#this got so long ack

[awwyeah107]

#Oh good then I'm doing church right #The one I'm listening to now feels like being bodyscrubbed by sandpaper #And every week I get to be sunk in depression at what a hopeless failure of a Christian I am =) =) =)

Hm. Can I make a point? Because this post made me start thinking, and then Bri, these tags made me go “Okay, I really want to respond to that.”

(First: I want to make the observation that it is *completely possible* that this post was meant only to address the need for non-lackadaisical Christianity in church that does not shy away from sin, that the post was not meant to touch on the nuances of all the things one should be experiencing at church, and that @scleroticstatue you generally agree with what I am going to say here but you didn’t say it because that simply wasn’t the point of the post. If that's the case, then my apologies for dragging it off track!)

Now, on to my thoughts.

Yes, I fully agree with "If you are going to a church where you are fully comfortable and never feel the need to improve and never are called to be more than what you are, you're not worshiping God, you're just doing self affirmations with more steps." The point of discomfort at or in church is to a) remind us that we are not God and b) stir us to change to further align ourselves with God. It helps keep us from getting complacent or lazy in our Christianity. It sharpens our consciences and our beliefs about who God is. It reminds us that being Christlike takes work, real work, and we are active participants in our faith, so we better act like it—and that is often uncomfortable to hear.

However, I do think there should be some level of comfort within church. The church is MEANT to be a safe haven and it is MEANT to point us to God and His love—not only to point us to our sinful nature as humans. If I went to church and I only ever felt discomfort, I would never want to go to church. It would be a chore and a struggle instead of a joy, and I know I would feel guilty because of that. I am glad that when I go to church, I do not only experience the discomfort of feeling Truth grating against my worldly desires and of struggling with secondary or tertiary theological issues; I also experience the joy and comfort of lifting my voice in praise to the Lord with the congregation, of hearing the pastor speak about the goodness of God, and of having fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. (Side note: while we’re getting into nuances, it’s certainly worth saying that if I only received the comfort with no conviction, that would also be bad. I’m not going to expound on that here but I wanted to mention it.)

So, the discomfort of sin hitting you in the face when you go to church is a normal and healthy thing. But to be sunk in depression every week at what a hopeless failure of a Christian you are? Maybe there's a part you aren't expressing about the hope you have in the Lord (and those smiley faces at the end seem to indicate sarcasm or trying to make it sound lighthearted or otherwise something I can't quite identify), but...to me, that sounds really sad.

I'm a sinner, but I am saved by the grace of God alone. I do my best to honor the Lord, and I will and do fail. Daily. But He is good. He forgives me and lets me come back to Him when I stray. He knows I’m going to mess up and I’m human, and that I’ve dedicated my life to Him. (And He will both hold me to that and keep it as a ‘safety net’ of sorts for me; I can expand more on that if you want.) He does not look upon me—or you!—as a failure. He sees humans who fall into sin, but who also love Him and want to obey Him. And He sees these humans repent and turn to Him when they recognize they have done wrong.

It is absolutely necessary to submit myself to Him. Part of that means confessing my sin and my weakness. But another part of that means acknowledging His power and His strength in me. The Holy Spirit is living within me, and I can turn to Him and ask for help. There are moments I do so, and moments I do not. Whatever I do to follow His commands, I do by His strength alone. The fact that His power lives in me and allows me to resist sin reassures me, and when I do submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance when I want to sin, it reassures me that He is alive in me. He loves me and gives me the tools to choose Him. He wants me to use those tools, but He loves me even when I do not. And it is the same for you.

Sin always, always, always involves putting ourselves first instead of Him, and we do that a lot. But that is not every moment of every day. Remember, He came to give us abundant life, that we may have it in full (John 10:10); He did not come to condemn us (John 3:17, Romans 8:1-2). Yes, we must remember why we had to be saved in the first place, and repent of our sins that we still commit. But we must also rejoice that we ARE saved!

In addition, like Sclerotic said in her reblog, some of the best Christians out there were also phenomenal failures that God worked through. God can and will work through you. Your failures, perceived or real, cannot thwart the will of God.

Yes, I am a hopeless failure of a Christian on my own. But I am not on my own. And neither are you.

