#Last Liturgy

[boobskin]

"so, like, are you some kind of goth?"

[curiosity-killed]

covenant

[ALT ID: A digital painting of Vash from Trigun and a Dependent Plant. Vash's hands are seen, cupping starry water that bleeds down from the veins in his wrist over the Plant's head. The Plant rises from dark, starry water with multiple sets of wings and glowing eyes.]

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

if the purpose of contemporary worship is to meet the culture where it's at, we are about to lose the need for contemporary worship

I don't think I'm imagining that the trend in both high-profile and social media conversion testimonies in recent years is that people are broken down by the self-focused, anti-corporeal, progressive spiritualism of modern secularism and instead are looking for community-based, embodied, historical religion

this is why they tend to start with and end up in the Latin Mass Roman Catholic or conservative-leaning mainline protestant churches

all I'm sayin is that when you have Richard Dawkins declaring he wants to remain in a culture that sings hymns and builds beautiful churches...that's your sign to start thinkin bout liturgy

[richmond-rex]

[Henry VII's] addition of the Angel to the royal touch ceremony was significant. The gold coin increased the prestige of the ritual as Angels were made from 22-carat gold and contained more of this metal than any other English coin. During the reign of Henry VII, the Angel was worth 6s. 8d.: medieval kings had given each person whom they touched one penny, so the gift of the Angel marked a very substantial increase in value. Although Henry VII became notoriously parsimonious as his reign progressed, he remained generous to the poor and sick. The coin played a key role in the ceremony, contributing to the restoration of health alongside the king’s touch.

— Stephen Brogan, The Royal Touch in Early Modern England: Politics, Medicine and Sin

It seems likely that Henry introduced the liturgy and the gift of the gold Angel to supplicants in order to make the ceremony more efficacious, possibly because he was aware that it did not always cure people of their scrofula. In part, this showed his concern for his ill subjects, but at the same time, a more effective ceremony could strengthen his authority as king, given that his accession disrupted the direct line of succession. One way of enhancing the power of the royal touch was evidently to standardise the ritual; the other concerned the Angels.

The exalted status of the Angel also had the effect of bringing the ceremony in line with pilgrimages made by the sick to healing shrines. Of course, it had always been the case that people with scrofula had to travel to the royal court, and pilgrims to a shrine, and that both healing rituals required faith and involved prayer, but the Angel added a new aspect to the royal touch in the way that badges and souvenirs did for pilgrimages. Just as pilgrims could buy badges at shrines to honour their petition to a saint, or souvenirs such as phials of holy oil, so people who had been touched were meant to wear their Angel around their neck afterwards [...] Angels and other Christian tokens can be thought of as part of a gift economy, material objects that marked the process whereby supplicants offered allegiance to an intercessionary figure who could act as a conduit for God’s grace which could cure their ailments, or ward off misfortune.

[thebirdandhersong]

Well! New day new disappointment

[closeted-goth]

did music have a mid year? just looking at my end of year playlist - which I don't post anymore anyway - and there's like five albums in here. end, hirs collective, scaring the hoes, pupil slicer and spanish love songs. did I just miss everything or was there not much out for a fella like myself?

[coffee-without-anesthetics]

the indescribable relationship between me and this quartet for the end of time

[devotedlystrangewizard]

anyway got avani through most of sb and all of post-sb in 2 days. skipped most cutscenes. just did holminster switch.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

To follow up on my Hosanna poll, I think before things go any further, it'd be good to actually explain and define it. I was initially going to wait until the end of the poll, but it seems that google is giving people a lot of bad and/or conflicting answers and I'd rather people walk away with the correct information.

So! Hosanna is an anglicized version of the Hebrew words "hosha na" [הוש�� נא or as a contraction הושענא]. Hosha na is a little enigmatic and hard to translate, but the simplest translation is probably "save us, please." It's traditionally used as an exclamation to G-d to rescue us, but it also has shades of being a triumphant shout (the implication being confidence that G-d will save us.)

Jews say "hoshanot" (the plural of hosha na) as part of our traditional Sukkot liturgy, and is something we do still today.

For us, the multi-faceted meaning of the root word allows us to have multiple layers of meaning. During Sukkot, we start praying for rain in its proper season and amounts, and we shake the lulav and etrog as part of these processions and liturgy. On Hoshana Rabba [the "great hoshana"], the last day of Sukkot, we process around the bimah (front lectern) seven times as a completion of our season of repentance and our starting of the new year with abundant blessings.

