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randomwriteronline · 5 months

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I wonder if the toa mata recognized themselves in their own memories from before mata nui.

I dont know, i think theres possibilities to be explored about that. Suddenly remembering yourself and what you find being a complete stranger is a common thing for amnesia plots i guess but also i think this could be even more jarring. Like a more genuine difference between killing machine and living being.

Its less a matter of nature vs nurture and more a matter of nature with a certain type of nurture. Nature dictates they are powerful and driven and well meaning, but the way they are brought up produces completely different people.

Their first taste of life was a sterile room with nobody but each other and a disembodied voice reading out their duties, establishing an arbitrary hierarchy within them, and then sending them to a glorified bootcamp where a ruthless instructor worked on making them into skilled combatants and nothing else, teaching them how to use their elements as tools and weapons without indulging in them; they got a vague sense of what and how a community feels like with the Av-Matoran - as outsiders, as its protective shield, there for them but not with them - only to get that stripped away from them too because their role as life saving tools to be preserved under glass just in case of a crisis was more important.

I wonder if the Toa Mata, the ones who were taken to the Koro of Mata Nui and listened to the Turaga's tales and reprimands and would have moved mountains for the Matoran who treated them like older siblings, return with their minds to things they said or thought or did from before the Island of Mata Nui and stop in their tracks. Whose memory is that, they think? That can't be mine. I am not like that. My siblings are not like that. Some things are perfectly right, they cant deny that; but just as many if not more are so wrong that they almost feel like a really cruel joke somebody planted into their heads.

Kopaka and Tahu got along, even if they dont want to admit it because they need to bicker like children or theyll die, but are more surprised that they werent as tentatively close with anybody else. Lewa remembers so much frustration and tedium and anger that if he stalls in his memories too much he genuinely starts feeling queasy, Pohatu has remnants of bitterness and passive aggression that still cling to him like the smell of a cigarette on someone who gave up smoking, and they both hate that because its nothing like them. Onua and Gali feel like theyre peering into some kind of imperfect clone's brain when they try to remember - its themselves, they know that, it has to be, but there are certain things they know about themelves that are just completely missing and its kind of dizzying to realize that.

Im not even sure they liked each other. They work together because its their destiny, but they don't seem to seek each other out for fun or anything else. In their training days they had to be shoved in each others direction or they would have never solved their obligatory group assignments.

I wonder if their terrors and flaws could partially come from this first life that they had too. Gali's fear of her anger and Lewa's disregard for duty stemming from Hydraxon's methods - she internalized his reprimands about feeling guilt for living enemies, but without any memory of him she believes the words resurfacing in her mind from time to time are her own, and is appalled by their cruelty; he was forbidden from enjoying himself, from indulging in any form of fun, of entertainment, of joy, and unconsciously now he rebels by shirking away from responsability to do whatever he wants.

The responses to Tahu's decision regarding the codrex haunt him, the whole situation, really; how he stripped his siblings of any say on their fate because he was the leader, not even telling them or explaining himself until they had no other choice, and if he could treat them like that once then what would stop him from doing so again and again until he doesnt even think about it? Kopaka is uneasy about it too. He knew the plan and supported Tahu only because he tagged along, but hes very, very acutely aware that he would have been left just as much in the dark as everybody else otherwise, and he would gave not even had anybody to seek any comfort from because hes fairly certain none of the others would have liked him enough to care.

Onua as @cantankerouscanuck pointed out to me mightve taken Hydraxon's teachings to heart, hence why he's so quiet: no use in expressing weakness, right? But karda nui must have been hellish on his senses, with all that light - a tangible physical discomfort that would bleed out into an emotional one as he becomes conscious of how none of his siblings go through this, thus he must be damaged in some way, faulty, out of place, and so he seeks to be alone, digging himself away. And its not hard to imagine how Pohatu (who hasnt had the chance to grow into the affable, kind toa his siblings can always lean on when they need to yet) would become convinced of his uselessness within the team and seethe about it.

They arrive on Mata Nui as broken war machines with no clue who they even are and suddenly find nature and community and love, and in a moment theyre people.

I wonder if the environment helped. Being thrown upon a beach in the open air with nothing but a whole world that is so alien and yet feels so right beckoning them to come closer. Discovering their powers and their domains freely, immediately - first thing they did was dive into their respective elements without a second thought, naturally magnetized, taking after them like it was the simplest thing in the world, because they are the first toa, the first beings capable of harnessing these powers in their whole universe, and its in their nature to be so connected to them. Maybe it helped. Maybe it made them feel connected to their own selves enough to figure themselves out in a way they couldnt have done so before.

Maybe it helped to find out their collective destiny each on their own, in their own environment, at their own pace, surrounded by younger siblings who look at them with awe and curiosity and frustration sometimes, guided by people who know how being alive works with all its good parts and messy bits and who can tell what having so much power means when youre barely aware of how to use it or what to do. And maybe it helped to find out who their siblings were in a similar way, introducing themselves as they wanted, as they felt like, without a specific order, and learning to recognize each other as siblings with all the things that make them insufferable and all the things that make them the best and what makes them happy and what makes them angry and how they sound when theyre worried and how likely they are to chase you down to the other edge of the island for doing something stupid, and like real people they grow and develop and change and stay the same, and then they meet the memory of themselves from before becoming people and its...

Idk. Its like the realization of who they used to be and the distance between themselves and those selves, and the fact that they dont like them.

#bionicle #toa mata #random talks #oh my god finally it shows up in tags. i had to email support and they still couldnt do anything for the previous version #sorry for the One Guy who liked the previous versions i swear I'll stop now that it finally works #but yea. many thoughts not necessarily coherent or well explained but i tried #i think of gali working alone and pohatus passive aggressiveness and lewa threatening to chew out tahu once they awake again #(i think of lewa being the first one to hear tahu laugh on mata nui)#i wonder if they sometimes acted or said something that made them look and sound and feel like before their stasis #and if it made them wince and hush uncomfortably or if they pushed through it despite the discomfort #i wonder if they talked about this. any of this. even if it wasnt pleasant.

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sun-stricken · 4 months

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Headcannoms about friendship between Bickslow and Gray? I like to think after the fighting festival he really tries to make it up to Gray.

Gray: ‘we’re chill. It’s fine.’

Bickslow: ‘my babies will now perform a dance of apology’

Also a scenario I’d like to share!

Lucy: hey, Gray I picked up your mail. Why do you have a letter from a modelling agency?

Gray: oh that. I don’t know they just keep sending me them even though I’ve told them no.

Lucy: you’ve turned them down repeatedly?! *while crying inside*

Gray: yeah? It’s weird ‘cause I didn’t even apply.

Lucy: Lucy kick!

i for some reason hadn’t considered the idea of them having a close friendship, but i am now so here! a gift !

i had so much fun with this

* my personal hc is that Bickslows dolls feel a lot of what he himself feels, and also theyre kinda like birds

* so they too try to make it up to Gray, they bring him little things they find, such as shiny rocks, pins, and other tiny objects they find

* Bickslow just nods in approval from the sidelines when they bring them to Gray

* They were both fairly awkward with each other post festival but after Bickslow gave Gray an honest apology they began to turn over a new leaf

* people find the friendship strange tbh, Gray is known as this vaguely calm and like, super normal guy, and Bickslow is just— not

* theyre surprisingly comfortable with each other

* they dont hang out a lot outside the guild, but thats not to say they dont ever,

* While they dont work the best together and it took a while be able to fight along side on another,

* If the Thunder Legion and Team Natsu have to pair up usually they do bc they’re comfortable with each other and trust can go a long way

* theyre both texting fiends, like its a problem how much they message their friends, so when they found out the other was the same oh my god was it a train wreck

* their conversations can go for hours and if you read through them youd probably have an aneurysm because the topics make no sense and Bix doesn’t even try to spell correctly

* They have gotten close and friendly but that doesnt mean theu ever know what to expect from the other, their opinions and thoughts are so different from each other, if rhey ever have the same idea its like all the stars and planet’s have aligned and world is about to end

* Bickslows hair is naturally black and Gray helped him dye it once and they deadass looked they walk out the smurf set for weeks, Bix’s bathroom looked like they murdered a hundred of them

* Gray has an affinity for collecting hand weapons (swords, spears, bows, etc) while Bickslow likes taking apart and building old bombs (actual explosive grenades, land mines, smoke/flash grenades)

* they bonded over it and talked about it in public and terrified about 20 people rhat were in earshot

* theyre both a big hit with kids

* Bickslow gets added to the long list of people who barge into Gray house unannounced

* a lot of the time they will talk (coughcomplaincough) about two different things in the same convo

* Bickslow: the cops were at my door again last night because of the inactive grenade i threw in the fountain, woke me up and everything

* Gray: ugh, i hate that, Natsu blew up a building again and Erza yelled at the both of us

* Bickslow: thats so rude, do you think i should make another one and send it to them?