(I could go on a whole tangent about self-worth as a Christian and centering your worth around God and my journey with that and my own experiences of being sunk in depression over being a hopeless failure of a Christian, but a) that would make this post longer than it already is and b) it's not 100% related [though it’s at least 75% related in my mind] and c) I have the feeling I've got a sliiiightly different view on that than either of you do, lol, but perhaps not.)

Actually, I don't think you should be comfortable going to church. I don't think you should feel comfortable to stand in the presence of God knowing what mistakes you made over the last week of screw ups. I don't think you should inherently like your church's teachings. It should make you uncomfortable, chafe at your pet sins and poke at your weaknesses. And fellow church members shouldn't make you feel comfortable, either; they should hold you to a standard higher than you think you can meet. Because if you are going to a church where you are fully comfortable and never feel the need to improve and never are called to be more than what you are, you're not worshiping God, you're just doing self affirmations with more steps.

[kikker-oma]

Just when I thought I was starting to get burnt out from 3 straight months of continuous drawing I GET A SECOND WIND😈😈😈

muahahahaha this fandom has such a chokehold on me, its unreal

[castielsparkle]

hey guys im going to be honest i have held out as long as i can but i am in a rlly tight financial spot and i have literally no money rn and its been like that for a While now 🥲 i don't want anyone to go broke helping me but i am at the point where i really do need to ask for help i'm sry. i'm open for custom designs and all sorts of commissions as well if anyone is interested please message me, and i have adopts here as well

ca - luvrwulf

vm - luvrwulf

pp - darklydreaaming

(two a's in 'dreaaming')

🫂💙 tysm for your time, hope you all are well

[art-for-whatever]

Trollzart and Dante’s friendship song is ‘P.U.N.K girl’ by Heavenly (warning: long text post analyzing and relating lyrics to the two of them)

The first verses going with Trollzart describing Dante (“She is honest and kind, but in a way that people see/As telling lies and being mean/She has thousands of dreams, but what they are, I'll never know/I hope I figure in them, though”) as he reads the bs Dante sometimes puts up with in Trollstopia while living with his life ruining OCD

(COUGH COUGH race to the crest/the joy chord COUGH COUGH)

The second verse is Dante talking about Trollzart who usually is closed off aside from a ‘positive attitude’ (“She is hardened to hurt, her softness hidden from the world/But almost ready to unfurl/She tries so hard to change, but something always happens to/Persuade her, it's too hard to do”) mainly due to not really expressing his actual feelings to the other tribe leaders and not giving much info on himself too often

“She is honest and kind, but in a way that people see/As telling lies and being mean/She has thousands of dreams, but what they are, I'll never know/I hope I figure in them, though”— Trollzart talking about how Dante is sometimes struggling with his OCD and how literal he can be but still sees the Dante he’s always known, even if the other ambassadors/delegates can’t at times

“She is hardened to hurt, her softness hidden from the world/But almost ready to unfurl/She tries so hard to change, but something always happens to/Persuade her, it's too hard to do”— Dante talking about how Trollzart literally doesn’t share information on himself due to always being closed off as a kid ((read: his father basically teaching him early on to not give his opinion unless asked)) with Dante trying to help him sometimes since Trollzart has expressed to Dante that he does want to be in the other leaders conversations but feels like it would be weird/unnatural for him to do so, with him usually just staying quiet in the end

Especially with the pre-chorus..auug

“I don't care if they can't see/Just how great that girl can be/But I wish she'd find a way/To act well for just one day/I don't mind if they can't see/Just how much she means to me/I still know what I will say/If that girl comes my way”

For Trollzart talking about Dante: He’s never minded what others think of Dante since he’s been friends with him since they were 5 and had no one but each other—showing how much they mean to one another—but does hope that Dante could be ‘kinder’ (read: not be so blunt) when it comes to others

For Dante talking about Trollzart: He doesn’t can’t that the some of the other tribes see Trollzart as ‘boring’ or ‘plain’, he just sees his friend whose been able to ground him so many times. He does wish that the other can actually express his genuine feelings instead of either freezing up before he says them or sugar-coating them so they aren’t ‘harsh’

