#maybe they're agnostic

[spacebubblehomebase]

I will always love the idea that the Batfam all have different religions and yet can coexist with each other peacefully... At least in that regard. So many others cannot say the same.

Though it's probably also because they fight about every other thing that religion is far down the list of things to be worrying about.

More of my boy catholic Jason Todd.

Damian: Shouldn't you be at church?

Jason: Nah, I have a couple more sins to add up the list

Alfred: Pardon?

Jason: Nothing.

---

Penguin: Why don't finish this ridiculous charade? Aren't you're going to hell anyway?

Jason: Aren't you're getting your ass sended back to Arkham ever shitty crime you commit anyway and yet here we fucking are.

---

Damian petting the Batcow:

Jason: What she got?

Damian: She's sick.

Jason: Give me her name, I'll put her in my prayers.

Damian:

Damian: You seriously think God going to magically cure her?

Jason: No dumbass. It's saint– (pause) DICK WHO WAS THE SAINT THAT CURE ANIMALS AGAIN?

Dick (from the kitchen): SAINT FRANCIS

Jason: Saint Francis it's goings to magically cure her.

Damian: That's stupid.

Jason: You want the prayer or not.

Damian narrowing his eyes, immediately: Batcow.

[bonkalore]

Hi. I used to follow you long time ago. I was thinking about the songs you and your mom shared. It's weird. The songs people make for God are stupid simple. But they're supposed to be like that. God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the weak things to shame the strong. When I actually started seeking him myself I realized how beautiful and strange he is. He's better than I could've ever guessed and wants to give you every good thing. I'm sorry people make it hard to see.

I think you completely missed the point of the post and why the songs were shared and I'm not sure I want to bother explaining it to you. I won't get into religion much here, but while it's well and good if you find joy in it, but I don't see any love from the God preached to me and I don't think I ever did. I'm tired of my mom and other people trying to tell me of "God's love" when I grew up in that environment and only see a very jealous and hateful God who created humans to watch them fail. He himself described in the Christian bible makes it hard to see, and the people who spread bigotry don't help. I don't plan to argue this with anyone and anymore of it will result in a block. I don't want any part of it anymore. If that God exists, I think he sucks and should be begging for our forgiveness.

[rugessnome]

Unsuspecting city. Or city-park chronicler: hmmm I wonder if I could make a web domain about metroparks? Columbus, Ohio/Franklin County: Hi! I will be calling my park system Metro Parks and using the domain name metroparks dot net Unsuspecting park enthusiast: ...okay but that leaves some other options— Dayton, Ohio/Montgomery County: Hey! Yeah, okay yes my park system is CALLED Five Rivers Metroparks (it actually makes sense even if it doesn't make you think Dayton) but you can find it at metroparks dot org!! 😃 Unsuspecting park enthusiast or system: ... Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio: it's okay. we had to put our park systems online specifying the city! clevelandmetroparks dot com. metroparkstoledo dot com. 🙂 Detroit+Ann Arbor area: Hi Ohio. we will be using metroparks dot com thank you very much for noting this down 👍 Unsuspecting park enthusiast or system: ...well. if I can't do a url about metro parks, maybe I could still do it about how great parks are? nobody: Hamilton County, Ohio (contains Cincinnati): We are Great Parks of Hamilton County, distinct from City of Cincinnati Parks despite co-managing a couple of properties, and we are happy to let you know that you can find us at greatparks dot org! ... Butler County, Ohio (adjacent): yo, I know YOU aren't necessarily in Butler County but learn about our parks anyway at yourmetroparks dot net! ✌️

[lord-save-me]

Love how my indecisiveness crossed into my spirituality, like is there a God? Idk maybe

[hellenhighwater]

Why all the stars on stuff? Both in your house and in the sculptures.

It's true that I will take the thinnest possible excuse to make anything celestial themed; I will own up to that without shame.

I don't know if I can put it into words. Astronomy was a big part of my childhood--my dad was president of a local astronomy club and we spent a lot of summer nights at a little observatory in the middle of nowhere, chasing lightning bugs and watching supernovas. I learned to make model rockets and how to navigate from the North Star, and that the constellation of freckles on my left arm was only three stars short of Orion. That feeling of warm wind over the fields, the serenity and wonder of staring skywards, will never quite leave me.

But also, as an agnostic person, there's something about the stars that I find so hopeful and isolating all at once. As far as we know, we are the only things in the universe that look at the stars and wonder what other worlds may wait. The cataclysmic power of infinite suns, and none of them wondering if they are alone. The endurance of billions of years of time and space and the eons of distance light has crossed to meet our eyes, looking upwards into darkness, telling stories that turn the nuclear fury of distant galaxies into nothing more than the memorial of a human hunter. Pinpricks of light that will outlive the entirety of our species, named only on our breath. They're a tether to every one of our ancestors, who looked up into the field of diamonds and marveled, and every one who will come after. A star is the ultimate proof that creation and destruction are inexorably intertwined, that utter failure and collapse is not an ending, that light continues on.

In the emptiness between them is the persistent promise of entropy. The reminder that life, for all its glories, is finite, and darkness is not. The warning to savor what hope crosses the deep oceans of universe to reach us, because even that will not last forever. Entropy, the great hunter, will lay stars and souls down in the same grave someday, and all things will end no matter how we fight it. There is a comfort in knowing that whatever awaits us past the final flicker of life spares nothing, not a single cell or a galaxy entire, all of us entering the great mystery together.

