#i would be eaten so fast in the wilderness

[ggardengirl]

coach ben i fear you are not long for this world

[second-wife-playbook]

@helluvaoutlaw

Coronis had always wanted to come to Wrath. To visit. Wrath was a wilderness with a capital W. The desert that stretched off into the horizon, it's many suns and volcanoes, and it's people...wily, strong, and with quickfire tempers. She had seen it replicated on TV, with adventures in the lawless lands, cowboys and the like.

Well this was an example of; be careful what you wish for.

The transport going through the desert likely boasted some stunning views, but Coronis wasn't seeing any of them. She felt out of place, paralyzed with terror. Her high-society gown was completely unsuitable to the rough terrain, and every time the vehicle jostled over the rough robe, she felt her breathe catch and her pulse quicken.

Andrealphus looked unconcerned. Why should he? He wasn't the one about to become a meal.

"You're so overdramatic. It could always be worse." That was what he said. That was the fucking audacity the Marquis had when Coronis was strong-armed to the ground, hands and feet tied and the horrors explained. "You will be remembered as an exalted martyr, and spare the family a terrible fate. What more could a noble want, really?"

To live, goddammit! To actually live, and not get eaten by a fucking snake-god!!!

Cori had tried to protest. But apparently such attempts at mercy were unpalatable to the ears of her brother and her fated executioner. A simple gesture was all that was needed to tape her beak shut, unable to make a peep aside from muffled whimpers and cries. She wasn't even given the courtesy of knowing what she was being sacrificed for.

The convoy stopped outside of a volcano. A lone cave awaited, with a rough looking imp in a robe bearing a serpent with terrifying eyes. He looked displeased to see the Marquis and Coronis, but nonetheless gestured to a lone minecart. "This will take her right down." He explained gruffly. "Beware Goetia. The Great Destroyer does not take pleasure in meager offerings."

"Rest assured, my heart breaks to see her go-" Andrealphus had said with a long-suffering moan, wrapping an arm around Cori's shoulders, even as she wriggled to break free. "-and I will mourn her passing every day for as long as I live."

A very scripted, very insincere answer. The imp must have sensed it...but didn't question it. "Right. Down she goes."

Andrealphus had brought two large hellhounds for security...and a sack. Coronis fought to break free as hard as she could, but she was being wrangled in with the ease of manhandling a baby chick. The Marquis gave her a last long look.

"I will miss you, you know." He said. Trying for once, to actually sound as if he meant it. "There will never be a soul as easy and soft as you."

Don't! Don't! Coronis begged with all her might, trying to plead with her eyes. Please, please, I don't want to die!!

But as she was dropped into the minecart, everything went very dark. There was a moment's stillness, and then a jolt as the cart went sailing, the sound of the wind whipping past and a heavy dip-

And Coronis entered Wrath's underworld.

______

C'mon, c'mon! Get these stupid things offa me!

The cart whistled down the track at speeds Coronis could only imagine. But within the sack she was trapped it, she pushed her arms around her back legs as far as they would reach until they were capable of being severed by her talons...as fast as she could anyway. It was slow work, and each second felt like it was passing at breakneck speeds.

I-I have to get out! I'll be killed if I don't get out! What would happen should she escape the sack, much less the cart, she had no idea. Run away and join a rodeo? Become an itinerant wanderer in the desert? Turn into a cave dweller?! That could all wait until the ropes-

Snap.

To her great relief, her hands were freed. She tugged and tore at the ropes binding her feet, then clawed at the tape that kept her beak shut, shredding it off. "I gotta get outta here!"

CLANG!

The cart stopped so short that the sack...and all it's contents, rolled out. Coronis yelped in surprise and pain, bruised by the rough landing. She frantically felt for the opening, pulling it open as fast as she could-

Only to wish she had stayed in the sack.

[weirdlookingsnakewithlegs]

its Me im Back. The one that asked abt sun making seekers sleepy. Can i coin myself as ☀️ anon i Will be here alot I Think.

Anyway i also remember seeing where you had this thing abt knockout being a past seeker before reprogramming....do not know if we are thinking of the same knockout (tfp etc) but May we get some Backstory Lore. Pretty Please.

If we are infact thinking of the same knockout i like to think in my head he goes street racing not only for funsies but because it fulfills something in him yet he doesnt know what (seeker go fly fast). and also his wheels being where his wings used to be perhaps...... - ☀️

You’re always welcome back!

And I like to think of TFP Knockout(he’s dreamy) when it comes to things <3

Now when it comes to lore, that’s a story! It starts a few vorns before the war, a training practice for the course of field medics due to the upcoming war. Knockout was with his trine, Redwing and Wheezingarrow, along with a few other medics from the Iacon and Praxis academies.

As field medics their practice extended to well, the field, and it was similar in how people would practice in the field as well. Their outpost was set out in the Cybertronian wilderness, a few ‘stragglers’ in caves, trenches, and some in open fields of ‘live fire’. Ultimately it was Knockout who encouraged the idea, he expressed that should the war happen seekers would only have two medics and he wanted to help in any way he possibly could.

Ultimately Cybertronian ground isn’t as stable as one would think and the active movement and unease from equipment caused a cliffface to collapse and in turn a landslide.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Why didn’t KO fly away? Surely Redwing and Wheezingarrow are fine.” All three of them were reasonably wounded, too focused on trying to help a mech who was quite stuck in one of the trenches. You can take a guess as to who that mech was.

Redwing’s left wing and leg were mangled but not entirely irreparable. Wheezingarrow’s back strut was bent out of place and he suffered minor wing damage, after the accident he needed an equivalent to physical therapy to get his wings back in working order. Knockout had taken the full brunt however, frame mostly mangled beyond repair and unlike Wheezingarrow and Redwing, missing a wing that could not be found in the wreckage. Our mystery mech survived with a few bad dents and a busted servo.

With how badly his frame was damaged they had no choice but give him a different frame. Natural seeker frames themselves are too fragile to cold forge and if you want a transplant you need one from a dead mech. Unfortunately most seekers that die are either eaten by predators or two rusted to be useable, they could also just not fit at all, so Knockout was unfortunately shit out of luck. He would end up being in the medbay for nearly half a vorn but our little mystery mech would visit him a lot, along with Redwing and Wheezingarrow of course.

Redwing is the reason Knockout got reprogrammed, while he didn’t do it himself, he and Wheezingarrow stood watch like gargoyles and despite the fact they lost Knockout as a trinemate the day he was reprogrammed they still loved him as one.

Now sky thirst definitely began settling in during this, it’s why Redwing was so insistent they reprogram him ASAP because at least with one he had a small chance of surviving. It caused some of the behaviors he’s now faced with, slight mania and the extreme worry over his frame/paintjob. He lost something but his processor refuses to tell him what so he’s constantly fussing over himself. He can’t remember the weight of his wings but he knows the wheels don’t feel entirely right. And yes he loves racing, something about the speed, something around the turns, something about it makes him feel like he owns the world. Like he was meant to own it.

[lacyscabinet]

hi there, 1st of all, really like all your fics, they are really enjoyable!

2nd of all, i hope you still are taking requests (feel free to ignore this if not!),

may I request a good old angsty filled rollercoaster ride where it's the reader that picks out the queen card instead of Nat?

obvs reader and Nat have some kind of relationship, will leave that up to you how serious it would be!

And all giving you free reign whether the reader survives, or javi still dies for the reader (could be pretty fun if the mistyxnat situation would happen, but it would be Nat dragging reader away from saving Javi), or reader dies and gets eaten, whatever you'll feel like writing when the idea sparks♡

thank you so much in advance and have a lovely rest of the week

A/N: OMG!? thank you sm for taking the time to write such a polite and detailed request!! I love this idea and I hope you'll enjoy the one-shot I wrote!!

MASTERLIST

Warnings: literally the hunt scene from yellowjackets, basic yellowjackets warnings

Hunters and queens

It all happened so fast.

After the "accident" with Lottie and Shauna the whole cabin was concerned, Lottie was in terrible conditions and, just like everybody else, extremely undernourished.

Nat and Travis couldn't find any game even after searching and searching for miles on their long hunts.

Something had to be done.

And just like that, you all stood in a big circle inside the dimly lit living room, Van was mixing the cards, holding up the queen card and showing it to the others.

Natalie's hand tightly clasped in yours, her eyes lingering on you, while you looked back at her. Scared.

And then it all started.

Everyone took a card out of the deck, when it was Javi's turn he was trembling, picking a card, and once realized he was safe, running into his brother's arms. That made you faintly smile, happy that the poor boy was saved.

But the little glimpse of relief didn't last long, because soon, it was Natalie's turn, her hand cautiously picking up the card, you heard her take a deep breath and then, she showed it to the group, seven of diamonds.

She was safe, she was okay.

But now, it was your turn.

Like everyone else did, you took a card and the moment you turned it around to reveal your fate, an horrified expression formed on your face, silently, a tear slipped out from your eye, and even before you showed the card, Natalie knew what was coming.

The Queen of hearts.

Everyone looked at you, not sure how to proceed, that's when Shauna stepped up "Come here" she said

Before you could do anything you felt a hand on your shoulder "That's insane, you aren't going to kill her, you can't kill her" it was Natalie, her voice firm, terrified, but firm.

"Back off Nat" Shauna spat at her, Natalie simply stepped forward, keeping you behind her.

Your mind wasn't there at that moment, you were frozen on your spot, shaking. The moment Natalie was torn away from you by Van was the moment you realized that it was really the end for you

"Turn around" was the last thing you heard, paired with the feeling of a cold blade placed at your neck. The last thing you heard before a loud thud on the ground followed by yelling and shouting "Run y/n, go! It'll be alright, just run!" , Natalie.

You did as she said, slamming the door open and diving into the snow, deep into the wilderness, you could hear howling and grunting, another day your mind could've thought those were wolves, but today, that didn't even cross your mind, those were your friends, and you, were their pray.

Suddenly, while you were running, someone grabbed your forearms and steadied you, instantly, you screamed

"No no no shhhhh" Natalie shushed you, it was just her, trying to protect you like she always did "Nat..." you whispered with tears streaming down your face, she was crying too but she was also trying her best to be strong for you "I know" she tried to reassure you "Javi...he told me about this place, it's like a cave, I'm gonna bring you there" in that moment you realized that Javi was there too, looking as scared as the both of you.

Then you three ran, faster than ever, until you reached a land with no trees "We are near" Javi announced and walked in front of you and Natalie, while running her hand tightly held yours, afraid that someone could separate the two of you again.

Crack. You furrowed your brows, and one second later, just feet away from you, the surface under Javi's feet broke.

It wasn't a land, it was the lake.

"JAVI!" You screamed at the top of your lungs, yanking you hand away from Nat's and running to him.

"Hold my hand!" You yelled while offering your freezing limb to him "y/n!" He begged "Help!", your two hands clasped and in a moment of weakness, you slipped, ending up in the cold icy water.

And just like him, you were gasping for air and slowly freezing to death for what felt like forever. Then, when you were barely conscious, you were pulled away from the water and back up to the surface.

You instantly felt a pair of arms wrapping around your shaking frame and brushing your wet hair away from your face

"Javi!" You cried out, sobbing, "it's okay, shhhh, you're safe... you're safe baby" Natalie mumbled pulling you to her chest.

You looked around, the other girls were there too, but they weren't even looking at you, they took Javi out of the lake, "thank God" you thought, but then you noticed his blue skin and his wide open eyes, he was gone.

It should've been you.

You were so tired, and soon even the strength to cry left your body, so you just relaxed in your girlfriend's arms, knowing that whatever happened to Javi was your fault and your fault only.

That night everyone ate, but you didn't, you stayed in a corner by the fire, still feeling shivers all over your body and deep inside your bones, and only half of them were from the cold.

