#I'm not a Christian but I was raised as one so I still occasionally have Bible Thoughts

[foone]

Random thought brought on by seeing a veterinarian sign on the drive to Coffee Land, but I think Jesus would really appreciate people localizing his parable of the Good Samaritan.

Because, like, it's a good story, right? When the administrator-guy and the holy man wouldn't help the injured, the Samaritan went out of their way to make sure the injured man was able to get the help they needed, paid out of their own pocket. And that's good and all, but what even is a Samaritan? Do you know?

Well, they're a ethnoreligious group from northern Israel who follow Samaritanism, which split from Judaism sometime around the 11th century BCE. There's only about a thousand of them left. But around the time of Jesus, they were not very popular with your average Hebrew. Remember the Seleucid empire that was oppressing jews? There's a yearly celebration about it, involving a candle that lasted for 8 nights. Yeah. So at the time the Samaritans had taken the opportunity to point out they're not Jewish, they're Samaritans, so they wouldn't be persecuted. So they were seen as, like, selling out their brothers and sisters in the faith. Then by the time the Romans took over the whole area, the province of Judaea contained Samaria.

So basically the Jews and the seen-to-have-sold-them-out Samaritans were stuck in the same province, thanks to some Romans consolidating the areas they'd conquered. Tensions between the two groups were high, and I don't imagine either of them liked each other very much at all.

To a Jew of the first century CE, a Samaritan is basically the worst kind of person you could be, and that's exactly why Jesus used them in the parable of the Good Samaritan!

The parable isn't about Samaritans. It's about how the worst person you can imagine is a better person than the people you idolize and uplift, if that person takes care of their fellow man. It's about how you should love your neighbor as yourself, and who is your neighbor? Everyone. All people are your neighbors. Help them when they need help!

And that's why I say it should really be localized. You should tell this parable differently than it was told in AD 29 or whenever. Do you hate Samaritans? Probably not! You probably barely know who they are, even after I did some explaining up there. So why use them as your example? If Jesus was here, I don't think he would have done that.

So like, if you were giving a sermon on the good Samaritan in the 1960s to a white church, you should be like "so the policeman walked past, and the pastor walked past, but then a poor black guy saw the injured man, and got him help at the local hospital."

In the 80s, his rescuer is Soviet. In the 2000s, they're a Muslim, from Afghanistan or Iran.

Today? Maybe they're trans.

As an American, there's been many times that "Mexican" would have been the best choice. Maybe even today, especially if you specifically make them an undocumented migrant.

But yeah, the point is that you pick the group of people most hated by the audience you're talking to, and make the point that THEY ARE A BETTER PERSON THAN YOU and ALL THOSE YOU UPHOLD AS PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY if they help their fellow man. If your worst enemy is lying injured in the street, you call the ambulance, you pay their doctor, you get them help. That's what Jesus says you should do. That's loving your neighbor, that's the Great Commandment.

And in the Roman province of Judea back in the first half of the first century, when talking to a Jewish audience, that meant the rescuer was a Samaritan helping a Jew. That was just the context for that one particular telling of the story. It shouldn't be told the same way today, or in the future. It should be an evolving parable, always changing, always adjusting the nationalities and situations and genders and everything. It's not a story about a specific event, it doesn't pretend to be history, it's a metaphorical lesson about what makes you a good person.

This parable is basically in the form of an "X, Y and Z walk into a bar" joke, and just like jokes, it should be updated over time. Those don't stay funny though the decades, as cultural attitudes shift. And this parable hasn't been updated in nearly two millenia, so it's long overdue.

[treeofnonsense]

So I'm going to preface this by saying: I am cis as all hell. I'm not any form of trans or nonbinary, I have never been any form of trans or nonbinary, and thus I tend to stay pretty quiet on that front over here. Ain't my place to tell people who know better what to do, and I'm not trying to do that here. However, after having made a lot of friends under the trans umbrella, after being lucky enough to have some of those friends share with me some of their struggles, their joys, their lives, and after noticing a couple of patterns in their journeys... I think there is one message I would like to share that may help some of you to hear, if you'll give me a minute of your time, and I think it may have to come specifically from a cis person.

The message is this: If your cisgender friends are good friends, you being your true self is not a burden to them.

For the people in the back: If your cisgender friends are good friends. You being your true self with gender. Is not a burden to them.

I didn't know my friend in high school was trans until he transitioned socially and I heard his new name. He didn't tell me first because I was raised fundamentalist Christian and probably did not look like a safe person to tell; when I pulled him aside in class so no one else could hear us, told him he could tell me to buzz off if he was uncomfortable, and politely asked for confirmation on pronouns, I remember the surprise and joy on his face. It took me about five minutes of chanting his new name and pronouns in the shower to get it to stick in my brain. That tiny amount of effort was nothing compared to seeing him pull himself out of the depressive funk dysphoria had put him in, of celebrating senior year when he legally changed his name, of drawing him a snowflake dragon for Christmas and hiding the trans flag colors in the shimmer of the ice so it would get past our conservative school's radar. We became closer friends after he came out because I knew him better and he knew he could trust me. He got me my first ace ring. I was not only supporting him, but learning from him, and sharing in his joy.

The genderfluid roommate in college took me a little longer to adapt to, I'll be honest, I was still learning, but hey - it turns out it's not really that hard to check the pronoun pins on a lanyard before you address someone. It's pennies when that person comes along to teach you the wonders of thrift shopping and takes you to meet a drag queen for the first time. I've met so many people online whose identities I do not always intuitively understand, but who I support anyway, and who have made me consider so many new things. It's not a burden to know about my friends' journey when it comes to gender, it's a privilege to know them more deeply and be trusted in that way. It's a new dimension to this person I already love, that's all.

Look, I am not saying that all your cis friends are going to be perfect, that we're not going to fuck up occasionally because we don't know better or we had a bad day, that we understand everything - we're not, we will, and we don't. I am not saying that everyone is a safe person to talk to either - god knows that's not true, unfortunately. But. If your worry about expressing yourself is of being a nuisance, of burdening someone with your problems or needs, of being too much or too out-there or too confusing, consider this: Your friends may not only be willing to learn and help you, they may be happy to. In a true friendship, both people benefit from one person's joy. If you're happy because you're able to be your honest self, they'll be happy too. Suddenly that weird shyness and sadness they saw from you but didn't know the cause of has gone away. Heck, maybe they'll learn from you and start following in your genderfunky footsteps. Or maybe you'll just have a cis friend who texts you celebration emojis when you have a good gender day, or is there when you wake up from surgery, or goes shopping for new outfits with you, or even brings over ice cream when you're having a hard time. And then you both get ice cream. Come on. This is what friends do.

Be safe, of course. Trust your judgment when it comes to sharing information. But if you're simply scared, try to balance out the fear of what you may lose with the thought of what you may also stand to gain. Don't let the anxiety beast turn your identity into a problem. It's not a burden, it's a part of you, and the people who love you will love to meet it.

[angel-hawthorne]

No, you're seeing the consequences of adults actively choosing to hit children. Every damn time someone bitches and moans about people not being "disciplined", they're quick to blame those who don’t spank for a laundry list of societal ills. Their genius idea is to hit kids even more instead of addressing the root problems. A lot of these youngsters have received a "good ol fashioned beating" once or more than that, and it still didn't do anything.

"I'm not saying you should abuse [children], but..." stop right there, that's exactly what you're suggesting. What exactly do you mean by proper discipline? Or as this person ever so wonderfully puts it "good ol slap on the wrist"? Ah, it's occasionally hitting the young when they say or do things that offends your fragile sensibilities. Adults in positions of power often get away with pulling all manner of fuckshit stunts under the guise of “discipline”. At this point, y'all sound no different from the domineering religious men who think hitting their wives will make them behave aka "Christian Domestic Discipline". Y'all didn't turn out fine at all. Just grew up to be violent bullies and/or enablers.

You hit them once, and it makes you, the adult, feel powerful. Getting that temporary feel-good rush of being in control. That's all it ever does - grant temporary compliance and relief. What will you do then if that one time with the initial amount of physical force doesn't work? Amp up the dosage (pain intensity) until you achieve that same feel-good high? If that keeps up, then these consequences will result: child goes no contact in the future, end up with a # of mental health issues, the child dies from their injuries (or removed from custody if they survive), and the caregiver gets slapped with legal repercussions. No pun intended. In extreme cases, the child will kill their parents/guardians for their own safety when there's no other alternatives.

