#he’s so back and forth like ‘I want to destroy them or conquer them and be a demon king again’ but also ‘Suga cute hehe’

[emptykitkat]

Low key writing an iwaoisuga fanfic in which modern day 29 year old elementary school teacher accidentally breaks a thousand year old spell sealing away the demon king and his knight and now he feels morally obligated to watch over them because Oikawa is 100% down to destroy humanity for sealing him away and Iwaizumi might just let him because he’s kinda pissed too, and Suga doesn’t want that to happen. Luckily after 1000 years Oikawa’s powers are coming back slowly so Suga has time to convince him to not kill everyone and wow them both with the concept of a grocery store.

[venvellan]

da2's arishok is a good villain. if you have a fundamental understanding of the qun and listen to his thought process, the things he does makes sense. he uses the qun to justify slaughtering kirkwall's people, which is utterly inexcusable and what makes him a villain, but his character is complex enough to make dealing with him that much more thought provoking. he sends agents to kill petrice because she was killing his people, he doesn't give up the elves because they committed their lives to the qun, no matter how recently they converted, and he refuses to leave without the tome (and isabela) because his idea of justice hasn't been done. his logic makes sense, generally, though it is wrong on more than one occasion. he isn't moral, but he is methodical.

i feel this way about solas, too. i like da2's arishok for the same reasons that initially draw people to solas, i think. when we meet them, i find them interesting and educational to talk to, someone worthy of respect, and someone very honorable in their own way. similarly, many of my issues with solas compare with flaws in the qun/the arishok.

solas asserts that all of his beliefs are correct, and we're never allowed to challenge him on any of it. if he has high enough approval, he'll approach you to go, "yknow, i thought you were all [insert prejudice or stereotype] but YOU showed me that some of you guys are actually okay," which is NOT what it looks like for someone's beliefs to be challenged.

brief aside, i want to be fair in that we don't get this opportunity with many of the companions, and it's not even an inquisition specific issue. the dialogue format is agree, joke, be mean, and it's flawed, but it works in the majority of interactions. we don't really get to engage in nuanced discussions with characters, but there are positives and negatives to the system overall. it is possible to challenge and shape a character within this dialogue system (i.e., garrus vakarian) but in dragon age that really only comes in the form of harden/unharden. it was a little more doable with origins' system, but it really hasn't been a huge part of any dragon age game. most characters' beliefs remain largely unchanged by you regardless of how you play.

solas also possesses a strong sense of duty and purpose, though what duty he has, what his true goals are, he keeps hidden as long as he can. the most damning comparison though, to me, is how willing he is to destroy the world and bring back "his people," while the qunari fight to conquer the world and homogenize society into "their people."

in any case, with both him and the arishok, you can see the wheels turning in their heads. you can see why they do what they do, even if it's wholly immoral. it makes their threat a lot more personal, a lot scarier, psychologically, that a "normal" person, who doesn't want to cause suffering, can hold such specific beliefs and such strong conviction that knowing that they'll hurt people doesn't give them any pause. the root of their motivation is understandable. solas wants to right his wrongs, at his core. the arishok implicitly believes that the qun is safer, better for its people than life outside the qun. we can see that they're taking it too far, but they don't care. it makes them good villains.

"i am not corypheus, i take no joy in this." sure, which is a very similar sentiment, emotionally, to the qunari sense of duty. you can say you don't enjoy it all you want, you're still committing genocide. you can hate the qunari all you want, but you fight with their ferocity, their unshakeable faith in their own cause. their need to "do what's right," no matter who's caught in the wake.

i understand why people like solas, i go back and forth on it myself, but i don't think he's all that different from the arishok in method and motivation. they're each thrust into a world so different from what they believe is "right" that they demand it change around them. if we had to kill the old arishok, then if solas refuses to give up, he will have to die. he doesn't get to do genocide just because he's romanceable. he's a good character, he's a good villain, but he's not a good guy, and unless he stops before he does any real harm (which he will not do), he should share the arishok's fate.

[aziraphales-library]

hellooo,

before i get into this i just wanted to thoroughly thank you guys for the help i’ve gotten from you in the past, one time quite recently! i really really appreciate it! you are true angels on earth and deserve the world 🌎🩵

now i just had a thought and i thought i’d ask, are there any fics out there where crowley and aziraphale potentially have a run in with any of the 4 horsemen throughout history? (i feel like i maybe read one or two like this back in the day, i think they were perhaps death and pestilence in those works) i’m not necessarily looking for those specific fics, they’re probably in my bookmarks somewhere. but i just was rewatching episode 2 where war comes in and it said about how she’s been killing time “for so long” and i thought that might be interesting to see a & c coming across them sometimes and how they interact with each other. i’ll take future fics, but i think i’m more looking for past/historical settings

thank youuuu! and feel free to take your time, i’m in no rush.

love you, byeeeeee

Hiiii! Here are some fics where Aziraphale and/or Crowley meet one or more of the four horsemen through the ages. Mind the tags on some of these!..

Oilslick Feathers by sylveondreams (G)

After an unexpected encounter with Pollution, Crowley finds himself with wings soaked in oil and panic building in his chest.

How To Arrange A Meeting by Winds_of_Inspiration10 (T)

Aziraphale has come to Egypt to set forth the next step in the Great Plan - arrange a meeting between Joseph and the Pharaoh. That might be a bit difficult when Crawly informs him that the former has fallen from Potiphar's favor and is now in prison. How will these hereditary enemies get out of this one?

The Great Mortality by The_Jade_Goblin (T)

It's 1347 and the Black Death is stalking the better half of Europe, and Aziraphale is ready to be swept up in his despair. Waves of human populace are being wiped out in the blink of an eye, cities left empty and villages lie barren. There's no end in sight, no stopping this Biblical Plague from destroy humanity. But Crowley isn't willing to give up just yet. Or Aziraphale and Crowley are determined to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to help during the Black Plague, even if God Herself can't be bothered. And Aziraphale learns a little more about his demon companion at the same time.

Behold A White Horse by Aubergion (M)

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. —  Revelation 6:1–2, King James Version The white horse has had many riders in the last six thousand years.

The Feathered Serpent by WaneMoose (T)

1521- Aziraphale has been working as an interpreter for the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in his mission to bring Mexico under the heel of Spanish colonialism and the Roman Catholic Church. When they arrive in the wondrous city of Tenochtitlán, the angel is shocked to discover that Cortés and his invading army have been invited to stay. Even more disconcerting is that invitation was the suggestion of a demon posing as the Aztec high priest for the god Quetzalcóatl, the winged serpent. Naively believing peaceful coexistence is a possibility, Aziraphale and Crowley bear witness to the Toxcatl massacre and the Fall of Tenochtitlán.

The Angel of Dunkirk by imnotokaywiththerunning (M)

Springtime 1940: Hitler's army has started its march across Europe and Aziraphale is worried. Another war so soon after the last was almost unbearable. He and Crowley have decided to stay well out of it, but a visit from the Archangel Gabriel sends Aziraphale headfirst into a war he never wanted to see.

- Mod D

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon 162 spoilers and thoughts except i'm a little bit late with them just a tad but it's okay we ball

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i think. genuinely. the art and panels for this episode are my new top tier THEY'RE SO DAMN FUNNY I WAS LAUGHING THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME HAHAHAHAA

LIKE LOOK AT THEM THE DOUBLE TROUBLE DUO EVER I FUCKING LOVE THEIR EXPRESSIONS they're menacing in such different ways but at the same damn level they're so duo i love them so much stupid fucking guys /aff

now back to the top heehee VERKIS GOING STRAIGHT TO THE DAMN MOON

he knew the horror that was about to fall out of lloyds mouth and did not warn anybody bro just went to spectate i love him so much

also a glimpse at the planet lorasia is on!!! yippee yippee! it looks very similar to earth but the continental shapes are different,,, wonder if bk moon will ever write a story thats cross continental!!! is that how u use that term idk

AND CHRIST WAS IT HORRIFYING

LLOYD. LLOYD UR SINGING COULD DESTROY NATIONS. U COULD CONQUER THE WORLD JUST BY CALLING ONE NOTE. THIS IS AUDIO WARFARE WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL this is way too OP HAHAHAHA

ALSO ALSO HIS STANCES BEFORE AND AFTER HOLY FUCK. THE AURA IN THEM I FEEL INSANE lloyd you motherfucker ily so much never stop slaying both literally and metaphorically THE ART IS SO SO FUN

AND THEN THATS HOW RAPHAEL SAYS FUCK LAKDJFLSKDFHAAA HELPP he knew he was done for he could tell. his fucking blank ass face ohhh god i feel so so damn bad for this guy LOL

THAT BACK AND FORTH BY JAVIER AND LLOYD WAS CALCULATED AND ALSO MONSTROUS AS HELL. INSANE MOVE INSANE THEYRE SO FUCKING. AJDFLKJSLDFKJSDFH in sync <3 the boyfs ever beating up angels together <3 i LOVED how much they matched/paired with each other in these panels its so fucking good

