#Gonna Lead Our People | Despair Verse
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SOME PEOPLE LIKED THIS POST AND I AM EASILY ENCOURAGED SO ANNOTATING A FIC PLAYLIST INTO THE VOID IT IS
this is for casey jones ii, my playlist for Casey Jones the guy from the Rise of the TMNT movie. making this playlist is the thing that kicked off me writing tried to grow up good six months ago. i recently reordered it so the songs i took chapter titles from are the first eight songs on it, in order. there's 33 songs on here so i'm just going to do those 8 + a few honorable mentions. here we go.
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark - Fall Out Boy
I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see That you're the antidote to everything except for me Through a constellation of tears on your lashes Burn everything you love then burn the ashes In the end everything collides, my childhood Spat back out the monster that you see
title pull for chapter 1 was "scars from tomorrow." this is one of two diagetic songs in this fic, it's the one I was thinking of when writing about Casey listening to music on the bus. it's the scene-setting song, the one that positions where Casey is at the beginning of the fic, especially the second verse.
"you're the antidote to everything except for me" is casey's attitude towards the family. they fixed everything, they saved the world, but he's been chewed up and spat out by his childhood and they can't fix him. angry hurting kid. big song for big feelings.
The Boxer - Mumford and Sons
And I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone, Goin' home Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me, Leading me Going home In the clearing stands a boxer And a fighter by his trade And he carries the reminders Of every glove that laid him down Or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame "I am leaving, I am leaving", but the fighter still remains
title pull for chapter 2 was "the New York City winters aren't bleeding me." It was almost hard to pick a song for this chapter--I skimmed through what I had already been collecting re: songs with Casey Jones feelings, and then I tripped over this while explaining to friends and went. oh. of course. a poor boy with his story seldom told. the world laid him down and cut him but he's still here. and also new york and this present makes the past hurt like an open wound sometimes. least or most metaphorical song, depending how you look at it. "Why Mumford and Sons specifically" angst and banjo.
Thank You For the Venom - My Chemical Romance
So give me all your poison, and give me all your pills And give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill You're running after something that you'll never kill If this is what you want, then fire at will Preach all you want, but who's gonna save me? I keep a gun on the book you gave me
title pull for chapter 3 was "preach all you want, but who's gonna save me?" i really wanted an angry song for this chapter because it's the peak of casey's 'no one understands me' anguish. and like, you can joke about MCR and emo teens but like! sometimes you are miserable and need big loud music about big loud emotions! the title grab was really getting at--the first part of this fic is about a character in a new situation not connecting. the chastising after his arrest doesn't feel like connection, it feels like someone talking over his head. good song for a confrontation laced with despair.
Planetary - Stacked like Pancakes
Everywhere I go I see the person I'm supposed to be My memories unkempt, they're floating on the water beside me I'm just another entity, like chords without a melody I can never rest, My dreams and my thoughts are confiding Oh, I can feel it cross my skin, oh, oh Like a bow on a violin, oh, oh We are planetary, ordinary, temporary, And we can't control our lives without a soul We were never ready, never ready This is how our story goes
title pull for chapter 4 was "planetary, ordinary, temporary" literally the first song that went on my Casey Jones playlist. i don't know what I can say that isn't just gesturing at this first verse. the phrase worked really well for a chapter where the punchline was unlocking gravity powers, and also the song as a whole speaks to this struggle of disconnect that hasn't gone away.
Up the Wolves - The Mountain Goats
There's gonna come a day when you feel better You'll rise up free and easy on that day And float from branch to branch Lighter than the air Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say? Our mother has been absent ever since we founded Rome But there's going to be a party when the wolf comes home
title pull for chapter 5 was "when the wolf comes home." chapter 5 was hard to title, I kept going back and forth, and I went to storm sewer server for help and dropped this and Burning In Carolina and Space reminded me that I made the Caseys wolves in spookyfic. and. that was a compelling argument. it's my favorite mountain goats song, for one, and it also captures an element of Casey going back to the past that's--it's revenge, and it's fixing things, and it's the point when you don't care anymore, and it's about mothers and homes and the things that you chase. it's the other diagetic song, the one mentioned when Casey's got himself locked in his room and blasting music to try and outrun his feelings.
Burning in Carolina - Delta Rae
You wanted to go home To the friends you know And the haunts that you call your own But you choose 'Cause you can't take it all You get a torch and a flame and burn the path you want
title pull for chapter 6 was "get a torch and a flame and burn the path you want." i fucking love this song. it's about the driving forward and the chorus that's a repeating question and trying to go home when home is gone. it's about failing and rising again, taking your destiny by the scruff and just going forward.
Coward's Son - The Ballroom Thieves
Fall like feathers, rest like stones I adore you none For I am not some kingless throne I am not a coward's son ... I will claim my history And I will lose my battles not And I'll take what is meant for me Cherished right beneath each wild onslaught I will live with what I've got
title pull for chapter 7 was "i will claim my history and i will lose my battles not." I listened to this song on loop to brainstorm and write the ghosts reunion scene and i could play out in my head the reunion meetings line-by-line in the last stanza. "i will claim my history"=cass and raph, "and i will lose my battles not"=donatello, "and i'll take what is meant for me"=michelangelo spinning him through the air, "cherished right beneath each wild onslaught"=Commander O'Neil, "i will live with what I've got"=Master Leonardo, and rest.
Brighter - Patent Pending
Take a breath, tell the world that we're not finished yet Cast a net to the stars and see if we can get Closer to the light at the end Maybe I'm crazy Yeah, a little naive But the light at the end is brighter than it used to be Got a long way to go But I know, I believe That the light at the end is brighter than it used to be
title pull for chapter 8, the epilogue, was "cast a net to the stars and see." I never intended for this chapter to be separate in the first place but 7 got so goddamn long and ended in a place that really needed room to breathe. So here we are! the thing about this song is that it's optimism of the 'i am smiling through a bloody nose' variety. this is 'better things are coming and that is a threat.' this is coming back up after hitting the bottom. it was also hard to pull a long from because the refrain feels too on the nose for me to want to use it as a title. but! optimism!
Bonuses:
Bulletproof Heart - My Chemical Romance
Gravity don't mean too much to me I'm who I've got to be These pigs are after me, after you Run away like it was yesterday And we could run away If we could run away Run away from here
this song is not the Only reason i decided Casey's ninpo would manifest as gravity control but it sure is A Reason! this song is also on my still-growing multiversal Casey Jones playlist. what can i tell you. it fucks. it's a fighting song and a running song and a song about the world getting to you and fighting that every step of the way. if I put this to a scene in the fic it WOULD be the training montage, with the culminating chorus where he falls flying down out of the sky.
One Foot - Walk The Moon
Cross my heart And hope to die Taking this one step at a time I got your back if you got mine One foot in front of the other All that we have is each other One foot in front of the other
okay listen literally the Only reason this wasn't the title pull for chapter 6 is because i love Burning In Carolina so goddamn much, and I Needed it to be one of the chapter titles. this in my head is the soundtrack for Casey Jones and Casey Jones, and especially for their roadtrip upstate, the two of them learning how to lean on each other. i think about "if you broke this one in half you'd find a burning flame" from the idw comics a normal amount (<lying). quintessential casey jones trait, to me, any continuity, is a character that keeps fucking going. one foot in front of the other, over and over and over. @kithnkin has proposed a mental image of this song as the end credits of the fic with a series of flash-forward photographs of continuing to adjust and happy moments, and. Yeah. Yeah.
Burn It Down - Vixy & Tony
Burn it down, burn it down, burn it down Throw your fear upon the fire and burn it down Throw your stars into the sky Let the darkness hear your cry Teach the cinders how to fly Burn it down Voices whisper, "never" Fear the fire will turn to ash And they would hold you back forever To protect you from the pain
This is a bit of an obscure pull but listening to it is just. the vision. you gotta understand my vision. Casey Jones going forward into the past by casting off the future. the painful willingness to yank the key and trap Leo in the prison dimension to achieve victory. this is a guy burning his way forward. (also one of those songs where i was listening to it and just. consumed with thoughts about My Guy. Specifics hard.) if i connected this to something in the fic it'd be the scene where he says 'fuck it' and goes to meet Casey at her apartment.
That's Okay - The Hush Sound
this is the last one and I'm telling you that because it will be long. because okay i GOTTA outline this one verse by verse because. it is a both Caseys Jones song. it is the two of them together. it does not link to a scene in the fic but i listened to it on my subway ride to work and got overwhelmed. look.
You were the child Who was made out of glass Who carried a black heart Passed down from your dad If somebody loved you, they'd tell you by now We all turn away when you're down cassandra in the foot clan, bitter and angry. ‘if somebody loved you they’d tell you by now’ is specifically her looking up at the shredder, fear in her eyes
You want to go back to where you felt safe To hear your brother's laughter, see your mother's face Your childhood home is just powder white bone And you'll never find your way back casey coming back to the past. ‘and you’ll never find your way back’ specifically him being thrown through the portal, and the shot of it fading
first chorus: the two of them separate, contrasting parallel shots
You are broken and callow, cautious and safe You are boundless in beauty with fright in your face Until someone loves you, I'll keep you safe But like then I will give you away older casey holding her baby while he sleeps. picture it with me.
last chorus. two caseys meeting. circling each other like cats. trading careful looks. eventually, sitting down side by side to watch the sunrise.
i want to talk about fic playlists. is anyone around who would want to hear me talk about fic playlists or should i just annotate one into the void myself.
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Plotted thread for @hopeoverdespair
Word to the wise, the yakuza always found out anything you try to keep secret from them. Especially one as big as the Kuzuryu clan. Word spreads fast when you have over 30,000 members. So, it was only a matter of time before someone realized how much time Izuru Kamukura and Nagito Komaeda were spending in a certain previously undisclosed location and told Fuyuhiko about it. If the Ultimate Hope was spending so much time on whatever he was doing at this place, he must have some kind of plan, and the Ultimate Yakuza didn’t appreciate being left out of the loop. Though usually the Ultimate Despairs did their own things separately and didn’t care what the others did, those two plotting together must mean it was big. Big enough for him to involved.
Now, standing before the door to the so-called “hideout” that was mentioned, Fuyuhiko came alone. As much pride as he had as the leader of the Kuzuryu clan, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew his men didn’t stand a chance against someone who possessed every single talent known to man. He wasn’t here to fight anway, just to get information. He could do that much on his own.
Pounding on the front door, he yelled, “Open up or I’ll bust this fuckin’ door down!” It’d make it pretty clear to Izuru or Nagito, if they were there, that he meant business. And if they weren’t.... well, he could just kill whoever was here.
#hopeoverdespair#Kill or Be Killed | ic#Gonna Lead Our People | Despair Verse#tw: death mention#tw: killing mention
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listen listen listen i know that people have their different interpretations of like shit and that’s cool it’s all cool but. when i see think despair verse things that include fuyu treating peko like absolute shit and playing the whole master thing even more??? i............... squints.
#OOC // ᶤ'ᵐ ᶠᶤᶰᵉ ᶤ ˡᶤᵉᵈ ᶤ'ᵐ ᵈʸᶤᶰᵍ ᶤᶰˢᶤᵈᵉ#( mmmmmmmmmmm guess i'm just not gonna follow that trend thanks )#( i don't know )#( listen like as much as i love some good fucked up shit )#( i always come back to the one line in the anime )#( ''me and peko are going to lead our people down the right path'' like??? )#( not just fuyu but peko and not just his people but THEIR people??? even under despair influence??? they're equal??? )#( or at least he believes them to be )#( i mean maybe i guess it could be super despairful for fuyu to treat her like shit but )#( mmmmmm i don't know )#( i need to flesh out that verse clearly )#dr spoilers
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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these songs, or she ra and the princesses of power.
You don't have to read this. It was just fun for me to do.
Songs that make me think of Catradora.
Milk & Honey - Jessarae
I imagine this song as the music of the future looking back on the past. “Slow chariot lay me down oh she's coming to set me free and oh I was lost, now I'm found the spirit will move in me.” this lyric encapsulates this perfectly. Even after Adora saves Catra from the ship, she still has a lot to work on. Adora is there and helps to set her free of her self deprecating thoughts. To put the cherry on top, she’s with the girl she’s always wanted.
Butterfly’s Repose - Zabawa
I imagine this song as more of a lullaby that they both receive at one point, in the first verse, “You don't have to speak. Don't need to talk to me. Baby, I already know.” This lyric strikes me, Catra and Adora really do know each other, so I’d imagine they both have trauma from the war and from growing up the fright zone with Shadow Weaver. When one or the other gets flashbacks, I imagine the other already knows the reason behind it. Secondly, the lyric, “The shadows in your head. They've got you down again. Got you feeling low. But it's time to rest now. Let it all melt now. Wipe your tears.” makes me imagine them holding one another in bed trying to sleep. both of their self-doubt being soothed by one another. Thirdly, the lyric “The future's looking bleak Your will to live is weak But, honey, hold on for me,” reminds me of the time Catra almost died on the ship as well as the kissing scene. They both saved each other because they needed each other. Finally the lyric in the chorus, “Stay right here I'll stay here with you, my dear,” is self-explanatory. The word stay is said so many times in this show because they kept leaving each other. Now that they have each other it’s hard to even think about leaving, reminding one another that they’ll stay too is so important.
I Go Crazy- Orla Gartland
I Imagine this song pre kiss, season five, more specifically when Catra leaves with Melog. The first verse, “I've got no clue what you're thinking. You move your hand away from mine. Shifty eyes and indecisions. Why does this happen every time?” this is what must be going through Catras head when she says “Adora doesn’t want me, not like I want her,” because Adora is choosing everyone else above herself It makes Catra question what the hell goes through Adora’s head. Secondly, the lyric in the chorus, “Three words, two hearts, one maybe. Say something before I go crazy now. And my tears, your tears, don't phase me. Say something before I go crazy now,” makes me imagine Catra screaming this to the void, she’s loved Adora for so long, and now she is wondering if she’s too late. Finally the lyric in the bridge “But I'm still so devoted to you, it scares me,” captures Catra’s mentality so well, Catra is not one to follow others, but for Adora she makes an exception. This must be so scary for Catra, to let someone take the lead. Even after leaving for so long, she trusts Adora so much and that must be terrifying.
Soldier, Poet, King - The Oh Hellos
This song is just fun, I just like to think of Adora as the soldier and Catra as the poet in a medieval AU and then they fall in love ok bye.
It’s Alright - Mother Mother
I can’t find a better way to explain this as a Catradora song besides telling you that Adora is singing the Chorus and Catra is sing the verses, then singing the chorus at the end with her.
Safe & Sound - Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars
Alright this one will be a little more detailed. The first line of the song, “I remember tears streaming down your face, When I said I'll never let you go,” reminds me of the childhood scene when Adora tells Catra, “You look out for me and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other,” *chefs kiss*. Next, the singular line, “When all those shadows almost killed your light,” Should immediately make you think of Shadow Weaver and everything she did to Catra and Adora. It seemed like their entire childhood was spent protecting each other from her. Next, the lyrics, “I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone," But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight” this lyric makes me feel like Adora acknowledges that she left Catra, but Catra forgives her for it and wants to leave it in the past. The lyrics “The war outside our door keeps raging on,” also encapsulates the war between Etheria and The Horde, but also the war between Catra and Adora. They both still have a lot to work on before everything can be close to perfect. Finally the chorus, “Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound,” is a lullaby for Catra from Adora in my mind. They’re together now, and Adora is not gonna let Catra go as long as she can help it.
In the Name of Love - Martin Garrix, Bebe Rexha
The entire first verse of this song screams Catradora to me. “If I told you this was only gonna hurt If I warned you that the fire's gonna burn Would you walk in? Would you let me do it first? Do it all in the name of love Would you let me lead you even when you're blind? In the darkness, in the middle of the night In the silence, when there's no one by your side Would you call in the name of love?” there’s a lot to unpack here, but mostly this first verse is about trust. Catra spent so long in distrust and pain, she’s going to have to learn how to trust people again. This is Adora asking if Catra would let Adora take care of her, lead her, and help her because she loves her. I feel like this is something Catra would struggle with. Finally, the lyric, “When there's madness, when there's poison in your head. When the sadness leaves you broken in your bed, I will hold you in the depths of your despair,” speaks volumes. it’s all about the two recovering from everything healing themselves and healing each other. Love is the root of healing and trust. The love is there but it’s going to take a lot of work and practice to heal and to trust, but they are both there for each other.
Let me know if you want more of these! They were fun!
#spop#she ra#she ra adora#she ra catra#she ra netflix#shera#she ra spoilers#adora x catra#catra#catradora#adora#music#song reccomendations#song rec#catra shera
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O, local Gaius Guru, I beg of thee a humble query! Doth thou have any Gaius and Fordola interaction hcs/vague ideas? Like, do you think she looked up to him and/or the Tribunus at all? How do you think they would react - if at all - if they met by chance in Ala Mhigo? The idea of Fordola's thoughts on those four has been on my mind and I wonder what one so well versed in Gaiustrology thinks.
Pfspfsff ‘Gaius Guru’ you mean ‘Gaius GOOB’. also ‘Gaiustrology’… I love this thank you so much for adding it to my vocabulary.
fhaiuege Sorry this is a bit late by now! TBH I’ve refrained from making too many concrete HC’s on this just because I’m so very hopeful we’ll actually get to see something in-game. (Please SE, give Fordola more attention, please.)
But I do have some very vague idea-feelings, nothing I’ve really fleshed out so much, so I’m gonna get rambly here, just covering what we kinda already know a bit and working from there.
First of all, I’m not so sure she looked up to him, not exactly. The scene where the WoL echoes in on her past offers a lot of scraps, like what’s perhaps her first ‘impression’ of Gaius being from her father when they were heading to a banquet:
Fordola: Father, what’s Lord Gaius like? Is he nice? Are you friends?Fordola’s Father: There you go again with all your questions…Fordola’s Father: Lord Gaius is a great and honorable man who looks after all of Ala Mhigo. He’s very busy, and if we don’t hurry, we’ll miss our chance to see him.
We know he thought this was the only way to survive and thrive, but whether he remotely believed in any of it to a deeper degree I can’t really say. (Wild as it is, there are plenty who do go onto believe in the ‘imperial cause’, after all.)
His answer is… placating, not heartfelt.But perhaps he did at least glean what we’ve been led to understand about Gaius’s approach through Rhitatyn; that he encourages people to rise up and seize opportunities for themselves (by imperial-dictated means), and thus acknowledges those who do. (I’m definitely not holding this up as a shiny ‘wow Gaius is so good’ bullet point, either. It’s just a fact of Gaius’s approach and likely one Fordola’s father acted upon.) Nevertheless, it’s more likely her father saw exactly what Fordola saw as she got older.