* Gray: totally, she knew it wasnt me but i still got scolded

so happy ppl have realized how pretty Gray is, now we’re gonna talk abt it bc im an overachiever

* Hes been scouted by plenty of different modeling agencies over the years, which really boosted his ego but very quickly became annoying as hell bc he never even applied

* He gets a couple a month, and he accepted once just to get them off his back and found it really embarrassing bc he was everywhere

* his friends in and outside the guild bought the magazines he was featured in and teased him mercilessly and he never stepped foot in another agency ever again

* Hes really photogenic but hates gets his photo taken, most of the pictures hes in ‘willingly’ hes glaring at the camera

* he now just blocks the numbers they call him on and throws out the letter they send him, if they stop him on the street he will walk away before the conversation even starts

* when Lucy found out something inside her died a little

* she pestered him about it and said she’ll go with him! he wont even have to take the money for it! she’ll take it! 😁

* she gets shot down every time but that doesnt mean she quit trying

#fairy tail #gray fullbuster #bickslow #ft bickslow #wth is his last name #sun strickens ft #sun stricken answers #anon ask #major mAJOR chaotic + normal chaotic #fairy tail headcanons #fairy tail incorrect quotes #gray is pretty im so happy ppl agree #hes pretty in universe too #i do make the rules #is it caller the thunder legion?#it is now

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mullettaegi · 4 months

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i know the galra had ten thousand years and unlimited resources to build up their defences and offences, to create an insane amount of weapons, to do evil experiments, and rule far across the universe, but HOW does it go from voltron being the defender of the universe, the most powerful weapon in the universe, something that zarkon has been hunting after for ten thousand years, something that made sendak (a very strong galra commander who would not let anyone stand in his way, according to himself) gasp and RUN.

yes he didnt fully run away but he retreated; he watched his battle cruiser get blown to fucking pieces, and remember this is the first time the paladins formed voltron. there was no sword. it was like their second or third time flying in their lions, and the only one that has had consistent flight simulations and training for however long is lance, and even then i think we saw him struggle to strategise a battle plan when going after the yellow lion with hunk because we heard him say he would cover hunk, we saw him carry that out but then get overwhelmed by the galra fighters in the air and take off after them.

hes a damn good pilot, and they all are, especially in the lions, but this is on a next level to what they could've been training for at the garrison.

so, this takes me to my point, why in the fucking world was voltron so fucking nerfed in the later seasons. like yes i dont want an easy win for voltron every battle, yknow, its about them working together as a team, its about voltron not always being the solution (aka when its better for them to split off into lions while they strategise), its about them actually coming up with strategies instead of just going in voltron first and hoping for the best.

its been a while since i watched the later seasons but rn im mostly thinking of atlas. like it just doesnt really make sense to me tbh? to build the atlas, yes, its essentially a replacement for the castleship, a place for a team to watch voltron from the sky, provide back up, but then to have it form into a voltron-esque robot ??? i just dont think thats where they should have taken it.

im glad for the castle of lions to take an important role in some episodes, where again the answer lies outside of JUST voltron, but it doesnt really make sense to build another giant robot.

it kind of takes away the development the paladins are supposed to go through as well, to work together better and stronger as a team thus opening up more weapons from voltron and learning how to fight in different ways.

idk i think the entire thing was kinda over-thought at the end as they were trying to keep the show going, but missing some of the other storylines they could've gone down, (black paladin lance, lotor redemption arc (which he did seemingly have but all along they planned to throw that in the bin), the team coming together as friends more often developing their bond as voltron but also as people, the team seeing their families again, not killing off shiro's FUCKING CANON BOYFRIEND IN A STUPID FUCKING SHITTY WAY ADAM DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE YALL ARE JUST COWARDS, and also the team kinda reflecting back to how they were jn the beginning and realizing they have grown (i say the team but i mostly mean lance and hunk because the writers just did not give two shits about them they really didnt get the chance to become fully thought out characters, they just had some insecurities and interests that were ignored until convenient then ignored again)).

#voltron legendary defender #i will not let this show die but also half the show doesnt actually exist its just made up in my head #i choose what to believe and what to ignore in this show tbh #ummmm yh feel free to ignore this #im still tagging tho #voltron #vld #mullettaegi #but overall voltron itself was done dirty like ??? how are you gonna make a show about a legendary robot and then just add another robot too

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blessedarethebinarybreakers · 4 months

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(I’m popping a extra disclaimer here because I don’t know if I worded this very well, and I understand if this isnt the kind if question you feel comfortable answering, but this is a genuine question made in good faith. I also apologise if this sounds really stupid)

I read one of your recent asks about inclusivism and it reminded me of something that always sat in the back of my mind with this train of thought.

If we say that everyone regardless of religion, or absence of it, gets into heaven, doesn’t that seem disrespectful to their faith. By saying that people of other religions get into christian heaven, is that not inadvertently telling them that their religion or their gods are fake, and that when they die it’ll be okay because they’ll learn the real truth? I hope this doesn’t come across as blunt or disrespectful to anyone, I’ve just never be able to come to a conclusion that isn’t exclusive (which is kind of a depressing thought), but is also respectful. Because it’s a beautiful idea that god loves us all regardless of who we are or what we believe, but what about people who have the kind of faith we do in a completely different god, or multiple gods, do they have the same thoughts about us? that their god loves us even though we dont believe?

I feel like I’m asking questions I’m not supposed to but I’m just really curious about your perspective if this is something you’re comfortable answering.

Hey anon, this is an important question, so thanks for asking it! You don't sound "stupid"; you're thinking like a theologian :) I'm probably not going to do it justice, I'm afraid, but maybe folks will hop on with more ideas or resources?

This got really long, so the TL;DR: I agree with you, and so do a lot of theologians and other thinkers!

In a religiously diverse world, it makes sense that people of various religions ponder where people outside their religions "fit" in their understanding of both the present world and whatever form of afterlife they have.

If someone has a firm personal belief in certain things taking place after death (from heaven to reincarnation), I don't think it's inherently wrong to imagine all kinds of people joining them in that experience, when it points to how that person recognizes the inherent holiness and value of all kinds of people, and shows that they long for continued community with & flourishing for those people.

However, this contemplation should be done with great care — especially when your religion is the dominant one in your culture; especially if your religion has a long history (and/or present) of colonialism and coerced conversions.

Ultimately, humility and openness are key! It's fine to have your own beliefs about humanity's place in this life and after death, but make yourself mindful of your own limited perspective. Accept you might be wrong in part or in whole! And be open to learning from others' ideas, and truly listening to them if they say something in your ideas has caused them or their community tangible harm.

In the rest of this post, I'll focus on a Christian perspective and keep grappling with how to consider these questions while honoring both one's personal faith and people all religions...without coming to any solid conclusions (sorry, but I don't think there's any one-size-fits-all or fully satisfying answer!).

I'll talk a bit about inclusivism and how it fails pretty miserably in this regard, and point towards religious pluralism as a possibly better (tho still imperfect) option.

And as usual I'll say I highly recommend Barbara Brown Taylor's book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others to any Christians / cultural Christians who want to learn more about entering into mutual relationship with people of other religions.

In previous posts, I brought up the concepts of exclusivism, inclusivism, and religious pluralism without digging into their academic definitions and histories — partially because it's A Lot for a tumblr post, but also because it's by no means in my sphere of expertise. I worried about misrepresenting any viewpoint if I tried to get all academic, so I just stuck to my own personal opinions instead — but looking back at some posts, I see I didn't do a great job of clarifying that's what I was doing!

