#The Pre-Parable

[a-game-of-beginnings]

The Pre-Parable 01: Employee 432

The first of hopefully three pages centering around employee 432's fascinating life in the Pre-Parable timeline. One man's slow descent into madness. Maybe not "slow". Maybe not "descent". Maybe not "madness". Who even is that guy?

[squigglysquidd]

Nice Night For A Black Wedding

I commissioned @palavenmoons for a preME1 Juxtaposed Jane and Garrus for the rewrites. I absolutely love what Palavenmoons did with this! It fits perfectly with the gothic style wedding I have planned for the Jux rewrites so I'm happy to share this.

It's definitely a nice boost to get to the rewrites!

[bluebeerg]

happy tuesday. who's this objectum win asshole

oh. right.

[msfisherot]

[xandyprojects]

How long till detonation, Then? Hmm... Let's say

T W O M I N U T E S .

[artandthebible]

The Parable of the Tares

Artist: John Everett Millais (English, 1829-1896)

Date: 1865

Medium: Oil painting

Collection: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, or Tares, is filled with spiritual significance and truth. But, in spite of the clear explanation of the parable that Jesus gave (Matthew 13:36-43), this parable is very often misinterpreted. Many commentaries and sermons have attempted to use this story as an illustration of the condition of the church, noting that there are both true believers (the wheat) and false professors (the weeds) in both the church at large and individual local churches. While this may be true, Jesus distinctly explains that the field is not the church; it is the world (v. 38).

Even if He hadn’t specifically told us the world is the setting of the story, it would still be obvious. The landowner tells the servants not to pull up the weeds in the field, but to leave them until the end of the age. If the field were the church, this command would directly contradict Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18, which tells us how to deal with unrepentant sinners in the church: they are to be put out of the fellowship and treated as unbelievers. Jesus never instructed us to let impenitent sinners remain in our midst until the end of the age. So, Jesus is teaching here about “the kingdom of heaven” (v. 24) in the world.

In the explanation of parable, Christ declares that He Himself is the sower. He spreads His redeemed seed, true believers, in the field of the world. Through His grace, these Christians bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24). Their presence on earth is the reason the “kingdom of heaven” is like the field of the world. When Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17), He meant the spiritual realm which exists on earth side by side with the realm of the evil one (1 John 5:19). When the kingdom of heaven comes to its fruition, heaven will be a reality and there will be no “weeds” among the “wheat.” But for now, both good and bad seeds mature in the world.

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

Okkaayyy it's a holiday yall know what that means. Every F/O gets rotated in my head at least once

[lionofchaeronea]

The Labourers in the Vineyard (from the series The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ), Brothers Dalziel after John Everett Millais, 1864

[raining-anonymously]

432 be upon ye

[coyotemaximum]

happy 4/27! i decided to rewrite my zending fic, and past the first half it turned into something almost completely new. now with actual romance! and incredible insecurity!

[a-game-of-beginnings]

The Darker Side Of It All

Usually the darker side of the Parable remains hidden, but maybe it can help to understand the one or other behavior in here a little better if you catch a glimpse. So this post will contain all of those.

First off, the Narrator. I know-- HE knows you won't care all that much if terrible things happen to him. Maybe you even believe he deserves it all. On top, his personal nightmares are far more on the abstract side. A human might be able to vaguely relate, but maybe there is no way at all to truly ever see the full picture of this entity.

Not to mention, you know how self-protective the Parable can get.

Now - under the cut - employee 432's worst moments, in his own Pre-Parable timeline, are far more on the tangible side. Yes, he gets moody, strange, highstrung or rebellious near all of the time.

But there is times where he is simply at his wits' end. There is not a single type of breakdown he hasn't experienced, over and over, and those are the moments where management will step in directly.

He will be put on timeouts, subdued, maybe even get his feelings or memories erased if the experiment is endangered, but he has long reached a point where this isn't as effective as they may think it is.

Long before he surrendered to the maelstrom of timelines and became the concept of the game's settings, he had started to hear and see and notice things he shouldn't. His physical form became unstable and would glitch out at random times, having them all believe he was merely being "clumsy".

Pushed beyond his limits and then so much further than that... what did they expect to happen, really? At least, in the end, they did get the results they were looking for.

Oh, and Stanley? One day he will become aware, and he won't know how to handle it. It will be the day when all the timelines break apart, and there are no more choices.

Maybe it can be fixed, and they can all, once again, return to their old routine, the story that cannot end.

Or maybe something more might happen, making their existence even a tiny bit more bearable. Babysteps.

[squigglysquidd]

Juxtaposed Snippet

Unable to stand another ping from that damn omni-tool, Jane finally pushes him back and forces herself to step away. She stops teasing his waist and instead lays her hands on his chest, sighing.

"You should probably see what that is," she says solemnly, head down. When she looking up, she smiles apologetically to try and make him feel how badly she wanted to continue. "You wouldn't want to piss off the guy who may put in a good word for you."

He groans, voice still thick with hunger, and untangles his fingers from her hair. He gently smooths down what must be the disarray he's caused before finally stepping away.

Walking toward the wooden table she bought him, he pulls up his omni-tool.

For just a glimpse, she could see the difference in him.

Especially in his groin judging by the parted plates there and slight peek of the softer flesh just beneath them.

Well, at least there's not a question of if he was enjoying himself.

She smiles, amused at their 'predicament.'

It can't really be called that because she really is liking it. It's just that it's still so new, so uncharted, that a part of her fears what's going to happen.

What will the time apart do to them?

What will happen when the dam breaks?

Deciding to occupy herself with what they had intended to do all along, she grabs her sketchbook and the pencil wedged into its spine. Like this, she can draw him in a neutral state and most likely in a way he'd be most comfortable.

