#I will nerd out on theology

[faeriefully]

YO? A REFORMED THEOLOGY CHRISTIAN? AND ONE WHO DEFENDS THE TRUTH OF THE WORD? HECK YEAH!!

Also, sorry for the allcaps but I'm so happy right now. And I see you mentioned Ligonier Ministries so that's a double win!! Steve Lawson, R.C. Sproul, Voddie Baucham, John MacArthur, Paul Washer, and Justin Peter's are my fave preacher teachers. Gotta love those 5 point calvanist reformers! ❤

Reformed peeps !! 💜

I also like Derek Thomas and Sinclair Ferguson and Alistair Begg, and books by Packer, Pink, and Spurgeon.

[vaguely-concerned]

since his ultimate fate is unknown to us for now, let's as a fandom get together and manifest that the watsonian explanation for rael averross being nowhere to be found in the clone wars era is that he quit being a jedi and is out there getting laid and going to therapy, rather than because he, y'know... died horrifically or eventually succumbed to the dark side after all or suffered similar jedi-related work hazards

[steampunk-raven]

SO excited for dnd tonight

[audreythevaliant]

*whisper yells*

HE LOVES ME!!

[hamliet]

Hazbin Hotel Has Better Theology Than Most Modern "Christian" Stories

As a Christian who was raised in a fundie cult and escaped to now have a far healthier and vital faith, I genuinely really like this show. The songs are bops. The characters are well crafted and interesting, and likable too. The art design is bizarre but appealing.

And, as a theology nerd who studied theology as part leaving said cult and also has since gotten papers published in theology, I'm actually fairly impressed by the show's handling of theology.

No, I'm not expecting the story to preach or even like, be explicitly Christian in a lot of ways. But it's taking a lot of the really beautiful aspects of Christian theology and re-contextualizing them in a way designed to provoke thought: by juxtaposing them with the antithesis of what you would think, by making demons heroes. In my opinion, this makes the beauty shine brighter.

Yeah, yeah, it's designed to be offensive and obscene in a lot of ways. Yet, it's never (thus far) mean-spirited. On the contrary, it seems to have a big, beating heart at its core that is perhaps best embodied by Charlie Morningstar, its protagonist and the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith.

Critique of the Church, with Caveats

The story works best with an interpretation that heaven isn't actually heaven or God (who has been conspicuously absent), but instead as a critique of the church. Specifically, the evangelical American church, and specifically, white evangelicals. (Same as She-Ra's premise, actually).

God's absence therefore makes sense, because while Christians do believe God is present as a living reality among us, we also can't like, see him physically now. So, God being not even mentioned in HH makes it seem more like a mortal reality rather than an immortal one. Honestly I kinda hope God doesn't appear in the story, not only because I think it could cross some lines (which is admittedly personal), but also because I don't see that the story really needs it.

Adam in particular reminds me of every "theobro" on Twitter (I'm not calling it what you want me to, El*n). Basically a dudebro coopting his supposed salvation to flex in an often misogynistic way, who doesn't realize that he has absolutely no love in him and therefore is actually a worse human being than everyone he condemns on the regular.

(Which is kind of why I'm expecting Adam to wake up in hell next season...)

Think red hats. And Mark Driscoll. And, I have a list of pastors. Sigh. They advocate for how "simple" Christianity is, except they themselves make it ridiculously complicated and don't even examine what they suppose is "simple" if it requires them to take the planks out of their own eyes. "Shallow" is a better description of what they actually preach.

But what sends people to hell or heaven anyways?

Eschatology and Atonement Theory

Hazbin Hotel combines a lot of theories, throwing not only the idea of a physical hell (albeit mixed with Dante's idea of what hell is the Inferno, but to be fair a lot of the church has adopted that idea too) but the idea of annihilation, which HH calls "extermination."

See, in Christianity, there's a lot of debate about hell. Like, since 2000 years ago. The reason is because a lot of Bible verses seem to indicate hell, but others indicate the eventual redemption and salvation of absolutely everything in the universe, so you have Christian universalism tracing itself back just as long. But, setting aside universalism, people who do believe in hell tend to fall into one of two camps:

Physical hell, aka suffering for eternity, or annihilation: the idea that souls that aren't saved end up annihilated, or snuffed from existence. HH combines both of them, wherein everyone lives in hell but then every so often heaven "exterminates" a certain number of sinners.

And then you also have Catholic purgatory, which is also adapted in HH in that... for most Christians, physical hell doesn't offer the ability to redeem yourself. Chance over, you're dead. But, Catholic Christianity, which draws on ideas of praying for the dead, has the idea that people can improve themselves or be prayed out of it and into heaven. This seems to be somewhat similar to the idea of Charlie's hotel, in that sinners can improve, redeem themselves, and rise to heaven.

And, I mean, it's already kinda worked. Sir Pentious acted out Jesus' words: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

But anyways, the branch of theology that deals with the afterlife is eschatology. And Hazbin Hotel takes on a related form of theology as well, a type of theology I've only seen covered in stories once before (The House in Fata Morgana): atonement theory.

Atonement theory is something I remember well from my theology 101 class, as in I remember sitting with a friend and her turning to me and being like, "okay, so we know Jesus' death and resurrection give us eternal life, but we have no idea how or why?" To which the answer was "basically, yeah."

Most of the white, American evangelical church is very "penal substitutionary atonement," but the reality is that this theory has only been popular for the past few hundred years. It's also, imo, somewhat scripturally unsound. But there are a lot of other theories, and sometimes the theories overlap. Here's a fairly decent summary. (I'm in general a believer in Christus Victor.)