SO many matching pfp moments here in this ep and i think these two in particular are my favorite HAHAHAHAAA ive said this before but i love how differently they showcase their menacing behavior hehee

AND THEN RIGHT AFTER THAT THE MOMENT RAPHAEL WAKS UP LLOYD GOES STRAIGHT TO GASLIGHTING. OH MY FUCKING GOD HES SO ANNOYING I LOVE HIM SM

also more duo expressions here heehee i just also really like this panel javier looks like he does Not want to be this Evil despite the fact that he's doing it anyway. lloyd youve taught him so well <3

also poor raphael again god he looks so fucking beat up LMFAOOO just a mf coughing baby :sob emoji:

AND THEN AND THEN. JAVIER BARGING IN he looks so fucking stiff here he's trying his mf best at this role he's found himself playing AHAHAHAHHAA

AND THE FUCKING. THEM HOLDING EACH OTHER BACK I WAS GIGGLING SO FUCKING BAD . ALSO THEM JUST HOLDING AND HUGGING IN GENERAL I LOST MY MIND WHAT THE FUCK. THEY'RE MATCHING THEY'RE MATCHING HAHAHAHAHAHA I LOVED HTIS BIT the timing of it was so gold THEYRE SO FUNNY

javier's sentences being short and stiff he's a terrible fucking actor HAHAHAA

i feel so bad for raphael bro completely fell for it,,, poor little hamster,,, little guy doesnt know whats coming,,, that contract sealed his fate,,,,,,

WE ALSO GOT A >:3 LLOYD I THINK THATS AN IMPORTANT THING TO ADD. NOW WE HAVE A TOTAL OF TWO :3 LLOYDS OFFICIALLY IN THE WEBTOON here is to hoping we get more. its my favorite stupid expression i need more of it. lloyd is so >:3c to me that when i type that i think of him

again tho thats so damn evil of lloyd taking advantage of raphael's naivety :sob: silly guy ilysm

ALSO ALSO. THIS SERIOUS LLOYD MOMENT WHERE HE ACTUALLY MAKES A DAMN GOOD POINT ABOUT HOW THE HEAVENLY REALM HAS BEEN TREATING THE LOWER REALM. OHHHHH THAT WAS SO SO GOOD he's so cool when he's proving a point / spitting fire i love it when he does this and im glad he said smth, i rlly hope raphael can help w the realms and their communication so that shit like the jewel of truth getting illegal'd / other things like that can go smoother

the crossed arms n everything THATS SOOOOO HEHEHEHHEHEE DANCING AROUND

AND THEN NOT EVEN A MOMENT LATER HE GOES STRAIGHT INTO CONTRACT MODE I LAUGHED MY MF ASS OFFF HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

EVIL BASTARD. U AWFUL SCHEMER U. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH HAHAHAHAHAHA

do you think zhongli and lloyd would get along in a weird fucked up kind of way? i do. i think they should form a contract somehow and then fuck around a little bit

anyway im VERY excited to see what lloyd has planned for raphael exactly and also, since the jewel of truth is gonna get finished, what its going to say!!! swear to god fate better be beatable or im going to like. idk. curl up and cry. i need lloyd to finally get the happy ending he wanted, the lavish and carefree life he's been working for his entire life, one that's surrounded by people and family and loved ones and peace peace peace PLEASSSEEE HE'S WORKED SO HARD

sorry about this being mostly reacting too btw im just. eehehehehehe much action not much to say so im just giddy over this ep LOL

thats all from me for now!! see yall next week!!!! (aka tmrw when the update drops. bc this post was a teensy bit late. heehoo)

[cidnangarlond]

who are those guys in your dni (the curiouser)

emet-selch is this guy (in an edit I made):

short version he's thousands of years old and wayyyyy back in the days of PARADISE shit hit the fan and the world started uhhh ending. so half the population gave themselves t. this isn't gonna be short but anyway half the population gave themselves to make this god to save it etc etc things get even worse AGAIN somehow and to save the remainder of the world venat aka hydaelyn (capital g God in ffxiv) splits the world into 14 shards. now emet-selch manages to survive this "sundering" intact along with two of his colleagues and/or friends and they go well we know what we have to do now. which is merge the 14 pieces back. now each of the 14 "shards" has life on it. whole populations and lands and one expansion happens entirely on one of these shards and you visit another in the expansion after. there's more details with that which are very fun but basically there's life on these worlds. and emet-selch (and lahabrea and elidibus) really do Not care they are going to be exterminating like. millions of lives. and they do that! they destroy SEVEN DIFFERENT SHARDS! and fuck up most of the thirteenth so it's irreparably damaged but still around

emet-selch also went "HRMMM how can I sow maximum discourse in eorzea to bring about these horrible moments called "calamities" in which one shard is merged back with the source... oh I know!" so he founds this military empire garlemald the garlean empire (he possesses the body of a man named solus and builds the country up and declares himself emperor) to go forth and conquer and occupy lands and enslave and conscript those who live there and cause war and many other issues. to ensure the maximum amount of human strife possible. he does all this because he *checks notes* misses his friends from thousands of years ago and also *flips page* tells you directly multiple times he does not feel bad for killing what is likely millions of people and that he felt entirely justified in what he did.

unfortunately people are in love with him regardless. I think he's a great villain he's a sarcastic smarmy asshole who does a lot of posturing and he's deeply fascinating but my GOD people ship their characters with him to the high heavens for some reason. like okay "I miss my friends wah" is an insane justification for doing All Of This and he May have been tempered/under the thrall of a god for thousands of years but brooo it's been millennia just give it UPPPP it's mainly his fans that are super fucking annoying to me they try and justify everything or just loudly and unabashedly defend him. like no I want that fascist dictator DEAD I want that soggy ancient man DEAD. or at least they're so loud about their ship that that's all that matters and just will not shut up about it. OH and emet-selch is a title not his real name his REAL NAME believe it or not is HADES so you can imagine! when people write about their character in The Before Times who their soul Originally Was what name they give their character!!! it's not original in the least!!!!!

he's very snape-esque. there's a large overlap in my mind of him and his fans and snape and snape wives.

okay NOW onto zenos. pictured here alongside an old discord message:

(not pictured was them saying "he looks like he'd call me a slur" which is accurate! he probably would!)

he is emet-selch's great-grandson. he is an asshole and more or less like psychosexually obsessed with you because you're the only one who has ever posed an ounce of a challenge to him and that's why he becomes so obsessed with you and fighting you.

he's viceroy or something of one nation, ala mhigo, that garlemald has occupied for many years now and also of another, doma, in the far east, though he has this lady yotsuyu (she's an antagonist and also hot and has a shitty backstory and she DOES kill her abusive family members so. that's cool) as the acting viceroy of doma. either way he sees anyone not garlean as beneath him and refers to not only you but literally everyone else as "savages" ESPECIALLY the people who live in ala mhigo but yeah.

he just like. kills indiscriminately. he has this giant metal fucking thing with three different swords in it that he took from people he killed and lets this thing chose which sword he's gonna use at random. he treats killing as a sport he's gone pro in "wanton slaughter" he can and will and Does cut people down for no reason other than he wanted to. negative conscience. doesn't care he's crown prince of garlemald. also, emet-selch as solus "dies" thus causing a brief succession crisis before varis (zenos's dad) becomes emperor and then zenos kills him causing a full-blown war of succession in garlemald which tears the nation apart and so many different members of the royal family are fighting for the throne and ultimately all of them fucking die from killing each other and zenos naturally does not care or feel bad he's just like UGH WHERE'S THAT CHAMPION OF EORZEA (aka You)... WHERE ARE THEY... and his gay jester fandaniel is there also now he's fun.

anyway doesn't care he's in line to throne he just craves bloodsport and power and getting stronger and after you kick his ass he kills himself because he's. happy about it. that he was bested. but then his body gets possessed by one of emet-selch's old besties elidibus to cause More problems and then zenos's soul hops into another body and makes his way back before elidibus is like god you're so fucking stubborn FINE take your fuckass body back I already fought the champion of eorzea in your body I've got other shit to do more pots to stir.. goobye

fortunately when you and him fight at the end of the universe you kill him (HE BETTER BE DEAD OR I'M GONNA BE PISSED!!!) and leave him there so hopefully HOPEFULLYYYYYYY he doesn't come back. his backstory is varis fucking sucks and was a shitty father and now zenos is Like That as a result there's a short story somewhere about his childhood and this guy he had train him and then ultimately killed him and decided he was going to keep fighting and killing people to get stronger and now here we are. his fans are also so fucking annoying I hate this blonde bitch I do not think he's hot I don't care if he's got some weird predator/prey mentality when it comes to you/your character and him he's a fascist prick and I'm glad he's dead AND I HOPE HE NEVER COMES BACK. THIS BLONDE BITCH IS DEAD AND IT IS GOOD HE IS DEAD. WE DO NOT NEED TO RETURN TO HIM EVER

making fandaniel aka funnydaniel aka damndaniel his silly gay jester was fun BECAUSE. fandaniel was one of emet-selch's besties from way back when but Did get sundered so they found his soul and went Remember Who You Are and shoved him in the body of a gay little freak named. oh my god why can't I remember his name that's so funny. I had to look it up. fandaniel gets put in asahi's body. asahi was OBSESSED with zenos oh my god he saw this man cut down doman ninjas and samurai who were trying to protect their homes and their land and asahi went I Want Him. unfortunately for him zenos never gave him the time of day and died unrecognized by his favorite homicidal maniac. asahi was also the adoptive brother of yotsuyu and she killed him so good it was so cathartic *chefs kiss*. who cheered who clapped because I did. anyway so when damndaniel turns up in asahi's body - by the way when these guys do all that it's like putting a costume on to them they don't retain memories or anything of whoever they're in - he's all DO I LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU MY LORD... and zenos is sitting there like "*checking his nails* ...no." look up the fandaniel cutscenes those are funny he's a fun villain.

