#and for God's sake this is pure gen

[kifaprokumiv]

Hi, just wanted to say i love your art and ask if you have some sefikura or ff7 in general fic recs pls <3

AAAAAAAAA THANK YOU💥🫵🫵🫵

I haven't yet read a general ff7 fic that I felt crazy about, so I can only offer sefikura fic recs

cracks knuckles

OK

First and foremost, The Fic - The Fear of Falling Stars by silentsaint. Rated E ~ 500k words and ongoing

My friends who are not even into ff7 can attest to how not normal this fic makes me feel. Post AC sefikura get shoved into the past and become even more insane about each other. The day to day dynamic of Sephiroth and Cloud is juice and filling of this fic.

The author also plays a bit with their genders, but it's not the main focus of the fic. I do love me some sefikura gender fuckery.

The fanfic is pretty mean and the author loves putting Cloud through a blender. Man is clinically depressed, he is living a very different genre to Sephiroth.

I will shut up before I spoil too much.

2) Another fic by silentsaint - august in the promised land ~9k words rated T.

Immortal tired old man Cloud with an ugly moustache, and Sephiroth with many opinions on said ugly moustache. Cloud reminiscence on everything while roaming the earth until it's time to do the old song and dance again.

Actually a pretty sweet fic that presents a funny image of late-20s-looking Sephiroth and his 56-year-old-looking boyfriend

3) Little Seph series by ToastedCatBread, How to Use an Astra (~100k words) specifically. Gen, rated T, finished.

Canon divergence fic. When Kadaj reunites with Jenova's cells, Seph comes back in the form of a child and learns that when you look like a kid people are a lot less likely to execute you on the spot. The author explores how Avalanche (with emphasis on Cloud) interacts with Sephiroth when he's vulnerable and not immediately hostile.

How to Use and Astra is placed around the middle of the series and is about Seph going back in time to the beginning of Ff7 to try the role of Cloud's "blade" purely for the sake of indulging his curiosity. Is his death at Cloud's hands predestined, or is there a place for him in this world? He's there to be Cloud's weapon but doesn't fail to remind him that he can turn on him any minute should Cloud "wield" him wrong.

The sentiment of this series, which I appreciated a lot, is that it doesn't really matter if Sephiroth is human, alien, or God. Whether he's accepted by Cloud and Avalanche is the result of his choices.

Also features a very wholesome friendship between Sephiroth and Wedge.

4) Reverb by Carressa, rated E, finished 5k words

Shameless smut mixed with Reunion instinct (we love to see it). Switches sefikura, they're crazy for each other, so configurations don't matter much. Features demanding Seph who purrs like a cat.

My ass is too picky and specific with how I see sefikura 😭, I have an addiction to reading fics, but there's very few that truly scratch my itch.

I am big fan of genderqueer switch sefikura. Imo they can be trans in any and every direction. Toxic yuri between transfem Seph and transmasc Cloud is my jam but I don't see them in fics all that much😔. If you want me to engage with yaoi at least make it trans and gender ambiguous

[pocket-deer-boy]

I'm not dropping his actual name cuz I'm a shy bitch but let's say for the sake of argument, that I have this cartoon character from a semi-niche media who's a visibly fat guy and he's a slasher-style cannibal serial killer, he has a red demon motif and it's implied he has mad cow disease, his slarsher quirk it's that he likes to autistically infodump his victims with random meat cooking/preping/gen facts before attacking (in fact it's shown that his cannibalism comes from him just liking to taste and prepare human flesh from a gastronomic point). Also he's implied to be part of an eldrich god cult and when he isn't neither jailed nor cooking people (or dead) he works at a fast food burger grill

Based on pure description as a fat guy enthusiast what would your take be on him? 👉👈

is he a cartoon animal guy. can you just tell me who he is. like, you're on anon you're not incriminating yourself

[aihoshiino]

chapter 136 thoughts

before i get into the sad stuff i need to say that ai eating ice cream with her head empty no thoughts expression blasted ten hundred million billion tons of dopamine directly into my brain. thank you.

This chapter is interesting for a lot of reasons but I will say up front that I'm really glad the story is taking the time to humanize Nino and to flesh out the absolute mess that are her feelings towards Ai. I was really excited when she entered the story because I had always wanted to know more about the 45510 narrator (which this chapter basically unambiguously confirms even more strongly than before — we get the 45510 drop again!) but I was worried after meeting the real Nino that she would be painted as a black and white villain. Through Kana's empathy for her and the movie's portrayal of her though, we get to see her as just a normal person.

Because like… I'm gonna be honest, I feel so deeply sorry for Nino! Like, Jesus Christ, don't forget that she was anywhere between twelve and sixteen when all this was happening. She was just a kid being brainpoisoned by the entertainment industry and held to impossible standards. She had no power and the few things she felt she had any control over were being ripped out of her grasp. Is it any wonder she reached a breaking point?

Not just that but… man, B-Komachi gen 1 just seemed like it was an utterly dogshit experience for everybody but especially anyone who wasn't Ai. Both Nino and Kyun have said it explicitly: they did not feel like valued members of the group. Saitou pushed and favoured Ai to the extent that everyone else in B-Komachi felt like backup dancers who were just there to make Ai shine brighter. We see this pattern repeated in B-Komachi gen 2, as well! I've already talked about how in a very real sense, the group only exists for Ruby's sake and Kana and Memcho really are just there as her accessories but Miyako herself is favouring and pushing Ruby for work to the extent that even Ichigo points out that she needs to give the other girls more jobs. No wonder Kana empathizes with Nino so deeply.

Something else really interesting about this chapter is getting to see what dealing with Ai is like from someone else's POV. Understand that I'm saying this as the Internet's Foremost Ai Wife Guy but oh my god!!! I think this is the first time we've gotten a really good understanding for how deeply, deeply frustrating Ai really must have been to deal with as a person only allowed to see the perfect 'Ai of B-Komachi' mask. Nino is all but breaking down in front of someone she considers a friend, begging her for the slightest bit of honesty and authenticity, for Ai to just show that she cares about Nino in the least… and Ai just gives her a bunch of blithe, noncommittal answers. Even knowing Ai as well as I do, I could almost feel a ghost of Nino's desperation and frustration pass over me as I read that exchange.

With that in mind, Nino's outburst at the end of the scene here doesn't feel like pure nastiness - it feels like desperation. It feels like her lashing out with the worst possible thing she can think to say because if she hurts Ai, if Ai actually shows that Nino's words reach her at all, if Ai's human enough for Nino to hurt then…

But, well. We already know how this all turned out. Even so, like Kana said… Ai's smile is suffocating.

Speaking of Kana, this was a damn good chapter for her. A lot of people seem to have interpreted her as getting 'lost' in the role of Nino but going by this chapter's portrayal, Kana seems to have a much healthier distance from her than Ruby does to Ai right now (BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT….), being literally portrayed as viewing the scene as if from a distance. I do think her empathizing with Nino is allowing her to examine and get out some of the hurt and resentment that's been bubbling away since Black Hoshigan Ruby but things are being so infinitely more complicated by everything else going on around this split.

Speaking of which… whoooooooof, Ruby. Her levelling up her understanding of Ai was uh, not quite as good for her as I'd previously thought. It's important to note that this is pretty clearly Ruby's feelings that she is projecting onto Ai: in 45510, Ai herself explicitly says that she never hated the B-Komachi girls and Ruby blurting this out here feels like a very pointed contrast to that. It's pretty clear to me that we're coming back around to something established during the preproduction phase: that this material is quite literally triggering for Ruby and it's damaging for her to be engaging with it.

… which is why it's so, so scummy for Gotanda to be pushing this. I'm holding back on really going into what I'm thinking of Gotanda right now because I want to see if/how the manga addresses this but I'll just say that I'm coming away from this part of the story feeling much more sour about him than I think I'm intended to. It's possible that this is just because I'm fresh off hearing Jeanette McCurdy's horrific account of how damaging this kind of acting was to her as a child but… I find it really hard to like and get behind a director who is purposely letting his actors endure intense psychological suffering for the sake of His Vision lol

After all, like… for all that he talks about wanting to film 'the true Ai', this Ruby freakout is not that! That's Ruby, snapping under the strain of the pressure put on her. Even if you want to argue Ai felt similar strain… is her restraint and her grace and patience in not giving out under it not also 'real'? Why does authenticity necessitate turning Ai's ugly feelings into a spectacle? Why does Gotanda think he has the right to make calls on what is 'authentic' here?

I'd say "who died and made him king" but that's the point, isn't it? Ai died. She's not here anymore to make calls about her identity and the people who are here and who are in a position to do so aren't actually doing it with care and consideration or proper respect for her memory. This movie has been touched by so many people who have their own agendas, who did not know anything about Ai and quite frankly have no right to be making calls about who she really was and what she really felt. 15 Year Lie is an utterly ghoulish production and nobody is coming out of it clean.