[hiswordsarekisses]

I thought I’d reshare this today since many of us read Luke chapter 4 today. I just love this:

“Why Does the Devil Demand Bread?”

By D. Nicholas

When Jesus fasts in the wilderness, the first thing Satan does is tempt Him to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:3; Luke 4:3).

But this isn’t the only time Satan demands bread.

We see a few other instances in ancient Jewish literature. So, what’s with Satan and bread? 🍞

Prior to the Gospels depiction of the devil asking Jesus for “bread” (ἄρτος, ārtos), the ancient Jewish text called "Testament of Job" records a story of Satan telling Job’s female servant, “Say to Job, ‘Give me bread (ἄρτος, ārtos) from your hands, so I may eat’” (T. Job 7:2). After a discussion between the devil and the doormaid, she gives him a burnt loaf of bread along with words from Job himself:

“Thus says my lord [Job], ‘You shall no longer eat from my loaves at all, for I have been estranged from you. Yet I have given you this [burnt] bread in order that I may not be accused of providing nothing to a begging enemy’” (T. Job 10-11).

Just as the servant refuses to give the devil any edible bread by citing the words of Job, Jesus rejects Satan’s demand for bread by citing the words of Moses: “‘One does not live by bread (ἄρτος, ārtos) alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt 4:4; cf. Deuteronomy 8:3). But why does Satan ask for bread?

Job’s Bread Symbolism

The tale in the Testament of Job may have its roots in the biblical book of Job. Speaking of the difference between the righteous and wicked, Eliphaz tells Job, “All the days of the wicked one (רָשָׁע; rasha) he suffers pain…. He wanders around for bread (לַלּ��חֶם; la’lehem), asking, ‘Where is it?’” (Job 15:20, 23). The author(s) of the Testament of Job may have flagged this reference to an evil one requesting bread and used it a precedent for the devil trying to find the same food.

The Divine Presence

Similarly, the Gospels’ association between Satan and bread seems to have its origin in Deuteronomy—the text that Jesus cites three times in response to the devil. In the final book of the Torah, the withholding of bread is connected to the presence of God.

When Moses receives the “covenant of the Lord” on Sinai, he says that he “remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread (לֶחֶם; lehem) nor drank water” (Deut 9:9; cf. 9:18). Later in the book, Moses speaks for God to Israel, saying, “You have not eaten bread (לֶחֶם), and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God” (Deut 29:6). Since the devil also demands that Jesus worship him rather than God (cf. Matt 4:9; Lk 4:7), the initial request for bread can be seen as Satan’s subtle attempt to drive a wedge between Yeshua and his Father; since the absence of bread alludes to the presence of God in Deuteronomy, it follows that a supply of bread would undercut the Deuteronomistic precedent of Israel’s fellowship with the Lord. In refusing the devil’s demand for bread, Jesus promotes the presence of God

[justagalwhowrites]

I also have a pretty weird question? I thought about it occasionally for some reason and I'm just curious. (It also hurts my heart sometimes but that just might be when I'm on my period lmao).

Do you have any thoughts on Bambi's family from before the outbreak? Like if any of her brothers made it or are alive behind the scenes? I'm also curious how it would be if (even in an alternate universe or something) she gets to see them again. I feel like they would be so proud of her finding herself her own family. I'm so sorry if this was a weird ask 😭.

-🍑

Hi again, peachy keen bestie!

Not a weird question AT ALL.

I actually waffled quite a bit on whether or not I wanted to have a definitive answer to whether or not her family survived the outbreak. I considered having Richie show up in Jackson but that seemed a bit outlandish all things considered?

Bambi's parents I think definitely died pretty quick. Her dad would have thrown himself into the fray with the ranch hands not realizing what was happening, just trying to calm people down and get shit under control, and he'd have either been bitten or torn apart really fast. Her mom just did not have it in her to hack it on her own in that environment so I think she would have gone quick, too.

Mostly based on logistics, I think people working on large scale ranches like Bambi's father's ranch (where Richie was also working so I don't think things went great for him but he was very capable and a bit of a lothario, he may have been out with a woman and been fine) would have been pretty fucked. Food would get eaten through quickly so they probably got tainted flour, everyone eats at about the same time from the same contaminated stock, everyone turns all at once - similar to Bambi's experience. Bambi just got very, very lucky.

Of all her family, Brendan I think had the best shot at making it. He'd moved in with his fiancee at that point - so not in close quarters with a bunch of people turning all at once - and they were both very capable. It's possible they did something similar to Bambi, setting up in the wilderness and making a go of it on their own. I could definitely see Brendan naming his first daughter after his baby sister if that's what they did.

Buttttt I do love the idea of them seeing her again and getting a chance to see her be happy with her family in Jackson so... see a little Drabble below :)

The girl is what gave Joel pause.

She would have, anyway, as young as she was out in the wilds of Wyoming when he ran into her while out with Ellie on patrol but when she turned toward him, something in her face struck him.

She looked like you.

She gasped when she saw him, her hands going up and her eyes going wide.

"S'OK," Joel said, his hands up, too. "Not gonna hurt you. Just you out here?"

"Dad!" she shrieked, high pitched and panicked and Joel flinched. "Dad, help!"

Joel turned to Ellie, on her own horse beside him and gave her a look. She rolled her eyes but put her hands up, too, as the two of them waited for whoever was about to come out from the brush near the girl to appear.

He didn't need to wait long to see who it was, a man who looked a bit older than you - and also a LOT like you - all but bursting through the trees, rifle raised. He threw the girl behind him and leveled the gun at Joel who just kept his hands up.

"Joel!" Ellie hissed, her hands still up too.

"Sit tight, baby girl," Joel said, watching the man closely. He had your eyes, your nose, the same determined set to his jaw. "It's OK."

"Not lookin' for trouble," the man called out. "Just passin' through."

"Don't mean you any harm," Joel called back, the girl - 13, 14 years old, he thought - peering out from behind her father. "Just from a settlement, not far from here..."

"Good for you," the man snapped.

"We've got a good set up there," Joel continued, ignoring him. "Safe with women and children, too."

"Not interested," he said. "We'll be out of your territory soon."

Joel looked at him, at those eyes that were so fucking familiar, and decided to try.

"Your name Richie, by chance?" he asked. "Or Brendan?"

The man blinked in shock before slowly, carefully, lowering his gun.

"What'd you just say?"

"Is your name Richie or Brendan?" Joel asked again.

"Dad?" The girl asked, stepping around and looking up at him.

"Richie," he said. "How... how the hell'd you know that?"

Joel smiled a little, feeling choked up.

"You and your girl there just happen to look a hell of a lot like my wife," he said. "She was working up this way when everything went to shit, she had brothers before, brothers named Richie and Brendan. She's told me a lot about..."

"What's your wife's name?" He asked, and Joel answered, first middle and last.

"That was her name, anyway," Joel said. "Last name is Miller, now. And everyone where we are calls her Bambi."

Richie laughed his voice a little wet.

"Bambi?" He said. "Shit, hard time seein' that."

"It's his fault," Ellie said, nodding to Joel. "He found her hurt in the woods and she wouldn't tell him her name..."

"She had these big eyes," Joel said. "Looked like a deer. If you and your girl want to come back with us, you can see her. I know... I know she'd really love that."

He paused, something in him apparently still skeptical, but Ellie started talking before Joel had a chance to try to convince him again.

"She trained these horses," she said. "She told me she started breaking horses when she was like 13 or something, and that she used to ride in rodeos and that your mom made her do cotillion which she fuck... sorry... freaking hated."

Richie laughed, a tear glistening on his cheek.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, she really did."

Ellie joined Joel on his horse and they put Richie and his daughter - who he named after you - on the back of hers. Richie told him what had happened over the last 25 years, that he'd been on his own for a while, roaming much of the southwest dodging raiders and infected alike. He'd eventually settled down with a woman and they'd had a life together for a while but she got bitten a few years back, leaving just him and his daughter. They were making their way toward Seattle, their paths crossing with Joel and Ellie's patrol totally by chance.

He'd assumed that you hadn't made it, that there wasn't a chance in hell of ever seeing you again. Much like you'd assumed with him.

Joel felt an odd sense of pride, bringing your brother and niece into town. You were on the council now and your work with the horses in town had contributed more than your fair share to the community. Much of how Jackson had come to thrive in recent years was because of you and he liked showing those things off as the four of them made their way to the stables.

Joel heard you before he saw you, calling out instructions to what sounded like a beginner rider. He led the horses to the gate to the paddock and watched as you worked with one of the kid in town who was getting big enough to start learning.

"There you go," you said, beaming at him. "Good job, see? You got it. Don't let your legs fall open, gotta keep 'em on her sides there..."

Olivia nodded to the gate and you noticed Joel first, giving him a smile that damn near made his heart crack open with love for you. But then you noticed Richie, your face falling, mouth hanging open in shock as you all but jumped off your horse before racing across the paddock, Richie doing the same.

The two of you met in the middle, more colliding than actually hugging, your arms around his neck and his around your waist, the two of you clinging to each other. Joel dismounted, too, helping your niece down from her horse and bringing her over to meet you.

"You're alive?" You asked, separated from your brother now but your hands still on his shoulders, your eyes looking over and over him. "All this time, you've been alive?"

"Yeah," he sniffed, smiling and crying all the same. "So have you."

The two of them got set up to stay with you and Joel for the night, introducing them to Savvy and telling him about your life here. You glossed over so much of what happened with Mitchum but Joel didn't press it.

"I can't believe it," Richie said quietly, eventually. "That you're here, that you're OK... hell, you're more than OK, you've got a whole family and people and..."

"Yeah," you laughed, sounding a little choked up. "I know, I can't believe it, either. And now you're here, too."

"Leave it to you to survive the apocalypse and somehow still find a way to get thrown off horses," he said and you laughed. "But you did more than that, too. You built a whole family."

"Yeah," you smiled, reaching for Joel. He took your hand in his, kissing your fingers. "I guess I did."

[whumpshaped]

that devil hot crossover fic is coming i promise but i just have these little ideas that are easier to write out when im half asleep bc they dont need to be coherent

prev masterlist

tw angel/demon stuff, multiple whumpees, vivisection, gore, cannibalism, starvation mention, power dynamics

There were certain things that lesser demons learned very quickly upon coming into existence.

Like newborn fawns, the first lesson was always that either they figured out how to run fast, or they were going to be devoured by something stronger and more vicious than themselves.

The second was the pecking order and their place in it. Hunting got very difficult when their prey could be taken away at any moment; often, if they proved to be any good at it, the thief would even force them to hunt specifically for them without giving them a single bite in exchange.

And the third was that a pack of low-ranking demons stood no chance against anyone they might've wanted to. Enough ants might take down a spider in the wilderness on the surface, but in Hell, the power imbalance between the ranks seemed to be too great for the numbers to have a serious effect.

Therefore the only way to reliably survive was to either move to almost desolate areas where starving was guaranteed and contact with others was scarce, or... to "befriend" a higher-ranking demon for protection. Of course, even if that meant not being eaten, it did not mean not being harmed. Overworked. Taken advantage of.

Shax was well-aware of the nature of his relationship with his closest (only) friend. He did whatever he was told, and in exchange, Astaroth made sure that he stayed alive and well enough to keep performing his duties. He never stopped fearing zyr, not for a single moment. He knew if he did, that'd be his last mistake.

"Don't you want to feel it?" Astaroth asked with a grin, hand buried wrist-deep in zyr angel's chest cavity. The thing was whining endlessly, a sound that made Shax want to pounce and sink his teeth into their throat. Alas, the angel wasn't his, so he stayed put until Astaroth gave him permission.

"May I?" he asked timidly, and ze rolled zyr eyes.

"Would I ask you otherwise?"

Yes. Shax didn't bring up any of the thousands of occasions when Astaroth commanded him to do something, only to later punish him for it. "Right. Sorry."

