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long-live-astronerd-ghost-king · 8 months

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DPXDC prompt ~ Honor to Us All ~ Gotham as one true the most haunted city edition

~~~~~

Instead of a welcoming banner in front of a city was an old column, so familiar to a boy, with a warning inscription:

"To outsiders mad enough to attack Gotham: You will be forced to understand that dead soldiers will also go into battle. And having risen to protect, they will be ready to perish all again, So no one of the living would die near them."

Danny smiled with love. 'I’m home, Mother.' Ghost whispered into the void. And Gotham answered.

~~~~

Danny: My Lady, I brought you the crown of Pariah Dark. And The Ring of Rage. They’re gifts to honor the Gotham family. Lady Gotham: The greatest gift and honor is having you on my side, child.

~~~~~

Danny Fenton was born in Gotham and lived here until his parents decided to move. The city didn’t accept them.

'When I die, I want to be one of the Gotham Knights.' Little Danny with pride and eagerly reported to his parents after visiting the Battle Glory of Gotham Museum on a school trip. This evening, Danny learned that not all his plans should be told to his parents.

Danny know his parents are crazy about ghosts. and that all ghosts are "bad". But obviously, the ghosts they talk about, and his, or rather Gotham's, ghosts are completely different creatures. The spirits of the defenders are those who, even in the darkest of times, make the shadows of the Gotham a protection to the citizens.

But that knowledge is his little secret for now. Because if he starts arguing he’ll be punished and he won’t be able to run off to the roof where he’s arranged to meet Robin. Robin’s cool! He works with one of the 'still-living' knights. And he knows more about the city than anyone. Danny doesn’t want to offend his friend.

~~~~~

Mr Lancer doesn’t understand why the lecturer about ghosts, Constantine, after seeing Danny, said something about the bloody gothamites and their inability to stay underground. It wasn’t nice at all. Mr Lancer doesn’t blame Mr Fenton for smiling at the man a little aggressive and viciously. Poor boy probably didn’t know how to respond to his behavior. Danny moved to Amity Park a long time ago and did not stand out at all. So what was this man’s problem?

Danny only half dies because Lady Gotham blessed him when he was a child. So when Danny sees snow-white hair and glowing green eyes in the mirror, he is not frightened but surprised that the Lady protected him even though he is not living in Gotham now.

~~~~~

Danny knows gothamites don’t consider that Gotham is a part of the USA. Even their Metropolis neighbors are just pathetic cowards, unable to withstand the hardships of life. No, really. Why the hell would they be patriots of the country that thinks they’re its dirty secret? This opinion is shared by old ones and children, rich ones and residents of Crime Alley, heroes and villains.

Danny loves Gotham. And he likes local jokes about how if one of their supervillains ever took power enough to threaten the government, he would be obliged to release them from that citizenship. Otherwise, he would be shamed and ridiculed by the inhabitants.

Phantom is not a villain. But for Gotham? For their common purpose? He is ready to pretend to be.

~ A ghost can bring his city ~ Great honor in one way ~

Gothamites remember that the child of mad scientists was the only person Boy Wonder was willing to call a friend. They remember how boys' laughter was heard from rooftops and from alleys on particularly dark nights. And they know whose restless spirit has returned to mourn the death of the second Robin.

The boy’s parents must be fools. Many outsiders are. They call their blessing a curse. People die in Gotham. And not all of them come back. Residents know that these ones are chosen by Lady Gotham herself.

The public enemy of Amity Park number 1? What nonsense. He is not theirs anything! In Gotham they will accept the Phantom as a guard, as a silent shadow, as a villain or a hero. In any kind. Because he belongs here. He should be part of their dance between life and death. He should be amidst dark alleys and acid rains, gliding between fear and laughter in the air.

Even local villains experience strange yearning. Like something’s wrong. Like a piece of a puzzle that’s lost. Therefore, the local abandoned observatory is empty, and none of them is in a hurry to call it their territory. Because it will be in demand, it will be loved and needed. It’s only a matter of time.

Let the spirit of Gotham guide you home, child. Dead gothamite is still gothamite. Which means there will always be a place for you.

~~~~~

When Danny first enters his favorite cafe in his Phantom form and with a wound on his leg, he doesn’t expect a cleaning lady to yell at him immediately for the blood on the floor. With a mop in his hands and with already bandaged leg, Danny feels as if all his worries had gone. They are not afraid of him. Of course. No one in Gotham would avoid him because of glowing eyes and sharp teeth. And that’s nice.

The waitress throws a tray of food on a table next to him: Welcome dinner for the wandering son of the alley. Red Hood said it's your usual order. He’ll be waiting for you on the gargoyle. You should know which one.

~~~~

If parents listened to his childhood stories about good ghosts, they would know that the Phantom is not special. He is not an anomaly of ghost nature and not a mistake. He is one of many who always were and will be defenders of the city. Danny stands in front of the costume that he admired years ago. He's ready to take another shift at work. The remains of his colleagues can rest quietly this night. Lady will wake them only when in dire need.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dpxdc prompt #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc memes #dp x dc #dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #dc x dp crossover

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mybeingthere · 4 months

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SISTER GERTRUDE MORGAN, 1900 - 1980, born in Alabama, USA.

“I guess my paintings spread the word; they represent something. They get me a living, of course, and help out the mission here … I am a missionary of Christ before I’m an artist. Give all the fame to some other artist. I work for the Lord. Now don’t forget to give Him credit.”

A street preacher who became an artist, poet, and musician, Sister Gertrude Morgan was guided throughout her life by visions from God. Her artistic talent was a conduit to express her religious fervor and illustrate her teachings. Self-taught, Morgan created artworks when the Spirit moved her, using found materials such as cardboard, window shades, wood, signs, and more. Her imaginative compositions often incorporated text to emphasize important themes or to cite Scripture verses. Later in her career after 1970, Morgan devoted the majority of her paintings to biblical scenes from the Book of Revelation, which focuses on the second coming of Christ. Her recurring imagery depicts the Book of Revelation’s theme of the New Jerusalem, which represents the Holy City for Christ’s followers and the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Morgan’s interpretations of this abstract, spiritual concept often include a large multistory building shown in cross section to reveal empty chambers and Christ preparing for His marriage to Sister Gertrude, as shown in New Jerusalem Court and Untitled (New Jerusalem). “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Born on April 7, 1900, to a poor rural family in LaFayette, Morgan moved to New Orleans in 1939 to begin her missionary work as a singing street preacher and soon joined the Holiness and Sanctified denomination, a church where the services praised God through music and dancing. In the early 1940s, Morgan adopted the title “Sister” when she worked with two other street missionaries, Mother Margaret Parker and Sister Cora Williams. The three women built a chapel and opened a children’s shelter; the center closed down when it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1965. Morgan then moved to St. Bernard Parish where she became a nurse to a woman whose house later became Morgan’s Everlasting Gospel Mission.

– Vicki Phung Smith

https://www.juxtapoz.com/.../outsider-artist-gertrude.../

https://www.bridgeprojects.com/art.../sister-gertrude-morgan

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punk4ndisorderly · 11 months

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light on

The one where Y/N is the daughter of a legendary Team USA coach and used to attend the development program with the boys. 8 years after they last saw each other in person, a reunion brings Jack and Y/N back into each other’s lives... and hearts.

if you leave the light on, i'll leave the light on

II III - america's suitehearts IV

Cole and Alex hadn’t stopped laughing since they had climbed into the car, the blond one doing the best he could to control his breathing. Y/N gave them a stern look, ignoring their jesters as she zoned out.