Funny how it’s only the adults who care about splitting hairs over differences. A child’s brain doesn’t know, nor does it give a shit about “differences” you adults arbitrate. Their brains don’t stop to think “it’s only a smacking, so turn off your fight/flight/fawn/freeze response and halt the cortisol production”.

"Let me tell you, we only did it once." I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but your sample size of 1 anecdote does not trump decades worth of empirical evidence. Correlation doesn't imply causation. Plenty of children got that "one time deal", and they learned to repeat the same behaviors without getting caught. Last time I checked, discipline isn't something you DO to people. Just because you were raised to believe that assault is okay, doesn't mean others feel the same way. I'd recommend looking up survivorship bias and appeal to tradition fallacy.

This non-parent thanks you for coming to my Parenting Opinion Ted Talk.

[iltaimpi]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo OC: Zucca Korhonen

{I've been working on this for several days. While I will keep the old post, which has also been updated, up, I'm posting this as a new post.}

{Notice: Contains body horror, mention of suicide, general light gore, lots of blood.}

{Hildá Áile Gurbbet, legally Kurpitsa Lauri Kemppainen, born in the Suomi area of Sàpmi but moving to Italia at a young age and subsequently being raised there, was a... relatively normal child, all things considered.

Their general home and guardianship situation had some oddities, as they were frequently passed awkwardly between various legal guardians due to hectic family affairs and other assorted tragedies.

This trend of frequent relocation started when they were very young, still living in Sàpmi, after the suicide of their mother; the ensuing mental disintegration of their father made him a danger to be around for both himself and others, not to mention more than unfit to care for a very young child. Kurpitsa was thusly moved to live with their very Christian grandmother and less religious aunt in Helsinki.

This lasted briefly, perhaps a year or so; one day, they got home from school to a fleet of emergency vehicles. They were never told what had happened to their grandmother and aunt, but they'd heard in passing that there had been a gas leak, and they were left to fill in the blanks from that. They were effectively hauled off to stay with their aunt-in-law—their uncle's widow—in Italy, far from home (though they could never quite remember where in Italy it had been), until she, too, ended up dead; the death officially alleged to be the result of her actions following a psychotic break, even though she'd never been reported to have shown any symptoms of psychosis. They attributed it to a "very rare byproduct" of the grief of losing her husband. Kurpitsa wasn't sure they ever really believed it, but they hardly knew the woman anyway, so they didn't feel compelled to dwell.

Somehow, Kurpitsa seemed to skirt most of the direct trauma or grieving periods that one would expect to result from the deaths. This was perhaps due to factors such as them being too young to understand the death of their mother, much less the concept of suicide; never having seen the bodies of their grandmother (whose behaviour may have actually been more traumatic than her death, though it didn't seem to stick with them either) or their aunt when the two presumably died; and not having particularly close with their aunt-in-law—the woman wasn't even directly related to them and lived all the way in Italia, for crying out loud! Kurpitsa barely knew her, nevermind had any kind of relationship with her.

Perhaps, though, it was also because, instead of grieving—a natural and healthy thing to go through after such things—and dealing with trauma that should've theoretically originated from all the death surrounding them, they just got used to it.

The trend of these relocations was that they allegedly happened due to general mental instability within the older adults of the family or the vulnerability of more stable ones due to (occasionally supernatural-seeming) hazards of the area they lived in. Or otherwise, just in general terribly bad luck.

So it was a while until they finally settled to live in Napoli with their cousin, Rutabaga (who had changed her name from Lantuu to 'sound more Italian' and usually went by Rita) and uncle, Nauris, who kept his Finnish name and usually still called Rita "Lantuu".

The Korhonens were who they managed to stay with the longest, from between the ages of around 10 to 15, coming to see their cousin more like a sister and building a real relationship with the two. Ultimately, Kurpitsa took the surname of Korhonen—to attach themselves more meaningfully to their family—and, at some point, the forename Zucca, presumably to better fit in with their Italian peers, similarly to Rita, as they felt insecure with their distinctly Finnish name.

When Zucca was around 14, Nauris died—relatively peacefully, it seemed at the time—of "health complications", but ones that Rita swore up and down that her father was too young to have, so foul play must have been involved; she swore she was going to figure out what actually happened. Her opportunities and capability for this mission were, however, minimal.

At the same time, in the aftermath of the death, Zucca's cousin insisted that unless something better could be arranged, she was capable of and willing to responsibly care for Zucca. Her insistence was an attempt in earnest to offer some sense of stability to Zucca, allowing them to remain in the place they'd lived in the longest, with someone they'd lived with the longest, instead of dragging them off to some other family member (or worse, the system) instead.

Unfortunately, veneered stability could only do so much against alienation and mental instability; Zucca had hit the point where, despite their efforts to fit in with their Italian peers, feelings of isolation became a rampant issue, and the other chemical imbalances were becoming prominent. Being at the age of typical teen angst with a family history of Issues, even if their peers didn't alienate and ostracise them, the rut of anxiety and despair they'd hit was inevitable, and in a vicious cycle, being seen as "troubled" made them more alienated and ostracised.

But when they dared to finally tell Rita why their mood had tanked, Rita responded well with support and understanding to further foster the trust between them and (with the help of some... very low-end counselling they could afford) help Zucca find some foothold, at least some solid ground to stand on while travelling through teenage social darkness.

As far as anyone could tell, Zucca had finally met equilibrium and was in a relatively stable mental state, which was more than they could say for quite a few of the other people in their family, sadly.

But there was one hitch: Rita was a Stand User, whereas Zucca was not. Though they had no Stand of their own, through experience with Rita, Zucca developed at least some general awareness of Stands from Rita; they knew plenty about what, loosely, Stands "were", and, most importantly, how they were typically used for extreme and supernaturally-charged combat. They also had some idea of their cousin's Stand ability, or at least what it could do.

「Heart Demolition」, Rita's Stand, was rather intense. The way that Zucca understood it, through the transmission and reception of information, such as that spoken by mouth or written on paper, a fire could be ignited—the more upsetting the words, the more intense—either burning the mouth of the speaker, to great suffering; effectively allowing the speaker to "breathe fire", still to great suffering; or otherwise simply setting the paper alight, which really didn't bother the paper much although it certainly did it no favours.

Unfortunately, being an older-teen, younger adult Stand User in that area of Italia, living an admittedly quite challenging situation, especially in terms of finance, and most of all still particularly searching for answers she'd not had an opportunity to reach, Rita was led to the seemingly inevitable: attempting to join Passione. With the suggestion of a "friend" of hers, though Zucca wasn't sure which one—they'd later wish they did, they’d love to give them a piece of their mind—Rita had supposedly met with the so-called 'Polpo', and, as many others had, attempted an initiative test... omitting the fact, of course, that she already had a Stand, much like a to-be preeminent "Gang-star" later would, but with a far-less-victorious outcome.

Zucca, by then at the age of perhaps 15, like with Stands, had at least some vague awareness of what Rita was getting herself into; in fact, they knew a little more than they probably should've, to the extent of understanding the dubious nature of Passione, but still having faith enough in their cousin not to cast doubt on her decision.

When Rita explained what this test entailed, Zucca respectfully tried to keep their distance from the lighter so as not to interfere. Inevitably—though Rita had, at the last second, realised and attempted to salvage the flame—the lighter burnt out when her attention drifted for a few seconds too many.

Zucca, clueless as anyone else in their position would be, suggested that the lighter ‘hadn't burnt out, just very low’ and that, 'technically', if the flame was ‘fed’ without striking the spark wheel, then there would be no harm, no foul, surely, right?

They didn't have any matches in the house. Or other lighters, for that matter. Both were rarely a necessity. So Zucca instead suggested that Rita use 「Heart Demolition」, offering to write something on a paper for Rita to set alight, mostly just out of a desire to feel like they were helping. Rita, none the wiser and happy enough to let her cousin feel useful, so to say, attempted as Zucca suggested, setting the paper alight with a tiny flame.

Though the spark wheel had been untouched, the reignition of the flame, of course, summoned 「Black Sabbath」. A confrontation began, and Rita, though she tried her damned best, didn't have much room to escape or otherwise manoeuvre about, considering they were indoors. However, though they couldn't see what was happening and had no means of protecting themself, Zucca intervened anyway, trying to protect Rita or at least give her a fighting chance. Because they got in the way—perhaps trying to act as a distraction somehow—the Stand, it seemed, refocused on Zucca, ultimately piercing them with the Stand Arrow, to Rita's—and, well, surely their own—dismay.