My siddur (prayer book) Lev Shalem has this as an explanation and translation:

[Image ID is of the Lev Shalem siddur, pages 382 & 383 - I tried hard to find a pdf of this that would be readable using a screen reader, but the versions I'm finding cut off at pg. 376 at the latest. If anyone has bandwidth to type this up, I would greatly appreciate it]

For the curious, here is a recording of the Hoshanot liturgy and procession:

Christians mostly know the word from the gospels and hymns.

Here is what Wikipedia says about its use in Christianity:

Historical meaning

Since those welcoming Jesus were Jewish, as of course Jesus himself was, some would interpret the cry of "Hosanna" on the entry of Jesus in its proper meaning, as a cry by the people for salvation and rescue.

Christian reinterpretation

"Hosanna" many interpret as a shout of praise or adoration made in recognition of the messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem

It is applied in numerous verses of the New Testament, including "Hosanna! blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ!" (Matthew 21:9,15; Mark 11:9–10; John 12:13), which forms part of the Sanctus prayer; "hosanna in the highest" (Mark 11.10); and "hosanna to the Son of David" (Matt 21:9). These quotations, however, are of words in the Jewish Psalm 118. Although not used in the book of Luke, the testimony of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is recorded in Luke 19.

In church music

The "Hosanna Anthem", based on the phrase Hosanna, is a traditional Moravian Church anthem written by Bishop Christian Gregor of Herrnhut sung on Palm Sunday and the first Sunday of Advent. It is antiphonal, i.e. a call-and-response song; traditionally, it is sung between the children and adult congregation, though it is not unheard of for it to be done in other ways, such as between choir and congregation, or played between trombone choirs.

The bottom line:

Jews and Christians have different connections, associations, and meanings attached to this word as expressions of our different theologies and texts. The word is derived from a Hebrew word and was created by Jews and is still used by us today. (Like literally today - we are currently in the middle of the Sukkot festival.) Christians changed the meaning to fit within their own context, and pronunciation of the word evolved with linguistic drift over time. In the same way that there's not a reason to pitch a fit over saying Jesus rather than Yeshua, there's no compelling reason to change hosanna back to hosha na; if anything, the distinction helps make it clear that it's effectively a different word and concept from ours.

On the other hand, I do think Christians ought to know the original meaning of the word if they're going to use it. To only ever know their version when it was derived from ours is yet another small way of playing into supercessionism by erasing and replacing the Jewish context of things that were originated in Judaism that Christians have embedded in Christianity. While the Christians of today cannot unwind the supercessionism of Christian history, they *can* choose to understand their present Christianity in ways that do not play into supercessionism and that respect the Jewish community of today.

I hope this was helpful and gives folks a new perspective on an obscure Hebrew word!

[prolifeproliberty]

Had a conversation with a couple friends last night where we were talking about just how out of hand weddings get, and I brought up the fact that weddings in Christian-majority cultures used to not be separate events. Sure, if you were royalty/nobility you’d have a big spectacle, but partially because your wedding was also a political event.

For a long time in Christian cultures, the wedding happened on a Sunday during normal Mass/church service, just as Baptisms and confirmations do today.

When I said this, my friends (who have two small children) expressed how beautiful they thought that was (not overdoing the spectacle, keeping it connected to the church and focused on Jesus, having the whole church family there, etc) and how they hoped for something like that for their children.

Maybe this is the answer to the spectacle of weddings. You can still have a nice dress, you can still hold a bouquet, you can still have friends and family there. But the purpose of the wedding ceremony is to have your community there as witnesses - yes, if your best friend from childhood wants to fly in, that’s awesome. But who is going to be there to support you as a couple when the honeymoon phase ends? Your church community.

We might need to start encouraging the trend of making weddings part of the life of the Church again, rather than a spectacle of wealth that puts new couples in debt (new couples who then say they can’t afford to have kids…)

In a Facebook group I’m a part of, someone shared this video. It’s from a Lutheran church in Romania. This was their Sunday service yesterday, and it included a wedding (skip to 1:01:55 for that part)

Note, I don’t know this couple. I don’t know what things about this ceremony were their choice, or were tradition in their community. I don’t know if the woman chose a simple dress because she’s just not a fancy dress person.

