#desmond is like the brother-in-law that lives in the house

[teecupangel]

Altaïr and Malik bitching like an old married couple with Ezio standing like🧍in the entrance is peak comedy to me 🤣

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Altaïr & Malik: *bitching like two old gay men married for over fifty years over Altaïr's cats*

Ezio: Do they... Do they always do this?

Desmond: Yep. At least they haven't pulled out the knives yet.

Ezio: ...Scusami, knives?!

(and I bet that at some point these two had a hate fuck.)

The “Altaïr gets a cult but, more importantly, gets lots of cats against his will in Renaissance Italy” idea that is connected tot his.

By the end of it, Ezio has been corralled into the tea room, being introduced to each cat that came in at the smell of food. (Ezio had been worried that the slices of meat were supposed to go with the cookies and tea but no, they were bait to get the cats in the room).

Desmond seemed happy to just introduce every cat to Ezio and they were willing to sit pretty long enough to be introduced before taking a slice of meat and running away.

They could still hear the argument in the courtyard but they were now far enough that Ezio doesn’t know what they’re arguing this time.

“We’ll wait here until they finished throwing knives at each other.” Desmond had said earlier and Ezio was left wondering just how much the two hate each other for them to regularly try and kill each other.

(They don’t. Desmond made them deal with their ‘problems’ by giving each other a time to vent it out while throwing a knife on the poor tree in the courtyard as some kind of DIY “smash these plates to let go of your rage” kind of thing.)

(They did it once, traumatized Shaun the cat who screamed bloody murder after seeing them in the middle of it. It was a weird time for everyone)

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide to Earls/Counts and Countesses

(👆🏻The way they are both wifey 👆🏻)

This new series will offer an indepth view of each noble title in the standard European hierarchy of noble titles. Here we will discuss what they are, their lands, their jobs and everything you need to know when writing them.

What exactly is an Earl/Count/Countess?

A Earldom is the third highest rank in most noble hierarchies. The Count/Earl/Countess rules a section of land within the Kingdom known as a Earldom, for example the Earl of Desmond or can be a standalone title. A Earldom is inherited through the family line, from father to son but the title is bestowed on the family by the monarch. Monarchs can also give their children Earldoms if they wish but often grant them Dukedoms. The former Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward was the last Prince granted an Earldom but advanced to the Duke of Edinburgh after his father's passing and his brother's assent. Earldoms might also be the title of the heirs of Dukes or Marquesses. An Count/Earl/Countess's heir would likely be titled as a Viscount.

Titles, Titles

You will have noticed that Earl and Count are interchangeable. Earl is the English equivalent of Count, which is widely used on the Continent. An Earl or Count is addressed as Lord PlaceName. For example, Downton Abbey's Robert Crawley is The Earl of Grantham but he is referred to as Lord Grantham. The wife of an Earl or Count, is styled as Countess and she's referred to as Lady Placename. They would be addressed as Your Lordship and Your Ladyship.

Family of the Count/Earl/Countess

A Countess on her own right is referred to as the same but her make spouse does not become Count or Earl. He keeps his own title. As for same sex couples, again I remain on the dark here but I would think that they would take on their spouses' next highest title. The children of a Count/Earl/Countess is styled Lord/Lady Firstname with the heir taking on the title of Viscount/Viscountess or the next available title.

The Role of the Count/Earl/Countess

The Count/Earl/Countess is leader of the Earldom, which is a fairly large section of the kingdom. They are in control of this section, the highest power in law and order, politics and all things in that section with only the Duke or the Marquess and the monarch above. They handle administration at the highest level, raising troops from their earldom for the crown in times of war, see the collection of taxes and sometimes they might even advise the monarch if they are offered a place of the monarch's council. They would also attend the monarch at their coronation.

Cribs

Count/Earl/Countesses like a lot of nobility would have multiple houses, manors, estates etc. Their homes would be the grandest in the land and the social hubs for the Earldoms and even the country. A Count/Earl/Countess would sometimes live at court when invited but would also have the homes in the capital. This vast portfolio can become a source of income as the Count/Earl/Countess can rent them out or a handy way to shelf relatives who depended on them.

[riverdamien]

Climbing the Stairs-Up and Down

The Stairway of Religious Trauma-Walking Up and Down!

"For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received and in which you also stand that Christ died for our sins in accordance to the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he seemed more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once.

"Jesus I often feel like I am lost in a swamp where there is no foothold, I float aimlessly, wounded and hungry. Nurse me with food of mercy even when I resist such nourishment. From the watering depths. I weep. Draw me out of the abyss, dry my wounds, and guide me to dry land" . . ., this is a prayer I often pray, when I find myself falling into the swamp of the trauma of religion through which I work, my own, and of my guys. There are days I am up on the stairs, others I am way down! No medication, or having tons of therapy as I have had, will fix that, it is living the questions!

In the last couple of days, there has been news from the United Methodist General Conference over the change in the laws concerning homosexuality, the laws which have split the denomination, and seeing them change is a hopeful sign. Still, the reality of my trauma, while coming from the United Methodist Church, and the trauma of my youth stems from the overall dogma of churches in general. The major denominations which have become open to queers, change their laws and appear to move on.

It is primarily because their leadership is straight. You give people rights, and everything is then okay, but the reality there are centuries of abuse and trauma left behind.

Like with all minority groups, unless you are a part of one, who has undergone discrimination, you truly do not understand. One can be an ally, and yet at night walk home and forget about where the other stands. One has to live it, to suffer it, to truly understand!

In the last couple of days, my trauma has been pricked, and I feel a lot of darkness, darkness over the "friends" and "family" I once had, and I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been raised as straight or in a way sexual identity was simply a part of life.  Like an alcoholic, I was almost 30 before coming out, and so stuck in my adolescence and acted like a fifteen-year-old.  I had to grow up.  It has been only in the last few years that I am no longer afraid, of the mistakes I have made, ones I still cry over, but more than anything related to myself is the darkness over the hundreds of people who have come through my ministry in the last thirty years, on the street and off, that religious groups have abused. I have sat with many who have cut their wrists, are so depressed, and have lives torn apart, all over the interpretation of a religious group's interpretation of the Bible, written two thousand years ago. I cry suffer, and go sleepless nights, remembering their pain, and where many wound up--on the streets, the morgue, living very lonely lives with really no understanding of themselves, hooked on drugs and alcohol.

Many throw the baby out with the bathwater when they throw the Church out of their lives they throw Jesus out as well,  but my relationship with Christ teaches me his way of love, Jesus is a real presence in my life, and as Desmond Tutu tells us  the heart of the teaching of Jesus, giving life is:

"We are each made for goodness and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths."

Reading comments regarding a new certificate in writing on a memoir,  Stanford had developed, one stood out, "I am  a good person, my life is boring, you have to live a dysfunctional life to be in this class." And I wondered and (LMAO) what is this person hiding from, because all of us are wounded, we all live in houses that have broken ceilings, and we all suffer.

It matters not what God, if any, one believes in, we are called to live with love and compassion. All else falls by the wayside when we do that! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

=================================================================================

Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.,Director

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

425-305-2124

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