madamejamariqui
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Latest Posts by madamejamariqui
THIS ✨🥹
Why Dina and Ellie’s Relationship in The Last of Us Feels So Real
One of the things that makes Dina and Ellie’s relationship stand out is how it feels so genuine, like we’ve known these characters for years, even though their journey together spans only a handful of episodes. The chemistry between them isn’t just about attraction, it’s about the deep understanding and respect they have for each other. It’s that respect that often feels so vital in queer relationships. There’s an unspoken recognition of each other’s experiences and vulnerabilities that really makes their bond shine.
Both Bella and Isabella bring a level of authenticity to these roles that can only come from lived experience. Dina and Ellie aren’t just two characters in a story, they feel like people we could know, and the chemistry between the actors is so palpable because they’re able to tap into something real.
There’s no faking that rawness and depth of connection when both actors understand the nuances of being queer, especially in a relationship between two women. It’s not something you can replicate with straight actors. It’s the kind of unspoken emotional understanding that comes from truly knowing what it’s like to be in that kind of relationship.
What makes this relationship so impactful isn’t just their romantic attraction, it’s the layers of emotional connection that build over time. There’s this inevitable feeling that these two were always meant to be in each other’s lives, even if they hadn’t realized it until now.
Their connection is built on comfort, familiarity, and the way they complement each other despite being opposites. They balance each other out in ways that feel right, and that’s part of what makes them so magnetic together.
At its core, Dina and Ellie’s relationship is about emotional intimacy. It’s not rushed it’s earned through shared experiences, subtle moments, and those little exchanges that communicate so much without saying anything at all. These are the kinds of relationships that feel real and not just for queer viewers, but for anyone who’s ever known what it’s like to find someone who truly gets you.
In a world where queer stories are often rushed or sidelined, Dina and Ellie’s bond feels like it’s been lived in, making every moment with them feel like part of something bigger. It’s the authenticity, respect, and deep emotional connection that makes their relationship resonate long after the screen fades.
Ultimately, this is what’s going to make things so difficult and soul wrenchingly crushing when things play out like they do in the game and Ellie starts to lose herself.
vampires are gay. every single one.
I convinced my mom to watch Warrior Nun and she was telling my dad about it and I promise you this is a real conversation they had:
Dad: How do they get rid of the demons tho?
Mom: Lesbianism.
Dad:
Me:
Mom:
Dad: I mean if it works, why not?
Fairy godmother cranes guide their confused gator back into pond
Ava: Don't kill me, I have a wife!
A FBC: You think I care about that?
Ava: No, this isn't a plea for mercy. It's a warning.
A FBC: What?
Beatrice: READY TO DIE?
PSA Regarding Hateful Anons
Tumblr recently made it a requirement for you to be logged in to send asks anonymously. If you receive a hateful ask, don’t publish it - report it to Tumblr. It can be traced back to the user that sent it and with enough reports that person’s account will be suspended.
Share to raise awareness but also to make the clowns who think this behaviour is acceptable think twice before acting brave behind the guise of invisibility.
how differently would the show have gone is supergirl and lena luthor just decided to fuck nasty shortly after they met
Literally if Lena had just ridden Kara to completion on that couch in her office in season 2 National City would have been healed, I know it
what are your fave warrior nun fics?
Oh, anon. You don't even know the can of worms you've just opened. Here are a few (a few!) of my favorites.
Firstly, teach me to love, as you have loved me by @birgittesilverbae. It's in the POV of Beatrice as she grows up in the OCS, putting Shannon, Mary and Lilith in the limelight as well, and the most recent chapter (12k!) has gone through essentially all of canon. It's about grief and family and warmth and loss and it's so fucking good. Cannot recommend this more.
Next I have sunday people (sunday shines for you) by @piratekane. Sundays are for the girls, by the way. if you even care. This is peak pining behavior, miscommunication that isn't just there for the dramatics, and Ava being The Best Girl Ever (and the most jealous girl ever). Fantastic fic.
