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romanarose · 7 months

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Shava Tova

Moon Boys x non-jewish!reader

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Summary: You go to Rosh Hashanah services in Chicago with your boys, and are happy to learn more about this part of themselves.

Warnings: Illusions to Marc's childhood, Judaism references I try to explain. Reader isn't Jewish and I'm aware my readers are from different religious backgrounds but I think in a majority (from what I know?) it's okay to attend services and participate in things like the tashlich. I try to keep it vague though, but only you really know what you are comfortable with so use discression!

A/N: I am not Jewish, I am a hopeful convert! This year was my first Rosh Hashanah and I was very moved by it all. I'm lucky enough to have gotten to know a friend there and her and her family are very welcoming and have been wonderful explaining this holiday and others and preparing me for Yom Kippur. That being said, I attend a reform temple. I do not know what denomination Marc is, but my evidence seems to point to conservative. Also, I know traditions are different country to country and group to group (Ashkenazi, Sephardi etc) all have different practices. I tried to stick to what I found the most universal in my studying but I am always ready and willing to be corrected. If there is something incorrect, please let me know!

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You always thought he looked so handsome like this, with his prayer shawl and kippah on… it didn’t hurt that he was dressed up for the holiday in a black suit. His Kippah and tallit were white, the traditional color for Rash Hashanah, and your dress matched him.

You’d gone to a few holidays with him, and tried to come to shabbat whenever you could, but today was special. Rosh Hashanah was an important holiday and the first time you were going with Steven, and the first time you were going to a service of any kind where his father was the rabbi.

You had met Steven last year in January and were thrilled when Elias invited you both to come to Chicago for the High Holy days, Rosh Hashanah, which was the start of the new year in the Hebrew Calendar, and Yom Kippur was next week and a day of atonement. Rosh Hashanah was a favorite of Steven’s so he would be fronting during services, although Marc would come to the front when people came to talk to him; people he had known in childhood. It was going to be a little difficult for Marc, but he’s said he’s made a lot of progress in recent years regarding his family, and you were so proud of him.

Marc would be fronting for Yom Kippur, a holiday based around atonement for sins. Steven was the one who usually fronted during shabbat, he was the most insistent on staying observant, but Marc and Jake had their days too. Jake liked Purim, and Passover and Hanukkah had multiple days making it easy for them all to get time, Elias knew of all the boys, and although Jake was more guarded for Marc’s sake, Steven was thrilled to help Marc rebuild his relationship as he and Elias got to know each other.

You’d met Elias earlier this week, but were determined to make a good impression at services, following along as best you could and participating where was appropriate as a non-Jew; you were just so thankful they boys were sharing this part with you, and between meeting their dad, Marc showing you around his hometown and celebrating the High Holy Days with them, you felt like a part of their family.

Still, you were nervous. “Do I look okay?” You ask Steven as he adjusted his tie in the mirror.

When he turned to you, his face lit up so bright you couldn’t help but smile with him. “Oh, love!” Steven walked over to where you stood. “You look absolutely ravishing.” He wrapped you up in your arms and kissed your hair so he didn’t mess up your makeup, but his lips trailed down to your neck.

“Steven!” You giggle. “I’m not trying to look sexy, I want to make a good impression! Is this dress not appropriate?”

Marc fronted. “It’s beautiful, baby, so are you. Although you’re gonna wanna wear sandals.”

You tried your best to follow along. You didn’t know a lick of Hebrew except a handful of words you’d picked up during shabbat and from what Steven explained to you, but you were trying.

The music was beautiful and kept you engaged, and it was fun to see everyone tapping their feet, even if you weren’t sure when you were supposed to; you followed Steven’s lead for that. Elias has greeted you warmly when he saw you and Steven, and although you didn’t get the chance to talk much (as a rabbi, he had many people to welcome), Steven promised there would be time at home.

During one part, Elias welcomed everyone to wrap their tallit around their neighbor, and when Steven wrapped you up in his tallit you really did feel like a part of his family, a part of him. You and him stayed wrapped up like that even after that prayer was done.

“Steven?”

“Yes, love?”

“Thank you for sharing this with me. It’s beautiful.”

After the service, the congregation walked a few blocks down to Lake Michigan for the Tashlich, getting into the sand beach. This is why Marc suggested sandals.

Steven handed you bread. “We’ll say a prayer, and then you think of your sins during the year and tear off a piece of the bread into the water for each sin.”

Jake fronted. “Although considering last night, we might need more than one slice.”

“Jake!” You whispered, gently smacking his arm before taking off your sandles, as Steven took off his socks and shoes. Most didn’t get in the water, but you wanted to wade, to feel the cool lake water on your toes. “We need to come back next summer so we can swim.”

Steven kissed you. “I’d love that. I love everything we do together.”

You then turn to focus on the task at hand, casting the sinful bread into the water to be washed away. You swore Marc had fronted during this cleansing, only confirmed to you by the way he reach out for you when you stumbled leaving the water.

Back at the synagogue, there was bread, honey and apples, Steven explaining it was meant to ring in a ‘sweet’ new year. It was delicious, and clearly the people put a lot of care into planning it.

“This apple bread is BUSSIN” You practically moan as you devour it.

Elias’s voice behind you. “Thank you, I made that one, actually”

You gasp, turning around and covering your mouth in embarrassment. “Oh my go- uh, gosh. Shoot, sorry.”

Jake is laughing at your fumbling, but Elias powers through like nothing happened. “It’s alright, did you enjoy the service?”

“Yes! I really loved the… uuhh… Marc, baby, what was that part I liked?”

Marc’s hand was firmly clasped with yours; his stability when he was anxious. “The shofar”

“Yeah, the shofar!”

Elias nodded. “Marc ever tell you he was the ba’al tokeah one year?”

Marc leaned in to clarify that was what the person who blew the shofar was called.

You lit up at that, Marc didn’t play instruments so this was new information. “No he didn’t!”

“And he played Hamen in his Hebrew school play for Purim, have you ever been to Purim?”

Shaking you head, you squeeze Marc’s hand three times in reassurance, and he squeezes it three times right back. You knew any mention of his childhood was contentious, but he had mentioned no wanting to tiptoe around it anymore. “I didn’t go last year, we had just begun dating back then.”

“You’ll have to go some time, it’s definitely a fun one.”

“You gonna take me next year?” You smile at your boyfriend.

He smiled right back. “I think that can be arranged.”

Elias excused himself, needing to see a few more people before the family service that afternoon, promising you had his attention that evening.

Steven stayed firmly by your side. “Are you having a good time? It’s not too much?”

You lean into him, happily munching on some honey covered apples. “I’m having a wonderful time.” Looking at him again, you place a hand softly on his cheek and smile when he keens into you. “I wanna know all the things that make you, you, and this is something obviously important. Thank you for inviting me.”

Steven bought you in for a soft, modest kiss, his lips tasting like honey and you were sure yours were the same. “Thank you for coming with me, and thank you for taking us as we are. All the good and bad.”

"Shana tova, Steven."

"Shana tova."

***************

SHANA TOVA TO MY JEWISH READERS! I know I'm late but after services I took like a 2 hour nap lolololol.

Also, I have another Rosh Hashanah fic! this was posted last year... can you believe ive been writing over a year?!?!?!

Love ya'll. Gotta admit I'm a little nervous bc posting Jewish content always makes the wierdos come out in my asks lol.

@fandxmslxt69 @k-ra @ivystoryweaver @whatthefishh @campingwiththecharmings @littlenosoul @missdictatorme @steven-grants-world @ahookedheroespureheart @runa-falls @mikaelak @stevenandmarcslove @pikapuff-316 @@myfandomlikesandstories

#steven grant x reader #marc spector x reader #jake lockley x reader #moon knight x reader #moon boys x reader #moon knight fanfic #moon knight #moon boys #fanfiction #jake lockley #moon knight fluff #moon knight fanfiction #steven grant #marc spector #jewish marc spector

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invisibleraven · 5 months

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Haunted Holidays

December 7: Miracle <-AO3 link!

Happy first night of Channukah to all who celebrate!

Julie grabbed a box from the attic, handing it down to Reggie. “I think that’s the last of it.”

“Thank goodness, how much more Christmas does one need?” Reggie teased, waving at the multitude of boxes surrounding him.

“Wait,” Julie said, pulling a box towards her that was labeled Reggie’s Holiday Stuff.

“You have a box too!”

“Oh, um, we don’t need to take that one down,” Reggie said, oddly shy.

“Well now I definitely am,” Julie said, taking it down with her and shutting the attic ladder behind her. She laid the box down and opened it, stopping at what was inside. “It’s a candelabra?”

“It’s a menorah,” Reggie replied. “For Channukah.”

For all their time together, Julie and Reggie tended to leave religion alone. He respected her Catholic faith and she respected the fact that he didn’t seem to have any. At least that’s what she thought.

“You wanna tell me about it?” Julie asked. “Or why you never said anything?”

Reggie sighed, maneuvering them around the boxes until they were sat side by side on the couch. “My mom is Jewish, and my dad is half, so that’s how I was raised,” he explained. “Odd thing in Georgia, but MeeMaw and Pops brought me to Temple every week, made sure I kept kosher and all that. My parents cared a little less, but they always have.”

“So why did you stop going?” Julie asked.

“When we moved here, we found a place to go at first, but with my folks working and arguing more and more, it was soon a Channukah and Passover kind of thing. Then not at all. I tried going by myself, but…” At this Reggie slumped. “I liked having my weekends free, and bacon. I really liked bacon.”

“I know,” Julie snorted.

“Anyways, MeeMaw tried to get me to do the Bar Mitzvah, but by then my faith was more skewed than anything. So I didn’t bother, which I think kind of broke her heart.” Reggie looked at Julie then, playing with the ring on her finger, the one he had put there the night they first moved into their house. “She made me promise to get married under a canopy though.”

“We can do that,” Julie promised him. “So tell me about Channukah. All I really know comes from cartoons.”

So Reggie explained the miracle of lights, the reasoning behind all the oil, fond memories of his childhood enjoying latkes and games of dreidel. How even after all this time, he could recall Pops’ voice saying the prayers as they lit each candle. He had forgotten a lot of Hebrew, but those would always stick with him.

“Do you want to celebrate it again this year?” Julie asked. “I wouldn’t mind-we do Christmas every year for me.”

“I don’t know if that would be allowed,” Reggie admitted. “I don’t consider myself as Jewish very much anymore. I’m okay with that really.”

“I’m not saying you get Bar Mitzvahed or start going back to Temple if you don’t want to,” Julie reasoned. “But if you want to do the odd high holy day, we can. And if we ever have kids, well shouldn’t they learn a little about their heritage?”

“We’re having kids now?” Reggie teased.

“One day,” Julie replied with a shrug.

Reggie paused at that. Picturing a little girl with Julie’s curls and his eyes lighting the menorah and stuffing their face with gelt. Sitting with MeeMaw as she prepared latkes and matzo ball soup. Saying the prayers over a loaf of challah in a tiny voice.

He wanted that so bad he ached.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” Reggie checked his phone. “We have a few days before the first night-plenty of time to prepare.”

“Means we have time to decorate first,” Julie said, placing the menorah on the side table, the place that usually housed her ceramic village. She supposed she’d find somewhere else for it to go from here on out.

She was okay with that-especially when Reggie kissed her temple in thanks. And wondered how hard it would be to make latkes.

#jatpadvent2023 #rulie #julie and the phantoms

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insidejizz · 1 year

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reagan ridley headcanons!

heyyyy its me again im here to write about the girl of all time reagan - this is SO self indulgent and also a lot longer than i thought it would end up being so im putting it under the cut for ease of everything ! no nsfw here though a small amount of body talk !

once again a reminder that REQUESTS ARE OPEN FOR BOTH ART AND WRITING !

// i think that reagan had a really hard time coming to terms with the idea that she is/could be autistic and still. struggles to accept it at times

she definitely took the raads-r test at one point and got a crazy high number like 189

(for those that dont know the raads-r goes from like 0-224, and anything over 60 constitutes reasonable autism)

and after she got such a high score on that she had a classic #reaganmoment and stayed up all night taking as many other tests as she could find to "collect more data"

i mean its. hard enough to realize youre autistic much less 1) so late in life and 2) when everyone is constantly making it a joke . like i really do think shed be adverse to the idea for so long because it was always used as a "haha reagans weird" punchline and so

(she doesn't want to prove to rand and tamiko that they were right about something being off about her)

obviously everyone around her is. very aware of her autism and has been finding ways to deal with it for years but she doesn't know what to do about it at all after her night of testing

because yeah the test results SAY that its very very likely shes autistic but maybe she answered the questions wrong or something

ab has to listen to her pace back and forth for hours about this and he is no help mostly because hes realizing he has autism everytime she states a symptom

obviously her special interest is science and robotics, that's pretty goddamn obvious . you could even argue her job is a special interest with how much time she spends nonstop thinking about it

the amount shed have to unmask is INSANNEEEEEE im just saying . shed have to unlearn 30 years of petty comments making her cover up all her autistic traits

i dont think shes someone who would openly stim, or at least in 'classic' ways

her stimming usually is like ;

pacing

chewing on pens + pencils

tapping pens + pencils

pressing keys on her keyboard over and over

wiggling her fingers

// also reagans basically schroedingers jew

i say this because shes not "technically" jewish as in her family is not jewish but i believe that jr made her very active in his jewishness and so she was essentially raised jewish by her godfather

like. jr would have definitely thrown her an INSNAE bat mitzvah and you can't change my mind. he wouldve insisted on it

especially because i feel like reagan wouldnt like her birthday, both bc of the memories weve Seen of them and what we know about her family i just think she/ prefers to not think about them

but she was turning 13 and jr was like no you are going to be the biggest princess for a whole day everythings going to be about you

because he definitely went ALL OUT

i dont know what passage she would choose to read bc im not super well versed in torah but

the party ???? mans spared no expense but it was also very . reagan

like idk i feel like hed pull off some crazy robot-themed bat mitzvah or whatever she wanted at age 13

like she would have just graduated MIT at that point!!!!!! i think she deserves a baller party

anyway i dont think that a lot of people. came to the party (that werent cognito employees) but that didnt really matter

because jr spent the entire night there with reagan just giving her the best night he could (JR DAD MOMENTS JR DAD MOMENTS)

like i bet they did a goofy ass 'father'-daughter dance and he was like woah youre getting so tall now youre almost as big as me and shes like well im officially a woman now! and he just starts crying GHEOIGJSEOIES

also more casual jewishness than just that like .

