#I am so tired of shul drama

[anonymousdandelion]

Thinking about how the Torah — and, really, the Tanakh as a whole — is (among many other things) the narration of generation upon generation of a family that is frequently somewhat dysfunctional but is, ultimately, still a family. A family with love; a family with jealousy; a family with unity; a family with in-fighting. A family with struggles, and a family with strengths.

But always, always, a family.

Thinking about that, and thinking about how much it has held true through the ages, and still holds true today.

#jumblr #judaism #torah #tanakh #dandelion says #jewish dandelion #I am so tired of shul drama #and inter-shul drama #and movement drama #and inter-movement drama #and it honestly feels the same way personal family drama has felt #but we're still all one people #still sharing suffering and joy #still deeply and inextricably interconnected #still here for each other where it counts #still a family #am yisrael

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Beside The Dying Fire (part two)

[DnD AU with the tour!verse]

Part 1

Word count: 2862

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In a whirl of spears and flicking ears and stomping hooves, the stranger had been ushered away from the village. Several people looked nervous, while others were outraged at the idea of an intruder in their territory; there were only two entrances into the town, one in the very front and one in the back that led to the interrogation area and holding cells. The rest of the perimeter was covered in a wall of thorns that Katherine’s father had enchanted to grow. That meant the stranger had to fight off the painful, prickling plants to get into their village.

And that was not good.

Katherine rubbed her forehead tiredly. She had to spend several minutes calming down townsfolk (and stopping Anne from singing a way-too-jolly doomsday song), assuring them that everything was going to be okay. After all, what’s one little Tiefling to all of them?

When she finally finished her “forest princess duties”, she walked back over to Faedi’s hut to check on Catalina, only to see the Aasimar outside, on her feet, wearing her steel-plated shoulder paddings and holding her sword. She almost looked silly in the armor with her protruding pregnant belly, but her face was serious and she looked ready to stab someone.

  “Catalina,” Katherine sighed. “I told you to stay inside.”

  “I did,” Catalina said. “But then I got bored and wanted to come help. So I still kinda half-obeyed you because I stayed inside for awhile!” Her shoulders slumped with a rattling of metal; if the pads hindered her because of her pregnancy, she didn’t show it. “But I missed everything! What happened?”

Katherine couldn’t help but laugh slightly at her friend. Even in a time of possible crisis, Catalina still knew how to lift her spirits just by being herself.

  “There was an intruder, that’s all,” Katherine told her, steering Catalina back into the hut. “A Tiefling.”

  “Oooo,” Catalina said in interest.

Katherine wondered if she felt for the stranger or was fearful of her like the others. After all, Aasimars and Tieflings were very similar to each other, with just one being of celestial touch and the other being of infernal touch. 

  “Why are they here?” Catalina asked.

  “I don’t know,” Katherine answered as she began unbuckling Catalina’s shoulder pads. “I’m going to go see them after this.” She caught Catalina opening her mouth and quickly added, “You can’t come with me.”

Catalina pouted, ruffling the golden feathers in her hair. “That is SO unfair! I can be useful! Look, I can be intimidating, watch,” And then she made an intimidating face. Katherine laughed loudly.

  “You are so cute,” Katherine said, earning a wrinkled nose and glare from Catalina. “You just stay here for now, okay?”

Catalina huffed and slumped down onto the bed. “FINE!”

Katherine smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you, love.”

After making sure Catalina wouldn’t escape and follow her, Katherine headed out to Ghent’s prison.

Not that it could really be considered a prison. It was a giant tree that her father had hollowed out with his magic. The prisoner would be stuffed inside the trunk and then the hole would be wrapped in enchanted thorny vines to keep them in. 

Maggie was standing guard outside the tree, still holding her spear. She was probably the only other person in the entire village who believed they needed a security system, and she wanted to be head of the guard. She was very cunning and ambitious, always wanting to prove herself, like how she jumped into a proper position when she saw Katherine coming.

  “The prisoner has been safely detained,” Maggie said. 

  “Thank you, Maggie,” Katherine said. “I’ve just come to see them.”

