#except for withering and primary...

[meat-fr]

Rose Thorn + Carousel sets

Sanguine+Vinyard // Sepia+Tarnished Pastel+Lavender // Pristine+Sapphire Gilded+Golden // Faerie+Spring Dusky+Royal // Poisonous+Gothic Withering+Mixed // Primary+Mixed 

[Details for Withering and Primery under the cut]

[needle-noggins]

The Biology and Riding of Thoma

Thoma, also known as Thomases (singular: Thomas), are the primary animal used on No Man's Land for transportation, meat, eggs, feathers and oil. The meat can be eaten fresh or dried into jerky, and thoma meat, fried in thoma oil and sprinkled with worm dust, is a popular street food. These massive birds were genetically engineered early on in No Man's Land history and are well-suited for the desert, making them easy to raise and care for. Plus, they're easy to ride.

Biology

Thoma are a combination of several bird species, genetically similar to Emu and Ostriches, but with the stature of much larger birds such as the extinct Terror birds (Phorusrhacids), standing near 5-6 feet tall at the withers. Their bright blue plumage and loosely-packed feathers helps dissipate heat. They have long eyelashes to keep out dust, and they have a second eyelid that protect the cornea from grit and bright UV light. This does, however, decrease visibility, making them more prone to tripping over rocks.

Thoma have a long, feathery neck that helps balance them at faster speeds along with the heavy, muscled keel. The keel is engineered to be similar to that of a broiler chicken, as their vestigial wings are useless except for thoma mating displays. Under the throat is a vocal sac, which can be used to transmit low rumbles over long distances. Most thoma, however, prefer to chirp at a frequency easily heard by their human caretakers and riders. They have long, powerful legs, capable of galloping up to 40 iles an hour, and a kick that can disembowel an attacker or rip into a worm's exoskeleton. The three talons on their feet need to be trimmed by an experienced farrier every 4-8 weeks, depending on a bird's mileage.

Thoma eat a diet of seeds, grains, worms, and (when available) fruits and vegetables. Like many birds before them, they will sometimes ingest small rocks and pebbles to help grind their food in the gizzard. The thin, short beak is perfect for pecking at the ground, and when provoked, they will also peck at an enemy. Thoma are, however, generally good-natured creatures, as they have been bred to be.

Riding

Thoma are easy-going and very trainable with a nice floating gait, making them great mounts for humans on No Man's Land. Like many birds, they can move their legs independently from the movement of the spine, which allows the use of saddles. Most saddles are similar to old Western saddles, and are optimized for comfort and long journeys. However, in the bigger cities, some people may ride Thoma in competitions, typically using more English-style tack for greater control of the bird. typically two straps are used to secure the saddle - a breastplate to keep it from sliding back, and a girth/breeching to prevent it from sliding forward. The strong legs are left free to move as needed, giving the bird great flexibility.

The tack on the head often consists of a bridle, a canvas covering on the neck, and a headpiece with blinders. Headpieces and bridles may vary, as the design has been through several different iterations, but the general idea is to generate gentle pressure on the beak when the reins are pulled and to protect the eyes. The headpiece often has blinders and a screen over the eyes, allowing the bird to travel without using the second eyelid. This allows the thomas to move with greater agility, picking its way around desert rocks even at high speeds. The canvas across the neck protects the feathers from the reins and keeps the bird cool. Some headpieces also include a protective metal beak piece that can be used as a weapon.

Thoma make excellent mounts as they are docile, easy to train, have very few natural predators, little fear of humans, and can live on worms alone in a pinch. They do require some water, not having ability to store much themselves, but their ability to dissipate heat and the ways in which the tack can help keep them cool minimizes the need. There are a few wild herds, but most thoma live on ranches or in stables, marked with a leg band or brand.

[nanomooselet]

My Brother's Keeper (V)

This whole memory retrieval/assimilation scene is interesting for a number of reasons (putting aside the continuous wails of agony emitted watching it; I know I discuss it calmly, but that's because I'm a wizard I compartmentalise/modulate my tone in text. Hooray for incomplete degrees).

In the score, this bit is called "The Memory World of Knives" - these are Knives's memories, ones that he can share with Vash for whatever reason. By that token, then, it's how you can figure out which incidents Knives has direct knowledge of and involvement in.

He remembers the blood-soaked room of withered Plants, of course. Doubt he'll ever forget it. Not because of the Last Run, but because it's when Vash turned on him and their confrontation was put on pause - up until now.

Vash fleeing the SEEDs wreckage in ep 1/8 then entering the Plant room in ep 9, Knives withdrawing, then showing up at Jeneora Rock in ep 3, then finally Vash entering Knives's piano room in July at the end of ep 10, and the confrontation/manipulation/awakening/battle over 11 and 12. It's all a single argument/fight split into parts, separated by over a century.

Funny that the only thing Knives seems to truly regret about it is cutting off Vash's arm. Maybe… maybe because it's the one wound even he can't lie to himself about inflicting. I wonder, does he believe it was his one mistake? If he'd found another way, Vash wouldn't have stuck a gun in his face? Which makes him trying to "fix" it being what clues Vash in that he's being lied to some sublime irony. Vash doesn't trust a world where his brother never hurt him.

Anyway, Knives was obviously there in person to destroy Jeneora Rock, so he remembers that. Knives definitely intended Rosa's rejection to happen when he left her alive (interesting that he only uses her voice, not her appearance. This man has a problem with women) and he would have learned about Tonis's injuries from Zazie via the cage of bug-Worms.

Then comes the crashed ships and the vanishing reporters. Roberto and Meryl don't do anything but stand there looking blank, and that's because Knives doesn't have anything to do with them. He doesn't care to learn what they mean to Vash, so he doesn't bother to twist it. He goes for “oh they'd hate you if they knew about what you've done”, and as Vash's shame makes him vulnerable, he rips them out of Vash's head. That's them disposed of and he doesn't think about them again. (More fool him.)

The guilt that Knives planted in Vash is his primary weapon. Remember that it was his guilt that made Vash want to die in the wake of the Fall. Knives is using it to chip away at his will to resist; every time Vash is reminded of it, he reels and his defences weaken.

Similarly, it's why we don't see that much of Rem and nothing of her post-Tesla except her running into the fire. What we do see of her makes her look rather one-dimensionally nice, well-meaning but suspiciously secretive, and Vash food-obsessed, dorky, clingy, insecure and oblivious. Meanwhile Nai is very clever and perceptive and handsome and perfect and amazing with his super cool powers, just like Rem said. But she didn't actually mean anything to him.

It's conspicuous that he also doesn't actually talk at all about poor Tesla and tries to dismiss her significance ("she was but a grain of sand in the desert of their misdeeds" is a banger line, by the way; the English localisation is always excellent but goes off as the series draws to its climax, and it don't stop 'til the credits roll on the finale). These are the rare points you can find honesty in anything Knives says: via what he omits.

You have to keep in mind throughout this entire sequence that besides the geranium petals and Vash cuddling Rem in the fields of geraniums, Knives is in control. This is his world, and these are his memories that he's using to infiltrate and tear Vash's memories apart. It's not objective - there's no context, for one - nor is it complete. Vash's perspective is absent.

