#more of the context i want must exist. it’s just hard for me to find it

[wyllsravengard]

there's a lot of discussion and speculation about the fact john doesn't speak of arthur in rdr1. logistically it's not hard to understand that rdr1 just came out years before rdr2 and thats why but . But.

but when you think of rdr1 with the additional context two, there is something quite... in line with john trying to forget arthur. wanting to. or burying him. not just in metaphor or in soil but in his memories and in some way failing to do it but in another succeeding

you think of john and his commitment to his son and wife and you think of his willingness to do anything for them. moral or not. righteous or not. and you think of the fact that john didn't know at the time the sort of man arthur believed him to be, but he perhaps modeled himself in the image of his older brother. near incidental. he has so little in common with arthur really. john's broody and lacking remorse and at twenty-six he's inconsiderate entirely in a way arthur never was.

but time is a thief and one day, he turns 38. he's older than arthur when he dies. and john doesn't remember well what he looks like, and all he can feel when he thinks of arthur is grief. grief that never ends. thats the thing about all of it, you'll realize - is that john knows arthur best in the retroactive.

the sort of complicated, odd man arthur was revealed to him in the creases of pages and keepsakes. in the carving of his guns that john finds after arthur is gone. in the ring of the woman arthur loved long ago. in the confessionals to his son isaac and the regret in the letters he wrote to their psuedo father. you realize john knows more of arthurs stagnant ghost that can't guide john into manhood the way he so desperately needs. and it's all he has to go by to make a man of himself.

john never finds out what kind of man arthur believed him to be and he has to infer the real good man arthur was. in grief there is love. john loved arthur enough to want to be like him. and in burying the living, breathing man arthur was he's forced to cling to his spirit. has to piece together the kindness of his older brother through memories and diary entries and secondhand stories. and that's how he models himself in rdr1 to me. where arthur is moral john becomes dutiful and where arthur is kind, john is helpful. he becomes the shadow of arthurs best qualities. he can never be arthur. no one could ever be arthur, even if arthur had given them the page by page instructions of how to do so. this is all he has. all he knows. all he can do.

john misses his brother. so he tries to embody him. but he can't really in the same way he can't grieve him. so he makes a home for arthurs ghost to return to in himself. john never mentions arthur because it dregs up painful what-ifs, but they share so many mannerisms and bastardized qualities. john has fashioned himself based on those loose memories.

one day, a stranger meets john and says. "why would you remember me, friend? you've forgotten far more important people than me" and john will remember all the ghosts he's ever loved briefly. there will be a blurry face and a forgiving voice and it will sound like a memory and it will linger in johns ribcage like a moth. and john won't remember. he won't. he can't. he buried his brother without ever doing it.

john says a lot of things. feels a lot of things. he shoots his gun to the stranger who calls his memory into question and the thing jams and the bastard roams free. john will taste blood in his mouth. he'll feel a cough in his lungs and well, he won't remember his brother still. buried men must stay buried.

of course. of course john never mentions arthur. he can't remember him, even though he's inherited so much of his manner. to speak it of him would be admitting to his existence. its admitting: i miss you. im sorry. it was my fault.

of course john never mentions arthur. he's made all this effort in forgetting him that even when his body and his gesture and his character betray the fact he's forgotten - his mind will soothe the pain and blur out his face.

and instead of remembering in life even once, he'll die the same way arthur did. alone. protective. contented. redeemed. john loves arthur like most brothers do - with muscle memory.

even if john cuts the necrosis of arthurs memory off of him, his body will twitch at the phantom feeling of his existence. john remembers even when he can't. arthur his only brother. the most important man he's ever forgotten.

#z.gen #arthur morgan #john marston #rdr1 #rdr2 #rdr1 spoilers #rdr2 spoilers #im feeling soooooo miserable about them you wouldnt believe

[demaparbat-hp]

Hello. I wanted to say that I really like your art style, especially how you do Katara's face. That's awesome.

But every time I read the description of your AUs, it gives me the creeps. You once said you try to stay true to Katara's character, but... your AUs are like "what if I take one of her major character traits and throw it in a trash bin?".

Halfblood AU: no connection to her culture that basically defies everything Katara thinks and feels about her waterbending.

Helping the Fire Nation AU: no hope for the avatar that Katara expressed in the intro of every episode of the original show.

And lowkey less kindness. She's cautious and bitter and wants to help only Zuko.

She seems like a completely different character. Not Katara at all.

Zuko too. I doubt he'll be in the White Lotus, it's not in his character at all. He may use the help of the members, but the original ("The Desert") tells us he will not be one of them, it's just not his style.

You make zutara look shallow, like you think that Zuko and Katara as they are in the show would never work together. As a person who sees appeal in this ship I feel very uneasy seeing your interpretations.

And my god, why do you hate Hakoda so much? Every time you add anything to halfbloodAU he looks more and more disgusting. I cannot believe mister "you and your brother are my entire world" would do what you are saying. And a married man with a child cannot be so naive to think that a woman won't become pregnant after having sex with him. Hakoda would've returned and checked and tried to help.

Sorry. I wish I could enjoy your art, but you're making it so hard.

Hello, and thank you for writing. I'm glad that you enjoy my art, at least to some extent, and I'm sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable with my AUs. However, I find myself in the need of defending them.

Creating AUs is something I take seriously, and one of the core traits of an AU is that it's, inherently, a different world. I can change virtually anything, and that's okay. Haven't we all read a fic and thought, this character wouldn't react like this in canon, but went along with it anyway? Because we know this isn't supposed to be canon. These characters are living in a different context, and react to things differently.

Canon exists for a reason. An AU does, too. They're different concepts and must be treated accordingly. It's a matter of context.

But we're talking about characters, aren't we?

You've pointed out that I've changed Zuko and Hakoda, too. And you're right. I've found that people online are more... defensive of Katara when compared to other characters. And while that may not be important to this specific discussion, I do find it rather curious. It's something to think about.

Anyways, I change characters. And I've gotta confess, I'm not ashamed of it.

My Katara is still Katara, and my Zuko is still Zuko. I'm just playing with how I believe they would react in different scenarios, and with different backgrounds (that's important, too).

You mentioned that my AUs are like "what if I take one of [Katara's] major character traits and throw it in a trash bin?". And I'm sorry that they give you the creeps, truly.

But maybe I want to explore how being a product of two different cultures affects not only Katara, but also Zuko as characters. Halfblood gives me the opportunity to address these sociocultural issues through their personal experiences, and I find that kind of narrative awfully compelling.

And maybe I wanted to change one core trait of Katara's personality and see how that affected both her journey and the general plot. Hunters is a writing experiment, and it has taught me a lot about human nature. Thanks to what you so kindly call "throwing a character trait in a trash bin", I've gained a lot more respect for who Katara is in canon. If anything, I consider Hunters!Katara as a foil for Canon!Katara.