Maggie nodded. “Just shout if you need anything stabbed.” She gripped her spear and smirked.

Katherine thanked her again, then walked over to the cell. Inside, hugging their knees as far away from the vibes as possible, was the Tiefling.

Unlike the rest of her kind, her sweaty, dirt-spattered skin was a strange pure white color that gleamed like polished pearls in the faint light. Scraggly, white-blonde hair stuck to her lean face, falling around her bony shoulders. Strands of thorns were tangled around her stubby horns, which curved back over her head, and long, whip-thin tail, and there was mud stuffed in her cloven feet. She was small, thin, and lithe, and looked very tired.

  “Hello there,” Katherine greeted softly as she sat down in front of the tree. “My name is Katherine Howard. What’s yours?”

The Tiefling didn’t answer. She didn’t even look over at Katherine.

  “Why are you here?” Katherine asked.

Again, no answer. The Tiefling showed no signs of being cooperative.

Katherine sighed. “Sweetheart--”

That got the Tiefling to glance up. Her eyes were a startling grey color.

  “Sweetheart,” Katherine said again, slower this time. “I need you to work with me. I don’t want you to be hurt. Can you please tell me your name and why you are here?”

The Tiefling looked at her for a long moment, then curled her tail in close and hugged her knees tightly. The poor thing seemed very shaken, or perhaps she was just too exhausted to speak. Katherine sighed again.

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to be interrogated, then. I wish you luck.”

So, an hour later, the young Tiefling was hauled out of the cell and to the place of interrogation. For Ghent, that was a pond.

The pond was further into the forest, where the trees opened up to the sky. Paths were cut through the surrounding shrubbery for easy access to places to watch. Thick cattails and reeds lined the edges of the water, which rippled peacefully with aquatic life. Several rocks led up to a large, flat stone at the center of the pond, and there was a larger, sloped rock in front of it. Katherine’s father took his place on top of that one, while the prisoner was prodded onto the flat stone with sharp spears.

The area was soon packed with people. It seemed as though the entire village came to watch and see the weird-looking Tiefling, not that Katherine blamed them. A Tiefling had never been to Ghent before. Several children were gawking at the girl with wide, adoring eyes, pointing and whispering things to each other. As Katherine passed by, she heard a small faun say something about the Tiefling’s tail.

Katherine climbed onto the tall rock where her father, Edmund, was already perched. He was an old, but wise wood elf with neatly-combed dark brown hair, even darker brown eyes, and ears like knives. Clad in animal furs and wielding a heavy wooden quarterstaff, he held himself like a real king and not just the chief of a forest village.

In the crowd, Katherine spotted Maggie and Anne near the back. For once, Anne didn’t have any instrument in her hands, but Maggie still had her spear and she was shifting from hoof to hoof, her gait haunches bursting with energy. Closer near the rock Katherine was on, was Catalina, who had stubbornly attended despite Faedi’s orders for bed rest. Catalina caught her gaze and flashed her a smirk that said, “No baby is keeping me from missing drama.” Katherine chuckled in reaction.

One of the villagers in charge of leading the stranger, a big, burly Tabaxi that had the pelt patterns of a cheetah, leaned down and clasped a pair of metal shackles around the Tiefling’s wrists, then quickly stepped away. The Tiefling glanced back at him with a wounded expression, then frowned down at the restraints. Edmund thumped his staff on the rock, and she squinted up at him.

  “I am Edmund Howard, Chief of Ghent,” Katherine’s father said, his voice booming around the clearing, resonating with the wind. “This is my daughter, Katherine. We welcome you to our village.”

The Tiefling just blinked at him, then tugged lightly against the shackles. The tip of her tail flicked back and forth like a calculating cat’s. 

  “Have nothing to say?” Edmund said. He waited, but got no answer. “Hm. Not to worry.” He tapped his staff twice on the rock. “Shall we formally begin? What is your name?”

Grooves and swirling symbols engraved around the shackles lit up white and the Tiefling’s body shuddered. She wide-eyed them, now tugging more frantically against them.

  “Hyurk..” She grunted.

