#in fact our original works list is the first thing you see and separate from our fandom list | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

amandacanwrite · 6 months

Text

Little Witch ☽ The Hallowed Wilds ☾ Chapter One

POV ;; Aurelia ☽ 10 y.o.

Summary ;; Aurelia enjoys the typical day of a young witch protected by the Hallowed Wilds, drawn to the border of the forest where she meets an unexpected friend.

Warnings ;; mention of moths, other insects.

Author Note ;; Hello there! This is the first chapter of my original story called The Hallowed Wilds. It's a star-crossed romance infused with southern gothic horror elements. I'll be posting one chapter per week going forward. I already have 27 chapters written, and I'm hoping by the time I'm running out of chapters I'll be back to writing it again and nearly finished drafting it in totality. If you're interested in joining the taglist for this story, you can find the link for the sign up all the way at the bottom of the post. Last thing: I am someone who doesn't get triggered by much, but it's very important to me that anyone who reads my work doesn't become inadvertently triggered because of my writing. While these early chapters are quite light, this story does get dark at times. If you ever notice something I should have issued a content or trigger warning for, please reach out to me so that I can properly apologize to you and add the warning to the list. That all said, let's hop in!!

The wilds spoke to those that could hear it. Those whose ears were kissed by mother Eterna before their bodies took shape in the womb. She didn’t kiss just any soul, though. No, there was a payment to be exchanged and worth to be proven.

The Priestess had taught this to me since I could remember. This is how my coven lived. We served Mother Eterna, and in exchange, The Hallowed Wilds protected us.

Every day for the ten years I’d lived, I woke up, thanked Eterna for another day and set to work. The work was unique each day because The Priestess encouraged us all to listen to where The Wilds told us to go, for The Wilds had a will of its own and a plan for us.

On this day, The Wilds coaxed me to the River of Rye that separated our home from the village where the Deafened lived. I had no inkling what I would do when I got there, but I was certain that my task would become clear once I arrived, or maybe even somewhere along the way. That’s how it always worked. It was just my job to be quiet and listen for a whisper or wait for a gentle tug.

I dressed for the day in linen as white as starlight, and brushed through my hair with a comb carved from a deer’s antler, given freely by the stag for our needs, as all things were for us in the forest. I slipped on a light cloak made of moth’s silk and made my way out into the day.

“Aurelia, merry meet,” one of my sisters said to me.

I smiled as I passed her, turning to walk backwards so that I could see her as I made my way into the forests. The earth tingled against the soles of my bare feet, bringing with it a feeling of familiar comfort.

“Good morning, Cressida,” I said.

She was preparing more moth cocoons for spinning, it seemed. I wondered if her fingers tingled when she woke this morning, the way mine once had when I learned I was unsuited for the delicate work. “I’m excited to see what you do with the new silk sister.”

“And I’m eager to hear stories of your adventures when you return today,” she called back as disappeared into the trees, leaving the clearing and the rest of the coven behind.

I couldn’t see the River of Rye from where I stood, but I felt a golden thread tug me ever toward it. That thread reeled me in from the center of my chest. It wasn’t far from the clearing—maybe two or three miles—I could run the entire way if I wanted to.

I decided I did want to, in fact.

Somehow, the air in our ever-unchanging forest was different today. It sparkled and fizzled in an unfamiliar way. The sun shone through the boughs of the trees and cast new colors on the ground; rose and orange where there were typically shades of yellow and green. I set into a sprint, my hair flying behind me like the mane of a spirited mare.

Those new colors streaked together as I ran, turning into smears and smudges that hinted at shapes. It reminded me of Ophelia painting our huts with her beautiful, messy fingers—how the pigments came together to form images of flowers and the moon and the night sky.

This was my home, and I loved it as much as it loved me. I cradled it in my heart, as it had always cradled me. It was an even, happy exchange of energy between us—always given freely. Always.

My feet were wet and dirty when I finally made it to the River of Rye. Squirrels and bugs dances around my ankles, having joined me on my journey somewhere along the way. I stopped just at the opening into the wide-open space of that golden river and looked out at the village where The Deafened lived.

Winter had covered their roofs in thick blankets of snow. The world was so quiet with it — the sheets of ice absorbing most sounds that came from the village.

After a lifetime of spring, I wondered what the winter felt like. The Priestess said it was bitterly cold and brought death on its breath that choked the life out of the earth, but as I stared across the expanse of golden swaying rye, I wondered if there was more to it than that.

Surely a season that looked so beautiful and serene couldn’t be so awful. And with the winter brought times of generosity, even in The Wilds. We gave gifts at solstice and spread blessings even to the Deafened in exchange for the strange tools they would leave at the edge of the forest for us.

I wanted to touch that ice that fell in flurries from the sky, leave my hand print in it, and watch as more flurries filled in that imprint. The way snow erased any evidence that someone had passed through was fascinating to me. Tracks could be left in the mud of the forests—sometimes they would be there so long they would be preserved in stone. Snow was different—ever changing, ever making something new.

I thought perhaps that was my task today—experiencing the snow. But I didn’t feel the tug of that thread through the center of my heart as I stood there thinking about snow. No, it seemed I had made it to my destination for the day.

There was a strange cleaving—I couldn’t decide if I heard it or if I felt it. But with that cleaving came a powerful gust of wind that swirled my hair and bit at my nose and cheeks like needles. I’d never felt cold like that before. It stung and I could feel blood riding to my face to compensate for it.

I winced and backed away from the tree line, gently warming my face with my hands. That golden thread pulled me again, this time to the west.

I walked for a time, following the flow of the golden river, stepping over stones and twigs. My feet were silent as sleep as I walked. The Wilds told me to sneak—told me to hide. I wondered what manner of beast or creature I would encounter. I wondered what I would need to do. Wondered if I’d need to help them.

And then he was there, just beyond the massive trunk of an old oak tree.

I hid behind that tree as he spun slowly in place, staring up at the tree canopies that cast the ground in dappled light.

I had never seen a boy before.

I knew I should run away and tell The Priestess. She always told us that the Deafened were dangerous, especially the boys. But…

But he looked so enamored with The Wilds.

It filled me with a strange vicarious happiness to see him take in the forest—see the entrance to what I called my home. An unbidden smile curved my lips as he heaved an awed breath.

With his back to me, he took off his heavy coat with all those tedious buttons, and then took off his scarf. The Wilds were in a perpetual state of spring thanks to Mother Eterna, whose fertility never ebbed. The boy dressed for his village’s winter and must have gotten warm in the vernal heat of the forest.

He wore a billed cap on his head and hair the color of damp tree bark poked out at interesting angles. Flipping at the bill, dusting his nape and his ears. It looked so soft—like a rabbit’s fur or a squirrel’s tail. I wanted to touch it.

That desire drew me out of my hiding place, that golden thread tugging me closer, reeling me in and in and in. I could almost see it glittering in that small distance between us. I took a step toward him, then another, reaching out for him.

And then he turned and saw me.

We froze at the same time.

We were silent for a long time while our eyes devoured unfamiliar sights on each other. I traced constellations in the smattering of freckles on his tanned nose. His blue eyes flicked to my white hair, to my eyes and then to my linen dress. He flushed scarlet and looked pointedly away, seemingly put off or embarrassed by something.

When he broke his gaze he also broke the spell holding me there. After feeling frozen, I remembered who I was and what I was doing.

I turned and ran.

☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾

Join the Taglist Here.

#the hallowed wilds #witch book #halloween writing #writing community #writers on tumblr #my writing #authors #romantasy #book quotes #historical fantasy #southern horrror #gothic horror #1840's #appalachain gothic

16 notes · View notes

thefanficwriterscraft · 2 months

Note

Loved this week’s new episode! I’m definitely guilty of putting short fics (<1k words) into a singular story instead of a series (though it’s all the same ship/universe). I’ve actually been struggling with the idea of continuing to do this or not but get caught up with 2 things:

1. The thought of having them ALL as individual stories on my page stresses me out from an organizational standpoint. And

2. I wish AO3 had a way to split a work, because I don’t want to lose the comments attached to each chapter/fic by deleting and reposting since I didn’t have the foresight to originally post them as separate entities. (Though with this option then you also run the risk of spamming everyone who’s subscribed to you on ao3).

And I guess also adding on to this and the ao3 improvements mentioned, I’d love if there was a way for an author to highlight their favorite works, because otherwise if you have an author who writes a lot of short works, they add up and things get buried 150 fics deep.

Sorry for the massive drop in the inbox 😅 This has been something on my mind for awhile and the episode just brought it all back. Thanks for all the work you put into the podcast!

Thank you so much, and our apologies for the delayed response as I (pebblysand) was on holidays. So glad you enjoyed the discussion!

Regarding your first point, I can't help/relate, because I think honestly, the opposite would stress me out haha! Having all of my one-shots bundled as one instead of individual stories would drive me nuts! I would feel that is disorganised 😅.

Having said that, I want to be clear that I do think it is legit to do this in some circumstances. For example, from 2015 to 2018, I wrote a bunch of three sentence stories in different fandoms, ships, etc. as a writing exercise. I mostly posted them on their own on tumblr, but ended up bundling them when I uploaded them to AO3 years later. I bundled up together in one fic all the ones that were for the same fandom (so there was one big fic for TGW, and one for silk), then created a series to link them together. The TGW "fic" had multiple ships so I created one chapter for each ship, which I tried to indicate as clearly as I could in the summary.

I think the same thing applies if you're writing multiple short-ish (less than 3k) one-shots in the same pairing/ship/universe. Like: if, say, you're writing post-war Dramione, you have a vision for that universe and all of your one-shots are coherent with that universe and with each other. But again, I do think it's important to consider the fact that it may cause people to rec your work less. Because they might like one story but not the others, and so instead of reccing one chapter, they might just rec nothing at all.

I think it depends on your comfort level for this. For me regarding my own series what comes in threes, I didn't care because a) I published these on AO3 years after I published them on tumblr, and it was more about archiving them than promoting the work, as these stories were very old and I wasn't writing in these fandoms anymore, and b) both of these were in fandoms where reccing isn't the main way people find fanfic. I've mentioned this on the pod before but there is a massive difference in the way people find fics in big fandoms that are too massive to search (tags, rec lists, bookmarks, etc.) and small fandoms where you can just refresh the front page each day and find stuff. TGW and silk are small enough that I knew anyone reading fanfiction for these would be trolling the front page, and thus see the fic as it was published and be able to decide for themselves if they wanted to take a look or not.