Thinking about it, she didn’t remember ever seeing Jack that flustered, and she had known him since they were angsty teens living and breathing hockey. What had gotten into him? He looked really good in a suit, though. If she were to be honest, he looked good in almost everything.

“Poor Rowdy, I could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating for a second.” Alex said in between breaths.

“Even I had to get it together after I took a look at Y/N's boobs in that dress. Respectfully, Junior... Damn!” Cole agreed.

“You’re all very funny, I get it. Can you stop making fun of the poor guy now? He’s clearly hurting and you’re being mean spirited.”

“What do you mean, ‘mean spirited’? Haven’t you heard of the saying 'the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else´, or something like that?”

“You did not just say that, Turc.”

“Oh, but he did, princess.” Cole chuckled, not even flinching at the sight of the death glare Y/N sent his way.

 Inside the main gym, the prospects and their the ones tjey gave their spare tickets to were already filling up their seats at the different tables scattered across it, waiting for the alumni to arrive.

Jack was the first one to climb out of the car, unbuttoning his suit jacket and taking a minute to get over the embarrassing moment he had just experienced back in the hotel.

Walking through the door, he was left stunned yet again by the way she looked. The vivid image of Y/N Y/L/N in a red dress that was still burning in his brain did not do her justice. She walked up to him, a worried look on her face.

“Are you okay?” the doctor inquired, her beautiful eyes filled with genuine concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.” he waved it off, quickly changing the subject. “Didn’t I tell you you would look great?”

“Thank you.” she smiled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

 “Look at them! They’re acting like a couple of middle school kids, I don’t get it.” Trevor huffed, watching the two of his friends interact.

“They’re good friends, Z. She has a daughter and he just got out of a long-term relationship. You can’t really expect them to jump into something new all of a sudden. The spark is definitely there and I teased them about it already, but if anything happens, it’s going to be on their terms.” Cole chimed in, taking a sip of the mocktail he had picked up from the refreshments table.

“When did you become Dr. Phil?”

“Olive kept me up crying for a week during that storm last year and all that was on at 4 am at home were reruns of Oprah and Dr. Phil… I picked up a thing or two.” he shrugged.

“Jacko!” they heard Alex call out from behind them and jogging to meet their friends, bursting their little bubble. “You are both cordially invited to the midnight ice cream run. Tonight. At, you know, midnight.”

The pair looked at each other, remembering the conversation they had earlier at the hotel.

“I think I’m going to pass, Turc. Sorry. Very early flight, long hours on a plane, dying to get some rest.” Y/N politely declined.

“Guess that’s just you, me and Z then, buddy!”

“Did you stop to consider the fact that I might actually want to sleep during the night?”

“What are you, ninety?” Alex stuck his tongue out at him, strutting off to check which table was the one he was assigned to.

“Sometimes I wonder why I surround myself with a bunch of five-year-olds.” the brunette man chuckled.

“Tell me about it.”

The room was buzzing in anticipation, longing for the prodigal alumni, especially Jack Hughes, to make their entrance. He could feel all eyes on him, which he could name as one of the things he disliked the most about his found stardom. The pro player greeted the teenagers sat at the table he was sitting in, making small conversation, looking over to where Y/N was instinctively.

He could feel the young girls' eyes on him and he assumed they were probably waiting for him to tell them something they probably already knew. Jack stopped chewing the small piece of bread he was eating, raising his eyebrow.

“Do I have something on my face?” he inquired, scratching his scruff.

They instantly shook their heads, a few giggles escaping their mouths as their boyfriends frowned beside them.

“They're waiting for you to spill the tea on the highly anticipated Jack-Y/N reunion. Your line is us boys about...Coach Y/L/N plays us the tape of you guys scrimmaging every year.” one of them, a redhead with freckles, explained.

“Oh.” he cleared his throat, straightening up in his chair. “It’s always cool to hang out with my linemate.” he winked. “It’s good to be back here and getting to meet you guys as well. Also, if you ever get your hands on that tape, promise me you’ll delete it.”

The group of young girls swooned over his ever-growing charm and playful smile, the boys equally as charmed.

* “Y/N, we found some pictures of the boys when they were little and we wanted to know if you could figure out who they are.” a blonde girl requested, avoiding meeting her eyes.

“Sure, I love a good throwback.” she smiled warmly, taking the phone the girl was holding out for her. “Oh, this one’s way too easy. Cole. Sophmore year trip to the Rocky Mountains. He had just gotten his braces and was adamant on not showing his teeth to anyone.

“You’re right.” the girl beamed, quickly letting go of his shyness. “You can swipe left, now.”

“Aw, that’s me! Really cool pigtails, hu?” she giggled, nudging one of the boys with her elbow. “Mmm… This is a good one… Is this… Z?”

The girls all nodded in unison, surprised she recognized them when all the pictures were at least twenty years old. Y/N felt quite proud of herself, swiping every time she got it right with a smirk. She stopped to look at the one that came up next with a little bit more attention, taking in the details. There stood an approximately five-year-old Jack, no front teeth, grinning mischievously and winking at the camera, making finger guns.

“Oh, it’s impossible not to know who it is! It’s sweet baby Jacky!” she chuckled, zooming in on his face. “Hey, Rowdy! Hughes! Jack!”

His head snapped up to where he heard his name being called from, seeing Y/N waving him over excitedly. He smiled at his dinner dates apologetically.

“If you’ll excuse me, I think my partner wants to have a word with me. I’ll be right back.” the brunette man said, standing up and walking up to Y/N's table. “What’s up?” he asked, trying to avert his eyes from her plunging neckline.

“Look at this! You look so cute in your little cowboy suit! Wasn’t this taken at the Halloween party back in first grade? When you tried to convince your mom to rent a pony?”

“You remember that?” he replied, surprised at how good her memory was.

“Of course I do, you adorable nerd, your mom's stories have always been incredibly memorable.” the doctor cooed, her smile only widening more as she looked at the picture again.

“That’s a really embarrassing photo… And memory.” Jack blushed, scratching the back of his head.

“Don’t forget Ellen posted pictures of you in a honeybee costume on social media.” Trevor pointed out from the table next to Y/N.

“Dude, seriously?” the Devils' player grumbled, much to his friend’s delight.

“I live to annoy the shit out of you, brother.” Trevor grinned before realizing what he had said and slapping his hand over his mouth. ”I’m sorry, kids. Swear words are bad words! Don't tell Coach."

The whole table laughed at their interaction, one of the girls speaking up before Aleksander went back to his table.

“We didn’t find those honeybee pictures online but we do have a very interesting photo of you as a newborn that is circulating around social media, we were just about to show it to Y/N.”

“Oh god, please don’t.” he begged, looking mortified.

The girls nodded, giggling, not wanting to go against the handsome man’s wishes.

“Hey! I want to see that picture!” Y/N pouted, standing up to face him, crossing her arms over her chest, accidentally making her breasts stand out even more.”

“Pouting isn’t going to cut it, sweetheart.” he sang, turning his back on her to avoid letting his eyes rake down her body again.

“Party pooper!” the doctor called out, earning a few amused looks from her old friends and the guests.

He chuckled, sitting back down at his table.

“So, where were we?”

He tensed up at her proximity, but quickly relaxed when he noticed how content she seemed to be while doing it, like she had many times before, during long hours studying tapes, back in the day.

“I still want to see the picture, you know…” she teased, looking up at him with puppy eyes.

