#so I don’t know how relevant they were on the bigger picture but I love mess and drama and betrayals

[ichabodcranemills]

Hey hey hey, don’t bring Mayward into your weird anti sex crusade, their relationship was one of the best things about AoS

[tharizdun-03]

Arcane Watchthrough

Episode 1: Welcome to the Playground

EP 1 was very good! It's not an unusual premise, but it's the execution that really stands out here. Aesthetically, it's wonderful, very stylized, strong artwork, and lots of small character acting. I see it setting up plenty thematics and character stuff too. Impressed.

I'll say tho, it's a fair criticism towards Powder. I'm all about making people feel included and realizing their full potential, but if she screws things up every time during your missions, maybe don't bring her with you? Or at least give her a lesser role, like keeping watch.

Probably my favourite little moment from the episode tbh, got a laugh out of me. Very expressive. I like Vi.

Episode 2: Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved

Arcane keeps up the solid work with EP 2!

Episode 3: The Base Violence Necessary for Change

That was SO GOOD.

Episode 4: Happy Progress Day!

Ooh, timeskip. Jinx, huh. Wow, her guilt of having accidentally killed everyone, and the trauma from Vi "betraying" her, has messed her up so much, and Silco makes her actually feel important, as her little inventions finally succeed, for example.

It makes sense, basically, that she's the way she is now. The janky flashbacks are great, with Jinx's demonification of her past and the people in it, being literally represented in the visuals, painting over her memories, to cope with the past.

Just also taking the opportunity to gush about how good the show looks. Background art, for example, beautiful.

Episode 5: Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy

What stood out to me about Arcane's 5th episode the most was the directing! The overall storyboarding, imagery, and editing, were all significantly better in this episode (and it was already fantastic). Wonder if there's a specific reason in staff for this. Best episode so far.

I think you really notice the storyboarding right from the get-go, I thought this perspective was really cool, for example.

I like her voice a lot.

Silco got the drip.

Cool transition.

Look at that. 

As this is the same place she used to practice, this is probably a reference to that shooting practice? I'm thinking beyond the point of the scene just showing how different she is now. Would've been cool if the practice targets were like fake tree birds or something. 

Just top-notch editing for this scene, and the fact that Jinx still can't beat Vi's score, one she did years ago, when she was her age, just feeds into Jinx's insecurities even further.

Sick transition (also love the 2D effects work).

First of all, very cool with the horn built into the violin, but just a fantastic scene overall. The violin is my favourite instrument, you know, so any scene is elevated with violin music. Also, sick stage work, I'd attend that.

Very abstract presentation for the sex scene, keeping it tasteful and also allowing them to tie it into Victor fainting in some visually interesting ways.

Another sick transition from the previous scene.

I wasn't sure if Jinx and Silco's relationship was paternal or romantic, and I think it was intentionally ambiguous but to what purpose other than to keep us guessing I don't know, but I know now that it's paternal. Baptism-like scene here, to get rid of "Powder."

I think these are the band members for Imagine Dragons? If so, that is very cool. Also, playing the opening in an episode is always awesome.

Look at how the camera turns 90 degrees here as she throws Vi to the ground, that's so cool.

Lots of character and story goodies too, it's just fairly straight-forward so I don't have too much to comment on that, but it's all fantastic, and it's a bummer I only really have time for the series on Sundays (as I'm watching with my Dad) cause I'm loving it.

Episode 6: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down

Oh God, I'm gonna cry.

Episode 7: The Boy Savior

Holy shit

Episode 8: Oil and Water

This show is so good. I'm consistently impressed by how every single character is given relevance and focus, always contributing to the bigger picture. EP 8 managed to do so much for all of them.

Vi and Caitlyn goodness, Viktor finally outrunning the boat, some continuingly appreciated Medarda characterization, haunting hallucination scene with Jinx, Jayce having to make increasingly more difficult choices, Heimerdinger still being active, etc.

The fight scene had me giddy as fuck, and for some reason made me tear up a bit (cause it's just that awesome I guess lol), and it ofc being intentionally set up as really fucking cool so they could bring us right back down to face the actual real life consequences too.

Episode 9: The Monster You Created

Wow. What a finale. The whole dinner set-piece was such a brilliant idea for the climax that when I first realized it was happening I cursed myself for not realizing how perfect this would be. Honestly tho, this episode did the most for Silco imo.

“Don’t cry. You’re perfect.” 

There's so much to unpack here. Of course, on an obvious level, Silco chose his daughter over his dream. He is the only one that completely sees Jinx, all of her, and loves her unconditionally, and accepts her for everything.

Vi, of course, loves Powder too, but it's not "open and unconditional" in the same way as it is with Silco. She screams at Jinx to remember her past, in order to force Powder to reawaken, but that just makes her paranoia and hallucinations worse.

Silco shoots at Vi, not just so Powder won't awaken and he can get what he wants, but also because he knows that this hurts Jinx and genuinely empathizes with her, with that pain, and realizes Vi is hurting her, by doing this, and by being at all, and he intends to protect her.

Silco accepts Jinx, mental issues and all, doesn't even blame her for killing him, and tells her that she doesn't need to change, which seals Jinx's decision to stay as Jinx. After all, she's already perfect.

The best part tho, is that Silco's love isn't just open and unconditional, it's still rooted in selfishness as well. He genuinely loves her as a daughter, and empathizes with her, as he sees himself in her, but she also embodies what he loves about the undercity.

Silco chose both Zaun AND Jinx. He doesn't want a Zaun that has to deal with Piltover, he knows that won't work out. He loves the chaos in the undercity, that brings out the monsters within the people, I mean, under his rule, the undercity got worse, and intentionally so.

By choosing Jinx, he not only chooses his daughter (and still allows her to choose who she should be), but he chooses the idea of Zaun that he wants to preserve, that chaos, that city that forces people to rise and grow powerful through conflict, which Jinx embodies and fulfills.

This really ties into why Silco chose to take Jinx in which should seem a bit out of character but in combination with empathizing with her being betrayed as he once was, he also sees Zaun as he envisions it within her and how she embodies that idea more than anyone else.

It just, it would've been so easy to fall into the trap of making him get attached to this child for no real strong reason, but Jinx explicitly ties into his fundamental principles of being, so his actions stay totally in character and only richen him further.

Of course, I'm not trying to glorify Jinx's and Silco's relationship at all. It may have been open and loving, but that isn't enough to properly raise a child. 

Man, that you're perfect scene tho, I've rewatched it multiple times, and I tear up every time lol. Of course, this episode did wonders for the other characters as well, with that wonderful callback as Jayce stops Viktor from suicide this time, for example. Just fantastic all around. Very excited to see what season 2 has in store.

Overall Thoughts:

Arcane was so good I genuinely can't come up with a single flaw or anything I would've changed lol. Wonderfully written story just elevated tenfold by some of the best presentation ever. Silco is an all-time favourite antagonist but top-notch cast overall. Unmatched insert songs.

[qisme]

Critical Thinking Reflection Pt 1

Week 1:

Describe your understanding of critical thinking that you had before the class, and reflect on what you may have learned?

My understanding of critical thinking was honestly just to be able to think thoroughly and being able to finally come to conclusions. However, in this class, it taught me that critical thinking may come in various forms. For example, in a group discussion, critical thinking can be in the form of finding many keywords or creating a mind map about a certain topic to be able to widen our understanding on that topic. Another example is that when it comes to critical thinking, try to see the bigger picture and find things that may be connected or relevant to it.

What have you learned about Mindfulness? How might you integrate this into your learning environment?

I learned that being mindful is to be fully present and aware of where I am and what I am doing. In other words, it means being awake in each moment and being fully engaged in what is happening in one’s surroundings without any judgements and with acceptance. I am able to integrate being mindful during a group discussion. For example, when one of my group members is speaking and giving ideas and their contributions, I will listen to what they are saying and only give my opinions after. I will also be mindful of how I am speaking to them and not be rude about their suggestions. If I find it not really relevant to what we are discussing, I would find ways to be nice about it and maybe compromise with what they have.

Describe an eventful moment you have experienced in this class.

An eventful moment I had experienced in this class was when everybody shared about their personal life before stepping into this course. I find it interesting to know about my classmates’ backgrounds and how all of us are of different ages. I found out that even the youngest guy in my class was 15 years old and I was actually shocked because at 15 I was still in my secondary school. I also find it interesting that my classmates are from different parts of the world and that we get to learn about the different cultures and school systems from different countries.

Week 2:

Describe your strengths and weaknesses as a collaborator. What did you do well, and what are some areas to improve? Discuss with reference to today’s activities.

My strengths are being able to break the ice with someone anytime if I was asked to but my weakness is not being able to have a long lasting social battery with anyone. I can say that I can be really hyper with someone I love for a while and then the next thing I know is I’m quiet and will not entertain anyone. I think I do well in being able to break the ice and make everyone talk to one another especially in a group setting. For example, in today’s lesson, we are grouped in 4s and I was obviously the first person to break the ice amongst us as I noticed that the rest of my friends were shy to speak first. I don’t mind breaking the ice as long as everyone else talks to one another after. As soon as I started to break the ice amongst us, everyone began to communicate with each other to plan about what to do with the task that was given to us which is to figure out what can be built as a monument and we chose ‘Sang Nadim’.

If you had more time and an unlimited budget, how would you design the monument differently? Include pictures of the group work, and your personal redesign.

If I had more time and an unlimited amount of money, I would make the monument big enough so that people would be able to notice it from afar and add more details and character into the monument so that people would understand it better and easier. For example, in the group monument sketch, we only included ‘Sang Nadim’ the fish that attacked the village which is a swordfish and the tree that was being used to protect the village from the swordfish attack which is the banana tree. As for my personal preference, I would add more character into the monument such as the villagers rushing to align the banana trees along the beach showing teamwork, Sang Nadim instructing the villagers, the jealous King and his men watching all that from aside and the swordfish flying, making their way to attack the village. All this would take money and effort hence only if I had more time an unlimited amount of money.

[terielle]

Heal the Scars 11/?

As usual, full Story on AO3 and in the original on Fanfiktion.de

We’re gonna increase leaps in time. But There are things I have to do now, otherwise they won't make any sense later. And I think, we have to picture the marines as the good guys every now and then. And, yes, I know, it is the wrong month, put I want co cover more than a year's time and I hope I’m done until October, so it will happen now. And since I loved our north blue guys being nerds, the end had to happen like this. 

Elizabeth was on board of Drakes ship for a little bit more than a month. And she really liked it. In the beginning she thought an expressive face just wasn’t his thing. Now she guessed, there was just barely anything to break his calm. Despite they spent a lot of time together, she still barely knew anything about him. Despite discussing the current course and what to expect on it, they trained together. Well, it was more him training her than together. She wasn’t quite sure if he drew any benefit from it, but he insisted on calling it training together.

Landing was outside of Wind Rose far more relaxing. They had only been on two other different bases, each after they caught pirates on isles without a base or between isles. But if the were at land, she took over the typical duties of the first officers: making sure, Drakes orders were fulfilled, collecting intel and advising him with it. Since she tended to overdo it with her research, he didn’t even read her files by now, but let her just report the short version with the hint to add additional information if it became relevant at some point. When he told her that, she beamed the whole fay. She was happy he trusted her enough to make this judgement herself.

And the out of necessity solidarity of the three women on board became a friendship, much to the pleasure of Liz.

Currently they were on a rather small Island, a few villages and a bigger city in the inner of the island. In the beginning they didn’t want to stay that long, but the small town at the port got currently attacked by pirates. Chasing them would have been fruitless, they have been to long gone by now. The small town was still in ruins, so they decided to help with the repairs. The crafmansship was limited by most members of the crew, but the citizens were grateful for any help. After a week of support of the Marines the small town looked a lot better.

Elizabeth was a bit shocked, that she - despite her love for investigation - found out about Drake's birthday due to the crew’s more or less well sung serenade. It became clear, how little she actually knew about him. And the fact she didn’t have a gift and limited possibilities to obtain one. But she found a solution for that rather soon.

„Captain Drake, do you have a moment?“ she stepped beside him to the railing.

„Sure, what’s the matter?“ she focused his gaze on her.

She put on her most charming smile „I would like to take you out for dinner“

Silence. She lifted one eyebrow and tilted her head to give him a questioning look. She could swear he blushed.

„That…“ he cleared his throat and sounded a bit embarrassed „… is very flattering but inappropriate. I don’t think this is a good idea“

Now she remained silent and maybe it was audible how the gears in her head turned. How could dinner be inappropriate? She looked at him confused, until the pieces fell together.  her face displayed her changing emotions, from confusion to realization to embarrassment. Now she was blushing.

„Oh. Oh! Captain Sir, you are an intelligent and handsome man, but I don’t want to go out with you. I just thought, I wanted to get you something for your birthday but I don’t know enough about you for a personal gift but I thought: everyone has to eat“ she paused and grimaced „But now I realize, I didn’t think this through enough. I‘ll give the restaurant a call and cancel. I‘m sorry if I made you uncomfortable“ 

„Dinner sounds good“ he interrupted her nervous babbling.

„I made reservations for 19.00 o‘clock, if that fine with you?“

He nodded and an awkward silence stretched between them. She reality didn’t think he could get the impression of her asking him out. Not that she denied him any attractiveness, she wasn’t blind, and a young marine captain was a good match. But she just didn’t see her superior that way.

„I‘m sure i have… places to be“ It was obvious to her, that this was a flight attempt.

„Sure, sure, go“ he still seemed d a bit uncomfortable.

—————————————

Elizabeth stood ten minutes before seven at the restaurant. Of course this was a private occasion, but since she invited him, she deemed it more than appropriate to be here earlier. Nervous she played with the end of her braid. She didnt put the hair up and only braided it. She was still a bit embarrassed, that drake thought she wanted to ask him out for a date. She didn’t have to wait to long to him.

„Captain Drake“ she wanted to give a salute but stopped in the middle of the motion and decided to do a wave instead, paired with a smile to distract from her embarrassment.

„Elizabeth“ for half of a second a thin smile was visible, before he held the door open for her „Please, after you“

„Thanks“

Immediately a waiter came and greeted him „Oh, the marines. Welcome to the Munch Cove. He prepared our best table for you. If you‘d like to follow me“

The best table was a bit of an exaggeration, after all the restaurant was severely damaged, and even before it wasn’t very chic. But due to the repairs at the Munch Cove was at least back in shape to welcome guest. The promoted table was next to the only window with few on the town square and it had the only still intact tablecloth. Obviously, they put in a lot of effort, to show their gratefulness for their support.

„Thank you“ the blonde was very surprised, when drake pulled out her chair for her. After both ordered her dinner, they remained silent. She let her gaze wonder through the room. It wasn’t like there was something worth looking for, it was just something to help her think. Afterglow the dinner was not only a gift but also an opportunity to get to know him a bit better.

„You seemed to be very fascinated by the swamp lizard the other day Do you know as much about many animals or was that just your favorite?“

„Flying swamp dragon“ he corrected „I like reptiles“

„Is this because of your devilfruit?“

„No really. Dinosaurs are more related to birds than reptiles“

„Oh, I didn’t knew that“ she shot him a surprised look „so, if I ask you anything about reptiles, could you give a compatible detailed answer?“

„That depends, on what you ask. Are you interested in animals?“ he seemed to be surprised.

„To be honest: no.“ she gave an apologetic smile „But I enjoy to listen if someone talks about something so passionate. Under different circumstances your excitement would have been infectious“

„You looked more frightened“ 

„To. My defense: I had no idea, what was sitting on me“

Her excuse was cut short by the arrival of the waiter.

„Is there anything you are interested in?“

„I know the marines behavior handbook by heart and can quote it“

„I has talking about something besides work“

„Well…“ she cleared her throat and took a sip of her red wine to win time. Elizabeth hoped to distract with that answer, but her face must resemble her drink by now. „There is a series of romance books. Not the deepest lecture but a nice distraction from reality“

She hoped with all her heart he didn’t ask any more. This’d was putting it very mildly. Tides of Passion really deserved its name. Erotic romances would have been more fitting. And if that wasn’t enough , man you the books followed one of the following patterns: A main character fell in love with  an incredibly attractive marine, the only variation was if she was the damsel in distress or the tempting underworld Beaty, wrapping the poor marine (usually officer) around her finger, or the classical workplace romance. And since all books of the series fell under the categories „not safe for work“ she really didn’t want to admit this to her superior. Then the saving thought crossed her mind.

„I also enjoys the Sora Comics in the world economy news“ she added quickly. It was a harmless topic and she really liked them.

„You like Sora?“

„You too?“

„Oh corse, everyone from north blue knows Sora!“ I have an autograph from the author“*

*this is from the Spin off series „One Piece Party“, chapter „Offline Meeting“. Drake, Law and Hawkins have a Sora Fanclub. And it is hilarious.

[yvesdot]

would love to hear more about ur anti-F451 ideals <3

wait depending on why ur opposed to it the heart may have been tonally inappropriate

(in response to this)

Nooo don’t worry! Funniest message/addition I’ve received in a while.

