#also lets not forget the jesus death at the cross

[fearandhatred]

What would you write for the title "Forget-me-nots in your crown"? 👀

this is kinda long so i put it on ao3 too lol. spit this out in 2 hours so there are probably mistakes. apolocheese

<3

Crowley wavers by Jesus's side as he addresses a man named Matthew, sat at a taxpayer's booth, and says "follow me". And the man gets up to do so. Crowley hears the unspoken dismissal for what he thinks it is, and turns to leave, but Jesus stops him with a gentle hand on his forearm.

"Come," he tells him, "let's have dinner together."

They go to Matthew's house that night, bustling with the chatter of the other people Jesus invited to the dinner. Crowley stands next to Jesus and looks around, past the milling disciples and the table of food, to all these strangers. Taxpayers, prostitutes, idolators. Crowley feels lumped in, but also oddly out of place.

"Am I here as a sinner too, then?" he asks Jesus, teasingly, vulnerably.

Jesus looks back at him, eyes kind. "As a friend," he says simply, and Crowley could weep.

Not even a day passes after that before Crowley gets his next assignment from Hell.

-----

Crowley follows the mob all the way from Gethsemane to Golgotha, hidden in the shadows and carrying her basket full of flowers she doesn't actually sell. She sees Jesus's skin, welted and bleeding and bruised, no part left unmarred, but she doesn't interfere. She can't. She would miracle a lighter burden on his shoulders, healed cuts or softer soles, but she knows it wouldn't go unnoticed.

And she's ashamed to face him. So she just follows at the outskirts of the crowd of guards, opposers, and curious strays, and doesn't intervene.

But then Jesus stumbles and falls, pressed down violently under the weight of his cross, and Crowley rushes out without thinking, kneeling in front of him with a hastily miracled cup of water and dropping her basket of flowers from her arm. He looks up at her, eyes unsurprised at her presence and kind, always kind even when blinded with blood. He smiles. "Friend," he says softly before accepting the water Crowley brings to his mouth, and she tenses her jaw to hold herself together.

The mob and the generals stand silently, uninterrupting and observant. A rare reprieve of kindness, maybe, or another act of cruelty.

"After what I did?" Crowley says just as softly, fragile, a statement in the form of a question, trying to still her shaking hands so none of the water goes to waste. When she'd been told of her next temptation, that she would be the one to start the chain of events that would lead to Jesus's death, she had locked herself in for a week, close to deciding to go against orders for once in her life.

But she'd been too cowardly, too weak to do so, again, always. So she'd hid from Jesus instead.

"It is my Father's will," he tells her now as a fact, but with a tone so far from impassive it makes her quiver.

"Well," she says, uncertain and still ready to flee, but content with their proximity. "Is there anything I can do?" To help, is what she means. Let me ease your burden. Just then, one of the guards pushes down on the heavy cross with his foot in warning, brutish in the way he doesn't even look when he does it. Crowley lifts a hand instinctively, whether to nudge the guard away or lighten the weight of the cross she doesn't know, but Jesus gives her a glance of knowing, and her hand falls.

"Be kind," is all he says in response to her question. At first she thinks he just means be kind to everyone, a do-unto-others jab for a demon who betrayed her only friend, or a slight towards the guard. But he says it just loudly enough for her ears to hear and no one else's. And despite it all, she knows him. He looks unwaveringly at her, face honest and open. She knows that it's not just because of the torture and exhaustion he's endured that has stripped him down to his bare bones, but also because that is who he fundamentally is. And she knows he also means be kind to yourself.

She swallows, and the silence stretches on like they have all the time in the world, before the guard finally kicks at Jesus's side and yells at him to get up. He pushes himself onto his knees weakly but without protest, cross dragging down his back and leaving layers of skin scratched raw and gaping.

Be kind, his words ring in her head like they will until the end of time. Be kind to everyone, be kind to yourself. It'll be a long time before she can even start on the latter, but the first she can do. She can be kind to the man with kind eyes, her dear friend, a son with no choice but to do their father's will, a being destined to live only for others.

"Wait!" Crowley fumbles, reaching into her robes to disguise her miracling of more water. "Wait, please."

The guard mutters curses at her under his breath, but blessedly, he lifts an impatient brow in thin acquiescence. Crowley brings the water up to Jesus's lips again, and when he's drunk it all, he tilts his head tiredly in gratefulness. Another trickle of blood makes its way down the side of his face, and Crowley winces at the thorns digging viciously into his head, hammered into his skull like nails.

Unthinkingly, she reaches out and brushes his hair gently away from his eyes, careful not to have any stray strand pull on the thorns. Then, aching, she reaches out for the basket of flowers she discarded, plucking the first small bunch of flowers within reach.

Forget-me-nots. She would laugh if the realisation didn't cause her hands to resume their shaking. Because she is a sinner, she is sin itself, and her and Jesus should not be friends. They should not even be talking. But they are, and they do, and Crowley finds deep in her core that she would kill herself for him to remember her just as they were. Not as what she is but as who she is, as the true self that she thinks he sees when she's around him. As a friend. And she doesn't ever want to forget him.

She digs her nails into her palms to steady them, then brings her hands back up to his head. She weaves the small flowers into the thorns as carefully and intricately as the crown itself was woven, with hands just as stained. Forces herself to look at the blood crusted around the stems, the matted hair. The unworthiness, the uselessness of what she's doing.

When she's done, she pulls back with a sharp inhale as if coming back to herself, and looks away almost guiltily from the superficial bandages that are her small, insignificant flowers. Hates herself immediately for thinking that she of all beings could be the slightest balm for someone paying the price of sin.

But Jesus has never judged her for anything, and when she chances a glance back at him as he struggles to his feet, he's still looking at her. Looking at her with love, and with kindness. She thinks the kindness might mean more to her than anything else.

She slinks back into the shadows as the crowd moves forward.

-----

When they reach Golgotha, Crowley has discarded her flower basket, and she spots Aziraphale instantly in the growing crowd. She contemplates leaving him be, but she wants to get closer, so the chances of him not seeing her would be slim. She pushes through the crowd, steeling herself against Jesus's cries of pain. When she slithers up to Aziraphale's side, he turns and smiles at her in acknowledgement. She doesn't try to smile back.

In any other situation, she would laugh at how the only two beings she's acquainted with are an angel and the Son of God. For now, it just hurts.

"What–" she starts, then clears her throat as her voice cracks slightly with clogged-up tears. "What was it he said that got everyone so upset?" This time, her words come out as flatly curious and uncaring as she intended.

Aziraphale huffs out a breath. "'Be kind to each other'," he quotes.

"Oh," is all Crowley can reply at first. She turns away from Aziraphale to blink a sudden onslaught of tears away. "Yeah. That'll do it."

She stays until the sky darkens, long after everyone has gone and she's the only one in this place left alive. She lets the tears fall, then, looking up at the man splayed out on the cross, as human as anyone could be. She doesn't know if she'll ever be the same again. If there'll ever be anyone to care for her like he did.

Before she turns to leave, a single forget-me-not dislodges itself from the crown of thorns atop Jesus's lolling head and drifts softly down, landing softly on her outstretched palm.

[angelthefirst1]

Cauterizing the Beth wound - It burns so bad that Daryl tries to forget her, suppress her, but the cauterization won't hold forever. 🔥 ♥️ 🔥

Ever since I witnessed Daryl get burnt by the Brulent (burner) walker in the opening episode of Daryl Dixon, I have wanted to write about the symbolism around cauterizing the wound and what it means.

Many of us have wondered why, for the longest time Daryl never mentioned Beth, she was so utterly forgotten that it was like she didn't exist. The lack of acknowledgement of her has, at times, been infuriating, but it has been done very deliberately, and its meaning goes deep.

The reason she has been "forgotten" is that cauterizing a wound and deliberately suppressing and forgetting something painful, or that you dislike thinking about, are interchangeable.

The new blue-eyed type of walker (Beth) is called a Brulent or burner because their touch burns the skin, leaving a painful mark.

Daryl showed us a mini version of cauterizing the emotional wound, after Beth's "death" in 510. When he burned his hand with a cigarette 🚬

The cauterization didn't hold for him, emotionally, very long...but the music box plays again soon after this.

The combination of seeing Daryl get cauterized in DD1, and all the Beth reminders we saw with Isabelle, coming to the surface, seem to indicate the emotional cauterization is not holding and the music box should start playing again soon.

The time frame between Daryl losing Beth and the music box playing again, seems to show a mini version of this cauterization/suppression theme.

Here's where they reverse things... the point where he puts the cigarette on the skin, everything prior to that, shows how desperate he is to be numb and avoid the topic of Beth.

We see it in his conversation with Rick when Rick says, "I know you lost something back there. "...

Daryl quickly changes the subject to Judith, being hungry and avoiding the topic of Beth.

He did it with Carol, too. While she talked about Beth, he just listened, didn't say a word. Carol even says to him, "You have to let yourself feel it." Meaning, he wasn't letting himself feel it...

And again, when the group comes across cars in the road that remind Daryl of Beth, he runs away into the woods to avoid it.

We know this scene must have tweaked something in Daryl because Maggie finds the walker in the car that is absolutely a Beth reminder. Especially with those Brulent blue eyes...

So 510 was pointing to Daryl cauterizing the Beth wound and Daryl Dixon episode 1 confirmed that theme, with Isabelle (Beth) being the reason he gets cauterized. She preforms the cauterization.

The missing or forgotten 3 weeks is also part of this suppression, and eventually the cauterization of the 3 weeks will stop holding, and we will see what really happened.

But the cauterization/forgetting theme goes deeper still...

The whole show is about the end of the world, so it's no surprise that this cauterizing theme comes directly from the bible and specifically the biblical last days pointing to the return of Jesus (Beth)

For many years, we have talked about how the show has linked Beth with Jesus due to her "sacrificial death" during which she was wearing a cross ✝️. She died to save Noah (Noah is linked to the biblical flood, remember that for later)

Many are sure she will be "resurrected" and return at some point.

Related to this topic, i have also been writing about how the signs of Jesus's return in the last days, as written about in the bible, are linked to, and used in the show, as signs pointing to Beth's return as well.

And really, that's what Daryl meant when he said to Beth, "The signs are all there. You've just got to know how to read them." What signs? The signs pointing to her return, they will all (convergence) be there and the biblical end times are how you read them.

The scenes I will go through below with Isabelle and Daryl perfectly sum up the biblical links to the cauterization theme of suppressing and forgetting, leading to the return of Jesus (Beth)

The first time we see Isabelle (Beth) introduced is when Daryl attempts to tend to his very fresh blue-eyed Brulent wound. He floods the wound with water 💧 Noah was the reason he lost Beth.

He does this next to a car with Isabelle (Beth) watching. Many believe Beth's body was left in a car at some stage, and that's in part why she goes missing again.

So Daryl tending to his burn wound, next to a car with Isabelle nearby is significant.

It's also a direct connection to the car scene in 510 with Maggie's blue-eyed walker in the back of the car, and the cigarette cauterization at the barn that followed.

Isabelle is standing on a hill with two telephone polls ✝️ the telephone polls represent the crosses that Jesus and the two thieves were crucified on in Jerusalem.

