’t hold back a loud snicker, covering his mouth with a hand before signing at the other again; shaking where he sat as he tried holding back his laughter.

[So, WHO are we rambling on about here?]

A question that was answered with the biggest grin the Zora prince could possibly muster. One that just spelled out ‘As if you don’t fucking know, you little shit’. And goddesses did he love every little bit of it.

Another small moment of silence.

But not an awkward silence like the ones before. This was just the both of them appreciating the weightlessness of this moment, and Sidon awaiting somewhat of a response, probably.

[… it’s about me, isn’t it?]

“Maybe.”

Another chuckle escaped the blond’s lips, shaking his head slightly as his hands just kept signing.

[ You’re the worst.]

This seemed to only make Sidon’s grin wider, and that was definitely not a point of complaining. Though, maybe something to note down for the other later to not do that if he wanted his hyrule Champion alive and breathing.

“I thought we established that you hold on to that title pretty strongly.”

Link rolled with his eyes excessively, making sure the other would notice him doing so without having to make much of an effort to look at him directly. For the first time that night, the Hylian opened his mouth, a quiet, raspy voice coming out of curled up lips.

“Haha…”

The sound seemed to draw the other closer to him, distance clearing between the two of them as a hand placed itself on his shoulder. For a moment, the blond froze in slight fear, the thought of being pushed off the railing flickered in his mind for less than a second.

“My friend, your real laugh is a lot more pleasant to hear than whatever that was supposed to be.”

It wasn’t hard to notice the laughter being held back at the back of his throat as those words left his mouth. It made this whole conversation a lot more enjoyable, to know he could say anything from casual chitchat to some serious confession bullshit, and they’d still be laughing together all the same.

[ Then make me laugh.]

“Are you challenging me?”

[ No.]

“Darn, could swear that you were.”

[ Nope.]

The Champion contemplated his next words for a moment, before giving in to impulse, already seeing his hands move before he even thought of doing so.

[ Also, since when do you swear?!]

Bright golden eyes moved up to lock onto his own, the two of them just looking each other in the eye before both bursting into the umpteenth laughing fit. Sidon actually placing both his hands on Link’s shoulders and standing behind him now, to make sure the smaller male wouldn’t slide off the damn railing with how his body was shaking.

When they settled down eventually, Link tilted his head backwards to look at the other again. All was quiet, just stares and smiles, and for a moment he’d almost forget the whole conversation they just had, if it weren’t for the smirk appearing on the Zora’s face as he spoke.

“You DO realize I just confessed to you, right?”

Mimicking his own damn words from earlier.

Sidon could muster up whatever bullshit he wanted on Link being worse, whatever. But that darn prince was definitely just as bad of a terror.

#sidlinkweek #sidlink #prince sidon #sidon #link #loz botw #my art #my writing #that tag feels so weird #how the f does one even write good?

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rmolivia · 4 years

Text

We all remember our firsts in life; first kiss, first love, first sexual experience. Black Velvet Seductions presents First Submission stories from eleven fabulous and best-selling authors. Straight, gay, BDSM, domestic discipline, age play and multiple partners- this is a red hot read that promises to thrill and tantalize!

MANDIE MILLS: The Initiation:

After accepting a mysterious invitation to a private kink club, Felicity's domination and submission fantasies come to life in an adventurous evening of blindfolds, bondage and double penetration that includes a handsome stranger.

R.M. OLIVIA: An Anniversary Gift for Emily

Discouraged by the lack of spark in their marriage, Emily's husband breaks into her diary to discover her hidden secret- a ménage! Would she be open to an interracial adventure with their sexy Latino neighbor? There is only one way to find out.

LESLIE MCKELVEY: The First Time… Again

Can Lila summon up the nerve to tell her easy-going and laid back boyfriend what is really on her mind? How would he receive her request to take charge and command control, tie her up and even spank her! She longed to submit but was he prepared to dominate? Once asked, there would be no going back.

ZORA NYXX: Kneel

Her marriage had fallen to the mundane, everyday life that left Lydia feeling empty and joyless. She needed a second chance to live again, clear on the other side of the country where she met Thorton- a powerful and dominating man who was not only able to awaken her sexuality but also claim her heart. That is- if she could bring herself to kneel before him.

BREANNA HAYSE: A Little Submission

Sharli's no angel and her childish defiance has landed her in the police station. No amount of weaseling is going to stop her alpha male boyfriend from showing his love for his Little girl by putting her straight over his knee for a shocking bare-bottom spanking. Comforted in his strong, loving arms, Sharli realizes that she needs more than just a dom- she also needs a Daddy.

S.K. FERO: Whatever It Takes

Relationships are hard enough, but when an ultimatum is given, and a choice has to be made, things become hot. Will one dominant cowboy give his submission to the other to keep their romance alive? Sometimes sacrifice brings some unknown rewards.

