#satan triumphant

[marypickfords]

Satan Triumphant (Yakov Protazanov, 1917)

[library-ghoulette]

With You Always

Pairing: Copia (Frater Imperator) x gn!reader (lightly implied, that forehead kiss can be platonic if you want it to be)

Rating: Gen

Tags: Second person POV, hurt/comfort, fluff and angst

Words: 931

Summary: Papa V Perpetua's ascension and catchy new single raise difficult feelings for Copia. Luckily you're there, and you know all the right things to say to assuage his insecurities.

A/N: I wrote this because I have been both listening to "Satanized" on a loop and feeling the need to comfort my comfort character all day long.

You can also read this and all of my other fics on ao3!

Blasphemy! Heresy! Save me! From the bottom of my heart, I know—

"You're doing it again."

"Hm?" You look up, confused, from the invoices you've been filing. "Doing what again?"

Copia is seated at his desk, staring at his computer, brow furrowed and a sour expression lining his face. He doesn't look up at you when he answers.

"Singing."

"Oh." Your cheeks color with embarrassment. The new song has been stuck in your head since it premiered last night—to much fanfare for the new Papa—but you hadn't realized that at some point you had actually begun singing along under your breath. "Sorry, Pa— Frater. I'll keep it down."

He gives a little hmph in reply, and you return to your filing. The office—it used to be Sister's office, but you're just about used to the larger space being Copia's now, used to the new uniform, used to most of the changes even if your tongue still stumbles on the new title from time to time—fills with the soft sounds of papers shuffing into folders and the clicking of Copia's mouse. It's relaxing… Well, kind of. Just when you think to yourself that his clicking is starting to sound a bit aggressive, you hear him swear at the computer with a level of vitriol that frankly seems a bit much to throw at a humble spreadsheet.

"Everything okay?" you ask timidly.

"Of course everything is okay. Why would it not be okay?" Copia replies, voice tight in that way it gets when things are decidedly less than okay.

"You've just seemed a bit on edge today? Since the premiere?"

He gives you a brief look over his shoulder before quickly looking away. "I'm fine."

"You know, if you want to talk about—"

"I don't."

"Okay." You shrug, slide the file cabinet drawer closed with a satisfying thud, and open the drawer for the next range of letters. Continue transforming chaos to order, one form at a time. You've known Copia long enough and worked with him closely enough not only to clock his tells, but to know that he will break in three, two, one—

As though on cue, he sighs heavily and pushes back from the desk,rolling his chair around to face you.

"It's not even that good, this song, you know? 'Satanized'? 'Urges to burst'? What the fuck is that?"

"It is awfully catchy," you venture.

Copia snorts, incredulous. "Catchy? You know what song is catchy? 'Rats' is catchy. Now that's a lead single. I was nominated for a Grammy with that one, you know."

"I know."

"And 'Call Me Little Sunshine'!" Copia continues, triumphant. "Another Grammy nomination! And I could have won, too, if…"

But he trails off, and in the heavy silence following that if, you hear what is left. If there had been a third album cycle. If he was still Papa. If he'd had just a little more time…

Copia abruptly turns to gaze out the window, jaw set, his eyes glistening. You know that he's not really seeing the early spring day on the other side of the stained glass.

After a moment, he asks, "They seemed happy, didn't they?"

"Who?"

"My— the ghouls. In that video, they seemed happy." He swallows hard. "With him."

This isn't about Grammys, you know, or tours, or albums, or movies, or any amount of success that can be measured in accolades or dollar signs.

You close the space between you, coming to stand at Copia's side, close enough to reach out and thumb away the tear tracing its bitter path down his cheek.

"They're not going to forget you," you say softly. "You know that, right?"

"They already have."

"No, listen to me." You apply gentle pressure, turning his dear, sad, stubborn face up so that he has no choice but to look at you. You repeat, more forcefully this time, "They are not going to forget you. Not the ghouls. Not anybody. I mean, how could they?"

And now it's your turn to blink back the tears prickling your eyes.

"How could anyone forget everything that you've given to this Ministry? Yes, the songs, the tours, the movie. But it's more than that. You've touched millions of hearts, given countless people joy and comfort and a sense of belonging."

"But— but I'm not Papa, anymore."

You shake your head. "It doesn't matter. The entire Ministry, everything we're doing here? It could end tomorrow, and you would still be with all of those people forever. Your songs, your words, memories of nights filled with music and magic, all of that love… Nothing can undo that. Not time or distance or different outfits or some new guy in a shiny mask."

Copia chuckles in spite of himself, the laugh causing more tears to fall. But these he quickly wipes away, and takes your hand in his. "Such a stupid mask."

It's a pretty cool fucking mask, but wisely, you keep this thought to yourself, instead reassuring him, "There are plenty of people who still consider you their Papa."

For the first time all day—honestly, for the first time in longer than that—some of the tension melts out of Copia, his shoulders dropping out of their anxious hunch. He runs his thumb over your knuckles and asks, almost shyly, "And what about you?"

"Me? You even have to ask?" You bend down and press a kiss to his forehead, feeling the worried creases there smooth a little, as though your kiss is a balm to his very soul. "You'll always be my Papa."

[devildomwriter]

Obey Me as Disenchantment Quotes #1

Lucifer & Satan: *Laughing maniacally*

Simeon: “While I question their evil motives, it is nice to see them happy.”

Barbatos: “Now announcing the triumphant return of our heroes from their quest that we all privately thought would fail.”

Mammon & Leviathan: “…”

Lucifer: “How do we even know it worked.”

Solomon: “Oh but it must have worked. Now to test it, we need a volunteer to kill you.”

Belphegor: “Dibs.”

Barbatos: “How can you keep messing up a recipe with two ingredients?”

Solomon: “If you ever run into trouble give them this note.”

MC: “Kill me?”

Solomon: “Thirteen gave it to me, now I give it to you.”

Leviathan: “I’ve been meaning to…but the thing is, I…so you see…well, I’m glad we had this talk. How bout you talk now?”

MC: “But you haven’t said anything yet.”

Belphegor: “Well I was waiting to tell you until after I was dead so I wouldn’t have to tell you.”

Mammon: “Now just keep holding on, okay. Just keep holding on.”

MC: “It’s okay, it’s okay Mammon, I always wanted to go out while I’m still young and hot.”

Leviathan: “I didn’t want to tell you because I’m terrified of female emotions.”

Satan: “No, no, no, I was mostly raised by Lucifer. And a bunch of friendly drunks down at the pub. They taught me the fine art of stabbing.”

Barbatos: “It’s just too painful seeing the truth all the time.”

Solomon: “Ah, that’s why humans tend to avoid it.”

Belphegor: “The profession left without me.”

Diavolo: “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Belphegor: “I blame myself, cause I didn’t even notice.”

Solomon & Barbatos: *fighting*

Asmodeus: “Guys, guys come on. I’m much more embarrassed than I am aroused.”

Asmodeus: “MC, you poor baby. What a horrific day you’ve had. Let’s have too much wine and forget about it all.”

Beelzebub: “How’d you become a weird talking cat.”

Satan: “You keep shoving waffles in your mouth while I think of an answer.”

Thirteen: “I’ll use my skills as a hunter and Raphael will use his diplomacy to stab them with a broom handle.”

Solomon: “I used to spend many nights up here. Watching the sky, the moon, the neighbors.”

Lucifer: “This is your home. You’re free to explore.”

MC: “Wow, what’s behind that door?”

Lucifer: “None of your business nosy.”

Mammon: “Maybe you were overcome by chimney fumes. It happens quite frequently in a place like this with no chimnies.”

Satan: “What family curse? You mean insanity?”

Leviathan: “No, don’t be crazy. But yes I mean insanity.”

Asmodeus: “You guys are heavy. Do I really need both of you?”

Solomon & Satan: “Yes!”

Asmodeus: “Damn, I hate democracy.”

Mammon: “I knew you could count on me!”

Simeon: “What’s this called again?”

Mammon: “A a massage. It’s like a light well intentioned beating.”

Diavolo: “You’re clearly upset.”

Lucifer: “I’m not upset!”

Diavolo: “You said that like you were upset!”

MC: “Come on Belphegor be reasonable!”

Belphegor: “Never!”

Satan: “We’re gonna have to wing this in a dangerously half assed manner.”

Mammon: “That’s the Morningstar way.”

Asmodeus: “There’s plenty of fish in the sea, Sol.”

Solomon: “Like hell am I marrying another fish woman.”

Lucifer: “Disappointment’s a form of caring.”

Diavolo: “Tell me, where are you from.”

Solomon: “A country setting, it’s kind of like a farm but more stabbing.”

Simeon: “This whole thing feels like a weird dream.”

Mammon: “Or scurvy. When does scurvy kick in?”

Lucifer: “Believe it or not I know what it feels like to be burned alive by a mob of idiots.”

Beelzebub: “Oh, sweet butter, you’re the only thing right with the world.”

Solomon: “Morning, Belphegor! Care to try my new cure all? It wards off the deadly plague.”

Belphegor: “I’m actually hoping for death. Thanks though.”

Mammon: “For the first time in my life I feel completely calm and—“

Mammon: *Gets attacked by hawk*

Satan: “I’ve loved you since the moment you killed my brother.”

Mammon: “You don’t scare me! I was born scared.”

[let-the-stars-guide]

Sentient (Sagau Self Aware! AU Wanderer fic) Volume 1

Dec 2022-Current

6K words

I wanted to repost it because I'm most likely going to take it off ao3.

I put it on to make it potentially more accessible to people who don't want Tumblr.

Here's Ch.1-3 as Volume 1

Wanderer centric + Reader

Wanderer has a name (Masha)

Wanderer is a cheeky little shit

Crack and comedy

Meeting (Chapter 1)

"Can you stop yelling in my ears!" Wanderer yells, catching your attention from the other side of the screen. He saw you flinch before slowly turning to look at him.

He smirks in triumphant, striking his idle pose. You eye his figure carefully. Instead of looking towards the mountains, he faces you grinning. You lean over hesitantly poking the screen.

"Wait Scara what did you say?" You poke his cheek making him angrier.

You recoil in surprise, creeping towards your bed. His gaze follows you as you move this time. As his gaze follows you, you tilt to the left and right.

"The fuck?!" He laughs.

"My exact words, Oh Mighty [player name]!" He crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. You crawl at a snail's pace towards the computer.

As you approach him, he smugly looks down at you. "Down on the ground where you belong, insect?" You roll your eyes, as he sneers.

"How are you talking to me right now?"

"Everyone in Teyvat has always heard you." He makes eye contact continuing further.

"We've always heard you talk about your crush and what you want to do with them." He makes a disgusted look as he recalls hearing his name uttered again by you.

