#i was thinking of calling them the 4 horsemen but 1. they are not men. 2. they dont have horses. 3. they dont begin the apocalypse

[shabadarada]

Eschatron 9000 group you'll be in my mind forever

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

David's Messengers Disgraced

1 After this, Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place. 2 David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.”

So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David’s servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun to comfort him. 3 But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Haven’t his servants come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?” 4 So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 Then some people went and told David how the men were treated. He sent to meet them; for the men were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”

6 When the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent one thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, out of Aram-maacah, and out of Zobah. 7 So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah with his people, who came and encamped near Medeba. The children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle. 8 When David heard of it, he sent Joab with all the army of the mighty men. 9 The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city; and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. 10 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose some of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. 11 The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and they put themselves in array against the children of Ammon. 12 He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. May Yahweh do that which seems good to him.”

14 So Joab and the people who were with him came near to the front of the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him. 15 When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

16 When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers, and called out the Syrians who were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadadezer leading them. 17 David was told that; so he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, came to them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrian men seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and also killed Shophach the captain of the army. 19 When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David, and served him. The Syrians would not help the children of Ammon any more. — 1 Chronicles 19 | World English Bible (WEB) The World English Bible is in the public domain. Cross References: Exodus 5:21; Numbers 21:30; Joshua 13:9; 2 Samuel 10:1; 2 Samuel 10:3; 2 Samuel 10:8; 2 Samuel 10:16; 2 Samuel 10:18; 1 Chronicles 18:5; 1 Chronicles 18:17; 1 Chronicles 20:1; John 11:19

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey Steph, got any good old (maybe new?) bedsharing fics for a fanfic obsessed lurker?

Thanks 😘

Hey Nonny!!

Hahha! I actually just did a list recently of my old ones, but I just double-checked my offline lists and I actually DO have some fics on my next Bed Sharing list, so GUESS WHAT? Your ask is the one to start the next Bed Sharing one, LOL.

As usual, if anyone has any they’d like to add, especially if they’re brand new fics, let us know! <3

BEDSHARING Pt. 5

See also:

The Speckled Blonde / BedSharing

BedSharing Pt. 2 and Insecure Sherlock

Bed Sharing Pt. 3

Bed Sharing Pt. 4

Bed Sharing “Just Happens”

Soft. Happy. Content. by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 223 w., 1 Ch. || Sleepy Cuddles, Bed Sharing, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Spooning, Morning After, Sherlock POV) – Sherlock reflects on his state of mind.

And When The Night Is Over by Simply Isnt On (K, 329 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Platonic Bed Sharing / Not Slash) – Sherlock and John sleep together.

I Knew You Loved Me by inevitably_johnlocked (T, 743 w., 1 Ch. || Morning Cuddles, Fluff, Clingy Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slice of Life, Morning After, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Declarations of Love, Pet Name, Bed Sharing, Snuggles) – John and Sherlock share a lie-in the morning after their first time. So fluffy and gross your teeth will fall out. Part 4 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

Sleep Tonight by Jenn1984 (T, 1,220 w, 1 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Bed Sharing, Worried Sherlock, Sick John, Hugs/Cuddles, Touch Neediness) – Fingers begin prying open his jacket looking for a wound and John would really like to swat at them. No, he's not hit anywhere, he's just damn sick.- John Watson has a fever.

Loved. by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 1,231 w., 1 Ch. || First Sherlock POV, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Nose Kisses, Morning After, Love Confessions, Morning Cuddles, Emotional Sherlock, Sentiment, Bed Sharing) – Sherlock reflects on his relationship with John. Part 5 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

The Perfect Place by SilverSmile (K+, 1,955 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Romance, 5 and Ones, Fluff, Experiments, Bed Sharing) – Sherlock attempts to find the perfect place to sleep, but his little experiment proves to be far more difficult than expected.

Insomnia by TheSingingGirl (K+, 2,635 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Humour, Bed Sharing, Sleepy Sherlock) – Sleep is merely the next frontier in what has become the battle to keep Sherlock alive. It's because of this that John ends up in bed with a sociopath.

Human Body Pillow by Lunavere (K, 4,122 w., 1 Ch. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Five and Ones, Sleepy Johnlock, Bed Sharing) – A story about the five times John fell asleep on Sherlock, and the one time Sherlock fell asleep on him.

The Myth by AGirloftheSouth (M, 4,329 w., 1 Ch || Sex Toys / Anal Beads, PWP, Romance, Bottom John, Prostate Stimulation) – Sherlock believes something to be a myth. John proves him wrong.

When We Sleep by PrincessNala (K+, 6,660 w., 1 Ch || Post-TGG,  Alternating POV, Bed Sharing, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Hurt/Comfort, Hugs) – Sherlock needed to feel every beat of his heart, every rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. It was the only way to completely assure himself that John was alive and right there next to him, and not dead, no, never dead…

To be loved by Strange_johnlock (E, 12,436 w., 8 Ch. || Post S3, Established Relationship, First Person POV Sherlock, Pet Names, Soft Sherlock, Mild ADHD, Protective John, Captain Watson, Body Appreciation, Bottomlock, Rough Sex, Travelling for Holidays, Introspection, Sherlock Loves John So Much It Hurts) – John is so deeply integrated into the work, both as my conductor of light, and as a great shot with a vicious right hook who tackles men -and women- no matter their size all in my defense. He protects me with all he can without question, and this loyalty is surely more than I deserve. Or: Sherlock is counting his blessings.

There's So Much Labour Just in Breathing Lately by Susan (E, 12,708 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF / Mentions of S3 Events, Romance, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Grieving John, Mutual Pining, Meddling Mycroft, Therapy, Ambiguous Hopeful Ending, Infidelity) – The dreams he hated most – the ones that left him a sweating, shaking mess when he woke – were the ones in which Sherlock was just Sherlock. Laughing or drinking tea. Sitting across the table from him at Angelo’s eating pasta. Trailing his open hand behind him on the way to the bedroom. “C’mon, John. I’m about to have my way with you.”

Kintsugi by distantstarlight (E, 14,772 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Regret / Remorse, Loneliness, Separation, Drug Use, Healing, Protective John, Sad Sherlock, Dev. Rel., Complicated Relationships, Love, Angst With Happy Ending, Sherlock is Called Freak, John’s Penance, Voyeurism, Doctor/Caretaker John, Guilty John, Detox, Fingering, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Slight Non-Con Turns Enthusiastic Consent, Virgin Sherlock) – Sherlock Holmes becomes estranged from the man he had once considered his best friend after John lets him down horribly in public. It seems that the world's only consulting detective will be on his own once again...or will he?

The Burning of the Leaves by blueink3 (M, 15,915 w., 3 Ch. || Post S4, Angst, Reichenbach, Parentlock, Past Jolto, Idiot John, Sherlock’s a Mess, Puppies, Fluff, Possessive / Jealous Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Matchmaker Sholto, Melancholic Feelings, Emotional Sherlock, Domesticity, Love Confessions in the Rain, Kissing in the Rain, Pet Names, Panic Attack) – After the events of series 4, Major Sholto invites John and Sherlock to lunch one day. It nearly proves to be too much for their tenuous relationship as the past haunts the present, putting the future that Sherlock so desperately wants at risk.

A Silver Sixpence by _doodle (NC-17, 16,400 w., 2 Ch. || LJ Fic || For a Case / Case Fic, Fake Relationship, Humour, Romance, Marriage Proposal, Awkward Idiots, Cuddling, Touching, Kissing, Love Confessions, Bed Sharing, Friends to Lovers, Fake Until It’s Not, Schmoop and Fluff, Bottomlock) – “John, we need to get married. It’s for a case, not any romantic notions on my part pertaining to our partnership,” Sherlock said, with brutal honesty, and without even looking up.

Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

A Home for Us by sussexbound (M, 30,581 w., 12 Ch. || Scars, Bedsharing, Grief, Doctor John, Hurt/Comfort, Post-TRF, Implied/Referenced Torture, Sherlock POV, Pining Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation, Heavy Emotions, Clingy Sherlock, Hallucinations, Disassociation, Emotional Turmoil) – He has been on the road for two years, and he is exhausted. He’s almost accepted that he will never see London (John) again—almost. But then there are nights like tonight, where he is weak, and all he can think of is the warmth of the flat they once shared, the crackle of the fire in the hearth, the teasing smile playing at the corner of John’s lips, the boxes of half-eaten Chinese takeaway balanced precariously in their laps. He aches at the memory of it, at the realisation that it is something he may never experience again.

Anchor Point by trickybonmot (E, 49,856 w., 80 Ch. || Truman Show AU || Psychological Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Dark Characters / Fic, Alternating First/Third Person, Protective John, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Tender Moments, Love Confessions, Hand/Blow Jobs, Cuddling, Jealous John, First Kiss/Time) – The world tunes in nightly for Sherlock, the ultimate in reality TV: Sherlock Holmes, a real person with a legendary name, unknowingly lives out his life in a staged setting contrived by his brother. Things get complicated when a retired army doctor joins the show to play the part of Sherlock's closest friend. This fic borrows its concept from the 1998 film, the Truman Show. However, you don't need to have any knowledge of the movie to enjoy this story.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

A Goose Quill Dipped in Venom by Polyphony (M, 52,748 w., 16 Ch. || Celebrity John AU || Alternate First Meeting, TV Host John, Supermodel Mary, Character Death, Mystery, Romance, Case Fic, First Kiss/Time, Meddling Mycroft, Drug Abuse, Doctor John, PDA, Deductions, POV Sherlock, Toplock, Sexual Tension, Angry/Rough Sex, Hopeful Ending, Asperger’s Sherlock) – Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, is called in to a very ordinary although brutal murder. Something is badly out of tune with the whole scenario and Sherlock finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with the crime - and also with the victim.

Isosceles by SilentAuror (E, 56,609 w., 7 Ch. || Post-S4, POV John, Original Male Character / Sherlock Dates Another Man, Love Triangle, Jealous John, Virgin Sherlock, Sexual Coaching, Angst, Romance, Domesticity, Unrequited Feelings, Miscommunication, First Kiss/Time, For a Case, Friends With Benefits, Bottomlock, Love Confessions, Spooning) – After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date...

Lunar Landscapes by J_Baillier (M, 57,046 w., 21 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || S3/TAB Fix-It, Slow Burn Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Confessions, Drugs, Pain, Medical, Injury, Sherlock Whump, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Romance, Secrets, Tragedy, Trauma, BAMF John, Doctor!John, Drug Addict Sherlock, Injured Sherlock, Grieving John, Idiots In Love,  Protective John, POV John Watson, PTSD Sherlock, Sherlock is a Mess, Medical Realism) – An accident forces John to face the fact that Sherlock's downward spiral had started long before his flight to exile even left the tarmac.

Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."

Just To Hold You Close by sussexbound (E, 70,841 w., 18 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, Sherlock POV, ASD Sherlock, PTSD John, Demisexual Sherlock, Bisexual John, Cuddling/Snuggling, Platonic Cuddling, Enthusiastic Consent, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, First Kiss/Time, Sexual Tension, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddle Negotiations, For a Case Until It Isn’t, Hair Petting, Sexual Negotiation, Anxiety, Trust Issues, Slow Burn, Panic Attacks, Frottage, Hand/Blow Jobs, Referenced Self Harm / Abuse / Suicidal Ideation, First Kiss/Time, Anal) – When a woman is murdered and the last person to see her alive is recently invalided army vet turned reluctant (and prickly) professional cuddler, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes is pulled into a world of intimacy and intrigue he never could have imagined. John is a conundrum and mystery: frank yet reserved, tender yet angry, open yet afraid. Sherlock is instantly drawn into his orbit, and begins to feel and desire things he never has before.

Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?

Thermocline by J_Baillier (M, 83,557 w., 14 Ch. || Scuba Diving AU || Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Marine Archaeology, Asexual Sherlock, Horny John, Relationship Drama, Technical/Scuba/Wreck Diving, Slow Burn, Underwater /  Medical Peril, Doctor John, Hurt Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, John POV, Protective John, Body Appreciation) – John "Five Oceans" Watson — technical dive instructor, dive accident analyst and weapon of mass seduction — meets recluse professor of maritime archaeology Holmes. As they head out to a remote archipelago off the coast of Guatemala to study and film its shipwrecks for a documentary, will sparks fly or fizzle out?

Kintsukuroi by sussexbound (E, 91,823 w., 20 Ch. || S4 Compliant / Post-TLD, Grief / Mourning, PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Therapy, Past Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Anxiety, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Suicidal Ideation, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Sexting, Frottage, Inexperienced Sherlock, Rimming / Anal / BJ’s, Emotional Turmoil, Finding Each Other) – “I love you.” Sherlock sees the words hit John with almost physical force. He reels back a little, jaw twitching and eyes filling. “I love you,” he repeats, a little softer, a little more gentle, as earnest as he possibly can. Because they’ve been teetering on the brink of this thing for years, and it had become painfully obvious over the last few months that they were at a tipping point. This had to happen. Now it has. Now they can see where they end up. The tears in John’s eyes spill over, and he wipes at them angrily. “Do you even know what that means?”  