And I don't hate Hakoda. I have a lot of respect for him as a leader and a father. I think he's a great character and role model for others within the ATLA universe. Bashing characters for fun isn't really my thing. The choices I made for Hakoda in the HalfBlood AU (and Aang in Hunters) are a matter of narrative and plot building, not my opinion on his character.

Just think about how different that AU would be if Hakoda made better choices, if he didn't have a wife and a son waiting for him at the South, or if Katara's father was a random Earth Kingdom villager. About 60% of the conflict in the story would disappear. And I could build that conflict with other stuff, I admit it. I could use different plot points or make the characters do other things or give Katara One Big Happy Family.

But it would change the core themes of the story I want to tell.

It's important to me that Katara is a product of two different cultures. It's important that she has no father figure in her life. It's important that Hakoda, who is a great leader and a great man and a great husband and a great father for Sokka, made a huge mistake in his youth that has been weighting on him ever since. It's important that Sokka is suddenly faced with the realization that his father, his idolized role model, is human and has also royally fucked up.

I want to talk about these things.

But I'm able to recognize that they're heavy subjects and, really, most of us are just here for the fluff anyway. So I'm sorry if I've made anyone uncomfortable. I won't hold it against you if you don't like what I do or just ignore whatever lore I set up for my AUs.

This is fiction, this is freedom, and this is the way I express myself. We all do it differently, and that's part of the beauty.

#dema answers #zutara #atla #hunters au #halfblood au #zutara au #avatar the last airbender

[karalovesallthegirls]

Some Q's for youuu:

8. How slow is a slow burn? 🕒

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it. 📝

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again? 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing? 🤓

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't. 🪦🙀

I appreciate your dedication using the emojis, they enhanced the experience greatly!!!!

8. How slow is a slow burn? 🕒 

The hottest slow burn 2 me is one where they can barely even make eye contact for a solid 15k, let alone touch lips. I want them to go through every possible option and do every possible thing to avoid getting together for so long they’re practically pulling their hair out in the frustration of it. Their desperation for each other needs to be so unbearable that they truly genuinely lose their minds, and they then need to stay apart for a little while after that.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it. 📝 “Alien…” she whispers, eyes wide with a terror so painfully familiar to Kara. “Oh, God.” “Miss Luthor, I’m not going to hurt you, okay? I just need the hard drive. That’s all," Kara says.

She tries to keep a soothing tone, but she’s so tired of this. She wants to be done. She’s so close to being done, too. The Luthor's eyes are intense and focused, studying Kara back just as deeply as Kara studies her. She’s beautiful, Kara thinks, and she’s scared. Everyone is always scared of the alien. The woman holds the device out with one hand and Kara can see the slight shake to it. “You won’t hurt me?” she asks again, and Kara smiles. “I promise,” Kara says. She grabs the drive but feels some resistance as she tugs. The other woman isn’t letting go. Kara looks at her again to find her smiling. “Funny,” Lena Luthor says. “Because I’m going to hurt you.” Kara’s head whips back with the force of the hit, blood splattering from her mouth as she falls.

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again? 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻

For me I fucking LOVE a multiverse like what do you mean they will find each other in every form, in every world, in every time??? What do you MEAN if there’s a version of one that exists the other must be elsewhere waiting for the chance and not knowing it?? What do you MEAN quantum entanglement?????

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing? 🤓

Don’t try to write it correctly the first round, just get material on the page. 

Write out your story concepts like you’re writing a transcript of your brain. You’re not editing or correcting or explaining meaning, just conveying exactly what is there as it is. My preferred method is just a big stream of conscious paragraph with no punctuations and often times looks like I’m describing drama to a friend via text - “[…] and then Lena was like Lex what the fuck!!!!!! bitch!!!!! and then Kara freaks out and grabs […] - and then just leave it for a little while. Come back to it later and divide them up into fragmented sentences and concepts and build from there. When I spend ages trying to think of the right way to write out my ideas more often than not I find I’ve written nothing, and the things left unwritten have faded away from my memory like they’d never been there at all.

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't. 🪦🙀

I have a fic concept I flirt with sometimes where Lena is head of security for Luthor Corp distribution, which handles art and artifacts for hundreds of museums around the world, and she is forced to handle the chaos of some masked thief that keeps stealing things and returning them to their original cultures. Lillian is breathing down her neck to fix this, but no one ever seems able to even get more than a glimpse of the crook - until Lena does. 

And Lena realizes three things when she finally sees the masked Robin Hood rip-off:

1.) the thief is a woman, and somehow able to handle such massive robberies alone.

2.) The thief gets sloppy when Lena is there, nervous and bumbling and chatty. She acts like she’s never seen a pretty girl before. Like she wants to impress Lena just as much as rob her.

3.) Lena might not be able to stop the robberies with her wit, but she sure as hell can with her tits.

#thank you for your questions i love u #writing ask

[nicosraf]

hi rafa, i know others have already said this, but i'm really sorry for people interrogating you about your identity. i can only imagine how emotionally devastated you must be right now, and i understand how you felt the need to defend your identity. however, for your safety i would recommend putting down the response to the anon ask where you talk in-depth about you and your family's background. i'm worried that bad faith actors (or even taylor themselves) might use the information you shared to try to find out your identity, especially considering that you work hard to keep your personal life and your life as an author separate. stay safe rafa, and i'm hoping things get better for you. i'm really sorry this is happening to you.

Hello. I did take it down just now; I planned to have it up for just a little while anyway. I'm being pretty sloppy (I'm aware) because I'm sure screenshots exist, but ah well.

A little bit of context is that Freydis/Taylor once joked to me about how people would think we're the same person, so it troubled me not to be as clear as I possibly could in the moment.

I'm always very tempted to just shut down my socials so I can write in peace and not have to deal with any of the book community at all, but there are some very nice people here and I like talking about the angels with you guys. I'm already pretty quiet everywhere but here, Patreon, and my newsletter, and I think I'll keep it that way.

I really do just... want to stop posting about this. Lord I hope this is the last time that I do. I'm exhausted of the more and more things coming to light about this person. And I want to be left alone by them and by the book community at large really. I don't want to be an author, I just want to write. I want to be left alone

Thank you a lot for the kindness. I'm sending you a lot of love.