“It’s awful.”

“I have some pretty embarrassing childhood pictures myself… Come on.”

“You’re not giving up, are you?”

“Nope.” she grinned sheepishly.

“Promise you won’t laugh.” Jack requested, dead serious.

“I won’t!” Y/N crossed her heart, turning on her seat, waiting expectantly for him to show her the dreaded photograph.

“Well…” he began, grabbing his phone from the pocket of his suit jacket and looking it up. “Here it is. A newborn Jack Hughes.”

“Oh… Wow.” the doctor stuttered, not knowing what else to say.

“I wasn’t turning heads back then, no sir.” the pro player solemnly declared, his words laced with humor.

“That’s a terrible thing to say about a baby!” Y/N swatted at his arm, struggling to keep a straight face. “Even when the baby…”

“Looks like an elderly alien?”

“At least you lived up to the name Rowden for once.”

They both burst into laughter, not being able to hold it in and earning themselves a few stares from their fellow alumni.

“We’re terrible people.” she joked, gently placing her hand on his shoulder as she used her other hand to wipe a single tear that had escaped her eyes and struggling to catch her breath.

Just then, Trevor walked past them, wearing a powder blue suit with a huge red stain on the crotch area. Jack looked at Y/N and they completely lost it again. Their friend stopped to look at the pair, bewildered by their sudden amusement.

“Assholes.” he mumbled, leaving them to find the nearest bathroom.

They made it to the hotel in twenty minutes, every single one of them going straight to their rooms after saying goodnight to each other.

Y/N managed to unzip her dress herself, after numerous attempts, and hung it up in the closet, taking another quick shower to relax and get ready for bed, putting on an old band t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants. She brushed her teeth and let her hair down, running her hands through it, before texting her mom to kiss Joey goodnight for her and lying down to sleep.

As comfortable as the bed was, she struggled to fall asleep. She tossed and turned for at least two hours and a half, eventually deciding to just wait it out, staring at the ceiling with an arm over her head. The doctor used to suffer from a really bad case of insomnia back in camp and it seems like she was doomed to another sleepless night in Plymouth.

Annoyed and sleep deprived, Y/N did the only thing she could think of: getting up, picking up her room key and walking down the hall, mindlessly roaming around, hoping her eyes eventually grew heavy. At least that used to work.

As she was turning for yet another lap around the quiet floor, she bumped into someone.

“Shit! I’m so sorry!” she whispered, not trying to cause a commotion. “Jack?”

The brunette man rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, nodding in response.

“What are you doing out here at three o’clock in the morning?”

“I could ask you the exact same thing, Miss Y/L/N.”

“Plymouth induced insomnia.” Y/N shrugged.

“Oh… Same, I guess… Remember that one trip to Canada we went on when we stayed up walking around the halls until Coach caught us and tried to give us the sex talk?”

"Oh my god, that was so embarrassing! I can’t believe he thought we were hooking up! I was wearing my pink bunny pj’s and my retainer... Come on!” she laughed quietly, looking up at him.

“It was the first time we really talked one-on-one, no pads, no rink. I really enjoyed it.”

“Sleep deprivation sure did make great friends out of us.” she nudged his side. “My dad's not here though, he can’t keep us from fighting this together now.” the doctor winked. 

“This isn’t working, is it?” he sighed, desperate for a couple of hours of sleep.

“I don’t think so…” Y/N half-smiled, stopping in front of her door.

“Well… It was worth a try. Good night, Mess.”

“You can come in if you want, if we’re not getting any sleep at least we can be miserable together.” she offered. “It’s okay. Come on in.”

The doctor opened the door and stepped aside, letting him in. His tall frame towered over her as he walked past her. Jack was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts that attracted attention to his (very) attractive backside. Y/N averted her eyes, shaking the thought of his sculpted body out of her head.

“I’ll turn on the tv, Cole told me we can stream shows here.” she said, climbing back into bed, and pointed to the other side of it, noting Jack awkwardly standing in the middle of the room. “You can lay here, the bed’s big enough for both of us. Hell, we could probably squeeze Z in here with us if we wanted.” she teased, a playful glint in her eyes.

Y/N looked at her, the woman who could pull off a sensual red dress and a band tee and no make-up in the same night without losing an ounce of her incredible sex-appeal, wondering what the Universe was trying to do to him.

“So… How I Met Your Mother?” her voice brought him back to reality.

“Mmm… Sure.”

They remained quiet for a while, watching the episode and occasionally letting out a chuckle or two, Jack finally felt like he could relax around her. It was Y/N after all. There was no reason for him to act like a sixteen-year-old with a crush.

“Barney’s pick-up lines would never work on anyone in real life.” she spoke up, ten minutes into the episode. “They only work in theory… And in really corny romantic comedies.”

“I’m afraid I have to disagree with you.”

“Excuse me?” the doctor pretended to be stunned by his ‘audacity’.

“I’ve got a good one and it kinda works.” Jack shrugged, not taking his eyes off the flat screen on the wall.

“It worked on who, exactly?” she snickered, crossing her arms over her chest.

“My last two girlfriends.”

“Mmm… Alright. Let’s hear it, then.” Y/N taunted him, muting the tv and turning to her side in order to look directly at him.

“Be careful, you might fall in love with me after I use it on you.” he warned, raising his eyebrow.

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you… Okay… Here it goes… How much does a polar bear weigh?”

“I have no idea.” Y/N replied, amused by the excited look on his face.

“Enough to break the ice. Hi, I’m Jack.” he smirked, extending his hand out for her to shake.

Y/N took his hand, struggling to hold in her laughter.

“You’re such a dork, Rowdy.”

“C’mon, it’s a good one!”

Jack had the cutest grin on his face, the one she loved to see adorning his features. It made her heart warm. No matter how much time had passed since they had last been together.

“We’re definitely done with How I Met Your Mother for the night, I’m not taking the risk of having to suffer through another one of those.”

Y/N switched to MTV, turning up the volume, turning up the volume. Prince’s Kiss was playing and, as soon as she realized it, her eyes widened. She slapped his arm in excitement.

“Oh my god, this is our karaoke song!”

The brunette man smiled at the memory of the two of them singing that exact same song together after they won the juniors championship, happy and carefree.

 “Get up, we’re doing this.” she demanded, jumping out of the bed. “Want to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine… You just leave it up to me, we could have a good time." Y/N sang, incredibly off-key, pointing at him. “Sing with me!” she pleaded, taking Jack's hands in hers and making him dance with her.

“You don’t have to be rich to be my girl, you don’t have to be cool to rule my world.” he followed her lead, in a high-pitched voice, making her giggle uncontrollably while he made her twirl. “Ain’t no particular sign I’m more compatible with, I just want your extra time and your…” Jack paused, realizing he was now standing unbelievably close to her. “Kiss.”

#jack hughes x reader #trevor zegras #jack hughes #cole caufield #quinn hughes #luke hughes #alex turcotte #fanfiction #hockey boys #team usa #hockey #blurb #jack hughes fanfiction #jack hughes blurb #y/n x jack hughes

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fanfic-lover-girl · 7 months

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Christian Take on the Southern Raiders

As a Christian, I wanted to examine Katara's desire to pursue her mother's killer in the Southern Raiders episode. Especially the topic of forgiveness and justice.

Was Aang right about forgiveness?

