#and i couldn't divide the quote to include them :(

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: blue whale

It's the one-year anniversary of my Wet Beast Wednesday posts. My first post was on the smallest of all cetaceans, the vaquita. For the anniversary, I'm going to go to the other end of the spectrum and cover the largest of all cetaceans: the mighty blue whale. Join me as we explore the biggest of bois, the largest of lads, and the absolutest of units.

(Image: a blue whale at the surface of the ocean, seen from above. It is long, slender, and grey. The head is the widest point and takes up about a quarter of the body. The blowholes are positioned at the back of the head. Two flippers emerge from the body just behind the head. The tail fluke is very broad and pointed. End ID)

Blaenoptera musculus, the blue whale, is divided into four subspecies based on size and location. These are the northern blue whale (B. m. musculus), the north Indian ocean blue whale (B. m. indica), the antarctic blue whale (B. m. intermedia), and the pygmy blue whale (B. m. brevicauda). The northern and pygmy whales are further subdivided into population stocks based on what part of their range they live in. Blue whales are not only the largest cetaceans, they are the largest known animals to have ever existed. There are animals that can get longer, like the lion's mane jellyfish, but blue whales are the most massive animals. There are some extinct species that could potentially meet or exceed the blue whale in size, including some ichthyosaurs, whales, and sauropods, but all those species are known only from skeleton fragments so we can't get a fully accurate estimate of their size. Size varies depending on subspecies and population stock, but the longest group are the eastern north Pacific population, which can reach an average 24 m (79 ft). The antarctic subspecies is the heaviest, averaging 130 metric tons (290,000 lbs) for females. Females are larger than males. The pygmy subspecies is the smallest, though small is a relative term as they can still average 21.3 m (69.9 ft) and 99 metric tons (218,000 lbs). The longest scientifically measured individual was 30 m (98 ft), though there are unconfirmed reports of longer ones. The heaviest blue whale on record weighed 173 metric tons (381,400 lbs), though there are whales estimated to get up to 199 metric tons (438,720 lbs). Blue whales also have the largest hearts of any animal. One specimen measured in at 180 kg (400 lbs). The heart is about the size of a golf cart and 4 or 5 people could fit inside the chambers without having to squeeze. There's a commonly-quoted factoid that a person could swim through a blue whale's arteries without touching the sides. I wasn't able to find any exact measurements to confirm or refute this. I did find some sources saying that the blood vessels are highly elastic so its possible the factoids are talking about the arteries at their most stretched. Each heartbeat moves 220 liters of blood and the total blood volume is estimated at 5,300 liters. The heartbeat can be heard two miles away. I really just want to impress on you that these animals are fucking massive. A study on hydrodymanics suggested that a blue whale couldn't get longer than 33 meters (108 ft) before its metabolic and energy requirements would exceed the amount of food it could eat. Blue whales are verging on what is theoretically the maximum amount of big a whale can be.

(Image: an illustration comparing the size of a blue whale to other animals and showing their size. The whale is about as long as a line consisting of a polar bear, grizzly bear, human, asian elephant, giraffe, and great white shark. End ID. Source)

Blue whales are baleen whales, meaning that instead of teeth they have thick, keratinous plates called baleen attached to the upper jaw. When feeding, blue whales open their mouths and swim through clouds of krill. The mouth can open to 80 degrees and folds at the bottom let it expand to fit 220,000 liters of water at a time. The whale them closes its mouth and forces water out through the baleen. The baleen acts as a sieve, trapping krill in the mouth to be swallowed. Blue whales target patched of krill with the highest densities as their feeding style requires a minimum of 100 krill per cubic meter to offset the energy cost of feeding. Most mouthfuls provide 8,312 to 475,141 kilocalories of energy, more than enough to offset the cost of feeding. The current estimate for how much krill an adult needs in a day is 1,120 ± 359 kg (2,469 ± 791 lbs) and pregnant females need even more than that. Blue whales will dive in search of food, with the deepest confirmed depth being a pygmy blue whale that reached 506 m (1,660 ft). The deepest known dive from a non-pygmy blue whale was 315 m (1,033 ft). The longest recorded dive was 15.2 minutes and the estimated maximum dive duration is 31.2 minutes. During dives, a blue whale's heartbeat slows to 2 beats per minute, the slowest of any known animal. The elastic aorta seems to take over a lot of the heart's pumping job during this time. Blue whales are streamlined and similar in appearance to the relates sei whales and fin whales. Blue and fin whales are capable of hybridizing and producing fertile offspring. 3.5% of the blue whale genome comes from hybridization with fin whales. While blue whales can produce hybrid offspring with fin whales, the reverse is not true and the gene flow from fin to blue is unidirectional. It appears that all hybrids are the result of a fin father and a blue mother. Interestingly, blue whales do not appear to be capable of hybridizing with the more closely related sei whales. There are unconfirmed reports of blue whale and humpback whale hybrids. And because someone was going to bring it up if I didn't, the blue whale's penis is the largest of any animal at 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 30 cm (12 in) wide and they can release an estimated 17 liters of semen at a time. I know someone out there desperately wanted to know that and to that person I say you're whalecum.

(Image: a blue whale feeding at the surface of the ocean on its side, seen from above. The mouth is open with the troat and lower mouth inflated. It is swimming into a patch of krill, visible as yellowish coloration in the water. End id)

Blue whales can be found worldwide, though they typically prefer colder water and do not enter the Arctic ocean. They are usually solitary or travel in pairs, but can gather in groups up to 50 strong when food is abundant. Many are migratory, feeding in cold water during the summer and moving toward the equator in winter. They can follow complex migratory patterns that have to be memorized. There are multiple different strategies employed by different populations regarding who migrates when and some populations don't migrate at all. Their vocalizations are used for long-distance and short-range communication and scientists have classified multiple different types of sounds produced. Different populations of whales have different patterns of vocalizations which may be akin to languages or dialects. Blue whale sounds are some of the loudest and lowest frequency produced by any animal and most are too low-frequency to be audible to humans. Mating season happens in winter. Males use vocalizations to attract females, who they then court through special noises, blowing bubbles, inflating their mouths, chasing, and slapping the water with their flippers. Males compete with each other for the chance to mate. Once a female chooses a male, they will mate and then separate. Gestation takes 10 to 12 months. Newborn blue whales are the largest babies in the animal kingdom at 6-7 m (20-23 ft) and 2-3 metric tons (4409 to 6614 lbs). Mother produce between 110 and 320 kg (240 - 710 lbs) of milk daily. Claves are weaned between 6 and 8 months once they hit 16 m (53 ft) and have gained about 17,000 kg (37,500 lbs). Females typically mate every 2 to 3 years. Blue whale become sexually mature at 8-10 years old and can live over 90 years, with the oldest on record being 110 years old. Their age can be determined by earwax, which is laid down in rings like trees.

(Image: a mother blue whale (background) and calf (foreground). The baby is already very large and is a lighter grey than the mother. The baby is seen from the sied while the mother is rotates to show her underside. End ID)

All blue whale subspecies are classified as endangered by the IUCN, with the antarctic subspecies being critically endangered. Blue whales were heavily impacted during whaling, with their population dropping to the point of near-extinction. Since the end of whaling, populations have risen to an estimated 10,000 to 25,000 as of the end of 2023. This is still smaller than their pre-whaling population, but they have recovered quite a bit. The current largest threats to blue whales are climate change, collisions with ships, and human created noise. The effects of anthropogenic noise from shipping lanes on aquatic animals is still poorly understood, though it seems to greatly irritate and even harm whales, forcing them to change their migratory routes and avoid shipping lanes. Interestingly, as the population has increased scientists have noted changes in courtship behavior and vocalization tone. It is hypothesizes that the increasing population is resulting in greater competitive pressure between males for the right to mate.

(Image: a blue whale seen from the side. Its head is toward the camera. The lower jaw as larger and thicker than the upper jaw. The animal is streamlined. The eye is just behind the mouth and small. Further back is a paddle-shaped flipper. End ID)

#wet beast wednesday #blue whale #whale #whales #cetaceans #cetacean #marine mammals #baleen whale #marine biology #biology #zoology #ecology #animal facts #informative #image described #science #absolute unit #big #anniversary

[nekoannie-chan]

Do not read

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!Reader.

Word count: 393 words.

Summary: Steve read something he shouldn’t.

Warnings: Forbidden book, magic.

A/N: This my entry to @witchywithwhiskey’s Horror Movie Hoe-A-Ton with horror movie quote:

“Do not read the latin.”

You can read it on Wattpad and Ao3 too.

@saiyanprincessswanie

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other's people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish:  Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. 

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

Tags: @sinceimetyou @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad @navybrat817 @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @charmed-asylum @pandaxnienke @real-fbi @smokeandnailz @white-wolf1940 @tenaciousperfectionunknown @xoxonotme @bluemusickid @leyannrae @harrysthiccthighsss @marvelatthisonee @caplanbuckybarness @sapphire-rogerss @lizzieolseniskinda @notyourtypicalrose @hallecarey1 @nana1000night @talia-rumlow @writingshae @alexxavicry @azulatodoryuga @daemonslittlebitch @chaoticcollectivenightmare @endlesstwanted @chemtrails-club  @marigoldreamer @whiskeytangofoxtrot5555 @here4thefanfics @theestorm @patzammit @kmc1989

It was a dark and stormy night. A dense fog hung over the city, creating an eerie and mysterious atmosphere, which was perfect, you had always loved this kind of thing. You were on your way to the library to continue your research of ancient texts. Your interest was focused on an ancient and dusty book with strange symbols and Latin words on its cover, you were going to find out all its secrets.

What you didn't count on was that Steve had arrived earlier, curiously picked up the book you were researching and tried to read it aloud, overlooking the warning "Do not read the Latin", which was on the first page.

Just as you entered the place, a dark presence filled the room. The temperature suddenly dropped and a shiver ran down your spine. A worried expression appeared on your face, had someone conjured something forbidden? You sighed, you had some of your weapons with you.

“What have you done? “You asked as you saw Steve there, noticing his disturbance.

He tried to explain to you what had happened, but before he could finish, the room began to shake violently. Books and objects flew through the air.

Steve got into a fighting stance, ready to face whatever threat was coming. The problem was that even if you didn't know what they were going to face, you still couldn't decipher all the secrets in that book.

The room filled with shadows and ghostly figures began to appear around us, but they were clearly outnumbered and outpowered. It was then that you remembered the phrase Steve had ignored: "Do not read the Latin". That's when you realized that the words in that language were the key to stopping the threat.

In desperation, you ran for the book and began reciting the Latin words backwards, trying to reverse the spell. Steve began to repeat what you were saying even though he didn't know what it meant, but it seemed to be working because the ghostly figures began to disappear.

You and Steve looked at each other, exhausted. It seemed Steve had learned a great lesson and would not meddle in your investigations again, and he promised to be more careful with the knowledge of any book he didn't understand as it might contain warnings to avoid unleashing a greater and perhaps even uncontrollable evil.

#horrormoviehoeathon #steve rogers x reader

[batpoisonz]

My experience as a 2S gaybian:

Before all this, I was exclusive to "contradictory" labels all the way up until early 2023. I then labeled myself as an mspec lesbian, because as a 2S person, my gender and sexuality are impacted by my cultural experiences way beyond that of someone's binary thinking. Most white transphobes couldn't even comprehend my experiences with me being 2S.

When I was exclu; it was simply just my own ignorance. I was influenced by those around me who did not understand the labels themselves. I listened to their arguments and at the time it made sense. Until inclu people came by and explained the labels to me.

I was the only one in my friend group who sat down to have a discussion with these people. and their arguments made even more sense and disputed all the arguments my friends came up with!! It was an insane and confusing experience. When you want to be loyal to your friends but something they do is just so morally wrong, you wouldn't know what to do either!

This is where I start to understand, and when I started to become critical of both sides. I thought exclu people were "radical" as well, but being "radinclu" simply just wasn't "radical" to me just for including queer people in the QUEER community, ya know?

At the time even tho my stance was changing and developing, I still fought against mspec lesbians and gays; simply because I was scared of being an outcast, that I'd get harassed by exclu people, that people would be racist to me, etc etc. but I soon learned it was the complete opposite.

AS SOMEBODY WHO IS GAYBIAN, when I was exclu I experienced MASS AMOUNTS of racism; to the point I felt like I had to leave twitter (even after I made my account private). I had people questioning my validity as a native american simply because I was an ignorant homophobe.

Say it with me: IGNORANCE DOES NOT EXCUSE RACISM!!

I even had people calling me a chimp, a creature, I've been called a chimera, I got mass reported, I got called multiple racial slurs, of which not all I could even reclaim, I got called a hermaphrodite, way way more happened. my cc got filled with racism and homophobia too!! all because I was ignorant on the subject.

Not once did I call an inclu person (while I was exclu) any of these horrible things or harass them; I just blocked them and moved on with my day.

I will admit I was a bigot for sure but I would NEVER wish any of these things on anyone.

It doesn't stop there though. when I came out as gaybian, I lost almost ALL of my online friends. I also was closeted irl because I had people at my college getting VERY hostile whenever somebody mentioned you can be a bi lesbian.

Those same people were okay with the idea of being a biplatonic lesbian.

basically, my point here is that even as you evolve and grow as a person, become more accepting of not only others but also yourself; the queer community is extremely divided. Even IF everyone agreed that "contradictory" labels weren't an issue, it still wouldn't stop the heartless attacks we all get as queers on the daily. exclus said the SAME THING about neopronouns and xenogenders 7 years ago that they're saying about mspec lesbians and gays today. AND THAT'S A PROBLEM.

The US is climbing towards eradicating all of us as queers; starting with trans people, and they're slowly inching on towards homosexuality. People WITHIN the queer community are more concerned about how we label ourselves, when we all have our own unique oppression as queers, AND SHARED OPPRESSION AS WELL!!