Once you see it, you can't unsee it... Isabelle herself as a fill-in for Beth, represents the third empty or missing cross and Jesus returned.

We are literally looking at a representation of where Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, with Isabelle as Beth. It's also a representation of the first time Daryl lays eyes on Beth again, when she returns.

Knowing how this show uses 'the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning' infinity ♾️ theme. This first scene of Isabelle's is pointing to Beth's last sacrificial scene at Grady, and it's also pointing to Beth's first scene back, representing Christ's return.

This could very well indicate that Isabelle herself will have a sacrificial death at the crossover point when Beth returns.

I have already written about how Beth's return, the upcoming Louvre story, and the Nest are actually all representations of Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and is said to return to. You can read more on that here.

But the fact that Isabelle is literally standing on a representation of the hill of Golgotha with two crosses (the place where Jesus and the thieves were crucified) confirms the links to Israel and Jerusalem that I made in that post.

Now, on the back window of the car that Daryl stops at, is one of Isabelle's signs that says "God loves you" pointing to Jesus (Beth) being in the back of the car.

Daryl wraps that wound up tight, it's fresh, it's sore and it's all because of Beth, in the back of that car.

I will now explain the direct bible verses that they are drawing from, that link cauterization and deliberately forgetting, and point to the end times and the return of Beth/Jesus.

Firstly

In 1 Timothy 4.1-2, the apostle Paul writes to Timothy:

In the last days, many people will turn from their faith. They will be fooled by evil spirits and by teachings that come from demons. They will also be fooled by the false claims of liars whose consciences have been seared by a hot iron.

Paul equates turning away or walking away from Jesus with cauterizing the conscience.

We see Daryl symbolically walk away from the cross, where Isabelle stands, and walk away from Beth in the car that has the "God loves you sign" on it. All of this happens when the main focus has been on his burn (cauterized) wound.

So, walking away from Jesus or being separated = cauterization. That's why Daryl has never mentioned her.

The other verse that they are drawing from, talks about deliberately forgetting God.

We have all, no doubt, heard a saying at some stage, related to how humans suppress traumatic experiences. It's called dissociative amnesia. We have the ability to suppress things we don't like thinking about.

And that's what is described in 2 Peter 3.3 It talks about deliberately (choosing to) forget God, and scoffing at Jesus's return, which is something we see Daryl do in following scenes.

When he translates the sign that says "God loves you", he scoffs.

Tch! Is the way that scoff is usually written. The sharp exhalation of breath between the teeth made to indicate derision.

He then looks back at the representation of Jesus's death and return (Isabelle) and he walks away...turning his back on his faith = losing Beth.

Here is the verse this scene is pulling from...

2 Peter 3:3 Understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

Daryl scoffs and walks away...

4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, (We actually see Daryl's dead ancestor later on, which is a very good sign that Beth is close) everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. (Noah's Ark and the flood)

(In the days of Noah, we saw the flood deluged the barn in 510, what's kept in barns? Animals. Barn =Noah's Ark)

7 By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Back in 510 with Noah, we saw the group discuss when it will rain, because symbolically they were waiting for the flood of Noah's Ark. They survived the storm and deluge by entering the barn (Ark).

Beth's return is associated with fire judgement, as is the second coming. Sirius meaning scorching, points to this, as does her "Let's burn it down" comments.

Now, the other Barn we saw in the show was at Beth's house and it was burnt to the ground.

Reversed order: First judgment water second judgment fire. Now Sofia came out of the first barn with a rainbow on her shirt, pointing to the flood judgement. Infinity.

But back to Isabelle and Daryl.

The last we see of Isabelle in her introductory scene, is when she herself turns to the cross, and puts one of her God loves you signs, right onto the cross.

This scene is a representation of Jesus being physically placed on the cross and it's inspired by a very famous bible verse John 3.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus was placed on the cross ✝️ because God so loved the world, just like Isabelle's sign says.

Isabelle's last deed here is representation of sacrificial death, just like Beth's. So this could be an indication of Isabelle's last deed. But it also absolutely confirms, that Beth is going to return.

The writing on the cross/telephone pole before she puts the sign up says "Power of the living". Power means legal or official authority, capacity, or right. It basically says the cross gives the legal right to live!

There is a depiction of fire on the cross/pole (indicating the second judgement - Beth).

Isabelle places the dove picture on top, and if anyone knows the story of Noah and the flood judgement (first judgement) you will understand the flood judgement is what that represents.

Now this leads me back to Merle and Andrea believe it or not. Why?, because as i pointed out in this post here, we are working our way back to repeating season 1.

In season 1, Merle chopped his hand off, and used a hot iron to cauterize the wound.

He went missing for a long time, as did Andrea, and the two show up at the same time.

They are switching out Merle for Daryl and Beth with Andrea.

Merle handcuffed up on the roof leads to him messing his arm up, (losing his hand) and cauterization...

Daryl gets tied up by Isabelle.

Losing his hand and cauterizing it saved Merle's life, while cauterization messed Daryl's arm, up but saved his life...

Merle when he comes across Andrea, asks her to turn around...

He even says the words "Turn around, that's it, a nice little twirl around". Andrea is a representation of the music box ballerina turning around (playing again) when Merle (Daryl) finds her.

Once Merle sees who it is, he says "Oh Holy S#&t! Blondie!" He's shocked it's her. But then he makes a suggestive comment "You're looking good!"

Merle asks for a big hug from her, and then Andrea faints...

This whole scene will be switched up with Daryl and Beth. Most likely it will be Daryl who faints, out of shock that she's alive. There will be big hugs and hints at romance.

Now we know Michonne is currently off finding Rick at the CRM. Well, in the scene with Andrea, she has this symbol on her sword.

It's the CRM logo, the circles aren't complete but it's the CRM logo.

It's pointing to her story with Rick. It's also pointing to Daryl and Beth being involved with the CRM story at some stage.

Merle only comes across Andrea and Michonne because of a helicopter crash that leads them to the same location. Circling back to the CRM.

The CRM logo is actually the symbol for the Trinity, and we are building to the final battle against God, in the battle of Armageddon.

I might go into this at some stage, if i get time. But that's where it's heading.

Lastly, some may not be aware that Emily's code name in the walking dead when she was filming, was "Mariah". She says it's because she loved signing Mariah Carey songs when she was growing up, and that may well be the case, but i have to add here, that the area Jesus was crucified on is called Mt Moriah.

Beth is alive and coming soon.

[beevean]

You know I actually think that Lisa flat out forgetting the fact that she had begged Dracula not to commit genocide, just so that she and him can have their happy ending, is actually far more problematic than any case of fridging from the games

Of course fridging a female character just to further a male character's story is absolutely wrong, but N!Lisa's very personality and character motivation for even loving Dracula in the first place (ie:the fact that he still had some good in him and the possibility for him to learn to coexist peacefully with humans) got completely flipped over their head just so that her husband could get an (undeserved) happy ending

The former sacrifices the character's life, the latter destroys their literal character

It essentially treats Lisa as Dracula's "reward" for...doing all the fucked up things that he did. It's an actual, textual example of objectifying a female character

I noticed some time ago that the show doesn't really judge Dracula's action morally, only logically.

Even the most Alucard can say is that it's a shame that his father won't use his genius and knowledge for good because the CHURCH BAD has pushed him to do evil, or that his victory would lead to an empty world. He never points out how utterly disrespectful Dracula is being to his wife's (Alucard's mother) memory: she wanted to help mankind, she (allegedly) cared about mankind, and he's honoring her by exterminating her own species that she wanted to help and heal. That is fucked up, and it shows that Dracula may have loved Lisa, but he did not respect her for who and what she was. But the story only beats you over the head with how stupid and shortsighted and self-destructive Dracula's mass slaughter is, eventually warping it to "ohhh he's just trying to kill himself the long way around 🥺 poor depressed little meow meow 🥺" yeah sure uhhhhh his demons ate babies and he was willing to let vampires starve to death as a price to literally kill everyone. If he only wanted to kill himself, nothing stopped him from stepping into the sun.

I also pointed out how Lisa shows no concern at all for her own son, not thinking about him in her last moments of her life, gleefully leaving him to his grief once she comes back to life (which is one of the parts in NFCV that personally insult me). Why? Because it's all about Dracula. In SoTN, Lisa talks to Alucard, she wants him to do the right thing, and only at the end she expresses her love for her husband - love, not "please stop my hubby from committing genocide because I know he will". Sure, painting Lisa as some sort of cross between Jesus and the Virgin Mary isn't exactly peak female representation because women are not inherently pure saints, but you know, it's still better than Lisa being written as the spineless wife of the Devil and a shitty deadbeat mother while still meant to be seen as this kindhearted person and Dracula's only morality chain!

I really, really am uncomfortable with how whitewashed Dracula is, and how this reflects on the other characters.

And yes, the end really is sick from this point of view. I keep bitching about Lenore and Isaac's "redemption arcs", because one is still the callous abuser she was in S3 behind all the "bonding" and the other woke up one day and decided to become a hero but more or less only to feel good about himself and his life. But Dracula... didn't even go through that. He didn't even pretend to change, or realize he was in the wrong. He died only lamenting that he was killing his boy! That was what broke him! He was horrified that he was about to kill "Lisa's greatest gift to him"! Which sure, it's a wholesome sentiment, but he didn't even have the time to think that maybe his plan was just fucked up from the start. And he gets a saccharine good ending on a silver platter? Lisa is just forgetting that she died with the fear that her husband would kill everyone in her name, screaming to please not hurt her because Dracula is worse than Satan?

It really feels like he was a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, and Lisa was the pacifier stuffed in his mouth to keep him calm. There, wife back, now stop being evil. Not because he had a change of heart, but because he got what he wanted.

That ending is objectively awful under so many aspects, from a characterization and lore standpoints, and I know it was shoved there only as a response to backlash to S3's bleakness. No thematic relevance whatsoever - Isaac's comment that Hector shouldn't bring Dracula back because he has earned his rest feels like the remains of a first draft in retrospect. It's just "yay everyone not named Hector lives happily ever after <3 only good feels all around <3"

[drconstellation]

Inside the Dirty Donkey

**Warning! This meta contains spoilers and speculation for S3. Do NOT tag Neil!**

Time to get comfy, folks. Get your drink of choice, be it a cupperty, coffee, or nip of sherry, and find a seat. You’ll definitely want to be sitting down for this one. We’re going to the pub!

The name is apparently a favorite of NG’s, used in his short story “We Can Get Them For You Wholesale.” And it also appears in the Sandman AU.

In the short story above the protagonist is a jilted lover who tries to organize an assassin for his fiancé who is having an affair with another man at their shared workplace. He meets the ‘salesman’ of the firm he contacts at a pub called the Dirty Donkey, and it escalates from there. The story is freely available online, so you can search it up if you really want to read it, it won’t take long. It mentions a pale horse, which is usually what Death rides in on, and is appropriate in the context of that story.

The question we need to ask is how does the name The Dirty Donkey apply to the Good Omens AU? Are there any context to the name at all?

