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potatoes-tomatoes · 1 year

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this a bit late but I saw ur tags on that sp easter episode gifset "not my ass pulling a stan at the tender age of six" - I'm so curious what ur easter questioning origins were 👀

i was (…am?) a lil insane growing up, like ok, I have memories of telling everyone in my kindergarten class that santa wasn’t real and wouldn’t care if they cried, bc they HAD to know the truth like, how could santa deliver those gifts in one night? why does he only give gifts to kids in america/ with enough wealth? You can still love the specials, and the holiday, the characters of the santa mythos, but believing a lie told by adults just didn’t sit right with me. also bc my parents told me he wasn’t real lol. (listen. my mom grew up very very poor. My grandma told my tias and tio that Santa wasn’t real, and only existed for the gringos with money jfkfkfjf) so. yeah my religiously zealous ass is the preface for even more religiously zealous stuff

so I grew up as a conservative christian girl that read the bible like a storybook every night, but I also have memories of questioning everything, it drove everyone crazy. I would hound my pastors after service with new questions someone my age wouldn’t usually have? I knew they thought it was kinda annoying if not mildly cute but I needed answers for every goddamn thing. Easter traditions bein one of them 😅 Now, I was raised very traditionally, as in, we examined good friday and went to a long Easter service and then, that’s it. Eggs, Rabbits were worldly, and had nothing to do with Christ, and tbh the most my fam enjoyed was the after church carne asada and the trip to walmart the coming monday to get discounted candy to munch on thru summer lolol. But I asked my classmates and teachers at school like at what point did easter become abt eggs? so if you’re not christian then, what exactly are you celebrating? You’re just doing elaborate stuff to eat candy. what’s the true purpose of the bunny? where did this originate? and everyone was like, just paint ur damn plastic egg for class Cel, you’re 6. 😂😅

Well that’s done and over with and I’m completely sane now. Also I did not paint and properly prep my first easter egg and participate in an egg hunt until last year with some friends and it was cute lol.

#cel speaks #when i say i was crazy i mean that at 9 i almost tried learning hebrew bc i could not stand knowing that there was knowledge in the bible #that was untranslatable and therefore inaccessible to english readers #i was like. I would Simply Not Know things? I cannot find the source of it myself?? NO!!#but also I was nine and got fixated on sonic and barbie and shit so that faded very quickly lol #I get why at first I seem like an ennea 5 or a 6 lol the panic that comes not fully mastering one’s craft is a key #5w6/6w5 bit i’ll admit #cel answers #sorry for the long rant tldr: the origin of this? there is no origin. I was (am) just like this hfkfh I Be Questioning Shit #but also i would play devils advocate (if h could call it that?) and tell my pastors like #‘well if we put up trees #and wrap presents for christmas #yet somehow turn a fucking candy cane into a christian symbol #can we not do the same for the eggs??’#and my pastors were like no christmas is different #and i never rly got a straight answer for that tbh….#i was very much an all or nothing gal like. so the church acknowledged the ‘pagan’ origins of trees but we can reclaim them and make it #christian or just a simple american Thing #but my church drew the line at putting candy crosses or verses inside the eggs alongside candy #to tie it in to jesus?

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kingmakercastle · 7 months

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Freya or rebekah

Send me a ✁ with two names and I’ll tell you whom my muse would kill.

Sorry Freya. I can't lose you.

#A Message for the Castle #A Message for the Castle - Answered Asks #Answered Asks #evolvingheartisms #Desert Rose #Freya Mikaelson #Freya Mikaelson - Multi-Royalty #Multi-Royalty #Verse: Devils Advocate

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arefriendsdetectives2 · 2 years

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My God has never exiled me; It’s I abandoned Him. Mistaking mutinous for free, I took to courses grim And foolishly I left the only Love that cures all things lonely.

inspired by a post by @firstfullmoon

#poem #poetry #original poem #quick verse #religion #atheist plays devil's advocate

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expectmcre · 1 year

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✦ tag drop: verses

#✦ VERSE I: DEVIL'S ADVOCATE. | PRE SERIES #✦ VERSE II: GLAD YOU COLD COME. | S1 - S2 #✦ VERSE III: BLESSING WAY. | S3 { CANON }#✦ VERSE IV: MY STRUGGLE. | S3 - S6 { CANON DIV. }#✦ VERSE V: EXPECT MORE. | S7 - S10 { CANON DIV. }#✦ VERSE VI: HOME AGAIN. | S10 - PRESENT { CANON DIV. }

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jedinerd27 · 10 months

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The Devil-Spider Is in the Code Part 1/?

Miguel O’Hara X Fem! Spidey! Reader

Summary:

You are the one and only Arachne, the newest hero of Hell's kitchen. Well, in you're dimension anyway.

In your Free time, you're a hacker, trying to bring down companies like Alchemax, Oscorp, and Stark Industries. Exposing them of corruption and their inhumane experiments.

You've recently have been recruited to the Spider-Society. Now surrounded by echos of your dead brother and other unique faces, You are gaining new tricks every day.

Yet, the only annoyance is Miguel O'Hara. The grumpy man doesn't seem to like you, and you have no idea as to why. You're doing your best to catch Anomalies and protect the Multi-Verse. So what if there are no Variants of yourself?

Multiple parts

Word Count:2,151

Cross posted on my AO3

Comment if you want to be Added to Taglist

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Alright. Let’s get this out of the way.

Inter-dimensional Travel was something you’re older brother had theorized. He would explain it to you in long drawn-out personal lectures. Too bad you never understood it and would play Minecraft on your Phone when he would start, never noticing how your eyes would become glassy, staring at your screen.

He was the science geek. He spoke out against Alchemax and Oscorp so many times. Leading him to be flagged and blocked from multiple positions at other smaller companies. All he was doing was advocating for more humane experiments, no careless dumping of hazardous waste, and the black market deals the companies were making.