It's actually a bit surprising how rarely Vash's voice comes through in the series. From what I can tell it's mostly Knives's perspective that's assumed.

But oh yes, Knives knows all about the Punisher. He built the Eye of Michael, after all, and Dr. Conrad works for him. Rollo crying out to Vash for salvation that he never received probably came from Dr. Conrad, as well as that it was Wolfwood in the end who killed Monev.

And here we are at last. The dreadful cost and hidden purpose I mentioned all the way back in Part I comes due. Wolfwood's purpose, the poison lacing Knives's helpful gift. He's the viral shell carrying Knives's infection. Because Vash opened his heart to Wolfwood as a friend, he also opened it to Knives.

And so, from the inside, Knives begins inexorably to devour his brother alive.

Knives-the-person wearing the Punisher's face to fire Punisher-the-weapon and kill Rollo/Tonis, the child Vash couldn't save, is his most perfectly constructed and vile feat of manipulation below I did it all for you./Everything I did was for you. It has an almost perversely admirable precision.

Silly Vash. Did he think he'd made a friend in the Punisher? Brought out the goodness in him? The Punisher is a monster, a killer, a weapon and what's more, one who was always being wielded by Knives. He betrayed you; he isn't a good man and he'll never change because humanity never learns. Just like Knives told Vash all those years ago. Was it really "Wolfwood" who Vash loved, or was it only the part of him that was shaped by his real brother? (It's the former because Vash clocked him from the start and could tell Wolfwood never wanted to be the Punisher, but even if Knives wasn't gleefully monologuing he'd never hear it. I hate how much he's enjoying this.)

Everywhere you turn, Vash, and no matter far it is you run, I'll be here for you because I love you. (I won't let you get away.)

How foolish you are, little brother, to have your hopes kindled because you "saved" a monster. One only lives if another dies - and a monster would rather die. You should let it happen. It's a necessary sacrifice. It's mercy. Death is a wonderful thing. (Death is a mercy Tesla never received. And perhaps still hasn't.)

You're too weak to give it to them. That's why they'll never love you as I do. You make the false promise that is hope for salvation, and inevitably you fail to fulfil it, and they will always turn upon you in their despair. (I am the only one who will protect you.)

There is a single promise that you can always keep. Your real purpose. The reason you exist. What a weapon is for. Have mercy. I will wield you. You need not continue to suffer. Don't fight. Submit. Give yourself to me. Let go. Unleash your power.

By the way, literally every single one of the things he's using to heap blame on Vash is Knives's fucking fault and he is the worst brother ever of all time forever and ever amen. And a liar. Knives can never forgive humanity, he says, because only he loves Vash enough to protect him from humanity. Even a human's love, he says, is a leash; contingent upon Vash's charm and usefulness and indistinguishable from hatred...

Knives either lives on opposite planet or he's secretly human.

And still. And yet.

I pity him.

(Okay. We're in the home stretch now, guys - and believe me, I deeply appreciate your support - but you might want to brace yourself.)

(Part I)

(Part II)

(Part III)

(Part IV)

(Part VI)

(Part VII)

[snezus-christ-risen]

I am both pleased and ashamed to debut my En//canto fixation (and primary source of dopamine) to the world. About a month ago, after having watched the movie for the forty-eighth time (#momlife), a thought crept into my mind later that night (and I’m blaming the edible for this one): has anyone ever made this Bruno guy sneeze? I knew from the moment I took to Google to find out that I was already in too deep. So I wrote a little something myself, for myself. Part II to follow if this hyper fixation doesn’t burn out and die before I get around to finishing it.

Stubborn Things, Part I - Aperitivos

(Part II - https://www.tumblr.com/snezus-christ-risen/748150063515287552/back-blessed)

Colds were stubborn things. Notoriously incurable, it’s only natural that they would pose a challenge to the woman who could heal almost anything. To Julieta, almost anything was an evasive mental itch, a thorn in her side, one elusive combination of ingredients away from becoming everything. What did it matter how many bones or tendons she could mend if she couldn’t even conquer the sniffles?

Julieta was a stubborn thing, too (and maybe, maybe a bit of a perfectionist). She resolved to solve this puzzle if it took the rest of her life. But that was, God willing, quite a few years yet. Her brother was sick now.

Ay, Bruno. Su conejito extraño. He was another thorn in her side (but how she’d missed him so!). So much like her Augustín at times that it was alarming, except Bruno’s chaos was more… deliberate, governed not by butterfingers and left feet, but a seemingly insatiable drive to push himself past his breaking point as often as possible. Despite having developed a robust immunity to most things (owed, in part, to a lifetime of keeping close company with rats), he was particularly susceptible to catching colds. Naturally, this made him the perfect lab rat for his sister’s culinary experiments. Julieta wouldn’t deny that she subjected him to a lot over the years, but nobody ever claimed the field of medicine was without its sacrifices.

Bruno was late to breakfast that morning, which was unusual. Since his return, he was always the first one at the table, so eager he was to make up for lost time with his family. Alma was in the middle of asking Antonio to go check on his tío when her son shuffled in, looking just as pale and tired as he did when he first emerged from the walls. Not that he ever looked particularly healthy. Coupled with the fact that his visions were known to sap his stamina, nobody thought to question his appearance. Bruno quietly apologized for his tardiness, then sat down at the table and cleared his throat a few times, covering up the sound of his fist knocking against his chair. Julieta heard a hint of something in his voice, something that kept drawing her attention back to him as the meal progressed.

Only a few minutes had passed before he scraped his chair away from the table, burying his face in the sleeve of his ruana to stifle a volley of sneezes. A pair of rats dropped to the floor before scurrying away. The conversations around the table ceased abruptly, giving way to stares and scattered blessings. Bruno sniffled, withering under his family’s collective acknowledgement.

“Sorry! Sorry…” It was unclear if he was apologizing to them or his rats.

Camilo resumed (or perhaps never stopped) his reenactment of the argument he had witnessed at the market that morning, talking quickly and switching rapidly between faces in a way that reminded Julieta of cards being shuffled. Her nephew had been so eager to share what he saw that nothing else seemed to register for him. She flicked her gaze back to Bruno as he returned to the table, looking upset with himself for having interrupted. He reached instinctively for the salt cellar, but then met his mother’s eyes and withdrew his hand as if from a flame. It swung around to grip at his left arm instead. Julieta recognized this as a self-soothing gesture, except this time Bruno’s fingers were digging into his arm.

“Are you feeling okay, tío?” Dolores asked, having lost interest in her brother’s story a long time ago. “You’ve been sneezing all morning.”

Bruno shot Dolores a look of betrayal so dramatic he could have been performing a scene from one of his telenovelas. While he was distracted, Julieta seized the opportunity to reach across the table for his forehead. “Are you getting sick, manito?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Bruno said, dodging her hand and sliding down in his chair. He started to pull his hood up, but when Alma cleared her throat in disapproval he yanked it back down again, sitting up straighter. “Really, I feel great, I’m just, uh… still getting used to the air out here, you know.”

