#This is about all denominations imo

[daughters-of-liberty]

I'm kind of new to the whole Catholicism thing myself, and Christianity in general, but I think shades of it could be made sense of if you look back at Abraham and Isaac, and how Abraham would've sacrificed his only living son, that he loved very dearly, for God. In much the same way, God sacrificed his only son for us. For our salvation.

One point I will say, is that I have heard children's dislike of ministry that won't answer complex questions, in any denomination. And granted, children like having definite answers, which becomes an issue when there really is no surefire set in stone answer to anything in life, even less so in theology. So I have to agree with @greater-than-the-sword, here; asking questions is not blasphemous. Any church or any religious school that makes it feel that way doesn't have the best interests of the parish/students at heart.

And the other thing about kids is that, they don't need a whole, concrete answer. It's good for children to have open-ended answers, it teaches them to go searching for answers on their own. In my experience, both as a former child and helping take care of children throughout my life, is that children who search for answers on their own are more likely to dive headfirst into the research, maybe not even finding the answer directly, but gaining something that helps them make sense of the questions that have no concrete answers.

In contrast, kids are usually pretty good at telling when someone is lying to them to just pacify them. So imagine if you ask a question, and someone responds with an answer that doesn't make sense, or is even threatening to a degree (i.e. a religious teacher insinuating it is blasphemous to question parts of the Bible, or the logic of God), or isnt even an answer at all. How would you respond to that? I'd probably think they were trying to hide something, or that they didn't know what the hell they claimed to be so knowledgeable about.

In short, it sows distrust among the students. And when the students don't trust the teacher to know what they're talking about, they flippantly start to believe said teacher is an idiot. And if the teacher is an idiot, than the school that employs them is a idiotic, and the whole system is a farce. Apply this to a religious school, and this transcends the school, the school district, and the board of education, and becomes a distrust of the church and governing bodies of the church themselves, again, regardless of denomination.

My mother attended a Methodist Sunday school, and was treated much the same way; she has struggled to find faith—any kind of faith—her whole life, and has wandered many difficult paths throughout, many of her own making. By contrast, my father asked the hard questions of his Lutheran mother, and she gave the best answers she could, without proclaiming him to be blasphemous for merely asking questions; he is confident in his view of God and Jesus, and content in his life and his purpose in life.

So don't be afraid to ask questions, and ask the same question of multiple people, even within the same denomination. What a volunteer who helps teach Sunday school says may not be what the pastor/priest says, which may not be what the church doctrine says, which may not be what the Bible says! And meanwhile, someone who doesn't know much, but attends church every Sunday or at least has read the Bible, might be more true to the Word than the holier-than-thou types who proclaim to be damn near liturgical scholars. It really depends on a lot of factors.

Thinking about how it was never made clear to me in Catholic school exactly WHY Jesus died for our sins. I just remembered that I was literally never clear on who the dying helped??

I've heard theories as an adult, but basically what I'm saying is pointless martyrdom seems a little pointless, and also with enough propaganda the big logical gaps in a belief system get really hard to see. Especially if questioning anything is blasphemy.

I would have gotten in so much trouble for insisting the teacher explain how Jesus helped us by being tortured to death by Romans even when God could have prevented it! God sent his only Son, they would have said! Be grateful, they'd say! Be guilty! Stop asking why he did that!!!

[thelastspeecher]

I just discovered that in Roman Catholic Communion, gluten-free versions of the little crackers or bread aren't provided bc the Vatican has decided that it has to be wheat in order to be valid.

and while most people may just be able to have the wine or whatever and avoid the crackers, the priests have to have BOTH. even if they have fucking CELIAC'S.

which has resulted in the Church saying "maybe we shouldn't allow priests who can't have gluten and/or alcohol".

(which is ableist but I mean do we expect better from the Catholic Church)

I am so incredibly riled up over this and I'm not even Catholic.

[megarywrites]

This part i’m writing is making my skin crawl so much i can’t wait for him to die (it happens in the next chapter lol)

[kavehater]

GUYS WTH DOES A MID ATLANTIC ACCENT SOUND LIKE ?!?!!

[themuseofbaroque]

astro obvs. & notes #1 - general

author’s note - this is for entertainment purposes only, none of this is fact. these are simply my own opinions!

- neptune 1H 🤝 pisces rising, noticing their eyes first. the water influence to these placements adds something that draws you in like a current, no pun intended. i used to work with a pisces rising, and she literally looked like a pretty fish (lmfao) big, shiny eyes. either of these placements can find it incredibly easy to appear sensual or seductive.

- speaking of water placements! i’ve also noticed pisces placements tend to take a lot of pictures around water. beaches, hot tubs, rivers.

- this can also be said for air signs (esp. libra) but with things they enjoy! i’m always seeing personal interest posts from libras, aquarians and geminis. music, video games, political causes, shows they’re watching, food, celebrities, etc. anything they like, they post. anything.

- i’ve never laughed harder than when i’m with people who have heavy gemini, capricorn, sagittarius and leo placements

- in my personal opinion and experience, capricorn risings are what people think scorpio rising is. i’ve only met one scorpio rising irl (that i know of) and she did not fit martian/plutonian ruling at all. celebrity examples ⬇️

kim hongjoong of ateez. the intimidation factor, the style, sex appeal, the interest in piercings/tattoos. he’s a capricorn rising, with his chart ruler, saturn, in the sign of aries so we see a lot of red/martian influence from him as well.

megan fox. she’s been a little fuckin weird ever since she dated mgk (that man makes me physically ill to look at much less read about) but! she had her bad bitch moments! being known primarily for her sex appeal + starring in jennifer’s body (a gothic treasure btw) i feel is very scorpio coded however she herself is a capricorn rising, with a sagittarius saturn in the 11h, more fire influence from her as well just like with hongjoong.

joan jett. THEE female guitarist of the 80s. her whole career was surrounded by sex, scandals, drugs, all the darker themes of rock n roll in general. she’s another fire ruled capricorn rising and a sagittarius saturn in the 11h like megan. her style and even her personality has an edge to it, much more fitting for scorpio/plutonian stereotypes rather the capricorn ones. imo.

- actors who’ve done major/recognizable roles in horror usually have a capricorn neptune. neptune is imagination and capricorn is ruled by the devil card in tarot. combine the two and you have quite literally = dark imagination. celebrity examples ⬇️

mia goth staring in the X series as the main face of the trilogy

bill skarsgard being the main face of the IT remake as pennywise

evan peters as tate langdon in AHS, he also played jeffery dahmer recently for netflix.

- capricorn actually shows up quite a bit in the horror genre, esp. gore and paranormal. both actors and writers.

- sagittarius too, oddly enough. a lot of well known faces of horror have major sagittarius placements/stelliums/jupiter dominance.