KELLY DAWSON: Subdued By The Lifeguard

Zane's a surf lifeguard, trained and paid to rescue and protect, his watchful eye never missing a beat when it came to safety. His dominance flowed like the waves over the sand, drawing Lisa into its wake and daring her to challenge him. Would she risk drowning just for the chance that he could make her obey? Assuming, of course, that he would save her!

STARLA KAYE: To Love, Honor, Obey… and Trust

Take off her panties. Why? "... Because knowing you are sitting at your desk with a bare bottom, which will be spanked later, will make you less pissy..." Did Abby believe he would carry out his threat? More so, could she trust him to give her exactly what she needed?

A.T. BRENNAN: A Valentine's Surprise:

Lena and Kai decide to fulfill each other's deepest fantasies for Valentine's. She'll wear a sexy PVC dress for him, and he brings his friend Taylor along so she can experience a threesome with two men. Two dominant alpha males and one sensual vixen make for a threesome to remember!

AMANDA RAVENSCROFT: Her New Life

Christie has been successful at work, but something was missing from her life- the need to submit to a truly dominant man. Could this awakened need be fulfilled in the hands of Gerard, who holds to the old-fashioned beliefs of consent, respect, and compliance?

SELKIE McKATRICK: Eternal Submission

Do you believe in reincarnation and the paranormal? When Dorrie submits her heart and soul to Eli, she never imagines being bound to him in another life as both his soul mate and submissive. If love truly is forever, then beware before you submit to its power in this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/

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scironex · 7 years

Text

Failure and Succession : Sea

I bet you didn’t think you’d see the sequel.

“It makes perfect sense, in that case! If the Sheikah expected the pilots to be in serious danger from Ganon, then it of course the Divine Beasts would have an inbuilt Resurrection Shrine.” As it had turned out, Vah Medoh’s wide, lightweight structure lends it to floating on water as much as floating in air. It now rests upon Lake Totori. “Still, having facilities to recuperate from such savage wounds… It’s… Well, what it is is irrelevant. We need to visit the other Divine Beasts.” She begins to glow blue as the Sheikah Slate transports her to the Akh Va’quot shrine. “I’ll meet you at the Rito Stable.”

Link arrives to see Zelda engaged in conversation with none other than Revali.

“Don’t worry, Princess. I just wanted to see you off. I know I’m in no condition to be escorting royalty.” The Rito is earning some side glances from the other patrons; He’s still not wearing anything. Meeting eyes with the Hylian Champion, he says, “Finally made it up here, did you?” He breaks eye contact with an expression that could almost be mistaken for contrition.

After a moment, he speaks up in a soft tone. “...Take care of her. The world’s more dangerous than ever.” A quiet second passes. “Well, looks like Link will be picking up my slack again. Good luck, you two.” He turns and walks back to Rito Village. To himself, he murmurs, “But you won’t need it.”

The pair doesn’t even make it properly into Zora’s Domain before they’re hailed by Prince Sidon.

“Greetings! I don’t mean to be rude, but it was my impression that you weren’t to return until you’d finished work aboard Vah Medoh?”

Zelda smiles at the Zora’s boisterousness. “There were complications. Good complications, but… Well, we need to board Vah Ruta. You should come as well.”

“Aye! Link, let us go to the Reservoir lake. We will meet you there, Princess!”

Please authenticate Sheikah Slate to confirm release.

Link and Sidon stride into the core of Vah Ruta, meeting Zelda just in front of the Main Control Unit. Link draws the Master Sword. A firm discipline keeps it more than ready, but the Zora prince notices the absence of tension in his face.

As the Princess brings the Slate up to the terminal, Sidon asks, “May I ask what is being released exactly? You carry yourselves with a great gravitas.”

Sheikah Slate authenticated. Release of resurrected subject confirmed.

His heart jumps in his chest and he gasps as his breath leaves his lungs. He isn’t sure why at first. But then, time stops as the unit unfolds. A small red figure descends into Zelda’s arms. Mipha.

Zelda’s voice intrudes on his reverie. “Can you take her back to Zora’s Domain, Your Highness?”

Sidon doesn’t move. Link, with blade sheathed once more, glances over at him. A Hylian hand is set upon the Zora’s shoulder. Sidon slowly reaches up to grasp it in his own.

He speaks up after what seems like an eternity, voice so gentle it doesn’t even echo, but with perfect princely clarity. “Mipha…?”

Zelda bites her lip. She hadn’t thought of how to break the news to Sidon. What could she have said? “Hey, thanks to random chance, your sister, who died because we chose her as the pilot of a millennia-old superweapon happened to be brought back to life by that same

superweapon!” Actually, without the sarcasm, that was probably exactly what she should have said.

“Yes. She was brought back by the very same technology that returned Link to life.” Mipha is light, but Zelda isn’t particularly strong. The weight leaving her arms as Sidon lifts his sister is a relief.

Later, Link finds himself ascending the stairs to the Throne room. After an evening meal, King Dorephan had asked that he join him in his chambers. On his back, he carries the shimmering form of the Lightscale Trident. He intends to restore it to its rightful owner. Zelda, meanwhile, has retreated to one of the royal historians she knew back in the day. She’s eager to hear his stories again.