she thinks fondly on being able to ask the questions at the passover seder (though as a kid she thought they were stupid bc why ask the same questions every year we already know the answer)

and there was one point where they were observing shabbat but they werent at home so they had to like . go and buy a loaf of bread and they used jrs handkerchief as the challah cover and stuff and she used some stuff to make little robot candles because they didnt have real ones and it wasnt a kosher shabbat but it was certainly one that was from the heart and HGHhgehesughshges

having jr pick her up so she could kiss the mezuzah when they went inside his place

hgheshgiehjsg listen i could go for hours.

so like yes she is jewish. she celebrates hanukkah every year and has a collection of menorahs that jr has gotten her (and shes gotten herself) over the years

but she also wouldnt say shes jewish bc shed feel weird about it

i think shes definitely considered converting but never gotten around to it simply on terms of No Fucking Time

at least a year of study ? taking time off for the holidays ? hahahahahahaha whos schedule would that even fit into lol

so like if someone were to ask if she was jewish she would say " i was raised jewish by my godfather" and if anyone decides to question more then it gets Complicated lmao

// CHUBBY REAGAN CHUBBY REAGAN CHUBBY REA

listen. i refuse to believe she would be self conscious about being 140 pounds theres no reason for her to think thats fat and so i think that brett was guessing (bc he can lift massively and so weight means nothing to him) and she panicked and was like "MY STATIONARY BIKE IS BROKEN." bc chubby

also she has a desk job, basically exclusively eats junk food and drinks, lounges around every chance she gets

i truly believe that reagan is pudgy. i think that she hides it under that lab coat and she should STOP hiding it <3<3<3

reagan with stretch marks? reagan with stretch marks

also she deserves bigger tits and she has them bc shes chubby<3

she would also have a bit of a tummy and bigger thighs but i dont think shes particularly well endowed in the ass department

like its not bad! but she doesnt have a Great ass

like a lot of things about herself she isnt exactly happy with it but shes so squishy and perfect to grab and shit so<3

// another tangent but reagan is. very picky about the type of music allowed around the office

like she has approved playlists for all of the group whenever they r allowed the aux

myc is usually not allowed the aux bc he has INSANE music taste. ykno the sounds mushrooms make when you hook them up to electricity or whatever? its essentially 4 hours of that with cupcakkke mixed in

most of the time its background noise for her, so she doesnt like music being too loud

shes essentially like a dad with the ac the way she is abt the music volume lol like WHO TURNED IT UP WE KEEP THE VOLUME AT 72.

she doesnt listen to music in her lab really, and when she does its either the most depressing shit youve ever heard or like. music she remembers from her childhood like nsync and britney spears and shit

this means shes also not allowed the aux . too much midwest emo bums everyone else out

when it comes to CHRISTMAS MUSIC? she is like 10x as bad

she has a playlist of "reagan approved christmas music" that she made herself that is exclusively the least annoying christmas songs

except she also can only stand that playlist for like 20 minutes

overall she just fuckin hates christmas music. its all love and sunshine and family and friendship and shes essentially scrooge

its pretty hard to find a christmas song that she can stand but there are a few! white winter hymnal and carol of the bells are her favorites if she had to choose a christmas song.

honestly i would apologize for how self indulgent this is but I dont want to because I'm proud of it <3 love her so much and PLEASE drop requests if you have any !!!!!!!!!!

#REDACTED #reagan ridley #inside job #inside job netflix #inside job headcanon #oh i love her soooo much shes both a girl and so far from a girl its so cute of her <3 #looking at reagan like that egg will sure crack one day !#also i could write so much exclusively about how ab and reagan would interact #both platonically and (looks at reagans goofy ass)..........romantically #sorry were rambling in the tags again but don't worry about us down here lolz

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noxspost · 7 months

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fuck this or Alternate title FUCK THIS SHIT

when they went to the portal that was caused by the teleportation stone they were in Los Angeles and they were driving among the busy streets which was kind of weird to see and she was preparing to deal with a 38 hour drive with a bunch of chaotic morons she did send a quick prayer to her mother hoping that she could defend them and protect them and watch over them when they were driving.

As they drive out of the cities and towns in small settlements they did Passover reservation as well but most of the time they did hit patches of forest plains and rocky terrain it all went by and in the songs That was playing was called and made by the band maneskin.

well it had been five hours since they were driving on the road and it was pretty peaceful they were talking about many things and they had actually came close a couple times to having to fight monsters thankfully a good amount of salt in the eyes plus a gunshot kind of deterred them and did cause the siren to back off as it got shot in the wing by a bullet.

Reyna was listening to Ares talking about things and then she turned to Zagreus asked "so why do you have the boon symbols on you other arm as tattoos?"

he looks at her and sighed "well when i was younger my mother disappeared to mourn and since she was blind with grief powered wrath she left leaving dad basically work on two domains without rest she made him a burned out depressed father which really didn't help when I was around a teenage age like 13 that's what I really wanted to explore and considering we our house is like right in between the three levels of Tartarus and our basement is below the house he didn't want me getting hurt but he didn't translate that well but anyway I went on a mission to find her and that she was an Olympus but after attempt after attempt I actually did find her with the help of the other gods gave me their boons they did help me."

he sounded sad and serious with living so close to his grandfather kronos.

she spoke loud "I'm sorry about that." he shrugged "it's fine." he turns on the AC a little higher as Percy was laughing and Renya listened into the convo of Ares and Percy "Yeah Hypnos is actually seen as more of a parental figure for his other siblings because her his mother was very busy and neglectful towards him and she favored Thanatos a lot maybe indirectly but he was more of a parental figure to his younger siblings it's actually like the 3rd oldest next to Charon and Thanatos. anyway back to the discussion Percy what made this so funny is that in the Trojan War, he wanted to stop it.

so when Hera literally contacted him and said hey I need your assistance in order to stop my corrupt husband and we need to like stop this war so yeah he put him to sleep and then Zeus got mad and then attacked him and then that's why one of his four wings is just nothing but a bone sticking out of his back now and half of it's gone Hera," he spoke as if he was telling a story.

Renay was sad as Ares kept telling the story "was really regretful I think Hypnos was the only person to get Hera to actually laugh..." Percy looked at him thought for a moment said "are you jealous?" this makes Ares bust out into a quick bitter laugh "no I'm not Percy I made peace with the fact that my mother will never love me nor will my father I made peace with it and I know him the black sheep and I know Hypnos the black sheep pretty much everyone in the polycule is some form of black sheep."

Renya leans back as her mind was racing worrying for her best friend Jason. he was in danger and he wouldn't back down Even though it saved his life he would always fight to the end or until one of his friends pulled him off and held him back she left Frank and Hazel to handle the camp Rome camp Jupiter and New Rome while she was gone this was stressful for one they were going 38 hours across the states.

there could be monsters waiting for the time to hunt them down.

then by some string of bad luck she had touched them had cursed them all they heard a growl and a hiss then hoof Zagreus immediately stopped the cart which caused her to lurch forward of it same with Percy and Ares who looked around and said what the heck Zagreus they'll look out the windows for Renya she looked out the window for Zagreus inside of the car and they saw it a monster.

it was a The sound of eight horses making growling sounds they all froze and turned to the left side where Zagreus was sitting and there were them 8 man eating mares they looked more terrifying their teeth no sharper than once they were depicted instead of making normal horse sounds like growled snarled and hissed like snakes and cats and dogs they were all black coated some of a dark red but their eyes always stay the same orange field hatred ones.

all eight of them stared at the Jeep with hatred in their eyes the leader as they presumed stomped its foot on the ground defiantly and then the Prince of the underworld spoke "Ares had me the two barreled shotgun in the back and if you can't reach that one get the Tommy gun I'm gonna need it." then Reyna asked "it shouldn't you be driving away from them?"

then Percy face facepalm and then Ares spoke "they are literally the 8 mares who eat humans, Reyna I don't think we're going to need to drive those things are faster than you think gods."

then he reach in the back for the Two barrel shotgun and handed it to the Prince of the underworld who quickly grabbed the specialized celestial ammo that was designed to kill monsters and other creatures he popped two bullets in there and aimed but before he did he spoke "Renya when I give you the signal I need you to start driving the car I'm going to hit the gas pedal but I need to drive ok why can't I handle the shotgun?"

she asked and he Responded with more urgency "because they're going to come at us on my side of the car and not yours so step on my so I'm going to when I shoot the gun and startle them I need you to make sure you drive the steering wheel while I put on the gas pedal Percy can you make sure we're in the right gear." Percy nodded sure have you done this before Zagreus?"

then he Responded "yes I have actually usually most of the time it ends up with Poseidon and Neptune duct taped on top of the jeep and Athena clutching her seat for their life but besides that we're fine."

"how many times did you crash this car?" spoke Renya with worry "too many times to count now are you going to listen or not we're not trying to die to these horses." they all continued to whisper and speak in very low tones as Zagreus looked back to the horses that were still on that hill they were on a very deserted street they were taking they were in the country area so not a lot of cars passed this way but if they did it wasn't that bad.

Then he cocked the gun and aimed it straight for the leader's chest and he said "May Hestia guide this bullet." and then he pulled the trigger and the loud too barreled shotgun firing the bullets rang out as if it was lightning on a crisp quiet surface loud and it hit the leader horse straight in the chest and it started to bleed red blood fell onto the ground as it screamed in pain.

the other horse is soon charged towards the Jeep and Zagreus yelled now as he quickly hands the two-barrel shotgun back to Ares as he steps on the gas Renya moves over to leans over in order to grab the steering wheel and drive the car.

as this was entirely happening this album a year without a summer 1816 And the song murder-murder was playing in the background as they were fighting these eight mares

Percy uncapped the pen in order to make his sword appear as Zagreus grabbed his smaller handgun and soon fired it at the horses now charging at them who were fast and strong thanks to the care of their former king before Hercules had killed him and fed him to his horses.

then Ares grabbed the throwing daggers that Reyna had and threw them at the horses which lodged in there before he before she summoned them back into the Jeep making more and more bleed wounds happen.

so as they were now driving correction Reyna was steering the car while Zagreus had his foot on the gas and in his hand was one of his guns that Hestia gave him it was his handgun black and powerful it also had infinite ammo and the ammo in question was designed to kill monsters and gods of he so wished as that was happening Ares put himself on top of the car holding on to the roof for dear life and as he did Renya handed him one of her recalled daggers and he threw that at them then Zagreus yelled "Ares I'm going to give you my spear."

As he swerved trying to keep themselves on the road as the horses threatened to ram into them and thanks to Percy who also stabbed some of the mares square in the sides as they came close to ramming into the jeep.

even with the jeep armored with spikes and armor plates it still could be able to be crashed easily and they didn't want to die on the side of the road trying to desperately save their three friends trapped in the Aztec underworld so then Aries had Zachary's spear and he threw it at one of the horses square in the neck before he pulled it back and it had the aspect of Hades on it.

Percy was laughing and Ares was smiling manically as they defeated the eight mares, and the horses were getting slower as they were bleeding but Ares was doing a recall for one of the daggers Percy gotten away and one of the jaws of the horses clamped down on his hand the same area where the palm meets the thumb he screamed "FUCK THIS SHIT!" with his other arm he summoned water from the Small Creek that they passed and soon he wrapped the horses entire face in water suffocating it.

it lost its grip on him there were was serrated teeth marks on his hand where it had bitten him it was bleeding and it had broken skin this made everyone internally cuss as Zagreus stepped on the gas and they just outrun the rest of the horses they didn't stop driving and Zagreus didn't stop shooting the horses as they escaped which did slow down the horses but Reyna was still trying to drive by using the steering wheel as she was gleaning across the armrest in between both seats.

there was one horse that continued follow him and then Ares literally said alright i need your revolver here." Zagreus immediately reached onto his sheath which held that revolver handed it to Percy who ended it to Ares who was still on the top of the car and he fired it at the horse square in the noggin and brain matter with everywhere as it fell and tumbled down the road.

And then Zagreus continued to put us on a gas but thankfully he had control over the wheel again and Rena just sat back in her chair trying to catch her breath Percy was resting up against his seat trying to also catch his breath as he capped his sword back into append and Ares jumped back inside the car.

so all of them were tired out high on adrenaline as now they were going on a steady pace on the road they had just murdered three blood and fresh hungered horses who were trying to kill them and crash the car.

Percy was getting Minotaur flashbacks from when he first got into a camp of camp half blood. Reyna was canting from exerting so much energy so he reached for one of the water bottles that they had packed and had gotten from one of the other towns most of the time they were just driving around open fields and some abandoned buildings and farmhouses and cattle "that was a terrifying experience." she spoke.

this gets Aries to laugh breathless "oh my goddess of Nyx I've never been hunted down like that well i have... my mother got mad at me once for helping my siblings escape her wrath so she said this giant monster with so many eyes and so many heads and so many limbs to come kill me had to run for my life."

then he got a look from Percy and then he spoke "what..." he gets a smile "well Hera is a bitch."

Annabeth and Athena We're running through the countless scrolls of reports I have gotten from all different pantheons both their underworlds and their surface world deities.

Athena was swarmed as they were desperately trying to contact the Aztec underworld deities which was already a fruitless endeavor since there was a lockdown considering this unidentified creature that definitely had a human like appearance had stormed and caused the fortress and the underworld security to shut down to the point that they could not contact because they would have to go through the seven challenges just to get to the fortress to ask their questions and Athena didn't want her daughter Annabeth to go through another quest.

they then saw Zeus and then Jupiter walk in, and he looked so scared "well my son Jason is gone." spoke Jupiter and Zeus was still at the door Talking to his daughter who feels Jason's half-sister and he was desperately trying to restrain her from attacking Jupiter and Athena.