We, the stargazers, are the cosmic elite--we alone look out at the universe, which, for all its splendor and vastness, has no eyes to gaze back at us. We alone have the privilege of sapience, not only to exist in the whirl of fireflies in the endless night, but to know it, to get to revel in its beauty, for the momentary flicker of our existence. And still there is hope that we are not alone; that the universe is so incomprehensibly enormous that the statistical impossibility of existence has occurred more than once; that maybe someone else out in the beyond is assigning meaning to our sun.

[bixbythemartian]

walrus vs. fairy

the funny part is that people who answer walrus are mostly like 'I disagree, but I understand why you would answer fairy' and the people who answered fairy are tearing their hair out. some of them are getting mad and/or mean about it, which is kind of upsetting.

so, I will try to help explain.

this will not be about walrus logistics, I promise.

some people believe in fairies. full stop.

fully believe they are real. probably a lot more people than you would be happy about, but you have to allow for this to be true.

even among those who don't wholeheartedly believe in fairies, there's a lot more people who are agnostic about fairies.

people willing to admit that they're not sure if fairies are real, but willing to hedge on the side of maybe the fairies are real.

like, if you rephrased the question 'would you be more surprised to see an angel or a walrus at your door' you would probably be less surprised to see that people would be more shocked at the walrus, because you probably already understand that a lot of people believe in angels and consider them real, whether or not you believe in angels personally

also the SPN fandom would go ham on that, probably. (this is said with deep affection)

there was a fairly famous road built in Ireland that got rerouted because there was a bush that was important to fairies. (source) the fairy tree stalled the plans for the road for a fucking decade. this happened in my lifetime. people talked about it happening on the internet as it was happening, it's not some weird thing that happened in the middle of nowhere in the 1950s or something. they agreed to go around the damned bush in 1999. I know that seems a long time ago to some of y'all, but it really, really isn't.

there are still people who think the cottingley fairies were real. not a huge amount, but I hope enough to make my point- there's some people who believe in fairies so much and want them to be real so much that they think a famous prank (hoax is stretching it, imo, these girls were pranking their families and the press kind of coincidentally got involved) proves the existence of fairies.

there's a lot, lot, lot more people who believe in fairies and also will admit the cottingley fairies weren't real. the cottingley fairy truthers are a small a percentage of the people who believe in fairies.

I cannot emphasize enough that there are plenty of people who believe fairies are real and even more that could be very easily convinced that fairies are real

people have believed in fairies and been superstitious about fairies for a long, long fucking time

setting aside all of that

some people are more likely to see a thing that isn't real at their door than they are to see a living fucking walrus at their door.

fevers, migraines, mental stress, sleep deprivation (especially if you have sleep disorders, like insomnia or narcolepsy), and infection (among a very long list of other things), and prescription medication side effects can all cause visual hallucinations, and they're all states that you might not be aware that you're in when you start to see weird shit.

these are just the really mundane ones I plucked up off the list.

I have experienced hallucinations due to sleep dep and insomnia. unfortunately, for me, this manifested as a spider the size of a border collie (I wish I were joking) and not fairies, but fairies is a possibility that cannot be counted out.

I'm way more likely to have sleep deprivation and a migraine and a fever all at once than I am to see a walrus in person at a zoo, much less at my door.

it has happened before. it will happen again. it's happening right fucking now.

the fairies can have my birth name if they will take away my migraine.

just putting that out there.

I've never seen a walrus in person at all. I would like to, but it's not likely. there's not any in any of the zoos nearby that I could find.

current likelihood of me seeing a fairy on my doorstep is significantly higher than me seeing a fucking walrus. I am in a physical state where I have had visual hallucinations before, and it's not impossible I will have them again. I would not be particularly surprised, even.

as long as it's not the goddamn massive spider. I even like most spiders, but that is too much spider.

[limeade-l3sbian]

Regarding the "stop treating your non radfem female friends like they’re idiots and stop being an asshole to them" post

Do you have any tips on how to deal with this mentality?? Because I hear my sister going "I dress to look pretty and sexy, not to be comfortable" and then I hear the music my cousin listens to and how it's all about men calling women whores and just wanting to fuck them, and then I see my friend just COVERING her face with makeup to the point she doesn't go swimming or to ride bikes with me because "she will be sweaty and her makeup will fade" and on and on and on and jesus christ do they not hear themselves??? Am I crazy for pointing out just how much self harm they're doing? How sad that is? I can't stop feeling pity for them, that they're so lost and I can't help and I just can't deal with their ideas and since I know I won't be able to change their minds I just want to cut ties with all of them because I can't keep seeing that shitshow

It's important to remember how differently people are raised. My best example is religion. I grew up Christian, but my mom was in no way forceful about this. And when I started to question/doubt, I was given the space to explore these ideas before coming to terms with my agnostic beliefs. There was no real consequence to my drastic change in beliefs. Some of my family was irked by this, but it didn't matter at that point.

