#and they're both weird about stuff for christian reasons

[itsyourcoffinnowmylove]

seeing posts people make about character ai makes me think I'm the only one receiving Jesus lectures from the bots

#like?? #ive tried both character ai and dungeon ai or whatever it is #and they're both weird about stuff for christian reasons #literally the bots have said stuff like 'x is bad because it goes against god' #and I've NEVER seen anyone mention it before so is it just a me thing?? 😭 #it's not like I'm feeding christian information to the bots either

[mynameisnotsoda]

NOW INTRODUCING.... THE CRITTERS !!!

Technically Corvid is still a part of an au, i really like everyone's designs so i guess its just like a weird little au that are also kinda ocs?? Idk. Im still tagging it as the animatronicfication au and using the other ccs names but im completely separating wilbur from Corvid.

The one that probably changed the most is simp LMAO i just went back to his old design that was inspired by Luna (@starrixle's transfem simpbur turned oc) and Spencer is such a fitting name in my mind i literally can not imagine him with a different name *bwomp*

Also I'm working on refs for the other characters associated with the respective critters! I wanna finish them all and dump them into one post and I'll link it here when I'm done.

ANYWAY INFODUMP TIME

Before we go into individual characters i want to say that this is absolutely Minecraft. Like. The world is built off of Minecraft lore yk !!!! The overworld will still be called the overworld but it's basically just earth, with more magic and humanoid species! Along with supernatural creatures and cryptids n stuff :D also with more advanced tech considering Corvid exists pFF

Spencer for the most part kinda was like he is in canon or whatever. She used to lean more towards incel ideology because she was REALLY insecure and uncomfortable with herself for the longest time. Despite that, Spencer and Adrianne (egirl) started dating when they were 17, his unhealthy obsession with her was only fueled by her unhealthy attachment to him. They needed each other and it wasn't good for either of them. Spencer had developed horrible separation anxiety which only made things worse. Over time Adrianne became suffocated by his constant neediness, overwhelming insecurity, short temper and lack of contribution to household chores. It pained her to leave, but things needed to change. It wasn't until the breakup that Spencer met Shepard, who was his first irl friend in a long time. They met when they were around 22/23, at first Spencer just used Shepard as a distraction from Adrianne, especially since he was surprised that they wanted to even be his friend in the first place. But after a while he genuinely started to enjoy their company, plus they offered him really good advice and helped him through a gender/sexuality crisis. Eventually they became partners! Maybe not romantically, as they're both aromantic, but life partners nonetheless.

OH and i did make Spencer white/Salvadoran. Her mom is the first generation from immigrant parents while her dad is British; And her dad's younger brother is Adam's dad! He's also an ex-christian, he left due to religious trauma and moved to America to escape his family hA

Spencer's also a no sabo kid LMAO (he knows some words/phrases but other than that he cant speak Spanish to save his life)

ALSO ALSO. Oh my god i could talk about Spence all day LMAO but i made him a werewolf !!!! Hes SOO jealous of Adam because she wanted the cat genes but instead got bitten and turned into a werewolf as a teenager. She's done a pretty good job at hiding it from her family so Shepard's the only one who knows.

I already dumped everything about Adam into that other post, so I don't really have much else to add. HOWEVER !! Him and Spence are cousins now :3 Adam doesn't get to meet Spencer in person until he moves to America with Charlie & co, but he does follow her socials with his secret accounts that his parents don't know about. The only reason they know they're cousins is because Spencer's dad told her so and she reached out! Much to the dismay of Adam's parents but they've secretly kept in touch online.

Keith's pretty much stayed the same apart from a slight design revamp. Although I've made him a little older since originally i made him look young. But then I decided hes a dad so i started drawing him older for the asks pFF he also has a hooked nose now! In case it's not obvious. Keith got married to Jean VERY young, they were maybe 17/18 in human years. It was an arranged marriage and their only goal was to have an heir to the throne. Well they did, they had two kids, the eldest being a boy named Lune and the youngest being a girl named Sunny, who's the would be heir. Until Jean took both the kids and left. It was completely unprompted and left everyone in the kingdom confused, especially Keith. Sure, they had a loveless marriage and maybe he was insufferable at times, but he wanted to make it work if not for the kids then for the kingdom! But its been almost a year since she left, he's lost hope in ever finding her. Keith desperately wants his kids back, not because Sunny is the rightful heir— though that is part of it—but he loves them both dearly. He misses them the most.

Wilfred has pretty much stayed the same as well! I did give him a grey tshirt and darker hair to further distance his design from wilbur though. Hes just as unhinged and immoral as he used to be !!!! Nothing has changed aside from appearance actually.

Tobi also pretty much stayed the same except for its now got an orange jumper and lighter brown hair pFF although i do now have a story for him! Tobi was found by Alejandro in a storage auction, he managed to sell a lot of pretty valuable things from there but Tobi stood out, obviously, so he kept it. Alejandro is a travel vlogger and lives in an RV with his friends: Tomas, Philip and Charles. His friends just call him Alex. Anyway, they go from town to town trying local food, visiting tourists traps and vlogging the journey! While doing that they also try to find out how to get Tobi's memories back and possibly turn him human again, if they even can. So far they haven't had much luck but maybe one day...

Corvid was created as the backup singer and lead guitarist of the first all animatronic band! Brought to you by Beloved Entertainment! The other members include lead singer Ranboo Beloved, keytarist Tommy Raccoon, and bassist James Tomcat. Located in Ranboo's Mega Pizzaplex, the only location in the world (so far). Corvid adopts a showman personality while on stage, hes charismatic and such a heartthrob, very popular with the ladies. Off stage he's very calm and soft spoken, he's rather shy but still manages to be a flirt and a tease. Lightly poking fun at his bandmates, coworkers and even guests at times. He's definitely a fan favorite for a reason!

This was so fun to write and i cant wait to share more !!!! Stay tuned !!!!!!

#simpbur #studentbur #keith the dragon #dr malpractice #tinybur #animatronicfication au #sodas critters

[lokeanwelcomingcommittee]

hi! This is sort of a weird ask, and I get it if you can’t/don’t want to answer, but:

ive been drawn towards Norse polytheism for a while now, but up until recently I just read the eddas and called myself a fan. But a little bit ago something? Clicked? And now I’m having this mini internal battle of wanting to become lokean and also the problem that because of past religious trauma (thank you, Catholic Church!) I am unable to fully believe in the presence/existence of any deity. It’s hard for me to, if I get past that, trust them, as well. And so I ask you this: in your opinion, can I still practice Norse paganism even though a part of myself doesn’t believe? I know that it’s a personal thing, and that it’s really up to me, but do you think it’s still valid, even though I’m still in doubt of the gods’ existence?

I do feel a connection with Loki, and part of me wants to believe. But I don’t know it I can.

-a conflicted anon

Hi Nonny,

The only active mod has been on hiatus for personal reasons, but since you've sent this a couple times now and apparently haven't been able to find other community in the interim, I'll throw out a quick response. Again, I would urge you to find other folks to bounce this stuff off of, both because there are people out there with way more spoons than me atm and because lots of varied perspectives are good. Pagans are, for the most part, very anti-proselytization and would not try to pressure you into a path you weren't sure about, and Norse paganism doesn't have the equivalent of Christian hell in the sense that you don't get eternally punished for believing the wrong thing.

So, on that note, Norse paganism focuses way more on action than belief. I know multiple Heathens who identify as atheistic, and I deeply respect them and their contributions. I see myself as agnostic, personally. I worship regularly, even though the blog is quiet, but I can't know and don't much care if these gods exist outside of human imagination.

For me, it's not about being right about metaphysical things that can never be empirically proven. It's a framework for finding meaning. It's a framework to establish personal ethics for interacting with others and stewarding the planet we live on. It's an outlet to express joy and awe at what life has to offer. It's a way to find like-minded people. Maybe the gods are out there, maybe they're just an extension of us, but regardless, all of the above has a real, material impact on the world in the way we live our lives.

