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lesfeldickbiblestudy · 2 years ago

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Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 3 * BOOK 71 ANTI-CHRIST: THE BEAST, THE WICKED ONE - 3 Daniel 9:27 – Revelation 19:11 For those of you joining us on television again, we appreciate you bringing us into your living room, kitchen, or wherever. How we appreciate your response to our teaching. We just give God the praise. How we thank you for your letters, especially when you write and tell us that for years you never had any interest in spiritual things. My, we get letters from people who haven’t been to church in years, and they get hooked. I don’t like to use the word, because it always reminds me of the drug culture, but they get hooked on our program, and it changes their life. I know one fellow wrote and he said, “Les, I used to just give up trying to read and understand the Bible. It lay on the shelf and collected dust, but you have taught me how to study, and it is so much fun.” And that’s the right word. It’s fun to go through these Scriptures and see how it all fits. Of course, that’s what makes our Bible so unique. Unlike all the so-called religious books, it’s not laid out like a story book, but it’s a book that has to be put together like a jigsaw puzzle. That’s a good example. You just put the pieces together and you connect the dots and then all of a sudden it all just makes sense. We are in the last four programs of book number 71. Now, for those of you out in television, it may not mean much to you. But each book that we list is twelve successive programs. So, if you want to know how many programs we’ve got in inventory, you just multiply 71 times 12 and that’s over 800. Okay, continuing on about the anti-Christ and those final seven years that the Bible calls the Day of the LORD. We’re going to go to the one and only place that I’m aware of in Scripture where the man is referred to as the anti-Christ. That will be in I John chapter 2 verse 18. I don’t know of any other place where he’s referred to by this term. Now again remember, all of these little Jewish epistles especially are writing with the idea that this is right out in front of them. They have no idea that God is going to stop the time clock and open it up for the Church Age for 2,000 years. So he speaks of it as though it could happen the next month or two. I John 2:18a “Little children, (He’s writing to believing Jews.) it is the (What?) last time:…” Well, that means what it says, so far as John was concerned. So far as his fellow believers are concerned, they were right in the last days. I John 2:18b “…it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, (future) even now there are many antichrists;…” (plural) Well, now let’s just flip back a minute. Keep your hand in I John. We may want to come back to it. Come all the way back to Matthew chapter 24. We looked at this several programs back, but remember, repetition is the mother of learning. Matthew 24 and the Twelve have come up with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Olives without any outside adherents. No pressure. Just Jesus and the Twelve. Matthew 24:3-4a “And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples (the Twelve) came unto him privately, (without any other onlookers or whatever) saying, Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age? 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them,…” Fellows, you’re crazy, you don’t know what you’re talking about! NO! That’s not the attitude He takes. He gives them a specific answer, because it was a valid question. What are the signs of the end? That’s why I think it behooves us to look at it today. Hey, we’re just as close now as they thought they were then. So, we have to look at the signs of the time. Matthew 24:4b “…Take heed that no man deceive you.” Now you out there probably don’t realize as much as I do, with the response that we get, the false teaching that is just coming in like a tsunami. It’s coming in like a huge wave.

And it comes in all colors and descriptions. It’s just unbelievable...and people are falling for it. They’re sending their money to it. I constantly tell people, don’t send them your money. Why contribute to something that is so false. But it’s just like water off a duck, but that’s the sign of the times. Matthew 24:4b-5 “…Take heed that no man deceive you. 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Well, in John’s language from his little epistle, what are they calling themselves? Well, they’re anti-Christs – plural. But, who is going to be the epitome of all of them, the anti-Christ, the man that we’ve been looking at—the Son of Perdition, the Prince that shall come. Now, I know I made definition of the anti-Christ several programs back, and I’m going to have to qualify that a little bit. Number 1, the word anti doesn’t specifically mean against as what? Counterfeit. He’s a counterfeit Christ. When I mull these things over, then I have to bring it into the language as we use it. During World War II what did many of the axis nations that were against us, Hitler’s Germany, Italy, and Japan—what was one of the things they tried to use to defeat America? They flooded the world with counterfeit American money. Now think about that a minute. It was all counterfeit. But what was the end purpose? To defeat our nation. All right, now maybe that will enhance the word anti-Christ a little more. Yes, he’s going to be a counterfeit Messiah. But in counterfeiting the Messiah, what is his end purpose? To defeat God and the true Messiah. And it’s going to look like he’s succeeding. But, oh, he won’t. God is still in His Heaven, and one day He’s going to bring it all to an end. All right, so mark that down. When I say that anti-Christ is a counterfeit Christ, yes, the end result is the enemy activity to destroy his opposition. Also, we find then that one of the marks of the coming Tribulation will be a flood of false Christs, but they’ll be headed up by the anti-Christ. Come back to I John chapter 2 so that you’ll see that there is a singular as well as a plural. I John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist (singular) shall come, (Well, how did they know that? From the Old Testament prophecies—the Prince that shall come, this deceiver, the anti-Christ. But even now John says--) even now there are many antichrists; (Many deceivers, as we saw in Matthew 24.) whereby we know that it is the last time.” Now if you remember, when we taught these little epistles, yes, they thought it was right out in front of them. And God didn’t give them any reason not to think that. Even the Apostle Paul, as he wrote to his Gentile believers in the Body of Christ, speaks of the rapture. How does he speak of it? Does he speak of it as something 1,900 years out into the future? “For we shall be caught up and we shall be ever with the Lord.” Who was he including? Himself. So, they were all of that mentality that this was all approaching the coming of the anti-Christ, the seven years, the Second Coming, and the Kingdom. They did not understand that there would be another 1,900 years in between. But where does that put us? In the very same place — I can now sit here and teach you just like John said here, beloved, there are already many anti-Christs in the world. The deception is coming in. But what does that tell us? We’re at the end. Now, I’m not saying it’s next year or it’s in five, but we’re getting close. You know, I keep repeating something that I said way back in my early programs – the old caveman was sitting at the cave door. You remember it? And he had a sign over it, “The End Is Near.” And then I guess he had second thoughts and what did he add? The ‘ER’. So, every day we live, we are what? We’re nearer to the end. I’m not going to be apocalyptic and say, oh my, it’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s going to happen next week. But we’re getting close.

Again I always repeat, God’s wheels grind what? Slowly. God’s eternal. He’s not going to get in a hurry. But we do feel by all the indications around us that we’re getting close. All right, now to pursue this a little more. We’ve got the anti-Christ covered. We’ve got the Prince covered. We’ve got the Son of Perdition and the Wicked One also covered. I’ve got one left. What is it? The Beast. All through Scripture he’s referred to as the Beast. Now, let’s jump on up to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation is, of course, the roadmap for the last seven years, with all the details that the Old Testament didn’t reveal. But here they are. That’s the whole Book of Revelation. It’s the roadmap for that last seven years of what we call the Tribulation. Revelation chapter 13 and we’ll start at verse 1. John says: Revelation 13:1a “And I stood upon the sand of the sea,..” Now we’ve got to qualify, don’t we? Come back with me to Revelation chapter 1, which says again just like John said in his first epistle. Revelation 1:1a “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants (that is Christ’s servants) things which must shortly come to pass;…” Well, it is the same analogy. They thought that all of this was right out in front of them, and the Holy Spirit caused these men to write in that same mindset, that this was all in the immediate future. But now you come down to verse 10. He’s beginning to set the stage for the revelation of all these things that are going to take place during that final seven years. All right, John writes: Revelation 1:10a “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,…” Not Sunday, but what’s the Day of the LORD? Those final seven years! John is being transported, like a time machine, into the very future of those seven years. And miraculously, by the Spirit’s design, reveals the unfolding of those seven years. So, that’s what it means that “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” He was transported into that future period of time. All right, now back to Revelation 13, while he’s experiencing that supernatural phenomenon of seeing the events of those final seven years, here is one of those things. Revelation 13:1a “And I stood upon the sand of the sea,…” Now, as we taught years back in this Book of Revelation, what is the sea symbolically? Humanity. He’s standing upon the sea of the thriving millions of humanity, and up out of that fomenting sea of humanity comes what? One tremendous individual. Revelations 13:1 “And I stood upon the sands of the sea, and saw a beast (There’s the term.) beast rise up out of the sea, (Now, this is all symbolism, remember.) having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” Now, I’ve taught this earlier, but I’d better stop and repeat it again. The Beast refers to the final empire, this worldwide empire of this world dictator. They’re both called the Beast. All right, so here we have the empire of which he’s coming out of. I think it’s the Revived Roman Empire -- “Having seven heads and ten horns.” Now, horns always depict government in Scripture. And even in the book I was reading the other night in history, the first thing old Nimrod did when he killed some wild beast was he cut its horn off and plastered it on a headpiece. It was an indication that he was now a ruler. So, it’s carried all the way through human history. A horn spoke of a government. Alexander the Great, back in the Book of Daniel, what is it? A horn. And the same way here. This empire is depicted now as “having seven heads and ten horns” (or nations that are going to coalesce and come together) and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” It is an anti-God empire. All right, now then verse 2. Revelation 13:2a “And the beast (this empire) which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power,…” So, this is going to be a complete satanic controlled earth kingdom.

And God is merely going to be sovereignly letting it happen. But He’ll never relinquish His power. Don’t ever worry about that. Revelation 13:2b “…and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Now we’re talking about the individual, the anti-Christ, the Beast, the Prince that shall come, the Son of Perdition. All right, verse 3, now we come back to, I think, the empire. Revelation 13:3 “And I saw a one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Now, I didn’t intend this to be a study of the Book of Revelation, but when you get into it, you’ve got to take it as it comes. Here we have, I think, the death of the original Roman Empire. Now some will teach this is the death of the anti-Christ, and he’ll be miraculously raised from the dead. I prefer to think that it’s the death of the Roman Empire, and it died between A.D. 300 and A.D. 400. It went into the dustbin of history. But now, with the advent of the European Community, here it’s coming once again. What have I said for 30 years as I’ve taught Scripture? Watch Western Europe. Because right after World War II, the ten major nations of Western Europe met in Rome and they formed what was called the Club of Rome. It was that original ten nations of what is still the European Union. I feel that was the beginning of a revival of that Roman Empire that died back there between A.D. 300 and A.D. 400. All right, here we’ve got it now. It was dead; miraculously it’s coming back to life. You know, I mentioned on a program a long time ago and this was in, I think, probably one of our daily newspapers. At least I read it some place. That at the time the Italian, now I’ve forgotten his name, (Romano) but anyway, now this is one of those things I didn’t plan on sharing. But this Italian head of state was having dinner at the White House. It was just after they had brought in another 15 or 20 of the Eastern European Nations into the European Union. And this Italian was bragging to President Bush of how the Western European Nations were growing. I suppose he was sort of letting him know that we’re going to go right by you in population and gross domestic product and all the rest. But anyhow, George W. stopped and he said, “But Romano,” he said, “That was the Roman Empire.” Well, now I don’t know if he spoke from biblical knowledge or what, but that’s true. That’s exactly what it is. It’s the reappearing of the old ancient Roman Empire. It was dead and now it’s alive. All right, verse 3. Revelation 13:3b “and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Now again, we’re going to take the word beast as defining the man as well as his empire from which he will draw his power. All right, verse 4. Revelation 13:4a “And they worshipped the dragon who gave power to the beast:…” What does that mean? The world is going to fall completely into Satan worship, as they worship the anti-Christ, because that’s what he is. He is the epitome of satanic operations. He is going to be wicked. He’s going to be evil, and yet he’s going to have charisma. He’s going to have intelligence to make the world think that he is their god. It’s coming. And you can see it by the way people fall for all this false stuff. They’re ignorant of the Scriptures. Consequently, if it sounds good, hey, that’s what they have to believe. All right, coming back to Revelation 13 verse 4. Revelation 13:4 “And they worshipped the dragon who gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” So now we’re talking about the man, the man anti-Christ. But he’s got that ten-nation consortium of Western Europe, I feel, behind him. They’re doing the financing. You know, I mentioned on the program a while back that nobody can do anything without money. You know that. Nations cannot do anything without a viable economy behind it.

