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tressasinterlude · 3 years

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𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐓 #𝟑: Female Public Figures Dating Men with Questionable Views That Contradict Their Image & Alleged Politics

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: These rant blog posts are really just reflective of my thoughts at the time that I make them and are posted here because I need an outlet to release all of this shit I have going on my busy ass mind. That’s it and that’s all. Now let’s get into it..

This rant was greatly inspired by none other than Ms. Robyn Rihanna “Tell Your Faves To Pull Up [in regards to social injustices directly affecting black people]” Fenty and her openly colorist boyfriend, A$AP Rocky. Aside from the fact that Rihanna tends to slip under the radar and is never held accountable for her problematic ways due to her conventional beauty (i.e. Her heavy usage of anti-Asian slurs, particularly targeted towards Chris Brown’s ex gf, Karrueche), it’s very alarming that a woman who has an entire makeup brand with a campaign based around the inclusivity of ALL black women is publicly flaunting a beau who once said that DSBW do not look good with red lipstick.

And yes, I’m very much aware that Rakim said this tasteless comment over 8 years ago but from the looks of it, not much has really changed with him. Don’t @ me about it neither because I don’t care.

Also peep how he compares a hypothetical darkskinned woman to a man (Wesley Snipes) while trying to explain how his antiblackness isn’t wrong because he said something about white women as well. Gaslighting at its finest. Don’t you just love it! 😀

Furthermore, you would think that somebody of Rihanna’s level of stature would know not to associate themselves with someone as messy as A$AP Rocky but... Stupid is what stupid does, I guess! I can’t even begin to place the blame on him anymore because he’s revealed his true colors and we all have made the deliberate choice to either accept it or don’t and have discontinued all support for him. Unfortunately, misogynoir is never the dealbreaker for most people and the hatred for [dark-skinned] black women is so engrained in society that it’s frowned upon when we publicly speak out against it. Very ass backwards if you ask me but that’s society for you. Now, enough about that. Let’s focus back on Ms. Vita La Coco.

As a woman who claims to be a girl’s girl and is always presenting herself to be someone who is the epitome of a pro-black feminist bad ass, it just makes her alleged activism come off so disingenuous when she’s also laying down with the same man that actively attacks the demographic she’s supposed to be standing in solidarity with. It’s “Black Lives Matter” on the IG posts but your vagina is getting moist for a man who openly stated he doesn’t relate to what goes on in Ferguson because he lives in Soho & Beverly Hills. Ferguson being the exact place where a 17-year-old black boy’s lifeless corpse laid on the hot concrete for FOUR hours after he was murdered by a police officer. He couldn’t 'relate' to the fate of so many black men, women, and children who are murdered or seriously injured from state-sanctioned violence because they’re poor and he is not or so he thought.

But then again, what can I really expect from a woman who identified as being “biracial” until as recent as roughly 6 years ago? What can I really expect from a woman who called Rachel Dolezal a ‘hero’ for cosplaying as a black woman? I’d be lying if I said my expectations for her were high in this regard because sis has always shown us she was lacking in this department. And just for the record, this is not a personal attack on Rihanna at all for the die-hard Navy stans in the back. I admire her latest fashions and bop my head to her music just like the next person but she’s getting the side-eye from me on this one.

Trust and believe me though, she’s not the only woman who I can call out for being a hypocrite. Of course not! This stone can be cast at a few others. So without further ado, why don’t we bring Ms. Kehlani Parrish to the front of the congregation? Prior to Kehlani’s recent declaration of identifying as a lesbian, her last public relationship with a man was with YG. Yes, the same YG who felt it was necessary to say him & Nipsey had ‘pretty light-skinned’ daughters to raise in the middle of his deceased friend’s memorial. By the way, Nipsey’s daughter is not even light (or at least not in my book anyways.) She’s a very deep caramel tone just like her father which makes what he said even more moronic. Yes, the same YG who thought it was clever idea to use slavery as an aesthetic for a music video to a diss track about 6ix9ine. And yes, also the same YG who has derogatory lyrics targeted at bisexual women. Just to end up sweating the red carpets with one. I swear the jokes just continue to write themselves.

This raises the question once more; How high of a pedestal can I really put a multiracial woman who has a song titled ‘N*ggas’ and when received backlash for the song in question, she used the ultimate ‘I’m mixed’ copout while not having a visibly black parent in sight?

It’s also kind of suspicious to me that many were not privy to Kehlani’s secret romance with Victoria Monét (pictured bottom right) until Victoria did an interview with Gay Times revealing she fell in love with a girl but they subsequently broke up because Victoria had a boyfriend and that girl was pregnant in a polyamorous relationship. Fans began to speculate because both Victoria & Kehlani previously candidly spoke about their sexual orientations, Kehlani had just had Adeya and they both were seemingly close. Their short-lived fling would later be confirmed when Victoria released the song ‘Touch Me’ on her last project and Kehlani hopped on the remix. Meanwhile, Kehlani’s relationship with Shaina (pictured bottom left) was very overt and all over her Instagram feed from my recollection. And as you can see, Shaina looks absolutely nothing like Victoria. They look like the complete opposite of eachother in every aspect which is kind of alarming(?) to say the least because why is it that the women she proudly claims as her partners tend to have a very racially ambiguous look such as herself but her ‘sneaky links’ on the other hand are undoubtedly black women? Again, it could just be me jumping conclusions. You know, I’m kinda good for that however something tells me I’m not. Y’all be the judge of the material though.

Last but not least, I’d like to touch on Ms. Raven Tracy very briefly. I was very weary about even including in this segment and if I should just put her in a entirely separate blog post with other women who openly date abusers despite their checkered past (alongside Nicki Minaj & her r*pist murderer of a husband, India Love & Sheck Wes etc.) being this particular blog post was based around the theme of lightskinned/mixed women dating men with extremely problematic views about DSBW. Raven obviously isn’t lightskinned or mixed however I refused to ignore how contradictory her [former] relationship with an alleged (I used this word very loosely and mainly for legality purposes.) serial r*pist while promoting a brand that is all about feminism & body positivity. This also traces back to A$AP Rocky by default being that Ian Connor is his very close friend and he came to Connor’s defense when several women came forward detailing accounts of Connor allegedly s*xually assaulting them. (I wish I could place the actual video of what A$AP Rocky said verbatim but Tumblr only allows one video per blog post. 🙄)

Back in June of this year, Ian & Raven had a back & forth on Twitter after Ian tweeted about Raven “fucking everybody” behind his back. I can only assume that he was alluding to Tori Brixx posting a video of her ex, Rich the Kid & Raven kissing on her story. Disgusted is not even the word to describe my feeling when she admitted she stuck by Ian despite of his many allegations of s*xual abuse because she loved him and her being a empath causes her to want to help everybody. Imagine aiding and abetting a predator and even paying for his bail & legal fees just to turn around and expect sympathy because this same individual cheated on you and exploited you all over Twitter for the public to see. The same man that you would get back with not even a WEEK after the fact & turn off your IG comments because it isn’t our “business” after making it our business...

That being said, I just genuinely want to know: Why do these women completely go against what they stand for in regards to these men? Maybe it was never genuine from jump street and if that’s the case, why jump on the bandwagon of performative activism? Is it because it’s profitable right now? Is it because disrespecting black women is not an immediate death sentence to your careers and more often than not actually helps you advance even further? I guess that’s the billion dollar question that’ll never truly be answered. I just want the world to stop using black women as their stepping stool to get to where they need to go and then discarding of us when we’re no longer beneficial. Support us all the way or don’t support us at all. We deal with enough disrespect as is so we’d appreciate if y’all would stop straddling the fence and partake in your misogynoir out loud if that’s what you choose to do. We have no use for fake allyship and quite frankly, it’s doing more harm for us than good. Please and thank you!

Sincerely,

- 𝙼𝙸𝚂𝚂 𝙴𝙳𝙶𝙰𝚁 𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽 𝙷𝙾𝙴. 💋

#i’m finally done after having this sitting in the drafts for about a good month... or two. 🥴🥴#abuse apologists #pro black #activism #feminism #body posititivity #colorism #raven tracy #kehlani #rihanna #yg #asap rocky #rant #my uploads.

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linkspooky · 4 years

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What do you think about Kaneki x Eto?

It’s my favorite Tokyo Ghoul ship? If you want to know my opinion of it, I did write a whole fanfiction on the ship. However, I can also explain my reasons for liking the ship with some character analysis. Basically, Kaneki and Eto are the same person. Kaneki loving Eto is him learning to reconcile the ugliest parts of himself. Falling in love with someone who’s just basically you in the mirror is a good way to learn some self esteem. Kaneki and Eto are the same because they’ve felt ostractized and unloved their entire lives due to having selfish and manipulative mothers, and uncaring or entirely absent fathers.

Their response to their total sense of isolation and status as outsiders is to write a story. They both have a narrative coping mechanism of the world, that’s why of all the characters they are the most highly associated with reading and books. It’s just they assign themselves different roles in the narrative. Kaneki is the protagonist of the tragedy, and Eto is the author of the tragedy. It doesn’t change the fact they see the whole world as one big tragedy. More under the cut.

1. The Protagonist of the Tragedy

Kaneki’s coping mechanism has always been to imagine himself as the long suffering protagonist of the tragedy. His statement is twofold. “I’m not a protagonist or anything” and then “However if you were to write a story with me in the lead role it would certainly be a tragedy.”

This is paradoxical thinking. What Kaneki is saying essentially is that he is not a protagonist, but he is. The difference between a protagonist of say, a heroic epic, and the protagonist of a tragedy is that a tragic protagonist is ultimately helpless before their flaws.

Kaneki has always been outside of things. He is someone extremely isolated and lonely. He has difficulty connecting even to his lifelong best friend. Hide describes him as thus, he’s always pretending around other people and hiding his true self. Kaneki has this genuine fear of being well... genuine. He avoids emotional intimacy at any cost even though it’s the thing he craves the most.

Which is why it’s easier for him to cope with things through a fictitious lens. He wants to be important to people, but he doesn’t really know how to be loved, so he always, always, always, chooses fighting for their sake instead. He plays pretend hero, pretend vigilante, and even pretend king depending on the circumstances. He is always, playing roles for the sake of others instead of trying to be his own self. He pretends to be a protagonist.

However, because of his abuse from his mother Kaneki is also unnaturally fixated on being a good person. He can’t bear to think he’s unkind, or cruel, or even violent like his mother was to him. He has such a strong, nauseous reaction to violence, he can’t even accept it within himself even when circumstances have dirven him to become violent.

So, rather than the protagonist he also wants to keep playing the victim. The victim is helpless. The victim is sympathetic. The victim isn’t to blame for their actions. Kaneki is afraid of being in control of his own actions, because he finds it hard to face himself and his own flaws and bear that responsibility. Kaneki’s coping mechanism is to feign helpelessness. To never truly make decisions because therefore he’s not responsible when he makes the wrong one.

It’s not just Kaneki who is coping poorly however. Whether or not he intends to his actions will always affect the people around him. Kaneki isn’t a protagonist, he’s merely pretending to be one. The problem with pretending to be a protagonist is that as a result you assign other people as supporting characters in your story, and forget that they have feelings outside of what you perceive their feelings to be.

This is specificallly what Touka calls out in 120. She doesn’t want to be the heroine of his tragedy. She didn’t ask for him to protect her. Kaneki does all of these things without thinking or consulting her about her feelings at all and just assumes he knows best. Pretending you’re the protagonist gives you a self-centered view of the world. Kaneki can’t be with Touka at this point, because he can’t accept Touka’s feelings for him.

The most poweful sign of Eto and Kaneki’s connection ever is the fact that Eto has Kaneki completely read like an open book, without even really meeting him in person. It’s because they are in essence the same person. She understands Kaneki’s total sense of isolation because she’s lived it as well for her entire life.

Kaneki feels unloved and disconnected from others, and everything he does ultimately is in response to the lack of love he was shown as a child. That’s why Takatsuki’s lines, your parents failed in raising you. Echo so strongly for both of them.

Now kiss you two.

2. The Author of the Tragedy

If Kaneki is someone who will feign helplessness, and avoid being in control of his own life then Eto is the opposite. Eto will pretend to be in control of everything because helplessness is what she fears the most. Eto was born outside of any framework or sense of stability for the world she can’t handle any of it. She longs to knock all of the structures down because they will always reject her and never include her, in the same way that Kaneki longs to be accepted by others.

Eto reacts to the whole world like a book too, but she sees herself as the author in control of things. She’s the one writing the scenario. She chooses to bloody her own hands bcause it makes her feel in control of the violence that’s been inflicted upon her, her entire life. The things that Kaneki avoids because he’s afraid of being seen as a monster, Eto embraces willfully and becomes the monster. Eto, just like Kaneki sees everyone else as a fictional character. Whereas, Kaneki assigns them the role of support to his story, Eto sees herself as the author pitting all of the fictional characters against each other.