The Summer Boy by khorazir (T, 94,706 w., 6 Ch. || Post S3/Post TAB/Alternate S4, Friends to Lovers, Flashbacks, Sussex, Bullying, 1980′s Kid Sherlock, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Inexperienced Sherlock, Grief/Mourning, Pining Sherlock, Background Case Fic) – About half a year after the fateful events at Appledore, Sherlock and John embark on a private case in Sussex. For Sherlock, it’s a journey into his past, bringing up memories both happy and sad that he has locked away for almost thirty years. For John, it means coming to terms with the present – and a potential future with Sherlock. Part 1 of the The Summer Boy series

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU ||  BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w., 37 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel., Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

[jadoue1999]

The X-Men and the member they lost - Chapter 3

Summary: What do you get when you mix Hayward and the Xmen? A pissed off Erik that's seriously trying to not murder the man!

Previous parts: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, 

Chapter 3: The Maximoff Anomaly

They had settled in fast. The older man that had intercepted them was called Hayward. He seemed very distraught at their arrival and made them go into an unused building. The director hadn’t listened to their protesting, he preferred having them out of the way. For what ever reason, Erik wasn’t sure. They soon realized that time worked differently in this universe. While they had already seen the episode and moved on, it had just ended as they arrived. Charles had told him with amusement that Hank would go crazy over the possibilities. Thankfully, the bunker contained televisions that monitored the town and the broadcast. Hayward had deemed necessary to make sure only people close to him knew of their arrival. They were all sitting around a table when he demanded their story. Charles spoke up. “We’re not from your Earth,” he started.

The director had looked at Kurt with a raised eyebrow, “I had that much figured.”

The professor continued, “two weeks back, one of our members went missing and the broadcast was all we could find. Our universe seems to be ahead of you with the episodes, but we are behind in years.”

“How so?” Questioned the woman sitting next to Erik.

“To us, it’s the eighties.” Charles waited a few moments, letting the people around some time to understand. “We come from a world where people are born with mutations, Kurt here can teleport.” The teenager looked at the professor, silently asking for permission to show his powers. Charles nodded and the blue mutant teleported from one side of the room to another. Hayward seemed shocked as the rest of the people gasped. Charles continued, “this is Raven, she can shapeshift.” Erik smirked as Mystique changed into a perfect copy of the director, making him jump out of his chair in surprise. She turned back into her human form and watched with amusement as Hayward slowly sat back down, eyeing her with caution. Probably seeing how unsettled the agents were, Charles decided to end this quickly. “I can personally read mind and Erik can control metal.”

Erik rolled his eyes as the military people looked at them with wide eyes. He wasn’t going to demonstrate his powers; he had done enough of that with Shaw. The team seemed to get the message that there would be no more demonstrations and moved on.

“So,” said the lady next to the director, “why are you here? Other than the broadcast.”

“Oh well, like I’ve mentioned before, we had a member of our team go missing.” The professor wheeled himself close to a screen and rewound the episode to when Peter appeared. “You see this young man? This is Peter, we had no clue where he went. We watched the broadcast in hopes for answers and we finally found him. Though in a tighter spot than we’d expected, but he does have a knack for trouble.”

Erik smirked at the joke; the speedster had always found himself in the strangest place at the wrong time. He was basically a magnet for trouble.

The director broke the silence. “So, this is not Pietro Maximoff?”

Erik shook his head, deciding to speak up at last, “no, he is not your Pietro, this is Peter Maximoff; my son.”

Hayward seemed surprised that someone other than Charles had spoken. “Is he like you all, enhanced?”

“Yes, he is a mutant,” answered Raven, clearly uncomfortable about the man’s tone. “He has superspeed.”

The director closed his eyes and sighed before turning to his colleague. “Bring the files concerning the Maximoff anomaly, they need to know.” The woman nodded and left the compound. He turned to the other members that hadn’t done much but gape at them and ordered them out. Apparently, he didn’t want people to witness what was about to happen. That left the man alone with the X-men. “Look, I get what you people can do, you barge in and act on an impulse; fix what you think is a threat and leave the rest of us to deal with the mess you leave behind. You might think you’re right, but this is��my base.” Erik tensed up at the man’s words, this speech being all too familiar. “I don’t want you meddling in my stuff, Wanda Maximoff is a threat that needs to be dealt with no matter the price. You can go get your friend after.”

It was now official; he hated this man.

Though, before he could show him just how much he despised him, his colleague came back. She didn’t react to the lack of personnel, perhaps she had been expecting it. She was holding a significant number of files and what seemed to be a tv remote. Hayward thanked her and opened a file labeled ‘confidential’. It showed a picture of Wanda. Only she seemed younger, and her hair were a dark brown; there was also a man with bleached blonde hair at her side. They were in a crowd of people, their faces twisted in rage as they seemed to yell to something the picture didn’t show.

“This is Wanda Maximoff, back when she joined a Nazi base and accepted to be experimented on. This is how she got her powers.”

“Director, with all due respect, I believe your thoughts betray you,” interrupted Charles, to the man’s frustration. “I think it’s important to complete your statement and precise that she didn’t know what she was getting herself into.”

Erik secretly praised his friend and his telepathy; Hayward was obviously trying to antagonize the woman. It was obvious they now had to take his version of events with a grain of salt.

“Yes...” grunted the director, obviously upset about being caught in a lie. He pointed to the other man in the picture, “this is Pietro Maximoff, Wanda’s twin, the real one. He too had superspeed.”

He switched on a screen that was flatter than any television Erik had ever seen. It showed Wanda and Pietro in what appeared to be a lab. There was a sort of casket all plugged in with tubes. The pair seemed to be arguing with two older men. There was no audio, so their discussion didn’t make much sense. Suddenly, a blue blur raced through the lab, removing all the tubes in mere seconds. The blonde man stopped next to the casket looking thing and threw the last tube on the floor. It was strange, seeing another version of his son. Their powers were very similar yet very different. While Peter’s trail was silver, Pietro’s was blue, he also left some blue energy lingering in the air. It lasted a few seconds as he stopped before it disappeared. From the few dates in the documents and video, this Quicksilver seemed to have developed his powers only for a few months. It was probably why he seemed to be a little slower than his son. Hayward spoke again.

“The twins were working against the Avengers, those in charge of defending our planet. There was an army of robots threatening to destroy the world, they had sided with the robot in charge.” He glanced quickly at Charles. “They eventually changed sides, but Pietro didn’t survive.”

The footage changed to show a man and a child trying to take cover as a trail of bullets grew nearer. Suddenly, they were out of harm’s way and the speedster was in their place. His shirt was riddled with holes that quickly soaked with blood and he fell to the ground, dead. Fear seized Erik as he watched the man fall to the ground; momentarily seeing Peter in his place. Would a similar thing have happened had Mystique not disguised herself as one of the horsemen?

Hayward continued, showing footage of Wanda fighting in a group against other people, explaining how this event had led to the Sokovia accords, which was nothing more than a differently named mutant registration act. Except this one was actually approved. She had refused to sign and went into hiding, only to resurface when a titan had attacked the Earth. He apparently needed something called infinity stones, one of which was in Vision’s head. From the next chain of event Hayward told them, the titan had apparently succeeded in retrieving the stone. The real mystery was how the Vision was back to life; the director insisted that it was Wanda who resurrected him. She had been blipped, like half of the universe, and had came back grief stricken and ready to do anything to have a perfect family life. She had taken an entire town hostage and made them into her puppets. There was no telling what she might do to achieve her goal. Apparently kidnapping an alternate universe version of her brother wasn’t out of her reach. As Hayward continued telling them about Wanda’s life and what she had done, Erik had only one pressing thought: just how powerful was Wanda?

“How many people are in this town?” Wondered Charles.

“A little more than three thousand. They’re not all casted as roles, most are simply background characters.”

The wheelchair bound man nodded in comprehension. “Have you identified them all? Warned their families?”

He shook his head. “I believe it’s in everyone’s interest if we keep this low, we don’t want to alarm anyone. Especially when the world just came back.”

“You idiot,” raged Raven, “if they can’t reach their loved ones, they will ask questions. They will panic. Your logic is awfully flawed.”

“This is not your dimension, you don’t get to tell me what to do,” argued Hayward, clearly annoyed with them. “I will try to urge the identification process, but you people stay here. I don’t want more superpowered people and their associates getting in my way.”

With that, the man just left the place, followed by his colleague. Whether it was intentional or not, they left their documentation behind. Erik took one of the many files from the pile and opened it. This one described Vision’s origin and whereabouts until he had been destroyed in-

“Charles,” he said, not taking his eyes off the numbers. “This here says that the android died in 2018, five years ago.”

“We traveled 40 years in the future?” Said Kurt, understandably a little overwhelmed by the situation.

Raven put a comforting hand on the teleporter’s shoulder before looking at her friend. Her eyes showed how the situation affected her just as much as it did them. He didn’t blame her; Erik wasn’t sure if he truly grasped the gravity of the implications yet. For now, he preferred to focus on Wanda and her past; the more he knew about her, the better of a chance they’d have to retrieve his son safely and unharmed. The later wasn’t looking too hopeful. From his own experience with mind control and the co-worker’s reaction to being awoken, Peter would likely have a long and painful recovery once he would be back to himself. He just hoped that the differences between their timelines meant that he hadn’t been controlled since he had gone missing. Perhaps, by some luck, he would have arrived a little before he appeared on screen. He didn’t let himself think of what the speedster could have endured before being put under the woman’s spell. Especially if he had been her puppet for the entire two weeks he had disappeared.

“Erik,” interrupted Charles, “I can hear your concerns and I can assure you; your son is a fighter. His mutation is a natural telepath repellent, he’ll be just fine.”

The man smiled at his friend’s words, momentarily comforted. But then, a terrible thought creeped into his head. “Then tell me, old friend, if he is so immune; what horrible torture would he have to go under, so that his mental shield would be lowered enough for him to be vulnerable?”

The silence that followed his statement seemed to confirm that no one had even considered how Peter could be controlled in the first place. They had been too panicked at seeing the young man on the screen and then focused on getting to him to even think of the logic of his newly casted role.

“B-but he’ll be alright,” stammered Kurt, his tail anxiously twitching behind him, swinging, and curling unto itself. “He’s Peter, he always comes out alright.”

Charles smiles weakly at his student, “of course he will, Kurt,” he reassured him, “but we will have to give him time to heal and let him do the first steps when he’ll be ready.”

Erik shared a worried look with Raven, the professor seemed hopeful that the speedster would turn out fine, but he didn’t seem to realize how ahead he was thinking. They were on a military base that had studied for nine days this seemingly all powerful being that didn’t let you in without her consent and a rewrite of your life. And they hadn’t gotten far. From what they had learned, Peter would not be free of Wanda’s control unless she herself brought down the dome. But how could a grief-stricken mutant with powers never seen before just give up what she perceived as the perfect life she deserved?

...

They had stayed up late, learning about Wanda’s past and being horrified at what she had to go through. Erik wasn’t sure how he felt about the woman. She had gone through awful events, a struggle similar to his own. He did feel pity towards her, but he couldn’t look past the fact that she had his son playing her twisted game. The group had eventually settled down for the night, sleeping as good as they could without beds or blankets. They were suddenly awoken by some agitation on the base. Charles stared off into the distance before turning to his team, “Hayward has kicked off people from the base that were being disrespectful to him, now he’s coming our way.”

Indeed, barely fifteen seconds after he had spoken, the director opened the door. He seemed annoyed. “I’m just here to tell you that a new episode should air in the next twenty minutes.”

The blue teen looked at the man, “what happened outside just now?”

His question apparently wasn’t a welcome one since Hayward clenched his jaw in frustration. He answered nonetheless, “I got rid of nuisances. Nothing that concerns you or your team.”

That shut the boy up, but Raven stepped in front of him protectively. “You don’t get to talk to him like that, or to any of us.”

The director narrowed his eyes at her. “You should be thankful,” he snarked, “I could have you all arrested and locked up for the rest of your days, along with your little friend. Yet I haven’t even told anyone about your presence. I’ve been more than benevolent. So, I suggest you watch your mouth.”