Fordola’s Mother: By telling the world that you’re no better than a common savage!?Fordola: Am I, though, Mother? Are any of us?Fordola: Can’t you see? Citizenship means nothing to them. If you’re not a pureblood Garlean, you’re no different from any other savage.Fordola: So I’ll play the part. I’ll join the legion and I’ll make them respect me. And when the mob see that, they’ll think twice before throwing their stones.
Fordola: The bastards that killed him, the bastards that let it happen─my father deserved better! I swore I’d do whatever it took to make them pay!
Fordola saw enemies on all sides of her.
The fact is, the imperials did nothing to help when they should have protected the people. Such a mindset reflects on leadership, going all the way up to the viceroy himself - good intentions or no.
I like to think that if Gaius was ever made aware of this, he did acknowledge it in some way - though now we’re definitely veering into headcanon territory. He does, after all, have a penchant for taking displaced youths under his patronage, and while I definitely do not think it was of the same level for Fordola as it may have been for Cid and Livia, he may have looked in on her and her mother from time-to-time as his very busy schedule allowed which… probably wasn’t a lot at all. And in no way that would have suggested the barest amount of favoritism; just the same sort of way he would later keep an eye on a promising new soldier.
Fordola didn’t join the army until she was older, so while she lived in whatever meager comfort citizenship granted her, she had years since her fathers death to come to terms with the world around her; the imperials who didn’t really give a damn about them, and her ‘countrymen’ who spat on and scorned her for the status that had been bought, ultimately, in her fathers blood.
Gaius was a means to an end. He was a pureblooded Garlean bastard to be sure, but he allowed her the opportunity to lift herself up and show them all in her own spiteful way. I imagine when her and her friends showed up to enlist and whatever officer in charge looked down his nose at them, and they kept on despite whatever hardships imperials and Ala Mhigans alike threw at them - Gaius took notice, ultimately creating the Crania Lupi.
In some regards, I like to imagine Fordola did look up to him in a fashion; receiving praise and promotions, for good or ill, in her eyes, was progress. Being given command of a special unit? Even if it was looked down upon by other imperials, hated by Ala Mhigans, it was damn well something, something she and hers could work with.
Gaining acknowledgement from imperials who otherwise looked down on her, and spitting in the faces of her countrymen who would throw stones are her two foremost goals - to carve her own path to freedom, to show them all. We see her light up when Zenos gives her the floor, ready and eager to lead the charge, and I feel this was just as true under Gaius’s command. Play by the empires rules and show them what’s what, get so good and stand so tall they can’t look so far down their noses at you.
Gaius was an exception to them, though. As many faults as he possessed, he believed in mans ability to rise up and better himself - and Fordola was determined to do just that. Taken further, perhaps in some ways he even had a greater role in influencing that mindset in her, depending on how much they may or may not have actually interacted.
The Tribunus now? I can’t imagine she had high opinions of Nero and Livia one way or the other - imperials same as the rest, more or less, and if better only because they followed Gaius and respected his command and approach to whatever degrees. I can see Rhitatyn as having been an inspiration though - someone like her, someone wielding such rank and trust by the legatus himself.
Nowadays, being where she is and looking back on it all… It’s hard to say how she feels at present. She can absolutely hold a grudge like no ones business (entirely warranted of course), but would she look at Gaius as a hated enemy? As someone who took so much from her - and for what? Now he’s a hobo hunting shadows and more or less denouncing his past sins. That doesn’t erase them, that doesn’t magically make anything better or undo anything that has been done - there’s so much cause for outrage and anguish.
Or does she choose to let it go, to deny forcing herself to suffer under the weight of such hatred anymore? Does she see all the strange sordid similarities between two people who followed the wrong goals, grasping for power and falling so far, nearly to their own destruction?
As for Gaius, I think he’s got shame in spades for the many he led to their doomed fates for a blinded cause. I don’t think he’s quick to let himself be dragged down by despair though - instead it fuels him. ‘Local man too angry to die’, and all. I would like to think, maybe, he’d be glad that she survived, glad that she’s ‘fighting the good fight’ - at least insofar as he’d allow himself. Her fate was long out of his hands, and he has no place to be ‘proud’ or ashamed one way or the other after all he’s done. Nor is it something he’d dwell overlong on - nothing he can do will make amends for what’s been done apart from continuing his fight.
ANYWAY, I’ve rambled a lot and idrk that I answered your magnificent question whatsoever so much as just wandered a slew of thoughts and ran off at the mou-... fingers? Here’s to hoping we see them interact even a little in 5.2 though, for better or worse. :’‘‘3c
#Anonymous#this is a mess!! :D#there's just SO MANY LAYERS#and fordola is such a complex character#[onion]#...omg shrek and donkey but its fordola and arenvald...#...-ahem-#this is probably something i'll be thinking about more if they actually bring her back around#and if they don't???? ....well i guess we'll just see...#thank you for the ask anon! :'D
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holy shit okay i was working on my Angel post and I got sucked into the mythology as you do when doing stuff like this, I’ve made 4 separate drafts since then but I can’t keep my mouth shut because guys, I know we’re all focused on the Calypsos, and how Calypso is the child of Atlas, and all that fun stuff
BUT
What if, in the grand scheme of things, Tyreen is Demeter, Troy is Demophon, and Persephone the mystery girl. please, I have wikipedia quotes for all of this. I personally am not an actual believer of this theory, but it was really fun to write, so here you go.
OKAY
Let’s start with Tyreen and Demeter. Yeah, she’s shown us that her power is like... Phasesuck or whatever, where she drains the life force out of people (and Siren powers, apparently), we also see in the art on the wall of the HBC that her and Troy are bringing food (in boxes) to the cultists.
So Demeter is “the goddess of the grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, and nourishment, who presided over grains and the fertility of the earth. Her cult titles include Sito (Σιτώ), "she of the Grain", as the giver of food or grain”. It seems like Demeter is the exact opposite of what we know Tyreen as- right now she steals the life force and strength from people, meanwhile Demeter would nurture them and help them grow and get stronger. In addition: “Though Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death.” yeah. yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Bonus, I did a lot of research on Cybele a while ago while I was batshit crazy, and GUESS WHAT
“Demeter was often considered to be the same figure as the Anatolian goddess Cybele”
For Cybele: “Her cults most often were funded privately, rather than by the polis. Her ‘vivid and forceful character’ and association with the wild set her apart from the Olympian gods”. Now I don’t know exactly what the Olympian gods are in the borderlands verse. My first instinct was the corporations? But two of those are named after titans and the rest clearly aren’t greek. So I got nothing.
In addition, Demeter created a cult called “the Mysteries which give the initiates higher hopes in this life and the afterlife”. Sound familiar? Yeah, the Great Vault in BL3 that’s referenced by the Cultists while they’re dying. their exact words are “The Great Vault beckons”. To add to that, the Calypsos are stated as giving their cultists something to believe in so they can believe in themselves. They give them ‘higher hopes in this life’. Quote straight from the Danny Homan interview: “People need something to believe in and they need people to believe in them and that’s kind of what the Calypsos have provided. They’ve kind of gone ‘oh bandits, everyone calls you animals, everyone calls you trash... but we see there’s something, there’s something in you, there’s something we can elevate your murder to. Murder in our name’.”
So why do I think this matches up with Ty? Because I don’t think her power is solely taking power from others. I think she can turn around and distribute it to other things.
Moving on.
This coming bit is mainly why I think Demophon is Troy. Let’s take a looksie:
Weird beginning, but things start to make sense soon, I promise: “While Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone, having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica. He asked her to nurse Demophon his son by Metanira.”
“As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make Demophon a god, by anointing and coating him with ambrosia... making him immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth every night.”
Sadly, she doesn’t succeed in making him immortal and Demophon dies because she was interrupted in her ritual.
Why do I think this is tied to Troy? Because we know Typhon Deleon found something important. We know De Leon is the name of the legendary dude in our world who found the Fountain of Youth - the key to immortality. It’s also been confirmed that Troy can’t survive without Tyreen helping him (tending to him like Demeter does Demophon). It would make sense that they are trying to figure out a way to immortalize Troy (and, yeah, he probably does end up dying. There’s no other reason to mention he’s sick...) We also are all guessing that Troy’s tattoos have appeared by Ty giving him Lilith’s powers. and what is Lilith’s main element? Fire.
Since we’re on the topic, let’s talk about Demophon’s brother, Triptolemus. He was considered one of the first priests of the Mysteries and one of his rules was “Honor your Parents”. Sound familiar? Yeah, “Honor the Father” that’s on some of the CoV propaganda posters. To explain: “He flew across the land on a chariot drawn by dragons... his mission of educating the whole of Greece in the art of agriculture. Triptolemus was equally associated with the bestowal of hope for the afterlife associated with the expansion of the Eleusinian Mysteries”. We know now that the ‘art of agriculture’ is Demeter’s domain, and we have likened this to Tyreen’s powers. So, likely, Triptolemus is the priest we see on the cover art. Walking around, chosen by Tyreen, teaching people about the Twin Gods and the cult ‘Children of the Vault’.
Now this is where I get a little stretchy. Because we know nothing of Mystery Girl on the cover.
Persephone. “Plutarch identifies Persephone with the season of spring, and Cicero calls her the seed of the fruits of the fields. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, her return from the underworld each spring is a symbol of immortality”.
Now I talk about Zeus a bunch in my mythology masterpost that i have yet to post cause i'm always adding to it, and basically I think he’s a representative of the Eridians themselves. Some sort of leader or smth? idk
“Zeus, it is said, permitted Hades to abduct her... Demeter searched for her all over the earth with Hecate's torches. In most versions, [Demeter] forbids the earth to produce, or she neglects the earth and in the depth of her despair she causes nothing to grow. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened and at length she discovered the place of her abode. Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. Hades indeed complied with the request, but first he tricked her, giving her some pomegranate seeds to eat. Persephone was released by Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, but because she had tasted food in the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year there”.
now this is 100% unfounded bullshit im spewing here, but maybe this is why we have yet to actually see Mystery Girl, like, AT ALL.
We know Tyreen wants to get stronger, she wants to absorb the powers of the Vault Monsters. but why? Just to rule over the galaxy? I mean, sure, why not, but she’s pretty much already getting there just with her cult.
Instead, you know what’d be cool? If she needed all those powers to fight whatever/whoever fucked with mystery girl. If she knew that opening all those Vaults was going to lead to something terrible and didn’t care because it was bad for the Eridians, or whatever that took her sister (?). Like, what if they actually were triplets (Tyreen being the first sister), but the reason Mystery Girl looks so young on the MoM is because she’s been missing since that age? Because they tried to make her immortal like they’re doing for Troy? If they’re all siblings, it’s possible they all have the same sickness. Tyreen can always heal herself because of her Siren powers, but what about Troy? The mystery girl? They’d need someone/something else to heal them. I’m sure Ty can do it for one of them, but both? They’d probably gone looking for a way to heal her, maybe they opened a Vault at some point? (maybe the red vault shown in all the wall art?) And Mystery Girl went missing because of it or smth. idk, im just rambling. i was gonna post my Angel post today but I got toooooootally sidetracked. might still do it if i have the energy.
This is what my tabs are looking like right now btw lmao
#borderlands#borderlands 3#bl3#the calypso twins#i don't actually believe this theory#but it was fun to write
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*Contextual Leadership and Exceptionalism*
https://youtu.be/ruNrdmjcNTc
The critical question I will be exploring is: “In this artifact, is the leader using their rhetoric to lead or speak the views of the demos? What are the benefits and disadvantages of doing so?”
The artifact I will be exploring to answer these questions is Toby Keith’s song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)”. This song demonstrates how Keith uses rhetoric to speak the views of the demos as well as shows how certain aspects of the song like context and it’s rhetoric are beneficial to his message while it also encompasses some disadvantages based on who listens to the song and the target audience.
“Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” was inspired by the 9/11 attacks, personal tragedy, and his father’s (who was a military veteran) death. When the 9/11 attacks happened on the twin towers in New York, the entire American public was in complete despair. President George Bush took to the air that night in order to address the attacks saying, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” The president was focused on raising the moral of the people, making sure that they felt safe again on their own soil. However, Toby Keith took another route. When asked about how the song came to be, Keith said, “I was working out in the gym, just a few days after the [Twin] Towers came down...I was like, "What just happened to us? Are we supposed to just stand by and let this happen? Could we not be mad as hell about this?" So Keith wrote the song right then and there on the back of an fantasy football sheet and then proceeded to perform it for the first time at the Pentagon for a bunch of Marines that were about to ship out to Afghanistan for the first time. He had no intentions of recording the song until the commander came up to him and said, “You have to release it. You can serve your country in other ways besides suiting up in combat.' We will go kick their butts. But we survive on morale," (Leung 1). Toby Keith is using his rhetoric to speak the views of the demos and using his platform comes with equal advantages and disadvantages.
The clear goal, seen through lyrics like:
Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly man, it’s gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Oh, brought to you courtesy of the red, white, and blue
was to remind the troops of the strength and frankly, the power that they can reign down on our enemies. Much like the President Bush quote I cited earlier, the lyrics remind the soldiers that our country's enemies are no match for our troops. While he is speaking the values of the demos, he is also in a sense leading them because the song was able to restore their morale. Keith used his platform and his rhetoric to make a battle cry, a call to action for the soldiers to motivate and remind them of why they are fighting. The ultimate honor in our country is to risk your life for it and those who decided to do so are the countries strongest, most dedicated and strong willed individuals that will stand tall in the face of any attack. The rhetoric of this song re-emphasized the patriotic feel and fired them up to want to make the enemy pay for their attack on our country. During what was and still is an emotional event, Keith's rhetoric was able to turn their grief, pain and confusion into motivation to get revenge on those who have done so much damage to the people of our country and the country itself. The rhetoric of the song brought the troops patriotic feeling back up by reminding them that the thing they are fighting for is too great to give up (Kleberg 1).
Not only did Keith speak the values of the soldiers, his song also rallied the people. In the first verse, Keith sings:
My daddy served in the army where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free
While the intention of the song was to rally the troops, his personal experiences identified with a lot of the American people. Regardless of whether or not someone has had a person in their family serve in the military, most people have the common understanding and respect for the people who take on the dangerous responsibility of protecting our country. In the eyes of many people in our country and the rest of the world, America has the reputation of being the most powerful, untouchable nation. So when these huge acts of terror hit our soil, the security and protection that people feel was diminished, leaving the people to feel vulnerable. The American people needed a comeback, a pick-me-up, a sense of reassurance from someone other than the President of the United States. Keith was able to provide that to them in this song through his personal narrative. Throughout the song, Keith made many references to characteristics that everyone in America agrees are what makes the country so great. The line, “To grow up and live happy in the land of the free” ends with a line from the “Star Spangled Banner”, which has been our country's national anthem since 1931. He also referenced the Statue of Liberty, which according to history.com, represents freedom, democracy, and justice to all. The song depicts the statue saying, “ the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist” representing all Americans anger and vengefulness because these values that the Statue of Liberty represent were attacked. Keith also references “Mother Freedom” and the national bird, the Eagle, “And the eagle will fly and there’s going to be hell, when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell”. Both of these references are easily identifiable to the public as representations of the United States. According to statesymbolsusa.org, the eagle is on the presidential seal and symbolizes “America the Brave” and “Mother Freedom” is a term used to represent “America-the Land of the Free”. All of these references are the values that the people of the United States hold and Keith’s rhetoric uses these staples because they resonate so strongly with the American public. Keith is reminding the demos by literally singing the values America was founded on and is doing so in a way that it brings the people together in one of the darkest times in our country’s history.
“Charismatic Leadership and Rhetorical Competence: An Analysis of Steve Job’s Rhetoric” written by Loizos Heracleous and L. Alexa Klaering analyzed the rhetoric of Steve Job’s, a charismatic leader to understand the fundamental link between charismatic leadership and rhetoric. The study concluded that there are links between rhetorical strategies customized to the intended audiences are influenced by the leaders perceived ethos in respective situations, which then also influences the extent of logos and pathos. These findings line up with the strategies used in Keith’s song. The credibility of Toby Keith is reliant on his fans and listeners and how credible they deem him to be. If they deem him to be a credible, meaning consistent in his messages and purposes, then they are more likely to logically agree with the claims he is making in his music. If his audience is patriotic and focused on American exceptionalism, and because a lot of his music is supporting that concept by being filled with American values, then his audience will find him credible and therefor, the logic of the lyrics in the song will not be questioned. Another thing that works well in Toby Keith’s favor, according to their study, is that his personal experiences resonate with the audience. Because he has been deemed credbile by his fans, making his logic agreeable, his ethos is the icing on top of the cake. Not only does his audience agree with his message (his song was….) but they also connect with the personal experiences that he sings about in his song. Even if they do not know someone who has served in the military, the common value of respect for those who do, makes his personal connection with his father who did serve in the military moving to the audience and connects them emotionally, strengthening his credibility and reinforcing the American values that they all hold so dearly.
There are some advantages of Toby Keith using his rhetoric to speak the values of the demos. The first is he taps into what is already there by using patriotic rhetoric. He is using the values of the country and its people to connect with the audience, gaining their support for the songs message. Keith creates a patriotic narrative that tells the audience who they are, what the country is capable of, and what its people are capable of. The second benefit is that it makes a clear divide between “us” and “them”. Another benefit is that it establishes and recreates the tone surrounding the events. While the whole country is justifiably upset, Keith uses his rhetoric to turn that around. He even said in an interview, “Could we not be mad as hell at this?” Instead of despair, Keith uses his rhetoric to creates a battle call, to raising the spirits of the people. He changed their perspective, how they react emotionally. The last benefit is that through his rhetoric, he took on a priestly role. He celebrates the destruction and the revenge the troops are going to bring, he affirms the feelings that other people are feeling, and by doing that it binds the people together. He is not critical of the country and its people, he is the exact opposite. He is reassuring them that the people who did this will get “ a boot in their ass, it's the American way”.
There are also some disadvantages of Toby Keith using his rhetoric to speak the values of the demos. One of the disadvantages is that is can cause offense to those who do not fully agree with what Keith is singing about. There was a lot of criticism surrounding the line, “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way”. Other country singers thought that that statement made country music sound ignorant. Other people thought that Keith’s song was too extreme and politically incorrect (Kleberg 2). ABC even revoked their invitation for him to play at their Fourth of July concert because they thought the song would set the wrong tone due to its anger and hostility. While there was no dispute that what happened on 9/11 was terribly horrid, however Keith’s response to the attacks was viewed by some as unnecessarily angry and that his take on the matter was too controversial, ultimately narrowing the scope. Keith later went on to say, It wasn’t written for everybody. I was so angry when we were attacked here on American soil that it leaked out of me. Some people were emotionally moved” (Kleberg 3). When something so horrible happens, a whirlwind of emotions are going to expressed. But by taking such a controversial stand, it limited his audience and caused his positive and empowering message to be misunderstood or written off as too aggressive of a response. Especially because the release of the song came so close to the actual attacks, it was still very prevalent and not every person counters anger and violence with anger and violence. There was a clear bias in the song that does not resonate with every single person’s values or perspectives. A lot of what Keith said in his song was subjective, which can communicate a lack of validity in the argument he is trying to make.
