#Consistent Faith. Servant

[kmac4him1st]

Amazingly Trustworthy

A consistent God faithfulness helps us become trustworthy. Just A Thought on how amazingly trustworthy our God is and how we can become more like Him. Enjoy!

Do pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may speed on (spread rapidly and run its course) and be glorified (extolled) and triumph, even as [it has done] with you, And that we may be delivered from perverse (improper, unrighteous) and wicked (actively malicious) men, for not everybody has faith and is held by it. Yet the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen [you] and set you on a firm…

[pruneunfair]

Tropes in manhwa are awful yet people still defend them

I'm in a bad mood right now so what better way to release all that pent up anger by ranting on what can ruin a good story.

1: Slavery being inserted only for cheap plot and slaves being demonized as obsessive/greedy monsters for "not knowing their place"

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to insert slavery in your story AS LONG as it's not just cheap plot to make your MC look "better" by buying from a single to all of the slaves because let me tell you this: there is no such thing as a good slave owner, you cannot morally own another human being. A lot of manhwa like to have slavery be a part of their plot completely ignoring that just because the MC goes "wow this is terrible" doesn't make them a good person after they buy a slave.

Remarried empress does this with its villian Rashta by pushing the notion that she's being greedy for not wanting to stay in poverty so Navier won't suffer because apparently a slave wanting what the silver spoon mouthed nobles were born into is so terrible not to mention they justify slave owners and slavery in general as a punishment for criminals (neglecting the fact that children can be sold by their parents)

The villainess has fun again justifies a child slave being bought by the lead and he becomes an obsessive shouta love interest, fans continously justify by using the ancient lolicon excuse "he may look young but he's actually 99182823 years old!"

In divorcing my tyrant husband, Robelia buys 30 slaves and the only 2 that consistently show up have no other personality other then "we love you FL we will worship you till the end of time!"

There's a damn manhwa out there literally called the order of slave breeding and even when a story tries to do this correctly such as VADTD with Penelope being portrayed as a bad person for what she did to Eckles, fans have been so deluded by the idea that FL's buying slaves is "girlboss" that they think Eckles should be grateful to be Penelopes "pet"

2: ML's murdering innocent people after one guy hurts the FL

I already made a specific post about it before and I'll say it again: all this does is make your male lead/father figure look like a horrific monster. While you could say it's because its a medieval kingdom (objectively that is true that they would do this) manhwa and OI is the same place where despite in those times taking a mistress was considered normal they still view it as cheating and "how could you pick that slut when you have such a perfect wife!? 🤬" in most stories. So yes, modern morality is still inserted within these tropes. While I can get it's a way to show that the man in questions loves the FL so much he's willing to go to such lengths to protect her I think just mutilating the guy that actually did the sin would be enough because try imagining yourself as a faithful servant who was amazing at your job getting brutally slaughtered by the Emperor because your boss attacked his daughter or lover.

Into the light once again does this with Aishas dad murdering all the relatives and close friends of a count that tried to kill Ysis and Aisha, Aisha doesn't seem to care despite being in a situation where she was wrongfully executed in her past life.

Remarried empress does this too. After Navier is nearly killed by Krista's brother, Heinrey tortures and kills the dad and slaughters the servants of the zemensias. I can't remember if he also murdered the remaining family members but I wouldn't put it past him.

3: protagonist centered morality

Protagonist centered morality is the biggest indicator that a piece of media is dealing with a mary sue FL. Whatever the protagonist says is right is immediately morally correct. This is actually used to justify the last 2 examples with "it was for the FL!" Things like slavery, murder, workplace abuse, union busting, pedophilia, and being a POS to your loved ones are all justified if the protagonist finds a cheap way to justify it and you HAVE to agree with her because her backstory is very tragic 🥺. Protagonist centered morality also ruins the chance for good characters since the FL herself never has to grow as a person so she stays the same exact thing as she was just with more enablers and random characters will be treated as villains even if they aren't actually wrong about being suspicious of the Protagonist or calling out her behavior. It twists the narrative in such incomprehensible ways that you don't even know what your reading anymore. I can't even list all of the manhwas that do this given how many there actually are so I'll just list some that are at least self aware there Protagonist is awful/morally grey or isn't even a bad person but they still have flaws that can be pointed out

Villains are destined to die

My in laws are obsessed with me

Not sew wicked step mom

Depths of malice

The villainess turns the hourglass

Beware of the villainess.

4: villains being dumbed down to make the lead look smarter

This is unfortunately another common staple often used as a quick way to make the FL look smart and witty but is that really hard to look smarter when everyone else around you is an idiot? Not only does the FL not have to put in actual effort to best her enemies but you just start to pity the villain for basically being a punching bag. Dimwitted villains aren't always bad in fact they can be some of those most entertaining characters no matter much they lose but that only works when they are meant to be seen as a goofy character that your not supposed to take seriously. Villains that are written as extremely childish and stupid but your still supposed to treat them as serious antagonists on the other hand are just annoying since you wonder how the protagonist even got killed by them in the first life if they're so stupid.

Isabella de Mare while admitly having a good reason for being dumbed down (she's a teenager in the 2nd life so it's reasonable she wouldnt be as smart as her adult counterpart) is still a joke of a villainess who keeps flipping back and fourth from a snot nosed whiny brat to a mastermind only at convenient opportunities when the plot needs conflict.

Mielle from the villainess turns the hourglass was first portrayed as extremely conniving as she arranged for Arias downfall in the shadows but in the second life she fails at every scheme she has even though she has Emma and Isis to help her out.

Ragibach is a literal demon possessing the body of another woman with the goal of setting demons loose on the word to start another human vs demon war and she succeeded in that the first time, the devastation was all there so clearly she has to be a formidable antagonist right? Well no, she's another case of being dumbed down further and further so Keira can succeed and while they do understand some plot holes such as Ludwig not trusting her as much in the second life it doesn't change the drastic character change from evil genius to bumbling idiot.

In short: dumbing down your villains so your lead can look smarter is essentially going to give the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb vs a coughing baby.

5: feminine women being demonized as basic "other girls" sluts

Okay this one isn't nearly as terrible as the others on this list because we all love the good old "a demon makes itself look beautiful to deceive humans" kind of villain, in fact as you probably know by me by now, white lotuses are my favorite kinds of character and even in media outside of manhwa I always find myself drawn to angelic villains but it seems like this is less of that and more of "Oh those are all the other girls who just want a man to save them, look at how much better my badass rich boss babe is for working for herself while taking all of their men at the time 😎" in manhwa. As soon as a traditionally feminine girl shows up, comments are already calling her a two faced bitch and half the time protagonist is already skeptical of her. This is the opposite of what being a feminist really is, a real feminist wouldn't be putting down other women just because they dress with more pink with bows and skirts and while I do think for most manhwa this is unintentional I do wish that we could have more characters like Psyche, Helena, Athy, and Jennette that prove that being overly feminine doesn't make you a backpedal on feminism. This doesn't make the badass or sexy fl's bad either, it just means they can co-exist.

An angelic villain should be treated as evil for being a well calculated schemer, not because they have a light colored color scheme

6: toxic relationships being romanticized as good

You know for a large community that claims to be about girl code a good chunk sure likes to look the other way when it comes to toxic relationships as long as the abuser is "hot" and theres always the terrible excuse such as "he has trauma!" Or "he doesn't know how to show his love normally!" No just no we aren't doing that here. Cry or better yet beg has this problem with not only the narrative claiming that Matthias graping Layla is okay because she actually loves him and doesn't know it but a large part of the fanbase also defends it, the same goes with try begging, a manhwa written by Solche who also wrote cry or better yet beg and once again despite Leon being an abuser everyone's ready to justify his actions because he's just a soft little boy who ends up falling in love with Grace awww 😍 (what the hell?) Everyones all about not justifying abusers because they had a sad past until it's the "sexy" male leads with daddy issues.

7: maid slapping

This shit isn't asserting your dominance as a boss bitch it's just work place abuse. This trope has gotten so out of hand of being justified by narratives and readers that there is an entire webtoon called this isekai maid is forming a union that's all about criticizing twisted manhwa tropes that get brushed off with maid absuer being at the biggest one. It's funny because a lot of people complain that Isekai maid union villainizes the nobles too much but they never ask the same questions when a OI is demonizing maids as greedy and lazy in order to deserve a beating. This doesn't just stop at hands either it can escalate to threats of mutilation just to assert dominice which is absolutely sick. Most of the time these leads used to be office workers or terminally ill patients, they know how terrible it is to be treated like garbage by their superiors yet they continue to absue every maid who isn't getting on their knees for them. Most maids in real history would not mistreat a noble even if they were the most hated in the house and even if they did they'd be fired without a letter of recommendation so why can't the FL's just fire the rude maid if they care about dignity so much because I'm pretty sure getting violent with a maid isn't very dignified either.

8: disgusting age gaps

Very similar to #6 but in this case while the ML/FL isn't a cruel monster to their partner it doesn't change the fact that grooming and pedophilia is still a crime worthy of life in prison. You'd think "oh no way, this can't be justified can it?" You'd be wrong. Now I belong to house of Castillo thankfully has a larger fanbase of people who think that a relationship between a girl who got groomed by her knight is bad but in cases like into the light once again a lot of people like to say "Well Aisha is technically 28 so it's fine!" When it really isn't since Aisha is still mentally 14. Taming my ex husbands mad dog is another one that does this with Reinhardt grooming a 16 year old boy and its apparently meant to be "cute".

9: claiming a character as unattractive yet giving them a perfect body and appreance

I just think this is a major cop-out since there's time where they want to make a realistic story yet also wanting a fantasy fufilment. I don't think its a coincidence that the only woman in tears of a withered flower that yout supposed to support is a Victoria's secret model body type. Even though she's meant to be an overworked exhausted 33 year old woman being mocked for losing her beauty she sure as hell isn't drawn that way, the only other women around hae soo are all women with smaller boob's and in general more common body types that are either classed as stupid or jealous that Hae soo is so beautiful that all the attractive men want her

how about we don't pit all the women against each other for once? And let's especially not villainize other women because their jealous they could never be have large boob's and tiny arms+waist at the same time?

10: the commoner protagonist actually being a noble rich person all along

Look I know most of us had loved those "the hated child is the lost princess" GLMM but we need to drop it because it's kinda disappointing that the nobody who had to work their way to the top is actually a secret magical princess who had royal blood in them all along. While I did think the villainess turns the hourglass was a pretty decent read I was super disappointed finding out that Aria was of noble descent all along. I liked seeing a commoner protagonist for once and it really felt like it was critiquing the idea that all commoners and poor people who want nice things like the nobility are greedy animals. Something similar can also happen with certain saintess manhwas that decide to twist itself into "the villainess was the true saintess all along!" And I'm just sitting here thinking "well there goes the hope that you didn't need the super duper rare power to be a strong character"

I feel way better now after writing all this.

[majimaisms]

Majima Goro – Disco Elysium Skillsheet

i've been inspired by @violentlydefending (thank you!) to write up a disco elysium style skillsheet for majima. its VERY long and includes a thought cabinet section as well, so be warned. made a disco style portrait for him too

INTELLECT

DECOUPLING: Betray your values. Act against your nature.

COOL FOR: HYPOCRITES, FAMILY MEN, UNDERCOVER AGENTS

Decoupling is your compartmentalization skill. You have separated your identity, your values and your behavior into neat little boxes that don’t touch each other. With Decoupling, you can justify and stick to any plan, say things you don’t mean, and not worry about what any of it says about you. Compromise is the way of this world – if you can’t hack it, you won’t make it. This includes suppressing your own self-interest; Decoupling allows you to negate the Morale damage from not getting what you want, or need.

Low levels of Decoupling will turn you into an indecisive, ineffective idealist. Preoccupied with your need for authenticity, you will be afraid to compromise your values *at all*. You will be stubborn in your methods, and your identity will become a rock you trip on and fall. You will prioritize being consistent above all else, at the cost of success. However, high Decoupling will turn you into a fraud with a devil-may-care attitude. You will be fully aware you’re doing the wrong thing, but it won’t bother you. You will become unable to recognize your own needs. People will struggle to make sense of your decisions as your behavior becomes more and more inconsistent. If you're not careful, you just might lose sight of your soul entirely, like a stray balloon.

RISK MANAGEMENT: Know exactly how and where everything can go wrong. Then prevent it – but only if it’s worth the cost.

COOL FOR: OPPORTUNISTS, GAMBLERS, WORRIERS

Plan, predict, prevent. Risk Management allows you to understand the economy of possibilities. You don’t need to run the numbers; you have a talent for appraising value in this market. With Risk Management, you can easily identify and mitigate risks and, failing that, deal with the fallout using cost-effective methods. It also makes you immune to sunk-cost fallacies… for the most part. 

Low levels of Risk Management will have you struggling to imagine different possibilities, future-blind. Having no faith in your ability to deal with risks, you will risk becoming paranoid. High levels, on the other hand, will give you a dangerous sense of infallibility. You will become overconfident in your assessments and ironfisted in your methods to prevent undesirable outcomes. In other words – a control freak.

BUSINESSMAN: Make the line go up. Make bank.