He was the true hero. You were just his gal in the chair, his personal hacker. Getting him the information he needed to give to lawyers and news outlets. Showing the world what corrupt experiments were going on. Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson became the biggest legal defense you and Peter had. It was just a bonus that Matt taught you both how to defend yourselves, and was the legal Guardian after Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s death.

That was the case until the accident. Oscorp released a small little critter into your shared apartment one night. Hoping the little spider would spin its little web down onto your brother, poisoning him with the genetically modified venom.

The Spider bit you instead. And the enhanced venom? Sure it gave you a seizure, and you were driven to the hospital as your brother panicked. But it didn’t kill you.

That’s when the head of Oscorp decided a hitman was the solution.

It happened a few days after your release from the hospital The only family you had left. Taken from the world by the very people he spoke out against.

The rain started the same time your tears hit the ground.

“Peter, please, don’t sleep” You cry out clutching him to you. Thunder clapping all around you as the gunman runs down the alley. You think you heard Foggy yelling after Matt, before calling 911. “Please, Pete. Don’t Die! Don’t die!”

Matt’s footfalls as he ran down the alley, perusing the man.

“It’s okay bug, It’s going to be fine lil’bug” He mumbled out with a smile. And then he shut his eyes.

The cry you let you shattered you. A dark abyss opened up inside of you, fury inside you was born.

As Foggy tried to pull you away from his body, and the Red and blue flashing lights approached, you saw nothing but red down the alley. When Matt returned with bloody knuckles and a black eye. The cops didn’t question him.

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You took on your brother’s unfinished work, but with the addition of your new found powers. Anger fueled you for a long time, until you came to the realization, your brother was never angry with the world, He was disappointed. He wanted it to be a better place. Safer.

You had to continue fighting for what he wanted. You had to become his legacy.

No matter how hard you got hit, you hit harder. If you were going to go down, you weren’t going alone. You are not going to stop, not until Ospcorp, Alchemax, Stark industries, and others are held responsible.

Thank God that Matt continued to take care of you. He helped you grow into the powers.

One Day your ginger Guardian took you up to the apartment building rooftop.

“Why do I need this on?” You pointed to the blindfold he had put on you. Technically it was your winter scarf, but it was tied around your head.

“For this!” Matt said somewhere on the rooftop.

KAWCHUNK!!

Pins and needles ran up you back and you ducked.

THWACK! The sound of rubber hitting brick rang out. A tennis ball hits the Roof entrance in front of you.

“What the hell Matt?”

KAWCHUNK!! KAWCHUNK!!

TH same sensation ran up you on your left, and then your right, taking a step back you miss the next KAWCHUNK!! That was in front of you.

A tennis ball thwacks you in the stomach.

“FUCK!”

“Kid, you’ve got this sense,” Mat speaks as another Tennis ball is fired Causing you to bend your back, falling to your knees in a quick motion. “And I’m testing it out.”

The prickles form in the back of your head. Sliding to the Right, a woosh of the tennis ball goes whirling past.

“SO you thought getting hitting me with Tennis balls is okay?”

“You’re dodging most of them” One hits you in the rib. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“How are you doing this?”

“The same way you’re dodging the chew toys”

There is a click of a button. The whirling of 5 machines catches your ear, You’re whole body gets that sensation. You leap up as all of them fire. All five tennis balls hit each other in unison.

“I taught you how to throw a punch, the least I can do is make sure you know how to dodge.” He smirks but you only look at the Red lensed glasses. The same shade that was on his knuckles that rainy night

He Gave you batons and old pieces of armor. Vanbraces and shoulder pads, Greaves that went over the combat boots you always wore.

He offered a helmet as well.

“That’s never going to fit me.”

“Would you prefer a bike helmet?”

“I’d prefer it if I can make my own adjustments and touches.”

In the end, a red hoodie covered in various light armor bits and pocket pouches. You took your inspiration of the spider and your old sewing machine and ran with it.

Blue LED Wires were sewn into the hood under black thread. The vanbraces got integrated with tech. Project a holographic Computer, stolen from Alchemax, easy for you to hack things without needing a physical computer. You had rewritten the software and the code, making it unique and unable to be tracked.

“What are you going to call yourself?” Matt asks, fingers tracing over the hoodie, your handy work made a small smile appear on his face. This was him beaming with Pride.

“Arachne” You didn’t even think about it. “I will be Arachne.”

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Then you met the others. The Spider society.

Well, not all of them at first.

You just got out of college, graduating top of your Computer Engineer and Computer Science class. No job yet though Especially after it was revealed that you were the sister of the Annoyance that was once Peter Parker.

You going to blackmail us?

Thanks, but no thanks, we don’t need out dirty laundry to be aired out

Bastards.

Sure, they were right though. You were going to leak all their secrets out. Their software was used to spy on people in their homes, breaking their contract that had mentioned they would not do that. It helped that your guardian made sure you also got a minor in pre-law.

For the past 7 years, you were the one and only Arachne. The Crime Fighting vigilante, new to the scene, but taking over when Matt finally agreed it was time to hang up his horns.

The patrol was pretty quite that night, until that glitching Lizard started rampaging down the street.

“what the?” This definitely was not Dr. Cadence Conners. “Hey, Lizard Fella, DROP THE TRASHCAN!”

Landing on a light post, above the scaly humanoid, he stared up at you.

“Glowy Spidey?” His eyes slitted, as his long tongue licked his snout.

“Uh… kinda. Listen buddy why don’t-“

He threw the trash can at you. Causing you to let go of the lamppost.

“Okay, want to play dirty, let us play dirty.” Landing on the street, lucky no civilians around, you pulled out your batons and clicked the safety button. Electricity sprang alive to the metal and you charged.

Claws swiped left and light. Dodging and weaving, you manage to land a blow in the center of his chest.

ZAAP! And down he went. With a loud THUD and the whole ground around you shook.

“All in the days work” You chucked before you pulled out a hologram to call the authorities. That was until… he glitched. Green turning to purple, shapes surrounding him. Then he was back to normal. “The hell is going on in hell’s kitchen?”

