#offer of salvation

[shiikiyun]

I think something i don't often see in discussions about Futa's character is how, if you really take a second, he's kind of a people pleaser

He isn't so in a way like what Mikoto got going on, he does want to be around people of the same interests as him, and you wouldn't think he'd care about anything but authenticity if you stayed with the way he behaves on milgram. It is only when you think about him -in- those social circles he manages to get into that you can see him tweaking lol

I think the closest to see this that we have in milgram itself is that one interaction with Kotoko in which she attempts to debate how prisons respect human rights. Any other time he expressed his opinion/stance on things he was aggressive and maybe condescending to the rest because they disagreed with him, but the second someone agreed? Whole demeanor changed. Suddenly he didn't have much to say anymore and he just parroted Kotoko's words back at her. Why. If he has such a strong personality and mindset, why was someone validating his point enough to shut down his otherwise very firm attitude?

Futa doesn't go as far as to manufacture his every word for it to cause a positive reaction on others from the get go, but he does seek validation all the same. He braces himself for rejection by being loud and obnoxious and harsh until he sees a positive reaction and then is when he does a complete 180 to keep the other person in that place of validation. He is simultaneously completely bad at it though, but I never said he was good at people pleasing. Which connects back to what i've said before about his inability to fit in. Even when he thinks he's doing it right and he sees himself getting validation by people he cares about (in the case of his crime, by mimicking his friendgroup's method of "bringing justice" by calling out someone online, that same friendgroup following along and reinforcing the idea that he was doing it right), he ultimately fails anyway and loses it all over again.

In the end, he's just extremely socially awkward and anxious. It isn't in his nature to reach anyone else's expectations even if he genuinely wants to, so he'll either do what he can within his parameters (mold himself for his friendgroup of people he deems similar to him) or he'll avoid trying altogether because he knows he'll fail (what we see in milgram!)

It also shows how his yearn for a support system (t2 qna + mu's birthday timeline convo) isn't particularly new from his current circumstances, or why the only person he could think of when asked who he would want to see right now was his mom (who left so long ago he barely remembers her). He has just never truly had people that genuinely cared for him no matter what he tried to do to make himself likeable.

[discard-celestia]

lestat de lioncourt - on the deer which runs faster than itself. Hélène Cixous, Stigmata / Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat / Interview with a Vampire (2022) / Catherine Malabou, Ontology of the Accident / Czeslaw Milosz, New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001 / Louis Moe, Allegory / Ovid, Metamorphoses / Ethel Cain, Ptolomea / The Company of Wolves (1984) / Lingua Ignota, I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES / Hugh Parry, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Violence in a Pastoral Landscape.

[lotus-pear]

i know this is kinda minor..........but i'm OBSESSED with how u always draw akechi with sharp eyes w/ lines under them (not necessarily eyebags but just enough to show his fatigue) ITS JUST SOOOO.....LIKE IT RLY ADDS THE PERFECT TOUCH YK?

it feels like it's truly him. it shows the cracks in the facade he tries to keep up

AHH TY?????????? i love his pre-third semester look where he resembles a deer almost….the big brown doe eyes and elegant stance and charming demeanor that overall radiates a very trusting and soft appearance

but that’s what’s especially interesting because looks can be deceiving. just over the course of a single day his entire psyche and appearance warp into something far more sinister as he is revealed as the actual villain.

idk i find it so insane that he can just flip the switch like that, how quickly his facade can change. he’s an actor on shido’s stage, a pawn on his chessboard, and he’s learned to tuck away his innermost desires and thoughts to play the role of the detective prince who will save society. diabolical. actually terrifying.

[rhinocio]

shoutout to the "I'm sorry I talk too much" people you are literally saving me so much "oh god how do I keep this conversation going" stress. without you I would straight up fuckin perish

[magiefish]

Okay. So. I remembered this one kind of weird part in “Enlightenment” where Turlough tries to sell out the crew and The Doctor just kind of Stares at him the whole time. Like quite intensely. And, as a joke, I said to myself “I wonder how long he actually stares at him without looking at anyone else for” and decided to count it For Fun.

About 34 seconds. 34 seconds straight.

Sir. Sir please direct your big brown eyes somewhere else. Please blink sir. Please. Sir.