but no yeah zenos he fuckin sucks I think his fans are super annoying too and also he's blonde. OH he changes into this class/job called Reaper and as such an entity from the void is attached to him he gives it souls in exchange for his powers and abilities. and you get to meet who this void being is because after he dies they change back into a human person (kinda) and HER NAME the name shes given anyway is ZERO and shes cool as fuck

what if you were from a doomed shard and ended up becoming a voidsent attached to a homicidal bastard fascist maniac and when he dies you become a person again and now you have to relearn how to be a person because it's been A LONG TIME and you learn the joy of spicy foods. and also you're a lesbian

[scienter]

The final previews were thought provoking. I'm intrigued by El. I hope he sticks around for a while.

WIND AND TRUTH INTERLUDE 3:

El held up the gemstone, where a Herald’s soul had been trapped. It flashed as anti-Light met Light, and Jezrien was at long last destroyed. Not much of an explosion; barely enough to crack the gemstone. There hadn’t been much of Jezrien left. Now even that was gone. Forever. “Goodbye, old friend,” El whispered to no rhythm. “That imprisonment,” El said, tossing the dagger away, “is a punishment none deserve. We shame ourselves by trapping, instead of destroying, a Herald.” He held up his anti-Light gemstone, still almost full. “Yes, you were already nearly gone, weren’t you, old friend? The prisons don’t work on humans as well as was thought…”

Omg. I went from 0 to 60 then returned to 0 when I realized it was a mercy killing. Hmm. And El was friends with Jezrien? Curioser and cusioser . . .

“If you serve me,” Odium said, “you may need to kill more of your… former friends.” “My friends had their chance. When left on this world, they enslaved my people. The Heralds deserve annihilation. It is… a mercy.”

El was friends with all of the Heralds? 🤨

“If I do, can I rule human lands for you?” “If that is your wish, I will grant it.”

If El survives the battle on the Shattered Plains, then I think he’ll be a major antagonist in the second half of the series.  

The god began to fade, evaporating to dark mist. His voice lingered. “We have much work to do. Not just on one world, but many.” Fascinating. El had walked in here expecting imprisonment, probably execution and forced rebirth. Instead it seemed he was leaving with an army, a promise, and a new god who might at last be able to conquer the entire cosmere.

I swear that I’m not rooting for the bad guys, but Taravangian winning the contest would be the more interesting outcome. Just saying.

I like El. He’s an interesting antagonist. I hope we see more of him in future books.

INTERLUDE 4

Back and forth, back and forth. He partially wondered if this was the reason Cultivation had positioned him to be elevated—in giving him his curse and boon for so long. To create a person who could legitimately Connect to the power of Odium and take it, but one who would then be made impotent by the two warring sides within.

Huh. Taravangian’s conflict is similar to Sazed’s. Sazed’s divided because he holds opposing shards, while Taravangian is divided because of conflicting morals.

“It does not have to be one god,” she said. “One solution will never work for all. That was part of why we had to do what we did, ten thousand years ago. Let them be, Odium.”

They split Adonalsium because one god wasn’t working for them?

I guess they couldn’t or didn’t want to unite under a single entity.

He saw. Gods who turned away from him, content to let the danger stay trapped. Interestingly, they considered all three of the gods of Roshar to be a problem, and were happy to leave them to their conflict.

Honor and Cultivation are considered a problem by the other Shards as well? I wonder why.

Isolated as the others were, he could watch and prepare exactingly how to defeat each one. Only one of them held two Shards of power, but that one was unable to function properly. Odium’s predecessor had never taken a second Shard of power for that reason.

Oh, no!  Taravagian knows Sazed’s vulnerability. Maybe Harmony has to become Discord to protect Scadrial from Odium.

But Valor—where had Valor gone, and how did she hide from even his eyes?

Interesting that Valor (i.e. courage) is the one that’s hiding. I’d like to hear the story behind that.

“There is a chance, a solid one,” she said, “that you will do what is right. I would not have taken this step otherwise.”

Cultivation has more faith in Taravangian than I do atp.  

“Do not be so smug,” she replied. “A part of you knows this path you’ve started on is a terrible one. Listen to that part of you. Give it a chance.”

So basically:

Despite himself, he did feel it. It was the part of Taravangian that loved his daughter and grandchildren. The part of him that had grieved when forced to manipulate Dalinar while trying to break up the coalition. It was the part of Taravangian that remembered being young, uncertain, dull—yearning to do more to help his people.

Yeah, I got SW vibes from this interlude.

He was a god divided. What if he let each side rule in turn?

Cultivation created a capricious chaos monster. 😬

[seldomdrawncherubs]

*slides over prince of heart*

((This is gen one of my classpects lmao))

UU: dirk, is that yoU? or someone like yoU?

UU: i will tell everything i  know, of coUrse!

UU: the prince is an active destroyer, meaning the destrUction is either directed at yoUrself, or for yoUr own sake.

UU: the defaUlt for a prince is to destroy yoUr own aspect, making yoU look like the opposite aspect.

UU: that is why yoU might seem very calcUlated and smart, or cold. yoU are a heart player, but yoU act like a mind player!

UU: yoU prefer logic and reason and cold calcUlation, becaUse yoU gravitate towards the destrUction of heart. sometimes, princes see their aspects as liabilities, and try to sUppress them.

UU: as yoU know, heart relates to the emotions, the self, the personality, and the soUl. this means yoUr classpect will split yoUrself and yoUr soUl. lil hal is an example of this. Perhaps yoU are a maker of characters, dolls, or pUppets! pUtting a bit of yoUrself into yoUr creation. oddly enoUgh, this means the prince of heart bears many similarities to the maid!

UU: if yoU are like dirk, perhaps yoU might know someone like jane? those two are excellent friends, and i am sUre yoU coUld find a great friend or ally in them.

UU: when i first began my research, i thoUght the prince was exclUsive to men. after research and time in the dream bUbbles, i believe this is inaccUrate. a female prince or nonbinary prince coUld easily play; the rUnes of the frog temples do not appear to have many gendered terms.

UU: terms sUch as prince and lord are the closest terms in oUr languages, so that is what we call them.

UU: this does make me wonder who is responsible for the frog rUne temples that appear Upon doomed worlds…who speaks the langUage of the game that bUilds and destroys oUr worlds?

UU: either way, destrUction is cyclical with creation. time that decays and space that bUilds are closer than they appear! so if yoU believe yoU are destined to destroy yoUrself, remember that! sUrroUnd yoUrself with people who remind yoU that yoU are loved and worthwhile.

UU: the prince of heart has the potential for great resilience: to destroy and remake themselves, to rise and channel what once destroyed them into protection, and to gain a greater Understanding of the soUl. When things get toUgh, yoU may want to go back to older habits: self destrUction and self hate. but remember, there is a way oUt!

UU: i believe in yoU!

***

uu: GOOD. A DECENT CLASSPECT. ARE YOu DIRK? DIRK IS A GOOD HuMAN. HE IS NOT STuPID AND PATHETIC. LIKE THE ROXY AND JANE BITCHES.

uu: WHAT DOES A PRINCE DO? A PRINCE DESTROYS. LIKE A MALEVOLENT chERuB. TRIuMPHING OVER WORLD AFTER WORLD.

uu: A PRINCE IS THE SECOND BEST CLASSPECT TO HAVE. BuT DO NOT GET COCKY.

uu: YOuR CLASSPECT MAKES YOu PRONE. TO BEING AN ALPHA. SuCH AS MYSELF. BuT IT ALSO MEANS YOu ARE PRONE TO DESTROYING YOuRSELF.

uu: THE DIRK HuMAN IS SOMETIMES TRAPPED IN A PIT OF uSELESS SELF HATRED. HE CANNOT CONQuER. BECAuSE HIS CLASSPECT HITS HIMSELF. INSTEAD OF THE INFERIOR BETAS AND BITCHES AROuND HIM.

uu: THE SOLuTION I HAVE FOuND IS THAT PRINCES NEED TO STOP BEING MOPY. AND SEWING THEIR MOuTHS SHUT. AND WALLOWING IN HOW PEOPLE REJECT THEM IN PERVERTED TROLL QuADRANTS.

uu: I SEE MY SISTER HAS TRIED TO HINT THAT YOu SHOuLD HAVE CONNECTIONS. FRIENDS. MAYBE EVEN A TROLL MOIRAIL.

uu: LISTEN TO ME: DO NOT FALL FOR HER LIES. THE BEST PRINCE OF HEART POWERS COME FROM BEING ALONE.

uu: POSSESSION. CONTROL. SOuL CRuSHING. MANIPuLATION. IF YOu HAVE FRIENDS, THEY WILL DO SOMETHING LIKE TRY TO STOP YOu. OR MAKE YOu SOFT. OR INSIST THAT THEY SHOuLD BE THE LEADER INSTEAD OF LETTING YOu PuLL THE STRINGS.

uu: GO FORTH AND FuCK SHIT uP.

tumut

[loboto-mae]

The Wolf

In 1970, an ecologist named David Mech published a book called “The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species.” A book which catalogued all the information researchers had at the time on the worlds of wolves. A book that Mech himself would later spend the rest of his career trying to end the publication on. You see, Mech had mistakenly used research on wolves that were held in captivity, and found later that much of the assertions made in it did not hold up to scrutiny when observing wolves in the wild.

