#2019 has him wearing peasant clothes

[shreddedparchment]

Pseudo Princess Pt.01

Among the Muck

09/27/2019

Pairing: King!Steve x Reader          Word Count: 4,835

Warnings: Language, future smut, future dub-con (because of the time period this is set in), future angst, future violence

A/N: I’ve been watching a lot of the Tudors and inspiration struck. I’ve been wanting to make a Medieval AU but this will be different to those I’ve read. These characters will still be them. Tony is still Iron Man (you’ll see how I do that), Bruce will still be Hulk, Steve and Bucky will still be super soldiers. So this falls under more Medieval Fantasy than just pure Medieval. As such, this will not be historically accurate but hopefully within the historically accurate bubble in all other aspects. This will not be a fluffy story. There will be some fluff (I love soft moments and I do them often) but there will also be some major angst. Anyway, I hope you like this first chapter. xoxo

If you would like to be tagged. Please, send me an ASK. I will not add you if you send me a private message or if you do so in the comments.

Coarse dirt is caked underneath your fingernails. Your feet squish against the wet gloop of mud. With a gasp you falter, losing your balance, and throw out your hands to catch yourself.

They sink in all the way to the elbow, stretching the muscles on the back of your thighs until they burn.

Labor is something you are familiar with, but this. This searching is exhausting.

“Are you alright, dear?” An old woman croaks, voice quaking with age.

Glancing back at her with her withered white skin, caked in grime and dried sweat, you smile.

It’s meant to be reassuring but you feel as if it’s really a grimace.

“Yes.” You answer simply, as she worries, watching you struggle.

She’d been walking along the side of the uneven dirt road when a group of teens—from the village because you’ve seen them before—rushed by on stolen horses. They avoided the lady easily but the guard chasing behind them did not.

They barreled towards the old woman and she’d had to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled.

She’d landed in this mud puddle, losing her purse in the process.

Watching it all happen, you’d dropped your pails and raced over to help her.

Grateful, she’d accepted your offer of assistance and you’d sat her on an overturned tree stump to wait while you looked for her bag.

Well, since your hands are already in, you might as well take advantage of it. You reach around freely, searching. Making small groaning noises in the back of your throat from the effort it takes to wade through the viscous muck.

“Thank you for helping me, young lady.” The old woman sighs. Probably tired.

“My name is Y/N, grandmother. Feel free to call me as such.” You tell her, peeking once again with a reassuring smile.

“Not many young people would help a fallen old woman.” She continues, as if you hadn’t interrupted.

“Then I guess there ain’t many decent young people then, is there?” You ask rhetorically.

“No.” She answers sadly. “There ain’t even much in my purse. Maybe you shouldn’t bother?”

“Nonsense, grandmother. I will find your purse and return it to you, and I beg you to keep off the roads in future. We don’t need you breaking your neck on account of the guard.” Just then your fingers make purchase, a small string of rope passes between your fingers and you grab it. “Gott’it!”

It takes a mighty tug to free the small ratty bag from the muck. You nearly lose your balance again and fall back onto your behind, but you manage to catch yourself and once you’re steady you turn and traipse back towards the old woman. By the time you reach her, you’re sweating.

“The string is still tight.” You tell her. “Your money is safe.”

You hand her the bag and she takes it, opens it—quickly wiping off as much of the mud as she can then smears it onto the grass beside her to clean her hand—then reaches in for a large silver coin.

“Here. You deserve it.” She says.

With a furrowed brow, you pull yourself out of the mud fully. You wipe your hands on your long tattered brown apron, but you know you’ll need a bath to get all he mud off. “No. I’m alright, grandmother. I don’t need payment. I’m happy to help.”

“Take it, young woman.” She shakes her fist at you, silver coin dangling between her thumb and forefinger.

You shake your head, dropping your apron before you move to her and squat down beside her. With the skirt of your woolen dress still pulled up and tucked to create a pair of makeshift pants, you take the silver coin and her dirty purse and shove the coin back into the bag.

“I said, I don’t need it. You keeping well is all the payment I require.” You draw the string closed and then reach out to shove it into the pocket of her own dark gray skirt. “Your skirt is torn here, and your bodice needs mending too. As does that shamble of a hat you’re wearing. Why don’t you get yourself a decent set of dresses with this money before winter comes instead of handing it out?”

“At my age, what does it matter what I wear when I freeze? I’m going to die sooner rather than later. New clothes would only be a waste of money.” She sasses you.

“Even so.” You put your elbows on your knees and smile at her. “It would make me much happier to know that you’ve spent the money taking care of yourself. I can’t always be here to help you when the world takes a bitter turn.”

The woman cackles. “Oh, sweet girl, you’re much too late.”

A sudden rumble pulls your gaze up towards the road. Through the tall rows of trees that make up the outlying forest, you see a distant coach and six horses riding hard and fast.

“What’s that?” The old woman asks, “Help me up.”

You get up, untying your dress so that it falls around you again to shield your legs, then help the old woman up. Keeping your hands on her elbows until she’s steady, you observe the smaller details of the approaching carriage.

“It’s a royal carriage. There’s gold and silver fixtures upon the horses' harness.” You observe.

“You can see that from here?” The old woman gasps. “I really must be old. I can’t see shite.”

She squints in the same direction that you’re staring and as the carriage gets closer, the sounds of hooves, a whip, and the call of the coachman becomes louder.

He’s dressed in a fine black tunic, a singular bright baby blue circle at the center of his chest that slowly grows out in smaller circles darkening in color until it reaches the edge of the circle. The pattern makes it look like it’s glowing. From the circle crop out several silver lines of thread that line the seams and edges of the rest of his uniform, tunic and all.

On his head he wears a hat. Simple. Nothing too exciting. No feathers at least.

“It’s the King’s carriage.” You whisper at the old woman and as the carriage grows closer, you and she drop your heads and curtsy as it passes.

“We can’t give up.” A male voice says from inside the carriage. It floats out and reaches your ears and while you try not to listen, you can’t help it. “We’ll find a girl that’s suitable if we have to search every village in my Kingdom until-wait…did you see that?”

“See what?” Another male voice says.

This one you recognize. Colonel James Rhodes. He comes into the village every few months to look over the new recruits for the king’s army.

Polite. Nice. No time for funny business though. Stern.

“That girl. Stop the carriage.” The other male voice—the king you suddenly realize—calls.

“WHOA!” The coachman says. “Whoa…”

The carriage rustles to a stop, gravel and dirt grinding against the thick reinforced wheels. The footman jumps off the back of the carriage and hurries forward pulling open the door. He saunters out with sharp movements that you observe for all of one second before you avert your gaze again, legs beginning to ache from your held curtsy.

You’ve never seen the king up close before and you did not expect him to be so young. Well, not young, but he wasn’t old. He might have been an older uncle or your father.

“This one.” He says, and you can almost feel him pointing.

You peek up at him, take in his leathered tunic, dark and supple. His sword resting at his hip, a deep blue cape with a black bear’s pelt around the collar to keep him warm as the last vestiges of summer slip into autumn. His hair is dark brown, only the slightest hint of gray along his temples.

His body is lean. His gloved finger pointed at you, just as you’d thought. His deep brown eyes watch you with curiosity, eagerness, and surprise. Happiness too. He’s excited.

His travelling crown is a golden three-inch band with very little jewels. Only about four or five red rubies are set within it and they dazzle you in the midday sun before you avert your gaze again.

“That one? Really?” The Colonel has joined the king.

“Yes. She’s the right age.” The king asserts. “Come here girly, stand before me. Here.”

He makes an X in the gravel of the road, but you can’t seem to find the strength to move. You’ve never been so nervous in your life.

Here you are, face to face with the fucking King of Malibia, and you’re covered in mud. Your hair is falling out of its braid. You’re sweating and haven’t bathed in almost a week. You look worse than you’ve ever looked in your life.

“Hey, girl, are you deaf? Did you not hear your king?” The Colonel asks, military voice hard and commanding. “His Majesty has given you and order.”

It takes you another half second to urge yourself out of your curtsy and move to the spot marked on the ground.

“Stand up straight.” The king orders.

You do.

“Head up.”

You lift your chin.

“Shoulders back. Don’t slouch.”

You push out your breasts.

“She’s perfect.” The king says.

“Your Majesty…” Colonel Rhodes begins. “…Tony, she’s a peasant. Look at her. She hasn’t bathed in almost a month.”

You glower at the Colonel, unable to help yourself. You’re not that dirty. Not a month’s worth. Jerk.

“We can easily fix that. She’s the one, Rhodey. Our search is over. Problem solved. What’s your name, girl?” The king suddenly asks, moving to stand closer to you, his hands behind his back.

You bow your head, not meeting his eyes. “M-My name is Y/N, your Majesty. At your service.”

“Do you have any family?” He asks, worried suddenly.

“No, your Majesty. I don’t have anyone.” You don’t mean to sound sad about it but not many people as you that question.

Everyone in the village knows your story so you have no reason to retell it.

This is the first time you’ve realized that you’re alone in the world. No one will miss you if you die.

“Perfect. Excellent. Magnificent. Get in the carriage.” He turns and leads the way back, disappearing into the mouth of the open door.

“P-Pardon me, your Majesty?” The shock in your voice is apparent and you find your limbs frozen and locked again.

“You heard his Majesty.” The colonel says with exasperation. “Get in the carriage.”

“B-But where are we going?”

“Will you just get in? We don’t have time for all your questions. His Majesty will explain everything on the way.” The colonel moves to you, grabs you by the elbow and drags you away from where you stand to the carriage door.

One foot up on the step in, you look to the old woman with large, terrified eyes and she’s staring at you with an utterly worried expression. She shifts from foot to foot, hand at her throat as she watches you get taken away.

Strange that she’s worried about you when she’s never shown such emotion before. Guess there are some good people in the world.

“Goodbye…” You mouth to her and she gives you a tiny wave before the colonel is pushing you into the carriage.

You find your seat on the far corner, opposite the king.

As the colonel sits down beside him then hits the roof of the carriage twice, the king can only smile.

No. It’s a smirk. A grin. A pleased one. He’s so damn happy that he’s kidnapped you.

You suddenly remember rumors about the king. Whispered secrets in taverns from drunken lips, spoken with shifting eyes and pounding hearts.

The king devoured young girls. He’d steal them away from their families and towns, trap them in his castle and have his way with them. He’d been with many. Hundreds, they say.

Is that what this is? Are you being taken to be the king’s fodder?

Too afraid to ask, you mash your lips shut and stare at your mud caked hands.