Zucca's next memory was a blast of heat and blinding light, coupled with a wild burst of, perhaps, blood, from behind them. As if in ignorance of the situation, they turned their head; behind them, they saw Rita, standing for a brief moment—covered in bewildering lacerations from which bloodied razor blades of varying sizes appeared to emerge—before crumpling to the ground, motionless, the blades disappearing, her body seeming to dehisce from itself where the deepest wounds were. Odd movements came from some of the slices on her body, like eyes opening on her flesh—on second look, Zucca found that they were eyes, and making "eye contact" with one of these, they could see the memories of their cousin, leading right up to the memory of what had just happened, what Zucca's brain had failed to process, and at that, Zucca fall apart—literally.

With a burst of blood and a deep, internal, slicing agony through their whole being, Zucca—somehow still alive—collapsed as their own body, like they witnessed with Rita's, fell asunder, turning them into a shattered mockery of a human form. Despite this, they found themself still both completely conscious, cognisant and even able to move, though barely, between their body not being attached to itself and the combined numbness and immobilisation of the agony. Their ears rang, and where their vision landed first was upon the Stand that had attacked, remaining for a brief moment amongst firelight before it appeared to vanish.

The entire room had effectively been shredded to fragments and utterly torched, still ablaze, even, to the extent that the outer wall had a hole in it, the window blown out. Yet, somehow, nobody seemed to have caught on to the fact that anything had happened at the time despite the noise that they had so blatantly been deafened by and the fire, to Zucca's fortune and misfortune alike. The only thing left unscathed, it seemed, was the lighter, which Zucca reached out to, grabbed, and tossed into the inferno, not affording it a chance to burn out again, like it meant anything to them.

Somehow, they managed to get up partway, limbs reattaching as if they'd never come off, the places where the dismemberment had occurred marked only by pain and protruding razor blades, and pulling those out proved futile and agonising. They barely managed to lug themself over to their cousin, praying to find her alive, reaching out to touch her to... shake her, wake her up. But any chance of her survival was soon obliterated; as soon as a blade stuck in the palm of Zucca's hand came into contact with Rita, the razors that had retracted into Rita's skin suddenly re-emerged, ripping through her body entirely, completely dismembering her, to Zucca's abject horror.

Zucca remained in the wreckage amongst the flames, frozen in bewilderment, staring at the dismembered pieces and hoping one of the two of them would wake up. They were utterly unable to process after seeing what had just happened. But finally, from the corner of their eye, a glint off the metal of the lighter they'd thrown in their frenzy caught their peripheral and seemed to give them a twisted motivation.

Rita and 「Heart Demolition」 had passed the torch to them.

They manoeuvred over to collect the lighter despite the flames and stayed by the body, immobile and mourning, until they heard distant sirens at early daybreak as the fire had already dissolved to ash and, somehow, they were still alive. Whether the sirens were approaching them to finally investigate whatever unholy disaster had occurred in the Korhonen household or whether it was a coincidence, Zucca decided it was in their best interests not to find out. Besides, they had something to take care of.

Dazed, they somehow managed to stand, now whole again, yet the evidence of their wounds was still visible, the blades still lifting slightly from their flesh, but now hardly more prominent than thorns on a rose. Aside from the slice marks, they blatantly showed damage from the proximity to the fire, though this, too, was more subdued than it realistically should've been. Because, of course, between the fire, smoke, heat and dismemberment, they should have been dead.

Stepping through the ash and smoke, staggering as they struggled with the pain and the inability to focus, they made their way to their room, which the fire seemed to have failed to completely engulf. The clothes they'd had on were torn and scorched, and, setting the lighter down with no concern to further damage it could cause if something else caught alight, they did their best to put something less conspicuous on, only to tear up the new clothes in the process of putting them on. And giving up as the sirens were now fully audible, getting closer, they grabbed their longest coat, covering their head.

By the time anyone could be bothered to actually investigate the long-burnt-out fire and commotion—whether the delay had been out of fear or genuinely nobody had heard or seen anything—someone had already left through the hole in the wall instead of the door, gone to finish what someone else started.

And while it was unclear why the fact that she was a different person entirely seemed to be glossed over, nevermind how she managed to accomplish the heist-like task in the first place, Zucca left a member of Passione... and would very shortly thereafter, by chance, meet a very concerned young man known by most as Buccellati—concerned, no doubt, due to the fact that the young teen was... visibly not in a fantastic state at the time, on account of the whole 'not-really-doing-anything-about-the-injuries' thing, and probably looked entirely lost as her brain was now catching up and she had started to realise she didn't exactly have anywhere to return.

Zucca would soon learn that she now had a Stand.

「Razorblade Meltdown」.

Zucca Korhonen's deeply disturbing Stand, 「Razorblade Meltdown」, is a Close-Range Power Type humanoid Stand. Despite being a power type Stand, the type most typically suited for Stand-to-Stand combat, 「Razorblade Meltdown」 is actually quite rarely seen... as the Stand's ability makes Zucca herself quite the dangerous entity, and that's usually enough.

By use of her Stand, Zucca can bare dangerous razor blades that create deep slices in and extrude through her flesh, even to the point of dismembering herself, which she uniquely can survive and reconstruct at will, though, unsurprisingly, it does appear to be quite excruciating to do so.

This effect is typically inflicted upon others—often on a non-fatal scale—to make use of the 「Razorblade Meltdown」's actual primary ability; when a victim is subject to the slicing effect of the Stand, these slices open into eyes, and making eye contact with these allows you to see the victim's memories.

The effect and, subsequently, the ability, is typically inflicted through contact with the Stand or, more commonly, contact with the blades (or sometimes her blood) when she's using the ability on herself.

The most direct way to inflict the effect upon a victim is when the victim makes contact with the blades coming out of Zucca's skin, which will typically impose a critical-severity full-body impact, and if Zucca is not focused on controlling the ability, can often lead to death. Making physical contact with her blades twice will almost always kill someone immediately via dismemberment. The ability's effect can be undone—though the injury and pain will still be evident—but whether this happens can be case-to-case.

The drawback of her potent ability lies within one simple fact: she must have a genuine mental breakdown or panic attack to effectively use 「Razorblade Meltdown」 (especially to utilise the ability in, say, combat). Typically, in doing this, she extends the effect through every available spot of her body, and the razors extrude to a severe degree, sometimes even "shooting out" and damaging everything around in the most extreme of circumstances.

While her ability is massively powerful and a great asset to have both for combat and for interrogation, it also makes her insanely dangerous to be around while active; she cannot be safely approached until the ability deactivates, but the ability won't deactivate unless she mentally stabilises / calms down or passes out; so it's a bit of a catch-22 in that regard, and she can be seen as a liability because of it... There's also often a lot of screaming. Again, it's quite painful.

Though she is prone to cry while using her Stand, this isn't generally as well-known as the very obvious screaming; often, by the time anyone approaches her, once her ability has been neutralised, she's already stopped.

She can be a bit concerning to be around for those with a touch more empathy, such as most members of Buccellati's inner circle; because her ability requires her to have a breakdown or be pushed past her limit mentally to be used effectively, she often keeps herself on the brink of hysteria or keeps traumatic wounds fresh so she can send herself into a mental or traumatic breakdown if ever she needs to use her ability, instead of trying to figure out if she could learn to use the ability in a stable mental state.

As a result of this self-destructive "necessary evil", she's easily spooked and often struggles to control her own tears seemingly at random. Though she can be pretty friendly and fun to be around, she also, at times, zones out, struggles to even speak and suddenly isolates herself from a conversation group out of fear, anxiety or general self-consciousness. If she doesn't seem tense, she usually looks quite tired instead, which she attributes to the frequent blood loss that comes with using her Stand.

While not necessarily a member of the immediate primary group associated with Buccellati, she falls within the same sort-of "sector", to put it loosely; she at the least works with them frequently but possibly belongs to a 'parallel' group. It would seem that Buccallati's group is, perhaps, a bit more compassionate to her than her own group, which might be the thing that's starting to balance her out.

Initially, her intention lacked the desire to be involved with the organisation. Something of the opposite, actually; on a surface level, she blamed 「Black Sabbath」 - and Passione by extension - for her cousin's death despite holding significantly more turbulent feelings buried within her regarding the event. Still, despite joining with a hunger for revenge, she instead found a sense of family to substitute for the one that had been taken from her and soon lost the will to harm them.}

Update 19.12.2023: Polished up and refined the story. Changed some details and corrected some unclear wording. Update 10.1.2024–16.1.2024: Added new pictures. Still a bit hasty, but better.

Update 4.5.2024: Grammatical revisions.