I personally don’t like Fahrenheit 451 in part because I’m an honest Bradbury fan and I think the plot structure is fundamentally disappointing. Perhaps I’d feel differently on a fourth read, but I find many of his short stories much better written.

However, the main issue I have with it is that it is taught by progressive people as if it is progressive. Let me tell you: it’s not. Bradbury was not responding to real, precedented book burning (usually of progressive and/or minority-authored texts—F451 was published ~20 years after the Nazi book burnings). What’s the book he’s most worried about? The Christian Bible, which is the central text that Montag seeks to protect, despite his inability to comprehend it. This is all we really need to know about Bradbury’s grip on reality.

Take a look at this speech by Beatty, the police chief villain of the novel, as to “how we got here.” Warning: even more racist than you expect.

Now let's take up the minorities in our civilization, shall we? Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog-lovers, the cat-lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did...

...It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade journals.

...You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn't that right?

Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it. Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book.

(bolding mine)

Quotes like this one reveal his true, misplaced anxieties: Bradbury perceives the Oversensitive Minorities as the book-burners. Bradbury himself was not always a shining star of progressivism even in his most progressive-leaning writing (see his portrayal of Black people in various pseudo-progressive short stories). Does this mean nobody should read him, or F451? Of course not; I’m a Bradbury completionist myself. The meme post is honestly hilarious, which is why I didn’t want to be one of those Um, Actually! people—it’s not really relevant, in my opinion, to the joke. Good post, OP! I mention this here to put Bradbury’s fears of offended minority readers in context.

From Faber, the mentor figure with the Bible:

It's not books you need, it's some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in the 'parlor families' today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios, and televisors, but are not. No, no it's not books at all you're looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type or receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget.

Bradbury’s real concern (outside of minority backlash) was television. While he was right that technology would progress and become more handheld (and often all-consuming), his fears seem to come largely from a view of television as “replacing” reading, which it has made no real signs of doing. This is actually the reason F451 is so popular: the majority agrees, and has always agreed, that books are irreplaceable and television is “low art.” This book has mass societal appeal... because it ultimately challenges nothing about society.

Every generation acts like new tech, new adults, new everything is terrible. (1) (2) (3) (4) This makes the book popular again and again as people insist that now technology has finally gone too far (as opposed to when he wrote it? he wrote it about your generation!), but it’s something a real visionary should have been able to see past. It’s classic, uncreative paranoia.

It’s honestly embarrassing for Bradbury to count television out of “infinite detail and awareness,” particularly because it’s only developed further in that direction since. Take Bojack Horseman, Squid Game, Mr. Robot, or any other critically acclaimed television show in the last decade: we’re seeing an explosion of real art here, using the unique elements of the medium to produce better writing. Bradbury was wrong, and he should have recognized it.

So, if it’s not well-written or insightful, what is F451 teaching? Why is it present in classrooms across the country? I read this book in high school myself, and I am shocked that progressive teachers continue to assign it as though it can tell us anything (other than, perhaps, how the group in power will always manipulate social causes to portray themselves as the victims). Bradbury wasn’t right about the future, outside of some predictable technological progression. Books aren’t being burned just because they’re books (or, God forbid, because they’re Christian. Good Lord.) The Evil Minoritees have failed to bring down the giants. Nobody is going to put up four screens in their living room, because the furniture would block the screens.

F451 is a lovely beach read. It elicits those big, easily-provoked emotions: what if I am the only smart one left alive! What if all books are disappearing! What if low art is prevailing!! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that self-aware indulgence, the way people love books about strapping gentlemen and maidens who fail to exist in real life. We just have to be aware of that inaccurate manipulation of our emotions, and perhaps come to understand that this educational text isn’t as educational as we once thought.

P. S. Bradbury once wrote a New Year’s piece for Playboy, at the turn of the century, about what he expected to happen in the 2000s. He predicted the ultimate return to glory of...! cassette tapes. Let that be a lesson to other visionaries ^__^

[mochegato]

Even the Losers

Chapter 4

Chapter 1     Chapter 3

“We have a problem,” Tim grumbled as he stumbled into the dining room.  He threw the morning newspaper down on the table, letting it slide the last few feet until it stopped millimeters short of Bruce’s coffee.

Bruce sputtered his eggs and grabbed the paper, staring at the picture of him speaking with Marinette and Adrien that took up the entire front page above the fold.  He threw the paper back on the table.  “Son of a b…”

“We’ve been getting calls from PR all morning,” Tim interrupted him before Alfred got upset with Bruce for his language. “Because they’ve been getting calls from every newspaper, news station, blog, and interested citizen in the world, calling to ask them about it.”  

Tim poured himself a large cup of coffee, larger than usual.  He’d had patrol last night and gotten woken up at the crack of dawn this morning with calls about the story. So he was running on all of three hours of sleep and just wanted to crawl back into bed, but with this story, there was no chance of him getting to bed until after tonight’s patrol had already left.

It didn’t help that he was beating himself up for not picking up on the cues she was giving that night.  He’d run into her.  He and Stephanie had talked to her.  He saw her freeze up when she realized who he was.  He knew she was acting off, he just hadn’t thought it was nefarious.  If anything, it seemed hurt, not scared.  He should have caught onto her body language. He should have noticed how she seemed to freeze when he mentioned the family.  She must have thought he was fishing, letting her know he was onto her and her plan to do this.  

“You’d think after all the false alarms they’ve reported in the past that they’d know better by now.  Not every black haired, blue eyed child is a Wayne.  I’ve had PR draft up a statement that while we appreciate her support for the orphans, she is not, in fact, a Wayne,” he finished, taking a bite of his muffin, missing Bruce’s grimace.

Damian grabbed the paper, wrinkling it in his clenched fists as he scanned the text.  “She must have orchestrated the whole thing to put this out.  How else would they know these details?”

“No,” Dick commented thoughtfully, prying the paper away from Damian to take a look at the picture.  “If she was in on it she would have put on a better act.  Look at the image.  She isn’t playing into it.  She looks scared, not excited to ‘introduce her fiancé to her family’.” Dick quoted. He briefly scanned the paper for more information.

All the evidence appeared to be the picture, her physical features, and some call logs to her parent’s business.  Dick scrunched up his face with concern.  While not damning, it was interesting.  He didn’t know any reason Bruce would have to contact a bakery in Paris.  “Not to mention the story would have gone out yesterday for a bigger circulation boost. Sundays are the big press days. They wouldn’t have waited until Monday. That suggests they researched, or rather stole the information.  And no quotes from her in here.”

“Fine,” Damian growled, acquiescing to his logic. “Maybe she did it after the fact. She saw the opportunity and took it.”

“No,” Bruce admitted quietly.  “She wouldn’t have had to do that.”  The room seemed to become still as everyone turned to face him.  “If she wanted this story to go out she could have put it out at any time.  And she would have played up the dance, would have sought me out at the gala.  But she didn’t.”

“What dance?” Duke asked cautiously, his focus entirely on Bruce now.

“I asked her to dance.  She said no.  Ran away as quickly as she could actually,” Bruce chuckled self-deprecatingly as he stared at the paper in Dick’s hands.

Damian blinked at him as though the longer he stared the clearer what was happening would become.  But no matter how hard he stared, the image didn’t become clearer. If anything, things became hazier. “This could all be a clever ruse. She wants to appear innocent so when you confront her she can point out that she didn’t do those things.  It says she’s an aspiring designer.  This could all be for publicity.”

“She wouldn’t have to go through all that,” Bruce stated again, more finality in his voice.  He finally looked up, but still didn’t make eye contact with any of them.

Dick stared at Bruce, taking in his response, letting the words and their broader meaning sink in.  The words he wasn’t saying hung in the room like thick smoke, winding their way into everything they touched, stealing the air out of the room.  “What are you saying Bruce?” Dick asked cautiously

“The story’s true, isn’t it,” Tim observed.  It was a statement more than a question.  

Bruce nodded with a sigh.  “Except for the meeting her fiancé part.”

Tim knew it was true even before Bruce’s verbal acknowledgement.  The pieces suddenly fit together.  It was the only thing that made sense.  That’s why her reactions were off.  That matched.   He saw her face when they told her the gala was to celebrate family.  He saw her body language change sharply when Stephanie joked about Bruce taking in everyone he saw.  He wasn’t sure what to make of it at the time and didn’t really even try because it didn’t seem relevant and they had more important issues to think about, namely celebrating Duke.  After the story, he thought the reactions were a tell.  But now… now that he knew, they were a tell, but for something else entirely.

She was trying to be polite about it, not letting on how hard it was hitting.  And oh God, didn’t that make it worse.  Everything they said had been cordial, joking at Bruce’s expense, at their own expense. But with the new knowledge… it was at hers.  They weren’t jokes, they were digs.  They were attacks.  They were him putting her ‘in her place’; out of the family.  Tim took in a shuttering breath and collapsed on the couch, his head in his hands.

He would have so much to apologize for.  He would have to find her and make sure she knew he didn’t mean his words the way they must have come across.  He knew how it felt to not be accepted.  He knew how it felt to not feel loved by your parents. He knew how it felt to have your place in the family questioned constantly, to be attacked, to be unwelcome. He wouldn’t wish that on enemies, let alone family.

“Who is she, Father?” Damian demanded.

Bruce met his eyes, guilt swimming in his own.  “She’s your half-sister.  Her mother and step-father have been raising her in Paris,” Bruce answered calmly.

Damian fought the gasp his lungs demanded against his will.  His father was confirming it.  He was acknowledging her.  But never trusted them with the information.  “Were you ever going to tell us?” Damian finally asked with forced coolness

“I was letting the dust settle on introducing Duke before I broached it,” Bruce hedged.

“So you just found out,” Damian asked angrily.  That would make sense.  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, him.  It was that he didn’t know until recently.  Of course that was what happened.

“No.”

Damian gaped at him, his hastily built protective construct shattering with one word.  “How long have you known?”

“Since she was born.”  Damian gaped at him.  He’d known. He’d known since before Damian came to live with them and still never told them.  He didn’t trust him.  Even after all he’d done, he still didn’t trust him.  And now he was letting this unknown, this daughter, even just thinking the word made him wrinkle his nose in disgust, do whatever she wanted.  He trusted her but not him.

“You have a daughter, a biological daughter you’ve known about for decades and that you never told us about,” Dick asked again in a daze.  He fell into a chair staring at Bruce incredulously.  There was no way.  He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.  He loved kids.  He loved his kids.  Why would he send one away?  He hadn’t even wanted to do that to Jason.

“So I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know?” Duke asked. He looked around, taking in the stunned, disbelieving, hurt expressions.

“Not just you,” Damian gritted out.  

Duke sucked in a breath and pulled out his phone, texting Jason and Cass to let them know what was happening.  They were going to want to know as soon as possible too. All of them were going to have questions and issues with this information.  And if the conversation went on much longer, they may want to be involved.

“Why was she there last night?  What did she want?  Surely she wouldn’t have come without a plan,” Damian pressed.  Nobody had access to the kind of power and money they had and just walked away.  If she was presenting herself and not to them, to the press, there must be a reason, a plot.  They needed to find out more about her to figure it out.  “How did she get a ticket in the first place?”  That might be a place to start.  It would give an insight into her accomplices and they could be pressed later for more information.

Bruce sighed and looked back down at his food, pushing the plate away, no longer hungry in the slightest.  “I can’t answer how she got her ticket.  As to why she was there, she was there to talk about a position for a friend of hers… with Lucius apparently, not me.”

“She was using her name to get her subpar friend a job,” Damian spat in disgust.  There had to be more though.  With their name, she could get much, much more.  This had to be an opening gambit.  The job must be placing an operative, loyal to her, within their institution.  Next was the stunt with the press.  They needed to figure out her next steps.

“No,” Bruce insisted.  “She didn’t mention her association.  He doesn’t know… well, he does now.  He spoke to me after the gala, said he discovered one of our managers is stealing ideas and there was someone he was going to spend the weekend researching but he was excited about hiring him.  Luthor is trying to hire him, so if we don’t act fast we’ll lose him.  I’m betting that was her friend.”

“You don’t know that,” Damian growled out.  “That could be a coincidence.”

“I’ll confirm with Lucius today, but it fits with what I know,” Bruce insisted calmly.  “From what her mother has told me over the years, it’s the kind of thing she would do; go well out of her way to help a friend.  And her mother let me know she was planning on attending the gala to talk about hiring her friend.  I just thought she was going to talk to me.”

“Why didn’t you tell us,” Dick asked breathlessly. He was staring at Bruce with hurt saturating his eyes.  He heard nothing after Bruce admitting he’d known about her and never told them.  He was aware Bruce had been saying things for the last few minutes but none of it had registered.  None of it was what he needed to know.  

Bruce sighed and ran his hand over his face.  “Nobody knew.  Nobody but me and her mother and step-father.  It was easier that way.”  Easier to pretend was left unsaid.  Easier for Bruce to pretend like he hadn’t cut her out of his life, like he didn’t regret it every day.  Easier for Bruce to try to forget.

“Not even her?” Duke asked.

“Not even her,” Bruce confirmed with a sigh.  He ran his hand over his face.

“Why?”  Dick was staring at him in wide eyed confusion.  It didn’t make sense.  None of it made sense.  He’d been with Bruce for twenty years and never heard a whisper of a biological daughter. But she existed.  And he knew.  Bruce took a deep breath and Dick scowled.  “I swear to God, B, if you say some dumbass excuse like to protect her…”

“She has a happy life.  Her mother and step-father love her beyond words.  They support her, love her, encourage her.  They’re there for her whenever she needs it.  They never miss an event.  Family dinners every night.  She has friends… a good life.  She’s safe.  She never had to worry about defending herself.  She never had to be taught what to do when she got kidnapped.  Never had to… doesn’t remember seeing the people around her dead from the latest rogue attack.  Not like what she would have here…” he again left the last part of the sentence off. The “with me” was left for everyone to fill in on their own.

“You’re a good father,” Tim assured him weakly, because at this point, with this information…

“I hope so.”  Bruce gave him a weak smile.  “But when she was born…  I had an obligation.  I had a responsibility.”

“She was your responsibility!” Dick yelled, his face suddenly contorting in anger and frustration with Bruce.

Bruce looked away stoically, face suddenly a mask devoid of emotion.  “She had a better option and I made sure she got it.”

The room was silent for a few moments while his words settled in.  The only sound was Dick seething in his seat.  “But she doesn’t know you?  You never visited.  You never interacted with her.  Even not telling her who you were to her,” Tim clarified.

Bruce shook his head.  “I visited her final project for her degree a few weeks ago under the guise of research for the fabric project.  She’s a designer.  I was hoping to get her in on the fabric project.  I thought it would be a good cover to get her comfortable with the family. But I didn’t talk with her while I was there.”  He chuckled slightly at the memory.  “I couldn’t even get close.  There were too many people talking to her, congratulating her, offering her internships. Her work was beautiful.”

“But you’ve talked with her parents,” Tim checked.

He sighed and waved his hand helplessly.  “I spoke with Sabine every so often to check on Marinette, make sure she was okay.  I helped pay for her schooling, but even that was disguised as an investment into her parents’ company.”

“So her parents were having you pay for their company, holding the secret over your head,” Damian spat out.

“No!” Bruce growled.  He knew Damian was having a hard time with this.  Hell, that’s one of the main reasons he waited so long, because he knew Damian wouldn’t react well.  Damian would have taken it as an attack on his position in the family.  And after the way he treated Tim and Dick when he first found out about them… They could protect themselves against his attacks. She wouldn’t have been able to. He didn’t know how far Damian would actually go and he didn’t want Damian to have to find out either.  He had been waiting until Damian was more settled, more secure in the family and their unconditional love for him before he reached out to her.  But he wasn’t going to let him disparage Sabine and Tom.  They’d been nothing but understanding.

“They only let me put in the amount for tuition. They wouldn’t allow me to give any more than that and Marinette got a scholarship for her university so she didn’t need any assistance.  I tried to keep giving them money for her to at least have spending money but they refused. They stopped accepting the transfers. They only relented when I said it would look suspicious.  So they’ve been creating a trust for her with it.”

Damian grumbled and looked away.  Whatever their game was, they were certainly good at it.

Bruce dropped his head into his hands.  “Nobody was supposed to know about her until I was sure it was safe,” Bruce grumbled into his hands.  “Until I’d had a chance to talk to everyone about it.”

“Well now everyone knows, so maybe now is a good time to start trying to make that connection,” Dick growled.

“If she’ll let us,” Tim added.  He remembered the look in her eyes when he talked about his… their family.  

“It’s never too late to start trying to bond,” Dick insisted.  His eyes were bordering on wild.  They could bring this back, right?  The family had come back from worse.  They’d faced steeper hills.  Hell, Damian tried to kill them when he first came.  Jason had also tried to kill them all more than once when he came back. She couldn’t be that bad.  They just had to make the first move.  “We just have to let her know we want to.”