Regarding your second point though, I feel you! I haven't talked about it on the podcast but I've been going through a similar struggle of my own with my long work. Castles has three very clear "acts" that are around 100k each. I didn't anticipate this early on and posted all three acts in one fic, and am now very stressed/nervous that it's making this fic too long for people to read. I would love to be able to retroactively split it, but I also, like you, don't want to lose the comments. I really wish there was a way to do this! 😫

And to your third point, I very much agree. I don't have that problem as I mostly write longer pieces but yeah, I get you!

Thanks again for your kind words and for taking the time to write to us! It's amazing to know our little podcast isn't just going out and falling into the ether, and that people are listening!

2 notes · View notes

dramionediscussion · 1 year

Note

Hey, so I'm the original anon that started the whole 'novel wordcount debate' (sorry about that 💀💀💀).

First, I'd like to say that I didn't know you were using the Hawthorne and Vine website, so that on it's own was enough of an explanation to me, thank you for answering.

But now that the debate has started, I think I should just clarify my point of view and what made me write that ask in the first place: I've seen a lot of people in ff discourse claiming that 50k words are 'short fics' or 'novellas' and they only ever care about reading longer fics. And it's just not true, going by the broader definition of what a novel is. And when I saw that post on dramioneasks, I guess I just felt the need to point that out. I never meant to be rude.

As an author myself, I know how incredibly hard it can be to write a story (and it's a fact that not all readers are aware of). On a good day, I can write 2-3k words at most and on bad days, I don't write anything at all. So to me, reaching a wordcount of 50k is quite an achievemnt and it makes me proud to be able to write a novel! It's a very nice feeling.

But then, I go on the internet and I see that people think 50k words aren't considered a novel and I guess I just feel disappointed with myself, I guess. (Which I know it's silly, but that's just how my brain works).

And maybe I missed something, but I ever only see you guys updating the 'novel lenght' tag with those 200k words fic. There isn't a separate tag nor a masterlist for the 50-100k (as far as I know, the tags have been acting up as of late, so forgive me if you do have a masterlist for those). And I don't know about other people, but I always bookmark those masterlists on my computer, so the chances of someone picking up a fic to read from your blog is greater when they are in masterlists (at least from what I understand)

This is what I meant when I said it was 'unfair' for the rest of the authors that don't write fics as longas 200k.

But I do know that you post lots of fics everyday and I love the work that you do. I didn't mean to sound as if I was trying to change the way you do things.

So yeah. Sorry for sparking up that debate. I hope I cleared my point of view up.

Hi.

I get it. Seeing the post unintentionally added on to your frustration.

We do have tags for other types of fics. Oneshots, T rated, short chapters, etc.

The thing is, some dramioneasks followers asked for fics of that length. They asked for longer fics. Someone specified "novel length 200k fics". That's what they called it, that's what H&V called it. So after a few asks, I made a post that I can send people to when they ask again.

Fics of that length are not common and we continued to get asked about those types, so I continued making posts.

I didn't mean to discriminate against authors who don't write fics of that length. We never had anyone say that before. That wasn't my intention.

I was just giving our followers what they want. They asked multiple times, I made a general masterlist type post for them. No one asked for 50k word fics. And if they do, it would be a bit impossible to make lists for it since 50k - 100k is standard lengths for most fics.

I feel like there was just one big miscommunication between us.

- Lisa

3 notes · View notes

x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 2 years

Text

LACUNA COIL Kicks Off Summer/Fall 2022 North American Tour In Harrisburg

Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL kicked off their summer/fall 2022 North American tour last night (Thursday, September 8) at HMAC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Fan-filmed video of the performance is available below.

As previously reported, "Comalies XX", a "deconstructed" and "transported" version of LACUNA COIL's third album, "Comalies", will be made available on October 14 via Century Media Records.

Back in 2002, LACUNA COIL released an album which is now undeniably an anthem-laden millennial classic that established them as a band with the stamina to go the distance. Now, 20 years later, the current lineup of LACUNA COIL decided to revisit the songs, but not to just re-record them as they were but deconstruct and transport them into 2022.

"This is not a reboot or a spin-off or anything like that," said LACUNA COIL vocalist Cristina Scabbia. "We just wanted to give these songs a 2022 dress and see how this guy or girl who was born 20 years ago would still look fucking slick in 2022."

"Comalies XX" track listing:

CD 1:

01. Swamped XX 02. Heaven's A Lie XX 03. Daylight Dancer XX 04. Humane XX 05. Self Deception XX 06. Aeon XX 07. Tight Rope XX 08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter XX 09. Unspoken XX 10. Entwined XX 11. The Prophet Said XX 12. Angel's Punishment XX 13. Comalies XX

CD 2:

01. Swamped 02. Heaven's A Lie 03. Daylight Dancer 04. Humane 05. Self Deception 06. Aeon 07. Tight Rope 08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter 09. Unspoken 10. Entwined 11. The Prophet Said 12. Angel's Punishment 13. Comalies

LACUNA COIL will celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Comalies", by performing it in its entirety at a one-night-only concert on Saturday, October 15 at Fabrique in Milano.

"Comalies" was originally released on October 29, 2002 through Century Media Records. The LP, which featured the band's breakthrough single "Heaven's A Lie", has reportedly gone on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States alone.

Regarding the "Comalies" title, Scabbia said: "[During the album's recording], we had a sort of creative explosion. We were working in a coma, sort of like in a different dimension. First of all we just wanted to use the word 'coma' but there was something missing so we played with the two words coma and lies."

The "Comalies" song "Swamped" is available as a downloadable track for the music video game series "Rock Band" and also appeared in the 2004 video game "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines".

LACUNA COIL played its first show in front of an audience in more than two years on April 7 as the support act for APOCALYPTICA at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prior to the Atlanta concert, the last time LACUNA COIL played together was at the group's special September 2020 livestream event where the bandmembers performed their latest album, "Black Anima", in its entirety with no audience in attendance at the Alcatraz Club in Milan, Italy. That show was released as a live album, "Live From The Apocalypse", via Century Media.

LACUNA COIL hadn't played in front of a crowd since the completion of the band's South American tour in February 2020.

Last June, Scabbia told Revolver that she and her bandmates didn't use the coronavirus downtime to work on new music. "We didn't want to force the fact that because we were home, we had to write music," she explained. "We always thought that to write music, you need to be inspired. And inspiration comes from the outside, comes from experiences that you have, things that you live. At least this is valid for us.

"Everything we do in a regular life, in a normal life enriches us and gives us input that we can put in our music," she said. "And also we like to write together. So, if Marco [Coti Zelati, bass] creates the basis of the music together with the other musicians in the band, then Andrea [Ferro, vocals] and I jump in with the lyrics and vocal lines. But we do that together. We need to enter in songwriting mode. So we didn't really like the fact that we had to write separately just because we have to put a record [together] because it's quarantine. Now we are starting to collect ideas 'cause we feel a little bit happier."

Scabbia continued: "We didn't want anything connected to the negativity of the pandemic… That's why I used my time to do something completely different. Because I know that what I did that it's completely different from what I usually do will make me start again to do what I did before with passion — with the same passion. I was just afraid that if I would have used all the downtime making music when I didn't really want to, it would have had a negative influence on me. And it would have been, like, 'I really don't want to do that.' And I also wanted to prove to myself that, yeah, music is main passion. I love what I do for a living, and I hope that I can do it until the day I die. But I also wanted to show myself that I can be capable of doing something else as well."

youtube

#Cristina Scabbia #Lacuna Coil #Live 2022 #2022 news

6 notes · View notes

theinsanecrayonbox · 1 month

Text

another week and i've still got it so Xmen 97 ep4 time

ok this one is interesting as it's listed as having 2 separate stories. the original did not do that; sure we had multiple plots running at the same time, but we didn't break it up into 15 min parts.

from the title i thought Mojo might be our main villain (of at least half of this), but the description might be Arcade...

the opening clips are Mojo and Shi'ar. huh. also ponytail!Jean

heh Gambit and Erik fighting over Rogue

Longshot plushie neat! i know Mojo left it obviously, so yeah we're Mojo not Arcade. nice, lets see how much fun they make of the Disney execs (since he originally was used to make fun of the Fox execs)

the phone booth ate them Matrix...oooo is each level a different season/plot point? ok i'm into this. "Hot Topic stalker" was that a thing in the 90s? but wow the Mojo voice isn't right but it's not bad. "If you die in the game, you die in real life" ah so it's Stay Alive.

Days of Future past wall! and it wants to be the 8-bit game so bad lol. ok kinda loving this. "I am Magneto" but he didn't say "Master of magnet" or call Jubes an 'X-chicken"!! there's still time...oh no she killed him. drats

oh, Hot Topic reject is digital Old Lady Jubilee. huh. yeah it's the physical representation of the fact that she has to grow up, and that she can but not loose herself, but also can't keep clinging to the past, she gotta grow. good character stuff.

and the love birds kiss to end the half-isode. yeah that was not enough for a full episode, but it wasn't terrible, so i guess i'll give it to them. it was also a good physical metaphor about all us fans watching this and being reminded that the old show is still there bit it is never changing. gotta move forward to keep growing. (if the modern comics would think that way maybe we'd get something good...but i'm not gonna rant about that right now don't worry)

onto the B-story! which has a second half in another episode later? uh...we'll wait to see if that's dumb or not i guess...

oh and i did remember that Forge was in modern times in the original; he was in X-Factor with Polaris and Havoc. he wasn't just in Bishop's future, so that was my bad.

huh, this is like the first time i've ever had Forge's powers explained, aside from Evo that had him be technokinetic.

oh is Shadow King back to tempt Storm to the dark side with powers? The Adversary? is...that a vampire; are we getting Bloodstorm? oh, no that is a character i've never heard of before, huh. ok.

so this too wasn't a full episode worthy, so i get the split-isode...so long as the 2nd part doesn't pick right up at the left off point and we have a time skip. overall this was "what's Storm doing without everyone" and meh, that's ok i guess. it works.

overall, i'd say this is the weakest episode out of the 4 so far, but it's by no means bad. it's still good, we're progressing plot points a bit. dunno why the Shi'ar clips were there at the start, but whatever. the 97 ride is still doing strong.