So how does atonement theory tie into Hazbin Hotel? Well, essentially the scene where Charlie and Vaggie are debating with Emily, Sera, Adam, Lute, and others in heaven is them going over various atonement theories and realizing that they actually know nothing at all. How does one get to heaven? How is one saved? They don't know.

Sera criticizing Emily for asking questions was also very relatable, and I feel for Sera. She's genuinely scared but the truth will set you free, Sera. John 8:32. Anyways, the point is like... the angels are an organized religion, an evangelical church, that preaches about simplicity but mistakes shallowness for simplicity and discourages depth and discovery.

Anyways, the whole crux of theological study and atonement theories is that they should promote humility. We don't know for certain on this side of the curtain. That's okay. So what do we have to guide us?

Love. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8).

Charlie is Jesus

"Why would you endanger your immortal life for these sinners?" 

Adam, the absolute worst, says the above to Charlie in the finale.

I mean... look. That's literally the premise of Christianity. That the immortal son of God comes down to earth, lives with sinners, loves us, and dies to save us. However that happens. Charlie even responds:

"They're my family!"

In other words, she loves them. Yeah, sure, they're destined for extermination, but they are going to be exterminated over her dead body.

In a lot of branches of Christianity, and even in some creeds--though I'm going to give into my pet peeves here and state that it is NOT Scriptural and relies on the faulty assumption that God is bound by time, when I think God exists outside of it--state that Jesus descended into hell after his death and took all the souls of people who were saved prior to his coming to earth to heaven. Again, I think that's small-minded at best. But, the idea that Charlie is working among them to bring them to heaven is pretty reminiscent of this idea. And I don't hate it lol.

Charlie sees worth inherent in everyone, and no matter what they've done, thinks there's a future for them. Honestly we need people like her on this earth.

Angel Dust

Angel Dust is clearly my favorite character. Bite back your shock, I know (I have a type). But his name is also a fascinating multi-layered pun.

Angel is clearly foreshadowing his endgame. Let's be real, we all know Angel is ending up as an angel. And "angeldust" is of course a name for PCP, and considering Angel's drug habits, yeah.

But, dust also has another meaning to it. See, when Adam was created in Genesis 2:7, the words in Hebrew are "apar min ha'adamah," which is translated literally as "dust of the ground." So the dust is what creates Adam, literally "ground."

In other words, I very much expect Angel Dust to end up being foiled with Adam even more so. Adam might be the first man, but Angel is the first sinner working towards redemption. And let's be real, for all Angel's flaws, he's already a better person than Adam. And if there's any hope for Adam (not that I particularly care if there is but) it'd be through realizing that he and Angel aren't actually different after all. Conversely (and not necessarily mutually exclusively), Angel might serve as a more symbolic "adam" in that he becomes the person all sinners look to for hope. Which, y'know, since "the last Adam" is also a Scriptural term for Jesus...

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45).

I fully expect Angel's arc, alongside Charlie's, to bring life and redemption for everyone around them. Maybe, maybe even the dramatic "all" of Colossians 1:20 (which means, literally, all, everything, everywhere, in the entire universe).

Closing Thoughts

But honestly, regardless of how the story ends--besides that it will presumably end happily because HH is at its core feel-good despite being profane--season one at least has got good theology. Why? Because it's digging into the questions that theology is concerned with. It's digging into the ideas of human nature, of what it means to be a good person, of what it means to redeem oneself, of affirming how precious each individual human soul is.

It doesn't offer cheap answers, and it specifically calls out the white American evangelical church for how it purports to be simple but actually just confuses people and punishes them for things they can't help, that creates more stumbling blocks than it does shine a light. And it does it in a way that is scandalous. Offensive to many religious people.

But, y'know, Jesus was pretty scandalous too.

So I really love the story so far because it emphasizes what I find so beautiful about my religion, and criticizes the parts that have also hurt me. I don't think it's remotely aiming to be a Christian allegory or anything like that, and I don't at all think anyone has to be religious to enjoy it or gain the core message of it, but I do think that it's doing a hell of a lot more good in the world message-wise than most evangelical movies of the past 30 years.

[lesbianjackies]

the yellowjackets’ favorite books hcs bc i saw one of these and disagreed with all of them 👍

jackie: okay i’m so sorry but this girl only reads trashy romance novels she found on booktok. it drives shauna BONKERS because she’s incapable of getting jackie to read anything she likes.

natalie: i don’t think she’s a reader but if she was she would be a comic girlie. dc > marvel and she gets into fights with van over it regularly.

laura lee: she genuinely really likes theology books and she FOR SURE grew up on american girl and still loves them. she will pick up anything if she hears it’s gay or christian but she has really high standards and she’ll dnf any book that doesn’t meet them.

lottie: she’s an astrology girlie for SURE so i think she reads a lot of books on that to compile as much knowledge as she can (so she can psychoanalyze her friends). i also feel like she was a greek mythology kid so i think she’s read a lot of the original myths and likes a few select retellings (but they’re not the popular ones. she, like laura lee, has really high standards).

van: okay SHE is like definitely a comic girlie for sure. marvel > dc. she’s also just into those classic middle grade books every queer person read as a kid like harry potter and percy jackson and still has a lot of nostalgia for them. oh she was also a warrior cats kid for SURE. lmao.

misty: WARRIOR CATS KID AND IT SCREWED HER UP FOR LIFE. big into harry potter & lord of the rings and also just random niche fantasy series. reads a LOT and she’s active in a lot of fandom circles and she tries to get everyone she talks to into the books she reads.