Aang claims Katara has a second choice: forgiveness. Zuko claims forgiveness is the same as doing nothing. Aang responds:

"It's easy to do nothing. It's hard to forgive"

Aang is 100% right. Forgiveness is hard. Even when the slight is minor, forgiveness can be hard. Aang is also right about revenge. Revenge can poison someone beyond repair. Forgiveness is meant for the victim, not the perpetrator. As Christians, we can not be forgiven by God if we can't forgive others. In secular terms, forgiveness sets you free from the shackles to your tormentor. So as a friend, Aang is right for pointing this out as an option.

HOWEVER, how he goes about it is insulting and condescending. Comparing the death of Katara's mom to losing Appa temporality. I know Appa is one of his last links to his culture but Appa is an animal and comparing him to a mother is disrespectful! And comparing her to Jet. Another issue here is that Aang presents confrontation as mutually exclusive from forgiveness. At least initially. For me, I struggle to truly forgive unless I confront the person who hurt me first. He did validate her need to confront Yon Rha though when he confronted her and Zuko at night. So right idea but poor execution, Aang.

I think Aang may be a bit too demonized in this episode by Zu/Katara fans.

Justice vs revenge

So justice and revenge both involve addressing wrongs. However, Christians should not carry out revenge. We should leave punishment to God and the law. Justice is also tied to forgiveness. Any Christian who says that we should just forgive criminals and let them off the hook from the law is speaking nonsense. Shame on the Christian press who bashed Rachel Denhollander in her sexual assault case.

Zuko called Katara's desire justice. Aang called it revenge. Who's right?

What was Katara going to do?

What's interesting is that Katara does not explicitly specify what she will do when she confronts Yon Rha. Aang is the one who brought up seeking revenge. But even then no one outright says murder. Maybe because it's a kid's show or maybe Katara did not know herself. It's not until she goes for the kill that it is explicit that she wants to actually kill him. Although her wanting to kill him was heavily implied or could be inferred from the tone of the episode.

Is it revenge or justice to kill Yon Rha?

Technically, yes it is revenge. Justice is meant to be carried out by an impartial party (eg. the law) and/or someone with absolute higher power (God). It is an eye for an eye, but it is still revenge.

HOWEVER, Katara has no avenue for proper justice in the Avatar world! And Christianity does not exist in ATLA obviously lol.

ATLA has spirits but the spirits are indifferent to human problems. Tui and La or Agni will not avenge Katara like God promises to do for Christians.

There is a war going on and there is no law that will condemn Yon Rha. He was doing his duty as a fire nation soldier so he is not guilty under fire nation law. Katara could THEORETICALLY get justice by waiting for Zuko to be crowned and letting the new regime prosecute Yon Rha. But then it poses another problem! Zuko would be forced to prosecute who knows how many FN soldiers! Would all retired military leaders be sent to prison?? What if there was some super old guy who participated in the air nomad genocide and was on his deathbed, on the verge of croaking? Should he be carted off to jail?? And you can't (or shouldn't) lawfully prosecute someone for doing something that was not illegal at the time of the action.

If the WT captured him and held him accountable for murder under their law that could work.

Thankfully, Katara made what I believe to be the right choice for herself. Killing Yon Rha would not bring her mom back and probably would not bring her the closure she needed. There are things worse than death after all.

Even though Katara claimed she did not forgive Yon Rha, she did in a sense. By confronting him, she let go of his hold over her. She no longer fears him. She is able to move on and let go of her anger. She does not demand any payment from him by sparing his life because she sees him as a pathetic waste of space already. She found closure. The difference with her forgiveness of Zuko is that she chooses to put her animosity in the past and give him another chance. Reconcile with him. Unlike with Yon Rha. Not that there is anything to reconcile with him anyway...

#yon rha #the southern raiders #christianity #Rachel Denhollander #justice #revenge #forgiveness #atla katara #atla aang #aang critical #only a little bit #christian analysis of media #atla #atla meta #atla zuko #anti christians who demonize victims #forgiveness does not mean justice is not suppose to be served #kataang friendship #zutara friendship

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communist-ojou-sama · 2 months

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What's like the point of insisting that black people in the USA (&probably Europe but that's not what the discourse is about) don't benefit from imperialism other than feeling good? Like when they annoy bloggers for generalizing people of the USA the topic of discussion is most of the time either actions of the state itself or dominant culture. Demanding people to specify "white" is somewhat obnoxious to non-Americans, but it doesn't change the points in the slightest (sometimes it's even fair when it comes to say settler mentality, probably also when it comes to religion).

Black people constitute 13(?)% of USA population and are in fact mostly poor, so even if we completely ignore their participation in imperialism it doesn't change things, so it's not even meaningful sabotage.

I am not American so I probably don't know how it affects movements inside, but it really feels pointless.

(In fact the only people whom I saw be really offended by it are black people not from USA, so like. Also by obnoxious I meant that I saw them accuse of racism for not specifying "white Americans" people who are not white in the first place, because it feels like "you have to know the internal complexities of my country while I can not know anything about your")

I understand the well-meaning nature of this ask, so I'm going to try my best to reply in kind in the spirit of good faith. First and foremost the thing that people need to get updated on is that most black USians are not poor. Less than 20% of black people in the US live below the federal poverty line, a little over 17%. That is in fact about twice the poverty rate of White USians, and the federal poverty line certainly does not represent the increasing hardships brought upon Especially black people by the de-industrialization and precaritization of the US economy, but even adjusting for that, the fact of the matter is, most of us Are Not Poor. Poverty is widespread enough in our communities that there's almost no one among us that doesn't know someone in our family or social circle that does live in crushing poverty, but that is not the reality of Most of our day-to-day lives. And that's the thing that makes me mad, instead its the laundering of the suffering of people we See in our lives that is being used to win internet arguments and be petty bullies. Perhaps excluding the very richest Black USians, blackness is absolutely something that leaves us potentially marked for execution at any time and within the US we face constant institutional abuse and deprivation, most notably in medical settings; there's no denying we're at the rock bottom of the US's vicious and brutal racial caste system.

However, where is this reality any different for black people? If you compare the PPP-adjusted GDP per capita of Black USians to, for example, Black Ayitians, Black Jamaicans, Black Brazilians, Afro-Latinos, and indeed Black Africans, the reality is that while we're still black, we're by far the richest black community in the world, and how did we get so much richer than other Black communities? It's through our bitchass "community leaders" who have done nothing for decades but push class collaborationism and "black capitalism" in the community, collaborationism with global white-supremacist fascism, in the wake of the systematic destruction of the radical Black liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

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puddleofpins · 3 months

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Why Catnap/Theodore worships the Prototype

This theory contains spoilers for Poppy Playtime Chapter 3. Buckle up, this post is not short. tw for mentions of abuse, many mentions of Christianity/Catholicism and its teachings, enforced religious (specifically Christianity) doctrine, mentions of fictional torture/punishment and inhumane experiments

I’ve seen a few people noticing Catnap/Theodore Grambell was…religious in his devotion to the Prototype, and asking why he’s like this. There’s some hints and pieces to put together that puzzle

1. Catnap uses many words/phrases associated with Christianity (and pretty much all of its branched off religions) to refer to the Prototype and what he means to him. Such as:

• “Salvation”- which means liberation/given freedom from suffering, sin, and evil (referring to the experiments being done on the children by the scientists) This word is used 114 times in the Old Testament of the Bible

• “Rejoice in Him” - Luke 1:47: “and my spirit rejoices in God my savior”

• “my somniferous flock” - referring to Jesus, the son of God, being a shepherd of sheep and also his disciples (yes this does imply Catnap sees himself as a higher being, but only after he is turned into Catnap)

2. Having a shrine to the Prototype, and holding his hands up in prayer/worship to him, like a priest or pastor (or now that I look at it, like Jesus is depicted in many statues)

3. Punishing “heretics” like Dogday, who don’t believe in Catnap’s belief that the Prototype is their savior (this honestly even resembles crucifixion {a punishment used against criminals in the time of the origins of Christianity} with Dogday being held up in a ✝️-like position)

But again, why does he do this? Theodore Grambell seems like a normal child up until then.