"i am sorry father but the report we got from the house the lost sons said that the lockdown could be temporary, but we don't know how long that temporary is going to be, so we don't know what's happening and turns out Leo Nico and Jason were all sent down to the Aztec underworld and they're going to the 7 challenges."

this makes all of them freeze and Jupiter said, "wait didn't my son Mars and Zeus's kid Ares go through that a couple month back?"

"no. he they went through there when Percy Jackson was 14 and they did go through the seven challenges without, being scarred and wounded after that so going through the basement of Tartarus seven times and you up the ante every single time you passed through 1 challenge at a time."

Annabeth froze and then she spoke "i need to an iris message in order to contact Percy because he told me that he was gonna go down to Florida I wear the Aztec underworld is and storm it with Ares Reyna and Zagreus."

this makes super bust out laughing and you know looks back at her daughter "kid of mine my lovely daughter my favorite child. do you know if he's taking an armored Jeep by chance because if he is we might expect a couple kids to be duct tape to the ceiling of that roof of that jeep."

"what do you mean mom?" she asked and Athena sighs as Jupiter and Zeus walks out "well I know what vehicle he's taking and last time my noble cousin took that Jeep it led to Poseidon and Neptune being duct taped to the roof of the ceiling Zeus being tied to the back of the Jeep and being dragged and being unable to untie himself causing me to be clutching my seat for dear life him having half his upper body out the window and this half and his sister Mel and Ares in the back. As he is going 95 miles an hour down and empty road to camp half-blood."

Annabeth looks at her mother and then laughs Wow that is the most Florida man thing I have ever heard I'm still gonna contact Percy to check up on him." she goes to make that the call. "Yeah, you can do that."

Mictecacihuatl was pacing as she saw her husband Mictlantecuhtli and then she saw the rest of the Aztec underworld council all whispering and murmuring to each other there was even some Mayan deities here they are also panicked as well.

she and Mictlantecuhtli were the rulers since the other gods were In need of a rule in order to manage the souls from both Maya and Aztecs they kept flooding in after the foreigners came and ruined everything so they thought that they were two good choices.

"well, where is Xolotl?" asked Xocotl who was sitting next to the Mayan god Acolmiztli who was siting next to Techlotl who was half owl which was a elf owl. they all look to the king who sighs "Thanks to my wife's efforts three demigod people are coming over and he's guiding them here just stand the Fortress till they get here."

well then a I started moving in and they had the optic nerve still attached to them and then soon a lower jaw full of teeth arrived and then slowly as they waited human person arrived it was Remus the kid of Mars who died due to their brother being an absolute weirdo he was half wolf considering his affiliation with them and he could shape shift between human and wolf most the time he was like a satyr instead of a goat and a human it was a wolf and a human.

Remus always looked like and was a 28-year man. who had brown hair with streaks of gray hair his eyes were wild, and his grin even wilder he had a gold tooth on one of his canine teeth he also had a couple tattoos specifically one on his shoulder that was of one of an octopus.

he was wearing a tank top which was cropped around mid-torso and short which around mid-thighs, and he had fish nets on his legs that was in the middle of his legs and around the knees going to area. he was wearing a belt around his waist, and it also had a bunch of pouches on it and also two sheaths for two daggers.

he had wolf features similar their lower half often have goat features.

his wolf tail was grey, he had wolf ears on his human ears. he had some fur on his shoulders and neck, he had some scars on his nose and jaw. he also had a couple rings on his finger and a choker which had a silver squid.

"hello everyone Alright it got a little bit more longer than i thought so I found out what's the problem what's causing the lockdown it is two Titans and about three demigod people that are still followers of Kronos it has been so long since the Kronos war situation and they're still going strong but they're not exactly in the Aztec underworld yet they are still stuck the in between areas of the tunnels leading from the Roman underworld to this underworld we are still fine but still keep it on lockdown." he looked sad and scared.

this causes an uproar of whispers murmurs mutters and growls, and all of their glares were focused on him he raised up his hands in defense and says, "don't blame me don't not shoot the Messenger it took me forever just to get past those people sorry." Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl nodded, and she was sitting on her throne, and she spoke "well it is alright Remus."

Mictecacihuatl had a body a skeleton incased in skin of inky black that allowed the bones to seen. she had the Regal aura of Queen that you would expect but her husband did a very powerful dominating or around him even though he was relatively chill he was a very particular on how it's underworld and the souls inside of it was run.

she was wearing cloth which was in two parts one was the coat which was a cloak and shawl. on the top where the neck and head hole was blue, white skulls and she had a skull face, but it stopped around her top lip and there was white swirls and stripe on her jaw and chin. Jason was looking at her with the sun high in the sky which allowed them to see her better.

Her ears had dish which hung off of her ears and there was leave or feather shape hanging off the blueish grey dish there was a messy red dot in the middle of the disks. on her skirts was fringe same with the edges of shawl. The colors of the outfit were green, purple, blue and greyish.

The dress was close fitting but still hung on her form. Her hair was dark brown and down up with strips of blue fabric and on her head was crown with grey silver stones and small rat skulls. The crown was holding the first bubble in her hair and that had feathers on the back in the colors of purple, grey blue and blue.

Her eyes were warm burning amber, on the eyelids was an orange color and there something fluffy on the where the eyebrows would be. she just looked at her husband who finally stopped Pacing around like a warrior war and sat in town finally letting his worried nerves and muscles finally rest and he said Remus "go find some people to stop those people trying to break through."

Remus nodded and then pulled his weird Cheshire cat disappearing act.

#fluff #angst #monsters #toa #hades game #pjo hoo toa #my fanfic writing #roman mythology #aztec mythology #greek mythology #percy jackson #my au

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dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3 · 1 year

Note

1, 6, 15, and 88!

Oh yay, thanks! No one ever asks me these things, so I appreciate it! :-D

100 questions!

What’s your favorite way to pass time at home?

Usually scroll on Tumblr or watch YouTube videos for hours on end 😅😅 Ahh, other than that I enjoy crafting when I have a project I'm interested in. In fact, I just finished making a Ralsei (from Deltarune) plush out of fluffy socks and felt! Here, I'll put a picture:

Click here if you want to follow the video I used too. Warning: Some of the templates that the OP provided weren't quite the right size, like the size of the felt for the hat and the dress. I was able to make it work, but it looks a bit clunky in the back and on the hat, ha. I'm still proud that I was able to make it, though. ^-^ I'm not much of a sewer usually. And I actually used fabric hot glue on the dress and scarf since I was NOT going to hand sew that much fabric 😅😅

6. Coffee or tea?

Hmmm, it depends. I used to HATE tea, but now I like herbal fruit teas, like orange or raspberry. I do like coffee, but caffeine makes me feel weird sometimes. Either it doesn't wake me up at all, or it makes me jittery and sick. Sometimes it works, though, which is the frustrating part, ha. It's like Russian roulette. Will this make me sleepier? Will this make me sick? Or will it actually work as intended??? Who knows!!! But, to answer the question... I like both, but only in specific circumstances. ^-^

15. When + wich band was your first concert?

I had to stare at this question for a minute before I understood it 😂😂 Ah, but honestly, I do not know, since my parents took me to many concerts as a kid. The first one I kind of remember would probably have to be... a Brad Paisley concert from when I was, like, 6? Maybe? I know my parents took me to a Country music festival type thing when I was three or four since I have a picture of it, but I don't remember it. I've never really gone to a concert myself, I always go because my parents or brother want to go. I did see Weird Al multiple times, though! And my dad got us all VIP tickets once, since he's a HUGE Weird Al fan and I got a picture with him! Here, I'll attach it:

88. How do you celebrate Easter (if you do)?

Well, I am Jewish, but as a kid my dad (who is Catholic) would have the "Easter Bunny" make up an Easter basket for my brother and I, and he would leave clues around our apartment for us to find the basket. One year, when we were technically homeless (it's a long story, but it wasn't a financial problem) the "Easter Bunny" did the basket hunt in the hotel we stayed in, with one of the clues sitting on the water fountain outside our hotel room. It was a unique experience. When I got older (around 9-10) I asked if we could go to an easter egg hunt at a local grocery store, so I would do that every year until I was about 14-ish and grew too old for it. Nowadays I just get an Easter basket with chocolate and things. Which I only get because I inadvertently guilt the "Easter Bunny" into getting me one 😂😂 For Passover, my family usually goes to the one Jewish Delicatessen in my city for lunch.

Thanks for the numbers! I like doing these, ha. ^-^

#Ask game #Personal post #Ask Answers

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terrainofheartfelt · 2 years

Note

What do you think were Eleanor and Cyrus's opinions of Dan? Especially when he and Blair were dating?

Oooooh timely ask, because I was just thinking on this for a fic these past couple days!

I think Cyrus loves Dan. Dan does have that energy of like, being able to talk Dad Topics in conversation. And since Cyrus is an entertainment lawyer, with a mixed media artist son, and Dan grew up adjacent to the music industry and the art business, I think they'd have a lot to talk about, and I think Cyrus would appreciate that Dan can keep up. And, remembering how Cyrus witnessed the devastation Blair felt at how chip wiskers withheld affection ("I told Chuck I loved him" conversation my beloved), I think Cyrus is very pleased that Blair has a partner who is so open and unconditional in how he loves Blair.

As for Eleanor, she is...enigmatical. She's not as caught up in the upholding of appearances in the way Cece and Lily are, but there's this steeliness to her that demands perfection, and she doesn't really soften until the end of season 3, and even after that there are ups and downs. But I think having Cyrus as her partner allows her to soften (queue that conversation from after Blair's 20th bday party). Speaking of Blair's 20th birthday party, I don't think Eleanor Waldorf is the type of woman to forget things easily. She remembers the chaos and the low lows that Blair felt before Dan (often as a result of chip) and the contrast between: "whenever he's around I just feel like a weak little girl" & "Dan makes me feel strong and safe" - that had to have stuck in her brain.

Eleanor, more than Cyrus, would probably have had to play catch up to get on board, not because she dislikes Daniel, but because he was known as so many other things to her before: Serena's boyfriend, Jenny's older brother, Lily's stepson, her waiter during a Passover Seder - none of which really brought her daughter and Dan together, so I think she would be struggling to do the math, whereas Cyrus would just be like, "Wonderful! Let's have dinner!"

I do wonder if Eleanor did find out, or ever would, that Dan is the originator of "evil dictator of taste." I think if she did, she would be like, "yeah. he knows her." and, knows her in a way that Cyrus seems to know Eleanor. I think the post-Cyrus Rose Eleanor Waldorf probably has a little more room in her heart for sentimentality, making it easier for Dan to win her over. Though Dan never believes he actually has. They'll be five years into their marriage and Dan will still go to the Roses on holidays like, "I have no idea if your mom likes me or not."

#asks #anon #gg meta #anti chuck bass

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fruitcoops · 3 years

Note

Hi this might be just because it's passover and I'm really feeling my heritage (and GOOD food) but could you write a fic possibly with Jewish Finn O'Hara?? (And Leo making him our food b/c it's so important to the culture) Or you can make any other character (it's hard cuz they all do xmas lol but i could see re or even kasey) who you feel could be Jewish I just LOVE your fics and I was hoping you could maybe represent my pride for my culture in one of our beloved characters :)

Yes I can!! Happy Pesach to all my wonderful Jewish followers <3 I will forever be jealous of your holiday foods! SW credit goes to @lumosinlove

Finn took two steps in the door, then paused. He inhaled deeply, paying special attention to exactly what that fantastic smell was as he toed his shoes off. “Butter? Is that you?”

“In the kitchen,” Leo called back. On the couch, Finn caught the edge of Logan’s smile before it was hidden behind his book.

He rocked slightly on the balls of his feet. “Are you making what I think you’re making?”

“That depends, what do you think I’m making?” There was a tease to Leo’s voice and Finn’s heart leaped; he skidded a little on the linoleum of their floor as he hurried into the kitchen and heard Logan laugh behind him.

On the stove, oil snapped and hissed while Leo prodded the bits of potato that flaked off the patties. He tapped Finn’s forearm as he hugged him from behind. “Don’t get too close, Fish.”

Finn snorted. “Are you kidding? This ain’t my first rodeo, pardner.”

Leo laughed at his terrible accent, then again at the smacking kiss to his cheek. “Well, I hope they’re alright. I totally forgot to ask your mom for her recipe, so this is a mashup of Bliz, Talker, and Re’s tips, plus whatever we had in the pantry.”

“You made me latkes,” Finn hummed, so happy he could burst. He gave Leo a quick squeeze and nuzzled his face against his neck, listening to the familiar sizzle as he added new potato cakes. “I didn’t know Remus is Jewish.”

“His dad is, so they celebrate both sets of holidays.” Leo shrugged. “I only texted Talker, actually. The other two just messaged me out of the blue with, like, a million suggestions.”

“We should have had them over for Seder.”

“Sorry, love.”

“ ‘s alright. Maybe next year.” Finn inched his hand toward the plate of latkes, only for Leo to gently smack it with his spatula. “Hey!”

“You’re gonna burn yourself!”

“I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again, especially for a worthy cause.” Finn kissed him again before scooting a steaming cake from the pile and popping the whole thing in his mouth; he pulled a face at the heat and Leo shook his head.

“Told you so.”

“Don’t tell my mother,” he mumbled, relishing in the crunch of the crisp outside layer. “Oh, fuck me, these are good. Lo, c’mere!”

Logan slid into the kitchen in his socks mere seconds later with a wide smile. “I get to try one?”

“No,” Leo groaned. “They’re not done!”

“My holiday, my latkes, my rules,” Finn declared as he reached for another.

Leo huffed a long-suffering—and incredibly fond—sigh, then pushed the plate closer to them. “Whatever.”

Logan stood on his toes to kiss his cheek before snatching a latke and carefully biting into one side, cupping his hand under to catch the inevitable crumbs. “Just shove it in, baby,” Finn advised around his second cake.

Both his boys raised their eyebrows at him; Leo broke first with a devilish grin. “Yeah, I bet you’d like that.”