taissa: def a nonfiction girlie. books on law, books on feminism, books on queer history… van thinks everything she reads is boring as fuck and she thinks everything van reads is stupid. true love 🫶

travis: ough okay i think travis is ALSO a comic girlie. but i think she’s more niche with it. i think she likes like….. umbrella academy type shit idk. and i think as a kid she was into stuff that was “for girls” until her dad bullied it out of her and now she gets really upset when she sees those series / hears someone talk about how they read them.

shauna: CLASSICS. brontë sisters, jane austen, edgar allan poe, emily dickinson…… yeah. she’s SO pretentious about it too she has two copies of each book so she can have a pretty one on her shelf and then a torn up copy that she can write notes in and she’s always carrying books around and reading them in public to show people she’s smart……. yeahhhh.

mari: mari doesn’t read that’s for fucking nerds. (she was a warrior cats kid and she’s obsessed with harry potter, percy jackson, and the lord of the rings. tell anyone and she’ll hurt you badly.)

akilah: rainbow fairies kid!!!!!! doesn’t read as much as she used to; if she does pick up a book it’s gotta be something that really speaks to and connects with her.

[wolves-and-stars]

Go to Fics (Easy Reads)

(A list of fics for when you're in a reading rut and want something easy, i keep going back to these ones they never let me down. Nothing too heavy, but please read the tags.)

1. How Remus Got His Groove Back by RealityShowJunky (ao3) 42k

Category: fluff? crack humor

I love this fic, the conversations are so well thought out, the characters are so interesting, you'll hate sirius, and Remus is kind of a pushover giving 2014 nerd, lonely, poorly written personality archtype. BUT, only when it comes to sirius, otherwise he's brilliant.

2. Succession of Halos by orphan_account (ao3) 7k

Category: fluffr

Remus runs a bookstore and sometimes minds harry, lily and james' brilliant son. Remus reads harry a book written by prof. sirius black about astronomy and the stars, and happens to attend a lecture to get their signature. Lily might be playing match maker.

3. See But One Moon by orphan_account (ao3) 9k

Category: fluff

Sirius Black has been pining for the nerdy Barista, Remus Lupin, for three months, but can't seem to get his attention. Remus, however, has noticed the over-excited law student, but isn't interested in being a conquest of the week. When Remus starts listening to the Marauding Hour--a University radio programme, he finds himself enraptured by one of the DJs, and starts to crush on him--hard. Little does he know that Padfoot has known him all along, and is looking for something much more than a one-off.

The summary explains it well enough, its very cute.

4. Sun In My Eyes by orphan_account (ao3) 12k

Category: not fluff, not angst either? non magic?

Remus Lupin struggles with a lot of things in life. Bipolar disorder, being poor, and working as an artist. He has a strict routine and plans to keep it that way with the help of his best friends Lily and James until one day James' best mate from school shows up and turns everything upside down. When art model Sirius enters Remus' life like a whirlwind, nothing will ever be the same.

I love this one, read it in 2016, still do every once in a while.

5. Other's Woe by orphan_account (ao3) 2k

Category: fluff

Forced to attend a group project meeting for a theology class, Remus thinks his day will be miserable until a gorgeous, grey-eyed stranger plants himself at their table and challenges the archaic thinking of the rest of the group. And in the end, it works out very well for Remus Lupin.

very fluffy, very soft, very short.

6. Living Like We're Renegades by orphan_account (ao3) 24k

Category: fluff

Exuberant, proud, genderfluid, cheerleader, self-described narcissist. All things to describe Sirius Black. It's a stark contrast from the self-imposed loner, Journalist, and Gender Studies major Remus Lupin who is thrown into Sirius' world after accepting a project for a class. When the two worlds collide, both lives are changed for the better.

 Sirius leant forward a bit, meeting Remus’ eyes. “Are you asking if I go for cute boys in beanies and jumpers, Remus Lupin?”

 Remus’ face went hot. “Er. No. I mean…er…”

 Sirius laughed. “Find your chill, love. I’m joking.” He winked at Remus and sat back again.

sorry for staright up copy pasting the summaries by the author, but i feel like they cover it well enough.

7. Miles To Go Before I Sleep by orphan_account (ao3) 4k

Category: fluff, mostly

Working the front door at a posh block of flats, Remus Lupin spends their nights watching the door, and occasionally taking a sleep-walking Sirius Black back to the arms of his flatmate. Pining quietly, everything changes for Remus one night when Sirius' sleep-walking leads to comfort and emotional revelations.

8. All Hail the Outlaws by orphan_account (ao3) 29k

Category: fluff, fluff, fluff

One of Remus Lupin's three jobs happens to be working maintenance for their flat building. He gets to meet all sorts, most of whom he would rather have nothing to do with. Until James Potter and Sirius Black move in across the hall. Engineering students and self-proclaimed geniuses, the pair set out to make their neighbours new best friends, and everyone's life is turned upside down, but in the best way possible.

9. A Cure For Nightmares [+podfic] by picascribit (ao3) 36k

Category: hurt/comfort, angst, emotional

Sirius Black is not happy about their new roomate, who seems up himself, except the both of them suffer from nightmares and happen to get each other through the night. Will the secrets behind their nightmares get them together or will it tear them apart?

A couple of trigger warning for this one: mentions of SA, Physical A*buse, S*lf H*rm, De*th, H*m*phobia. i would proceed with caution, and read the tags carefully.