[lady0ctavia]

As We Ponder Belief

(2p!Prussia x Reader) - Chapter 27

Note: This story is based vaguely during the mid 1200s in Eastern Europe where the Teutonic Knights fought the Northern Crusades to try and convert the native pagan population to Christianity. As a result, this story will have heavy religious themes all throughout. It should also be noted that, while referencing real-life events and locations, I am not striving for full historical accuracy. This is for the sake of the story I am telling.

Once again, this series will have heavy religious themes throughout, including discussions of bible stories, doctrine, and scripture verses, as well as critical analysis of Christian doctrine and beliefs. So, if you don't like that, you will want to skip out on this.

(y/n) quietly exited the kitchen, retrieving a plate of eggs to take to the infirmary. As she walked through the dining hall, the other knights sat about the room conversing with one another. Some were bandaged, others perfectly fine. Several of them noticed her as she passed and responded with a wave and a few words of greeting. Others simply nodded in her direction, and a few just didn't notice her.

Smiled and nodded to them in response before exiting the room and heading down the hall. Her thoughts still swam with the memories of only a few days before. To think that a week ago she sat with Adeline as she helped her prepare for a wedding. A melancholy filled the air as she pondered the state of her friend.

I wonder how she's doing? I suppose she's fine. After all, she has Tolys with her. Yes, I'm sure she is well. Probably getting up, washing laundry, and going about her morning routine as we speak.

While saddened to have never gotten to say goodbye, (y/n) at least found comfort in the fact that Adeline seemed to be happy where she was.

But aside from Adeline, (y/n)'s focus remained primarily on Gillen. She had hardly been able to treat him for the past few days. Every time she entered the infirmary for work, Gilbert would be there to stop her from treating Gillen specifically. And so she'd spend the day treating other knights while only giving the occasional glance to Gillen, their eyes meeting only once in a while. Lately, the other knights were healing up fine and no longer had to stay in the infirmary. Only coming by for the occasional checkup and to have their bandages changed.

Gillen, however, much to everyone else's surprise, remained in the infirmary, despite not having as severe wounds as some of the others. When (y/n) made it to her destination, she noted the empty beds. All save for Gillen who appeared to have just awoken. Shirtless, he sat up with his long, white hair hanging over his face and sticking out in every direction. (y/n) giggled when she saw his wild mane, catching his attention and looking up.

"That is quite the look," (y/n) commented, after which she glanced around the room to find them alone for the first time in days. Beds lie vacant, and Gilbert, the ever-present guardian, was nowhere to be seen. "Say, where's Gilbert?" Asked curiously.

"No idea. I just woke up," Gillen mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He raised his head to see (y/n), and took in the beauty before him.

She was now wearing a dress similar to the red one she wore before, though she wasn't wearing the headscarf this morning. This dress was a deep, navy blue. A simple color, but nonetheless lovely on her. Grabbing a stool, (y/n) took a seat beside him, taking advantage of the brief moment of solitude between the two.

"I uh, I brought you some breakfast," She held up a small plate of eggs and a fork. Thanking her, Gillen gratefully took the plate and began eating.

(y/n)'s eyes lingered on the bandages around his right shoulder, as well as how he flinched when he moved the arm attached. Biting her lip, she cast her eyes downward in shame. A movement that caught Gillen's attention.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently after swallowing a bite of breakfast.

"I'm sorry," (y/n) kept her head down as she responded, her voice low and drenched in guilt.

"Sorry for what?" Gillen was genuinely confused.

"It's my fault," Her voice quivered, just above a whisper. "You are hurt because of me. Because you went out to save me."

"(y/n), look at me," Gillen ordered, his voice as still and calm as ever. She looked up to meet his gaze staring into her soul. "(y/n), I do not want you to blame yourself for anything. I went to save you out of my own volition. We all did. As a matter of fact, I was wanting to head out as soon as I found out what happened. The only thing holding me back was the fact that neither I nor any of the other men were in any condition to fight. You need not blame yourself for anything. Not for those of us who got hurt, nor for getting kidnapped."

Her (e/c) shined. "A-Are you sure?"

"Positive," He reassured her.

She gave a shy little grin that made Gillen's stomach flip as he continued his breakfast. After finishing, (y/n) took the dishes and set them aside.

"Gillen, if it is alright with you, do you need help changing your bandages this morning?" Her face blushed bright red, almost in shock at what she said. Yes, he needs them changed, but that was a bit too bold to say! What is wrong with you? Thankfully, the internal scold was calmed by his response as he nodded.

Grateful for the response, (y/n) left for a moment to grab the dressing and bandages. When she returned, Gillen was sitting on the edge of his bed. As she sat before him and began to undo the dirty bandages, she once again noticed the scars across his chest and arms. Awkward at the physical contact, she was painfully aware of how close they were. She felt his breath against her cheek as she undid the dirty bandages, as well as taking note of how his skin felt under her fingertips. Smooth and warm, different from his cold, calloused hands. She almost found herself wanting to rest her head on his shoulder and drift into sleep. Aware of the potential tension in the air, she attempted to ask questions to break it.

"Uh, Gillen, can I ask you a question?"

"Oh goodness, this takes me back. What is it?" He chuckled, sending what felt like a shock of electricity through her heart. She set the dirty bandages to the side as she went for the dressing.

"Well, I was curious, why are you staying here in the infirmary when you have your own room?" (y/n) dipped her fingers into the jar and gently began applying it to the puncture wound, trying helplessly to distract herself from the fact that she was literally rubbing her hand against his bare skin.

"Oh. Well, if I am to be honest, it was to see you."

(y/n) paused in the middle of tending to the wound. His words echoed through her mind. "You... Wanted to see me?"

"I did."

"But, why?" (y/n) asked while motioning with her hand for him to turn around so that she could treat the wound on the back of his shoulder. He answered while doing so.

"Because I wanted to spend time with you. Talk with you. And we both know I wouldn't be able to do that if I chose to stay in my own room. After all, it is not proper for me to be alone with a beautiful woman such as yourself."

She stopped, freezing in place. It was as if every part of her body ceased working. She felt her face burning as blood rushed to her cheeks, her heart flipping back and forth, and her hands trembling. Did he call me... Beautiful? Even Gillen seemed to tense up for a moment as if shocked by his own words.

"You... Think I'm beautiful?" (y/n) whispered while simultaneously trying to apply the bandages to his shoulder. Attempting to busy herself to ease the chaos rising in her chest.

"Yes, I do," His voice was quiet, but the tremble in his voice was clear. She felt his muscles contract under her touch and heard him hiss in pain at the movement.

It's almost as though he's having the same reaction as me. Could it be?

"Gillen?" (y/n) asked innocently, her voice timid. She finished up her work with the bandages and looked up at Gillen when turned back to face her.

"Yes, (y/n)?" His voice matched the trepidation in hers.

(y/n) could feel something tugging at her heart. The same force that consumed her while they were apart. When she realized how she truly felt for the knight. Her eyes darted around anxiously, only to end up landing on the scars across his chest. She wanted to reach out to him, tracing each scar and asking him the story behind each and every one. She wanted to once again drown herself in his embrace, as was what happened in the forest. His face was so close to hers, his breath brushing against her (s/c) face.

Forcing herself to look into his eyes once more, she ran through every option in her head of what she could say. Do I tell him never mind? Do I tell him I love him? He's dedicated to his vows, right? If that's the case, then why do I get the feeling that he...

She placed a hand lightly on his forearm and took a deep breath. "Gillen, I-"

"AHEM!"

Startled, (y/n) nearly fell off of her stool. Whipping their heads around they saw Gilbert standing at the entrance of the door, glaring daggers at the two of them. As icy and cold as Gillen's gaze could be, Gilbert's showed something different. Anger, was it? (y/n) wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that she was caught getting a little too close to a knight who swore a vow of celibacy. She cursed the redness in her face as Gilbert took a second to observe the scene before him.

"(y/n), you are to come with me. Captain Nikolaus wishes to see you," He stated, sounding more like a demand.

"R-Right, of course," She got up and nervously set the stool to the side. She looked back to Gillen, who appeared disheartened. "I-I'll talk to you later, Gillen."

He nodded his farewell. (y/n) then turned to go follow Gilbert down the hall, but not without exchanging one last glance with Gillen before heading out the door. Her heart felt heavy as it continued to beat furiously in her chest, wondering how Gillen would have responded.

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

I wonder if anyone is angry about that little interruption? As always, let me know your thoughts!

[lietpolski]

what do you think bulgaria and macedonia's relationship is like?