But what I love about this is that it’s a simple wedding where marriage is still seen as a sacred bond. This isn’t a courthouse wedding or a Vegas chapel wedding. It’s sacred, it’s reverent, it’s special, and it’s simple. Christ is the center, and everything is draped with the Word of God and the historic liturgy of the Church.

If you chose to do your wedding this way, you could still wear a fancier dress, you could still have your father (or other father figure) walk you down the aisle and give you away. But a wedding during the church service with a cake and punch reception in the fellowship hall after service is every bit as a valid as the $100k weddings on TikTok. In fact, with the research on the relationship between wedding cost and divorce rate, the simple wedding is likely better.

Now, I’m saying this as someone who had a relatively expensive wedding, at least compared to the video above. My parents were willing to pay for the bells and whistles because I’m the only daughter, they had a simple wedding, and they wanted me to have all the things. I very much appreciate their willingness to do so, and I have great memories from that day. But it wouldn’t have weakened my marriage in any way if we had a simpler wedding, and if we had a culture where simple church weddings were the norm, I think we’d have fewer divorces.

[poniranje]

The Slav Epic No. 1: Slavs in Their Original Homeland, Between the Turanian Whip and the Sword of the Goths

The Slav Epic No. 2: The Celebration of Svantovit, When Gods Are at War, Salvation Is in the Arts

The Slav Epic No. 3: The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy, Praise the Lord in Your Native Tongue

The Slav Epic No. 4: The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon, The Morning Star of Slavonic Literature

The Slav Epic No. 5: The Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II, The Union of Slavic Dynasties

The Slav Epic No. 6: The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan as East Roman Emperor, The Slavic Code of Law

The Slav Epic No. 7: Jan Milíč of Kroměříž, A Brothel Converted to a Convent

The Slav Epic No. 8: Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel, Truth Prevails

The Slav Epic No. 9: The Meeting at Křížky, Utraquism

The Slav Epic No. 10: After the Battle of Grunwald, The Solidarity of the Northern Slavs

The Slav Epic No. 11: After the Battle of Vítkov Hill, God Represents Truth, Not Power

The Slav Epic No. 12: Petr Chelčický at Vodňany, Do Not Repay Evil With Evil

The Slav Epic No. 13: The Hussite King Jiří of Poděbrady, Treaties Are to Be Observed

The Slav Epic No. 14: Defense of Sziget Against the Turks by Nicholas Zrinsky, The Shield of Christendom

The Slav Epic No. 15: The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivančice, God Gave Us a Gift of Language

The Slav Epic No. 16: The Last days of Jan Amos Komenský in Naarden, A Flicker of Hope

The Slav Epic No. 17: Holy Mount Athos, Sheltering the Oldest Orthodox Literary Treasures

The Slav Epic No. 18: The Oath of Omladina Under the Slavic Linden Tree, The Slavic Revival

The Slav Epic No. 19: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia, Work in Freedom Is the Foundation of a State

The Slav Epic No. 20: Apotheosis of the Slavs, Slavs for Humanity

Alphonse Mucha

Source

[etz-ashashiyot]

I'm bored and stuck waiting and happened to remember that on my old blog I had made this statement:

Since I have a minute, I figured I'd finally drop the list with some brief explanations:

1. By Way Of Sorrow - Coyote Grace version

This song and its lyrics, especially as sung by a queer/trans bluegrass band, could not be more Jew-ish in vibe. I am aware this is a cover, but I have only ever heard their version and that's the one that matters to me. I love love love this song, so much, and it perfectly captures how I feel about having been welcomed into the Jewish people after years of exclusion and othering from numerous other quarters. Am Yisrael has taken me in, treated me like family, connected me to the Divine, healed my wounds, and helped me feel as whole as one can in a broken and unredeemed world - while giving me the tools to join the work of tikkun olam myself.

2. The Farthest Field - The Lumber Jills version

This is the best version I could find; the original I was shown I can't find but will link if I do. This song was actually introduced to me by one of my orthodox rabbis, and I agree with him that it can be understood as a beautiful image of geulah.

3. Hallelujah - Coyote Grace & Girlyman

This one just makes me happy, and the words, message, and themes are very on-brand for Jewish vibes as well in my opinion.

4. Be Thou My Vision - old Irish Hymn (this version and this version are my favorites)

This one is very obviously a hymn and therefore decidedly Not Jewish. On the other hand, the words aren't so explicitly Christian that it rules out use by Jews (in my opinion) and especially if you translate the words into Hebrew, it sounds just like a traditional piyyut. (@springstarfangirl if you want to add your beautiful translation, please feel free!)