Editors, History.com. “Statue of Liberty.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Dec. 2009, www.history.com/topics/landmarks/statue-of-liberty.
Gayle Thompson. “Story Behind the Song: Toby Keith, 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)'.” The Boot, 21 Apr. 2017, theboot.com/toby-keith-courtesy-of-the-red-white-and-blue-the-angry-american-lyrics/.
Heracleous, Loizos, and Laura Alexa Klaering. “Charismatic Leadership and Rhetorical Competence.” Group & Organization Management, vol. 39, no. 2, 26 Mar. 2014, pp. 131–161., doi:10.1177/1059601114525436.
Kleberg, Julia. “‘Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)".” Country Music Project, 1 Mar. 2016, sites.dwrl.utexas.edu/countrymusic/music/courtesy-of-the-red-white-and-blue-the-angry-american/.
Leung, Rebecca. “Courtesy Of The Red, White & Blue.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 19 Dec. 2003, www.cbsnews.com/news/courtesy-of-the-red-white-blue-28-10-2003/.
“National Symbols & Icons.” State Symbols USA, Nonprofit, statesymbolsusa.org/us/symbols/national.
“The Star-Spangled Banner.” Infoplease, Infoplease, www.infoplease.com/history-and-government/us-documents/star-spangled-banner.
“Toby Keith – Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue (The Angry American).” Genius, 27 May 2002, genius.com/Toby-keith-courtesy-of-the-red-white-and-blue-the-angry-american-lyrics.
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Interpol (self-titled): 'Success' and 'Memory Serves'
Album: Interpol (self-titled), 2010
(bouncing back to Matador, from Capitol's Our Love to Admire release in 2007)
I'm starting with this album because I think it gets very unfairly overlooked. As far as I can see, critics (and perhaps many fans?), listened to it way too quick, and didn't let it sink it. Mea culpa: I was a fan who initially 'didn't get it' in the first few listens. I think I was expecting OLTA II. I'm pretty astounded at my past self, because now Interpol ranks up at either second equal (on a good day) or a healthy third favourite out of all their albums, and so therefore I'm out to punt for it, bigtime.
Since I'm starting with this album, there's gonna be a lot of context as I build my methodology, and get my keywords straight. Other entries are gonna rely upon a bunch o'stuff I say here, but I'll try to cross-reference when it's helpful to illustrate a point.
'Success'
Instrumentation: there's a deceptively gentle, building start to this song. Mind you, against gentleness is the fact that the kick drum is so subsonic, and I kid myself to think it's mimicking an irregular heartbeat (sort of fits the theme of the lyrics). Piano notes in the left channel, and guitar notes pick out the peaks and strung-along troughs of this ECG. Kick drum moves from gorgeously subsonic low tone (on vinyl, SO GOOD) to a more detailed high tone, the slap of the beater hitting the drum skin now defined, matching the high-tone brightness of the guitar (single notes in left channel, strum in right). Still, there's a lot of space - Sam's in first gear, Daniel's coaxing, taking his time - everything is languid, and Paul's vocals lilt, until "good eye”: these promising words undercut by a slightly sinister confessional-style delivery.
But the song reveals its true self at the 1:09 mark – there's a subtle, urgent and restrained fury to the way the chaps start to play at from this point: a lot of great 'attack' in where the beats land, where the strums shred. Bass and drums are particularly well locked-in to each other (an Interpol calling card), and for the most part sit on the front of the 'one' beat (first, second and fourth are up-front, but third lags behind, calling you to dance). The momentum and attitude of the instruments isn't frenzied, but it's no longer languid, and feels on the verge of violence, threat, or despair. The contrast between the start versus the way the song unfolds has always struck me like the feeling of walking up to the edge of a cliff - view, view, view, vista, vista, vista THREAT!
There are terrifically attractive exceptions to that front of the 'one' beat though – bass (lovely high tone, some tube growl) syncopates in the verse, and the contrast of this dancing against front of the beat draws attention to both aspects. Same goes for some of the lead guitar – where DK is putting the plucks is nicely counterpointed against the main driving rhythm. Interpol are so skilled at this – it means you kinda get two or more rhythms for the price of one – you have the main beat, all monumental and driving and inescapable, but underneath you have eddies that pick out a double-beat alongside the main, or syncopate against it. I think it's my favourite quality of theirs. Even Paul is going all Sinatra on the vocal phrasing and placement – he croons, and then leans towards a staccato delivery at times, picking up on that shudder-flutter the rest of the band flirt with. Rhythm guitar and lead guitar interweave, both alternating between the languid note-to-note slide heard in the initial opening guitar, and the staccato that matches that initial kick drum rhythm. Sam mostly stays on the main driving beat, but adds a gorgeous flutter on high-hats and subtle double and triple hits (almost a shuffle, but with sticks instead of brushes) on the snare. Where he places them is terrific – contrast his restrained, almost agonized beats in the verse against the straight-ahead release of the chorus. YUM. I'm sure I can detect some real subtle hand-claps in the last third (pretty much maelstrom outro) section, but that might just be my imagination :D
Arrangement/structure: Interpol is an album that features a lot of really simple, don't-fuck-with-it ideas – generally the arrangement/structure is one main riff, all the way through, which develops and mutates and evolves, gets more intense, but the band have sagely decided NOT to throw in an arbitrary bridge or startlingly different chorus for the sake of change. Feels to me as if the songs are leading, or at least the musicians are thinking with their hearts and guts, rather than thinking with their heads and over-intellectualizing it. The Interpol album songs tend to be organic: the songs feed upon themselves and grow, and the humans stay the fuck out of the way. Interpol do both modes well, but I prefer the "one riff run into the ground" organic approach that appears in 'Success'. However, there is a delicate difference between verse and chorus here – just a subtle note change, but nothing as distracting as a key change. This minor difference between the sections of the song echo the gorgeous counterpoint in beat/momentum, surge and shuffle, monoslab drive and syncopative flutter. Ah, I love you guys. There's also a sweet sweet attempt at a late bridge in that gorgeous waterfall guitar transition, around 3 min 5 sec (mostly left channel) - it's gorgeously transcendent, and runs the song out into a sort of negative space for me.
Lyrical content: I love the confessional tone to content/delivery of the vocals. That initial promise of "good eye" is empty, even if meant with good intentions, and that reneged claim is backed up later with other half-truths, confessions, and appeals for help: "somebody make me say 'no, no, no'". Paul (in interview, apparently with The Sun on September 10, 2010 - but I've been unable to track this down) talked about basing his lyrics on the topic of people "cracking up and losing the plot”, thanks to a "narcissistic impulse” (ie celebrities, believing their own hype, to the point of destroying themselves as they get more and more disengaged from reality and meaningful connection with others).
Overall context - vinyl version: holy shit the vinyl version of this will blow your speakers, if you have it over a certain volume (and well, it's Interpol, so of course you have it UP LOUD), and I can't think of a better way for speakers to go. Great full-spectrum sound, from the crystalline trebles, through to lush mids, all the way through to those initial subsonic Sam beats in the opening. Terrific vinyl transfer (for the whole album).
Overall context, feel/tone: a little risky to put something so dark and doomed right at the front of the album, but then again, it's fricken catchy AF - you want to dance, despite the doom. I must admit, I almost always listen to albums on shuffle (on my beloved 160GB black iPod, all tracks 320+ bitrate!), when I'm not listening to vinyl, but whenever 'Success' comes along, it does a great job at telling me, "Hey. I'm the first track. Take me or leave me." And I'm like, "OK, then. BTW, I love you.” Additionally, the monumental inescapable drive of the song makes me feel as though I'm in the head of someone who's spaced out, who feels stuck on one nihilistic track, a persona feeling divorced from reality. Of course, I don't refer in any way, shape or form to Mr Paul Banks, which is why I say 'persona' – if you can't tell the difference between vocalist and the words, go read up on the literary device of a narrative persona.
'Memory Serves'
Instrumentation: This is gonna be a long, indulgent, rave of deep love :D Bear with ... Gorgeous textured reverb on the opening guitar (mainly right channel), play style leaning towards Dick Dale tremolo picking. Interestingly enough, this is very slightly heralded in 'Success' - there's tremolo (in play style, not just pedal effect) guitar in the background (see 1 min 25 secs onwards, of mostly left-channel tremolo-played guitar of 'Success'). Back to 'Memory Serves': you might just be able to hear vocals panned over to the left channel - Paul picking out the notes, not pushing his voice beyond talking into singing - nicely spooky (and there are other vocal artefacts throughout this album too, pointing towards quite a "live" recording environment. I adore how the band often decides to leave these "proofs of life" in the track, especially when it comes to pedal jack noise, or the sound of dirty pots [ie the switches and dials of a beloved pedal, as much a part of the character of sound produced as the main function of a pedal]).
But wow, when the vocals croak in - Paul's deliberately keeping his throat part-closed (vocal fry!), especially on the open vowels at the start of the bars (ie "It ... / I"), giving the impression of weariness, of a character that's given up, despite the content of the pleading that this voice gives in this song. PB's backing vocal echoes off to the left - what is it with this album, and favouring the left? The guitar has built up some great tension, and that is released so attractively in the vocals wearily spilling onto the track, the 60± bpm beat which lurches along. It's hypnotic, and on the verge of tears. Add pleading content, and you get a sexy AF tune. I think I'm gonna conclude, after I analyse all the songs, that this album would be shaggable if it was a person :D
Beautifully resonant piano in the verse, picking out the chord notes - oh, how I'd love to hear that piano in that room: makes me wonder if they'd captured a bit of the studio room sound? First verse has that catchy double-beat bass, almost like a waltz, locked into the double beat of the kick. The tension is fed by a held bar (about 16 seconds - 4 x 4?), forcing you to anticipate a chorus, but guess what - VERSE. Subverting expectations. I've heard this song SO often (I think it's my second or third favourite song on the album, so yeah, I've thrashed it), and love the slow churn apocalyptic beauty of the climax, that I really WANT the chorus at this specific point, after the held bar. But no, more teasing ....
The bass sheers away in the second verse; it's a little bit more spare, with less fidelity to the double beat of the kick. It's an unusual choice - usually Interpol amp up the stakes and detail, slowly; but to move away from complexity into something minimal is odd, UNTIL you realise it's done to emphasise what's about to hit - oh yeah baby, it's gonna be a wall of sound, and you know it's coming. How wonderfully this band build pressure, only to let the listener have release. (Note also that Sam adds a small amount of further detail in what he's playing, up on the top half of the kit - slightly more snare hits, slightly more hi-hat taps - the converse of what Carlos is taking away with bass notes. Cool as.)
And, of course, when this third verse comes in, it's more tense than the preceding two, and features a background swathe of a (slightly left-channel) guitar (am guessing Paul on rhythm - I bet you he does this live; must make mental note to check YewToob, and confirm/deny album-based speculation here) which rings out across its strings at the very start of these verse bars. More is now at stake, and we listeners are told to anticipate incoming ...
Incoming! Delicious, delicious chorus. Sam ups the sibilance by cooking the hi-hat beat: it would be jazz, but he opts for a laboured and tortured feel, to suit the lyrics. The resonant guitar gets more frenetic, choral, and vocal overdubs take the song into wall-of-sound land (my favourite country, I think). The bass modulates into fifths and octaves, some simultaneously strummed/plucked, and alongside the vocal overdubs and extra guitar, there's just so much lush harmony. But wait, it's gonna get even BETTER! Keyboard/organ comes in at the end of the chorus, and carries on through the bridge to the next chorus ... and this is where the song has evolved to. A good time for me to skip over to structure ...
Arrangement/structure: There are some conscious decisions in this, such as the held bar, but it does feel to me as if the band lets the song lead them by the nose - we never go back to the verse. It's done its job. The song evolves into a new beast, as though the speaker has finished one set of thoughts (compromise, trying to keep a relationship going when it's already over), and finds himself stuck between special memories, and "I'll wait to find / it's over" (gorgeously effective enjambment: notice how one half of that thought is in the chorus, the second half falls in the bridge), to the relationship half-restarting: "why is it so hard to stay / a / way?" There's a horrifically discordant guitar in the left can here, 2 min 27 secs, through for a few seconds - it's just under the lush harmonies, and Interpol never do anything out of tune. But here it is, so effectively throwing a spanner in the works. Doesn't matter if you don't notice it - you know something is wrong. It's a flicker of pain.
I hate to rush this next part, as the song doesn't, but where we might expect a held bar, or a tease; the song evolves once again, at the transition from chorus to something new at 3 min 5 sec. What happens isn't verse or chorus; it's stratospheric. Carlos strums multiple strings, and pulls back to single notes and perhaps the odd fifth or octave, the vocals pile up into a choir of multiple choices and regrets (sorry if I'm getting purple in my prose here), and the whole tune soars again at 3 min 33 sec, the soaring really thickened by immense keyboard chords.
This is really rather moving if you happen to be listening through headphones in public :D Two climaxes, two releases, in one song. Ecstasy, even if at 3 min 47 sec the band tries to corral the song back onto the ground by returning to the verse notes and structure. 4 min 2 sec is another liftoff, and this is where hints of outro start to appear (and I get morose that the song is mortal, and will end): see if you can pick up that slow arpeggio bright guitar - wholly DK in style, with his angular sparkiness - it appears just after this last liftoff, and it signals the last guitar you hear in the song; a sad, solo coda, which fades away, while PB's voice moves from a begging tone, to something resigned and uncaring, and the drum beat goes on. Life goes on.
Lyrical content: I especially love the lines:
It would be no price to pay I only ever lie to make you smile All kinds of dust are gonna keep me satisfied But only at your place, only at your place ...
It reminds me of compromise, in a relationship, when it's already over. Tragic and beautiful.
Thanks for bearing with me. I'll put in more links soon, and a section that does justice to the overall album. Next up: 'Summer Well' and 'Lights'.
Last week I was in Sydney, seeing a rocking gig, full of feels and musical expertise, and a band giving it full 100%. Sigh :D (Note: written back in January, 2019 ... just now ported over this content from a blog, into Tumblr. While I'm swamped with wonderful writing jobs at the moment, this abandoned rave was playing on my mind ...)
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Narrative Structure in 13x02: The Rising Son and the Missing Father
So, who was “the Rising Son”? In 13x01 we saw who the Lost and Found were, the “Lost” being Dean and the “Found” being Jack. Dean is slowly lost over the course of the episode and Jack is slowly found, by many people with many different reasons for looking for him.
13x02′s episode title is a reference to Japan, often called “the land of the rising sun”. Japan is called this for how it appears to its neighbors to the west, China. For China, the sun originates first in Japan. This episode is therefore thematically about origins and the relation of one thing by comparison to another. Japan is defined by its relationship to China. In general, a sunrise is usually an image of hope and prosperity. We see hope in the dawning of a new day. Since the homonym “son” is used in place of “sun”, our episode’s thematic focus therein shifts to sons, namely Jack, who originates from Lucifer.
For Asmodeus, he sees this son (of Lucifer) as the hope of being able to free the Shedim, Hell’s most dangerous army, long imprisoned, uncontrollable, and wild. Jack is Asmodeus’ rising sun. He wants to mold and define Jack to suit his needs and desires, to shape him into the new ruler of Hell if Lucifer can not be found.
Another set of sons our episode deals with are, of course, the Winchesters, who must rise to the occasion of parenting Jack. John’s instruction that Dean may have to kill Sam from 2x10 ominously echoes in Dean’s last promise to Jack, that he will kill him if Jack continues to put people in danger. Sam, on the other hand, deeply empathizes with Jack, having been in Jack’s shoes: given dark powers and carefully lead to a certain point by a man with yellow eyes, then later tricked and fooled into unleashing something from a sealed prison by someone under false pretense.
The final son our episode deals with is Michael, son of God, rising from a crater from a ball of fire and light. Oh, but Michael is not hope for the world like Sam, Dean, and Jack are. No, Michael has destroyed his world, ravaged it with war. He is a rising son of despair and desolation. Whereas we don’t yet know what Jack is capable of, we see exactly what the promise of Michael brings, and it is death for the world he inhabits.
On top of the rising sons, our episode also explores the aftermath of the missing father. Jack reads the Bible and begins to learn just who his family is. Lucifer, God, John Winchester, and Castiel are all mentioned throughout the episode and missing from the lives of the sons. Four rising sons and four missing fathers. Throughout the episode we see how each of the missing fathers have effected the rising sons. Without God, Michael destroys his world. Without God, Lucifer decides to try his hand at creation and makes a nephilim of untold power. Losing Mary, John doesn’t rise to the occasion of raising Sam and Dean, though Dean still tried to please him. And without Castiel, Jack only has foggy memories/images of his mother to draw on for love and support when he is feeling sad and alone. Without the love and support of the father, the son suffers. Japan needs China to be defined, just as the son needs the father. If season 12 dealt with the love and sacrifice of mothers, then season 13 is most decidedly about the same for fathers, and how the lack thereof causes nothing but damage.
This theme is highlighted in all of our rising sons, from Dean in the bar talking to Asmodeus posed as the waitress, to Jack, looking to learn from Dean in Castiel’s absence. Whereas 13x01 showed us how wrong we could be about how evil Jack is, 13x02 gave us a glimpse of the rising danger against his nature. Donatello the prophet tells us Jack’s aura isn’t toxic and dark, unlike his father Lucifer’s. In this respect, 13x01 and 13x02 each provided two sides to the same coin. We see Jack’s capacity for both good and evil deeds, but we also see how important his choices are (with Jack already being given core Winchester values and ideas about family and loyalty). When Jack makes a choice, he can exhibit conscious control over his powers. And so this is a discipline he simply must obtain.
And while our episode primarily explored Sam, Dean, and Lucifer’s feelings/expectations over Jack, it also served to directly contrast Jack to Michael (over there the humans are shitty, the demons are shittier, and the angels are even shittier still, jeez). Two “rising sons”, one to bring ultimate hope and one to bring ultimate destruction. This structure is, in new Dabb tradition, explored and exposed mainly in dialogue, therefore easy to see and discuss. 13x02 continues to have its silent storytelling compliment this for a more complete narrative. Meanwhile, the absence of Castiel still looms, compounding and escalating Dean’s wariness towards Jack, which he picks up on in a very negative way. And while Dean can be talked to (by Sam) about this, Dean himself can not yet address his growing emptiness, nor can he divorce the existence of Jack from the absence of Castiel. The two are intrinsically linked in his mind. Until the two can be separated Dean is simply not going to come around to Jack. Dean compares Jack accidentally knocking out the tattoo artist to Cas not smiting people when he gets his teeth cleaned. A conversation of nature verses nurture ensues between Sam and Dean and Dean passionately declares, “He’s not Cas! He’s the friggin’ Devil!” This pulls into text Dean’s main problem with Jack: he’s not Cas and he can’t become like Cas.