In the west we’ve heard, often to death, of the “Alpha Wolf.” We compare people to wolves quite a bit. Especially in the recent trend of armchair youtube “sociologists” and american conservative grifters attempting to explain human behavior in terms of so-called “Alphas” and “Betas,” a great many people still believe that humans, by nature, are pack animals with rigid heirarchies. Like the wolves in Mech’s research: The strongest, most fit male eats first while the weaker of the pack get what’s left over. The Alpha leads the pack, makes key decisions for them, and always has first pick of the mate. Mech’s research contained much of the information used to argue this point and it was inaccurate. Mech researched only wolves in captivity, however, when he took to observing wolves in the wild, he quickly realized how this view of captive animals was simply not how free creatures organize. A pack of wolves in the wild is a family; usually, two parent wolves with a litter of puppies. There’s no “Alpha” male, there’s a father. And the weakest pups certainly do not eat last, quite the contrary. This dynamic is more indicative of a community than a heirarchy.

In research such as this, we can infer that animals in captivity adopt new forms of social organization in order to cope with their incredibly narrowed freedom. Often this organization is inherited from the order they were bred from, forcing them to maintain it generation after generation.

Despite this false representation, I actually do believe people are like the wolves in Mech’s book. I believe that we are in captivity. One so coercive that it encourages us to believe in social heirarchies. We organize our worlds around it. We have our bosses, our landowners, our teachers, our leaders. We see each other as rungs of a social ladder to step on in order to make it to the next level. We either live believing we are or can be the “alpha wolf,” or we struggle accepting that we will only eat when it is our turn. And for what? Why allow our choices and passions be squandered by believing we must adhere to rules upheld by those who are superior in title only?

In my neighbors, my friends, my families, I see animals in a cage. I see a polar bear that shuffles back and forth all day in a bored frustration like an animatron. I see a whale with a melancholic song for a mate, though it has no room in its tank for itself let alone another. I see a panda that refuses to mate, lest it doom its child to a life too much like it’s own. I see a wolf that would want nothing more than to sprint as far as its breath can carry it to the far reaches of the forest it calls its home. Wishing only to be stopped, not by the glass of an enclosure, but by the limitations of its own, wild imagination.

We are not ranks in a social order. We are beings whose freedom has been withheld. We crave free community, free association.

"To look at people in capitalist society and conclude that human nature is egoism [greed and selfishness], is like looking at people in a factory where pollution is destroying their lungs and saying that it is human nature to cough," says Andrew Collier.

We are not free, we are captives. And attempting to learn the potential of an enclosure will get us nowhere closer to freedom. We can appreciate those who were able to conquer or cast aside that cage, like Emerson or Thoreau. And we can find a glimmer of light beam into our enclosures from the minds that saw hope beyond the cage, like Goldman or Tolstoy. But until we can learn to band together as the wolves we are and break loose of our captivity, we can never truly be free.

mae

[radioactive-earthshine]

Political Thriller AUs..... where the Arranged Marriages are more lethal than the cyanide-laced donuts. How are you feeling around this AU?

10/10

Arranged Marriage AUs or Betrothal AUs are sort of a weakness of mine particularly when the author is wise enough to include more of the political reasons behind the union rather than "force my idiots to fall in love" which is the common path a lot of these AUs take. It's not a BAD direction and I do sometimes want to see End Game of my idiots falling in love but that's not necessarily what's important.

It's the why, what is this world, what are the stakes, what's going to be broken if one, or both REFUSE, do they have other people they want to marry etc.

There's a lot you can do with these AUs other than "teehee they had no choice but to fall in love"

As for who I would do this to I have a Konbart one pingponging in my head that the concept is Krypton never was destroyed, Tomar-Re managed to stabilize the planet and save them all, but Jor El sent Clark to Earth anyway because he was certain it was going to happen, and the fallout afterwards was a lot of political upheaval and he was caught in the crossfire and was murdered (possibly by Dru). Things unfold more or less identically except Clark finds out where he is from, that they are all alive, has his own adventures there as a adopted child meeting the bio fam and their culture some 25 years later, meets his mom who did manage to survive the post-near-apocalyptic event. He has a lot of inner struggles of 'what is home' and knows in his heart it is with the Kents and his mom knows this too.

Eventually Kon comes along, but he's created on Krypton, not on Earth, as a sort of co-opt project between planets. Krypton wanted a way to try to genetically engineer Kryptonians to be able to have their powers AND live in any environment regardless if they have a red sun. Earth was needed because Krypton does not have as advanced of knowledge on genetic manipulation as Earth does, and use with the Earth Metagene was something even their own geneticists were curious about. The only way they were able to do this was cooperation between planetary governments. Kon was a secret side project that when exposed blew up because 1.) they used Kal's dna 2.) they were successful and 3.) they have a fucking clone running around and Krypton had actively BANNED cloning due to the last time they dabbled it and it ended badly.

Clark finds out about this clone and storms there like WTF - It's a mess. There's back and forth bs on what to do with him - some politicians are just 'kill it' but most are 'well no hold up, he actually has some intriguing abilities, we can use this!' Meanwhile Clark is just - 'sort this out, now, or I'm taking him to Earth.'

So they agree, he is an El, so he is released to Lara to protect and raise. Lara by now has high status (for now) and power under her so while critics might grumble, there is nothing they can do less they be shot off to the Phantom Zone.

Things settle down, but only so much.

Earth starts becoming a bigger presence in the interstellar community, Krypton is ever paranoid that Kal on Earth with an endless supply of Metas is a threat to them and so tensions begin to rise.

Some of the more warmongering Kryptonians want to conquer Earth, its conditions are ripe for them to be as their ancestors should have been under a young sun, and humans are soft and need help from aliens and only a spare few of their own kind are even worthy their grace as something approximating equal (metas, Amazons etc).

Clark knows if he just evacs Kon and Lara from the growing tensions on Krypton it would send a message to various Kryptonian politicians that Earth just may be that shady after all and Clark really is plotting against them so he works with his mother to try to find a solution. What would make the tension lesson so diplomacy talks could go positively.

Lara suggests an arranged marriage, because nothing makes Kryptonian's more excited than the prospect of legally bound by blood and law cooperation.

Clark says no before he even hears who or why. Lara persists and explains that while he, who was raised among people that do not partake in arranged marriages, and he who has a very singular mindset of what a marriage should be, arranged marriages are common among Krypton and nothing will show the wide majority of their people that Earth is willing to be neighbors and allies than by participating in one of their most time honored traditions.

Clark relents, and asks who. It is Kon. He has to think about it because that's his little brother. After much self reflection and dismantling his initial responses to the suggestion he relents that it is not a bad idea.

The hard part is deciding who would be a good match for Kon - but the fact that any gender is open for consideration makes things easier. After weighing all the options they have, and getting a lot of "wtf no!" Bart is suggested partly as a joke by [redacted].

Fucking Bartimus. At first he is written off as absolutely NOT eligible due to his more or less canon impulses but out of all the suggestions between metas and Amazons and Atlanteans Bart is the one who is in a position best suited to protect himself against literally everything. No one can touch him unless he wants to be touched. He's also from prominent Hero Family and has a name for himself on Earth as Impulse so it's not as if he's really ineligible.

So they agree.

Bart's not happy about this AT ALL and he thinks they chose him just to get rid of him because this takes place just little while after Max vanishes and he's feeling like he's being yanked around (he is 18 though, he just had longer with Max) and he's had so little control of his life this is just one other thing he has to deal with. Wally tries to explain but he does it badly so he pisses him off even more. Iris explains and he's beyond listening at this point. It takes Helen letting him rant at her and talking through things for him to come down that maybe they really don't HATE HIM.

So he shows up and lets Clark explain it and he, after thinking about it for 2 seconds (for Bart he was going back and forth for about 20 minutes though) agrees that this will be interesting and might just be the right thing to do - and because no one else will I guess it should be him.

Kon meanwhile wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough because he didn't honestly think it would happen.