“Oh, that’s where we are. I knew I was right, Ghostie!” A voice called from above you… and your froze.

No, no. It can’t be. That can’t be, but it sounds exactly like-

“Peter?” Your do a 180, staring up at the other lamp post.

There was a man squatting on top of another lamppost, just like how you do. The proper pouncing stance.

He stood in a skin-tight suit, the webbing of the suit was close to yours, and the same shade of red, with a pink bath robe on top with.. a baby Bjorn?

A slender woman was holding on to the post of it, leaning forward. Also in a skin tight suit. White with pink and black accents. Converse shoes on. Her hood was similar to yours, without the glowing blue LED.

“Uh, I take it you know me.. I mean my voice?” He swings down with a.. web-shooter. What?

He pulls of his mask and.

“I buried you.” Comes tumbling out. You pull him in for a bear hug. “How? How are you alive? And… why do you look so much older?”

He did, more wrinkles, and streaks of fading brown hair. He was… off. He wasn’t the same Peter.

“Oh… here’s the thing.” His face drops. And he pulls away. “I’m not your Peter. I’m from another Dimension. I’m a variant of…what was your peter to you?”

The woman swing down next to him, and delightful glee echos out. A baby was clutching not her shoulders. A toddler.

“Woah, hey mayday why don’t” Peter was cut off as the baby swung over and promptly sat herself down into the bjorn.

The woman took her mask off and…

“Gwen?”

“Oh, she knows both of us..” Peter sighed.

“When did you get an eyebrow piercing!” Your brother’s best friend from high school left town shortly after the funeral. She.. she looked younger. And her hair was slightly pink. “Wait… another dimension? No.. but..” As you fumble over the right words. They stare at you.

“You” pointing to Peter. “You’re not my brother.”

“Brother?” They both asked as the child giggled out and the swung over to you. Mayday.

“Mayday? After Aunt May?” Your eyes widen. This can’t be real. Your brother was dead, you didn’t have Gwen’s contact info, and you knew she would never get an eyebrow piercing. Hell, a second lobe was a BIG if for her. “Different dimensions? Is this… is this about this multiverse theory?”

“It is Kid. “

“You… My brother talked about it a lot. He was into theoretical science, physics. He wanted to do that.”

“I’m sorry you lost him” Gwen speaks.

Staring down at the little girl in your arms, your eyes start to water.

Her joyful face drops and then she puts her tiny arms around your neck. A gentle squeeze.

Your brother deserved this life to have a kid, but never got it. Why not? This Peter got it.

“Why are you here.” You say as you gently hug the girl closer.

“For lizard over there.”

“A different version of Cadence Connors?”

“Yep.” Peter said. “We’re a part of a group of other People like us.”

“Spiders” Gwen simply explained taking a closer step. “But you’re gear…”

“I’m Arachne.” Extending a hand she shook it. “Daredevil taught me. He just retired.”

“Matt Murdock?” Peter’s Raises an eyebrow. Familiarity Rang aloud.

“Wait, Murderdock?” Gwen is taken aback at that. Fear raising her voice

“Wait, what? No, Matt doesn’t Kill. I don’t kill” You let go as the girl swings up to the lamppost above. “Sure, we hurt… and sometimes it’s a hospital visit for the other, but we don’t kill.”

“Woah, calm down the broth fo you” Better extend his hands as he tried to catch his daughter. ‘This is just another example of how the multiverse works.”

“And this multiverse has holes in it? Letting random rouges just fall through.”

“Essentially yes, and we” pointing to him and Gwen as Mayday was hanging of his bicep. “Are a part of a group that helps the ones that fall through back to their reality. Unfortunately, they don’t come willingly.”

You stare down at the Lizard.

“How many do you have? Currently, in this group?”

“Uh, twenty. Why?”

“How many multiverses are there?”

“Uh well one. If you mean dimensions… billions. Maybe Infinite.”

A smirk crosses your lips as you clicked your batons. Folding into one another they became the size of two pens. Putting the back in a pouch you smile up at the three newcomers.

“Need an extra Spider?”

#miguel o’hara x reader #spiderman across the spiderverse #marvel fanfic #marvel x reader #miguel o'hara x fem!reader #Spiderverse x Reader #spider gwen #peter b. parker #Mayday Parker #miguel o'hara #Oscar issac

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scifrey · 1 year

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Keepsakes

Status: Ongoing Ficlet collection; unbeta'd

Series: the Hob Adherent series

Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Includes some comics canon, and some cameos from the wider Gaiman-verse (including the Good Omens and Lucifer television shows), but it’s not necessary to know to enjoy the story.

Rating: Mature-ish.

Warnings: Discussions of grief and in-canon character death. Some sexytimes. Some whomp and hurt/comfort.

Relationships: Morpheus | Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, Eleanor | Hob Gadling’s Wife/Hob Gadling (past)

Characters: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Hob Gadling, Patrick the Bartender, Harriet Butler, Matthew the Raven

Summary: Short ficlets set in the Hob Adherent world, based on prompts received from readers. Feel free to DM me or leave prompts in the comments, and if it resonates with me, I may write up a ficlet! Thank you for the inspiration in advance.

Set amid the events of Cling Fast and Carpe Diem

READ ON AO3 OR READ BELOW:

Postcards

"So, a sword in Buckingham's army, a bandit, a printer, a shipwright and then a merchant middleman for the dockyards, a knight, a beggar, investment broker--"

"Slaver," Hob interrupts Harriet as she counts off his professions on her fingers one slow, sunny afternoon at The New Inn. "Call the thing what it was."

Hari offers him a sympathetic smile. They're the only ones in the pub proper today, as Patrick is off to tend his ailing mother, Dee doesn't come in Mondays, and Morph is having lunch with his editor.

"After which you were an MP and staunch abolitionist, a soldier again in America for the North, an industrialist and labor rights advocate, a yuppie and silicone valley early adopter--"

"Apple paid for most of this," Hob agrees, selecting a glass and checking it for water spots or lipstick stains.