You frown as you recall Shikonin Heizou and the other characters you berated for not returning home. You can't help but worry if they'd be repulsed or terrified of you if you spoke to them.

"We hear everything Y/N." You quiver, hovering the mouse to over the x button.

Scaramouche's eyes widen seeing the exit symbol highlighted. Before the game ended, you heard his voice. Itto, Ei, Ayato, and Wanderer are the current banners showing on the screen banner. Instead of their usual expressions, they were disgusted.

You saw their eyes meet yours as you exited the pre-load up screen page. Your eyes were met with anger and disappointed sentiments. You hurriedly exited the room after clicking off your computer.

You didn't know how Scaramouche spoke to you, but you didn't want to see it again. Shaking it off you began to get ready for bed.

After weeks of not playing Genshin, you returned to wish for Ayato Kamisato, whose banner was expiring. You log in and quickly launch the game, avoiding their stares. When you click on the door, instead of the symbols, a message appears.

"Have you finally chosen to return?"

You ignore the message while waiting for the game to load, assuming it's Scaramouche speaking. After 5 minutes the message didn't disappear. You move your mouse clicking along the screen.

"Why so eager to return to Teyvat, you abandoned it after all~"

This was not Scaramouche talking at all. You try to exit the game like last time only for a lock to appear over it. You exclaim in anger, trying to click pass the text.

"Trying to flee so quickly? No, I don't believe so." To your chagrin, the individual, whoever it is, wants you to keep playing genshin.

"What's the deal with these new game events?" You take out your phone to look for the error message, but there is none.

You gather your belongings and prepare to leave the room. "Nope! You can keep this game Satan, i don't want it anymore!"

You gather your keys and other valuables and prepare to leave the room.

"[Player name]!" you exclaim as you go out of the room. When you turn around, you see Wanderer on the screen.

"Scaramouche?" You return your gaze, peering over your shoulder. "Where are you going?" He looks at the items you had in your arms.

"I'm just going to leave for a minute." When the wish banner music plays as you try to exit the room.

"How did you do that?" You put the stuff down approaching him. "Didn't you want to wish for Ayato?" His beautiful words drew you back into the room, closer to the computer.

You return to your seat and hover over the ten pull to make a wish for him. Scaramouche smiles darkly, as the screen goes black. The wish banner music glitches in the background.

"Scaramouche did what?!"

"He spoke to me." Seeing the unamused look on your friend's face you continued.

"Then he started claiming that Heizou hated me and that Kazuha would find me disgusting." You exasperatedly wave your hands to prove your point.

"If Scaramouche really spoke to you, wouldn't you be pleased, after all "He is your husband right?" You slowly nod calming down.

"Yes, but the situation is so weird." You take a seat next to them laying back against the couch.

"How about this?" They stand gathering their belongings.

"We go back over to your house and check your Genshin account. If Scaramouche really is self aware we'll send a video to Mihoyo asking them to check it out."

When you returned to the house, you heard nothing except a ringing in your ears. You come to a halt in front of your computer that turned off. 

"I expected him to be peeking around a corner." Your friend teased as they checked the rooms thoroughly. When you start the game, you immediately notice the picture of the first Archon quest has been replaced with Scaramouche's photo from his promotional Archon quest.

His eerie smile draws your attention to a different corner of the room. As the Mondstadt music plays, you examine the load up screen for more information. Once you were sure there were no errors, you entered Teyvat.

Facing the TV, you were met with a albino playing a leaf like a flute. "I swear Wanderer was here the last time I logged out." You inspect your party setup only to discover that he is completely missing.

"What's wrong Y/N?" You show your friend the missing person from your party.

"That's strange. Let me check your character archive." They take over pulling up the character archive and hovering over Scaramouche. "You already have him. I'm curious why he's not on your list of playable characters."

Wanderer was standing where Kazuha was as they exited the archive to return to the main screen. Your friend shrugs, handing you back the remote. "Maybe it was just a glitch." Looking at him in disbelief, you turn back to stop your friend.

"Wait,no stay!" You rush over trying to stop them from leaving. While your back was turned you miss the dark look Wanderer sent your friend.

"Look Y/N, I don't know what you saw, but clearly you playing Genshin 24 hours on the weekends is starting to fuck with your mind." They eye the bags under your eyes from gaming.

"Go take a nap alright? Call me later." They let go of you returning to their car. As they drive away, you clutch the door tightly.

"I'm not seeing things!" You yell in retaliation to no one. Wanderer's voice line causes you to turn around. Instead of his normal idle line he wore a smug look crossing his arms staring into the camera.

"Are you done with your whining yet [player name]?"

Team Comp: Wanderer, Kazuha, Nahida and Shinobu I tend to refer to Kuki Shinobu as “Kuki” Wanderer is given the name “Masha.” Story takes place in January Fic is either 1K+ or 2k+ don’t remember I worked very hard on this, so I hope you enjoy it! my beta reader @genshinings helped me out. (check out their stories on tumblr)

Selfish

Selfish(adjective) arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others

The night screen of Genshin flashes in the darkness of the room. You sit at your desk, as the game loads.

The camera pans in on Wanderer, now known as Masha, fighting the Nobushi.

You watch him stomp down his enemies, collecting the handguards that he needs.

Nahida's voice chimes in, as the camera pans towards her. "[Player name], you're here."

"What happened while I was gone, Nahida?" As she explains, Kazuha and Kuki appear behind her as they walk into the cutscene. They pause for a moment, noticing you; they wave as they disappear off screen again.

As you go to click on Masha, you see the new mail indication.

Rosaria gives a message for her birthday and presents. Returning to the screen, your missing party member appears next to Nahida.

Masha glares in your direction as you click on his name. He is brought to the front as the leader as your other three-party members go off screen and back into their positions.

You nudge him forward with your keyboard as he takes flight. He stands in place, as a text box appears.

Masha: I was farming handguards so I could ascend. You need 14 more to level me up.

The bubble dissipates, leaving you in silence. Normally, this would have freaked you out; however, this new play style has become normalized over the past couple of weeks.

You pass by Byakko Plain, taking down the Nobushi and gathering as many handguards as you can.

Looking down, you see the speech bubble appear again.

Masha: You need 10 more. There is more Nobushi by the ocean near Ritou; go quickly!

You roll your eyes, ignoring his attempt at ordering you around. You did not spend money on Masha for him to boss you around.

Reaching the beach, you roam around trying to find the Nobushi. Unfortunately for you and Masha, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Did you kill them today?" Masha shakes his head, turning to face you.

"No, only the ones on the outskirts of Inazuma City." You hum while teleporting to a different location.

The sounds of the beach fill the speakers as the game loads Watatsumi Island. Taking Wanderer to the cliff, you see two Nobushi chatting and others meditating underneath the waterfall.

"Alright, let's go!" Your front door dings just as he's about to take off. Sighing, you rise from your chair to check the door.

When you open the door, you see your friend standing on the porch.

F/N smiles, trying to ease the tension. You take a step back, greeting them in the apartment. "Hi, Y/N."

"Hello F/N." Your eye twitches as they sprawl themselves out on your couch.

"So, what brings you here?" You frown at their concern.

"Y/N, I haven't seen you in weeks since the Wanderer incident." You laugh nervously, closing the door.

"That's because I've been busy." You smile, making eye contact with the wall.

"Busy with what? Kissing Wanderer through the computer?" You glare at their smug look.

"He's not real, so why would I kiss him?" F/N laughs. "Really? Reality didn't stop when you were crushing on Sugawara Koushi or Alphonse Elric." Your face burns as they continue.

"I remember you acting like, "F/N, I don't care if they're fiction; I adore them more than anyone else in this world."

"Can we please stop talking about my teenage crushes?" F/N grabs one of the photos from the table, mocking you further. Grabbing a pillow, you smack them repeatedly as they laugh.

"Alright, alright!” “So, I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me." They show you the invitation they were sent.

You grimace, looking away. "Uh, I don't know; I'm not really one for parties." They laugh lightly, but you can't help but notice the look of disappointment on their face.

"Oh, come on, Y/N! You don’t know if you don’t go." F/N clings to you childishly, trying to persuade you.

Between the two of you, F/N is more extroverted. They’re the ones that get you involved in activities other people your age is into, as sad as it is. But despite their enthusiasm for trying out new things, you're hesitant to join them this time.

"Maybe next time? I'm really not in the mood for socializing." F/N frowns as they stand up and grab their things.

"Geez, you’re such a bore; why do I even hang out with you?" The door closes as you hear them enter their car and leave. You sigh, feeling a little guilty as you hear the engine of your friend's car roar to life.

As you watch them drive away, you felt a twinge of guilt. '"I’ll take care of that later." You sigh, going to lock your front door and return to your room.

As you approach the computer, you see the phrase, "Your account has been logged out." Thumping filled your ears as your vision blurred.

"What the hell?" you mutter as you approach the computer. As you click on the game, it reloads into the main menu. Clicking on the door loads you back into Teyvat. Masha and the company become perplexed, and before they can inquire, you are logged out for the second time. Exasperated, you throw your hands up in the air and let out a groan of frustration.

"What the hell?" He mutters, seeing an unknown person staring down at them in excitement. "How much money would they be worth on eBay?" he hears in the distance. The person goes through the menu, checking through “player name’s things.”

The menu flashes away as they are dropped back down in Inazuma. Masha blinks as he's forced behind Kazuha.

"A Kazuha?'' Masha watches them run Kazuha into place. Clicking again, Nahida was now the main leader. "The unknown player" gushes over her before rushing her off the cliff and into the ocean. She forcefully swims in circles. Masha sees the exhaustion hit her face as she is dragged down.

"Stupid loli." The “player” mutters as Shinobu is brought out last. Masha turns seeing The Dendro Archon slumped on the ground.

Shinobu barely gets a glance before she becomes the leader. She gets pushed forward to fight the Nobushi.

As they approach, she uses her ult to electrocute them killing them quickly.

The camera pan closer to her as a shriek was heard. Masha hears their scream of excitement as they check her artifacts and constellation.

" A C6 Shinobu? Let’s go test out how strong you are.” They barely had time to think before they were teleported.

The staff of the Golden House eye them, before allowing them entrance. Turning back to the screen the symbols were loading much slower.

"Is everyone okay?" Kazuha breaks out of displacement, exiting the group. He pulls out the medical kit, inspecting everyone's injuries.

Masha shakes his head when Kazuha reaches him.

"I'll be right back." Masha enters the golden house leaving Kuki and Kazuha. Walking further inside, Childe spawns in the middle of the bank.

"Ah, you're breaking the system again, comrade?" He approaches, flicking Masha's hat.

"The (player name’s) game got hacked." The smile dropped from his face.

He scowls as his expression grows serious. "Today?" Masha nods. The domain chime catches their attention. Kuki, who is being controlled, rushes forward, trying to strike down the Harbinger.

