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lordgodjehovahsway · 5 months ago

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2 Samuel 18: David Prepares His Soldiers For War Against Absalom's Army

1 David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

2 David sent out his troops, a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.��

3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”

4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”

So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands.

5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men.

8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.

15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

16 Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them.

17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

David Mourns

19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”

20 “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”

21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.

22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”

But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”

23 He said, “Come what may, I want to run.”

So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone.

25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it.

The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.

26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!”

The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”

27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.”

“He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”

28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”

29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”

30 The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.

31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”

33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”

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dfroza · 1 year ago

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At the forefront of our thoughts:

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 1st chapter of the letter of 1st Thessalonians:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church gathering in Thessalonica, those living in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus the Anointed.

May grace and peace be yours [from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed].

We always thank God for all of you in our prayers. Your actions on behalf of the true faith, your tireless toil of love, and your unfailing, unwavering, unending hope in our Lord Jesus the Anointed before God our Father have put you consistently at the forefront of our thoughts. O brothers and sisters loved by God, we know He has chosen you. And here is why: what you experienced in the good news we brought you was more than words channeling down your ears; it came to you as a life-empowering, Spirit-infused message that offers complete hope and assurance! We lived transparently before you so that you would know what sort of people we truly are. We did it for your sake, and you have modeled your lives after ours just as we are modeling ours after the Lord. You took to heart the word we taught with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, even in the face of trouble. As a result, you have turned into a model of faith yourselves for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. In fact, not only has the message of our Lord thundered from your gathering into Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere we go, your faith in God is talked about so we don’t even have to say a thing! You see, they go on and on telling us the story of how you welcomed us when we were introduced to you; how you turned toward God and realigned your life to serve the one true living God—leaving your idols to crumble in the dust— and how you now await the return from heaven of His Son, whom He raised from the dead—namely, Jesus—our rescuer from the wrath to come.

The Letter of 1st Thessalonians, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 51st chapter of the book of Jeremiah:

The Eternal has this to say regarding Babylon:

Eternal One: Watch as I stir up a destroying wind

against Babylon and the people of Chaldea.

I will send outsiders to sift through this nation,

separating the wheat from the chaff, laying waste this land.

They will fight her from every side

on that fateful day of Babylon’s reckoning.

Do not let the archers draw back their bows.

Do not let them put on their armor!

Do not spare the life of one young soldier.

Destroy her army completely.

They will all fall dead in the land of the Chaldeans;

her streets will be full of the dead and dying.

For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

by their God, the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies,

Even though their land is awash with the guilt of their sins

against the Holy One of Israel.

Get out of Babylon! Escape with your lives!

Do not be caught up in Babylon’s punishment,

For this is the time for the Eternal to avenge His people.

He will pay Babylon what she deserves.

Babylon has been a golden cup in the Eternal’s hand,

intoxicating the whole earth.

Yes, the nations drank her wine,

which is why they went mad.

But now Babylon—cup of God’s wrath—has fallen and shattered.

Weep for her, if you can!

Give her something for her pain;

perhaps she may still be healed.

Exiles: We would like to have healed Babylon,

but she was beyond our help.

It is time to leave her and go home before it is too late,

before we get caught in her coming judgment.

Look, even now it fills the skies, rising up to the clouds.

The Eternal has vindicated us;

come, we must tell those in Jerusalem

What the Eternal our God has done!

Enemies of Babylon, sharpen your arrows

and fill your quivers. Get ready to attack!

For the Eternal has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes

to accomplish His purpose against Babylon.

He will exact His vengeance for what the Chaldeans did to His temple.

Raise up the battle flags around the walls of Babylon!

Reinforce the guard. Station watchmen along the way.

Prepare to make a surprise attack, for the Eternal will see His plan carried through

against the people of Babylon.

You who live by the great river

with the comforts of your abundant treasure,

The end has come, and you will lose it all.

Your time has run out.

The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has sworn by Himself.

Eternal One: I will cover your land with enemy troops

the way a swarm of locusts covers a field.

And they will shout victory over you.

God alone is powerful enough to create the earth.

He alone is wise enough to put the world together.

He alone understands enough to stretch out the heavens.

His voice thunders through the heavens, and the waters gush from the sky.

He summons the clouds to build up over the earth.

As the rain falls, the lightning flashes at His command;

the wind rushes in from where He alone can store it.

All of humanity is stupid and bankrupt of knowledge.

Those who make idols are shamed by their creations.

What they fashion out of gold are imposters—breathless, lifeless frauds.

Their idols are worthless, the work of their hands an embarrassing mockery.

They are doomed to perish under God’s judgment.

The portion of Jacob is not like any of these.

He was not fashioned by human hands.

Instead, it was He who made all things and appointed Israel to inherit it all.

His name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Eternal One: You are My war club—My weapon for battle;

with you I shatter nations;

with you I destroy kingdoms;

With you I shatter the horse and its rider;

with you I shatter the chariot and its driver;

With you I shatter men and women;

with you I shatter both young and old;

with you I shatter the young man and the maiden;

With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock;

with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen;

with you I shatter governors and leaders.

But now, before your very eyes, I will repay Babylon and the people of Chaldea for all the harm they have done in Zion.

I have turned against you, O mountain of destruction, you destroyer of the earth.

So now I will raise My hand against you;

I will roll you down from the lofty rocks where you offered sacrifices

and turn you into a mountain of ashes.

When I am finished with you,

there will be no stones to salvage—

No cornerstones, no foundation stones;

you will be desolate forever.

Lift up a battle flag; let it wave in the land!

Sound the trumpet—call the nations together!

Prepare the forces for battle against her;

summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.

Assign a commander to lead the troops against her.

Send in the war horses, seething like bristly locusts.

Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes,

their governors and leaders, and the lands they rule.

As the battle rages, the land trembles and writhes,

for the Eternal is accomplishing His purposes against Babylon.

He will lay waste her land

and leave it completely empty.

Babylon’s mighty warriors have stopped fighting;

they stay inside their fortresses, afraid.

Their strength is gone; they have become as weak as women.

The houses of Babylon are burning, the bars of her city gates broken.

The news travels fast—a runner races to meet another;

the word goes from messenger to messenger

Until it reaches the king of Babylon:

His entire city has been captured.

The river crossings have been taken,

the marshlands have been set ablaze,

and the soldiers are terrified.

This, then, is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, says:

Eternal One: The people of Babylon are like wheat ready to be threshed,

spread out on the floor waiting to be trampled.

A little while longer and the time for her harvest will come.

Citizens of Jerusalem (crying out to God): Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has devoured us.

He has squeezed the life out of us and left us an empty jar.

Like a monster from the sea, he swallowed us

and gorged himself on the richness of Israel

Only to cough us up and throw us out.

“May the violence done to our people be repaid to Babylon,”

we the people of Zion pray.

“May our blood be upon those who live in Chaldea,”

so Jerusalem prays.

Eternal One: Watch now as I defend your case

and avenge what was done to you.

I will expose this monster and dry up her sea.

I will deplete her wellsprings.

Babylon will be reduced to a heap of rubble,

the haunt of jackals,

An object of horror and hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives.

O how this nation roars! Like a pack of young lions,

like lion cubs, they growl.

And once they are stirred up,

I will lay out a feast and make them all drunk

until they laugh and feel happy.

But when they fall asleep, they will sleep forever.

This is what I, the Eternal One, promise you.

I will bring these proud lions down like lambs going to their own slaughter.

Like rams and goats they will be humbled.

How Babylon has been captured!

Babylon, the pride of all the earth, has fallen!

How mighty Babylon has become an object of horror

among all the nations that once feared and admired her.

The rising tide of the sea has flooded Babylon.

She disappears beneath its raging waves.

Her cities have become an object of horror.

Her fruitful land has been left parched, like a desert,

a wilderness where no one lives, where no wants to go.

I will punish Bel, the false god of Babylon;

I will make him cough up all he has swallowed.

The nations will no longer make their way to worship him

because even the great walls of Babylon have fallen.

Get out of Babylon, My people, before it is too late!

Run! Save yourselves!

Run! Do not get caught up in the destruction

caused by My fierce anger.

Do not lose heart or give in to fear and panic

when the rumors start to fly in the land.

Year after year, the rumors will come—rumors of violence

and reports of one ruler warring against another.

So, look! the days are coming

when I will punish Babylon’s idols.

Her whole land will suffer humiliation,

and her dead will lie unburied within her borders.

Then the heavens and the earth and all that is within them

will shout for joy over the disaster that comes upon Babylon,

For the destroying armies will march against Babylon from out of the north.

As the slain of Israel fell, so must Babylon fall.

As the slain of all the earth fell, so must Babylon fall.

You who escape the blade of the sword

must get out now. Don’t delay!

Remember Me in that distant land;

remember the Eternal, and think fondly of Jerusalem.

In that bittersweet moment,

the remnant of My people will say,

“We are ashamed—we have been insulted by invaders,

and disgrace covers our faces

When we think of foreigners entering the holy places of the Eternal’s temple

and defiling it by their presence.”

But I, the Eternal One, declare that the day will come

when I will punish Babylon’s images and idols;

and the groans of her dying will echo through the land.

No matter how high she reaches or how strong her defenses,

I will send enemies to destroy her.

So says the Eternal.

Listen! Hear the cry that comes from Babylon.

It is the sound of great destruction in the land of Chaldea.

For the Eternal is destroying Babylon;

He will drown out the piercing sound of her cries

As wave after wave of her enemies roars in,

crashing against her, with the deafening sound of battle in the air.

A destroyer is coming to attack Babylon; her mighty warriors will be captured.

Their weapons will be broken.

For the Eternal is a just God who pays accordingly,

and He will repay Babylon in full.

Eternal One: I will make her leaders and wise men drunk

as well as her governors, leaders, and mighty warriors.

And when they fall asleep, they will sleep forever,

So says the King, whose name is the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

Eternal One: The wide and sturdy walls of Babylon will be toppled,

and her massive city gates will be set on fire.

The people toiled to build those walls,

but it was all in vain.

Prisoners from other lands exhausted themselves to build this city,

but their work went up in flames.

Jeremiah the prophet gave the following order to Seraiah (son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah), when Seraiah was accompanying Zedekiah (king of Judah) to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah worked in the king’s administration. Jeremiah had written on a scroll all of the terrible things that would one day happen to Babylon (those things which you have just read). Once this important message had been recorded, he said to Seraiah,

Jeremiah: When you get to Babylon, find a public place and read aloud every single word written on this scroll. Then say loud enough for others to hear, “O Eternal One, You have promised that You will destroy this place so that neither man nor beast will live here. Babylon will then be a wasteland forever.” When you have finished reading the scroll and saying these things, tie it to a heavy stone and throw it into the Euphrates River. Then say loud enough for others to hear, “Just as this stone and scroll sink, so will Babylon and her people sink, never to rise again, for they shall be tired after the disaster I, the Lord, am bringing to her.”

The messages of Jeremiah end here.

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 51 (The Voice)

A set of notes from The Voice translation:

Prophets see things not as they are but as they will be. Babylon is still powerful, but her end is coming. Jeremiah sees her fall as an accomplished fact.

This strongly worded message about Babylon is the last of the oracles against the nations. Such is the message that the prophet Jeremiah is called to give—even while Babylon’s power is at its height. And so in 594 b.c., before the final fall of Jerusalem, the prophet to the nations delivers this prophecy to the exiles already in Babylon and—if they choose to listen—to the Babylonians themselves. Jeremiah instructs an assistant to the king of Judah to take this oracle to Babylon and read it aloud. As if that is not enough, he then instructs the man to perform a symbolic act—the sort of thing Jeremiah himself would do if he were there. His willing accomplice will dramatize the ultimate sinking of the Babylonian Empire by fulfilling the prophet’s strange request.

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, October 21 of 2023 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about 6 days and 6,000 years, and 7 days (a complete week) and 7,000 years:

Jewish tradition has long held that human history (olam hazeh) would endure for 6,000 years - from the time of the impartation of the neshamah (soul) to Adam in the Garden of Eden to the coming of the Messiah. There were two primary arguments for this view of history. First, the sages argued that a “divine day” (יוֹם) equaled 1,000 years based on Psalm 90:4: “A thousand years (אֶלֶף שָׁנִים) in your sight is as a day (i.e., ke’yom: כְּיוֹם).” They reasoned that since man was made in the image of God, and the Torah describes six days of creation followed by a day of divine rest, mankind (as a whole) was therefore allotted 6 x 1,000 years (i.e., 6,000) for “works” to be established in the world, followed by a 1,000 year Shabbat (Sanhedrin 97a, Rosh Hashana 31a). The ancient Seder Olam Rabbah catalogs historical events from the start of Creation according to the 6,000 years of history. Humanity will have its time of reign on earth for 6,000 years and then the Messiah will begin his reign in the 7th millennium, a "Sabbath" of sacred history. Later midrash goes along with this basic outline: "Six eons for going in and coming out, for war and for peace. The seventh eon is entirely Shabbat and rest for life everlasting” (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer). The Apostle Peter may also have had this in mind when he wrote, “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8).

Second, the Jewish mystics argued that there are six letters in the first word of the Torah, bereshit (בראשׁית), and since there are six Alephs (א) in the very first verse of the Torah, and that each Aleph (אלף) represents 1,000, there must be 6,000 years of human history. The Zohar states, "The redemption of Israel will come about through the mystic force of the letter “Vav” [the sixth letter of the Aleph-bet, corresponding to the sixth Aleph] in the sixth millennium. Happy are those who will be left alive at the end of the sixth millennium to enter the Shabbat, which is the seventh millennium; for that is a day set apart for the Holy One to effect the union of new souls with old souls in the world" (Zohar, Vayera 119a).