“Ah, Link. As soon as she woke, Mipha was asking after you.”

The small Zora blinks and nods her head. She lays on a small basin… bed? Filled with water that seems to sparkle a bit more than the present lighting would permit. Her body is adorned with the jewelry typical of her appearance. The only thing missing is the sash that marked her as Champion. Otherwise, it could be a hundred years ago, before the world fell to pieces.

Link removes the Zora princess’ favored weapon and offers it, taking to one knee. “Thank you, Link.” Her voice is flat and tired. An attendant gingerly grabs the weapon and leans it against a nearby pillar.

Link nods, and returns to his feet.

“It’s funny,” Mipha says, voice level, but lacking her usual regal charm. “I would never have thought we’d be able to see each other a hundred years on. Your kind doesn’t usually last that long.” Her choice of words is unusually blunt.

“Are you alright?” Link asks.

“You never spoke much before. I always enjoyed hearing it when you did.” The Hylian bites his lip.

Mipha, abandoning her attempt to find a way to word what she meant, lets out a pleading tone. “Did you move on, after the Great Calamity? I didn’t.”

“In more ways than one.” Link realizes how violently inappropriate that remark was, but he can’t take it back. He expects her to frown, or maybe cry, or possibly take it in stride as she so often did.

He does not expect her to laugh. “I suppose so. There was still work for me to do, with Ganon’s threat on the horizon. Now, though, there’s nothing left. It’s been slain, we are at peace, and all that remains is to move forward.

“Perhaps that’s why I can’t stop thinking about it. I have always put the greater good before myself, but right now, that greater good to pursue. There are no issues for which my people need guidance. There are no threats to be fought and won against. All that’s left is the scars to see in the water’s reflection.

“I accepted what the world had to become knowing that I would be leaving it behind. Now I’m here, the Zora Princess, and there’s nothing I can do. I can pilot Vah Ruta, but there’s only so much an endless supply of water can do. I can lead my people, but they’re busy repairing our home. I was trapped within that beast for a hundred years, unable to help anyone. That was because I failed; Fine, I knew the consequences. But now I’m back. The war has been won, and in spite of my mistakes, I’ve been a second chance at life.

“But for what? My people, the Zora, cheer for my return. They fill their hearts with joy, surround me with kindness and love, but all I can see is the gaps between them. What of the soldiers who were slain trying to defend this land? What of the architects who were thrown into ruin along with their creations? What of the simple fishers, killed in the blink of an eye?

“Why should I be allowed to live?! Why am I to survive my fate when thousands of others have to keep theirs? And those who survived them have to bear the weight of their loss? Why am I pardoned and forgiven for the gravitas of my weakness when so many others were taken for no fault of theirs?”

Her breathing is pained and unsteady as she closes her eyes.. The attendant - who is not nearly old enough to have been alive before Mipha’s death - stands to attention immediately.

Dorephan preempts him. “I’m sorry, child, but you need to rest. Link, thank you for returning the Trident. For now, though, you should make your leave.”

Zelda sits underneath the Zora’s radiant city. She skips stones across the water, brow furrowed at the story Link had just shared. “I understand how she feels. It often crossed my mind in those hundred years… that I did not deserve to keep my life, when all of my friends and subjects could not. I told myself it was unfair, that I was unfit for such a redemption. It must be harder for her, though, being surrounded by people who remember. People who had to suffer the loss of loved ones directly.”

Link looks out across the rippling waters. Unlike Zelda, he stands upright. Zora’s Domain is probably one of the safest locations in Hyrule, and even aside that, the land is safer than it’s been in a hundred years. It’s not something he’s willing to risk, though, especially not with the Yiga Clan still lurking in the shadows.

This vigilance is probably why he picks up on the quiet footsteps approaching them first. Zelda, catching his sudden alertness, stands up to follow his gaze.

“Prince Sidon. Greetings.”

“Salutations, Your Highness Zelda. I’m pleased I’m not the only one who finds this to be a very good hiding spot.”

The princess laughs. “I mean no offense; We simply had things to discuss that weren’t appropriate for the public air.”

“None taken! I trust that you’ve been enjoying your excursion to our beautiful home?” “Of course. It’s always a pleasure.” She brings her hands together. “If I may… How is Mipha faring?”

Sidon’s eyes fall slightly. “As it stands, she will return to full health shortly.” Slowly, as if chewing his words, he says, “By my memory, and my father’s, never once has she been, well, upset.” After a pause, he perks up, and changes tack. “Ah, but I had forgotten why I sought you out in the first place. My father, King Dorephan, has prepared lodging for the both of you.”

Zelda makes to speak, but instead purses her lips. The non-answer is frustrating; She’s concerned for her health as well. But she trusted that Sidon meant well, and wouldn’t hold back if he had the option. She nods and follows him to the mentioned room.