COOL FOR: BREADWINNERS, PENNY PINCHERS, INDENTURED SERVANTS

An undeniably useful skill, Businessman makes you really, really good at turning a profit. You understand what sells and how to sell it, who will buy it, and at what price. You can bring a business about to go bankrupt back from the brink, you know how to make the right investments, and you don’t hesitate to cut your losses. All you have to do is make a little bit of effort.

At low levels, poverty will be an ever-present obstacle, and life will be nigh impossible. The world and its many doors will remain closed to you; opportunities will dwindle, people will desert you. Your career as a yakuza will be short-lived, if it ever starts at all. But when you have high levels of Businessman, money will become an end in itself. Absurdity whirlpools will dominate your life. You will be loaded, but it will come at the cost of sentimentality. You will be surrounded by people who want to be close to you, only to take advantage of you. But hey, I’m sure you could compensate for all that somehow. Where there’s money, there’s a way… or however that saying goes. 

LIQUID ASSETS *: Keep your options open. Stay flexible. 

COOL FOR: MONEY LAUNDERERS, IMPULSIVE SPENDERS, PEOPLE WITH COMMITMENT ISSUES 

Liquid Assets lets you reassign your skill points at crucial moments, effectively enabling you to switch between different builds. Your biggest investment is in yourself, and you are determined to polish yourself into maximum efficiency. But what that efficiency looks like depends on the situation, so you’ve learned to min/max your own abilities. It’s almost like turning off a quarter of your brain only for another to light up. You’ve mastered fluidity. You don’t have *complete* control over your skills, but when the situation calls for it, Liquid Assets will give the option to switch things up a little.

At high levels, you will be unable to hold onto any currency you can spend. Cash will burn a hole in your pocket, and the maximum amount of unused skill points you can hoard will reduce dramatically. You will become prone to splurging, urged on by a compulsive and persistent need to empty your pockets *now*. At low levels, however, you will cling to anything you have left in an attempt to hold onto them. You will be afraid to take financial risks or invest in anything, or anyone. You will simply have too much to lose. This will make you conservative with your spending, but it won’t end there. Don’t expect to be able to keep up with a changing world when you are too preoccupied with trying to preserve the things you already have. 

PSYCHE

SHEDDING: Change your skin. Cycle through masks. 

COOL FOR: FUGITIVES, PROFESSIONAL ESCORTS, METHOD ACTORS

Shedding functions as a way to craft and adopt different identities. Your accent, looks, mannerisms, inflection, clothes, demeanor – these things are nothing more than means to an end for you, and can be modified to adapt to any situation. Shedding is the skill that allows you to change tactics as you navigate society, seamlessly switching between characters like putting on different hats. From patriarch to pirate captain, cabaret manager to hostess, idol to construction company owner, role after role becomes you. 

With a low Shedding skill, you will be inflexible and awkward. Change will scare you. You will be unable to commit to any role, any bit, and fail to deliver a convincing performance even when you try. Your ability to see things from different perspectives will suffer, and you will have a harder time understanding others. This will lead to difficulties in dealing with friend and foe alike.  At high levels you will be a master shapeshifter, but a concrete identity will elude you. You will run the risk of getting trapped under the weight of all that dead skin. Be careful that you slough off your old skin all the way, or what was originally underneath may never see the light of day again. You may need the help of another person, preferably someone who really knows you… if that's even possible.

BLACK RIVER: Obscure your intentions. Stay in motion. 

COOL FOR: CULT LEADERS, HUMAN ENIGMAS, THE ROOTLESS

Black River is a pathfinding skill for navigating dreams and desires. It makes you a force of nature through sheer willpower. You can and *will* do anything it takes to reach your goals. You just don’t know how to quit. This gives you a magnetic quality that draws people in, and inspires obsession and devotion in equal parts. People can’t help but get caught up in you, ready to follow you wherever you lead. But you are a river that runs underground; you cannot be seen or heard. Your motivations are opaque to everyone but you. To follow you, people must learn to read signs and symbols – a self-selection mechanism that produces highly dedicated followers. 

At low levels, you will be adrift and aimless. With nothing to work towards, you will stagnate. You will try and hold onto anything that has momentum in hopes it might get you moving, no matter how pointless or out of reach it may seem. Life, for the most part, will just pass you by. At high levels, that drive to achieve your goals will consume your every waking moment, and failure will bring out the worst in you. You will be incredibly charismatic, but seeing nothing except the horizon, you will struggle to stay grounded. Unmoored and unable to come down, you will suffer from motion sickness and have no choice but to keep moving unless you find something, *someone* to tie yourself down to. However, because your intentions remain indecipherable to everyone, you will find yourself lacking in anchors. 

MOXIE: Give yourself pep talks. Get to the top. 

COOL FOR: CHEERLEADERS, GO-GETTERS, INCURABLE OPTIMISTS

You’ve got Moxie, baby. Nerve, guts, determination – you know you’ve got what it takes to make it in this world. You can talk yourself into taking on any challenge, and push past any failure to try again, and again, and again. And people love you for it. Your vigor and courage are contagious. You lift people up and inspire them. Moxie gives you the ability to heal Morale for yourself and others, and acts as your Morale pool. 

Without Moxie, you will struggle to keep going after life has knocked you down. You will be insecure in your ability to succeed, afraid to take risks and embarrass yourself. Too much Moxie has the opposite effect. You will be desperate to put yourself out there, to prove yourself, and never learn. People will watch you with morbid curiosity, like a trainwreck they can’t look away from. 

TIGHTROPE: Indulge in pure escapism. Don’t look down.

COOL FOR: VESTIGIAL SHAMANS, ILLUSIONISTS, SLEEPWALKERS

Tightrope allows you to go through life as if it were a dreamscape, where anything and everything is possible. You are an expert storyteller, and your primary audience is *you*. Tightrope permits you to lie to yourself, to buy into your own fictions. You can fit any series of events into a narrative that makes it more interesting or convenient for you. All you have to do is keep the fantasy going; keep walking and keep your balance. This skill is especially useful for dealing with highly stressful situations, and can be used to protect against Morale damage. 

At high levels, Tightrope will have you playing hide and seek with reality. You will lose yourself in blissful ignorance and have a great time doing it, but the consequences may be dire. Gravity is an uncompromising teacher; the comedown will be painful. The Morale damage you negate in the short term will come back to bite you in the ass later – expect heavy Morale losses. It will also make you completely opaque to yourself as you go to great lengths to avoid doing *any* self-reflection. However, low Tightrope will make life a total slog. You will be susceptible to depression and substance abuse, seeking stimulation through other means, just trying to make it bearable. Seeing life only as it is and not as it should be, you will be extra vulnerable to Morale damage and struggle to keep your sanity.

DIAMOND HEART: Don’t break. Stay vigilant.

COOL FOR: SUPERHEROES, SURVIVORS, IDEALISTS

Life is an unending series of horrors, and Diamond Heart is your last bastion against the meaninglessness of it all. It enables you to absorb the blows life throws at you, and learn the right lessons from them. It’s what reminds you not to lose sight of what’s important as the world pushes your limits, over and over. It is spiritual endurance. Regardless of how bleak the situation you find yourself in becomes, Diamond Heart shows you the right thing to do, acting as your moral compass. Pressure brings out the best in you; you shine brighter the darker it gets, and set an example for others to look to.

Low levels of Diamond Heart will make you cynical, pessimistic and uncharitable towards the world and its people. You will become depressed and isolated, and constantly look to others for guidance. At high levels, you will appear mad to most people around you. Cynics and skeptics will accuse you of “not understanding how the world works”, of being spoiled, sheltered, or even stupid, but you won’t pay it any mind. This will lead you to take massive risks for the sake of doing good – be careful that you’re equipped to deal with failure, or make sure you’re going to succeed. 

NURTURING: Understand reward and punishment. Help people reach their full potential. 

COOL FOR: SCHOOL TEACHERS, PERSONAL TRAINERS, PATRIARCHS

Nurturing is your skill for teaching, mentoring and training people. You see *possibilities* in everything, and people are no exception. You have a guiding instinct that draws you to roles where you have direct influence over a person’s development, and an inclination to play mentor to anyone you meet. Whether you choose to hammer them into shape or take a softer approach, Nurturing is the skill you use to forge people into the best they can be. 

At high levels, Nurturing will make you a master of operant conditioning. You will be able to make legendary fighters out of street brawlers, obedient subordinates out of the most rebellious punks, and #1 hostesses out of awkward, flat-chested wallflowers. But you will risk becoming overly protective and coddling, having to constantly fight the urge to go easy on people. However, low Nurturing will turn you into a tyrant of a teacher as you rely entirely on negative reinforcement. You will be violent and uncompromising in your methods, preferring to employ a sink-or-swim strategy, and it will only get your students so far – the ones that make it through their training, anyway.

PHYSIQUE 

DEMONFIRE: Tap into raw physical power. Unleash your inner demon. 

COOL FOR: SADISTS, JILTED LOVERS, THE CRIMINALLY INSANE

Demonfire allows you to *force* your will on the world in the only way that is guaranteed to work: violence. It is your go-to skill for *hurting* people – your primary combat skill, in more technical terms. Bats, blades or just your bare fists: choose your instrument of pain and go all out. Bash skulls in, send teeth flying, and stab-stab-stab your opponents until they fall. There’s something within you that just can’t get enough, and she demands to be let loose. 

At high levels, Demonfire will make you practically unbeatable. People will be simultaneously afraid and in awe of your martial prowess. Your legend will precede you. But you will risk being controlled by your own bloodlust, struggling to stay moderate in your violence. You will not only *take* every opportunity to beat people up, you will start to create *new* ones. At low levels, however, you will be too weak to even swing your fist. Even the most pathetic punks will beat your ass in a fight. You will be unable to fight for the things you believe in, or protect the people you care about. You will be powerless.

PLAYMATE:  Talk with your fists. Get to know people another way. 

COOL FOR: BROTHERS, PACK ANIMALS, FERAL CHILDREN 

A necessary skill for any yakuza, Playmate is used to gain information about someone through fighting them. It can be thought of as a social skill, utilized the same way any other language would be: self expression, discussion, building connections. With Playmate, a fight to the death can be a bonding activity or an efficient way to learn things about someone, to help you understand what drives them. 

High levels of Playmate will make you overly antagonistic. You will rely solely on fighting to build and maintain relations, and you will seem needlessly hostile to everyone around you. Emotional closeness will not be a defining feature of your relationships. At low levels, you will be unable to find any joy in fighting your loved ones. You will be forced to rely almost entirely on verbal communication to understand each other; something that can be time consuming, and cause for many dead ends as you attempt to resolve your interpersonal problems using words.

RAZOR’S EDGE: Refuse to take orders. Spit in the face of danger. 

COOL FOR: MASOCHISTS, ADRENALINE JUNKIES, HORROR FANS

Something has gone badly wrong with you. The wires in your poor, traumatized nervous system are all jumbled up. You can no longer tell the difference between fear and excitement – if you ever could in the first place. Razor’s Edge allows you to suppress your natural fear response, and makes you effectively immune to intimidation. You simply do not think to negotiate with pain. You are not scared off by threats of bodily harm. In fact, you get a kick out of it. This makes you both difficult to control and unpredictable, willing to take risks most wouldn’t. At the same time, it lets you stay sharp, on the edge, where you need to be. 

Without Razor’s Edge, you'll be questioning whether or not it’s worth it to push back. Staying quiet and letting people have their way with you will seem easier. But if you take it, they'll give it. At high levels, Razor’s Edge will make you brash and arrogant. Seeking thrills, you will become reckless to the point of seeing your life – and others’ – as something for you to toy with. Don't expect others to take kindly to this, though. Most people care about living to see the next day. 

COMPETITIVE STREAK: Go the extra mile. Push your limits. 

COOL FOR: OLYMPIC ATHLETES, #1 HOSTESSES, WINNERS

There is a constant and deafening voice in your head that tells you to *do more* and *be better*. To beat everyone at their own game. And your longest-standing opponent? Yourself. More specifically, yourself from one minute ago. That guy is old news. You can do better, beat your own record. Competitive Streak is your drive for self improvement. It allows you to identify and create situations you can gain experience from. It effectively offers a way to *grind* for that sweet, sweet XP.

At high levels, power dynamics will rule your life. People will find you intense and off-putting as you turn even the smallest interactions into something that is possible to win or lose, and you will burn yourself out trying to outdo them all. But low Competitive Streak will make you a sore loser. Or worse, a *killjoy*. You don’t want to be a killjoy, do you? *Nobody* likes a killjoy. Not even the people that nobody else likes. Not even *other* killjoys. One way or the other, a healthy dose of competitiveness is required to avoid becoming insufferable. Just make sure you don’t push your limits beyond repair.

LIVING ORGANISM: Be an animal. Trust your instincts. 

COOL FOR: BODYBUILDERS, SOOTHSAYERS, HEALTH FREAKS

Your body is an animal, and Living Organism is your connection to it. Like any animal handler, you know what it needs, how to keep it healthy, and how to make it useful. You can train it, feed it, take care of it, and it will repay you in kind. It has access to wisdom that you don't, and it knows what you need and how to provide it. Listen to it, and you will come out on top. 

At high levels, you will develop a seemingly uncanny ability to predict events as you rely on your gut feelings to guide your actions. However, you will become preoccupied with your health to the point of neurosis. Strict about your diet and excessively worried about *symptoms*, you will be prone to disordered eating and regular full body check-ups will become a staple in your life. Naturally, the time and effort spent on your body will lead to vanity as well. At low levels, you will disregard your body’s needs altogether. The animal will seek revenge on you for the years of neglect, payback for the poor treatment you've subjected it to. Aches and pains are only the beginning of the debilitation. You will be in a constant battle with your body, working against it instead of with it. 