There are several meanings for a dirty donkey:

Its a slang or joke name for a black horse (not particularly a dark horse, that has a different meaning altogether)

A cocktail

A sex position (I’ll let you look that one up yourself…)

Probably the first thing we need to talk about, though is an actual donkey itself, in relation to Jesus, as S2 is full of Jesus references and hints to the Second Coming in S3. Yep, it was all there in front of us, but we were too focused on other things. If you remember your Bible teachings, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, because he came in peace. In ancient times leaders rode horses if they went to war, or if they came in conquest. But arriving by donkey meant you came with peaceful intentions.

But Jesus didn't turn up in S2, you say. And certainly not on any hairy beast. Ah, but he did - metaphorically. Gabriel as Jim turned up - he came up the street, by (the Dirty) Donkey, walking through spilled blood tomatoes, then mentioned his arms were no longer sore (because he had been taken off the cross.) MrPeriod talks more about how Jim represents Jesus here, and it might be worth revisiting it at length another time, as there is quite a bit to unpack there.

There are also the two big golden lions perched on either end of the bar inside the pub, that look rather ominous. The lions are strongly connected to Jesus and his resurrection, representing his return. (I'm still planning to have a better look for more lions in both S1 and S2, but that is still a WIP at the moment.)

There is also the scene in 1941 where the Nazi zombies stagger into the Dirty Donkey and spy on Aziraphale and Crowley through the windows through to the book shop, but all they manage to get is “Banana, fish, gorilla, shoe lace with a dash of nutmeg.” It sounds a bit like a cocktail reference – well, the nutmeg is definitely a GO ref to a certain cocktail – but the cocktail called a Dirty Donkey has cinnamon in it, in the form of cinnamon schnapps, not nutmeg – plus chocolate liqueur and rum. So maybe not.

But perhaps the most important thing we have to examine is the conversation about Jane Austin that Aziraphale and Crowley have in the pub, in S2E2. Because its got so many levels you just about need a break for extra oxygen half way down. Ha! And you thought it was a couple of funny throw-away lines about how Aziraphale saw human romance...

OK, this is the section of dialogue we are going to look at:

AZIRAPHALE: If you're going to invoke fiction, you might as well do it properly. CROWLEY: Properly? AZIRAPHALE: You remember Jane Austen? CROWLEY: Yeah. I'm not gonna forget her in a hurry, am I? The brains behind the 1810 Clerkenwell Diamond Robbery. Brandy smuggler. Master spy. What a piece of work. AZIRAPHALE: She wrote books. Novels. CROWLEY: Jane? Austen? AZIRAPHALE: Yes! CROWLEY: Whoa, bit of a dark horse. Novels, eh? AZIRAPHALE: Yes. They were very good. CROWLEY: Well. No, I'm just surprised, that's all. You think you know someone. AZIRAPHALE: She had balls. CROWLEY: Well.... AZIRAPHALE: Cotillion balls. People would gather and do some formal dancing and then realize they had misunderstood each other and were actually deeply in love.

Ready to dive into the levels on the Jane Austen conversation? Let's go...

Level 1: It’s a conversation about the novelist Jane Austen, and it sounds like they both met her, but they remember her in different ways – and Crowley’s memory is rather surprising!

Level 2: There is a mention of a robbery. This makes the parallel with the 1967 scene in S1E3 Hard Times, where Crowley has a secret meeting in the Dirty Donkey to plan a robbery to steal holy water from a church. The robbery in the above conversation involves diamonds (are you taking note/s? This is important!) from Clerkenwell, a district of London of some notoriety. It was famous for it watchmakers and jewelers, but it was also the home of Oliver Cromwell, who has a link to the 1650 date mentioned in S2E1 and the Eccles cakes, to Charles Dickens (author of A Tale of Two Cities, a book of note for GO) Oh, and both times Crowley is wearing a "Tactical Turtleneck", which others have noted he wears when he is doing his own master spy work, such planning or discussing robberies, or sneaking into Heaven to rob them of information!

Level 3: There is Aziraphale’s idea about how a romance should be conducted, by hosting a cotillion ball with formal dancing, because he's read all those romantic novels by Austen. And we get to see that played out in S2E5 in the eldritch ball. Crowley's idea of a romance was to get caught in the rain and kiss, then - vavoom!

Level 4: Why mention this apparently fictional side to an author of fictional romance? Well, on one hand, it’s an interesting but dark set-up for a joke later at the beginning of S2E6. I ended up discussing it at length here, but the short of it is that it is our usual human custom not to speak ill of the dead, and this is a form of extreme black-and-white thinking. Here, Aziraphale speaks of the good/white side of Jane Austen, that is well known, but Crowley speaks of the black/supposedly forgotten or unspoken bad side of Austen.

Level 5: Here’s the S3 information. Have you been paying attention? Did you take note? The parallels were the robberies between a church, and diamonds? That she was a brandy smuggler? Do you know where they smuggled brandy from? And do you know where Austen actually lived? On the South Downs, overlooking the Channel to France…

Whew. I think I need a drink after that. Cheers!

[Edit: I've recently finished a meta on the Bentley and how that relates to black horses, and it's occurred to me why the ethereal lift, or "hellevator," is in the entrance to the Dirty Donkey. Black horses are symbolic spirit guides between the worlds of the living and the dead, so this makes the perfect place to put the lift!]

[anonymous-dentist]

Inmate Crucifixion Day!!!

So it's no big surprise that the QSMP has some religious imagery going on, and today's supposed conclusion to the Prison Arc is no exception. Today, the inmates are going to be crucified, and we all know what that is.

Right?

Well, hi, I'm A.D., I'm a historian, and today I'm going to teach you all about crucifixion!

Now, crucifixion is a longstanding execution method that dates back way before Jesus was even thought of. We've got accounts of crucifixions dating back to the Persians under Darius I, and we've got even more accounts from all over the place in the ancient world.

Now, let's go over some history real quick, shall we?

~522 BCE: Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, is crucified postmortem by some pissed-off Persians. Maybe.

We don't actually know if this one happened or not, but we do know that he was assassinated. That much is true. The crucifixion part is what's up for debate, but, if it is true, then Polycrates here has the privilege of being the first ever victim of crucifixion. Lucky him!

~519 BCE: Darius I orders the crucifixion of something approximating 3,000 political opponents in Babylon

See, the thing about Persian crucifixions is that the prisoners weren't usually nailed to the cross shape we all know. Nah, they were tied up with their hands above their heads, strung up on a single pole. This way, their death would take a lot longer, and the prisoner would suffocate under their own weight. This would last for days, usually with the prisoner being left up to be humiliated even after their death.

~417 BCE: Persian general and tyrant Artaÿctes is crucified by Athenians in a rather uncharacteristic act

But also take this with a grain of salt because this account comes from Herodotus, and I don't trust that dude with much more than a fun story.

The Greeks didn't really think much of crucifixion. They were like, "We're above this. We are civilized", but also. They did not like the whole "Persian Invasion" thing, and so sometimes they ended up resorting to measures they weren't too happy with. Such is war!

~332 BCE: Speaking of war, Alexander the Great supposedly had 2,000 survivors of his siege of Tyre crucified.

The thing with Alexander is that a lot of what people say about him is probably bullshit.

~88 BCE: Ancient Judean king Alexander Jannaeus supposedly had 800 Pharisees-slash-rebels crucified in the middle of Jerusalem

And now we get to the Romans, who kinda perfected the whole thing. They were super into crucifixion. They were so into it that they had a bunch of different ways of doing it!

Getting impaled on a stake

Getting tied to a tree

Getting tied to a crux simplex (see image below)

Getting stuck to a cross

The whole crucifixion thing was seen as a way to deter people from doing the same crimes that the crucified people did. It was all about torture and humiliation. We have reports of people being crucified for days, and of people having to carry their own crucifixes (see: Jesus Christ.)

Sometimes people were tied to their crucifixes. Sometimes they were nailed to them. It varied by region and by criminal and by executor. Criminals were generally stripped completely naked (again, humiliation), though, again, the position depended on the region, criminal, and executor. The way Jewish people were executed was different than how, say, slaves or renegade gladiators were executed.

I'm not going to get into the whole process because that's very long and yucky. But I will repeat just how popular it was! Because MAN, the Romans LOVED it! Crassus ordered the crucifixion of at least 6,000 rebels and followers of Spartacus after the Third Servile War (but, then again, he was a piece of shit.)

Of course, we can't forget about the most famous crucifixion of all:

~32 CE: Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth remains the most famous victim of crucifixion, and it's because of the nature of his particular crucifixion that everybody thinks of crucifixion as The Thing With The Cross.

And this is probably what everybody's thinking of when they're talking about the QSMP inmates being crucified today.

But he wasn't the only religious figure to be crucified!

Cut to:

Either 274 CE or 277 CE: Mani, the Parthian Prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, is crucified in a way super similar to Jesus

Tbh we don't know when he died, but his followers purposefully compared his death to Jesus' despite there possibly being literally no crucifixion involved at all.

But, you know what? Crucifixion happened all over the place!

Islamic territories had crucifixion going on simply because they lived where crucifixion had been taking place for centuries, and there was a lot of debate surrounding crucifixion in relation to the various rules and regulations surrounding criminality and the potential justification of execution.

Japan, interestingly enough, also has a pretty long history of crucifixion. Supposedly, it was introduced in the 15th century by pesky Christian missionaries, but the Japanese had had a similar tradition going on before that. But Japanese crucifixion, called haritsuke wasn't really like the kind we're familiar with. There was water crucifixion (mizuharitsuke) reserved for Christians, and there was upside-down crucifixion (sakasaharitsuke.) Fun!

(There is photo evidence of this even up on the Wikipedia page, but you can find that on your own. I'm not putting that on my blog, thanks.)

As the years continued, crucifixion became a bit less widespread, though there is photo evidence of its use in Japan up through the 19th century, and then reports of it being used in World War One by the Germans and then in World War Two against the Germans.

Unfortunately, it's still a practiced tradition in a few parts of the world. Saudi Arabia and Sudan still have crucifixion as an execution method, and it's still a reported method being used by certain extremist factions in Syria, Iran and Myanmar.

So... yeah! That's crucifixion for you! It's a truly terrible fate, but not an overtly religious one. It only really became religious when Jesus ended up getting killed, and, even then, it's only seen as such by groups of people steeped in Christian culture (such as many countries and cultures living in what people call "The West".)

I can only imagine that the religious aspect is what's going to come into play on the QSMP, because I doubt that this literal Minecraft Roleplay Series will employ actual literal torture and execution methods live on Twitch.

[kirasworldofwords]

Title: Oh baby, look at those thighs, look at that smile, you're divine

Pairing: Hulknussen/Haasbands

Rating: E

Words: 6.749 (what a monster of a one-shot-)

The masterpiece is done. A whopping week after starting this one, it is finally finished. Oh my fucking God.

Have a teaser under the cut!

Whenever he was bored, Kevin mindlessly scrolled across his FYP on Instagram, mostly doing so while lying down somewhere and silently praying his hand won't let his phone slip. One day, however, as he once more doom-scrolled on Instagram, he stumbled across a new post from his team's social media site.