So according to both the sages and the mystics, human history will persist for 6,000 years - 1,000 years for each day of creation - followed by a 1,000 year “Shabbat” that represents the Messianic Age of global and universal peace. After the Messiah appears, there will be peace on earth, and all the promises of God given through the prophets will be fulfilled. It is worth noting that in the discussion from the Talmud, the 6,000 years of human history are divided into three epochs of 2,000 years (i.e., two days) each. The period of “tohu” (ימי טוהו) occurred from the time of the fall of Adam until the call of Abraham; the period of “Torah” (ימי תורה) occurred from Abraham until the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, and the period of the “Messiah” (ימי המשיח) refers to the time when the Messiah could appear to Israel before the Kingdom is established in Zion.

Note that the time immediately preceding the appearance of the Messiah will be a time of testing in which the world will undergo various forms of tribulation, called chevlei Mashiach (חֶבְלֵי הַמָּשִׁיחַ) - the “birth pangs of the Messiah” (Sanhedrin 98a; Ketubot, Bereshit Rabbah 42:4, Matt. 24:8). Some say the birth pangs are to last for 70 years, with the last 7 years being the most intense period of tribulation -- called the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” (ימי צרת יעקב, from Jer. 30:7). The climax of the “Great Tribulation” (הצרה הגדולה) is called the great “Day of the LORD” (יוֹם־יהוה הַגָּדוֹל) which represents God’s wrath poured out upon a rebellious world system. On this fateful day, the LORD will terribly shake the entire earth (Isa. 2:19) and worldwide catastrophes will occur. "For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Rev. 6:17). The prophet Malachi likewise says: "'Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the LORD Almighty. 'Not a root or a branch will be left to them'" (Mal. 4:1). Only after the nations of the world have been judged will the Messianic kingdom (מלכות המשיח) be established upon the earth. The remnant of Israel will be saved and the 1000 year reign of King Messiah will then commence (Rev. 20:4).

As for the exact timing of these events, “no one knows the day or hour.” In fact, various Jewish sages have argued for “missing years” in the prophetic calendar (due to periods of exile or other factors) and therefore they say that the Day of the LORD may be delayed on account of national sins. For example, based on the gematria of the first two words of a verse from the Torah (i.e., וְהָיָה עֵקֶב, Deut. 7:12) Rashi explained that the 2,000 years of the Days of Messiah actually began 198 after the destruction of the Second Temple. "198 years after the destruction of the Temple the bells of the Messiah will be heard" (i.e., the days of the Messiah would begin). According to Rashi, the delay was the result of Israel’s sin. (On the other hand, many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe they can “hasten” the Messiah’s appearance through special acts of teshuvah: “Mashiach Now!”).

Since the sages of Jewish tradition state that the "days of Messiah" (ימי המשיח) began after 4,000 years of history (i.e., after four "days"), we can understand the fervent Messianic expectation among the Jewish people during the first century in Judea. The Essenes were eagerly awaiting the advent of the “Teacher of Righteousness” and the “Zealots” wanted to establish the Kingdom of God by force of arms. if necessary. Even the common people of Israel expected that the Messiah would come soon appear to ransom captive Israel. It was in this context, then, in the “fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4), that our Lord Yeshua began His earthly ministry as the Suffering Slave (העבד הסובל) who redeemed us from the "tochechah," or the judgment of the law that held us captive (see: Lev. 26:14-45; Isa. 52:13-53:12; Gal. 3:13, Col. 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:24).

So to quickly review what has been said, both Jewish tradition (i.e., masorah: מָסוֹרָה) and ancient Jewish commentary (i.e., midrash: מִדרָשׁ) say that the six days of creation described in the Torah parallel six millennia of human history. The first day (היום הראשון) God created light which stands for the first thousand years that Adam lived: "He was the light of the world because he recognized his Creator." On the second day (היום השני) God separated the sky and the seas, which foretold when Noah was separated from the world of men at the time of the great flood. The sages here note that the Torah does not say "it was good" on the second day because of the great judgment upon the earth.

On the third day (היום השלישי) the earth became fertile and the first fruits were created, foretelling the time of Abraham and his descendants who accepted God's commandments. The fourth day (היום הרביעי) God created the sun and the moon, symbolizing the light of the two Temples and the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. On the fifth day (היום החמישי) the birds and fish were created, picturing the advent of Messiah and his followers who would fill heaven and earth. The six day (היום השישי) God created Adam, for within six thousand years the Messiah, the "Second Adam," would come to judge the nations and to restore Israel.

Finally, the seventh day (היום השביעי), or the Sabbath, represents the 1,000 year period of peace of the Kingdom of Zion, as foretold by the prophets. We rest on this day in honor of Messiah's finished work and his reign as King over all the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Note that this overall view of human history is consistent with the Christian eschatology of classical “dispensationalism,” a theological framework that helped the Zionist movement establish the modern State of Israel.

Addendum: What about the "Gap Theory?"

Some people have postulated a "gap" of indeterminate time between the first two verses of the Book of Genesis, namely: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1) ... [gap] ... "and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The implicit hermeneutical assumption is that God created the heavens and earth but then something catastrophic happened: Satan rebelled, the earth became a realm of chaos, "without form and void,” and darkness was over the face of the deep."

Instead of reading the opening verse as a grammatical summary statement of what is to follow, the "gap" theory reads the subsequent verse as a description of a cataclysmic state of the earth that resulted from divine judgment. In other words, the original earth was created before the description of the subsequent "creation week." This is supported because at the beginning of the narrative the earth is described as formless and empty (הָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ), darkness was upon the "face of the abyss" (חֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְה֑וֹם), and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters (רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם). When God therefore said, "Let there be light" (יְהִי אוֹר), He was recreating the heavens and earth, and the subsequent "days" of the creation narrative therefore pertain to this remade world.

The motive for the gap theory is to harmonize the biblical account of creation with modern scientific theories and presuppositions. The “gap” allows the earth to be billions of years old, subject to evolutionary biological processes, and to account for modern cosmological reasoning that vast amounts of time were required for light from the stars to reach the earth. In other words, the gap theory attempts to synthesize the claims of modern physical sciences such as geology, biology, and astrophysics, with the idea that the earth is only several thousands of years old (the age of the earth being derived from a literal reading of the creation account combined with the earliest genealogies presented in the Bible).

Most of the early parshanim (Jewish commentators) believe God created the universe "yesh me'ayin, or "ex nihilo" (out of nothing), but some (e.g., Rashi, Nachmanides, etc.) entertained the possibility that raw materials preexisted (e.g., earth, fire, water, and air) before this world began... Later kabalistic mystics, influenced as they were by pagan neo-Platonic Greek philosophy, taught that the world was created by "divine emanations" and that there were earlier forms of creation that God had dissolved in his quest to "perfect" the creation and make it just as he wanted... Some midrashim (traditional Jewish commentaries) say that these early worlds were rejected by God because the man did not eat the forbidden fruit and therefore did not need redemption and sanctification, and because of this God started over. In this connection it should be noted that even if there were any pre-Adamic people, it would have no bearing on the message of the Scriptures given for the generation of the heavens and earth today. In other words, it is irrelevant from a soteriological point of view, since the essential message of the Bible is how fallen humanity may be saved from sin and spiritual death by the salvation given in Yeshua.

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Psalm 90:4a reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm90-4a-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm90-4a-lesson.pdf

10.19.23 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel 365:

Shabbat, at its core, is a celebration of creation and of God as the Creator, as it says in Exodus 20:11

For in six days Hashem made heaven and earth and sea—and all that is in them—and then rested on the seventh day; therefore Hashem blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

Shabbat serves as a reminder that God alone is the ultimate architect of the universe, and therefore He is the one and only true God.

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

October 21, 2023

The Vine

“What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:4)

In Scripture we find many references to vines and vineyards, but there are three major passages that together reveal three aspects concerning the character of God and His love for His people.

The first, Isaiah 5:1-7, includes our text. Here we find that God, the owner, planter, and caretaker of the vineyard, cannot contain His disappointment, for despite the loving care showered upon the vine, it has brought forth improper, worthless fruit. In this parable, “the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant” (v. 7), the chosen people who had seen more clearly than anyone else His abundant provision, but who had chosen to reject Him and not bear Him fruit. To them, and to those of us who reject His cultivating grace, He says, “I will lay it waste” (v. 6).

Psalm 80:8-19 gives us a picture of the abject desolation of the unfruitful vineyard once it is abandoned by the vinedresser. It is ravaged by enemies, wild animals, and fire, utterly helpless. The “vine” (Israel) may cry for help and restoration, but there are consequences to be paid. What a graphic picture this is, and what a reminder to believers today that we cannot for long ignore His will for our lives.

The last and most precious passage is found in John 15:1-16 and concerns fruitbearing. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (v. 5). Here are found the secrets of the believer’s growth and fertility in glorious union with Christ. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (v. 8). JDM

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horizon-armor · 2 years ago

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Tenakth Vindicator Cold Sands Lowland Stalker Night Blood Renegade Sentinel Scorched Ochre

All Dyes

#armor-name-vindicator #armor-name-vindicator-1 #armor-tribe-tenakth #armor-tribe-tenakth-1 #armor-rarity-veryrare #armor-rarity-veryrare-1 #armor-spec-mixedgear #armor-spec-mixedgear-1

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cluelessmoose · 2 years ago

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Hello! I've been working my way through Follow the Lights and I was wondering, would you be able to go more in depth of how magically adept each Link is and who is most and least affected by the portals/shine magic? I find the incorporation of their inherent magic such a cool element in the story along with the soulbonds the boys share with each other.

I absolutely would LOVE to! Three things to note before I begin , though:

First off, I've got things mentally split between active magic and passive magic. Active magic is a spell, like Hyrule's Life or Fairy spell and Time's Nayru's Love. This is a direct use of magic, and requires more skill, power, and awareness of one's magic to use, hence why only stronger magic users can generally perform it. Passive magic on the other hand is using a magic tool, so pretty much any 'item' in any of the Chain's arsenals that have any kind of cool property. Fire rod, Wind's baton, Twilight's sword. Still needs magic to power, but the shape of the magic is already built into the tool, so the Link is just acting as fuel, basically. All this to just give myself a ranking system: Links who use active magic are stronger, more self-aware magic users than those who only use passive magic.

All the Chain is naturally more magically gifted than the average person, but they vary a lot in terms of power and skill between them.

Secondly, the portal that brought the Chain to Wild's Hyrule in FtL is not indicative of /every/ portal they go through; something went wrong, some kind of clash between Hylia's time and space voodoo and Wild's Sheikah tech or whatever, and the Chain got caught in the backlash. So most of them would be perfectly fine in the portal travels (except Four and Roolie, poor beans), but THIS ONE was an outlier

Which brings us to the third thing to tie those together: The reason magic strength/sensitivity matters is because the magical shockwave of that collison between portal and sheikah tech did more in bigger magic pools and affected those more attuned to their magic more harshly. Hyrule and Time pay the most attention to their magic, so when something messes with it it's way worse for them than say, Legend, who's really magically strong but pays less constant attention to his own magic.

So, as if that wasn't already an information dump, here they are in order of weakest to strongest magically, and how they are/were affected by the initial portal vs. shrine travel with Wild:

1)Twilight!

Twi is, so far as Links go, a magical dud. He has some items that are magical in nature - the shadow crystal, some armor, and his hawk eye mask to name the most important ones- but none of them require any kind of skill from him, at ALL. Literally they just need him to add magic, no shaping it, no directionality or nuances. Even the dark crystal is more of a curse than anything. So the initial arrival at the shrine for him was nothing, like at all. Did he even pass out? Probably not. He never got teleported by Wild's slate, but if he /had/ it would have knocked him on his ass for the greater part of the next 24 hours, which would have been vindicating for Four and Hyrule especially considering how utterly unruffled he usually is by the portals.

2) Warriors:

Wars is better than Twilight so far as shaping his magic goes, but not by much. Part of why he likes the fire rod so much- he can control the flame, but since its /fire/ if he flubs it up it doesn't matter, who cares as long as the monster's being roasted? He's not too terribly phased by the initial portal dump into Wild's Hyrule since he's barely aware at all of his own magic usually, but he's a bit woozy afterwards. The shrine teleportation is gonna knock him RIGHT out though, and he's gonna be pretty useless for a good few hours after he wakes up, too.

3) Wind!

Based on what little I recall of his games, Wind doesn't actually use any spells, but I still give him active magic points for being able to see and interact with ghosts in Phantom Hourglass, and the Wind Waker may be a passive magic item but it's pretty involved so far as magic control would go, so he gets added skill/power for that. Still ranks pretty low on the power scale, but he's young yet and that factors in as well. The portal wasn't very fun for him, though his youth had some to do with that -sick for awhile afterward, poor little guy- but the shrine teleporting wouldn't be great either. He'd pass out for sure, and everybody would FREAK OUT. Do it twice? Fever for sure

4) Sky

He and Wind are actually tied very closely, but I'm gonna give Sky the benefit of the doubt being much closer to the Goddess' blessing as the Chosen Hero and her future husband. Not that he himself is very powerful or skilled, but he does radiate power, even if its not exactly his to use very freely. He's not super magically sensitive on a conscious level, but he does get weirdly accurate vibes, so there's some unconscious 'listening' going on for sure. The initial portal arrival knocked him out and made him nauseous, and the shrine teleport did much the same. He's about as balanced as you can get for reactions to the two means of Links getting whacked around Wild's Hyrule.