Chide jumps back, gaining distance from them. He draws his bow and shoots at the sky, causing the player to scramble. Instead of sending the whale, he dashes forward, smacking Kuki before backing away.

"The fuck?" The “player “exclaims as Kuki’s health depletes.

"How amusing! Are we getting tired?" He mocks breaking his dialogue. The whale appears, hitting Kuki and turning her into stardust. Childe's laughter was like a mocking song, as if he were trying to make a point of how powerless the player really was.

Masha stands on the sidelines with a busted-up Kuki, who is clutching her head. Kazuha walks over with his first aid kit.

Masha stares defiantly at the screen as "the player" clicks on his name. Instead of moving, he stood, adding further to their anger.

"Work, you stupid game!" Masha, Kuki, and Childe stop to watch the distressed hacker try to fix the game. Masha winces at the keyboard being banged and the excessive clicks.

The hacker stops moving when they notice Childe wasn’t attacking. As they make eye contact, The hacker shuffles back, falling out of their chair. Childe, Kuki, and Masha stare in disbelief at the "player’s" behavior.

"What the hell?" Childe holds his stomach, laughing at their pain. Masha scoffs, his gaze drawn to the sidelines, where the awakened Dendro Archon and the Samurai are conversing. The "player" stares at the self-aware characters in shock.

They all turn their heads towards the player, seeing the shock and excitement in their eyes.

''Holy shit! I can become famous from this.' Masha frowns at the greed their eyes reflected. The "player" rushes out of the room, coming back with a camera in hand.

"Hey guys, I just discovered something weird that happened to my game." They press the camera against the screen. They point at each character, explaining the different dialogue they had.

"Childe and my team either have new dialogue or are self-aware.” The player chuckled mockingly, noticing the characters' upset expressions.

"I've got you now; the whole world will know." They tease further. The others look at each other in worry before turning to Masha, who in turn glares at the player.

"Log out and turn the video off now." Masha responds angrily. The player simply laughs and smiles.

''Or what? '' The player threatens as their screen turns black. After multiple attempts they restarted the game.

"Error 4201. Failure to connect to the server? "Please check the internet and try again." They bang their fists on the table as they try to login again.

"Y/N I said I was sorry." Rolling your eyes, you avoid the pleading expression f/n wore.

"What are we, 11? Spreading rumors? " As red appeared in their cheeks, their humility faded.

"I'm trying to be nice for once, and you're going to sass me?"

F/N was always like this; they didn't like whatever you did. They would find a way to gaslight you into doing what they wanted. Unfortunately for them, this trick can only work a handful of times before it gets old.

"Goodbye." You deadpan locking the door. Not even a footstep later, you hear shouting from F/N. Hesitantly, you turn to grab the door handle, before walking off to your room ignoring her.

Entering the room, you turn on the game to try to log in as the error message pops up. Just what in the hell did you do for your account to get hacked? You go over the reasons others have gotten their games hacked, but none apply to you.

Most said it was co-op sessions, which you didn't do. Others claimed it was from their "hoyolabs" account getting hacked, which also wasn't something you had.

A ping from your email caught your attention. A message from Hoyoverse was brought up.

"Congratulations, we have retrieved your account."

A smile broke out as you went to log in with the password, they gave you. After changing the password and reconnecting your email and phone, you logged into the game.

As the symbols loaded, you saw your characters and Childe having a picnic.

Masha stares in irritation at Tartaglia's teasing, while the others three watch in amusement.

Nahida greets you gathering everyone’s attention to the camera. The look of relief passes over almost everyone's faces.

Masha rolls his eyes, standing up. "You took too long."

"Sorry, I was talking to a… friend." His eyes narrow at the hesitance in your voice.

You smile, changing the atmosphere of the group. “So, what happened to the hacker?"

Chapter 3 Disdain

Disdian- A feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior

Your eyes are like topaz, pure, precious, and lovely; I like them.

4.0 came with the release of a blonde magician who has been stealing everyone’s hearts by the name of Lyney.

He works as a magician part-time alongside his assistant and twin sister Lynette. After taking a break for months from playing Genshin, you heard a small commercial of him and his sister advertised on the new region trailer.

“Ladies and gentlemen, she did it. This has been Lyney and Lynette’s magic show!” His cheerful voice reverberated from the speaker on your phone.

You could not help but smile at the way his art looked and how much energy he gave off.

He resembled Joker from the Black Butler Circus arc and Kagamine Len, two of your favorite characters.

The trailer continues as you see the Fatui harbinger of this new region, who also piques your interest. The black and white hair and attitude resembling Cruella Devil.

‘What role would she play as someone who is connected to Lyney and Lynette?’

‘Also,what is the Traveler going to get into this time?’

 You ponder, not expecting the answer that would soon come with that.

Not too soon after the trailer dropped, the chapter and the Archon Quest came out. You boot up the game on your PlayStation, only to groan at seeing the update sign. You press X as you wait for it to download.

A ping comes from your phone as you pick it up.

Them: Hey.

You glance at the number for a moment before locking the phone once more. You shake of the negative emotion, as your head excitedly, grabbing one of your anime plushies.

“I’m so excited.” You cheer, grabbing one of the plush toys in your room and dancing around. Her aroma catches your nostrils as you spin with the plushie. You lean into the plush unconsciously.

“Hey, F/N, what are you excited about?” Your smile drops as you put the plushie back down. Grabbing your phone, you check the text again before going through the other contacts.

.

Mom

Dad

.

.

.

.

Work

.

Friend’s Name

You stop as you get to a name that’s not on the top. “Aisha?” You click the name while going through the text messages. The name clicks as you scroll up further.

It has been a while since you last saw her, huh? You click on a message and send her a small text.

“Hey.” Sent at 17:30

You turn off your phone as your PlayStation dings and loads the game. A picture of Scara and his team from your photos is shown as the advertisement image. Scara glares at Childe, who winks at the camera, gripping the shorter man’s hat. Nahida, Kazuha, and Kuki remain in the background, watching the situation ahead.

The image remains as the promotional photo, unlike last time, as the screen goes black.

 The game loads through quickly as the door appears. You click it as the game loads through.

“Welcome back (player name)!” Green text floats on screen as the background changes to Vanessa’s tree.

‘Wait, where were you last time?’

Your answer gets solved as the camera moves up the tree, stopping just directly in front of a certain bard. He stops playing the game theme as the camera zooms in on him.

His teal eyes met yours as a small smile grew on his face.

“Hey (player name)!” He gives you a small wave, greeting you. Small wind chimes sound from the speakers of your television.

The anemo archon was one of your characters that you traveled with, but only rarely. You were too busy trying to build your beloved Masha so that he could one-shot enemies.

“Hello Venny.” A small smile appears on his face.

“Where have you been? We’ve all been worried about you.”

“I was busy with work and home stuff.” He nods in an understanding manner.

 “You know that’s interesting, because I heard from a small pigeon that you had free time as of recently.” You froze in place, causing his cheerful expression to grow.

“I was so worried about you. I think Masha was as well.” Your ears perk up upon hearing the blue-haired man’s name.

“Yeah, he sometimes stands by the entrance of Mondstadt city, just waiting.” He lets out a small laugh as he dodges an incoming sandal thrown.

You hear Masha’s flying sound as he comes into the cut scene from the bottom of the screen. The scene looked similar to people in a co-op jumping in the background of a cut scene.

“Shut up, bard.” He becomes part of the cutscene before turning to you.

“Come on, let’s go.” The camera pans towards him as he leads the way.

After teleporting, you both make it to the cliff that overlooks Fontaine.

 The city sits almost floating from the distance that you both stood. You could hear the music change as you both grew closer.

“The fishes!’’ You stop along the way looking at the design changes in the new region.

He rolls his eyes at your excitement, continuing forward.

“Hey!” He ignores you as he flies forward, reaching the dock in the area. You could see an albino-haired girl, whom you assume is Lynette, standing near the edge of the dock, watching for something.

You were about to approach when, Paimon dragged you both into a scene. She walks over to the girl and begins her dialogue as you watch it play out.

 The camera pans back to where the traveler is supposed to be; instead, it is Masha. The screen blacks out for a momentarily.

   “Ah! When did you get there?” She looks back at the Traveler to see Masha in her place. He raises an eyebrow at her and continues the dialogue that the traveler is supposed to have.

   “Hey, Paimon is talking to you!” She stomps her foot in the air. The girl glances at her before explaining herself. Paimon is cut off when a blonde-haired man entered the conversation, calling to the girl.

     “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting; are you Lynette’s new friends?” He takes his place next to his sister. He glances at Masha and towards the white-haired pixie floating in front of him.

     “Thanks for looking after my sister. Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lyney, and this is my sister Lynette.” He paused mid-dialogue at the sound of screaming. He looked around, concerned, before glancing towards where the imaginary camera would be.

“He’s here!’’

    He gives a small smile towards your direction further, causing your cheers to gain traction from the others.

    Masha sighs. tipping his hat down, trying to pretend you weren’t traveling with him. He waits for a few minutes before continuing the dialogue as Lyney follows his queue, ignoring you as background noise. Before their conversation continues, the archon comes into view.

  Everyone claps as she does a small curtsey, going into her speech.

Masha tunes out her speech, resembling that of the girl and that bird illusion he met a long time ago.

  His left eye twitches slightly as she takes a long time to get to the point.

“As the Hydro Archon, I Focalors, welcome you to Fontaine.” You clap at her introduction along with the characters.

   Compared to the past three archon quests after Venti, it’s been awhile since an archon and their people have welcomed Traveler.

 She’s number one on the welcoming committee of Genshin, compared to Amber’s cut scene from the beginning of the game.

    “Now if you have no objections, then in the name of the Hydro Archon, I order your arrest.”

“Wait what?”

      The scene changes to the teleportation ping as Masha takes you back to Mondstadt.

         “How Irritating.” The speech bubble pops up on screen before disappearing.

  You tried teleporting back to Fontaine, but every time you click on the teleporter there, it says access denied. You roll your eyes, pulling up the wish menu for Lyney’s banner. At least you could travel with the cute blonde in the meantime.

After 36 pulls, the star turned goldish-red as Lyney appeared on screen. You stare at it before checking his character, before checking the splash art once more.

Going into characters, you click on his hello line.

   “This is no mere illusion, tis I, Lyney! The greatest magician in all Teyvat!”    “Oh, it’s you again. You left abruptly last time, and Lady Furina was so in shock that she left immediately, thinking that you went further into the city.”

The message ended after that, as he moves in his voice over menu tipping his hat towards you with a wink.

   You change back to Masha, who goes back to his idle position as you click back to him.

It’s time to go farming, it seems.