He was wrong when Lara told him they found him a husband. Cue record scratch, glass shatters and a cat yowls sound effect. Cue panic. Cue the last 5 years of being totally out of control of his life and being yanked around by anyone and everyone as a political pawn exploding.

It takes a long time for Lara to calm him down but she has a tough job because everything that Kon is freaked out about is TRUE. She reminds him that this good for him and their people, that she too was from an arranged marriage, and that the match they secured for him was a good one and it is for the good of everyone and, dickishly, what would Kal do?

So Kon is sort of guilt bullied into it even though he agreed to it in the first place (very quickly and was just like 'hey just so long as they're hot!') and knew it was happening but he didn't think it would actually happen.

Seeing Bart's picture does dispel some of his anxiety, he is cute, he's attracted to him, he has a nice bod, super speed sound pretty neat and he knows Clark wouldn't choose someone who was creepy.

Little does he know Clark didn't even choose Bart at all at first and Bart wasn't even an option until everyone said NO.

So there they are, both initially GRRRRRR about the whole thing not because of the other but because of the situation. Kon feels like he just a tool to be used, and Bart feels like everyone just wants him gone even if everyone has done everything to explain that's not the case and they believe in him. Bart's older and wiser to know that if they really did believe in him, he would have been up for consideration at the start instead of [redacted].

Overall the stakes are pretty basic - get married just to open the door to start a meaningful conversation. Not even to STOP a conflict, just to hopefully get communication better. If either Kon or Bart balk on it it has the potential to exacerbate tensions between Earth and Krypton though Earth has more to lose.

In the end Kon and Bart do find love.

And that's what I have for this Arranged Marriage AU on my spreadsheet that MAY or may not ever be written, and as always some details may just change entirely.

Send me a fanfic/media trope or theme and I'll rate and tell you what I might do with it or something.

[generalluxun]

For the ask game: 3, 9, 10, 15

3.) Part of canon that almost nobody understands.

Hmmm. There are many ways to take this. Maybe the Lore bc t's too confusing? 🤣

How about this- Chloé's home life. And it's not that nobody understands, but some people Very Vocally misunderstand or worse, misrepresent it. I don't blame fandom because the head writer himself denies the very truth presented on screen, so what are some kids to do? The abuse narrative accidentally(?) shown for Chloe is very detailed and clear, yet some will fight tooth and nail to justify the most bizzare takes on it. I spent a couple hours the other day having a baffled back and forth with someone who thought being sent away with an abusive parent was a good/Just/proper writing choice. By the end I got them to admit that having Andre just let Audrey(the woman he wouldn't stay married to because of how she treats him) take away his daughter was a *bad* thing to portray, but it took way too long to get there.

Still, small victories I guess.

9.) The three worst things about the source material.

a)The head writer's inability to take critique/his insecurity. So much time and energy is spilled 'proving him right' that we are losing out on better plotlines. When the man writers his twitter rants into the scripts, you know he's got a problem.

b)The end of Season 5. Just... yeah so much of it. Things wobbled now and then before, but man it went off the rails, burst into flames, and destroyed a nearby orphanage at the end there.

c)I don't know? Like, so much can be traced back to 'A' above, that it's hard to pick at other stuff? There's a root cause, and it permeates. If that were fixed, the rest wouldn't happen and you'd have a more coherent and healthy narrative.

10.) The three worst things about the fandom

a)Character Salt- Holy heck people. As a Chloe fan I expect some salt thrown her way, but Jesus in Heaven *waves at what people do to Alya* What the hell is THAT? Alya is amazing, she's a wonderful bestie, Salting her? WHY? It's insane. Salting Chloe goes way too far too. She is not your personal bully. This is not revenge porn. What about the Marinette/Adrien Stan one and Salt the other? What the heck is that? They're the main couple! If you want to salt the writing, do it! It's so full of holes Plagg thinks it's cheese. Leave these poor kids alone though.

b)Purity Tests- A different kind of 'salt' than above. There are big segments of the fandom who cannot handle the slightest analysis or critique of the media. Anything but a slavish devotion and acceptance of everything on screen as the best/rightest/most moral and ethical take is considered 'hater/salt' without question. Either you are ostracized for voicing any dissent, or actively attacked.

c)Segregation- Maybe it's something common now in fandoms, but I'm struck by how compartmentalized people are. There is very little flow between the spheres. Like Love Square? then you stay away from any rare pairs involving them. Lukanette? Love Square is your bane, etc etc.

15.) Canon needs more...

Love Conquering all. S5 really drove this home. Love fails miserably time and time again in S5. It's kind of weird. People use love to *justify* actions left and right, but in the moment love tends to lead to failure and loss more than anything else. I don't understand how this was seen as a good idea.

[zalrb]

I LOVED the fic perfect Oh Stefan and his anticipation seduction took me back to 4x02 just🙏🔥 Thank you God for this Man! Stefan and Katherine rough sex I love it Stefan conquering her it's like I KNEW you were gonna go the route where he tells katherine the truth about Elena and how she'll NEVER have him like Elena does but I was NOT ready my jaw dropped I had to put my phone down for a second after hysterically laughing and fanning my face cause I can picture that sexy furrow he does with his eyebrows and how intent and intense he gets while talking about her. Hahaha Katherine trying to bring him to his knees thank God he flipped the script or I would've been mad then Katherine trying to hook Matt 😂 I did always like how she was always somehow flirting with him it's funny as hell. Elena get your shit together go fuck Katherine up and get your man back it was funny that she wanted to slap him though I won't lie she did ask for it so what did she expect?? Then her walking in on Katherine and Matt my eyes! 🤣 Then Matt acting like a frat boy caught by his mother and sisters glad he got to read her though bonnie was awesome as always! Oh my four new favorite moments in your fics 1. Stefan being the manly sexy GOD he is and putting Katherine in her lane cause honestly she was getting comfortable anyways, the get over yourself you didn't invent sex just because it's GOOD with you doesn't mean it won't be good with someone else and the only reason he hasnt went and found someone else is because she'll destroy them I was like GET HER STEFAN 😂and then she goes ballistic like yeah Katherine and Damon really need their delusional bubble popped 2. Elena's yeah yeah I know the drill like she's sooo done🤣 but honestly if Stefan says the word she'll break up with him! I'll talk more about that awesome Stefan and Elena scene in the next one but yeah that was fucking awesome AND LOVED seeing that simmering dark side of Stefan with Katherine🔥 3. Elena vamping out at the end f HER up Elena I really want to see Elena kick her ass for all the shit she's done to her and Stefan and as great as you write Katherine she STILL annoys me 😂but I like that you make her an active shit starter like her walking out to see the mess she makes niiice. 4. Last but not least just the Elena never had to make me get on my knees I was ALREADY there I would fall to her feet man just I knew it was true but perfection 💋 and then him just saying it with NO remorse to katherine just like yeah remember your place bitch. But uugh I can still hear her voice🙄 and her bratty pout but anyways REALLY enjoyed the fic Zal can't wait for part 4!

Thanks! Yeah, the Matt part was fun because I always thought that it was funny that Katherine was the only one who thirsted after Matt. Like Rebekah fell for him or liked him or wanted to date him or whatever, I honestly tapped out with that sl but Katherine was consistently like he's SO hot and no one else did that so I wasl ike Katherine propositioning him for sex stays in character and also despite the fact that the group is negligent toward Matt, he's like their symbol of innocence and they also get protective of him so her going after Matt would also spin the group out of control and piss Stefan off.

It's also interesting doing the Katherine/Stefan back and forths because I don't want it to get to Bonkai territory even though there are similarities but again Bonkai was like transcendental connection through hatred and sex and I didn't want it to be what I think Stebekah is which Rebekah and him indulge in excess and when he's in a bad boy mode or a "fuck it" mode like in season 4, he is with Rebekah, I wanted Katherine/Stefan to be this toxic conflict and power struggle but where Katherine can bring out darker - not Stebekah darker - aspects of him where the only way to prove that she doesn't conquer him is to conquer her and that means going to places he wouldn't have to go to with Elena or even Rebekah so having him on his knees and then flipping it and having him tie her up and leaving and being blunt etc. was a fun way to explore that.

[dailyaudiobible]

04/13/2023 DAB Transcript

Joshua 7:16-9:2, Luke 16:1-18, Psalms 82:1-8, Proverbs 13:2-3

Today is the 13th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather once again around the Global Campfire and find our places and get cozy and take the next step forward together. And our next step leads us back to where we left off. And that leads us back into the book of Joshua. We’re just getting going. We’ve crossed the Jordan River. We’re in the promised land. The walls of Jericho have fallen. They've gone to the nearby city of Ai to conquer it and were routed and fled. And this caused great mourning, until the Lord said the reason that this is happening is because you've already…you've already broken covenant with me you’ve already disobeyed. Someone has taken what has been forbidden and is made everyone guilty and that is where we pick up the story today Joshua chapter 7 verse 16 through 9 verse 2 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we can kind go back…back and forth between what we read in Judges today and what we read in the gospel of Luke today because there are parallels there. So, the children of Israel were defeated at Ai, right? Remember that? They ran away and everybody was freaking out and looking for answers that they that they found. There was a person. His name was Aiken and he had stolen plunder from Jericho, even though he knew that was to break covenant and disobey God not only upon himself but also upon the entire community of Israel. Aiken lusted after…after things and took those things and it did not end well. And we could just stop right there and understand when we lust for things that are forbidden, and we take those things and hide them it is not going to end well. Like, this is one of the moments we see the pathways. We see what happened. We see where the road led. We apply it to our lives. Anything that we will lust for and exalt in our lives to a place above God, or that interferes with our union and relationship with God is probably an idol. And we know enough about this already, but it will be abundantly and crystal clear that nothing good comes from idolatry. It leads us into a false reality further and further from God. In Aiken's case, it was plunder.