They have to be funded. And that’s why if they could ruin our currency with counterfeit, hey, we’d go down the tube. And that’s the one thing that scares me for America. All of these foreign people that are just raking in the trillions of dollar are investing it in our American economy. And if they would decide to pull it, it would just simply crash us. So, we have to hope and pray that they don’t do that. But nevertheless, here again, I feel that these ten nations that make up this European Community, or European Union, will be the foundation from which this man anti-Christ will take on complete world dominion. All right, now then verse 5: Revelation 13:5 “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue (to carry on his worldwide endeavors and his rule for another) forty and two months.” That’s three and a half years. So, that takes us from the middle to the end of the Tribulation. All right, verse 6: Revelation 13:6-7a “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,…” Now you want to remember, there are going to be people being saved during the Tribulation while these 144,000 Jews are preaching. So, he’s going to cause misery and persecution upon anyone who becomes a believer. Revelation 13:7b-8a “…to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (all under one man, remember) 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall (What?) worship him,…” Now, we’re still talking about the Prince that shall come, out of Daniel. I hope you’re staying with me now. Here is where he comes to his final time of power and rule especially in the last half or the last three and a half years. Revelation 13:8-10 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. (It’s going to be a constant retribution thing.) Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” All right, now while we’ve got this minute left, remember, there is another key player during the Tribulation that we call the false prophet. And here he comes, beginning in verse 11. He’s going to work hand-in-glove with the anti-Christ. Was it Lenin who said that religion was the opiate of the masses? Well, to a degree that’s true. Look at your world today. What makes them react in violence and killing and murder? Religion! All right, so what is the anti-Christ going to use to maintain control over his masses? Religion. And how is the religion going to do it? Through one man, a false prophet, he will be the religious leader. All right, here he comes now. Revelation 13:11-12 “And I beheld another beast (another great world leader under the anti-Christ) coming up out of the earth; (In other words, the mass of humanity that is not in any way, shape, or form in a relationship with God.) and he had two horns like a lamb, (Showing that he’s not a militant.) and he spake like a dragon. 12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,…” So, they’re going to work hand-in-glove.

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aacappreviews · 2 years ago

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hi ! I want to start this by saying I received a copy of speak for yourself for free , which I am so very grateful for , not just so I can write this but also because it has helped me so much in my daily life. I am using the app to write this review , just because I find it so much easier than typing! as always, I have no affiliation with the creators of SfY, but i think they’re absolutely awesome.

speak for yourself was created by two SLPs, which is really reflected in some of the features found in this AAC program.

speak for yourself has only one grid size, 8x15, but with a unique feature - the user can begin with as few as two words accessible, and those two words will stay in the same place as their vocabulary expands.

in fact , all of the words in speak for yourself will always stay in the same place, no matter whether you're working with 2 words or the full 14,000 available in the app!

(an image of the speak for yourself home page with all words open)

speak for yourself bases its language system around the concept of motor planning, meaning that once a user learns where to find a word , they never have to learn that word again - it’ll always be in the exact same place, allowing language acquisition to be supported by the motor plans in the user’s mind. not only that, but all 14,000 words are available within just two taps. this hugely improves speech rate and also makes the app very easy to navigate, in my opinion it’s an absolutely brilliant feature and isnt found within any other software.

words are organised by association, rather than parts of speech - so “book” is found under “read”, rather than under “nouns”. i personally think this makes the app more accessible for young users or people who struggle to understand parts of speech, words are more intuitive to find than in other AAC apps.

this isn’t to say SFY doesn’t focus on grammar at all - the opposite is actually true. verb inflections are always organised in a certain order (eg. the “-ing” form is always two buttons to the right of the root word.) this is really helpful for people learning language through motor planning, and has helped me develop my own grammar skills over time. an inflections folder is also included, so almost any word can be altered to its plural form, past tense, etc.

specific words can be made visible or invisible to the user through the “open/close” feature, to allow progressive language development and to stop the user becoming overwhelmed by too many words. all words can be made accessible through the “babble” feature - great for exploring new words and building motor plans! the search feature is also very robust, it highlights the path to the word and automatically opens the word to make it visible in the future.

once typed into the speech bar, sentences can be stored by touching the “hold that thought” button, which saves sentences to be spoken later. this is an invaluable feature for AAC users, as we so often get interrupted with another question and don’t get to speak what we were preparing!

the typing feature in SFY is very well-integrated. it uses your device’s keyboard, and has the option to read out each letter. it loads quickly, so switching from symbols to typing doesn’t interrupt your sentence flow. however, it doesn’t include the symbols for each typed word like i’ve seen in other AAC apps, and it doesn’t have in-app word prediction.

sadly, SFY is only available in english right now, and it’s unclear whether other languages will be added in the future ; as a bilingual user this is something i’d really love, so i hope other languages are one day supported in SFY!

speak for yourself uses Cereproc voices, with customisable pitch, and Acapela voices are available as an in-app purchase. the supported Cereproc accents are australian english, indian english, south african english, irish english, UK english and US english. however, the former three all sound quite automated and child voices are only available in US english (and british english if you purchase an acapela voice). i’d also like to mention that while i really like a lot of the Cereproc voices, they can sometimes begin to glitch towards the end of very long sentences. not really a big deal, but again, still worth mentioning.

pros and cons!

pros:

words available within two taps

14000 words

organised intuitively

words are easy to add

can be made accessible for visually impaired users

hold that thought feature

robust search feature

variety of voices

good grammar support

free trial version

cons:

only english available

slightly unusual symbols (eg. photo of a witch for “which”)

quite expensive, although often half price on disability awareness days and autism awareness month

only available on iOS

in all honesty, SFY is the most robust AAC system i’ve ever found, and at least on an individual level i can vouch that it has really improved my life. if you’re looking for an AAC system for somebody, no matter how young, i really urge you to consider this as an option, there isn’t really another program like it.

thank you for reading my review, and if you’ve used SFY and disagree with anything i’ve said, please let me know!

#speak for yourself #sfy #speak for yourself aac #aac user #aac app #review #semiverbal #actuallysemiverbal #actuallyautistic #aphasia #communication app

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feelingbluepolitics · 3 years ago

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Republicon "legislators at the state level are codifying into law a draft letter written by a former US Department of Justice official in the remaining weeks of [t]rump's one and only term. That draft letter, according to the Post's Philip Bump, was 'a road map to overthrowing the will of voters.' It explained in granular detail how state Republican officials could have pulled off a coup.

"This quiet coup attempt failed mere days before the loud coup attempt failed. The sacking and looting of the United States Capitol on January 6 was a last-ditch effort by an outgoing president desperate to hold on to power but exhausted of choices. Nullification of the democratic will would have been preferable, because it would not have drawn so much attention. When that failed, [trump] had to risk exposing his true intentions with his last remaining option, a violent revolt.

"The difference between loud and quiet is the proper context for recent remarks by Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She said her father, Dick Cheney, was 'deeply troubled' about 'where our party is, deeply troubled about where the country is.' She said this after having voted to impeach [trump] and after losing her job as chair of the House GOP conference. With due respect, though, I doubt she and the former vice president are worried about what they should be worried about. They should be worried about state-level attempts to nullify democracy. I don't think they are. I think, instead, they're worried about potential right-wing violence, like what we saw on January 6. It might draw attention to what state Republican officials are doing.

"Dick Cheney's concern about appearances (assuming I'm correct) might sound quaint given the Republicans are less conservative than they are authoritarian. After all, plenty of Republicans and plenty of their media allies are more than happy to shit-can commitments to democracy and democratic values. Tucker Carlson, the Fox talking head, has been talking up Hungary as a model for the future, one that's transparently hostile to pluralism, political equity and democracy. Why not just come out and say the January 6 insurrection was deserved?

"That respectable [sic] Republicans like Dick and Liz Cheney have not said so suggests they understand the importance of political legitimacy. I think the rest of us should understand its importance, too, especially with respect to fears of an authoritarian future in the United States. Even if you're an all-out fascist, you must maintain the appearance among the people who count to you that fascism is totally legitimate. Right-wing political violence, at least for the time being, is almost never legitimate. Right-wing political violence exposes true intentions.

"This is why many of the Republicans lie about the insurrection. The insurgents were 'victims,' for instance. The demands of legitimacy mean they must convince themselves they're the good guys. That makes them susceptible to the fact that they're not. This is why propagandists like Steve Bannon constantly repeat the myth that the former president's supporters represent the 'true majority.' To be sure, the 'true majority' elected Joe Biden. But whether it's true or not isn't the point. The point is even authoritarians understand the importance of appearances. For now, right-wing violence makes them vulnerable, because right-wing violence exposes their true intentions.

"This seems to me the true fault line within the Republican Party. On one hand are the radicals who don't mind everyone knowing the GOP really does have an informal network of paramilitaries waiting to spring into action. On the other are the leaders and the old guard, who really don't want everyone knowing the GOP has an informal network of paramilitaries waiting to spring into action. They don't mind state election laws that nullify democracy, if that's what it takes to control the government, but they also don't want the radicals mucking up complicated efforts to make authoritarianism nice and legal. To be sure, the GOP has maintained this balance for decades. With [t]rump, however, came a genie who won't be put back in the lamp.

"Meanwhile, the Democrats seem to be moving to force that Republican fault line to its breaking point...The difference is the Democrats have all the evidence of the January 6 insurrection on their side. The Republicans can only say they're 'deeply troubled.' House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was asked recently by Roll Call for his thoughts on new state 'rules about who gets to overrule election results, legislators and other elected officials.' With all of democracy and democratic values beside him, the South Carolina Congressman said: 'I want you to call it what it is. Use the word: nullification. It is voter nullification. … Georgia just passed a law, it's got nullification in it, saying that these, this committee, will have the authority to overturn elections if–they don't say it this way, but this is what they're saying–if we don't like the results' (italics mine)."

"It remains to be seen whether or not Clyburn's statement has any effect on the current debate in the Senate over election reform. My point for now is about normal partisan politics. While I have no doubt that the Republicans, seeing they came very close to overthrowing the republic once, will try again when the opportunity presents itself. But that's no cause for hopelessness. Authoritarianism is like any other political ideology in that it's vulnerable to normal partisan politics. Indeed, as I've argued, it saved us once. It can and may save us again."

The further point to be made is that there is no more room for centrists and moderates at this historical inflection point, because they put the country at risk from Republicons and authoritarianism. Whatever typical political and social issues may retain democratic debate or consensus as values -- and very few of those remain -- this is not one of them. We must have baseline protections for voting if we prefer a democracy for our future. We must keep pro-authoritarian factions out of power, and that includes the entire Right-wing.

Be partisan. Be very partisan. Be afraid not to be.

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missnight0wl · 3 years ago

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The Ketsueki brothers theory time!

All right, so this one will be based on the recent datamine. I usually don’t like to write theories using only datamine, but I have to say, I’m pretty excited about this one, and I don’t think I can wait until the chapter is released. Anyway, I’m letting you know that I will mention one possibly important piece of information, but I’ll try not to tell too much about the situation when we learn it, not to spoil too much.

Now, without further ado, let’s dive in.

In one of the future chapters, we’ll learn that Jacob was repeating the words: “Ryu, Chinese Fireball, dragon claw”. However, due to the circumstances, we can’t learn from him what it means, and so it becomes a mystery for MC to solve. Now, “Ryu” is what got me interested in particular. This is what I found:

Ryū (龍, 竜, 隆, りゅう, リュウ, Ryū) is a Japanese masculine given name and family name meaning "dragon".

And I thought… what are the odds that the Wizard in White’s real name is:

RYU KETSUEKI?

I mean, it’d totally explain why his name wasn’t revealed yet, right? But wait! I have more!

Let’s go back to Y5. In Y5Ch6, we had this scene:

Frankly, I always felt that Nick’s words here were supposed to be misleading – that Jacob was using “dragon” as a nickname or something. And I did in fact believe that it might’ve been about the WIW. The thing was that I based my speculation on his tattoo:

But to be honest, I kind of abandoned this idea. I mean, there was no follow up whatsoever, so I assumed that either the writers forgot about it or that it was indeed about a dragon in the Portrait Vault.

But now, with that name… It all adds up quite nicely. Like, let’s say that a dragon is an emblem of the Ketsueki family – hence the tattoo. Also, let’s say that the eldest son is always named Ryu, for example. That being said, since Jacob believed that “a dragon” is at Hogwarts, perhaps it wasn’t even exactly about the WIW – it was about Victor. But why Jacob would be interested in Victor? Or in the WIW, for that matter? Well, it brings me to my second realisation.

A while ago, I proposed the idea that R might’ve used Victor’s vampirism to lure WIW into joining them; that they promised him that they can cure Victor. But it only explains how they did it. I still had no idea WHY would they do it. And then, it hit me: R thought that the WIW might be Jacob. Well, not literally, of course.

I often talk about how the siblings have to be connected to the Cursed Vaults and necessary to open the final one. I think of it as their curse which was carried through generations. I believe that their family moved abroad at some point as well – that’s why R had troubles with finding them and why nothing was happening with the Cursed Vaults until Jacob appeared. So, what if R’s search led them to the WIW somehow? What if for some reason, they thought he can open the final Vault? What if they’re responsible for his expulsion, just like for Jacob’s, and that it was supposed to force him to join them (so Victor could’ve been simply an additional motivation)? And maybe, just maybe… there was some prophecy involved with that?

Now, why would I put the prophecy into all of that? Well, mostly because I don’t see any other explanation for this part from R’s letter they wrote to Jacob after Duncan’s death (Y5Ch7):

The first time when I thought it might have something to do with any kind of prophecy was when we had the class on Myomancy in the game, which is a form of Divination using rats and mice. So, y’know, the rats part is pretty obvious. As for Centaurs, they do specialise in Divination, right? After all, even MC went to them for help in that matter. Therefore, maybe Jacob had a similar intention? But I still wasn’t convinced about those rats… So, maybe it’s about different kind of rats? Like… “traitors”?