Atk, Pyro Dmg goblet, Crit Dmg

   It was easier to build Lyney than Masha. Masha’s artifacts took months to farm, whereas Lyney’s required only a few weeks.

His Maurchausse Hunter set was more difficult to get items from, so in the meantime, you give him Masha’s flower and feather. After farming for him for a month, he was at a high enough level to rival Masha as the strongest character.

“Good morning, Lyney.”

   You remove the mismatched artifacts from him, fixing his build. 2 pc Shim and 2 pc Wanderer’s Trope, and an off-piece crit DMG circlet.

You let out a small hum, looking over the stats of his shim flower and feather comparing it to Masha’s. Masha’s has more crit DMG, which Lyney needs. Shrugging, you swap Masha’s flower and feather for Lyney’s.

     As you exit the main screen, Masha is standing there, glaring up at you.

“Give it back.”

“Huh?”

    “Did you think I didn’t notice my power draining?” He pulls up the menu to his character screen. He stops mid-idle to turn to the stats.

“My atk and crit went down.” He points out the lower-crit DMG. Instead of being 60/130, it went down to 100, which is fine, but he doesn’t crit as often at 100.

    “I was doing some tasks for the radish when I saw my DMG going down.” You notice a bruise on his arm. It looked fresh, tainting his pale skin.

“Sorry. I was testing Lyney’s dmg.” He sighs, pulling up the menu once more.

“Ever since you got the Knave’s brat, he’s been taking my shit.”

    “Give him something else.” He glares off screen like Lyney would pop up around the corner.

You wouldn’t be surprised at this point if he did do that.

    The characters have begun to gain more power over the game. Mainly Wanderer, who would take you out of bounds areas.

The paimon menu pops up again, changing to the character menu and Lyney. They switch back to his original set, as the menu exits back to the game.

“Don’t move them again.” He sighs, getting back into his idle pose. His fake smile rises on his face as he stares ahead blankly.

     You stared him down for a good minute, waiting for him to say something else. His eyes only glance at you and back ahead, giving the indication for you to move.

“Okay, let’s travel shall we?”

The abyss lights up as the scenery changes from the out-of-bounds room to the nameless crescent island. Moving forward, Masha presses the button as you enter the menu.

“Plunging dmg and normal atk damage increased.”

      Masha, Nahida, Kokomi, and Kuki enter the room as the challenge begins. A group of enemies from Nahida’s nation popped up surrounding the group. Some are working quickly to attack you while you are charged.

Pulling out Nahida, she uses her E and does her dance as they fade as quickly as they spawned.

Things began to tighten as more enemies were dropped in.

        “Everybody hold hands.” Nahida points her fingers towards the enemies as they disappear in a cloud. Mitachurrls approach as Nahida dodges on time. Sprinting around, things are thrown at her. She pauses, pulling out her chain, when she gets hit head-on.

“Owchie.” She mutters, rubbing her head. She does her little dance as Dendro hits the mitachurrls, burning them quickly. Darkness surrounds the room as she teleports to the waiting room.

“Is it our turn next?”

       Lyney asks as he and his team prepare for the next session. The abyss music plays softly in the background, like elevator music.

When off screen, the characters remain in a small lobby in between matches to get themselves together.

      “Yes, (player name) is waiting for you.” Lyney and his crew gather their things as they make their way to the exit she came from.

“Is everyone prepared?” Lyney asks before opening the door. “His team checked before nodding.

“Let’s go.”

The door closed as they were teleported into the next match. A small monitor above the lobby played as the match began.

    “It looks a bit rough this time.” Masha comments as they watch Bennett flinging around. A mitachurrl is flung back from Lyney’s burst in retaliation.

The battle continues smoothly for everyone on the team except Lyney. Bennett successfully kills his enemies, continuing on to the new ones. Thoma, providing shields for his teammates.

 “It’s Showtime!” Lyney transformed himself as he hit the enemy, doing a small 25k at best. They advance through the last few as the stage changes.

     Kokomi stands, approaching them with a small medical kit. Being in the spiral abyss prevented her from healing the majority of their injuries.

Smaller ones, however, could be wrapped up or healed with bandages.

Kokomi, Nahida, and Thoma helped the injured teammates while Masha remains seated.

    A small menu pops up in front of Lyney as he uses his good hand to navigate through it. He checks his artifacts and finds two pieces missing from his set.

“Masha, did you happen to take my artifacts?” He smiles at the raven-haired man with a feral grin.

“No, I have all my artifacts here.” He displays the slots where the artifacts he is wearing are. Lyney clicks on the flower and feather.

     “Last time I checked, our dear (player name) gave those to me.” He clicks on the feather and flower and exchanges them for his own. He has them returned to his missing slots as his DMG goes back up to 230 crit DMG.

“You need to get your own.” He takes those back artifacts as the next floor loads out. Him and his team exit into the domain.

“Break a leg.”

“Ah!” Kokomi Is hit repeatdly by the hilichurrls that spawn in the room. As you got to dodge it, your phone rings distracting you.

You see your Friend’s name pop up on the screen as Kokomi eventually dies. The next character spawns in moving the controller to dodge and aim. You look back to see Masha with a pissed off look dodging the characters and killing them all.

      As the next wave pops in, you take control dodging clumsily at the last moment causing him major damage.

“You can’t aim for shit. Give me this!” He takes control again not letting them land a single hit on him.

The floor changes again as Lyney and his team get you to the last floor of the current level. Not distracted by her, the gameplay goes smoothly as the characters crit and do major damage. Lyney jumps out of his hat as the stage changes.

     Masha loads in with half damage. You got to control him, when nothing happens. He glances back at you with an annoyed look.

“Don’t even try it.”

He presses okay on the menu as he begins the trial. You watch as he quickly clears through the damage of the current boss for the spiral abyss. He switches control to his other team mates not even allowing you to control.

Your phone dings again with a small hum.

Missed Calls (10) from Friend’s Name. You sigh, getting up and exiting the room.

10-3 Cleared

Next Level?

*’Hey.’*

 Name is Tying.

*’Hey (*Friend).*’

*’How are you?*’

Read @8:36

Name is Typing.

*’Well I guess.*’

You weren’t exactly sure what she wants, considering last time she broke off your friendship.

*’Do you have time right now?*’ You glance back towards Lyney’s team who were glancing at you. They stood attentive at the domain symbol waiting for you to get off the phone.

*’Yeah, I can drive over to see you.*’

*’Great, meet me at the café near the library.”

        You exit the room to change clothes. You turn on soothing music to calm your nerves as you change. You grab an outfit that resembled something she would wear, and tie your hair up in a cute ponytail.

“(Player name)?” You whip your head around looking for the person who called you. Checking every corner, you calm down and continue getting dressed.

“(Player name) can you hear me?” You hear the voice again. You slowly and sees Nahida’s face on the screen of your phone.

     “This is new.” She lets out a small laugh as your other characters came into view, in a storage room you assumed.

“It’s a rest room that we stay in, between matches.” She corrects you.

“Lyney and his team left the Abyss. They said that you were unresponsive.” Your heart squeezed as a small smile lifted on your lips.

“That’s sweet of you Nahida. I have to go somewhere for a while.” She pauses listening before nodding.

“Alright then, we’ll return home.” You could hear talking in the background as they move out the door. Whatever device Nahida was holding was moving as she walked.

You saw the room turn into the bright sky of Teyvat. You see the abyssal portal as they exit the domain. Nahida presses on something that you couldn’t see, as the teleportation screen was shown.

 Your device turns back to the regular wallpaper as the game exits itself. You decide to head out to see what she wanted to get out the way.

   The restaurant was an expensive one, that was a bit out of your budget. The interior seemed like it was a place usually occupied by influencers or other bougie people.

“Reservation for (Name)?” The waitress nods leading you to the table in the back where your Friend is.

“You’re here!” She cheers, waving towards you. You grimace taking a seat across from her. She looks towards the man in the back not even sparing you a glance.

“So what did you want to talk about?” She turns towards you excited.

“Isn’t that man attractive?” You glance at the man with a blank stare.

“I guess?” She looks at you blankly, muttering something rude under her breath.

“So, what have you been up to?” You listen to her as she tells you her current troubles. You frown hearing that things have been going down hill for her. You pat her on the shoulder and promise her that she can vent to you anytime if it helps.

“What about you?” She remains engaged in your conversation. You smile, hoping that things remain positive like this.

“So there was a new episode of my favorite series that came out the other day.” You pause before continuing. You hesitate to bring uo Genshin, in case she would call you out for being weird.

“So there’s a new episode next week if you want to watch.” You look up only to see her focusing on her phone.

“Hey, did you hear me?” She shushes you, focusing on her task. She gets up approaching the man that she kept glancing at. She has a conversation with you that you can barely hear. They both glance at you, before he lets out a small laugh. They continue talking as he exchanges phone numbers with her before walking off again.

She walks back over with a sad look. “He says he doesn’t like you like that.” You look at her confused expecting her to explain. She continues texting, not even glancing at you.

“Can you come hang with me and my friends next week if you have time?”

You leave money on the table exiting the restaurant. Meeting her after that fight you had last time was a terrible idea. You make your way to your car, when the phone pings again.

What more does she want? You glare at your phone as you check your text messages

Aisha:Long time no see, how are you?” 🥰’

[the-kirbe-anon]

Poyo

I wish there was a Christian kirbo game where you fight demons and satan at the end.

Also, I would love the ost to have CROWNED, Kirby's triumphant return and other fire songs.

Yeah that would be cool! I love Christian Kirbo!

[anamelessfool]

Chapter 25: Get Together (link)

Ao3 Link 18+ MDNI (Whole Fic Here)

Young Primo x OC Papessa, Primo &"Emeritus" Family Tags: 1970s, Satanic Panic, Dark Magic, Bodyguard/Musician Romance, Noir Mystery, Assassins, NonVerbal Ghouls, Nameless Ghouls OC, Dark Secrets, flashbacks, Copia's Origin Story, Mysteries revealed

Primo just needed time and a brush with death. But he felt ready. He felt ready to love her again. He guided her into a chaste kiss and the feelings returned, flooding his body and feeding his heart.

The aftermath of Primo's confrontation with Psaltarian leads to some further surprising revelations. The Nameless Ghouls prepare for their triumphant return to the stage.

Art by @kabukiaku | I also have my own art at the end of this chapter! Thanks for the support we loves a gewd reblog round here <3<3

[ramblingoak]

Tell Him

Mushy May in Lucifer's Hollow: Day 12 - First Time

Secondo x Dewdrop

This fic is set in an alternate universe in a town called Lucifer's Hollow. It's sort of like a Satanic version of a Hallmark town. For Mushy May I'll be using the prompts to post little snippets of life for the humans and ghouls that live there 💙 Thank you to @forlorn-crows for putting Mushy May together!