5) Four

Four's got the FourSword and the Shadow thing and the Minish transformation as well as a whole slew of magical items, so he gets boosted to middle of the pack. He's pretty skilled but very specialized and not overly powerful magic wise, which is why he's not ranked higher. The portal threw him for an absolute LOOP but the Colors are always the real confounding factor there, which is why his reaction was so very bad even though he's only ranked at number 5. Shrine teleport -when he's not already hypothermic, hehe whoops- wouldn't be so bad: very refreshing, for once. Worth the literal headache if it means not being split into four broken pieces and smashed back together HYLIA LOOKING AT YOU

6) Time

Time has some actual spells -one for each goddess- and all of those masks as well, each with its own ability. This makes for a pretty strong and flexible magic user in him, and since magic tends to grow with age (by virtue of experience and use if nothing else) then that only boosts him higher. The initial arrival via portal sucked quite a bit for him -boy did it ever mess with his magic and he HATED that because of how in control he usually has it- and the fact that he got a particularly zappy shrine didn't help at all. Wild taking him somewhere via shrine would leave him staggering a little but otherwise okay

7) Legend

Look I know nothing about his games but he seems very /magical/ so honestly basis or no I'm putting him HERE on the list because I stan a mage Legend. He's got all the tools and knows how to use everyone of them, and he's also got the most know how, with Time as a close second for theoretical knowledge and Hyrule having the most instinctual knowledge but that's VERY useless when it comes to explaining something, though interesting to discuss and puzzle out from Roolie's weird descriptions (and boy do they). The original portal jump would take him out at the KNEES, so here's hoping there's nothing too dangerous around while he's passed out and recovering. A normal shrine jump wouldn't be so bad, but what actually happened in FtL was that since Wild was so low Legend donated his own magic to power it for both of them, which is why he was so whooped and Wild was surprisingly not completely down for the count despite the shape he was in before using the slate again. yes, Legend did this on purpose. No, Wild has no idea

8) Wild

speaking of, here he is! I'd like to reiterate that this is in terms of strength, not skill, or else Wild would rank lower. But in terms of raw amount, he's got everyone except Hyrule beat. He had the powers of the Champions (active magic, though they were the ones wielding it through him so he loses points) and his own time manipulation in the form of bullet time. Not to mention his constant use of the slate, which has built up his stores by a crazy amount. He didn't go through the portal, but if he did it actually wouldn't have affected him that badly, considering it was his own world. So no snap-back, no weird magic that messed with Rule and Time so badly, because it would have been familiar to him. We all know he can take the shrine travel like, twenty at a time usually, but eh, it's attuned to his magic so he's getting major bargains so far as magic consumption goes on that.

9) Hyrule

Its probably not a huge surprise to find out that Roolie's the strongest, magic wise, at least in the FtL universe. I love the idea that he's part fairy, and he's got the largest arsenal of actual spells in his games. He's got far fewer magical items, but because of the active magic he's still way out in front. This is why he got wreckt on the initial portal landing in wild's world. His fairy heritage didn't help, but he almost went into toxic magic shock or whatever and despite what he thought, could have died if the Great Fairy hadn't been nearby. He didn't do so hot when Wild teleported him with the slate, but to be honest that was more the overuse of magic and lingering heat exhaustion then anything else. Were he at peak strength, he'd brush a shrine teleport off with Wild's usual ease.

This is messy and idk how helpful it is but if you want clarification feel free to ASK

I've got no problem at all continuing to ramble on~

#follow the lights #follow the lights q&a

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martianbugsbunny · 2 years ago

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OUAT Thoughts Pt.10--Episodes 22-1

I have watched through S2E1; spoilers DNI. Also, spoiler warning for those further behind than I am.

—I spent the entirety of both episodes screaming internally.

—Mmm…..Rumplestiltskin in a V-neck…..*and* leather vest…..*and* a cape…..all at the same time....

—Y’all, my mom has postulated that Henry’s father could possibly be Rump’s son, and that theory is killing me! Like the family drama isn’t thick enough already?

—It was fun to see Emma lose it on the Evil Queen at the hospital.

—Also, it’s nice that Emma appears to finally have her act together for real.

—Lovely of this show to acknowledge that true love isn’t limited just to romantic/sexual love. Familial love is probably the strongest possible bond two people can have. Like, if I was married? Yeah, maybe I’d die for that person, but I’d die for my sibs without hesitation.

—Rumplestiltskin sword fighting is one of the most intimidatingly beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

—The number of “dearie”s in these two episodes was insane—not that I’m complaining.

—Cool, everybody got about 30 seconds of happiness…and now we’re right back in sad and/or living hell territory.

—I definitely cried at the end of episode 22, when Snow White and Prince Charming finally reunited. “I will always find you” is the perfect promise for them, and their musical theme is lovely. (I hate it when their musical theme is used for angsty moments, though. That’s just mean.)

—SPEAKING OF ANGST…I get the feeling Rump and Belle are going to have a lot of it. They reunite, but she doesn’t remember him; she remembers, and he magics the town; she gets upset because he’s like Houdini, but with words, and leaves him; she comes back, and he wants her to leave again to protect her. They seem like maybe they’re a little bit together for now, but I don’t think it’s going to last.

—The bit where Snow reunited with her Murder Squad was fun. Probably the last bit of fun Snow is ever going to get, but, you know, that’s how this show works.

—I’m already in love with Mulan. I guessed it was her basically from the second she showed up; that armor is definitely not European in design. Her armor is gorgeous, by the way; I love the mixed metal and cloth and leatherier bits. And her hairstyle is super pretty. And her face. Her face is pretty too.

—Aurora, though? Not a fan. She’s got a ten-foot-pole up her ass.

—Philip was definitely not worth fighting over. He’s boring. And for Pete’s sake, Mulan in the original movie had Captain Li Shang, OUAT Mulan deserves someone of that caliber too.

—I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Mr. Gold wearing his shirt and tie without his suit jacket before.

—Do I use fairytale names for them now, or do I stick with the “real” names?

—I’d bet on Mulan to win in a fight between her and Emma. Emma’s tough, but Mulan is tougher.

—Snow White’s a bit of a toss-up. I mean, girl’s set a lot of things on fire recently. She also pretty scrappy.

—I don’t mind that Maleficent appears to be dead. CHUMP.

—I feel terrible for both Henry and Prince Charming. Henry just got two grandparents, and his entire sanity vindicated, and now his mom and grandmother are gone. Charming just got his wife and daughter back, and now they’re gone again. The entire Charming family is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. (Actually, it feels more like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad life.)

—I adore the fact that “I will always find you” has quickly become the Charming family motto.

—The Rumplestiltskin is leeching into Mr. Gold a little bit more. Really, Robert Carlyle is an excellent actor, it’s his portrayal that really sells it.

—What the heck has happened to Pinocchio? Is he dead? Is he going to be revived? Does Gepetto know? What about Jiminy?

—The first season? 10/10, would cram it down your throat *very lovingly* The pain the first season has caused me? 1/10; very terrible to watch these people suffer, but at least I’m emotionally invested in something.

—*lies staring at the ceiling, rethinking all of these people’s life choices* *languishes* *already prepared to do it again tomorrow tho*

#once upon a time #ouat #rumplestiltskin #mr. gold #Emma swan #Henry #pinocchio #mulan #Snow White #prince James charming #evil queen #maleficent #prince Philip charming #gepetto #jiminy cricket #aurora #belle #true love's kiss #martianbugsbunny reviews

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genderfluidtechnoblade · 3 years ago

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Hello! I am here to please ask for a crash course on Vault Hunters! I watched HBomb's stream mid season 1, was confused, then I watched Pete's first episode and I was very confused and gave up. But I would love to watch hbomb and pete's streams so understanding vault hunters would be so good. - cat

CRACKS MY KNUCKLES. LADIES AND GENTS THIS IS THE MOMENT YOU'VE WAITED FOR.

vault hunters is an smp created by iskall hermitcraft<3 and his dev team! vault hunters is a custom mod pack including several custom mods as well as mods you may recognize if you've been into the mcyt/minecraft mod scene for a while (mechanism, biomes o'plenty, create, etc)

the goal of vault hunters is to collect a certain number of unique artifacts- last season it was 16, this season it's 25. artifacts are a rare drop that you get from killing a boss at the end of a vault. a vault is a custom dimension that creates a randomly generated labyrinth that the player has to go through. the vaults have chests/loot, multiple rare ores, and monsters protecting them. when a vault is created, it spawns about 10 obelisks total (grey pillars in the middle of the room), and a player has to find anywhere between 3 to 6 of them to spawn the boss and defeat it. once you enter a vault, if you die you lose everything you have on you with no chance of recovering it, and the only way to escape is to kill the boss or to leave the way you came through the portal (but sometimes the vaults are locked and you CANT leave)

the vault custom mods create lots of custom items to help with the vaults, such as more powerful magical apples (they can give haste, complete immunity to all damage, a higher chance of deflecting damage, and even more luck!), vault gear (which is the armor that everyone wears- its custom textures, and its stronger than vanilla OR modded armor. it can also "level" and get attributes that make it stronger, such as more armor, more durability, and special modifications like slow falling or resistance), and other miscellaneous things to help the hunters.

the vault custom mods also generates rare ores that are vault gems. these gems glow brightly, and each hunter has one named after them (in season one, hbomb and antonio ash didn't have gems named after them, but rendog did, even after he dropped out and was unable to keep playing <3). these rare gems are important to create many of the custom vault items, AND because many modded recipes have been altered to be more expensive and to include these rare gems.

mods are locked behind research as well, so a player has to save up "knowledge points" (a very rare and expensive item) in order to be able to use certain mods, which means that some players can do things that others cant with certain mods. certain items from mods you may recognize may have been removed, or made more expensive with custom ingredients so the player is forced to work and save up to get powerful items.

there is also the concept of leveling- vault hunters is a viewer interaction based game. every time a viewer supports their streamer with a sub, a resub, bits of any amount, a sub gift of any amount, or a donation, this triggers an amount of leveling to the in game level counter. the larger the contribution, the larger the level up. after a certain amount of support, the player reaches a new skill level. every skill level increase, the vaults become harder (the mobs will receive more armor, better weapons, and more difficult mobs like skeletons and vindicators are added to the spawn pool) and the player receives a "skill point" they can use to unlock certain attributes to help in the vault, such as more hearts, permanent strength increases, permanent luck increases, and other miscellaneous helpful things.

(IMPORTANT: YOU CAN STILL AFFECT LEVELING WITHOUT MONEY! no this isn't a plug for twitch prime. saving up channel points to redeem a relic booster pack will help the player level up AND get items! its a two for one! pay your taxes!)

these are the core aspects of vault hunters, imo- everything else that can seem complicated stems from the concepts of running vaults, the mods that are installed, the mods that have been altered, and the reason viewer interaction is important. vault hunters is also on a time limit- there are only a few months in order to get all of the artifacts! thats why pete and hbomb stream it basically every day (especially pete, since he joined a month late to the smp... also because its a really fun game lmao)

iskall's dev team and iskall himself worked really hard on vault hunters, and it's genuinely my favorite smp/source of mcyt content. if you ever have a question dm me i will literally give you my discord and i will infodump at you for as long as you will let me.

tldr; the point of vault hunters is to run custom dungeons in order to fight bosses and get lots of shiny loot in order to do it over and over again, so they can collect all of the rare artifacts and win the game. its very good you should watch it.

#i am a normal dsmp blog :)#((VAULT HUNTERS SUPREMACY VAULT HUNTERS SUPREMACY VAULT HUNTERS SUPREMACY))#come closer :)#asks #anon

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shadowron · 2 years ago

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Magic Items Suck in Shadowrun

…and it’s time we confronted that fact.

Even if we all hadn’t come from a background familiar with Dungeons & Dragons or other Fantasy Role-Playing Games (FRPGs), magical items are ubiquitous enough in cultures and mythologies worldwide that the average chummer could name half a dozen of them off the top of their head.

Excalibur and the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend.

Flying carpets and djinni bottles.

Invisibility cloaks and rings of power.

These were all lifted and woven into Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, D&D, WoW… And Shadowrun, well, to quote the Great Prophet of Cyberpunk, William Gibson:

“So when I see things like ShadowRun, the only negative thing I feel about it is that initial extreme revulsion at seeing my literary DNA mixed with elves. Somewhere somebody's sitting and saying 'I've got it! We're gonna do William Gibson and Tolkien!'”

He’s not wrong.

There are elves and dragons and dwarves and wizards and orcs and street samurai and hackers and cyberware and zaibatsu and smartguns. And Shadowrun does a great job of integrating all those things together in a balanced way that has now seen the game go through six TTRPG editions, dozens of novels, and an expanding universe of video games.

So why do its magic items suck?

Reason #1: Magic items can only be used by magicians.

For all of the other fantasy DNA fragments that Shadowrun CRISPR’ed into Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy, one they did not is the ability of Bilbo-san to pick up a magic ring in the Lonely Mountain Barrens and immediately turn invisible to evade, uh, cyber-Gollum.

Reason #2: Magic items mostly augment a magician’s abilities, not grant new ones.

The various Foci (Spell, Spirit, Power) provide extra dice for Sorcery, Conjuring, and Magic, respectively. You could argue that a Spell lock can be used by a non-magician, except that it requires a magician to cast the spell that gets “locked” onto the recipient (and must pay the Karma cost).

A magic weapon is a Power Focus in the shape of a weapon that can be used in Astral Space, and if it has a crunchy candy coating of Orichalcum, then it adds its rating to the magician’s Armed Combat dice pool. This is the closest that Shadowrun comes to creating something like Glamdring – wielded by Gandalf against the Balrog in the Mines of Moria.

Reason #3: Magic items can only be used after spending Karma to bond them to the magician.

Karma is what Shadowrun uses for experience points, so in addition to using Karma to increase attributes and skills like the rest of the runners, magicians also have to use Karma to do things like learn new spells and undergo initiation.