If you look into the night sky and stare for long enough, it’s possible to forget that there’s ground beneath you in Zora’s Domain. The air is crisp and humid. Stars smatter the black velvet sky. Distant waterfalls drown out any quiet noises. It makes the inability to sleep that night much more bearable for Link. He stands just outside the room prepared for him, trying to form a thought. The task is harder than it sounds.

“I take it you are not able to sleep either?” Link’s posture tightens as he experiences a sudden crash to earth. Blinking, he turns to face the voice of the young Zora Champion. “I’m fine, trust me. I suppose you don’t need me to apologize for the outburst earlier, but I feel contrite regardless. Thank you, again, for returning my trident.” Formalities taken care of, Mipha drops her hands to her side. Link speaks up. “Welcome back.”

She laughs slightly at that. “In spite of everything, I believe I’m glad to be back.”

His response comes faster than she anticipates. “Your return made quite the splash.”

She’s stunned.

“Everyone seems happy to have you back. I guess it would be kind of shellfish if they didn’t, but I can’t imagine the clam-or is enjoyable.” “Link… You’re making jokes. You never made jokes.”

He smiles. The gesture is sincere, but Mipha could see something else behind it.

“I can tell you’re happy, but is something the matter?”

The Hylian’s eyes fall just a bit, then he responds. “You asked if I moved on. I thought you meant… over you.”

“Ah. I hadn’t considered… That. Still, I never did present the Zora Armor to you. If I really meant it… If I had been certain, I would have done so.”

His teeth dig into his lip. “It was- A hundred years ago, we were all preparing to fight Ganon. We would win, then there would be time to decide how I felt. I still don’t know.”

“Link, that’s fine. I know this isn’t an easy choice - Zelda has eyes for you, too, and I can’t imagine you have none for her. Goddess willing, you will have years and decades to figure it out. And that’s how it should be.” There’s a stability in her eyes that could settle the most wavering heart. “I would like to know the answer to the question I did ask, however.”

A curled lip is the first reply to her question. A downcast gaze is the second. “It’s easier without everyone expecting the world of me.”

“I know, thousands of Zora used to have their gaze on me when I was Champion.”

Link shakes his head. “There were millions of Hylians.”

It’s difficult to believe, but he is not lying.

“I always wanted to be a knight. I never expected to be chosen by the sword.” His lips twist, as if trying to pull the words from the air in front of him.

“And there were suddenly so many more things you had to live up to.” He nods.

“I suppose I had always been groomed to be a leader. Such an honor is… Well, beyond the comprehension of a normal mind. I can’t grasp the idea of a thousand frogs, much less the idea of a thousand lives, all of which I am responsible for. The role of Champion isn’t that much higher on a scale of impossibilities.”

Link shakes his head. “The Champions were forgotten. I was forgotten.” His words aren’t said with sorrow, but relief. “I don’t have to be a hero.”

“You mean… You prefer it… this way?” Mipha asks, gently closing her hands.

Link doesn’t answer.

#The Legend of Zelda #Breath of the Wild #Mipha #Link #Zelda #Writing #Failure and Succession

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inkingthewild · 7 years

Text

Cold

Did any of you want Zelink angst? I’m going to pretend you did.

Link is silent, numb, as the healer waves her hands awkwardly and babbles on, a constant stream of apologies filling the palpable silence. He can only process a little of the information she’s reciting to them.

Calamity Ganon. Malice. Aftermath. Lingering effects.

Terminal.

Zelda sits calmly, her eyes straight ahead. “Thank you for your assistance,” she politely tells the healer, before she stands and walks towards the door.

The healer looks stricken as Zelda sweeps out of the room, but Link wastes no time in following her hurriedly until she stops at the balcony overlooking the gatehouse.

The sun shines, bestowing its radiant warmth upon the fields of Hyrule. The sun shines, and it shouldn’t. Not on a day like this.

He glances at the princess. She doesn’t look at him, and instead drinks in the sight of her beloved kingdom, like a drowning man clutching at straws in a tossing sea. He clears his throat and tries to say something, anything, but finds that there is a heavy rope constricting any words he has and tightening about his heart.

“Zelda-“

“Don’t. Please.” There isn’t a crack in her voice as a gaping fissure, as she turns to him with misery etched across her face. He wishes desperately he could take this sudden weight from her shoulders and hurl it far, far away, so that it would never hurt her again. “If there is truly nothing we can do, then… then I am prepared to accept it.”

“You’re not giving up already, are you?” There is a hint of quiet frustration in his voice.

Zelda is perhaps more collected as she replies. “No, Link. This is the Malice – there is no known cure. Believe me, if there was, I would fight this monstrosity. I would fight with everything I have. And I still will,” she adds, touching his arm. “I won’t let it take me so easily. But I don’t know how long I will be able to hold out, if there is nothing that can help me.

“If what the healer says is true, then I don’t have much time. I’ll need time, before… before I…”

“Stop.” Link says. He draws her close to him, feeling her familiar warmth, and rests his head atop hers. “I won’t let this monster take you. I’ll scour the lands, scour Hell itself, if it means that I can find something to destroy it. We’ll get through it, like we always have. “

He feels her smile against his chest, and the sensation brings a tenderness that shoots to the ends of his fingers. “There is no reason to give up so easily,” she agrees, lifting her head to gaze into his eyes. Hers are a shimmering green, brimming with life even in the face of darkness.