We gotta look at the location of Playtime Co.

Now, we haven’t yet been given an exact location, but in a poster in one of the prior chapters it says the Midwest, referring to the Midwestern region in America

doing a few google searches, I found this

Catholic churches, and (I’m assuming the orphanages they hosted) run on donations, and that’s why they are not taxed by the states that they’re in. Oftentimes these orphanages had extremely poor conditions because of low funding and in turn high rates of abuse and even death of the children.

Playtime Co. could’ve bought out countless Catholic orphanages with “donations” to the churches they’re connected to. This would’ve been extremely easy with the lack of regulations and the power of money

There aren’t anymore traditional orphanages in the states today, but 300 is not a number to scoff at. And I’m aware that orphanages in the USA were all closed by 1960, but Poppy was created in 1950. I believe that MOB Entertainment got wonky with the timeline for storytelling purposes because creating Living Sentient Toys in 1950 does not align with real life technological advancements.

What I’m getting at is: I believe Theodore Grambell and other orphans were bought from Catholic orphanages (not all of them of course, just a good chunk of the orphans). Either that, or Theodore was an orphan attending a Catholic school, who was then bought out by Playtime Co.

Think about it, at first, the Playcare must’ve been like heaven to little Theo, especially in comparison to the possible abuse he experienced due to being raised in a Catholic orphanage. Everything is colorful. The adults are so nice and caring, unlike those mean and strict nuns. There’s even toys who can talk and interact with them! All of their needs are provided for, and there’s even dedicated areas to play and have fun!

but then Theo probably starts to see the cracks in this oasis, this heaven:

• Playcare is literally underground and the children are not allowed to go outside

• Anytime one of the children experiences something horrific or abnormal because of a feature of Playcare/Playtime Co. (like Marie Payne who become Mommy Longlegs, or the mentioned “Kevin” in the third tape found in Ch.3) they’re never seen again

• The orphans being said “selected” by the doctors, instead of saying that they were adopted, in I believe the 4th tape

And definitely a lot of other signs I haven’t mentioned, because there must’ve been much more than just what’s been listed.

So Theo starts to get a little wary of what’s around him, a little less trusting of the adults who have been taking care of him and his fellow orphans. This place becomes a little less like heaven and a little more false.

but then he meets a friend!!!!

{insert the picture Theo drew of the Prototype under his bed, because I’m on mobile and have already hit the limit of 10 pictures per mobile post}

A friend that only interacts with him. A friend that is only seen by him, only heard by him, that disappears whenever anyone else comes around. A friend that people don’t believe is real. A friend that sees and hears everything. A friend that gives him little missions because that friend has deemed him worthy of them.

Do you know who that friend sounds like?

God. Or one of the angels sent by God.

THEN on one of these missions, Theodore accidentally gets hurt. He’s electrocuted and close to dying, but his friend who was watching over him saves him from death.

And even after Theo almost dies, he stills tries his hardest to complete these missions give to him by his friend. Because why wouldn’t he? This friend is so special. This friend saved his life because Theo almost died trying to complete the mission he gave him. This friend who is so knowing to the point of being “divine”. This friend who is so similar to the “God” that the nuns he spent his early days with talked about nonstop, he has to be Him.

This leads to Theo being found out and taken as a test subject himself, and subsequently being turned into Catnap; which meant going through horrific and painful experiments. Theo may interpret this as “punishment from following the words and teachings of his God” (definitely an equivalent of Jesus being tortured before his death on the cross), so he might consider himself a bit of a martyr.

Now Theo is no longer a little human boy. Theo is Catnap, and Catnap is much more powerful than humans. He became Catnap because he followed what his Lord told him to do. He was reborn as Catnap because he was such a devoted follower, and now he can complete his Lord’s work even better than he could as a human (literally paralleling Jesus being resurrected).

If we want to get even deeper into this theory and the Christianity parallels, look at Theo’s age and when Catnap was created. It says on the wiki that he was born in the 1980s, and he’s 7 at the time he’s introduced to Playtime Co, which means the year is now 1987. Catnap is made in 1990. That’s 3 years. Jesus after he was beaten, tortured, crucified, and killed, was sealed in a cave. It took 3 days for Jesus to resurrect.

So yeah, Theo was a kid from a Catholic orphanage that was bought out by Playtime Co., who was indoctrinated into Catholicism because he was taught it at such a young age. He’s freed from a hell of an orphanage, to be brought to a false heaven, which leads him to meet his God. That’s why Catnap acts the way he does.

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime chapter 3 #catnap #mob entertainment #the prototype #huggy wuggy #poppy playtime huggy #poppy playtime catnap #poppy playtime theory

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dangara2610 · 5 months

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Hard to do Crossover

Time to time, watching the lots of crossovers fans do about Varian with anything, I thought about one of the fandom I liked and spend lots of years in it

Does any of you knew about the Hetalia fandom ?

Humanized countries anime, before the creation of Countryballs and Country humans but after the old newspaper cartoons about each one nation spirit like "Uncle Sam" for the USA and "John Bull"for the UK?

(My mind playing easy and silly after a whole day playing difficult xD)

Varian and Hugo cosplaying France and England because I can't decide which one fits better 🫠😎🤓

Super silly draw ~ hahahhahahahah

(My mind playing difficult before that fanart)

I tried to find who in the Hetalia cast would be fitting for a role swap with the Vat7k characters, but they are so different from each other , even the similar things between them have to be pushed xD

Long time ago, my favorite fanfics and fancomics were "Historical accurrate" focused, but most the content was about romance , so I endup becoming a big fan of:

FrUK : France x United Kingdom

USUK : United States x United Kingdom

Usually along with "FACE family" Dynamic, France and England as parents , Canada and America as adoptive sons

Then , I got a more deep liking for England , so I would get any England x (any other country) material

As well for USA x (any other country)

Varian: From a germanic country, so we have some to pick between the very Germany, or Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, Lietchestein, Bravaria or Kugel Mugel, but most of them have a serious stoic attitude

Except Prussia, who likes to play funny, is clean and disciplinated , writing a lot for his journal so everyone can know about his amazing adventures and goals, high self esteem, able to play teacher/mother/father/older brother role to any who wants to take lessons from him or who needs him, during the manga pages (and anime chapters) about Industrial revolution, he and his lil bro showed great engineering skills and enthusiasm.

Hey, when we think about Rapunzel, we were taught about her Germanic origins, then on the Tangled making, there was a mention about how the team wanted Germany as main influence and a few of Spain influence , and maybe not lots of you saw it, but there was a fanart about Prussia and Hungary cosplaying Eugene and Rapunzel that got re-posted on most old Facebook accounts about Hetalia

So feels like Prussia role was already taken at the Tangled cast, as well, Hungary on her cannon scenes, used a frying pan as weapon too.

Next pick for a fitting role for Varian, it may be , America? I don't know xD , joyful, friendly, strong, innovative, but doesn't knows how to measure his skills or social contact so he endups pushing everyone boundaries or ignoring safety codes, loves heroic tales and wants to be the hero of the situation at sigh, too bad he makes exaggerated bad takes due to his inexperience.