Rage built up in Erik, he had heard these words so many times from government figures that disguised their hatred by saying what they could have done but didn’t. The metal bender was well aware that men like him wouldn’t hesitate to sell them out for a raise. What he didn’t appreciate was the way he threatened to imprison Peter as soon as they would get him free from Wanda’s control. Erik felt the metal in the man’s outfit and forced him closer, bringing him at his level. A sliver of fear was seen for a split second in Hayward’s eyes and a feeling of satisfaction crept into his chest. That man was a coward. “You listen to me,” he growled, “we can take out this base in seconds if we feel like it. I’ve seen your kind before, you crush others to rise in rank, but deep down you’re scared. You’re terrified because you’re aware that you are nothing. And if you drop your facade even for a second, they will see you for what you truly are. So, you take out the competition before it even has a chance to realize its potential. But guess what? You’ve met your match because I see you for what you truly are.” He paused as he stared into the man’s eyes. It was a competition of stares that lasted for a few seconds. Erik’s unwavering gaze pierced through the man’s pitiful attempt at intimidation without much effort. Finally, he let his grip go and kept his ground as Hayward took a few steps back. “Here’s a deal, little man, stay out of our way and we’ll stay out of yours.”

The director glared at him and then switched to the other people in the room, probably wondering if the threats he had said had a chance of becoming reality. Whatever he concluded, Erik didn’t know, but the man left the room fuming. The room was silent for a few seconds before Charles wheeled himself closer. He was about to speak but the metal bender beat him to it. “Don’t try to reason with me, old friend, that man had it coming. I only spoke the truth.”

The bald man shook his head. “Yes, you are right, and I don’t blame you for this, but perhaps threatening the director of the base we’re staying in wasn’t the greatest idea?”

Before he could argue, Raven intervened, “I think you did good. It’s been a while since I had seen one of your Magneto speeches; that Stryker knock off deserved it.”

He snorted at her comparison; Hayward was very similar to their own impersonation of the anti-mutant feeling back home. Kurt seemed a little unsettled by Erik’s speech. But he didn’t have time to make sure the teen was alright. Suddenly, the television in their little bunker flickered on; a new episode was starting. They all scrambled to sit down as the screen showed one of the twins running around with a camera in his hands. The upbeat intro song was echoing through the room.

‘Wanda!

WandaVision!

Don’t try to fight the chaos

Don’t question what you’ve done

The game can try to play us

Don’t let it stop the fun’

He opened the bathroom door, showing Wanda brushing her teeth; she also had rollers in her hair. She closed the door with her magic and Tommy ran downstairs to Vision who was reading the newspaper.

‘Some days, it’s all confusion

Easy come and easy go’

Erik watched the screen anxiously as the family members were shown, what would she make her son do?

‘But if it’s all illusion

Sit back, enjoy the show!’

The twin went in the kitchen, their neighbor was looking in the fridge. After a distasteful close up of the woman’s behind, Tommy was now headed for outside.

‘Let’s keep it going

Through each distorted day

Let’s keep it going

Though there may be no way of knowing

Who’s coming by to play’

A blur came out from the house and Erik’s stomach twisted as his son appeared on screen. He was wearing a grey and black shirt and jeans shorts. He briefly stopped in front of the camera and pulled his tongue out like some sort of rock star. He ran out of the shot and came back holding the long-haired twin under one arm. The screen froze to simulate a family picture being taken. The logo ‘WandaVision’ in red and yellow hues.

“Pietro Maximoff as himself?” remarked Raven unimpressed. “Really?”

Erik didn’t react to her voice; he was all too focused on his son. While he didn’t seem that different than usual, he couldn’t help but notice his hair. His usual silver mess of hair were now a bleached blonde. He stared at the screen in disbelief.

This woman had taken away one of Peter’s most unique traits, a part of his personality, to fit her narrative.

He continued looking at the screen with a mix of rage and anxiety. If she had changed him so easily to fulfill her illusion; there was no telling what else she could do if she found out he wasn’t truly her brother.

***

Notes: Next chapter: the halloween special! (and something else)

[vintagegeekculture]

Who are the “Venoms Mob?”

Well, first things first: if you go to China and talk about the 5 Venoms, or the Venoms Mob, they’ll have absolutely no idea who you’re talking about there, because that’s a fandom-term among US Kung Fu cult movie fans.

In Hong Kong, the Venoms are known as director Chang Cheh’s Weapons Expert Troupe, a group of five lifelong friends, martial artists, bodybuilders, exotic weapons experts, and trained acrobats who did at least a dozen movies for manly man Kung Fu director Chang Cheh in the 1970s and 1980s. They were the real deal: they usually choreographed their own fight scenes, which often involved flips and crazy stunts due to their acrobat training, high-wire acts, and unusual and exotic weaponry not typically seen even in martial arts movies. It’s like every single one of them drank the Captain America potion. Their films tended to end in heroic sacrifices, and the Venoms, for all their athleticism and daring, tended to be identifiable people on the bottom end of the societal ladder: homeless drifters, refugees, itinerant hobos, traveling performers, or restaurant workers.

The Venoms were stars in the US, particularly among the black community who love Chinese martial arts movies, not just because of their truly breathtaking skill and choreography, but because they are how most people feel they are, secretly, deep down: rams among sheep. They are the poor, downtrodden, or average person who decides “not to take it anymore” after untold indignities. This is also why the Venoms are especially important to the black community. In fact, if you want to know how much the Venoms mean to their fans, just go up to nearly any Black Dad over 45+ and ask about the “5 Venoms.” 

Chang Cheh, Director of the Venoms

The best way to describe the director and writer of the Venoms films, Chang Cheh is that he is basically Mac from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia if he decided to make Gladiator and loved Sergio Leone and Kurasawa.

The director and writer of the Venoms movies, and maybe the most significant name in the history of Kung Fu cinema apart from Bruce Lee, Chang Cheh was towering enough that Quentin Tarantino dedicated Kill Bill Part 2 to Chang Cheh in the closing credits. It would not be inaccurate to say he invented the Kung Fu movie as we know it, with its training montages, mentor-student relationships, all cut with themes of vengeance, noble self-sacrifice, and rebellion of poor and ordinary people against unjust authority.

Chang Cheh’s life story is fascinating. His father was a warlord during the Republican Era between the World Wars, which must have made for an interesting school career day. He started as a film critic and became a screenwriter, then from being a screenwriter, became a director. I wonder if that is the reason that Chang Cheh was so fascinated by themes of masculinity and male bonding, as the arty, openly gay movie critic son of a central Asian warlord had a nearly impossible standard of masculinity to live up to.

The two Western movies that are, thematically, the closest to Chang Cheh are Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan, and if you like both of those movies, you’ll probably like him. His heroes are often James Dean-like angry young men, poor and at the outskirts of society. His movies tend to end in heroic self-sacrifice for a noble cause, and tend to have themes of vengeance, arty blood red slaughter, and a distrust of authority and government of any kind. He loves bloodshed and thinks violence is beautiful; an image that comes up often is someone in an all white outfit that gets covered in blood, an arty view of violence similar to his two biggest influences, Sergio Leone and Kurosawa. Like the Shawshank Redemption, Chang Cheh movies are essentially ensemble pieces about the friendships and close comradely bonds of brotherhood between men. Very few women of any kind have extensive speaking parts in his movies.

Another movie that also summarizes Chang Cheh would be 300. Remember that Sarah Silverman bit where she said that “300 is the answer to the question, how gay is this movie on a scale of 1 to 10?” Not just because it is about an entirely male cast, or about finding fulfillment in noble self-sacrifice and heroism Alamo-style against desperate odds, but also because it’s about glorifying the male body, with tons of abs and pecs. I suppose I should mention here that Chang Cheh’s movies are profoundly homoerotic, and discussion of their homoeroticism is the major way film academics talk about these movies. How many scenes in Cheh’s movies are about dudes hanging out with their shirts off, flexing their muscles? Or about “brothers” who clasp each other on the shoulder while looking longingly into each other’s eyes in a shot-reverse shot? The only meaningful relationship in his movies are male ones. I dislike passing on cheap gossip, but by all accounts it’s actually an open secret in the Hong Kong film industry that Chang Cheh was homosexual and lived with other men. 

Yi Kuang -Screenwriter of the Venoms

The screenwriter of nearly all the Venoms movies, much like Chang Cheh, Yi Kuang had an interesting life. He was a Communist Party officer who went to Inner Mongolia, where his primary job was writing death sentences for landlords. Once idealistic, he left disillusioned with the Chinese Communist Party, and a remained a die-hard anticommunist. Evil bureaucrats tend to show up in his stories often for that reason, and a common theme of his scripts is the anger of ordinary people against distant, unapproachable authorities. There’s no understanding Venoms films without their screenwriter. Chang Cheh started as a screenwriter and wrote his movies, but Yi Kuang was his most frequent partner.

Interestingly, Yi Kuang got famous long after for writing a series of supernatural and horror novels called the Mr. Wisely books, where a traditional Chinese medicine expert fights for sites of power charged with Feng Shui. It’s interesting to see his turn to the supernatural, sorcery, and ghosts as an overreaction to his distaste for Marxist materialism. Of all the Venoms films, the one that shows his influence the strongest was the one the Venoms fight an evil human sacrifice devil cult, Masked Avengers. 

The Hero – Kuo Chui

A guy with a big smile and a body carved out of marble, Kuo Chui started as a circus acrobat before becoming a stuntman and then a leading actor. He was the Venom with the strongest and most natural screen presence, the one that was the most “movie star.” In fact, he was almost always the hero and central character of Venoms movies, usually playing the most levelheaded and strategic minded of the group.

Kuo Chui deserves some credit also for being the one Venom to actually direct a movie himself, Ninja in the Deadly Trap. This sounds like a heck of a leap, but in Hong Kong, nearly all choreographers also direct their fight scenes. It’s no surprise that a common career path in Hong Kong cinema is to go from choreographer to director (see also Chang Cheh’s ex-choreographers, Tang Chia and 36 Chambers director Liu Chia Liang)

 The Bad Guy – Lu Feng

Every single movie, Lu Feng was the heel, the bad guy. I mean, heck, in Shaolin Rescuers, he even played the evil apprentice of the supreme supervillain of the martial arts, Pai Mei! But no matter what, Lu Feng was just so cool that you couldn’t help but root for him just a little bit. He was a character type common in pro wrestling: the arrogant “cool heel,” like Rick Flair and the Horsemen. 

The Venoms tended to be workaday regular poor guys, but Lu Feng usually played a rich guy who oozed arrogance and menace, rather like the evil rich football player heel in college movies. 

 The Funny Guy – Chiang Sheng

A guy who usually played the funny young hero or a wisecracking comedy sidekick prone to wiseassery and pratfalls, Chiang Peng was the Venom who most benefited from the rise of Jackie Chan, and his introduction of silent film era inspired physical comedy into the otherwise stale Kung Fu film. Like Robin Williams, Chiang Shiang was someone who made everyone else laugh, but because he had a lot of darkness inside him, which ended up killing him. Chiang Sheng is the only Venom to not be with us, he drank himself to death after his divorce in 1991. Because of this, there can never really be a full Venoms reunion.

One of the most amazing things about Hong Kong cinema in the 70s is that the actors tended to have scraggly teeth that aren’t perfect and that seemed to be Chang Shieng’s defining trait. To be clear, I am not in any way mocking him for having bad teeth. In fact, I think it is rather winsome and endearing, like a teenager with braces.

 The Tough Guy – Lo Meng

Known as the “Shaolin Hercules,” the person I’d compare Lo Meng to is Mr. Worf. Ultra-strong, humorless, intimidating, dead serious and never smiling, he was by far the most muscular and powerful of the Venoms, with tons of machismo and swagger, “big dick energy” as the kids say today. The camera tends to linger on his oiled up biceps and chest in extreme close-up…but was also, usually, the first to die in nearly all of these films. Much like how Worf was the toughest guy ever, but usually got beat up a lot so the writers could show that the situation was serious. In fact, Lo Meng, still in great shape, was in Ip Man 4, where, not one to break with a tradition, he was the first guy to get his ass beat in the film, even in a movie made in the Year of Our Lord 2020.

Lo Meng tends to be the “backup main hero” and was even the main character in films like 2 Champions of Shaolin. He had the most impressive “solo” film career apart from the other Venoms. Like Geri Halliwell, he left the Venoms to do his own thing, which is why the defining trait of the later Venom films is that he wasn’t there. 

Lo Meng wasn’t Taiwanese like the other Venoms, and was a native of Hong Kong. In fact, he got his start in the film industry not as a stuntman or muscleman, but as an accountant for the Shaw Brothers studios, and he lifted weights and did Praying Mantis Kung Fu as a hobby. That’s…that’s hilarious. Reminds me of that fake Simpsons movie, Undercover Nerd with Renier Wolfcastle:

 The Wild Card – Chun Shieng

Would YOU trust this man? I wouldn’t. He betrayed the Toad!