- underdeveloped cancer placements are more manipulative and two faced than geminis. i see so much gem slander on here, and don’t get me wrong, i love both cancer and gemini placements! however i’ve met and befriended quite a few of both, and cancers by far have been the common denominator in issues around them more than once. stirring the pot then turning around and playing the victim when people are frustrated, lying, playing both sides to better their own situation, and even playing people against each other. i’ve never seen such hateful behaviors from the geminis i know irl.

- aries men are much shyer compared to the women

- taurus women i’ve met irl get pregnant very easily. venus? good coochie? idk

- grand trines are some of the most beautiful people i’ve ever seen (a grand trine is when someone’s big 3, so sun/moon/rising, are in the same element but in all 3 different signs. ex: virgo sun, taurus moon, capricorn rising)

- queer individuals with pisces placements can pass as straight pretty easily if they wanted to. most of them are chameleons

- aries risings i’m so sorry for the household you had growing up. i see martian childhoods usually being the ones who dealt with screaming matches, toxic parents, poverty and underlying issues with siblings that last into adulthood

- i’m not surprised at all when libra placements tell me they’re in college for a general studies degree because they can’t figure out what they wanna do yet

- a lot of fan favorite female characters in video games are canonically cancers

- if you think your rising sign doesn’t suit you very well, try looking at whatever planet correlates with your gender identity. masculine: sun and mars, feminine: venus and moon. the houses and signs of these should help you out a little bit

- libra placements absolutely get favoritism at least once in their life, jobs/family dynamics especially

- sagittarius women usually have rough love lives, at least in the beginning. a lot of them try to save and help partners who don’t deserve it and they get hurt badly in the process. same goes with pisces women

- virgo venus is not that bad of a placement as stereotypes make it out to be. clean freaks? yes. perfectionists? usually, yes. loyal? yes. remember the small things? yes. romantic? no. at least not in a cheesy way. sensual? yes.

- lilith aspects to any of the big 3 is a bad bitch placement. honorable mention is venus/lilith aspects as well

- air signs like spicy food just as much as fire signs

- a lot of rappers have heavy mercurial placements (virgo and gemini) (3h and 6h)

- mc aspecting venus in anyway is usually the person who fools around with coworkers/may even cheat on a partner with someone they work with. most people with this placement have definitely had a partner at one point or another worried about someone they work with. may be the type to have a “work wife”/“work husband”

- 6h chiron is the person who’s life has been majorly impacted by their own or someone else’s health. disabilities, chronic illnesses, stds, limb amputation, skin grafts, etc.

- aries moon and mercury combo = bad potty mouth, cursing is an almost unbreakable habit

- speaking of aries! aries and aquarius placements together in any of these ➡️ moon, venus, mars, lilith, pluto ➡️ usually have a tendency to jump around from partner to partner very quickly, including falling back into exes. their thoughts and opinions on people and things change SO quickly that they usually are the kind of people who have rosters (unintentionally). they are upfront, they don’t lie or drag anyone along but they do seem to be restless when it comes to romance. even if they don’t physically date a lot, they may often THINK of it, their minds going a million miles a minute

- geminis do not get the rep they deserve for being freaks. not only does the sign traditionally rule the throat/lungs/hands/nervous system, (choking, breath play, hickies, hand fetish/fingering, blindfolding and sub/dom dynamics) but it’s also ruled by the lovers card in tarot 👁️👁️

- fixed signs 🤝 tattoos

- sagittarius/capricorn/pisces/libra placements usually have issues with religion/spirituality growing up. either they were forced into one as kids and they have an unhealthy relationship with their god now as an adult or they simply struggle to find something that feels true to them. this is just my experience but every single friend i’ve had who’s left the christian church, had an interest in paganism/buddhism, joined the satanic temple, grew up as strict catholics, etc, have had these placements. religion is a revolving door for them and it’s a common subject of struggle in their life

- women with pisces placements tend fall into unhealthy relationships very easily, especially if they’re heterosexual and dating men. they fall in love with the idea of love before the actual person presenting it. they are bossed around very easy and usually don’t like confrontation. honorable mentions for this as well: pisces stellium, cancer stellium/mercury/saturn, 7h saturn

- cheesy hallmark movies make me think of taurus/libra venus placements, 7h venus as well

- 5h cancer/moon/venus, cancer rising/moon dom, 5h/8h synastry aspects please be wary of accidental pregnancies! wrap it before you tap it cause y’all extra fertile 💀

- most well known streamers/youtubers have 10h stelliums, including their venus. a lot of them will end up dating another social media presence/someone who shares a platform/job with them

yay first post! pardon any spelling errors i’m proof reading this half asleep ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

[beesmygod]

we can all look back on and laugh at this when im wrong, but it seems like social media in its current incarnation is dying an undignified and overdue death. it turns out throwing all of humanity into one room and expecting everyone to develop a single ethos was beyond insane conceptually and the artists who built their following on social media are probably in a tail spin right now. people jumping to bluesky are insane lol. did you forget jack dorsey is the idiot who got us into this mess in the first place. why would you choose to subject yourself to this shit again. for what purpose?

the stock answer i got was that "for discoverability/audience" and if that's true thats a problem. i've been hollerin about this to anyone who would listen prior to this but the customer base of twitter (and all social media) is its advertisers. they have not been shy from the start about that fact because its the only way they generate income, as far as i know. YOU (the user) are the product. YOU (still the user) are also what draws people to the site. there is not a social media website on earth that has figured out that making a good website (which would require hiring and paying for quality labor over an extended period of time) is more likely to result in economic success than exclusively courting the businesses whose interest is in making the website worse to use with ads. at no point were our interests ever a factor.

in fact, imo, the number of people following you is not an accurate representational sample of your audience. the reasonable assumption you should make is that the vast majority of numbers involved with any website (esp those with a vested interest in showing off big numbers to VC investors or advertising execs) are inflated or just outright fake. the numbers exist solely to drive you insane and make awful people happy. the numbers cause you and everyone around you to start spontaneously spawning myths about a beast called "the algorithm" that possesses the incredible traits of being both something you can game for success or blame for your failures. it coerces you into enacting out nonsense superstitions to try to counteract or appease it in the hopes of, let's be honest, breaking it big and going viral. this way, you, the creator, do not have to do the hard work of building up a rapport with an audience. none of this goes anything but adds more numbers for the ceos to look at and nod approvingly or disapprovingly at.

the people running the world today are, without exaggeration, cartoon villains. they are deeply stupid, devoid of empathy, and open about their intent to do deeply evil acts in order to further their economic interests. trying to derive some kind of financial benefit from the creations of these unapologetic losers was always bound to be a wasted effort. the best thing i can say about twitter, a website i was banned from countless times and returned to out of stubborn desire, was that i got to make some great jokes with friends and cause some chaos lol. letting people know i have a web comic was always a secondary function once the realization of what social media was turning out to be set in like 7 years ago. any artist who insists that you have to do this or that on this or that social media site is trying to drag you down into the quagmire of online numbers poisoning.

run away!!! children heed my advice!!! the joy of creation does not lie on a path that encourages you to cater to the lowest common denominators while casting your net. just fucking have fun with it. if its not fun then it wont even be fun to do financially anyway. and isnt that, like. the point.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

7x05 promo meta

Thank you 911 for dropping those stills - its save you all from my terrible quality screen shots!