ENDURANCE

MOTORICS

SHOWTIME: Live your life as performance art. Captivate your audience. 

COOL FOR: POP-STAR SENSATIONS, THEATRE KIDS, KARAOKE ENTHUSIASTS

Dance. Move. Feel the rhythm and lose yourself in it. Sing your heart out. Pull crazy stunts for shock value. Do cartwheels and backflips. Confuse and dazzle onlookers. Cause distractions. Command attention. The world is your dance floor – Showtime allows you to utilize this fact to its fullest potential, and have fun doing it. 

High levels of Showtime will make you unable to *stop* performing; even when you have no audience, even when you are completely alone. The show must go on *indefinitely*. Your entire life will be a bit, an inside joke you share only with yourself, and nobody will be laughing. With low levels, though, you won't be able to draw anybody's attention to save your life. Or worse, you will draw the wrong *kind* of crowd. Attention – there’s unwanted kinds.

DISTAL PRECISION: Know exactly where you're striking. Maim, but don't kill. 

COOL FOR: ACROBATS, MARTIAL ARTISTS, THE PASSIVELY AGGRESSIVE

Distal Precision makes you a master of self-restraint in combat. It’s your spatial awareness and motor control skill. It allows you to have precise control of your movements, right down to every minute twitch of your muscles, and gives you a perfect sense of your reach. It enables you to execute complicated maneuvers with proficiency, strike with everything you’ve got and stop just millimeters short of your mark, or gauge the exact distance between you and the edge of the rooftop overlooking a 100m drop. It’s a skill any fighter needs.

At high levels, Distal Precision will make you unable to rely on muscle memory. You will be deliberate in your every movement, too preoccupied with precision to enter a flowstate. It will significantly impede your fun, and your performance will suffer as your movement becomes stilted. Expect particularly catastrophic Red Check failures at low levels, though. With poor control over your movement, you will find it much, much easier to fatally wound someone without meaning to. Human bodies are more fragile than they seem, including your own; low Distal Precision will have you flinging yourself at walls instead of opponents, aiming for the wrong body parts, or leaving yourself open in ways that might prove fatal for *you*. 

PEOPLE WATCHING: Observe human behavior. Understand social culture.

COOL FOR: TALENT SCOUTS, WRITERS, MARKETING AGENTS

People Watching is the skill you use to observe and recognize patterns in human behavior; your ability to make connections between disposition, cultural background and presentation. You know who likes and dislikes what, who gets bullied and who becomes popular, even if you don’t always understand *why*. But that’s not important here – People Watching mainly serves as a way to glean a lot of information about a person from just a glance. It helps you notice details about people that most wouldn’t, and ensures you draw the right conclusions, letting you do things like: single out the richest person in a room, clock closet-cases, or correctly infer someone’s hometown from a brief conversation

At high levels, you will be able to play the social game effortlessly. You will be in-tune with stereotypes most people have never even heard of, knowledgeable about people from all walks of life. But you will find yourself too preoccupied with other people, neglecting to consider how *you* fit into society. You will be a permanent outsider, unable to truly belong in any group. With low People Watching, however, you will be navigating society without speaking its language of style and presentation. You will be oblivious to cues that most pick up on effortlessly. You will live your life on this earth like an alien, indefinitely culture-shocked, an outsider of a different kind.

COMPOSURE

REACTION SPEED

THOUGHT CABINET

MY BROTHER'S MAN 

Problem: You are outside a warehouse as Shibata explains to you that you have no choice but to betray your brother. You refuse to understand. Then choice is taken from you, but only because you allowed it to happen. Your only brother is in prison on death row, and you are not. This was not how it was supposed to go.

Solution: You swore an oath, and the price of betrayal is death. Saejima will never get back the years of his life that he lost. It’s only fair that yours gets cut short. In the meantime, try to make up for it anyway. Loyalty – it's supposed to mean something. 

+4 Black River: Feel the half that is missing +4 Razor’s Edge: Nothing to lose -1 to all skills when separated from your bonded pair To forget this thought, you have to forget all of them

LONG DEAD ANIMAL 

Problem: You've been ready to die since the day you swore your oath. You’ve erased your past, and you’ve got no future. You’re not interested in having one, either. This makes it difficult to give a shit about… well, anything. It’s no way to live. 

Solution: Life is just a consecutive series of days where you are cheating death, and dying early is just part of the deal for yakuza. But with the way you've been living, you may as well already be dead. The sooner you make peace with this, the easier it will be to focus on the work that needs to be done. On the upside, you can incorporate this into your fashion for a *really* cool style. It will act as a reminder.

+1 Composure: Taxidermied +1 Reaction Speed: Moments have consequences +1 Health for each item of clothing you are wearing that's made of leather +1 Shedding if you’re wearing 3 or more items of leather clothing -1 Living Organism: It doesn’t feel like living

LOOKING-GLASS SELF

Problem: You don’t relate to your peers. Not in the way they relate to each other. And they don’t understand you, either. At least not the way you understand yourself. How are you going to bridge the gap? 

Solution: According to some sociologists, individuals develop their concept of self by observing how they are perceived by others, a concept Cooley coined as the “looking-glass self.” You’ve not only mastered this ability, but your self worth has miraculously remained unaffected. Congratulations! You are now a full person. At least in the eyes of others. As far as your need for authenticity is concerned, though, you’ve simply given up on such things. Oh, and be prepared to have a really complicated relationship with mirrors – whether they’re made of glass, or flesh and bone.

+3 Shedding: Mask to survive +3 Decoupling: Lost cause +1 Composure: Live behind your eyelids +1 People Watching: Watch and learn Prerequisite for 24-HOUR CINDERELLA

NEWTONIAN MECHANICS

Problem: You did not have the *happiest* childhood (really, it was very, very far from being happy – we’re talking, like, *light years* away) but it’s part of what made you who you are. You may be damaged goods, but hard times have also taught you some valuable lessons. You’ve learned not to take anything for granted, and that you can’t afford to ignore *reality*. Life is short – and you know how to appreciate it. But above all, your childhood has made you *kind* – you have a relentless drive to protect and defend the weak. But courage alone isn’t enough. There’s more to the story.

Solution: “A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless it is acted upon by a force.” This is true of all bodies, including human ones. Force is the language of this reality, and violence is the way of this world. At the end of the day, all power boils down to your capacity to inflict physical harm on another person. Forcing your will upon people is forcing your will upon the world. And you are determined to use your power for good, but you must first *acquire* it. That’s right – you have to get *strong*. Really, really strong. In fact, you have to be the strongest guy around. There’s no way around it, it’s the only way to keep your loved ones safe. You need to be able to generate force, or you will be a null factor in this universe, unable to help anybody when it really counts.

Demonfire learning cap raised by 5 +3 Competitive Streak: Moral imperative +3 Razor’s Edge: The fear has been beaten out of you +3 Endurance: You can take it

HYPER-COMBATIVE LIVING

Problem: The world of yakuza is one where people only respect brute strength and authority. You’ve got your fair share of issues with the latter, but you have to admit, it’s a little *unstylish* to rely entirely on the former. There are cleverer, more sophisticated ways to solve problems. Diplomacy and compromise should not be *entirely* out of the question… right?

Solution: Life is too short not to solve your problems using violence. Besides, who said violence wasn’t stylish? Violence is cool. Red hot, sparks flying *cool*. And you can make it even cooler. By making it your whole *thing*. Diplomacy and compromise are boooring. Problems need solutions, and violence is a one-size-fits-all solution that has not failed you yet. You can forget about romance or tenderness, though.

+3 Demonfire: No holds barred +2 Playmate: Howling forever -3 Businessman: Doing business honest man style is tedious -2 Diamond Heart: Play the antagonist

LORD OF THE NIGHT

Problem: The nightmares are the easy part. The year you spent in that place *did* something to you. Okay, it did *a lot* of things. Honestly, even you're not sure about the extent of the damage. I'm talking about *psychological damage*, boyo. Not just to your mind, not just to your spirit, but to your *pride*. Your dignity has been stripped away, pissed on, and left to rot in that cell. There has to be some way to get it back.

Solution: Good news! There *is* a dignified way to deal with indignity – a way to handle it with grace. And you've found it. Okay, are you ready? It's about *consent*. That’s right. If you volunteer to the daily stripping of your dignity, you can, in fact, retain some of it. Enough of it. Enough to keep your head up – look people in the eye, look at yourself in the mirror. All that good stuff. So why not embrace it? Just stop fighting it. It's not like you have a choice, anyway. 

+6 Composure: The customer is king +6 Businessman: No time to waste -6 Razor’s Edge: Orders are absolute -6 Living Organism: Broken and battered Prerequisite to unlock MAD DOG OF SHIMANO

MAD DOG OF SHIMANO 

Problem: Her small hand between yours as you bow your head in silent prayer: Please, please let her live. If she doesn't, you will have failed her forever. It will be your fault that she's dead, and you will have to live with the knowledge that she died because of the organization you've dedicated your life to. How did it get to this? How will you prevent it from happening again? And most importantly, how are you going to go back to the clan after this? 

Solution: The people who put her life in danger make up the majority of the world's population. Life is cruel and stupid, and nobody around seems to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong. So what’s the point of doing the right thing? Go back to the clan. Climb the ranks. Do whatever it takes. Nobody gives a shit, least of all you. 

Decoupling learning cap raised by 5 +3 Demonfire: Let her loose +3 Decoupling: Don’t think about what Saejima would have to say about it +2 Reaction Speed: Guard dog -1 Razor’s Edge: You still have nightmares about Shimano -1 Diamond Heart: It doesn’t make any difference Internalizing this thought will make you forget LORD OF THE NIGHT

UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION

Problem: You have to kill Dojima Sohei. If you don’t, she will be in danger her whole life. You can’t kill Dojima Sohei. If you do, she will feel indebted to you her whole life. Sera offers you a way out of this conundrum – he has the money and power to do so. But you won’t always be so lucky. A more readily available solution is required. 

Solution: You were put to that impossible choice in 1988 not only because you cared about Makoto, but because she also cared about *you*. This is the trick, the principle that underlies all human connection: it goes both ways. Everyone feels the need to trust and be trusted, to provide and be provided for, to love and be loved. People aren’t selfish; sacrificing yourself for your loved ones won’t make them happy. Everything that hurts you will also hurt *them* – such is the nature of love. However, none of this changes the fact that sacrifices are necessary, and you are more than happy to be the one making them. The only way to circumvent this problem, then, is to do it without anyone noticing. As long as no one *knows* you’re making sacrifices, you can keep doing it without anyone feeling indebted to you. 

+3 Nurturing: Protect the weak +3 Black River: Stealth aid +3 Endurance: Stay alive for their sake

21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN

Problem: Your reflection stares back at you in the cold steel blade of your tanto as a blind girl clings to your legs. Your hair pulled back, cheeks gaunt and gaze distant, you are a ghost. Almost two decades later, Shimano’s dead and you’re the head of your own subsidiary. You’re going to turn in your tanto in a couple months when you disband your family. The echoes of your past trapped in that steel will be locked away in the treasury at Tojo HQ, and you will lose the sharpest mirror you’ve ever had. What has it all been for? What the hell have you been doing with your life *really*, this whole time? Have you done any lasting good in this world? 

Solution: The world is sick, too sick for anyone to save it, and it’s difficult to love a dying thing. All the rape and murder and hunger in the world will not go away because you want it to, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But forget saving it, you’ve been actively contributing to its worsening condition since the day you swore your oath. Becoming a civilian now won’t change that. This shit is in your blood, there’s no other life for you. The world is what it is, and you have to adapt to survive. There is no point in arguing with facts. Trying to save *everyone* is a lost cause, and you have to pick your battles. It’s simply the *smart* thing to do. 

+2 to all INT skills +1 Tightrope: Keep your eyes closed +1 Showtime: Have some fun while you can  -2 Diamond Heart: Callous 

YAKUZA FOR A BETTER PLANET

Problem: Shimano’s new favorite subject to harp on seems to be *climate change*. You’re not even sure what that is, but all this talk of greenhouse gases and dioxides is getting to you. Maybe it’s time to get on board with this whole *sustainability* business. You could be the first yakuza to ever become an environmental activist. A *trailblazer*… 

Solution: Wake up! The planet needs you. Glaciers are melting, animals are going extinct, and all those CO₂ emissions are absolutely *destroying* the ozone layer. You may have been ignorant until now, but there is no time to waste. It’s time to take responsibility – and it all starts with *recycling*. Separating your trash is a man’s civic duty! That’s right, this is about *individual responsibility*. Get on it, and while you’re at it, get everybody else on it, too. Plus, it makes for a really good excuse to beat people up.

+1 Reaction Speed: On the lookout for litterers +1 Competitive Streak: Reduce your carbon footprint +1 Tightrope: Pollution stops with you!

A DOZEN WINTERS OF LONELINESS

Problem: It feels like it stretches out into eternity, this emptiness within you. It was not left by anyone or anything in particular, as far as you can tell. And it seems to *intensify* at night. But that’s the extent of your understanding of it. All you have are half-remembered nights in your memory to flip through like a scrapbook when the feeling paralyzes you again. On good days you pass out on the couch watching a nature documentary or some horror flick. On bad days it makes you want to curl up and die. Is there no end to it? 