He takes some time reading whatever messages were sent and during that period of obliviousness, she sketches out his relaxed—albeit nude—form. She doesn't think he'll mind much that she gave into curiosity and, in a sense, went ahead and immortalizes him and their moment together as a drawing within her portfolio.

His sigh and posture speaks of defeat as he stands turns to her. She's just finishing the last quick notes of the sketch she needs as he starts gathering up his clothes and, seeing his pants nearby, she offers them to Garrus.

He huffs and flares his mandible in a disappointed half-smile. "I'm really starting to hate that old buzzard …" he says offhandedly and glances away. Sighing, he adds, "I'm sorry, Jane, but Chellick says he might have a final piece to a case and wants me there when we bring in the bastard."

"I understand completely," she admits, knowing more than anything of what happens when duty calls. She stands and takes a hold of his hands. Smiling, she reminds him of the importance of what might seem like an inconvenience now but will pay off later.

"This is your first case," she says with a serious nod. "You have to make a good impression with everyone from Chellick, to the guard, to the patrol, to even those guys that handle evidence—Show you can get the job done. Even if it means you have to come in after hours." Chuckling, she tries to mimic the voice of a stereotypical police chief who no doubt thinks the job is his life and says, "Crime never takes a break."

When she sees Garrus' mandible flick in amusement, she drops the act and lifts up onto her tiptoes.

They kiss softly, lips against mouth plates, but it's enough for now. She puts just as much effort into nuzzling his forehead so that he can understand she wants to express their affection in a way he's used to. It doesn't matter if he picks up on her intent but he does seem happier despite having to leave for work.

Cupping his face, she looks into his eyes for a long moment. It's just the two of them—his blue eyes and her green—and his rhythmic thrumming for that time that seems to stand still.

Just her and him.

She smiles softly and lowers her hands, stepping back from him. "You should hurry up and get dressed. Crime never waits," she adds in her 'aging cop' voice.

He chuckles and focuses on pulling up his pants. "You need to stop doing that."

"You don't like it?"

"No," he interjects and presses a quick peck of a kiss on her forehead. "It's because you remind me too much of my training manuals."

Before she can swat him, he pulls away and starts gathering up his boots.

[morbid-rxse]

guys… is there TWO saw fanzines in the works rn?????

[msfisherot]

[xandyprojects]

“Oh, I am not angry Stanley. Rather unpleased on what you done.”

(TW!EYES!)

Pre!Narrator goes brrr

[junosmindpalace]

i personally like the interpretation that stanley is a reflection of the narrator. he creates this world that's his, the one thing in the world that's his, where he's in control and someone else for once is at his mercy instead of the other way around, and projects these deep grievances of wanting to be free and being in control onto stanley, who is more or less the exact same as him.

i believe, in this interpretation, the narrator exaggerates his power. he's some mysterious nonhuman entity in the story he's self inserted himself into because he chooses to present himself in this way, it's the way he writes himself to be. it's why, regardless, he still has deep knowledge about storytelling and video games. him being seen as this god-like entity is very purposeful if you look at it from a perspective of the game he creates being a form of escapism. it would also make sense why he also celebrates alongside stanley in his victories, because stanley's success is his success. we could maybe take this interpretation a step further and say that the narrator (whoever he may be as a real human) also works an office job and is surrounded by other people, which i wouldn't say is too much of a stretch since the narrator's storytelling is all about literally narrating things that happen ("stanley did this, stanley was this." etc).

this i think would also explain the female narrator, who, from this perspective, i interpret as a co-worker of the narrators in the real life they live outside of the game. she sees how the narrator is grieved by his life, sees what he does to cope (or eventually finds out), and again breaks the fourth wall to tell the player (NOT stanley, as she specifically says how "these two need each other") that the only way to "save" the both of them is to quit the game; to break apart this fantasy that will only eventually end up doing more harm than good specifically to the narrator.

another theory i have in regards to this interpretation is that mariella is sort of a female narrator (whoever she may be in reality) self insert. it's the narrator's perspective of her, it's the narrator criticising her criticisms of him through the insanity ending, painting mariella in a particularly ignorant light to showcase to the player how the female narrator comes off to him.

it's what makes the story and specifically the player turning against the narrator all the more heartbreaking, and where a more supernatural aspect comes into play. unless of course we are to interpret that the endings, even the ones that disadvantage and put stanley/the player against the narrator, are all written by him just to create conflict and tension (which all writers just love) , it goes to show that the narrator is so deep into this fantasy that even his own story tries to fight back against it as a way of saying "get out. abandon this story. quit the game before you're in too deep." this could also be a representation of a part of the narrator's subconscious, one that gives into a voice that sounds like the female narrator that tells him this is unhealthy, yet tries to drown it out because again, the story is how he copes with his own reality.

various aspects of the game could be interpreted in this way as aspects of the narrators subconscious. if entities that work against the narrator, such as the female narrator and the adventure line are meant to represent the "knowing better" side of the narrator, then entities such as the settings person, with the need to keep the story alive forever, could represent the very opposite, the need/compulsion to succumb further and further into this fantasy. this i'm a little bit more shaky on since the devs decided to merge the settings entity with employee 432, (especially considering how he was a "test" that eventually went missing and was seemingly ostracized from the majority of the workers pre wipe) and the settings entity not liking the narrator. the settings entity seems to hold the most power out of any other presented in the game, or at least hold the same amount of awareness the narrator does.

i'm not taking much consideration for the ultra deluxe endings with this interpretation of the plot, which is a whole other set of theories and interpretations and i dont know how well this specific one actually applies to it