This was supposed to be a costume meta, and it is, but things rather got away from me so its got a bit of a mishmash of spec and the like in it! its probably incoherent but my brain is whirring!

Ok first things first - Firehouse!

Soooo whenever we've had firehouse scenes before between Buck and Eddie, the one not in uniform is the one receiving advice - Buck after he found out about Daniel, Eddie during the Black out etc. So I expect this scene to play to a similar theme.

The green jacket for Buck is an interesting one for me, green is all about growth - especially this shade of green. I think this scene will be the first time Buck and Eddie see one another in person - Buck perhaps re-apologising to Eddie, clearing the air, Eddie offering buck some advice (i don't know exactly what advice, but perhaps along the lines of not bottling things up and talking to him etc!).

The fact its a broadcloth jacket harks back to his shirt jacket from Eddies breakdown - that one was very red, so there's no direct connection to the meaning of that jacket from a colour theory perspective, but there is a wider theme connecting to the broadcloth - broadcloth is a fabric that was historically used for military uniforms (it still is) so the use of broadcloth has this element of going to war - unlike the red jacket that signalled danger and Buck going to 'war' to both get to Eddie and to then help him in the aftermath, this one is more likely to be a war related to Bucks 'bad behaviour' from the basketball game and I think and with the green of the jacket meaning growth, I expect this scene to show them on a more even footing - one where the one doesn't need to go to war for the other, because the 'war' is over, this is the aftermath now and Buck has grown (in the same way that Eddie was in green during and after his breakdown - he grew from that moment)

Date night - for Buck and Tommy

Firstly I want to mention the fact that Check theory is in overdrive for this scene - the check is literally everywhere - floor, tablecloths, walls, windows, the guy sat to the side of Tommy. Something is clearly going to happen that is going to lead to some sort of chaos. My money is on Check shirt guy suddenly becoming ill and interupting both dates (call back to Buck choking on bread would be chefs kiss imo as that was Bucks first proper date!!).

I originally thought his was the same shirt Buck wore when he was trying to donate sperm - however, turns out it isn't it isn't, this is a knit bowling shirt while the one from the sperm donation storyline was a knit polo (no buttons all the way down the front). I do think the remarkable similarity between the two shirts is relevant though. because Buck trying to donate sperm, was Buck trying to start a new life, but it was a false start when he was wearing the similar shirt (because the power was out at the clinic) and he is essentially doing the same thing here - he's on his first 'date with a dude' and is starting a new life as a bisexual man - only it seems he's probably going to try and hide it from Eddie - thus a false start in the same way his first attempt to donate sperm was. thing is, Buck was successful in making his donation in the end, so even if he has a couple of false start in this episode, he'll be successful in the end (see the end of this meta for the reason why!!)

Tommy is in brown (possibly a dark olive green, but it looks more brown to me at this moment in time!). Brown is of course one of Eddies staple colours, so we are continuing with the Tommy Being costumes as a version of Eddie!

But Brown is a colour of stability and strength - its solid ground. It's showing us that Tommy is completely comfortable in his sexuality (whatever denomination of queer he is as we don't know at this point!). Its also a colour of safety support and protection (its why many police and military uniforms around the world are brown - meant to invest a sense of protection - a reflection of what that job is supposed to be!). for me thats playing on the idea that Tommy is going to protect and support Buck on this date - Buck not wanting to come out to Eddie in that moment and Tommy supporting that and protecting Bucks right to chose when and how he gets to come out to the people in his life (and I adore him for that!) is my guess on why he's wearing brown here.

Eddie and Marisol's date night

(as an aside - Bucks face in the still below is hilarious!!)

I already mentioned the pink handbag in my 7x04 meta, but now we also have a pink skirt to add into the mix and its a ditsy print of two shades of pink, which not only further supports my pink and innocence theory about this season, but it also plays into how both Shannon and Ana were costumes as well - in lots of pink and in ditzy prints!!! Marisol (who doesn't even have a last name) is not long for the world of 911 - if it doesn't end in this episode, its gonna be over very very soon! She is going to essentially be an innocent bystander in whatever the hell is going to go down at this date night fun house we're about to see, whether her seemingly naive personality (well what little personality she seems to have!) plays into things as well, we'll have to wait and see!

The other aspect of this outfit that is making me laugh is the fact that the skirt is giving me 1980's/early 1990's teen vibes (not to out myself as old but trust me I had some just like this back then and I wouldn't be caught dead in it now as a grown woman!!) and the baby pink handbag looks like something an 8 year old would have to play dress up with - its all very childish and immature - naive one could say, and its suggesting to me that we're going to see some pretty childish behaviour from her at some point in this episode (we'll have to wait and see if I'm right!). The other aspect oof this childish style we're seeing on her plays into Eddies narrative of looking for magic and trying to recreate what he had with Shannon. Its for me one of the reasons why i think we have s2 Eddies hair back, especially this greased back version in this scene - its a nod to his s2 arc when he tried to recreate the magic with Shannon. Eddies journey is about learning that he cannot recapture or recreate that magic he had when he was young - that the love of youth - in all its innocence is not something that is sustainable or actually what he wants in the present. for me, him figuring this out is an important part of his wider un-repression arc and will allow him to move forward and learn that he needs to build a relationship on a stronger foundation that magic and innocence. That (ghost of a) second chance with Shannon ended up as a literal car crash (sorry to be blunt but it was a metaphor back then too!) so my feeling is that this is going to go the same way - and end in a figurative (at least) car crash.

As for the chain necklace! you can read my 6x15 metas for a fuller run down this one is the most comprehensive one (and theres some stuff lurking on other meta posts as well) but essentially every single one of Buck or Eddies girlfriends have worn a chain necklace (there is also a bracelet too, which I think Marisol wore in 7x01 but her scene was so blink and you'll miss it that I can't get a good still to be sure!) of this style - I never did get to writing the full meta on the chain necklaces I intended - the season 6 finale rather deflated my enthusiasm to do so, but I can talk about it here so, things worked out I guess!

Chains are a representation of incarceration, or of holding something back. they are a huge symbol of slavery and are used in derogatory terms when used to talk about relationships (the old ball and chain etc). This is why we see them on all the women connected to either Buck or Eddie, and never on any of the other female characters in the show - these women are essentially holding Buck and Eddie back, they are chains to be broken free of.

