#being evil people or being bad. it just means a day for sin. like

[hero-israel]

Let me tell you being a former Christian this shit goes so much deeper than a lot of born Jews realize. The Christian worldview (specifically Calvinist/Puritan) seeping into and pervading all of modern leftism is honestly frightening. But also it's very funny.

They believe that there are Good people and Bad people, and that any mistake or lapse in judgment or instance of not being educated is a Mask Off moment, showing who is a member of the Elect and who is not. If you fuck up, that's not just a fuck up, it's Revealing. You are damned, were always damned, you were just good at hiding it, and now we know the truth and are doubly angry because not only are you evil, you lied about it. The only recourse is to shun you, and if that leads to your death, so be it. Anyone who's seen any micro celebrity get canceled saw this in action.

And the only way you can prove you're a member of the Elect is to operate as if you have nothing to hide. You have to loudly and proudly proclaim your righteousness. If you don't have anything to hide why would you be worried? Privacy is suspicious. You Must Speak on everything they deem important or else you obviously agree with the Bad People. There is no room for discussion or healthy debate. There are no loopholes or subclauses or other points of view to consider. You're with us or against us. If you don't constantly go around saying you're with us, you're probably secretly against us. The only way to convince your neighbors, whom you inherently distrust, that you're one of the Good Ones, is to perform righteousness, parrot righteous words. The only way to redeem yourself is by grandiose acts of self flagellation, perhaps being the right demographic, or by accusing others of Heresy.

The goal is not to bring good into the world, it's to recruit more people into the same thought patterns (that's kind of all Christian denominations though). Because if you can convince your community that you're one of the Elect, that means G-d preselected you for Heaven, and you're golden. No repercussions or consequences baby. The only material benefit for you is that you "get" to proclaim you're going to Heaven and everyone has to agree with you. If anyone doesn't they're probably going to Hell anyway. You're on the right side (of history), so why should you ever self reflect or grow? Why should you question anything? Why should nuance or empathy exist? This is about Right and Wrong. We know where we stand, where do you stand?

Every single aspect of American culture and politics, right and "left" alike, was planted by the pilgrims, and it is so fundamentally antithetical to true Leftist thought. Remember all the actually successful Western Leftist movements were started in Europe (and Israel cough cough)... because they kicked all their fucking psychotic Calvinists out. Those people went to America and that's a big big big reason why we don't have any near as much of a robust Leftist movement as even socially conservative European countries (and Israel cough cough). And what's funny is I still find myself slipping into these thought patterns, which is so not compatible with Jewish philosophy or theology. It's been years and I'm still not done.

It's a hell of a drug to kick, so I definitely don't trust white goysiche college kids who've been antitheists for about 6 months since they left their Republican parents' homes to have any great success in unlearning and unprogramming from this. Which is kind of obvious in that I see them acting just like their conservative Christian parents every day on every social media platform, swap out a gun toting white Jesus with some noble savage idea of Palestine, absolving the West of its sins against the Global South.

It is a cult structured around spiritual isolation, antisocial behavior, and it is inherently against any kind of political movement that centers and celebrates the Community. It is designed to tear communities apart and foster obedience to whatever authority can force itself on them. And this has been going on for almost 500 years, there is nothing we can do about it.

Thank you for the insightful look. Their "purity culture" approach definitely had to come from somewhere.

#Leftist antisemitism #Christian antisemitism

[proximasc0rner]

Hatchetverse theory/headcanon: the lords in black are monsters of our own creation.

So. In a previous post, I mentioned that the LiB might have ages in that they're born of some kind of evil, with Wiggly being the oldest "sin" for lack of a better word. And I think I like that idea the more I think about it! So, just for fun, I'm making a list of them from oldest to youngest:

Wiggly - Wrath. I- I think this one is kinda self explanatory I mean his name is LITERALLY Wiggog Y'Wrath what else do you want from me here- but in all seriousness, I think it fits. The oldest evils humans have known have existed because of wrath. The desire to hurt others due to a sense of justice or entitlement, or even just because one was having a bad day and needed to take it out on someone. Tale as old as time.

Nibbly - Nibbly. Where to start with you. I don't want to go with the basic-ass "gluttony" thing, sooooo... I think with Nibbly, it's more abstract than that. Humans don't just hunger for food-- they hunger for power. Power over themselves, power over some others, or, god forbid, power over entire groups and nations. Hunger for the prize. Hunger for fulfillment. I think we see this demonstrated really nicely in Honey Queen! But yeah, I think this abstract "hunger" is also something primal, like wrath. I wouldn't be surprised if Nibbly and Wiggly came into existence at the same time, but Wiggly just kinda took over.

Tinky - Sadism. YES I AM ONCE AGAIN GOING FOR THE EASY CHOICE SUE ME. Anyhoo, I personally think that Tinky came into existence with the first real atrocity. Not murder over an argument. Not an act of desperation. Just an act of cruelty for cruelty's sake. Sometimes I wonder why I like him so much. WHATEVER I BELIEVE IN BASTARD OF TIME AND SPACE SUPREMACY.

Blinky - This one was tough, but I think I got a semi-satisfying answer (for me anyway): I think Blinky represents the evil that is being a bystander. Like, someone commits a great evil and destroys someone's life in front of a crowd, and all the people just... watch it happen. They don't step in or intervene. They simply allow this evil individual to keep being evil, thereby becoming accomplices in that way. Again, wouldn't be surprised if Tinky and Blinky were twins, because I think atrocities and bystanders unfortunately go hand in hand.

Pokey - Exhibitionism! No wonder he's the youngest-- while vanity and desperately trying to gain the approval of others has been a thing for a very long time, I think that once better forms of communication and presenting yourself to the world (cough cough the internet cough cough) is when things really would've taken off. Everyone wants their voice to be the loudest. Everyone wants to be a star. So everyone puts on a show for everyone else as they desperately try to claw their way to the top.

But yeah. That's my idea of it. The lords in black are a threat, and we've got nobody but ourselves to blame.

#okay now you guys need to join my tinky cult #the lords in black #lords in black #starkid #hatchetfield universe #hatchetfield series #hatchetverse #hatchetfield #the guy who didn't like musicals #black friday #tgwdlm #nerdy prudes must die #nmpd #nightmare time #honey queen #pokotho #pokey #bliklotep #blinky #t'noy karaxis #tinky #nibblenephim #nibbly #wiggog y'wrath #wiggly #team starkid

[im-just-an-angel]

one of the most sick things i have realized in the ppl around me who are still catholic, is how much they are plagued with catholic guilt. a girl who won't get surgery bc she believes its punishment for her sins. ppl who are nearly suicidal in their desire for heaven, and since heaven is coming, they do nothing to change their situation. they dont try to improve their lives or others or the planet bc at the end of the day this is a "fallen world" and "heaven is waiting." it is so sick to drill into a persons head since theyre a child that they were born evil, that they need god to fix them, they need god to sustain them, as if it wont affect their mental state at all as adults. my little cousins who have already shown signs of having anxiety about god, like asking if he'll be mad at them/their parents for doing normal, human things. like really being afraid of what that would mean. my opinion and love for this world and its people shifted sp drastically when i realized i could just stop. i could stop being afraid of god. i could stop thinking we all deserved to burn in a lake of eternal fire. who even makes a lake of eternal fire anyway? that very much does not sound like a me problem. when i left the church, i very much still believed in hell, and i very much believed it was a place i would go, and would deserve to go. but i chose it anyway. i chose the eternal torture, because who does a thing like eternal torture? if god would torture me forever, than that wasn't someone i wanted to associate with, consequences be damned. and slowly, i started to see the world differently. i know the world is on fire, and theres a few too many genocides occuring at the moment, and i do truly have it in me to detest forever the people who hurt innocent people. but still, desite it all, despite everything, i think we're good. yes, we do bad things, but at the end of the day, most of us just want to go home, and cuddle our pets/loved ones, and eat a good meal, and look at the stars and dream. we're not so different, and we're not so bad. idk where i was going with all this exactly, but i think the cure to catholic guilt is choosing to believe in the good. catholism says goodness can only come from god, and thats why were damned. but i think we *are* good. even despite all the reasons ppl give me on the contrary. bc i see ppl wish happy holidays to strangers, holidays they dont celebrate themselves, just to see them happy. i see strangers go out of there way to help people every single day. bc most of us understand that we all just want the same things, and are willing to help each other get them. we arent evil, and bad things arent some divine punishment, sometimes things just suck. the cure to catholic guilt, i think, is a love that can outcompete the divine.

#sorry for the enormous rant lol #i havent touched this account in a minute #but this was bothering me sm the past week #the cure to catholic guilt is a love that can outcompete the divine #i had to stop believing i was evil in order to let myself be good #religious trauma #ex catholic #apostate #xtian #vent

[thethirdromana]

A few people in the Dorian Gray Weekly tag have observed that Oscar Wilde doesn't make it clear what he wants us to think of Dorian. I'd like to dig into that a bit more, because I think it's true, and fascinating, and weird.

Because if you take everything so far at face value, then Wilde has made it abundantly clear that Dorian is a terrible person. His actions have resulted in a young woman's suicide. He has a visual record in his attic of his moral degradation and that record has become "evil". The picture is covered in "signs of sin", and it's pretty clear that Wilde means that literally. It's not just that Dorian is being spared the realistic physical consequences of his misdeeds, like bags under his eyes after a heavy night out. His sins, which he is unquestionably committing, are visibly altering the appearance of his portrait, like that Roald Dahl quote:

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

We don't know exactly what his sins are. But we know how they cause people to act around him:

It was remarked, however, that some of those who had been most intimate with him appeared, after a time, to shun him. Women who had wildly adored him, and for his sake had braved all social censure and set convention at defiance, were seen to grow pallid with shame or horror if Dorian Gray entered the room.

The only reason that there isn't more scandal around him is explicitly because he's rich and attractive. Not because there's any hint that he's sometimes a good person. While Wilde doesn't say "Dorian was evil and his portrait looked evil because he was an evil person who did evil things", he comes pretty damn close to it.

And yet...

Despite all that condemnation, it's hard to come away from reading this novel with the impression that Wilde is actually condemning Dorian's actions, as the commentary in the tag demonstrates. (Which is handy, because this is vibes-based analysis and tricky to prove otherwise).

I think there are two reasons for this. One is the lavish, indulgent descriptions of everything Dorian is doing. The details feel like they're shared in a spirit of appreciation, not judgement. Post-Sibyl, Dorian's crimes are presented in an innuendo-laden, nudge-nudge way that lets you imagine whatever level of debauchery you find titillating. (It's always fun to see where adaptations choose to draw the line here). Dorian's life is shallow, but it's vivid and luxurious - and more than a little enviable. And sometimes it's fun to read about rich people doing bad things!

(Of course, that means that the reader ignores Dorian's sins in favour of his wealth just like his acquaintances do).

