#faith & fate

[mutodaes]

The Shepherd of Souls

I had an idea for a COTL AU in which the Lamb is a reincarnation of the original god of death, known as the Shepherd of Souls.

[nimbusclan]

I wanted to pay homage to a handful of the blogs that inspire me, so I drew my favorite cats from each!

I didn't realize how many white/gray cats were my favs 'til I started coloring this... I guess I have a type. It was really fun to color this, though - it really expresses how different all of their coats are!

I DID realize that many of my favorites are the nonverbal and/or stoic ones, lmao.

This was so much fun for me! It was a great opportunity to play around with shapes and faces and appearances. I'll definitely do this again in the future!

In order of appearance:

Rivercall, from @castaway-clan

Puddle, from @sporeclan

Cranedance, from @chasing-faith-and-fate

Erminepaw, from @loudclan-clangen

Sharktail, from @rookclan

and Milkfur, from @ranchclan

If you're tagged in this and you don't want to be, shoot me a message and I'll untag you!

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[funsize-cenobites]

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 424: Detroit Tears

Previously on BnHA: You know what, fandom is way too heated about this still so we’re just going to leave that be that for now and not get involved. I have some conflicted feelings about it, but this is not the place or time. This is a happy post.

Today on BnHA: Oh right, Horikoshi still owns the rights to my soul. And I’ve just been reminded of why I willingly signed them over to him so freely.

Quick heads up that this isn’t going to be my usual style of chapter reaction post, in that it’s really just going to be a ton of rambling about That One Scene. Partly because I’m only halfway caught up with stuff, but mostly because tbh, this is the only thing that matters to me right at this moment.

Also this is your friendly neighborhood spoiler warning that I’m posting about a chapter which hasn’t officially been released yet! So proceed at your own discretion. This reaction is based on @pikahlua’s excellent spoiler translation writeup here. I’ve officially lost all of my fucks about spoilers and it’s extremely liberating.

I’m glad that Kacchan’s arm isn’t just magically better and that he’s never going to be 100% again. and also that the doctor mentions him needing to rest his heart as well. because I did feel like there needed to be at least a few lasting consequences from him LITERALLY DYING AND UNDERGOING OPEN-HEART SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLEFIELD. but I’m also glad they established that it wasn’t career-ending or anything. he’ll probably have some chronic pain and occasionally aggravate his old injuries while fighting, all of which is great for angst purposes. but it was good to see him being calmly accepting of that while also being determined to put the work in to rehab it as much as possible.

also enjoyed the doctor summing up Kacchan’s highly improbable main character resurrection and subsequent antics as basically being some wild bullshit that nobody can explain. lampshaded the shit out of it. “I don’t really understand” lol. nobody understands. in truth it’s that his secondary quirk is bending reality to his will in order to kick ass.

moving on to the main event now! so Kacchan and Izuku’s reunion was obviously the highlight of this chapter and of my life, probably. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like it wasn’t. y’all know how it is.

what really made this scene for me was Kacchan being more upset at Izuku’s loss than Izuku himself. all those callbacks and all that guilt. that careful selection of flashback panels. the fact that Kacchan’s past bullying of the quirkless Izuku wasn’t glossed over or forgotten, and in fact is the emotional core that fuels Kacchan’s reaction here. Horikoshi didn't have to cut that deep, but he knows what he's about.

and then the crying. I need to write a lot of words about this right the fuck now. first off, having Kacchan just flat out sob while Izuku for once is the calm one (at least until All Might goes in for the emotional kill later on), is such a beautiful reversal and really shows how far they’ve come. even better is that none of it was even remotely out of character. I’m always appreciative when an author can produce top tier emotional hurt/comfort like this and have it feel earned and authentic rather than forced. well done.

also, “Na--cchan!!” fuck yeah Izuku. we’ll never let him live this down. (but also, him later trying to reconcile his forever-tough image of Kacchan with the crying, hiccupping version standing in front of him, by blaming it on Kacchan’s weakened physical state... oh, Izuku.)

also the fact that Kacchan so easily reverts to this smol crying boy even after defeating the world’s greatest evil pretty much activated every protective instinct that I have. he’s seventeen. he’s practically a man now. he’s objectively one of the strongest and toughest people in the entire world. and yet his eyes still go so wide and his face is still so young and Horikoshi still draws him so tiny and vulnerable whenever he’s like this. goddamn gets me EVERY single time. let’s be real, it’s been this way ever since the “you looked like you needed saving” scene back in the literal first chapter. just, omg. he’s still just a kid and he’s too small to contain all these feelings SOMEONE HELP HIM.

