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rottenpumpkin13 · 2 months

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Ok so I really wanna ask something 🙏🏽

How do you think this all panned out? After Genesis discovered the truth, did he ever actually confront his foster parents when he came to Banora? You know..before he killed them? Was it quick or did his parents desperately try to reason with him before their demise? In my mind I can imagine Gen was kind of losing it from the hurt and betrayal, especially for him and his clones to go out and slaughter all the townspeople but idk

I'm a sucker for angst (as we all are around here) x

The degradation not only affected his body but also his mind profoundly—though it does not excuse his actions. I know It's widely accepted that Genesis's parents were assholes, but I like to give them nuance like every parent in the franchise (minus Hojo fuck him) and make them dismissive, but caring in their own way, and it stems from a scene that I've overanalyzed to shit:

In that scene where Zack and Tseng find Genesis in the factory, Zack says that Gen's parents would’ve given Shinra false information without the need for threats, and Genesis’s demeanor completely shifts. In an earlier scene, Lazard alludes to how his parents could be lying to cover for him, so what was Genesis’s reaction here? Guilt? Anger because Zack pointed out his parents were loyal? Anger because Zack insinuated that his parents cared for him and Genesis knew they didn't?

He goes from lounging on the ground, seemingly smug and unaffected with his little Loveless copy, to abruptly standing up, proclaiming, "My parents betrayed me. They have always betrayed me from the very beginning," and hurling a ball of fire at Tseng. I might be reading too much into this, but that scene always stuck out to me.

In any case, you’ve given me a really good prompt and you asked for angst! So here you go:

He wasn’t blind to how privileged he was, even as a child. He knew some children in the village with unhappy home lives and parents who did not speak to each other, others whose financial conditions wrecked their families. Genesis became hyper-aware of that privilege when his best and only friend became one of them. Angeal lost his father young, being raised by a single mother in the latter half of his youth who did not make enough to support both herself and her son.

And then he met Sephiroth, another victim of an unhappy childhood, who had no parents and grew up confined to the walls of the same company that curated his birth.

Genesis was the odd one out in their trio, the only one who knew what a stable home life was like, to have two healthy parents—although he was not a healthy child. He was the only one who did not know what it was to not come home to two people at the end of the day, to not have every one of your whims indulged in. Granted, weren’t perfect.

As a child Genesis would call them strict. Genesis grew up needing to be perfect, to make them proud, someone that they could gloat over, which was why they posed no objection when he wanted to join SOLDIER. His father was a proud man, a prominent figure in Banora’s gentry, head of a house older than Banora itself. But he was fair, which was one of Genesis’ favorite qualities about him. He never discouraged his son’s theatrics, seeing them as opportunities for prestige. So he allowed Genesis fencing lessons, writing, and theater, and agricultural pursuits, all under the condition that he excelled in all areas. Genesis was set on pleasing them as a child, vying to be the best, the most awarded, and to give his parents all the awards they wanted.

This pleasing attitude began to wane when he hardened into a young man. He longed for independence, making use of his hidden base in the Banora mines, oftentimes favoring his hiding spot over his room back at home. Suffocated by his parents and their demands, he longed for independence, to move to the city and make a name for himself.

The arguments in the Rhapsodos house were plentiful when Genesis had grown into a reckless and headstrong teenager, always combative in his replies and with a tongue sharper than his sword.

But people grow and change, as did Genesis. He became a proud man, just like his father. Perhaps all the years he ingrained in Genesis's head that he needed to be the best finally got to him, and the need to be loved, glorified, and perfect became him.

His relationship with them became better as an adult, although his mother never changed.

Genesis understood his mother, granting her the compassion he did not give his father in his youth. She was at times overbearing, always fussing over him, with a hand over his forehead making sure his temperature was fine and an eye so critical and vain one would’ve thought he inherited from her had he been her biological son.

Mrs. Rhapsodos could not have children of her own, an upsetting condition to have with a social circle that prided itself over their heirs. The couple eagerly accepted the sickly baby when Shinra offered him to them. By their understanding, the baby had been a failure, not meeting Hollander’s standard and unfit to be theirs. The Rhapsodos did not see him that way. For people who had longed for a child, the one they were given was perfect beyond comparison. And perfect he would be, no matter how hard they would have to push him.

As a child, Genesis was careful not to track mud into the house. Springs in Banora were rough, with rain so insistent on decimating the local plantation, that it turned even the finest sand on the ground into mud. Mrs. Rhapsodos liked her plush white carpets, and Genesis knew the punishment for sullying the polished floors of the house would be severe. She knew where to hit her son where it hurt, knowing where he kept his flashlight he used to read late at night—unaware that the mako and enhancements in Genesis’s blood made him fit to see at night—and she knew to confiscate his books—unaware that when Genesis really liked a book, he memorized it to not need the pages to entertain himself.

It was a silly story to tell now as a man, trudging through the mud and rainfall in the middle of a Banora spring. He was coming back from Hollander’s lab with a stack of files under his arm, their contents so horrific that he thanked the rain for concealing his tears from any passersby. They had given him indefinite leave after the events in the training room. The wound in his shoulder wasn’t getting better, his duties were getting harder to fulfill by the day, so they sent him home until his condition improved.

But Genesis didn’t plan on staying there for long, especially after what he had just discovered, after what Hollander had confessed to.

His already fragile mind was a wreck.

Genesis didn’t bother to kick off his muddy boots when he went inside the house that day, watching the debris stain the white carpet, like the disbelief and rage quietly rolling off his shoulders. He rejected the maid who tried to get him to take his wet coat off, holding the files closer to him as he walked through the house. He heard laughter and the sound of talking and soft piano coming from the parlor room. It blended with the sound of his heavy breathing and footsteps. He stood at the doorway, holding the files tighter than before, forcing himself to look at them.

The question ‘Why?’ came in and out of mind, leveling with the hurt in his chest that refused to go away, competing with the pain in his shoulder that had become constant. His father sat at the piano, playing a few keys as he debated with his mother. She sat on the opposite armchair, working through her correspondences while they talked. As soon as their son’s presence became known, their conversation stopped at once.

Had he been a boy, he would’ve worried about his mother scolding him for the mud. Now he just stared at her. Mother was such a strong term.

“Genesis?” She sounded concerned and nothing but, putting her book down and rising from her seat at once. “Have you been out in the rain in your condition? Goddess help me,” she sighed, reaching instinctively for his wet coat, stopping to wipe away the rainwater from his face. “The cold can’t be good for your shoulder, darling.” He let her tug his coat away, keeping the files close to him. “What would happen if you caught a cold to complement your injury? What would people say? They'd think we're killing you to collect checks, that's what.”

His father rose from the piano, looking at him just as he did when he was a naughty child, staying out too long in the rain with Angeal and coming back with scraped knees.

“What were you doing out?” he asked, sinking his hands into the pockets or his trousers, looking at Genesis from his muddy shows to his wet hair. “Where did you go? Did anyone see you like that?”

Genesis stood still, watching.

He felt his mother's hand on the bandaged part of his shoulder, muttering something about having them changed and sterilized again.

“I went to visit Dr. Hollander,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “No one who matters saw me in this state, rest assured.”

His father nodded. “Is it your injury? Has the pain gotten worse?”

Genesis shook his head. “Just some conversation.” He glanced down at the files in his arms. “I needed to clarify some…things.” So many things.

His cryptic words fell on deaf ears to his mother, who gave his wet coat to a house staff before turning her attention back to him. “I’m going to run you a proper bath. The only thing you're going to achieve by bathing in the rain is an early grave.”

His mother brushed the wet hair out of his eyes. She was irritated, but she meant well, even if Genesis’s fortified mental state was slipping before he could realize that.

“I don’t think the rain can promise me something I already have.”

His mother's hand froze. “Genesis,” she said warningly.

His father laughed, likely trying to alleviate the tension and play into his son’s dark humor. “

Genesis looked down at her. He wasn't sure if none of it made sense, or if everything fell into place so perfectly he could no longer deny the absurdity of his life so far. His name was Genesis, for god's sake. The first one. The failed one. Half of Project G. Soon to be martyred for his belief that he could be anything but what he was born as—broken.

He shook her off, turning his back and starting out of the parlor. “I can take care of that bath myself. Excuse me.”

They were complacent in his pain right now. It could've been avoided if they had been honest with him from the beginning, instead of cradling him in lies.

“Are you sure?” She pressed. Genesis had started up the stairs when he was forced to look back at her again. It hurt every time he had to.

She was leaning on the edge of the banister. His father had come out to look at him too. They both looked concerned. It sickened him. How could they still feign concern even now? He was dying. It had already been done.

“I'm sure.” His voice cracked. He continued up the stairs, trying his hardest not to look at the photographs on the wall, the ones where the three look like a happy family, like he was their son instead of a fostered science project they were being paid to keep.

“Angeal called while you were out,” his father said. “He and Sephiroth have been trying to contact you. They told us to have you call them when you're home.”

Genesis nodded. “I'll see to it. Thank you.”

“I hope you haven't been ignoring them,” his father continued. “Need I remind you that a rift between the three of you could end up in the news.”

Genesis rolled his eyes.