Now say I have a friend who grew up in a family or surroundings that are deeply tied to Christianity. I mean, the most patriarchal form of it where she's talking about wanting to have babies (plural) at 18 and is only interested in talking about finding a husband and being a mother. Mind you, her religious community has given her warnings about nonbelievers and how they will try to corrupt or bring her away from the thing she has invested her self worth into. Without this God, her family and friends will turn on her.

What change am I really making by harassing her when we are alone? How do I know she isn't already having doubts? Does me rolling my eyes and coming down on her going to make her want to look into these potential thoughts of doubt more, or will she tie these thoughts of doubt in with the shame I make her feel? Will I be surprised when she starts to resent me for not considering her situation? Even if I am annoyed by these things, how I helping her by attacking her?

And maybe she isn't having doubts at all! Maybe she is 100% on board with this life that has been sold to her. Well, now she cuts me off because I have become the person her community has warned her about.

I don't attack her. Because she is my friend and a person who has life than me. So what do I do? This is someone I deeply care about and I want to "save" her. First and foremost, I cannot "save" her. I am not her savior just because I have a broader perspective. She's heard arguments against her religion and it only brings her closer. But how can I get her to at least consider a different way of thinking?

It's the same shit I did with my grandmother that made her angry with me: I just ask questions. I question even the most basic things that she has believed without ever having questioned it. And after a while, I start suggesting things for her to question. Those who want control of individuals will always discourage questioning. I am not needlessly rude about it. I just ask simple things. That's how I left the church. I had the environment that would not punish me for asking questions. So I kept asking, and for frustrated when no one would give me an answer.

This might not even change a damn thing. But no amount of personal ideology will ever be as strong as just getting someone to ask questions. And even if she starts to ask questions, she may not be in a situation where she can just up and leave.

Empathy is the name of the game, anon. You can't "save" everyone. But you can question everything.

[frownyalfred]

(I apologize in advance about the numbers of questions… I really hope u don’t mind lol)

Did Martha practice her religion? Was she more observant or secular? Was she Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform? Which Jewish groups was she part of: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, or maybe a mix? How did her family feel about her marriage to Thomas? Were they religious too, perhaps a bit stricter?

What about the Waynes (Thomas) being Christians? Were they religious as well? I've read that Thomas is sometimes described as Episcopalian and other times as Catholic. Martha is even considered Christian in some versions.

Do you think that despite their religious differences, they still celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah together? And after their deaths, do you think Bruce continues to celebrate those holidays?

Finally, when asked about his religion, what do you think Bruce would answer? Was he agnostic, atheist, Jewish, Christian? What does he consider himself to be?

Again I’m so sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm genuinely really curious about your take <3

Rapid-fire thoughts below, with the caveat that 1) I am just one Jew 2) we are famous for disagreeing and having wildly different takes on the same things 3) just because I'm hc'ing it this way doesn't mean you have to, too.

Did Martha practice her religion? Define "practice" -- Judaism is an ethnoreligious group. It also doesn't require explicit belief in God to practice certain traditions, which may be viewed as secular or observant depending on the context. I.e., is observing Shabbat by baking challah every week an example of her being observant? Good question.

Was she more observant or secular? Probably more secular, going off of her social class. But again, that's a loaded term in this community.

Was she Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform? Strict Reform or Conservative, in my mind.

Which Jewish groups was she part of: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, or maybe a mix? Ashkenazi, going off of 1) Jewish immigration trends in the 19th and 20th centuries and 2) her family's history in Gotham.

How did her family feel about her marriage to Thomas? If they were more observant, they probably weren't pleased she wasn't marrying someone who was also Jewish. But her kids would be Jewish regardless of who she married, so that helps a little.

Were they religious too, perhaps a bit stricter? Probably. It again kind of depends on how you define "religious" and "stricter." It's different for Judaism than it is for Christians.

What about the Waynes (Thomas) being Christians? Very likely.

Were they religious as well? I've read that Thomas is sometimes described as Episcopalian and other times as Catholic. Martha is even considered Christian in some versions. Again, going off social class of the Wayne family, probably no more or less religious than their cohort.

Do you think that despite their religious differences, they still celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah together? I think this question is a very common (but understandable) misconception about blended interfaith families. The big Jewish holidays that might still be celebrated next to Christian ones are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. Hanukkah, while delightful and often in winter near Christmas, is a minor festival in comparison. The better question is, did they do holidays from both religions at all? Did they only celebrate the major Christian ones? If they did add in 1-2 Jewish ones, which ones did Martha fight for?

And after their deaths, do you think Bruce continues to celebrate those holidays? No, I think they're too painful and probably get in the way of his belief system(s). This changes when he has kids in the Manor.

Finally, when asked about his religion, what do you think Bruce would answer? What does he consider himself to be? Was he agnostic, atheist, Jewish, Christian? None of the above. Probably cautiously agnostic if you press. But he would be considered halachically Jewish regardless of what he answered (unless he got baptized etc) so that's tricky.

[luneemeritus]

I've made a very old post about Erik headcanons and I decided to write down another one. This is for a modern AU.

I will use all pronouns for Erik (read the post for explanation). This is mostly Leroux-based, original deformity, skinny body, yellow skin, except he has hair.

There will be triggering headcanons (it's Erik) and a little NSFW in the end, it will all be warned.