[non-daily-kozaki-karin]

Karin kozaki if she was part of the Australian subcouch-pillow ecosystem

Backgroundless version below:

[randomnameless]

Do you think Edelgard perceives herself as a victim? I’ve been thinking and I can’t decide myself, on one hand she clearly hates the idea of people being victims or helpless, and constantly reframes the victims of the war as “necessary sacrifices” instead of, y’know, tragic causalities of a war she started. She plays up her sad backstory to try to get Byleth to join with her in WC, but then she does all these things to concentrate as much power as possible on herself. On the other (other) hand, she pushes the culpability of the war on everyone except herself, and has trouble taking accountability. She’s obsessed with controlling everything but she doesn’t want to be blamed for the problems she’s created. What do you think?

Oh!

(sorry for replying one literal month later lol)

I find Supreme Leader hard to write because of this, but in a way, I believe that yes, she does.

However, for all the flak Faerghus gets for "ToXiC mAsCuLiNiTy" and "Chivalry BaD", there's something very toxic with the way some Adrestian victims (often women... blame the writers I guess?) deal with their abuse.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Doro because I already typed a lot about her, but while she still sees herself as a victim from what she endured and suffered in her childhood, she adopted the toxic mindset of "this suffering is a thing of the past and I grew from that/beyond that to become the person I am now" - which we can also see in Manu who suffered from, roughly, the same traumas.

Petra also follows this pattern, being a hostage and treated like shit, but she grow "beyond" her status of a victim to become the strong person she projects and believes she is - it's only out of House that she realises more accutely her status within the Empire, the reality of her situation and, in Houses, refuses vassalage to Adrestia to make her country independent without having to "ask the Emperor".

It's the same pattern : "I was a victim" but "I became strong" so "I am not a victim anymore, this is something of the past".

Applied to Supreme Leader...

Well, trying to ignore the Agarthans and her dad's own infuence on her character (which is kind of hard, since the games try their hardest to make Agarthans responsible for everything BaD and we're not clear on how much they had an influence on her), I think Supreme Leader believes she was a "victim" of abuse.

But - through further abuse and surviving said abuse - she became strong* enough to "not be a victim anymore".

Which is why her line of "if the weak remain weak it's their fault" feels like it echoes part of her mindset : she was a victim but became strong enough, maybe by hardening her own feelings to become "strong", so she is not the same helpless "victim" she once was.

If she managed to do that, then everyone can do the same.

As for the "necessary sacrifices", since early 2019 someone theorised that "the people" she pretends the fight for as seen as some general "concept", much like the "greater good". So if some people are sacrificed, it's for her ideals - the goal and aim of her newfound strength - , and it piles on her drive, she must realise them otherwise those people would have died (and she would have suffered) for nothing.

However, despite acknowledging her past self as a victim, and because she's now "strong", she's not above using her past trauma (but actually, still present! Remember the rat scene?) to reach her goals, because, at her core, Supreme Leader is soemone who is very determined. Maybe it's her only drive to grow beyond the trauma, or her own illusions, or a mix of everything, but AM made it clear, Supreme Leader is not above, well, using herself if it means seeing her goals come to fruition : unlike Lobotogard from AG, AM!Supreme Leader willingly transforms in Hegemongard.

This is the cost she's willing to pay, so while the memes about Lord Farqaad were on spot, I still think that Supreme Leader is ultimately willing to sacrifice** herself for her goal (but only when there's no other way to ensure her future will come to fruition, and in a way, I guess she thought she would survive the Hegemon transformation, jury's out on what she meant to do in AM's finale, but imo, she still tried, even beaten and battered as she was, to claim Dimi's head).

Ultimately I think everything's a bit muddled by the fact that, as @fantasyinvader pointed out, Supreme Leader is a liar and knows the importance of maintening good PR.

She lies and manipulates the truth to reach her goals (which again, is a red flag when CF claims to want to restore the "distorted history" of Fodlan!) and for all the flak I give them, the devs managed to scrap enough material to give us a peek in Adrestia's mindset (or at least its top nobles), they're not people who self reflect, they are salty because they aren't ruling the world anymore, and they feel like they are better than the rest of Fodlan.