[histrynerdss]

platonic hazbin x child reader who committed suicide at twelve

imagine a gen z child reader with a shit ton of trauma but layers like a bonkers amount of sass, sarcasm, wit and dark humour on it all

lmao charlie essentially has some sort of little sibling figure you cannot tell me that despite the massive generational gap alastor will find the sass and sarcasm funny as hell

reader is on no one's side they just do whatever (yes they will join the bickering between alastor and lucifer and you will never know who they'll side with this time)

..understands angel's jokes a little too well for 12

reader w autism n adhd too like.. please..,..,.,. intp too

and and and like imagine alastor is just talking abt murder maybe a soul or two that he ripped apart and reader just offhandedly mentions something like "well that's cool but have you spilled an estimated 30,000 gallons of blood?" aka a fun fact from the second punic war battle of cannae august 2nd 216 bc because reader is a NERDDD

reader who was interested in psychology and proceeds to be a mini therapist because holy shit do you know how quickly i profiled these goddamn fictional characters

"you know maybe you should stop pretending to be some sort of big bad overlord for like.. a few seconds. maybe you'll actually relax" "Pardon?"

"are you sure you're drinking for fun or is your constant state of drinking an attempt to cover up shame for something or shame for drinking in the first place" "kid what the fuck"

(during the extermination) "okay chat today we're going to replicate history using the tactic from the battle of cannae" "READER GET OUT OF HERE YOU'RE A GODDAMN CHILD" "I WILL SHOOT SOMEONE I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF I'M TWELVE" (alastor, from the roof:) "LANGUAGE!!!!!"

what if artsy reader too purely for this:

"have you made a duck that squirts out paint yet?" "..no, but that's a really cool idea, actually-"

HELPING CHARLIE WITH THE POSTER DESIGNS!!!!! JSHSHSHSHSHSHS

imagine also vaggie teaching reader how to fite bc its HELL for gods sake

pentious showing reader his blimp and how it works because i find machinery COOL!!!!!!!!!

..egg bois following reader around after pentious dies

cherri giving reader bombs and everyone is either completely horrified or very excited to see what reader will do with them because reader is unpredictable as shit

god i love the possibilities

[akhrotbarfi]

PEOPLE OF TUMBLR

The live action of HTTYD is going to come out in 2025. The scenes we saw so far are near PERFECT but! dude the cast could have been better. SO MUCH BETTER not gonna hate on Nico, she's beautiful but when the term live action is used, make the characters white if they're white and mixed if they're mixed and black if they're black. I appreciate chocolate coloured people (gonna marry one too in fact in a while and hell I'm not white either so there! ) but for the love of Berk, don't mess the casting. If you want black characters, do them justice in Disney's beloved "The Princess and the Frog", You have Lilo and Stitch, freaking beautiful Pocahontas for God's sake. The issue is that Hollywood isn't casting black actors and mixed (who are marvelous btw) for ORIGINAL roles. Give them original movies. don't gender swap randomly and call it racial equality. IT'S DISRESPECTFUL TO THEM TOO THINK ABOUT THAT. you really think they won't be reading all over the darn net about the casting reviews??? Are you five??? it's a classic. just like many other movies that have chocolate coloured people starring classics so Do their roles justice. Hell they could have made an entirely new masterpiece by showing the dragons coming back against a bigger enemy or something or that some asshole discovers the dragon paradise and invades it. the new gen of Berkians could have defended it and you get a live action and you get your mixed characters too they could have done that too gotten another idea altogether! Gonna watch the live action though for the love of HTTYD ✨

I am looking you dead in the eye and I swear on my life that this movie is made PURELY for profit. the original soundtrack, the love of fans, the emotion and time of our childhood associated with the movie is going to get the producers money. it could be beneficial for some of the actors to get more exposure as the franchise is already popular with the masses. They don't care about accuracy but they should. One of the reasons of getting black and mixed characters is to avoid pressure groups and shit. Again, respect mixed and black people. Give them an original where they shine BECAUSE I SWEAR ON MY CATS I WILL COME FOR YOU IF YOU MAKE PRINCESS TIANA WHITE U HEAR ME??????

[florawriting]

Alright, I may be logging this for my own sake (to keep the memories), but who know, maybe someone gets something out of this.

A pokémon themed DnD oneshot recap

Context: the idea was that there was this new technology that basically allowed trainers to become DnD druids and wildshift into pokémon.

Get my charactersheet for this one-shot.

The character was a Red archetype (as in the character Red from pokemon) with a Charmeleon and Nidorina shift.

Decide my name is Rouge (red in french) and I am the Stoic anxious heroine. Basically, I close down when I am anxious and people assume that I am stoic and dangerous (which explained my enormous intimidation stat).

Me and my team are put into our first battle. Our opponents: all fighting types.

Being the "red archetype" I try to make the smartest decisions and thus chose Nidorina as she has resistance against fighting types.

Battle starts

Some good back and forth hits, nothing mind blowing.

Our Koffing (low on HP) does self-destruct to take down two enemies, forgets that our Warturtle is also in it's area.

Seeing two teammates down, I sweat bullets, accidently intimidating the Machomp in front of me.

He runs off, allowing me to attack him from behind

My other teammate faints.

All of a sudden it is me against two other pokemon. Somehow I win. I am crouwnd MVP by my team.

Team rocket jumps in and steals the trophy, we give chase, ending up in Cinnabar Island (post gen 1).

We find a cave with a lot of team rocket ships, finding disguises, other loot and another entrance.

One person falls in trying to see what is inside.

I shift into Charmeleon and use my tail to light the way. Sadly, because of the dice gods, I fall in too.

The rest join us down the hole and we all fall onto a large Ditto, initiating another fight.

*Insert the "He's already dead meme"*

We find puzzle chamber, the koffing (and Voltorb) player is done and blows up the door.

We find a three way split, leading to a spa, a training room and the directors office. We first decide to heal up at the spa.

At the spa we come to the great conclusion that we should break some Geneva conventions.

Charmeleon, Koffin, Pidgeotto and butterfree work together to blow a mixture between poison gas, fiery smoke and sleeping powder into the team rocket training room and blow up the entrance for good messure. So they won't fight us while we get our trophy back from the director.

Sadly, we overdid it and now the whole base is about to cave in.

Good news, we can try to convince the director to evacuate with us.

No, we did not think about all the poor grunts that are definitly dying in the training room as we speak.

We run (in disguise) into the office of Geovanni, where he is still talking with Jessie, James and Meowth. And try to convince that he should come with us.

Two of our team are discovered as frauds, somehow (with my anxious intimidation factor) I remained believable and was able to join the four on an escape rope with the other that was not found.

The other two went back into the base. The pidgeotto flying trough the hole we came trough, the voltorb joining the other grunts.

Somehow I keep my disguise up in such a manner that I become a devision leader and with pure luck I get the ship going with Geovanni and the trophy in my reach. I sent the butterfree player to "watch the trophy"

The others end up together in pure luck and are able to convince the captain of their ship to sent them to the ship Geovanni resides in. They barely srape by because of my goodwill I build up.

With the three of us reunited in a rather safe place I have a mental breakdown as the others come up with a plan.

In one final daring move we open the safe with the help of the one that was "guarding it" and with my goodwill we are able to go above deck unnoticed.

I go into my Charmeleon form and use smoke screen, before the four of us make a beeline to the rescue boats and sail off into the sunset. Ending back at the tournaments where we are hailed as hero's.

According to the DM we were supposed to have a final epic boss battle with Geovanni which did not happen because we did our whole deception plan. The whole deception and chase part were all improvised by a rather new DM, which was really, REALLY impressive in my opinion.

Maybe I'm going to do something similair in the future, It was really fun.

[hestzhyen]

On Writing Fan Fiction and Stuff

Just some thoughts since I've been writing my own and reading other's for a few months now... (I only have one on AO3, yes, but I write a lot of stuff I don't share with the wider world.)

Emotional Validation is a Shitty Reason to Make Stuff

I'll admit I was a little disappointed when my 12.9k HakuHiro fic didn't get a decent kudos/hit count ratio. I figured it would be a slog for a lot of people who just wanted to read some porn but man, only 38 kudos and 5 comments (1 of which is me replying) for 547 hits? Not even 10% of the people who checked it out thought it was worth tapping a button for? Damn I suck. 3-ish months of writing and hardly anyone bothered to get through it.

