#righteous structure extractions

[nebubula]

https://www.oldhousedreams.com/2024/02/29/queen-anne-in-hawkinsville-ga/

[horizonsstandstill]

I'm also against using "rest in power" or other Black terminology for white people.

For several reasons, such as;

- It's easy to provoke disenfranchised Black people into starting divisive arguments because they want their oppression to be heard, and psyops take advantage of that,

- Terms Black people coined are always taken out of context and this harms their ability to fight against oppression when they are using them,

- The use of more revolutionary and provocative terms will give the agents of imperialism a hard time to shame the people into silence or denounce them as racists,

- Our terminology should include horizons, visions and goals that will encourage our people and make the enemies shake.

Therefore I suggest using terms such as;

- May your sacrifice be a milestone in a society we will build on the ashes of imperialism,

- Rest knowing that the empire will crumble with your spark,

- We will remember your heroic act as a catalyst for the destruction of our oppressors,

- You will never be forgotten unlike the colonial order we will dismantle.

See if the psyops could argue with these. And whenever people use divisive arguments, don't argue. Ask them questions on the issues such as what they think of cops, military industrial complex, prison and slavery system, indigenous rights and who are their favourite Black thinkers. If they can't provide satisfactory answers, don't engage them. They deserve cancelling over speaking about things they don't understand.

Black people in the imperial core can be the victims of the imperialism as well as the perpetrators of it. It depends on how disenfranchised they are and how much they are willing to suck up to the white supremacist order in order to be able to oppress other people. Everyone can serve as an agent of imperialism regardless of race, class, gender, disability or any other axis of oppression. That is not even limited to imperial core. That's why it's up to the oppressed to think about who are benefiting their actions.

It's important that the electronics we use to do our "activism" come at the price of the suffering of Congolese people. Possibly Bolivian people too. Also the sufferings of the workers that are exploited in the Far Eastern countries. We all could suffer from imperialism while using the materials extracted through the imperial order of suffering. That doesn't make any of us less oppressed. It gives us a duty to try to end all kinds of oppression and dismantle the imperialist system altogether.

As a side note, discriminating against people while advocating against other types of discrimination makes a person a disgusting hypocrite.

If your communism ends when you think you can't consume products from underdeveloped countries cheaply, you're a scum.

If your anarchism ends when you think it's not okay for people to gather and build structures out of their own volition for only themselves after the revolution, you're a scum.

If your feminism finds it convenient to stereotype men of other races and caricaturise them as monsters, you are the monster.

If your veganism doesn't recognise the situations of indigenous people and disabled people, sufferings of agriculture workers and environmental degradation that vegan products cause, it means you're not against cruelty to all living beings. You're just a self righteous idiot.

If your anti violence is only for those who resist against the legal order that oppresses themselves, you are amongst the perpetrators of said oppression, deserving of violent resistance against yourself.

If your queer rights activism ends at the people who are acceptable queers in your worldview, you're a bootlicker of the patriarchy. Those boots are coming for you next.

If your disability advocacy is not inclusive of recreational use of substances -legal or illegal-, you're just another selfish person being loud.

These are just examples. They can be multiplied into several cases.

Being against one type of bigotry doesn't excuse other types of bigotry. People can make these mistakes for a lot of reasons, but once it's explained to them if they continue their bigotry, they should be cancelled altogether. We should not engage them at all, and a blocklist is in order. No need to waste our time in good faith because of bad faith actors.

Say, "Okay, bigot/bootlicker/racist so on..." to call them out. Then blocked. If they learn, they have to learn it the hard way.

[biblioflyer]

The Trouble with Tardigrade Trolleys (Discovery rewatch)

And apologia and a rant. It's a BOGO post!

Discovery’s use and abuse of the tardigrade is a feature not a bug. Let’s try to set aside questions of whether or not this is immersion breaking for the Star Trek setting for a moment, and look at it as a thought experiment.

This is one of the better “trolley problem” style moral dilemmas that I’ve seen in Star Trek. Usually Star Trek writers are a bit self righteous or maybe squeamish. They can’t help themselves, a lot of them approach Trek as a series of moral teachings wrapped in the aesthetics of science fiction. 

A lot of the time these moral teachings are only moderately more subtle than a special episode of a children’s TV show: “Oh no, the Mauve Ranger is bullying people to fit in!”

Simple and easy stories where the correct answer is written in eleventeen foot tall neon letters and there’s very little or no ambiguity or attempt to steelman the other choice.

In edgy adult dramas, sometimes you get the guy from “24” torturing someone to reveal the location of a dirty bomb. That “someone” is a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer or from a culture we’re socially programmed to feel less empathy for. At least I assume that’s what happened. I never actually watched “24” because even though I’m writing about Discovery’s use and abuse of the tardigrade as a trolley problem and pretending this can be dissected as a sterile intellectual discussion, I detest nihilistic storytelling that dehumanizes outgroups and constructs a permission structure to do evil because maybe the worst case scenario could actually happen. 

The point being that apologia for human rights violations usually depicts the victim as unsympathetic. Even Star Trek Picard manages to sneak in a trolley problem wherein, from a consequentialist standpoint, Seven is almost entirely in the right to execute a gangster who had dealt in ex-Borg implants extracted via torture and murder. (Spoiler: I was not happy about this scenario.)

Discovery’s tardigrade problem is remarkably willing to confront moral ambiguity and thus, to my mind, is a much better and thus more interesting trolley problem because the deck hasn’t been stacked to allow an easy and obvious exception to most well adjusted people’s moral hangups around torture and murder.

It's not trying to hide the ball here. It’s very easy to cry animal abuse or torture. It's easy because that is exactly what is happening.

Yet on the other tracks are hundreds of innocent lives.

What makes this a well constructed trolley problem is that “Ripper” the tardigrade has blood on its claws. It's also, by most standards, terrifying and hideous. It may as well be a xenomorph from Alien in how sympathetic it is. Except….. We are shown that it has a gentle side. It's surprisingly willing to trust unarmed humans considering how many humanoids have tried to kill or imprison it up to this point.

And let's face it, the show gave us every conceivable signal possible to tee us up to not feel sorry for Landry. So much so that I was completely convinced that she was from the Mirror Universe, like Lorca, until she died trying to hack off one of Ripper’s limbs. Memory Alpha informs me that Star Trek Online gave her a tragic backstory, I don’t consider STO canon and I don’t even consider it “canon until disproved by onscreen events” but I will give them credit for trying to clean up the continuity such that it doesn’t seem as much like Landry is supposed to be representative of Starfleet security for this era.

The first time the spikes that link it to the Spore drive are inserted into it, you don’t need a close up of Burnham’s face to recognize Ripper’s agony. By that point most people capable of empathy for a nonhuman, non-fuzzy creature are already starting to see it more like a manatee or a weird bear than a monster. Bringing Star Trek back into the room, in my mind this is VERY good Star Trek.

What makes it good Star Trek is that we’re being asked to empathize with a monstrous creature, to reexamine its motives and behavior in a fresh light with new context, and to appreciate its pain. If we set aside our desire to view Star Trek as a documentary of an enlightened society that has figured out how to instill perfect morality into its citizens, then I think we also see another thing that Trek is good at: showing people doing the work of realizing they’ve made a terrible decision that flies in the face of their values and trying to fix it.

It’s critical to recall that the Tardigrade isn’t suffering because our heroes are bad people. Okay Landry and Lorca are bad people (weird that the two human monsters have L names.) It’s suffering because 1. Nobody has quite realized its sentient yet. 2. Their conception of what if anything causes it physical discomfort is not very well developed (at least the first time it’s used) and 3. Hundreds of people will die if Discovery doesn’t use the Tardigrade to initiate a spore jump to the dilithium mine currently under attack by Klingons.

The original scenario in s1e4 “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” (which is such a metal title) is very much a ticking clock that takes place in conditions of ambiguous knowledge with not a certain amount of pressure to look away from the moral hazard staring the characters in the face. It bears repeating, several hundred miners and their families are at risk, as well as a key resource keeping Starfleet able to hold the line against the Klingons.

The additional usages of the Spore Drive are harder to justify. Not impossible, but more difficult. By s1e5 “Choose Your Pain” it’s abundantly clear that Ripper is being harmed by the jumps, jumping too frequently is causing Ripper harm faster than it can recover, and some of the crew are definitely getting squeamish. Lorca rattles off a list of achievements as a result of the Spore Drive representing lives saved, the Klingon capacity to make war reduced etc. 

So the bleakness of it all is that there is inarguably blood on the crew’s hands for inflicting pain on a creature that the crew no longer is blinded to but one could also argue there would be blood on their hands if they had the capacity to intervene and failed to. (To what degree if any you have culpability for failing to prevent something profoundly awful from happening if you must violate an important moral precept to do it is what makes the trolley problem so interesting and debates around, say, Batman killing the Joker incredibly interesting, but often VERY heated.)

It's also uncomfortable but not hard to understand why, with its back to the wall, Starfleet is interested in capturing more Tardigrades and using them for propulsion, despite the mounting evidence that this is profoundly cruel.

At this point, I will once again throw open the doors to the clean room and “contaminate” it with spores of classic Trek morality.

As the secular humanist, cruelty averse do gooders; I find it shocking, offensive even as a fan, that when presented with a trolley problem that I personally think would be an example of an easy slam dunk, Starfleet balks at the much easier, much more moral path.

That trolley problem being permit the use of genetic engineering to adapt humans to act as Spore Drive navigators in place of the Tardigrades….

OR

Keep inflicting suffering upon a being that can feel pain.

And Starfleet shouts down the genetic engineering solution, because the legacy of the Eugenics War and the prohibition on genetic alterations is somehow more important than winning a war in which everything about the society in which Federation citizens currently live in will undoubtedly get A LOT worse, and the body count tremendous. Also remember at this point we don’t know that for whatever reason Stamets is the only viable candidate. 

As much as I’m enjoying rewatching this show much more than I ever expected, this is infuriating!

Who thought it was at all logically defensible for Starfleet to turn down the ability to mass produce Spore Drive navigators instead of trying to capture a lifeform that is VERY dangerous when provoked? 

Who thought it was consistent with the characterization of Starfleet to decide Eugenics was worse than torture?

To make matters worse, this isn’t an example of a Badmiral gaslighting HQ like Dougherty in Insurrection, this is Starfleet’s equivalent of the joint chiefs! What the hell?!

Clearly someone just pulled the prohibition on genetic engineering out because it was an already established piece of Star Trek canon as a way to rationalize why the obvious solution of just letting a volunteer pilot the darn ship couldn’t have been done immediately after the Tardigrade curls up and goes on strike. And critically this rationalization was conjured without any real consideration as to how silly, if not downright evil it makes Starfleet Command look.

[prolibytherium]

Really hard to come back to Online and the style of engagement in lgbt+ spaces here bc its so needlessly aggressive and hierarchical and does not prepare you to engage in irl communities at all. Youre taught to feel like every uncomfortable interaction, any cultural exchange or dispersal, etc is an act of violence and exploitation, that anything that makes you personally uncomfortable deserves your righteous anger, etc.

I prefer the company of other trans people but cisness is not an intrinsic quality or something that means anything outside of the cultural context we exist in (and that context varies by place). A cis person is not intrinsically incapable of understanding us, or separate from us. It is not a coherent social class or objective type of person (nor is any oppressor class really, but some are more structurally extant and well defined than others).

The cis acquaintance or family member who is genuinely trying but a little confused and asking questions isnt an enemy violently extracting your emotional labor, sometimes the dynamic is just two human beings trying to understand each other. It can be awkward and uncomfortable but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Not to be a cis rights activist but expecting allies to not ask questions and just go belly up and say ‘yes master i am Listening To Trans Voices’ to everything we say is self destructive imo. A good ally can think for themselves………

[gplewis]

thank god for prosecco

eggs? i’d love too

a dance card of eggs, of ovums

sequel to

ovums

Ovid Athleta

brands who suck need a sucker

being timed on my righteous responses

i deserve the neutral

if you want i can free you from

neuraldivergent

lagging

two platforms, channels

others’ listening-limited

humectants - she learned it

she’s paused with her calf bonnet

you can’t touch me as it’s absorbing

i’ll be touchable in 35 seconds

Control control control Austin Apollo 13 Center in Houston we have lost two unnecessary lines that I wrote in Microsoft Word the app close I don't know why and so now we're resigning and resurfacing and I'm running all with my rolling chair none of it's mine there's no my here and I sit at the door like a good puppy and I watch her aroma fire herself yes aroma fire self, yes, aromify herself after

People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it.

sitting here and driving, facing the mass

a good place to read

now i’m one of a weapon

my half divided in half

my mother said you can tell me anything

fuck and then do something

as opposed to

doing something without fucking (i fear it’ll get competitive and boring

chief of the scene if there were a scene — Odd

like Emily Dickinson, nestling substantial tangential tropics

unnecessary pressure created homeless people

can’t make a mistake but i’m bored

thank god someone texted

happy ‘stop searching for an enemy’ day

Sun Sep 29 2:19PM (no, 4:19?!

USUALLY i start reading shit

now i listen to music and turn

from friends

i expect to only work on my art if i’m not doing chores

now, time is slow—stay at it;

use old words

be a slow pro

taking up time

like no one else

THE ONLY FLAVOUR I HADN’T TRIED

osprey backpack

1937 remington silent

11 1/2 cleats

sit stunned at shallow wish lists

i can’t mom OR daughter you?! well i’m sorry baby, you’re useless to me

No acids what are you thinking about another question and it's fun to do another one I was born residence I hope I would like that I am there is some guys I listen to one podcast tour in the wrestler no avengers this fucking transfer everything's fine fucking wonky it is at all// Control control control and then you start I love you stack of skulls and those are pickles or pilots they're not pickles are pilots they're all as we make tuna at the same time and that's called recovering from a far we made in a long distance relationship and Internet at the same time do you want some Brian not Brian Brian we drink Brian was sick of the vine Frankenstein Olivia Newton fine// shots of Brian in the Bronx I didn't know keep me from getting to you babe that moment and Middlebelt Road here comes true holy book read with the girls holy books yeah the Beach bowl // Beach ball wide sky color please come Brendan FunBrain golden dawn orchestra orchestra not work like the month but like the mythical fictional orcs druids powers griffin liger is my favorite else thinks leviathan L is the best encyclopedia but I haven't you pick a letter from the LLEL the letter L and encyclopedias is the best not just because it has love but it really is the best// intimacy shit your pants together shit in the bed would be that that's a lot of work to do together with Cleveland planting explosive shit strategically throughout the city to 17 waisted low pursuit system do you know what I've learned that city Council members of the most important part with people because// boom boom boom vanilla extract right now I'm humming blueberry hummingbird riddle me pickle me dill Brian dildo pick up me this Pickler Riddler Pickler Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled me this. Pickle me this Peter Piper. Church structures moral question t winter ;-) children's rhyme contrary how does your garden grow pretty maids and Rose sounds like the stack of users who are somewhere up the slippery slope to the flower yeah how does your garden grow the Barbra Streisand sings a version of that song I don't know if it's the same song she got a hold of us Babs you really got a hold of Tommy// yeah I was with Aaron so exhausted I did the Amanda mushroom chocolate tasted so bad it was like so like it was like it was a hint of this really good Italian I was gonna amaretto cookie but it was like that weird jagged thorny blackberry briar underbelly no it was a result blackberry this isn't thorns on my tongue and I'm smacking my tongue like

an artsy guy who applies himself

a long island little spit brat

how not to intimidate in the right situation

you get one shot as a female coming into here

on that clothing first impression

look more put together than you are: a coordinated two-piece

the four horsemen - six guest makeup

6-24 private event at the shop after closed shop

2x2, wigged and fed into the makeup room every 15 minutes

watching porn rewriting what achievement is moving cities

entering his “stopped giving a fuck” boomer phase and it’s not very fun for any of us

coming back to team straight is my fantasy future LOL // but imagine getting the band back together

i’m gonna buy stuff so someone’s gonna have to make my money

the serene grapefruit glow

you gotta have a lion tamer or a lady

simple, cut and dry is only something i like in my jerkies

man, weirdo, perv

woody allen, deconstructing harry, one of her favorite films, amazing cast of actors, not as self-loathing as the others; a scene with Robin Williams who becomes “out of focus,” he himself has become blurry

when Sofia Loren met her famous director husband

being directed by an Italian man who’s obsessed with you

persona, charm and rockin’ tits

the way he puts the camera around

don’t kill nobody that you can’t revive before five

CW: language, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and unwanted sexual attention. Western culture has a terrible history of treating the female body as an object that exists for the pleasure - or displeasure - of everyone except the girl or woman who inhabits it. Her body is a safe place for her to inhabit only so far as it earns her safety and approval from the people and society around her. So splitting her sense of self off from her body makes sense. Her body becomes an object to her, too, and not one she is incentivized to treat as inherently worthwhile or precious.

https://narrativeresponsibility.podbean.com/e/the-female-body-as-object/

new trauma backlog just dropped

and it’s the same as the old backlog

who’s more wounded?

grumpy me is back! parents and money! go for the throat!

molestation trauma is a current we can all smell and find each other

[dangermousie]

Even in the iffy machine translation, the end of the last extra story left me all sorts of emo. Sniffling from joy because this is so perfect as a coda and sniffling from sadness that I have no more.