"--and now a professor and publican. Am I missing any?"

“Oh!” Hob remembers as he pulls a pint for her. "And I was ruler of Hell."

She leans across the bar from her stool, and thwacks his arm. “Fuck off, you were not, you old liar,” Hari laughs.

"Was so!" Hob protests, setting her beer down in front of her. "Ask my husband. He was there. I was ruler of Hell for thirteen minutes and seventeen seconds on my six-hundred and sixty-sixth birthday."

Hari raises a challenging eyebrow at Hob over her pint glass as she takes a sip. "I won't believe a thing the Prince of Stories tells me," she says decisively, when she sets the beer back down. "And I don't believe you."

Hob pulls a postcard from L.A. off the bar back, where it's been pinned to a corkboard among a handful of others, all from the same city. This card depicts a cartoon devil drawn over a photo of the Hills, lounging on the iconic Hollywood sign. It says "Greetings from Sin City!" in bright yellow font.

Hob hands it to Hari to inspect. Her face gets drawn as her eyes flick over the handwritten note on the back.

"To my fellow former ruler of Hell; I did it! I opened a nightclub, just like you suggested. Visit me at LUX any time you'd like, Hobsie. xxx Lucifer Morningstar," Hari reads in a voice that grows increasingly strangled.

She hands the card back to Hob with trembling fingers. Then she shotguns the rest of her pint.

"So hell is real, then," Hari warbles.

Hob shrugs. "Everything is real. Humans create gods, not the other way around. If someone believes in it, it exists."

Hari nods thoughtfully. "I suppose you would know, being married to a god."

Hob chuckles. "Well, former god-ish. And don't worry, only people who believe they deserve to go to Hell actually do. Self-punishment or fulfilling prophecy, or something. I try not to think to much about that Celestial stuff."

Hari nods again, and without asking, Hob refills her pint glass. He has a feeling she's going to need it.

"But it is something I'm going to have to worry about," Hari says softly, accepting the drink with a nod.

"Not any time soon, I hope," Hob says, folding his arms on the bar top and leaning close to offer her a comforting look. "And when it does happen, I can promise you that my sister-in-law is gentle and kind. You have nothing to worry about."

Harriet runs her arthritis gnarled finger up and down the side of the glass, collecting up the condensation. "You know, that is actually a comfort." She looks up at Hob with a wicked little grin. "Especially knowing your husband."

Hob throws his head back and laughs.

#losyark #cling fast adjacent #cling fast #carpe diem #the hob adherent series #hob adherent #hob gadling #hob x dream #dream x hob #dreamling fic #dream #dreamling #lucifer morningstar #lucifer #gaimanverse #sandman hob #retirement!Dream #keepsakes

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plazmafields · 5 months

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It's ramble time because I started another playthrough of cyberpunk and have some Thoughts.

(Spoilers probably)

So I said in a previous post that I don't think Kerry is dating V just because Johnny's in his head, and I still believe that. However, I was also under the impression Johnny was a womanizer and way straight. However, now that they've fixed it so that what Johnny says is effected by your approval with him, Johnny's said some ... things. Things that make me think:

He's jealous of Kerry and V's relationship.

If you have high approval when Johnny gives you the quest Holdin' On, you can ask him why he and Kerry were always at odds. Johnny says something to the effect of: "Kerry could never decide if he wanted to fuck me or kick me out of the band. Problem was he has a dick, so I wasn't interested."

Now in my last 2.0 playthrough, my choices at the end of Phantom Liberty locked me into a low approval with Johnny that I couldn't come back from. With low approval, if you ask him in V's apartment if he's ok with you sleeping with Kerry, Johnny says (paraphrasing): "Sleeping with? He fucked you once. Don't get used to it."

However, with high approval he says: "Yeah. Kind of ironic, Kerry was always trying to get into bed with me and I guess he finally got what he wanted thanks to you."

V responds to this with: "You know, it's not always about you. Thought ever cross your mind?" And Johnny gives a snarky remark.

With low approval, Johnny is very defensive about Kerry sleeping with V. He and Kerry were friends, good friends, but even Johnny admits (while at his grave) that he never let anyone get too close to him. Kerry probably knew him second best after Alt, but how much of that was Johnny truly opening up, verses forced proximity? I really don't feel like Johnny is the type to be all "what are your intentions with my boy?" any time Kerry got a new boyfriend.

With high approval, Johnny still manages to make it about himself (as always), but for some reason his tone of voice sounds like he's not joking, he's genuinely thinking about whether this counts as him having fucked Kerry.

Now this leads me to ask: was it Johnny who had the crush on Kerry, and not the other way around? He brings it up all the time while you're doing Kerry's missions, but after Rebel Rebel, Kerry doesn't talk about Johnny unless you ask. None of the options when you talk to him at home mention Johnny, on the boat when he talks about Samurai, he doesn't bring up Johnny, and when he talks about starting a new chapter in his life you can ask "does this have anything to do with Johnny?" he says No very confidently, then takes a second to think and realize that none of this "rebirth" would have happened without V and Johnny. But (at least to me) he doesn't seem to consider Johnny part of his life anymore.

I think Johnny HATES that. I think Johnny always saw himself as hot shit and the most desirable man on the planet, and the idea that a gay man didn't want him drives him crazy. If Kerry were straight then of course he wouldn't fall victim to Johnny's charms.

If Kerry were bi (see my previous post if you wanna know my feelings on Kerry's sexuality in game vs in lore) then Johnny would have been able to convince himself Kerry just liked women more than men.

But he's not. Kerry's gay and somehow didn't want to ride Johnny seven ways to Sunday.