If I finish someone's fic and didn't hate the experience I hit the "Kudos" button. I read smut, gen, heavy angst, fluff, anything that piques my interest... if you do a good job I give you a thumbs up. I figure it's only polite to acknowledge the effort that went in to making the thing, you know? So seeing a bad ratio on my own work makes me wonder where I went wrong.

Obviously I write because I enjoy it- I spend most of my free time dumping my brain out in text form for one reason or another. But there's a part in all of us that wants a little pat on the back for doing a good job at the things we put effort into. And damn it, I'll still write no matter how badly my stuff is received, but... DAMN IT! I wish I didn't care so much about the things I put pieces of myself into.

When I do a weekly chapter post for Kagurabachi it's just me yeeting my thoughts out into the void. This post is pretty much the same. I'm yapping about boring nonsense and it's a bonus if other people find it useful or entertaining. But I wanted Liminal Night to be different.

I normally keep all my fan fiction and personal writings to myself as drafts like so:

Notepad++ is a valid word processor application, I swear

Liminal Night was the first thing I wrote purely for myself and shared.

It was genuinely a bit scary to put myself out there like that even though it's "just fan fiction". It's still the only thing with a "FINAL" tag instead of "DRAFT" because nothing else I've written is good enough to share if something that took me ~3 months to make was met with mostly silence. I'm agonizing over everything like never before now- would the character say this like that? Is the pacing off? Am I being too descriptive here? Should I try to be more abstract with this imagery? It's pushing me to be better, but I hate the motivation behind it.

I shouldn't care so much about people being disinterested in my work. I shouldn't be wanting validation. But I do. I want at least a tap of a button, god damn it. Show me you finished the thing and didn't hate it! The silence gets to me so bad, man...

I'm working on the sequel but now I'm wondering if it's worth it. The canon scenario is so far removed from the premise of this fic that I'd have to use a "canon divergence"/"non-canon compliant tag" and I wouldn't read something with that kind of scenario- I like things to be canon or canon-adjacent as much as possible. And if the masses want bottom Hakuri more than bottom Chihiro but don't want to read the prequel then they won't check it out... if I shift it closer to canon then it's still divergent because Hakuri and Chihiro are separated right now... and I didn't want to do a hosptial fic anyway... and this... and that... and Liminal Night was so boring that less than 10% of the people who checked it liked it so why bother sharing. I'm shit at this and should just keep it all to myself like I always have. Boo fucking hoo.

The logic is so fucking scuffed! I'm a support player for fuck's sake, I know that Big Number isn't the be-all, end-all metric for quality. I'm sick of feeling like I suck just because people didn't like the thing that I was anxious about sharing. Maybe it doesn't deserve the bad ratio! It also got some very sweet comments full of praise so shouldn't those matter too?

I'll still share the sequel. But maybe I'll turn to abusing Anonymous posting if I post anything else like another writer seems to be. Somehow it's easier to be detached from how a work "performs" if it's shared without a clear identity. I have mixed feelings on if my writing style is easily recognisable or not so I'll just assume it's not distinct enough to attach to my name.

Anyway. On to shorter things.

What's With the Humming and Fluttering?

Why do so many characters "hum" in fan fiction? Humming happily, in concern, out of displeasure, etc. Guessing it's meant to be more of a "hmm" type of noise or just wordless emoting with sound... but to me, "humming" implies at least a smidge of musicality in the tone. I don't really have a complaint about it but it's kind of funny to see a sentence like "Blorbo hummed in disappointment at Bleegle's stupidity but said nothing." Is Blorbo functionally mute but still able to vocalize? Is it a special form of communication between them? Do they converse with vocal training exercises?

There's no one-size-fits-all replacement for this kind of thing I think, and it's not like it's a big enough issue that it needs to be "fixed". Heck maybe it's just a Hest problem and it's simply a popular way to indicate a subdued emotion that the character doesn't need to be elaborated on. It's not even really a problem to begin with. Just a bit of a headscratcher for me I guess.

The fluttering eyelashes get me chuckling every time even if it's supposed to be a serious scene. Stuff like "Blorbo's head fell back as Bingus kissed down his neck. His eyes fluttered shut as a soft sigh escaped his lips." makes me think of those corny romance novels sold in grocery stores. Or a silly over-dramatic shoujo from the 70's/80's. I don't know, maybe I'm just not built for romance and smut... my mom always did say I was "as romantic as a rock". It's just so cheesy and silly to use batting eyelashes as an indicator for arousal or being overwhelmed with romantic feelings. Like "Ooh, Mister Darcy" levels of swooning!

I seriously start giggling like a 12 year old when I see stuff like that. Sorry, fellow fic writers. I am too immature to read your smut despite being a grown-ass man.

Show Me the Feels

When I see lines like "Blorbo saw a lone kitten in a box on the ground. The poor little thing was soaked from the rain and crying, clearly too weak to jump out on it's own. It made him sad to see." I go "Yup. That's sad. Agreed, Blorbo." It's not really a bad way to explain things but it's so impersonal. I'd rather it be shown he's sad instead: "Blorbo saw a lone kitten in a box on the ground and his eyes welled up. The poor little thing was soaked from the rain and crying, clearly too weak to jump out on it's own." Why did Blorbo's eyes well up? He was about to cry, probably. What about a kitten in a box would make him do that? It's alone out in the rain and mewing for help? SAVE THAT KITTEN, BLORBO! I'm way more invested in what Blorbo's going to do when I get invested in why he's feeling the way he does.

I struggle with this one a lot. It's hard to keep this advice in mind when I'm trying to describe what's happening and properly tend to everything else that clutters up the brainspace while writing. But I practice it as often as I remember it, which is about as good as I can do with unmedicated ADHD. I think I've gotten better after writing a few challenge pieces where I limited the amount of characters I could use at once and set a max length limit. But we'll see how my next fic goes over (I learn slowly).

And What's With the Awkward Descriptions?

I lied about shorter things.

I don't read fan fiction for a professional experience. I'm not a professional writer myself either, nowhere close. But there are few things that irk me more than descriptors using hair colour, professions, or other unique traits that are awkward in context. Like "the redhead smirked at his awkward fumble" or "The mage thanked him for the news".

BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR WRITING, CONSARNIT. AND TRUST US TO BE LITERATE.

I mostly see this in slash fiction when the writer isn't confident they can be clear about who's doing what when two people of the same gender are involved. So the fallback seems to be awkward uses of "the other man" and "the blonde" to make sure we don't get lost. Stuff like that is the quickest way to lose me in the fic, though. It yanks me by the ear and says "hey, hey, it's Bingus doing the thing here, just so you know- because he's the one with blonde hair. Don't think it's Bongus, that's the other guy (who's a brunette)." Yeah, I know! I got it! You didn't need to clarify that Bingus was doing the thing because context made it clear!

And if context didn't make it clear, then step up the writing game. That's it. Yeah, the person who started the post with a pity party over their writing being unpalatable shit to most people who tried it is telling people to git gud. It's what I'm always trying to do and it's the only way to really stop this sort of thing from happening.

The only time things like "the black-haired man danced away" don't feel out-of-place are in situations where that's the primary way to tell people apart. Like meeting a bunch of strangers at once or describing someone the PoV character doesn't know very well, if at all. It's super impersonal and only makes a lot of sense when the character doesn't have much else to say about the other person. And for god's sake once you've used a "the hair colour" description once, don't keep relying on it. Save it for when noting the hair colour is important. "Hest grabbed the brunette's jaw" -> if we need to know it's specifically the brunette and not the other colour(s) we met, we don't know their name, and the PoV character either knows nothing else to tell them apart from the others OR they don't see the other person as a human with unique qualities and personality

"Hest grabbed the other man's jaw" -> good when there are two options to choose from and one of them is clearly not going to have their jaw grabbed in context

"Hest grabbed Bob's jaw" -> good, yes, do this to be specific in the simplest way possible

"Hest grabbed his brother's jaw" -> good when you want to add emphasis on the relationship between the people involved, but this is another one that shouldn't be overused

"Hest grabbed the punkish twerp's jaw" -> great for giving insight into how the PoV character feels about the person he's grabbing; also use sparingly

"Hest grabbed his jaw" -> HMM! The scary one. But context should make it obvious who "he" is. Your readers should get it if you're being clear. And honestly, this is the one that should probably be used the most!

All of these are valid to use but the rate of usage and context matter a lot. If I had to rank from "use the most" to "use the least" it'd probably go something like: Pronouns -> Names -> Relationships -> Opinions -> Characteristics -> Other Person

I'm very conscious of keeping things fresh and not boring readers with overusing words, especially when it comes to how I refer to characters. No one wants to read a paragraph full of "She, she, she, she, she" to refer to a character even if we know it's Bobette the whole time. But there's a secret: we can and do from professional writers without even knowing it a lot of the time.