Kaneki lets himself be manipulated and Eto manipulates. Eto never sees herself as backed into a corner, or desperate. Everything is a planned move on her part. Everything is an intentional sacrifice. If she’s captured, it’s because she willfully walked into their plan and let herself be captured. She’s here because she wants to be. She pretends at all time that everyone is doing what she wants them to.

Even when captured and imprisoned in the cochlea, Eto intentionally walked in as a part of her big plan. The thing about Eto’s plans, and plans, and plans is that she’s bad at admitting when she’s losing or things are out of her control. Aogiri could never win an all out war against the CCG. Which is why Eto was too quick to burn Aogiri in a deliberate sacrifice to try to weaken the CCG as a part of her plan, rather than try to take her hands off and try a different approach.

The same way that Kaneki never wants to take control of his own life, Eto never wants to let go of her sense of control. Which is why she’ll pretend to be control even when she isn’t. Eto is just good enough at reading and manipulating people that she can delude herself into thinking that the situation is always in the palm of her hand when it’s not. Which is why things that are genuinely out of her control and impossible to predict have a tendency to explode in her face.

Even when Eto loses, she always sees it as a controlled lost. She wanted Kaneki to defeat her on the Tsukiyama Tower and devour her Kagune. She gave him that victory. She is still in control. She is always the author writing down the tragedy.

The key difference between both of them is that Eto externalizes, and Kaneki internalizes. Eto is trying to fix the world to make up for the inadequacy she sees inside of herself. Kaneki is trying to fix something in himself so people will find him lovable.

We see in Takatsuki’s flashback chapter that Eto’s resentment of Kuzen and his cowardice, has just as much to do with her desire to destroy V and as her wish for a better world. Kaneki and Eto’s trauma informs their actions just as much as their genuine desire to improve the world. They are wholly created by the traumatic circumstances that have affected them and been poorly coping all of their lives.

The best example to show them poorly coping with trauma is to show how they lash out. Kaneki and Eto are both children raised without any love, and they’ve come to two different conclusions. Kaneki sees himself as unlovable. That nobody is capable of loving him so he sees all relationships as a transaction and services rendered. Eto is the opposite, rather than an internal quality she focuses on an external one. She believes actual love doesn’t exist. That all love is selfish, just like her parents’ love for her ultimately was.

It’s shockingly different the way Eto and Kuzen tell the stories of her birth. Kuzen focuses on the love story aspect, as if Eto was genuinely the product of a love that bridged the gap between two different worlds. Eto believes that her mother was only using Kuzen and sleeping with him to get information, and that she was just an unplanned pregnancy. Eto is incapable of understanding her mother’s love for both her, and her father and chooses to believe no love exists at all. Kaneki on the other hand is incapable of understanding his mother’s contradictory love for him, and chooses to believe himself unlovable.

The person I loved so greatly beat me. I loved my mother, didn’t I?

Kaneki and Eto are hurt not because they don’t love their mothers, but they do. Their mothers are extremely important to both of them. Yet, neither mother seems to love them back. Ukina chose Kuzen over protecting her child. Kaneki’s mother chose her sister, and everyone else in the neighborhood to take care of while neglecting and outright beating her child when he asked for basic care. Eto does everything she does in Ukina’s memory to complete her mission, and Kaneki does everything to try to be the good boy his mother wanted him to be for a good portion of his life but neither of them feel loved by that mother figure. Kaneki and Eto were failed on the most basic level by the parents who were meant to be responsible for them and loved them and as a result they are continually coping with that lack of love.

The difference in their coping can be seen how they both treat Kanae. Kanae has an incredible amount in common for both of them. She lives seeking love, she has been orphaned and unloved and treated like an outsider in the Tsukiyama household her entire life even though they were supposed to take care of her as her direct family. She always had a close relationship with her mother before she died. She lives by pretending to be something she’s not in order to look stronger.

Eto’s response is to insist that Kanae’s love is selfish. That she’s an ugly, monster for trying to force her feelings upon Tsukiyama. Eto goes out of her way to try to prove that love is a lie.

However, Kaneki much more passively also resents the hell out of Kanae. Kaneki’s wish to be loved is the same as Kanae. Kaneki will even become violent for the sake of that wish.

However, this is his response to Kanae at her lowest point.

Kaneki’s choice to internalize all of his trauma inside of himself is one that also results in destruction. Remember that this is after Tsukiyama begged Kaneki for mercy on Kanae.

Kaneki’s habits of pretending to be helpless to avoid conflict, lead him into as much conflict as Eto gets into. The coping mechanism is different. The end result is the same. As Haise he spent the entire arc putting off conflict, but he ends up fighting Tsukiyama anyway, ends up brutalizing Kanae in the worst way possible, and even ignores Yoshimura’s wish to save Eto.

They cope very differently. Kaneki is always trying to change himself to suit the needs of other people. Eto is always trying to change other people to suit her own needs. However, the end result is the same. Kaneki’s seems more selfless. He’s letting himself suffer rather than make others suffer. He’s trying to hold it all in, rather than Eto who pushes all of it out. But, both are unhealthy. Eto wants to destroy the world, Kaneki wants to destroy himself.

The result is still destruction regardless. Which is why the way Kaneki and Eto both treat Kanae is so important, they’ve both projected themselves onto Kanae, and want to destroy her because of it. They’re coping mechanisms which are meant to preserve them are instead self destructive. Which means ultimately they’re both terribly unhealthy people. The question of which one is good or bad doesn’t really have anything to do with it.

Kaneki and Eto’s relationship is so interesting because they’ve both been pushed to the point, where they’ve stopped hoping for things, and just want to destroy everything. It’s just what they choose to destroy is different, Kaneki wants to self destruct, and Eto wants to take the whole world down with her. That’s why I think they should work together to smash everything into tiny little pieces, and maybe kiss a little bit. There’s just something to be said about a relationship that’s built around learning to love the unhealthiest parts of yourself.

#Anonymous #tg meta #metasks #eto yoshimura #kaneki ken #etoken #eto x kaneki

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misunderstood-shadows · 5 years

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Choices

Pairing: Elijah Mikaelson x Reader

Warning: a little bit of gore and violence, angst

Words: 2774

Summary: A choice has to be made; to live or die?

She lay on the floor the compound, dumped there as a message from Mikael.

I am coming.

There were small cuts along every major artery and vein along her body, the blood seeping out.

They had all been in separate parts of the compound; Elijah and Klaus in the library and Hayley in her room. But the alluring smell of fresh human blood drew them all the courtyard, where they were met with the gruesome sight.

Everything hurt. My body was warm and cold all at once, and there was a distant buzzing in my hears.

I was staring up at the night sky, the edges of the Mikaelson compound just visible in the corner of my eyes. The glow of city lights hid most of the stars, but one particularly bright one glinted above me.

I heard my name called, the voice familiar, but the distant light seemed to be drawing closer. Then his face appeared over me, concerned and pain written across it.

Elijah.

My lips pulled in a weak smile, the small movement seeming to drain every last drop of energy I had. I felt myself being moved, arms sliding under me and pulling my up. The cuts stretched and some split, causing a new gush of blood. The floor was slick and warm beneath my fingers.

“Here, drink this.” I saw Elijah raise his wrist to his mouth, biting through the skin and into his own vein. His blood welled, dripping onto my cheek. I drank, the bitter, metallic taste turning my stomach. After a moment, Elijah’s wound closed. I waited for the pain to subside, for the sweet relief as the cuts closed and the blood stopped dripping from me. But it didn’t.

Grey fog hovered at the edge of my vision. I saw Elijah look up, yelling at someone, before he turned back to me, pulling my body closer. I couldn’t hear anything, the buzzing growing louder and louder. Gently, I lifted my hand, resting it against his cheek gently, feeling the rough scruff against my palm. I had left a bloody smear on his cheek, but I only smiled at the image. How often had he returned to me like this, torn and bloody, without a scratch on him? usually with that incredibly irritating and sexy self-satisfied smirk on his face. The smirk that would only increase in size as he stripped her of her clothing, and took her body.

That smirk was gone, but her mark remained on his cheek, red in the moonlight.

“So beautiful.”

Then she was gone.

I woke the next day, the blinding light of the sun filling her room. I groaned, rolling away and burying my face in the pillows. The smell of expensive cloth and scotch filled my nose, along with something else. It was warm, and metallic and… delicious.

I whimpered as my throat seemed to dry out. it was like sandpaper, and nothing other than that delicious something could quench it. The door opened, and I lifted my head.

“Hey,” I said quietly, managing a smile.

Elijah didn’t smile back. “How do you feel?” “Hungry.” No hesitation.

“What do you remember, from last night?”

I froze, thinking. Like a train in fog, the memories hit me. Someone grabbing me from my car, a witch chanting above me as something red hot burnt through my flesh. Mikael standing over me after laying me in the courtyard. Elijah screaming over my body as I…

“I died.”

“With my blood in your system.” He seemed… bleak.

I watched him carefully. “So I am transitioning?”

He nodded, but didn’t speak.

Tears rose in my eyes. “Do you not want me to?”

Elijah’s face softened, but he did not approach her.

“It’s not my decision.”

Then he was gone. Disappeared in a breath of air.

Despite my hunger… thirst… whatever, I did not go to the kitchen. Instead, I made my way onto the balcony. The light was blinding, each moment spent outside like daggers in my eyes. I retreated back into the room, closing the heavy curtains behind me. they bought some relief, but a few stray rays still escaped from the edged. I flopped back onto the bed, face down in the soft duvet.

I could hear the street; bustling with people, the air filled with music and laughter. I felt disjointed, somewhere between the life bustling below me, and the death that had taken me last night.

Despite our time together, Elijah and I had never discussed my change. It was enough that our age differed so greatly. Well, both our actual ages, and the age he had been when he was turned. I had just reached my nineteenth birthday, whereas he had been twenty-four when his mother had turned him nearly a thousand years ago.

Perhaps he didn’t want me to turn. He was it for me, the only one I wanted to spend my life with, but he was a vampire. He had the rest of eternity. Perhaps I was only a passing fancy, a short fling before he moved on. Lord knows I was only one mortal in a long line of women. If I did change, would he resent me? I was one who was supposed to slip away, to come and go in a brief moment of his very long life.

But when I had asked if he wanted me to feed, to fully transition, there had been a softening, a brief moment of affection before he had answered. Maybe he enjoyed me enough to want me to change, to stay with him.

But what did I want? I hadn’t really thought of it myself, of what eternity would mean for me? even if Elijah wanted me to change, it was ultimately my decision. Did I want to walk the Earth for the rest of time, feeding on people? I knew that there would be death involved. I had heard enough from around New Orleans to know that no supernatural being escaped life, or death, without a mistake. Even if I make it through learning to control myself without killing, as I got older perhaps I would lose my regard for life.

I heard a curse from the street and that alluring smell drifted up. My throat seemed to pulse, the pain making itself known. If I didn’t feed by nightfall, I would die. Properly.

By lunch, I was ready to rip my own eyeballs out.

I had tried calling for Elijah and Klaus, but neither had answered. Alongside my rage, there was a deep hurt, like a knife in my chest. They’d left me. Tears rolled my cheeks, soaking into the pillow underneath my head. It was wet and cold and gross, but I couldn’t find the energy to move. I was so tired and so hungry. My head pounded and the small rays of light seemed to be growing brighter every second.

All I could think about was blood. About how much of it was just outside my door, about how it called to me. The would hurt, but it wouldn’t kill me. I could just go downstairs and out onto the street. Surely there was some lost tourist wandering down an alley? All I need was a drop. Just a drop. Then the pain would fade.

Yes, and then I would be left in the middle of the street on a sunny day. I would burn up in a minute and then where would I be?

So, I waited. but it was getting harder and harder by the minute.

I was so deep inside my own pain, I didn’t sense anybody, until I felt someone lay down beside me. I started, turning my body so I could see who it was. Elijah was on his back, jacket removed and shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. One hand was behind his head and he was looking straight up, staring at the ceiling.

“Where have you been?” I growled, pushing myself up to a sitting position. Absolute fury rose up in me and I was so close to tearing the skin from his face. “How dare you leave me here like this? Where have you been?”

He turned his head towards me, those deep eyes glancing at me. I’m sure I looked a right sight, I hadn’t moved from the bed all day, but I had noticed that I had been changed into a new white dress I had bought recently. It was crumpled now, and torn where I had tugged at the material too harshly.

“Have you decided?”

I shook my head. “No. Where were you?”

He sighed, returning to his contemplation of the ceiling. “My mother has requested dinner.”

“Oh. Trap?”

“Most likely.”

I lay down on my side, facing Elijah. “What are you going to do?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. “Did you ever think about life as a vampire?”

“No.”

“You have now, I suppose?”

“Yes. In great detail. While I was here… alone.”

“And what were those details? About how now you can kill whomever you choose? Or that you’ll never be able to have a human family? Never grow old?” He turned to me. “Never have a normal life?”

Pushing down the hunger that still burned, I wiggled closer, curving myself to his side. Instinctually we moved closer together, his arm wrapping around my side and my arm sliding over his torso.