Then we have Eddie in his white shirt! There are a couple of reasons I am completely in love with this choice! firstly is the most obvious, it paints things very black and white for Eddie and Marisol - they are opposites! In this context, the wardrobe department are deliberately creating that opposition between them - and in combo with that pink bag and skirt - things aren't going to end well for them.

Black is a colour that sucks light and colour from things (yes there is the concept of the little black dress etc for dating but thats more about timeless elegance and Marisol is not wearing a black dress!) that absorbs everything around it - you can see in the picture below how the black of her top is absorbing the colour while Eddies white shirt is bouncing it around and glowing with the red - its especially obvious on her sleeve which is partially sheer and partially matt - the sheer parts are picking up the light, making the black non sheer parts still look black.

The other reasons I am living for the Eddie in a white shirt of it all is the fact that it really highlights that red lighting - this use of red - in this setting at that moment - when it doesn't appear to be anywhere else in the scene and certainly not around Buck and Tommy - can only mean danger and anger. Its telling us that Eddie is not happy - jealous definitely (that look is one of jealousy!) its also hinting at underlying anger though. My thoughts on this is that its playing into Eddie having to face up to his feelings for Buck - that he understands them, and perhaps feels like he missed his shot

The other reason I'm obsessed with the choice to put Eddie in a white shirt is this ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Because yes that is Eddie in white and Buck in dark blue, and yes that is the only other time we've seen Eddie in white in the entire show (excepting white shorts in fight club and even they fit the theme we're seeing here). Seeing them in the same colour ways here is very much giving Buck and Eddie divorce era 3.0 (fight club/lawsuit was 1.0 and the one above was 2.0) vibes.

Having dinner with Buck (or in the same space as Buck) and his current partner and the blue and white (and green that Tommy is wearing which matches the green that Taylor was wearing) is definitely a choice. This scene in season 5 was essentially a Buck and Eddie break up - 'move on Buck, I have' - we all know how that spiral ended - with Eddie digging in with his leaving the 118 and excluding himself from the firefam and Buck cheating on Taylor and asking her to move in with him.

thing is Eddie has form for doing dumb things when he feels under stress or pressure (asking Shannon to marry him again, fight club after her death and Buck suing the firehouse, leaving the 118 and not getting the help he needed until he had a major breakdown to name 3!)- so if we saw some kind of parallel to this scene - (this is especially in light of Eddie talking to Bobby about the job in this episode) where Eddie doubles down on a poor decision (don't know what but I'm currently speculating that its maybe asking Marisol to move in with him way way too soon - when he doesn't know her - hello episode title) in the same way Buck did with Taylor (because he is faced with the fact he could've had a chance with Buck after-all and is emotionally cheating on Marisol) and it plays into

I'm not saying we're going to be getting rid of Marisol in 7x05 (unfortunately) but I am saying the writing is on the wall for that relationship - there are too many costuming signs on both Eddie and Marisol for it not to be headed in the direction of ending. My guess from what I'm seeing with these costumes and that lighting, is that 'Ghost of a second chance' is when it will come to a head - it plays into the theming of Shannon redux and car crashes, learning from past mistakes before you repeat them.

And finally we're at Bucks loft!

Not saying this is at the end of the episode - I have zero idea where its going to land - every time I see a new still from it I'm more confused and decide its going to be at a different point of the episode!

Anyway, thats not important! Eddie is in his Buck 'date night' shirt - the one he wears when he has serious talks with Buck in the loft. thing that is different this time, is the fact he's in jeans rather than the green trousers he's worn on every other occasion. Something about that is making me feel like, while this scene is likely to be similar in that its going to be a serious talk, and I'm sure from the way it looks in the stills we're going to see Eddie reassuring Buck as we have in previous scenes, I think we might find this one is going to give us Buck and Eddie on a more even footing that we've seen before.

I'm fascinated that the Christopher watch is not visible in the above still, but it's very visible in the below one, and in the other stills we've got. We don't often see it hidden under eddies sleeves - we usually see it more like we can see it in the date night stills - visible with the shirt slightly tucked underneath. haven't figured out if its going to be significant or not yet - I need to see the scene!

We do have to talk about the looks they are giving each other here though - especially Buck!!! because I mean!!!! its kind of giving me don't keep things from me again vibes!!

I am very much loving that they put Buck in this jumper though! it is the one from the sperm donor storyline - when Buck tells Eddie, Hen and Chim he is 'responsible for creating new life.' I love this specific parallel because there is the play on the fact that Buck is now living a new life - that he's figured something out about himself - that he's creatinga new life forhimself - one where he is bisexual, and openly so (as we know he's going to tell people in this episode and hell he might be telling Eddie in this scene!). the other thing is that this light blue colour, throughout season 6 became a real representation of Buck journey of self discovery - all the way back to Lev at the happiness convention and his year of yes, right through to post Lightning strike Buck who was trying to wrestle with his death and his rebirth - the light blue here really ties all of this together beautifully

Right thats All at this point - I'm sure my brain will conjure up other things once i've hit post, but for right now - I'm off to bed!!

@theladyyavilee @mistmarauder @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @bewilderedbuckley @spotsandsocks @bewitchedbewilderedbisexual@rogerzsteven @wanderingwomanwondering @oneawkwardcookie @leothil @copyninjabuckley @shammers86 @crazyfangirlallert @missmagooglie @katyobsesses @radiation-run @gayandbifiremenofmine @bi-moonlight @crazyaboutotps @princesschez75 @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @sherlocking-out-loud @satashiiwrites @lover-of-mine @yramesoruniverse @extasiswings @favouritealias @pop-kam

[soul-of-rei]

OHMYGOD HELLO

one of these days remind me to try and do a venn diagram w link botw, astarion bg3, thanatos hades game, and hunter toh . my brain is onto smth w those 4 in particular and i need to be able to visualize it to try and understand what simultaneously Fixes Me and Makes Me Worse

As someone who's close to joining you up there...yeah, I got nothing.