But don’t worry – there is a simple fix.

Just relax Reason #1 above, at least. Any character can use a magic item, even if they must pay Karma to have it bonded. Mechanically, just have magic items provide flat bonuses to certain skills (or armor or damage) or invoke spell effects.

Sting, which famously glowed blue when orcs were about, now is a Dagger Weapon Focus with the ability to Detect Ork. Which is a real Shadowrun spell.

But why restrict ourselves to fantasy weapons? This is cyberpunk!

From The Grimoire (1st Edition):

Though rumors of enchanted missiles abound and the military-industrial complex is funding massive research, no one has yet found a way to enchant any kind of missile, much less firearms or bullets. A weapon focus only functions when I the hands of its owner.

Cowards!

Bind spirits to ammo. A fire elemental in a FirePower round for extra boom. A slivergun whose shards are guided by storm spirit that electrocutes the target as well. An Earth Elemental stabilizes a Vindicator Minigun so you can have a true recoilless rifle.

A cyberdeck whose circuitry is made with orichalcum. Enchanted cybereyes that can Astrally perceive.

You got cool ideas? Drop ‘em below.

#shadowrun #gandalf #lotr #william gibson

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jgvfhl · 3 years ago

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THE NUMBER LADS ARE STILL HERE!!

Some of these chapters might be uh... less than consistent with the actual chronology of TCW but that's what they get when they don't air the episodes in order! (Read Part 1 and Part 2!)

CT-2222 = Do-si-do = Double Trouble

CT-3333 = Trees = Leafs

ARC-5555 = Fives (duh) = high fives

ARC-1409 = Echo (honorary number lad) = BetterDomino

CC-6666 = Sixes/Death = DEATH

ARC-7777 = Sevenset = RedBoiiiii

CT-8888 = Loops = Loopy

Trees had almost forgotten about the Numbers meeting. Honestly, the only thing reminding him of the day of the week was his own internal clock. A lot had happened, okay? Geonosis was never “fun” for anyone, and he was just glad it was over. His general and commander had both nearly died there--which was only a first for Commander Offee, because that had been the second campaign to Geonosis, and that wasn’t even including the damn brain worms--kriffing sithspit he needed a nap.

But a nap would wait until he could tell the others he was okay. Fortunately, he’d set a reminder for it, so at least he wouldn’t be getting half a dozen comms from Sevenset or Do-si-do about being late. The rest of his squadron was sound asleep by the time the meeting was supposed to start, so out of courtesy, Trees walked to the mess hall, which, at this time, was all but empty. One or two others milled about, looking just as exhausted as Trees felt. He took a seat in one corner, setting the holoprojector on the table and waiting for the transmission to start.

And trying not to fall asleep.

Sevenset started the meeting, Fives and Echo standing beside him like they had last month. They were approaching graduation by now, weren’t they?

“Hey, Trees,” Sevenset smiled.

“Hi.”

“How was bug world?” Fives asked.

Trees gave them a deadpan stare. “How do you think? I’m sure your friends in Torrent have plenty of stories.” The 501st had also been on Geonosis--their Commander Tano had been with Commander Offee onboard the medical transport infested with kriffing brain worms.

Echo smirked. “Yeah, we heard General Skywalker and Commander Tano threw Captain Rex off a building.”

“They did what?” Loops had appeared just as Echo had started speaking.

“Yeah, they’ve done it a lot, apparently,” Fives nodded.

“Kinda sad I missed it,” his batcher said.

“Devastated.”

Trees blinked slowly. “You aren’t. Believe me.”

Sevenset chuckled. “Yeah, you look like you’re falling asleep over there.”

Trees rubbed his face. “Yeah well,” he sighed, resting his chin on his hand, “when your general and commander nearly die twice on the same campaign, and somehow it involves mind controlling parasites, you’d be a little tired.”

The other four all raised their eyebrows at him. Before they had time to ask questions, however, a third hologram appeared. Trees recognized Do-si-do instantly, sitting at a table instead of in his cockpit like normal. But next to him was a new face--as it were. Judging from the glasses on the table and the shifting lighting, they were at 79s on Coruscant. Lucky bastards.

“I found zero!” Do-si-do announced happily. The man next to him gave a little two-finger salute.

Right after that, two more holograms appeared, which made Trees blink and sit up a bit straighter. He was used to Commander Sixes by now--honestly, he was--but after years of training to recognize COs and react accordingly, it was hard to shake the urge to go to attention. But the commander wasn’t the only one joining. Judging by the dull fuschia color of his armor, this was number four, from the Nova Corps.

He looked like he would rather crawl under a rock. Trees had felt similarly upon being press-ganged by Sevenset and Do-si-do to join them.

Sevenset’s face lit up at the two new holograms. “Commander!”

“Stow it, ARC,” came the immediate gruff reply.

“We’ve got two ARCs now,” Do-si-do was quick to point out, tapping the pauldrons of the man next to him.

The commander looked at the newcomer, then looked back at Sevenset. “He knows who I mean.”

“Indeed I do,” the ARC in question answered. “But hey! Two whole new numbers!” Trees couldn’t help the small smile forming on his face. Sevenset’s joy was contagious. “What do we call you guys?”

“I’m Zero,” the man next to Do-si-do replied. He had dark green paint over his armor, --maybe now Trees could convince Sevenset to change his name in the group chat to something other than Green Bean. His pauldrons were both green, and there was an inverted chevron visible over his grey chestpiece. Zero’s head was shaved on both sides, leaving a wide strip of curls down the center, and a tattoo on one side that Trees couldn’t quite make out from the hologram. He also caught sight of wide loops set into his earlobes. This guy almost had Sevenset beat for aesthetic.

They all turned their attention to the marine, who shrank back minisculely from his holoprojector. “Uhm…” He looked like he’d bolt at the next opportunity.

“It’s just your name, marine,” the commander prompted.

Instantly, the man answered, “Fours. I’m Fours.” Fours looked almost regulation from where Trees was sitting. It was hard to tell over hologram, but there might have been the remnants of a dye-job in his short hair, but it was too overgrown to be recognizable. The Nova Corps really didn’t get much time off. The armor they could see on him had vertical stripes painted over each shoulder, ending mid-way down his chestplate, as well as one down the center of his chest, and stripes down each shoulder bell.

Sevenset beamed at them both. “Well, welcome to the party. I’m Sevenset. I see Fours has already met the charming Commander Sixes.” The rest of them introduced themselves one by one, with Sevenset mentioning Echo’s “honorary number status” briefly.

“So… what do you guys actually do in these meetings?” Zero asked afterwards.

Several of the older members shrugged. Sevenset answered, “Eh, just chat. Or… I dunno, spread gossip.”

“They’re largely useless,” the commander said plainly.

Trees smirked at Sevenset’s eyeroll. “Yet, you keep coming to them, Commander,” the red ARC reminded him.

Do-si-do added, “He’s actually never missed one since you dragged him into it.”

Trees could confirm that--he often kept tabs on attendance just so he knew when to be worried if someone missed out. But he also wanted to keep watching Sevenset and Do-si-do taunt Death.

Zero and Fours both looked surprised, although Fours’ expression was a bit harder to read. He was still pretty on-edge. “How did you get Commander Death to join, anyway?” Zero asked, swirling the contents of his glass.

“Sheer willpower,” Sevenset answered smugly.

The commander crossed his arms. “I’m actually waiting for your last functioning brain cell to die from lack of stimulation. It’ll be funnier on camera.”

Fives and Do-si-do both burst out laughing--a problem for the latter, who had just taken a mouthful from his drink and consequently sprayed half of it across the table. Echo and Loops simply had huge grins on their faces, an expression Trees found mirrored on his own face. Sevenset had a sort of strained smile as he waited for Fives and Do-si-do to recover.

“I’m touched you have so much concern for me, Commander.”

“Oh, I’m concerned, alright.” The remark made Fives and Do-si-do break up again.

The commander was definitely warming up to the group, even Trees could see it. He would probably never admit it, but since his first meeting, he’d thawed a bit. Trees almost wished he could have seen their first meeting on Kamino, just to know how close the commander had been to wringing Sevenset’s neck. For old time’s sake.

Once the laughter had died down into smiles, Zero looked to the two batchers standing with Sevenset. “When are you two graduating, anyway?”

“Next week!” Fives announced, beaming with pride.

“Yeah, we get our new gear tomorrow,” Echo smiled.

“Which means this guy,” Fives added, putting an arm around his brother’s shoulders, “is going to stay up all night reading about it, right Echo?”

Echo shrugged his arm off with a well-worn scowl. Trees frowned a little. “Hey, reading up on the kit isn’t a bad idea. I did it. I’ll probably do it again when Phase Two comes out, whenever that’s gonna be.”

Vindicated, Echo folded his arms and lifted his chin at his brother, who rolled his eyes. Zero tipped his glass towards them. “Well, you survived this long. Have fun next week.” He drained what was left of the drink, then slid the glass to the center of the table. Trees really couldn’t wait for leave… he needed a drink after Geonosis. And not just the stuff the boys managed to sneak onboard.

“Hey, Zero,” Loops spoke up, leaning forward a little. “Why haven’t I heard much about the one-eigteenth?”

A good question. Trees knew rather little about Zero’s legion, aside from knowing it was in the Seventh Sky Corps along with the 501st and the 212th. He didn’t even know which Jedi led it.

“Probably--” The green ARC started to answer, then something out of frame caught his attention, and he held up a finger. He stood up and they heard him shout, “Incident! Off the ceiling! Troll, stop helping!” He leaned down. “Hang on.” Then he disappeared out of frame.

“Is someone actually on the ceiling?” Fives asked, looking to Do-si-do for answers.

The pilot nodded, his attention directed upward. “I don’t know how he did it. But he did.”

“Okay, so Torrent should never meet them,” Echo said. “I think we’d watch as the captain went grey from stress before our eyes.”

Fives grinned. “I dunno, it could be fun.”

“No, it would be fun,” his brother agreed, “right until you blow something up and get yourself and others hurt. Then Kix would have your balls.”

“Worth it.” Echo looked between Sevenset and Fives, who had both spoken, then rubbed his face with both hands.

Commander Sixes shook his head. “Never have these problems with my boys.”

Zero returned a minute or two later, another drink in his hand. “Okay. Sorry about that, someone got a balloon stuck in the rafters, and Incident thought it was a good idea to retrieve it.”

“Did he get it?” Loops asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Why unfortunately?”

“Because he got a reward for climbing to the ceiling to get it, and he’ll probably try it again later.” He took a drink. “Anyway. One-eighteenth. We’re pretty small for a legion, which is probably why you haven’t heard of us. One company of the two-twelfth is probably most of our troops.”

“Who’s your General?” Echo asked.

“General Veekah Bala.” He got mostly blank stares and couple heads shaking. “Yeah, well. She’s pretty awesome. Togruta, double-bladed lightsaber. Kinda young, like Skywalker, but…” He paused, like he was looking for the right words.

“More sane?” Fives offered. Trees smirked. Skywalker had quite the reputation.

Zero shrugged. “I guess? Dunno, maybe she’s just crazy in a different way.”

“What do you guys do when you’re that small?” Loops prompted further.

“Special stuff--kind of like Rancor, actually. The demo jobs, the stealth missions, that kind of stuff. Each company has a specialty.”

Do-si-do bumped their elbows together lightly. “What’s yours?”

“I’m in Whisper Company. We do stealth and recon and stuff like that. Firebolt is our demo team--that’s… where Troll and Incident are.” He cast a glance towards the ceiling.

Motion drew Trees’ eye to Fives, who had leaned over to whisper something to Echo. Echo thought for a second, then shook his head, a small smile on his face. With Torrent’s reputation, they might like Firebolt, from the sounds of it.

“The other two are Blitz, who hate clankers and bugs more than anyone I’ve ever met, and Enigma, who have made it their sworn mission to hack General Grievous,” Zero finished.

“Hack him?” Sevenset repeated, voicing the confusion on the others’ faces. Except for the commander, because his helmet was still on.

Zero sighed, scratching his head. “Yeah, I dunno. They figure because he’s a cyborg, they can hack his cybernetic parts, right? They’re obsessed. The general totally enables them, too. The Enigma hazing ritual is to hack into a B1 as fast as you can.”

Trees’ face scrunched up slightly. They just kept battle droids around for initiation? That… didn’t seem safe. He and Fours seemed to have similar skeptical reactions to it, but Fives and Echo were nodding along like it made perfect sense. Trees was so glad to be in the 41st.

“What about Whisper?” Loops wanted to know.

Zero just smiled slyly and held up something so they could see. Trees recognized it. Most pilots he’d met had a lucky charm of some kind, either painted on their armor, or their ship, or it was an object they kept with them at all times. Do-si-do had the latter kind: his charm was a dark brown rock with a hole through the center, always in his utility belt. But suddenly it wasn’t.

Do-si-do’s eyes went comically wide for a second, then his hand was flying to the empty pouch on his belt. “What--hey!”

Zero put the stone on the table and slid it to him. “That’s what we do.”

“Steal stuff?” the pilot shot back, snatching the stone up and clutching it to his chest.

“We always give it back.”

Do-si-do was still frowning darkly as he carefully replaced his charm in his belt.

“Huh,” Sevenset nodded. “You guys sound pretty cool. Shame I only learned about you now, honestly.”

“Yeah, it’s okay, we’re usually out of the way, anyway. You know what that’s like, right, Fours?”

The marine stiffened at the sudden attention, and at the subsequent attention from everyone else. Poor guy. “Uh. Yeah.”

“Oh, hey, how’s that mission with Death going?” Sevenset asked him, looking between the marine and the commander. “That’s how he found you right?”

Fours nodded. “Yeah. It’s… good, I guess?”