I don't know if that makes Johnny bi or not, but I really feel that Kerry wasn't the one who wanted to get into bed with Johnny, it was always the other way around.

~~~

I'm not convinced by this next part, but here's some tentative evidence to the contrary, if you wanna play devil's advocate:

In Kerry's sex scene, we see he likes something a little rough, and in some texts he mentions that he gets turned on when V is short with him (mainly thinking of the text convo you get if you start Phantom Liberty already dating Kerry).

Maybe Kerry likes when people play hard-to-get and ignore him, maybe he's got a bit of a humiliation kink going on, and maybe he got turned on by the way Johnny was always mean to him.

I feel like that's stretching things tho, we don't have a lot of evidence for that, just a text that was added after the initial release of the game, and a single slap in a cut scene.

Another thing to mention because I feel like I can't NOT mention it: why the fuck does Kerry look DIRECTLY into Johnny's eyes as he gets head from a fan on the stairs??? That kinda throws a curve ball into all of this and I'm not sure what to make of it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#cyberpunk 2077 #kerry eurodyne #cyberpunk kerry #johnny silverhand #v x kerry #johnny x kerry #male v x kerry #silverdyne

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idliketobeatree · 5 months

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I am begging ALL OF YOU, Good Omens fans, to listen to this song by Jesca Hoop (a lovely American singer-songwriter and guitarist), from the album "Memories are Now", released in 2017.

The Coming, huh? What a funny coincidence, right? Almost like the Second Coming?

And then it starts like this:

The song is dark and poignant, but more importantly - it is written almost like someone was plotting for a possible season 3. It's actually uncanny, how much it fits.

A quick artist background check: The narrator mirrors Hoop's struggles with religion. Raised traditional Mormon, she grew up singing hymns, and at 16 years old she lost her faith and stopped attending church. She describes the experience as freeing: she has "faith in people".

Overall, it's all too easy to imagine the narrator as Aziraphale, but we'll get back to that in a moment.

Let's focus on Jesus first. Analogically, in the song, he loses faith in himself, and refuses both Heaven and Earth to fulfill the prophecy. Jesus makes an interesting choice of alliance; he sits by the Devil. In a fit of desperation? fatigue?-- asks the advocate of Hell to help him become someone new. There's something beautiful about them being familiar, sitting arm in arm, almost friendly in the exchange. Jesus "was tempted for forty days by the Devil" (Luke 4:2), and he firmly refused then, but he goes back now: to his only salvation left.

The Devil doesn't get much characterisation, but we know he agreed to the terms. "The coming never came."

Now, back to the narrator. They're quite honest and self-aware of their role as an obeying servant to Jesus or/and God (as in Holy Trinity). In a world full of sinners it's necessary to keep people at bay, because not everyone can be saved. There's "only enough room at his table (...)/And they're coming to shut the gate/You're too little and too late". A strong implication of humans being a nuisance, a collateral damage in God's plan.

"But I don't buy it."

You see, the narrator has a strong motivation that they mention almost immediately after realising that -- good people are not getting in through the gate.

The best friend. We can assume she's someone very dear, and probably not that involved in religion. She doesn't deserve damnation, obviously. (Hello, Crowley.) Nobody does. Heaven doesn't really care about that.

The point is: they don't want to offer to save her anymore. Playing God's hand in this relationship would be an insult, condescending and belittling to her character. It's easy to be a soldier with nameless people, isn't it? Personal connections make all the difference.

There's also a little passage about not blaming your parents for "clinging to the good", which hits another personal note on the forgiving front.

The narrator is terrified of losing their sense of identity. It's a painful and slow process. Who are they, without the religion? How to fill the God-shaped hole in the heart, where it has grown large and uncomfortable, been there for ages?

The answer is: with other people.

The collective work of humanity on the matter of free will has an major impact on Earth. Our little choices contribute to the goodness as a whole, and it's not dictated nor defined by Heaven. No, it's all our doing. And we can make it a good place without religion.

Oh, and look at this. "Asking any kind of question could unravel me with one small fray"?

Pretty self-explanatory.

The song ends on an accusatory tone - at the religious figures who are mistakenly interpreting Jesus's teachings, justifying their fear-turned-hatred and "wrongdoings in his name". The narrator is scared personally, but outright - they're furious. Unable to ignore the horrifying unfairness of it all. The wars were never the intention of Jesus. He wouldn't sign another contract for massive destruction.

As a confirmation, there's a loop, a repeating of the first verses. The coming didn't came. Jesus is no longer a passive marionette on the strings of Heaven. He gives away the thorn crown - a symbol of his suffering for humanity's sins - and refuses to collaborate. He becomes an individual, maybe a different entity altogether. Needs some help from Hell, sure, but it works out in the end. No more wars. No more Heaven deciding who is worth it, and who isn't. It's just-- people, and their everyday lives.

If that isn't THE song synopsis for season 3, I don't know what is.

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zalrb · 6 months

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Overall thoughts on KOTFM? Do you think it lived up to the hype?

OK well what I'll say first is I'm not ignoring what some Indigenous people, some Osage people have said about the movie, like Christopher Cote and how he left the premiere feeling conflicted

and the issues that have arisen around Ernest being too sympathetic and the film not really being from an Osage perspective and needing an Osage director to truly do that and finding the violence gratuitous and the Osage characters underwritten

and I'm not going to contradict that or devil's advocate that because their views are what matters here.

I'm just going to talk about my experience with KOTFM, which is what you asked but I would be remiss not to put the criticism of the movie by people who are actually Indigenous first.

So, I have been thinking about the movie since I watched it yesterday and I can't remember a movie in the last two, three years that has had that kind of impact on me except for maybe Across The Spider-Verse and EEAO.

I watched it like this is fucking cinema. I was geeking out in the theatre. Those shots,

those gorgeous shots

that are almost like portraits

had me in awe.