The other reason is the weird relationship between Dorian's life and Oscar Wilde's own. Wilde puts what feels like an uncomfortable amount of himself into Dorian - the book that Dorian "could not free himself from", that contributes to his moral degradation, is one of Wilde's own favourite books. Wilde also lived an indulgent, hedonistic lifestyle that took him into sordid parts of London, where he did things that, once revealed, would see him shunned by society, some of which we would still judge harshly.

Wilde was writing for an audience who didn't know as much about his life as we do, but he was already an established celebrity when The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, so I think his readership would see an echo of Dorian's decadence in Wilde himself. Like Basil Hallward, he put a lot of himself into his art. Like Basil Hallward, it revealed more of him than he perhaps intended - but he did intend some of it.

I can't quite imagine writing a character who shares a lot of my interests and enthusiasms, plus some of the worst of my behaviour, and then explicitly describing that character as evil, but that's what Oscar Wilde did. Dorian Gray doesn't feel like it's written in a spirit of self-loathing, but nor does it feel like a demonstration of cognitive dissonance. So I'm no closer to figuring out what the hell is going on here. But for me, the chewy complexity of exactly how Wilde wants us to feel about Dorian - admiring, judgmental, condemnatory, detached - is a significant part of why I enjoy this novel so much.

#dorian gray weekly #oscar wilde #the picture of dorian gray #apologies to my followers for the tonal shift from beetleposting but this was taking up space in my brain and i needed to get it out #and i have an irrational dislike of queuing things

[bubuslutty]

Day 4: baked salmon

this is part 4, all parts

pairing: demon/angel!fem reader x 141

word count: 2.3k

tags: no use of y/n, 3rd person pov, proofread by me so sorry for any mistakes

warnings: none

summary: Angel accidently falls asleep under the sun and gets saved by a knight in shining armor, or an angel, it's the same thing in her head, both glowing and glorious. + imagine getting cockblocked by potatoes 🧍‍♀️

a/n: I know the chapters are called day 2, day 3, ect but it doesn't necessarily mean they happen one right after the other, it's just days of her interacting with the boys.

Two days in the office as a sex therapist wasn't too bad. Angel actually likes working with clients because she gets to see humans and how they react to their environment and relationships, with others and themselves. Of course, she had to do a bit of homework and study to be qualified, but it’s nothing a couple of days of intense learning and superhuman intelligence couldn’t fix. All she had was to tap into her powers and suddenly, she knew everything she had to know.

How convenient it was to be an angel, or a demon in her case.

Angel’s usual wish assignments are more often than not related to earthly desires such as money, fame and lust, maybe love too, but she always had to realise wishes that were considered a sin in many religions. Greed, gluttony, lust. She has worked with all of them. And whether those wishes were good or evil, it doesn’t matter to her, because fate takes care of that, her job is to realise the wish and nothing else.

By human standards, she would definitely be considered a demon, a succubus even, especially now.

“I should get a tattoo…” Angel mumbled, lounging on her messy bed, laptop on her stomach, looking at images of succubus womb tattoos. Kuromi meowed, removing the woman’s attention from her laptop’s screen.

“Hm?” Angel hummed, looking at her cat, standing by her bedroom door. Kuromi meowed again, making Angel gasp, “Yes! You’re so right!”

The woman immediately closed her laptop and ran to her phone, checking the weather. It looked like today was going to be hot and nice, even though it was cold as shit the day before.

That’s typical British weather for you.

“You’re so smart, Kuromi.” Angel said and sent a flying kiss to the cat, who lifted her tail and walked out, completely unbothered. Angel opened one of her drawers that had multiple bikinis and swimsuits. She started getting naked on the spot, excited to change and go downstairs to sunbathe in her garden. When she changed into one of her bikini sets, she dug for one of her hats and got a random green bucket hat for the sun, shades and a bottle of suncream.

If there’s one thing she’ll never forget while being in this realm, is that the sun is unforgiving and harsh, unless you want to look like a baked salmon or get skin cancer, you have to protect yourself.

Angel hummed while walking down her stairs, going straight for the fridge and getting herself a small water bottle and a Coke in case she got thirsty, and then a random magazine that was left on her counter, a Bluetooth speaker and a yoga mat.

She happily started getting settled in the middle of her garden, where there was no shade. Angel could hear some of her neighbours hanging out in their gardens too, low music, people chatting, children giggling and dogs barking and elderly people complaining about the noise. She sat on her yoga mat and started rubbing sun cream all over her skin, making sure to not miss a spot, and struggled to get her back but ended up giving up, “I’ll do it later when I turn around…” She grumbled.

After setting up her music and lowering the volume, she laid down on her back, sunglasses and bucket hat on. Angel took a deep breath, loving the heat of the sun and closed her eyes.

“I’ll do it later when I turn around…” She, in fact, did not turn around.

Angel ended up falling asleep with her mouth open, right under the sun, in the process of baking. However, earlier, the sky was not the only thing that witnessed her stupidity in real-time.

Her very sexy neighbours all decided to hang out outside, to enjoy the sun like normal people when they saw her asleep in the middle of her garden. John came out in shorts and sandals, wearing his very stylish bucket hat and sunglasses, a book in hand when he saw her. Of course, he saw her, they literally had the shittiest, lowest fence ever, and it practically gave no one much privacy. But it’s not like they're going to complain when they get to see her looking like that.

“Steaming Jesus…” Johnny said, lowering his sunglasses so he can get a better look.

“What sort of shitty cliché film are we in?” Gaz laughed in disbelief. Not only did they have a nice house (minus the shitty garden fence), but a very hot, very friendly, smart and funny neighbour.

“Are you complaining?” Soap asked the man.

“Me? Hell no, that’s one beautiful woman.” Gaz said with a nod.

“Stop staring, you creeps.” Ghost came up from behind them and grabbed both of their necks, lowering their heads. Both Soap and Gaz whined at their superior, turning around and sitting in their garden lounge chairs, doing their own thing.

John already had his nose buried in his book while Ghost closed his eyes and covered his face with a cap. Gaz was playing music through a Bluetooth speaker and was knitting at the same time, humming to the lyrics of whatever song was playing, and Soap was doodling in a sketchbook, bopping his head to Gaz’s music.

20 minutes passed peacefully until John closed his book and checked his watch. His change in demeanour was immediately noticed by his men, even Ghost lifted the cap and peeked at his captain with one eye. “It’s been 20 minutes and she hasn’t moved an inch, how long has she been sleeping there for?” He said with a frown.

“That woman is literally going to bake under the sun,” Gaz said, looking at Soap.

“She will if we dinnae wake ‘er up.” Soap agreed.

“Why do you even care?” Ghost asked, surprising Price.

“Because we’re not shite neighbours, Simon.” Soap said in that annoying voice he thinks drives Ghost up the wall, but Ghost secretly thinks it’s cute.

“Yeah, don’t be a dickhead, Simon,” Gaz said, batting his eyelashes at the soldier, hiding his annoying grin behind the scarf he was knitting.

“Enough, go wake her up, Gaz.” John said, and Gaz placed his unfinished scarf in his chair and walked up to the fence, and cleared his throat loudly.

Angel didn’t move an inch and he turned around, to look at the others.

“Call ‘er name!” Soap whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Ghost side-eyed Soap, who absolutely ignored him.

“Angel, wake up, please?” Gaz tried again, squinting his eyes to try to see if her chest was moving up and down. Call him paranoid but she wasn’t moving, and he couldn’t for the life of him see if she was breathing or not from his position.

Gaz immediately jumped over the fence and rushed to her side and placed two fingers on her pulse, at the side of her neck. Soap, Ghost and Price were all up now, standing next to the fence, and all sighed in relief when Gaz turned around and gave them a thumbs-up.

Gaz scanned her lax face and decided to lift her head with one hand and used the other to gently tap one of her cheeks, “Angel, wake up.”

Angel woke up with a gasp as if she was holding her breath the whole time, maybe she was, who knows, her body can do freaky stuff when it forgets it's wearing the skin of a human. When she opened her eyes, Angel was so confused, was she in heaven?? Because what the shit, this is a real angel right there.

“What time is it?” She groggily said, her hand going up by itself to cup Gaz’s cheek.

“Half past one. You were knocked out and we got worried you’d bake under the sun.” Gaz said with a chuckle, and reality finally hit her. Angel abruptly sat up and Gaz grabbed both of her shoulders, “Hey, slow down.”

“Water, Gaz.” Price reminded the man and Gaz immediately grabbed the now warm water bottle next to her, unscrewed the cap and poured a bit in his palm and patted her hot cheeks.

“Oh, that feels good.” Angel moaned, not realising how hot she truly was.

“That was dangerous, you know that right? Sleeping under the sun with no shade.” Gaz said, wiping his wet hand on his naked chest.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep…” Angel sheepishly said, glancing at the other three men looking at her.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, and thank you for waking me up, Gaz.” Angel said, placing a hand on his, which was on her yoga mat, next to her thigh. Gaz’s eyes widened, looking at her hand on his and looked back up again. She was smiling at him, and his heartbeat sped up. Gaz could feel his guys looking at him, at them, but he couldn’t look away from her eyes and lips. Especially her lips.

“You don’t, uh” he choked out then cleared his throat, “You don’t have to apologise…”

“Okay.” Angel whispered, those big beautiful eyes staring at him like he was the sun and the sky, and Gaz felt like he was going to fucking die.

“Who fancies a barbeque? I feel like grilling, today.” Price spoke, breaking the spell. Gaz retrieved his hand and stood up, stretching his arms behind his head, trying to hide his flustered state.

“Oh yeah!” Soap grinned.

“That sounds really nice, enjoy your barbeque, guys.” Angel said, collecting her phone and Bluetooth to get inside, she had enough sun for today. Maybe she’ll watch a show on her laptop, or read a book.

“Where are you going?” Price frowned, stopping her in her tracks, all of her stuff clutched in her arms.

“What?”

“You’re invited, Angel.” Price said.

“Am I?”

“Of course, lass! What type of neighbours would we be if we didnae invite our favourite neighbour?” Soap said with a huge grin.

“Soap, I’m the only neighbour you’ve spoken to since moving in.” Angel deadpanned and Soap shrugged with his arms crossed, the dog tags glinting over his hairy chest under the sun.

“I’ll go get the grill ready.” Ghost said, walking towards their shed.

“Hi, Ghost!” Angel quickly greeted him.

“Hi, Angel.” He replied, without looking back.

Gaz slowly walked up to the fence, “I’ll go prep the meat.” he mumbled and jumped over, glad to escape her hypnotising eyes and lips.

“Wait, I don’t know what to bring!” Angel’s smile fell when she realised she has never been invited to a barbeque before and has no idea what to bring, she has seen humans having barbeques but she doesn’t know what they would like her to bring.

“You don’t have to bring anything, honey.” Angel was now right in front of her fence, knees touching the scratchy wood and watching Price move the chairs around to make space for the grill.

“Uhm, Soap! Please come over and get stuff you guys don’t have.” Angel quickly said and grabbed for the man’s arm as if he’d run away. She really didn’t want to be rude and not bring anything to the barbeque, and she knows that Soap loves food and knows so much more about cooking than she does.