So now I'll go into what scholars mean when talking about these different viewpoints, with a huge caveat that I'm not an expert; I'm just drawing from notes and foggy memories from old seminary classes + this article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), and anyone interested in learning more should find scholarly articles or books rather than relying on some guy on tumblr!

Defining exclusivism, inclusivism, & religious pluralism

When we encounter traditions that offer differing and often conflicting "accounts of the nature of both mundane and supramundane reality, of the ultimate ends of human beings, and of the ways to achieve those ends" (IEP), how do we respond? Do we focus on difference and reject any truth in their views that conflicts with our views? Do we avoid looking too closely at the places we differ? try to find common ground? try to make their views fit ours?

Exclusivism, inclusivism, and religious pluralism are three categories into which we can place various responses to the reality of religious diversity.

It's important to note that this is only one categorization system one can use, and that these categories were developed within a Western, Christian context (by a guy named Alan Race in 1983). They are meant to be usable by persons of any religion — all sorts of people ask these questions about how their beliefs relate to others' beliefs — but largely do skew towards a Western, Christian way of understanding religion. (For one thing, there's a strong focus on salvation / afterlife and not all religions emphasize that stuff very much, if at all!)

Drawing primarily from this article on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), here are basic definitions of each:

Exclusivist positions maintain that "only one set of belief claims or practices can ultimately be true or correct (in most cases, those of the one holding the position). A Christian exclusivist would therefore hold that the beliefs of non-Christians (and perhaps even Christians of other denominations) are in some way flawed, if not wholly false..." . (From my old class notes — Exclusivist Christians believe 3 things are non-negotiable: the unique authority of Jesus Christ as the apex of revelation; Jesus as normative; salvation exclusively through repentance and faith in Christ's work on the cross. Some will allow that God does provide some truths about Godself and humanity through general revelation, including truths found in other religious traditions, but the Biggest most Important revelation is still Jesus.) .

Inclusivist positions "recognize the possibility that more than one religious tradition can contain elements that are true or efficacious, while at the same time hold that only one tradition expresses ultimate religious truth most completely." . Christian inclusivists tend to focus on salvation, claiming that non-Christians can still achieve salvation — still through Jesus Christ. Sometimes they hold that any non-Christian whose life happens to fit Jesus's call to love God and neighbor, etc., will be saved. Other times they hold that only non-Christians who never had the chance to learn about Jesus can be saved; if you know about Christianity and reject it, it doesn't matter how "good"you are, you're doomed. .

Pluralist positions hold that "more than one set of beliefs or practices can be, at least partially and perhaps wholly, true or correct simultaneously." For Christian pluralists, that means believing that Jesus is not the one Way to God / to heaven/salvation; Christianity is one way of many, usually conceived of as all being on equal footing, to connect to the Divine. .

(These three categories are not all encompassing; the IEP article also brings up relativism and skepticism.)

Issues with Exclusivism & Inclusivism

I hope the issues with exclusivism are clear, but to name a few:

Christians who are taught that all non-Christians (or even the "wrong kind" of Christians) are doomed to hell are taught to see those people as Projects more than people — there's a perceived urgent need to convert them asap in order to "save them." The only kind of relationship you'd form with one of them is centered in efforts to convert them, rather than to live and learn alongside them as they are.

Doesn't matter if they are already happily committed to a different religion. In your eyes, they're wrong about feeling fulfilled and connected to the Divine.

Doesn't matter if you have to resort to violent and coercive practices like wiping out all signs of non-Christian culture or kidnapping non-Christian children to raise Christian — the ends justify the means because you're looking out for their "immortal souls."

...But what about inclusivism? If you're a Christian inclusivist, you aren't forcing anyone to convert to Christianity right now! You acknowledge that non-Christians can live holy and fulfilling lives! You even acknowledge that there's scraps of value in their valid-but-not-as-valid-as-Christianity religions! So what's the problem?

Turns out that this is a major case of one's good intentions not being nearly as important as one's impact.

You may be pushing back against exclusivism's outright refusal that non-Christians have any connection to the divine at all, which is nice and all — but by saying that non-Christians will basically become Christian after they die, you are still perpetuating our long history of coercive conversions.

There's a reason some scholars argue that inclusivism isn't actually a separate category from, but a sub-category of, exclusivism: you're still saying everyone has to be Christian, "so luckily you'll See The Light and become Christian after you die :)"

This is very reasonably offensive to many non-Christians. If nothing else, it's ludicrously smug and paternalistic! I won't get into it here but it only gets worse when some inclusivist positions try to get all Darwinian and start arranging religions from lower to higher, with Christianity as the "evolutionary" apex of religion ://

For now, I'll only go into detail about Catholic Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner's particular version of inclusivism, because it's quite common and really highlights the paternalism:

Rahner's Anonymous Christians:

A question that Catholics and other Christians struggled with in the 20th century was this: If non-Christians cannot be saved (because they held firm in believing that salvation must be in and through Christ), what happens if someone never even had the chance to learn about Christianity? Surely a loving God wouldn't write them an automatic ticket to hell when they're non-Christian through no fault of their own, right?

German Jesuit Karl Rahner's response was to conceive of a sort of abstract version of Christianity for non-Christians who lived good, faithful lives outside of official (what he called "constituted") Christianity:

"Anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity. ...Let us say, a Buddhist monk…who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian; if not, I would have to presuppose that there is a genuine path to salvation that really attains that goal, but that simply has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. But I cannot do that. And so, if I hold if everyone depends upon Jesus Christ for salvation, and if at the same time I hold that many live in the world who have not expressly recognized Jesus Christ, then there remains in my opinion nothing else but to take up this postulate of an anonymous Christianity." - Karl Rahner in Dialogue (1986), p. 135.

So someone who has intentionally devoted themselves to another religion, someone who does good work in that religion's name, is...secretly, unbeknownst to them, actually Christian?

I hope the offensiveness of that is clear — the condescension in implying these people are ignorant of what religion they "really" belong to! the assumption that Good deeds & virtues are always inherently Christian deeds & virtues! the arrogance of being so sure your own religion is The One Right Way that you have to construct a "back door" (as Hans Küng describes it) into it to shove in all these poor people who for whatever reason can't or don't choose to join it!

One theologian who criticized the paternalism of "anonymous Christianity" is John Hick, who was one of the big advocates for religious pluralism as a more respectful way of understanding non-Christian religions. So let's finally talk some more about pluralism!

Religious Pluralism!

As defined earlier, religious pluralist positions hold that there are many paths to the divine, and that all religions have access to some truths about the divine.

For Christians, this means rejecting those 3 non-negotiables of exclusionists about Christianity being the one true religion and Jesus being the one path to salvation. Instead of claiming that Christianity is the "most advanced" religion, pluralism claims that Christianity is just one religion among many, with no unique claim on the truth.

Some other pluralist points:

Pluralism resists antisemitic claims that Christianity is the "fulfillment" of (or that it "supercedes") Judaism.

Various religions provide independent access to salvation rather than everyone's salvation relying on Christ. (Note the still very Christian-skewed lens here in emphasizing salvation at all though!)

When we notice how different religions' truth claims conflict with one another, pluralists reconcile this by talking about how one's experience of truth is subjective.

Pluralism tends to give more authority to human experience than sacred texts

John Hicks' pluralist position

I mentioned before that Hicks is one of the big names in the religious pluralism scene. The IEP article I drew from earlier goes into much greater detail about his views and responses to it in the section titled "c. John Hick: the Pluralistic Hypothesis," but for a brief overview:

His central claim is that "diverse religious traditions have emerged as various finite, historical responses to a single transcendent, ultimate, divine reality. The diversity of traditions (and the belief claims they contain) is a product of the diversity of religious experiences among individuals and groups throughout history, and the various interpretations given to these experiences."

"As for the content of particular belief claims, Hick understands the personal deities of those traditions that posit them...as personae of the Real, explicitly invoking the connotation of a theatrical mask in the Latin word persona."

"Hick claims that all religious understandings of the Real are on equal footing insofar as they can only offer limited, phenomenal representations of transcendent truth."