When he reached the top, he leaned against the corner. He would never admit it to himself but he had to catch his breath after activities as minuscule as pulling his weight.

From there, he could hear their soft voices at the bottom when they thought he was out of earshot.

“You don't think it's scarlet fever again, is it?” his mother asked, exasperated. “He did look a bit red.”

His father hummed in amusement. “His hair is red and so is half of his wardrobe.”

“You know what I mean!”

He could hear a clinking glass that told him his father had gotten into the liquor at the table at the bottom of the steps. “Boys his age are complicated. How would you feel if you were put on leave for an injury you had no promised cure for?”

“Surely Dr. Hollander will—”

“I wouldn't put your faith in that man if I were you.”

“You watch your mouth. Hollander has done more to try to help him than any other doctor.”

“I'm being realistic, dear.” There was a pause. “The best we can do for him right now is pray and be here for him with whatever he needs.”

A choked cry from his mother. “Oh, my poor boy…Do you think he's lonely? He's away from his friends.”

Genesis could practically feel his father shake his own head as he took a sip of his brandy. “From what Angeal said, it's my understanding that he's not speaking to either Sephiroth or him.”

His mother huffed. “They were such good friends. He and Angeal have been attached at the hip since they were infants, and Sephiroth has been an amazing influence on him, don't you think?”

“Sephiroth did deliver the blow, dear.”

She gasped. “He's mad at him. Oh, what have I told that boy about holding grudges? Stubbornness that severe leads to a life of loneliness and unpopularity.”

“He's in pain, dear.”

“I'll go run him that bath, and perhaps drown him in oils if that is what it takes to wipe that frown off of his face. Goddess forbid anyone see him in that state. What would people say?”

Genesis heard his mother shuffling up the stairs. He stayed still. A single teardrop rolled down his cheek. He felt light-headed, gripping the wall for support as he caught his breath.

His father sighed disapprovingly. “He's a grown man—”

“—and as frail as he was the day we got him,” Mrs. Rhapsodos snapped.

Weeks passed, and Genesis found himself back at SOLDIER, back to his duties despite Sephiroth and Angeal’s reservations. Their conversations were rocky, with Genesis keeping to himself mostly, and opting to open up to Angeal mostly.

His shoulder still ached, a constant reminder of his vulnerability, but he pushed through the pain, determined to prove himself capable.

Returning to the familiar routines of SOLDIER life, Genesis buried himself in his work, throwing himself into missions with a fervor that bordered on recklessness. He sought solace in the adrenaline of battle, the rush of combat temporarily numbing the storm in his mind.

The revelations from his visit to Hollander lingered in his mind. He needed to do something, to act quickly and find a cure.

But as the days turned into weeks, Genesis found himself increasingly isolated, the rift between him and his friends widening with each passing day. Sephiroth and Angeal's concern only served to fuel his resentment, their attempts to reach out were met with cold indifference from him.

Genesis seized the first opportunity to embark on that mission to Wutai, abandoning the dreaded company that ruined his life, he found himself at the helm of a formidable force, half of SOLDIER standing behind him.

He did see his parents again after that. He confronted them the same week he returned with his army. Screams echoed through the halls of the old house, mingling with the sounds of shattering glass and the metallic tang of blood staining his hands. Tears streamed down his face as he unleashed the full force of his fury on his surroundings, refusing to address them as anything but mere strangers.

He hurled threats and accusations, his voice raw as he demanded answers, refusing to relent until they finally confessed.

His mother pleaded with him to let go of his anger. He told her that he was no son of hers. It was too late for reconciliation, and that night was the last he saw them.

Despite the pain and regret that gnawed at their hearts, his parents understood his reaction. They grappled with their own remorse, haunted by the realization that they had failed him in more ways than one. They lamented their shortcomings, wishing they had been more understanding, less rigid, more nurturing.

But their regrets remained unspoken, buried beneath layers of guilt and shame. And when the Turks came searching for Genesis in Banora, they chose to keep their encounter with him a secret, pleading with them, telling him that he was sick and not in his right mind.

In the end, their silence spoke volumes. Shinra got no information about Genesis's whereabouts from them, even if they knew about what was being done down at the factory.

Amidst the chaos of the degradation consuming his mind and body, there came fleeting moments of lucidity, like brief flickers of a dying flame in his mind. Genesis found himself trapped in an echo chamber of desperation, his thoughts consumed by the haunting verses of LOVELESS, recited on autopilot like a broken record.

For a time, he drifted in a haze, his vision clouded by hallucinations of grand battles and elusive cures, lost in a world of his own making. He moved through the motions of life like a puppet on strings, his once sharp mind dulled by the relentless onslaught of his deteriorating condition.

Autopilot became his default state, his every action guided by instinct and prophecy rather than reason. He grew distrustful of the path he walked, his anger and hurt festering like a poison within him.

It was at the tail end of his ruthless attack on Banora, when it all briefly returned to him. By then, his morals and senses had been corrupted by the insidious parasite eating away at his brain, transforming him into a cruel, unrelenting shell of his former self.

But in that brief moment of clarity, he saw them—his parents, their lifeless forms at his feet. It was a sight that pierced through the fog of his mind, stirring something deep within him. Despite the cruelty he had inflicted upon them, despite the lies and betrayal, his heart tightened with a pang of remorse. The copies had gotten to them, just as he knew they would.

So he did what little he could to atone for his sins. With trembling hands, he buried them, giving them the dignity of a proper burial. As he worked, visions of his past flooded his mind like a river, washing over him with bittersweet nostalgia.

He remembered the simple joys of his childhood—apple picking with his mother, following his father on business trips to the city.

But even as the memories washed over him, he knew they were nothing more than a facade, a cruel illusion designed to keep him ignorant and complacent.

"The grave at the house," Tseng's voice cut through the tension. "We found the remains of our people there as well."

Genesis's mind raced, the words of Loveless echoing in his ears like a mantra. "It didn't take much to have them send false reports," he said coolly, "Just some mild threats…"

Zack's voice broke through the haze. "They would have done that anyway. At least your parents would have."

It was like a glass shattering over Genesis's head. Slowly, he looked up, unfurling himself from his position on the floor. Rage simmered beneath the surface, threatening to erupt into a fiery inferno.

"My parents betrayed me," he spat, the words tasting bitter on his tongue. "They had always betrayed me from the very beginning."

As Zack's words sank in, Genesis felt a surge of indignation rising within him. How dare they speak of things they didn't understand, to accuse him as if he were the villain? He was the hero, the chosen one, destined for greatness.

Fire glowed ominously from his bracer.

They didn't know anything at all.

#ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #ffvii crisis core #final fantasy vii #genesis rhapsodos #ff7 crisis core #angeal hewley #writing

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thebitchkingofangmar · 3 months

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One reading of Fëanor that I haven't encountered yet but has recently become integral to my interpretation of the character and of the Fëanorian Oath (tho I'm sure I'm bound to find it somewhere if I do better research of academic databases and the Tumblr search system wasn't bullshit) is that Fëanor shouldn't have made the Silmarils in the first place.

One of the reasons I love this idea so much is that we know Fëanor does not care about should do, he cares about what he can do. "Enough" is a limitation, how far he goes, how excellent his craft is is not determined by notions like this. He would've made them anyway, even if Eru himself had told him not to.

I became of this idea when I was reading a series of theology essays about prophets in Jewish religiosity and history, as well as the Man-God relationship by Abraham Joshua Heschel. One of the essays is an address he made during the Civil Rights movement, in defence of it as an accomplice of racial liberation, and in it, while talking about racism and using religion to justify racism in an affront to God, he defines an Idol as "any god who is mine but not yours, any god concerned with me but not you, is an idol."

Aside from its context, it made me think of how the Fëanorian Oath changes the narrative around the Silmarils. We know they're sacred objects; so sacred Varda herself protected them. In this line, most of the reads/takes/interpretations about Fëanor and the Oath I have encountered revolve around either (a) him being justified in his pursue of what had been stolen from him because they're sacred objects; (b) interpretations about Fëanor's downfall rooted in his pride and direct Catholic/Christian interpretations of Genesis.

Starting with the latter, I've never liked those interpretations not because Tolkien's religiosity did not affect his world building, but because imo they are less concerned with the story in itself and the narrative relationships between themes, characters, actions and environment, and more with making Tolkien stories into fables, as if he was writing the moral reimagining of Paradise Lost. Man's a lot of things but he is a novelist through and through. He's not writing a fable.

Another reason I don't like them is because they forgo simpler, much more tangible interpretations between Tolkien characters and what is Holy, Sacred or Godly in the Legendarium, but also with religion in general: that not bringing harm onto others, because you recognise life in others as a manifestation of what is Holy, isn't about the great moral deeds of misdeeds of the Reprehensible and the Punishable but in the neutral. In the small things. In the not holding yourself as the only measure of the world and being curious enough to be open to others. You don't need to be Great to do this. This isn't about the Great Kings and Great Elves and the Names Which Go Down In History, but the everyday people, concerned with every day things, which is a huge theme in Tolkien.