This is absolutely pathetic for someone with her powers, but she never claimed to be perfect, has she?

And how could Soap ever say no to that face?

“Of course, hun.” Soap grinned and jumped over the fence, taking the water bottle and unopened can of Coke away from her. “And these are going in the trash.” He said, walking inside her house and straight to the kitchen as if he always lived there.

.

.

.

“For how long are they supposed to boil?” Angel asked, frowning down at a pot with boiling water and whole potatoes.

“Leave the potatoes alone and come chop the chives.” Soap said, glancing up at the woman with amusement. Angel was still wearing her bikini and her cute green bucket hat, standing there in the kitchen with him.

Angel sighed and stood next to Johnny, grabbing the knife and starting to chop the chives. Soap watched the woman try to chop the chives and get frustrated that it was hard even though the chives were thin and small. Soap had to admit, she might be PhD smart and hot as fuck but she was actually useless with a knife.

Soap sighs, standing behind her and grabbing the knife away from her hand. “Watch, that’s how you do it.” He said and she nodded, watching him hold the chives with one hand and chop them with the other with ease. “See? Easy peasy, now try again.”

Angel grabbed the knife and tried again, and she was instantly better, a bit slow but better than her mediocre previous tries. “How long does potato salad take to make?” Angel looked over her shoulder and asked, looking at Soap, who was still standing behind her.

“Like half an hour? The only long parts are boiling the potatoes and chilling the salad.” Soap said, making her nod and turn back to chopping her chives.

“Do you have someone, lass?” Soap suddenly asked, making her look up from her chives and stare at the cupboard in front of her.

“Am I dating someone?” She repeated.

“Aye.”

Angel noticed the change in Soap’s usual friendly and teasing tone, and placed her knife down on the chopping board, and slowly turned around.

“No, why?” Angel raised a brow and Soap kept looking at her with an unreadable expression.

“Just got a lad wondering.” He shrugged, crossing his arms over his glorious naked and tan chest.

“Just a lad wondering…” Angel hummed, touching his dog tags with one hand, “Are you dating someone?”

“No, why?” Soap slowly grinned and took a step forward.

“Just got a lass wondering.” Angel grinned back, pulling him forward by his dog tags.

A loud hiss startled the two of them and Angel panicked, “The potatoes!”

tag list (pls ask to be added or removed): @obiwankenobis-lap @goapgrim @smalldemonlover @loveyhoneydovey @cutiecusp @pinkwigonmytv @mandythemint @itsberrydreemurstuff @tapioca-marzipan @fruitymoonbeams-blog @poohkie90 @chaoticevilbakugo @anubis-reed @thefairybird @skytacvia @marytvirgin @cynicalmnm @maechanexe @t0jis-worm @1800imgay @4ndjelij4 @multitargaryen @lilpothoscuttings @mysticalpandabear

#cod mw2 #captain john price #cod mw2 x reader #cod mw2 ghost #captain price #call of duty #gaz x reader #gaz mw2 #gaz #kyle gaz garrick #gaz garrick #soap x reader #johnny soap mactavish x reader #johnny mactavish #price x reader #john price #bubuslutty writes

[jubileemon]

Original Man Adam Theory

It's possible that Adam went to Heaven not because he was a virtuous person who abstained from sinning but because of lack of temptation. If we go through the list of deadly sins and biblical account of what happened after The Fall, he couldn't commit any of them. Pride? Of what? He got cowed by God very hard. Greed? Gluttony? Sloth? He is forced to toil away every day for basic sustenance, there is no wealth to hoard, not enough food to gorge on, and if he is lazy, he'll starve to death.

Lust? There is only one woman he can lust over and that woman is Eve. We call that faithfulness in marriage. Wrath? Envy? Again, against whom? The first victim of those is Abel. He does commit every single one of them after death, though.

Rather fittingly, Adam has been shown to possess several of the Seven Deadly Sins from Charlie's time speaking to him. He pridefully boasts about how superior he is at things to people, lustfully talks about how he convinced another angel to sleep with him, mentions that he got annoyed over said angel wanting another one of his band members instead of him (implying he was envious he wasn't her first pick), got angry over one angel getting killed compared to the thousands of demons he kills every year and gluttonously wolfs down a pack of ribs while meeting with Charlie, is the one angel greedily wearing mostly gold clothes (and actually has golden horns as ornaments in his fashion getup), and is too lazy to make an appearance in person, instead using a hologram since he couldn't be bothered to actually talk to the princess of Hell and hear what she has to say. And, again, rather fittingly, because he's an angel, he doesn't see the irony in any of this.

What's even more ironic is Charlie is shown to possess all of the Seven Virtues despite being a demon and the daughter of Lucifer. Again, Adam and Lute are both such petty jackasses that they don't see the irony in this.

In a way, Adam can be seen as a representation of corrupt religious figures: because he's on the side of good, it means he can't be wrong, that he can get away with anything, etc while preaching to others and looking down upon them for their faults, perceived or otherwise. Conversely, Emily represents the virtuous religious figures, being kind, understanding and open-minded to all she meets, yet is quick to condemn legitimate wrongdoing even when it comes from those she previously trusted/saw as good people, even agreeing with Charlie - the Princess of Hell - that Heaven's practices aren't as lofty as they preach.

Ironically enough, that seems to imply Lucifer bringing free will and the creation of hell was. In hindsight, a huge improvement for everybody involved despite appearances. Because evil exists and now people would not be inherently sent to heaven just for preaching loyalty now, people would be capable of understanding evil and choose not to indulge into it. By resisting sin or even learning from the failures, there's now the chance ascended mortals would have a chance of being actually good people who made the right choices even if the process is still far from perfect. Adam is essentially a pampered child coddled from evil, so now he believes anything he does is justified. Has anyone just simply gone straight to heaven without understanding evil, Heaven would be probably just as much of a bad place as hell currently is.

There's another heavenly mortal within heaven's files: St. Peter himself. Despite being Jesus' apostle, Peter was a victim of many evils in life and also made a fair share of mistakes, with his denial of Jesus being one of the most notable. He had to interact with sin and temptation for all his life and likely also making his share of blunders which he repented greatly. But rather than make him a horrible sinner those events actually made him a stronger, nicer, much more complete person. As such when he's a heaven's gate he's presented as a Nice Guy and very reasonable person unlike the sheltered Adam.

But while Adam says that he never made a mistake in his life, Peter double checks if there was a mistake with Charlie's appointment until he finds out she was correct , and then he proceeds. While it's not explicitly stated, this showcases that Peter is capable of admitting his mistakes. Recognizing a wrongdoing and repenting is a crucial part of salvation.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #hazbin analysis #character analysis #hh analysis #hh commentary #st. peter hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel adam #adam and eve #adam hazbin hotel #adam #welcome to heaven #hazbin hotel analysis #hazbin hotel theory #charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin lute #seven deadly sins #biblically accurate angel

[archivalofsins]

In a funnier turn of events after getting that Mikoto post out I am feeling more comfortable discussing his character. It was really bugging me that I was perceiving the fandom as an unsafe space to discuss plurality on a two alter system basis. It never seemed appropriate to gush about it given the things I'd been shown being said.

Yet, I was really happy with Double and the Neoplasm voice drama. Because it showed how diverse dissociative identity disorder can be with just two alters. Instead of just doing the same old hi I'm the totally good one and I'd never hurt a fly and I'm sin incarnate sometimes I just do bad shit for the lols you know.

The thing that most media does when discussing that presentation. I don't know how to really tackle my own feelings on it. It's like most my life I grew up seeing it represented as oh no, the evil one is out. As though the person had been possessed almost. So, it was very refreshing to see it be like, "Oh well, they're both just people. No one is as simple as just good or bad. They both have a variety of behavior."

It's something that should by now rightfully be expected when it comes to that sort of representation of it. Yet when it comes to two people always focus on the duality. The light and the dark the good and the evil. They try to separate all nice in neat like that without really focusing on the individuals. So, I was ultimately really pleased by Milgram. Though it could be because I'm more on the older side or just I gave up on looking for good representation and started avoiding anything thar covered it in middle school.

Honestly, I still avoid things that deal with it outside of Milgram. Simply out of habit of thinking, man, is it gonna be this shit again? How do I know it's not that shit again? Oh well, you gotta watch it, of course. I'm not doing that. I don't trust it. Yet with Double, there were just so many great things about it that really made me go.

Yeah, they get it. This is actually great. I couod harp on the lyrics all day.

Like favorite lines were,

1. That'd be good.

With the lyrics before it and how it's enunciated with so much longing paired with the visuals of him wiping the blood to look down into the other end of the train. It really fucking goes hard as a line. Really embodying the whole come on praise me for helping you I did good right I saved you right so hey where's my thank you it'd be good if you said it energy.

2. Doesn't matter if you didn't wish for it, can't get rid of me now. Just the two of us, relieved, aren't you? I'll protect you (us).

Just the enunciation the growl. It's just really good as if going oh you want to push me down well I'm not going anywhere.

3. "He's a liar," you said and made me out to be a scoundrel, why?

The fucking double meaning if this one line is just so got damn amazing. It's not only calling back to the ridiculous accusations lines in Double but discussing the audiences response to Mikoto. Calling him a liar claiming he was faking. But the second half is referring to the audiences reaction to John making him out to be a scoundrel immediately blaming the murders on him. Labeling him as the bad one without even a second thought. Only leaving him to ask why? Putting more meaning behind the line

4. Hey, I just wanted to save you, so why did it come to this? Cling to me hoist me up as your savior stand up and sing out your gratitude- So, why?

As though Mikoto is their asking why is your song like this you should be praising me. You should be grateful so why?

5. I don't remember a thing it couldn't be helped I'm Double (MeMe).

This line is super great because it's like John and Mikoto both claiming onus of their own songs. And John answering Mikoto's question about why his song is like this. Basically going it couldn't be helped I'm Double. Basically saying it was bound to turn out like this because I'm like this.

6. Why, why? If only I were never born, if only-

To me, this came off as John going. If only I had never been born at all, then neither of us would have existed, and this wouldn't have happened. Expanding on the idea that Es and Kotoko both bring up that his existence is the problem. Which most wouldn't immediately go they mean because of my disorder but go yeah fuck it you're right if I never even lived to begin with this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't even be here for this to happen and then the apology after these lines as if apologizing for having been born at its sooo good.

It has no right to be sooooo good. So, yes despite the incredible detriment that this week has been to my mental health and my anxiety literally being on a fucking hundred. Double has been the best fucking thing to ever happen to me personally. And it's so fucking amazing.

I love it so much.