And it is here that our structure will stay until Castiel comes back. 13x03 will undoubtedly use Patience and her father as a mirror for Jack and his, cementing Alex’s significance to the new structure (and honestly this is a bit shocking to me since this character is supposed to be a character in her own right to be transplanted into the backdoor Wayward pilot, but the show looks like it’s gonna use her as a Jack mirror first). But hell, maybe I’m wrong. And then 13x04 seems to be dealing directly with Dean’s grief, then we have Cas come back in 13x05 (probably at the end of it). 13x06 should then start the next part of the structure for Dean’s character development, although the nature of Jack should still be a matter of debate, at least looking at the episode titles post 13x06.
So.
These are the things S13 has put structural importance on:
Dean needs to talk about his grief and then he needs to actually get Cas back (otherwise he’s pretty much just like his father after losing Mary)
Jack needs a father to guide him, not just with morals, but with love, support, and understanding
Sam needs to succeed in getting Mary back
These are the three threads currently driving all our action, the most important structural parts of the narrative as of this moment. Two are tied intimately into the return of Castiel. Cas may currently be gone but he’s written across the entirety of the opening season, or rather, the empty space he occupies is.
#13x02#narrative structure#the missing father#the rising son#episode title meta#s13 themes#zerbe discusses things#empty spaces#negative space#quite literally#the empty IS Cas#spn spoilers#speculation
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06/30/2019 DAB Transcript
2 Kings 17:1-18:12, Acts 20:1-38, Psalms 148:1-14, Proverbs 18:6-7
Today is June 30th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today as we enter a brand-new, sparkly, shiny week, but also this is the last day of the sixth month of the year. So, this is kinda the point where we’re halfway through the Bible. Well done for making it six months every day through the Scriptures. And we have another six months out in front of us as we reach for the end of the year and reach for all that God has for us in the second half of the year through His Word. So, let’s dive in and get this week off to a good start knowing that we will enter the seventh month of the year beginning tomorrow. This week we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible, and we’ll be picking up where we left off in the book of second Kings today. Chapter 18…sorry…17 verse 1 through 18 verse 12.
Commentary:
Okay. So, even as we conclude our reading for the first six months of the year and even as we prepare tomorrow to kinda turn the page and move into the back half, the second six months of the year, some pretty big things have happened today that we should know, kinda going forward. And these things are things that we will refer back to, but this is the place where we encountered them in the Bible. So, in the book of second Kings today, we've been tracking…and you gotta pay attention…because we’re moving through the kings of Israel, which is the northern kingdom, and the kings of Judah, which is the southern kingdom. So, today, what we just read was the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. Like, it will never be the northern kingdom of Israel again. It never was again. Assyria captured Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom and deported all of its inhabitants, which, as we have referred to before, is the way that they built the empires back then. Like, displacing people so that they didn't have a homeland outside of the empire, and so that over the course of generations they would forget where they came from. And, so, what we watched in today's reading was that the children of Israel were displaced from the Promised Land, 10 of the tribes were deported to other lands while many other conquered peoples from different places were moved in, right? And, so, they’re like, we don't know how to worship these gods and there were lions and all of this. What we are seeing happen now is the earliest versions of what would later be known in Jesus time as Samaritans, right? So, the capital city of the northern kingdom was Samaria, but the Israelites were deported, and new people were moved in. They sent for a priest who already was worshiping false idols and he began to teach them, and they began to mix all of their cultures together creating a new way of worshiping God unlike Moses teachings and over time they became the Samaritans. And, so, the people of Judah, they will get conquered, but they will get to come back and they will believe that they are holding onto the true traditions. And, so, those people up in the north near the Galilee area, they will be known as Samaritans because although they worship Yahweh they don't worship him the same. They don’t have the same understanding of Him at all. And, so, we will…it won’t be the last time that we interact with people of the north near the Galilee. But at this point in second Kings we are well before of the Roman Empire came in and controlled the area.
So, then in the book of Acts we’re obviously moving into the New Testament, moving forward in time considerably. So, are at a time where Paul is moving around the Roman empire, but these returned exiles who have come back to Judah and control Jerusalem, the remnant, the remainder of these people are trying to hold onto some influence and power. Paul has been moving around the empire sharing the gospel, but in Jerusalem they want Paul dead, right? He's an apostate as far as they're concerned, he has left is faith and has begun these crazy teachings about this guy Jesus. So, he deserves to die under Mosaic law…they want Paul to die. And now Paul’s on his way to Jerusalem where people want him dead, but the Holy Spirit has told him to come. And, so, we see this final meeting between Paul and the brothers and sisters, the Ephesians who have come to see him at the docks and we see this tearful farewell where he’s like, “I have to go back to Jerusalem. I don't know exactly what's gonna happen. The Holy Spirit just keeps telling me I have to go back there and that I will experience chains and affliction and I know that I'll never see you…you will never see me again.” So, it’s a bittersweet moment to say the least. And we’ll continue to track with Paul, obviously, for quite a while, but we'll see where this story leads because he's on his way to Jerusalem and the complexion of his ministry is gonna change dramatically.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. And here we are at the end of the first half of the year and at the precipice of the second half of the year and we invite Your Holy Spirit into that second half of the year, into all that is out in front of us and we ask that You speak to us and transform us and change us, so that as we complete this year we don't even recognize the person that we once were. You have changed our hearts from within. And we look back and we’re thankful for all the work that You have done in our lives this first six months. We are so grateful. We are so thankful. And as we move through the center of the year, even as we prepare for the Daily Audio Bible long walk, just to reset and live into this second half of the year, next week, we invite Your Holy Spirit. Come Jesus we pray. In Your mighty name, we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, it's where you find out what's going on around here.
And, yeah, we’ve been talking about this for a week, but one week from today is the 7th of July and it is our own little holiday, the Daily Audio Bible long walk. And we’ve been unpacking that for a week. It’s very simple. It's just a matter of giving yourself permission and taking the reins and taking a day out of your life and going for a long walk with God who loves you more than words could ever articulate. He’s been waiting for some uninterrupted time with you. And if you think about it, your soul has been craving uninterrupted time with God. It's just been too frantic, which explains a lot. So, we just set aside the 7th of July, whatever day it happens to be. This year it happens to be on a Sunday. It's very convenient. And all you gotta do is go somewhere beautiful whether that's two blocks down the street or whether you get in your car and drive a couple hours to someplace that you love that's meaningful for you. Go somewhere beautiful. Go for a long walk with God. Don't allow the distractions and interruptions to invade your life like they do every other day. Set this day aside and just go for a long walk. It doesn’t matter whether you're a long walk is like, you know, like you’re gonna walk 20 miles or whether you're going to walk, you know, a 1/4 of a mile. Like you’re just gonna go real slow. It doesn't matter. The point is that you have time to say everything that you need to say and that you have time to hear everything that you need to hear. So, it’s very individual, but it's also communal because we’re doing it all over the world at the same time. So, just take your phone, take whatever…whatever…camera…whatever. Like don't go find a bench and spend the day on social media, but have your phone or whatever and wherever you go, take a picture or shoot a little video of where you were and you can post that back to facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And then we watch as all of the little windows into each other's lives all around the world and all the beauty of God's creation all over the earth start to materialize before our eyes. It is a beautiful tradition that we have, a beautiful opportunity to reset and live into the new year and start it strong. So, make plans for that, that's next week
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it is lives on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253, is the number to dial.
And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here next month, which happens to be tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello, my name is Shirley and I’m calling to…for a request not to be despairing. I __ with God yesterday. I said why, why, why? Of course, you know, he’s good and all-powerful and merciful. I pray for my daughter who has addictions and I don’t know…I feel like I…I don’t know how to wait on God to make a move. And if I start to think, what’s the point of prayer? All of that foolishness. So, I’d like if you could hold up my arms to continue to pray in hope and love, God will make a move soon in her life. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Hi, my name is Helena. I’m ringing from __ in the UK. I’m ringing for the first time to ask for prayer for my family with hope that my aunt Lydia whose estranged herself from her family has just found out that she has stage IV cancer. She has it in her brain, her lungs, and her lymph nodes. She used to have a genuine faith but lost it many years ago. My grandparents have already lost one daughter to cancer and would ask…I’d love to ask you guys to pray for salvation, restoration and forgiveness, reconciliation and healing for Lydia and the family and for peace and strength for us. Thank you very much. God bless you.
Hi, my DAB family, this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia, today is Thursday the 27th of June and today there’s many people I wanted to call in for but I’m sorry I haven’t been calling in as much but today…look…I really want to call out Lee from New Jersey. Lee, you know, you have been given a gift from God to call in with the seven deadly sins, covetousness. Lee, I just want to say…sorry…for everyone in the DAB. I’m 56 and I have no assets, no car, no house, no nothing. I’m stuck panicked thinking that I’ve got to get material possessions as I’m getting to an age of retirement. I live paycheck to paycheck. And you know what Lee? Your message hit me direct from God because I mean the last nine years when I’ve…business failed, and I lost everything, He’s never let me down, not even once. I’ve always had the funds to meet my commitments even though there was times when I forethought I was gonna go bankrupt multiple times. His Words come through with a tax return check or some other funding or just people that have donated to me. And He’s never let me down. So, Lee, thank you for being so faithful for God and calling in what God has been asked because He certainly spoke to me and said, Mark, you know, He will look after me. And that’s renewed my spirit Lee. So, God bless you my brother and I’m always praying for you too and your family. Love you all family and I’ll talk to you again soon. Mark Street from…
Hi Daily Audio Bible. I first just want to say…well…my name is Crystal…and I’m a homeschooling mom of two. And I just first want to stay thank you so much to Brian and to Jill and to just the family here that make it happen. It’s amazing. And this is the furthest I’ve gotten. I’ve listened for a couple of years, but this is the furthest I’ve got through the Bible and I just am so appreciative. It’s just so intensely enriching in so many ways, the community, the prayers, the breakdown of what happens in the Bible at the end by Brian. I just really appreciate it. And, so, I’m calling today because I just really find I need prayer. I’m in a difficult place and feeling incredibly discouraged and overwhelmed to be honest. I’ve been struggling with drinking alcohol for the past two years and I kind of feel like I’ve reached out to every, you know, so many different places and just…I just really, really want some help. I’m scared of getting worse, especially because I home educate my children. I’m scared of what could happen. I find it very hard to quit this habit with my husband and his bad habits and I really would love it if me and him could get to a place where we both want to serve God in a really passionate way together, we’re going to church together, bringing our family up in the way of God. So, I’m just reaching out to really ask for prayer. I’m incredibly desperate and I just know that the Scripture says that if we pray together, share our prayers, that we can pray for one another and be healed. So, I’m just reaching out for that. And I love you all and I hear people’s prayer requests and I pray for you. Thank you, guys. Take care I appreciate…
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nursey the tech disaster and dex the apple support guy: an au
a conversation between me & @brandnewfashion
(interspersed with random hockey commentary)
kayytx
au where nursey keeps having IT trouble and every time he goes online to use that quick chat help service (bc he doesn't want to call. that's awkward af) he gets dex as the service guy
brandnewfashion
oooooh
nice!!!!!!!!!!!!
TELL ME MOER
kayytx
i'm trying to decide what products nursey's using that he keeps having issues lmao
i feel like fandom consensus states nursey is a mac guy?
brandnewfashion
yeah i can't see him not using them
kayytx
so basing off of my experience trying to update my software for FOUR HOURS at staying up until 3am bc of that shit ugh
the first time he has to contact apple support online he's trying to upgrade his OSX to the latest software, but it keeps stalling a quarter of the way through
so nursey borrows chowder's laptop to go on apple's website for support help and dex answers
and legit, that shit takes...four hours
brandnewfashion
lol i wouldn't know
sounds annoying tho
kayytx
it's supposed to be only half an hour but my laptop just decided to be a little shit
but anyway
in between dex telling nursey what to do, and nursey following instructions and waiting for his laptop to show some progress
they start chatting
bc nursey is bored and it's late at night and there's nothing else for him to do, especially since his computer isn't working
imagine nursey like, suddenly thinks of a few verses for a poem and types them in the chat bc he couldn't find anywhere else to write atm
and dex is like ??????
brandnewfashion
yesss
kayytx
YASSS HABS WIN
ok anyway
brandnewfashion
GOOD
kayytx
so that obvi leads to a convo where dex asks what nursey does and nursey talks about being an english major
and dex tells him about doing comp sci and working for apple part time
brandnewfashion
FINALLY THE FLAMES SCORED
and yes good i'm liking this au
kayytx
idk how many call locations there are in the US though so i'm trying to figure out where dex is based rn
like i'm kinda tempted to have him live in nyc
but i don't work for apple so idk how true this is
brandnewfashion
dude that'd be cool though? and nursey could be like "YO I'M FROM THERE" and dex, who just started school there, could be like "ok is there any place to get decent ____ bc i haven't found one yet"
kayytx
yeS EXACTLY
so nursey recommends some like hipster coffee places and one day dex remembers this convo and goes and at first he's like, what the FUCK this place serves out of mason jars NO
but he tries the coffee and he honestly thinks it's liquid cocaine so he keeps going back
brandnewfashion
lolllll
kayytx
anyway so like after three hours of chitchat and apple support nursey's computer finally boots properly and installs the update
so they say goodbye, it's been really fun talking to you, thanks for the help, etc. etc. and sign off
then three weeks later nursey's iphone spazzes out
and the nearest apple store is an hour away and he just doesn't have the time to go there, wait another hour for the genius bar to have an opening, and then go back to campus
so he goes online to apple support and clicks the chat option
and it's dex again
dex recognizes him from his apple ID, which usually never happens but bc they had such a good convo last time nursey left an impression
and so again in between helping out nursey he's just like, oh HEY i went to that place you told me about!
so nursey tells him about more places to visit
brandnewfashion
ok ben bishop is in net for the kings (no surprise) but he's wearing his lightning mask and it's really throwing me off
kayytx
god that's so weird
brandnewfashion
ANYWAY
what places does nursey tell him to go toooooo
how long does tihs go on before they get the opportunity to meet?????
kayytx
OKAY OK so
idk i think this happens like four or five times?
apple products arent THAT terrible lmao you can't have that many issues with your products
but nursey's a disaster so
he manages to fuck up something every few weeks
and like after the third time he enters the chat dex's coworkers recognize him also and they just pass him off to dex immediately hahaha
brandnewfashion
lmaooo
kayytx
oh FUCK stars tied the game
anyway
brandnewfashion
RUDE
kayytx
honestly after the fourth time nursey goes online with an issue about his ipad's storage issue or whatever dex is just really tempted to give nursey his number bc for the most part he's been able to solve his problems without referring to the resources at his desk
OH SHIT STARS IN THE LEAD
brandnewfashion
EXCUSE ME WHAT
FUCK U STARS
kayytx
UGH
anyway so yeah dex wants to give nursey his number and nursey wants to ask for it, but they both know the chats are monitored and that's just highly inappropriate and nursey doesn't want to get dex fired
so they both resist but like
it's kinda killing both of them
brandnewfashion
D:
kayytx
yeah like they're both p sure they're gonna die before they ever meet bc they're Dramatic af
BUT!! THIS IS FIC!!! and i love them and want them to be together so DO NOT DESPAIR
nursey goes back to nyc for winter break
and he doesn't want to be all cooped up at home with nothing to do
so he decides to go out, find some inspo, write a bit
AND THEN this suddenly becomes a coffee shop au
nursey goes to that mason jar hipster cafe to get some work done
but in the middle of writing his computer shuts down and he panics REALLY LOUDLY
and what??? dex is THERE???
brandnewfashion
LOL
AMAZING
HOW CONVENIENT
kayytx
R I G H T
he had the day off and was also there to work on some freelance coding projects he has on the side and in the middle of coding he hears this really loud person screaming at his laptop and he's like, what the FUCK
so he looks up and sees nursey doing SOMETHING with his computer. he's not even sure what
and in teh cafe there are like three other people with their laptops out, but dex is the closest and he looks the least busy (nursey is wrong. dex is the busiest, he just looked up at the wrong time and Eye Contact happened and now he's stuck)
so nursey goes over to him and he's like, "yo bro can i borrow your laptop to go on apple support and get some help"
bc that response is just like ingrained in him now. anytime something happens he just. goes on apple support
dex, being the lil shit he is, just goes, "have u tried turning ur computer off and on again"
brandnewfashion
HA
kayytx
nursey: it won't even turn ON dex: maybe its out of battery nursey: it's plugged in??? do u not see it????? dex: maybe your cord doesn't work
dex just. doesn't want to help
he does enough of that at work
brandnewfashion
lollll
kayytx
but nursey is really annoying and he figures the easiest way to get rid of him is to help him so he's like, ok fine i actually work at apple i'll help you
brandnewfashion
wow
the pens are gonna lose
to the STARS
kayytx
.....that's so depressing
brandnewfashion
they got too fucking cocky
ugh
kayytx
D:
brandnewfashion
anyway
dex helps him?
kayytx
dex helps him!
and meanwhile nursey's chattering on and on about how this is the first time someone's actually physically helped him with his laptop bc he never goes to the genius bar even though he probably should and he's terrible with technology and things always just die on him so he always has to get help from online support and it's kinda funny how he always gets the same guy who helps with his problems and it's actually kinda nice talking to him, and he kinda really likes him, but he doesn't think they'll ever meet bc why would that ever happen right? hey maybe dex would know him since they're both working for apple? but what are the chances?? surely there are thousands of people who work for apple
and like all this time dex has sorta just been tuning him out while he works on nursey's computer but he catches a few things here and there
and he's like
wait
rewind
dex: holy shit nursey: what? what is it, is my computer really dead this time? dex: you're derek nurse nursey: umm? yes?
and for a sec nursey thinks that he's just somehow become notorious within apple support center circles or something bc he's gone for help so many times
but then dex introduces himself and he's like OH HOLY SHIT
brandnewfashion
NICE
kayytx
and like sometime during nursey's little ramble he mentioned how he thought dex is funny and really nice and seems like someone he'd like to date and of COURSE dex totally heard all of that
dex: so. you think i'm funny. and you want to date me huh? nursey: ...well i mean maybe? dex: okay well just do you know just because we're both in a coffee shop right now declaring our feelings this ISN'T our first date okay bc i refuse to have our first date be one where i fix something for you again nursey: oh so YOU HAVE FEELINGS FOR ME TOO?
brandnewfashion
HA
kayytx
dex: well yeah. i wanted to give you my number but i couldn't do that without a monitored chatroom nursey: i wanted to give you my number too! dex: well? technically? i have your number? because it's in our systems dex: but i didn't want to seem like a creep if i'd just randomly texted you
but anyway they finally exchange numbers like normal people and nursey Officially asks dex out on a date
but then internally he's struggling bc he basically already gave dex a list of all the best places in nyc and now he has nothing to impress dex with lmfao
brandnewfashion
HAHAHAHA
kayytx
they end up going to brooklyn for smorgasburg bc you cant really ever go wrong with that
wait jk that's seasonal so it wouldn't be open for winter break LMAO
brandnewfashion
oh gosh they're gonna become a disgustingly sweet long distance couple
kayytx
yeah nursey's fucked
YES THEY ARE
they're so gross honestly
brandnewfashion
they always have shit going on
there's ALWAYS something hapening haha
kayytx
and dex's coworkers notice that this dude hasn't been on the chat in a really long time??? and they kinda start feeling bad for dex bc they knew he had a bit of a crush on nursey lmao
brandnewfashion
ok but then dex has them all over to meet his "new boyfriend" and they all walk in on nursey screaming at his laptop and they're like "OH"
kayytx
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
and at this point dex is already at the fondly exasperated stage and he's like, jfc nurse you should just give up on technology altogether
#nurseydex#dexnursey#omgcp#omgcheckplease#check please#i love this pairing with my whole life#brandnewfashion#kay writes things#honestly i should just start a new tag#kay has ideas#bc i have ideas but i never actually write the fic lmfao#anyway
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🗡️ +reverse (for Servant)
@hopeoverdespair | Weapon Meme
As soon as Fuyuhiko walked into the common area of the Kuzuryu's Clan's main house, he could sense something was off. No, maybe he had been feeling it all day, and it only intensified now. It put him on edge, and he could tell his men noticed. They'd been walking on eggshells around him since he woke up that morning. That might've been because he shot the first person to bother him and cut the tongue off of the second. Even Peko, a fellow Ultimate Despair, was steering clear of him today.