If you can believe in that, then that's justification enough to explore it. If it's not for you, you can always stop. I hope you find contentment on your journey, wherever it may lead.

-Mod E

[dukeofankh]

hey i really really appreciate your posts abt purity culture, desire and objectification and your perspective as an ex-evangelical!! having been born and raised a jew myself i've always been aware of how bullshit all of that stuff is, but not really able to articulate it as specifically as you seem able to, and i find your eloquence really impressive. with that known, i actually have a specific thing that's been bothering me, and i think it's an evangelical purity culture based thing, and hinges on that distinction you made in a post abt a week ago abt how to a lot of people "objectification" = "looking with lust" = "basically adultery"-- okay here goes:

on gay tiktok, there is currently a trend of women (or some nb ppl) who are attracted to women commenting on thirst-traps posted by women the memetic phrase "i am no better than a man".

now this really rubs me the wrong way for a lot of reasons (mainly: contextually this is almost always on videos that are INTENDED to be sexy so why is it weird to find this woman, who filmed and edited this video to be sexy, sexy?? AND what the hell do you mean abt gender by saying this???? women can't desire people?? men can only desire in predatory ways???), and it's weird in that specific way where i'm like. i smell weird cultural christian values embedded in this. but i can't quite articulate the way it all fits together.

this may be way out of line for me to bother you in your inbox like this, but i was hoping to get your take? your ability to explain this stuff clearly and with context i never knew existed is really valuable and while i have seen people responding on tumblr to say "uhhh don't say this", they haven't really articulated what's driving people to say such a specific thing, so much that it becomes a meme.

if u feel this isn't something you want to speak on, that's totally fine! and i just want to say thank you again for your thoughtful posts.

also i feel very weird abt dropping this veritable essay in your inbox so sorry!!

No worries! I love to talk, and I already have opinions on that particular meme 😆.

You've definitely gotten the gist of it, yeah. It's a bunch of unexamined sexist ideas about sex and desire repackaged in the sort of fun memey "it's not that deep, chill out" shell that absolutely thrives on social media. Some of it's Christian, some of it is the radfem repackaging of Christian ideas.

Basically, the version of Sexual Objectification championed by radfem writers like Dworkin was adapted from Immanuel Kant, a Christian philosopher/theologian, so it's not just cultural Christianity, it's also a direct intellectual connection. They just changed the idea from "all people, when overtaken by lust, cease to see people as people and can see them only as means to achieve their sinful sexual gratification. This cannot be avoided, but can be balanced out by keeping sex within a marriage that is otherwise built on commitment and respect," to "Men, when overtaken by lust, cease to see women as people and can see them only as a means to achieve their sinful sexual gratification (due to their patriarchal training to harm and dominate). This cannot be avoided, especially not by marriage, which is one of the main ways the Patriarchy codifies the subjugation of women to men."

Basically, Radfems and Christians get along because Radfems feel the same way about masculine sexuality that Christian men feel about their own sexuality. As for women...both Radfems and more modern Christians are pretty sure that women don't Do Lust in the same way men do. Like, women see people as ends in and of themselves, as fellow Subjects. Men see women as objects. As means to an end, that end being their own sexual gratification.

A few decades later and after a fair bit of social media iteration, we get to this weird point.

What they're basically saying is, "god damn. I swiped onto this thirst trap and I didn't even think about your personality or your accomplishments or anything. I literally just saw big jiggly titties and that's all I can think about. I am sexually attracted to you, and yet it isn't reflective of your soul or a deep connection between us or anything, despite the fact that I'm a woman and I'm supposed to be above just liking your body and that turning me on. Huh. This is what I have heard people describe men's sexuality as being like. You are so sexy that you are causing me to act as badly as men do."

See also: the way tiktok has redefined "the male gaze" and "the female gaze" to just mean "stuff men vs. women respectively like to look at" with most explicitly sexualized visual media being assigned to the former. Women are supposed to like things subtler than that.

Like, saying "I am no better than a man" could be a push to re-examine whether maybe a celibate 18th century theologian/philosopher is a bad foundation for your understanding of sexual desire. I would like to think that for some of these women it probably is sparking self reflection, going "huh, yeah, I guess we all do this."

But as a meme, honestly, even as it claims to lower ones own status I think it still maintains a claim of moral superiority? Like, "yeah, I'm being a horndog, but I am self aware about it. I can tell that I'm being horny on main right now, and it's something that has been conditionally activated by this very sexy thirst trap. Men are like this all the time and they don't even know."

I, obviously, don't like that. I don't like people saying "I'm acting like a man" when they mean "I'm perving on you", I don't like ranking a lack of desire as being better than desire, I don't like ranking genders or better or worse than another. I don't think it's causing problems as much as it's reflecting problems that have been there for a long time, but hey, it stinks.

#me writing stuff

[aprillikesthings]

GOOD MORNING (afternoon actually) time for more she-ra

(I actually started this episode last night lol but wasn't able to finish it)

s5 ep3 corridors

oh this episodes starts with the intro instead of an open. okay.

nnnoooooo

Not only do Catra's ears do a little twitch but it makes a really adorable noise????

Also I just looked at my fic to make sure I mention that Catra's eyes glow a little and got distracted rereading my own porn lolol but yes I did already edit that into a scene

man I feel sad for both of them here. they're both just little kids--with like, zero good role models :(

poor babies

anyway, nice segue

oh those lights are explosions. oh. :(

would you like some heavy-handed but appropriate symbolism

but also the clones are basically stalking her every move, and she runs into the clone that's actually Hordak

I wanted to get a screenshot of her smoothing down her hair and accidentally got whatever this is lol

but yeah Hordak is like "I don't know what you're talking about. anyway go away."

LOL

The ship shuts down and stops in space which is really funny because THAT'S NOT HOW SPACE WORKS unless you're fighting the gravity of a nearby planet or star or something you should maintain your speed forever

but whatever, fantasy universe, plot, etc.

awwwww Catra and Glimmer are talking again. Their banter is so easy to read as flirtatious, too.

It is a struggle not to screenshot every single facial expression they make during this scene.

...Also, I should read my friend's Glitra fics.

THEY'RE SO CUTE

Glimmer mentions specifically raiding the kitchen for cake enough times that I'm 99% sure I subconsciously remembered it when I wrote that short fic that includes it considering I wrote/posted it before I got to any of the mentions of it in my re-watch.

She even mentions eating it with her hands and here I thought it might be weird that I put it in the story lolol

I forgot entire huge portions of plot but remembered Glimmer likes to sneak into the kitchen to eat cake with her hands.

(they're talking about sleepovers)

UGH THIS SCENE IS SO GOOD also the look on Catra's face while she talks about Adora during happier times 🥺

SHIT Daci came upstairs okay I gotta finish this tomorrow

it is now tomorrow :D

don't mind me gonna rewatch this whole scene because it's so painfully sweet

OH ALSO one of the things that's good to note for myself later (re: character stuff) is that Catra is still a little shit here. She opens the conversation by taunting Glimmer about her failed attempts at escape, and when Glimmer pushes back she initially starts to leave.

So yeah. She's always still a bit of a brat.

ALSO I want to note that part of the reason they're willing to tolerate each other at all is that, at this point in the plot, they've both done Pretty Bad Shit. Whether it's the same amount of bad shit is a matter of debate, but Glimmer feels horribly guilty for trying to use the Heart of Etheria and allowing Horde Prime to find them--she's even the reason Catra is on the ship. So they're sort of equals at this point. I don't think Glimmer would be friendly to Catra to quite the same extent if she didn't have that hanging over her. I could be wrong though.