Nobody seemed convinced, least of all Bruno himself, but nobody challenged him, either. At least, not until he interrupted Alma during her morning rundown. He had just enough notice to stutter out a breathless apology and twist away from the table, crushing his fist against his nose. Julieta winced as he stifled two sneezes into silence without a breath in between. She kicked her brother under the table, frustrated by his stubbornness, and mouthed stop it. How many times did she - did they all have to tell him not to do that? Bruno blinked, looking dizzy and indignant at having been cheated out of his usual pattern of three sneezes. His retaliation efforts were less than successful; Julieta saw him bite his lip to hold back a curse as his foot struck the leg of the table instead of her own.

Alma, wearing an impassive expression, cleared her throat and waited patiently for her grown children to settle. While Bruno was preoccupied with his body’s latest betrayal, she casually brushed his curls back from his forehead to rest her hand there. He looked at her in stunned silence, breathing more quickly than usual through slightly parted lips.

“Bruno is unwell,” she stated matter-of-factly as she withdrew her hand, then held it up to cut off his objection. “He will remain in Casita today so he can rest.”

Julieta was surprised; Bruno actually had a few appointments lined up for this morning. Their mother never used to let something like a cold get in the way of her family’s obligations to the town. They were all still getting used to this new Alma, who, while not perfect, was learning to see the benefits of resting and recovering over crashing and burning. Julieta sat up a little straighter, wondering how much further she could push their luck.

“Mamá, if it would be alright-” she began, and Bruno, apparently aware of where this was going, started shaking his head.

“Uh, no, nope, not uh,” he said, rapping his fist against the table with each syllable.

“-I’d like to stay here too and test out some new recipes-”

Bruno continued to shake his head. Julieta closed her mouth and frowned, genuinely wounded by his fervent refusal. “Do you have so little faith in me?” she asked, and that was all it took for his protests to melt into praise.

“Juli, you are incredible, and you know I know you can do anything, I’m just… .” He swallowed nervously as she eyed his untouched plate. “Full? So full. I, uh, ate earlier, you know, I’m still getting used to the new schedule, well, I guess the old schedule, and besides, and most importantly, I’m not sick, so it would b-be a w-waste to… heh!”

Julieta prided herself on being the most mature of her siblings, but something about Bruno always called her inner child out to play. She just couldn’t resist the urge to tease when the opportunities presented themselves. Catching a glimpse of Pepa across the table, smirking as their brother’s breath hitched helplessly, only egged her on further. “Perdona, a waste to what?” Julieta asked, fully aware that providing clarification in his current state would pose a challenge.

He surprised her by squeezing his eyes shut and holding his breath before forcing it back into a steady rhythm. She had never seen him do that before - a technique he learned living in the walls, perhaps? Had he been doing that for the last ten years to avoid detection? Julieta was impressed with his self-control, but she could imagine how unsatisfying it must have felt to deny his body something it desperately needed to do. Bruno didn’t look like he was going to sneeze anymore, but he did look ten times more miserable than before.

“Disculpe…” He sighed it more than spoke it, then sniffled again, wincing at how wet it sounded. “I forgot what I was saying.”

“Ay, mijo.” Alma passed him her unused napkin before waving her hand at him, directing him to turn away from the table and blow his nose. She then turned to Julieta. “You will stay with your brother today and see what you can do. I’m sure Mirabel would be happy to bring your food into town. We have those new herbs that Isabela grew. Perhaps they’ll do the trick for your…” She paused as Bruno blew his nose, then looked at him pointedly. “… purposes, today.”

He gave a little cough as he crumpled the napkin in his lap. “I suppose I don’t get a say in any of this.”

Julieta shook her head and he huffed out a sigh, grinding the heels of his hands into his eyes. He seemed resigned to his fate. Good. That would make things go a lot more smoothly for the both of them.

[theloveinc]

bakugo + the stages of breakup guilt (haha, get it?)

(warning: angst with happy end, gender neutral except a veil is mentioned)

-

No one makes Bakugo feel worse about the breakup than his parents do. Not your friends, ignoring all his texts and calls (other than the ones about the bag of underwear, socks, and your special moisturizer you requested be dropped off with someone), not Kiri or even Izuku when they look at him with pity in their eyes and offer to take him out for drinks. And not the dude who plants his ass against his crotch at the club and then calls security on him for taking a swing at his eye (he only gets away with it because the dodge was successful).

No. His parents do. His mother dropping the phone call as soon as the news is broken, his father calling back just to breathe long sighs into the receiver, listening to Bakugo’s long excuse as to why it all happened, then from somewhere in the back, “how could you!”

His initial reaction is anger, of course. It always is with them; they have no control over his life so therefore they shouldn’t care what he does, or who he’s in contact with.

But then the reality sinks in. Two, three weeks later, after days of ignoring them alongside everyone else, trying to forget the memory of how he promised them he’d never hurt you or let you go, surviving off of only the rotting vegetables in his fridge and with the distraction of working coverage (his chart records reporting an all time record of capture later that year)… he realizes they’re right to be upset.

They’re right for the ways they berate him the few times he calls, picking away at what little sanity he has left without you, his father’s withered voice when he asks “have you eaten? Are you warm enough at night?” and his mother’s flaming remarks, “don’t act like this isn’t your fault.”

They’re right for way they practically ignore him when he visits home—once, to celebrate his birthday—and he finds his father has given up crochet and lace embroidery and his mother has cleared out the guest room and taken down every picture of you… and him; the only ones remaining those from primary school and before, smiling like the little shit he always was and still is (least, that’s what mom says when she notices him staring).

Then it’s months later and the reminders begin. When Koda posts pictures of you at the grand opening of his animal sanctuary agency. When he finds one last box of stuff with your name on it, and his favorite mug is on top. When his grandparents ask about the wedding and everything just starts over again. For him, emotionally (his hair only just started growing back after he started tearing it out before shaving it entirely), and his parents, too, with their melancholy looks and bitter words. He knows when people are lying, and it couldn’t be any more obvious when they reply for him, saying they’ll all just have to wait for next time.

It never really gets better, his loneliness, the ache…

But truly, no one makes Bakugo feel worse about the breakup than his parents do. Not even you, when you finally return for that last box and cry when you see that he left an engagement ring inside. And though he would’ve fought for you anyway, you (practically) have them to thank when he gets you back.

(Mitsuki cries on your shoulder the next time you see her. Masaru shows you the handmade veil.)

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

i had an idea pop up in my head and it made my brain itchy, so i wrote it

Humanity's Strongest | Levi Canonverse Drabble

✧ word count ➼ < 700 ✧ notes ➼ canonverse, rewrite of a s1 scene, combat medic!reader

The gates to the middle ring opened and roughly 30 soldiers strolled into the ring on horses. Some rode alone and other horses were dragging in carts of supplies and wounded soldiers. The wounded soldiers had a wide range of injuries, with some having minor bite wounds and others missing multiple limbs. Fighting the Titans was not a glorious battle that people envied. Even the thought of leaving the wall was terrifying.

Every time the scouts of the Survey Corps returned, they found a mass of villagers on the sidelines eagerly waiting for them. Some were kids that were fascinated by the prospect of being a scout and battling Titans, others were families anxiously waiting to see if their loved one had survived. 

“Hey look, it’s Captain Levi of the scouts! They say he’s equal to an entire brigade! There’s a reason why they call him Humanity’s Strongest Soldier.”

