#lashing out

[momentsbeforemass]

Malice

(my annual PSA for people who are “winning” the debate, and losing their souls)

“Every man on earth is sick with the fever of sin, with the blindness of sin and is overcome with its fury. As sins consist mostly of malice and pride, it is necessary to treat everyone who suffers from the malady of sin with kindness and love.

This is an important truth, which we often forget. Very often we act in the opposite manner: we add malice to malice by our anger, we oppose pride with pride.

Thus, evil grows within us and does not decrease; it is not cured – rather it spreads.”

St. John of Kronstadt could well have written that today.

It’s easy to forget that the people we are reacting to, shouting down, lashing out at are, well, people.

Someone says something we disagree with. So we react and unload on them. With something demeaning, something degrading, something dehumanizing.

Without really thinking about it, “we add malice to malice.”

Or we rationalize that with the bile we’re copying and pasting, we’re just getting the truth out. Or just telling it like it is. Or just standing up for our rights.

In truth, we’re just fooling ourselves, while “we add malice to malice.”

The thing is, when we add malice to malice, it’s not a precision strike. We do just as much damage to ourselves as anyone else.

When we add malice to malice, “evil grows within us and does not decrease; it is not cured – rather it spreads.”

But what about all the wrong stuff that people say online? How do you ignore that? How can you not respond?

I checked with the bishop. He promised me that he did not commission you as the official responder to every wrong thing on the Internet.

But what if you just have to respond?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is clear. If we are His, then we are to be in the love of God, as God’s love is in us.

Which means what? That if we’re Christians in more than name, then we follow St. John’s advice. We “treat everyone who suffers from the malady of sin with kindness and love.”

Today’s Readings

[howifeltabouthim]

All thoughts of revenge are born of the pain of helplessness. I suffer becomes You will suffer.

Siri Hustvedt, from The Blazing World

[iwritewhump]

lashing out

day 8 of @whumptember

618 words

warnings: teenage whumpee, implied abuse, conditioned response, cursing

part one | part two | part three | part five | part six

---

Villain finally takes down Hero’s ‘we left, he’s with me now <3’ note off of the fridge and lays it on the counter, not quite ready to completely forget about what had happened only a month ago. He smiles softly and dials Hero’s number. 

Her voicemail runs and he nods along until the beep, “Hey, Hero! I’m just checking in on you and Vigilante. I know you’re keeping him safe and I don’t have anything to worry about, but I just want to talk with him if he wants to. Anyway…just get back to me, thanks!” 

He sets the phone on his table and swings the refrigerator door open and bends down to find something to eat. With a small, contented chuckle he grabs pizza from the shelf and takes a bite. 

Villain’s phone rings, Hero’s number is on the display. He smiles, sets the pizza down on a napkin and answers, “Hey! Glad you were able to-” 

“Villain?” someone whispers. 

After a moment, Villain recognizes the voice. Under the hoarseness and fear, it was Vigilante. “Vigilante? Are you alright? Where’s Hero?” 

Rustling comes from his end and Villain can tell he’s running. “I need you to come get me. I’m running to the lot behind the forest next to Hero’s base. Please.” 

“Y-yeah,” Villain stutters. “I’ll…I’m leaving right now. Hang tight.” 

Instead of an answer, the phone falls to the ground and Villain can hear as it crashes against something hard and breaks. Without wasting a second, Villain grabs his keys and jacket, pulling his jacket on as he runs down the stairs of his apartment building. 

He ignores the shouts from neighbors, and mutters apologies to the others in the hallway that he barrels past. The elevator goes too slow, so he gets off after two stories and flies down the barely used stairwell and makes it to his car in record time. 

The lot by Hero’s base has never been a welcoming place, and the sun going down and the new moon shining no light definitely didn’t help. Vigilante sits against a tree trunk with his knees drawn tightly to his chest, vigilantly searching for anything coming for him. 

By some miracle, he sees Villain’s car before he hears it, grateful that he took the time to take note of the keys in Villain’s coin dish by the front door. 

He almost laughs and stands up, stumbling to the middle of the lot where Villain parks the car. Villain steps out of the car and Vigilante collapses in his arms. 

“Thank you for coming,” he sobs. Villain cups the back of his head with a hand and uses the other to open the passenger door and guide him in. 

After buckling Vigilante, Villain pulls away and studies him in the low light. 