#milgram #mikoto kayano

[consultingwives]

i don't if there's another person with ocd who needs to hear this but obsessing about not being racist is not how you become an anti-racist.

by which i mean, i think there are a lot of factors, many of them related to the way we discuss social justice and liberation for marginalized groups online, that create a perfect storm for people with ocd. and you end up just lying up at night thinking about all the racist things you might ever have done or have thought about doing, or the intrusive racist thoughts that might have popped into your head at any point.

when you're doing the work to overcome ocd sometimes this falls into a blind spot because you think, well, it must be a good thing that i'm spending all this time kicking myself, because that's what the internet tells you is productive. sit there and flagellate yourself and if you feel bad enough for long enough eventually you will be transformed into a perfect anti-racist through that mental suffering.

and it's just not true. if you're white (which i am), we don't become better anti-racists by spending a bunch of time ruminating over what we, as white people, think is racist or might have been racist or could be racist in the future, or for kicking ourselves repeatedly for all the times we've been racist (because we have been! it doesn't make us Bad or Evil, it makes us humans affected by growing up in a deeply racist society, who, i presume if you are reading this post, are trying to do better). you become a better anti-racist by reading, watching, and listening to people affected by racism.

it's kinder to yourself and more productive to your anti-racist education to spend 30 minutes a day reading james baldwin, angela davis, and frantz fanon, or watching f.d. signifier and princess weekes, and dispose of the three hours a day you spend ruminating on your own sins. it's just a deeply christian way of experiencing and engaging with the world and it's not helpful or good! it doesn't benefit anyone, least of all you. it just makes you a bitter, anxious person, and it doesn't teach you anything.

this basically clicked for me when i started thinking about the advice given to anxious people to "set aside 10 minutes a day for worrying". it's good advice, but sometimes you don't realize exactly how applicable it is to things beyond the everyday worrying about like, your next medical appointment or whether 2 hours is enough time to get to the airport. worrying about being a racist piece of shit counts as worrying.

(btw this also applies to other forms of bigotry that get deeply ingrained by society)

#ocd #moral ocd #scrupulosity ocd #racism #anti-racism

[spoiler-alert-andabunchofnumbers]

Let's talk about Tidus and Yuna, shall we?

As someone who enjoys FFX, this probably should have come a long time ago. Tidus and Yuna's characters in the original Final Fantasy 10 are excellent.

Tidus successfully portrays a seventeen-year-old boy in this fantasy situation - slightly annoying, slightly arrogant because of his famous father and his own famous Blitzball career, and utterly overwhelmed by being thrust into an entirely new world without knowing if he can go home.

While FFX tries to fake you out into thinking it's a time-travel story where he has been thrust 1000 years into the future, the city of Zanarkand is a physical location in Spira that just requires you to be made of pyreflies to enter (aka dead or a summon). This makes Tidus essentially a summon, which is an interesting theory for another day. This means Zanarkand is just a place that hasn't changed in 1000 years, likely in some infinite loop imagining and reimagining people who had once lived there - warping them slowly over time, but ultimately just trying to keep the city alive (which is how we got Tidus from Shuyin, I think, idk I really don't care for 10-2's plot). The fayth were trying to imagine what would happen if Zanarkand was never destroyed, but I think they simply would have started running out of ideas for new people who lived there, so it did end up looping old characters into slightly newer forms. Like fanfiction characters, honestly.

But it's so great to see Tidus's journey. He starts the game a confused outsider just trying to survive, someone who doesn't mind speaking up about how he feels and what he believes. His outsider perspective provides a means for the audience to be introduced to Spira's world building as well, and we also get to see an unbiased point of view to Yevon's religion - and not necessarily a disrespectful one. Tidus, though he doesn't preach Yevon as a devout follower for his entire life, still tries to make an effort to be respectful of the good parts. When Shelinda corrects him, "That's MAESTER Seymour, or LORD Seymour", he says "Sorry, I'll be careful."

He dashes into the Cloister of Trials to save the summoner who might be in danger, regardless of the rules or presincts, because he's got a childish outlook life and a good heart despite his many inital arrogant qualities. He wants the best outcome, he's willing to believe in doing the right thing even when it's hard, and yeah it's unrealistic at times, but it's a breath of fresh air for the people of Spira who live rather docile lives always in fear of Sin and dedicating themselves to the kindness of Yevon's teachings. He admits "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" after he breaks the rules for the first time, and watching Yuna on her pilgrimage and how she interacts with the people who admire her for her father and her own summoner status allows Tidus to humble himself while still remaining fundamentally defiant to anything he doesn't agree is right - aka Yuna sacrificing herself.

Religion isn't always a bad thing, and FFX makes a point to emphasize this. The people of Spira are kind and respectful, banding together in the hard times and unting together to have hope. Yuna is initially a beacon of hope - all summoners are - making people smile and flock to her wherever she goes, and she gives people respect and encourages them to have faith not only in her, but in themselves as well. Even when she's branded a traitor, a significant number of people recognize Yuna's dedication to the people and immediately believe the next tale about it all being an evil Al-Bhed rumor.

Yevon's corruption is just a few people abusing their power, twisting a good message into a cult-like dedication. Wakka is the most notable case, but technically all of the characters go through a period of blindly believing in the teachings and Yevon and eventually finding their own path. Even Tidus, who didn't grow up believing in Yevon or knowing its teachings, finds that the people's way of life living in rightful fear of Sin has them NEEDING Yevon and the messages of kindness and compassion it preaches. Maybe they shouldn't believe in everything the Maesters say Yevon is, but he can understand the intentions behind it and how the regular, uncorrupt people just live their lives trying to be good.

Now that I think about it, the parallels between Yevon and Blitzball actually make a lot of sense - Blitzball is the entertainment people go to in order to forget about the fears of Sin, and Yevon is the religion people worship in an effort to band together and have hope against Sin. Huh. No wonder a Blitzball sign for victory became a religious thing.

Anyway, Wakka eventually apologizes! He recognizes that the Al-Bhed are just people. They don't believe in Yevon's ways BECAUSE they care, just from a different perspective. Just because they don't believe in Yevon doesn't mean they're savages, and when their Home is destroyed by merciless Guado, he hears them singing the Hymn of the Fayth to respect their fallen as well. Wakka admits he didn't want to hear anything he didn't agree with, that he was a jerk, and Cid agrees that he's hated Yevonites just for being Yevonites too.

Here's a Wakka glare just for our collective amusement.

Who were we talking about? Ah, Tidus.

Tidus is indeed a whiny character, childish, toeing the line between humor and annoyance. But he matures throughout the course of his journey, caring for the entire crew but Yuna especially. When they reach Zanarkand and learn the truth about the Final Summoning, Lulu tells him, "If you want everything, you'll end up with nothing," and he replies, "But I want everything!" His unwavering hope and optimism even when everyone is telling him it's impossible is necessary for the story, to tell the characters that yes, your sacrifices will be pretty and give temporary relief, and you'll be dead and martyred and remembered - but how can it be right? It's not.

From his basic, outsider, new perspective on this world he only just joined, it's not right. He didn't grow up with this being normal, so even in comparison to the Al-Bhed, he knows that it's not.

There's a saying somewhere that I forget the source, but basically it goes like "Children are raised to believe the world is good and fair but are outraged when they grow to learn it is not." Tidus asks what an ADULT would do, sacrificing a summoner and just moving on with their lives like it was fine to give one life for many, just happy it wasn't them. Adults are indoctrinated into a way of life and a way of thinking, and it's extremely hard to get people to change their minds - but not, as FFX proves, impossible. Both he and Yuna are still kids, kids who are still able to grow up to see the world for what it truly is.

Yuna was betrayed by Yevon, all her beliefs torn down and the hope she had placed on the system shattered. But she continued her pilgrimage. She dreamt of all the fun things she could do if she quit, knew that all of her friends and Guardians would accept her choice, but she knew she could never let it go. She stood up to the Ronso saying that she was fighting for the people, not the temples or Yevon - impressing Kelk Ronso who says she has an iron will that towers over Gagazette's peaks.

She has given her everything to this trip, but it's not fair. Just because it's the right thing to do doesn't mean it's right - and you need a character like Tidus to put his foot down and say no. Everyone is willing to sacrifice themselves, everyone is willing to be the one to die so that others can be happy. But it's not fair. It's not right to let anyone die, even if they're willing, even if it's one for many. It's a temporary fix, it's feeding an endless cycle of lies and false hope. It's not real.

But it is YUNA who ultimately makes the choice to say no. All this time, she's been insisting she keeps going despite both Rikku and Tidus's protests and desperate attempts to get her to change her mind. She's been the most resolute out of all of them to go through with this, but in the end, it's not Tidus or Rikku who kill Yunalesca before she can get the chance or present her a stirring enough argument or some alternative. No, it's Yuna who asks directly what the cycle of the Final Summoning and Sin mean, hearing that the hope they offer is false, and when asked who will be her fayth, everyone is silent, waiting for her answer - because it is Yuna'a choice, Yuna's pilgrimage, Yuna's story. And she says, "No one."

She would have gladly died for the people of Spira, but she is done. She isn't going to join into this cycle of death and lies. Her father chose to become a summoner and defeated Sin, but it was because he truly believed that it would make a difference. He died because he had hope, and maybe it was indeed false hope, but somewhere deep down, he really did want to find a way to stop Sin for good. He and Jecht went into that battle hoping that Jecht and Auron would find a way to break the cycle. And let's be honest, they did. Tidus and Yuna were brought up differently, but they end up seeing each other's sides of the story and agreeing on so many things. The people are worth fighting for even when they're being misled.

Yunalesca's argument is that sorrow will always exist, and false hope is all anyone can offer to soften the blow. But Yuna is ready to live with her sorrow and brave whatever comes from it. She will find her own hope, even without knowing there will be another way, and she knows she will conquer it. She proved it long before she reached Zanarkand, after enduring Yevon's betrayal; now her methods have changed, but her end goal is as resolute as it's always been. She's going to defeat Sin, and she's going to give people REAL hope, even when it's hard.

Yuna says no to Yunalesca. She joins in the fight to destroy the Final Summoning forever, and slowly she learns that she can function beyond Yevon's teachings. The team who made 10-2 seemed to think that Yuna needed to toughen up and become some kind of badass (which they failed at portraying, Yuna is an utter wreck in that game and let's not talk about how Rikku devolved), but she was already a freaking strong character! She stood up for herself the entire game as a strong-willed summoner willing to give her life for the cause, but she also stood up for herself by declaring she would LIVE. It's entirely in character for her, even when she's changing her mind and broadening her horizons. Yuna was the character who smiled even knowing she was on a long, slow journey that would end in her death, who was willing to do it if it would make others smile too. That is a strong character right there.

I do agree that she might not know what to do with her life now that she doesn't plan to die, but come on, don't make her into a wanna-be who tries to pretend like she doesn't care only to reveal yup she cares, what a pushover. Her caring nature is what makes her great to watch! Frustrating when she tries to do everything on her own with the Seymour thing, but entirely in character. Empowering when she makes her own choices and decides for herself. I don't know why she does nothing for two whole years during Eternal Calm but okay maybe I can see it. But for her to try doing a 180, respecting no one and no one respecting her even though she DEFEATED SIN was such a mistake. Plus the mini games in 10-2 are utterly atrocious. Anyway, tangent over.