#kp watches stuff #kp watches tv #spoilers

0 notes

after-out-of-place · 6 months

Text

Epilogue - They Don’t Know (Pt.2)

Wallace and Horace arrived in the afternoon, with Horace carrying a small bag with rolled up papers over his one shoulder while holding his other arm around his boyfriend. It took a while for him to figure out how to enter the Duck Sanctuary however, since he did not want to let go of Wallace while simultaneously wanting to hold open the door so Wallace could enter first. The situation got resolved by Wallace holding open the door instead, leaning in as Horace passed to give him a sneaky peck on the cheek. It was DD, in royal purple, greeting the two of them first, Bubble-Glub giving them a well-meant nod. "Oh, uh, yeah, hi!" Horace said in reply, still blushing. He slung his bag onto the floor, with a few rolls of papers already escaping. "I've been working on something! D'you guys want to see? Oh, shit, uh, no offense." "None taken." both DD and Bubble-Glub replied in tandem. "Okay, so, uh, actually, is it okay if I get to see the ducks first? I want to really do them justice but I forgot what they look like." Horace asked, with Wallace already nodding while carefully peeling Horace's large arm from around his waist. "Oh, and, babe, uh, you can go ahead and ask them for tips about how to run 'Our Place' better?"

They soon split off into two groups, with Bubble-Glub taking Horace to go see the ducks (while reassuring the large bear-eared individual that ducks do, in fact, have feet) and DD showing Wallace the small office space Bubble-Glub had claimed and had been doing their best attempts at proper, legally sound paperwork in. There were papers sorted in neat stacks, most of them with careful handwriting, in anticipation of Wallace's visit. There were a few notes left through-out, inviting Wallace to sit down to peer into the word salad of legalese. "Grand." was his response, taking the first few papers in hand. His hair remained in front of most of his face while his antennae carefully twitched about, leaving DD unable to really tell whether or not the young man had any trouble reading this. "Right. Business plan. Trademarks." "Glub's mentioned something about a 'Point of Sale' system, if that helpful?"

It was clear that Bubble-Glub had been writing from experience rather than from a business point of view and their penmanship was more crude in comparison to Wallace's, but it was not illegible. A helpful list of things was left on a separate note, titled 'Getting All Your Ducks In A Row'. Wallace groaned, his antennae adjusting slightly, seeming amused anyway. "What's it say?" asked DD. "Pun. Bad one, at that." Wallace took the note and put it aside for later, annoyed but not surprised that running a business seemed far more trouble than they'd originally hoped it'd be. The two of them continued exchanging some light banter: talk about their day; how DD looked cute in Glub's fedora; how to balance hobbies and work; how Horace found out that 'goat milk' isn't just 'oat milk with something extra'. Around the seventeenth page and umpteenth note Wallace leaned back and stretched out, not pleased with how this felt much like homework back at the University - but at least Bubble-Glub's handwriting alleviated the legal jargon with helpful explanations. Curiously, it had only been Bubble-Glub's writing. Wallace relaxed after his stretch, pulling his fringe down further over his face before letting go and it springing back into place. "Really left their mark." Wallace grimaced, facing DD while holding up a page with a particularly lengthy paragraph of Bubble-Glub's notes. “You’re not pulling your weight on the old paperwork then, eh DD?”

The remark had been meant as a lighthearted jab at the young woman, who had been sitting cross-legged on a different chair and absentmindedly plucking the six strings of her bass-guitar when the two started talking about how to balance their hobbies and work. Wallace's antennae had been twitching lightly along with the beat, until DD's fingers tensed and the instrument let out a soft, barely off-key note. She shifted in her seat, then continued to pluck. "Is it- is it not by choice?" Wallace's normally blunt tone sunk to one of concern; of deeply caring for a friend. DD didn't answer. Wallace carefully continued. "Can you … not read?"

#mmnmm #snippet #AOoP: Duck Sanctuary #*in which we continue to hold DD upside-down*

1 note · View note

storytellersjheller · 10 months

Text

High-Functioning Dragon. . .

Dragons are mythical creatures that have been around since the beginning; even the Egyptians had dragons. Just think of it, a world separated by distance, and yet, dragons are everywhere and span all types of mythologies and vary in size, color and build.

I consider myself a dragon in some ways. Women, such as myself, have autism much like men, however, ours show in different ways then men. I'm not the only one in my family that is on the spectrum either; I won't go into details, though we all get it from my Dad who had Asperger's.

Aspergers; what kind of name is that? I mean, seriously?

I was taught to sound things out as a kid from my speech therapists to help with my lisp. Could you imagine, a 10 year-old me, or any kid for that matter, trying to sound out and write Aspergers?

Likely come out as @$$burger and the teacher would take the paper away and we would have no idea what we did wrong.

In fact, something similar happened to me in grade school; as soon as the teaching aid saw that I tried to rhyme duck, she grabbed my eraser and erased the word, saying, "we don't use that word here."

I thought it was strange at the time that she erased my work, but now as an adult, I try not to laugh at the thought.

My first step in my life as a dragon was when I was eventually diagnosed with astigmatism, as well as near and far sighted; not sure how that can happen, but apparently I get it from my Dad. My Dad also had blue eyes like me, so I literally have my Dad's eyes. So, yeah, I was in middle school sporting bifocals, though I didn't care since for the first time, I could actually see. I read more and did better on tests.

Over the years, such things as writing, reading and math were still hard for me; and they remain that way to this day. I'd get my numbers and letters mixed up, wondering if perhaps I was stupid or wasn't paying attention. My Mom theorized that I had dyslexia; and she was right, however, the path to getting the help that I needed didn't come easy.

in the state that I'm originally from, all we'd have to do is walk into my doctor's office and get tested for dyslexia, get a note and bring it to the school for an IEP. But after we moved to Arizona where we are now live, things weren't so easy; and being be in college made it that much harder.

Yep, you read that right; it took until I was in my 3rd year of college to find a dyslexia therapist who wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg, and maybe a kidney, for a three hour test.

I had gone to my community college's DRS department, but all the numbers they had listed were either too expensive (not one of them took any kind of insurance) or weren't taking on new clients. I ended up getting my therapist through a third party suggestion that still took another couple months before I could actually meet with the therapist.

I was super nervous the day of my appointment even with my Mom coming with me.

Yes, I was a 20-something year old who came with their Mom. I was freaked out and she waited in the parking lot in the car for moral support.

The therapist was nice. She was surprised to see that I'd answered all the questions on her intake form; something I didn't pay much mind to at the time. And we begun the tests. We paused for a bit after 45 minutes so I could use the bathroom. It was on my way back from the restroom, that I'd noticed the carpet of the office; and oh my gosh, my eyes started spinning.

"You have a really trippy carpet." I told the therapist.

She was rightfully confused by the statement, and I explained what I meant and told her that this wasn't the first time that my eyes had been triggered like that.

We continued the tests, and she looked over the results.

Yep, I was dyslexic. My brain interpreted words and sounds differently then normal people would, and also added or replaced words while I read without me even realizing it, too. Yeah, that was trippy to learn about.

"I believe you're high-functioning autistic." The therapist told me.

I swear the world froze around me for a moment.

Me? Autistic? Really?

"I've been doing this a long time, and you have a lot of the signs that are known for women with high-functioning autism." She continued.

I was still in a stake of shock.

Sad thing is, my therapist, though she could help me with my Dyslexia and possible high-functioning autism, couldn't test me officially for HFA (high-functioning autism). I couldn't afford the extra therapy either and haven't been back since.

I went home and started to research, and the more I did, the more I connected with others like me; I felt myself piecing together and started to better understand myself, too, and my Dad and family.

Though keep in mind that HFA for women is different then men, and autism is a wide range, too. New things are being learned about how women at affected by autism; I'm no means a doctor, but merely giving my side of how I see things and how I'm effected by autism.

I know this post is running on the long side, so I'll tell a quick story to better explain my point.

I've been in training as a barista for little near four weeks now.

To help with my Dyslexia, I carry a notebook with me to take notes and help recall things (I also likely have ADHD and OCD, too, so thoughts don't always travel in the directions that they should); but on this shift, I was working the cash register.

My sweet manager was aware of my neurodivergence; I told her a week after I got the job; and she was helping me learn the machine and it's many, many buttons and combinations.

A customer comes up and states their order, checking it come up on the screen while I punch in the order on the register. They finish their order, pay for their drink and the receipt prints.

I hold the receipt out to the customer, asking, "would you like your receipt?"

"How much is it?" The customer replied.

"It's a receipt, it's free."

The customer and my manager started giggling.

I'm left confused and embarrassed not sure why either of them are laughing, but knowing it's me that their giggling at.

"I'm not laughing at you, but with you," The customer giggled.

I wasn't laughing. Not even on the inside.

I know the customer and my manager weren't trying to be mean, and they thought my honest response was sincere and funny.

The customer really wanted to know how much their drink was; something I mentally knew that they could see on the screen and so thought they were asking if the receipt needed to be paid for.

I can be sarcastic, witty, and funny when I mean to be, but there are times, like this one, where I took what they said as face value; this is common in people with HFA. It can feel like a mine field trying to figure out what people mean and how to respond; and this often results in what's called masking.

Think of masking as putting on a mirror; a person who's HFA and in a group will watch how others in the group act and copy those actions or tones to better fit in with the group. I do this countless times, including with my family or out at work; and I can say from experience that trying to put on a mask that I believe will make others happy is draining mentally, emotionally and physically to the point that my anxiety comes in and then I find myself depressed, and it takes training and realizing the signs to know when masking is happening.

It's terrifying to try and be ones true self when all your brain can think about is what people might say and how you might respond, known as scripting, or trying to act like everyone else, such as masking.

And even after all those tests, my community college could only offer a cheep, old recorder that couldn't catch my own voice from an arms length away, a lousy text-to-speech reader that read so poorly that it triggered my auditory senses, and extra time on tests. I asked why that was all the college could do and was told that there wasn't enough funding going to the DRS; it really ticked me off to think that even after bending over backwards to get the testing that I needed, that the most that could be done was some shotty, old equipment and more time on tests. I ended up returning the recorder, getting Speechify and going for the extra time.

Calling myself a dragon started as a joke between me and my little cuz because my eyes look in different directions due to my astigmatism and double prism (also known as Lazy Eye, because one eye compensates for the other; only I have that in BOTH eyes; dang overachievers. I also am a bit colorblind as well.) Though the more I learned about myself, the more odd, or mythical that I kind of felt.

Women with HFA are also known to collect things, and well, I'm no different so like a dragon, I have a collection of various 'artifacts'. And my family tends to call my spots in the house as 'nests' because I like to be surrounded by things that make me happy; another thing common to women with HFA. So, yeah, in many ways, I'm a dragon.

I'm pretty sure my ADHD makes me like a fox; jumping from one place to another at the thought of something shiny only to quickly forget what I was even looking at before.

Not even sure what to go for with my OCD.

So maybe I'm like a fox dragon? Dragon kitsune? I've surely feel I've lived more then one life with everything I've been through, learned about myself and experienced.