I have been reading 2HA for almost two weeks, since May 31. I am a notorious speed reader (an average 300 page book takes me two hours) and I was reading it very steadily for these 11 days (though it was only the last few days where I basically stopped watching or reading anything else, obsessively binging.) The fact that it took me 11 days says something about both the immense size of this novel and the fact that I (a) reread my favorite parts mid-read and (b) had to take breaks from the emotional onslaught.

I went from disliking Moran and being not keen on Chu Wanning - the former was an immaturely evil reincarnation of a monster and the latter cold and unpleasant, as far as I was concerned - to bawling my eyes over both of them together or separately and being so invested, it was honestly a little scary.

Funny thing is I can pinpoint the exact moment I fell for CWN - when he throws his exorcism fee into the face of the evil elder who amply earned the wrath of his particular ghost and proceeds to restore justice. But I cannot pinpoint such a moment for Moran. I have no idea how I went from “I don’t like novels with an evil protagonist” to “I am sobbing over him so hard I want to barf” but there it was. I also can’t pinpoint when I went from “this is kinda random as a novel” to “this is really interesting” to “you can pry this novel out of my cold dead hands and then my zombie self will still fight you for it.”

But here we are.

I am always leery to claim I can be objective about something I loved so hard so I don’t know if my view of this novel as amazing is objective. All I can tell you is that it is impeccably plotted, has complicated characters and some beautiful language. It also hit my particular narrative and character kinks so hard they are still ringing - period setting, men with weapons, love beyond death and then beyond even that, redemption narrative, view of the power structures as hypocritical and corrupt, heroism, and above all for yours truly SO MUCH ANGST. I am a notorious angst vampire but despite that (or perhaps because of that), I don’t tend to cry over angsty things much. This novel made me full on bawl five times - (1) when Chu Wanning sacrifices himself for Moran at the rift and Moran realizes what has happened and the bit with the body and the wontons (2) Nangong Si’s sacrifice (3) Chu Wanning rescuing Moran from execution and fighting the whole world for it and then Moran dying in his arms and aftermath (4) destruction of Siseng Peak (5) the ending - though this time from happiness...And we are not even going to get to all the times I sniffled like someone with a permanent cold. Hell, I am getting sniffly now just thinking about it.

I could try to be objective and ask whether it would have been better to not have as many dubcon/noncon flashbacks (though for once, some of the sex scenes actually had to do with character development, which is a total rarity in any book) or whether Chu Wanning really needed to be the resident psychopath magnet for every psychopath in a hundred mile radius, but at this rate it honestly would feel churlish to nitpick anything that gave me so much pure emotional reading pleasure. Plus, one of the joys of this novel is how unrestrained, how far-flung, how gonzo it is in every way - from emotional to physical to plotwise. It’s like a feast with so much food some of it is going to fall off the table.

Don’t worry, I am going to go back to my regular scheduling programming soon but before I do, a little fun:

Favorite Character: Moran. Yeah yeah I know, it seems everyone’s favorite is Chu Wanning. I adore CWN and he’s a close, very close second, but I am such a sucker for painful redemption narratives. (Moran’s narrative is redemption of his character; CWN’s is slow revelation of his character.) Plus, he’s had the worst childhood of anyone in this book and you know me...

Most Hated Character: DUHHHHHH!!!! Past life Shimei. I am still pissed off he didn’t get a more gruesome death. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about him - even XSL, mad and evil as he was, still had a warm feeling for his teacher. But there was nothing but rot and murder inside past life Shimei. (I hate current life Shimei also, but nowhere nearly as much.)

Biggest OTP: duh! Moran x CWN is everything I love in an OTP. They literally died for each other twice. But it’s just wonderful to read about them in every way and it’s a rare OTP with big drama that I can also see happy in every day mundane surroundings. Nangong Si x Ye Wangxi are my runner up.

Best family: The Xues. Is there any doubt? They are amazing and loving and righteous. They managed to bring up Xue Meng who despite being loved and spoiled is a total pure, righteous puppy. They took in Moran and made him family (and even once they find out he’s not really family, they still love him every bit as much as if he’s their own; but then Uncle Xue was the best, most loving, and most proud father to Xue Meng, even if XM was not his biologically.) And they ran a cool righteous sect and were fun and warm and awesome. There is a reason why Chu Wanning, who is a paragon who every sect would love to have, stayed there for so long.

Biggest (for me) plot twist: there are so many, but for me it was the plot twist that Moran became Taxian Jun by absorbing the demon flower that controlled him and turned him into a monster with Shimei as controller voluntarily to protect Chu Wanning. That was the only way he had to prevent Shimei from turning CWN into the monster he himself later became. The bitter irony that he gave up his soul to protect CWN and thus became the soulless monster who reveled in destroying CWN is !!!! (Side note - I just now realized that alternate life Moran freaked out the way he did when he thought he saw Shimei with a knife while CWN was in seclusion was because he subconsciously remembered when he walked in on Shimei attempting to harm CWN with the demon flower years earlier (in either timeline) even as his conscious memory was erased.) Runner up: porridge. The fact that it was teen Chu Wanning who fed starving five year old Moran and saved his life and that it’s that encounter that made CWN leave the monastery and try to help the suffering world.

Character who died that you wish had lived: Nangong Si. Proof that being an awesome, noble person is not enough; I bawled when he sacrificed himself.

Character who lived that you wish had died: Nangong Liu. Yup, that murdering horrible monster made it through the whole book. JUSTICE where is it!

Coolest setting: I loved Netherworld. And not just because I am a sucker for Orpheus themes.

Angstiest moment: that’s like asking which pine needle on a 30 foot tree is your favorite. But to me, it’s Moran’s death after core extraction - when he asks if he has finally expiated and still worries he’s too filthy for CWN - my heart! And then CWN tucking in his body in bed as if he’s still alive and making food for him because Moran was always hungry as a child and so food is his love language. I was crying SO HARDDDDD!!!

Most wholesome character: Xue Meng. Are there even any other close competitors? He’s another character I started out rolling my eyes at and ended up loving.

Most romantic moment: Literally every single one, but to me it’s Chu Wanning coming to that hut at the end and finding Moran alive and waiting for him.

[thestraggletag]

Fairies in Spring, a Fairy!Rumple short Fic

Alas there was but one prompt so I decided to write a short story based on that.

Anon prompted: Fairy!Rumple, Spring, heat.

Rating: Soft M? Hard T?

Enjoy!

After Belle confessed to having found a fairy book on changeling nature Rumplestiltskin spent a lot of time with her poring over it, extracting as much information as possible for its pages. It was clear that changelings were not things fairies liked to acknowledge out in the open, and therefore information about them was scarce. The sorcerer concluded that it mattered little, in the grand scheme of things. Since he was past his transformation he was akin to a normal fairy, or as normal a fairy as a former-Dark-One could be. His curse and his fairy magic had combined into something unique and somehow easier to use, though not always easier to control. There was such a thing, apparently, as having something bee too second-nature.

But other than re-learn the fine art of self-control, since his magic could not differentiate between thinking about turning someone into a toad and actually wanting to do it, very little felt different. The wings, for sure, and the things Belle could make him feel with them- all decadently good- and his appetite and magic. Otherwise he remained the same. Mostly impervious to outside conditions, such as cold or heat, with very little need for sleep.

Or so he thought, until it was the dead of winter and he began to sleep in. Usually four hours of sleep every week or so was more than enough for him, any remaining hours he slept were solely for the benefit of Belle, who hated being left alone in their nest of furs and silk. But when the snow came Rumplestiltskin found himself sleeping in, not only during the night but also in the afternoons. Naps slotted themselves into his busy schedule, usually after high tea when Belle enjoyed reading by the fire in the library. He’d sit beside her, attempting to look occupied on some potion or other magical business, but soon he’d feel his eyes drooping and his head lowering, seeking Belle’s warm, soft lap. 

Since he was otherwise fine he shrugged it off, coming to the conclusion that fairies tended to likely hibernate during winter. Fairy sightings dropped considerably during winter and given their fragile wings and propensity for baring skin it made sense. As he predicted, when the snow began to thaw the desire to sleep in began to disappear, leaving boundless amounts of energy in its wake. It felt spectacular after the strange lethargy of the cold season, lifting his mood and making him jittery. His entire body thrummed with pent-up power, which made him extra-fidgety and sort of itchy, as if he wanted to burst out of his skin. It got to a point where Belle began to withhold tea and sugar from him, afraid of making him even more excitable.

Belle’s scent proved to be a godsend, at first, because of its innate ability to calm him down, make him happy and mellow. He stopped pretending not to be blatantly following her around the castle, unable to keep his distance and false air of aloofness. He counted himself lucky that Belle, sweet, beautiful Belle, put up with his nonsense and did not rightfully demand some measure of solitude. She became, if possible, even more liberal with her caresses and her personal space, letting him bury his nose in the crook of her shoulder whenever he needed to and inviting him into whatever activity she was carrying out.

She was a saint. A goddess. Too good for him. Sweet and patient and so incredibly delicious to smell and taste and touch. It was natural, he thought, that more time with Belle would only make him more enamoured, more ardent in his affections. Sleeping in may no longer appeal to him but a slow morning in bed with Belle was far from a bad idea. His abundant stamina made for some impressive hours of foreplay, and it was only Belle’s delicate human nature that limited their intimacies. Poor thing was as tired as she was receptive so he made sure to have her drink plenty of fluids during the day and consume plenty of energising potions, ones he made to taste like strawberries, since they were her favourite.

He had always thought Belle was exquisite, since the first moment he’d seen her, all self-righteous and fiery in a golden dress that bared her gently-curving shoulders. There hadn’t been a moment during their acquaintance where he hadn’t been acutely aware of her delectability. But whereas before he had possessed some measure of self-control he now felt like little more than an animal, some sort of mindless creature driven by its most basic instincts. It took a look, a touch and sometimes even just a whiff of her as he rounded a corner in a hallway to make him forget whatever he had been about to do in lieu of fucking Belle in whatever room she happened to be in. The entry hall, the kitchen, the trophy room- in retrospective he maintained their dining room table was made for sex, give its convenient height and amazing sturdiness- and every corner of the gardens. Once he’d caught a rabbit watching them as they basked in the afterglow- he would not sleep, but enjoyed looking after Belle as slumbered- it’s eyes wide and a strangely-scandalised look on its face.

But it wasn’t until he acquired a new book on fairies that they discovered the theory that, given a fairy’s propensity for added vitality and energy with the blossoming of spring, fairies naturally had mating cycles, only that in their societal structure this behaviour was not encouraged, but rather actively suppressed. Fucking Blue Fairy, and her desire to control the fairy hierarchy down to a T.

Belle did not look surprised by their discovery, which meant she had been thinking about it for a while, likely while he walked around in a haze of sexual need. Good that at least one of them was keeping their head straight, so to speak. Specially since it meant Belle had been diligent about drinking her monthly moon flower tea, to prevent conception.

“I suppose that this means that, when we’re ready, we’ll have an autumn baby. I like that.”

Well, fuck if he didn’t too, now that she mentioned it. And fuck if it didn’t have him hard. Again.

Fucking spring.

[thewritewolf]

Nino’s Quest Chapter 9: At the Gates

The party finds the lair of the Necromancer and struggle to find a way in. Their righteous quest quickly devolves into a cuddly sleepover.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. My ko-fi.

The wind was howling as Nino and Alya approached the bakery. Winter was well and truly here, but that wasn’t too surprising. It was the last week of November, after all. Nino looked up at the grey skies and frowned as a few stray snowflakes danced to the ground. They had gotten lucky so far with very little snow, but something in his gut was telling him that wasn’t going to last much longer. Just in case, Nino had brought a change of clothes. Who knows if they were going to get snowed in? Especially given how long this session was going to last.

It wasn’t every day they marched into the halls of the Necromancer, after all.

For now, though, they marched into the bakery.

“So… how’d it work out yesterday? I didn’t see much of them after we let ‘em out,” Nino whispered to Alya as they waved at the Dupain-Cheng parents.

She poked her head into the living room and turned to look at him with a wide grin. “See for yourself, babe.”

The two of them were sitting on the couch playing Ultimate Mecha Strike. Despite the fact that the entire couch was open to them, Marinette was practically sitting in Adrien’s lap. His arms were wrapped around her and his chin rested on her head. For a few solid moments Nino was left stunned at the threshold of the room, staring in awe. At least until Alya jabbed him in the back with her elbow.

His startled yelp caught Adrien’s attention. A bright smile lit up his face. “Awesome timing, guys! We were just about to decide who was the absolute master of Mecha Strike.”

“It was me,” came Marinette’s reply as the victory screen played.

“As if there was any doubt,” Adrien murmured. Closing his eyes, he nuzzled his nose into the crown of her head.

“Hey! That tickles.”

“Too bad.”

“Well,” Alya cut in, “if you two are done being sickeningly cute, we’ve got a Necromancer to stop. In case you forgot?”

“I know, I know. Fighting evil, saving lives - the usual.” Adrien didn’t open his eyes or loosen his hold on Marinette, but Nino could see the knowing smirk on his face.

“Speaking of the usual…” Marinette said as she extracted herself from Adrien. “How does croissants for everyone sound?”

Alya followed after Marinette, leaving Nino to start getting set up. It wasn’t hard to miss the dopey smile that his best bud wore, or how he was almost melted into the couch. Even though that had been the plan all along, Nino was still surprised it actually worked.

“So… you and M, huh?”

“Mhm…” The smile grew wider.

“Dude, you’ve got it bad. I’m just glad you guys finally figured it all out.”

“Yeah…”

“Mind telling me what happened?”

Adrien shrugged. “We just needed to talk things through. That’s all.”

“Sure, dude.” Nino softly punched Adrien on the arm. “Just took a locked door and a bunch of time to make you do that.”

A blush spread across Adrien’s face. “We got there eventually..”

As much as Nino wanted to pry or tease a little more, he was just glad to see his friend so happy. Those two definitely deserved each other.

Just as he finished setting up, the girls returned with a plate of fresh croissants. The perfect food for planning an invasion.

“Alright, my dudes. You’ve discovered the great entrance to the ruined dwarven city. The gates are big and strong. You can hear something moving, can catch glimpses of something marching back there. But whatever it is, it’s not alive.” Nino tugged on his cap. “Well, uh, not in the usual sense, anyway.”

“We can probably take them,” Alya said as she cracked her knuckles. “We’ve trounced worse baddies.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Skeletons gave us a lot of problems back in the mines.” Marinette was tapping a finger to her cheek.

“I know that look, Mari.” Adrien grinned. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, what if we don’t use the main entrance? If it really is a city under there, then there’s no way the Necromancer can have the entire place guarded.”