#mine #ask

[riverhag2]

my favorite characters die in my favorite media all the damn time

my current hyper focus is a tragic opera that ends with my blorbo having his life flash before his eyes in a horrid fever dream where he's confronted for perhaps the first time with how horribly he's failed everyone he's ever loved and then he dies

death isn't the problem

pointless and hurried stuff-her-in-a-fridge death that doesn't actually even serve the narrative purpose cobbled together as an after-the-fact explanation is the problem

the idea that Izzy's arc was "over" is frankly ludicrous

he'd only just begun to rediscover the parts of himself he'd buried away or lost to piracy, to Blackbeard, to Ed

he'd only just found love with the crew

he'd only just started the arc that Stede and Ed set off on in the beginning of s1

his death does nothing for his character

it also does nothing for anyone else's

smarter people than me have spoken extensively on why the "mentor/father figure" thing is just outright non-existent in the text

even without that, the show is obviously trying to use Izzy's death to free Ed from the mantle of blackbeard and that would be a valid and interesting narrative choice if you'd set that up at any point before the last five minutes of the last episode but um

Ed had already begun the work of releasing himself from blackbeard, and even when he dons the leathers once again, it's not even the tiniest bit for Izzy's sake nor in any way at Izzy's insistence or encouragement (and in fact, Izzy had already encouraged him to step away from it)

whatever is still tying Ed to blackbeard, it is textually very much not Izzy

Izzy's dying sentiment of "they love you" holds no water because out of Ed, Stede, and Izzy, only one of them has actually connected with the crew this season and it sure as fuck isn't Ed

Izzy's dying admonition of "you're surrounded by family" is immediately followed by Ed and Stede fucking off and leaving the ship

there's nothing in Izzy's death that serves Ed narratively

there's apparently then the argument that Izzy is representative of old piracy, a dying world, and therefore he must die (which, ok, fine, but to what end?) but that's *actually insane* in the context of a show entirely about starting over in middle age

killing a character is often a good narrative choice, but if you're gonna kill him, doing it with a stray bullet in the middle of his arc in a way that does nothing to further anyone else's narrative is at best a cheap emotional punch

death also is the problem though

in a show where mortal wounds seem to pass almost unnoticed amongst our heroes, casual death by a stray bullet is bonkers

in a show where the only real villain is a cruel and corrupt state, to punish with death someone at the mercy of that cruel and corrupt state is bonkers

most importantly: in a show that presented itself as ultimately being about queer outsiders finding family in each other, there's no good reason for any of the foundlings to die

even assuming they're planning some miraculous resurrection for Izzy in s3, they work very hard to show you precisely how dead he is here

they want you to know and believe that he absolutely is dead

Lucius falls into the sea in a way that no one ever once believed actually meant he was dead

in contrast, we watch the light go out of Izzy's eyes after he tells Ed he's ready to go

we see him buried in the dirt

if this truly is meant to be impermanent, then it is even more cruel and meaningless than if they actually just killed him for nothing and no amount of "indestructible little fucker" foreshadowing redeems it

I hate everything about this ending, for everyone involved

it's such a disappointment

#ofmd izzy #izzy hands #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death season 2 #ofmd spoilers

[praisethesuuun]

Chen gong nsfw alphabet please and thank you

I'm so happy to hear that someone else thinks about this little sunshine☀️❤️ Chen really is important to me, so I've put my whole heart in this one. Hope you like it, anon☺️

CHEN GONG: NSFW ALPHABET

A: aftercare <what they're like after sex>

Oh, please, this man is as sweet as honey. If anything, you're the one that have to take care of him: wiping the sweat from his forehead and cuddling him. Chen Gong is absolutely the softest man you will ever find, reward him for his hard work, he needs it!

B: body part <their favourite body part on them and you>

Chen absolutely loves his long hair, especially when you pull it while he eats you out. You can literally see the way his eyes roll in the back of his head, while a red blush appear on his cheeks. Chen Gong likes holding your tiny hands when you ride him like crazy or, talking in a more pleasant context, he'd like to hold them every time.

C: cum <anything to do with it, really>

I don't think he has any preferences. I mean, everywhere is ok, anywhere you want. This handsome puppy will follow your every order!

D: dirty secret <a dirty secret of theirs>

Maybe, just maybe, he fantasizes about you pegging him. Even if it will remain only a thought, since he doesn't want to be seen as effeminate by the other members of the army. Oh, and another thing...do you think involving Lu Bu could be a problem?

E: experience <how experienced are they>

Chen Gong had only a short experience and it was with his general, but, apart from this escapade, he has never had any sexual experiences.

F: favourite position <self-explanatory>

This man lives to please you, so cowgirl is a must in bed. You will have to mark his neck, kiss his chest and tell him how good he is. But, Chen likes 69 more, because you two can please each other at the same time and he finds it beautiful.

G: goofy <would they use humor in the moment?>

Yeah, he's goofy sometimes, but not too much. Don't expect too many jokes for his part, if you want, you can keep the light atmosphere.

H: hair <how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the courtains?>

Chen Gong is pretty groomed, despite the war and his traveling, he manages to keep it nice and clean. The carpet is slightly darker than the courtains, not too much tho.

I: intimacy <are they romantic in the moment or they do not care?>

Romance never fails with him, your every session is full of love, while the entire room is decorated with flower petals.

J: jack off <...self-explanatory part 2>

Chen Gong can't deny it, sex with you is like a drug for him. When he's away from you, he can't help but touch himself imagining your body, the way your eyes devour his soul...

K: kinks <their kinks>

He has something for mutual masturbation, for him it's a romantic thing to do. Plus, you'll be the top, because Chen's favourite thing to hear are your praises: tell him everything you feel, how much you love riding him and how good is making you feel. Chen has a choking kink, there, I said it.

L: location <where they usually do the do>

Because of the war, you often do this in your tents. But it's always so embarrassing because of the noises you make, everyone knows when it's time to walk away or ignore it. So, you started looking for quieter places-

M: motivation <what turns them on>

When you act all caring in his regards such as, for example, taking care of his injuries. When you give him special attention, Chen Gong loses control and can't wait to pounce on you!

N: no <things they refuse to do>

Degrading you in any way possible. He just can't, despising you just doesn't exist.

O: oral <do they like giving or receiving?>

Giving, without doubt. When you pull his hair, Chen may cum instantly, not to mention the way he likes to worship you or the sweet moans that leave your mouth. "Y-you're doing so well, Chen!" "Yes! Say it again, my dear!"

P: pace <are they slow and sensual or fast and rough>

You're the one to decide the pace, Chen will obey like always. If you want to go rough, it's ok, and if you want to go slow, it's ok too.

Q: quickie <would they fuck you for five minutes or wait until you wait home?>

It happened, more than once. The sequence of events is always the same: you get excited by mistake (small caresses too many, a few sighs...), Chen gets hard and your thighs start shaking at the thought, you two find an empty room and- you know the rest.

R: risk <...DUH>

He's not too much of a risks guy, but if you insists so much then he will try to settle you. If he sees that he doesn't like it, he doesn't hesitate to tell you and stop right away, switching to something sweeter to calm him down.