The video depicted Nico jokingly striking George's iconic pose while dressed in a race suit - a special one, Kevin quickly noticed - and a pair of shades. The Dane couldn't lie: His teammate looked devilishly great in that suit. Well, he always did but that was besides the point.

Though this particular suit had Kevin almost choking on the air he breathed once he noticed a special detail.

Holy shit. Nico has some thighs...! Kevin wouldn't mind at all if his face were to ever get crushed like a watermelon between these two gorgeous girls - hell, he'd thank Jesus on the cross for allowing him to die such a beautiful death! It didn't help that the guy was quite good-looking in total... Like, he'd love kissing those lips.

Then again, wait. Who the fuck thinks that about their teammate of all people? Who also happens to be a guy like oneself??

Oh well, it wasn't like he'd actually do all that though, right? Yeah.

Thus, Kevin shook his head to clear it of these rather unprompted and unsavory thoughts again, turning off his phone and laying it aside so he could bask in the sun some more. He just had to forget about ever thinking such things... Easy as that.

... Which was easier said than done.

[spiegelgestalt]

Nail a [_] to the cross, he's walking round like Teezo

So one of the things I see rarely talked about is the way Kendrick Lamar frames his involvement in the beef with Drake not as something good or admirable but as him doing something evil that reveals him to be a hypocrite. And which could lead to his own destruction And i find that fascinating.

Let me explain

Let's start with "Like that": He frames his starting the rap beef as him choosing violence (i.E wickedness) which if you take the story line of DAMN. into consideration will lead to his death (maybe just the death of K. the good person). But he's willing to sacrifice his peace (6:16 in LA) because he'd "rather be dead than let a canadian [_]" disrespect PAC by buying his ring (Euphoria). This sentiment of sacrificing your own integrity for the things that are important for you also plays a role in the music video. K. goes to the court house and later to prison for his crimes. He does exactly what he said he would do in XXX. if someone threatned his family or the things that are important to him. ("I chip a [_] than throw the blower in his lap, walk myself to the court bitch i did that") - he has symbolically killed Drake and is now being judged by the court of public opinion.

There's also some other stuff: his confession to god in 6:16 in LA; one of the meanings of the title Euphoria. It describes the happiness one can find inside a battle and in violence. A dangerous drug which will seperate you from all your loved ones. (K. uses that word in M.a.a.d City to describe the romanticization of street violence - he also uses the word in "King's dead". A warrior who seeks Euphoria -> seeks the thrill and happiness of the battle. I have a lot of thoughts about "King's dead" which imo describes how K. would be if he turned out to be the evil King Killmonger). "Meet the grahams" is a horror-song and a lot of people came out of it comparing K. to a serial killer -> and that was supposed to happen. (SN: Seeing the reactions online i sometimes want to take people by the hand and say: relax he didn't really talk to the family members, it was a literary device, they don't have to listen to it, he didn't even say anything specific about them -> if you break it down in terms what was said about the family members it's far closer to "let it rain on you like Virigina Williams" than to the shit Drake did in family matters) But back to my point. After meet the grahams we were supposed to feel a bit sick and a bit sorry for Drake. The track was so vicious that it made people forget what Drake had said in the first place. And i'm pretty sure it was meant to be that way.

And last but not least: in not like that K. describes himself as the boogeyman but more importantly he puts Drake in the position of Jesus. He is the one who gets nailed to the cross, who get thrown to the wolves so that public may ridicule and humiliate him. K. fully knowing that this is against his religion, that he's becoming an enemy of god, does it anyway. That's why he has to hide the bible (which is of course another hint towards DAMN (put the bible down and go an eye for an eye for this shit). He can't help his wicked nature. He knows the answer is love but he can't stop himself from hating. And you know. I find that framing really cool. It makes me like him more.

[christiancomputerstudent]

The gospel of Love

This song posted above highlights the gospel in a nutshell the world needs Jesus, and the world needs Jesus to wrap his loving arms around the world, and the arms of Jesus are the church.  

Christians are ofen accused of spreading hate, we Christians need to start spreading the love and the good news message of the gospel of love, to the four corners of the earth, not just with words but also practically, the world needs more love and less hate.

By the way, if you are a Christian and you are spreading hate, you have missed the point of the Gospel.

Cool bible verses on the subject

John 3.16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

Galatians 6:9-10: And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Proverbs 19:17: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have

Hebrews 13:16: It is more blessed to give than to receive

Hebrews 6:10: God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people

Proverbs 22:9: A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor

Romans 12:13: A true rule of charity, when we are no less touched with other men's wants than with our own, and having that feeling help them as much as we can

Our role model is Jesus

Philippians 2: 5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

[majorshippingtrash]

Now maybe I’m on a kick of “shows based on Christian mythology + the act of forgiveness” because of what Good Omens has done to me, but I feel like there’s a lot to say about forgiveness in Hazbin Hotel, despite it rarely being directly talked about.

(Also it’s been years since I’ve been in a church and the Bible has been interpreted a thousand different ways by a thousand different people over the course of a thousand different years in a thousand different languages… sorry if my interpretation/terminology doesn’t match yours 🤷)

Forgiveness is a big thing in Christianity. Now while 🔥FIRE AND BRIMSTONE AND WOE BE UPON YEE REPENT REPENT REPENT🔥 is a method some preachers will go, there is still that act of “repent.” My boy Jesus on the cross forgave that thief, the thief asked him to remember him when Jesus got to heaven and Jesus said, “my guy you’re coming too.” (Luke 23: 40-42) Most preachers/preists/weird youth group leaders will admit that if you ask God/Jesus for genuine forgiveness, you will be let unto the kingdom of Heaven™️

But the big thing with Hazbin is that “Hell is Forever.” In ep6 during the song “You Didn’t Know” Lute/Adam say “What are we even talking about, some crack-whore who fucked up already? He blew his shot, like the cocks in his mouth, this discussion is senseless and petty. There’s no question to be posed, he’s unholy, case closed, did you forget that hell is forever?”

I keep getting stuck at the line “he blew his shot already.” Charlie is asking that sinners who genuinely want to try and be a little better are given a chance to. Now obviously the big thing is that Adam, Sera, no one knows what gets a soul into heaven, let alone do any of them have the ability to do so.

And I hear you now, “okay but lowkey like Adam said, they had the chance all of their LIFE to ask forgiveness. This is the after.” OK BUT I RAISE YOU TO READ “The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” (had to bust out my own bible to remember this fucking story) Matthew 20: 1-16 is The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which basically says, “it doesn’t matter at what point you ask for forgiveness, you will get it. Whether you were a good Christian born and raised or literally only started on your death bed, we’re gucci 👌”

TLDR; Adam is being an asshole for killing the sinners who might actually give redemption a shot if they knew it worked, and my proof is the Bible says so (as if god, Jesus, or the Bible have even been mentioned 💀✌️)

[bishopknifetrickmp3]

any fic recs?

hi anon i am so so sorry for answering this so late, ive been putting it off and keep forgetting about it whoopsss but i hope it's not too late to rec some fic still...so let's gooooo

please noted that until this year, i hadn't read any peterick fic since 2017 so there's a lot im probably missing but im gonna try and recommend some newer fic (to me at least lol) here;

The High Way to Hell Series by @holytrohmanempire - ok this series is not new and everyone probably already read it BUT it's still ongoing and it's epically long and so so damn good, like fall out boy meet supernatural but better, the band dynamic is amazing, the characterization is on point, the episodic format is delightful, AND the peterick slowburn and the payoff in infinity on high installment is wonderful, i would need a whole new post to rave about this fic so i will stop now

Crooked Love - oh man i am OBSESSED with this fic ive been saying this for months, it's just a perfect disastrous romcom, it's funny, it's got my anxiety rising, it's hot, it's romantic, it's featuring finance bro patrick being a human dumpster fire, i love it to death. the author also write other amazing fics, id recommend silver screen dream, between the sheets, and i've forgiven jesus (the last two were co-written and ive forgiven jesus was pretty damn harrowing, but oh so fucking GOOD)

The Difference Between Real Love and the Love On TV - aka instant classic 21st century modern american literature, put this on your bookshelves now

thought i felt you before - now you're closer - the one where patrick is an actual medium and there's hiatus and trying to get your best friend back via asking him to talk to your dead grandfather, it's great and it's gonna rip your heart out a bit but in a very healing way i promise

And I Lived So Much Life - THE ultimate star-crossed lovers, scar-crossed lovers fic of all time, of course they'd be twin skeletons fated for thousand years 25 lives itd only be fair for me to chase you across hundreds thousands lifetime until i find the one in which you return to me OF COURSE

I Don't Want You To Go Yet - kinda summer fling au, the writing is seriously beautiful and the way the author built up their heartbreak is soooooo good

assortment of various incredible au: Here Come This Rising Tide (the robin hood au, SO SO GOOD), Hell or High Water (crazily good pirate au, the author, the_chaotic_panda wrote so many incredible stories please do scroll through their works and enjoy), Superposition (will give you an existential crisis, highly recommend)

i also have raved about older peterick fic under my fic rec tag and for some rec for livejournal era fic, do check out peterick rec list and dropbox made by the incredible @justtothesea i really think it's the most comprehensive list of (older) peterick fic we have, anyway enjoy reading!

[pilichainartandmemes]

Malevolent fic - Big Fat Taco

They had reached the terminus, enemies on the plateform and on their tail. His aim cannot be trusted and his eyes stutter at mirages. So down, down, down it goes.

I just think that if you won’t dig into a guy with your bare hands for your apocalypse rock, you don’t deserve it. ;) The idea would't leave me and so here is the result of four intense days of writing before the season four finale comes out later today(well tomorrow in my case). Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did putting it together!

Warnings: Canon typical violence, gore, non consensual platonic touching, major character death and choking.

Cross posted on AO3

“ I… I think we’ve built enough distance between us and them… Care to explain what I’m supposed to do with this rock now”, panted Arthur leaning against the wall absolutely lost. The faster they got rid of it, the sooner they could leave this blasted place. Because of course Noel had to find out at the worst possible time about John’s past. Of course they lost the bloody gun while escaping the detective and the cultists. Of course Larson found out where Oscar was the same way he did for Daniel and-

“ -thur! Arthur! What is the point of me explaining if you don’t fucking listen? We are going to open a portal. Just like how we dealt with Scratch.”

“ … That’s it," laughed Arthur weakly, "the grand end to the order of the fallen star comes down to throwing a rock into whatever hell we find. Then we hope whatever’s on the other side can’t use it? What if we unleash whatever power is inside the Black Stone? Exactly just like what happened with Scratch!”

“I don’t hear YOU coming up with any ideas! We still need to escape this place and k- clearly many cultists so we might as well… jump in?”

“Jesus fucking christ, John... I didn’t miss taking very literal leaps of faith into the unknown with you.”

“Likewise but with our luck it was a matter of time.”

“Indeed it was. Shame we don’t have the pages but I assume you wouldn’t propose this if you didn’t remember. Am I right, John?”

“Of course I do! Now let me focus… Sed obscuratus nox quaeso mundenetis…”

“Sed obscuratus nox quaeso mundenetis…”

“Impertus meter amicum allundem num.”

“Impertus meter amicum allundem num.”