It’s dried and when you twiddle your thumbs, your skin pulls against the stiff coating of dried muck. It cracks and dusts, but you don’t dare look up, afraid you’ll get your answer in the king’s piercing gaze.

~~~~~~~~~~

You ride in silence for what feels like hours. Head down, thumbs twiddling away.

There’s a slow inhale of breath, the click of a tongue draws your eyes up.

“Do you always come silently when you’re abducted?” His Majesty asks, leaning his elbow against the small window’s ledge, fist resting against his chin.

“No, your Majesty.” You reply, somewhat meekly. “I mean…I ain’t-”

“Haven’t.” King Anthony says.

“Your Majesty?” You peer at him with confusion.

“Haven’t. It’s I haven’t. Not I ain’t. Better start speaking properly from the get-go or you’ll fall into bad habits.” He orders.

“Oh.” You lick your lips, feeling a slight bit of shame.

It’s not your fault that you’re not exactly eloquent. You’ve never been to school. Not once.

“I haven’t ever been kidnapped before, your Majesty.”

“I haven’t been kidnapped before.” He says, editing your reply. “Keep it simple. Have you been taught? Did you go to the school in the village?”

You shake your head. “Before they passed, my mother and father said that my place was at home where I could help mother take care of the house. My father was away a lot.”

“Mm.” The king nods. “And where are your parents now?”

“They’re dead, your Majesty. Sixteen years ago now.” You’d been a child when they died.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Did they die in the famine?” He checks, giving your body a quick up and down almost like he was checking to see if you had been marked by death too.

“No, your Majesty.” You shake your head.

“War?” He wonders. “Accident?”

“No. The plague took my mother first, my father followed shortly after. I’ve been alone ever since.” It’s funny, you rarely ever think about it like this. Like you’re alone and orphaned.

“The plague?” His Majesty asks, confused by their deaths and you know why. “But the plague didn’t take many lives. We were well prepared for it.”

“Yes.” You nod. “My mother was the first to die. Her death raised the alarm and my father’s death came shortly after. Too quick before his Majesty’s medicines made it into the village. It happened very quickly. They didn’t suffer long.”

A peachy gloveless hand reaches out and settles over your nervous twiddling thumbs, preventing them from fidgeting.

You look up, startled by the gesture, and meet his stunningly bright brown eyes.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” The king says. “And your parents are heroes. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to prepare as quickly as we did and the losses to my kingdom would have been much greater. Thank you.”

You don’t know why you should be thanked for losing your parents, but you understand what he’s saying.

There’s kindness in his eyes and he means nothing by it. You didn’t know that the king could be so nice, and he speaks in an offhandish tone, but there’s feeling in his expression.

“Your Majesty.” You say, thanking him for his kindness. With a look back down at his hand over yours, and because it’s what people do, you pull his hand up to your dirty lips and kiss it in gratitude.

This is your king and he’s surprisingly nice.

The colonel suddenly clears his throat and you lower his Majesty’s hand back to your lap.

He gives you one more squeeze then takes his hand back, regloving it.

“We’ve still got a few hours before we reach the castle. If you want to sleep, you should sleep. Once we arrive it will be some time before you can rest.” His Majesty says.

It takes you a while but eventually you do doze off against the side of the carriage.

When you wake up, you find that the king is also not a liar. You’re awoken by a young man, the footman from before, shaken gently who then wraps your shoulders in a long black cloak. He pulls the hood over your head and then double-checks to make sure that you are properly hidden beneath it before he leads you through a side door of a tall dark gray stone wall.

You’ve never seen the castle before, and you attempt to take in as much of it as you can while you’re led in but all you see is the cobblestone walls of the lower floors. Servant’s quarters usually, and a large parapet wall, that stands at what must be twelve feet in height. Maybe taller.

It’s too dark to make out much more than the distant illuminated windows of the upper floors then you’re weaving your way through a confusing array of twists and turns.

“Where are we going?” You ask the footman and he sighs.

“His Majesty told me to show you to your quarters and say nothing else. I’m sorry, miss. His Majesty will explain everything later.” He gives you an apologetic look.

“Where is his Majesty?” You wonder, since he can’t tell you what’s going on, clearly, maybe he’s willing to tell you about the castle?

“He and the colonel have gone to take care of some business. Queen Virginia has been waiting all day for his return. I’m sure he’s greeting her too.” The young man says.

The way he smiles makes you think that he’s right. You’ve heard that King Anthony Stark loves his queen more than any King has ever loved his Queen in the history of the kingdom. Any kingdom.

She’d been his right hand, and best friend, long before she was queen. After courting many women, his Majesty had seen the light and pursued Miss Potts until she’d given in and agreed to marry him.

Shortly after, they’d had their daughter and the Kingdom had rejoiced. With an heir to the throne, prosperity in the kingdom doubled.

“Wait,” You reach out and grab the young man’s wrist and pull him to a stop. “Are we going the right way?”

He’s leading you upstairs. It’s a small narrow staircase that winds up and up and up. The servant’s staircase but one that no doubt leads up to the nicer bedrooms upstairs.

“I am only following orders, miss. Come along. I have other things to tend to after I drop you off.” He pulls his arm from your hold and leads once more.

You follow in silence, growing more and more nervous.

Were the rumors really true? Is the king going to have his way with you? Are you going to be taken in as his mistress?

No.

Your mind flashes back to the kind look in his eyes in the carriage and his gentility with the news of your parents. You can’t link the sweet and noble king in the carriage to the rumored philandering king that those rumors paint.

He loves the Queen. Why would he stray?

The hallway you are brought out on is a surprisingly light. Gleaming limestone above a floor made of alternating black and white marble. Gilded chandeliers with flickering candlelight illuminate the darkened hallway.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” You ask in a whisper, afraid to wake up some nobility sleeping over.

“Yes, Miss. This way.”

He leads you down a second hallways, this one nicer and lined with stunning paintings of the various landscapes in the kingdom.

King Anthony must really love his homeland.

Finally, the footman stops before two large, steel reinforced oak doors. He pushes them open inside the small entryway is a chair and a decorative table, beside another set of doors that already stand open.

You move in, gawking at the light blue and white damask wallpaper. The golden vanity with a tall ornate golden mirror to match, both beside a tall four post bed with baby blue sheets, fluffy gray pillows, and a beautiful canopy made of heavy white draping. At the end of the bed is a pink chaise lounge, a soft fur blanket waiting to be draped over a shivering body.

Several candles have been lit to illuminate the large space which is big enough to fit your small home in it thrice. A floor to ceiling window has been drawn closed. There’s a desk with a letterbox for writing. Comfy chairs and a small table for card playing. Another two cushioned chairs by a big fireplace for reading.

Beside the chair is a smaller table with a plate of fruits and bread.

Your stomach growls and the pain of hunger hits you suddenly.

“This is where I leave you.” The footman says.

“Wait!” You gasp, turning to follow him into the entryway of your room. “Wait, are you sure this is where the King asked you to bring me?”

“I’m positive. Have some food. That’s why it was brought. Then wait for his Majesty to come find you.”

He gives you a quick head to toe.

“Maybe stay out of the bed until you have cleaned up? Mrs. Parson would not be happy with you if you ruined the sheets.” He gives you a smile then leaves you there, shutting the doors behind him.

At first you hover around the entrance, hesitating each time you’re tempted to go back into the large bedroom.

When you finally give in, instead of racing for the food immediately, you wander around the room looking at all of the fine furnishings and the items having been left for you.

Your favorite by far is the large wardrobe. Full of dresses and outerwear made of fine silks in every color.

When your stomach growls again, you give in and move to sit at the very edge of the chair by the small table in front of the blissfully warm fire. It crackles and dances as you munch on grapes and apples, then bite and tear into the bread. A small pitcher of wine has been set aside for you and you gulp down a small glass before pouring yourself another.

The food hits your stomach painfully. Too hungry for too long. Now that you’re filling it, your stomach stretches uncomfortably.

You put your hand on your stomach and groan, still chewing on an apple slice.

The sound of your doors opening startles you up. You set your food aside as his Majesty suddenly sneaks in and quickly shuts the second set of doors behind him.

Heart pounding, nervous, and suddenly worried that you are about to be ravished by force—well, sort of…if your king wants you, then you’ll surrender yourself to him. He’s your king!—you back up until your back hits the post of your bed.

“Were you eating?” He asks, smiling happily as he looks from your terrified form to the plate you’d just abandoned. It’s almost empty. Only a few grapes and an apple slice left.

He looks back at you and seems to realize that you’re scared. He holds his hands out to you and beckons you forward.

Because you must listen to your king, you move towards him, avoiding his gaze.

He reaches down and takes your hands, dirty as they are, then leads you to the chair you’d been sitting in again.

“Please, sit.” He urges you and once you’re seated, takes the other. “You must have lots of questions.”

You nod.

“Tell me.”

“Why am I here?” You look up at him, swallowing past the nerves loudly.

“Straight to the big one, huh?” He smiles. “Very well, we’re taking you in.”

“What?!” You ask in shock.

“Pepper—that is, Queen Virginia—and I are taking you in. We…where to start?” He wrings his hands, sits back and looks up at the ceiling. “Three months ago, the King of Broklin sent me a letter. He asked if it were reasonable, that I introduce him to my daughter. He wants to marry her as his own Queen died a year ago and he is called upon by the duty to his people to give them not only a new queen but an heir to the throne.

“Because Princess Morgana is heir to my throne, I wrote back to him and told him that I would need to discuss it with my own queen and after much deliberation, since the two kingdoms are neighboring, we decided that with their marriage and upon my death or his, we might combine our kingdoms for good.”

He smiles a little tightly, a frown you realize.

“What happened?” You wonder.

“Well, Morgana is very young but either way she has always been a woman of her own. She’s strong minded and strong willed and she wasn’t raised to expect to share her kingdom. Not only that but she has since declared that she will only marry a man whom she loves. She will not marry for political purposes and when I told the King this, he took offense.

“War hasn’t threatened our Kingdom in almost sixty years. Even if I have the means to defeat his kingdom, I would rather not have it come to that. So…against my wife’s wishes…I may have told Morgana that she will marry the King of Broklin whether she likes it or not.”

That seems…well, not reasonable but understandable considering the consequences if she shouldn’t.

“And what did the Princess say?” You ask him, leaning forward and completely invested in his retelling.

“She ran away.” He smiles at you, eyes sparkling. “She’s like her mother. A strong woman. And she gets her iron will from me.”

“She ran away?” You gasp, shocked by the Princess’s behavior.

“She did.” King Anthony nods. “And we can’t find her.”

Okay, so all of that makes sense but what exactly do you have to do with it all?

“Since I am not going to be able to marry my own daughter to the King of Broklin…I concocted a plan not to deceive him but so that we might both be happy. You will be my eldest daughter.”

“What?”

“I know it’s a crazy plan, but we’ve already begun to spread the news and I wrote to the King this morning that I have an elder daughter. One who I sent of when she was very young because she suffered from emotional problems.” He explains. “And was obviously a daughter born from an unfortunate tryst in my youth.”

“What?!” You rise to your feet, shocked beyond reason.

“A special school up north has reformed you and you are recently returned to us. And now that you are cured, we’ve welcomed you back into the castle with open arms. Since Morgana has been trained to rule our kingdom, you would make a lovely queen for his. Or…something like that. I can’t remember how I worded it exactly.”

“Emotional problems?” You demand again. “A tryst?”

King Anthony winces, but he smiles at you.

“It happens. Lots of royals have them. Both the emotional problems and the affairs. Anyway, that’s why you’re here. We need an older princess to send to the King of Broklin and you are the lucky winner.” He says, almost laughing, congratulatory as if you’ve really just won a prize. “You will be the queen of an entire kingdom. Lucky you!”

“Your Majesty-” You begin, shaking your head because you can’t be a queen! You don’t know how queens act or speak or move or think. You’re an orphan from a small village where you’ve taken to sewing to earn a few coins just to get by.

“Please?” King Anthony reaches over and takes hold of your dirty hand. “I…can’t bring myself to condemn my only daughter to a life in a loveless marriage. I married for love and I want her to be able to do the same. I’m sorry to ask this of you. It’s not fair to you either but without you, our kingdom might have to go to war.

“Lost lives can be prevented simply by your marrying the King of Broklin. Please, please do this for us. For the Kingdom. Please?” And his begging is genuine.

You. A nobody from nowhere has brought a king, your king, to his knees to beg.

“I-If I marry him, it will prevent a war?” You double check.

“Yes. You’ll be keeping the lives of the young men in our kingdom safe.” He urges.

You stare at him, wondering if you’ll really be able to pull this off. You’re going to have to work harder than you’ve ever worked before and that’s because you work with your hands when you can’t earn enough money with the sewing.

Calloused hands. Not the hands of a royal.

King Anthony massages those hands, staring at them as he waits with bated breath.

“Okay.” You relent. “I’ll do it. I’ll marry him.”

This time, King Anthony kisses your hands. Dried mud and all.

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[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 183

September 10

Today is Day 183, which officially means it has been more than half a year since lockdown started and the whole world twisted on its axis. I read something from somebody today talking about how they were dealing with feelings of frustration towards their kid. It was something like "I try to remember how one day in March, I picked him up from school like normal, and then with no warning he never saw his friends again. Even an adult doesn't really have tools to process that." I feel like I'm treading a fine line with the kiddo sometimes, between being sensitive to the pain and confusion he's feeling and letting him act out in ways that are inappropriate and hard to live with. When none of us can leave the house and my husband has to work from home, the kiddo cannot be slamming around and yelling (especially since we also have upstairs and downstairs neighbors), but I could probably be more tolerant of the simple whining. There's just so much to whine about, for all of us! 

There were no technical problems with school today, so that was a relief, but they still really aren't learning anything except how to do online classes and remote learning. It's important, I know, but the kiddo has done virtual learning since he learned to read and he is bored, bored, bored. He was also really keyed up today for some reason and threw an absolute fit when he couldn't get his favorite Minecraft server working, and then another one when he wasn't doing very well on the alternative server he tried. Before he went back for his afternoon class time I had him cuddle one of the kittens to calm down, which helped. Later on while I was cooking supper and Husband was stuck in a stupidly late faculty meeting, the kiddo was looking for a snack and whining about his options, and I crabbed at him about it. He brought me a kitten to cuddle. It helped. 

I had my yearly CPAP checkup today, took in my machine and had a short little conference with the near-doctor who handles such things at the sleep clinic. She says that I probably ought to get more sleep, since my days-used compliance is 100%, but my Days Used >4hrs is only 83% for the past month. I told her yeah, that is because of the kittens, but they are weaned now so I do plan on getting some sleep. She remembered that I also had kittens last year when I had my appointment and I said that there are a lot of kittens out there, but I do plan on taking a break soon. She was glad to hear that my CPAP is improving my life, even if it is less making me more alert and more curing the frequent sinus infections that come from open-mouth sleeping in dry air. I tell you what, if you are an open-mouth sleeper and you wake up every morning feeling like your entire head is full of dry sand, a CPAP that blows warm, moist air down your throat all night is a true game changer. I don't think I had half as many colds in 2019 as the year before. 

On my way back from the doctor I stopped by Kroger and picked up onions, grapes, and bread. I've needed onions for days, but the frozen chopped onions in my grocery order were out of stock. I actually bought fresh whole onions today, like a peasant! But I really needed them for several recipes, and then the grapes were 77 cents a pound so of course I stocked up. I also stopped by the Starbucks kiosk in the store because I was very sleepy and I also wanted to commemorate the start of Pumpkin Spice season. It was definitely not the same not being able to drink coffee while shopping, but it was still good. My Starbucks gift card is about to run out, so it's good that I got my latte while the getting was good. Kroger was busy but everyone was wearing masks and standing pretty far apart. 

