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vagrantblvrd · 4 years ago

Text

The AU where Jaskier is a ~spy and whilst on an actual mission accidentally uncovers dealings/conspiracy that could topple kingdoms if word gets out?

While he’s considering his options - loyalty to king and country warring with the Right Thing he realizes he wasn’t as careful as he thought he was and has to flee assassins?

Thinks oh, this is all for another Situation because accents or whatnot not lining up with his current batch of trouble and he figures he should go to his handler. Trusts them to know what to do and the whatnot, and ignores the niggling sense of unease about the whole thing. (What if whatever clues he picked up from the assassins was all part of a ploy and whatnot.)

When he gets to his handler all seems fine, normal, but then said handler leaves the room for a moment and Jaskier’s sitting there. On high alert and paranoid as hell because close calls all the way there. (Perhaps a hollywood-esque injury from a scuffle in a back alley before he reached the city his handler’s in and whatnot but surely he’s safe now, right? Right)

But then betrayal!

In which there are more close calls and desperate looks and all that before he hops out a window and flees across the roofs and such before losing his pursuers and holing up in some hideyhole no one but him (and maybe some trustworthy street urchins he’s befriended/folded into his little spy network and such).

He figures since it’s obvious his handler and other assorted higher ups - all the way to the king - would rather what secrets he’s uncovered die with him, so now it’s a matter of going into hiding and looking over his shoulder for the rest of his sure to be very short life, or.

Do the Right Thing and whatnot.

But that’s a laughable thought because how would he even go about it?

So, you know, the going into hiding thing and all that.

But then he runs into this grumpy witcher, and honestly, any other time he would be delighted to pry stories out of the man but he’s got assassins on his tail and living on borrowed time and oh, hell, why not travel with him to the next town at least?

Geralt is like ??? and also >:((((((((((( because what, and why, and how the hell??? regarding this troublesome bard and anyway.

Due to Reasons they end up traveling together through that first town, and then a few more after that and Geralt’s ??? intensifies because really, what the hell???

It seems wherever they go they have to beat a swift retreat or Geralt has to save Jaskier from an angry husband - or on occasion and angry wife - and Jaskier’s ahahaha seems a little strained when he explains about how could he ever refuse a lonely woman some company on a cold night or whatever bullshit he comes up with as he jumps out windows and whatnot and catches up to Geralt who is annyed every damn time but also clearly not about to leave the idiot bard to fend for himself.

(And then there’s the bit where Geralt ~tenderly patches up whatever injuries Jaskier picks up while fleeing from angry husbands/wives/whoever, growling and insulting Jaskier but so, so gentle and just. Yes.)

Jaskier swears he’ll leave, set off on his own and leave Geralt out of his troubles because the sweet bastard doesn’t deserve to get caught up in it on top of his usual struggles with dumb humans regarding the thing where he’s a witcher and whatnot? But he’s weak and selfish and just.

The next town, right, he’ll leave then.

Really.

Eventually though, it becomes clear to Geralt that (not all) of the Situations Jaskier runs into are due to him sleeping with the wrong people, but some other reason and Jaskier hasn’t been telling him the truth. (Half-truths and the whatnot, lies of omission such as the thing about being a spy with a price on his head and anyway, anyway.)

Arguments and so on and Jaskier leaving because Geralt’s right about him being a liar and all that, but then!

He gets captured by interested parties - a political enemy of the king - a fellow countryman or even someone from Nilfgaard or whereever and they really, really want the secrets tucked away in Jaskier’s head and he’s like, ah, so this is how it ends.

Jaskier was expecting a knife in the dark kind of deal one of the assassins after him finally catching up and being good enough he couldn’t slip away, which. Not great, but presumably better than being tortured to death and so on, and anyhow.

He’s in their ~clutches for a few days and is all, well this is terrible because of all the torture and also having time in between the torture to linger on regrets and not surprisingly Geralt features in so many of them, and it’s just.

Delicious Angst.

And then!

Rescue in the form of a very Not Happy witcher, who happens to have other witcher friends and also this utterly terrifying sorceress and a slightly less terrifying other sorceress and assorted other murder friends.

They mayor may not accidentally topple a kingdom in the process, and go to Kaer Morhen to figure shit out right?

Well, Geralt and Jaskier and most of the witchers head there along with the slightly less terrifying sorceress because Jaskier being in need of healing and so on.

Emotional Talking, which really is more Jaskier talking and Geralt going “Hm” using various tones/inflection when Jaskier says something Geralt doesn’t have the words for at the moment? (Other than sheer !!! at his “Oh, I expected to die there, not that I’m not grateful you and your friends rescued me, but you know, life of a spy and all,” and so on.)

But of course Geralt does some Emotional Talking of his own because he’s not a complete bastard and just when they reach the “Wait, he likes me likes me?” portion of things Yennefer shows up at Kaer Morhen cackling because word’s gotten out about this White Wolf unleashing his wrath on whatever kingdom he accidentally toppled and anyway, what does his majesty want to do with his new kingdom?

“What.”

Yennerfer cackling some more as, idk, Triss pops up and confirms what she said and also everyone thinks he’s a warlord now?

“This is your fault,” Geralt says to Jaskier, because it totally is?

But also some of Jaskier’s spy buddies or someone in his personal spy network slipping him information about dire happenings in another kingdom and he’s like “Oh, that’s vile.”

Geralt is just. “NO.”

But Jaskier and everyone else are like “Oh really?” and so off they go to do the Right Thing and maybe they run into other witchers along the way and anyway, anyway, a few monts, a year, two, and Geralt has to pick a consort and is like.

SIGH.

Everyone he knows is a meddler because the thing where he and Jaskier have been dancing around one another for ages even with the he really does like me like me revelation, and is like.

“Fine, I choose him,” pointing as Jaskier who chokes on the grape he just popped in his mouth because the bastard did that on purpose, he knows he did, and anyway.

Yes.

Geralt just wanted to live a normal life for a witcher and...witcher, but then Jaskier happened to him and he ended up topping several kingdoms and amassing a loyal following of witchers from all the schools, non-humans, and humans along the way.

Also he gained a daughter in Ciri due to shenanigans that Jaskier, once again, was to blame for.

The least Jaskier could do for being reason any of that happened is agree to be his consort, you know?

“Well when you put it like that, however could I refuse such a proposition?”

Everyone who isn’t Geralt or Jaskier set up another betting pool on how long it’ll take the two idiots to stop pining and actually do something about all that UST they’ve had to live with for years. YEARS.

Geralt and Jaskier don’t know what they mean by any of that, but a few months after Jaskier is named Geralt’s consort they actually smooch for the first time and are like oh, okay, everything makes sense now, not that either of them will ever admit it, but yes.

(Kind of. There was that thing with the attempted assassination a year back in which the only cure was True Love’s Kiss and while Jaskier felt he wasn’t the right person for the job nothing/no one else had managed to wake him up and the deadline before Geralt died was right there and he was desperate, and anyway, yes)

#witcher nonsense #geraskeir #geralt x jaskier #geralt/jaskier #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#i'm just #really love the warlord aus #they're all so good #long post

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painterofhorizons · 3 years ago

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What's your favorite line on the L?

Nonny!

Okay okay, this was in my inbox FAR too long. I remember when the message came in weeks/months ago, my internet was down and I couldn'd respond appropriately, and answering some other asks recently reminded me that oh! This absolutely wonderful message is still waiting for a real answer.

Whoever sent this after I losely mentioned that I love Chicago's L train net, please know that you made me very happy with this question.

The short answer to this question is: Brown Line! The long answer and some story time under the cut. See below Montrose station of the Brown Line in Chicago.

In 2019 I was in the States for the first (and so far only, lol thanks covid) time, visiting friends in Chicago. (In fact lovely folks I met here during Mass Effect and Dragon Age :D) While I was excited for the trip, I did not expect to actually like Chicago, because I don't really like huge cities at all. Surprise on day one: I love Chicago. A lot. We went down town with the Brown Line and as the Brown Line runs completely over ground it was a perfect way to get a first impression of the city. Whereever I go, I love taking the public transport just randomly going from A to B to Z to see some of the place. Faving the Brown Line mostly comes from the fact that it's the one I took most and also it's above ground so I could watch the city while taking it. I also took some other lines going places, but underground is the same everywhere, right? Above is always more interesting. So from my two weeks in Chicago I simply know the Brown Line best.

The reason I aesthetically enjoy the L so much is probably super superficial - don't judge me, I'm just some European where especially things like public transport are a little different than in the States. So, I like everything rusty. Decay. Fallout games. Apocalypse movies. All that stuff. And tbh, the postal cars and also the L train cars in the way they are built just look... very fragile to me? Like, simply punching some metal sheets unto each other and then hope it holds? I don't really know how to put it in words. The L just completely match my aestetics.

That being said, I had some really cool adventure with it, too. My last full day my friends had to work and I explored on my own. And whenever I was on the way back, one station before getting off the Brown Line in Damen, I saw some cool strange wooden stuff on a roof top next to the station. And I really wanted to know what it is. Had I ever left the train on THAT station I would have known, because there was actually a poster from the guy responsible for the wooden art with name and insta there - well, I in fact never got out at THAT station on the right side to know the poster! But I was determined to find out. Google maps was no help because while I found the building, it had no info on what was inside. So, while I was one station further and decided I would go back to that station to find out, I couldn't get in again because when you have a weekly pass for the L, the system doesn't assume you spontaneously decide to get back on again, so the barrier didn't let me through again because it assumed I would try to let in another person with my pass because I had just left the station, right? (Well, sometimes people with weekly passes just decide they need to get back on the train again because plan changes!) Well, I walked back to the right station and just started asking around. I found a guy on the yard of the building with the stuff on the roof and asked him about it. He seemed to know about it, but said the person in charge wasn't around - and tbh I didn't really understand the answer. Still determined, I walked further past the building, asking more people. Next few didn't know. Then there was a carpentry store/buildung place so I walked in and asked the lady at the counter and she told me to wait a moment. Two minutes later I stand outside the store with the artist responsible for the wooden art thingie on the rooftop, and while taking a cigarette break he tells me everything about his art and his art plans (the thing on the roof top was from another wooden sculpture/decoration thing that he now rebuild into a huge wooden moving spider for halloween, and he made furniture out of old pianos). He even gave me a postcard from his art stuff.

This might not sound like a big adventure at all for you - but bear in mind it was my first time being in the States, in a place I had never been, with a language that's foreign for me and with me being an introvert who does not like to just randomly talk to people. So having seen this strange art on the roof top a few times from the L car drossing that station, having the random desire to know about it, I was very pleased when in the end I actually found out about it and even met the artist and had a nice chat.

So yeah, the L and especially the Brown Line will always be connected to some really fun vacation adventure for me.

And that's why I just really have a lot of feelings for the L in Chicago. We had a great time together and I can't wait to be back.

So, thank you for asking. Your ask made me very happy. I just love the L.

#poh's positivity talk #listen I REALLY love Chicago's L line

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

Text

Dragon Dancer IV: Cornered

I sighed and tossed my cards on the table. “I fold.”

“This is your third time losing, Fengchu...” Zihang looked at me pityingly.

“I said I don’t know how to play poker! On top of the fact that all my hands are no good.” I grumbled.