If the writing is good enough, we tend to not notice repetition of little words like "he", "as", and "the". They become white fuzz that fades out as the written word pulls us in and we start picturing the scene in our heads. Varying sentence structures, appropriate pacing, and breaks for dialogue all help with keeping up the immersion. Clunky uses of descriptions that don't have anything to do with what's going on have the opposite effect!

You don't have to be a pro, you just have to write with the confidence of a dudebro who thinks his pickup lines will work on a girl minding her own business in public. Readers will probably get it if you are clear enough in your scene direction. So less hair colours and "other persons" and more "he/she/they"!

I think that's it for this brain dump. If you read this, share your favourite Kagurabachi or Kingdom Hearts fanfic!

[lesewut]

“And because I am happy, and dance and sing, they think they have done me no injury.” [Chimney Sweeper]

William Blake, a wonderfully exciting poet from the Romantic era, was born in London in 1757 into a working-class family with strong nonconformist religious beliefs. Blakes believe and symbols are continously intervowen in his art. His poetic genius is trying to liberate the instinctual self and to defeat reason. Blake's ethics formulates the originator of morality and religion through the process of liberation. Overcoming phenomenal objectness or fragmentation for the sake of a symbiotic unity of humanity within themselves and peaceful harmony of man with the world.

For every soul-wanderer, reading Blake is a spiritual gift and looking at his visualised art, a dive into cosmic seas of collective psychology. Blake is breaking the lopsided emphasis of idealistic works. In all his gatherings of beauty, there is always a shadow of existential crisis. Even in the following work "Songs of Innocence", the Fall off Paradise is already happening. The violation of nature has begotten: The water is no longer clean and clear. The eternal division of humanity from the divine cosmos as a complex interplay of an individual search for the Holy Grail, is the human idiosyncrasy. The scepticism against rationalism and science is also playing a key role in Blake's work, as he underlines that only “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” [The Marriage of Heaven and Hell] and that "Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death."

Blake condemned the scientific trio of Isaac Newton, John Locke and Francis Bacon as sterile and materialistic. In this painting, (the idea of) Newton- sits on an algae covered rock, making calculations with a compass, like Urizen in Ancient of Days. He might be at the bottom of the sea, or perhaps in a black hole. He might be as Faust, signed a contract with the devil a few moments ago and then lose oneself in a cave, studying minerals and stones.

“The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself.”

The work "Songs of Innocence (and Experience)" is a double set of illustrated poems showing “the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul”, the child-like and pure versus the angry and disillusioned (cf. Jung's psychology and the meanings of symbols and archetypes- The shadow of the child is the senex, vice versa). Here we also have dualistic concepts of questioning the being and the problem of theodicy: How could God tolerate the "evil" and why are bad things happening at all? If God is "the loving father" why are the humans deprived of their original goodness? Why is our world still torn between ferociousness of the few and the humble benign of the resisting ones? Through the Fall of Man the unity between man and animal was broken (Gen. 3, 17 - 19), so the seperation is a result of the "evil", which was subsequently brought into the world. An anthropological interpretation could be, that the "Fall of Man" or the "Original Sin" are narratives that memorize our cognitive faculty. First we had to be aware of ourselves and our environment, than we were able to distinguish between different kind of (living) beings. The consciousness aroused questions about ethics, examining motives, motivations and shaping a guideline of virtues (Golden Rule). But throughout the history of generating more insight- of metaphysical speculation and cosmogonic questioning of the creation of the world, it seems difficult to tell what we can really know and what are just guesses. In modern times (but beginning with Xenophanes) the imago of God is excoriated as anthropomorphic. But this statement shall not purport, that our human imagination is nothing less than an illusion and so less than nothing. As Blake wisely interlinks our assumptions with the search for the first principle:

“He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only. Therefore God becomes as we are, that we may be as he is.”

Poets are the mediator dei, healing the earthly-borns from the abscence of spiritual healing. The humanity got more distrustful torwords ideals and the invisible world, but on the contrary, an individual, who always lacked deep philosophical wondering, is affected and enraptured easily through manipulative groups, who are just imitating religious sentiments, but without soul's salvation. The search of the humankind is an eternal journey to it's cosmic roots, a balancing act between boon and bane, an entanglement of wisdom and folly: Theia Mania.

“In the universe there are things that are known and things that are unknown, and in between there are doors.”

There are some theories and perspectives dealing with the similarity between holiness and madness, found in all world religions. Mania can be the consequence of confrontation with the absolute and infinite, which is overwhelming the human reason and through overstraining, turning them mad. Mystic mania is one of my favourite motifs, it is the breath of prophecy and the ecstasy of poetizing the world of illusions, as a bridge to eternal ideas. It is the idea of intensive love (to God and being), a radical self-denial for unification, a call for liberation. Paradox pairs in Blakes works are continuously expanded,

"Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence."

Blake sets contrasts or he is breaking boundaries, either way he is creating and this energy of creating out of imagination, is considered by Blake as the "only life". ______________________________________________________________ Inspired by Blakes bucolic poetry and hints of a collapsing worlds, I was incited to write a small tribute with the most common motifs of the poetry in "Songs of Innocence".

The Active Evil and Passive Good by Elvin Karda

Dwelling in the arcadia Pure daisies and cle the joyful life Piping songs of pleasant glee A child watches the piper on a cload "Pipe a song about a lamb- Let those tones into the air A reminiscence of a golden land Hidden treasures in ancient sand!" The piper plucks a hollow reed fire tunes his inner song and he stains the water clear walking the rippling stream along In the evening dew The joy is giving way to tears When green shoots turn violet- blue Error is created and eternal what is true

The child's weeping as meek as lamb But vanishes and crumbles into dust As melody clothes the tone in written words Mind and body out of touch Energy is life and like a fountain overflows Active evil is better than told with bad intent passive good

[flow-it-show-it]

Calan Gaeaf

Gathering Fiki Trick or Treat 2023 10/22 TRICK prompt submission: The God of Harvest receives whatever sacrifice the God of Harvest desires

RATED: Gen

Pairing: Fili/Kili from the Isca Silurum world of @linane-art to whom this is dedicated

Content warning: Omen of death

Synopsis: A harvest festival custom stirs fear of an untimely fate.

Author's note: This is meant as an autumn companion piece to my early-summer story Nos Calan Haf. As "Nos Calan Haf" is summer's eve, Calan Gaeaf is the first day of winter after the harvest. Here, the God of Harvest is never named but hovers just behind the surface of things.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51269722

______________________

I don’t understand, said Kíli.

The remains of the coelcerth smoldered faintly in the frosty morning air.  Most of the villagers had already pawed through its ashes, found their prizes, and stumbled home to sleep off the previous night’s carousals.  But by some sorcery, Kíli found himself anchored to this spot.

I don’t understand, he repeated.  It ought to be here.

Yester-eve had marked harvest’s end.  Crops in and slaughter complete, the Silures met on the greensward to rejoice over cider, honeycomb, and nine-root stew.  Silhouetted against the bonfire’s flames, they celebrated without restraint, as if night and winter did not both approach—and swiftly.  But as the day’s last light dwindled, Silures young and old wended their way to the bonfire.  Into it each cast a stone painstakingly scratched with their own name.  Come morning, if all went well, they’d find their stones made clean and pure by the flames, nameless once more as stones ought to be.

The problem lay in not finding one’s stone at all.  For then, it was said, you’d go the way of your name within a year.

Puzzled, Fíli unfolded Kíli’s slack fingers to reveal a palmful of greasy soot.  Are you sure this side of the fire is where you cast it?

I wasn’t so drunk that I’d forget where I stood.

What did it look like?

Greyish, as large as hen’s egg, with a little dip where my thumb fit.  Kíli demonstrated on a phantom stone.  It’s how I held it still while I graved my name.  He squeezed his eyes shut, as if simply imagining the stone would magically summon it to his hand.  When it did not, he stamped the earth in frustration.

For the sake of his people as well as his husband, Fíli kept his voice soothingly low.  Don’t fret over it, my love.  It doesn’t mean anything.

Kíli’s irritable gaze swung toward his companion. You speak as if this fear is mine alone, when you know that’s not so.  You yourself explained the lore to me, and I have seen it come true twice.  Remember Bedwyr?  And Gwilim?

Bedwyr had been ill for a year before he died, rebutted Fíli, drawing his woolen cloak tighter around his shoulders.  He didn’t need a stone to tell him his time had come. As for Gwilim…  He tossed his head in contempt.  Even the smallest child of our tribe knows it’s madness to hunt boar during their winter rut— and in the dead of night, no less.  Gwilim always had a reckless streak, a taste for the forbidden.  His own stupidity killed him, not a stone.