10. take me as I am by orphan_account, Shira_a 48k

Category: fluff, humor, but also sort of emotional and moments of angst.

Sirius is a sleep demon who gives nightmares to humans. Remus is an insomniac with hallucinations.

I will offer no other explanation. Love, Love, Love this one. its odd and well written and the characters are real and so is the relationship. Sirius the sleep demon and the hardship of humans and their mortality,

[xiyouyanyi]

Welcome!

@ryin-silverfish here, also known as "That person who talks a lot about FSYY and fox spirits".

This is my little LMK AU sideblog, which started off as a bunch of disjointed background notes for my fanfics, but developed into its own gigantic thing over time.

I've said elsewhere that, despite LMK (and many other JTTW adjacent works) lifting certain tidbits wholesale from FSYY——like Nezha's backstory or the Golden Dragon Shears, neither the show nor the fanworks really go into the implications of a FSYY/JTTW combined universe.

(For one, Zhao Gongming's three sisters, the Sanxiao, showing up to kick Jin and Yin's butts for stealing and breaking their treasure would be very satisfying, and also hella badass.)

Well, be the change you want, they said. 

So here it is: Journey of the Gods, aka "LMK, but FSYY is also canon and an extremely influential historical event".

Inspired by @digitaldoeslmk 's By the Book AU.

What even is FSYY?

"Ancient China's bloodiest bureaucracy recruitment program, kickstarted by a king who simped too hard for the creator goddess of humanity and the fox girl she sent to end his dynasty."

"I'll write my own God-Demon novel, with blackjacks and fox hookers and no Buddhist allegories!" ——Xu Zhonglin/Lu Xixing/Li Yunxiang

Okay, jokes aside: Investiture of the Gods(Fengshen Yanyi) is the other big "God-Demon Novel" of the Ming dynasty, written after JTTW. It's about the toppling of the Shang dynasty and its tyrannical King Zhou by King Wu of Zhou——but with more Daoism, immortals and demons helping out both sides, and ten billion magical formations and treasures. 

At the end of the story, almost everyone who died in battle were deified and became the 365 gods of the Celestial Bureaucracy, thus "Investiture of the Gods". 

Here is a link to the only full English translation of FSYY, by Gui Zhizhong.

Here is my overview of FSYY's grand overarching conflict, a.k.a. "Why are all the Daoist immortals fighting?" 

Compared to JTTW, it's a lot more formulaic and suffers from a massive character count inflation problem, but also extremely influential in Chinese folk religion, to the point of some modern temples, like Qingyang Palace, basically worshiping characters from the novel! Like, the western equivalent would be a church worshiping Dante and Beatrice from the Divine Comedy.

(Similarly, it is to orthodox Daoism what the Divine Comedy is to medieval Christian theology, and should not be treated as actual religious scriptures.)

Okay, FSYY happened in the LMK universe. So What?

Well, first, it will really do wonders to fill up that eerily empty Celestial Realm we see in the Spider Queen special, and the Celestial Bureaucracy will no longer consist of a grand total of five people.

Secondly, it can solve some major show-not-tell problems and actually give legitimacy to the grievances of the LMK Brotherhood + Havoc in Heaven, as well as fleshing out the Celestial Realm.

Third, so many cool magical treasures.

Fourth, LBD gets an origin story, with a twist.

Fifth, I delight in quality angst and horror, and FSYY had some seriously messed-up stuff and implications.

Sixth, Celestial Bureaucracy office politics.

Seventh, Nezha kicking asses and winning fights like he should.

Eighth, crazy Xianxia shit, as you’d expect from the great-granddaddy of modern Xianxia genre.

Ninth, infodumps about Chinese mythos and history trivias.

Tenth, Underworld lore.

...As you can probably tell, this is mostly just me nerding out and writing walls of texts. I'm not a very good artist and can't do Lego style, but will probably doodle some symbol/character designs for funsies.

I also derive most of my enjoyment from writing fix-its and worldbuilding, not shipping characters. Like, I love exploring individual characters through relationships, but just ain't a fan of romance.

There will be a lot of OCs, but unless otherwise specified, all of them will be based on actual characters from FSYY and JTTW, with a few folk gods sprinkled in for funsies.

With that taken care of: good luck and happy reading!

[secretly-larry-daley]

I’m proud to say that I’m a Haunted Mansion (2023) fan. AND— I have a hc for you.

*starts to dig out of my pocket and pushes it towards you.*

I like to think Kent is a huge fan of theology. So, when he decided to pretend to be a priest, it wasn’t only just for the money, he was just being a nerd.

[septembersung]

My dear moots, newts, and other hoots:

I’ve followed a lot of new people in the last few months and been followed by new people, mainly, in both directions, by mutuals of mutuals (moot cousins? Moots in law? First moots once or twice removed?)

Anyway! I don’t do a lot of messaging (though you are always welcome to start a chat with me) but I thought it would be fun to get to know you better! So here I am digitally taking you out for coffee and pastries. Here are some things about me, it would be fun if you reblog and tell me some things about you too.

I am: Catholic (traditional); married; mom to six kids (so far) that I homeschool; a published poet and would-be novelist; a folk musician, mainly a fiddler; slowly building up a homestead with my family; a fiber artist (spinning, weaving, knitting); studied theology, lit, and creative writing in college and grad school; I love being active and outside in the spring and fall, but the heat of summer and SAD of winter wilt me every time; my roots are in the Ozarks; I love coffee with milk; huge Star Trek nerd; I love old sitcoms; I have a weakness for theologically aware vampire dramas; in favor of climbing trees; on this webbed site too much, probably.