Alya crossed her arms. “That sounds great and all, M, but do we know of any other entrances?”

“I don’t know.” Marinette locked eyes with Adrien. “Do we?”

Adrien seemed to catch on quickly and scrambled through his notes. “Oh! There’s got to be some legends or stories about this place, right?”

“Hm…” Nino made a quick roll and nodded. “Yeah, you’ve heard a few tales. And between the four of you and all those years of neglect, you could prolly find it. But what are you gonna do once you’re there?”

“That’s where I come in,” Marinette wore a serious expression, her eyes distant as she imagined their mission. “With my super high stealth, I can steer us clear of patrols. And if I find a good place to stash the rest of you, I could even do some scouting on my own.”

Alya narrowed her eyes and cupped her chin. “If we pull this off, then we might just avoid the Necromancer’s entire army…”

“...AND we’ll have the element of surprise.” A vicious grin split Marinette’s face. “He won’t have a clue that we’re coming.”

“Right, okay.” Nino took a deep breath. This… wasn’t exactly what he expected them to do, but being DM meant being able to improvise. Nino rolled a perception check for the four of them, more for show than anything. They’d have to roll pretty high to spot a secret passage. “After a few hours of following your half-remembered story, you don’t find anything. Do you want to keep looking?”

They all nodded resolutely.

“Right.” Nino rolled another round of perception checks. Nothing. “More hours pass. The sun is starting to set. Do you still want to keep looking?

Alya was looking a bit less certain, but Marinette remained confident and that was enough for Adrien. With majority in favor, they kept searching.

“So the moon is out now. It’s full and half of us are some kinda elf, so we could keep searching, but-”

“We keep going.”

“M, what if we can’t find anything? Maybe we should make camp, figure out a new plan.”

“Alya, trust me. I’ve got this.”

“But M-”

“If this plan doesn’t work, then we just aren’t equipped to open the gates and fight the baddies. We’d have to go back anyway. Besides - I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

Alya sighed. “Alright… We stay at it.”

Nodding, Nino rolled a perception check for them. His character failed, as did Alya and Marinette’s. All that was left was Adrien’s character.

Who, naturally, rolled a twenty. His first of the entire campaign. Shocked, it took a minute for Nino to recover. “So, um… With the moonlight coming down, Adrien spots some glowing runes on a rock. He plays the song that he has been following and sure enough, the stone totally vanishes, revealing a stairwell that leads deep underground.”

“Sweet.” Alya says as they all tear into celebratory croissants. “What do we see down there, babe?”

“You’re walking for a while, but eventually the tunnel opens up into a dusty, abandoned quarter of the city. You pass through long abandoned checkpoints and guard posts. When you step into the main cavern, you realize why the city went quiet.” Nino paused to down his pop, leaving the party enraptured. “The ceiling had collapsed, tons of mountain stone crushing the city. Even now, a massive ramp of rock squats in the middle of the city.”

Adrien, his hands folded in front of his face, narrowed his eyes. He spoke in his bard’s voice. “Who knows what lies beneath?”

“Soon enough, the Necromancer.” At their confused looks, Nino added, “Even though you feel death all around you, the air is filled with the sounds of picks hitting stone… And the rattle of bones.”

“Is there somewhere nearby that I can hide these guys?” Marinette jerked a thumb towards the other two.

“Sure. There are plenty of abandoned buildings around here. Most of ‘em prolly won’t collapse ontop of them.”

“Yeah, well, thankfully I have all that training in engineering, remember? I pick the most structurally sound one and try to sneak over to the cave in.”

“Oh, dang. Forgot about that.” Nino cleared his throat. “With the other dudes safely tucked away, you can sneak over to the landslide. Roll for stealth.”

“What am I hiding from?” She asked as she searched for her d20.

“Human zombies in rusty metal armor.”

“Huh. Rusty because of being really old or because zombies don’t take gear of their stuff?”

Nino thought about it for a moment. “The second one.” He glanced at the die roll. “Okay, that’ll be good enough. You get a clear view of the rocks and, well… there are tons of short, stocky skeletons in tattered rags. Probably dwarven, most of them are only armed with picks, but there are a few dozen of ‘em crawling over it. As you watch, one tumbles off and shatters as it falls down the cliff… and right into a huge hole. Whatever they’re digging for, you get the feeling they’re close.”

Marinette tapped at her chin. “Alright, I get a good look around to see if I can guess where the Necromancer might be.”

“There’s a battered but sturdy guard tower that sometimes flashes a sickly green light. Other than that, its shambling undead everywhere.”

“Can I get there easily?”

“Uhh… maybe. There are guards out front, but the tower is kinda out of the way, away from the throng of undead.”

Adrien make a confused face. “Why would he set up there…?”

“Not a lot of intact buildings, I bet.” Marinette nodded. “And he wants some quiet too. Maybe we can use that in our favor?”

The session devolved into making plots and figuring out how best to ambush the dark wizard. They were so engaged in their conversation that they didn’t notice Sabine’s arrival until she put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders.

“Gah!” Marinette started and tilted her head straight up. “Oh, hi maman. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you kids know that Tom and I are going to bed. The snow is coming down pretty hard now, so we’d rather you all stay the night.”

While Marinette tried to gently brush off her mom’s hands as they messed with her hair, Nino got up to look out the window. Sure enough, a layer of snow blanketed Paris with no signs of stopping. The darkening skies also reminded him of how early he’d had to wake up the last couple days.

Fighting down a yawn, he turned back towards his party. “What do you say we call it here and pick it up in the morning? Maybe we can watch a movie or something.”

Marinette tilted her head up to look at her mother. “Can my friends spend the night in my room? Then we can be out of the way when you guys wake up in the morning.”

Sabine seemed to consider this for a few moments before replying, “Of course dear, but remember our talk…”

A fierce blush spread across Marinette’s face. “Maman!”

“I’m just saying!” Laughing, Sabine left the room.

An awkward silence stretched before Adrien naively asked, “What talk?”

-------------

After a few movies, they were exhausted. Nino was looking down from Marinette’s bed at the unfolding drama of who would get the chaise.

“Adrien please - I’m fine sleeping on the floor. I’ve got plenty of pillows and blankets. It isn’t that bad.”

“If it isn’t that bad then I can be on the floor. You already gave up your bed to Alya and Nino. At least take the chaise.”

“I’m the host!” She hissed in irritation. “I have to make sure all my guests are comfortable!”

“And I will only be comfortable once I know you’re sleeping on something nice and soft!”

In a huff, Marinette threw her pillows and blankets on the floor of her room. For a hot second Nino was worried that she was about to jump him, but no, she was just angrily building a nest on the floor. Adrien gaped at her for a moment before dropping his stuff on the ground and doing the same.

“I mean it, hot stuff,” Marinette growled through a faint blush. “I’m sleeping on the floor no matter what you do. You may as well just take the chaise.”

Adrien took a deep breath as if winding up for a long spiel. “No.”

Both of them stubbornly get into their blanket nests and glared at each other, but from his spot from above, Nino could see them slowly inching together. He shook his head and ducked under the covers, where Alya had already tucked herself in. Her eyes were closed as she nuzzled against the pillows.

As he was taking off his glasses, she mumbled, “The babies still being ridiculous?”

“You know it.”

“Good. Can’t have everything change all at once.”

“Right as usual, babe.” Nino leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Night.”

A serene smile graced her face as she whispered back, “Night.”

[theonyxpath]

Hey folks! Chris Allen here; today, I’m bringing with me a bit of bonus content originally cut from The Pack, the first supplement for Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition.

When we were developing how Lodges would work in 2nd Edition, one of the core concepts I wanted to push was the idea that Lodges are cults. They’re weird groups of weird people doing weird things; they’re transgressive because those transgressions bond the adherents together and often give real power, and they’re secretive because they don’t want outsiders to know about those transgressions. They practice odd traditions and perform strange acts to strengthen the mystic power of the Lodge and its totem.

In order to really demonstrate this in practice, I wrote up a set of “Mysteries” for each of the sample Lodges in the book. These were going to replace the story hooks — indeed, you’ll see where some of the story hooks were repurposed for the Mysteries format — and serve as a direct presentation of the ways each particular Lodge was blasphemous, transgressive, tight-knit, or just plain odd. In the end, we kept with the story hooks format that was published due to a lack of time to insert the new Mysteries approach, but I kept the cut material and I’m glad to now be able to share it with you.

Ultimately, Lodge Mysteries best represent my vision for how to get across the nature of each of these Lodges, detailing the practices and mystic secrets that fuel rumors and suspicion among the uninitiated.

The Lodge of Garm: Mysteries of the God-Killers

The cult rejects the second tenet of the Oath of the Moon, the People do not murder the People. The Lodge believes the tenet is false doctrine spread and encouraged by a corrupt faction among the Lunes. Garm has bestowed the adherents with true wisdom — killing other Uratha can be righteous.

Garmir harvest slain Pure elders to make grisly trophies. The cult believes these steal the power the Pure Firstborn have invested in their Anshega champions. On the first hunter’s moon of the year, cultists gather and offer a tithe of such trophies to the sand-fleshed wolf spirits that serve Garm. Garm demands captive Pure elders are also offered up as sacrifices, usually by being burnt alive.

Fierce wolves and dogs guard cult property or accompany Lodge warriors. The cult feeds the flesh of fallen Pure enemies to the beasts in the belief that the canines thus steal the Anshega totems’ strength. When the animals perish, the Lodge consumes the bodies in bloody ceremonies.

To repay loyal spirits of strife or destruction, Garm orders Lodge cells to stir up conflict amongst mortal communities. His wolf-servants of sand and hieroglyphs judge disobedient cultists harshly, but sometimes gift successful cells with fetish weapons wrought from wolf-teeth and bronze.

The Lodge guards two secret forms of the written First Tongue, one a runic script and the other in hieroglyphs. The cult believes the runes and glyphs hold special power over wolf spirits and Uratha ancestor spirits. Garmir uses these sacred scripts to call and bind ancestral spirits of their enemies, denying the Pure their allies. Trapped spirits undergo terrible torments and inquisitions by the God-Killer’s brood.

The Thousand Steel Teeth: Mysteries of the Steel Teeth

Humanity owes the roads a debt; the spirit courts are eager to collect in blood on the asphalt. The Steel Teeth fight that ravenous appetite, chaining the road spirits with pacts to enforce restraint. They let the spirits collect only a small tithe of lives through accidents and deaths.

The spirits cause accidents as part of the tithe. When a driver survives through sheer luck or supernatural intervention, it weakens the pacts. The Smoke Drinker reaches through car radios and the pattern of raindrops on windscreens to its adherents when this happens, setting them on the hunt of the hapless survivors — and any entities responsible for causing the upset.

A gear dog who dies well on the high-speed hunt, perishing amidst hurtling metal and spraying gasoline and the scream of air rushing past, is her own offering to the road courts — forcing them to accept her blood in place of a thousand human lives.

When the phases of the moon and the stock market prices of the big car manufacturers align, it is time for the sacred Hecatomb. In these wild celebrations, one hundred cars must burn in a grand sacrifice to the Smoke Drinker — a night of thievery and high-speed chases as the Steel Teeth compete for the finest rides they can steal.

Cultists perform the iziga to repent after sinning through breaking Oath or ban or whatever minor traffic law the totem has declared sacrosanct. In this fiery ritual, adherents paint sigils of repentance on their flesh in oil or gasoline then set them alight, searing the sin away.

The guhkharraan is a holy pilgrimage of roads. A cultist seeking revelation or spiritual harmony begins with naught but the clothes on her back, eats only what she can glean from the roadside and listens to the oracular whispers of the spirits of road and fume. Some find hallucinatory revelation at the end of their journeys.

The Lodge of the Screaming Moon: Mysteries of the Screaming Moon

All banshees practice the kilisu-zithu, the ritual girding before the sacred hunt. The adherent wears terrifying trophies taken from her own kills; the bloodier and messier and the more screaming there was, the richer the resonance of fear. The Tyrant’s allied spirits pay honor to cultists with the most terrifying kilisu-zithu.

The Lodge sometimes kidnaps humans who possess second sight or psychic powers. The cult subjects such a hapless victim to endless terrors and maddening torments, aiming to drive him insane. Adherents believe this strengthens and purifies the prophetic power of such a lunatic visionary, and it links the victim to other such madmen held by the banshees across the world.

Several times a year, adherents secretly gather beneath the new moon. They share their darkest and most important secrets and perform the ihinudu iduth. In this ceremony, an Ithaeur and Cahalith each have an eye put out, which they crush and then smear the gory result on the eyelids of the other cultists. This sacrifice conceals the Lodge totem’s nature as a Lune from those who would pry, unleashing madness or blinding infections on fools delving into the cult’s secrets.

Banshees collect the paraphernalia and remains of famous human murderers and serial killers. The Lodge builds eldritch shrines with these morbid relics, not in praise but as lures for copycats, full-fledged slashers and even stranger horrors all drawn to the shrines like iron filings to a lodestone. This provides fresh prey for cultists, and also creates potent resonance to feed the spiritual vassals of the Tyrant Over Fear.

The Lodge totem can see out of any white mask that an adherent wears, if it chooses to pay attention to that Uratha and the cultist has not broken the Lodge ban in the last year. During the gibbous moon, the Tyrant can do far more than that — it can use its spiritual powers through such a mask or even manifest part or all of its body, although this takes a heavy toll on the Lune.

The Temple of Apollo: Mysteries of the Sun

The Thebans possess several omphalos stones — fragments of carved stone pulsing with spiritual power. The cult believes these are from a major manifestation of Apollo in the distant past. Lodge elders have tried to tap into these stones to become an avatar of the Sun Wolf, but every elder who has thus far tried has perished.

The Temple of Apollo murders humans for oracular purposes as well as to feed the Sun Wolf. The pack uses simple auguries to select victims, who they abduct and drug with a concoction of poisons and Essence. The dying victim falls to hallucination and gibbers glossolalia, which the Thebans interpret. This ceremony serves as an extremely powerful form of the Read the World’s Loom Facet from the Insight Gift, although it takes at least an hour to decipher the ravings.

Spirits of the hyacinth plant are either close allies or rabid foes of the Temple. Thebans anoint human sacrifices with extracts of the plant as it has the favor of the Sun Wolf. Furthermore, anointing the animated dead with hyacinth allows Thebans to vomit a blazing soul out of their Lodge bond in a reverse of the sacred hunt, turning the undead into a Ridden bound to a twisted, distorted helion spirit.

Over the years, the Shadow of the temples slowly develops and deepens. Repeated Apollonian ceremonies and rites reinforce the Hisil, imbuing it with resonance of the sun. The oldest temples have sizeable Places-That-Aren’t, strange sunlit structures of mirrors and marble.

Meetings of the Culte de la Raison are often debauched and orgiastic, but the Temple carefully manages these evenings of vice to feed various allied spirits of vices and pleasure. The Temple also holds Lyceum meetings, when Culte members judged to have the greatest occult aptitude join an “inner circle” — the pack — and learn to participate in rites. The Masters of the Culte are all loyal Claimed, picked from the inner circle and subjected to ecstatic ceremonies to prepare them as vessels.

The Eaters of the Dead: Mysteries of the Ravening Wolf

The Eaters of the Dead keep several old spirits of hunger sealed away. Ritual feasts of gluttonous consumption occur at times and dates suited to the nature of each spirit, usually banquets of putrid meat and stale cast-offs. The Essence generated keeps the spirits in quiescent slumber.

Some Lodge hunters exsanguinate their undead prey, decanting the stolen blood from fanged corpses or ravenous monstrosities. Hidden temples to Ravening Wolf have galleries of clotted gore. Through smell and taste, the Ki Anagh learn many secrets of the unquiet dead. The Eaters are mapping bloodlines and ‘families’ amongst the dead, revealing fresh mysteries to investigate.