England, either for Hugo or Varian

A tsundere who suffered social exclusion during his early existence, who fought all the way to stop being poor, forgotten and put aside to reach riches, glory and power, not losing contact with his magical paranormal friends, yet, having difficult times to accept friendship or love from others, facing betrayings as well, a little bit of low self esteem, trying to compensate with other things (as with aggression and search for more power), for innovation, he tried engineering but his ideas were too eccentric so he would end up laughed at for his impractical machines, yet, searching ways to improve.

I need to make this shorter so I'll skip talking about France

As well about China or any other asian country for Yong

Sadly for Nuru , there are very few African or Oceanic based characters, most of them on a sole official videogame of the series with not enough screen time on the show, yet, nice to search around the fanbase

Any way, find something for an "accurrate " role swap is difficult, maybe cosplaying would be the only thing I would fantasy about xDdDDDDdD

The only "legit" version for a Crossover of Hetalia and Tangled would be creating brand new OCs of each one of the locations in the map of this world, specially about the 7 kingdoms

Bayangor looks kin to any country from Southeast Asia , so I would pick Indonesia (the series got a femenine character sketch, but then, changed it for a male one, either way, just for the manga and not the anime)

Galcrest and Nesdernia would certainly be about native american communities, sadly, most of them are drawn as OCs for the fandom, no actual cannon characters

Pittsford and Corona looks germanic enough, hehe, we could pick similarities with other European countries

The Dark Kingdom gave hints about Scotland , so it's easier

Ingvarr, according to some post, was supposed to be Persian/ Arabic influence, as well for Koto, African influence, but is vague, and both of them, reversing the role of colonization, looking like ... O dear, I have to go.

And that's all, I have to go 🥭⛅🥭🌟🌳🌟🫧⛅🫧⛅🌳🌟🌀🌀🌻 thanks for reading 🪷🌠🏵️🌹🏵️🌹🏵️🌹🏵️

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aegor-bamfsteel · 1 year

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Do you think that there were chances to rebel against slavery in Slavers Bay?

Not only do I know there were, but the slaving societies that GRRM has written are so overinflated they should’ve been history long before Dány’s war.

The societies of Slaver’s Bay (and the Free Cities) are without a doubt slaving societies. A “slaving society” as described by influential historian Moses I Finley, is different from a “society with slaves” (which were most of ancient societies) where slavery was a small aspect of social/economic life; a slaving society had at least 20% slaves, there’s enough of them to create a cultural impact, and they’re an essential part of the economy. In Finley’s model, there are only 5 slaving societies in (Western) history: Greece, Rome, colonial US South, Caribbean, and Brazil. GRRM makes it clear that without slavery, Slaver’s Bay would collapse economically (as would the Free Cities further west). He provides comically high numbers of slaves in some of the Free Cities (slave to free are 3:1 in Lys, Myr, Tyrosh; and 5:1 in Volantis), but we hear of only a few slave rebellions in them (when the Doom of Valyria happened and they killed all the dragons surviving except the Targs’) until Dány, but why? In slaving societies, the threat of violence for rebelling was institutional and severe…but every one of those 5 had multiple examples of slave uprisings. And in some cases where the slaves outnumbered the elites by that level of magnitude, they were successful. The helots of Messenia took advantage of an earthquake and Thebes’ invasion of Sparta to revolt and eventually rebuild their old city, while the enslaved people of Haiti took advantage of the French Revolution/Napoleonic Wars to win their independence. It stands to reason as a hub of slavery that Slaver’s Bay has an enslaved population close to that of the Free Cities, but there’s never any uprising mentioned until Dány comes? Even though we know that natural disasters and institutional warfare took place in that area. And don’t tell me the magical Unsullied just prevented all rebellions forever; the Spartans were allegedly the best warriors in Ancient Greece, whole kingdoms couldn’t win against Roman consular armies, the French army defeated practically most of Europe during the Revolutionary/Napoleonic period…but there were slave rebellions that managed to beat all of them, even if temporarily (poor Spartacus). But we’re just supposed to assume that after the fall of Valyria—which TWOIAF did tell us coincided with slave rebellions against the dragonlords—absolutely none of these cities achieved any sort of lasting freedom for its enslaved people? Even when the source of the Valyrian might, the dragons, was gone and the elite could no longer rely on that violence to keep the population in line? They were all just suffering and waiting for a savior for centuries, despite being most of the city’s population (including much of the army) and there being only some backup for the elite? The USA had to outlaw educating enslaved people for fear of rebellion, but there were still uprisings; meanwhile, in Essos there’s no ban on education, but we hear of none in Slaver’s Bay? It’s absolute nonsense historically, and only serves to make the slavers look super evil and Dány to look more like an apparent hero; the byproduct is that the enslaved people are robbed of the spirit, agency, and solidarity that they had in real life.

#ask #anti grrm #essos #ghis #slavery #opinion #asoiaf

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gatekeeper-watchman · 12 days

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Daily Devotionals for April 17, 2024

Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living

Devotional Scripture:

Proverbs 14:20-21(KJV): 20 The poor are hated even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. 21 He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Thought for the Day

Verse 20 — The fact that the poor are hated even by their neighbors explains why there is often so much violence in poor neighborhoods. The Bible calls poverty a curse. It breeds many problems, such as filth and sickness. In many areas, the poor do not have access to healthy foods, and their poor nutrition results in poor health. It is demoralizing to live in a poverty-stricken region. Poverty crushes any hope for improvement. Depressed people stop trying to better themselves. This breeds irresponsibility, which becomes a hotbed for rebellion. In some cases, the poverty is so extreme that total exhaustion and starvation strip the people of any desire or hope for life. The only way to break the cycle of poverty is to bring the gospel to the poor and support those ministries that will bring the needed provisions to those who lack them. We can be redeemed from poverty and anything else that misrepresents God to the world. God blesses His people when they follow and obey Him (Deuteronomy 28:1-6).

We cannot keep God's commandments by ourselves; we can only keep them by enabling the Holy Spirit. If we rebel and go our own way, the law of sowing and reaping will bring a curse upon us. Poverty is a part of that curse. Money is not the answer to poverty, since it only takes care of the surface problems. As the American government has discovered; throwing money at the issue through welfare programs only compounds it. Money never solves the root problems of hatred, violence, irresponsibility, or fear. Only a change of heart that comes from knowing Christ can accomplish that. When hearts are not changed, the curse continues (Deuteronomy 28:15-20).

Verse 21 - The rich man has many friends; but love for his money and what it can obtain for them, is at the heart of many of these friendships. The rich man's money can also make him proud, causing him to sin against God, his fellow man, and himself. Christ owns the earth and the entire universe. He gave up His position of supreme power and wealth and became poor to save us, that we might become rich in His blessings (2 Corinthians 8:9). Those who are merciful to the poor are happy and blessed, for they follow in the steps of Jesus Himself.

Prayer Devotional for the Day Dear heavenly Father, I am so grateful that I know You. You have blessed me greatly, and I am thankful for that goodness toward me. Father, strengthen me to walk in obedience to Your commandments daily. Lord, help me also to be sensitive to the needs of others. I desire to be a giver and reach out and help those who are poor. Help me not to ever demean or look down on those who are less fortunate than I am, but rather let me lift them and give them hope and encouragement. Help me to trust You for daily provision and to give of those things that I do have. I can always share a smile, encouragement, faith, love, and prayers with others. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. From: Steven P. Miller@ParkermillerQ, gatekeeperwatchman.org Founder of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, Jacksonville, Florida., USA. X ... @ParkermillerQ #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981 GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA

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radio-to-trenchcoat-demons · 7 months

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can i language vent?