“Tch,” he scoffed as he glared at the villagers, speaking under his breath. “Shut up.”

Captain Levi Ackermann was consistently hailed as “Humanity’s Strongest Soldier”. He had nearly 100 solo-kills of Titans and an uncountable number of assists. It was said that he alone was able to clear out an entire cluster of invading Titans on his own without sustaining any injuries. There wasn’t a day that passed in which he didn’t receive praise for his accomplishments. He had unmatched skill and no one was able to doubt it—and he absolutely hated it.

It was true that he was strong. It was true that his skills were unmatched. He knew all of that. From the very beginning of him joining the Scouts, he had risen the ranks and even invented his own unique method of battling the Titans. There was no one the commander trusted more to fight the Titans. He knew all of that. He worked hard to achieve that. However, as a result, everyone, including his comrades around him, only saw him as a weapon instead of a person. If he showed any sign of weakness or emotion, any type of respect that he had garnered would wither away like dust. To them, he wasn’t a person. He was an idol to be memorialized and a weapon to unsheathe when the threat of the Titans approached.

“You know they don’t know any better,” you whispered next to him, riding along next to him.

“About what?”

“You give them hope,” you responded, looking at him with a subtle, brief smile.

It was rare to find Levi without you around. Part of that was because you were on the same squad, but a bigger part of that was because of your background. Having grown up and joined the Scouts together, you and Levi Ackermann were a duo commonly found on the battlefield, although your tasks were vastly different from each other.

You sighed and looked towards the wagon of injured soldiers. Although you were well-built, you were not a fighter. Rarely did you ever find yourself having a primary duty of slaying Titans. Your job was to try to maximize the amount of soldiers that could make it safely home. You were one of the primary reasons that the Scouts' survival rates had dramatically increased, but even you could not save everyone.

The cart full of wounded soldiers was an abrasive reminder of that.

“Man, if they knew how fussy you were, they wouldn’t look at you with such admiration,” Hange said towards Levi with a grin.

A scowl appeared on Levi’s face at Hange’s comment. It didn’t feel like admiration. The villager’s comments felt like an insult. No one really knew who Levi Ackermann was, other than a Titan-killing machine. He wished the villagers knew about his fussiness. At least, then they would objectify him a little less. He had the terrible instinct that told him that if he ever lost his ability to fight, that suddenly any respect or admiration he gets from the villagers, and even his comrades, would disappear—all except for one person: you.

[minecraftbookshelf]

heeebeedeebs ok, so, any headcanons for the marriage of state au on like....uh.... heh.... burial customs? for like... the cod alliance?

(also maybe also wither rose toooooo????)

ooooooooo!

So I actually hadn't thought about this yet which is why it took me a couple of days to answer, i had to poke at it a bit. So now I do have thoughts!

This might get a little bit gruesome, along the lines of frank discussions of dead bodies and disposal thereof.

Cod Alliance

The Swamp being...swampy, it doesn't lend itself to burial very well. The honored dead are burned (dry wood is a valuable resource) and the dishonored dead are basically dumped in a specific corner of the swamp very heavily populated with Things That Eat People. (Mostly Catfish and Alligators, this is an American South swamp/bayou biome in my heart, which does, unfortunately, mean they have mosquitoes) They also have wakes, like full party mode, music and alcohol and stories of the deceased. They were also an occupied territory for several centuries, with very few resources left to them, community support in time of bereavement is very important. Especially in situations where the deceased supported a family.

The Ocean Empire buries at sea. The dead are weighted down and taken to the Deep Ocean and dropped there. Think whale fall. They are a bit more solemn about their rituals than The Swamp but there are several similarities. They have an appointed grieving period of two weeks, during which the loved ones of the deceased are sequestered.

Mezaleans build mausoleums. Their dead are burned and the ashes interred with their families or, for an honored few, mostly royals who provided exceptional service to their people, beneath the Mother Tree. There is also a public mausoleum in each city for those without families, though those people are few, as Mezaleans engage in liberal social adoption. Most people find themselves quietly absorbed into some sort of family unit before they have been alone too long (but that is a whole nother post). They also tend to build memorials, ranging from small potted gardens of favorite flowers to full, larger-than-life statues. They don't believe in reincarnation so much as in redistribution of energy and preservation of memory.

Pixandria, for somewhat obvious reasons, has a very unique relationship with death (and also Death). They also have a party, celebrating the passage from life to death, though theirs is less focused on memories of the past than the Swamp and more on congratulating the dead on their migration to the next stage of existence. Every death celebration includes a seat at the table for Death herself, that is kept liberally supplied with food and alcohol at all stages of the festivities. They bury their dead, and quickly, since corpses don't keep long in the desert. Priests and royals are buried in catacombs beneath the Anthill while everyone else is buried in one of a few designated locations in the desert. (The party does not start until everyone is safely back in the oasis or Anthill, as travelling drunk through the desert is a good way to end up having to repeat the entire event again very shortly, and while they do not fear death, they do also value life.)

Wither Rose Alliance

Mythland also buries their dead. I haven't thought too much about the details but the primary religion of the region is a blood cult so there is definitely something done with the blood of the deceased. It's drained from the body and they use it for some sort of memorial ritual. These are not open to outsiders and are usually closed affairs involving only the family and close friends of the deceased and a single priest of the blood sheep.

The Crystal Cliffs, as an empire made up in no small part of people who are direct transplants from other empires, do their best to honor the cultural practices of the deceased. If not, they practice a form of sky burial, as the sheer stone cliffs don't offer a lot of burial opportunities and they territory is too small for it to be practical. The native population consider dead bodies functionally as waste matter, no longer important once it is no longer inhabited by a living soul. It's just a matter of practical disposal. Though as stated, they will go to great lengths to respect the wishes of the dead regarding the disposal of their bodies, including transporting them all the way to Pixandria if necessary.

The Grimlands also bury their dead. (You can see some similarities here, in this alliance.) They have a couple of different regional variations, but they do bury their dead. If the deceased died of illness or redstone poisoning they are burned, to avoid contaminating the land or the living. They usually have a memorial service, and immediate relatives are expected to undergo a grieving schedule not unlike the Ocean. (This probably came from the salmon hybrid population)

Gilded Helianthia, like their primary allies, buries their dead but they do so fully communally, and without any kind of coffins or excess wrappings. Where you are buried depends entirely on when you die. Bodies are left in the ground for five years, to allow full decomposition of all tissues, then the bones are exhumed and burned and the ashes scattered over the ground they were buried in. Once a zone has been completely exhumed, it is converted into farmland. This is one of the ways they rotate their croplands and maintain soil health.

Rivendell has a couple of different burial traditions, depending on how high in the mountains you are. They have a relatively small population, and their birth and death rates are such that it remains fairly steady. Which is to say, both death and birth are fairly rare, when nature is allowed to run its course. (This does mean that things such as war, famine, and sickness can be devastating for them, as it can be very difficult to recoup the population loss) Death is a solemn affair, funeral rites take place over the course of at least a week, and the body is displayed for a significant portion of that. The cold climates of the mountain allow for that. Afterwards the body is burned and the ashes either scattered from a high peak, or into the river, depending on where the deceased lived. This releases the soul for reincarnation, and to deny this to someone is a very serious statement. Mourning periods vary from 1-10 years, depending on relationship with the deceased, age of the mourner, age of the deceased, and several other factors. The grieving are monitored carefully for signs of Fading during this time.