anyway so NEEDLESS TO SAY, Kacchan full on mourning in between sobs because he wanted to keep being rivals with Izuku cut me to my core. I cried too, goddammit. because in Katsuki’s mind it’s like. he wasted a dozen years of potential friendship by being a giant asshole. and they were only able to start getting things back on track less than a year ago. and that was probably the best year of both of their lives. and that rivalry meant so much to both of them. pursuing their dreams together as equals. and he wanted it to continue!! he missed out on so much, and it was his own damn fault, and now it’s all being taken away again maybe!!

and I think it’s especially devastating to Katsuki because he was trying so hard to make up for how he treated Izuku, and then this comes along and now he’s worried it was all for nothing. he’s scared that Izuku will maybe have to quit being a hero. (we know that won’t happen, obviously, but Katsuki is living this and not just reading it. he’s never met narrator!Deku and doesn’t have the benefit of all that foreshadowing and stuff.) but even more than that, I think he’s scared that it will undo all of their progress toward mending their relationship. not because Katsuki thinks any less of Izuku now, quirk or no quirk; but because of how Izuku might feel about being quirkless again, and because of the memories it might bring flooding back to the surface. I don’t think Katsuki fully believes that Izuku has forgiven him. so that’s a major fear potentially rearing its ugly head once more now.

and of course, he’s also just sad and upset on Izuku’s behalf, because he knows Izuku is sad about it too, even if he’ll never show it and will just downplay it because of his selfless nature. it’s a major loss, and one deserving of tears being shed, even if Izuku won’t shed any of his.

so yeah. it’s a lot. in Katsuki’s mind it’s the potential loss of a partner (if Izuku quits heroics), and a friend (if Izuku does cool toward Katsuki as a result of being quirkless again), and a dream (of them reaching the highest heights together), and his friend’s dream. so it makes perfect sense that all of that would overwhelm him. all of this is stuff that’s broken him down on past occasions as well.

so anyway it’s going be very cathartic when all those fears prove to be unfounded (because they better be unfounded lol). but in the meantime it’s a very moving reminder of how much he really does care and how far the both of them have come.

also Horikoshi really couldn’t resist giving Nobu one last chance to destroy everyone when this scene rolls up in the anime. that’s so reckless of him. there will be no survivors.

All Might telling both of them they’d become the greatest heroes was also the perfect chef’s kiss moment on top of everything else. we already knew it, of course. but it was good to hear him say it. and they needed him to say it. they needed and deserved to hear it.

and I really love that the qualities he specifically praised them for were the same things that each of them had struggled with the most in their respective journeys. he tells Izuku, who had such a difficult time learning how to tell the world “I am here!!”, that he inspires everyone and has become everyone’s hero. and he reminds Katsuki, who struggled with learning how to save people, and has especially struggled with his guilt over what happened to All Might at Kamino, that he saved All Might’s life and is the reason he’s able to still be there with them. both of them just really needed to hear that acknowledgement and encouragement, and it was such a powerful passing of the torch moment. All Might gets so much shit from the fandom, but he really is a phenomenal mentor when he’s in the zone, and I’ll die on that hill.

also a nice touch keeping the focus of those panels on the two boys and their reactions. even though I would have liked to see All Might’s face when he thanked them at the end, it definitely felt deliberate. this is their moment. their soft little tearful smiles afterwards punted my heart off a cliff and then picked it up and held it gently.

lastly, let it be known that I’m still convinced Katsuki has OFA (All Might vestige explanation when??), and it’s not lost on me that that would be a mighty convenient way for Izuku to potentially still go on a-quirkin’ in the end, if that’s how Horikoshi wants to play it. I'm just saying.

also before I forget, just a quick shoutout to Horikoshi for FINALLY showing all three members of the Bakufam in a scene together in which they finally managed to not be completely dysfunctional lol. my deepest darkest BnHA secret is that Mitsuki is secretly super high up on my list of favorite characters. and she was great in this chapter, and I love how she was just “WHAT THE FUCK” aghast at Katsuki using his main character powers to continuously ignore his injuries. and then she and Masaru kind of silently agreeing to step outside the room and let the boys and All Might have their moment. while still secretly listening in. because you know they were. good for them.

lastly for reals, I just want you all to remember that as great as this chapter was, the one thing that it was STILL missing which we have STILL not gotten is a HUG. we demand HUGS. I’m not leaving this manga till I get a bkdk hug goddammit. I will stay here all night if I have to.

[ofbatsandballads]

Having thoughts about catholic!Jason Todd

tw: mentions of religion, Jay’s death, addiction, and semi-explicit descriptions of murder

How he grew up devout because Catherine was. How he had hazy memories of her dressed in her Sunday best from when he was small. How even in the throes of her addiction she still managed to drag him to mass every Sunday. How after she died and he was left to fend for himself on the streets the local church was one of a handful of places he could seek shelter from the cold.