「Modern Erik headcanons」

• Romantic Goth

• His favorite goth band is London After Midnight (something something self projecting)

• He is also a very eclectic person

• AMAB Gender fluid (HE/SHE/THEY)

• Bi/pansexual (he identifies as both)

• Their favorite colors are red and black

• Their favorite novel is Bram Stoker's Dracula

• loves flowers, her favorite is black Perfect-love

• loves greek mythology, specially the myth of Hades and Persephone

• Theatre kid

• Does drag performances, her name is Phantasma

• Monsterfucker. Because yes

• He's an anarchist

• Autistic

• BPD

• Agnostic

• Has social anxiety

• Sleeps hugging pillow, one in the arm and one between the legs

• Doesn't know how to act when someone praises them, he almost cries

• 100% little spoon

• Is currently dating Daroga 🏳️‍🌈

「TW: TRAUMA RESPONSE, S/H, TYPICAL SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ERIK BEHAVIOUR, TOXIC ERISTINE」

• used to blame himself for being "mentally broken"

• has constant nightmares, wakes up screaming, sweating and struggling

• has PTSD

• has scars all over his body. He tries to hide all of them with his clothes

• used to do self harm. Like isolating himself, not eating properly, not sleeping properly, not taking care of their own physical and mental health (1/4)

• when his relationship with Christine was going terrible (Erik's fault), the self-harm tendencies got worse (2/4)

• he went to therapy and distanced himself from Christine. Daroga is helping them, and he stopped the self-harm (3/4)

• she and Christine got closer again after some years. Christine forgave them and now they're friends (4/4)

「NSFW」

• has sensitive nipples 🫣

• LOVES bites, specially on his neck

• loves toys (specially dildos), he loves using on himself and his partner

• cuddle sex>>>>> 💖

• cried of emotion during his first time 🥺 (... also screamed, drooled, trembled and farted, it was very awkard)

• switch

• they dated Christine and she used to pegg him 👀

That's it. Maybe I'll do with Daroga next

[gayferrari]

lost days of June director’s commentary pls! fic that lives in my mind rent free

lost days of June. Carlos/Charles, alpha/alpha, hate sex

“I’ve never done this.” Carlos presses his lips to Charles’s throat and licks the skin there. He doesn’t bite him again, but he could. “Never met an alpha who was enough of a whore to beg for my knot.”

omggg Jo thank you!! that fic was so breezy to write. I was feeling high on the drama of Spain 24 (which. in hindsight. was the moment that made me a full-on charlos shipper ops) and I saw the kinkmeme prompt and it just came together in like 2 days.

Title from Evening by Joseph Brodsky. We are wholly alone in the evening gloom / And my fingers are warm like the lost days of June.

I was (and still am!) so stunned at the reception this fic got. Authors I admire commented on it and I started talking to so many people because of it, and I'll always be very fond of it because of that.

More thoughts under the cut!

Prompted after Barcelona 2024. Bitchin. After a bad race, charlos have a fight in private. Somehow, this ends with Carlos fucking the annoying out of Charles.

The prompt made me RUN because I think non-traditional omegaverse dynamics work so well for so many F1 ships with the push/pull of their vibes. charlos have that in spades. I'm very a/b/o orientation agnostic (I could buy any combination of alpha/omega/beta for most of my ships) but there's something about, "they are both alphas and they fuck about it" that immediately went to my brain. It's So reflective of all the things I like about their RPF dynamic

BITCHING (omegaverse au) — the moment when an alpha bites an alpha or alpha-like beta; usually causes instinctive submission/appeasement in the one who was bitten.

I've said this yesterday but F1 was my first time writing omegaverse at all and I still struggle with it because so many of the tropes don't come naturally to me — the amount of times I reread my own fics like "they are supposed to smell each other! write more smells!!" — and somehow, that made it easier to write all the dirty talk. Is a/b/o bitching real? Does getting bitten change you fundamentally? <- none of that matters they're just talking shit and getting turned on and having nasty sex

He looks at Joris again. They’ve barely exchanged five sentences since the season started; they all started with ‘Charles says’.

When considering AUs where charlos are fucking on the down low I'm always like. Do their respective entourages know? What do they make of it? Not that Carlos cares here. Hiiii Joris. Bye Joris.

Rereading this now, I'm not sure I got the post-Spain charlos vibes right, even filtered through omegaverse smut, but I definitely got the fandom vibes right. It's one of those fics where if anyone finds it 2 years from now they'll be able to tell exactly when it was written, down to the week on the race calendar, and I think that's kinda cool.

Also rereading this: I think I nailed the vibe I was going for! My idea was, like, that moment when you're in a push-and-pull kind of vibe with someone and it can be fun and sexy, but then suddenly the friction becomes nasty (teammate says mean things about you in the press) and all the things about that person that you used to find charming become absolutely fucking unbearable. That's what Carlos's POV is like in this fic. He's reached a saturation point and now they're fucking and sucking and calling each other names.

“Well?” Charles says, impatient. He’s looking at his nails. “Say what you have to and be on your way. I am sure you have things to do. It is your home race, after all.”