“They needed the help, that’s for sure,” the commander added. “Although, Bacara’s doing a pretty good job without the general around.”

Trees nodded, remembering General Mundi had assisted on Geonosis, and likely hadn’t been cleared to return to the Nova Corps yet after the assault. Some of the others looked a little lost, though. He reminded them.

“How long do you think he’ll be out?” Fours asked quietly. Trees couldn’t tell if it was genuine concern behind the question or curiosity.

He shrugged. “No idea. I never actually saw him, he was with the two-twelfth most of the time.”

The commander made some nonverbal reply to that before adding, “Well, at least he’ll be coming back. Geonosis has done worse before.”

He would know. Trees had looked him up after his first appearance, just like he had done for them. Commander Sixes had taken part in the first assault on Geonosis over three years ago. As Trees had dug a little deeper, he’d discovered almost nothing but casualty reports in connection. The commander had lost all but three of his original unit that day. Of the three left, two had died in combat, and the third just had a lot of “unknowns” in the report. That might explain the prickly shell of a personality.

Yeah, well, there weren’t brain worms the first time, Trees thought, rubbing his face tiredly. He then realized he’d spoken out loud when the guys who hadn’t been there first balked at him. Whoops.

“Brain worms?” Loops repeated, recoiling, his nose scrunched in disgust. Fours had a similar, though silent, reaction.

“Should’ve had Blitz Co there,” Zero remarked, barely fazed by the revelation.

The commander was oddly silent.

Trees shook his head. “Yeah, well, I’m tired, so I’m gonna turn in. Make sure you add Fours and Zero to the comm link.”

Sevenset nodded. “Will do, Green Bean.”

Trees leveled a deadpan stare at him. “Zero’s green too, get creative. And you’re not the only ARC now, ‘ARCBoi with five i’s,’” he told him, then clicked off the holoprojector.

-------

RedBoiiiii: [image file]

RedBoiiiii: LOOK AT THE NEW ARCS LOOK AT THEM!!!!!

Double Trouble: Yes!! Congrats, guys!

d0nut man: yay! nice paint

high fives: hey how’d you get that so fast??

RedBoiiiii: i know a guy :)

Fives+1: thanks do si do

high fives: echo what is your name

Fives+1: *long sigh*

RedBoiiiii: lol you can change it if you want. i’m the only one with the power to change other people’s names bc i created the chat

BetterDomino: got it

high fives: hey

Double Trouble: oof

d0nut man: hey my buddy Pixel has a handprint too

d0nut man: but he sprays paint around his hand instead of putting the paint on it to make the shape

high fives: oh neat

d0nut man: what’s yours for echo?

BetterDomino: captain rex put a handprint on my original kit on our first mission

high fives: in blood

RedBoiiiii: BLOOD???

BetterDomino: not human blood to be clear

Leafs: and that makes it better???

Leafs: oh maker’s sake, sevenset, really? Leafs?

RedBoiiiii: >:3

BetterDomino: it was rishi eel blood

d0nut man: oh okay

Double Trouble: that tracks

Double Trouble: oh does this mean you’re heading back to the 501st?

RedBoiiiii: yes :’((((

high fives: yeah we got back a couple hours ago

RedBoiiiii: i cri

DEATH: sack up sevens, kamino has enough water without you adding to it

RedBoiiiii: why do you only come into these chats to roast me?

DEATH: you keep standing in firepits

Double Trouble: ouch

high fives: commander sixes sir

BetterDomino: oh no i saw his face

high fives: that was amazing

BetterDomino: aaaaaaand fives has a new idol

high fives: hey echo you wanna come down off your bunk and say that?

BetterDomino: nope im all comfy

Leafs: kick his ass fives

high fives: >:)

Loopy: okay well you guys have been busy

Loopy: oh! Congrats domino the kits look awesome

RedBoiiiii: LOOPS!

BetterDomino: thanks loops!

Loopy: hi sevenset, how are those burns treating you?

RedBoiiiii: what burns

DEATH: you know

Loopy: yeah those :)

RedBoiiiii: ah

WELL IT'S BEEN A SIZZLIN' SECOND SINCE I POSTED PART 2 but that's okay :) Life has been a bit hectic, and also I forgot. Also!! Zero belongs to my dear friend @23-bears and the 118th lads and General Bala have their own blog: @118th-special-forces. Go say hi! And yes, I have part 4 written, so hopefully it won't be another EON between chapters 😬

@blsmjoon @nintendolover13 @darth-void @glubtheflyingfish @peacefulwizardfox @theultimatesandwich @alamogirl80

#i write things sometimes #my writing #my fanfic #clone ocs #clone trooper ocs #number lads #numbers gang #arc trooper echo #arc trooper fives #tcw fanfic

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the-rogue-mockingjay · 3 years ago

Text

frankenstein's monster

Part 3 of broken body built anew

1477 words. You don't need to have read the previous 2 parts to understand this one.

Summary: Marian reunites with another old friend. It doesn't go the way she'd hoped.

Part 1: [the dearly departed returning]

Part 2: [let the dead stay dead]

The ground shook with the force of the Collector ship’s thrusters, rattling Marian’s teeth and throwing her off balance. The GARDIAN turrets kept drumming, firing until the ship was out of range.

She tried to look at the hole of clear sky the ship had punched through its own storm clouds with satisfaction. With vindication. With the grim sense of a costly mission completed, even. But it didn’t matter how far or deep she dug, all she found was the unnamed dread lining her every bone, turning her insides to lead. Maybe it was the combat, maybe it was the aftermath of seeing frozen colonists and mutilated humanoid monsters and hearing Harbinger call her by name. Maybe it was the constant seeking and searching every room, desperate to find a woman she knew. Maybe it was all of the above, but it left her body too heavy to carry.

She released a shaky breath, and wiped the husk slime off her pistol. Ashley wasn’t here. Her friend wasn’t here.

Footsteps pounded behind her, then the source came sprinting out into the open. The mechanic.

“No! Don’t let them get away!”

She clipped her pistol to her side. “I’m a soldier on foot and that’s a skyscraper of a ship that can outrun and outgun most ships on the Citadel. What do you want me to do?”

“Half the colony’s in there! They took Egan and Sam and- and Lilith!” The mechanic paced through the muck, arms flailing. “Do something!”

“I’ve done all I can, sir. There’s nothing more we can do.”

He stared at her incredulously. “You-”

“If it wasn’t for Shepard, you’d all be on board that ship,” Garrus said flatly, leaning on his rifle.

“Shepard?” The mechanic froze, frantic hostility gone. “Wait. I know that name. You’re some type of big Alliance hero.”

Marian braced herself for derision, a recounting of all the things she’d done a lifetime ago. Two years ago. She looked to Garrus, her only link to what she was back then.

He met her eye and nodded, all certainty, an echo of the faith he had in her before. He closed ranks beside her.

“Yeah,” Marian said. “I used to be.”

Another set of footsteps entered the clearing. Another colonist crawling out of the woodwork to yell at her? She stared blankly past the mechanic’s head.

“Commander Shepard,” a voice began, and Marian’s heart screeched to a halt.

Ashley!

Into the clearing she strode like she owned the place, head high, signature pink and white armor gleaming, dark hair pinned back in the same bun she sported two years ago.

“Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel. You’re in the presence of a god, Delan,” she said. “Back from the dead.”

Marian couldn’t breathe. “Ash.” Her mouth formed the name, but her voice was dead. “Ash!”

The name came out a strangled yelp and she rushed forward, unthinking, throwing her arms around her friend, clinging to her as if she’d disappear if she didn’t.

She’s alive. She’s real, this is real, you’re alive. You’re both alive.

“Damn it, Ash,” She murmured into her friend’s shoulder. “I thought the Collectors took you. I thought you were gone.” She leaned back, still holding tight to Ashley’s shoulders. Good God, finally something good had happened-

The suspicion in Ashley’s eyes nearly knocked her off her feet; only her death grip kept her upright. Wariness. Guardedness. A dark, cold accusation, hurt, anger. Not a whit of friendship left. No ounce of warmth.

Marian peeled her hands off and stepped back, numb, dizzy. “I missed you, Ash. It’s good to see you alive and well.” The voice was mechanical, foreign, and spoke of its own accord.

What had she done to earn Ashley’s vitriol?

But the words she chose were wrong. Ashley’s anger sharpened. “That’s it? You show up after two years and act like nothing’s happened?”

“I…”

“Why didn’t you contact me?” Ashley shook her head, mouth twisting into a resentful frown. “Two years I believed you were dead!”

“I was dead.” Ashley raised one eyebrow. Marian couldn’t look her in the eye. “They bought my mangled corpse and put me back together. I wasn’t awake until a few weeks ago, and even that was earlier than they intended.”

“Then how…?” Her eyes narrowed. “Who bought you? Who's they?”

“Cerberus.”

She recoiled hard. “You’re with Cerberus now?” Her voice was quiet, empty. “Garrus, too?”

Garrus shrugged. “Not because we really want to be.”

“I can’t believe the reports were right.”

“Reports?” Garrus exchanged glances with Marian. “You mean you already knew?”

“Alliance intel said Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this one could be the next to get hit.”

“As did I,” Marian said. “It’s why I’m here. Trying to figure out what’s going on, and stop it if we can.”

“You were almost too late.” She kicked at the dirt, pacing idly. “I went to Anderson, but he wouldn’t talk. But there were rumors you weren’t dead. Worse, you were working for the enemy.”

“I don’t work for them, Ash. I’m taking their money, their intel, their resources, and using it to fight the Collectors. I call the shots here. They do nothing but supply the mission and track down useful leads.”

“Do you really believe that? Or is that just what they want you to think?” She stepped forward, bold, pained. “I wanted to believe you were alive, I just…never expected anything like this. You’ve turned your back on everything we stood for.”

Marian was fairly certain that if she reached up, she’d find a giant hole where her chest cavity used to be. Then it clicked.

“You think I was given a choice in this, Williams?” She snapped. “Do you think I was asked even once if I wanted my body to be bought and sold like a used car? Do you think they ever asked if I wanted to be brought back to life, my body changed into something that isn’t mine?” She yanked her visor off her head and threw it down. “Look at me, Ash. These eyes? Are synthetic. These glowing craters in my face? Synthetic.”

“Shepard-”

“Cerberus warped and defiled my now-living corpse, but my mind is the same. I am the same, yet it doesn’t mean a damn thing to anyone but Garrus and Joker.” She crouched down and picked up the visor, turning it over in her hands. Tears, hot, traitorous, slipped down her face, into the cracks in her skin. “Do you think the Alliance would take me back, now? Do you think they’d accept this freak of a soldier?”

Ashley stood motionless, and held her breath.

“I want to go back, Ash, and I tried. But the Council turned me away. Anderson turned me away. I have nowhere to go. I have nothing left but the promise of a death that’ll stop the Collectors once and for all. I hate Cerberus every bit as much as you do, but I don’t have a choice.”

“Marian.” Ashley’s voice cracked on the name. “What did they do to you?”

She tilted her head to the side and let her scars answer her question.

Garrus took a step forward, edging himself between her and Ashley. “You saw it yourself, Williams. The Collectors are taking human colonies, and they’re working for the Reapers. We have to stop them somehow.”

Ashley steadied her voice. “Garrus, you’re a turian. How can you trust Cerberus?”

“I don’t. None of us do. We’re only with them as long as it takes to kill the Collectors, then we’re gone.” He slung his rifle over his shoulder. “I trust Shepard, Williams. I’m sorry that you don’t.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, with that signature Williams decisiveness Marian always respected. “I still know where my loyalties lie. I’m an Alliance soldier. It’s in my blood.”

“And it is all I am,” Marian replied, and looked her friend in the eye. “The Alliance made me what I am. Everything I do is for them.”

“The ends don’t justify the means, Commander. I thought you knew that.” She tossed one last bitter glance at Marian, then turned to leave. “I’m reporting to the Citadel. See if they believe your story.”

“Wait, Ash.”

She didn’t stop.

“Ashley, please,” Marian jogged to catch up with her, her voice and body returning to her control. “There’s way too good a chance I won’t see you again after this.”

“I would hope so,” she said, no strength behind the words.

“We didn’t have the chance to talk before the Normandy crashed, let’s take the chance to talk now. One last time.”

“There's nothing more to say.” She turned away, each step heavy with regret, but resolute. “Goodbye, Commander.”

Marian fell to her knees. Ashley's retreating form wavered through the glass of Marian’s tears.

I'm so sorry, Ash. For what I am. For what I will become.

#rogue writes #mass effect 2 #lazarus project #marian shepard #ashley williams #horizon #mass effect legendary edition #f!shepard #commander shepard #ashley baby you're breaking our hearts 😭😭😭

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thesean · 4 years ago

Text

@freshsteel said: Please write your essay on Osiris I Will read it and that is a threat

@stormlord67 said: I wish to hear about the Osiris brainrots and info.

@salt216000 said: Tell us your thoughts about Osiris I dare you

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Osiris, Warden of the Infinite Forest? I thought not. It’s not a story the Vanguard would tell you...

alright alright alright

i have A LOT of thoughts about osiris so buckle up, i’m gonna be going over A LOT starting at the beginning to the end of his exile (also i won’t be talking much about immolant because it makes me too sad when i’m already sad about him for other reasons)

I want to talk about this phrase I often use in regards to Osiris first. “Exile as a state of mind.”

EXILE AS A STATE OF MIND.

So like. The thing about Osiris is that time moves faster in the Infinite forest than it does outside of it. And from what I've been able to gather In Real Time he's only been exiled for about 40 at the least, 200 at most, whereas for him it's been hundreds, if not thousands, of years. All that time he's been exiled, all that time he's come to accept that fact, that there is no last city to fall back on whenever he needs to. That there was no one to rely on, not truly. That he had to fight this war against the Vex alone. That it was Him and Only Him.