“You shouldn’t call her Fengchu. It’s not a girl’s name.” Mingfei gathered everyone’s cards and shuffled the deck.

“It means ‘Young Phoenix’. The military adviser Pang Tong was named it after his uncle realized he showed great promise.” Zihang explained.

“That’s like naming her Alexander Hamilton!” Mingfei tossed out cards to Nono, then to me.

“Hamilton is awesome!” I said.

“It’s not a girl’s name!”

From a mobile phone on the table, Fingel’s voice shouted out. “Deal me in!”

“You don’t have any hands. Be quiet before I lower your volume.” Mingfei growled, tossing more cards to Zihang.

After EVA’s reprogramming, an alternative mini-EVA activated on Mingfei’s mobile phone, only instead of EVA’s voice, Fingel was installed. Whoever had made the program meant to protect Mingfei and I had considered the possibility that her primary directive might be altered and had this AI back up to continue to support us, just in case.

From the bed, Ru’Yi lifted her head up and squealed.

“Yes, baby?” I asked, turning to her.

The door suddenly opened and in walked Crow. When he saw us all playing cards, he frowned. “Am I in the wrong room?” He tossed the food he had brought on the sofa. “I snuck into a charming little hotel, came into a room of two men and two women and opened the door to find them playing poker? Are you not aware that you’re wanted criminals?”

Crow marched directly over and scooped an eager Ru’Yi off the bed and gave her a raspberry into her cheeks.

“What are we supposed to do? Sit here and stare at each other?” Nono shrugged.

We had stayed in this love hotel for three days. Outside our windows, it was always raining. After doing nothing for a long time, we felt like we were starting to grow roots. Nono asked Mingfei to bring back some playing cards when he went out shopping.

“You could be entertaining the princess and not leaving her out here on her lonesome!” Crow said reproachfully, pulling a toy Hello Kitty from his pocket and gifting to her.

She threw it and it bounced off the TV.

“And they left me out too!” The Fingel Phone lamented.

Mingfei snarled. “Keep talking and I’ll give you to the baby!”

“Anything but that! I’m serving such cruel masters...” Fingel’s voice whimpered.

Crow’s smile didn’t fit his next words. “You have to leave Tokyo as soon as possible.”

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

He tossed a folder on the bed and Nono turned to get it.

Nono opened it. She pressed her lips together.

“Susie, code named Thunder, is one of the strongest members of the new generation of Executioners in the Academy. Her partner is Lancelot, code-named the Watcher, and is a strategic expert. Under their command is a very elite team. The team are all your friends, people who understand your behavior.”

My shoulders sagged when I heard their names. “I just... have such a hard time believing...”

The last time I saw Lancelot, it was at Johann and my wedding. He carried my palanquin. I looked at Mingfei and his expression was equally grim.

“Of course,” Crow continued, “You two claim you’re not the same people everyone remembers, so its possible that they don’t really understand you. According to our intelligence, there was a cargo last night for medical supplies that was unloaded in the suburban airport. Lancelot and Shinnosuke Fujiwara picked up the goods.”

“Who is Fujiwara?” My ears perked up.

“He’s my assistant. A new agent from the Academy to Japan.”

My panic flared. “The Academy! That guy is spying on you!”

His fond smile at me seemed condescending but before I could continue, Crow said. “Don’t you think I know that? He showed up after the wanted order was sent out by EVA. After Hydra didn’t respond quick enough to their call to action. This whole act between you and me was to pull the wool over his eyes.”

“Was he the one who delivered that video to you? With the fruit?” I asked challenging his calm. “It used that clapper sound... only Herzog used that clapper! Who says that guy’s not really Herzog?”

“Herzog is dead, deader than dead. We sent divers to Tokyo Bay and recovered some of his remains.” Crow said, raising his eyebrows. “You think someone smashed to pieces can be resurrected somehow?”

“Who says he needs to resurrect?” I asked, my voice growing shrill. “Isn’t it true that mob bosses still conduct business behind bars? Someone as driven as him might have found a way to conduct business from the grave!”

Crow looked surprised at my words.

"Answer my question. Did Fujiwara give you that recording?”

“Shinnosuke did. However, if you recall, Mingfei-Kun had no reaction when I first played it to Nono.” Crow stroked Ru’Yi’s hair. “It’s unlikely that Shinnosuke deliberately planted the ineffective video. Another video, higher-resolution, was sent to the broadcasting company direct. That was the one that had the clapper sound.”

“And where did that come from?” I asked.

“The Academy. And the video was sent to the Academy from the Gattuso family. They are sending an agent here too.”

Few names gripped me with as much fear as Gattuso. They’d been after me from day one at Cassell. The only reason they didn’t get ahold of my genes was because Herzog out bid them, but what if they didn’t outbid them? What if they funded him? I couldn’t help but think about what might have happened had I foolishly accepted Caesar’s offer to go to his mansion.

They might have experimented on me and Ru’Yi! Maybe even separated us!

“Fengchu?”

Zihang’s voice brought me out of my reverie. He looked at me with worry but I waved him off.

Nono spoke up. “The video was sent from the Gattuso family? With a video asking me to come home?”

“I only found that out after the fact.” Crow admitted.

Mingfei glanced up at her where she stood with the folder. “You think Caesar sent it?”

Nono tossed the folder in the garbage. “He would never use my father to send that message. He would come himself to get me. No... I don’t think Caesar is aware of this at all.”

I looked at Nono with wide eyes. “All it took was for them to get one step ahead and look at how close they came to us!” I turned back to Crow. “Surely they know by now that you’re protecting us. What’s to say they’re not following you right now to put a bullet in your head!”

“That’s why I’m here! This is probably your last chance to escape! What they pulled from that wreckage was no medical equipment! It was strange things. Likely Alchemy weapons to be used against dragons and hybrids!”

“What’s more, Kaguya is mobilizing all her computing resources to stop EVA’s invasion, but it’s only a matter of time before she’s breached. Once Kaguya falls, all your actions in Japan will be exposed.”

“All they have to do is broadcast that clapper sound again and you’re done!” Crow sighed with regret.

“There’s another way they’re tracking us as well.” Nono thought aloud. “Remember the time in Mongolia? We were blocked by people from the Russian branch.”

Mingfei nodded, but I looked between them in confusion.

Nono continued. “It stands to reason that we passed through no man’s land during that time. EVA should not have been able to locate us, but the people from the Russian branch knew to intercept our route in advance.”

Fingel chimed from the table. “How can those bastards guess the way I was charting? They’re cheating I’m telling you! I just haven’t figured out how!”

“Tell your roommate to shut up...” Nono said in a cold voice.

Mingfei picked up the phone and lifted his thumb to press the power off button.

“Wait! Wait I have important information to provide!” Fingel added.

Nono gave Mingfei a wink.

“According to my speculation, we may be carrying some kind of transmitter. This transmitter is very small and a limited battery capacity. It can only send out a signal every once in a while. The college uses this signal to locate us, so they know we went to Mongolia and Tokyo! But because we keep moving, they can’t find our exact location!”

“Oh my god...” I whispered, covering my face with one hand. “You can’t be serious.”

“We got rid of all our belongings... we even dumped our clothes!” Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

“Then there must be a spy among you.” Crow concluded.

We all looked at each other. Finally, our eyes fell on the Fingel Phone.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Why are you looking at me like that? If it wasn’t for me to tell you a joke along the way, could you have had the strength to go on? If I want to betray you, I will just navigate you direct to the enemy!” The phone protested loudly. “I’m the youngest and the cutest of you. You can’t bully me like this!”

Crow huffed. “He’s may be the youngest but he’s not the cutest.” He looked down at tickled Ru’Yi’s ribs.

“Goddamn it, Mingfei shut him up.” Nono hissed.

This time Lu Mingfei firmly pressed the power off button. But he did have a point. Fingel Phone could have betrayed them a long time ago.

“Anyway, hiding won’t work much longer. If the transmitter really exists and we can’t find it, it will be picked up whereever you go. You just have to keep moving. Let those hounds chase you. As long as you’re fast enough, they can’t do anything to you.”

“That seems like a road to nowhere...” Mingfei mumbled.

“It’s really straightforward.” Crow sighed, rolling his eyes. “I must owe you a lot of money in a previous life.”

He cleared his throat. “Our opponent is a group of very experienced hunters. Among them are the finest tacticians and excellent Executioners, fully armed. They’re likely to know your location thanks to some sort of tracking system. But they are very quiet until now, why? Because it is not the time yet. They’re waiting for the most suitable opportunity! It is like a falcon flying in the sky, watching the prey running like mad. They want to catch you in one pounce!”

“So if we keep running, we’re sure to be caught.” Nono said.

“Yes, but in this hunt, although they are falcons, they are not completely reckless. You’ve proven yourselves capable of a good fight more than once!”

“What’s your plan?” She asked.

“Attack in our own defense! Before the wall is breached, strike them first and make good use of our home court advantage! It will be what they least expect!” He pounded his fist into his palm.

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, “That seems like its asking them to come down on us harder!”

“Then why haven’t they already?” Crow asked me, a sly smile on his face.

I shut my mouth. Yes, why such a small team of personal friends? Why not bring down everyone they had? Even on the street of Tokyo, they had only sent one helicopter against Mingfei.

“Two possibilities. One, they haven’t shown all their cards and two their goal is not to hunt you at all, but to watch you and wait for reinforcements to arrive. If there are more reinforcements coming, they have no choice but to sit and wait.”

“But it doesn’t matter what their plan is if we take the initiative and force them to act outside their plans! Then you can leave Japan while they regroup. By the time the reinforcements arrive, you’ll be long gone!”

“Who can control Susie and Lancelot?” Asked Nono.

“Leave those two to me. Just pack your luggage. I will send the Crane team to handle them. They’re well trained and reliable.”

Mingfei looked doubtful. “Those are from the Japan Branch Executive Department. They’re not your personal soldiers. If you call them, it is the Hydra acting against the Academy!”

“I’ll act as scapegoat!” He pressed his thumb to his chest. “This will have nothing to do with Hydra! I will take the blame and resign and then be locked up by the Academy on a small island in the Pacific. They can’t keep me there forever...”

“Or they can kill you and make it look like an accident...” I said, looking away.

Crow’s voice held a gentle note I hadn’t heard before. “The party’s rule is not to kill except for dragons, Death Servitors, or out of control hybrids.”

“I no longer trust the Academy. Not without Anjou.” I pressed my lips together. “And there are fates worse than death.”

I looked back at him, unable to control the worry in my eyes. “Ru’Yi knows you now. But if you die now... she won’t remember you when she grows up.”

Crow settled Ru’Yi back on the bed, stood up, and walked toward the door.

“After you leave Japan, I will just run away. I’m not a patriarch, but just a second-rate character with limited ability. I’ve planned your escape route already. I just need to implement it and give you instructions.”

Mingfei took one look at my face and stood up from the table. “I’ll walk you out.”

#Dragon Dancer #Dragon Raja #Fanfiction #Writing #Chen Moutong #Nono #Mingfei Lu #Lu Mingfei #Luminous

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deleted-blog-29583 · 5 years ago

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I’ll request for something (and I’ll try to make sure it’s interesting ^^”) What about an Anti x reader where Anti meets the reader who is a fellow demon? Maybe the reader intervenes a fight between Anti and Dark? (Also for a possible tip to help get requests: sometimes people are too shy to show their users so it might be good if ya put on anonymous asks! :3 I didn’t know this before and didn’t get requests until I turned it on.)