S: stamina <how long can they last?>

I would say 2 or 3 rounds, in short, average. It also depends on the circumstances, but usually it goes something like this.

T: toys <do they own any? do they use them?>

No, he doesn't have them, he's enough for you, so you don't need him, right? Using them will hurt his pride as a man, please tell him that he's enough.

U: unfair <how much they like to tease>

This little puppy? Oh no, he doesn't tease you, it's usually the other way around. He kinda likes it when you make him beg or whine.

V: volume <are they asking for a noise complaint, or are they quiet?>

Super noisy, Chen doesn't hide his pleasure, despite sometimes trying to control himself or shut his mouth. It's his way of letting you know how much he loves you.

W: wild card <a random headcanon☆>

I think you all know what's coming and let me answer the question from before: no, for Lu Bu wasn't a problem. He likes to join you two when you ask him, I mean, you're both pretty cute and irresistible, how could he not do that?

X: x-ray <what to they look like under there?>

Chen's cock is pretty average, just enough to make you scream when wanted, he knows how to use it and you're good at riding it. It's slightly curved upward and the tip is #d69883.

Y: yearning <are they in the mood to fuck or are they tame?>

It's amazing how easily Chen gets turned on, he becomes like a puppy looking for milk whenever he is excited. And tell me, how can you resist at those puppy eyes? That's right, you can't.

Z: zzz <how quickly they fall asleep afterwards>

Chen Gong falls asleep almost immediately, especially if you cuddle him with his head resting on your chest, between your boobs. If you stop and listen, you can hear little moans when you stroke the back of his neck.

#record of ragnarok #ror x reader #ror x you #snv x reader #snv x you #request #shuumatsu no valkyrie x reader #shuumatsu no valkyrie headcanons #shuumatsu no valkyrie #record of ragnarok headcanons #chen gong #ror smut #snv smut

[kafus]

i'm really glad that i started with pokemon at the time and age that i did. there's a lot of reasons for this but i'm thinking about two in particular atm:

i was precocious with academics as a child and constantly felt bored by stuff that was considered to be for my age range. playing pokemon leafgreen for the first time on my 5th birthday required me to read dialogue/signs/etc, do some basic number processing, and use logical thinking to get to the end in ways that other games i had tried did not, and it gave me the freedom to do so at my own pace without having a cartoon character in annoying voice ask me if i can do XYZ like most edutainment games at the time lol

pokemon was easy to pick up in terms of controls, 99% of it is moving on a grid and navigating menus, which once their UI was learned, were incredibly easy to control. there is no need to have fast reaction time or the ability to do complex controller input. so long as i was willing to engage with the rpg mechanics i felt confident as a 5 year old with some motor skill issues with navigating the game

it's interesting to me because a lot of people don't like RPGs and even if they play pokemon, they may not like the RPG aspects of them, which is fine. but for me all of the RPG mechanics of pokemon slotted perfectly into my child brain that craved Brain Stimulation and only had a history of edutainment games prior. it really showed too because as i got older i did shit like discovering that IVs/EVs existed before they were ever so much as mentioned to me, of course i didn't have the name for them but just for fun i experimented with raising two of the same pokemon species to the same level after hatching them from eggs (level 20 or something) and noticed that despite being the same species and level, they had different stats, which must have meant pokemon were genetically different from each other. i found the math-y stuff genuinely interesting before i had any context for competitive etc later in life

additionally even now i sometimes struggle with more complex controls, like i love legends arceus but i think it took me longer to figure out navigating that game than most people and games that are more difficult or require more complex inputs or better reaction time tend to be really inaccessible for me. i'm very happy to just interact with a menu, i love turn based battles and the notion that they are objectively outdated when i find them genuinely engaging is so annoying

i started thinking about this because i tried to get my mom to play let's go eevee a while back since it's a pokemon game made for beginners basically, but i did not anticipate just how difficult she would find basic navigation using the controller - catching pokemon, the main part of the game, was incredibly frustrating for her, but she could do the battles alright. with pokemon moving in an open world, 3D direction, it requires you to get used to the controller if you don't want to be falling off stuff and running into pokemon constantly. and while SV isn't particularly hard to navigate or anything, and kids are getting into tech earlier and earlier than they ever were when i was little, i still really appreciate the simplicity of control when i was younger and i think it's interesting how much other people hate the relative slowness of RPGs and value freedom of movement and action a lot to the point of considering turn based gameplay really outdated while it's still my preferred way to play video games lol

#kiki was here #kiki.txt #random infodump at 2 am hiii #pokemon #this is not a critique of anything just general observation #of my own experience

[quesadillayuri]

This is an open invitation to "talk about the Bible in a chill way". I'd be fascinated in your chill Bible opinions.

okay this is lowkey such a late answer to this but recent chill bible opinion has some context to it. i'm religious but in like a weird way i don't super want to get into, but basically i read the bible for the story aspects: the morals taught, the themes within, etc etc. i don't really view it as a strict religious instruction handbook, more so as like . stories meant to teach lessons and morals. kinda. its complicated!

erm. im so glad u asked tho

anyway! more importantly, i'm reading the old testament right now, and something that deeply bothers me is that i find the stories in early genesis deeply fascinating, and yet incredibly not dived into at all! and i think that's a shame, because there's so much interest and tragedy in the story of adam and eve, and in cain and abel, together and alongside adam and eve. i just think there could've been so much more done with the first ever family on earth, that is really never dived into popularly or well in adaptations. which is like chill EXCEPT for the fact that i think there's a lot of . persephone and hades tumblr bullshit going on and let me ELABORATE!

eve is a fascinating character to study as the first woman, and there's a lot to be said about eve, which is why a lot of modern looks at her that depict her as a #slay girlboss that ate the apple on purpose or as like . cheating on adam with lucifer . and i also don't fuck with the very long history of her being treated as though she's stupid or wicked or a transgressor. basically, what i'm trying to get at is that eve wasn't stupid for eating the apple, she was lied to, and in her defense, no one had ever lied before. quite literally she was the first to ever be lied to, ever, and she cannot be solely at fault for being tricked. i think it's hard to argue that eve shouldn't have fallen for it, because she was in such an incredibly unique, quite literally never happening before situation. i just think that depictions of her as a scheming seductress will never be as feminist as people think they are, because the core of eve was not someone looking to like . stick it to the man . she was curious, and trusting, and i refuse to blame her for searching for something new, because if god did not want man or woman to long for knowledge, he never should have create sapient beings 🤷

that was a long, kinda rambly way to say that i think genesis, despite being a really interesting book especially pertaining to eve, adam, and the fall, and especially relating to what could be said about abel and cain, and abel, cain, and THEIR PARENTS!!!, fails in a lot of ways as a book. mostly because of the lack of expansion on any of the interesting parts of the early story. i dont gaf abt how adam lived for 930 years. i gaf about adam and the horror of raising children and loving them and that still not being enough to save them from each other or themselves. it must have been horrifying to see your children, both your first children and the first children ever born, suffer and die, one at the hand of another and one at the hand of your own father. like idk eve adam and the horrifying fact that their sin (mistakes) passed along to their child and could've played a role in his own sin (devastating mistakes) and what you do as a parent when you realize that loving someone isn't enough to raise them perfectly and keep them safe.