So it becomes a state of mind.

Worse yet, it's a title, one that he still uses despite no longer being exiled. (Read in One Exile to Another, and a few of the Hunt Armor loretabs.) so there's a disconnect between him and the people he loves because he is still exiled in his mind, he does not have anyone to rely on other than himself. Exile, not as a state of being, but a state of mind, because he can no longer think how it will be otherwise.

Exile, as a state of mind, because if he accepts that he is no longer exiled, then what? Who will he be? He won’t be a Commander, he won’t be the Hero of Six Fronts, he won’t be any of that, he’ll be stuck as Osiris.

And Osiris is a terribly lonely man.

Let’s also consider what Osiris’s exile was like in the first place. How it really took place, not through the skewed lens of The Fall of Osiris comic or through the biased perspective of Osiris’s journals.

Consensus Meeting 2891.98

NM: "I note for the record that we are without a Warlock Vanguard or a Vanguard Commander." Andal Brask: "Two birds, one man." Zavala: "Ikora Rey is interim Warlock Vanguard for this meeting." Speaker: "Which brings us to our first order of business. Ikora Rey, the Consensus formally requests you assume the responsibilities of Warlock Vanguard." Ikora Rey: "Considering I've been performing those responsibilities for a while now, I accept." FWC: "Why did you cover for him for so long?" IR: "Someone had to do it." S: "Ahem. Now that we have Consensus, I may inform you I have decided to banish former Warlock Vanguard Osiris from the Last City." [murmurs] S: "Are there any objections?" DO: "None here. Maybe he'll find a better planet for us." [pause] S: "Very well. Next: I name Titan Vanguard Zavala as the new Vanguard Commander. Congratulations." (Curse of Foresight)

It was so casual and no one stood up for him. It was a unanimous decision. It’s no wonder Osiris has so much trouble reaching out for help. Last time he did he was exiled, last time he did everyone he cared about turned their backs on him, Saint wasn’t exempt from this. He must have felt some sense of betrayal from this. And it stuck with him.

GOD IN THE MACHINE.

This one’s a much more subtle thing and based upon observations but I do want to talk about how terrifyingly close Osiris was to, essentially, godhood.

There was a quote in Destiny 1 at some point when you’re hunting down Oryx, I can’t seem to find the exact quote on Ishtar, but it was something along the lines of “In order to be a god you must have eyes everywhere.”

Osiris has a lot of eye imagery.

Another way Osiris was close to godhood is that he had the ability to make echoes. There’s only one other character in Destiny who was able to do that. You guessed it: Oryx (albeit he used Darkness instead of Light to do it but the sentiment remains.)

Additionally, let’s not forget that Destiny tends to play on character’s names whenever their names come from something of power. Toland commented upon Eris’s name being a name of chaos reflecting that she’s named after the Chthonic Goddess, Eris. And Osiris being named Osiris, an Egyptian God of death, well... Need I say more?

Osiris can manipulate the Light in ways we didn’t even know was possible, from using multiple Light elements at once to creating Reflections and Echoes, to creating a ward of Light in a way we haven’t seen Warlocks do. Not only that but Osiris had an entire planet under his control, a Vex machine that no one person should be able to control and he had it at the tips of his fingers.

He was scary close to godhood. And I don’t think he realizes it.

FAITH.

Another aspect of Osiris I’d like to touch upon is his relationship with faith.

Osiris has a very distinctly different view of these things in Destiny, and it’s something that’s now painted as a good thing. It’s good to question why you fight, good to question why you exist. Osiris questions everything and while there’s a few jabs made at him about it (mostly they come from how he was viewed before Curse of Osiris) it ultimately doesn’t state that Osiris’s questions are bad. In fact I’d go so far as to say they were vindicating.

BUT. This raises my thoughts on his faith, on how it’s served him. We know that Saint-14 has a lot of faith, both in people and in the Traveler, and it’s interesting to me to see the dichotomy of that vs. Osiris’s views.

There was an idle line he had in Season of Dawn, in where he said "I thought you had broken the Red Legion... I see faith has failed me yet again..."

What has faith gotten him? Abandonment. Exile. Losing Saint.

They have a silent god hanging above them in the city, and what has it done for them? The Traveler was not at Six Fronts, the Traveler was not at Twilight Gap, the Traveler did not stop the Vex, and the Traveler certainly didn't save Saint. Rotted faith, eroded to bitterness.

The light is a weapon because if it weren't then would it not act? Would it not save humanity? Why wouldn't it save him? Why would he suffer so much?

So he is mad at god.

The best quote I remember about his Relationship with the Traveler is him saying that the Traveler's death was a gift in that there are now Guardians, but also they only have the problems they have now is because the Traveler came there, bringing its enemies to their shores.

He questions the Light because while it’s their greatest weapon, it is also the source of humanity's grief

The Traveler holds their chains. (Freedom is a chain, choice is a prison.)

“I have questioned the Light before, and I continue to question it today. But skepticism is not the same as disavowal. The Light is one of our greatest resources.” — Transmission from Osiris

#my posts #hello lgbt community #osiris #osiris destiny #destiny osiris

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docgold13 · 2 years ago

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365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

July 1st - Guardian

James MacDonald had been an engineer working for the Am-Can Petro-Chemical Company. Hudson designed an ingenious armored suit for the purposes of geological exploration. When he found out his superior, Jerry Jaxon, wanted to sell the design to the military, Hudson stole the suit and its designs and sabotaged Am-Can’s capability for mass producing the suit as a weapon.

Following a prolonged legal battle with Am-Can, Hudson was awarded full rights to his design. Soon thereafter, Hudson was recruited by the Canadian Governmental program, Department H. This Department H sought to create a team of super heroes to defend Canada in the same manner that The Avengers and Fantastic Four so often protected the United States. Hudson agreed and updated his suit to become a superhero originally dubbed ‘Weapon Alpha.’ These updates enabled Hudson greatly enhanced strength and durability as well as the capacity for high-speed fight and the emission of concussive electromagnetic energy beams. Hudson also had the exterior of his suit detailed with the emblem of the Canadian Flag.

As Weapon Alpha, Hudson led ‘Alpha Flight,’ Department H’s premier team of heroes. An early mission entailed tracking down the alleged deserter, Wolverine. Hudson was unaware of the terrible treatment Wolverine had endured as an unwitting test subject in Department H’s efforts to create a super soldier. Following a battle with the X-Men, Hudson learned the truth and he chose to leave Wolverine in peace.

Upset over the ways in which he had allowed Department H to use him, Hudson renamed himself ‘The Vindicator’ and led an effort to create a better Alpha Flight. He was additionally involved in the recruitment of new prospects and managing the developmental squads of Beta and Gamma Flight. Hudson was aided in these endeavors by his wife, the brilliant scientist, Heather McNeil Hudson.

Feeling as though he had redeemed himself, Hudson changed his super hero name once more, this time to The Guardian, and continued to lead Alpha Flight on numerous missions. He was killed in action but later returned having been transformed into a cyborg wherein he and his armor were made one and the same. Following an adventure that saw Alpha Flight battling the alien Plodex, Hudson was transformed back into his original, fully human self.

The hero first appeared in the pages of X-Men Vol. 1 # 109 (1977).

#365 Marvel Comics Heroes #Guardian #Alpha Flight #Weapon Alpha #Vindicator #cut-out #paper art

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delimeful · 5 years ago

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be unbroken or be brave again (1)

here it is! an AU ive been working on for a while that i am publishing today, 12/19, for our favorite emo nightmare’s birthday! :D hope you enjoy!

warnings: blood, mention of illness and murder, injury, roman is a jerk but he’s just being an idiot, hurt/comfort

Virgil frowned, studying the tracks on the ground. Horse hooves, but more importantly, the treads of heavy boots. The same boots that had been following them from a slowly-decreasing distance for months now. He sighed, scuffing his own bare foot against the ground.

The hunter was gaining ground too fast for comfort.

If he had been alone, he could have lost the human easily. Would have lost him on day one, in fact. The reason his kind were so hard to track was because of their ability to take off and vanish into thin air, after all. Assuming they weren’t too busy starting massive fires, that was.

Still, he wasn’t alone, and he had no plans to reveal his true self to the one person alive that tolerated him, so walking it was.

He turned to circle back around to camp, his leathery wings fluttering once on his back. It was dumb of him to let the glamor down in the open like this, but he couldn’t help but want to release the spell whenever he got the chance. It was taxing, hiding a bunch of his true features all the time, even in sleep. He would put it back up before he got to camp, but for now his horns and scales would stay, the same deep violet purple as his wings and tail.

Those features were undoubtedly the reason the hunter was after them in the first place, probably to harvest his parts or slay him for the greater good or whatever nonsense Knights were always spouting about their reasons for murdering a whole species. He grit his teeth, fangs pressing into his lips near hard enough to cut.

He was used to such treatment, but Patton was perfectly human, and now he too was in danger because of Virgil. He should have taken more measures to hide their trail, shouldn’t have let the hunter catch his scent. Maybe he should have killed the last few that came after him. He imagined the look on Patton’s face if he ever found out and shook his head to dismiss the thought. He was as soft as ever when it came to humans, and he’d continue to be that way until he inevitably died. Probably his mom’s fault.

… Whatever. He’d make up some excuse to get him and Patton on the road again, take some shortcuts to lose their pursuer, and be more careful in the future. Lesson learned.

A scraggly-looking tree he had marked earlier reminded him that he was getting closer to the clearing, and he quickly touched the stone between his collarbones to re-cast the glamor. It settled onto him like a heavy cloak, his senses becoming slightly muted, and he made sure to check his reflection in one of his daggers before moving on.

The clearing was fairly quiet, shielded from view by thick brush, but he could hear the soft movements of someone shuffling about in the dirt. Patton had already gotten back from gathering kindling, then. He pulled the canteens from his bag, to show that he had completed his own task.

“Hey, Pat, I found a river near-” His voice cut off as he realized that the man crouched in their campsite wasn’t Patton.

He was tall, with heavy leather armor covered in red sigils over every inch of him, kneeling in the dirt with one hand brushing the footprints that the two occupants had left in the camp. The same exact thing Virgil had been doing only minutes ago. Unquestionably a hunter by attire alone.

The Knight’s head had snapped over to look at Virgil the moment he’d called out, and now they were frozen in a silent staring contest. Virgil let his gaze dip slightly to the sigil on the Knight’s shoulder, and paled at the sight of it. It was the Faerin coat of arms.

A Knight from the Faerin Kingdom, known far and wide to be the most vicious and merciless to Dragonwitches. A Knight from an empire that he knew didn’t care about collateral damage any more than the dirt under their feet.

A Knight that could hurt Patton, if the human got back to camp while Virgil was fighting him.

Without another thought, he bolted, the canteens dropping to the ground as he fled. There was a yell behind him, and he felt a wave of relief as the sound of footsteps took off behind him, a glance over his shoulder confirming that he was being chased doggedly. The Knight was taking the bait. Patton would be safe.

Now all he had to worry about was saving his own skin.

He sprinted through the forest, twisting and ducking in case the Knight had projectiles. Maybe he didn’t even have to fight him. If he could outstrip the guy, he could double back and lose him, go back to the camp and get Patton and book it-

Twang!

He barely had time to register the thin, near-invisible wire he’d plowed through before something heavy and rough hit him head on, knocking him to the ground. He twisted around and dropped the glamor, trying to flare his wings and tail to get the offending object off, but it only got him more tangled in the metal netting. The trap- for what else could it be?- was weighed down at the edges by solid metal balls, so he couldn’t even rise to his feet to try and keep running.

In a moment of desperation, he reached for the power of his other form, the one already snapping for control like a cornered animal. Nothing. The metal burned unnaturally against his skin, no doubt enchanted for the very purpose of holding him.

Loud footsteps made him still for a moment, and he summoned up a hateful glare as the Knight approached with an air of casualness. The bastard didn’t even seem out of breath.

“Gotcha.” He said, voice arrogant, and Virgil snarled inhumanly at him between pants. “Oh, don’t be like that. Not my fault you were too slow.”

He stepped closer, ignoring the threatening growl building in Virgil’s chest, and grabbed the upper arch of his left wing, entangled firmly in netting. He jerked away anyways, trying to thrash the limb, but the Knight’s grip held firm, fingers digging into the delicate flesh. “Let go!”

“In a second, in a second.” The Knight’s face fell into a frown, deepening the longer he stared at the wing he was pulling on. “I suppose they look black in the right lighting…” He hummed, releasing the wing and circling back around to face Virgil from the front with a speculative gaze.

Virgil’s lip curled up into a sneer. With the focus on his wings and scale color, this guy had to be a skinseller. Perfect. Just what he wanted to deal with today. Not.

The Knight flipped an ornate dagger from hand to hand, wandering slowly into range. He threw the dagger into the air with a frankly unnecessary amount of flair, and Virgil followed the shine of the blade carefully. “Committed any notable atrocities lately, monster?”

“Nothing more atrocious than that outfit.” Virgil shot back, voice rough and gravelly. He eyed the distance between the Knight’s hand and his teeth speculatively. Just a bit closer...

The knight placed a hand on his chest in a dramatic gesture of offense. “Honestly, you must be delirious with stress to think I look anything other than fantastic.” He cast a judgmental eye at Virgil’s own appearance. “Maybe delirious with heatstroke, under all that black. I wonder, does the color of your terrible clothing choices carry over to your true form, beast?”

“Bite me,” Virgil spat, and then lunged at the Knight’s nearest hand, dagger be damned. The longer he kept this one occupied, the longer Patton had to realize something was wrong and get out of there.