That’s Chun Shieng for you, the wild card Venom who could “go either way” and so wasn’t an entirely trustworthy ally.

Allow me to correct a misconception I’ve seen in a lot of places: Chun is sometimes known as “the one Korean Venom.” He isn’t Korean but Chinese, but he was trained in Korea and is a Tae Kwon Do expert, unlike the other Venoms, who studied Chinese Kung Fu and Peking Opera. And it certainly shows: he always fights with a kick-heavy Tae Kwon Do style that does not look much like any Kung Fu at all.

[ilovefanfic86]

Supernatural: Plotholes, Thoughts and Other Unanswered Questions.

I know that I am extremely late with this, but life got in the way. I know that a lot has happened since the finale. (The online reunion happened tonight and I missed it.) I would really like to get some of your guys opinons. I have my thoughts on the show finale and I would love the feedback and hopefully some answers. I tagged the following mutuals that I know are part of the fandom. If you don’t want to participate, I completely understand and no hard feelings. 

After letting the finale sink in, I still have a few things I need to know. Some of these may have been answered and I am just a dumbass and didn’t know it. If you know the answer or have an opinion on anything, please feel free to share it with me. I am not leaving the fandom just because the show is over. Some of this may be ranting. Some you may not care about. So, let’s talk...

I have been trying to think of a way to put all my questions and thoughts in a easier way to understand. Cause I have more than a few.

1. Dean’s Death.

(a.)The first question may be dumb, but how the hell was Dean still standing after he died? That has always confused me about the show. Whenever one of the characters is tied up standing, they never fall. Even passed out or apparently dead.

 (b.)I think that Dean was ready to die. Because even though Sam and Dean are free from Chuck’s story, Dean may not be truly happy because Cas is gone. I think that’s why he is attached to the dog. It was a subsitute for Cas’s abscence.We have seen in previous seasons when Cas dies, that Dean always spirals. He drinks himself unconcious and throws himself into hunts. He is visibly shaken whenever he witnesses Cas’s death. He held on to Cas’s coat in season 6&7 after he died. Dean does whatever he can to ensure Castiel’s safety.

2. Sam’s Life After Dean.

(a.) It was nice to see Sam live a “normal” life. However, with him living his normal life, there are a lot of questions. Did Sam marry and have a child with Eileen? I get that with the pandemic everyone wasn’t able to be there for filming. So, I truly undersdtand why we didn’t see Shoshannah in the final episode. We onlyget to see a woman on the porch in the background. She is so far away we can’t see her. Even during Sam’s life montage, we see diffrent pictures, but none of Eileen. Hell, the only woman’s picture I saw was Mary. Nothing around his death bed either.

(b.) Did Sam give up hunting? We know that he gave it up when Dean and Cas went to purgatory. Now that they are both TRULY gone, did he just completely give it up? I can’t imagine that just because he is free and alone, that he would let innocent people die. I know that he wouldn’t go after big hunts, but maybe a ghost or spirit. 

(c.)Does Little Dean ‘D’  become a hunter/Men of Letters? I am sure that Sam told ‘D’ about all the monsters and dangers of the world. But does he become a hunter? Did ‘D’ get Baby after Sam’s death? What happened to the Bunker and all the relics? It seems kind of wrong to just leave the Bunker unattended. There are so many hunters that could use it. 

3. Missing people.

(a.)Kevin Tran. Did Kevin get to go to the new heaven or did Jack bring him back to life to be with his mom? Cause the last time we saw Kevin, he was a ghost in Hell. (Cause Chuck is a dick.) Heaven was closed and he had to go and roam around. Kevin deserved better.

(b.)Adam Milligan. What happened to Adam? Did he go to heaven or did Jack bring him back? Because technically, Chuck killed him in the snap. If he died,  he really deserves to go to heaven. He was in the cage with Michael and Lucifer. He was forgotten by his brothers and the other angels.

(c.)Alisha and Max Banes. A few of you may not remember them, but I always wonder what happened to them. In season 12, the twins call Mary’s phone for some help to find their mother. There they go through the “MOTW” scenarios. When Alisha dies from her wounds, Max takes the witches ring and create a Twig!Alisha and burns his siters body. We never got to see what happened to them. I know that they weren’t huge side characters, but they were interesting to me.

(d.)Harper Sayles. Harper’s storyline has always felt unfinished to me. She had her apperance in season”s 14 “Optimism”, where Dean and Jack work a case in Nebraska. Jack gets close to Harper and she believes that they are in love. It is revealed that she comes from a long necromancers and she brought back her dead boyfriend Vance. After Vance is caught, Harper escapes, but is seen later in a diner writing a love letter to Jack. She says that when she finds Jack she’ll have to kill him for what he did to Vance. But, that she can bring Jack back just like Vance, because their love is so vivid. She addresses it to Jack Smith, Lebanon, Kansas P.O. Box... So what happened to her? Harper could have been a very interesting character for at least 2 episodes. Watching Jack having to deal with his own version of Becky. I just thought that it was weird that she knew where he lived (kinda) and we just never heard from her again.

(e.)The Horsemen. During season 5, we got to meet the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse; War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. This one kinda confuses me. In this season I was to believe that the Horsemen couln’t be killed. (Death’s death was a shocker.) But they couldn’t kill War. They just took his ring.

(f.)Jesse Turner/Antichrist. This is by far the biggest plotholes I know from the show. Where the hell is Jesse. He had one episode in season 5, “I Believe the Children Are Our Future.” It is discovered on a case that Jesse is a Cambion, half-human, half-demon. Castiel reveals that he is the Antichrist. He was destines to align with Lucifer and “With a word.” destroy the forces of heaven. Afterword, Jesse disappears and is never seen or heard from again. I definetely thought that we would see him the last 2 seasons. Given that these were the biggest villians. A battale between him and Jack would have been so awesome. This is the biggest plothole for me. Heaven wanted Jesse dead and then they just forgot about him.

(g.)Jesus Christ. Where was Jesus? He was mentioned a plethora of times on the show, yet he doesn’t get any reconigtion. Throughout the shows running time, different dieties mention him. Eve said in Season 6 “...And Then There Was None”, to character Rick, “You know that he was just a man.” In season 3, “A Very Supernatural Christmas”, Madge and Edward Carrigan are Pagan gods. Edward tells the Winchesters, “All of a sudden, this Jesus character is the new hot thing in town. All of a sudden our alters are being burned down and we are being hunted down like monters.” Even if He was just a man, he was still important to Chuck at one point. Wouldn’t that make him a viable ally during this? 

That is basically the main “issues” I have with the show. If anyone wants to discuss this, please feel free to share your thoughts. Love you guys and Carry on.

@snffbeebee @waywardbaby @teamfreewill4ever @pisces-cutie @our-jensen-ackles-love @jenabean75 @stormchasingchick32 @thoughtslikeaminefield @missjenniferb @spnwaywardwitch @supernaturalfanfiction-com @crashlyrose @jasminemarieheartsimagines @deanwanddamons @taurean860 @companionjones @dewdieboo @all-4-wincest @relmi-llorrac @weewoo-soldier @fullonswayzed @deansenwackles @chunksbutfunks @daisysinger-winchester @jenny885 @sweetness47 @carmenlord @jamezverusaum @plussizeappreciationfics @plus-size-reader @treat-winchesterswith-kindness

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: The Hollow (Season 2 Episode 6)

Episode Title: Dead End

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve watched the episode already or don’t care about spoilers.

1. The episode begins on a somber note; Adam, Mira, Kai PLUS Reeve and Vanessa are standing next to Skeet’s burial. They’re obviously distressed by the sudden passing of their friend. Regardless of what we’ve just seen, I still think that the show is going to find a way to bring him back. 

2. As they make their way to the Jazz Club, Reeve tells Vanessa he still doesn’t trust the trio and the same goes for Adam. Reeve also believes that they’re still playing the game. 

3. Kai notices Adam wearing the skull key he had stolen from Jules’s chateau in episode 5 and points it out for everyone to hear, including Reeve and Vanessa. Reeve is suspicious of Adam collecting random objects without keeping them in the loop. Umm, they just got together as a group; Why would he think that Adam is withholding information from him especially after everything they’ve been through last episode? Reeve is always so hot-tempered; It’s really annoying. 

4. Adam and Kai get to arguing with each other and thank goodness for Mira because she pulls them by their ear, which causes them to stop. She must have done that plenty of times when the three of them were a team back in the day. But they go back to bickering when they couldn’t decide on a path to take. This time, Kai is the one to stop them. We also find out some tidbits about Kai’s parents; Apparently they don’t seem to have a good relationship with one another. I wonder if they’re separated or divorced...

5. Reeve asks Vanessa (who seems out of it) to fly out to scout for locations but there’s no need for that because Mira discovers a random underground metro station behind the bushes. As they descend, Kai reminds Vanessa that he’s still mad at her for manipulating him last season. 

6. I’m glad Mira is around to keep the peace between Adam and Reeve. Their constant arguing is getting old real fast. They board a train and it immediately starts moving. But they’re not the only ones on this train because there is also a group of ghosts seated on the train as well and just like Jules, they’re French too lol. PS, I didn’t catch the ‘ghosted’ pun Kai made at first when he was talking to one of the ghosts. 

7. They look at the map of the metro and are unsure if the train will take them to the jazz club. Vanessa points to a headline of a newspaper one of the ghosts is reading that mentions about a train that had crashed at the end of a train line. By the way, can Mira read French? There are also photos of the victims and it turns out that the ghosts of the victims are in the same carriage as them. Creepy!

8. They then realize that these ghosts are there to relive the crash again, which means that the very train that they’re on will crash too. They run over to the driver (also a ghost) and pleads for him to stop the train but he isn’t able to do anything; I guess it’s because he’s a ghost lol.

9. Yet again, Adam and Reeve are arguing about which buttons to press to stop the train. Kai, who is extra sensitive to listening to people argue because of his parents’ history isn’t coping well during this time. Poor Kai! He must have been so traumatized. Adam, go get yo’ man, even if y’all are about to die. 

10. Vanessa tells Kai to fix the predicament they’re in but Kai is still hurt by the bad stuff she’s done to him. I’m glad Kai is calling her out and not sweeping those things under the rug. What she did was absolutely terrible. Anyways. with his powers of ‘engineering’ (I guess), he asks Adam to pull the lever to set off the braking system but Reeve starts to butt in. OMG REEVE! Kai asked Adam! UGHHHH! It’s not a competition. They accidentally break the lever and I am so mad. Mira does the best thing in the episode so far and that is locking them out of the train conductor’s room. Thank you Mira!

11. Kai breaks open the control panel, exposing the wires underneath but he’s not sure which ones to disconnect. Luckily, Vanessa realizes that the metro map isn’t a location map, it’s actually a map of the circuitry. With the basic knowledge of French she has, she tells Kai to disconnect the blue and green wire and the train manages to stop just before it could crash.

12. The doors open and the ghosts are free to leave the train at Montmartre station. But they’re ghosts?! They should be able to phase through objects, no?

13. I’m loving Mira in this episode! She is not taking any of Reeve or Adam’s BS! I agree, their constant fighting is so dumb and it’s not accomplishing anything. To be honest, the main problem here lies with Reeve. He is so stubborn but I  wonder what really happened that caused him to leave Adam and Mira in the first place.

14. They exit the station and immediately, they see the jazz club just opposite of them. The door opens and from the looks of it, another team is leaving the club. They explain to our protagonists that they don’t have their memories and they have their own set of powers. These people are probably in the same positions Adam. Kai, Mira and Vanessa, Reeve, Skeet were last season. 

15. However, the long hair girl (we find out later that her name is Nisha) quickly assumes that our main characters are the bad guys and she threatens to attack. Reeve, who is the most annoying person on this show so far makes the first move on the only guy on their team, Tyler. But he’s not down for the count because he strikes Reeve with a lightning bolt. So, we get this episode’s first fight scene.

16. Nisha also has fire powers like Kai and she proceeds to attack Kai and we get a fire on fire battle between the two. We also find out here that players can’t have the same powers within ‘The Hollow’, which is definitely not the case at this moment. Interesting! I didn’t know that. Hence, the digital world that they’re in now is very different to what the game was last season. 

17. The shaved-head girl, whose name is Iris I believe (from me checking the end credits) has the power to grow bigger. She tries to attack Mira but Reeve uses his telekinetic powers to stop her. Oh and on top of Tyler having lightning powers, he has the ability to summon hail too. So, he has weather powers a la Storm from the X-men, I’m assuming. He distracts Reeve with the hail, allowing Iris to break free from Reeve’s grip. 

18. She then confronts Adam and wants to fight him but Adam, with his chivalry, doesn’t believe in hitting girls. Well, Adam is gonna have to face the consequences because she grows into a giant and picks Adam up and she snatches the skull key from him. He really should’ve left that thing in his pocket. We see that this opposing team has stolen a gun-like weapon from Jules’s chateau and thinks that the key will activate the weapon. But Iris is shrinking and they decide to make their escape instead. 