It's modern, there is clearly a lot of money behind this movie that also feels very intimate but it also feels like watching history, like watching the life of those black-and-white photos you see which from a technical perspective they did through the cinematographer using current technology/lenses to replicate the same kind of look and colour that would've been around in the 20s and then 30s and then using the Western genre to showcase how white people, the heroes of Westerns, systematically oppress through violence, murder, the law...so many layers.

I watched it with someone and we had very different perspectives on the movie and on Scorsese as a director because he thought Scorsese moved really quickly and I said you are the first person that I've met who has said Scorsese is quick. The criticism I get from people who can't get into his work is that he's incredibly slow. And he said, he couldn't keep up with certain things like when Lizzie Q dies and is taken to the afterlife because he said it was abrupt and it seems so unintentional. And I had to calm myself down lmao and was like OK, Scorsese is incredibly intentional. In that scene, he is aligning us with Lizzie Q's experience in the moment. She was alive and then she wasn't and she went to the afterlife and we experience that with her, when we go back to the let's say earthly realm, it's to confirm her death by see the living mourning her passing. And he was like, well when you say it like that, it makes sense.

And we talked for a while after the movie and it kept being the same conversation, where I was like if you pay attention to more than the dialogue, which quite frankly I found pretty heavy-handed, and to the way the scenes are set up, it says a lot about the themes of the movie. So he asked what I meant and we ended up talking about King because he didn't understand what was happening with King in like a very basic way. He was confounded that King had acted friendly with the Osage and was also responsible for so many of their murders and I was like, OK barring the fact that I really think you need to educate yourself more on how colonizers colonize, within the context of the movie, it is made very clear relatively quickly that King doesn't see the Osage as people. It's clear in the dialogue but also in the way things are shot, like when King and Ernest talk about Henry, it's almost as if they have Henry mounted on the fireplace like a prize

which in concert with the dialogue where King refers to Henry as a dollar amount -- a $25,000 insurance policy -- speaks to the overarching themes of settler colonialism, capitalism, genocide, racism in this one conversation, one shot with these characters and he was basically like

and having this conversation just really solidified how much the cinematic language of the movie spoke to me and how his choices as a director, like not just having a voiceover that intermittently let's us in on Mollie's thoughts while we watch her expression but actually seeing things from her point of view elevated the movie and of course, that brings us to the acting. I mean we've discussed this but Lily's performance was so powerful, she does so much with her physicality, with her expressions

her scream when she finds out that Rita was murdered was hauntingly good, she 100% made this movie.

Leo was good as well, I particularly liked the moments where he didn't feel reigned in -- I liked his subtle performance, I think it's the least ... Leo of his performances -- but when he gets to be emotional

it's like a dam bursting.

I thought De Niro was good as well, between him and Leo, his accent slipped the most, it was a little fun for me to watch him and Leo and see when I saw their signatures come out and their roles couldn't hide certain things so for Leo when Ernest and Mollie are flirting at her house and he does his smile, I'm like oh there's Jack Dawson and with De Niro when he'd do the frown and nod I'd be like oh, there you are.

I was also quite taken with Tatanka Means,

he's barely in the movie but I found he had such a presence.

This isn't to say that I thought the movie was flawless.

Despite appreciating the ending -- i.e. rather than doing a typical text on black screen at the end of the movie to educate the viewers on more facts about the real people and instead making a commentary on how the genocide and exploitation and marginalization of this community (and other communities) becomes entertainment to a white audience and then including himself in the show to acknowledge that aspect of KOTFM and then ending it with the Osage people --- the third act is definitely when I felt the fact that the movie was made for white audiences the most because that is when we get to Ernest grappling with whether or not to testify, with his epiphany after his daughter dies, when we get to King trying to keep control, when we get to the other people involved in the murders turning on each other and I didn't find any of that necessary. Scorsese said that when he spoke to the Osage about doing this movie, they said he had to remember that Mollie and Ernest loved each other,

"We realized that was really the heart of the film. And having met with the Osage so many times and heard from Margie Burkhart, who was the great-great-granddaughter of Ernest, she knew them. She kept saying, “Don’t forget it isn’t as simple as villains and victims. You have to remember Mollie and Ernest were in love.” And that always stayed with me when we were still working on the other version of the script. I said, “Well, if they’re in love, we got to show that too.” And then that became difficult in terms of showing all the machinations of the Bureau investigation. Plus, this love story, it was getting unwieldy."

and he said in the transcripts he saw, the FBI questioned why Mollie stayed with him after learning about him conspiring to murder her family while also poisoning her since she only divorced him after the hearing and instead of trying to answer that question, instead of really digging into Mollie's perspective, Mollie's emotions about this, he aligned with Ernest and kind of reverted to the procedural that the entire movie was originally supposed to be but that they scrapped and it's a flinch, I found it to be a faltering of commitment. From what I remember, Mollie is the only Osage character with a voiceover but John gets one and while I understand why Scorsese would make that choice, it shows his limitations when it would've been more compelling to get one from Henry, and this is also to say that I know Scorsese hired Osage consultants, hired Osage actors, had an Osage costume designer etc.

All in all, I found it to be a flawed but powerful, technically masterful film and I think of what Lily said “Nobody is going to hand an Osage filmmaker $200 million,” Gladstone said. “There’s a level of allyship that’s absolutely necessary" and within that context, Scorsese did things that Nolan, for instance, in Oppenheimer didn't even try.

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multi-royalty-arc · 9 months

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Freya - 🕯️

send me 🕯️to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character.

He’s so charming to look at I’m not even listening to what he’s saying

Why does he love me

Does he know my whole story…will he still love me if he does

He makes the world around me bright

#multi royalty asks #freya speaking #verse: devils advocate #more than a mirage lucien castle

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fantomette22 · 11 months

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I know how to make Laurence even worse, listen:

Okay so, I think Laurence only condoned Logarius and Executioners to do Cainhurst massacre AFTER Maria's suic1de, because he knew darn well she'd cause a problem in his plan to eliminate Vilebloods (and get Umbilical Cord from Annalise). But what if!!!!!

What if Laurence COULD absolutely see Maria's suic1dal urges coming... and he LET that happen. He LET those feelings fester and bloom, he LET the doctors (Micolash maybe?????) go too hard on Adeline with experiments and cause her to give out, he LET Gehrman, the one person that could have helped to be oblivious about Maria's mental state..... pulling strings from the shadows - or not doing anything - in the ways that'd push her towards the edge, so the "problem" removes itself

Sorry, I had to share this because everyone else should suffer with me, lol. Have a good day 👍

Oh my...the ANGST !!!!!! 😭 the drama!!! LAURENCE WHY !?

Can you stop screwing people's life (and your own)... FOR 5 MINS !!!!!

Ok thanks for the ask, thanks to it I will take the occasion to finally share my headcanons about how I see their relationship across the years >:) (main headcanon, fic verse if you prefer).

So i already explain, (i think), but for me, Laurence is an extremely nuanced character. I mean by this that i don’t think he’s the ultimate devil yet but i don’t think he’s just an only poor mew mew misguided guy either, who was trap in smt out of his control. Nah for me he’s kinda a mixt/ more nuanced character who evolve a lot during his life.

So now i will share my headcanons with his relationship with Maria. Not many people talk about it and most of the takes i see are well not mine. But we don’t have much in canon so i can understand it’s tricky to imagined. But! Maria ended working at the research hall right ? (That she was in charge or under the doctors is another pb) but that mean that well there’s a connection. She joined and fight for the Healing church too! And worked with them! Hide the biggest secrets of them and Byrgenwerth! It’s not nothing! It’s s huge!

So i think at first their relationship was quite great at first! Then it spiraled down…

Let’s cut it with Byrgenwerth time, the hunter/early church era and post fishing hamlet so it’s simpler (respectively the 3fics i try to planned xD)

Byrgenwerth :

So Maria was a student here and Laurence basically one of her teachers. He’s a chill, cool and young teacher, Maria like him and think his classes are the most interesting.

Laurence had quite a harsh time on his first years studying at Byrgen so he try to be attentive to the need of his students. (He always check on Caryll, Rom etc or ask like Gehrman to check and tell him if he noticed smt weird)

Maria who don’t really have much friends at the beginning and is really often alone remind him a lot of himself at first.

But yeah funniest shit how Gehrman become close acquaintance with Maria almost the exact same way he become close acquaintance with Laurence all this years ago xD (i won’t say more about it but Laurence was quite surprised)

So anyway times pass it’s going smoothly and all the Byrgen gang hang around each other more and more (outside class too)

Maria and Caryll are still amazed that Laurence was the coolest bio and theology teacher because of what he could do when drunk xD that man was crazy (spoiler he got more serious but he become worse lol)

Also Laurence maybe accidentally save her life by giving her a free blood vial 💀(Willem don’t agree with that but he doesn’t need to know lol and hey it helped)

And later when blood was stolen from Cainhurst and Maria was completely clueless and confused he advocated for her with Gehrman. (+ advocate to cainhurst so she could stay with them + let’s be real it was first to get money to emancipate himself from Byrgen xD)

---

So a bit later when the first hunts begins? (Or a bit before idk).

Well before Laurence became a grand Vicar with tons of responsibility they all pass times as friends ! Like this yeah xD)

He gave her a freaking chalice for her exploit in the labyrinth and a blood transfusion wow!

Also i think he converted her to religion. (Or at least their religion)

Ok Let me explain. I don’t think Cainhurst are super religious? I think they’re closer to the 2.0 pthumerians. You know before the great ones were their leaders/ gods. Then they disappear and the pthumerians crown leader of their own : aka pthumerians queens and all. I think cainhurst is similar in that sense, at first. And i need to show how Laurence managed to got so many followers !

Maria’s a pyromancer and he learnt about it at some point. Quite funny how he found out even if he was suspicious of smt xD)

Maria hate that aspect of her bc she don’t want to be like the shadow of Yharnam and use her blood to hurt and kill people because smn told her to (aka royal family) she always resent that aspect of her.

Laurence think it’s incredible, that it’s a gift from the great ones! But That she could use how she want, if she want. She could used it to protect the great ones they’re looking for instead ! It’s way closer and prefer that.

That’s a big part on why she joined the healing church.

Also Laurence is this good religious figure that people follow and look for validation and the church was the guardian of the hunters after all.

---

So after the hamlet… when everything went down…

Laurence became to change even more after that. Even after he became vicar maybe he got a lil messiah complex + begin to dissociate with lot of things & people but it got worst.

Especially after our lil group loose smn quite important to them… Laurence loose it and instead of « oh maybe we should stop or be more careful so it won’t happen again » he’s like : « ok we need to make sacrifice to ascend. Let’s do it » he was one of most affected by it but… in a bad way he completely dissociated and was more and more antipathetic. He was already ok with sacrificing you know sick people, who are gonna turned into a beast anyway but a friend? Oh well… he decided he won’t go back.

While Maria spiraled more and more down…he always had reassuring words but at some points and didn’t work greatly. And her, who never question the church really begin to wonder if everything worth it. What if what they’re doing is bad and useless? + she begin to cause trouble and confront Laurence about it. He was really annoyed… at some points he even ask Gehrman to do smt about it. Anything he wanted so she would chilled out and calmed down… the hunter was really confused 💀(and freaking tired too)

So Maria and Laurence relationship become more complicated.

About the Vilebloods too… first they were allies and before Maria died they ended up fighting each others. She had to stop them in front of the grand cathedral from fighting 💀 so not good either… relations were really tense… but the massacre happened 10-20y later in my timeline so

Then what happened happened… Maria killed herself and reasearch hall was a huge mess in part bc of this. (Patients revolt and a part were already dead)

Laurence was quite shock… really. And confused. But other feel sadder of course. But he was still touched by it. A bit. It remind him that they might make the sacrifce to loose close ones. But then he needed to clean all this big messes and send a letter to cainhurst That was not a good time for him either. Still he move on. Not like one of his friends… (another story)