i love QSMP. i cant always watch the VODS or twitch but i keep up the best i can. I love it because the culture and the friendship and the story and the love is brilliant. and sometimes i do sad cry because i cant have that. i dont have culture, or friends, (or money to buy MC wich would be cool if I did). Im French, portugese, and italian. i'm learning english,french,and spanish. my french is weak and i cant have a full conversation with someone, my english is my strongest language but i stutter and mispell things and USA sucks. and im not spanish so when i speak it to someone im told im 'not real spanish' and that portuguese is nothing like spanish. i only know portuguese through songs on spotify and because i havent added the language to my duolingo, its poor and sometimes mispoken. so if i cry, i feel as if i lost my culture, because mentally i am a Mexican,Portuguese,French, trans neurodivergent guy who has a lot of spirit. biut physically i am a white american girl who has no culture.

and i have only aqquaintences by my side. (maybe except for @paradox-hq) i have no true friends (besides @paradox-hq) i don't have a family of amigos and muchachos to rely on and hang out with, or walk into a class and see a few faces light up. Highschool sucks without a group, and life sucks without culture and color... oki i think im done now.

edit: i added potuguese to my duolingo...wish me luck

#al was here!#hector estaba aqui!#proceed with caution at my blog #language vent

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rinadragomir · 2 years

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Julie Plec and convenient diversity 🙃

Okay so when I found out they chose a British guy to play Dimitri I was a bit upset but in a super chill way cause 1)he looks fantastic 2) British accent kinda reminds me of Russian so I thought they not gonna have any problems with working on it.

Then my Tumblr friend made a post and I found out they erased that part of him. TV show Dimitri is not Russian anymore. I was kinda confused cause 1)then why would he have a Russian name👀 2)what about the fact that Rose spends the whole book in Russia, what about Roza, what about half of their jokes😟

BUT TODAY 🤡I FOUND OUT 🤡WHAT THAT PIECE OF HUMAN 🤡SAID ABOUT THAT CHANGE 🤡

Okay it's not a literal quote but it's almost it:

Dimitri is not Russian anymore, you'll be fine with it when you learn more about that amazing man playing his role.......It was important for us to convey the spirit of modernity, to show today's world with all the diversity of its cultural idiosyncrasies. Accent, origin and race do not matter because we are all part of the same community.

That clown living her clown life 🎪

Okay let's see

So she put 1) diversity is important, we all different and it's cool to show it AND 2)why diversity if we're the same person? 🥺 IN ONE FUCKING SENTENCE?!?!????!

Julie Plec literally said: OF COURSE diversity is important, we have Black Americans! Latins, Chinese guys...or not Chinese, I mean asian people = only Chinese right? And of course ...*whispers* I can't remember more..... um.....what? Turks? what is it? Turkey? Like ...Turkey on Thanksgiving day?🥺Yeah? Russian? Russia... sounds familiar where is it👀ugh nevermind some white dudes, they sound like British anyway

I forgot to mention I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE CAST they're babies and they do the best they can, their acting is the reason I watched that trailer✋they just do their job and do it perfect

I have BIG ISSUES with creators of this show

⚠️Before some of you start with your American "um bitch u know dat black people live in Turkey and British people live in Russia and Latin people live in Romania" I'll say: they definitely MIGHT live there, tho I've never seen anything like this in any of these countries (I live in one of them and I've been in two others

But after Dimitri being a British announcement, there's no way Rose is Turkish. No fucking way. No one actually cares about the diversity. Diversity is a thing ONLY when it comes to people who live in America.

When people from Turkey, Russia, Romania even slightly open their mouth EVERYONE SHUTS THEM UP with "um....white dudes talking again 😴we have Black and Asian people, others don't actually exist👁️👄👁️)

If you think that "WOW we have a cool beautiful black girl as a lead, finally some good fucking food, finally a WELL WRITTEN WOMAN OF COLOR"

no think again😍you really believe that a woman who thought "ugh....idk all of these Turkish and Russian....ugh language, traditions are so hard🥺" will MAKE AN EFFORT?! To write a proper black lead girl? Seriously? I have some news

If you look at the cast and think "we have a proper diverse cast! That's so great! Different cultures were so important in the books, I'm sure tv show creators will explore this topic even deeper" you're poor innocent silly soul, that's who you are.

👉🏻IT'S NOT ABOUT AN "AdApTaTiOn" IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE BOOKS AND THEY DON'T WANT TO, BUT THEIR LITTLE DAMAGE BRAINS CAN'T COME UP WITH THEIR OWN NEW UNIQUE STORY (and even when they can, it's so fucking bad, no one wants to watch it), SO THEY TAKE A POPULAR TITLE AND MAKE THEIR OWN SHIT PRETENDING IT'S ALL THE SAME CAUSE THEY DIDN'T CHANGE CHARACTERS NAMES. 👈🏻

And a little reminder how people look outside of England and the USA for my beloved Julie Plec and people saying "real diversity is here, who needs these white guys on the screen" (Turkish, Romanian, Russian)

#va #vampire academy #fuck julie plec #julie plecphobia #yesyes #anti julie plec #rose hathaway #dimitri belikov #lissa dragomir #christian ozera

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diabolus1exmachina · 1 year

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Jaguar XKR “Badcat”

Launched in 1996 and always more of a grand tourer than an out-and-out sports car, the Jaguar XK8 shared its chassis with the Aston Martin DB7, making it the thinking man’s choice for anyone in the market for a powerful, rear-wheel-drive luxury sports car.

Whilst those figures might be impressive for the XKR; it wasn't quite enough for our petrolhead vendor Graham, who in 2007 embarked on a 13-year journey to improve and modify the once standard 1998 XKR into this stunning 632hp unique Jaguar, more commonly known as the ‘Badcat’

The Badcat started life as a 1998 Jaguar XKR, which Graham saw for sale in 2007 and having a soft spot for the X100, plus having been looking for a car for a while, this was snapped up straight away. Driving the car for a few weeks was enjoyable, but as with any petrolhead, it wasn’t long before Graham started looking into tuning options for the XKR.

This started with a smaller top pulley and larger bottom pulley fitted to the supercharger, and this was complemented with a Racing Green ECU piggy back upgrade to keep on top of the fueling due to the faster spinning supercharger. The result was 456hp, an impressive 64bhp gain from the standard bhp.

With the 4.0 litre pushed to its limits, Graham was on the lookout to further improve the performance of the XKR, and this was the start of taking the car to an entirely new level. Graham found a new Range Rover 4.4 litre V8 which became the next base for the project. The engine was rebuilt using stronger high spec’ bespoke forged pistons from German automotive parts manufacturer Capricorn, which kicked off the need to have parts purpose made rather than buying off the shelf items.

The upgrade to the 4.4 litre brought the power up to an impressive 480bhp; it was never quite enough, and the need for more power continued. This need was realised when in 2012 when Graham, assisted by Jaguar expert Tom Lenthall, found an uprated Eaton supercharger which was originally destined for an XKR GT3 racing car. This was fitted along with some other improvements to bring the XKR to 510hp.