5. Down to the River to Pray - Alison Krauss

This is one where I do think the lyrics are a lot closer to being Christian specific, but it makes the list for a couple reasons: first, I've encountered it in Jewish-specific contexts without modification (one of our rabbis actually had us sing it like a regular song during zemirot), and second, there's a modified version by Nefesh Mountain that's quite enjoyable.

6. Whither Thou Goest - traditional

Yes, this one is a hymn too, but the words are directly quoting the Book of Ruth - her famous vows to Naomi, and to the Jewish people - and so it's already practically a Jewish song. It also has a special place of pride for me as a ger, and also because I used it as my wedding song in both the English (as heard in this version) and I also transliterated the Hebrew for our singer to do as well. It works nicely in both languages!

7. Roll the Ol' Chariot - David Coffin

This one I think is a little less direct, but I love it and included it for two reasons: first, it's a song of getting through it and surviving and thriving under tough circumstances, and second, you could very easily put liturgy to this melody instead.

8. For the Autumn Sky - traditional

Ignoring the last verse, this hymn could be very easily adapted into a beautiful Sukkot melody. For the last verse, I'd either simply leave it out, or one could write a Sukkot or Tu Bishvat themed verse to distinguish it. Incidentally, this was one of my favorite hymns growing up.

9. Sanctuary - Shaker melody

The video for this one is obviously mega-Christian, but it's on the list because we actually sing it all the time in shul and it has a special place in my memory from going to camp as a kid. Our shul is definitely not the only one who uses it in a Jewish context, either: this version by Cantor Julia Cadrain is really lovely.

10. Genesis 3:23 - The Mountain Goats

Where are my fellow Mountain Goats fans?? I know you're out there, lol. Look, I know that John Darnielle is coming at this from a Christian perspective, but two things: first of all, TMG has a number of Jewish fans I think at least in part because the lyrics speak deeply to the specific feelings around life (and other people) being horrible to you, surviving, and thriving even in the wake of deep trauma. Second of all, I think this one in particular brings up a number of interesting ideas about the meaning of home, of homecoming, of returning to a home that no longer really exists in the same way, and of exile and redemption. What would it look like to return to Gan Eden? Is this what geulah is supposed to look like, at least in some interpretations? What does it mean if not?

Anyway, this is it for now, but I may add to this list later, because there are definitely a few more! Please also feel free to add your own in the notes!

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Saint John Chrysostom Bishop and Doctor of the Church c. 344-407 Feast Day: September 13 (New), January 27 (Trad) Patronage: orators, preachers, speakers, lecturers, education, epilepsy, Constantinople

Saint John Chrysostom was born to a Christian mother and a pagan Roman father. His father died, and his mother guided his education with the best of Christian and Greek philosophies and tutors. He became an eloquent orator (being called “Golden Mouth”), writing about the priesthood, marriage, and care for the poor and sick. His most famous homily is “On the Resurrection” and he edited the liturgy of St. Basil the Great. When he was Bishop of Constantinople, the empress Extoxia, exiled him because he was too influential. He died in exile, his last words were “Glory to God for all things”.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[eretzyisrael]

HOW DO WE CELEBRATE ROSH HASHANAH?

Rosh Hashanah, the birthday of the universe, is a two-day holiday that is both festive and solemn. We joyously proclaim our allegiance to the King of the Universe, while humbly beseeching our Creator to grant us another year of life, a year of peace, prosperity, and goodness. 

Rosh Hashanah is known as the Day of Judgment because on on this day “all inhabitants of the world pass before God like a flock of sheep” and the Heavenly Court decrees “who shall live and who shall die… who shall be impoverished and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise.” (Rosh Hashanah liturgy). We examine our deeds since last year’s holiday, make an honest accounting of our sins and misbehaviors, and pray earnestly for the strength and wisdom to do better in the new year. It is the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance, also known as the Days of Awe, which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. 

SHINE A LIGHT  Every major Jewish holiday starts with lighting candles. Jewish women and girls (or men living alone) light candles on each evening of Rosh Hashanah with the appropriate blessings. 