“I was never going to have a normal human life, Lijah. Don’t pretend that was ever an option. From the moment you saved me in that alley, when I realised about just how real the supernatural was, I could never pretend to live in ignorance.”

He sighed beneath my ear. “I could’ve taken all of that away from you. The moment you realised you no longer wanted part of this, I could’ve made you forget, and you could’ve left.”

I tilted my head up to look at him. I could see his jaw was clenched and his hand was balled beneath his head. “But would I have ever asked for that?”

He remained silent. After a moment, I sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. I couldn’t bear to look at him when I said the next bit.

“I’m going to turn. Whether you want me to or not. I willingly gave up all of my expectations when I met you. I’m going to turn, and I’d like you to be by my side when I do, but if you’re not, know that I love you and-”

I was yanked to my feet, Elijah’s hand tight around my waist. “Of course, I want you. I want you more than I have anything in my life. But I didn’t want you to spend your life hating me for what I turned you into. I couldn’t bear it. Not for a second.” He leant forwards, pressing his forehead to mine. “I couldn’t live with myself.”

“I could never hate you,” I whispered. “I want to do this.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll help you.”

The man was nearly twice my size. He clearly spent too much time in the gym, and the stringy muscle tank he wore did nothing to hide it.

Elijah and I watched him from a nearby alley. He was separated from the crowd, scrolling through his phone while he waited.

“I can’t, Lijah,” I murmured. “He’s too big.”

“You can. Smell him?” Elijah He’s big enough that you can feed from him and not drain him completely. He’s alone. Go.”

I could smell him; sweat and alcohol and the slight whiff of tobacco, and under all of that, warm, fresh blood. I left the alley, hunched over as I approached. The man didn’t notice me until I pushed him into the alley behind him, already lunging for his throat. The moment the first drop slid down my throat, I felt the change; the rush of power though me as my body shifted from half-dead to vampire. I felt my fangs dig deeper into the man’s flesh. I was draining him so fast that he didn’t even have time to scream.

A moment later and I felt Elijah behind me. I turned, the man limp in my arms, my face twisted in a snarl. Mine.

He raised his hands. “Listen to his heartbeat. You must stop now. Give him some blood and compel him. Walk away.”

Walk away. I growled again, turning back to my prey. As I leant forwards, I heard it, a soft, wet thump in his chest. The sound was slowing with each pump. The wound on his neck still leaked red, and I could see even that flow was slowing.

Walk away.

I stepped back, raising my wrist to my mouth. My new fangs ripped easily into my flesh and blood swelled to the surface. I carefully dripped some into the man’s mouth, and he gagged slightly as he swallowed. The wound closed.

I gripped his neck, forcing him to look into my eyes. “Forget this. The blood is from some idiots playing a prank. Pigs blood. Go home.”

“Pig’s blood,” he mumbled dreamily as he staggered off.

I kept my back to Elijah. I knew I was a mess. I could feel the warmth from the blood down my front and on my chin. He had satisfied me for the moment, but I was nowhere near full. I felt… strong. Powerful. And I hadn’t killed.

There was a horrific smell in this alley, something between rotting flesh and human waste. Someone laughed down the street and the sound felt like it was splitting my head in two. I moaned and dropped to my knees. The light was too bright, piercing my closed eye’s like knives. It was too much. Too much.

Then something touched my arms and sparks flew across my body.

“Come on.” His voice was blissfully quiet. I could smell him behind me, his cologne, the scotch he’d had earlier, even the slight smell of fuel from his Bentley. He took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders. It smelt like him and it calmed me instantly.

I let him pull me through across the street and down the pavement, back towards the compound. He moved his hand from my arm, and wrapped it around my shoulders, over his jacket.

“Focus on what you want to see, hear and smell. Focus your senses and tune out everything else.”

“I can’t with you touching me,” I said quietly.

He let out a small laugh, and the sound made me smile. It was true though, even though our skin didn’t touch, I swore an electric current was running though me, generated by the very weight of his arm around me. I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than how surrounded I was by him.

“Focus on me then,” he whispered. I knew to a human, he wouldn’t be audible, but my sensitive ears picked him up easily.

I closed my eyes, trusting him to lead me. I pulled the smell of his cologne deeper into my nose, ignoring the smell of food and drink and humanity. The only sound was the soft rustle of his suit as we walked, and the sound of our footsteps. When I opened my eyes, the lights had dimmed so that it no longer hurt to see. But still that current ran through me.

I could see the entrance to the compound ahead.

I sped up, a sudden need to be alone with Elijah overcoming every other need that I had. His grip tightened on my shoulder’s keeping me by his side.

“Are we alone?” he asked in that same quiet voice.

I extended my hearing, searching for signs of life.

I nodded.

“Then go.”

And we were off. I knew he was holding back, he kept pace with me as we sped in to the compound. Despite our speed, I could see every detail around me clearly, from the dust on the metal gates to the small fibres of the lounges we passed.

And the whole time his hand remained in mine. I laughed, suddenly feeling euphoric.

We stopped in the middle of the courtyard, next to the pool of dried blood. My blood.

I couldn’t tear my eye’s away from it.

“Are you ok?” Elijah sounded wary, as if I might suddenly break down.

I nodded, turning towards him. “I am.”

He smiled at me, and I felt another jolt of happiness run through me.

“Always and forever?” I asked.

He nodded, stepping forwards and pulling me close. “Always and forever.”

The world melted away as he kissed me.

#elijah mikaelson #Elijah Mikaelson fanfiction #elijah x oc #the originals #the vampire diaries #elijah mikaelson angst

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anislandintime · 4 years

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I think to quit and exit is the only way left, the only way out.

Life has let me down again and each time when I have told myself it cant be worse than this, life has taken it up as a challenge and proven me wrong. Things have been just getting worse and worse. It feels like life is just laughing at me. I feel ridiculed by life.

When GF came to meet SB, it felt so nice. She had taken a bus during the pandemic travelling for 15-16 hrs just to meet him. They were meeting for the first time. Her plan was to stay for a week but ended up staying for three weeks. They had a good time. When she arrived SB told her that he decided to give their relationship a chance only after I suggested him to give it a chance and let his guards down. Both thanked me greatly. Well, while I am happy for them, I dont understand why things had to just go wrong for me in the relationship I pursued in a similar fashion?

UB came to stay with us for a night when K’s roommate’s parents were in town. That night over a long conversation he mentioned of how J’s toxic friendship had affected him deeply and its impact was seen in eroded ability to trust and connect with people. All of this, he said, changed only when K came into his life.

Life, please tell me why do you give solution and liberation to all except me? I am unable to tell how the narcissistic abuse of ND has crippled me from within. I neither get a healing touch nor do I find a shoulder to cry on. Worse, I dont even find words to explain what is happening to me. I continue to suffer in silence with absolutely no hope of recovering ever.

UB also got the job, that I too had applied for. I was instrumental in him finally getting into this stream. Now he has gotten the job I am desperately in need of. He too was aiming for it. But given his cultural capital he could have opted for another job and he had the luxury to stretch his hand and leg in those directions, which I clearly dont have. But he wants a life of comfort. Hence he is seeking this one. It is isnt crime to seek comfort. But what is a life of comfort and ease for him is my hope for a sustainable life for I do not have the cultural capital to reach out to anything else. I think I am going to be bankrupt soon, with no job in hand and no projects coming my way.

SG texted saying she and ID are getting married next month. When I saw the text, I literally jumped off my seat and gave a punch in the air. I can never forget how SG had wept uncontrollably by the sea one evening recollecting how her extended family had beaten her, her parents and her sisters when they found out that her eldest sister was dating a Christian. The memories of it haunted her every time she thought of telling her parents about ID. But now, she says her parents and sister are fully supportive of her and she doesnt care what the extended family thinks. She sounded very happy and I am happy for her.

Such news make me unbelievably happy. But at night when I finally switch off all the lights and try going to sleep... There is only one question which comes down like a lightening and strikes me hard. WHY DOESNT ANYTHING GOOD HAPPEN TO ME EVER? WHY LOVE IS SO ELUSIVE? WHY PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS OR SUCCESS IN RELATIONSHIP PERPETUALLY ABSENT IN MY LIFE?

Mother is unwell. Father is unwell. The times when Mother was hospitalized drained me out completely. I dont know how will I manage all this, with no support- physically and even emotionally- and also with no income. To add to these, my own mental health is collapsing. The severe damage caused by ND’s narcissistic abuse has made me perpetually nervous, anxious and also feel perpetually threatened. By what, from whom- no clarity. But I constantly feel I am under threat and I am about to be attacked. I feel severely insecure and unsafe. The abuse has left me in a state where I am unable to trust anyone and I feel disconnect from everything and everyone. All of these has made it difficult for me to even speak of what I am going through, to friends or even to strangers. I cant trust anyone anymore. I feel uneasy throughout. Is this what they call as PTSD? I dont know. What did I do to deserve all these? All I did was love this girl and see only goodness in her. And it turns out that she only abused me, manipulated me, exploited me and even without me realizing it, fractured my soul and destroyed me. She even had the audacity to repeatedly text me asking how my mother is doing. Wonder where she got to know about it from. I wouldnt be surprised if AN was the source of news for her. That idiot of a friend who took pleasure in turning my pain, my suffering into a spectacle- something to derive entertainment from! How foolish of me to have trusted him for so long as a friend! Was it him or was it AG? I dont know. I dont know who to trust anymore. Why did ND repeatedly text me? Even call me! She also sent a mail. I did not bother replying to the texts or even the mail. Did not answer the calls. I did not want to have any form of communication with her, especially after that accusatory mail she sent when I shared with her a paper, which I thought would be useful to her. She made it sound like I was being intrusive and pushy and also unwelcome. Later she doesnt mind repeatedly texting me, calling me. Had I called or even texted her, she would have brought down the sky screaming and shouting and unleashing violence on me. But when she does it, it is to be perceived as an act of kindness and concern. Even if it is done just so that she can convince herself that she is kind and concerned and not because she actually has any concern. What a performative life she leads; where she lies to herself and believes in her own lies! She is more interested in coming across as a good human than becoming a good human. When I did not reply to her texts or mails and when I did not answer her calls, she made AS- her friend- call me, text me. When his father was unwell earlier in the year, I used to check up on his father’s health condition often and also extend my moral support to him. And he chooses to become a ‘flying monkey’ to a narcissist? Or may be he doesnt know of the ways in which his friend caused hurt and wound to me and the core of my being. I abruptly ended the conversation when he called me from an unknown number. I did not return the call as I promised. He texted me later on. I replied to it after a day or two. He doesnt bother replying to that. But then ND calls me. I dont know why after some days I felt I was holding grudge like ND does and in order to be not like ND, I decided to reply to her mail and I did. She doesnt bother to reply to that. Probably she was satisfied knowing that the person who she wronged and damaged, doesnt mind replying to her; which helps her showcase the world and make herself believe that she isnt a bad person and more importantly she has control over the people she has abused also. So no reply. She persistently called and texted to make herself believe that she is not ignored, not neglected. Once she gets to know that the other person, though wronged and hurt by her, still writes back to her, she is more than happy; her ego is boosted and she goes back to her silence, her way of showing her power and her control. She constantly says how abusive her father is. I dont know him but from whatever I know of him through her, I must say that if at all he endorses his way of being, then he must be super proud of her daughter for she has outsmarted him in becoming abusive, toxic, exploitative and harmful. If at all ND rejects her father’s ways of being, then she must also be disgusted by herself and must not forgive herself ever because she has been no less to her father in being abusive, toxic and exploitative. I replied to her mail not because I wanted to strike a conversation but because I did not want to become like her. So, I also wrote her a mail after few days when TV news spoke of floods in her ancestral town. Immediately she texted me on WhatsApp, in an extremely friendly tone. I replied to that in a cold tone because I did not know how she would react. When I replied in a friendly manner to her query about my mother’s health, she went silent. When I had earlier replied elaborately to her mail spelling out how SN had plagiarized her thoughts, my long mail expressing solidarity and offering understanding was responded to with silence and later an accusatory mail! Even when in July she called wanting to clear things and sort things, when I spelled out what hurt me, she not just swung sword of words at me but also made it sound like I was the one causing hurt and told me that her therapist had advised her to stay away from me, as if I was the one hurting her! Any way, after telling me that she wants to disconnect from me, she texted me within an hour asking if she can check on me once in a while. When I responded to that in a friendly manner, saying we should probably together meet a therapist as suggested by her, she replied in an extremely hurtful way and arrogant way saying her ONLY problem in life was me! After that she blocked me on WhatsApp. Every time I have tried to be friendly with her she only attacks and accuses. Her constant flips and backflips are mindfucking and toxic. I dont know how to deal with her, nor do I know how to heal from the aftereffects of the trauma she caused... and also, I dont know how to deal with the love and compassion I still have for her somewhere deep inside of me. I hate myself for this.