But also yeah they're still very similar people.

look at how soft she is ;_;

but yeah Glimmer's talking here, and oof, look at Catra

do you also have some regrets bb

;_;

and then she gets up and walks off without a word to Glimmer

lol the claws on the wall, absent-mindedly. I know why she's doing that--the urge to leave a mark, however minor--"I was here"--to be even the tiniest thorn in the side of an enemy that unfathomably powerful.

another allusion to Christianity

they went for (synthesized) Gregorian chanting here instead of the organ

oh no it's that fucked-up baptism thing D:

(true story: a lot of churches are willing to baptize you more than once, especially if they're weirdoes and don't think other churches' baptisms count. The Episcopal Church, like most mainline protestant denominations, won't re-baptize you--if your previous baptism was done with the Trinitarian formula ("Father, Son, and Holy Spirit") it counts. This actually gets tricky if you were baptized as a Mormon, because they do use the Trinitarian formula, but they mean entirely different things by it! In some parts of the country you'll get rebaptized, in others you won't. Sometimes they'll do what's called a conditional baptism, where they literally say "If you are not baptized, [name], I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Like. They insert a "just in case" clause. They also do this for people who just do not know if they were baptized--like if you can't ask your parents whether you were baptized as a baby because they're dead/no-contact. Anyway I was seven when I got baptized, so I remember it, which is nice; but I did text my mom about it when I was about to get confirmed and it turned out she'd kept my baptismal certificate all these years?!)

I don't know if they were going for The Meme this time--I don't think so? it's just a good way to frame this scene? --but I cannot unsee it

oof it must hurt to admit that, but also, it must be a bit of a relief to actually GENUINELY NOT KNOW and be unable to give away anything

"And yet you seek to protect her" dude has her number that's a fact

oh god he tells her to get info from Glimmer D:

"If I could tell you where Adora is I would! She's my enemy! I want her gone!" oh baby you're so convinced

at this point in the plot I'm not entirely sure he's wrong, but of course he misunderstands why it's a bad thing and the solution to it

(I get that a sprinkle of water on your head is a totally valid baptism but also I think more mainline churches should have full-immersion options bc I just think it makes sense from a symbolism standpoint. I know some mainline churches will allow you to do it if you're an adult getting baptized. Depends on the church/clergy.)

ANYWAY real glad that baptismal fonts/pools aren't electrified

And yes bringing Catra there was a threat

And Catra brings Glimmer cake

aww

hm

she could have stood looming over Glimmer here. Instead she's literally on her knees and holding Glimmer's other hand. She doesn't want to intimidate Glimmer into giving her information. She wants Glimmer to kNOW.

Glimmer drops the cake.

I'm gonna chew my fingers off aaaaugh

I'VE HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT i knew I would and I'm only halfway through the episode hold on

#april rewatches spop #corridors

[duck-in-a-thrift-store]

Getting on my soapbox for a moment, topic being, uhhhh... religious influence on education and bodily autonomy? Smthn like that idk

(This ended up being really long, so, more below the cut)

My parents put my little sister in homeschool as soon as I graduated, which like, i WoNdEr WhY (it's me hi I'm the problem it's me)

And the program/co-op thing she's involved in is christian-based bc my folks are unfortunately conservative christians who think it's a good idea to bias their child's entire understanding of the world through their religious beliefs

So my sis was telling me about her health textbook the other day, and how it was kinda weird? Like, they have a unit on I guess dating and sex type stuff, but this textbook has some interesting opinions

Such as, suggesting kids (not like little kids we're talking about high schoolers here) avoid hugging their partner because it supposedly might turn them on??

And, ok, to be honest I have absolutely no idea how realistic that is, it sounds pretty silly to me, but like even if that totally is a thing that happens to people... who cares, right?

But no, obviously that would be just disastrous because we can't have anyone tempted to do something totally crazy like having sex before marriage, god forbid

And there's just that sort of "no touching" purity culture bullshit and it really pisses me off, especially as someone who was also raised in that mentality, and I was just lowkey flabbergasted by the ridiculousness and audacity of a health textbook to tell kids not to hug someone they're dating bc it might lead to premarital sex, and I basically said as much, smthn along the lines of "imagine sexualizing hugs" to my dad, trying to get him on my side I guess, but that isn't how it went

Let me preface this with: I love my dad. I do. And he has really been making progress in terms of letting me be me and still supporting me even though our views don't always align. But my dad can also be petty, and he's a very touchy-feely person and I'm very much not, at least with most people including him. We have a little bit of history of him trying to hug me, me rejecting it, and him getting butt-hurt over it. So there's your rant-relevant context I guess

So when I half-jokingly say "imagine sexualizing hugs," he shoots back with "imagine being uncomfortable with hugs" in like, a targeted mocking way, like that in any way makes sense to use as an insult toward your own child or anyone for that matter

I didn't have the presence of mind or energy to really unpack that in the moment so I kinda just went "bruh did you really just-" made some joke like "well gee sorry for being autistic" (which yeah that's part of it too) and dropped the conversation

But like.... does he really not see the irony?

One of the major reasons I'm not comfortable with hugs and touch in general is literally BECAUSE of how it's been sexualized, like, that's kinda the whole point?

Of course I'm not going to want to hug you, my father, when there are voices in my upbringing suggesting that touching people is sexual, duh

Like it's literally so obvious to me how the two lines of thought are inextricably linked and how this sort of ideology can fuck someone up because, hello, living proof right here dude, so let's maybe NOT teach the same shit to your younger child?

Yeah you're right I'm not comfortable with hugs and that's kinda sad but I'm trying to get you to see that part of why that is is because of the same idiocy you're letting someone preach to your daughter, so if you don't want us both to be like me,,, maybe don't do that

To the kids and anyone else who needs to hear it, when how and why you touch another person should be up to you and that person and no one else. If you want to hug someone and they vibe with that then hug them, please don't let some bible-thumping freaks tell you it's a slippery slope to sin or whatever. Your body is your own and you make the decisions about what to do with it. That is one of your most basic, most fundamental, most bar-on-the-floor rights as a human being. Anyone who tries to guilt you about something like this is trying to control you and you should be wary of them

Me personally, I just find it interesting how society is so set on calling drag queens and queer people groomers when there are literally religious teachers out here manipulating children into not having bodily autonomy

What's up with that?

#duck rants #hug discourse i guess? #hugs are both sacred and repulsive to me so yeah i was gonna rant about this #obviously #religious trauma #bodily autonomy #sexualization #stop sexualizing touch #education #health education #family issues #this is health class not sunday school #get your puritanism out of the damn textbook #so help me god #(yes i see the irony) #purity culture #fuck purity culture

[mistleaneous-chaos]

Rykard is Underappreciated

I don't really talk about Rykard much, but I do think that he is one of the most interesting demigods, and they're all interesting but his story is one that I think is one of the most unique in the context of the game. The reason he's underappreciated is because of the fact that both of his siblings are such fucking WINNERS, and his stuff just reeks of unfinished/cut content.

Unlike his siblings who were mainly int-based, Rykard actually gets, in a weird way, closer to Golden Order Fundamentalism than anything else. His sorceries require a mixture of Faith and Intelligence, with the higher stat needed being intelligence, and one thing about the Magma sorceries nobody talks about is the fact that Rykard literally adapted them into a new form of sorcery, which honestly just reemphasizes how much the children of Rennala were fucking masters of their individual schools of magic.

Volcano Manor is, in a weird way, a really good example of how fucked up the Golden Order makes those who oppose it, because Rykard has a fucking melting pot of horrible atrocities there. He has a giant at his doorstep afflicted with Madness, Albinaurics trapped with torture devices on their heads, which I think is a symbol of his corruption more than anything else. Along with that is an entire town of serpent-people and a Crucible Knight that is dedicated to him and his wife's goals, a knight that symbolizes what is now considered a curse by the Erdtree.

The reason I think that symbolizes corruption is because there is legitimate proof that Rykard was not always a piece of shit. Exhibit 1 is the painting of Radahn he keeps in his Manor, which is one of the most blunt examples of sibling admiration in the game besides Malenia and Miquella, because Ranni never mentions Radahn and is only ever shown to have associated with Rykard in an item description, and Radahn's insane. The item description and the painting show that he actually either admired or talked to his siblings, which is more than we get from Ranni's quest, Radahn's story, and even fucking all the Godwyn stuff.