But I’ve done nothing reckless, forbidden, or stupid!  Roughened by the anger in which fear so often clothes itself, Kíli’s voice – normally calm and even – came out as a growl.  I’ve followed all the laws and customs of your tribe as you taught them to me.  I’ve participated in all the rites permitted an outsider—

Not an outsider.  One of us.

And therefore subject to the will and whim of your gods—

Though he let himself be steered, Kili dragged his feet all the way to the holy man’s hut.  In the main, he’d embraced his adoptive people and their ways, but he could not ignore his instinctive dread of Gwalchmei.

Who wish their people well, not ill! Fíli objected.  Remember two harvests ago, when Dilys’ winter-eve stone could not be found?  She was with child then, and everyone feared she might die in the throes of birth.  Yet little Cerigyn came with no difficulty, and both mother and child are hale and happy.  Isn’t that proof that not all omens are doom-laden?  He twisted a corner of Kíli’s cloak around his fingers and gave it a tug.  Whatever we Silures face, be it blessing or curse, Gwalchmei explains it to us.  Let us go and see him.

The previous night, the druid displayed himself naked and stained head to foot with blood from the slaughter— a fearsome sight that infused Kíli’s pre-dawn dreams with dark unease.  But this morning, Gwalchmei looked like any other villager— bleary-eyed from cider and sheltering from the harsh, head-splitting sun. 

What have you for me? he said, unpleasant as ever.

As was proper, Fíli took charge of their half of the parley.  Bowing slightly to Gwalchmei, he replied, Kíli’s winter-eve stone is missing from the coelcerth.

A sardonic sniff.  He should return to Rome to look for it. 

Gwalchmei may have been justified in returning Kíli’s disdain, but Fíli had no patience for a sparring match.  We want to know what can be done, he stated firmly.

Gwalchmei inhaled deeply and let out a protracted groan.  Drama, it seemed, was fully part of the druidic curriculum.  He’d kept them on the doorstep long enough to determine their motive; to not invite them in now would be rude. 

For Gwalchmei, rudeness came naturally.

The moment they cleared the threshold, he motioned roughly to Kíli.  Come here.

Obedience led to a literal manhandling.  Kíli found himself grabbed, thumped, and prodded fore and aft.  Two large hands seized his cheeks and pulled him in for an uncomfortably close nose-to-nose examination, then spun him and pummeled his shoulder blades like a drum...

Hm, said Gwalchmei.

Hm? questioned Fíli.

They make these Romans large, don’t they.

That, they do.

Would take a lot to bring him down.

Not as much as you’d think—

ArraREERooo yoh, said Kíli in the midst of having his teeth perused as if he was a prize horse.  He meant to say I can HEAR you, you know, but sensed correctly that his companions were already well aware of it.

At last Gwalchmei let Kíli go.  Scuffing across the hard-packed earthen floor, he flipped open the lid to a yew-wood chest and removed a folded cloth, which he carefully spread upon the ground.  From a leather pouch he extracted a fistful of what appeared like peeled sticks.  Each had been scored with a linear symbol into which soot had been rubbed to make them more legible.  Gwalchmei unceremoniously flung the entire bundle up into the air.  Down the twigs rained upon the cloth, landing every which way but none touching the floor.

Hm, said Gwalchmei.

Hm? questioned Fíli.

The staves do not foretell a swift end, but rather a long one.  Pause.  An exceedingly long one.

Fíli scowled to conceal his mirth.  How long would you say?

Well, you’d know better than me—

Enough, growled Kíli.  In contrast to the dignified augury practiced in Roman Londinium, this tossing-about of twigs and unseemly jest at his expense smacked of hazing.

With a sigh, Gwalchmei stooped to gather up his twigs.  Lad, there’s nothing to tell you, he muttered to the floor.  You’re healthy as an ox and in no danger from the spirits.  Thirty or so years from now, you’ll die in a comfortable bed— that is, if our chieftain doesn’t grow weary of you sooner.

Kíli started forward and halted Gwalchmei’s hand before he could sheathe the twigs in their leather scabbard. 

What do those markings tell you? he demanded.  What do they say?

You know what they are.

I’ve seen them, yes, but I don’t know what they mean.

Now it was Gwalchmai’s turn to be puzzled.  Then by the heavens, how did you inscribe your stone?  Did Fíli do it for you?  Because by rights it’d then be Fíli’s, and were it me who lost the chieftain’s stone, I’d make sure to be halfway back to Rome by nightfall.

I wrote it in my own language, not the Silures’.

Absolute silence in the round house.  From a distance, one could hear the croak of a raven calling to its kin.

Gwalchmai turned in a circle, searching, then snatched up an iron skewer from atop a basket of hearthfire peat fuel.  Show me.  Scribe it in the dust, here at our feet.

Kíli did as he was told.

K D LEG AVG

Ah, said Fíli, who could read and understand. 

Gwalchmai – who also could read and understand, but who would rather have taken a spear-wound than admit so – stood lordly over the letters.  Now answer what you asked of me:  what do these marks mean?

They are the abbreviated form of my name followed by my rank, replied Kíli. ‘Kilius Durinus Legatus Augusti’—  Governor by the Emperor’s wish.

Well, there is your problem, countered Gwalchmei, snatching back his skewer.  You’re no such thing here.  As long as you stand on our soil or sleep under our chieftain’s roof, your Roman name and rank are meaningless.  Had you written them in our tongue, in our ogham, perhaps the fire would have given your stone back clean. 

Chastened, Kíli stood silent.

I’ll also say you’re not much of a governor back at your own fort, either, continued Gwalchmei.  Unless a governor is what you call a puling lovelorn fool. That’s as true written in ogham as in your foreign markings. But so long as you’re here – Gwalchmei tossed the skewer back atop the peat basket – use ours, would you? It’s only polite.

Strolling hand in hand with Fíli back to their round house, Kíli.  I suppose he’s right.  When I’m here, I should abide by your ways.

They’re becoming your ways now, but still you cling to Rome, suggested Fíli.  You’re not ready to come all the way over.  But you might in time.  A thought struck him.  Kílius Durinus Legatus Augusti is fading.  Perhaps he’ll be gone within a year, and you will remain.

Kíli took a deep breath and gave it back to the rose-gold morning in a puff of white mist.  He squeezed Fíli’s hand. 

As my Emperor wishes, said he.

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Team Characterization - Plumeria

Oh thank god, a character with only one team.  I forgot about Plumeria, because I admittedly try not to think about Gen 7 in totality when I don’t have to, but she is a Poison type trainer so here goes.  Act 4 of a six act event.

I’m sticking just to her title defense team, because her one other battle doesn’t offer much.

The Lead (Gengar) Immediate power and offense.  It’s really funny that they got rid of Levitate or I’d have more to say.  I guess Cursed Body is something to indicate that spiteful nature when someone gets aggressive, but who know.  But leading in with raw offense is that pure aggressive nature.  It’s strike first before they strike at you.  The coverage is generally good, although Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball strike the same weaknesses.  The difference is, Dark Pulse flinches, and that suggests an attempt to surprise or startle a foe through that aggressive response into backing down.

The Ace (Salazzle) While Salazzle is more of the same, the notable difference is on Protect.  While overt aggression is her main approach, Protect suggests that central purpose: guarding herself or her friends.  Her goal isn’t aggression for its own sake, but functional aggression; a means of safety.

Corrosion as an ability is also interesting.  The venom will land.  There’s no immunity, or anyone who doesn’t get hit with it.  If she doesn’t like you, or you mess with her or her crew, you’re going to get slapped.

The Guards (Toxapex, Crobat) Both of these two also carry Protect, in some form. Toxapex’s being interesting because it also applies Poison if you strike anyway.  It’s the warning, then the strike if you don’t back off.  Crobat’s focus is on Fly, which isn’t just a means of stalling for more Poison damage, but a means of safety for Crobat for that turn.  Notably, its coverage is Leech Life.  Meanwhile, Toxapex gets Liquidation, which can break down the foe’s defense.

I think this is where we get a bit more than just the game’s knowledge.  Yes, Plumeria is protective of people.  Yes, she can be snappy and aggressive when needed, to facilitate that safety.  But Liquidation is that means  It’s a breakdown.  Toxic breaks someone down in a more physical way, while debuffed defenses is breaking the guard.  It’s relational aggression, the picking at weaknesses.  She’ll verbally tear you down instead if that works better.  Leech Life, recovering off the attack, implies a sense of enjoyment from the conflict.  She’s someone who enjoys tearing into someone who she feels deserves it.