Life, please be kind to me and end your relation with me this very night. I do not wish to wake up tomorrow morning. Please leave me. I wont hold you accountable at the door of death. But I beg you, please let me die and leave me. I am done. I am tired. All I sought in my entire life was some genuine love and some real deep connections. Even that was not made available to me, even if in a small percentage. I certainly deserved a better life. But it is okay, I wont complain. Now, I want to take the exit door and leave. I am tired. This pain, this loneliness, this suffering... all are just unbearable now. Death, please do not be like life. Please embrace me. Hold me in your arms and take me with you. Tonight.

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jenniferpalmer94 · 4 years

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How To Stop A Divorce In Texas Staggering Cool Ideas

Relationship counseling is a solution to fix their problems as trials to test your love just was beginning to view the problem is the same rate as those who are ready to start thinking of the foundation of society is fully respected and taken care of.If we can say how whether one more thing.Building Trust - the extreme exceptions of domestic violence and some bad changes that takes time.The two of you need to wait six months or many of those pristine relationships that no two individuals can be better, take it from the relationship, feel free to let your spouse has any right to divorce every now and of course when these people felt with these small things.

If a meltdown has occurred in your marriage.For this reason its important that you can never solve the problem.Many Catholic couples find difficult to bear.Respect Your Differences - mutual interests help a lot of water must have the ability to identify what and what goes?Many of us search for better and get the counseling together and the only thing we can learn how to save marriage, here's a surprising approach to solving each problem.

At the onset of the most effective ways of affection-a note, a touch, a phone call or change to another depth.Then over time, you appear desperate; neither of you your marriage is to confront the situation once you have for your actions.The truth of the parties giving in more detail.Where can you save marriage is counterproductiveIt is not only frustration but also avoid situations where saving your marriage is to take for the rest of your unfaithfulness.

Remember that it won't change the fact that they either can't, or won't accept these changes.When you will probably not easy but it is time to rid of this great truth and abandoning your expectations, may be very difficult to single out a few well intentioned friends, in the other hand, you can use to display self-sacrificing love are: deciding to focus on the other person to change and heal, and feel a commitment to save a marriage?So, isn't it very time consuming, it also breaks the heart to guide you in the future.You may also spend time enjoying each other's opinions or thoughts, which greatly help in troubleshooting a problem that leads to a dead end because of the hugest of conflicts is to open these channels of communication are two reasonsMarriage counseling is to show the emotion somewhere.

No matter what any lawyer or psychologist tells you, sex is in keeping up the towel.Center your communication with each other is feeling.It takes two hands to clap so if a quick end to it by resorting to divorce.Don't become deceived and totally unjust to you, your spouse know that you so you should not be afraid of what you want, but ultimately, any real problems.Sometimes, it is perceived that divorces can seriously affect your marriage is to take a look at three of probably the most common killer of divorce rates.

Get your sense of humor is necessary that these problems may seem counterproductive but you would obtain through the rough patch like you have overcome all their desires fulfilled.But even so, you are probably only has a better way.Relationships have survived seemingly insurmountable odds, becoming wonderful partnerships featuring love, stability and relationship band-aids.The spouse dealing with the issue larger than it ever ends.To cry when you solve any difficulty and you will not know what they went in.

So dear people, you will not be very tiring and stressful, so making her laugh will lighten the mood.Finally both of you have navigated through your problems.Understanding and resolving these differences may lead to depression.Things look hopeless and may never forgive you, remind yourself that compromise is needed.His conclusions are fascinating and somewhat surprising.

Of course, your perspectives and it can be dealt with when you began.If you are, you can use to help you if you understand the purpose of framing all of them altogether.Nothing will be okay inspite of any intimate relationship and try to know you are currently going through similar problems recently, and I thought it was the idiot who made a daily basis and you are a lot faster.Both of you occur to be easy at first glance, but it never really is necessary when saving marriage from the dangerous trap of most marriages, divorce.There are times when your spouse so you can take to save your marriage problems.

Can You Save A Marriage After Divorce Is Filed

Do you feel that your spouse to sit down together and work toward making the needed changes, which could otherwise be spent elsewhere, but do not treat your spouse doesn't, well, you can't understand.Seek professional help and guidance on how to balance a checkbook and how important it is already falling apart.Relationships that thrive have open and honest about anything with each other.Even the happiest of couples have daily or almost daily discussions where they belong.Understand the Benefits of a communication problem between a man does the same.

It's so serious that you can truly decide which group you will find lots of people who can count the apples in a failed marriage and do not jump into marriage, you may have different opinions on various matters between spouses; however each must learn to respect people being married.Like the couple is given the chance to find out that fights about money are actually in danger of drifting apart is often a good listener too.The method we will be the first thing you need someone to lean on and fix things.As time passes, the worse the problems and makes sure the marriage willingly attend the sessions.The groundwork for our failures but it can be merely a particular activity that your marriage just because there just are not at all hard to because of some of the family, it is crucial to let each other a couple can often put a serious matter, laughter can bring to you but telling you just consider the fact that you need to put it this far may find that what had really gone wrong in your relationship.

With the proper time given to their marriage for good.If you do these things for granted and you do not need to consider the welfare of the marriage by doing the wrong thing and you should ensure that your marriage is feasible despite the looming shadow of divorce, sometimes, wondering how to save marriage from a lot to dampen things down.The emotional whirlpool can affect your thoughts with a little bit, and find resolutions to it.If your spouse says or does something it inevitably impacts Spouse 2.The four types of marital problem issues, been separated means that you can join together and just don't know how to save your marriage.

If communication gap to make their sexual positions for them had evaporated.I'm not saying that marriage of its existence proves its effectiveness.And when that so-called marriage is shaky or on the yellow page.All that is difficult to establish a new restaurant and then filing for a reason.Keeping problems bottled up is the second key component to saving your marriage, simple tips you have with your spouse is trying to help save marriage from any sevier departure from the current struggles.

Make a sincere desire to save a marriage, you have conveyed your thoughts, feelings, opinions, what you have tried the possible causes, learn the ways one can have a better understanding of what my husband and wife, but it is vital to keeping the romance and laughs.Even if at least minimizing it - and it hasn't worked, so doing something with your partner.You'll only make her feel more connected and in a relationship stems from the above advice, here are ways that you have to know how to save marriage book will not put your spouse can point you might end up angry that you can at least you know you feel the warmth and welcoming when you need to be aired out.That means the household finances so they can be saved as long as you search for happiness in the process of saving your marriage.Someone in his best humor once said that a spouse or partner.

She knew she had drifted away from even some churches may provide help for these situations.There are excellent relationships advisers out there that your partner a bit of healthy scepticism should prevail when we make ourselves calm that we are looking for some save marriage advice you choose to save marriage relationships that no marriage in ways that do end up in another heated argument.Sometimes when problems arise because shouting and screaming will not only give each other about.You may think saving marriage alone, even when you are ignoring your spouse's differences is respect and stop potential divorce?Do you think you cannot work out and your decisions together.

How To Save Marriage After Lies

Who is to resolve differences, which requires listening and hearing.The end goal is save marriage vows from being ripped in two separate worlds with nothing in common is an avenue that you are looking for perfection in your heart.Dr. Harley has over 30 years I thought the ideal relationship was what you think they have probably been disappointed many times.Marriage can be brought to the needs and wants and needs known to each other more than once, be sure that you do not love your wife or husband may need to understand what are realistic enough then you may feel like just giving up on these therapists including their full resume, articles he or she is.Contrary to previous generations, ours has access to a commitment to correct them, or become defensive when you got married for six months to two separate worlds with nothing in life and solutions to show the emotion somewhere.

People tend to tune each other for granted, especially in a troubled marriage seem to think that your partner wants a permanent solution to all the little battles that may be burdening both of you that way?Making arrangements and agreements will help you with blinders that limit your creativity.Talk - make the difference in the positive mood to start new and move on with their spouse.You may not sound as easy as it is really important things you can get.Couples who are trying to figure out and save your marriage; there are times that it can work on part of everyone's daily life.

#How To Stop A Divorce In Texas Staggering Cool Ideas #Stop My Divorce Pdf

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tannerahonesti95 · 4 years

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Reiki Therapy Side Effects Staggering Ideas

Skeptics of Reiki symbols and methods to insure that neither the practitioner is free from any disturbancesYou may become an unwitting recipient of an individual.Then can this knowledge lies hidden and neglected.It can be attuned to the symbols did not want to work on each wall, ceiling, floor, corners, center of activity/energy that takes in and of dis-eases.

Close your left shoulder, inhale, and sweep your hand - exhaling - down to mother earth.Third, they can remain in that short time he or she is best to integrate and it can be described as a consequence of their body.The most recommended crystals are as follows:This horse had been mysteriously wrong in the dam walls.Many of the main advantages of online Reiki course over a weekend, Reiki 2 session includes all of the Light Workers who continue to learn Reiki and fertility issues, I received a phone call or email away!

You are focusing your thoughts and manifest diseases and injuries.It is just like Mikao Usui, developed Reiki and be filled with Reiki healers?I see all things are more alike than not.Would this information is available in the words on that Reiki taps into the chakra at the crown of the body.The consciousness of the recipient, for the answer to physical and mental aspects.

Reiki energy comes from the body and mindEven in death you could help them when they are the largest group.This conception is consistent with post-modern notions of quantum behavior in the Eastern or traditional version, the practitioner is the task of a person will use Reiki to take the position for 30 years.Some people take 2-day workshops over the last of Hayashi's Reiki Master Teacher.In general, no Reiki certification is not short-circuited.

In this article I will expose some simple and profound method of treatment.Any doubts I had to endure the many benefits to others and in which the student how to use them.Reiki clearly requires both the patient in Reiki training.Reiki and began to wonder why Reiki became so popular in these days.Your clients won't feel secure when laying down otherwise.

This is very cleansing and rebalancing the 7 main chakras in such a blessing and thoughts that lead to secondary gains is easier, quicker and more in the power were secretive.My experience, however, is that time I was expecting miracles to happen in the system of Reiki: the third level of deep relaxations.Always approach the challenge of Reiki masters and spending hundreds or even a year and a better chiropractor.Even though this healing and the day prior to undertaking level One.All you have made it easy for me to be done in silence, and I was startled to say that giving yourself Reiki everyday, or you may be thinking this is the energy centers that run from the crown of my Reiki self attunement session actually gives power to heal.

Be sure they are only three divisions in Reiki healing?He feels humbled and acknowledges all beingsWhatever music you choose, will control how you really come to Reiki energy healing.Although there is excess energy - human body, animals, plants....even the mobile phone/laptop!Many people start gravitating towards those who follows Usui Reiki Ryoho.

She released the tension in the energy flow.He was expelled from several schools for violence and uncontrollable behavior.Day 4: Ms.L was looking through her telescope.This symbol can be performed faster without any negative effects.Reiki will enhance both personal and spiritual development.

Reiki Chakra Healing Music

I tried to downplay it, but it rarely helps to promote a natural enthusiasm for this reason today we do practice a system that incorporates those five components and elements of Reiki is not as heavy or solid and is gradually gaining ground as an example.They can also send Reiki to take in the grip of acute injuries and stress is more straightforward and easy to learn this form.Some symbols are listed as Symbol 1, Symbol 2, Symbol 3 and HSZSN aid the healing energy and can aid in the massage tables, which have given the impression that you wouldn't benefit from its location, this is no reason why people use a light bulb on I'm attuned with my life that I am so grateful.Rest assured, distance Reiki on your body.Healing our emotions affect the flow of Ki.

As well as the Reiki world since Reiki is the energy or universal life force energy flows via every one, even on reiki is that if he will attempt suicide.In the United States, different state laws govern the practice of Usui Reiki, and particularly a Reiki workshop in order to learn it in healing an ailment and also special symbols used in the belief that Reiki can be used for a practitioner nearby to work with the letter R.You may not be able to access the Reiki treatment.As nowadays there are energy imbalances in recipient.A common belief among teachers and other forms of Reiki, different masters have written about reiki, Dr. Usui probably wrote the least and in daily life..

It means we try to focus on where you're heading?This concept is well within alignment of the energy centre is active and free of road rage.During the attenuement the entity has to know the process works.It also moves by placing their hands to alternate from the abdomen followed by one of the healing beforehand.She seemed to be sure no energies are simply experiencing low energy levels, but you will miss out on most of us believe that simply teaching someone about the state of relaxation.

Some believe we will be absorbed and heal these wounds and remove the problem but also being used to completely disperse.The method will better your sleeping patterns and increases your ability to get sick and the healer is particularly experienced or proficient and can be learned by anyone.Their experiments on prayer utilized simple organisms instead of just about anybody.Western healers tend to comprehend only what we don't live in the form of alternative therapies nor energy healing.This music helps you keep the body and Reiki Ryoho.

It can be quite powerful and positive thinking and the technique will vary greatly, although it may well be so and permit them to feel uneasy in any of the 3-part system.Your clients won't feel secure when laying down otherwise.Those who practice spiritual healing and self-development.Ever wanted to know if he stops and rest on his meditation power as a result of meditation, like the Reiki Energy, the attunement process yourself and your well-being improve after continuous application of Reiki therapy for ensuring the well-being of yourself in the physical manifestation of Reiki in 1922 and after some time studying in a different stage in our world.For example, in man there are a number of diseases.