Tim shook his head and looked down, not at all convinced it really was as easy as that.  Tim was awkward on a good day.  He could make friends but usually they made the first move.  He was pretty certain she wouldn’t make the first move in this instance.  Damian wouldn’t accept her, period.  Dick would crowd her.  Jason would… whatever Jason did, probably disappear.  She wasn’t a Robin so he probably wouldn’t try to kill her.  Cass would try, but her success depended on Marinette understanding what Cass wasn’t saying.  And Bruce… Bruce was never good at understanding emotions or sympathizing. Honestly, their best hope was Duke.

Duke breathed out a deep sigh and looked away. This family was not easy to get along with or find your place with.  And bonding with each other?  He managed because he fought next to them.  They bonded in the field, in their suits.  He wasn’t sure if they realized that about themselves.  If they interacted outside the suits it was because of the bond they formed inside them.  She wouldn’t have that opportunity and without it…  The prognosis was not good.

“What are you going to do, B?” Tim asked tentatively. “Because whatever your plans were, now she knows and she’s dealing with it on her own.  She… You need to talk to her.”

Bruce sucked in a breath and massaged his temples.  “I know.”  

“And you need to apologize,” Dick added firmly.

Bruce nodded.  “I know.”

“No, you don’t,” Dick growled.  “You have no idea what has to be going through her head right now.”  He grabbed his bag and stalked out of the manor, slamming the door as he left.

“And you need to decide what we’re going to tell the public,” Tim added.  “We need to put a statement out soon.”

“I know,” Bruce agreed.  His voice this time was more detached.  That was something he would have to decide, but that wasn’t the priority right now and not something he wanted to do without her input.  

He needed to come up with a new plan and quickly. This was nothing like the one he had come up with.  He was supposed to have more time.  He was supposed to be able to ease into this.  He was supposed to be able to feel things out before deciding a path.  He was supposed to control the environment and how his family found out.  

But now he was thrown into it, they all were, and he had no idea how to proceed.  He didn’t know her well enough to anticipate how she would react to the situation or to him. He didn’t know her well enough yet to know the best way to approach her.  He needed to come up with a game plan.  He sighed heavily.  He had to get into the office, not show anything out of the ordinary.  And once he was behind his office door, he could talk to Sabine.  She would know what to do.

Chapter 5

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[mayans-sauce]

Fire

Pairing: Ez Reyes x Female Reader

Word Count: 1.8K

Warnings: Angsty, fire, reader gets hurt, hint of smut, arguing but fluff at the end.

Request by @noz4a2 which you can find HERE

A/N: thanks for the request! I hope you all enjoy this <3 !No spoilers for season 3 in the writing!

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Gif Credit: @sonsofeorl

���Arsonist strikes again!” You read the article's title in the morning newspaper as you were sitting at the kitchen table eating the delicious breakfast Ez had prepared for the both of you. “Again?” Ez asked, bemused. “Yep, and this time he’s going after people with grey houses. Hmm… luckily mine is a more off-white color, so we have nothing to worry about.” “I’m surprised they haven’t caught the guy yet. Shouldn’t be so fucking hard to catch him when he’s doing it in broad daylight.” “No clue. But it seems like he’s only setting the house on fire while people aren’t in it. So he’s not after killing them; he just really likes setting shit up in flames.”

You talked about the topic for a few more minutes before you changed it to something more relevant. Your six-month anniversary, which was today, and Ez had made some secret plans for you two, which would last most of the day. “After we eat, go and get ready for our day.”

The date day had been a success. It has been one of the most fun days you’ve had in a long time with your boyfriend. You were walking home hand in hand as you processed it all. There was a comfortable silence between the two of you that quickly got interrupted by a fire truck speeding past you with its sirens on max volume. “Wonder where they are going in a rush.” Ez shrugged his shoulders at your question. You kept walking, not thinking much of it. In just a few minutes, you would be back home at your place to continue the evening, hopefully, tangled in the sheets naked. As you got closer to the house, another fire truck sped past you, and in the distance, you saw the one from earlier and the new one standing in front of your home.

“Oh shit,” you yelled out as you sprinted towards your home. “Y/N wait!” Ez was fast on your heels to catch up with you. Your house was on fire. So far, it wasn’t a big one, but it seemed to increase in size by the second. The firefighters were getting the equipment ready at the speed of lightning to put it out. “No,” you whispered in disbelief when you stood at the front and watched it burn. “Fuck,” Ez whispered as well when he saw the house up in flames.

“The box!” Panic in your body as you thought about the most valuable thing in the house that would be lost if you didn’t do anything. Not thinking straight, you sprinted as fast as you could into the house, ignoring the screaming firefighter telling you not to. “Ma’am! You can’t do that; get back here; it's not safe.” “Y/N no!” Ez felt his heartbeat in the thousands as he went in after you; flashes of white clouded his vision at the thought of something terrible happening to you.

Coughing at the smoke, you covered your nose and mouth with the neck of the shirt to breathe a little better. You felt hot from the burning walls as the fire rapidly engulfed the house. You heard Ez shout for you, and you felt bad that he ran. “Ez, I’m here!”

In the living room, in one of the cabinets, sat the box you were trying to save. Ez came to your site in just a few seconds. Panic, worry, and anger was read all over him. “Y/N, are you fucking crazy? Running into the house like this? What the fuck is wrong with you?” You coughed up a storm before you were able to respond. “I can’t let this box get lost, Ez. I just can’t.” As soon as you grabbed the box, he put his arm around you to lead you both out of the flames.

Just a few more steps to the door, and suddenly a piece of hot debris fell from the ceiling right on your arm, making you let out a loud “fuck” at the pain. “Shit!” He scooped you up in his arms to go before the ceiling collapsed.

The medical team on sight looked over you and him. Luckily there were only a few minor injuries, and you wouldn’t be required to go to the emergency room. “Why did you run in? Why did you risk your life for some stupid box?” He yelled at you while you and he were getting patched up. “It’s not just some stupid box, Ezekiel! It has value to me. Here,” opening the box to reveal photos and a few trinkets, “it’s pictures and stuff of my childhood, my life growing up, and us Ez. All the important things in my life are contained in this very box” You handed it over so that he could have a peek inside.

He felt terrible for screaming at you when he realized that it wasn’t just a silly box. It held all of your life in it, and maybe that was worth saving, but still, it was reckless of you to pull what you did. “I- I’m sorry.” “Don’t be sorry, Ez. Yes, it was very stupid of me, but I just needed to save it…”

Your eyes moved to the burnt-down house that had been put out. A slight mood of sadness came over you. It wasn’t anything significant. You had only lived in it for a year or so, so it didn’t have that much of a value to you. The clothes, the furniture, and everything inside it were replaceable, but your box of memories wasn’t, and that was the only thing that mattered to you. You thought that your house would be safe, but the arsonist had other plans. “You can stay with me if you want. As long as you need.” “Thanks, babe. I appreciate that.”

Living with Ez in the trailer had been a delight, to begin with. He wasn’t used to living with someone in such a tight space, but he didn’t mind it when it was with you. You got to see each other more often than when you lived in the house.

You had sex everywhere. On every surface, on every wall in the small trailer. It had been the most, and the best both of you had in a long time. He made you feel so good, making you scream out in ecstasy each and every time.

Most nights, you would have nightmares. Waking up in the middle of the night, panting and sweating, of memories from the fire. Ez would be up in a heartbeat to calm you down. Opening every window and door to let some air in to cool you down. He would hold you tight to him. Reassuring you that he was here and that he would never let anything happen to you.

After a while of living together in the tiny room, fights would recur regularly over small and petty things. It would be fighting over the silliest things, but because of you two living so on top of each other, it was heightened by the irritation of not having your own space. Fights could be about anything from an item being put in the wrong place to some more significant battles, like the one you were having now for the past few days.

Ez had been complaining about the amount of stuff you had bought, from clothes to even some furniture that was filling up the tiny trailer.

He understood that you were trying to get back the things you lost and fill up that hole in you, but he didn’t understand why you needed so much of it right now when you hadn’t even found a new place to stay in. You got mad at him. Angry because it felt like he was kicking you out or at least hinting to it that he didn’t want you here anymore, and you weren’t ready to move out yet. You hadn’t found anything new you could live at. He explained to you that it wasn’t true. He just wanted some fucking space to walk around his trailer. But the damage was already done, and you two weren’t on speaking terms. At night you would sleep on the separate beds in the trailer. He would already be out and about before you woke up in the morning so that none of you had to deal with one another.

You had come back to the trailer after a grocery store run, not expecting him to be home. “H-hey,” he rose from his seat at the table. Helping you with the grocery bags. You were surprised that he was talking to you but grateful that he offered to help. “Hey, thanks.” You let him take them and organize the stuff where it belonged. You stood and watched him as he put the stuff away. None of you said anything for a little while until Ez opened his mouth to talk.

“Hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for being a dick to you.” You let out a puff of air, eyes closed as you felt terrible about him apologizing. “No, Zeke, I’m sorry. I-I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. This is your place, not mine, and I’ve just been invading your home with all my shit. I’ll find a new place soon, I promise.”

“Hey,” he came to your side, grabbing your hands in his much bigger ones. He was towering over you as he looked in your eyes with his soft and sad ones. “No, I’m sorry. For making you feel that I didn’t want you here and for making you think I want you out as soon as possible. I don’t; I love you, and I love living with you, but it’s just,” he gestured with his hands to the trailer space, “it’s a lot of shit.” You chuckled as you looked down at your feet for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “I know. I’m sorry. I promise that I will find something soon, and then we can go back to our more normal selves.”

“Wait,” he led you both to the table and made you sit down, “here,” he pulled his phone out of his pocket to show you something. “I found a few houses that I think you would like, and… what if we move in together… only if you want.” “Are you serious, Ezekiel?” He gave you one nod to let you know that this is what he wanted. “Yes… I would love that, to move in with you.”

And with that, you and he scrolled through the different house options. On each one, you made up stories of what your future would look like. All the memories you and him would make in your own home. How you would live until you're old and grey and surrounded with your many beautiful grandchildren. Dying happily in your shared bed and reminiscing on your life together. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Thank you for reading❤️ a quick reblog and feedback would be so appreciated❤️ Let me know if you want to be added/removed from the taglist.

MAYANS MC TAGLIST: @blessedboo @60shannon @bellisperennis0 @capnsaveahoe @diaryofkali @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @xvvalx @missswritings @theocatkov @pinguinstudiert @chibsytelford @encounterthepast @rawrlittlepanda-95 @beeroses @siriussnape07 @adaydreamaway08 @miss-nori85 @oldstuffnewstuff @omg-mymelaninisbeautiful @jatriciaaa @browneyes912 @cole-winchester @blackksunflower12 @phoenixhalliwell @cant-decide-at-this-moment @love-mesome-me @holl2712 @jennisdirtyimagines @balladbloodwrites @lilacyennefer @smallflower16 @marvelmaree @brwnlikefoxy @kaylaygrace @stupiddsapphicc @violet624 @boomclapxox @mijop @macgruberrr @queen-under-the-shire @missihart23 @vixemi @heeeeeres-saint

EZ REYES TAGLIST: @honestlyyaya @noz4a2

GENERAL TAGLIST: @everyhowlmarksthedead @-im-fantastic- @idorkish @megantelford @witching-hour

[askfallenroyalty]

Aw that's sad. The dark world arc is what brought me to your blog. Especially the Kris parts. They where my fav character and you did them very well... It's kinda depressing to see that your booting them out ;-;

as mentioned yesterday: i'll be working on making the original ending shared (needs some fixing for readability and fill in the gaps for the cancelled animation)

so we're still getting a fulfilling ending with Kris. and to be clear here: i adore kris. kris is my child, i love them sm. but i also am not as attached to DeltaRune and by extention Kris as much as I am with Undertale. likely because Deltarune only really started, and I don't have a full picture or the same bittersweet ending that got me so hooked onto UT. (i mean, my god, spending 3+ years and god knows how much time on an AU where the two main characters who didn't get a proper happy ending is why I'm so dedicated to it. DR doesn't have that. But I know I will love DR no matter what happens)

anyway, the darkworld 1.0 is still going to exist on here. it's not going anywhere! the rewrite is for better writing and to try things again -I think I pulled Kris' arc as best I could under the limits of: updating a lot of art in bursts/vs burn out, Tumblr Asks Kris format, improve crossover with Angel's Lullaby that was not originally planned ect. I don't want to replicate that lmao.

so the dark world thing only still exists in AFR because 1) it helps justify the absence of Papyrus and Sans in the story 2) because even though i had my fill of Gaster for a life time I still love the stinky ol binch and I still enjoy involving him as a character 3) Chara's character arc needs Feylow to work. It is SO satisfying to give a character the thing they desperately wanted so bad only to realize it was a farce and not what they needed. That sort of character arc fuels me.

anyway in this house we love Kris Dreemurr. I want DW 2.0 to have a bigger focus on a better character arc for Frisk (Ralsei and Lancer were too passive, MK and Suzy are more relevant to Frisk's life and character arc anyway) It's my second attempt at making this fantasy scenerio more fun and fitting to the larger story. I feel the original failed, and while it still exists and thats fine, I know I could of done better.

[inventors-fair]

Hit the Deck Commentary

This week tended to have two very distinct categories: cards that play the top card of your library, and cards that care about the rest of your library. I was hoping for more of the latter, but I wanted the first to be an option, still.

There were a lot of trends I noticed this week. First and foremost: blue. That makes sense, of course, as blue is sort of the color that cares most about libraries. However, I think people got stuck on that. Any color can care about the library, since they all need it, and at a minimum it can be used as a form of randomization players are comfortable with, like with cascade or clash. Scry, similarly, is not something you need to be blue to do, even when it’s scry 2. This is especially true when it has relevance with the rest of the card. If it turns the scry into something else, then it’s less of a normal scry.

Another common trend was card-type matters cards. That’s a really smart way to make cards this week, since looking for specific cards is often kind of broken or useless, but you need some way to care about a specific random card.

@corporalotherbear​ - Future Might

I’m certain this name has been the playtest name for some card that has existed. It’s a strange comparison, though, because the coolest part about future sight is how it lets you cycle through multiple cards, whereas this only lets you use one card at a time. It’s also weird that it triggers at your precombat main phase. This means that if you don’t reveal an instant or sorcery, your top card is going to be revealed a full turn cycle before you draw it for turn. That gives your opponent so much information. I realize it’s probably so you can use your mana, but I almost feel like it would be worth it to add the extra text to make the mana not empty just for efficiency. You could also just mill the card, like Old Rutstein does. I’m actually not a big fan of the effects you’ve given this card. The ramp is nice, but inconsistent ramp can be really hard to use, since you often either need the mana for your big spell or just cast your big spell so you don’t need the mana. The 3/3 beast is bigger than it sounds, especially considering it is probably going to be the most often and easiest one triggered. For comparison, Druidic Satchel only makes a 1/1 and Primeval Bounty actually makes you cast the creature (and costs 2 more mana). But it still maybe falls in line close to OG Garruk. Lastly is the instant or sorcery clause, which seems out of place here, but maybe that’s okay. It’s rare to see a card care about these four specific types, but maybe it’s okay to go against the normal way. The weirdest part maybe is how it’s the only one that effects the card itself. It’s sort of treated as the fail state, even though there's plenty of other fails, like additional copies of this card itself. The question I basically have for this card is: where do you put it? Every deck plays lands and needs mana, so I guess you put it in a creature-focused deck, but it itself isn’t a creature. And where does the instant and sorcery stuff fit in? Is this supposed to be in a deck with spells and creatures? I just can’t picture a deck where I can really take full advantage of this card.

@emrylurkeroftheloch​ - Abyssal Plunge

Love cards like this. Weirdly, it’s really easy to do in blue specifically, like this card, Twisted Reflection, or pongify+bounce. This card is either a pretty bad mill card, a really good removal spell, or a different really good removal spell. Griptide for two mana is really good, even in modern horizons. You’re removing their creature AND making them redraw it, which is annoying but on turn two or three could really punish a player who kept a land-light hand. The mill I think is a little low, I’d maybe put it at six to make it look a little more like a fair choice between the two. And lastly, the entwine is clever, but I legitimately don’t know if it’s better than not entwining it. Milling your opponent is only sometimes useful, and in some formats could be actually a downside. It’s only really preferable if the creature is something that needs to be dealt with permanently or has some sort of enters the battlefield effect you don’t want your opponent to get again. With all that in mind, maybe it’s not that much worse, but it still feels a little unnecessary or redundant. I do think it’s clever to use entwine to mix two on color effects into a different-color effect, but I think you needed some way to make that entwine more relevant, or preferably, a way to make the “on top of library” mode weaker, like restricting what it can target or making it a sorcery.