But then the script has flipped at the end of 10. Tidus is the one that realizes Zanarkand is what Sin is protecting, that defeating Sin will make the whole city and everyone made from the dream disappear. He is the one who has to sacrifice himself for Sin to be defeated. Unlike summoners, however, Sin won't come back if he does this. He's grown across the journey just like Jecht did, following a summoner and learning what it means to want to give your life living in hope that it'll save everyone else.

Yuna has to sacrifice the Aeons she's forged her own bond with - which, remember, every summoner makes a unique bond with the aeons. She has to say goodbye to Auron, see Sir Jecht only one more time as he gives his life as an Aeon and uses the last of his power to give his sword for the final battles to fight on (did ya notice that?). Then, in the final tragic scene, Tidus becomes intangible and tries to say a cheerful goodbye, apologizing for not being able to show her Zanarkand like they had pondered when Yuna was dreaming of the things she'd do if she abandoned her pilgrimage and lived. Now, Yuna is the one having to say goodbye to the one sacrificing their life. The soft piano, the wailing of the colorful pyreflies as they disperse with all the dead, it's freaking beautiful man.

Yuna's final line hits hard too, her speech about how everyone has lost homes, dreams, and friends. They can build new homes and new dreams, even if they can't get back lost friends. "The people and the friends that we have lost...or the dreams that have faded...never forget them." Get it? Be...Because Tidus is a dream that faded? Anyway I'll just be crying in the corner over here don't mind me.

In the end, it's sort of understandable why Yuna just sits around in Besaid after the end of 10 during Eternal Calm. Maybe. Not only did she have no plans for her life after Sin was defeated (thinking she would be the one to die), but she lost her entire purpose in life AND she's reeling from the fact that even though she made the choice not to sacrifice herself just for everyone else's false hope, someone still had to give their life - Tidus. Someone still ended up dying for the cause, even after all she went through deciding to live.

The ONLY moments I actually respect Yuna from 10-2 is during the end, when Nooj volunteers a plan to give his life to win the battle (which was already stupid even before Yuna's speech because we're talking about an Unsent, Nooj your plan does nothing to stop someone who's already dead, idiot). Yuna's lines are extremely good and well voice acted too: "'We had no choice.' Always 'We had no choice.' Those are our magic words. We repeat them to ourselves again and again. But you know... The magic never worked! The only thing we're left with is regret. No. I don't want this anymore. I don't want friends to die...or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win."

It also demonstrates better than that stupid minigame how difficult it was for Yuna to have destroyed the aeons she had forged a bond with. What I'm saying is, fuck Beclem and everyone else who dares disrespect Yuna, summoners, and everything they went through. Even though that time and age in Spira might be over, that's NO reason to immediately scoff in the face of everything all those people went through - everything YUNA sacrificed and endured for the sake of these ungrateful whelps.

Both Tidus and Yuna were excellent protagonists of X, despite both of them having a lot of growing to do. In conclusion, let me make use of this fun poll feature if you made it this far down:

#long post #this got really long #final fantasy x #ffx #yuna #tidus #ffx 2 #I named my dog Tidus and he responds only to Tie-dus #If we all agree to pronounce it one way #canon means nothing #character development #rant #final fantasy #final fantasy 10

[mask131]

One thing I love with the seven Princes of Hell in Helluva Boss is that, so far, each of their "song" perfectly reflects what their sin is about. (I put "song" like that because I will count Mammon's stage-apparition at the beginning of "Mammon's Magnificent Musical")

Asmodeus' song at Ozzie's is very clear - the demon-lord of Lust is all about sex, depravity, debauchery, carnality, and abhors, disdains, rejects love in its romantic, sentimental, "pure" way. Of course we learn later that this is not true - but the song in itself, outside of the character, perfectly reflects what "lust" is in the logic of the seven deadly sins (while Asmodeus' personal healthy approach to lust is more about what "lust" is in a more general, broader sense, a play on the various meaning of the words). But the song is clearly depicting what lust is, as defined by the Christian religion and ideology/mindset - "Hump 'til your junk turns to dust". Extreme, auto-destructive sexuality. But more importantly - a sexuality devoid of love.

Due to the Christian teachings great exaggeration of "All sex is bad", a lot of people today remember (or perceive, or preach) lust as being just "Enjoying sex" or "Having too much sex". It was true for certain times, certain eras and certain areas of the world ; but when you look at the old theological texts, at the well-informed Christian teachings, and replace things in their wider socio-cultural context (lessons about love, marriages and sexuality in the Middle-Ages enlightens a LOT of Christian religious texts of the time) you very obviously get what lust was supposed to be about. In Christianity, the divide is between love and lust. Long story short: Christian minds (especially in the Middle-Ages, which was when the seven deadly sins got their true "final form") conceived love as a feeling, an emotion belonging to the mind and the soul, and opposed it to the carnal and material love - romance versus sexuality. Lust as a vice was about enjoying purely the materiality of sex and only knowing carnal relationships with others, without knowing, sharing or caring for actual love, as in romantic feelings. While this whole division went REALLY awry throughout the ages and the continents and turned into the massive "SEX IS EVIL" propaganda of the Christian churches, the original idea behind it all resonates extremely well today if you accept that a good relationship is one with a sexuality motivated by love ; while a bad relationship is one where sexuality is devoid of any love in any shape or form. The "core sin" of the vice of lust stays to this day, rape, the absolute apex of lust in the Christian sinful sense: a selfish, uncaring, harming form of sexuality devoid of any kind of love or care. One's desire imposed onto another simply for the sake of personal gratification and without any empathy, bond or attention towards the other. (Originally, the "core sin" around which lust was shaped, was prostitution, because it was also seen in this optic of being an emotionless and harmful relationship only motivated or justified by money)

If we move on to Beelzebub, sorry, Queen Bee's song, we have again a pure definition of what gluttony is. It is in the catchphrase of the song, a sentence that I personally firest understood while reading Terry Pratchett's books where he makes a clear divide about this: "I'm what you want, not what you need". Again, a lot of people don't get that the seven deadly sins (or seven cardinal vices, or seven evil thoughts, call it as you like) are not evil in their subject - but evil in the way they are done, in their intensity and intentions. The religion's fanaticism and extremes did turn a lot of these into crimes (from "Sex should only be with love and care" we went to "All sex is evil" ; from the sin of gluttony we went to "Enjoying any piece of food is evil"), but again, one needs to look at history, social evolution, and the original texts (plus modern ones) to get it all. What is gluttony about? Gluttony is about excess, not about the food. Gluttony is about eating when not hungry just like lust is about having sex when not loving ; gluttony is about waste the same way lust is about debauchery and depravity. Remember the traditional divides of gluttony (can't recall right now who made this division first): eating too much, eating too early, eating a food that is too costly, demanding a food that has too much sauces or spices, eating too ravenously... "Too much", "too costly", "too eagerly" - gluttony lies in excess. And this was most exemplified (to the point people forgot about the other ways of gluttony) by the idea of "eating too much". Aka eating when you are not hungry, eating when you do not need it, eating not to nourish your body... But because you want it or feel like it. "What you want, not what you need". What Beelzebub proudly claims she embodies.

There are subtle nods here and there about the sin throughout the song number - such as Beelzebub using her magic to make food too big for one's mouth or changing one glass into a giant drink that gets people instantly drunk. But remember what this song is about? "Cotton candy sky ; sweet as apple pie", all in a debauchery of sugar and rain of candy. The choice of these sweet, sugary food and other desserts couldn't be more perfect to embody the sin of gluttony - because this is what all these things are about. They are supposed to be little treats and enjoyments at the end or the side of the meal ; and yet here they form the feast. They are not nourishing in themselves, they just taste good and are comforting and pleasant to look at, yes, but a whole diet of them would be unhealthy and dangerous, as they are not what the body needs... But sugar, like alcohol, being a very addictive product, it is what people "want". And thus we enter the realm of gluttony. Whole feasts of un-nourishing food. Sweet and pretty addictions. (Though I personally do not like much the idea of treating addiction as being "gluttony", because an addiction is a disease while a vice is supposed to be a trait of character, a willful decision, a conscious choice to do something bad - but gluttony definitively leads to the disease of addiction when you go down this path of thought - in fact one of the main things theologian repeated is that gluttony always leads to the most physical diseases and illnesses out of the various deadly sins)

And what about Mammon? Well we do not have any actual song for Mammon - even in his introduction episode, despite being on stage for a very long time, he does not sing, it is just the others that sing. Already we see both an attack on how greed uses others to gain wealth and profit (making others sing for him), and how greed is ultimately a sterile place from which no true art can come out (Vivziepop's criticism of greed and the artistic process is more than clear in Mammon's character). But more fascinatingly is the "non-song" of Mammon when he appears on stage during the flashback to Blitz and Fizzi's teenage years. He is on stage, he has a musical instrument, he is here to perform a concert... But all he does is hype up the audience for a show we ultimately never see or hear ; a lot of decorum for nothing ; a long and complex advertisement and promotion for a very different project (the clown contest) and ultimately just Mammon "bitchin' about taxes" and angrily denying exploitation. Again all of greed is here - selling things that do not exist, using your stage to promote other, more exploitative projects instead of giving what the audience paid for, literaly being distracted out of your own show by monetary topics completely out-of-context like taxes or exploitation accusations.

So yeah, while two of the princes subvert what their sins is about (Asmodeus and Beelzebub seemingly not being as overtly destructive as their sins are supposed to be ; though Beelzebub's benevolence can be put at doubt by the fact she seems to feed off the emotion of her parties, and worries about Blitz because he gives "bad vibes" to the whole thing), so far each introduction song (or non-song for Mammon) clearly perfectly depicts what their sin is about, in a fun and clever way.

#helluva boss #seven deadly sins #asmodeus #queen bee #mammon #beelzebub #song analysis #deadly sins #seven vices #seven deadly vices #i could list all the alternate names of the seven deadly sins here but it would never end

[sanchoi21]

Your Sweet Devil

Ikemen Vampire Vlad x Reader

Warning: Has spoilers of Vlad route. Referring to Le Comte and mansions residents as someone who forbids you from being with Vlad, so can deviate from storyline. Otherwise just fluff and comfort.

Have you ever felt like going away from all your problems, people and sometimes your own self? Have you ever felt like finding a devil and doing all kinds of sins with him? Worshiping the exact devil that you are forbidden to? Getting attracted to him in all possible ways and not finding a single way out? Worshiping him even though you are warned to be wary of his entire being? Warned to be away from him? Is it really a sin to find a devil attractive? The devil who cares for you when your own kind doesn’t? God doesn’t always hear prayers, but he does, so what’s so wrong in falling for that devil who pulled you out of your tough times? Just why it’s so forbidden to love him, when he is not the most evil one out there? Is it really wrong to want to sin for eternity with that devil?

Just like that, you fell in love with the white haired devil, whose beautiful ruby eyes shone brightly in the moonlight. Today too, you had come to meet this devil who haunted your thoughts all day and night. His charming smile and lucid voice always captivated you. Once again today, you had escaped the mansion, after making sure everyone was asleep. As you know better than anyone else that Le Comte will do just everything in his power to keep you away from this devil name Vlad.