Solution: No. Learn to live with it. 

+1 Risk Management: No one looking out for you +1 Decoupling: Easier to betray yourself +1 Composure: Bottle it up -1 Diamond Heart: A dozen summers against the world -1 Tightrope: Alcohol helps in ways you can’t help yourself -1 Living Organism: Starving animal

ONCE UPON A TIME 

Problem: You filed the divorce papers yourself immediately after you left the apartment. The first thing you did was take the gloves off. It was stupid of you to try, to think this could ever work out. You will never be a father. The taste of bile in the back of your throat is almost drowned out by the cigarette smoke as you sit with your increasing shame. You fucked up, slim. You fucked up *big time*. 

Solution: Dreams. Memories. The past. You are a chain of ill-defined disappointments. There's a lot you didn't get to do, and a lot you never will. You may have given up on your dreams, but that just gives you more room to take on others’. The story isn’t over yet.

Distal Precision learning cap raised by 3 +2 Distal Precision: You have to be more careful -1 Demonfire: You scare yourself -1 Moxie: You only get one shot at some things -1 Tightrope: Reality check

BUTTERFLY DANCING IN THE NIGHT

Problem: Kiryu won’t fight you. More accurately, Kiryu won’t fight you *unless* you manage to really, really piss him off. This is harder to pull off than you initially thought. If there’s one thing about men, though, it’s that they never fail to get irrationally angry where *women* are concerned. And it’s never for the right reasons. There *has* to be a way to use this against Kiryu. You just have to think outside the box. 

Solution: The most perfect of all solutions has appeared to you in the form of a cabaret girl – and she’s right there in the mirror. Goromi is your ticket to a *guaranteed* fight with Kiryu. There’s not a man on this earth who wouldn’t be furious to have her as his hostess, and this is your opportunity to make them pay. Just try not to question why this particular role comes so naturally to you, or why it feels so good.

+2 Demonfire: Righteous anger  +2 Showtime: Make everybody happy -1 Shedding: Comfortable in your skin

24-HOUR CINDERELLA 

Problem: You wake up, wash your face, take an aspirin for your headache. You look in the mirror and the thing that stares back at you is the same every day. You think this is normal. What isn't normal is the fact that it feels like looking at someone else. How did you lose track of who you are? When did it happen? What does it even *mean* to be a person? Does it even matter?

Solution: You are, at any given time, whatever you happen to be in that exact moment. There are no lasting states of being. Self in motion. Identity is a scam; all we have is the shifting, tangled mess of desires, intentions and dreams. The only thing that matters is what you *do*, and as long as you can do whatever you want, you can *be* whatever you want.

Shedding learning cap raised by 5 +2 Showtime: All that jazz is bullshit +2 Tightrope if you also have ONCE UPON A TIME internalized  +1 Decoupling: It doesn't say anything about who you are +1 Razor’s Edge: Freedom of choice is everything

METAXÚ

Problem: So many have gone from your life. Left, lost, died. A lifetime of mourning would not cut it – you would need several. You could miss them every second of every day and it would not be enough. You are in pieces. How many more will leave you? To say nothing of the lives *you* have left. How many people have a you-shaped hole in their lives? How many more will *you* leave? 

Solution: Every separation is a link. Weil wrote, “Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication.” So it is with everyone you’ve ever been separated from. Presence in absence. Communication in silence. Love in grief. Connection in separation.

The following skill pairs will level up together (only applies when using skill points to level up, does not apply retroactively): Demonfire & Distal Precision, Risk Management & Razor’s Edge, Decoupling & Diamond Heart, Liquid Assets & Black River -1 Tightrope: Acceptance

VOID JANITOR

Problem: Kashiwagi is dead, and now there is no one left in Kamurocho. In fact, there is *nothing* left in Kamurocho. The Tojo is a dying thing, and everyone you care about is gone. They've left you here to take care of things in their absence. To janitor the emptiness. Sometimes you want to join them. Leave Kamurocho, leave the clan, leave this world, leave it all behind. There is no joy here. There is *nothing*. Why are you still around?

Solution: Your number isn’t up yet, and you’ve got time to kill. You might as well start mopping floors and taking out trash. Make yourself useful, one way or another. Plus, someone still needs to look after Daigo. You’ve done less than a bang-up job in that department so far, to say the least. It’s time to get to work.

+1 Nurturing: Your responsibility now +1 Black River: There’s some use for you yet -3 Showtime: No audience  -2 Tightrope: Reached the end of the rope

THE GREAT MAW

Problem: The abyss. The darkness. The great maw of the void, the one that will swallow you and everyone in the world whole if you let it. I’m talking about *cynicism.* How will you ward against its siren call? Its threat is ever-present, and its song is deafening. With the life you’ve led… *can* you even resist it?

Solution: Yes you can. You resist it one day at a time. By deciding, every single day, that today will not be the day you give into it. You can’t cut corners here. This is too important for that. You have to give it your all, and it *will* take everything you have in you. You will never not need to stop reminding yourself of what's at stake. And it will get exhausting. Hope is vital, and there is precious little of it to be found. Hold onto it.

Diamond Heart learning cap raised by 5 Decoupling Red Check failures can be retried at the cost of all of your Morale but if you fail again, you get a permanent -1 Diamond Heart and your Diamond Heart learning cap is reduced by 1

WASHED-UP YAKUZA

Problem: You woke up on a beach with no memories. You know nothing about your past, except for what you can glean from your appearance and your muscle memory. None of it bodes particularly well for your karmic debt. If you’re being honest, you don’t really *want* to remember any of it. And who’s this Saejima guy everyone keeps talking about?

Solution: Actually, this feels pretty good. It’s kinda like being reborn. And you can really get behind this whole pirate thing. You’re having a ton of fun. Fuck being a yakuza, that shit blows. Saejima can deal.

+10 Diamond Heart: Captain Majima is a man of his word +10 Moxie: Blissful ignorance  +10 Black River: Stars in Noah’s eyes +10 Tightrope: Worry about it later -10 Shedding: Lost your jacket to the sea -10 Decoupling: Reunited with your soul -10 Liquid Assets: Starting from scratch -2 Reaction Speed: Blunt fangs This thought can only be internalized if you have no other thoughts internalized (except HEART OF THE DRAGON)  You cannot internalize any other thoughts while researching WASHED UP YAKUZA

HEART OF THE DRAGON

Problem: This is one of your favorite legends. It's about a guy who just can't give up, and inspires others to keep going. He's had a hard life. Someone needs to make up for this. But it is an unrepayable debt that the world owes him, and you are only one person. Who is going to make this right? How? 

Solution: He is a better man than you ever will be. And maybe, just maybe, if you try, you can be a little more like him. But that is not enough. You have to save him; from the world and from himself, as many times as it takes. Over and over and over. If you don’t, who will? And by doing this one thing right, you might even be able to hope to begin to atone for your own mistakes.

Diamond Heart learning cap raised by 5 +1 Black River: Something to do +1 Diamond Heart: True north +1 Nurturing: Live up to the legend +1 Competitive Streak: If he can do it, so can you +1 Playmate: Wolf like me This thought cannot be forgotten

[weavergrovedevotional]

Digging Deep: Why Spending Time in Scripture Matters

In our busy lives, filled with work, family, and endless to-do lists, it can feel like finding time for anything extra is a monumental task. But today, I want to talk about something that isn't just an "extra" – it's a lifeline, a foundation, and a source of immeasurable blessing: spending time studying Scripture.

Think of it like this: imagine building a house. You wouldn't just slap some bricks together and hope for the best, would you? You'd need a solid blueprint, a detailed plan to ensure stability and strength. The Bible is our blueprint for life, given to us by the ultimate architect, God himself.

But just owning the blueprint isn't enough. It needs to be opened, studied, and understood to guide the construction process. Similarly, having a Bible on your shelf is wonderful, but its true power and purpose are unlocked when we actively engage with its pages.

Why is digging into Scripture so vital?

It's how we truly know God. The Bible isn't just a collection of stories; it's God's revealed Word. Through its pages, we learn about His character, His love, His justice, His mercy, and His incredible plan for humanity. How can we truly love and follow someone we don't know? Scripture unveils the heart of our Father.

It equips us for life's challenges. Life throws curveballs. We face trials, temptations, and moments of uncertainty. Scripture provides wisdom, guidance, and comfort in these times. It's our spiritual armor, helping us stand firm in our faith and navigate the storms with God's truth as our compass. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  

It transforms our hearts and minds. Spending time in Scripture isn't just about gaining knowledge; it's about allowing God's Word to penetrate our hearts and shape our thinking. As we meditate on its truths, the Holy Spirit works within us, convicting, encouraging, and transforming us into the likeness of Christ. It helps us to see the world through God's eyes and align our desires with His.

It strengthens our relationship with Jesus. Jesus himself constantly referred to and quoted Scripture. By immersing ourselves in the Word, we connect with the very words that shaped His life and ministry. It deepens our understanding of His sacrifice, His teachings, and His ongoing presence in our lives.

It provides clarity and discernment. In a world filled with conflicting voices and opinions, Scripture offers a clear and unwavering standard of truth. It helps us discern between what is right and wrong, what is godly and ungodly. It provides a solid foundation upon which to build our beliefs and make wise decisions.

Making Time for the Word:

I know it can feel overwhelming to add another thing to your already packed schedule. But even small, consistent efforts can make a huge difference. Here are a few practical tips:

Start small: Even 15-20 minutes a day can be impactful.

Find a method that works for you: Whether it's reading chronologically, focusing on a specific book, or using a devotional guide, find a way to engage with Scripture that resonates with you.

Be consistent: Aim for a regular time each day, even if it means waking up a little earlier or using your lunch break.

Pray before you read: Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to understand God's Word.

Reflect and apply: Don't just read; take time to think about what you've read and how it applies to your life.

Discuss with others: Consider joining a Bible study group to learn from others and share insights.

Friends, let's make a conscious effort to prioritise digging deep into God's Word. It's not a chore; it's an invitation to know God more intimately, to be equipped for life's journey, and to experience the transformative power of His truth. Let's build our lives on the solid foundation of Scripture, one verse at a time.

What are some ways you make time for Scripture in your day?

[respectthepetty]

The Loyal Pin - Episode 6

The first reason I loved this episode was the fact that this episode began with the girls not only switching patterns (floral vs. lines) but also switching positions.

The second reason I loved this episode was Prik being extra by making noises and motions just to let Pin know that she knew what the lesbians were doing, and it wasn't sleeping.

And the third reason I loved this episode was THE SEX!

Pin and Anin kissing each other wherever and whenever is the kind of romantic storytelling I want to see!

And Pin and Anin having sex wherever and whenever is the kind of historical GL storytelling I want to see.

But as happy as I am that Pink Person Pin wore purple to combine her and Blue Beauty Anin's color,

And that they went on a a little date that paralleled the date that they had before Anin left for England the first time,

There are still color-coded forces (unintentionally) standing between them.

So even though these color-coded girls are in love

And having great sex about it,

Other people will continue to be whole ass problems for them!

(Not Pranot though. He sits at the same table with Prik since they are the only two people who seem to already support queer rights and wrongs!)

Because Anin's color-coded brother is being a big problem!

Anon has been consistently red color-coded, but Anin's oldest brother, Anantawut, who was once blue like her, stayed entirely brown this episode.

Which could be an issue if it means he'll become more traditional, conservative, and predictable.

And although I don't think Pin's mom ever means any harm, she is the epitome of femininity and womanhood.

She can cook. She can clean. She can manage an entire compound of servants all while looking docile, so as much as I love that Pin received the ruby set from Anin's mom for her birthday,

It feels like the jewelry is the first real step into chaining down Pin into a traditional role of womanhood like her mother since this came after the conversation about Pin and Anin needing to get married sooner rather than later.

Normally, red would be passion and heart, which is nice that Anin decided to put red berries on Pin's cake to show her she loved Pin.

But Pin lost her color a bit this episode when she became depressed that Anin was leaving again. Only the tiniest bit of pink lingered at the edge of her dress.

So I think her mother will be even more adamant that Pin get married so she will be too preoccupied with her husband and (new color) to dwell on her best friend being gone, but I think there is an ally in our royal midst!

Anantawut's new wife also seems like the epitome of femininity and womanhood because she can cook, clean, and take care of her prince.

But when I look closer, she is wearing pink AND blue.

And at the lunch where marriage is discussed, she is, once again, wearing pink and blue with a purple skirt (pictured above)

So even though Blue Beauty Anin doesn't have control of her circumstances now.

And neither does Pink Person Pin (who did not deserve to be left without a goodbye!)

I have faith that someone in this family will be able to support the girls when the times come because Prik can't be the only person in this house I respect.

Right?

[walkswithmyfather]

Hebrews 11:23-28 (NLT). [23] “It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command. [24] It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. [25] He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. [26] He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. [27] It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. [28] It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB1995). [9] “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

“The Way of Faith” by In Touch Ministries:

“The Lord will provide all that’s needed for you to accomplish what He's called you to do.”

“Moses stood before Pharaoh and ordered him to release the Israelites from slavery. The confrontation must have seemed a ridiculous spectacle, even to the slaves Moses had been sent to rescue. But after 10 plagues, Moses was the faithful servant God used to bring a nation to its knees.