This is when the Silmarils become idols, this is why he shouldn't have created them even if I know and love that he would've done it anyway. Because even as Varda put her hands on them to protect them, Fëanor is not the owner of the light of the trees. Who is Fëanor to command who gets access to the light of the trees and who doesn't? Who is Fëanor to decide who is worthy of their light and who is not? That is not his prerogative, and never will be. The Oath confirms the opposite, whoever: that the light is his and of whom he decides are worthy, and before the Oath, his resentment against other elves and the Valar about them being taken too.

Which takes me to the the other interpretation. He's justified to go after them because they're religious, sacred objects. And I agree! They are. And they're also still idols. The Fëanorian Oath still turns the light of the trees into something of only some are worthy, concerned with Fëanor and his descendents and no one else. Because if it were for the sake of the holy value of the Trees themselves, why act against other elves? Why make your children swear to take them from, by any means, from even the Valar and Eru himself? He was like this even before Melkor got in the picture.

If Fëanor had kept the secret, like Aulë when he created the dwarves, and Eru had confronted him about it, do you think he would've given them away? I don't think he would've. And even if they weren't sacred, Fëanor still had no special right over the light of the trees, or do great corporations, political tyrants or the like own the sun? Should they own water, the housing markets, food, healthcare, education, and all of the things people need to live?

This is why he shouldn't have created them in the first place. Because even if the elves did not revolve so heavily around God (which is a thing for another time) light isn't his to own. Light does not need to sacred or hold religious significance for it not to be his to own. I assure you that if, in real life, someone began trying to charge us for being under the sun (and honestly some corporations and political decisions already kind of try) we'd be rightfully pissed.

If I was an elf and Fëanor told me I couldn't partake in the light of the Trees because he was better than me, and because he was the only one who could even do a feat like preserving it, I would tell him to fuck off and to realise that if he hasn't noticed, the fruits of the Trees give light for free, what is he gonna do? Build an enclosure around them? lol, lmao even.

#and he'd murder me for it but we love him as he is #terrible perfect creature one day i will do the essay on how you're so similar to sauron you'd lose your mind if someone told you so #feanor #house of feanor #feanorians #the silmarillion #the silmarils #jrr tolkien #tolkien #tolkien legendarium #legendarium #meta analysis #character analysis #originals.txt #this has been living rent free in my head for days now

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mikussabbath · 2 years

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YOUR FAVORITE SEFIKURA FICS?!?!👀👀

I’ve really taken my time with answering this because I have 400+ Sefikura fics in my bookmarks, and I ended up going through all of them. It was very hard to decide. This ended up becoming more of a rec list, because I really find it hard to narrow it down when there are so many fics with this pairing that have brought me joy. Here are my very most favorites—I hope you’ll enjoy them too.

One shots:

Without Mercy, Without Grace by BloodyWar2411 - Probably one of, if not my most favorite sefikura fic ever. The banter, the dynamic, the inclusion of Angeal, Genesis, and Zack… it’s just so wonderful. Angeal is the time traveler this time, and drags Cloud back with him, which changes many, many things. This one will never get old.

The Brightest Star in the Universe by modeoheim - (Technically a two-shot but shhhh). Sephiroth is an alien who crash lands in Cloud’s backyard. Cultural differences, shockingly wonderful emotional vulnerability, interesting world building, and really fun smut due to Sephiroth’s alien appearance—this one has it all. And lots of feelings. God the feelings these two develop for one another are so amazing.

Shelter From The Light by AsreonInfusion, TekkaWekka - I hesitated between putting this one here and in the pwp section, but there is a fair bit of plot, so I’ve left it here instead. Vampires are a weakness of mine, and this fic really does them justice. There’s something wonderful about the fact that the situation depicted here very much should be fucked up, and yet it somehow isn’t. One of those fics that has me imagining what would come after, how their relationship would continue to build. Lovely.

i’m bunkered with ashen soul by shivadyne - Very, very fun world here that’s been built. Cloud is a vampire, old and powerful, but Sephiroth, as a dragon, surpasses him in both respects. There’s something wonderful about Cloud willingly giving himself over to Sephiroth to be a part of his hoard, who immediately starts doting on him and indulging Cloud’s whims. One of those fics that makes you itch for more.

Alone Together by Up_sideand_down - This one has a super, super unique concept, in which Sephiroth and Cloud are both shoved into one body by Hojo. The hijinks that ensue with that are interesting, but the closeness they crave once they’re separated is wonderful.

That Deep Dark by modeoheim - Haunting and dark. Sephiroth really, truly feels like something very far from human. I like to interpret this one in a sappier light, but the ambiguity of it is amazing. Godly Sephiroth deciding that Cloud is His is really wonderful.

corsetry by silentsaint - I am not sure why this fic stands out so much to me. Or rather, I’m not sure how to describe the way I feel about it. One of the most beautiful uses of long, elegant descriptions and wordplay. The dynamic between these two, with Cloud all wrapped up in a wedding dress… there’s something about this that’s ethereal in and of itself, and it’s uniquely compelling.

Rushes and Reeds by corvidkouhai - Short but sweet. The vibes here are immaculate. This piece, and the energy it captures, really inspired my kelpie fic I wrote for Sefikura week. Always a sucker for mermaid/mermaid adjacent fics, and this one does such a lovely job with Sephiroth’s ethereal inhumanness.

Like Mother, Like Son, Like New by jukeboxhound - This is definitely more of a character study of Sephiroth, but it’s wonderful all the same. It all leads beautifully into seeing Cloud and Sephiroth together. I have a weakness for hair washing, so this is one of my favorites for that reason, but also for the softness that’s here in spite all of the acknowledged hurts Cloud and Sephiroth have caused one another.

Inter-Dimensional Life Strategy Seminars (Attendance Mandatory) by dustofwarfare - Crack but very fun and very amusing. Probably not as fun unless you’re familiar with all of the series that this plays with, but it’s quite funny if you are. My love for Sephiroth and Cloud hating Dr. Phil knows no bounds.

Longfic/chaptered fics:

Telling Time With a Broken Watch by CloudStrifeIsMySpiritAnimal - I wish I could provide you with a link to this one, but it’s sadly been deleted. I think about it all the time, though. I don’t think I’ve seen any other fic be able to go as dark and deep with the enemies dynamic and still somehow pull it back on track toward something resembling a healthy romance. The mental bond was amazing, the banter and humor was great. I miss this one a lot.

Rectify by unknownlifeform - Do I have to explain why I love this one? I kept up with weekly updates for around a year and I swear it was always the highlight of my week. Sephiroth is a God and Cloud is rather blasphemous, which is a wonderful dynamic in and of itself, but this goes so far beyond that. It’s. I don’t have words. (And also I still think about the Saferoth smut in this fic. We were truly blessed with that).

The Little Guy by TokiMirage - One of, if not my most favorite longfic for this pair. A time travel fic in which Cloud is Very Done and decides fuck it, he’s not getting involved at all. Time to be a janitor. And yet somehow, of course, fate brings him back to Sephiroth time and time again. Cloud’s personality and characterization here is great—he’s SO sassy and Sephiroth is drawn to him because of it.

What Is My Life by NightmareDaybreaker - This one is still ongoing and I’ve been following it since the very beginning, which has been such a treat. The story sees Sephiroth coming back to life post-AC, but there are so many twists and turns and the plot is so fun that it feels really unique. The characterization is wonderful, I love the banter, and the way the sexual content is written is to die for—awkward and silly in the best of ways, and it feels so very real and intimate and soft. I adore the way that feelings are portrayed in every part of this fic. There are also multiple pieces of art with each chapter, done by the author. They’re all really wonderful, and I love the way they draw Cloud and Sephiroth.

Cadet Strife’s Adventures in the Big City by Munchkin47 - Fun, sweet little soulmate AU. Cloud is so very sassy, and there is so much sexual tension throughout. It’s really wonderful seeing Cloud grow from half-rate trooper to SOLDIER Third. Very fun.

Patience is a Virtue by Iciseria - In which Cloud decided to work as a lab assistant instead of a trooper after failing the SOLDIER exam and everything changes. This fic is… so fucking soft. It’s crazy that it manages it in spite of the setting. One of those wonderful fics in which Cloud gets to know who Sephiroth really is, who in turn feels Seen for the first time in his life.

Call it Magic by kzam - All of kzam’s fics are just… so wonderful. This one plays with some very interesting dynamics in regards to the connection that Cloud and Sephiroth share. As always with kzam, the world building is really phenomenal, and is worth the read alone.

Deep Waters by unknownlifeform - Look. I’m a sucker for mermaids/mermaid fic. But this stands out even from my usual love of that sort of AU. Sephiroth is a big scary abyssal mer, and him and Cloud kind of hopelessly, awkwardly fall in love. The cultural + size difference is superb, and the plot itself is super riveting. Love this one.

Your Wings by WindsOfTime - Cloud is such a bamf in this one dear god. Takes the usual boring CEO premise and turns it on its head. Cloud is Sephiroth’s assistant, yet he is very much the one in charge. And then there’s the wings and the bigger plot and Angeal, Genesis, and Zack… this one is very, very fun.

PWP:

Rumour Has It by AsreonInfusion - Saferoth tentacle porn and the very start of Feelings. Need I say more?

Reverb by Carressa - One of my favorite smutfics for these two. It plays with some really, really interesting dynamics in terms of how Reunion and puppet!Cloud can be used sexually, and yet somehow is still soft for it? There’s a lot of love beneath the surface here.