There is a schism in the ranks of the Lodge. Some Eaters favor close ties to the Lodge of Death; Chinese emissaries of the Lodge are offering alliance. Other cultists flock to a different banner — the Tesfurfarrahu, or Devourers. The Devourers are a small cabal claiming to have proof of an old, powerful pact that bound Isim-Ur, though she does not remember this. Devourer doctrine states there are other dead children of Mother Wolf that the Lodge must discover and devour as a holy duty, just like with Ravening Wolf.

Ravening Wolf is powerful and very much present; she runs among her new followers on hunts through the Shadow. She is looking for a mate among her adherents, a werewolf with enough primal power to survive her affections and begin a new spiritual family. Suitors court the totem with trophies and rotting carrion from their kills.

At Ravening Wolf’s command, the Lodge takes young orphans and conducts strange ceremonies over them, even going so far as to kidnap them from state custody briefly. In these cult rituals, the children are fed a drip of Isim-Ur’s blood or a fleck of her spirit-flesh. The totem promises that one day, when this crop of orphans comes of age, they will be powerful Wolf-Blooded fated for great things.

[romancatholicreflections]

26th August >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections for Roman Catholics on the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time  

Gospel reading: John 6:60-69

vs.60  After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” vs.61  Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, “Does this upset you? vs.62  What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? vs.63  It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. vs.64  But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.

Following Christ always involves a calling.

vs.65  He went on, “This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.” vs.66  After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him. vs.67  Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “What about you, do you want to go away too?” vs.68  Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, vs.69  and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

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We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose .

Michel DeVerteuil :A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin:Prof,MRIA, FRHistS, FSA President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain,Director Studia Traditionis Theologiae, Professor of Historical Theology University of Nottingham NG7 2RD Sean Goan:Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and works with Le Chéile Donal Neary SJ:  Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger and National Director of The Apostlship of Prayer.

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Michel DeVerteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels www.columba.ie

Textual Comments

This is the final extract from chapter 6 of John’s gospel that the Church invites us to meditate on at this time. We have had three rather abstract passages and, no doubt, you will be relieved to find that we have a story again, just as we had at the opening of the chapter.

The story has several characters. In your meditation, listen carefully to yourself and you will find that you are reading the passage from the perspective of one of them; stay with that perspective so that you enter the story personally.

There is, first of all, Jesus, and you might like to focus on him as he relates with the other characters. Watch his inner freedom. Already in the account of the feeding we saw him sitting on the hillside allowing the people to come to him out of their own freedom. So, too, here he gives each group their space, those who reject him as well as the twelve – including the betrayer. He also tells us the secret of his inner freedom: he knows he is in his Father’s hands and no one can come to him unless the Father allows it. This inner freedom gives him space to see others clearly, so that he is not deceived by people.

Let your memories of great people who have touched your life confirm the truth of St John’s account of Jesus, and of course, let him reveal to you how God wishes to relate with us. Jesus’ words in verse 62 are difficult, but you might want to remain with them. “The Son of Man ascending to where he was before” probably refers to the painful journey through the passion which would test his followers to the utmost. Jesus, then, is the great leader who gives his followers a first test and judges whether they will survive the greater ones that lie ahead.

Every word of the great confession of Peter is important: the four statements are different aspects of the one deep commitment. What memories does this stir up in you?  Make sure not to be self-righteous as you read of those who rejected Jesus. They symbolize us when we find some demand of God difficult to accept. The use of the word “language” is significant. When our values go astray, we find the language of true believers alien to us.

The mention of the traitor might touch you. Judas is the symbol of the betrayal of Christian values that remains within every community and within each one of us.

Finally, there are the two sayings in verse 63 that are the kind of difficult sayings that occur several times in the chapter. As I have already urged you to do, be creative in your interpretation, asking yourself when you have experienced the truth of the sayings. “Flesh” here is whatever in our lives or in our Church lacks the true spirit of Jesus and therefore is not life-giving in the deepest sense. The second saying invites us to remember “words” that gave us life and to see how they could be considered “spirit”.

Prayer reflection

Lord, it sometimes happens that when we stand up for our values our companions stop going with us • because we will not discriminate against people of a different race; • because we refuse to give expressions of love that are not appropriate to a relationship; • because we criticize those in authority. Help us, Lord, when this happens, not to become bitter, not to give up our values, but to understand, as Jesus did, that we cannot force people to come to us and that a relationship will only develop if you allow it to.

Lord, we thank you for all the times in recent years when your Church has spoken out against injustice in different parts of the world, even when many of its members found this language intolerable and could not accept it.

Lord, we remember the time when we were upset because, for the first time, Jesus asked something hard of us. Now, looking back on it, we smile. What if we had known then how much is entailed in following him on his way to you?

Lord, we live at the surface of ourselves, and so we lack energy and creativity. Give us the grace to withdraw, from time to time, to the depths of ourselves. Only if we go to the level of the spirit can we really live.

Lord, many preachers are content to repeat what they have heard from others. We thank you for those whose words have been life to us because they speak from the depths of their experience.

Lord, forgive your Church that we take pride in our great achievements • the big numbers that attend our services • our influence with the rich and the powerful • our imposing buildings and prestigious institutions, forgetting that the flesh has nothing to offer. What will give life to the world is simplicity, truth, compassion, reverence for little people – all that we know to be the spirit of Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for the great moment when we knew we had made a life commitment • we met the person we should spend the rest of our life with • we gave our whole selves to a movement • we read the life of a great person and were never the same afterwards. We knew then that there was nowhere else for us to go; this was, for us, the way to eternal life. We believed and we knew that this was the Holy One of God. It was like that when people met Jesus.

Lord, to achieve anything worthwhile in life we have to take risks. We must go ahead and choose twelve, even though one of them eventually betrays us.

Lord, there was a time when we made a deep act of faith and became complacent. We thank you that you sent Jesus to us • a friend pointed out how self-righteous we had become • we fell into a sin we thought we had finished with. This was Jesus reminding us that the capacity to betray him is always part of us too.

Lord, send us leaders like Jesus who will proclaim their message, even if many of their followers find the language intolerable and impossible to accept; who will be free enough to turn even to their closest companions and say, “What about you, do you want to go away too?”.

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Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie

Introduction to the Celebration

Rather than give an introduction, say something like this: We are gathered here as sisters and brothers, members of the Body of Christ, so let us introduce ourselves to each other.

Gospel:

When the community hears this passage, be that the community listening to John thousands of years ago or the community who hear it read at the liturgy today, it is the intention that they identify themselves with the confession of Peter. They, the listeners, are those who have decided that they should go to Jesus — and there is no one else to go to; and they are those who believe that Jesus is the one with the message of eternal life; and that Jesus is the Holy One of God.

This text appears to be a challenge to those who are hearing the message of Jesus (just as Joshua appears as a challenge to the Israelites) and appears to be a situation: now you must choose: Jesus or not! However, in fact it is not a challenge as the assumption of John is that if you are listening to this, then you have already chosen. So, in reality, it is a statement of identity.

This fact about the narrative structure of both this first reading and this gospel has important consequences for preaching. It is all too easy to imagine that the preacher must now hold a challenge to the congregation: are you for Jesus? This is neither useful nor appropriate.It is not appropriate in that the community is there in Christ as baptised brothers and sisters, not some loose assemblage of people vaguely interested in what Jesus has to say. It is not useful in that it misses the point John wanted to make: know who you are, you are those who belong to the covenant, those who know that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Holy One of God. Lastly, the natural unit of text extends to v 71 but the last two verses have been omitted, correctly, because (1) this heightens the dramatic effect of Peter’s confession, and (2) the last verses do not make sense when this passage is read as a lection in Mark’s Year.

Homily notes

1. Avoid making challenges! 2. Ask this question: Who are we as a people, what unites us, what draws us here, what makes us live the lives we do? 3. We are the community who assert with Peter that there is no one else, but Jesus, who has the message of eternal life. 4. We are the community who assert with Peter that Jesus is the Holy One of God. 5. Now let us stand up and state that formally in our profession of faith.

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Sean Goan Let the reader understand www.columba.ie

Gospel

We come now to the last extract from John’s gospel and the end of the discourse on the Bread of Life. It highlights a theme that began in chapter 5 of John and that is a growing opposition to and refusal to believe in Jesus. While earlier in the discourse it was the crowds who were having difficulty with Jesus’ presentation of himself as the bread of life, now it is his own disciples who are complaining that it is too much to expect them to accept what Jesus has said about himself. Jesus replies that what he is speaking about can only be understood through the work of the spirit, i.e. through the eyes of faith. Some find the challenge too much and cease to follow him and in response Jesus asks the twelve do they also wish to go away. Peter replies with a confession of faith that demonstrates that he (and they!) are beginning to grasp something of the revelation that Jesus brings. Because they believe then they know that he is indeed the Holy One of God.

Reflection

‘What about you, do you also want to go away? No-one can be press-ganged into discipleship and Jesus yet again puts the choice before us as we gather for our Sunday Eucharist. Why is there a crisis here? Is it because they cannot believe that Jesus can truly give of himself in the way he has described? Is faith in the Eucharist too much to ask for?Perhaps it is not so much an intellectual difficulty about how this can happen but rather an intuition about the far reaching implications of what he is saying. For in giving us himself he is asking us to forget about ourselves and maybe that is just too much. Yet Peter speaks for us all when he says: ‘Lord to whom shall we go? Nothing in the world with all its possibilities and attractions can nourish our hunger to love and be loved as completely as Jesus, our Bread of Life.

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Donal Neary SJ

Gospel Reflections

www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

Our Choices

 We remember big and small choices in life. Ones that effected life totally like a job, marriage, retirement, redundancy; having an operation or many more. Or Choices about the children that effected their lives – school, moving house, health issues.

Life is made up of many choices, big and small. Human, spiritual and religious choices.

Peter had this sort of choice today.  Would he go after Jesus or leave like others did.  He stayed and he would have many more attempts at that choice.  Why did he stay? Our choices come from something within us.   We need Christ within us if we are to follow him.

Peter had enough of love for Jesus inside him to make this choice,it might not always be easy and he would give in later but come back.  His choice eventually would be to answer Jesus’ question – do you love me?

The choice for Jesus is the choice for love.  In all sorts of ways. For those near at hand.  If you choose Jesus then the hunger of the world as well as the tears of a baby affects you.  What we do in love for others comes from the deepest part of life. We need to fill our lives with Christ to be able to share this love in big and small ways.

We need the company of other choosers.  The community of faith and of the church.  Peter says – to whom shall we go? We follow Christ together.

Let those words, ‘to whom shall I go, Lord’, echo in your prayer and talk to the Lord about how you feel. Lord we pray for support and strength in our following of you.

[peerless-soshi]

Intriguing DSP mysteries: Wadanohara and the great blue sea

Mogeko, aka Deep Sea Prisoner, has created a complex and extremely complicated universe, consisting of three games, three comics, two animations, one ice-thing and endless drawings or sketches. No wonder that in every new series we are able to find some major questions left unanswered as well as certain plot points that were not further explained. Considering the number of projects Mogeko is currently working on, it’s hard to judge if we are ever going to see continuations of all those stories, but we can always wish for them. For this reason I decided to waste some time, analyze all official series and in each of them (if I have patience) extract some most important and interesting questions, provided with my own theories and suppositions. 

Let’s start with a story containing relatively little mysteries - top 5 questions about famous Wadanohara and the great blue sea.

1. Who is the Sea King?

During the game we find out that the Sea King was the ruler of the Blue Sea in times when Meikai was still alive. Little is known about him. In the game his image is never shown, in the manga we are able to see the shady silhouette. Mogeko drew the Sea King on few illustrations, revealing his face.  When it comes to other information, we know that the Sea King was Uomi and Mikotsu’s father, King Artamos’ close friend, that he was the one who chose Uomi to be his successor and that he has fallen asleep. 

Question number one is what actually happened to him, that strong and scary god figure? It’s safe to assume that he was not sick nor wounded as none of his people have ever mentioned it (and if something happened to the king, they would surely remember). The fact that earlier he had resolved the inheritance issue tells us that the Sea King was aware of the slumber awaiting him and tried to prepare for it. Maybe he was losing his strength, maybe it was some kind of a spell or curse? It’s also possible that he, himself, planned to leave to kingdom to see how his daughters would behave or because he didn’t want to be the king anymore.  It’s also interesting how people in the Blue Sea believe that their god is sleeping but apparently they have no idea where he is? Did he fell asleep and then was hidden in a place where only Uomi can enter? Or did he leave his people, earlier informing that he is going to sleep for some time? 

Tatsumiya’s story about the King consists of some unclear chronological points, and the most notable is the fact that first she says that the King fell asleep, then that he has chosen Uomi. Maybe he left them a message but admonished to open it when he sleeps? Or is it in his testament?

Question number two: what was his relationship with Uomi and Mikotsu? If we were to use generalities, we can say that the relationship between the daughters and the father was rather good. Uomi seems to faithfully follow the king’s orders when Mikotsu, after waking up, tries to find her father, then several times wonders why he didn’t love her. Both women deeply love their parent and Tatsumiya’s words suggest that he also cared about them. But why did Mikotsu feel abandoned? Is it possible that her father favored Uomi? Or maybe he favored Mikotsu and that’s why choosing Uomi as a queen made her jealous? I guess it’s also important to ask if the king truly loved his children or treated them as some objects necessary for him to leave the kingdom? It leads us to the last question, so:

Question number three: what kind of a person the Sea King was? The answers are varied. Tatsumiya talks about old times as about the era when everybody was happy and calm, suggesting that the king was a great ruler. Yet Uomi also points that the king was a cruel man. Personally, I think we have two possible theories, based on the good king and the bad king image. 

Good king: the Sea King was generally a good person. All residents of the Blue Sea seem to respect him and Meikai, who in WatGBS played the role of a wise guide, follows him. It can mean that the Sea King was a righteous god. He loved his daughters, cared about his people and dreamed about the beautiful and blue sea. Knowing about his sleep, he planned to make Mikotsu the new queen. However, he noticed the signs of cruelty in his daughter. Slowly the king started to realize that Mikotsu is brilliant but also selfish and ruthless, finally understood that those traits would only deeper if she held power. The Sea King was perfectly aware that his daughter would feel betrayed but nonetheless broke the promise and gave the crown to Uomi. As he suspected, the conflict finally ended with the war. Uomi sees the king as someone cruel because he was ready to sacrifice a family member for his followers’ good and didn’t show any mercy to people who attack the kingdom to make sure that the sea is safe. That would make him a fearsome person but also a fair and good king. 

Bad king: the other possibility is that Mogeko is going to use the same card they played in Curse of the Sun. Residents of the Blue Sea follow the king because they were taught so, they are not able to notice his flaws. He creates Mikotsu and Uomi simply because he needs them and later protects them as they are necessary in his plan. Mikotsu’s deep love for her father is similar to Ivlis’ feelings, as such can be considered to be blind loyalty changing into full emotional dependency. When she shows any signs of weakness, the cold king gets rid of her without blink of an eye. Finally Meikai realizes that the king is the reason for Princess’ madness, but it doesn’t change the fact that Mikotsu is a threat to people from the Blue Sea. He seals her hoping that Uomi would turn out to be a better person than her father. 

2. How was the Red Sea created?

The explanation given to us by Mogeko is as vague as usual; the Red Sea was born the moment Mikotsu felt abandoned and unloved, then the madness somehow infected also her followers. 

First we can wonder why Mikotsu even had such a big army? As I hinted in question one, it’s possible that Mikotsu was the lawful heir to the throne and people expected her to be their queen. When Uomi was chosen over her sister, some people felt it’s breaking the law and committing a grave mistake. We can also assume that Mikotsu was generally much more intelligent and talented than Uomi and people considered her to be the best choice, so when the Sea King informed everyone about giving his crown to Uomi, rebels obviously decided that it’s like taking away from them the strong and suitable queen and leading the kingdom in the direction of destruction.  No matter which answer is true, for sure we can say one thing: the Red Sea follows Mikotsu because they believe in her and sincerely seem to want to serve her. Few characters - Old, Sal, Tsubari - mention how the Blue Sea was mistaken, what clearly suggests that the Red Sea wasn’t born just to start havoc but also because the residents share similar ideals. 