My big project for the afternoon was the sock basket, with the kiddo's help. I do my laundry in the laziest way possible, which is to say that any sock without a match in immediate view gets thrown into the sock basket to languish. When the basket is completely full or we are totally out of socks, the basket must be dealt with. After the massive laundry project of last week, the sock basket had overspilled its bounds and filled most of a second clothes basket as well. (We have a surprising number of socks for three people because we are always losing them. Or they are in the sock basket.) We sat down in front of the TV and watched The Good Place while sorting and matching socks. I did white socks and black socks, while the kiddo did color and pattern socks. It took more than an hour to do all the socks, but we are down to about a third of a basket of unsorted socks now, which is much better. Some people say you should throw away your unmatched socks after you sort them, but that is dumb because single socks are useful for all kinds of things, and you never know when you'll need one until they are all gone. 

Oh, and the Minecraft saga had a happy ending, at least. We were able to figure out the problem with his preferred server and get it working again, so peace once again reigns in our fair apartment. Someday he's going to get very into a complex videogame that I know nothing about and we will be screwed as far as troubleshooting, but today is not that day! 

#quarantine #cpap #minecraft #foster kittens

[hafanforever]

Identity Unknown

When the Frozen II teaser trailer premiered on February 13, 2019, we saw it briefly feature a young girl and boy together in a forest. There is barely a glimpse of the girl’s face before she notices leaves mysteriously parting to reveal the boy (whose face is not shown), who is then lifted into the air by some apparent form of magical wind along with some of the leaves.

The girl has long brown hair and wears simple clothing much like those worn by Sami people, giving the impression that she is a peasant. But the golden-haired boy wears a darker, more formal type of coat, shirt, pants, and boots, suggesting that he is of a higher social class than the girl.

Despite their short appearances, including not seeing much of their faces to make an identification, many fans have come to believe that this young boy and girl (primarily due to what we saw in their physical appearances and the magic element shown in the footage) are Agnarr and Iduna, respectively, when they were (approximately teenaged) children. I have thought about it myself, but I also wanted to be surprised and not make so much speculation before the film’s release date.

The second theatrical trailer for Frozen II, which came out on September 23, begins with Agnarr telling little Anna and Elsa about an enchanted forest, a place filled with magic. As he narrates, we are shown brief glimpses of the past with people who live in this forest while others from the outside world are presumably visiting it. The first flashback from Agnarr’s story shows a young girl, and as she runs, leaves mysteriously lift off the ground and follow her.

As Agnarr continues his story, we are then shown a young boy who wears a dark green coat and has golden blond hair. Just as quickly as we see him, the mysterious wind carrying the leaves passes in front of him, and he turns to his right as he sees them go in that direction.

And then the girl is shown once more being carried up by the wind along with the leaves. The trailer gives the impression that when the boy turns, he sees the girl immediately afterwards, but this may not be what happens in the actual film.

This boy and girl appear to be the same ones that appeared in the teaser, based on their strikingly similar appearances, and now this new trailer further suggests they are indeed the former king and queen of Arendelle. This is because there is more focus on these two unknown characters when Agnarr tells his story (as if they will become more important later), and also because Iduna is present with her husband and the girls while he tells the story.

When lining up these pictures of Iduna and Agnarr with these two other characters (the shot of this girl is the last one in the trailer), the physical resemblances between them seem strong enough to support the theory that it is them. As you can see, the boy has green eyes like Agnarr and the girl has blue eyes like Iduna. But while both females have brown hair, the unknown boy’s hair is more golden in color while Agnarr’s hair is strawberry blond (which Anna inherited from him). However, hair can sometimes can change color when kids grow up, so perhaps it happened to him.

If these two kids are Agnarr and Iduna, I’m starting to develop a headcanon that Iduna lived in the forest while Agnarr was the born into royalty. This seems evident based on their attire, especially because the boy’s clothes look more regal and royal-like. But this article mentions King Runeard, who is Agnarr’s father, proving that he was the one who was born in the royal court of Arendelle. Perhaps in his youth, Agnarr and his family made one or more visits to the forest and the people who lived there were visitors to Arendelle. This might explain how the two met each other, and eventually they fell in love and married when they were grown up. Regardless of when they married, once Agnarr was crowned king (hinted by the portrait of his coronation from the first film), then Iduna became his queen.

So until Frozen II comes out, we won’t know just who this mystery girl and boy are, but the more I watch the trailer and see images from it here on Tumblr, the more I believe that they are Queen Iduna and King Agnarr. 😉

#Frozen 2 analyses #Frozen analyses #Disney #Disney Frozen 2 #Disney Frozen #Frozen 2 #Frozen #King Agnarr #Queen Iduna #characters #royalty #peasantry #prince #Sámi #Arendelle #Northuldra #Arendellian #Northuldran #identities #speculation #theory #my stuff #mine

[theboywiththenotebooks]

**TRIGGER WARNINGS::-SEXUAL ASSAULT-ABUSE (PRIMARILY MENTAL ABUSE)-SUICDE-SELF HARM-MENTION OF BDSM/CGL I met a man 20 years older than me in Nov 2019. I had known him through mutual friends for a few months and he had known of me for over a year. We got to chatting. I became infatuated with him. He absolutely swept me off my feet.  Looking back on it, there were quite a few red flags that I ignored::~He always called people below him a peasant.~He always referred to himself as an alpha male and the leader of his pack.~He VERY quickly always said I was his and belonged to him.~He had very similar interests as my abusive father. ~He pushed me for more information than I was ready to give in the beginning. He wanted to know every single detail of all of my secrets. In the beginning I was so attracted to his power because of my submissive side. I wanted to be owned and claimed and be with someone who emits power. He came across as such a strong and dominant man who would always keep me safe and he always swore to me that he never tells a lie. He would rather hurt your feelings than lie to you. We spent Christmas together and the new year (2020). His birthday was right after Valentine's Day and everything was perfect. I moved in with him and his extended family shortly after. I was so excited that the night I told the people I had been staying with, and they were crying over losing me, I packed half my room and went to his house, not caring about these people who took me in. Every single aspect of my life had become him, making him smile, and serving him. My birthday is in the beginning of March and he had already planned on going to visit his mother on my birthday and invited me to go with him. I took off work and did. I didn't expect a big todo for my birthday but it was my 25th and I was so proud of myself for making it to that age. He didn't do anything for my birthday (it was never acknowledged nor did I get a card) even after we came home. Selfishly my feelings were hurt....but I got over it. I never wanted to ruffle feathers with him and this was the first time I kept my mouth shut about something hurting me. By the end of March I had found messages in his phone from a girl. We will call her E. Now he had told me that E was his friend for years, but she was about 28, while he was 45. (I am 25). He had known her for about 15 years and helped her through many hard times and apparently she had invited him and I to dinner one day. In the beginning I had no reason to feel wary of her so I said sure but we never went. He then tells me that about once a week she asks him for some money because she's in a hard place. I did think it was a tad odd but he was just being a good friend. Then she began to call very late at night (10 and 11PM). I didn't like it at all and I did voice my concerns but his response was "Do you want me to just leave her high and dry?" He told me they had never been intimate or romantic and she was just a friend. So I dropped it. Then I found the messages. Now I am not normally one to dig through a partner's phone and I will admit it was wrong.  But I wanted to know what these two spoke about because I was having a very bad feeling. Turns out they had had a relationship prior to me coming along. In fact, a relationship that only ended on the date of our first ever date together. (He had told me that he was single for three years prior to me) There were explicit pictures between the two. He told her he wanted to buy her a house and take care of her and her children. I was hurt he had lied about having a relationship with someone that he is still talking to daily, and late at night. But within the messages I also saw that while the sexual behavior between the two had stopped once we got together, the romantic had not. This was the second time I didn't tell him how I felt, but this time it stemmed from being scared of him being upset with me. By this point I had been put down so frequently that I had no more confidence left to stand up for myself.  I didn't say anything but instead cried for days. I also found later on that he was still emailing his ex he had dated for ten years and they were still romantic with each other as well. He stopped being physical with me (hand holding, kisses, cuddling, and sex completely stopped between the two of us by May 2020) I asked him why and he said he just didn't want to do any of that with me anymore and then we finally discussed the messages with the other girls. He said he was just being nice to the girls that may be his ex's but they're his friends too. It still made me uncomfortable and he did not stop. The trust I had felt in this man who swore to me that he never told a lie was gone and the physical side of our relationship was gone. I kept trying to find ways to fix us. I bought him presents and served him drinks and meals and if I was exhausted but he asked for something I would get up and retrieve it. I complimented him and told him that I love him so much and he would just reply by telling me I was being too much or too needy. I tried to cuddle close to him while we watched his favorite shows and he pushed me away. He said I was clingy, jealous, and insecure. He made a comment that he knew he could do anything to me because I was too scared to be alone.  Our relationship continued to crumble and through everything I was still being told that I belong to him. His mental and emotional possessiveness never stopped despite him having no attraction toward me. I was not allowed to see my friends. I was not allowed to take lunch at work without him. If I was on my phone when we were home he wanted to know what I was doing. The only social media I was allowed was IG. I was told to stop dying my hair and to wear certain clothes that were certain colors, brands, and fit. I was told that I had gained weight and if I wanted to eat a sweet he made sure I knew I was already fat prior to eating it. He made fun of my teeth (color and the chips in them). He made sure to hit every single insecurity I had ever told him I had and control every second of my life. If I ever cried or got sad I was told I'm too sensitive and 'Being such a millennial' He mocked me for wanting to rewrite my book and anytime I wanted to read in bed he told me it was stupid and to just watch TV. When I wanted to start going on hikes to get back in shape I was told that it was pointless, I should just stay fat so no one else would want me. Any time I put on makeup I was told that it was either a waste of time and I wouldn't look any better or that I was doing it for my 'other boyfriend' (which I did not have).  By the end of June I was accused of cheating on him when I wanted to go get brunch with my best friend of 11 years and he attacked me for smiling bigger in a picture with her than with him. He had begun to touch me in areas of my body that either make me uncomfortable or just tickle and I do not like being tickled, even in a playful way. (Which may sound minor in this situation, but it was still me being touched when I did NOT want to be touched) I began to push him off of me and he would get angry, slap a part of my body and tell me that I belonged to him.There was one time in particular that I cannot forget. I was on my stomach and he laid his entire body weight on my back to hold me down and went between my legs with his hand while I kicked and screamed for him to stop. My face was in a pillow so I was unable to breathe while he touched me and kept asking why I did not want it. He said I was a slut before him and I should be accepting of this. By August I was over the way he treated me and began to desperately look for a place to go but it seemed impossible. I don't make much money and living with him seemed safer but his attacks on my breasts and between my legs were getting more aggressive. I always fought him off and got the same proclamation of belonging to him.  Our relationship had no love between it, he was bored of me. He just wanted to lay his claim on me. I wanted to leave but I never thought I could ask for help because he wasn't beating me. In my head, the logic was that I wasn't hiding bruises behind makeup, I was just hiding my tears in my car. He groped me but he has an idea in his head that we are together and our relationship was fine, so to him it's okay even if by November, his hand between my legs had me sobbing and hyperventilating. I had nowhere to go. By Nov 12 I had asked six different people if I could stay with them and all were unable to help me.  I finally told an older friend what was going on and she told me the truth::This is abuse. Get out. It has gotten worse and will continue to get worse.  I could not believe her. I never thought it WOULD get worse but as the weeks progressed he went from just squeezing my thigh to shoving his hands under my pajamas and touching me between my legs. I begged him to stop and he said that I belong to him. It was not a sign of love it was a sign of control and there is a difference.  I had begun to contemplate killing myself, and had relapsed with my self harm. I wanted to find ANYWAY to get away from him.  By Nov. 18 anytime I was home with him I was scared. Every night now he was holding me down and touching me between my legs. He grabbed my breasts and pinched my nipples and when I begged him to stop, it was always the same respone, "Just because we are not having sex, does not mean I can't touch you when and how I please."  One night he got really mad that I no longer let him see me naked and he opened his phone to pictures I had shared with him or taken with him in the beginning of our relationship. He scrolled through the naked and sexual pictures and videos of me in front of me and I left the room. I felt like I was being used as a show and exploited. He followed me and in front of all his family he told me to get back in the room, while the videos were still playing.  On Nov 23 he had surgery and the guilt that was eating at me for leaving a man who just had surgery was very strong. I looked at myself and saw a heartless bitch. How could I leave someone who couldn't even get out of bed? How could I let him lay in bed and watch me pack and he couldn't get up to leave the room? I decided to stay another few weeks. In my mind, I figured that I had lasted this long, what's another few weeks. I did not realize that I was becoming more numb to him touching me. He would shove his hand down my pants and I didn't even flinch. I could barely feel anything other than the tears in my eyes. He had just had surgery and two days later was assaulting me. I still said no, to stop, and he said that he owned me. That I was his and this was his right.  He told me that I was spoiled because he paid my $200 rent to stay with him, meanwhile, I was paying for our groceries, dinners, and his $120 phone bill every month. He told me and our friend that I had it good with him. I was safe and had a roof over my head. I had someone who loved me. I had it 'easy'. And my only payment for having these things was feeling his fingers between my legs or pinching my nipples every night against my will. I was told by many, many friends that I was stronger than this. I had survived being left as a child, being raped at 17, two suicide attemtps and dying once. I had survived so much, I had the strength to leave this guy. And what hurts the most is I KNEW they were right. I felt the strength in me. But the fear was stronger. I kept making up excuses. I kept upsetting the friends who had always had my back. I was too scared to leave the man who had truly made me grow to believe that without him I could never survive. It took months and months to finally get the strength. 

I want everyone to understand that even if you are in a relationship, even a BDSM relationship, your partner has no right to go against your consent. No matter the dynamic, if they do something you do not consent to you have a right to say no or stop. If you have had sex with them for ten years, and one night you say no, they have NO right to convince you otherwise or to guilt trip you to take part. If they continue, even if you have been together for years, or have done the scene/act hundreds of times prior, they are abusing you. I did not write this for sympathy or attention. I wrote this to A, document this time in my life and B, to let others know that these actions are wrong. I remember in June when I lost my job, I felt more love for this man than ever because he never yelled at me for going a month unemployed. He offered to pay my car insurance. But that did not change that as the sun went down, he was grabbing and touching me in ways that made my skin crawl. It didn't change that after three weeks of crying and eating in bed, I gained ten pounds and he would squeeze the rolls on my stomach and tell me how fat I looked, but I should keep it that way so no one else looked at me.  Abusers will be kind at times to keep you believing they love you, and then when it's quiet and you're alone they will attack. Mental, Emotional, and Physical abuse are all wrong. If you are in this situation, or if you even THINK you are in this situation please find help. During this I learned how hard it is to find resources and/or shelters, but you can DM me on any platform and I will help you. I promise you that. 