HEAR THE HORN On Rosh Hashanah it is a commandment for Jews to hear the sound of the shofar (Num. 29:1). The shofar is an instrument made from the horn of a ram or other kosher animal. Its loud resonant sound pierces the depths of our soul and inspires us to return to God. The shofar is a wake-up call to repentance. It evokes the shofar blasts that were heard when God descended on Mount Sinai and gave us the Torah. It also recalls the binding of Isaac, who was saved when God showed Abraham a ram to bring as an offering instead of his beloved son. 

SHOW ME THE HONEY Before each of the four festive Rosh Hashanah meals (two on each day), we make kiddush over wine or grape juice. We eat round challah, often with raisins, and dip it into honey rather than salt to express our wish for a sweet year. There are a variety of symbolic foods "simanim" that are eaten, including a fish head so that “we might be a head and not a tail” and pomegranate so that “our merits be many like the seeds of a pomegranate.” 

DAY TO PRAY Much of the day is spent in synagogue praying with the community. The Machzor (holiday prayerbook) contains all of the Rosh Hashanah prayers and Torah readings. The shofar is sounded 100 times during the Rosh Hashanah service (except on Shabbat.)

TAKE ME TO THE RIVER On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to go to a body of water and perform the Tashlich ceremony, in which we ceremonially cast our sins into the water, evoking the verse “And You shall cast their sins into the depth of the sea.” (Micah 7:19). If you’re not able to do it on Rosh Hashanah, Tashlich can be performed until Hoshana Rabba (7th day of Sukkot.)

[therealslimshakespeare]

Dear John || Don’t be Sore

Or alternate title: “You’ve got mail, you mopey sunnvavitch”

Warnings: 18+ sensuality, suggestive language in letters, reference to fellas “giving each other a hand” and angst.

Requested: yes! -taking Bucky to the pinup wall to give him pep talks/Bucky learning Julie Jean wears his coat

“Who’s yours from Buck?”

Crank’s voice interrupted Gale’s attempt to ingrain into his mind the sweetly feminine scent lingering on the letter. “Marge.” he mumbled blissfully into the crinkled paper.

“Maaaarge.” Bucky echoed drolly, past being shy over the rabid sort of pain he felt each time the mail came and -sorry Egan, no dice.

It was bad not getting any letters, yet he wasn’t alone in his plight this mail run. But Bucky was pretty sure he had those others beat for just how few he had *ever* gotten.

No holdup, no pesky censor, just a failure to set it up right for times like these. And funny enough, Bucky now missed the exercise of writing, brief as his attempt had been. He probably should’ve made a journal instead of pouring every hapless thought onto paper and sending it to a Cotton Candy goddess in Neverland, but he’d enjoyed it. Now though, now it might as well have been a journal, all that writing he did, the lovely recipient of those letters was now as silent as leather and pages.

And now in camp, letters from Marge made Buck’s face light up with adoration and hope that years of Bucky’s own devotion hadn't once sparked in those eyes or twitched upon those lips -unless in fond aggravation, cautionary amusement.

Marge.

Bucky had liked her better when he didn’t need all the love she took, back before Gale hadn’t dwindled down to Egan’s single reason to live.

Gale had Marge for that.

Buck didn’t have his ear pinned to the radio for a single warble of a famous voice, Buck didn’t have to pace a circle asking what kinda deluded looney he was to think she was actually seeding her broadcasts with hints to him that she remembered him still. Acorn. The monotony of this place made you doubt you knew your mother’s name, much less things like Julie Jean’s turn of phrase when asking after how he liked his drink, shaken or stirred?

It had been easier back when there had been broadcasts. Back before the damned radio got found. Busted, and Bucky seethed over it for more reasons than one, but he had a suspicion his bunk mates were sadder his tranquilizing weekly ritual of listening to her was no longer available.

They’d taken extreme measures as a result, hauling him by the collar to the pinup wall and making him recite a crass liturgy of devotion to her and renewal of promise that worked for a few weeks.

“Why’re you down Bucky?” Brady had nearly begged him when this tradition became monotonous in turn like everything else around here, “It’s not like she stopped talking to you, just the fuckin’ krouts took her away for a bit.”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s right, Major.” Demarco would pile on, “She still cares about you! Just because you can’t hear it don’t mean she’s not still saying it.”

The truth of it was he was still down. Whether it was the knock to the head or this place, his competitive spirit had turned sour, and as his own happiness plummeted, his ability to be glad of others’ began to crumble. And that felt disorienting all on its own, like he had some ugly and bitter little fella takin’ up residence where his heart once gloated and loved freely.