Only now was it coming to light why he felt so irritated today as he was informed of a visitor and was currently staring down at Nagito fucking Komaeda. Or, was he going by Servant these days? Whatever. Didn't change the fact the bastard was standing in his family's estate with that stupid smile on his face.
Immediately, the young yakuza head pulled his gun and pointed it between his past classmate's eyes. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he growled out, his one good eye glaring with a fire at the taller man. "How did you fucking find this place? Wait, no, don't answer that."
He could figure how the former Ultimate Lucky Student found the estate that secretly housed the family of Japan's biggest - and most feared - crime syndicate. He wasn't in the mood to hear it if he turned out to be right that Nagito had found him through luck alone.
#hopeoverdespair#Gonna Lead Our People | Despair Verse#tw: gun violence#tw: torture mention#tw: non-verbal threats
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Arrangement (3/?)
Eyyo, here we go.
Shout out to the like. Three people who read this haha. You’re all darling angels who helped me get off my ass weeks ago to finish this chapter.
Unfortunately I do want to warn y’all that I do not have the next chapter written yet, it’s still in pretty early stages, so. I’m gonna try my damnedest to get it out on time, but it might not be.
With that said, here’s more Bee, his concerned friends, and Meg.
Title: Arrangement
Series: Transformers: Prime, post Predaking Rising. More or less ignores everything about RID15, and facts from the rest of the Aligned verse will be cherry-picked as I see fit
Pairing: MegaBee aka BumbleTron aka Bumblebee/Megatron
Warnings: Big warning for alcohol as a coping mechanism, platonic bed sharing, protective friends, and existential crises.
Fic Summary:
“It’s not my deal. I’m just the glitch who agreed to take the job.”
The balance of peace in post-war Iacon is precarious enough when a former warlord returns unannounced from his exile. Without a war to fight in or a leader to follow, a scout turned warrior turned uneasy politician decides to irreparably tie their lives together for the sake of maintaining that peace.
And maybe it won’t turn out to be the worst decision Bumblebee’s ever made.
Chapter Summary:
“Alright, you know what? Let’s just try this from the start.” With a clearly fake smile, Bumblebee met Megatron’s optics again. “Good morning, Megatron. You don’t look like you rolled out of a dump anymore.”
“And you do look as if you drank your way into one last night.”
|Prologue|Chapter 1|Chapter 2|
Bumblebee was well on his way to being overcharged out of his processor as he finished another cube of engex. It was also, unfortunately, the last cube of it he had. With a flick the container dispersed and the now empty servo moved to scrub his face as he heaved a tired ex-vent.
Another comm pinged him, and Bumblebee ignored it like all the others before it. He didn’t even check to see who it was from – after getting dozens of pings from Ratchet and Arcee each, and half as many from Ultra Magnus, he stopped bothering.
Perhaps it hadn’t been fair to slip out of headquarters before any of them had a chance to talk with him again – argue with him and his decision. But Bumblebee hadn’t been sure if he could handle it anymore. Debating and arguing and posturing and Ratchet’s spark-broken expression and Megatron’s almost soft smile when he accepted what he was being asked--
The world seemed to spin for a second when Bumblebee rolled onto his front to relieve the pinching of his weight on his door wings. Instead of disturbing him though, the whirling sensation just prompted a giggle out of him. Primus, he was wasted. These days he tried to only drink socially, to help relax after a day of scouting or pretending to be a politician and just have fun with his friends. So they certainly had their benders, but it was usually just a drink or two. It had been a while since he had been this overcharged with other mecha. A few months at least.
But drinking alone? He hadn’t been this overcharged alone since—
With a hiccup of his vents, Bumblebee deleted all process trees leading him down that path.
It only led him back to what made him drink this time though and the giggle died in his voicebox anyway.
Megatron.
He had agreed – volunteered even! – to spark bond to Megatron.
But what else was he doing with his life anyway?
Yet another comm pinged, and it was denied without even a thought.
The knock on the door that followed though had Bumblebee jolting, and he would deny till his final ventilations that he yelped. Loudly.
“Bee? That you?” Smokescreen. Of course.
“Hold on,” Bumblebee called out. It was with a drawn out groan that Bumblebee pushed onto his servos and carefully crawled off the berth. Walking was a hurdle, but only the first couple of steps were difficult. By the time he had gotten to the door, Bumblebee had gotten a handle on it again and was positive that he could pull off pretending to be sober. Or at least less overcharged than he was.
Smokescreen looked nervous when the door opened, the smile on his lips forced. "Oh, hey! I'm glad you're in! I know I should have given you more of a warning, but there’s gonna be a really early meeting tomorrow at the Archives, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind me crashing--”
"Who sent you?"
Smokescreen's door wings twitched, lifted for a moment as if he was considering fighting the accusation. But, when Bumblebee just continued to glower, they slowly drooped.
"Arcee. She didn't tell me what's going on though, if that helps?"
Bumblebee leaned against the door frame, arms crossed as he considered his friend. "She's not here, is she?"
"Nope. Just me."
"And she honestly didn't tell you?"
"Just that it was a government secret for now."
Maybe it was the engex, but he honestly didn't think Smokescreen was lying. And if that was the case -- "So are you here because she told you to come, or because you're hoping I'll tell you?"
Smokescreen grinned, his door wings perking back up. "Me? Abuse our friendship due to curiosity? I'm hurt."
"So equal parts of both?"
"That sounds right. So you gonna let me in or what, Bee?" Smokescreen asked teasingly, reaching out to give Bumblebee a friendly shove. To his chagrin, it actually threw off the precious balance Bumblebee had found against the door frame and he stumbled back one step too many to be sober. Smokescreen's optic ridges lifted before he added, "Are you overcharged?"
Bumblebee finally found a stance that felt solid and looked up, shrugging with a chagrined smile. "Maybe?"
Concern flickered across his face but Smokescreen still managed a smile and teasing voice. "Did you at least leave some for me?"
"Smokey, if I had more, I'd have it in my servo. But if you want to go buy us some more--?"
Smokescreen stepped into the apartment – if it could really be called that, considering it was just one large room with his berth, an energon dispenser, and the few bits and bobbles Bumblebee had collected over the years – and the door shut behind him. "'Us'? If you drank anymore, I think you'd have engex pumping in your lines instead of energon."
In an attempt to diffuse any of the lingering worry in his words, Bumblebee decided a joke would be all they needed. He lifted his shoulders and hunched his back just a bit, twisting his mouth into an exaggerated grumpy frown, lifting and flailing a servo accusingly as he spoke. "I'll have you know that for a mech with my frame specs and type, I can consume eight cubes of engex before reaching an intoxication level--"
Smokescreen’s ventilations wheezed out a snicker as he shook his helm and walked over to Bumblebee. "Yeah, yeah, alright, Ratchet. I think it’s time you sat back down before you throw out your hip cog.”
“How dare you! When you were still just a twinkle in Primus’s optic, I could hold three Decepticons in helm locks at a time! One with each arm and the third with my thighs--”
Smokescreen couldn’t even get a full sentence out at first, his voicebox now overwhelmed by giggles as he shoved at Bumblebee. “You’re awful!”
“You’re laughing at it!”
One last shove finally did Bumblebee in as he tumbled back on the berth, unable to hold in his own snickers as he rolled onto his side and curled up, wheezing. The berth shook slightly as Smokescreen fell back onto it as well, quick to make himself comfortable on his side looking at Bumblebee.
Unfortunately, having Smokescreen watch him fall apart only reminded Bumblebee how overcharged he was, which in turn only made sent Bumblebee into a loud, full-framed fit of laughter, his plating clattering together from the way his body shook. “Slag me, Bee, you’re seriously overclocked on that stuff, huh?” Smokescreen said before one of his vents got stuck before popping open when he snickered, the sound loud and surprising them both and sending them both spiraling further down.
Long minutes went by as they slowed before something would send them back into fits all over again. However, eventually, they finally quieted, their cooling fans the only noise in the room.
Bumblebee’s frame buzzed pleasantly.
“Bee?”
“Yeah, Smokey?”
Smokescreen optics were so carefully trained on him and a door wing flicked anxiously. Despite his best efforts, the concern was back.
“Are you ok?”
The engex did not help the way Bumblebee’s spark suddenly ached again at the question. He rolled onto his back, wincing when he moved faster than his door wings got out of the way, but it only took a moment to finally get comfortably settled. His optics focused on the ceiling as his processor stuttered, forced to think about what he had spent the past hour drowning his systems with engex to avoid.
“I dunno. Probably not.” Bumblebee scrubbed at his face, and forced his vents to open and continue ventilation as normal. It wasn’t successful though, not when the engex was turning on him, taking the brief joy it had brought and twisting it into despair, hitting him too hard, too suddenly. “Not really.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Can’t.” Bumble desperately ignored how there was a slight tremor in his servos now. He forced stale humor into his voice. “Government secret, remember?”
“Like that’s ever stopped you before. You know I can keep a secret.”
“I can’t, so let’s talk to something else.”
“Is this about the rumors that--”
“Smokescreen--”
“—Megatron showed up--”
“Stop! Just – stop!”
Silence fell and Bumblebee knew his whole frame was trembling now. His spark roiled in his chest and engex hit his frame hard, leaving him feeling sick. He kept his fisted servos pressed against his face, hoping against hope that the pain would pass again.
Smokescreen’s servo on his shoulder was cool against the overheated metal.
“Sorry. You don’t have to tell me.” The servo moved in very slow circles, lulling Bumblebee’s spark to slow. “I do still want to stay here tonight though, ok?”
Bumblebee nodded and his voicebox managed to rasp out an “Ok.”
“Cool. Um. Do you want me to move back in for a while?”
Bumblebee’s spark swelled at the offer. After Optimus’s death, Smokescreen and Bumblebee had ended up rooming together in the apartment. It had been the only option they had, and it had been uncomfortably small for two mecha, even given their smaller size. Truthfully though, Bumblebee had always been grateful, if just because he wasn’t sure how he would have made it through that initial grief without the other mech, even if he did feel badly when Smokescreen recovered faster than he had. But Smokescreen had waited, crammed into the too-small apartment with him, supporting him until Bumblebee was ready to live on his own.
He must have really looked as pathetic as he felt.
Still though, Bumblebee shook his helm.
“I won’t be living here much longer anyway.”
And scrap, if that didn’t hurt to think about, knowing exactly who he would be moving in with.
“Oh.” There were so many questions trapped in that single word, but Bumblebee wasn’t ready to answer them, and Smokescreen didn’t press. “Well, do you want me to crash here until then?”
“You don’t have to--”
“I already crash here a few times a month anyway since it is closer to the archives. So it wouldn’t be a problem at all.”
Bumblebee rolled back onto his side, this time being more careful of his door wing. Slowly he onlined his optics to look at Smokescreen.
“I—I would appreciate that, Smokey.”
“You look like slag.”
“Thanks, Arcee,” Bumblebee grumbled as she pressed off the wall she had been leaned against, likely waiting for him to arrive. He couldn’t deny it though – his optics were no doubt dim, and his transformation sequence had been slower than usual as he left the road and walked up the stairs to the city hall doors.
Arcee was quick to step up to him and grab him by the arm, no doubt noting that his frame was hot with self-repair nanites. “You’re burnt out,” she accused, optics narrowed, irritation masking concern.
Bumblebee shrugged and pulled his arm from her grasp as he made his way into the city hall. The drive down had worked some of the aches and pains out of Bumblebee’s systems, but others had lingered or were made worse, and his processor had not stopped aching since the moment he had onlined that morning.
Truthfully, it had been a while since Bumblebee had felt this burnt out, and worse still that he couldn’t even recharge through it. He hadn’t even had time for more than a minimal recharge cycle before he had had to drag himself out of the berth, leaving Smokescreen to continue without him. There was going to be an official announcement in a few hours, and he still had a cover story to come up with by then.
He had to deal with Megatron, burn out be damned.
Arcee followed him into the building and walked beside him.
“You don’t have to do this, Bee. You shouldn’t do this.”
“I know that,” Bumblebee said, and he knew he sounded tired. “But I am, so can we not argue about it right now?”
“If not now, then when?” Arcee asked sharply. “The announcement is being made today, so I don’t really have any better chances, do I?”
It was still early enough that there weren’t many mecha around. That didn’t mean it was empty though, and already the handful of mecha who were lingering before starting their shifts were watching them, either slyly or just outright.
Luckily, Bumblebee could turn into hallway headed towards the prison cells right away. No mecha lingered there, and it would be obvious if any tried to follow and listen in.
“I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a stupid decision.”
Bumblebee's plating flared as he shot her a look. "Thanks a lot, Arcee."
Finally, the two-wheeler looked a little chagrinned. "I don't mean that you're stupid. I get why you’ve made this choice, but--" Her voicebox stalled as Arcee gestured uselessly, trying to find the right glyphs. "We care about you, Bee. I care about you. We've gone through so much together, and we've given so much for what we have, and I just-- I can't stand to see you lose your right to enjoy what we have."
There were several ventilation cycles that passed in silence between them before Bumblebee ex-vented softly.
"I know. I would be upset too."
"But you're still doing it."
"I'm still doing it."
Arcee held her ventilation, lips a tight line. "I figured. If I were in your position, I would be stubborn about it too."
"Practically two bots of the same spark."
"Name one mech we hang out who isn't stupidly stubborn. I dare you."
That startled an amused huff out of Bumblebee which was followed by a couple genuine snickers when Arcee elbowed him, insisting, "See? Can't even think of one, can you?"
"It's a wonder that any of us manage to get anything done."
"No kidding." Arcee paused, helm tilting one way and then the other, before she said, softer than before, "Look, I’m still mad that you avoided us last night, but it did give me time to think about it, and if this is what you're sure you want to do, then I'll support you." Bumblebee couldn't help the look of shock on his face, optics wide, and Arcee shrugged dismissively. "Don't look so surprised. If you're doing this, then you're going to need support. So this is me telling you that I'm not as fun as engex but I’m not gonna leave you burnt out either, so when you need help or just somebody to vent to, I'm around, ok?"
"Ok," Bumblebee said with a soft smile, spark warming with affection. "But maybe next time you're supporting me, let me know you're sending Smokescreen to check on me. It's not fair to sick him on me like that."
Arcee shrugged again, something almost playful about the small curl of her lips. "I'm not above dirty tricks."
At that point they had arrived at the end of the prison cell hallway. Bumblebee had expected Arcee to hang back, to say her goodbye before heading off to work on her own given tasks. However, she followed close to him.
“You know, you don’t have to come with me.”
“It’ll take just a minute.”
Bumblebee’s tanks twisted nervously, but one look at Arcee told him there was no avoiding it.
And then he was face to face with Megatron again.
It was somehow a little easier the second time around, Bumblebee mused. He still felt on edge, but knowing that the night before he had managed to converse with the former Decepticon Warlord without any threat to himself, knowing that there was nothing that Megatron could do to him with that barrier in place -- this time around, it kept the anxiety at just a slow simmer. It was easier to handle.
It would have been Arcee's first time though, and the way her plating clamped down tight and her systems whirred to life made it easy to tell she was far from happy.
Megatron at least looked unaffected where he sat on the prison bench. He grinned an easy but, frankly, hollow grin. "Were you that upset that I had called you little warrior? You needed to prove you were hardly the smallest?"
Bumblebee couldn't stop his optics from slipping offline, counting the beats for Arcee to retaliate.
"Cute.” Arcee’s tone made it clear it was anything but. “No, I just figured I should drop by and remind you who you're bonding with." There was the telltale clacking of light pedes on the hard floor, and when Bumblebee looked again, Arcee had stepped up close to the barrier, glowering across it with her plating flared out as far as it would go. "And, more importantly, the mecha who care about him and wouldn’t think twice about making the rest of your life a living hell if you so much as look at him funny. I suggest you keep yourself in check. Understood?”
Megatron’s optics cycled with consideration, the shallow smile fading to leave him with an expression that looked more genuine.
“Understood.”
Megatron's compliance clearly surprised Arcee as she went stiff, one servo raised with a digit outstretched, ready to point and argue but now with nothing to do. It was almost enough to distract Bumblebee from how embarrassment was flooding his circuits, heating his face.
It didn't take too long however for her to catch up, putting her servo on her hip as she nodded. "Good. Just don't forget it." She spun on her pede to face Bumblebee then, still frowning, but her servo on his arm was warm and reassuring. "Take care of yourself, yeah?"
"Yeah.” He reached out to pat Arcee on the shoulder. “It’ll work out. You’ll see.”
Arcee’s face twisted, but she didn’t say anything more. She gave one last pat to Bumblebee’s arm before stepping back.