You can TELL I had so much fun with their shortly-lived bitchy beef <3 Week of all time. I cannot be blamed for making it into porn where Charles gets bitten and turns into a sexed-up horny mess

or maybe he's just roleplaying at it to have an excuse to go along with something they both want while pretending he doesn't. Same for Carlos's "tell me you're into this or I bite you and who knows what'll happen next?" <- probably nothing. They're both aware of it. But they're into pretending it does :3

In better times when they're not actually angry at each other they're gonna do SO much alpha/omega roleplay. This is so important to me. Charlos dynamic where they're both alphas and play around with omegaverse designation roleplay in a very inexperienced gross raw way is THEE a/b/o fuckbuddies evolution of their whole vibe

There's a lot of dialogue in this fic that makes me go "ok maybe this was a bit too much" but HEY, I am writing tropey porn, and it was so fun to write that I stand by it wholeheartedly. Seminal lines like

“A little bitch like you, have you ever been fucked?” Charles’s face is red. Like this, out of sorts and horny out of his mind, he can’t deny what he really wants. “Yes,” he spits out. “What, did you want to be my first?”

that make me go. WOW. Marie Kondo I LOVE MESS.gif.

Anyway. Carlos after will tell himself that Charles was lying. Charles is not lying. They will have jealous sex about that too.

The ending of the fic where they're like. Oh this hate sex was so gross. We should totally do it again <3 <- that's romance. To me.

THANK YOU for making me revisit this fic, it was so much fun! Happy halloween <333

[ominous-feychild]

I have a Problem in that I love to over-explain things even when I don't need to.

Especially when I don't need to. 😭

On that note! I'm working on my introduction post again (take a guess how many times I've gone to work on it and then stopped) and I went too in-depth when I should really be focusing on making it shorter, haha.

Except... I don't want to get rid of what I've written, and still want to share it.

SOLUTION!

My Obsessions:

✦ Fantasy, horror, mystery, action, and exploration of realistic characters' reactions to the things they go through.

What I write tends to be a reflection of this. My main works are high fantasies placed in what I feel is a more realistic setting--not as in grimdark "realistic", but places that are very used to the existence of magic. Someone who's grown up in a place with magical basically-electricity shouldn't spend five pages fawning over the existence of teleporters. Maybe they'll be surprised. Maybe they'll even be impressed. But unless they have some kind of a special interest in the subject, they'll probably spend more time thinking about how convenient it'll be for them rather than how it works, what it means, and the long, long history of magic... which has been around them for their whole life.

✦ Fairy tales, mythology, and folklore

I called myself "ominous-feychild" for a reason, haha. I like horror, I love fantasy, I adore faeries, and dear god--am I in LOVE with putting them all together! In folklore, faeries weren't cute little pixies that helped everyone around them... or even tiny little pixies that annoyed everyone around them (most of the time). They were the things that went "bump" in the night, that you huddled in close with your loved ones when you thought you might've caught their attention... Or, they made you question if your sister's eyes were always that far apart. Wait, was your bedroom there before? Did... did you even have a sister??? Well, you do now. And you might want to start running.

✦ "Ye Olde History" and language

"Ye Olde" meaning "the further away from modern day, the better." I can appreciate steampunk and actually often implement it into my own writing, but I do not consider Victorian England to be old. Civilization has been tracked back to as early as 4000 BCE, and it's way too easy to google that to think history actually started when Jesus was put on the cross. (Note: I am a merciless agnostic and hate what Christianity did to our world's history. So much was erased just because some bigots thought "stupid people don't think and act exactly like me, they're clearly barbaric! Time to erase their entire culture, massacre their people, and/or destroy their creations! Empathy be damned!!!" Fuck Christianity. To any Christians reading this, I don't mean you--just your religion. But you have to admit, it really sucks.)

✦ DIVERSITY!!!

As I just alluded to, I love learning about things that are unlike me. And, even more than that, I love people feeling like they have a place they belong. I've gone most of my life feeling ostracized, I'm not just going to perpetrate that cycle myself. Besides! It gets exhausting being in echo chambers with the same-old white cishet stories all the time.

✦ Explorations of "evil-coded" characters and abilities--aka, not just showing them as evil. Show them as people (for characters) and tools (for abilities)!

This is actually kind of personal to me. Autism and other disabilities have historically most often been relegated to villains because we're somehow "worse" than everyone else. Even I fell into that trap in the past, accidentally making a villain autistic-coded before I got my diagnosis. Now, I love putting people with questionable traits, powers, and backstories on the good side while the typically "good" things end up as villains. Something something, humans want freedom and freedom is chaos, something something, order is forcing things into boxes they might not particularly fit in because "otherwise, where else would they go???"

✦ Learning!!!

This might be weird, but I have a genuine love for just learning! (Not school, just learning.) I go down rabbit holes researching things all the time--and not just for writing! Obviously two of my favorite subjects are history and language, but I also love earth science and the ways our planet regulates itself to try to maintain balance! (And then we humans screw it up but.) Even in general, I love learning about random things, so if you ever have a weird infodump you really want to share, feel free to tag me in it and I'll check it out!!!

Yeah, by the way, this is linked to my actual intro post!

Divider by @cafekitsune

[greatwyrmgold]

Another "The Problem of Susan" post

As you may know:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was not a standalone book. There were seven books in the series, each with more Christian allegory than the last.

(Or maybe it's not allegory? Apparently C.S. Lewis has said that Aslan is literally Jesus, so maybe it's all literally just Christianity.)