The Lost Empire has four different distinct burial traditions, equating to the four elements their culture is based around. Pyre, burial, sky burial (done from the tree-tops), and water burial. The rulers are buried on a rotation. (Joey is scheduled to be burned after death, and he maintains this is incredibly romantic given Xornoth's own elemental powers. Xornoth thinks he's weird.)

Everyone Else

It's literally just the Overgrown and Undergrove left at this point so might as well XD

The Overgrown, being fae, and having a very strong nature alignment, return their bodies to the Spring. Fae bodies also, to put it bluntly, decompose very, very quickly. Almost dissolving over the course of a day or so. Burial is swift and flowers are planted to memorialize the deceased.

The Undergrove does not currently have a population beyond Shrub themself, but the gnomes were/are fungal farmers and had very practical views on the burial of bodies, not dissimilar to those of Gilded Helianthia.

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AU Masterpost

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

28th April >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 15:1-8) for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (B): ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’.

Fifth Sunday of Easter (B)

Gospel (Except USA) John 15:1-8 I am the vine, you are the branches.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.’

Gospel (USA) John 15:1–8 Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Homilies ()

(i) Fifth Sunday of Easter

When I was ordained priest, it was the custom to produce for your first Mass a little prayer card that could be given out to people. The newly ordained priest would normally put a verse from the Bible that was significant for him on the card. On my own card, I placed a verse from today’s gospel reading, ‘Cut off from me you can do nothing’. At the time the verse said to me that it was only through my own personal communion with the Lord that I could do anything worthwhile as a priest, and that, therefore, my own relationship with the Lord was the most important relationship to work on. I still often return to that verse today.

Jesus was speaking to his disciples, to all of us today who are trying to be his disciples. The primary reference for Jesus’ words is not the sacrament of ordination but of baptism. When Jesus says, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’, he is addressing all the baptized. He is speaking about the very deep communion that he wants to have with each one of us, in virtue of our baptism. When you look at a fully grown vine, it can be hard to know where the stem ends and where the branches begin. Jesus was very familiar with vines; there were plenty of them in Galilee. He saw in the intimate relationship between the stem of the vine and its branches an image of the relationship he wanted to have with each of us and wanted each of us to have with him. He doesn’t say, ‘I am the vine and now you must become the branches’, but rather, ‘I am the vine and you are the branches’. The Lord has already entered into a deeply personal relationship with each of us through his life, death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit into our lives. He has taken the initiative to enter into this relationship with us and he will never take back his initiative. Our calling is to remain in that relationship which he has initiated with us. In the gospel reading, he calls on us to remain in him, as branches need to remain on the vine. Another way Jesus expresses this call in the gospel reading is, ‘Make your home in me, as I make mine in you’. The Lord has chosen to make his home in us, through the Holy Spirit, and now he calls on us to make our home in him.

What Jesus is doing in today’s gospel reading is reminding us that what is essential in our faith is nurturing our relationship with him, so that we can live off the sap that flows from him, just as the branches of the vine live off the sap that flows from the roots of the vine up into the stem. We might be tempted to think that a close union with Jesus is only for saints and mystics. It is a privilege that is granted to us all. Jesus knew that only our close communion with him would make it possible for us to live with his life, which is a life of loving service of others. This is the fruit that Jesus speaks about in the gospel reading. ‘Whoever remains in me, with me in them, bears fruit in plenty’. Only a branch untied to the vine can produce grapes and only if we are united to the Lord through faith can our lives bear the fruit of the Lord’s love. Many of the children in our schools have recently celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation. As part of their preparation, they learned a short passage from the letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians where he says, ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. This is the fruit that Jesus speaks about in the gospel reading. Paul speaks of it as the fruit of the Spirit; Jesus speaks of it as the fruit of our communion with him. They are saying the same thing, because it is through the Spirit that the Lord lives in us and we live in him. In the words of Saint John in the second reading, ‘We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us’.

Today’s first reading gives us a picture of what this fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of love, looks like in practice. Saul had been one of the church’s fiercest persecutors. When he became a member of the church after the Lord’s appearance to him on the road to Damascus, it is not surprising that many in the church were suspicious of him, indeed, afraid of him. It was Barnabas, a leading member of the church, who opened the door for Saul, explaining to the doubters that the Lord had appeared to Saul or Paul and had spoken to him and that Paul had been preaching the gospel ever since. Barnabas believed in Paul when others doubted him and he created a space for Paul to exercise the mission the Lord had given him. One of the ways we show our love for others is by creating the space for them to shine, allowing them to become the person God is calling them to be. Such humble service is the fruit of our communion with the Lord.

And/Or

(ii) Fifth Sunday of Easter

Doors create openings in buildings. They open up a building so that we can enter it. If this church had no doors, we would not have been able to gather inside it. In that sense, doors create movement; they allow people to move from outside to inside or from inside to outside, or from one space to another space within a building. The people we meet in life can sometimes serve a similar purpose to the doors in our buildings. They can create openings for us. They encourage us to move from one space in our lives to another space. They open up a new horizon for us and point us towards it. We can probably all think of people who have played that kind of a role in our lives. We look back to them with gratitude. Perhaps at a crucial moment in our lives, they opened a door for us into some new and more life-giving space. Parents certainly open up all kinds of doors for their children. Many of us will have no difficulty recognizing that we would not be where we are in life today, if it were not for the sacrifices made for us by our parents. One of the qualities of a good friendship is the mutual opening up of doors for one another. Good friend can open each other up to new places, new people, new and worthwhile realities of all kinds. Much as we might value our independence, we know in our heart of hearts how dependant we are on others for so much.

The first reading this morning is a very good example of how one person creates an opening for another. At the beginning of his Christian life, Paul was very dependant on others to get started on his missionary work. According to our first reading, when he first went to Jerusalem after his conversion, the disciples were very slow to have anything to do with him. They related to him only as the one who, up until recently, had been persecuting them. It was Barnabas who created an opening for Paul into the young church in Jerusalem. Barnabas was a respected church leader, and his strong recommendation for Paul was enough to calm everyone down and allow Paul to find a place within the Jerusalem community. There must have been more than one Barnabas in the early church, people who opened doors for other believers to use their gifts in the service of the Lord and the church.

One of the greatest gifts a person can have is the gift of facilitating the gifts of others. That particular gift is one that requires a certain degree of humility. In creating an opening for Paul, Barnabas was making way for someone who was, in many ways, more gifted than he himself was. Barnabas was opening a door for someone who would go on to become a much more significant member of the early church than Barnabas himself was. He may well have realized that this would be the case. Yet, his focus was not on himself, but on the Lord and on the work of the Lord. We may often find ourselves in a position to create an opening for someone who is more gifted than we are, who has more to bring to the task in hand than we do. Stepping back so that others may flourish is one aspect of our baptismal calling. Our church is dedicated to John the Baptist. He was a Barnabas figure. If Barnabas made way for Paul, John the Baptist made way for Jesus. John’s calling was to serve as a door for Jesus, to create an opening for him. According to the fourth gospel, on one occasion, John the Baptist said, ‘He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease’. That saying captures something of that humble attitude which is required of those who are being called upon to create openings for others.