He walked over and knelt down by the twitchy body of the half-dead creature, wishing he could've had an opportunity to catch one too. Bind one to himself. It was a dream so far removed from reality that he felt silly even thinking about it. Lowly trash like him wouldn't even have the required level of magic in their blood.

He dipped a hand under the angel's ribcage, so fixated on the gore he was allowed to witness that he didn't notice the hungry look on Astaroth's face. He dug around in there, touching their lungs, their heart... It was beating so fast, almost desperately, trying to pump blood into arteries that had been ripped apart.

When Astaroth grabbed him by the neck and pulled him in for a kiss over the Fallen's ruined body, he didn't protest. He never did. He was as good as a bonded angel, forever obedient and compliant, letting zyr do whatever ze wanted to him.

"Would you like a bite?" ze murmured, and Shax could barely believe it. He had no idea why ze was so excited by the prospect of sharing the angel, but he wasn't going to complain.

"Please," he almost whimpered, and Astaroth's grin widened.

"How much?"

Shax's hold tightened around the angel's heart, mouth watering at the thought of getting to taste it. "I'll do anything," he said eagerly, but it was hardly a new offer. "Whatever you want. Please. Just one bite."

"You get so pathetic when you want something," ze cooed, pulling him even closer. "One bite, then."

Shax let out a shrill scream when ze bit into the tender flesh between his neck and shoulder, cursing himself for being so gullible and not paying attention to the wording. He teared up from the pain, then started actually sobbing when Astaroth ripped the chunk out of his body with a satisfied groan.

"Fuck, you taste so good too."

Zyr eyes fluttered closed for a moment in pure pleasure, and he tried to keep his whimpers to a minimum so as not to annoy zyr. It fucking hurt. He wouldn't be able to use that arm for a day at least.

His efforts seemed to be in vain, because when Astaroth looked at him again, all that playfulness seemed to be gone from zyr face, replaced by cold indifference that made his blood run cold. "Now scram."

He scrambled to crawl back to his corner, pressing himself against the walls in an attempt to become invisible. No matter how much the scent enticed him, he pointedly avoided even looking in the direction of his blood-soaked hand. Unless Astaroth said so, he wouldn't dare lick it off.

next

~

taglist: @the-scrapegoat @heavenly-whumper @whumpsday @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night

[blepsart]

Guillotine Teeth (2023)

Story about a messed up fairy tale world.

Includes blood, gore and cannibalism.

Mohn followed the noise of wet tearing and snapping of things that weren’t twigs or branches. The forest floor was spongy with moss, but Mohn had to be careful not to step onto a dry leaf or dead tree limbs hidden under it.

It had been months since she had last seen a human. Since she had fled from the citadel. Her dress was still a pristine white, even after living in the wilderness for so long. Her jeweled crown still as polished as the day she had left. Mohn was kept pristine by the blood that had been fermenting in her family for decades. Tainted blue by the potency.

She hid behind a tree, seeing the source of the sound in a clearing. A campfire lit the scene in harsh shadows and bright orange. The Huntress was halfway buried in the guts of the man she had slain, her sword still stuck in the skull. She gorged herself on the organs, though only lesser blooded ones, barely shaded purple. Unrefined, in those quantities it caused the host to bloat up into a grotesque, hulking monster. Yet the blood-starved young woman had managed to slay it.

Mohn had been told stories of the savages outside the citadel. More beast than human, blood-thirsted villains that would love nothing more than to rip into the unspoiled flesh of nobility and get a taste of that pure blood. Mohn had to admit, this outsider was all she was promised to be.

Her straw-blond hair glued together, strings of viscera connecting her cheeks, shirt and hands. Enraptured in her meal but not unaware.

The princess needn’t make a noise for the head to snap back, alert eye fixating on her glowing form. Swift and agile, the huntress retrieved the sword and approached the visitor.

The huntress stepped in front of the fire, casting a shadow over her. The moon-like glow from Mohn only illuminated the white of her eyes and reflected off the gore around her mouth.

Mohn stood in awe of the blood-soaked figure looming over her like a shadow shouldn’t, heavy and radiant in its darkness.

“Come for more?” the huntress growled, noting Mohn’s shivering body.

“No more.” Mohn shook her head. “Those in the castle have gone sick and twisted. I’m the only one left with reason. I was hoping to find more out here.”

“You won’t find more of anything out here. You kings and queens have eaten up all there was to the world. Anything there is left, you will find it back inside those walls, already devoured by you greed-addled swine. You’ve only left us a wilting forest and nothing to eat but each other. I always hoped you’d choke on it. I’m glad that you do.” The venom in her voice never ceased.

“Are there more like you?”

“I’m afraid not. One was gripped with hunger and might, and now, what life was left around here I am carving from his guts. My friends are dead, become one with this unsightly fiend. All I can do is retrieve their blood from him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I wasn’t aware that it was just as bleak out here.”

“Oh, you’ve seen nothing. You’ve not seen what lies beyond this forest. The state you leeches have left the world in. Stripped of all life. And for what? You’ve exceeded satiation, security, power. And more you swallowed, just so you could have it and no one else.”

The huntress tightened the grip on her sword. “It’s time you give it back.”

The huntress was fast, launching the blade at Mohn’s head, barely missing. She swung her sword wild and reckless but was not burdened by its weight. There were no openings after her swings, where she needed to catch the sword’s momentum. She wielded it as if it had no weight at all.

Mohn caught the huntress’ arm and broke it with just the pressure of her thumb. The sword fell to the ground and Mohn let the huntress retreat, only to lunge forward and catch her neck, lifting her off her feet and slamming her onto her back.

The huntress tried to move the arm off her throat, even forcing the broken arm back into use, but there was no way to overcome the power difference.

“What’s your name?” the princess asked.

“Sesam.” the huntress answered, grunting as she put her arm through more pain. Mohn grabbed the fractured limb to make her stop, leaning her face down closer.

“Will you help me? Will you slay everyone in the citadel with me? Return that blood back to the world. So that the world may one day recover. To bring back rivers and oceans, rain and wind, birds, fishes, rats and wolves, everything we’ve bled dry into dust.”

“Will you give up your blood for it?” Sesam challenged.

“In a heartbeat. You must become stronger. Take my blood. Eat of me. Until you can slay those like me.”

Mohn stuck out her tongue, then bit into it until it bled. The blue fluid dripped onto Sesam’s face. Mohn put her lips against Sesam’s and she drank from her mouth. She drank until her teeth were sharp enough to cut Mohn’s lips. Until her arm mended and she was strong enough to push Mohn up. The wound in Mohn’s tongue closed and Sesam bit it open anew. 

Once the blood had been evenly split between them, Mohn hung in Sesam’s arms, feeling drained, while Sesam felt intoxicating power.

“Like this-” Mohn gasped. “-the weakest in the citadel will pose only little threat to us. But we will need more blood to stand a chance against the aristocracy. If we work together… split the blood, we may match their power without losing ourselves.” Mohn crawled up Sesam so she could look down on her once more. “Do this with me. Or kill me now while I’m weak and live on in this world forever broken.”

Sesam pulled her back down with a hug, letting her rest on her shoulders. She refused to relax her arms until Mohn no longer felt cold in her arms. Until she felt familiar.

“Together.” Sesam answered.

She let Mohn sink down, sit into her lap, leaning into her hands. Mohn was tired, looking at the blood-smeared brute with a content smile. Sesam’s face had softened once she had decided to extend her compassion towards the princess.

“Together.” Mohn repeated.

[outpost51]

ghost hunt and secret for cosh and dekdek pls i love them

[oc asks: not-so-nice edition]

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

oh boy i’m gonna need a cut for this oops oops i'm sorry this got really long really fast

Dekdek is haunted by the memory of her nyityof companions that didn’t make it home. Her nyityof started uneventful enough; like other uknuks before her, she made the trek with her traveling companions — Toz Morningsun, Govi Mossyplum, and Zuzu Earlybloom — from Makafe Commune to the bustling Themis Spaceport to rent a charter ship. It was there they met Gatha, who was looking for a helping hand on her voyage, and they just so happened to have eight hands perfect for helping. Their first stop, in the Ellyt'it System one cluster over, consisted mostly of loading cargo and Gatha’s (definitely exaggerated) tales of her many adventures across the galaxy. En route to the cargo’s destination, however, they were set upon by pirates. Dekdek was in the cockpit at the time fixing a few loose panels; quick thinking by their captain saved both of their lives — Gatha stashed Dekdek beneath her shirt and pleaded with the pirate captain for mercy. They were both dead anyway if he didn’t, so it was worth a shot.

He did.

Dekdek’s companions didn’t have the same luck.

Neither Dekdek nor Gatha took their deaths well, but neither Dekdek nor Gatha particularly cared for mercy. They waited for the crew to go to sleep, planted a few explosives around the ship, and made for the escape pod. One of the jerry-rigged explosives detonated early. Gatha only just managed to snatch Dekdek up before she was shut on the wrong side of the escape pod’s blast door. Dekdek suffered burns on the left side of her body and Gatha ultimately ended up losing her right arm. It took them a year and a half to procure another ship and take it from ‘garbage’ to ‘will probably survive a few jumps’, and from there, Gatha took Dekdek home to Makafe Commune. Dekdek had all that time to move past the guilt of losing her companions. Seeing the little caves Toz and Govi and Zuzu would never return to brought it all back. Of course everyone was happy she was safe and home and alive, and warmly welcomed her very large, sad friend, too, but all the tinkering with her caregiver, Boki, and hugs from her mama, Tulo, and snuggle piles with all her neighbors and nest-siblings wouldn’t resurrect her friends.

It took a very long walk across the wilderness with Patriarch Mogi to shake the depression from her shoulders; they talked about what happened, he told her what a disaster his own nyityof had been — his companions had been eaten by wildlife on Pruna — and they concluded their trek at the memorial field: where they laid to rest the spirits of all the brave and adventurous uknuks who never made it home. It happened often, he told her, and it’s why they never forced anyone to leave on a nyityof. It was a dangerous galaxy out there for little uknuks, and everyone accepted the risk when they left the communes that they might not come home with all the pieces they left with, or even at all.

Speaking of missing pieces, Cosh also had a pretty fucked up time away from home — he’s five years Dekdek’s senior and very much the annoying older brother she always begged her parents for. He’s haunted by a lost crew, too, and he’s got a reminder that’s a lot harder to hide; somewhere out in dark space, there’s a burned-out husk of a derelict freighter that serves as the final resting place for seven of the bravest souls Cosh has ever met — and his left hand, probably. Bits of it, anyway. Rest in pieces, Lefty, you were the best companion an uknuk could ask for on cold, lonely—

Ahem.

He shrugs it off, dodges the subject, and meets every question about his past with a joke or a question of his own, and that’s how he copes with the fact that — though his crewmates would never see it that way, and it was in fact just. a horrible fucking accident no one could have predicted — it’s his fault the Stolen Star is nothing more than a charred coffin.

hunt: Who or what is your OC hunted by? A person, a feeling, a past mistake? Is your OC able to let their guard down, or are they constantly alert?

If anyone’s hunting Dekdek, they’ll be chasing a ghost for a long, long time. During the year and a half she and Gatha were trying to get the fuck home, they became paranoid, jumping at shadows and cowering any time they spotted anyone who looked a little too much like that pirate captain — just in case, it was always ‘just in case’ with them. Better safe than sorry. This does not, of course, apply to any machine she touches. No, those require a fair bit of faith and possibly a kick-start and/or a lead container. Though when you really think about it, why else would someone that paranoid rig so much shit to explode, set traps and tripwires around any hotel room she has to stay in, take things apart and put them back together just a little bit wrong?

Just in case, right?

She only lets her guard down during the night cycle, when she burrows under Gatha’s blankets to sleep.