19. Okay, so it seems to me that Vanessa had something to do with the game restarting and all of them being back in ‘The Hollow’ once again. With tears filling her eyes, she tries to tell them but the rest of the group were too busy focusing on getting to the club. Ughh, I want to know what she did! Maybe her eventual revelation will explain the glitch she had in her eye at the end of Season 1 after the game was over. And no wonder she acted weirdly when Reeve mentions about the glitch to her earlier in this episode. So, is Vanessa a glitch herself? Hmm....

20.  ‘Death’ is back! And he’s working as a bartender/mixologist behind the counter lol. However, Death doesn’t recognize them, just like how Akuma didn’t seem to remember them in episode 4 either . I guess resetting the game had something to do with it. They ask him about Weirdy and he tells them that Weirdy is going to be performing later tonight.

21. Benjamini, the short-stature bodybuilder-like Italian man from the carnival last season is also working at the club. The five of them sit around a table, waiting for the show to start and Vanessa tries to confess to them something about the weapon the other team has but she gets interrupted again! It would be best if these people actually listen to her! So, is her secret about the weapon and not about the glitch? Or is it both? I’m confused. After interrupting her, the others talk about the other team they just fought and what would happen to them if they were to win the game. 

22. Anyways, the show starts and Plague (from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) is on stage and he introduces Weirdy to everyone. Our heroes try to go over to him but they are blocked by Benjamin, Benjamini’s partner/brother?, also from season 1. Weirdy proceeds to play the piano and he starts to sing the song, ‘Creep’ by Radiohead. How appropriate, given his name. I’m actually digging this cover. It starts out similar to the actual song and then it turns a corner and we get a Jazz rendition of it. It’s pretty cool!

23. They do their best to capture Weirdy’s attention but the Benjamins are making sure his act doesn’t get interrupted. Reeve uses his powers to disable them and they manage to get to the front. Weirdy is really into his own performance but eventually, he notices the group and is really surprised to see them. He actually flat out tells them they don’t belong here and he thinks that they’re coding errors, despite telling their truth to him. He ends his song with a snap of his fingers, which opens a portal under them and they fall into it. 

24. They all teleport to the tip of a mountain, where the only thing supporting them is a weird looking platform. What’s with ‘The Hollow’ and it’s love of high altitudes? LOL. Anyways, they are all balancing the platform at different points and if anybody were to make even just a slight step, it would cause the entire platform to tip over. Why can’t Reeve use his powers to levitate everyone? Adam reminds everyone not to move, which is sound advice but guess who doesn’t like being told what to do? F*ckin’ Reeve. LIKE WILL HE EVER SHUT UP?!

25. For the 4th or 5th time this episode, these two argue on the platform. Kai calls out for Mira to stop them. And ironically, she’s in the centre of all of this...lol. I feel for Mira in the picture above; She’s either going to yell at them again or break down crying from all of the stress of them two arguing. And the episode stops here. Well, this was certainly an episode filled with argument after argument, wasn’t it? It annoyed me to no end. Check back with me tomorrow for when I upload my review of episode 7. Till then, have a great day everyone! Bye!

[banana-with-a-bow-tie]

The Rapture

No, this isn’t one of Those Posts preaching gloom and doom and mark your calendars cause Jesus is coming back next Thursday. I know this teaching has been a point of contention over the years--my own views on the topic have varied wildly and been prone to mistakes, leading me to hold my current view very loosely. However, whatever view you may hold, it is something the Bible talks about, which means it is something God deemed important for us to know and grow from.

I’m not going to hash out that whole debate on this post. There is one point I often here leveled against the pre-trib view that I would like to address, but first I need to say that eschatology, the study of last things, is a secondary issue. It does not affect someone’s salvation if they hold a slightly different view about the order of end times events. I am willing to be wrong about my position because there is a lot I still don’t understand and need to study. If at any point I misrepresent one of my post-trib brother’s/sister’s arguments, please let me know so that we can talk these things over peaceably as the body of Christ.

The Bible clearly states that Jesus is going to return (Matt 16:27), that he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), and there is going to be a resurrection of his saints-both living and dead-who will meet him in the air when he calls for them (1 Thess 4:15-17). Christians agree on that much and we all know that no one knows the day or hour these events are supposed to begin (Mark 13:32). Where there seems to be confusion is on the exact order of these events, particularly in regards to events called the Tribulation and the Rapture.

The Tribulation, also known as the Day of the LORD, the time of Jacobs trouble ( Jer 30:7) and Daniel’s seventieth week (Dan 9:20-27), is what most people think of when they think about end times. God sends plagues of fire and pestilence on the entire planet who has completely devoted themselves to a false messiah, a world utterly opposed to their Creator. This is described vividly throughout the book of Revelation and it all culminates with Jesus physically returning with all his saints and destroying the armies mounted against him (Rev 19). 

The rapture (discussed in John 14:2-3, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, 1 Thess 4:15-17, 2 Thess 2:1-12) is that moment when the trumpet sounds and the saints meet Jesus in the sky. There are two major camps among others regarding when this moment is supposed to take place. Some believe that the Church will be taken out of the world before the tribulation begins (called the pre-tribulational or pre-trib view) while some believe that the Church will endure the tribulation and will meet Christ in the air when he comes to judge the world (the post-tribulational or post-trib view).

One argument for the post-trib view I have heard repeatedly is that God never promises believers that we will escape tribulation or persecution. I 100% agree with that statement. Jesus promised that we would have many troubles in this world (John 16:33) that if we want to follow Him, we have to be willing to take up our cross and die for Him (Matt 16:24). But there is a fundamental difference between the tribulations inflicted on the Church in this age and the Tribulation the world will endure in the Day of the LORD.

Christians experience suffering in this age for a number of reasons. We get caught up in tornadoes and earthquakes and fires and diseases because God is sovereign and He is doing good for His people (Rom 8:28). It is part of God’s sanctifying process for His people, making us like His Son, transforming us from glory unto glory (2 Cor 3:18) renewing our inner man (2 Cor 4:16). We experience persecution from the world because they hate Christ and therefore hate us (John 15:18-19). This serves multiple good purposes in that it weeds out stony-hearted false converts (Luke 8:13), offers us a chance to give a defense for the hope that lies with in us, even in the midst of persecution (1 Peter 3:15-17) and stores up wrath, bringing judgment on those who would afflict God’s people (2 Thess 1:5-7).

But what is happening during the Tribulation described in Revelation? Why is God sending the Horsemen of War, Famine, and Death as well as a great and terrible earthquake and stars being cast from heaven (Rev 6)? Why does God burn a third of the vegetation and turn a third of the earth’s water to blood (Rev 7)? Why does God allow the sun to scorch people with fire or plunge this kingdom into darkness (Rev 16)? Are these supposed to be sanctifying experiences for His Church? No, we actually see something different from the people being afflicted by these plagues in Revelation 6:16-17

calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (emphasis added)

Wrath of the Lamb? God is sending these plagues because He is angry? What is He angry about? Students of the Bible know that God is only ever truly angry about one thing

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)

The Tribulation is the beginning of God’s wrath being poured out on sinners for their rebellion against Him and rejection of His Messiah.

But wait a minute. The Church hasn’t rejected the Messiah. Believers repented of their rebellion and follow Jesus with their whole hearts. Do believers need to endure God’s wrath as well? Paul told the Thessalonians regarding the Day of the LORD,

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:9)

This is why I think the Rapture is so important. It gets right to the heart of the gospel. If the Tribulation is the time of God’s wrath being poured out on the globe, Christians have nothing to fear, because God’s wrath toward us was already poured out on Christ. There is nothing left for God to judge regarding us, so when the time comes for Him to begin His judgment on the world, I believe He is going to call us out of the world to escape His wrath and enjoy the grace of His presence. Just like He promised He would. That’s not wishful thinking, that is our blessed hope (Titus 2:13).

[samclownchester]

The day is June 15 2020

The time is 3 am

The situation is that the world has fallen into a pandemic of Covid-19, and my job closed down in March, leaving me with lots of time on my hands. Despite my doubts, I fell back into Supernatural, deep into it, and I am now rewatching it. I thought it would be fun to try and see how much I could remember from earlier seasons before I watch them all

I have watched up to 1x14 at this point, so those episodes are fresh in my mind, but lets see what else I remember

Season 1

“Dad’s on a hunting trip, and he hasn’t been home in a few days”

“Saving people, hunting things, the family business”

Sam’s girlfriend dies just like his mom did

Their dad is the point of the season but is only actually in like 3 episodes

Sam and Dean break up but get back together

Sam has VISIONS and moves things with his MIND

Meg is a demon, Sam has a bit of a crush on her

They find their dad, but don’t kill the demon

colt

Season 2

Dean dies in a car crash, John sells his soul for him and dies

Bobby Singer is best dad

Ellen and Jo and Ash exist

Purple Nurple

Gordon?

Lots of psychics! Sam can make friends??

Jk, it’s the hunger games

Sam gets stabbed in the back

Dean sells his soul for him

They kill Azazel I think??

“I have … demon blood in me?”

Season 3

Saving Dean from his demon deal

Groundhog day episode where Dean dies everyday

Gabriel?? (trickster)

Blonde Ruby (let’s hear it for Laurel Lance!)

Very short because there was a writers’ strike that year

Hell hounds

Season 4

Dean was “gripped tight and raised from perdition” by Castiel

Sam has a new gf! (Surprise, it’s Ruby in a new body! :o)

Why does she pretend to not know Dean when he first shows up? Is she lying to Sam about who she is this whole time?? Hmmm I wish I remembered

Time travel?? (Sam doesn’t get to come ☹ )

Demon blood

Demon blood detox ☹

Let’s kill Lilith

“Because it had to be you Sam”

“The boy with the demon blood”

Season 5

Dean is the Michael sword

Sam is messed up, trying to quit demon blood

Cas rebelled, and he did it, all of it, for Dean

Adam Winchester is a person who exists

Also I think this is the season with Jesse the antichrist who never shows up again it’s fine.

He only existed so they could have important conversations about nature vs nurture which honestly they should’ve just saved from when Jack was born but they didn’t know that was gonna happen

More time travel??

Future

Cas likes drugs

Team Free Will

Samifer

Fall into the cage

Dean goes to live with Lisa and Ben

The end?

Season 6

Cas is working with Crowley and spying on Dean but not talking to him like the pining idiot that he is

Dean can’t help but inspect monster happenings in town

Soulless!Sam

Dean finds Soulless Sam

Hanging out with some old dude?

Get Sam’s soul back

Meet Death?

Find out Cas is working with Crowley

 O: Ultimate betrayal

???

Season 7

Leviathans

Godstiel?? Why?? Idr

Hallucifer

Please give Sam therapy

Sam goes to an asylum

Cas takes Sam’s trauma??    

More leviathans

Dick?

Charlie!

Kevin!

Garth? Did we know him before. Idk, we know him now

Dean and Cas go to purgatory!

When does Cas die and walk into the lake? That’s before they go to Purgatory, right? Hmmmm but how does he come back

 Cas is Emmanuel and has a wife? Is that in this season?

Season 8

Dean gets out of purgatory!

But no Cas

Sam had a girlfriend and a dog! Nice!

Not nice, he ignored Kevin and didn’t look for Dean

Like they agreed on, but whatever ok sue him for trying to be happy

Dean has a vampire boyfriend

Not so high and mighty about killing every monster are we now, huh Dean?

Right? I don’t remember, this is a conversation that happens though

He does end up killing Benny though, doesn’t he? huh

Cas is back from Purgatory! But he’s got Secrets ™

“I’m gonna become a hunter”

Then he stays in the old folks home and next time we see him he’s all wacky and likes to watch the bees?

Megstiel

You’re just playing sorry

Am I right?? I don’t remember, but all of this happens at some point

Who even is the big bad? What are we fighting? Idk

Oh we have to save Kevin from Crowley and he reads the demon tablet. Only eats hotdogs, doesn’t shave. I love him please keep him safe.

Spoilers, they don’t

Right! The trials, Sam does the trials, they “purify” him

The angels fall, but Sam doesn’t complete the trials and almost dies.

Season 9

Sam almost dies, Dean is like “right, nonconsensual possession is clearly the best answer for this”

Human!Cas, he drinks lots of water. Steve.

§  “you can’t stay here” :o

Abaddon I think?? What was the point

Crowley is sort of our friend now and I think we meet Rowena? Idr

Kevin dies ☹

“What is the upside to me being alive” – Sam

§  Maybe in this season, maybe not. Who knows?