The only person in early Christianity who said of himself, ‘I am the door’ was Jesus. He didn’t simply open a door for others; he was the door. He was the door to God, the door to God’s life, to God’s love and truth. As the door, he calls on all of us to pass through him, so that we might find God. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus uses another image of himself, the vine. If as the door, Jesus calls on us to pass through him towards God, as the vine, he calls on us to remain in him so that we might draw God’s life from him. That is what he means when he says, ‘whoever remains in me… bears fruit in plenty’. In and through our union with Jesus, our lives bear God’s fruit, the fruit of God’s life, what Paul calls the fruit of the Holy Spirit, ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. Our remaining in the Lord, as branches in the vine, opens us up to that quality of life that God desires for us, a life which is a reflection of God’s own life. If, looking back, we find ourselves giving thanks for all those people who opened doors for us, we have to be all the more grateful to the one who as the door and as the vine opens us up to God and to the life of God.

And/Or

(iii) Fifth Sunday of Easter

I am not much of a gardener. It takes me all my time to keep a few house plants alive. When it comes to the garden, I wouldn’t be great at knowing when to prune or how much to prune. My instinct would probably be never to prune and, as a result, shrubs start growing into each other and the quality of the rose blooms decreases over time. Fortunately, I now have somebody who comes in and does some of that pruning for me. It can be hard to prune what looks perfectly healthy. Whatever about clipping off parts of plants that are clearly dead, I find it hard to bring myself to trim off something that is still living. Yet a good gardener knows when to prune what is healthy to make it even healthier.

In the gospels Jesus often draws on nature to express his message. He was a keen observer of the land of Galilee and of the people who worked that land, the sower who sows his seed in the ground; the fig tree that might not give any figs for several years; the tiny mustard seed that produces a big shrub where the birds of the air make their home; the field of wheat that is also full of weeds. In this morning’s gospel reading he speaks of the vine and the vinedresser. Vineyards were plentiful in Galilee in the time of Jesus, and they remain an essential part of that landscape today. Jesus observed the work of the vinedresser. In the gospel reading this morning, he says that every branch of the vine that bears fruit the vinedresser prunes to make it bear even more fruit. He could see that the vinedresser had no qualms about pruning fruit bearing branches, if it was clear that such pruning would mean that the branches would bear even more fruit.

When Jesus looked out at the vineyard and the work of the vinedresser it spoke to him about God his Father, about the relationship between himself and his followers and the relationship among his followers. Jesus saw himself as the vine, his Father as the vinedresser and his disciples as the branches on the vine. He recognized from the work of the vinedresser that some form of pruning is often necessary if our lives as his disciples are to bear all the fruit that they are capable of bearing. Perhaps he thought of his own passion and death as a kind of pruning which would result in rich new fruit not only for himself but for all of us. In another image drawn from nature that Jesus used, he was the single grain that in falling into the ground and dying would bear much fruit. We know from our own experience that change, growth and new life in our lives do not happen in a vacuum. Times of new growth are often preceded by some kind of pruning experience, times of struggle, times when we feel unsettled, times of loss. Conversion, growth and change often come out of something that is a little bit unbalanced in our lives, something that has not worked out the way we thought it should, something we discover in ourselves that is not as pure or as generous or as wholesome as we might imagine ourselves to be. It is often in moments like that when we find ourselves unsettled, off balance, disturbed that we begin to search for something more. We become sensitive to what might give us more life; we make decisions to head out in a new, life giving direction, decisions that we would never have made when all seemed well. When our hearts are troubling us about something we can be more open to hearing God’s voice. When we find ourselves being painfully pruned in some way or another, we can actually be on the threshold of new life, a deepening of our relationship with the Lord, a way of life that bears richer fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

It is normal for a vine to be pruned. There is nothing exceptional about the work of pruning. It is part and parcel of the life of a healthy vine, because there is always some part of the vine that needs pruning. Similarly with our own lives, there is always a sense in which something in us needs to be pruned if we are to become all that God is calling us to be. Sometimes what needs to be pruned in our lives is a tendency towards self-interest or individualism that draws life away from the vine as a whole. The image of the vine is a very communal image of the church; it suggests that we are completely interconnected and interdependent. We have to place the strength of the entire vine before our own individual advantage. Even more fundamentally than our dependence on each other, the image of the vine stresses our dependence on the Lord. ‘Cut off from me you can do nothing’, Jesus says. That is why in the gospel reading the language of pruning gives way to the language of remaining or abiding. The branch must remain united to the vine to bear fruit. Our remaining in Jesus, our adhering closely to him, is the core of our lives as Christians.

And/Or

(iv) Fifth Sunday of Easter

We live in an age that tends to put a high value on independence. We like to feel that we have our destiny in our own hands. One of the aspects of reaching old age that can trouble us is the prospect of losing our independence. We want to be as independent as possible for as long as possible. Yet, we are also aware that independence is a relative thing. We know that we depend on each other in all kinds of ways all through life. We are totally dependant on others at the beginning of life, and, probably, for many of us, at the end of life as well. In between the beginning and end of life, we never escape fully from that dependency on others. In the living of our lives, there will always be a certain degree of tension between our need to assert our independence of others and our recognition that we are dependent on others.

The gospel’s perspective on that basic tension in human life tends to put more emphasis on our dependence than on our independence. In this respect, as in others, the gospel message is at odds with the culture in which we live. The gospel strongly proclaims our ultimate dependence on God, and also our dependence on each other, because one of the primary ways that God is present to us is through each other. The first Christians had a stronger sense than we do of their dependence on one another, if they were to become all that God was calling them to be. St. Paul’s vision of the church as the body of Christ speaks of a community of believers who are mutually interdependent. As Paul says, ‘the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”, nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you”’. Paul himself, the great missionary, was aware of his dependence on others in the church. In today’s first reading Luke describes a moment in Paul’s early life as a Christian when he was very dependent on one person in particular, Barnabas. Paul had only recently changed from being one of the most zealous persecutors of the church to being one of its most enthusiastic missionaries. He very much wanted to join the community of disciples in Jerusalem but, given his former reputation, they were all afraid of him and kept him at a distance. It took Barnabas to convince everyone that Paul was a changed person. Paul would go on to be a much more significant person in the early church than Barnabas. Yet, he was completely dependent on Barnabas to create that initial opening for him. Paul was aware that his dependence on Barnabas, and on others in the course of his life, was an expression of his dependence on the Lord who came to him through others.

Jesus’ image of the vine in the gospel reading, like Paul’s image of the body, suggests how we as believers are dependent on each other and, ultimately, on the Lord, if we are to live as the Lord’s disciples. Jesus states, ‘a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself’. We cannot live fruitful lives as Christians by going it alone. We need the community of believers if we are to become all that our baptism calls us to be. We need to be connected in some way into the community of faith, what we call the church. It is only in communion with other believers that our lives can bear the fruit of the Spirit. It is in and through other believers that the Lord can nurture our faith so that it shapes more and more of our lives. That community of believers that we need to be in communion with will often be a mixed bag. In another image that Jesus uses, it will be a mixture of wheat and weeds, as indeed each one of us is. Yet, it is there that we find the Lord in a privileged way and it is through our connection with the church that we are connected to him. That connection with the Lord is vital because if we are to live our baptism to the full; it is on him that we are ultimately dependent. We need the Lord if our lives are to bear the fruit of the Spirit. As Jesus states in the gospel reading, ‘cut off from me you can do nothing’.