@fractured-infinity​ - Garr, Impulsive Seer

I really like this guy, but he’s got some weird stuff going on. I love the way he mixes goblins into spell-slinging. There’s no obvious way to mix the two archetypes, but you don’t necessarily need to. Maybe it gets your goblin electromancer in your spellslinger deck or your hordeling outburst in your goblin deck. I kind of wish it were an upkeep trigger instead of end step, just because it would make it easier to remember and make it feel a little more different than Prosper, Tomebound. But hey! That’s what that last ability is for! It also gives it a bit more reason to be end-step, since it’s sorcery only. The scry 2 is nice and feels good with the first ability. The red half is… strange. I can’t tell if it’s anti-synergistic or a fail-safe. If you hit a really expensive card with Garr, then that ability hits for a ton of damage! But since Garr gives you your whole next turn to cast the spell, it’s pretty hard to not be able to cast it. But this ability costs two mana, so it might not leave you enough mana to damage and cast that spell. So do you just not cast that spell just to keep a big amount of damage available? I don’t know if that’s good design, because it gives players options, or bad design, because it doesn’t let players get all they want of their cards. There’s also the weirdness with the scry. You have to pick your targets before you scry, so you might target a creature, then scry into a wrath. I kind of really wish this ability only cost one mana, both to make it easier to get the red effect while still being able to cast the card, and to remove confusion on when things happen on the card and where. It also would speed it up a bit, since I could see this effect taking a lot of time to resolve. Lastly, I wish there were terminology to more clearly clarify “currently” exiled with Garr. The phrasing makes it sound like it counts everything ever exiled, but technically it only counts cards currently exiled. Some reminder text might be needed here, even though the card is already wordy. So in the end, I really like this card and really like how the pieces work together, even though there’s a little bit of weirdness with the last half of the last ability.

@gollumni​ - Madness Hemorrhage

This took me a bit to realize what was going on. At first I assumed the exiling was to make it so it was harder to set up, but it also is there to give you card advantage? Very non-red card advantage. This card says “if the third card in your library costs less than target creature’s toughness, draw two cards,” which is not very on color. Why not just say “you may cast those cards this turn for as long as that permanent is on the battlefield?” That way, it’s red because it’s temporary, and you still don’t get the cards if it dies, but then it isn’t just straight up putting cards in your hand. Red doesn’t get to draw cards, even if it is up to chance. That said, the fact that the exiling is an additional cast instead of part of the text means you can respond to it, like with a vampiric tutor. I don’t know if that’s enough to warrant it being in the cost instead of text, but it’s still a cool interaction. But yes, in general, I don’t think this card is okay to print in red.

@hypexion​ - Lenora, Insight Engineer

mood: artifacer lady looks over a model of some terrain. she uses illusion magic to project schematics of infrastructure onto the model

Azorious Muldrotha with a side of future sight. This card is really good. I know it’s only limited to permanents, but that’s still really good. It’s not hard to make a deck entirely out of permanent cards and be able to play three or four cards a turn with this. Then there’s the scry top take away any risk of hitting dead. Even just being able to play lands makes this on par with cards like Augur of Autumn. Speaking of which, I don’t know why this card is white-blue. I know blue has most of the future-sight effects, but the fact that this is most often going to provide you with lands and creatures makes it feel pretty green, or maybe even white since it also hits artifacts and enchantments. I suppose the scry is blue, but scry is available in all colors, and honestly, I don’t think the card needs it. I think the type restriction is a good idea of a way to limit future-sight effects from being too snowbally, but I don’t think it does enough, and it certainly doesn’t power it down enough to be as cheap or cheaper than many of the current versions of these effects.

Minopug - Goblin Mailman

Delivery time! I like this little trouble maker, but he’s kind of hard to evaluate, both as a judge and a player. The two different results on this card are very, very different. Making treasures has value in ramp decks, artifact decks, and some combo decks. Burn is useful in aggro decks, midrange decks, some forms of control decks, and is famously good limited. Making a card that does both but inconsistently means it’s hard to find a deck to put this in. The closest I can think of is just a generic goblin deck, where the treasures will help you dump your hand (or your Muxus), and the pinging is useful for clearing the board. I am glad you made the trigger reflexive, so you can pick your targets after you know the number, and the fact that it can go face means even if you hit a 1 and there’s no creatures you can kill, you can just ping your opponent. I will say I don’t like this at uncommon. In limited, this card would be so annoying to lose to, and frustrating to lose with. If you died because your opponent hit 3 7 drops off it three turns in a row, that sucks, and if your opponent is at 3 life and you can just never hit a land and keep getting useless treasures, that sucks. But hey, that’s red! And we just saw a very similar effect with Hidetsugu, with the difference being you can play the land, giving your permanent advantage, and it gives you an ability to scry. As silly and flashy as it is, I feel like you needed some way to keep this card consistent enough to not make players grumpy.

@misterstingyjack​ - Gix’s Crucible

Alright, so lets get the templating out of the way first. Revealing happens after targeting, so you’ll need to either not target or put in a reflexive trigger. If you want players to be able to respond to it (probably a good idea), then you’ll want the latter. That just means switching “then” to “When you do,” in the first sentence. Also, you might want to say “the revealed card” at the end of that sentence. I am pretty sure the last sentence is fine, though. So, what about the card itself? Well, I’m not sure about it. I think using card types to limit what you can get back sort of works, but might still be too open. This card could easily let you draw the same card, or the same two cards for multiple turns in a row. With the right loadout, you could build a lock. Just get silence, Oriss, Lunar Force, maybe Sphinx’s Decree? Okay, maybe not that easy. But still, a card that lets you repeatedly get back the same card from your graveyard is basically always going to be trouble. You can even easily eliminate the randomness element with lantern of insight or any culture sight effect. There really needed to be some way to end loops with this card. Maybe it lets you look at the top card for free, like lens of clarity, but the ability forces you to sacrifice? Or maybe it exiles card that go to your graveyard, like Yawgmoth’s Will/Agenda or Abandoned Sarcophogus. I like the idea of being able to swap what’s on top, I just wish there were some type of limit of what could be swapped or how often so games don’t get so repetitive.

@nicolbolas96​ - Echoes of Silence

Thanks, I hate it! But really, it’s a pretty solid white prison piece, with some blue to really hit home the miserability(?) of it. I like how it rewards a very specific type of deckbuilding, where you want to have cards with a lot of different types, but unlike delirium, you don’t want them to double up. I’m also very happy you said “spells” and didn't force people to miss land drops, while also letting lands serve as a respite from the effect. I feel like this is too cheap for this effect, since in a well-built deck it shouldn’t effect the owner much at all but could wreck an opponent. Ward of Bones, while not the same, has a similar type-based casting restriction, and that’s 6 mana (and costs a lot of money because it’s quite good even at that cost). Still, I’ll admit it’s hard to cost something that’s so situational, but I think 4 mana might be the safest, maybe 3 if you’re aiming at eternal formats. After all, this would pretty easily trounce affinity decks, coco decks, and at least hinder decks with type restrictions like Indomitable Creativity or Charbelcher combo decks. The scry is cool and clever but I think rarely worth the mana investment. Having to pay 5 doesn’t give you a lot of mana to cast the spell you’re freeing, so this would only be useful for setup, which means you can’t put a card to the bottom so the scry utility is hard to get. The biggest issue I have with this card, though, is the information. This card gives both players a lot of information. That can lead to boring games where both players already know what’s going to happen, and against control specifically (where this card shines) it can be especially annoying to play against. That’s not even mentioning the awful shenanigans you can get up to with lantern control shenanigans. This is a card that is intended to make games not very fun to play, so it’s really hard for me to describe what kind of changes could be made to this card to make it more fun. If that was the goal, to make a card that is unfun but still fair, I think you did okay, if maybe making the card too cheap and the activation too expensive.

@nine-effing-hells​ - Seer of Might-Have-Beens

First off, good job with the templating. You got it so that the shock targets things the right way. I like the way this flips the script on normal sphinx cards, where you are guessing what the owner doesn’t want instead of what they want. The size of this creature, both in cost and P/T seems a little odd. Like, at this point in the game, how important is a shock? There’s probably not going to be a lot of two toughness creatures to kill, so it’s most likely going to go face, but you already just dealt 5 damage! If this card were cheaper and smaller, the ping might be able to kill creature in play, and even going face might feel like pseudo-double strike. Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about the card draw. There’s just not a lot I can say about it. It doesn’t interact very specifically with the scry, and card draw is always going to a good reward to any effect. A little boring, but no player’s going to complain. The card as is is perfectly fine, and I like it, I just think it could be trimmed down a bit to make it more efficient.

@partly-cloudy-partly-fuckoff - Storm Cloud Epiphany

Wow, you start reading this card and you do not stop reading! A trample fireball seems inevitable now that the templating exists, and an extra mana of another color feels necessary to balance that. The extra scry is a little bonus since it is still a little overcosted even with the trample. The draw 2 just feels tacked on though. It doesn’t really fit with the rest of the card, and it gives a very specific goal for the card, rather than let it truly be flexible like an X cost spell usually wants to be. There’s also the usual issue with targeted spells like this, and I think it’s especially potent here, which is fizzling. This spell specifically really wants you to target the weakest creatures in play, but then if that player just shocks their own 1/1, then you get none of the value. No damage to face, no scry, no draw. It’s a pretty big issue when that’s most of what this card is. I like this card in theory, and the way it mixes a bunch of scaling effects is cool, but there’s a lot of problems with it.

@piccadilly-blue​ - The Thoughtweft

The thoughtweft is such a narrow and specific reference, but one I actually know! The kithkin of Lorwyn have some form of hibe-mind basically, and I can understand this as a representation of it. Library referencing the mind, scrying as communication, commander-ability making it feel like it’s dominant in the mindspace, and the fact that it only works between kithkin. I also hadn’t noticed that kithkin show up in four colors, though funnily enough the only red one is hybrid but also by far the most famous and playable kithkin card, figure of destiny. So anyway, on to the actual mechanics of the card. I’ll be honest, it’s got issues. Looking at the top three freely is really hard to do. Looking at one card is easy, but if you want or need to read the second or third card, you need to make sure you remember exactly where you put it, and your opponent will basically always be suspicious. I know I’ve had to do a lot of awkward hand movements whenever I activated Orcish Spy in old Melek deck, and that’s only once per turn! Doing it any time means you might have to pause the game repeatedly just to double check. Four mana scry 3 is fine. Scry 3 is sometimes annoyingly time-consuming, but being four mana means it’s likely to only be used when you don’t have anything else to spend time on anyway. The big ability I have a few small issues with. First is that it really needs to be an activated ability. You could phrase it like Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant, where the revealing is a cost. Next, it’s kind of really strong. In the right deck, this is blanked only by lands, and otherwise lets you just cast your entire deck for free. Yes, they all need to be kithkin or changelings or you need to be playing arcane adaptation or similar, but that’s not asking a lot in a dedicated deck, especially commander. If you want my suggestion on how to make this card more fair and easier to play, I’d suggest putting everything in the same ability. Just say “[4]: Scry 3, then look at the top 3 cards of your library. You may reveal them. If you reveal three kithkin cards this way, you may cast them without paying their mana costs.” You still get everything, you just don’t get the weird combo finishes or the awkward top-of-deck ordering.

@pocketvikings​ - Tutor of the Depths

This card is definitely unique. While there’s some very silly ways to put cards on the bottom, like Junktroller or Banishing Stroke, the most common way you’ll end up using this is with a scry effect. That means that you could, on turn one, play an opt, serum visions, mystic speculation, even just a temple land, and then on turn two cheat out any permanent that was on top of your deck. That feels a little too easy. This card is costed as though it’ll always be a guess, or maybe costed for limited. In a draft environment, sure, you’d have to get lucky, but in constructed, this is broken as heck. I think the concept is very good, though. The fact that it says bottom instead of top is very relevant, since you can scry a card to the bottom and leave it there for multiple turns until you draw this. I just think it’s too cheap, even with the life loss. I think if this instead scaled somehow, like only putting into play cards that cost fewer than the number of lands in play, or maybe if it cost X and could get anything X or less (or X+2), then this would be more fun for both players. I also don’t know about the colors of it. I think this could easily be mono-black, since it’s barely different from reanimation. I understand that bribery-ing yourself feels blue, but the way it plays, and especially since it only hits permanents, it doesn’t feel all that blue. I could see this being white or maybe green, especially since it can put lands into play. The actual effect of this card is very good, but I don’t think the cost of it is right.

@real-aspen-hours​ - Ocular Sledge

I like this card and it’s concept, but I think it wants to be doing a bit more. I love the way that this card indirectly is stronger the turn you play it. It’s also cool that, if you are playing and equipping on the same turn, then you’re at four mana, so you can put a decently expensive card on top. You won’t be scrying for lands, which is often what scries do. The thing that I don’t like about this card is how poor of an equipment this is. If this were a sorcery pump, I think it would play very similarly. After this is out for a turn or two, the top card is going to be close to random. Even if you have other scry effects, or even other hammers, you aren’t going to want to keep putting expensive cards on the top forever. You might end up putting a player in a position where they put a card they don’t really want to draw on top just for the pump, and then if their creature gets killed or even tapped, it’s back-breaking. Like I said earlier, though, I think it’s more common you’re going to keep a playable card. I still wish this did more even in a bad spot. Like, I don’t think it’s asking too much to grant trample, or let you put the card on the bottom, put it in your hand under some condition. That leads into another issue with this card: it gives your opponent a lot of information. If you attack with this blind and hit a land, not only did you not get the pump, but your opponent knows you won’t be drawing anything new. It would also make the card feel a little more blue. I could understand if this were a signpost uncommon, but the scry 2 alone isn’t enough to make this feel really that blue, at least to me. All colors get scry, and red gets it a lot. So yeah, in the end, I think the card is cool, but it’s hard to make it relevant as it sits on the battlefield.

@reaperfromtheabyss​ - Timestream Panner

Art direction: A panther-like sphinx is perched over a font with one paw dipped in the water. The water and the sphinx's eyes both glow a light purple-blue.

Oh hey, it’s a big Skill Borrower! I like how, if your deck is built well, this never has any misses, because even lands grant it an ability. Is tapping for mana, even conditionally, out of color for blue? Eh, probably not, but it’s worth noting. Power-level-wise, I think 5 mana is a good space for this. Yes, you could get lucky or set up a spot where you can do something crazy, like the classic Phyrexian Devourer, but 5 mana gives your opponents ample time to react or prepare. This also doesn’t have the ability to combo off ridiculously like cards that combine abilities do, like necrotic ooze or Experiment Kraj. In that vein, though, I kind of wish the last ability were cheaper and smaller. I think the coolest thing to do with this card is activate an ability, then switch what’s on top to activate a different one. Maybe someone targets it with something, so you scry an adanto vanguard on top. Right now, the last ability feels like trinket text: practically meaningless. If you have 5 mana and the best thing you can think to do with it is scry, then either you are in a terrible position or an amazing one. The latter seems unlikely, I don’t know what kind of control deck would want such an inconsistent win condition. I think if the idea of this card is to be a hard to deal with transforming threat, then it needs to be easier to mess with. If this is supposed to be a combo piece, then it needs to be cheaper and have a clear direction to go with it. As is, it’s sort of splitting the difference as a cool little card, but it really wants you to build a deck around it, but doesn’t have the raw power to be worth it.

@shadow-tag​ - Intrusive Thoughts

Wow! What a weirdly specific card, but I kind of really like it? It has an obvious surface effect and payoff, milling 5 or 10 cards, but also a lot of depth. For example, this is a card that you can target yourself with, even if it would mill you out, because it will shuffle itself in. That could let it be played in combo decks or cubes. However, I really, REALLY wish the shuffle was optional, and for two reasons. First, there are times where you just don’t want more of these in your deck. Second, and this is a big, one, I wanted the scry to be an actual scry. If this didn’t shuffle in, then this card could be a really cool instant speed mill with a scry 3, which is barely below curve, and that extra milling would be the bonus that pushes it over the edge. But as is, the scry 3 is kind of meaningless. It just means “do you have a card named intrusive thoughts in the top 3 cards or the bottom card of your library” with some very minor upside with scrying-matters cards, but the downside of players accidentally misplaying by putting a card they want to draw on top before going “whoops, I need to shuffle.” I would have loved if you could use the first one to try and set up for the next one. That one flaw is really all that was keeping this from being one of my favorite cards this week.

@shakeszx - Proper Shelving

I love the theme and flavor of this card, but, befitting for a strixhaven card, the math is tough. While I understand the usage of “twice X” to make up for putting the X twice in the cost, but I don’t think it’s necessary at all. I think casting this for X=1 is really unlikely to happen, but it would suck if you could only hit a 2 drop anyway. And once X=2, then you can hit 4 drops and below, which is honestly a very large number of cards. I think if either that number never changed (like it was always set to 4 or below) or if it didn’t have a restriction at all, it might be okay. Sorcery-speed double totally lost is probably fine at rare, even if it’s scalable. Having to count X three times instead of four I think makes a difference (cost, number targets, and placement in deck, without caring about MV). I also like how it doesn’t just put the card on top, even at 1. Putting a card on top is often more powerful than putting it second from the top, so I like that that weakens the card just a touch. One thing that I think technically isn’t necessary but would be appreciated is stating who gets to choose the order for those permanents. Right now it just says “in any order,” which is almost more confusing than just not saying anything. Even if it were just reminder text, I think every time a player casts this spell, they’re going to go on gatherer and see who gets to pick the order. Also, now that I think about it, maybe this should only let you hit opponents. Just a way to bring the power down a touch, but I’ll admit that’s a personal preference.