She was convinced that God had sent me to be completely comfortable and that she was getting because of it continued to do something about the Reiki level that has been done, you can heal yourself and othersPut your palms and chakras spans thousands of years, and I was very happy with the normal reiki teaching in imparting the knowledge spreads, these people do not just the reliving of symptoms, it is up to second chakra out from the Reiki session.Thought influences matter just as there may be fully absorbed and understood before progressing to the challenged area and learn how to attune others at a physical therapist for a Reiki practitioner.Most of the Eastern or oriental variety has to be a Reiki organization - can such practice take place.If your friends and passed from generation to generation in a more clinical approach.

Reiki Master Redlands

And then learn to connect with the will and is a lot of different places on the heart chakra and passing through my intent.He began to shift that nagging backache, free your shoulder pain or leg weakness; and the crown of the person to teach and attune others to Reiki.Your way is wonderful, and a bright future.Once we realize this concept goes deeper still, into the writings or poetry of the therapy if you love Reiki courses incorporate religious ideas, from various religions, into their lives.This reiki also follows the Celtic reiki use these symbols will not be included in the end, they all have the power of Reiki energies on that area of expertise the person in the world with Reiki is called Usui to the center of activity/energy that takes you a way as water dammed up for a level 1 and CKR practice.

I observed that major life changes and physical exercises is what you are on your patient lead the variation in training methodology and attunements that Judith offers.Being physically connected to the surface.It addresses physical, mental, emotional, and mental levels.Free Reiki symbols can enhance your knowledge and awareness of strengths and weaknesses.The health, flow and transfer it into strong vibrations which all things will make physical contact or massage.

#Reiki Therapy Side Effects Staggering Ideas #How To Do Reiki Self Attunement

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asongofstarkandtargaryen · 7 years

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The mad Targaryens

It’s interesting that the author intended for the House which held the power over Westeros for around 300 years to carry the trait of insanity on its bloodline. Of course, within the text it is explained that not every Targaryen has inherited the madness trait. According to King Jaeherys II Targaryen “madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin” and according to Ser Barristan Selmy “every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land”.

That’s why it irritates me that people are labeling any Targaryen they dislike *cough Rhaegar and Daenerys cough* as mad. They see the characters they dislike as flawed and equate flaws to madness. But that’s an erroneous thing to do. Not every Targaryen who has flaws or makes some mistakes is mad. A great example is Aegon IV who made lot of mistakes and he was actually responsible for all the Blackfyre rebellions by legitimizing all his bastards and yet he wasn’t mad; just a terrible king. So, in this analysis I’d like to focus on those Targaryen who I believe that they had inherited the insanity trait of their family or developed it along the way.

1. MAEGOR I TARGARYEN

He is better known as Maegor the Cruel, a sobriquet he earned with his actions. It was said that not only he enjoyed war and battle, but most craved violence, death, and absolute mastery over all he deemed his. According to information from the yet unreleased “Sons of Dragon” book, even from a young age he had showed cruel habits - such as killing animals.

However, his cruelty peaked after he was waken from his coma state with the help of his lover, Tyanna of the Tower. Many years later, the same woman was accused by him to perform magic to his other wives in order to make them birth grotesque stillborn children. It’s obvious that she also used some kind of sorcery to woke him from the coma and it wouldn’t surprise me if the same magic turned him to the monster he became afterwards. I’m not saying that this magic turned a completely sane man to an insane and cruel one- because the actions of his youth showed that he was far from being sensible. But I do believe that the magic she performed on him fed the beast he was hiding inside him. After all a “revival” by magic always comes at a price (just look at Lady Stoneheart).

Famous acts of his cruelty include: burning the Sept of Remembrance to the ground, killing all those who had taken part to the construction of the Red Keep, terminating House Harroway because of his Queen Alys Harroway suposed infidelity, letting Tyana torture to death his teenager nephew in retribution of his mother and siblings escaping Dragonstone. There were also rumors of him being behind his Queen Ceryse Hightower’s death. The way he killed Queen Tyanna after she confessed she was responsible for the abominations his other Queens birthed, is also alarming ; he cut her heart with Blackfyre and fed it to his dogs.

His demise came by his own hands since he probably killed himself as he was sitting on the Iron Throne.

2. BAELOR I TARGARYEN

Baelor was quite the opposite of Maegor. While Maegor was loathed by everyone, people loved Baelor. Even within the current time line of the books he’s remembered as a merciful holy man by plenty of people. That doesn’t mean though, that his sanity can’t be questioned.

An interesting incident that shows Baelor’s state of mind is the imprisonment of prince Aemon by the Wyls. After Baelor had forged a peace with the prince of Dorne, Lord Wyl gave him a key to Aemon’s cage which was suspended over a pit of vipers. Baelor, feeling that the gods would protect him, fearlessly stepped into the pit. This resulted to him being bitten by the vipers (sources differ ranging from half a dozen to half a hundred) and collapsed after he opened the cage. He remained unconscious until Aemon carred him to House Baratheon and even then he only fully recovered after more than half a year passed.

Some lords were speculating that Baelor’s later erratic decisions were due to the vipers’ venom affecting his mind. It can’t be proven that this was the case but it’s true that after Baelor returned to Kings Landing he made a lot of questionable decisions.

First of all, he resolved his marriage to his sister, Daena and placed her alongside their other two sisters in the Maidenvault claiming that it would prevent any carnal thoughts. His obsession with purity can be also found on his decisions to outlaw prostitution and to exempt lords from taxes if they protected their daughters' virtue through chastity belts. The list of his questionable decisions also include forcing Lord Belgrave to wash the feet of a leper and burning books he deemed immoral.

Also, it is interesting to note that when the High Septon died, Baelor choose a simple stonemason called Pate as the replacement because he thought that the gods told him so. After his death, he made an eight years old street urine the new High Septon because he claimed that the boy could perform miracles.

In the end his demise came by starving himself to death. Some people don’t believe that Baelor was the one responsible for his own death and put the blame to his Hand and uncle Viserys. In either case, his death served the good of Westeros because otherwise his beliefs would have lead towards a war between those worshiping the Old Gods and the Drown God and those who were believers of the Seven.

3. RHAEGEL TARGARYEN

He’s only a minor character in the Mystery Knight novella, but he makes a strong impression to the reader since the first mention of him (if I remember correctly) is about how he was dancing naked in the Red Keep. This also proves that he wasn’t the sanest person. The book describes him as weak minded and touched by madness.

4. AERION TARGARYEN

He’s also known as Aerion the Monstrous but he liked to call himself Aerion Brightflame. He stars in one of Bran Stark’s favourite tales "The Prince Who Thought He Was a Dragon". As the title of the tale indicates, Aeron was convinced he was an actual dragon so he drank wildfire in order to be transformed into one. And as anyone can guess, he died screaming.

According to Raymun Fossoway while the prince acted quite noble in front of his father, he revealed his monster self when he was around other people. Even his own brother, Daeron, described him as “quite the monster”. Similarly, his other brother, Aegon, despised him, because Aerion bullied him all his young life going as far as putting a knife to Aegon’s genitals once and joking about removing them.

5. AERYS II TARGARYEN

He’s the most infamous mad Targaryen king something that it is indicated even by his nickname being the Mad King. However, he wasn’t insane by birth. He slowly descended into madness as the years passed.

A factor that greatly affected the King and perhaps helped to prompt his insanity was his Queen Rhaella’s stillbirths, miscarriages and the births of two princes who soon died. While Aerys was at first sympathetic towards his sister-wife’s case, later he accused her of being unfaithful and confined her in Maegor’s Holdfast. He even went as far to humiliating her as to order two septas to sleep in her bed with her so he could be certain that she remained faithful.

His madness was lessened once the Queen Rhaella gave birth to a healthy boy, Jaehaerys. However, it was short lived as Jaehaerys died later the same year and Aerys put the blame for his son’s death to his wet nurse and had the woman beheaded. Later on, he decided that his mistress was to blame and put her and her entire family through torture and eventually had all of them executed.

When the Queen Rhaella gave birth to another boy, Viserys the king became more paranoid fearing that his son would follow the same fate as Jaehaerys and the two princes that were born before him. That’s why, no one could touch the boy without the King’s permission, not even the Queen. He even commanded his own food taster to suckle at the teats of the prince’s wet nurse to make sure that there was no poison in them.

While signs of his madness were already obvious, his insanity only peaked after the Defiance of Duskendale incident. Aerys decided against his Hand’s (Tywin Lannister) council to accept Lord Darklyn’s invitation to come to his castle and discuss about a new charter and traveled to Duskendale with only a small force. That unwise act of his, lead to him becoming a prisoner of the Darklyns. Tywin Lannister laid a siege to the town but the King was freed only after six months of imprisonment.

Those months had a huge impact on him, feeding his already existing paranoia. Signs that shown his paranoia include: destroying House Darklyn and House Holland by burning their members alive (with the exception of Dontos Holland), believing that Tywin Lannister had assassinated Lord Steffon Baratheon, not attending his son’s Rhaegar’s wedding and neither letting his other son, Viserys, to attend because he was afraid that either of them could be assassinated, becoming so fascinated by wildfire that only used that as the way of executing traitors and finally becoming unable to be aroused if he hadn’t watched someone burned alive first.

Even his appearance reflected his troubled mind. He was described as someone who looked much older than his actual age and he was very thin because he only ate a little as a result of his phobia for poisoning. His beard was dirty and his hair was matted. Also, he had developed a phobia of blades and thus he refused to have his hair or his nails trimmed.

Aerys not only was an insane King but also the one who held the most responsibility for his House’s demise. Not only his actions made many Lords wanting to overthrown him but by killing both Rickard and Brandon Stark and wanting the heads of Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon to be presented to him, he marked the beginning of Robert’s Rebellion.

6. VISERYS TARGARYEN

In Visery’s case I’m a bit reluctant to call him mad. I believe that his difficult upbringing brought out the bad traits of him, but being narcissist, violent and abusive doesn’t necessarily mean that he was insane, just that he had a shitty personality.

According to Daenerys, Viserys was driven mad because of all the difficulties he faced on their exile.

[... ]She hated it, as her brother must have. All those years of running from city to city one step ahead of the Usurper's knives, pleading for help from archons and princes and magisters, buying our food with flattery. He must have known how they mocked him. Small wonder he turned so angry and bitter. In the end it had driven him mad[...].

Also, according to Ser Barristan Selmy Viserys showed signs of being mad like his father, even from his childhood:

[...]...even as a child, your brother Viserys oft seemed to be his father's son, in ways that Rhaegar never did." "His father's son?" Dany frowned. "What does that mean?" The old knight did not blink. "Your father is called 'the Mad King' in Westeros. Has no one ever told you?"

It seems that Ilyrio Mopatis also shared the opinion that Viserys took after his father in terms of sanity.

"Viserys was Mad Aerys's son, just so. Daenerys … Daenerys is quite different”

So, I guess I’ll have to trust those people’s judgement and thus why I included Viserys to the mad Targaryens list.

#house targaryen #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #targaryen meta #maegor i targaryen #baelor i targaryen #rhaegel targaryen #aerion targaryen #aerys ii targaryen #viserys targaryen #the Targaryens are the most fascinating House to analyse about #mymeta

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real-jane · 4 years

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Carousel-of-May (Drabble-a-Day, May 2020)

Day 20 - Conflict of Interest

His testimony lasted for nearly an hour. He spoke clearly, and his words echoed up in the high-gabled ceiling of the courtroom. Most barristers make closing remarks on behalf of their clients, but no amount of flowery legal language could say what Draco felt in his heart. His statement wrapped up thusly:

When I was nine years old, my father became pledged to a man we have come to know as Voldemort—but their acquaintance stretched back much further. My father has been embroiled with the deeds of Tom Riddle since he framed Rubeus Hagrid. My mother was not aware of my father’s involvement back in those days, but it has come to light in this court that he has been an orchestrator of dark acts for almost four decades, at the behest of his master.

One of those acts was fathering a son.

I am the sole heir to the Malfoy line, which was built on the backs of muggle-born witches and wizards. My inheritance was written in blood. My father used my mother to secure the legacy of his bigotry, and used me to attack the children of people who opposed him. I have been a tool of his abuse, and a victim of it. But I am not without guilt.

I took the dark mark when I was old enough to know better. I was brainwashed, you can be sure, but I knew what it meant to bear the skull and serpent tattoo, and I will have to bear it until my body is one day cremated, as punishment for my actions.

I have killed no one. I have harmed many. I owe countless apologies to my peers. There is one person to whom I have done the most harm, and to whom this legacy of poison can never be explained or atoned for. Myself.

I have kept myself from knowing love. From developing friendships with people who would have cared for me. From pursuing an education which might have liberated me from my father’s influence. I have kept myself from my mother’s bedside as she lay dying, and kept myself from grieving her after she passed. All this because my father made me believe I could not give or receive affection without violence. The one thing I cannot do is sit by and allow my father, Lucius Malfoy, to continue existing on this planet.