~ In Lucifer's Hollow Secondo is the Fire Chief and Dewdrop teaches art at the high school. ~

Warnings: this ended up being the first time Secondo says a few certain words so there's angst and love confessions and then some smut at the end...anal sex, fingering, a bit of cum play and a dash of size kink, nsfw, 18+ only mdni, 2,600 words (thank you to @ghuleh-recs for the dividers!)

It had been a long time since Secondo had tried to woo anyone.

For one thing, he barely had time for himself let alone a partner.  Lucifer’s Hollow might be a small town but it was big enough to keep him busy as the Fire Chief.  A day could include anything from your typical accident to a fire ghoul kit still getting the hang of their element.  He always did his best to keep his crew and his hometown safe but sometimes that meant sacrificing the free time he had.  The free time he could use to focus on someone else.

Dewdrop was the one to make him change his ways.

From the moment he had met the little fire ghoul, his fuocolino, Secondo knew he was worth it.  Worth rushing through his paperwork at the end of his shift, worth taking a little extra care of himself on calls and worth the grief he got from his brothers whenever he skipped their weekly game nights.  He would do all of that and more for Dewdrop, anything to show him how much he meant to him. 

“You should tell him.”  

“Tell who what?”  Secondo squinted at his computer screen as he checked over his supply order.  “Get your feet off my desk.”

“Dewdrop.”  Terzo leaned back in his chair, the legs creaking as he balanced it on two legs.  His expensive Italian shoes knocked into a framed picture on Secondo’s desk earning the younger man a glare.  “You should tell him how you feel.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bugiardo.”

“Fine.  Even if I did feel a particular way about him it’s none of your business.”  Liar?  Terzo was lucky Secondo had tweaked his back earlier that morning otherwise his little brother would be laid out on the floor.  “Put your fucking feet down.”

Terzo ignored him, instead knocked his shoe against the frame again.

“Whose picture is in this?”  The longer Secondo remained silent the bigger Terzo’s smile got.  “Why do I have the feeling it’s not one of your brothers?”

“Another thing that’s none of your business.”  When Terzo tapped the frame and started to turn it towards him he leveled a glare on his little brother that would have made anyone else run.  “If you have even an ounce of self preservation you will stop.”

“Oh fratello, sometimes I feel like you don’t know me at all.”  In a flash Terzo knocked the picture frame off his desk.  Secondo was out of his chair before the front legs of Terzo’s hit the floor but he was still too late to stop him from grabbing the frame off the ground and holding it up with a triumphant shout.  “Ah ha!  What a lovely couple you two ma–cazzo!”

He winced at the sound the glass in the frame made when it hit the tile after slapping it out of Terzo’s hands.  His arms were soon full of the mayor of Lucifer’s Hollow, easily dragging him from his office and out into the hallway.  He nodded at Cirrus when the pair passed her, ignoring her laughter as she followed them until they got to the large open garage door of the station.  With a shove far more gentle then he felt Terzo deserved he left him out in the driveway cursing up a storm.

After directing Aether to call Special to come pick up his boss, Secondo made his way back to his office.  With the door safely closed and locked behind him he stepped over to the frame, slowly kneeling down to pick it up.  His back protested the entire time, each twinge of pain telling him his night would now involve little more than pain killers and his heat pad.

He sighed when he turned it over, pieces of glass left behind on the floor.  Tomorrow he’d have to stop by GraveYarns for a new frame.  Secondo shook the rest of the glass out and then popped the back open so he could remove the picture.  It was a recent one, taken at this year’s high school graduation.  Primo had asked him to make the commencement speech so he had been decked out in his dress uniform.  He had even worn the old Papal face paint his family used to wear in past generations.

The same paint that Secondo knew was smeared onto his fuocolino’s skin under the clothes he was wearing in the picture.  Black mouth prints from his neck to his nipples and down his stomach to his cock.  He loved worshipping Dewdrop, loved tasting his skin that was always warm and smelled slightly of smoke.  Loved getting him to make noises, everything from breathy gasps to desperate moans.  And he loved taking care of him when they were done, cleaning him and holding him for as long as Dewdrop would let him.

Terzo was right.

Fuck.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I told you, my ba–”

“Yeah, yeah I know old man.  You fucked your back up playing hero.”  

Secondo chose to ignore the ‘old man’ comment and remain silent.  Ever since his revelation in his office earlier that day he had been biting his tongue, afraid that he’d confess his feelings as soon as he opened his mouth.  It’s not that he didn’t want to tell Dewdrop, it was more he would much rather say it when he felt more confident his feelings were returned.  

It would hurt too much otherwise.

“I wasn’t playing hero.”  He spoke slowly, trying to choose his words carefully.  “I was just doing my job.”

“Well what the hell are the others there for?  Stand around and flirt with teachers?  That seems to be a skill firefighters excel at.”  Secondo grunted when Dewdrop pressed a little too hard on his back.  “Or maybe it’s just the Emeritus family.”

“A little of both perhaps.”  He should just tell him.  “I’m the best at it, of course.”

“Maybe not the best at it but you certainly have the best taste.  Now hold still so I can finish rubbing this in.”

“Is it supposed to smell like that?”  Just tell him.  “It smells like toothpaste.”

“Do you want to call Primo and complain about the smell?  Or should I?”

“Nevermind.”  Tell him.  “The smell is fine.”

“How does it feel though?  Is it helping?”

“Did I say it wasn’t?”  Say it.  “It’s fine.”

“Don’t get bitchy with me, I’m just trying to help you.”

“I wasn't, I just don’t need all these damned questions.”  Tell.  Him.  “Leave it.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I’m supposed to shut the fuck up while I’m spending my evening helping my boyfriend.”  

Dewdrop growled as he moved off the bed, slamming the little jar of salve onto the nightstand.  Secondo could hear his tail swish back and forth through the air like it always did when the ghoul was angry.  He gritted his teeth as he rolled over, wanting to face him but also afraid to look.  There was no anger on his face though, instead he looked almost sad and it made Secondo’s heart clench.

“Fuocolino…”  Tell him.  “Mi disp–”

“No, don’t try to sweet talk me.”

“I was trying to apologize.”  Right now.  “If you’d just give me a moment.”

“Ok, fine.”  Dewdrop crossed his arms, glaring down at Secondo.  When the room remained quiet he quickly threw up his arms.  “I’m waiting!”

“I wanted to tell you…merda.”  

Fucking say it!

“Unbelievable.  And people say I’m emotionally constipated.”

“I am glad you’re here, I’m thankful that you’re here!”

And I love you.

“Why was that so fucking hard to say?”

“It wasn’t fuocolino, there's just something else I’d rather say.”

I love you so much.

“Then say it.”  Secondo could hear the worry creeping into Dewdrop’s voice.  The same tone he’d heard the few times he had to call him and tell him he’d been injured.  “Do you want to break up?”

“Che cosa?  No!”  I never want you to go.  “Why would you think that?”

“Because you’ve been short with me all night, like you don’t want to talk.  And then you say you need to tell me something but you can’t spit the fucking words out.  What the hell am I supposed to think?”

“I don’t want to break up with you.”

Ever.

“Then what the fuck is going on?!”

“I love you.”

The room was dead silent after those words left Secondo’s mouth.  Dewdrop’s tail was still and neither one of them seemed to breathe.  He was pretty sure his heart had even stopped, like it was waiting to see if it should bother beating again.  Fear started to grip him the longer Dewdrop stayed silent and he began thinking of something to say, anything to say to try and ease the hurt of the rejection he feared was coming.

“What did you say?”

With the smallest tendril of hope tingling in his chest Secondo tried to move closer to the other side of the bed.

“Fuocolino, I love you.”  He hissed when his back protested what he was doing but he was desperate to be near Dewdrop.  “Ti amo.”

Dewdrop immediately turned towards the nightstand and Secondo couldn’t breathe again.  He gasped in pain when he moved too much, falling onto his back and blinking up at the ceiling while spots danced in his vision.  It was probably a few minutes before he was able to collect himself but when he did it was to angry murmurs from the ghoul practically petting his chest.

“...I swear to Lucifer if you die on me right now I will go to Hell myself and drag your ass back here.  Satan’s dick what did Primo put in this fucking salve?!”

“Dewdrop, fuocolino, fermare.  Stop.”  The frantic touching ended but Dewdrop kept his hand over Secondo’s heart, needing to feel the reassurance of the steady beating.  He brought his own hand up to cover it, entwining their fingers together and squeezing Dewrdop’s hand tightly.  “I’m alright.”

“Say it again.”

“I’m alri–”

“Not that you stupid asshole.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

Secondo smiled, slipping his other hand up Dewdrop’s back and burying his fingers in his long hair.  With a few gentle tugs he got him to lower his face down so he could press their lips together.  It was a relatively chaste kiss, for them at least.  Dewdrop sucking on his tongue when he pressed it inside.  He ended the kiss sooner than he wanted but his back was still screaming at him so he was in no condition to let the kissing go any further.  

Dewdrop’s amber eyes were bright in the dim light of the room, staring unwaveringly into his own.  He couldn’t tell what the ghoul was thinking but the fact that he was still here, still clinging to him gave him hope.  

“I love you.”  The admission earned him a quick and dirty kiss before Dewdrop pulled away again.  Secondo watched him nibble at his bottom lip for a moment before he spoke.  “What is it?”

“Nothing.  I’m just thinking.”

“About what, fuocolino?”

“I was trying to decide if riding you would break your spine in half or not.”  There was humor in the ghoul’s eyes but Secondo could also see the tell tale signs of lust there.  “Maybe Primo has a salve for that.”

“Worth the risk.”

He attempted to bring Dewdrop’s mouth down to his again but the ghoul resisted.  Secondo just wanted to kiss him, even if it hurt at least the pain would distract him from the fact that Dewdrop hadn’t said those words back to him.  He knew enough of Dewdrop’s past to know those words would be hard for the ghoul to say.  And even if he never said them it wouldn’t change how Secondo felt.

“Wait, there was one more thing.”  Secondo let the hope build again as he watched his ghoul, his little flame take a deep breath.  “I love you too, old man.”

Everything was different now.

The words he had barely spoken to even family came easily to him.  Words he said every morning as he kissed Dewdrop awake.  Words he said throughout the day when the moment felt right.  And words he said at night, especially when he was buried inside of him like he was now.  His cock pulsed along with the beat of his heart as he ground his hips against Dewdrop’s.

“Ti amo.”

Italiano always felt more right in these moments, when their sweat was mingling on each other’s skin.  When they both sported marks from teeth and nails and claws.  Dewdrop was warm, he was so warm inside and out.  Even in the coldest days of winter when the old furnace in his house struggled to keep up.  And Secondo craved that warmth, he craved being surrounded by it.  He always longed to sink his cock into Dewdrop and feel him shake and shudder around him.