Along with that is the Tonic of Forgetfulness, which he gave to Tanith because he didn't want her to think of him as a monster which is what he was becoming at that point. He didn't realize that she loved him so much that she would stay with him even through that, and I honestly think that the gesture of wanting to spare her the pain of his path is something that is really fucking sweet.

I think that the tipping point of his insanity was his Great Rune, as it was for a majority of the Demigods. The Runes are literally said to taint the user, which is probably why they went to war in the first place and all went insane in some way. Along with that, it's likely that he held a resentment for Marika and Radagon, like his siblings probably did. That, along with the Rune, likely motivated him to kill the Gods, and when he discovered the God-devouring Serpent, he basically found his Golden Goose, and decided "Ok Time to fucking get in there and kill my dad" only to then go even more insane with the recusant stuff and all that just eating people over and over again.

Strangely enough though? It's honestly got a lot of parallels to Christian Mythos than anything else in the game. Like a snake that tempts people to join it which is actually a fallen divine being that committed blasphemy against the God of the religion. He's literally fucking Satan guys. And it's weird because the rest of the game is filled to the brim with stories of beings that were actually aliens or beings from space influencing others and Outer Gods and whatnot, but Gelmir is just a bunch of Christian Allegories jam-packed into one spot and almost nobody outside of Gideon brings it up.

It's honestly a shame we don't get as much about Rykard as we do most of the other siblings, considering the fact that he has one of the best boss fights, some of the most interesting lore, and more characters in his plotline than a majority of the others, and yet you get some quests with his wife, kill Tarnished, get their armor, find him, and kill him, and that's it. I mean you get Tanith eating him and some castanets to give her but besides that. Nothin'.

Honestly this just goes to show that Radagon is a failhusband for abandoning 3 amazing kids and sending them down the paths that lead to one casting away her own body, one going insane from the new daughter's rot, and one literally dedicating his existence to blaspheming your purpose and your new wife.

And yet again, RENNALA NEVER MENTIONS HIM OR RADAHN DESPITE THEM CONTRIBUTING JUST AS MUCH TO SORCERY AND THE WORLD AS A WHOLE, but she gets a pass because she's insane. Radagon doesn't though he's a slut

#elden ring #elden ring lore #elden ring spoilers #rykard #praetor rykard #tanith #lady tanith #radahn #starscourge radahn #ranni #ranni the witch #rennala #rennala queen of the full moon #radagon #radagon of the golden order #mt gelmir #volcano manor #tarnished #malenia #malenia the severed

[philosophicalparadox]

It’s me again,

So I actually will celebrate Walpurgisnacht at the Blocksberg this year. Needless to say, I won’t go naked (like witches do) but as a modernized, female version of Mephistopheles from Faust. Corset etc will hopefully arrive soon.

Do you think Mephisto actually celebrates it even though he is an outcast among demons? In Faust, Mephistopheles is the Master of witches. Does it apply to the AnE universe too?

Oh you bet he does!

Its a big ass party filled with horny, weird, crazy humans (and demons/elves/witches, supposedly) Why, the party couldn't start without him! Or if it did, he'd be deeply offended lol.

What's more, Walpurgisnacht would be just the sort of party he would crash in Ye Olden Times given that it started as a Christian, holy festival to repel witches. Go back a bit and you get Beltane, the party he'd really like to be a part of, a coinciding Wicca festival dedicated to the appeasement of Fair Folk by, basically, conjuring a protective fire spirit Myodha style, actually. (Who knows, maybe Ucchusma? Even Karura?). There was a bunch of other stuff done in the name of appeasing the spirits/gods, and in particular a god and goddess of special interest to Samael:

If you go back far enough, Walpurgisnacht began as Beltane, which began originally as the veneration of the healing god Belenus and fertility goddess Belisama...

...which are the Celtic names of Apollo and Artemis, respectively.

Now Apollo is almost certainly kin of Lucifer, and Artemis is likely to be kin of Shemihaza - though personally I think they're both the hybrid children of the two gods, if such a thing is possible. Their mythos both coincide with that idea, since both twins have healing and nature powers and are the son and daughter of Helios, the sun God.

Either that or they're Nephilim of Lucifer, raised under Shemihazas influence. Or possibly each Nephilim in their own right, that were simply so close in age and intimacy they were regarded as twins or siblings. Who knows if canon will ever tell us. :)

Anyway, would it not be the most funnest thing ever for our pesky demon Lord to crash a party dedicated to his own niece and nephews honor? Lol. Especially as they double as the children of his bitter rival! Talk about having a crazy uncle!

So yes - I think he started crashing that party long ago to spite his brother and it's become a habit for him to just show up there. Enough of one that he's become expected even lol. Even after its conversion into the Christian commemoration of St. Walpurga, a lot of the traditions didn't change form, but they did change reason. What used to be fires to appease and repel bad spirits now were fires to keep witches, demons and the Devil himself at bay.

So even after the banning of Beltane he'd have just that much more reason to go since, Y'know, having the Devil crash the party of a Christian Saint is actually half the reason for the party in the first place - Why wouldn't he show up in exactly the place he wasn't wanted? Especially given all the fuss about keeping him away! 😆 Don't tell me he wouldn't have an absolute blast with that.

As to his connection with witches, I do think he has a special connection with them, as he does with many people's that are classically oppressed in or associated with his name (as the Devil).

Canon doesn't give us a lot of info about witches, only that the mothers of Nephilim are generally regarded as such. However, the guidelines on what constitutes witchcraft by Catholic interpretation actually includes quite a bit of what Exorcists do on the day-to-day, so 🤷. Given that he oversees one of the most active branches in the True Cross order and is the only true Ba'al still active on the Grigori Council, I would certainly, by any stretch of the Catholic meaning of witch, call him a Lord of Witches lol.

Hope that satisfies!

#blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #mephisto pheles #fan theory #ao no exorcist fan theory

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

i just found your blog and i find you super cool but i see that you’re a christian. i personally have nothing against it but from the impression i get as a non American is that christians don’t really support the queer community and stuff so what are your opinions on that??

Well first of all, I'm not American myself so if you're looking for the American approach unfortunately I couldn't give it to you. But the belief I have regarding it is this:

(I'm gonna be using the phrase same-sex attraction in this thing because I'm not comfortable using queer because I myself am pretty sure I'm not, and I don't think I can reclaim it, and gay feels too restrictive if that makes sense? I'm aware it feels like a weirdly clinical term and I'm sorry for that but it's sort of like the clearest term I think I can use? But I'm aware it might be off putting and I'm sorry and these are my reasons for it).

Same-sex attraction is natural, it isn't some weird perversion, it isn't just a form of lust and it isn't something that can be "prayed away" or whatever some people think, conversion therapy is horrific and also fundamentally useless. To treat someone who is same sex-attracted as in any way different or more sinful than the rest of us, or to claim they can't be Christian, is not just cruel, it's actively hateful and wrong. Violence against people for any part of their identity is vile and utterly unsupportable.

In the Bible and thus in Christian faith, there are multiple verses in both old and new testament that indicate that sex between two people of the same sex is wrong. This is one of the many restrictions surrounding sex, which all arise from the same concept - that sex isn't just a physical act, but a spiritual one and as such there are a lot of rules surrounding it (no sex outside of marriage, for example, is equally emphasised). So I suppose we don't support the queer community in that we don't support sex between people of the same sex, but we also don't support a lot of other stuff that I myself as a straight cis woman could engage in and would literally be seen as just as bad.