Here’s my wild guess. There was the prophecy, and both Jacob and the WIW seemed to fit it. I assume that the WIW might’ve been recruited first, but then, R realised that he’s not the right person. Perhaps they even withdraw their offer of helping Victor. But even if not, the WIW rebelled against R and somehow betrayed them. Or not even, but that’s R’s version of the story.

When R was working on Jacob already, he somehow learnt about the prophecy and about the WIW. He wanted to find him, or find his brother. He also wanted to go to Centaurs with the prophecy, even though he probably was already in a bad relationship with Torvus.

R found out that he’s investigating it, and they didn’t like it because it could mean that Jacob would discover too much. After Duncan’s death, when R was also trying to be nicer to Jacob, they told him not to think about “rats and Centaurs” – where “rats” refers to the WIW, who R portrayed as a traitor or something. I know they used a plural form, but I think it still makes sense as a generalization. Alternatively, they might also be talking about Rakepick (as Jacob was likely working with her at the time, too, and R probably wasn’t happy about it either).

Also, it might even fit the Rogues theory. It’d explain why the WIW wants revenge on R, and why he’d join the Rogues who secretly work against R.

So… yeah! I guess that’s it! As always, I don’t expect that Jam City will explain things in such detail. I really doubt that we’re gonna return at all to the plot of Jacob believing there’s a dragon at Hogwarts. But if it at least turns out that the WIW’s name is Ryu Ketsueki… I’m gonna be very happy.

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #wizard in white #victor ketsueki #hphm jacob #hphm r #the ketsueki brothers theory #analysis post #theory #hphm theory

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mysticmachmir · 5 years ago

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Tarot Through a Jewish Lens (Part I)

Is Tarot Jewish?

No. Tarot was not a Jewish creation and nor does it come from Kabbalah. When Waite made his famous RWS deck, he was a Christian occultist/magician and part of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and also formed his own Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. He was a Catholic involved in 'western esotericism' and fell under the learnings of Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi was not a Jewish man. He was a French gentile occultist who changed his name from Alphonse Louis Constant to Éliphas Lévi Zahed -- why? He wanted his magical works to sound more authentically exotic (aka, Jewish) because he appropriated from Jewish mysticism and skewed it for his own wants. He believed that Kabbalah was the "linking factor between the Old Testament and the New Testament", and that is rooted in Christian supersessionism, a violent ideology that has resulted in many murders of the Jewish people. Another example is the french occultist, Court de Gébelin, who claimed that the Major Arcana were numbered to correspond to the 22 letters in both the Egyptian and Hebrew alphabets. It didn’t seem to trouble him that at the time different versions of the deck that was in circulation sometimes had more than and sometimes less than 22 Major Arcana cards. Or that ancient Egyptians didn’t use an alphabet.

So no. Tarot was created as a playing card game, sprung up in Italy, Germany, and France. It was not intended for 'occult' use until much later. And still, in no way shape or form, was it ever Jewish in origin. In the Torah, besides certain kinds of divination/tools, divination is forbidden and Tarot is considered avodah zarah (idolatry) because it is a non-Jewish practice.

Now I'm sure you're asking: Well you read tarot, why are you telling me this? Aren't you incriminating yourself? I'm telling you because I want to stress and push back against cultural appropriation and Christian supersessionism that is rooted in these beliefs, and I want to make it clear that the relationship between a Jew, halacha, and G!d is on them - but to not fool oneself claiming a non-Jewish practice is actually Jewish. That, I think, is more ludicrous than just using tarot.

Alright, now onto the fun parts and what you are here for.

My Jewish Theology with Tarot

So, this is all my personal theology which obviously you do not have to share. I am Jewish and practice religious Judaism. I believe that there is only one G!d, Hashem, and that They are everywhere and in everything. In academic terms, I am a monotheistic panentheist. This aligns with a lot of Jewish mysticism, especially Chassidus, and consider myself a crossover between the Conservative Jewish denomination and Renewal, with a solid base in the American Neo-Hasidic movement . (Conservative =/= political right-wing in the Jewish movements). I deeply respect Jewish traditions, halacha, and have put a lot of thought in what I believe and how it relates to tarot. There will be of course Jews who disagree with me, but I'm not here to dwell on that. When I read tarot, I am not asking the cards to tell me the answer I am seeking - the cards are a tool, an object, and do not possess spirits of their own. I am asking G!d. Now, angels won't interfere, but sheydim (demons) can. I will talk about protections/rituals one can use to avoid sheydim meddling later. As for questions like: How does one ethically divine? How much power do interpreters have? Does G!d plan everything? Do we have free will when it comes to our future? Let’s look to source texts. “All is foreseen, but free will is given.” —Rabbi Akiva, Pirke Avot 3:15 "Rabbi Bena’a: There were twenty-four interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem. One time, I dreamed a dream and went to each of them to interpret it. What one interpreted for me the other did not interpret for me, and, nevertheless, all of the interpretations were realized in me, to fulfill that which is stated: All dreams follow the mouth of the interpreter." —Berakhot 55b "The Gemara asks: But doesn’t Rav say that any divination that is not like the divination of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, when he went to seek a bride for Isaac (see Genesis 24:14), or like the divination of Jonathan, son of Saul, who sought an omen as to whether he and his arms bearer would defeat the Philistines (see I Samuel 14:8–12), is not divination? Since Rav did not rely on the omen in his decision making, he did not violate the prohibition against divination, and there was no reason for him to penalize himself." —Chullin 95b "What is a diviner? One who takes his stick in hand and says, (as though he were consulting it), “Shall I go, or shall I not go?” So does it state, (Hoshea 4:12) “My people ask counsel of their stick, and their staff declareth unto them” (Sifrei Devarim 171:6). (3) מעונן — Rabbi Akiba said, Such are people who assign times (עונות plural of עונה “period”, “time”) — who say, “This time is auspicious to begin some work”; the Sages, however, say, It refers to those “who hold your eyes under control” (who delude by optical deception; they connect מעונן with עין “eye”) (Sifrei Devarim 171:9)." —Rashi on Devarim 18:10-12 "... here he does not rely on the אות which he had stipulated, but where he asked G’d in prayer for help, saying that if certain things were to happen he would regard this as a sign that his prayer had been answered favorably (compare Ibn Ezra there). When the Talmud Chulin 95 כל נחש שאינו כאליעזר עבד אברהם ויהונתן בן שאול אינו נחש, the meaning is that “any divination which is not like that of Eliezer or that of Yonatan ben Sha-ul is not a divination,” i.e. is not permissible, but is akin to relying on witchcraft [Unless the person requesting a sign does so as a prayer directed to G’d it is forbidden. Ed.]" —Sforno on Beresheit 24:14 “The true power of the tarot lies in its ability to channel a clear path for our deep intuition to shine through. Consulting the tarot can help clear creativity blockages, clarify ambitions, work through complex decisions, and make sense of emotions and relationships.” —Holistic Tarot, Benebell Wen

In my interpretation of these quotes, I gather a few things:

1. In Jewish thought, dreams are 1/60th prophecy. However, dreams follow the mouth, i.e. interpretations. Multiple interpretations can be true. Being a confident and learned interpreter is important. While I did not quote it, the sages also advise the one should pay your interpreters fairly.

2. Hashem has given humans free will, so we can make our own choices. That is unique to us as beings, unlike angels. G!d already knows the possible outcomes.

3. It is not divination to notice and realize patterns or answers as long as you do not use it as an omen to change immediate course - examples the sages mention in specific are "a piece of bread falls from your mouth, so you decide not to walk to the lake", i.e, seeking 'signs' and omens randomly to direct your life.

4. Rashi's explanation of what a diviner and sorcerer are, compiled from different Jewish texts. Now, I am not here to say "and this is proof Judaism and halacha are actually fine with divination!" Nope, in Bamidbar 23:23, it is very clear that Jews are told to get what they need from prophets or G!d themself, and do not need augury. What I am arguing here is that by these specifications, and connecting to my final point of what tarot actually is, tarot may not fall under that category depending on how you use it.

5. I wanted to highlight Sforno's commentary here because the way I read tarot is via prayer. Tarot is a tool, and when I begin a reading, I am not asking the cards, I am asking Hashem to use these cards as a sign and communication.

6. Finally, I quoted Benebell Wen because of her poignant understanding of how tarot is less about "fortune-telling" and more about a creative psycho-spiritual exercise for intuition and is more like a mirror to our subconscious telling us what is true. Fusing this with the ideas above, this is my short rundown of how I see and view Tarot: Tarot is a prayerful, spiritual tool as a way I can interpret and communicate from G!d, and I understand the cards themselves are not going to tell the future. Tarot is a mirror for the subconscious and a way for us to work through things we do not feel we can do on our own, be'ezrat Hashem (with the help of G!d).

Jewish Tarot Spreads

As I don't want to just post photos, I am instead going to include links to the tarot spreads I have found, to their origins so you can know the creator!The Archangel Spread The Divine Threads Spread Wisdom of the Hebrew Priestess Spread Vessel, Offering, Ally Spread Do Not Play It Small Spread Rooting and Releasing Spread

Jewish Tarot and Oracle Decks

Eht/Aht Netivot Oracle Deck

Tu B’shevat Oracle Deck

Moon Angels Oracle Deck

Malakhim Meditative Cards

Raziel Tarot Deck (Out of Print)

Jewish Tarot (Never Printed, Can See All Cards Virtually)

72 Names Deck

Tokens of Light Deck

King Solomon Deck

Revealed by the Letters Deck

Cleansing and Protection

So, of course, this is so dependent on what you think is most important for you, as it is your practice. However, I will share what I do.

When it comes to doing readings, I have a very specific ritual. First, I light incense or a candle depending on what I feel like doing at the time. This is something I am still working on and trying what fits best for me and my cards. I will use incense smoke to cleanse cards or the "knocking" card trick. Then, I say two prayers - I recite the blessing:

"Blessed are you G!d, Ruler of the Universe, who opens the eyes of the blind. The reason is because of the allegory that intuition and divination are connecting to a special type of sight. Then, in the case of the concern with sheydim messing with the reading, I have decided to use the protective angel prayer:

"In the name of the Lord, G!d of Israel:

May the angel Michael be at my right side,

and at my left side, Gabriel,

before me Uriel, behind me Raphael,

and above my head, Shekhinat El, G!d's presence." This is traditionally recited at night, but I felt it was just as appropriate to call on these angels for protection. Plus, Uriel is associated with illumination and is a useful presence to have during these readings. In Jewish gemology, lapis lazuli is good for bringing understanding and grounding intuition, so I use that gemstone as well while I read. Eventually, I'd like to also get an onyx as it is associated with enlightenment and wisdom in Jewish gemology. I also use a tarot cloth with a hamsa and have a protective amulet pendant.

Finally, when I shuffle my cards, I sing a very specific phrase - the "ein od milvado" from Kohelet 1:2, in a tune that puts me into a meditative headspace - and I shuffle with my eyes closed, only stopping when I feel it is right to do so. I also use a kabbalistic meditation technique to allow the divine flow (shefa) from G!d's light flow through the crown of my head.

If you liked this work and information, consider tipping me at: https://ko-fi.com/ezrasaville!

Sources (I will post this in every post of this series): Sefaria Chabad Tarot and the Gates of Light by Mark Horn Torah, Tarot, and Tantra by William Blank The Jewish Dream Book by Vanessa Ochs Magic of the Ordinary by R. Gershon Winkler Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet by R. Michael Munk The Encyclopedia of Jewish Magic, Myth, and Mysticism by R. Geoffrey Dennis https://www.telshemesh.org/ https://hsastrology.weebly.com/hebrew-zodiac-signs.html https://ohr.edu/this_week/ask_the_rabbi/2394 https://www.gatesoflighttarot.com/ http://www.devotaj.com/ http://www.peelapom.com/

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agermanadventurer · 4 years ago

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The Nature of the German Noun

In this post I want to go through some basics about the german noun. Let’s jump right in.

Big letters

One thing you’ll quickly start to notice is the capital letter in every noun, and this is just the way it is. The capitalization of nouns was supposedly to empathize and became a way to identify and easily recognize a noun - something you’ll get used to as you start reading more german texts. It’s just a thing to keep in mind when writing German.

Articles

One important difference between German and English is the article. We use “the” for everything; the table, the window, the flower. In German however, there are three different ways to say “the”, there are three so called genders. There’s masculine, feminine, and neuter:

Masculine - der

Feminine - die

Neuter - das

But don’t be fooled, these three are not what they might first seem like. They are mostly totally random (I want to look at some patterns for learning to figure out the gender in the future). For example:

the table - der Tisch

the darkness - die Dunkelheit

the girl - das Mädchen

So you’ll simply have to practice to remember them.

Cases

Now this is going to get a bit complicated (for those who are not already familiar with the concept). “Case” is determined depending on what function the noun has in the sentence. In English, there are three, but these are indifferent from each other and lack case markings - except for the possessive. (mine, your, its etc.) - so you have most likely never thought much about it.

In German however, the case marking is mainly on the article. This means that the article changes depending on the noun’s function in the sentence.

First and foremost, there are four of them: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative. Not only that but depending on the noun’s gender, it’s affected differently.