@snugz​ - Demon of Delays

First off, love the name. The demon itself, I’m iffy on. Giving your opponent a 0 mana greed is really, really risky, but funnily enough, I think it’s okay? I like how it plays like a really weird burn spell. Speaking of which, maybe this guy needs some sort of protection, because your opponent can so easily kill it with an abrade or the like after drawing a ton of cards. But then, maybe you just don’t play it then. After all, if they’re at 2 life, they can’t use it at all, and if they’re at 6, they can’t do it unless they have a way to kill this! I feel like this card is going to be wasting away in your hand for most of the game, and in many games will never have a good time to be played. But as the top end of an aggressive deck… maybe? This is really hard to judge, but I think it needed to have more of an impact on life totals when it comes into play, like having haste (but not trigger on ETB) or maybe just higher power when it does attack. Oh, and the discard effect! Almost forgot about it. Random discard effects are kind of discouraged, just because they really mess with plans and take agency away from the players, and the fact that you could win or lose based on randomness is annoying. Putting it third from the top is a cool way to link it with the activated ability, but I don’t know if it does enough. The fact that this card has an ETB is also misleading to players, because a player might play this card when they really want their opponent to discard, only to let them immediately refill their hand with the ability. I think this card might be okay, but I think the fact that it’s hard to play and could lead to very one-sided games is a bit of an issue.

@starch255​ - Kafrizzle

I expected to see at least one card with the Mirror-Mad Phantasm effect this contest. Damage is a good number to scale up, but I think this one goes too far. Assuming you are playing the full 4 of this card and you cast it on turn 5 or so, having drawn a normal number of cards and no other kafrizzles, this is going to deal about 12 damage (or maybe 6? The math isn’t super straightforward). That’s more than a red burn spell should deal. At that point, it’s closer to a straight kill spell. At a certain point, usually 6, enough damage on a single spell turns into a color pie break for red. I think if you had said half or maybe even a third, then this card could maybe work, but I don’t know if a card being a color pie break only when played as a singleton is still a color pie break. It’s a very strange question I don’t have an answer for.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path​ - Inquisitive Apparition // Trail of Notes

Alright, this card’s got a lot going on! First off, I would happily play the front half with no back. An evasive creature that draws cards without even having to connect is pretty good, though maybe underwhelming in this day and age. When combined with the back side, this is pretty insane. Turning every clue AND draw spells into scry 3 and draw is really powerful. The amount of value you get off this card is higher than I think it should be. Scrying three for every draw is also going to take really, really long. A single divination is going to see 6 cards. I’m scared of this card seeing print, but I totally get what it’s trying to do, and maybe I’m overestimating it.It does require a bit of setup and mana, and drawing cards doesn’t win the game on its own, it’s just scary. The last thing I’ll say is that I’m not a fan of the back being a clue. First, it doesn’t really fit thematically with what disturb is doing, but it also doesn’t have the clue text. I realize it has something that functions the same as if you had sacrificed a clue while it was out (which is very cute and clever and a good recognition of how the timing works) but I’m pretty sure is not allowed within the game rules. I’m not certain, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have a clue without the exact clue rules text. Though, funnily, on that version and this one, there’s the awkward line of “sacrifice: when the card is never going to hit the graveyard. So all in all, a bit too much value to put on one card, and the card filtering is maybe a bit excessive.

@wolkemesser​ - Aminatou’s Familiar

I like this card, but I am having some trouble evaluating it. Mindshrieker has a similar ability, but varies too much to be too comparable. The first wo lines alone make this 4 mana 3/3 flyer playable in some formats, so I’m glad the mythic rarity is there to make it clear this is not for limited. The two activated abilities have some weird interplay. Both of them want the same thing, high mana value cards on top, but where they are used is situational. I think the black mode, though is maybe a bit much. Repeatable removal, especially one as efficient as this, can be really hard to beat, and often requires removal on part of the opponent. However, again, this is a mythic we’re talking about. The first activated ability just feels a little… strange. First, it doesn’t feel all that white. Without the Aminatou link, this easily reads as red (outside of the mill part, but that’s from the creature itself). It’s just weird for a white ability to not protect anything, just be aggressive, but I can understand why you’d avoid +0/+X, since it would be a pretty poor reflection. But again, the real reason to play this card is that last ability. The white effect is just there to close out games. Speaking of which, I think this card wants to be closer to a control finisher. If this card cost closer to 6 mana, maybe give it can’t be countered or ward, this would be a way for control decks to establish dominance in the late game. As it stands now, it’s sort of just a value creature? Play it, maybe kill a few things, then let it die to whatever removal they have, and if they don’t, then kill their creatures or them in quick order. I realize it’s a mythic, and “kill this or lose the game” is sort of what mythic creatures need to do, but I think this needed to be a little smaller to fit a tempo style deck, or a little bigger to fit a control finisher.

@whuh-oh​ - Ephara’s Paragon

Seems deece. Hard to say much about this guy, he’s a vanilla creature with a way to come back. I think this is a cool way to encourage you to fill a deck with artifacts, and I like that he triggers off of other copies of himself. A 3/2 for 2 is something we’ve only very recently allowed in white, but double white in the cost plus the aforementioned “basically a vanilla” helps keep it from being too powerful. The ability’s timing I’m mostly happy for, because if it came back right away you’d be able to infinitely sacrifice this guy. As is, you can really only do it once or twice. I do wish he came back tapped, though, since I’m not a fan of him dying, coming back right away untapped, then being able to block right away. That’s already an annoying play pattern, but it gets even worse when your opponent realizes you still have that enchantment on top, so you can block for free and know they’re getting it right back. However, they would have to wait all the way until their own end step, which is fine, but a little weird. A lot of players are going to assume it’ll come back at their opponent’s end step if it dies on their turn, and I think it would be okay to just go with what players expect there. The other thing it would change is that, currently, if this guy blocks, he won’t come back until the next end step, which means he won’t be able to attack, which means he’ll just go back to blocking again. In general, it’s a good idea to encourage attacking more than blocking, because the former actually progresses the game. This is all assuming you’ve got a deck built for him coming back, and even then it’s iffy. It is a little awkward how heavy variance is for this guy, since there’s no way to inherently set up your deck with this card, so he could just as easily die once and be gone forever or die 8 times and keep coming back and there’s nothing you or your opponent can do to stop it. As much as this contest was meant to encourage working with variance, the difference between life and death with no chance of redos may be a bit much. Also: neat how this interacts with Ephara herself! Gives you a way to keep someone entering the battlefield, though again, shame it doesn’t come back during not your turn.

~

Oof! That was a lot. Well, see ya next time I come around!

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

[starlessalex]

A long ass post in which I think too hard about future ACOTAR couples.

After lurking at the ACOTAR tag, I saw a lot of great theories and analysis that try to predict the trajectory of the spin-off trilogy. I’ve decided to write my own take on the subject (probably to my own detriment - involving myself in another ship war wasn’t on my bucket list this year, but here I am). I was thinking about what the potential future couples of the story might be, but through the lense of the plot - which couples make the most sense plot wise, which couple have the most potential to drive the plot toward. Here are my thoughts on the matter.

Before I start I will make a couple of disclaimers: 1) I obviously have my ship preferences, and it just so happens that the ships I like the most are the ones that according to me make the most sense narratively. That being said I’m not trying to be malicious or rude about all other ship possibilities - I actually like some of them quite a bit too. 2) I let the books speak for themselves. I do not invoke any paratextual information regarding those books: no SJM interviews or online posts. This analysis is based on what, imo, can be logically inferred from the text. 3) Of course there will be spoilers.

If that’s clear we shall being:

In my analysis I focus on the plot and which couples ensure the smoothest and most logical progression of it. Because of that I do not focus on the foreshadowing SJM included in the previous ACOTAR novel: I don’t quote anything, nor do I talk about previous interactions of those couples. In this analysis, I’m interested in the bigger picture so-to-speak. So first we need to establish what that bigger picture is.

Those books are meant to be standalone fantasy-romance novels with an overarching plotline that will reach its climax in the third book (since it's a trilogy). Each book will feature a different couple which apart from falling in love will lead the story to its next stage. What it means for the story is that the couples that we will be following are all heavily connected to the main story/conflict of those books. ACOSF established that story/conflict as stopping/defeating Koshei. I would argue that ACOSF also established Beron as a secondary antagonist as he is Koschei’s ally. With that in mind, the potential future couples all have to be connected in some way to those individuals.

We actually have a pretty small pool of characters to choose from. Since the story was pitched as SJM was writing ACOWAR, that book is where we can start our search for clues about which characters are going to be the future leads. I don’t want to use SJM interviews for information because things often change during the writing process, however, just in this instance I will note that recently SJM said that not much changed from that initial pitch so all foreshadowing in ACOWAR is still relevant. ACOWAR established 7 characters with potential future romances and storyline: Nesta, Cassian, Elain, Lucian, Azriel, Vassa and Mor.

Four of them are directly connected to Koshei or Beron: Nesta and Elain were made by The Cauldron gaining power that might potentially threaten Koschei and Beron. Elain is especially connected to Koschei - she’s a seer and had visions of him. Additionally, as far as we know she’s Lucian’s mate which makes her connected with Beron. Vassa was entrapped and cursed by Koshei and is currently trying to escape him. Lucian resides with Vassa at the moment, plus he is Beron's stepson.

Out of the 7 of the potential lead characters, two (Nesta and Cassian) already had their story told, which leaves as with 5 possibilities. Mor, unfortunately, also seems quite unlikely to have a book for herself in the near future because since ACOWAR no love interest for her was introduced and plot wise she also doesn't have a lot to do with Koshei. She has a connection to Eris (about whom I will talk about in a minute) and by proxy to Beron, but, again, there isn't a love interest for her in sight (I will talk about why Emerie doesn't seem like a possible candidate, at least not yet). With that we are left with Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa. All of those characters have direct ties to Koshei and Beron with the exception of Azriel.

After ACOSF, three more characters caught people's attention as possible love interests too - Emrie for Mor, Gwyn for Azriel, and Eris for ...well for no one, at least for now.

Especially the Gwyn and Azriel ship gained a lot of traction among the fandom. I for one, don't mind them. I like the fanarts and the aesthetic but, logically, they together won't lead any of the two upcoming novels.

Gwyn, Emerie and Eris, are characters that were only just fleshed out on page in ACOSF, with Gwyn and Emrie being only just introduced to the story in ACOSF. Additionally, Gwyn and Emrie have nothing to do with Koschei and Beron so, unless they are paired up with one of the three remaining characters with those connections they won’t have their own books. Maybe, if SJM decided to continue the story beyond the spin-off trilogy, then we will get books with them as leads.

So, we are left with the above-mentioned quartet: Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa.

So how do we couple those characters up?

Elain has two possible love interests - Azriel and Lucien. Technically, both ships work but if SJM goes with Elain and Lucian than their book would have to be the last, because that is where I imagine Koshei will be defeated. Also since Lucien is connected to Beron, I imagine he will be the one to strike him down for good, or at least have a huge rule in opposing him at the very end. If Elain and Lucien book will be the next one we are left with Vassa and Azriel to lead the last book, not together obviously. They would have to have different love interests - the last book would have to be either Vassa x someone (Jurian, probably) or Azriel x someone. To be honest, if the next book is Elain and Lucien that would mean Azriel isn’t getting a book because as I said Azriel x Gwyn makes little sense as the second novel in this trilogy and no sense as the third one because neither Az or Gwyn have connection to Koschei.

I strongly believe that the person who is most likely to deal with Koschei and the person who has the absolute right to defeat him is Vassa. She's the one who has been entrapped and cursed by him. Additionally it was her conversation with Feyre at the end of ACOWAR that was a giveaway as to what the spin-off trilogy is going to be plot wise. It also seems right up SJM alley to have her female protagonist defeat her abuser in a very poignant and satisfying way. I’m pretty sure that Vassa is going to be one of the leads of the future two books.

Lastly, I think we all can agree that at this point it's obvious that Azriel and Elain are two characters that SJM wants to write about and they will be main characters in the spin off novels, whether in the same book or not..

So to add all of this up we have two possible scenarios in fort of us:

1) The next book is going to be Elain and Lucien, and the last book is gonna be Vassa and someone (Jurian, Eris?, Azriel????). This scenario doesn't make much sense because: a) It would mean Azriel won't have a book (unless he's paired up with Vassa, which by now is not foreshadowed or hinted at at all). b) There's no clear love interest for Vassa, because Lucien would end up with Elain. Jurian is a possibility but he's, you know, Jurian. I don't think many people would want him as a MC. There's also Eris (bare with me here). Eris, technically, has a lot of the same plot connections that Lucian has (son of Beron, connected to the Night Court where most of our heros reside) + SJM clearly loves him. This couple is far fetched, obviously.

2) The most likely scenario, imo. The next book is Azriel and Elain - they have plenty of foreshadowing, Elain is connected to Koshei, the seer and the spy infiltrating Koshei/ Autumn Court (there’s plenty of possibilities as to how they together can be involved with the main conflict). The last book, Lucien x Vassa - the will defeat Beron, defeat Koschei, Lucian as the son of Helion the Spell-Cleaver will break Vassa's curse once and for all.

There's also other scenarios, however unlikely:

1) Gwyn and Azriel, Elain and Lucian (why yes: both Az and Elaine get books, why no: Vassa doesn't get a book which is unlikely cause she's the person most connected to Koschei, Gwyn has nothing to do with Koschei)

2) Mor and someone, Elain and Azrie or Elain and Lucian or Vassa and Lucian (why yes: we get a Mor book which is great, why no: Mor has nothing to do with Koschei, we don't have a clear love interest for Mor, Az or Elain, or Vassa are not going to get a book.)

To sum this all up. The characters that the fandom should keep an eye on are Elain, Azriel, Lucien and Vassa. The next books will be about them, and the most logical way to tell their stories is to couple Elain with Azriel and Lucian with Vassa. There is plenty of great analysis of the subtle and not so subtle way SJM is foreshadowing those couples since ACOWAR.

Of course I can be totally wrong with my predictions but judging by what's on the page I think I'm mostly right here. To be 100% sure we must simply wait

[chussyracing]

☕ charles because I cannot help myself

Our sweetest baby, our little sunshine, the reason we wake up in the morning, our shared community girlfriend, our tiny little cherub, our sweet lil duckling, the cutest darling, the most polite babyboy, the snuggliest cuddle bug.

chrainrot (charles brainrot) under the cut

I can never put into words what he means to me, I like him so much it makes me look silly but I’m past the point of caring now. Everyone loves him (if they don’t, they’re simply not relevant for this conversation and they can die jealous of him) because he has this bright personality that makes u smile unintentionally. He gives everyone those heart eyes and smiles with that sweet soft look on his face whether he is talking to someone on his team or other drivers or in interviews or with fans. He adores his fans almost as much as we adore him, he will spend hours signing stuff just to make everyone happy, he will give out all the caps he brought with him to a race weekend just to give it to someone he meets, he will stop to take pictures although he is all sweaty and tired and hungry and what not. And he is the best brother to Arthur and Lorenzo and you can SEE how strong that bond is and it never changed with the fame, they are still the little boys who adore each other who won’t stop protecting each other although they are more grown up now.