What I do have is this, which I was literally in the middle of drawing when I originally got this ask:

[raspberry-vinaigrette]

i am pondering dialtown peter since i just did the roger dlc good end. warning in advance for roger dialtown dlc spoilers. cool? cool anyways

i just think like. okay the good ending cutscene with peter is kind of. abrupt. and confused people according to doggo and i can see why, it's... a bit weird in tone and isn't built up to as well as it could've been imo. no shade to the ending though the ending is fuckin AWESOME and that roger speech shook me to my core. however i think the peter intrusion can be reinterpreted to be really interesting with a bit of canon wiggle room, so to speak, because like --

imagine you are peter. you're the straight-laced, responsible co-manager of the factory, and you have been for a while. you know that you aren't easy to get along with and you don't really try to change this. it keeps things under wraps. it's all you can really do when everything around you is chaotic and wacky and you're so consistently left out of the loop. things are done without you being consulted. you feel like a joke so you have to prove you're the only thing that isn't. and really, it's your fault, in a way. you're the villain here for letting these things happen. you are to blame.

and then there's your best friend roger. you feel, sometimes, like he's the only person youre tangibly helping. you got him off of alcohol. you're always the one he leans on, always the one checking in. he is a good man. life has dealt him a bad hand, and people laugh at him sometimes, but you know he's good. he tries so hard. you wonder if maybe you aren't trying hard enough, but maybe your destiny is just to be this way. you don't think about it. he seems happy around you and that's enough, you suppose. and then management changes.

for all you know you are responsible, you also believe there is something rotten within you. something that will only weigh others down. you are able to be so very normal amidst the chaos of work, but you believe you can't be personable. you're too methodical, too straightforward, too managerial. and people want a person to talk to them, not a rigid machine. you look in the mirror and wonder how much of you is just the phone on your head. you look in the mirror and wonder who you are. but you can't fathom a good man like roger could look in the mirror and see anything but the sun. you trust him. you know he's a trainwreck, a mess, clumsy and irresponsible sometimes, but he's a good man. you know he can prove himself. maybe if you just keep at arms length, don't take over too much like you tried last time...

and things are a mess anyway. things are worse. and you begin to wonder if maybe you're the issue. if maybe your destiny is just to take over and rule with an iron fist, because that is the only way things can be done. this rot inside you, this thing that is clearly only making roger worse by your presence -- it must be killed at the source. so you have to play the game. you know what has to happen, don't you? you have to take over. and then everyone will be miserable, and roger will see how good he is, how much potential he has, and he will usurp you. he will be good. he will surprise everyone. and the rotten festering thing will be taken out, and he will never be dragged down again. because it must be you holding them back. you're the common denominator.

you're the villain.

peter doesn't understand that not being the boss is better for roger. he doesn't comprehend he is likable as a person moreso than he is a corporate entity, a responsible manager -- the only person he may believe likes him beyond that is caroline, and even then he has a fucking board discussion about if he should be allowed to act more than completely rational and reasonable, with a pros/cons list! yeah that's meant to be a jokey dialogue scene but i still think it reflects how peter tries so hard to be rational and reasonable and i think to some extent he believes that makes him less human. roger is so bright, of course he can surprise people and show them the sun! peter may be good at management but how far will that get him when surely nobody wants to directly associate with him? he is a menace.

he does not understand that roger cares so deeply for him, the same way roger doesn't understand people love him without him having to prove himself. idk. this is only half canon and its kinda text extrapolation and interpretation to fit w the ending scene but its an interesting thought

[starfieldcanvas]

You seem like the appropriate person to ask, so might as well. How do I read Scum Villain's Self Saving System? I'm an english only reader that's not very familiar with the danmei ecosystem.

It's been published in English! Big bookstores like Barnes & Noble are carrying Seven Seas danmei these days. My local indie carries them as well. And of course you can buy them on Bookshop or your preferred online retailer. There are four volumes in the English printing, which comprise the original chapters, a lot of illustrations, some translator notes on the basics of cultivation novels and Chinese forms of address, and the "extras", bonus chapters that are a fairly common addition to books that were originally published as pay-per-chapter webnovels.

My local library system has at least one copy of every volume. I do live in a large city (with a large Asian population to boot), but I don't know how relevant that is. The series was an NYT bestseller, so it's totally plausible that even a medium-size county system would have them too. And if you're very patient, you can always request the series be added to your local library catalog.

But the obvious easy answer is that the whole thing is (shh!) still online. 'Lily's BC translation' made it through the whole thing, and there are other slightly smoother fan translations that you can start off with before switching translations when you run out of chapters.

The issue with reading it online is that you're going to run into some odd mixes of preservation vs translation vs localization ('Shidi' sounds much nicer than 'Junior Apprentice-Brother', imo. but why is it always Regret of Chunshan and never Regret of Spring Mountain?) and some transplanted Mandarin dialogue formatting (often it's just [Charactername, "Dialogue"] with no dialogue tag at all) that will take a little getting used to. The translator notes are a lot more colorful, though!

Scum Villain is a fun trip to read knowing pretty much nothing going into it. It's a convergence (and parody) of four different genres: stallion novel, danmei, isekai/transmigration, and cultivation/xianxia. Stop here if you want to go in genre-blind!

Here are my random thoughts about what might be nice for new readers to know IF they don't feel like dropping themselves in the deep end and learning by osmosis:

Stallion novels:

This is the type of webnovel being parodied by Scum Villain's book-within-a-book Proud Immortal Demon Way. Kinda like a harem anime, but more focused on providing a satisfying male power fantasy. Though you can definitely get the gist of it just from the exposition in Scum Villain, there were a few misconceptions I walked away with at the end of the book. This rundown on AO3, Stallion Novels: A Guide, is a brief introduction to the genre and how it differs from or overlaps with other genres of Chinese webnovel.

Danmei:

The popular danmei that have made it the furthest into Western circulation don't necessarily give a representative sampling of common-denominator danmei tropes, precisely because the popular stuff is usually the memorable standouts rather than the generic pulp. So just keep in mind that the common gong (seme) archetype is the dangerous, demanding, quasi-rapist huge-dicked dom who magically makes dry pounding feel insanely pleasurable, and the shou (uke) archetype is the delicate virginal younger man who says no but means yes and cries prettily during sex. These traits WILL be thrown in a blender and parodied, lovingly.

Isekai/transmigration:

This is the trope where you die in real life and wake up in a fantasy world (typical isekai) or in an explicitly fictional setting you recognize from your real-world media consumption (fairly typical transmigration.) Especially in the Chinese webnovel side of the genre, there's often a lot of emphasis on 'leveling up', point farming, and getting 'achievements' like in a video game. Access to this game system typically gives the player advantages over the natural inhabitants of the new world. If there isn't a game system, the player usually still has some kind of magical specialness conferred by being from 'the real world', such as knowledge of how the plot will go. These things will, again, be parodied all to hell.

Cultivation/xianxia:

It's apparently pretty common for westerners ignorant of Daoism and new to xianxia ("immortal heroes") stories to assume cultivation stuff is unique to whatever cultivation-setting book they happened to pick up first. If you had never heard of vampires and then you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'd be forgiven for initially assuming that the show invented vampires, but you'd misunderstand its commentary on existing vampire lore, and it would probably be confusing how much vampire stuff it inexplicably expected you to already know. With that in mind, you can see why it might be helpful to have a vague awareness of what "cultivation" refers to in xianxia novels.