Mukbang for Monsters by Fictional_Nympho - This one is a really interesting combination of fun tropes, from camming to monsterfucking to top Cloud, oh my! Really just a whole lot of fun.

Blinded Love by Gregora - Starts off as anonymous sex, but then feelings get involved. Sephiroth has a tentacle dick which is very fun. It’s a source of insecurity for him and very appealing for Cloud—the dive from anonymous sex to feelings in this one is really lovely.

Hazy by esama - Even though this one is a pwp, the plot is super compelling. Time traveler (maybe?) Cloud who’s forgotten most everything except his instinct to kill Sephiroth. Which turns into fucking Sephiroth. Lots of humor, neat dynamic/setup.

The Plan, and How It Went Wrong by XpaperplaneX - While technically this is a bit bigger than what I’d consider a pwp, it is filled with wonderfully written smut, and that’s kind of what the whole plot revolves around. I’m a sucker for pretty men in pretty clothes, so I love the games Sephiroth and Cloud play with one another in that regard.

#sefikura #sefikura rec #sefikura fic rec #answer sabbath #yes yet another silly themed tag I invented even tho it’s unlikely I’ll revive many asks

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stcecelia · 8 months

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Women in Scripture Day One: Eve

(first off, sorry for the delay in post. We have class every Tuesday evening, but this week has been crazy with work and also starting my online college classes. anyway on to my notes ! )

It seems very fitting that for our first lesson on women in scriptures this semester, we discussed the very first woman in the scriptures: Eve

To start the class, our instructor posed us the question: "How does Eve's life and example deepen my conversion to the Savior?"

Then we began reading scripture. We bounced between the book of Moses and the book of Genesis, but I mainly used the book of Moses since it's the JST :)

The first Scripture we read was Moses 3:18, which reads, "And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him."

To be honest, I was never a fan of this verse. I didn't like the implication that God created women only to be a helper to men. That seems to be the most widely held belief in the general christendom; God created women second, and only to be subservient and submissive. Lower in rank and duty and worth.

You could say I've been a feminist my entire life, even well before I knew what the word was or its meaning (my mom tells me that when I was little, I used to constantly ask why when I turned twelve I wouldn't be able to get the priesthood like my twin brother would. It didn't seem fair to me as a young child that had been told my entire life growing up I as a girl could do anything a boy could do, and it still didn't for a good portion of my life. It was only until a couple years ago that I really grasped why, and was ok with it). So this idea that in my God's eyes I was lesser than any man angered me. I believe I wasn't put on this earth to be a lower, side-kick, passive, baby-making, subdued woman that would sit idly by while the more important men in my life made decisions and gained educations and ruled over me.

But here's the thing, that was never Heavenly Father's intention for me, or for Eve.

In the original Hebrew scripture, the word for "help meet" is "Ezer Kenegdo". "Ezer" means "help", but not in the way our modern English language would suggest. Instead of just being a passive helper, being an "Ezer" means to strengthen, protect, and provide sanctuary. "Ezer" was used twenty-one other times in the Old Testament, and was only otherwise used to describe protection against the greatest forces of evil, from armies, and for divine guidance and strength for all of humankind. Here are a few of these verses:

Exodus 18:4 "For the God of my Father, said he, was mine help [ezer] and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." Psalm 115:9 "O Israel, thou has destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help [ezer]." Hosea 13:9 "In me [the Lord] is thy help [ezer]."

With this knowledge we can say with absolute certainty that to be an "Ezer" is to be a stand in for God's protection and love.

"Kenegdo" is generally thought by scholar's to mean "opposite or corresponding to". Like a puzzle piece, is what my instructor said.

Combining these two words together, we know that God created Eve to be a different but important and equal counterpart to Adam, with special power to comfort and protect against evil. How wonderful is that!!! Whenever we as women serve or help protect our communities and families, we are fulfilling our God given roles as ezer kenegdos.

And this was just the first half of class!

For the second half, we discussed the story of Eve being tempted by Satan to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which led to her telling Adam to eat of the fruit, which led to their expulsion from the garden.

There are a few students in the institute who converted to the church only recently, and shared their previous religions perspectives on this scripture. That Eve was stupid and foolish, easily tricked by a much smarter man, and cursed all of mankind with the Fall that we should live in evil and misery and sin. But we are blessed to know, through living prophets and modern revelation, that the Fall was a necessary part of Heavenly Father's plan. In order for us to become more like Him, we need to have knowledge.

Lehi taught Jacob, "....wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin". It reminds me of the final season of The Good Place, which is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, where when the protagonists finally make it up to heaven they find that the constant state of happiness has become insurmountably boring, and there's no real joy to be found. We can only appreciate wonderful things if we know what it means to be miserable.

2 Nephi 2:25 (the best scripture verse, IMO) sums it up entirely for us: "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy."

Eve knew this, and she made the right decision. She was never remorseful, saying "were it not for our transgressions we ... never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient" (Moses 5:11).

So, how does Eve's life deepen my conversion to the Savior? Through her, I can be an ezer to the people in my life, and can comfort myself with the knowledge that through her's and Adam's transgression, I can find greater knowledge on both spiritual and worldly matters, and make mistakes that will lead me to grow closer to my Heavenly Parents. Through the "Fall" and the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ, I can repent for my sins and imperfections and develop into the woman God knows I can and will become

Amen!

#women in scripture #institue #lds institute class #ldsblr #pro lds #pro mormon #mormon positive #tumblrstake #queerstake #mormonism #Eve #adam and eve #The Fall #the garden of eden #scripture #this was a great class!! im so excited for the next one #I hope this is coherent for anyone who reads it haha I was kinda word vomiting #next week is Sarah who was Abraham's wife!

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nitewrighter · 9 months

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The overwatch genesis anime shorts were AMAZING! specially Aurora's message in part three, that made me cry. I wonder how the omnics would react to the documentary.

Ramattra: The narrative is never our own. Is that our fate, as mere... creations of humanity? Even with the gift given to us by Aurora, that miracle is only framed in the context of 'it stopped the attacks on humans.' Our souls are seen only as positive in that they make us hesitate from pulling the trigger on those who would just as easily be our destroyers. They aren't seen as an equivalent to humanity, but rather a thin buffer from the destructive nature they assume we have. We only need step out of line once to see how much 'humanity' they think we have.

Zenyatta: I had always framed Aurora's decision as... graceful and miraculous. To see her step into that machine and be taken apart... it is much to think about. Indeed, her bravery was always a part of her ascension, and it is poignant that her creator was there at the very end, to see that transformation... it is easy to forget that sacrifice of the physical self was a necessary part of it.

Orisa: "You have this one life. Choose well." Does that still count if Efi has several backups of my AI? *quietly* I hope it counts.

Echo: It's hard to really want to live up to Echo's wish for you when you're constantly being compared to her. Can I really say my life is mine?

Lynx Seventeen: ...so what was up with that one omnic guy's lips? Am I the only one distracted by that?

#overwatch #overwatch genesis #zenyatta #ramattra #orisa #echo #lynx seventeen

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theoreticallycatholic · 6 days

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Day One: Genesis 1-3

4/22/24

I was gonna read through chapter 4 but this post was getting pretty long already so I decided to stop here. I did say I was prone to rambling...

Definitely not going to go this in-depth every single time 😅 my 12th grade Sacred Scripture class just happened to spend a lot of time on the Creation narrative so I have a lot of previous knowledge I want to share.

Genesis 1

Looking through my 12th grade theology notes on the creation narrative, I have a table there that looks like this:

I wish I had taken more in-depth notes. I feel like there should be much more to say on this but I can't elaborate. I think I understand what that means but not enough to explain it. Although, thinking of the sun, moon and stars as being created to "rule" light makes the idea of light being created before the sun make a little more sense to me.

"God said, 'let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit of its own kind within it." Gen 1:11

Okay, maybe slightly off-topic, but I've always wondered if there were any foods that Jesus didn't like. Because I mean, he's God, so he created them, but he's also human, so I would assume that maybe that means he had the human experience of having certain foods he didn't care for. Did he ever eat a vegetable as a kid and then go "why did I make this"?

"God said, 'let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the earth.' Gen 1:26

Let US make man in OUR own image, in the likeness of OURSELVES. I never noticed that before. I thought it might just be this translation but I went and checked RSV and NAB and they both say that as well. Is God referring to himself as the trinity? All the way back in Genesis chapter 1? Or...am I just...thinking too hard about it?

This is one of the scenarios where I wish I could understand Hebrew because I want to go and read this passage in the original Hebrew. I'm marking this verse to come back to later.

Also, my favorite explanation of the Trinity and the one that makes the most sense to me is this: if human beings are made of a body, soul, and a will, and they are made in God's image, then God is also made of a body, soul, and a will—with Jesus as the body, the Father as the soul, and the Holy Spirit as the will.

Genesis 2

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that you shall die." Gen 2:17

From the footnotes: Eating from this tree means usurping the divine privilege of deciding what is good and what is evil; the temptation is to proud independence, questioning God's judgement of good and evil.

This is indeed the way the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was explained to me in 12th grade, which I am thankful for because it used to be so confusing to me when I was younger. I thought it meant that eating from the tree would grant the ability to tell the difference between good and evil, and I could never understand how that would be a bad thing.