Muk (Muk) I don’t have a good designation for Muk.  The typing covering a common weakness and being strong defensively indicates her as someone capable of providing support.  She’s someone to rely on.  Brick Break removing screens can be seen as a sort of breaking down walls; getting people to open up.  She knows how to get people talking and reacting.  Interestingly, this is the only Pokemon that directly applies a status.  Toxic into Venoshock is, I think, more of how she approaches.  Physical beatdown, but verbal follow-up to double down.  She’s someone who doesn’t relent, but doubles down.  This is both a positive when in your corner, but a negative if she’s off-base.  She’s not going to change her mind easily.

Summation Plumeria is someone whose primary motivation is protection and security.  She’s willing to get in people’s faces and be aggressive to make sure no one messes with her or the people who protects.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get a warning, but ignoring that means she’s not letting up.  Plumeria’s hard to get to back down or change her mind on something, and it can get nasty.  She’s empathetic enough to read people, and will dig at a weakness if you’re a problem, but is good at getting people to open up and engage if she likes you.

If you have an alternate read on the team, I’d love to hear it.  I am...not the biggest fan of Gen 7, but I did like the Aether Fam and Team Skull well enough, so they get a pass.

[allwhilewaiting]

100 reasons to stay

It’s becoming harder for me to stay grounded these days, something difficult rose up within me and re-triggered all those fearful feelings I’ve been trying to stomach my whole life. Feelings so big and so raw that more often than not, I feel debilitated from a viable solution that will sustain my light. And so as I am fighting through this, the battle to keep my mind needs reminders of why. There are a million reasons to stay…Here is the short list.

There are versions of me that want to be experienced in the future. I won’t be able to know anything about them unless I stay. 💃🏾🙋🏾‍♀️🙆🏾‍♀️💁🏾‍♀️

I haven’t gone to all the concerts and heard all the music I want to hear live. 🎤 🎶

I haven’t bought a leather sectional to take naps on in my cute little forever home. 🛋️

I haven’t bought my cute little forever home. 🏡

I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, the Great Wall of China, or the Taj Mahal. There is so much out there to see both domestic and abroad. ✈️ 🏔️

There are more people I need to love and be loved by, my two little girls included. 👧🏿 👧🏿

My granny can’t take another heartbreak. 👵🏾 💔

My mother can’t take the heartbreak of my absence. 👩🏽 💔

The place where I am meant to be professionally, spiritually, and physically depends on my presence. 📍

I have a lot of Tubi movies left to watch. 🍿

There’s a lot of delicious food I haven’t tasted. 🍴

The feeling of sweet glorious redemption from getting my joy back refined will only happen if I stay. And my joy has always returned. 🌊

I came here for a reason. I was kept here for a reason. I deserve to realize what that reason is. 💭

I’m a kind and pure heart. There is so much need for my heart type in this world. 🫶🏾

I haven’t laughed enough. There are so many more laughs needed in my lifetime. 😹

I haven’t taken myself on nearly enough dates. I haven’t shown myself enough love yet. 🤎

I want to learn ceramics and I’ve never taken any classes. 🏺

The world is changing in some interesting ways, there could be some cool stuff waiting in the future to witness. 🌎

These gen Z kids are turning the world in ways that could be to the benefit of society. I’ll have to stick around to see how much better the world could be because of them. ☮️

I haven’t read enough books yet. 📚

I haven’t read enough poems yet. 📝

I haven’t had enough meaningful conversations yet. 🫂

I haven’t danced through enough mornings. ⛅️

I haven’t sang through enough evenings. 🚿

I haven’t smiled enough at all the beautiful things, like the sun and the moon and breath and freedom and Divine love. 🌚

I haven’t worn enough bathing suits and journaled on the beach. 👙

I haven’t drank enough water. Have to stay for the sake of my hydration. 💦

I haven’t made enough generations of my sim families. I owe it to them. 🎮

I haven’t seen my grey hair yet due to aging. 👵🏾

There are too many Charleston secrets that I’ve yet to find. I haven’t even read my book on the Battery yet! ⛲️

I haven’t mastered cooking one great meal yet, and I want to try a lot of recipes. 🥘

I haven’t had enough awesome sex. 🦵🏽

I definitely haven’t seen enough London theater. 🎭

I haven’t been a bridesmaid yet! ⛪️ 👗 💍

I haven’t had enough happy cries. 🥲

I haven’t had enough fun in general. 🎡

I haven’t had enough great coffee. ☕️😋

I haven’t worn my pink timbs yet and it doesn’t get cold until like December/January in SC. 🥶 💖

I probably need more karaoke… 🎤

I need more winters, I think it’s my favorite season. Hot cocoa, sweaters, blankets, and good movies sounds so sentimental. 🪵 🧦 🍵

I need more walks to appreciate God’s beauty. 🌳

I want more tattoos. 🖊️ 🌺 🍃

That feeling of magic that settles in my heart with serotonin swimming through my brain when I’m in flow is my natural state, and I deserve to live there ✨ 🧠

I have many more museums to explore, including revisiting the Charleston museum. 🏛️

I want to be moved by more art. 🧐🖼️

I want more roadtrips and snack stops to random gas stations along the way ⛽️ 🚘

I want to try on more shoes in stores. I never buy shoes. 👠

I want to receive and give long hugs with back rubs. 🧸

I want more beautiful massages. 💆🏾‍♀️

I want to get some facials! 🧖🏾‍♀️

I want to try more restaurants and more mixed drinks. 🍸

Those Marshall and TJ Maxx runs where I’m finding cute mugs and pictures and seeing all the shiny things that releases that dopamine rush…yea, I want more of those moments. Wearing flip flops, feeling that cool store air tickle my thighs in a summer dress while I’m in the purse aisle, nothing quite like it. 🛍️

I want to paint. Even if it’s just me getting a canvas from an art supply store. 🎨

The veil is not thick enough to dissuade me from believing that there is something so beautiful, so patient, so wondrous and gentle about life. And I have a deep resonating feeling that what is waiting for me in this lifetime is incredibly fulfilling. The little things. The moments I could have never bargained for. The reason why I’m alive. It’s actually for good. 😌

I have puzzles I want to compete. 🧩

When I wrote that I am more than just a single lifetime in my lineage, but the silent catalyst for change, that meant that my whole existence is to off-shed those limiting beliefs about my resiliency and to incite generational healing as a lifestyle. ❤️‍🩹

The sound of the rain…against my window pane 😌

The beauty of trees 🌳

Feet planted against the earth reminding me I am one part of the great whole 🌎

Crisp cool fresh sheets 🛌

The cool breeze on a warm day 🌬️

Because dawn always comes after darkness ⛅️ Always.

There are endless possibilities to start over, each bringing something new and exciting. Leaning into the beauty of a fresh start is a privilege that has presented itself to me time and time again 🤍

God always always always shows up for me better than I could ever try to do for myself. And I know that. ☁️

Nights like last night, where I have the privilege of experiencing a soul tribe 🤍✨

Those chik fil a nuggets might not be great for my body, but they are definitely food for the soul. Gotta stay for Chik Fil a sauce girl 🐔

One day I'll become vegan. I don’t know when, but it’ll happen eventually. And I’ll shave my hair, and I’ll rub cocoa butter and Shea butter on my supple skin and wash with black soap 🧼 and be in my true goddess nature. I may even be a true plant mama 🪴

Podcasts have saved my ass. Some of my most comforting moments were remembered during episodes. I have got to hear the latest episodes. Can’t hear them if you I'm not willing to stay. 🎧

Everything is an illusion. Aka...nothing is as serious as it seems ✨

I need to practice my twerking 🍑

There is always a solution to my problem. That’s what life is…chalk full of options. I just have to be willing to explore them. 🕵🏾

Gratitude. Simplistic pure gratitude. For all that I am and will be. For all that I was and have been. For the colorful opportunistic realm of possibilities. Everything is so very possible for me. Life is built in my mind’s eye, manifested in the tangible. 👁️

Because I get the privilege of loving and rooting for my damn self, forever and unapologetically ☝🏾 🖤 🤎 💜 And that’s nobody’s business but my own.

I haven't figured out all of the genres of movies I like, and there are a lot more favorites for me to add to my collection.

I haven't tried to become a mortician or a fiction author yet.

I'm not liberated enough on earth, and I came here to experience freedom. I must find it.

Drives in my sweet Pepper 🖤

Shakespeare Globe Theatre shows in London 🎭 ♥️

Weddings. I love weddings. Especially weddings with line dances.

Ye Old Fashion on Savannah Highway is open late before or after Gaillard performances I can taste their crispy salty fries and try each flavor in their long line of ice creams. Across from the gas station I watch cars pass and imagine a life over there where I could visit anytime I like. Especially when it rains in the night.