If we are dependent on the Lord, there is a sense in which he is also dependant on us. In the gospel reading Jesus says, ‘Whoever remains in me... bears fruit in plenty’. We would all consider fruit to be healthy food; it is an important source of nourishment. Lives that bear fruit in plenty are lives that nurture others, that are life-giving for others. The Lord depends on us to feed each other with his love and his presence. He needs us to give concrete expression to his love for others. We can only do this, if we are connected to the vine, if we are in union with the Lord and his disciples.

And/Or

(v) Fifth Sunday of Easter

We are fortunate to have beds of roses to the front of the church. When the roses are in full bloom there is a lovely fragrance to the front of the church. Some weeks ago, I saw a couple of people pruning the roses. They were being cut right back. It is the pruning which brings on the new growth and ensures lovely roses in the flowering season, with their accompanying fragrance.

I was reminded of all that by a saying of Jesus in today’s gospel reading. ‘Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more’. I believe that vines need strong pruning if they are to give good grapes. The pruning is done on the branches that are fruit bearing, just as the pruning of the roses is done on branches that left to themselves would produce a blossom. Pruning of the vine makes for a richer and fuller fruit. That image of pruning the vine might help to understand some of what is happening in the church at the moment. In that gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’. Jesus was talking to his disciples. The ‘you’ in ‘you are the branches’ embraces disciples of every age, including all of us gathered here at this Eucharist. The branches on the vine are the community of disciples, the church in every age. According to the image Jesus uses, God the Father prunes the branches that are bearing fruit to make them bear even more fruit. Pruning always involves loss. What is pruned is lost to the tree or the plant. There has been a great deal of loss in the church in recent times, especially in the Western world. There has been a loss of influence, a loss of reputation, a loss of credibility, a loss of numbers, especially among a younger generation, a loss of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Perhaps some of this loss could be understood as God’s work of pruning so as to make the church bear more fruit. Today’s gospel reading encourages us to believe that this cutting away may be serving a good purpose. Through these painful experiences of loss, we can be confident that the Lord is causing new forms of life to emerge in the church. Sometimes, people speak of the church as if it were only a human organization. It is a human organization, but it is more than that. God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is also at work there, causing new life to spring forth in the very places where death seems to be dominant. This conviction, which is based on God’s word to us, does not leave us complacent. However, it should prevent us from getting discouraged.

God the Father is the vinedresser who cares for the branches on the vine, sometimes by cutting some of the dead branches away and at other times by pruning perfectly healthy ones. If God the Father is the vinedresser, Jesus, our risen Lord, declares himself to be the vine. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’. In some ways, it is very difficult to distinguish between the vine and its branches. Where does the vine end and the branches begin? Surely the branches are themselves the vine. There is certainly a very close relationship between the vine and its branches. When Jesus refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches, he is giving us an image of the very intimate relationship that he desires to have with us, his disciples. The Lord is intimately involved with his church. He is in communion with us. That is a given. What Jesus calls for in the gospel reading is that we be in communion with him, that we make our home in him, abide in him. The image of the vine and the branches Jesus uses also expresses our dependence on him. We need to be in a deeply personal communion with Jesus so as to live off the sap that reaches us from him. We need to live in close contact with him, if we, the church, are to be fruitful in the way he wants us to be. It is only in and through our communion with Jesus that we as church can bear his fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love, a love that in the words of today’s second reading, is something real and active, a love that brings life to others, just as Jesus’s love has brought life to us all. We need to nurture a vital contact with him, to ensure that we, as church, are a truly life-giving and life-enhancing presence in our world.

The image of the vine and the branches also expresses our dependence on each other as members of the church. More fundamentally, we are dependent on one another as human beings. Because as human beings we depend on one another, others have the right to expect something from us. They have the right to be loved in a life-giving way, to be treated in accordance with their God-given dignity. That is true at every moment of our life, from its first beginnings at conception to its natural end at death. Indeed, there is no form of human life more dependent on our life-giving love than the unborn child.

And/Or

(vi) Fifth Sunday of Easter

Vines are plentiful throughout the Mediterranean world, including in parts of the land where Jesus lived and worked. Wine was a staple drink in Jesus’ culture. It was wine that Jesus took at the last supper, along with bread, declaring them to be his body and his blood. At every Mass we give thanks for the wine we offer to God, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. The vine has been a Christian symbol since the earliest days of the church. There is much about vines, grapes and wine that can speak to us about the Lord’s relationship with us and ours with him.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus goes so far as to identify himself with a vine, declaring, ‘I am the true vine’, and he then identifies his disciples, all of us, with the branches of the vine. It is difficult to distinguish clearly between the vine and the branches. We would normally think of the branches as the vine itself. We would almost expect Jesus to say, ‘I am the stem of the vine and you are the branches of the vine’, but he doesn’t. He says, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’. Jesus is drawing our attention to the intimate relationship he desires to have with us all. Jesus seems to image the sap of his risen life flowing through us all. In the gospel reading, he calls on us to remain in him, to abide in him, as he remains or abides in us. When we think of our relationship with Jesus, we often think in terms of following Jesus. This is a valid way of speaking about that relationship. However, in this gospel reading, Jesus doesn’t speak of following him but of remaining or abiding in him. It is as if Jesus is saying to us, ‘I have joined myself to you, through my life, death, resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit. Now I am asking you to nurture that loving communion I have created with you.’. Jesus is reminding us here of what is essential. We are all aware that Christianity is a way of life, which shows itself in good works of all kinds. Jesus often speaks in those terms. At the end of the parable of the good Samaritan, he says to his listeners, to all of us, ‘Go and do likewise’. ‘Be a good Samaritan to others’. Yet, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus is reminding us of something more fundamental, our need to nurture a vital contact with him, to relate to him as intimately as he relates to us.

Today’s gospel reading invites us to ask ourselves, ‘What are we doing to nurture our relationship with Jesus?’ The Lord is always seeking to abide in us and calling out to us to abide in him, but we can allow that relationship to wither. In the language of the gospel reading, we can cut ourselves off from the Lord. We need to keep choosing to be in relationship with the Lord. A few chapters earlier in this gospel of John, some of Jesus’ disciples choose not to be in relationship with him because they found his teaching too difficult. The text says, ‘many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him’. On that occasion Jesus turned to those who remained and asked them, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered on behalf of the others, ‘Lord, to whom can we go. You have the words of eternal life’. Some of Jesus’ disciples chose to walk away from him, while others chose to remain in the relationship Jesus had created with them. In these times, that element of personal choice has become more important when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. There are so many factors in our environment that work against that relationship that we have to be more deliberate in our choice of the Lord. He has chosen us first out of love, and he needs us and wants us to keep choosing him. The question Jesus addressed to his disciples hangs in the air for us all, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’

The way of life that we associate with the following of Jesus is the fruit of our vital and personal relationship with Jesus. That is one aspect of the message of Jesus in today’s gospel reading. Jesus says, ‘as a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me’. If we allow the sap of the Lord’s love to flow from him to us, then our lives will bear the rich fruit of love, the fruit of the Spirit. It is our vital relationship with the Lord that sustains a life of love, a love that in the words of the second reading is ‘not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active’. It is the kind of love that Barnabas displayed towards Saul or Paul in the first reading. Some members of the church had written off Saul because of his persecuting past. Barnabas, however, stood by him and created openings for the Lord to work through him. This is the kind of enabling, encouraging, love that flows from our remaining in the Lord.