οk i choose to ignore the yugotalia canon for this one haha :,) i see them as brother & sister !! it just makes more sense to me

dynamic-wise, i think they got along really well when they were younger, with bul having an almost parental role since he's quite a bit older than her! i see them as like,, early 20s & early 30s respectively in modern day

i think in the late 1800s mace started seeing him as a bit overbearing and overprotective, which later turned into her thinking that he's a controlling loser <3 and he thinks of her as an overconfident brat who doesn't respect her elders!!! smh!! he blames serbia for it, unless he's drunk and in one of his self-victimizing "oh so i'm SUCH a bad brother that she turned out like this?? why have you done this to me god, haven't i been a good christian boy, etc etc" moods. he feels a lot of regret over how things turned out but he doesn't know how to express it and neither of them talk abt their feelings <3

there's still familial affection between them, and they care for each other's well-being! bul especially is still protective over her and can't bring himself to hate someone he raised, even if she gets on his nerves haha. nowadays they're uuuusually friendly with each other (it's not the balkans without the occasional drunk argument) but in larger groups. imo they don't rlly hang out with each other one-on-one

[computer-cacophony]

I'm So Scared And Feel So Guilty (Journey Blog #1)

I just lied my way out of an awkward conversation with Mom. Apparently while she and Grandma were out on an errand they decided to clean the car. Apparently I left my therapy sign-up sheets in the car back in December and forgot to finish them and sign them in (because first off, Grandma had to go to the hospital for diabetic shock (really low blood sugar), and life has a tendency to sweep people along). They found it. I had gotten halfway through filling it. I admitted shit that I would never admit to my family (ironic, considering I sometimes say that I can confide in them without fear).

Anyway, Grandma starts crying when they read this, and she's worried that I'll feel condemned. BITCH, I AM CONDEMNED! I'm GNC and identify as ace/pan, not to mention the criticisms I have about the faith.

Anyway, Mom came home, we talked about it. And as I mentioned at the start of this post, I lied: I told her that I didn't feel like a girl because we live in a conservative Christian state where the typical stereotypes of being a woman are the norm. She bought that and said that it was okay. I told her that I didn't feel entirely straight because of "girl crushes". She bought that and said that it was okay. Then I mentioned some of my issues with the faith. What's her go-to? "We need to leave it to God, ignore the fake people, and cultivate relationships with the genuine ones." The conversation went somewhat well, I don't think she suspects a thing, and the day is proceeding as normal.

One issue: The fact that her go-to whenever I raise legitimate issues about the faith is that we need to leave it to God. Question: if this is real, if Christianity is real, if Jehovah is real, if the JWs are the truth faith, why hasn't he done something about the people suffering in the world, whether by genocide or starvation or sickness? Why hasn't he done anything to protect the innocent from the evil? Why couldn't he have done something about Lucifer right there in Eden rather than dragging this out? Why hasn't he done something about the brothers and sisters making occasional jabs at Mom for having sex with a worldly guy and having me?

I know I've been stalling for a while on this, but I think it's time to take things seriously: I'm gonna crack down on my job hunt. I don't even care if I have to work as a cashier at a restaurant or grocery store or gas station. I need money, and I'm gonna work towards getting some money and making plans to pack and move, probably out of the country.

I don't want to leave - I don't want to leave Mom to fend for herself against the others, I love her to death! - and also I don't want to be alone, but I can't make her see. I know she sees the issues, but I can't make her see. I know it's only a matter of time before this bird leaves the nest, but I'm scared to be alone. She's the one constant in my life, and I'm secretly making plans to not just skip town, but the whole ass country!

I feel like I'm abandoning her, and it's killing me. I know I need to focus on myself, especially when I've been making others happy all my life, but I don't want to break her heart.

I think, for now, since I don't have a therapist, I'm going to record my journey here. If I pick up some friends on the way, that's great! But for now, I still need to find my voice, so this is the next best thing I can do while I prepare for this next chapter in my life. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please, stay safe, no matter where you are or what you're doing.

[acertainmoshke]

11?

Hi Frost, thanks!! (from this pride-themed ask game)

11. Is your oc open about their identity? Are they more lowkey or more blunt about it? Why or why not?

Ooh, this is an interesting one. I think I'll answer for the Emerald Outpost crew. Yes, this happens like 500+ years in the future but also we're not so bigotry is still a thing.

Esther is bisexual and super casual/lowkey about it. Hits on people she thinks are hot. Has it as a clear identity in her head but rarely ever specifies her sexuality to others because it's just not necessary. Has never really run into issues with it except the rare creepy guy.

Nasir is gay. He came out semi against his will as a teenager because girls were so forceful about asking him out. It's mostly not a huge deal in general society, but there are a few jerks at work who think he's too effeminate, and on the occasional spy mission he and Val will play each other's beards (never with Esther because their cover is always cousins and they consider each other family).

Valentina is also gay, and really loud about it. She learned to be kind of obnoxious preemptively as a defense mechanism—not just about sexuality, but in general. She has an added layer of difficulty because unlike the previous two—who are space-Jewish and space-Muslim respectively, two religions for which the progressive sects won out—Val was raised in neo-totallly-not-a-Christianity-allegory (I'm lying), which is more traditionalist and believes in doing what you want up to a certain point and then marrying and having kids. This is why Val does indeed have a kid—and a divorce. And is now very loudly gay, except for the cover of certain missions.

Minerva, who is the boss of the team, is a trans woman. She is also the only Black main character (though none of the team is white). I don't make it a big focus or anything, but those two facts do intersect to cause problems for her. She's sometimes assumed to not be the leader even when she walks up and starts talking for them. She's sometimes misgendered if she doesn't try very hard to conform, and struggles with appearance because of this. I'm not sure if I'll have more overt things in there because this isn't a story about this and it is, technically, a more progressive time than now. But the undertones are there.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

You converted into Judaism I believe? I’ve occasionally considered converting (Haven’t looked into it yet), and am curious as to what led to your decision to convert

hi, thanks for asking. I started my conversion process around three years ago. it's been a rough process, but so far it's going well. as for why I decided, it's a long story. so I'll try my best to keep it short

I was raised catholic. my grandfather was Irish catholic, and raised my mother catholic. my father on the other hand was raised lutheran. you would think that would make their marriage extremely controversial, an Irish catholic woman marrying a protestant man. but it was actually really chill for both families. my dad was never really religious, but my mom was a devoted catholic who had us go to church and ccd every week, up until I went to middle school. I went to the tiniest private middle school in existence. there were 15 kids in all of eighth grade. the building was over 100 years old. it almost closed twice during my three years there. and honestly, it kinda sucked. so much that my two younger siblings both went to public middle schools to try and avoid the shit I went through.

since I went to a catholic private school, I was taught a fair amount of religious history alongside the basic middle school education. it wasn't the first thing that helped me open up to other religions, but being forced to study the history of other world religions was a big eye opener for me. I got confirmed in 8th grade, and then immediately stopped caring about religion. I was an atheist for most of my first two years of high school. I wasn't one of the annoying reddit atheists, I still respected other people's religions. I just didn't know what to believe in myself.

around this time I went through a major depression after my grandmother died, and struggled with my grades and suicidal thoughts. I got into twitter (which, let's be honest, is not the healthiest coping mechanism) and met a lot of friends who helped me discover myself. I eventually came out as transgender and my friends online and irl were super supportive. and a lot of my trans friends online were also Jewish. I started to learn more about their religion just from talking with them, and I actually found it really interesting. it wasn't anything like christianity. people were encouraged to question things and argue and debate.

it was a bit after a graduated high school when I started to think about whether or not I wanted to convert, and about a year later when I spoke to a local rabbi. I will be honest, the pandemic has made it extremely fucking difficult. mostly everything is online, and that makes it a huge pain. but I wouldn't be going through this huge tedious process of converting if I didn't know for certain that it is exactly what I want to do. I love Judaism. I love my Jewish friends. I love my religion. I love my own unique personal relationship that I have with god and myself. it's hard to even put into words. the same feeling I had when I came out as trans is the same feeling I have towards Judaism.

if you're considering converting, look into it first. it's a very difficult process. and that's intentional. Judaism is not a proselytizing religion. it's supposed to be a very hard and difficult process with lots of obstacles. you have to be 1000% sure that Judaism is the correct religion for you.

and that's where I'm at now. I sometimes say that I'm Jewish, but really I'm still in the process of converting. but based on how much I've learned and how much I've experienced, I'm more than certain that this is the religion for me.

[rose-n-gunses]

Okay, so. I've got a LOT of thoughts about the Catholic Munsons post that's going around and I really wanna talk about it because I think it's SO interesting so I'm going to post about it here so I'm not clogging up the tags on that post (and I'm probably going to end up turning it into a little bit of a hellcheer thing because it plays a bit of a role in one of my upcoming wips).