but yeah sure . adams a weirdo misogynist and eve is a girlboss that cucks him with lucifer and abel and cain don't matter or exist. okay. epic.

and like this isn't to shit on fun or serious retellings based in feminism, bc i #love feminism fr, but i think it tired me out in the same way that (look at me circling back) things like the feminist retellings of hades and persephone did. bc like, it's interesting sometimes, but other times you are IGNORING the reality and interesting parts of the real story in favor for whatever fantasy you've created. hades and persephone is a fascinating story, and demeter and persephone's relationship is a tragic, lovely story that should not be boiled down into omg age gap forbidden romance with EVIL strict mom in the same way that eve and adam shouldnt be simplified to adam is mean to eve and she eats apple as REVENGE >:) . like ok guys lets get creative!

anyway to make a long story short im not an expert on the bible im just a girl raised spiritualist who fucks with books hardcore and wouldve liked to see more interesting shit in the oldest fucking book i own . or whatever .

#if ur a theologist dont @ me #its 12 am EXACTLY and im just a teenage girl #im yapping okay #.hellwurld #.asks #uh #ask to tag??? #idk if catholicism or the bible is a trigger lmk

[anonomi]

hello, ther, i am gently stepping outside the for,est ,on the gras s and sniffin, you gently and shyly, to, ask yuo about not only offline au but also the, mlp au,,

Oh my, my first ask!! And it's about my aus. You shot me right in the heart!! :D

Okay so first, my offline au. There's a post somewhere that explains where it came from, but I essentially created it after spending long hours in Offline Practice due to unstable internet/in my younger days I was scared of strangers. The basis of the au is the question: What if the bots in offline practice are sentient?

And there are a lot of ways you can take it:

You can see it from the player's perspective, where you are going through your normal day playing on pl_badwater and slowly realize that the bots are avoiding you or playing a little too smart... and then you start noticing nuances in their previously faceless expressions... and then they go off the script.

Or You can see it from the bots' perspective, where you wonder why you've never seen the world beyond the battlefield... or why the hell the enemy team's sniper is wearing a banana on his head, or why he is somehow always a step ahead, or where did he even come from, what happened to the old one what do you mean he never existed

Not to mention the world.. But to keep it simple, the au is basically offline practice played straight. Currently I am focusing on the bot's perspective in relation to the player. In this, the 'bots' are the usual mercenaries, normal, old dudes trying to do their gravel war job, and then there's the player who's well, like any other player. Any other player who just wants some fun and after playing offline practice long enough gets bored enough to try out console commands.

And as you can imagine, it's scary! The au is basically cosmic horror with the player being an eldritch, incomprehensible being to the bots/mercs. I take everything that we do as players, from casually jumping off cliffs to stabbing our teammates in casual fun, and explore it in a serious context from the perspective of normal people like the mercs. Even the greater concepts of TF2 like respawn.. It's a very meta au, and I can go very in depth about the concepts I want to explore and shit, like what it means to be a human being, what meaning can you find in an existence plagued by a being like this, what even is the player, the implications, but I think this post is long enough... so I must forgo. It's just spooky tf2 au hahah!

I should also mention the more lighthearted version which is the training mode au. It's the same thing but instead of the player being scary they're just a newbie and the bots try to teach them how to be decent. It's very cracky lol but I turn to it when the horror gets too much.

Now for the mlp au, unfortunately it's not too fleshed out :[ I mean I have the groundwork laid out in my mind, it's basically my darker, grittier mlp au mixed up with tf2. Though of course it's still got the same friendship is magic concepts, because I don't think making something serious/darker means you have to make it edgy and deprive it of its nature, but yeah. There are concepts I have, like batponies and how their civilization mirrors new zealand sinking but with the whole princess luna being banished, and things but I need more specific questions, it's hard for me to explain generally without making like a 5 page essay xD

Anyway THANK YOU! I am very thrilled to talk about my aus, especially offline au. Maybe I should've broken it up because it's like two seperate aus xD but idk how to do that. I'm sorry if this is less refined than I usually write or disjointed, but I am just very excited. If this isn't what you meant/if you wanted a more in-depth answer, feel free to ask!!

#i've rewritten this soo many times TwT #i usually keep things about the offline au vague because I want to make it very flexible but these r the core parts of it #tf2 #tf2 au #tf2 offline practice #offline au #tf2 offline au #training mode au #mlp au #er #tf2 mlp au #nomi writes #nomi answers #anon #rambles

[barrenclan]

WHAT.

when it was said to expect more tiny pinepaws tomorrow i just assumed that was a joke. i had no idea that there were gonna be more tiny pinepaws tomorrow, or i guess today. also i totally thought the skull on the cover was just cool symbolism, but when pinepaw found the bones the realization hit me like a truck

knowing that these were the other clans, did the dark army have enough humanity to bury them, or did time bury them itself? something tells me it’s the first, as i doubt there was enough time for sand and dirt to move to cover all of that when the clans first returned, unless they just.. denied it’s existence, much like pinepaw, which would make sense considering they’ve already been through so much, coming home to a horde of bones must be too much, if that was the case.

i just wanna give pinepaw a big hug, he’s just a little guy. he had no idea his desires to uncover the truth would lead him down a rabbit hole. finding skeletons must be awful for anyone, but with the added context he knows? geez. little guy deserves a break. maybe a bf.

speaking of potential bfs… CORMORANTPAW!!! OFFERED!! A MOUSE!! he wants pinepaw’s company!!! he’s worried for pinepaw!! he wants to make sure pinepaw eats!!!! oh my god i’m so excited about this. cormorantpaw cares for pinepaw!!! cormorantpaw seems to be opening up more, breaking down his walls and letting someone in, someone that makes him feel comfortable!! ughhh i love his development so much he’s just trying his best,,

saying that rainhaze’s effort saved the clan from more deaths than harebreeze makes me think. harebreeze was the father of him and slugpelt? i think? so i wonder if the death of his father caused a drive to make sure nobody else did. or it could be something like wanting to make sure his new nieces and nephews stay alive!! i want to know if rainhaze is okay i love him :( he’s just a silly guy. wet cat

of course u explained what shining town meant, it was a reference, but while reading i actually took it in a different way, so i’ll just throw this here too. barrenclan has a sense of this is how life is. it’s hard, but they’re safe. as long as things keep going the way they’re going, they’re be the shining town, they’ll continue being safe. however, as pinepaw finds, their territory is laced with the dead, saying how the shining town they chase for can’t be that possible if their illusion of safety lives untop of countless graves.

also daffodilpaw and redpelt were both on the same panel. 10/10 issue will issue again

EHEH I'm loving people's reactions that are just like WHAT?? WAS THAT??