Your turn!

[the-unconquered-queen]

I’ve been thinking about a Blades modern college AU a lot lately and I kinda wanna share my HCs of what I’d see everyone doing

(they’d be aged down just a little bit for this one and we’re gonna do a bit of mental gymnastics to believe they’d be at the same place and everything and finally I don’t think the modern AU lives the writers suggested are in-character, so this does not follow that)

Aerin & Baldur: The easiest one for me. In a modern AU I still usually see them being princes so both of them are sent to uni to get political science degrees, but Aerin, who is a massive nerd and also looks forward to the peace and quiet once Baldur graduates, double majors in chemistry, too. As a bonus note, Aerin spends a lot of time in the library studying for his classes, but Baldur (who I cannot reason being an academic underperformer in a modern AU since he does have all eyes on him and a reputation to maintain) is more the kind of student who seemingly does no studying whatsoever but still manages to do reasonably well in his classes. It pisses Aerin off to no end. Also, in no universe is Aerin working at Starbucks if you try to keep the adaptation close to canon because either he's super rich with no reason to work for $14 an hour OR he's in prison for plotting an assassination, no in-between.

Imtura: Maybe she’s also a princess in a modern AU, or at least she’s the daughter of a diplomat or someone with a prominent government position, like a president or PM. She’s also expected to study something that helps her follow in her mother’s footsteps, but she says fuck that and does as she pleases. Goes for something like kinesthetics and also takes up a bunch of sports.

Tyril: Sure, he could be a noble, but I’m also fond of the HC that he’s the heir of a major company, so I could see him being a business major. Possibly takes on a minor that lets him study poetry, too. He also seems like someone who'd even go on to do a Master's, Naturally, he’s a star student even though he ends up deciding that taking over the family business isn’t quite the future he wants.

Mal: Most likely the one that does not actually go to college. Will tell anyone it’s a scam. Makes me wonder if in a modern AU he’d be a tech wiz, since in the 21st century stealing is less about physical theft and more about hacking and scams, which obviously he only pulls on rich people and assholes. Someone bothering you? Hit him up and your problem’s all taken care of. But I really like the idea that a little farther down the line he enrolls in college to study social work, because Mal is still Mal and he still wants to help kids in need.

Nia: Without a doubt she is a theology major. She was raised in a very religious community so she’s always been steered in that direction, even though her views evolve and she does a lot of personal growth as she meets a lot of different people while she’s at college, she still views her faith as a key aspect of her and wants to share it with others the right way. I could also see her taking some first aid classes on the side or in her free time, not because she ever means to practice medicine or anything, but just because she thinks it’s important knowledge. Also, sorry to everyone who thinks she'd be a super preppy influencer, but Nia is def more along the lines of a repressed Mormon kid so irl she can be kind of hard to stomach for some people even though she is incredibly sweet.

Kade: You KNOW this man is a humanities major, maybe without focusing on a specific one so he can study literature, poetry, music, and everything he likes under that umbrella, even though he does lean toward literature. Is currently the only person who can compete with Aerin on most hours spent in the library (they probably both know all the librarians by name and each has to get shooed out at closing time). If he has any of those professors who insist their own interpretation of a piece is the only valid one, then Kade’s about to become their least favorite student because he WILL debate them any day.

MC: MC’s a fun one because everyone can HC something that fits their MC’s personality, either based on the story or just what they would like to see MC doing in the modern world, but some potential majors I’m fond of for a modern MC are zoology (beastmaster), chemistry (alchemy), linguistics (MC can be fluent in at least two animal languages in the book, you can’t tell me they wouldn't be brilliant as a linguist), anything in the medical field (medicine/healing), social work if they want to work with Mal, or even something to become an international diplomat down the line (diplomacy).

[badass-at-fandoming]

I have an image in my head of Beckett deciding to visit a creation museum just for the hell of it cuz he felt bored, and stands around bemused as he takes in the absurd exhibits and displays purporting to show that humans really did coexist with dinosaurs while the tour guide prattles on, unaware that before them stands a cursed, unholy creature of hell(tm).

As a scholar who doesn't believe in Caine I think he would find kine literalist interpretations of the Bible to be very amusing.

I didn't know creationist museums existed [searches DuckDuckGo] oh snap there's a famous one in Kentucky. Doesn't sound as fun as the Center of PostNatural History in Pennsylvania. No idea the connection between creationist belief and demons. A creationist may believe the world is young, but the appreciation of demonic booty is not.

Regardless, you've touched on a fun irony of Beckett. Our fav Noddist believes the story of Caine and Abel mythologizes the transition from hunter + gather society to settled agrarian society. I can't speak to Protestant sects, but today's Catholics and Catholic scholars also believe that. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and Seth may have been literal, historical people, but it's impossible to know for sure. They for sure are narrative archetypes and play out the consequences of original sin (aka whatever triggered life to suck sometimes). Some scholars think Caine and Abel play out the tensions between nomadic desert tribes and the establishment of cities. Scholars propose that Caine founded the first city, but it was tiny and sucked major ass. Catholic Encyclopedia Answers here.

Another fun element of your proposed scenario is Beckett was definitely alive for Catholic scholars to go bananas about the Ussher chronology of earth. That's the one referenced at the beginning of Good Omens, if you've watched/read/listened to that. Some fucking nerd interpreted the Book of Genesis super literally so he could make Ye Official Timeline. Earth is a Libra. I bet Beckett hated Ussher with a passion 😂 He was probably SO glad when Ussher's ideas lost popularity.