We must accept that world religions are fundamentally different from each other, rather than falling into platitudes about how "we're all the same deep down"

Each religion has its own particular and comprehensive framework for understanding the world and human experience (i.e. we shouldn't use the normative Christian framework to describe other faiths)

Another angle: hospitality

As various philosophers and theologians have responded to and expanded upon pluralist frameworks, one big concept that some emphasize is hospitality: that all of us regardless of religion have an obligation to welcome others to all that is ours, if and when they have need of it — especially when they are of different cultures or religions from us.

Hospitality requires respect for those under our care, honoring and protecting their differences.

When we are the ones in need of hospitality, we should be able to expect the same.

Hospitality implies being able to anticipate our guest's needs, but we need to accept the impossibility of being able to guess every need, so communication is key!

Liberation theology & Pluralism

I also appreciate what liberation theologians have brought into the discussion. Here's from the IEP article:

"Liberation theology, which advocates a religious duty to aid those who are poor or suffering other forms of inequality and oppression, has had a significant influence on recent discussions of pluralism. The struggle against oppression can be seen as providing an enterprise in which members of diverse religious traditions can come together in solidarity.

"Paul F. Knitter, whose work serves as a prominent theological synthesis of liberation and pluralist perspectives, argues that engaging in interreligious dialogue is part and parcel of the ethical responsibility at the heart of liberation theology. He maintains not only that any liberation theology ought to be pluralistic, but also that any adequate theory of religious pluralism ought to include an ethical dimension oriented toward the goal of resisting injustice and oppression.

"Knitter claims that, if members of diverse religions are interested (as they should be) in encountering each other in dialogue and resolving their conflicts, this can only be done on the basis of some common ground. ..."

Knitter sees suffering as that common ground: "Suffering provides a common cause with which diverse religious traditions are concerned and towards which they can come together to craft a common agenda. Particular instances of suffering will, of course, differ from each other in their causes and effects; likewise, the practical details of work to alleviate suffering will almost necessarily be fleshed out differently by different religions, at different times and in different places. Nevertheless, Knitter maintains that suffering itself is a cross-cultural and universal phenomenon and should thus serve as the reference point for a practical religious pluralism. Confronting suffering will naturally give rise to solidarity, and pluralist respect and understanding can emerge from there."

Knitter also sees the planet as a source of literal common ground for us all: "Earth not only serves as a common physical location for all religious traditions, but it also provides these traditions with what Knitter calls a 'common cosmological story' (1995, p. 119). ...Knitter makes a case that different religious traditions share an ecological responsibility and that awareness of this shared responsibility, as it continues to emerge, can also serve as a basis for mutual understanding."

When Knitter and other liberation theologians speak of suffering or earth care as rallying points for interreligious solidarity, it's important to point out that such solidarity doesn't happen automatically: it is something we have to choose to commit to. We have to be courageous about challenging those who would pin suffering on another religious or cultural group. We have to be courageous about having difficult conversations, again and again. We have to learn how to work together for common goals even while accepting where we differ.

How to end this long ass post?

My hope is that as you read (or skimmed) all this, you were thinking about your own personal beliefs: where, if anywhere, do they fit among all these ideas? where would you like them to fit?

And, in the end, did I really address anon's question about whether it's disrespectful to people of other religions to assert that everyone is loved by God, or gets into heaven? Not really, because I don't know. I think it probably depends on context, and how one puts it, and how certain one acts about their ideas about God and heaven.

For me, it always comes down to humility about my own limited perspective, even while asserting that we all have a right to our personal beliefs, including ideas about what comes after this life.

When I imagine all human beings together in whatever comes next, I hope I do so not out of a desire for assimilation into my religion, but a desire to continue to learn from and alongside all kinds of people and beliefs. I hope I remain open to learning about how other people envision both what comes after death, and more importantly, what they think about life here and now. What can I learn from them about truth, kindness, justice? How can we work together to achieve those things for all creation, despite and in and through our differences?

I'll end with Eboo Patel's description of religious pluralism, which sums up much of how I feel, from his memoir Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim:

"Religious pluralism is neither mere coexistence nor forced consensus. It is a form of proactive cooperation that affirms the identities of the constituent communities while emphasizing that the wellbeing of each and all depends on the health of the whole. It is the belief that the common good is best served when each community has a chance to make its unique contribution."

___

Further resources:

Explore my #religious pluralism tag for more thoughts and quotes

You might also enjoy wandering through my #interfaith tag

Two podcast episodes that draw from Eboo Patel, Barbara Brown Taylor, and other wonderful people: "No One Owns God: Readying yourself for respectful interfaith encounters" and "It's good to have wings, but you have to have roots too: Cultivating your own faith while embracing religious pluralism"

My tag with excerpts from Holy Envy

Post that includes links to various questions about heaven

Here’s a post where I talk about why I don’t believe in hell

My evangelism tag (tl;dr: I’m staunchly against prosletyzing to anyone who doesn’t explicitly request more info about Christianity)

#feel free only to read the tldr anon -- the rest goes way beyond your actual question!#exclusivism #inclusivism #religious pluralism #long post #essays #theology #other faiths tag

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weirdmageddon · 9 months

Text

can someone explain what “weed paranoia” is?

ive never experienced it, all i experience is like….relaxation, monotropic autism flow state, calms me down enough to not get overstimulated by my own thoughts (i feel more at ease with my thoughts coming and going, i kinda go into free flow thought tunnels without getting hung up or ever spiraling. in fact, the opposite, where it’s like a “catch and release” sort of experience to train of thought most of the time. i mean i’ll still definitely hyperfocusing on something which you could consider getting “hung up” on but thats just normal autism stuff and i feel like i can mine for more deeper insight riches in those hyperfixation tunnels when high.

it also definitely helps me unmask. like my mask is sort of built into my core personality and “self” but i find it hard if not impossible to shut off even when im alone because ive internalized the external social sphere. but THC (i should note im taking Δ9) like…. takes the edge off, and i feel less conflicted about my thoughts? like i’m more confident in getting my thoughts out there without worrying about people judging me for how i phrase things or how hyperspecific im being to my own interests. i feel like i dont have to water things down as much because i dont feel as threatened by judgment externally, and in turn internally

i looked up my question about what “weed paranoia” feels like on reddit and the common answers ive seen were:

generalized anxiety

“everyone knows” / you feel like people are watching or judging you and that youre gonna be in trouble

“You’re very aware of your own actions and existence, and assume everyone else is also.”

heightened self-reflection (for some people this freaks them out??) because different perspective

more vulnerable

but i’m not satisfied with these answers??

i want to know if people who get paranoid have these traits while sober/before getting high. like, is it just non-introspective people getting freaked out because they’re considering their own actions/thoughts and existence? or do introspective people who are used to metacognition also getting freaked out?

are people afraid of confronting their weaknesses that weed makes them aware of? are people who normally hide from truths more likely to get paranoid?

ok so i can only fully know my own mind; that is my reality. i have a habit of assuming people more or less share the same phenomenological experiences in their minds, but since i’m autistic i’ve had to expand this boundary over and over continually reconciling with way more diverging phenomenological experiences than i thought.

so i normally i have thoughts about my own thoughts pretty much at least five times every hour, every single day of the week. i do not experience is not a bad thing, it’s a neutral and even good thing. i think i am insightful by nature and always have been, ive been described as such. i don’t know how normal this is for the average person. weed does enhance these metacognitive thoughts i have to an even higher level, and i feel very, very pulled towards them in a good, flow state way. ive also been told my guarded chilly heart melts a bit and i become more open/vulnerable while stoned but that’s because i don’t feel as vulnerable as i normally do. so i dont hide or clam up as much away from psychological openness or whatever exact shit enneagram type 5 is on

but anyway even without weed i normally feel “outside” of my own thoughts, always judging them from a third person perspective, or even multiple third person perspectives through reframing. so i dont feel like i have a defined or clearly illuminated sense of self. i’m not trying to really “find myself” so much as uncover it. like, it’s definitely there to begin with i can feel its presence, but the specifics are obscured and i’m trying to bring them to light. i automatically isolate logical components from emotional components into their own boxes and rarely acknowledge the emotional box because it’s unhelpful in more circumstances than not so it’s all a pretty clinical process when i make sense of things

because i can do this i’m never afraid of the truth; in fact i actively go in search of it and honestly it feels like THC helps me achieve that on MYSELF and it makes me very satisfied

i also don’t know if what i said is normal. am i comfortable with truths and facing them to an unusual degree over most people, or about the same as them?