When I promised tiny Pinepaws, I meant it! I just didn't share the context around them. :)

It's sort of a combination of the two that led to the bones being buried! Not to get too gruesome, but they were all basically... slaughtered en masse, which led to their bodies piling together and forming a... rotting, scavenged silt-like layer? Yech. When early BarrenClan found that and faced it? Yeah, NO one was processing that. I imagine that some cats made an attempt to bury what was left of the bodies, and dirt and wind did the rest of the work.

Pinepaw needs a freaking VACATION. I wish I could pick him up and take him to the Bahamas. Meanwhile Cormorantpaw is slowly going through his own little character development in the background. We'll learn some more about him next week!

Harebreeze was Rainhaze and Slugpelt's father yes! It was mentioned he died in Issue 4, the first issue with Rainhaze in it. The death of Harebreeze, plus the threat to his own family, definitely drove Rainhaze to prevent the famine however he could.

I LOVE your alternate interpretation of "the shining towns". :D What a great angle on it!!

I'm glad you enjoyed the issue <3

#ask #pinepaw #rainhaze #cormorantpaw #harebreeze #issue 12

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

So… on one hand, two minutes out of ~4 hours is not much. Like there’s SO MUCH they didn’t show in the trailer, so to anyone losing hope about Byler or about Mike or Will getting Vecnaed, I wouldn’t do so just yet. Always remember that Noah Schnapp said, “They’re building that up, so definitely ship that,” and I find it hard to believe he’d say that just for nothing to happen. He wouldn’t be so giddy talking about Byler and liking Byler edits on TikTok at every chance he gets. There is still the painting, which narratively speaking must be revealed at some point, as it is Checkov’s Gun.

That being said, hmmm… I know it’s probably not evidence for anything but it’s so interesting to me that there IS a Byler scene in the trailer (even if it doesn’t seem like the one we were hoping for) but not even a hint or a glance at the Melvin reunion, despite the fact that we know it’s coming. So even if there are only two seconds of Byler in a non-romantic context, why would the marketing be non-existent for the supposedly biggest ship of the show… unless?

But yeah, the cabin scene is somewhat concerning for Byler. On the one hand, it seems to be directly a parallel to Season 2 in the way they are sitting and the way Will is confiding in Mike. On the other hand, it’s in a definitively supernatural/Vecna related context not in a romantic heart-to-heart context like we’d hoped for. But also, we were only shown like two seconds from the scene! We could be taking it out of context! Or there can also be more to the scene. Like what if a confession of sorts happens ~because~ everyone’s in danger supernaturally. Also, when will the painting be revealed?! It has to be at some point, and we know it has romantic implications based on El’s letter.

There’s HEAVY Empire Strikes Back parallels in this trailer, and I know people have already mentioned it, but that makes El the Luke of this story and Mike and Will potentially the Han and Leia of this story. Han and Leia get closer romantically during ESB, but then it ends on a cliffhanger when Han is turned into carbonite… so what if Mike gets taken to the Upside Down at the end of the Season? I know that’s a huge stretch. I do have a bad feeling about this as a whole and feel like the season is gonna end in tragedy just like Empire Strikes Back. I’m very scared for Robin. And I feel like Mike’s a ticking time bomb with all the eerie foreshadowing. And also…

How does Will know about Vecna’s plans? Has he already met Vec before? He sounds thoroughly confident, not like he’s guessing. It seems very similar to how he knew about the Mind Flayer’s plans when he was possessed in Season 2? I hope that means Will is getting his main character arc back and maybe getting powers? If Will is the Leia of this story, he would have powers just like the Luke of the story. Or maybe it’s related to him touching his neck and his increased sensitivity to the Upside Down? Or maybe he’s already been Vecnaed? I hope it doesn’t give credence to the theories that say Will will become evil or become a host for Vecna? He also looks somewhat eerie/evil in the clip, but maybe that’s just the lighting. Especially considering all of the eerie parallels to Vecna. I want Will to get powers, but not like this…

There is of course the nightmare scenario that Noah and Millie’s infamous interview was actually true, and there is no coming out scene, and they still leave everything completely “up to interpretation.” The Jonathan scene could still be a coming-out scene, but who knows? I know we’d mostly stopped fearing this after all the positive Byler calendar stuff, and I really don’t believe they’d do that to us after all of this promotion, but it’s still a nightmare Vecna scenario…

BUT there’s still Mike’s monologue. There’s still almost four hours of content. Mike WAS acting weird for a reason. There’s still Noah’s saddest scene. There’s still more people to get Vec’d. The Upside Down was frozen when Will went through for a reason. There’s still the Melvin reunion, which can go in so many different ways. And I still wanna know why Noah used the 🍆 to describe the season 💀

#byler #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler i know what you are #byler endgame #will byers #noah schnapp #10 more days #if we’re all going delusional then we’ll go delusional together #finn wolfhard

[nori-the-cat]

BabyMonster Career and Success Outlook in 2024 & 2025

This is a requested reading. Please read the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: This reading is just a snapshot of their potential journey. I do not make claims that this will happen to them. I don’t predict the future. The girl’s journey will have its own unique twists and turns, and this reading is just a glimpse into the potential future.

Cards pulled from the deck were the fool in reverse and the sun.

The Fool (Reversed): This card often signifies new beginnings and taking risks, but in reverse, it can hint at hesitation, insecurity, or clinging to the familiar. For BabyMonster, this could represent a reluctance to fully embrace new sounds or concepts, potentially hindering their artistic growth and exploration.

There is a possibility that they might change their concept, style, and music to appeal to the wider audience. Since they’re still a rookie group, it is likely YG Entertainment will make them try many concepts until the group finds their right footing. The girls might experience conflicting emotions and disagreements, but since they’re still a rookie they might be reluctant to voice out their opinions. Luckily, with the Sun card, the group might experience light at the end of a tunnel.

The Sun: This card signifies joy, success, optimism, and achieving goals. It's a card of positive outcomes and fulfillment. For BabyMonster, it suggests that despite the potential challenges highlighted by the other cards, they ultimately have the potential for success and recognition in 2024 or 2025. Their hard work, talent, and positive energy will eventually be rewarded.