Cosh, though. There’s a reason he checks the guns and hull’s integrity and shield generators over and over and over again. There’s a reason he makes sure Dekdek’s ‘fuckin’ experiments’ have failsafes and killswitches. There’s a reason he doesn’t sleep when Dekdek’s asleep despite also being naturally diurnal, and barely sleeps when it’s his shift. There’s a reason he doesn’t take his eyes off the system console for hours at a time — Suzo refused his request for a bucket, the germophobic bitch, but that’s why a ship never has just one engineer.

It doesn’t take much to cause a catastrophic failure in space.

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

Let’s lighten things up a bit, huh?

Dekdek chews on her thumbclaw in her sleep. Her street cred would be ruined.

Cosh cheats at cards every fucking time. Rees still hasn’t figured it out.

[sonicasura]

Was there suggestions that Optimus should have go be the one to eat the Sala-Sala Fruit? It could have applied a great advantage to have a leader and Prime that could heal quickly , though who would be vulnerable to water and the ocean.

(Considering 'No beta we die like Optimus Prime' is a tag or Optimus dying in any iteration is considered tradition...)

Prime was literally tied with Ratchet on who should eat the Sala Sala Fruit Model Axolotl. The man nearly got himself killed multiple times and his martyr type mindset doesn't help either. Optimus learn just how distraught everyone would've been if he died right there.

Compromises were also stacked on to this. No more being reckless, don't try to donate parts without Ratchet's permission, and things like that. A shit ton of trust is going into this as well.

Here is how I see things would go if Optimus ate the fruit.

Animal: 42 ft, Hybrid: 45 ft

Optimus would be quite a bulky axolotl with his truck alt mode becoming armor. Tires go down both sides of the tail, finials/antennas split into four that frame his cheek plates, truck grill becomes part of his helm and frames it sorta like a samurai helmet.

His hybrid form also resembles an actual hybrid version of his bot than a pseudo-costume like other Zoans. Face more narrow, Optimus' legs are bulkier while his arms are longer alongside wider, and smaller/thinner sections of his frame become thicker.

Man gotten so many questions from everyone especially Ratchet. The medic put Optimus throw multiple tests even with Chopper's reassurance whose an actual Zoan. Miko recorded the whole thing, took a lot of pictures and began calling OP 'Axolotl Prime' whenever he shift into either Devil Fruit form.

It was quite an experience for Optimus to say the least. He had a pretty good handle on moving in both forms since the bot once lived in the wilderness as a bitlet. It felt like a crash course for his more primal instincts.

You can bet the Team Rescue Bots were thrown through a loop when they got the news. They been given an simple explanation on Devil Fruits so to learn Optimus eaten one guaranteed some shock. Even more when he puts the Rescue Bots through water rescue.

Axolotls are aquatic and spend their time in water. Optimus practically becomes a speed demon from how fast he can now swim. High Tide had a bit of difficulty matching the Autobot Leader's newfound agility.

Optimus does use his Devil Fruit ability against the Decepticons. Megatron experienced it firsthand when Prime quickly shifts to slaps him in the face with his tail. Although the more harsher brawls were against the Predacons. You can say these bots brought out some animalistic behavior in Zoan!Optimus.

It's not uncommon to find the Autobot Leader lounging around in animal form. Axolotls are relaxed animals so it might've rubbed off a bit on the bot. The kids, Bumblebee, Corazón or both usually nap next to him.

Now Optimus does survive the events of Predacon Rising with a very risky move. He dug out the matrix from his chest and regenerate his old Spark Chamber. Albeit separating his own spark nearly been fatal if Corazón didn't bring that special Vivre Card in time. The scolding from the blonde and Ratchet was legendary.

Post War, Optimus lies about being a Multi Changer since Devil Fruits were something no one should know. He does donate a few parts to clinics, with Ratchet's obvious permission. Both versions of Optimus' Devil Fruit forms became popular charms sold across various shops on Cybertron.

Corazón has two in his room much to Prime's embarrassment. As for the Matrix of Leadership, Optimus decided to live without it. He'll learn to lead by his own experience.

[pamphletstoinspire]

Commentary on the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. Mark – Chapter 8

St. Mark, the disciple and interpreter of St. Peter (as noted by St. Jerome.) according to what he heard from St. Peter himself, wrote at Rome a brief Gospel at the request of the Brethren (fellow Christians), about ten years after our Lord's Ascension; which when St. Peter had heard, he approved of it, and with his authority he published it to the Church to be read. Baronius and others maintain, that the original was written in Latin: but the more general opinion is that the Evangelist wrote it in Greek.

First, Christ feeds four thousand people with seven loaves. Second (v. 15), He teaches His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Third (v. 22), He cures a blind man, who sees men like trees walking. Fourth (v. 31), He predicts His passion and death, and when Peter remonstrates with Him, He spurns him as Satan. Finally (v. 33), He declares that everyone must take up his cross and save his soul.

In those days again, when there was a great multitude, and had nothing to eat; calling his disciples together, he saith to them: 2 I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I shall send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way; for some of them came from afar off. 4 And his disciples answered him: From whence can any one fill them here with bread in the wilderness? 5 And he asked them: How many loaves have ye? Who said: Seven. 6 And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, he broke, and gave to his disciples for to set before them; and they set them before the people. 7 And they had a few little fishes; and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. 8 And they did eat and were filled; and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets. 9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand; and he sent them away. 10 And immediately going up into a ship with his disciples, he came into the parts of Dalmanutha. 11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, asking him a sign from heaven, tempting him. 12 And sighing deeply in spirit, he saith: Why doth this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, a sign shall not be given to this generation. 13 And leaving them, he went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water. 14 And they forgot to take bread; and they had but one loaf with them in the ship. 15 And he charged them, saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread. 17 Which Jesus knowing, saith to them: Why do you reason, because you have no bread? Do you not yet know nor understand? Have you still your heart blinded? 18 Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember. 19 When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say to him: Twelve. 20 When also the seven loaves among four thousand, how many baskets of fragments took you up? And they say to him: Seven. 21 And he said to them: How do you not yet understand? 22 And they came to Bethsaida; and they bring to him a blind man, and they besought him that he would touch him. 23 And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town; and spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing. 24 And looking up, he said: I see men as it were trees, walking.

25 After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly. 26 And he sent him into his house, saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody. 27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi. And in the way, he asked his disciples, saying to them: Whom do men say that I am? 28 Who answered him, saying: John the Baptist; but some Elias, and others as one of the prophets. 29 Then he saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Peter answering said to him: Thou art the Christ. 30 And he strictly charged them that they should not tell any man of him. 31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients and by the high priests, and the scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again. 32 And he spoke the word openly. And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him. 33 Who turning about and seeing his disciples, threatened Peter, saying: Go behind me, Satan, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but that are of men. 34 And calling the multitude together with his disciples, he said to them: If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel, shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For he that shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation: the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. 39 And he said to them: Amen I say to you, that there are some of them that stand here, who shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God coming in power.

Commentary: Saint Mark - Chapter 8

Verse 10. Dalmanutha. Matth. 15:39 says Magedan, because in fact these two places were near each other, as I noted there.

Verse 15. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. The leaven is the doctrine of the Pharisees, by which they taught children to say to their parents corban, as well as other things contrary to the law of God. The leaven of Herod is the doctrine of the Sadducees, for with them Christ had His most recent controversy, as appears from Matthew 16, verses 1 and 12. For Herod, as well as many of the principal people at that time, were Sadducees, according to Josephus (lib. 18 Antiq. cap. 2), who denied the immortality of the soul, and lived like atheists. So Herod lived in adultery, killed John, and committed many other crimes, having no fear of God. For although he thought (6:16) that John had risen again in Christ, yet that opinion was not so much his own as that of the people, and was not an expression of faith, but was wrung out of him by fear. In short, he granted that John, being a very holy man, had risen from the dead, but he denied that he and those like him would rise, so that he might indulge freely in carnal pleasures. Others, with Origen and S. Jerome, understand by leaven the sect of the Herodians, who flattered Herod, saying that he was the Messias. But that sect pertained to Herod of Ascalon, not Herod Antipas, who is meant here, as I have noted at Matth. 22:16.

Verse 22. They bring to him a blind man. And they besought him that he would touch him. “Knowing,” says Bede, “that just as the Lord’s touch could cleanse a leper, so too could it even give sight to the blind.”

Verse 23. And taking the blind man by the hand, He led him out of the town. Outside of Bethsaida, as is plain from verse 22. He led him forth for the same reason that He took the deaf and dumb man aside from the multitude when He was about to heal him (7:33). This was, first, for the sake of prayer, that, being alone, He might collect His thoughts, and unite Himself wholly to God, and pray the more intently and collectedly. Second, to fly from vain glory and the applause of men, and teach us to do the same. Third, because the citizens of Bethsaida were unworthy of this miracle of Christ; for although they had seen Him work so many signs, they would not believe in Him. Thus Theophylact and Euthymius. (See Matth.11:21.)

Mystically, the Scholiast in the works of S. Jerome says, “Christ leads the sinner out of the town, away from the society of the wicked. For wicked conversations corrupt good morals.”

And spitting upon his eyes. Fasting [morning] spittle does good to the purblind, but does not illuminate those who have actually lost their sight. The saliva, therefore, of Christ was not a natural but a supernatural remedy for blindness, being the instrument of Christ’s divinity.

S. Hilarion imitated this miracle by which Christ gave sight to a blind man, as S. Jerome relates in his Life. “A blind woman was brought to Bl. Hilarion, who said that she had expended all her substance upon physicians. Hilarion said to her, “If thou hadst given to the poor what thou hast thrown away upon physicians, Christ, the true physician, would have healed thee.” Then, as she cried out and begged for mercy, he spat upon her eyes; immediately, the Savior’s power was made present through him who followed His example.”

Tropologically, the saliva is the grace of the Holy Ghost, says Bede; this illuminates men so that they see the will of the Lord by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, says the Scholiast in S. Jerome.

Laying his hands. That is, when He had placed His hands upon the eyes of the blind man, and again removed them. For what the Scholiast in S. Chrysostom says is improbable, that this blind man saw people (v. 24) through Christ’s hands while they were over his eyes. For this would have been a new and uncalled-for miracle.

Tropologically, the Scholiast in S. Chrysostom says that Christ spat and laid hands on his eyes, because He wished to demonstrate that the divine word, added to the action, perfected it miraculously.

Verse 24. And looking up, he said, I see men as it were trees, walking. As if to say, “I see something obscurely and confusedly, not clearly and distinctly; for I see men walking, but in such a way that I cannot distinguish whether they are men or trees.” Just as it happens to ourselves, says Bede; when we see people at a great distance, we can only distinguish men from trees by their motion, because men walk, but trees do not. The word walking must be referred to men, not to trees, as is plain from the Greek. The word walking in the Latin text, however, might refer also to trees in this sense: “I see men as it were trees split, and therefore two-footed, and so walking.” This blind man, therefore, as yet in darkness, saw men as it were through a mist and cloud, in which they appeared greater than they really were, it might be as thick and tall as trees, as by means of magnifying glasses letters appear larger than they are in reality.

Moreover a man is similar to a tree. First, being tall and slender; second, being upright; third, being round; fourth, by their covering and adornment [cortice et coma], which in a tree is the bark and the foliage, and in man is his skin and hair; fifth, by their branches, for a man with his arms outstretched is like a tree with its branches outstretched; sixth, by their life and veins, for just as a man lives and is nourished by food, chyle and blood, distributed by the veins through his whole body, so too the tree lives and is nourished by sap which is dispersed by fibres to every part; seventh, a tree, starting as little shrub, gradually grows to the sky, and thus a man “grows like a tree, in a hidden age”; moreover as a man has his childhood, adolescence, manhood, old age and death, so too does a tree; eighth, a good tree produces good fruits, a bad tree, bad fruits; thus a good man performs good deeds, a bad one, wicked deeds; therefore, just as a tree is known by its fruits, so, too, a man is known by his works, as Christ teaches (Matth. 7:17). Finally, trees, like animals, have their hide, blood, flesh, nerves, veins, bones, and marrow, says Pliny (lib. 16, cap. 38). Hence experience proves that animals, too, are born of trees, especially ducks, on the islands off Scotland.