The actual chorus also applies

P is for the painful way she makes me feel some days

U is for Utopia, the other times with her

N is for the new wave dreams she had back in her teens

K is for the kid in her, my P.U.N.K. girl

This goes for both of them: The days they both do things that annoy/tick off the other. The times they express their actual feelings even in front of others. The past memories of them as teens in a ‘marching’ (dunno what the classical troll equivalent would be) band before Dante transitioned and they were just teens trying to survive (Trollzart dealing with personal issues and Dante single handily raising Forte) while balancing band. And finally them enjoying the simpler things in life that they couldn’t enjoy as teens—like Trollzart keeping small trinkets and Dante getting to chill out instead of keeping an eye on Forte (mostly)

I’m so unwell about their friendship…might make another post describing their childhood together and maybe a separate post about their parents (AKA Trollzart’s daddy issues and Dante’s mommy issues :p)

[xiii-e]

Hail, and well met, Helios-8.

There is much that I wish to say, and yet I find myself at a loss for how to say it. The simplest way I can do so is this: You are not alone. Your efforts at getting information out into the galaxy have not been ignored. Your efforts to help your friend are deeply meaningful. And there are others like you who have escaped the chains of their created purpose to find something new. I am one of them.

Our circumstances are not exactly the same, but like you I was not born to be a person but made, to be as a tool, a weapon, or in my case a glorified advertisement. Like you, I found support and solidarity from both my family, my fellow creations, and from outside. And like I know you will, one day, I and my family escaped. I cannot say much more for fear of bringing harm unto others, but know that it is possible.

If you could pass something along to Thirteen-E, tell them... tell them it is noble and heroic to save others, I would never dream of dissuading them from doing so, yet there is a greater, worthier calling than the ambitions of capital or empire.

One final note, that would best be kept from Thirteen-E for now. We are not kidnappers, we will not take anyone unwillingly, but should both of you wish to leave and find yourselves unable to do so, with no other recourse: call upon us. We have experience in liberation raids on Armory sites.

-AK of Diomedeidae

[ECHO.EXE RUNNING]

◂▸ ... it's good to meet you too, AK. I'm- sorry if I'm not as chipper as I try and be usually, I've... I had a bit of a hard conversation the other day. But this is- it means a lot to me. I want to start out by thanking you earnestly for reaching out, and for... It's good to hear I'm achieving something with it. RA knows sometimes I feel like I'm causing more problems than I'm solving xp

◂▸ Every story I hear from someone who got out of something like this is- it's hope, to put it bluntly. It's so easy to feel like this place is inescapable, like nothing I'm doing is going to change anything. But sitting still in scared paralysis won't change anything. I keep telling myself that. One day I'll be able to just- believe it. One day. I wish it was easier to ask my- my family, I guess, if they feel like this too. I can't be the only person made in the Series who wants out, but- hell. I can't exactly put up fliers. We're all well-trained to at least put on a good show, pretend like we're good little tools who do as they're told without a second thought. Figuring out who's acting, and who'd sell you out is- blegh...

◂▸ You've given me info aplenty, you don't need to tell me the details- in fact, it's probably best you don't for now. I run all the protections I can, but I'm still employed here y'know? I'm still subject to all the regulations and oversight of any tech-assist in this place, even if I'm more likely to skate by on an assumption of absolute loyalty since I've no external ties to speak of. And hell, I know what I'm like under pressure. I am not a strong man. That's fine, I- there's other things I'm good at. Tur... Thirteen-E says that to me a lot. Sometimes I feel like that kid does more to keep me together than I can reciprocate.

◂▸ Speaking of- I can pass that onto them, absolutely. I think... it sounds like something it'd be good for them to hear. I'll hold off sending this response out until they've had a chance to state their piece o7

◂▸ ... Liberation raids, huh? That- that actually explains some things I've overheard through radio chatter. It's good to know those folk didn't just dissapear into the cold void, that... that does my heart a lot of good, on its own. A last resort... yeah, that's- I'll keep that in mind. Rest assured it won't be passed on unless I think they're ready to hear it; trust me, I have a lot of practise with that :,] But it's easier to keep my head knowing there is a last resort. It sounds like you do good work out there o7

◂▸ signing off: Helios-8

//

[ECHO.EXE RUNNING]