And just like that, Arcee was off, her steps quick as she headed back towards the main floor. If memory served Bumblebee right, she would be working with Soundwave and Discbrake on surveillance and preparation for any riots that could break out.
Bumblebee did not want to be there for that odd group of mecha.
“I can’t imagine that will be the last time I’ll receive such a talk,” Megatron mused as he shifted, looking for a moment as if he was about to stand up but thought better of it. That was when the shine of his armor caught Bumblebee’s optic.
Knockout had done an incredible job considering it hadn’t been that long since Bumblebee had last seen Megatron. All of the plating that was still salvageable had been filled and buffed and polished until they looked as good as new again, and Bumblebee was sure that the wires and cables beneath were just as shiny and clean. More noticeable then that though was that the armor plates were much closer to what they had looked like before Unicron’s resurrection. The gold hues were gone, as well all of the extraneous spikes that had seemed to sprout out of every surface of the chaos-god-possessed mech.
In fact, all of the spikes were absent.
Megatron’s shoulder plates were sleek now.
It was weird.
The job was clearly unfinished though. While some plating looked like new, others looked nearly untouched besides being washed and minimally treated. They were also, though, the plating with the worst damage, with deep gouges and bits torn off completely. A spot that Bumblebee remembered being rusted pretty badly had been cut out completely. Presumably the heavily blemished plates were beyond repair and were going to be replaced once new plates were made.
“Little warrior?”
Bumblebee’s optics rebooted quickly and focused on Megatron’s questioning expression.
“Oh, uh,” Bumblebee fumbled, grimacing at being caught staring. He really was out of it. “Just tired, I guess.” When Megatron just continued to watch him curiously, the bot shifted his weight from one pede to the other. “You look good though.” Megatron’s optic ridges lifted just enough at that to have Bumblebee immediately sputtering out, “Better! As in, you look better than last night, with the cleaned up plating and none of the Unicron stuff, you know?”
Megatron huffed an amused vent and replied smoothly, “I’ve already said yes. There’s no need to bother with flattery.”
Bumblebee could feel an irritated growl threatening to rumble out of his engine, but he choked it before it got anywhere. After he scrubbed at his face, he muttered, “Alright, you know what? Let’s just try this from the start.” With a clearly fake smile, Bumblebee met Megatron’s optics again. “Good morning, Megatron. You don’t look like you rolled out of a dump anymore.”
“And you do look as if you drank your way into one last night.”
The fake smile fell.
“Ok, first of all, frag you.” Megatron didn’t so much as flinch. “But second, is it actually that obvious?”
“I’ve seen my fair share of burn outs in my lifetime,” Megatron replied simply. “Now, as amusing as these pleasantries have been, shall we cut straight to the point? You have an arrangement to explain to me.”
With a sigh, Bumblebee nodded.
It was surprisingly easy to slip into talking business with Megatron. Of course, it could have been a comparison thing, considering the only one-on-one conversations they had had before had been in Megatron’s mind years before and then just last night. Otherwise it had just been words spat at each other in battle.
The fact that in both of those cases Megatron was incapable of even attempting to attack Bumblebee did not escape him. That eventuality of being together without the wall was one that Bumblebee tried his hardest to not think about just yet.
But at the end of the day, Megatron had been political since before Bumblebee was forged, and Bumblebee had learned to talk with Megatron’s former lieutenants on a regular basis so he wasn’t new to talking to cons he despised.
He had even befriended the warlord’s former medic.
Speaking of, Bumblebee realized he owed Knockout a world of thanks, and would make sure to find a way to make it up to the medic. While fixing up Megatron the night before, Knockout had gone ahead and given him the general summary of what had happened since his self-imposed exile. The chaos of Autobots and Decepticons and Neutrals all returning, the settling and riots and settling again with the implementation of the first treaty, the self-segregation, all while trying to rebuild as quickly as the population grew with ships of refugees and stranded Bots and Cons alike arriving weekly.
Knockout had also left behind a stool to sit on, which Bumblebee’s aching frame appreciated.
Megatron quickly listed what he had learned with disinterest when Bumblebee asked what he already knew, though his optics burned with curiosity. Bumblebee didn’t bother to extrapolate on any of it because they were on a tight schedule. For now Megatron just needed to know enough to work with him on their story and arrangement.
He would have to ask Watts if there were any good essays or whatever that he could give to Megatron to read in his spare time. Save them both the trouble of having to talk through it all.
Megatron did, however, focus in intently when he said that Knockout mentioned the council.
“He tells me that you have become a politician.”
“Unfortunately,” Bumblebee replied with a grimace.
Megatron’s optics widened slightly, surprised, though he kept his tone neutral as he continued, “From what I understand, there are only nine councilmecha, and only three of them are Autobots. It must be quite the honor to be counted among them.”
“Normally, this is when I remind mecha that it means I have to work with Starscream on a regular basis, but I don’t think that will have the same effect on you.”
Megatron didn’t even try to hide his smirk.
“Power comes with its downfalls, and somehow that menace always manages to make sure he’s one of them.” Megatron leaned forward, bracing his arms on his legs, and Primus, it was so weird to see him without those spiked shoulder guards. “Though I must admit, when Knockout told me that he along with Soundwave and Shockwave are all alive and allowed equal political footing with you and your comrades, the fact that you are considering such an intimate arrangement with their former Lord makes a bit more sense. It would seem that you’re a far more forgiving lot than I would have guessed.”
Outrage burst in Bumblebee’s chassis and burned along his lines as he snapped, “I haven’t forgiven any of them, and I sure as slag don’t forgive you. Allowing them on the council was the only way to maintain the peace, so I tolerate them and that’s it. Got it?”
“I don’t know that toleration covers sharing a spark bond.”
“Self-sacrifice in your case.”
Megatron frowned.
“Now that I expect from an Autobot,” he said, and Bumblebee would have thought it sounded sad if he thought the mech capable of it. Before he could even think to comment on it though, Megatron sat up straight again. “Regardless, I’ve hit a nerve, so why don’t we return to business. I seem to recall you saying we have a deadline.”
The irritation still burned, but Bumblebee nodded.
“The whole city has heard the rumors so we can’t make them wait much longer.”
“So you’re going to announce that we’re bonding.”
Bumblebee grimaced but nodded again. “Given the situation, we can’t make it obvious to the public that we’re treating you any differently than any other citizen.”
“Thus replacing physical bonds with a spark bond,” Megatron concluded. “A far prettier means of reassuring the population that I’m not a danger. I assume I’ll be moving into my honeymoon prison soon after?”
“It’s actually going to be a normal apartment,” Bumblebee said. “I’ll be checking it out later today so I’ll let you know what it’s like.”
Megatron’s optic ridges furrowed as he asked, “An apartment?” And then, slowly, his optics widened. “Will we actually be living together?”
Bumblebee shrugged as his tanks churned. “We have to keep up appearances.”
Megatron’s optics flickered offlined and he cycled a slow ventilation. Honestly, Bumblebee wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that the former warlord seemed as displeased with that reality as Bumblebee was, but it was at least oddly comforting.
“So this is a farce that must last longer than a few days?”
“Yeah. It would be one thing if I was just a citizen so people would forget after a while, but being a councilmech and all--”
“A councilmech bonding with the late Decepticon warlord will keep their attention for decades.”
“Probably.” Bumblebee reached up to rub at the back of his neck, frowning as he said, “Look, if that changes your mind--”
Megatron lifted a servo to stop him, and after a beat he shook his helm. “No, it’s fine,” he said as he finally onlined his optics again and looked at Bumblebee. “Very well. If we must maintain a long and, by all appearances, successful bond, then we need a story of a courtship built over time.”
“Oh. Wait, hold on, I haven’t explained anything else about the arrangement yet. The story can wait--”
“We have the rest of our unfortunate lives together for you to explain the morbid details,” Megatron insisted with a flick of his servo. “But the announcement is today, so that must be the focus.”
While he wasn’t wrong, Bumblebee still bristled, unhappy about being ordered around. With no better alternative though, he had to bow to logic. “Fine. But to be honest, I don’t know how we’ll manage a courtship story, considering you showed up just last night.”
“We reunited a year ago when you were on one of your scouting missions.” It was quick and sure.
“Would that actually work?” Bumblebee asked, optic ridges furrowed. “I mean, sure, Cybertron isn’t the biggest planet, but still. The odds that we managed to cross paths seem super unlikely.”
Megatron’s grin was back.
“I actually saw you on a few occasions.”
For a couple seconds, Bumblebee could have sworn his spark stalled.
“What?” he asked, quietly, hoping it was just a suggestion. But Megatron’s expression did not alter and panic prickled along Bumblebee’s lines. “There’s no way – I would have noticed you!”
The slagger just continued to grin as he leaned back casually and crossed one pede over his knee. “You forget that there is a part of the planet that is solidly predacon territory, so my settlements were always within the area between there and this city. Furthermore, I was used to silence and tried to stay alert for any sound that could be predacons, so a grounder’s engine was noticeable even over a great distance,” he explained. He paused long enough that his optics trailed down Bumblebee’s frame and then back to his face, and while there didn’t seem to be anything lewd about it, it still made him want to shudder. “Your paintjob is distinctive and I’ve seen your alt mode before, so I didn’t need to get any closer to know it was you. I, on the other servo, happened to blend in well with ruins, and my engine was idle, so there was no reason I’d attract your attention.”
Shame burned through Bumblebee’s systems and his face grew hot. “You’re lying.”
“You’re welcome to believe whatever you like,” Megatron replied sardonically, his helm tilted back but his gaze still on Bumblebee. “It’s still as believable as this farce will get.”
Bumblebee’s mouth opened but, to his chagrin, he didn’t have a response for that. The idea that he would want to bond with Megatron was about as farfetched as it got. Starscream’s mocking question echoed in his memory chips. Why would anyone believe they would choose each other?
They didn’t even know each other. When the trappings of being at war were pulled away, the fact was that they were essentially strangers. They had tricked and damaged and killed each other, but had only ever spoken a few dozen words to each other at most before all this.
How he had managed to convince anyone that he understood Megatron’s motivations was a mystery because now, sharing optic-contact with the mech himself, Bumblebee had no idea what he wanted. During the war it had been easy for anyone to guess – conquest and absolute power.
But now? The mech before him who had come to their gates and submitted without resistance, rusted and torn to shreds?
Bumblebee knitted his digits together before finally just asking, “Why are you even here?”
Where he had expected resistance, Megatron’s expression instead softened, almost looking thoughtful.
“I had wondered when someone would bother to ask.” The crossed pede was placed back on the ground and Megatron leaned his shoulders forward again, still spike-less, oddly vulnerable. His optics dimmed. “Reparation, I suppose.”
“What?”
“For what I’ve done,” Megatron explained, simply and evenly, and Bumblebee might have thought him untouched by the reality of what he was saying were it not for the way his optics grew dimmer and dimmer. “The last fraction of decisions I made can be partially blamed on poisoning my spark with dark energon, but even so, I lost my way and disgraced my cause long before that. There is no forgiveness for the lives I’ve misled and taken and destroyed, nor can I ever take those actions back, so I came to offer all I have left.”
Bumblebee’s voicebox felt tight.
Maybe Megatron wasn’t so inscrutable.
“You mean yourself.”
There was nothing but exhaustion and sorrow in the way Megatron’s lips curled up into fake smile.
“I mean myself. Frame and spark.”
“You genuinely thought we were going to execute you.”
“At best,” Megatron confirmed with a nod. “More likely was indefinite imprisonment. Humiliation, torture, what have you.”
Bumblebee’s servos clenched each other hard enough that he could feel paint scraping off the sides of his digits.
“So you finally feel bad about what you’ve done, so you just – you hand your life over to mecha who hate you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Megatron shrugged and it was genuinely starting to grate on Bumblebee how casual the larger mech could be about his own life.
“What else would you suggest I do with my wretched life?”
Bumblebee’s spark clenched tight enough to feel suffocating. Yet somehow, an incredulous laugh slipped out at the surreality of it all. “You’re asking the wrong fragging bot. I barely know what I’m doing with mine.”
Megatron raised his optic ridges.
“You’re a councilmech.”
“I just filled a seat that needed filling,” Bumblebee admitted. “Everyone else already had important things that they couldn’t abandon. Things they specialize in. But I was just--” Bumblebee turned his gaze down to the ground between them, burning with shame, and he wished he had never said a thing. And to Megatron of all mecha. “I was asked and I said yes. That’s it.”
It was silent then, only the quiet buzzing of the barrier audible.
Then, where Bumblebee half expected mocking and half feared sympathy, Megatron said, “You came across me while scouting and we found comfort in each other as warriors without a war. It’s as good a start to a courtship as any other.”
Bumblebee looked up, optics wide, and Megatron lifted his ridges in response.
“Unless you have a better idea you wish to share?”
Bumblebee’s spark eased and his lips took on an amused tilt.
“I’ll admit, considering how pathetic you looked, I probably wouldn’t have offlined you right away if I had found you huddled up in some ruins. I am one of the good guys, after all.”
“How considerate of you,” Megatron drawled, but he did mirror Bumblebee’s expression. “And I have it on good authority that I can be quite charismatic.”
“Ok, but you definitely had to fall for me first. Otherwise mecha are gonna think you’re just tricking me, you know?”
“A fair point.” Megatron considered him carefully, optics piercing. His lips curled up further. “An attractive young mech forged during war finding his place in peace would certainly be familiar enough that I could have been charmed by you.”
Heat bloomed in Bumblebee’s face, though he couldn’t decide if it was from hearing Megatron talk about his aimlessness or attractiveness.
“You’re definitely getting the better end of this deal.”
Megatron’s grin was downright mischievous, which on its own was more than enough to worry Bumblebee. However, the larger mech simply said, “I apologize for my continued functioning through the end of the war. Had I offlined sooner, perhaps it would have been our shared companion Starscream you would have to bond to instead.”
Bumblebee could feel how his face contorted with absolute horror at the thought and Megatron laughed.
It wasn’t wholly unpleasant either.
#Fanfiction#hope you wanted more of bee and friends and meg because that's what you're getting#also seriously thank you to the folks who are reading this and are supportive#you're all so so good to me#tfp
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Cold Chisel. Two words that’ll inspire a reverential smile from most Australians and a spontaneous outburst into song from others. National icons, music legends, pub rock poets, all fitting descriptors for a group of mates that emerged from tumultuous Adelaide origins, to become both the soundtrack to and the narrator of the Australian cultural experience.
Cold Chisel’s presence is so deeply ensconced in our collective consciousness, that as a person who has called Australia home for all 34 years of my life, I can’t for the life or me remember how, where or when I first heard their music. I’m not even sure my parents owned any Cold Chisel records (although I think I can safely assume they must have, I mean everyone owns at least that Chisel, best of, right?) All that I know is that I somehow know every single word to every single song. You need only to walk into any suburban pub, attend any BBQ or turn on the radio, to discover that I’m not alone. Cold Chisel is omnipresent.
Somehow, despite being so synonymous with a time and place (late ’70s /early ’80s Australia), the songs that Ian Moss, Don Walker, Jimmy Barnes, Phill Small and the late Steve Prestwich penned and performed during the golden era of Cold Chisel, remain endlessly relatable and seemingly timeless. From ‘Flame Trees’ to ‘Khe Sanh’ to ‘Rising Sun’ to ‘When The War Is Over’, ‘Bow River’ and beyond, these are the songs that have served as musical accompaniment to our triumphs and tribulations, our breakdowns and failures, our heartbreaks and our honeymoons, our glory days and the days we’d sooner forget. For some they are our true national anthems, for others, they are company on a long drive or an excuse to sing out of key in public. Whatever they are to you, to us all, they are essential.
Khe Sanh, Cold Chisel (1978)
Inarguably Cold Chisel’s most famous song, ‘Khe Sanh’ inspires even the most docile of Aussies to embrace their inner Barnsey and belt out every word. There’s a bloody good reason for that too. This Don Walker penned song is positively anthemic. From the instantly recognizable piano intro to Barnsey’s trademark soulful verse delivery, the perfectly timed harmonica, and of course THAT joyous sounding major key refrain (“The last plane out of Sydney’s almost gone!”). It’s absolutely the most triumphant sounding song ever written about the horrors of PTSD and the endless restlessness and displacement felt by some Vietnam veterans. It’s worth noting that its focus on some less than ideal choices of coping mechanisms, (drugs, womanizing), inspired some controversy initially, with the record label reluctant to release it as a single until their hand was forced by popularity. But that duality of character and the juxtaposition of key and narrative, are perfect examples of why Don Walker is one of Australia’s finest songwriters. In my opinion, it’s not Cold Chisel’s best song, but it is a really good one and in the court of public opinion, it’s our alternate national anthem.
Breakfast at Sweethearts, Breakfast at Sweethearts (1979)
The title track of off Cold Chisel’s second studio album, Breakfast at Sweethearts is an exercise in people-watching by Walker, only the people he’s watching aren’t exactly the 9-5 types. One of the most instantly recognisable songs about peak-era Kings Cross ever written, Breakfast at Sweethearts combines Walker’s knack for seeing beauty in the mundane with his instinctive songcraft. The combination of slow reggae bass and electric piano, locking in with reverb-drenched guitars and Barnes’ contemplative vocals to create a sonic soundscape that genuinely feels like having breakfast at 6am with a hangover. No one has ever made drinking cheap wine out of a paper bag, when you should be having a coffee, quite as poetic as Walker does here, and that ability, to not just write songs you hear, but songs you live, goes on to become one of Cold Chisel’s defining characteristics.
Rising Sun, East (1980)
In the early years, Cold Chisel gigs had a reputation for being wild and unruly affairs, and it’s tracks like ‘Rising Sun’ that undoubtedly inspired many to bust a move (or as legend may have it, a skull or two). A rollicking rockabilly number and Barnes’ first solo writing credit, ‘Rising Sun’ is powered by a constant guitar/piano interplay and a simplistic yet urgent rhythm that gives Barnes just enough room to go full Barnesy. There’s a scorching solo from Ian Moss, and that chorus of “The rising sun just stole my girl away” is just too addictive not to be belted out. It’s ostensibly a song about a certain type of heartbreak, but it almost doesn’t matter, this is Cold Chisel in ‘good time’ mode and it is one hell of a good time.
Choir Girl, East (1980)
Don Walker is on record as saying that ‘Choir Girl’ was a deliberate attempt to write a commercial hit. He’s also on record as saying that the song is written about pregnancy termination. Not many people could make those two seemingly disparate notions coexist, but with the help of his Cold Chisel bandmates (and East producer Mark Opitz), he absolutely nailed what he set out to achieve, with the r’n’b influenced track scoring Cold Chisel their first ‘official’ hit, landing at #14 on the Australian charts. It’s not hard to see why either. After Walker’s trademark electric piano intro, ‘Choir Girl’ lets its gorgeous soulful melody shine, with Barnes’ voice, placed high in the mix as the track is driven along by electric piano and a simple bass groove, with new layers of instrumentation introduced throughout. There are some stunning backing vocals and guitar lines from Ian Moss, who also sings the lead on the bridge in a wonderful vocal interplay with Barnes. It’s 3.13 of blue collar pop-nous and arguably a template for some Cold Chisel hits to come.