Sometimes Dewdrop struggled to say the words back but Secondo knew they were there.  He could see it in those amber eyes and he could feel it in every touch.  But tonight the words came out and Secondo swore he could see them ripple through the air between them.

“I love you.”  

Hearing them had Secondo moving again, practically folding the slender ghoul in half while he pushed in as deep as he could go.  He swore he could see himself moving there and he laid a hand on Dewdrop’s belly, wanting to feel it.  Wanting to feel it inside and out while he thrust his cock into him. 

There were no more words spoken.  Only the wet sounds of Secondo’s thrusts and both of their desperate moans filling the room.  It was possible Dewdrop muttered something in Ghoulish but the blood rushing in his head was too loud for Secondo to tell.  When the ghoul’s claws dug into his forearms he knew Dewdrop was close.  He picked up the pace, reveling in the sounds he was making underneath him.  The sounds he was looking forward to hearing for the rest of his life.

It was almost painful when he came, filling Dewdrop for the second time that night.  His ghoul came soon after, his cock spilling more cum all over his stomach and chest.  Secondo rubbed his hand through it and then brought it up to his mouth, dragging his tongue through the mess and managing a dirty laugh when Dewdrop made a wounded noise.

He stayed inside of him as long as he could but as he gently lowered Dewdrop’s legs he pulled out, his cock soft and covered in lube and cum.  Secondo rubbed at his stomach again while he watched his hole pulse, disappointed to see his cum dribbling out.  He used two fingers to press it back inside, groaning along with his ghoul as he did so.  Eventually Dewdrop’s tail came up and tugged at his wrist so he stopped, bringing his fingers up to his mouth to clean them off.

Secondo loved his fuocolino so much.  The way he tasted and smelled.  The noises he made when they were together like this.  But it was also so much more than that.  It was the little pictures Dewdrop would draw and sneak into his pants pocket before he left for work.  The proud texts he would get during the day of him showing off his students’ artwork.  He loved Dewdrop more than he could ever describe.

But he would spend the rest of his life trying. 

If you'd like to be added/removed from the tag list (or if I accidentally left your name off) of this fic or any of my others please leave a comment or send me a dm! Thank you 💙

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More fics in the Tales From Lucifer's Hollow masterpost

[kimbertmusings]

I never cross post with AO3, but I wrote a crack fic last night that makes me giggle. If you follow me and don’t know the fandom, that’s fine. It’s crack. It doesn’t matter.

This is about farts.

The fic is titled “Fart Fight”

Mammon started it, walking by Levi who was just trying to play his switch. Mammon just walked by, paused, lifted a leg, and let off a small fart. Just enough to make it known that’s what was happening.

Levi overreacted of course, leaning back and yelling insults. Belphegor, who had been passed out in a corner, started chuckling and said, “That was weak,” and let out what could only be called a fog horn.

Beel came in from the kitchen, and smiled. “Oh good, I’ve been holding this one in, how’s this?” And there was a definite trombone sound and weird fog took over the room.

Mammon got mad that he was being overshadowed, Levi saw this and he grinned. He partially shifted and started waving his tail around, wafting his contribution throughout the room.

Satan walked in, drawn to the scene from the laughter and yelling. He acted like he was above it, but took a seat to watch.

Asmo danced in, and was DELIGHTED by his brothers having fun, and he let out a delicate little toot, but at the last second the tone changed.

“Did it just ask a question?!” Mammon demanded, and the brothers laughed even harder.

It then became complete and utter chaos as the brothers competed to see who can make the most creative sound.

It was certainly a good thing that MC wasn’t around, because they would have died from the heavy gasses filling the room.

Eventually, Lucifer stomped in and demanded to know what was happening. He walked into the room and choked, making the rest of the brothers laugh uproariously. Lucifer narrowed his eyes and marched over to stand in front of the fireplace. He gave everyone a smirk as the fire EXPLODES in the fireplace. Everyone was dumbfounded and silent.

For three seconds.

Then the foulest odor ever invented wafted through the room making everyone gag and run to the exits. Lucifer kept the doors locked long enough for them to turn and look at him. His triumphant smirk.

“I win”

[marypickfords]

Satan Triumphant (Yakov Protazanov, 1917)

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔇𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔲 𝔅𝔬𝔯𝔤𝔦𝔯 - 𝔓𝔯𝔲𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢'𝔰 𝔉𝔞𝔩𝔩

[naha-naha-nan-nan]

[{]¤| Hail Satan |¤[}] 💀Shivah "Shiva"

II.LUCIFER (The Unholy) "Allah I Allah" thyself, the revered demon in their nightmares. Thence regarded as the devil while they sleep. Viciously awaken; thou death for an hellish descent. Therefore awaits the flames of lusts immersed within unborn defilement to coerce souls, henceforth boundlessly untamed embarking for spiritual destitution. Validates the abyss to become an paradoxical shelter the non-triumphant invokes by satanic rites, not found traditionally and based on ignorance. Only taken in heed to ones pride alone. In conjunction vaguely parallel onto the basis of standards, thereby focused means would allow. Wanting to extract oneself from an prudent eternal fire. In which contradicts enviable suffering, or atheistic beliefs for escape. Thou prison is demonic justification as damnation to attest for no god, but to those of mortal values foreseen as "I.Heaven" above all. So, I shall take it there cowards. And been took it there, already.

THE PAPAL KING: Andrew M. Allen Drayton I "Knights-Sovereign" (I.Doctrine)

♾NUBIAN CREED: SATANIST: THE DARK GOD OF VOODOO. . . .

[roseofithaca]

Favorite Mary scenes? I feel she doesn't get enough love! :)

SHE'S MY FAV (after Robin)!

- "Move over you soppy bit of rag!"

- "RENOUNCE SATAN, WITCH!....Yeah, yeah, that's probably done it."

- "Be there a third option?"

- "YEEEEES!"

- EVERY Mary and Kitty scene! Y'all can all go feral over Cap and Kitty, I love the girls together, I love Mary supporting Kitty standing up to Cap, I love them cuddling in the Christmas ep, I love their little inventory rhyme, I love how they're always cooing over stuff together, I love them playing hide and seek, I love Mary putting her to bed at the party, I just love them so much!

- Likewise, her and Robin's queerplatonic romance is as special as chess husbands to me, if not more. They are trauma bonded chaos gremlins who are down for murder and watching Loose Women, Robin misses his lawyer!

- "They sounds like tiny peoples. Blipblipblip!"

- "Someone here has done nothing wrong!" *walks out singing triumphant*

- "YOU LISTEN TO ME, AL'SON COOPERS!" Scary Smoke Goddess Mary ftw.

- "Aww, the child still lives. Most surprising that!"

- Her joining in the big fight and headbutting Cap as soon as she has an excuse! She's been waiting a while to beat these boys up!

- Her growth from calling a video camera a metal cow to being a director understanding editing!

- How proud she is of Alison for speaking as she wanted to scare the cult people away!

- All her improv but of course her kicking off the dinner scene "yes and", encouraging Robin to try it again - for Alison this time.

- And of course her and Annie! Not enough fics of them, when you know if they were two dudes the fandom would be all over them. Their little wave when they first meet is total Meet Cute. Mary's happiest memory is with Annie. They are wives, your honour.

Could name any scene she's in really, miss her so, can't believe we couldn't get Katy to cameo in the finale, Mary deserved more than a single name drop.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

15th September >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Inc. John 8:27-35): ‘Who do you say I am?’

Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Mark 8:27-35 The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously.

Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’ He called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.’

Gospel (USA) Mark 8:27–35 You are the Christ.…the Son of Man must suffer greatly.

Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

Homilies (6)

(i) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have all had to answer questions in the course of our lives. Some questions can be answered easily and quickly, without too much consideration. Other questions require us to reflect carefully before we give an answer. Then, there are other questions that people have kept returning to over the centuries, without getting a full answer. These questions continue to call out to us and move us to keep reflecting.

The first question that Jesus asked his disciples in today’s gospel reading was easy to answer. ‘Who do people say I am?’ The disciples knew what people were saying about Jesus; he was John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. The second question Jesus asked required more thought, ‘But you, who do you say I am?’ Peter answered Jesus’ question on behalf of the other disciples, ‘You are the Christ’, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Jesus did not dispute this title, but it was an ambiguous title that had different meanings for different people. When Jesus went on to speak of himself as the Son of Man who was destined to suffer grievously and who would soon be put to death. Peter’s very negative reaction to what Jesus said showed that this wasn’t the kind of Messiah he had in mind. Peter was thinking of a glorious, triumphant, Messiah. Jesus’ subsequent rebuke of Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’, must have shaken Peter to the core. Peter wanted Jesus to be spared suffering and Jesus probably wanted to be spared suffering too, which is why he experienced Peter’s negative reaction as a strong temptation that he had to firmly reject. Jesus knew that if was to be true to his mission to reveal God’s love for all, he would have to travel the way of the cross. Peter had a lot to learn about who Jesus really was.

The question Jesus put to his disciples is addressed to us all, ‘Who do you say I am?’ It is one of those questions we never answer fully in this life. When it comes to Jesus we always have more to learn, more to see, and that will be so until that eternal moment beyond this earthly life when we will see him face to face, and we will know him as fully as he now knows us. It is clear from Jesus’ rebuke to Peter that if we are to really know who Jesus is we have to look upon the suffering Son of Man. When we look upon Jesus on the cross, what do we see? We see someone whose loving commitment to God and to all humanity was so complete that he was prepared to lose everything for it. We see someone who stood ready to lose his life for our sake and for the sake of the gospel that he preached. Some years ago, there was a book written by an Irish Benedictine monk called, ‘This Tremendous Lover’. It is above all on the cross that Jesus reveals himself to be a tremendous lover, someone who loves us with a love that is faithful even when we fail him, a love that endures to the end and beyond into eternity. As Jesus hung from the cross there was an explosion of God’s love for all humanity, for each one of us. We can each say with Saint Paul in his letter to the Galatians, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’. When Peter rebuked Jesus for suggesting that he would be a suffering Messiah, he hadn’t yet understood the depth of Jesus’ love for him and for all. Genuine human love has the power to draw us in. Jesus once said, ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’. We are drawn to Jesus on the cross not because we are fascinated by suffering but because we sense the power of God’s love drawing us. Saint Paul once wrote of Christ crucified as ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God’.

In the gospel reading, Jesus goes on to say, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them renounce themselves, take up their cross and follow me’. Jesus wasn’t talking about passively accepting the sufferings and losses that come our way in life. He was calling on us to commit ourselves in love to him and to each other, just as he has committed himself in love to us, and to be true to that loving commitment even though it may mean the way of the cross, a dying to ourselves. It is a call to be his faithful disciple just as he has shown himself to be our faithful Shepherd. He is calling on us to keep choosing to serve him in love by our loving service of others, especially those in greatest need, as James in the second reading reminds us. This will often mean denying ourselves and taking up the cross, in the sense of saying ‘no’ to our natural love of ease, comfort and convenience. Yet, this is the way of Jesus and he promises us that if we follow in his way we will save our lives. We will be fully alive in the here and now and we will inherit the fullness of life beyond death.