i saw this comment and it’s like….. that makes sense with disinhibition of the frontal cortex. i think way too much about the rhetoric and kairos of how im communicating information to others normally, but with these consciously overthinking circuits driving and modifying my social thoughts and behaviors being turned down while stoned, i find i dont care as much. it’s like my conscious autism masking is peeled away, so i feel more content while stoned. and it also makes me more open as a result.

like i said, “i feel more at ease with my thoughts coming and going, i kinda go into free flow thought tunnels without getting hung up or ever spiraling” which is how this guy is describing “going with the flow”

the takeaway is i dont have a negative reaction to when i realize unpleasant things about myself while high. it’s just this neutral acknowledgement. this even goes for physical things that usually tip people off like their heart rate being “too fast” while high. i do perceive it also but theres like no anxiety with it, again just neutral observation and acknowledgement

basically im Actively looking for this

so some questions:

can someone explain what “weed paranoia” is like, taking into account the gist of what ive said? if you experience it do you have any insight into why it happens? does anything ive said have to do with it? do you already have neurotic tendencies (low resistance to stress)?

what does my experience while high + my normal thought processes as ive described them say or imply about me?

why am i experiencing pretty much the polar opposite of the way weed paranoid people are describing anxiety of being judged? or like the thing about my feelings of vulnerability?

am i more comfortable with truths and facing them to an unusual degree than most people, or am i actually about the same as them? am i more introspective/metacognitive than most people, or am i actually about the same as them?

if people who ARE already introspective get high and feel paranoid, why would that happen—wouldnt they be used to uncovering things about themselves? are there other reasons? does one’s sentiment to oneself play into it? neurotic traits?

oomf said “your high is always driven by how capable you are of passively defusing triggers for a bad trip”. the explanation for how well people tolerate THC ive gravitated towards outside of genetics (since my mom doesnt tolerate thc well but i do) is ability to deflect stressful thoughts, or how impacted you are by stressful thoughts in the first place. is this anything?

i hope im describing these things adequately so i can get the answers im looking for lol. please tell me if any of this means anything to you or if its just words

EDIT:

^ to me everything is great and feels significant, but is that because the things that feel significant are themselves good? if weed makes stuff seem more significant (too much dopamine weighs negative inputs too highly), that means it amplifies what’s already there (while also amplifying “noise”). so that tells us about the nature of what is already there in the mind’s contents, then?

so again, question 2: what does my experience while high + my normal thought processes as ive described them say or imply about me?

#stoner posting

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ancientgoddessofegypt · 4 months

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Trapped Inside A Scapegoat: Astral Traveling & The Truth About Certain Demons & Entities

So I wanted to bring up some things about demons, lower entities and the dream states that we fall into when we are asleep in the night. I will never forget my first encounter of seeing the unseen, but one particular story I have in mind puts me back into a spell.. Its like a hazy feeling, I never knew how to explain the things that happened but it scared me to the point that I could never sleep past 2:30, and if I was still awake I stayed awake until dawn. Boy, high school was a drag.

Just an fyi, if you dont believe in spirits or the spiritual realm then this isnt for you. k? k. <3

On these nights I couldn't sleep, it would be because of the sleep paralysis that would happen and the weird energy I would be forced to recognize during these hours. As well as seeing things that just did not make sense, I would look at the clock to see it was either 2 am to 4 am. Never an in between.

So, I wanted to go in with a little story time, maybe this will help me unbox some things that happened. Because after a long ole while, after this event, my life changed... seemingly more depressive, and anxiety would be in the forefront of my reality for a long while.

Back when I was a teen, I remember cakin' on the phone with this one guy I had the biggest crush on, and it was around 2:30 at the time. At about 3:00 I told him I was tired and quickly laid down to rest.

So let me give you guys some details. I normally like to rest on one side of my body, typically on the right side and in my room I face the window. So from my memory, our conversation lasted til 3:08. I NEVER forgot the time. Sometimes Im a quick dreamer, so I go to bed pretty easily. Anywho, I remember the dream started where I was in my room. It was really interesting, me and a few people that I knew from high school (and my old school that I had just recently moved away from) were practicing some cheers because we were training to be on the cheer team. It was weird. In the dream some of them had on cheerleader gear, and some of them we're outside the front of my room where I could see them thru the window. The girls told me they would be right back as they we're going to get their things for the cheerleading competition/training, they run out the room and the next thing you here is a bunch of rumbling... theirs voices speaking from around the room but i don't see nobody. next thing you know everything goes black. the blacker it gets the louder the voices... i realize from this point their speaking in an unfamiliar language... latin almost. or whatever they were saying was backwards... at this point i was able to open my eyes and i see a dark figure standing right in front of me. What took me off guard was that its eyes, they we're like stars and had this intriguing shine to it. It was 'bald' but had a human-like body but no mouth ears and barely even a nose... I could feel it touching me, the back of my neck had chills as you can tell thats where it was touching on me. I grew scared but remembered I could get up.

And then boom. I woke up.

But this is what i thought was weird. Remember when I said I was sleeping on my side? I woke up on my back, facing the mirror. I looked at the time and it was 3:16 am.

What. The. Fuck.

I had barely slept? How could that be? All of this happened within a matter of minutes. I was exhausted. I said, 'Was this the devil?'

Quickly I ran into my grandparents room, lmao, yeah I know. I was scareeeeeeeed. My room felt cold after that. I had to go.

And for a while, that wouldn't be my last encounter. I mean, the thing went away, but there was more to come. At this point, I had to face the mirror. I mean literally face the mirror because its the center of the room and my bed faces it. But I had to sleep... This would go on for many months until one day it just.. sorta stopped. I began my journey of law of attraction, numerology, and metaphysics at this point and grew a little happier. So maybe it was destiny.

So let me get into a few things about this dark shadow being and some tips about whats going on:

Mirrors are shapeshifting portals. Their portals to other dimensions. And 'entities' can & will come through here in the access of dreams/illusions/nightmares etc.

3 am is considered the 'devil-hour' - this is when the veil to the spirit realm is unlocked and you can see more outside of the veil.

Fear and lower energies can 'attract' these beings to your door step. They can smell it on you.

That 'shadow' being could be insight to whats deep inside of yourself. Your power. Your Energy. Your light. Even on the other side it's noticed.

So when I seen this being, I was shook out of my mind. But wait.. after moments and time of introspection. I've learned that it's mirroring back at me something I never thought I would ever thought was me.

Months later I digged into astrology, numerology, found some things about angel numbers, started trying to process the spiritual realm much more clearly. Because the thing kept happening to me, and I was always an anxious & yet fearful girl, I knew there was a bit more strength in me.

When the thing came, I was trying to get out a depression when I was at my old school and once I had finally returned back to my hometown I was little happy. But at night, our darkest feelings, our inner shadow shows its weight, and also our potential.

I've tried tapping into that 'fear', and have learned there is so much more about me due to the dreams I've had of my future. It takes me back to the shadow figure from that night. Because why we're you there?

Also, what stuck to me the most was that a friend at the time told me that if you see something like that and it touches you, some sort of witchcraft might be on you... another topic, for another day I suppose.

But it always stuck with me, because... how so?

At the time when I was in high school and seen these weird entities because again, this went on for MONTHS. Every other day and night. I noticed before then I had a fear complex, thats what I'll call it. Always anxious, always sad, always depressed, been that way since a young girl. So now we get to the part where we talked about a trapped consciousness.

Because immediately when that happened, I went straight to church with my grandma ! Lol. No jokes. And later found out it was not the answer I needed. It wasn't working. Not to say going to church can't help or save someone, it just didn't have the answer I thought I needed. I went looking for some time when I would go.

What I want to say is, when you see things you cannot explain. You cannot run to the church, religion, or even a 'savior', because at the end of the day YOU have to learn it. You have to come to terms with it. And I've been learning. So so very hard, and its begin to giving me the dream & insight of what was truly around the corner.

My ancestors dream. Metaphysics, Clairvoyance, My dreams where trying to come thru in the astrals and when you are at your lowest these 'things' can come in and try to warp your mind/gifts/talents/ etc.