  “I don’t think I specified,” Edmund said, “Those shackles are enchanted. If you lie, the pain will worsen. So advise you to tell the truth.”

Katherine always hated the shackles. They seemed cruel, forcing people to say things against their will. Though, she did fine Catalina’s experience with them the first time she came to the village extremely entertaining.

( “Does it really hurt when you lie? I wanna see! Ask me a question, Kat!”

  “What’s your favorite kind of pie?”

  “Apple-- OW, DRAGON SHIT--”)

  “Joan,” The Tiefling forced out through gritted teeth. She was shaken, clearly in pain. Her voice was soft and youthful, but also hoarse, like she hadn’t drank water in decades.

Joan, Katherine repeated to herself in her head. What a beautiful name.

  “Surname?” 

  “Meutas”

  “Where are you from?”

  “A-a small village. Near the ocean. I think it was called Shul? Yeah, yeah... Shul. I was from there.” Her neck tendons strained as she spoke.

  “Are you a traveler?”

  “No.”

  “Where are you parents? You’re awfully young to be on your own.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How old are you?” Katherine butt in suddenly, earning a scolding look from her father.

  “Fifteen.” Joan answered, and Katherine felt a wrench in her heart for the little one.

  “Why did you come here?” Edmund regained control of the interrogation.

Joan looked like she attempted to fight back and not answer, but it didn’t seem to go well from the way her body jerked with massive discomfort, like she was about to be sick. Her tail slid across the top of the rock and dipped into the water.

  “Didn’t mean to,” Joan gasped through a wave of pain. She must have hesitated slightly. “Was running. Stumbled in. I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”

Edmund raised his eyebrows in interest. Katherine glanced at Catalina, who was giving Joan a pitiful look. Her hands were folded protectively over her pregnant swell.

  “Running from what?”

  “Just travel-- Agh!!”

In response to her lie, Joan’s thin body crumpled over on itself. Her tail lashed like a snake on fire, and she moaned in obvious pain. She almost fell into the water, but the Tabaxi held her up firmly by the shoulder. Katherine could see his claws digging in. Through heaving breaths, Joan let the truth spill out:

  “Th-these people. I-I really don’t know their names. Th-they just don’t like me ‘cause I’m a Tiefling and I look funny. I-I think they w-want to hurt me, s-so I avoid them.”

Katherine didn’t like this anymore. This wasn’t interrogation, it was torture. This poor, innocent child was being stripped of her will and humiliated.

  “And did you just lead these people to us?” 

  “I-I-I don’t know,” She was stammering horribly. A sheen of sweat glistened over her milky white skin. She looked ill, like she was being forced to function with a fever. That was the effect of resisting the magic.

  “Do you want to hurt us?”

  “Nnnnnggg...” Joan moaned as her stomach appeared to cramp. “N-no... J-just wanna...rest...for a little while...”

There was a hissing sound, and Katherine realized that was the shackles. Smoke was rising from Joan’s wrists. 

  “I-I’m gonna throw up...” Joan gurgled.

But nobody except Katherine seemed to notice or care.

  “Hm.” Edmund studied the girl closely. Then, he waved his staff in front of him and whispered an incantation that sent ice through Katherine’s veins. “Let me look into your head, Joan. I must know what you’re hiding.”

The whispers that eddied throughout the clearing sounded like thunder in reaction to the statement. Some people looked fearful, while others looked excited. Katherine glanced at Maggie and Anne, and saw that they were both wide-eyed in interest.

It was unknown if the fragile living psyche could stand such a trauma of having someone look through their head. It was a violation that nobody, no matter what they had done or who they were, should have to go through.

Katherine exchanged nervous glances with Catalina. This was cruel, they both agreed. The stranger was just a girl; she didn’t deserve this. They watched as their chief held his hands out to Joan and closed his fingers into fists.

  “Who are you really, Joan?”

Joan’s eyes popped open wide. She rasped, “Wh-what are you doing?”

  “Do not resist.”

The words did nothing.

Joan’s head jerked back before her whole body hauled forward, doubled over on her knees. Only the whites of her eyes could be seen, with a faint glow coming from the sockets; blind.

  “No. Please stop, I--”

She cut herself off with a heartbreaking whine. Blood snaked from her nose. Tears soon joined them.

  “P-please stop,” She panted. “Please...”

  “Submit.” Edmund growled.

But the girl did not.

She began shrieking, body seizing wildly, tail spasming out of control. Her eyes, blank and white, faced the grey sky, but were unseeing. Tears ran red, and she cried blood. The vessels in her ears burst, next, then her mouth, and then her entire face became a horrific shiny red because she was bleeding from every orifice in her head.

Katherine grabbed her father’s arm and shook him. “Father, stop!” She yelled. “You’re hurting her!”

Edmund didn’t hear her, though. He was lost, too.

  “That’s enough, Father!” Katherine tried again, but to no avail.

Thunder rumbled deeply overhead. Small tide pools of blood collect on the surface of the stone. Joan’s fingertips and nimble claws flushed crimson and then bled; the spell was starting to attack her extremities. If Katherine had to take a guess, it was probably to make her submit to the investigation of her mind. 

Katherine gave up on her father and jumped down from the rock. She landed heavily in knee-deep water, but ran through it as fast as she could to get to Joan. Catalina hurried over a moment later. 

  “For a pacifist village, you guys got some brutal interrogation methods,” The Aasimar said in an attempt to lighten the mood. But Joan was still suffering under the spell, so Katherine couldn’t think about humor at the moment.

  “We have to free her,” Katherine said. “My dad is going to kill her. She can’t take this.”

  “Don’t worry, I got this,” Catalina said as she took out her sword.

  “Are you going to STAB my DAD?” Katherine yelped.

  “No!” Catalina snapped. “Just trust me! Oh, and cover your ears.”

Katherine obeyed, immediately slapping her hands over her sensitive elf ears. She watched as Catalina raised her sword skyward, noticing the way the silver seemed to glow with charged energy, murmured an enchantment, and then brought the blade down onto the stone.

The resulting crack of thunder was like nothing Katherine had ever heard before. Even with her ears covered, she still felt like she went deaf for a moment as a booming, apocalyptic crash exploded throughout the area. It rattled Katherine’s bones in her body, and then she realized that was just the ground and water quaking with the noise. She nearly buckled underneath the overpowering sound, but managed to stay on her feet as her ears rang painfully. Rain began to pour down heavily. 

Behind her, Edmund gasped sharply, staggering backwards from the shock of being startled out of the spell. His eyes were wide, bulging in their sockets. Many loyal villagers ran to his aid, while others pointed their weapons at Joan, who was laying face-down on the stone, unmoving. Katherine fanned the closest Tabaxi and his spear away as she propped Joan up in her arms.

  “She’s alive,” Katherine told her friend. She unlatched the shackles, revealing bright red blisters burned in Joan’s wrists. “She needs to be tended to. Come on.”

Scooping Joan up into her arms, Katherine hurried through the water, back down the path to the village, and to her treehouse as quickly as possible. With the help of Catalina, she dressed the blisters around Joan’s wrists with old man’s beard lichen and cleaned her face off with a wet rag. By the time they were done, the storm had turned into a mini hurricane outside. Katherine shut the shutters on her many windows, which usually aired out her home when it wasn’t raining, while Catalina watched over Joan closely.

  “I think you may have flooded the forest,” Katherine said.

Catalina shrugged innocently. “I helped. I think I did good.”

Katherine smiled at her. “You did do good, Lina. Thank you.”

Catalina puffed out her chest proudly. “Hell yeah I did!” She then looked down at the little Tiefling laying in Katherine’s bed. “What are you going to do with her?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” Katherine said, sitting down next to her friend. For now, Joan looked peaceful as she slept. “I don’t think she has anywhere else to go. Maybe Father will let her stay here. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?”

#dnd au #six the musical #six the musical au #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #uk tour six #tour katherine howard #katherine howard #tour catherine of aragon #catherine of aragon #tour anne boleyn #anne boleyn #tour joan on the keys #tour maggie on the guitar #beside the dying fire