The Red Sea means its people, but it’s also special power. What is exactly that red, all-seeing force that Mikotsu is using? It affects everything around her, too. Maybe it’s the sea magic that was hidden inside of her this whole time. If that’s the case, then that would mean the structure of power changes depending on its user’s feelings and the same spells can be used in a helpful and a destructive way. It would also explain why all Princess’ supporters can use similar abilities. As we can judge looking at Tatsumiya and Chlomaki, all beings are able to learn magic. The Red Sea residents were just using their natural potential. But there’s also a different explanation - maybe we should consider a third party joining the war. This element repeatedly comes back in The Gray Garden; all mysteries lead us to some mysterious figures observing the events from behind the curtain. What if something similar happened in Wadanohara, too? Then Mikotsu herself would be powerless if she compared with the Sea King and Uomi’s magic. Someone, a person who perfectly knew about the Princess’ potential, found her and offered some special powers that could easily dethrone Uomi. Mikotsu, back then devoid of hope, gladly accepted the offer, not noticing that she was being used. The potential antagonist could be after the Sea Kingdom, the King... or something totally different, something we have no clue about. 

3. What happened to Sal?

The first two questions were much easier as in both cases we had at least some information. And honestly? We know almost nothing about Sal. 

Let start with the facts - Sal is said to be the Ambassador of the Sea of Death, the Red Sea spy, one of Uomi’s servants (implicitly with a high position in the castle since he is close to the Princess), Samekichi’s brother and Old’s son.  

Question number one: what is exactly the Ambassador of the Sea of Death? The most logical interpretation would be that Mikotsu took into consideration her possible lose and long before the whole Red Sea was sealed she made sure to leave a spy behind. It’s totally possible that Sal was chosen - but here comes another problem: the timeline. Wadanohara was confirmed to be born after the war. Considering that she and Samekichi are supposed to be close in age and Sal is Samekichi’s twin, the shark brothers either weren’t born too, were in eggs or back then were very little (I know once Mogeko said that Wadanohara is older than Samekichi but I’m not sure if it’s not just to get rid if people accusing them of pedophilia, so I add all possibilities). No matter what, Sal had to be chosen against his will as there’s little to none possibility that he remembers the war. What would make Mikotsu put all her hopes in an unborn child or even an infant? What was so special in him? The only eventual explanation is that she knew about Sal being Old’s son and decided that it’s safe to leave her will to the only descendants of the Red Sea who were staying outside. But Old’s character info says that nobody knows about his children and nobody obviously implies Mikotsu has no idea about Old’s special family situation. Maybe the Ambassador of the Sea of Death is not a specific person? We can wonder if Mikotsu left signs of power, evil will, a curse or something similar that would make someone obedient. It could be Fukami, Samekichi or even Wadanohara if she was less pure. It was a coincidence that Sal fulfilled all the conditions and finally got the title of the Ambassador. 

No matter if Mikotsu planned to make Sal the Ambassador or if Sal joined the Red Sea later, the second question remains: how was the communication between the Blue Sea and the Red Sea even possible? Meikai’s spell was said to be extraordinarily powerful so most likely any scratches on the seal allowing to send messages to Sal are out of question. But as I said before, Sal probably doesn’t remember the war. He talks as if he was there, so he must get information from another source. Who told him about the Ambassador, the Red Sea etc.? - maybe Mikotsu had cast a curse and when Sal reached certain age he gained memories of the war? - maybe Mikotsu had left a book or other encrypted message and Sal was the one who found it? - if someone really gave Mikotsu her special powers, there’s a possibility that later the same person found Sal and made him continue the task after Mikotsu failed - another conspiracy theory is that Mikotsu’s followers stayed outside of the Red Sea, maybe even in another world, and contacted with Sal 

Question number three: how did Sal’s life looked like? The game itself doesn’t give us many hints but some clues can be found in Mogeko’s other sketches. Once DSP draw Sal and Samekichi as children. The drawing with innocent kids suggests that not only they were growing up together, but also getting along well. What’s more, back then Sal’s eyes were blue, just like Samekichi’s. Both Wadanohara and Fukami’s eye colors changed when the Red Sea possessed them, so for sure we can say that Sal wasn’t born bad. Something - who knows what? - happened to him later. Another picture shows Samekichi and Sal in times when they were much older, perhaps as young teenagers. They are still together but turned backs from each other. Their faces show annoyance and Sal’s eyes are already red. The last picture is with brothers in clothes they were wearing in WatGBS. They don’t even look at each other, we can’t see their faces. Based on the drawings we can guess they Samekichi and Sal used to be quite close, then Sal found the Red Sea and slowly the darker power was taking over him.  Once again, it’s possible that the drop of red was present in Sal since he was born. Some time passed and Sal fulfilled his destiny. In this case being the Ambassador of Death was his fate and Sal couldn’t fight it, even if as a child he was much better. Themes like unavoidable fate, crawling back to you even in those moments when you try to deny it, are present in TGG and Mogeko surely likes it. Probably Sal’s destiny was decided from the start. Another option is that Sal was a nice child but later negative feelings - like anger, jealousy, hater - have turned into something much worse and Sal, unlike Samekichi, didn’t try to fight with it. In this case being the Ambassador was a choice, not his fate. Maybe Sal’s backstory is similar to the story we saw in the Betrayal END? That ending once again proves the Red Sea finds all those who hide their negative feelings, strengthens hater and finally uses against others. 

4. What is the Sacred Blade?

The game never asks this question directly, yet the sword appears to be a very mysterious artifact. We know that the blade holds extraordinary magical power - Sal first steals it to break the seal, then Samekichi uses it again to seal the Sea of Death. 

The origins of the Holy Sword have been never made clear; the sword simply lies in the castle and the residents apparently take care of it. Giving its magical potential, it’s obvious that the sword is not an ordinary weapon. The designation ‘sacred’ suggests that the Sea King was the person who had created the sword to later leave it to the Princess as her heritage. If that’s true then should we consider it to be a godly blade? Is it similar to Eti’s diamonds or Siralos’ spears? The game never really specifies how long Wadanohara needed to heal after Sal’s attack but Tatsumiya claims that the wounds inflicted by the sacred sword aren’t easy to cure. Ivlis, a devil and a powerful being, still has scars after his fight with Siralos so it is rather possible that the sword was the Sea King’s creation. But if it’s really so powerful then why wasn’t the sword used by Uomi to defeat Mikotsu? 

Maybe the sword’s purpose is not fighting. Maybe its properties are limited to sealing. Sure, Sal does attack Wadanohara but he didn’t try to use the sword for larger purposes. He broke the seal, however if the sword was some holy weapon he could as well use it to get rid of everyone in the Blue Sea. Instead, regular soldiers are send to fight with the Blue Sea residents. So maybe the sword’s power aren’t about fighting? 

On the other hand, if the sword is really a sealing tool then why did Uomi need Meikai to seal Mikotsu? She could do it alone. It leads us to theory number two: maybe the sword was created by Meikai. That would explain why nobody tried to use the sword for fighting (or at least we don’t know about it), why Sal could break the spell with the sword and Samekichi could later renew the seal. 

Theory time! As it was said before, possible the Blue Sea knew that one day the Ambassador of the Sea of Death would come. Take it as a prophecy, a legend or something similar. Meikai, suspecting that the Red Sea left a spy behind, either created the sword which he then left to Tatsumiya or created the special spell connected with the King’s sword. The spell was like a door and the sword was like a key. Even if the doors were to be open, people would still hold the key that helped them close the doors once again.

5. Who is Wadanohara’s mother?

And here we move to the last question for today, that is: who was exactly Wadanohara’s mother and Meikai’s wife/lover? 

Families appear to be quite a complicated issue in Mogekoverse. Many characters simply do not have parents or any relatives, being created or left without a detailed backstory. For example, have you ever wondered what happened to Memoca and Dolphi’s parents? The girls are still children, in theory they should have some relatives, yet they are happily traveling through the world together with Wadanohara and never mention their parents, what clearly says that they have no one except of Wadanohara and Fukami. Similarly, DSP has never said a word about Samekichi and Sal’s mother. However, the Sea Witch does have mother who was mentioned in the game and this automatically makes her an interesting character. 

Wadanohara’s mother was never mentioned during the main plot but her existence was confirmed in the Bonus Room. Meikai, leaving Wadanohara to Tatsumiya, says “I, the sea... She, the moon... We will always watch you”. The words may appear to be simple, but we can also read a lot between the lines. Firstly, we know that Wadanohara has or had a mother. It may sound obviously but in Mogeko’s works this fact is far from being a truism. Many characters happened to be created by gods and devils, were born from power, have only father. Meikai’s words proves that there was someone whom he loved and who, possibly, had lay the egg. 

Another well-known hint: the moon. As it was pointed many times before, the full moon is an important element of WatGBS’s plot. It comes back over and over again; Wadanohara notices that watching the sea and the moon makes her calm, Samekichi confesses in the moonlight, after the Red Sea has awaken Sal laughs that the moon is no longer Wadanohara’s friend. Tatsumiya compares Wadanohara’s egg to the moon and the pearl holding Meikai’s soul was said to remind the underwater moon. Those two elements - the moon, the sea - are the foundation of all Wadanohara’s powers.  The mysterious mother may be connected with the moon powers due to its association with an ocean. Because of the phenomenons such as the moon phases affecting the sea tides, the lunar motives are extremely common addiction to the aqua motives, and in collective consciousness the sea and the moon are almost always linked, completing each other, walking hand in hand. 

Considering that Wadanohara’s mother was said to be the moon, she most likely wielded some lunar power. Theory number one: she is a Moon Witch, or even the Great Moon Witch. It would explain how Meikai met her and why Wadanohara later grew up to be such a powerful mage. However, thanks to Minami we know that even if only one parent is a witch/sorcerer and the other parent didn’t study magic, a child can still be a mage. So Wadanohara’s mother may not necessary be a resident of the Witches World. Maybe she was a deity or a goodness? We can consider how gods’ powers usually focus on one element, to mention Etihw’s diamonds/white creation magic, Siralos’ sun powers, Liliya’s flowers. Is it possible that the women whom Meikai loved was a god? Maybe. There is a popular Japanese legend about a princess living on the moon, named Kaguya, who can be partly an inspiration for Wadanohara’s mother figure. Even if she wouldn’t be a god sensu stricto, she would still have a holy position.  If we talk about legends, I’m going to remind another popular theory. Some fans believe that Wadanohara’s mother was born in the Tosatsu Kingdom, as a proof seeing the Japanese story about a rabbit making rice cookies on the moon. King Artamos and the Sea King were close friends, so before the Blue Sea King fell asleep both kingdoms probably had quite friendly policy. If Wadanohara’s mother lived on Artamos’ court, Meiaki could very easily meet her. However, the bunny land doesn’t seem to be connected with the moon in any way. Some also mentioned that The reminiscence of a star could be Meikai’s love. But she is a star, not the moon, and doesn’t seem to know Meikai. 

The last interesting fact about Meikai’s farewell is hidden in the context of his words. Let me remind you - first he says that he would like to protect Wadanohara and watch her growing, yet he won’t be able to give it to her. Then he says that both, he and some mysterious ‘her’, would always watch Wadanohara. The way Meikai expresses his wish makes me believe that it’s the second time when a parent cannot take care of Wadanohara, that her mother earlier had to give up on daughter. Of course, the first association is simple - Wadanohara’s mother is dead. She could die in childbirth or shortly after the egg appeared. Thanks to that theory we could answer some questions, like why has the mother never searched for contact with Wadda and why - most likely - the daughter hasn’t even met her. Another fact in favor of this theory is that Meikai says his final words shortly before he “dies”, so now he is going to watch Wadanohara just like her mother does - from above. But there is one more thing to be added. I mentioned that Wadanohara’s mother could be a goddess. Notice how gods never have families. They do not seem to live in romantic relationships (for now the only exception is Etihw) or have children (here we must note Siralos, but his “children” were simply the expansion of his power. Siralos doesn’t even refer to Ivlis and Igls as his offspring, instead saying they are his slaves). But it’s not the end! Not only gods live without family, also all holy beings don’t seem to have families. Some angels have siblings, like Igls or Chlomaki, but it’s probably a synonym for being created together. Demons often have big, multi-generational family but we have never heard about married angels. If some live in relationships, like Taffy and Olive, it’s most likely not official. The last thing is that angels hardly ever have kids. The only deviations from a rule for now are the tenmas, who were fruits of forbidden affairs.  Let’s assume that in Mogekoverse all residents of different heavens must live in celibacy. It wouldn’t be surprising, considering how in most religions any kind of priests and priestess usually swear purity. Now, as in real life, not everyone follow the rules. From gods to angels, all have hearts torn by feelings, all love and often have affairs. However, it stays more or less secret - that is, even if all knows, still the relationship can’t be too official nor open (I will leave my Eticalb theory as it is not relevant now). We can assume another thing - Wadanohara’s mother was some kind of a deity. She met Meikai and fell in love with him. As long as the were seeing each other in secret, nobody really cared. However, soon Wadanohara was born. It was the open violation of rules and Meikai’s lover could be punished. The most rational decision was painful, yet Meikai decided to take the little egg and never let anyone know who Wadanohara’s mother is. There’s an element making this theory a little more possibly, namely Meikai, saying goodbyes to Wadanohara, doesn’t really die. He knows that he will be able to watch her, even if Wadanohara doesn’t hear his words. It would be a reason why in that monet he mentions his lover, being alive and forbidden to ever see Wadanohara. 

Will we ever hear any answers? Will any of the theories come to be true? Of course we can’t say much as we don’t  have enough facts to either confirm or destroy any possible idea. However, it doesn’t stop us from having fun!

Part two - someday, somewhere. 

[carlbgood]

feel this is a super important point, fundamental to the health and ethos of our country.. a country of a particular vintage, the one founded on the principle of a separation of church and state. how many issues arise from the failing of this one tenet? of the forceful commingling of our revered independent governmental structure with our private spiritual personal worlds? as any religion is bound, its raison d’etre, religion is personal by its nature— the moment it becomes forceful it ceases any relationship with spirit, and forfeits its legitimacy. people are drawn through a vacuum like moths to the shining beacon on the hill, the morally righteous, the shining example of decency, civility, righteousness.. bludgeoning followers into submission undermines any credibility.. and moths are fragile. control is for the weak.

the military’s purpose [shoukd be] defensive at worst and in conjunction morally neutral at best. It is no machine to be co-opted by Jesus, it is no utility for the advancement of spirit.

likewise, as the state is a neutral framework for housing society. it has only cold hard tools at its disposal, like the gun that ultimately backs its statutes. it is successful so long as it is neutral.. the state, as a machine, has no measure of spirit just as my coffee maker has no legitimacy to dictate dogma. it is an appliance. It is a tool to extract sweet black go-juice from coffee beans.. as much as I do love the product it produces (much as I enjoy the society my state produces.. mostly, anyway) I know that it unto itself has no business comingling with moral dictates. I will add creamer as I see fit mr cuisinart, and personally resent your haughty mandates.. uppity purist. but point delivered “Christ cannot be wed to Roma. Christ can only be wed to his bride, the church.” and leave the preaching to the preachers, not the politicians, please. and resolve your Christian notion of spreading your message with doing so through your local works and good deeds, you shining light, and not at the end of a barrel of a gun. an image I cannot reconcile Jesus condoning.

—cbg

“If Christianity is not seen as countercultural and even subversive within a military-economic superpower, you can be sure it is a deeply compromised Christianity. A Christianity at home in an empire is the kind of compromised Christianity that the book of Revelation so passionately and creatively warns us against. A church in bed with a superpower is what Constantine unwittingly inaugurated when he believed that Christ and Roma could be wed. But Christ cannot be wed to Roma. Christ can only be wed to his bride, the church.”