The final thing I will say here is that they feed off our spirits because in the lower realms they need 'fuel' to get to 'heaven' and you are the source of that. We the human are 'heaven' and some entities are parasitical and need life force to move to the other side.

So fear, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression etc is one of the lowest frequencies to be on because it is denser and its harder to move 'up'.

And when you live in those vibrations, your blocking your own destiny. Your truth, your light, your power all is unlocked once you move past it.

Another thing I will say is that not all 'lower entities' are evil. But for the sake of talking about demons and entities, I will save that for another post, to leave out any confusion.

#metaphysics #demons #astrals #lower entities #astral travel #spirit realm #dreams #nightmares #entities

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genderlessgirltwink · 5 months

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Suppose I, a trans girl, was fully capable of making my voice sound like a passable girl. How do I not be scared of people's thoughts about it?

the shit you did with your dad was inspiring, and I need some of that confidence.

I dont know. I used to be extremely insecure about everything i did. What i did personally was just pretend to be confident. If you want to make your voice more feminine, go and do some voice training. While youre doing that and while you still have a manly voice dont put yourself down because of it. The more you internalize how much your voice sucks and how much you hate it (maybe) the worse you feel about yourself and the less confident you will be moving forward. Instead focus on how much progress youre making, or just focus on other things you like about yourself first. Basically trick yourself into liking yourself and you will soon learn to tolerate the things you dont like about yourself yet.

An example from my own life maybe. I used to feel very stupid and ugly a couple of years ago. In math i would always fail every test and i was underweight as hell. But guess what i still suck at it and it doesnt bother me anymore. Instead i focused on the subjects im good at. I speak fluent english, aced every history test and so on. That realization let me build up a sense of self worth outside of the stuff i suck at. And now i can do whatever i want to do without feeling insecure about it. Because i know that i have value and anything i want to do is fine to do because i am and feel important enough to do it no matter what other people might think.

So much for the whole confidence thing i guess. If you wanna do something, do it! Thats basically it.

"How do i not be scared of peoples thoughts about it?"

Why would you need to be scared? You obviously dislike your current voice but does anyone hate you for it? Why would anyone dislike it if you changed it? Unless youre talking about transphobes/bigots which are and always will be a problem no matter how much you change your voice for the better.

Tl;dr: focus on the stuff youre good at and you will be able to deal with the stuff youre bad at in a more healthy manner. Also your voice doesnt define your character and wont make people like or dislike you based on it alone.

(Also i havent even started voice training and im still a real girl just like you)

#ask #196 #trans #mental health

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discar · 2 months

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HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 21 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

HIMBO: HEY, ALVA. HOW MANY DIVINERS ARE THERE?

DIVINER: I'm sorry citizen, that is a state secret kept closely guarded for tactical and strategic reasons.

DIVINER: Sorry!!

DIVINER: They drum that into us before we even get our Focuses!! I really can't tell you, though!

FlameHairSavior: Where did this come from?

HIMBO: I WAS REMEMBERING HOW MANY PRIESTS AVAD HAS TO DEAL WITH EVERYTHING, AND WONDERING HOW THE QUEN HANDLE THINGS.

DIVINER: Oh!! I think I understand now!! But Diviners aren't the only priests and scholars. I think I mentioned we're mostly explorers, actually? We can do more administrative work, more easily, thanks to our Focuses, but we have plenty of people trained without them!

HIMBO: I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE.

HIMBO: WHAT DO YOU DO, THEN? WITH ALL THE SLAG YOU LEARN, I MEAN.

DIVINER: Mostly, we teach! Most of the technology of the Ancestors is still beyond us, but there were enough hints that we were able to learn advanced metallurgy, agriculture, and of course military strategy.

DIVINER: I think most important of all, though, we teach our people the importance of the arts and sciences!

DIVINER: Some of the earliest tribes the Empire conquered were little better than hiding in caves because they refused to understand the importance of progress!

BoyNextDoor: There's value in tradition, though.

DIVINER: Well, yes, of course, but...

DIVINER: Oh, right, you're from a tribe like that.

BoyNextDoor: We're not that bad.

FlameHairSavior: All-Mother Mountain is literally a cave, Varl.

BoyNextDoor: And in the cave is the Cradle facility where you found all these Focuses. If the tribe hadn't been protecting it all this time, who knows what would have happened.

FlameHairSavior: [BenAffleckTiredSmoking.png]

DIVINER: No, he's right! Traditions are important, even if we don't always know why! Your people knew that cave was important, because they remembered they were born there and so stayed close!

DIVINER: My people aren't even sure where exactly we came from!

HIMBO: I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT YOU LOT WOULD KEEP CRAZY GOOD RECORDS. THE OSERAM DO, AND WE DON'T HAVE FANCY FOCUSES.

DIVINER: Yes, of course! But only AFTER we found the cache of Focuses in the Great Delta! We can't be entirely certain where we came from before that!

MARSHAL Kotallo: I am curious how broadly anyone spreads from any given Cradle. Are all of our tribes from different Cradles, or the same?

FlameHairSavior: I think the Carja come from the Nora Cradle. Can't be sure, though.

HIMBO: OH, YEAH, THEY CAME TO MERIDIAN FROM THE EAST. THEIR PRIESTS WILL TELL THAT STORY IF YOU MAKE THE MISTAKE OF SITTING STILL FOR FIVE MINUTES.

MARSHAL Kotallo: How many Cradles are there?

FlameHairSavior: At least nine, because the Nora one is ELEUTHIA-9. But I don't know how many were planned total.

FlameHairSavior: Or how many survived, for that matter. The Faro Plague caused construction and supply problems for Zero Dawn.

Zo: Yes, I read about some of the animal samples that were lost because of the Plague. I have to assume that at least some of the planned facilities failed.

BoyNextDoor: The Nora Cradle has a Metal Devil frozen in the process of trying to dig it out. I think the shutdown came in minutes before they would have breached.

FlameHairSavior: Ah yes. That.

DIVINER: I sense a story!

FlameHairSavior: The High Matriarchs confuse a sense of drama with wisdom.

DIVINER: ??

BoyNextDoor: If you try to get Aloy to explain it will take weeks.

BoyNextDoor: Trust me.

β: but you know dont you

BoyNextDoor: Yes, yes. Assuming Aloy doesn't mind.

FlameHairSavior: I don't care.

BoyNextDoor: Well, as a baby, Aloy was found right outside the Cradle door, where the robot left her. Also, right under the claw of the Metal Devil. High Matriarch Lansra thought this was a sign that she was the daughter of the Metal Devil.

DIVINER: ...and??

BoyNextDoor: And what? That's obviously a bad thing.

BoyNextDoor: It's not like there's any prophecies about children of the Metal Devil or anything, High Matriarch Lansra just jumped to a terrible confusion.

DIVINER: Oh. That story is a lot shorter than I was expecting.

β: a good typo though

FlameHairSavior: Well, it led to me being outcast from birth and I had to win the Proving just to be allowed into my own tribe.

BoyNextDoor: Technically you only had to COMPLETE the Proving. You're the one who insisted on going to extra mile.

HIMBO: OF COURSE SHE DID.

DIVINER: Erend, do your people have any history about where they came from?

HIMBO: NOTHING LIKE A SPECIFIC DIRECTION. WE MOSTLY FOCUS ON HOW WE DELVED INTO OLD ONES RUINS AND LEARNED WHAT WE COULD FROM THEIR MACHINES.

HIMBO: NO ONE WAS LUCKY TO FIND A WORKING FOCUS, THOUGH.

FlameHairSavior: Or maybe every one that was found was immediately broken.

HIMBO: HA HA. IT'S NOT MY FAULT THESE THINGS ARE DAINTY.

DIVINER: How did you find an intact Focus, Aloy? The Quen cache was protected and clearly labeled, and you mentioned the Cradle. Did you find it there?

FlameHairSavior: No, I just found it in a random ruin when I was a child. It was still attached to a skeleton.

β: ew

β: and you just put it right on your head

FlameHairSavior: I was a curious child and it made everything light up when I touched it. So, yes.

FlameHairSavior: These things are pretty much immune to environmental damage. Unless they're hit by something, they last basically forever.

HIMBO: NOW I'M WONDERING WHY THE QUEN NEVER FOUND NORMAL FOCUSES. THEY HAD TO HAVE BEEN LOOKING.