Choosing to walk by faith instead of living on the basis of feelings and logic often means being misunderstood. Our actions may appear unreasonable to the outside world, but what could be more reasonable than allowing our omnipotent heavenly Father to guide us? When we, like Moses, find our talents and abilities are no match for the task at hand, God’s power will accomplish through us what needs to be done (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Living by faith requires releasing our human sense of what is best and reasonable in order to rely wholly on God—it involves obeying when the Lord tells us that we are to speak or act. God wants us to trust that He has a plan for our life and is consistently directing circumstances and maneuvering people to ensure that His purpose is achieved.

Whatever the challenge, you can be successful by choosing to depend entirely upon the Father. He will help you overcome any challenges and make you victorious.”

[Photo thanks to Aaron Burden at Unsplash]

[nyxseclipses]

Awareness, Observation and Identification 

What began as Law of Assumption has, through time and echoed words disconnected from source material, demonstrated itself in some circles to be a threshold rather than a terminus. Neville Goddard taught beyond “assumptions create reality," especially in later years, and this is an offering to rectify and expand.

If one traces back the function and genesis of assumption, belief, identity, vibration, intention, et cetera, they are invariably found to be not originary forces, but derivatives—expressions within a medium that preexists and underpins them all: Awareness.

Indeed, assumptions may give shape to reality, but imagination itself is boundless—suggesting a realm wherein assumptions are not required at all. They are not the final word, merely a single dialect in the vast language of experience. Reality is not fixed; it is clay in the hands of the aware, pliable even in its so-called laws. The world you see—this third-dimensional echo—is but the mirror of what stirs in the unseen. Alter the formless, and the formed must follow. It is, irrevocably, infinite.

What if manifestation does not require assumption of having or truth, but rather simple awareness placed on the outcome?

This does not presume to offer finality, only a candle in a crypt of Awareness—an alternative route.

TL;DR: Awareness is a foundational substrate. 

 It is not the servant of thought or the echo of belief; it is not a derivative mechanism. You (as pure Awareness, the awake observer, consciousness, et cetera) needn’t assume or believe or embody.  You need only withdrawal and become Aware. Withdraw from the undesired, and place your self gently upon the desired. 

Awareness is the marrow that fills the bones of assumptions held within a particular body of consciousness.

You (Awareness and Consciousness, Awareness within Consciousness) are the base mode of causality. 

In acts of shifting, manifesting, lucid dreaming, and astral projection alike, it is not the assumed state that bears fruit---it is the soil of Awareness from which such states spring. Assumptions are not architects. They are afterimages. 

What if what has often been delineated as “Law of Assumption,” “Law of Attraction,” or other metaphysical constructs and their ilk are not sovereign truths, but the ornamental ceilings of an older cathedral, epiphenomena—arising within the broader field of observed Awareness?

That is not to say any of the aforementioned are in any way incorrect, as any statement just is in its potentiality, but rather that there will always be more to say.

Belief, for example, doesn’t generate Awareness; Awareness generates the illusion of belief; belief is just a consistent pattern of reflection given merit—a loyal dog, yes, but never the master. Faith, in the same breath, would potentially be merit given beyond proof. To clarify, Awareness, in this context, is not to be conflated with attention or thought, which are directional and transitory.

Awareness isn’t the beam of a lantern lighting up your desires, it is the space in which both arise. It’s silence—capable of holding most any sound. It is just you under the noise.

Therefore, If one seeks to transfigure experience—to leap across dimensions, to whisper themselves into new flesh, to unmoor from the ordinary or any other phenomenon wherein the experienced world appears to alter in accordance with internal focus—one must begin not with what is assumed, but with where You as a whole are: here, now—zooming out, away from individual assumptions, identities, “truths,” et cetera.

One must begin not with having the desire, but with orientation of self.

Not with assumption, but to step back from the fresco and see the full agglomeration of the brushstrokes that make up You and your “I am,” i.e. Awareness.

Awareness, when fixed, does not manipulate reality by force or belief. It is not an alchemist in the traditional sense; it does not manipulate matter by imposition. It rearranges by quiet exodus; it reorganizes preconceived structure through perceived proximity.

What is dismissed from Awareness becomes ephemeral—dissolving not from existence, but from perceptual availability, not gone, merely unreachable. In this regard, manifestation/being is not an act of bringing into being, but an act of selective perception—a filtering.

Manifestation is not summoning, it is subtraction of want and permitting the space for desires to reveal and bring themselves forth.

If Awareness still orients itself around lack (even subtly—the urge to influence and conjure rather than simple witness), then that’s what reflects—an echo of separation returned. Should Awareness remain anchored to absence—even beneath the fine silks of affirmations and visualizations—that absence is mirrored back.

It’s not the surface gestures of thoughts, affirmations, assumptions, visualizations, or incantations alone that conjure experience—it’s the directional resting place of Awareness. Reflection responds to your posture.

To dwell as Awareness, before its movement. To step back from the fresco of reality and behold its architecture in full. From this still vantage, one no longer acts to affect, but sees—truly sees—what is, and through that seeing, reality reshapes itself.

Action becomes unnecessary. Perception becomes law.

Conscious Awareness is the one thing that encompasses assumption and reflection, attraction and vibration, and so on with other established “laws of the universe” and their effects—they are all functions within Conscious Awareness (your self), shaped and perceived according to where your Awareness as the observer is placed.

Are these “laws” fixed truths, or are they merely habitual patterns stabilized by collective Awareness? Might we say that belief in a specific metaphysical law anchors one’s Awareness within a corresponding experiential framework? Just as social norms stabilize group behavior, metaphysical laws may stabilize perception within collective fields. To transcend them is simply to stop consenting through Awareness.

If Awareness becomes the foundational basis, then all identities—even the identity of “manifestor” or “shifter” or “I am ____”—are all objects within the Awareness of “I am.”

All identity is mask work—forms resting on the surface of a deeper silence.

The void—that blank and holy tabula rasa wherein all desire takes immediate shape—is not a destination, but a recognition. It is the reflection of “I am,” freedom from the previous orchestration of assumptions and experiences. It is Awareness recognizing itself.

When Awareness enters the void-state or “goes to” the void, you aren’t going anywhere, you’re simply shedding everything that you temporarily believed you were, remembering that you are Awareness in which all things arise, and thus, never lacking.

One does not go to the void. One sheds all else. In the act of remembering one’s true nature—the unadorned Awareness—the veil lifts. And in that lifting, nothing is absent, everything present in potentiality.

The void and void-state serves as the ideal exemplification of Awareness at rest in its purest form. Within it, Awareness is no longer fixated upon a self, object, or desire. It becomes self-reflexive: aware only of its own nature.

This “blank,” and potent condition allows for effortless emergence. One needn’t construct reality through cognitive effort, because Awareness, in its default generative capacity, reflects whatever is placed before it. This accounts for the commonly reported phenomena of spontaneous materialization and instantaneous shifting when in or emerging from the void.

Hence, shifting and manifesting occur not through strain, but through the release of directional force. The more one reaches, the farther it slips. This is the doctrine of least effort; this is Neville’s grace: attention minus effort.

The implication of this would be that because Awareness transcends conceptions of linear time, manifestation and shifting is not about “bringing the desires to you,” it’s collapsing of the illusion of sequence entirely through a mere shift in perspective.

Not through purposeful attempts of assuming, but as a byproduct of having shifted your Awareness, and having stepped from one chamber to another.

The version of you that experiences your desire already exists in the eternal present—and by resting Awareness (your self) here, you collapse into it.

Turn Awareness here. Feed the hunger of desire until you are full. That is all.

Conscious Awareness can hold something without belief, assumption, certainty, et cetera., it simply just sees and observes.

All these things are effects of placed Awareness, not causes—they are the scaffolds that hold Awareness in place long enough for the architecture to emerge, should one so need it. They still the hand that shakes. They anchor the observer.

Belief is not required. Certainty is not required, Awareness functions in silence. It need not proclaim what it perceives to make it real. If it rests long enough and pointed enough upon a form, that form takes substance. Whether it be manifesting (shifts within the current framework), shifting (surpassing the current framework entirely), astral projection, or lucid dreaming, they all rely on placed/directed Awareness (self).

Furthermore, contrary to popular systems that emphasize belief intensity or emotional conviction, Awareness does not require belief or emotion to function. Belief and emotion are byproducts—sometimes helpful, sometimes irrelevant. One may be fully aware of a possibility without believing in it or assuming it’s received, and still, if Awareness rests there consistently, that probability will begin to crystalize.

These "laws" so adored—assumption, attraction, vibration—are not absolute. They are epicycles in the greater motion of Awareness.

Thought does not shape the world. Awareness births thought. Assumption alters nothing unless Awareness consents to linger.

Techniques like affirmations, repetition, or utilizing emotions may be found as successful pathways to the materialization of desires, not because they “cause” manifestation, but because they stabilize Awareness (your self) long enough for “full” reflection of desire to occur. They provide enough distance from desiring and enough proximity to being.

In conclusion, the so-called “laws” that govern metaphysical cause-and-effect are in actuality nested systems within Awareness as a whole. It is not thoughts that shape reality, or assumptions, or states of being, but the placement of Awareness (your self) from which thought arises.

It is not assumption that alters the world, but the Awareness that sustains the assumptions and assumed state.

This shift in framing isn’t semantic; it is ontological. It reframes you not as a doer or a believer or a prisoner, but as an orienteer of perception. Is the self not a creator, but a navigator of infinite paths—each path reflecting a stable field of Awareness? Moreso a tuner than a builder of reality? Are we not creators then, but cartographers of possibility? Is the self not an engine of reality, but a compass?

So perhaps it was never about becoming the desired version of you. Perhaps it was always about gazing upon that version and it's subsequent effects. Awareness needn't scream its name. You need only see it. Hold it gently.

People may affirm and visualize and assume and remember, but if the full-picture Awareness still orients itself around lack (even as subtly as doing something to "try and get") then that’s what reflects. If Awareness dances briefly over the desired, but settles upon absence, then absence shall become your mirror. Stillness, knowing, peace, freedom, gratuity—these are signs that Awareness has landed. The spell has taken root.

What if no effort is necessary—only orientation.

No “willing” into being, just simply becoming aware of what already exists as a desired possibility and observation thereof.

What if reality becomes reflected to the degree pertained by the amount of Awareness placed, and that's why repetition, imagination, and inner stillness work—not because they “impress” the subconscious, but because they stabilize Awareness in a new orbit.

The longer you observe, the more form appears.

What if nothing needs to be done? What if all that is asked of you is to look—truly look—at what already is? To hold it within Awareness (your self) as one holds a flickering candle in a crypt, until the shadows around it shift.

What if matter is not summoned, but coagulated through Awareness? What if the world forms itself in response to the patience of your gaze?

Then let us stop conjuring, and begin beholding.

[crim50n-r8er]

BLOCKBUSTER!SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG

Role: Imperator Ix from Sonic Chronicles

Here we have Shadow the Hedgehog in my roleswap AU known as Blockbuster. We have two versions here, today, one with and without the mask.

Info about artwork below the cut

Lore:

Shadow is the leader of a blood cult consisting of ancient hedgehogs from 4000 years ago called “The Brotherhood of Black Arms.” With their own blood, they use it to dye their quills with red stripes and use it to paint around their eyes.With their faith, they place it in a protector of the multiverse known as Devil Doom. I use Shadow 05’s big bad is cause I wanted Shadow and the Black Arms to still be related in my AU. They see this being as an amazing deity who they wish to share with the world. In order to do this, they develop technology that they had discovered from the Starfall Islands provided to them by the survivors of the Ancients (who are redesigned to look more ghost like.)

They develop at an exponential rate, building robotic servants, researching genetics with cloning and augmentation, and this all culminates with the invention of a super weapon harnessing the power of both the chaos emeralds **and** the master emerald. This gets the attention of Devil Doom, and it pulls the civilization into the Twilight Cage. But the entity didn’t grab the emeralds as the storage space for them to fuel the weapon broke off in the destructive process of bringing the brotherhood into the Twilight Cage.

From there, the brotherhood continue to develop their technology, stealing tech from other civilizations trapped in the Cage until the present where they make a machine that temporarily phases their civilization back into their world where they steal all 8 emeralds before phasing back into the Twilight Cage. Their plan is to repurpose the super weapon into a device harnessing the emeralds to **__merge__** the Twilight Cage with their world, forcing Devil Doom to reside with them where the brotherhood will share the “deity’s glory” with the world.

Design Notes:

Now with Shadow, I made his iconic symbol the symbol of the brotherhood like how Christianity uses the cross or the “Christian Fish.” I even made it the head of his staff referencing Imperator Ix’s staff with the partial gear head ||As you can see, the staff has a lot of dry blood stains.|| With the mask, I wanted to reference the Doom Eye with the forehead eye with the red stripes mimicking Shadow’s and the Doom Eye’s red markings.

I hope you all enjoy! ^^

[soobadnoonecanstopher]

I need to know how PoP is gonna end girl, send the bullet points PLEASE IM BEGGING IVE WAITED 5 YEARS 😭

Jeez let me think about it for a bit. I know it’s been 5 years for you but it’s also been 5 years for me, what was the last thing that happened? Uhhhh spoilers under the cut. This will be long. It’s what I had planned.