“Depli mon faenis de tua quae… quae frequens? No. Frenusculi ? No it wasn’t that either !”

“John! I thought you said you knew the incantation!”

“YES I KNOW IT! Damnit Arthur, you say that as if you don’t forget to keep our eyes open for me every day!”

“Fine! Fine! For both our sakes think quickly!” And yet as he retorted back, Arthur began to calculate their odds. From past experiences those bouts of amnesia seemed temporary so they could still manage to open the portal. However with the delay and more people seeing where the stone went, just a throw would not work. Would the cultists even hesitate at the idea of entering the portal? If those madmen didn’t, they would have to fight for every second. Okay so they needed protection or at least something to keep their opponents at bay.

Tuning out John’s frustrated cusses at the Latin language itself, he patted their bag and pockets. Starting a fire was a last resort and could wait until they had an actual escape window. The bestiary wouldn’t be of help against humans. That left them with their unlucky dagger, regardless of John’s insistence to get rid of it. The weapon wouldn’t win against a gun or more than two cultists. But it was their also very last resort…  Should they lose it in the scuffle or…

What if Arthur missed again? It wouldn't be the first time his shoddy aim betrayed them when it mattered the most. They would not have another chance to get the stone and he doubted John would accept retreat after dragging them all the way to New York for it. The moment they lost sight, ha, of the rock was the moment Larson won. They needed a hiding place or at least somewhere the cultists would not think to look into…

“Oh. John no matter what continue trying to remember the spell. I just found the smartest way to get the black stone into the portal! Trust me!”

“- tua quae frenae! FRENAE! It was frenae! Wait... What do you mean smartest?” His friend asked cautiously but he didn’t have enough time to react as Arthur grabbed the rock from their pocket and shoved it down their throat.

Neither John or Arthur’s body were keen on the plan. The Black Stone burnt as he could feel it move past his throat into his… veins? Evidently the cursed object didn’t care for human biology and would go wherever it pleased. If he could just… nudge it towards… THERE!

“Arthur, are you out of your goddamn mind?! Spit it out! Come on!”

“ We’re fine… absolutely fine! Now,” just as he said that a tremor shook their spine and it took all their combined focus to not fall face first, “NOW we don’t have to worry about cultists with deft hands.”

“Do you really think given how we first met him he would stop at taking your life to get his hands on the Black Stone?” His partner growled, and yet beneath it worry laced into his every word.

“Larson? He did hurt many people but it was always through others. Like the butcher or the creature in the mines.” He retorted, confused and wondering not for the first time who scared his friend more than the King or their current enemies.

“Of course! Who else would be after us? This building is crawling, I mean, full of cultists. Surely this kind of... miscreants would have no issue going through us for this artifact.”

“Miscreants… Really, John? Anyway it doesn’t matter!” One more time. If Arthur could ignore the elephant in the room between them one more time, they would actually be fine.

They did not even finish the first sentence of the spell before a shot rang out and a sharp pain took over their right leg. Head and knee promptly were introduced with the wall that would have housed their gate. Shame Larson didn’t account for the headache or John’s yelling before starting to gloat. Another spasm coursed through as he tried to turn around. Its tango with their new wound left the duo a heap of limbs on the floor. Hopefully the view was still better than the wall. The heat that had been building behind their eyes flared and Arthur bit down hard to keep them open, inhaling sharply.

“Well it seems whatever tricks you had in mind backfired in more ways than one. Arthur, did you truly think you waltz your way into my domain unscathed?”

“Oh, yeah! Definitely! But maybe you never went back to Addison? I could always give you a refresher.” He could stall. Get the dagger out, have John could carve the incantation and smear it with blood. Surely they could skip the spoken part that way. Just needed to create a blind spot for them.

Evidently however, unlike Arthur, Larson did see the move coming and stomped on the left half of it. Ignoring his partner’s shouts, he awkwardly flipped on his side. Holding on tight to Larson’s ankle, he sliced at the heel. Shoddy aim and his body complaining every step of the way didn’t leave a deep enough wound. Regardless it was enough for the prick to retreat out of range. Maybe the floor was okay for now as their two functional limbs were split fifty-fifty. Well if you didn’t count the shoulder on the same side getting shot the day before. Speaking of bullets, another lodged itself into the carpet right by his ear as he jolted at the noise and ringing that followed.

“You appear to be the one in need of a reminder of the current situation apparently. Now stop staring at the barrel and tell me where the Black Stone is?”

“For once luck is on our side: Larson didn’t witness your crowning act of idiocy. Keep. Him. Talking! Every bullet in the floor is a bullet that isn’t in our body.”

“Now that’s a bit of a wild guess! Why would little old me have any idea… what that is? I figured I could crash whatever party you had in town, as you know, a payback. It has been… quite a busy week.” Arthur laced that last sentence with all the venom which had piled up over the last few days. It hadn’t even been a full fortnight since the Dreamlands for fuck’s sake.

“Your strange habit of pausing at odd times remains, how queer”, pondered Larson while his enemy attempted to stand again, less graceful about it than a fish on dry land, “I assume you do not need further help emptying your pockets.”

“Listen. Why don’t I smash your head in? Shot you. Step on your hand. THEN you can see how easy it is to focus.”

“I’m afraid I’ll pass the offer…. what is all THIS junk?” Larson asked in disdain as Arthur tried to open the bag with one hand only for the contents to spill out. Fantastic! Turns out he had been holding it upside down!

“The glass, the stone, the mask, the books, the tooth, the coin, the wallet and hooks, the kit of course to help him shave are all in Arthur's bag today. But don’t forget the dagger, the flute, the keys and the lighter that keeps the darkness at bay.” The familiarity of matching a series of notes calmed him down just a little. It didn’t matter that the source of that particular song had been fresh out of a bloodbath.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Shooting the lock and letting that creature at the crowd to get the stone was genius compared to this. And why did you have to bring him up? Wait- there’s someone coming up around the corner!  

“… No matter. Unlike you, I have all night, my wits about me and only friends here.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“Arthur, it’s Noel! He managed to get past our distraction and is holding Larson at gun point. His shoulder seems to be injured. His sleeves are torn with large dents matching the claws of that thing. If we could somehow turn them against each other, there may enough time to run. Or at least get the portal open.”

“Are you sure about this, detective? It would be poor etiquette as Arthur’s plus-one to have him killed.” Replied Larson as if this entire ordeal was nothing more than an argument at the local pub.

“That won’t be a problem. The plan isn’t to arrest him. Dreadful accidents happened with that many candles in smaller establishments. At the same time, testimonies of assault on the treasurer of another sect, maiming and murder have been connected to him.”

 Of course John decided that was the right moment to needle his partner about the decision to give his name to the secretary.  As if they had anyone else beside Daniel to be introduced to the freemasons. Surely Oscar or his father would vouch for Arthur’s character… at least for some of these accusations.  Not that it would amount to much if they didn’t make it out alive. Still he feared being wanted in a big city would make it harder for him to move around the States or to leave them.

“Cults like these prey on people facing hard times and get them to commit atrocities in the name of some big guy above or below. Nobody wants to believe their parent, friend or tenant would choose to be involved in shady stuff. If they can’t look at the evidence, they can bother some PI looking to make ends meet this month.” Noel finished, exhaustion slipping into that last sentence. No doubt the detective had to explain cases like these to clients both in Arkham as a private investigator then as a policeman in New York.

“That’s quite the story you wrote there! Have you ever considered becoming a playwright? Addison may not be a high production stage but you’ll have a captivated crowd and the support of a patron of the arts.” Larson drawled while he slowly drew his gun away from the thief. Although one didn’t need sight to guess he wasn’t about it.

“No thanks. I dealt with enough theater obsessed lemon suckers a few years ago. Then again this crony here is the reason I’m here tonight. Take out those cartridges and kick the weapon away… Jesus, my grandmother would have done better than that.”

“And Wallace is old enough to have met her in her heyday. He just had to throw his daughter at the monsters for that privelege! Clearly he’s the biggest threat here, Charlie. Everything you see at my feet is what I had on me tonight. There is no stupid rock!”

“Oh please, we all saw you leave with it! Would you quit acting like you care about the wellbeing of children anymore than respecting the divine or your elders. If that were true, she would still be here. Your precious little Fa-”

Arthur wasn’t about to let him finish. Compared to the Butcher or the ghoul, Larson was a lightweight. They didn’t need a knife. He would choke the life out of the piece of shit, one-handed if he had to. The monster didn’t get to speak her name.

Someone grabbed for his collar and yanked. He trashed hoping to grab onto his first opponent for stability. Unfortunately their body was acquainted yet again with wall, this time shoulder firsts. The shock didn’t have time to settle in before a punch in the gut had him hitting bedrock.

“Jesus fucking Christ… Do not call me that ever again. As if his highness would tell some guy his grand plan. He stole that name, that voice and is now using it to drag you around wherever he likes. This thing isn’t your friend.”

 “You know nothing! You humans act so high and mighty pretending kindness is inherent to living from the very moment of your birth. Care to guess what happened at mine? I was shoved into a hell worse than you could possibly imagine where neither time nor death has meaning. So yes! More often than not I lie rather than put my trust into people who have earnt it. I go for the throat when I feel even a little cornered. Everyone here has done that so stop fucking pretending any of you are gentle souls!” John’s truth burnt and yet his head felt clearer than it had since swallowing that rock. In the trail of that shooting star, Arthur just had to speak it all out loud for the rest of the world to hear. “Besides I can’t even get him to walk into a movie theater and sit still for fifty minutes.”

Nobody else said anything for a long while. Arthur could feel the fever chewing at his brain as they both caught their breaths from having pushed too far their limits. In the rare moment of quiet, he took notice of something familiar. Back with Parker, they had to look inside a freezer for clues and for lack of adequate clothing got forced to take turns. The cold current from back then it crawled the exact same way in the gap between his socks and his pants at his ankles. Out of damning curiosity he reached out and-

“Oops, thank you, totally missed by cue there. You gotta understand, detectives! I was so captivated by all those twists, turns and delightful noises, I got… distracted Man, I am going to miss not knowing the plot ahead of time. With that said, great surprise party everyone!”

“… it’s him”, John all the bravery snuffed out like a candle, “he’s squatting on our left, barefoot like back in the dreamlands. Ah. He’s what happened to our distraction. I can see its iridescent blood shining eerily against the black of his suit. In his hand there is a very large flat bread folded in two. There is so much garniture; you could not it around without half of the ingredients falling off. No it’s more than that. The sauce, a few drops hang by a thread as if they won’t fall unless he wills it.”

“Damn. Someone get an oxygen mask! This guy just wrote a spiel about a big fat taco.”

Without thinking Arthur flung himself in the opposite direction and despite the pain crawled as fast and as far as he could. Suddenly his brain connected the dots on the topic and person John had been avoiding to speak of this past week. Of fucking course it had to be that guy! He rasped out every word of the incantation he could remember, hoping John would follow suit. Unfortunately for them that distance didn’t mean very much I practice as clearly Kayne had no issue reeling them back so close he could feel the entity’s breath on his neck.

“Fuck, I’m sorry Arthur! Don’t say more, I- I can get us out of this!”