Fair warning, this post is really fucking long and really fucking rambly. I had Thoughts and they. Refused to stop, so just,, bear with me!!

My Catholic father grew up around this same time near Cleveland, Ohio in a little town that's maybe half the size of what Hawkins is projected to be according to the fandom wiki page. He attended a parochial school for elementary and I think middle school, and the majority of his friends growing up were either Jewish or Catholic. When I asked him today about the distribution/ratio of Jewish to Catholic to Presbyterian in that area (since my research wasn't quite answering my questions), he told me that he was probably in middle school before he actually realized that there were other religions besides Jewish, Catholic, and whatever denominations the African American churches in the area were.

Because of this and the general notion that Catholicism is/has been somewhat more prominent in the northern/northeastern and, like, some of the more northern midwestern United States (if that makes sense), I've always imagined that Hawkins, being a decently sized (10-15K according to the wiki page) town pretty close to Indianapolis (around 80 miles, again according to the wiki page), would have a pretty solid Catholic community, so it's always kind of surprised me to see so many people write the Cunningham family, for example, as attending a Presbyterian church (although it is entirely possible, but more on that later).

Okay so now my actual thoughts on the Catholic!Munsons:

Since the pictures from the Munson trailer (and I love that it's been a year and we're still finding new stuff in there) show that calendar, we know that if Wayne did purchase it intentionally, then he's most likely gotta be actively Christian. However, I don’t see Wayne as the attending-mass-every-week type of Catholic -- he strikes me as Too Tired For That Shit. My personal headcanon is that he’s Christian, and was probably raised Catholic, but he only really attends mass for Christmas and Easter (not even for other Holy Days of Obligation). I guess to put it in shorter words, I see it as Wayne is definitely Christian, but he’s Catholic for convenience, meaning he believes in god but would prefer to do it privately and on his own terms (like, idk, praying on his own and displaying his faith through his actions) rather than having to deal with the church and its members, and he just continues to go to mass occasionally because it’s what he grew up with so he’s used to it and there’s no point in fixing something if it ain’t broke.

But Eddie. Oh, Eddie. If Wayne grew up Catholic, then so did Eddie’s dad. Since Eddie's dad is, like, y’know, an asshole, I think he’d be the sort of Catholic that’s a total hypocrite and gives the entire Catholic Church a bad name. Eddie’s mom could be Catholic, she could be Presbyterian, she could be Jewish, it really doesn’t matter (though I do see a lot of people headcanoning her as Jewish and I do kinda really like that headcanon).

If Eddie’s dad is Catholic, then it’s possible that Eddie could have attended a parochial school, but it could go either way. One: maybe he didn’t because his mom is Jewish/non-Catholic or just because his parents didn’t feel the need to send him to one, or two: he did attend a parochial school, at least for a little bit. However, since we know that Eddie and Chrissy attended the same school for middle school, there are also two ways that this can go. One is that Chrissy also attended the same parochial school and the talent show they talk about in the forest scene in 4.01 occurred at said parochial middle school. The other is that Eddie did attend a parochial school for a while but got kicked out and sent to Hawkins Middle School, where he then participates in the talent show. (I also think the concept of Eddie getting kicked out of a Catholic school and sent to a public school -- whatever the reason may be -- would add to his reputation and image as A Freak or Mean And Scary because did you hear that the weird new kid got kicked out of his other school? will always spawn rumors.)

In regards to Eddie’s personal beliefs, I think he’s kind of similar to Wayne, but also not. Whereas I see Wayne as “Catholic for convenience”, I see Eddie as more of just “Christian for convenience”, which to me just means that he’s not really sure what he believes, but when it comes down to it, he’ll say sure, I guess I believe that there is A God because it’s a little easier and a little less terrifying to believe in Something than it is to believe in Nothing. I don’t personally see Eddie as an atheist, because to me, he seems like he would be the kind of person that wants to believe in something, but he doesn’t like to spend too long thinking about what exactly it is that he believes in (in regard to there being a higher power) because it’ll send him spiraling into some sort of existential crisis. Which, same.

I do think that Eddie would become disenchanted with and disconnected from the Catholic church as an entity/community, because I definitely think he disagrees with a LOT of the stuff that the church preaches/believes. Also, since Eddie’s a big fat nerd and I headcanon him as a major literature buff, I think he’s definitely read the Bible (and probably the Catholic Catechism as well) so that he can 1) call out aforementioned hypocritical Catholics/Christians and 2) get inspiration for writing campaigns and/or songs.

Somewhat unrelated, but in the one (upcoming) fic I have right now that bothers to explore the religious sides of the characters, I have Eddie attending mass with Wayne for Christmas, but it's an anomaly for him and he grumbles about it the whole time. (It's for plot purposes and he doesn't like it.)

And then of course, Eddie's probably really interested in the stories of some of the saints and martyrs because some of them are pretty fuckin' metal. I also think he's super interested in religious iconography and metaphors for some reason, and loves finding those references and metaphors in songs and books.

Side note: I don't necessarily think that being Catholic is something that would have Othered Eddie (and Wayne) in Hawkins, especially if there is a strong Catholic population, but I do think that because of Eddie's non-conformist attitude and apparent general disdain for authority, he would have been Othered by the church (or rather its parishioners) and probably therefore deemed Freak, Satanist, etc.

I also think there’s something to be said about Eddie being put in an almost Christ-like shepherd position with his freshman sheepies. Also, the sentiment expressed in Mark 2:17 feels vaguely Eddie-like. (For those not familiar, this occurs when Jesus is asked by the pharisees and officials why he associates and eats with tax collectors and sinners, to which he replies “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”) However, I think that Eddie’s thing is less redeeming the sinners and more giving the excluded and ostracized a place to be included and treated well. But I digress.

Now, Chrissy. Dearest, loveliest Chrissy. While it is totally plausible that the Cunninghams are Presbyterian or Evangelical Christian or something else, miss girl has mega Repressed Catholic Girl Energy, so I’ve been headcanoning her family as Catholic. I definitely think Laura would use Catholicism (or Christianity in general) as a large tool in her attempts to control Chrissy and dictate her life. So like, because Catholicism is more strict/regimented/structured compared to other denominations like Baptist or Presbyterian, I think Laura would try to use it to make Chrissy’s life more strict/regimented/structured. (And also there’s the Guilt™️. Chrissy seems like the type of gal to be crippled by Catholic guilt.)

I’ve got this image in my head that I hope to be able to express in that upcoming wip I mentioned where Chrissy, once her mother (and Jason) starts trying to control her and obsess over her body, somehow equates the general “be Christ-like” thing with “Take this and eat of it; for this is my body, which has been given up for you” (which, again, for those unfamiliar with the proceedings of a Catholic mass, this is something that the priest says in regards to the Eucharist/communion wafers; it’s a reference to the last supper when Jesus broke bread and shared it with his disciples.) so she ends up letting her mother control her because that’s what she thinks is the right thing to do in order to “be Christ-like” and gain approval.

And then I know a lot of people headcanon Jason as the pastor’s son. In a story where they aren’t written as explicitly Catholic, I do like this headcanon because I think it would explain a lot about his character. However, in a setting where they are written as Catholic, I think Jason would be of the hypocritical sort. (He’ll preach the Bible at anyone he disagrees with, but then will turn around and completely disregard anything said about premarital sex, love thy neighbor, love thy enemy, etc. Essentially the sort of Christian that twists what’s said in the Bible to suit their needs and ignores the parts that they disagree with -- which is exactly the kind of person I think Eddie would read the entire Bible to be able to argue with.)

[soft-potatoe]

had a literal epiphany yesterday at like 2 in the morning and came up with a Dreamling AU that will send me straight into hell. (jesus!hob x dream as his usual self)

so anyway may I present to you the first dialoge snippet 🫴

"I keep dreaming about tearing it all down you know, about forcing people to be happy for once, to forget their shallow rules, their useless morals. Everyone is a hypocrite, everyone is a sinner before an all-knowing god."

He answers and juts his chin out, broadens his shoulders as if he's fighting a real battle and not just one of wits.

"Very insightful for a fisherman from galilea."

Hobab snorts at Oneiros' dry response and takes another swig of his mug. He's impetuous with that, too. Drinks so fast that wine escapes his lips and runs down his throat in glittering rivulets.

"I am many things, my dear Outis, a fisher, a carpenter, occasional sheperd of sheep and pigs." "And a sinner?"

Oneiros asks, and tilts his head in a manner that could be an insult or an invitation. Alluring him to another night in the embrace of his arms or tempting Hobab to betray himself, to deny his own words. Challenging him to insult himself as he insulted his fellow men or to claim the same righteous honour, he judged them for clinging to.