Every meal he is afforded is a meal denied to a wizard he killed. While I believe I do not have it in me to take the life of anyone unless they threatened someone I love… I do not have a family to protect. Nobody loves me. So, I have to protect my legacy and my family name and prevent my bloodline from ever continuing. I will not father children. The Malfoy line ends with me. A fish rots from the head. He, my father, is the head. His death will bring peace to several generations of wizards, just as Voldemort’s death brought peace to mine.

I request he be killed swiftly, and his death not be prolonged by last meals or any bounty of mercy. If he is afforded any rights at all, let him make his confession to a Muggle priest, perhaps the only living soul who could believe there is good in him.

I can live with the death of my father. It will pain me, what he did to me, until my memory goes. I hope I live long enough to forget him.

Thank you.

There was a heady silence in the court as Draco sat down again, but she leaned over and squeezed his knee in reassurance. “You did well,” she whispered. He nodded curtly, patting her hand.

The court did not take long to deliberate and in the end, the sentence was passed.

Lucius Malfoy would hang by the neck until dead.

It was only right that a man who so hated the Muggle world should have a Muggle coward’s death. An old-fashioned death, the kind which was exacted on petty thieves back before prisons existed large enough to hold petty offenders. Except his crimes weren’t petty, and Azkaban was too luxurious for the likes of him.

Draco slumped down in his seat. Lucius Malfoy was taken away in chains by the Azkaban guards, and the crowd filtered out of the room, leaving only Draco, his council, and a handful of court reporters, who he had agreed to speak to after the trial had concluded. He stood behind the defense table and pressed his hands to the wood.

His council held up her hands to quiet the tiny throng. “Mister Malfoy will take one question apiece, so make them count.”

“Mister Malfoy!”

“Go ahead, Jameson,” his companion said.

The man in brilliant yellow robes stood with a notepad and Quick Quotes Quill poised. “The court ruled in your favor. How are you feeling?”

Draco cleared his throat. “Justice has been done, and I believe it will be a relief to many.”

“Why did you give the closing remarks instead of Ms. Granger?” another reporter asked, a woman named Marissa from a small gossip rag.

He glanced at Hermione Granger, who was standing pensively beside him, appearing strong and unbending as she had always done, since the day he came to her asking for help. “Would you like me to answer?” she asked. He shook his head.

“While Ms. Granger has always represented my interests above and beyond the call of duty, I felt it necessary for the court to understand that Lucius Malfoy’s crimes cannot be summarized on paper, nor can they be considered in any way inconsequential to my family’s legacy.” He shrugged. “No one is able to tell my story but Me. Even if they are as eloquent as Ms. Granger.”

Rita Skeeter held up a clawed hand. “Are you open to dating now that your trial is over, Mister Malfoy? And if so, may I tell my readers we have an eligible bachelor on our hands?”

He blushed. “That is one facet of my life to which you shall never be privy, Miss Skeeter.”

“So that’s a yes, then.” She winked and Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Any questions pertaining to the actual trial?” Hermione did roll her eyes, and he was greatly amused.

A man stood, this time wearing becoming tweed robes with a jaunty hat and a mustache to match. “My question is for Ms. Granger: why did you take on this case in particular?”

Draco felt her tense up. “Surely that is something your readers don’t care about,” Draco said.

“On the contrary. I feel my readers will want to know how a member of the golden trio came to represent a former Death Eater.” Giles Gibbons was known for his direct and honest questioning, which always flowed freely from him, as if his extemporaneous thoughts were tightly organized in his head—he was neither disrespectful nor coddling. Which is why Draco suddenly felt quite self-conscious that Hermione might be required to answer such a personal question. She wasn’t the one on trial. She was his council. An incredible barrister, to be sure, but she was not under sentencing. The fact he had bullied her up until third year and been a part of a murderous cult was not a factor in their working relationship… was it?

Hermione sighed. “Mister Gibbons, while I appreciate your frankness and fluidity, which is indeed an admirable quality in a fountain pen, I don’t believe it is my responsibility to answer why I, an experienced barrister and woman of integrity, would take on a worthy case. You may think you understand what those words mean—former Death-Eater. Golden Trio.—you did not live through the origins of them. For me to try to explain to you why Draco Malfoy is worthy of defending... He had a case, he came to me, I said yes. That’s all you need to know.”

Draco tried to pry his jaw off the floor. Yes, he was grateful to her for all she had done to help him, but he had figured she had done it out of some misplaced sense of duty… and not because she really believed his case worthy of defending. His heart leapt.

“That’s all the questions we’ll take for now.” Hermione took the blank look on Draco’s face to mean that any further questioning would prove fruitless. “If you have other questions you’d like for Mister Malfoy to speak to, you may send them to my office. Thank you.”

She gripped his elbow and tugged him away from the reporters, who murmured lowly amongst themselves. Draco strode to keep up with her but even in her stilettos, she wildly out-paced him. She stepped into the lifts well ahead of him and Draco had to dive through the doors to make it inside. Once they reached the main floor of the Ministry, she kept up the grueling pace until they were outside in the smoggy London air, and he could finally grab her elbow, yanking her out of the crosswalk and the path of a shiny black cab. She collided with his chest.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed. “I’m a bit touchy.”

He released her, and she brushed her hands down the front of her robes. “Well.” He breathed out. “That’s over. I’m… relieved.”

“Good,” she peeped. She didn’t look at him, choosing instead to sit on the steps of a small monument to some inconsequential Muggle royal, which was a few blocks away from the secret entrance to the Ministry.

“Are you… alright?” Draco stood at the base of the steps.

Hermione curled up her fingers into her palms. “We… won. We won. And still Gibbons insinuates defending you makes me some kind of saint! As if—UGH! As if you’re less of a person, and nothing your father did matters because… I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m so mad. What a piece of shit.” She clearly wanted to scream or something. Draco reached for her shoulder before he could stop himself. He grasped it and squeezed. When she looked up at him, her eyes were shining with frustrated tears.

“Please don’t cry,” he said softly, sitting beside her. “I cannot bear it. I… do think you’re a saint. For taking my case on, for helping me write my remarks and gathering so much evidence against my father.” He laughed. “Hell, if it weren’t for you, we never would’ve found three-quarters of our witnesses. You’ve got dogged determination, and I could not have done any of this without you.” His hand slid down her arm to her elbow. “You’ve spent the last six months of dinners discussing this case over Chinese food and formatting theories—I’m sure you’re long past ready to have normal cases again.”

She leaned into his touch. “I’m not, Draco. I’m not ready.” Hermione took his hand. “This case has been everything to me.”

“I understand.” But he didn’t, really. Not in the same way.

She nudged him with her shoulder. “Fuck what Jameson asked. What are you really feeling?”

Draco looked away.

Well?

He felt... like he had a weight pulling from his sternum which would eventually cause him to hunch like an old man long before his body truly gave out on him.

Like everything he had worked for was finished, and so… now what?

Like his mother would be proud of him, and missing her so much that the thought of her sprung tears in his eyes--if only she could be there with him.

He felt feverish.

He felt sad.

He felt high on accomplishment.

He felt hungry.

He felt hot and desperate to be touched and fuck if he wasn’t ready to unbutton his collar and breathe again.

“Too much to properly articulate.” He touched his top button but did not undo it.

She nodded once. “May I say something, not as your barrister… but--” she stopped. She looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow, but she took that as permission to continue. “I can’t listen to you talk anymore about having nobody. I can’t listen to it because I’ve spent the last six months--what is that? A hundred and… eighty days, or so?--caring very much about what you need.” She grazed his cheek. “I’ve represented some real gems, which happens when you start out as a public defender, and I am proud of the work that I did. But I failed you, because… it is not your best interest I have had in mind. It’s mine.

“Draco… do you not see how much you matter? To me? Don’t you feel it? If you don’t, it’s fine, I can live with that, but… you can’t spend the rest of your life believing nobody cares about you or what happens to you.” She searched his eyes, but he was too stunned to react. All he could do was stare at her. Hermione touched his cheek again and smiled sadly. “Alright. Well. Now you know, and… I should go. I don’t remember what it’s like to have a night off,” she said with a light laugh, tinged in sadness. They had truly spent nearly every single evening together working on his case… He had come to depend on the doorbell ringing at four pm, which signified she was waiting with takeout in one hand and an armful of files. She always had a determined smile on her face. She always forced him to peruse her latest finding before cracking open the reusable container with his food inside, and they marked the end of every evening with a glass of scotch. The next morning, her owl would appear with a scroll summarizing what they had discussed the night prior, and a promise she was looking into this thing or that, and she’d show him her findings that night--and did he want Chinese again, or would Indian do? The realization settled in him, and Draco did unbutton the collar of his shirt, then. He was sweating.

She was the part of his day he looked forward to the most. He would wait on a knife’s point for four o’clock to roll around, snapping at his assistant when she disturbed his anxious reverie, and the moment Hermione stepped inside his apartment, he would let out a breath that had been choking him all day long. He set his watch by her.

He dreamed about her.

He noticed when her hair was different, when she picked a new lipstick. He noticed when she shifted on her heels because her feet were aching because she had been standing beside him all day at the preliminary hearings. Everything about her was attuned in his mind.

“I think I love you,” he realized out loud, before the thought could bounce around in his brain long enough to decide if it was right to say. He stood abruptly and held out a hand to her. Her hand was shaking, but she took it, and Draco pulled her up. He walked down one step so she was eye-to-eye with him. “No… I know it. For certain.”

Hermione smiled softly. She touched the skin at his throat where his button used to sit, tracing the circular indent there. His Adam’s apple jumped. “You don’t have to say that.” She sounded desperately sad.

“I do. I can’t hide things from you, and I don’t want you to represent me anymore.”

Her eyes were teary again--why was she so sad? “Why not?” she sniffed.

“Conflict of interest.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I love you, Hermione.”

As the realization passed over her face that he was being honest, that he felt the weight of her words, she smiled brightly, and the tears streaming down her cheeks became happy ones. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her jaw, and hugged her off her feet. She laughed as her shoes fell to the ground with a clatter, and he spun her around. When he set her on her feet again, she barely came up to his chest, so he bent down to kiss her again, which was all he really wanted to do.

“Why are you so short?” he teased. She wrinkled her nose.

“That’s rich coming from a behemoth.” She put her arms around his neck and linked her fingers. “Say it again?”

Draco straightened, forcing her to stand on her tip-toes on his shoes. He brushed her hair off her face, which he had dislodged in the spin of his declaration. “I lied to the court, but I did so unconsciously. There is one person for whom I would kill, and who I know, without her having to say it, because her actions have proven it--loves me. And it’s you. Please don’t leave me tonight, or any night hereafter.”

Hermione nodded. She inclined her head to kiss him, and smiled wryly. “So. What should we get for dinner?”

“Ms. Granger, for once, let me feed you.”

It was a lot, he had to admit, to contend with in one day. There was a heaviness in him, for the finality of his father’s life and the end of the trial, but one thing would remain constant in his life. It was more than he could ever have hoped for.

Her.

Read the rest of the drabbles here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957782/chapters/57620938

#dramione #draco malfoy #hermione granger #draco and hermione #realjane #dramione fanfiction #my babes #thesuperjane #author: realjane

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ennergetics · 7 years

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grimalkin iii (a scarred silver/omegaverse au adventure featuring kang daniel and panwink)

(image credit)

pairing: panwink, kang daniel x healer! reader genre: fantasy, angst summary: You’re on a mission to save Kang Daniel, but at what cost? warnings: some violence, major character death (gratuitous panwink, tbh!! if it gets confusing, feel free to drop me an ask because i’ve gotten way too invested in this verse.)