DIVINER: I don't have any answers there, I'm afraid!! Maybe we were just unlucky? It's a very damp region, prone to flooding!

β: or theres a conspiracy keeping all the good things away from the lower ranks because they know it would endanger their dogma

DIVINER: I really, really wish that theory wasn't entirely plausible.

FlameHairSavior: Beta, please stop making people question their entire worldview.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Why not? It appears to be a family tradition.

BoyNextDoor: Ha!

HIMBO: HE'S GOT YOU THERE!

Zo: They are right.

FlameHairSavior: I hate you all.

Chapter 21 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

#horizon #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #HZDBaseChat #aloy #zo #varl #erend vanguardsman #kotallo #beta horizon #alva

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luciferhugs · 1 year

Text

Shunsui Kyoraku x Reader x Aizen Sosuke

im sorry its cringe. writing is definitely not my strong suit 🥲

Aizen betrays society and your love for him but another shmexy ass man is just around the corner

- “i feel so bad for her.. imagine dating a traitor just to be dumped”

- “Who knows? She could be one of them..”

- This was your new life now, being the gossip of soul society for the last relationship you had with the 5th squad captain. But as a captain yourself, you didnt let it falter you. You continued training and fighting, if not more than usual, with a single goal in mind. Vengeance for the man you’ve given your heart to… and who left you

- To be fair, what you had felt so real, the both of you talked about the future, having a little Aizen, you practically moved in to his sector considering the amount of time you’ve spent there. Everyone loved and respected the both of you. The other captains truly saw how much you cared for each other and how deeply in love the both of you were, like a match from heaven.

- You found happiness and love in that man. he just ticked everything off your checklist. His warm personality, soft looks and kind soul. However, it all crumbled to hell when he betrayed soul society. You couldnt believe your Sosuke would do such a thing.

- The one thing you were most afraid of became real, he just disappeared without even saying goodbye, let alone a reason or if you would see him again. You didnt even see him the day he left, you only heard the news from others.

- You knew he would leave you some day. How could a man as perfect as him stay with someone like you? but you clinged on to a glimpse of hope that he would be the one.. such foolishness..

- But you didnt cry, not in front of others at least. You’re not going to look like a pathetic damsel in distress. Aizen has caused enough damage to your ego and reputation.

- One day Shunsui had to hand deliver paperwork to you.

- When he knocked on the doors to your office, there was no answer. How disappointing… where could she be? He thought since he came all the way anyway he’d just leave the folders on your table

- “Yo (Y/N) Chan, Im letting myself in”

- The sight he was greeted with made him raise his eyebrows and lips slightly ajar.

- your office was in a mess, it looked like there was a bull in a china shop.

- “yare yare… what have you done (Y/N) chan?”

- As he was about to leave, he saw you with your zampakuto and in a fighting stance.

- “Sorry, Captain Kyoraku, i thought you were.. nevermind”

- his heart felt a pang of sadness when he saw that sadness in your eyes before you looked away.

- “what were you doing in my office anyway?”

- You then noticed the neat stack of paperwork on your table. right beside the hole you left on it. it was also mostly empty when you sweeped everything off it in a fit of rage this morning

- “couldnt you have asked Nanao?”

- “I could have”

- He noticed a bottle of hard liquor in your other hand. “Are you gonna share that?”

- “No.”

- You ended up sharing it with him. The both of you seated at the engawa outside your office since your office was in no state to have guests.

- The both of you sat in silence and he realised how red your eyes have been and how it looked like its been stripped off of any life and light. Your cheeks were getting hollow too and your usual plump lips were cracked and dry.

- “You’re making this old man worry, captain (Y/N), you don’t have to be strong, grief and let it all out.”

- You took another chug from the bottle and emptied it.

- “Slow down little girl, I know I said grief but you dont want to-“ A hand at both sides of his head cut him off as you pulled him in for a kiss.

- It turned into a heated make out session. Your cold hand on his chest finally woke him from his love trance and sense came flooding back to his head

- “Please (Y/N)… As much as I love women throwing themselves in my arms, i dont want to take advantage of you in this state.” and it would break him if you were only using him as a rebound

- “I’ve been thinking of you Captain… Please help me…” and that was enough to make a sane (kinda) man to go feral

- Shunsui treated you with kindness. Although you were still recovering from your break up and finding yourself again, he was patient and always willing to be there for you. The both of you decided that you didn’t want your relationship to be public yet. He knew that it would only welcome more gossips about you. He wanted nothing more to let everyone know his claim but you were more important that his wants. Knowing what you’ve been through with Aizen already, he was always considerate of your feelings and still loved you unconditionally, even spoils you with goods

- It was finally the day, Aizen had infiltrated soul society once again, it was the day he would reunite with her and take her back with him. To be his queen.

- “Sosuke, why….” You held your zanpakuto tightly in your hands, ready for combat.

- “My love” he smiles at you.

- “You fucking liar. Don’t call me that anymore. You threw everything we had away when you left me and betrayed soul society.”

- “My dear, are you going to be mad at me before hearing my explanation? …I-”

- A gush of wind and your pink clothed boyfriend is now standing between the both of you “Yo Aizen, fancy seeing you here.” His voice then changed to a deeper one, “Hurt her again and I’ll end you.” Shunsui Kyoraku, do you know how wet that made me?

- The usually calm man replies with a laugh so sinister, “ Know your place,Kyoraku. ”

- “You’re a smart man Aizen. Here’s a hint” You planted a kiss on Shunsui’s neck while hugging him from behind, keeping your eyes on Aizen the whole time. A smile forming on your lips when you saw the rage in his eyes that was enough to make a grown man shudder and cry. You even went as far as to carress your hand down his abdomen, just above his crotch and palming it gently. You could see his hands clenching now and his jaw tighten but just for a second.

- “I should have killed you, but i couldn’t. I foresaw everything but I could not have predicted falling in love with you.”

- He still could have killed you, instead he vanished once again, just like that day…at least you weren’t alone this time.

- He left Shunsui surprised. He would expect Aizen to create havoc and to fight. Was it because you were too close to him? That attacking him now would mean hurting her? He couldn’t believe it. Was there heart in that man? Would (Y/N) go back to him knowing that he still loved her?

bonus:

“Come here you little minx…” He throws you lightly on the ground “Is teasing me in front of your ex funny to you?”

“Oh come on darling, don’t give me that look. I know you loved it.” you giggled. He lifts your legs over his shoulders.

#sosuke aizen x reader #sosuke aizen x reader x shunsui kyoraku #shunsui kyoraku x reader #sosuke aizen #shunsui kyoraku #aizen sosuke #aizen sosuke x reader #bleach

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enlighten3d · 3 months

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OKOK SO. sorry this is so late i had to have a shower rghagdhd

So so most of these are just silly headcanons however:

-I am such a glasses tash truther but i think he doesn’t wear them cuz he’d go ‘wow my eyes hurt today and everything's blurry but thats normal :]’ poor boy needs glasses tho (this is me projecting id did this in primary school dhdhdj)

-BLIND OWL GIRL. SO. you might be thinking oh she walks around and finds her way around with magic and may i pitch you ‘Echolocation’. i know birds don’t have that but her whistles made me think of that!!

-Owl girl’s deal with Somni is something that lets somni leave the train? Or tash is connected to the train cuz of the station meaning he can’t leave the train. one of the two?

-The bugs and the monster in the woods might not even be related but i like to think the bugs are aquatic in a way same with how the monster ‘squelched’?

ok reading these back sound more like wordbuilding hcs and not much sense but yeahhh very happy that this fandom is growing and you seem very cool :]]

silly headcanons are still so real, this is gonna be so cooL.. sry im gonna like. actually reply with my own takes on these; not trying to disprove you or some shit o7

- REAL. THAT BOY HAS GLASSES ‼‼ thats.. yeah hed do that.. i like thinking that he has a glasses chain bcs when he DOES wear them hes scared of losing them.. bcs he has before. hdfghdf. eye pain is normal though right??? right, tash?????