Then there's show me something of a reckoning by @thirteenyasmin, which is a given, of course. Switzerland canon-divergent fic where, as the tags say, fake-dating becomes real-dating. As they deserve. Has some lines that will tear your soul to pieces in the best way.
Next is Nice jugs, a climbing AU by @cowboycatd. Do you know anything about climbing? No? Me, neither. But this series of fics describes it--alongside exceptionally-written flirting--masterfully. You should read Climbing AU.
Then I have falling (for you) like snow on christmas by @justawhitewall. Hallmark movie AU! They're much better when they're Avatrice, by the way. I read it during the posting and have reread it at least once a month ever since. Incredible.
Spellbound by @omomoification. Witch (kinda) AU! Will sweep you away into the world that's created and you won't even notice as the 15k goes by in a flash. Fucking gorgeous piece of art. Made me insane, made some people break the character limit while commenting.
the imprint of your soul on mine (feels nothing short of divine) by @the-penguinspy. Read this if you're feeling down, because you won't be when you're done. The softest thing you could ever read, and I read a lot of soft things. Fic that gives you a hug and a gentle kiss on the top of your head.
And last but certainly not least, A Bit of Earth by @whatwordsmiss. Full fic isn't posted yet but it is written, and this story is just... wonderful. It's about grief, it's about growing up, it's about falling in love and healing together and healing apart and being kind and, sometimes, in particular moments, it's about a Garden. A must-read.
LOVE AS VIOLENCE VS LOVE AS SOFTNESS
Ada Limon, The Good Fight // Mary Oliver, West Wind // Danez Smith, Bare // Sappho, Fragment 58.25-26 // Mitski, I Don’t Smoke // Ashe Vernon // Hozier, Cherry Wine // Shauna Barbosa, GPS // Richard Siken, Little Beast // Chen Chen, Summer [The sunflowers fall…] // Warsan Shire // Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
#supercorp #art
Supercorp Fanart based on A Rich Girl with Issues... Lots of Issues by @inkedroplets 💙❤️
#melting #supercorp #asdfghjkl
matching icons for you and your gf you’re welcome✨
isn’t this exactly what their faces look like in that scene?
How To Draw A Horse - a comic by Emma Hunsinger
AVATRICE + ship dynamics (insp.)
AVA SILVA and SISTER BEATRICE in WARRIOR NUN (2020-) | season two
The dance ends in a unique dip, Lena hovering near the floor and Kara holding her whole weight up by one arm, and in the few crackling, heart-stopping moments before the cheers explode into her eardrums Lena becomes aware that her body has reacted in the most inconvenient possible way.
— from ‘i want something just like this’ by @jazzfordshire
So. I obviously wasn’t kidding when I said I am obsessed to the point of flat-out mania with the image Jazz described of Kara spinning & dipping & throwing Lena around the stage (and Lena trusting both Kara and herself enough to thoroughly enjoy it)
“There is somebody out there for you. Somebody who will get your soul and tend to your heart like a flower, but you must be patient as the rain, as the sea, as the sky, because finding love is part of nature and will not bloom until it’s season.”
— Unknown
one word prompt: falling
‘hey, bea?’
ava talks at night. you learned this fact while sharing a bed with her, night after night, tucked up in a bed that had been exaggeratedly labelled a double. wrist to wrist, shoulder to shoulder (ashes to ashes). on some nights, when ava was feeling lonely or mean, she would hook her ankle around yours too. or wriggle, making frustrated breathy noises, onto her side like a fish on the sand, and throw an arm across your waist and her face right into the curve of your neck. and then she would talk.
(you can feel her lips against your neck when you concentrate. you have been filling your mind with other, better, safer things instead. like how many hours it’s been since you left switzerland. like miguel being michael being doctor salvius’s son. like how many hours it has been since you prayed, since you emptied out the vessel of your heart and mind, entrusting it’s contents to God. it has been twenty-three days, four hours since my last confession, you think, and stop precisely there.)
‘bea?’
‘i’m here.’
‘how’s your leg?’
you hum. flex the muscles carefully working up from ankle—twinge—calf, knee, thigh. your thigh hurts in a dull way you recognise. it was the strike that staggered you, numbed your leg to the point where it couldn’t bear weight. it would be bruised for a long time but shouldn’t cause you any trouble.