Also forgive me if I switch between tenses, I wrote this as a summary instead of 2nd person pov like I usually do and I’m not very consistent with that kind of switch.

MAJOR POP SPOILERS BELOW

SPEED RUN VERSION of the rest of POP

Okay so Prince Kyungsoo and Princess made up essentially, committed to each other, essentially.

He would do anything for her, essentially figuratively, except, that is, give up his throne if push comes to shove, if it REALLY comes down to it, and the scheme his brother is planning fails, can he really, really do it? Can he marry this woman and lose everything else?

Because well, now he’s got actual evidence that his birthright is being unfairly stolen from him by his evil stepmother, the Queen, the actual murderer of his mother, the former queen.

The wedding is in a few hours & they’ve just made sweet, weepy love to each other, they probably still SMELL like each other but there’s no time to waste, the wedding is happening, it’s time to get ready for that fateful walk down the aisle.

Can he really go through with a wedding if that means the contract he signed when he was a victim and a child states that when he marries he abdicates his rights to the throne? Is he prepared to do that? For “love”? Can he let the queen win like this?

Can she really let him give up his throne, his future, his justice for her?

Prince Baekhyun saved his brother’s life from a suicide attempt and then actually offered to be the one to marry this princess. They all know she must marry someone from this house to save her country. Baekhyun can be that prince for her.

For her who he feels an actual friendship, and probably lustful connection with in the way that he’s always envied the things he brother has simply because of who his mother was — simply because Kyungsoo was born with a title and a future here and now he has this pretty little finance who, if the stars had aligned in Baekhyun’s favor, might have belonged to him instead of his brother. She might have filled one of the many deep, bleeding holes inside of Prince Baekhyun that the drugs and the money and the sex and the sins cannot touch. What if this woman is what he needs. What if she could heal him? What if this wedding doesn’t happen and Baekhyun could save her from the demise that would become of her if this wedding was called off. What if they could save each other?

Kyungsoo’s faith and trust in his drug addicted, bastard prince of a brother will surely be tested once and for all as Baekhyun will place this damning evidence into play as a scheme to publicly broadcast the evidence of Queen Hong’s crimes against the former Monarch during the weddings before vows are read, before the couple say their I Dos, everything will come crashing down around the head of that wicked, murderous queen who will finally know her punishment.

So the following events will take place:

Before the wedding when she is alone, (servants don’t count here, she’s being dressed) Prince Baekhyun comes to see the princess as she is getting ready. He appears visibly intoxicated by something, jittery and reactive, his mood is off and he’s insisting that when the footage is broadcasted she must leave with him. She doesn’t quite like words he uses as if she isn’t actually a person but more, something to possess. He must be the one to have her. He is pushy and rough and hugging and pulling her into him and she can see a familiar madness in his eyes in the way he insists. It reminds her of when he talks about his mother returning to him. She stiffens within his arms, smelling something sour and bitter and with her second rejection something undeniably dangerous is brewing inside of is eyes as he reminds her that she was already bought and paid for by this house. He reminds her of what happened to Kyungsoo’s mother, his mother too. He tells her that his brother has foolishly given Baekhyun his most valuable negotiation tool and if it’s a king the Princess is after, he might just negotiate his way to the throne and burn down everyone standing in his way.

Doubt begins to set in. Kyungsoo doesn’t know the truth about how deep Baekhyun’s resentments lie. The princess begins to see flaws in their plan but with mere hours before the walk down the aisle, there’s no time to come up with something else. She decides then that no matter what happens during the walk down the aisle, she will not allow this wedding to happen.

Even if that means she loses her own title. Or her life.

The wedding begins and she moves on autopilot. She is walking down the aisle taking one step at a time. With each step she sees details around her. Prince Baekhyun seated beside Prince Sehun, both smiling and giggling amongst themselves. Sehun who is, of course the true son of Queen Hong, he will surely benefit from Kyungsoo being taken out of line for the throne. The princess catches Baekhyun’s eye and the Prince stares at her, the friendly encouraging smile she wishes to see on his face is wrong. Instead he has a victorious smirk. She is thankful that she did not eat, as she has nothing to vomit back up.

Ahead of her, Kyungsoo stands at the alter. He watches her walk toward him. Each step closer that she takes is agony. He is watching her but he is really waiting for something to happen. Waiting for a symphony of gasps or cries from the crowds. Waiting for the evidence to be played. Waiting for some sign from the guests or the security guards or the staff, some signs from the servants that the damning evidence, the murderous words ordering the death of his mother by the jewel studded bitch sitting up on her stolen thrown, has been played nationwide for all to know of her crimes. He is waiting for Baekhyun to have done what he promised he would do.

But Prince Baekhyun is smirking and doesn’t seem to be waiting for anything at all.

Maybe he is just acting a part. Aloof bastard prince with nothing invested in this union. Nothing to gain and nothing to lose.

The princess walks.

Prince Kyungsoo waits.

Prince Baekhyun smirks.

She reaches the end of the aisle. The final step it takes to reach Kyungsoo’s side is all that is left and there are no gasps, no murmurs, no rapid fire gossip being spread by the hundreds of mouths flowing up from the back pews like a flood. Nothing. Just dreadful, terrible silence.

In Kyungsoo’s eyes, she sees only pain. His jaw is set, his eyes are black and damp, his breathing shallow and when he can’t stand to look at her any longer he closes his eyes up and his lips tremble and his chin puckers and still, despite the devastating blow, with his hand he reaches out to grab ahold of hers.

It’s the next move.

To take her hand. To give up. To lose everything.

Questions are being asked from the authoritative voice ahead. Scheduled questions.

Do you take this woman?

Yes. He says with his own voice.

Queen Hong smiles.

Do you take this man?

More silence. Her voice doesn’t seem to work.

Do you take this man? Is repeated and Kyungsoo squeezes her hand hard. She needs to say yes. She can still save herself.

But it won’t work.

No. She says. I have an objection. She says.

Kyungsoo’s eyes are wide and pleading as he realized what she is doing. He knows she must agree. It’s not something she can refuse and get to live through.

He whispers to her, begging and pleading, don’t do this. Your agreement was already paid for. You’ll be killed if you do this. I’ll never see you again. Don’t let them take you from me too.

She keeps talking. No, she says again. I am not worthy to marry a Prince of this house. I am not pure.

Please don’t do this. He is begging now. Tears steam down his face. He knows the weight of her words. She only cares about him now. She can die for him.

I have broken the laws of this kingdom. I am a sinner and I am impure. I engaged in sexual relations before this marriage.

At last, the murmurs start. At last the gasps and whispers flow. At last the triumphant smile is wiped from Queen Hongs face and in its place is a primal rage the Princess hadn’t truly seen before. Her own kingdoms silly outdated laws thrown back in her face. Such a public declaration cannot swept under the rug so easily.

Please. No. She’s — Kyungsoo is shouting over the chaos erupting — she is…mistaken. She doesn’t mean what she is saying. It was me. She slept with me. I—I pushed her to do it. I defiled her— I wouldn’t wait. Please tell them it was me. Punish me. —Trying to save her.

The priest and all officials stop the wedding. This needs to be examined and deliberated on. This has never happened before. The Queen demands that the ceremony go on, but the high officials say they cannot proceed under such situations. There must be a deliberation, a ruling. A judgement must be made. The law is the law. The king will need to decide.

The Queen orders the Prince and Princess be taken into custody and both are seized by palace guards and pulled away from the altar away from each other in opposite directions. Kyungsoo looks pale and lifeless as he is pulled away and the princess looks at his face with desperation, knowing that it very well could be the last time she ever sees him.

[even with this speed run takes a lot out of me this fucking intense-ass story 😂😂 from here it’s a lot less fleshed out…I guess I was gonna figure it out when I got to it]

Alright so then Princess finds herself in a scary looking interrogation room. Some time has passed. She’s threatened maybe tortured and the Queen is involved. Queen is pissed because there are protests going on outside apparently the people are on the side of the prince and princess, demanding those old laws be changed and they be allowed to marry as they are in love. She hears that her family has disowned her. Given her up as property of this kingdom for them to punish as they see fit.

Some time during the threatening, Prince Baekhyun comes in. He doesn’t quite look at the Princess, at least not in the eyes. He is with Sehun. There are some arrangements happening. Some sort of trade. Something big. Something worth trading for a title. A place in the kingdom. A place in line for the throne. The Queen assures Prince Baekhyun that he’s made a smart choice.

Baekhyun has made a deal for himself. He’s given her the video. Kyungsoo’s justice. Kyungsoo’s rightful place. And how about a roughly used princess thrown in? He jokes. Yes, even if she was his. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gotten my brother’s hand me downs. He says at some point.

The princess shouts in a rage at him, feeling every bit of the betrayal he means for her to feel. He giggles out loud and he bends down in front of her and she spits in his face. Her hands are bound at her back but she flails toward him, hatred on her face. Meaning every curse she spews in his direction. Wanting to hurt him, she says he will always be a bastard, a junkie, a loser. He will always be a rat that sided with the woman who killed his own mother. No wonder she abandoned him here alone all those years ago. She knew he was a rat just like the rest of them.

Prince Baekhyun doesn’t respond as she expects to her rage, but his eyes stare deeply into hers and she notices the rare clarity she sees in them. Notices how severe his eye contact is with her here. Notices how he doesn’t smell sour, or astringent or like strange bitter chemicals like he usually does. His usually shifty and trembling eyes are steady. Prince Baekhyun , who always shakes and trembles and fidgets, is steady and he slowly runs a hand down the length of his face wiping away her spit. With the intensity of his gaze she holds her breath and braces for something. For a punishment like a slap across the face. For a reminder of her place at his feet. For something as painful and brutal as this place has been to her.

It never comes.

He stands up and she’s dragged to her feet and made to stand behind him. He’s receiving documents, signed with Royal seals. Paperwork making the change official. His phone is out and he’s checking some account balance. This deal has made him billions. The Queen leaves.

The princess doesn’t know where Kyungsoo is, or if he’s even still alive.

Untie her. Untie my fiancé. Baekhyun’s voice is a command and the princess feels the pop behind her when the tires are cut.

I’ll never marry you. Where is Kyungsoo?

Her hateful protests and questions are ignored. He’s leaving the room without acknowledging her words and she isn’t forced to follow him. I’d rather you just let them kill me. Where is he?

The door is simply left open. So she follows behind him to get some answers. He’s moving quickly, rushing to turn corners almost running through the maze of hallways until she has to run to catch up with him, nearly colliding with his back as she finds him standing in a small empty room. The two of them are alone and she’s gasping for air stunned and confused as he quickly closes the door behind them, closing the two of them up in this strange place alone together.

Baekhyun turns around to face her, his back at the door. He pulls out another cell phone from his suit jacket pocket, it’s not one she recognizes and his hands are shaking as he taps on the screen.

I don’t know how much time I have. He whispers, sounding an awful lot like the old Baekhyun she remembers, the Baekhyun from before he turned into a traitorous monster. He’s holding the phone up in front of him, butting his lip. Watching the screen and waiting. The princess moves to his side seeing a loading bar as something uploads, he is making a public post on someone’s Instagram profile, she recognize the icon and flashes recognition come to her.

This is Prince Sehun’s phone.

Baekhyun has stolen it and he’s shaking and breathing heavily as leans hard against the door to keep out whoever might be missing this phone and come looking for it.

The progress bar reaches its end and they both watch in sick anticipation as the video finalizes and posts publicly to the account of Oh Sehun, a royal Prince in line for the throne and son of the woman who is shown orchestrating and ordering a murder in a video now made very public by what looks like her own sons doing.

There are two seconds of silence.

Only the breaths of the two people in this room before the phone Baekhyun holds in his hands begins to light up with notifications. It is vibrating and humming and ringing and Baekhyun holds the power button until the whole thing powers off and goes black. He drops it on the floor and smashes the device with his heel until it’s crushed into pieces and he’s reaching down for her hand, pulling her hard toward the window at the end of the room.

The window is flung open and Baekhyun lifts the princess over the window sill urging her through the opening. Behind them, the door smashes open and voices shout toward them at the opening. Strong arms push her through the window and she falls, landing on a bush outside, not a far enough fall to injure her but the sounds of gun shots ringing out from above make her tremble and cry. The hard thud of someone beside her, landing just enough on top of her to break their fall some has her hands reaching for him.

Get to the car. Black car. Baekhyun says, his voice sounds weak but she’s too panicked to question him. She pushes up to her legs and runs, diving through the open car door into the back seat pushed and shoved out of the way by the man who pushed her out of that window.

She hears a noisy engine roar to life at the same time as the bang of the car door echoes out through her ears and the slick black car is weaving in and out of traffic at remarkable speeds. But more significant than that familiar black car is the driver. She gasps in surprise and leaps forward wrapping her arms tightly around the head rest, touching the warmth of Kyungsoo’s neck, cheeks, face as he drives through the city toward some place else far far away from the palace and all of the evils and horrors that they have escaped. Kyungsoo’s hand reaches up behind him, reaching for her face, touching the warmth of her cheek and wiping the tears from her face and the moment is interrupted suddenly as they both realize their reunion feels entirely too quiet.

Kyungsoo slows the car and turns into a covered parking garage, his wide eyes turning back toward the slumped over, motionless body of the person in the seat beside her.