- ooOOOOOHH YOOO. OKAY. ECHOLOCATION. THATS COOL. THATS FFUCKING COOL. i love that. if she can make her owl noises she can echolocate !! who cares if birds dont do it, shes special Ɛ> hdfkjhd tash has no clue that shes blind and cant rly hear the clicks cause theyre out of human (or axolotl hehe) hearing register (did actually check this!! typical bat echolocation frequency is mostly out of human range and DEFINITELY out of axolotl range)... he never finds out until someone, probably somni, just casually mentions it and hes like 'whAT. but.. but you went through those woods even faster than i did?' ...he gets no explanation other than a glare dkfjhg

- ooohhh.. oooh !! oh thats fun.. hadnt actually considered train somni.. shes always seemed like something Outside of it to me! like something that Knows about the train and how it Functions but was never a part of it.. oh thats fun. train somni is fun bcs. shes Left it and she Knows about it now and has reached whatever he destination is and shes just Done with it and. oh thats cool.. (tash is deffo connected to the train bcs of the station. somehow. i odnt know but SOMEHOW.)

- !! oh fun ! aquatic monsters and bugs.. plot twist: the entire world is underwater. THIS IS HOW AXOLOTL TASH CAN STILL WIN- sorry im thinking about that too much dfhlgkd

okay thats all sry i have lots to say fhdsklg

!! i am also soo happy to see the fnadom growing, i had no one to post my insane thoughts to before so it all just went in dms with figg but. HAHAHA NOW THERE ARE OTHER INSANE PEOPEL 💥..ahem you seem very very cool too !! ᗡ:

#im sorry im very sleep deprived and insane which is why this post is unhinged jsdkfgl #ttch theories #ttch #train to caleco hill #ttch tash #ttch owl girl #ttch somni #hahahssa i like tagging

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void-inked-pen · 2 years

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I noticed that you did a kind of an analysis of tmnt 2012 and I was wondering what your thoughts where on Rise's fighting style and how the kids use their weapons?

I technically did analysis of both shows but i can give you an overall consensus

from what i can tell from rise IN GENERAL, they are a lot more balls to the wall about everything action wise. mystic powers adds a whole knew realm of craziness to what they can do and because it overall runs on cartoon logic... the majority of their moves would physically be impossible kjsdhfjkd

the basis for how they fight tho is sound. Splinter fights pretty much exactly like Jackie Chan (considering that's what Lou Jitsu was inspired by, it only makes sense) so all of his moves, minus the tail, are more or less actual martial arts. He is by far our standard, what a master can do and how well he fights regardless of the circumstances. He taught his sons to think outside the box with everything they do and to USE everything at their disposal when they can (fish and ladders), they also are very dynamic with how they fight if not more so.

the only times they show off their skills in regular martial arts was during insane on the mama train and i believe the episode where raph got his sparring buddy. Foot Recruit (Casandra) is probably the only character who... fights with martial arts 90% of the time actually? Raph is the only one of the boys who fights with his fists more often than not but he also is the protector, will jump in the way of attacks, and is close quarters all the time, he actually relies on his mystic armor often and his general bulk as well.

if we compare fighting soley with weapons and their accuracy/skill, rise beats 2012. But if we compare the boys and their actual SKILL at martial arts, my bet is 2012 would in theory have more behind it (though as I've stated before, 2012 doesnt really show any of that correctly if at all. if rise is more creativity focused, 2012 should have been focused more on the martial arts/ tradition aspect. but because they never really fought hand to hand often, its hard for me to really say anything about comparing their martial art skills).

overall, rise is an... odd duck in the tmnt franchise because not only do they have more accurate fighting with the weapons, but we don't actually see legit martial arts outside of the Foot Clan and Splinter... maybe a BIT of Draxum too when he and splinter actually fought hand to hand but not much. Thats it. But taking into account how the turtles in rise are far more immature and more kids who got thrown into a lot of weirdness, it makes sense that they dont really take anything all that seriously. I mean idk if splinter really taught them much on the physical hand to hand past the basics when they were younger before throwing weapons at them.

I would have loved to see more hand to hand fighting with rise, and the tmnt franchise in general, but weapons are seen as cooler to some people and its technically safer to walk around with a "big stick" or "giant sword" than nothing at all. I mean, have you BEEN to new york!? (/hj)

hope this helped in any way, I know it wasn't much. I personally love martial arts street fighting in stories but we don't see that past gangs and delinquent shenanigans and rise is more centered around fun and weird/creative so its hard to really... talk about the martial art side. maybe some day i'll do an overall fight analysis so you guys can learn the basics of "what makes a good fight" vs a bad one but im busy kdsjhfjskd

thanks for the ask!

-Pen

Edit: OH SHOOT! I forgot to add: April knows martial arts too! she shows it off often enough but she also uses her bat equally as much and likes to fight with her brothers at her side, she is literally what I would call "a CO-OP fighter". what that means is, she works best in a pair or group. Using other people as LITERAL spring boards some times and her environment to help her. She has a crane license. what more can I say about the queen herself? lol

#pen talks #asks #rottmnt #tmnt 2012 #fight analysis

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devilcatdarling · 1 year

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11, 12 and 13 for the comfort character asks?

Going to do these for Hollow since they're my biggest comfort character <3

11. my favorite relationship they have with another character

- Canonly we don't get to see a whole lot into their relationships with other characters besides some snippets between them and Ghost and the Pale King, so I'll go for fanon relationship instead

I LOVE and ADORE slow-burn fanon sibling bonding content between them and their sister, Hornet. I love seeing two of the most emotionally repressed and traumatized characters having a found family bond filled with lots of bumps and hiccups along the way that make it more relatable and personal. Hornet and Hollow sibling relationship is just hhhh I'd die for them, your honor

Also honorable mention to my self indulgent x OC ship full of even more emotional constipation and angst because I have no self control and I'm proud about the slow burn hurt/comfort agony that I made to both torture and comfort myself with

12. what i like about the way the fandom portrays them

- I love how the HK fandom as a whole has unanimously decided that Hollow is a BAMF and the strongest character. They held a whole ass god inside them for who knows how long, had next to no kind of a life outside of being treated like an object, and undoubtedly have the worst mental health in the world but they held on and went through with the vessel plan probably knowing full well it'd eventually fail. And then at the end of it all they come back to kick the Radiance's ass personally in DNM/walk out of the temple to freedom dragging literal broken chains behind them in ETV. They are "I won anyway, bitch" personified. I also like how we all agree they get to have slice of life indulgences afterwards and wear pretty dresses because it's the W they deserve

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them

-The only things I can think of are when people infantilize them and gatekeep ships for them

Hollow is definitely our beloved scrunkly who must be loved and appreciated, but they most certainly are not "baby" in the sense that "this character needs to be infantilized and put in bubble wrap because they are helpless and sheltered" which is...augh

They are not only a fully grown adult character, but also an ascended god and a dangerously capable trained knight and we see this explicitly in canon through their PV fight and the stubbornness they possess to hold onto the Radiance for so long. They aren't a child and they are fully deserving of being treated and respected like an adult. And I don't mean that drawing them lounging in a nest of stuffed animals or watching cartoons are examples of this, because adults can and should enjoy whatever makes them happy and if that's hugging a stuffed kitten or picking flowers and braiding wreaths then that by no means makes anyone less of a grown adult worthy of respect and independence. We need to normalize adults enjoying comforts that make them happy and still respecting and treating them like adults

This also doesn't include them having to be cared for with their near fatal post-canon injuries and absolute shit mental health. We stan caretaking. But they are still an ADULT. They don't need to be thought of as completely helpless and shielded from the world as though they've never been and would never be capable of defending themselves and others or being respected for the dangerous eldritch god-knight that they are

-Most of the shipping discourse I've seen kinda falls back into this with the handful of examples I've seen mostly being people throwing hands that they're too "baby" to be "ruined" with shipping and it's like...not only is shipping discourse in general extremely chronically online behavior but its taking a whole ass adult character and going out of your way to tell people their personal headcanons and indulging in shipping a canonly adult character is "ruining" the character because you've bubble wrapped them into this image of infantilized "purity" when this is a wholeass grown ascended god who could and would beat your ass into the ground if you glanced at Hornet disrespectfully in front of them xD

#hollow knight #hollow knight asks #answered asks #wtf why did this get so long lmao #I talk too much about Hollow and it shows #hyperfixation go brrrrrr #I hope I worded this okay #I'm tired and work was ass today

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