Unfortunately, the Knight was quicker. His target was yanked out of biting reach, and then fingers promptly wrapped around one of his horns and tugged, driving his face into the ground. He grunted in pain as something in his nose gave way with a pop, and warm blood started to drip down over his mouth.

“Nice try, Bitey,” the Knight said, ignoring the low, rumbling growl radiating from Virgil’s chest. He planted the dagger in the dirt, inches from his bloody face. “Now, how about you make this easier on yourself and tell me the scale color of your little friend you meant to meet back in that camp? What was their name… Pat?”

Virgil stiffened, his tail lashing back and forth as much as it could while so entangled. “Fuck me and my big mouth,” he mumbled incoherently into the ground, grimacing at the taste of dirt.

“What was that?” the Knight asked, pulling him upright so he could breathe properly again. Virgil cleared his throat a few times as though about to speak, and then opened his mouth and spat a mixture of blood, mud, and spit directly into the Knight’s face.

The Knight dropped him like a hot potato. “Ugh, come on!”

He sounded so disgruntled that Virgil couldn’t help but laugh hoarsely from where he was laid out on the ground. “Too gross for you, Your Highness?”

The hunter stiffened, pausing in the process of wiping his face to stare at Virgil with surprise. Virgil’s lips curled up slightly, vindicated by the hunter’s reaction. Got it in one.

He bared his fangs in an unfriendly smile. “You think you’re being subtle? I’ve met plenty of hunters, and only idiots and nobility wear Faerin’s crest and finery like a badge of honor. Congrats on fitting in both categories.”

The Knight scowled at him, hooking a hand in the wires and hauling him up by the shirt. Virgil managed to brace himself just before the Knight slammed him up against a tree, and he hissed a pained breath through his teeth as the bark scraped against his back and the soft in-between flesh of his wings.

“And how many of those hunters are still around?” the Knight asked, deadly serious as he pressed his other arm against Virgil’s throat and leaned forwards until they were only inches apart. “How many did you kill? How did you slaughter them?”

Virgil almost rolled his eyes at the dramatics of it all, struggling to breathe through the damn bloody nose. If he’d killed those hunters, there was no way this idiot would have ever caught wind of him, let alone tracked him down like this. Knights were all the same. They only heard what they wanted to hear.

“Come on, you already know. I did what you’re supposed to do with trash,” he rasped, inhaling deeply enough to make his lungs ache from the pressure. A purple haze began to leak from his lips. “Burned it.”

The Knight’s eyes widened, and he leaned back as Virgil clicked the sparkscales in the back of his throat and ignited a breath of deep purple flame directly into the hunter’s face. He held it for as long as he could, his exhale finally sputtering out seconds later.

The Knight stared back at him, unimpressed. His eyebrows were slightly singed, but the rest of him remained completely intact, courtesy of the protective charms embedded in his armor. The sigils glowed and pulsed like hot coals. “Did you really think that would work?”

“Nah,” Virgil admitted, and then drove his knee into the Knight’s groin with all the force he could muster. “But this will.”

The Knight made a noise that sounded like a mix between a mouse’s dying squeak and the wheeze of someone getting all the air punched out of their lungs. Virgil grinned with immense satisfaction at the way his skin paled to the color of spoiled milk, and then took advantage of his loosened grip to slam his forehead against the Knight’s with a resounding crack.

“Freaking ow!” the Knight recoiled, finally letting go of him to step out of range. As soon as he was released, Virgil’s legs gave out from under him, leaving him collapsed at the base of the tree trunk. He had planned to try and stay upright, maybe make a grab for the dagger or even just make some progress on untangling the net, but…

“What in the underworld is your skull made of?” he screeched, trying to blink away the spots in front of his eyes. It felt like he’d headbutted a concrete wall instead of a normal human. “Do you have rocks in there instead of a brain?”

“Me?” the Knight scowled, pointing at him imperiously. “What did you think you were going to achieve? Who in their right mind uses dirty street fighting without being able to run away after? You’re wrapped in a net!”

“Oh, I dunno,” Virgil really did roll his eyes this time, “maybe someone who doesn’t want to die?”

The Knight stopped short, and turned away to take a deep breath before facing Virgil again with a less harsh expression. “Look, I admire your tenacity,” he admitted. “I’m looking for a particular dragonwitch, and I doubt that you’re it. I don’t want to kill you. You don’t even have to tell me anything that would give me an advantage in a fight against your friend. If you’ll just tell me what they look like, I can escort you to become a protected citizen of Faerin.”

Virgil snorted. “Oh, so I can have my powers suppressed and die slowly of tar-lung working in some harvester mine instead?” And that was if an uppity Knight didn’t randomly decide to execute him for existing too loudly. Protected citizen, his ass. “I’ll pass.”

“Yes, your powers would be sealed for everyone’s safety. And dragonwitches can’t get tar-lung.” The Knight frowned at him in reprimand, and Virgil almost pitied him for his sheltered naivety. He’d be in for a rough time in towns after he passed the range of his kingdom’s influence. Everyone hated dragonwitches, but a fair few hated Faerin as well.

Oh well. Not his problem.

“Even if that was in any way appealing, I’m not the type to sell out my friends,” Virgil flared his wings one last time, as though the net would suddenly decide to answer his pleas and fall away. Instead, the metal only cut into his wings harder, and he dipped his chin to touch his soulstone, his glamor settling back over him and his aching wings fading into non corporeality. If the hunter wanted to kill a monster, he’d make himself look as human as possible.

He leaned his head back against the tree, tilting his chin up in challenge. Pinned behind his back, his hands trembled. “Be more merciful your kingdom, hunter, and give me a quick death.”

As expected, the jab at his kingdom made his expression darken with anger. Chauvinists. So predictable.

“I already offered you mercy, and you refused it.” The Knight pulled a broadsword from its scabbard with a scraping of metal, and Virgil clenched his hands into fists, keeping his gaze locked with the hunter’s. How was he planning to strike? The head or the heart? Could he dodge like this? For how long? Was there a point?

“I suppose we’ll see if your body will lure your friend out of hiding.” The Knight lifted his blade high, the tip poised to stab down through Virgil’s heart.

In the next moment, a human-sized blur dove out of the trees, tackling him from the side with a battle cry and knocking the hunter clear off his feet. They both went tumbling, the sword sliding across the ground far out of reach of any party, and Virgil stared at his savior in disbelief. Who would be stupid enough to attack a Faerin Knight within the kingdom’s borders, all alone-?

The attacker sat up from where he was half-straddling the Knight, twisting to check on Virgil. “Are you okay?” he cried, face strained with worry.

“Patton?” Virgil’s voice went up an octave, fear surging through him. He started clawing desperately at the netting again. “Patton, no, no no no you have to run! Get out of here!”

The human’s face furrowed in confusion. “Wha-?”

In the next moment, the hunter had surged up and reversed their positions, pinning Patton to the ground by his shoulders. Virgil lunged forwards and let out an inhuman screech as he toppled over, his struggles only making the trap tighten against his flesh further.

“Aha!” the Knight declared, and pulled a waterskin from his belt triumphantly. He tugged the cap off with his teeth and splashed the liquid inside all over Patton’s face.

Patton spluttered, completely unharmed. “Rude! What is the matter with you? Why are you attacking Virgil, he didn’t do anything to you!”

The Knight gaped, shocked enough that Patton was able to shove him off and climb back to his feet. “What- you’re human?”

Virgil tried to push himself into an upright position, his blood still rushing in his ears from the scare. “Patton, please, you’ve got to get out of here!”

Patton, the wonderful idiot, gasped at the sight of him, bloodied and bruised, and immediately headed towards him. “Don’t worry, Virgil! I’ll help you!”

Virgil resisted the urge to groan, and then tensed against the net again as the Knight grabbed Patton’s wrist to stop him. “Wait!”

“Oh, what now?” Patton asked scornfully, with the sort of this-better-be-good expression that would have had Virgil properly abashed for at least an hour.

The Knight barely faltered, a testimony to his bravery. “You don’t have to listen to this foul beast’s orders anymore! You’re free.” And there was a testimony to his idiocy.

“What foul beast?” Patton’s frown only grew more severe as the Knight gestured expansively to Virgil’s entangled form. He pulled his wrist free to jab a finger into Roman’s chest. “That’s Virgil, and I don’t know what ale you’ve been drinking, sir, but it must have gone sour, because he’s just as human as you and me!”

Virgil felt a chill go down his spine. Now that he wasn’t imminently facing the worst possible scenario (Patton dying), he had enough clarity to be terrified about facing the second-worst possible scenario (Patton finding out he wasn’t human). The Knight looked between the two of them, gaze settling on Virgil, probably easily reading the guilt written all over his face.

“You’ve been tricked,” he voiced his realization aloud, and held a hand up to stop Patton from going further. “Not to fear! I can prove my claim to you. I have an elixir that destroys any glamor upon contact. I’ll show you.”

Ignoring Patton’s protests, the Knight strode up to where Virgil was propped up on one arm, his lips thin with anger. Virgil leaned back as he knelt next to him and met cold eyes, knowing it was meaningless to plead but desperate enough to try anyways. “Please.”

“Were you planning on granting that man a merciful death when you got tired of toying with him, demon?” the Knight asked with a voice like ice. Virgil didn’t even have time to open his mouth before the waterskin was upended over his head.

The elixir burned as all human magic did, and as he hissed, his glamor cracked away like ash to reveal his slitted pupils, his pointed ears, his dark scales. All irrefutable proof of his true nature.

A sharp inhale made him look up, and he met Patton’s shocked gaze. “V… Virgil?”

The fear in Patton’s soft brown eyes was like a physical blow. He looked away, noting the way the Knight stood between him and Patton protectively. He’d retrieved his sword.

“You can see the truth, clear as day,” the Knight spoke gently, but his words were harsh. “This is no friend of yours. The monster was only pretending to be human to lull you into a false sense of security. It’s a… common tactic for dragonwitches that prefer to,” the Knight grimaced, “play with their food. I’m sorry.”

“Virgil? That’s not true… is it?” Patton sounded near tears, and though he’d had nightmares about this exact scene frequently, he had never realized the way it would hurt, to hear his only friend doubt him.

He opened his mouth, the words all on the edge of forming. Of course it wasn’t true! He would die before he hurt Patton, he would do anything to keep him safe. The very idea that he would ever devour his friend made him feel as though he was a second from throwing up.

All these defenses and more sprang to his mind, clamoring over each other, and yet-

His mouth shut with a click. What would happen if he convinced Patton of his innocence? What would the Knight do? What would Patton do, to protect him? If there was one thing Faerin Knights excelled at, it was killing innocents. He was still trapped. He couldn’t do anything if the Knight turned his blade on Patton.

He had to make sure Patton wouldn’t put himself at risk like that. He… He would do anything to keep Patton safe.

Even if that meant being the villain the Knight wanted to slay.

Virgil swallowed thickly, forcing away the desolation to focus on what mattered. If he had to put on a show, it would have to be convincing. Patton would never believe it otherwise.

He let the last scraps of the glamor fall away, let his face shutter off into something dismissive and uncaring. “So you got me. I just wanted an easy meal at hand, is that such a crime?”

The knight stood tall, proud of having broken through a monster’s disguise. He looked down at Virgil with disgust. “Eating people is and probably always has been a crime, yes.”

He shrugged with loose shoulders. “S’not my fault snacks are so easy to fool these days.” His eyes caught Patton’s again, and he forced himself not to look away from the heartbroken expression. “If you really thought we were friends, you’re even stupider than I thought. Looks like your family really did pick the wrong one to die for.”

Patton’s face crumpled immediately, and he let out a sob. The Knight stepped in front of him, blocking Virgil’s gaze. His eyes dropped to the sword in his hand, and he felt a twisted sort of relief that he wouldn’t have to deal with the fact that he’d just said those awful things, that he’d taken what Patton had confided in him and turned it into something sharp to hurt him with.

“Don’t worry. He won’t be able to hurt you or anyone else, anymore,” the Knight reassured Patton, and stepped forward with menace in every movement.

Virgil forced himself to stay still, squeezed his eyes shut and ignored his racing heart. He was silent as the prince raised his blade, compliant because if it meant it wouldn’t be turned on Patton then it was worth it. It would always be worth it.

He waited for the swing of the blade, the last thing he would ever hear-

Clunk.

The Knight made a strangled sound. Virgil’s eyes opened of their own accord, watching as the hunter swayed on his feet, his eyes rolling back in his head, and then collapsed bonelessly onto the ground.

Just behind him, Patton stood, clutching a rock the size of his head in both hands. He was looking down at the fallen Knight with an expression that was just as stunned as Virgil felt, and dropped the rock to the forest floor with a thud.

He took an uncertain, wobbling step towards Virgil, and he couldn’t help but flinch back because anything Patton did to him right now would be justified, but it would still hurt-

-and then there were suddenly trembling arms around him, tugging him into a hug against a warm chest. He froze, body stiff. “Patton...?”

“You are a terrible liar,” Patton informed him wetly, “and you’re my best friend, you dummy. Human or not.”

His voice was thick with tears, hitching with every breath, but it was devoid of hatred or fury or fear that in that moment, Virgil had never heard anything so comforting.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, and then, as though the words had broken a dam of tension within him, he immediately started muffling his own strangled, hiccuping sobs into Patton’s neck. “I didn’t m-mean any of that, I swear, I just- I’m sorry for not telling you. I was- I was scared.”

“You were scared?” He could barely move his arms in the net, but Patton was doing enough clinging for both of them, limbs wrapped around him like a koala as he spoke. “When I realized that you’re actually a dragonwitch, I thought for sure that hunter was going to try and kill you! Again! That’s two murder attempts too many!”