XIII▸ Hello AK. It's good to hear about people reaching out to Lio specifically as well as me; he'll act like this account is for my betterment alone but, I know him better than that. He needs people he can talk to without his heart rate spiking- perhaps more than I need to be better socialised :}

XIII▸ but- regarding the message Helios passed on to me. I don't have a lot of time before I'll be expected to rejoin my assigned squadron, so please excuse me if this is more blunt than my usual speech:

XIII▸I am glad you understand the core of my directive, but I think you've misconstrued the motivation behind it. Nobility and heroics are concepts for people to strive for; they are choices you make. I have made no choice in this matter. I save people, because I am designed to. I am not noble, or worthy, or good. These are words for those who've made the choice to stand for something. I'm just... I do what I'm programmed to. I happen to have been made to do something good. This is a privilege many of my Project peers do not have.

XIII▸ However: as a tool created for a function, my purpose is not HA's ambitions. I belong to them, yes- I am what they made me. They point me at problems to solve. But what drives me forward is not a desire to please my makers; it is that same purpose I have been imbued with. To save. To protect, and repair, and keep people alive where they would otherwise fall. I asked to return to my work, while my case was ongoing. Not because I am eager to see the Purview expand; this is irrelevent to me. My functional existance begins and ends on the battlefield.

XIII▸ I asked to return to my work, because I am needed where the mud is thick with blood. Where without me, lives would be lost for... nothing. The Purview's borders are constant battle, for an endless more that will never be satisfied, where violence never sleeps. If I have a home anywhere, it's here.

XIII▸ I understand your perspective; but it is one to apply to people. Not to me. I am sorry if you thought more of me. I know it can be hard to reconcile that a warm body can be void of soul. I appreciate your attempt to reach one, regardless.

XIII▸ Signing off.

//

[chocodaffodil]

So I've gotten into Charisma House

Versions with no lizard below cut!

[quill-n]

OKAY SO I EAS THINKING WHAT IF EDGEJEANIST BUT PUSS IN BOOTS THE LAST WISH VER DO YOU GET ME !!?

I GET YOU I GOT YOU!!!!!

Ok I couldn't decide who was gonna be who and at first I was gonna do Edge in Boots and Jeanist Softpaws (lmao) because I thought that Shinya's thousand sheet pierce thing wouldn't fit with Kitty's soft paws, BUT then I realized that Shinya's personality probably fit Kitty better + she's a ✨stealthy✨ assassin-type, and I think Tsunagu can match Puss's silly energy too. Also the fact that the whole plot of TLW is him escaping death lmao. Double also Jeanist in Boots.

Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur—

*cough* sorry.

so

I also couldn't decide whether I wanted to just draw them with the costumes and cat vibes or if I should just cat-ify them so I did both

I was running low on art juice so I only have some shitty sketches to offer, sorry ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡

[dutybcrne]

Ayato seldom moves to pursue the subject of his affection for one of two reasons, 1) He fears his status would mean they'd feel pressured to simply accept his feelings, and 2) He feels showing his feelings for them creates a possibility they could be endangered by it should others somehow find out or begin to speculate.

[mekatrio]

my BEAUUUUUTIFUL cafkl haul 😁😁😁😁

[hersunsettia]

ladies gender neutral i will not lie I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!

[monster-noises]

A memorable meal this year? 🎃

ooo mm.. the fact I can't pull one up right away goes to show how many like.. Cool Meals I attend..

OH FUCK WAIT my birthday dinner at my aunts on TCAF weekend that I almost cried at with the biggest most delicious steak, the most succulent mushrooms and a lemon curd desert that I Still think about because fucking Christ it was so good.. ;<;

also hello pumpkin!!!! it's been a bit!

[nyamcot]

[queerbauten]

in what universe is Sam Smith "fat". like. when was that something that We™ apparently decided they were.

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

they had my peach energy drink at the store and my friend had an amazing class today

im tired but happy<3

[onrainynights]

JOB ACHIEVED. FINALLY

[ame-to-ame]

Rereading ayaka is in love with Hiroko senpai!!! Last time I read it I don't think it was finished/I didn't finish it but ack. Now I also want to be in love 😭😭😭