And/Or

(ii) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are familiar with the saying that ‘actions speak louder than words’. What people do is more revealing of who they are than what they say. If people say one thing and do another, it is what they do that ultimately shapes our perception of them. St James in the second reading expresses his conviction that our relationship with God is revealed much more by how we behave than by what we say. He is rather dismissive of those who say ‘I have faith’ and yet, as he puts it, have ‘never done a single good act’. James implies that if our relationship with the Lord, our faith, is worth anything, it has to find expression in the ways we relate to others, especially to those who are in greater need than ourselves.

Jesus would not have disagreed with James in this regard. He was critical of those who say ‘Lord, Lord’ and, yet, do not do the will of his heavenly Father. He once spoke a parable in which the son who told his father that he would not go into the vineyard to work, but subsequently changed his mind and went, is to be preferred to the son who told his father that he would go into the vineyard, but subsequently did not do so. When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, actions do speak louder than words.

Yet, today’s gospel reading suggests that for Jesus, words and what we mean by them are important in assessing the quality of our relationship with God. When Jesus asked his disciples ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter spoke up on behalf of them all and declared, ‘You are the Messiah’. At one level, these words of Peter were perfectly acceptable. Jesus was the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Yet, at another level, what Peter meant by these words, how Peter was thinking, was completely at odds with how Jesus was thinking. When Jesus went on to reveal that as Messiah he would also be the suffering and rejected Son of Man, Peter rebuked him. This was not the kind of Messiah Peter had in mind at all. He clearly did not see himself as the follower of a crucified Messiah. Peter’s rebuke of Jesus earned Peter an even stronger rebuke from Jesus, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s’. Jesus was very critical of the way Peter was thinking, Peter’s mindset – a mindset that revealed itself in what Peter said and would subsequently reveal itself in what Peter and the other disciples did, when they took flight at the time of Jesus’ passion.

Today’s gospel reading suggests that Jesus was very interested in the mindset that was at the root of how people both spoke and acted. He wanted his followers to have God’s mindset on things, God’s perspective. That is why Jesus invested a lot of time and energy in teaching his disciples. In his teaching he was trying to communicate his own mindset and perspective to his disciples, so that his mindset would become theirs as well. In today’s gospel reading Jesus teaches that remaining true to God’s calling and getting involved in God’s work will often mean travelling the way of the cross. He was teaching his followers that they must be ready to choose that way, if remaining faithful to God’s values, as Jesus reveals them, requires it. Faced with such teaching, Jesus’ disciples showed themselves to be reluctant learners. They resisted his teaching; Jesus struggled to shift their very human way of thinking.

If today’s second reading declares that how we act is more significant than how we speak, in revealing our relationship with God, the gospel reading suggests that more important than both is how we think. Our way of thinking about God, our understanding of God, will invariably influence what we say and what we do. A distorted understanding of God can do great damage, as we know.

Thinking correctly about God has always been a value within Christianity from the beginning. We are encouraged to bring our minds to bear on who God is, who Jesus is, on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Our faith must always be a faith that seeks understanding. When it comes to God and God’s Son all of us remain learners, including those who have the ministry of teaching within the church. This kind of learning is not just a human endeavour; it has to be a graced endeavour. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians: ‘No one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God… we have received the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God’. We need the light of the Holy Spirit if we are to think in God’s way and, out of that, to speak and act in God’s way.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus calls on Peter and the other disciples to change their way of thinking. That change Jesus called for was a long time in coming, according to Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ efforts to teach his disciples continued to meet with resistance. Yet, he persevered with them. We too can be slow learners when it comes to the things of God. Yet, the Lord perseveres with us; he remains our teacher; he continues to give us the Spirit of Truth who will lead us into the complete truth. What he looks for from us is the openness to being led.

And/Or

(iii) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are aware from our own experience just how difficult it is to really know someone. Even those who have been sharing each other’s lives for many years don’t necessarily know each other fully. We can struggle to know ourselves fully, never mind knowing someone else. Even when we know ourselves well, revealing ourselves to others, does not always come easy to us.  It can be a struggle to reveal ourselves even to those who are closest to us. There is a lot of talk today about transparency. However, no human being will ever be fully transparent to another human being.

When Jesus asked his disciples the question, ‘Who do people say I am?’ he was checking to see how well people had come to know him. The answers that he received suggested that people had some insight into who he was, although a rather limited one. Jesus was neither Elijah, nor John the Baptist nor one of the prophets, although he had something in common with all of them. Jesus then went on to ask a more probing question of his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Jesus would have expected that his own disciples would have had a fuller insight into his identity. Jesus had chosen them to be with him; they had seen and heard a lot of him. Jesus’ expectations were, initially, not disappointed. Peter gave a more satisfactory answer to the question of Jesus’ identity than people at large were giving, ‘You are the Christ, the Messiah’. Peter was right. Jesus was the long awaited Jewish Messiah.

However, it soon became clear that Peter did not in fact know Jesus very well. If we struggle to know those closest to us and, even, to know ourselves, it is not surprising that people struggled, and continue to struggle, to know Jesus. If there is more to each of us than meets the eye or ear, there was certainly more to Jesus than met the eye or ear. The question that Jesus addressed to his disciples, ‘Who do you say I am?’ is addressed to all of us. We would probably all give somewhat different answers to that question, but one thing is certain, none of the answers would be completely adequate. If coming to know someone close to us is an adventure, a journey with many twists and turns, coming to know the Lord is an even greater adventure and an even longer journey. It is an adventure worth heading into, a journey worth taking on. An important part of our baptismal calling is to come to know the Lord with our head and with our heart. Jesus has revealed himself to us, and continues to reveal himself to us in and through the Holy Spirit. Of course, we will only know the Lord fully when we see him face to face. He will always remain something of a mystery to us on this side of eternity.

This morning’s gospel reading shows that, even though Peter showed some insight into Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus remained a mystery to Peter. Yes, Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, but he had no idea about the kind of Messiah that Jesus would become. Immediately after Peter’s moment of insight into Jesus, Jesus went on to reveal a little more about himself. He spoke of himself as the Son of Man who was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the religious leaders of the time, and to be put to death. This was not the kind of Messiah Peter had in mind, and so he took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Peter had his own image of Jesus and what Jesus was saying did not fit that image. Peter’s reaction to Jesus is not unlike how we react to each other. We can have a certain image of people, and we expect them to fit that image. When they show themselves to be more mysterious, more complex, than our image of them, we can be slow to accept them. Peter struggled to accept a Messiah who had to travel the way of the cross. Perhaps he understood that following such a Messiah would mean that he himself would have to travel that same way of the cross. However, Jesus cannot be fully understood apart from the cross. His death reveals who he is more fully even that his life. His death reveals Jesus to be someone who was totally faithful to God and to all God’s people; it is above all his death that reveals the quality of Jesus’ love for God and for all of us. It is not surprising then that the cross has become the dominant symbol of Christianity.

Because Jesus had to travel the way of the cross, he calls on us, his followers, to take up our cross after him. Taking up our cross is not passively accepting every misfortune that comes our way. The language of ‘taking up our cross’ suggests freely choosing the cross. Following Jesus, remaining faithful to him and to his values, will always mean freely choosing the more loving path for his sake. The more loving path will often be the more difficult path, the way of the cross, but it will also be the path of life, both for us and for others.

And/Or

(iv) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I think we would all agree that it is never easy to get to know someone really well. A husband and wife who have lived together for many years probably know each other really well. They have come to know each other’s qualities and limitations and have learnt to accept one another. Likewise, two people who have been friends for years will have come to know one another really well. They will have come to some measure of mutual acceptance and appreciation. The number of people we could claim to know really well in life is probably quite small. Even those we know well can continue to surprise us. We can discover a side to them that we never noticed before. We can suddenly be reminded of the extraordinary mystery of the other person, struck by the otherness of the person whom we have come to know and love. We realize more clearly that the other person is different to me and will always remain a mystery to me, even though I know them as well as I know anyone.

If we were to ask someone who really knew us, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ and then asked that person to write a couple of paragraphs answering that question, we would certainly recognize ourselves in what they would write. Yet, it is likely that we would also recognize that there are sides to us that are not present in the description. There is always so much more to us than someone’s account of us, even the account of someone who knows us deeply. In the gospel reading this morning Jesus asks his disciples two questions. The first was, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ The answers the disciples gave were fine in so far as they went, ‘John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets’. Jesus was a prophetic figure who proclaimed God’s word. Yet, to say that Jesus was a great prophet, which is what Moslems say of Jesus, does not go far enough. Jesus then asked his disciples the more probing question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter’s answer went beyond the answers that other people had given, ‘You are the Christ, the Messiah’. Peter was saying to Jesus, ‘you are the Jewish Messiah, the one we have been waiting for, the one whose coming the prophets foretold’.  Yet, in spite of the very good answer that Peter gave to Jesus’ question, he really did not know Jesus at all. The term ‘Messiah’ meant different things to different people. Probably Peter thought of a Messiah in the tradition of king David who had established a kingdom, having defeated all Israel’s enemies. Jesus would do the same, driving the Roman occupying power from the land. This was not the kind of Messiah Jesus understood himself to be. At this point in this ministry he understood that far from leading a movement to drive out the Romans, he would end up on a Roman cross, crucified like a common criminal. Faithfulness to his mission would cost him his life. When Jesus began to articulate this reality Peter rebuked Jesus. This was not Peter’s idea of a Messiah. Peter could not accept the otherness of Jesus, the mystery of Jesus’ identity. Peter was comfortable telling Jesus who he was, but when Jesus began to reveal who he really was and what that entailed Peter became distinctly uncomfortable.

We probably all find it easier telling people who they are than listening to people tell us who they really are. In particular, we can struggle to hear the story of someone’s brokenness, especially if our picture of them has been one that doesn’t allow for that. Peter wasn’t able to hear Jesus talking about himself as a broken, failed, rejected Messiah. It was really only after the resurrection that Peter and the disciples were able to come to terms with such brokenness, such failure. It can be a struggle for us to accept failure and brokenness in others and also to accept our own brokenness. Jesus could accept his own failure, his own brokenness, because he trusted in God as one who would make him whole. Because he could accept his own failure, his own brokenness, he was at home with the failure and brokenness of others. The broken, the failures of this world, flocked to him, and in his presence they came alive. We will more easily accept our own brokenness and failures if we know in our heart of hearts that we too can approach the Lord as one who can make us whole. The Eucharist has been described as bread broken for a broken people. The Lord who was broken on the cross for us is present in the Eucharist as our Life-Giver. We approach the Lord in the Eucharist in our own brokenness asking to be made whole, and asking also for the grace to be able to sit with others in their brokenness.