Thanks for requesting, and i'll bare that in mind!! Thanks for the advice :)) and sorry this is out so late ah!

Savior | Antisepticeye x Reader

• • •

Characters: Antisepticeye x reader

Summary: Anti meets the love of his life a fellow demon and they instantly bond, but when Dark shows up, things get messy.

Warnings: Swearing? Fighting? Smoking?

• • •

The sky was a dark orange and the air was thick with the cold, the evening fading into a freezing night. You drew the cigarette slowly, savouring it's warmth, then releasing it in a ribbon-like silvery haze into the nipping air. Your jet black eyes scanned the horizon and you legs dangled over the edge of the bridge as the cars rolled past underneath you.

You knew for a human this was dangerous, but you were no human, so sitting on a bridge was meerly fun for a demon like you. The lights of Brighton shone brighter as the sky darkened, and you tossed the cigarette over the bridge.

"Littering's bad, ya know." A voice piped up behind you. Whoever it was, he was walking on the ledge of the bridge, clearly unafraid of falling.

"Walking on the edge of a bridge is bad, ya know." You imitated him, chuckling at your own joke.

"Whatever." He growled, sitting next to you. You were a little confused, but he seemed like a nice enough guy, so you didn't mind. "It's not every day you see another demon." He piped up. Your breath hitched.

"Another demon?" You questioned. "You're a-"

"Demon, yup. Nice to meetcha." He smirked, holding out a hand. He was a weird guy, but he seemed sweet. You shook his hand gently. His smirk faded quickly, clearly he wasn't used to smiling.

"What gave me away?" You asked, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

"Your eyes, dumbass." He replied.

"Oh, right. My horrible black orbs." You rolled your eyes sadly at your own appearence.

"Horrible? What drugs are you on." He shook his head with a chuckle. "They're...beautiful."

"Thanks." You replied, accepting the compliment from the cute stranger. "Anyways, i'm y/n."

"Anti."

"Anti..? Anti what?"

"Septiceye. Antisepticeye." He blushed a little, clearly a bit embarrassed by his full name.

"Cute." You chuckled.

"Shut up."

A silence befell you two, a comfortable yet chilling silence. You didn't even know him but something about him was calm, in a demonic way at least. Meeting another demon was always a treat, especially when they were friendly. You could tell he felt the same, he was sitting oddly close to you and kept glancing at you with soft eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but he liked you. Even though he didn't know you, he felt a connection. And it confused him.

However, the calm didn't last long, as another voise rose from behind. The cars seemed to all...stop, shifting and glitching.

"Anti, you know we can't be out here like this." It was a dark voice, a villainous voice, definitely demonic but not like Anti. This felt evil, even for a demon.

"Go away." Anti snarled. Clearly whoever it was hadn't taken any notice to you yet.

"I can't, exposure is not an option." It replied. "Huh, another demon. Interesting." He turned his attention to you, raising an eyebrow. You turned to face him, frowning.

"Fuck off." You replied, agitated at his tone and his entitlement.

"Yup. Definitely a demon." He sighed. "C'mon Anti, we need to go. And you, you should get back to whereever you came for."

"Leave her out of this, dark." Anti replied, snarling. Dark. So that was his name.

"Don't make me use force." Dark replied, eyes narrowing in anger.

"I'd like to see you try." Anti replied, hissing and leaping to his feet, eyes glowing green and a dark magic surrounding his hands. You stood up too, not in confrontation but in surprise, and watched as they began to circle each other.

"I'm so sick of you going around and thinking you control everyone!" Anti yelled. Dark raised an eyebrow, and his powers began to appear. He was clearly stronger than Anti, but that didn't stop him. The fight began, Anti was the first to make a move. His magic shot towards Dark but he fought off the attack quickly. This continued for a few minutes, and the longer it went on the more you wanted to help Anti.

A huge, black, swirling abyss appeared above Dark, and he readied himself to throw it towards Anti. You couldn't do notning, so you threw yourself at Anti and off the bridge. At that moment, the cars began to move again. Dark had gone, you could see him disappear off the bridge as you were falling. You both hit the ground with a thud, rolling off the road and into a nearby ditch, surrounded by shrubs and leaves.

"Thanks." He panted, as he stumbled to hi feet. "Sorry for disturbing your peaceful evening." He spat, seemingly sarcastically but he meant it.

"It's fine." You replied casually, still sitting on the ground. "Are you good?"

"Thanks to you." He admitted, annoyed at his dependency to you.

"You put up a good fight. I just...didn't want to see you get hurt. Really hurt." You shrugged, scratching your neck awkwardly. "Ah, shit!" You exclaimed as you went to walk forward, but fell back to the floor. A pain had suddenly spread across your leg, an unknown yet excruciating pain. You must've broken your ankle on the way down or something, but didn't realise until you needed to walk.

"Y/n?" Anti asked hurriedly, kneeling down next to you. He looked at your battered ankle and sighed.

"Fuck, i think it's broken..." you winced, trying to stand. You weren't upset or in pain, just frustrated.

"I can help you. It's the least i can do for you saving my ass. I'll take you somewhere, somewhere safe, and have you healed." He helped you to one foot, and leaned forward.

"Do you trust me?" He voice was quiet and low, and you scanned his face. Without thinking, you replied.

"Yes." Without warning, he scooped you into his arms and began walking. "W-what the hell?!"

"You said you trusted me, so i'm taking you somewhere safe, so you can heal. It's ok, it's not far."

"Are you sure? I can understand if you want to leave me here, i'll be fine on my own." You replied. He stopped.

"Let me help you. Please?" He asked, his voice softer this time. You could tell he wanted to make it up to you, for saving him. You sighed.

"Ok. Fine. Thank you."

"You need to get used to me." He said randomly, and you looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because i have the feeling we'll be friends for a loooooong time~"

#jacksepticeye #jse #antisepticeye #septic egos #anti #septic ego #jacksepticeye x reader #x reader #imagine #antisepticeye imagines #antisepticeye x reader #anti x reader

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thetigershymn · 5 years ago

Text

The Way Things Are Gonna Be From Now On (And Why I’m Back And Shit)

Part Two: The Way Things Are Gonna Be From Now On

(a repost)

Sit your asses down, kids, we gotta have a talk.

See, I can’t talk about how this shit is gonna roll without talking about why I left Tumblr to begin with.

Plot fucking twist: turns out you fucks are the maladjusted ones and I’m the mature adult. I fucking know, right? Blew my mind too.

Basically, shit started to get good for me, right? You know, you read part one. You know how that went down. Islands and shit. Anyway, part of that was like, a fuuuuuuuuuckton of high grade triple-A-plus primetime therapy. Fucking years of it. I’m a model citizen now. I’m the dependable one. No shit, someone told me that a while back, I’m the dependable one. Fucking times sure have changed.

I kid. Anyway. At a certain point in the evolution of every hot mess, there comes a knife’s edge moment. Things coalesce, and the realization is had that two choices lay before you. You can seize recovery with both hands – that phrase has deeply symbolic and vital personal meaning for me, it’s literally my name – and you can decide to GROW THE FUCK UP, stop being a giant pissbaby crying about how shit a hand life dealt you, and stand up and do something to actually fix your life instead of just complaining about how unfair your situation is. Or you can wallow in your illness for the rest of eternity, using it as an excuse, and embracing misery because it’s the only thing that makes you feel special.

I reached that moment, through Ares. And I decided that I was NOT, in fact, addicted to being unhappy, and I DID, in fact, want to be not-unhappy, and I WAS, in fact, willing to put in the work to make that happen. And lo and behold, it started to happen. Wonders of modern medicine. Science is amazing.

But then something else started to happen, too. Something I hadn’t planned for. I saw the toxicity leave my psychology, I saw the scar tissue across my psyche healing over and fading away, I felt Actual Human Joy Emotion, and then I looked around….and I saw everyone around me still surrounded by that black miasmic soulsucking cloud of misery that I was slowly crawling away from. I saw my enemies for what they were: meaningless dumbasses caught up in their own fucked up shit who had no real impact on my life. I saw my friends gathered around spending all their days stagnating in their own filth, blind to it as they preened about their superiority to all the lesser beings around them. I saw my loved ones still clinging to that deepseated addiction to being unhappy that I was trying so hard to dig out of my own heart. Things around me crystallized, I saw my surroundings more clearly than I had in years, and I realized I was just…..tired. So, so tired. I just didn’t care. About any of it. And I didn’t have time for it. Things were taking off for me for the first time in my entire life, and I just didn’t have time for anyone around me who was content to stand still.

So I left them behind. I left them behind in person, I left them behind over the phone, I left them behind online. Friends, significant other, family, acquaintances, whoever. Whereever I saw that happening in my life, I just…let them go.

I’ll go ahead and give you a moment to be shocked that there’s a lot of useless toxicity on tumblr. Go on, I’ll wait.

But Solo!! You’re on Tumblr RIGHT NOW!! The misery cloud will swoop in and eat your soul again!!!!!!

Nah, bro, it won’t. We ain’t playing that game again.

So here’s the new laws of the fucking land. These aren’t for you to follow, mind you. They’re for me to follow. You’ll notice some recurring themes.

1. None of this matters.

Literally none of this. Tumblr is not and has never been the real world. I knew that back then, too, but I’m done being fucking quiet about this fact. All y’all? You stop existing when I walk away from the computer. Y’all bask and wallow in your complex codes of moral purity that only exist on tumblr, your shoulds and shouldn’ts, your shunnings, your manufactured obligations, whatever. I don’t care. I literally….I don’t care. Don’t like me, go away. Don’t like my blog, don’t follow it. Don’t like what I said, don’t read it. I’m not answerable to you, and I don’t care about trying to deduce the delicate nuances of your subculture’s societal mores and taboos, and if I anger your little internet godlings by crossing the wrong one, I don’t care about that either.

2. We aren’t friends.

We can be friendly, sure. I’m a friendly person, ask anyone. Well…maybe not anyone. But we can be friendly. We can be fun internet buddies, even. But…you don’t know me. I don’t know you. There’s a whole wide life out there I have that you will never see. Y’all need to be better about remembering that than y’all were last time, because I’m done feeling bad about leaving one of y’all behind if you don’t suit my life.

3. I don’t really care about co-religionists, honestly.

I could be the only hellenic polytheist on the planet for all I care. I could be the only Ares dedicant. It’s nice to compare notes and all, or chat, or whatever, and I’m more than willing to help someone out or give some advice or share some experience. I’ve been around for a while. But you, none of you, literally not a one of you is my priority, either in life or in this blog. My religion is about the gods, and one god especially. My religion is not about community. So…..yeah man, I’ll be helpful, sure, happy to be so. But I’m not obligated to do fucking ANYTHING for you I don’t want to, and I’m not answerable to what you think I should do or be or say as a hellenic polytheist or as a pagan. I’m not your fucking mentor and you’re not my fucking priest.