It also makes perfect sense because it seems the root of practically all problems in society is that everyone has their own ideas about what constitutes moral goodness. Even as a bad Catholic who struggles to wrap her head around her own faith I cringe every time I hear the "you have your truth, I have mine" line.

"The LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper as a partner.'" Gen 2:18

My mom quotes this verse whenever my dad does something dumb.

"Then the LORD God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. The LORD God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man." Gen 2:21-22

According to my theology teacher, the ancient Hebrews believed the soul was contained in the chest/lungs and that the rib protected the soul; so Even being formed from a rib means women are built to be protectors of the soul..? Or...something like that. Again, I wish I'd taken more thorough notes.

There was also this thing I heard from somewhere else about how calling women inferior to men because Eve was created from a piece of Adam is dumb, because the pattern of creation is that each new thing God created was better than the last, and Eve was the last thing he created. But that sounds like a point a radical feminist would make so I'm sure that wasn't the whole explanation haha because I'm fairly certain the speaker was a conservative Catholic man.

Genesis 3

"Now, the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?'" Gen 3:1

I have always wondered why the devil is portrayed this way and that's still something I don't quite understand.

From the footnotes: In Hebr., 'snake' and 'dragon' are the same word; the dragon will lose its proud stance and become wormlike.

If we're imagining the serpent in the garden as not a tiny talking snake, but a giant monstrous serpent, it's sort of weird that Adam just...lets it chat with his wife. Because he was standing right there—

"She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it." Gen 3:6

Another thing my theology teacher said: "Every covenant failure begins with a man failing to stand up for his bride."

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths." Gen 3:7

I have a few things to say about this verse. The first is just that I've heard the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is believed to be a fig tree, both because it mentions Adam and Eve sew together fig leaves here and also because of that one passage in the New Testament where Jesus curses a fig tree.

Also, I noticed that the very first thing that happened after committing original sin was that Adam and Eve felt shame and immediately began to hide themselves from God.

I think there has to be some significance to their being ashamed of their naked bodies, something that relates to how throughout history human sexuality has been perverted, but it's not something I can put into words right now.

"He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you been eating from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?' The man replied, 'The woman you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.'" Gen 3:11

This was something else I heard: obviously God already knew that they ate from the tree; what he is doing here is giving them the chance to confess. Like, as in the sacrament of reconciliation, I think.

Also, Adam immediately pointing fingers at his wife like a kid trying to get out of a punishment. Very classy of him. Eve also tries to blame the serpent but I feel like it's a little worse that Adam tries to blame her, since they are supposed to be partners who love and protect each other.

"'I shall put enmity / between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and hers; / he will bruise your head / and you will strike his heel.'" Gen 3:15

First of all, does anyone know why verses 14-19 are written in this format that's reminiscent of books like Psalms and Isaiah?

Secondly—although, this is probably common knowledge so I probably don't need to say this here—

The woman's offspring = Jesus

He will bruise your head = Jesus will triumph over sin

You will strike his heel = At the same time, he will suffer and die

Okay! So, that was Genesis chapters 1 through 3. This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be. Again, please do not expect this level of detail from me through this whole series. 😅

The thing is, I find this stuff fascinating and I can talk about it like this but when it comes to actually believing it I have such a hard time wrapping my head around it. Even with everything I learned in that class there's still so much I don't understand.

I suppose there will always be things I don't understand, because there are things that we don't even have definite answers to. And those are the gaps that faith is supposed to fill.

Here's one of the stupid questions I have that I mentioned in my first post: does reciting prayers make a difference?

Right now I especially struggle with prayer and reciting prayers such as the Our Father is the only way I feel I'm capable of praying right now. But it doesn't feel like anything. It just feels like me saying words, even if I try to reflect on what they mean. Should I still say them anyway? What value does it have if I don't feel like I'm actually connecting with God?

Thank you to anyone who actually took the time to read this whole thing (if anyone did, that is...) and especially thank you to the support I have already received. I feel welcomed :)

#oh boy this is long #bible study #christianity #christian #catholicism #catholic #bible #genesis #sacred scriptures

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gabbasposts · 8 months

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]Random rambling[

Subject: FF7 Sephiroth along with few other characters 💀 idk why, I just felt like talking about this

Gif not mine

I’ve always been someone who just used to reach for my moms perfume before heading out because I wasn’t someone as scent savvy when it came to how I smelt 💀 as long as I smelt like my ass was washed and I put on deodorant, and my clothes just came out the washer and dryer, that’s all that mattered.

However, at the start of this year, I was really into my FF7 phase and I ended up going on Etsy looking for Genesis Rhapsodos stuff (my problematic fave next to Anakin) and ended up discovering a Sephiroth inspired perfume. Now if your a ff7 fan, you know they already have a officially perfume for both Cloud and Sephiroth but they discontinued it, and to buy the original from re-sellers and stuff, it’s up to four-hundred dollars… ($440 was the last price I remember seeing for Sephiroth’s that a Craigslist seller was re-selling which is pretty accurate, considering they said it was un-used and this perfume was made in 2010, and I believe it was initially $70 dollars or more when they first sold it)

Safe to say, I didn’t buy it because one, I’m a broke college student. And two, even if I had money I would’ve cried seeing up to four-hundred dollars leave my account even if I really wanted it 😭

So I bought the one on Etsy by TaterRoundsBeauty and I LOVE it. It smells so good, and while I initially imagined him having a more smoky, musk, wood smell (you know, just casually smelling like leather and all the places he’s burnt) it has some scent notes I really like that I definitely feel like he’d like.

Even with younger Sephiroth, while he doesn’t give me the vibe he’s particularly into smelling like earth, I feel like he does like things that are laid back and almost in a sense, very “cogent” to smell. Which could also describe his general look to be honest 💀 very obvious but still holds that sense of impressiveness and allure. (If anyone probably smells super earthy, in my opinion it’d be Angeal, Aerith for sure but with more floral scents, and honestly I want to throw Rude in there too 👀)

Like Cinnamon, Lavender, Amber, and Pine are the main notes I immediately can smell when I spray it on before the other notes like eucalyptus and patchouli, and there’s more notes to it like Vanilla, violets, Germanium vetiver and sandal wood, but over all, it’s not overbearing (thank goodness because I’m going to be honest I can never tell when I use to much and have to be informed by my mom or sister 💀) but I can definitely say it’s a smell I definitely associate with Sephiroth now when I see him 😂

Realistically let’s be for real, other than his hair being the real deal for his recognizable smell, he probably smells like full fledged leather unless he sprays his bare chest with perfume too.

But please, if anyone who’s a perfume maker who’s reading this, can you make a Genesis scent?? I need to smell that problematic chestnut haired man. He’d definitely have hints of smoke and possibly cinnamon in his scent, but overall he’d smell luxurious (pre-freak out Genesis 💀 I doubt they hand out perfume in Deepground, he’s probably seething down there smelling like swamp ass 🤡)

Again, this was so random and uncalled for but I might do headcannon’s based off specific scent note vibes I get from all the characters, but yeah 💀 whoever took time to read this, thanks for indulging into my bullshit. 😂

#final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #genesis rhapsodos #gabbasdumbthoughts #even though this is about ff7 can someone make a luke Skywalker perfume too??#when I get paid I’m definitely going to order the cloud one 😤

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luci-j · 3 months

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Okay, since I had a ton of fun with the last ones, some more headcannons of characters from my fic series! <3 This time we're going to focus on Lir Tam-Lin, with some facts, headcannons, and background info.

* He started off as a little bit of a one-off joke I made with a friend who is a FREQUENT head cannon buddy of mine, and I love that for them. Literally just something along the lines of "wouldn't it be funny for Rocket to be walking down a hall at Nova Corps and seeing someone who looks like Meti??"

* His last name, "Tam-Lin," is from an old Scottish ballad that is strikingly close to "Beloved and the Bastard". His first name, "Lir," is that of an Irish sea god. It was kept because it is also the name of Elphaba's son in the "Wicked" series, and that was too much a coincidence to pass up since Meti has basis from this story (down to his mother's voice claim is Idina Menzel!). This is all a loving homage to my headcannoning friend too, since they've been so instrumental in how this series has turned out.

* Speaking of voice claims, his is Timothy Omundson, who played Lassiter on "Pysch". When I write a character, it helps me to have a voice to work with in real life, and Omundson hit a lot of the marks for me with how tense he could sound but also how warm he could be.

* Omundson is a stroke survivor, and while this initially wasn't part of Lir's character, it quickly became one. Anyone who's read at least a little bit of my stuff probably has a handle on the fact showing those with disabilities is a big thing to me. While I have some disability issues of my own (with learning, a few other things), I also have a disabled parent. Seeing things through her eyes made me want to write more characters who were disabled, yeah, but also bad ass.

* Lir is from the planet Hill Temar, is another Celtic reference, this for the Hill of Tara, which factors in a lot of Irish mythology.

* His ship is named the Bán Pangar, which is yet ANOTHER Celtic callout. This is a 9th century Irish poem about a cat.