He’ll be damned if he lets Ganon steal that light for the second time.

Not much changes in the immediate days that follow. Zelda governs Hyrule with the assistance of her Council, settling disputes as they come and negotiating numerous trade deals, while Link supports her not only as her appointed knight but also as the new Commander of the Royal Guard. In spite of their duties, they manage to find time to spend with one another. Some days they are able to spend long hours riding together, like the field surveys they used to perform before the Calamity struck.

However, there is now a dark shadow hanging over them; its presence a constant reminder of the healer’s grim words.

Link takes to researching Zelda’s ailment with whatever free time he gets. He piles thick volumes from the castle library into his arms and hauls them to his chambers. It’s an arduous trip, but he is resolute. Regardless of what the healers have said, he will not let Zelda succumb to the sickness. He isn’t willing to give up so quickly.

Afterwards, long into the quiet hours of the night, Zelda comes to visit his room, perhaps for a game of chess, when she notices what he is doing. He senses her before he sees her in the mirror. She watches him with an unreadable expression, her arms crossed. Link turns back to his reading, and scratches some notes into his book. There is no time to waste.

Then, Zelda pulls up a chair, the harsh screeching reverberating along the stony walls. She shuffles until she is close enough to read the book herself, and picks up the quill.

It’s on the sixth day when it begins.

Zelda pulls Link away from his books, insisting that he at least needs ‘a little time off, otherwise he’ll pass out from exhaustion’. A pretty platter is set out for them in the courtyard: jam sandwiches cut into neat triangles, slices of her favourite fruitcake and two cups of hot black tea. She spills some when she reaches for a slice of cake and blushes scarlet as Link tries to stifle his chuckles. Zelda glares good-naturedly, and swats his arm. For a moment, he almost forgets.

Then, as soon as she turns back to mop up the spill, she begins to cough; violent, hacking sounds that rattle and make her shoulders shudder with pain. Link is immediately on his feet, and realises with horror that there are specks of red on her glove.

Zelda tries to assure him that it’s fine, it’s okay, but he pulls her to her feet nonetheless and rushes her urgently to the infirmary.

When the healers frown unhappily and only press a vial of clear liquid into Zelda’s palm, murmuring that it’ll help with the cough but can’t curb the spreading infection, the rope tugs, hard. He barely restrains himself from screaming.

Link begins to search the plains of Hyrule, like he said he would, for any possible cure. It seems a daunting task at first, but he finds it easier when he breaks down the sections in his map and searches one area at a time. Besides, no task is daunting when it’s for Zelda.

Scouring the entire landscape does prove to be difficult, though. He starts by inspecting the varieties of wildlife dotted throughout the land, and carefully picks the ones that are already registered in the Sheikah Slate. After experimenting with those, he has enough elixirs to heal the entire army. When Zelda takes them, they are useless.

Link starts again, this time with plants that have no identification in the Sheikah Slate. It seems a little dangerous, working on unknown species, but he figures that if he tries them himself they shouldn’t be much of a risk. Link is fully aware of dwindling time as he works, fervently stirring and and wiping the sweat off of his brow, day after day. Six months, Zelda had said. Six months was barely enough to hunt down the herbs in Hyrule Field, let alone the other regions as well. He continues, though. He has to try.

When he returns to the castle, a messenger informs him that Zelda is poorly, and is resting in her quarters.The messenger seems to think that it’s only a common cold. Link knows better.

The rope tightens a little more.

He knocks lightly on her door, until a soft “Enter!” echoes from within. Zelda is propped up on numerous cushions, with a novel opened and upside down between her fingers. She smiles when she notices who it is. He crosses the room to sit in the chair facing her, and immediately takes her hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asks, swallowing down the lump lodged in his throat.

“I’m all right. I have a little bit of a sore throat, but nothing more. This feels like any normal sickness, actually.” She gazes at him with a familiar hint of affection, yet he feels undeserving of her love.

“It isn’t, though.” Link pointedly stares at the floor, as Zelda’s expression switches from serene to solemn.

“Link-”

“I was wondering,” - now his voice is definitely strained - “if I could visit the four nations. They may have their own medicines there that we don’t have here, which would surely work.”

Zelda holds his gaze for what seems like an eternity, and he is almost afraid that she will somehow forbid him from going. She relents in the end.

“All right,” she sighs. “I’ll continue my research here, then. But,” here she pauses, and he notices that fierce light in her eyes that he adores, and it is enchanting and beautiful, “promise me that you’ll stay safe.”

He lets out a little laugh for the first time in ages. It seems that they have both grown overly protective in the last month. “Of course,” he promises. “I’ll always come back to you.”

Link stands. “I had better get going, then. I’ll see you soon. Take care, hmm?”