You had met Vlad in town market on a snowy day, since then he had managed to capture your heart. His great ambitions are something which force him to do certain things certain ways but you try your best to show him hope which he willingly grasps. But somewhere deep down you don’t seem to mind his methods to change the world that much, as the only thing concerning you is his health and weekly being. You don’t mind him being a merciless devil who removes diseased flowers from the God’s garden, as he is the one you worship. He is your devil, the one you decided to commit yourself to. Vlad was someone who helped you in your tough times, times when none others could know that your heart was stirring with anxiety.

As you wordlessly stare at his mesmerising ruby eyes, you just think, why can’t you love this man freely? Why is everyone asking you to be cautious around him? You sure do know his bad traits, but those don’t stop you from loving him deeper. Why can’t you just meet him in broad daylight, go to shopping with him in town, every morning wake up to him beside you? Why is it so forbidden to love him and be with him, when he is the only one you will ever want??? As if reading your worries, Vlad gently brushes a strand of your hair behind your ear and cups your face.

Vlad: What happened, dear? You seem to be more distracted than usual today?

Y/n: Why can’t you just take me away with you? Kidnap me and take me to some faraway place, where no one can find us or reach us...

Vlad: You say interesting things Y/n... What happened? Will you tell me?

Y/n: Today after seeing the red roses you gave me, Le Comte figured it was you who gave me those. He warned me to be careful around you and not to get too involved with you.

Vlad: Haha, he is same as usual, caring for others!! Then say Y/n shouldn’t you be careful around me and stay away from me?? I am dangerous you know right??

He said smirking, amused to see your confused face.

Y/n: If I really wanted that, then I wouldn’t be here... You know Vlad... I simply don’t care about what others say, I want to be with you forever, and follow you till eternity.

Vlad’s eyes widened at your statement and he cutely pouted asking,

Vlad: Till eternity.... Do you really mean that?? Eternity is a long time, dear. Are you sure you won’t get tired of me?

Y/n: If you never got tired of waiting for me, then why would I? I want you Vlad!! I don’t care if you are Devil or Angel!! For me you are just my Vlad. Even if you are a devil, I don’t mind it, because I’ll worship you none the less. I want to love you openly, Vlad, where I won’t need to hide from the world to meet you, where I can claim you as mine in front of everyone. Vlad’s cheeks flushed red hearing your words, he pulled you into a tight hug.

Vlad : You flatter me, my angel. Let’s go far far away from everything. I promise to keep you safe and healthy.

With that Vlad held your hand and lead you deep inside the forest, there waited a horse, a black horse whose coated reminded you of the midnight sky. Vlad helped you up on the horse and started riding it. You hugged your lover tightly from behind earning a small smirk from him. You didn’t knew how just how much he loved your hands around him.

You both soon arrived at what seemed like an old castle, it was hauntingly beautiful. Unlike the well lit mansion of ale Comte, Vlad’s castle was quite old and dimly lit, but as you entered the gates, a beautiful garden awaited you. You were stunned by the beauty of moon flowers which bloomed in their full glory all around the castle. You know Vlad had taken a lot efforts to grow them, just by looking at the well maintained garden.

Vlad: Do you like it, my dear?

Y/n: Yes, very much.. it’s stunning actually.

Vlad just smiled satisfiedly at your comments. As you two entered the castle, the dim lit corridors greeted you. Something about Vlad’s castle was oddly comforting. You didn’t felt spooked or scared by the old castle walls, but instead somehow felt at peace, felt at home, maybe because they were too similar to its owner, with his traces and scent all over the place. The sweet smell of freshly baked goods filled your nostrils as you both made your way to your new room. Probably preparations for tomorrow’s breakfast, by one of Vlad’s roommates, about whom he loves chatting about. Vlad guided you to one of the empty rooms, but to your surprise, it was a well kept room, with dim moonlight entering the room through stained glass, creating different patterns on the floor. The white lilies in the balcony only added to it’s beauty.

Y/n: It’s so beautiful...

Vlad: I am glad you liked it!! I had already prepared this room thinking of you, that someday you might come to stay with me.

You were stunned by his confession. You had no idea, he could go to such lengths for you. The lord of castle himself preparing a room for you, how lucky you are? His efforts were clearly visible. From the soft bed sheets up to a closet full of dresses, he really planned it knowing that someday you will come here. How cute can this devil be? You thought to yourself.

Vlad: Freshen up darling, before you go to sleep.

Y/n: Vlad.. Can you sleep with me today?

Vlad: W-what???

A deep blush crept up his face as you said that. Seeing him blush, you blushed too, now realising the way you meant it was completely different than what it sounded like.

Y/n: N-no n-not in t-that w-way!! I just meant simple sleeping as I want you to hold me in your arms. I want to wake up next to you.

Vlad chuckled at your flustered reaction but replied eventually.

Vlad: S-sure!! I thought of giving you some space but since you don’t want it, I’ll intrude your privacy.

He said smiling cutely like a small kid, you couldn’t help but giggle to yourself. You quickly went to freshen up. After taking a shower, you wore the night robe given to you by Vlad. It was comforting and soft. You wore it and came out, just to be blessed with the view of Vlad laying down on your bed in his night robe with his chest slightly exposed. You blushed but continued staring as you made your way towards the bed.

Vlad’s eyes were closed, but when he noticed the bed dip, he opened his eyes taking in your figure. Blush crept his cheeks as he saw you in your night clothes, crawling close to him on bed. You laid beside him and hugged him tightly as he rested his head in the crook of your neck. You kissed his forehead softly and he pecked your lips in return. As you played with his silky soft hair, he whispered sweet nothings to you and hummed a beautiful melody. His voice was so sweet, so comforting, you found yourself dozing off as he now patted your head and laid it on his broad chest. You mindlessly traced your fingers on his scar, trying to soothe it with your small attempt. As you both drifted off to sleep in each other’s comforting embrace you knew for a matter of fact, that you can finally love your devil without having to hide it now, as now you can face the world together with him by your side.

The next morning when you woke up, Vlad was right beside you, with his arms wrapped tightly around your torso. Watching him slowly open his ruby eyes, which shined like jewels in sunlight, you knew there will be more mornings like this when you see them glow brighter with each passing day.

#Vlad x reader #ikemen vampire vlad x reader #ikevamp vlad x reader smut #ikemen vampire #vlad draculesty #Ikemen vampire Vlad #Vlad #comfort

[archiveikemen]

William Rex Main Story: Preview

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by playing their games and buying stories. Not 100% accurate, expect mistakes.

read this before interacting with my posts

My sin — was a spoonful of poison.

William: You have to record down all my sins because you’re a fairytale writer—

William: If you want to judge me for my sins, then stab me with this knife.

William: Only then, I’ll accept your judgment.

— William Rex. The wicked, “King of Self-Righteousness”.

He had a melodious whispering voice that drove me crazy.

…

William: You have a habit of prioritizing other people's feelings, and you hide your own feelings deep down in your heart.

William: I don't think this is because I was the main culprit of the murder incident.

William: … Why are you hiding?

(“Why”...? I don't know… why.)

(But… it’s just that I…)

(I don't think I should voice my feelings out loud.)

…

His bright red eyes stared straight into my heart and lured out my deepest desires.

The feelings I buried deep down inside my heart even suffocated me in my sleep.

Wiliam: So you want to play games with me…

William: You’ve got some nerve, huh? Kate.

William: My eyes never deceive me.

William: You’re noble, you’re greedy… you're kind, and you're strong.

…

His love was neither medicine nor a poison, and it poured down like the rain in springtime.

A heart that had been locked away, was once again set free.

“Falling in love is a dangerous thing” — and I knew that.

My heart that was close to being torn open always longed for him… it was impossible to stop.

Kate: W-Whenever I’m with you… I… I feel like I’m not myself…

Kate: I… I’m not the type of person to do something like… this…

William: … Do you mean that as a good or bad thing?

Kate: … I don't know. Therefore…

Kate: Because I still… don't know… please tell me.

Feeling him with my eyes, ears, and skin… my heart was changed completely. As if I was reborn.

His “evil” and “destiny” — his true colors were shoved in my face.

…

(This is his sin. This is the price he has to pay in order to protect the people he loves.)

(Up till now, William has committed this sin many… many… times.)

William: It doesn't matter what the reason was. There is no way to justify taking a person’s life. By taking away someone’s life, you are disrespecting their dignity and permanently taking away their freedom.

William: A sin is a sin.

Wavering between good and evil, the feeling of hesitation made my legs tremble.

…

Kate: Does this mean… you want to die in such a way that… makes you fear of being destroyed…?

William: Hm? Ah, yes. You could put it that way.

William: I want it to be as cruel as how evil I’m judged to be.

William: Being evil is my life, and I will continue to be however big of a villain I want to be.

William: Until the day comes to have my head cut off.

He was an “evil” man — who desired the most tragic of deaths.

…

Even when I disregarded my lingering affections and carried on with my daily life… what awaited me was not a happy ending.

As if mocking my suffering, doom came creeping up to me…

He let me go so easily — it was a selfish and cruel act of kindness.

William: Goodbye, Little Robin.

William: I wish for your future to be filled with happiness.

Kate: I don't want you to wish for that… William, wait…!!

…

There is a blade called “justice” that destroys “evil”.

It would be absolutely foolish to stand before that blade.

…

And yet—

(If I call William evil and thrust that blade at him,)

(Whether he’s good or evil, or is this the kind of ending he wants — I…)

William: — My Robin. Respond to my curtain call.

William: When you wake up— I’ll give you my greatest evil (love).

Yes. I want it —

— The punishment for my sin of loving evil.

#ikemen villains #ikemen series #cybird ikemen #cybird otome #otome #ikevil main story #william main story

[v3nusxsky]

Hii, I love your writing and you're so very talented!!

Please, feel free to ignore this request if you don't feel comfortable writing it 😊

I was wondering if you could write a Lady Lesso x Never!Student platonic where the reader has depression. The reader has no motivation and everything seems like a chore - even eating. She would feel so terrible that she would phyically get sick and nauseous and tired all the time. The nights are the worst because her mind is plagued by dark thoughts, the nights seemed to never end, she's afraid she'll do something stupid so she rans down the hallway knocking on Lady Lesso's headquarters' doors.

She's afraid of Lady Lesso but she's afraid of herself even more.

I suffer from seasonal depression that lasts from like February to October and I'm tired already-

It gets to the point I even think things that aren't even true. Like... I'd mix reality and thoughs. For example - I'd be thinking my phone cracked and for some reason I'd believe it. I get so confused xD And I'd isolate myself from people not even caring. I wish I could feel bad because I stopped communicating with them but I just don't.