I've legit heard people saying the hate crimes I've experienced as a gaybian don't actually exist and that I'm overreacting because my identity isn't real.

You know who gets the same thing told to THEM?

Most queers will hear that same quote; ESPECIALLY nonbinary people and trans people in general.

everyone who is queer, is queer. whether you "agree" with the labels or not. we are QUEER for a reason.

#mspec queer #queer #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #lgbt+ #bi lesbian #lesbian #mspec lesbian #mspec safe #bi lesboy #lesboy #gay #mspec lesboy #pansexual #pan #rad inclus #radinclu #mogai #pride #happy pride 🌈 #bisexual

[zingaplanet]

hi new tennis fan here, do you mind explaining the 2011 fedal fallout? I tried looking around but couldn't find much. Thanks in advance!

Oh ho ho mutual, thanks for the question altho I fear this might get too complicated too political too quickly hahaha I'll try to keep my answer neutral. Tennis politics is an underworld of nasty nasty business and as much as it is fascinating, it is unfortunately very different from the clean, elegant, prestigious look the sport is presented as at front, as is expected when big prize money is on the line. This is going to be quite long, as usual, so be prepared hahaha

There's a good NYT article about this whole Nadal-Federer-Djokovic council debacle which I highly reccommend (around their 2019 return to the council), but let me provide a bit of a back story to that as well.

Now this all started back in the early 2010s, Federer and Nadal were still world number 1 and 2 (oh the good old days), and they were also the leaders at the players' council (Nadal was Federer's VP). So the gist of it by end of 2011, there was a bit of a dispute, esentially about prize money, but quickly turned into a bit of everything.

Basically, after the ATP finals of that year, there was talk of changing ATP into a 2 year ranking system. This is a bit unconventional but it's actually related to how points are accumulated throughout the whole tour and the accessibility of the sports to newcomers.

Everyone kinda knows that tennis is one of the most difficult sports to break into, not only because tournament seedings are based on rankings (unlike in football for instance where it's random), meaning top players will always have preference to go all the way to the final, but also because prize money has also been reported as highly unequal. Players at the top level like Serena, Federer, Sharapova, Nadal etc earned a gazillion times more than even the top 20 players, this is because of sponsorship, but also because of the gap in prize money. More reports have been coming out on this recently, where the top 5 players in India and other countries can't even sustain themselves with prize money alone and has to take up side jobs.

The idea is that with a 2 year ranking, points will be distributed more evenly, rankings will be much more accessible and players in the top 50 will have access to better prize money. It's a bit complicated to explain technically but that's the gist of it as far as I understand.

Now the problem starts when in November that year, the players meeting saw all players (including Nadal) except Federer, the president, support the 2 year system. They were also planning to boycott the Australian Open, that they deemed were far too unfair in terms of prize money distribution as all other Grand Slams.

The dispute between the two of them also has another layer into it however. Unsurprisignly, the ranking debate is related to discussions about scheduling, in which Nadal has been strongly advocating for change since the beginning of his career.

I managed to dig up some quotes on this, it's pretty nasty (hmu if you want sources):

“"For him, it's good to say nothing, (His attitude is) "Everything is positive. It's all well and good for me, I look like a gentleman,' and the rest can burn themselves. He likes the circuit. I like the circuit. It's better than many other sports, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be better.”

Rafa and some other players are protesting about the number of mandatory events a pro player is required to compete in during the year, arguing this is not actually sustainable for an athlete's physical condition which he himself has felt the brunt too many times.

"I love the game and there are a lot of things I'm grateful for,” Nadal said. “The game has allowed me to lead a fantastic lifestyle. But to finish your career with pain all over your body, is that a positive? No. Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he'll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor (Andy) Murray, nor (Novak) Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose. Tennis is an important part of my life, but it's a tough sport. We're not like him, where it's effortless to play. For all of us, it's a battle."

I believe this is the period Federer was referring to when he said "He used to follow me around with everything but then he grew to be his own person," etc.

Federer and Nadal before this period were strangely civil towards each other, even after those French Open and Wimbledon finals back to back - but this seemed to be the beginning of their souring relations. Federer handled it very discretely and only said he had “no hard feelings” toward Nadal for the comments, and Nadal also later admitted that his comments “must stay in the locker room.”

I'm not saying one player is right and the other is wrong, there is always 2 sides of the coin. A 2 year ranking system will mess a lot of things up in terms of the sport's competitiveness and spectatorship, but there is also a real pay gap problem in tennis, especially in Grand Slams, it's a very top heavy sport. It's very evident that Nadal and Federer's frustrations with each other relate a lot to their different career trajectories and playing style. Nadal said many times from the beginning that his style of play is too physicaly disruptive and I remember him saying he'd be very surprised if he's still playing in his 30s and it's obvious that Federer's injury-free career bothered him a bit, while Federer, I think is always the perfect middle-man between the players and the tournament organisers (he has very good relationship with all of them), and he understood nuances of the sports' politics and that it's never that simple to change everything, something a lot of young players don't really get I think (Nadal is a bit more politically diplomatic nowadays).

The story of the 2019 council dispute is a bit more complicated, and it actually shows how much they've built bridges over their differences as this time it was more the case of Novak vs the two of them, quite literally haha. Nadal and Federer were no longer part of the council then. I think it started with the firing of the ATP chief executive, Chris Kermode (Djokovic was the president at that time I think). Nadal and Federer were very unhappy about this and that they weren't consulted on the decision.

Federer said: “I tried to meet Novak on the deadline; unfortunately, he had no time, That’s hard to understand for me.” Nadal, who met with Federer at that tournament to discuss tour business, also echoed his displeasure.

Very spicy, huh? This actually ended up bringing both Nadal and Federer back together into the council. Federer agreed to rejoin, and he talked about it with Nadal: "I would only do it if you were going too. And he said: I also only participate if you are there too."

See his cute full interview here:

The sweetest cherry on top is actually Andy Murray, bless his little heart (he is unsurprisingly quite uninvolved with the drama hahaha). He also left the council recently and actually was really happy Federer and Nadal the duo managed to get back together into the fray. “Despite the sport’s current success we live in chaotic times,” Murray wrote on Twitter. “My biggest achievement on the council may well prove to be being part of the group of resignations that presented the opportunity for this to happen. Good luck!!!”

Anyhow, there you go, a few thousand? words on tennis politics that you clearly did not ask for but hey! nothing better to start saturday morning than some spicy drama between the world's top athletes, eh?

#was actually fun to look back and dig into the history books a bit #ooh this period was soo nasty #federer #nadal #fedal #tennis #novak djojovic #andy murray #politics #atp tour #australian open

[aranarumei]

actually im curious. for people who make playlists what is their preferred method and also like. what they're making playlists for. i think my playlists r divided into abt 5 categories:

1: playlists that compile work of an artist or smthing like it. ofc u can simply go to an artist you follow and click liked songs but 1) this includes all liked albums even if not all of the individual songs in that album is liked iirc, and 2) sometimes bands have like. members that do solo work and so the song isnt listed under the band name but i personally wanna compile it in the playlist. there's also people like gigaP who i have a playlist for, because he's not listed as an artist for a lot of songs he does production on, and i wanna compile that. and then also theres stuff like. compiling all of the sonic music i like.

2: organizer playlists. stuff like. i like to separate my songs by language just because. and for japanese-language music i break that down into 1) these are openings 2) this is music from a gacha game 3) this is vocaloid music 4) all the stuff that is none of the above. if i want everything i shuffle the folder (tho spotify mobile doesnt seem to have that ability...) or things like, here is a playlist with all of the classical music i listen to. one with all the video game ost. one with all the anime ost. etc. 3: themed playlists. this feels pretty standard, its just like. this playlist has songs that represent a season, this one has gender fuckery, this one is sorta vibey and chill, etc.

4: fandom / story playlists: this is the one i'm interested in!! i think this has a variety of how it works--saw a poll about whether character playlists are made thinking about what music the character would canonically be into, and that blew my mind bc i'd absolutely never thought about that. but i've also never made a character playlist (yet) bc my fandom playlists are like... "story" playlists? so some are just like. fic playlists that compile songs i think fit with the story lyrically and/or vibe-wise, and some are like, here's a playlist abt a relationship i like, and the songs are ordered to show like the chronology of the actual media and each couple of songs represent a different arc / time period etc. i'm not always that detailed, so I've got some that don't necessarily follow a chronology, but with these I tend to build them by writing a google doc with the songs + one quote of a lyric that i think fits, and then I tend to add extra notes on the rest of the song and how it fits with my ideas. why i do it i couldn't tell you because the documents are mostly for me lol. anyways that's all

5. cannot believe I have to tack this on in post bc I said 5 and then straight up forgot. the 5th category is recommendation playlists for others

#kiri.txt #my bad this is a very long post #for anyone who sees this tho i would love to hear any personal quirks u have in terms of playlisting #absolutely dont have to say as much as me but u are WELCOME to #i also love talking abt and looking at playlists if anyone wants lol. #i love music. #in this essay I will

[leonbloder]

Would Jesus Be Welcome In Your Church?

During one of my "rabbit hole" explorations on a topic for a sermon recently, I got to reading some quotes by the late Rich Mullins.  

Mullins was an aclaimed Christian musical artist in the late 80s and early 90s, who wrote songs like, "Awesome God," "My Deliverer," "Hold Me Jesus," and "Creed," all of which won multiple awards. 

But Mullins withdrew from the mainstream Contemporary Christian Music industry late in his career, and his music and writing took on a decidedly different kind of tone. 

He was highly critical of what had become of Evangelical Christianity, and was a kind of prophet who began to foresee how the marriage between Evangelicals and right wing politics could lead to a kind of Christianity that didn't seem to follow Jesus. 

Mullins died in a car crash in 1997, and at his memorial Amy Grant described him as the "uneasy conscience of Christian music."  

One of Mullins' prescient quotes about the state of Christianity really resonated with me, and I'd like to share it here: 

Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved, and Jesus loved the poor, and Jesus loved the broken-hearted. 

Interestingly, that quote and others like it would have gotten Mullins publicly blackballed by Evangelical Christianity and the Christian music industry if he'd made it in our current culture.  

As it was, in the mid-90s he did receive his fair share of criticism, buy by then he'd already withdrawn fro the limelight. 

I can't imagine the excoriating comments it would have garnered on social media and the internet now---fueled by infuriated Christians who couldn't believe that one of their own would say such a thing.  

Actually, I can imagine it.  Because it's happened a lot in the past few years.  Christian artists like Phil Keaggy, Michelle Branch, Switchfoot, Amy Grant, Lauren Daigle and many more have been "cancelled" by mainstream Christianity for expressing views that call the politics of Evangelicalism into question. 

There are also scores of pastors and authors who have been ostracized, fired, lost speaking engagements, and the like for doing the same.  I'm thinking of people like Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Jen Hatmaker, Sarah Bessey, and so many more. 

Like Mullins, these artists and creators had the temerity to actually ask why so many Christians seemed to be more in love with politics than with Jesus. Further,  they pushed back against forms of Christianity that excluded more than included.  

And for many of them it cost them their careers. 

Interestingly, Jesus faced cancellation by the religious leaders of his day.  They couldn't believe that he would teach that God's love was extended to everyone, even those outside their circle.  

These religious leaders also were incensed that Jesus took apart the ridiculous nature of their rules, regulations, doctrines and dogmas that actually kept people from drawing closer to God.   

So they constantly tried to discredit Jesus, demean him, catch him out and spread all kinds of lies, innuendo and the like to diminish his influence.  And then when none of that seemed to work, they had him killed. 

I  have to wonder, if Jesus showed up today preaching the very things that we see in the Gospels, would mainstream Christianity call him a heretic, and reject him?  

And how many of us would really be drawn to his words and his teachings, particularly the uncomfortable parts about letting go of our materialism, eschewing power and status, giving ourselves away for the sake of the shalom of God in the world? 

Those of us who call ourselves Jesus-followers ought to think deeply about these kinds of things.  We have an opportunity in this divided and often completely messed-up world we live in to shine the light of Jesus, and to love as Jesus loved. 

Let's not squander that moment because we're too afraid to follow the One we claim to follow.  

May it be so for us all, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all now and forever.  Amen.  

#presbymusings #dailydevotion #leonbloder #dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #faith #spiritualgrowth #spirituality

[falllingthroughspace]

Have you got family? No. Lost them a long time ago. How do you cope with that?

#dwedit #doctor who #dw #dwgif #timelordgifs #mine #too many characters to tag #i didn't include fam not because i hate them!! #i don't! #they are not officially gone yet #and i couldn't divide the quote to include them :( #let's imagine i made this 2 years ago #inspired by rose in the last gifset #cause that scene breaks my heart #1k #quote

[celestialevie]

Flower Boy // George Weasley x GN! Reader

Summary: AU where y/n is working at the tattoo shop, while their best friend is an owner of a flower shop. What happenes when expecting to see your best friend for lunch, you end up meeting a tall ginger man. Warnings: fluff, mention of food, tattoos, flowers, George being absolute charmer Word count: 1.7k a/n: enjoy this aboslute fluff of a fic!! and again, english is not my first language so if there are any mistakes please do not hestitate to let me know about it!! ' Evangeline ' is an oc of mine, so she might appear in some of my fics as a side charachter. Also credit to @bwbatta for the dividers!!