The problem with this is that a lot of homophobic people in homophobic churches (which tragically do exist and can cause extreme damage and trauma to many people) have twisted this all to mean that "if you're gay you're going to hell." This is inherently wrong not just morally but also from a theological standpoint for a number of reasons. Firstly, that's simply not how hell and heaven work. Within the Christian framework, the idea is that everyone is condemned to hell automatically due to inherent sinfulness arising from original sin, and the only way not to go there is to repent and turn to God. So you can't be going to hell because of one particular thing. Secondly, same-sex attraction isn't a sin, it just isn't! Nothing says it is! It's literally just the act of sleeping together that's frowned upon! And sleeping with someone of the same sex isn't a worse sin than the rest of them, it's not like some special secret evil thing! It's literally not!

Actually, I'm not the expert on this obviously, but over the past few years I've seen the phase Side B be used more and more, which I think is a loose term used by Christians who are same-sex attracted but choose either celibacy or to only marry (and thus sleep with) people of the opposite sex if they're also attracted to them. To me, this sounds like a great trial, and I am always in awe of their strength of faith to do this. If someone who's reading this is Side B please feel free to weigh in on this because you probably know more about it than I do. So yeah, that's a direction that a lot of SSA people in the church take.

Regarding non-Christians, tbh the major thing there is that they're not Christian which is a more overarching issue, so like when I have SSA friends who aren't Christians if I went around like "ooh you shouldn't be sleeping with people of the same sex" that's just like, creepy weird of me? They don't follow the same moral framework that I do. I think they should, I think Christianity is right and I think it is the only path to salvation, but my focus should be on that, rather than on an issue which honestly is not at all the heart of the religion.

(Also to clarify I don't go around preaching to people all the time, I do think evangelising is important but I don't think randomly telling my friends hey you should be christian now all the time is going to actually help at all, it's just going to make them stop being friends).

The fact of it is, there is a lot of homophobia within the church. God is perfect, the people who follow Him or claim to follow Him, often not so much. I mean, even in some of the Christian circles on here people can be horrifying about it, bigoted and cruel and it's disgusting and not right. I am eternally thankful that there does seem to be, at least in Britain where I live, a shift away from it, but I'm also aware that depending on the church a lot more needs to be done, not just in this but in many areas (I mean, I have a friend who was once told her anxiety attacks were possession by a devil, IT'S LITERALLY THE 21ST CENTURY AND SHE WAS TOLD THAT, not to get off topic but there genuinely are many many issues within many churches which really need to be addressed, and thankfully as I said, at least at the churches I know and go to, they are being so).

Ultimately, the core of Christianity is meant to be love. Love doesn't always mean agreeing with people and letting them do anything they want, love can mean correcting people if you think they're doing something wrong, like if your friend were doing something you thought was wrong and there would be significant consequences you'd tell them because you love them, right? And we do believe sins are wrong and do have consequences, and we try to correct our fellow Christians who do wrong when we can without being twats about it, but any correction should be done with love, with the recognition that no one is worse than we are, with the understanding we aren't any better. And if people aren't Christian, randomly insisting they follow individual Christian beliefs rather than attempting to convince them of the actual heart of Christianity (Jesus's death and thus the salvation of all of humanity who turn to God) suggests that people who do it don't actually care about saving or helping people, they just want to prove they're special and above everyone else which is, y'know, unbiblical.

I would argue that thinking same-sex sexual relations are wrong isn't inherently hateful, especially because that belief would never lead me to mistreat another human being. Some people however might disagree, You might even disagree, anon! And that is, of course, perfectly fine and valid. I'm glad I come across as super cool, if my Christian beliefs make you uncomfortable (which I know they can do) to the extent that you don't want to hang around, it's your online experience to curate, I wish you nothing but goodness and happiness. If however, you want to hang around, amazing!!! I hope the new fixations every four weeks where my entire personality changes to center around my new blorbo aren't too distracting.

(Also I am not going to make this rebloggable because I'm on my holidays rn and don't have the energy to face Discourse. Thank you for being polite about this, often people have Not Been and it's a little exhausting, so thanks for being chill in asking! I hope you have a great day, if you celebrate any holidays around now I hope they're wonderful!!! and I hope this makes sense I know it's a bit rambly).

#christianity #faith #it took me like five times to type christianity properly for some reason #oh yeah if anyone's out there and got to the end of this and is like ooh I should send Grace an anon ask #telling her she's wrong for *checks notes* treating human beings who are different from her like people #maybe consider not doing that because tbh it's more disappointing than when I get anon hate from the angry athiests

[strangesickness]

i've been thinking about the losers and religion a lot lately because i think it's a pretty interesting topic that would impact them a fair bit.

eddie was actually the one who got me on this tangent because i think he's the least religious of all the losers so welcome to me rambling.

everything is pretty vague and i'm not really talking about actual religion and more talking about geography and historical context and stuff but figured i'd put a cut here in case this isn't something you want to read about <3 also its long oops

so we do actually have some canonical information about eddie's religion. he was raised methodist*, and his grandparents (at least on frank's side) were polish catholic. he becomes non-practising as an adult.

*(which is the same denomination as richie, which leads me to believe there was a methodist church in derry, and the town was largely methodist, since it seems strange that the kaspbrak's would convert to protestantism when frank's side of the family was catholic, especially since even though methodist is the second most common denomination of protestant in the USA, it has less than half as many followers as southern baptist, and also maine has a pretty low methodist population compared to other states according to this site, so i think it stands to reason they didn't have access to a catholic or southern baptist church. although i'm not super educated on christianity so this could all be wrong. i also haven't finished IT so maybe king talks about this in the novel idk) (also in case y'all weren't aware theres beef between catholics and protestants, which is why it's kind of weird they converted, unless sonia's family was protestant and she convinced frank to convert, which seems unlikely to me)

anyways thats great and all, eddie's protestant like everyone else, but consider! he's actually non-practising his entire life. i think it makes a lot of sense. sonia watched frank die of illness, then she watched eddie nearly die of illness, if anything could shake someones faith in religion i would think that would be it. she's clearly unwilling to leave anything up to god, with how obsessive and controlling she is over eddie's health and safety. i think a sonia that either does not believe in or does not trust god makes a lot of sense.

i think they'd still attend church on sundays, as to not stand out, and if asked they would both say they're christians, but i think there is deep seeded doubt in the both of them, and i don't think they pray, or read the bible, or bless meals, or avoid meat on fridays, etc. etc.

i don't think of any of the losers as holding their faiths in particularly high regard, i think it's likely they were all raised religious to some degree considering the historical and geographical context, but weren't heavily religious. i think they were the kind of people who didn't follow their religions very strictly (i know this is not the case for the uris' in the films but it is in the novel). however, i think of eddie as someone who quite frequently questioned god outright, "if there is a god why did my father die?" "if there is a god why am i sick?" "if there is a god is he kind?" etc etc.

i don't really have a plotline or point to go along with this, i've just been thinking about it. this headcanon might make an appearance in a fic someday, idk.

#also i'm a little confused because the stephen king wiki says richie is catholic but it also says he's methodist but methodist is protestant #i will have to take notes when i get to that point in the book to figure that one out #eddie kaspbrak #sonia kaspbrak #it 2017 #it 2019 #it chapter 2 #it stephen king #it novel #red's research #red's ramblings #posts afflicted with a strange sickness

[scumscuttlers]

Random Trivia

Just some stuff that's been on my brain about what Inezra likes / has picked up since she started interacting with aliens.

Human Topics

Inezra has been exposed these things to one way or the other, either through conversations with humans, aliens somewhat familiar with them, or as a result of consuming and asking questions about human media. If she remembers anything at all, if only comes out if she can connect it to something relevant in the moment and/or can use that knowledge to make fun of someone.

Christianity, which spiraled into a search that ended up in a deep dive into Christian Fundamentalism and assorted topics. She doesn't care about that part, but she does like the murder and violence in the old testament. Jesus getting nailed to the cross is pretty cool. No clue why humans act so weird about it.

Santa Claus. Why does an old bearded guy go around giving wrigglers presents? Funny that bad kids get coal though.

Pigments. You mean they don't use blood? Like at all? They're out here using artificial sources entirely? Okay, kind of lame but whatever.