Four Walls, East (1980)
Another gorgeous piano-led slow burner, ‘Four Walls’ is one of the finest early examples of Cold Chisel in bogan poet mode. A song about the experience of a prisoner in the aftermath of the riots at the Bathurst Gaol, it is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Compositionally, quite a simple song, essentially some piano, delicate guitars, handclaps and some occasional soulful backing vocals, but the hero of ‘Four Walls’ is its lyrical narrative. The sparsity of the musical accompaniment gives Barnes just the right amount of room to make us feel every word. Walker’s lyrics are inspired with the opening verse (“They’re calling time for exercise, round her Majesty’s hotel/ The maid’ll hose the room out/ When I’m gone/ I never knew such luxury/ Before my verdict fell/ Four walls, washbasin, prison bed”) placing you right there in the cell with him. As the song unfolds and the poor chap’s despair grows, so to does the mournfulness of Barnes’ delivery, with the last verse (I can’t see/ I can’t hear/T hey’ve burnt out all the feeling/ I’ve never been so crazy/ and it’s just my second year/ Four walls, washbasin, prison bed) absolutely devastating.
Bow River, Circus Animals (1982)
Choosing the essential songs off of one the most essential Australian albums of all time is quite the task, so with my sincerest apologies to ‘You’ve Got Nothing I Want’, ‘Bow River’ gets the nod in the booty-shaking slot on Circus Animals. An absolute riot of a song, this Ian Moss written number is an arena-sized blues-rocker, with a kitchen sink approach to instrumentation, that absolutely goes off at the Deni Ute Muster. Everything that makes Cold Chisel so fun as a live band is present on this song. Moss’ incendiary guitars, Walker’s honky-tonk pianos, Small’s rolling bass, Prestwich pounding drums and yes, Barnsey’s shrieking vocal. It’s such a good time that you’d be forgiven for missing that it’s actually quite brilliant lyrically, capturing the essence of the working man’s battle between the need to work and the will to actually live, I’m particularly fond of the couplet: “I’ve been working hard, twelve hours a day/ And the money I saved won’t buy my youth again”. Put it on, crack open a can, have a blast with your old man (or your inner old man).
Forever Now, Circus Animals (1982)
The late Steve Prestwich didn’t write a lot of Cold Chisel songs, but the ones he did write, were typically great, and ‘Forever Now’ is one of the best. Released as a single in March 1982, the track hit #4 on the Aussie charts and has gone on to become a staple of Cold Chisel’s live sets. A mid-tempo melodic rocker that’s anchored by some typically inspired lead guitar playing by Moss, the song’s best feature is the absolute earworm of a chorus, which Barnes absolutely smashes. A structural departure from much of what Cold Chisel presented on Circus Animals, this anthem of unrequited love, is worthy of the vocal damage you’ll do trying to singalong.
When the War is Over, Circus Animals (1982)
‘When the War is Over’ is one of the most frequently covered Cold Chisel songs by other recording artists, and it’s not hard to understand why. From the moment the opening refrain of “Ain’t nobody gonna steal this heart away” hits, this song just oozes emotion and sentimentality. Another Prestwich written song, ‘When the War is Over’ is a beautifully composed power ballad with a deliberately non-typical song structure. A song about undying, albeit potentially non-mutual love (a definitive theme to much of Prestwich’s writing) ‘When The War is Over’ is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. It shouldn’t work, but in the hands of Cold Chisel, it does. Despite originally peaking at #25 on the charts, it did eventually take the #1 spot, thanks to Australian Idol’s Cosima De Vito, a fact that much like the song has been known to make even the most battle hardened barking spider a little teary eyed!
Saturday Night, Twentieth Century (1984)
The most oddball moment on this list, ‘Saturday Night’ is a delightfully off-kilter rock song with an infectious hook, that will get stuck in your head for days on end. Ostensibly a song about the aftermath of a Saturday night out in Kings Cross, it has also (quite reasonably) been interpreted as being Walker’s metaphorical ‘goodbye’ to the chaos of life in Cold Chisel. Twentieth Century is an album recorded by a burnt-out band, yet, it features some of their finest songs and most obtuse ideas and ‘Saturday Night’ is the quintessential example of that weirdness. Loneliness and longing has never sounded so invigorating as it does here, with Phil Small’s bassline laying the grounding for the vocal tandem of Moss and Barnes to dazzle with. Moss’ verse vocals give the song a Police-esque vibe and Barnes; rock outbursts ensure you don’t forget that it’s Cold Chisel. There’s some awesome saxophone from a local busker, some crowd noise from an actual Saturday night in Kings Cross, and pretty much anything else they could think of. The weirdest Cold Chisel hit ever.
THE MOST ESSENTIAL COLD CHISEL SONG EVER IS:
Flame Trees, Twentieth Century (1984)
You thought I’d left this out didn’t you? That was never going to happen.
In my humble opinion ‘Flame Trees’ is one of the finest songs written by any Australian artist. It is irrefutably the essential Cold Chisel song and one of my favourite songs of all time. Everything about this song is so perfectly executed. From the song structure to the instrumental performances, to Barnes’ vocal delivery and ESPECIALLY the lyrics. ‘Flame Trees’ is a flawless song and it seems so fitting that it came into existence at the end of Cold Chisel’s initial run because it sounds like the culmination of everything they’d learned. Penned by Prestwich, ‘Flame Trees’ is to me what living in Australia sounds like.
From the moment another perfect Walker piano intro gives way to Barnsey’s opening lines, you are immersed in a world so beautifully, hauntingly familiar, that you can’t help but try to reach out and touch or maybe even hug the narrator. The references are so specific, so inherently small-town Australia, that it’s almost too relatable. It’s as if Cold Chisel somehow captured the entirety of our cultural experience and distilled it into song.
The utilisation of the ‘Flame Tree’, a tree native to the subtropical regions of the East Coast, gives specificity to the geography, but not so much as to remove it from universal relatability. You could live in Broome or Glenorchy or Frankston (as I did) and still connect with the experience of this song. The fact that I can barely ever make it through this song without shedding a tear, one that’s seemingly neither happy nor sad, but somehow nostalgic in nature (and that was BEFORE Sarah Blasko went and covered it for Little Fish, absolutely destroying any hope I ever had of simply just listening to the song, instead of living it) speaks so much to the power of Cold Chisel as storytellers. Only Cold Chisel could take a song about longing and heartbreak, and turn it into something so truly timeless.
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Cold Chisel’s ‘Blood Moon’ tour continues this week. Remaining dates and details here.
The post Cold Chisel – 10 Essential Tracks appeared first on Music Feeds.
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I AM WIDE AWAKE
WOKE AF- The mind opening inner ponderings, visions and realizations of a brain both blessed and cursed with second sight.
WRITTEN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017!
FRIENDS I RESPECT THE FACT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO YOUR VIEWS, YOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND HOW YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. BUT I’VE SEEN LURKING OF EVIL SO SUBTLE, MOVING SO SWIFTLY, ENGULFING THE WORLD COMPLETELY AND CORRODING THE SOULS OF SO MANY. IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED SINFUL TO TELL A PERSON DIRECTLY WHAT THEIR FUTURE IS, HOWEVER WE HAVE THE POWER AND CAPACITY TO CHANGE THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND MOLD OUR LIVES DIFFERENTLY. SO HOPING TO SPREAD SOME WISDOM, SPEAKING ALLEGORICALLY AND SHARING MY PERCEPTIONS AND CONCERNS IN A BOTH DEEPLY PHILOSOPHICAL AND LIGHT HEARTENING HUMOROUS FASHION, HERE IT GOES... OH, AND DISCLAIMER... I AM NOT A WITCH!! THE FLAG/ ANTHEM ISSUE IS DRIVING ME NUTS! WHY?
BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THERE IS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE SUFFERING AND DYING HORRIBLE DEATHS DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS IN APOCALYPTIC SCALES, WE HAVE PLAGUES LIKE THE ZIKA VIRUS, VOLCANO ERUPTIONS, FIRES, DROUGHTS, HURRICANES, EARTHQUAKES AND TSUNAMIS, ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT MUTATING VIRUSES PLUS THAT LOOMING GIANT ASTEROID AND PEOPLE ARE GOING INSANE OVER A FLAG AND A SONG. ONE IS AN INANIMATE OBJECT AND THE OTHER AND ABSTRACT IDEOLOGY THE OTHER HUMAN LIVES!!!!!! LATER ON ANOTHER OCCASION WE'LL TALK ON THE THEORY OF HOW THE MAYAN CALENDAR WAS NOT ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD BUT THE TIPPING POINT WHERE IT WAS UP TO THIS GENERATION TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS GOING TO BE A FUTURE... THE BEGINNING OF A POTENTIAL END.
SO, MY TWO CENTS IS...(AND SINCE I'M SO BROKE I’M ALMOST DESTITUTE , I MOST DEFINITIVELY GONNA NEED THOSE PENNIES BACK,TOO!) PEOPLE NEED TO GET WOKE AF BEFORE WE WIPE YOURSELF FROM THIS PLANET. I KNOW YOU FEEL IT, TOO; THAT VORTEX OF DESPAIR IS SUCKING ALL OF US IN, SPINNING FASTER AND FASTER.
2. THAT IF YOU WANT TO POST THAT THE NFL PROTEST IS DISRESPECTFUL AND YOU FEEL SO OFFENDED BY THESE BLACK MEN, TO THE POINT YOU WILL STOP GOING TO FOOTBALL GAMES... GO ON AND YOU DO YOU BU! JUST PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE FOUNDING FATHERS DID NOT SAY ANYWHERE THAT YOU CAN'T KNEEL AND FOOTBALL GAMES DID NOT EVEN EXIST BACK THEN!! BUT THEY DID SAY THE FLAG HAS TO BE PRESENTED AND DISPOSED IN VERY SPECIFIC WAY I BET NONE OF YOU FOLLOW. THEY WERE TOTALLY ANAL ABOUT IT, BY THE WAY. SO, NEXT FOURTH OF JULY MAKE SURE YOU RANT AND RAVE, POST ABOUT AND FEEL UTTERLY OFFENDED TO YOUR CORE ABOUT THE SALE AND MISUSE OF THE FLAG FOR PROFIT AND BOYCOTT EVERY STORE THAT HAS PAPER PLATES AND NAPKINS WITH NOT ONLY THE FLAG BUT A REPRESENTATION OF THE FLAG SUCH AS COLORS, STARS AND STRIPES, EVEN IF IT IS A PARTIAL ONE!!! HOW DARE YOU THROW THEM RED, WHITE AND BLUE SOLO CUPS REEKING OF STALE BEER IN THE GARBAGE RECEPTACLE AFTERWARDS TOO... SHAME ON YOU! TSK, TSK,TSK (LOL) AND THOSE FIRE CRACKERS YOU SEEM TO LOVE SETTING ON FIRE AND EXPLODING ALL WEEK LONG UNTIL UNGODLY HOURS EVEN WHEN MANY FREAKED OUT DOGS, VETERANS WITH PTSD AND PEOPLE TRYING TO SLEEP ARE SUFFERING? NEWSFLASH PATRIOT: YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN BURNING HUNDREDS OF LITTLE USA FLAGS YOURSELF FOR YEARS!! THAT GOES ALSO FOR YOUR BEER CANS, BANDANNAS, THONG BIKINIS AND BOXERS (THE HUMANITY!), PAJAMAS, COUNTRY MUSIC T-SHIRTS, CAR STICKERS, BABY DIAPERS, EVEN YOUR DEBIT AND CREDIT CARDS. DEAR JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH, THE OUTRAGE... WHAT BLASPHEMY IS THIS?!! (JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, THE LATTER INTERJECTION IS PURE, UNFILTERED SARCASM). NOWADAYS I AM DOING THE FACE-PALM AND SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISBELIEF SO HARD AND SO OFTEN MY COGNIZANT, VERBAL AND MOTOR SKILLS ARE STARTING TO GET AFFECTED. OKAY?
3. I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THE REASON THE ANTHEM WAS CREATED, THE INSPIRATION FOR IT AND STAY OPEN MINDED TO BECOME WISER AND RELEARN OUR HISTORY AS IT HAPPENED, NOT LIKE WHAT WAS CONVENIENTLY LEFT OUT IN OUR SCHOOL BOOKS. TRY AND DO THIS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF YOU AND FUTURE GENERATIONS, IF WE SURVIVE THE PATH THESE BIG HEADED LOONIES RUNNING NORTH KOREA, AMERICA, RUSSIA AND SAUDI ARABIA, VENEZUELA, AND THE REST ARE LEADING US UP TO. THE VERSE WE SING IS BEAUTIFUL, PROUD AND STRONG BUT THE INSPIRATION FOR IT AND THE STORY BEHIND IT IS HORRIFIC AND SHAMEFUL... THE COMPOSER WAS TAKING GREAT SATISFACTION IN THE DEATHS OF SLAVES THAT HAD FREED THEMSELVES. IT WAS ABOUT A LAND OF THE FREE, BUT THE FREEDOM WAS FOR THE IMMIGRANT WHITE MEN AND THEIR OFFSPRING ONLY, NOT FOR THE NATIVE AMERICAN WHO IS THE AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL AMERICAN. THE ONES THAT WANTED TO HELP THE WHITE MEN SURVIVE IN THEIR NEW WORLD AND SHARE ALL THEY HAD AND IN RETURN WENT THROUGH GENOCIDE AND BECAME VICTIMS OF COUNTLESS HORRORS. THIS FREEDOM WAS ALSO NOT FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVES THAT WERE BROUGHT HERE AGAINST THEIR WILL OR THEIR DESCENDANTS WHO WERE ALSO TERRORIZED, TORTURED, RAPED AND MURDERED. AND GENERATION AFTER GENERATION BLACK MEN AND WOMEN HAVE CONTINUED TO SUFFER COUNTLESS ABUSES AND DISCRIMINATION AND DESPICABLE ACTS OF VIOLENCE SO ATROCIOUS, IT EASILY COULD HAVE LEFT MARKS EMBEDDED DEEPLY IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL AND GENETICAL STRANDS . MANY OTHERS HAVE COME FROM COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD AND EACH GROUP HAVE BROUGHT THEIR OWN COLOR AND TEXTURE TO THE FABRIC THAT HAS MADE THIS COUNTRY UNIQUE AND SPECIAL. PUERTO RICANS THAT CAME TO USA AND WORKED IN EVERYTHING AND IN BETWEEN: FIRST AGRICULTURE, THEN AS SOME BARRIERS WERE BROKEN AND WERE ABLE TO MAKE A LIVING AS POLICEMEN, TEACHERS, TAXI DRIVERS, NASA ENGINEERS. THE ASIAN ALSO BROUGHT COUNTLESS CONTRIBUTIONS, WORKED IN THE FIELD BUILDING TRAIN TRACKS AND THEN EVERYTHING FROM FOOD SERVICE, LAUNDROMATS THEN TECHNOLOGY, MATH AND SCIENCE AS DID THE IRISH, WHO ALSO HAD SUFFERED A PERIOD OF SLAVERY AND DISCRIMINATION, THE JEWISH COMMUNITY THAT CONTINUES TO BE ATTACKED AS THE REASON FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG IN THE COUNTRY (WTF?!!). AND I MEAN THE JEWISH RELIGION, NOT THE FAR-RIGHT ISRAELI LEADERSHIP COMMITTING THE GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS. THE ITALIANS THAT ALSO HAVE SUCH BEAUTIFUL CULTURE AND WAS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AND GENERALIZED AS MAFIOSO'S OR DUMB, LAZY, I COULD GO ON AND ON, THE GREEK, THE HINDU, THE GERMANS. WE ALL EXPERIENCED A LOT OF THE SAME TRIBULATIONS, BUT NONE AS SEVERE, CONSTANT AND PALPABLE AS THE AFRICAN AMERICAN. PUERTO RICO WAS SOLD TO USA AND THERE WAS A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE ISLAND THAT RIGHTFULLY PROTESTED BEING FORCED TO CHANGE THEIR WAY OF LIFE...THEY WERE LYNCHED. THEN VIEQUES WAS USED AS A MILITARY TEST SITE LEAVING BEHIND POLLUTION AND SICKNESS, AND PUERTO RICAN WOMEN WERE USED AS GUINEA PIGS TO TEST BIRTH CONTROL PILLS. MEXICO? THE SAME, TOOK THEIR LAND GUNS BLAZING AND NOW PEOPLE DARE TELL THEM TO GO HOME WHEN THEY WERE HERE FIRST. HAWAII, ALSO THE SAME.. GOBBLED UP AND MADE INTO A CARICATURE AND THEIR LANDS PASSED ON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION STOLEN AND SOLD. WE ALL LEARNED TO ADAPT AND EMBRACE MOST OF THE CHANGES AND WE CAN FORGIVE BUT CAN'T FORGET. WE LOVE THIS COUNTRY DESPITE OF IT ALL, BUT WE ARE STILL WAYS TO GO TO BE RECIPROCATED IN THE SAME MANNER WHICH IS I THINK SO SIMPLE AND GOLLY, GEE... IT’S FREE: RESPECT US, OUR CULTURE, RELIGIONS AND LANGUAGE, AND LET US REALLY BE A PART OF THIS COUNTRY BY LETTING OUR VOICES BE HEARD... AND REALLY LISTEN. JUST DON'T MAKE UNGODLY THINGS LIKE A SONG AND A FLAG INTO FALSE IDOLS AND LOOK INTO UNITING AND ACCEPTING EACH OTHER AS EQUALS. CARE ABOUT THE REAL INJUSTICES PEOPLE ARE LIVING STILL ON THIS DAY AN AGE, TRY TO WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES. UNDERSTAND THAT THE NEGATIVE AND EVIL DONE IN THIS WORLD WAS MOSTLY DUE TO A MINORITY OF CHARACTERS THAT WERE ABLE TO SNEAK THEMSELVES IN TO THE LEADERSHIP POSITIONS. THE MONEY TRULY HAS BEEN THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. IT IS MONEY THAT HAS ALLOWED THESE PEOPLE TO BUY MINIONS TO DO THEIR BIDING, MONEY TO BUILD AND BUY THEIR MUSKETS, RIFLES, CANNONS AND ROCKETS AND THE MILITIA AND MERCENARIES TO DO THEIR BIDING AND DESTROY AND ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING AND ANYONE THAT GETS IN THEIR IN PATH FOR MORE MONEY AND POWER. INSTILLING FEAR AND USING CUNNING CHARMS, TWISTED LOGIC AND MISINTERPRETATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURES FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS HAVE CONVINCED SO MANY THAT EVERYTHING THEY DO WILL BENEFIT THEM AT SOME POINT AND THAT IT’S ALL FOR LOVE AND COUNTRY. THAT IS WHY IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT PEOPLE RESIST, PROTEST, RAISE THEIR FIST, MAKE A STINK, STOMP YOUR FEET...HELL NO, WE NEED TO BECOME WISER AND OPEN OUR EYES WIDER. BECAUSE I AM TIRED OF HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF. BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL OF US LOOKING AROUND, SIDE TO SIDE, PLACING BLAME ON EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF LOOKING UP AT THEM, UNITING AND HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. I AM WOKE AS FUCK... I PRAY MORE PEOPLE REALIZE THIS AND BECOME PART OF A SOLUTION BEFORE WE ALL PERISH. LET US NOT FALL PREY TO WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON... AGAIN, OPEN YOUR EYES WIDE, LISTEN, REALLY LISTEN. DON'T BE LAZY AND RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. MAYBE THEN YOU'LL WILL JOIN US, THE ONES THAT ARE
#WOKEASFUCK
MY APOLOGIES FOR THE CRASSNESS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED COLLOQUIALISM OR, URBAN LINGUISTICS, BUT IT MEANS REACHING A SUPERLATIVE SCALE OF AWARENESS IN THIS GENERATION, AND I PERSONALLY KIND OF DIG IT. BUT I DIGRESS... THE BAD ONES ARE A MINORITY STILL, BUT THE EVIL IS SPREADING FASTER, AND AS WE ARE BECOMING A RETROGRADE SOCIETY IN MANY WAYS, EVEN WITH ALL THESE AMAZING TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS OF THIS CENTURY, THEY ARE PUTTING BLINDERS ON THE INNOCENT, ON THE IGNORANT AND CLOSE MINDED AND THEY ARE RECRUITING MINIONS THAT MORE THAN EVER FOLLOW THEM NOT OUT OF FEAR OR BECAUSE OF POVERTY BUT BECAUSE OF GREED AND THE EVIL SATISFACTION THEY GET FROM CONTROLLING AND HURTING OTHERS AND HAVE CONVENIENTLY FOUND A SOULLESS LEADER AFTER THEIR OWN DARK HEARTS.