In the gospel of Luke today Jesus said, “nobody can serve two masters. You’ll hate one and love the other. You will be devoted to one and despise the other.” Aiken chose his master, defying the covenant that the people had entered into to to obey and be faithful to their God, to God. So, we need to not underestimate this because we see that the road leads to destruction. We go to God. We ask for what we want. We ask for what we need but so often we’re doing this asking while continually being disobedient and unfaithful. We want God show up and give us what we need, and we don't want to have to obey or be faithful. But that's not how it seems to work. God isn't going to bestow upon us things that will ultimately be poison to us. He's not going to give us things that will ultimately gain control over us because of our lusts and passions, things that will replace his sovereignty in our lives, things that we will put our hope and trust in, things that we will worship hoping that it will give us life. What parent would do that? What father would do that? He won't do it because He's insecure. He won't do it because it will destroy us. Everything that we lust after, or desire is something that is actually best for us or even good for us. And, so, we kind of have to do a self-check. Are we being faithful? Are we being true? Are we being loyal? Are we being obedient? Is what we’re asking of the Father something we can…we can even handle? Let’s go back to Luke for a second. I’m quoting Jesus. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” And, so, the lesson for us to really consider today is what is it that has or is gaining control over us? What are we willingly giving power to that is not God and are we simply asking God to make that thing that we have put our hope and trust in to work for us as if it could be a false God? Aiken gives us a picture of disobedience and breaking faith and covenant due to lust and passion for other things. Let’s take an examination of the terrain of our own hearts and see what path we are walking.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, come into that. We don’t want or desire to walk anywhere near the path that leads to destruction. We don't want any of that. But so often we allow things to take over and blur…blur our vision and confuse us. We allow things to twist us backward so that we’re suspicious of You when its our suspicious behavior that we need to be examining. Forgive us Lord. The only way that this can work is if You give us eyes to see and ears to hear, the ability to slow down and seek You and find the piece that You bring. Come Holy Spirit as we consider this today we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my Daily Audio Bible this is Lori it's April 7th I've just been listening to the community prayer for April 1st, and I heard Victoria from Ohio's prayer request and her whole situation with her husband and how she's being alone and her rest and how she wants out of her marriage. O, Victoria I just know that you're not alone, that there are people out here praying for you. And I just…I'm praying for a breakthrough in your situation. I'm praying that the Lord God puts the right words whenever you are communicating with your husband, that no matter what happens that you know that this is a season and that he's with you each and every step of the way through this season. I pray Lord that You just surround her with love with Your presence Lord, that even the darkest times when she just feels like there's no one Lord that she's reminded there are people out here that love her who are praying for her and her husband Lord. I pray Lord for breakthrough and this marriage lord and I pray lord that You…that You give her the answers that she seeks Lord or the relief that she seeks Lord. I pray this in Your name. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Thankful and Still and today's April 7th. I just finished listening to today and at the end the song Were You There played, and it just really struck a nerve. And before the weekend gets rolling with activities and services and family and friends just…I want to take time to just thank the Lord. So, heavenly Father, I just thank You. I thank You for having compassion on us, Your children. I thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for us. I thank You for the path that led You to the cross, coming down in the form of a human child and being raised and…and learning a trade, and interacting with those around You, and Your ministry here on earth with the disciples and feeling alone at times. And I thank You that when I feel alone, I can be reminded that…that You're always with me. You're always with us and I'm so grateful Lord. Thank You that You are You, and that You rose again, and that You're so marvelous, so amazing, and…and even when I was not worthy You did it anyway. Thank You so much. I love You Lord.

hey guys, good afternoon this is Be Filled Bridget from New York City currently I'm in Puerto Rico on a vacation and today's Good Friday and I wanted to share two things. One is a praise report. My daughter as you all know was a witness to the murder of her fiancé five…almost five years ago in June and I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers because she shared today with me that she for the first time since he's been murdered was able to sleep without a nightmare since last night. Last night she slept through the night and did not have a nightmare for the first time in four years. This is after she saw these two young men in court and shared her testimony of what she witnessed. You know, I truly believe that when we speak and share the hurt and the pain and the things that we experience that God does what He says in our word…in His word…sorry…and He heals us. And I believe that she has the…she has finally faced the giant that was tormenting her. I just ask you all to continue to pray because they're taking it to trial, and she will have to testify again. And just keep this in prayer, you know, pray for everyone involved, our families. I do pray for their souls and for them to be saved and just that God's mercies and justice will unfold. I thank you all for your prayers. I love you guys. God bless you and I pray that those of you hurting would take time to confess to the Lord.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Karen calling from Florida. I'm just listening. Today it’s Saturday and hearing a young man call about his friend Chico who was in a terrible car accident and we just want to pray for him today. So, today Lord we just come before you and we lift up Chico to you. Thank You, Lord that You are good, and You are gracious, and You are mighty, and You are wholly and powerful and awesome indeed. And we're asking for Your mercy on this Young man's life today Father God. We just pray that You'd heal his body and that this would be a great and mighty testimony to who You are Lord God, that…that going forward from this time, this terrible terrible time, what the enemy meant for evil You will use this for good and You will just use this Young man Father God to share Your truth into this world and many will come to know the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ through this terrible trauma. Again, Lord I just…I just ask for a healing of his body, every molecule, every atom, every ligament in his body would be restored into normal and I pray for strength for his friend. I know he says he's not calling for him and I thank You that he is such a humble Young man, but I do pray for Your strength for him God, that You just protect his heart and help him through this terrible time Lord God. Thank You that You hear our cries and hear our prayers and You're there with us Lord. Give him strength to go through what he needs to be going through right now Father God. Thank You that You're always with us and we can put all our faith and trust in You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hey DAB fam I just kind of wanted to give a praise report. And I'm just really humbled by the way God works in our lives. And you guys probably remember my 12-year-old got diagnosed with __ depressive disorder and this is also the daughter who had asked Braden As the Doves Send to be praying for when she was going through a really hard time. She kind of has like hording tendencies. Her room gets disgusting. You can't see the floor. It's a good representation of probably how she how she feels on the inside. And I was talking to two friends at work and telling them that, you know, I've…I’ve really gotta get her and I've really gotta get that room cleaned out because I've bought her new furniture and we're gonna paint her room and we're going to kind of make it someplace that she can…her…her safe space, someplace she can be proud of and maybe that'll help her keep it clean. Those two friends came over yesterday in their pajamas, brought coffee and breakfast, took a look over that bedroom that smells like rotten cheese and they didn't judge me. They rolled up their sleeves and said alright let's take care of this. And I'm just so blessed and so grateful that God put those two women in my life, that there was absolutely no judgment, just love. And I just wanted publicly to thank God for that blessing. Thanks DAB fam.

[dom-i-nate]

Diving In | Daisy & Nate

daisyblossomsub​:

Daisy emerged from the locker room with her long hair loose down her back and shoulders. In one arm, she had a towel draped over it, and aside from her flip-flops, she was dressed in nothing but one of the few swimsuits she owned: green on top and just big enough to manage her chest, the bottom was striped in the same color. She set her towel down near the edge of the pool and stared at the water like it was her arch nemesis whom she’d finally come to conquer, once and for all. She’d gone back and forth on the idea of nixing this whole plan. Nate Mantle was someone she always wanted to look her best in front of. Flinging herself into uncharted waters - literally - where she’d look like an absolute idiot wasn’t on par with the impressive vision of dignity and poise she wanted to present to someone whose opinion mattered so much to her. Still, it meant spending more time with him and maybe, if things went well, actually conquering something she’d always wanted to manage. Plus, the promise of what they’d get up to after the fact kept her on board a little too. Folding her arms under her chest, Daisy tentatively dipped her toe in and swirled it around, waiting for Nate to join her poolside. @dom-i-nate

Nate walked out of the locker room in his simple black swim shorts and immediately saw the vision by the water. She was beautiful in every sense of the word, and that familiar ping to not let himself get too attached tickled the back of his head. He wasn’t capable of what she deserved, and he’d lose it if he was the reason she was in any way destroyed. But she had been nothing but clear to him and he was taking that into deep thought, but when he saw her like that - it was hard. He took a deep breath and finished the walk between them, standing next to her at the side of the pool. “So I suppose you wouldn’t want the age old, ‘just throw them in and see what happens’ kind of lesson, huh?”