“Aww, you didn’t have to wrap up my present like that!  At this point it’s not just pretty paper and a bow… I can’t simply tear it up with how much love was put into this.” Singsonged the devil flicking back and forth his prey’s damaged earlobe.

Okay that was way too much: the uncomfortable heat beneath his skin and in his head, John’s apologies as he tried to grab their captor’s attention, the strange texture of the definitely non-human hands. He needed out now!

“How does it feel to be New York’s most wanted catch? You got quite a number hooked, ha! Hooked, get it? It’s the only reason you’re still alive after all!” Kayne asked flipping their body to so the three were face to face, one arm wrapped around their waist and the other holding their chin. Arthur bit down on the ‘hand’.

Everything went white as a chorus of complaints and cheers flooded his ears. Slowly he could make out Parker’s voice questioning his partner’s sanity in taking on that eating competition even with that big of a price at stake. Distant and muffled as if coming from under water or maybe he was the one below the surface. His suit must have been an absolute mess if his loudest detractor was to be believed. Thick black ink, blood or possibly both, dripped heavily and slowly like licorice down his jaw onto the shaky floor of the caboose. The fresh liquid cooled his brain boiled by the black sun. Broken skin was good. Broken skin meant he could break this down one bite at a time. Experimentally he twisted the flesh beneath his teeth and pulled. Yet the other end refused to snap clean. Instead it extended like cheese on pizza. Instinctively he opened his mouth and attempted catch the falling strings with his teeth.

“I know I’m the most special treat but I’m afraid I need your head not twenty leagues in the gutter.” Finger snapped and his jaws snapped down on empty air. His mind flailed around for the right frequency to reconnect with his senses.

“Let’s make a new deal! No stone as long as you don’t let us go. Or I-I take it with Arthur to the Dark World!” John’s weak bargain and threat was met with derisive laughter.

“Now why would I ask for something I already hold in my own hands? No, no, no! I’m going to enjoy this all-in-one King’s cake, hot and cold, treasure hunt. This time you can even call a friend instead the usual back-seaters. Much faster and less chances of cheating if you ask me!” The devil muttered something about being forced to write a C option to A or B conundrum. “Though really I guess it’s fifty-fifty: the other day there was that guy. I knew him from head to toe. Not you two. I see other people. Like I said! Every line of his silly little life! Urgh middle school production level, at best. And still! Still he managed to surprise me!”

Two hands clapped together as if to put a close to that intermission. The next moment Arthur was back on the floor and he didn’t like how his brain almost let out a sigh of relief at that sensation. The less was said, the less fun Kayne would have. Bar was low, even for them, but so was the ground. The devil said something about first tries removing obvious options before driving a hand into their stomach. Arthur shouted, violent shivers rocking his spine as their body fought vainly to twist out of the way on pure reflex. Unfortunately their digestive tract refused to admit defeat and heaved to expel the unknown intruder back up his throat. Shame malevolent entities didn’t care for the laws of physics and thus he was left coughing bile. Some of which came straight back down his throat.

“Now that the dud is out of the way, am I warm or icy?”

“Fuck you!” Arthur spat out.

“Uh… Cold?”

“Well fuck you too, John!”

“Do you think I’m happy about this?! I was the one sewing this shit back up while you took a bloody nap!” His partner snapped, spewing the vitriol at Arthur since he was too afraid to do the same towards Kayne. Sensing aggression would only have his partner push back, John tried to put himself down as the reasonable one. Hilarious if you asked Arthur given they had left sanity back at his office in Arkham. “Shut up and tell me where the stone is. Please!”

“Not three hours ago we walked into this… rat hole because YOU said we couldn’t leave a bloody rock into their hands! Now you’re telling me! That the doomsday device of the week would … Christ… safe in Kayne’s hands?”

“Artie, you’re such a worrier! No truly. Think of it as, hmmm, the battery of Mister Universe’s alarm clock. The grey part is sort of its casing and I like to picture the red one as a fog horn. Really the world popping out of existence is not even part of the equation. I mean do YOU think about all the bugs crushed setting up picnics? Of course you don’t! Hahaha that would be stupid, am I right? Anyyyway it’s time for take two, gentlemen and entities!”

Take two in fact involved exploring his intestines and accidentally popping their appendix like a cherry. Of course the only apology he got was a ‘whoospie-daisy’ and a quip about John being lucky the book didn’t land him there. “I mean what would have happened at the first argument? Sending the guy straight to the hospital cause you exploded on him?! … actually that would be funny to see I should check before waking Daddy up.” Arthur still tried to slap or push back Kayne’s hands. Totally useless of course but it was better than licking boots the way John did. Especially when the devil clearly wasn’t interested in bargaining. He would like to not be the reason the world ended, thank you very much. The third strike at their lungs yielded as many complaints and yet the stone remained missing. While Arthur could still feel Kayne was merely playing, he wasn’t sure how much longer that would last.

“Your train friend – what did he call himself again, the butcher – wasn’t wrong you know? About the music analogies! It’s all about hitting the right keys. A bit of tuning might be needed with how battered this body is though. Hopefully I won’t have to hit the entire board to find my gift. I really, truly, deeply”, and with each word pressing his fingers right into the still fresh bullet wound, “would hate for it to be lost in all the wrapping!”

“Maybe… you’re just… bad at looking…” Wheezed Arthur inbetween coughs. Even as they remained on the floor he was struggling to stay afloat. Their boiling head had apparently decided to keep all the heat for itself instead of sharing. It left him both shivering and sweating bullets enough to turn Larson into swiss cheese had they been actual ammunition.

“Actually you’re right… It is time to call a friend! Let’s get to it, we have candidate number one: Wallace Larson from the quaint little town of Addison, here to retrieve the sacred artifact for the Order of –what was it again – the shooting star? Who cares! And candidate number two, Arthur’s plus-one-turned-nemesis, detective Noel from the New York Police Department! Who will take a shot at retrieving the Black Stone and earn the ultimate mystery price?! I for one cannot wait to find out!” The devil announced loudly before finishing in a false hushed tone. “Candidate number three having yet to manifest himself shall remain anonymous… for now.”

“Absolutely not! I’m not putting my hands in that!” Shouted Larson as if the very scenario was a personal offense to his character. There was a long pause until he threw a retort at… someone? John had said there were only three people in this corridor aside from them both…

“Oh I’ll take a shot, alright.” Noel’s voice derailed his theory that he was the universe’s chew toy tonight in particular. Then Arthur heard several rounds attempt to drown out Kayne’s rising laughter.

“Noooooo! What could poor little old me do against… human ingenuity. And so I die… To our hero’s quick draw and wit! ARGh!” A confused John told his partner about the performance as the devil had dropped to his knees, grasping his torso in overly exaggerated agony then met face first with the floor.

Athur felt it before it happened: the change of pressure in the air, how they were leaving the eye of storm and about to meet the worst of it. He just needed to do one thing right tonight, just one little thing! Turn what little energy he has left past his throat into a shout to run, to live, to save Noel.

“SURPRISE!”

He startled as several party poppers and blowers went off. Blood spattered everywhere. Propping himself self up for that warning proved to have been a mistake as projectiles collided with their chest. Some small and hard but others squishy and much more wet. He went back down with hiss, head swimming as his mind slipped

Down,

Down,

Down.

“Fuck. FUCK! Noel! His head! It exploded! It’s all over the floor. Kayne… he… popped out of Noel’s neck. His old body has melted into the carpet. It has left a deep black imprint, the edges fizzling but not catching fire. Larson is throwing up beside the left wall. It’s not just the blood... I can identify… parts. An entire eye landed into our chest earlier! It rolled by our side now. There are also a few teeth lodged into our right shoulder. What I thought were confetti in the air were actually fragments of skin. I’m sorry Arthur. I don’t know… I don’t know how to salvage this.”

No trip to England. No letter to Marie. No night at the movie theater. John’s misshaped hand clutched their chest. Their heart was still beating. It didn’t care for gods, grief or pain. It just was.

“What a blast, am I right?! One down, two to go. UNLESS! Our main attraction wishes to open up at last. The hand you were dealt with was pretty bad but you pulled through! Atta boys! Who cares about the finish line? It’s all about the journeyyyyy! So come on, there’s no need to be a sore loser.”

They couldn’t win. Not by a country mile. But..

It didn’t mean Kayne had to.

“Well, they can’t say I didn’t try. But guess what! It seems the final guest sorted himself out as well… Everyone welcome the prince in rags! The phony few had the patience for! The bastard thrown aside as the once and future king made his return! Our mystery candidate number three! Go on, banana peel. Introduce yourself.”

“I- in yellow.”

“Pretty sure even us folk in the front didn’t catch that. Try again your majesty. Put your whole belly into it!”

“I AM THE KING IN YELLOW!”

“Noooow that wasn’t so hard, was it? One could almost believe all the shaking is from a royal tantrum! Penny for your thoughts on the whereabouts of my lucky charm?”

“Carmichael! Bet me on me!”

“Huh. Kinda already am to be honest… But no. That’s not what you want.”

“If I retrieve the Black Stone, I… can keep the rest of him.”

“NO! Kayne, our deal isn’t broken!” Yelled John desperately trying to lift them both up and prove they were still in the game. “Arthur, please! Just tell him! I can’t- I can’t lose you again.”

“Should have thought about that earlier, turncoat! Regardless this tortilla’s got it baaaaad. Never thought you’d want all thorns English Rose back after what he did to you.”

“I want to win.”

“Oh please! You want him back! Hmmm the irony of YOU coming on top… YES that’s it! Okay! Okay. We’re all ears.”

There was a brief silence as Yellow took a deep calming breath. John whispered at Arthur pleading, promising that a fake wouldn’t have pulled him back from the brink in Addison. At the end of his rope his partner brought her up. Somehow not even that worked. Arthur’s thoughts only concerned the monster just a few feet away. One born out of his grief, his misguided love, his bad temper, his selfishness.

“Arthur has the stone inside him,” and immediately the devil cut in with a sarcastic comment but Yellow continued on, “if you searched the lungs then fingers or toes must be valid options as well. No, limbs are easy to separate from the rest. Too big a risk…”

“That it would. I’m so sorry John! The portal closed on us and your arm with the stone is on the other side! Now that would be anticlimactic.”

“John doesn’t know, the entire time he didn’t fight back against you. That leaves out the left foot. As well as his forearm and…”

Strangely Arthur felt a twinge of pride as Yellow broke down his thought process the way an investigator would. He admitted it was a bit self-centered to assume the entity got it from him in their short time together. Maybe at the end he wanted at least one person to understand his choice, the logic behind it.

The gap between the three of them was closed in seconds. A cool sensation spread across his forehead and desperate for the contact to last he leaned deeper and deeper. Ocean waves scratched at his skin as the seagulls laughed and laughed. Taking turns they dug in. The waters trashed around pulling Arthur under. The birds didn’t care and followed after, their cries now clamored for their prey to stop wriggling around. The best lock in the world would not keep Davy Jones’ loot safe for long against someone with both the right tools and determination.