I will end on this, no matter how strong the fear is, your confidence is still there. It never goes away. 

<3, Raine

[likesomekindofcheese]

The Knight of Hallow’s Eve (A Knight!Gwylim Lee Oneshot)

Pairing: Knight! Gwylim Lee x fem! Reader

Word Count: 6,000 (wahoo)

Get ready for some fluuuffff!

Warnings: A mention of sex feat. a creeper, witches, a bit of violence, mentions of violence, Halloween magic, a DND reference, and good ol’ fashioned Urban Fantasy.

Prompts: #10 - “Nope, I’m not scared. Not at all” and #45:  “I hate the woods…especially at midnight on flippin’ Halloween! How did we get so lost?”

A/N: This is my oneshot for @forever-rogue‘s 2019 Halloween Challenge! I wanted to get a little more creative this time around. I hope it’s Halloweeny enough for all of your tastes. I hope you guys all enjoy it! (Also tagging @jimmypagesandbrianmayshair, here you go! Knight! Gwilym on the house!)

“I’ll take your dare; I’m heading to the woods,” you said.

Your darer, Carl, smirks with slight disappointment. Alcohol mixed with truth or dare on a Halloween’s night get together made him bold. His leering at you made the chocolates in your stomach flip over.

For your dare, you were given two choices-you had chosen heading to the woods over stripping for him. You’d take anything over that.

Your friend, Erin, runs over to get your arm.

“You can’t! You know that’s where that killer’s been lurking! You’ve seen the news!” she begs. Her black eyeliner is smudged with worried tears.

“I’ll be back in ten minutes. I won’t run into any killer. Set a timer.” You suggest.

You know what the alternative is and so does she.

Erin shoves her purple manicured hand into her black corset. From it, she retrieves a necklace with a simple, dark blue stone.

“Here, take this. For protection” she offers.

You accept it. You know she has always been obsessed with the magical, claiming to be a witch (“but…I’m a different witch…it’s complicated, Y/N!”) and you could accept any possible good luck to get through these next ten minutes. Kindness from her was always a blessing itself, superstition or not.

I can handle this you think.

Crickets chirruped quietly. The trees make the air clean along with the crispness of the breeze. You peek back behind you. You see the back-porch lights of Erin’s house and their faint chatter of what truth to give the next sucker in your group.

An owl swoops over your head. You turn around to look for it, but you only see a faint silhouette and hear its wings flutter away.

You turn your head back to the house. The porch lights are gone.

You take ten steps closer to the house. Besides, if you are still in the woods and can still see them, it still counts as being in the woods. Dare accomplished.

There is no house.

You keep walking, trying to convince yourself that you misjudged your steps. Another turn, and there it will be. Progressing slowly, the night is getting darker and the moon is bobbling in its slow line above.

Trees and darkness is all there is.

You tried to remember what the back of the house looked like. A sign. Anything. But your brain has blanked in panic. You keep walking, almost running, trying to see anything in the darkness.

Reaching down into the pocket of your jacket, you feel the necklace. It’s suddenly hot. Surprised, you take it out and to your shock, it’s glowing light blue. Squinting from the darkness, you see a tree a few feet from you has started glowing bright blue too.

Getting closer, it becomes more beautiful and surreal. It’s a tall willow tree with light blue leaves that seem to swirl as they rustle with the wind. Your eyes blink to make sure it’s real. You have never heard of glowing trees anywhere!

You let the amulet rest on your palm. Suddenly, it floats above your hand. You scream a little in surprise. It’s too heavy for the wind. You feel your head spinning.

A bright beam of light blue light, matching that of the leaves of the tree shoots forth until it meets the dark wood- making a large black hole.

“AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Clunk!

A form falls through the hole and lands facedown into the leaf-ridden ground. The colors melt from light-blue to a musty red. Though it is night, there is enough light that one might think it was the early evening.

“Are you alright?” you ask, shell shocked.

“I…hope I am” he answers.

He starts to groan and get up. Two things strike you: first, not only is he incredibly tall with dark brown hair and the most astonishingly blue eyes you have ever seen, but even more so his clothes.

He is wearing a full plate of shining armor.

This is nothing like the plastic knight armor you see in costume shops. It thuds with heaviness and its silver sheen makes him bright amongst the redness. There is a bit of rust and dirt, here and there. But the edges and quality you know would make any cosplayer or costume designer drool.

How rich would someone have to be to buy a full plate of armor that good for only one night?

“Who is that?” The man pecks his head up. You step back a little. He’s a handsome man with high cheekbones, soft lips, and eyes the color of the sky.

He starts to pull his arms down to get up. “I…I’m alright, I think. But may I ask, where am I?”

You tell him the name of the city you live in.

He arches his eyebrows. “What kind of kingdom is that? Do you have a ruler?”

You tilt your head.

“No…uhm…we don’t. Look, are you a part of a live Dungeons and Dragons campaign?”

“I have no campaign; other than slaying monsters I’ve been sworn to slay and protecting the innocent. I made a vow to the king of my land after the dragon attack” he says.

He sounds genuine.

“Well…wherever you are, you must be far from home.”

“As a knight, I must go where I am called to. You see, the good witches gave me this…” he begins.

From beneath the breastplate of his armor, he reveals an amulet identical to yours. You stop breathing until you must take in a sharp inhale.

“The good witches of my kingdom tell me that if help is truly needed, then the amulet will lead me there. I am on a quest to fight the black rider. I have asked the amulet where the black rider is-what I must do, and if someone is in need or in danger. And it glowed to this tree…and now I am here.” He confesses. He straightens his back in a bit of pride.

“Well, uh…let’s make this simple. You see…this stuff isn’t normal where I’m from but, I could use some help. My name is Y/N. Y/N L/N.” you inform.

“I am Sir Gwilym of the Lee house, my lady.” He replies, with a short bow. He grins and stands erect as if saying he won a championship.

“I…I guess you could say I’m not…not a real lady” you stutter, gathering what knowledge you gained from Fantasy books and period dramas. Anything to help him.

“I’m just a humble peasant, according to your world.” You add, turning pink.

“Yet every woman, peasant or none, is a lady and deserves protection when needed. And if no one else will protect and assist them, then I must, my lady.” He responds with a shrug.

Smiling toothily, you remind him “I have a name, it’s Y/N.”

“Lady Y/N then!” he finishes raising his arms a little.

The wind picks up speed a little and it feels like a bony finger brushing your necks. Gwil’s armor shivers a little, despite its thickness.

“Lady Y/N, I have been riding and searching for two days. I haven’t rest and ate only grass. Do you know of shelter?” he questions. The dark circles under his eyes and slight weakness in his steps are more obvious.

“Yes. There’s a house somewhere around here…I just have trouble remembering where. I had to go out here and I got lost.” You recall. You start clutching and fiddling with the amulet in your pocket.

“May I accompany you? For your safety?” he asks.

“Sure.”

He takes a branch from the tree full of red and orange leaves. Gwilym notices how your jaw drops a little at the sight of them.

“Trees like these may light our way. They’ve aided me many a time” he explains.

“Ours don’t glow here. They bloom green when it’s warm. And some have flowers. Normal stuff” you explain.

“Ah! That is its own set of magic.”

You walk together for a bit. He lumbers across and you must scurry to keep his pace. His armor clanks a little mixing with the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. Walking alone in the dark with a knight as kind (and handsome, you confess silently) as Gwilym you feel your heart pick up the pace. You distract yourself by looking around for a path or sign of the house. There’s still nothing.

“I hate the woods…especially at midnight, on flippin’ Halloween! How did we get so lost?” you whine.

“We could find the tree and turn around” Gwilym suggests. He waves the branch in the other direction.

But when you try that strategy, the tree is nowhere to be seen. You begin wandering together hoping for any sign of human life. After a few minutes in silence, curiosity strikes you.

“Sir Gwilym, uhm…why have you been traveling in the woods?” you ask.

Gwilym grits his teeth. “There is a foe I have sworn to defeat. A foe that has been preying on the children and maidens of my kingdom and some say of neighboring ones. He has been spotted in these very woods. I must find him and bring him to justice” he says.

You nod. You admire his profile from the glow of the magic leaves.

“That’s very brave of you.” You laud. You can smell the cold air in your throat.

“Especially…since I have a little niece” he sighed. His face tightened. Did knights normally speak of their loved ones? Were they permitted?

“She is so dear to me. If anything were to happen to her, I would never…” he stopped himself.

He grew pale with fear of what could happen. You give him a hopeful smile, touching his arm feels too bold.

“You’ll find your foe.” You assure to him, looking up into his eyes, softly.

“Your niece will be …”

You are interrupted by a horse whinny and the clutter of hooves.

“Looks like you’re right” Gwilym stammers.

Before you stands a huge knight on a white Clydesdale horse, both in full black armor with faint red stains. Blood and dirt reek from them.

You freeze, unsure what to do. Gwilym leaps in front of you, blocking you, and unleashes a gleaming sword from his hilt. But the Knight’s shield, twice the size of your body, smacks him across the jaw and knocks him to the ground. Gwylim’s sword falls to the side with a clatter.

“Gwilym!” you cry impulsively.

The knight turns his head and looks at you. He lifts his visor to reveal big, yellow eyes like that of a piranha. You rush and grab the sword, aiming the hilt at him and circling around Gwilym.

The knight hops off the horse and approaches you, sword in hand aimed at your heart.

“Be scared, little girl” he booms.

“Nope. I’m not scared. Not at all” you half-lie. Anything to stop your shaking grip.

You charge and stab him in the breast quickly. His frightened horse dashes away. The black rider falls to the grass. Black leaves replace his plates of armor until they drift away into eternity.

You run over and lend Gwilym your hand to help him up. He looks up at you in amazement.

In the distance, you hear your friends calling out your name. You can make out the distant lights of flashlights.

Gwilym breaks the silence saying, “Lady Y/N…thank you.”

He kisses your hand devotedly. His lips were so soft that it was not stopping your adrenaline from the fight.

He asks for the sword and you hand it to him. Gwyilm kneels on one knee. His two large hands holding onto the hilt while the sword digs lightly into the ground. He lowers his head.

“I am ever in your debt…though I am not sure yet how I may return home. But I swear, even after I return, you are ever my lady and should you need me, I will always be in your service” he promises.

#patricia's halloween challenge #bohrap #bohrap cast #bohrap cast fanficiton #gwylim lee #gwylim lee x reader #gwylim lee x you #gwylim lee x y/n #gwylim lee imagine #brian may #freddie mercury #joe mazzello #john deacon #ben hardy #rami malek #lucy boynton #bohemios literarios #bohemian rhapsody #gwylim lee fluff #cw: violence

[hellishvu]

The Bad Softie: the sequel

— the long awaited part 2! finally had enough time to sit down and write an actual story :) i really wanted to post this story before i went to bed, so i will edit it in the morning!! please excuse any grammar mistakes as i am almost passing out as i write this message!

— where taehyung has the journey of finding his self expression with the help of you by his side.

warning: homophobia, bullying, and sad events!! be safe and take care of yourself <3

“Look, hows this photo?” You showed a photo of you and Taehyung at a nearby roller rink for a date. You wanted to post it on Instagram, having it small due to you generally not trusting a lot of people after what happened to Taehyung.

“You got my good angle this time.” Taehyung laughed as he had looked behind him to see the photo having his portfolio for the art school on your desk.

“What are you talking about? Every angle of you is the best angle.” You kissed his forehead as he chuckled going back to filling out the long application of setting up his portfolio.

“I have to go get a film from Jungkook. We are going to meet at the college.” Taehyung sighed as he stood next to you waiting for a kiss.

“Why are you just standing there?” You chuckled as you flicked his forehead.

“Hm? I’m not sure. Maybe this boyfriend is expecting a smooch? on the forehead perhaps?” Taehyung raised his eyebrow.

“Touché.. touché.” You kissed his forehead as he headed out to walk to the nearby college. You smiled as you waved.

Taehyung walked a very far distance, he liked it. Although it was sometimes freezing in the morning. It was the time to clear his mind, to calm him down, and to get that exercise that he had for his 2019 new year’s resolutions.

Taehyung saw those bullies, the one that constantly texted him day after day after he came out. The constant harassment that Taehyung despised almost every single day. The moment he woke up, you knew about it but Taehyung didn’t let you do anything about it. He didn’t want to give them what they wanted. Taehyung tried to walk faster pass them to avoid the hurtful words they had to say.

“Hey! It’s the faggot!” Taehyung winced at the name, the stupid name that haunted his dreams but rather they were nightmares. Taehyung picked up his pace.

“Not now. Please.” Taehyung pleaded feeling them come closer and closer; almost like they wanted to tear him apart.

“Grab him.” His old friend, well his ex-friend of Taehyung’s joined the group that decided to bully him constantly. They gripped him, Taehyung struggling as his camera fell out of his hand breaking on the ground. Taehyung held in his tears, as the memories of the cameras flooded in.

“Give us your fucking money.” Taehyung hurried to get to his pockets seeing no money and empty pockets. Taehyung prayed he had some type of money. “I forgot the money for lunch.”

“I don’t have any. I swear.” Taehyung said as he covered his face being scared of being hit.

“Yes you do, Taehyung you always have money, you’re like a peasant you buy me the snacks I want or else.” The bully slapped Taehyung across his face causing Taehyung to raise his hand up to his face seeing the tears fall.

“What the fuck is going on?!” You came screaming in pure anger. The rage you had experienced couldn’t be described as you saw all the bullies turn their head. You stepped in front of Taehyung as he started crying holding onto you.

“Get the fuck out of here and don’t ever speak to Taehyung ever again.” You spoke your words were venom. You saw the bullies run away as Taehyung sobbed again as you turned around hugging him tightly. You rubbed his back as you ran your hand through his hair to comfort him.

“It’s okay. It’s okay I’m here.” You whispered as you rocked with him hoping to calm his crying down.

“How did you get here?” Taehyung asked as he looked up you saw his red puffy eyes. You moved the strands of hair from his face.

“You forgot your money for lunch.” You snickered as you pulled the dollars out of your back pocket. You pulled Taehyung into a kiss. You wrapped your hand around his waist as you lead him to a cross-walk.

“Where are you taking me?” Taehyung asked sniffing wiping his last tears. You pulled him closer as you pointed at the sign.

“A ramen take-out place. Text Jungkook you don’t need the film. I can buy it for you.”

“But, you don’t have to. They broke my camera.”

“Oh, then I will just buy you another one. I want to help you Taehyung.” You smiled at Taehyung trying to help him forget the experience of what had just happened.

“Thank you so much.” Taehyung said in a shaky breath.

Taehyung woke up to the sweet smell of pancakes, the room is lightened by the sun in the morning. Taehyung yawned as he felt the fan breezing on him, you opened the door smiling jumping on him causing him to groan.

“Good morning baby.” You said as you laid on your back as you pinched his cheeks. Taehyung giggled as he saw your soft morning look.

“I have a surprise for you.” You gave him a wrapped present that you bought the early morning of today. You saw Taehyung rip into the present like he was a kid once again. You pushed the wrapping off to the side as Taehyung open a black box the suspense looked like it was going to kill him.

“Open it!” You said becoming impatient for Taehyung. He opened it to see two tickets to his favorite artist. You saw his eyes widen, as you expected a very big hug next.

“You didn’t!” As expected Taehyung hugged you basically jumping onto you causing you to lay down. You smiled as you felt his genuine happiness.

“When- How?! How did you get them?”

“I saved up some money plus you always talk about them and I thought you seeing them could help you.”

Those little things you did for Taehyung, whether he was too scared to go a grocery store from the anxiety of people, you make sure he felt safe and you made sure no person would lay a finger on him.

Taehyung had left the college he was first in. You soon enough leaving with him, it was self-care. That toxic place of just reputations wasn’t what life should be like Taehyung had thought. He fully immersed himself into art, whether it was trying acting, photography, or drawing. You supported him.

You drove him to art classes, photography classes, and acting classes. You helped him, you saw a man being free to become himself. When he got home from a lesson you would hear him go on tangents that you never got tired of.