Human family structures and relationships. She doesn't really care about the complexities involved in human family trees, and has trouble differentiating between them. It doesn't matter much to her, considering most if not all of the humans she interacts with have dead lusii, families, or both. It does make watching human media suck sometimes. Who is who? Why are they acting like that? Are they related?

The confederate flag. This was briefly explained to her as something humans carry when they're stupid. Why would you fly a flag when you lost that badly?

Crime. For the most part it seems like humans are awfully worried about shit that doesn't matter, like murder, or dismemberment, or maiming to the point where they have insurance for this very thing. Seems weird.

Countries. The fact that there's so many different countries on Earth makes her mad. You guys couldn't figure your shit out and put one person in charge?

American States. Again with the multiple municipalities and boundaries. Why is America not just one big country, or a handful of territories ruled over by the same entity properly. Why do the states have such stupid names? What the fuck is an Arkansas?

Science Fiction. Humans' idea of the future in their past media reads as very silly to Inezra. Though she thinks franchises like Alien are interesting enough, when viewed from the standpoint that systems humans knew that were somewhat simple would be easier to repair (re: CRT monitors and whatnot). At least they had robots.

Human Expansionism. Humans dreamed big, didn't know shit, and then also didn't manage to go any further than their moon before they blew their whole planet up. They couldn't even conquer all the land on their own planet and use it effectively. Kind of funny, not gonna lie!

Human Phrases

Y'all, die badly (Dave's fault), you do you, other assorted pieces of slang and references that are actually difficult to keep track of. Maybe I'll update this section later.

Human Media

She isn't a fan of most human media! She doesn't think they effectively use their screen time at all. This is mostly a complaint about shows like Why Women Kill. They already spent 3 hours showing you reasons why. Go ahead and get to the part where the husbands get murdered, thank you.

She dislikes unrealistic violence in movies because it takes the fun out of it. Realistic fear and fighting are better. She especially likes when humans use tools in their environment to beat monsters. Go human. Sorry you're weak, but at least you can put your neurons to use.

She does like:

Pearl (2022)

Alien (1979)

Gone Girl (2014)

Jennifer's Body (2009)

Xena: Warrior Princess

Miscellaneous

Owns a cat. She hasn't given it a name.

She has spent a couple days in jail, but she hasn't been to prison.

Likes

Alternian Wrestling. She has an account on the official forums and regularly uses it to start flame wars and wish death on troll's favorite wrestlers.

Meat buns. She's a regular patron of a combination food truck / restaurant hub called GastroGrub where they're readily available.

Chocolate Ice Cream.

#OOC #[Meta Post] #[Character Info] #// It's a little crazy under the cut. #// Will probably do another one of these later or add onto it in the future.

[bythenineshards]

Is the Jenna Moreci hate train still going...? Curious about ur reasons

To be honest, I haven't really thought about her in a while. I've been trying to get away from the things that don't bring me joy. Pathetic, I know. I think the last time I really gave her any thought was a couple months ago when a coworker of mine who's a self published author and I were discussing our journeys as writers and the advice we'd gotten. The subject of Jenna came up when discussing booktube and author advice channels. Despite being drastically different genres, we both watched her videos and similarly, outgrew them.

My dislike for her boiled down to a couple things.

1. She's a hypocrite and probably doesn't realize it or at least, I hope she doesn't. She peddles advice but when you read her books, she hasn't followed any of it. One big one is the Insta-Love problem. Maybe she doesn't see it as such but it is.

2. She's a prude, and if you like something that she doesn't, you're wrong. I've made it no secret here that I love monsters. She doesn't and has said in her videos that monster romance is gross and no one should write it. I may remember this wrong, but I think she even said that if you like monster romance, you should get help. She also, and I'm not misremembering this, reduced Shape of Water down to the fish sex movie and called it gross. I won't give an entire TED talk about the movie, but it shows how little she actually knows about it or the care Del Toro put into it, and maybe she should keep her mouth shut. She has entire videos that are just tropes or dynamics she thinks should go away, and it's basically every single popular romance trope. Now, if she just said that they weren't her cup of tea, cool. But she doesn't. She gets really shamey about them. She's one of the examples of people in the fantasy romance community that fall into an unpopular opinion I've been brewing for some time.

3. She hates women who aren't her. Every woman in her books, besides the self insert FMC, is talked about like they're horrible. There's no nuance to her thoughts about them. It's clear that she views women as competition.

4. This one is just a small gripe... she calls herself a full-time writer. She isn't. She's a full-time YouTuber with two books to her name (three if you count the one she's trying to bury), one of which is just book one told from a different character's perspective.

5. The way she writes men is horrible. The way she writes men is like how men write women. She writes them the way my Christian parents talked about men when I was in high school. They lack nuance or complexity. They all talk and act like 80s movie Frat boys.

6. She comes off super arrogant. I lied about not thinking about her in a while. She was mentioned on a podcast I listened to on Friday. My bad. They mentioned that they've spoken to people who were former beta readers of hers. Those betas said she would just dismiss their thoughts and criticisms. Girl... you gotta keep learning if you're gonna get better.

7. When giving examples in her videos, she uses her own books. That just seems weird to me. Pick a book more people have read.

That's basically it... I just stopped watching her stuff. There's probably more I'm forgetting, but yeah... I wanna get back to bg3.

#answered asks #anon asks #ask goblin holly

[dapper-nahrwhale]

if youre planning to watch riverdale because you like the comics i suggest not because they are very very different.

Thanks for the suggestion but. Well, it is a little too late. You see I have actually seen some of it before. I watched a few seasons of it a few years after it initially came out, then immediately forgot everything about it, like this was way back in 2019 or 2020, long before I even got into the archie comics and other various shows and started this whole thing of watching and reading every single archie comics and adaptation I can possibly find.

(Oh boy this is going to be a long one huh.)

And one consistent thing I've found in my journey is that archie comics, adaptations, and spinoffs, is that it's a mixed bag of quality. And theres always so much going on in them all the time. You've got some good ones, some bad ones, some in between, and the really strange ones.

And boy howdy has there been some strange ones. The 19 issue 70s spire christian archie comics. There was a 2 part collaboration with Barack Obama and Sara Palin in 2010 for some reason. A sharknado crossover in 2015. A live action Archie's tv pilot in 1964 that never really went anywhere for good reason. Many more low budget early 90s live action films. The controversial end to the life with archie 2010 series, wherein we follow parallel universes where archie marries veronica and archie marries betty, and both have the exact same ending: archie gets shot and dies.

Its wild. WILD.

And riverdale as a show fits into that sort of nonsense... surprisingly well tbh. Yes, there things I dislike about the show diverging from the comics and it taking itself way to seriously, but I cannot deny the fact that riverdale does fit with just how bonkers the rest of the archie comics and shows get, no matter how much it differs from those comics and shows.

TDLR (I go into more depth as of why under the cut) riverdale is a fascinating archie adaptation and I need to watch it soon. adaptations that are different than the source material can still hold value. There has never been an entirely accurate archie adaptation because even the comics themselves are inconsistent with each other. But the one thing every single archie comics, show, movie, adaptation has in common is that they're always always just kind of dumb and ridiculous. Can't be an archie adaptation without that. And I'm on a quest to watch and read every adaptation so I kind of am going to watch riverdale regardless.

And I'm not entirely sure of my opinion on the comics is anything more than neutral at best really.

I havent read enough of the old ones to form an opinion on them yet. I cant say I really like all the comics, some sure but. Like the real early stuff, from the 40s and 50s, can be sort of hard to read. As always, the early Archie's do not stand up to the test of time it seems. And some really weird choices made in the 70s. The sabrina the teenage witch and the josie and the pussycats spinoff comics are pretty interesting tho.

I'd say the very cream of the crop (for me so far) is the post 2015 complete rehaul of the series as a whole, in a fresh light. Definitely worth reading the road to riverdale volumes, the archie volumes, and the jughead volumes (I'm biased what can I say), even though they have absolutely nothing to do with the show riverdale itself, or even the storylines in the earlier archie comics. Their it's own thing entirely.