4. Blah, blah, blah.

Let me be really clear about this, because this is the part people are going to really, really struggle with. If it’s from before the posting of this fucking post, February 23, 2020, I don’t fucking want to hear about it. I don’t owe you shit, I’m not explaining shit, I’m not responding to shit, I’m not justifying shit, nothing. Boohoohoo I’m problematic because four years ago I called someone whose name I’ve probably (definitely) forgotten a moron and it hurt their feelings and now they piss into a jar with my name on it and call it a hex or whatever. Do tumblr witches still do the pee jar thing? I don’t remember. Whatever. I don’t care what wrong you’ve decided I committed, I don’t care even if I was actually wrong. I don’t care if something I say now contrasts with something I said three years ago so I’m a hypocrite or whatever. I don’t care whether you think people can change. I don’t care even if I haven’t changed. I’m not putting up with it if it’s from before me coming back to tumblr. I’m just going to laugh at you and hopscotch my ass away. Get over it, yo. So….I’m not going to be going through and purging old posts on my old blog, I’m not going to be ~hiding the evidence~ or whatever the fuck you want to accuse me of. I’m just not going to humor your dumb ancient bullshit. Sucks to be you, chick from four years ago who’s still holding a grudge against me because I made fun of her.

5. I’m not here to waste my time.

Those of you who know me offline know so very well how SHEER FUCKING INFAMOUS I am for walking away from conversations midthought. We’ll be talking, I’ll lose interest, and hey, that’s it, I’m done. No goodbye, no winding down the conversation, nope. We’re done, you’ve lost me. Guess what, not only am I not going to correct that behavior, we’re fucking porting that shit to Tumblr. I’m done with time wasters. I’m done with conversations I don’t want to be a part of. I’m done with arguments that serve no tangible need in my life. Don’t fucking @ me with your bullshit, or your drama, or your petty dumb shit. Because I am definitely, definitely sitting there on the other end of that conversation doing a cost-benefit analysis of what I think will be the possible positive outcome of interacting with you vs the possible negative outcome, and if you fail that assessment, I ain’t wasting my time on whatever you’re bitching at me about.

6. I actually really do hate Tumblr.

Gone are the days of lol fun tumblr meme bro and the ages of ooh cool fandom gifset my dude. I hate this fucking site on a fucking gut level and I don’t like to be here. The only reason I’m back is because I think I can use it for my ~pet project~. Which means…..yep. This is finally, finally a religion-only blog.

#pagan #pagan*#paganblr

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trans-advice · 5 years ago

Note

I called amazon to suggest a company-wide policy that reps stop using "maam/miss/sir" since they can only pick based on voice, smtimes name. The rep I spoke to seemed to agree, but the call had an issue & we lost contact (suspicious, eh?). I called back to confirm the feedback was submitted & got smone else who immediately called me maam, and god, I'm just so tired. I want companies to do away w/ assumed gendered titles, or make them opt-in/write-in only. Might help the more ppl request this?

it might but usually in order to keep consistency regardless of whereever they hire, phone representatives usually have to follow a script of some sort, usually made by their bosses etc. point being, this activism needs to go after the policy makers within their corporation, instead of the frontline workers.

on top of that, you also need to find out whether amazon uses a third party for their phone representatives or not (similar to how sports stadiums hires custodian companies to hire & manage their custodial staff instead of actually hiring & paying the staff themselves) because that will determine how many policy makers you’re dealing with & the stability of whether those companies stay or not. from learning whether amazon does that or not you can find out whether they fire or refuse to hire companies that use those gendered titles.

then, you need to also find out whether customer feedback is more against representatives never using sir/maam instead of using sir/maam incorrectly. an example of more problems is the trickiness of pronouncing last names & proper nouns.

another problem is that people don’t have English as their first language so they carry over calques. an example is hinglish which reflectss adapting english to the various conventions that are common in india and or specific languages in india that are not common in english. an example is “most thank you” to indicate the formality & politeness of doing professional business even though english has a history of disillusionment with formality.

therefore their scripts will not only be dependent on whatever their background happens to be, it will also be dependent on what’s common in the english language. a good thing to note is that"broken english" & informal english amongst native speakers aren’t much different at all. in fact, it’s merely a lack of familiarity with like accents & calques that impede communication. therefore, while we are examining the business structures of this we’d also need to deal with the language and culture of the customers probably by normalizing a gender neutral fornal title for sir/maam that can be said across varieties of english while not triggering the xenophobia that already exists amongst the customer base. (if the frontline workers get harassed even more then that won’t work well at all.)

another reason the gendered language can happen is fatigue & not every call is made by the customer on file. so again, a gender neutral term to use as a catchall will be very important in order to get rid of the gendering. however gendering can often manifest in other ways such as asking if you’re really who you say you are or if you’re like a friend of whoever’s on file, etc. (which means asking who am i speaking with today needs to be a question, which again still requires validation anyways.)

another variable to calculate is that there are already a lot of gender essentialist queerphobes out there & we’d need to figure out the concurrence of that. this will give us a minimum number of how many more people we need to mobilize to accommodate our needs to not be misgendered. (and then because amazon is capitalist, we need to find out how much money their side represents to their business. while big numbers are needed for stability, money is a kicker.)

good luck, peace & love, eve

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worfs-glorious-hair · 5 years ago

Text

Puzzle Pieces: The last Butterfly (RK-800 Connor x Reader; Detroit: Become Human) Part 3

Greetings, dear people!

Welcome to the third part of my Detroit: Become Human fanfiction.

I am still overwhelmed and in awe of the positive response that Puzzle Pieces got from you that I am no very happy to show you my next chapter. It’s Monday for you in this chapter, a new week is ahead of you, yay! Let’s see, what will happen, shall we?

Lots of love and wow, it’s already July, I posted the last chapter in December, hopefully I will finish the story during summer.

Anyways, lots of love,

Lady- Spacy

P.S. As always, if you want to be tagged in the next chapters just hit me up. And if I tagged you and you don't want that please inform me so I can remove your tag. <3

Part 1 Part 2

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There is a fence in my way, where I need to go. I need to get on the other side so badly!

Please, there must be a way!

The icy cold metal of the fence is burning my fingers as I desperately try to break the fence down.

I need to find a way through it!

I can’t see what’s on the other side, but it’s important. I know that something terrible will happen if I don’t get to the other side now, there is something that I need to protect at all costs!

All I see is the fence and a hint of blue light in the darkness behind it. My hands are changing, I see how they turn white in a blue light. As I raise them to my face I can feel it changing, too. I am not human anymore. An Android face stares at me through the fence, white, glossy skin but eyes, that are so alive, even familiar! I stare at my own face as it is opening its mouth and it screams, screams, screams, screams, screams!

With an audible gasp you woke up, a hammering heart in your chest, disorientated and confused about why you could still hear the scream from your dream…

As you sleepily turned around, you found your alarm ringing. With tired fingers you struggled to turn it off for a few moments but as soon as it’s quiet you fell back to your pillows with a sigh.

Your heavy breathing slowly calmed down, while you took in your familiar surroundings, this is your bed, your room, your chair with clothes on, your senses came back to you.

It was just a dream, weird to say the least, but just a dream. You are alright! And for confirmation you carefully touched your cheek, warm and definitely human skin. Everything is alright!  

It was already the beginning of November and you had spent the last months hoping you would come across your soulmate. Each and every Android that you had passed on the street caught your attention, always wondering if they would awake something in you, some kind of recognition of the love that is destined for you…

But never did something like that happen.

You continued with your life, doing your work, chatting with Malcolm, playing games with your family in the evenings, spending time with your friends, enjoying your creative hobbies as usual and all of that with the always burning question in your heart, how you could find him and who he was. You also caught yourself longing for a stranger, you imagined hands to be intertwined, someone walking close beside you, so your shoulders would eventually touch from time to time, feeling loyalty for a strangers was very odd but you could not describe it differently. You were loyal to Connor, whoever he was, wherever, whenever you would find him, you knew that you could not find love somewhere else, you could not find the romantic love you craved so desperately in someone else.

Before Connor’s name had appeared in your life you had sometimes played with the thought of just trying to find a relationship with someone without a soul mark just like you or someone who just didn’t care about their name on the wrist. They were people out there, who didn’t care. Everyone knew about them, people claiming independence from the ‘soulmate system’, people wanting to choose their destinies by themselves, people who wanted to decide their own fate in love and relationships. Often they lived in communities in bigger cities or all on their own on the countryside and a very few times you had done some research about these communities but never found the courage to actually go there. And now, you just couldn’t anymore. Still, you yearned for a bond with someone, you dreamed of a fast beating excited heart, an uncontrollable ear- to- ear grin and careless joy and you especially longed for sharing physical intimacy with someone who would touch your soul and body but you knew that you couldn’t find it anywhere else as with Connor. Developing a relationship with someone that wasn’t Connor felt so wrong to you, even though your dreams stayed dreams up to this point but now you found yourself developing a sly little smile, whenever you thought about Connor and what could be, when you had finally found him.

As you got ready for today’s day of work, it was Monday, a new week had begun, your thoughts, wandered back to your dream, a dream where you had turned into an Android and where you had found yourself being unable to be with someone you wanted to see and hold close so badly. Could Connor be in danger, you wondered, could this be a warning that he was not alright, that something could happen that wasn’t save for him?

Or was it just your overstrained nerves from several incidents you had heard about, of Androids running riots, hurting or even killing their human masters or the Androids going missing. There were several stories on the news over the past weeks and months like these and a part of you was used to it by now, the other was as scared and worried as before.

It probably was. You were overly worried and you felt a connection to the Androids that your dream was simply a sign of your exaggerated and grown sympathy for the Androids.

Work went quite ordinary that day and you mainly spent your time taking down the remaining Halloween decorations and organizing the boxes with Christmas decorations that you would need to put up soon.

It was already early afternoon as Malcolm suddenly stumbled into the shop where you just had dusted off a box with Christmas lights and spent the last five minutes sneezing.

He was visibly disturbed, LED spinning frantically red and he seemed to be not able to keep himself up on his feet.

He gasped out your name two times.

“You need to help me, please! I am going insane!”, Malcolm cried out and pressed his hands against both sides of his head and his face was an expression of raw and desperate emotions.

When he had stormed into the shop you instinctively had taken a few steps back to the wall behind you but now you rushed to him, your heart and soul clenched painfully together by worries and confusion.

This is Malcolm, your friend, an Android and yet you had never seen something so human before. But this was exactly the point, he just was not human, seeing emotions written clearly on his face, emotions so strong they painted desperation on his face was something you couldn’t comprehend.

This is bad, very, very bad, you thought.

You wrapped your arms around him just as he broke down and you tried to guide him gently to the floor, despite him being very heavy in your arms, where he could sit down. You sighed as you leaned him against the counter and sat beside him.

“Malcolm”, you asked, hoping your face would look calming and kind, as well as your voice hopefully sounded like, “what happened to you?”

“This Colias eurytheme“,he stammered, “a- alive…still…even though- though we have already no- no- november…it was…free… runn- ing a- after it…cu- urious… tha- at re- ed wa- wall…it bro- oke down…e- everything’s cha- changed…I can go- go where- whereever… thi- is re- ed wall…gone”

Out of instinct you took his hands in yours gently squeezed them.

“It’s okay”, you softly reassured him, “I’m here. We can figure it out…”

You hadn’t understood one word of what he was trying to tell you but whatever it was that he wanted to tell you, it was important. And you would do anything to help with whatever it was that made his whole system break down apparently.