If you've made it this far, tell me what kind of creature, mythical or otherwise, that you relate to and why; I'd be interested to know.

A group of dragons is called a thunder (que Imagine Dragon's song) and I'd like to get to know who's apart of mine, dragon or anything else. Dragon's are own as protectors and guardians, and so am I; so welcome to my Thunder.

#writer #writing #high functioning autism #neruodivergent #Thunder #author #paranormal #fantasy #podcast #writing community #Speechify #dyslexia

1 note · View note

thealyssaperrine · 11 months

Text

A Year In Retrospect: Kodee Rants “THIS GABBIE HANNA FAN GOES TOO FAR!”

addressing ‘kodee rants’ video about me since drama channels nowadays cant seem to research things!

Kodee starts off by listing what city I'm in, which honestly is odd because they themselves say its not relevant to the story and ask people to not bring it up if they cover the story. If its not relevant............why did YOU mention it? Kodee finds it necessary to squeeze in the drama surrounding Gabbie despite the fact that its barely relevant to the story. Jen and I first interacted with each other when I called her out for lying about one of Gabbie’s response videos. This however, is a completely separate situation from the one Kodee goes on to speak about.

(this tweet was about Cami running troll account, and Cami was the person who was on Alicia and Jen’s side.) At 2:41 Kodee makes multiple very loaded statements about the fandom as a whole, and about situations I personally have 0 part in. When Jen was falsely accused of SA’ing somebody, we believed the accuser. Why wouldn't we? How would that be any different from what Gabbie did to Jessi? We have 0 proof any which way on whether it was a false accusation. Why does Kodee expect Jen to get special treatment when it comes to such a serious claim? I personally can vouch that I reached out asking for proof, and never once accused Jen.

We didn't just “believe them because we’re Gabbie Hanna fans and dislike Jen because she sides with Jessi”, we trusted but verified because its incredible harmful and traumatic to tell somebody they’re lying about such a serious claim. We LEARNED from Gabbie's mistakes, and we weren’t going to be making the same ones.

The fact that this is included in a video “addressing” our situation is simply there to paint both me and the fandom in as negative a light as possible. How could you possible side with me after I affiliate myself with people like that? Except I didn't. That wasn't me. I never once contacted Jen’s employers. What would I even gain from that? Everything I did was for two reasons. Originally, because Jen was lying. That has nothing to do with Gabbie, and everything to do with the fact that my autism causes justice sensitivity. The second reason was because Jen used my intellectual property without paying for, or even ASKING for, the right to use it, while also disparaging it. You don’t have to like it, but you, as a self admitted trust fund baby, who works as a nurse, and is known as a Viner-- don’t get to use my work as a small creator without paying. It’s as simple as that. It’s less than a dollar. Kodee including Gabbie’s texts at 3:12 is truly irrelevant, seeing as previously mentioned, I wasn't apart of the people involved in spreading that accusation against Jen. Kodee FINALLY manages to get to the point FIVE MINUTES into the video.

This is the one gripe that's not really necessary for me to point out, but I'm 100% NOT a micro-influencer. Fully playing semantics here, but the correct word would be nano-influencer, and even then, I wasn’t a nano-influencer until 2022 The main reason this is a problem from me is because Helloleesh tried to characterize me as a “public figure” when I was doxxed, saying that it was allowed. That it all public information because I was a public figure. I had 300-500 followers and 170 subscribers at the time. I was not a public figure, nor was I a micro influencer.

Kodee stated around 5:55-6:00 that I was apart of the people harassing Jen, but lets not get it twisted! Jen was the one mocking abuse survivors while they were still ACTIVELY APART OF THEIR ABUSIVE SITUATIONS, doxxing the same abuse survivor during the same situation which put them at risk of their abuser finding their twitter, doxxing minors, harassing minors, sneaking into the discord server and collecting traumatic stories we would share in vent sessions together, constantly targeting and harassing us, and to this very year, still talking about me unprompted.

keep in mind, publicly, I'm a Melanie Martinez stan. At this point, I'm simply just a ‘fan’ of Gabbie, she’s not my stan. As proof of my harassment, Kodee include these two images:

I stand by this fully. Oh no!! Her kids might have a differing opinion than her!! Such harassment, so bullying, very very scary!

And this? I get this video was posted in 2021 and Trauma Queen didnt come out until 2022, but I had explain at least 10 days before Kodee posted their video that these are lyrics. Just an OUNCE of research, just a TEEEEENY TINY bit of effort, it might do them some good.

youtube

But none of this is mentioning that my harassment amounts to “2 tweets”, while jen has harassed me for years. Kodee then goes on to talk about the cease and desist. Finally something I'd LOVE to speak about!!

youtube

For those who are unaware, a cease and desist LETTER is literally a professional piece of paper that says “hey! quit it!”. They have 0 legal standing, and they are NOT a legal document. I could take a piece of printer paper and write “stop!” with the words ‘cease and desist’ and legally, and it’d hold the same standing as any other cease and desist. The only time a cease and desist is legal, is when you make it legal. If you involve the courts, or if its ordered by the courts-- of COURSE its a legal document. That is when a cease and desist LETTER turns into a cease and desist ORDER. But last I check, I am not a court, nor did I send Jen an ORDER such as Kodee’s video claims.

Next, lets talk about contract attachments! “Contract attachments are added to a contract after it has been drafted. In most cases, attachments don't change the original contract. Attachments may be known by different terms depending on your jurisdiction, such as the following: Schedule. Exhibit. Annex. Supplement. Appendix.“ “Attachments are different from addendums because they can be placed within the contract without changing the agreement itself, and they may also be referred to as annexes or appendices.“

You don’t have to like it, but yes, Jen DID sign. She sent her signature as a contract attachment, which is an acceptable form of signature to a cease and desist letter. Now, lets talk about my notary! People seem VERY confused on this and honestly.... I don’t get why? I was well aware of the legal ramifications of adding Jen’s signature to the cease and desist. A notary is a witness of the signing of important documents. Why wouldn’t I want somebody who’s aware of the laws in regard to signatures be a witness to what I was doing? Why wouldn’t I want a professional who’s seen the email exchange, who knows about what is or is not a legal document, and who knows about signatures-- to be a witness to everything that’s happening? Clearly everyone thinks I committed forgery, so why WOULDN’T I have someone professional witnessing what's happening? The notary is there to confirm I'm not some jaded kid who wants revenge and is creating fake signatures to ruins someone's life. You know, the way they tried to paint it? The notary is also the reason I KNOW its not forgery, that, and my lawyer that told me as much.

Kodee then goes on to state as much as “its forgery, in my non lawyer opinion, because I have eyes and can read” Well....maybe you should be reading the legal definitions, no?

“Under common law, forgery is a crime committed when a person creates or alters a legal instrument with the intent to defraud. False documents are frequently used to describe forged records, and counterfeit is used to describe forged money or currency. [Last updated in December of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]“ “Legal instrument is a legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation, or right, and therefore evidences that act, process, or agreement.“

A cease-and-desist letter is a non-binding letter and does not have a legal effect. I did not alter a legal instrument. On top of this, there was no intent to defraud anyone. Kodee then goes as far to say that my cease and desist was a “document”. This too is incorrect, seeing as a document in the eyes of the law is a legal instrument and a cease and desist does not fall under that. Then, at 7:31, Kodee mistakes JEN’S EMAIL TO ME as me emailing Jen.

“TO Alyssa Perrine”.

Kodee says “kind of creepy that you Alyssa, are acting like you know where Jen lives" and you’re right! It WAS super fucking creepy for JEN to say that about me, and to act like she knows where I live! And, you know what? It’s been the longest 10 business days of my life because I still haven’t gotten that actual paper document from her!

I did however get an apology from Jen for even doing this in the first place, saying she only did it because she had a trauma response to me sending the cease and desist.

Crazy how that implies I didn't actually break any laws, huh?

At 8:18 Kodee brings up Jen stating I “committed crimes for Gabbie”. This is Jen coping hard with the fact that I sent her a cease and desist for using my music. My music has nothing to do with Gabbie, and everything to do with Jen using it without paying for it. On top of this, Jen states that “maybe Gabbie will finally know who I am” but the truth is, I had emailed Gabbie back in 2020 because Jen was sending me her and Gabbie's chat logs from the first time the two had ever spoken in 2014. In these emails Gabbie had, in detail, accounted her abuse to Jen because Jen tried to belittle Gabbie’s experience as a survivor. The fact that Jen found it okay to disclose that information to one of Gabbie's fans when Gabbie had never been public about it before is genuinely despicable. That was never Jen’s story to tell, so yes, I got in contact with Gabbie.

In this same conversation with Jen, she said that she and Jessi had “napalm” on Gabbie. Gabbie told me she didn't know what Jen could possibly mean, and now it’s VERY BLATANTLY clear she was talking about the phone call.

You know. The same phone call that Jessi said was so traumatic to experience that she had to leave social media the second Gabbie spoke about it? Yeah. Her and her friends were boasting about it to fans. Talking about ruining her career. That is the MOST calculated shit I have EVER heard.

And people got MAD when Gabbie said Jessi calculated her crying?? Of course she did. She could’ve easily have edited that out or put it on a black screen like Gabbie did. They were calling it napalm, what else would you call that? A coincidence? Them bragging about it is a coincidence and not calculated? What’s worse is that Gabbie not knowing what they could’ve had on her means that Gabbie truly thought she came to an understanding with Jessi back during the phone call. She didn’t know what they could’ve possibly meant, and instead of cutting Gabbie off or telling the truth back in 2020 when it happened: Jessi saved it and used it against her.

Keep in mind, this was after Jessi harassed Gabbie into taking the phone call in the first place. This is something Kodee calls Gabbie out for around 3 minutes into the video, saying “all while Jessi is trying to deal with the family crisis. super considerate, huh? I hope you realized that was sarcasm.”

(from gabbie’s video on jessi)

But for some reason, Jessi gets a pass to do the same thing?

At 8:20 Kodee says that I “spam hacked” Jen’s email. Fathomably untrue. I signed Jen up to donald trumps email listings because it was a big meme at the time. However, I wasn’t the only person doing this. Fandom friend and jen’s new bestie Kayde was ALSO doing it, and was actually the other person jen doxxed in regards to the email spams in 2020. I don’t know what Kayde did with Jen’s email, but I know for a fact I didn’t “spam hack” them lmfao

At 8:25 Kodee admits that Jen posted my IP address and tries to say this “isn't doxxing because my city is public”. let's be REAL mother fucking clear here. Albuquerque is a big city filled with 562,599 people. It takes 40 minutes to get from one side of town to the other. That ip address, when put into an “ip location look up” took you to FIVE MINUTES AWAY FROM WHERE I LIVED. A place I visit almost EVERY SINGLE DAY.