He leans down only to brush a few stray hairs from her forehead when she suddenly loops her arms around his neck and presses a soft kiss to his temple.

“I love you,” she breathes, and a warmth spreads through his body like a wildfire through the forest. He smiles, and strokes her cheeks tenderly.

“I love you too. I always will.”

She kisses him once more, before finally letting him go.

With every visit he makes, his hopes dwindle, like the wick of a burning candle.

At Zora’s Domain, he is greeted enthusiastically by Sidon, who directs him to the royal Zora healers. They specialise in pathogenic diseases, but are at a loss to the symptoms Link describes to them. In Gerudo Town, Riju consults the elderly herbalists who sit away from the hustle and bustle of town. Yunobo brings him rock samples from the crevices of Death Mountain himself, and Teba offers to fly him over Tabantha to see if he’s missed anything there.

Although his friends support him endlessly, he ultimately finds nothing. The Hero of Hyrule, he thinks bitterly. What a fitting name for one who cannot even beat an illness. Who cannot protect his loved one. A man who keeps failing, over and over again.

Link returns to the castle, heavy hearted, and doesn’t stop to greet the gatekeepers as he usually does.

Zelda is up again when he finds her, and rises from the table the minute she realises he has returned. There is a glimmer of hope in her expression, and Link hates himself for being the one to snuff it out. He can barely bring himself to hug her back when her arms envelope him in a loving embrace, and he stiffens. He doesn’t deserve her love.

“What happened?” she asks.

Link steps back, and drops his head. Feelings of shame well up within him, and he knows that his silence is more than enough for her to fill in the gaps.

“Oh, Link… It’s okay.” she soothes. He doesn’t deserve her love; not at all. “In truth, I wasn’t able to find anything either. I believe you did the best you could.”

“But it’s not… I could’ve done more! I could’ve… I could’ve searched for longer, or researched more - I should’ve done something more than what I did, but I didn’t and now I’ve failed you…!”

His voice finally cracks, and he dimly registers the feeling of something wet and hot trickling down his cheeks. He wraps his arms around his body, which suddenly seems too small to be shaking and heaving.

Zelda is there again, as she always has been, and gently holds his face in her hands. They sink to the floor together, the coldness sweeping through their legs as she holds him and strokes his hair tenderly.

“You did all you could. Please, Link… don’t blame yourself. You haven’t failed me. You never will. Please…”

He clings to her shoulders as she whispers sweet, sad endearments into his ear, and finally allows himself to let go.

The days pass quickly.

Link hardly ever leaves her side now. He blatantly refuses to do so, and hands over leadership of the army to Lieutenant Reynard for the time being. He tries not to dwell on the time when he’ll have to return to the post.

Zelda holds up pretty well for the first three months. She doesn’t give up as like had promised, and Link admires her strength for the umpteenth time. She continues to lead Hyrule with a firm, yet peaceful hand. It’s an era of prosperity that the kingdom hasn’t seen for decades, and its denizens welcome it.

However, things begin to spiral downward. It first starts at a council meeting when Zelda abruptly coughs in the middle of her interjection. The councillors pause and look at her worriedly, and Lady Rina asks if she needs water. Zelda waves them off and insists that it’s nothing, before dissolving into another coughing fit. After accepting a glass of water, the coughing stops and she seems to be fine.

The next time it strikes, they are walking together in the gardens. Zelda points out and chatters on about the varieties of flowers waving lazily in the soil, while Link is content to simply listen to her voice, before she… no. He forcefully removes any treacherous thoughts from his mind. He wants her to enjoy herself while she’s with him, not to be brought down by his moping.

“Link, what’s the name of that one?” Zelda draws him out of his thoughts, and he cranes his neck to look at what she’s pointing to.

It’s a blue nightshade, and she definitely knows what it is. She was the one who told him all those years ago, in that flower field.

“A blue nightshade.” he reminds her anyway.

“Strange…” she mutters. “I somehow forgot it. But how could I? I remember it as clear as day now, but just a moment ago my mind went blank.” She looks at him with uncertainty in her eyes.

With a sinking feeling, Link realises what is beginning to happen.

A week later, they are in Hyrule Field again. The sun dips below the horizon, and Zelda rests her head on Link’s lap as he absently plays with her hair.

“This reminds me of the time we rode our horses together to Safula Hill.” he says, smiling a little.

Zelda looks up at him and begins to smile too, before her brows furrow with confusion. She sits up suddenly and turns to face him. Link senses the shift in atmosphere, and looks at her concernedly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Link,” she begins, an edge of fear creeping into her tone, “I don’t remember that. I can’t remember any of it. I know it’s there, but I can’t reach it.”

She puts her head in her hands, and the rope tightens viciously. Mockingly, even.

Link is given time to ponder about the situation at night. A thunderstorm flashes and rages outside, attacking the windows with merciless rain and blowing icy winds through the trees. Zelda sleeps in his arms, her breaths softly tickling his neck every time she exhales. He takes the time to observe her form in the moonlight; she is ethereal, beautiful, gorgeous - he doesn’t think there’s a wide enough variety of words in the world to describe her. Zelda is also loving, kind and tenacious, serious yet playful, and lifts him when he can’t do so himself. Link breathes in her soothing scent, as the rain outside slowly reduces to a soft pattering on the glass.