Cas is a cannibal (eats grace) and becomes and angel again at some point

§  Hannah exists

We all hate Metatron

Cain??

Metatron stabs Dean and Sam puts his dead body on the bed

Demon!Dean

Season 10

Demon!Dean and Crowley are living it up!

Sam and Cas try to cure Dean

Charlie and Rowena interact a lot I think

Book of the Damned

When did they find the bunker? Men of Letters? All that? Idr, anyway they have it at this point

Dean kills lots of people

Charlie dies ☹

Dean blames Sam which is unfair and I hate it

They get the mark off and The DarknessTM is release

Season 11

The Baby episode exists

Really weird sexual tension between Dean and Amara while she’s still kind of a child, no one knows why. Please stop.

Cas gets called expendable and then makes poor life decisions

Lbr, though, Misha is the only other one who can play Lucifer with the same spirit as Mark Pellegrino. Sorry Jared, it’s the truth.

Eileen!! <3

Chuck is God :o

Let’s kill Amara!

Except we don’t kill her, she just needs to bond with her bro.

Here, have your mom back

Season 12

Mom????

British Men of Letters

Lucifer F*cks

Boy I didn’t think this would turn into what it did, let me tell you

Winchesters escape from Federal Prison

Cas says “I love you”

But like, the plural you. No homo.

Sam admits he lost his drive to lead, then finds it again and leads hunters against the dang brits! Hooray!

Oh shoot Lucifer wants custody of his kid!

FIGHT

Fatality – Castiel

Fatality – Mary

Oh no wait she didn’t die she’s just trapped.

Season 13

Jack jack jack jack jack

3 dads, all at various levels of dadding

Actually 2 excellent dads, one dad who is too emotionally damaged to dad but he tries sometimes

Yeah Cas pisses of a cosmic entity. That won’t come back to bite him

Jack just wants to be good

Wayward sisters was not picked up which sucks

Apocalypse world

Rowena is our friend now

Custody Battle!!! Who wins? Not Lucifer

We saved the day! And a ton of people

Literally they made a whole deal of the people being like “We won’t leave our home or our cause” and then they got back to Sam and Dean’s world, didn’t have archangel grace and were just like “meh, actually this place is cool. We don’t have to worry about going back”

Psych! We’re not done yet! Luci wants his kid

And Michael wants his planet

Season 14

Michael! Dean

Jack dies

But it’s ok, we fixed you, just don’t use your powers

Oh shoot he used his power

Nick is somehow alive

In love with Lucifer

Burn his ass!!

Oh Mary disapproves

RIP Mary

RIP Dean being a father, now he’s gonna murder

Hi Chuck, nice of you to show up

Oh no.

Season 15

Chuck sucks

Dean and Cas break up ☹

Sam has visions again

But he’s not psychic, it’s just the piece of his soul inside Chuck

Resurrect your girlfriend! Yeah!!

Jack is eating hearts, but it’s ok, Death told him to do it.

Garden of Eden?

Get your soul back boy!

 And cry

Honorable mentions (Aka these happened but idr when)

Sam falls in love with a werewolf and then has to kill her and MAN Jared really brought the tears

AU where Supernatural is a TV show

Finding out Supernatural is a book series and the author is Chuck!

Crowley becomes helpful mostly

Crowley has a son??

 Meet grandpa

Ellen, Jo, and Ash die

Bobby dies

literally everybody dies

Kill Hitler

They meet that Jewish guy with the Golem who pretended to flirt with Dean at some point.

Jimmy Novak was a devout man who deserved a lot better than he got

Claire Novak is so cool

She moves in with Jody

When do we meet Jody? She’s just always kinda been there?

Gabriel, I don’t remember anything about Gabriel

The council of the Gods’ happens and then I think Gabriel dies in that episode?? Idr

The Four Horsemen

Death, Pestilence, War, Famine

“You’re not hungry Dean”

 I literally do not remember what was happening with these guys

Also, they killed Death, killed a reaper, that reaper became the new Death. I remember when all that happened I just didn’t feel like putting it in the timeline.

[divinum-pacis]

Readings for the Third Week of Advent

From Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)

Isaiah 29:13-24

“And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men: Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not. Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity: That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed: But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel: And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.”

Third Monday of Advent

Isaiah 30:18-26

“Therefore the Lord waiteth that be may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, se soon as he shell hear, he will answer thee. And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher. And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left. And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence. And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession: And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be se the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.”

Third Tuesday of Advent

Isaiah 30:27-33; 31:4-9

“Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people. You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the dame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones. For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck with the rod. And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall over throw them. For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it. For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the lion's whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion, and upon the hill thereof. As birds dying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving. Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin. And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword: and his young men shall be tributaries. And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose die is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.”

Third Wednesday of Advent

Isaiah 31:1-3; 32:1-8

“Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they me many: and in horsemen, because they me very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord. But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall al be confounded together. Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shell rule in judgment. And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of a rock that standeth out in a desert land. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently. And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak readily and plain. The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great. For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man speaketh judgment. But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince, and he shah stand above the rulers.”

Third Thursday of Advent

Isaiah 32:15-33:6

“Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert shall be se a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest. And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit in charmel. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest. But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be made very low. Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot of the ox and the ass. Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised. Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them. The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice. And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.”

Third Friday of Advent

Isaiah 33:7-24 

“Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly. The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men. The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken. Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you. And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are near know my strength. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may see no evil. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the land far off. Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondereth the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones? The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue, in whom there is no wisdom. Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: Because only there our Lord is magnificent: it place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it, neither shall the great galley pass through it. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.”

Third Saturday of Advent

Luke 1:46-56

Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on Powers of X #4

Into the home stretch:

Good Times At Bar Sinister:

In retrospect, this may be the weakest issue of HoX/PoX and the closest that the miniseries come to a filler issue. Partly that’s to do with its role in the overall story: this is a denoument issue after the fireworks of the last two issues, and it’s also there to make sure that House of #5′s big reveal/undoing of the climax wasn’t literally the next week’s issue. On the other hand, it’s also probably the funniest issue in the miniseries, so I’d still call it a pretty good comic.

In this first segment, Magneto and Charles track down Mister Sinister on his ominous red crystal island, which continues the motif of ominous towers. When this is happening isn’t clear. We’re still in X^0, but Charles’ flying chair makes its first (only?) appearance suggests that it’s been a while. I really hope Powers of X #6 gives us a better Life 10 timeline, because some of these ordering questions are confusing.

The Guard Sinister sets the tone right off the bat - as we might expect from someone whose morality was shaped by Victorian England, Sinister is perfectly comfortable with being the “yes we have much” and telling the have nots to go away; but at the same time, being very into Aesthetics (note the first of many punctation for emphasis) and style, so that we’re not so much dealing with a guard as a club bouncer grading their outfits.

The clash with Xavier’s grey businessman’s suit and politesse and the vibe at Bar Sinister is immediately apparent, although Magneto’s similarly aggressive Aesthetic is clearly close enough to get them into the club even if Magneto wasn’t up for hurling Sinisters into rocks for being rude to his boyfriend who he kind of crippled although not in the 616 Charles.

Inside the club, the vibe is a weird blend of Edwardian-by-way-of-Lewis-Carroll and the fantasy medievalism of Melniboné. As we are introduced to Sinister the Capeless, I have to say that I find the version of Mister Sinister we get here really interesting, because what’s happening is a shift from glam to camp that’s been there from Kieron Gillen’s run and which has cropped up in Hickman’s earlier work. None of the Aesthetics have changed at all, it’s just that we’ve subtracted the self-seriousness that was sometimes there with the OG Sinister and added a sense of knowing humor to the whole affair. Doesn’t make it any less terrifying when Sinister the Capeless turns on a dime from “I. Love. That. Cape” to Red Queen murderousness - clearly we’re dealing with someone who is both highly powerful, highly intelligent, but also totally nonsensical.

Incidentally, as lines that would work great as t-shirt slogans go, “I can’t be shamed into changing who I am” has got to be up there. Also, very thematically appropriate for HoX/PoX as a whole.

At long last, Xavier and Magneto finally get to the reason why they’ve come to the Bar Sinister: they want Mister Sinister to build “a comprehensive database of mutant DNA” that is “safe. secure.redundant.” More than anything else, this feels like the (necessary?) evil of the founding of Krakoa. Other villainous mutants can be dealt with on the basis of ideology or self-interest or just dealt with, as we saw in House of X #6, but Mister Sinister is really the only one who has made himself indispensable to the broader mission.

However, this is all being done with the foreknowledge that Mister Sinister betrayed the mutant cause in Moira’s most recent life, so I don’t think this is being done out of typical Xavierian hubris.

The reaction is rather surprising: Capeless Sinister refuses out of aesthetic objections to the inclusion of “that aberrant gene” in his collection, which is not consistent with his previous characterization (although given the “they’re all crazy clones” thing, there’s an explanation right there), but is in keeping with Victorian eugenics. (I like Magneto’s very carefully worded lie about the future.)

And then finally we get the Mister Sinister we all know and love, complete with ribbon cape and everything, but him showing up blowing off another Sinister’s head with a handgun is weirdly jarring, like a sudden intrusion from some violent cartoon universe. On the other hand, “my mutant power is overthrowing tyrants and being absolutely fabulous” feels way more like the Sinister we know, and suggests that the hatchet is not buried with Apocalypse)

I like that Magneto is kind of into all of this, because for all that he can be Serious Business sometimes, he’s also someone who’s deeply into his own Aesthetic of overthrowing governments while being fashion-forward.

So here’s the thing about Xavier mind-controlling Sinister into forgetting why he’s doing all of this: I don’t think this is the whole of the plan to deal with Sinister’s sudden but inevitable betrayal. I think part of the point is to maintain quality control over the database, given the whole business with the deliberately-engineered quality control failures in LIfe 9. But I feel like Moira would insist on more redundancy than just relying on one psychic whammy sticking. 

Red Diamond Blind Items Infographic:

Speaking of comedy...this definitely is the funniest infographic we’ve gotten throughout the series. A bunch of these went way over my head, lots of them ended up as dropped plot threads which we’ll have to wait for Dawn of X to see if they get followed up on, but they were all entertaining.

Sinister Secret #1: this one is kind of vague, and I’m 99% certain it’s just a gossip columnist being catty about shoes. Incidentally, Louis XIV loved red heels so much that he decreed no one other than him could wear them.

Sinister Secret #2: in addition to being a clue about the Resurrection Machine bringing back all kinds of dead mutants, I like how this one continues one of the best elements of Grant Morrison’s run - the idea that mutants start developing a distinct culture - but now with a twist that it’s going to be happening even more that Krakoa is giving that culture a safe space to flourish.

Sinister Secret #3: Especially what with all the hints about Inferno throughout HoX/PoX, this is definitely about Madelyn Pryor. Dunno what she left behind, but it could well be some sort of resurrection failsafe. 

Sinister Secret #4: no idea what this refers to.

Revealed! Of all the X-genes out there for Sinister to use, why John Proudstar? It doesn’t fit with the powers he’s displayed in previous runs, and the only thing I could think of is that Proudstar is the first of the All-New X-Men to die (making it easier to get samples).

Sinister Secret #5: especially in the wake of House of X #6, this suggests that Scott and Jean are in a poly relationship/open marriage of some sort with Logan and/or Emma, and that the new mutant culture is developing its own values on sexuality and family structure, what with the First Law.

Sinister Secret #6: the HoXPoxToX on this issue gives the relevant citation, but I didn’t read the book so I don’t know which of the samples Ernst stole were supposedly destroyed.

Sinister Secret #7: this is a pretty clear reference to the whole messy continuity business about there being a third Summers brother, but also a nice hint that Sinister is completely full of shit and so these blind items have to be taken with a whole salt lick. (Incidentally, we’ve seen Vulkan showing up in promotional materials for Dawn of X, so that’s probably the Summers in question, which means we can finally stop talking about dumb theories about it being random male X-Men).

Sinister Secret #8: again with the pretender talk, but the real clue here is that Apocalypse’s major motivation is getting his original Horsemen back, which is significant for the next section.

Sinister Secret #9: especially with the reveal that Synch has been resurrected, this is pretty clearly referring to him and Jubilee, who are now at very different places in their lives post-resurrection. 

Revealed! As I’ve talked about before, Inferno is a running theme in HoX/PoX, and to be honest, if the new status quo of X-Men is going to involve any nostalgia riffs, it’s a good choice because it hasn’t been over-done as much as Days of Future Past, and ties in well with issues of clones, demons, and Sinister.

Sinister Secret #10: as I suggested above, the fact that Xavier saw all kinds of Sinisters running around suggests that he wasn’t relying on that tactic alone to safeguard his mutant future.