The series stars the four Pevensie siblings who show up in most of the books—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. They're absent from The Silver Chair and The Magician's Nephew, but all appear together in the other five books, with one exception.

The last book, called The Last Battle, features Peter, Edmund, and Lucy, but not Susan. Not only does Susan not appear, she's mentioned exactly once:

"Sir," said Tirian, when he had greeted all these. "If I have read the chronicles aright, there should be another. Has not your Majesty two sisters? Where is Queen Susan?" "My sister Susan," answered Peter shortly and gravely, "is no longer a friend of Narnia." "Yes," said Eustace, "and whenever you've tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says 'What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.'" "Oh Susan!" said Jill, "she's interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up." "Grown-up, indeed," said the Lady Polly. "I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can." "Well, don't let's talk about that now," said Peter. "Look! Here are lovely fruit trees. Let us taste them."

(Oh yeah, the kids were kinds and queens of Narnia for a few decades when they were kids. Don't think about it too much.)

The Problem of Susan gets even worse because right at the end of the book, Aslan reveals that the Pevensies, their parents, and other Earth-humans who went to Narnia (like the Eustace and Polly mentioned above) died right before coming to Narnia this last time. And now that the Book of Revelations is done, they will live forever in "the true Narnia," which is either an allegory for Revelation's New Jerusalem or literally heaven, I'm not sure which.

Susan is still not there.

So, the first part of the Problem of Susan is that a formerly major character—one that many young fans of the series felt attached to—who gets all but dropped from the finale. This is particularly egregious, since—this is a direct quote— "Everyone you had ever heard of (if you knew the history of those countries) seemed to be there" by the end. Every character from the entire series, from Mr. Tumnus the faun to that cab driver who became the first King of Narnia, it makes sense in context.

But not Susan.

And I guess that makes sense in context, too; she's not dead. But C.S. Lewis wrote the context. It was C.S. Lewis's decision to kill off the other Pevensies, and C.S. Lewis's decision to keep Susan out of this last adventure.

Christian Apologetics, for Kids!

I've seen three common responses to The Problem of Susan from overly-protective fans of the series.

The first is, perhaps unsurprisingly, just a remix of shit fundamentalist Christians say about Heaven and Hell. Just as agnostics will burn in the fires of hell for their ambiguous faith, so Susan will be barred from "the true Narnia" for being less allegorically(?) pious than her siblings.

Speaking as an ex-Christian, I could write a whole series of posts about why that's fucked-up and wrong. But I will instead remain on topic and recommend you read basically any atheist blog from the early '10s; that eternal damnation/salvation shit is low-hanging fruit for guys who want to make fun of fundies.

Second, you have people who see Susan as materialistic, caring so much about "nylons and lipstick and invitations." First off, nothing in the text suggests she was maliciously materialistic, or greedy, or anything else that would merit getting kicked out of Narnia. Second, the text just...does not support this reading. Susan's sin isn't greed, it's growing up too fast.

Third are the people who agree with the text; Susan "always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up." This has textual support, and not just from the one page in The Last Battle that mentions her. The problem is, of course, that this isn't a sin worthy of punishment either.

(Zeroth: Susan spent decades as a queen of Narnia, but since because the books want us to think that that wouldn't have any real impact on the kids, we will continue not thinking about it too much.)

With that out of the way: Wanting to be older than you are is fine, wanting to be younger than you are is fine, wanting to be the age you are is great. There is nothing inherently wrong with either wanting to be treated as a grown-up or seeking the joy of youth. It can lead to bad behavior, but none of that is described in the actual text of The Last Battle.

Susan is described as misremembering the fantastical adventures the Pevensies had as children, and wanting to be a young adult for as long as possible. Who. Cares.

It seems like C.S. Lewis puts an unreasonably high premium on the innocence of childhood. (This has what I consider to be unfortunate implications when combined with his advocacy of blind faith in The Silver Chair, but that's a topic for another ramble.) This is, I feel, ridiculous. It's fine to seek the joy of youth, but to treat losing that joy as some kind of mortal sin is absurd! Treating the loss of innocence as an inevitable tragedy is one thing; treating it as something worth punishing a kid for if they stumble into it too quickly is horrific.

(And it's really hard to not think about that time Susan was a literal monarch. Well, there were four of them, so I guess she was more of a tetrarch? Whatever.)

Anyways. The fourth response is to point to things C.S. Lewis said after publishing The Last Battle. And I'm going to discuss that.

Contrite-over-Susan Lewis

Unfortunately, I can't find the actual quotes by C.S. Lewis, not in the time I'm willing to spend researching a Tumblr post about a book that was old when my parents were young. But C.S. Lewis has acknowledged the problem of Susan.

The gist of what he said is that he's not happy that Susan's story is incomplete, but writing her redemption arc would put the story into a whole different genre, and that's no good.

My first problem is, of course, the idea that Susan needed to change to be worthy of Narnia. So what if she was always the most skeptical Pevensie? So what if she wanted to grow up? So what if she likes nylons and lipstick and invitations? If the Susan we see in the other books isn't worthy of the true Narnia, that's Lewis's problem, not Susan's.