But Hobab's lips spring into a smile, as easy as foal to its mother. His face painted in a gentle red by the oil lamp's shine as he raises his mug to the heavens above.

"And a sinner!" He echoes Oneiros' words into the tavern.

(Please keep in mind that I wrote this while white specks appeared at the edge of my vision) (yes this is going to be a gruesome mixture from life of brian, that one amazing art of @alexxuun about hope!hob being jesus and the literal bible)

-> i am also still kind of very lost in terms of plot and actual storyline, so i am extremly open for input -> so please feel invited to comment or dm me if you have thoughts on how this AU could work

(Ps: google says the hebrew name Hobab means "favored/beloved, fitting don't you think?, also outis means 'nobody' in greek, it's what oddyseus calls himself when he's at that one eyed giants home)

(Pps: please note that i am not doing this to offend anybody, i'm just writing this to put my 18 years of catholic church membership and 8 years of christian private school to good use)

[purposefully-lost]

Charlie *usually* expects when Sandra is gonna stop by?? It's always the first of the month, and then sometimes on a Sunday or she'll try and invite him to the Wednesday night dinners the church usually has. Though she *does* come by occasionally when he isn't home, and he's aware of it about half the time because she'll have left a note or something.

I'm still kind of getting a feel for how I want to characterize her?? Definitely... Leaning very heavily into the kind of conservative Christian woman who is, on the surface, a good, god-fearing samaritan, but for whom a lot of that plays into status and social politics. She's involved with her church to a certain degree, but because that gives her bargaining power on what they do and how they use their resources. She's pretty and bubbly and comes off as sweet, but she weaponizes that. If she does something for another person it might be under the assumption that it's simply because it's Good, but it IS a favor she'll feel she's owed later, and she'll use it as leverage.

She's also, naturally, a textbook hypocrite. According to her and her friends, she's incredibly strong and brave for what she endured, surviving a divorce and raising four kids while separated, losing her two sons, her other kids being damaged by her ex-husband and thus they're queer or suffering mental issues... if another woman gets divorced, that's a failure of her strength. If another woman loses a child to anything but chance, or their child is an addict with severe social hang-ups, that's their failure as a mother. It's those conservative layers and layers of self-defense that come up as a result of a refusal to ever admit being wrong.

And then.. she's a prosecutor by trade. She knows how to talk the talk, whether that's playing up a victim or a suspect. Pretty much everyone knows Charlie hasn't done anything wrong- not on the level of an actual crime- but she's got him convinced that he's still guilty. Maybe he didn't directly, physically hurt anyone, but it was his stubbornness and his flaws that got them there. She's almost got him convinced he's got anger issues when that's not the case at all- it's so hard to read him as angry (especially to the point of real violence) as opposed to actively scared and anxious.

She wants things under her control and she does truly believe that if Charlie would just get his act together and the follow the very specific paths she believes are the correct ones, he'd end up fine, but that's a whole lot of ignoring real issues she's done to reach that conclusion.

[nochi-quinn]

campaign 3 episode 58: brb flying to la to steal matt's shins

I got sick again today but I'M TRYING

they got him!!

"we really should give all our producers a raise"

marisha that top

I believe the trope is magipunk but obvs I haven't seen it yet

HOWEVER magipunk is one of my favorite tropes so I'm hoping

game now called Taliesin's Baby

I hate literally every second of this

"teeth, tentacles and terror" hate that too

mapphew strikes again

"the trees have bones"

"we had a real estate agent but they ghosted us" BOO

"it's a bit much"

"I think you grabbed the one that was too big"

augh the wolf snouts coming out of it

"six :D"

HATE THAT NOISE

matt's noises are also hurting my brain so this tracks

nobody gets freaked out by legendary actions like travis gets freaked out by legendary actions

"BUT THAT'S METAGAMING"

"he's actually half butts"

matt says Make Expensive Choices

why does laura sound like she's on Old Timey Radio

I WARNED YOU ABOUT STAIRS BRO

it's a Wet Monster it should take double from lightning

Chew Again

BIT IT AND QUIT IT

"how many of its butts fell off"

guiding bolt upp the butt(s)

FEARNE

"matthew how DARE you roll a natural 20"

NINE

FRIDA

somebody curse matt's dice

trade matt's dice with laura's

frida pulling every available feat out to throw at the meat tower

Action Surge Sharpshooter Grit Point is the fighter version of Reckless Great Weapon Master

"please gif that"

"aRe YoU uSiNg ThE sAmE dIcE"

"say parmesan if you want me to hit him" "PARMESAN"

"OKLAHOMA SAFE WORD"

a whole lot of rules just got flung around and I zoned out in self-defense

"a weird divacup for this massive period stain"

AUNT FLOW

"does it have eyes" "occasionally" "you can't SAY THAT"

hey I hate it

"a roll I wish I had failed"

gay

"tree trunk of skin" [lenny]

"it's not the holy grail!" "if you read enough dan brown - kinda!"

liam is here in spirit

AND ON SAM'S GAS CAN APPARENTLY

"GIVE HER BANGS"

"no, we just got the art"

oh hate

oh HATE

please run. please leave.

it is going to Eat You

"I rolled a 1 but it comes out to 23"

this is the closest we've gotten to matt breaking out an hourglass in a while

"paper - not being humanoid - because it's a piece of paper - "

"it's nOT A DILDO"

"frida - take this down"

CHRISTIAN

"and then I burn the notes and leave" okay arkhan

"just be a little smarter, okay?"

and then it WORKED

"this gargamel motherfucker stealing smurfs"

"I've never read a book. I'm actually older than books."

not the dot matrix printer

"be careful, link….the yuck moon rises once again…"

"I only saw her from the back but my god was she beautiful"

"abs for days"

COBOSO

"I don't know why wizards would have abs"

"it was very sad, he died, clearly"

irl gifts IRL GIFTS

SHIRTS

"I invented polyester"

and in the COLOR SCHEMES

"it's segmented, sepratated" sasha nein's mindscape

"you're a mess"

don't chase the rabbit!

if there are stars when you look down -

everybody gets presents

"it's a sweatshirt made out of wood"

YOU ARE WHO YOU CHOOSE TO BE

"one more?" "…….ka-put"

EVERYBODY GETS PRESENTS

eabria come get your smut

their collective quest to get travis to turn into a tomato

I can't believe this is canon

they almost have to swap back now right. right? this is such a good place to wrap up. please return the other half of the table.

thank you for not being That Guy matt

;-;

HEY MATT??

YOU'VE SUFFERED A TERRIBLE FATE HAVEN'T YOU

the RED END

did fcg just become a champion?

IS DEANNA BEING MADE A CHAMPION?

gods going through their whole rolodex sending out SOSes

I forgot how much of a dick pelor is

I'm sorry, the ~dawnfather~

wait is the spider queen freaking out at opal? is this a disaster on both sides of the aisle?

where's opal, I wanna talk to opal

imogen is the kid who grew up secular and heard about every different religion from pop culture osmosis

(imogen is me)

it's a Stuff-Doing-Coin

see in scripted media her giving him the ring would be an enormous death flag. it still kind of is because I'm a paranoid panda but still

you have to give travis the inventory it's the rules

SDKJFLKSD

matt

THE RTA

sam sploded

this is tonight's real lore drop

just throw a dart at the map

it does DAMAGE?

"why does he say it like that"

MATTHOLOMEW MERCER

"WHAT'S NEW JERSEY"

liam's not even here to do the accent

"that's more fun" FOR WHO

NO FUCK YOU

LAURA

MATT

I HATE EVERYONE HERE

"I can't tell if she's doing a bit"

BEEN A WHILE SINCE I WANTED TO FIGHT THEM IN THE PARKING LOT AFTER THE SHOW BUT HERE WE ARE

[hyvnjinfm]

hello hello !! my name is urban & i'm hyunjin's mun <3 i use she & they pronouns & i'm in the cst timezone. below the cut is some background information & some facts on hyunjin. tw: religious trauma, drug use, internalized & plain ol' homophobia !!!!!