So there. Hope i don’t forget anything but it’s a good summary for now.

#bloodborne #bloodborne headcanons #lady maria of the astral clocktower #laurence the first vicar #i have so much thoughts on a few realationships!!!

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kingmakercastle · 8 months

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"The inevitable complication with suggesting romantic candidates for you is that all of them will invariably deserve better. But if I were to indulge this distraction: I suppose I don't entirely abhor your inability to stop catapulting your coarse excuse for charm at the long lost Mikaelson sister whenever the two of you share a room. Freya appears to be perfectly adequate at keeping your rampant ego in check."

"Well de Martel, I do seem to have more luck romantically than you do." Lucien smirked at that. Tristan may not care about such things, but if there was any possibility he could be more successful than Tristan at something he would take it. "Though you are right in one regard, Freya is the best thing to happen to me."

#A Message for the Castle #A Message for the Castle - Answered Asks #Answered Asks #lordofthestrix #Desert Rose #Freya Mikaelson #Freya Mikaelson - Multi-Royalty #Multi-Royalty #Verse: Devils Advocate

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 2 years

Text

BFCD Black Women in Horror/Monsters & More Masterlist

Black Women in Horror | Final Girls | Slayers | BFCD Monsters & More Masterlists

Izzy Bit |

Old Woman Josie Welcome to Nightvale | Olivia Two Sentence Horror Stories: Teeth

Queenie American Horror Story

Wilhamena Mettle OK Let’s Be Heroes |

Yvonne A Nightmare on Elm Street Series |

Zafrina Twilight | Zoe Head Count |

Children in Horror | BFCD Family Friendly Spooky Season |

*List will be updated throughout October*

#Black Women in Horror #Children in Horror #long post #BFCD Spooky Season #October #BFCD Masterlist #BFCD Black Women in Horror Masterlist #black female characters #monster girls #slayers

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poimandresnous · 1 year

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How Does God Present Himself in All things?

Does God have Favorites in the Corpus Hermeticum?

In CH V [2]: the specific verse I’m bringing into question here is this:

"…in presenting images of All things He is seen through all of them and in All of them; He is seen especially by those whom He wished to see Him."

Me playing devils advocate I asked this first: How does God present images of All things? I say via Providence, Necessity and Fate. A brief overview from of these emanations of God are in the Stobaean Hermetica (will do another post explaining these three in much more detail in the future.) In SH 12:1 —

Everything comes to pass by nature and by Fate, and there is no region bereft of Providence. Providence is the reason of the celestial God that is perfect in itself. Providence has two powers generated from its own nature: Necessity and Fate.

SH 13: Necessity is a firm judgment and an unbending power of Providence.

SH 14:1– Now Providence firmly governs the whole world, Necessity con- strains and contains it, and Fate drives and drives round all things by force. Indeed, its nature is to use force. Fate is the cause of birth and decay during the time of life.(ie. Place, time, motion, shape)

Now later in the future I will be going over Providence, Necessity, and Fate in fuller detail. Another time. (Specifically will break down Chapters 8, 12-14 & others in the Stobaean Hermetica (SH))

If no region is deprived from Providence. Which can be understood here as the reason or will of The One (God). And if these two powers of “God’s Will” ie. Providence, are Necessity & Fate—Surly we can all agree no region is depleted of these two “bodiless entities” (as described in SH 8).

I will expand on Necessity to convince the reader more that this is indeed is also not bereft of any region. Do not think it’s necessary here to convince anyone that “Fate” exists as even in a Hermetic concept, as I understand Fate—it’s pretty universal or has lots of parallels of how we can All understand “Fate”.

As a Hermeticist, I believe these three bodiless entities (Providence, Necessity & Fate) are within each and every one of us. This said, there are formations in the body that are opposed to Providence (which is described as intelligible, and is drawn from God.), even tho they receive Providence, which can also be described as the highest form of intellect there is.

Necessity would then be our drives and desires, which if I’m honest with myself, my personal drives and desires would most certainly be opposed to this “highest form of intellect” that is Providence. So we can saw confidently that that things that are things that are rational would for sure be driven by Providence. Thus Necessity would be driven by non-rational forces.

Would I not agree that at least some of my drives and desires are indeed, okay, not “deprived of Providence”? Kind of sounds bad at first glance right? Good thing these texts are not meant to be taken at first glance:). This may sound familiar to the concept of sin but this is totally different.

Would I not agree to myself that some of my drives and desires are indeed begot to by some sort of logic?

Example — Food. Pretty rational desire there. We could list more but I think this paints the picture.

As much as that makes sense in my head, it’s also supported in SH 8:6

"Everything non-rational is moved by a certain rationality."

So maybe your convinced “Necessity” is indeed not bereft of ANY region, along side with Fate. Two powers—derived from Providence, or the highest intellect; God’s will.

Thus even in our irrational drives and desires, we find some rational behind them, ie thru science, thru intellect. These drives and desires are moved, to an extent, by Providence, Same thing with Fate.

Hopefully this convinces or helps anyone understand why a lot of people say God is indeed present in All things, or God is All, or that He is One.

After the semicolon in [2] "…He is seen especially by those whom he wished to see Him." Why does God “wish” for certain people to see Him better?

Well after digging in the Definitions of Hermes to Asclepius (Maher’s DH located in Salaman’s *Way of Hermes*)

I think DH 8:4 can refute this question that arose when reading CH V [2].

It presents us with two types of Nous: one of the divine and one of the soul. Yet some men are even deprived of both these forms of nous that are present only in Mankind.

After reading this verse out the DH, I’m reminded of the SH, chapter 18 “the power to choose.”

If we continue reading the DH 8:4-7…to sum up these three verses—everything is right in front of our faces. The answers, our silly questions, GOD, is right there in front of us, but ultimately we have to choose to see God in All things.

SO to bring things back to full circle: these “special chosen ones” who God “wished” for them to see more clearly, this can be anyone. And yes some people are more “divinely inspired” than others but this doesn’t mean God has favorites, Necessity and Fate I believe are the causes for one to be more “esoterically inclined” then the rest. That’s another can of worms to open in the future.

#hermeticism #occult #hermes trismegistus #history #magick

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