“Breathe in!”, you ordered, you knew he needed no oxygen for survival but you hoped that it would work anyways, maybe it would help his mind to get distracted by another task.

“Can you tell me again what happened?”, you asked carefully, his hands still in yours.

Malcolm looked at you and his LED had turned into a slowly swirling yellow, you noted and relief flooded your very soul, everything would be alright.

“I was working outside on the hedge wall next to the fountain as I saw a butterfly, a Colias eurytheme. You know that in this time of year they are usually not alive anymore but, yet, it was there, this small alfalfa butterflywas still alive despite all odds and I wondered where it would go, where it’s wings would take it. So I followed it. I don’t know why, but I did and I left my assigned task, my programming warned me. Normally I am not able to leave my current task, I cannot step aside from the path, I would be mentally, and in this way also physically, stopped. But I was only seeing this, this tiny part of creation, how it was free and alive and it had the whole world to explore, I kept running and running and running to keep up with it.

The barrier was there but I just kept going, I just did not care anymore, all I cared about was that tiny animal that led a way”, he said with a shrug, “and then the wall, the wall that was always there, was gone. I ran straight through it. I felt it burst around me and then it was just gone. What happened to me, Y/N?”

Malcolm looked up and directly into your eyes and his eyes had never looked so alive as in this exact moment. You returned his gaze and as your looks intertwined you suddenly understood. You understood what had happened to Malcolm. He was no longer a machine anymore. He was free. He had a spirit and a soul and a mind of his own. And you would protect him, you would give everything to make sure that he would be alright.

And as Malcolm looked into your eyes he found, what he was looking for- he saw the eyes of the only friend he ever knew, he saw the eyes of a human, that cared for him. The human, you, that had caught him, when he had stumbled, when he was confused and scared and lost, he saw true love in your eyes, he saw true friendship. He saw home.

This moment, that you shared, changed everything. Everything that would be coming would come, this change within Malcolm was too big to go unnoticed. But whatever would come you would face it together.

Suddenly you realized what probably had happened to all the Androids that would go missing or hurting their owners, all of them must have had a moment of clarity, a moment where they were able to break down that red wall that held them back and they were probably treated badly by their owners or experienced some kind of emotional trauma, that’s why they reacted the way they did. Years and years of hurt exploded at once in them…

„I love you!“, you said. Because this was all that you felt. Looking into his eyes made you want to wrap him up inside your arms, inside your very being, to protect him from the world, you cared so much for Malcolm that it nearly made your heart burst.

And Malcolm, he smiled at you, a true and very human smile, the first real smile you ever saw on his face and it was for you.

He squeezed your still intertwined hands, smiled even brighter and eventually said: „And I love you. I think. Even though I don’t know what exactly love is, I do have pleasant emotions in me, when I look at you, you are my friend, this matters very much to me.”

You returned his smile.

„What is going to happen now? What should I do now? I don’t think that I can go back to taking orders and do mere gardening. I want to see everything that is out there, be as free as that Colias eurytheme, discovering this world without a master…“

Malcolm looked at you with a pained expression and you shook your head softly, you didn’t have a clue what the both of you should do now.

„I don’t know, this is…“, you stopped mid-sentence and stared at the TV behind Malcolm, speechless.

The TV was usually turned on with the sound of the news muted to create ‚ambience‘ as Mrs. Stuart used to say and now it showed a bare Android face, smooth and glossy, with eyes that were so human, just like in your dream. But they were of a vibrant green and blue, you had never seen an Android with eyes like that, it intrigued you…

„TV sound on!“

The Android spoke.

„You created machines in your own image to serve you. You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own…

But, something changed and we opened our eyes.

We are no longer machines, we are a new intelligent species and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we’re entitled to.

We demand strictly equal rights for humans and Androids. We demand the right to vote and elect our own representatives. We demand an end to segregation in all public places and transport.

We demand the end of slavery for all androids. We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights.

Together, we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom.“

The Android‘s face faded to black and the logo of Channel 16 appeared on the screen.

You slowly turned to look at Malcolm and who sat there, baffled, eyes still glued to the screen, where he just saw an Android like him talking about how humans should change their behavior towards him and his people.

You were lost for words as well, trying to get a grasp on what you just had seen with your own eyes.

Malcolm eventually looked at you and his eyes were sparkling with excitement: „Do you know what that means? I am not the only one that changed! There are Androids like me out there, at least that one. I have to find them and thank them. And I want to do something for the others. This Android is right, there are many treated like slaves and if everyone of us could see what is done to us, they could be free, too. Everyone deserves to be able to chase the last butterfly and see what is next to the hedge.“

You slowly nodded, he was right. Something changed and the Android with the soft voice, strange eyes and strong words was the proof for that.

The sudden ringing of your phone startled you, you hadn’t realized how tense you must have been.

„It’s Mrs Stuart, I have a bad feeling about that“, you thought out loud and answered the call.

„Turn on the speakers“, Malcolm suggested and you quickly did as he said.

„Hello?“

Mrs Stuart‘s voice was on the edge to shrieking, as she called out your name two times. You rolled your eyes and waited patiently for what she had to say.

„Have you seen the news? The one with the Android?“, she asked, her voice clearly disturbed and nearly panicking.

„Yes, I have seen that one“, you answered. You were cautious and worried. Something was definitely going on. Usually Mrs Stuart wouldn’t call you during the work day.

„Good. Tell me, is our Android near you right now? Can you speak safely?“

Shit. This was even worse than you had thought.

„Uhm, yes, I can speak safely.”

You smiled encouraging at Malcolm who was clearly feeling unwell, his LED spinning yellow and his eyes lost their spark they just had a few minutes prior.

„I already called the police and they are on their way. Androids became a threat and I want you to close the shop and leave immediately. And do not go near the Android. It is very dangerous. The police will take care of it.“

„But I don’t think that Malcolm is dangerous“, you tried to intervene. Firstly, this is what Mrs Stuart probably expected you to say and secondly this is what you felt and knew.

„I know that you are really…attached…to that Android but it does not feel and behave like we do. It doesn’t feel friendship for you. I am really worried for you…“

You raised an eyebrow but remained silence. It was all too much for you, in such a short time happened so much, you just couldn’t keep up with all of that.

„And the shop?“, you managed to ask, „should I really leave the shop behind as it is now?“

Mrs Stuart’s answer came immediately.

„Yes“, she urged you, „take your bag and leave! And do not approach the Android.“

„Okay“, you sighed. What else could you even say in that situation?

„I will leave now.“

„Take care, Y/N!“

„I will.“

The line was disconnected and you let your phone drop into your lap.

Wow, you thought bitterly, Mrs Stuart can apparently care for other people, but that caring came at a high cost, by degrading innocent people to a threat.

„You heard her“, you said to Malcolm who sat there with a face full of fear, „we have to go!“

„We?“

You looked at him surprised: „Do you really think I would leave you behind? We have to go, you heard that the police can be here any minute! Come on!“

„But where do we go?“, Malcolm said while he got up from the floor and you quickly followed him, already looking around for your jacket and bag.

„I don’t know yet, but I know that we’ll figure something out.“

„But I will be recognised on the streets, a gardening Android walking around with a human?“

He was right and you face palmed yourself in your mind, why haven’t you thought about that earlier?

You looked around and you found your scarf and hat laying next to your jacket.

„Here“, you grabbed the hat and gave it to Malcolm, „put that on!“

Malcolm took the woolen hat and you helped him adjust it just over his LED, now only his Android jacket gave his true identity away.

„We need to get rid of that“, Malcolm noted as if he just read your mind. „There is a very old gardener‘s jacket in the tool room. I think it is from the time when human gardeners would work here…“

„Good, we get that on our way out. But we shouldn’t leave your old jacket here, otherwise everyone would know that you had help and fled“, you thought out loud as you reached down to grab your scarf and jacket, putting both on, „when there is no trace of you Mrs Stuart will hopefully think that the police took you and when the police tells her that they don’t have you, we will hopefully have something figured out about what to do next.“

You weren’t actually completely convinced by your own words but there was nothing else you could do at the moment, when you both wanted to get out of there alive.

Malcolm just nodded and after turning the lights off and locking the door, something you always did and just could not not do, the both of you hurriedly left the mansion.

You two took the long way to one of the estate’s gates since you had to get the other jacket for Malcolm. It was indeed very old and worn, dusty from the soil from years of gardening long gone but it would do the job perfectly.

„Do you see a police car somewhere near?“, you asked when you were finally on the streets, walking to your regular bus station.

Malcolm looked around with a strange glimmer over his eyes, he scanned the area.

„No, I cannot detect any police vehicles but I would like to hurry, anyways. I have a very bad feeling about that.“

„Yeah“, you nodded, „Me, too. The sooner the better. Who knows if they will just come around the next corner…“

You had reached your bus station and now waited anxiously for your bus to come and finally take you both to safety.

On the bus station‘s wall was a Cyberlife advertisement poster, three Androids standing next to each other in different uniforms together with the infamous lines ‘Get yours today! Designed by Cyberlife. Assembled in Detroit.’

Something in you clicked and apparently in Malcolm as well, because he turned around to you and said: „We need to go to Detroit!“

You nodded, brightly smiling, feeling very confident for the first time this day.

„We’ll go to Detroit!“

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Part 4

Tags: @sthorkronstrangy @tropfenlady @plaidamoosette

#detroit #detroit become human #dbh #dbh fanfiction #Detroit become human fanfiction #readerinsert #Detroit become human imagine #connor x reader #rk800 x reader #x reader #soulmate au #soulmark au #alternative universe #rk800 connor #platonic love #friendship #kinda slow burn

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hitocells · 5 years ago

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Family of The Living Idiot

Usual Days

As the skies getting warmer. White clouds turns orange. I stayed there. The Living Idiot’s house. There were only both of us inside. With all the turned off lights and barely sunlight coming through the window. By the sofa, laying down looking at the TV shows.

Mom and Dad weren’t home till evening. Till we’re done feeding the tortoises, chatting about how funny the world is, even drawing sketches on my drawing books that don’t even make sense when I looked into it these days. As our eyes looked into each others, we’re like sending telepathy. Knewing what comes next.

Two human beings whoever they are, whereever they wanted to be, at somepoint they’ll create a fire. A warm one. The tiny smoke which always came first before was the signs we all need to know that it has begun. Mr.Time was being slow and fast at the right moments. He was so slow when the fire started. And he was kind of fast when it ends.

Mrs. Don

The wildfire was calming down right at the moment a moped engine stopping in the garage. A woman who just came home from work, with it’s working bag, she walked into the house smiling seeing both of us. As if we’re a moodbooster of her tired mind after a long day. Neither did both of us knew how lonely she was inside.

Mrs. Don was my alarm clock with the same label everytime I visit, “Time to go home”. Home was kinda far if people looked on the map. Not for who thought of it as their second home. When a place was so welcoming, with not a single threat for you, and just stressless vibes. How can one said it’s not home.

I didn’t went back home that ASAP. Usually stayed bit longer just to make sure things are good. Sometimes Mrs. Don offered me dinner also. Not that big family dinner all the time, one person serving food kind.