“Alright, you know what—”

“Watch the oil!” Logan blurted as a particularly large bubble popped and sent a few tiny droplets over their kitchen. Leo made a sad noise when he looked down at his spattered shirt and Finn rubbed his arm in sympathy.

“That’s why you don’t wear nice clothes while you cook, Butter.”

“Do you think the Tide stick will get it out?”

“We can give it shot,” Logan assured him, though he sounded rather skeptical.

A tinkling alarm went off over the sounds of the oil and Leo immediately perked up, shooing them out of the way as he grabbed an oven mitt. Finn’s heart clenched. “You made more food?”

Leo leveled him with a stare drier than the Sahara. “No, honey, I made potato pancakes and nothing else.”

The scent of roast chicken and vegetables billowed throughout their apartment and Finn couldn’t help but grin, feeling the familiar warmth seep into his bones. The whole place would smell good for days. “He remembered to get the recipe for this part,” Logan whispered, wrapping his arms around Finn’s waist from the side wile Leo pulled the pan out and cut the sweet potatoes open.

“It smells like home,” Finn managed, leaning his temple on Logan’s soft hair. “Alex would fucking love this.”

Logan snapped his fingers, then reached over to the counter and handed Finn his phone, swiping to his most recent texts. “Actually, I think Bliz and Nat have that under control.”

Something hot prickled at the corners of Finn’s eyes when he saw the picture—Alex glowed with happiness, sandwiched between Kasey and Natalie with a bright grin on his face as the three of them held up their bowls of soup. The matzo balls inside were a little wonky, but otherwise looked delicious, just as they had when Alex and Finn made them as kids.

“Oh, honey,” Leo said quietly as Finn swiped the first tear off his cheek. He closed the distance between them and joined the hug, kissing the top of Finn’s forehead.

“I don’t know why I’m crying,” he sniffled. “I’m just so happy and I love you both so much. Fuck, Leo, you made me latkes.”

“Did they taste okay? I know it was kind of a Franken-recipe.”

Finn pulled back and reached up to cradle Leo’s soft cheeks in his hands, looking straight into his eyes. “Leo, they were perfect.”

“Happy Pesach,” Logan murmured, snuggling against him.

Finn barely held back a wince. “Pesach, Lo.”

“What?”

“You gotta—” He stifled his laugh with his hand. “There’s emphasis on the first syllable, then a ‘k’ sound.”

Logan licked his lips. “Pesach?”

“You sound so fucking French, oh my god.” He turned back to Leo with a smug smile. “You can’t make fun of me for how I saw ‘beignets’ after this.”

Leo barked a laugh, short and sharp. “Oh, yes I can. Watch it, Harzy, or you can kiss your latkes goodbye.”

“Joke’s on you, I know there are more at Loops’ house right now.” Finn propped his chin on Logan’s head and batted his eyelashes. “Besides, you have to be nice to me today. This is like my second birthday.”

“You can’t keep claiming things are your birthday!” Logan protested, wiggling away from his grip. “First it was Saint Patrick’s Day, then Hanukkah, and now this?”

“I have lots of birthdays,” Finn said solemnly.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Happy Pesach to the man of many birthdays. Can we at least eat before the chicken gets cold? I don’t want to beg food off Talker and his sisters tonight. My pride can’t handle it.”

“You have two boyfriends and a snazzy rainbow bracelet,” Finn scoffed playfully as he grabbed forks out of their utensil drawer. “That’s plenty of pride in my book.”

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gay-otlc · 2 years

Note

Prentice + Wylie + Cyrah

I will not make another tree joke. I will not make another tree joke. I will not make another tree joke-

Anyway Cyrah's actual favorite holiday is not tu b'shevat. It's Passover. I have no basis for this I just kinda decided randomly.

She acknowledges that matzah is terrible but she likes the Passover story and the songs

Not related to those three because I'm incapable of staying on topic but I just remembered that elves have a skill that's like appetite suppression? And I'm just saying that shit would come in handy on Yom Kippur

Anyway back to what you asked me about lol

Wylie was Disappointed™ that his dad was uhhhh... not there for his Bar Mitzvah so he decided to do another Torah reading after Prentice was healed and all the Neverseen shit calmed down

Tiergan knew fuck all about Judaism beyond random snippets he'd gathered from being (cough) friends (cough) with Prentice for so long, but he knew that having a Jewish family was important to Cyrah and Prentice so he tried his best to continue raising Wylie Jewish

Prentice loved dumb Hanukkah sweaters (but only if they have puns ofc)

For context I have both a "happy challah-days" sweater and a "happy llamakah" shirt so like along those lines.

He knit Hanukkah sweaters for everyone else in the Black Swan. No one really got the brilliant jokes but they all appreciated the effort

Except Squall, she's Jewish because Jewish Dizznee supremacy and she found it absolutely hilarious. As she should.

Cyrah tried making challah. Tried is the key word. She did bake over passover because passover food tastes like shit anyway lmao

Hey @keeper-of-the-jew-jew remember that discussion we had about whether gnomes are kosher? Yeah anyway this is something Wylie is curious about as well. This is rather concerning for his goyim friends. Also for any gnomes who might be around at the time.

This is also probably concerning for my followers who weren't there as this discussion was going down. Sorry about that lol

Wylie absolutely loves Sukkot

You just. You shake a lemon. That's the holiday. What's not to like?

Tashlich puns. Wylie loves them, Prentice loves them, Cyrah threatened divorce (or whatever elves have instead of divorce)

I have to go but enjoy the Jewishification of KOTLC

#kotlc is jewish now #religion tw

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sailornyx · 3 years

Text

That Reki is a sun god and Langa is a winter nymph.

Every time Reki visits Earth during wintertime he melts the ice around him and Langa does not understand how someone can be so “hot.”

It was the last day of winter and Langa would be seeing the sun god Reki any minute now. Langa was chosen to work alongside Reki to make sure the melting ceremony ran smoothly by helping with direction and preparations. Langa was panicking, he had developed a crush on Reki but who would not? Reki was the god of life and dreams. He made Spring beautiful and Summer alive. Though Langa would never get to see it. Langa also knew their paths would never intertwine since Langa was just a winter nymph who disappears after every winter. Still Langa had to do his best to act “normal” to make sure his feelings did not interfere with the melting ceremony’s work.

Reki finally arrives and he quickly melts the ice around him. Langa does not understand how someone can be so “hot.” Reki quickly changes his own temperature and apologizes for killing off a few snows before the ceremony. Reki then is shown who will be working with him and Reki quickly shows a smile as he runs after Langa.

“Langa it is genuinely nice to meet you! I have heard wonderful things about you”

Langa is so surprised but bows before his god.

“Stand up Langa! No need to be so formal.” Reki says and he raises Langa up with his hand.

Langa did not expect for Reki to hold his hand and immediately started blushing.

Everyone else is gagging about how much love their radiating but both Reki and Langa have no clue on each other’s feelings.

Langa shows the formal wear that Reki would be wearing for the ceremony. Langa had explained that his good friend Kaoru Sakurayashiki had created this with the intention of changing once all the snow melts.

“So Reki this outfit of yours will change from blue and purple to yellow and red once all the snow melts” Langa explains.

“That’s amazing! Who designed this?” Reki questions with a serious face. Langa gets super nervous, and doubts fill his head “what if he hates it” keeps filling his mind. Though, Langa proceeds.

“I had the designs in mind and Sakurayashiki used his talents and power to make it a reality” Langa says with a shaky voice.

“You both are incredibly talented. This has to be my favorite attire from all the other ceremonies.”

Langa lets out a huge sigh of relief and giggles in the meantime Reki’s face lets out a huge blush at hearing Langa’s laugh.

They both walk along and Langa continues his work on directing Reki. Before the ceremony they both get a break.

“Hey Langa, not to ruin our fun time but is it hard adjusting each-time you wake up for winter?” Reki ask.

“Sometimes. Traditions and people change fast. But I am used to it.” Langa replies.

“You are super amazing Langa! The way you adapt and grow. I wish to be as strong as you one day.” Reki admits.

“Reki you are a sun god! You provide warmth and love to those around you. You are an amazing ruler, and anybody would be lucky to be around you.” Langa wanted to let Reki know how much he meant to everybody.

Reki blushes and looks down then he built up the courage to ask…

“Hey Langa, I know this is a tradition that us gods haven’t done in years, but would you do the Passover from winter to spring with me?” Reki blurts out with his eyes closed.

“Yes! I would love too!” Langa almost died of excitement.

The Passover tradition was created by Reki’s mom and dad to welcome the spring. Mother Earth and Father of the skies had given Reki the opportunity to carry out the tradition ever since he became old enough, but he always did it alone. Reki is excited he finally has a partner.

Both boys get ready in their separate rooms. Both the sun god and the winter nymph squeal in excitement. Sakurayashiki uses his magic and pulls a beautiful outfit for Langa.

Once both boys come out ready, they reach in for a hug. The hug lasted for quite a while, but Sakurayashiki interrupted their hug and told them to get a move on.

The ceremony begins, Langa steps up on the stage created for Reki. The winter nymphs bow for Langa and cheer for him once they stand. They all say their prayer, hoping the best for spring and summer, and to wake up in a beautiful world their next winter. Langa proceeds to pass a frozen rose to the sun god Reki. Reki grabs both rose and Langa’s hand and tells the nymphs it is okay to slumber. Reki proceeds to turn the frozen blue rose into a beautiful red one. The winter nymphs lay and slowly turn into snow and melt away. Reki is not ready to see Langa go.

“Langa, I know we only just connected. But I want to let you know you’ve been the only one I had my eye on for a long time.” Reki quickly says.

“Reki I never thought we could ever be together. I want to be with you.” Langa admits.

“We are still too young to wed. I cannot make you my prince just, yet I fear” Reki says as he tears up.

“I will wait many winters for you as long as you wait for me my king.” Langa says as he bows.

Reki proceeds to let the snow melt and his forehead touches Langa’s.

“Go to sleep. I’ll be okay”

Langa smiles and nods and lays down. Reki can no longer see Langa. Reki proceeds to cry but he knows he will see Langa soon.

Reki’s outfit proceeds to change from purple and blue to yellow and red. Reki then wakes his flower and spring nymphs. They all rise and cheer on their god.

Reki has had a beautiful first day of spring, but he continues to think of Langa. One day Langa’s stay will be permanent and both Reki and Langa will be ruling together.

#headcanon #my writing #au #skate the infinity au #skate the infinity #sun god reki #reki kyan #reki x langa #kyan reki #winter nymph langa #langa hasegawa #langa #renga #fanfic #sk8 the inifinity #renga au #renga headcanon #renga fanfic

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babbushka · 4 years

Text

Something Funny

(biggest special thanks to @aweirdlookingtree for inspiring me with a prompt for a Passover oneshot! And sending my love to everyone celebrating tonight!)

Flip Zimmerman x Reader

1.8k ; Pure fluff

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

It’s time, he thinks. Time, finally.

You try your best to not appear too ready, not appear too eager. Flip can tell though, he can tell you’re poised to bolt, poised to run and search the house the moment the hunt is called. Sitting across from one another at the long table, you each catch the other’s eyes and look away in a blush, embarrassed for the fact of being caught.

“You’re going down.” You mouth, a wordless promise of defeat.

You’d been doing this all evening, stealing these glances, these looks, all while Flip’s dad stood at the head of the table, all while everyone followed suit for the ritual. You’d played footsie under the table, had smirked at one another, smiled, held back laughs when inappropriate. Your first Seder together, barely having dated for long, but oh, oh how Flip is in love with you. That’s what makes this even more important than normal, for Flip. How he loves you – he has to win, has to beat you.

“In your dreams.” Flip mouths back, and you break into a big grin, accepting and ready for the challenge.

Because now, now it’s time.

It’s all that he can think about when he eats his Ma’s delicious festival dinner, it’s all that’s on his mind as you grin at him so smug, so sure of yourself that you’re going to win behind your glass of grape juice. He had to beat you, had to find it – Flip had to find the afikomen before you.

It’d been something that you’ve both been talking a big game about, for the whole week leading up to Pesach. Every time Flip would drive his dad’s Oldsmobile to pick you up, you’d greet one another with a new idea for what the winner would get, should they find the matzah first when Seder was nearly over.

Each time, you made the stakes higher and higher, the both of you going back and forth with “well when I win I want…” “oh yeah okay well when I win, you have to…”

Such outrageous ideas had included you making Flip wear a shirt with polka dots all over it instead of his normal plaid and Flip making you eat his cooking for an entire day. Outrageous, indeed.

In the end, you wound up not actually telling the other what you really wanted, electing to keep it a surprise, a secret for the big night.

But if Flip found it first, if if if.

If he were so lucky to find the matzah first, as the winner his prize would be a kiss.

Not just any kiss either, a kiss that he gets to pick the time and place of, and he had already asked for permission to spend the weekend at the family cabin out in the mountains. He’d ask for his kiss there, if he won.

He’s nervous, he’s sweating, palms wiping against the fabric of his nice dress pants. He wonders if his yarmulke is crooked, wonders if you can see it. He momentarily gets hung up on how beautiful you look, how stunning, gorgeous in the low light of the dining room. It’s so dark outside, and yet somehow you are glowing, always. He is sure that even Elijah must be enraptured with you, with your beauty.

He shakes his head, clears his thoughts of the never-ending inner monologue of how much he loves you. You smile at him, bite the inside of your cheek. He has to keep his head in the game, he thinks, you’re cunning, you’re clever, surely you had worn your finest dress and done your hair so prettily on purpose, a means to distract him. But he can’t be distracted any longer, the dinner is over, you and he both know it, you can tell, all the food having been enjoyed and all the chatter coming to a pleasant stop.

You look at one another from across the table, before looking at Flip’s Ma, who is clearly trying to hide the smile that peeks through her cloth napkin as she wipes her face.

“On my mark,” She says, because she knows – of course she knows, Flip tells her everything, she knows and she knows how much this means to both you and him, “………………….go!”

You and Flip are out of your seats in an instant.