Nowadays Catholicism has no official teaching on the age of earth, but there is an injunction to celebrate and uplift science and scientific thought: the findings of modern science "[...] have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers," (Catechism 283). The Cathechism is like this brick-sized synthesis of Catholic theology and morality. I think the closest Jewish equivalent would be the Mishneh Torah? It's a lot of Catholic Thought™️ brought back down to earth so the layman can look up references and specific questions.

In any case, World of Darkness dropkicks all progression of theological thought out the window and says Caine is literally real, literally a vampire, and literally wants to boink Beckett.

Thanks for the ask! This was fun to think about. I feel like you activated by Catholic trap card, haha.

[tubbypeddle]

Hiii! I'm wanting a matchup for parts 5,6 and 7! One character from each! My name is Chamomile- I'm 21 from the U.S. Southern Appalachia actually, and you can hear it in my accent which I very much get picked on for when I go anywhere else. I come from the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods in rural farmland, kind of a local cryptid because I collect bones! :) I live on a farm with sheep and horses. But I love to travel, I love adventuring in cities and going urbexing, and cool techy or goth clothes that most here in the country don't seem to like or understand. I am mostly made fun of in my area for liking the things I do or acting a certain way, but in all honesty, I don't take it very seriously. The way I dress would be dependent on the day, but a mix between dark academia, cottagecore on some days, and alternative or gothy looking things. I love either earthy tones or pastel pinks depending on how I feel that day. Visually I am smol. But stout and strong. Built for wrestling bear.

Another thing people here don't take seriously is education. I have a passion for academia! I study astrophysics in my free time and graduated high school 4 years early. I look up to scientists like Eddington. Currently, I'm in University studying Religion and Theology! I'm hoping to apply directly for PhD in Biblical/Religious sciences and Archelogy. I'm a big nerd and like to study rocks and cool bones, ancient humans, and finding the next cool dinosaur, figuring out how they died exactly and how everything fits in history books. It drives me bonkers when I see inaccurate interpretations of extinct animals (erm... actually! jurassic park is WRONg!) and It makes me sound like a pretentious nerd but I SWEAR. I just think they're neat Obviously, I'm religious, borderline Catholic but not officially. I once applied to be a nun! I was turned away for chronic illness, otherwise I would not be on tumblr right now My favorite things are: Frogs, reptiles and amphibians, moss, the rain. God I love the rain. It's the one thing that calms me down and makes me so happy. When I'm upset I play rain sounds and classical music, and make tea. I love sushi and any protein imaginable. I would much rather be outside in the woods than anywhere else in the world. I love nature so much, and I'm also adept at recognizing plants that are edible and are useful to make medicine from. In the same way I'm super good at identifying snakes and bugs. I love the water and creeks and fishes! !! Music wise I love nuwave, goth, metal and French Impressionist classical music. Personality wise? I am an enigma. Schroedingers cat. STRANGE AF. I seem very bubbly and extroverted and loud!!!! and stupid!!! and talk to much!!! Truth is I enjoy being alone most the time, just outside with the world. I have hiked miles into the woods just so I could truly be alone and not hear anything but the birds and the wind. Where I can breathe. I have SEEN some SHIT and have. SO much trauma that I just joke about mostly!! I am very optimistic. I can be very childish, and I love things that make me feel like I'm a kid again, but I LOVE intelligent conversation about history or physics or whatever I feel like discussing. Most people do not have the patience or interest to hear me talk, so I write 14 page research essays on whatever, mostly about science, the genetic makeup of the world or religious studies. Answers to the universe type shit. Have fun!!!!

AWWWH hello Mx. chamomile 🫂

You are so nice, WHATTTT???? and so damn cool wtf. like who the hell just casually studies astrophysics bc they want to??? you're so cool and i'm so excited to do this for you!!!

(author's notes: creds to gif owners bc of course, I didn't make them <3)

So, you find yourself traveling again, and you find yourself visiting Italy!

And would you look at that! There's a multitude of men who find themselves tripping over themselves trying to get you to themselves!

And who is our lucky candidate.....

Risotto

As beautiful and charming as he finds you, that's not what attracts him to you.

He's attracted to your intelligence, your brain. You are so incredibly smart, it's beautiful. He loves that in a partner. He can hold mature conversations with you, and you'll engage in those kinds of conversations with him on your own.

It's refreshing.

He loves his team, but it's no secret that they're not the most mature. Maybe Prosciutto is, but he has a habit of insulting everything. So maybe he's not the most fun to talk to.

Your conversation topics are never boring. He could listen to you talk for hours about anything. Religion and theology? Yes, please. Frogs and other animals? He's so down. He loves learning from you.

Perhaps your jokes about your trauma catch him off guard at first, he can't deny that they're funny. Honestly, he's pretty much the same. Deadpan humor about why he ended up as a hitman in the first place are his favorite go to jokes that he makes. Anything is worth it to see you smile.

He's not used to people wanting to do things for him, so when you run around doing little tasks for him to help him feel better. Let's just say, he feels weird about it. He's flattered, don't get him wrong, but he still feels awkward accepting it. He feels like he doesn't deserve it. Like he doesn't deserve you sometimes.

A simple hug from you clears that from his mind though.

His love language to you is words of affirmation, though. He's not one for words very often, so he makes sure to tell the people he loves that he appreciates them. He didn't tell his cousin often enough when she was alive, so he makes it a point to tell you so that you know how much he loves you.