Here's my stab at it: "cultivation" means something like "increasing one's spiritual energy reserves and improving one's control over spiritual energy (qi) through meditation, study, and physical discipline, in order to develop a powerful core of spiritual energy that can heal wounds, enable powerful martial techniques, slow visible aging or stop aging entirely, and allow a person to forgo food and sleep indefinitely as they transcend the limitations of their physical body and become immortal, maybe even ascending to godhood."

Usually cultivators practice cultivation in cultivation sects - these sects are typically depicted as a cross between a temple, a boot camp, a university campus, and a small independent political entity

Everyone in the same sect ("martial family") refers to each other using sect-flavored family terms. Two people of the same generation are sect-siblings and will use sibling suffixes with the "shi-" prefix to indicate it's a sect relationship. Your sect mentor is your shizun/shifu ("honored teacher-mentor-master"/"teacher-mentor-master"). Someone in your mentor's generation is your sect-uncle or sect-aunt; they'll refer to you as their sect-niece or sect-nephew.

Similar to how Chinese family name suffixes differ by age order, sect-family suffixes differ depending on seniority (i.e. when your master took you as a disciple, relative to the other disciples.) But different novels play with these seniority rules differently and may assign suffixes by age alone or by some other ranking system.

Westerners occasionally get freaked out when people in the same sect generation fall in love because the characters are sect siblings. But there's no incest implied at all—it's nothing more than two people being in the same boarding school or church congregation.

If a cultivator is not in a sect, they're called a rogue cultivator ; this confers less stability and political prestige, but despite the name, rogue cultivators are not outlaws or apostates. It just means "independent."

Cultivators will often accept requests from civilians to deal with marauding monsters and mysterious ghost-related deaths. How much money they expect for their services is generally tied to how righteous they are.

Depending on their chosen cultivation path, they may be more martial or less martial. Cultivators of the sword path use spiritual swords that can (1) work like a regular sword but better, (2) project power at range in a glowing beam called a sword glare, or (3) be directed remotely in battle using hand seals (adopted into Daoism from Buddhism, known elsewhere as mudras) or wordless telepathy. Some cultivators of the sword path will nevertheless have non-sword spiritual weapons or favor other qi-powered martial techniques.

Cultivators make use of talismans (spells written in red cinnabar ink on strips of paper and then activated, often used like throwable magic stickers) and arrays (more powerful, longer-lasting spells painted or carved into locations or objects.)

Various stages of core formation may be referenced to indicate power levels. Reaching a new stage may involve some kind of tribulation, health risk, or grueling purification process (e.g. expelling all your body's impurities out through your pores as black goo.)

Spiritual energy is channelled through pathways in your body called spirit veins to key points called meridians. Different people may be said to have different types of spirit veins typed according to the five elements. A trained cultivator can examine someone's meridians to check their spiritual health or cultivation aptitude.

Strain on your psyche or your spiritual energy can lead to what's called a qi deviation, where the spiritual energy circulating through you gets fucked up and you have the spiritual equivalent of a stroke. Sufferers may bleed from all their face holes, lash out mindlessly at anyone who comes near them, hallucinate, straight-up die, or endure wacky shenanigans like temporarily reverting to childhood.

Cultivators may use external alchemy to create power-boosting pills in small alchemical cauldrons.

Dual cultivation is exchanging energy through sex in order to aid in spiritual regulation or to mutually increase power levels. It can be done in a one-sided way to steal spiritual energy, which is known as making a human cauldron. In the real religious practice on which the fantasy version is based, dual cultivation relies on the exchange of men's yang and women's yin, but somehow in danmei xianxia the m/m couples seem to manage it just fine...

Different Chinese novels and shows do different variations on cultivation (the same way Western shows do variations on vampires/angels/demons/etc) but they're all ultimately drawing on the same Daoist tradition of internal alchemy (also called The Way of the Golden Elixir) with bits of Buddhism and Chinese folk religion mixed in. (Chinese folk religion is usually where the monster/ghost/demon stuff comes from.)

Other stuff:

Scum Villain is peppered with a bunch of trope references that will be largely unfamiliar to most western readers, like "white lotus"/"black lotus", "blackened", "black belly", and so on. It also borrows a few Japanese archetype references here and there. "Cannon fodder" is fairly self-explanatory at least.

It's fun to look these up, but it's equally fun to just figure them out from context.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your reading!

[stupidfateheadcanons]

oh i 100% want to know who you think would unironically wear christmas sweaters/and or ugly non denominational ones (and who is easily bullied into wearing them)

Karna

is canonically autistic about crabs due to their warrior prowess and ability to face their enemies head-on, making a santa-crab sweater the perfect choice as he tries to fit in with chaldea for the holidays.

does not understand why Ganesha makes that Face about it, and later asks his master if they're aware of the significance of the number 420.

Santa Karna

Has learned how to be more properly Festive, in his perception of the word festive, so his wardrobe gets an upgrade. Also, he's told he's not allowed to attend the Chaldea Holiday Party in his normal Santa Getup. Da Vinci said something about how 'even Santas deserve a day off during the holidays', but she really just wanted him to not get Into It with Santa Quetz.

It fails.

Percival

Nice, tight fabric that fits snugly over his abs.

Food-themed to delight him as a provider of delicious meals and protection.

Really, just imagine that hunk of man-meat coming up to you with a plate of biscuits and gravy while wearing this. Wouldn't it be heaven?

Vlad (Berserker)

Would not wear something joke-themed or silly -- at least in his perception. This garment is obviously ridiculous, but he perceives it as proper holiday cheer and a work of art that he crafted himself.

Vlad (Lancer) would also wear ugly Christmas sweaters, but that's more dependent on the vibes of his Master, imo.

Blackbeard

He's been waiting all year to bust this baby out.

Like really, look at him. He's so happy and enriched.

Elizabeth Bathory

More like a sweater-dress than a Christmas sweater, but she'd wear it to the holiday party with a cute pair of tights, chunky shoes, and little candy and present decorations in her hair. Glitter would be everywhere.

Believes caroling is something like a 'mobile idol concert.'

Emiya

Someone in the extended Emiyaverse makes him wear it, and he puts up with it with a little grumbling. Particularly if it makes his Master and the kids happy.

Kijyo Koyo

She thinks she looks VERY hip and cool.

Koyanskaya

Dobrynya makes her wear it.

Himiko

Enjoys that the little balls bob and shine in the light when she sparkles. Keeps feeling the tinsel and laughing to herself.

Converts her Himiko, himiko, himi-himi-ko to the tune of jingle bells to amuse herself.

Fergus

Do I really even need to say anything here?

Gilles de Rais (Saber)

Okay I'm gonna be real, I woke up and this was on the document, so I was like, 'okay, I GUESS this is what Gilles rolls up to the Chaldea Holiday party wearing????'

Seriously. I don't even remember who to blame for this. Did I do it?