If you are going to look me DEAD IN THE FACE and say that isnt doxxing? You’re genuinely stupid. Not “im retorting to insults because I have no argument” stupid, but “you absolutely NEED to research and think before you speak because the words leaving your mouth contradict each other” stupid.

Doxing is the act of revealing identifying information about someone online, such as their real name, home address, workplace, phone, financial, and other personal information.

Not only did she dox my location, she doxed my ip, my email address, and all my social media’s that weren't linked to my public profiles. If your argument is seriously going to be “but, Alyssa! we already know you live in Albuquerque!” you have seriously lost the plot. you know my city, but you do NOT know my fucking NEIGHBORHOOD, which Jen revealed.

At 8:41 kodee perpetuates Jen’s argument that my having a notary argument is irrelevant, but it begs the question. Did Jen sign the C&D, in which ME, MYSELF, AND I, do not need a notary? Or did I forge a signature in which case, yes I WOULD need a notary to act as my witness? You can’t have it both ways.

The answer is, none of them actually. I had a notary witness my TRANSFER of Jen’s signature to my paper for my side and only my side of the C&D. I had to make sure I had ALL of my facts straight when it came to signatures, cease and desists being a legal document, and what I'm then allowed to do WITH this piece of paper (because that's all our C&D was in this case. a virtual piece of paper).

TW// SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

Kodee then goes on to talk about the Kez situation, but completely misses the point entirely. I wont be explaining it here since I did make a video on it but I will explain the hypocrisies.

Alicia was acting as if she was entitled to a response from Kez as Kez was actively in the middle of an attempt. Kez had asked Alicia for help before Kez’s partner had arrived home and took them to the hospital. While they were in the hospital, they didn't have their phone on them and were barely in a conscious state to even reply. Alicia went on to paint this as Kez “baiting suicide” and “manipulating her to guilt trip her”, which is utterly fucking disgusting. Kez deals with multiple mental health issues, but they’ve been VERY open about their struggles with their borderline personality disorder. Suicidality is something they’ve struggled with since age 15. Alicia was upset that Kez “wouldn't tell her where she lived to call for help” but the reality was that Kez THOUGHT they responded by sending the flag (meaning the UK, and Alicia had her name) but Kez couldn’t elaborate because help had already arrived. To try to worm your way into somebody else’s attempts like that instead of just reaching out to their friends or accepting that she’s okay and you couldn’t be the one to help is just cruel and disgusting. Alicia made it all about herself, and went on to shame Kez for not talking to her about it.

Kodee says two things: “If your friend was having mental illness issues then that is their problem and not strangers on the internet. Do what you can for them as a friend” Yes, obviously. That was my entire point in the video. Alicia had no right to demand information from Kez when she was a stranger to them. But then Kodee goes on to say “But if they make their issues public then it is perfectly valid for people to have a public opinion about it“ Like...? No? Fuck that? You are not entitled to anybody’s mental health, especially a stranger. You don’t get to make triggering and hurtful statements under the guise of “but you did it publicly!” That is literally just an excuse to bully people.

Kodee states that Jen doxxing Jerize wasn’t ACTUALLY doxxing because “they had their information public” but none of this addresses the fact that Jerize didn’t make their last name public until after they had turned 18, AFTER Jen had doxxed them. Jen also doxxed their Instagram and face, which Jerize did not have public. Kodee says its good that someone reached out to my dad on Jen’s behalf because “he should know I broke the law” but like.....who...who do you think helped pay for the lawyer and notary? Why do people think I joke about a “Lawyer Fund”? It’s definitely NOT because I kept things hidden from my parents. I never have and never will understand the notion that I'm being secretive about what I'm doing. why would I? I've done nothing wrong.

At 12:46 Kodee says they’re “not sure if Skia was getting suspended because of Jen”, but Skia didn’t get suspended until after jen made posts to report her account.

It’s clear we’re blaming Jen because Jen got her account suspended. The same way Jen blames us when we got her locked out of her account for breaking TOS

Kodee then tried to reupload my videos to a google drive to “not give me a view” so obviously I copyrighted the clips. This all started because Jen used my music without permission and now they try to use my video without permission. Are any of us actually surprised? But hey, at least YouTube marks any all engagement as good engagement so my channel got a boost from them doing that!

At 13:27 Kodee references Jen’s tweet talking about how ‘Alyssa’ isn't my name, because my parents intentions were to name my after their wet nurse named Alissa (pronounced Alicia, ironically). The only reason Jen is talking about this is because she’ll randomly stalk my twitter (as she still does to this very day) and mischaracterize the odd facts I'll post about myself for my friends to read. They also reference me not having a job. No, I don’t. I’m fucking disabled, dude. The fact that a god damn nurse was perpetuating this gross negative stereotype about “needing to work and if you don’t you’re a lazy neet” when DISABLED. PEOPLE. EXIST. Not everyone can physically get a job! I have a form of scoliosis and all the jobs that are available to me interfere with my disability! The fact that Kodee includes this is absolutely abhorrent. Kodee includes Jen talking about Skia’s messages. Yes, Skia used to disagree with the things Gabbie said in the phone call and thought that Gabbie could be malicious. Over time however, after having time to process everything and knowing everything we were told-- Skia no longer believes with what she said here.

In fact, Skia felt very manipulated by the way Jen was speaking about her abusive situation, which is what these blurred messages were, and is the reason Jen was asking Skia about her life.

In Jen’s TikTok which Kodee included in their video, Jen calls me transgender. I’m not trans, however, I’m neurogender and identify as gender non-conforming under the nonbinary umbrella. I just want to say, it’s very easy to confuse this because i do use nonbinary as an umbrella label, so most would assume I'm just trans. Jen also claimed I do everything for Gabbie, but as previously stated, no. I do everything I do because I fucking HATE injustice, and I HATE liars.

The fact of the matter is that Jen wasn’t involved either. She butts her way into Gabbie's blackmail situation (because Curtis DID blackmail Gabbie) and Jen went out of her way to DM CURTIS, A FUCKING RAPIST, TO DISPROVE GABBIE. The same man who LIED about raping Jessi, is supposedly the beacon of truth when it comes to Gabbie? It’s disgusting. It’s outright just plain fucking disguising. There’s 0 excuse for talking to a rapist (END SENTENCE!!!) let alone after you publicly shame and berate someone for doing the same thing while actively being blackmailed. That's disgusting, and hypocritical, and fucking wrong. Jen says “I would never send a legal document like this” and that's true! Because a cease and desist is not a legal document! If I sound like I keep having to repeat myself with that, then welcome to the past three years of my life. I don’t know what’s so hard to grasp about that for these people. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it’s only illegal to cold email people for offers. Like, buying things. It’s not illegal to sign people up for email listings, especially when your email is publicly listed on your account. All in all, that was Kodee’s video about me and thus, my response. I hope this cleared some things up, and I’m sorry if this was long. It’s been on my mind since the day it was created but I wasn’t sure quite how to respond. Thank you for reading! Bye.

#kodee rants #jen dent

0 notes

musiconanironingboard · 1 year

Text

8 August 2022: Decade, Neil Young. (2017 Reprise repressing of 1977 compilation)

While I’ve long owned two different CD copies of this landmark Neil Young compilation, I’ve never owned it on vinyl, and this summer, out of thin air (and probably while I was supposed to be working) I got sick of this fact and impulsively went straight to the Internet and found a new copy to buy. 2017 saw Decade get a Record Store Day reissue, I am guessing for its 40th anniversary. This version came with two art prints. My version is just a plain-old regular reprint of the original, with no art prints, but the packaging is quite complex as you will see in the photos below. The dealer who sold me this copy claimed it was going to be on yellow vinyl, which I knew was hooey the moment I read it. I’m guessing that comment was an old cut-and-paste artifact from something else and he forgot to remove it from the listing.

Above are the front cover, hype sticker, and back cover.

The gatefold of Decade is a complicated thing. Because this is a triple album, there needs to be somewhere for the third album to go. Most of the time, a three-record set has a gatefold that simply opens up twice; Decade, however, has a separate folio containing the third album that tucks into one of the existing pockets. If this is confusing, maybe these pictures can clarify, but maybe not.

When you first open up the gatefold of Decade, you see the following:

In a regular gatefold album, that would be it. But the second side of the image above is actually like a page that you can turn. When you turn it, you see this:

This “page,” whose sides you see on the right of the first gatefold photo above, and then the left of the second photo, contains one of the three records. It is moored to the packaging by a 12″ by 12″ flap that tucks into one of the jacket pockets, and it can be removed.

This flap also has artwork on it. When you remove it from the pocket, you see this:

If you flip this now-removed folio over, you see this; note that the right side of this object is also the right side of what you see in the first gatefold above.

With this folio/page/whatever you want to call it is completely removed from the packaging, the opened gatefold now looks like this:

Got it?

I remember being a little kid either in the ’70s or very early ’80s and seeing on my brother’s copy of Decade that smiling image of Young cavorting on a balcony while holding a beer. At the time I found that so undignified and embarrassing of him, and it reminded me of photos I’d seen of my parents at hotel parties on occasional long-distance golf trips they would take when I was young. I thought my god, do all adults act like this? Of course before long I was cavorting goofily at parties of my own, and now that I’m no longer eight years old I don’t see anything wrong with those photos of my parents or of Neil here on the Decade sleeve.

The packaging of Decade is complex enough, and the records just come in plain white sleeves. Below is side one’s label; all six sides look like this, a pretty fair approximation of the Reprise steamboat label you would have seen when Decade first came out.

One of my favorite Decade stories involved a friend in college, with whom I definitely cavorted at parties while holding beers. At some point he bought a vinyl copy of Decade at one of our college town’s record stores. That night he had a dream that he slipped his newly purchased Decade into a narrow slot in the wall that he’d never noticed. When he woke up in real life, his copy of Decade was gone and he never saw it again. I can’t see this album without thinking of that story.