While you had both been so good trying to keep yourselves calm during the Seder, now you can’t stop laughing, can’t stop grinning. Flip has a plan – search the kitchen then living room then the den. He had paid attention to his Ma’s footsteps, used his budding detective skills to listen where she went, and she hadn’t gone upstairs. She hadn’t gone into the garage our outside either, so it had to be there, had to be there somewhere.

He was also lucky to have a better vantage point, as he was on the side of the table closest to the kitchen. It would seem that you had a similar plan, and Flip rushed to get ahead of you, laughing all the way.

“Hey, ladies first!” You complained, trying to literally elbow your way around him as you both began rummaging through cabinets, looking in the fridge, checking above it and behind it even.

“Age before beauty ketsl.” Flip winked, picking you up and physically moving you out of the way so he could lift up the couch cushions, look underneath the coffee table.

“I swear if she told you or hinted at where she was hiding it – ” You warn with no malice, whirling to point a finger at him for a moment, wag it in his direction.

Flip pinches your nose, gives your face a playful shake before bumping his hip against yours in the race to the den.

“She didn’t, I promise I promise – hey!” He laughs, as you somehow remembered the layout of his house and knew a shortcut he didn’t think of, somehow appearing in the den before you.

You both go through the whole room, the last room on the first floor in the immediate area that weren’t bathrooms. Flip didn’t think his ma would have hid food in the bathroom, but he checks just in case, coming up short.

You both look at each other, panting, out of breath from the excitement, and Flip scratches the back of his neck.

“Outside?” You prompt, figuring might as well look, it could be on the porch or in the mailbox, your family has done that before.

“No I didn’t hear the front door open.” Flip shakes his head, making you laugh brightly.

“You’re not supposed to help me honey.” You reply warmly, putting your hands on your hips. This was a competition, after all. There was going to be a winner and a loser, and it had to be a fair fight.

“Oh you’re right, never mind ketsl, definitely go check outside.” Flip rolled his eyes playfully, stuck his thumb in the direction of the front door.

You only laughed, sighed a little and looked up at him like he was the most dreamy thing in the whole world. He wished desperately that he could have a cigarette, that he could have you.

You leave then, sprinting down the hall, checking the coat closet, checking the pantry, anywhere you might have overlooked. Flip chases after you, and he can hear catches of conversation in the dining room as the two of you run past, laughing and play-fighting with one another.

Eventually, you meet back in the den, after having split up to look for the matzah that was really damn well hidden.

“You still didn’t find it?” Flip asks with a frown, and you shake your head, sit down on the ledge near the mantle of the fireplace, which is softly crackling and warming the early April night.

“No, you?” You reply, patting the space next to you.

Flip sits down eagerly, happily, always happy to be next to you. You lean your head on his shoulder, wrap your arms around his big bicep and sigh.

“No.” Flip answers you, trying to think what his Ma did with the damn cracker. “Huh.”

“Well we can’t go back without it.” You pillow your cheek against him.

Boldly, he presses a kiss to the top of your head, wraps his arm around your shoulders. You were both stumped, and both unsure. There were no plans in place for an outcome like this, who won if no one found the matzah?

“What do you propose we do?” Flip asks, always deferring to you, always wanting in the end, nothing more than for you to be happy.

You shrug, look up at him, look at him with your big eyes, eyes that are so full of love. Flip’s heart beats a little quicker, he swallows around a lump in his throat.

“You want to know something funny?” Flip asks softly when you don’t offer any suggestions, when the weight of his adoration for you squeezes his chest too tightly.

“Tell me.” You nuzzle your cheek against his shoulder, your eyes sparkling in the light of the fireplace, a smile on your lips, always ready to hear anything Flip ever had to say.

“I was going to ask you to kiss me.” He confesses, and really, why was it such a confession? You were dating, he was your boyfriend, had been your boyfriend for a little while. Long enough that you had certainly already kissed before.

But your kisses…they were magic, Flip thought. They were a privilege, something to be earned. He had to earn them, had to prove he was worth them. It didn’t matter that you’ve never once denied him, it didn’t matter that you’d asked for a kiss every day, ever time you see one another.

You grin to yourself, grow bashful then.

“You want to know something funnier?” You ask back, and Flip nods, too lost in your eyes to even really speak, especially when you bite the inside of your cheek and admit, “So was I.”

And you know, if his Ma had orchestrated the entire thing where the matzah was simply hidden behind her back the whole time, you didn’t mind. If his family asked where you were and sent her out to look for you, you didn’t mind that either. Because on the night of Pesach, the first Seder you spent together, you spend it with love.

And as his Ma hides in the doorway, watching her one and only son bestow the most gentle of kisses upon the girl she was sure would one day be his wife, well.

Barech could wait.

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

Chag kasher v’samei-ach to everyone celebrating tonight!

Tagging some Flip loving friends:

@kyloxfem @heldcaptivebychaos @solotriplets @formerly-anonhamster @lookinsidemyhead @candycanes19 @adamsnacc-kler @taylovren-types @whiskey-bumblebee @magikevalynn @tinyplanet-explorers @chelsjnov @romancedeldiablo @helloimindelaware @elfieboxcat @laurenshit @autumnlovesadam @peterisparker @goodboybensolo @intrestellarsarah @the-marvelatic @miasera @emily-strange @proxyfoxy @disaster-rose @hazydespair @yosoymuyloca @1-800-choke-that-snoke @ktellmeastory @anongirl007 @zimmerxman @okk–maaan @flapjacques @aweirdlookingtree @callmemania-pls

#flip zimmerman x reader #flip zimmerman/reader #flip x reader #flip zimmerman/you #flip zimmerman imagine #flip zimmerman fluff #young flip #flip zimmerman fanfic #blackkklansman #blackkklansman fanfic #my writing

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years

Text

i wanna know what love is - 22

Pairing: rockstar! sebastian stan x writer!reader

Warnings: sexual themes

A/N: happy easter and happy passover. to celebrate i’m posting two chapters today. let me know what you think lovelies . enjoy xx 💕💕

Last Chapter // Next Chapter

- I know you and my brother were smoking outside. - Y/N said as he closed the door to their room. He froze in place, would she be mad at him? In his defence, he would’ve done everything to leave that situation which was even worse when they got back. Y/N’s mother managed to diffuse it out for his luck, but he was 100% sure her grandfather did not like him.

- Bunny, I can explain. - he was ready to weave an apology, but instead of seeing a very mad Y/N, she just placed her hands on his shoulders, head slightly tilted to the side. - Are you not mad?

- No, I think it was best for you.

- I don’t think your grandfather enjoys my presence. - he grabbed her hands in his, caressing her palm with his thumb.

- My grandfather doesn’t like anyone. Why do you think I don’t come here a lot? - she got out of her shoes, leading him to her very small bed. Sebastian was not very upset by the size of the bed, the smaller the bed, the more cuddles he could get and he always adored cuddling, specially if he got to sleep with her in his arms. - I’m sorry about him. He can be a very traditional man. Everyone in his family has gone to really good universities.

- I can see. - he remembered seeing memorabilia from various ivy leagues from Brown to Darmouth. - If you don’t mind me asking, how come your family is this wealthy? I thought your great grandfather wrote for the New Yorker?

- My great grandfather married a girl from the Dumas’ family. She had made quite a fortune by herself and then inherited half her parents’ state which was an obnoxious amount of money and property. Since she married into my family, our last name prevailed and we climbed up to America’s elite. - she had little memories of her great grandfather but he’d always tell her and Theo when they were younger about how much he loved his wife despite it all, so Y/N knew the whole story by heart. - Then my grandfather started a printing company which is doing pretty well by itself. And I’m not wealthy, my parents are.

- Aren’t the Dumas’ family related to Hermes? - Y/N nodded. - Are you an Hermes’ heir?

- If everyone dies including the present Dumas’ family and then all my relatives, yes. - she laughed.

They ended up spending the whole night talk and eventually fell off asleep still on their clothes. Sebastian envied the lifestyle she’d left behind but at the same time had to give her kudos for deciding to accept no money from no one and making something of herself without nepotism.

They got woken up by a knock on her door. Y/N raised her head and sleepingly walked to the door, opening it slightly and silently to see her mother already dressed and in a very colourful polka dotted apron.

- It’s cooking time, c’mon Y/N. - she didn’t even gave her time to complain about it, as she dragged her down the stairs and into the kitchen, offering her a cooking apron and telling her to start cutting carrots. - So Sebastian, how serious is it?

- It’s recent, mum. - she continued to peel and cut some carrots.

- I think he’s a very nice young man. - Y/N was not expecting that. Not from her mother who publicly disliked every single person their children had been romantically linked to. - He makes you smile and me and your father had never seen you like that.

- Does dad like him too? - her mother nodded and Y/N felt her heart swell up. Her parents did not just like anyone and it was fairly important they liked him, specially when her grandfather disliked him so badly. - So the Vanderbilts are coming for dinner?

- They’re business partners with your grandfather. It’s not like we can argue with him, you know that.

Sebastian had drifted off to sleep after she left but woke up with another knock on the door. This house was much too polite for him, specially when he grew up with his mother opening the door wide open at very ... unfortunate times. He deeply missed it, nevertheless.

He mumbled something and the door opened to see Theseus peaking him. He lifted his arm to show him a pack of cigarettes and Sebastian understood the message, getting up from bed and following him back to Y/N’s balcony. He had to admit, Y/N must had a pretty good view growing up.

- I think I’ll just make you some company. - he replied sitting on one of the white wooden chairs. - Tom Vanderbilt is coming today, isn’t he?

- I wouldn’t worry. He mostly talks to my dad and granddad, he knows Y/N hates his guts. So, you and Y/N, anything serious?

- She’s a lovely girl.

- Not the question. - he stubbed onto his cigarette. - My father is probably gonna ask you that sometime, you should train your answer.

- She’s the only person who thinks I’m a good person. - he shrugged. - She’s also very feisty.

They remained there for quite a while and Theo even offered Sebastian some of his suits so he could wear them to lunch, which he gladly took. He didn’t want to offend her grandfather anymore than what his existence had. Sebastian and Theo went down the stairs, one going into the living room while Sebastian went to the kitchen where Y/N was helping her mother ice the champagne. She was wearing a pink dress, a very flowy one that looked like she had been taken off a Disney movie.

- Nice suit, darling. - her mother said, walking over to him and fixing his shoulders. - Doesn’t Sebastian look nice, honey?

- Whose suit is that? - she asked and he gave her his typical smirk. - You look very dashing.

- Only for you.

- You two should go to the living room, great some people. - her mother suggested, sending them on their merry way into the living room which was packed full of people. Y/N was never a fan of big lunches, she always find it upsetting to have to pretend to be happy to see people she didn’t really enjoy. Sadly, since she wasn’t around much she was the talk of the town.

- Y/N, dear, you must come and see Tom. - her grandfather came into her eyesight.

- I’m sure Sebastian would love to meet him too. - he would definitely not, but she knew what he was playing at and if she brought Sebastian, his expectations would be brought down. The old man took the couple by the fireplace where Tom and his father were standing.

- Don, you’ve meet my granddaughter before. - he introduced her to Tom’s father. He was a very pudgy man with a love for old scotch. Y/N had met him a few times during her grandfather’s meetings and back when she was dating Tom.

- Y/N, you grow more beautiful every time I see you. - he shock her hand, a weird smile on his face. - You sure have been missed at our dinner table.

- And this is Sebastian Stan, he’s Y/N’s guest. - he introduced Sebastian who shock both men’s hands.

- Guests don’t kiss, grandpa. He’s my partner. - Sebastian had to hold in a laugh as she said that with the most polite yet sharp tone, making the three men stop drinking to stare at both of them. - I’ve heard you got a spot in my grandfather’s business, Thomas. Congratulations.

- Thank you, Y/N. I see you’ve done pretty well by yourself. You’re an intern, aren’t you? - Sebastian disliked him even more due to that comment.

- You two must come fishing with us later. - Mr.Vanderbilt added. - It’s always good to have two more in the bunch.

- I don’t think Sebastian ...

- We would love to go, Mr. Vanderbilt. - Sebastian interrupted her, putting his arm around her waist. - Wouldn’t we, bunny?

- Yes. - she had a confused look on her face. They excused themselves from the group and walked over to a quiet location. - What the fuck, Sebastian!

- What? I love fishing.

- For girls maybe, not for actual fish. - she rolled her eyes. - You just doomed us to an afternoon of disappointment.

- C’mon. - he hugged her, placing a kiss on top of her head. - He was being arrogant.

- I don’t need you to defend my honour.

- I know you don’t, but I still will.

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfic #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan drabble #sebastian stan one shot #sebastian stan long shot #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan/reader #bucky fanfic #bucky imagine #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes

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walker-journal · 3 years

Text

Seeking Sanctuary (Bex + Adam)

Participants: Bexley Ochsenstein (Spellcaster by Envy), Adam Walker (Hunter by Tapir)

Context: Two very unlike people encounter each other at the temple, and voice mutual doubts in a discussion about the nature of faith and identity.

Content Warnings: Religious Idealization, Discussions of Sexism and Transphobia (civil discussion), Mentions of post-traumatic stress and military conflict

Faith for Adam was a complicated subject. You’d think that knowing for certain that demons, life after death, magic, and souls existing would make faith easy. Adam technically knew the answers to alot of questions your average believer struggled with. There was no dread mystique to supernatural evil when your parents had taught you which tentaclely organs the laser beams came from. But that was exactly the problem.

Adam had grown up with Hell and all your worst nightmares simply being objective fact, an everyday reality that needed to be fought with tactics, technology, and sacrifice.

But although Adam was well acquainted with the forces of darkness, the supposed other side of the equation was very noticeably absent. Where was the Light in all of this?

Being a practical dude, Adam would’ve normally just dismissed tangential stuff that didn’t help you in the trenches, as Dad had...except...Adam had also warded off plenty of spooks with sacred symbols and watched with his own eyes as holy water burned undead killing machines to sterile dust.

What was the creator smoking? Fuck if Adam knew.

Adam turned his gaze from absently contemplating The Ark whose displayed scriptural scrolls dominated the front of the synagogue. There weren’t alot of people here today, but Adam found a familiar face in the pews nonetheless.