Moreover trees seem to walk on islands and in forests which, [reflected] in a river or in the sea, are moved and tossed about on the waters, such as can be seen at the city of Audenarde in Belgium. The same thing happens when they are agitated by winds. Now trees thrive in the north wind, are strengthened by it and germinate well, but caressed by the south wind they droop, says Pliny (lib. 17 cap. 2). Thus men gain strength and proficiency in virtue through adversities, but weaken and lapse in prosperity.

Pliny adds (lib. 13 cap. 4) that trees, especially palms, have two genders, just as human beings do, so that some are males, others females. He says, “The male palm tree flowers, whereas the female, having no flower, germinates only by a sort of thorn.” The same author (lib. 17 cap. 24) states that trees, like human beings, suffer from hunger, indigestion, and plague, and become sick with other illnesses. He also teaches (lib. 17 cap. 25) that trees have often spoken like men; but this is either fanciful, or else brought about by angels or demons. He states (lib. 23 cap. 1) that the first ready-made food of human beings was from trees, and that by this inducement men looked up to heaven: therefore, he presents a tree saying, “A great deal of man’s pleasure comes from me: I bring forth the juice of the vine, the oil of the olive; I produce dates and fruits of so many varieties, without requiring the earth to be plowed by the work of oxen. . . . All things that come from me are ready, freely offering themselves, and if it is too much trouble to reach for them, they even fall.” Therefore, this blind man who was beginning to see had every reason to say, I see men as it were trees, walking.

In a similar way S. Gregory Thaumaturgus, fleeing the Decian persecution, withdrew with his deacon to a certain hill. A certain traitor made known where they were to the persecutors, who carefully searched the whole hill to arrest Gregory. With strong faith in God, he stood in prayer, with eyes immovable and hands stretched out. But God smote the persecutors with blindness, or an inability to see. They returned and reported that they had seen nothing on the hill except two trees a little distant from one another. When they had gone away, the traitor himself went up the hill and saw two men, Gregory and his deacon, instead of the trees. He acknowledged that it was the work of divine power that they had appeared to the persecutors to be trees, and he fell down at their feet, and from a traitor became a confessor of the Faith. Thus S. Gregory of Nyssa in his Life.

Finally, the saying of the philosopher is well known: “What is man? He is an inverted tree,” because he sends forth his feet like branches below, and his head and brain like roots above, in that man must derive celestial life from heaven, and produce the celestial fruits of virtues.

Mystically, the Scholiast in S. Jerome says, “The blind man is a penitent sinner. He sees men as trees walking, because he esteems everyone superior to himself. With David he counts himself unworthy to be called a man, deeming himself to be a dead dog and a flea”(2 Kings 16). Hence such a man, by his humility, merits to be illuminated and exalted.

Verse 25. After that again he laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly. Christ wished not suddenly, but by degrees, perfectly to illuminate this blind man. First, that He might exhibit miracles of every description. Second, that this miracle might be more esteemed. Third, and principally, that He might accommodate Himself to the imperfect faith of the blind man and of those who brought him, increasing their faith as the miracle proceeded; and that He might the more kindle in them faith, hope, and desire that it might be brought to a perfect work. “In the first place, He cured this blind man imperfectly,” says Euthymius, “inasmuch as he believed imperfectly, that he who as yet had but a little vision might by means of the little light believe more perfectly, and be healed more completely; for He was the wise Physician.” And by and by he says, “Increase of faith deserved increase of healing.” Victor, too, says, “This increase and strengthening of sight confirms the increase and strengthening of his faith.”

Tropologically, Christ wished to teach us that the unbeliever and the sinner are gradually illuminated by God, and that they ought correspondingly to make gradual increase in the knowledge and worship of God. “He did it,” says Bede, “that He might show the magnitude of human blindness, which usually arrives step by step, and by certain grades, as it were, of proficiency, at the vision of God.” For as the Scholiast in S. Chrysostom says, “There are degrees of knowledge; neither can any one arrive in a single hour, or, indeed, without considerable time, at perfect knowledge.” We have experience of this in children and scholars, who must be taught and instructed step by step. Otherwise, if the teacher, being impatient with delay and trouble, should wish to teach them everything at once, he would crush their memory and intellect, so that they would take in nothing. It is like wine when it is poured into a vessel with a narrow neck; if you try to pour it all in at once, you pour in scarcely anything, but nearly the whole is spilled. Worthy of note is the Italian proverb, Piano piano si va lontano. [“Gently, gently, a long journey is made.”]. Also the saying of the philosopher, “Movement is by successive degrees.”

Symbolically, the Scholiast in S. Jerome says, “Christ laid His hands upon his eyes, that he might see all things clearly, that is, that by visible works he might understand things invisible, and which eye hath not seen; and that after the film of sin he might clearly behold the state of his soul with the eye of a clean heart. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Verse 26. If thou enter into the town [Latin: vicum, village]. That is, into the town of Bethsaida (which was a sort of small village or hamlet), from which He had led him (v. 23), unless by the Latin word vicum you prefer to understand an “outlying district,” or a village adjoining Bethsaida or nearby.

Verse 34. Let him deny [Latin: deneget]. That is, “let him deny [abneget] himself,” as the Vulgate renders it at Matth. 16:24.

Verse 38. For he that shall be ashamed of me. In Greek ἐπαισχυνθῇ, i.e., “shall blush,” namely at Me and My teaching, life and profession of poverty, humility and the cross.

In this adulterous generation of depraved Jews, who are believers and sons of God, though not genuine ones, but like spurious children, the offspring of adultery. For they are degenerate from the faith of their fathers, the patriarchs, since they will not receive Me, the Messias promised to them. Therefore, they are not so much children of God as of the devil. Such are called in Hebrew רחנ ינב bene nechar, i.e., children born of a strange man or father, that is, begotten by an alien or an adulterer; therefore, they are unworthy of the true Father, God, and their ways are unlike His. (See commentary on Matth. 10:33.)

Verse 39. The kingdom of God, i.e., the glory of the kingdom of God, which is about to be in My transfiguration.

Coming, i.e., appearing, and manifesting itself to Peter, James, and John. In power. That is, with great might, efficacy, glory, splendor, and majesty.

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14th April >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. Luke 24:35-48)for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year B: ‘He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures’.

Third Sunday of Easter (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 24:35-48 It is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus at the breaking of bread. They were still talking about all this when Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.

Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.’

Gospel (USA) Luke 24:35–48 Thus it was written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Homilies (6)

(i) Third Sunday of Easter

Catholics of a certain generation associate fish with fasting from meat. Fish was often eaten on a Friday. It had a certain penitential association. It was considered a poorer relative of meat. That attitude has changed. Lots of people do not eat meat, and the benefits of eating fish have been highlighted.

There are lots of references to fish and fishing in the gospels, because some of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. Jesus himself fed the multitude in the wilderness with bread and fish. In today’s gospel reading, when the risen Lord asked his disciples, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he ate before their eyes. When Jesus eats in the gospels, he can either be the host or the guest. In our gospel reading, the risen Lord makes himself a guest of his disciples by asking them if they had anything to eat. He placed himself as a needy person in their debt. Perhaps this was the Lord’s way of trying to reassure his disciples that all was well between him and them. When he stood among them and offered them the gift of his peace, they were ‘in a state of alarm and fright’, thinking he was a ghost. Jesus had to ask them why they were so agitated, and why were so many doubts rising in their hearts. When he went on to show them his hands and his feet, the gospel readings says that ‘they stood dumbfounded’, and that ‘their joy was so great, they could not believe it’. There is a powerful depiction here of the impact of the risen Lord’s appearance to his disciples – alarm, fright, agitation, doubt, disbelief, dumfounded. The poor disciples didn’t know where they were. The ordinariness of eating a little bit of grilled fish might just calm them down.

There was something both extraordinary and ordinary about the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. It was extraordinary because how could someone who had been so brutally put to death by the Romans come back to life? It was also extraordinary because how could the Lord offer the gift of his peace, the gift of reconciliation, to the disciples who had failed him so badly during the hour of his passion and death, with one of them betraying him, another denying him, and all of them deserting him. How could anything good come out of the crucifixion of Jesus and the abject failure of his followers? The good news of Easter is that God brought wonderful new life out of the tragedy of Jesus’ death and the tragedy of the disciples’ failure. Jesus was not dead; he was alive with the life of heaven, over which death has no power. The disciples were not dead either; the Lord still had a mission for them. They were to proclaim the good news of Easter to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem, the good news that God’s merciful love is stronger than death and human failure, and all that is needed is for people to repent, to turn trustingly towards this merciful love present in the risen Lord. In the verses after our gospel reading, Jesus promises to empower his disciples for this mission by sending them the Holy Spirit. This extraordinary good news of Easter remains good news for us today. Just as death no longer has power over the risen Lord, death no longer has power over those who believe in him. Our ultimate destiny is to share in the Lord’s own risen life. Also, just as the disciples’ failure did not mean a definitive break in their relationship with the Lord, so our own failings and sins need not separate us from the Lord’s love. He continues to stand among us saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He remains faithful to us, even after we have turned away from him. All he asks is that we keep on turning back to him in trusting faith, acknowledging our failings and opening ourselves up to the Spirit of his merciful love. The Lord’s gift of his peace continues to transform us into his missionaries.

If there was something extraordinary about the appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples, there was also something very ordinary about it. What could be more ordinary than sharing a simple meal of fish? What could be more ordinary than conversing with someone on the road home, as happened when the Lord met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? The risen Lord often stands among us in and through the ordinary circumstances of our day to day lives. According to today’s gospel reading, it was while the two disciples from Emmaus were telling their story to the other disciples of what had happened on the road and around their table that the risen Lord stood among them. We all have a story to tell about our relationship with the Lord. Whenever we find a space to share something of that story, we are creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us. Also, whenever we respond generously to those who asks the question the risen Lord asked, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ the risen Lord stands among us. Easter invites us to leave our minds and hearts open to the many ways the risen Lord is present to us in the common happenings of daily life.

And/Or

(ii) Third Sunday of Easter

Most of us if we look back over our lives will find something or other that we very much regret. We will almost certainly be able to identify times when we failed to live up to the values that we try to live by. We might remember speaking or acting in ways that hurt or damaged others. We might be aware of not doing something that we could have done and, that in our heart of hearts, wanted to do. Sometimes these experiences of personal failure can leave us very burdened. We can find it hard to move on from them; they trouble us and we struggle to be free of them. They can weight heavily on us and drain us of energy. We can find ourselves going back in memory to them over and over again.

The first disciples of Jesus must have felt like this in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. They had not exactly covered themselves in glory during the time of Jesus’ final journey. They had all deserted the one who had given them so much of himself. Their mood in the aftermath of Good Friday can only have been one of deep regret. They must have felt that their relationship with Jesus was over, and, deservedly so. In all of the gospels, however, the first words that the risen Jesus speaks to his disciples when he appears to them is ‘Peace be with you’. This morning’s gospel reading states: ‘He stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you”’. These are words of reconciliation that sought to assure the disciples of the Lord’s forgiveness. For those first disciples, the initial experience of the risen Lord took the form of a profound experience of forgiveness. This was the risen Lord’s gift to them. The gift of forgiveness can be difficult to receive at times. We wonder if we are really forgiven. According to the gospel reading, when Jesus said ‘Peace be with you’, they responded with alarm and fright and thought that they might be seeing a ghost. The risen Jesus then questioned them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts?’ It took the disciples a while to realize that they were forgiven.