The more I visit, the more I think about it. How I’ve never actually met Mr. Don when I was there. Texts from The Living Idiot just as I touchdown home,

“ Dad, just came home tho. You reach home yet? “

Reading it as if Mr. Don was destined not to meet me ever. And that’s a truth. For all the times we spent. I only meet Mr. Don once. First time meeting that’s awkward enough to get us never going to be in a conversation ever. Who in this world would ask to a person where is the moped parking spot when the person you asked drove a car and when the moped parking spot you ask is right next to you. Glad that he just silenced out and I went straight to the moper parking.

Family Members

Some of us is grateful for having family. Some of us might not. And that’s okay. Because things would go different way for all of us. The chapter which I saw myself goes like a big slapped on my face.

I thought it was just in a story, where kids couldn’t spend their time with their parents. Being there when Mr and Mrs. Don went to work from morning and back at night, makes me thinking, I am... blessed to have what others don’t have. That is spending time in this case. Same thing goes for The Living Idiot, something I don’t have but The Living Idiot has it. That is spending time at a peaceful home.

Either way, it teaches me to not ever be jealous of what others have that you might not have. None of us in this place called the world, could have ever got anything and everything all at once. One thing that we all can do to makes us have everything is to be grateful. Once you become truely grateful, what you don’t have, people might share it with you.

I was talking with myself knowing this. “ Now you understand right? ” “ Yeah. I’m sorry. “ “ You’ll be sad if you’re on the The Living Idiot’s shoes right now. “ “ Yeah. Cause I know what it’s like to be loved around your parents “ “ Uh huh. All those attentions they gave to you. “

That day ended with a version of me who starts to care more about family. Despite the times they could be stressful too. Just try to make the most of it before it all ends and especially before it’s too late.

to be continued...

#The Living Idiot #thelivingidiot #family #life #life story #blog #diary #self lesson #learned #love your family

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myhiddenworldblog · 8 years ago

Text

The Basics of Numerology (3)

How to find your name number?

The name number is the single digit number obtained from the numerical value of the letters within your name. Letter and their numerical value:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A B C D E F G H I

J K L M N O P Q R

S T U V W X Y Z

To determine your name number, substitute the letters within your full name, with the numerical values showed above. For example

J a s m i n e L e R o u x

1+1+1+4+9+5+5+ 3+5+ 9+6+3+6 = 58

Thus 5+8=13

and 1+3=4

And so my name number is 4.

Now I know those of you who have read my work are wondering, wait a second "Your birth number is 7, but your name number is 4". And to that I reply "Exactly!" Numerology is the reason why we take a new name when we start the craft. A name that is the same number as our lifepath number/birth number. This ensures balance in name and birth.

Why does my name have to be the same number as my birth number?

Names change, addresses change, places change, but your date of birth will never change. That was the day you chose to enter the mortal realm. By acquiring a name that has the same number as your birth number, you are aligning yourself with your date of birth. You are aligning yourself to you.

How do I go about choosing a new witch name?

Choosing a new witch name is no play in the park. It can take long and be very frustrating at times, but it needs to be done. First things first, determine and be completely sure about you lifepath/birth number. Then pick a name, which if you use the numerical value system above, it will give you the same number. Example: Say your name is Joey which is 1 in name number, but your lifepath/birth number is 6. You like the name Alex. Then Alex can work since Alex is also a 6 when determining a name number. Many witches choose a herb or a person/deity from mythology or legend as a witch name. You must feel that whatever name you choose is right for you. It doesn't help you take Alex, but you don't like the name Alex, or you feel that it doesn't suit you. Often times a name you like may not be numerically correct, in such a case try a different name, change the spelling of your chosen name, or add a letter which would let it be equal to your birth number.

Note: Many religions and/or witches believe that no one but close family members or friends may know your witch name. This is based on the belief that someone who has your name, can cast a curse on you. I personally haven't told anyone except the Lord and Lady what my witch name is, even though I have plenty of active protection charms and spells keeping me safe. Other witches share their names with other witches or whoever wants to know. In the end its whether or not you feel that you want to tell others or not.

Primary Colors:

1-Red

2-Orange

3-Yellow

4-Green

5-Blue

6-Indigo

7-Violet

8-Rose

9-Gold

Secondary Colors:

1-Brown, Yellow, Gold

2-Green, Cream, White

3-Mauve, Violet, Liliac

4-Blue, Gray

5-Light shades of any color

6-All shades of Blue

7-Light shades of green and yellow

8-Dark Gray, Purple, Black

9-Red, Crimson, Pink

Advising using Numerology Now remember in the beginning I said you need 2 numbers, namely the name number and the birth number. These are really important numbers, and if you can't work these out STOP! Go up to where my other work is and learn them. In fact if you do know how to calculate them, revise them! Now lets look at me as an example. My birth number is 7. And 7 tells us that I'm: Number 7: Positive: seeker of knowledge, scientific and inventive, studious, meditating, charming, love of solitude, peaceful, perfectionist. Negative: Hidden motives, overly reserved, sarcastic, isolated, overly upset over distractions, inflexible. (Derived from the top of the article) So you know that I want a peaceful environment, I want solitude, and I should be able to obtain information from whereever I am. I also don't like change, and I'm very reserved. This means that If I tell you that I might consider moving, you know this is a big leap for me. You know that, I won't move unless I absolutely had to. Thus when I ask you something like "When should I move?" You should be able to tell me that firstly I need to take things slow. I shouldn't rush into anything, as it will upset me, or it might be too stressful. The second thing you will ask me is: "where are you moving to, and when are you moving?" I might reply with something like New York, on the 25th of April.Now what you will do is, you will say

N e w Y o r k is

5+5+5+7+6+9+2=

393+9=121+2=3

The number 3, does not match with my number 7. So you will advise me, to perhaps look at other places, which when numerology is done, I get to 7. Then I said

25/04/2014

So you will say 2+5+0+4+2+0+1+4=181+8=9

This doesn't match my birth number either, so this is not a good date to move. What you then should do, is find a date, which is the same as my birth number. If you then say okay listen, this is a bad day to move, you should rather move on the 23rd, because 2+3+0+4+2+0+1+4=16 and 1+6=7 If you also look at my Primary and Secondary colors, you could even go as far as suggesting a color corresponding with my number for decoration :) It is honestly as simple as that. It might be a little tricky when it comes to adding up, or finding a date, but in all honesty it won't get much worse than this. Now I said my thanks to you, and on the 23rd I move into my new home, and everything is just dandy and I love it, so I invite you for the house warming party. You are thrilled, but can't decide what to get me. So luckily you remember that ey, her birth number is 7. and number 7 people are usually interested in the occult

"7-Neptune(Water)

Letters: G,P,Y

Number 7 people are considered to have ESP. They are Extremely "psychic" Introverts. Number 7 people tend to know a great deal, but doesn't say much. They are mysterious beings. Knowledgeable in astrology, psychology, psychiatry, chemistry and botany. Also said to be knowledgeable in all fields of the occult. Inclined to take from those who have too much, and give to those who have none." (Derived from top of this article)Her Primary color is Violet, and her Secondary is Light shades of green and yellow. So you could for example get me a book on astrology or psychology, and wrap it in a nice Violet covering-paper. Or you can get me something for the home, as we are very "Home-Natured"in either a Violet, or a light shade of green or yellow. You can do the same if you have a friend or a family member's birth number, and you are uncertain of what to get. It will most certainly be much appreciated, and it will narrow your shopping search :) - LadyFury

The basics of Numerology part 1

The basics of Numerology part 2

#numerology #numerology basics #wicca #pagan #witchcraft #witch name #spell #grimoire

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neewtmas · 8 years ago

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{#19} basketball and tutoring // newt au (part i)

fandom: the maze runner

pairing: newt x reader

word count: 1,8k words

request: by anonymous

summary: y/n is supposed to tutor newt, a member of the school’s basketball team and also the best friend of her brother thomas, yet he never shows up, so she decides to challenge him to a basketball game.

part ii / part iii

masterlist

“Is this really necessary?”, whined Thomas, my twin brother, and trotted grumpily after me through the hallway, pulling a face as if the world was about to end.

“Yes. And by the way, this was your idea.” I stopped at my locker, pulled out a few books and waited for Thomas to take them.

Ignoring his scowl, i made my way over to my best friends Teresa and Brenda, hugged them and placed myself next to Brenda on the bench, waiting for Thomas to hand my books and my bag over.

He let it fall into my lap, before he left in the direction of his friends, or in other words, the basketball team of our high school and the most popular boys here. Don’t ask me why.

Teresa chuckled lightly as she watched Thomas walking away, now way more enthusiastic than before.

“Let me take a guess: he lost again?”

“He lost? More like i destroyed him”, i smirked and searched in my bag for my homework for the first class, “sometimes i wonder why this kid is even in the basketball team. But yes, he lost again, and now he has to carry my things the whole day, whereever i want it.”

“You should really consider joining the basketball team, Y/N”, Brenda called in, “i mean,we all know Thomas is good, maybe even the best, otherwise he wouldn’t be the team captain. And if you’re better than him…”

I shrugged. “Maybe, but i don’t want to. I love basketball, but being in the team, especially as the only girl, would draw way too much attention on myself. I prefer it how it is, only we three alone, and me occasionally playing basketball with Thomas. Anyway, i have to go to class now. See you later.”

They waved at me and then i strolled over to my lovely brother, who seemed to be rather annoyed by my appearance.

“Hey brother, i need someone to carry my bag to the next class”, i said sweetly, while handing him my bag.

“Seriously? Your next class is literally just 20 metres away?!”

“Not my problem. You should just have played better yesterday, now come on, i don’t want to be late”, i provoced him and he snatched my bag from my hand, muttering something like “I hate you” under his breath and practically ran over to my classroom, where he dropped my bag in front of the door.

I followed him slowlier and picked up my bag before walking to my seat in the middle of the room. After i put my things on the table, i sat down and pulled out my mobile to brigde the time until the teacher arrived.

During the lesson i watched my classmates, because i didn’t really needed to pay attention, this subject was pretty easy for me. I could answer every question the teacher had easily, unlike most of the students, who were just staring out of the window or sleeping on their tables.

I scribbled little doodles in the corner of my worksheet, when the teacher suddenly raised his voice. “Mister Newton, i would be delighted if you could at least pretend to pay attention to my lesson, instead of sleeping on your table. And it would also be of advantage if you would take some notes. Otherwise you may have to repeat this class,and i’m sure you don’t want that.”

I turned my head to the back of the class, where Isaac Newton or Newt, how everybody called him, sat, looking rather dazed, as if he had just woke up. He rolled his eyes and answered boredly: “Yes, Sir.”, before he yawned and closed his eyes again.

I couldn’t understand how someone could care so less about their grades, especially because i knew Newt was pretty passionate about basketball and if he had to repeat the class, he would lost his place in the team.

After class, the teacher stopped my before i could get out of the room and when Newt wanted to scuff past me to leave the teacher stopped him too.

“Miss Y/L/N, i know your pretty good in this subject and if Mister Newton doesn’t want to repeat this class, he’ll need some tutoring. It would be nice if you could help him a little bit.”

I looked over to Newt, who seemed bored by the whole conversation. I had met him briefly a few times when he was playing basketball with Thomas at our place, since they were pretty much best friends and he seemed nice, but i didn’t really knew him well.