Example:

“The snake ate the sand.”

There is nothing in this sentence, besides the word order, that tells us that it was the snake that ate the sand and not the other way around. In German however;

“Die Schlange isst den Sand.“

Den informs us that the sand is the one receiving the action so even if the word order would change, we would still know that sand is the one being eaten.

But as you can see, den is not listed above as an article - or should I say, an article in nominative. It’s time to actually look at the different cases.

In the chart above you can see how the article is affected by the different cases. Now you may question what each of these cases mean, and I will try and explain as best as I can.

Nominative: This is the “normal” case. It is used when the noun in question is the sentence’s subject, the one doing the action.

Genitive: This is telling you to who something belongs to. Translated it would be “of the”. Ex. die Farbe der Licht = the colour of the light. (”Licht” is feminine)

Dative: German puts weight on whether or not something is moving. Dative is used when the noun in question is the sentence’s object (the one receiving the action) and there is no movement. To remember that dative is not moving you can also call it “staytive” - which is what I do. When to use dative is still tricky though and you have to put yourself in the German mindset - and practice. Lots of practice.

Accusative: The accusative is also when the noun is the sentence’s object, but this time there’s movement.

Not only this but there are also certain words that requires you to use a certain case, like the preposition “mit” (with). Ex. Ich esse mit dem Löffel (I eat with the spoon)

So be on the look out for those prepositions, and for what verbs make a certain case.

Plural

German nouns have a plural form, often marked with -n/-en, -e, -r/-er, or -s at the end, but some also stay indifferent. But how are you then supposed to know that they’re in plural? Again our answer is; the article. All nouns in plural have the nominative article “die” - but it is also declined (changed) differently than the feminine singular.

And this is with all nouns, no matter what their singular was they always get the article “die” when in plural. The noun itself also often take on a change at the end like previously mentioned, but when it doesn’t, it’s important you learn the noun’s gender so you understand whether it’s in plural or not.

Ex. der Löffel (singular) - die Löffel (plural)

~ Summery ~

— All nouns begins with a capital letter. — There are 3 genders to the article: masculine, feminine, neuter. — Cases determine a noun’s function in a sentence. — There are 4 cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative. — In plural form the noun can (but not always) receive the endings -n/-en, -e, -r/-er, or -s — In plural form the nominative article is always “die“, but is declined differently from the feminine.

And that’s about all I wanted to bring up for now, and don’t worry; we’ll look into both adjectives and verbs in the future.

#german #learning german #deutsch #deutsch lernen #deutsch langblr #german nouns #german grammar #the nature of german

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shadowfae · 3 years ago

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(Nebulaic Collective) A More Formal Farewell

Note from the Skyrose Garden: the Nebulaic Collective, our partner system, asked us to post this on their behalf, so here it is. We personally are going nowhere, out of sheer stubbornness; but they did have to deactivate, and here's a bit of an update. Their letter is under the cut.

Hey, folks- Nebulaic Collective here.

It’s been a couple months since we had to deactivate our blog to keep certain people offline from finding it, so we thought we’d reach out and update everybody on what’s going on with us and why we haven’t come back like we promised we would.

Basically, we’ve decided we’re not remaking after all. For those of you who might have been hoping we would, or weren’t even aware what happened to begin with, we apologize that we didn’t get the word out sooner. This semester has been incredibly rewarding and wonderful so far, but also incredibly taxing in terms of our workload. We’re extremely busy trying to finish our undergrad and figure out what comes afterwards, and that’s where our focus needs to be right now. Quarantine derailed a lot of our progress in terms of becoming financially independent from our family- something that’s absolutely crucial to our continued recovery- and we’ve only just started getting back on track. That’s taking up most of our time and energy, and has to come first.

Additionally, we just don’t have enough spoons to devote to social media anymore. Being on Tumblr again after our hiatus triggered a lot of old fears and paranoia, and we were exposed to a lot of things we were probably better off avoiding. The state of online discourse being what it is and the extremes people are willing to go to in the name of it genuinely scares us, especially when it occurs in communities that are supposed to be welcoming and accepting of people like us. It seems increasingly unavoidable, and we’ve in turn become increasingly uncomfortable with it. Purity culture is a massive problem, and makes it harder for us to open up. After all, who wants to talk about their exotrauma if they’re just going to be told they’re as bad as their abusers for existing as they are? Who wants to speak on being a system if other systems are just going to assume we’re lying for attention? Who wants to talk about our complicated experiences with queerness and the labels we use if it’ll just be written off as “queer is a slur, don’t use it”? And how do you curate your experience to avoid it all when the people who hate you are actively seeking you out?

For the most part, we’ve felt supported by the community and the people in it- the above isn’t an indictment of all alterhumans, but of the current social media climate. The more hostile things become, the less we want any information about us to be publicly available- especially sensitive topics like the minutiae of our identities. We’ve always been notoriously private, but now that we’re aware of our plurality and the mental states of our system members, privacy has become an imperative. Disclosing we’re plural to new people that we meet is even more fraught than disclosing we’re trans, and disclosing we’re alterhuman just isn’t something we do for very good reasons. Offline, we have to be very careful about what we say regarding our identity, and having a repository of information about it that can be easily traced back to us makes us extremely nervous.

We don’t want to stop writing about being alterhuman, or keeping up with the community. We might occasionally contribute a post or two to Pale’s social media accounts, or send in asks to his blog. A personal website may or may not happen- we’d like to do it, but don’t know realistically if we have the time. A lot of other projects that are important to us are getting put on the back burner because of college right now anyway, and we’re not sure we can add another to the list at this juncture without a caveat that it might never get done. If you want to reach us outside of tumblr, ask Pale off anon for our discord- we’re happy to chat with others and would love to hear from some of you. Though we do technically have an account on NNP and want to use it more, Discord is a better bet for reaching us and we don’t have as much time to contribute to the forum as we’d like. We’re much more likely to be active there in the future than any social media, but that won’t be until we’ve graduated and devoted some more time to other projects like our writing and art.

So, this is it: a better explanation of why we’re gone and where you can find us now. We’re happy to report that we’re all doing well. The antidepressants we’d started a little while back are still working great, and we’ve got an appointment very soon to potentially start the process of HRT. We love our major and are finally excited about what we’re studying again, and have been much more mentally stable this semester than in the past. Offline life is going well, which is a big part of the reason why we’ve decided to step back from the internet. It’s nice to have things to live for that aren’t completely virtual and centered around social media.

Thank you for all the support and kindness you showed us, and we hope we’ll meet again someday.

Sincerely,

Faolan, Luco, Fiadh, Jesse, Macrantha, Kagaho, Minos, Ivy, Sebastian, Hades, and Sui

(The Nebulaic Collective)

#otherkin #fictionkin #alterhuman #faolan tag #(since that's our tag for the entire system iirc)

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dancingsalome · 3 years ago

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1) How many works do you have on AO3?

120.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

328404. Which makes my fics 2736,7 words long, on average.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

26.

Agent Carter, All About Eve, Angel, The Borgias, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chronicles of Narnia, Doctor Who, both classic and new series, Dracula/The Historian, Emily of New Moon, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell , Harry Potter, Ivanhoe, Labyrinth, The Man in the High Castle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Mummy Series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Penny Dreadful, Peter Pan, Piranesi, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Queen's Gambit, Sleepy Hollow (1999), Timeless, Versailles (TV 2015) and Victoria

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ghosts (The Mummy Series. Evy/Rick, Evy/Ardeth, Evy/Imhotep)

The Number of Vices (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)

The Might of His Strength (The Mummy Series. Evy/Rick, Evy/Ardeth/Imhotep, Evy/Imhotep)

The Black King (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)

A Moment (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Midge Maisel/Lenny Bruce)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do. However, it can take me forever to get around answering them. And if the comment is just an emoji, I will probably not answer.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Considering I have written a lot of angst, this was really hard. But if I have to choose one, I’d say a Sleepy Hollow-fic called Hell.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Crow’s Feet On the Prettiest Eyes (Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Smith/The Doctor) or The Black King (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)m which both are about lovers who are reunited after many years apart.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really I’ve borrowed a character from Pan Am for a The Queen’s Gambit fic, but that wasn’t much of a crossover, really. And I have one Piranesi/Chronicles of Narnia crossover, but that one isn’t particularly crazy either, given how many Narnia-references Piranesy contains.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. A couple of years ago a person read some of my explicit, and very well-tagged fics only to give me several comments on how disgusting the found explicit fics in general, and the tags i used in particular. Personally I would say that the easiest way to not be disgusted by that would be to NOT READ THOSE FICS!

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do. Quite a lot, actually. Mostly F/M, but sometimes also threesomes. As for kind of sex it ranges from fluffy vanilla to BDSM.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, though one I’m currently writing is certainly co-conceived.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

I honestly can’t say; I have so many. My current favourite shup is Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov from The Queen’s Gambit. Before that I burned for Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont from the TV show Versailles. No, wait, my favourite ship must be the OT3 Rick/Evy/Ardeth from The Mummy series, as that ship precedes the other, and is still around.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I currently have 5 WIPs posted on AO3 3 of them I’m writing actively on and plan to finish in the foreseeable future. Then I have two WIPs that’s over 10 years old. An extremely dark Sleepy Hollow-fic about Lady Van Tassel, and one humorous Harry Potter-fic about Dudley Dursley. I like them both, and have the plot properly mapped out, but I have yet to find it in me to finish them. I would still like to do that, though! However, I have one Peter Pan fic that I actually removed from AO3 because not only is it a 15 year old WIP, I have also completely forgotten how I wanted it to end. That one I doubt I will ever touch again.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Emotions. I’m good with emotions, and nowadays I think my dialogue flows quite well too. I’ve been told I write good sex scenes too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Plots! Most of my fics are one-shots with few characters, mainly dealing with emotions. I used to be very bad at being descriptive, but I’m actively working on improving that. I can be brief to a fault, too.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

So far it’s something I have glossed over in the few cases it has been somewhat relevant for the fic. If I did, however, I would probably write the foreign language in italicized English. Unless it was a language no one else in the fic underwood- then I would write it in the original language.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Peter Pan, back in 2004, after seeing a promo pic of Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Another one of those impossible questions. How can I choose. I’m sorry, It has to be my favourite fics, in plural.

A Place in the Shadows (Penny Dreadful, Vanessa Ives & Sembene), because it turned out exactly as I envisioned it. And I really like the themes of friendship, and cake.

Professor Keller (Doctor Who, Delgado!Master) because it’s my most ambitious fic to date- I even rewrote it completely. I really think I managed the escalating horror of two completely normal people getting their lives destroyed by the Master.

Homeward (The Borgias, Cesare/Micheletto, Lucrezia & Micheletto). I’m not sure why, but I just really, really like this one, and it’s one of my fics that I reread regularly.

A Conversation in the Yellow Drawing-Room, And Other Letters To Mrs Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, Lady Pole/John Childermass). In most of my fics the female protagonist saves herself, and this is probably the prime example. I really enjoyed writing Lady Pole making her life the way she wants it for a change, and, ultimately, saving herself, with a little help from her friends. I also really enjoyed making use of a few fairy tales tropes.

#ao3 #ao3 meme #fanfic meme #fanfic #fanfiction #writing

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memecucker · 5 years ago

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deoadjuvante replied to your post “I swear I think I even saw people trying to uplift John Adams over...”

wait, he didn't own slaves? I thought that there has been a pushback on that narrative in some historical circles, which argue that Chernow took some liberties in white-washing Hamilton's role in the slave trade. Tbh I barely read anything about Hamilton's life so I can't speak to whether its true, but I was under the impression that there is still real debate about his role in the slave trade.

So an issue that I think also is the cause of confusion is that it is true that Hamilton’s opposition to slavery did not prevent his complicity in the system but the form his complicity took was not that of someone like Jefferson.

Hamilton was born on St. Croix out of wedlock with his father leaving his family early on and when Hamilton’s mother died while he was still young he (and his brother from the same father) was prevented from inheriting her property due to being a bastard.

I havent read Chernow’s book but a claim that seems to have been made in it which is common across sympathetic biographers of Hamilton and which is stated as fact in the musical is that Hamilton’s experiences growing up in poverty (relative to the rest of the small white population of St Croix) and the stigma of being a bastard closing off many avenues for social mobility supposedly inculcated an innate sympathy for the marginalized especially slaves. There doesnt actually seem to be much direct evidence for this claim in terms of Hamilton’s own personal writings and letters. The closest from my cursory research seems to have been a letter the young Hamilton wrote to his estranged father discussing the aftermath of a hurricane that swept the region where he attacks the ruling elites of the island (nearly all slave owners or traders) for the selfishness in withholding aid and assistance from impoverished islanders which likely included slaves since there doesnt really seem to have large amount of poor whites (like himself) on the island. Hamilton uses the first-person plural to refer to the impoverished islanders however which seems (again, just going by cursory research) the closest we have to first-hand evidence that Hamilton “identified with” the enslaved but frankly I think its a bit of a stretch especially given the context of referring specifically to rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of a hurricane rather than generally speaking.