The second is that C.S. Lewis never wrote that book. Lewis would say that it's out of step with the rest of the series, that the tone would be off, but so is The Last Battle to anyone not drowning in Armageddon-lust. And it's not like character arcs are foreign to the series, either. There are plenty of examples of kids from our Earth going to Narnia and having it change their worldview or attitude. They're mostly small subplots, but elevating a Susan character arc to a booklong undercurrent would not be that much of a divergence.

And even if Lewis committed himself to only writing seven books for numerological reasons—well, first off, he probably could have cut one of the other books. A Horse and his Boy is neat, but depicting the lives of ordinary Narnians during a dramatic time probably should have taken a back seat to a character arc you think is required for her to join the finale. Anyways, he could have written the Susan character arc as a subplot in Prince Caspian or Voyage of the Dawn Treader if he tried.

But he didn't try.

Conclusion

C.S. Lewis supposedly said that Susan was his favorite character, the one he saw the most of himself in. If true, that is not reflected in The Last Battle.

Lewis set some arbitrary conditions Susan would have to meet to join her siblings at the end—at the climax of the entire series, arguably the most important event in Narnian history since the world's creation. He then chose not to write anything that would let Susan meet those conditions, left her out of the last book, and left it ambiguous as to whether she'd ever see her siblings in paradise.

I don't think this would be quite so egregious if Susan was at least mentioned more. Again, Susan is never mentioned before Tirian asks where she is, nor after Peter decides to taste some fruit. She gets three and a half paragraphs where her brother and "friends" bitch about her, and that's that. They make fun of her for growing up and liking nylons and lipstick, then they decide to eat fruit, end of chapter, end of Susan.

It's like the characters don't give a shit about Susan. They're not angry, they're not disappointed, they're not confused. They state a few things about Susan when directly asked, then move on, like these are just facts about some fictional character and not the reasons they're estranged from a sibling or longtime friend. Heck, the younger Pevensies don't even bother to speak up! They don't care!

And if the characters don't care about the formerly important character—important both to the story and, more importantly, to them—why should I think the author did?

[alexanderwales]

I had mentioned earlier that I had a story kicking around about people going to the past and staying there (stranded due to the time travel mechanism). It's mostly meant to be a story about feeling alienated and wanting to drop out of society, back to some imagined (or possibly real) better time where you'd have actual opportunities. It's about four people who have this goal, who are pooling resources, buying the equipment they'll need to get settled, reading history books, training themselves in skills, testing themselves on culture and language, etc. But really it's about these people and their disaffection and motivations and stuff.

So here's a problem with this story: when and where are they going to?

The story is meant to take place in the present, or the near-future present where they have time travel and it has not actually changed much in terms of alienation. This is a story that's about the present more than it's about the past, a time travel story about preparing to time travel and leave it all behind, scifi only because I love scifi, since you could do the same story about people wanting to go to ... I don't know, France or something.

In one sense it's immaterial, but in another sense, it's very material. It sets the vibes. If they're Americans going to Edo Japan, then the story would be mixing in all kinds of exoticism readings, and I think the first impression would be that this is delusion, no matter how much they're thinking it through and planning it. If they're going to colonial America, then they might read as colonizers, or if they go with the intent of shaping the future history of America, they read as crusaders. The impulse works without any set destination, but I don't think I could write the story while also being agnostic about where it is they're going.

And because I want the world to feel rich and lived in, they're not just doing this in a vacuum. No, there needs to be a whole culture of people who are retreating into the past, bloggers and vloggers and influencers and thinkpieces. It says something different about you if you're going to one of the places that has a lot of interest and resources, even if, because of the way time travel works, you'll end up on a different branch of history from all the other people who go there. A culture of people dreaming of a different time and place, sharing language tips with each other and showing off the equipment they're taking, posting the media library they're carrying with them, all that kind of thing. Or alternately, you pick an obscure time and place, maybe because it's meaningful to you, but maybe also because you don't want to be one of those toxic people who have picked Tudor England or whatever.

I don't know that I'll actually write this story, but it might be one of those ones that I do a bunch of "research" for because I like doing research. The only issue is picking a time and place that I think this group of people would want to go, and figure out what that says about them.

[ynhart]

Can we hear more about the Catholic profundity in Brideshead Revisited? I read the novel years ago, but maybe it's time for a reread, because I don't think I picked up the full extent of the believers' nuance.

Hello!

I'm not an expert at analysing books but this is what I got from it, from my catholic pov.

SPOILERS

We're introduced to this wealthy english family that has rich catholic heritage:

Lord Marchmain: he converted to Catholicism to marry Lady Marchmain, but then separated bc of adultery.

Lady Marchmain: a very devout catholic whose seen as a Saint by her community, except her own children as she seems very strict, controlling and lacks warmth.

Their children:

Bridey: also a very devout catholic but very distant with people and lacks that warmth and joy.

Sebastian and Julia, who despite having a deep understanding about their faith and believing it's True, they constantly try to escape from it, falling in sin.

Cordelia: the most pious and devoted one.

When reading about these characters and their shenanigans the first thought that came to my mind was literally "wow they're such a mess... such bad catholics..." but in reality, that's how it is in real life. We see that the Church is formed by people with varying levels of devotion and piety and struggle with sin in some form or another.