Put everything in the mixer, and you indeed have Supreme Leader (but also her court, especially Ferdie in SB who dares to say, as he is invading and trouncing people who don't really like and accept the idea of being invaded, that the fear those people feel are only in their mind, or something like that? Like, dude, you're rolling over their people and country, of course they'll fear and hate you!) giving her weird rhetoric lines (why are people opposing me if they are going to die?), victim blaming (something Treehouse swallowed like honey, if their lolcalisation is anything to go by, remember, it's Rhea's fault for not offering her head on a platter that is the reason why the War continues in CF!) and so on.

IDK if the devs wanted to bank that much on the Dany parallel with her "if I look back i am lost", but again, I don't know if her drive to make a "better Fodlan" is motivated by her trauma, Adrestian revanchism, Ionius telling her dumb things or Agarthans agarthaning, but her goal and vision are everything to Supreme Leader.

So she will do anythign to see them realised, even if it means sacrificing her people, starting a war, tweaking "the truth" or using her own trauma to motivate and recruit powerful people who might assist her with her goals.

To reply to your question, IMO she sees herself as someone who had once been a victim, but won't let that stop her from reaching her goals, even if it means creating thousands of "hers" in the process, because, in her mind, reaching her goal is more important than anything else.

*I know, she refutes Dimitri's claim that she is "strong" or laughs at it, but imo, it was more in the sense of "I was weak and became strong" so everyone can "become" strong.

**I don't think she wanted to throw away her life, but more something in the lines of "putting my life on the line" or sacrificing her precious (and to see how precious it is, just play CF lol) humanity.

[wiirocku]

Jonah 2:9 (NLT) - But I will offer sacrifices to You with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my Salvation comes from the LORD alone.”

[werewolfsmile]

Just watched The Librarians S2E8 And the Point of Salvation and...

I loved it, for the most part. Cleverly written and a fantastic Ezekiel-centric episode! He had beautiful moments with each of the others and learnt so much from them. He had substantial character growth and was given the space to bear the weight of serious circumstances and respond appropriately. This episode had the potential to be incredibly pivotal for Ezekiel's character!

And yet....

That ending. What the hell?? What do you mean his memory is lost and he forgets all of those poignant moments???? All those conversations, all that learning to rely on others - are freaking serious??

I'm never a fan of time loop episodes, but I thought they were handling this one pretty well. Right up until they erased all of Ezekiel's character growth at the drop of a hat. This was literally the equivalent of "and then she woke up" being used in a novel. It's weak and strips all purpose of what the characters have just been through.

Ugh! Tell me I'm not the only one. How dare they give me such a good episode of growth and discovering potential for Ezekiel Jones, then take it all back with a just kidding!

[akkivee]

from kaigen to terminus, i feel like that’s one crazy switch up on kuukou’s part lol

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Christ was Offered Once

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. — Hebrews 9:28 | New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide. Cross References: Numbers 7:33; Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 20:28; Matthew 25:31; Acts 1:11; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:14; Hebrews 2:3; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; Jude 1:21

Read full chapter

Hebrews 9:28 in all English Translations (for comparison)

[dreamlogic]

aye can i get a fuckin uuuhhhh

break. on my burger

[mirainawen]

i am genuinely baffled by believers reblogging that "secular Christmas carol" that pleads with us to leave Christ out of Christmas. are people just really not reading the lyrics or have they allowed their faith to be so disillusioned that they would forget that the weary world rejoices. we chose a time of year to rejoice. there is no "magic of the season" that is missing now because of age or capitalism or what have you. there never was magic. it was Christ. it was divinity. holidays are a celebration of something important, and the feast (in the sense of "an annual religious celebration") is about the people, not the things. don't partake of common modern traditions if you so choose (the gift giving or the turkey or the lights or what have you), but do not conflate these things to be what a holy day is about.

holy days are built into annual or regular occurrences as an effort to remember and be reverent, which we are admonished to do and to do often.

"Christmas is all about the songs and the lights and the turkey and the carols and bloated gift-giving" is not reverent, and isn't the enlightened take you think it is.

[express-archives]

ambrose and artemis just regularly resort to extreme methods to protect the things they love and i kind of love that for them. they're both insane. Fr runs in the family

[carsonjonesfiance]

“Grok is woke unfortunately” is so funny to me because the word “grok” comes from one of the most homophobic sci-fi novels in modern history.

[leelreallylikespersona]

OKay this is a good one I think (Unless you like Kenji)