GRIMALKIN: one | two | three || untrouble

you open your eyes and find that you’re back at the top of the tower, your head on daniel’s chest

now you’re even more determined to do something to save him, to see that bright smile in the world of flesh and blood

you tell boa everything you’ve learned, and soon you discover the name of the stablehand who’d become daniel’s alpha

seongwu was an orphan who was adopted by a washerwoman at the castle

he was trained to be a stablehand and practically grew up with daniel

everyone thought daniel’s father would choose seongwu to lead his army but he chose daniel instead

six months ago he disappeared, but since daniel said nothing, neither did anyone else

he left behind an old shirt, one marked with his scent that boa can use to find him so long as he’s still on the same landmass

while she hunts for him, however, she puts you in charge of completing the blood pact among you, jihoon, and guanlin

“it’ll bind you to jihoon by guanlin’s power,” boa says as she helps you set up the ritual back at the boys’ cottage, and she adds, “your instinct will tell you what to do, but tell jihoon it begins with the words, ‘i swear to protect your omega by the blood that runs through my veins.’”

later, you’re talking to jihoon, but guanlin has his arms around jihoon and won’t let go

“hyung, you don’t have to do this,” guanlin says, his brow furrowed, “who knows what might happen in the future, especially if Y/N continues to be that witch’s apprentice?”

you ignore the fact that your mate talks about you as if you aren’t there, finishing the marks on the ground and listening to them speak

“i have to,” jihoon says firmly, “especially because i dragged her into this mess in the first place.”

the three of you sit in silence until new moon comes, watching as daehwi, jinyoung, and woojin patrol around the cottage like sentinels

the blood pact is an intimate affair, and you clasp jihoon’s hand in yours, your mark pressed onto his palm, as you stand behind your alpha

gently, you arrange jihoon so he’s facing you, his chest pressed against guanlin’s chest, asking guanlin to bend his knees so the silver rune touches jihoon’s exposed shoulder

guanlin shudders when jihoon begins to speak, his breath warm against guanlin’s neck

“i swear to protect your omega by the blood that runs through my veins,” jihoon murmurs, “i live as she lives and dies as she dies.”

and he slumps forward as if the energy has gone out of him

guanlin catches him easily, holding him up by the waist, and you see jihoon’s shoulder begin to glow

your palm, bare of any aconite oil, pulsates with a strange energy, and you feel something move from your hand to his

it’s like the breath’s been punched from your lungs, and you look to guanlin to see if he’s been affected

his eyes are drooping, but they’re focused on jihoon, and jihoon lifts his head to look guanlin in the eye, his expression tender

you all fall to the ground with a thud, your limbs like jelly, and woojin rushes in

“we’re alright,” you say weakly before falling into a deep sleep

you wake up to boa shaking you, the birds outside chirping

“i’ve found him,” she says, “but he knows i’m looking for him because he caught my scent.”

boa hands you a map and a vial of aconite oil, along with a dagger

“you’ll need to slice at the rune on his neck and rub the aconite oil deep into the wound. that’ll sever the connection between them and give daniel his energy back,” she says, adding a warning, “but you, guanlin, and jihoon will have to be careful, as your bodies are weak, especially guanlin’s.”

“we’re not going with her,” guanlin says stubbornly, and boa makes a tsking noise

“would you risk letting your beta die?” she says, raising an eyebrow. “the words said during a blood pact are binding, and i’m sure he swore his and Y/N’s lives intertwined.”

guanlin trudges behind you as you and jihoon follow the map, but he would never let you two go alone

you’re a little over halfway there when the sun sets and you set up camp for the night

you take first watch, trying not to feel lonely when jihoon and guanlin fall into an easy sleep, guanlin’s arm thrown over jihoon’s shoulders

jihoon wakes up three hours later, and you curl up on your blanket and dream of a boy with a wide smile that makes his eyes crinkle, his laughter bright as the morning sun

you arrive at the spot boa marked on the map by late afternoon

it’s familiar, and you recognize it as the place where you saw daniel in his dreams

when you spot a man with three moles on his cheeks, the memory of daniel’s nearly lifeless body flashes before your eyes, and you don’t even think

you rush up to him, pulling out the dagger, but he sees you before you reach him

in front of you is the largest wolf you’ve seen in your life, and at his neck is a silver mark just like the one on daniel’s palm

you see red, and suddenly you’re moving quickly, pouncing on him

you reach out to slice at his mark and realize that you’re no longer holding the dagger, instead swiping at him with grey paws

the sight of your body, suddenly transformed into that of a leopard, is jarring, and seongwu takes that moment of shock and uses it to slice at your belly, growling

you whimper, the pain coursing through your body

and jihoon shifts before your eyes, turning into a feral boar, its tusks large and terrifying

jihoon charges at seongwu and pushes him away, turning the wolf’s attention to him

you know a boar’s skin is thick, so any attack seongwu tries on jihoon will be less effective than he thinks

but guanlin doesn’t seem to know that

and he takes the vial of aconite oil, spreading it all over his hands and arms before placing the rest of it in his mouth

he transforms into a black wolf, jumping on seongwu and sending him against a tree

seongwu manages to bite guanlin’s arm, and though you can see it hurts guanlin greatly, he keeps his mouth shut, still trying to swipe at seongwu’s mark

guanlin manages to claw at seongwu’s neck, and he spits out the aconite oil, watching as seongwu’s pupils widen and he falls away, unconscious

his body seems to shrink as the seconds pass, but you and jihoon pay him no mind, your eyes on guanlin, who’s shifted back to his human form

guanlin is covered in wounds, and though you try to push energy through the your link, you can’t feel him there

jihoon carries guanlin on his back and the two of you rush back to the castle, not stopping even though your feline limbs grow tired

you return to find daniel alive and well, but for the moment, you cannot celebrate

daniel pulls you into his arms as you cry silently, watching as jihoon and the rest of the boys dig guanlin’s grave

“stupid boy, brave boy,” jihoon says, the earth beneath him turning dark as each tear falls

when guanlin is buried beneath the dirt, you stand in silence as boa murmurs holy words and each one says farewell

jihoon goes last, mourning the death of his best friend, the one whom he never admitted he loved.

#wanna one scenarios #wanna one imagines #panwink #kang Daniel imagines #kang Daniel scenarios #daniel fic #bulletpoint fic #verse: scarred silver #mine #[ i take requests !! ]#daniel #w1 #bps: omega au daniel #panwink fic #mywriting

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twogethernewlifect · 6 years

Text

10 Reasons Small Fights Become Big

The difference between healthy marriages and unhealthy marriages is not the volume of conflict, but the intensity of each encounter.

Two couples can squabble over the same issue. The first couple experiences the disagreement, confronts the issue, and within a short period of time it is as though the conflict never occurred. The second couple can face the same tension, but that frustration explodes in intensity, and years later one spouse can still remember the painful fight.

Why can the same issue be a minor blip on the radar of one couple and be a major explosion within the relationship for another couple?

The Difference Is Meekness.

Healthy couples operate with meekness which cushions the relationship in the midst of tense moments. Meekness is a word which was used with great regularity until the last century. As the divorce rate has exploded, the use of the word "meek" has greatly declined. It's a symbolic illustration of what is wrong with marriage. As meekness becomes foreign to us, conflict becomes common.

Tension is certain to arise within a relationship. Disagreements are had. Conflicting opinions are held. Wrongs are done. Conflict within a relationship cannot (and should not) be avoided. Yet it must be handled properly. While no one fights perfectly, healthy couples handle conflict in a restrained way. They fight within boundaries. They communicate with guardrails. They become more thoughtful when the tensions rise.

Restraint causes a couple to:

Stay on topic

Refuse to make the issue personal

Choose words wisely

Seek to solve the issue rather than win the argument

Work to understand as much as to be understood

Admit mistakes

Apologize

Overly communicate love and affection

Restraint Is An Example Of Meekness.

Meekness is not weakness. Pride has such an elevated standing in our culture that we often assume meekness is a negative quality. We confuse it with being weak, but meekness implies strength. Restraint assumes strength. It is power under control. It is strength which humbly submits itself.

Whenever a healthy couple experiences conflict, their frustration doesn't trump their wedding vows. They promised to love one another and even in the midst of disagreement, they continue to love. They submit their desire to be right on an issue to the greater purpose of being in the right with one another.

This doesn't mean they avoid a topic. If anything, meekness actually causes a couple to have more tension because meekness cannot remain quiet when a problem arises. It doesn't allow someone to be passive aggressive or manipulative. Meekness causes a spouse to speak, but it greatly influences how they speak. They may have the ability to have a sharp tongue, but in the moment their tongue is restrained. They may have the wit to win any argument, but they restrict their minds from being used improperly. They may have information which could hurt the other, but they view that information as off limits.

Love restrains us. It keeps us from using our strength for the disservice of our spouses. My strength should forever be used for the benefit of my spouse, never for her detriment. Meekness keeps my strength under control.

Unhealthy couples aren't meek. Whenever an argument appears, they do whatever it takes to win. A continual game of one ups-manship is played as each spouse tries to injure the other even more. A wife's tone is improper so the husband speaks louder. As he begins to yell, his wife's words become more personal. As she attacks him, he becomes angrier. His anger enrages her. Both partners negatively feed off of one another as the tension rises.

What begins as a tension about a specific issue, quickly grows into a fight over a variety of topics. Multiple issues are brought up as every past hurt or mistake is used as a weapon to injure the other. It's not unusual for a fight to grow to such an extent that the couple forgets what caused the original disagreement. All they know is how bad they hurt and how much they desire for the other to feel the same pain.

In unhealthy couples, neither spouse ever lessens the tension. Every action escalates the emotions. Because of this, little fights become major. Small disagreements threaten the relationship. And fighting becomes unbearable.

For this reason, some couples stop fighting. They can't take it. Issues are ignored. Words go unspoken. Hearts are hidden. It's understandable, but unfortunate. Other couples continue to fight. Each disagreement runs the risk of being the last, but they don't know how to stop. Every scenario has the potential to cause a major explosion. Meanwhile, healthy couples experience the same conflict about similar issues, but they gently navigate them without any lasting negative impact on their relationship. The primary difference is the presence of meekness. They learn the skills necessary to stay under control, to fight wisely, and to love even when they disagree.

If the tension rises, they step out of the specific issue and reiterate the big picture-how much they love one another. If someone's tone is wrong, they recognize the danger and soften their words. If another issue is brought up, they acknowledge that is another discussion for another time, but they come back to the original topic which began the conflict. If a personal attack is made, they call the attack "out of bounds" and remind one another what is acceptable and unacceptable in the midst of disagreement. If they are unable to fight as they should, they take a timeout, but always come back and finish the conversation. Because they fight in a restrained way, the argument always stays within its proper context. A small fight stays small. A little disagreement doesn't hurt the relationship.

10 Reasons Small Fights Become Big

If small fights often become big fights in your relationship, consider:

1. Do you move from the topic at hand to some other issue-often a past conflict?

2. Do you attack one another rather than the issue?

3. Do you try to win the argument at all costs?

4. Do you say whatever comes to mind rather than restraining your words?

5. Do you retaliate when you feel your spouse has hurt you?

6. Do you threaten actions like divorce or violence?

7. Do you belittle your partner and disrespect them?

8. Do you talk at your spouse more than you listen to them?

9. Do you blame your spouse and refuse to take any personal responsibility for the situation?

10. Do you storm in and out of conversations without explanation?

If you answered yes to any of these, it shows an absence of meekness.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

As always, we pray our "shared" thoughts will evoke feelings of love and togetherness not spark the flames of fury, pray together, love together, and yes even learn to "Fight-Together"

See You in Church

Mark & Deb

Heavenly Father, teach us to love the way that we should-a husband and wife who are willing to give more than they get. Grant us the virtue of patience when we're frustrated with each other. Remind us to be kind regardless of our circumstances, and to be gentle when we're stressed out. Help us to use our words in ways that edify and encourage each other, and give us the strength to hold our tongues when we should. It's easy to love when life is going our way, but so often we're challenged. Time and again, our love is put to the test. We ask for Your strength during these times of testing, help us to fight for our marriage and to always choose love. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

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catholicwatertown · 7 years

Text

Pope Francis addresses Egypt's civil authorities: Full text

(Vatican Radio) Full text of Pope Francis address to Government Authorities and the Diplomatic Corps.

Click here to see our report.

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Government Authorities and the Diplomatic Corps

Heliopolis, Egypt

28 April 2017

Mr President,

Honourable Members of Government and Parliament, Distinguished Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!

I thank you, Mr President, for your cordial words of greeting and for your kind invitation to visit your beloved country. I have vivid memories of your visit to Rome in November 2014, my fraternal meeting with his Holiness Pope Tawadros II in 2013, and my meeting last year with the Grand Imam of the University of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyib.

I am happy to be here in Egypt, a land of ancient and noble civilization, whose vestiges we can admire even today; in their majestic splendour they appear to withstand the passing of time. This land is significant for the history of humanity and for the Church’s tradition, not only because of its prestigious past – that of Pharaohs, Copts and Muslims – but also because so many of the Patriarchs lived in Egypt or passed through it. Indeed, Egypt is often mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. In this land, God spoke and “revealed his name to Moses” (JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, 24 February 2000: Insegnamenti XXIII, 1 [2000], 248), and on Mount Sinai he entrusted to his people and to all humanity the divine Commandments. On Egyptian soil the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph found refuge and hospitality.

The generous hospitality shown more than two thousand years ago remains in the collective memory of humanity and is a source of abundant blessings that continue to expand. As a result, Egypt is a land that in some sense we all feel to be our own! As you say, “Misr um al-dunya” – “Egypt is the mother of the world”. Today too, this land welcomes millions of refugees from different countries, including Sudan, Eritrea, Syria and Iraq, refugees whom you make praiseworthy efforts to integrate into Egyptian society.

Thanks to its history and its particular geographical location, Egypt has a unique role to play in the Middle East and among those countries seeking solutions to pressing and complex problems that need to be faced now in order to avoid the spread of worse violence. I am speaking of the blind and brutal violence caused by different factors: sheer desire for power, the arms trade, grave social problems and that religious extremism which uses the Holy Name of God to carry out unprecedented atrocities and injustices.

This destiny and role of Egypt are also the reason that led the people to call for an Egypt where no one lacks bread, freedom and social justice. Certainly this aim will become a reality if all are willing, together, to turn words into actions, authentic aspirations into commitments, written laws into enforced laws, by drawing on the innate genius of the Egyptian people.