— Brian Zahnd

[giarts]

Rethinking the Role a Museum Plays in its Community: The San Diego Museum of Man's approach to colonization

Submitted by Carmen Graciela Díaz on February 20, 2020

Micah D. Parzen, chief executive officer of the San Diego Museum of Man, reflects on the practice of decolonizing as part of shifting paradigms. In an article published by the American Alliance of Museums, Parzen emphasizes a museum has a part to play in the path to healing "pain and suffering comes in the form of structural racism, colonial legacy, or other forms of oppression."

"Within the context of its root verb 'to cure'—meaning 'to restore to health, or heal'—the curatorial endeavor takes on a far more holistic hue. When viewed through this lens, we have an opportunity to rethink the very nature of our expertise and the role we play in our communities."

Parzen adds:

We recognize that many museums, including ours, emerged from the colonial endeavor and the self-righteous belief that to the victor go the spoils. The colonizers, in turn, felt entitled to extract the cultural, environmental, and human resources of the colonized. Many cultural resources ended up in museums like ours, which wasted no time in asserting their authoritative expertise not only over the “artifacts,” but also over native and Indigenous peoples themselves. This paradigm of museum as expert over the “other” has largely justified our existence for the past 100 years. The practice of decolonizing is one of shifting that paradigm. It is a process of recognizing, holding ourselves accountable for, and actively working to redress the traumatic legacy of colonialism on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Central to this effort is undoing systems of oppression that continue to perpetuate those traumas today.

Read the article here.

Image: San Diego Museum of Man / Facebook

Posted by Carmen Graciela Díaz on February 20, 2020 at 11:59AM. Read the full post.

[taiebtaieb]

http://quran.msnsyria.com English - Yusuf Ali Sorah An-Nahl ( The Bees ) Verses Number 128 سورة النحل 128

http://quran.msnsyria.com

English - Yusuf Ali

Sorah An-Nahl ( The Bees )

Verses Number 128

سورة النحل 128

أَتَىٰ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ( 1 )

(Inevitable) cometh (to pass) the Command of Allah: seek ye not then to hasten it: Glory to Him, and far is He above having the partners they ascribe unto Him!

يُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ بِالرُّوحِ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ أَنْ أَنذِرُوا أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاتَّقُونِ ( 2 )

He doth send down His angels with inspiration of His Command, to such of His servants as He pleaseth, (saying): "Warn (Man) that there is no god but I: so do your duty unto Me."

خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ تَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ( 3 )

He has created the heavens and the earth for just ends: Far is He above having the partners they ascribe to Him!

خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُّبِينٌ ( 4 )

He has created man from a sperm-drop; and behold this same (man) becomes an open disputer!

وَالْأَنْعَامَ خَلَقَهَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا دِفْءٌ وَمَنَافِعُ وَمِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ ( 5 )

And cattle He has created for you (men): from them ye derive warmth, and numerous benefits, and of their (meat) ye eat.

وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا جَمَالٌ حِينَ تُرِيحُونَ وَحِينَ تَسْرَحُونَ ( 6 )

And ye have a sense of pride and beauty in them as ye drive them home in the evening, and as ye lead them forth to pasture in the morning.

وَتَحْمِلُ أَثْقَالَكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَلَدٍ لَّمْ تَكُونُوا بَالِغِيهِ إِلَّا بِشِقِّ الْأَنفُسِ إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 7 )

And they carry your heavyloads to lands that ye could not (otherwise) reach except with souls distressed: for your Lord is indeed Most Kind, Most Merciful,

وَالْخَيْلَ وَالْبِغَالَ وَالْحَمِيرَ لِتَرْكَبُوهَا وَزِينَةً وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ( 8 )

And (He has created) horses, mules, and donkeys, for you to ride and use for show; and He has created (other) things of which ye have no knowledge.

وَعَلَى اللَّهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ وَمِنْهَا جَائِرٌ وَلَوْ شَاءَ لَهَدَاكُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ ( 9 )

And unto Allah leads straight the Way, but there are ways that turn aside: if Allah had willed, He could have guided all of you.

هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً لَّكُم مِّنْهُ شَرَابٌ وَمِنْهُ شَجَرٌ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ ( 10 )

It is He who sends down rain from the sky: from it ye drink, and out of it (grows) the vegetation on which ye feed your cattle.

يُنبِتُ لَكُم بِهِ الزَّرْعَ وَالزَّيْتُونَ وَالنَّخِيلَ وَالْأَعْنَابَ وَمِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ( 11 )

With it He produces for you corn, olives, date-palms, grapes and every kind of fruit: verily in this is a sign for those who give thought.

وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ( 12 )

He has made subject to you the Night and the Day; the sun and the moon; and the stars are in subjection by His Command: verily in this are Signs for men who are wise.

وَمَا ذَرَأَ لَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَذَّكَّرُونَ ( 13 )

And the things on this earth which He has multiplied in varying colours (and qualities): verily in this is a sign for men who celebrate the praises of Allah (in gratitude).

وَهُوَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى الْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِن فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ( 14 )

It is He Who has made the sea subject, that ye may eat thereof flesh that is fresh and tender, and that ye may extract therefrom ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the bounty of Allah and that ye may be grateful.

وَأَلْقَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ وَأَنْهَارًا وَسُبُلًا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ ( 15 )

And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves;

وَعَلَامَاتٍ وَبِالنَّجْمِ هُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ ( 16 )

And marks and sign-posts; and by the stars (men) guide themselves.

أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لَّا يَخْلُقُ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ ( 17 )

Is then He Who creates like one that creates not? Will ye not receive admonition?

وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 18 )

If ye would count up the favours of Allah, never would ye be able to number them: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تُسِرُّونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ ( 19 )

And Allah doth know what ye conceal, and what ye reveal.

وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَا يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ ( 20 )

Those whom they invoke besides Allah create nothing and are themselves created.

أَمْوَاتٌ غَيْرُ أَحْيَاءٍ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ ( 21 )

(They are things) dead, lifeless: nor do they know when they will be raised up.

إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَالَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ قُلُوبُهُم مُّنكِرَةٌ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ ( 22 )

Your Allah is one Allah: as to those who believe not in the Hereafter, their hearts refuse to know, and they are arrogant.

لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْتَكْبِرِينَ ( 23 )

Undoubtedly Allah doth know what they conceal, and what they reveal: verily He loveth not the arrogant.

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُم مَّاذَا أَنزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ قَالُوا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ ( 24 )

When it is said to them, "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" they say, "Tales of the ancients!"

لِيَحْمِلُوا أَوْزَارَهُمْ كَامِلَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَمِنْ أَوْزَارِ الَّذِينَ يُضِلُّونَهُم بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ أَلَا سَاءَ مَا يَزِرُونَ ( 25 )

Let them bear, on the Day of Judgment, their own burdens in full, and also (something) of the burdens of those without knowledge, whom they misled. Alas, how grievous the burdens they will bear!

قَدْ مَكَرَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَأَتَى اللَّهُ بُنْيَانَهُم مِّنَ الْقَوَاعِدِ فَخَرَّ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّقْفُ مِن فَوْقِهِمْ وَأَتَاهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ ( 26 )

Those before them did also plot (against Allah's Way): but Allah took their structures from their foundations, and the roof fell down on them from above; and the Wrath seized them from directions they did not perceive.

ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُخْزِيهِمْ وَيَقُولُ أَيْنَ شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تُشَاقُّونَ فِيهِمْ قَالَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ إِنَّ الْخِزْيَ الْيَوْمَ وَالسُّوءَ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ ( 27 )

Then, on the Day of Judgment, He will cover them with shame, and say: "Where are My 'partners' concerning whom ye used to dispute (with the godly)?" Those endued with knowledge will say: "This Day, indeed, are the Unbelievers covered with shame and misery,-

الَّذِينَ تَتَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنفُسِهِمْ فَأَلْقَوُا السَّلَمَ مَا كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ مِن سُوءٍ بَلَىٰ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ( 28 )

"(Namely) those whose lives the angels take in a state of wrong-doing to their own souls." Then would they offer submission (with the pretence), "We did no evil (knowingly)." (The angels will reply), "Nay, but verily Allah knoweth all that ye did;

فَادْخُلُوا أَبْوَابَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا فَلَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى الْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ ( 29 )

"So enter the gates of Hell, to dwell therein. Thus evil indeed is the abode of the arrogant."

وَقِيلَ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا مَاذَا أَنزَلَ رَبُّكُمْ قَالُوا خَيْرًا لِّلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا فِي هَٰذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةٌ وَلَدَارُ الْآخِرَةِ خَيْرٌ وَلَنِعْمَ دَارُ الْمُتَّقِينَ ( 30 )

To the righteous (when) it is said, "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" they say, "All that is good." To those who do good, there is good in this world, and the Home of the Hereafter is even better and excellent indeed is the Home of the righteous,-

جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ يَدْخُلُونَهَا تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ لَهُمْ فِيهَا مَا يَشَاءُونَ كَذَٰلِكَ يَجْزِي اللَّهُ الْمُتَّقِينَ ( 31 )

Gardens of Eternity which they will enter: beneath them flow (pleasant) rivers: they will have therein all that they wish: thus doth Allah reward the righteous,-

الَّذِينَ تَتَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ طَيِّبِينَ يَقُولُونَ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمُ ادْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ( 32 )

(Namely) those whose lives the angels take in a state of purity, saying (to them), "Peace be on you; enter ye the Garden, because of (the good) which ye did (in the world)."

هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ كَذَٰلِكَ فَعَلَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَمَا ظَلَمَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَٰكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ( 33 )

Do the (ungodly) wait until the angels come to them, or there comes the Command of thy Lord (for their doom)? So did those who went before them. But Allah wronged them not: nay, they wronged their own souls.

فَأَصَابَهُمْ سَيِّئَاتُ مَا عَمِلُوا وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ( 34 )

But the evil results of their deeds overtook them, and that very (Wrath) at which they had scoffed hemmed them in.

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا لَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا عَبَدْنَا مِن دُونِهِ مِن شَيْءٍ نَّحْنُ وَلَا آبَاؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمْنَا مِن دُونِهِ مِن شَيْءٍ كَذَٰلِكَ فَعَلَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَهَلْ عَلَى الرُّسُلِ إِلَّا الْبَلَاغُ الْمُبِينُ ( 35 )

The worshippers of false gods say: "If Allah had so willed, we should not have worshipped aught but Him - neither we nor our fathers,- nor should we have prescribed prohibitions other than His." So did those who went before them. But what is the mission of messengers but to preach the Clear Message?

وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلَالَةُ فَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ ( 36 )

For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, (with the Command), "Serve Allah, and eschew Evil": of the People were some whom Allah guided, and some on whom error became inevitably (established). So travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who denied (the Truth).

إِن تَحْرِصْ عَلَىٰ هُدَاهُمْ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَن يُضِلُّ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن نَّاصِرِينَ ( 37 )

If thou art anxious for their guidance, yet Allah guideth not such as He leaves to stray, and there is none to help them.

وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ لَا يَبْعَثُ اللَّهُ مَن يَمُوتُ بَلَىٰ ��َعْدًا عَلَيْهِ حَقًّا وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ( 38 )

They swear their strongest oaths by Allah, that Allah will not raise up those who die: Nay, but it is a promise (binding) on Him in truth: but most among mankind realise it not.

لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ الَّذِي يَخْتَلِفُونَ فِيهِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا كَاذِبِينَ ( 39 )

(They must be raised up), in order that He may manifest to them the truth of that wherein they differ, and that the rejecters of Truth may realise that they had indeed (surrendered to) Falsehood.

إِنَّمَا قَوْلُنَا لِشَيْءٍ إِذَا أَرَدْنَاهُ أَن نَّقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ ( 40 )

For to anything which We have willed, We but say the word, "Be", and it is.

وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ( 41 )

To those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression,- We will assuredly give a goodly home in this world; but truly the reward of the Hereafter will be greater. If they only realised (this)!

الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ ( 42 )

(They are) those who persevere in patience, and put their trust on their Lord.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ( 43 )

And before thee also the messengers We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: if ye realise this not, ask of those who possess the Message.

بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالزُّبُرِ وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ( 44 )

(We sent them) with Clear Signs and Books of dark prophecies; and We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them, and that they may give thought.

أَفَأَمِنَ الَّذِينَ مَكَرُوا السَّيِّئَاتِ أَن يَخْسِفَ اللَّهُ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ ( 45 )

Do then those who devise evil (plots) feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them up, or that the Wrath will not seize them from directions they little perceive?-

أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ فِي تَقَلُّبِهِمْ فَمَا هُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ ( 46 )

Or that He may not call them to account in the midst of their goings to and fro, without a chance of their frustrating Him?-

أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ عَلَىٰ تَخَوُّفٍ فَإِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 47 )

Or that He may not call them to account by a process of slow wastage - for thy Lord is indeed full of kindness and mercy.

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَىٰ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِن شَيْءٍ يَتَفَيَّأُ ظِلَالُهُ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَالشَّمَائِلِ سُجَّدًا لِّلَّهِ وَهُمْ دَاخِرُونَ ( 48 )

Do they not look at Allah's creation, (even) among (inanimate) things,- How their (very) shadows turn round, from the right and the left, prostrating themselves to Allah, and that in the humblest manner?

وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مِن دَابَّةٍ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ ( 49 )

And to Allah doth obeisance all that is in the heavens and on earth, whether moving (living) creatures or the angels: for none are arrogant (before their Lord).

يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُم مِّن فَوْقِهِمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ ۩ ( 50 )

They all revere their Lord, high above them, and they do all that they are commanded.

وَقَالَ اللَّهُ لَا تَتَّخِذُوا إِلَٰهَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ ( 51 )

Allah has said: "Take not (for worship) two gods: for He is just One Allah: then fear Me (and Me alone)."

وَلَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَهُ الدِّينُ وَاصِبًا أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَتَّقُونَ ( 52 )

To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and on earth, and to Him is duty due always: then will ye fear other than Allah?

وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فَإِلَيْهِ تَجْأَرُونَ ( 53 )

And ye have no good thing but is from Allah: and moreover, when ye are touched by distress, unto Him ye cry with groans;

ثُمَّ إِذَا كَشَفَ الضُّرَّ عَنكُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنكُم بِرَبِّهِمْ يُشْرِكُونَ ( 54 )

Yet, when He removes the distress from you, behold! some of you turn to other gods to join with their Lord-

لِيَكْفُرُوا بِمَا آتَيْنَاهُمْ فَتَمَتَّعُوا فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ ( 55 )

(As if) to show their ingratitude for the favours we have bestowed on them! then enjoy (your brief day): but soon will ye know (your folly)!

وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ نَصِيبًا مِّمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ تَاللَّهِ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنتُمْ تَفْتَرُونَ ( 56 )

And they (even) assign, to things they do not know, a portion out of that which We have bestowed for their sustenance! By Allah, ye shall certainly be called to account for your false inventions.

وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ الْبَنَاتِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَلَهُم مَّا يَشْتَهُونَ ( 57 )

And they assign daughters for Allah! - Glory be to Him! - and for themselves (sons,- the issue) they desire!

وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُم بِالْأُنثَىٰ ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًّا وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ ( 58 )

When news is brought to one of them, of (the birth of) a female (child), his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief!

يَتَوَارَىٰ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ مِن سُوءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهِ أَيُمْسِكُهُ عَلَىٰ هُونٍ أَمْ يَدُسُّهُ فِي التُّرَابِ أَلَا سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ ( 59 )

With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on?

لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ مَثَلُ السَّوْءِ وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىٰ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ( 60 )

To those who believe not in the Hereafter, applies the similitude of evil: to Allah applies the highest similitude: for He is the Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom.

وَلَوْ يُؤَاخِذُ اللَّهُ النَّاسَ بِظُلْمِهِم مَّا تَرَكَ عَلَيْهَا مِن دَابَّةٍ وَلَٰكِن يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى فَإِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةً وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ ( 61 )

If Allah were to punish men for their wrong-doing, He would not leave, on the (earth), a single living creature: but He gives them respite for a stated Term: When their Term expires, they would not be able to delay (the punishment) for a single hour, just as they would not be able to anticipate it (for a single hour).

وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ مَا يَكْرَهُونَ وَتَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُهُمُ الْكَذِبَ أَنَّ لَهُمُ الْحُسْنَىٰ لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّ لَهُمُ النَّارَ وَأَنَّهُم مُّفْرَطُونَ ( 62 )

They attribute to Allah what they hate (for themselves), and their tongues assert the falsehood that all good things are for themselves: without doubt for them is the Fire, and they will be the first to be hastened on into it!

تَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَىٰ أُمَمٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ فَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَهُوَ وَلِيُّهُمُ الْيَوْمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ( 63 )

By Allah, We (also) sent (Our messengers) to Peoples before thee; but Satan made, (to the wicked), their own acts seem alluring: He is also their patron today, but they shall have a most grievous penalty.

وَمَا أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا لِتُبَيِّنَ لَهُمُ الَّذِي اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ ( 64 )

And We sent down the Book to thee for the express purpose, that thou shouldst make clear to them those things in which they differ, and that it should be a guide and a mercy to those who believe.

وَاللَّهُ أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ ( 65 )

And Allah sends down rain from the skies, and gives therewith life to the earth after its death: verily in this is a Sign for those who listen.

وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الْأَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةً نُّسْقِيكُم مِّمَّا فِي بُطُونِهِ مِن بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَائِغًا لِّلشَّارِبِينَ ( 66 )

And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive sign. From what is within their bodies between excretions and blood, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those who drink it.

وَمِن ثَمَرَاتِ النَّخِيلِ وَالْأَعْنَابِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْهُ سَكَرًا وَرِزْقًا حَسَنًا إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ( 67 )

And from the fruit of the date-palm and the vine, ye get out wholesome drink and food: behold, in this also is a sign for those who are wise.

وَأَوْحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ ( 68 )

And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees, and in (men's) habitations;

ثُمَّ كُلِي مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ فَ��سْلُكِي سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلًا يَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِّلنَّاسِ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ( 69 )

Then to eat of all the produce (of the earth), and find with skill the spacious paths of its Lord: there issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for men: verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought.

وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَفَّاكُمْ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰ أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْ لَا يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ قَدِيرٌ ( 70 )

It is Allah who creates you and takes your souls at death; and of you there are some who are sent back to a feeble age, so that they know nothing after having known (much): for Allah is All-Knowing, All-Powerful.

وَاللَّهُ فَضَّلَ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِي الرِّزْقِ فَمَا الَّذِينَ فُضِّلُوا بِرَادِّي رِزْقِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِيهِ سَوَاءٌ أَفَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ ( 71 )

Allah has bestowed His gifts of sustenance more freely on some of you than on others: those more favoured are not going to throw back their gifts to those whom their right hands possess, so as to be equal in that respect. Will they then deny the favours of Allah?

وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُم بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةً وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ أَفَبِالْبَاطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَتِ اللَّهِ هُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ ( 72 )

And Allah has made for you mates (and companions) of your own nature, and made for you, out of them, sons and daughters and grandchildren, and provided for you sustenance of the best: will they then believe in vain things, and be ungrateful for Allah's favours?-

وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ رِزْقًا مِّنَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ( 73 )

And worship others than Allah,- such as have no power of providing them, for sustenance, with anything in heavens or earth, and cannot possibly have such power?

فَلَا تَضْرِبُوا لِلَّهِ الْأَمْثَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ( 74 )

Invent not similitudes for Allah: for Allah knoweth, and ye know not.

ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا عَبْدًا مَّمْلُوكًا لَّا يَقْدِرُ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَمَن رَّزَقْنَاهُ مِنَّا رِزْقًا حَسَنًا فَهُوَ يُنفِقُ مِنْهُ سِرًّا وَجَهْرًا هَلْ يَسْتَوُونَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ( 75 )

Allah sets forth the Parable (of two men: one) a slave under the dominion of another; He has no power of any sort; and (the other) a man on whom We have bestowed goodly favours from Ourselves, and he spends thereof (freely), privately and publicly: are the two equal? (By no means;) praise be to Allah. But most of them understand not.

وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا رَّجُلَيْنِ أَحَدُهُمَا أَبْكَمُ لَا يَقْدِرُ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَهُوَ كَلٌّ عَلَىٰ مَوْلَاهُ أَيْنَمَا يُوَجِّههُّ لَا يَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي هُوَ وَمَن يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ( 76 )

Allah sets forth (another) Parable of two men: one of them dumb, with no power of any sort; a wearisome burden is he to his master; whichever way be directs him, he brings no good: is such a man equal with one who commands Justice, and is on a Straight Way?

وَلِلَّهِ غَيْبُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا أَمْرُ السَّاعَةِ إِلَّا كَلَمْحِ الْبَصَرِ أَوْ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ( 77 )

To Allah belongeth the Mystery of the heavens and the earth. And the Decision of the Hour (of Judgment) is as the twingkling of an eye, or even quicker: for Allah hath power over all things.

وَاللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّن بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ( 78 )

It is He Who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and affections: that ye may give thanks (to Allah).

أَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ فِي جَوِّ السَّمَاءِ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا اللَّهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ ( 79 )

Do they not look at the birds, held poised in the midst of (the air and) the sky? Nothing holds them up but (the power of) Allah. Verily in this are signs for those who believe.

وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّن بُيُوتِكُمْ سَكَنًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّن جُلُودِ الْأَنْعَامِ بُيُوتًا تَسْتَخِفُّونَهَا يَوْمَ ظَعْنِكُمْ وَيَوْمَ إِقَامَتِكُمْ وَمِنْ أَصْوَافِهَا وَأَوْبَارِهَا وَأَشْعَارِهَا أَثَاثًا وَمَتَاعًا إِلَىٰ حِينٍ ( 80 )

It is Allah Who made your habitations homes of rest and quiet for you; and made for you, out of the skins of animals, (tents for) dwellings, which ye find so light (and handy) when ye travel and when ye stop (in your travels); and out of their wool, and their soft fibres (between wool and hair), and their hair, rich stuff and articles of convenience (to serve you) for a time.

وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّمَّا خَلَقَ ظِلَالًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنَ الْجِبَالِ أَكْنَانًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمْ سَرَابِيلَ تَقِيكُمُ الْحَرَّ وَسَرَابِيلَ تَقِيكُم بَأْسَكُمْ كَذَٰلِكَ يُتِمُّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْلِمُونَ ( 81 )

It is Allah Who made out of the things He created, some things to give you shade; of the hills He made some for your shelter; He made you garments to protect you from heat, and coats of mail to protect you from your (mutual) violence. Thus does He complete His favours on you, that ye may bow to His Will (in Islam).

فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ الْبَلَاغُ الْمُبِينُ ( 82 )

But if they turn away, thy duty is only to preach the clear Message.

يَعْرِفُونَ نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنكِرُونَهَا وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ ( 83 )

They recognise the favours of Allah; then they deny them; and most of them are (creatures) ungrateful.

وَيَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ مِن كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهِيدًا ثُمَّ لَا يُؤْذَنُ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَلَا هُمْ يُسْتَعْتَبُونَ ( 84 )

One Day We shall raise from all Peoples a Witness: then will no excuse be accepted from Unbelievers, nor will they receive any favours.

وَإِذَا رَأَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا الْعَذَابَ فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُنظَرُونَ ( 85 )

When the wrong-doers (actually) see the Penalty, then will it in no way be mitigated, nor will they then receive respite.

وَإِذَا رَأَى الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا شُرَكَاءَهُمْ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُرَكَاؤُنَا الَّذِينَ كُنَّا نَدْعُو مِن دُونِكَ فَأَلْقَوْا إِلَيْهِمُ الْقَوْلَ إِنَّكُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ( 86 )

When those who gave partners to Allah will see their "partners", they will say: "Our Lord! these are our 'partners,' those whom we used to invoke besides Thee." But they will throw back their word at them (and say): "Indeed ye are liars!"

وَأَلْقَوْا إِلَى اللَّهِ يَوْمَئِذٍ السَّلَمَ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ ( 87 )

That Day shall they (openly) show (their) submission to Allah; and all their inventions shall leave them in the lurch.

الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ زِدْنَاهُمْ عَذَابًا فَوْقَ الْعَذَابِ بِمَا كَانُوا يُفْسِدُونَ ( 88 )

Those who reject Allah and hinder (men) from the Path of Allah - for them will We add Penalty to Penalty; for that they used to spread mischief.

وَيَوْمَ نَبْعَثُ فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ شَهِيدًا عَلَىٰ هَٰؤُلَاءِ وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ ( 89 )

One day We shall raise from all Peoples a witness against them, from amongst themselves: and We shall bring thee as a witness against these (thy people): and We have sent down to thee the Book explaining all things, a Guide, a Mercy, and Glad Tidings to Muslims.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَ��ِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ ( 90 )

Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.

وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ إِذَا عَاهَدتُّمْ وَلَا تَنقُضُوا الْأَيْمَانَ بَعْدَ تَوْكِيدِهَا وَقَدْ جَعَلْتُمُ اللَّهَ عَلَيْكُمْ كَفِيلًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ ( 91 )

Fulfil the Covenant of Allah when ye have entered into it, and break not your oaths after ye have confirmed them; indeed ye have made Allah your surety; for Allah knoweth all that ye do.

وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنكَاثًا تَتَّخِذُونَ أَيْمَانَكُمْ دَخَلًا بَيْنَكُمْ أَن تَكُونَ أُمَّةٌ هِيَ أَرْبَىٰ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ إِنَّمَا يَبْلُوكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ لَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ ( 92 )

And be not like a woman who breaks into untwisted strands the yarn which she has spun, after it has become strong. Nor take your oaths to practise deception between yourselves, lest one party should be more numerous than another: for Allah will test you by this; and on the Day of Judgment He will certainly make clear to you (the truth of) that wherein ye disagree.

وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَٰكِن يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ وَلَتُسْأَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ( 93 )

If Allah so willed, He could make you all one people: But He leaves straying whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases: but ye shall certainly be called to account for all your actions.

وَلَا تَتَّخِذُوا أَيْمَانَكُمْ دَخَلًا بَيْنَكُمْ فَتَزِلَّ قَدَمٌ بَعْدَ ثُبُوتِهَا وَتَذُوقُوا السُّوءَ بِمَا صَدَدتُّمْ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَكُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ ( 94 )

And take not your oaths, to practise deception between yourselves, with the result that someone's foot may slip after it was firmly planted, and ye may have to taste the evil (consequences) of having hindered (men) from the Path of Allah, and a Mighty Wrath descend on you.

وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا إِنَّمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ( 95 )

Nor sell the covenant of Allah for a miserable price: for with Allah is (a prize) far better for you, if ye only knew.

مَا عِندَكُمْ يَنفَدُ وَمَا عِندَ اللَّهِ بَاقٍ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّ الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ( 96 )

What is with you must vanish: what is with Allah will endure. And We will certainly bestow, on those who patiently persevere, their reward according to the best of their actions.

مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ( 97 )

Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.

فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ ( 98 )

When thou dost read the Qur'an, seek Allah's protection from Satan the rejected one.

إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ لَهُ سُلْطَانٌ عَلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ ( 99 )

No authority has he over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord.

إِنَّمَا سُلْطَانُهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يَتَوَلَّوْنَهُ وَالَّذِينَ هُم بِهِ مُشْرِكُونَ ( 100 )

His authority is over those only, who take him as patron and who join partners with Allah.

وَإِذَا بَدَّلْنَا آيَةً مَّكَانَ آيَةٍ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يُنَزِّلُ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُفْتَرٍ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ( 101 )

When We substitute one revelation for another,- and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages),- they say, "Thou art but a forger": but most of them understand not.

قُلْ نَزَّلَهُ رُوحُ الْقُدُسِ مِن رَّبِّكَ بِالْحَقِّ لِيُثَبِّتَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهُدًى وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ ( 102 )

Say, the Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in Truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as a Guide and Glad Tidings to Muslims.

وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّمَا يُعَلِّمُهُ بَشَرٌ لِّسَانُ الَّذِي يُلْحِدُونَ إِلَيْهِ أَعْجَمِيٌّ وَهَٰذَا لِسَانٌ عَرَبِيٌّ مُّبِينٌ ( 103 )

We know indeed that they say, "It is a man that teaches him." The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ لَا يَهْدِيهِمُ اللَّهُ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ( 104 )

Those who believe not in the Signs of Allah,- Allah will not guide them, and theirs will be a grievous Penalty.

إِنَّمَا يَفْتَرِي الْكَذِبَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ ( 105 )

It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie!

مَن كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَٰكِن مَّن شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ ( 106 )

Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,- except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.

ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمُ اسْتَحَبُّوا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى الْآخِرَةِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ ( 107 )

This because they love the life of this world better than the Hereafter: and Allah will not guide those who reject Faith.

أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْغَافِلُونَ ( 108 )

Those are they whose hearts, ears, and eyes Allah has sealed up, and they take no heed.

لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ ( 109 )

Without doubt, in the Hereafter they will perish.

ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا مِن بَعْدِ مَا فُتِنُوا ثُمَّ جَاهَدُوا وَصَبَرُوا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 110 )

But verily thy Lord,- to those who leave their homes after trials and persecutions,- and who thereafter strive and fight for the faith and patiently persevere,- Thy Lord, after all this is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

يَوْمَ تَأْتِي كُلُّ نَفْسٍ تُجَادِلُ عَن نَّفْسِهَا وَتُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ ( 111 )

One Day every soul will come up struggling for itself, and every soul will be recompensed (fully) for all its actions, and none will be unjustly dealt with.

وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا قَرْيَةً كَانَتْ آمِنَةً مُّطْمَئِنَّةً يَأْتِيهَا رِزْقُهَا رَغَدًا مِّن كُلِّ مَكَانٍ فَكَفَرَتْ بِأَنْعُمِ اللَّهِ فَأَذَاقَهَا اللَّهُ لِبَاسَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَصْنَعُونَ ( 112 )

Allah sets forth a Parable: a city enjoying security and quiet, abundantly supplied with sustenance from every place: Yet was it ungrateful for the favours of Allah: so Allah made it taste of hunger and terror (in extremes) (closing in on it) like a garment (from every side), because of the (evil) which (its people) wrought.

وَلَقَدْ جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَخَذَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ ( 113 )

And there came to them a Messenger from among themselves, but they falsely rejected him; so the Wrath seized them even in the midst of their iniquities.

فَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَاشْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ( 114 )

So eat of the sustenance which Allah has provided for you, lawful and good; and be grateful for the favours of Allah, if it is He Whom ye serve.

إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 115 )

He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هَٰذَا حَلَالٌ وَهَٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفْتَرُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ ( 116 )

But say not - for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper.

مَتَاعٌ قَلِيلٌ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ( 117 )

(In such falsehood) is but a paltry profit; but they will have a most grievous Penalty.

وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا مَا قَصَصْنَا عَلَيْكَ مِن قَبْلُ وَمَا ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَٰكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ( 118 )

To the Jews We prohibited such things as We have mentioned to thee before: We did them no wrong, but they were used to doing wrong to themselves.

ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ عَمِلُوا السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ تَابُوا مِن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ( 119 )

But verily thy Lord,- to those who do wrong in ignorance, but who thereafter repent and make amends,- thy Lord, after all this, is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّةً قَانِتًا لِّلَّهِ حَنِيفًا وَلَمْ يَكُ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ( 120 )

Abraham was indeed a model, devoutly obedient to Allah, (and) true in Faith, and he joined not gods with Allah:

شَاكِرًا لِّأَنْعُمِهِ اجْتَبَاهُ وَهَدَاهُ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ( 121 )

He showed his gratitude for the favours of Allah, who chose him, and guided him to a Straight Way.

وَآتَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ( 122 )

And We gave him Good in this world, and he will be, in the Hereafter, in the ranks of the Righteous.

ثُمَّ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ أَنِ اتَّبِعْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ( 123 )

So We have taught thee the inspired (Message), "Follow the ways of Abraham the True in Faith, and he joined not gods with Allah."

إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ السَّبْتُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَيَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ ( 124 )

The Sabbath was only made (strict) for those who disagreed (as to its observance); But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment, as to their differences.

ادْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ ( 125 )

Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.

وَإِنْ عَاقَبْتُمْ فَعَاقِبُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُم بِهِ وَلَئِن صَبَرْتُمْ لَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لِّلصَّابِرِينَ ( 126 )

And if ye do catch them out, catch them out no worse than they catch you out: But if ye show patience, that is indeed the best (course) for those who are patient.

وَاصْبِرْ وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ وَلَا تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا تَكُ فِي ضَيْقٍ مِّمَّا يَمْكُرُونَ ( 127 )

And do thou be patient, for thy patience is but from Allah; nor grieve over them: and distress not thyself because of their plots.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوا وَّالَّذِينَ هُم مُّحْسِنُونَ ( 128 )

For Allah is with those who restrain themselves, and those who do good.

[thestraggletag]

Darkly Intriguing, Chapter 9

Rating: E (chapter rating PG)

Summary: (OUAT/Addams Family crossover) Belle French, antiques book dealer and restorer, find herself befriending and odd but compelling couple, Gomez and Morticia Addams. It is while she restores the family library that Cousin Rumple first stumbles into her, and the sparks are immediate. But the deeper Belle goes into the strange world of the Addams’s the more worried friends and family members grow.

Trigger warning for depictions of forced psychiatric committent.

For @iguessifinallygotone, who prompted “more Darkly Intriguing”.

She didn’t recall drinking too much the day before. It had been a boring Thursday night and she’d closed up the diner, after which she’d gone to her room and watched some forgettable war movie before falling asleep on her bed. Nothing that accounted for the pounding headache or the general air of ickiness she felt. 

“Good morning, Miss Ruby. Would you care for some water?”

She opened her eyes, trying to blink the blurriness away. When she could finally focused she spotted a small, serious-looking child, dressed a bit like a kid from a Victorian horror movie and holding a glass of water with a straw. It was then that she realised she was tied to a chair.

“Hey, what the f- what the hell, kid?”

She did not recognise her surroundings. They were in what looked like a dungeon of some sort, dark and appropriately dank. 

“Please, you mustn’t hurt yourself. This will be over soon.”

“Not exactly a reassurance, shorty.” She coughed, her throat feeling scratchy. “Okay, make with the water, kid, and with the explanations. Starting with your name.”

“My name is Baelfire Addams. And I wish to enquire after the whereabouts of Miss Belle French. You two are friends, I believe.”

There was something strangely charming about the child’s old-fashioned speech-patterns, but she did not let it distract her from trying to wiggle her hands free.

“Look, kid, is this about your dad? He’s dating Belle, right? Did they have a fight or something? Adults sometimes do that, sweetie.”

Belle had seemed happy, truly happy for the first time in a while, since she’d started dating an Addams. And though Ruby felt uneasy about it she trusted Belle’s judgement. Something she might have to reconsider, in light of recent events. There was quaint behaviour, there was strange behaviour and then there was outright criminal action. And the rotten apple was unlikely to have fallen far from the twisted tree.

“No, ma’am, they didn’t. They were happy. And then she suddenly went away. My father was told she went to visit and aunt in Australia but I don’t believe it.”

She was about to demand he untie her and also stop calling her ma’am when his words sunk in. Belle was gone? She hadn’t told her anything about going away. They were best friends, sisters from different mothers, she wouldn’t just up and leave without at least texting her. And besides-

“Belle doesn’t have an aunt. Her old man’s an only child, thank God. And she wouldn’t just up and disappear. The only time she did was years ago when her fa-”

Oh, no. He wouldn’t dare, surely. Not again. Besides, Belle was an adult. Surely no one would disregard her basic rights.

“Oh, that fucking self-righteous bitch totally would.”

She winced at the cursing a second later, but the kid, Baelfire, barely blinked. She leaned forward and caught the straw being offered, taking a few deep pulls of cold water. Her mind worked overtime, trying to come up with any scenario other than the one she was imagining it. But nothing else would account for Belle’s radio-silence, or Moe fucking French inventing excuses for her absence. She made a list in her head of steps to take.

“Belle’s in trouble, kid. Gonna need you to untie me pronto.”

She barely flinched when the child took out a bowie knife out of fucking nowhere and went behind her back to cut the ropes. She was too busy trying to think what her options were. Telling Granny wouldn’t help much, other than garner moral support. Emma, out of everyone, was the one with any power to do anything. But she would be constrained by the law, and the way she figured whatever she could do could take weeks, if not months. Mother Superior was a well-connected woman, after all, and a clever one. She would drag things on for months, at best. And fuck that.

“Okay, kid, I think I know where Belle is but if we’re gonna get her out of there we’re gonna need a whole lotta luck, a helping and a massive distraction.”

The boy smiled, helping her up from the chair.

“We got both of those. Come on, cousin Wednesday must be getting impatient.”

.

Cousin Wednesday turned out to be a lovely, though sombre, little girl with long black hair, pale skin, a can of gasoline and a book of matches. Her brother Pugsley was much more social and seemingly less of a fire hazard. And they were accompanied by an actual walking hand Ruby tried very hard not to stare at as she drove her red convertible towards Saint Eunice, the charity-run psychiatric hospital three hours away. It was run by the nuns of the nearby convent, and was the pride of the local community. It was spearheaded by Mother Superior, a demure and humble figure that scared the bejeesus out of Ruby, even as a child. Even before she’d done what she did to Belle.

The plan, as they devised on the way there, was frightfully simple: they would locate Belle, create a distraction and extract her with no one being the wiser.

“Thing is the best tracker there is, and he knows Miss Belle’s smell.”

“Of course he does.”

They parked near enough to have a good view of the facilities, and it was then that Ruby noticed a sleek Bently pulling up behind them. A mountain of a man got out, dressed like a corpse with the skin to match.

“That’s Lurch. He’ll do the extraction once the diversion is in place.”

In the interest of plausible deniability the waitress pretended not to notice Puglsey get out of the car with a bolt cutter, the walking hand scurry inside the hospital, or the little girl wander into the back of the facilities with her can of gasoline and her matches. Nothing happened for the longest time and she was almost at the end of her current Spotify list when she smelled something burning. Soon one side of the structure was visibly on fire, plumes of dark smoke dispersing into the air. She caught the faint sound of a fire alarm and soon women in nun habits, doctors and patients were being evacuated into the gardens. She tried not to focus on how haggard the later looked, how thin and out of sorts. Belle had been gone only for a few days, it wasn’t like last time.

A fire truck siren blared in the distance, starting Ruby out of her morose thoughts in time to notice the two Addams cousins running back towards the car, the hand creature perched on the boy’s shoulder. The hulking man trotted beside them, carrying a bundle that looked human-shaped. Belle-shaped.

“Oh, thank God.”

“We will take it from here, Miss Ruby. You must go home so no one will think you involved. I will take Miss Belle to my aunt and uncle’s, she’ll be safe there. She’ll call you as soon as she can, I promise.”

“You’re the politest little criminal I’ve ever met, kid. Please take care of her. And don’t let her father near her.”

He hopped out of her car, looking incredibly unruffled by the general chaos and mayhem around him. She watched him climb into the Bentley before it sped off, and took a second or two to pause and compose herself before she took out her cell and called her grandmother. Granny would give her hell for leaving her tending to the diner mostly alone for the entire day, but if it came to it she would die maintaining she’d been in the kitchens the entire day to whoever came asking.

.

It wasn’t the first time he was asked to supply potions and ointments from his own supply to his cousin. His children got into all sorts of colourful, character-building trouble that they couldn’t get out off scot-free, though it was mostly Lurch the one that got stuck with the consequences. At least this time he hadn’t been asked to supply an entire arm, like the time where Pugsley had miscalculated the reach of his “controlled explosion”.

Sure enough the moment the butler opened the door he spotted scorch marks on his clothing. He also appeared to have singed his eyebrows off completely.

“Well, it doesn’t look as bad as the time Fester brought the children souvenirs from his trip to Ukraine. No radioactive burns this time, at least. Nothing that a little bit of ointment and a few of Grandmama’s leeches won’t cure.”

Certainly nothing worth making him drag his potion collection over. Perhaps a rouse to get him out of his house, get him socialising again. Gomez had tried a hundred excuses to force him out of the comfortable nest of isolation and misery he had built for himself. He did not appreciate having been fooled into getting clean and debatably sober, but as the request had come from Morticia he had been inclined to distrust it less. Usually she was more respectful of his dark moods.

“Ah, cousin, so good of you to come.” Morticia appeared at his side almost out of thin air, slipping a hand on the crook of his elbow to guide him further into the house, in the general direction of the glass house.

“Can’t say I appreciate being lied to, dearie. But at least  I would have thought you’d want to cling to appearances and let me see to your manservant.”

“Mama has seen to Lurch. He’s been bled, exorcised and properly bandaged, never you worry.”

“Am I free to go then? Bae is likely wondering where I am.”

He had left fend for himself long enough. His wee boy was resourceful and independent, but he needed his papa. He had wallowed in self pity and bathed in whisky long enough. 

“Baelfire is here. He and the children got into some mischief, apparently. Burned down the kitchen of a nearby hospital.”

“That sounds like the handiwork of your youngest and brightest. Pretty little arsonist you got there.”

“Takes after her great-aunt in that regard. We’re all so proud.”

She kept walking in the direction of the glasshouse, which was puzzling.

“It doesn’t sound like Wednesday to leave the job half-done. Can’t imagine her settling for the kitchen when she could’ve easily set the entire place ablaze.”

“The fire was a distraction, cousin. Apparently they were on a rescue mission, spearheaded by your boy.” She tugged gently on his arm to get him to pause. Her countenance grew strangely serious, though she was difficult to read. “It seems that Belle was there. Against her will.”

His stomach dropped to the floor at the mere mention of her name, so it took him a few seconds to process the rest of her words, and even more time to notice Morticia was still talking.

“Usually I’m all for the peace and quiet of an insane asylum for a little getaway and a bit of pampering, but I gathered that was not the case here. Miss Ruby Lucas, one of Belle’s friends, seemed to imply that her father had her forcefully committed. And not for the first time.”

“Where is she?”

He tried hard not to focus on the last bit Morticia had confided, lest he be lost in a murderous rage.

“In the glasshouse. She was put in a room at first but it seems confined spaces do not agree with her at this time. Thing said she’d been locked in a tiny room, so that might explain it. Being able to see outside seemed to calm her.”

They entered the glass dome in question, and he noticed Morticia had opened quite a few of the panels, letting the cold night air in. Someone, likely Lurch, had dragged a chaise lounge into the room, the one from the library. He’d seen Belle asleep in it often so it was natural to see her thick brown hair cascading down the edge, or her small form swaddled by the thick cashmere throw she usually favoured. It wasn’t until he got close that he noticed her bruised under-eyes, or the sallow tone of her skin. She was dressed in an old-fashioned white nightgown, likely some Addams heirloom from some Victorian ancestor. 

“She wakes from time to time, but never for long. Mama has been trying to figure out how to counteract what she’s been given, but she’s too weak for bloodletting. We hoped one of your detox concoctions might work.”

He pushed down on the vile rising up his throat, taking one of her hands in his to check her pulse. It was sluggish but constant. He opened her mouth next to smell her breath, years of experience allowing him to identify the humours out of sorts in her body. It was easy to find the right combination of potions to lower the levels of phlegm and black bile and help the production of blood, Belle’s base humour. He put a dollop of honey to cut the bitter taste of some of the herbs and eased it gently down her throat, noticing as her eyes fluttered briefly before closing again.

“She’ll wake in a few hours, hopefully with only a minor headache and some tremors. Those are likely to disappear in a few days. I trust she’ll stay here with you.”

He looked at her again, feeling like someone had tried to take the light away from his little sun fairy. She looked more like an Addams now, skin unnaturally white and lips tinged blue, but it looked wrong, unappealing.

“This is my fault.”

He had doubted her, after all. Had wrapped himself tight in his self-pity and refused to trust in her good nature. Refused to see beyond his past experiences, beyond his heartache. He had left her there. It was all his fault.

But not only his fault.

“I trust you won’t mind Bae having a little sleepover, will you dearie? I have a sudden pressing matter that needs attending.”

“Of course not, cousin. I assume I don’t have to ask what that matter is.”

Her words were laced with a hint of approval and a heap of malice. It did not surprise him in the least. Cousin Morticia was, after all, a fervent believer in the family motto.

[micaramel]

Artists: Abel Auer, Monika Baer, Juliette Blightman, Michaela Eichwald, Rochelle Goldberg, Paul Gondry, Alexander Hardashnakov, Yannic Joray, Armin Krämer, Veit Laurent Kurz, Matthew Langan-Peck, Ariane Müller, Willa Nasatir, Dieter Roth, Lin May Saeed, Benjamin Saurer, Ben Schumacher, Stefan Tcherepnin, Stefan Thater, Hanna Törnudd, Miriam Visazcki, Lawrence Weiner, David Weiss, Renate Wolf-Kurz, Amelie von Wulffen

Venue: Oracle, Berlin

Exhibition Title: Sancho Panza

Presented by: Veit Laurent Kurz

Date: January 21 – March 4, 2018

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Oracle, Berlin

Press Release:

“Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is nobel, righteous warfare…?“

“What giants?” Asked Sancho Panza.

“The ones you can see over there,” answered his master, “with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long.”

“Now look, your grace,” said Sancho, “what you see over there aren’t giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone.”

“Obviously,” replied Don Quijote, “you don’t know much about adventures.”

„Adventures!“ Panza yelled in a furious tone „ This is not about adventures Master and those are no giants, those are windmills“

Quijotes eyes turned big and with an irritated voice he asked „What do you mean Panza, are you questioning me?“

Sancho replies with a decided voice „I was thinking about it Master, I was hesitant and afraid to offer you my thoughts but those are no giants to be fought, you obviously seems ignorant of the fact that those are windmills which harness the energy of the wind. With which we can collectively enrich ourselves without your noble warfare.“

Don Quijote swallows „Urgg“.

„Energy can be extracted from the incoming air by turbines of different shapes and sizes. Wing-like structures are used to convert the energy flow of the air into a mechanical rotational energy.

Panza continues

„An energy withdrawal from the wind takes place by delaying the air flow, it is deflected by the rotor blades, causing them to rotate. The efficiency depends only on the ratio of the two wind speeds before and behind the rotor. The ratio of extracted wind power to offered power can lead to an enormous efficiency of energy, a free energy which might contribute to save and secure the days ahead of us.“.

Don Quijote swallows, riding in silence while facing his ignorance in shame.

A Few minutes later an exploding scream breaks the silence „Giannnnnntttsssssssssssss they are! Giaaannnntsss!!!!“

Enraged and redheaded Don Quijote falls from the horse and lands face forward in a brown paddy of mud-like consistence.

With an irritated voice Sancho Panza continues: „You might have travelled a lot, experienced many adventures and developed a noble tone Master, but it seems to me that you are missing many items of crucial information. Not only are you are blind, you willingly let your thoughts drift in an ancient and forgotten world where unnecessary dramas play out in the shape of war and hate. Forgive me to say so but your life-cycles in a constant illusion“

„Giannnnnntttsssssssssssss!!!“ Don Quijote screams again.

Sancho Panza gets off his overly fed donkey and helps his master who`s face is covered in what we can assume to be cow feces and further assists Don Quijote on his noble horse. In silence the two ride side by side into the sunset and through to the endless prairie.

– Miguel de Cervantes & The Dilldapp

Link: “Sancho Panza” at Oracle

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