Diving In | Daisy & Nate

Daisy emerged from the locker room with her long hair loose down her back and shoulders. In one arm, she had a towel draped over it, and aside from her flip-flops, she was dressed in nothing but one of the few swimsuits she owned: green on top and just big enough to manage her chest, the bottom was striped in the same color. She set her towel down near the edge of the pool and stared at the water like it was her arch nemesis whom she'd finally come to conquer, once and for all. She'd gone back and forth on the idea of nixing this whole plan. Nate Mantle was someone she always wanted to look her best in front of. Flinging herself into uncharted waters - literally - where she'd look like an absolute idiot wasn't on par with the impressive vision of dignity and poise she wanted to present to someone whose opinion mattered so much to her. Still, it meant spending more time with him and maybe, if things went well, actually conquering something she'd always wanted to manage. Plus, the promise of what they'd get up to after the fact kept her on board a little too. Folding her arms under her chest, Daisy tentatively dipped her toe in and swirled it around, waiting for Nate to join her poolside. @dom-i-nate

[stealingyourbones]

I'm planning to write a DPxDC fic, though the world is ending and not even Danny nor any of the Justice League can stop this event, It's inevitable, do you perhaps have any Idea for this au?

Ooooooo. Well the answer extremely varies depending on what is causing said world ending event.

One answer that can be a very easy way to destroy earth: Darkseid. Unsure how much you know about this character but imma explain it just so those who don’t know about him can learn somethin new :).

Darkseid is DC’s version of Satan. He’s the embodiment of evil. No literally. The dude is the ruler of the 4th dimension planet Apokolips. It’s a literal hell planet. Everything is red and it has giant holes in the planet that spew out flame from the planets core. n. He cannot be killed. He is the exact same person through every single dimension. This planet wars with New Genesis who’s planets race is called the New Gods. They are locked in an eternal war.

Darkseids one goal is to destroy free will of the universe via the Anti-Life Equation. The equation has some fucking wild ass history but to sum it up simply: it’s like The Ultimate Weapon. It destroys all hope and free will of everyone in the entire universe if used. If Darkseid gets it, he wins.

Darkseid is not only OP as fuck, he’s omnipresent. He has a single consciousness that extends to every single universe. The character you see in the comics isn’t truly Darkseid. It’s an avatar of his consciousness. His avatars can die but the true Darkseid He Cannot Be Killed. I repeat literally cannot be killed. He cannot be killed the same way more than once and if he dies he always comes back eventually. He also has his Big Move that’s are his Omega Beams. If these things hit you it’s basically an instakill. In many DC wikis you can spot extremely powerful heroes by the documentation that they can survive an Omega Beam.

It’s not like it’s just Darkseid against everyone. Apokolips has a seemingly endless supply of parademons which are the infantry of Apokolypis. Other notable fighters are Granny Goodness and her Female Furies. They’re head torturers and are damn good at it too. (If u wanna see that shit up close and learn more: Miracle Man by Tom King is a truly incredible read and lets you know a lot about the Apokolips & New Genesis War. If you wanna get a read on Darkseid and how catastrophic his attacks on earth is you can also watch Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. It’s on HBOMax and a pretty damn decent movie.)

Darkseid conquers planets and repeatedly attempts to conquer earth. This fucker turned Apokolips into a hell pit and goes out to conquer other planets and terraform them with those giant flame spouts out of the planet (usually the threat of those is that Darkseid is planning to mine the Earth’s core for resources which’ll make the planet inhabitable.). He wants to do this to the entire universe until eventually literally every sentient life form is stripped of their free will. Dude is bad news.

So what if Darkseid succeeds? He conquers earth? He successfully destroyed the reality changing heros like The Spectre and so forth and the machines used to drill into Earth’s core penetrate earths core before Earth’s Heroes can stop them? The earth would well and truly be fucked.

OTHER IDEAS:

-Darkseid created Doomsday via forced evolution by yeeting a kid with spliced together Superman DNA onto Krypton until it was strong enough to slay the most powerful beings on earth. Darkseid could do the same with Danny. Fuck around with his DNA, do some funky forced evolution by yeeting a baby into the Ghost Zone until it was powerful enough to defeat even Danny.

-Is it a ghost entity that’s allpowerful? Is it Black Adam? The guy almost destroyed the entire world and the only thing stopping him was like 70 magic users all collectively casting a spell to stop him.

-Is it a natural disaster? Is there just some fuckery that causes earths axis to change and the planet gets farther from the sun and very quickly causes an ice age that causes everything to freeze?

-A silent invader of some life form that was so stealthy with its invasion that by the time the League or anyone noticed, it was already too late.

-A Virus, bacteria, or fungi that just fully wipes out the human race. Something so quick and rapidly mutating that there’s not even a chance to synthesize a cure in time.

The big question for me is what is stopping heroes with time travel from changing the timeline and reversing it. If you plan for this to be a time travel au, then why is that ONE person traveling back and not the other heroes using other ways to time travel. Why is it this attempt of time travel the one that works. Lemme list some ways that DC and DP can time travel that I know of off the top of my head.

Ghost portals (Ghost fuckery)

Clockwork (Time Fuckery)

A Dozen Speedsters (Speedforce go brr)

Superman (only sometimes tho. Dude flies around earth so fast that he reversed the rotation and goes back in time. No I am not making this up.)

Time Spheres

Abra Kadabra (Flash Villian. He’s from the 64th century and uses future tech that’s so advanced that it appears to be magic. Has a Time Machine be goes back n forth between now and his time period to collect tech)

Composite Superman (does he still exist in canon? No. Will I still mention him because he’s funny? Yes. Please for the love of god look up this man I promise you that you’ll laugh your ass off. his design is Peak Perfection.)

Booster Gold (from the 30th century. Stole tech from Hall of Heroes and Time traveled to present day for fortune and fame. He pops in and out of time sometimes and helps fix stuff. He’s a time cop.)

Hope this helps spark some ideas anon! I wish you luck on your writing!

[patrocles]

What did you think about the show confirming that the targs conquered the 7K to prepare Westeros for the long night

So I'm kinda back and forth on this. When Viserys told Rhaenyra in the first episode I just burst out laughing like??? It almost feels jarring that after years of GOT not caring about prophecies and certainly not the BIG one, it feels weird to include it now especially since Arya killed the Night King anyways??? (But tbh I don't consider that ~~canon~~ anyways, so maybe the real long night will be the Jon Snow series?) I DIGRESS.

There's a lot to consider, so here's kinda where my brain is at:

If Aegon knew about the Long Night, and used that as an excuse to conquer Westeros, that doesn't make him a Good Guy. There's this idea that before the Targaryens, the Westerosi kingdoms were nothing more than a fumbling band of hill tribes that he and his sisters had to unite. But you could argue that it was precisely Targaryen presence that halted progression in the country. If anything, I think knowing about this apocalyptic-level threat and not really telling anyone about it (except your heir?) and using that as a secret justification to do the mass-murder conquering he wanted to do anyways makes Aegon even eviler than he already was. Because what did destroying Dorne or the Field of Fire have to do with helping save Westeros?

But I think that's also precisely what makes the Targaryens such a flawed and goofy-ass dynasty? We know from literally every other character that's had a prophetic dream that they're often vague and easy to misinterpret. And characters will often interpret them in a way that they want to. So there's no way of knowing that Aegon even interpreted his own dream correctly. But it is EXTREMELY within the Targaryen nature to center themselves regardless; What Viserys tells Rhaenyra in ep1 is basically "Aegon had this dream of a world-ending apocalypse and it can only be stopped if we're on the throne" and what's inscribed on the catspaw blade in ep4 are TOTALLY different.

I think the way it was interpreted was more about ensuring that someone of his bloodline was The Last Hero, but not about protecting Westeros. Because if he truly knew about this Grade-A level threat... why not at least share it with the Starks who've had a longer history with the Others and have been benefactors of The Wall for THOUSANDS of years longer? Why not come together like "Hey, you have this knowledge, I just had this crazy dream, lets share what we both know to come up with something that will benefit us all in the long-run." But he didn't do that? And none of the subsequent Targaryen kings did that, short of just pissing the Starks off like Ole King Joe. Only Queen Alysanne made it a priority to reach out to the Starks and try and build some kind of relationship. (Hell maybe Silverwing did leave some eggs in Winterfell as a failsafe in case something happened to the Targaryens in the future, and maybe Alyssa was actually Alaric Stark's to make sure there was someone in the bloodline with Ice and Fire ((this was a crack theory until i realized she's the only one of Joe and Alys' kids without silver hair and had some particular Stark traits in looks and temperament and her birth was right after Alysannes progress north))

But either way, I don't think all the Targaryens kings after Rhaenyra knew about it, as it seems like it was lost at some point and rediscovered by Rhaegar as a child. It actually gets really messy when you then think about Aegon IV and Summerhall, and the alleged Maester conspiracy that they helped kill dragons and their ALLEGED conspiracy to get the Targaryens off the throne? It just feels like there had to have been a better system of making sure that there was a failsafe in place beyond just a game of telephone and a knife. But I don't think that's a narrative or writing flaw, but just further proof that the Targaryens are kinda Not Good At This Whole Ruling Thing if they can't even handle something as serious as this.