* Lir is really into Gundam models and mecha anime. His favorite is Gundam Wing, since it was his introduction series, and he is also a fan of things like Big O and Neon Genesis Evangelion

* He also has a soft spot for magical girl anime but would die of embarrassment if anyone found this out

* He was a fan of mecha things from childhood. He grew up in a very pastoral home world, and moving to Xandar was a shock to him. He didn't have many friends, but he always loved going out to watch machines or see ships fly

* Some of his favorite activities when he was a child was bow hunting, fishing, and collecting pebbles by the stream

* He has crow brain, much like Meti does, and loves collecting things

* He may be a little terse with Richard Rider and Sam Alexander, but would also take a bullet for either of them

* His mother is an Eternal. Being part Celestial as well, he has the potential for a lot of power

* While it hasn't been stated in text yet, his mother's name is Morga

* He loves music from anime and JPop. He's stolen away to more than one concert on Earth and watched from a distance

* He credits his dexterity to building models. While he does have exosuits that allow him movement with both hands, he still prefers using one hand to work. It's mostly out of habit now.

* Loves his weapons. Being a sharpshooter is what initially got him noticed by Nova Corps. Being a natural tacticle genius is what got him thrown into the position of Nova Prime. He actually has a lot of respect for Rocket, even if they butt heads a lot.

* A bit lonely and has trouble expressing it! His wife is also the only woman he ever dated, and he was about 27. He has a hard time opening up to people, but really wants to make a connection

* Loves kids and babies and is a natural with them. This is something he gets from his mother

* Owns about ten different outfits. Wants to branch out in his style currently, but doesn't know where to begin. With being half Meti, there is hope for him.

* A hopeless romantic at heart and a bit shy about it. Poor guy. <3

#rocky raccoon and the knowhere man #rocket raccoon #meti geer #dr. meti geer #gotg rocket #gotg #guardians of the galaxy #fan fiction #lir tam lin #lir tam-lin

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andrewwtca · 1 year

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hello, I am andrewwtca and this is my self-indulgent sunflower seeds analysis

if you don't know, I wrote this sunnflower fanfic called sunflower seeds in the rearview mirror and it is my pride and joy! long story short, Sunny and Basil go on a road trip together and Shit Gets Fucked Up. and I put a lot of metaphors, symbolism, all that jazz in it. like I said, I am so very proud of it,,,

so this, is my analysis of... drum roll please... Sunny's horrible grip on his memory!

my attempt at an introduction

Chapter 1

A part of him wishes he had a CD to keep them both from going crazy in silence but he hasn’t bought one in four years and he isn’t about to bring nursery rhymes with him. The radio signal couldn’t be that bad, right?

(the radio signal is indeed not that bad, Sunny. it's a shame you'll never use it because I completely forget about it)

Sunny has a very selective memory - he's not at all conscious of what he is choosing to remember and forget, much like how he didn't want to forget the incident.

he is also very, very aware that he has missed out on a lot, saying that while everyone around him grew up, he is still a child with nursery rhymes. Sunny has no intentions to 'grow up' however, choosing to remain in this mindset. even when Basil confronts him later on in the bathtub at their motel, saying he's still a child, Sunny makes no direct motion to prove anything else is true, other than saying he's sixteen.

Sunny is aware of the time that he's lost and the time he continues to lose - the first step to gaining that time back is to figure out where he is.

what time is it, anyway?

Chapter 2

Basil looks at the corner of his eye and Sunny settles on the passenger side, glad Basil can't stare at his eye patch. "The Boy Is Mine, Brady and Monica. I think it's popular in our town but nobody has talked to... I-It's popular on the radio. Been topping... Topping charts. The announcer always goes on rants about how popular it is.”

Chapter 2

"Well… Oh, Disney released some new movies! Remember how we used to watch The Little Mermaid under the covers in your living room?"

...

But before he got rid of it, Sunny would always invite his friends to come watch because his set was the best out of all of theirs. They would play video games on Kel's Genesis, which he would lug every weekend, or watch whatever movies they could get their hands on.

When The Little Mermaid was released, the whole group was obsessed with it. That was overtaken by when Aladdin released, but the story about the girl who wishes she could walk on the world struck a chord with them all.

...

"Let's see, Disney released... Lion King and Hercules? I want to think you've seen them but if you haven't... Left, and you don't have a set, how could you have?"

Sunny is struggling to get a grip on time, so he begins to take out specific moments in his memory that references such events. he doesn't do this for the rest of the trip, just at the beginning: he needs to know where he is, what time it is.

he needs to know where in time and space he is, because he's had an ego death or something, his entire identity has just been retconned or something

for the rest of the trip, Sunny does not think about the song or the promise of movies (on that note, Basil doesn't bring them up either, but I'm giving him a pass... for now). his memory doesn't find a need for anything time-relevant anymore.

he knows what the most popular song is now, as he was worried about music before he left. and he was able to not only hear Basil talk, but got to catch up on something brought up. simple and clean problem and resolution.

he knows he's missed out and it left him feeling left out; now, with the promise of being included once again, Sunny no longer feels the need to focus on the names of anything, the dates of anything. his memory has given him an outing as he has solved the first question: what time is it, anyway?

now to the more pressing issue: Basil.

sharing and losing fixations, sharing and losing memories

Sunny is prone to get fixated on things (autistic Sunny supremacy) easily, and those things can change the very thought process of his brain... so, what happens when Basil (re-)introduces Sunny to Greek mythology?

(this is in no way me just projecting how much I like Greek mythology onto them, I swear)

Chapter 5

Things makeshift Greek tragedies have that real Greek tragedies don't:

Basil and Sunny, that's for starters. They don't have an angel of Gaea and an angel of Helios, turn against their own and fly towards each other, burn their wings and leave their nests just to hold each other (or try to);

Chapter 11

“Yeah.” Basil nods and it’s enough to draw Sunny's eye up from the water. Basil doesn’t turn, doesn’t run, and the two of them stare at each other. Study each other, like artists. Maybe they are artists. They created a mess. They created a tragedy. A play—

Chapter 15

Sunny won't let death be how his story ends. He's not a fucking tragedy. He gets his fucking happy ending.

Sunny begins to think in terms of tragedies. he begins to thinks in terms of there is someone bigger tugging at his strings... but why? Sunny knows little about Greek mythology, other than the stories he and Basil used to read as kids, so why get so fixated on it?

it's a horrible attempt to stop the descent of forgetting.

Sunny, to a subconscious level, is aware that there are blanks in his memory. to a subconscious level, he is aware that he keeps missing out... after all, that's the reason why he came.

Chapter 1

The whole point of this is to forget. Or, at least that’s how Basil pitched it to him. And it’s a pretty worthwhile idea, so Sunny is going to do just that. He’s going to sit in the front seat of the old car with a faint scent from the swinging car freshener, and he’s going to think about the street lights flickering over him and he’s going to forget, even if it’s for a bit.

with the intentions of forgetting, Sunny came on this trip - he wants to rekindle with Basil, yes, but how can you do that when there's so much weighing you down? so, Sunny lets himself forget.

oh dear. Sunny, that is a horrible mistake.

Sunny WENT ON THIS TRIP TO FORGET. and then HE BECOMES SHOCKED WHEN HE DOES. oh foolish one, why did you sow?

nonetheless, Sunny must face the consequences of his attempt to forget, directly after going through the biggest fight of his life as a consequence of forgetting (are any of you noticing a cycle?), and it's that by forgetting all the hurtful things, he can barely hold on to the good things.

because existing is all of it. it's the bad, it's the good, and if you reject one, you reject the other.

Chapter 15

...until they’re in the light and running and they can

live.

Live with their sorrow. Live with their hope. Live with their anger. Live with their love.

this realization is not one Sunny has right away. no, we have some pressing issues, such as forgetting: so, Sunny goes on this trip to feel happy (it's literally in the description of the fic) so how is he going to remember?

well, he must trick his brain to associating the bad things with the good.

Basil, through all their conflict, all their hurt, is a good thing in Sunny's life.

Chapter 8

He feels his heart shatter and he whispers, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Basil.”

so, to remember, he begins to associate hardships with something Basil likes: Greek mythology. tragedies, specifically. even when it's something small, Sunny is tricking himself to remember. he's tricking himself to remember the hardships, so that he can live once again.

when things get hard, he wants to escape. so when things get hard, he remembers Basil, Basil's interests, all things that make him happy. and you know what, it works! it works until he is confronted with the horrible truth that he has only remembered a fraction of what has happened.

acceptance

Chapter 2

"I think... There's these traveling stops," Basil says.

Chapter 12

Sunny studies the photo. There’s a small brown building, a rest stop probably, in the way of the sky in brilliant shades of blue. The sun is blurry and Sunny tries to remember where they were but it’s not getting any clearer. It’s like the closer he gets, the more obscured it is. Remembering the truth wasn’t hard—once the pieces were there, he just had to glue them together in order and accept it. There’s nothing for him to accept here, everything so blurred, so obscured, so off.