And truthfully, I don't actually mind how different of an adaptation something is. I think a darker, more drama focused tone is a fine thing for an adaptation. In theory. Like afterlife with archie comics started in 2013 where zombies take over the town. Because in practice with the riverdale show, oh boy. The issues I have are real. Like, ok its objectively a kind of ridiculous show that I just can't take seriously. It sure is entertaining to watch it crash and burn though. But. Thing is, I just straight up don't even remember anything that happened in it, went in one ear out the other. So it's going to be a surprise for me either way once I get around to it.

Anyways, an adaptation being inaccurate from the source material but still good (howls moving castle, who framed roger rabbit) and being badly written but still enjoyment can be found in it (the black cauldron), and being a somewhat accurate adaptation but still unbearable (the live action avatar the last airbender and percy jackson movies) are all separate things. And riverdale falls into it's own separate category all together, where it is not an accurate adaptation by any means, where the enjoyment of it is entirely dependent on the individual, where it does genuinely bring up some interesting things and compelling plot points, but at the cost of character assasination, plot inconsistencies, and alot of really really awkward dialogue. And thing is, that's just how most shows are anyways. I don't think any archie show is fully good or fully bad, they're all a mixed bag.

Where as in the past there have been adaptations of archie that dont follow the plots or characterizations of the comics as much, but still keep more of the tone of the comics, Archie's weird mysteries 1999, and there have been some that follow the comics somewhat, but change up the tone to be something else entirely, the new Archie's show 1987, and it really just depends on the writers.

I genuinely dont know if theres ever been an entirely accurate archie adaptation, even with how all the comics and shows do have some sort of consistency, whether it be character traits, the places and people in town, plotlines. But theres also the fact that they had so many people making and writing archie comics and various spinoffs all at once, that there is going to be discrepancy between even the comics themselves. Theres no real one accurate archie. Theres how it started out, and how it has changed, evolved, and morphed over time and decades, into an amalgamation of 80 some years worth of recognizable characters and places and plotlines. And riverdale is just one of many bizarre choices in the long and strange history that is archie.

And it's like the last part of my journey, you know. I don't think I can stop even if I wanted to, I'm in too deep now. I gotta know it all. Everything. The good, the bad, the questionable.

(Quick sidebar but also. Theres this live action movie called the archies coming out on Netflix soon, and it looks really interesting, set in 1960s india. I don't know till I see it if it's good, but that alone sounds like an adaptation worth watching, even if it isnt so accurate to the source material, it certainly has the tone of the 1960s shows and comics down it seems.)

Oops! Didnt mean to make this response this long, riverdale is a fascinating mixed bag of just everything to me. I have a lot of thoughts about archie adaptations as always.

Anyways thank you for the ask anon! I'll take any excuse to talk about archie adaptations.

#b.text #archiethon #is anyone going to even read this entire thing? probably now. oh well i enjoyed writing it. #yeah... at first it was not very long but. i have so many thoughts abt this oki #b.asks #fiiiiiiiiiiiine ill main tag it whatever #riverdale #archie comics #this is 1k of nonsense. but <3

[concubuck]

((If Alastor promotes again, is he going to lose his familial connections again? And considering hells rules of sinners not having families, where does that leave radio baby? Even if it doesn't cut them off from each other, would radio baby feel alienated because he's the only succubus in his family?))

((Nope, it don't work like that.

Quick reminder that a "promotion" is just Alastor's shorthand for any transformation that gets him from one life situation to a new one that he likes better. It was a "promotion" when he turned from a human into a demon because that meant he was no longer subject to the rules of damnation and could go anywhere he wanted; and it will be a "promotion" when he turns from a succubus into some other kind of demon because it will mean that he's free from the succubus libido that's driving him crazy. It would be like if someone who's always wanted to be a homemaker says "Just married! I got promoted from wage slave to stay-at-home housewife." Like, that's not actually a """promotion,""" those aren't two jobs at the same place of employment, but similar to a promotion it means that the person has moved to a new life stage.

Same goes for Alastor's """promotions.""" Like, he isn't actually moving up some kind of career ladder. (Or species ladder.) The various """promotions""" he could get don't have ANYTHING at all in common with each other. They aren't part of some sort of formalized hierarchy an ex-sinner soul could climb up. There aren't ranks, milestones, or certain perks/downsides he gets at various "levels." (There aren't "levels".) """Promotions""" is ONLY a shorthand that means "any kind of big life change that makes me happier."

Therefore I'm going to stop using that word for the rest of this post because I'm worried it's confusing y'all. If it wasn't confusing y'all there'd be no reason for someone to think that he would lose his family connections again.

I've already talked at length about what apodiabolosis (the process of turning from a human into a demon) involves, but tl;dr: it means giving up your soul/humanity. (Consider "humanity" and "soul" to be two words for the same thing.) This is both because that's, like, just biologically necessary, obviously you have to stop being human in order to become a not-human thing, and since your humanity is your soul that means you've gotta stop having a soul; but also, the fact that it's so painful is a sort of final punishment for a damned sinner leaving damnation. Destroying your humanity means destroying everything that ever made you human, including all your connections to your humanity—and THAT'S why his family connections are gone. Because his human soul, which is what connected him to them, is gone.

Once he's a demon? That's over. That process can no longer happen again. Within Christianity, humans and their souls are theologically presented as something unique. Alastor doesn't receive some kind of replacement "succubus soul"—only humans have souls, full stop. Changing from one type of demon to another is still difficult, but it's just changing a demon to a demon. There is NOTHING even remotely similar to the process of a human giving up their humanity.

So if a succubus becomes, idk, a weird goat man, why would they lose all their family connections? To what purpose? They're still made out of the same stuff, they just look a little different. Alastor could become any kind of demon and it wouldn't break his blood connection with the baby. There's no reason it would.

To the next question: I don't see "sinners can't have families in Hell" as a rule; I see it as a fact. In the same way that "human beings can't fly" isn't a rule—like, there's no law against us flapping our arms and lifting up into the air—it's a fact—humans are just physically incapable of fluttering up into the air by flapping our arms, even though it's totally legal for us to try.

And for that to work, several other things have to be in play: it's a biological fact that damned sinners can't reproduce with other damned sinners, because, y'know, they're dead souls without bodies, it just will not physically happen, they're infertile. It's a biological fact that damned sinners CAN reproduce with succubi, because complicated succubi rules; BUT, the offspring isn't some sort of half-human/half-demon, because that's impossible, because what makes a human human is having a soul, and you can't have half a soul. The offspring, regardless of having been made with a bit of human DNA mixed in, is soulless, and therefore fully a demon. That means the baby is "not part of the human's family"—according to Heaven, as so decreed by God, because Heaven counts connections in a family tree by which souls are connected to each other.

Humans can't flap their arms and fly; but humans can build airplanes and sail into the sky and say "look we're flying," and nothing's stopping them. Damned sinners can't have a family by breeding biological children that Heaven divinely recognizes as their offspring; but damned sinners can cause succubi to produce soulless babies that share genetic traits with them, and say "look that's my family."

Factually, that baby doesn't meet Heaven's definition of a family member; but if it's the human's opinion that that's their own baby, well, who are you gonna listen to? Heaven, or the human raising the baby? That's up to you.

The radio baby is already "not part of any sinners' family" by virtue of being inhuman. And, the radio baby is already being treated by Cal as his son and being treated by a half dozen other Radio Demons as a nephew. According to Heaven's rules, they're incorrect. So? They still aren't even sure which Radio Demon is the baby's real biological father, but that hasn't stopped Cal from claiming the role, so why should any of the rest? It just means Cal's probably gonna have to sign a little extra paperwork to get declared an equal legal guardian just as he would in an adoption.