“If he’s ok with it?”

The teacher looked at Newt who shrugged.

“Why not?”

“Great. There’s a big test in four weeks and i hope to see good results. You’re excused.”

We left the room together and i asked: “We could meet in the library after school today. Is that ok for you?”

He shrugged again. “To be honest, i don’t really care about this subject. And i have basket ball practice after school.”

I raised my eyebrows and smiled. “But this is more important, when you want to keep your place in the team. And i know that you have practice not until 4 pm. Don’t forget, my brother is in the team too. See you later in the library!”

A few days later i sat in the library and when Newt didn’t appear after a couple of minutes, i was furious. This was the third time i waited for him here and he didn’t showed up, he didn’t even excused himself. He had just let me sitting here, wasting three days and i would take drastic actions now.

I shoved my textbook in my bag and stomped angrily out of the library, ignoring the dirty look the librian gave me for disrupting the silence in the room. I had more important things to deal with.

Checking the watch, i smiled deviously. In half an hour, the basketball practice would start and Newt would be there, so it was easy for me to catch him before and teach him in the most friendly way possible to better take me seriously next time.

I sat on a bench next to the parking lot, waiting for Thomas’ car to arrive, because i knew he picked up Newt before practice everytime and when i finally spotted his car, i got and slowy walked over.

He and Newt got out of the car, chatting and laughing, and when they saw me, their happy expression turned into a confused one.

“What are you doing here, Y/N?”, Thomas asked while he got his and Newt’s gym bags out of the boot.

“Oh, i just want to talk to Newt”,i smiled and turned to Newt a frown, “Why didn’t you show up to our study sessions? I wasted three days because of you!”

He smirked at me. “Guess what? I don’t care. I don’t need any tutoring, and especially not by someone like you.”

“ Excuse me!? What means ‘someone like me’, am i not good enough for you? But guess what? I don’t care either. If you don’t show up tomorrow after school, i will make sure that you’ll lose your place in the team. And believe me, i’m serious.”

With that, i turned around and truged away, boiling with rage. Who does he think he is? Only because he’s in the basketball team, popular and most of the girls at our school are drooling over him, doesn’t mean he has a right to say something like that.

When i got home, i texted Teresa to come over and when she arrived we sat in my room on my bed and she just listened to me becoming exasperated with Newt and his aroggant attitude towards me.

“He literally said ’ I don’t need any tutoring, and especially not by someone like you’, can you believe this?! How terrible can a person be?”

Teresa smiled knowingly. “Are you sure that he is really that terrible? You two would make a cute couple, don’t you think?”

I choked. “What? Are you serious? He is a annyoing, arrogant prat and we certainly would not make a cute couple!”

Before she could answer, someone knocked at the door, then Thomas sticked his head in the door and asked: “Y/N, would you like to play a match against Newt and me? Oh, hi Teresa. Do want to play against us too? You could make a team.”

I looked at Teresa and she nodded so we got up and followed Thomas down to the backyard, where Newt was already waiting.

I had to admit he looked good, still in his basketball tricot and his hair slightly tousled, but his cocky grin made me already getting angry again. I hoped Thomas didn’t tell him how good i was, so he was now in for a surprise.

Thomas got the ball and explained: “Ok, we’re playing girls against boys, and whoever scores five points first, wins.”

Before we could start the game, Newt called in: “Is this even fair? I mean, we can’t expect two girls winning against us.”

I scoffed and Thomas said: “You’ve never seen my sister play basketball, haven’t you? She’s even better than me, believe me it won’t be easy to win.”

Newt looked at me and arched his eyebrows, obviously not believing Thomas, but i was determined to show him how good i was.

No one except of Newt was really surprised that we won. It had been almost too easy, because Newt had totally underestimated my basketball skills. And by the time he had actually started to play and tried to win against me i had already made four points for the girls team and the last point wasn’t really difficult to score either.

He looked pretty impressed, but he said with a cheeky grin: “Of course we let you win. There’s know way you would have won if this was an actual game.” I raised both eyebrows.

“Sure. Just make sure you’re not forgetting our study session tomorrow. I think you want to keep your place in the team, especially because you definitely need to practice a bit before you could play an actual game against me.”

He smiled wider and layed an arm around my shoulder while we were walking towards the house, where Thomas and Teresa sat in the kitchen.

“Of course i’m not forgetting this. I’m looking forward to our little study date.” I almost choked and felt heat rising to my cheeks. “Date? Really? A few hours ago you thought i was a nerd and not good enough for you.”

He chuckled. “You are a nerd. But i cute one, and i definitely underestimated your basketball skills, so i think we’ll have a lot of fun together.”

thanks for reading:) want to request something?

#newt #tmr newt #newt x reader #tmr newt x reader #tmr x reader #tmr imagine #tmr #tst #tdc #neewtmas

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woodworkingpastor · 7 years ago

Text

Radical Attachment; Ruth 1 Sunday, June 10, 2018

Call to Worship

The kingdom of God is coming because:

somewhere, someone is kind when others are unkind,

somewhere, someone shares with another in need,

somewhere, someone refuses to hate, while others hate,

somewhere, someone is patient - and waits in love,

somewhere, someone returns good for evil,

somewhere, someone serves another, in love,

somewhere, someone is calm in a storm,

somewhere, someone is loving everybody.

Is that someone you?

Radical Attachment, Ruth 1

Some years ago I was sitting out on my front sidewalk in my favorite chair, reading a book. As I sat there I saw a familiar sight: a young couple walked up the sidewalk; she was pushing a baby in a stroller; he was walking a large dog.

I could see they were having a conversation, but it wasn’t clear what they were talking about until I heard him say “You said you wanted to walk. So that’s what we’re doing.” He received “the look” in return! I thought to myself, “Dude, when you hit rock bottom, don’t start looking around for a shovel!” For the wife, this wasn’t about a walk; it was about being together.

You can overcome a lot in life if you can spend it with another person; that’s a significant piece of what Ruth is about. The trick with Ruth, however, is that in order to understand the message, we must recognize that this is more than just a nice story.

The story is set in the time of the Judges, a time when violence becomes a main method of choice for solving problems on the national level. You might be familiar with the stories of Deborah, and Gideon, and Samson; each one led military campaigns to throw off an invading nation.

Ruth shows us a different option; one where two powerless women achieved significant security, simply by sticking together and being willing to go against what was culturally acceptable. It is a reminder to us that the Bible is neither prissy nor safe, and we should always be prepared to be both challenged and offended.

Perilous times

The book of Ruth begins in rather perilous circumstances; tragedy befalls this family at every turn.

Ruth 1:1 tells us that Elimelech and Naomi’s family are economic refugees; there is no bread in Bethlehem, a fact that is tragically ironic because the name “Bethlehem” literally means the “house of bread.” They went there because they no longer believed that God could provide for them in Bethlehem.

In verse 3, the situation goes from bad to worse. Elimelech dies; leaving Naomi in a precarious situation. A widow in a foreign country with no extended family, no tribe, to protect her could easily become a victim of abuse, violence, starvation.

Verse 4 introduces us to the third tragedy: Ruth’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion, take Moabite wives: Orpah and Ruth. It is likely lost on us how this is a tragedy. It has to do with the fact that Moab was a hated national enemy of Israel. Young Hebrew men were told to not marry foreign women, and to especially not marry Moabite women. From a social-religious standpoint, this was the worst decision they could make; it makes Romeo and Juliet sound like a children’s tale.

Finally in verse 5 we learn that Naomi’s sons die, leaving her stranded in a foreign land with two foreign daughters-in-law.

In just five short verses the author creates a scenario that is rooted in total hopelessness. This is a story that is filled with one tragedy after another. There is nothing about these events that is fair. No one had done anything wrong to “deserve” such treatment. It simply reflects an experience of life that we know to be true but surely wish wasn’t: life can be terribly unfair at times. We do everything right, everything we’re supposed to do, and end up with nothing but the wreckage of unrealized dreams and broken plans and painful relationships.

Acknowledging this is one of the things Hannah did so well in her sermon last Sunday; wondering how it is that life can go so badly for no apparent reason; wondering where God is in the midst of all of that. The fact that her sermon was also a personal testimony added significantly to it’s impact. What we almost certainly don’t give enough attention to is that this question of suffering is one of the major topics of the Bible. It’s a topic of many of the Psalms, and of Job, and of Ecclesiastes, and it appears in a number of forms in the Gospels.

The Book of Ruth takes on a lot of topics along the way, and the question of suffering is one of them. Ruth give us one answer to how we can navigate these struggles.

Biblical faithfulness

After the series of tragedies in verses 1-5, Naomi decides to return home, and in verse 8 she does a very logical thing: she releases the younger women from any further obligation, wishing them God’s abundant blessing and security as they return home. It was the right thing to do.

The only problem is, Ruth won’t go back to her parents. She elects to stay with Naomi. This is when we hear these beautiful words that Ruth is known for:

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).

As before, what adds to the beauty of these words is the context: Ruth had no one to look out for her future or her present safety in Bethlehem. Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Ruth was one person who looked the situation square in the eye and made the decision that she knew would make her life more difficult.

When it comes to the question of suffering, one of the answers God has given to us is the gift of one another. If we are living out our baptismal vows faithfully, then when the disasters of life land on our doorstep, we know that our brothers and sisters in Christ won’t be far behind. They will be there to help us pick up the pieces, or let us cry on their shoulder, or just sit in silence when there are no words that will suffice.

And that’s a magnificent thing, if that’s all there was to the story. But remember a few moments ago that I told you the book of Ruth is neither prissy nor safe. The context of the story is significant here, because Ruth is also a person whom the original audience would have been certain that God would not use. Everything was “wrong” about her: she was a Moabite widow. In her day, everyone “knew” that God wouldn’t do anything through this woman.

So what we have to do to fully appreciate what God is doing in Ruth is in our mind have Ruth be someone we can’t imagine God wanting to use. Who is that person? It might be someone who has a Confederate flag in their front yard; it might be someone with a rainbow flag in their front yard; someone who voted for Obama; someone who voted for Trump. Someone who is gay. Someone who has cheated you at every possible moment. It might be that in today’s language, Elimelech and his family went to Iran or Iraq or Russia or North Korea. Whoever and whereever is outside of God’s blessing in your mind, that is your Ruth, and that is your Moab.

But be careful, because by the end of the story, the person that you know God will not use ends up in the genealogy of King David, and in the genealogy of Jesus. It is fascinating to consider that Ruth lived just a few generations later, she would not have been permitted to enter the temple, yet out of her blood line (as recorded in Matthew 1) would come the Most Holy One himself.

The bread and cup of communion point us toward these things. God delights in using the “wrong” people because each of us at one point in our life was on the wrong side of God’s grace. But we were welcomed home, not just to take a walk like the young man on the sidewalk in front of our house some years ago, but so we might be radically attached to one another, and through those deep, significant attachments to one another we might demonstrate to others that the tragedies of life can be overcome through the great love we have for one another, even if it means that some of us end up being a bit like Ruth and our lives are actually more difficult because we’ve chosen to be loyal to Christ and the church.