[ramrodd]

COMMENTARY:

Trump voter SHOCKED that Trump creating total economic chaos Farron, if you are serious about resistance to Project 2025, you need to do stories about Progessives who  have buyer's remorse about buying  "Biden's brains are mush" TYT meme,. T

he only real explanaion for  anyone thinking it was good idea to force Biden off the ballot is pure  dumb ass ageism by cenk uygur.  It was ageism that compelled La Juan to push Ho chi Mihn into domestic exhile that resulted in Ho Chi Mihn City, It's like changing the  Redskins to the Commanders Saigon will always be the Pearl of the Orient, but the godless commie cocksuckers wom primarity because the John Birch Society wanted to abandon George Marshall's Nation Building Doctine  as part of Deorge Kennan's Containment Strategy that defeated Sino-Soviet Marxism. That's a part of the Oliver Stone version of Vietnam Gen Z needs to understand differently than the anti-war Campus Radical draft dodgers did whtn the occupied Columbia Univerity in 1968, The John Birch Society just elected Trump President because of everyone who agreed with cenk uygur about Biden's brain being mush, cenk uygur elected Trump when he stampeded Biden off the island, The good news is that really smart people like cenk uygur are able to learn and employ Triple loop thinking to defeat Trump. I am an Eisenhowr Republican, Hard wired, It's how I procss data, Democrats make be crazy the way they process data, but I have larned that their processes are superior to mine in terms of Democratic socialism and DEI Process Thchnology, I am a Theory x manager, but I have learned to be a  Theory Y Leader in the Ranger School and from being around Democrats in a taak oriented enviornment, The small unit leadership model of the Army Ranger School is based on DEI technology: there is no rank in Ranger School or on a Green Beret A Team The organizations who are abandong DEI programs are disabling themselves by using  the leadership model of the Harvard MBA business model. Harvard  woidls as well as it does because so many Democrats go through it, By Democrats, I mean you and cenk uygur and AOC and Kamala Harris, And As a Command Serteant Major, Tim Walz was the opposite of Pett Hegset or Tom Cotton or Tommy Tuberville or Commander Bone Spurs. He is the real thing, He is the DNC's Cornelius. The Talking Cross in the Gospel of Peter is the redification of God's covenant with stoic servant leders like Tim Walz. All this bullshit abut his permanent rank is not CSM: When you serve as CSM, you are always that rank, it"n not like being Bon Again Campus Crusade of Christ Jesus Freak one day, and Bart "Giggles" Ehrman, the next. Tim Walx is one of the things that is missing from Oliver Stone's version of Vietnam, Which is why Trump is POTUS now. The  object of the exercise is not to make fun of Trumper but to get them on our side by agreeing that you both have buyers remorse and the object of the exercise is to combine orur deterination to defend the US Constituiton constituionally, without the street fighting bullshit of the 7-s, All you Progressives fucked up, So are the Remorseful Revolutionaries.  You guys are not the problem: Trump is, Actually, the John Birch Society is, I have been at war with Project 2025 since January, 1981 and you guys are exactly who I have been trying to take some advice from a guy who grew up with Counter-Insurgency was the sexy career path for West Point graduates. I am not a West Pointer, but I was raised around them and went through Ranger School with them and servic in combat as platoon leaders on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 44 Just for the sake of speculation, let's assume that cenk uygur was the leader of a clandestine resistence like Fikel Castro working against Project 2025 and the Minute Men rebellion of the Constitutional wing of the American body politicc sent you down a Green Beret advidsor in counter insurgency and it was me, My role with the TYT Rangers would be exactly the same as the Irish Sergeant Major in Glory, bringing an new orgaanization up to speed at warp speed. You could learn the stuff I have to teach you easily in ten years or so, or you can let me put you into a process that will do the same thing in 13 to 18 months. Pretend that this also a capitalist enterprise and you are going public as soon as you get focused on your  core values. The process of going public, in my experience with aerospace is like conduction a political counter insurgency without violence. Assassination is for losers. We lost the battle of Vietnam because of the assassination of the Diem brothers. I saw it on TV and I knew we had lot the battle becaue we abandoned the core vlues of George Marshall's Nation Building Doctine in Geroge Kennan's Containment Strategy, The Soviet Union is no mofe becaue of Geroge Kennan and George Marshall, And the people behind Trump, like Steve Bannon, want to blow it all up. TYT can become the new Constituional Minuet Men or you go on, making the same mistakes you made to elect Trump. Trump is the problem, Not the Trumpvoters.

COMMENTARY:

[thebookofjeremiah]

"The Skater." From the Book of Jeremiah, 4: 3-4.

We continue to pursue a prosaic approach to understanding the math found in the Angelic Code. Next God tells the people of Jerusalem, the teachers, what to do in order to properly explain it.

The rivalry between Judah and Jerusalem destroyed most of the potential of the people of Israel to purport to greatness. This division, which took place in ancient times (circa 930 BCE) hobbled the future of the Jewish people since. The reason was nepotism, which cannot be permitted in the Court of the Assembly or in the mind or heart of the King of Israel and it turned the power of the King to mint policy into little more than a dust rag.

From 1 Kings 12:16-19:

“And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king,

‘What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.’

…So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”

Whether the government is a democracy or constitutional monarchy, the people come first. Not your son, not your daughter, not your mother's sister's brother's cousin. The Book of Kings stipulates the King's Consort is the reason things must go exceptionally well with the people. Without their love and support, the King's Hearth has no purpose. A love story set in a castle that is being raided by peasants carrying pitchforks and torches will not end too well.

So God tells Jeremiah and the people, do not fall prey to nepotic practices in the government. There is a basis for this in the Kabbalah:

3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground     and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,     circumcise your hearts,     you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire     because of the evil you have done—     burn with no one to quench it.

In addition to propriety, God says do not sow among thorns. Thorns are 368, שסח‎, shashach, "the Six Days". Before one can instruct in the Shashach, the ground must be cleared and tilled and the pee pee prep must be done.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 3: This is what the Lord said: The Number is 9294, ט‎בטד‎‎, tbeted, תביתד, "you will..."

v. 4: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord. The Number is 7186, עאףו‎ , aafo, "take flight, soar, fly away."

v. 5: Or my wrath will burn like fire. The Number is 8262, חבוב‎‎, havuv, "show liking, esteem, and affection."

So in teaching the Torah and its Kabbalah one must gravitate towards tiferet "where kindness and beauty meet."

"The attribute of tiferet is translated literally as “beauty.” The beauty of tiferet is in its ability to blend two opposites: chesed and gevurah. Pure chesed is the unbridled expansiveness of giving; pure gevurah is the total opposite: restraint, caution and control. Tiferet is the ideal blend, expansiveness that is balanced with control, trust with caution, and giving with restraint."

Tiferet was not at all in the contents of the discussions between the Kings of Israel, their Courts, Prophets, or people if not, it was seldom. Jehu, "the one who emerged", the most successful of all the Kings destroyed Ahab and Jezebel whose names mean "the daddy brothers" and "do not marry this one" For the sake of tiferet:

From 2 Kings 9:

"6 Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. 7 You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. 8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.[a]"

To cut Ahab off is to circumcise this horrible tactic of hiring friends and relatives to do work that should involve the general populace. Government, within and without must be other oriented. The frat house is not an optional approach to workforce development in the government.

The Values in Gematria, which explain the grammtical basis for the above are:

v. 6: Jehu got up. Jehu used to be a captain in the Jewish army. He was anointed by God to stop Ahab with the help of the other captains. His journey as the King of Israel began when the Prophet anointed him. This is how the Kings of Israel are made. They are not chosen by their friends, private enterprise, or scoundrels. Only one who understands the rituals can anoint the King of Israel.

The Number is 10543, קהםג‎, khamg, "take, sieze or grasp a magician."

Only a magus can be the King. So it behooves the Prophet to choose one whom God has already designated. The Fraterity cannot choose the King of Israel.

v. 7: Avenge the blood of the prophets and servants of Israel. Thbe Number is 10833, קחלג‎‎‎, kahlag, "a skater."

A Skater is one who has achieved Shabbat and gone beyond. The Buddhists call this a Paragate "one whp has studied and reached the opposite shore."

Proof the Torah and the beliefs of the people of Israel is required of the King of Israel and it must be obvious. A Paragate appears to be normal but does not engage in the affairs of others for the purposes Ahab or Jezebel.

Observe:

Jehu Paragate=1068, א'סח‎ ‎, a'sah, "a burnt offering, a sacrifice." Asah means a "person of moral deeds.'

vs.

Ahab Jezebel=1149, יאםט‎, yammet. A yammet is a dead sea. The Spirit of God is the Sea we want to cross. Who makes themselves and their silly egoistic practices the center of the sea is a fool and must not be heeded. They are "one day and one night", they are already gone.