What would a life without her be like?he wonders.

His chest twists painfully. He draws her closer into his arms and silently prays to the Goddess, all the while suppressing the telltale wetness behind his eyes.

Zelda is forced to tell her council when she collapses in the middle of another meeting.

All Link thinks about as he picks up her limp form is how sick she’s becoming, and how she could barely keep her eyes open prior to collapsing. His thoughts are cluttered and panicked, and he is barely aware of the court’s shouts behind him. He’s never sprinted as fast he does in his life.

Zelda comes to in the evening, with a distraught Link pacing outside her chambers. He nearly breaks the door when he slams it open as soon as the healers call him in his desperation to see her. Zelda doesn’t remember passing out, nor why she assembled court in the first place.

When the council hears her explanation three days later, they are silent. It isn’t the reaction that Link expects. That is, until one man stands and proclaims that they will not let her die, and will do anything to prevent it.

One by one, each councillor stands and offers their support, whether in confident words or meaningful silence. They are more united than they have ever been before, with not one argument breaking out amongst the clamour and everyone settling on a firm conclusion. It is a bittersweet hope. Link looks at Zelda, and finds her shining with gratitude, yet still with the same resigned look in her eyes.

One day, she doesn’t wake up.

Link groggily opens his eyes, blinking away the darkness. He turns to her for a customary good-morning kiss, only to find that her breathing isn’t soothing him as it usually does.

His panicked shouts echo down the stone corridors, alerting the entire castle in an instant. Link can only stand back and watch as a flurry of healers swarm to Zelda; his heart pounds in his ears like the drums of a war chant, his nails dig into his palms as a scimitar would and all he can think is no no no not now not her please Hyrule needs her he needs her-

He feels powerless as he watches the healers furiously try to resuscitate her. As the Hero of Hyrule, he should be able to help, especially when it’s the most precious person to him in the world lying on that bed, but all he does is watch, the rope tightening ever harder and choking his words until he can’t breathe himself.

He is informed that she does not have much time left.

The healers nod at him tiredly as they leave the room. Link thanks them for the time they have managed to bargain for the two of them. If his voice sounds hollow, they don’t say anything.

Zelda is weak, and weakening still, when he sits down in the same chair facing her bed. Her breaths come in quick, shallow gasps, and the hair framing her face is drenched with sweat. He reaches out to lean the backs of his fingers against her forehead. It’s searingly hot.

Zelda stirs in her stupor, and Link quickly focuses on her face. She opens her eyes, and looks around dazedly before finally settling on him. She smiles; Link desperately wants to hold on to that smile. He swore to protect it, and he’s failing.

“L-Link…"

Her voice is weak, painfully weak. He wants nothing more than to take on her agony himself, but he’s powerless. The Hero of Hyrule; powerless to save the love of his life.

"Zelda…"

His voice is hoarse from disuse, and the sound of it brings him back to a century ago, when he was only her sworn protector. He didn’t talk, and kept his emotions bottled. She was the only one to even try and talk to him - after the Yiga encounter, she coaxed him out of his shell. Zelda listened to him and comforted him, when others didn’t.

“I have one request.” Her voice is clearer now.

He swallows. “Anything.“

She smiles again, and in that moment Link thinks that she is still as beautiful as she was when he first met her, all those years ago.

“Will you stay with me?“

He doesn’t hesitate. “I’ll never leave you.“

Zelda lifts the bedsheets a little so he can climb in with her. He gathers her in his arms as he always does, and finds that there is a single tear trickling down her cheek. Link gently wipes it away with his thumb, as the rope threatens to destroy him entirely.

Zelda’s eyes begin to close. Before they do, she takes one final breath.

“I’ll always love you.“

"I’ll always love you too. I’ll never stop loving you.” he manages.

No more words are uttered. Link holds Zelda until he can’t feel her warmth anymore. He greets the morning alone.

The Kingdom of Hyrule mourns the loss of its princess deeply, with people from the far reaches of the land paying their respects at the castle. Sorrow lingers in the air, apparent to all who set foot in the castle. It hits them hard, but as with all things, it is soon forgotten in the pages of time.

The stories tell of the Princess and her appointed knight in their quest to vanquish Calamity Ganon. They tell of the Hero’s slumber and his resurrection, and of how he and the Princess worked together to vanquish Ganon from the world. They tell of how the two become closer and eventually fall in love, before the Princess’ life is cruelly snatched away.

They don’t tell of how the Hero spends his days after her death. How he continues leading the military until he is aged enough to need a walking stick, and how he spends the remainder of his days in Hateno Village. They don’t tell of how he gets up every morning without fail and visits the Princess’ grave. Sometimes he brings with him a single Silent Princess, and lays it beside the headstone, where the inscriptions are still as good as new - as if tended to every day.