How when Bruce takes him in he learns about other religions because maybe Bruce has lost all his faith, but Alfred is a sentimental old man and still celebrates Hanukkah in honor of Thomas and Martha. How Jason becomes open to other interpretations of faith, how Bruce supports it even if he thinks it’s a fairytale. How in the final seconds, as the timer of the bomb tick, tick, ticks down to zero, as he drags himself over Sheila’s body to protect her, he finds himself reciting hail Mary’s and hoping he’s done enough good to earn his place among the holy.

How he comes back from the dead and remembers nothing. Black, dark, blank, void. How his faith died with him. How it still haunts him. How the scriptures are burned in his brain, the commandments screaming in his blood. Thou shalt not kill as he puts a bullet in the head of a human trafficker. Thou shalt not kill as he draws a knife across the throat of a drug dealer that was selling to kids. But even God sent a flood to clear the wicked, didn’t He? And isn’t sacrifice for the salvation of others a tenet of faith? Jason decides he’ll be the flood, even as it damns him to Hell.

[outer-edges]

the way frank and karen have an entire conversation and formulate an entire plan to get her away from lewis without even speaking to each other makes me so insane. like those two are SO in sync that frank can simultaneously talk lewis down while giving karen all the tools and info she needs to get herself away from him without lewis even realizing because it is that subtle. and then the little nods and head shakes when karen is feeling around trying to find the white wire. like they are on the same exact fucking wavelength, and they trust the other person so completely that in frank's mind there is no doubt that karen is going to understand what he's trying to tell her and will be capable of doing it. and in karen's mind there is no doubt that frank will save her.

[soath]

It is genuinely not surprising that Ashton has such a strong The Gods Are Going To Kill Us take on the situation, given what they specifically have seen and what they have to relate to. They're about two weeks out from 1.) getting done violence onto them by an angel and then 2.) being told they have a bit of a dead thing that the gods tried to kill inside them. Then they go and put a lot of effort into getting that dead scrap to wake up (with disastrous consequences illustrating how incredibly volatile its power is). Then they have their only religious friend blow up in front of them. Then they watch a movie trilogy where the only non-god main character is another earth genasi broken-walking-timebomb whose main purpose on the mission is to explode when the gods need him to. They don't see the Lawbearer weep for her son, they only see the Emissary, a child, crying because he's afraid to die. Then they go to Vasselheim, the city of the gods, and see the corpse of a Titan, the dead thing the gods killed, yanked out of the earth and puppeted by one wannabe god and now desecrated in death by the overconfident followers of all the others. They're making something beautiful out of it, they're living on it, and normally he'd be in favor of that but they don't even know its name. They're building new temples on the corpse of the old world, hollowing it out and starting fresh, and Ashton is a part of that old world. They cannot stop being connected to a power the gods seem to, at best, be willing to weaponize. That would make anyone paranoid; given their background it's impressive that he's not more combative, tbh.

[holdingup-fallingsky]

I am once again thinking about how fucking fantastic of a song Fate of the Faithful is like the lyricism is fucking insane, there’s so many double entendres for each line and each one still matches the themes of the song (y’know being absolutely pissed off at religion and god) and like you can feel the emotion and rage radiating off this song it’s actually insane. And then to top THAT all off, the actual music of the song feels like a powerful summer lightning storm, y’know the type that make you understand why our ancestors used to think storms were god’s wrath. And then there’s this underlying feeling of bitterness; the type you only really experience when someone you were extremely close and devoted to betrays you and your trust it’s just all so UGHHHHHHHH and like even the TITLE of the song is crazy like yeah, the fate of the fiercely faithful is that you will get burned and that you find out it was not worth it and that it meant nothing. Like do you understand

[rookflower]

thinking about the character again (cinderpelt) and it's likely unintentional and a result of either her shifting narrative role from young go getter to wise mentor or a shift in how the books display their own politics but i find something really tragic in-universe in how she develops from a character who will actively and willingly break the warrior code when it conflicts with her own morals (immediately lying to cover for graystripe and silverstream, acting in direct defiance of her leadership to nurse littlecloud and whitethroat back to health) but overtime through her role she gradually grows more god-fearing and pious and embodies somewhat of a "starclan is always right, even when they are cruel, and we need to accept that" position

[sillyravenpassingby]

...It's a leap of faith. That's all there is.

There's a first time for everything, right?

[hellhunde]

Shadows of the Past

[blueblurseptember]

just utterly moved by the recurring theme of all three of mxtx's novels so far which is the power of having at least just one person understand and believe in the good in you.

[palatinewolfsblog]

Pronoia

The exact opposite of paranoia.

The firm belief that our universe operates in our favor.

[kroz-zivot-srcem]