Jalter

Okay, I don't really actually see her wearing this, but it'd be REALLY funny if she did.

Honorable Mentions

Castoria

Wears ugly christmas sweaters every day but christmas because they're cheap and warm. does not know who jesus is.

David and Romani

Much to Romani's chagrin, it is apparently a family commonality to wear stupid Hannukah sweaters (which I am told exist at Target, even if I've never seen one in the wild.) Romani also acquires/makes one for Mash, which she is very happy about because it makes her feel like she fits in. :)

Martha

Has a custom red, white, and green Happy Birthday Sweater. She makes Tarasque wear one too. :)

Rin

Kirei buys her ugly christmas sweaters. rin does not wear them.

[anonymous-dentist]

You're so based for that Qsmpen philza take

To be fair, writing good purple prose can be hard,, but,, not that hard yk also it means basically nothing if youre not watching phils pov

I’ve said this before, but there’s a time and a place for purple prose

An updates account meant to quickly recap an important event on a cc’s stream with a clip or a screenshot is Not that time or place, especially considering the number of people depending on that account who may not speak English as their first language. And then there’s people with reading disorders, people with comprehension issues due to some other disabilities or disorders. Or, hell, even just people who have difficulties reading stuff that flowery; in writing, authors are often told to write to the “lowest common denominator”, which basically means that we should be writing for the average person. Not everybody even graduates high school, not everybody is going to be able to read some complicated purple prose.

Also, outside of all of that? What about the people who can’t watch the inserted clips for context? People use the updates accounts to keep up with streams they can’t watch. They could be in the hall between classes or on a lunch break or waiting in line to use the bathroom at a concert or whatever, point is, they can’t watch the stream, so they check the updates account and they see… a big run-on sentence supposedly recapping something that happened, but there’s no way to understand what’s being said without the context of the clip.

It’s all just one big accessibility issue imo, and I say that as a disabled person myself

The QSMP is a huge cool project, but it’s kinda sad to see so many people being left behind by the English updates account all for the sake of, what, sounding cool? You don’t need to sound cool, you need to provide the service you’re volunteering to do (because the updates accounts are all run by volunteers, remember.) If you want to write, go write. But don’t do it at the expense of non-Anglophones and disabled people

[queen-mihai]

Ok I'm developing a theory.

Let me say this first: I don't care if it's true or not. I think it's fun and I'm going to choose to believe it's true even if the writers literally come out and say it's not. It's that good.

Valerie is V

In the movie "V for Vendetta", V is explicitly never identified. We obviously see that he is a man. He has heightened basic kinesthesia, awareness, strength, and reflexes. He's got a deep voice, is reasonably tall, and thin.

Those are all things we know.

He never takes off the mask in any way we can see. If the hair is a wig, it's DAMN solid on his head, and he's got severe burns over so much of his body that he no longer has eyes.

"He looked at me, but not with eyes, there were no eyes"

Now for some evidence:

V is very obviously a thespian. Sure, we could assume the "man" was one as well, but we actually have backstory behind Valerie that would perfectly set her up with the type of knowledge V seems to have in the arts. Especially when she says "I'd always known what I wanted to do with my life"

When Valerie is taken, she already has the same look on her face as Evey has when she said "I'd rather die behind the chemical sheds"

V is very in tune with emotions. Obviously men can be in tune with their emotions. But Hollywood generally plays to a low common denominator. Why include this personality detail when all he needs to do is kick butt? If we are doing stereotypes 👇 this scene plays fairly heavily against the "male" stereotype when V perfectly times the moment where it will be okay to reach for Evey, let alone knowing when it's okay to touch her

Valerie falls in love fast. That's practically a personality trait we're shown in the story. With Sarah "it was her wrists". With Ruth, "the first time we kissed, I knew I never wanted to kiss any lips but hers again. This matters because when V says "I fell in love with you Evie" He mentions that he had thought of nothing but revenge until he saw her. That sounds an awful lot like something Valerie would do IMO

"This is the most important moment of your life, commit to it" spoken like someone who has lived that *exact* experience to the letter. You might think if he was a man when this happened to him, his experience might have looked *a little* different. If it was Valerie, though, it would make sense that she knows exactly when everything is falling into place because that's when it happened for her.

The anger she had over Ruth being taken fits V's actions far more closely than anything we get from our mystery man. Yes, he was tortured, but so was everyone else.

Writers love these kind of Easter eggs. Come on, room V, Valerie, V,...geezus "V" could have been the nickname she got from Ruth when they were together.

"I fell in love with you Evey. Like I never thought I could anymore" fits SO much better if Valerie just didn't know she could love again after Ruth was gone. That hits SO much harder if she's a woman from whom love was taken away and who went on a murderous revenge spree.

This was written by the Wachowski sisters. They would know what transitioning does to a person. If the "virus" was some sort of super-soldier serum, we could assume that some part of that serum might have included heavy doses of testosterone, which would have deepened her voice, even down to the level we hear in the movie.

If V was forcefully transitioned, it would stand to reason he'd want to hide his face (her face?) And would say things like "There is a face behind this mask, but it is not me"

Valerie might well have known how to create masks and such

The damn Scarlett Carson roses! They make SO MUCH more sense when you consider Valerie would have already known how to take care of them before she got taken, (and maybe even knew where to find a stash of seeds?) rather than some guy randomly found out about them and then learned how to keep them

If she indeed got cast for major motion pictures, and gotten paid well for them, that might explain the VAST resources V has at his disposal in order to pull off his schemes

👇 This right here👇

Soooo many similarities

"I had only told them the truth"

"I told you, only truth"

There's so many scenes that VERY MUCH make V look feminine

Ugh, there's so much more

There's SO MUCH MORE

But I'm dead tired right now and I want to post this now while I'm still excited about it and I'll have to write an update about it later if people want to hear more.

Heck... one very personal but deeply powerful concept about this movie for me is that I have shaped some parts of my personality around V's character. His intelligence. His ability to be both a monster and a face of kindness, his love for the arts and passion in keeping up his skills. I was surprised as heck when I found out his favorite movie is "The Count of Monte Cristo" because before I found "V for Vendetta", that was already MY favorite movie (the 2002 version though)

I don't see there being any fewer similarities after transitioning and I found this movie LONG before I thought any part of me was feminine

If MatPat ends up stealing this idea for a video, my name on here (Ce'irth) is pronounced like "surf"

OK see you later

[runawaymun]

question that you do not have to answer: are you lgbt? and are there lgbt ppl in your church? i was just wondering how common it is for lgbt ppl to be practicing christians and vice versa

I am bi and genderqueer, yes. Several of my friends are practicing Christian and also queer to some degree (we have like one token straight friend haha) — though we kind of all collected each other through the power of gaydar. The deacon(ess) at our church has been quite open about being queer as well, and the rest of the leadership seems more or less supportive.