“Oh god, I hope I’m not annoying.” You hit him on the shoulder.

“Of course you’re not annoying, Taehyung I’m glad. You get to experience this, you deserve it.”

“I haven’t turned it in.”

“What?”

“My application.”

“Tae-” The first 3 words, sounded disappointed and that’s what Taehyung hated so much. He wanted you to be proud of him and of the progress, he’s made.

“I’m scared, my whole life science has been shoved down my throat but what if I’m just not good enough?” Taehyung cleared his throat as he saw the corner of the desk being filled with pieces that he’s thrown out, crushed, or cut up.

“You have art, your way of thinking is so different and beautiful from many other people. You will become so successful with your art. You just have to put yourself out there.”

“What if they are just like the old college? Where I get harassed, degraded, and insulted?” Taehyung felt his eyes sting, the ripping of his confidence as the memories floods back in almost like an emotional tsunami.

“They won’t, I promise you. Most of the world nowadays are becoming accepting, they are just one rotten batch of apples. Your sexuality should never stop you from achieving your goals.” You held his hands as you pressed your forehead against his feeling his soft breathes.

“You deserve to be happy.”

“Thank you, so much. I will turn it in tomorrow. It’s all finished but it was just collecting dust.” Taehyung said as you kissed him embracing him.

“The letter came in, oh god oh god!” Taehyung grabbed it from the dinner table that you two shared. Taehyung gave it to you looking away from it.

“You open it! I can’t I can’t!” Taehyung paces around the room and finds himself biting his nails which he hasn’t done since 9th grade.

“Are you sure?” You ask as Taehyung nodded pointing at the letter. The sound of the letter being opened as you pull it out, opening the destiny of Taehyung.

“Dear Kim Taehyung, we are happy to inform you that you have been accepted!” You scream as Taehyung jumps in the air, grabbing the letter seeing the big bold words. Taehyung jumps on you as he wraps his legs around your waist as you kiss him.

“Holy shit, I’m going to my dream fucking school.” Taehyung’s mind couldn’t comprehend. It was like he was dreaming.

“Well, now we have to get you clothes! For your new year!” You said as you opened his wardrobe seeing just jeans and t-shirts. Taehyung always found himself at night when you’re sleeping looking at fashion shows of more unique pieces of clothing. He fantasized about it like a kid wanting to be Batman.

“Maybe it’s bland. Just haven’t gotten to that part of my journey yet.” Taehyung talks about it like its a sacred thing. He always wanted to wear clothes that were not just 2 simple pieces.

“Baby, you can order online. I will get it from the post office if you want me to. I want you to self-express because you have the taste of the 9 gods.” You said as you logged into your home desktop that you and Taehyung saved money for. You clicked on a website known for streetwear and gestured Taehyung sit in the office chair.

Taehyung went nuts on that day, at first, he got little stuff of pastels. Wore them but hide most of it under a coat. Later days went by, weeks also and he was wearing pastels. From dark colors like black, grey, and light greys to pastels like pink, purple, and blues. He had alternated, he likes his dark colors and his pastels. He didn’t need to identify with one set of colors, he was a free man.

Now the day had finally arrived, and the temptation of saying “No I can't do this.” showered Taehyung’s mind as he got ready for his first class. You made him breakfast that was barely eaten due to the nerves in his stomach. You drove him, letting him take aux to help him calm down. You arrived and Taehyung was looking in his backpack to see if he had everything he needed.

“You have been so understanding.” Taehyung smiled as you held his hand. You parked in the back as Taehyung’s new semester had begun. The art school that he dreamed of taking since he was 13. It was in front of his eyes, you opened the car door, Taehyung staying the car as he watches you walk around to his side.

You opened the door, seeing Taehyung look up before he takes your hand pulling you into a tight hug you rubbing his back.

“You got this, you’ve gone through hell and back just to not go Taehyung.” You smiled as you fixed the hat that he wore. The love in his eyes, as you gestured that he started walking before he was late to his first class.

a/n: the end! I hope you all like it, feel free to read this for authors mindset on this, so the reason I wrote this story was to explain the heaviness of coming out, especially if you have an anti-LGBT situation. we love you!! and please stay strong and love yourself! because you are beautiful and there is nothing wrong with you, no matter what race, gender, or age. you deserve to be happy.

#bts x male reader #bts #bts v #bts taehyung #kpop x male reader #angst #fluff #mostly fluff #self love

[confrontingbabble-on]

After Jesus was crucified, everyone had a different understanding of what Jesus had wanted them to do...even those who had never met or heard Jesus’ teachings, like Paul. Christianity is the result of those who thought Jesus wanted them create a religion...to collect money, and side with murderous/immoral political rulers...so they could gain status and political power (to cover up their immorality and avoid legal punishments)...legally steal pagan temples and property...and replicate pagan ceremonies...

“When it comes to religious history, the list of Catholic Church transgressions makes for pretty uncomfortable reading. Despite exalting virtue and kindness in its teaching, Church leadership has spearheaded a long history of outright unforgivable Catholic actions...

Though Vatican violence goes way back, there are a number of disturbing episodes from recent history. Some of this repugnant behavior comes from Popes, some was Church-endorsed, and some, most unsettlingly, was just straight-up regular Church practice.

Dark Church history contains scandal after scandal rife with every vice and taboo you can imagine. When the Church was at the height of its power (at which point it was the most powerful organization in the Western world), it's safe to say everything went to its head. Combine that with the fact that Church leaders seem to stubbornly resist adapting to changing(improving) morality...and you've got a whole lot of unforgivable moments on our hands.

** Systemically Covering Up Tens Of Thousands Of Cases Involving Sexual Misconduct:  Remember the time there was a systematic cover up of abuse, molestation, and rape at the hands of priests that went all the way to the top of the Church? A conservative estimate says there were 17,200 victims in the US alone, and this type of mistreatment happened world-wide. When complaints came in, priests and other offenders were transferred, rather than punished. The extent of their actions will probably never be fully understood, because of the decades of cover up. But the Church isn't denying it anymore. The archdiocese of Milwaukee acknowledged the severity of the issue and agreed to pay a $21 million settlement to 300 victims. But these types of settlements are few and far between.

The molestation of children is still happening at the hands of priests, 15 years after the Boston Globe broke the story. In fact, in August 2018, a grand jury reported that internal documents from six Pennsylvanian dioceses noted that over 300 "predator priests" were "credibly accused"...of harming more than 1,000 child victims; the alleged violations go as far back as 1947.

Due to statute of limitations, only two priests were charged with abusing minors. In February 2019, however, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the systemic maltreatment and vowed to combat the problem. He said, "I think that it’s continuing because it’s not like once you realize it that it stops. It continues. And for some time we’ve been working on it."

** The Crusades...Or, Incapacitating Jews And Muslims For 300 Years:  In 1095, when Pope Urban II made a plea for war with Muslims, armies of Christians in Western Europe took up the charge. The pope promised serfs freedom if they went, galvanizing the masses. In the First Crusade, an army of peasants led by Peter the Hermit was massacred by the Turks. When an army of knights went after them and captured Jerusalem, it was said they massacred Muslims until the streets ran with blood.This was only the beginning. Waves of the Crusades continued until 1396, marking three centuries of warfare, and incalculable human suffering. "Taking the heads of slain enemies and impaling them upon pikes appears to have been a favorite pastime among crusaders. Chronicles record a story of a crusader-bishop who referred to the impaled heads of slain Muslims as a joyful spectacle for the people of God. When Muslim cities were captured by Christian crusaders, it was standard operating procedure for all inhabitants, no matter what their age, to be summarily killed. It is not an exaggeration to say that the streets ran red with blood as Christians reveled in church-sanctioned horrors. Jews who took refuge in their synagogues would be burned alive, not unlike the treatment they received in Europe."

** Pretty Much Everything Done By Pope Boniface VIII:  Boniface VIII (1230 -1303) was guilty of many horrible crimes that, sum total, make him seem like a sadistic Roman emperor. Among other things, he oversaw the complete destruction of Palestrina, a city that peacefully surrendered. Palestrina was completely razed, and Boniface ordered a plow driven over it to prove it had been reduced to nothing but earth and rubble.  You know priests take a vow of celibacy, right? Apparently, Boniface VIII didn't take his too seriously. He once had a three-way with a married woman and her daughter, but was even more well known for saying that having sex with young boys was as natural as rubbing one hand against the other. So, obviously, he was raping (or at least fornicating with), children. To celebrate his many great accomplishments, Boniface VIII just loved erecting statutes of himself. So add hubris to his list of sins.

** Burning Joan Of Arc For Dressing Like A Man:  You may know Joan of Arc as a saint, but the Church didn't always hold her in such high esteem. In fact, at one time, she was pretty much the Catholic Church's public enemy number one. In 1429, 17-year-old Joan of Arc, believing God had spoken to her, instigated an uprising to get the English out of France, but some high-powered Catholics who sympathized with the English weren't pleased. French king Charles VII wisely accepted Joan's help in his fight against the English, and together, they won some major battles.

When Joan was captured, Charles VII, unsure of whether he trusted her as an emissary of God, handed her over to the Church, which did what Catholics do best, put her on trial for heresy with no evidence. To make things one step more ridiculous, Joan was denied counsel, which was against Church rules. Despite this, she is famed for remaining cool, calm, and dripping with integrity throughout the trial. Because there was no evidence of heresy, Joan was found guilty of one of the 70+ other charges brought against her, wearing men's clothes (shirt and pants, like every country girl today!) , for which she was burned at the stake in 1431 in front of a crowd of thousands. In 1456, Charles VII ordered an investigation into Joan's trial. The result? She was declared innocent and made a martyr. The Church followed suit and, in 1920, canonized her. Talk about a change of heart. Maybe since all male Church officials wear dresses they pretend are robes, they decided it was okay for Joan to dress a little (country!). 

** Burning William Tyndale For Making A Vernacular Bible For The Masses You'd think the Church would make the mass distribution of its core text a main priority. As it turns out, in the 16th century, this was the last thing powerful Catholics wanted.  Scholar William Tyndale, on the other hand, wanted this so badly he went into hiding to translate the Bible into English, so lay people could read it for themselves. The Church was not happy about this, and when copies were smuggled around Europe, Catholic authorities demanded they be burned. And what of Tyndale? He was captured, tried for heresy for daring translate the bible, and burned at the stake. When Church authorities decided printing Bibles in English was okay, they borrowed a whole lot from Tyndale's translation. And never apologized.

** Slaying Countless Women As Witches Because Pope Innocent VII Was Paranoid: The Catholic Church wasn't the only group involved in witch hunts, but it kicked things off with Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches), a doozy of a book written in 1487, after Pope Innocent VIII declared, by papal bull, witches were real and a threat (due to their involvement with Satan). He wanted that sh*t investigated stat, so clergymen Johann Sprenger and Heinrich Krämer (using his Latin name, Henricus Institoris) took up the call and literally wrote the book on witches, Satanists (which were invented for this book), and hunts thereof. And boy, was it a success. It was so popular that, for 200 years, it was second only to the Bible on the sales charts. The problem? Well, for one, the book was hugely sexist and focused almost only on women, promoting burning them at the stake,  a common punishment for heretics. So who knows how many deaths it inspired; its influence was too huge to quantify. The book is also filled with somewhat dubious information, such as the following facts about witches and Satanists: they stop cows from giving milk; they rode through the air on broomsticks on their way to forest orgies; they ate infants.

** Absolving Sins For Cash Payments, Including Sins Not Yet Committed:  If one bit of Catholic Church history got drilled into your mind in high school, there's a good chance it was the selling of indulgences and Martin Luther's reformation. Now synonymous with money-grubbing, the idea of an indulgence isn't so bad in theory. According to Church doctrine, "[an] indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints." A little wordy, but potentially inoffensive.

In the 16th century, however, indulgences got out of hand. Pope Leo X had expensive taste and wasn't above using shady means to satisfy it. Indulgences were peddled as "pay X to absolve you of Y." Basically, money gets you into heaven. To give some indication of how crazy things got, Dominican friar John Teztel was named Grand Commissioner of indulgences in Germany (so, overseeing indulgence was his only job), where he sold absolution for future sins. So: "Hey, give us some gold, it's all good if you kill that dude next week."

If you were poor and ignorant, as most poor people in the period probably were, you basically just believed you were hopelessly f*cked and did your best to prepare for an eternity spent frolicking in the torments of hell. So what happened? Martin Luther, none too pleased, wrote his 95 Theses, effectively kick starting the Reformation.

** Orchestrating The Fall Of The Knights Templar To Appease A Broke King:  ...the Knights Templar, a stateless military fraternity assembled to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, were the subject of gossip a long time ago. They were endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129, and were famous valorous service in the Crusades. They were also really good with money, which shouldn't have been a problem, but King Philip IV of France owed them (and others) a whole lot of it. Philip took advantage of growing fear of the Knight Templar's power and pressured the Church into dropping the mighty anvil of god down on them. What the Church did next wasn't great. In 1307, Pope Clement V had members arrested and tortured, gaining false confessions of heresy. In fact, he got enough such confessions to justify disbanding the order in 1312. Various Knights confessed to spitting on the cross, fraud, and secrecy (which was apparently a crime?), and nobody cared the confessions arose from torture and were recanted afterward. Archbishop of Sens Philippe de Marigny, who ran an investigation into the Knights, had dozens burned at the stake. A fine repayment for all of that fighting in the crusades. In 2007, a secret document showing Pope Clement V absolved the Knights before later deciding to disband them was published. Historians believe this document provides essential proof that the Church caved under King Phillip's pressure. Good news for the Knight's integrity, bad news for the Church's.

** Burning Someone 43 Years After He Passed Because He Upset Some Important Catholics:  As if having your enemies killed wasn't enough, Catholics gotta burn the corpses, too. What gives? Trying to outdo what the Romans did to JC and John Wycliffe (1320 – 1384), famous English theologian and vocal critic of the Church, was a forerunner of the Reformation. Among his many criticisms was a belief the Church should give up its worldly possessions. As you can imagine, not an idea the church was happy to have spread around. Wycliffe also promoted and worked on the first English translation of the Bible, hoping to give people direct access to the word of god. Again, not a fun idea for the Church, which liked its monopoly on power.

William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, made moves against Wycliffe after retiring (gotta stay busy). Wycliffe's writings were banned in certain areas, but it didn't end there. It didn't even end when Wycliffe died of a stroke in 1384. Instead, in 1415 (31 years after he died), the Council of Constance declared Wycliffe a heretic. Not only did they order his books burned, they ordered his body exhumed and burned. And it took them 12 years to do that. So, 43 years after Wycliffe died, his corpse was torched and his ashes thrown in the River Swift. So much for resting in peace.