So, BabyMonster would or is likely going to face more challenges in the year ahead. I pulled the tower card, the moon, the devil, the strength, and the hierophant. To sum up, these cards were telling me they might face criticism, negativity, or moments where they question their direction. The tower card represents sudden change, upheaval, and unexpected challenges. It can be a disruptive but ultimately transformative experience. In BabyMonster's context, it could suggest facing unexpected situations or obstacles in 2024 or 2025 that force them to adapt and grow. This could be anything from external factors like industry shifts to internal challenges like member changes or creative disagreements.

Overall, BabyMonster can’t do anything but follow YG Entertainment instructions or plan until they achieve the company’s goals. The girls are young so they don’t have a say in their decisions. With their current situation, it is likely they’re anxious about their future and success. I don’t see success in this group in the coming years but I do see them slowly gaining fans. With the current K-pop situation and existing groups such as Aespa, NewJeans, and Le Sserafim topping the charts, YG Ent is likely going to do something for the group and the girls are anxious. YG Ent is also still holding onto doing “the next BlackPink” concept, which would affect the company company’s future. How about the girls? Well, they’re anxious. Yes, anxious. They won’t have any scandals but might face criticism from the public for their concept, music, and unoriginal work.

Additional note:

This is my opinion and I’m not a YG stan, and I don’t know much about BabyMonster. However, I must say the girls have so much homework to do if they want to become successful. YG Ent needs to do something if they want these girls to make money.

#babymonster #babymonster tarot #kpop tarot #yg entertainment #yg entertainment tarot

[frillyfacefins]

One Hell, Two Falls, Many Snakes (Hazbin Hotel Lucifer Meta)

So recently somebody replied to me on youtube, in the context of Hazbin Hotel, with this:

"According to most lore (other than the generic "Lucifer is evil" stuff) Lucifer was expelled from heaven because he loved humanity too much and didn't like the way God treated them, so he was condemned to try and reform sinners. His punishment was that no matter what he did, it wasn't enough."

First of all: The "according to most lore" immediately had my heckles up re: Citation fucking needed. But even if that were something that was widely known (which I have never heard before and sounds very 21st century to me), I think we can assume that this is not the case with Hazbin Hotel's Lucifer.

Let me explain.

Humanity didn't start out with the concept of 'sin'. Even in a world where Lilith exists, she wasn't really a sinner as much as a failed experiment - a prototype that didn't work the way it was intended to. 'Sin' only came into existence with the Fall of Man, aka the apple incident.

A Snake by any other name

So. In the bible and in sources up to the 19th century, the snake was not really assumed to be the same person as Lucifer. In the biblical canon, I'm pretty sure the snake was just a snake. We are all familiar with the whole "'Satan' in the bible just means an enemy, but not all of these enemies are meant to be the same entity" thing.

Later, we find interpretations of the snake as a demonic creature - I'm thinking specifically of Goethe's Faust, where the snake is the "aunt" of Mephistopheles.

I do believe, though, that in Hazbin Hotel, Lucifer was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Mainly because of the apple-and-snake imagery. So if we take this as granted and go with the most straightforward explanation, Lucifer must have fallen before the Fall of Man.

So Hell predates Sin, which means Hell can't have been constructed for the purpose of 'rehabilitating' sinners.

So what about Charlie?

I feel like there is also a seed in this that would explain why Charlie, only daughter of Lucifer, seems to be so young in the show. Eve's punishment in the bible was to labor like a beast, so my current assumption is that having babies wasn't really in the original blueprint of humans. We can also assume that Lilith underwent a metamorphosis when she came into Hell, so that might have made the whole baby-having even more difficult for her.

So I basically think that having Charlie at all was pretty damn hard for Lucifer and Lilith.

(Maybe that's one reason why other demons of the fallen-angel-variety (Paimon, Asmodeus) are more animal-like - because when they fell, animals were already able to procreate, while humans maybe weren't. But that's a tangent for another day.)

I've gone into detail on my own imagination of the early days of Hell in my fanfic "The Spark that made Heaven burn", and I'm going to write a sequel to that fic from Lilith's perspective soon. I just felt kinda bothered by that reply, and wanted to get this off my chest.

Hell is Other People

I think one thing we need to remember when we talk about demons and Lucifer and Hell is that a lot of this stuff was never in the bible and doesn't have a single, "canonical" source. Most of what we are talking about in relation to 'hazbin hotel lore' (outside of the series or helluva boss) is stuff that was written by medieval or renaissance mystics who were either reworking material that had been reworked dozens and dozens of times over a thousand years, or who were making things up wholecloth.

There is no such thing as 'accepted lore' when it comes to this, only things like "according to Johann Weyer" or "according to the Testament of Solomon" and then you have to deal with the whole pseudepigrapha issue... And then of course we get 19th century occultism and new age stuff mixed into all of this, which makes everything even more messy.

Basically, if anybody tries to tell you something about demons or angels is "accepted lore" or something like that, maybe be careful. And don't get angry at artists who take a part of this whole patchwork rug of ideas and use it in a way that doesn't jive with what people say is "correct according to most sources". None of this is codified. Just relax and let people have fun.

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #lucifer magne #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin hotel meta #vivzieverse #text

[evansblues]

Does he really have such a poor view of women? Why though?

I didn’t think it was a bad opinion. It was more that he is sexually attracted to women and benefits from the current social dynamic where women come on to him because he’s powerful. The queen of cups, the one with the lady and the fish, said to me he just can’t relate to women because his life experience is so different. It wasn’t a bad opinion or an intentional writing off, it’s just hard for him to understand what it’s like for us when his interactions have been women throwing themselves at him or him trying to get laid. It’s a different focus. I had a male friend who didn’t get a lot of attention from women so when I complained about being hit on or touched by men in public randomly he would say something like ‘must be nice’.

His outlook shows in the way he flirts with female interviewers. He sees a pretty woman and wants her validation so he flirts. That’s not respectful though because she’s working and likely doesn’t want to be seen as a sexual object but a good interviewer. She’s thinking about the questions she’s going to ask and the movie she saw. Part of that is his insecurity and the fact he’s gotten positive social traction from being sexually desirable himself and part of it is his need to get laid and/or find a partner but it demonstrates his own outlook on women and how he doesn’t think to consider who they are or what their experience is. Unhealed people have trouble thinking beyond themselves.

Also, I think he knows what it’s like to be objectified but his experience is in the context of fame which is very different from just existing as a woman. This is another thing that I remember from Jenny’s book. She made a big deal about how he didn’t unterstand but it doesn’t sound like she was trying to contextualize it so much as call him out on his ignorance. That’s why one of the changes he needs to make is getting new people in his life, people who will show him how to sympathize and explain their experiences to him without judgement to genuinely help him see and understand rather than point out the lack of it.