SCHOOLS SHOULD HAVE HISTORY CLASSES THAT TEACH MORE IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, EMPHASIZING ON EVERYBODY'S STRUGGLES, CONTRIBUTIONS AND TRIUMPHS AND HOW MUCH WE ARE ALL THE SAME AND OWE SO MUCH TO EACH OTHER. SADLY WE ARE BASICALLY IN A PLATEAU. STUCK, AS IN MANY WAYS BEING UNDER THE SAME SOCIETAL STANDARDS THAT WE WERE IN THOUSANDS YEARS AGO. THE KING, THE CLERGY AND THE NOBLES... AND WE THE THE PEOPLE? WERE ARE THE PEONS, PLEBEIANS, THEIR SLAVE LABOR, COURTESANS, PERFORMERS AND BUFFOONS. ONLY DIFFERENCE IS IN MODERN TIMES? THE NOBLES, WHICH ARE THE 1% ELITE AND THE CORPORATIONS ARE MORE POWERFUL AND IN CHARGE OF THE FATE OF THE COUNTRY THAN THE KING HIMSELF. A KING THAT IS BROUGHT TO POWER NOT BY RIGHT OF BIRTH BUT BY THE NOBLES' MONETARY DONATIONS TO THEIR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND PROMISE OF FUTURE COUNTLESS RICHES IF THEY STAY IN LINE AND THEIR BIDDING. REPUBLICAN LEADERS HIGHLY COMPLIANT WITH THEIR PATHOLOGICAL ALIENATION FROM REALITY OUTSIDE OF THEIR GREED FOR MONEY, POWER AND CONTROL IS A VERY COMPLIANT PUPPET.
THE REPUBLICAN ALWAYS THE MASTER THAT ONLY THROWS THE DOG THE BONE ONLY AFTER THEY SUCKED OUT EVERY BIT AND MORSEL DOWN TO THE MARROW. THE DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS WERE MORE OF A OPEN INCLUSIVE IDEOLOGIST BUT LATELY FALLEN VICTIM TO THAT CORPORATE DONOR SEDUCTION OF GREED. SADLY MANY PEONS RECENTLY FAILED TO REALIZE THAT STILL THIS WAS THE LESSER EVIL AS THIS MASTER MAY STILL LEAVE ONLY THE BONE BUT IT AT LEAST WILL HAVE THE CARTILAGE AND SOME MEAT ON IT AND UNLIKE THE REPUBLICAN MASTER, IF YOU STAR CHOKING THE BONE THEY WILL TAKE YOU TO THE VET. REPUBLICAN MASTER THROWS YOU IN THE BAG BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR LAST BREATH AND DRIVES BY A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT WERE HE DISPOSES OF THE BAG SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO BOTHER WITH DIGGING A HOLE IN THE YARD AND RUIN THEIR MANICURED LAWN OR DEAL WITH THE STENCH OF YOUR ROTTING BODY. THAT'S WHY MY INCLINATION IS LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE. I REALIZE MANY THINK LIBERAL MASTER WILL JUST GO CRAZY THROWING THE WHOLE CHICKENS TO THE DOGS, TO THE POINT THEY RUN OUT OF CHICKENS, BUT I'M CONFIDENT THEY CAN FIND A WAY TO FIGURE IT OUT PLUS THEY WILL SET UP FOR YEARLY WELLNESS CHECK UP AT THE VETS, AND GET US TREATS LIKE A BETTER EDUCATION SYSTEM, FREE COLLEGE AND MORE. LIBERAL /PROGRESSIVE /INDEPENDENT MASTER AFTER ALL BELIEVES IN SOMETHING CALLED SCIENCE AND COMPLETE AND FAIR EQUALITY AND THOSE TWO THING ARE ESSENTIAL TO BREAK THIS CORRUPTED MOLD. THE CLERY? THAT IS ANOTHER ISSUE TO BE ADDRESSED SEPARATELY BECAUSE EVEN JESUS ADVOCATED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, THEY WANTED IN DIBS ON THE LOOT AND MAINTAINING THE POWER OVER THE PEOPLE., BECOMING AND UNHOLY TRIFECTA OF EVIL TYRANNY AND GREED.
IN CLOSING, SPECIALLY AFTER THAT EXTREMELY WEIRD AND RANDOM "THROW THE DOG A BONE' ANALOGY...DON'T LET THEM CONTINUE TO KEEP US BLINDED BY THE PROPAGANDIST MEDIA LIKE FOX NEWS, ALL THE BRAINWASHING POLITICIANS, THE ZOMBIE TRANCE INDUCING WORLDWIDE WEB AND ALL THE FALSEHOODS SURROUNDING US AS WE ARE PINNED AGAINST EACH OTHER OVER OUR DIFFERENCES OF CULTURE, RELIGION, SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND RACE. THEY HAVE US RUNNING AROUND LIKE CHICKENS (GEE! AGAIN WITH THE FUCKING CHICKENS) WITH OUR HEADS CUT-OFF SO WE DON'T FIGURE IT OUT AND COME TO STORM THEIR CASTLES!
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Suicide in the Church, Part 3
Suicide strikes … AGAIN!
This may wind up being the most important article some have ever read. I hope it will not only help a few readers, but that it will open the eyes of others, helping them understand, motivating them to help. I trust there will be those who will actually clip it, mailing it to someone for what they are worried about, or posting it in the breakroom.
I’ve written quite a bit about suicide over the past few weeks and have received some remarkable feedback. I wrote on the subject because there have been so many suitors lately and folks wanted answers. If you’ve read any of the previous articles, you’ve seen some frightening statistics. This subject remains heavy on my heart and continues to be a concern to many. For me, it started when a man with what a dear friend had been interacting was found in his jail cell with a cable TV wire around his neck. Then, another friend who led a Bible study took his own life. Within days, this was followed by the suicide of another man who, along with his spouse, had prayed with and preceded the previous friend’s wife.
Saturday, I officiated a wedding 2 hours away. Incredibly, on Sunday, the father of the bride took his own life.
My mind is reeling as I write.
Suicide has a frightening air of finality. Filled with hopelessness, despair, and tragedy, it’s a word we like to keep at arms’ length. As a whole, society tends to look down its nose at anyone who would commit this gruesome act. We call them selfish, cowardly … I must admit, after seeing that beautiful young bride and her dashing husband on Saturday, preparing to begin their lives together, if her father were standing alive before me now, I’ve got a hard time refraining from beating the thunder out of him. How could he do that to his precious daughter?
But I recall the day, about 15 years ago, that suicide entered my thoughts in a different way. I had just lost my job with a Dallas ad agency and my wife had left me, taking our kids with her. For the first time in my life, I was all alone on a Thanksgiving, too broke to join any family gatherings taking place across the country. Our church friends had quickly chosen sides and had shunned yours truly. It was Thanksgiving Eve, sleeting and raining, about 16 below zero with the wind chill. I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a mobile home, my entire world seemingly in shambles all around me. I remember waking up to the whirring sound of ball bearings rolling around in the furnace which was now spewing forth cold air. I was dizzy, disoriented, freezing to death in my sleep, I believe. Taking my own life with the razor sharp meat clever in the kitchen was the most natural thought in the world to me. I formulated a plan to slit my wrists, crawl back onto my mattress, and let them find me in the spring. Truly, I was experiencing the darkest hour of my soul.
But God stepped in. The atmosphere became charged as it does when a frisky puppy runs into a room or a bunch of children run through an open screen door to get a drink from the kitchen sink on a hot summer day. “Joy will come in the morning” suddenly echoed through my mind. I bundled up and made it through the night, only to be awakened next day by a startingling crash as a sheet of ice melted and slid off the metal roof onto the frozen ground. I looked outside and the sun was glazing off the melting ice everywhere.
Life got gradually better. Incredibly better. Today, I would not trade mine for all the world.
Truth is, I discovered another option to suicide. I found it in the Bible, God’s love letter to mankind. You know … that perennially best-selling book most Christians rarely read? The good news about the current state of depression some may be feeling at this moment, is that God really DOES have a plan for your life – a plan that can only be fulfilled when we give everything over to Him. Listen, there IS a purpose for your life; a reason for your existence. Your current, dismal, emotional and spiritual state may be the very springboard you need for discovering just how valuable you are to Him, how your life can be transformed, and how others can be rescued by YOU. Tough times do NOT last. Tough people DO!
Perhaps you’ve asked yourself, “How did I get to this point?” The answer? Gradually, just as drops of water will slowly but surley fill a bucket. Everyone goes through periods in their lives when they feel down. In time, sadness leaves and life goes on. There are instances, however, when tough times, a strained relationship or some other problem, leads to unhappiness that keeps us in bondage. When that happens, life can become a daily struggle with uneasiness, gloom, and emptiness. Ultimately, hopelessness can take hold, creating a feeling of dissatisfaction with everything.
Depression is often associated with a sense of loss that can come with illness, the death of a loved one, sudden unemployment, divorce, and so on. A chronic illness, or permanent disability, can rob one’s independence, making them feel worthless, helpless, and angry. Losing someone you care about, through death or divorce, can leave a tremendous void.
Guilt is another trigger for depression. Perhaps you’re struggling with substance abuse or another addiction or have made some really bad choices that you’re ashamed of that are about to be disclosed. A childhood trauma may have left you feeling damaged and unworthy of God’s love and acceptance. Maybe you feel like a failure because you have not achieved all that you wanted in life.
Whatever the cause, depression often leads to a sense of hopelessness. You may feel as though you’re at the end of your rope. You may think that ending your life is the only way to take control.
Trust me, it’s not.
What’s next? The answer is simple. REALLY simple. You can go on with life as usual, knowing where that may lead, or you can get a life. I’m talkin ‘REAL life. For some, the fact that you’re still reading this shows that you desire another option. So, here’s my answer. Ready? It’s my experience that there is only one real source of hope for a life of purpose, fulfillment, and joy.
That source has a name … it’s Jesus Christ.
It is my firm contention that Jesus is the answer to every problem known to mankind. To those who are still with me, that’s either absolute truth or it’s a lie. He said about His followers, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). If that statement is true, logic screams for us to quickly become his followers. We must address the question, “If I’m not living real life, what is THIS?” Through a REAL, experiential relationship with Jesus Christ, overflowing love, forgiveness, peace, and joy can be ours. Interested? That’s a promise from God found in the Bible.
And God does not lie.
Sadly, far too often, even Christians settle for Religion and Church attendance over a relationship with the Creator through Christ’s teachings found in Scripture.
The How-to’s of Overcoming
I failed to mention that all the recent local suicides have been committed by professing Christians. Did Jesus promise his followers a problem-free life on Earth? No. He actually said, “In this life, you will have many troubles ….” He DID promise the power to face life’s trials with confidence, knowing that He will cause ALL things to work for our good.
By the way, the Greek word for “all” means ALL!
He promised either to deliver us from afflictions, or provide the strength to end them, according to His plan for us. Here’s the catch: to set that plan in motion requires giving our lives to Him.
As Bob Dylan sang, “We’re gonna serve somebody.” Even the atheist serves himself, enthroning himself as “lord” of his own life. By placing Jesus Christ on the throne of our lives, spiritually, we become what the Bible calls “born again” and we’re completely transformed as we renew our minds. According to the Scriptures, that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us, His followers. Again, this has been my expereince and, I contend, the very answer that someone somewhere is needing. Your reading of this now is no accident.
Dust off that old Bible and look up the following verses: John 1:12; II Corinthians 5: 17; I Corinthians 2:12; I John 5: 11-13.
Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). He’s knocking right now. Open the door.
Three Keys to Vicorious Living
1) Talk to God. We call it “prayer” but it’s purely conversation with God. TWO-WAY conversation at that. So, be quiet and listen sometimes.
2) Begin reading the Bible. Get to know the Personality of the one who made came up with all those Precepts for living life with Power. You’ll find He’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet. Talk with Him as if He were your best friend. He IS!
3) Make yourself accountable to those who are living the Christian life successfully. Like all babies, even baby Chrsitians should aspire to GROW to maturity. In a nutshell, we become that with which we surround ourselves. Surround yourself with godly people and godly input.
What if You’re Already a Christian?
First, ask yourself if you really ARE a Christian. The word 'Christian’ translates as “Little Christs.” Galatians 5:22 tells us what the fruits of the Spirit are, the evidence that God’s Spirit resides in us. Too many people believe themselves to be Christians simply because they believe in God. Scripture declares that “even the devil believes, and he trembles.” Truth is, without we spend time with Him, how can we know Him at all? What relationship works like that? Logically speaking, Church attendance does not make one a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s make one a cheeseburger. Beside, Church is something we ARE 24/7 (meaning: “the called out ones”); it’s not merely someplace we GO.
To those who DO have a relationship with God, the enemy of our souls can cause any of us to feel depressed and have suicidal thoughts in a moment of weakness. So might a chemical imbalance. It can happen for all of the same reasons mentioned above. The trials of life touch everyone, including Believers in Jesus.
If the situation you are in is something you can not change, know that God’s the Inventor of Divine Intervention. As hard as it may be to do, continue praying for His help and covet the prayers of other victorious Christians. Do not stop. He does hear our prayers, but his perfect plan and ours are not always the same. Trust Him to respond in a way that will be to your best interest. That includes the possibility that He will give you strength and peace to end your trial rather than deliver you from it. He’s so much more concerned about our character than our comfort. His number one goal is to conform us to the image of Christ who, Scriptures tells us, was Himself sent by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be temped by the devil (Jesus is truly our example in EVERY way). Some of God’s greatest answers to prayer come in the form of peace and joy in the mid of great hardship. You can believe that He will see you through every storm in your life.
Along those lines, take a look at these verses: Psalm 23; Psalm 28: 7; Isaiah 43: 2; Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:13.
We are spirit-beings having an earthly experience. As such, you must ask God to fill you with His Spirit to help you tackle life by His power. Scripture declares, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” The Bible is full of God’s promises to love, strengthen, heal, and guide.
The Purpose-Driven Life is a Top-Selling book these days. Begin reading God’s Word in a Purpose-Driven manner: to discover new insights about His love for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your journey and to reveal truths you’ve never seen before. He’s the consensus teacher, after all. Accept the fact of God’s love for you by faith, NOT by feelings.
Look at these verses and receive them from God directly to you: John 3:16; Romans 5: 8; Isaiah 40:31; Isaiah 41:10; Lamentations 3: 22-23.
Today’s culture detests any mention of this word, but here goes: SIN. If you want to walk in victory, acknowledge any sin that might be interfering in your relationship with God. Ask Him to search your heart and pinpoint any problems. Then, confess and repent of your disobedience and receive his forgiveness. Confess means “to agree” and repent means “to change your mind.”
Here are some verses for dealing with sin: I John 1: 9; Psalm 139: 23-24; Galatians 5: 16-25.
Help Yourself to some help!
As part of the Body of Christ, you may wish to consult help from other Body Parts. Professional help in the form of a qualified Christian counselor has proved to be one of the best ways to fight depression and thoughts of suicide. Look in the phone book and make some calls. Ask for references. A good pastoral counselor can help you get a new perspective on your problems. Get a medical check-up. Sometimes depression is caused by a chemical imbalance or other biological factor.
Seek out a support group made of like-minded believers that can minister to the area of difficulty in your life. Interacting with others who are facing similar challenges will help you feel less isolated.
Force yourself to do something the next time you feel down. Inactivity only makes depression worse. Here are some things to try:
Talk it out. Call a friend and open up.
Take a hike. Exercise causes blood and oxygen to circulate faster, which invigorates us. The brain produces endorphins that fight depression.
Help someone else. As you focus your attention on someone else, your own cares will become less burdensome. I often refer people to watch “Patch Adams” with Robin Williams, then report to me on their findings. Do not judge me on that; lives have been saved. God can use anything.
Listen to uplifting music. Choose your favorite songs and start jammin ’!
Here’s the good news: Whatever you’re struggling with at the moment, this too will pass. Whatever it is you’re going through, you’ll go through it. Though things may actually get worse before they get better, they will get better as you place them in God’s hands. Yes, we reap as we sow and there may be some really tough consequences coming to deal with. But whatever you do, deal with it!
Remember, “All things work together for good for those who love God and have been called according to His purpose.” Translation? God takes care of the lives of those who turn their lives over to Him.
Resist any thoughts you may be having about “ending it all.” God has the uncanny ability of taking that which seems really bad and making things turn out really good.
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Source by Michael Tummillo
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