That said, the teenaged Alexander Hamilton did find both employment and mentorship on St Croix from a man named Nicolas Cruger. Cruger was part owner of an import-export company named Beekman & Cruger which did participate in the slave trade though sympathetic biographies do try to emphasis that it wasn the main goal of the enterprise (lol). That said, Cruger apparently had such belief and trust in the 14 year old Alexander that when he became heavily ill for some months in 1771 he left him in charge of the entire St Croix branch of the company. This included overseeing the importation and sale of slaves as conducted by the company. This may be the basis for some of the claims of Hamilton having definitively owned slaves but even putting aside that he was 14 years old there wouldve been legal procedures in place to prevent any kind of substantial changes (another reading of this incident may be that Cruger chose a 14 year old specifically because an easier to control youth would be more likely to keep the status quo in place in contrast with a more ambitious adult, though in this case Cruger most likely wouldve feared personal enrichment at the expense of his company rather than emancipation of slaves).

More damning to Hamilton’s reputation as a supposed abolitionist hero IMHO actually has to do with his relationship with his in-laws. The future Mrs Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler, was born into a prominent slave-owning family in the New York Colony. Despite his status as a bastard and usual stigma about women “marrying down” Hamilton was nonetheless able to marry into the wealthy and prestigious Schuyler family. He would later go on to assist his in-laws in writing up the purchase and sales of slaves and wrote letters on their behalf pertaining to the return of slaves that had left Schuyler estates for whatever reason. For me those shows a deeper collaboration with the institution of slavery even more than him briefly nominally overseeing his mentor’s company or his looking-the-other-way when it came to the slaves of close friends of his such as George Washington.

Also another that ought to be mentioned is the anti-slavery society Hamilton eventually joined, the New York Manumission Society. The term “manumission” refers specifically to not just the freeing of slaves but their freeing through “legitimate” means typically with the consent or at the very least not against the wishes of the owner. So a slave who is allowed to personally becomes free because of their master’s will upon their death (in some societies this was automatic or in the case of Rome strongly expected) or because they were allowed to sell goods on the side for the purpose of obtaining or even by means of marriage to their master as was commonly the case in Haiti. This is important to point out because the New York Manumission Society was very much a “moderate” society in terms of the cause of abolishing slavery and didnt even require members to not own slaves. It’s founder, John Jay (the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) even owned a handful of house slaves himself! The Manumission Society very much had a “free slaves- when we and they are ready for it” ethos.

Basically, there’s no evidence Alexander Hamilton ever directly owned slaves. However he was very very much assimilated into the wider slave society of colonial America and the personal reservations he had towards the practice did not amount to much. This contrasts with more forceful abolitionism of contemporaries such as Thomas Paine or even the later Benjamin Franklin who despite having himself owned slaves for his printing business became a stauncher advocate of abolitionism and who unsucessfully petitioned the Continental Congress to ban slavery.

Also to go back to the musical for a sec something that’s interesting is that LMM originally intended for their to be a third “rap battle” song directly about slavery pitting abolitionist Quakers against pro-slavery advocates but it was cut from the musical after he decided it would be improper given that the heroes of his play didnt really do enough for abolitionism (even though Eliza’s song after Hamilton’s death apparently includes a line saying he wouldve done much against slavery had he lived, which doesnt really line up with the evidence)

Miranda: Yeah, that we cut, and it was sort of our homage to "Hail Mary" [by Tupac Shakur]. There was a moment when there were two Quakers from, I think it was Pennsylvania, who tried to ban the importation of slaves and brought it to the house floor. And [James] Madison let them talk about it for two days and then set a gag rule — "We're not talking about slavery until 1808" — basically saying, like, "We don't know how to solve it." They knew it was a problem. Even from the racist perspective, it was, "There's going to be more of them than us!" But no one knew what to do about it, and they all kicked it down the field. And while, yeah, Hamilton was anti-slavery and never owned slaves, between choosing his financial plan and going all in on opposition to slavery, he chose his financial plan. So it was tough to justify keeping that rap battle in the show, because none of them did enough.

#deoadjuvante

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elareine · 5 years ago

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clock ticking (sudden silence)

Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Temporary Character Death, Loss, Grief/Mourning, Age Difference, Identity Reveal Summary: For twenty years, Dick Grayson has waited for his timer to begin ticking. When it finally does, there are only two issues: Jason is thirteen. And the timer only reads eighteen months.

Read here on ao3

The thing about the timer was: It didn’t tell you anything about your soulmate, only how long you would have together.

Dick had heard people talking about how they ‘sensed’ who it was before they ever met the person, how they just knew their soulmate(s) would be sweet and gentle and fiery and perfect. Some even said it came to them in dreams, the vague shape of a face they loved more than anyone else.

Privately, Dick thought that was bullshit. It was a timer, nothing more. They all had the same lettering, the same number system, everything. There was no way of knowing what the other person would be like.

When he had been a child, he’d thought he would meet his soulmate in the circus for sure. He couldn’t imagine anything different. Perhaps it would be an audience member, coming up to meet him after the performance. Maybe one of the countless children that tried to sneak in to watch, one of the ones that looked so poor, the circus owners decided to turn a blind eye and allow them some joy, therefore helping Dick meet the love of his life.

But deep down, he’d always thought it would be another acrobat. Someone joining the circus. Someone who knew the sheer joy of flying, the thrill of danger and an audience. Someone to become part of his family.

That dream crashed spectacularly, of course. Try as he might, Dick never found quite another dream to replace that one. Would they be handsome or beautiful? If they were his soulmate, he would think so for sure, and that was all that mattered. Would they be kind? Supportive? A rock to lean on?

He’d told himself that it wouldn’t matter until his timer started, and maybe not even then.

Bruce’s timer, for example, was ticking. Dick had spotted it for the first time months into their partnership. He’d been confused, had asked if he had met Bruce’s soulmate—where were they?

In those days, Bruce had still been willing to answer Dick’s questions. He said: Sometimes, even soulmate relationships didn’t work out. It was a chance, a hint, nothing more. With him being a vigilante, the choice to be together wasn’t as easy as kids’ movies made it out to be.

(He had never actually mentioned the name of his soulmate. Back then, Dick had thought he knew anyway. Now, he wasn’t so sure.)

(He also thought Bruce had been full of shit that day.)

His teenage years were pretty good, romantically speaking. Sexually, too. Some lovely puppy love, a bit of experimentation, the conclusion that yep, he was going to continue using the gender-neutral ‘they’ for his future soulmate, but probably not in the plural sense.

Still, he kept waiting for his timer to start ticking.

He heard about the new kid before he ever met him. He and Batman weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the time, but. Rumors spread, and soon, so did videos of the kid in the Robin mantle. Seeing how Dick was now twenty and very much not built like that anymore, the conclusion that he had been replaced was pretty much inevitable.

It would be accurate to say Dick didn’t react well to the news. Bruce had every right to take in another child, but how dare he call him Robin? Nevermind that Dick himself had moved on from that title. It wasn’t Bruce’s to give.

So his first time meeting the kid was already tense as hell. The fact that his timer started ticking the exact moment he laid eyes on Jason didn’t help.

Dick was panicking.

Jason was thirteen.

He was tiny.

Okay, he wasn’t, he was pretty average for his age, he went up to Dick’s chest, even, but the keywords here were ‘for his age’ because Jason was thirteen.

Dick wasn’t a pervert, okay. There was nothing sexy about a teenager that had just hit puberty to him. His replacement, nonetheless. His brother.

But maybe all of that would’ve been fine. They could’ve become friends or made sure to meet up later in life when the age difference wouldn’t seem so monumental. Seven years wasn’t so much once both of you were out of puberty. Dick could’ve morphed from a big brother figure to something closer over time. He’d have enjoyed that, probably.

But none of that would happen because the timer only had 18 months left from the day it began.

Dick didn’t say anything to Jason. When the younger sought him out, he kept their interactions short. His ongoing problems with Bruce were a good enough reason to stay away from the manor, from Gotham, and to never talk about this. Either he would die far away from the kid, never to be mourned, or Jason himself would die, having lived unencumbered by soulmate that was way too old for him. It was better that way.

His friends found out in one of the worst ways possible: by accident, two days before the timer was due to stop.

Jason had disappeared over a week ago. Dick had tried to warn Bruce, had fully intended to at least be in Gotham and try to stop it from happening because although these things were rarely wrong, he knew he wouldn’t ever forgive himself for not trying—but Jason had disappeared so much earlier than he’d thought.

In a way, that made it worse. If Jason had indeed been kidnapped (and according to Bruce, signs were that he’d left on his own, but you never knew what the incentive for that might’ve been), then Dick didn’t want to imagine the torture Jason would have to suffer in the week before he died.

He still did, of course. That was why Kori and Wally had caught him staring at the ticking time bomb on his wrist.

There was no need to explain, no way to hide what was happening. Kori sighed, “Oh, Dick,” and Wally was wrapped around him in a hug faster than Dick could tell that he was fine.

“Is there anything we can do?”

Dick looked into Kori’s beautiful green eyes and seriously considered the question. A speedster, an alien, a man trained by the world’s greatest detective. Together, they had saved the city—heck, the world—from certain disaster more than once.

But they couldn’t fight against fate. Dick shook his head.

Eventually, they made to leave, and truthfully, Dick was glad. He didn’t know how to talk about this. How to tell them that no, he had no idea where his soulmate was because he had rejected him, hadn’t even kept a close watch.

But Kori turned around.

“Just,” she closed her eyes, “is it one of us?”

Understanding her fear all too well, he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “No.”

At least there was that. No one here would miss Jason.

Bruce didn’t tell him when he found a lead, he just went. Dick wasn’t even mad about that. He hadn’t been entirely honest with Bruce, either.

Besides, when he got the alert that the Batplane had taken off and saw his timer tick down its last hours, he already knew that Bruce would be too late.

00:02.

Dick watched the last hours tick down on his timer. Now that it was happening, he would give anything to be in Ethiopia. He barely knew the boy��nothing beyond his history and that he was Dick’s soulmate; that he was Robin—but he knew that Jason didn’t deserve to die alone.

Bruce hadn’t reached out to him at all. Neither had Alfred.

00:01.

It was agonizing.

00:00.

Jason’s last hour had begun. Dick set the stopwatch on his phone for sixty minutes. The timer didn’t go into so many details. He’d tried to find out just how accurate it was; the results had been dispiriting. Jason could, as of now, be dead. Or he could live and breathe and hope for another 59 minutes.

The whole time, he prayed for his display to change. That Bruce would do the impossible once more, defeat fate, and buy Jason more time. Buy themmore time, now that Dick suddenly and painfully realized that he wanted there to be a them so badly, in any way he could get.

His stopwatch beeped. It was over. Dick hadn’t felt a thing, couldn’t have told you when his soulmate died, but it was over.

When he heard about what actually happened, it was worse.

Here’s a secret Dick never told anyone: He still wished Bruce had not even tried to revive the Joker. The old bastard had died that day like he deserved—unmourned.

Once Dick went through Jason’s things.

Bruce wasn’t home—gone on one of these trips he took these days, the ones filled with revenge and darkness in a way they hadn’t been before. If Alfred knew what Dick was doing, he didn’t comment. And after all, Dick thought mutinously, why shouldn’t he be here? This had been his room, once upon a time. He had a right to see what happened to it.

There were books there now. So many books. Jason hadn’t been choosy; classic French literature was crammed in next to space operas and cowboy romance. When Dick idly pulled one out, he could see scrawled comments in the margins. Apparently, Jason had considered “The Great Gatsby” to ‘suck ass.’

The room itself was much more orderly than when Dick had been responsible for tidying it. No way to tell if that was because Jason was a neat-freak or because Alfred had cleaned it out since his death, though.

It took Dick a second to realize what was missing. There was only one photograph, Batman and Robin heading into the night. Where were the family pictures? Dick remembered his own collection: his parents, the circus folk, his friends, Bruce and Alfred and Babs and Clark…

Maybe Jason had taken them with him when he left.

Still Dick’s eyes searched the room, hungry for something more personal than books and tidy clothes on a hanger. Finally, he saw it: a simple brown teddy bear, almost hidden by the curtains.

“Hey, little buddy,” he murmured, crouching down. “What’re you doing in the corner like that?”

In his mind’s eye, Dick could see Jason arguing with Bruce—or maybe just quietly seething in anger—, finally throwing the bear into the corner, his decision made.

Dick hesitated, but—he couldn’t leave the bear. It shouldn’t lie here, abandoned in a mausoleum. It went home with him that night, and to every home since.

It was such a fucking cliché, but after that, life went on.

Dick could see the empty space Jason left behind in Bruce’s life, in Alfred’s, hell, even in Tim’s, in Gotham itself—but the only thing for him that had changed was the nature of his guilt.

Eventually, he started dating again, unwilling to be chained to the ghost of a what-if. It was okay. People had relationships after their soulmates died. Sure, there were forums full of people complaining that nothing compared to dating The One. Wasn’t like Dick had anything to compare it to, though, so he was in the clear.