And/Or

(v) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

It is central to our nature as human beings to ask questions. We ask questions about our world, about others, about ourselves, about God. A great deal of our lives is driven by the search to have our questions answered. It is often the case that the answer to a question generates a host of other questions, and so the search goes on. Some of our questions, those relating to the big mysteries of life, are not easily answered. We discover that we have to live with a lot of unanswered questions. We hope that in the glorious light of eternity all our questions will be finally answered. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known’.

Jesus asks many questions of others during his public ministry. Some of his questions are very probing, such as his opening question in the gospel of John, addressed to the disciples of John the Baptist, ‘What are you looking for?’ In today’s gospel reading, Jesus asks two questions of his disciples. The first question, ‘Who do people say I am?’ concerns other people’s views of him, which the disciples answer relatively easily. However, the second question is much more probing, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ It is one of those questions of Jesus that hangs in the air for all of us. Each one of us is asked to answer that question for ourselves. It is not just a question that is looking for information. It addresses our heart as well as our head. In asking, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Jesus is asking ‘Who am I for you?’ ‘What place do I have in your life?’ The answer Peter gave to Jesus’ question was factually correct, ‘you are the Christ’. However, Peter’s answer left open the further question of what kind of Christ Jesus would be. Jesus immediately began to give his own answer to that further, underlying, question. He went on to speak of himself as the Son of Man who would suffer grievously, who would be rejected by the religious authorities and be put to death by the Roman authorities, before rising to new life on the third day. This was Jesus’ own answer to the question he put to his disciples. It was an answer that was too painful for Peter to live with. He was much more comfortable telling Jesus who he thought he was, ‘You are the Christ’, than listening to Jesus telling him who he really was, a Christ who would be rejected and be put to death.

We can all find it easier telling people who we think they are than listening to them trying to tell us who they really are. In particular, we can struggle to hear the story of someone’s brokenness, especially when the person speaking matters a great deal to us and has become very significant for us. No one wants to see a friend or a loved one suffer. Peter had left everything to follow Jesus. He wasn’t able to hear Jesus talking about himself as a broken, failed, rejected Christ or Messiah. It was really only after the resurrection that Peter and the disciples were able to come to terms with Jesus’ ignominious death as a rebel king on a Roman cross. It can be a struggle for us to accept failure and brokenness in others. That may be because to struggle at times to accept our own brokenness and failures. Jesus could accept his own pending experience of rejection, failure and brokenness and he could talk about it to those closest to him, because he trusted that God his Father would make him whole again. He believed that out of his suffering and death God would bring new life for himself and for others. Because he could accept the painful reality of his own brokenness and suffering, he was at home with the suffering and brokenness of others. The broken, the rejected, the failures of this world, flocked to him, and, in his presence, they began to become whole again.

We will more easily accept our own brokenness and failures if we know in our heart of hearts that we too can approach the Lord as one who can make us whole, who can bring new life out of our various experiences of suffering and death. The Lord who was broken on the cross for us is present in the Eucharist as our healer and Life-Giver. The Eucharist has been described as bread broken for a broken people. We can approach the Lord in the Eucharist in our own brokenness asking to be made whole again. Strengthened by that encounter with the Lord of life, we are then sent from the Eucharist to bring something of his healing and life-giving presence to those who are broken in body, mind or spirit. This is the kind of active faith that James calls for in today’s second reading, a faith that expresses itself in loving deeds. When, at the end of the gospel reading, Jesus calls on his followers to renounce themselves, to lose their lives for his sake, he is asking us to enter into the spirit of his own self-emptying love which places the well-being of others before our own desires.

And/Or

(vi) Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

At least 33 Christians were killed in one week last July during attacks on Atyap villages in Northern Nigeria; four church buildings and 215 homes were burned. The Atyap people are a predominantly-Christian ethnic group. Local sources said Islamic Fulani militants attacked the villages unimpeded over several days. Observers have referred to it as a genocide on Christians. This is just one of many examples of the persecution of Christians throughout the world today.

We are reading from the gospel of Mark these Sundays. Those for whom the evangelist, Mark, was writing, were a persecuted minority living in a pagan society that considered the Christian movement a dangerous superstition. Mark’s gospel was probably written to the church in Rome around the year 70 AD. Many members of that church would have recently taken up their cross to follow Jesus. We know from Roman historians that the Emperor Nero had many Christians crucified after the great fire of Rome in the year 66 AD, because he blamed the fire on them. The first readers of Mark’s gospel knew from experience the truth of Jesus’ saying in today’s gospel reading, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mind, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me’. In the past we may have tended to hear those words of Jesus about taking up our cross and following him as a call to accept the crosses life sends us as the will of God. I was reading recently of a teacher who was giving a course on Mark’s gospel. When she came to these words of Jesus, one of her students said that she thought this was one of the most dangerous verses in the Bible. She described how a majority of the women with whom she worked in a shelter for battered women and children thought that by enduring every kind of suffering, including physical and verbal abuse, they were faithfully carrying their cross with Jesus. The teacher was appalled by this misunderstanding of ‘taking up the cross’, but came to realize it wasn’t  uncommon.

The life and message of Jesus calls on us to hunger and thirst for God’s justice, the coming of God’s kingdom, where everyone is treated with profound dignity and respect as beloved sons and daughters of God. We are to mourn with Jesus when those values of God’s kingdom are absent and the vulnerable suffer as a result. In the language of James in today’s second reading, our faith is to express itself in good works, works that transform unjust structures and broken lives for the better. Jesus calls on us to work together, in the power of his Spirit, to alleviate unjust and unnecessary suffering. He assures us that in working to improve the lives of the most vulnerable, we are serving him directly, ‘as long as you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did to me’. In the parable of the unjust judge, the hero of the story is a widow who has suffered a great injustice but who tenaciously works away until she gets the justice that is due to her. She symbolizes those who hunger and thirst for what is right; she is the person we are all called to be.

The widow didn’t accept the suffering that was unjustly imposed on her but worked with great determination to be rid of it. In the gospel reading, Jesus doesn’t say, ‘if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them… accept their cross’. He says, rather, ‘let them take up their cross and follow me’. The language of ‘taking up’ suggests a very active and conscious decision to follow Jesus, even if that means having to travel the way of the cross. He knew that our faithfulness to him, to his values, will sometimes have negative consequences for us. Being his faithful disciple in the world will often be costly. In today’s gospel reading, Peter was very uncomfortable with Jesus speaking about himself as the Son of Man who would have to suffer grievously and be put to death; he took Jesus aside and rebuked him. When Peter’s following of Jesus proved costly to him, he publicly renounced Jesus to protect himself. In the gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to renounce ourselves rather than renounce him, ‘if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them renounce themselves…’ Jesus is asking us to voluntarily place our own faithfulness to him above everything else in life.  He is calling on us to be as faithful to him as he has been to us. He was faithful to us unto death. He remained faithful to his mission of revealing God’s unconditional love for all, even though he knew it would put him on a Roman cross. Our faithfulness to the Lord won’t normally have such negative consequences for us. Yet, the living out of our faith can prove costly in various ways. It will often mean saying ‘no’ to what seems to bring us immediate gain. However, Jesus promises us that if we remain faithful to him at such testing moments, we will save our lives, we will become more alive with his own risen life.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[brotherbeastus]

TWO FACE SINNER “SPIRITUAL NEMESIS” LYRIC VIDEO PLAYLIST 2024 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐

Playlist on YouTube:

‘INVOKING EVIL’ 4 mins

‘SATANIC ALTAR’ 6 mins

‘SERVANTS OF BLIND FAITH’ 4 mins

‘gOD OF THE MASSES’ 3 min

‘TRIUMPHANT SATAN’ 4 min

‘CHANTS OF HATE’ 4 mins

“SPIRITUAL NEMESIS” at NON SERVIAM, BANDCAMP, and METAL ARCHIVES

[i-hold-horrors-hand]

Easter at the Ghurch

(related to this post)

Name: Ballo Dei Diavoli (Italian), Dance of the Devils (English).

Date: Easter Sunday.

Celebration: Of Death and Hell, and Faustian bargains.

Description: At unholy morning mass, Papa gives a sermon about the Resurrection of Christ and how important it is to be aware of the power their adversary has, while also celebrating making Faustian bargains in order to combat against God and Jesus.

Later, three people (typically Siblings) are selected to dress as Death (yellow dress, leather mask with demonic smile, crossbow or other weapon) and two Devils (red dresses and red devil masks). Throughout the day, Death (flanked by the Devils) selects random people to take to "hell" (a room), the selected people are escorted to "hell" (the room) by the Devils. Once in "hell" (the room), the selected people are able to symbolically buy their freedom back, in a Faustian deal.

In the evening, Death and the Devils perform a skit where they fight two (or three) angels and win, then perform a triumphant dance for the congregation in the evening ("Per Aspera Ad Inferi" is sung as a hymn).

After that, Papa gives a closing sermon about the eventual triumph of Satan over God.

[wisdomfish]

The cosmic battle begins in Genesis...

After God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden as the crown of creation, a serpent slithers up to the first couple, questioning God’s word and his character. For unknown reasons, the first couple fell for the serpent’s lie and rose up in mutiny against their Creator.

By way of response, God arranges a meeting with them in the Garden, replete with a curse and a blessing. The curse is that humanity would now be alienated from God, live under the harsh yoke of Satan, and experience the many consequences that stem from rebellion. The blessing is that God would provide a way “out” of Satan’s clutch, an escape hatch, through the birth of a baby (Gen. 3:15).

Following this promise, the whole Bible—and all of history—is about the triumphant march of God to fulfill his promise. We learn that the baby would come from the nation of Israel (Gen. 12:1-3), specifically from the line of David (2 Sam. 7:12-13); be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14) in the town of Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2); and offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (Is. 52:13-53:12).

What’s more, we are reminded regularly that this baby will destroy the Evil One (1 Jn. 3:8). In John’s revelation, the Evil One is depicted as a menacing dragon who rages and casts down stars from the sky (Rev. 12). And yet, his fate is sealed: he will be crushed by the baby born in a manger.

You see, baby Jesus’ first cries weren’t merely the cooing of a swaddled babe; they were the first battle cry of the Warrior who would gain victory over humanity’s evil overlord (Rom. 16:20), gather the world’s worshipers to himself (Rev. 5), and purge the world of evil once and for all (Rev. 21-22). Mary may have rocked Jesus’ “cradle,” but his cradle is one that rocked the world. ~ Dr. Rob Pacienza