(don't kill the messenger y'all but I think Basil went to a traveling stop, I know, shocking)

Sunny is not going to be able to remember this moment. there are hundreds of other moments like these, that he just will not be able to remember. he was able to trick his brain before to remember, to remember all the bad things, but there's only so much that it can do. some memories, aren't hidden behind a key, waiting to be unlocked.

some memories, are gone. they were not suppressed, they were just not kept. it's almost similar to the final sequences of the game itself, Sunny going down memory lane: Sunny forgot all these good memories, because he would not accept the bad ones either.

except, Sunny needed those memories to face the underlying truth of Mari's death and his role in it. Sunny needs these memories to move on, to continue to exist, not to actually accept anything.

this is no longer a consequence of his actions—this now feels like a consequence of his existence. this now feels like a constant, that there will always be something he'll forget, there will always be something he can't hold on to...

but.

Chapter 10

“Me?”

“You brought yourself here.”

“I…” Sunny looks around.

Omori had wanted to send him to the pits of his mind, where he could rest.

But Sunny resisted.

Sunny did not succumb.

Sunny is a boy of cycles. he is in this cycle of forgetting and remembering. but there's another cycle, one we don't give him enough credit for: hardship and resistance.

something bad happens. and somehow, eventually, one day, Sunny will resist it. he will resist the idea that this is now his entire life. one day, Sunny will face this hardship with shaky arms, and he will play his music once again.

Sunny has accepted his hardships. it's driven him crazy, it's made him want nothing more than to rest. but he does not.

Sunny has accepted what plagues him and he carries on.

Chapter 8

And so, the curtain draws, and Sunny raises the bow, and they play again.

you who resembles I, or something like that

we, of course, cannot talk about Sunny's selective memory, Sunny's cycles, anything about post-incident Sunny, without talking about Omori. he is an extension of Sunny's being: he is the desire to rest, the desire to hide away, the desire to forget.

yet at the very end, Sunny has a chance to forget, and Omori doesn't let him.

Sunny has experienced prolonged gaps in his memory, filled in with fantasy: the driving lesson and the car chase are examples of this. and he hasn't just experienced gaps, his brains had filled in those gaps with poorly scribbled in memories, in order to convince Sunny to hide away.

Omori does not trust Basil.

Chapter 10

“It wasn’t even you! It was that damn flower boy! It’s always him, it’s always him ruining fucking everything!” Omori regains his balance and direction and lurches forward again for Sunny, this time tackling him to the ground.

it's safe to say that Omori feels a lot more than just distrust towards Basil (gasp).

Chapter 10

Omori sits up and pulls his legs to his chest. He looks off to the side and the sneer is back in his voice, his vulnerability lost to the void. “I can’t believe you. You still love him so much.”

...

Omori presses his weight into Sunny’s abdomen and growls. “You are an idiot. You look so fucking stupid with that stupid lovesick look as if you’ve forgotten everything. As if, as if it means nothing!”

so when Omori has given Sunny two outings before, two chances to escape to a different world and leave... so why, when (it's safe to assume that if Sunny didn't intervene, Basil would not have ended up alright) he could've finally gotten rid of Basil, why would Omori be the one to bring Sunny back?

Chapter 15

Across the street, Sunny could swear he sees a boy who looks just like him in white, gesturing wildly.

well I'm not going to actually answer that because like I really want to write a part two for this AU, so you may be asking. 'Andrew why did you even bother to write all of that than?'

WELL THAT'S BECAUSE I JUST CAN'T TALK ABOUT SUNNYY WITHOUT BRINGING UP OMORI, YOU FOOL! but!

Chapter 10

Letting out a groan of frustration, Omori frees his right hand and swings with the object still in it. It cuts through Sunny’s eye patch and a bit of the skin underneath, and the patch flitters to the ground right as the knife clatters to the ground.

Omori stares right into Sunny’s eye.

hmm... I wonder... what could this possibly mean...

I have more planned for him!!! stay tuned

the end(?)

I have a lot I can say about this story because I just. it is my pride, my joy, and it is my child! I worked very hard on this so I should be allowed to write long winding essays about it!!!

there's so much more I can say about Sunny's memory, but I really want to write a second part!!! maybe this will motivate me to actually do it... (hah. that's funny, Andrew)

Sunny still has a long way to go, but he's acknowledged his gaps and he's acknowledged that it won't all be fixed with time. he'll have to keep working to make it better... until then, let's give him a minute to be warm with his boycrush

if you made it all the way down here, thank you for reading! please keep your local neighborhood Sunny happy and don't let him go on road trips!!!

#literary analysis is my special interest #and so is sunny omori he is my little blorbo #omori #sunny omori #basil omori #sunnflower #sunny x basil #andrew's essays

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inventors-fair · 1 year

Text

Clench of Victory: Wanting Winners! ~

Our winners this week are @bergdg, @spooky-bard and @wolkemesser!

@bergdg — Desire

Look, out of the three, one of ‘em had to come out on top, right? I forget if I wrote the “your first cool idea and someone else’s first cool idea are probably gonna be the same” article before I saw the multiple desires, but either way, I had a feeling. The way to combat that is to make them all pretty great! Honestly, though, I do feel that this card’s got the nuances down. Desire and passion being entwined is a good choice—and I honestly didn’t see that the flavor text was a riff on Judgement Genesis until looking it up. Not the most original, but your adjective choice ties nicely to the mechanics.

Really, it’s the mechanics that make this card the most reasonable to me. You’re pushing the envelope in a way that feels unique to both the Incarnation type and balanced to contemporary MTG gameplay. Choosing only one card means choosing your passion, and the length of the impulse is really sweet as well and allows for flexible deckbuilding in both limited and constructed. I think, aside from shifting your flavor text to more of your own words, the only thing to change is “Whenever one of more creatures you control attack” to “Whenever you attack” re:Adeline.

@spooky-bard — Taste of Home

STRAIGHT. UP. POSITIVITY. Look, I’m a grimdark man at heart, but when I saw this card, the first thought I had was that someone understood the assignment. It’s a cute, simple, relatable card that sorta loosely implies the environment and, to me, feels like a card that would come near the end of limited playtesting when the team needs one final flavor home-run to round things out. Maybe it’s Eldrainian, maybe not! Doesn’t matter.

Personally, too, I’m a fan of these kind of Narrow Escape effects. This one’s hella cheap and makes an artifact token that you can sac for life; in a tight spot, declaring blockers to help you stabilize while throwing down a cool ETB on your next turn can be quite relevant indeed, and while it’s not something you probably want to build a deck around, Food as an archetype has always been a favorite of mine since its introduction. What does this world have to say about it? That’s about all the inner world we want and need for this card. It’s tight and direct and pulls no punches about the kind of simple adventurer’s desire that really makes players feel like they’re part of their own deck in a way. Again: you get it. Specificity matters so much in designs like this.

@wolkemesser — That Hideous Hunger

Oh, hey, more food! Christ. This card’s an absolute menace. I think that you really struck something with me here, because odd titles like this that happen to work within the card’s framing device are super cool to me. It’s an embodiment of hunger, sure, a form of uncontrollable desire—passionless, but exerted; unbalanced, but omnipresent. I say “unbalanced” in the purely flavorful sense. The card itself is a pain in the butt but not something that people can’t deal with. “Eat or be eaten” is a great way to go about realizing how hunger works, and you know what, I’m glad to see you taking your wild ideas and really cleaning it up here.

The fact that it affects yourself is very fun, and it shows that it’s a card you probably want to hold onto until you can get things out; don’t let your hunger manifest until you’re willing to show for it. I wonder if there would be a token-y archetype in white that could combat this, and/or if blue would have extra bounce to take care of a card like this, because wow, this card comes down and you’re not gonna have a good time. Except maybe you are with the lifegain! Four life to the Food’s three is an excellent little idea. I mean, what else is there to say? In Commander, you’re gonna make enemies, and in Standard/Limited, you’re gonna have fun. Small notes: “They are” should be “They’re,” and weirdly enough, “Food” should be “Foods” in this kind of effect, which I don’t blame you for missing. That’s a weird’n. Just like the player who plays this and gets to live their trollsona dreams. ... Not like that, Tumblr.

Really gonna have a fun time with commentary this week. Runners coming soon!

@abelzumi

#wanting flavor contest #mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #winners #commentary #inventor's fair

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ladyodaskonpeito · 2 years

Text

Pairing: Angeal Hewley x Genesis Rhapsodos

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 792 words

Obviously, Angeal takes pride in his works. His reputation has been known to precede him across Midgar, after all. He has been a five-time bestselling author in the ShinRa Times and has won Best Fiction on the Gaia Fiction Awards for three years in a row now. Although he strives to remain humble throughout his fame, it will not do well for him to downplay his achievements when questioned by his long-time friend.

"I'm not sure you know what you're doing anymore, Angeal," That is, unfortunately, what Genesis uses to start their conversation that evening before he proceeds to complain about how badly Angeal's priced work was adapted into a screenplay.

"I would have been advised by the team of writers working with me if the problems are as blatant and as severe as you're making it out to be," Angeal tries to explain despite knowing that these attempts are more often than not, futile when it comes to Genesis. "The starring actors did not voice even a single objection to the lines that I have written for them. They've complimented the lines, even."

"That's because the actors you've cast are subpar at their jobs and don't have the balls to talk actual sense into you like I do. They're too busy trying to lick your boots!" Genesis snaps. This demeanour of his isn't new to Angeal at all. In fact, this conversation seems to be heading in the direction of the many conversations that they've had as of late.