Hey lovely anon! <3 thank you so much for your support and kind words. I hope this is what you were looking for <3

Save me from myself

*Authors note| This seemed very fitting for my mood today so I absolutely have had a blast writing this.*

Trigger warnings~ food issues depression self harm the whole lot really

Prompt~see ask^^

Depression is a strange thing, especially when coupled with anxiety. It's like you have no energy to do anything but your brain is going a million miles a minute. Yet it makes perfect sense, your brain is whirling so many thoughts that it's draining all of your energy. Self care goes out the window, anything that really requires any physical emotional or mental energy goes too. Why does life have to be soo hard? It feels as though everything is getting on top of you and pushing you further and further back into this dark place.  The dark place being cold and lonely, two of the things you wished to not feel, yet they surround you all day every day.

Food isn't on your radar, even the thought of food makes you feel nauseous. All you want to do is sleep for the rest of eternity. Yet your mind refuses to allow that. You know that staying in doors, in bed, is not helping you. Yet getting up is much too difficult. Sleep seems to evade you. Taunting you as if it knows your desperation for it to claim you. The lack of food, sleep and your overwhelming feelings seem to control your everyday thought. You know it's wrong and that you should ask for help but the energy to do that is missing.

That's why you turned to an older coping mechanism. You didn't mean to. It was a moment of weakness and not one you had planned to do again. You felt guilt as sin. Yet when you did it god the numbness was something you craved. But you couldn't do that again, it was a dangerous path that was extremely hard for you to crawl your way back from. Scars littered your arms now and they served as a reminder, self harm was not and is not the way forward. So for days you focused so hard on not giving into the urge, it was draining you but at least it worked.

As a never it felt wrong to even consider reaching out for help, it was weakness. Never's aren't weak. Weakness got you in a vulnerable space, something you really can't afford. Yet for some reason you had bonded rather well with the one and only Dean of Evil. Your recent slip into your seasonal depression had you pulling away from Leonora, something she didn't take too well. At first she assumed you were unwell, after all no one can stay in perfect health all the time, but soon it became apparent something darker was lurking behind your dorm room door. Something perhaps you were trying to hide. She trusted in you to find her when you felt ready, she had told you day or night she would be there for you and had truly meant every word.

Tonight, you broke. Fighting this battle alone was terrifying, and you didn't trust yourself to not fall back into that bad habit, you knew what would happen if you stayed in the room alone. You knew where to find your collection of sharp objects and how your control would dwindle fast just by the sight of them. You could feel the sensations of them on your skin. This was dangerous territory and you knew it. So without thinking you fled. Seeing the outside of your dorm for the first time in days. The candle light seemed awfully too bright and overwhelming from what you remember, was it always this cold? Briefly, you considered going back to hibernate under your blankets and just wait this out, but the sensations on your arm reminding you just how much of a terrible idea it truly was. So you ran.

Your body mindlessly taking you to your safe place, your home. Before you even knew it you were up the hall standing outside of Lesso's chambers. A luxury only had been given, for this exact reason. Yet here you stood, willing yourself to stay put and knock. Yet your mind was telling you to go back to the room and give in. Give in to the demon that plagued you. You need it. But you don't want it. And that's what makes you knock. Small timid knocked in a carefully designed pattern alerted the older women of your presence. And when that door opened, you felt your heart shatter into a million pieces.

This was absolutely terrifying, but you were more scared of your own mind right now. Your body reacting instantly by seeing the women, you threw yourself in her direction causing your body to slam into hers. Sobs tore through your body as she brought her arms around your quivering form. At this point you didn't know what was real and what was in your mind. Was she holding you? The words you hear, are the created by your mind? You didn't know, and truthfully you didn't care right now. You needed her and she was here, in person or in your mind , but that didn't matter. She was here when you needed her just as she had promised to be.

Soon enough you had settled on her sofa in front of the fire being cocooned by her strong arms and words of reassurance and encouragement being whispered into your hair as you let it all out. Tears and muffled apologises for pushing her away, hurting yourself and not being strong enough. Each and every fear she squashed and by the end of it you had snuggled closer and fallen into the first restful sleep you'd had in god knows how long.

Word count~ 1170

#fanfic #lady lesso #sfgae #leonora lesso #lady lesso x reader #lesso x reader #lady leonora lesso #leonora lesso x reader #dean of evil #send anons #anon request

[lhazaar]

hey. i'm turning my chair around and sitting in it backwards now because i want to speak specifically to people with ocd. this is a targeted post and is not meant to apply to the userbase of this website at large or to serve as a policy decision.

hi. do you know what scrupulosity means? it is a strong, intense, often painful concern about morality or religion. it's very common for religious people with ocd, actually—the fear that you've sinned, that you will sin, that your thoughts themselves are sinful. you're afraid of being an evil person. every thought and feeling you have is scrutinized to exhaustion in case it's proof that you're evil. this also happens for non-religious people with ocd, it's just that ours will look different; it's often a preoccupation with social justice issues. you care a lot about being a good person, right! most people do. you want to be a good person, you want to be kind to others and to dismantle oppressive systems where you can. i'm making some assumptions here, but they're based on my specific audience base.

so, there's this thing that happens online, especially on tumblr and twitter—not because bluh bluh platforms bad, but because of the ways in which information is propagated on here. people used to tag for these posts sporadically but don't do so as much anymore. you know posts that exhort you, the reader, specifically, to take action? they tell you not to look away, not to bury your head in the sand. they tell you to give and to agitate and to donate time, money, resources.

those posts used to make me intensely, deeply anxious. i don't mean mild agitation, i mean life-ruining, day-occupying panic that seizes your entire body, and thoughts that don't leave your brain. guilt that paralzyes you because you, personally, cannot go kill the politicians responsible. you don't have enough money to do more than donate a few dollars, and sometimes you don't even have that. but because of where you live, because of the fact that you have internet access and you're literate enough to read these posts, you know that you have a level of privilege that most people never will. you're aware of that privilege because you're reasonably in-tune with social justice movements and you've probably spent some time dissecting your own privilege to examine your biases. (that's not a bad thing; i'm not here to condemn that. stay with me, if you can.)

there's a thing that can happen if you've lived with ocd like this for a long time where you become kind of incapable of telling what's addressed to you personally and what isn't. everything feels like a personal exhortation. you have trouble saying no, or knowing when you're overextended, because other people have it worse. how dare you enjoy relative comfort when people are being bombed or drowning in a climate change -induced flood or being crushed to death in a crowd panic. how dare you not be aware of it at all times, always, constantly. how dare you look away. don't look away.

i want to tell you about something i went through, if that's okay. a lot of people who follow me will already know this, but i haven't talked about this aspect of it very much publicly. in 2020, while visiting my partner in southern oregon, we had to evacuate from wildfires twice in under 24 hours. that was a really, really bad fire season, caused and perpetuated by a combination of global climate change and colonialization practices that destroyed traditional indigenous fire management strategies across the west coast of north america. fires stretched from bc to california. we wound up fleeing south, and then had to flee back north again, hemmed in on three sides. i flew back home to bc shortly afterwards, and i have this vivid, awful memory of seeing my home mountain range, the cascades, choked out with smoke from the window of an airplane. the woman in front of me sobbed the entire time until we touched down.

i remember thinking at that time that it was insane the entire world wasn't stopping. what i was experiencing was apocalyptic in scale—the fire we ran from the first time was part of a complex that chewed up entire towns. it wasn't the first fire season, nor the worst for the continent, nor the world. but all i could think in the moment was why aren't we doing anything, this is going to be all of us in a decade, why are people looking away.

if i had gone online and posted that, it would not have been morally wrong of me. there's no ascribing morality to a reaction like that. i mean, if i'd gone to someone who suffered in the years prior in australia or california and told them that ours was So Much Worse, that would have made me an asshole, but i didn't do that. i made some upset facebook posts targeted at the trump voters in my family, but i had no way to express at the time the sort of clawing panic of WHY AREN'T PEOPLE DOING ANYTHING??

the answer to that, which you probably know, is: what would they have done? we were sheltered by friends we evacuated with, but what power did a mutual in new york or wales or singapore have to affect a wildfire in oregon?

so, come back to the present day with me again, if you will. i said above that posts worded like this used to make me really, really anxious. in the span of time after the fire, i developed ptsd, and my ocd ruined my life. i took an extra year to graduate after i'd finished all my coursework because i could not send in the forms required. i was too busy spending 10-16 hours a day rearranging furniture in my room, or lying in bed, full-body tense, until it felt like my teeth would crack from the pressure. i'm medicated now. i'm grateful for it. i have more tolerance for these posts because i've been there. i know the op isn't doing anything wrong, because they're not wrong. why isn't the world stopping to look at a natural disaster, or a genocide? the world should not be like this.

you are not the world. you are someone with a brain that will torture you to death given the chance. you know how learning to reckon with your privileges, whatever they may be, requires you to not try and escape them? you need to be able to hold in your head that yes, you benefit from something that isn't fair; yes, other people should have that benefit, and that they don't is unjust. but you need to, for example, not try and weasel your way out of being white because you're uncomfortable with the guilt that it produces. you need to not go online and say well not ALL americans because you can't sit with the idea of being complicit in american imperialism. if you have ocd, you need to apply that to your own brain, too. you need to apply it to every post that you see. you need to know that people are not speaking directly to you, they are crying out in pain and fear. they are not doing anything wrong. they are scared and hurting.

they do not benefit from you taking on all the guilt of that fear and pain. i am not saying this to absolve you of the guilt. i am saying that you need to be able to exist with that level of guilt without allowing it to paralyze and destroy you. if you can't do that right now, i'm not here to cast judgement on you. blacklist phrases. i had "wildfire" blacklisted for a long time. i'm sure i missed aid posts because of it. the alternative was me being nonfunctional. for a long time, i had donation posts blacklisted across the board, because the way my ocd worked meant that i was neurologically incapable of knowing where my own limits were, and i would give money i did not have. if you need to do that, this is me giving you permission. doing this does not make you evil. it does not make you morally bankrupt. it makes you someone whose brain is trying to fucking kill them, and the world needs you to not let that happen.

this is not a post about how you're exempt from caring about the world if you're mentally ill, it's about how you cannot apply that care to anything useful if you're having massive panic spirals every other day about the guilt that you feel. your guilt should not rule your life. if it does, i say this kindly, but you very likely need medication. i'm sorry if you don't have access to that right now. you cannot think your way out of ocd. you cannot think your way into stopping neural activity. you cannot guilt your way into being a good person; you have to be able to exist with the guilt and not let it rule you in order to do that. nobody benefits from your brain trying to martyr you in the name of solving the world's suffering.

you need to be able to function, free of crushing and paralyzing guilt, before you can help anyone. you are not an effective ally like this just because your brain tells you that it's necessary.

#bark bark #ocd tag #actually ocd #also i want to say this now: if you do not experience ocd i do not want your 'well actually' takes on this. #again. this is not a site-wide thing i think everyone should do #do not mistake this for me saying that it's ~okay~ to be wilfully ignorant about genocide or climate disaster #i am speaking to a very specific clinical population whose brains do not work in a way that people outside of that population understand #the guilt you experience with ocd is not the same guilt that everyone has just turned up #it warps your entire personality. it warps your sense of right and wrong #you will deal with it for your entire life unfortunately #(even medicated i still absolutely have Intense White Guilt episodes lol #i just try not to make them my loved ones' problem #because part of handling pathological guilt has to be responsibility without overresponsibility)

[tsukikoayanosuke]

History has its eyes on you, Miss Yuuka Hirasaka (a personal rambles and first impression)

Alright, I'll admit defeat. I never thought that this day will come.