“How goes it Odelia?”

Prayer was something Bexley had never really gotten the hang of. She knew all the prayers to recite during Yom Kippur and Passover. She had memorized the passages for her bat mitzvah, and she had memorized enough to get through Temple. But when it came to personal prayer, when it came to sitting in Temple alone and staring up at the alter and around the pews, Bexley had no idea what to do. She hadn’t figured it out in her twenty years of life, the disconnect from her faith a struggle. It was something her parents had noticed, but never pointed out, because Bexley tried-- oh did she try-- to connect with the world the way she knew they wanted her to. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want to or couldn’t, but, rather, that she felt so outside of it.

She was not born in the right body. Though the Torah made no mentions of people like her, the bittersweetness of it still tunneled her vision of it. How was she supposed to connect with something that wanted to pretend she didn’t exist?

But she wasn’t here today about that part of her. She was here today about the part of her that kept exploding things. Breaking them. Nell’s pot still sat heavy on her mind. It was a ridiculous thing to be kneeling in a pew about, but here she was. She wanted whatever it was to stop. She wanted to have some sort of control over it. She was practically begging for the help when a voice cut through her mind.

“Adam?” She turned to look over at him, startled slightly. “I-- sorry. What’re you doing here? N-not that you can’t be here! I just...you don’t really seem the type to just...come to temple... “

Adam was generally inclined to agree with that assessment. Between dating a woman who had a Beanie Baby collection of demons and committing more degrees of murder than existed in any legal code, the Hunter was pretty sure Bex was being overgenerous with his being allowed in here.

“Last night’s DIE party was the kind you need to get sanctified after,” Adam asserted as he plopped down unceremoniously in the pew in front of Bex. “You should come sometime.” he wheedled playfully. “Make sure you have plenty to repent for on Saturday.”

But after a moment Adam paused, the mischief of flirting with a lawyer-dude’s girlfriend fading. Dark brown eyes looked over Bex again, this time without lewdness or jest.

“How’re you holding up Bex,” Adam asked quietly with more intentionality than the previous address.

As Bex looked at Adam, she tried to pinpoint exactly what it was that Nell saw in him. Maybe it was something she couldn’t see, because all she saw was a rather lewd frat boy, who sometimes had that far away sad look in his eyes. Maybe that was really just the persona he wanted others to see-- Bex could relate to that. The happy, chipper girl she pretended to be in public for her parents wasn’t who she was at all, and her being here right now sort of proved that. She had to look away from him, furrowing her brow and smoothing her palms down the front of her dress. She always tried to look nice when coming to Temple.

“I don’t think those kinds of parties are really my style,” she answered quietly. Took a moment to look around to make sure there wasn’t anyone too familiar in here with them. But it was relatively empty today, with only a few people milling about and the Rabbi making rounds before disappearing back into his office. Her eyes settled back on Adam and he had that sad look again. He even used her right name.

“I’m fine,” she said curtly, “just...getting used to being back in White Crest. Kind of a whole different world out there than it is here, you know?” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s the real reason you’re here, Adam? Repentance also doesn’t seem up your alley.”

While Adam had been trained to deceive and achieve invisibility by fulfilling others assumptions, he wasn’t so far gone that Bex’s directness couldn’t still get a rise from him. Adam blinked and his face became briefly uncertain, as if the Hunter had flubbed a line in a script and broken character in front of an audience of one. “I’ve gotten in over my head,” the murderer admitted after a time.

“I’ve been trying to just tough it out,” the Hunter continued, referring to the abuse and torments of a demonic cult in the tone someone else might’ve used for minor health difficulties. “But I’ve running on fumes for so long now that like...eventually you’ve got nothing left. No more second winds, no just pushing on through,” the athlete explained.

“I’ve never like been close to really hitting that wall one other time before,” admitted Adam in memory of when his power and faith had shattered on Lyssa’s peak. “I’m uh, not liking my chances here.”

Adam encompassed the synagogue’s interior with a vague sweeping gesture that implied that perhaps the soldier wasn’t so much seeking redemption as reaching anything to keep from plummeting off a cliff.

“Do you prefer the world out there Bex?”

Bex looked at Adam and listened to his words. Whatever he was going through, it seemed rough on him, like it was wearing him down. Sands blasting down his walls and carving them away, smoothing them away. Eventually, they would become nothing. Just like hers. She felt a pull at her heart and she had to look away to not totally give up her shiny exterior. Cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes.

“Don’t you have like, people to help you?” she asked. “You know you don’t have to go it alone. That’s sorta the point of community.” She gestured to the area around them. There were so many other people he could’ve gone to bother, why did he have to choose her? Still, a sense of curiosity pulled at her. And empathy. She knew what it felt like to be at the end of your rope. Her hands wrung together.

“What, um-- what happened? If you don’t mind me asking. Are you okay?” Was he dying? Did Nell know? She paused at his question. “I...prefer the world that I know I can interact with. It’s easy to...pretend to be something there.”

“There is someone helping me”, Adam admitted, “and I’m thankful I’ve got her help on this, but uh... “ The Hunter ran a hand across the back of his neck. “That’s kinna the problem y’know? Worried I’m just going to drag her down with me.”

Bex seemed to genuinely inquire about his welfare, which was kinna touching. As always, Adam had to weigh the difference between the necessary lies and giving the other people enough of the truth as he could. “There is a group in town that I think are into some really dangerous stuff,” was definitely a criminal level of understatement. “But I need evidence and to catch them in the act to make a citizen’s arrest,” Adam concluded. It was technically a lie, but as closest to the spirit of the truth as he could manage without going straight into Twilight Zone territory.

It was dangerous to say out loud. But as much as Adam hated to admit it, against an adversary like Ma’al these hallowed walls were probably studier than any military bunker.

“Why do you wanna pretend Bex? What makes this place hard to interact with,” Adam asked slowly, kinna intuiting what she might mean in his gut, but not wanting to jump to conclusions here.

“Is it Nell?” Bex asked, blurting the words before she could stop them. She paused, recoiled and bit the inside of her cheek. “Sorry. Not to sound weird, but I met Nell on campus and then we got talking and she sort of told me about you guys.” She burned to ask Adam if he knew that his girlfriend claimed to be a witch, and wondered what his faith-- their faith-- would have to say about that. She wondered a lot of things about Adam, actually, and Nell was one of those things.

“I think...if she didn’t want to be helping, she would say so. I think worrying about that is pointless.” Not that Bex knew Nell super well, but from what she’d seen of her, Nell didn’t seem the sort to do something out of obligation. She shifted, and leaned back.

“Whatever you’re up to, it sounds illegal and dangerous, and I’m studying law, so maybe don’t tell me what you’re doing,” she pointed out quietly, giving another wary glance around. She scratched her knees awkwardly.

“That’s...complicated, I guess,” she mumbled, furrowing her brows. “I want to pretend because...maybe one day I can’t stop pretending and it’ll be real. I know this might seem strange, Adam, but the world isn’t kind to people like me. Out there, in here--” she gestured around them, “it’s all kind of the same.”

“Oh,” Adam mouthed, feeling like a dumbass. Adam was typically immune to embarrassment or society anxiety, one of those side benefits of being conditioned to ignore fear and pain that might trouble therapists. Normally Adam would only grin and make lewd implications at the prospect of women talking in private about him. It’d never bothered him before, but for some reason the thought of Nell specifically doing so brought on a precarious uncertainty. “Yeah you’re right, I know you're right,” Adam repeated, “but still…” Knowing something doesn’t mean it can’t fuck you head anyway.

“Don’t you think we need to do illegal and dangerous stuff sometimes?” pointed out the vigilante.

Adam watched Bex’s face as she explained, his expression softened by a touch of awkward compassion but not comprehension. “Look I uh...can’t pretend to know what it's like,” he admitted. “This world is pretty dickish to women and I’m definitely not innocent of that, but there’s gotta be somewhere, or somebody, that can feel like a safe place y’know?”

“But still...what?” Bex prodded. She didn’t mean to pry, but she was curious by nature. And she began to develop a sort of friendship with Nell, so concern wrought itself through her face as she watched Adam. He always seemed so typical, but for some reason, up close like this with him, he seemed somewhat...different. There was something mysterious about him, about the way he talked. The things he hinted at. The casualness of his attitude, and the ruffling of his brow at the mention of Nell. Bex looked back down.

“No, I don’t,” Bex said, repeating the mantra in her head that her parents always told her. Be good, be polite, be strong. She tried her best to follow those, but she didn’t get them all the time. “My family is pretty strict about that stuff.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle hollowly. “I was kinda hoping that’s what I’d find here,” she admitted quietly, “but no one ever answers me.”

Adam let out a long exhale between his lips as he tried to scrape together some words to describe a gut feeling. Visceral stuff didn’t tend to lend itself to explanation very well, but here goes: “I’ve mostly ever done casual relationships,” Adam began. “I can’t do halfway stuff like...I’m not wired that way,” admitted the young fanatic. “Either it’s just a fuck.” Adam put a hand on one side of the pew’s back. “Or you care enough about them to give up everything,” Adam’s hand shifted to the other side of pew, perhaps indicating that the Hunter’s conception of intimacy was either a roll in the sheets or devotion to the point of self-sacrifice.

“Nell and I are trying something new for both of us,” Adam posited,”I care about her, but also don’t want to go so all in we can’t find a way out,” the Hunter said, perhaps talking about two things at once. “But as I said, not so great at halfway.”

Bex’s desolate mirth at divine silence gave Adam pause. His dark brown eyes flicked up to the synagogue's arched ceiling, as if checking to see if any angels happened to be fluttering about the eves.

“When I was on tour in Saudi Arabia,” the young soldier began after a while, eyes still contemplating the interlacing triangle mosaics. “One of my squaddies was this dude named Hasan. I was a dumass...ok dumbasser.. teenager and didn’t know shit about Islam and my Arabic was terrible,” Adam continued. “But like, we were on patrol together alot so we talked about stuff. One day we were looking at this camp full of bodies all ripped apart and shit,” the Hunter continued with conversational casualness, neglecting to mention that he and Hasan were not patrolling the wastelands against their fellow men.

“Hasan prayed over them before we bared what was left and I asked him later how he could possibly feel close to God out here, with all the blood and fucking torn up meat all over the sand. I was kinna messed up and lost my cool,” the Hunter confessed numbly, as if assuming that Bex would rightly judge him for this unacceptable lapse of composure on the battlefield. “Hasan just said that even here, even in this, Allah is not absent, We are no farther from his presence, evil is just distracting us from it.”

Adam’s lips creased into a rueful smile, “we talked more after that, he told me about this sage Rabia who was like this zero-wave feminist who went into the desert to chill with God and do survivalism.” The Hunter’s tone indicated that he himself might have considered going full wilderness anarchist on multiple occasions. “She was super smart and kind to the people who went out there to learn from her, unless they were offering marriage in which case she told them to fuck off,”

Scholars might’ve contested this summary, but Adam had learned about Sufi mysticism from Hasan in between filling hordes of Alghouls full of silver buckshot, so perhaps parsimony was forgivable.

“Anyway, Rabia’s whole deal I guess was that she found that like..mosques, patriarchy, the state and all that shit pulled her farther away from God,” Adam continued in the manner of someone who’d emotionally connected with what his brother in arms had described, even if neither of the young warriors really had a handle on the deeper theology. “Love was where she felt God. Love for herself, love even for the sand and all the scorpions, the joy of just being alive.”

Adam’s eyes finally left the ceiling and found Bex’s face. The young man scratched his temple in a sudden fit of bashfulness in the wake of reminiscence. “Ok uh, I dunno where I was going with that but...I’m shit at this...but I guess uh.. like ...maybe a temple is wherever you feel closer to God, even if that's a desert or even just a state of mind.”

“I’m still trying to find my temple,” the fallen Hunter admitted.

As Adam talked, Bex listened. Really listened. She’d had no idea he was a soldier, or that he’d been on tour. She’d gone to Jerusalem once with her parents, and her mother had looked down at her and told her to be on her best behavior, because she was already wrong for being in the temple of their God. She remembered the harsh look her father had given her as they’d entered and she was wearing a dress and her favorite shoes and he’d scoffed. Maybe that was where her disconnect had spawned from.

Adam’s story broke her heart a little.

Bex couldn’t even imagine the pain of seeing so much carnage. Her sheltered life had let her grow up in relative peace. Death was not a part of her life. Shame was, though. Shame and guilt. She could relate to him on those things, even if it pained her to admit that.

“I’m sorry, Adam,” she finally said quietly, “that you went through all that.” She’d judged him preemptively, but he was perhaps suffering more than most anyone else in this Temple. “You know, for a frat guy, you’re pretty wise,” seh tacked on quietly with a tease. Perhaps now she could see why Nell liked him so much.

“I don’t know Nell that well yet, but it sounds like you really care about her. I definitely can’t give relationship advice, I’ve never even been in a real one--” she gave pause, stuttering over her words. Frank, her current “boyfriend” was a cover, and she’d just given that up, “--until now! But...what I’m trying to say is, I think it’s okay to not know. I think figuring it out together is kinda like...the point, you know? Of being with someone like that. Of trying new things.” Things she only wished she could try, could have. He was looking at her with those bashful, knowing eyes and she had to look away.

“This place scares me,” she admitted quietly, “White Crest.” She rubbed her arm, pulling into herself. “My parents always kept me so locked away, even when I lived here. And now I’ve been back for almost two months and already I feel like this place is trying to change me, take me away from the person I’m supposed to be.” She looked up at the ceiling, mirroring his movements from moments ago. “I guess I just wanted answers.” The ceiling told her nothing, and she looked down to meet his eyes again.

“You and me both, then,” she answered his last statement, the same sort of broken admittance ringing in her voice, “Guess we’ll just have to keep searching, huh?” Because there had to be something better than this, for both of them.

Adam stared at Bex for a moment at her condolence, stunned, as if genuinely not understanding why a story of battlefield carnage had elicited that reaction.