** Executing Jan Hus For Working Out Some Tricky Theological Philosophy: The Church tends to be pretty brutal with its critics, of which the treatment of Jan Hus, born 1372, is one of the best (or worst) examples. A Czech priest, Hus felt the Church, run by humans, who are by nature flawed, must necessarily also therefore be flawed, while the Bible, the direct word of God, had no flaws. He was, therefore, openly critical of Church practices, especially the papal schism and indulgence sales. So, not very happy with Hus, the Church convened the Council of Constance and invited him to join them. Nothing to worry about, just a wee chat. Or so they said. Instead of having that wee chat, the Council arrested Hus and put him on trial (and then in jail) for, you guessed it, heresy. He was kept in a dungeon and, when he refused to recant his teachings, was sentenced to death. The Church even refused him his last rights before burning him at the stake. And to think they said they just wanted to talk.

** The Joust Of Whores Organized By Pope Alexander VI: The Joust of Whores is just one example of the corrupt and ridiculous popes of yore. In 1501, Pope Alexander VI (a Borgia, if that rings any bells), who was known to have some pretty refined hobbies, like watching horses fornicate, took things way over the top. According to historian Tony Perrottet, he invited 50 women to strip at the pope's table. Then things got weird.As Perrotet writes: "Alexander and his family gleefully threw chestnuts on the floor, forcing the women to grovel around their feet like swine; they then offered prizes of fine clothes and jewelry for the man who could fornicate with the most women."It's rumored Alexander VI was killed by his son, Cesar. Just to show how truly f*cked up Alexander was, his body was expelled from the basilica of Saint Peter. Why? He was considered too evil for sacred soil.

** The Roman Inquisition, During Which Judaism And Love Magic Were Serious Crimes: The level of the Church's involvement in various inquisitions can be argued. It's important to remember Pope Innocent IV (ironic name, that) explicitly condoned torture as an Inquisition interrogation technique in his papal bull Ad extirpanda in 1252 (which bull probably deserves its own place on this list). The Spanish Inquisition, most famous of these murder orgies, was carried by Spanish royalty and friars, who were Catholic, but not working directly for, or under direction of, the Vatican.

But wait, kids! Don't forget the Roman Inquisition, or the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, which was 100% the church's doing. In 1542, as part of a Counter-Reformation against Protestantism (seriously, didn't these people have anything better to do than overreact to other Christians who pissed them off?), the Spanish Inquisition's gentle cousin, the Roman Inquisition, was born. Galileo and Copernicus were among those questioned. While Church staple heresy was a popular dish during the Inquisition, the menu had a number of options, including blasphemy, Judaism (which is a crime how?), immorality, witchcraft, love magic (yes please), and anything else wrathful Papists could shoe-horn in. John Bargrave, a  contemporary English writer, described how he was questioned in Latin (rather than Italian) to prevent uneducated guards from understanding what was being said. He was also prevented from carrying books "printed at any heretical city, as Geneva, Amsterdam, Leyden, London, or the like." Not as bad as the Spanish Inquisition, sure, but very much related and equally dogmatic, close minded, and power-mongering. A Church specialty

** Imprisoning Galileo In His Home For Years Because He Suggested Science Was Greater Than God:  The Church and science have a complicated relationship, to put it nicely. In 1633, Galileo Galilei, the father of, like, all science, was put on trial by the Church for saying the sun is the center of the universe and the earth moves around it, rather than the other way around. Which is, you know, true for the most part (sure, okay, the sun isn't the center of the universe, but still, he was onto something). But that didn't matter. Pope Urban VIII was having none of it, seeing Galileo's statement as horrific heresy. So, 10 cardinals sat in judgment of Galileo, who was threatened with torture, imprisonment, and even being burned at the stake. Galileo, 69 at the time and in a "pitiable state of bodily indisposition," eventually renounced his beliefs. Because of this, the church went easy on him and, rather than torture, he was subjected to house arrest until he died. What a way to treat the father of modern of science. And what does the church have to say on the subject now? "We today know that Galileo was right in adopting the Copernican astronomical theory," Paul Cardinal Poupard, the head of an investigation into the matter said in 1992. So, only 350 years too late.

** Cutting Funding For Immigrants Because Of Their Connection To The LGBTQ+ Community:  Not all Catholic faux pas come from the past; there's been some dodgy stuff in modern times, as well (see priest rape bonanza), and the church's relationship with the LGBTQ+ community continues to be a source of frustration. But here's a humdinger: For years, the Church gave thousands of dollars to Compañeros, a nonprofit helping Hispanic immigrants access healthcare, understand laws, and meet other basic needs. That is, until the Church found out Compañeros teamed up with a gay and lesbian rights group, at which point Nicole Mosher, executive director of  Compañeros, was informed their funding was in danger. Compañeros is but one example of organizations the Church threatens for not falling in line with the most strident dictates of Catholicism. The New York Times explained in 2002, "Since 2010, nine groups from across the country have lost financing from the campaign because of conflicts with Catholic principles."On the one hand, of course it's okay for the Church to withhold money from causes in contradiction with its beliefs. Like, say, an abortion clinic. But cutting off funding to aid the needy simply because of an association with the LGBTQ+ community seems extreme and unfair, especially given Church doctrine on helping the needy and feeding the poor. What's more, members of the LGBTQ+ community can identify as Catholic and go to church, but can't be helped by that Church? This is all the more more difficult to swallow when considering the Church's $1.6 billion stock portfolio...”

From https://m.ranker.com/list/most-unforgivable-things-the-catholic-church-has-done/lea-rose-emery

#nonreligious #atheist #agnostic #secular humanist #skeptic #Religion #Christianity #religious insanity

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

The two captors of the Dutch family held for 9 years had both been members of the Family Federation or Unification Church

Published October 17, 2019.  Updated October 18 - 22, 2019.

‘John Eagles’ is Gerrit Jan van Dorsten – who ‘imprisoned’ six of his own children on a farm.

Police have rescued six young adults (four women and two men, aged 18-25) of the van Dorsten family living at a remote Dutch farm. Police were alerted when Jan Zon van Dorsten, a 25-year-old man, walked into a local bar. He looked dirty and was wearing old-fashioned clothes. He said he had not had a haircut in nine years. The bar-owner raised the alarm with police after Jan revealed he had never been to school and said he had run away and needed help. He said he wanted his lifestyle to “come to an end.” Jan said he was the oldest of the six children.

The Police came to investigate on Tuesday and found a hidden staircase behind a cabinet in the living room of the farmhouse. At the point when they were discovered, the five other siblings thought that they were the only people left on earth, the broadcaster RTV Drenthe reported. According to reports, they could barely speak and communicated in a “fantasy language” parts of which were “incomprehensible.” The father of the six young adults, Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, 67, was found bed-ridden. He had suffered a stroke about two years previous.

Josef Brunner, 58, who had rented the farm was arrested at the property. Reports say the farm was equipped with motion detectors and security cameras. Locals also claimed Brunner locked the gate and kept watch using binoculars. He’d reportedly chase away anyone who came too close to the secluded property.

After the young adults were released and living in a safe place, the former ‘prisoners’ were observed to be taking part in frequent rituals where they moved in circles. They were then taken to a more private safe location where they are being given appropriate care. The police want to understand what happened over the past decade, but are being considerate of their psychological needs.

Josef Brunner appeared before an examining magistrate on Thursday and was detained for 14 days on suspicion of unlawfully depriving the children of their liberty and money laundering. Later, Gerrit Jan van Dorsten was also arrested.

Brunner was born on March 3, 1961 in Waldhausen, Austria and was one of five peasant children. He completed a carpentry apprenticeship with distinction, but while enrolled in the army in Linz he joined a sect.

He met a Japanese woman who introduced him to the Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace). He had two children with her. Through the ‘Moonies’, Josef Brunner came into contact with Gerrit Jan van Dorsten in the late 1990s. Gerrit Jan had been a member of the Unification Church in the 1980s. He left in 1987 but to this day he still embraces many of their ideas. LINK

Together Joseph Brunner, known as the Austrian, and Gerrit Jan moved to the farm in 2010. Joseph was a carpenter and lived in a caravan behind his workshop. It was some four miles from the farmhouse. Neighbors saw him regularly visit the farm in his Volvo where he dropped off groceries and supplies.

Joseph Brunner’s brother, Franz, claims Joseph became delusional after joining the Unification Church. He said, “Josef has a very strong persuasiveness.” 

Franz said Josef had been married to a Japanese woman.

“In 2006 or 2007, Josef left his wife and children behind in Austria and went to the Netherlands.” Franz told NL Times.

“Josef regularly visited Gerrit Jan van Dorsten with his wife and daughters.” 

“Josef’s daughters, now adults, tried in vain to get in touch with him in 2017.”

The two arrested men had close business ties. Brunner paid the rent on van Dorsten’s toy craft store in Mepple and another storage unit nearby – as well as the rent for the farm.

According to a van Dorsten family statement. “Eight years ago, three older children of Gerrit Jan – Dino (Endino), Shin and Marjan, 29 – fled the family in Hasselt and contacted their brother from a previous marriage, their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.” 

"The family has taken notice of the events in Ruinerwold with dismay," the statement, translated from Dutch, says.

"Mr Gerrit Jan van Dorsten broke all ties with his immediate family in the 1980s. He told us not to make any attempt to find his place of residence."

"At present, it is the express wish of the family to support the discovered family," the statement said.

Gerrit Jan’s children were never registered with local officials or went to school.

Janny Knol, North Netherlands deputy police chief, said "on the farm there was actually a separate, closed-off area and its main aim was to keep the outside world out," she told Dutch TV. 

She said the imprisoned family were kept in an 'enclosed space' that was 'divided into small compartments.' The room was hidden behind a staircase, behind a locked door. Daylight was allowed inside, and children were occasionally allowed into the yard but they didn't go beyond farm's perimeter fence during nine years of captivity. She said, “We are investigating whether a certain religion or philosophy forms the cause of their living situation.”

Police found “tens of thousands of euros of laundered money” hidden on the property.

Jan Zon van Dorsten, 25, stated that his mother died in 2004 and “every day we are happy to take care of Dad”.

Gerrit Jan was initially believed to be one of the victims of Josef Brunner, but he has now been charged as “co-perpetrator of unlawful deprivation of liberty and of abuse, in the sense of prejudicing the health of others and money laundering.”

When Gerrit Jan and his brother, Derek, both joined the UC in the 1980s, their devoutly Protestant parents were very much against it. The father was a prolific author of Christian novels. Gerrit Jan was active in the UC in Amsterdam.

Gerrit Jan van Dorsten was a member in 1984. He worked as a Munich correspondent for the New York City Tribune at that time.

Gerrit Jan left the Unification Church in 1987. His estranged brother Derek van Dorsten, a long-time member of the UC said, "I have not heard from my brother since 1984."

A Church spokesman, Willem Koetsier, said “Sometimes people with spiritual inclinations found their own church or movement. I think this was the case with him. It could be that he thought he had a special mission.”

After a few years in the UC Gerrit Jan appears to have become ill at ease. According to reports in the Dutch media, he retreated from the church after announcing that he had begun “receiving signals” from Moon’s son, who is regarded as a prophetic figure within the faith. That son was Heung Jin Moon who had died in a car accident on January 2, 1984. 

Heung Jin was buried in Korea on January 8, 1984. A week later, Rev. Moon proclaimed that his son had a new mission and that he was free to travel between his spirit world and our physical world. Rev. Moon also proclaimed that Heung Jin became a leader to Jesus in the spirit realm and that he had assumed the role of “the commander-in-chief” to those who are unmarried in the spirit realm.”

▲ Sun Myung Moon wrote this calligraphy for his son: “Absolute Victory of Moon Heung Jin 文興進 as Commander-in-Chief of Heaven.”

On February 28, 1984, Heung Jin was married postmortem to Hoon-Sook Pak, the daughter of Colonel Bo Hi Pak, one of Moon’s top aides.

Colonel Pak was the president of the Washington Times at that time.

▲ At the wedding Julia Hoon-Sook Pak held a photograph of her new husband.

Colonel Pak stated that his son-in-law’s sacrifice “carries far greater importance then the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.” According to Rev. Moon, his son needed to be married in order to move from prince to king in the spirit realm. Hoon-Sook was positive about her unusual marriage. “I will never forget in my whole life and for eternity this greatest honor of being Heung Jin Nim’s bride, which I do not deserve.”

Shortly after the death of Heung Jin, Unificationists in different parts of the world claimed to be receiving messages from him. Most of the alleged revelations took place in 1984, and in 1987 and were published in book form under the title The Victory of Love.

Revelations are also claimed from St. Francis, St. Paul, Kierkegaard, and Jesus. The last speaks both of his submission to Heung Jin and the True Parents. “I will show them that the Lord of lords and the King of kings and the king of glory is our precious Lord Sun Myung Moon and his beloved bride Hak Ja Han. They reign as king and queen of the entire universe. I, Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ, bow in humility before them. Any who will follow me must do the same.”

From 1984 Gerrit Jan also received messages from Jesus and Heung Jin Moon.

According to Algemeen Dagblad, Gerrit Jan ascribed “supernatural powers” to himself. 

Older Unification Church members who knew Gerrit Jan in the 1980s had described him as a very "ritual" person who had set up his own group with his family. 

Gerrit Jan’s wife, the mother of nine known children, died in 2004. It is possible he has even more children, the newspaper reported.

In an interview with De Telegraaf, a cousin said, “Gerrit Jan broke with the rest of the family a long time ago,” the 32-year-old cousin said.

“About thirty years ago anyway. There was a lot of disagreement between my parents and my uncle, and between my uncle and the Unification Church. At a certain moment he ran away angry. That was before I was born.”

Joseph Brunner and Gerrit Jan van Dorsten lived next door to each other in Hasselt, south of Ruinerwold before moving to the farmhouse in 2010.

Shortly after Brunner moved in next door to the van Dorsten family, they removed a fence that separated their backyards, according to a neighbor, Sandra Soer. Brunner left the block first, and then in 2004, Geert announced his wife had died of colon cancer, which came as a shock as no one knew she had been sick, Soer said. The family left not long after.

In an interview with the Netherlands' English language news outlet NL Times, the older brother of Josef Brunner said he was not surprised to learn his brother had been arrested.

Franz Brunner described Josef as "greedy, calculating and unpredictable" and the pair had not been in contact for a decade. "He always wanted money and was always after his own advantage.”

The brothers quarrelled over their parent's farm and fell out with Joseph moving out.

In Austria, Josef's brothers told the Kronen Zeitung website that he had joined a sect and had not turned up for the funerals of his parents in the past four years. "He thought he was better than Jesus," brother Franz told the paper. “We've had no contact with him for 10 years. I told him to get lost when he wanted me to become his financial guarantor.”

Police have admitted going to the farm in the past, following up reports of a cannabis farm on the property, but say they never entered the building.

A team of 30 police are now trying to solve the mystery of the farm at Ruinerwold. The farmhouse is still being investigated and other properties have also been searched.

Police will question Gerrit Jan van Dorsten why he reported to Dutch immigration in 2009 that he had emigrated.

A large white board found pinned to a wall had a series of mysterious drawings and numbers in black felt ink. They went from top to bottom, side-to-side and ran across each other without making any sense. The board, and a set of books and records kept by the two men, have been taken away by detectives for analysis and forensic examination.

Police have brought in thermal imaging cameras to search under the soil of the fields around the farmhouse and sniffer dogs to examine underneath floor boards.

In a statement the police said, “We are investigating whether a certain religion or philosophy forms the cause of their living situation. Currently, a great deal of new information is received by us every day. It is our duty to verify the veracity of this information, and its relevance for our investigation. The circumstances the suspects and persons involved lived in require that we be extra careful when conducting our investigation.”

________________________________

‘John Eagles’ is Gerrit Jan van Dorsten – who ‘imprisoned’ six of his own children on a farm.

John Eagles video: “Each Soul is a Mirror”

Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, ‘Father Moon’ and the Divine Principle in his providence

Suspected of sexual abuse, ‘John Eagles’ aka Gerrit Jan van Dorsten is father of all nine children

Rev. Young Whi Kim testifies about Gerrit Jan van Dorsten

Jessica Villerius is making a documentary about the van Dorsten children of Ruinerwold

“Five beers and a plea for help is all it took” – Frank F

January 21, 2020 Gerrit Jan van D. sexually abused two of his children in Ruinerwold

________________________________

Black Heung Jin Moon – Violence in the FFWPU

The FFWPU / Unification Church and Shamanism

Hong Soon-ae, the mother of Hak Ja Han, was jailed for killing a young man in a shaman ritual

The FFWPU is unequivocally not Christian