Bruises litter every inch of skin Villain can see. He has barely scabbed over cuts and scrapes. Swollen lip, black eye and a cut on his cheek where blood still trickles out. Villain reaches his hand out, pulling his jacket sleeve over his hand to wipe it away and Vigilante flinches back so aggressively that he hits his head on the headrest. 

“Oh my god,” he whispers. “What happened to you?” 

Vigilante stares up at him, eyes glazed over, and shakes his head. He pulls the door shut and hugs his knees to his chest. 

The ride back to Villain’s apartment is deathly quiet, Villain glances over at Vigilante every few seconds and every time he’s staring blankly forward. 

“Vigilante…”

“No.” he snaps. “No. You don’t get to ask.” pulling his knees closer to himself, he shakes his head. “It’s all your fault, you should’ve known. So you don’t get to fucking ask.” 

[crunchywhitepaper]

some of the voicelines i heard with soldier 76 is him trying to put the blame on someone else (coughs genji) but then puts the blame back on him and really, i see s76 struggling with what happened and lashing out but also filled with guilt of what happened even if it's not all because of him

now time to write s76 who doesnt want help because he had spent years not being with someone who cared for him and blaming himself for ow. lashing out in anger if the person persists and filled with guilt when the person leaves

lose lose situation for sad dad

[problematic-tip-centre]

Emphasis on number 3

Whump prompts I can’t get enough of:

1. The shifty and embarrassed look in a stoic leader’s eyes as they finally are forced to reveal an injury to their friends, reluctantly allowing themselves to be treated for the first time. The awkwardness as they strip, and/or lay down to be examined. The subtle fighting to maintain some choice or control ( would rather sit up, “I can do that myself thanks”) and so on.

2. The limp warmth of a Whumpee’s sleeping body as they are treated in the middle of the night. The change in their breathing as the covers are gently pulled back. The clumsiness of their movements as they flit in and out of sleep, sudden gasps or flinching as their wounds are tended. The caretaker’s whispers of comfort, hushing them back to sleep.

3. Whumpee lashing out in sudden rage at some petty action of another, before collapsing and breaking down in sobs. Everyone standing around awkwardly in shock, before caretaker goes in to grab whumpee in a crushing embrace, trying to calm their shaking.

4. Stoic whumpee being humiliated by Whumper. Orders like: ‘strip’, ‘face the wall’, ‘kneel’, ‘down on your hands and knees’, etc etc.

5. Slightly delusional whumpee being tied/held down for some potentially lifesaving procedure and quietly begging caretaker to stop, please please stop. Then more loudly, desperately, until they are crying out and fighting in a panic. Caretaker meanwhile is (1)staring at them in stoic silence while their heart is wrung with pity, or (2) they are quietly reassuring them, telling them it’s going to be alright.

Feel free to use as you like.

[shironezuninja]

Don’t make me any angrier than I already am. I still can’t get the “Single & Ready To Tingle” Spidey t-shirt from RedBubble, after getting unexplained automatic refunds twice.

[thearcher-2]

This Full Moon is seriously no joke… hope everyone is doing okay during this tough lunation. This energy is not easy at all. This is ending a cycle that started in April 2023. We are officially done with past shit that we don’t need anymore. We are about to enter a new chapter that will shift us into a much needed reality for everyone in the near future! This next coming year is the year that shit changes everything, just get ready…

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The instant that we heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.

"The Illustrated Sherlock Holmes Treasury" - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[doukyuusei-lover]

whenever i feel mad or feel like yelling i listen to music to block it all out, it works sometimes i guess but i never feel fulfilled. i still feel a little like lashing out.

———————————————————————— ?

08/31/24 ✿

[throwaway-settings]

what if..... tassos...... was a werewolf

[planetzambon]

[dumb-bitch-poetry]

i looked in my mind

theres a bullet in there

surround by bones

and blood

and hair

it was caught by a thought

much stronger than it

and it slid down my throat

to my mouth

then i spit

it shot from my teeth

i should have watched where i aimed

i never considered who else

it might maim

[hinamie]

take the blue line

[qoldenskies]

i think its so funny when people take the way donnie acts at face value even though its a horrible lie because he's a horrible liar, while understanding leo is bullshitting very well despite him actually being GOOD at bullshitting. many such cases

[lilybug-02]

*gasp* CT Frisk? In the year of our lord 2025?

Part 30 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

I had to use color in this one OKAY. It was basically mandatory.