He and Babs really gave it a try. There was no universe in which Dick wasn’t glad that they did. She would always be one of the most important people in his life.

After they split up, the responsibilities keep piling onto him. Being a full-time vigilante with duties to more than city, to more than one team, heck, even to an international spy agency—it kept him busy. Distracted. Until fate found him again.

Dick’s timer was ticking again, only this time, he genuinely had no idea who had set it off. Maybe he’d been too busy, too numb to notice during patrol. It wasn’t unheard, people gaining a second chance at a soulmate. Dick just hadn’t exactly considered the possibility for himself, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

It read two years.

Dick wanted to throw something against the wall. Why? Why would he only be granted so little time? How much of it had he already wasted because he hadn’t noticed when it started ticking?

How many chances would he be granted, just for his love to leave him? Was this to be his doom?

You sound like Batman.

Dick stopped and pulled himself up. The last time this had happened, he’d been twenty, unsure of his place in the family and the world, ill-equipped to handle an already devastating situation.

That wasn’t him anymore.

This time, he would take whatever time they had. And when it ended, he’d be grateful for it, and keep living his life.

He just had to find them first.

There was a new vigilante in town. For months, he was but a rumor of a red helmet and dead bodies left in his wake—until he made his big move.

The takeover of the Penguin lounge had been well-planned and viciously executed, and there wasn’t a damn thing any of them could do about it, not when all the Red Hood’s minions were loyal to him and his precautions excellent. He stayed far away from Batman and Robin; he seemed to have an understanding with Catwoman; his policy seemed to be to protect the street workers.

Somehow, he’d moved himself to the bottom of Batman’s list. Still, Dick knew he made Bruce uneasy. All their attempts to find out more about the man failed. Even when Tim managed to listen in on the club’s communications for almost a whole day, all they got was a name: Red Hood.

He was a rumor, until the day he sought out Dick on the rooftops.

“Red Hood.”

“Nightwing.” The other man’s voice was metallic, a voice modulator giving nothing away about its original timbre. “What brings you to Gotham?”

“Helping out on a case.” Nightwing’s connection to Batman wasn’t a secret. Dick would be astonished if there was still a citizen left that didn’t know Nightwing and Robin I were the same person. “What brings you to this roof?”

“You’re going after Sionis.”

“Yes.” Or at least, he was now.

“He hurt one of my own. He’s mine now. Stay away.”

Dick did his best not to snort. That was bullshit. His own interest in the Sionis case had been cursory at best. If Red Hood had just waited three days to eliminate him, Dick never would’ve noticed.

“What about him is so interesting that it warrants you coming out of hiding?”

The helmet tilted to the side. Dick would be damned if he could tell you why he found the movement so provoking, but he did. “Who says it’s Sionis I’m interested in?”

“Uh.” Dick was sure his eyes were wide behind the domino. Was Red Hood… hitting on him?

“Tell Batman to stay out of my business.”

With that, the other man shot a grapple and vanished. Dick made no move to follow him.

Dick expected that to be it. He returned to Blüdhaven, leaving Gotham and its secrets for Bruce to deal with. Except that particular secret seemed to have singled him out.

The first time he saw Red Hood in a fight in his city, he did nothing, merely observing the other’s fighting skills critically. Not bad. He had clearly been trained in a variety of fighting styles and was quicker than you’d expect for a man of his size. His left hook was good enough to rival Bruce’s.

Dick was still pretty sure he could take him in a fight.

“Are you just going to watch?” Red Hood called out, gripping one of his attackers by the throat and dangling him into the air.

“I dunno, you seem to have it pretty well in hand,” Dick sniggered.

“Never mind.” Red Hood dropped the now-unconscious man, turning to disable the next one with a well-placed nerve strike. Dick noted that unlike some of the scenes he’d seen in Gotham, Red Hood seemed to have no interest in killing these men. That implied he had some sort of value system. Interesting. “Please leave. That was terrible.”

Dick eyes the entrance of the alley. A group of armed thugs was gathering, clearly ready to strike. Decision made, he jumped from the roof, landing right beside Red Hood. “Sorry, but I can’t let you have all the fun.”

“Spoilsport.”

“You come into my city and then complain when I help you?”

“Oh, is that what you call this? ‘Cause all I can see is you standing around and jibbering.”

Dick thought the criminals he was currently sending a few thousand volts through might beg to differ. Between the two of them, they had the entire gang out in less than ten minutes.

It was, Dick reluctantly conceded, fun.

It became something of a regular occurrence after that. Nightwing would drop by Red Hood’s territory whenever he was in Gotham, and Red Hood would return the favor with regular visits to Blüdhaven. They’d banter, punch out some criminals, collect whatever they had come for, and go their separate ways. Not exactly a friendship, but something easy. Comfortable.

Until the night they busted a heroin ring in an abandoned warehouse and found some kids hiding three rooms down.

Dick saw the boy first. He couldn’t be more than twelve. His body was skinny, and not in the way teens sometimes got after a growth spurt.

Not knowing what else to do, Dick gave a wave. “Hi. I’m Nightwing. What’s your name?”

“I don’t want to tell you.” As soon as he uttered the words, the boy tensed, visibly expecting punishment.

Dick smiled. “That’s okay. I’ll tell you a secret—Nightwing’s not my real name, either.”

“Well, duh.” The teen scowled, but he did look less afraid. Then he looked over Dick’s shoulder and asked: “Who is that with my sister?”

Dick turned around to see Red Hood kneeling and… wearing a blonde wig? He blinked.

The little girl in front of him hiccuped, still crying but visible distracted by the big shiny helmet. Wearing a wig. Where had Hood even found that?

“That’s Red Hood,” Dick told him, trying to sound as if all of this was perfectly normal. God, he hoped the kids hadn’t heard the fighting. What a terrible time to pick this warehouse.

“What’re vigilantes doing here? Is something happening? Were there guns?”

“Sort of. I’m afraid this place isn’t safe, but we can bring you somewhere else for the night,” Dick said.

Red Hood looked up and suggested: “The sisters on St John Street. They’re good people.”

“No one will separate you,” Dick added. “Just help. Get you some food, somewhere to sleep safely.”

The boy looked at them. “We’re not going back to—to—”

“You won’t have to,” Red Hood promised, and Dick nodded. Not if he had anything to say about it—and once he would investigate whoever it was that they were running from, he would have.

“How about we accompany you?” Dick suggested.

The boy looked hesitant, but the girl suddenly gave a giggle. “You can’t walk like that,” she told Red Hood.

“Why not?”

“You look silly, dummy!”

“Well, that’s very rude of you to say.” And just like that, the wig still perched on the helmet, Red Hood stepped out onto the street. He was walking rather uncannily like a model, Dick noted with some amusement.

The girl followed him, still laughing and pulling her brother along. “No! Take it off!”

“But I feel so pretty!”

The distraction worked, and the walk to the center for vulnerable children passed quickly. Only there did Red Hood take off the wig, making a big show of stuffing into his belt to hide his ‘shame.’ “Your wish is my command,

The girl’s priorities seemed to have changed, though. “C’mon,” told her brother, “they said there’s food in there.”

But the teenager hesitated, looking at Dick. “Are you sure they’re okay?”

Dick was about to reassure them again, heartbroken by the hesitant hope in their eyes, when Red Hood said: “Yeah. I stayed with them a few times when I was your age. They get it.”

He didn’t mean the boy’s age, Dick realized. Jesus.

“Okay.”

Dick let them head in alone. They needed to see that they would welcome on their own, vigilante accompanying them or not. He would talk to the workers in a minute or two.

Red Hood’s metallic voice broke the silence. “So, I’m assuming you’re going to look into whoever did this to them.”

“You bet. Aren’t you?”

“Oh, yes. You better be quick.”

Dick had already planned on that, but: “Why?”

“I do not like child abusers, and I clean up after myself.” With that statement, Red Hood gave a little wave. The casual movement was belied by the suppressed rage that suddenly seemed to pour out of his every pore. “See you.”

Dick stared after him, undecided.

He had allowed himself to be judge, jury, and executioner once, and never regretted it. Not once had he since felt the desire or need to be in that position again.

Didn’t mean he didn’t get it.

In the end, he decided to head inside. The kids needed him, and they were what was important here.

Still. Life had just become a lot more complicated.

“We should eat.”

“Sure. Let’s have a picnic. Just you, me, the stars, and the person we’re staking out. How romantic.”

“Shut up.” Red Hood casually dropped a lunchbox next to where Dick was sitting. “You haven’t eaten in all day.”

“I’m not in danger of fainting, you know.” Still, Dick couldn’t help but open the box. “Pasta salad?”

Red Hood shrugged. “Carbs.”

It honestly smelled terrific. Red Hood had even brought a fork. Dick was ready to dig in when he realized something.

Red Hood was still wearing his helmet.

“So… you’re just going to sit there and watch me eat?”

Red Hood crossed his arms. “Well, if you say it like that, it just sounds creepy.”

“Yeah, exactly. You don’t want any food?”

“I’ll eat later.”

Dick considered him. “I bet you I could get that off you in less than two minutes.”

“Believe me, you don’t want to.”

For the first time, the other vigilante turned his back to Dick. There was what Dick recognized to be a trigger device at the back of his helmet. Dick shuddered. Red Hood would rather have his head explode than someone see his face without his consent.

“Okay, don’t take it off then. That looks like it would spoil the meal.”

“My point exactly. Do you always talk so much when there’s food on the table?”

Dick grumbled, but he did start eating after that. Damn. That pasta was goood.

Three days later, Red Hood shot a man that was about to decapitate Dick with an ax. He even left the criminal alive. Dick tried not to be charmed.

“Well, fuck.” Red Hood stared at the little dot on Dick’s display in dismay. “Guess it’s back to Blüdhaven for us.”

“Looks like it.” Dick sighed. Just what he’d needed. His ride was back in Blüdhaven since he’d taken a detour through space on his way here. Looked like he’d need to borrow one from Bruce. It was that or public transport.

As if he’d read his thoughts, Red Hood asked: “Want a ride?”

“You got a car?”

“Don’t sound so surprised, but no.” Hood fiddled with something on his belt. For a minute, nothing happened. Then Dick heard the noise of a smooth motor approaching. Red Hood made a ‘ta-da’ motion with his hand as a red and silver machine turned the corner. “I got a bike.”

Dick whistled. “Wow, my little brother would love that.”

“He got one of his own?”

“Nah, he’s thirteen, just a kid.” That may be slightly too much information to give out, but Dick had honestly stopped caring at some point. “It��s all about skateboards for now.”

“Is he turning his sick tricks in the local park or on the rooftops?”

“You could always just meet him.”

Red Hood snorted. “I have no desire to meet any more bats or birds.”

“And yet you keep hanging out with me.”

“Yeah.” A sigh. “Dunno why I keep doing this to myself.”

Suddenly feeling defensive, Dick crossed his arms. “Hey, we’re not that bad.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“You haven’t even met them.” Or Bruce wouldn’t be trying to milk Dick for information about their meetings.

“Oh yes I have.”

Red Hood froze. Dick pounced. “When?”

But it was no use. “Look. I’ll make you a deal. We don’t talk about Batman anymore tonight, and you get to drive.”

Dick considered that. “If I say no, are you just going to leave?”

“Yupp.”

“Fine.”

Ten minutes later, with Red Hood’s arms wound tightly around his middle, the bike humming between his legs, Dick couldn’t even be mad.

Sometimes, Dick worried. Red Hood was too casual about his own life. Even as he made friends—not just Dick, but Roy and Kori and Artemis and, somehow, a Superman clone—he threw himself into the kind of situations that made even Dick take a step back and evaluate.

He was too reckless. It was as if his life didn’t matter. If Hood went on like this, he’d be dead within a year or two—Dick froze.

Could… could Red Hood be his soulmate?

His timer had begun ticking again before he met the other vigilante on that rooftop. That didn’t mean he couldn’t have passed him on the street one day before that, though. Or rather, one night: It must’ve been in his Nightwing garb. If Red Hood knew, or suspected, that would explain why he sought Nightwing out.

Granted, the odds were slim. But it was possible.

Funnily enough, Dick never once asked himself whether he wanted Hood to be his soulmates. Why wouldn’t he? Underneath that anger, he suspected Red Hood to be one of the kindest men he’d ever met, and he’d been nothing but supportive to Dick.

Still. He had to treat this with caution.

Look. Dick knew he should be with his friends and/or family, celebrating his birthday, not out here, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Blüdhaven. It just felt… right, this year. Days like these, Dick couldn’t bear looking at what was left of his friends. All he would do was count the empty spaces. Patrol was safer, somehow.

Of course, the one time he was looking for a distraction on his birthday, he didn’t find any. Blüdhaven was weirdly quiet. It took Dick two hours to figure out why.

“What’re you doing here?” he asked, bemused.

Red Hood, visibly startled, turned around—then swore when the two-bit criminal he’d been cornering took the chance to sprint off into the sunset. “Dammit, was that necessary?”

“Eh, you’ll catch him. So?”

“I was in the area, and I didn’t expect you to—never mind. What are you working on?”