It is only after the disciples had come to receive this gift of forgiveness that they could be sent out as messengers of the Lord’s forgiveness to others. According to our gospel reading, the risen Lord, having assured them that they were forgiven, went on to commission them to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all the nations. It is forgiven sinners who are entrusted with the task of proclaiming the good news of God’s forgiving love to all. This is what we find Peter doing in today’s first reading. He declares to the people of Jerusalem that, although they had handed Jesus over to Pilate, God’s forgiveness was available to those who turn to God by believing in Jesus. The church has been faithful to the mission entrusted to the disciples, proclaiming down the centuries the good news that God’s forgiveness is stronger than human sin. In raising his Son from the dead, God was declaring that even when we reject God’s Son, God does not reject us. The risen Jesus reveals a faithful, forgiving God. Today’s second reading states this clearly: ‘If anyone does sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just’.

Before we can receive the Easter gift of God’s forgiveness that comes to us through the risen Lord, we must first acknowledge our need of that gift. In the words of today’s second reading, we need ‘to admit the truth’. The truth is that we are always in need of the gift of God’s forgiveness. Recognizing our need and, in the light of that, asking God for that gift is what we call repentance. Peter in the first reading calls on the people of Jerusalem to repent and turn to God so that their sins may be wiped out. The risen Lord in the gospel reading sends out his disciples to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Within the Catholic tradition, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a privileged opportunity to admit the truth, to acknowledge our need of God’s forgiveness and to ask directly for it. In that sacrament that the risen Lord says to us, ‘Peace be with you’. The words of absolution include the prayer, ‘through the ministry of the church may God grant you pardon and peace’.

The first disciples, having received the gift of the Lord’s forgiveness, were sent out as heralds of that forgiveness to others. In a similar way, we who receive the same gift are sent out on the same mission. As forgiven sinners we proclaim with our lives the presence of a forgiving and faithful God. We extent to others the gift we have received from the Lord. This will not always come easy to us. Who was it who said, ‘to err is human, to forgive is divine’? If that is true, we need divine help to do what is divine. In the verses that immediately follow where today’s gospel ends, the risen Jesus promises his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit upon them. It is only in the power of the Holy Spirit that they would be able to engage in the task that Jesus was entrusting to them. We need the same Spirit if we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. In the weeks ahead that precede the feast of Pentecost, we might pray the prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart and enkindle in me the fire of your love’. We could pray this prayer especially during those times when we find ourselves struggling to pass on to others the gift of forgiveness that we continue to receive from the Lord.

And/Or

(iii) Third Sunday of Easter

We began a prayer meeting via Zoom for the season of Lent and we are continuing it into the season of Easter. It is based on the gospel reading for the following Sunday. There are times of silence to reflect on the reading, and then an opportunity for people to share how the word of God is speaking to them. Most of us have found that sharing to be very powerful. The Lord is not only speaking to us through the gospel reading, but also through the breaking of the word by those present. As people tell their story of how the Lord is speaking to them through the reading, they are sharing the Lord himself with the others in the group. It is good to have opportunities to share our faith story with others and to hear others share their faith story with us. We can be helped to experience the Lord’s presence by hearing others share the story of how the Lord has spoken to them through his word. We all have a personal story to tell, and included in that story is our faith story, the story of how the Lord relates to us.

That is what we find happening in today’s gospel reading. Two disciples had a wonderful experience of the risen Lord while they were making their sad journey home from Jerusalem to Emmaus in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. They were joined by a stranger. However, when this stranger broke the word of God with them, their hearts began to burn. They didn’t want to let go of their travel companion. When they reached their home village, they asked him to stay with them. It was at table in their home as the stranger took bread, broke it and gave it to them that they finally recognized him as Jesus, whose death they had just been mourning. They ran back to the city which they had been glad to leave earlier in the day. They had a story to tell, the story of the Lord’s coming to them in Word and Eucharist. They needed to tell this story to the other disciples and that is how our gospel reading begins, ‘The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized him in the breaking of bread’.

It is striking that, according to the gospel reading, it was while the two disciples were telling their faith story and the others were engaging with it that the risen Lord appeared to the whole group in person. The two disciples’ sharing of their faith story with others created a space for the risen Lord to come and stand among them all. Whenever we have the freedom and the courage to share something of our faith story with others, we too will be creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us and touch our lives. Yet, the gospel reading also acknowledges the struggle we sometimes have to really believe that the Lord is risen and that he is standing among us. According to the gospel reading, when the risen Lord stood among the disciples, offering them the gift of his peace, they were in a ‘state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost’. Jesus had to ask them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts’. Alarm, fright, agitation, doubt – these were the initial responses of the disciples to the presence of the risen Lord in their midst. The gospel reading goes on to say that even after the risen Lord showed them his hands and his feet, his wounds that spoke of his love for them and for all, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. Even when fear and doubt gave way to joy, they still could not believe that the Jesus was powerfully alive in their midst. We have no difficulty believing that Jesus was crucified. Many of us have crucifixes or crosses in our homes or on our persons. However, we can struggle to believe that Jesus is risen, that he stands among us as risen Lord. It is sometimes not as easy to believe in the risen Jesus as in the crucified Jesus. In that regard, we are no different to the first disciples. Today’s gospel reading suggests that Easter faith often grows in the midst of doubt and questions. Believing in the risen Lord is a journey that different people travel at different paces. Yet, what matters is our attitude, our openness to the various ways that the risen Lord may choose to come to us and touch our lives.

The first disciples had good reason to believe that if Jesus did come back to them after his crucifixion it would have been to reprimand them for deserting him in the hour of his passion and death. Yet, in all of the Easter stories of the gospels, there is no reprimand. The coming of the risen Lord to the disciples was for them a profound experience of forgiveness, ‘Peace be with you’. It was also a moment of mission, as the risen Lord sent them out to proclaim to others the forgiveness they had received. The risen Lord comes to us too to assure us that we are loved and forgiven and to send us out as ambassadors of his forgiving, reconciling, love to others.  

And/Or

(iv) Third Sunday of Easter

After we have been through a difficult experience, we can often find ourselves emotionally raw. We can be somewhat vulnerable and brittle, anxious and uneasy. Things that we might normally take in our stride can get us down.

That must have been the kind of space the disciples found themselves in after the crucifixion of Jesus. The person for whom they had left everything to follow had been cruelly put to death. The journey that started out near the Sea of Galilee with such hope and expectation had come to a devastating end on the hill called Golgotha, just outside the city of Jerusalem. In those last dark days and hours, the disciples had not exactly covered themselves in glory. They discovered to their shame and regret that they were only prepared to follow Jesus up to a point, and, certainly not along the way of the cross. In the wake of Good Friday, the disciples were dealing with a great sense of loss and a real sense of shame and guilt; they were also fearful. They worried lest what had happened to Jesus might also happen to them.

It was into that space of loss, shame, guilt and fear that the risen Jesus came. The first words Jesus spoke, according to our gospel reading this morning, were ‘Peace be with you’. We hear that greeting every time we celebrate Mass, just before we are invited to come and receive the Lord in Holy Communion. If the disciples had known in advance that the risen Lord was coming to them and that he would speak to them, they probably would not have anticipated that his first words to them would be ‘Peace be with you’. They might well have imagined that his first words to them would be words of rebuke, or words expressing sadness and disappointment at their failure to stand by him when he needed them. Yet, the words of Jesus did not reflect their failure in any way; rather, they reflected the Lord’s faithful love for them in spite of their failure. In saying, ‘Peace be with you’, the Lord is saying, ‘I am at peace with you and I invite you to be at peace with me and at peace with one another’. The Lord is constantly saying ‘Peace be with you’ to all of us. He says those words to us in a very powerful way in and through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He can speak those words to us at any time, from within the silence of our hearts. We can find it difficult to say ‘Peace be with you’ to those who have disappointed us or hurt us or let us down badly. However, the Lord is not like us in that respect. In John’s gospel Jesus is portrayed as saying, ‘My own peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives’. Jesus does not relate to us as the world does, as other people relate to us or as we relate to others.

According to this morning’s gospel reading, when the risen Jesus stood among his disciples and said, ‘Peace be with you’, they were in a ‘state of alarm and fright’, so much so that Jesus asked them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts?’ Something wonderful was happening for them; their shattered hopes were being rebuilt in a way they could never have conceived of, and, yet, there they were alarmed, frightened, agitated and full of doubt. We might find ourselves identifying rather easily with those disciples. Sometimes we too can find it difficult to accept the Lord’s gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love. We back away from that gift, for one reason or another. Maybe we find it hard to believe that we could be so graced; we consider that we are not deserving of such a gift. We can allow our own fears and doubts to drown out the Lord’s word of ‘peace’ to us. At the very moment when the Lord is drawing attention to what is best in us, we can be absorbed by what is worst in us.

In order to cut through his disciples’ fears and doubts the risen Lord showed them his hands and his feet – his wounds. These were the wounds of love; he had suffered for them, and for all; he had died that they, and all of us, might have life to the full. In showing them his wounds, the Lord finally broke through to them. Luke says, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. The Lord’s wounds can break through to all of us when his other approaches to us fail. Perhaps that is why Good Friday continues to speak to so many people. Our own sharing of our wounds, the sharing of our pain, can also build bridges to others. When we are at their most vulnerable, we often draw others to ourselves. When members of our family become ill, we are drawn to gather around them in a supportive, loving way. In attending to them, we are attending to the Lord. The Lord continues to reach out to us through the wounds of others, because such wounds are, in a very real sense, his own wounds.

And/Or

(v) Third Sunday of Easter

Paul Verlaine was a nineteenth century French poet. His early life was somewhat on the wild side. He was imprisoned for a time for having shot at his companion, a fellow poet. While he was in prison he had something of a conversion. His poems written while in prison are very moving. In one of his poems he addresses the risen Lord, ‘Lord... Beneath this troubled canopy where my heart has been digging out its tomb and where I feel the heavens flow towards me I ask you, by what road you’d have me come’. He is asking the Lord to show him the road on which he could come to him. Later in the same poem, the Lord says to him, ‘It is not you who must come to me; it is I who have chosen to come to you. Look at my hands stretched out to you. Here, eat; be nourished. Let your mind be opened to understand’. Verlaine came to understand that, rather than having to find the right road along which to come to the Lord, it was the Lord who was coming to him. He realized that the gap between himself and the Lord would be bridged by the Lord rather than by himself.

Verlaine’s uncertain mood in prison must have been similar to how the disciples felt after Good Friday. They had broken their relationship with Jesus by abandoning him when he needed them most. They had created a gap between themselves and the Lord; they must have felt that this gap was unbridgeable. There was no road they could take to undo what had been done. Yet, on that first Easter Sunday they discovered that the gap they had created between themselves and the Lord was bridged by the Lord. They could not come to him, but he came to them. This morning’s gospel reading suggests that when the Lord came to them, they found it almost impossible to believe. When he appeared among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, their reaction was one of alarm and fright. They were agitated and full of doubt. They thought he could not be real; theypresumed they were seeing a ghost. How could someone whom they had betrayed, denied, abandoned be standing among them now, offering them the gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love.

We are in the season of Easter, which is seven weeks long. The church gives us this lengthy period of Easter to help us reflect on the various dimensions of the meaning of Easter. Easter has many messages which are vitally important to us, the Lord’s followers, today. One of the messages the feast of Easter proclaims is the Lord’s faithfulness to us, in spite of our unfaithfulness to him. Because of our various failures and weaknesses, we can sometimes find ourselves wondering, like Verlaine in his prison, by what road we can come to the Lord from whom we have turned away. In response to that anxiety, the Lord says to us, ‘it is not you who must come to me; it is I who have chosen to come to you’. We can find that good news hard to believe at times. As was the case with the disciples in today’s gospel reading, doubts can rise in our hearts. Having failed to love the Lord in various ways, we doubt that he could love us in this all forgiving way. Yet, this is at the heart of the message of Easter. Easter invites us to open ourselves to the coming of the risen Lord who loves us in our weakness and frailty and empowers us to go forth renewed.