"The masculine noun ים (yam), meaning sea. This word is used for any sea or lake such as the Mediterranean (Numbers 34:6), the sea of Joppa (which is also the Mediterranean; Ezra 3:7) and the Salt Sea (Numbers 34:3) but also for any large body of water, such as the bronze sea of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:23). Our word in plural, ימים (yamim) denotes the general concept of seas or the whole of all the seas (Genesis 1:10)."

v. 8: Everyone must be cut off from the Dead Sea. The Number is 6973, וטע‎ג, vetag, "persons who are wrong must not wear the badge or the crown."

The Gemara for this section, derived from multiple Mishnah states "a person of ill manners is not suited to roles within the government or the hierarchy of the Monarchy. The religion must compel persons to cross the Sea, to the heights of Shabbos and Shabbat instead of towards the houses of power. This is what the God of Israel says."

[distractedvoid]

∆ Before you scroll further, I'm a pro/com/darkshipper and may sometimes post things that are considered "problematic." IDC if antis interact just be civil for god's sake. ∆ I go by Astrid or Lennox! My fandoms are CRK, Beetlejuice, Sonic, UTDR, TLM, and some other things I don't really talk much about ∆ I SPECIFICALLY REQUEST THAT MY ART IS NOT REPOSTED ANYWHERE ∆ Another thing- please don't send me asks about funding anything. I can't personally donate and it makes me feel awkward when I have to keep answering people with that.

∆ I'm having an unfortunately hard time figuring it out, but I may be the host of a median system of sorts. This is just the label that fits my experience the most at this moment.

∆ Otherkin Black Pearl Cookie, Beetlejuice, Shadow the Hedgehog, red fox, husky and cheetah

∆ DNI: Pro gen AI, TERFs + general radfems, anti endos, radqueers, IRL lolisho, pro contact for harmful paras, RPF writers/shippers (I am personally uncomfortable with any depictions of RPF and would like that respected.) ∆ F/O list!: Eternal Sugar Cookie, Fire Spirit Cookie, Crunchy Chip Cookie, Royal Margarine Cookie, Pure Vanilla Cookie, Lydia Deetz, Adam & Barbara Maitland (I share! People with the same F/Os are welcome and encouraged to interact!!) i really like cookies guys...crys

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[stopdrunkdriving]

What Does 1 John 2:15 Mean?

New Post has been published on https://drunkdriving.co.za/what-does-1-john-215-mean/

What Does 1 John 2:15 Mean?

What Does 1 John 2:15 Mean?

June 16, 2023

by:

Ray Van Neste

This article is part of the What Does It Mean? series.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.—1 John 2:15

Understanding Context

Properly understanding this important verse hinges on correctly understanding the referent of the word “world.” If we think John is referring to creation, we may interpret this as an anti-nature statement calling us to attend only to things considered “spiritual” rather than physical. But the Bible is robustly positive about the natural world as coming from God (Gen. 1–2), pointing to God (Ps. 19), and something we should appreciate and enjoy. If we think “world” refers to humanity, then we will think this verse encourages us to be misanthropes and grouches, despising people.

That idea obviously flies in the face of the biblical witness, including Jesus’s treatment of people. In fact, we may think of John 3:16 as a statement about God’s love for humanity: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” But this complicates the question further since in John 3:16 God does love the world (kosmos), and in 1 John 2:15 we are commanded not to love the world (kosmos).

The key, as often, is context. John uses “world” (kosmos) in a variety of ways. In a more positive sense he proclaims God’s love for the world (John 3:16), Jesus as the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14), and Jesus as the propitiation for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). In these instances, humanity, the inhabitants of the world, are in view. They are opposed to God, but God still loves humanity and comes to redeem them. But quite often the “world” is the realm, and even system, of rebellion against God (1John 4:4–5). It does not know God or believers (1 John 3:1) and indeed hates believers (1John 3:13). It is the realm of false prophets and the antichrist (1 John 4:1, 3), and “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Into this realm of hostility Jesus came (1 John 4:17) in order to be the Savior to redeem people out of this realm, allowing us to overcome the world (1 John 5:4–5).1

We must not love this way of life which sets itself against God.

That this negative sense is in view in 1 John 2:15 is made clear by it being contrasted with “the love of the Father,” and even more so by “the things of the world” in 1 John 2:15 being described in 1 John 2:16 as “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life.” Furthermore, in 1 John 2:17: “the world is passing away along with its desires.” People die, but they continue into eternity, and while the earth will pass away, it does not have desires. Clearly, what is in view is this realm of rebellion against God. We must not love this way of life which sets itself against God. There are two competing systems vying for our affections, described here as God and the world. We must not seek to find a compromise position between the two, because they are diametrically opposed to one another. This is why James says “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). True love for the Father will not allow for any rivals. We must wean ourselves from love for sinful ways, even though this is hard.

In 1 John 2, John is dealing with false teaching and the fact that some who had professed faith have now departed from the faith, following this false teaching. In this context, the warning against loving the world suggests that coddling love for sin endangers our souls and makes us susceptible to false teaching. For the sake of our souls and in response to the great love which God has shown to us (1 John 3:1), we must purify ourselves as God is pure (1 John 3:3), putting to death sinful desires and delighting ourselves in God and his ways. In fact, as John will write a bit later, we must watch over one another in order to help one another turn away from the love of the world and to set our affections on God (1 John 5:16–17).

Notes:

Some of the language in this paragraph is drawn from my commentary.

This article is written by Ray Van Neste and adapted from the ESV Expository Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Volume 12) edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar.

Ray Van Neste (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is dean of the School of Theology and Missions and professor of biblical studies at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He has published several books and scholarly essays on biblical studies, pastoral ministry, and church history. Ray and his wife, Tammie, have six children. They are members of First Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee.

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Go to Source Author: Ray Van Neste

The post What Does 1 John 2:15 Mean? first appeared on Koa Sinag.

[thewahookid]

The Hidden Life of Jesus

1. It is an amazing thought that Jesus, the eternal wisdom of the Father, should have chosen to live quietly for thirty years in a carpenter's workshop along with his supposed father Joseph. He could have confounded the philosophers of Greece and Rome with His infinite wisdom. He could have attracted crowds by His miracles and drawn the attention of the whole world. But He preferred silence and a busy hidden life. Why? Because men needed to learn one thing before anything else. It was a simple thing, but difficult to practise. It was humility they needed to learn, for humility was to be the foundation of the giant structure which He had come to raise up and whose spire was to reach to Heaven. If this edifice, the Church, was to be so high, its foundation would have to be very deep. Let us learn this lesson of humility and silence from the hidden life of Jesus.

The tendency in modern times even in regard to spiritual projects, is to try and draw attention and admiration. Perhaps this is why these projects are so often unsuccessful. Like the seed thrown by the sower upon the hard ground, they wither away because they have no moisture. (Cf. Luke 8:6) Without humility a great deal of noise can be made, but nothing supernatural is achieved. The first lesson we must learn from Jesus is the silence and recollection of the interior life.

2. Jesus chose to be an ordinary workman. He had power over the angels of Heaven, over the sun and stars of the firmament, over the waves of the ocean and over all the elements. By a single act of His divine will He could multiply loaves and change water into wine. Yet He elected to earn His living by the sweat of His brow. In His times the artisan was held in low esteem and was very often a slave. Manual labour was regarded as sordid and undignified. Christ wished to sanctify manual work by His own toil. He wished to teach men that in the eyes of God the hoe is as valuable as the pen. There is no difference between driving a plough and wielding a sceptre as long as a man is fulfilling his duty for the love of God. The only thing in this regard which is displeasing to God is laziness and inactivity. Anyone who leads an idle life at the expense of others is breaking God's law, which commands everybody to work. Let us follow the example of Jesus the worker. Let us avoid idleness, which is the father of vices and is opposed to the command of God. (Cf. Gen. 3:19; 2 Thess. 3:10) Let nobody claim that there is no need for him to work because he has enough money to last him all his life. There was far less need for Jesus to work in order to live, yet He chose to work as an ordinary labourer. If we do not have to work for our own sakes, let us reflect on how much need there is for us to work for others and for the glory of God. If justice does not compel us, charity does. It makes very little difference whether a man goes to hell for lack of justice or for lack of charity.

3. There are many who complain that their work is degrading or heavy or unsatisfying. This is an indication that they are working for themselves rather than for God. We should sanctify our work by prayer. We should meditate on the example of Jesus and remember that there are many sins for which we must make reparation. If we offer our work to God, it will not only become meritorious, but much easier. To work purely for profit is avarice, to work for the good opinion and praise of others is vanity; and to work in order to pass the time is a waste of time. The perfect Christian approach is to work in order to do our duty, to please God, to atone for our sins and to gain Heaven.—Antonio Cardinal Bacci, Meditations for Each Day, 1959.