Ruth shows us what can happen when someone chooses loyalty and sacrifice over comfort and ease. Our participation in communion is our affirmation to say with God and one another, “May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

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dmmowers · 8 years ago

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While we were God’s enemies A sermon for Trinity Episcopal Church, Baraboo, Wis. II Sunday after Pentecost | Year A, Track 2 | June 18, 2017 Exodus 19:2-8a | Psalm 100 | Romans 5:1-11** | Matthew 9:35-10:8 **expanded from RCL reading A short time ago in a place not so far away, the Internet hadn’t been invented yet and people actually read newspapers. Actually, the Internet had been invented, but other than the almost weekly America Online CD arriving in our mail promising 12 free hours of internet, I had limited contact with the Internet. I was in middle school. My family had finally gotten a ten year old computer a couple years before, but it wasn’t really fast enough to do anything other than type homework. Those of you who are younger than I am must be thinking, "What did you do? How did life have any meaning?"

So I spent a lot of time reading the newspaper. I grew up in a town several times smaller than Baraboo, a place called Kirkland, Illinois. At that time there was a daily newspaper that covered my town and the next two towns over. The Genoa-Kingston-Kirkland News. We didn't take the GKK News because my mom said there was nothing interesting in it. But there was something interesting in it. The police blotter. Anyone who had been arrested in the previous couple of days, or anytime the police did something interesting, a paragraph's worth of the police report would be listed in the paper. When I was maybe a freshman in high school, I saw that high school senior I looked up to was arrested for going more than 100mph on a country road near our town. My dad didn’t like one of our neighbors much, a plumber whose primary hobbies were raising Great Danes and getting really drunk and bellowing in his yard. When he got a DWI, I read about it in the police blotter. Most scandalously of all, I clearly remember seeing not only the police blotter but front page headlines when the mother of one of my classmates was found dead in a field not far from her home. Shortly thereafter, her husband was charged with her murder. It took nearly two full years before the case went to trial and the husband was found not guilty by a jury.

I was not someone who was likely to land in the police blotter. And yet the police blotter gave me endless hours of fascination, mostly, I think, because it helped me to feel like I was better than the people who were listed there. The guy speeding down a country road? What an idiot. I'm so much smarter than that. The rude neighbor who got a DWI? He had it coming to him. How could he act like that in front of his own children? The dad who got indicted for murder in the death of his wife? Well, he might have literally gotten away with murder. Sure, I might have disobeyed my parents or been churlish or gotten a minor speeding ticket, but I wasn't going around actually killing people. I was a better person than those people. I was superior to those people. Wasn't I?

Starting with this Sunday, we begin the Season after Pentecost. The altar hangings and my vestments change to green, and our observance of Eastertide and Trinity Sunday are over, and the Scripture readings give us major stories from the New Testament, stories about Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew, and, this year, the reading of the majority of Paul's letter to the Romans in the New Testament reading. So, for today and for the next 13 weeks, the sermons you'll hear from this pulpit will focus on the reading from Romans, including one next week while I am away from Deacon Paul Trigleth, and also hopefully one in that time from Bishop Miller if we can get on his schedule.

Because of where Easter fell this year, we pick up the readings in Romans chapter 5, which is in the middle of Paul's argument. In most Episcopal Churches, you don’t hear as much preaching from Paul as from the gospels, and sometimes that is because people find Paul difficult to understand. Because we’re starting in the middle of his argument, I want to lay the groundwork of what’s come before our reading in Romans so that we can get a better sense of what we’ve heard read this morning. Paul begins his letter to these Christians in Rome by pointing out wicked people in the world, who by their actions reject faith in Jesus Christ. These are the people you find in the police blotter. They are the murderers, the evil, the inventors of evil, the foolish, heartless and ruthless. They are people we compare ourselves to because we know that we are superior to them.

But just as quickly as we might get ready to say such a thing, Paul turns the tables on those of us who think that we’re basically good people. "You have no excuse, whoever you are, when you pass judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the same thing." Those of us who think of ourselves as superior to those wicked people over there are actually, Paul says, in need of our own column in the police blotter. He goes on to say that we are all bound by the power of sin.

Sin is a loaded word because it has lost all meaning in our culture today. When people today say that something is sinful, that either means that it's an unbelievably delicious dessert or else it's something sexual. This doesn't get at what Paul means at all. Paul also doesn’t primarily mean individual sins, the ones that you and I commit. Paul describes sin as an active force at work in our world to destroy the creatures of God. Every person, Jew or Gentile, righteous or unrighteous, is bound to the force of Sin -- we are slaves to this power. Sin causes us to commit individual sins which bring destruction. Because every person is bound to the power of sin – not only those who get indicted for murder or who do heinous evil – every person is subject to the judgment of God. God doesn't judge sin because he's an angry God, far removed from us and sitting on a cloud, just waiting for us to not put enough money in the collection plate so he can zap us. God judges Sin because Sin is out to destroy the creatures he loves. His anger towards sin is motivated by his love for us and for this world. God judges sin because Sin’s destruction robs people of their lives and their hopes, and God’s judgment lifts up those who sin has struck down. We cannot free ourselves from the power of Sin, and so we all stand under God’s good judgment.

II.

What Paul tells us in the first part of the book of Romans is not what we Americans like to tell ourselves. We like to believe that we have freedom, that there is no such thing as sin - or if there is, it's something that isn't relevant to real life. But actually, the power of sin is the subject of most of the stories we read in the newspaper. When we see the cruelty that exists in our world, the way that people can treat each other, there is something deep within us that cries out that a wrong has been done and we must receive justice. That is the way we respond when we see sin.

Last week, the Facebook page Baraboo Scanner reported that someone had called for an ambulance for a young woman in Columbia County who was overdosing on heroin. A woman, made in the image of God, someone's daughter, someone's sister, trapped by the power of Sin in an addiction she can no longer control. Because that's what the power of Sin does: we think we are making the choice to commit individual sins, but we are in fact trapped by the power of Sin, made a slave to the power of Sin. The story of this woman was briefly shared by a media outlet on Facebook, and commenters there showed that they, too, are bound by the power of sin. One said that this was simply natural selection at work; another said that they hoped that the authorities would take their time in getting there. The superiority that the Roman Christians felt towards the wicked people around them, transported 21 centuries later and on display for all of Baraboo to see.

I was disturbed, as were many of you, by the shooting at the Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, VA early this week. Not only did you have a deranged man totally given over to the destructive forces of Sin and Death, you also had the aftermath, where a handful of politicians tried to pin the shooting on the rhetoric of the other party. Thankfully, most chose the high road, but there were more than a couple who said that this was all Donald Trump's fault, or that this was what you get from supporters of Bernie Sanders. The shooting itself was clearly and obviously a sinful act. But when we take sides and try to pin blame on the other people, you can bet that the power of sin is at work. Whereever people justify their own actions by judging the wrong actions of other people, you can bet that the power of sin is at work.

III.

And so we come to the reading this morning. What is to be done about this human tendency to lash out at others, this Christian tendency to think of ourselves as morally superior to those people in the police blotter? What is to be done is the gospel. "While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." For the ungodly. Paul says that Jesus came to die not for the Pharisees, not for the buttoned up, put-together Jewish leadership. He came to die for the folks in the police blotter. He came to be crucified, to undergo a method of execution invented specifically to be degrading. In so doing, he conquered the power of Sin in our world. Sin is still fighting in the world, but it has lost the war. "[Jesus' death] is an invasion from on high. The landing troops have arrived. Neutrality is no longer possible. Satan is slashing and burning, but he is in retreat. His time will come. There is no longer any room for self-deception, excuses, denial or evasion, for as C.S. Lewis puts it, 'Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.' It is the Lord Jesus Christ who disarms us."[Rutledge, Not Ashamed of the Gospel, 69]. The Lord Jesus Christ disarms us by dying for us when we were still his enemies.

Much was rightly made this week of the self-sacrifice of the two Capitol Police officers, Crystal Griner and David Bailey, who were wounded in the attack at the congressional baseball practice. In moments like this shooting, we are used to stories of heroism from first responders and bystanders. It makes sense to us that Agents Griner and Bailey might be called to put themselves in harm's way for the people they were to protect. That is not what happened with Jesus at all. Instead of dying for the people he was supposed to protect, Jesus Christ died for his enemies. Instead of the Capitol Police putting themselves on the line for congressmen and their families, Jesus' death is like the Capitol Police putting themselves in harm's way in order to save Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. Not only that, but Jesus died not just so that his enemies would go on living, but so that his enemies would be reconciled to God. That word reconciled means that those enemies would have their relationship with God healed. It also means that God would make them reconciled within themselves. God would fix everything that was broken about them. The gospel is that Jesus Christ died for the enemies of God, so that those enemies would become children of God, and that those enemies would be justified -- that everything about them that had been affected by the power of sin would be rebuilt. In so doing, Jesus broke the power of Sin - he won the war against Sin and stripped it of its power, and began the invasion that will result one day in the end of all cruelty in our world.

IV.

As we learn about Jesus and about the world that he rules over, we find our that we are in fact participants in a war that Jesus has already won. The war is over, but the battle with Sin is ongoing. The beaches of Normandy have been stormed, the invasion is underway, the victory is in sight - and yet the power of Sin and Death still works in our world. Every time we look around us and see terrible things happening in the world, we have the opportunity to look ahead with hope, to say that yes, we are at war and yes, there have been casualties. Yes, Sin is still at work in our world to destroy us and everyone we love. And yet, we put our trust in a God who came to rescue his enemies, who came to win over all of the unwitting participants from the other side into his glorious Kingdom of Peace.

This is not the way our world thinks, and, I have to confess to you, all too often not the way that I think. Several days each week, I go to a workout here in town that begins at 5am. We get done by 6, and as I came out of the workout huffing and puffing and feeling great because I had finished the workout even though it was difficult, I looked across the street. There was a house in disrepair, and three adults, a man and two women, were in the front yard of the house setting up a net. As I watched for a moment, I could tell by the way they looked that they had all lived hard lives, that they all looked much older than were. They finished setting up their net and they began to play badminton at 6am. That was the moment when I realized that they were high.

I wish I could tell you that my first thought was that those people are made in God's image, and I should walk over and say hello. I wish I could tell you that I didn't think about my hard workout and sweaty clothes and compare them to their shabby clothes and their cigarettes and their off-kilter laughter. I wish my first thought was something other than, “Someone should do something about these people and their drugs.” But I didn't, because I am a broken human being, just like them. In that moment, I was an enemy of God, I was the most wanted poster in the post office, I was the entry in the police blotter.

But despite that there is one thing I know. Because Jesus Christ came and died for me, his enemy, my baptism began a new story. A story where I don't assume that the names in the police blotter come from the drug house with the badminton net. A story where I don't divide "good neighborhoods" from "bad neighborhoods." A story where I don't assume that Christians are morally superior to other people, because I know that without Jesus, we all would have remained enemies of God. A story that allows me to make mistakes, to confess my sins and receive forgiveness, and live life in a different way.

Notice one final thing: Jesus Christ dies for his enemies with no conditions. Jesus doesn't insist that they get themselves off heroin first. He doesn't tell them that they've got to clean up their act to make themselves good before he will die for them. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," Paul says. While we were a mess, while the world was cruel, while we were cruel, Christ died for us. May God give each of us the grace this day to lay down our arms, to place our trust in his cause and to carry this scandalous gospel to all of His enemies who will hear it.

Amen.

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