Dick shrugged as casually as possible. “Nothing in particular. Just patrol, business as usual, you know. How about you?”

“I was following a lead, but it just fled for the hills.” Red Hood sighed, always a funny sound through the helmet.

“Ooops,” Dick said, not apologetic at all. “How about that. Whatever are you going to do with your evening.”

He’d meant it as a joke—there was always more crime to hunt down—but the other man paused. “Actually. There’s something I wanted to show you.”

‘Something’ turned out to be yet another rooftop perch, this time in one of the poorer districts. Dick didn’t get what was so special about this until the first family left their house. Another followed, and another, until there were about thirty people gathered, nearly half of them children.

“Watch,” Red Hood murmured.

One man put down a large bag and took out an object. For one terrible second, Dick thought it was a missile—but no. A rocket, but one of the harmless variety.

The kids cheered as several of the adults prepared the fireworks. The first rocket went up, bathing the street in the light of its beautiful golden rain. It was quickly followed by a serious of smaller, purple blasts, underlined by a wheel of blue lights.

“They do this once a month,” Red Hood told him. “To bring some light to the city.”

Dick pressed his shoulder companionably into the other man’s. “This is neat. Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?” Ah, there was the embarrassed grumbling again. Dick had learned to tell. “Shut up already and watch, you’re louder than the fireworks.”

He didn’t move away, though. Dick counted it as a win.

“It was supposed to be me,” the woman whispered, over and over again.

Dick kept his grip on her shoulder tight to keep her from running to into the fire and to her soulmate. He’d seen the body. There was nothing they could do. “I’m sorry, but—”

“You don’t understand!” she yelled, suddenly furious. “That’s my wife! My soulmate!”

He wanted to tell her: “I do understand.” However, did he really? Jason had been more of a concept than a real person.

(Red Hood, however little information Dick had about him, was very, definitely real. Dick tried not to imagine the kind of hole someone like that would leave in his life.)

Instead, he said: “She wouldn’t want you to follow her.”

With one last anguished cry, the woman collapsed against his chest.

As he watched the police car drive off, Dick considered going home. As far as he was concerned, this night could go fuck itself. But… he didn’t want to be alone.

“Can’t be easy, something like that.”

Relief flooded Dick at the metallic voice even before he turned around to greet the other vigilante. With Red Hood, he wouldn’t have to be alone. He knew that deep in his bones.

“No,” he replied belatedly. “No, it can’t be. Isn’t.”

“Are you alright?”

Dick frowned. “Yes? This hasn’t been a great night so far, but patrol is nearly over, so—”

“You’re bloody.”

“Oh.” Dick lifted his hands and studied the scratches that now marked him. “It’s fine.”

Red Hood, though, took one of Dick’s hands in his and studied it as if to inspect the wounds. “Those are gouges.”

“She was desperate.”

“Understandable.” Red Hood dropped Dick’s hand. It felt cold. “I think if I lost my soulmate, I would go searching for them in any way I could. Try to save them, somehow.”

There was something pointed about these words. Dick couldn’t quite grasp it. “Destiny doesn’t negotiate.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Brought me here, didn’t it?”

And that was—

Dick closed his eyes, just to think for a moment. The way the other man was behaving, there was good reason to think he might suspect himself to be Dick’s soulmate. All Dick would have to do was ask, and maybe, just maybe, something he’d wanted for a very long time would be within his grasp.

But Jason’s shadow still loomed over him. He couldn’t forget that boy. He mustn’t. It was the least of what he owed him.

“I had a soulmate before,” Dick told him.

Red Hood cocked his head to the side. “Had?”

Somehow, his tone was more surprised than emphatic. That didn’t exactly fill Dick with confidence, but he continued: “He died. My timer was set for only eighteen months. He was—he was just a boy, really.”

Suddenly he realized he was crying. It was the first time he’d let his guard down, really down, about this, and something about Red Hood made it impossible for him to pull it back up.

Embarrassed, he covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry.”

Gloved hands settled on his shoulders. “Hey, no, it’s okay, you don’t have to—“

“I fucked it up, Hood. Left him alone. It was selfish and stupid and I—I can’t—” Dick stopped talking. It wouldn’t come out without sobs, anyway.

Red Hood’s hands stayed on him during the minutes he cried silently, pressing down hard enough to hurt Dick, to anchor him; but he didn’t say anything. He just waited, and when Dick was coherent again, he asked: “What happened?”

“He died,” Dick said simply. “I murdered his killer, but that does not bring him back.”

There was a long silence. It should’ve been tense, nervous, now that even the last of Dick’s secrets had been exposed. Instead Dick felt resigned. Either this would be too much, even for the Red Hood, or not.

This was who he was. There was no changing that, no matter how hard he’d tried.

“Well, fuck, now I’m not even slightly angry with you anymore, what the fuck.”

Dick frowned. That… wasn’t what he’d expected. “What do you mean?”

“You know I fully intended on some kind of revenge plot here? I thought maybe a dramatic reveal in front of all of the bats, you know, or at least something accompanied by a lot of yelling and triumph, not to mention bloodshed,” the Red Hood told him almost conversationally as he stood back and began fiddling with the mechanism at the back of his helmet. “But no, you have to go and be a much better man than I thought, Dickie. Of fucking course.”

All the alarm bells began to ring in Dick’s head. “What did you just call me?”

The helmet came off.

“…Jason?”

They were so different. Hood was taller than Jason; a man instead of a boy. His hair was dark, yes, but there was white streak running through it. His jaw had filled out, his bearing straightened, his eyes turned slightly greener.

And yet.

Dick knew.

“Yeah. Uh. Surprise. Guess you didn’t know? I wasn’t completely sure before today.”

Dick filed the notion that Jason thought him (or the rest of the family, for that matter) capable of just quietly ignoring his resurrection away for some other day. Right now, he was too busy trying to breathe.

“Dick?” There was concern in that voice now. “Are you okay?”

“Am I—” Breathing. “How?”

“Maybe you should sit down?” Jason looked like he expected Dick to faint any minute now. Dick admitted that might not be too far from the truth ‘cause what the fuck, but it didn’t matter right now, because: “You died.”

“Yes.” Jason ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Don’t ask me how or I got out of that grave, I don’t either.”

Dick didn’t know what to say to that.

“Talia al Ghul rescued me,” Jason continued, talking more quickly as if wanting to get it over with. “I wasn’t whole, so… Lazarus Pit. And then she trained me and told me a whole bunch of stuff, some of which turned out to be true, some of which didn’t. And now I’m here.”

“But—” he whispered. This was dialogue straight out of a terrible Hallmark movie, but he needed to know. “My timer—”

“Dick,” Jason looked at him with a steady gaze, “my timer has read the same time ever since I met you.” He lifted his wrist and pulled off the leather glove.

46:04.

Dick stared at it helplessly. That was the kind of number he’d only ever dreamed of. And it was supposed to be his and Jason’s?

His and Jason’s. Because Jason was his soulmate, returned to him from the dead without Dick’s knowledge or help. That, finally, what was got through the shock, rattling Dick back into reality.

Dick looked him into the eyes—and God, those eyes; if there hadn’t been that helmet, that modulator, Jason would’ve had no way of hiding himself—and said something he’d wanted to say for seven years: “I’m sorry.”

“I told you I’m not angry anymore.”

“I should’ve been there for you,” Dick insisted.

For the first time, Jason looked away. “In a way, you were.”

“I was what?”

“There with me. I can’t speak for what was happening when I was dead—don’t remember, mostly glad about that—but when I clawed my way out of that grave, I had no idea who you were. I had no idea who I was, really. But I saw that timer and knew that someone, somewhere, was waiting for me.”

Dick couldn’t help himself, reaching out with trembling hands to finally, finally pull Jason close. Burying his head in the other man’s shoulder, he whispered tremulously: “I was, Jason. I didn’t even know it, but I was.”

Strong arms wrap around him to hold on just as tightly. For the first time in years, Dick felt his head quieten.

Still he had to ask: “How can you forgive me?”

“Okay, one? As an adult myself now, I completely understand why you freaked out. Teenagers are babies. A+ not taking advantage of me.”

Dick chuckled wetly.

“Two… I’ve seen you open your heart again. Tim, he’s actually your brother. Your friends.” Jason was talking into his hair ear now. Maybe it was easier that way. “You keep doing that, Dick, just opening up and taking people in and being vulnerable, and I don’t know how you do that, really, it’s kinda worrying, but—I cannot blame you for being tired just one time of losing people.”

“You should,” Dick told him, “I do.”

“Yeah, well, no-one said you were smart.”

That got a laugh out of Dick. He let it shake through him, then asked: “Why did you hide when you came back?”

“I didn’t want to see Bruce. Still don’t.” Jason’s voice was matter of fact.

Dick knew they would have to talk about that. Not now. “Why come back at all, then?”

“It’s my home. Also, I didn’t want to just give up on you, you know?”

The side of Jason’s neck was naked and vulnerable without the helmet. Dick pressed a kiss there in gratitude.

“When I didn’t know if you figured out my identity or not, I wanted to see what happened,” Jason continued. “I figured, this situation is fucked up and all, but it’s also a chance.”

“A chance?”

“My last turn as a vigilante in Gotham was kinda a shitshow. So I thought I’d just prove that—that I could be what you want. That I could do better. I don’t know if I can ever be good, not the way you and Batman want me to be—”

“Jason,” Dick interrupted him, pulling back to look at Jason; his voice fierce with the obviousness of what he had to say, “you are exactly what I want. If I had ever taken any time to know you before, I’d have known that, and I wanted you since I got to know you as the Red Hood. If you think there is any way I am letting you go again—“

Now they were talking in circles. Jason seemed to notice that, too, for he cupped Dick’s jaw mid-sentence and kissed him.

It was a hesitant kiss, slightly at odds with the confident way Jason acted otherwise; Dick realized with a pang that, of course, his teenage years hadn’t lent themselves to the same experimentation that Dick’s had. Still, he was so gentle, not letting go of Dick even as his hand trembled on his face, and the soft sigh he let out when Dick cupped his nape was nothing short of sweet.

There was a softness in this that warmed Dick from the inside out.

When they pulled apart, Dick had to giggle. This night had been an emotional rollercoaster; he felt air-headed and silly with it. “We probably shouldn’t do this here.”

“Not good for the reputation,” Jason agreed, his voice low. Dick liked it.

“Come home with me?”

“Sure.”

When Dick looked surprised at Jason’s easy acceptance, Jason shrugged. “I’ve been dying to take that mask off of you. Knowing you, it’s glued on with a special mixture only you got the remover for, though.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. “Oh,” Dick said, remembering something. “Actually, I got someone at home who would love to see you.”

“Don’t tell me you got a kid that I somehow missed.”

“Nah. Better.” Dick smiled. “A bear.”

The next morning, after he woke up in Jason’s arms; after they showered separately and ate breakfast together and just tried to parse out what this meant for the rest of their lives—that morning, Dick looked at his timer and saw that it now read 07:22.

Jason seemed fascinated by the change. “I think I read a study about mismatched timers before. There’s a theory that they reflect our choices really more than our fate, and are meant to influence our actions—maybe I should look it up…”

“I think,” Dick said firmly, “that we should cover the damn things up and never look at them again.”

Jason considered that. “Yeah, okay. Sounds like a plan.”

#jaydick #elareine writes #well that only took a year or so

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samclownchester · 5 years ago

Text

The day is June 15 2020

The time is 3 am

The situation is that the world has fallen into a pandemic of Covid-19, and my job closed down in March, leaving me with lots of time on my hands. Despite my doubts, I fell back into Supernatural, deep into it, and I am now rewatching it. I thought it would be fun to try and see how much I could remember from earlier seasons before I watch them all

I have watched up to 1x14 at this point, so those episodes are fresh in my mind, but lets see what else I remember

Season 1

“Dad’s on a hunting trip, and he hasn’t been home in a few days”

“Saving people, hunting things, the family business”

Sam’s girlfriend dies just like his mom did

Their dad is the point of the season but is only actually in like 3 episodes

Sam and Dean break up but get back together

Sam has VISIONS and moves things with his MIND

Meg is a demon, Sam has a bit of a crush on her

They find their dad, but don’t kill the demon

colt

Season 2

Dean dies in a car crash, John sells his soul for him and dies

Bobby Singer is best dad

Ellen and Jo and Ash exist

Purple Nurple

Gordon?

Lots of psychics! Sam can make friends??

Jk, it’s the hunger games

Sam gets stabbed in the back

Dean sells his soul for him

They kill Azazel I think??

“I have … demon blood in me?”

Season 3

Saving Dean from his demon deal

Groundhog day episode where Dean dies everyday

Gabriel?? (trickster)

Blonde Ruby (let’s hear it for Laurel Lance!)