In 2016 whilst on a track day at Goodwood, flying at over 140 mph, the 4.4 litre detonated, melting five out of the eight pistons. The cause was put down to poor fuel pick-up from the standard Jaguar tank, which would later be resolved with a bespoke designed, foam-filled ally fuel tank with swirlpot fabricated by CKL Racing, containing two Walbro 450 high-pressure fuel pumps. Only one of the pumps is needed and more than capable of providing enough fuel for spirited driving; the other pump was simply fitted as a backup. Luckily the cylinder block suffered only minor scoring and was sent off to be rebuilt at performance engine experts Classic and new forged pistons from JE in America. This gave Graham the opportunity to develop even more power, and with a freshly built engine, a new twin-screw supercharger, a Whipple W175AX, was sourced from the USA. Although being told it would not fit by the company director, Graham had other ideas. With some well calculated CAD drawing and CNC machining, the charger was made to fit, pushing the XKR to the enormous power it now produces.

#Jaguar XKR “Badcat”#Jaguar XK8 #Aston Martin DB7 #Range Rover #XKR GT3 #Goodwood #tunning

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 6 days

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24th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 12:44-50) for Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter: ‘What the Father has told me is what I speak’.

Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 12:44-50 I, the light, have come into the world.

Jesus declared publicly:

‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me. I, the light, have come into the world, so that whoever believes in me need not stay in the dark any more. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall condemn him, since I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For what I have spoken does not come from myself; no, what I was to say, what I had to speak, was commanded by the Father who sent me, and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.’

Gospel (USA) John 12:44-50 I came into the world as light.

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus refers to ‘the Father who sent me’. In the fourth gospel Jesus is the ‘sent one’. One of the most memorable verses of this gospel declares, ‘God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him’. Jesus personalizes this statement in today’s gospel reading, ‘I have come not to condemn the world but to save the world’. As Jesus says elsewhere in this gospel of John, ‘I came that they may have life and have it to the full’. This is why God sent his Son into the world. There is another sending in today’s first reading. The church in Antioch, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sent two of their leading members, Barnabas and Saul, on mission to places where the gospel had not been preached, resulting in the expansion of the gospel westwards. This was a costly sending, because Barnabas and Saul had been central to the life of the church in Antioch. God’s sending of his Son into the world was also costly because it entailed a giving of his Son over to death, death on a cross. Yet, both the sending of Jesus and the sending of Barnabas and Saul were life-giving for those to whom they were sent. This is supremely true of the sending of Jesus, without which there would have been no sending of Barnabas or Saul. The church in every age is called to send, to let go of precious resources so that others may flourish. That dynamic of sending and letting go to others is vital today as parishes learn to journey together, sharing resources, perhaps becoming poor so that others may become rich, but, in the process, discovering that all are enriched.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In this morning’s first reading, the Holy Spirit prompts the church in Antioch to send two of their leading and most gifted members on mission, Paul and Barnabas. There might have been those in the church of Antioch at the time who said, ‘no, we can’t let two such key people leave. They are needed here’. As communities, as individuals, there is a natural temptation to hold on to what we have. We resist deliberately making ourselves poorer. Yet, that is what the Holy Spirit was asking the church in Antioch to do, to make itself poorer, to let go of two of its greatest assets, so that those who had never heard the gospel might be brought to Christ. The ways of the Holy Spirit today in the church are probably not very different from the ways of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the church. The Spirit prompts us to take the way of Jesus, which is the way of self-emptying so that others might have life. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul declared, ‘you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich’.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus speaks of the one who sent him. Frequently in John’s gospel, Jesus speaks of God as the one who sent him. God sent his Son out of love for the world. God’s sending of his Son was an act of generosity on God’s part, involving a real giving. The gospel of John also speaks of God as one who gave his Son. In the first reading this morning, the church of Antioch send two of their most gifted members to parts of the Roman Empire where Christ had not yet been preached. The sending off of Barnabas and Paul by the church of Antioch involved a real giving on their part. They were sacrificing two of their most valuable assets for the sake of others whose need was greater. Over the centuries the local church has sent and given some of its most gifted members to proclaim the gospel far from home. That is the nature of the church and the nature of our lives as Christians. We give away what is most precious to us so that others can benefit from our resources. Each local church, each parish, is called not just to serve itself, but to serve other parishes, other local churches, whether next door or far away. As God gave his Son to us, we are called to give his Son to each other by sharing our most precious resources.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In this morning’s first reading, which follows on from yesterday’s first reading, Barnabas and Saul are now both leading members of the church in Antioch. In that reading, the church of Antioch is portrayed as doing something very generous. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they release Paul and Barnabas, two of their most important members, for mission work far beyond Antioch. The Spirit moved the church in Antioch to let go of two of its greatest assets so that the gospel could be preached in places where it had never been preached before. The church in Antioch was being prompted by the Spirit to empty itself, to become poorer, so that others might become spiritually rich. This was how Paul went on in one of his letters to describe the coming of Jesus among us, ‘though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich’. The Spirit will always work in our lives to reproduce in us that same pattern. The Spirit will always be moving us as individuals and as communities of faith to give of ourselves, to empty ourselves, so that other people’s relationship with the Lord will be the richer.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem outwards into the Roman Empire. Today’s first reading is the moment when the gospel makes the first significant spread westwards from the land of Israel, to the island of Cyprus. It was the generosity of a church in Syria, to the north of Israel, that made this possible. The church of Antioch, in response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, set aside two of their own leading members for this mission, Barnabas and Saul. They allowed themselves to become poorer so that others would be enriched. This was the pattern of Jesus’ own life. Paul in one of his subsequent letters will say of Jesus that ‘though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich’. Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, so that we all might have life and have it to the full. This is to be the pattern of our own lives too. We all have some gift or grace that we can give away so that others might live more fully in some way. When we let go in this way, after the example of the church in Antioch, we not only make others more alive but we become more alive ourselves, the Spirit grows more fully within us. In the gospel reading, Jesus says that he came as light into the world so that others might not stay in the dark any more. Whenever the pattern of Jesus’ life becomes the pattern of our lives, then his light continues to shine through us.

And/Or

(vi) Wednesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks as one who is open and responsive to what God his Father wants, ‘what the Father has told me is what I speak’. He is able to speak what God has told him because he listens to God. In the first reading, the early church is portrayed as doing what the Holy Spirit wants. They are able to do what the Holy Spirit wants because they listen to the Holy Spirit. The church in Antioch recognize that the Holy Spirit is asking them to send two of their leading members on mission, Barnabas and Saul. Even though it was a sacrifice for the church to give away such important members to the mission field, they did so in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. In every age the church is called to be responsive to the Holy Spirit in the way that Jesus was responsive to God the Father. The call on the churches of Asia Minor in the Book of Revelation is addressed to the churches in every age and place, ‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches’. The prayer of listening is a vital form of the prayer for the church is every age and for every member of the church. The Lord continues to speak to each of us today through the Holy Spirit. A good way to begin our prayer is by saying the prayer of the young Samuel in the Jewish Scriptures, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 4 months

Text

6th January >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

The Epiphany of the Lord

6th January (before Epiphany).

The Epiphany of the Lord

(Liturgical Colour: White: B (2))

First Reading Isaiah 60:1-6 Above you the glory of the Lord appears.

Arise, shine out, Jerusalem, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you, though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples.

Above you the Lord now rises and above you his glory appears. The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness.

Lift up your eyes and look round: all are assembling and coming towards you, your sons from far away and your daughters being tenderly carried.

At this sight you will grow radiant, your heart throbbing and full; since the riches of the sea will flow to you, the wealth of the nations come to you;

camels in throngs will cover you, and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; everyone in Sheba will come, bringing gold and incense and singing the praise of the Lord.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 71(72):1-2,7-8,10-13