[husbandohunter]

What they love about you (part 2)[Genshin Impact]

Synopsis: It was as if the universe had changed when they saw you.

Characters: Zhongli, Childe, Albedo, Kazuha. Part 1 here

Genre: fluff

"Poetry for my hopeless romantic heart 🥺 and Kazuha, he was the perfect candidate for this. I decided to put Zhongli first of course, he deserves it after saving my ass in Baal's fight."

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

Spirit flows through the Immovable rock (Zhongli)

Nations fall, truths be told, iron rusts and earth erode

Through six centuries these were stories he watched unfold.

He sees you and the archon knew that you shall too grow old

But despite it all, he loves you for your existence, as nothing can compare to your intransient soul.

The purpose of contracts were made to ensure there had been a fair trade between two parties. Like merchants striking business deals for a favourable outcome, like mother nature maintaing the balance between life and death, like how you and your beloved said your vows and whispered promises to one another as evening bids farewell by the warm welcome of the moon's gentle glow. Those days were the most treasured that you couldn't help remisicing them-- when Zhongli appeared in your life. Your mortal life. How time can fly so fast.

Perhaps this had been a common notion among human standards. That to be connected, both sides must share the same factors in order to proceed the contract. Clearly your placement proved to be mismatched. Unlike Zhongli there could be a day when your legs gave up and you can no longer walk. He will go on without you, continuing to drift in places where you cannot reach, where time was out of the question, further and further away until the mist begins to seize your field of vision and soon your eyes were too old to see.

The difference in age can truly make someone feel alone and Zhongli knew it well. Thus he smiled softly like he always does and held you close, speaking with so much kindness:

My dearest.

Your soul existed like an evergreen tree blooming through all four seasons, unwithered and everlasting, even against the cold storm of white. And it could be as soft as the sunbeam cascading through the mountain peaks while they dust the land with their ethereal hues and emitting the warmth that breaths absolute serenity. If artifacts were a piece of what someone left behind then maybe everything you made was considered an artifact-- a treasure. A piece of you in those handwritten letters, the beauty in your fingertips after knitting him a scarf which caused scars to mar them, and because of how heavy your spirit weighs through everything you did, it became evident that the one he had fallen for was not your skin nor your body but the person who resides in it.

And sometimes he wonders if he had met you once upon a dream. What else could explain the mysterious feeling that made you seem so familiar, even when he only saw you for the first time? Or perhaps you were an old friend from the long long past, someone he stargazed with upon the infinite mounds of grass and glaze lilies, someone whom he shared the taste of osmanthus wine, someone he came to cherished just like how he cherished his own nation. Regardless, whether you were that someone or not, he wouldn't hesitate to relive those times all over again.

If there was a day when the world around you decided to cave in, where time inevitably caught up and you succumbed to change, he would still be yours. After all, the immovable stone was meant to be the symbol of constancy. He already sworn to you that his devotion and affection will never waver, they were solely held towards your essence for you had touched him through the things he could not touch, and left a mark that would last longer than his ancient self can last. Zhongli may have lived through many lifetimes but meeting you was the beginning of everything. You were a mortal immortalized in the world his heart, etched so deep that it stirs him apart, there was no room for anyone else.

~xx~

Drowning in the ocean flames (Tartaglia)

There was a man who fell deeply in love with war

They raged inside of him like the spontaneous battlefields he came to adore.

Consumed by desire, pain became an addiciton

And he eventually surrenders to the heat of your passion.

While many fear death, Childe learned to dance with it.

He revels in the way his heart pounds endlessly, as if new life had been born from the inside and then bursted like thunder, sending trembling sensations through his veins, bringing him to the peak of euphoria. The feeling was a drug in which Childe hesitates no more when he confronts it, rather he deliberately seeks it. He seeks thrill in the most dangerous situations since they were the moments that made him feel so alive.

Henceforth the Harbinger sought you out. He inches closer and ever so close, those deep cerulean eyes trapped in your hypnotizing ones. Childe loves how you look at him like you were about to devour him, consume him as the flames in hell would, perhaps destroy him completely to the point there was no turning back and yet...he would not mind.

Childe had been so drawn to you like a moth to a light. No. Rather, Adam and the devil, tempting him to sin because the things he would do for you were undeniably impetuous. It was too late. It was too late when you told him you wanted to stay. Too late when you pulled him down, with arms around his neck, stealing away his breath in one swift manner as well as a kiss. Curse you for having so much power over him, from then and there he was no longer the mighty harbinger everyone knew but a man foolish in love. Take him higher. Higher. Take him far. To say you were alluring would be an understatement. The scent of you brings all his senses to disarray and the taste of you-- by the archons-- had never made him feel so starved. All he thought of was mindlessly running his hands over your small back, reveling in the shape of you, exploring every inch and curve in attempt to make you completely his.

This was the reason why he grew accustomed to dancing with death. Because it was you. You were going to be the cause of his downfall and you were the cause of this insanity. Even though you constantly reminded him how risky the situation was due to being a wanted criminal in his homeland's eyes, Childe pays no mind. Didn't he already tell you to trust him? Anyone who threatens you would be an enemy of his, much to their misfortune. Whether it'd be conquering the world and laying it beneath your feet or walking through the depths of the abyss all over again, he'll make sure to have it all and no one can say otherwise.

~xx~

Shelter (Albedo)

Your warmth was his hearth

Like stars falling onto the earth

Gracing the plains in an empereal bliss

As they trembled under the touch of heaven's kiss

Closing his eyes, you are the first person he sees.

The sound of snow chasing the wind fills the silent night once again while it's whispered blows continued to echo just by the cave's entrance. Albedo had planned to take you back to Monstadt that day but Dragonspine was not the place to be merciful with the weather. No one else except the two of you occupied the abandoned space and a singular camp fire to serve as a source of warmth. You place your hand on your lover's forehead, brushing away his ash coloured strands while he seeps into slumber. Albedo sighs contentedly. Despite the world being engulfed in sheer cold, here he felt safe and sound.

Before meeting you Albedo never really had that. People regularly held him on a high regard and had a hard time matching his pace. He was a born genius to the point that he practically stood out like a swan out of the ducklings' crowd as they admired his brilliance. Truly Albedo was a perfect human being. But when turns around to see the rest he noticed how distant everything seemed. He was so focused on his pursuit towards the universal truth that he hadn't given the time to consider; where is he going with this? And what for? Everyone else looked so happy living in their mundane routines and Albedo soon grew curious about such thoughts. Out of all the places in Monstadt, exactly where does he belong?

Opening his eyes, you are the first person he looks for.

"Welcome home, Albedo!"

The answer was obvious. Home was the sound of his name on your lips. When you were side by side with him while he sketched the landscape from the far distance. In places where the lights were on as he entered the room, knowing you were inside. This feeling couldn't be describe with just a word. Home was not a nation nor was it a destination. Home was in your touch where he felt the most protected.

I'm home.

A sky filled with stars and he only saw one; his Starlight. Your warmth held the emotion similar to the kind where there had only been one cande lit amidst an infinite stretch of darkness. But it also brought the joy of flowers blossoming into the vivid future of new spring. There was no place he'd rather be than the shelter of your arms because with you, Albedo believed he truly found where he belonged.

~xx~

Pirr against the Scarlet Leaves (Kazuha)

Silencing the world

My heart begins to find peace

Soothed by your presence

- For my beloved, (Y/n)

I remember how the first petal of spring drifted by as it had flown into the crossroads of our path. Subconciously my entire being began to still. This particular flower... it must have come far and wide for the wind to carry such a pleasant scent. Although I had intended to continue my venture onwards but the air ceased to sound and I knew that this way was true. And so nature beckons me to the shore where the waves lulled back and forth under the moonlight's entrance, only then I began to sharpen my vision to see what was before me. You stood there on a rock with your face looking into the sparkling sky, singing a tune that drew me near. Just the mere sight was enough to stir my heart alone.

My beloved, do you know why I named this poem 'Pirr against the Scarlet Leaves?'

Watching you was like witnessing the ephmereal birth of a flower sprouting amongst the slums of an abandoned nation. A fleeting miracle where snow falls from the summer sky. I am compelled to capture these feelings in this poem yet there are moments where my thoughts scatter as if the autumn wind had whisked them away and out of my grasp until a singular leaf is only what was left. Perhaps it wouldn't be necessary for me to keep a notebook of ways I can describe your presence, instead a few simple sentences would suffice. Nevertheless, I only wish to express my feelings for you.

When you're with me it seems I have nothing to think about. The aura around you can silence the world alone, speaking louder than thunder cries, weighing heavily to those around you in ways it would feel empty if you're not here. Yet I could breath as if alleviated from the burdens of my past. This had me realize that this must have been the will of the wind. You were the greatest gift to have ever bestowed upon me and I confess, sometimes my chest aches because of how much I cherish you, it pierces me like a sharp blade but even if my heart bleeds it will continue to bleed only for your sake.

So wherever you are, wherever you may be, I can feel you in the breeze. Return soon my beloved, I'll be here, waiting.