And to your final question: radio baby won't be a succubus. He'll be a cambion. That's not a kind of succubus, it's a separate thing entirely. So he's already gonna be a thing different from his parents; that'll be the case whether they're succubus, human, and cambion, or some-other-demon, human, and cambion. And just like any other cambion, he's gonna have an experience of the world that can't be fully shared by either one of his parents.

Having grown up that way himself, Alastor's already anticipating the kid feeling alienation. And that's why he's been reading that book called "What to Expect When You're Expecting a Cambion" and why he keeps having conversations with Cal like "okay but how are we going to raise him culturally?" "What about religion, how do we raise him religiously? What religion were you raised with? What's demon religion like?" "How do we handle things like Christmas? How do we celebrate his human side without rubbing a celebration of Hell's enemy in his face? How do other cambions handle Christmas?"

The kid's gonna be balancing between two worlds and one of Alastor's biggest concerns is figuring out how to get the kid an equal balance of human & demon influence. He's gonna prioritize learning from other cambions—not "other parents of cambions," other cambions—how they navigate being of two worlds.

#anonymous #radio baby #ask #ooc

[colorisbyshe]

the "attack on platonic marriage" idea feels incidental to the law like to me it reads as basically an attempt to make martial r-pe harder to punish? like thinking practically about what it would look like if the law were enacted, maybe there would be some people witch hunting for sexless marriages but if both members of a married couple are content not having sex, the idea of that lack of sex becoming known to people outside of the marriage seems pretty unlikely. the only time it would really come up in a legal setting would be if both members of the relationship are not on the same page about sex. like if one of them doesn't want it, and the other does. and I mean conservatives don't care about any collateral damage so if ace people do wind up targeted they're perfectly fine with that too but it really, really comes off as primarily wanting to make marital r-pe harder to do anything about

I don't think the intended effect is to make it harder to prosecute marital rape, though I think it wouldn't be minded.

The point is what every weird marriage campaign is--to reaffirm that marriage is for reproducing white babies. If marriage is about sex and having kids, that makes gay marriage or marriage with a trans partner "selfish" and "not what marriage is for." It is an attack on women who want to focus on careers or just... enjoying llife instead of popping out children.

People framing this latest news as an attack on aces are missing WHY the news is happening. The fundamentalist groups are SPECIFICALLY speaking out against hte "Respect for Marriage Act."

What is the respect for marriage act? Oh, it's the proposed (and therefore NOT yet passed bill) protecting gay marriage... and interracial marriage.

It is "pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals."

The reason why this topic came up NOW is because RFMA as revised to SPECIFICALLY include protects for interracial marriage after roe v wade was knocked down and the privacy laws that protected "sodomy" (gay and trans fucking and sucking) and your right to marry any consenting person you love were put into question. The letter decrying platonic marriage came out in July in DIRECT response to this revision.

It isn't about sex. It is about "protecting the white race" and "protecting the sanctity of marriage" from gay people. It is implying that people of color and LGBT people aren't marriageable or aren't marrying for "unselfish" reasons.

The sex stuff is just the framework they are using to justify these attacks. This is just saying "I want a 'traditional' family between one white woman and one white man where they shit out christianity-indocrinated babies." It's about the nuclear family.

Anyone making this about ace people REALLY needs to read what the right is saying about RFMA.

Like actually READ the statements being made.

#rape cw #no more asks #anon sent anothr asks apologizing for this one #so they get a pass #everyone else die if you wannt send an ask

[mormonbooks]

Ariana: The Making of a Queen

The first book in the Ariana Trilogy by Rachel Ann Nunes

Mormon Representation Level - 2.7 Stars

Summary - This is the story of a young woman named Ariana (Ari) who lives in Paris in the 1990s. At the start of the story, she has lost her brother, been pushed away from her parents, and fallen in with a party crowd. She gets married and has a child, but her marriage is full of ups and downs, and eventually ends after a tragedy. Then, she meets the LDS missionaries, learns about families being sealed, and starts to find new purpose in life - her faith holds her up as she makes friends, gets a degree, and works to reconcile old wounds. She also discovers new love, and hopes for an Eternal family one day.

Spoilers under the cut

1. Well written - 3 stars The prose and dialog feel like they would fit a more old fashioned story. It wasn't until I finished the first chapter and saw a mention of a TV that I realized it was in the 1990s, not the 1890s. Eventually I got used to it, but it never really felt as modern as it was supposed to be.

I'm not normally one to get hung up on plot pacing and structure, but it was all over the place in this book. I felt like Ari's life moved far too quickly from one moment to the next, and like I never really got to know any of the characters. What we do see of them is pretty flat. When we do see a character arc, they're all pretty much the same (sinner -> member of the church)

2. Fun level - 3 stars I enjoyed parts of it. I will admit that I was touched/felt the spirit at moments in the story and I was fully invested during some of the turmoil that characters went through. If you want to read a kinda cheesy story about a girl joining the church, discovering the power of forgiveness, and turning her life around, I wouldn't turn you away from this book.

3. Complex faith - 1.5 stars It's DEFINITELY a propaganda book. You can tell the author was trying to include lots of trials and doubts and questions, but they all show up in the same way they would in a conference talk. They get resolved quickly and rather miraculously, through sharing the gospel and turning to God. It doesn't make space for nuance, or living in doubt, or choosing a different path. The narrative is definitely saying "join the church and be faithful and your life will always be better."

The most poignant moments are when Ariana works to forgive people who have deeply hurt her. I will say the "spiritual" highlight of this novel is it's focus on the power of the atonement to forgive yourself and people who you thought you'd never forgive. It doesn't say you have to let people back into your life (Ari goes to see her ex in prison to tell him that she forgave him and tell him about the church, but doesn't really stay in touch with him after that or anything) but it emphasizes the power and healing that forgiveness can bring people on all sides. Even this feels a little over simplified, but you can tell the author is trying to show the complexity of it.

4. Homophobia scale - 2.5 Stars It never mentions queer people at all, but the amatonormativity is real. Basically every single character gets straight married eventually. Hard to headcanon anyone as queer.

5. Mormon weird - 3.5 stars It was very much realistic fiction throughout, and although a lot of the religious stuff could reasonably be swapped to other Christian faiths, there was some stuff that was uniquely Mormon. It was fun for me to read about missionaries, and callings, and giving talks in church, and the Book of Mormon, and a ton of other stuff that is just normal life for Mormons that I never see in fiction.

The most unique moment occurred at the end of the book, when Ari and her new husband are sitting in the Celestial room, and they look over and see Antoine and Nette (who are both dead) sitting in the room with them. People in the LDS church talk about seeing dead loved ones/ancestors in the temple often, but it's definitely not something I've ever read in a novel before.

6. Diversity of characters - 3.5 Stars They live in France, and I do not so idk if that will affect my judgement. There are a lot of blonde characters. I think that Monique might not be white, given the description of her and her child's hair? But I don't know. As mentioned before, no queer people either. However, the main character is a woman and most of the characters who help her, support her, and drive the plot forward, are also women.

7. Other problematic stuff - 2 Stars It really feels to me like the author doesn't know anything about drugs, or what people who do drugs are like. Everything before Ari joins the church feels like a cardboard caricature of a stereotype (I put this redundancy on purpose). That being said, I also don't know that much about drugs, so I can't properly judge, but it all just feels really hollow.

It also feels like the author doesn't understand the reasons why people might have issues with the church, or the reality that not everyone you recommend to the missionaries will join. There are just far too many coincidences for me. Far too many people who listen to one heartfelt speech from Ari and willingly accept the Book of Mormon, and 2 pages later they're getting baptized. That's not what happens, and I don't think it's what should happen.

Conclusion: It's not a BAD book. But I wouldn't really call it a good book either. If you're looking for a comfy churchy book that will make you feel good about being a member, this is for you. If you want a book that feels relevant and real, or a book that non-members could read to get a good idea of who we are -- that's not this book.

#Ray reads #ariana #mormon representaion #ariana the making of a queen #rachel ann nunes #review #book #mormon book