The sun still doesn’t quite warm him enough, even after all these years.

#how did you all like - or not like - it? too much angst? too little? I was personally burned out by the end haha I NEED ME SOME FLUFF NOW.#botw zelink #zelink #botw fanfiction #breath of the wild #botw link #botw zelda #angst

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transafroatlanticism · 7 years

Text

The Black Divine

In the time since Lemonade was released, there is one line that brings me to pause whenever I hear it.

“There is a curse that will be broken.”

In the midst of the sweeping drama that is Lemonade, it hadn’t occurred to me that the meaning lies beyond a tale of infidelity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. On Sunday evening, amongst the backdrop of golden clothed women and imagery of the divine, Beyonce repeated the line, and it took on a new meaning. Reflecting on a prayer curse, as collected by Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker stated: only justice can stop a curse. Black writers, as well as Black and womanist theologians often examine the interconnectedness of Black existence, spirituality, and divinity to critique institutions and theologies that uphold white supremacy. The curse, that Walker recites, is placed by “the white man’s crimes against humanity.” Beyonce, through Warsan Shire’s words, invokes a close to the curse through connecting her being, her Black body to divinity.

Beyonce was not the only performer to highlight a relationship to the divine. Later that evening, Chance The Rapper was accompanied by My Cousin Nicole, Kirk Franklin, Tamela Mann, and a gospel choir to perform How Great/All We Got. Chance has been open about his relationship with God throughout his career but his performance, juxtaposed with the imagery of Oshun and the Virgin Mary presented by Beyonce these past few weeks, celebrate Blackness in a way that is defiant of white supremacist images of Black people as worthless. In their performances, Beyonce and Chance critique white supremacy by visualizing and verbalizing a profound connection between Blackness, Black people, and the divine. In Passing On, author Karla F.C. Holloway recounts the involved relationship Black people often have with death, in both the manner and rate in which it occurs in our lives. Beyonce and Chance’s work counters these narratives with a life affirming message: Blackness as sacred, Blackness as eternal. Chance The Rapper is not the first rap artist to incorporate his relationship with God in his work. However, his songs are contextualized by a culture where the Black Church, and the theology that stemmed from it, is not as visible as it once was. Chance is doing in the mainstream what many pastors are professing over their pulpits and in their communities: recognizing the presence of divinity as something close and personal. Coloring Book is Chance’s ode to his triumphs, his trials, and the presence of God as intertwined. In word and performance, it’s not the gospel of a God who promises joy after we pass on or prosperity as a reward, but one who relates to us, and looks out for the joy and promise that exists in this life. This message counters predominant Christian theology that looks at salvation as something that occurs after we die. Chance incorporates a Black theology of salvation that shows us that we can be saved while we are alive. It is a theology that is justice seeking, and does not rely on “order”, as one can read from Martin Luther King, Jr’s “Letters from the Birmingham Jail”. His work highlights a divinity that is on the side of the oppressed, not those who use God to justify participation in destructive political systems. While Chance sets some of his verses through a Christian lens, Beyonce draws inspiration from both Christianity and West African divinity in her depiction of Black motherhood and womanhood.

Some of the most prominent images of Black mothers today are those mourning or remembering the lives of their murdered children. Amongst these images, Beyonce reveals motherhood and womanhood as a sacred experience in positioning Black women lives as sites for giving and containing life. This image doesn’t erase the fact that systemic racism kills Black men, women, and children every day, but rather, recognizes that our bodies can be a source of joy, love, and hope. In connecting motherhood to the sacred, after years of taking care others, we can care for our own and there’s something inherently divine about that.

In Lemonade, Beyonce offers us “God is God and I am not.” In the image of the Virgin Mary, she is a creator (or rather, co-creator) in the way humans can act a reflection of God in their own lives: whether that is through care for their children, or others in their community. Systems of oppression that destroy individuals often do so by first, destroying communities. The sense of community that was formed when Beyonce released her maternity photographs was supplemented by the way she portrayed herself and this time of her life. Beyonce positioned herself as a life giver; for her family: a mother. For her fans, the photographs presented a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise exhausting political climate.

As Oshun, Beyonce draws a connection between her being and the divinity rooted in Yoruba religion. Like the Ibo returning to the sea, Beyonce visually embodying the divine is a return to life sustaining beliefs about Black existence. Visions of Oshun and the Virgin Mary tell us that Blackness and Black motherhood are sacred, and acts against them are not. Both Beyonce and Chance The Rapper tap into a belief system among Black people that exists whether or not individuals may devote themselves to a deity or deities: that centralizing our experiences is instrumental in living. That our lives are not just solely defined by our resistance to white supremacy, but by something deeply embedded in our very existence. That something is sacred. The recent birthdays of Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin remind us of the sacredness of Black lives, ones that are often violently taken away. Beyonce and Chance remind us that there is a curse and as we celebrate and centralize our experiences, it can be broken.

#Beyoncé #beyonce #chance the rapper #chance #Grammys #Oshun #Black theology #womanist theology

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