[your-subby-creature]

*skitters into your inbox* hey!! if u have anything u wanna infodump about rn or whenever u want, i am sitting down and very ready to listen :D

Hello!!! Since I've been feeling kinda sad/anxious/insecure today (forgot my meds oops), I think for our infodump I'm gonna tell a nice story out of trans history that's always been a niche favorite of mine. Mind you, this is my interpretation, and truly only based off one article from long ago, so take all my tales as slightly taller than they appear. Now settle down, and let your pal Creature spin you a yarn.

..

In the late 1890s, an old farmer, one Mr. Otto Schaffer, was living out his years on a small plot of land in Kansas. He'd served in the Civil War, a Union man through and through, and was content to settle down and make his living in the calm country of the once-bloody state.

Unfortunately for Otto, this land held more than the idyllic calm he'd imagined, and one day a terrible storm rolled through. They say it was as he was sending up a prayer to his God that a bolt of lightning struck poor Mr. Schaffer dead, but the man lived alone, so there's no way to tell what really happened that stormy night. Either way, that storm was his last, and when the townspeople came to collect Otto's body, the lightning strike wasn't their only surprise.

Now, they didn't quite use the same terms and divisions we have now, so when the press ran the headline "The Old Soldier a Woman," it was really about as close as they could get to explaining the deceased Mr. Schaffer's transness. They seemed to sense it too, seeing the man in front of them as more than his assigned sex at birth, never once misgendering him in the article, never questioning that he'd get the soldier's burial he deserved.

It was an honor reserved for men, in those days, and not a single one of his brothers in arms so much as thought of refusing to raise their guns for the final salute as Otto Schaffer's body was lowered into the ground. It must have been a shock, then, as the guns went off and the whole town said their goodbyes, when a single dove fell from the sky, shot dead by the salute, coming to rest near Otto's grave.

The papers honestly seemed more intrigued by this second death than any of the events prior we may see as more salacious today, calling it "peculiar and romantic," spending more time on what the dove could have meant than anything truly surrounding Otto or his body.

The article was published around the state but no further, just another oddity to read in the paper, nothing special about the old soldier Otto Schaffer except for the dove who lost its life to his final gun salute.

Other than this single article, we know nothing of Otto's life, nothing of the man he was or the person he would have been today, and yet I find myself smiling when I think of his story. He's the earliest evidence I've found for an American trans funeral, and yet he was respected and honored by his local community, by the military, by the press (who cared more about the bird than anything, so it seems.)

I feel a kinship with him, a tie that binds across the centuries, and while I know his existence is more complex and ambiguous and altogether unknown, his story never fails to remind me that we've always been here, and we've always been loved by someone.

..

(Remember that this is heavily narrativized by some guy on the internet, fully my creative nonfiction take on a primary source. The original is available in the Digital Transgender Archive, either Otto Schaffer's name or the headline "The Old Soldier A Woman" should get you to it. It's important to write and teach our histories through storytelling, but I don't want to create any impressions that this is all objectively 100% hard fact that's had no personal spin at all. I embellished for narrative effect, and I gladly and openly admit it. Lastly, this whole story exists in a broader context of colonialism and white supremacy and the gut-wrenching history of the United States, and I do want to make sure we remember and acknowledge that. )

-your Creature

#Creature responds #soft-caramel #storytime with creature #i feel like someones old peepaw sitting them down by the fire to spin a yarn and tell a tale #REITERATING THAT WHILE THIS IS BASED ON A PRIMARY SOURCE I HAVE HEAVILY EMBELLISHED PLEASE DONT TAKE THIS AS GOSPEL TRUTH #i dont want another who threw the first brick at stonewall situation with my boy otto schaffer #btw there were things thrown at stonewall but none of them were bricks its a nice story but also a myth

[will-o-the-witch]

If this is not uncomfortable to answer to , may I ask what's your view on Lilith?

I see a lot of opinions being shared left and right by people on tumblr and while I don't support appropriation, nor I have any interest in her as a religious/ mythological figure, your post about her sparked some curiosity inside me in terms of her being viewed solely as a monstrous entity.

I honestly don't take any myth or story about deities, spirits and so on as being 100% true. These stories are still written by humans based on their experiences, the way their mind works, their bias etc. The child killer Lilith can absolutely be a way trough people tried to explain why their children were dying, considering that during those times we had no advanced medicine and diseases were much more harder to treat and prevent.

This is pure genuine curiosity, do Jewish people approach Lilith? Are they truly that scared of her? Do almost everyone believe she is the reason why children were dying in the past ?

I frankly believe that no religious/ spiritual text holds the absolute truth of all that exists or the truth of the being/ race of beings that it is talked about in it. Humans always tried to explain (especially in the past ) why things happen by involving divine/ unseen forces, when most of the times it was just a normal phenomena that was way too hard for them to understand so boom a monster/ god must have been the cause.

If someone had a bad experience with a specific entity or they don't like what that entity represents, of course they'll paint them as a monstrous creature.

Jewish people and Jewish beliefs aren't a monolith, so there's no real answer to your question. People have a wide range of opinions about her and how much they "put stock" into her stories. The way you've described it here sounds like you imagine most people take all of this extremely literally, though, as if we missed out on learning about SIDS alongside everyone else. I'd encourage you to think of it less as a literal-fictional either-or binary and examine how the myths and the science feed into each other!

More to the point maybe though, the interpretation of her as ANYTHING other than purely malevolent is very modern. Doesn't mean valid or invalid, but it's VERY important to remember she maintained this reputation for thousands of years and it miiiight be a bad idea (even from a scholarly perspective) to assume everybody got it wrong bc they just didn't like her until the last 50-60 years. To many people, that's like putting a pretty pink bow on a wild boar.

You're not going to find ANY traditional Jewish folklore/practices that treat her as anything other than malevolent. (If you DO manage to find one from before say 1950, I will eat my kippah.) This has been her role for literally thousands of years. I'm fine when Jewish folks participate in feminist discussions about her and reinterpret the works within this context with regards to how she's played a role in our cultures, but I DONT like when gentiles then co-op these discussions to go "Yeah she was ALWAYS a feminist #icon, (((they))) just got it wrong because they're just a bunch of backwards chauvinists 💕"

From what I've seen most of the backlash about people romanticized her comes from people just wanting to adopt the feelgoody vibes from the latter. The one where she's totally #unproblematic and anything troubling can be explained away, ignoring her massive amount of historical context/90% of everything ever written about her.

SOME Jews will work with her, but most of the ones I know stay far the hell away from her. There's no such thing as a Universal Truth, but people earn their reputations for a reason.