However, as Cordelia says, "God won't let them go for long, you know." Which culminates in that deathbed confession scene, where Lord Marchmain confesses before dying, Julia is brought back to her faith, and even agnostic Charles ends up believing, all having experienced God's Grace at that moment.

Despite the sins these characters committed and the desire to constantly run away from God, they end up returning, because they know the Truth deep in their heart, be it by their upbringing, but most importantly by God's Sacraments and Grace, the "unseen hook" that God catches all of us with and brings us to Him.

The most beautiful message religious-wise in this book to me is that even though we might fall again and again, God's mercy and grace is SO powerful that we can come back to Him. He will still be there, waiting. I loved that last part in which Charles revisits the family's chapel after all those years, it is described that the red flame next to the tabernacle was still lit. Even after all the decay, problems, sins, war, etc. there's still Hope.

[lokeanwelcomingcommittee]

hi! This is sort of a weird ask, and I get it if you can’t/don’t want to answer, but:

ive been drawn towards Norse polytheism for a while now, but up until recently I just read the eddas and called myself a fan. But a little bit ago something? Clicked? And now I’m having this mini internal battle of wanting to become lokean and also the problem that because of past religious trauma (thank you, Catholic Church!) I am unable to fully believe in the presence/existence of any deity. It’s hard for me to, if I get past that, trust them, as well. And so I ask you this: in your opinion, can I still practice Norse paganism even though a part of myself doesn’t believe? I know that it’s a personal thing, and that it’s really up to me, but do you think it’s still valid, even though I’m still in doubt of the gods’ existence?

I do feel a connection with Loki, and part of me wants to believe. But I don’t know it I can.

-a conflicted anon

Hi Nonny,

The only active mod has been on hiatus for personal reasons, but since you've sent this a couple times now and apparently haven't been able to find other community in the interim, I'll throw out a quick response. Again, I would urge you to find other folks to bounce this stuff off of, both because there are people out there with way more spoons than me atm and because lots of varied perspectives are good. Pagans are, for the most part, very anti-proselytization and would not try to pressure you into a path you weren't sure about, and Norse paganism doesn't have the equivalent of Christian hell in the sense that you don't get eternally punished for believing the wrong thing.

So, on that note, Norse paganism focuses way more on action than belief. I know multiple Heathens who identify as atheistic, and I deeply respect them and their contributions. I see myself as agnostic, personally. I worship regularly, even though the blog is quiet, but I can't know and don't much care if these gods exist outside of human imagination.

For me, it's not about being right about metaphysical things that can never be empirically proven. It's a framework for finding meaning. It's a framework to establish personal ethics for interacting with others and stewarding the planet we live on. It's an outlet to express joy and awe at what life has to offer. It's a way to find like-minded people. Maybe the gods are out there, maybe they're just an extension of us, but regardless, all of the above has a real, material impact on the world in the way we live our lives.

If you can believe in that, then that's justification enough to explore it. If it's not for you, you can always stop. I hope you find contentment on your journey, wherever it may lead.

-Mod E

[fictionadventurer]

I have a friend to whom I introduced the Regina Doman books, and she's looking for something to fill a similar niche now. Do you have any recommendations?

I'm not sure how far the introduction to Regina Doman's books went, but if she's just read the Fairy Tale Novels, the first expansion I can suggest is the John Paul II High Series, a multi-author contemporary teen series she created about a group of six teens who make up the entire student body of a brand-new Catholic charter school. They represent a broad range of the Catholic experience, from the Latin Mass traditionalist to a charismatic to an agnostic whose mother just sent her there for safety after a school shooting. Doman wrote the first book, Catholic, Reluctantly, and other authors wrote the later books. They're nowhere near the level of the Fairy Tale Novels, but they do hit that FTN niche of modern-day teens struggling to live out their Catholic faith while also getting entangled with creepy criminal conspiracies.

The next author who came to mind was Doman's friend and neighbor (and real-life inspiration for Paul Fester), Ben Hatke. The Zita the Spacegirl and Mighty Jack series, his science-fantasy middle-grade graphic novels, are a very different subgenre, but they maintain a Christian worldview and are full of fun and adventure in a way that fits in with Doman's work.

Another, possibly too obvious, suggestion is to recommend she read Chesterton and other authors recommended by the characters in the Fairy Tale Novels. Chesterton particularly has a similar blend of fun, adventure and darkness. The Father Brown stories probably have the atmosphere that most reminds me of the Fairy Tale Novels.

The author whose work strikes me as most similar to Doman's is Meriol Trevor's Letzenstein Chronicles . This is a middle-grade Ruritanian series about a girl from 1840s England who finds out she's related to the royalty of a tiny principality roughly where real-life Luxembourg exists, and gets entangled in the political intrigue between the duke's son and his evil cousin. There's a similar blend of Catholicism and adventure, particularly with one character who feels like he could have been a Sacra Cor member.

Branching out a little further, I can suggest Rumer Godden as an author who explores modern-day Catholicism with some exquisite character work. I've read and enjoyed The Kitchen Madonna and An Episode of Sparrows, and though they're both middle-grade works, they might appeal to someone who likes works that are drawing from a similar tradition to the one Doman was working from.

I'm sure there are authors and works I'm forgetting, but perhaps something here can be a good starting point? And maybe other people have suggestions?