‘much better. and yours?’
in the dark, you can’t see the way she kicks out with both legs but you feel it, the way the bed shakes and the sheets pull and give way, messily. she kicks again and the cool air from the air-conditioning floods beneath the sheets, now fully untucked. her heels thud back down to the mattress. the sheets settle more slowly, falling around your limbs.
‘ava!’
‘gotta test them. all good again.’
‘you’re worried,’ you say, because that was another thing you learned in switzerland. anything you say to each other in the dark can be forgiven. anything you say in the dark is only as real as you want it to be come morning. ‘about the halo. about being paralyzed again.’
‘yeah. and a lot more than that.’
it’s not a perfect darkness. when you turn your head, her profile is outlined by the glow of the balcony lights. anything you say in the dark is forgotten, forgiven. what about what you might do? you reach out. touch two fingers to her forehead. she gasps. doesn’t move as you follow the light, the path laid out in front of you. you chart her forehead, dip at the bridge of her nose. such a light touch. she doesn’t move. when you reach the tip of her nose, she scrunches it just to make you smile. you’re still smiling as your fingers drop to her lips.
ava breathes out. hot air against your fingers. you trip over her top lip, lightly graze the bottom, and when you make it to her chin you’re breathing like you ran a marathon.
‘bea,’
‘i would stay,’ you tell her. ‘if it went out. if you wanted me to. maybe,’ you say, because you can be mean too, ‘even if you didn’t want me to.’
Ava mimicking Bea’s fight style because she was trained by her
A few of the more creative spellings of Christmas I’ve come across while looking for Dear Santa letters in old newspapers this year.
Hey! You have a lot of big brain theories about Warrior Nun and Alchemy. Do you have any theories / ideas / thoughts about the Halo specifically?
wow, thanks anon! you're my first ask, this is cool. i have one pretty expansive and bonkers theory about it but i don't know enough to really back it up with anything solid. short alchemy-related answer is i think it may be this, imprisoned:
the symbolism of warrior nun and its metaphysical themes are stacked like a layer cake with 10 flavors and i have trouble keeping it coherent outside my head so i apologize for the ridiculous length of the rest of this answer
i have a lot of thoughts and reasoning, but nothing confirmed. i have shapes. there are so many repeating shapes in the symbolism of warrior nun (and anywhere else it's found too i guess). but one big thing i think i've learned about how the delivery of symbolism works on this show is that when something is repeated it's a big freaking deal and we need to pay! attention! i mean look how broken we all were by the repetition of the motto of the ocs when ava tried to force beatrice to take a different path in adriel's cathedral. these creators use repetition of symbols to say when something is important, even crucial to the story they're telling. which. i guess is what symbolism. even is lol
so a little bit about alchemy and how the way it works is woven into the theme of the show. journeys are imo THE most important and enduring repeating theme of the show. we see it with dialogue, with locations splashed across the screen, with characters traveling through scenery, with changing motivations and alliances of the characters, and with subtler things like the use of labyrinths and spiritual paths, the internal search for individual truth and freedom, with the appearance of the widening gyre from Yeats' Second Coming (an alchemist himself btw), and with the liberal use of alchemical symbolism and the concept of alchemical journeys
i've posted about the rosarium philosophorum before, and it is incredibly significant imo to what is going on in warrior nun, both symbolically and literally plot-wise. it's a story, it's a riddle, it's a weird ass sequence of pictures, it's a guide on how to achieve the highest self no matter who or what you are, and i suspect that it is a writer's resource for one of the many ways they want to tell the story about journeys. it follows a 1-20 path and some of the iconography of these images appear as early as the literal opening scene of the show. ava is the primary figure we see on this journey, but so is everything else
i'll say here real talk that i am always in the process of learning more about this stuff, and as beatrice said, there's always more. there are other models and concepts and principles of alchemy like the azoth ritual and all of the stuff in latin that i can't read for shit which is also important but i simply haven't had time to research and apply directly to the show, even though it's definitely significant. there's just. too much here to go through it all. it will literally take months. it's a constant chase of information and it seems endless. so i assume there is always more context than what i am seeing with this stuff