Baekhyun is not moving and her hands land over his back, tapping and touching him, coming back in shock to feel a sticky warmth coating her hands.

He is bleeding. He was shot and now he isn’t moving.

She calls his name again, lifting his shoulders and pulling his face up. Her hands leave bloody fingerprints over his clear skin. Every bit of anger and hatred and vile words said to him in the past hour haunt through her recent memories and bring guilt and pain and nausea back and his eyes are closed, he isn’t talking or explaining the plan, he isn’t answering Kyungsoo’s urging questions and he isn’t even protesting as Kyungsoo pulls the door open, pulls his limp body to lay across the back seat and pulls roughly at his shirt, popping buttons and ripping seams to find the wound.

Kyungsoo has tears in his eyes. There is something hopeless brewing there longer Baekhyun lays there in silence and the princess doesn’t even try to dry the tears streaming down her face.

Kyungsoo’s hands go still over Baekhyun’s rib cage. His fingertip press futilely over a wound up high on Baekhyun’s shoulder that looks bloody and gruesome and his other hand lands roughly over Baekhyun’s stomach with a smack. His hand making a fist, he punches his brothers motionless body hard.

Stupid Bastard. Kyungsoo says under his breath. Grief taking its toll and he lifts his hand again, hitting his brother harder, crying as he hits him. Stupid fucking bastard — you promised me you’d be fine.

The princess is crying harder, covering her face with both hands but a sound pulls her out.

Ow. Baekhyun whispers and they both gasp, eyes wide and mouths open. That really hurts you fucker.

Besides, you can’t call me that anymore. He pulls out the Royal decrees that are now too blood stained to read and when he realizes that the hard earned document is ruined he makes them both promise that the three of them can just go live in peace somewhere together.

[theharellan]

Evanuris Enansalen

The Virtues of the Evanuris

The High Evanuris (who one day become known as the main pantheon of the Dalish) were once spirits drawn, for one reason or another, to make bodies of the earth. With the exception of Ghilan'nain, the main pantheon made their bodies through their will alone, and not through the bidding of others.

The evanuris embodied complex emotions: we know from canon that Mythal was likely Benevolence, which can encompass everything from selfless love to paternalistic charity. To help represent the wholeness of their nature, they compelled spirits which embodied different facets of it to take solid form. They came to be called the enansalen, roughly translated as "blessing person," although the term Virtue might be the better translation.

These facets are evanuris in their own right, but less powerful, their will alone not enough to cut their bodies from Titan's veins. Their positions are servile in nature, each possessing vallaslin, but there are hierarchies even among servants and slaves.

Solas is- or was- one of these enansalen. The first to come when Mythal bid him, though he was known as Wisdom then. His presence at her side allowed her to compel others to join them, for his presence instills a sense of authority. If he made this choice, surely it is a wise one?

The inner court of the enansalen comes to consist of seven members, representing the seven other High Evanuris.

Mythal's is as follows:

Wisdom (Daras / Ma'Daras)

Kindness (Anvallar)

Charity

Mercy

Justice

Faith

Bounty

As the All-Mother and second of the gods, Mythal's court represents the foundations society is built upon, the first signal posts of the civilisation that would one day become Elvhenan. While evanuris like June would expand upon the foundation, hers is the base, and without it nothing further could be created upon it.

[harbinger-0f-spring]

For the past month I've been working with @konstantynowitz in making family trees for our original characters within the hp universe. As of late, we've gotten pretty far in the development of the families working together. I'd already said in a post I made this afternoon that I have been assigned the Rosier branch of this tree and intend to expand on it the best I can. This collaboration will definitely not be a fast process, but in time we hope to complete the entirety of this tree and fill in a couple blanks for you guys to get the full picture of what Konstantyn and I have created together. Right now, there are a few missing pieces within the Rosier branch, but in the next few weeks I plan to complete it. In this tree, I've added a few new ocs into the family. I will go over a few names with you in this post, as well as give you a glimpse into the tree itself.

From the sneak peak Konstantyn had posted recently about the English branch of the Lestrange family, some of you might've already seen part of the Black family's side of the tree. Let's just say that the Blacks will be the last tree Konstantyn and I work on together as it has the most members, but right now my main focus will be on the Rosiers, which are featured on the right side of the tree.

The Rosiers were a wealthy and influential pure-blood family and allies of Grindelwald from the late 1920s to the late 1940s. At the top of the family tree are Eglantine Rosier (née Volant) and Laurent Rosier, both loyal acolytes of Gellert Grindelwald. Eglantine and Laurent are the parents of Druella Black (née Rosier) and Étienne Rosier, who is Konstantyn's version of Rosier Sr., a classmate of Tom Riddle. In addition to Druella and Étienne, I have created my own Rosier sibling, Céléase, who is the youngest of the bunch.

Here are the children's birth dates in order:

Étienne Rosier - b. 1926

Druella Rosier - b. 1932

Céléase Rosier - b. 1934

Laurent Rosier was born in France within the year 1903 and was the younger brother of Vinda Rosier, Grindelwald's most faithful servant. Around the 1930s, Laurent was imprisoned by the French Ministry when he was found guilty of financially supporting Grindelwald and his Alliance. By 1936, he was released with the support of many prominent pure-blood socialites who were either close acquaintances of Rosier, or close friends that all shared in his ideals. The charges against Laurent were dropped and shortly after this incident he moved his family to Great Britain.

If you'd like to know more about Laurent's involvement with Grindelwald and his followers then you can pop into the inbox of @konstantynowitz since he is their oc.

There are a few blanks regarding the earlier members of the Rosier family, which is something I am going to be working on later. As of now, I don't have names for the parents of Eglantine Volant or her husband. In spite of this, I have made progress on Eglantine's maternal line which consists of the noble Trefle-Picques family that hold a French Dukedom within their bloodline, and the Escoffier-Floquent family (a wizarding family of my own making).

I have nothing much else to share about the Rosier family itself, but I have been branching off a bit into the French side of the Lestrange family and have connected both lines through Minette Rosier. In this tree, I've made Minette the great-great-aunt of Vinda and Laurent, which would make their father (who is currently unnamed) third cousins with Leta Lestrange.

I know that it’s still a little bare, but I am going to keep working on building it up and will post updates with @konstantynowitz so that we can show the progress we are making with all of this. I would understand if some people may still have questions because not everything that I’ve introduced about the Rosiers was explained in this post. I’m open to hear anyone’s thoughts or questions about anything so feel free to message me anytime.

[tidalfoam]

hey look, legitimate reference sheets for my Fates AU. Look at me, doing things i said i would. my art is always shaky and im bad at consistency so hopefully this helps me.

more Fates shit beloooow (spoilers for the fanfic) (warning for MASSIVE wall of text).

how dare you read spoilers instead of waiting for me to actually finish the next chapter (i am sobbing im stuuuuuck). anyways.

i forgot lambert's jewelry in the ref sheet fuuuuuUUUUCK.

Uhhh so Fates is a 2-part story. Currently writing/posting Fates Worse Than, which is Narinder's POV. Love Can't Save You From is part 2 (working title lmao) thats Lambert's POV.

Basically switch em. Nari is vessel Lamb is god of death. After Narinder inevitably defeats lambert, lambert dips for 200 yrs and is a hermit while the world changes and Nari founds the New Faith.

Pt 1 follows standard gameplay and is a lot shorter than pt 2 (though my word document begs to differ), its a lot more about what's going on in Narinder's mind and unpacking backstory.

After burning midas's bitch ass place down, the other areas on the map (save for midas's bitch ass place and ratau's shack) become towns of their own. The old cult grounds break down and a Temple of TOWW is built. Nari rescues the old Bishops from purgatory, they become his disciples, and three of them run the temples in towns as Disciples/New Bishops (sans powers, just gold skull necklaces) and Shamura keeps the Main Temple of death by themselves. NONE OF THIS i actually write its just explained during the story. Hah.

pt 2 basically is Lambert & Narinder regaining trust (narinder feels shitty for what he did to lambert and cares for them greatly.) And then theres a lot of trauma unpacking, sibling reconnection, and the two of them growing closer.

BIG SPOILERS NEXT

Ya so basically Nari doesn't fully have control of his godhood powers and folks start ressurecting randomly, but 9/10 of them are Cursed and this is Not Great. After consulting with Shamura and doing their own investigating basically aaaah Narinder either has to monitor the gateway or give Lamb the crown back.

They fight over this, obviously, like right after they finally hit the "lovers" part too. fun!

and so in the end they both agree that Narinder will sit in the Gateway, at least for probs a few centuries to maybe a millenia until he has full control over everything. He asks Lambert to lead the New Faith and keep tabs on everyone, thus coming full circle. Narinder is TOWW in the gateway, Lambert is his servant (but no crown, Nari keeps the crown). End of Spoilers.

Also just fun shit. They can't reproduce, gods of death can't create life. I will 10000% make non-canon shittens content tho because ITS FUN.

Lamb is They/Them

Shamura is actually one of the Old Gods, and slaughtered other gods to steal their crowns to give to their "siblings". They literally stole Kallamar as a child, didn't like how he turned out. Stole lamb as baby, loved them and was closest to them, so stole heket too and were meh about her. They were in the middle of slaughtering other gods and destroying crowns when Lambert and Heket found a baby worm in the woods. They begged shamura to keep their new baby brother. Shamura and Kallamar weren't happy but caved to their beloved baby siblings. That worm baby was Leshy. Then shamura drove chemench insane, the group finished slaughtering all other gods & crowns, and that was that.

Goat isn't canon but i did draw him once because it felt like fun and maybe one day jokingly i'll do an au to the au whoops

everyone calls ratau old but he's not that old Narinder & Lambert are just dicks lmao. I promise i do like Ratau i'm just writing in the POV of two assholes.

if you got this far... why? i'm extremely honored but holy hell WHY. I love you now. I love you dearly.

Please feel free to ask me anything i'm foaming at the mouth constantly for this, its my new Sole Purpose. I am absolutely not avoiding my actual fucking novel i'm supposed to be finishing l o l.

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Jeanne Brousse

Jeanne Brousse was a Frenchwoman and devout Catholic who put her own life at risk to save Jewish families during the Nazi occupation of France.

Born in 1921, Jeanne grew up in a working-class family in Annecy, a charming town in the French Alps. Her mother worked as a maid, and her father, a cheesemaker, was a veteran of World War I who had been gassed by the Germans and suffered lifelong health problems as a result. After helping care for her injured father as a young girl, Jeanne decided to become a nurse and help other suffering patients. She moved to Paris at age 18, to train at a nursing school run by the French Red Cross, however war was declared and she was unable to enroll. Instead she returned to her hometown and became a civil servant in Annecy. In 1941 Jeanne joined the brand-new Refugee Service, an agency of the local government formed to help new arrivals to the region.

In her new position, Jeanne did much more than the job called for. Seeing an immediate need for French Jews to find a safe haven from encroaching Nazi persecution, Jeanne used her contacts in the government and the clergy to find out when deportations of Jews were scheduled so she could warn them and help them flee to safety in Switzerland. Incredibly, Jeanne had never met a single Jew before she decided to devote her life to saving them. She later said, “I felt horrified by the atrocious fate likely to befall all these innocent victims whose only ‘mistake’ was to be born Jewish. I was determined to find solutions so that the greatest number of those who came to me could be saved.”’

Word got out among the Jews of Annecy that Jeanne was an ally. In November 1942, a Jewish woman named Suzanne Aron approached Jeanne with a desperate request. Her husband, Francis Aron, was a reserve officer in the French army who was injured in 1940 and received the Legion of Honor, the highest award given by the French government. When he and his wife were ordered in 1941 to affix a yellow star prominently to their clothing, identifying them as Jews, Francis was furious. He was a decorated war hero who’d given everything to his country, and now he was being persecuted and humiliated by the government he’d sworn to protect and serve? Defiant, Francis refused to wear the yellow star and burnt his identity papers identifying him as Jewish. This impulsive act however did not provide freedom but rather increased danger. Francis’ wife Suzanne had heard about the woman at the Refugee Service who was helping Jews, and she went to Jeanne’s office and begged for help getting false identity papers.

Despite the danger not only to her career but her life, Jeanne immediately created new identity papers for the Arons, giving them the non-Jewish name of “Caron.” If the Nazi occupiers, or the collaborationist French police, discovered that Jeanne was creating fake documents, she would have been sent to a concentration camp, but her moral compass, inspired by her Catholic faith, was stronger than her fear.

Other desperate Jewish families approached Jeanne, and she started providing “survival kits” for each family, consisting of fake identity papers, clothes, food and ration cards. She tapped into her extensive network of friends and colleagues to find safe homes and jobs for the Jewish refugees. Prominent French Rabbi Henri Schilli and his three daughters were among those saved by Jeanne.

As the war dragged on, Jeanne’s rescue activities intensified. As a government employee, she was not subject to curfews and had a coveted “nightpass” which enabled her to move around freely at night. She used this opportunity to distribute anti-Nazi leaflets, and warn young local men who were on the government’s list to be drafted to work in Germany, helping the Nazis. Because of Jeanne’s actions, many young men avoided the labor draft and instead became resistance fighters.

Annecy and the surrounding region were liberated by Allied forces in 1944. Soon after, Jeanne married Jean Brousse, who had also worked with the French resistance. Jeanne had three children, and spent the next three decades focused on her family, not spending much time thinking or talking about her astonishing wartime heroism.