Linguistic Anthropology with Doug Ramsey:

So let’s talk about pith helmets - on the one hand, this is a callback to Cassandra Nova, but it’s an inversion: where Nova donned the helmet to show a Trask the instrument of mutant genocide, Xavier is wearing it to show a mutant a crucial part of the plan to reverse the Genoshan genocide. On the other, it’s a deliberately colonialist fashion statement: namely, that as with earlier attempts at establishing a mutant nation - San Marco, Genosha, Utopia, etc. - the mutant homeland is not unoccupied land and mutants are thus not entirely innocent of this particular sin of nation-states, whatever Magneto might say. Not the first and last time that nationalist projects have made this mistake.

Charles talks a good game about moving from adversary to ally with the land, but as we’ll see in just a bit he doesn’t understand Krakoa as much as he thinks he does, which undercuts his good intentions.

Doug introduces the techno-organic virus to Krakoa,which is significant both for the whole issue of biological vs. mechanical transhumanism and singularity, the potential threat from the Phalanx in X^3, but also is a sign that introducing new species to a habitat (something that’s happened quite often in the history of settler colonialism) is an easy overlooked problem.

I love the idea that the difference between telepathy and hyperlingualism is the difference between pidgin and anthropological thick description. Xavier might be able to hear anyone’s thoughts, but that doesn’t necessarily means that he understands said thoughts.

By contrast, Doug’s greater understanding means that he learns Krakoa’s origin myth, and is thematically appropriate for this series it’s a story of unity and division. The linkage between demonic incursions and Arakko/No-Place suggests Inferno, even as the Twilight Sword points to Surtur and Walt Simonson’s run on Thor. The key thing here, however, is that Apocalypse is portrayed as a tragic hero, sacrificing his original horsemen to seal away the demonic invasion and dividing the land - as Apocalypse wants to bring the OG Horsemen back more than anything, this would suggest that seal will be rebroken, causing a lot of chaos, but ultimately leading to the reunion of a sundered land.

As a reward for his insight, Doug is one of the few people who learn the whole plan, which places his “hopey-changey” comments from the very first issue in a different light.

Current Krakoan Systems Infographic:

I’m going to be brief here, because we already saw these systems in action last issue.

Here, the first thing I want to emphasize is how crucial Doug is to the founding of Krakoa - every single other system relies on his interface system. At the same time, we also learn that Forge is running the Krakoan skunkworks system which creates the biomachinery that all of Krakoa will run on as well. In other words, one founder creates the software and one founder creates the hardware. It’s yet another example of the Krakoan emphasis on accomplishing greater things through cooperation and creativity (and how very much this is a story about nationalism and not cults of personality).

 We Hope for Ascension:

I gotta say, I’m with a lot of other people who don’t get why this particular X^3 plot was chosen. It’s harder to grasp and the characters don’t have anywhere as near as much to connect with as X^2. That being said, I have some guesses, which will probably all be proven wrong tomorrow!

As I discussed the last time we saw the post-humans, the difference between conversion and ascension are much less clear than they first appeared...unless (unless...) we’re talking about the whole issue of the philosophy of identity. As the Elder points out, if your culture already has the idea of a self and a seer-self who’s already uploaded into a machine, are you really dying if your body dies? As I’ll get into way more in House of X #5, the argument that the post-resurrection mutants are clones and not the “real McCoys” rests on a particularly strong case of continuity of consciousness that I don’t think holds up to scrutiny.

At the same time, I do think we see here some signs of cultural weakness among the post-humans: they can’t tolerate the idea of being just short of the next step of consciousness/intelligence and are willing to do anything to achieve the goal of achieving the next schematic stage in machine consciousness development, because “isn’t that what’s next.” Except the problem is that it’s a rigged game - there’s always another level, always another Phalanx using you as a Technarch patsy, and it’s not clear from the outset whether these higher stages are all they’re cracked up to be.

Incidentally, I totally misinterpreted what happened here. Initially, I thought that the “seer-self”/recognition sequence thing suggested a way around losing “ sovereignty “ by introducing a memetic virus, given the way that the Phalanx undergo a sudden physical transformation. This doesn’t seem to be the case based on Powers of X #5.

How are the Phalanx not an empire? All they do is expand, consume resources, and either wipe out or “elevate” other cultures on the basis of their own ideas of cultural worthiness. That is the very definition of imperialism!

And here we see the bedrock incompatibility of biological and mechanical transhumanism/singularity. 

[egregious]

I decided to compile all of the Biblical references I could from the titles in RDRII and RDR1 because I think that bible references are extremely fun and also  a pretty neat americana thing to include in the games BUT mostly its bc 

Red Dead Redemption II

The Aftermath of Genesis

Blessed Are The Meek? - Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

The First Shall Be Last - So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Matthew 20:16

A Fisher of Men - And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19

Preaching Forgiveness as He Went - And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Luke 3:3

Sodom? Back to Gomorrah 

Blessed Are The Peacemakers - Blessed are the peacemakers,

   for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

Horsemen, Apocalypse

Red Dead Redemption

Exodus in America

You Shall Not Give False Testimony, Except for Profit - You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16

Let The Dead Bury Their Dead - Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Luke 9:60

Man is Born Unto Trouble - Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5:7

We Shall Be Together in Paradise - And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43

An Appointed Time - To all things there is an appointed time, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1 

Bear One Another’s Burdens - Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Great Men Are Not Always Wise - Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. Job 32:9

And You Will Know The Truth / And The Truth Will Set You Free - Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

A Continual Feast - All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15

The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed - The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26

[syphiria]

Makai Ouji Pillar 95 (final) Translation

Sorry for the wait. Here is the finale~~~~~!!

RAW via Michelle. Thank you.

Note: Mobile line breaks seem to be broken. Please switch to a browser to see proper formatting.

1 (A splendid palace once stood here) (The fact that it used to be a paradise for demons, now no one knows anymore-) ([Makai Ouji: devils and realist] at last the finale-!!)

2 (Each and every one’s path continues to tomorrow-…) (Volumes 1-14, on sale now!!) (Makai Ouji devils and realist) (Final Pillar)

3 (Finally, the emotional finale!!!!) (Utako Ukihiro) (Author: Madoka Takadono)

4 S: You are Lucifer’s child? Were you after this ring just to challenge him? What a foolish and pitiful soul This is nothing like what you want C: Are you…… going to make me a slave?

5 S: I’m just going to make you sleep Until those wounds heal Everyone is doing that Here, there is no one who will harm you (Not even Lucifer) (Power unattainable even by that Emperor) C: Even I will be able sleep here?

6 (I found relief in those pillars many times) (By his side) (That’s why I tried to create this time So that this time, I may receive him) B: O new Emperor of ours Lead this Hell

7 C: I swear to fulfil my duty

8 A: In the end, with Lord Sitri in Heaven Dantalion in Limbo The one who gained the most from this battle seems to be His Lordship Beelzebub B: Your Majesty is still young From here on, it is likely that we will be required to assist C: With the disappearance of Samael and Baalberith The West and the East are missing Kings Thus, to make sure the land of the Gauls is governed, I myself will take over the ruins B: -As you wish J: To think that even after becoming a demon, I can’t cut ties with the United Kingdom B: Though if I may, there is something that I would like to ask Your Majesty

9 Leaving the command of roles of the Four Kings at that What do you plan to do with the positions of the Four Princes? J: With a new regime do you plan to assign a ‘substitute king’ and an ‘elector’? That being said, both you and we Anyone will eventually slumber The position of the Emperor cannot be left open C: That’s true… However, let’s end the conflicts from the last generation Both illogical and unproductive I’ve painfully experienced enough with this time’s case J: …… ?

10 C: It seems like I’ve been infected by that realist J: My Imperial Majesty C: Stop with that address J: Come on now, I’ve brought some good intel Hear me out ‘til the end C: ?

11 SFX dash B: Your Majesty!? J: Would you please let him go? Because he’s lived until now for this very moment

12 M: Sorry I’ve become a demon C: It’s fine No matter what form You will always be you

13 So please don’t go anywhere else…… M: Let’s bake pizza again, the three of us and invite many guests Because I want people besides us to know too of how kind you are

14 My Imperial Majesty [-One year later] [United Kingdom King’s College of Our Lady of Stratford beside the Avon Also known as: Stradford College] (TN/ The Japanese says Stradford rather that Stratford)

15 T: Graduate representative, the dux- Mycroft Swallow! W: (nihility) T: Congratulations to our new generation of graduates!!

16 Damn it… Damn it…! SFX stomp stomp If it wasn’t for the couple’s quarrel between those annoying old men I wouldn’t have been treated as missing by the house!! (The holiday ended while he was in Hell so he was treated as a missing person) I: (That’s what William makes of arguably the greatest event in History that is Lucifer’s destruction?) W: Curse them How dare there leave a scare in my glorious future diary… I: It’s fine, isn’t it W: What!? I: You’re going for further study at Oxford, right? Yet I can’t even graduate-! [Finally Sixth Form] W: Isn’t it good that you managed to advance to the next grade?

17 (This is supposed to be a view that I’m used to, yet I wonder why I feel as if something is missing-) M: Hey, congrats W: Mathers! M: E-a-r-l!

18 From today, my teaching career ends Since I thought that I’d go travelling with them E: Congrats! B: Happy times! W: Whoa!? What’s with you M: They wanted to thank you for saving Stradford’s forests If you hadn’t bought back the land, this place would have also become a polluted town W: …It’s nothing; I just used the money he left behind appropriately [After Uncle Barton died Arthur Christian disappeared some time from the school] [According to Mathers, the role of the Four Horsemen may have ended…]

19 But the council hasn’t yet passed a law regarding smog restriction M: This you’ll have to ask the person himself I: [After the said day that the old world was destroyed ‘They’ became scarce] [I heard that Sitri became an angel (at the same level as that Metatron to boot)] [Camio ascended the throne of Hell (he’s Lucifer’s son, so to say that was expected)] [Dantalion-] [is apparently slumbering in Limbo]

20 [Injured demons sink themselves into a slumber similar to death for hundreds of years] [That’s why no longer Can he and William meet] (Ultimately, he didn’t even go to Camio’s coronation) At this rate, will he continue and become a normal human? William M: Those notes have become quite thick I: Mr Mathers I’m considering eventually compiling it into one volume as you suggested, sir

21 M: You can stop with the sir I’m no longer a teacher here The Order of the Golden Dawn remains as a secret society for now I: Are you not doing what the Freemasons did? M: Are you interested? I: Of course! I’m thinking of eventually joining the Rosicrucian Order too!! M: If that’s the case, you can use this if you like I: Really!? M: I doubt I will use the name Mathers again You can go ahead and use it as a pen name MacGregor isn’t my real name anyway

22 Isaac, you’ll be the second-generation Mathers, so to speak Alter ipse amicus. ‘A friend is another self’ I: [After that, I never met the ‘Count of Glenstrae’ again] [Perhaps, maybe once] [The one who appeared in England during that horrific world war may have been him]

23 [Regardless, I succeeded his name And went on to record all the odd events that occurred around William] (‘The Lesser Key of Solomon’) [���The truth is, saying that nothing strange happened around William after that would sort of be a lie] K: Young Master~~~!!! Thank God I made it on time- W: Kevin, you’re quite late K: I applied for leave just for today But my superior piled up work

24 [After Kevin took Dantalion to Limbo Right when he was about to fall from using up all his power] [It’s hard to believe, but apparently, he was saved by Michael] [He got his wings back and was able to return to Heaven] [Apparently, his current superior is that Sitri For better or for worse, they seem to be getting along well]

25 [The aforementioned Sitri still visits the human realm from time to time Even after becoming an angel] S: Still watching Even now…

26 Sign: Go die, Freemasons!!

27 SFX grab

28 M: I’ll find him Definitely

29

30

31 I: Graduation, huh A lot has happened but Can we no longer gather together and have tea like before~ Ah- T: By the way, I forgot to mention, William There’s actually a transfer student W: What? It’s the graduation ceremony today

32 Who on earth would transfer at a time like this- …Dan talion…? D: Congrats on graduating

33 W: …Why What happened to sleeping for a hundred years!?!? D: I’m shocked myself too To think that I’d awaken so soon W: In Limbo …… never I thought we’d never be able to meet again…… D: Because I wanted to see you

34 -plus I felt like you were calling me

35 K: SFX stab Let go of those filthy hands right now! D: What the heck Jerk who nearly died! K: And who exactly is a jerk who nearly died?! (I can chuck you back into Limbo again if you want!) W: Oi… S: I made it!!! William!! I’ve come by Pegasus Express!