Being a tattoo artist was one of the things you were proudest of. It wasn't easy to become one after neglecting art for so many years during High School. But after your best friend opened her own flower shop, she helped you get your inspiration for art being constantly surrounded by flowers and stories of why people were getting flowers. You were happy with everything but not knowing that wasn't the end of your happiness. It all started when you were on your lunch break and decided to swing by your best friend's flower shop to visit her. Expecting to see a small blonde girl behind the counter, you were shocked to see a tall ginger man standing there instead. '' Hello, how can I help you today? '' When ginger looked up, he felt as if someone kicked all of the air from his lungs because before him stood a beautiful person with y/h/c hair and y/e/c eyes. Smiling at them as they approached the counter, they were even more beautiful up close. '' Hi, um I'm looking for Evangeline? I didn't know she hired someone new. '' Ginger laughed, nodding his head. '' Ah yes, I'm only here temporarily. Unfortunately, you just missed her, she left to go on a lunch break with my uglier twin. '' You only laughed at that. '' Too bad, but can you please let her know that y/n looked for her? '' He nodded. '' I'll let her know. I'm George by the way. If you ever wanna ask her for me. '' George wiggled his eyebrows, making you shook your head. '' It was nice meeting you, but I have to go now. Please don't break any of her flowers she's not afraid to commit murder if you break something in her shop. '' his eyes widen, making you laugh as you were leaving but his voice stopped you. '' Hey! You come here often? '' he asks '' Considering I use to work here and my best friend owns it, yes. '' and with that, you left the shop, heading back to your workplace.

As the clock turned changed time to 8 pm, you relaxed finally going home after a stressful day. Just as you were open the door, Evangeline barged in. '' Hello, heard you've been looking for me. '' She grinned at her best friend, attacking them with a hug. '' Hello to you too,'' you said returning the hug '' I see the tall ginger you failed to mention to me kept his word. '' smirk appearing in the corner of your mouth as you recall your encounter with him from earlier today. '' It seemed to me you left a trance on Georgie boy. '' Evangeline wiggled her eyebrows, making you laugh '' You can't do that to me, I wanted to have lunch with my best friend only to find she ditched me for and I quote the ginger man '' uglier twin '', leaving me to get almost a heart attack. For a second I thought I walked into a wrong shop. '' Both of you walked out of the shop, heading towards your apartment. '' Speaking of that date, you also failed to mention you were dating someone, and here I thought we tell each other everything, tsk tsk. I'm disappointed. '' you nudged her, blush creeping on her cheeks. '' Oh my god are you blushing? He's making you blush just by thinking of him? You need to tell me about him. '' and so she did. She told you how his name is Fred and along with his twin, he has 6 siblings, making both of them the middle children. It was very interesting to know about a man who took an interest in my best friend. Deciding she'll spend the night at yours, you both got cosy into pyjamas and watched movies until you both crashed. The next morning you went together to work, letting you know she'll come to your work for the lunch break. So when your lunch break came, you didn't expect her to walk in with the same ginger man from yesterday. '' y/n/n, I brought us a bodyguard to keep us safe during our lunch break. '' grin played on her lips, making you shake your head. '' Yeah because we're so in danger that someone is gonna try and kill us while eating Taco Bell. '' George snorted, making you look at him. He looked even cuter than yesterday if that's even possible. Maybe there was something in gingers that you'd yet to discover that makes them so attractive. '' So flower boy, what do you do when you're not being a bodyguard or taking care of Evie's flower shop. '' he was grinning at the nickname. '' I own a joke shop with my brother, but we're currently redecorating inside so we had to close it for a week or two. '' An attractive businessman, that's a first one you snorted to yourself. Spending an hour with two of them, turned into a mostly back and forth conversation between George and you. Soon Evie had to leave, her lunch break coming to an end. To your surprise, George asked you if he could stay for a bit longer, which you said yes to since you had no client for another hour. He asked you about your art style, which, according to George made your eyes sparkle up with happiness, making him chuckle when you started to ramble not even noticing. '' You're rambling. '' he chuckled making you blush a little. '' Sorry, sometimes I can get carried away without even noticing. '' George smiled, taking your hand in his, making you look at him. '' Don't apologise, it's adorable. '' blushing even harder, you looked at the clock making you realise that in 15 minutes your client should be coming. '' Oh shit I didn't even realise how much time has passed already, I have to prepare for the next client. But hey if you ever want a tattoo you know where to come. '' You said and with that, you disappeared somewhere behind in the storage, kind of hiding from flower boy, because he's starting to make you feel things you haven't felt before.

Everything was happening so fast, in the next few days he kept coming either alone or in a company of Evangeline. She knew what she was doing and she was enjoying it. You even got to meet Fred, him wanting to meet the fascinating best friend of his girlfriend and the person who his brother can't seem to stop talking about. So when George asked you out, you said yes having nothing to lose. Deciding on a picnic, both of you packed some food, and he picked you up after work, leading you to a park. He prepared a blanket and put down the baskets where food and drinks were, sitting down and relaxing. '' How was your day? '' you began the conversation. '' It was good, mostly spent the entire day thinking of what to bring for our date tonight. '' a smile appeared on his face. '' How was yours? Any interesting tattoos you did? '' so you told him about this older guy who had half of his back tattooed with some weird game character, which made him laugh. Looking up at the sky, it looked amazing. '' Isn't the view beautiful? '' a grin played on your lips as you looked at the stars. George was only looking at you, and how beautiful you looked under the stars. If he wasn't already falling, he definitely would've now. '' Yeah, it couldn't be more beautiful. '' you looked at him and he was looking at you. '' Stop looking at me like that! '' He grinned at you, placing a hand on your cheek. '' Like what? '' he said softly while looking you in the eyes. '' L-like I've placed all the stars in the sky as if I'm the most unique thing on this planet. '' you were avoiding his eyes, knowing you wouldn't be able to breathe if you do. George had other plans, because he softly placed finger under your chin, making you look up at him. His eyes were filled with so much adoration, making you get lost in them. '' I've been looking at you like that ever since we first met, darling. I've grown quite fond of you from the first time our eyes met. '' a smile was spread on both of your lips '' God how much I love seeing you smile. I like you so much, love. '' placing your hands on both of his cheeks '' Can I tell you something? '' you said quietly almost a whisper. '' You can tell me anything. '' ''I like you too flower boy. '' even bigger smile was on his lips. '' Could you say it again? '' you furrowed your eyebrows. '' Were you not listening? '' he shook his head. ' No, I was, I just like the sound of your voice. '' you shook your head at his goofiness. '' Can you kiss me? '' a grin appeared on his lips '' Thought you'd never ask. '' and with that, he placed his soft lips on top of yours, lips mending with each other. It was like fireworks exploded inside you, from how much happiness you felt in this moment. Everything was perfect.

The next day you decided to visit Evangeline in the shop, expecting to see I guy you've grown s much fond of. And there he was stood with Fred and Evangeline, his beautiful smile playing on his lips. '' Hello, hope I'm not interrupting a big secret meeting. '' you joked as you approached them. George pulled you in his embrace, placing a small kiss on your temple as he sneaked an arm around your shoulder. '' Of course not love. '' you smiled at him, starting a conversation with him, not noticing how Fred and Evangeline were looking at the two of you. '' I haven't seen her smile like that in ages. '' Evie said, '' Hey flower boy, '' Fred began only to be shot by a dirty look by you. '' Hey, only I can call him that,'' you said and with that making everyone laugh including yourself. This is the happiest you've been in forever, and you could only hope it could stay like this forever.

#harry potter #hogwarts #george wealsey x reader #george weasley #fred and george #george wealsey imagine #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley #harry potter fanfiction #george weasley fanfiction #george weasley one shot #weasley twins #hp #fred and george weasley #george weasley fluff #george weasley angst #george weasley smut #fred weasley fluff

[xiyao-feels]

So, this started off as a shipping bingo for MDZS nie//lan; I've added the bingo meme above so that you know what you're getting into. What it evolved into, however, is several thousand words of close reading of the NMJ+LXC relationship, getting some into the 3//zun dynamics and comparing it with LXC and JGY's relationship to help demonstrate my point. If that sounds interesting to you, read away! Fair warning: as you might gather from the bingo above I am not very gentle, not only on the idea of a romantic relationship but also on their friendship.

Originally, I imagined I'd be saying something like, while of course they were very good friends and LXC grieves for NMJ, there's no evidence of romantic interest. But I wanted to look over the scenes first, to get a handle on them properly and to pick out some quotes; and what I found, when I looked at it closely, startled me—I couldn't believe how little there actually was.

My methodology for this review, by the way: I searched the entire text for every variation on their name I could think of, and then read over the chapter for chapters they were both mentioned in. I also reviewed chapters where only one of them is mentioned (that's how I caught the reference in ch 16, where NMJ is only referred to as NHS' brother). I might have missed something, or I might have read it and not registered it, etc etc. I definitely don't have JGY's memory XP But I've done my best to be thorough.

Also, a heads up: while I've done a little bit of addressing NMJ's emotions, this is mostly focused on what LXC feels, because otherwise this would be even more ridiculously long and because that's where my interest lies.

I'll state my conclusions up front, in case you just want to know what I think and not have to wade through [mumble] thousand words to get there. But it's far enough off from even the standard non-shippy take on their relationship that I really did think it was worth walking through the evidence.

It seems to me that while NMJ and LXC were to some extent close before the war, they grew apart during the war and very much so afterwards. There are a few moments that suggest NMJ might feel unusually tender towards LXC, there is nothing similar on LXC's part, and frankly their post-Sunshot interactions that we see suggest that—while LXC certainly cares about him—he does not at all feel close to him.

Moreover, his personal grief for NMJ's death, and whatever personal betrayal he may feel about JGY killing his, LXC's, friend, are not the drivers of his emotional difficulties with respect to JGY.

Okay, now the evidence. This has been divided up into two parts, NMJ alive and NMJ dead.

Pt I: NMJ alive

LXC and NMJ were friends before Sunshot; while we don't have a lot of evidence to guess how close they were, we can certainly see signs of long familiarity with each other in their later interactions, and it's worth noting that we don't see either of them having other friends beyond, in LXC's case, JGY.*

*NMJ got along with his subordinate MY very well, but except for one incident it was purely in the context of a superior/subordinate relationship, and he does not seem to have been interested in MY as a person, so I'm not classing them as friends.

Nevertheless, during Sunshot, we can see LXC begin to grow apart from him, and in their post-Sunshot interactions they start not very close and end up quite distant. By the time if NMJ's death, it's clear that while LXC cares about him, he is not emotionally close to him at all.

A brief discussion of NMJ's feelings, before I spend most of the rest of the post focusing on LXC's. As I mentioned above, LXC seems to be NMJ's only friend, and he does react to him in ways he doesn't really seem to anyone else. In the teacups scene, for example, we're told that "while Nie MingJue had never been one for humor," nevertheless "in front of Lan XiChen, his expression eased." Later, towards the end of the stairs incident, LXC is able to dissuade him from immediately pursuing JGY's death, which I believe is as much as we see anyone ever do with NMJ's anger. Finally, in ch 46, when LXC and LWJ are playing music to deal with NMJ's headless corpse, WWX thinks that NMJ might particularly be responding to LXC playing Liebing: "Wei WuXian didn’t know if it was only his imagination, but as soon as the soft, serene tone of the xiao appeared, the corpse’s movement paused. For a moment, he seemed to have stood still and listened, then turned around, as though he wanted to see who was the one playing the music."

If you wanted to say that NMJ has romantic or quasi-romantic feelings about LXC, then I don't think that would be an unreasonable extrapolation from the text, although I also don't think it's a necessary one; friendship and minor romantic feelings are I think pretty much equally fair readings.

Even so, LXC is not his priority; rather, he prioritizes NHS and (probably not unrelatedly) JGY's moral rectitude. In Ch  48, the friendly 3zun conversation only happens because NMJ was seeking LXC out to bring him NHS' saber, which he'd left behind, and when he qi deviates it's NHS and not LXC who manages to bring him some calm just before he dies, and whose features he can recognize (ch 50). At the Phoenix Mountain Hunt (ch 69-70), we see no sign that either he or LXC sought each other out, and on those occasions we do see NMJ initiate discussion with LXC it's usually about JGY's moral rectitude (ch 73, his sarcastic remark about JGY's hard work after the conference about WWX; ch 49, his interjection during the guqin scene; ch 49, the beginning of the stairs incident). 

And what about what LXC feels? Let's take a close look at the progression of their relationship.

In chapter 16, when NHS is studying at Cloud Recesses, we see LXC run into him and convey NMJ's query into his studies, having apparently recently returned from Qinghe. While he doesn't say what he was doing there, it seems reasonable to infer that he was either visiting NMJ or at least visited him while he was there. (ETA: NHS also hopes that LXC will put in some good words for him to NMJ, which also suggests that he expects they'll be in contact.) This establishes a baseline of closeness from before the war, however much they drift apart during and after. However, we never see any of their interactions before the war, or anything else about their relationship; this is all we get.

The high point of the NMJ and LXC interactions that we see on page happen during Sunshot, where we see them have three conversations (all in ch 48). High point, however, is a relative phrase. In order, there's the teacups scene; there's their conversation (including MY) after NMJ agrees to release MY from his service, with a recommendation letter no less; and there's their conversation where NMJ recounts what happened with MY in Langya.

Let's start with the teacups scene. NMJ and LXC do talk, but it's part of a group conversation with other cultivators—at least three and as many as six of whom we see interject,* one of whom is another sect leader—and it seems mostly about practical or immediate matters. The exchange on the page isn't long and "Soon afterward, Lan XiChen and the rest stood up" and are led to their resting areas by MY. Moreover, interestingly, it's NMJ who asks all the questions; LXC answers him, but doesn't ask him questions in turn, or comment on his situation. 

*there are two separate occasions where there cultivators per chime in

(Note also that the focus of the conversation suggests that NMJ and LXC aren't communicating extensively through letters or anything, as does LXC not knowing MY is NMJ's deputy. I don't think this is hugely significant, given that there's a war on and presumably they don't want information leaking everywhere and LXC doesn't seem to have a fixed address, but it does seem worth noting—as does the implication, perhaps more significant, that LXC only stops at Hejian when he's escorting other cultivators: "Everytime Lan XiChen passed Hejian as he was escorting other cultivators, he would rest shortly[.]")

NMJ and LXC's conversation in the teacups scene stands in really stark contrast to the conversation between LXC and MY that NMJ is about to overhear. That conversation is very much private; it's in LXC's private resting area, and MY is sitting in the presence of Zewu-Jun. The conversation is sort of about the war, but really only as it relates to MY's dream of "earn[ing] a proper place in the LanlingJin Sect" and "receiv[ing] the approval of [his] father." The very first thing we hear LXC say is a comment on MY's situation ("What a coincidence. You joined MingJue-xiong’s force and became his deputy")! He is of course going to go on to raise the possibility of MY going to Langya (to serve his father), and independently volunteer to talk to NMJ if NMJ isn't willing to let MY go. And even after NMJ joins them, some things are kept private between LXC and MY; when he asks them how they know each other, LXC refuses to answer, and then when he asks MY to answer as LXC will not, MY also refuses him, since LXC doesn't want it spoken.

The two conversations are simply very different, in a way that suggests a strong contrast between LXC's feelings for and interest in NMJ and LXC's feelings for and interest in MY. It's also worth noting, as I mentioned above, that it seems that NMJ sought LXC out because he was bringing LXC NHS' sabre, so LXC can bring it on to NHS. 

Now, let's look at the conversation the three of them have after NMJ volunteers to give MY a letter of recommendation and send him to serve his father in Langya. This conversation is, I think, the high point of the interactions they have that we actually see. LXC expresses a positive evaluation of NMJ: "Look, I told you that MingJue-xiong would respect your decision." He smiles at NHS' sabre, and responds directly to NMJ. And then of course there's this famous paragraph:

The three chatted back and forth, at times serious, yet at times light. The conversation was much more relaxed than when they had been in the living room. Listening to their chatter, Wei WuXian often wanted to get a word in as well, yet he was unable to do so.

That said...well. Again, there's nothing about anything here that suggests romance, and if you look at the reasons I give for it being the high point, that's not actually very high. As to the paragraph—again, I do think they're friends! But I think it's also noteworthy that the easiest conversation we see/hear about them having is one that is early in the war,* and where MY is also present, and one where NMJ has just done something good for MY.

*MY is noted as having joined the Nie forces "right after" Sunshot begins, and to have been promoted to NMJ's deputy after not many interactions; LXC also seems surprised at least by MY being NMJ's deputy, which suggests that he hasn't stopped there before while this was the case, and he comes by in the paragraph immediately after MY is promoted. Finally, after MY vanishes after his confrontation with NMJ in Langya, we're told that "during the next few years" no traces could be found of him. All taken together, this suggests to me that MY was NMJ's deputy for 1-2 months early in the war, and the conversation of course takes place at the very end of that period

(As ever, I recommend confusion-and-more's close reading of the second scene, here.)

The next interaction that's mentioned in the text is after MY tricks and immobilizes NMJ and flees, when NMJ describes what happened with him to LXC. I think it's worth noting exactly how the exchange is introduced:

Even when Lan XiChen had the time to assist Langya, a few days later, his anger hadn’t died down one bit. As soon as he came, Lan XiChen laughed, “MingJue-xiong, what a temper you seem to be in. Where is Meng Yao? Why does he not come and douse your flames?”

"As soon as he came," note! It seems to be literally the first thing LXC says. And while it is a comment on NMJ's state, its primary function seems to be as a lead-in to asking about the state/whereabouts of MY. Their exchange as the text shows us is /entirely/ about MY, and he's clearly the focus of LXC's interest. We also have this from LXC, which I think is interesting as it shows the contrast between his morality and NMJ's:

"Judging from his words, the person whom he killed had definitely done wrong. However, he should not have taken his life either. We are in harsh times, so it is quite difficult to determine who was at fault."

Their next interaction is in chapter 49, LXC defending MY from NMJ post Sun Palace—and I don't just mean verbally, he's defending against Baxia with an unsheathed Shuoyue through this whole conversation. At this point, he still has some faith in NMJ's ability to act rationally towards MY, as he asks MY if MY hadn't told NMJ about his being the spy, and NMJ displays familiarity with LXC, knowing that he rarely interrupted people. I'll note that unlike in CQL, LXC does not seem particularly angry at this point—MDZS LXC is almost never angry, including at multiple points where CQL LXC /is/—but overall it's hardly an example of particular closeness, and we see that LXC's morality continues to differ from NMJ's: "MingJue-xiong," he says of MY, "he was undercover in Qishan, and sometimes there would be some things that… could not have been helped." 

Later in the chapter, just before the Flower Banquet, it's mentioned (possibly as inference from WWX) that LXC brought up the sworn brotherhood to NMJ, "having always hoped that the two [NMJ and JGY] would reconcile." Obviously we can infer things about their closeness from the fact that LXC does in fact swear brotherhood with NMJ, but we have no direct textual statement as to why he wanted to swear /himself/ to NMJ, be that personal or political or both.

Next comes the Flower Banquet. NMJ seeks JGY out, first, for his usual concerns with JGY's moral rectitude. Shortly after, LWJ and LXC come over; shortly after that, JC and WWX come over, though they soon move on. There are two things I want to note here. First, it's the only time we see LXC seek NMJ out (and one of only two times we see one of them seek the other out—the other will be in ch 73, after the conference about WWX, when NMJ comes over to him and JGY talking). Second, this is the only time we see LXC respond to NMJ verbally post-Sunshot in a way that isn't about defending someone, either JGY (the usual case) or WQ (at the conference in ch 73)—although it is to some degree a defense of WWX, and it's not quite directly in reply to NMJ, as NMJ and LWJ have a brief exchange on the subject first. These positive signs will not occur again, and I think it's significant that this is the earliest post-Sunshot scene we see.

The next scene for this analysis (chronologically speaking; it's in an entirely different chapter) is the Phoenix Mountain Hunt. Although we see NMJ and LXC arrive to the hunt in ch 69, NMJ arrives after the Twin Jades have started slowly riding into the distance and we don't actually see them interact at all; nor do we see them together in ch 70, the rest of the hunt. Moreover, there doesn't really seem to be any suggestion that they /did/ interact. When JGY says he's not sure if he'll be able to expand the hunting ground in two hours, LXC asks him why, instead of saying something like "oh right da-ge was doing all that hunting too." Moreover, when JGY answers him ("not only did Young Master Wei keep a third of the prey to himself, our eldest brother has eliminated over half of the fays and the monsters as well"), LXC's response doesn't indicate that he saw NMJ earlier, or knew what he was doing, though it does suggest a general familiarity with Nie Mingjue's character: 'Hearing this, Lan XiChen laughed, “That is how Brother is like, after all.”' 

Now, this hardly rules out the idea that they had any interaction, but I think it at least suggests they didn't have any significant interaction, or any interaction after the hunt began. This is in contrast (again!) to his relationship with JGY—he was with him earlier for who knows how long, as they arrive on the scene together, and after this is going to go help expand the hunting grounds. They do have LWJ with them for this last, but he's helping them at LXC's request, and the framing of that request is very—well: "WangJi, should we leave, or would you like to help as well?" So LWJ can come help them, but if he doesn't want to, LXC is simply going to go off with JGY again.

If the Flower Banquet was the high point of their actual interactions on the page, post-Sunshot, then this is I think the most purely emotionally positive we see LXC feel about NMJ post-Sunshot. Significantly, it's based on an apparently older familiarity, and it's when they don't seem to have interacted recently and NMJ isn't even on the page.

The next scene they're in together, again chronologically, is in chapter 73. They're seated together in the first row, but that's explicitly because of their status, and they're grouped with LWJ and JC: "In the front row sat sect leaders and famed cultivators like Nie MingJue, Jiang Cheng, Lan XiChen, and Lan WangJi." During the conference, they have a brief conflict about WQ's culpability, which LXC leaves off explicitly because he's familiar with NMJ's hatred for the Wen. After the conference, we're told "the Venerated Trio gathered," but what this looks like in practice is LXC and JGY talking together and then NMJ coming over. LXC observed that JGY has worked hard, JGY is amused by the destruction JC wrought on his table, and then NMJ interrupts with a negative comment about JGY*: "All clever talk—hard work indeed." LXC smiles but doesn't reply. JGY tries to change the subject by asking LXC where LWJ is, and LXC gestures to the front, where LWJ and Mianmian are finishing up their conversation. NMJ compliments Mianmian, and JGY agrees. That's the end of the scene. I noted for the Flower Banquet that that scene unusually involves LXC replying verbally to NMJ in a way that isn't /just/ about defending someone; here, LXC does not speak a single word after NMJ joins them.

*In the interests of not being unfair I will note that NMJ did observe JGY lie; this doesn't really matter to the NMJ-LXC stuff except that it's a lie that LXC would also have noticed, as it involved contradicting LWJ.

NMJ and LXC are once again in the same scene in ch 78, for the swearing ceremony, and even speak one after the other. However, they don't seem to interact in any way, and their speech seems to be an important sect leader thing; we're told of their responses to JGS' toast, and then JC is explicitly contrasted in not speaking: 

Nie MingJue, “May their souls live on.”

Lan XiChen, “Rest in peace.”

Jiang Cheng, however, still had on a darkened expression. He didn’t say anything even after he poured the wine.

Now we're back in the Empathy chapters, after a not insignificant gap: the next scene is the guqin scene, in chapter 49. Although LXC is playing guqin in the Unclean Realm, and is going to offer to teach JGY the Song of Clarity which he can use on NMJ, LXC and NMJ barely interact at all—they only have one very brief exchange, where NMJ objects to LXC teaching JGY the SoC (because it's leaking Lan techniques), LXC defends his decision, and NMJ realizes he's not going to change his mind so he doesn't say anything. Again, in contrast, LXC is very focused on JGY, asking him questions about his background, complimenting his playing, and independently offering to help him improve his guqin and even teach him an "exclusive teaching" of the Lan! The contrast is very noticeable.

A little after this, it's revealed that LXC left a guqin at the UR, apparently for JGY to use to play the SoC to NMJ. This is ostensibly because he is busy with the rebuilding of CR, although WWX speculates that this is just an excuse and that he "simply wanted to give Nie MingJue and Jin GuangYao a chance to ease their tension."

In chapter 30, it's revealed that at a Discussion Conference in the past, NMJ (who we are told otherwise would not have shown up, note, although it would have been an opportunity to see LXC) confronts the Jin about their refusal to sentence XY to death. He draws his sabre with the intent of killing XY, and gives JGY "a harsh scolding," causing JGY to "hid[e] behind Lan XiChen, not daring to say anything else." It seems likely that LXC defends JGY and/or helps to calm NMJ down, although nevertheless the Jin Sect has to (temporarily) give in on the matter of XY's death sentence; nothing about any further interaction they may have is noted.

Their next interaction is at the stairs incident, back in chapter 49. NMJ charges in on LXC and JGY, who are discussing the watchtower plans together, and tells LXC to stay there and JGY to come out with him. LXC's "face disclose[s] his worry," but JGY stops him and follows NMJ out. Some time later, LXC shows up at the conflict, coming to see what's happening, "concerned after having waited for long." He manages to calm NMJ down and prevent him from further trying to kill JGY, by talking about the work JGY has put in with the Song of Clarity, pointing out that he really is in a terrible situation, and urging NMJ to give him more time. Nothing he says particularly suggests that he feels close to NMJ; if anything, he seems kind of in denial about just how much NMJ is set against JGY.

Finally, there is their last interaction, just before NMJ's death. LXC is defending—well, not so much NMJ as the idea that NMJ hasn't rejected JGY completely, to JGY. His arguments are as follows: NMJ chose to become sworn brothers with JGY, which means he approves of JGY; when NMJ included in the oath stuff about "face a thousand accusing fingers, be torn from limb to limb," and so forth, he /also/ included "if one were to think otherwise," and since JGY doesn't think otherwise, he doesn't need to worry about it too much; that NMJ has always cherished JGY's talent and hoped he would choose the right path; and finally, that he's really really troubled by the saber spirit, that "[h]is anger was simply too great for him to have thought before speaking," and that JGY must not provoke him again (presumably by talking back, as he did at the stairs). As shining defenses of character go, this... isn't one. Again, he seems like he's kind of in denial about how much NMJ is set against JGY—notably, he didn't see all of the stairs incident, certainly not the part before JGY talked back—but it also doesn't exactly contain a strong positive assessment of NMJ. Forget his defense of JGY to Wangxian: this doesn't even compare to his confidence in NMJ in the conversation NMJ overhears and then joins at the Hejian front.

I realize all this is a lot, so to sum up their post-Sunshot interactions: we only see LXC seek out NMJ once, early post-Sunshot, and that's at a party. The fondest LXC seems of NMJ is one line during the Phoenix Mountain Hunt, when NMJ isn't even on-page. We do not see them spend any time privately together when JGY is not also there, and every time they interact publically JGY is also present at the party or gathering. When we do see them interact, the only time LXC responds verbally directly to NMJ is in defense of someone; if we include his indirect defense of WWX at the Flower Banquet, then that becomes 'the only time we see LXC respond verbally to NMJ at all.'

This is not of course to say that they don't have interactions we don't see. Given the time gaps, they must! But there's nothing about the interactions we *do* see to suggest that the ones we don't are in any way actually emotionally close, certainly not on LXC's part. Again, a contrast with his interactions with JGY is instructive; as with NMJ, we certainly don't see all of their interactions, but what we do see signals their closeness, mutual respect, and tendency to spend time together. 

PT II: NMJ dead

Okay, you say, but wait! What about the depth of his renewed grief after he finds NMJ's body!! What about his deep personal betrayal about JGY killing his close friend!!!

Yes, I say, wild-eyed, having tried to find anything in the text for just that. what /about/ all that.

My problem is, how do I prove a negative? In the chapters with NMJ alive, LXC's presence and his interactions with NMJ are short enough that I could reasonably if lengthily discuss and summarize; that's just not going to work here (there are twelve and a half temple chapters!), not least because some of it is a matter of context or interpretation. So I'm doing two things. First, where we do see him actively upset, I'm going to show you what he seems upset about, and second, I'm going to point out places where we might expect him to react if he's feeling a deep personal grief about NMJ specifically, and instead he does not, or reacts differently.

Let's start with chapter 46, where LXC sees NMJ's moving corpse for the first time. I've seen the idea around that LXC recognized NMJ by his abs, but this doesn't really seem to be the case; it's either the shape of his (headless) body or his saber-fighting movements. Significantly, LWJ also recognizes it at the exact same time: "As they saw the headless shadow, both [LXC and LWJ] paused shortly." LXC's reaction to this recognition is extreme surprise, "almost to the point of shocked," and he takes a bit to resume playing Liebing, joining LWJ on the guqin (to deal with the headless corpse that's going around). 'Shock' is hardly incompatible with immense personal grief, but I will note that in this section he is also not described as anything other than shocked, although it is his first time seeing NMJ's body in ten years. 

In a few paragraphs they deal with the corpse, attacking its energy enough that it falls back into pieces. As WWX seals the pieces back into his qiankun pouch, LXC asks him to wait: he wants to look at the corpse first, and he's described as having an "ashen" complexion. In context, though, both of these things seem to me to be about the likely identity of NMJ's killer, rather than NMJ himself; when LXC says he want to look at the corpse, WWX asks him if he recognizes the corpse, but it's not LXC who replies: "Before Lan XiChen could reply, Lan WangJi already nodded slowly." Moreover, as WWX points out, LWJ has already given LXC all the evidence that points at JGY as the killer—and also, after they do start talking about the identity of the killer, LXC shows no further interest in the corpse. This, from WWX, seems to me to sum up LXC's emotional conflict in this conversation: "Sect Leader Lan, you know who is the most suspicious person. You’re just refusing to admit it." It's not about NMJ being the corpse per se; it's what NMJ being the corpse suggests JGY did. ETA: I look at this scene in more detail here.

(I'll also note that the very first time we see LXC have anything to do with NMJ's corpse, it's in chapter 11, in the context of LWJ asking if LXC is visiting JGY "again" and a paragraph on JGY from WWX which includes the revelation that he and LXC are sworn brothers on the one hand, and LXC talking about LWJ being in good spirits and bringing guests home on the other. Meanwhile, NMJ's arm: 'Lan XiChen spoke, “Uncle has taken and examined what you brought back from Mo Village.”'

Now obviously we can't infer LXC's feelings about NMJ from this directly, given that he doesn't know it's NMJ's arm at the time, but it's certainly textually suggestive, and it very much fits in with a pattern of LXC prioritizing JGY and LWJ.)

That's most of the end of chapter 46; the next chapter has LXC, LWJ, and WWX going to the discussion conference at Carp Tower. Again, it's kind of hard to prove a negative, and LXC's reactions aren't really described at great length (though he does of course greet JGY with a smile); the only thing that seems unusual is that he seems "absent-minded." 

Chapters 48 and 49, and part of 50, are the Empathy chapters. After WWX escapes from the flashback and returns to LWJ, he and LWJ start causing a ruckus trying to get into JGY's bedchamber (to get to his secret room). An audience is attracted, including LXC. Taking a cue from LWJ, he pressures his way into the treasure room; he seems relieved when NMJ's head isn't behind the curtain WWX lifts. He has—well, he certainly has a few emotional reactions, but at no point does he seem driven by grief over NMJ instead of uncertainty about JGY. At one point he "nod[s] heavily" to confirm to NHS that he's talking about NMJ. Or consider this exchange:

Jin GuangYao’s eyes still held tears, but appeared as if they were red with anger. He clenched his hands into fists and shouted with both grief and resentment, “Dismembered… Dismembered! Who in this world could’ve done such an insane act?!”

Lan XiChen shook his head, “I do not know. When we were searching for the head, the clues disappeared.”

Now obviously JGY is acting—but he's acting the role of someone who /is/ personally mourning NMJ, and he's showing more anger than LXC ever does about it. Now—to be fair, MDZS LXC gets angry even less than CQL LXC, who is hardly an angry person. But there are a few times we do see him angry—certain moments confronting JGY in the temple, in the temple courtyard when he's angry at WWX for how he's treated LWJ—and what happens to NMJ's body, never mind the fact of the death itself, doesn't seem to make the list.

In chapter 63, WWX wakes up in CR, having been recovering for four days. In this chapter and the next two, LXC becomes increasingly distressed as they discover the Song of Turmoil and the evidence seems to weigh against Jin Guangyao, enough that it's not really feasible to review every instance of it. Nevertheless, there are a couple of parts I think it's worth looking at directly.

In chapter 64, we get something extremely valuable: LXC's statement of his own emotional quandary.

Lan XiChen supported his head on his hand. His voice was low, as though he was trying to hold something back, “WangJi, the version of Jin GuangYao that I know is entirely different compared to the version that you know and the version that the world knows! Throughout all these years, in my eyes, he has always been… enduring his suffer, caring for all people, treating everyone with respect. I have always believed, without a doubt, that the criticism he received from others all came from misunderstandings, that what I knew how he truly is. Now, you want me to believe, at once, that everything about this person is fake, that he planned to kill one of his sworn brothers, that I was also a part of his plan and even helped him… Could you please allow me some more discretion before I make my own judgement?”

So, what is he distressed by here? It's quite clearly the idea that he /doesn't/ know JGY, that the JGY he knows is fake, a falsehood, and relatedly that their relationship is not as he understands it ("that I was also a part of his plan and even helped him"). JGY killing NMJ is obviously what inspires this crisis, but it's not at all what's centered in his speech here, and even the half-sentence mention that it gets doesn't frame it at all in terms of NMJ's relationship to LXC. "He planned to kill one of his sworn brothers," he says, not "our sworn brother" or "my sworn brother" or even "my friend." 

(The paragraph immediately following reads to me more like WWX's conclusions than narrative certainty, but either way, it's not about his personal relationship with NMJ: "Lan XiChen had taught Jin GuangYao the Song of Clarity, keeping in mind the grudge between Jin GuangYao and Nie MingJue, hoping that they could be how they used to be. He requested Jin GuangYao to help calm Nie MingJue in place of him. Who would’ve known that his kindness made possible Jin GuangYao’s cruelty? How should he face himself now?") 

Later in the chapter, there's the famous section where he tells WWX about his and LWJ's parents' story. I do think part of this is about telling WWX something about LWJ (although not that LWJ has feelings for him, which MDZS LXC thinks he already knows), but it's also pretty transparently about his own uncertainty re: JGY.

He paused before speaking again, “Young Master Wei, can you understand why he did such a thing?”

Wei WuXian answered after a moment of silence, “He could neither forgive the one who killed his teacher nor watch the death of the woman who he loved. He could only marry her to protect her life and force himself not to see her.”

Lan XiChen, “Do you think that this was right?”

Wei WuXian, “I don’t know.”

Lan XiChen looked somewhat lost, “Then, what do you think would be right?”

Wei WuXian, “I don’t know.”

A while later, [Lan Xichen speaks again, in a whisper]

He spoke, “Madam Lan must’ve been a very gentle woman.”

Lan XiChen, “In my memories, Mother had indeed been so. I do not know why she did such a thing back then. And, in truth, I…”

He took in a deep breath before confessing, “Do not want to know either.”

It's not what you might call subtle.

But it's also worth noting, I think, exactly what LXC focuses on telling the story. It was one of his father's teachers that his mother killed—and while that is absolutely a very important position, and obviously would have mattered and indeed did matter to QHJ a great deal—that's literally all the information we get about him, that he was QHJ's teacher. He lingers on why QHJ did what he did, and whether it was the right thing; he talks about the crime his mother committed, and his response to that. He does not focus at all on the teacher, the clear NMJ-analogue in this scenario. He's not QHJ's beloved teacher, or his favourite teacher, or anything like that—he's not even just "his teacher," he's "one of his teachers." And maybe that's all the information he has about him, but he doesn't linger on that question either! Again, there's nothing here to suggest that his conflict is about his personal connection with NMJ.

ETA: I actually missed something here. Thanks to some critique in the notes (and which I discuss more extensively in the post linked at the bottom of the page), I looked at the Chinese here, and the word LXC uses for teacher is 恩师, which Pleco gives me as “mentor; one’s kind and respected master (or teacher).” So on the one hand, that's not nothing. On the other hand, the point remains that it's only one word, LXC isn't adding lots of adjectives on to describe the teacher, and as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, simply doesn't linger on the teacher in his conversation with WWX; the focus is elsewhere. I think the point as a whole stands.

Now to the temple chapters. I think it's fairly well-known, at this point, that he doesn't bring up NMJ to JGY in the temple chapters, but I'm going to point it out again—he doesn't bring up NMJ to JGY in the temple chapters! And this is, I feel, even more significant in MDZS, where he's seen NMJ's fierce corpse. That said, there are a few instances where he reacts to NMJ/NMJ's corpse; I'm going to look at all of them.

First of all, in ch 104 when WWX says "Looks like being called the son of a prostitute is really Sect Leader Jin’s weak spot. No wonder you killed ChiFeng-Zun," we're told that "With the mention of Nie MingJue, Lan XiChen’s expression changed." No further details are provided; we don't know what it changes into, and the only hint we have as to what it changes /from/ is that LXC's last described reaction, only two paragraphs previous, was calling "Sect Leader Jin" because he knew JGY was about to fuck with JC. Also interestingly, LXC does /not/ have any reaction described when JGY and JC have the "isn't it hard being your shixiong/isn't it even harder being your sworn brother" exchange, earlier in chapter 101. Perhaps his reaction is simply not noted by the text—it seems unlikely he has literally zero reaction to it—but if we're looking for a difference, it seems like it's either the explicit reference to killing NMJ, or the reminder of NMJ calling JGY the son of a prostitute.

Second, there's the moment NMJ('s fierce corpse) shows up (ch 106). He, JGY, and NHS all say "Brother."  JGY and LXC's responses are one paragraph after the other, and the punctuation is the same: "… Brother."* Meanwhile, NHS reacts first, a few paragraphs earlier, and he cries out, "Brother!!!" We're told that "[their] three tones were drastically different," which is interesting as well. NHS seems in the grip of some strong, active emotion—excitement? grief? We're explicitly told that JGY is scared. Whatever LXC's tone is, it's hard to say—but it's not like NHS'.

*(In the original text it looks like LXC's is "…Brother." and JGY's is "…Brother...", but either way they're significantly more similar to each other's than either is to NHS'.)

Thirdly and finally, when the Jin cultivators are fighting NMJ's corpse (ch 107), NHS peers out from behind LXC's back and calls out to NMJ ("both frightened and eager"), leading NMJ to charge at them. LXC stops him by playing Liebing, then then tries to get him to recognize identifying NHS ("Brother, this is Huaisang!"); the latter unfortunately does not work, NMJ being totally overcome by resentful energy. This section does actually have some evidence of grief: when he plays Liebing, it's described as "with a sob of Liebing."

He'll continue to try and deal with NMJ's corpse, notably with LWJ and WWX, but those three moments are the only times he reacts to NMJ (as NMJ, as opposed to as a fierce corpse that needs to be dealt with). That's not a lot, and each moment is very brief, not to mention fairly ambiguous about LXC's emotional reaction. If he /was/ being driven by his grief for NMJ's death, you would think we'd see more of it.

Furthermore, there's one moment I think it's important to pull out as explicitly not about NMJ. LXC tells JGY (and had told him previously) not to call LXC er-ge, /not/ because he killed da-ge (which you might expect!) but because of the second siege: “Sect Leader Jin, I have already said, when you went your own way to scheme such havoc at Burial Mound, that there was no longer the need to call me ‘Brother.’” 

Now, to be clear, it's not that LXC's reactions to things just aren't described in the temple sequence in general. Obviously we see him react when he's telling LWJ about WWX's feelings, but even beyond that, even when he's occupying a more background role in the narrative, we're given his reaction quite a few times. He sighs when LWJ seals his spiritual powers (ch 100); he tends to NHS, covering with his outer robe (ch 102), comforting him when he's disturbed at the sight of the coffin (ch 103), protecting him from SMS (after NHS frames him for stabbing him, ch. 107) and from NMJ (ch 107), and comforting him and giving him pain medicine about the wound in his leg (ch 108); along with LWJ, he's distressed by the sound of JC's sword-scraping technique against JGY's music (ch 101); he tries to warn JC a couple of times when JC is fighting JGY (ch 101), cautions JL (ch 101) and later JC (ch 102) about worsening JC's injuries, and along with JL, WWX, and LWJ freezes when JC slaps JL to the ground (ch 102); he asks Minshan why he's being rude to LWJ, and a little later, with SMS and JL, pauses in astonishment when LWJ laughs (ch 100); he averts his gaze from and seems perhaps embarassed by the ghosts that WWX summons (ch 104); he calls out to WWX to remind him that his current body is closely related to JGY, and will therefore attract NMJ's fierce corpse (ch 107). He actually has a couple of entertaining reactions to Wangxian being Wangxian: he coughs and tells WWX it is maybe not the best time and place for this when WWX is about to repeat "I really wanted to sleep with you," and then later he and Jin Ling inexplicably! move their sitting cushions far away from Wangxian's and gaze into the distance (ch 100).

And more than anything else—in what I think is a very instructive contrast—he reacts to JGY, in a way that reflects an ongoing continual emotional investment. He is, quite notably, consistently worried about JGY and unable to stand the sight of him in pain, even when he thinks he shouldn't be. When the coffin trap goes off, and they overhear Jin cultivators wailing and a pungent smoke emerges, there's worry in LXC's eyes; after JGY and Minshan make it out, and JGY takes some medicine against the poison, LXC hesitates for a moment and then asks what happened (ch 103). After LWJ cuts JGY's hand off—which means /after/ he's taken JL hostage, note—LXC "seemed as though he wanted to help him for an instant," though "in the end he dared not" (ch 106). When Minshan asks him for medicine for JGY, seeing how terrible JGY looks, he hesitates slightly before they're interrupted by NMJ's success fighting the Jin cultivators (ch 107). After they've defeated NMJ, he treats JGY's wrist; moreover, "Seeing that Jin GuangYao almost passed out from the pain, Lan XiChen, who in the beginning wanted to use this to punish him, still didn’t have the heart to bear it," and goes for the pain-relief medicine from NHS. And this is all not even accounting for his reactions to JGY either during his questioning of JGY or post-stabbing!

And what about when he's distressed by JGY? When he's reacting with upset or anger? There seem to be two consistent threads: first, that JGY did awful things/hurt people /not/ under constraint, and second, the idea that he doesn't know JGY after all and their relationship was a lie. 

For the first, he calls out Sect Leader Jin when JGY starts in on JC after JC calls him the son of a prostitute (ch 104), although notably he does not do the same in their earlier confrontation when JGY is distracting JC in order to defeat him, only warning JC (ch 101); when JGY confesses to having burned down the brothel, he's distressed when JGY says that it wasn't entirely to remove the traces (ch 105); he becomes /less/ angry about the second siege and about QS when it turns out that he was operating under constraint in those conditions (ch 106); and of course, the thing he's angriest about is JGY killing his father, "and even in such a way" (ch 106). In ch 103, looking down at the coffin he is shocked that JGY buried something that caused such horror to its surroundings, but without further information about JGY's reasons this does not metamorphose into anger.

For the second, when WWX him asks why there's no light shining from Shuoyue, he tells him "It's quite a shame," and that he "was fooled by lies" and had his cultivation sealed (ch 99); when JGY assures him that he'll let him and NHS go without harm when the time comes, he asks if he should believe him (ch 100); when JGY asks if LXC isn't going to ask him /why/ he set the fire (since it wasn't entirely to erace the traces), we have this important excerpt (ch 105):

“In the past, it was not that I did not know what you did, but that I believed you had your reasons behind doing them.”

He continued, “But, you have done too much. And I… no longer know if I should believe you.”

Fatigue and disappointment sunk heavily into his tone.

And then after JGY takes JL hostage (ch 106), this one:

Lan XiChen spoke slowly, “Sect Leader Jin, you lied again.”

Jin GuangYao, “Just this once. There’ll be no next time.”

Lan XiChen, “This was what you said last time. I can no longer tell which of your words are true.”

LXC asks him about the letter in the first place because "whenever he heard there might be hiddenmight hidden reasons, he just had to hear it" (ch 105); when WWX challenges him before he tends to JGY's wounds, he says "Many things still remain unanswered" (ch 108).

His upset at JGY "attacking" him is in ch 108, I think, a combination of the two—in CQL, it reads more like he's angry that JGY took an action that made him need to attack JGY than anything else, but in MDZS he experiences it as a real betrayal: "As he saw Nie HuaiSang’s expression along with the warning, he felt something in his heart go cold." Because it would have been one; it's a line that JGY hasn't crossed, and as it turns out it's a line that JGY hadn't crossed, and would never.

And lastly, after JGY's death, we have once again LXC's explicit statement of his difficulties—and while LXC's post-stabbing difficulties could be different from his pre-stabbing ones, it's at least an important consideration, and it is in line with the rest of what we see:

“… Just what does he want to do? I once thought I knew him well, and then I realized I did not. Before tonight, I thought I knew him well once more, but now I do not.” Nobody could give him an answer. Lan XiChen repeated in frustration, “Just what does he want to do?”

Looking over the evidence, he's hurt and angry that JGY would do awful things not under constraint, and about the idea that he doesn't know JGY after all/their relationship is a lie. I do think it's unlikely that he's zero percent upset about JGY contributing to NMJ's death—I tend to think they talked about if offscreen, between LXC leaving with him from Gusu and WWX finding them in the temple, and that's why LXC doesn't bring him up in the temple sequence. But whatever he's feeling, his reactions to JGY don't seem to be about his own personal grief for or relationship with NMJ, and if they /had/ been about that I think there's several moments in the temple that would have played out differently.

One last note: I see often the idea that LXC going into seclusion after JGY's death is for his grief about /both/ his sworn brothers. At this point, you're probably unsurprised to learn that I don't think the evidence supports this. Not only, again, do we have very little evidence of his personal grief for NMJ post-timeskip—ten years past NMJ's death!—even after NMJ shows up again, but there's a distinct change in him after JGY dies. Before that, he's obviously distressed, but he's still tracking and on top of things; afterwards, on the other hand, we're told that "If it were the usual ZeWu-Jun, he couldn’t have failed to fathom [what WWX was suggesting the letter be intended to cause]. But right now, it was likely he had no more space in his mind to think" (ch 109), which tracks pretty well with his absent-mindedness at the banquet a few months down the line (ch 116). Nothing about LWJ's discussion with WWX of LXC's state suggests it's at all precedented (ch 115), and in fact when LQR talks to him immediately after JGY dies, we're told that "Lan XiChen’s face was full of an unspeakable grief" and that "Lan QiRen had never seen Lan XiChen, a child he single-handedly brought up, look so agitated and discomposed" (ch 110). JGY's death is a breaking point; NMJ's death, at the time or now, simply is not.

In conclusion, while he was certainly friends with NMJ pre-Sunshot, and that is genuinely rare for LXC, they began to grow apart during Sunshot; and while LXC continued to care for NMJ, he was not at all intimate with him, and showed no sign of particularly enjoying or seeking out his company. Later, while he is certainly disturbed at the idea that JGY might have killed NMJ, this is because it suggests that he /doesn't/ know JGY after all, and his reactions to JGY then and at the temple are not driven by his personal grief for or relationship with NMJ, nor is his seclusion in any way related to his feelings for NMJ.

ETA: All quotes taken from the Exiled Rebels translation.

ETA: I discuss some critique of this by @/hqfeels here.

#ship negativity cw #ship meme #I'm done!!! #good fucking god this took me a month #that damn bingo post #long meta #profound philosophical differences #anger burned in his heart #the best of men #a gentle warmth filling the deepest of needs

[imasimpforstevengrant]

Isn't ironically funny?

Not only funny. Interesting, to say the least.

It was 2015 when I first saw the image of Jared Leto as the joker I wasn't excited. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who rose an eyebrow by watching Jared's horrifying version of DC's best villain. The thing is he recently had won an Oscar for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) so the casting seemed fit for an actor of his caliber. Because DC KNEW they needed a high profile actor to portray a complex character like the Joker. Truth be told: everybody had high expectations since Heath Ledger received a lot of hate once people knew he was cast as the aforementioned character. People thought Jared could nail it and become the legend Ledger became.

But we all know how that ended.

So... I can understand why the people behind this decided to change his usual style so radically: TO SELL. In a desperate attempt to copy Marvel and its cinematic universe, they thought that a comical bunch of social misfits with good music would do well with the audiences but the only thing Suicide Squad was well received for was Margot Robbie's portrayal of Harley Quinn and the make up and hairstyle. Everything else was (almost) universally panned by critics. The dream to build memorable characters was torn apart.

However, the most appalling thing about the film was Jared Leto's gargantuan failure to connect with the audiences. What went wrong with him? Audiences were divided: some argued the script and directing didn't allow a deeper insight into the character and others simply hated the how ridiculous he looked and acted, quoting that "he looks more as a failed mumble rapper, gangster wannabe than a murderous clown". But one thing is for certain: you couldn't be indifferent to his portrayal and you're entitled to your own view about it.

I would dare to say it's an unanimous opinion on how bad Leto's Joker is, comparing him constantly to late Ledger's.

2018 arrives and we get the news (or more like a surprise) that Joaquin Phoenix was going to portray Arthur Fleck, a new name for the Joker. People were dubious at first, because with so many superhero/comic book movies the market was saturated and it seemed like a lazy, easy cashgrab. But once the teaser was released, Joker stood as "the film nobody asked but everyone needed". Even when it wasn't out, we learned the plot: a man neglected by society turns into a madman.

2019.

Joker gets all the praise from critics and audiences alike, not without a few controversies of course. But when the media feared it would "fuel the incel violence and mass shootings", Joker proved them wrong: instead, it inspired an insight on how we, as a society, treat those who are mentally ill, poor or simply different from us, lack of empathy with others, violence against each other and how far a person can handle violence and abuse without going insane.

But the point here is, we were supposed to fall for this:

And most probably, NOBODY ever thought we would fall FOR THIS INSTEAD.

Now when I see the film, sometimes I wonder: why do some many women find him attractive? (Including myself) I personally don't have a precise answer but I can certainly say one thing: WE ALL WANTED TO PROTECT HIM THROUGHOUT THE FILM.

And the most ironic thing about this is that we were supposed to be afraid or even disgusted by Fleck's appearance, how malnourished he is and how genuinely disturbed he looks but no. This film only brought positive things, and one of those is how caring and nurturing people can be.

Let Arthur be an example of something that should NEVER HAPPEN with mentally ill people.

Sorry for any typos. English is not my first language lol

Thank you for reading.

#joker #joker film #joker 2019 #joker movie #Arthur Fleck #joker arthur fleck #jared leto #joaquin phoenix joker #joaquin phoenix #jared leto joker #long statement #the truth #why tho #joaquin is so hot omg #why do i like this clown so much? #why do i keep doing this #omg why #arthur x reader #dc comics #dcedit #jokeredit #Joaquin Phoenix vs Jared Leto

[unicornprincessinthetardis]

My (often relatively reasonable) dad: ...so Enoch Powell was right, what he said has happened.

Me: and you don't think maybe he could've said it without inciting racial hatred and literally saying that in time the rivers might run with the blood of 'native' British people because of immigration, do you?

My dad: no, you're being ridiculous, it had to be said, and there really are areas of cities that are majority black or Muslim now so he was right in his predictions, and it didn't change how things were anyway

Me: *goes away to calm down and read up on the 'Rivers of Blood' speech*

[I already knew some of this but here's a précis for those unfamiliar: in April 1968, in Wolverhampton, UK, a Conservative MP, Enoch Powell, made a speech, about the proposed 'Race Relations Bill' (which subsequently made it illegal to refuse housing/ employment/public services to people on the grounds of race/colour/ ethnic & national origins).

The speech was strongly anti-immigrant, calling for 'voluntary re-emigration' and for moves to be made to stem the tide of immigration, else Britain would be 'overrun' and sooner or later white British people would find themselves fully second-class citizens, and that in some ways they already were. He also talked about a "tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic", which I take to mean immigration in the USA to the similar end of white people no longer being in charge - which in 1968 was so far from the truth, and just horrible baseless fear-mongering, playing on people’s xenophobia and racist prejudice - and compared pro-immigration/anti-discrimination newspapers to the ones that had denied and hid the rise of fascism and threat of war in the 1930s. Plus, he talked about a constituent of his, a woman who lived on a street that had become occupied by mostly black people, who lost her white lodgers and complained to the council for a tax rate reduction because she wouldn't take black tenants, and instead basically got told not to be racist, and presented it as a bad thing that she'd been treated like that.

The speech's common name comes from a phrase he quoted from the Aenid (because he was also a Cambridge-educated classics scholar), 'I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood"', although he just called it 'the Birmingham speech' and seemed to be surprised by the uproar he caused.]

Me (to self): So it didn't change things did it? How do you explain the attacks against nonwhite people where the attackers literally shouted his name and repeated his rhetoric? Oh, they would definitely have happened if he hadn't made that speech, wouldn't they? And the British people of foreign descent who were so afraid they might be removed from their lives just for not being white they always had cases packed to go? And the fact that experts says he set back progress in 'race relations' by about ten years and legitimised being racist/anti-immigrant in the same way UKIP and some pro-Brexit types have done within the last few years here (fun fact: immediately after the Brexit vote, people were being racially and physically abusive to visibly Muslim and/or South Asian people, telling them to leave because of Brexit, which was of course extreme nonsense because their presence would be nothing to do with the EU, and more likely the British Empire and the Commonwealth, but they were doing it because it seemed suddenly okay to be openly racist, because Nigel Farage and his ilk, and a legally non-binding vote surrounded in lies, said so) and others have done elsewhere, in the US and Europe and Brazil and so many other places.

Powell was interviewed about the speech in 1977 and stood by his views, said that because the immigration figures were higher than those he had been 'laughed at' about in his speech, he was right and now governments didn't want to deal with the "problem", were passing it off to future generations and it would go on until there was a civil war!

He also said he wasn't a 'racialist' (racist) because he believed a "'racialist' is a person who believes in the inherent inferiority of one race of mankind to another, and who acts and speaks in that belief" so he was in fact "a racialist in reverse" as he regarded "many of the peoples in India as being superior in many respects—intellectually, for example, and in other respects—to Europeans." (I mean, I know I can't hold him to our standards but a) that's still racism and b) he did think that mankind was divided into very distinct, probably biologically so, races, which, yes, normal for the time, but the whole 'each with different qualities and ways in which they were better than others' is iffy)

Me: *goes back to Dad to make my point and definitely not get upset* So here are some things that literally happened as a consequence of the 'Rivers of Blood' speech...

So even if he was correct to say what he did (I mean, he wasn't but you have to tiptoe around Dad and I had points to make), he shouldn't have said it the way he did

My dad: so you think the truth should be suppressed? You're only looking at this from one perspective (he thinks he knows better because he was alive at the time and my brother and I weren't despite the fact that we're both into politics and history and, y'know, not into scapegoating, behaving oddly, and laying blame because people are different to us - he and mum also have issues with trans people and we're trying so hard to change their views/behaviours but I'm not sure it's working & that's a whole different story) and there are these areas that really are Muslim-only (because informal lending and wanting to keep the community together is such a crime, right?) and they don't integrate and want to impose Sharia law (only he couldn't remember what it was called right then) and you don't know what it's like (he is an engineer surveyor and travels all over to inspect boilers and cooling systems and all sorts of stuff, and this includes into majority-Black or -Asian (Muslim and otherwise) areas in Birmingham - which is not a no-go area for non-Muslims, I'm a deeply agnostic white woman, it's my nearest big city and I wish I went there more often but it's tricky as I don't drive, public transport is bad/inconvenient, and I have no friends to go with except depression and anxiety [which are worse 'friends' than the ones that I found out only liked me in high school because I always had sweets and snacks at lunch so when I got braces and my mouth hurt too much to eat much of anything which meant I certainly didn't have snacks, they dropped me pretty quickly] so apparently he's the expert on all such matters)

What I wish I'd said: *staying very calm* well, and that's your opinion, I'm going, I've got sewing to finish *leaves*

What actually happened:

Me: have you considered that they are able to buy up areas like that because white people leave because of their prejudice against the 'influx'?

Dad: they buy up great areas because they buy in groups (I think this refers to a sort of community lending thing to be compliant with various parts of Islam? [Please correct me if I'm wrong] which is effectively what building societies/credit unions were, at least to begin with, and he doesn't take issue with those) and want to stay together. Why do they do that? Sikhs don't do that, they buy big houses and aren't bothered about being close together.

Me: different religious ethoses? I don't know... But you do know that they people who want the UK to be a caliphate ruled by Sharia law are just a minority, and that most Muslims would not want that at all, just like you?

Dad: but they still do want it, and it could happen, if there was a charismatic leader,

Me: *incredulous* you know it's about as likely for that to actually happen as for strictly Orthodox Jewish people to be able to make this country into another Israel, right? Besides, there are the police, and the armed forces, and intelligence agencies, not to mention the Government and civil service (thought I'd got a win there, he hates the unchanging upper-class-public-school-Oxbridge nature of the people who effectively really run the government, constant no matter the leaning of the elected party, but no) who have a vested interest in preserving themselves in their current state so would be able to stop anything like that

Dad: yes, but the cutting of funding to police and public services means they might not be able to stop it (I realise now that he's oddly economically left-wing but also really quite socially conservative in some ways)

Me: *getting angry* but it's still an absolute minority, most Muslims would be horrified if it really did happen, and have you ever considered that maybe they wouldn't be so ill-disposed to us and to integration if we didn't demand it of them the moment that they arrive, demand that they assimilate or go away (he often uses the phrase "yes, but they're in somebody else's country, they should make an effort") and maybe young people wouldn't be so easily radicalised and people generally mistrust the people who don't try to understand them, you know, want them to change everything about themselves (for instance, Dad is violently opposed to the burqa etc and not really a fan of the hijab - still doesn't get that it's a choice and people can do what they want because apparently 'anyone could be wearing one of those things' - burqas/niqabs, I presume - and that it must all be forced because who would possibly choose to dress like that - I have half a mind to show him those sites about Christian modest dressing (one was a shop and a lot of their range was pretty cute!) that I once found, just to see if that'll prove to him it is a choice thing) *tries to leave*

Dad: *angry* You stay there and listen to me! You're just looking at it from one perspective and that's not the truth, you're so biased and closed-minded, you only look at things your way!

Me: *furious* Really? Really? Am I? *Scoffs/incredulous exhalation* I'm closed-minded, am I?... *Storms out, shouts as I go* I'm not the one who said Enoch Powell was right!!

This is all heavily paraphrased, because I've been writing this for literal hours now and I was angry and don't remember well at the best of times, it may have been worse than how I'm writing it

Also, going to be tricky to patch up but right now I stand by what I said, because I know my perspective is limited, but at least I actually admit that and try to find out what people different to me think, rather than basing all my opinions and things on my own experiences which can't be universal, as he seems to

Other bs my dad said during the two conversations: "don't get so upset about it, it's only history" (which is bold, considering it was the 50th anniversary this year and he was literally 11 years old when it happened so probably saw/heard news coverage)... "Yes of course far right groups use 'Enoch was right' as a slogan, it doesn't mean anything"... Reiterating the 'nothing changed' thing multiple times... Dismissing the fact that Powell said there'd be a civil war because apparently just because the British/Europeans were aggressive conquerors anyone else who came in numbers anywhere would eventually have that aim and how ridiculous that view actually is... Dismissing the fact that Powell basically incited racial hatred and violence with the inclusion of an irrelevant Classical phrase which spread fear on all sides...

I could go on but I'm so tired and don't want to make myself more upset

I love my parents but I really don't like them very much lately but I don't know if I just put up with it or leave sooner or later and if I do leave I don't know where I'd go because no friends

Basically I'm so sorry for my parents' prejudices which I'm still trying to unlearn myself - I apologise wholeheartedly to all Muslim and Jewish people and honestly pretty much everyone they're prejudiced against

#personal #personal post #my ramblings #my rambles #ramblings #rants #my rants #family #british politics #politics #rivers of blood #enoch powell #religion #anti-immigrant sentiment (not mine #i'm so done #and so alone #i just want a friend #and ideally an income of some description #but if i register for jobseekers' allowance/universal credit i will have to try all the time to get jobs of all kinds and i don't know what #i want to do/am qualified to do/can do bc potent cocktail of autism/anxiety/depression/no self-esteem/perfectionism/home situation #im just horribly stresssed and worried about everything and mum won't go to the doctors about her failing physical health to spite me #and dad has the cheek to say don't worry!! oh thanks i'd never thought of that before! #mum had an ovarian cyst when i was a kid & she didn't go to the dr till it was so bad she could hardly walk so she was in hospital for week #and it could've been dealt with so much more easily if she'd gone earlier so i'm so scared it'll happen again #i mean i'll be able to look after us if it does happen again which is good bc grandparents absolutely can't now #anger #very long post #long post #islamophobia tw #racism tw

[geeky-politics-46]

The Asgardian Candidate

Loki/The West Wing FanFiction Crossover

Chapter 5 - “The Second Debate”

This time Loki was prepared. He wasn't about to make the same mistakes this time. While he still couldn't give a rat's ass about the finer points of policy & legislation, growing up as a prince of Asgard he had overheard enough to have a decent grip on how best to handle foreign affairs.

Once upon a time he had believed diplomacy to be the best path forward, but years of being ignored & undercut by Odin had changed him. Odin always prattled on about the power of being a diplomat first, but Loki knew that wasn't really how Asgard became the revered kingdom it was. Now he knew that in order for him to rule, as was his birth right, he had to take a shrewd & aggressive path.

The Midgardian political pundits had taken to referring to him as a bit of a war hawk. It was a title he didn't particularly mind, but some voters did seem put off by the title. Once he was president he would make them fall in line regardless. He was a god, they could hardly rebel successfully once he had power. He was destined to rule & they couldn’t stop. His army, his throne.

He checked the mirror one final time as everyone began to find their positions to begin the debate. He smoothed his waist coat, straightened his tie, & adjusted the gold clip holding it in place. Lastly he gripped the lapels on his suit jacket, shrugging & rolling his shoulders back & forth, allowing his neck to relax a little & his head to shift lightly side to side. His movement stilled as he exhaled deeply. He flashed his bright smile at himself in the mirror, that was his armor in this battle. Less extravagant than his Asgardian leathers, but much more fitting of his true personality & his opponent.

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

On the opposite side of the stage, in the adjacent wings, President Bartlet stood calm & stoic. Despite most of his staff running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Prior to the presidency Jed had served 3 terms in the House Of Representatives, 2 terms as the governor of New Hampshire, won a Nobel Prize in economics, & raised 3 daughters. If debating or talking made him nervous he would have died of a heart attack long ago.

Loki was just another loud mouth narcissist on an ego trip, Jed was sure of it. His heart wasn't in it, or at least his heart wasn't in it for the right reasons. In Loki Jed saw the same lust for power that had always been present whenever democracy was threatened throughout history. He wasn't interested in leading the country to a better place, or improving the lives of everyday Americans. They were just a means to Loki's end. He was interested in the power of the job title.

Jed missed the days when no matter the differences between political parties & platforms, the goal was always a to make America better. Even though those days were long gone, & both parties decided long ago that it was always better to bring a gun to a knife fight, he wasn't about to let the spirit the founded the country go with it.

Leo came to stand next to Jed. He clasped his hands in front of him & stood in silence with his long time friend. Finally turning to him & saying "You know he's not gonna play clean sir. Not after what he pulled the other day. Are you sure you still want to have this debate? No one would fault you sir. He basically brainwashed & kidnapped the vice president for fucks sake!"

"It's not about how I feel Leo, & it's not about John Hoynes' Stockholm syndrome either. It's about doing the right thing to preserve the honor of the office of the presidency." Jed turned his head to look directly at his Chief of Staff. "As long as I am the President of The United States we will take the high road. Even if the rest of Congress has resorted to wrestling in the mud on the Capitol Hill. The founding fathers thought better of us."

"Cancelling this debate under these circumstances, & when we still have one more, hardly seems like the something the founding fathers would even blink about." Frustration becoming evident in Leo's voice.

"Leo, I said no." Jed said firmly. Leo knew when there was no changing his mind, even when it was the wrong decision. "Now, go peel Josh off of the ceiling & wrangle the rest of the kids. I want them ready to hit the spin room as soon as I'm off stage. Have Josh do the exit polls."

With that President Bartlet turned & stepped out onto the debate stage. The moderator had taken his seat & the countdown had begun. As they shook hands this time Jed's warm smile had been replaced by a firm authoritative stare. He was still the president, & at least for now the well-being of the county was in his hands.

Loki had the smile of a serpent, & a shimmer of ferocity in his eyes as they locked hands. His every mannerism reading as the antithesis to that of the elder statesman across from him. For Jed his act was getting a little old. As they turned to walk to their individual podiums he caught eyes with Leo & made an overexxaggerated eye roll.

The two candidates took their places & the moderator began to speak.

“Good evening, & welcome to the 2nd debate for this year’s U.S. Presidential election. The participants are President Josiah Bartlet, & Mr. Loki Laufeyson. I am Chris Wallace your moderator. The topics this evening will all be pertaining to foreign policy. The format for the debate is as follows, & has been agreed to by both campaigns. Each candidate will make a 2 minute opening statement. The debate will then be divided into 6 segments, each 14 minutes long. At the beginning of each segment I will ask both candidates the same lead-off question & they will each have up to 2 minutes to respond, we will then move into open discussion for the rest of the time allotted. At the end of the debate each candidate will be given 2 minutes to make a closing statement. President Bartlet, you won the coin toss, so you will be the 1st to offer your responses this evening. Your opening statement please.”

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

“In an ever changing & growing world, & with the recent discovery of the existence of worlds & species beyond our own, the topic of defense has seen a surge on lists of top voter concerns. As President, how would you address other countries & planets posing a potential threat to the safety of Earth & the United States?”

President Bartlet cleared his throat & began to speak. “The world of today is without a doubt very different than the world I grew up in, but shockingly some things always stay the same. Things are never really black or white, people are never really all bad or all good. In fact bad people cannot be recognized on site, trust me we’ve been trying to figure out how to do that for at least the last 70 years. So in the face of an someone who you don’t know is friend or foe, the best option is always to try to get them to take a seat at the table. Diplomacy is always the first job of a true statesman. While defending our country through a strong well funded military is an important necessity, a proper defense includes more than weapons. It includes funding for science, foreign aid, & open trade policy. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, & you make more friends with a handshake than a weapon.”

Loki smiled. Of course Bartlet would try to take the high ground, he was just too easy to predict, & he had played right into Loki’s hand. “Growing up in Asgard, we knew the true power our mighty kingdom was capable of. The realms around us were well aware of this too. Not because of the fairness of our laws, or how dedicated we were to our education system. They knew what we were capable of because of the force we displayed for the universe to see. That is the answer. To display the might this country is capable of for the rest of the world & the universe to see. To use that force with ease & fearlessness when called upon to prove that this country is truly worthy. As has been done throughout the history of this great nation. It is rather adorable that you, dear Jed, believe a few kind words & gestures will sooth the anger of those bent on taking what they feel is owed to them. After all an ant has no quarrel with a boot, but nothing it says can change the outcome. Would you rather be positioned as the ant? Or the boot?”

Jed was now beginning to struggle to stay evenly keeled. “Ah well I must be terribly mistaken then, because I seem to remember President Teddy Roosevelt saying ‘Speak softly, & carry a big stick’ not ‘hit everything in a mile wide radius with a big stick then you wont have to bother with the talking’. Guess there must have been a different version on Asgard huh?… & by the way, it’s Mr. President to you.”

“The thing is, Mr. President , it’s the unspoken truth that species crave subjugation. They were made to be ruled. In the end, someone will always kneel. If I am leader we will never be the ones on bended knee.” Loki felt his adrenaline rush through him, as president they would all kneel before him even if by force. Midgardian & alien alike.

“America should never expect, nor should we invite confrontation with evil. A man who spent his life fighting for a cause far more just than superiority once said that ‘The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral. Returning violence with violence only multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.’ Do you know who said that?” Jed felt as if he was now pleading for people to see reason, to recognize the madness in Loki’s eyes & in his words.

“The words of the past hardly matter when the weight of the future is at your doorstep. On this issue it does seem that there are many people who disagree with your dated beliefs. How lucky for them to have me to vote for.” Loki let out a devious laugh at his own comment.

“The job is President of The United States. Not ‘President of The People Who Agree With Me’. Since I know we are just about out of time I’ll just go ahead & tell you, not that I expect you knew anyway. That quote, was by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

“Okay gentleman. That is time. We are now left we just our closing statements. Each of you will have 2 minutes, beginning with you President Bartlet. That will bring our evening to a close & put the 2nd debate of this presidential election in the books leaving just 1 left to go. Mr. President, your 2 minutes begins now.”

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

Jed stood backstage angry & with his heart breaking. Not for himself or his candidacy, but for his country. He already knew what the exit polls from the debate would look like, he didn’t need to wait for a mid-meltdown Josh to come & tell him. As far as the voters would be concerned, he had lost that debate. They would say he looked weak & old next to Loki. Loki was blood thirsty & hellbent on power, but all the voters would see was the way he raged about defending America’s place in the world. Most of them wouldn’t see past the bravado & vitriol far enough to see the danger he posed beneath the surface.

His campaign was already behind coming into the debate thanks to the VP’s surprise announcement that he would now be running as Loki’s VP candidate instead. With Loki’s debate performance added on top of that they would hemorrhaging support if they couldn’t get a new VP candidate & quick. Jed quickly beckoned Leo over & had him call a meeting of all the campaign staff for first thing in the morning. They were now at campaign defcon 1.

After hearing Loki’s words tonight Jed could no longer fight the ominous sinking feeling that this was now about something far more important than re-election. This was about the survival of democracy.

#loki laufeyson #loki disney+ #loki fanfic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel loki #loki fanfiction #marvel president loki #loki for president #president loki fanfiction #president loki fanfic #president loki #loki odinson #loki of asgard #mcu fanfic #mcu fanfiction #mcu loki #the west wing #west wing fanfic #west wing fanfiction #west wing #president bartlet #jed bartlet #leo mcgarry #josh lyman #donna moss #cj cregg #toby ziegler #aaron sorkin #political fanfic

[anyeot]

From my own experiences, it's all about going on your OWN journey. And some of you are on the journey right now, not even realizing it. It's your own HERO'S JOURNEY. You start off as the FOOL, but you're a WISE-FOOL (paradoxically), because you took the leap of faith to step out on what you believed. After your journey is over, you'll eventually come back around with treasure in your hand.

And the greatest treasure of all will be the transformation within YOURSELF, which is what I said the other day about that inner alchemy, turning inner base-lead into inner gold. What you decided to have faith in is irrelevant, it's all about the journey itself. It's about the challenges and even sometimes, disastrous pitfalls you encounter along the way. It was the journey itself that turned inner coal into an inner diamond. It was the journey, in and of itself, that turned you from a FOOL, into a WISE GOD. Yes, Ye are gods, the kingdom of heaven is in YOU, you are the savior, demigod, superhero of your own story.

ALL THE MYSTERY SCHOOLS (INCLUDING CHRISTIANITY) POINTED TO THIS VERY THING

... and that is what it's all about and what many early Christians believed. The council of Nicea under the auspices of Constantine. The whole battle was whether a man is saved by grace through faith, or if a person is saved through the DIVINIZATION PROCESS (Arianism), which meant you had to suffer and go through challenges in order to fully become like the Christ. To become Divine within yourself. It's both faith and the inner process of becoming Divine like the God-Man. You take a leap of faith on any of these myths (as a WISE FOOL), you go on your journey by faith (faith is foolish to those who don't believe), and eventually, you experience INNER ALCHEMY, turning from a mere foolish human to a Wise God . The hierosgamos / merging of Animus and Anima / Union of the Divine Masculine and Divine Goddess WITHIN YOU where the kingdom of heaven is.

THE BLUEPRINT ROADMAP WAS GIVEN TO YOU THROUGH THESE MYTHS ; THE DYING AND RISING DEMIGODS WHO WERE BORN HUMAN, HAD TO COME HERE, AND GO THROUGH THEIR "PASSION" IN ORDER TO RESURRECT AS DIVINE

These myths are all very similar. All of them have a "hero" that goes on a journey, faces great challenges, does great exploits, even descends to hell, only to rise again as a god. These are roadmaps for you to follow, because YOU are the demigod of your own story. Divinity is in you. The divinization process begins with childlike faith in childhood fairytales and myths, which all seem foolish to believe in but they are only conduits by which you use to mature and grow. At the fullness of growth, you won't need myths anymore, because you will then create YOUR OWN STORY. I've built you a bridge and given you a roadmap. As you walk out on faith, the road markers will appear along the way to let you know where you're at in the storyline. Those road-markers along the way will appear in the form of SYNCHRONICITY. GO!

I understand that it's comfortable believing that the myth is true. It's comforting as a kid to believe Santa Clause is coming down the chimney every December 25th. Even when you are full grown, you still want to keep your kids excited that Santa is coming. But eventually, after the Santa story has served its purpose, you have to go beyond that.

I gave you a road-map. It matters not where you want to go, Miami, Seattle, New York City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc.. the roadmap is the same, but the routes may be different. It's all about the journey along the way. I'm still figuring this out myself.I'm up all hours of the night thinking about the deeper mysteries of life, researching, seeking, trying to put the puzzle pieces together, etc..

I won't stop until my project is complete. That project being ME. I will sacrifice myself in order to have a bridge built for my progeny and others to casually stroll across. I think I'm only at the beginning stages of this enormous monstrosity. No one could've fathomed some of these huge bridges like the Golden Gate or the Brooklyn Bridge being built, until... they were. Now people drive over them every day, back and forth, without even thinking twice about how it got built, what it took to put the thing together, the man-hours, the hard labor, etc.. But nevertheless, that bridge is THERE. When I'm through, that BRIDGE WILL BE 'THERE.' And once that bridge is built..., then you yourself will get to decide what type of 'city' you build on the other side.

As a man, we LOVE to build. Before some of these great bridges were built, people were stuck on one side. Until men got together and ground out hard work, tons of man-power, hard labor, to create a bridge for their families and communities to benefit from. Before it was built, many people (who didn't understand the art of architecture or had no knowledge of iron-working or building), couldn't have fathomed a monstrosity like that to get them to the other side. It just took those few skilled men to build a bridge that allowed millions of people to stroll over these bridges day after day, even though the majority of the public would have no clue on where to even BEGIN creating one of these bridges. I'm building a bridge and I won't stop until it's built. Other men with just as much skill in this 'bridge-building' trade have come to help, as we stand on the shoulders of the giants before us, using their knowledge, and building upon the wisdom they've bequeathed us with. When it's finished AND IT WILL BE FINISHED, THERE'S NO STOPPING THAT, you'll have all that you need to figure out many of the deepest mysteries of this life.

The Greek Oracle at Delphi said :

"Know thyself"... some believe that Pythagoras added the statement, "and thou shalt know... the universe and God."

All of these myths, stories, fairytales, folk-lores that describe heroes and demigods aren't about THEM, they are about YOU. Nothing more than roadmaps for you to follow in order to know thyself. All the struggles you encounter, even the pain of death itself, was all meant to prove your 'Divinity' as you resurrect and rise above it.

The scene in the story where Jesus looks out at the people and says "The harvest is ripe and ready", meaning that they'd had enough of the 'scripture quoting' and 'tales', it was time to reveal the 'embodied truth' of those tales. You seek the scriptures, thinking in them you have life, but those scriptures testify about ME. I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF THE 'TRUTH' and so are YOU. The people have had their fill of the myths and folklores. They are ready for the real 3-D version of it! I'm not trying to bring you into a cliche' or a religious group of people, but to bring you into YOURSELF. Not to be controlled by others, or tell you to follow a strict set of rules or believe in any literal version of fairytales, but to follow and create your own story. That's the real one, the others were meant to divide you, conquer you and CONTROL YOU.

They've covered the true mysteries with their Literal version / Constantine version of the myth. St. Jerome was on the side that won during this Council of Nicea in 325AD. His Latin Vulgate Version of the Bible was the only official Bible throughout the entire known world for over 1,000 years (4th Century - 17th Century). Of course it is filled with scriptures that supported their theory, and discredited the theories of Arius (Arianism - Divinization Process). The KJV came into existence in the 17th Century, which is really nothing more than a translated version of the Vulgate. It's all the same thing. For most Christians, it was the only version of the Bible they ever encountered. The Vulgate's influence throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is even greater than that of the King James Version in English. For Christians during these times, the phraseology and wording of the Vulgate permeated all areas of the culture.

When someone flips on the light after you've been in the dark for so long, you have that brief moment of squinting and wincing because it hurts to look, but eventually your eyes will adjust... They already are...

[barcaavengers]

So I've seen a couple of people doing a list of what they have been doing these quarantine times, so thought to do some of my own as well. Mostly because while I'm holding off just fine, most of my friends are going crazy and running out of things to do. I was normal until last week I got Lay Off at work and now I have extra time for everything. So here are a couple of my own suggestions and how I'm holding up.

1. Read Books. Even those you have already read, go back to it. Read that book you have been postponing.

2. Movies Marathon. Watch all those sagas, watch them in order now that there is a pause in movies. If they have series, add them too. You got suggestions? Add them below! Some ideas:

Star Wars

Harry Potter

Twilight

Pirates of the Caribbean

Predator

Marvel

DC

Jurassic Park

Terminator

Bad Boys

Toy Story

Matrix

Shrek

Star Trek

Lion King

Disney Movies

Saw

Purge

Indiana Jones

3. Clean your room. Throw away/Donate those things you don't need or use anymore. Check all those clothe if they still fit. Organize and redecorate. Change the layout. Organize drawers. If you haven't done it in a while, find out how you'd like to paint your room. Go a little bit more and go for your house.

3. Don't stop in your room, go to the kitchen, laundry room, etc.

4. Learn drawing, do some sketches, practice!

5. Watch Series. All those series in your Netflix List? Take some time to watch them. Got suggestions? Add them below!

6. Write a fanfic. Best way to spend time because your mind will keep giving you scenarios at some point.

7. Board games! Cards! Try doing a card house. Play with your family.

8. Play games online. Download apps. There is a bunch of games to play and one can test your typing skills and race against others. https://play.typeracer.com/

9. Spa Day! Treat yourself! Feel good! My resource has been Pinterest. And good thing is that you start looking for something and find somethinf else that calls your attention and its like "Oh I should check that later".

10. Play Stop with your friends either if its conference or video call. I did it through video call and it was a blast. For those of you who don't know Stop, it a game in which you do a table of several columns with the titles od Name, Last Name, thing, animal, place (country or city wise), food or fruit, color, and you may keep adding on. Do it your own! After the table, someone says "A" outloud and continues the rest of the alphabet in their mind. Someone else says stop and they have to say in which letter they were stopped at and said letter will be the one to use to fill the table.

11. Nails! I am a person that loves to try new designs and things with nails. Mix colors, find idea, try doing a theme based nail art on your favorite movie or series. If you like it? Upload it to give ideas to others! My current one is something easy for Pirates of the Caribbean. I watched the movies the other way and still got two left to get ideas. You don't need a whole nail kit. I started with toothpicks and broken pens.

12. Talk with friends. Just a quick passing by to see how they are doing.

13. GAMES! If you have a console, go ahead and play. Have fun. Meet people. Finish those levels. Start a new one. Start a new game. Do it!

14. Look for crafting ideas. You can do things with newspaper. Just with things that you have home. Youtube can help with this and just Google in general.

15. Find fun ways to do your hair! I am one that my hair is what they call "dead". If I curl it 20min after I got nothing. Find different hair styles to rock for when this is over!

16. Cook! I don't cook at all, mom either (at least not in a daily basis, more like 2 week basis), so I don't think a good outcome would work. But try it!

17. Play. With. Your. Pets! Give them love! Shower them. Train them. JUST LOVE THEM!

18. Learn a new language! I have Duolingo and it has been quite productive. I do it in a different way though. You have an unused notebook? Take it and put it to use. You know how Duolingo divides what you learn? Ex. Pronouns, past, present, basic, etc.? Divide your notebook like that. Write the word, write the translation in your language (or another language if you want to spice things up), and write how you hear it/would pronounce it. Go up the highest level in each or try to do them in the same level a.k.a. Pronouns level 3, Nouns level 3, etc.

19. Learn something new! So the University of Harvard has a page where they have small courses of different topics. Best of all? IT IS FREE! Take one and learn! I'm currently doing one of the Pyramids of Giza! Super interesting! Page to view them: https://online-learning.harvard.edu/catalog/FREE?page=4

20. Plan your next or first trip! I have one planned for London, Paris, Spain for November this year. I still have my hopes up cause I have planned this so well. I don't want to give it up, I'm in denial. So what I do is check the places to go. It doesn't have to be for this year, but plan it out! Check places to visit and plan your budget! I might open a blog for trips (honestly a little bit of everything) so I'll keep you updated but if you have any questions on planning, hit me up! I do it in a way that even mom's friends trust me to plan everything for them.

21. Call your relatives! At least those you get along with. Make sure they are alright. Even if you haven't called them in a while I'm sure they will love to hear you are doing okay!

22. From the newspapers take out the Sudokus, Crosswords, Word Finders, have fun!

23. Write your future goals! Reflect on them!

24. Exercise! But do it in a fun way! Walk the dog. Go to Youtube and check those Dance Central, Just Dance exercise routines with your favorite songs!

25. Plan your next plans! What upcoming events you want to go to when this is over? Write them in the calendar and check information and follow up!

26. Read Comics online! There a few sites that have them free, the old ones and some of the new. Look them up!

27. Learn new games!

28. Sleep!

29. You miss sports? Rewatch your favorite matches.

30. Funny videos on Youtube! I found with my manager Shark Puppet and we couldn't stop laughing so find funny videos to watch by yourself or with friends, family and coworkers!

If anyone wanta to add ideas or suggestions or comments do so! If I find more I'll add them as reblogs. ❤

Stay safe everyone! Stay Home! Have Fun! ❤

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