In 1973, Jeanne was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, partly because of the testimony of Rabbi Schilli. After that, Jeanne began speaking to schoolchildren and other groups about her experiences during the war. She said of herself, “I am not a hero, I am not a lecturer. I am, quite simply, an ordinary woman who lived through extraordinary times.”

Jeanne Brousse died in October 2017 at the age of 96.

For risking her life to save others, we honor Jeanne Brousse as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[devout-khajiit]

On the Draconic Path and Starting

Quite a long post below, about how the Draconic Path is hard to start with. Read more because it's Really Long. I'm no expert in the path (it's hard to be for what I'm gonna get into), but I've been following my path for a while and am more sharing my personal thoughts and experiences with the, well, experience of starting.

The Draconic Path is... definitely an interesting one because (A) It's one name used for many different roads and (B) you're going to end up seeing very conflicting takes and opinions that will often directly contradict each other and (C) it's really hard to research because of Point A and Point B.

Most research ends up with personal practices with personal takes (Very Important to state that it's all UPG), or from specific dragon covens or dragon clans (which there are quite a few out there), which leads this to fall into a similar boat as things like pop culture paganism (not saying they're similar in any other way, they're really not) and chaos-aligned paths where you're essentially building it yourself from the ground up with bits and pieces you take from others.

There's also Draconic Wicca which some consider very specifically different to other roads on the Path, because it's meshing Wicca with the Draconic Path - Which again, is one name for many different possible roads.

Another thing is that nobody seems to agree where the dragons come from, if they're gods or not, etc. I see some call them akin to primordial deities (with some even going so far as to say "they're the first gods of humanity"), others say they're servants to the angels (which goes into a like 80% different direction to other Draconic Paths with the belief systems), some say they're just archetypical energy and not real entities with "personhood" (dragonhood?), some posit instead that they are just beings of pure power and magic, and a whole lot of other theories.

Most sources claim about Elemental Dragons, but I've also seen a source where someone rebuts this and claims "If you believe in Elemental Dragons, you've never worked with dragons" (a bit of a really harsh way to put it, frankly. This is a UPG-heavy path and you can't just cancel out anothers UPG with yours or instate your UPG as "universal fact". You're all having An Experience and that's valid).

The only thing I've seen have some consistency is the concept of a "dragon guardian", though again, what exactly this is has a lot of disagreement and not everyone says these exist. But essentially, for those not in the know, it's a dragon that protects you (think of a guardian angel but a dragon instead), with one source I saw (lost it, sadly), saying they specifically help with astral travel. But, I see some say you have them from birth, others that you have to step onto the path to gain them. Some that they're there always, others that they can abandon you if you don't respect them properly. Etc etc.

My point being, the Draconic Path really is a collect-em-all term. So it's really hard to actually start with the Draconic Path because the research phase is all fucked up. It's not like witchcraft where you can just go "I'm gonna be a traditional witch!" and buy 138 different traditional witchcraft books that all generally agree with each other. (exaggeration, but you get my point)

You have to be willing to just step into the shallow end of the pool without having a very clear definition of what the hell you're actually doing. Of course, don't be stupid, I'd never suggest diving right into the deep end, but try the shallow end and slowly but surely move to the deep end with personal experience.

I'm used to building my faith and practice from the ground up as a primarily pop culture pagan, so it's not a big deal for me. But I can see it being very frustrating to someone else wanting to walk the Draconic Path, who wants to worship and work with dragons, the wonderful creatures that they are. Don't mistake this for me saying it comes easily, though, because really, I'm just floundering about trying stuff until one of the things works.

I started my path by gathering as much info as I could within my means at the time, as conflicting with each other, as personal take and UPG as it was. And then I got in the most shallow end of the pool, the very first step. I went from there. I talked to Dragon Gods, I talked to my dragon guardian. Since then, I've been wading through to a deeper end of the pool. Pretty much half of all of my beliefs are founded by me and me only, and maybe people agree with me, maybe they don't.

I'm personally not sure which road to define myself as being on. I'm definitely not on the Wiccan road because I'm not Wiccan and Draconic Wicca utilizes Wicca in a lot of it so it's hard to follow Draconic Wicca without being Wiccan. But outside of that? I dunno man. The road definitely isn't paved, though. I'm just following my guardian dragon flying above me and ending up where I end up. Hell, most of my Dragon Gods are just random draconic entities that approached me, they're not standard by any means.

But in the end? You wanna worship dragons? Do your best. Scrounge up every little opinion you possibly can and ask yourself "Do I agree with this? Does this fit into my paradigm?" and go from there. Step into the shallow end, safely and carefully, and slowly make your way to the deep end. You'll figure yourself out, I promise.

I want to end this off with that the Draconic Path is an ultimately UPG based path. It's fine to not agree with another persons UPG. It's fine to have UPG, of course. Just don't speak like you're having much more basis and that your experience is inarugable fact, especially for a path with next to no historical basis (there are a few draconic gods in history but draconic worship isn't common or they were worshiped alongside humanoid gods) and the idea of the Draconic Path is pretty much a modern invention.

SOME FINAL NOTES

Just as a notice, Draconic Wicca is initiatory like a lot else of Wicca (not all Wicca, but many Draconic Wiccans view it as initiatory). As well, some dragon covens/clans are closed; and others are initiatory and require you to join before you can practice. On top of that, I've seen some claims that some dragon covens/clans are hereditary-only, meaning you need to be born or marry into the clan and they generally discourage outsiders from joining. If you want a solitary path, you can ignore a lot of this, but it does affect Where you can actually go.

But all other forms of the Draconic Path are open, as there's pretty much no historic precedent for the paths, as religions that have dragons did not have specific "paths" for the specific dragon gods. This is another side effect of it being one name for many, many different possible roads one could be taking.

And finally, if you're also on the path, and I've made some mistake, or something you want to correct, or you just want to add on, feel free to reblog this post and add whatever. I don't mind. I love healthy discussion. I'll probably reblog your additions back onto this blog so everyone here can see them.

SOME SITES TO READ

Remember what I've said in this post. This is all personal takes from random people on the internet. Some of these do not extend past one page or one little blurb. Take everything here with a generous dosage of of salt. It's mostly UPG and not sourced to anything, but I'm leaving it in case someone reading this wants that UPG. I do not necessarily endorse any of these authors nor their ideals, and some of them give far too little information to be grandly useful or even showing how they really are about their practice. I'm just listing all the resources I have. I'm bad at navigating Tumblr blogs so none of those are shared except one, technically.

Celebrate Pagan Holidays: Draconic Wicca 101 (link)

Dragon Dreaming: a whole blog dedicated to Draconic Paganism (link) Probably the best one here.

PaganMage (a thread website): The Draconian Path and Dragon Magic (link)

PaganSong: Dragon Music & the Magic to Summon Them (link)

Ebon-Dragon: The Myth of Elemental Dragons (link) This is an archive on another blog.

Spells of Magic: Draconic vs Draconian (link)

Wicca Dreamers: Draconian / Dragon Wicca (link)

I'd genuinely suggest some books but I'm not in a situation where I can buy books to read them easily, and I don't feel comfortable suggesting any books I haven't personally read.

However, I deeply suggest @liminalwings series of Dragon Magic Book Reviews, as they've read a lot and have some great reviews about good and bad books. (I'm hoping they don't mind me suggesting them...)

[dailydemonspotlight]

Glasya-Labolas - Day 190

Race: Beast Alignment: Neutral-Neutral June 23rd, 2025 Happy Pri-demon-th!

The nuclear family in 2025 will consist of an evil lesbian mother, an evil lesbian mother, Ranni from Elden Ring, an evil lesbian mother, their woke dog, and the token snake. Something I appreciate about SMT V: Vengeance is that all of the Qadištu, even though they all are similar in mythological origin, have vastly different origin points. They're each spread out throughout several different aspects of many Abrahamic faiths, specifically Judaism and Christianity, and while they're all linked, they're also originally from many different tales all winding together. While Naamah and Lilith are intrinsically linked in many tellings, Eisheth and Agrat both are from very unique places that still have links to Lilith, and all of them answer to Samael through different ways in their source material. However, all of this highly interconnected storytelling and mythological origins does leave one oddity out of the bunch; why did they bring Glasya-Labolas to be the servant of the Qadištu?

Glasya-Labolas originates from best friend of the series, the Ars Goetia (though granted, it's not quite an origin point for reasons we went over earlier in the Ukobach analysis), wherein it's the 25th spirit listed, described as the following:

He is a Mighty President and Earl, and showeth himself in the form of a Dog with Wings like a Gryphon. He teacheth all Arts and Sciences in an instant, and is an Author of Bloodshed and Manslaughter. He teacheth all things Past, and to Come. If desired he causeth the love both of Friends and of Foes. He can make a Man to go Invisible. And he hath under his com- mand 36 Legions of Spirits.

And, in the Grand Grimoire, he is said to be a direct servant of... Nebiros? Huh. Still, using this description, we can see some specific things that Glasya-Labolas is. A dog with wings, for starters, but also one who brings destruction and manslaughter, can teach all arts and sciences, and can tell the future and the past. His ability to spark love between friends and foes is also interesting, and his ability to turn invisible is actually reflected in the game, with how it attacks, using a variety of mirages to strike, and even going invisible to sneak up on and attack Yuzuru.

The fact that it's a servant under Nebiros does seem to show that Glasya-Labolas is naturally a subservient force, maybe being the connection to the Qadištu that we need. The fact that it serves under Nebiros, a notedly gay demon in the series, before serving under the Evil Fucking Lesbian Polycule™️ is a pretty funny coincidence, too. Even still, though, Glasya-Labolas, while having a fantastic design, doesn't really have much of a connection with Qadištu outside of originating from the same general canon. If any of you have any ideas as to why, feel free to tell! I do have one theory, though.

As Lilith is commonly depicted as the mother of demons, it could be interpolated that Glasya-Labolas was one of her most loyal children, given how it already is shown to serve under Nebiros in the Grand Grimoire. As such, the fact that it's an attack dog for the Qadištu could be tied to that; as in, it's so loyal to anything above it that it'll actively work with the Qadištu due to its loyalty to Lilith. Naamah is also very tied to Lilith, which could explain why it is only seen really alongside Naamah, but that's just a theory.

I'm not gonna say the line.

[tyrantisterror]

I don't know if you can answer this question, but if it's OK I want to ask for your opinion on the claim that Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) sends the message that women and girls should stay in relationships with men who display abusive tendencies in the hopes that their love will change them?

I remember reading a ton of articles arguing against this, which I agree with generally, but at the same time it can't be denied that Beast does do things like screaming, making threats and acting out violently by destroying furniture which would be seen as abusive irl, but at the same time it's understandable because of his circumstances.

The movie makes a point that without human contact except for his servants, Beast has become more "feral" and forgotten how to be human, and he and Belle bond over teaching him manners, like the scene at the dinner table where she teaches him how to eat porridge.

I also want to argue that the point of the movie is to hold Beast responsible for how he acts despite his sympathetic backstory: during his and Belle's shouting match when she is treating his injuries, he tries to shift the blame on to her for running away, but she replies that she wouldn't have done so if he hadn't frightened her, to which he doesn't reply back, acknowledging that she's right.

Because of this I believe the argument (which I commonly see on certain social media posts) that BATB teaches girls to accept abusive behavior from their partners to hold little water, and at best misses critical nuance.

I would like to receive opinions on what I said.

There was a really good video essay about this very topic that I would link except I'm pretty sure tumblr wants to hunt the woman who made it for sport. So instead I'm going to pull a James Somerton and just plagiarize the points it made to the best of my hazy recollection.

Belle consistently stands up for herself and holds the Beast to task whenever he acts like a dick in the movie. All of his tantrums and screaming and, well, beastly behavior, she calls him out on it and refuses to take his shit. His most violent outburst actually prompts her to leave the castle, regardless of her prior promises - she refuses to stay with the Beast if he acts like a monster.

She only begins to like him when he actively and purposefully changes his ways - when he admits he fucked up and apologizes, when he goes out of his way to change his behavior for the better, when he takes her feelings into account and does things purely for the sake of making her happy. The whole movie is about the Beast changing into a better person - about him going from a spoiled brat who acted like a monster to a good man with a monster's body. It's a very simple redemption arc told in a way that children can understand it.

And anyone who's been on the internet, ESPECIALLY tumblr, knows that the reading in-comprehension crowd fucking HATES redemption arcs and will always, always, ALWAYS find the most bad faith reading of them they can and preach it like gospel. The Beast had some bad behaviors that, yes, were abusive and wrong. To a moral puritan who cannot abide a world with any nuance, that means he is EVIL and can never be anything but EVIL because once you're EVIL that's it, you are forever fallen and wicked and beyond grace, and for a story to say that an EVIL person can realize why they were wrong, work to improve themselves, and find love once they've become a better person is irresponsible and, indeed, EVIL, because it makes children think that EVIL people might not always stay EVIL, and if that was true then, well, we'd have to reconsider our own treatment of EVIL people, and then we might realize we'd been acting a little EVIL ourselves, and we can't abide that, can we?

So yeah I don't really take the people who claim the Disney movie is about glamorizing abusive relationships seriously. They're incapable of reading the text of a movie designed for six year olds, their opinions are invalid.