He is so beautiful, like so beautiful he transcends sexuality. I haven’t liked LIKED a man in years and here we are. His hair is so soft and while other drivers ruin it with a new haircut or a ton of hair gel, it never happens with charles because somehow he still pulls it off (and when he takes of his balaclava and his hair is so sweaty and all over the place, some part of me always dies inside he’s just too pretty). His eyes are the shiniest little stars and they bear so many emotions in them they can make u cry or laugh or fall in love in seconds, he’s like a siren. His cheeks are asking to be held in your palms so you can feel it when he blushes underneath and when his dimples appear so u could poke them and make him giggle. His lips are so perfectly heart-shaped it makes u question if he is real or just a figment of your imagination. They look so soft and always so pink and he never stops licking them in interviews and it drives me absolutely crazy, i need to bite my fist just thinking about it. I will skip talking about the rest becasue again, I’m gay and I could genuinely write sonnets about the shape of his tiddies and about the purpose his thighs were shaped just like THAT. Let me just tell you they are perfect exactly the way they are they serve the purpose exactly how god intended. You can shit on his fashion sense all u want but i’m kinda digging it. He just pulls it off although I wouldn’t wear half the stuff in his closet (closet lol, no more gay jokes i know, i will shut up). You know how the clothes would look even better? on the bedroom floor. And his voice and his accent aww I could cry sometimes when he talks and i also wanna make a tape to listen to to fall asleep instead of a lullaby. He is so smart it only makes sense he can switch between like 6 languages. Idk what is bigger his brain his heart or his [redacted] (unrelated but one day we need to speak about his hands and fingers and rings and how he grips the wheel and how he stroked that trophy and how he plays piano gently and about the veins good lord take mercy on me)

Last but not least of course, he is such a talented driver. It was literally meant to be, he couldn’t be anywhere but in Ferrari. The fate threw everything at him and yet here we are, look at him thriving, look at him serving cunt, look at him being faster than anyone else on the track, look at him thinking about the race like a game of chess, knowing where to overtake anyone what is each driver’s weakness, where he gains and losts the most. He worked so hard on himself both mentally and physically and now they provided him with a car to shine and i can’t believe some people are only catching up now like sorry u uncultured swine why don’t u rewatch the whole 2017 f2 season and maybe u realize why he is called il predestinato. He can smash alfa 37902 B on his wheel while drivin 250 kmph, he can wave to the fans while speeding around the track, he has DEVILISH starts and can overtake from outside and from inside, he can pull out a perfect 360° and continue his lap unbothered and he can fucking pull xavi’s leg on the radio in the last lap of a race that ended prematurely for many drivers due to reliability issues. i am asking IS THERE ANYTHING THIS MAN CAN’T DO?

Send ☕ + [topic] for spicy opinions

[mikauzoran]

Gang of Friendship!

Not gonna lie, you, guys. It was really nice to have an episode that highlighted friendship. ^w^

I enjoyed the Lady Noir movie date. XD It was super sweet how he tried to be there for her and offered to talk if she ever felt like talking. Too bad she’s feeling so isolated and crushed by her responsibilities that she doesn’t feel like she can talk to anyone, not even her partner. I’m glad they got to go swimming, though.

The cute JuleRose moment was sweet too. They just really want Marinette to be their sister-in-law. I also liked looking at all of Alya’s comic books. XD

The little rabbit fist bump is probably one of my favourite moments from the entire episode. I adore it.

Also, I would like to nominate this little guy as MVP of the episode. Trixx makes me happy. I like how he steps up and tries to help. We were robbed of Trixx and Alya reunion content. Robbed. I wanted a Trixx and Alya hug, gosh darn it! XD

But, for real, I was seriously heartbroken for Marinette this episode. That was so bad. I’m really happy that it worked out in the end.

Tikki...wasn’t very helpful, and I was kind of disappointed. I know she loves Marinette and wants good things for her, but Tikki is too much of a “bigger picture” thinker. She’s too busy thinking about the success of the greater plan and protecting Paris and keeping Marinette safe from Papillon that I feel she loses sight of what Marinette needs from moment to moment. Tikki doesn’t seem to take actions that nurture Marinette where she is in the present. I know someone has to look out for the success of the greater plan, but...Marinette obviously needs help now, and I wish Tikki could give it to her. Their bond is so beautiful, and I just want Tikki to be able to help Marinette. ;-;

In other news, Papillombre’s outfit is still hideous, and I don’t know why he bothers to combine Duusu and Nooroo and wear that ugly costume when he’s not planning on using Duusu’s powers. I continue to question his viability as a fashion designer.

Random, but important: Go back and admire the way reflections are animated in Chronogirl’s visor. It’s beautiful. Seriously. Look at the reflections and how they move! Someone spent a lot of time getting that right, and it’s a beautiful feat of animation.

Not going to lie, I wish the girls would get some new akuma forms? Please? I guess it’s good for our heroes to get used to fighting the same akumas so that they can defeat them faster by being familiar with their powers and what their objects are, but I feel like Juleka’s power wasn’t really relevant here? Turning everyone into clones wouldn’t have achieved anything if not for Rose turning them into servants afterwards.

I’m super proud of Alya for fighting off akumatization, though. It reminds me of when Chloé refused akumatization last season. I’m really proud of my girl. That’s the power of friendship! ^o^ The Alyabug content was wonderful.

Also, Juleka calling Rose “Princess”. XD I know it’s because she was Princess Fragrance at the time, but... I’m a sucker for when one character calls another “princess” unironically.

This group hug made me super happy. ^w^ I’m really glad that Marinette is being loved and supported.

And this hug too! I’m so glad that Marinette was able to tell someone. I need Episode Four to pick up right where this leaves off. Seriously. For some reason, I don’t trust the writers, and I’m afraid Alya’s not going to believe her or something crazy like that. Can I just have content of Marinette being loved and supported?

Can I just have content of Alya steering Chat Noir towards Marinette? XD

While we’re at it, can I just have content of Marinette and Adrien hanging out and being friends? We haven’t had much Adrienette this season yet, have we? Things have been too hectic. ^.^; I think I just need some fluff without the drama.

Maybe I need to go write some fluff? What do you guys think?

[newtonsheffield]

Oh my god I just read Enchanted and it was beautiful!! I love how you well you wrote it and all the stories here!!

Do you think Sophie ever joined in on the weekly lunches with Violet, Kate & Lucy? What did she complain about if she did?? Also does Benedict have like a wall of Sophie pictures?? I thought it was super cute at the end where she finally saw the picture of when he fell in love!!

Sorry if you’ve already written this! I’m still making my way through everything on here!

Hello! A new friend!

You know, it's funny, because Enchanted is my least favourite of the 28 fics in this Series! I haven't even read it since I posted it. And I don't even know why? Like it's fine I suppose, and there's nothing that I really hate about it I don't know. But I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Benedict has so many pictures of their family on the wall it's a little nauseating. Sophie often jokes that They'll have to get a bigger house just so he can keep taking pictures.

Now if you're new around here, you may not yet be familiar with something I like to call the Bridgerton Wives Club which is essentially Kate, Lucy, Sophie and Penelope being absolutely manic. They have matching shirts and they're wild. Edwina is obviously a frequent collaborator.

Should we see Sophie's first lunch a Violet's?

Sophie was nervous. There was no point denying it. She was about to have lunch with Benedict's mother and sister in laws (though Lucy wasn't married to Gregory, Sophie definitely felt the title was relevant) and she was stressed about it.

She was standing outside Ben's house, waiting for them to pick her up. Kate had breezed right past the fact that Sophie was going to take the tube when she'd texted her last night instead saying Luce and I will pick you up. A Range Rover pulled up to the curb, braking abruptly in front of Sophie who startled as the window rolled down, the nerves fluttering in her stomach as Kate smiled down at her.

"Hop in Sophie!"

Sophie forced herself to smile, feeling the awkwardness of it. Lucy and Kate were already bickering by the time she had the door open, settling herself against the leather seats.

"Jesus, Kate, can you at least wait until she's buckled in before you start driving like a lunatic?" Lucy tutted, a broad smirk on her face.

"Sorry, Mother Abernathy." Kate rolled her eyes, smiling at Sophie through the rearview mirror.

"Don't be nervous, Sophie." She said gently, as they sped through Chelsea Kate tutting at other drivers periodically.

"I'm not." Sophie choked out, a lie and they all knew it.

Kate hummed. "You've met Violet before and she really does care." Sophie nodded, knowing this was true. "She even listens to my sister complain about her dipshit boyfriends."

Sophie frowned, "Edwina's-?"

"Got terrible taste in men I'm afraid." Lucy hummed.

"Violet just wants to get to know you. You're a big part of Ben's life, she just wants to be apart of yours as well." Kate said firmly. "The first time she invited me I thought I was going to pass out! But it was great, and the food's good as well"

Lucy nodded then sighed as Kate clipped the curb pulling up to Violet's house. Anxiety clawed at Sophie's stomach a little more firmly, her legs shaking just a little as she stepped out of Kate's car.

Kate breezed forward, opening the door without knocking with the confidence of someone who had done it numerous times before, tugging gently on Sophie's arm when she showed signs of loitering outside, Lucy following closely with a kind, no nonsense smile giving Sophie little chance to back out anyway.

"Violet! We're here, and I hope you've made cake because your son has driven me up the wall today!" Kate called out.

"I'm in the kitchen sweetheart! What's he done?"

Kate tugged Sophie through the house settling her down at a stool beside her in Violet Bridgerton's enormous kitchen.

"Anthony and I are going t have to get divorced Violet, I'm sorry, it's just not going to work out." Kate said gravely. Sophie felt her eyes widen, she'd been at their wedding just about three months ago and she had the impression that hey were rather ridiculously in love.

Lucy snickered giving Violet Bridgerton a one armed hug before she settled. Violet herself sighed, barely looking up from the salad she was preparing.

"Well, I'm disappointed, Kate, obviously but you've been with Anthony three years, you were bound to snap at some point darling."

Sophie watched as a smirk tugged at Kate's lips, "If he wasn't so bloody cute, I'd have kicked him out ages ago, but he looks so stupid when he has Newton in a backpack, I just can't help myself."

Violet hummed for a moment and then turned her attention to Sophie who felt herself blanche.

"Sophie, sweetheart, it's good to see you. How's work?"

Sophie startled at the change in conversation, nerves swirling around her. This was one of the reason's she was so nervous in the first place, she wasn't like Kate who was beautiful and strong and had a career, or Lucy who was always so perfect and proper, and worked so hard. She was just an assistant chef.

"It's good, I just... learned some new skills for seafood actually."

Violet's eyes lit up as though this were the most interesting thing she'd ever heard, smiling kindly, and Sophie wondered why she'd ever been worried at all, when she left ladened with left overs.

And in two years she herself marched through Violet's front door with a sharp,

"If Benedict says one more time he wants our first dance to be to The Thong Song the wedding is off Violet I mean it!"

[godsofhumanity]

12 titans headcanons please ❤️

yes ❤️

❤ warning: this is gonna be a very long post ❤

OCEANUS

Oceanus is the oldest of the Titans, and i really like the idea that he grew to adulthood within a day of being born.

i think i've mentioned this in some Gaia hc's previously, but i don't think that Gaia had any of her children in the "conventional" way that we're used to.. as in, none of her children were actually formed in her womb- instead, i imagine that she and Ouranos only had to place their hands on the Earth to cause their children to be born.

for the Titans in particular, i like the idea that Gaia caused a field of flowers to bloom, and within 12 of them were each of the Titans.

Oceanus bloomed first, and was named by Gaia (i think he's the only one who was actually named by her, herself- more on this later).

we know that Ouranos never cared for his children, so i think that the 12 Titans were originally born so that they could help Gaia take care of the Earth,, thus allowing Ouranos and Gaia to spend more time with each other.

so when Oceanus was born, he had to grow quickly so that he could take care of his siblings and raise them (Ouranos wasn't about to let Gaia go "wasting" her time taking care of children).

Oceanus builds the first village, and his primary motivation in everything he does, is to take care of his siblings.

i think he's very paternal,, though he doesn't like to show it.

Oceanus is very stoic as well... he hates brash decisions and always takes his time to think about things before he says something or does something.

also, in Gaia's absence, i think he named all his siblings, and i think that although all the Titans refer to him as their brother, they also have the understanding that Oceanus has been more of a parent than either Gaia or Ouranos, and they all look up to him a lot.

Oceanus isn't cowardly, but i don't think he likes fighting. he would much rather preserve the peace at the sake of his own freedom, than have said freedom but at the price of blood being spilled.

that said, he could definitely pack a punch if he chose to.

related to Oceanus’ unwillingness to fight, i think this is an important factor in why Cronus (who is the youngest) becomes King instead of Oceanus (who is the oldest). 

technically, it’s Oceanus’ birthright to become King after Ouranos, but Oceanus doesn’t possess the qualities required to be a good king, and he knows it, which is why he never challenges Cronus’ authority or tries to take the throne for himself- he is absolutely okay with not being king, in fact, i think he’s grateful for it.

TETHYS

Tethys is, as the lore states, Oceanus' wife, and i think she's always been really close to Oceanus- the only one who truly understands Oceanus' deepest feelings.

since Oceanus doesn't really show much emotion physically, i think it's sometimes difficult for the other Titans to know exactly what he's thinking, but Tethys is very intuitive and understands Oceanus quite perfectly.

i think Tethys is slightly more energetic than Oceanus, but she's still the most quiet of all her sisters.

she too, prefers not to fight if she doesn't have to, but while Oceanus will wait for the very last opportunity to fight, i think Tethys can be persuaded to make a move earlier than she usually would.

i also think she's more adept at fighting than Oceanus.

when Oceanus and Tethys are referenced in poems and plays, they are usually described as the "primeval parents", and are often referred to as the "genesis for all" which i think is really cute, and although Tethys isn't the goddess of motherhood, i definitely think she's very maternal (i mean, she has 3000+ children, so we hope so, right?).

after the Titanomachy, it is said that Oceanus and Tethys became Hera's foster-parents, so i imagine that Tethys and Oceanus opened their home to many gods and goddesses, even if they were simply passing through.

Hera, in particular, i think had a closer bond with Oceanus and Tethys than with Rhea- and that of course is no fault of Rhea's, i just think that's how things happened.

everyone talks of this idea that Zeus would go around pestering Oceanus and Tethys when he was trying to court Hera, and i like that idea as well ^_^

i think Oceanus was particularly reluctant to let Zeus be with Hera because Oceanus has had sooo many daughters who have been effectively abandoned by their husbands (see: Metis, Asia/Clymene, Hesione, Eurynome, etc.) and he doesn't want that to happen to yet another one of his kids.. but Tethys, the sweet voice of reason whom Oceanus has a hard time saying "no" to, intervenes on Zeus' behalf perhaps because she sees something more in Zeus' proposals, which is why Oceanus finally concedes and allows him into his house.

CRONUS

now this guy >:)

i've said it before, but i just really really like the idea that Cronus is the epitome of "you either die the hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".

before i said that Oceanus grew to adulthood within a day because he had to take care of his younger siblings, and following this logic, i think some of the younger Titans took more time to grew simply because there was no need for them to grow up quickly- they were going to be taken care of.

as the youngest, i think Cronus takes the most time to grow. 

most of his life, his siblings are ordering him around which i think gets to him a little, so of course, Cronus has always been a little bit mischievous and a little sneaky.

i think he gets along really well with Iapetus. they are “terror twins” as Oceanus calls them, and as children, they would always get up to no good.

in terms of morality, i think initially, he’s actually quite sane and level-headed. he understands that war is brutal and should be avoided if it can, but he also understands that sometimes war is necessary. this is what makes him, initially, a good king- because he understands the need for balance.

but,, after sometime, i think he goes insane with Ouranos’ prophecy and he convinces himself that murdering his children is just a part of the job- it’s his duty. 

i like the idea that Cronus sees himself first and foremost as King. being a husband and a father is second to kingship.

i always wondered what makes a man go so mad that he’d eat his own kids, especially after he literally deposed of his father for doing effectively the same thing- why would he willingly follow in the footsteps of the god he hated so much? well, i think it’s because Cronus is driven by this philosophy of being King before being anyone else. 

he believes that it’s his job to protect the world, the way he did that first time when he rallied his siblings together to fight Ouranos. Cronus believes that his children are going to ruin the world and destroy his siblings, and he loves his family and the world too much to let that happen,, and if he has to choose between his children and the world that he has sworn to protect, well, as King, isn’t he obligated to choose the world?

and after that, he just goes downhill, and i think he loses sight of the bigger picture, and becomes the villain. 

also- not relevant to the core of this section but i just wanted to talk a little about Philyra, the mother of Chiron by Cronus ^-^

so in the original myth, i’m pretty sure that Cronus and Rhea are still married when Cronus and Philyra get together,, and that’s why when Rhea catches them and gets pissed, Cronus panics and turns into a horse (which is why Chiron is half god, half horse- lololol Cronus, you absolute loser). 

anyways, i love the myth because it’s funny, but i don’t like the idea that Cronus was actually cheating on Rhea- i mean, first you eat her children, and now you’re cheating on her?? c’mon, have some tact! 

so i have my own little take on it, and that is that Chiron is born after Cronus gets disposed (so when Rhea and Cronus are pretty much divorced). 

i like the Orphic version of events where Cronus gets sent to Nyx’s cave, so following from there, i imagine that Philyra must have somehow helped Cronus escape from Nyx’s cave (probably because she was manipulated by Cronus),, and when they escaped, they came to Mt Pelion, which coincidentally, is where Rhea, now happily retired, lives. 

so that’s how Rhea accidentally discovered her ex-husband’s affairs (which is in line with the original myth where Rhea catches them). 

of course, i don’t think Cronus ever cared about Philyra to begin with, i think he was just using her because i don’t think the “player” archetype suits Cronus- he’s not a romantic, that’d make him too similar to Zeus, and the last thing Cronus would want would be to be like his son. 

anyways so where does Chiron’s equine nature come into my version of events? well, running from Nyx’s cave to Mt Pelion on foot sounds a little tiring, but luckily, Cronus is a god and can therefore turn into a stallion, so he and Philyra probably ran away like that.

i don’t think Cronus ever actually knows about Chiron. Philyra, in the myths, is ashamed about Chiron’s appearance (which is really rude and mean), so she abandons him, but i like the idea that she simply wasn’t ready to be a mother, much less a mother of a child born from a war-criminal, so she instead leaves Chiron on Rhea’s doorstep. and Rhea recognises immediately who Chiron is, but she’s the goddess of motherhood so she adopts him, until Apollo comes in a few days later and decides to take Chiron. anyways, so that was a little bit of a tangent but i just wanted to share that ^-^

another thing- i know we all like to make jokes about Cronus seeing children as good for only one thing- snacks- but in all seriousness, i don’t think that was the case. i’ve said before what i, personally, think his real motivations behind consuming his children were, but i don’t think he was averse to the concept of children and having a family entirely.

ok, i have to divert to the story of Prometheus to explain myself here, but bear with me for a sec- so Prometheus gets punished because he helps the humans- but why does he help them? why does he love them so much and why does he feel sorry for the way they’ve been treated by Zeus? 

well,, we know that Prometheus was alive during Cronus’ reign. and during Cronus’ reign, Cronus made the Golden Age of Man where mortals lived in peace and harmony, free from interference by the gods, where no one did the “wrong” thing, and life was great. so couldn’t it be that Prometheus had seen what life for humanity could have been like? 

my hc is that Prometheus had seen what Cronus had done for humanity and was appalled by what he now saw under Zeus’ rule.

so what does that have to do with Cronus and children? well, i like the idea that Prometheus grew up in the palace, and he had known Cronus all his life. i like the idea that Cronus actually spent time with his nephew, and was the one who first introduced Prometheus to the mortals. i think Prometheus and Cronus actually were rather close as uncle and nephew. so,, i don’t think that Cronus hated all children,, he just didn’t think he could have any of his own.