i am no authority on it in any way, shape or form. also if anyone else wants to look into this stuff with me i am incredibly open to input and thoughts about these bizarre and individualized by design concepts and please feel free to use the "it's labyrinths and it's alchemy" tag and i will find it. or just make your own tag and tell me, i'll for sure happily check out any other thoughts on all of this. i use the labyrinths and alchemy tag because that's me screaming "look at it! looooook! are you seeing what i'm seeing?!" it's about sharing and i appreciate any collaboration on this stuff (to feel less insane when i keep seeing it mostly ahshdbc)
okay, so anyway back to the rosarium philosophorum (it means "rosary of the philosophers" in english which might be a more helpful reminder of how the philosopher's stone pops up on warrior nun, but. latin is cool, camila's right okay. also vincent's rose tattoos are a screeching hint that he's still important to the plot even if that man should ** ****). at the end of the sequence (which is at *one of* its base levels a recipe for the philosopher's stone. alchemy itself is a layer cake of many flavors of symbolism which i'm suuuure only adds to how coherent i sound talking about it. layer cakes in layer cakes, labyrinths in labyrinths lol) AT THE END of the sequence of 20, the figure represents higher self, perfect synthesis, some religious iconography that warrior nun fans are very familiar with by now, and many other things pertaining to a final flawless whole. another way of illustrating this is with the use of the picture i posted in the beginning of this reply, which is called the "anima mundi" by robert fludd
the anima mundi means "world soul." it represents the connection to all things that all things have. the overarching network we all belong to because we're alive. if we have souls as individuals, the anima mundi is the soul of the universe itself. the world soul is one interpretation of a repeating theme through philosophy, science, alchemy, occultism, religion, astronomy, astrology, even technology, ect. so many connections between a concept *about* connection. it's kinda beautiful. macrocosm in microcosms
when you search for spheres recurring in alchemy, you are going to find a ton of stuff. a LOT of circles. one of the most famous and readily available images of an alchemical circle is "the flammarion engraving" from a book by french astrologer (and many other things) nicolas camille flammarion called "l'atmosphère: météorologie populaire" or atmosphere: popular meteorology" in english. look at the stars. LOOK at the stars
another way to say layer cakes in layer cakes and labyrinths in labyrinths is "wheel within a wheel." the biblical prophet ezekiel said it in the old testament. he had a vision of god that revealed to him the structure of the universe and all its connections. some wild shit happened to him after that and "ezekial's wheel" is a source that is used for some of the descriptions of angels, which is always interesting. wheels and circles and spheres occur in countless iterations of metaphysical thought and are repeating patterns in warrior nun, too, so that means we gotta pay attention to it
this image of the stars here may be the clearest of the celestial sphere depicted in alchemical art. it also calls to mind the story of the labyrinth of chartres, with the alchemist on his knees. i've posted a little about that story before, and one interesting detail about christian pilgrims traversing spiritual labyrinths is that they often did so while walking on their knees
remember ava fighting adriel in the s2 finale and how she fell and stayed on her knees for a while after michael was killed. ava was making her journey to the heart of the labyrinth, the arq, the end of her current trajectory, the center of regeneration, the threshold of hell, her highest expression of love, just as the dancers depicting jesus on his knees harrowing hell did in the story of the labyrinth of chartres. just as the alchemist depicted here is doing. repetition of patterns is everything
speaking of ava and speaking of stars, here is ava in s1e1. my favorite scene of the show and what hooked me in the first place. this is a meaningful scene for many reasons
here is ava again in s2e1. notice the patterns on the lamps hanging above her, the celestial heavens yet again appearing in her story as if the stars are following behind her on her journey
look again at the first picture of the anima mundi. it's the same image as what's depicted in flammarion's engraving of the alchemist. only in flammarion's version, the figure more explicitly carries the soul of the cosmos... on their back
if you made it through all that, you're a saint, sorry anon