0 notes

simmonshvidberg3 · 2 years

Text

Burberry Builds Virtual Replica Of Ginza Retailer With Elle Digital Japan

The Quilted Lola Bag may be worn crossbody or on the shoulder with its polished chain strap, a great match with the quilt design of the bag. The bag has a magnetic closure and an interior slip pocket. Hi new member, just questioning where am i ready to find some good burberry replicas thanks. Inspired from a bowling bag, the Cube bag has a simple but professional design. The replica Burberry bag is a bit smaller than the original however options the design that yow will discover on the unique Cube Bag. http://HTTPS://phoenet.tw/BURBERRY-REPLICA.HTML The Burberry knockoff bag is also made with real leather materials and polyester lining. The new emblem purse Replica Burberry Handbags TB Classic Print Small Crossbody Bag is memorable at a look. The new season options the TB Bag, which debuted at Riccardo Tisci’s first presentation after the spring and summer 2019 show as creative director. The upper physique of the Replica Burberry Bags is very exquisite and compact. It is extra versatile and matches the ratio I wear at work. Another advantage that I determined to start with was practical, very easy to put in, and leather-based lambskin was very delicate, much like tender sheepskin. It is also divided into two model sizes, and clients of different statures will not let one go. Additionally, Oracle's board of directors increased the authorization for share repurchases by $10 billion, and declared a quarterly cash dividend of 32 cents a share of outstanding common inventory. You are right here for a reason – to search out replica Burberry bags. So we current to you a complete record of replica Burberry baggage that is similar to the standard of the original luggage however at much inexpensive cost. Check our best picks of replica Burberry bags that you can find solely at DHgate. It's received some gentle scratches, however onerous to see due to the black shade. Recently replaced the original battery, but every thing works fantastic because it should. It doesn't get a lot wrist time so I'd be happy to give it a good residence. Enjoy a relaxing shopping experience using the Logo Detail Cotton Blend Tote, a minimalistic tote bag made not only to be a shopping bag but also double as a casual or company bag. Its design utterly denies the thin line between fashion baggage and totes, which is a novel idea that Burberry got here up with. The new season of Replica Burberry Bags subverts the traditional British style, adding many younger elements, and finally let me acknowledge you in the boundless sea. Street Rules is an web site that sells replica designer sneakers. We only promote one of the best and genuine replicas of designer sneakers at an inexpensive price to ensure that you get what you pay for. Visit DHgate.com or download the DHgate App to search out replica Burberry bags that may complete your gorgeous ensemble. Dhgate is a number one buying and selling website that caters to over 2 million shops, small and big businesses alike. DHgate delivers high-grade replica merchandise worldwide on each retail and wholesale costs. Burberry Copy Vintage Check Nylon Backpack for WomenTo end off our list, we current the Vintage Check Nylon Backpack. This classic backpack from Burberry is a bag that you’ll absolutely need for an on an everyday basis journey. The Vintage Check Nylon Backpack may be paired with casual, streetwear, or even corporate attires. The Society Top Handle Bag is manufactured from PU leather material, a good kind of fabric to create a shocking bag. To start off, we’ll take a glance at certainly one of Burberry’s famous traces which is the Lola bags. And among the assortment is the Quilted Lola Bag, a small bag that may carry necessities anywhere. And canvas materials, used in the summer, it is not very heavy feeling. London-capacity bag looks nice, does not look like an excellent separator. But in fact, it has a separate small bag, the inside bag may be ripped out alone, I feel used when cosmetic bag or bundle in what is quite good. Drawstring bag on each side I’d like rather less, it also appeared slightly too delicate, and if each side could be made a little shut style, it may be higher to take away the rope. Browse by way of the fastidiously curated vary of burberry replica on Alibaba.com and choose the items that best fit your wants. I nonetheless can’t recover from the half in the video the place all of the British Burberry craftsmen were apprehensive about remaining unemployed for the relaxation of their lives after the manufacturing facility was as a outcome of close. wikipedia handbags This sophisticated sling bag from Replica Burberry Handbags features a haymarket check design with brown leather-based trim. This traditional sling bag is lined in brown canvas with a zipper top closure. Goldtoned hardware provides an elegant finish to this designer bag. Burberry introduces a new shape to their bag assortment this season in “The Sling”, a small basic bow-shape just big enough for all these requirements you just cannot leave the house with out. 16 cm extra colors Packaging & Shipping We ship the luggage inside cartons. We are specialized in the manifacturer of leather-based luggage FG S.r.l. The backpack has a really spacious main compartment, good for giant pieces of luggage and fragile units. It additionally has multiple zipped pockets which are beneficiant in space, perfect for extra stuff that you simply would possibly need to keep it up faculty, at work, and even at your subsequent adventure journey. Ten years in the past, London-based photographer Toby Leigh noticed this shift and began snapping pictures of faux Burberry gadgets he noticed on the streets of Thailand, Serbia, the United Kingdom, and more.

#burberry replica #burberry replica bags

0 notes

luxshine · 3 years

Text

“Yo a ti, Cas” Or how mexican dubbing gripped us tight and raised us from Despair.

Ok. So I promised a big meta about the dubbing thing and so while I don’t have all the answers YET, here’s a bit of perspective on the differences between Despair and The Truth.

First, a little background. I am a former professional dubbing translator. While I worked on anime series from Japanese to Spanish, rather than in live action ones from English to Spanish, the process is not that different. Also, I worked in Mexico, where Supernatural is dubbed, so that’s why I can make the assumptions I make. Finally, my specialization in college was translation from English to Spanish, so I guess I know what the hell I’m talking about.

So let’s start on HOW you translate something for a dub. Back in the day, you got a ton of VHS tapes with the episodes on them with time codes, and, if you were lucky, a shooting script. This is to say, it was not a transcript of the actual words said in the episode, but the script BEFORE the actors, directors, and everyone else had a hand on what was said and changed. And thus, anything adlibbed? Is not going to be in that script which, at least for the anime side of things? Was a nightmare as the script was usually “And here X actor can say whatever they want” and I had to go and listen to the scene ten thousand times. Now a days, you get either a video file or a streaming link, and sometimes, the shooting script. If you get a script, btw, you can also not get a script in the original language. I know that the person who had to translate Sprited Away to Spanish was working off a German script, not the Japanese one. So yeah, some things can be lost in translation there.

THEN you get to translate. BUT you can’t just translate word by word. You have to adapt it so that it will sound like something a person will say, and sometimes, literally is not the way to do it. And in particular, Mexican dubbing has a reputation to uphold as the “Neutral” dub that is send to most Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, so we can’t use certain words (I don’t have the list at hand, but I remember that I couldn’t use “Llanta” for Tire, and so I had to use “Neumatico”. And no “sweaters” or “hotcakes” or stuff like that), AND we have to match the lips of the original video. Which is like, the worst nightmare ever because of what we call “labiales”, that is to say, the letters where lips close.

I can’t tell you how much we all loved when a character gave a long winded speech with their back to the camera due to those damned closed lip letters.

All this is to say that sometimes, the line could be “We are all in this together for good or bad”, and the translation become something more like “Estamos en esto, por las buenas o las malas” (We’re on this, the good way or the bad way) or “Estamos juntos en las buenas y en las malas” (We’re together in the good and the bad), depending on the translator, dub director, and voice actor.

Depending on the client, that is, the original owner of the series, sometimes they will review the translation once it’s all dubbed and edited. I know that in the Avengers movie, a Disney rep was present on the cabin and forbade any changes from the script, which resulted on a couple of awkward lines in the end result. I don’t know if that’s the case for Supernatural, but I honestly doubt it. Still, translators can’t make huge changes for the dialogue. One couldn’t just ADD a relationship that wasn’t there, no matter what.

(As an aside, due to the very conservative mindset of some tv stations, it’s more common that gay relationships become more ambiguous, by changing “I love you” to “Te quiero” which can be more of a filial love than a romantic one. And well, that one case in Sailor Moon where a gay character was changed into a woman because the dub director honestly thought the character was a woman. But that was in the nineties)

Now, let’s go to how Castiel’s speech was translated.

The original, according to Superwiki, went like this:

Castiel: You're the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean.

Dean: Why does this sound like a goodbye? Castiel: Because it is. I love you. Dean: Don't do this, Cas. Cas.

And the translation, as it was aired, went like this (And people, you have no idea the war flashbacks transcribing this gave me, so I hope you appreciate it):

Castiel: Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra. Un hombre sin egoismo; el hombre mas generoso que haya visto, y que jamas vere. Sabes que desde que nos conocimos y desde que te saque del infierno, el conocerte me ha cambiado. Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo. Y fue por ti. Tu me cambiaste, Dean.

Dean: Porque suena esto a despedida?

Castiel: Porque asi fue. Te amo.

Dean: Yo a ti, Cas. (The empty appears and Billie opens the door) Cas…

Castiel: Adios Dean

Dean: No!

Ok. So… At first glance, they’re pretty much the same until we get to the I love you. BUT let’s dissect it a little bit.

Cas begins with a “Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra” which is not how I would’ve translated “The most caring man on Earth” since “caring” is more like “Cariñoso” rather than “amoroso” which would be “loving”, and yes, there’s a difference. Plus, “el hombre mas amoroso” sounds a bit clunky, so Personally, I’d have gone with “Eres el hombre mas cariñoso en la Tierra”, that would’ve given us more time for the rest of the speech, but I wonder if the translator choice for Amoroso instead was more due to the fact that “amor” (love) is more clearly romantic than “care” (cariño, in a sense, more on this later) and so it foreshadows the end.

Again, with the literal clunkyness we have “Un hombre sin egoismo” (A man without egoism) which sounds weird no matter what language you speak, and it should’ve been “Un hombre dadivoso” (A giving man) or “un hombre desinteresado” (a selfless man) although the second could be mis-construed as “a man without interests” so “dadivoso” would’ve better. But the more puzzling is that the Spanish separates the selfless man from the next, which is REALLY confusing as the English is “the most loving man”, which would be “el hombre mas amoroso” making it quite redundant, so the Spanish changes it to “the most generous man”, “el hombre mas generoso”. To add to this, Cas continues with “that I have seen and I will ever see” instead of “That I know”, because it’s far more poetic. And loving.

So yeah, Mexican Cas is basically saying that Dean Winchester is made of love and puppies.

Ahem.

The next part “You know, ever since I pulled you out of hell, you’ve changed me” is more or less word for word, and the only thing that changes is that the English sounds more like a question and the Spanish one is an affirmation. YOU KNOW that ever since I pulled you out of hell, you changed me.” Little verb tense play, that doesn't change much except Cas’s resolution to say what he has to say.

And then we get to the part that made me squeal out loud. Because we go from

“Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you”

“Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo.” Which at first glance is the same, but NOPE.

First change: The original is in past tense “I cared”. Spanish version is in present tense: “I care”.

Which is a little non important thing except when you remember that simple present means “immutable absolute truth that won’t change with time”

Second, the choice of word for care.