He knew it had something to do with it all when winter’s first trying chills made Buck shiver in his bunk, teeth chattering so near to John’s head he didn’t even think before he took what he himself wanted most. He had climbed in and held him, stiff and bewildered and a little begrudging as he was, Buck was dear and warm and would die for John, that much he knew. And John loved him.

“You’d make a great dame.” he told his poor friend one night like an idiot, drunk off of months of not being kicked out of his bunk. Maybe Acorn had been right in one of her last letters, one she sent in reply to the candid photographs of base that Bucky had developed and sent to her: she’d said he had a type. Tracing Gale’s cherub lips in a room full of snoring men in the dead of night…maybe he did.

“Can I help?” Buck had offered instead of kicking him out right then and there: because Buck was good and Buck was observant, and what Buck had allowed that night settled something in John just enough that the next time he was taken to the Spank Bank Wall, The Hall of Hopes and Dreams -he could muster up some good humor, enough to soothe Brady’s concern in turn.

“Thinkin’ of makin’ a crystal radio.” his little Kriegi Marconi had dared next week, and John was kept occupied again for the next weeks rounding up the supplies to make it happen, an amusing pantomime of his childhood games of playing a bootlegger

No one even knew if it would work. And in the meantime it was a horrible suspense not knowing what the hell was going on “out there” all while having to hide the evidence of their collection in here. And then in the middle of it all, once more-

“Who’s yours from?”

“Marge.”

“Maaaarge.” Bucky predictably parroted, Crank and Benny got letters this time too, and that was good for them.

Buck’s face while perusing his letter however, was not the typical luminous glow of an ardent young cherub in love, and that had the odd effect of worrying Bucky. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s, she’s bein-“ he trailed off, flipping the letter back and forth and scrutinizing it intensely, “I think she’s hinting somethin’. Where’s that envelope? Hell Benny, don’t put the plate on it!”

“Sorry major.”

Buck took the worn envelope and shook it, prying the seams apart until like an old dream replayed, a little square and shiny card floated to the ground. John kept himself seated, not even ready to dare hope that had anything to do with him, much as he was shaken by the similarity to Julie Jean’s first correspondence and attached photographic gift, tucked in an envelope seam. The way Buck had shaken it just so and how it had fluttered to the ground and how Buck’s thumb had looked pressed against Lana’s black and white nipples.

“John Egan, you’ve got mail.” Buck bellowed with something like triumph in his voice, face lit up like a firework stand ablaze, “Get over here, you mopey sonuvabitch.”

The chair he was sat in clattered backwards into some poor fucker as Egan dove up and towards Buck’s bunk, drawn to the waved little photograph in his hand. Buck was a merciful man and handed it over without a game of tug. Bucky deeply wished the room wasn’t full of curious friends but then again, looking into this flat, shiny, black and white, shrunken little world -it took him miles and miles away. Away to a front yard in some small town where it looked chilly but festive, with candy cane decor lining the sidewalk up to a plain brick house and two girls in the yard, mid blurry laugh, clinging to each other like they’d fall over and tweak their ankles in the leaves if they let go.

Marge and Julie.

“How ‘bout that.” Gale’s voice was warm and soft and Bucky didn't have an answer for him, he ground out a rough cough that was intended to be an agreement before it got snarled in the lump in his throat.

Julie was wearing his coat. Even as the sight got a little blurry with smarting eyes and a rush of warmth to his chilled face, Bucky could see the patchwork leather swallowing her little frame.

She’d told him in a letter once she’d barely made it to 5”1. He told her that made him over a foot taller. She said she’d happily climb him. He said he’d happily carry her around impaled on his pole.

She was wearing his jacket.

She was drowning in the fleece and she was laughing and she was holding Marge and there were candy canes and Christmas had been celebrated as it should and it was all quiet and peaceful back home.

“She’s good.” He managed to croak. And he didn’t mean her pose or her tits or her savvy ability to come out on top and cheer them all up, he meant she was a good person.

“Marge says she sought her out.” Gale explained, letter consulted once more to get his story straight, “Another War Bond tour, showed up at the factory. Made a beeline for Marge. Apparently she’d looked her up and stipulated the stop in her contract. She stayed for dinner -guess that’s when they took the photo.”

“How ‘bout that.” John managed to repeat happily.

💋 Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is a writer’s lifeblood, please feel free to scream in comments or the inbox, I love it and wanna hear it all. Trust me, nothing is “too dumb”. Your thoughts mean the world to me.

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