It’s hard to say how common or uncommon it is. In my experience, I’d lean on the side of uncommon purely because the church has deeply sinned against its queer members historically, and that’s not a wound which quickly heals — but I grew up baptist. It all very much depends on your location and the denomination of church. I live in a liberal area and the church I go to is ECLA Lutheran, who as a whole are queer affirming and allow queer people to hold leadership. The main pastor at our church isn’t comfortable officiating queer weddings — but has no problem allowing other members of staff to do it. I respect that bc I very much prefer for people to err on the side of following their own conscience. He isn’t hateful or bigoted, but he is definitely more traditional.

As far as how common it is to have practicing queer people in church, I think it’s far more common than people think and much more common than people at church think. We are all just pretty quiet about it unless the church is an affirming one. The climate of each church can vary. We tend to find each other and find allies. People stay at churches for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with how affirming the leadership at that church is.

Quaker and ECLA churches tend to be affirming. The ones I hate the most are the psuedo-nondenominational liberal churches of the likes I attended for years, because they’re bigoted but they aren’t honest about it. It’s very much “love the sinner, hate the sin”, and the general idea is “it’s okay to experience same sex attraction but don’t act on it, and don’t talk about it”. At least the outright conservative churches are upfront.

But I digress. There are many, many queer practicing Christians across the whole spectrum of Christian denominations. I’ve met several at every church I’ve ever attended. The main reason I took so long to find an affirming church is that my top priority when looking is that the church must believe in and uphold the Bible (or else, like, why are we here lol). I know that the Bible itself actually has nothing to say about queer people in consensual relationships, so there is no need to throw out scripture in an attempt to be affirming. Churches that err on one extreme of the spectrum or the other are, in my opinion, intellectually lazy or dishonest.

But the trend is for the better imo. The kids in church these days seem to be much better off, and my hope for them is that they will never be hurt and question God’s love for them like I did for so long.

Oof, digressing more, sorry! I am very passionate about this whole topic. Anyway I hope that answers your question, thank you!

[lacependragon]

Listen I love the Bees. They're my preferred ship for the both of them. I love the healing and the tenderness and the trust and the giggles matched with the sarcasm and the jokes.

But. But.

I do genuinely believe that sometime around V7, RWBY became a soulless cash grab, and the Justice League movies really, really slam that home for me. And I'm sorry that was when the Bees got all their shit together. The characters could be in a much better story! But they're not, in canon. They're stuck in RWBY.

And RWBY, for me, has sucked since about the midpoint of V7. It feels soulless, out of character, like it's slapping the lowest common denominator in plots, reveals, and characterization, and it's so full of Bathos it's impossible to take seriously without feeling like the actual showrunners are making fun of you for enjoying the show.

I love the characters. I love so much of the lore. But it does, to me, genuinely feel like the last 3 volumes exist just to exist, that everything is solely about money instead of story, and that everything interesting and nuanced about this world has been sanded down and filed off to make nice smooth, non-corners so that everyone in the audience without any reading comprehension still doesn't cut themselves on any sharp edges because none exist.

And that's not even getting into my problem with the way the series handles tone across a single volume and multiple volumes. Which I think has been seriously failing since V5.

There's so much in the modern canon that fascinates me - the tree in Ever After and the concept of Ever After is one of the most interesting things RWBY has done in a while, IMO, but I wish it had been better thought out, better implemented, better foreshadowed. I wish it didn't rely on fairytales we've never heard of and didn't fuck with stuff we already knew without any sort of clarity.

In a lot of series I'd give the showrunners some benefit of doubt, but RWBY has proven multiple times that it doesn't care about clarity of worldbuilding, only coolness factor. So things aren't consistent, and they don't make proper sense, and they're changed whenever the writers think of something better - or that's how it fucking feels.

Not to mention I am still firm that the characters have been acting wrong for a while. Some more extremely than others, but in ways that are convenient to plot and comedy, rather than true to themselves.

If I wasn't so invested. If I didn't love so much. I'd just walk away and let it go. Gods know I've never finished a shit ton of series for that reason.

The problem is I love so much of RWBY and it's hard to just. Be so frustrated with it.

[gisellelx]

Do you think Carlisle was still going to church even tho he was a vampire?

I've done a LOT of thinking and research about this, over the years, so apologies for the length here. I actually dropped most of my headcanon about this on the ole' sideblog not too long ago. But since I am 150% committed to the bit over there, there's no room for explaining why my reading leads to my writing that Carlisle thinks a particular way, since he presumably has no knowledge of the text.

A lot of misunderstandings about Carlisle's relationship with religion, IMO, come from trying to view him and his father through the lens of contemporary American evangelical Christianity. Evangelical Christians, as we know them in the US, are a very, very recent development--they date back to roughly the Regan era, and if they claim denominational affiliation (many do not), they are typically Pentecostal, Methodist, or Baptist.

Carlisle canonically is the son of an Anglican priest. This was the 1640s-1660s, and one of his scant human memories is of the Protectorate, meaning that either his father loved Cromwell or hated Cromwell. Given that, plus the rest of what we know about his dad--that he believed in evil, and hunted demons (anachronistic btw), it seems likely that he was a Puritan. Americans are familiar with the separating Puritans as part of our country's founding mythos--the settlers who came seeking freedom to practice their religion and you know whoops just accidentally did a genocide but not before having a big meal with the Wampanoag!

But there was a second set of nonseparating Puritans who stayed in England, and tried to reform the Anglican church from within. So if we take at face value that Carlisle remembers his father as "Anglican," plus the attitudes toward evil and strong memory of Cromwell, this is likely where Carlisle landed. His church upbringing would've been heavy on the fire and brimstone in the preaching, but still based on an order of worship derived from the Catholic service, with an order of confession, weekly readings from the Old and New Testaments according to the lectionary (as opposed to the modern nondenominational practice of reading whatever the heck the pastor feels like/following a newer bible reading schedule), the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the creed, and music of psalmodys, occasional hymns, fractions and collects. Communion would've been celebrated frequently.

I suspect, that as a vampire, Carlisle still finds a great deal of solace in that worship pattern. It is one of the few things that is very little changed in his long life. I think he pops into an Episcopal church once every couple years, and when a congregation sings the oldest collects, it moves him to what otherwise would be tears because some deep part of his mind remembers the music the same way an elderly patient with dementia would.

So yes, I think he goes on occasion. I definitely meant this kind of as a shitpost when I wrote it, but it also rings true--he still takes seriously the trappings of the faith practices he grew up with. They are meaningful to him. I loved the new canon introduced in MS that he likes popping into churches when the family are out hunting because it felt very in character and also gives him a really delightful soft side.

He doesn't go often. He doesn't feel like he has to. But he still does find meaning in it all, and to him, it still matters.