“Well uh,” a red blush crept up Adam’s neck as if Bex’s compassion had unmanned him more then any debauchery or public streaking ever had. “It’s not ...I didn’t mean it like..” the Hunter insisted as if associating the long war with suffering was something unthinkable. Perhaps it was even literally unthinkable, an emotional descent Adam didn’t think he could survive.

“It’s an honor to serve,” Adam insisted quietly. Even disgraced, powerless, and at the edge breaking, the Hunter couldn’t abandon what was killing him.

“You’re pretty understanding for a church girl,” Adam answered back to the praise he didn’t deserve, the crease at the edge of his soft smile hinting at a deeper more serious compliment underneath the playful plaudit.

If Adam intuited something off about how abruptly and awkwardly Frank entered and left the conversation, he kept his peace.

There were things Adam wished he could tell Bex about White Crest, about why her fears were valid and his gut feeling that this city was in a liminal space between Earth and the fathomless unknown. But preserving supernatural secrecy was one of the sacred charges his ancestors had passed down, and Adam couldn’t bring himself to break it even when it seemed they’d abandoned him.

Besides, Bex seemed worried about White Crest killing her spiritually, while Adam had his hands full trying to prevent much more literal death in vamp infested graveyards.

“Yeah guess so…” Adam stood as if he were about to go, but paused, mulling over Bex’s words again. Locked up? Take her away from who she was meant to be? Aw shit. Uneasy vibes compelled Adam to speak even when his brain warned he should stay the hell outta this. “Hey Bex, like if its ever too much,” he began slowly, “I know people you stay with. On the other side of the country, or the Holy Land even.” Mom never turned away guests in need...well, human ones.

“Sorry if that’s pushy,” Adam ameliorated, “and you can tell me to fuck off. But like...offer open.”

His embarrassment was almost immediate and Bex couldn’t help but roll her eyes a little. He might’ve had a seeming heart of gold, but he still tried to apply certain standards of masculinity to himself. She supposed some things would never really change. Still, it didn’t discredit anything else he’d said, or that he’d done. “Well I did,” she answered, “mean it like that.”

At that, Bex snorted. “Church girl?” she chuckled, shaking her head. “Seriously? That’s what you think of me? Geez, I kinda hate that. Maybe I was right before, pretending I could solve my problems myself instead of coming here.” She was mostly teasing, but there was some truth to it. She hadn’t entirely found her purpose or sense of self within her faith yet, even as hard as she’d tried to. She had books about Jewish spiritualism-- Kabbalah as it were-- but after her parents had found the first one, their anger had made her never want to open one again, despite her curiosity for them. Despite what little she had read about it giving her a connection she’d never felt before.

His offer, however, was sudden and abrupt and not at all what she’d expected him to say. She blinked, confused, before softening her expression and shaking her head. “That’s real sweet of you to offer, Adam, but I could never take you up on that.” Her parents would never allow it. They’d brought her back here specifically to keep her close, and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to be let out of their grasp for a long time now.

Her expression fell again, as he stood and started to make his way out. “You know, Adam,” she said, a bit quieter now, “you’re a good guy. I can’t tell you what to do, but I think maybe letting people see this side of you more often might be nice.” She gave a gentle smile. “I’ll see you around. Tell Nell hi for me.”

#seeking sanctury #para #ptsd tw #sexism tw #transphobia tw

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memorylang · 3 years

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12 Months’ Pandemic Chronicled | #51 | March 2021

Happy Palm Sunday yesterday, and Happy Passover from the night before! Right under two weeks ago, March 16, 2O2I, marked the one-year anniversary to the close of my first Peace Corps Mongolia service. While I’ve continued to serve virtually, I’ve done so informally as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Having lived these past 12 months back in the States, today’s tales chronicle that year.

Also commemorating the one-year anniversary, I’ve uploaded dozens of photos from my first nine months serving Mongolia. You can find those on my Instagram and Facebook, from February and March. I begin today’s stories with those. From there, I chronicle my journey across the year.

Evacuating Mongolia (February 2O2O)

February’s final week, on Ash Wednesday 2O2O, I was in Mongolia celebrating the third day of Tsagaan Sar, its Lunar New Year. Returning to my apartment from my last supper, I read an email from Peace Corps Mongolia that we were evacuating. I pulled an all-nighter packing my apartment. Shortly after sunrise, I visited a Peace Corps neighbor’s apartment to pack theirs. Then in my final two days, I said hasty goodbyes to community members, exchanging parting gifts.

Sunday morning, which began Peace Corps Week and March 2O2O, I and fellow Volunteers loaded into Peace Corps vehicles and rode in our caravan till evening. Then the snowstorm caused us to need to stay overnight in a hotel coincidentally located in a city that my cohort would frequent during our summer 2OI9 for training. My evacuation group reached Mongolia’s capital Monday afternoon, with briefings from staff throughout Tuesday. Mongolia had already begun to enforce mask-wearing and physical-distancing, so we couldn’t do much with our final hours in Mongolia. Indeed, since mid-January, many public places had already closed due to quarantine.

Wednesday night, the week after my peers and I had received notice of our evacuation and now mere hours before my group would depart the country, we awaited the arrival of fellow Peace Corps peers to the capital. For, Peace Corps staff staggered our arrivals into and departures from the capital to account for both the time drivers would need to assemble us from across the nation and the limited flight options still going out of the country. Those of us who remained awake through our final night enjoyed getting to see and embrace peers for our final moments together.

Over the course of Thursday, March 5, my group flew first from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, through Moscow, Russia, to Berlin, Germany. Many of our itineraries diverged. From Germany, I and a few flew to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From the Netherlands, I and a couple others flew to New York, New York. I slept four and a half hours’ in a hotel. Then I flew alone Friday from New York to Las Vegas, Nevada. I returned to my home of junior high and high school in North Las Vegas.

American Twilight Zone (March 2O2O)

My first few weeks in the States felt weird, not just because of reverse culture shock. Back in Mongolia, fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, particularly Health Volunteers, had followed American media and read that our presidential administration had been downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic. Problematically, too, when leaders acknowledged it, some labeled it the “China virus” and accused Asians of spreading it. These set the tone.

When I arrived in New York, I felt perturbed by the lack of mask-wearing and physical distancing. The morning when I’d fly out, I felt annoyed when the worker who checked me into my flight joked that I might have the virus since I’d flown in from Mongolia. Mongolia had no COVID cases—and wouldn’t have its first community transmission till November 11, 2O2O. Friends, too, when I said that I’d come back, distrusted that I couldn’t have the virus. So, although Peace Corps peers and I had already been quarantining nearly a month and a half before returning to the States—and very much craved to reconnect with folks—we found ourselves again isolated.

Then Vegas felt weird. Nevada had reported its first COVID case the day before I returned, yet Mongolia hadn’t any. Yet Mongolia had shut down, and Nevada hadn’t. Society moved as though little was happening. My brothers still had school and were gone most of most days. Dad worked weekdays out-of-town. Thus, while I lived again in the States, even inside my family’s home, I was the only one around. I felt lonelier than how’d I’d felt before leaving my life abroad.

The Filipina family of my father’s fiancée was perhaps the most understanding of my circumstances. The oldest daughter was celebrating her birthday that first Sunday, March 8, since my return to the States. So, I got to join them in enjoying the occasion. As I’d come to learn, Mongolia and the Philippines had more cultural similarities than I’d expected. I’d also feel dismayed to learn that people weren’t treating the youngest daughter kindly in her food service role, for some customers believed that her being Asian meant that she had the Coronavirus.

Resettling Into Lent (March 2O2O)

Most every morning, my first few days and weeks, tracks from Disney's “Frozen II” became my anthems. I’d seen the film that Friday, March 6, when I’d flown alone back to Vegas. I’d connected especially with “Show Yourself,” “Some Things Never Change” and “The Next Right Thing.” I started to learn the lyrics not only in English but also in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

My local church was still open. Meanwhile, in Mongolia, our church had been closed for nearly months. So, I attended services daily. I overheard old parishioners wondering what all this pandemic talk was about. I visited Reconciliation and a Stations of the Cross service. I applied to sing in the choir with which my late mom sang.

My second week in the States, church and schools closed. Meanwhile, Peace Corps announced its global evacuation. My peers and I weren’t to expect to return to Mongolia this summer and instead were to expect that fall would be the soonest. My youngest brother’s hs senior spring ended abruptly, so he stuck around at the house. Our oldest brother left to quarantine with his girlfriend and her sisters.

I cleaned much in and around the house. My greatest achievement early in the pandemic was to lead a garage clean-up with all siblings when my sisters visited. The task enabled us to at last park a vehicle in it once more. My siblings and I donated, too, decades of belongings.

Among the unearthing, I dove deep into family history. I wrote up my understanding of my father's and my late mother's ancestries, which were also mine. Months later, I'd join WikiTree, talk to distant relatives and migrate large swathes of history onto the platform.

Easter in Action (April–May 2O2O)

Gloom seemed to enshroud the world by Easter. I saw from the telly the Vatican's Lenten services, witnessing Pope Francis’ words from his city to the world and for Holy Week. His Good Friday Way of the Cross felt especially moving, for prisoners had written beautiful reflections that made me realize how little of a prison our quarantine was.

My younger sister in LA had also returned to visit Vegas. I resumed daily exercise routines, including trying to concurrently complete handheld video games and walk miles on the treadmill. This began my May push to make the most of my days back in America. I kicked up a daily Duolingo habit, rising through leagues, and talked regularly with Mongols during early mornings. Such helped my sanity, especially when state offices gave me a hard time trying to get the unemployment assistance to which lawmakers entitled evacuated Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.

Around Memorial Day, an uncle and aunt visited from Kansas to celebrate my youngest brother’s high school graduation online. The relatives also took my siblings, a family friend and me on my first national parks trip in years. We saw Saguaro, Great Basin and Capitol Reef. During the trip I’d grown my Goodreads library and soon enough uncovered the Libby app. The journey led me too to begin a pensive look back on my life.

Summer in Reno (June–July 2O2O)

Dad remarried on June 6, 2020. Shortly thereafter, I relocated to Reno to help Pa and Stepma (“Tita”) handle copious amounts of yard work. With more time to reflect, I took up the request of a homebound friend to pray rosaries daily over the phone with him.

Another friend of mine was going through a dark patch too but had a love of films. So each morning I’d rise early to see one of his recommendations then discuss it while working the yard if I wasn’t praying a rosary. I fondly recall the conversations while trimming plants, as I wander the Reno backyard even now.

Near the same time, the friend and another encouraged me to tell my stories. So I began to write a memoir, on which he’d give feedback. The other friend had me appear on his podcast. Both experiences made the summer feel very whole. In memory of my first summer in Mongolia 2OI9, I also wrote a more detailed series on those experiences. [Arrival (June 2OI9), Meeting Host Family (July 2OI9), Summer’s End (August 2OI9)]

I celebrated my 23rd birthday in Vegas with an overnight vigil, praying 23 rosaries alone and with Catholic friends from around the globe. I felt such joy to reconnect meaningfully with so many across languages and cultures. Languages became a growing theme for me. I’d also begun again playing Pokémon GO after having not played since 2OI6.

That summer, I finished seeing “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (Season 7) as well as relevant bits from “Star Wars: Rebels.” I kept up with the Japanese episodes of “Pokémon Journeys: The Series.” Those, I’ve watched with English subtitles to know what’s happening. I’d also begun to read chapters of the Bible daily, at that time checking in weekly with an ol' friend. I started with Acts then Proverbs, Ephesians then Psalms. Meanwhile came Hebrews and John. Then were Ruth and Matthew. Now I read 1 Kings and Mark. I’d grown to appreciate both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles with renewed interest.

Autumn Languages (August–September 2O2O)

Much of that fall, I was back in Reno. Yet, my younger brother had also come to Reno for his undergraduate fall semester. The guest room where I’d stayed quickly became his room, which left me a tad displaced. Still, I stuck through. Mornings, I rose early to read through a Latin textbook before daily conversations with a close friend who’d majored in classics as an undergrad.

Meanwhile, I’d stepped up to arrange meetings with Congressional lawmakers on behalf of the National Peace Corps Association. I’d also taken on roles within my alma mater Honors College and within the Social Justice Task Force for the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. I kept people organized and took notes during meetings. Meanwhile, my siblings and I had been starting a scholarship foundation, so I’d taken point on negotiating a partnership with the Vegas-based Public Education Foundation.

As a nice break, I joined friends I’d met in high school on their near-monthly trips to national and state parks. These sights included Lassen Volcanic, Burney Falls and Tahoe’s Emerald Bay. Realizing that I wouldn’t return to Mongolia that fall, I booked a Department of Motor Vehicles appointment to renew my learner’s permit—The earliest appointment would be in December.

In entertainment news, I’d finished seeing “Queer Eye: We’re in Japan,” “Love on the Spectrum” and “Midnight Gospel.” I’d also started playing “Pokémon Masters EX” when I’d heard that it included characters from multiple generations. I enjoyed how the stories felt new yet nostalgic.

National Park Winter (October, November, December 2O2O)

October was a great month for my spiritual life. I got to attend my youngest sister’s Confirmation. I enjoyed my first retreat in years. I also got to tape videos for my alma mater.

Then I returned to Vegas some weeks to complete more yard work. I’d also relocated belongings in different rooms and was able to have my own bedroom back in Vegas. This gave me a decent space in which to work. From November, I’ve also been hosting weekly video calls to help Mongols from my community abroad continue to practice English.

I’d also listened to Riordan audiobooks, “Blood of Olympus” and “Hidden Oracle,” and various authors’ financial literacy materials. By December, “Kafka on the Shore” was a real highlight. In Reno, I saw too “The Mandalorian” (Seasons 1–2), emphatically recommended by a friend with whom I’d hiked at Red Rock Canyon. My other friends and I reunited to try again at Crater Lake and succeeded.

My siblings and I partnered with the Vegas-based Public Education Foundation to launch our family LinYL Foundation to honor our late mother with scholarships for students. Though my formal role’s within outreach, I’ve done a fair bit of organizational leadership given my undergrad experiences. I’ve also been helping another non-profit start-up. Through it, I’ve gotten to meet alumni of overseas programs.