A Korean perspective on Moon and his ‘Fall of Man’ teaching

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1, 1968

Rolling Stone: Children of Recluse Dutch Family Thought They Were the Only People Left on Earth

https://wikimili.com/en/Heung_Jin_Moon

#FFWPU #prisoners #Unification Church #Moonies #Netherlands #Gerrit van Dorsten #Family Federation for World Peace #Ruinerwold #Josef Brunner #John Eagles #captive children

[toonatic92]

(TW/CW: Blood, trypophobia) [Image description: A digital line drawing done for Pride Month 2019 of my fan characters posing together, wearing clothes with their LGBTQ+ identities' flags on them. From left to right: 1. Deo, a short, female Troll (alien species from the webcomic 'Homestuck'), wearing a straw sunhat, a long coat with the Asexual and Aromantic flags on it, a chewing necklace shaped like a ringed planet, a vest top with the Ceres symbol on it and a leather satchel with various space and conspiracy theory themed pins on it. She is slouching and staring at the other characters with a wide-eyed nervous expression and fiddling with her necklace and the strap of her satchel. 2. Vita, a tall, nonbinary butterfly person, wearing a red hibiscus flower on their head, a peasant blouse top with the Agender flag on it, purple gemstone bracelets, a long split skirt with the Asexual and Aromantic flags on it and a leather bag with Vita's name on it. They are standing and staring nervously at the other characters with one pair of arms clutching their bag defensively and the other pair of arms in the clasping hands position. 3. Health Shake, a short, female zebra/pegasus pony hybrid with braided hair and prosthetic wings, wearing a bandana with the Intersex flag on it, gold ring piercings on her ears, eyebrow and nose, a gold tongue stud, a T-shirt and overalls with the Pomosexual flag on them. She is hovering in mid-air and waving excitedly to the audience with a happy expression. 4. Poisonberry, a very large, nonbinary dragon with bubble and cobweb patterned skin and honeycomb patterned wings, wearing steel ring piercings on her head fins, a necklace strung with beads, bird skulls and feathers, a tank top with the Agender and Biromantic flags on it, bloodstained arm wraps with the Lesbian flag on them, steel cuff bracelets and shorts with the Fascigender flag on them. She is sitting on her haunches with one arm around Seaweed, the character next to her, and the other arm making a fist pump gesture, while exclaiming loudly with a happy expression. 5. Seaweed, a very large, nonbinary dragon with stripe patterned fur, wearing a flower crown, pink glittery eyeshadow, a beaded necklace, a fringe vest with the Genderfluid flag on it, blue silk arm drapes and a maxi dress with the Asexual and Cupioromantic flags on it. She is sitting on her haunches and leaning against Poisonberry while flapping her hands and blushing with a nervous, embarrassed smile. 6. Aventurine, an average height, nonbinary Gem (alien species from the cartoon 'Steven Universe') with sparkly skin and locs tied back in a high ponytail, wearing a dress shirt, a sweater vest with the Demiboy and Demiromantic flags on it, a blue gemstone bracelet and suit trousers with the Demisexual flag on them. They are standing with one hand on their blindness cane and the other waving at the audience, with a muted cheerful expression. 7. Honey, a small, nonbinary Lopunny (a rabbit species from 'Pokemon'), wearing a tank top with the Angender and Uniromantic flags on it and shorts with the Asexual flag on them. They are flexing their bicep and looking at Hazel, the character next to them, while blushing with a cheerful expression. 8. Hazel, a very small, female Bunnelby (a rabbit species from 'Pokemon'), wearing a hair bow with the Asexual and Aliquisromantic flags on it and an Alice dress with the Transgender flag on it. She is perched on Honey's flexed bicep and is looking at them with a cheerful expression and blushing.] I know it's very late, but here's part 2 of this year's Pride Month picture! Last time was my original characters, this time it's my fan characters and their LGBTQ+ identities. Again, most of these identities are new, so I'll provide links to their entries in Pride-Flags' gallery as we go. From left to right: 1. Deonia Elenys (16 years old, Polynesian, autistic, OCD, multiple sclerosis) - Asexual, Aromantic, (Cis woman (she/her)). The protagonist of my Homestuck fan story 'Full Circle', a moody teenage farmer with an interest in conspiracy theories and paranormal investigation, who gets stuck inside a video game with her friends and has to keep them from killing each other before they can find their way home. Links: Asexual (1) Aromantic (1) 2. Vita (20 years old, autistic, anxiety) - Agender (they/them), Asexual, Aromantic. The protagonist of my Floraverse fan story 'Forward', a quiet, sheltered young gardener who escapes their repressive village to go to university and study botany, meeting a whole group of new friends and forming new experiences. Links: Agender (1) Asexual (1) Aromantic (1) 3. Health Shake (29 years old, autistic, dwarfism, CAIS) - Intersex, Pomosexual, (Cis woman (she/her)). The protagonist of my unnamed My Little Pony fan story, a cheery, friendly juice bar barista working in an upscale shopping plaza in Ponyville, next to a bunch of colourful shopkeepers with mysterious pasts. Links: Intersex (2) Pomo- (1) 4. Poisonberry (??? years old, autistic) - Lesbian, Agender (they/them, she/her), Biromantic, Fascigender. The protagonist of my unnamed Flight Rising fan story, the boisterous mum of a massive family clan who is more interested in hunting and fighting than sorting out their family members dysfunctional relationships with each other. Links: Lesbian (This isn't the flag I used. I used a more inclusive one that I found on Tumblr.) Agender (1) Bi- Fascigender 5. Seaweed (??? years old, autistic, BPD, depression) - Genderfluid (they/them, she/her, he/him), Asexual, Cupioromantic. The other protagonist of my Flight Rising fan story, the laid-back dad of the family clan who spends most of the time they're awake picking up their mate's slack and sorting out family disputes. Links: Genderfluid / Genderflexible (1) Asexual (1) Cupio- / Kalos- Pride Flag (2) 6. Aventurine (??? years old, Black, autistic, blind) - Demiboy (he/him, she/her, they/them), Demiromantic, Demisexual. The protagonist of my unnamed Steven Universe fan story, a gentle Quartz bodyguard who gets picked to lead a rag-tag team on a scouting mission to Earth, but ends up defecting and going AWOL and has to deal with the emotional fallout from his team while dodging the Homeworld's attempts to capture him. Links: Demiboy (1) Demiromantic Demisexual 7. Honey (3 years old, autistic) - Angender (they/them), Uniromantic, Asexual. The protagonist of my unnamed Pokemon fan story, an angry, moody Lopunny who has been released into the wild by their trainer for being too violent towards their opponents in battles, and isn't taking it too well. Their only solace is Hazel, who Honey will go to extreme lengths to protect. Links: Hategender / Angender (2) Uniromantic (2) Asexual (1) 8. Hazel (3 years old, autistic, anxiety) - Asexual, Aliquisromantic, Trans woman (she/her). The other protagonist of my unnamed Pokemon fan story, a shy, anxious Bunnelby who willingly left with Honey because they are inseparable. She isn't taking the loss of their trainer well either, but she is loyal to Honey and wants to keep them out of danger. Links: Asexual (1) Aliquis- Transgender (1) Photoshop CS4

Part 1:

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Links:

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#pride month 2019 #lgbt pride #homestuck fantroll #floraverse #my little pony #gemsona #pokemon #flight rising #blood tw #trypo tw #black character #autistic character #trans character #nonbinary character #anthro character #alien character #fan character #full circle #forward #pony ocs #gem pebbles #pokemon ocs #flight rising ocs

[alexsmitposts]

Residents of rich countries throw old people out on the street Many old people in the West face a very sad fate. The ugly secret of the "Golden billion" is a phenomenon called granny dumping-literally "Granny on the dump". This is the practice of leaving the elderly in clinics and public places by relatives who are tired of taking care of them. Although this trend has been going on for several decades, it has become particularly acute in recent years. What's happening?

Back in 1992, the New York Times wrote about 82-year-old John Kinjeri, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Shortly before that, he was found next to the men's restroom at a dog racing stadium in the town of Post falls in Idaho. All the marks had been cut off from his wheelchair and clothing. Kingery remembered nothing and could not even call his name. He was wearing a t-shirt that said " Proud to be an American."

Later it turned out that on the eve of Kingery taken from the nursing home his daughter, sue, and literally threw him on the road. A photo of an old man in a wheelchair, clutching a Teddy bear in confusion, then went around all the media and drew public attention to the tragic practice of Americans leaving their elderly relatives to fend for themselves.

This phenomenon, which is truly strange for rich countries, even has a special name – granny dumping. Literally, it translates as "grandmother on release". In the same year, 1992, new York Times journalists interviewed doctors and social services employees and estimated that every year in the United States, relatives leave about 70 thousand elderly citizens to fend for themselves. Today, the numbers have increased. About a hundred thousand elderly people remain "unclaimed" every year in U.S. hospitals alone. However, Western media prefer not to write about this practice – it flaunts too tragic problems of an apparently prosperous life.

I must say that even in 1992, when the mass aging of the population did not affect people's lives so much, social workers interviewed by journalists did not blame their relatives for such a cruel decision. It was all too clear that many families simply could not stand the emotional burnout when they were forced to care for their elderly in dementia around the clock, without receiving any support from the state. In other cases, they did not have enough money to pay for the increasing bills from clinics and nursing homes. Usually the elderly were taken care of by their daughters – and at the same time lost their jobs, livelihoods, and at least some life prospects. Often they had to make a difficult choice-to take care of their father or their child.

Today, along with the rapid increase in life expectancy, this problem is only getting worse. A month's stay in a nursing home in the United States costs from 2.5 to 10 thousand dollars. It is not surprising that the practice of "grandmother to throw out" is growing, expanding and taking on new forms.

Seasonal granny dumping is widespread. In Ireland, England, and Australia, families who have been caring for their elderly relative all year round drive him to the clinic's emergency room closer to Christmas, then tell the nurse on duty: "Look after him, please, I'll just Park the car" - and go on vacation to rest. At the end of the holidays, they return for their old man.

Doctors, however, point out that their elderly relatives do not need treatment, but only care. And this abuse of medical services leads to the fact that on Christmas day, hospitals are overcrowded – and hundreds of patients are forced to lie on gurneys in the corridors. However, doctors are not inclined to blame irresponsible relatives. "It's not that people are bad," Fergel Hickey, spokesman for the Irish ambulance Association, admits to reporters. – There is an element of desperation in all this. All social services that existed before and provided care to patients at home have experienced large-scale cuts."

In France, the traditional granny dumping season is in August. This is a sacred month for the French, when the family must leave the city and go on vacation. To leave an elderly relative in an apartment under the round-the-clock supervision of a nurse, you will have to pay several thousand euros. So they just leave him a supply of food and water in the hope that he will cope.

Not everyone copes alone. August shows a steady increase in mortality among the elderly.

The soft version of granny dumping is gaining popularity in Germany. The bills for keeping an elderly relative in a nursing home in this country are at least three thousand euros a month – and the average pension does not even close to cover these costs. But usually both parents are sent to the nursing home at once, so the costs are doubled. Therefore, the tradition of sending parents to poorer countries, where nursing homes are two or three times cheaper, is becoming more popular among Germans. These are usually Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Canary Islands, and even Thailand. Of course, children visit their parents there very rarely (if at all). However, they discourage all questions of the moral plan by the fact that an elderly person in dementia still does not recognize them for a long time.

If from a traditionalist point of view what is happening is assessed as a cruel practice, then realism requires that it be recognized as forced. Germany is inexorably aging. By 2050, one in fifteen Germans will need round-the-clock care.

In its extreme form, granny dumping is simply to leave your old parent in a crowded place and quickly leave. Such cases are even sometimes covered by the media and attract public attention.

In November 2015, an old man without any documents was found at a bus stop in the English town of Hereford. He was dressed in brand-new clothes that had just been bought in an English supermarket, without any markings or identification marks. In the emergency room of the hospital, he was crying and laughing at the same time. The only thing he could tell the doctors was his name – Roger.

Roger was admitted to the hospital, then transferred to a nursing home and began to find out who he was. At one point, he managed to tell the nurses his last name, Curry. They ran it through databases in England – to no avail. We contacted the us and canadian authorities. Launched a search campaign in social networks. The BBC has released a story about a mysterious old man. Finally, with the help of American authorities, Curry's son, Kevin, was found. It turned out that he lives in California and belongs to the middle class – he works at military base 51 in Nevada (by the way, this is the same base where, according to conspiracy theorists, aliens are kept and experiments are conducted on them).

Kevin's story turned out to be quite banal. He and his wife simply didn't have enough money to support both of his parents in a nursing home. His father, Roger, had long suffered from dementia. His mother had Parkinson's disease. At one point, Kevin brought Roger to England, bought him new clothes, and asked his English friend to put him in a hospital somewhere. The friend took the old man to the emergency room of the nearest hospital and left.

In 2019, an English court sentenced this friend to two and a half years in prison. Although the investigation has not been able to prove any material interest in this case. He tells reporters that Kevin just set him up. Kevin himself is under investigation in the United States on charges of attempted kidnapping and forgery. His father was returned to the United States in 2016 and placed in a Los Angeles nursing home.

A BBC journalist visited Roger Curry in his room. He didn't like what he saw: "Roger was sitting in a dark room with the curtains drawn. There was a fresh wound on his head. There was blood on the pillow. He looked a very different person from what he was in Hereford."

For British tabloids, the sensational case of Roger Curry became an occasion to speculate about the irresponsibility of Americans who can take their old people thousands of kilometers away and leave them there.

However, the problem has no boundaries. Journalists from the Guardian newspaper spoke to representatives of charity organizations, and they reported that, according to their calculations, about a thousand English people leave their elderly relatives in British hospitals every month.

In rapidly aging countries like Japan, scientists are already trying to reflect on the problem of granny dumping. "Granny dumping: the Acceptability of sacrificing old people in a moral dilemma simulator" is the title of a work by local psychologists published in 2014 in the prestigious scientific journal Japanese Psychological Research.

The Japanese are trying to somehow civilize the practice of throwing the elderly to their fate. In the offices of charitable organizations, special "mailboxes for elderly citizens" are created – that is, rooms where relatives can anonymously leave their Patriarch. There are justifications for this practice in the economic recession in which Japan has existed since the late 80's, and in the huge proportion of old people in society-today more than a quarter of Japanese are over 65 years old.

However, for outside observers, this trend still evokes inevitable associations with the violent film "the Legend of Narayama". It shows in detail the ancient Japanese practice of "ubasute", according to which the peasants who lived starving simply took their old parents to the forest, where they froze to death.

[seekfirstme]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2019. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Jesus praised John the Baptist as the greatest person born. Who can top that as a compliment? But in the same breath Jesus says that the least in the kingdom of God is even greater than John! That sounds like a contradiction, right? Unless you understand that what Jesus was about to accomplish for our sake would supersede all that the prophets had done and foreseen.

"Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel"

The prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the forsaken and dispersed people of Israel some 700 years before the birth of Christ that "your Redeemer - the Holy One of Israel" would come to restore his people and to make all things new (Isaiah 41:14ff). When the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel did appear John the Baptist announced his arrival. He fulfilled the essential task of all the prophets - to be fingers pointing to Jesus Christ, God's Anointed Son and Messiah. John proclaimed Jesus' mission at the Jordan River when he exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). John saw from a distance what Jesus would accomplish through his death on the cross - our redemption from bondage to sin and death and our adoption as sons and daughters of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

The spirit of Elijah is sent in advance through John's words