Virgil made a sound that was half-chuckle, half-sniffle, and set his chin on Patton’s shoulder. “You’re really not mad?”

“Yeah. I’m not mad.” Patton stuck his hand under the net’s grooves and combed his fingers through Virgil’s hair soothingly, barely hesitating over the ridges where his horns met his skull. “It’s okay. I… I get it, Virge. I forgive you.”

The simple statement set him off again, which set Patton off again, and they went through a whole second round of tears and snot before Virgil felt coherent enough to speak once more.

“What are we gonna do with that guy?”

Patton pulled away from him slightly so they could both stare at the unconscious body of the hunter. The guy totally had a head wound. Looked like his thick skull could be defeated after all.

“Well…” Patton wiped a sleeve over his nose and then tapped his chin in consideration. “It’s been a while since we visited home. We could take him there. You could carry us there! Oh, we can travel places so fast now!”

Virgil gave him a flat stare, ignoring the flying comment for the moment. “You want to take a Faerin Knight. To our house.”

“Well, I’d feel kind of bad leaving him here with a nasty head wound like that!” Patton said, as though he wasn’t the one who had caused the injury. Or, more likely, because he was the one who had caused the injury. Virgil sighed.

“Yeah, okay, fine. But I’m not going to like it. And he’s definitely not going to like it. And I’m not babysitting him.”

#sanders sides #ts virgil #ts roman #ts patton #dragonwitch au #thats right lads B)#writing #my writing #im going to be flying all day so taglist will be added at a later date!#be unbroken or be brave again #buobba #queue

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hoodoo12 · 4 years ago

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Elegy (6/6)

It can’t all be good. This is Beetlejuice, remember?

A very heartfelt thank you to @clairjohnson for this fun and heartbreaking rp. It was a delight to torture ourselves with this!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

@turtlepated @thewolfisapartofmysoul @beejiesbitch @janitor-boy @angelicspaceprince @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice

He felt dead – well, deader – inside. In a moment when there should be residual bliss, a sweet connection after such intimacy – especially with someone like her, someone he'd not only lusted after but someone he got to know and found he liked – the standard response was to bask in the glow and drift down from it gradually. Together.

Instead, that internal, infernal bitterness surged enough that Beetlejuice tasted it in the back of his throat. Semi-coherent and contradictory thoughts tumbled through his head.

He was such a fucking idiot. He'd fucked – literally – any slim chance he'd had with Maria now, one of the only people who put up with his shit. Although the effects of the booze he'd swilled were dwindling, he told himself he'd just taken advantage of her in a drunken stupor. She was kissing him and cooing and relaxed under him because she was playing a role, doing her best to get through this as quickly as possible before she could escape him.

Yet at the same time . . .

He was such a fucking idiot. He'd been used again. As a self-proclaimed 'Ghost with the Most' as he liked to spew, he was repeatedly duped. The thing he hated most about himself, that he wanted and needed companionship, was always his downfall. He was so desperate for the slightest bit of attention people took wild advantage of him, and he never fucking learned his lesson.

Caught in a web of his own self hate, Beetlejuice barely noticed Maria's continued caresses or her smile. As good as it was to have her so perfectly under him, he scowled.

"Betelgeuse . . ."

His name from her lips deepened that scowl, and with a hard glare into her eyes – that he couldn't hold for more than a second, "Ghost with the Most", what a fucking joke – he shoved up and away from her and whatever she was going to say: sweet lies or angry venom.

Maria felt any imagined warmth drain from her body when he pushed away from her. The loss of his weight, of the comfort she’d felt just moments before, was completely shattered by the glare he’d set on her. His eyes had been cold and angry – and she had no idea why.

Had she done something wrong? She replayed what they’d done, the things he’d said, over in her head. Everything had seemed right – more than right. Anxiety began to bubble up in her chest and she finally sat up off the bed. Betelgeuse had angled his body away from her in a position that screamed fuck off. Maria shook her head in confusion, trying to understand how the man that had begged her not to leave, had called her beautiful, had fucked her so perfectly, now wanted nothing to do with her.

The original reason why they’d gone to Dante’s hit her like a ton of bricks. He’d been inconsolable when he’d arrived in the waiting room. Blood soaked, angry, and devastated at the loss of people he cared about. And here she was – a pair of legs to bury his anguish in. Calling her pretty was all it took to have her jumping into his bed. God, and he didn’t even initiate it, she had. She wasn’t even a first choice for him to proposition while sad and drunk.

Swallowing down a sob that threatened to creep up, Maria reached out and placed a small hand on his arm – cursing herself when it trembled slightly.

“Betelgeuse . . .?”

Saying his name caused the first tear to roll down her cheek, and she quickly brushed it away with her other hand.

Legs swung over the edge of the bed, his back hunched and his hands so tight on the edge of his stained mattress that his knuckles hurt with the pressure, the same rancid thoughts spewed by the same gibbering voice echoed through his head.

He was a fucking idiot. Played for a fool by his own dick and her. Again. Cuck was more than apt. The story of his fucking life.

There was no way in this world or the upper he'd ever have had a chance with a woman of her caliber. He'd manipulated his way here, and as loathe as he was to admit it, deep down he knew that was the root of his problems. Nothing real came from that; hadn't the very reason he'd ended up back in the reception area been because of it?!

People saw the chinks in his armor, and used well-placed arrows to bring him down. They took what they wanted, took whatever he was so eager to give just for just a little acknowledgement, they used him – they fucking used him –

– Beetlejuice scowled again, but it was down into his own lap this time.

Maria shifted on the bed beside him, the broken frame made them both tilt towards each other whether they liked it or not. And she must like it, she must love seeing him further broken, because she continued the lie by touching him and saying his name, again.

Anger – as hot as the euphoria had been moments ago – flared in him.

"What are you still doing here?!" Beetlejuice roared as he spun on her. His vision was very slightly blurry, altered by his now slitted pupils; sometimes in rage he had less control over keeping them human and there was certainly no point in reining them in right now. "You've had your fun, you got what you wanted – ¿qué más quieres? To kick me in the teeth some more?!"

what are you still doing here

If her heart had been beating it would have stopped. The weight of his words, roared with venomous repulsion, pressed heavy on her chest. Maria couldn’t help the tears that freely ran down her cheeks and fell off her chin. Still so focused on his burst of rage she barely followed his next questions. She blinked a few times, silent as the tears continued to fall, and tried to understand what he was insinuating. Was he gaslighting her? How could he really believe any of that? Maria opened her mouth to speak, to try and articulate how devastated and confused she was, but the more she tried to search for the right words the angrier she got. At him and at herself.

“Fuck you,” she seethed, her voice surprisingly steady for how distraught she looked. How could she have been so stupid? This was Betelgeuse. Whatever rose-colored glasses she’d been wearing before he effectively slapped off her face.

Feeling very exposed and embarrassed Maria covered her chest and shifted off the bed. Hastily, she searched for her clothes, slipping on her underwear and dress (abandoning her bra). When she picked up her shoes at the end of his bed she stooped, giving his rage filled snake eyes a long look. This is what she needed to remember.

“Thank you.” The words were bitter and she couldn’t help the tremble now. “I don’t need to wonder what being with you is like anymore. I can shut the book on my naïve fantasies.”

She took a single step back, her mouth in a tight line while she shook her head. “I’m the same down here as I was up there. Foolish and never good enough – basura. But I can take myself out.”

The last word came out with a sob and she looked away from him – she needed to leave.

Oh, she was good. An Oscar worthy performance: those tears streaming so theatrically over her high cheekbones; her expression surprised bordering on devastated; the faintest, barely-there tremble in her hands. She was a waste working a reception desk.

Her spit profanity was exactly what he expected. Exactly what he needed. It vindicated him that he was able to at least partially expose the truth of her. If he was able to twist and reduce whoever was using him to standard curses, he won.

Beetlejuice only watched from the corner of his eye as Maria haphazardly scooped up and stepped into her clothing. She didn't ask for help rezipping her dress.

Then, instead of simply stomping out, instead of a stinging slap across the face – plus or minus the heeled shoes she held – she looked him directly in the face, leaning low to get under his brow and hold his eyes.

She slapped him with her words.

His self-pity and rage swirled in the pit inside him, and he could barely process what she said. Sarcastic thanks? She'd fantasized about him? The word fool and garbage flitted through – he knew what he was – and then a hitched choke that added another perfectly placed, dramatic sob to the end.

Although his upper brain was still trying to sort through what she'd just said, his lizard brain was still quick and in charge.

"The fucking door's right there," he snarled. She wanted to play on sympathies with crocodile tears? He'd counter with justified fury.

He'd have liked to stare her down till she was gone, but that hurt like a knife in the chest. And he should know, since that was something he'd experienced so recently! Instead of keeping his eyes locked on her, he turned his face away.

His throat burnned.

His silent agreement of her self-deprecation and his cruel indication to the door sealed it for her. Part of her, deep down, hoped he’d see her anguish and apologize. Leave the bed and wrap his arms around her. But that wasn’t happening, and it wasn’t going to happen. That was clear.

Maria felt the fire in her drain when Betelgeuse turned from her. What was the point of being angry? She nodded solemnly and looked at the door he’d so kindly motioned to.

“Right.” Her voice was soft. “Goodbye, Betelgeuse.”

And it really was goodbye. She realized that then. There was a clear finality to her parting. That goodbye was a resolve to cut whatever semblance of a relationship, platonic or otherwise, they’d had. Maria mourned that loss. Packing away the memories of coy flirting, stupid jokes, and of his perpetual smile when he’d roll his chair over to pitch his latest get out scheme.

And she mourned the brief possibility of what could have been. The flash of something seen only through the rose-colored glasses of an afterglow.

He so firmly hammered the final nail in the coffin that now held this relationship – and no one had any final words before it was lowered down into the dirt.

Another nod, only to herself, and she turned from him. Her heels still hung from her fingers as she padded bare foot to his door and left.

She didn’t notice how long she’d been walking, busy filing away the decades of fond memories till she was left with the most recent one. The eternal red fog of the netherworld licked at her legs, and as she pushed their final night together down deep, she pressed her back against the closest building, knelt down into the haze, and cried.

The door didn't slam. She left politely, as if to show she was superior.

He fucking knew that, didn't she think he fucking knew that?!

The atmosphere in his room changed the second Maria walked out and left it looking grimier, shabbier, and shittier than ever before. Beetlejuice grabbed both sides of his head and bellowed wordlessly: a rage-filled noise that probably rattled his dead neighbors. She led him on, she teased him, she used him, she made a fool of him . . . the same excuses he always heard echoed through his skull. She led him on, she teased him, she used him, she made a fool of him.

Sheledhimonsheteasedhimsheusedhimshemadeafoolofhim over and over and over and over –

She'd said basura. Garbage. That one word crept passed the others.

In a terrifying moment of clarity, Beetlejuice realized she hadn't called him that, she called herself that.

She wasn't garbage. He had been sincere when he called her hermosa. Emperatriz. It might have been the booze that loosened his tongue, but it only spoke the truth. He'd never met anyone like her in the Nether or Upper world. She made him laugh. She gave as good as she got. She was beauty personified. He liked her, and more than that, he respected her. And now, and now –

– he'd continued to fuck over his existence. The weight of what he'd done, the sheer magnitude of how he'd treated her when she'd been nothing but supportive and caring –

A new sound ripped from his throat. Pain and suffering. Utter disdain for himself. Hate directed inward. He should run after her. He should find her and apologize; drop to his knees in front of her, prostrate at her feet, grovel belly-up and beg for forgiveness. He could never atone, but he could worship. But Maria made it perfectly clear she was done with him, rightfully, agonizingly so, and all he could do was curl in on himself on his sagging, stained mattress, and weep.

fin

#writing #role-play #BeetleTina #Beetlejuice #Miss Argentina #Beetlejuice x Miss Argentina #movie Beetlejuice #Musical Beetlejuice #fanfiction #rp

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beloved-31-proverbs-women · 3 years ago

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~Spiritual Warfare Scriptures ~

"You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Cor. 10:3-5

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith." 1 Pet. 5:8-9

"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord." Is. 54:17

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Eph. 6:11-17

"In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Rom. 8:37

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:57

"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Zech. 4:6

"But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one." 2 Thess. 3:3

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Luke 10:19

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

"Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." Matt. 18:18-19

“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.” Deut. 28:7

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Cor. 10:13

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

“Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12:21

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”Rev.12:11

“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.” 1 Tim. 6:12

“,,,On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18

“…the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.” 1 John 3:8

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Is. 40:31

“One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.” Josh. 23:10

“Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.” Deut. 3:22

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Rom. 8:31

“Through You we will push back our adversaries, through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.” Ps. 44:5

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Josh. 1:9

“For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” Ps. 18:39

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart…” Ps. 91:1-4

"This is what the Lord says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's." 2 Chron. 20:15

When we belong to Christ, the enemy never has the final word over our lives. We are secure in God's hands. Press on – courageous and free –

A Prayer Against Spiritual Warfare

Dear God, today we put on the full armor to guard our lives against attack. We put on the belt of truth to protect against lies and deception. We put on the breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts from the temptations we battle. We put the gospel of peace on our feet, so we’re ready to take your light wherever you send us this day. We choose to walk in the peace and freedom of your Spirit and not be overcome with fear and anxious thoughts. We take up your shield of faith that will extinguish all the darts and threats hurled our way by the enemy. We believe in your power to protect us and choose to trust in you. We put on the helmet of salvation, which covers our minds and thoughts, reminding us we are children of the day, forgiven, set free, saved by the grace of Christ Jesus. We take up the sword of the Spirit, your very Word, the one offensive weapon given to us for battle, which has the power to demolish strongholds, alive, active, and sharper than any double-edged sword.

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