I mentioned before that Care can be Cariño, as in filial, non romantic love (Or romantic love pet name, as it can also be Darling. It’s one of THOSE words). Other translations for care include “cuidado” (as in attention, concern, keeping, and worry), and of course “interesarse” (Which also can be care), “preocuparse” (care, bother, trouble, mind, fuss), and yes, “importar” but “importar” ONLY translates to English as a verb as “import”, “matter” “amount to” and notice how none of those words include “love”.

Mexican Cas is not saying “you love the world, and so I do”. Mexican Cas is saying “The world matters to you, and thus it matters to me, but my feelings for the World (and Sam, and Jack) are not in the same league as my feelings for you.”

And then Dean asks “Why does this sound like a Goodbye”, just like in English, in present tense…

And Mexican Cas replies in PAST tense. “Porque asi fue”. And THIS is important because it means that everything he said before WAS the goodbye, and not what comes next. All the rest? Is in the past. “Because it was”. Not “Because it IS”. And the next part? Is their future.

I love you.

Te amo.

Simple present. No ambiguity like “te quiero”. Spanish Te amo is for romantic love. Not brotherly, not family, not bro-mantic. ROMANTIC.

It’s like “I’m IN love with you” (Although that’d be “Estoy enamorado de ti” and I doubt that would’ve fit in the time Misha spoke)

And of course, the answer. “Yo a ti, Cas”. Not “And I, you” as I’ve seen it before (And I also thought it was, until transcribing the scene) but a simple “I, you, Cas.” Which ok, pretty cave-speak, but the meaning is pretty clear. Dean Winchester loves his gay angel.

It is also telling that the empty doesn’t appear until AFTER Dean confessed, so no, Mexican Cas is not “happy with the saying”, he had to get to the “happy with the having”.

And when Billy appears, it does seem as if he wants to say something more, but Cas is a love-sick selfsacrificing dumbass and so we all get our hearts broken.

I did get in contact with Dean Winchester’s mexican voice actor, and am waiting for answers to a small interview I did with him which includes the question “did that And I you, Cas” was in the script, and am trying to contact Castiel’s mexican voice actor. So I will be updating you on that. But I hope this clears up some of the questions about how Mexican dubbing made Destiel Canon :D

#dean deserved better #castiel deserved better #they silenced you #bi dean #supernatural mexican dubbing #y yo a ti #te amo #destiel #destielforever

10K notes · View notes

falcqns · 3 years

Note

Hi, first of all i love your work 💕 and second, I wanted to request a Chris Evans angsty to fluff one shot? Where he is much older than the reader (she’s in her early 20s) and they have confessed their attraction for each other but are not sure how to proceed, nothing much happens during the confession. But the next day there’s an event or party where both attend separately, during it they stare at each other from across the room but suddenly Chris is crowded mostly by women much older than you and they flirt with him, and he sees you getting sad and insecure about your feelings and about his feelings too and obviously your age, so maybe you run off somewhere else and he decides to follow and then reassures you he likes you, then it’s all fluff? Maybe with a kiss at the end?🥺 thank uuuu!! I hope you’re having a nice day💓

Age Gap

pairing: chris evans x younger!reader

warnings: age gap, fluff, angst, insinuations to smut, hannah montana reference lmao

a/n: thank you for the request and i hope you enjoy! also i wrote this on my phone so i apologize for any mistakes lol

being 21 and having a crush on a 39 year old was tough.

finding out that that 39 year old felt the same was even tougher.

when you got the chance to audition with him for his new movie, Deep Silence, you jumped at it. just getting to be in a room with him blew your mind, but when your agent called you and told you you got a role, you were ecstatic.

you had originally auditioned for the role of Emma Garner, Chris’s characters daughter, but he decided you were perfect for the role of his characters wife, Francesca Garner instead.

you had no idea why. you were barely 21, and he was 19 years older than you. it would make so much more sense for you to play his daughter, but you accepted the role of his wife nonetheless.

at least now you won’t have to watch your crush kiss another girl, something that was all too familiar in high school.

when you two had your first love scene, you were terrified. how were you going to keep the fact that you were incredibly attracted to your co star a secret while acting out something that is so private?

you had a suspicion that he felt the same during filming, when he’d purposely ground his hard on into your centre and rasped into you ear “if you liked that”, but he ran away to his trailer before you could ask him about it.

you thought he was finally going to talk to you about it when he approached you a few days later, but he ended up just asking if you wanted to go to disneyland with him and Scott and his boyfriend, to which you accepted.

the day was fun, with the four of you taking lots of photos, going on lists of rides, eating lots of food (that ultimately made Scott throw up after one two many churros and and a ride on Seven Dwarves) and ended in you guys watching Happily Ever After. About halfway through, Chris pulled you into his arms, and pressed his lips to yours.

as soon as he kissed you, all the background noise faded away, and the two of you stood there like teenagers making out for the rest of the show.

when that happened, you thought for sure that he’d finally ask you out. you’d ask him out, but that seemed insanely intimidating, and you weren’t down for that at all. but, he didn’t make a move. other than kissing. he’d kiss you constantly, but it never progressed passed making out, and you were a little disappointed.

eventually, comic con came up, and you wouldn’t be attending with Chris, rather than the TV show you were a regular on. you had spotted him watching you in the crowd, thanks to your favourite actress who was also on the panel with you. you attended his as well, and even asked a question, as your movie hadn’t been announced yet, so people wouldn’t know you unless they watched your show.

then, the after party rolled around. you had messaged briefly, but hadn’t really spoken, something you were hoping to do tonight. you had reached your wits end, and just decided to man up and talk to him about where you two stood.

but, you couldn’t find him. you’d wandered around with your co stars and talked to a few directors and casting agents to get your name out there for future projects, but you couldn’t for the life of you locate Chris.

Until you got to the bar. you had just ordered your favourite drink, when you spotted him at the other end of the bar. but, he wasn’t alone. he was surrounded by five or six women who were definitely much older than you, and your heart sank.

it didn’t shatter, however, until you saw Chris flirting back. your eyes welled up with tears, and you tried to wipe them discreetly without Chris or anyone noticing, but of course that didn’t happen.

Chris was doing his best to ward off the ladies swarming him, so he could come and find you. he had been leading you on for too long, and he just needed to ask you out already, before another guy snatched you from his fingers.

suddenly, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked up, thinking it was Scott coming back with more food, but his heart dropped when he saw you. you were stood there, looking absolutely magnificent, but your eyes were full with tears, almost to the point of spilling over onto the cheeks he loved to kiss and hold in his hands so much.

he looked at the swarm of ladies that had formed around him, and swore, realizing what you were probably thinking.

he watched as you turned and stormed away, towards the door. he politely excused himself, and headed after you.

he followed you out the door he watched you disappear through, but his heart sank even lower when he realized you weren’t there. he was about to go back inside and ask your co stars for your room number, when he heard the tell tale signs of your sobs coming from a hidden alcove to his left.

he ran down the steps and over to the alcove, and his heart broke when he saw you. you were leaning against the wall, you head in your hands. loud sobs were escaping your mouth, and he knew for a fact you had an endless amount of tears running down your face, the saltiness of them probably already swelling your beautiful face up.

he wasted no time in coming over to you and wrapping you up tight in his arms. you tried to pull out of them, but he stood firm, and eventually you relaxed.

“i’m so sorry.” he whispered, and your sobs subsided. you shook your head and looked up at him.

“no. i’m sorry. i’m sorry that i was born in the wrong generation, because maybe then one of us would have the courage to ask the other out without fear of judgement. i’m sorry that i’m not as mature as those girls, or as talented. i’m sorry that i probably read into things like i always do and ruine-“ you began; but was cut off by Chris soft lips.

when he pulled away, he rested his forehead atop yours. “no. don’t. you’re perfect. so fuckin’ perfect it scares me sometimes. it absolutely terrifies the shit out of me how perfect you are because i don’t want to hurt you. you’re so young and innocent, and i love that about you. i don’t want to be the one to crush that innocence that i love so much by hurting you. but, i shouldn’t have let that hold me back. we’re both legal, so age is just a number. i should have told you that say i fuckin’ dry humped you on set.” he said, and you laughed at the last bit. “i love you so fuckin’ much, y/n, it honestly scares me. but being scared is good. it makes me human, and i’m not letting that hold me back from treating you the way you deserve to be treated. if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, i will spend the rest of our time together showing you just how much i love and appreciate you.” he said, and you looked up at him. “will you be my girlfriend?” he asked softly, and you nodded in happiness, your lips pressing to his.

Chris smiled into the slightly salty, but still loving kiss. he finally had you, and he wasn’t going to let you go. you were his whole world, and he was kicking himself for not realizing it sooner.

the two of you were currently walking hand in hand back to the venue, when you spoke up. “that was the sweetest speech. i’m not mad at you because of those girls. i realized shortly after that you wouldn’t do anything like that, but i thought maybe you’d realize that they were better than me, so that’s why i left.” you explained, and Chris tugged you in closer to his body.

“that makes me so happy, sweet girl. it was a mistake letting those girls do that and i should have stopped it sooner, but everybody makes mistakes.” he said.

you giggled before responding. “everybody has those days.” you said with the straightest face possible and Chris turned and stared at you for a second before realizing the reference.

“Hannah Montana? oh my god you’re so innocent,” he said, moaning the last few words into your ears, his hands gripping your waist to pull you against him.

you bit your lip and smiled. “i’m not completely innocent,” you said right back, and smiled in happiness when you felt him hardening against your stomach.

“mmm, really baby?” he moaned, and you nodded, before whispering in his ear.

“take me back to your hotel room and i’ll show you.”

#chris evans angst #chris evans #chris evans actor #chris evans imagine #chris evans x you #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x reader fluff #chris evans fluff #chris evans x reader #chris evans smut

1K notes · View notes

nevermindirah · 3 years

Text

Yitzhak!

is a character! who Gregadiah What-Is-Math Rucka gave us almost no information about!

I've gone through Tales Through Time #6: The Bear and #1: My Mother's Axe with several magnifying glasses and done a lot of googling and taken my copy of the Tanakh off my shelf for the first time since (well, since the last time I needed to read Torah for TOG reasons, which I think was Booker Passover headcanons) and here's the best I can come up with.

In The Bear we meet someone who goes by the name Isaac Blue:

Read on for a lot of comic panel analysis and historical research and Jewish flailing!

So what do we know about this Isaac Blue person?

He's Lorge, he's got curly hair, he's basically a taller version of Joe as drawn by Leandro Fernández (ie an antisemitic stereotype why the fuck did they approve this character design?? and then why did they double down and copy-paste it to Yitzhak??):

He's got a mezuzah on the doorpost of his house in Alaska!