{ URBAN, 21, CST, SHE/THEY } —— look who’s joining the infinite tour! only JO HYUNJIN, who is the MAIN VOCALIST OF BRAVEHEART. i’ve heard whispers that the TWENTY-THREE year old is pretty ACCEPTING but lowkey CYNICAL. also, doesn’t she remind you of KIM YERIM?

stats page. pinterest board. ( wip ) wanted connections. ( also wip )

♡ past & present ♡

born in busan & lived there till she was fourteen !! ever since she was about seven years old, she's been obsessed with music. it's had a huge influence on her life.

her parents are professional musicians, they play in orchestras during musicals, operas, and other performances. they supported her all the way through her journey exploring different instruments and developing her voice. she was more serious about singing than anything else she did, though she did enjoy playing the violin.

she eventually discovered she also enjoyed dancing, but was noticeably less proficient at that. still, she was determined to dance.

she was raised in a christian family and went to an extremely christian private school most of her life. she realized after she left how much it messed with her, but she was a huge rebel in school and was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder for being herself. she was also diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, which heavily impacted/impacts her day to day life.

her parents and peers would spout homophobia rhetoric constantly, which caused her a lot of distress. she was already considered a bad apple by her anyone not in her immediate family.

her parents were surprisingly kind and patient with her, despite being intolerant of many other things.

one thing hyunjin really actually enjoyed was singing in the choir, she finds choir music to be one of the most beautiful things in the world.

she switched to a performing arts high school & moved to seoul when she was fourteen.

while she was made fun of occasionally, she mostly stayed out of people's way so the taunting was kept to a minimum. she found it was easier to be quiet than be loud, it attracted less attention to her. she only liked getting attention for her beautiful voice and face.

she started training at fourteen as well, she tried to keep it a secret because she didn't want to get told she'd never make it. hyunjin's always known she was meant for stardom.

it was a rough three years, but she eventually debuted when she turned seventeen. it took about a year for her to adjust to being an idol, it was really hard for hyunjin but her parents continued their support.

the attention braveheart was getting was bittersweet, the hate really weighed on her but she was shown just as much love.

she LOVES valentines with her entire soul, fans are always pointing out how excited she is every time she meets a fan.

however, with other idols she's known to be a bit stand offish and easily irritated. she feels like most idols aren't in it for the music, but rather the money and fame. you have to be extremely determined to be her friend to actually break through to her.

she comes off very friendly and kinda, but definitely judges people in her head and doesn't share much about herself. someone can consider her a friend, but she won't consider them one.

obsessed with the other members of braveheart tho. like OBSESSED.

♡ fun facts !! ♡

hyunjin is also OBSESSED with all things weird and unconventional. because of this, i like to say she is an acquired taste. she's insecure about it, but also doesn't completely understand why she is. she has a really hard time processing her emotions and will often take them out on others.

she still plays to this day & makes up violin versions of braveheart's songs.

she believes in ghosts and spirits, also interested in the occult and witchcraft. basically everything she was taught is bad.

hyunjin loves collecting animal bones, but she doesn't talk about it on television or to anyone besides her members and close friends.

big psychadelic girl, she only started trying them to see different perspectives of the world and maybe connect with supernatural beings. it doesn't really work, she just stares at her shoe laces most of the time.

she's super lowkey about her usage, often doing it by herself without a trip sitter. it's not fun sometimes, but she doesn't really care lmfao.

hyunjin will watch every gory movie and show and eat at the same time.

she listens to abba and mitski religiously. she has a secret tattoo of garfield the cat saying "mitski." ( not me stealing this idea from my friend )

hyunjin is just really weird and insecure and also doesn't care about anything. please be nice

[thepoetrytheorist]

On one hand, its good to learn about how different people interpret things

On the other hand, its easy to forget that this is the no-nuance website that takes everything at face value. Meaning that if you say "I'm jewish and this is the interpretation of the story I was raised on" you probably recognise that there are going to be a multitude of opinions on this.

The christians and christian atheists on this godforbidden webbedsite will not read "hey im jewish and this is the interpretation of the story i was raised on" as "hey this is just one of many opinions that I am most familiar with, which I am presenting my personal knowledge on. The authoritative voice I am using in my post is more out of professionalism and a deep love for my culture than a one-click-says-all authority."

Im serious, having grown up interfaith and occasionally posting about my experiences in both orthodox and reform Judaism on this site in a spoonfed manner for xtian audiences [primarily mormon, because i have a blog dedicated to my experiences growing up as a mormon jew and im sick of the antisemitismin inherent in that religion] , has led to [often leftist] christians /christian atheists being like "Wow, this is the ancient jewish way! So much better than the backwards christian society of 'murica today"

Like no! Im just dumbing this down a lot because if i included years of debate and history about my personal experiences, then this wouldnt be a fun and quippy informational textpost, it would be a 2-semester long lecture experience [which still wouldnt be enough to fully understand it]!

ok i get the desire to push back against annoying dominant christian interpretations of the torah/old testament. i really do. however i also wish that people would stop being like “actually, the jewish perspective on this is–” before listing off one (1) jewish perspective, usually either reform or humanistic, that also happens to be the most politically convenient and moral according to the standards of tumblr. like y’all if anyone tells you that there is only one jewish interpretation of something you should know that they are probably wrong, there’s at least one jew out there who would vehemently disagree with them, and also judaism is a complex living culture that you really should not put on a pedestal

[singthesongsofsin]

⇷ / for Hellaina!

@k1ttyb0t | Send “⇷” to view a memory from my muse’s past life.

Sacramento, California. Circa 1967.

The kitchen table is between her and Josie, because her sister has decided to have this conversation instead of just letting it happen, and letting it go. Hellaina's still feeling rough from the procedure: blood, and the occasional bout of nausea. It's why she came out into the kitchen at all, for a cup of peppermint tea.

Her doctor had been good, and more importantly, sympathetic. He'd fallen hook, line, and sinker for the pretty blonde girl's sob story about her boyfriend and what having this kid would do to her, et cetera, et cetera. It had even been partially true, it would cause 'emotional and physical distress'... even if that was entirely because it interrupted her plans.

Hellaina sets her hands on top of the counter, fingers splayed, refusing to bend to her sister's judgement.

"Hel-"

"Don't."

"You didn't have to get an abortion."

And there's her sister's holier than thou attitude, the little cross necklace glinting at her collar selling the whole thing.

"No? What were my choices?"

"Well you could have raised them." Hellaina laughs, rolling her eyes. "Your boyfriend-"

"Experiment," she corrects. Her sister's expression turns puzzled, and Hellaina almost wants sigh. An abortion was unthinkable, but her being a lesbian is somehow even more so. Well, it's not like she could disappoint her family any more. "I don't like men, Josie. He was a curiosity, and an underwhelming one at that. He left me with a slight problem so I dealt with it."

It hadn't been a question either. Sure, the side-effects had been enough to give her a pause for a day or a two, but when there was a time limit, it had been easy enough to harden her heart to the choice. Though, her expression twitches, but she refuses to give her the sister the satisfaction of seeing her twitch, even as her stomach rolls again.

"Or," Josie says, breezing past that revelation. "I would have raised them."

And that is enough to make her laugh, pressing a hand to her mouth. "Oh, oh right, your good Christian charity. I forgot."

Josie's expression twists, and she stands up straighter, moving to grip the back of the dining chair. "What? It would have been a better solution."

Hellaina's laughter dies down, and she shakes her head. "Right," she says, the vowel elongating into sarcasm. "Because you never would have held it over my head." She pitches her voice up, deliberately mocking. "'Look at me, being the good daughter, taking in your mistake while you go off and live an exciting life.' Don't pretend you wouldn't have held it over me forever."

No, no, better to have a clean break. "So you think that murder is a better option? So you can go and have some illustrious 'future'?"

"You might be happy living and dying for mediocrity, but I'm not. Especially not here for another year for a half dozen cells." She already has her bus tickets bought-- did the day she got the procedure done. A week, and she'd be gone.

"You bitch," Josie, says, with a vitriol that Hellaina is ill used to seeing from her sister, and it's enough to shock her.

"Oooh, look at you, using some adult words."

"You have never been content with this place. Little miss too good for this. Graduated, and you don't care about anyone do you?" Josie says it as critique, a cutting remark. Hellaina supposes to Josie, it must seem like the largest possible sin.

A lifetime coming to this. A screaming match, or half a step off, over their childhood kitchen table.

They've never been close, so it's not like she can be surprised. Her sister has always been too much like their mother. Their mother with her crucifix on the bedroom wall, and the absent husband, and the thinly veiled derogatory remarks that led her to taking Spanish all through high school. Their mother who isn't half as happy as she portrays to the neighbors and her sister is just two decades off the same fate.

"Congratulations for figuring that much out." She says, turning away, and taking a step towards the hallway with her room. "We're done here. I've done it, you disagree. Let's not prolong this anymore than we have to.

"Hel-" her sister's voice raises behind her, the last syllable muffled through the slam of her bedroom door.