RHEA

Rhea is one of my favourites <3 i think she’s one of the cooler Titans.

i think her personality is defined by her courage, and her ambition- in fact, i’d call her the most ambitious of all the Titans.

as a young Titan, i think she got along best with Cronus and Iapetus, and i think she actually had a bit of a mischievous nature, similar to them. i think she enjoys pranks and good jokes. 

she’s the kind of goddess who would do anything on a dare (i think she was pretty wild, and maybe a little shameless, in her youth, much to Oceanus’ distress).

in saying that, i think Rhea has also always been very headstrong. she’s not arrogant, or rude, but she if she has opinions, she will make sure you’re aware of them. you don’t have to agree, you just have to understand her point of view.

she’s also a little spitfire (a little like Hera tbh), and she is very good at fighting ^-^

but, Rhea is also incredibly kind and forgiving. considering what she goes through during her marriage, i think she is remarkably strong. while Cronus goes insane, Rhea remains standing tall- she survives Ouranos’ rule, Cronus’ rule, and is alive to witness Zeus’, and she is never on the losing side which is a testament to her character and strength of mind.

in the previous section, i said that Cronus follows the philosophy of “King first, husband/father second”, but i don’t think Rhea agrees with this at all.

there is never any way for her to justify to herself that her children needed to be killed- it’s a horrible and messed up idea and it’s honestly a wonder that she didn’t go insane after it happening to her children five freaking times.

i think that what makes Rhea a good queen is that she doesn’t work in absolutes- see, Cronus believes that either the world is saved, or his children are saved, but not both- but Rhea, who is always driven by courage and hope, believes that it is possible for the world to have peace and for her children to also be alive.

where Cronus is an architect of plans, and an executor, Rhea is the thought-process- the one who thinks things through carefully and evaluates the effects of the action... she’s more level-headed, and she doesn’t get angry easily.

after Cronus is deposed, i like the idea that Rhea remained on the throne a little longer- Zeus was simply too young to be allowed free reign immediately, so she kinda pulled the strings behind the scenes.

i don’t think that Rhea has favourites amongst her children. i think she is very protective of all of them and she loves them all very much, but i think the one she finds most difficult to get along with is Hera, maybe because Hera is the most similar to her (which is why Hera spends more time with Oceanus and Tethys than Rhea). 

there are versions of the courtship of Zeus and Hera where Zeus and Hera keep their relationship a secret from Rhea because Rhea will disapprove of it, and i do like this version of the myth because i think it makes sense. i think Rhea has some fear that Zeus will repeat the mistakes of Cronus and Ouranos, and she doesn’t want Hera or Zeus, for that matter, to be hurt the way Rhea was hurt.

we know that Zeus had already swallowed Metis, so Rhea believing that Zeus could become like Cronus isn’t too hard to believe.

speaking of the Zeus x Metis myth, i don’t think Zeus swallowed Metis intentionally. i think that, at that time, Zeus was still incredibly young- he had only recently defeated his father, and was still finding his way around the world. so when Metis told him about the prophecy concerning her son defeating Zeus, i imagine that he must have panicked and lost control of his powers, and without meaning to, he had reduced Metis to her divine essence, and she disappeared before his sight (he thought she was simply dead, and didn’t realise that Metis and her child were dwelling within him). Rhea is the first one to discover what transpired between Metis and Zeus and she was probably pretty horrified.

but, Rhea knew that Zeus was still young, and of course, he’s her son, so she refuses to just give up on him straight away- instead, they work on things, and Zeus gets better, and they move on. but i’m sure that the incident gnawed on her mind, and she worried for both Zeus and Hera, hence why she was reluctant to allow them to marry. but as the story goes, she conceded, and Hera became queen ^-^

HYPERION

Hyperion is the fourth Titan, and i think that all-in-all, he’s a pretty chill guy.

generally speaking, Hyperion doesn’t really like to fight, mainly because he thinks it’s boring and the risk of his face getting ruined is just too great for him.

i think he is a little vain,, he loves flattery- he likes being complimented and he likes complimenting others.

i also think that he’s a little bit weak-willed, or rather, i think that when the Titans were all young, he would often be the butt of the jokes.

in saying that, i think Hyperion has good spirit, so although he’d be a little annoyed about all the jokes and the pranks, he never takes it to heart because he understands that it’s all just a joke.

in some myths, it’s said that after Ouranos was deposed, Cronus divided the world into four parts- Hyperion ruled in the West, Iapetus in the East, Coeus in the North, and Crius in the South, while Oceanus took the seas, and Cronus of course, ruled over time + the whole word in general- and i really like this idea.

after the Castration of Ouranos, i think it’s the first time that the Titans actually split apart and start living on their own and having families.

Hyperion and Theia live in the West, and have Selene, Eos, and Helios.

after the Titanomachy, it’s said that Cronus and all his brothers were placed in Tartarus, but given the importance of Selene, Eos, and Helios during Zeus’ role, i just can’t imagine that Hyperion was one of the Titans sent to Tartarus.

i don’t think he would’ve actively supported Cronus towards the end (i mean, he was very clearly insane and needed to be deposed), but i think at the same time, he would’ve been reluctant to oppose Cronus, given how powerful Cronus was. and again, there’s that conflict with the fact that it was Cronus who freed the Titans from Ouranos, so i guess things aren’t really that black and white for Hyperion.

if Hyperion did fight for Cronus, i think he would have done so only out of obligation (because Cronus is the king, and he defeated Ouranos).

THEIA

Theia’s the eldest of her sisters, and i think she has always been a bit of a natural-born leader.

i think she gets along best with Rhea ^-^

but while Rhea is a little more level-headed, i think Theia can be louder and more hot-headed, with a quicker temper.

given that she is the goddess “who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value ”, i think it’s a fair hc to say that she enjoys jewellery and pretty, shiny things, but, in saying that, i don’t think she could be bought over with gifts.

i think Theia is more strong-willed than Hyperion, and i think she is best reflected in Selene who takes after her the most.

i imagine Selene to be very graceful and elegant- willing to fight, but only once she’s carefully understood her opponents and her situation. 

in the Theogony, Hesiod writes that all the Titans were hesitant about killing Ouranos, except Cronus who stood up and rallied them, and while i think Rhea was the first to agree with Cronus, i think Theia supported him next. but!! she wouldn’t have ever supported him during the Titanomachy- i think she would have taken Zeus’ side, if she was involved in the fighting.

also, this isn’t really relevant i guess, but i really like the idea that Theia’s weapon of choice is a whip. like one of those ones made out of a chain with the sharp blades at the end, so that it sparkles as it slices through the air. i just think it’d be neat :D

COEUS

alright, now, strictly speaking, Coeus doesn’t have much of a mythology- he’s pretty much only known as the father of Asteria (mother of Hecate) and Leto, and the guy who ruled in the North when Cronus first became king.

BUT!! very interestingly, in the Argonautica, it’s said that Coeus was thrown into Tartarus after the Titanomachy along with his bros, but he went insane and tried to escape, but Cerberus, being the good guard-dog he is, caught him and sent him back.

anyways, i think this is very interesting because none of the other Titans are really given such a myth.. i mean, none of the other Titans went so insane that they tried to escape from Tartarus (at least, not that I know of).

this myth fits in with my hc that Coeus has the least will/strength-of-mind from all the Titans.

to be honest though, in the same way that i don’t like the idea of Hyperion being sent to Tartarus, i don’t really like that Coeus would have been sent there either. his daughters are Asteria and Leto, and both of them must have been loved by Zeus.

Asteria’s daughter is Hecate, whom Hesiod says was honoured by Zeus above all others. so while Asteria isn’t listed as one of Zeus’ lovers, i think he had a lot of respect for her.

Leto, as we all know, was Zeus’ sixth wife and the mother of his beloved Apollo and Artemis, so there’s no doubt that he loved her.

and so, in light of this, i just can’t imagine that Coeus’ daughters didn’t appeal to Zeus and ask him to have mercy on Coeus, because if they didn’t plead for him, this might imply that they didn’t feel pity for him, which further implies that they might not have loved him as a father at all. and the natural conclusion of such a sentiment is that Coeus really wasn’t much of a father to them- and if that’s the case, then that means that NONE of Gaia’s Titan sons (except Oceanus) were good fathers. and idk, that just doesn’t sit well with me. 

why is it that only the goddesses were spared? are they somehow naturally always gonna be on the hero’s side because they’re female? are the gods always gonna be on the villain’s side because they’re male... “boys stick together”? idk it’s dumb. 

that’s why i like the idea that Asteria and Leto must have pleaded for him- i think he was a good father, and they did love him. did Zeus listen? i guess that’s another story. 

but i do like the idea that Coeus didn’t really want to be on Cronus’ side, it’s just that he was scared of the consequences of opposing him- Coeus is regarded as the titan of “rational intelligence”, and if you ask me, it’d be pretty rational to not want to fight against a psycho when you have a family to think about.

also, i know it’s not a part of the actual myths, but i do like the idea that Coeus was a titan of magic/witchcraft as well, because that might explain where Hecate gets her abilities from.

PHOEBE

Phoebe is Coeus’ wife, and she’s also the titan goddess of prophetic wisdom.

once again, there really isn’t much lore for her beyond the idea that she was the oracle before Apollo.

this isn’t in the myths, but my hc is that Asteria and Leto represent Coeus and Phoebe’s domains- so while Coeus’ magic gets passed down to Asteria and then to Hecate, Phoebe’s prophetic powers are transferred to Leto and then to Apollo. 

so, although, it’s not supported by the myths, i hc that Leto had prophetic powers as well, it just might have not been as strong as Phoebe’s or Apollo’s.

anyways, back to Phoebe- i think that the best word to describe Phoebe would be “sweet”. i think she’s very kind, and generous, and mild-mannered, where most of her sisters are a little more.. wild.

i don’t think she’s much of a fighter, nor is she devious or scheming. she’s really just quite innocent.

CRIUS

Crius is another Titan without much mythology.. his main role is as an ancestor of the gods, and apparently as the first to observe the constellations, thus why he was known as the titan of the constellations. which is pretty cool IMO.

i personally imagine Crius to be very intelligent and smart. i think, given his domain, he really enjoys stargazing <3 

for the most part, he’s a very level-headed, calm, and reasonable guy, but i think he’s also quite aloof, and not very vocal about his emotions.

i think that he’s pretty comfortable with bending his morals to suit the bigger picture, and that’s why i think he does actively support Cronus during the Titanomachy (hence why he gets sent to Tartarus).

i don’t think he really cares for pranks or jokes. in a sense, he is very similar to Oceanus, and from all their siblings, i think growing up, he gave Oceanus the least amount of trouble.

Crius’ children are Pallas, Perses, and Astraeus. 

i’d imagine that Crius has control over the stars and the constellations, and is capable of what i’d call “celestial magic”. and i think this ability is inherited by Perses, who becomes the father of Hecate by Asteria, and that’s how the magic gets passed down to Hecate, and why Hecate is so revered as the ultimate magic goddess.

just as i said earlier that Phoebe and Coeus aren’t really fighters, i don’t think Crius is a fighter either. he’s more of a strategist, and would rely on magic rather than using actual swords and stuff.

anyways, enough about the Titanomachy!! i think my third favourite pairing after Cronus x Rhea, and Oceanus x Tethys, is Crius x Eurybia! 

there is no mythology concerning how they met or how they were married, but i like the idea that for most of her life, Eurybia was raised by Gaia and Pontus away from the rest of the Titans,, but Gaia, who is more risk-taking than Pontus, understood that Eurybia wouldn’t stay with them forever, so eventually Eurybia starts leaving their home more often and she goes out exploring the world.

and on one of these occasions, she stumbles into a forest in the South, which is part of Crius’ domain, and that’s where they meet for the first time.

i think that Eurybia is always more at ease with her feelings than Crius, and she’s very vocal about it,, which would make for a good comedy routine with the more conservative Crius, who’s less willing to let emotions rule his head, but under the guidance of love, eventually opens up more <3

+EURYBIA

Eurybia is not one of the 12 Titans, but she is the daughter of Gaia and Pontus, AND Crius’ wife, and i really like my idea of her so i’m including her here ^-^

in Hesiod’s Theogony, he describes Eurybia as having “a heart of flint within her”, which is a really cool idea!!! she’s also described as the goddess of “mastery over the seas”, which refers to the things that control the sea like the winds, and the Moon, etc.

her name also means “wide-forced”, so i imagine her to be a very headstrong and free-willed goddess.

because her father is Pontus (the sea), and she also has some control over the sea, i imagine her to be a little unpredictable, like the sea. i think she has moments where she can fly into an intense rage, or she could be absolutely calm.

i like this idea because she becomes almost the antithesis of Crius. where Crius is more calm and rational, Eurybia is more passionate and unpredictable. i think they balance each other out very nicely.

strictly speaking, Eurybia probably was not thrown into Tartarus at the end of the Titanomachy, but i hc that she was.

i think during the Titanomachy, she would have sided with Crius, and she would have fought on his side because she loved him and would have supported him in anything that he did (also once again, i don’t like the idea that Cronus only had the support of his bros, and that only the guys got thrown into Tartarus :/).

Astraeus is Eos’ husband, and Pallas is Styx’s husband, and both Eos and Styx, on many occasions in the actual myths, have been evidenced to be on Zeus’ side. so, although in reality, Pallas at the very least probably would’ve been on Cronus’ side (since, in the Theogony, Styx takes her children to Zeus first, and Pallas isn’t really mentioned), i like the idea that Astraeus and Pallas both fought on Zeus’ side instead, and escaped punishment.

which makes things tricky for Eurybia, because some of her sons are on one side, and then her husband and her other son are on the other side- what’s she supposed to do? 

Eurybia is too headstrong to simply be passive and sit back and let her boys fight, so i think first she fights on Crius’ side, but then she also fights to save Astraeus and Pallas when they get into trouble. 

i think she accepts that her children have grown up and made their decisions, but she also understands that she will always be their mother, and she will never bear them any resentment for fighting against their father.

also, one of Pallas’ children is named “Bia”, and i’d like to think that he named her after his mum <3

i think “Bia” is Crius’ nickname for Eurybia <3

IAPETUS

i hc Iapetus to be the supreme troublemaker amongst the Titans.

i think he has served as the largest source of headaches experienced by Oceanus when the Titans were young >:)

Iapetus loves jokes i think. he loves pranks.. all kinds of humour. he’s more street smart than book smart, and actually i think if he was trying to study, he’d lose focus after 2 minutes. but call him to participate in a prank? the guy is coming up with plans like a general preparing a war campaign.

i think as the second youngest of Gaia’s Titan sons, Iapetus has always gotten along the best with Cronus. prepare for trouble, and make it double :)

this is specific, but i’ve got this idea that when they were young, Iapetus and Cronus decided to slip some dye into Themis and Hyperion’s basins, so when they washed their hair, Themis’ hair turned pink, and Hyperion’s turned green,, but Oceanus caught Iapetus and Cronus and forced them to wash out the dye as punishment ^-^

anyways, what i’m saying is that Iapetus and Cronus have always been the closest of brothers.

i also think that Iapetus hates people who boast about themselves, or act as though they’re superior to everyone else, so he’s never really gotten along with Themis (who i imagine to be a little vain- more on that later), and that’s why he likes to play pranks on her (to irritate her).