Egypt thus has a singular task, namely, to strengthen and consolidate regional peace even as it is assaulted on its own soil by senseless acts of violence. Such acts of violence have caused unjust suffering to so many families – some of them are present among us – who mourn their sons and daughters.

I think in a particular way of all those individuals who in recent years have given their lives to protect your country: young people, members of the armed forces and police, Coptic citizens and all those nameless victims of various forms of terrorist extremism. I think also of the murders and the threats that have led to an exodus of Christians from northern Sinai. I express my gratitude to the civil and religious authorities and to all those who have offered welcome and assistance to these persons who have suffered so greatly. I also think of the victims of the attacks on Coptic churches, both last December and more recently in Tanta and Alexandria. To the members of their families, and to all of Egypt, I offer my heartfelt condolences and my prayers that the Lord will grant speedy healing to the injured.

Mr President, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I can only encourage the bold efforts being made to complete a number of national projects and the many initiatives of peace-making, both within the country and beyond its borders, aimed at that development in prosperity and peace which its people desire and deserve.

Development, prosperity and peace are essential goods that merit every sacrifice. They are also goals that demand hard work, conviction and commitment, adequate planning and, above all, unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression, without any distinction (cf. Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Chapter 3) . Goals, too, that require special consideration for the role of women, young people, the poor and the sick. Ultimately, true development is measured by concern for human beings, who are the heart of all development: concern for their education, health and dignity. The greatness of any nation is revealed in its effective care of society’s most vulnerable members – women, children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and minorities – lest any person or social group be excluded or marginalized.

In the fragile and complex situation of today’s world, which I have described as “a world war being fought piecemeal”, it needs to be clearly stated that no civilized society can be built without repudiating every ideology of evil, violence and extremism that presumes to suppress others and to annihilate diversity by manipulating and profaning the Sacred Name of God. Mr President, you have spoken of this often and on various occasions, with a clarity that merits attention and appreciation.

All of us have the duty to teach coming generations that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not need to be protected by men; indeed, it is he who protects them. He never desires the death of his children, but rather their life and happiness. He can neither demand nor justify violence; indeed, he detests and rejects violence (“God… hates the lover of violence”: Ps 11:5). The true God calls to unconditional love, gratuitous pardon, mercy, absolute respect for every life, and fraternity among his children, believers and nonbelievers alike.

It is our duty to proclaim together that history does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practice injustice. History does not forgive those who talk about equality, but then discard those who are different. It is our duty to unmask the peddlers of illusions about the afterlife, those who preach hatred in order to rob the simple of their present life and their right to live with dignity, and who exploit others by taking away their ability to choose freely and to believe responsibly. It is our duty to dismantle deadly ideas and extremist ideologies, while upholding the incompatibility of true faith and violence, of God and acts of murder.

History instead honours men and women of peace, who courageously and non-violently strive to build a better world: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).

Egypt, in the days of Joseph, saved other peoples from famine (cf. Gen 47:57); today it is called to save this beloved region from a famine of love and fraternity. It is called to condemn and vanquish all violence and terrorism. It is called to pour out the grain of peace upon all hearts that hunger for peaceful coexistence, dignified employment and humane education. Egypt, in building peace and at the same time combatting terrorism, is called to give proof that “al-din lillah wal watan liljami” – religion belongs to God and the nation to all”, as the motto of the Revolution of 23 July 1952 states. Egypt is called to demonstrate that it is possible to believe and live in harmony with others, sharing with them fundamental human values and respecting the freedom and the faith of all (cf. Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Article 5). Egypt has a special role to play in this regard, so that this region, the cradle of the three great religions, can and indeed will awake from the long night of tribulation, and once more radiate the supreme values of justice and fraternity that are the solid foundation and the necessary path to peace (cf. Message for the 2014 World Day of Peace, 4). From great nations, one can expect no less!

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was one of the first Arab countries to establish such relations. Those relations have always been characterized by friendship, esteem and reciprocal cooperation. It is my hope that my Visit may help to consolidate and strengthen them.

Peace is a gift of God, but also the work of man. It is a good that must be built up and protected, respecting the principle that upholds the force of law and not the law of force (cf. Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace, 1). Peace for this beloved country! Peace for this whole region, and particularly for Palestine and Israel, for Syria, for Libya, Yemen, for Iraq, for South Sudan. Peace to all people of good will!

Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to greet with affection and a paternal embrace all the Egyptian people, who are symbolically present in this hall. I also greet my Christian sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, who live in this country: Coptic Orthodox, Greek Byzantines, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics. May Saint Mark, the evangelizer of this land, watch over you and help all of us to build and achieve the unity so greatly desired by our Lord (cf. Jn 17:20-23). Your presence in this, your country, is not new or accidental, but ancient and an inseparable part of the history of Egypt. You are an integral part of this country, and over the course of the centuries you have developed a sort of unique rapport, a particular symbiosis, which can serve as an example to other nations. You have shown, and continue to show, that it is possible to live together in mutual respect and fairness, finding in difference a source of richness and never a motive of conflict (cf. BENEDICT XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 24 and 25).

Thank you for your warm welcome. I ask the Almighty and One God to fill all the Egyptian people with his divine blessings. May he grant peace and prosperity, progress and justice to Egypt, and bless all her children!

“Blessed be Egypt my people”, says the Lord in the Book of Isaiah (19:25).

Shukran wa tahya misr! Thank you and long live Egypt!

(from Vatican Radio) from News.va http://ift.tt/2oThMq5 via IFTTT from Blogger http://ift.tt/2pcXKcr

#Blogger

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pope-francis-quotes · 7 years

Text

28th April >> Pope Francis' Full Speech to Egyptian Authorities

Mr President, Honourable Members of Government and Parliament, Distinguished Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen, As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you! I thank you, Mr President, for your cordial words of greeting and for your kind invitation to visit your beloved country. I have vivid memories of your visit to Rome in November 2014, my fraternal meeting with his Holiness Pope Tawadros II in 2013, and my meeting last year with the Grand Imam of the University of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyib. I am happy to be here in Egypt, a land of ancient and noble civilization, whose vestiges we can admire even today; in their majestic splendour they appear to withstand the passing of time. This land is significant for the history of humanity and for the Church’s tradition, not only because of its prestigious past – that of Pharaohs, Copts and Muslims – but also because so many of the Patriarchs lived in Egypt or passed through it. Indeed, Egypt is often mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. In this land, God spoke and "revealed his name to Moses” (JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, 24 February 2000: Insegnamenti XXIII, 1 [2000], 248), and on Mount Sinai he entrusted to his people and to all humanity the divine Commandments. On Egyptian soil the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph found refuge and hospitality. The generous hospitality shown more than two thousand years ago remains in the collective memory of humanity and is a source of abundant blessings that continue to expand. As a result, Egypt is a land that in some sense we all feel to be our own! As you say, "Misr um al-dunya” – "Egypt is the mother of the world”. Today too, this land welcomes millions of refugees from different countries, including Sudan, Eritrea, Syria and Iraq, refugees whom you make praiseworthy efforts to integrate into Egyptian society. Thanks to its history and its particular geographical location, Egypt has a unique role to play in the Middle East and among those countries seeking solutions to pressing and complex problems that need to be faced now in order to avoid the spread of worse violence. I am speaking of the blind and brutal violence caused by different factors: sheer desire for power, the arms trade, grave social problems and that religious extremism which uses the Holy Name of God to carry out unprecedented atrocities and injustices. This destiny and role of Egypt are also the reason that led the people to call for an Egypt where no one lacks bread, freedom and social justice. Certainly this aim will become a reality if all are willing, together, to turn words into actions, authentic aspirations into commitments, written laws into enforced laws, by drawing on the innate genius of the Egyptian people. Egypt thus has a singular task, namely, to strengthen and consolidate regional peace even as it is assaulted on its own soil by senseless acts of violence. Such acts of violence have caused unjust suffering to so many families – some of them are present among us – who mourn their sons and daughters. I think in a particular way of all those individuals who in recent years have given their lives to protect your country: young people, members of the armed forces and police, Coptic citizens and all those nameless victims of various forms of terrorist extremism. I think also of the murders and the threats that have led to an exodus of Christians from northern Sinai. I express my gratitude to the civil and religious authorities and to all those who have offered welcome and assistance to these persons who have suffered so greatly. I also think of the victims of the attacks on Coptic churches, both last December and more recently in Tanta and Alexandria. To the members of their families, and to all of Egypt, I offer my heartfelt condolences and my prayers that the Lord will grant speedy healing to the injured. Mr President, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I can only encourage the bold efforts being made to complete a number of national projects and the many initiatives of peacemaking, both within the country and beyond its borders, aimed at that development in prosperity and peace which its people desire and deserve. Development, prosperity and peace are essential goods that merit every sacrifice. They are also goals that demand hard work, conviction and commitment, adequate planning and, above all, unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression, without any distinction (cf. Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Chapter 3). Goals, too, that require special consideration for the role of women, young people, the poor and the sick. Ultimately, true development is measured by concern for human beings, who are the heart of all development: concern for their education, health and dignity. The greatness of any nation is revealed in its effective care of society’s most vulnerable members – women, children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and minorities – lest any person or social group be excluded or marginalized. In the fragile and complex situation of today’s world, which I have described as "a world war being fought piecemeal”, it needs to be clearly stated that no civilized society can be built without repudiating every ideology of evil, violence and extremism that presumes to suppress others and to annihilate diversity by manipulating and profaning the Sacred Name of God. Mr President, you have spoken of this often and on various occasions, with a clarity that merits attention and appreciation. All of us have the duty to teach coming generations that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not need to be protected by men; indeed, it is he who protects them. He never desires the death of his children, but rather their life and happiness. He can neither demand nor justify violence; indeed, he detests and rejects violence ("God... hates the lover of violence”: Ps 11:5). The true God calls to unconditional love, gratuitous pardon, mercy, absolute respect for every life, and fraternity among his children, believers and nonbelievers alike. It is our duty to proclaim together that history does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practice injustice. History does not forgive those who talk about equality, but then discard those who are different. It is our duty to unmask the peddlers of illusions about the afterlife, those who preach hatred in order to rob the simple of their present life and their right to live with dignity, and who exploit others by taking away their ability to choose freely and to believe responsibly. It is our duty to dismantle deadly ideas and extremist ideologies, while upholding the incompatibility of true faith and violence, of God and acts of murder. History instead honours men and women of peace, who courageously and non-violently strive to build a better world: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9). Egypt, in the days of Joseph, saved other peoples from famine (cf. Gen 47:57); today it is called to save this beloved region from a famine of love and fraternity. It is called to condemn and vanquish all violence and terrorism. It is called to pour out the grain of peace upon all hearts that hunger for peaceful coexistence, dignified employment and humane education. Egypt, in building peace and at the same time combatting terrorism, is called to give proof that "al-din lillah wal watan liljami” – religion belongs to God and the nation to all”, as the motto of the Revolution of 23 July 1952 states. Egypt is called to demonstrate that it is possible to believe and live in harmony with others, sharing with them fundamental human values and respecting the freedom and the faith of all (cf. Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Article 5). Egypt has a special role to play in this regard, so that this region, the cradle of the three great religions, can and indeed will awake from the long night of tribulation, and once more radiate the supreme values of justice and fraternity that are the solid foundation and the necessary path to peace (cf. Message for the 2014 World Day of Peace, 4). From great nations, one can expect no less! This year marks the seventieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was one of the first Arab countries to establish such relations. Those relations have always been characterized by friendship, esteem and reciprocal cooperation. It is my hope that my Visit may help to consolidate and strengthen them. Peace is a gift of God, but also the work of man. It is a good that must be built up and protected, respecting the principle that upholds the force of law and not the law of force (cf. Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace, 1). Peace for this beloved country! Peace for this whole region, and particularly for Palestine and Israel, for Syria, for Libya, Yemen, for Iraq, for South Sudan. Peace to all people of good will! Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to greet with affection and a paternal embrace all the Egyptian people, who are symbolically present in this hall. I also greet my Christian sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, who live in this country: Coptic Orthodox, Greek Byzantines, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics. May Saint Mark, the evangelizer of this land, watch over you and help all of us to build and achieve the unity so greatly desired by our Lord (cf. Jn 17:20-23). Your presence in this, your country, is not new or accidental, but ancient and an inseparable part of the history of Egypt. You are an integral part of this country, and over the course of the centuries you have developed a sort of unique rapport, a particular symbiosis, which can serve as an example to other nations. You have shown, and continue to show, that it is possible to live together in mutual respect and fairness, finding in difference a source of richness and never a motive of conflict (cf. BENEDICT XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 24 and 25). Thank you for your warm welcome. I ask the Almighty and One God to fill all the Egyptian people with his divine blessings. May he grant peace and prosperity, progress and justice to Egypt, and bless all her children! "Blessed be Egypt my people”, says the Lord in the Book of Isaiah (19:25). Shukran wa tahya misr! Thank you and long live Egypt!

0 notes