the turning gyre. the whirling log. the cross, standing, inverted, sideways. all spinning, until they're not. every six hours a pulse. the alignment of frequencies like dialing in to a specific station. like a train station, or an airport terminal with its constant incoming and outgoing arrivals and departures. a continuous pathway, always in motion. a revolving door
"no spinning? (ava spins in place and laughs)"
the arq is a threshold to other dimensions. sometimes it is active and sometimes its not. it takes much preparation for adriel to attune it to reya's realm, to her narthex, the chamber and throughway that connects the thresholds between worlds and allows communion between those who enter from the outside. like a funnel it tapers to a door of an inner realm like the tapering of a black slab. parishes have them
adriel used his machine to open the way to reya's realm and force her into this one. he did this without the power of the halo, but would still require it to complete his plan. it's one thing to usher beasts into an open trap. it's quite another to have the ability to close the trap behind them. this is why he needed the power of the halo in addition to everything else. he had his transmuter and amplifiers to send out energy waves to track reya's location like underwater sonar in deep water, or echolocation in the dark. it required picking up her frequency, and using the arq to search for a ping in the interdimensional whirlpool
just as an object in motion stays in motion, the motion on the other side of the arc never stops turning. the gyre is the revolving door that leads to other dimensions. the cross is the compass that tells us which door leads where when the gyre is stopped, frozen in time. and the halo, connected to all things and a map of the cosmos, is one means to switch the railways to redirect your journey and select your stop. it's a dial of the universe, to choose what frequency you use to travel to the other side
with enough energy, the right combination of transmuter and amplifiers, and the halo acting as a valve to close the door off, the arq can also be used to halt travel between realms. to turn one realm into a trap, the only open entrance from the revolving door, and no exit back out. newton, too, was an alchemist. friction is what the frozen cross represents in adriel's plan. he tried halting the turning gyre and creating a dam, forcing earth to be where the tide flows to, where it would wash the world away in chaos from a daintily contained divine war. but such a broad operation requires the energy to power the transmuter and amplify the signal to locate gods, to summon and bait them as well. this is why adriel required "prayers" and why the arq in the depths of his cathedral took the form of the "squared circle," a legendary coveted transmutation apparatus of the alchemists
speaking of amplified frequencies and the halted motion of the whirlpool, have you ever seen what happens when you skip a rock on water? the echoes it creates as it goes. have you ever heard the sound of a rock skipped on ice? it sounds like a cacophony of otherworldly birds chirping. it sounds like the pulse of the halo
just as adriel pulled reya into this realm, he planned to pull other impossibly powerful figures in as well. all "gods" enter, no "god" leaves. turning our world into an arena of the gods. it's worth noting that "sand" and "arena" share the same symbol in alchemy. strange at first, until you realize that pulling a warring god from a whirlpool and trapping them there means beaching them on land. ava would love that pun if she knew. in adriel's plan, our world would serve as a beach to stage the destruction that constitutes war and its weapons, like what happens to countless places that the powerful and sadistic colonize and use for their own means. to those from the other side, the earth is an outpost for interdimensional travelers who see it as a "plaything." but as any good general knows, outposts make for tactical far-off points to stage battle in order to protect the main stronghold. adriel wanted to turn earth into a roach motel for the great devourer and all other comers so that they could arrive, destroy everything and remain trapped here forever
what it all means now on the other side for the valve, the map, the world soul, the halo, and for ava who still bears it, could be anything. maybe reya decides that it's safer for the linchpin of a cosmic trap for the gods to remain in a small outpost, some primitive dimension where no one will look or care to utilize it. but the other side of the coin (and there's always another side in warrior nun), is that those other powerful beings know exactly where earth is thanks to adriel's failed plan. tarasques and wraiths seeking the halo are one thing. but even our isolated world has imagined enough horror (and been home to those very horror imaginers who would inflict it on others) to know to be wary of some creatures who can be awoken by loud noises and come slouching onto the beach sand from deep, unknowable waters
"you see, ava, if i am to become god, i first must imprison god"