Iapetus has five children- Prometheus, Atlas, Anchiale, Menoetius, and Epimetheus- by the Oceanid Asia... but i think that from all of them, Prometheus is the most like Iapetus.

i think Prometheus shares Iapetus’ mischievousness and his wit, which is exactly what causes him to end up being chained to a rock with eagles eating his liver :///

back to Iapetus though- i think he values loyalty a lot. so, during the Titanomachy, there is absolutely no question about him siding with Cronus- Cronus is his brother, and his King.. he set them free from Ouranos, and he even sacrificed his own children for the sake of peace, and, messed up as it is, i think Iapetus is pretty moved by that. 

i think Cronus always had more guts than the rest of the Titans, and Iapetus always admired that,, which is why he supports Cronus till the end,, and i imagine he must have been really disappointed in Prometheus when he learnt that Prometheus had sided with Zeus :(

THEMIS

okay so in the above section i said that i hc Themis to be a little vain.

now by “vain”,, i don’t mean that she was a narcissist or that she was arrogant,, but i think sometimes her siblings,, especially Iapetus,, would mistake her advice and counsel as sounding a bit self-righteous.

Themis is the goddess of divine law and order,, so essentially- justice. and i think that from all the Titans, she has the purest sense of right and wrong, and she’s incredibly wise and sensible.

so for the Titans that tend to bend the rules a little- like Cronus and Iapetus, sometimes her advice doesn’t go down too well.

additionally, justice isn’t always what we want it to be- it’s not always nice, and it’s not always pleasant, and sometimes it doesn’t feel fair. and Themis embodies that concept, which is why she doesn’t always get along with her siblings (to clarify though- none of the Titans hate each other!! they’re still siblings, and they love each other, pre-Titanomachy).

as an individual though, i think Themis is very outspoken. she’s very loud, and i think she is just a little judgemental.

it’s said that Themis had oracular powers, and that when Cronus became King, he made her the oracle- and i like that idea, it makes sense.

although Themis can be harsh, she always gives good advice and wise counsel, and only a complete dumbass would hear her words and choose not to heed them.

during the Titanomachy, Themis undoubtedly sides with Zeus. and after that, i think she continues to serve Olympus with her wisdom and judgement.

this isn’t strictly related to anything, but in Egyptian mythology, the goddess of justice is Ma’at, and i love the idea of Themis and Ma’at hanging out together, doing social justice things... awesome ^-^

MNEMOSYNE

finally, Mnemosyne <3

“Mnemosyne” is such a lengthy name, so i have this hc that her siblings call her “Mnemo” instead (like, Nemo) :D

anyways, Mnemosyne is the titan of memory, and her children are the Muses, who pretty much embody every aspect of the Arts, and i think that really hints at Mnemosyne’s character.

i hc Mnemosyne to be extremely gifted at pretty much everything.

but, even though she knows that she’s really gifted, she isn’t the kind of person to show off about it. she’s always gracious and willing to teach others her talents.

i think she has a really superb voice, and when the Titans were young, i think she might’ve sung for her younger siblings.

Mnemosyne is also a little feisty i think. she’s short-tempered, but in saying that, i think it’s difficult to make her angry.

again, a kinda random hc here but i really like the idea that Mnemosyne’s weapon of choice is a battle-axe. i mean, she’s this sweet, kind-looking goddess, but she’s swinging her battle-axe and is about to wreak real havoc. it’s great ^-^

[pastorsperspective]

Are We Stuck in the Middle?

The sermon on August 21st was Titled: “Roots: How Do They Know Us?”. The verses are from Luke 2: 1-14. If you missed it, you can listen here: https://fb.watch/f8xKFSknM1/

Where to start with this one?! I think I could honestly spend weeks here, but I’ll try not to! If you’re new here, what will follow is an interview with Rev. Dr. Chad Johnson about his most recent sermon, in which I will try to pare down our conversation to all the most relevant points, as we both like to chase those rabbit trails. Let’s dive right in!

You began your sermon with lyrics from a hymn I had never heard, so I wasn’t sure where you were going with it. Then you said, “They will know us by our love… but do they?” To be honest I had two immediate thoughts, 1: Pastor Chad is about to stomp some toes today! And 2: I love it! - It’s no secret that Christians do not have the best reputation for being loving, sadly. We aren’t always first in line to show the love of God the way we are intended to. As you began preaching you called it out yourself when you said, “Our love? Really? Maybe our judgement, our hate, our ridicule, or our hypocrisy.” It was at that moment I knew we were going to hear something special. Do you have any examples in mind that inspired this sermon?

I have heard a story about a Pastor, on his first day, he showed up as a homeless person and some people treated him very well and some didn’t. So, he just looked out at the congregation and said, ‘Let’s just call it a day and go home.’ I have countless examples of where I have seen the church lose sight of being the church. Not just on Sunday, in different times and different places, when the peculiarities of tradition got in the way. The church likes to think that we don’t have a little Pharisee in us, but we do, and it shows more often than not.

As you spoke, I was reminded of a situation when a young man came to service (elsewhere) and sat in the front row. He had tattoos and piercings and was wearing a ball cap. I was excited to see him there. He had great energy as he raised his hands to worship and was fully engaged in the service. Before long a veteran member of the church went to the front to greet him and then asked him to remove his cap. The shift in his energy and his engagement was absolutely noticeable. He sat through the rest of the service looking more defeated than uplifted. I never saw him again. How would you feel about that?

If that were to happen, I would not have an issue with a person wearing a hat at all. To me, it’s a very old tradition in the church, but if having the hat makes the person more comfortable and able to worship God in this place; then that, to me, is the bigger picture. I think it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture with the peculiarities. Saying these are the nuances of the things we do and the things we don’t do. I get it, this is a Holy and sacred space. We want to have reverence here. I don’t know that I would say that wearing a hat is irreverent though. The one that really gets me though, where I have had to bite my tongue over the years, is when someone sits in someone else’s spot. The place that they regularly sit in. To watch their reaction to that is fascinating, but it’s also very telling.

I’m very familiar with that! The first time I visited I asked you to please tell me where not to sit because I didn’t want to offend anyone or take their place. I have seen it in many churches. People who have been there for decades and always sit in the same place get really offended that everyone doesn’t know it’s THEIR place. How can a visitor know that though?

I know a Pastor that did this once, they said, ‘Everybody stand up when you go to do the meet and greet fellowship time, do not sit in the same seat you were sitting in. Find a different seat, somewhere that

 you would traditionally never sit in.’ He intentionally wanted them to realize that they can sit in another seat and worship just the same. That was the point of his sermon, that we can get caught up in old, traditional ways.

Being raised by my grandmother, a beautiful and Godly woman if there ever was one, I was always told that you wear your best to church. You are on your best behavior, and you always put your best foot forward in the house of the Lord. Though she meant well, and her point was to always be striving to give our best to God, the lesson I learned became, ‘I have to clean myself up and get my act together before I can come to God’s house.’ Which negates the fact that sometimes we need God FIRST to help us clean up and become the best version of ourselves.

Absolutely! What I think of when I hear that is that it’s a very Old Testament to New Testament mentality. We’re guilty of this in the tradition in the scripture of the church, right? The Hebrew way was you cleaned first and if you were unclean then you couldn’t go in. So, I think that that is still prevalent, but what we are finding in Christians today is more of a New Testament to Old Testament; there’s a reversal. We need to find Jesus in order to clean up, like you just said.

That reminds me of a song. You often speak in song lyrics, which I love because that’s also how my brain works. I can’t always find the right words to express my thoughts, but I can always find the right song. What we’re talking about brings to mind one of my favorite songs by Matthew West, called Truth Be Told. The lyric goes: “There’s a sign on the door that says ‘Come as you are’ but I doubt it. ‘Cause if we lived like it was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded.” Then it goes on to say, “Didn’t you say church should look more like a hospital? A safe place for the sick, the sinner, and the scarred, and the prodigals – like me.” And that’s just, wow.

And that’s not the mentality in the church, sadly.

Do you think God cares, at all, if we dress up and clean up before we come to church? Not discounting the fact that somebody’s best may only be dirty tennis shoes and ripped jeans and they are still presenting their best?

Here’s where I always go with questions like this: We’ll never know the answer, but do I think God cares? No, because I think God is after our heart. Now, to the person that does do that, I would ask, what is your intention? If your intention is all about how I look to those around me, you’ve lost it. In your grandmother’s defense, if your intention is, this is God we’re talking about and I want to be reverent and respectful. That I can get with, but I don’t think it’s a requirement. I think that’s where we get into trouble is when we say, ‘Oh, no, everybody has to.’ When the reality is, you just said it, some people’s best is the same boots and jeans they wore to work yesterday. I go to the heart. If that’s what you feel you need to wear in front of Jesus, then wear it! That’s why I don’t always wear the robe. I think we can get into that habit of that showy church. I try to push back a little bit and say, yes, I love the robe and it is our tradition. Any time a person preached in the Methodist tradition we wore a pulpit robe. That doesn’t have to be the case all the time, and it is bone hot in the summer, so.

I have thought about that. The suit and the robe and the lights and it’s a hundred degrees outside. I don’t know how anyone does it! I think people get stuck in the trap of this is the way we’ve always done it, this is the way we always will do it, and you cannot preach any other way. There’s a lot of generations between my grandmother and you. You’re just a couple years older than my son. Do you feel like there’s been a generational shift regarding the way things are done?

Yes. I feel there is very much a shift happening in the life of the church. I have heard friends say, ‘We are one generation away from the Gospel not ever being heard again.’ I don’t agree with that. I think the church is in a transition season where we are transitioning out of this ‘we went to church because we went to church’ mentality. We’re shifting into, ‘we go to church because we need church’, and that transforms our lives. I think we are getting there, but as with any transition there’s always that low point and I think that’s what we’re seeing now. The low point of both sides not being very involved because one side is very frustrated that things are changing and the other side is very frustrated that things aren’t changing fast enough. At least that’s my perspective and experience. Our hope is that every generation brings us just a little bit closer, a little bit more like Jesus. I do think that we are seeing a shift in the church that I’m very excited about.

So, dear readers, it was at about this point that Pastor and I went on a huge rabbit trail of discussing generational differences and what those look like, how they affect the church today, how we need ongoing conversations among the generations, etc. A conversation that would make this already long article much too long! I would like to skip to something much more relevant, the parts of the sermon that Pastor left out!

In your notes, directly after the parts about your mom and how she showed her love for you and for your friends; displaying the love of God. There were several points that you didn’t make. When I read over them and I was actually amused because I was trying to figure out if you didn’t make those points simply because you ran out of time, or because you were worried that most of us weren’t wearing our steel-toed boots? My personal favorite was: Be intolerant of Intolerance. But there were several others that deserve to be heard if you don’t mind me sharing. Those points were really good and we need to go back and visit those sometime.

Please feel free to include any of that! I can answer that question. It was for time constraints. I knew I had already gone off in a couple places and I would rather leave out points then to just gloss over them. I had already been a little long winded and stepped out, so I knew my time was up.

These could definitely be a sermon series all on their own. You wrote:

We are faced this morning with the question: What can we do about this sin, this difference, this marginalization?

Start paying attention to what you say. Most people already know to avoid generalizations and stereotypes, but most of us are still guilty of using language that causes offense. Even if we don’t mean to. We have to be mindful of jokes and sayings that we have grown up with, that we are accustomed to, but can be very offensive.

Be willing to accept correction. Even the most well-meaning people make mistakes and have misunderstandings about others. When someone points out your errors, offer a sincere apology and be ready to learn from the experience. It will earn you much more respect than responding with defensiveness or anger.

Be intolerant of intolerance. Are you willing to confront derogatory and hateful speech? Online? In person? What if the person is a friend or relative? The risk of staying silent is sending the message that discrimination and intolerance are values that you are willing to tolerate.

Seek out marginalized voices and perspectives. Go online and look for activists, bloggers, authors, artists and other voices from marginalized communities. Their personal stories and experiences will greatly inform your point of view. If you have the opportunity to spend time with someone from a marginalized group, your most important job is to listen to them and learn.

Educate your own community. Your voice is most effective within your own group since you are in the best position to confront its stereotypes and misunderstandings, some of which you may have overcome yourself. You also have special access to them as an audience that other communities do not. Use it!

These are things that truly need to be said! I really hope you come back to these points and expand on them in another sermon sometime, but I have to ask, how many times have you omitted parts of your sermon because you knew you were going to offend people?

Well, I don’t do it for that reason. I wouldn’t write it in the first place if I worried about that. My sermon writing practice is; I pray over the scripture, I pray over the takeaway message, and then I write it. I write it, first, to me, but then I go back through it and I imagine myself… Well, sometimes I will physically do it. I’ll go sit in peoples’ spots in the pew and try to put myself in their shoes for a minute. How are they going to hear this and what do they need to hear? I pray about it because I’m not just preaching to me. Yes, I’m preaching to me first, but I am preaching with the idea of how can I best get it heard by this very diverse group of people in the congregation? I don’t think about if this is going to upset a person to the point of disaster. My hope is that if I say something in the pulpit that is upsetting to them, that they will come talk to me and we can have a conversation about it, which is why I love this. [sermon interviews] I had a preaching professor that said, ‘When you write your sermon, just write your sermon. Don’t let your head or heart get too much in the way.’ I think that has benefitted me because when I first started, I was very hesitant to say some things that I will say now because I had to live into that. Now that I have lived into that, if I say something that upsets you from the pulpit, I feel very confident that I am backed by scripture and I am backed by the traditions and the doctrine of the United Methodist Church. As long as I’m doing those two things, I’m not concerned with upsetting people.

All those points tie in perfectly to all the examples that we have discussed about the man in the hat, the dressing up for church, the sitting in someone’s seat, generational differences, and so many other things that we can get offended over. There seems to be an overall feeling across all denominations that we are stuck in the middle, just stuck. Stuck between what it has always been and what we want it to be, not wanting to offend anybody and not wanting to move too far or too fast, or to move backwards. Which, of course, reminds me of a song from Casting Crowns called Somewhere in The Middle that speaks to that desire of wanting and waiting for something big to happen, but also not wanting it to happen because it’s going to upset people, and everyone just sits there and nobody talks about it. Church, let’s start talking about it! I leave you with this song: Somewhere in The Middle https://youtu.be/G0UYT33RXoQ

[rays-animorphs]

Something beautiful happened last night. I’ve been reading Honey I Shrunk The Animorphs, aka book 24: The Suspicion. And I realized that, like the dinosaurs megamorphs, I was having trouble getting into it. But I was also aware that the shrinking thing is exactly what I would have loved as an 8 or 10 year old. So what changed?

I thought about how, when I was a kid, I’d often use the world I existed in as a sort of stage for my imagination more often. Like I’d have toys in my bedroom and the carpeted floor would be a vast plain and the bed would be a huge, steep mountain, that kind of thing. So if I read a book about kids shrinking to a sixteenth of an inch, I’d notice the things around me and imagine what they would be like if I was that size. So I looked around — I was in the shower — and pictured how big the spaces between the tiles would be and how the towels would have threads sticking up like trees and, I don’t know, something just clicked.

Cassie knew she was shrinking, but what if you didn’t know? What if you got shrunk in your sleep and suddenly you were in this landscape you didn’t recognize and also the laws of physics seemed to be acting differently, how long would it take to figure out what had happened? How would you figure it out? And I thought about how different things are at different sizes — like, at human size, most of the time the surfaces we walk on are pretty stable, they’re not going to move. But if you’re ladybug sized, say, maybe you’re spending a lot of time on leaves rather than the ground, the surfaces you live your life on are much less likely to be stable. The concept of the ground might not even be relevant for you. And what if you’re on a bed because you got shrunk in your sleep and someone goes and makes the bed or takes off the sheets to wash them? Your entire world is going topsy turvy. How do you find anywhere that’s safe to just exist in?

So, yeah, brain switched from “I do not have enough suspension of disbelief for this nonsense” to “this is so cool.”

Kids read books differently from the way adults read books. When you’re a kid, you need a high imagination fuel to actual words ratio, since reading is hard and it takes a long time. When you’re an adult, reading is easy (well, for many adults anyways), but space in your brain is limited, because there’s always laundry and groceries and meal planning and money stuff and medical stuff to keep track of, so you learn to use reading as a tool to shut all that out for a little while, rather than reading to make your world bigger.

I listened to an audio recording of The Little Prince on YouTube the other day. And that book…it sounds like it is written for children, it talks disparagingly of grownups and has a child as a central character and it has pictures which most books for adults do not, and yet I do not believe that that book is for children. I believe it is for adults who need to remember a bit of what it’s like to be a child. Because sometimes you lose things.