According to this morning’s gospel reading, the risen Lord broke through the self-doubt of his disciples in three ways. He firstly showed them his wounds. These weren’t just any old wounds. They were the wounds of that greater love which led Jesus to lay down his life for all. He continues to show us his wounds today, to bring home to us the depth of his love for us and the extent of his faithfulness to us. The Lord then opened the Scriptures for his disciples to help them to see that what happened to him, including his passion and death, was already contained within the Jewish Scriptures. The risen Lord continues to speak to us today through the Scriptures. He is present to us in his word, the word of the Lord. Finally, the risen Lord then shared a simple meal with his disciples to convince them that he wanted to be in communion with them in spite of their failures. The Lord continues to call us to his table today. It is above all at the table of the Eucharist that he enters into communion with us and invites us to enter into communion with him. It is in the Eucharist that we can really appreciate that the Lord has chosen to come to us in our brokenness and weakness. It is from the Eucharist that he sends us out in the power of his presence to be his witnesses in the world.

And/Or

(vi) Third Sunday of Easter

Catholics of a certain generation associate fish with fasting from meat. Fish was often eaten on a Friday. It had a certain penitential association. It was considered a poorer relative of meat. That attitude has changed. Lots of people do not eat meat, and the benefits of eating fish have been highlighted.

There are lots of references to fish and fishing in the gospels, because some of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. Jesus himself fed the multitude in the wilderness with bread and fish. In today’s gospel reading, when the risen Lord asked his disciples, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he ate before their eyes. When Jesus eats in the gospels, he can either be the host or the guest. In our gospel reading, the risen Lord makes himself a guest of his disciples by asking them if they had anything to eat. He placed himself as a needy person in their debt. Perhaps this was the Lord’s way of trying to reassure his disciples that all was well between him and them. When he stood among them and offered them the gift of his peace, they were ‘in a state of alarm and fright’, thinking he was a ghost. Jesus had to ask them why they were so agitated, and why were so many doubts rising in their hearts. When he went on to show them his hands and his feet, the gospel readings says that ‘they stood dumbfounded’, and that ‘their joy was so great, they could not believe it’. There is a powerful depiction here of the impact of the risen Lord’s appearance to his disciples – alarm, fright, agitation, doubt, disbelief, dumfounded. The poor disciples didn’t know where they were. The ordinariness of eating a little bit of grilled fish might just calm them down.

There was something both extraordinary and ordinary about the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. It was extraordinary because how could someone who had been so brutally put to death by the Romans come back to life? It was also extraordinary because how could the Lord offer the gift of his peace, the gift of reconciliation, to the disciples who had failed him so badly during the hour of his passion and death, with one of them betraying him, another denying him, and all of them deserting him. How could anything good come out of the crucifixion of Jesus and the abject failure of his followers? The good news of Easter is that God brought wonderful new life out of the tragedy of Jesus’ death and the tragedy of the disciples’ failure. Jesus was not dead; he was alive with the life of heaven, over which death has no power. The disciples were not dead either; the Lord still had a mission for them. They were to proclaim the good news of Easter to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem, the good news that God’s merciful love is stronger than death and human failure, and all that is needed is for people to repent, to turn trustingly towards this merciful love present in the risen Lord. In the following verses Jesus promises to empower his disciples for this mission by sending them the Holy Spirit. This extraordinary good news of Easter remains good news for us today. Just as death no longer has dominion over the risen Lord, death no longer has dominion over those who believe in him. Our ultimate destiny is to share in the Lord’s own risen life. Also, just as the disciples’ failure did not mean a definitive break in their relationship with the Lord, so our own failings and sins need not separate us from the Lord’s love. He continues to stand among us saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He remains faithful to us, even after we have turned away from him. All he asks is that we keep on turning back to him in trusting faith, acknowledging our failings and opening ourselves up to the Spirit of his merciful love. The Lord’s gift of his peace continues to release us from our failings and transform us into his missionaries.

If there was something extraordinary about the appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples, there was also something very ordinary about it. What could be more ordinary than sharing a simple meal of fish? What could be more ordinary than conversing with someone on the road home, as happened on the road to Emmaus? The risen Lord often stands among us in and through the ordinary circumstances of our day to day lives. According to today’s gospel reading, it was while the two disciples from Emmaus were telling their story to the other disciples of what had happened on the road and around their table that the risen Lord stood among them. We all have a story to tell about our relationship with the Lord. Whenever we find a space to share something of that story, we are creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us. Also, whenever we respond generously to those who asks the question the risen Lord asked, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ the risen Lord stands among us. Easter invites us to leave our minds and hearts open to the many ways the risen Lord is present to us in the common happenings of daily life.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[kenshiramblings]

So I finally did a Rebirth playthrough...

It was pretty brutal.

I had a Hiver named Leaf and a Scorchlander named Shade. Leaf ended up getting cut up by the guards pretty bad and died on the second day in his cage because they never healed him.

With Shade, I managed to pick the locks on the shackles and cage pretty quick. Being cautious, I just had her move around to get her stealth up. For the first week, I just played through the day at 3x speed while she did labor and then worked on her stealth at night.

After two unsuccessful escape attempts, Shade ended up unable to walk. I still had her leave her cage at night and crawl around to get her stealth up. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to get back to the cage in the morning and got attacked by a guard. She lost an arm.

After that, I tried to play it a little more cautious. It took another full week of practicing stealth. During those times, I would pick the locks on other prisoners who would run off and cause distractions. One of which was a Greenlander named Fuu.

After 20 days, Shade had a pretty high stealth stat and was completely healthy (minus the arm). Coincidentally, Fuu was in the cage right next to Shade's and had picked her way out. I decided to give it a try.

Shade snuck around the guards pretty much unseen but Fuu was not as stealthy. The guards noticed her and quickly swarmed. Seeing an opening I had Shade sneak past the gate and out into the wilderness.

She was free but she was starving.

As Shade made her way down the path, I saw a little dot on the map making it's way toward her. Somehow Fuu had escaped and was following Shade, eventually becoming a playable character. I had Shade wait so they could group up.

Unfortunately, what I hadn't seen were the Hungry bandits chasing Fuu. They attacked Fuu and Shade, leaving them unconscious and bloody. Luckily, a wandering skeleton happened to come by and killed the bandits by the time they woke up. After tossing the prison robes for bandit rags, I had the two of them continue on.

At some point, Fuu had eaten but Shade was starving. They made their way all the way down to the valley. Unfortunately, Shade's wounds were worse than her starvation. While trying to find bandages at a farm, Shade died.

Feeling a bit bummed, I had Fuu carry her body. At the next farm, Fuu was able to find enough food to keep from starving. She slowly and stealthily carried Shade's body all the way out of Holy Nation territory until she came to a lone shack. After getting some bandages, I had Fuu heal herself.

Fully healed and well fed for the first time, Fuu headed to The Hub. It didn't take long but she made it there. After finding an unlocked little shack, I had her place Shade's body in the bed as her final resting place for all of her hard work.

A couple game days later, for reasons I don't understand, the mercenaries randomly started attacking Fuu and left her to bleed out. She died outside of the shack.

I love this game but goddamn is it brutal sometimes.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

What do you think in the better canine; wolves or coyotes? They're both good imo.

There are probably several answers to this question, so let me just get a few things out of the way:

1) I personally tend to find the difference between "wolves" and "coyotes" pretty small: wolves and coyotes both look like the other and are called "coyotes." A coyote is generally a smaller, less aggressive relative of the wolf, while a wolf can also be larger and more aggressive. So, a lot of what seems distinctive about "coyotes" to me is often just incidental.

2) Both "wolves" and "coyotes" can be very destructive to their environments and sometimes to humans, though I don't think of either as being so much as a destructive species so much as "destructive by default." A wolf is just an animal that, like any other animal, happens to be so intelligent that it will be destructive if it gets the chance (e.g. it will kill and eat other animals).

3) For the vast, vast majority of species, there's very little difference between the way they behave and what we call "wild animals." If you've ever been outside in a very rural area and you've seen how wild animals tend to act, you'll see that animals behave in all sorts of ways. That's because most species are, for the most part, really just individuals trying to live their own life and behave the way that would be adaptive in their current environment.

To take a more interesting and relevant example: I've seen animals (I guess it was wolves, but don't remember for certain) that will often run alongside or in front of a slower moving horse or horse-drawn vehicle, to show it that they don't have to worry about being hit by it and to make the horse (or whoever is driving it) go faster, because the horse is being driven for them, so they can be fast without needing to worry about whether they would be able to outrun it on their own. That is how wild animals typically behave.

When I hear people talk about how "wild animals are just animals" or "wild animals are smart enough to cooperate with each other" or something like that, this is the kind of thing I'm imagining. But there are certainly plenty of cases in which "wild animals" do things that seem very unwise or even destructive for whatever reason. A good example is this: the black vulture.

(There are apparently a lot of black vultures living in New York and elsewhere, and they have an interesting relationship with the city's garbage system. For the last 20 or 30 years, they've made a pretty good living by eating garbage left at the side of the road. They now have a kind of ecological niche there -- it seems like a black vulture lives there only if it's a vulture, as most other birds have learned not to fly in that spot. So they kind of feel they have a right to take as much garbage as they want.)

The city of New York recently decided to stop allowing garbage on the side of the road where it would be regularly eaten by the black vultures, because they didn't feel like the vultures were "contributing" enough to the city's environment. In one case, they tried burying the garbage, which didn't seem to have much effect. In another case, they removed the garbage completely, so that, to the vultures' minds, there was simply no more garbage to eat, and so they had nowhere to live and nowhere to go.

This caused some outcry by animal rights activists, but I can't say I'm 100% in favor of people's right to dump their garbage on the side of the road in front of a large number of scavengers who would eat it, even if they are very smart.

Anyway, these are just a few things. You could make the case for wolves, coyotes, vultures -- I'm sure other animals besides wolves/coyotes/vultures fit the bill. But when people talk about how "wild animals just like any other animal," that's what I'm thinking of. I don't know that I'd ever want to go out into the wilderness and expect to see something that looked and acted like a wolf, say, because, hey, maybe it is a wolf, and it's just smart enough to have learned that we don't feed actual wolves.

[mycartoonmonster]

Both are street smart. They have creative habilities and wilder imaginations than their siblings.

Both are artists. Stanley with the Shack's attractions and is smart enough not to bring monsters into the Shack and we have Lil Stanley that became succesfull in modern days.

Mabel can knit pretty fast and we can tell by the Mabel guide she has a way with editing stuff which can be quite hard for beginners and she speciallizes in Arts & Crafts as we saw her sculpt a wax Stan so reallistic, Stan for a second it was Ford-hence he was devastated for when it was killed.

Both also have more emotional intelligence; Stanley although he's hard on Dipper he doesn't treat him like his father did and tries to toughen him up for good reasons and makes sure both Mabel and Dipper feel welcomed in his Shack never once yelling at nor hitting them, gives them life advice, makes sure Mabel doesn't feel bad when things dont go well for her, constantly adressing her with nicknames like "Pumpkin" and "Sweetie" and we saw what he was able to do for her when he saved Waddles and is there for both of them when they need, to the point of sending them home when he couldn't take care of them as that could have been the best for them in Gideon Rises. Not to mention, he doesn't project onto others like Ford or Bill do and he actually can learn to move on whereas Ford's egocentric ass couldn't get over something that happened decades ago and despite being stingy he welcomed every single citizen and magical creature of Gravity Falls when the Weirdmageddon hit the town into the Mystery Shack letting them stay and share the food. Also its implied they had search parties to bring in anyone who might need help as we saw with Toby Determinated.