36 C: Hey, William W: Camio too!?!? Is it alright for the Emperor of Hell and the Representative of Heaven to be casually hanging around… (Second-generation Gabriel) (Second-generation Lucifer) S: You’re going to be in a dorm in Oxford too anyway, right? In that case, I’ll occupy the common room again C: Maybe I’ll be a student again W: You guys…

37 There’s no more Substitute King selection Neither is there Solomon’s ring S: This has nothing to do with contracts W: Wha D: I like you so I want to be by your side That’s all W: L L Like…… What are you sayin……

38 S: Choose me any time you feel lonely, William Heaven’s quite a nice place (the annoying obsessed-psycho is no longer here) D: Shut-up angel The one whom William will choose is me! C: Don’t pay attention to those two, William I would love for you to come to my wedding ceremony with Maria (Maria’s bridal state is so beautiful you could die) W: My graduation ceremony My glorious day of departure!! D: You’re at fault W: What did you say S: That’s right We’ve known each other for so long, yet we still haven’t heard that crucial thing

39 D: William Who is it that you like? W: W who…

40 All: -Choose me, William!

41 SFX snap K: Get away from the Young Master’s side!! I: An angel, a demon, and a nephilim It really is rare for a human to be proposed to by everything in this world As expected of you, William W: Listen up I’m telling you this one important thing that you guys seem to have forgotten despite our long acquaintance… Open up your ears and listen carefully!

42 In this glorious life of mine Neither angels Nor demons Nor magic is needed -I am a realist!

43 All: I know!! (Thank you for being a reader for this long time!! Utako Yukihiro’s new series starts next issue!! Please look forward to it!!)

That’s it! As always, please point out any mistakes if you spot any. Thanks for sticking around for so long~~ And for those who still want more, don’t worry, I am still working on the translation for Isaac’s Fortune-Telling Diary; I will probably translate that extra booklet regarding Heaven too.

[cosmicgrapevine]

I’m going to try and use this blog henceforth as less a display of finished work and more for musing/brainstorming out loud, as that seems to help when I’ve got the document open in another window.

Anyway, chapter 2. The Kitzes, Tabby, and Lynd have all fled to a hotel to take stock of their situation, but Tabby’s Uncle Randall, possessed by a demon, gets tipped off to Lynd’s location and attacks the hotel at night. On a non-plot level, it’s the first chapter from Tabby’s perspective, and establishes her need for rebellion and independence and establishes her partnership with Lynd, which turns romantic over time for both of them. Excerpts of this arc from the first draft can be found here: 1, 2, 3, 4

I’ve been trying for a while to rewrite the first few chapters: as it stands, they’re far too dependent on dumb luck and characters behaving stupidly, which are two of the Horsemen of the Bad Plot Apocalypse. But given that I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks and nothing’s quite fit, I might as well put my cards on the table and ask if anyone has any ideas. Some comparisons between my existing draft and my planned changes, maybe I’m missing some combination between the two that will make it all click.

THE SAFEHOUSE

Originally the Kitzes drove three hours to reach Indianapolis. This was my convoluted attempt to have them reach southern Georgia (the next scene) in just a day, but in retrospect it’s dumb to have their safehouse three hours away instead of ten minutes. Now, it’s a hotel in the Chicago suburbs. I’m just more familiar with the area, and why introduce a new setting for no good reason. (Also Indy is America’s most boring big city, sorry guys.)

Originally the hotel was kind of a deliberately-bland Holiday Inn type place; it’s been upgraded to something bigger and fancier to give it more personality.

Originally Fred added his demon repellent Wards that night, when they arrived at the hotel, now he did it well in advance, when the building was being finished, and both he and Janet knew for years that it would be their safehouse if their real house was attacked. Again, just makes more sense for a safehouse. 

TABBY, HER DAD, AND HER UNCLE

Tabby’s parents being divorced (and her mom having custody) is new, as is Randall being her mom’s brother instead of her dad’s. This is mostly relevant later on but just to clarify.

Originally, Steve comes to get Tabby, who’s late coming home, and sees the dead demon in the garage and freaks out. Now he’s unaware anything is going on until Tabby calls him from the hotel.

Randall originally came to the house at Steve’s request, to help figure out what was happening, which is where he was possessed. Now--and this is the biggest change--he’s already possessed been working for the bad guys for a few years at least.

Randall originally worked on Steve’s conspiracy-curious politics to convince him that the dead demon was some NWO/UN/Men in black genetic engineering project and they’re going to do the same thing to his daughter (or something), with the implication that Randall is using dark magic to play on his paranoia.

Now I’m thinking Randall just convinces Steve that Fred is fucking his ex wife at the hotel and that’s what gets him mad enough to show up with a gun. (Steve still likes/trusts Randall at the start, otherwise none of this would work) A bit cruder and less flattering for Steve, but also more realistic I think.

The biggest plot-related sticking point at the moment is that, given the hotel is demon-proofed, Randall has to come up with some convincing reason to 1) follow Steve to the hotel, and 2) not being able to physically enter without Steve doing something inside.

There’s a bit more bit this covers the big stuff and I gotta run. As usual, feedback is welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

[loveofyhwh]

October 9: Isaiah 34–36; James 1:1–18; Psalm 92; Proverbs 25:15

New Post has been published on https://loveofyhwh.com/october-9-isaiah-34-36-james-11-18-psalm-92-proverbs-2515/

October 9: Isaiah 34–36; James 1:1–18; Psalm 92; Proverbs 25:15

Old Testament:

Isaiah 34–36

Isaiah 34–36 (Listen)

Judgment on the Nations

34   Draw near, O nations, to hear,     and give attention, O peoples!   Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;     the world, and all that comes from it. 2   For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,     and furious against all their host;     he has devoted them to destruction,That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5‘>1 has given them over for slaughter. 3   Their slain shall be cast out,     and the stench of their corpses shall rise;     the mountains shall flow with their blood. 4   All the host of heaven shall rot away,     and the skies roll up like a scroll.   All their host shall fall,     as leaves fall from the vine,     like leaves falling from the fig tree. 5   For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;     behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,     upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6   The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;     it is gorged with fat,     with the blood of lambs and goats,     with the fat of the kidneys of rams.   For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,     a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7   Wild oxen shall fall with them,     and young steers with the mighty bulls.   Their land shall drink its fill of blood,     and their soil shall be gorged with fat. 8   For the LORD has a day of vengeance,     a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9   And the streams of EdomHebrew her streams‘>2 shall be turned into pitch,     and her soil into sulfur;     her land shall become burning pitch. 10   Night and day it shall not be quenched;     its smoke shall go up forever.   From generation to generation it shall lie waste;     none shall pass through it forever and ever. 11   But the hawk and the porcupineThe identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain‘>3 shall possess it,     the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.   He shall stretch the line of confusionHebrew formlessness‘>4 over it,     and the plumb line of emptiness. 12   Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,     and all its princes shall be nothing. 13   Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,     nettles and thistles in its fortresses.   It shall be the haunt of jackals,     an abode for ostriches.Or owls‘>5 14   And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;     the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;   indeed, there the night birdIdentity uncertain‘>6 settles     and finds for herself a resting place. 15   There the owl nests and lays     and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;   indeed, there the hawks are gathered,     each one with her mate. 16   Seek and read from the book of the LORD:     Not one of these shall be missing;     none shall be without her mate.   For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,     and his Spirit has gathered them. 17   He has cast the lot for them;     his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;   they shall possess it forever;     from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

The Ransomed Shall Return

35   The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;     the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2   it shall blossom abundantly     and rejoice with joy and singing.   The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,     the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.   They shall see the glory of the LORD,     the majesty of our God. 3   Strengthen the weak hands,     and make firm the feeble knees. 4   Say to those who have an anxious heart,     “Be strong; fear not!   Behold, your God     will come with vengeance,   with the recompense of God.     He will come and save you.” 5   Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,     and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6   then shall the lame man leap like a deer,     and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.   For waters break forth in the wilderness,     and streams in the desert; 7   the burning sand shall become a pool,     and the thirsty ground springs of water;   in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,     the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8   And a highway shall be there,     and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;   the unclean shall not pass over it.     It shall belong to those who walk on the way;     even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it‘>7 9   No lion shall be there,     nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;   they shall not be found there,     but the redeemed shall walk there. 10   And the ransomed of the LORD shall return     and come to Zion with singing;   everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;     they shall obtain gladness and joy,     and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the RabshakehRabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer‘>8 from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with meHebrew Make a blessing with me‘>9 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Footnotes

[1] 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5 [2] 34:9 Hebrew her streams [3] 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain [4] 34:11 Hebrew formlessness [5] 34:13 Or owls [6] 34:14 Identity uncertain [7] 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it [8] 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer [9] 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me

(ESV)

New Testament:

James 1:1–18

James 1:1–18 (Listen)

Greeting

1 James, a servantFor the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface‘>1 of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

2 Count it all joy, my brothers,Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 16, 19‘>2 when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grassOr a wild flower‘>3 he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.Some manuscripts variation due to a shadow of turning‘>4 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Footnotes

[1] 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface [2] 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 16, 19 [3] 1:10 Or a wild flower [4] 1:17 Some manuscripts variation due to a shadow of turning

(ESV)

Psalm:

Psalm 92

Psalm 92 (Listen)

How Great Are Your Works

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.

92   It is good to give thanks to the LORD,     to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2   to declare your steadfast love in the morning,     and your faithfulness by night, 3   to the music of the lute and the harp,     to the melody of the lyre. 4   For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;     at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 5   How great are your works, O LORD!     Your thoughts are very deep! 6   The stupid man cannot know;     the fool cannot understand this: 7   that though the wicked sprout like grass     and all evildoers flourish,   they are doomed to destruction forever; 8     but you, O LORD, are on high forever. 9   For behold, your enemies, O LORD,     for behold, your enemies shall perish;     all evildoers shall be scattered. 10   But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;     you have poured over meCompare Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain‘>1 fresh oil. 11   My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;     my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. 12   The righteous flourish like the palm tree     and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13   They are planted in the house of the LORD;     they flourish in the courts of our God. 14   They still bear fruit in old age;     they are ever full of sap and green, 15   to declare that the LORD is upright;     he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Footnotes

[1] 92:10 Compare Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

(ESV)

Proverb:

Proverbs 25:15

Proverbs 25:15 (Listen)

15   With patience a ruler may be persuaded,     and a soft tongue will break a bone.

(ESV)

[samueldays]

This is partly because Roman taxation 2000 years ago was a very special dumpster fire that combined bits of government regulation, free market, slavery, and mafia.

Simplifying a bit, the central government in Rome would privatize the collection of taxes by putting up provincial taxation powers for sale to the highest bidder. "I can tax Judea for 12 million sesterces!" "I can tax Judea for 14 million sesterces!" "I can tax Judea for 15 million sesterces!" "Any higher? Going once... going twice... Judean Tax Ministry is SOLD to the man in the blue toga for 15 million sesterces!"

The man in the blue toga was then obliged to pay Rome 15 million sesterces, which would often involve some loans. What he received in return wasn't an established ministry with bureaucrats that just swapped the guy in charge, instead he got the government-backed authority to assemble his own ministry and tax the Judean people for 15 million sesterces plus collection expenses (amount varies depending on whether he's bidding for a single year or 4-year term of tax collection).

So he might spend another million sesterces calling up friends and hiring goons to extract money from people in a way that we call "taxes" because it's a government official doing it, but looks a lot like "protection money" in a freelance shakedown by mafia goons threatening to beat you if you don't pay. These goons would frequently extract more than they should, because they were allowed to pocket the difference and call it "collection expenses". Rome was satisfied if it got 15 million as promised, so if Blue Toga and his fellow bosses extorted 20 million sesterces of tax, they were 5 million richer. (Maybe 4 million after paying their minions.) But also, Rome would raise the starting bid the next term as a result.

Limited liability corporations hadn't yet been invented in the form we know them. The head of a provincial Tax Ministry could be enslaved to cover his debts if he failed to deliver what he owed. Blue Toga and his friends actually running the scheme would circumvent this by jointly buying a slave whom they then listed as the nominal person in charge of the Tax Ministry, no big loss to them if the slave gets enslaved and confiscated by the government repo man.

The Roman Emperors gradually reformed this dumpster fire of a tax system over time.

---

But also, "taxes suck lol" is Biblical canon going even as far back as 3000 years.

The Israelites are living in a mostly decentralized system of priest-judges and local authority at the time, some of the judges are corrupt, and a bunch of people start thinking maybe it would be better if we had a powerful central government like the other nations do. They go to the prophet Samuel and say "will you anoint a king for us?" and Samuel is all "that'll make things worse". Warning text from 1 Samuel 8, ESV:

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men[*] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

taxes suck lol

the military-industrial complex sucks too, Samuel knew what was up

[*] Septuagint "cattle"

What always wigged me out at school was learning that not only did tax collectors exist 2000 years ago, but they were considered a lowly class of people like prostitutes or beggars. I didn't understand the concept of a state but I understood that "taxes suck lol" was biblical canon