"Well, Genesis," Angeal can't help but let his exasperation show. "If it isn't the same topic we've discussed over and over again since the TV show adaptation of Fearless had been in the talks."

Genesis rolls his eyes, despite that being what Angeal wants to do in response to this entire situation.

"We've been over this before. And like I've said - multiple times now - there is no way for you to be in the show, not when the cast has been set ever since the directors thought of picking up this story of mine! How are you still not over this issue when it is already the season finale?" Angeal is never one to raise his voice, especially not to someone as important as Genesis. "I'm not sure where you want us to go with this by constantly nitpicking on the project that I've got going on."

"I'm totally not jealous of you or anything if that's what you're insinuating," Genesis shrugs as if he hasn't been showing his frustrations just two seconds ago.

"Then what is it? Why has it occupied your thoughts so much that it has been almost everything we've talked about for the past five months and a half?"

Genesis shakes his head at Angeal's enquiry. It appears that he doesn't want to divulge anything else.

"This isn't fair, Genesis," Angeal folds his arms, ready to get to the bottom of it. He isn't going to let this go unresolved again this time, what with the topic threatening to sour their relationship.

He presses for an answer again after Genesis' silence lasts for a few moments.

"I..." Whatever this is, it doesn't seem to come easy to Genesis as it always does. He shuts his eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Is this about your pride as an actor, is that what's bothering you?" Angeal prompts. After all, they've known each other since they were kids, so he's confident about his gut feeling. "I've already said it was nothing personal, you and I both know that you'd fit perfectly into the show but castings don't always go the way writers want-"

"I hate the fact that other actors get to spend the last five and a half months with you on set!" Genesis finally opens his eyes before interrupting Angeal. "I hate how they must have been trying to hog your attention all to themselves when you could have been there seeing me in action and bringing the character you wrote to life! There's your answer, happy?"

Angeal has to admit, that is not what he saw coming. Nonetheless, the surprise he feels does not stop the corners of his lips from lifting in amusement.

"Took you long enough, huh?" He eyes Genesis' sheepish expression fondly. "To think that I had to wait until the fricking season finale for you to finally crack."

He then pulls Genesis into his strong arms, deciding that this would be the most appropriate gesture to soothe Genesis' wounded pride. Thankfully, the gesture is reciprocated almost immediately, suggesting that the red-headed male didn't mind being the one to yield. At least not too much.

"Promise me you'll be more open to telling me what you feel now that we're officially lovers?"

Writing practice: A movie star and a bestselling author's conversation about the epic season finale of a TV show - writing prompt courtesy of The Foundations of Fiction LinkedIn course.

Angeal's work was named Fearless because I lack creativity like that (。・ω・。)

#my writing #writing practice #angeal hewley #ffvii angeal #ff7 angeal #genesis rhapsodos #ffvii genesis #ff7 genesis #angeal hewley x genesis rhapsodos #genesis rhapsodos x angeal hewley #angeal x genesis #genesis x angeal #banorashipping

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true-blue-sonic · 1 year

Text

At this rate, it is really not unlikely that I’m going to be rewriting Genesis from scratch.

[Spoilers for everything that has been published about Genesis from here on]

I think an issue I have is that for the first fic, I stuck too close to the comics while also trying to give my own spin on events. That led to multiple storylines intersecting each other, perhaps to the detriment of the story. For example, there were basically two villains - the Second Devourer Gold saw in her visions and the Council doing their own thing For ScienceTM - and combining those two storylines together proved difficult for me to do, not helped by my other ideas of there being an energy crisis in Onyx City and the Great Disaster and Silver’s ‘amnesia’. I also don’t know what Silver’s motivation can be now that he is in the past with Gold, plus I feel like Gold’s behaviour and actions do not properly reflect the fact she has been living under the Council’s/CAI’s rule for the past 10 years. So far I really like Genesis’ world I have come up with, but it quite feels like there is simply too much going on for me to keep track of.

I discussed with a friend some options yesterday and they gave me really good ideas on what to do, and I’ve been brainstorming with it all this morning. However, all that does mean the new fic will move away from being a comic adaptation towards being its own thing with only some key concepts from the comic arc (Gold, Onyx City, and the Council). One thing I’ve been considering is to scrap the whole SD in full, however that comes with a load of baggages I need to find other ways to resolve: Gold reaches out to Silver because she figures he can help her with the SD that will be unleashed through the Genesis portals, Gold came to Onyx City because the SD destroyed her world, and lastly Gold and Silver flee to the past in Genesis specifically because the SD destroys Onyx City too. I’m not entirely sure what my options are here, and how comfortable I am with straying from the provided canon. My friend did provide an interesting opportunity so that the Genesis portals can stay, but I need to look into relevant physics and science to see how I can best make it work. Furthermore, I want to expand more on the Council (because I developed them into quite beloved OCs of mine, haha), but I do not know if people will be interested in reading that. At that rate, the story will become one with two familiar characters and a world semi-created in an official medium, but with only OCs otherwise. I do not know if that is enough to really carry the story and have it garner others’ interest.

On the other hand, perhaps throwing the idea that this story has to stick close to Sonic Universe is one I just need to leave behind, as it might allow me more mental freedom to just write what I want to write🤔

#I know people always say that you should write for yourself first and foremost but I really need validation haha #perhaps finding a way to block all the hits and kudos and bookmarks for this new story in Ao3 is not a bad idea because if I can't see it-#-I can't stress over it #anyway if anyone has any ideas let me know; I love talking about the world of Genesis ^-^#blue's writing

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theomachst · 2 years

Note

❛ 13 . a kiss before one goes away .

When he kissed me, I felt something give and sag beneath the pressure- His lips softer against mine than I could have imagined any woman’s might be. He’d slipped off the gloves and cradled my face between the coolness of his palms like I was something small and weak, invisible cracks forming a delicate spider’s web of fragility.

I could kill you right now. Do you know that?

I could fucking kill you.

Just like I could've put my sword through Angeal’s throat when he offered it and I could've killed him and could've- I could kill you and I love you, do you know that? Do you know how much I love you and I could kill you and push us both off this bridge and we'd probably both be so happy, wouldn't we?

But I hadn't done that.

My fists thudding impotently against the firm broadness of his chest, like a living statue hewn from marble. His breath velvet heat against the seam of my mouth.

I missed the first kiss of the morning halitosis. The imperfections that aren't fabricated, sequin-encrusted romance movie fixtures. The way only I'd ever seen his perfect hair mussed.

“Genesis... You’ll always have a place here.”

I never knew if he was serious or not.

I laughed. It was a bitter and poisonous laugh and I knew I shouldn't've done it, but I still did.

Fuck that, this is about me. Why shouldn't he feel how I'm feeling?

And yet I always felt guilty hearing that sharp, needling vindictiveness in my voice.

“Or does it make you feel better to hate me?”

Fuck you, yes it does. Of course it does, you son of a bitch.

In that second, I wished he'd just kill me.

Fasten his fingers around my neck and squeeze and this time I'd just lie there and nod and say ‘Please- Don't stop.’

Let's be together forever. No more pretense. No more responsibilities.

“Would you commit double-suicide with me?”

The question hangs in the air like the polluted smog perpetually hanging over Midgar’s upper plates.

Coward.

“Just kidding. I felt like saying it... just once. Like Romeo and Juliet,” I lie.

The lies you rehearse to yourself are always the easiest.

#serafim #✦ WRITING #a) I need a tag for them #b) this isn't as good as the original I lost but oh well #c) this is physically hurting me I have made a mistake

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 15 hours

Text

1st May >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Wednesday, Fifth Week of Eastertide

Saint Joseph the Worker.

Wednesday, Fifth Week of Eastertide

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

First Reading Acts of the Apostles 15:1-6 They were to go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.

Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders. All the members of the church saw them off, and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the pagans had been converted, and this news was received with the greatest satisfaction by the brothers. When they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and by the apostles and elders, and gave an account of all that God had done with them. But certain members of the Pharisees’ party who had become believers objected, insisting that the pagans should be circumcised and instructed to keep the Law of Moses. The apostles and elders met to look into the matter.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 121(122):1-5

R/ I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ or R/ Alleluia!

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

R/ I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ or R/ Alleluia!

Jerusalem is built as a city strongly compact. It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.

R/ I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ or R/ Alleluia!

For Israel’s law it is, there to praise the Lord’s name. There were set the thrones of judgement of the house of David.

R/ I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’ or R/ Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation John 10:14

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my own sheep and my own know me. Alleluia!

Or: John 15:4,5

Alleluia, alleluia! Make your home in me, as I make mine in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me bears fruit in plenty. Alleluia!

Gospel John 15:1-8 I am the vine, you are the branches.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you. Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Saint Joseph the Worker

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either:

First Reading Genesis 1:26-2:3 Fill the earth and conquer it.

God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.’

God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of heaven and all living reptiles on the earth I give all the foliage of plants for food.’ And so it was. God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day. Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array. On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Or:

First Reading Colossians 3:14-15,17,23-24 Whatever your work is, put your heart into it as for the Lord.

Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful. Never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever your work is, put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for men, knowing that the Lord will repay you by making you his heirs. It is Christ the Lord that you are serving.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 89(90):2-4,12-14,16