Not to mention he was kinda right, it felt unfair that after providing them shelter and food in the end of the world, they wanted to rescue their lives fighting against a demon who was essentially an unstoppable god for plan with an extremly little chance of success. Might I add Ford was who caused the end of the world by creating the portal in the first place and not trusting his family yet people were treating like a martyr and Stanley as the bad guy for just wanting to stay where it was safe for not only him but the townsfolk and his family when we all know Ford wouldn't help the entire town the same way Stan did it. (Which is worse with the confirmation that in every other timeline they didn't survive, both Dipper and Mabel get turned to stone or get snapped out of existance thanks to Bill, the townsfolk and magical creatures get eaten by Bill's henchmaniacs and the only one with the highest survival rate in those timelines was Ford given Bill's attachement to him so he has to live with the consequences of his actions until he hits 92 and even then Bill would probably find a way to make Ford live forever)

Also Stan wasn't aware of what Bill was doing to Ford. If he did, he would have run there and stop Bill.

And although is often overshadowed in fandom discussion for her selfishness, Mabel is more empathetic and emotionally mature than Dipper is:

-She tries to cheer Dipper up when he's down

-She doesn't wanna break Gideon's heart but at the time of breaking up with him she does it in a calm way so he understands even if Gideon was seconds ago from murdering Dipper (kudos to her for not freaking out sooner)

-She goes with the flow and enjoys the moment with Wendy's friends unlike Dipper who's worried to fit in with the group

-She gives Dipper the idea of him and Robbie hating eachother in silence

-Doesn't approve of cheating

-Realizes that Dipper is the one getting in his way to talk to Wendy

-Despite getting insulted by her, Mabel isnt outright rude to Pacifica like the latter is when they first met and has a proffesional attitude throughout the party even if they're rivals.

-Can see where she messes up and apologizes for it.

-She can tell Stan loves them both despite his treatment towards Dipper and still chooses to save Stan from Bill

-She refuses to give up even if things dont go well for them

-Decides to keep the bad memories in order to grow and learn

-Tries to be the bigger person as seen how she chose not to ruin Pacifica's world by telling her the truth about Nathatniel Northwest

-Although not in the most moral of ways, she tried to solve Robbie's problem but did not had him go out with Wendy again cause she knew those had no future together

-She knows Dipper and Ford's mission is more important and they can prepare their birthday later on

-In the finale once she was in a better state than what she was at the end of episode 17 and in the aftermath of leaving the bubble prison, even if it meant facing teenagehood alone, she was willing to let Dipper go if he wanted to stay in Gravity Falls with Ford

-She also doesn't hold grudges for so long as seen in her interactions with Pacifica. (Save for Bill but we all hate him and shes justified for it)

-Even in the TBOB you can argue she tries to be supportive of Bill in the sense of telling him he needs to move on from Ford as it's not healthy, even if she hates his guts for all he did to her family

She tries to do the right thing always, she's just a 12 year old growing up and realizing the world isn't so simple which can often lead to mistakes like the events of the Love God. But she does learn from those mistakes and the Mabel we see in the finale isnt like the Mabel from Tourist Trapped. Let's not forget she was the one to start the speech against Bill that Dipper continued when things were looking down after witnessing Bill's throne.

They can think quickly on their feet when the situation requires it;

Mabel:

Mabel was the one to come up with the plan to defeat the gnomes with the leafblower,

She steers the wheel of the boat to get everyone to safety when running from the GobbleWonker

Dhe gives Dipper a weapon when he's fighting Sherlock Holmes

Is quick to grab Gideon's amulet to save both Gideon and Dipper to later destroy it.

It was thanks to her goofiness they resolved Quentin Trembley's mystery.

Thanks to her plans they got the exact candy number needed for the Summerween monster (if Dipper hadnt accidently ruined it)

She was quick to distract Dipper by telling him Wendy was wearing a bikini and managed to get to the lake for Mermando even if he was chasing her.

Thanks to her and Soos spying on Gideon they find out about Bill and she's the one who tries to stop his plan the hardest by throwing herself at him upon seeing him in her grunkle's mind and thanks to her, Bill loses the code to Stan's safe in Dreamscappers

In Gideon Rises she suggests using the gnomes in her favor and her grappling hook saves her and Dipper from falling to their doom after the fight with the Gideon bot.

She was the one who came up with the karaoke idea in Scaryoke

she freezed the ShapeShifter

she managed to defeat the golf dwarves

she won Bipper and set Bill on fire,

she was the one who found out the laptop was McGucket's property

She overcame her fears of StopMotion and used clay monsters to save her family from the stop motion figures

She sees the opportunity to go to the Northwest Mansion to party and takes it,

In SINWHS she hatched the plan to get Manly Dan to crash the car so they could clear up Stan's name (without Mabel, we wouldn't have Ford in the show)

She alongside Stan saved Dipper and Ford from Probabilitor

She was the one who figured out Gideon was involved in the election after seeing how Bud was behaving similar to Gideon

she conviced the unicorns to give them the hair alongside some goodies (sure, with some punching but they had it coming cause they wouldn't have given it to her otherwise)

In Weirdmageddon, Mabel is the one creating escape routes by running on Waddles and bursting MabelLand's bubble with something from inside and she sprayed Bill's eye with paint, used her grappling hook and broke the Fearamid wall while Stan had the idea of changing clothes so the plan worked. Its also implied she was the one who made the parachutes out of her sweaters by tying them together in a matter of a few hours.

Other instances are the ones seen in Lost Legends; where thanks to her Pacifica and Dipper can escape MrWhats his face? and she's the one who saves Ford and Stan from an evil version of herself.

Stan;

Although we dont get much instances with Stan throughout s1 we still have....

The fact that he can convice people easiy to buy his stuff even if its clear they're fake

That time he crafted a plan to get the best spot in the pool

Managed to get into a TV show by faking a heart attack and almost wins more money than Mabel

Punched a pterodactyl in the face for Waddles.

It was thanks to him Gideon got behind bars.

He could stand against an army of zombies with just a bat and his knuckles.

Helped the kids break into the minigolf.

Almost succeeds in stealing an animatronic if it wasn't for Giffany.

In SINWHS, he was smart enough to have Soos secure the vending machine and he took advantage of the gravity falling to free himself and escape and steal someone's wallet to later trick the agents into thinking he was in a cab and run all the way to the Mystery Shack just to make in time before Dipper pressed the button.

As revealed in ATO2S, he managed to survive a decade of homelesness just by tricking and scamming people.

Could keep a ruse for 30 years while working in a portal with no help, which means he had to learn quantum physics despite not having great grades academically and not finishing highschool and he was able to create and operate a business that was far more succesfull than Fildbrick's pawn shop (despite Gideon making Stanley look bad, they have customers throughout the show and Soos had enough to support himself and his grandma that after losing the Shack, he had to work multiple part time jobs to make ends meet not to mention it seems Mabel and Dipper were given an allowance as we see them have enough money to buy stuff and they never went hungry under Stan's care)

Other accomplishments are that he managed to save the kids from an explosion Gideon caused in the election and he managed to survive the first days of Weirdmageddon, mostly by himself. Not to mention defeating Bill freaking Cipher.

Plus Stanley can detect a liar and a scammer when he sees one, to the point he was able to outdo Gideon who had the whole town wrapped around his adorable chubby little fingers for a looong time, managed to win DDAMD by cheating without the wizard knowing and trick Bill Cipher himself aka someone whos been doing the same thing as Stan for centuries even before Fildbrick was born and make him beg for mercy in his final moments, giving him a scar that will last for a looong time by punching him in the face. Stanley Pines is truly built different.

So yeah, neither of them are dumb. They just specialize in other areas

I am a firm believer that Stan and Mabel are not the "dumber" twins. They just aren't as interesting in 'nerd' stuff like Ford and Dipper are.

Stan was able to rebuild like 90% of the portal with only the 1 of the journals, most likely having to teach himself advanced mathematics and scientific theories to even understand what the thing is. It barely took him a few weeks to get the portal up and running after getting the other two journals. Not to mention how he was able to create a business and keep people entertained at his day job. The man is smart.

Mabel is able to create sweaters at the drop of a hat. If you don't know anything about knitting, it takes a lot of math and planning to be able to make a sweater, and Mabel is constantly making them for everyone around her. She made a full 2 act puppet shows with musical numbers and sets and well made puppets in like a week. She may not be interested in the 'nerd' stuff like Dipper, but she's creative and thinks in innovative ways.

Both of them are amazingly charismatic. They can make friends and bond with those around them easily, whether it be for business purposes like Stan or simply childlike positivity like Mabel.

They aren't dumb.

[alpinefitco]

Planning Remote Wilderness Trips: Packrafting in Gates of the Arctic National Park

Each adventure is different, so it’s impossible to write a step-by-step guide but there are fundamentals that will help make your trip go smoothly. Much of this comes down to research. If you know the area, terrain, weather etc then find a way to get there and start planning your gear. I will use our packrafting trips to Gates of the Arctic as an example of the decision making process.

Where are you going?: Gates of the Arctic is very remote so begin by selecting a route that meets your comfort level without taking risks you can’t handle on your own. The Alatna river and John river both suit this well, they are class II rivers offering some excitement (but not too much for our skill level). The Alatna has some great side trips as well into the Arrigetch which we will need to pack for as well. Being remote and sparsely traveled considerations include packing enough food, backup stove, GPS communication, repair kits for the packrafts. It’s way out there, but not all trips are like that, more local trips or those well-traveled can sometimes count on shared resources when plans go awry.

Who are you going with?: Nobody likes to be uncomfortable. Challenged is okay to a point, but continuously scared or miserable makes a trip less fun. There is much debate on the optimal group size; too small and it is more difficult to rescue someone if needed, too large and group dynamics get more difficult. Generally 4-6 people make good company. Consider the level of the group as well, the experience level should always dictate the trip. We found the Alatna challenging but manageable with just 2 people, but comfort level on the John River was tenuous. I personally would not join a group rafting class IV water given my lack of skill and experience, it would not be fair to the others.

What time of year is it?: Interior Alaska is famous for mosquitoes. If you go early enough, you might avoid the first hatch which is really nice. Middle of summer can be brutal. Other places might be too hot, low water etc. This changes where you plan on going and what gear you have to bring. There’s usually a blog post somewhere on your specific trip so spend some time finding the optimal timeframe in which to travel. We found that August in the Arctic was actually quite pleasant but reports of snow especially later in the month could make things more interesting.

How long is the trip?: Shorter trips are generally easier to plan for. Foods don’t need to be quite as balanced and suffering through forgotten items is sometimes okay. Longer trips require more careful packing both so that nothing is forgotten and because the bulk is larger. In theory, the added weight of food is reduced over time as it is eaten but this is often trivial compared to the weight of the other gear, especially on packrafting trips. Trips that are more than about 5 days also need to account for unexpected weather and incorrect weather reports. Just because the radar says the system will pass north of you doesn’t mean it won’t change! Pack your bag ahead of time to balance weight and add/eliminate if needed. 

What are the expectations?: Do trip members want a leisurely float or a hard and fast march? Is there time for relaxing at a hot spring? My recommendation is to plan 2 trips, one that gets you from point A to B, and the other with fun side trips as time allows. Scouting the USGS maps for fun mountains to climb or ruins to explore can greatly reduce the urge to push through as hard and fast as possible just to get there. More ambitious members can hike a ridge after getting to the campsite, while others can set up the fire and enjoy their Schnapps. We had ambitious plans on the Alatna to hike the Arrigetch mountains; unfortunately we were slower to get out of the headwaters than anticipated and had to cancel those plans. We did a 20 mile day hike lower down looking for a hot spring that never materialized but it was still fun.

For more information about Alpine Fit and the adventure apparel and accessories we make in Achorage, Alaska check out our website