he's still unsure. a part of him believes he will always feel this way. none of it was right, this life wasn't right. the things they did weren't right. and yet...their claws dig in deep. so here he was, teaching, lying, leading, and ending a life. or beginning it, as they would tell her. as he had to tell her as well.
of course she can't read. of course someone else has whispered into her ear the lies scriptures that he too had memorized. burnt into his flesh like a sin. and now he must do the same to her.
" — that's good... " he lies again. " do you have questions about it? about the scripture? " about anything. question it, he begs silently. but this was his job now. he must adhere to the rules set forth before him. and so she must learn, and she must become as he is.
maybe the world will not feel as lonely he thinks to himself. but it will, and he will feel the guilt along beside it for his eternity.
" hey, hi...you don't mind if i just...slide in here, huh? " she's not waiting on a response, but already pulling her legs over the bench and making herself a place at the table. " so ya see there's this guy, " she starts, tossing her head back to point at a man standing by the bar. there's no pause in her speaking, not really allowing her new company a moment to get a word in between. " he's just...a lot, ya know? i mean, maybe i told him a few silly little things about this knife i have in my pocket, and maybe he took it a little too serious so...i told him i had to go meet my friend over here, and here we are....what's up, i'm dodge. " her hand is held out across the table, still having barely taken a moment to breathe, let alone even bother to look at the person she had suddenly interrupted...hm, not too bad. " guess we're friends now, huh? " // @indirecticn liked this sc once upon a time — ft. dodge carter.
In mine and many other east Asian cultures, the dragon traditionally symbolises things like power, wealth and strength (imperial symbol and all)
I think we often forget that in the story of the Great Race, the dragon came in fifth because it'd stopped to give people rain. Then it'd stopped again to push a rabbit adrift on a log across the wide river so it reached the shore safely (that's why the Rabbit year comes before the Dragon).
Dragons aren't meant to just be powerful - they are meant to do good with such power, and to help those in need.
So in this lunar new year, I hope you gain more power, so that you might be able to help others. I pray you have abundant resources so you may give to yourself and those around you. I wish you courage, endurance, kindness and generosity, for yourself and your people.
I hope you, and I, will be rain givers, life preservers, joy bringers.
I hope we will be dragons.
Extremely belated postscript that should have been here far earlier:
it had been a gift, though not necessarily a pleasant one to give as it took more than a simple mortal blade to draw enough blood. however, the stave that loki had found was crafted by the silver finer than any dwarf could ever dream to work with and so it did the trick easily.
his wrist opened like a the tip of the great staff had been drawn through paper. the pages of skin and vein peeled back until painted a deep wine-dark red. the other hand crafted a spell that glimmered gold at the edges of the wound to keep it open but the blood from spilling too quickly.
and after a heady pull of the drink of choice was had the magic was used to seamlessly draw skin and vein together in a reversal of time it's self. it still left him winded, small as the gift had been, but then it could have easily been the sight before him that took loki's breath away.
he certainly couldn't stop staring, at any rate, and could barely contain himself when he asked, "what do you taste?"
the wrist is presented to oz like a blood soaked gift wrapped in gold. fingers dig into the soft flesh offered to him and he pulls himself in closer - as if trying to crawl into the other's skin. the only sound remaining between them is the rhythmic breathing as oz laps at the blood spilling from the all too welcoming wound.
it's hard to stop, he'll be the first to admit. but time is discipline, and he has had plenty of it. once he's had his fill, or at least his taste, he slowly pries himself away. the fresh blood that trails from the corner of his lip is the only visible evidence of what has just transpired.
a few seconds pass before oz registers that he's been asked a question. his mind struggles to fully grasp what his body has just experienced. it's new. oh...it's new. how rare that oz gets to experience something genuinely new. it's been so long that he's unsure how to react.
instead of giving an answer, oz takes another second to clean himself up. deft fingers drag over his chin, wiping away the glistening liquid from his skin and over his lips, which he continues to lick clean. he senses that this is an experience he won't be able to replicate.
finally, he sits back and his brain catches up to the present.
he tasted...divinity. a scripture etched into his tongue as it danced through his veins. holy, holy. a pure, burning fire that licked at the depths of his being. holy, holy. his nerves stood on end, a single touch felt like a burst of lightning.
i thought my laptop was on its last leg because it was running at six billion degrees and using 100% disk space* at all times and then i turned off shadows and some other windows effects and it was immediately cured. i just did the same to my roommate's computer and its performance issues were also immediately cured. okay. i guess.
so i guess if you have creaky freezy windows 10/11 try searching "advanced system settings", go to performance settings, and uncheck "show shadows under windows" and anything else you don't want. hope that helps someone else.
*yes sorry i mean usage i posted this before bed :( i do not mean the hard drive is full aaaaghhhh
Ramadan is coming up and I can’t stress enough how much Palestinians have never got the chance to experience one normal Ramadan for 75years
You may not have been subjected to this, but as a person from an Arabic country, every Ramadan from every year there’s always headlines of Israeli iof soldiers or Israeli extremist settlers attacking Palestinians during Ramadan, especially Palestinian worshipers trying to pray in the al aqsa mosque
It’s happens almost every single year
Ramadan is suppoused to be Muslim people’s month of worship, of Baraka and it is very important to Muslim people
But Palestinians never ever experienced a normal Ramadan because Israel attacks them Viciously
Almost
Every
Single
Fucking
Year
And I will dare and say that Israel does it on purpose, it does it every Ramadan on purpose
And now, this year, with Ramadan being only a few weeks away, I doubt that they’ll have a normal Ramadan, not in the West Bank, and not in Gaza
All what I have to say here is that Israel will still follow this trend, something bad is gonna happen this Ramadan, keep an eye on Palestine during Ramadan