Very short because there was a writers’ strike that year

Hell hounds

Season 4

Dean was “gripped tight and raised from perdition” by Castiel

Sam has a new gf! (Surprise, it’s Ruby in a new body! :o)

Why does she pretend to not know Dean when he first shows up? Is she lying to Sam about who she is this whole time?? Hmmm I wish I remembered

Time travel?? (Sam doesn’t get to come ☹ )

Demon blood

Demon blood detox ☹

Let’s kill Lilith

“Because it had to be you Sam”

“The boy with the demon blood”

Season 5

Dean is the Michael sword

Sam is messed up, trying to quit demon blood

Cas rebelled, and he did it, all of it, for Dean

Adam Winchester is a person who exists

Also I think this is the season with Jesse the antichrist who never shows up again it’s fine.

He only existed so they could have important conversations about nature vs nurture which honestly they should’ve just saved from when Jack was born but they didn’t know that was gonna happen

More time travel??

Future

Cas likes drugs

Team Free Will

Samifer

Fall into the cage

Dean goes to live with Lisa and Ben

The end?

Season 6

Cas is working with Crowley and spying on Dean but not talking to him like the pining idiot that he is

Dean can’t help but inspect monster happenings in town

Soulless!Sam

Dean finds Soulless Sam

Hanging out with some old dude?

Get Sam’s soul back

Meet Death?

Find out Cas is working with Crowley

O: Ultimate betrayal

???

Season 7

Leviathans

Godstiel?? Why?? Idr

Hallucifer

Please give Sam therapy

Sam goes to an asylum

Cas takes Sam’s trauma??

More leviathans

Dick?

Charlie!

Kevin!

Garth? Did we know him before. Idk, we know him now

Dean and Cas go to purgatory!

When does Cas die and walk into the lake? That’s before they go to Purgatory, right? Hmmmm but how does he come back

Cas is Emmanuel and has a wife? Is that in this season?

Season 8

Dean gets out of purgatory!

But no Cas

Sam had a girlfriend and a dog! Nice!

Not nice, he ignored Kevin and didn’t look for Dean

Like they agreed on, but whatever ok sue him for trying to be happy

Dean has a vampire boyfriend

Not so high and mighty about killing every monster are we now, huh Dean?

Right? I don’t remember, this is a conversation that happens though

He does end up killing Benny though, doesn’t he? huh

Cas is back from Purgatory! But he’s got Secrets ™

“I’m gonna become a hunter”

Then he stays in the old folks home and next time we see him he’s all wacky and likes to watch the bees?

Megstiel

You’re just playing sorry

Am I right?? I don’t remember, but all of this happens at some point

Who even is the big bad? What are we fighting? Idk

Oh we have to save Kevin from Crowley and he reads the demon tablet. Only eats hotdogs, doesn’t shave. I love him please keep him safe.

Spoilers, they don’t

Right! The trials, Sam does the trials, they “purify” him

The angels fall, but Sam doesn’t complete the trials and almost dies.

Season 9

Sam almost dies, Dean is like “right, nonconsensual possession is clearly the best answer for this”

Human!Cas, he drinks lots of water. Steve.

§ “you can’t stay here” :o

Abaddon I think?? What was the point

Crowley is sort of our friend now and I think we meet Rowena? Idr

Kevin dies ☹

“What is the upside to me being alive” – Sam

§ Maybe in this season, maybe not. Who knows?

Cas is a cannibal (eats grace) and becomes and angel again at some point

§ Hannah exists

We all hate Metatron

Cain??

Metatron stabs Dean and Sam puts his dead body on the bed

Demon!Dean

Season 10

Demon!Dean and Crowley are living it up!

Sam and Cas try to cure Dean

Charlie and Rowena interact a lot I think

Book of the Damned

When did they find the bunker? Men of Letters? All that? Idr, anyway they have it at this point

Dean kills lots of people

Charlie dies ☹

Dean blames Sam which is unfair and I hate it

They get the mark off and The DarknessTM is release

Season 11

The Baby episode exists

Really weird sexual tension between Dean and Amara while she’s still kind of a child, no one knows why. Please stop.

Cas gets called expendable and then makes poor life decisions

Lbr, though, Misha is the only other one who can play Lucifer with the same spirit as Mark Pellegrino. Sorry Jared, it’s the truth.

Eileen!! <3

Chuck is God :o

Let’s kill Amara!

Except we don’t kill her, she just needs to bond with her bro.

Here, have your mom back

Season 12

Mom????

British Men of Letters

Lucifer F*cks

Boy I didn’t think this would turn into what it did, let me tell you

Winchesters escape from Federal Prison

Cas says “I love you”

But like, the plural you. No homo.

Sam admits he lost his drive to lead, then finds it again and leads hunters against the dang brits! Hooray!

Oh shoot Lucifer wants custody of his kid!

FIGHT

Fatality – Castiel

Fatality – Mary

Oh no wait she didn’t die she’s just trapped.

Season 13

Jack jack jack jack jack

3 dads, all at various levels of dadding

Actually 2 excellent dads, one dad who is too emotionally damaged to dad but he tries sometimes

Yeah Cas pisses of a cosmic entity. That won’t come back to bite him

Jack just wants to be good

Wayward sisters was not picked up which sucks

Apocalypse world

Rowena is our friend now

Custody Battle!!! Who wins? Not Lucifer

We saved the day! And a ton of people

Literally they made a whole deal of the people being like “We won’t leave our home or our cause” and then they got back to Sam and Dean’s world, didn’t have archangel grace and were just like “meh, actually this place is cool. We don’t have to worry about going back”

Psych! We’re not done yet! Luci wants his kid

And Michael wants his planet

Season 14

Michael! Dean

Jack dies

But it’s ok, we fixed you, just don’t use your powers

Oh shoot he used his power

Nick is somehow alive

In love with Lucifer

Burn his ass!!

Oh Mary disapproves

RIP Mary

RIP Dean being a father, now he’s gonna murder

Hi Chuck, nice of you to show up

Oh no.

Season 15

Chuck sucks

Dean and Cas break up ☹

Sam has visions again

But he’s not psychic, it’s just the piece of his soul inside Chuck

Resurrect your girlfriend! Yeah!!

Jack is eating hearts, but it’s ok, Death told him to do it.

Garden of Eden?

Get your soul back boy!

And cry

Honorable mentions (Aka these happened but idr when)

Sam falls in love with a werewolf and then has to kill her and MAN Jared really brought the tears

AU where Supernatural is a TV show

Finding out Supernatural is a book series and the author is Chuck!

Crowley becomes helpful mostly

Crowley has a son??

Meet grandpa

Ellen, Jo, and Ash die

Bobby dies

literally everybody dies

Kill Hitler

They meet that Jewish guy with the Golem who pretended to flirt with Dean at some point.

Jimmy Novak was a devout man who deserved a lot better than he got

Claire Novak is so cool

She moves in with Jody

When do we meet Jody? She’s just always kinda been there?

Gabriel, I don’t remember anything about Gabriel

The council of the Gods’ happens and then I think Gabriel dies in that episode?? Idr

The Four Horsemen

Death, Pestilence, War, Famine

“You’re not hungry Dean”

I literally do not remember what was happening with these guys

Also, they killed Death, killed a reaper, that reaper became the new Death. I remember when all that happened I just didn’t feel like putting it in the timeline.

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hieromonkcharbel · 4 years ago

Text

The New Evangelization Begins in the Confessional

What is the new evangelization?

The expression “new evangelization” was popularized by the important apostolic exhortation of Blessed Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, as a response to the new challenges that the contemporary world creates for the mission of the Church. As Saint John Paul II tells us in Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the new evangelization has nothing in common with restoration, proselytism, pluralism or tolerance: instead, against the spirit of the world, the Church takes up anew each day a struggle that is none other than the struggle for the world’s soul. Saint John Paul concluded that in its ever renewed encounter with man, evangelization is linked to generational change. Generations come and go which have distanced themselves from Christ and the Church, which have accepted a secular model of thinking and living. Meanwhile, the Church is always looking toward the future and She constantly goes out to meet new generations. And new generations clearly seem to be accepting with enthusiasm what their elders seem to have rejected.

Where does the new evangelization begin?

In a speech addressed to priests and deacons at an audience with the Pope in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI maintained that the new evangelization begins in the confessional. Consciousness of one’s own sinful condition helps one to realize the need for “openness of heart” to God. “The certainty that He is close and His mercy awaits the human being, even one who is involved in sin, in order to heal his weakness with the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is always a ray of hope for the world”, Pope Benedict said. The real conversion of our hearts means opening ourselves to God’s transforming and renewing action. In confession, through the freely bestowed action of divine Mercy, repentant sinners are justified, pardoned and sanctified and they abandon their former selves to be re-clothed in the new.

The necessity of confession

Confession is a part of our great Catholic heritage and has been practiced by our Christian ancestors since the earliest days of the Church. In the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache, ca. 100) it states quite unambiguously: “Assemble on the Lord’s day and break bread and offer the Eucharist, but first make confession of your faults” (14, 1). In his groundbreaking work, Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that although we are saved by our baptism, “even the baptized remain sinners, so they need confession of sins, for in the life of Christians, –for table fellowship with the Lord– it constantly requires completion: washing of the feet”. In the First Letter of John we read, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1:8-10). According to Pope Benedict XVI, the use of the word “cleanse” signals an inner connection with the foot-washing passage. In confession, the Lord washes our soiled feet over and over again and prepares us for table fellowship with him. In the humble gesture of the washing of the feet is an expression of the entire ministry of Jesus’ life and death. The Lord stands before us as the servant of God –he who for our sake becomes one who serves, who carries our burden and so grants us true purity, the capacity to draw close to God.

Medicine for the Soul

The sacrament of the forgiveness of sins presupposes sins to be forgiven. What then is sin? Sin means disobedience to God’s commandments. It is a moral lapse, a free choice of the will. Sin must be admitted if it is to be forgiven, because we cannot be forgiven for sins we do not confess and repent of. “When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission… for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal” (CCC 1456). “Sin is in the soul what disease is in the body. Forgiveness is a healing operation, a real spiritual change: it requires the light of truth to shine on it – by confession – and only then can we find peace.” (Dr. Peter Kreeft)

The joy after confession

As C. S. Lewis noted, “Humility, after the first shock is a cheerful virtue.” The greatest saints have always had the greatest joy –for joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). Yet these same saints see themselves as the greatest sinners. Pascal said there are only two kinds of people: saints, who know they are sinners, and sinners, who think they are saints. The confession of sin frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through an admission of sin, “man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church.” (CCC 1455) On the level of human psychology, each of us needs to “let it all out” and “unload” so that our conscience may be clear. Thomas A Kempis exhorts us to maintain a clean conscience, stating : “Have therefore a clean conscience and thou shalt always have gladness. A good conscience may bear many wrongs, and is ever merry and glad in adversities; but an evil conscience is always fearful and unquiet.” Pardon and peace come from confession. “The forgiven penitent is reconciled with himself in his inmost being, where he regains his innermost truth… He is reconciled with all creation.” (CCC 1469) Following confession, the penitent finds peace and serenity with strong spiritual consolation. It is a peace that includes wholeness, harmony and a right relationship with God, self, and others. It is an echo from Eden and a foretaste of heaven. This is the peace Jesus Christ gives, “not as the world gives” (John 14:27).

Confession for conversion to holiness

All of us are under a continuing need for conversion. Conversion begins in Baptism, but conversion does not end in Baptism. It is an ongoing process because it is an ongoing need. Thomas A Kempis enlightens us in The Imitation of Christ with his observation, “How great is the frailty of human nature which is ever prone to evil! Today you confess your sins and tomorrow you again commit the sins which you confessed. One moment you resolve to be careful, and yet after an hour you act as though you had made no resolution.” Baptism is our first conversion, but through confession we undergo a second conversion because we are always in need of purification. St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that in the Church, “there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.” Pope Benedict states that the new evangelization draws its lifeblood from the holiness of the children of the Church, from the daily journey of personal and community conversion in order to be ever more closely conformed to Christ. There is a close connection between holiness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, witnessed by all the saints of history. In the Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales encourages us towards repentant conversion in order to gain holiness, urging: “Even as a man just recovering from illness walks only so far as he is obliged to go, with a slow and weary step, so the converted sinner journeys along as far as God commands him but slowly and wearily, until he attains a spirit of true devotion, and then, like a sound man, he not only gets along, but he runs and leaps in the way of God’s Commands, and hastens gladly along the paths of heavenly counsels and inspirations.”

Through confession we emerge renewed

Pope Benedict XVI summarized the benefits of confession saying, “In the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the faithful have a real experience of that Mercy which Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ has given to us, so that they themselves will become credible witnesses of that holiness which is the aim of the New Evangelization.” As Saint John Paul II indicated, the new evangelization is about the struggle for man’s soul: and the way to regain the souls of men is to give them a new beginning through the sacrament that renews our encounter with Christ. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict concluded his remarks to Priests in 2012 with this strong appeal: “This is my hope for each one of you: may the newness of Christ always be the center and reason for your priestly existence, so that those who meet you through your ministry may exclaim as did Andrew and John ‘we have found the Messiah’ (John 1:41). In this way, every Confession, from which each Christian will emerge renewed, will be a step ahead in the New Evangelization. May Mary, Mother of Mercy, Refuge for us sinners and Star of the New Evangelization, accompany us on our way.”

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