The moment the foreign fingers scratched against their prize, a flash of lucidity cut through. Arthur curled around the stone so tightly he no longer knew where it ended or where he began. Hooks dug into his soul, prying him closer and closer to the surface. Gold strings fiercely yanked him back towards the abyss. Then as a last resort stitched themselves hastily into the searing patchwork.  

“Ding, ding, ding! And we have a winner!”

The slap on his back had Yellow hunching forward, closer to the hands cupping the Black Stone. It throbbed in unison with his own body. Every shadow, every color glistened in a blinding contrast. The very same way Addison had looked that morning after the clouds had parted, leaving only clear skies and the brilliant snow. His heavy breaths were woven into brush strokes painting this vista, one last gift to Arthur before this entity swallowed the entire world. Then he fixed his gaze onto Kayne holding the rock out, waiting for the devil to keep his end of the deal. Everything went sideways and Yellow landed on his ass. It was disorienting as fuck but he felt more at home than he ever did inside Larson’s head. He grazed his fingers across the new scars he was not present for with slight irritation. No matter he would demand the stories later. None seemed to compare to the three from the boat anyway. Wait the boat-

“I give you a ten out of ten. Stellar work truly! So here’s the tip: you remember everything. Honestly I didn’t expect you to be that useful after driving Artie to the brink. Fascinating really how the carrot he had no trouble following after all this time disgusted him when I served it grated. Since he was so difficult I switched to a slightly different brand and you’ll never guess what… He swallowed it hook, line and sinker! Convinced I had indulged his whimsies. It was hilarious!”

His stomach sank as his memories clicked back into place: the office, the hospital, the city under the hotel, the pits, Lily and the sight of Arthur’s dying body falling out of his reach while the King laughed at his naivety. What had followed despite Kayne’s meddling was their own handiwork. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise considering their argument in front of his mural. The bigger threat was never the creatures they encountered down the line but their own stubbornness.

The stone’s power rose into a crescendo sending shivers down his spine. The corridor twisted from the tension it wasn’t made to withstand. No, even had they been out in the open the artifact would have bent the world in the same way. Slowly his ears began to parse out the melody underneath: a wail accompanied by a piano and the sound of rushing water.

“Oh darling, thar tickles! Looks like Daddy’s clock will have a vibrate option, truly a testimony of human progress don’t you think? Huh. Don’t stare at me like I drowned your goldfish. It’s not MY fault you didn’t account for stowaways before handing it over! Anyway time’s up. Farewell Jonagold!”

He didn’t care about the difference between them, the purpose of the stone or how this was the consequences of everyone’s choices. No one took what was his! Not even the Crawling Chaos itself!

The reason he failed and grasped nothing but empty air was ironic: the pathetic leftover vessel who had refused to get his hands dirty.

How stupid! How shocking! How splendid! His roar of laughter bounced off the walls of the blood-stained corridor. It was a stage equal to the basement of 58 Pelican Lane. However he still had to make his own debut.

The malevolent entity wrapped his hands around the man’s throat

and

squeezed.

[trustfallwithgod]

Via Steward & Son TikTok

Book of Job, Chapter 6

If only my anguish could be weighed

and all my misery be placed on the scales!

3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—

no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me,

my spirit drinks in their poison;

God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,

or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,

or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow[a]?

7 I refuse to touch it;

such food makes me ill.

8 “Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant what I hope for,

9 that God would be willing to crush me,

to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

10 Then I would still have this consolation—

my joy in unrelenting pain—

that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?

Reflection

Abraham never wavered from God despite delay. Daniel remained steadfast even when dragged into the lion's den. Joseph never lost faith in God's command, even in Potiphar's house; through all the trials, he kept his faith in God. Job lost everything but remained faithful to God. Jesus never saw God as bad when He faced the cross, and all the apostles continued to trust when facing death because of the gospel of Christ. Other people in the Bible, such as Paul, also faced trials but continued to trust in God. So, in your situations, do not let them keep you away from God; keep your faith in Christ when you are facing any challenges, because your final home is in Him, and your final joy is in Christ.

God doesn’t forget your prayers even if you do.

He’s seen you surrender, endure, get back up, praise through the pain and trust Him in the impossible. He’s seen you choose to stay low, choose what’s right over what’s easy, and kept track of every tear you shed when you didn’t understand what He was doing.

He heard your whispered prayers all these years through broken hearts and empty hands. Don’t be surprised if He begins to bless you to the same degree He asked you to endure the breaking.

[yamatossideboob]

ONE PIECE 1122 Spoilers!

(1122 is such a good number)

This week's balances:

I fucking love how much effort Oda clearly put into this redraw of a fan's piece waaaaaaaa

Hard to believe there were still doubters after Whitebeard SAID the One Piece was real 2 and a bit years ago. Though he *was* a fearsome pirate emperor and Vegapunk a beloved inventor 🤔

"Your days are numbered world government!!!" god I hope so, random prisoner

and I adore that Vegapunk made sure the folks at Impel Down heard everything. Vegapunk voice I love causing problems on purpose

My OP bestie was saying to me last night how if you told someone in 1997 that the crying pink boy mopping decks for Alvida would end up as a major foil to the main character and a contender to find the One Piece, they'd call you a fucking liar

"I have to stop your dream from being realised!!!" good fucking luck Koby, you are doomed to failure by the narrative

No but fr Koby vs Luffy is a real probability now. coughing baby hydrogen bomb.

ily Jairman Bahgee, clown of the people fr king of the pirates to ME

The Cross Guild shippers are getting to me bc when Croc told Buggy "sit" I first assumed he meant on his lap

Wouldn't it be great if Caribou had no valuable intel in fact and Blackbeard earthquaked him to death

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the transponder is banjaxed. tough shit for the Elders though lmaooooooo

I love Emet so much lads, honestly this chapter made all those cliffhangers and teases worth it

"you look so much like him" so does this mean the Nika forme, or does Luffy actually look like Joyboy did full time?

"Sorry that I couldn't make you king" the 'Joyboy was bad' theorisers will chew on that line for months, cheers Oda

"D." UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I choose to read this as hearing the D. dispelled any lingering doubts in Emet's mind. Pull the fuckin lever Giant Robo!!!!!!!

This whole segment is just. wow. Emet laughing like Luffy or maybe Joyboy would, knowing they can genuinely protect him with this manoeuvre, them thanking him for letting them hear the drums one last time... The fucking THUNDERCLAP OF CONKER HAKI SO BIG IT KNOCKS OUT MARINES FOR MILES AROUND WHILE EMET TELLS LUFFY NOT TO DIE JESUS CHRIST LADS THIS IS SO MUCH

THE HAKI ROPE FUCKING NEGATING THE ELDERS' YOKAI FORMES AND FUCKING EJECTING THEM BACK TO MARIEJOIS

and Mars waiting for them to get home patiently lmao

So this begs so much questioning. Just how does that teleportation circle work, and why is Imu of all people fatigued by this happening? My mind is still racing at this, and this is what I think: given how we never got a Devil Fruit name drop when the Elders shifted to Yokai Forme several chapters ago (which prompted much speculation in itself), and seeing Imu worn out now after the Elders were negated and sent packing... I think the Yokai shit is Imu's power, DF or not. The reason we got no Elder DF names is bc it' the one ability, which belongs to the secret god-king hiding back in Mariejois. The summoning circle is probably also Imu's power, because this looks to me like the transportation needs to be sustained - that massive Haki blast made Imu lose his focus, causing the Elders to get jettisoned back to hg. Seeing as how Mars was there before them, this teleportation power seems to have a range too - Mars was forced out of this range by Luffy & co, causing him to be zapped back first. This all seems incredibly overpowered to be the one DF/whatever else, but given how Imu is the secret final boss of One Piece, I can totally buy that he's fucking busted.

Also who the fuck is this other person worrying about Imu. I forget does he had any direct servants or w/e but this takes me aback.

Ahem. regardless, this proves that Imu and the Elders are not invincible. As to what ends up being the key to their defeat... Idk! We saw that Joyboy Haki doing numbers on them, maybe his was just different? or maybe it's sheer volume thats the key?? UGH how exciting!!!

Nami implies Edision is kaput but this is OP and i'll not believe he's dead until I see that righteous dude being disassembled for scrap, sorry lads

WAIT JOYBOY COME BACK YOU FORGOT AN ELDER (this does reinforce my teleportation circle notion, given how Saturn was the only one who arrived at Egghead without it)

Hm. Hey Joyboy? Just how the fuck do you tie HAKI INTO A GODDAMN KNOT???

lol no but this is reminiscent of HxH (also GOAT ftr) and how nen can be imbued into objects for different effects. Or else the rope is literally Haki made physical? Is this the brand of Haki that made the other Elders gtfo? Is this the level required to put those Yokai bastards down once and for all?

I've only just noticed right now that Emet has an X on his wrist.... A True Nakama....

rip to the 'Joyboy wasn't human' speculators, you fought valiantly but Joyboy was a tiny human man

Emet you're such a strong brave boy ilysm

fuck man when this gets animated I'm really gonna cry. Emet is such a sweetie T^T

Also Joyboy's lines here foreshadow a DEVASTATING flashback to come, god almighty lads steel yerselves now

mannnnnnnnn that was a top-notch chapter, the SJ summer break will be a doddle after this feast of hype and intrigue.

Summer's here and the time is right lads, OP is on break but enjoy yerselves if and when you can! WWLD! 💪✖️

[a-big-apple]

A selection of readings for this Easter season

💀

And going a little further, he fell upon his face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh to his disciples, and findeth them asleep, and he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?

Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak. (Matthew 26:39-41)

She peeled her gloves off her wet red palms and rolled up her sleeves for no reason, except that it gave her something to do with her shaking hands. She made her voice as calm as possible: in a way, she was calm. She was the calmest she had ever been in her entire life. It was just her body that was frightened. "Okay," she said. "I understand now. I really, truly, absolutely understand." Harrowhark leant back on her elbows and was watching her, black eyes lightless and soft. "Nav," she said, the gentlest she had ever heard Harrow manage. "I can't hold this for—much longer." WHAM—WHAM—WHAM! "I don't know how you're holding it now," said Gideon and she backed up, looked at what she was backing toward, looked back at her necromancer. (GtN 431)

💀

And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus saith to him: Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:51-52)

“Lady," ventured Ortus, voice deepening with timidity, "I would not venture it—but if a cavalier’s duty is to hold the sword—if a cavalier’s duty is to protect with the sword—if a cavalier’s duty is to die by the sword—have you never considered ORTUS NIGENAD?” (HtN 21)

💀

Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him: and others struck his face with the palms of their hands, Saying: Prophesy unto us, O Christ, who is he that struck thee? But Peter sat without in the court: and there came to him a servant maid, saying: Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied before them all, saying: I know not what thou sayest. (Matthew 26:67-70)

Crux spat on her. That was disgusting, but whatever. ... When Aiglamene slapped her, it had none of the trembling affrontedness Crux might have slapped her with. She simply backhanded Gideon the way you might hit a barking animal. ... There was a pause. "Oh, Griddle!" said Harrow pityingly, in the silence. "But I don't even remember about you most of the time." (GtN 19, 21, 27)

💀

And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. And he began to weep. (Mark 14:72)

When the world finally landed its long wound-up sucker punch, a tangled howl came out of her throat, and she was shocked that she was able to make such a noise. Memory hit Harrowhark Nonagesimus with the inexorable gravity of a satellite sucked from orbit, flinging itself to die on the surface of its bounden planet; the world hit her like a fall. ... "If I forget you, let my right hand be forgotten," her mouth was saying. "Add more also, if aught but death part me and thee." And, unsteadily: "Griddle." The hands must have withdrawn; she found herself facedown on the mattress, sobbing as she had not sobbed since she was a child. (HtN 380)

💀

And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head; and they put on him a purple garment.

Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha. (John 19:2, 16-17)

You were afraid someone might take your sword away from you if you left it; rather than lifting it, you lay down next to where it glowered at you blackly from the bed. You rolled over onto its flat steel breadth and bound crisscross straps of dense bone across your back, around the blade, around the hilt. Straining beneath its weight, with nothing but a ripped-up sheet to mask you, pathetic in your turquoise nudity, you found yourself accompanying the Emperor down long black corridors, trying to fix yourself in time and space. You were basically naked. The sword weighed you down so much that you were affecting a hump. Your Inglorious Mask was a patchwork of flaking osteology. You looked like an imbecile. (HtN 33-34)

💀

And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument, and went his way. (Matthew 27:59-60)

The breeze blew Harrow's hair into her mouth as she ran back and strained at the arms of her cavalier, pulled and pulled, so that she could take her off the spike and lay her on her back. Then she sat there for a long time. Beside her, Gideon lay smiling a small, tight, ready smile, stretched out beneath a blue and foreign sky. (GtN 439) You set me up. You set all of it up. I gave you one damn job. And instead you rolled a rock over me and turned your back. (HtN 434)

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For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:40) (Harrowing of Hell)

Before her, the waters parted, speared-through and mute, for an enormous lance of a tower—a tower that had never been there before; a tower that soared, impossible and deadly grey, out of the waters—a tower of grey bricks, lurching out of the River as though gasping for air. An impossible, cone-capped tower—a belled tower; she could see the steeple, but the bell cot was too far from shore to see the bell. "I'll start there," she said. And she stepped into the River. She took another step, and she walked, and she walked. (NtN 436)

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And he said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, the third day... (Luke 24:46)

So many months had passed, and yet, at the same time, she had only lost Gideon Nav three days ago. It was the morning of the third day in a universe without her cavalier: it was the morning of the third day—and all the back of her brain could say, in exquisite agonies of amazement, was: She is dead. I will never see her again. (HtN 399)

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And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. (Matthew 28:2)

There was a wet, meaty sound. The old man exhaled. It was dark. Then there was light, bright, cold, electrifying, like death; and the noise of another rock—slowly—agonizingly—grinding away. (NtN 473)

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But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid him. (John 20:11-13)

You looked up into her face. Camilla Hect was a closed object, with locks and snaps; she had an expression like the rock before the Tomb, inexorable, giving nothing away. But her eyes—her eyes were dark as the grit mixed with the soil, neither grey nor brown but both. They were they eyes of a winter season without any promise of spring. In comparing the eyes to the face, you saw into a zipped-up agony. And she said, with that same dull, blank, diamond-hard pain: "The Cohort took the rest of him away. And I don’t know where they have put him.” (HtN 306)

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Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to him: Rabboni (which is to say, Master). (John 20:15-16)

“Will you not look at me now, Cam, and know me?" Camilla raised her chin. She looked at the dead face. She said quietly— "Yes, Warden, I will always know you.” (NtN 351-352)

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The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God. (John 20: 25-28)

“Right, Gideon. Let’s have a look at you." He undid her scarf, and Nona looked away. Beneath the scarf a huge wound in the throat made the neck yawn wide open. When she peeked back, wishing she had her braids to screen everything, she saw that Palamedes had unbuttoned the shirt partway and there was another big wound in the chest—a big purple bloodless puncture wound, with white teeth peeking out coyly from within. "Damage is consistent with reported injuries. There’s another wound lower down." "If it’s John’s copy, that doesn’t prove anything. It’s going to be exact," said Pyrrha. "I know. But I do have a personal advantage here—I’ve touched her when she was alive." ... Palamedes had placed Ianthe Naberius’s hand over the wound. He closed his eyes—really his eyes, his nice dark grey ones, not the strange blue ones with flecks—but almost immediately after closing them, he turned his head and sneezed violently; shuddered with the same violence; pulled his hand away, and said— "What? What is that?" "You just met God," said Pyrrha. ... Camilla passed him a little pair of scissors, and he cut a short slit in the thigh of the corpse's soft leather trousers. Then Palamedes prodded around withhis fingers—he placed the needle to the dead skin—and the corpse's hand shot out and ringed around his wrist before anyone could stop it. ... "One, that's not going to work. Two, I fucking hate needles," said the corpse. "Three—Sex Pal, if that's how you get a lady's pants off, holy shit, no wonder I stole your girl." Palamedes rocked back on his heels. "Not my girl. Unlike some of us, I've never much seen the allure of an evil cougar," he said crisply. "Good morning, Gideon." (NtN 365-366, 368)

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Let it be so.

[eremosjournal]

The Crucifixion Isn't Over for People on Death Row

On Good Friday, Christians are encouraged to mourn. Anyone raised Catholic dreads 3:00 on Good Friday, and the subsequent household ban on music and TV often imposed by devout parents. We are cornered into a strange symbolic sadness for the tragedy that had to occur for life after death to be realized. We go to service and kiss a cross as a symbol of our sorrow. We reenact the Passion as a symbol of our remembrance. We do so much to underscore the injustice of Jesus’ situation, but we are seldom encouraged to look around in the real world and let our hearts bleed for those who are facing the same injustices. 

Jesus was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. But despite the attachment Christians have to this narrative, many fail to see that the same thing is happening to people in our own country, present day. For those people, Jesus’ passion is not simply a story. It’s a parallel experience. People like Marcellus Williams (at risk of being murdered by Christian politicians in the state of Missouri this year) must know the anguish and demoralization of wrongful accusation better than any believer. Unfortunately it’s too late for so many others who have fallen victim to a vengeful and violent legal system. No, we don’t still flog people the way the guards did to Jesus. But the shame, the humiliation, the injustice is all there. 

How can Christians mourn the same man’s wrongful death every year, but look the other way when one of their brothers or sisters faces the same fate? When we say “pro-life”, whose lives are we referring to?

Jesus was humiliated, hated, and underestimated by what were probably decent people. By people who probably considered themselves people of faith, family people. Christians hyperfixate so much on being like Jesus that they forget to not be like those who had him killed. On Good Friday, we mourn Jesus. But it feels fitting to also mourn for the failure of humanity, on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion to the present day. We mourn for the hypocrisy and ignorance of those who let a good man die. Like Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” 

Today, Erēmos Journal invites you to click the link to sign a petition that could help save a life on death row. Though not every story is one of innocence, we hope you consider them with the mercy, compassion, and dignity they deserve.

[faithisthekey-23]

Hi, I want to share a poem of obeying God's commandments. There are some full parts of the Bible. I finished it today (16th May 2023). In the next post, I'll share the Bible verses I used in this poem :)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This poem is not to teach that we have to be good people to enter Heaven. I am aware of the fact that it's our faith, obeying God's will and most importantly, His grace that saves us. However, I wrote this poem for I told God to let me know what I should write about and He gave me some parts of 1 Timothy. Then, while praying I also felt the need to talk about faith in the beginning and then talking that He wanted us to be Christ like. My poem is not meant to be used as teaching that our deeds save us.

Walk in righteousness with God

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen

Without it, it is impossible to please our Lord, for everyone who tries to find Him

Has to believe that He exists

And rewards those who seek Him

For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not

Your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast

But we must remember that Jesus said ”If anyone loves me,

He will keep my word, and my Father will love him

And we will come to him and make our home with him”

We shall therefore love our Lord Most High and keep His charts, statutes, ordinences

And not forget about other thing that is also important — His commandments

We should keep on living while loving others just like He taught us

Show people love that is patient, kind, doesn't envy nor boast, isn't proud

This true kind of love that isn't self-seeking, doesn't dishonor others

Keeps absolutely no records of wrongs, is not easily angered

We should be forgiving if we have a grievance again someone,

For Lord forgave us first, we should do the same as we were made in His image

We should look at Jesus as our inspiration, be more Christ-like

For when He was dying on the cross after such brutal things that happened, He told God

”Father, forgive them for they not know what they do”

Can't we really forgive each other and ourselves, not even after we read about what Jesus said about you?

All of us were the reason why went through so much — He wanted to rescue us

If He forgave us such thing, so why can't you forgive your brother a little fight that happened once?

Jesus' heart was not only pure but He was humble as well

He was and still is the Lord of Lords but came to earth in the likeness of men

He did not count equalitt with God a thing to be grasped

But made Himself nothing by taking form of not the King of earth but a servant

We should keep in our hearts the words He said

”If My people who are called by My Name humble themselves,

And pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways

Then I will hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land”

When Almighty sees what people do, how they turned from their evil way,

He relented of the disaster He said He would do to them

Learn to be obedient to the only One Who saves

Do you know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,

You are the slaves of the one you obey

Either of sin, which leads to death or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

As I am telling you, stop judging others to not be judged

Do not condemn, so you won't be condemned

Walk with God in righteousness every single day,

Bear good fruit keeping with repentance

Do not forget that Holy Spirit is with you and Jesus lives in you

The One Who is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature

The One Who always upholds the whole universe

By using nothing else but the word of His power

After making purification for sins, He sat down at the Right Hand of the Majesty in Heaven

Do not fall for the traps of the devil but trust in the One Who says“I am the first and I am the last;

Besides Me there is no god” and believe in Who He says He is — the Alpha and the Omega

The One who is and Who was and Who is to come

The Only Creator of ours, refuge in the storm, Good Shepherd and the One Who set us from etarnal death, our dear Savior

Do not say that prayer is only for some people for it is for everyone

So that we could live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness — for it pleases our One and Only God

He wants all of the people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth

That the only mediator between Him and us is Jesus Christ

All men should pray everywhere while lifting up holy hands as a sign for the honor and respect

May it be done without any disputing and anger

All women should dress modestly with decency and propriety

Adorning themselves and not with elaborate hairstyles or gold, or pearls or expensive clothes

May they be styled with other expensive gifts, by which I mean good deeds

Be worthy of the respect you gain

Be not malicious talkers but learn to be temperate and trustworthy

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales

Try to be as godly as you can — train yourself

If you are young, instead of worrying about your age and people looking down on you,

Set and example for the believers in speech, conduct, love, purity and faith

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy

Until He comes, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, preaching and teaching

Exhort an older man as if He were your father

Treat younger women as sisters, younger men as brothers

Treat older women as mothers and remember about the needs of widows

Do not deny your faith by not providing for hour relatives, especially for your household

Do not share in the sins of others but keep yourself pure

Flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were

Called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain

But to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share

Deacons may be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain

They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate

Self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness

Not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well

And see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect

He must not be a recent convert

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders