#and speaking AS a religious person I do not at all agree with sending the message that traumatize people need to be saved by a god

[solvicrafts]

What gets me about certain people being so fucking pissy about Bob not writing much about Eilistraee (until the last fucking trilogy where EIlistraeans featured heavily) is that

a) Bob basically built drow culture up from almost nothing, and Eilistraee came after he started writing Drizzt

b) no you guys really don't understand. I own the first 4 modules drow appeared in. There's... not much there. And it hasn't aged well.

c) and the Big One: he has a specific vision for his specific characters when it comes to the narrative he wants to explore, from sexual abuse to religious trauma, both of which are fucking complicated and for most people just switching deities isn't enough to fix that.

I have religious trauma that I still struggle with to this day and probably will for the rest of my life to some extent, and it's fundamentally different in nature from what most people would probably expect, and the thing is even though I am happily polytheistic and very enthusiastically into it, I still struggle a lot with certain things because every time I get into my religious practice I have to actively force myself into (or out of) certain things because my whole relationship to religion and spirituality is complicated and messy.

It would be easy and frankly incredibly superficial for Bob to decide to just have them all convert to half-assed Neowiccan ~woo~ drow Jesus Eilistraee to *~*save their souls*~* and call it a day

BUT HE DIDN'T DO THAT

Partly because she wasn't his creation and other authors were writing her at the time so he really couldn't, and partly because it's a shitty message to send.

Sometimes people benefit from converting to a new religion or following a new deity. Sometimes people don't.

I benefited from gradually converting to my religion, but it's come with a whole different set of complications and hasn't been a smooth journey for me.

Just going from extensive religious trauma to switching deities does not fix your problems, and for a lot of people it realistically can make them much worse.

but also

you don't have to be saved by a deity in order to have value as a person

#I fucking WAS saved by a deity and while I'm grateful it wasn't an easy ride #and in fact the way certain people in my family treated me was very emotionally abusive #to this fucking day on a journey that's taken me 19 years I STILL have issues with this whole thing #there are some people I may never speak to again because of how they treated me over this #for a Lolthite drow I could easily see them struggling with switching to a new deity especially one like Eilistraee or Vhaeraun #who are NOT seen very positively at all in the society they were raised in #and for a lot of people the fear of being found out and punished is more than enough to prevent them from seeking out a new deity #to say nothing of the already existing religious trauma that would also just as likely make someone hesitate to embrace a new religion #and speaking AS a religious person I do not at all agree with sending the message that traumatize people need to be saved by a god #or by a religious fanatic #my case is extremely unique and while it more or less worked out in the end it was frankly hellish at its worst points #and it cost me a great deal in terms of my relationships with my family and my ability to trust other people #because the way society frames belief in the Greek gods as some distant thing in time like #'haha these people were so STUPID. they believed in gods that turn into swans and stuff' #has absolutely led to a situation where paganism is only cool and okay if it's the woo crystals and sage Neowiccan aesthetic #but actually being a historically based polytheist is conflated with mental illness #and it's damn near impossible to challenge when most modern people have NO understanding of polytheism and take everything literally #as someone who has had to FIGHT just to continue EXISTING as a polytheist I am still FIRMLY against the idea that people NEED religion #in order to have value as people or to heal #yes for SOME people it works. for others it doesn't. AND THAT'S OKAY

[matan4il]

Update post:

Yesterday, the identification of two bodies brought back to Israel from Gaza by IDF soldiers to Israel was completed.

The victims were identified as 36 years old Ziv Dado, who was murdered on Oct 7, and his body was kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas, and 27 years old Eden Zecharia, who according to one Israeli journalist, was kidnapped alive. If this is true, it means Eden was murdered in captivity.

After the identification of the bodies was completed, the IDF was able to confirm that Israeli soldiers Gal Meir Eizenkott and Eyal Meir Berkovich were killed by a detonated IED while clearing the perimeter for this operation.

IDF soldiers are reporting that the number of terror tunnels and shafts is much bigger than expected, as well as that there is almost no house they enter in Gaza, which doesn't have some weapons stashed. In some houses, they also found orders and plans for the Oct 7 massacre. Kept in residential homes. In one house, the soldiers found, side by side, weapons like an RPG, and documentation of the chemotherapy treatment that an 8 years old boy was receiving in Israel, mere weeks prior to the Hamas massacre.

The desecration of Jewish religious sites under Palestinian rule is not a new phenomenon, despite the fact that the Palestinian Authority is supposed to be legally committed to the preservation of the Jewish holy sites Israel agreed in the Oslo accords that the PA would control. Today, we got another example.

The prevalence of antisemitic and anti-Israel content and messages on social media is not new, either. After Jewish celebrities and content creators had confronted Tiktok on its antisemitin and anti-Israeli bias, there are now Jewish employees of Tiktok, who are speaking out about the fact that this is happening by the design of the many antisemitic, anti-Israel moderates of the company, and not by blind chance. They also talk about how they are discriminated against, in comparison with anti-Israel employees.

Several residential homes in the north of Israel were directly hit by Hezbollah, one in the town of Metulah was completely destroyed. The only reasons there are no casualties, is because Israel evacuated the northern towns, just as it did the southern ones.

On the day when the UN is celebrating 75 years anniversary of the human rights declaration, the families of Israeli hostages are demonstrating outside the ceremony, to remind everyone that those who had been kidnapped on Oct 7, have been robbed of all of their human rights for over two months now, and that international organizations such as the UN and Red Cross have barely even commented on this.

The IDF's spokesman in Arabic has tweeted this morning, that aid trucks have been waiting for an hour and a half to enter Gaza, because they had to wait for someone on the Gazan side of the border (meaning, Hamas) to open the checkpoint.

The BBC is reporting that Human Rights Watch has denounced the Iran-funded Houthis' attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, and declared these attacks to be war crimes. It's nice to see that when the ships targeted are no longer supposedly Israeli ones, HRW is capable of doing its work.

The other day, soldiers who were a part of an operation to clear the neighborhood of Shujayiah, entered a terrorist ambush. During the fight, there was suspicion that one of the soldiers was kidnapped by Hamas through a terror tunnel. The highest ranking officers on the ground personally joined the battle, to help the fighting, and also to coordinate the different forces, in order to minimize the possibility of a friendly fire incident. 10 soldiers were killed in this battle, among them two of those high ranking officers, Colonel Yitzhak Ben Basat and Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg (meanwhile, the highest ranking commanders of Hamas are sending their terrorists to die, while they themselves hide in terror tunnels, behind the human shields of Gazan civilians and Israeli hostages). These are the fallen soldiers from this battle (Greenberg top right, Ben Basat top left):

This is 38 years old Lilia Gurevich-Vasilkovsky.

She was murdered at the Nova music festival on Oct 7. She was a molecular biologist, who was hailed for her ability to think outside the box. She was working on developing a sweet protein, that would replace sugar. If she had been successful, this could have improved the health and lives of countless people around the world suffering from diabetes. I'm one of them. Reading about her made me stop and think about the fact that, especially when considering the many young victims, we will never fully understand how much the world has lost on Oct 7.

This is 36 years old Itay Perry.

In the photo, he's holding up the note that his 6 years old son sent him. The note says, "I love you, I miss you, Dad. I hope you won't get injured." Itay carried the folded note on him since he got it, including when he was killed in Gaza. Itay's dad mourned his son, saying that no parent could have a kinder child, and that Itay was also an amazing father and husband.

May the memories of all of the fallen be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #israelunderattack #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish

[apollos-olives]

thank you for answering my ask. i didn't want to make any assumptions nor did i want to harm or offend you or anyone who is queer by sending it.

I myself am Muslim and I have met Muslims who are queer, trans, part of the lgbtq+ but i never really understood their understanding when it came to Islam and homosexuality as few of the Muslims I've met were practicing and most seemed to deny many parts of Islam to justify being queer which didn't make sense. Your response has made me understand it though and I do appreciate it as the concept of homosexuality and Islam is almost 90% discussed by people/scholars who are not queer.

I am by no means trying to turn this into a religious discussion because I am not learned but what you said about a singular sin being a singular did stand out to me. Although I've always known that as a fact, I've never actually took into consideration what it meant in it's entirety, although Islam does have the concept of major sins and minor sins, so wouldn't that have an impact?

But again while I was reading your answer, I found myself nodding because your response was very much logical and made sense to me. You mentioned that everything that is a sin has a particular reasoning behind it and that homosexuality being a sin has no real reasoning behind it and I don't have anything to refute your point with. But I will bring lgbtq+ activists who discuss things like being queer, homosexual, trans, etc to children as children can be influenced easily (btw I'm speaking specifically about people like Jeffery Marsh) into the discussion as something I disagree heavily with.

Many scholars have also discussed story of prophet Lut (AS) which really is the only story where homosexuality is ever mentioned and while I do agree that the homosexuality aspect of the story is focused on more than what is necessary, if the homosexual part wasn't important would it then be put in the Quran. And if homosexuality was not a sin, then shouldn't their be examples of homosexuality in the Quran or hadiths? I don't expect this to have a concrete answer as even I will admit that I can use this "what about" argument for literally everything that is not directly mentioned in the Quran.

The one thing I do disagree with is the transitioning of trans people - not because I don't believe in gender dysphoria or that I disbelieve in people being transgender - but I do believe that the permanent altercation of a person's body is haram because although you stated that perhaps transitioning might be the best option for people who are trans and you compared it to people who are disfigured (as an example) to me it still seems as an act that goes against God's will because doesn't Islam have the concept, that the more difficult the struggle, the better the reward? Forgive me if this is a terrible assertion to make as I am speaking from a heterosexual point of view and my understanding of your struggles will not be the same as actually experiencing your struggles.

At the end of the day we all are Muslim and I am a firm believer that as long as no one purposefully tries to harm Islam and spread misinformation, only God can judge. I do not agree with majority of Muslims who deem it appropriate to condemn people to Hell simply for existing as I do believe that people who are not heterosexual 90% of the time are not making their struggles up, nor are they making false claims. Regardless of my opinion on whether or not homosexuality is a sin, I admire your attitude towards it and I do believe that Allah loves all. Allah is All-loving after all and Allah does not make mistakes nor does He intentionally do things to harm anyone.

Thank you for your perspective and for teaching me something I genuinely did not know. I hope that this ask does not come across as hostile because these are simply my thoughts and I am more than willing to open my mind to different perspectives.

i'm glad you're being very respectful with your disagreements and i'm happy to answer anything as long as it's in good faith. thank you for being so kind :)

i will say that yes you are right that many queer muslims are not practicing and often stray away from islam to justify their queerness, and i've seen it happen from a lot of queer muslims around me. i do believe it's not because their faith is weak or that they purposely are doing it with the intent of malice, but i think it's because a lot of people have trauma when it comes to religion. religious trauma affects many people in the world, even outside of islam. almost every queer muslim i've ever met has been religiously traumatized, and therefore are afraid of islam and the people who practice it out of the concern that they may be harmed again. while islam is beautiful, the people who practice it can harm those who do not follow it properly in their eyes. i personally have religious trauma that my parents gave me over being queer, but i've moved on from it and have accepted myself regardless. unfortunately that is not the case for every muslim, and queer muslims especially are targeted and harmed more and more as of recently. because of that religious trauma, queer muslims are likely to stray away from allah and islam because they associate islam with their mental, emotional, and bodily harm. and i absolutely understand it as well. not everyone will get it, but it's understandable how you will want to stray away from religion when it has only harmed you. i believe that is the biggest factor when queer muslims deny parts of their islam in order to "justify" being queer.

you are right in that islam does have major sins and minor sins. of course, i am not a scholar so anyone could correct me if i'm wrong, but while there are major sins and minor sins, i still believe that sins are singular. to me, a major sin would affect like... a persons own moral judgement about their actions, if that makes sense? like a major sin would weigh down on someone's chest more than a minor sin would, and would therefore make the person want to repent even more. while all sins count the same, some have more of a guilt to them that may affect a person and their relationship with allah. me eating gelatin isn't going to be as heavy of a sin on my shoulders as, for example god forbid, me stealing from orphans, right? they're both sins and equal in count, but not equal in weight. if that makes sense? that's how i view it. a major sin affects a person more personally and affects their relationship with their deen and their relationship with allah, rather than count as more or multiple sins on their shoulder. you are, of course, allowed to disagree with me, this is just how i view it. alhamdulillah god gave us all our own minds to think and make decisions and beliefs and values for ourselves.

i personally don't know who jeffrey marsh is, but i do understand your concern about children. the thing is, children can be queer too 🤷‍♂️ i found myself being attracted to the same sex as young as 3 years old. i, of course, did not realize there was a term for this until i was 11 where i fully came out as queer, but i felt horribly repressed and did not know what those feelings were until i was told that they were normal to have. so i do believe that at least exposing children to the fact that "hey, queer people exist and that's okay :)" is... okay 👍 yk? and of course, exposing children to stuff that is sexual and inappropriate is wrong, no matter if it's heterosexual or homosexual, but i don't believe any queer person is advocating to harm any children by telling children about basic queer education. there IS a lot of queer discourse over this within the lgbtq+ community, and discussions about whether or not children should be involved are still happening to this day. you can feel free to have your own opinions, but you must respect others beliefs as long as they aren't harming anyone. personally, i think it's okay to expose kids to queer media and reality, as long as they are not forced to. kids are naturally curious 🤷‍♂️ let them explore. if more queer media was available when i was little, i would've for sure have come out as queer when i was muchhh younger even. and 11 was pretty young anyway lol. the thing is, being queer isn't inherently sexual. there are different types of queerness and a lot of it isn't sexual at all. there's romantic love, platonic love, aesthetic love, etc etc etc. implying that being queer is solely sexual only harms the community more. i'm asexual (as a general term), which means i do not want to have sex. ever. i just look for romantic relationships instead. there are different types of queer love and not all of them are sexual. is sex a big part of queer history and liberation? yeah. but is being queer just about sex sex and more sex? absolutely not. being queer is about accepting yourself for who you are. and why not show kids that? why not allow kids to explore and accept themselves for who they are as well? the moment people realize that the queer community isn't inherently sexual and that queerness is for everyone to feel accepted in, that's when we become more and more liberated. and the thing is, you don't see heterosexuals get the same problem with children though. heterosexuals always get to kiss in public, hold hands, get married. they dominate the whole world. no one has ever been discriminated against for being a heterosexual. heterosexuals see a boy baby and a girl baby play together and be like "oh my god they're boyfriend and girlfriend lol!" ... like... is that not forcing children into romantic situations and possibly implying sexual stuff too?? how is it fair that heterosexuals get to "force" their children into being heterosexual but god forbid a homosexual holds hands with their partner in public while minding their own business, yk? no one is forcing children to do anything. we are just trying to expose the reality of what we are facing to the world so they can realize we are normal and can accept us. no one chooses to be queer or trans. no one chooses to live a life of pain and struggle and oppression. we feel love the same way everyone else feels love. do heterosexuals get to choose who they fall in love with? no. love isn't a choice. love just happens. you can't force and choose someone to love someone else. love is unconditional and free.

as i said before, homosexuality was never mentioned in the qur'an. the word used in the qur'an does not mean homosexuality, it was talking about the indecent and horrific acts of rape, pedophilia, premarital sex, infidelity, etc that the people of sayedna lut (as) were doing. and while we've already talked about how homosexuality is not a sin, i do want to mention that the swana region has a very rich queer history to it! i personally am not very knowledgeable about this but i'm sure if i ask the right people, if you want me to, i can give you resources to learn about queer history around the islamic countries. before colonization and western ideals had been spread through the land, swana was a very queer place. so while homosexuality was never mentioned in the qur'an or in the hadiths or whatever else, queer people have been existing for thousands and thousands of years. we have always existed and will continue to. i'm not sure if this story is true but i believe prophet muhammad had an experience with some trans or "femenine men" during his time? in any case, i think looking more into queer history would be great to learn more about how islam and queerness are related to each other.

your concern over trans people transitioning is understandable. while i've already explained it before, i think the best way to think about it is like. trans people are often suicidal. the percentage of trans minors who commit suicide each year is genuinely horrific. if transitioning is the only thing that can help them become healthy again, then allah will allow it. allah wants the best for us and wants us to be happy and healthy. being trans is a health and science related issue. i don't really know how to explain it to you since you are not trans yourself, but please try to understand that you honestly might never actually understand what it's like. being trans is a type of experience that differs for everyone, and if you aren't trans yourself, you may never understand what it's like to feel the need to transition. transitioning is hard, it's long, the process is incredibly expensive. no one is doing it for leisure. people do it for their health and to become healthy again. isn't it haram to not eat pig if you're starving and on deaths door? didn't allah say it's haram for you to not eat or drink something, even if previously told not to, if it'll save your life? didn't allah say that you can do anything to your body and break any rule as long as it's for your health so you survive? being trans is like that. often, transitioning is something that is for health, not for leisure. i can't explain what dysphoria feels like, but it's miserable. it's always being afraid of calls because you are afraid of speak with your voice because it sounds wrong to you. it's wanting to dig your nails into your skin and tear off your flesh because you hate it you hate it you hate it. it's wanting to grab a knife and chop off parts of your body. it's wanting to scream and sob and rot. it's wanting to wear extremely unsafe tight clothing to try to look the way you want to. it's wanting to vomit every time someone calls you the wrong gender. it's the horrific feeling of utter dread hearing your deadname from people you love. it's the urge to just end it all. it'd be so nice to just end it all. if no one will give me what i need, the best option is to end it all. it's horrible and awful and there is nothing to fix it. it only gets worse and worse in most cases, to the point where people start harming themselves and many trans youth end up killing themselves. is it not haram to forbid people from getting treatment? no matter how much that changes them? isn't it all in the name of health and safety? yes, allah said that the harder the challenge, the more rewards you get, but allah did not make us to suffer. allah is already challenging us by making us trans in the first place. that challenge is lifelong, even if we transition. discrimination is still a challenge and still kills people every day. allah loves us and wants the best for us. i don't expect you to completely understand, since you aren't trans yourself, but this is how much it affects us. transition is necessary and it MUST be available for people to receive. and even if you still don't agree... so what? who are you to judge and decide who and who doesn't get to do what they want with their own body? everyone owns their body and ONLY their own body. no one should judge or condemn anyone else for doing what they want with their own body as long as it's not harming anyone else.

we are all muslim, and we all must support each other, no matter how different our views are, because allah loves us all and wants the best for us. thank you for asking, this is a great discussion to have :)

[punks-never-die205]

Souled Out

Fem Reader x Demon!Eustass Kid

CW: Blood, religious tones, original creation myth, ritual, violence, dubious consent, 18+

tags: @keiva1000

Chapter 7: Empty Soul

Kid looks at you and you can hear his tail smacking the floor in quick succession before he growls. “The easy way is-.”

“Contracts.” You interrupt flatly. “I remember that. What are the non-contract ways.”

“… Before contracts it was a ritual. Someone would agree to give over their soul to someone else, in part or whole, and as long as the other person agreed to accept it, they’d sit in an array, and do the transfer.” He snaps the words out curtly, irritation dripping from his fangs. “Souls are important though, right? Who wants to give theirs up, so that didn’t happen much. Before the whole contracts and guidelines there were other ways too.”

“Like theft.”

“Yeah.” Kid clears his throat. “We think one of the reasons they want to fill you back up with pieces of other souls is so that they can complete the theft.”

Your brows furrow and you stop eating. “Complete it?”

“Taking a soul against someone’s will doesn’t let you do anything with that soul.” He explains. “Another reason the whole contract process became popular.”

“… Giving me a different soul will let them use mine?”

Kid shakes his head. “It’s… when the doc stabilized you, he did it by basically merging the scrap from Gilda with your soul. You have more soul now, and it’s, technically your soul.”

“… How did he-.”

“It’s my gift.” An irritated voice interrupts you as the doctor from earlier sits down with the two of you.

“Do all demons have a gift?” You question, looking from one to the other.

“Some.” Law answers flatly. “Our current assumption is that whoever stole yours doesn’t want you to die. They didn’t send you any pieces of soul until you’d summoned someone who could help you if things went wrong.”

One glyphed finger draws a circle in the air around you and the question on your lips comes out as nothing. Law smirks and then continues talking. “We can only make assumptions, but the theory is that once you have a full, and stable soul, the one who stole yours will make contact. After all, humans don’t know one soul from another, so why should you be overly attached to yours? Once you agree, the deal would be done, they could leave with their prize.”

He takes a sip of coffee, rotating his finger in the other direction and you’re certain your ability to speak, or at least be heard, has been restored.

“They are in for a rude awakening then.” You answer simply, finishing up the last of your food. “I want my soul back specifically. If this patched soul becomes, technically, my soul, then they can have it and give me mine back.”

Law looks from you to Eustass. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” Eustass barks.

“Sure about?” You prompt.

“This creepy shit thinks you’re a demon, or an angel.” Eustass grumbles, jerking his thumb toward Law.

“…Why?” You question, looking over at Law.

Law returns your look for a moment before sighing. “If humans truly had a strong attachment to their souls, they wouldn’t sign so many contracts.” He says flatly. “They’ll all talk about how important and valuable it is, and in some ways they aren’t wrong, but then they’ll sign their names and hand it over for something as impermanent as money, or as useless as revenge.

“But you,” he continues, taking another drink of coffee. “Despite having other avenues available, want your soul back. You’re effectively immortal as you are, there’s not enough soul to wear down your vessel, without degradation of the vessel there’s no chance of illness, the amount of sustenance you need is reduced as well.”

He sets the cup down, pointing at you lazily. “You’ve more than anyone could hope to get in exchange for their soul already, and yet you want your soul back. Only demons and angels covet their souls fiercely enough to spend decades trying to recover them.”

“I… don’t want immortality.” You say flatly. “I want my soul back.”

Law’s brows raise a little, the slightest shrug of his shoulders as he finishes the coffee. “Maybe you’re a-.”

Kid’s hands slam down onto the table, his tail snapping heavily against the floor as he glares at Law. The two glare at each other for a long moment, before Law sighs and gets up.

“You’re free to go home. You’re welcome to a pair of scrubs since your clothes were ruined. I left them in your room.” He says, turning away and walking off.

There’s a long silence between you and Kid before he sinks back into his chair, the angry twitching of his tail calming down.

“Was he going to call me a slur?” You question, eyes on him. You catch a furrow in his brow, but it doesn’t last, and he growls before sighing.

“Remember the lecture about souls?” He prompts, and you nod. “Heaven and Hell have their conflict.”

“You said that was the only thing people here had correct.”

He nods. “Yeah, Heaven’s not perfect, Hell’s not fire and damnation, but the two places are at odds. Clean souls are basically drafted, I mean, you choose where you go, but if someone important to you picked Hell, and then met you at the gates and asked you to come be on their team, chances are you pick Hell, and not Heaven when you’re deciding.”

“I imagine -.”

“There’s a lot more to it than that, yeah.” He sighs, and you can hear his tail ticking against the hard floor. “The only way to leave the conflict, is to voluntarily go back to take a Turn. You forget everything. Fresh start shit. No memories, just like any other time someone goes through the Turn.”

He runs a hand through his hair and grimaces before continuing. “We call ‘em Deserters. Angels or Demons who basically just… walk out on their,” he falters, letting the word hang, trying to sort out what to say next when he waves it off. “… whatever.” He leans back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling for a moment.

“Someone-.” You say the word and stop, getting up and walking back to the room you’d been recovering in. It’s obvious someone left the conflict, and he knew them, there was no need to ask about it.

“I’m going to change so we can go home.”

You pause after the word leaves your lips and turn back toward Kid. “Do I still have a home?”

He looks at you funny for a moment before laughing. “Yeah, you do. It needs a little remodeling, but the explosion didn’t take out the unit.”

You knew, even as you continued back to the room to change, that you should’ve asked for more details, but as you stood in your apartment an hour later you were honestly glad you hadn’t.

Kid stood quietly by the entrance as you walked through the relatively small apartment. Standing in the kitchen you looked in one direction to see the hole in the wall, straight through the oven and into the bathroom. You didn’t smell gas, so you weren’t really concerned. Looking in the other direction you could see scorch marks and a radial series of cracks in the wall.

There wasn’t really any other word for it, it was an impact crater in the wall. Right up against a four by four that had cracked nearly through. One sturdy piece of lumber was the only reason the explosion hadn’t blown a new door in your home.

“Where’s,” you pause, unsure if you want to know before you decide to ask after all. “The body?”

Golden eyes regard you for a moment. “My forge.”

You return his gaze, and give a small nod before stepping further into your home. “Her soul’s at the Turn then?”

“Unless she signed it away, yeah.” He answers, stepping in and away from the front door.

“Well, at least the other bathroom is still functional.” You sniff the air a few times. “The oven’s gone but is there really not a gas leak in here?”

Kid peered around the hole where the oven had been. “Looks like the line got crimped shut from the impact.” He looks over at you. “I can fix all this.”

You tilt your head. “Is that your gift?”

Eustass Kid grins, and you can feel the small hairs on your body stand on end. “Fixing something like this? Nah, lots of demons can do something like this.”

You consider things for a moment. “Your forge is your gift.”

The sly grin turns devious. “It is. I don’t need it for this.” There’s a glint in his eyes and the feeling that set your hair on edge sinks into your thighs.

“… I’m in recovery.” You say it suddenly enough that you put a hand over your mouth.

“Heh, I knew I could get you to react.” He says, tongue slipping across his lips as he stalks closer to you. The glint in his eyes is the same glow he’s had before. “You’ve got more soul than just those few tattered scraps, and you made sweet sounds even with that lil’ bit.

“Besides, the doc wouldn’t have sent you home if you couldn’t survive an orgasm or two.” He insists, tail slicing through the air and cracking against it like a whip. “To answer why,” Kid continues, closing the distance between you both and looking down as he pulls you close. “I don’t want to work on an empty stomach. Used up all my energy flying you to the doc.”

He leans down, fingers slipping up your spine, his breath tickling your ear. “I don’t mind begging for my meal when it’s such a sweet snack.”

#Souled Out #eustass kid #x reader #eustass kid x reader #supernatural au #one piece fanfiction #reader insert

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Hi!

I hope that you had a great week and that the long weekend is going great!

Sorry I’m sending you an anon ask, I don’t like doing it because I would rather have a debate around this, but as often with unpopular (one might say controversial in some space) opinion, I know I may be branded as someone I don’t feel I am.

My question will be about the laïcité in Quebec. To sum it up, so you can have a good idea of what my position is before asking you my questions, I don’t not support the full laïcité, French-style, like I don’t support it in hospitals, public administration, like if you want to display your religion as a doctor, I think that you should be able to, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your job (i.e. refusing to practice an abortion because of your religion is not ok, in my opinion).

But for the schools, to be transparent, I am a teacher near Montréal, I teach in secondary, and I’d be inclined to agree with the laïcité of the public school. All of it. I feel like the school system should be a safe space for all kids, and by letting religion, and religious practices inside a public school, we are failing at this mission. I don’t care if you are religious, the job of a school and a teacher is to teach you, regardless of your personal beliefs. Like if you’re a Christian and you don’t want to believe in evolution, well that’s your choice, but you’re still gonna learn about it because this is the reality of our world, and your beliefs system shouldn’t interfere with that. And I don’t want, as a teacher to have to put disclaimer in front of all my classes.

So my question is: why are people (especially left leaning people) so against it? Because education is usually one of the center piece of the fight for tolerance and acceptance but I feel like we’re failing at providing a safe space for kids that grow up in extremely religious household and that would like to get out of it but don’t because of family and peer pressure.

I am not stupid, so if the answer is : because it disproportionately target people from specific faiths that may have to wear visible clothing (i.e. Muslim and Jewish), I guess you are right, but I think it is more important to provide a safe space for kids that want to escape religions.

I may have a bias, as I grew up in a very religious household (evangelical Christians) and my dad was a pastor so I never really had a say in it. I got out of it in the university, but I really wish the public school system would have helped me get out of it sooner.

If you read all of it, I hope I didn’t bother you too much with what could basically be my life story at this point. Thank you!

PS: as you can guess my first language is French, and I really am not an English teacher so sorry if my broken English is awful to read.

"Just as a preface, I'm not the usual person who answers the asks, I'm one of the two people helping the usual admin run the blog while they recover from injury. This is important because I'll be addressing some of my experiences growing up Muslim in Quebec, experiences that the admin is not trying to speak to and is leaving for me to address. First off, I do want to note you're speaking from the perspective of the privileged group causing religious oppression as opposed to the receiving end. As someone who was growing up 'Christian' trying to escape religious impositions from your father, you're not in a situation where your religion is being oppressed and suppressed systematically, nor are you suffering under presumption your religion is inherently violent. This is why your comment on your opinion being "unpopular" makes no sense. Your opinion is not unpopular, it is in fact supported by the CAQ and their adherents. Second, the left does not support this because the interests of the right in making such laïcité laws was never to protect children from religious imposition. When I went to private school, where those rules were strictly enforced only onto Jewish and Muslim students but not to Christians wearing cross necklaces (although ostensibly those rules applied to them too), the result wasn't anyone's religious beliefs being protected nor was anyone tolerated, as I was bombarded by homophobic harassment and bullying from our Christian peers and accepted by my Muslim peers. The result was alienation of the Muslim and Jewish students. You should remember that is the original intent of this legislation is not to protect anyone's rights but to remove them. They are telling Muslims "Leave your religion at the door, or you're not a part of society." This is the practical impact of this legislation, and nothing else. You are harming more students than you are 'saving''. Additionally, your worry that Muslims having a prayer room somewhere in the building is a religious imposition on other students, in your imaginary likely atheist ones, is based in islamophobia. The idea that parents can somehow enforce their children to practice at school just because there is a room that allows them to literally makes no sense either. Your concerns are misplaced." "Removing Muslims' ability to have a room to pray in at their school does not remove any mechanism by which parents can use to force their child to perform religious duties they do not want to do. But what it does is continue the operation of an increasingly hostile and alienating system in Quebec that wants Muslims to know they're not welcome in their own country. Would you seek the outlawing of abortion because many men force their partners to undergo them when they don't want to? No? Why? Because it's a basic human right to have access to that service. And just because people impose it on people in their family as part of their abuse doesn't mean it should be removed as an option for everybody, the majority of whom want to use it for legitimate and sincere reasons."

[utilitycaster]

What are your honest, unfiltered thoughts about everything going on currently with this “are the gods really good and necessary” line of thought the latest cr episode has been tackling, both in terms of your feelings on the subject in general and also how it’s being portrayed/discussed.

I don't agree with the idea of gods using mortals as batteries - I don't actually think we have any official canonical support that the prime deities (or, presumably, betrayer gods) do need worship to sustain them - but in terms of a conversation being had I don't actually mind it because the general attitude among Bells Hells and among Deanna and FRIDA is "does it really matter how important the gods are? Actively unleashing them seems like a cataclysmically bad idea." It's actually really interesting to me that this is the focus! A lot of D&D in which there are divine entities explores religion and faith in a scenario where the existence of gods is unquestionable. This is instead exploring whether it's legitimate to destroy something simply for not being important to you personally.

I'd also add that what Deanna is saying and how she's acting are not always in sync - which to be clear I believe to be a deliberate choice from Aabria in her portrayal. Like, I think it's obvious that Deanna has complicated feelings towards the Dawnfather, but that's the key - there are positive and negative feelings, and when she says "batteries" there is a symbiosis here, not a simple "they're using us and controlling us".

Just to give a brief overview of where I am personally coming from, like, IRL, philosophically: I'm Jewish, and my personal religious practice is heavily focused far more on what one does rather than what one believes, which I feel fits very well with Bells Hells. The Yom Kippur service, which one reads while fasting and spending a day in prayer, actively includes a reading (from Isaiah) that boils down to "It's cool that you're fasting right now but if, tomorrow, you go back to engaging actively in systems of oppression that you have the power to fight against, this was all meaningless and performative."

This covers two things I feel very strongly about religion and morality: First, actions speak way louder than words and religious observance should serve as a reminder of what you need to be doing during the rest of your life, ie, you can't show up at your place of worship with an attitude of "ok cool gonna cleanse my soul and then it's ALLLLLL fixed and I can go back to kicking puppies". Religious services, should you choose to attend them, are more about the meditative process of setting one's intent via symbolic rituals, but really, it matters way more that you are not a fucking dickhead in the rest of your life. And second, you, as a mortal finite being who is not a god have the power to throw off these systems of oppression, because in a world where divine entities step in constantly, we as mortals do simply become mindless puppets, and that would suck.

Which I should note also means that one's issues with an organized religion must be taken up with the mortal leaders of that institution. I mean, in our real world, if you are an atheist, I think that's a completely valid belief, but also, in the end, it does not matter if or if not there is any cosmic entity or higher power. If you're an edgy FACTS NOT FEELINGS neckbeard 4chan atheist bigot, or a hard-right evangelical bigot? the bigotry is what matters. The existence of deities is a moot point. What people are being shitty? How do you stop them? You are welcome to overlay religion if it helps or avoid it if it doesn't. Like, one last note re: Jewishness, which is that there's a parable that a guy once said "I will convert to Judaism if you can teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot," and the first rabbi he asks scoffs and sends him off, and the second tells him the golden rule ("that which is hateful to you, do not do unto your neighbor") and it's fucking great not just because it's a good moral principle, but because it also removes religion from the equation. If this guy were scamming you? You've given him some solid advice at no cost to yourself that requires no adherence to any religion. If he were in earnest? You met his conditions.

Another relevant way to put this: The oft-used but really good Brennan quote! " 'On the level of individuals and civilizations, personality predates ideology.' Meaning that before you were a fascist, you were a bully and an asshole." Replace fascist with hateful religious right-winger; it's not about god, it's about a system that lets you feel justified in hating other people for who they are or like you're getting a reward for not doing stuff you weren't interested in anyway.

So uh, getting back to CR, it's interesting in that it's managed to recreate the real-world argument in D&D. I happen to prefer stories in which characters are actively engaging with deities in a positive manner, as we've seen with say, Pike, or Vax, or Fjord, or Caduceus, or Jester, or Yasha. However, in the end, all the theological arguments are purely academic. The point is that no one's controlling the Vanguard - Tuldus's quarrel is with his abusive family, not their gods. Ludinus says he's mad the gods didn't step in to stop the Calamity...but in many ways the Calamity happened because the gods let the people have free rein. If the gods stop everything bad from happening, how far do they go? Sure, stop the Calamity. Do they stop every individual accidental death? Do they stop all wars? What happens if they slip up? Can they slip up? It's an inherently contradictory spiral if you start getting into this - are you saying the gods are perfect and infallible and choose not to use this, in which case, wouldn't that make them fallible? If the gods are actually powerful enough to constantly control you, why are you openly talking about their destruction and Kord hasn't vaporized you with a bolt from the blue?

And you can tell this because the only arguments that matter in the end are people like Orym and Ashton saying "I don't fucking know about the gods, but these guys are murdering innocents, which seems really bad." Like, sure, I'd like to see some more for lack of a better term traditional clerics or paladins pop up, or someone with a high religion score who can talk through the theology, but it's kind of nice to have a story where most people are like "I can take or leave the gods, but actively unleashing an even more powerful entity to kill them seems dumb and unnecessary" and I think that argument is ultimately more successful than a head-on discussion of the role of the gods.

#answered #Anonymous #critical role spoilers

[pabtsblueliving]

Moonlight Shadows of the Magnolias

rhett abbott x fem!reader

In the hallowed halls of the church, a man's eyes are drawn to her — a girl who exudes an ethereal innocence amidst the solemnity. As prayers echo around them, their thoughts deviate to forbidden fantasies, grappling with the contrast between his desires and the sanctity of space.

WC: 735

Warnings: 18+ snippets of smut, flirting, religious themes, sinnin’, kissing, riding, penetration, the whole Wabang. 

Kind of rushed, I was excited to write this. Was inspired by Bishop Gunn's song Alabama and the music video. enjoy 

xoxo, pabtsblueliving 💋

pabtsblueliving © 2023

He was sweating. It was a hot sunday in Wabang.

The heat of the holy day wasn't the only thing sending him into a swelter. It was you. 

Your families had liked each other, doing work for one on the land if needed, and the other returning the favor. They were friendly. You’d known Rhett from school. 

There you stood before him in the pew, back facing him. You wore a white sundress, your hair was down, a light pink bow pasted in, holding up your half-up hair-do. Cowboy boots adorned your feet, he smiled at that. Dash of personality in the mess of the sunday-stiffness. Your parents spoke with his, and you turned around to face him, red-polished fingernails curling around the bench as you leaned in, cross necklace falling perfectly between your breasts.

“Hi, Rhett.” Plush lips pushing into a smile.

He swallowed, “-hi Y/N”

“It’s so nice to see you’re still comin’ into the lil’ old church after all these years, bull riding, college, all that. Nice to see you” You beamed.

His lips curled into a slight smile, and he avoided eye contact. 

“How’s your sunday treating you, you like you’re just…burning up in your sunday best, Rhett.” Your head titled, sinister frown replacing your bright smile as he leaned closer to you over the pew.

“We both might as well have burst into flames when we walked in.” He whispered into your ear, and you shivered. 

Fact is, you have seen Rhett. Last night, and the night before that, and so on. You’d reunited with Rhett at the bar after a few years of his absence two months ago. He’d asked you to dance drunkenly, you agreed, drunkenly. All that a few shared cigarettes outside and you’d find yourself rolling around with both your pants down at your ankles in the back of his truck in your driveway when he’d driven you home that night.

Covered by the moonlight shadows of the magnolias.

Each night since then had been hushed, texts reading ‘meet me here’ ‘meet me there’. After last night Rhett is particularly flustered on God’s day because innocence is radiating off the body in that white dress that he had done sinful things to the night prior.

He first had you on the driver's side of the car.

“-com’on baby, god…shit, baby you feel ngh-so damn good” Rhett huffed with his hand cemented to the ceiling of his truck as you bounced on top of him, your sweet moans echoing off the steamed windows. 

“Rhett, baby…so deep. Makin’ me sweat like a sinner in church, jesus.” You panted, hands gripping his hair and shoulders as your bodies suctioned together in the humid air of the truck. 

Then he took you on the hood

Your palms were firmly planted on the hood of the car, a ford logo was being pressed into your breasts, as Rhett slammed into you. 

“-Shi’ baby, hold on.” His chest heaved with every word. “God damn, girl” he let out a chuckle as you started to match his thrusts by pushing your hips back at the same time

“Com’ on Rhett, git in there deep, baby how I like it.” You bit your lip into a smile as he gripped your waist and continued his attack.

-

“Rhett!” Your mother turned to speak to him, “So lovely seein’ you. How are you?” 

“I am just great, Mrs.L/N, thank you for askin’ ma’am. Been a long time since we seen y’all.” He choked on his words a bit, as he was pulled from his lustrous thoughts of last night.

“Y’know, you two knew each other right? Why dont yall get together sometime, hang out? Y/N just been loungin’ like a cat and smokin’ like a chimney since she been home this summer…” Your mother droned

“Momma!” You yelped, pulling her sleeve “Have not…” You pouted, and Rhett let out a chuckle. 

“Y’know maybe we will just plan somethin’, we do have some catching up to do.” 

-

The service was over, and everyone was finishing their ‘peace be with you’s’ and you turned to Rhett, hand reaching to his. You looked up at him with long lashes, smiling. You grabbed his hands, 

“Peace be with you” You finished, and felt a paper slide into your hands from his. He winked,

“And peace be with you.”

10pm. Ottawa Lake. Don’t be late. From, R

#rhett abbott x reader #rhett abbott smut #Rhett abbott #outer range #lewis pullman #lewis pullman x reader

[dairy-farmer]

Whoa, your answer to that question about referring to yourself as a Pro-Shipper, is amazing. Not only you made it clear, but you provided very helpful information! I've got something I'd like to know, what is to be considered "Pro-Ship"? I usually see the term very loosely used and I might not really know about the term itself. For example, I personally (*and secretly) enjoy JayTim (HAHAH yes I actually do, I adore them so much.) would I fall under the term "Pro-Ship"?

I am afraid of being called disgusted for that, I just simply enjoy them so much.

i'm happy that my post explaining my positive stance on proshipping was well received!!!!! i've found that fanlore is a very good source for anyone looking to read about or see impartial views and definitions on a lot of fandom terms and i agree with their description of proshipping which is as below:

"the general concept of a pro-shipper is that they believe "fiction is not reality" and often see every ship as valid, regardless of the opinions others may have towards the ship. For some pro-shippers, this includes incest, non-con, underage, and other forms of relationships that are called unhealthy or problematic."

a ship can't really be labelled as a "proship" ship because proshipping is more for the person doing the shipping like you or me or anyone interested, involved in, or consuming fandom material.

you not wanting to be harrassed or bothered over enjoying a simple ship like jaytim would be a proship desire.

it would likely be an 'anti' who is doing the harassing and bothering. they're essentially the ones who only want to ruin people's good times because they believe (despite all evidence against it) that they're right and have some moral, legal, or religious right to preach, shame, and "punish" strangers on the internet.

if anyone tries shaming or trying to bother you because you're enjoying a ship i highly encourage you block as well as to report them if they're sending threats (because if they're doing it to you they're likely doing it to others)- to whatever social media site you're on!

jaytim is a ship i also greatly enjoy!! and its often described as "problematic" despite more than 50% of the fics on ao3 being labeled as 'general audiences' fics which means nothing explicit such as violence or sex occurs, etc. the reason jaytim is looked down upon is because it's an "incest" ship. this is, however, incest on a technicality because both of them were adopted by the same man: bruce wayne.

but aside from the legality of it (which is dubious because jason is also legally dead so one could argue that tim can't be brothers with a dead boy) neither of them ever occupied the same house, lived together, they don't have a severe age gap, nor do either of them share dna (as far as we know). in terms of 'problematic ships' jaytim is incredibly tame and is the third most popular ship in the Batman- All Media Types category on ao3, right behind dick grayson/jason todd and clark kent/ bruce wayne. by numbers alone jaytim is more popular than every single other canon ship in batman.

no matter how antis may try to spin or portray it- the numbers speak for themselves. the reality is that people who don't like batcest slash fic are in the minority of batman fans because 2 of the 3 largest ships with the most fics written about them are batcest.

your interests aren't disgusting. they're harmless. i'd say that liking an "incest ship" and reading about it for a hobby is one of the most harmless hobbies there is.

there are always worse things people could do in their spare time so i think reading fics of a couple you genuinely enjoy seeing together is a nice way for people to enjoy spending their time.

#anonymous #asks #answered asks

[fem-blade-adept]

Why Dr. Takuto Maruki in P5R is Very Wrong and Why His So-Called “Perfect Reality” is Deeply Upsetting

(This is a hyperfixation rant that spoils a great deal of the ending of P5R and addresses mental trauma and therapy in great detail. So please, make sure you know what you’re getting into when reading this. Also, while I have played P5R many, many times and have experienced a pretty hefty amount of my own trauma and suffering in my own life, I’m not an expert on psychology and matters of the mind, so most of the thoughts on his mental state are purely perspective and opinion.)

Dr. Maruki in P5R infuriates me beyond any character in any game I’ve ever played for so many reasons and for the longest time, I couldn’t pinpoint why. Because a lot of people thought we were stopping a good thing at the end of P5R and I couldn’t explain why I didn’t agree until this week and I’m now going to go into detail on why this man is making a massive mistake.

Starting with the obvious red flags:

Totalitarian society is the idea that a person or very small group of people not only keeps an entire society in line, but controls how people think and bends their will in service to the state, which is what Maruki is doing. It may look like utopia, but when mind control/“actualization” is required, that already sends warning alarms.

A man who felt his only option was to bend the will of another Persona-user against her will and wield her own power against other people (while she is in deep trauma and mental struggle might I add) is a deeply upsetting move and does not uphold what he perceives his moral standards to be.

Reality-bending power is very dangerous and giving one imperfect man the ability to not only rewrite life and its progress is vastly unwise. Especially if that man could also just as easily erase people from the narrative and no one would ever know they were gone. Just the flick of a finger and whoever didn’t fit his plan just didn’t exist. Bad. Very, very bad.

A man using the persona named Azathoth is like a billboard for petty despot. Azathoth is a Lovecraftian deity of Change, Creation and Destruction and the most powerful entity in all of Cthulhu Mythos. Yikes.

People praise Maruki for the same reasons they hate Yaldabaoth. Both should be hated. What people don’t understand is that they are serving the same shit on different platters. Humanity isn’t strong enough or smart enough to handle their own free will, so I will do it for them. Maruki just gift wrapped his to look like paradise instead of servitude.

Maruki is a vessel of DISTORTION. This man thinks he’s capable of running all of reality while suffering under debilitating trauma. And instead of actively getting help, he sets a vendetta against reality itself. Smart? No!

What was it that Brennan said in Burrow’s End? “Power should make you tired.” Taking godlike power for yourself and using it to reshape society to your liking is ALWAYS a red flag.

Everything about him screams cult and brainwashing. Everything. The outfit at the end, the way he speaks, the verbal and physical manipulation he uses to make you think he wants what’s best for you. No one who says they want to “save” you in a very religious way has your best interests at heart.

Putting people in places like a puzzle is a very dystopian theme. That’s what Maruki’s entire plan revolves around: the idea that, if something has the potential to cause you pain, it is to be avoided. That includes family, that includes jobs, that includes desires. Complete avoidance is his plan and he executes it by bending the minds of the masses to believe that what he says your role in society is is gospel.

Utopias crash regularly. Especially ones based off of peaceful living. Every utopia is a lid covering a festering sickness that, no matter how well buried you think it is, will spill out onto the surface eventually. And it’s devastating when it does.

There were still homeless people and impoverished people in Maruki’s “paradise”. Explain that.

That’s all the physical red flags. From a therapeutic perspective…:

Swallowing, avoiding, bottling, neglecting, or walking on the scars you gain from trauma is always a recipe for disaster. Physical and mental scars are very similar. Treating them with the appropriate care, time, and patience for the specific trauma can help them heal over. It’s why therapists and psychologists exist at all. To help you treat those wounds and help them to heal. It’s never said to be easy, but it’s doable if you’re willing to put in the work. Maruki’s not only bottling all of society’s trauma, but this whole mess started because he was doing it to himself. Trauma festers if left unchecked. It can dig into your mind and heart and make you irrational, bitter, vengeful, lonely, and often angry, sad, and numb. However, being willing to reach out and stumble towards people who can help you work through it can ease the burden, so you won’t do anything you’ll regret.

You can’t make the whole world happy. Checks and balances. Someone’s joy is often someone else’s misery. It sucks, but that comes with the territory of being mortal.

Pain is intrinsic to the human condition. It sucks. It really does. No one likes to experience pain or misfortune and I really do understand the idea of wanting the world to be anesthetized to pain and suffering, but that’s the side effect of free will. You can’t expect a world to live free and with the capacity to make their own decisions without conflict.

Mistakes are meant to be made. We don’t learn anything otherwise. Mistakes bring pain, pain brings learning, learning brings growth, growth brings joy. Yes, sometimes pain is sourceless and you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it sucks, but, again, as rough as it is, it’s part of the human condition and taking that away means taking away free will. The difference between the P.T.’s and Maruki is that the P.T.’s were changing the hearts of the people that were using their free will to silence other’s free will. The only exception is Futaba, and she specifically asked them so that she could start taking steps to working through her trauma, the opposite of what Maruki wants people to do.

Taking a W in life isn’t as rewarding if it is constantly happening. All of the rich people I’ve ever met are fucking miserable. When you have everything you’ve ever wanted, you forget what it’s like to feel actual joy because there is nothing to work towards anymore. If I had to choose between getting torn to shreds as I climb towards my goals and suffering defeat after failure to finally reach it and feel that pure happiness or have it given to me free of charge on the house perpetually, I hope my hands bleed as long as I finally get where I’m going and look back on how far I’d traveled to get there.

Scars, cuts, and bruises tell stories. I was always told as a kid that scars make you look tough, but I also learned that it was ok to cry and scream when I got hurt. Taking pride in the immense amount of emotional cuts and wounds and beatings I’ve taken was something that took forever to learn, but if I hadn’t taken any of those beatings, I’d still be the sheltered little Mormon boy that couldn’t speak up to save his life. All of those stabs and scars made me into the fluidflux, curious amalgamation of interests that knows how to stand up for herself and punch back if she has to. Not all scars are scars to be proud of and not all scars are glancing blows. Some hurt. Really bad. Bad enough to leave trauma and impressions. However, it’s telling you that, no matter how unlucky you are, you’re still alive. And that’s what matters. Because any scars you can walk away with, even if it’s not physically, are wounds that will heal given time and patience. And if it leaves such a scar that it will never truly heal, please reach out for support. Friends and confidants are there for a reason.

Maruki never reached out for help. And I know. That’s rich coming from me, who, to this day, claims that the most difficult thing in the world for me is to ask for any kind of help. But traversing the rough road that is trauma healing is easier traveled when you have people to help you.

At the end of the day when you strip Takuto Maruki down to his bare essentials, what you see is a man who is deeply traumatized, wallowing in his own regret and pain to the point where he is self-destructive. This same man is seeking to become a god of the world, pulling the strings to every single persons life and forcing people to live his ideal of what he thinks is the perfect reality and attempting to become untouchable while doing so.

The protagonist suffered so much injustice and unfairness in his life. Wrongfully accused of assaulting a deeply corrupt politician, he became the pawn in a deal between two gods as he struggled to stick his neck out for a society that deeply rejected him and still proceeded to change the hearts of 21 people without reality-bending capabilities just by talking with them and supporting them in their endeavors. It seems small, but in the end, 19 of those people come together and feed his support right back to him. The 20th person was his biggest rival, someone who betrayed, almost killed, and actively worked to destroy him. He ended up fighting by his side even if it meant in the end, he would die. And the last and 21st person was Maruki himself.

You don’t need godlike powers to change the world. You already can just by connecting with people on a personal level. Maruki sacrificed his own self-care, mental stability, and, honestly, the love of his life in a Faustian bargain with an entity that was trying to usurp the vacancy Yaldabaoth left in the universe’s power vacuum. It quite nearly cost him his life if the protagonist hadn’t been there to stop him, fight him, and show him that you don’t need to perform miracles. You just need to be there for people when they need you.

#takuto maruki #persona 5 royal #hyperfixation

[creature-wizard]

I got so busy with checking other posts on your blog that I forgot to send the ask. The anoon who said they were helped by the advice the people you speak against on here helped them, really made me think about my own journey related to coming back to Christian beliefs.

I used to hate people who preached about anything related to god or Jesus because I grew up with dogmatic people around me, but after trying so many paths, nothing really made me feel at peace with myself, relieved, and happy than approaching Christianity through a less dogmatic and strict view. The person I do listen to from time to time might be considered new age by you or others, but just as the anon mentioned nothing actually made me feel "at home" like going back. No deity, no spirit guide, nothing that these people worship.

I have nothing against their beliefs, but I noticed a pattern in the communities I was part of ... no matter how many deities they were communicating with and dedicating their lives to... they were still looking for more and seemed to struggle a lot with their faith. Not to mention those who work with demonic entities, who most of the time display huge amounts of internalised shame, hatred, anger and are displeased with everything.

Imo there is a reason why old religious practices are forgotten and should not be revived. They are no longer suitable for our time or age.

I fortunately didn't have any issues with whatever I was interacting to and presented themselves as athena and aphrodite it was part of the journey, but yeah dead practices are dead for a reason.

To be certain, my objections with New Age lie in how it promotes colonialism and genocide through pseudohistory and conspiracy theories, and how the movement pushes people away from evidence-based medicine and turns them toward ineffective or even dangerous forms of pseudomedicine. If you're being unorthodox with your approach to Christianity, I certainly don't mind. All I hope is that you try to be informed on actual history and science so you don't get caught in something nasty.

Also your observation with demonolators is something I hadn't really thought of before, but now that you mention it, I've definitely seen that going on with a lot of these folks. I'm now kinda curious why that seems to be such a strong current.

Also I consider myself pagan and have no interest in going back to Christianity, but I also find it very healing to listen to Christianity from a different perspective. I'm into academic historical stuff on it, since there's so much fascinating info there, and I love hearing people actually explore incongruences in the Bible rather than try to skirt them with apologetics.

Regarding there being "a reason" why dead practices are dead - I think it's a bit more complicated than you seem to be saying here. Like I agree that there's many things that should stay in the past (human sacrifice, for one), but sometimes, the reason a practice is gone, is because is somebody just decided to suppress 'em for reasons of being a dick. I think it's important to critically examine these practices and ask them if it's really for the best that they were left behind, or whether it might be of use now.

And glad to hear about your success on your spiritual journey, and I wish you the best in the future!

#answered

[la-duvalin]

Innocent Or Not.

It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood, nor scar thout wither skin of hers than snow. And smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.

Othello Act 5 Scene 2

Warnings: Jealousy, angst, porn with little plot, darkfic, noncon, dubcon?, mentions of plans of murder, physical fight, noncon due to jealousy, forced orgasms, noncon fingering, p in v penetration, bitting kink, forced submission, possessiveness, mature language, mentions of religion, blasphemy, bleeding from injuries, blood kink, nipple play, spitting, dacryphilia, breeding kink-ish, praying in inappropiate moment.

Just in case: I do not justify anything that happens in my fic in real life nor do I agree with it happening, this is just a piece of fiction! If you don´t like this type of content don´t read and don´t judge!!

This a self insert as indicated so it'll be written in 1st person with she/her pronouns, however no exact physical descriptions are included except for the fact reader is AFAB Aclarations: It´s not Pedro Pascal exactly or any of his characters, it´s more like Pedro playing Othello!

This is for the Midsummer´s Night Writing Challenge hosted by @get-your-fics

Word Count: 2663 atm

—Who's there? Othello?— my voice comes out raspy as his stealthy presence wakes me up.

—Yes, it's me—

—Will you come to bed, my lord?— I ask with hope, things have not been great for us lately, far from it, so my hope goes towards at least having a peaceful night with him and for us to rest from all the drama.

—Have you prayed tonight?—

—Yes I have, my lord— I lie, I´ve never really been religious and I stopped praying to his God and believing a long time ago, however for him I´ve been willing to pretend and act convincingly.

—If you remember now any of the crimes you haven´t asked for forgiveness yet, I suggest you pray to the heavens for it immediately—

—What do you mean by that? Crimes?— I am fully awaken from my slumber now, confusion and fear making my heart race rapidly, knowing yet not accepting that our fights are to continue now.

—Don´t pretend innocence with me! Now get on your knees and pray, it won´t kill you...however it might actually kill you if you don´t do it— his tone if filled with anger, without having to raise his voice at me he makes me know how furic he is at me.

—Wait what? Kill me? Is this some kind of threat now? So this is how far you have allowed this whole situation to go, huh— Now I´m getting angry as well, leveling up with my fear.

He just stares at me with an intimidating gaze, they accomplish what he is trying, I feel intimidated however this time I decide that it won´t paralyze me, the need to talk back wins in me, I won´t submit willingly to him again even if it´s the worst mistake I make in my life.

—For a moment I wanted to think you were refering of God taking my life, but...— I start with a little smirk as if I was joking —but deep inside me I know that´s not true. I´ve never feared no man the way I fear you my darling, and even with this I decided to love you from the beginning, your anger has always paralyzed me with fright since the first time I saw you like that...— I finish, already giving up in trying to reason with him and convince him to just drop it.

—Think of your sins— he says, completely dimsissing what I just told him. This only allows me to know that my words have affected him no matter how well he´s hiding it.

—So that´s how you want it to be...okay then. I haven´t commited any "sins" nor "crimes", I´m tired of you accusing me of this! No I´m not lying to you, and no, I´m definitely not fucking Cassio, I don´t even have a thing for him! If loving you is a sin then fucking send me to hell, Jesus H Christ man! I will not allow you to keep disrespecting me like this Othello— I raise my voice at him as I get out of bed and stand right in front of him only inches away, staring right into his eyes. I´m scared yet I don´t let that stop me from finally speaking my mind.

—Blasphemer! Stop lying to me, there is no use of lies now for I have proof of your sin! I know what I saw! It was my- —

—No shut it! I don´t care what you think you saw, I know who and what I am. I am a woman incapable of betraying the man she loves, that means you!— I say stern yet not screaming, wishing only to be heard at least.

—You´re breaking my heart...— he whispers.

—And you´re breaking mine! You are breaking me!—.

One of his hands grabs me by the throat and starts choking me, yet he´s not using the strength it´d require to actually kill me or anyone, it´s more of a warning and a threat.

—You could banish me away from this land, yet you insist on actually killing me...— I struggle to say, my hand holding his not trying to open his, just holding it gently —but you will regret doing so once you find out I´m an innocent, and even a fool for loving a man so blind of the truth...— my other hand sctratches his face, my long nails burying themselves in his flesh, blood pouring out of the trail I´m making.

He yelps in pain, releases me and covers his face, his blood now staining his hand.

—I´ll give you another chance to reconsider— I gasp between coughs as I try to catch my breath. I´ve never felt so afraid before, tears run down my cheeks due to the desperation, my whole body trembles is if it were freezing.

Will I really allow him to kill me? Am I willing to let him own my life by giving him the right to take it from me? No...I cannot, I should fight, I must!! But...I love him, how else to prove him of that? No! Stop! I must not let this happen! For love...I must put a stop to this no matter how...

While he´s still distracted with his well deserved pain I grab the knife I´ve hidden underneath the mattress and hide it under the sleeve of my nightgown.

Once "recovered" from the pain I caused he stares at me in awe and walks closely towards me, retaking the positions we were taking before he attacked me, he towers over me.

—I will kill you...however I will not allow you to go as another man´s woman, you will be mine again!—

It all happens so quickly I barely have time to react, even less time to process what´s happening.

He grabs me by the shoulders and throws me to the bed immediately straddling my hips and holding my wrists on top of my head with one of his hands making the knife under my sleeve cut through my skin and going to a side. I start kicking and try to move my torso and arms abruptly, but no matter my strenght and the adrenaline running through my veins he is just stronger and heavier than me. I know it, I´m now at his mercy and he is to do with me as he pleases, my quickly made plan of stabbing him if he tried killing me and running away, my hope just torn apart...and he hasn´t even begun.

—Don´t do this! You don´t know what you´re doing, you´ll regret it Othello, hear me!— I scream not yet ready to give up completely.

His other hand grabs the hem of my nightgown and stains it with his blood, he rips the think fabric easily, exposing my bare breasts to him. His face goes towards my neck and bites so hard his teeth bore into my skin, marking me. When he draws back he just stares at me, his lips covered with my blood now.

—It will hurt less if you stay still, darling— he hisses the pet name, giving me another mark on my collarbone, making it hurt more. He lifts his hips to leave a bit of space, his hand going between us and groping between my thighs, making pressure right on my clit, moving his fingers in circles.

As much as it hurts to admit, him forcing me to feel pleasure is not the only thing that is making me feel good...

His bites slowly turn to kisses all over my breasts, sucking my skin and marking it, leaving a trail of my blood wherever his lips touch. It´s in this moment when I realize I´m not fighting anymore, my body isn´t trying to get away, it´s just squirming in response to the pleasure and pain he provokes. My pleads for mercy have also stoped and became replaced by gasps and muffled moans when he starts licking my nipples and biting them with a rare gentleness.

—I told you, it hurts less when you stay still and let it happen, after all there´s no stopping what has to happen.— he says mockingly as he continues to tear my the rest of the fabric covering me, immediately after that his hand returns to my pussy, rubbing my lips together so they rub against my clit. His other hand freeing my wrists to grab my face instead and force my mouth open, spitting in it.

—You are mine, your pleasure is mine, your pain is mine...mine and no one else´s—. With that being said he takes the knife out of my sleeve, making another cut on my skin but this time it was on purpose. As I yelp in pain he throws the weapon to the floor and far away from us both. —Now not even you will be able to take away what´s rightfully mine— he hisses

I didn´t even notice how wet my pussy is, but he did, once it started to drip and as he rubbed my wetness spread to my lips and his fingers, making one of his fingers "accidentally" slide in. —That was so easy, you really are a whore! Then...I should make you only my whore!— that last sentence was said with biterness, that destructive biterness and jealousy that got him to this point.

Without haste one of his fingers went inside me, curling and touching that sweet spot that made me lose the little control I had.

—No! Please don´t! I beg you, please just stop!— I cry out in shame, I wanted him to stop no matter how good it felt. I put one of my hands on his chest as if trying to push him away while the other one went to his hand between my thighs trying uselessly to push it away as well.

His finger only went faster, hitting that spot harder, pushing me to the edge. I can´t even control the embarrassing moans coming out of me, and the sounds that his fingers were making inside me only added to my shame, I can hear how wet I am.

—You don´t get to tell me what to do, a sinner doesn´t get to make requests for their God— he laughs out, not getting my hands out of his way, he sees right through me, pretending to fight but enjoying the sensations he makes me have, all of this he finds amusing. Releasing my face to accommodate himself better, his forearm now besides my head standing his weight there and on his knees so he can lift his hips better than before, giving more space to both of our hands between us, his face inches away from mine.

As I feel my orgasm build I try my best to resist it and not allow it to happen, I really try and even contain my moans and gasps.

—Aww, don´t think I don´t see what you´re doing, darling...let´s see how long you last trying, shall we?— he says with a little kiss on the tip of my nose tenderly.

I was holding it well enough...or so I believed, right when I thought I was doing well and had managed to have myself under control, I come undone, moaning almost screaming, my legs shaking and my toes curling, I almost felt like if my legs were going to cramp, my back arches making my breasts rub against his chest and that little stumulation of my nipples against his clothes don´t help my current state. My mind just goes blank, I can only feel the pain of his bites still present and the overwhelming pleasure, everything else is just like if it didn´t exist, just this confusing moment with the man I loved now almost gone, almost like if it were a monster instead of a man.

I lose sense of time, I know I am coming down from my high yet I fail to at least aproximate how long has been, my mind is still vague, I try to speak but I can´t form a coherent sentence, I barely have awareness of my surroundings but I still feel him get off of me, luckly for him I can´t run even if I actually wanted to.

As I regain consciousness I see him sitting next to me with a devilish grin on his face just staring at me, his eyes all over me like if he was admiring his own work of art.

The shame and embarrassment kicks in again, I cover my face and start crying.

—Oh don´t cry, it´s okay to get dumb when the only man with the right of owning you makes you come like the slut you are— he shushes in a calming and comforting voice making the perfect contrast with his words.

I feel him get up from the bed but I don´t even bother to look at him, I feel too overwhelmed but this time with guilt and sadness, trying to process what just happened, wanting to convince myself it didn´t just happen, but when the cold air comes through the open window of our bedroom and hits against my naked body and cooling the wetness between my legs spread all over my pussy it makes my mind stick to the truth.

Next thing I know he´s on top of me again, his hips between my legs, his hard and aching cock already out and positioned near my entrance, his hands taking my wrists and pinning them against the mattress.

—No! Please! You´ve already done enough! You don´t need to do this! Please my lord, I beg you! I´ll do what you ask, I´ll pray and beg for forgiveness for my sins!— I say desperately between sobs.

—Oh yeah? Good...— he replies in a low tone, rubbing his cock against my clit. —Start praying then— he comands and thrusts inside me in an abrupt motion.

It was easy for him to slide inside but the stretch his cock makes hurts, he didn´t prepare me properly for this and it was of course his intention.

—I told you to start praying, didn´t I?—

It doesn´t take long for him to start moving slowly but hard, pushing my cervix harshly with each thrust.

—O-our father, Who art in heaven...hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy...will be done on earth as it is on heaven...Give us our daily bread; and forgive us...our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass us...and lead us not into temptation, but deilver us from evil. Hail Mary, full of grace. Please Lord! Forgive me from my sins and crimes, I beg for your forgiveness and mercy!— I scream between moans, yelps and gasps. It felt more like I was praying at my husband instead of his God, it most likely was.

—See? It wasn´t so hard was it? You did good, darling— he says, repeting his comforting voice but now mixed with grunts and low moans.

He kisses my temples with sweetness, like he always did before every time after telling me he loves me.

Without warning I come undone again, I didn´t even feel it bulding up this time it just happened, making me squeeze around him as my hips move against my will at the same pace he´s moving.

—That´s it! My perfect whore doing just good!— he praises with a grunt, my orgasm helping him aproach his own, already close to it. —Now take all of me as I mark you as mine, be completely mine as you were always meant to be—. He comes undone, thrusting one more time and spilling his load inside.

He doesn´t get out of me, he doesn´t want to risk his come spilling out of me.

—You are to never be his again...— he says threatening, looking directly at my eyes with such darkness and satisfaction in his stare. —Maybe...it´s not your life the one I have to take...— he finishes his sentence with a hungry kiss on my lips, something he hasn´t given since everything started.

#AMidsummerNightsWritingChallenge #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fic #dark!fic #mdni #tw noncon #pwp #writing challenge #flower bud 🦈

[hologramcowboy]

Just a few things:

"I don’t know that much about his family, other than fans crapping on them for having a religious background." - no, people don't "crap on him" for his religion, he can be whatever religion he wants. Tthey are rightfully critical because Alan is VERY pro-life, VERY right wing Christian conservative. He thinks its gay for boys to use straws, men have to be "manly" and not show emotions, etc. THAT is why people have issues with Alan. His beliefs are out there, he's on anti-abortion youtube vids, he's made ignorant comments about Obama etc. People can believe what they want but when you are publicly outspoken about such divisive topics and basically think women shouldn't have rights then people are going to call you out and have the right to be offended.

"Family loves you unconditionally and he looks like he could use a lot of love right now." - this is a nice sentiment, but is unfortunately often untrue. Family SHOULD love you unconditionally, but that is not always the case. I don't know Jensen's relationship with his dad, but the reasons I listed above, among many other things, makes me think Alan is maybe not the most accepting person. I obviously cannot say with any degree of certainty, but with what I know about people like Alan, I doubt Jensen is comfortable talking with him about emotions or problems in his life and marriage. He seems to very much be a "suck it up and be a man" type of advice giver. And his mom comes across as a very passive homemaker, filling in the perfect wife/mother role. While she might be comforting, I think her ideologies probably align with Alan's quite a bit so that comfort can only go so far.

I agree and I hope someone in his life close to him is there for him, but I honestly don't know that his parents are those people. From what I've heard (and grain of salt because I don't have the receipts on this so I won't ask anyone to just believe me) Alan is also against divorce. So his advice may be the opposite of what Jensen needs to hear right now.

Thank you for sharing all of that. ♥️ I deeply appreciate your perspective. I tend to steer clear about rumors on his family because a lot of it is unfounded but the points you mentioned are real and extremely valid. It does point to Alan being closed minded and extremely judgemental. I usually steer clear from talking about religion precisely because a lot of its ideology is based on judging other heavily and that to me that not represent embodying love. So, whatever people's religion may be, I hope they lead with love and empathy.

I wrote what I wrote because, despite all the differences that arise within a family, parents do love their children, at a psychological level the child is like a mini you. So, I hope the Ackles have evolved enough to be open the way their son needs it because he really needs it right now and, if not, then I hope he finds some people he can call family that truly love him. Danneel's parents are clearly leeches just like her and her brother. Jensen needs mentor for his career and aside from his career he clearly needs true love, especially within his personal sphere. I hope he finds exactly that. ♥️♥️♥️

Sending you love and thank you for speaking up❣️

#jensen critical

[piqued-curiosity]

"It's so clear to me that people who say we should have more patience and compassion for young homophobes are coming from a place of sympathy for the young homophobes and not for the young homosexuals"

Not that same anon, but didn't you just reblog this? Does make it seem like you're agreeing she's being deeply homophobic as a motivation. Ppl are being really misogynistic to her on anon but that's not your problem. It does seem like you're saying homosexuals have a right to be annoyed at this situation, but bisexuals don't have a right to be annoyed at their rape statistics being belittled, and that the woman that said those things is not a misogynist because you find her and her core message admirable. If that's not what you meant to express in both cases, I don't think you expressed it very well.

I did reblog that. Because I believe it generally, not just in response to one post on tumblr. As I said in my own post, the idea of “be nice to homophobes, they have good intentions/don’t know better” is common. Whether it be religious homophobes who “are just following what their religion tells them! Don’t be so hard on them!” Or elderly people who “grew up in a different time, it’s not their fault”, or regular ignorant people who “just haven’t really been exposed to that stuff, cut them some slack”…or yes, TRA homophobes of all ages who “are just following the dominant ideology!” (Reminds me a lot of the arguments in favour of religious homophobes).

I understand that post was a response to the other post, but I also understood it to be speaking to the problem in general. Which, as I said in my own post, is the reason that post struck a nerve with homosexuals. Because it’s the same shit we hear all the time—that we have to be sympathetic to homophobes because “they don’t know any better”.

I also understood that post to not be saying “people who do this are homophobic!!! Shameeee!!!”…but simply saying they’re coming from a place of sympathy for homophobes instead of sympathy for homosexuals. Which, yes, is homophobic, but different from being a raging homophobe like you think I’m accusing the OP of being (I’m not). Many people’s thoughts (again, not just a tumblr user) regarding homophobia are to sympathise with the homophobe before the homosexual. The thought process is “well, they don’t know any better, sucks you have to experience their bigotry but try to be easy on them, they’re doing their best” which gets really frustrating. Because the first thought is to justify the homophobia, not to protect the homosexual from it.

No, I don’t think the OP was purely homophobic in her motivations, and as I said I agree that when it comes to kids, the approach from adults needs to be different than it would be with other adults. I don’t think she should be being targeted with misogyny. But I’m also just kind of tired of constantly seeing reasons why gay people shouldn’t be so angry with homophobes.

On another note….I find it really weird that people keep bringing up me supporting the message of one misogynistic lesbian a while ago (which I explicitly critiqued when I reblogged it) whenever I critique something else. I don’t think I ever said bi women don’t have a right to be upset at rape statistics being belittled???? Or that I didn’t think that woman was being misogynistic??? As I’ve said before, if people can keep bringing up me saying “she does have a point with the core message here despite her misogyny” and acting like it makes me a terrible person, I’d like to point out that OSA radfems on here actually worship and idolise lesbophobe Andrea Dworkin and never get any slack for it. But a lesbian agrees with another lesbian talking about a specific type of lesbophobia, and “ohhhh we must send angry anons about it because that lesbian was misogynistic and none of her words can ever be listened to!!! Btw read this Dworkin excerpt! Never mind the beastiality talk that’s vaguely racist and the incest talk haha”

And guess what, I also like things Dworkin has said. She has some brilliant points and I plan on reading some of her works because I like the excerpts I’ve seen. Because no, I don’t think we should throw a whole work out because of distasteful opinions of the creator. I myself have reblogged Dworkin quotes, I’m sure more than I’ve reblogged quotes from lesbians perpetuating misogyny…yet I’ve never once gotten anons saying “oh wow, so you clearly support political lesbianism”. This tells me that everyone does agree with me about taking the good parts and discarding the bad parts…but only when it comes to OSA women. Lesbians must never be granted that grace and instead their work must be thrown out if it isn’t a paragon of morality.

#women on here literally go ‘wow the end of this book (I think woman hating?) is Interesting…but the rest is great!!’ #and that’s fine. #but I say ‘this part of this writing is bad but the rest is good’ and everyone’s up in arms #also if you think that’s not relevant imagine how I feel whenever one singular post is repeatedly brought up lol #anyway Leave Me Alone Please :) I’m tired of this #asks #anon

[whitherliliesbloom]

when the crows cry

[ ffxivwrite2022 ] ★ [ masterlist ] ★ [ #03 - temper ]   [ ying & mammon ] ★ [ 1,890 words ]  ★ [ endwalker ]

temper - a person's state of mind seen in terms of their being angry or calm.

there’s a reason why a flock of angry, crying crows are called a ‘murder’.

Demon. 

It’s the last thing one would associate with Mammon - or at least it had been a struggle for Ying. It’s not out of a lack of respect or ignorance, though Mammon would insist out of pure exasperation that it couldn’t have been otherwise, nor did Ying forget the pact between a creature of the void and one of the living such as themselves. 

How could they? It was etched in blood red and silver into their very skin, upon the back of their hand like ritualistic tattoos that marked them as taken, marked them as his (the very idea or mention of that fact often left him a flustered, bumbling mess). 

But Ying doesn’t know of a kinder, gentler soul... hasn’t met a man who treated them with as much respect as Mammon has - and that certainly was speaking volumes, given their less than amiable relationship when they’d first met.

The avatar of greed often liked spewing reminders that he was, in fact, a demon... as early as when he’d first been summoned. 

Barely clothed, glowing white streaks traced across his body that marked him as the devil, twisted corkscrew horns that crowned his head of equally bright white hair. And eyes of honey gold and sky blue, glistening - marvelous and beautiful as they were malevolent and a hint of unknowable danger. Scriptures of many religious texts would have one believe that the devil was a beautiful man, and it’s the first time Ying has ever agreed with anything those worthless books ever said.

“Quit starin’, mortal. You know that I’m a demon, right?”

Of course, Ying replied in their head. Though, the people of Etheirys much preferred the term ‘voidsent’... 

But despite the state in which Mammon had appeared before Ying, they’d lost the momentary, fleeting feeling of caution around him quickly. It’d be hard not to, when the demon lorded as one of the princes of the thirteenth was a loudmouthed, money grubbing scum whose empty verbal threats of violence often amounted to nothing but just that - empty words. 

“Oi, Ying! Gimmie some gil to go to t’ gold saucer!” 

His voice is more a whine than it is a demand now, and after several months of traveling with this new, unorthodox partner of theirs, Ying has learned to not give in to his demands if they want to keep his impulsivity in check. 

“I’m already short on gil, no way.” They responded, voice low and white void eyes darting with warning to the sides of their shoulder. It wouldn’t do to have a passerby overhear them having a conversation with their pet crow. “If you want to go to the gold saucer, you could just fly there. You’ve got wings, don’t you?”

“HUH? I don’t just wanna go!! I WANNA GAMBLE!” The demon caws incredulously, and he flaps his wings outwards in protest as his feathers smack against the sides of his charge’s head, eliciting an annoyed grumble and a retaliatory smack back with Ying’s palm. And despite the relatively small size of his mor- I mean, his servant, a lalafell no taller than three feet tall, the strength of Ying’s slap was enough to send Mammon falling off his perch upon Ying’s shoulder, quite nearly tumbling off towards the ground until his avian instincts kicks in, and he flutters his wings rapidly to carry himself up into the air. 

“Why ya little- HEY! You remember that I’m a demon right?? I could annihilate you on the spot where you stand!” 

Mammon always says that - always holds his title as demon of the void, one of the seven lords no less, in high regard. And Ying knows, knew better than anyone... that the man had the powers to rake the entire world and grind it all to ash if he truly wanted - and he held an immeasurable amount of power over someone as feeble, who only just recently in their short, fleeting years as a mortal, learned to wield the powers of the void themselves. 

But Ying knew that he would never hurt them, not even if they’d struck out at him or lost control of their own powers. Mammon has proven that time and time again.

Ying could only associate his hands and fingers with gentleness and warmth, and they loved the feeling of having their face cupped between his palms. When they saw Mammon’s fangs, it was in a wide, toothy grin that spoke of the playfulness of a child at heart who was all too eager for praise from his mortal. 

And when Mammon spoke quietly, a rarity in and of itself... and even with the words of reassurance and love, no less... the term ‘demon’ fades from Ying’s subconscious perception of Mammon entirely. 

“Hey.” His voice a whisper, it calls out for attention, demanding yet soft - a paradox only possible for the prince of greed. “You... You know that i’m here for ya right? So there’s no need t’ be scared.”

He’s the only one who could see through their empty stare, their forced expression of stoicism, which crumbles in his arms into a tired, grieving smile. 

“Stupid... I’m not scared. Just tired.”

“Oi, who’re ya callin’ stupid, huh? You realize that I’m a demon right?”

Ying nods, their head falling limply against the man’s shoulder, and they resist the urge to purr when they feel his hands running through the strands of their dark, raven black hair. 

Of course. He’s a demon. He’s a prince of the void, the thirteenth shard. 

They may know, but they may also forget. They don’t need reminders, they don’t need to remember that he’s a demon.

He was perfect like this, just as he is. He could be an angel, a mortal. Hell, Ying ever once entertained the idea that Mammon could even perhaps have been a figment of their most lucid, wondrous and self-satisfying imaginations... For all the love and care in the world he’s provided to them that they don’t deserved. 

But the fact was that he has become more than a tool for revenge, more than the demon spawn they’d summoned, more than the avatar of greed, of danger, of darkness than they’d bargained for from the very beginning.

Had Ying summoned Lucifer successfully instead of Mammon, things undoubtedly would have been different - and they didn’t care.

If possible, Ying would like to go the rest of their life never being reminded of Mammon’s myriad of titles... of his true identity and being. 

His gentleness is enough, his kindness is enough.

----

“Ying! Ying! Wake up! D-don’t... Don’tcha fall asleep on me, ya hear?!” 

It’s both cold and warm, dark yet bright. Ying could taste iron in their mouth, and they could catch the lingering scent of gunpowder and ash in their nostrils. Cold seeps across their skin and into their clothing where the scythe of another had cut across their torso, the venom of his own voidsent quickly spreading a sensation of numbness across their limbs. 

But even with darkness looming ever so closely near, Ying felt an overwhelming warmth surround their being, and the sounds of cracking snow and the distant burning of fire and ceruleum is drowned out by a singular voice, a voice they remember all too fondly.

“Mamms..” His name could barely escape their lips in an inaudible gasp, and Ying finds the strength to turn their head to bury their tear stained face into the safety of his broad chest. 

How nice... how comforting. Even now, he was still truly their guardian, their safety and comfort, their entire world. If death was to claim them while they were in his arms, than perhaps that is not a bad way to end their feeble life. 

They didn’t have much, all they knew was him... and the sounds of his heart, so real and so loudly in their ears as it steadily lulls them into a peaceful sleep.

What Ying doesn’t stay awake long enough to witness however, is the emergence of anguish - of the definition of rage incarnate, so deep and palpable that it would put the fourth born demon lord of wrath to shame. 

Mammon never struck many people as a demon - save Y’shtola and a few select others who could tell that the make up of his aether was one of an empty void that had the potential to engulf any and all in his insatiable wake - though he had sworn on Ying’s part and his entire savings of gil that he wouldn’t resort to that without reason. 

But that wasn’t for lack of power or prestige, which he possessed in great strides. Even as the second strongest of the seven lords, he was still heads and above incomprehensibly stronger than lower grade voidsents that the scions were used to running into, and even THEY had given the people of etheirys a whole lots of trouble whenever they deigned to emerge from the shadows and into their realm. 

The avatar of greed’s passive nature came from his yet other strength of resistance, of his ability to control his emotional outbursts and keep his own immense power under check. 

He could rend the entire world if he wanted, he could rob, pillage, plunder and murder to his hearts content if he so chose... and many long years ago, just a few lifetimes ago when he and his brothers had first been born into this world by the sundering, he’d nearly done so. 

He’d simply chosen not to.... for the sake of his brothers, and then to Ying, the very first mortal he’d come to love more than himself. The only thing he’s had in a long time who sees him for more than what he appears- a demon, a voidsent.

And he’d be damned if he let them be taken away from him- the only thing in this world that kept his powers and impulsivity under control, now slipping from his grasp like they were being carried away by the tides. 

And he knew himself powerless to save them.

From the very depths of hell, a dark shadow rises and engulfs him, his aura cradling the broken, fragile mortal in his arms. A pair of horns emerge, leathery jet black wings unfurled from his back, and the hands that Ying had associated with warmth and comfort for so long extends and distorts itself into a set of inhuman talons.

The crows of garlemald let out a cry of despair collectively, their song rising into the cold winter air that sends shivers down the spines of the scions and their associates. 

Zenos, for his part, had his attention momentarily distracted, eyes darting up to the surrounding trees in part amusement as a murder of crows began to convene. 

“Oi, punk.” 

He looks back at the shadow, the little docile man who he had early mocked and said was unworthy of his title as a voidsent... a puny, pathetic thing wrapped around the fingers of the one who had bound him into a pact... and his lips curl upwards as he watches said man grow, the tendrils of his shadow of black and gold so tall and grotesque now, nobody could deny the identity of the being before them.

“You do realize... that I’m a demon right?” 

#ffxiv #Final Fantasy 14 #ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2022 #kiwisffxivwrite2022 #fanfic #mine #mammon #ying #This was 100% self-indulgent and also one of the many fanfic ideas i had stored up #but never got round to writing so i saved it for ffxivwrite #doesnt make much sense to anyone who doesn't know obey me #but oh well

[nothinggold13]

Look, I’m just some random follower of yours and I’m not going to change your mind, but it really saddens me to see your “pro-life” reblog cross my dash. I totally agree that people who want to go through with pregnancies should be given all the financial support they need to do so, but that doesn’t mean it should be the only option. Everybody should have their own autonomy over their body: not agreeing with abortions for yourself is fine, but don’t pretend to be a feminist if you don’t want freedom for other women to decide what is right for them.

(Sorry to send such a preachy ask, I enjoy your blog but if I came across someone I interacted with irl speaking against people’s rights I would speak up so I guess I should apply that rule online as well)

Do you know what saddens me? The fact that our society has decided that destroying our children is an acceptable solution to any of the problems we face as women.

Yes, I am a feminist. You probably read that in my tumblr bio, right behind a few other words, the most important of which being "Christian." Now, I am not only pro-life because of my faith; I believe it is an ethical stance, just as much as it is a religious one. But what that does mean is that my feminism -- my belief that women and men were created with equal value and dignity -- is influenced by my Christian values. If this sort of feminism doesn't suit you, then that's on you, but do not tell me that I am only "pretending" to be a feminist just because I believe that life has value.

I am not speaking against anyone's rights. I simply do not believe that abortion (i.e. the active decision to end a child's life) should be within our rights. Doing so actively attacks the rights of the children it refuses to acknowledge. I am pro-life because I believe in protecting their rights: because I believe that our rights do not trump theirs: because bodily autonomy only goes so far as it doesn't harm another person.

Perhaps you can see how, in my eyes, you are the one speaking against people's rights. Perhaps you can see how it is your viewpoint that saddens me. But perhaps you can't.

I understand the pro-choice perspective. I have empathy for women who feel like it is their only choice, and compassion for the ones who have made it. That doesn't mean I believe it is a morally acceptable choice to make, nor does it mean I believe the law should defend it. I do believe that as a society -- whether through the government or by our own actions -- we should do all possible to ensure that no woman ever has to make that choice. Abortion as a solution to any problem should be unthinkable.

This is not an invitation for you (or anyone) to further argue the pro-choice perspective for me. Believe me, I have heard the arguments. They simply do not make any difference. I am pro-life because I am a feminist just as much as I am pro-life because I am a Christian: because I believe both lives have equal value. You don't have to change your mind, either.

But please understand that I am pro-life. This is a pro-life blog. And, occasionally, I will share posts that celebrate that worldview. You are welcome to unfollow if this is uncomfortable for you. If, however, you can enjoy the content I create without letting my moral values offend you, then you are just as welcome to stick around. It is up to you. I don't have any desire to continue this discussion, as I find this debate mentally and emotionally draining, but I did want to take a moment to reply to your ask. I am glad you care about speaking up for others, and, in a way, I am even glad you felt I was someone worth speaking up to! But please do not tell me who I can and cannot speak up for.

[writing-plurals]

Hello, I just found this blog through a friend. I've crafted a story and I wanted to know if it was problematic or not, since I'm not plural and all I know is based around research on YouTube channels, plural friends, Google and basic human respect lol

So, essentially, it's sort of a play on DID in horror where, instead of being the monster, the characters are the paranormal investigators instead. I was thinking about making the narration happen through a diary, which would make the story epistolary like Dracula, because I heard that keeping a diary is a common thing amongst plurals and plus, since I planned these characters to live in the 19th century, they don't exactly have the best psychiatry in the world and are doing what they can to keep communication flowing. I don't have much planned about how the plot unravels, but I thought a lot about how and why some alters exist in this system, and as for now there are: 1) an archangel, because of religious trauma and the need to have a guardian, 2) a housewife, because parental issues, 3) a trying-to-be-protector-still-somewhat-persecutor alter who doesn't get along that well with the archangel because of his role in the system in the past, 4) a little that stays around the housewife and mostly stays away from the paranormal activities, 5) a factive of the system's first dog and it usually stays alert and shows up during emergencies. I also intended them to be low empathy, but still help the people around them, which is one of the reasons why they started with the paranormal investigation business.

Plus, I wanted the horror part of the story to be somewhat of a metaphor for trauma and generational trauma, so the plan was to have them slowly letting go of what they can not control (aka ghosts, entities and stuff) and also them getting a family. Don't worry, they're good parents, they're just really confused about this whole parenting world since they never had someone around them so they do have some moments where they don't know how to feel about this newfound responsibility/lets the child do whatever they want.

I guess I wanted to know if this would be problematic or disrespectful, since it all started as a "wouldn't it be funny if plural people were the heroes in horror stories for once" and I don't know how everyone feels about this? I talked to three systems about this and they seem to be fine with this story, and one of them even said that it was alright as it "makes fun" of the trope instead of agreeing with it, but I wanted to ask to more people that live with this just so I know the ratio? I don't know

Hi anon!

Before I inevitably go off on some kind of wicked tangent, I'm just going to say: concept? good stuff. I don't personally see anything wrong with what you've written here, but keep in mind I can't speak for the ENTIRE community here. We are just one DID system, but nothing here is inherently offensive or off-putting, and you can quote me on that.

I am not entirely sure what you meant in the third paragraph, where "they are good parents..." and such, so I will skip over that for now. An example case for this part would shed a lot of light on the subject.

Now, it's a GOOD thing for a pwDID to be the main protagonist of a media like this. It's good representation after all. With that in mind, make sure you do your research, you talk to systems, and all that. Make sure there is separation between the trauma the character has experienced and the trauma the character will inevitably face during the story— it's horror after all— and any other ideas that you might want to introduce. Bonus points if you can manage to describe dissociation in a meaningful and relatable manner.

--

Sorry for taking so long to write this. I'm actually one of the new mods, and the original admin of this blog had things they were doing, so it took a bit to get to. If you're still around, Anon, feel free to send in more asks to elaborate on how your story concept's going. We'd love to hear about it.

-Mod birdie

#long post #writing plural characters #plural representation #// mod birdie