My family celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas in Vegas with our stepsisters. I’d also celebrated American Independence Day with them. Christmas felt peculiar, as I’d returned from Mongolia to Vegas the Christmas before, too!

Then my national parks friends and I hit a new record, seeing Walnut Canyon, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sedona’s Devil’s Bridge and the Grand Canyon. Having successfully renewed my learner’s permit, I scheduled my driving test for the earliest date—February. I returned to Reno and at New Year’s reunited with friends for whom I’d participated in their wedding the year before.

Road to Rejuvenation (January–February 2O2I)

Following the U.S. elections came the presidential inauguration. I felt more at peace with the state of the nation after that. Though U.S. politics have absorbed media significantly throughout the pandemic, I felt relieved by the calls for unity and returns to political normalcy from Inauguration Day.

Meanwhile, I sought to kick off 2O2I strong, with renewed optimism and control. I practiced driving almost daily. I’d seen “Daredevil” (Season 3) too and progressed in the Blue Lions story of my younger sister’s “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” copy. At February’s start, after years of challenges, I secured my driver’s license.

Mid-February, my national parks friends and I saw Utah’s Mighty Five. Our trip spanned Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef (different section), Escalante, Bryce Canyon and Zion. I got to help drive at the end from Vegas to Reno, a major milestone.

Thanks to Discord, I attended a virtual alumni reunion of my high school alma mater. I experienced our school's recreation in “Minecraft: Java Edition,” wandering into the classroom where I used to play “Minecraft” as a freshman. In “RuneScape,” after 12 years on-off, I’d achieved level 99 in all but the newest skill. I'd even gotten the characters I wanted in “Pokémon Masters EX” and nearly finished my Kanto Pokédex in “Pokémon GO.” (I've never before completed a Pokédex.)

I finished February recording music for my undergrad parish’s online edition to our annual performance for “Living Stations of the Cross.” I got to lector at and attend a friend’s baptism. I’d also soaked up my youngest sister’s boyfriend’s Disney+ again and saw “WandaVision” entirely. Its takes on grief and joy astounded.

Social Justice (March 2O2I)

These bring me to where and how I am today. I write from Reno, Nev., where snow had fallen and the weather grown warmer. Spring is here.

The announcement of increasing vaccines gave me lots of hope. Since I've lost so many people this past year to COVID-19 and other conditions I'm grateful that we may near the end. An email from and a check-in call with Peace Corps confirmed that summer would be the soonest I’m going back abroad. Still, I’ve kept in touch with my people in Mongolia.

My older brother and his girlfriend moved into the Vegas house, so I haven’t felt as obligated to be there. Thus, I’ve focused more time on the church in Reno.

A great fount of a spiritual joy for me has been getting to help lector for my college parish’s weekly Proclamations of the Word. I received particular acclaim for my reading from 2 Chronicles, for Lent’s Fourth Sunday, which delighted me. At the time I’d been reading 1 Kings, so I’d enjoyed recognizing parallels. In some ways the exercises are like a miniature college course. Beyond regular Sundays and Holy Week, I’d also lectored for such feast days as St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) and the Annunciation (March 25).

My siblings’ and my family foundation chose our first year of recipients. It’s been an exciting process, reading and witnessing our inspiring candidates. I hope that I'll get to meet these students someday, but ah, the pandemic.

I’ve gotten back into “Frozen II,” thanks to its authentic behind-the-scenes docuseries. I've also passed the one-year anniversary of my first seeing the film. Each morning I’ve sought to see something on Disney's platform—real' nice.

Our psychological division’s presidential task force for Social Justice released our statement about the Capitol riots, which received strong critics but stronger supporters. Then came the Atlanta situation.

In my U.S. Week 5I (Feb. 19–25), during a walk past the nearby elementary school, I’d had an unpleasant personal experience that led me to feel very grateful when the #StopAsianHate campaign began. I’ll likely share more later, but today’s blog story is about done.

Hope and Easter 2O2I (April 2O2I)

At the last Adoration activity before Easter, our parish offered Reconciliation, so I returned again. Absolution offers such sweet cleansing for my mind and soul. Now Holy Week begins. I'm still lectoring, too!

This summer, I hope to write more on my memoir. I’m still revising my research. I'm set to finish all five tiers of Duolingo Latin tomorrow. Then I'll get back to my textbook.

I still delight in chatting with ol’ friends. My national parks homies and I will hit Redwood next weekend. Then my parish has Spring Retreat. I look forward to getting vaccinated in coming months then hugging folks forevermore.

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #story #Catholic #God #memoryLang #Easter #Lent #USA #StopAsianHate #BlackLivesMatter #year #Coronavirus #COVID-19 #Nevada #America #WithMe #Reno #social justice

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evermoreholland · 4 years

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Questions (Peter Parker x Jewish!Reader)

Title: Questions

Pairing: Peter Parker x Jewish!Reader

Summary: Peter has lived in a Jewish neighborhood the majority of his life, but he has never once tried to learn more about the people living there. That was until he met you.

Requested: No.

Word Count: 1.9k!

Author’s Note: This story is more of a platonic pairing. The reader teaches Peter about her religion because he’s curious. He watches the reader do certain things that she wouldn’t question, but he did because it was different for him.

I am Jewish but some of my facts could still possibly be incorrect. Feel free to correct me and leave feedback.

It was your first day at Midtown High and you were nervous. All of your life you have lived in a small town, but you’re family decided to move to a larger community. Your father was appointed to be the new Rabbi at the Modern-Orthodox synagogue in Queens. Although you were happy for him, it was hard to move to a big city.

It seemed weird to your father at first that you were even going to Midtown. There were many Jewish schools in New York that you could go to. You had a love for science and your mother didn’t mind sending you. You planned study lessons with your father after school so you could still learn Judaic studies.

Your family was Modern-Orthodox. You kept Kosher and Shabbat, which are laws directly from the Torah. However, you didn’t keep all of the typical Orthodox customs. Your mother didn’t wear a sheitel (wig for hair covering), but instead, she would wear scarves or baseball caps. Sometimes she didn’t cover her hair at all. You did participate in all of the Jewish holidays, not just Hanukkah and Passover.

You got ready for school like you normally would. You woke up, you got dressed in your skirt and long sleeve top, and then you prayed. After that, you went to the kitchen to make breakfast for yourself and then prepared your lunch. You saw that your sister, Gilah, hadn’t packed her lunch yet.

“Gilah, do you need me to help you pack your lunch?” you asked your younger sister.

“Yes, please. Ima (Hebrew for mom) told me to ask you before we went to school,” she replied. Your sister was 8 and she didn’t know how to pack herself a well-balanced lunch, so you would usually have to help her out.

You had 3 older brothers and one younger sister. Your brothers were in yeshiva (post high school program for Torah study) and they were out of the house so you took on the job of helping out your younger sister.

You packed lunches for the two of you, grabbed breakfast, and then made your way out the door to walk Gilah and yourself to school.

“Y/N, don’t forget that we need to call Bubbe after school to tell her about our day!” your sister said on your walk. Every day after school you would visit your grandmother and talk to her about your day. Since you moved, you would have to call her instead.

“I could never forget, Gilah,” you said. You dropped Gilah off at school and then made your way to Midtown. When you approached the building your first thought was: This school is huge. Typically, Jewish day schools are much smaller in size.

You made your way in and honestly, you were a bit overwhelmed by the size of the school. You got your schedule and made your way to your locker. You looked to your right and saw that your locker neighbors with a brown-haired boy. A very cute boy. At least that’s what you saw from his side profile.

“Hi, excuse me?” you asked. Then the boy turned around and you definitely confirmed to yourself that he was cute.

“Y-yeah?” he stuttered.

“I’m Y/N L/N. Ummm, I’m a junior and I’m new here. I was wondering if you could show me where the lab is?” you asked him. You were here a few minutes early. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

“Sure. I’m actually going there too. I’m Peter by the way. Peter Parker,” he said with a smile. You both then made your way to the lab for your first period class.

“So what made you move here?” Peter asked.

“My dad got a new job,” you said simply.

“What does your dad do?” Peter asked.

“He’s a Rabbi,” you said.

“So you’re Jewish? That’s so cool! Do you happen to live in Forest Hills?” Peter asked. Peter lived in Forest Hills which was mostly a Jewish neighborhood.

“I do actually,” you said.

“I live there too, but I’m not Jewish. I love my neighbors though. I even went to my neighbors Hanukkah party this year!” Peter rambled. “Sorry for rambling.”

“Don’t apologize,” you said and finally you were in the lab.

You were enjoyed Midtown. You liked the classes you were in and the students were really nice.

It was lunch and you made your way to the cafeteria. You spot Peter at a table with his friends. He locked eyes with you and waved.

“Can I sit with you?” you asked as you approached his table.

“Sure,” he said as patted the seat next to him.

You pulled out your lunch bag and then pulled out your salad. Before taking a bite, you said a quick prayer and then ate. Peter noticed you mumbling to yourself.

“Did you say something Y/N?” Peter asked curiously.

“I was just saying a quick prayer. No biggie,” you said as you kept eating. Peter was curious as to why you packed your own lunch. School lunch at Midtown came for free with tuition.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you pack your own lunch?” Peter said.

“Oh, I don’t mind the question. I keep Kosher,” you said. Peter settled for that answer. He didn’t know anything about keeping Kosher, but he didn’t want to pry. He would just look it up later.

“What is Kosher exactly?” Peter’s friend said.

“Ned! Can we not bother her about every little detail please?” Peter asked Ned.

“It’s okay to ask questions, Peter. In Judaism, people encourage us to ask. We are all about asking questions and learning more,” you said and then Peter urged you to go on.

“The word ‘kosher’ is Hebrew for ‘fit’ or ‘appropriate’, and kosher foods are those foods that are deemed fit by the regulations of kashrut, the Jewish dietary law,” you said.

“Is it really important?” Peter asked. He didn’t want to come off as rude, he genuinely wanted to know.

“It’s actually one of the most important aspects of our religion. It’s a way to uphold the fundamentals of our beliefs,” you said. “There are specific foods that are deemed appropriate by kashrut such as land animals that have cloven hooves and chew their cud. We’re allowed to eat most birds. And also no shellfish,” you continued.

“So you can’t eat bacon?” Peter asked.

“Correct, pigs don’t chew their cud. Also, they’re super cute,” you said with a giggle. “There are many more laws involving Kosher, such as symbols on snacks and stuff, but I don’t want to bore you.”

“That’s really interesting. Some of my Jewish neighbors don’t do that though,” Peter said.

“That’s because everyone’s on their own level. Not all Jews are the same. Some can be completely secular and only celebrate traditional holidays like Hanukkah, others keep the Sabbath and Kosher and follow all of the laws and customs, and some are in between,” you said.

“What are some of the key fundamentals of Judaism?” Peter said. He wanted to know more.

“Lunch break isn’t long enough for that, Peter. You could come over one day and we can have a discussion about it, if you want. Don’t feel pressured though. It’s a lot of information,” you said.

“You free today?” Peter asked. That questioned made you smile. This was all new to you too. All of your life you had Jewish friends so some of this stuff was hard to explain.

“Yeah. I just need to text my parents to see if they’ll be home,” you said as you began to text your parents. They texted you back and they didn’t really want you bringing a boy home, but you convinced them.

“They gave the okay. I just have to pick up my sister from school, call my grandmother, and then you can come over,” you said.

Peter, Ned, and you exchanged numbers. Ned decided on not coming this time around, which was fine.

Peter was nervous about coming to your house. What if he said something offensive by accident? He also didn’t want to come to your house empty-handed but he didn’t know which Kosher symbols your family held. He decided on shooting you a quick text before going to the store.

Peter: Hey. I don’t want to come to your house empty-handed. What Kosher symbols do you follow?

You read the text and smiled. He’s so sweet.

Y/N: That’s so sweet of you Peter. We usually get snacks with CRC, OU, and the k with the star around it :)

Peter: Ok thanks. I’ll be there soon.

You were excited that Peter was interested in your religion, but did he actually want to be your friend? Well, maybe he did. You didn’t really know.

He came to your house, treats in hand, and gave a light knock on your front door. He was met with what he assumes to be your mother.

“Hello. You must be Peter, come in,” she said with a welcoming smile.

“I brought you some coffee cake,” Peter said as he handed your mother the treat.

“I love this brand. Thank you, Peter. Y/N, come to the living room. Your friend is here!” your mom said.

“Hey Peter,” you said as you made your way to the living room.

“Hey,” he said.

“My dad should be home soon. He just had to go to prayer services at the synagogue,” you said.

Your father came home about five minutes later and he was eager to learn with you.

“Y/N, what books did you pick out for today’s session?” He asked as he made his way to sit by the two of you.

“Abba, I didn’t pick out any books today,” you said.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Well Mr. L/N... wait, or is it Rabbi L/N?” Peter asked.

“It’s usually Rabbi but whatever you’re comfortable with,” your father said.

“Well anyway, I came over because Y/N was teaching me about Judaism during school because I wanted to know more. We didn’t really finish talking about it,” Peter said.

“Why do you want to know more, Peter?” Your father questioned.

“Ummmm, maybe it’s because I lived all my life in this neighborhood and I never once acknowledged their religion,” Peter said.

“Maybe that’s because you don’t care about the religion someone’s affiliated with, you just care about the person that they are,” you chi med.

“I guess so,” Peter said simply.

“Why do you want to know more now?” your father asked.

“Because I met your daughter and I knew that I was going to be friends with the minute I saw her. I want to know more because it’s a part of who she is. I may not be religious but I want to know what makes Y/N the way she is,” Peter said. He was proud of his answer. You were proud of his answer.

Peter and you got along pretty well after that. You didn’t only talk about your religion. You talked about each other. You realized you liked a lot of the things that Peter liked as well. You’ve been hanging out ever since the first day of school. You really fit in with Peter and his friends. Peter would come over twice a week to hang out with you and to do homework. Peter kept asking questions about Judaism. You were happy to answer. He stopped asking as much because Peter knew that your religion wasn’t the only thing that made you who you are. It is a big part of your identity, but not the only part. He then started more questions about you. You were definitely happy to answer those questions.

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