He finds your accent so cute, too. He can only speak some English, but he knows enough to hold an entire conversation. When your accent becomes prominent, he finds it hard to understand you sometimes, but at that point he doesn't mind because it's just so silly to him.

When it starts to rain, as it rarely does in such a sunny country like Italy, he knows that's when he needs to steal you away so he can have a cozy little home date with you. A movie, some snacks, and the rain sounding outside? That sounds like perfection to him. Maybe, if he's feeling up for it, he'll let you take him outside so you two can catch frogs.

And your style! Any of your styles are beautiful to him, but he's particularly drawn to your more gothic choices. It matches his own rather punk metal style, and he likes matching with you, even if he'd never admit it out loud.

Also, maybeeee he has a bit of a...size kink. Anyway! He likes that you're quite a bit smaller than he is, though that's not a difficult feat. He enjoys feeling like a protector, since it comes with his role as Capo of his team. But even so, even if he feels like a protector for you, he appreciates that you're also strong enough to take care of yourself for the rare moments that he doesn't find himself at your side. It eases his mind a bit.

Honorary mentions! Melone He's another one who's attracted to the brain, even if he's also attracted to your looks. But he won't steal you from his capo, he's too scared of Risotto to try that. Leone Abbacchio He's never been one for cute things, but after he'd met you by chance, it had changed his entire perspective. You were cute and smart. It was just some things he thought were exclusive.

How lucky Risotto is, to find himself with you. He's really got himself a catch.

And then there's a jump in time! And a jump in space! And now you're in Green Dolphin, Florida!

It's so humid here, isn't it? It's a good thing that

Foo Fighters

is here to cool you down!

F.F. is absolutely floored by your knowledge of everything! They think you know everything, and so they absolutely go to you for any questions they might have about humanity.

When you tell them about history's depiction of humans, F.F. is blown away. Like what!? Humans used to do that?! And they just left so many things behind for more humans to find! It was so fascinating.

And also, F.F. just loves hearing you talk. Your accent is fun! And you have so many things to say! It's a constant conversation between the two of you. F.F. loves learning, and you love talking about your interests. It's a perfect arrangement.

They're also one for a lot of physical touch, too! But it's probably not what you're thinking of. Sure, they love grabbing your arm and hugging you, but they also have no sense of personal space. F.F. just has no idea what it is.

So they also lean really close to your face just to say something at normal volume. It's endearing, at least. Well, at least they give the best hugs. (Other than Hermes, but that's Hermes for you)

The favorite love language to you is gift giving! They love giving you anything that reminded them of you throughout the day. Stuff like rocks shaped like a heart, or a beer can tab that was the color of your eyes maybe. Unconventional little things that F.F. gives to you so you know that they think of you at every moment.

There's just something about F.F. that brings out that childish side of you more often. They're just such a comforting presence, even with all of their questions and curiosity.

They definitely go frog-watching with you. And hiking with you. F.F. loves being active with you. Instead of relaxing activities, F.F. prefers things like hiking, or going swimming, or going out and doing something. They just can't sit still for the life of them.

They think your taste in music is so interesting. They didn't listen to a lot of music, so their own music taste was developed solely by you. So now the two you can go just jam to music together.

F.F. doesn't really notice style all that much, but they definitely compliment you a lot more when you're wearing your cottagecore outfits. They don't even realize it themselves, but they think you're so much cuter in them, not that they don't like your other styles either.

Honorary mentions! Hermes Costello she thinks you're so hot. Like so damn hot. If F.F. hadn't gotten to you first, she would have wined and dined you like she believes you deserve (which you do, let's be honest) Weather Report He's very quiet, so it's not likely you ever would've noticed his attraction to you if you don't know him very well. Alas, his hesitance to confess to you got you stolen by another lucky soul.

You two have such a beautiful relationship. You really match each other's freak for real.

But now you're back in America. Home sweet home. And there's a bunch of racers who want you.

Sucks for them, though, because

Hot Pants

is the one who got you

(I couldn't find a better one so shh)

Immediately, your interest in religious studies is what draws Hot pants to you. Admittedly, when she first meets you, she hopes to redeem herself in the eyes of God with you.

It's when she begins spending more time with you that she starts to understand that her feelings are changing. You have become something more to her.

She admires how dedicated you are to learning more about everything you can. How easily you just exist.

You are everything human. You are everything that is beautiful within the world, and it took so long for her to find you.

She lets you ride Gets Up to help you feel better if you're not feeling too good. You've shared with her your love for horses before, and she doesn't mind letting you ride her beloved horse if it'll make you feel better.

She loves holding your hands. There's something so grounding about it, it keeps her tethered to the present when she's feeling maybe not too present normally.

Hot Pants is usually pretty quiet, so she loves listening to you ramble about anything and everything you want to. It's a bit different from F.F. though, because she won't offer anything else to say, only acknowledgements that she's learning. She'd prefer hearing you talk over a real conversation. If she doesn't have anything to add, she won't say anything, usually.

When you joke about your trauma, she feels a bit uncomfortable. Not because she finds your joke unfunny or anything like that, she really just hates that someone as sweet as you ever had to go through something like that. She is happy that you at least feel comfortable with yourself enough to joke about it now, though.

Honorable mentions! Diego Brando He thinks the same of you that Hot Pants does, you're the beauty in the world that he never got to see when his mother was still alive. He knows you would've helped her in a heart beat. Unfortunately, he's a little too short-tempered. Gyro Zeppeli He thinks you're so fun! You would've had so much fun with him! It's just a shame he's a little too...much, sometimes. He's a lot. He really is. (love him tho)

I hope you liked it! I had so much fun with this one! Many characters I got the pleasure of studying into a little bit more!