Finally, we're getting a canonical female Yuu.

Everyone, please welcome Miss Yuuka Hirasaka onto the stage!

This is a very much welcome change of pace for the fandom. This is a clear proof that Yuu can be from all gender, whether gender-neutral like Game Yuu, male like Yuuken and Yuuya, or female like Yuuka.

But, at least, personally speaking, Miss Yuuka has a lot of shoes to fill.

So let's talk about it.

There are three things I want to say. This is not a hate on the new MC that just came out. This is a personal opinion, but I'm welcome for further discussion.

.

.

.

1. The "Leona is a feminist King" Aspect

We all know about the headcanon of "Leona is a feminist King". Now, what does feminism mean? Basically, it's gender equality, right? Females must be treated the same way as males. This means the good and bad. This doesn't mean female is superior to male or that everything will be better if a female is in charge. At least from my understanding, forgive me if I'm wrong.

Taking from this personal understanding, this would mean Leona would treat Yuuka with equal respect as he gives to the rest of his Savanaclaw members. This will also mean that Leona won't go easy on her. Many of what I've seen from "Leona is a feminist King" is that Leona would go down his knee to white knighting and worship the ground fem Yuu walk. For me this is not feminism, it's using male characters as a stepping stone for female superiority. Especially if we look at this through a romance lens. Sure we love protective Leona, but usually, this is for a romance scenario. What would happen if this is more of a platonic dynamic? Would Leona be as protective as that?

To put it simply, would Leona give the same respect as he would give to Ruggie, Jack, and the rest of the male case toward fem Yuu? If yes, then that's gender equality. If not, that's simping.

So it'll be interesting how this dynamic will go between Leona and Yuuka. Would Leona treat her equally like how he treats his male peers or give Yuuka special treatment (like going easy on her in a fight)? Personally, I want to see both of the dukes it out, going all out with no holdback. I want to see that, just because Yuuka is a girl, Leona would still beat the shit out of her. Basically, I want to have that Bakugou vs Uraraka. Because, personally, if Leona does go easy on Yuuka, this would not only mean that he's holding back his strength aka not giving his fullest, but also this would imply that he doesn't respect Yuuka because he thought she can't handle him at his top form.

This might be a similar scenario as Epel. Epel from Pomefiore yet Leona treats him as equal in the magishift team. Yuuka can go through a similar plot, earning Leona's respect. Because only because Leona respects women as equal to men, that doesn't mean he has to be a doormat for them.

That's my personal hot take on "Leona is a feminist King".

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2. Episode 2 Savanaclaw in General

This will be shorter because I'll connect this in the next part.

There is no denying that Savanaclaw Arc has its problem. I consider this the worst episode so far in TWST, and I'm not the only one. Unlike Scar, Leona's evil presence is weak throughout the arc. Some people don't take how his overblot went down. And I have a personal beef with his flashback episode being only half the runtime. I hope that maybe the manga will make it better.

Now comes the question: "will it be better because the mangaka fixes the story aspect or because Yuuka is a female?"

This is my biggest worry, and I'll be explaining it further after this.

We've seen Heartslabyul manga and there aren't many changes in the plot line. You can substitute Game Yuu with Yuuken seamlessly because there's not much to change, to begin with.

With Savanaclaw Arc and all its problems, I'm more interested in whether they're going to fix the problem or just follow the game like Heartslabyul manga. This is mostly the sin of the father scenario.

However, what about the aftermath? If the manga just follows the same plot, how will the reception be? And what is the reason?

If the reason is "Oh I like it because now we have visuals and I'm happy that we can see the action" then good for you.

But if the reason is "Oh it's better because Yuuka is a female." then we need to discuss further.

For me, having a female protagonist doesn't fix a plot or make it better. It's about the execution of the story and how the MC react to it regardless their gender.

This brings me to the last point...

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3. Twitter said: "new manga mc is a female i hope fem yuu hater can choke" or something similar.

Because my first time seeing the news is on Tumblr, I've seen a lot of positive acceptance toward it. We all welcome Yuuka to the fandom.

Now if Tumblr is like this, imagine the party Twitter is having.

But, let's be bringing my biggest question concern: Do we like Yuuka because she's a female?

There's no denying that there have been many discourses about Yuu's gender. Despite Game Yuu being gender neutral, many still see them as one gender or the other. It's louder in the "game Yuu is a female" camp I think mostly because when I see a Yuu-take often followed by she/her.

When Yuuken and Yuuya came out, remember how angry some people were. They hate that the new mc for the media are males. We've seen hate toward Yuuken when he first appears. I heard someone deactivated their Tumblr when the news dropped.

Compare the discourse Yuuken had in his debut to Yuuka's standing applause despite during their first appearance nobody knew their personality. What makes it different? Is it really just the gender? Is this gender equality?

But there's also no denying that, as I said in the intro, this is a validation that Yuu can be from gender. We've seen those who get hate for having male MCs finally rejoicing with the appearance of Yuuken and Yuuya. We finally see those who get belittled from having female MCs singing in joy with the appearance in Yuuka. All in all, everyone wins in the end. So it should be good, right?

Here's the thing.

I don't want to be just like Yuuka because she has the same gender as me. I like Yuuken because he's a goofball with a strong sense of justice and seemingly a big brother. Will Yuuka has the same strong personality as Yuuken, or will everyone will grovel on her feet because of her gender?

There is no denying that fem mc gets treated differently for better or for worst. We have seen in this woke culture those so-called "strong female characters" with no emotion and physical prowess as the male or even better. In this so-called "feminism and gender equality" world, the only way to do it is to make our male characters inferior to our flame protagonist who can do no wrong. Women want to be treated with respect by men, but they do that by belittling their existence.

It happens in this fandom. I've seen many stories where the fem mc is better in every aspect, beating all the boys, always correct never wrong. If she is wrong then she'll be forgiven easily and doesn't suffer the consequences even self-mentally. The special snowflake who is adored and/or simped by everybody who even glances at her.

Now, this can happen to male mc as well, however, we have seen this less. In my opinion, this is wish fulfillment and there's nothing wrong with that. But there's a line. This is not everyone's fantasy and we have to remind ourselves of that.

Which also brings me to the next one: Potential shipping/romance.

When Yuuken first appears nobody seems to be shipping him with anyone. Only when the manga ends and we see him shake hands with Riddle, we can see the potential.

Now when Yuuka first appears, I feel like the shipping might start immediately. Because you know what else happening in Savanaclaw Arc? It's the first appearance of Malleus. Malleus' first manga interaction is with Yuuka, the female mc.

Yep. Back at it again with the MalleYuu discourse. We’re going to use this as an example because this is something that I’m sure everyone had seen.

Think of all the possibilities. Think of all the shipping material from that one meeting.

Is this the word from the writer that MalleYuu is canon because Malleus meet Yuuka?

Will it be different if Yuuken stays as the MC?

What if in the future Octavinelle Arc we're back with a male mc, will the fan treat it as a sign from the writer that MalleYuu is canon?

Is MalleYuu only canon when Yuu is a female?

This lead to the biggest dilemma the TWST fandom has, at least in them of MC Yuu's gender, whether in canon or as OCs: 

What is the line between "I hate fem Yuu" and "I disagree with fem Yuu"?

When people have an opinion that Yuu should be a male because it's an all-boy school, does that makes them a fem Yuu hater?

Are the fem Yuu haters the people who are tired of "game Yuu is a female and we're going to ignore they're gender-neutral" camp?

When people push all the "proof of" romantic hint, does that only applies to fem mc, or can happen to male mc too?

If someone says they disagree fem Yuu in canon, does that make them a sexist and misogynist?

But it's okay to call slur and send hate anon when we ship or male Yuu with the boys?

Is it wrong or spiteful that we want more male mc or reader content from the overwhelming female mc or reader request and headcanons?

Does the shipping culture only for M/F community and everything that's not hetero is wrong?

So many questions, so many dilemmas, and not enough braincell juice.

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Conclusion:

The spotlight is now on Yuuka Hirasaka, our first canon female mc. While this is proof that all gender for the mc is valid, that doesn't mean she's free from any discourse. I'm looking forward to the cast interaction with her. Will they give special treatment to her or will it be the same as Yuuken's interaction?

Personally, I don't want Yuuka to be treated differently just because she's a female. I want to see her personality shine outside her gender as further proof that no matter what gender your mc is, as long as they have strong personalities, they can make the story great.

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #hirasaka yuuka #the captain's rambling

[faithfullyfound]

Happiness, Who Cares?

In today's society, most people will say that as long as you're happy, you are fulfilled. That as long as you're doing things that make you happy, these things must be good. It does not matter if in the process these things hurt you because according to our flesh, as long as we do things that we like or find pleasure in it doesn't matter. However, happiness is fleeting and the heart is deceitful. As Christians, we may think that drinking, smoking, partying, meaningless sex, gluttony, gossiping, jealousy, etc. are ok because it's not like anyone is dying. But as we sin we actively are hurting ourselves.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

Last week I was on a prayer retreat and it was one of the times where I felt God's presence most. It was freeing and fulfilling because I was in God's presence I was surrounded by God's love, in the people I talked to, during church, during testimonies, and just in prayer with Him. Something I have struggled with all throughout high school is feeling behind. I have never had a boyfriend, I'm eighteen and have never had my first kiss, I've never gone to a party, I've never smoked or drank and because of this, I have always felt behind. Subconsciously I have thought that people constantly look down on me or feel bad for me because I've never had a relationship or done any of these things. I constantly felt inadequate compared to my classmates and unlovable. This is what led me to the sexual sin of masturbation. I thought I was not hurting anyone, but I clearly was hurting myself, and my relationship with Christ. These insecurities surrounding my self-worth also manifested in social anxiety. These insecurities are not a battle between me and myself but instead God and Satan. Because God has already established my inherent, intrinsic value constantly throughout, Psalm 139.

Our goal in life should not be to find fleeting happiness through the accumulation of things, or living a lifestyle that is perceived as desirable. Instead, to find fulfillment in the Lord doesn't mean our lives will always be wonderful (look at Job). But our ability to find comfort in the Lord and in community with other believers gives us the peace we seek all the days of our lives.

Proverbs 4 talks about two paths in our lives. "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they don't know what makes them struggle" (Proverbs 4:18-20).

Happiness is nothing compared to the eternal peace and love found in the Lord. Lord, I pray that whoever is reading this learns to love you and find you. I pray they know that their sins do not define them. That Your love and goodness, that their identity in being a child of God gives them this fulfillment. I pray that if they do not know You they open their hearts to receive You and Your love. Amen.

#God loves you and your sin doesn't define you #christianity #christian girl #christian faith #bible study #faith in jesus #christian blog #jesus saves #jesus #happiness #peace