I screamed about the mezuzah way back in January in this post where I (very reasonably) assumed this character was Joe and spun myself a tale about how Booker is still Joe's brother so the mezuzah stays up even though Booker isn't welcome in that house for a century. Bottom line: the mezuzah is a tradition with origins in the commandment from Deuteronomy 6:9 to "write the words of G-d on the gates and doorposts of your house" and evolved over the course of the Rabbinic period into the modern mezuzah we see here.

I did unnecessary levels of google image search to glean absolutely no useful information about Yitzhak’s origins from this panel:

I've decided the variant cover of TTT 6 is Yitzhak because of a panel in My Mother’s Axe, shown here, and what's likely an unnecessarily deep reading of Exodus, discussed further down:

The person at the right of the bottom panel is wearing the same clothes as in the TTT 6 variant cover and has the same shoulder-length curly hair and hairy forearms.

Left to right, the people in this panel are Lykon (I'll never get used to him being white in the comics), Andy, Noriko (I think? why doesn't Andy mention her by name here?), and Yitzhak. Andy's robe has a stereotypically Greek design on the sleeve cuff, and I had to stop myself 10 minutes into a Wikipedia rabbit hole because Gregorforth doesn't think that deep about this shit. The solid clues as to timeline that we get in this panel are:

Andy's iron axe

the presence of Lykon, who Andy first met in 331 BCE

So all we know is that Yitzhak is an immortal, he was a contemporary of Lykon, and he's Jewish.

Isaac is the most common Anglicization of Yitzhak (which in turn is the most common Anglophone transliteration of יִצְחָק‎), and Greg always uses the (transliterated) Hebrew when he refers to this character. Yitzhak is the long-awaited child of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis, the child who G-d commanded Abraham to sacrifice but spared at the last minute. I see what you did there, Gregory.

Why Isaac Blue? This is where I pulled out my Tanakh. According to the New JPS translation, blue is the first of three colors of yarn listed in Exodus 35:6 among the gifts requested of the Israelites to construct the priestly garments for the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Then in Numbers 15:38 the Israelites are commanded to "make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner."

And now for sandbox timelines party! Gregadiah gave us ALMOST NOTHING to go on, so I'm gonna make my own fun.

I, like many modern Jews, think the stories in the Tanakh are foundational mythology that are valuable because of how they've shaped our people but that contain some fucked-up shit and either way aren't meant to be a record of historical facts. Modern scholarship generally agrees that the community we now call Jews emerged as a distinct group of Canaanites sometime in the late Bronze Age (cw this video's host says the Name of G-d aloud despite being a religious studies scholar who knows that is not a name anyone but the Temple priests are allowed to say). The first non-Biblical written record of the people Israel is from an Egyptian source c. 1200 BCE, and the Biblical kingdom of David and Solomon was probably an exaggeration of whatever really happened during the Bronze Age Collapse. We start getting into historical-fact territory a few centuries into the Iron Age:

588 BCE Solomon's Temple destroyed, Babylonian exile begins

538 BCE Cyrus of Persia allows Jews to return to Jerusalem

515 BCE Second Temple construction complete

332 BCE Alexander the Great At Something I Guess conquered Judea, beginning the Hellenistic period of Jewish history — 331 BCE Andy & Lykon find each other

167 BCE another jerkface Greek king desecrated the Temple and basically outlawed Judaism

164 BCE recapture of Jerusalem and Temple rededication during the Maccabean Revolt

70 CE destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, beginning of the Rabbinic period of Jewish history that we're still in now

What if... and hear me out... what if immortals come in pairs, and the pairs are:

Andy & Quynh

Joe & Nicky

Booker & Nile

LYKON & YITZHAK

What if Yitzhak was a priest of the Second Temple? What if he and Lykon killed each other just like Joe and Nicky would in the same city around 1300 years later, but instead of enemies-to-lovers speedrun with an absurdly long happily-ever-after, when Lykon died permanently Yitzhak decided to separate from Andy and Noriko and become the hermit we later see in Alaska?

We don't know how old Yitzhak is compared to the others, only that he was a contemporary of Lykon at a time when Andy was using an Iron Age version of her mother's axe. Other plausible origins for him:

a Jew of the early Rabbinic period, maybe a child or grandchild of people who were still alive before the Second Temple was destroyed

a Judean of the Second Temple era under the Romans or Greeks or Persians, maybe a priest, maybe not

an exilee in Babylon, maybe of the generation who got to return, maybe of the generation who was exiled (he doesn't look like he was 50 at his first death but who knows, he could've been mortal for both)

an Israelite of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, maybe a priest of Solomon's Temple or again maybe not

an Israelite wandering in the desert with Moses

THEE Yitzhak, ben Avraham v'Sarah, our patriarch who was brought up for sacrifice and then spared, and then spared again, and then spared again, and again, and again...

or! he could also be a Canaanite or other Levantine who predates the people Israel, who at some point in his very long life chose to join our mixed multitude, who like Andromache before him (and like Avram and Sarai would in this case do after him) took a new name to reflect the magnitude of influence this people has had on him

Why do I keep saying Yitzhak might have been a priest? It's thanks to the one detail in the artwork I could plausibly connect to solid research without getting a PhD real quick. Take a look at the gorgeous detail on the opening of his robe in the TTT 6 cover. He's dressed in rags, holes and dirt everywhere, rough stitches probably from hasty repair work — except for the neck opening. Compare that to this description from Exodus 39:23 of the construction of the priestly garments for the Tabernacle: "The opening of the robe, in the middle of it, was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around the opening, so that it would not tear."

The next verses describe the intricate designs for the hem of the priestly garment. Yitzhak's ragged garment looks like the hem was torn off entirely.

Am I overthinking this? Yes I am! You're welcome!

My friend and historical research hero @lady-writes is in a Discord server with Gregadiah and asked the man himself some questions about all this. He clearly thinks he's being sneaky?? No shit Yitzhak is Jewish, dude, I want DETAILS!

I will not be giving up my Jewish Booker headcanon, I've put too much thought into it by now, the internalized shame of antisemitism explains Booker's depression too well for me, and it just adds so much richness to Booker/Nile both being children of forced diasporas. Fortunately (for him, not me, bc I'd do it anyway!) Gregothy supports fan headcanons even when they're not in line with his own:

One last thing before I close like 100 research tabs and go back to writing historical fantasy and/or porn! I love that, despite that atrocious caricature of a face design, our canon Jew and our fanon Jew are both Lorge and Soft and Kind, flying the face of the antisemitic stereotype of Ashkenazi Jewish men as small and weak, but also not falling into the New Jew / Muscle Jew stereotype that Zionism created. (I am trying SO HARD not to talk about Israel/Palestine for once ughhhhhhhhhh) Anyway here's a (US-centric but very good) primer on both these stereotypes of Jewish masculinity. Is this why I'm forever projecting my transmasc diasporist feels onto Jewish Booker the service sub? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ll reblog a second version of this with full image descriptions so that there’s a version accessible for folks who need IDs as well as a version accessible for folks who get overwhelmed by walls of text.

#TOG POC Love Fest #yitzhak #jewish booker #tales through time spoilers #tales through time #tog meta #tog #jewish things #mine #antisemitism #hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it

159 notes · View notes

dangermousie · 3 years

Text

Mousie’s absolutely subjective, very biased Top 10 web novels list

Please note that this is hardly aiming to be objective, if one can even be properly objective about a work of fiction. It is 110% based on my preferences, which means this list is heavy on the angst and has nothing set in the modern day. It is also heavily danmei-centric, even though I read way more het romance than danmei, because for whatever reason, most of the danmei I’ve read has been insanely good.

10. Return of the Swallow - one of the two non-danmeis on this list. Smart and nuanced and with a large cast of characters. Our heroine is a long-lost daughter of the family that is brought back in and has to cope with familial struggles, crazy royals, court intrigue, invasion et al. It’s SO GOOD! There is romance with the sexy smart enemy general but honestly, it’s the heroine that is the main selling point for me.

9. Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - the only other non-danmei novel on this list, this was my very first web novel and what drew me into this insanity. This is just a ton of fun, probably the lightest novel on this list, not an ounce of angst to be found. But it’s hilarious and features competent heroine and tsundere hero and I will always love it for opening a new world to me. Anyway, our heroine transmigrates into the novel as the female lead. Unlike the original lead though she doesn’t want to seek adventures and angst - she just wants to comfortably live with the wealthy, nice husband heroine has. Alas, said husband is no longer nice since he has previously lived this story where he was betrayed by FL and then transmigrated/reincarnated into the past. Oh well, the heroine opens up businesses and makes friends. And eventually, her husband realizes his wife is way different this time around. This actually doesn’t have much romance, not until close to the end, but this is so fun I don’t care.

8. Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

7. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) - oh come on, how are you even on this tumblr if you don’t know MDZS/The Untamed? This was my very first danmei and it’s so much fun! I love everything about it - the unreliable narrator, the looping structure, the main OTP, Wei Wuxian’s laidback, traumatized insouciance, everything. Anyway, the plot in the event you somehow transported here from 2005 is that the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian, was defeated by the righteous sects over a decade ago and fell of a cliff to his death. Only now that same Wei Wuxian opens his eyes in another body and everything that was supposed to stay in the past starts again.

6. Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) - people either love its meandering narrative, picaresque structure and cast of thousands, or find it a detriment compared to much more compact MDZS. I love it even more than MDZS for those very qualities. It does have a rock-solid, darling OTP, but what really elevates it to me are the MXTX trademark combo of snarky/light tone hiding a ton of trauma underneath, the insanely intricate world-building, and what it has to say about the nature of grace and goodness. Xie Lian is one of my top 5 web novel characters and probably in top 10 from anywhere. Oh, and while MXTX’s stuff is not as angsty for me as Meatbun’s or even Priest’s, there are always exceptions, and there is one chapter in this novel that pretty much broke me and sometimes I still flashback to it and feel unwell.

Anyway, what is it about? There is a commotion in the heavenly realm - Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, has ascended to Godhood. That in itself is not so exciting. However for Xie Lian this is the third time (!!!!) as he’s ascended and lost his godhood twice prior. And now, the biggest joke of the divine realm is back, throwing the heavenly realm into chaos. And elsewhere, Hua Cheng, one of the four most powerful demons of that Universe, sits up and takes notice.

5. Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is also finding the middle path between their two very different philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of “if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

4. Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

3. To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two take up farming, get involved in the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

1. The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

#cnovel #2ha #yuwu #to rule in a turbulent world #lsww #sha po lang #golden stage #return of the swallow #transmigrator meets reincarnator #lord seventh #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #heaven official's blessing #the dumb husky and his white cat shizun

575 notes · View notes