John the Baptist bridges the Old and New Testaments. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets who point the way to the Messiah. He is the first of the New Testament witnesses and martyrs. He is the herald who prepares the way for Jesus the Messiah. Jesus confirms that John has fulfilled the promise that Elijah would return to herald the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). Jesus declares that John is nothing less that the great herald whose privilege it was to announce the coming of the Redeemer - the Holy One of Israel.

Jesus equates the coming of the kingdom of heaven with violence (Matthew 11:12). John himself suffered violence for announcing that the kingdom of God was near. He was thrown into prison and then beheaded. Since John's martyrdom to the present times the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and persecution at the hands of violent men. The blood of the martyrs throughout the ages bear witness to this fact. The martyrs witness to the truth - the truth and love of Jesus Christ who shed his blood to redeem us from slavery to sin and Satan and the fear of death. The Lord Jesus gives us the power of his Holy Spirit to overcome fear with faith, despair with hope, and every form of hatred, violence, jealousy, and prejudice with love and charity towards all - even those who seek to destroy and kill.

We proclaim the joy of the Gospel of Christ even in the midst of suffering and violence

God may call some of us to be martyrs for our faith in Jesus Christ. But for most of us our call is to be dry martyrs who bear testimony to the joy of the Gospel in the midst of daily challenges, contradictions, temptations and adversities which come our way as we follow the Lord Jesus. What attracts others to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  When they see Christians loving their enemies, being joyful in suffering, patient in adversity, pardoning injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to the hopeless and the helpless. Jesus tells us that we do not need to fear our adversaries. He will fill us with the power of his Holy Spirit and give us sufficient grace, strength, and wisdom to face any trial and to answer any challenge to our faith. Are you eager to witness to the joy and freedom of the Gospel?

"Lord Jesus, by your cross you have redeemed the world. Fill me with joy and confidence and make me a bold witness of your saving truth that others may know the joy and freedom of the Gospel of your kingdom of peace and righteousness."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2019.

 

SHE REVERSES THE CURSES

  "Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God." —Judith 13:19  

When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, the result was three curses. The devil was cursed, and the Lord put enmity between us and him (Gn 3:15). Women were also cursed through the pains of childbearing (Gn 3:16). Men were cursed through manual labor (Gn 3:17).

These three curses have been turned into blessings by Jesus. In Jesus, Mary reverses the curses. At Jesus' Incarnation, the archangel Gabriel announced that Mary was blessed among women (Lk 1:28). Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out: "Blest are you among women and blest is the Fruit of your womb" (Lk 1:42). Mary herself magnified the Lord and said: "All ages to come shall call me blessed" (Lk 1:48). "Blessed" is the opposite of "cursed."

The Lord has empowered Mary to reverse the curses because she and the other disciples of her Son put the devil's enmity to death, as "the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under [their] feet" (Rm 16:20). (Look at Mary's feet in a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.) Moreover, Mary's childbearing was not a curse, but the birth of the One Who freed us from the curses. (The picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows Mary pregnant.) Finally, Mary spent her life doing hard work. In her work, she was blessed, not cursed. (Our Lady of Guadalupe wears the work clothes of a peasant woman.) Love Jesus as Mary does. Reverse the curses.

  Prayer: Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us and the Americas. Promise: "See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord." —Zec 2:14 Praise: Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in a small village near Mexico City. She showed herself to him as one of the native people; as the Queen of all people. As a result, over nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. She helped heal the wounds between the native population and Spanish settlers.    

  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") for One Bread, One Body covering the period from December 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020.

†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 2, 2019.  

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

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7 Interesting Suez Canal Facts [UPDATED]

Suez Canal Facts

Built in: 1869

Located in: Egypt

Length: 193.3 Km or 120.11 mi

Panama Canal, Volga-Don Canal, the Corinth Canal, the Grand Canal, and the Suez Canal happen to be the most famous man-made canals in the world. They are responsible for carrying out the majority of marine transportation in the most economically efficient way possible.

Suez Canal has a special place in History and has been at the center stage of global conflicts and intrigues. Here are some of the fun Suez Canal facts which we are sure will interest you.

7 Interesting Suez Canal Facts

Suez Canal: Port Said – Courtesy – https://ift.tt/2J9K8e9

Where is the Suez Canal located?

The Suez Canal is located in Egypt. It is an artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It saves 7000 Km of extra travel by enabling water vessels to take a shorter way through Mediterranean and Red Seas. Navigating between North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans these vessels can altogether avoid the South Atlantic and South Indian Oceans, thereby saving a lot of time and money in the process. Situated at the city of Suez, the canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik.

What are the dimensions of The Suez Canal?

If you include the northern and southern access channels, the length of the Suez Canal is 193.3 Km or 120.11 mi. On average, more than 47 vessels traverse this canal.

Who built the Suez Canal and when was it built?

Napoleon Bonaparte, after his Egyptian conquest in 1798 considered building the canal. So he sent some surveyors to gather information regarding the plausibility of his idea. Unfortunately, they erroneously reported that the Red Sea being around 30 ft higher than the Mediterranean Sea would result in floods of disastrous proportions should Napoleon try to build the Suez Canal. Hence Napoleon abandoned the project of constructing the Suez Canal. Luckily in 1847, a group of researchers confirmed those surveyors’ miscalculations, stating that there was no significant difference in the altitudes of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Finally, in 1859 a Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company after much discussion, thereby materializing an almost century-long vision.

How was the Suez Canal Built?

Though in the later stages the Suez Canal Company used steam-powered machines explicitly designed for the purpose the early years of its development involved manual labor. The Egyptian government forced poor peasants to work in exchange for meager pay and often threatened them with violence. So despite having cheap labor, the process of construction was prolonged.

After the ban on forced labor in 1863 by the Egyptian ruler Ismail Pasha, the company was forced to switch to alternatives to compensate for the shortage of laborers. The usage of the steam-powered equipment boosted the workflow by a tremendous amount.

The History of the Statue of Liberty

Now, this is a fun fact. Towards the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi tried to convince Ferdinand de Lesseps to let him build a sculpture called the “Egypt Bringing Light to Asia” at its Mediterranean entrance. He was inspired by work of Chares of Lindos, a sculptor in 280 BC, the Colossus of Rhodes. It was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios erected in the city of Rhodes.

The statue was 108 feet high and was the tallest statue of the ancient world. Bartholdi wanted to create something of similar proportions. He imagined a 90 ft tall statue of a woman wearing the type of clothes worn by Egyptian peasants. She would hold a massive torch which would also be used as a lighthouse to guide ships into this canal.

Lesseps never agreed, and hence the project was never realized. But Bartholdi did not give up hope. He kept pitching this idea at several places until finally in 1886 he unveiled the complete version in New York Harbour. Though better known to the world as the Statue of Liberty, its official name is “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

War and Politics Involving the Suez Canal

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Napoleon III

Britain and France ruled Egypt at that time. Lesseps was a French diplomat. His proposal for the Suez Canal had the support of the French Emperor Napoleon III. It led the British to believe that this was a political scheme that intended to undermine British dominance in global shipping. They were up in arms against Lesseps who in turn exchanged verbal attacks with the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. Robert Stephenson spoke against this project in the parliament causing Lesseps to challenge the former to a duel. Even after all this, the British Empire continued criticizing the plan but ironically ended up buying a 44% stake in the waterway when the Egyptian government auctioned its portion of shares.

In 1888, it was decided in the Convention of Constantinople that the Suez Canal would operate as a neutral zone. Meanwhile, it was to remain under the protection of the British who successfully defended it against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in 1915.

During World War II, the Axis powers of Italy and Germany tried to capture the Suez Canal.  It called for the Anglo Egyptian Treaty of 1936 which reaffirmed British control over the Suez Canal. Though it was decided earlier that the waterway would remain neutral, Axis ships, for most of the war, were banned from accessing it. When World War II ended the Egyptians withdrew from the treaty in 1951.

Suez Crisis

It was in the year 1956 that the British finally withdrew their troops from the Suez Canal and handed its control over to President Gamal Abder Nasser of Egypt. Nasser handed over the ownership to the Suez Canal Authority. It earned him the anger of the British and the United States who initially withdrew the financial support that they had promised for the improvement of the canal.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Nasser’s government decided to close the Straits of Tiran, which linked Israel with the Red Sea. It angered the European powers, and after that Briain, France and Israel retaliated by threatening to invade Egypt. It is known in history as the Suez Crisis. The Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson became anxious that the situation would worsen and thereby proposed to the United Nations the formation of a peacekeeping force for the protection of the canal ensuring that it remained accessible to all. On 4th November 1956, the U.N. consented to this proposal. But if you believe that this was the last time that the Suez Canal got entangled in an international conflict, you would be thoroughly mistaken.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Nasser ordered the peacekeeping forces out of the Sinai Peninsula. Israel took this opportunity to invade the east bank of the Suez Canal successfully.

Nasser reacted by blocking all maritime traffic with mines and scuttled ships, resulting in 15 international vessels getting trapped. These cargo ships remained stuck for eight years! They were nicknamed the ‘yellow fleet’ because of the sand that accumulated on the ships’ decks.

Though most of the crew members were rotated on 3-month assignments, the rest had to satisfy themselves by building a floating community. It did become a full-fledged community with its internal trade, social events, and sports!

These ships were finally allowed to leave in 1975. But by then except for two, the vessels could hardly sail.

Suez Canal in Modern Times

Since then the Suez Canal has undergone much development. Egypt successfully expanded the Suez Canal in 2015. In addition to the 35 Km long shipping lane beside the main waterway, the project also included increasing the depth of certain parts in the canal. The construction of the Ballah Bypass was started in August in 2014. This was done to speed up the canal’s transit time.

The ‘New Suez Canal’, as the expansion was called, was done with the intention of doubling the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. The total cost of the project stood somewhere around $8.4 billion.

The Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new site on 24th February 2016. It helps in the berthing and unberthing of vessels from the East Terminus. With this new expansion, the canal could now handle two-way traffic and the passage of larger ships. The 400-meter long OOCL Hong Kong passed through the Suez Canalon in December 2017. The world’s largest container ship was carrying 21,400 containers. The Egyptian authorities believe that this project will double the canal’s revenue by the year 2023.

Around 8% of global sea-borne trade takes place through the Suez Canal. It has tremendously boosted the Egyptian economy. Reports from Reuters state that the Suez Canal generated revenue of $5.3 billion in 2017.

The Suez Canal Economic Zone refers to the set of locations in the vicinity of the canal, where there is no custom rate. It has been done to attract investment in those areas. This zone covers an area of 600 square kilometers. The projects in this zone are collectively referred to as the Suez Canal Area Developmental Project (SCADP).

  Canals serve as an essential factor in the growth and development of a civilization. In the past canals provided the most efficient way of transporting industrial goods and were indispensable in the advancement of industrialization. There are still many canals that are in use today, but with the technological progress in the field of transportation, the number has reduced to a fraction of what it was back in those days. Movement of bulk raw materials like coal and ore that fuelled industrial developments required a cost-effective mode of transportation and the canals were highly suited for this job. Much of the mechanization and development in several disciplines of research and technology owe a great deal to this form of transport.

The few canals that survived serve the large transportation industries to move bulk cargo. The replacement of the canals as a transportation medium was a gradual process that started in the United States in the mid-1850s where the cheaper and much easily maintainable railways gained popularity. That in no way undermines the importance of a man-made canal. Throughout the world, it helps in lowering the cost of transportation by shortening the shipping routes and happens to be one of the most reliable medium of international trade. 90% of the world trade is carried out by the 50,000 merchant ships that are providing their services all over the world. It has made the lives of millions of people better. In the present day, the aviation industry has enabled us to transport things within a short period. But water routes remain to be the most cost-effective mode of carrying goods in vast quantities. This is why man-made canals are so essential.

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RESORT 19

GUCCI

A GOTHIC GETAWAY

GUCCI: THE ARLES COLLECTION

Where Gucci is concerned, this notion can be ceremoniously ousted. Alessandro Michele is the Godfather of designing to millimetre perfection and sending his art down a runway that’s a little left-of-centre. But, let’s give it to him. After his Cruise 2019 show, every designer is scratching their heads with the imaginary thought bubble that reads: “Email subject: Calling a Resort 20 Roundtable. Step it up. And fast.”

In a league of its own, the scene said it all. Four hundred people took to their seats in the Promenade Des Alyscamps, a famous, ancient Roman cemetery that lines the historical French city grid of Arles. The setting was thickly glazed with a fiery enchantment, the stuff of ballet stage backdrops that pull you into their eerie landscape with rendered curiosity. Only this was real; a dark and chilling runway alive with a wall of burning candelabras that stretched for miles. Dense smoke that clogged the venue ruins, wrapping itself around blush spot-lit tombs like pink velvet. The discordant tolls of a bell resonating through the necropolis while running flames erupted from the ground and divided the runway, making way for a slow-moving procession of models wearing retro clothes that spanned eras as if they were arriving for a rock seance to summon the dead.

They were not. But, from the lace to the location, the dress code of the hour called loudly upon the rituals of death to deliver its message. While the neons and the old Hollywood and the Eighties and the English tailoring are those signature Gucci-fied elements of the Michele reign, the references to religion and to Gothic romanticism took them for a walk on the dark side. There were crosses on chokers and chains and toga robes. There were monastic veils and full black looks among velvet dresses, with one sporting the bedazzled embroidery of a skeletal thorax. Elizabethan wigs capped long dresses propped with flower bouquets ready to be placed on a grave. As sequins and fringe twinkled through the fog, two-toned sunglasses brought us back to the present day and beyond, while zebra prints and acid-washed denim unleashed the Eighties on the runway in all its subversive glory.

Yet, taken out of the ghoulish setting and free from the sepulchral owl hoots, there are staples that are extremely wearable and standalone. A leather or varsity jacket paired with jeans or a Chateau Marmont tee. A black bomber could potentially fare well over electric red pants. Or a blush pink toga dress could very well wow after dark.

The show did wrap, however, with a Victorian flowing wedding dress that resembled the peasant nightgown worn by a ghost who has overstayed her welcome in a haunted house - bouquet and all. But this was unsurprising. Despite the theatrics, the code of Gucci has been set and seems to be working and adored by many to date, and it is this versatility that plays to Michele’s strengths and his mysterious mental mood board that never fails to deliver.

#runway