[disjointed-art]

I would like to introduce you all to my son and his boyfriend. My OC Jason and his short king himbo of a sunflower boyfriend Gabriel.

Slowly getting the doodles out and made I’m going to make official character concept pages for both of them and the others for my original comic I have been planning for YEARS! Started as a dumb concept as a 12 year old nerd reading comics I should not have been (cough cough wasn’t of age and it was my fault for not listening to the artists bio) and wanting to make something fantasy to vent into. Now it’s a whole complex society with different reality physics, a social hierarchy cast system monarchy shit, false gods, and theology from all over the world and history fuelled by my highly suspected (not diagnosed yet but therapist suspected) neurodivergence.

This was the earlier design.

[jazz-bazz]

Okay so this was inspired by me going to hockey tonight. My physics buddy’s a hockey player, so one thing lead to another and here i am at 1am typing this up. Imagine this with me:

A classmate/friend of the nerds (affectionally calling the Lab coat au ghouls this hehe) is the star player for the hockey team. He invites them to go because its their biggest game of the season (they're playing their biggest rival). They’ve never been to a game before because they’re all studying, but maybe Swiss goes “we should go, it could be good for us! we’ll study before the game, and then just enjoy the night!” so everyone agrees, and they go to the game. They realize how fun they are and they get to see their classmate kick some serious ass on the ice. 

Following this night, the nerds agree to keep going to games and using them as their night off cause a game every few weeks doesn't hurt. Their friend ends up giving them passes to hang with the team and get discounted jerseys and merch. He sees how much fun they’re having yelling and screaming (and they also seem to be less stressed while still maintaining their grades and study routines).

ajdhdhd THE NERDS I LOVE IT!

i tried adding gh like ghumblr often does with words…. but gherds sounds like the medical condition so we’re staying with nerds

ps : i am apparently incapable of writing dialogues… only rambles… also i know shit abt hockey and luci gave me the green light to have terzo as the hockey player 🙃 but ofc any mistakes are my own and if you see them no you dont…

and on that note, here we have

The Hockey Tradition

Every students, professors, staffs, even guests at the university know that The Diner Three across the street is the best to get lunch or dinner and whatever, along with Caféine for coffee runs and breakfast or snacks. Aether, Mountain, Rain, Zephyr, and Dew regularly get together in one of the two during lunch breaks ever since their first year studying there, they’re all familiar with the regular workers and owners of both places.

Especially Terzo, the diner’s owner, who maybe has too much time on his hands that not only does he run the diner, taking Theology courses ‘for the giggles‘ (his words), he’s also the star player for the local hockey team.

They first knew he played hockey when, during a very intense study session for their exam season in third semester, Terzo invited them to a game, their biggest game this season, because he saw the ghouls were stressed and ‘need to get their noses out of the books and maybe go support your favourite diner owner’.

Zephyr immediately agreed, having had enough of studying, but the others were doubtful. Though after some convincing from Zephyr and the biggest saddest wettest puppy eyes from Terzo, they finally caved, agreeing to get together for a short study session before going to the game, the perfect compromise.

During the game they found out how much fun it is, even though none of them knew much about hockey, but they’re there to support Terzo! Just randomly yelling Terzo’s name or booing whenever something not good happens to Terzo’s team. After the game they waited for Terzo near the entrance because they wanted to thank him for the invite, it was a very nice change and a welcome distraction during the stressful time.

Since then Terzo would invite them every time his team is playing, even gave them special passes that give them discounts on jerseys and merchandises and whatnots, access to the special viewing box, and even his autograph (yay). When they asked him why, he just said they’re one of the reasons his diner is never empty, and he’d like to do some nice things to treat his ghoul friends.

The ghouls all agree that going to the hockey games are really fun and does wonders for the mental health. Especially the first time they saw Professor Omega during one of the games holding an ‘I 🖤 Terzo’ sign, which descended into late night gossip sessions in one of their apartments.

The two were in the early courting stage at the time, as they found out much later. Years later on Omega’s legal birthday, the ghouls all chipped in and had the picture of Omega holding the sign printed out in several different sizes and gave it to him and Terzo, one even has those cheesy heart and glitters and whatnots made using editing apps, courtesy of Dewdrop, who, along with Aether, just can’t stop teasing their boss whenever a game’s coming up and they’re all making plans to go together.

[nerves-nebula]

God. I know we've only seen like 3 comics of them but I love Quinn sooooo much. Ik you can't talk too much about them without spoiling Loose Stitches but. is there anything you could share about them

If you come off anon I’d love to tell you it’s whole backstory and discuss what happens in the future over like discord or something. Unless you personally don’t wanna know spoilers. In which case OH WELL. for now I guess the basics are this:

Quinn is a secretly-shy nerd who appears more put together to outsiders than it really is. That’s cuz they’ve learned how to present in front of a crowd from their aunt & the other priests. I mostly draw them with Hondo & Thatcher tho, so you usually see them being a bit more relaxed and unsure.

It gets to spend all its time reading and writing about theology because it’s basically been a priest for its entire life due to being born with four arms and being related to the current Right Hand (highest rung of the Hanheppi religious order), it’s Aunt Clement.

They dabble in a million other art forms as is required of all priests but writing & illustrations pertaining to theology are their main joys.

It probably likes dancing the least of all the art forms but it dances often anyway because Thatcher loves to dance. It hangs out around the butchery when it has time because that’s where Hondo works.