And/Or

(vii) Fifth Sunday of Easter

When I was ordained priest, it was the custom to produce for your first Mass a little prayer card that could be given out to people. The newly ordained priest would normally put a verse from the Bible on the card that was significant for him. On my own card, I placed a verse from today’s gospel reading, ‘Cut off from me you can do nothing’. At the time the verse said to me that it was only through my own personal communion with the Lord that I could do anything worthwhile as a priest, and that, therefore, my own relationship with the Lord was the most important relationship to work on. I still often return to that verse today.

Jesus, of course, was speaking to his disciples, to all of us today who are trying to be his disciples. The primary reference for Jesus’ words is not the sacrament of ordination but of baptism. When Jesus says, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’, he is addressing each one of us. He is speaking about the very deep communion or relationship that he wants to have with each one of us, in virtue of our baptism. When you look at a fully grown vine, it can be hard to know where the stem ends and where the branches begin. Jesus was very familiar with vines; there were plenty of them in Galilee. He saw in the intimate relationship between the stem of the vine and its branches an image of the relationship he had with each of us and wanted each of us to have with him. He doesn’t say, ‘I am the vine and now you must become the branches’, but rather, ‘I am the vine and you are the branches’. The Lord has already entered into a deeply personal relationship with each one of us through his life, death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit into our lives. He has taken the initiative to enter into this relationship with us and he will never take back his initiative. Our calling is to remain in that relationship which he has initiated with us. In the gospel reading, he calls on us to remain in him, as branches need to remain on the vine or, in another translation, to abide in him. Another way Jesus expresses this call in the gospel reading is, ‘Make your home in me, as I make mind in you’. The Lord has chosen to make his home in us, through the Holy Spirit, and now he calls on us to make our home in him.

What Jesus is doing in today’s gospel reading is reminding us of what is essential in our faith, nurturing our relationship with him so that we can live off the sap that flows from him, just as the branches of the vine live off the sap that flows from the stem of the vine. We might be tempted to think that a close union with Jesus is only for saints and mystics. It is a privilege that is granted to us all. Jesus knew that only our close communion with him would make it possible for us to live with his life, which is a life of loving service of others. This is the fruit that Jesus speaks about in the gospel reading. ‘Whoever remains in me, with me in them, bears fruit in plenty’. Only a branch untied to the vine can produce grapes and only if we are united to the Lord through faith can our lives bear the fruit of love. Many of the children in our schools have recently celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation. As part of their preparation, they learned a short passage from the letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians where he says, ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. This is the fruit that Jesus speaks about in the gospel reading. Paul speaks of it as the fruit of the Spirit; Jesus speaks of it as the fruit of our communion with him. They are saying the same thing, because it is through the Spirit that the Lord lives in us. In the words of Saint John in the second reading, ‘We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us’.

Today’s first reading gives us a picture of what this fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, looks like in practice. Saul had been one of the church’s fiercest persecutors. When he became a member of the church through his encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, it is not surprising that many in the church were still suspicious of him, indeed, afraid of him. It was Barnabas, one of the leading members of the church, who opened the door for Saul, explaining to the doubters that the Lord had appeared to Saul or Paul and had spoken to him and that Paul had been boldly preaching the gospel ever since. Barnabas believed in Paul when others doubted him and he created a space for Paul to exercise the mission the Lord had given him. Sometimes we show love best by creating the space for others to shine, allowing them to become all God is calling them to be. Such humble service is the fruit of our vital union with the Lord.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[jdetan]

Can We Have a Real Life? (Do We Even Know What it Means?)

Zelda and Link teach the children at the schoolhouse about modern history- specifically, the Calamity and the Upheaval.

“Hello, Missus Zelda!” The children of Hateno village all cheered and waved hello as Zelda walked into the schoolhouse, energized and ready to teach. “Hello, kids!” Zelda smiled brightly as she walked over to her desk. “Are we going to have a fun day today?” “Yeah!” The kids cheered as they sat down– at Symin’s insistence. “Alright! Good to hear!” Zelda turned to Symin. “What’s the lesson plan today, Sy?” “Modern history.” Symin replied, checking over the schedule. “Specifically, the Calamity and the Upheaval.” Zelda blanched for a moment. “Well, I’m a primary source on the Calamity…” She mumbled, thinking of a good way to give the fine details on the Upheaval without traumatizing the children. “But the Upheaval…” “Hey, yeah!” Narah said, suddenly. “You never DID tell us where you went during the Upheaval! Are you gonna tell us today?” “Nope! Because I am!” Link announced with a grin. “No one is a better source on the Upheaval than me! Except maybe Purah. And Robbie. And Josha. And…” Oh, thank the goddesses. Link will leave out all the horrifying details… Zelda suddenly snapped her head up. Wait, WILL he? I don’t need to traumatize the children! I’d best stick around, just to be safe… I might have to whack him upside the head if he starts getting too grim... “…and Mineru. And Rauru. And Sonia… Ok, I might not be the BEST source, but I’m still perfectly adequate!” Link announced proudly. “Thank you, Link. If you don’t mind, please tell the children what happened… leaving out the ‘unnecessary details’, if you will.” Zelda requested, shooting Link a look. “Gotcha. Nothing traumatizing. So, it started when Zelda and I–” Link began speaking. “And her chosen swordsman?” Narah asked, delighted. “I keep telling you, Narah, I AM the chosen swordsman! I have the Master Sword and everything!” Link protested. “Oh yeah? Then where is it?” Narah challenged him, a smirk on her face. “…I left her at home. ANYWAY, if I could continue…” Link cleared his throat. “Zelda and I went below the castle, where we found a withered mummy that suddenly sprung to life…”

Read the Rest on Ao3!

[ruinoffaerun]

camping at moonrise; Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Astarion are all camped in a little arc around one corner. This is my primary party and naturally I'm imagining that it's girl's night (gender neutral)

Gale set up on the other side of camp, by himself except for Withers

I can hc this one of two ways:

1) Girl's night is annoying to the ends of his booknerding so he wants to be away from it.

2) He's sad he hasn't been in the main party for a while and is sulking

[bc-johnson]

IP Freely

One of the really interesting things about this WotC / OGL thing (if it ends up coming to pass), is how it exposes a way they’ve shot themselves in the foot. I mean, other than the obvious.

Since you can’t copyright game mechanics (though I’m sure they’ll try to sue everyone anyway), D&D has two things remaining: brand recognition, and IP.

Their brand recognition is going to be the real hurdle, because it’s stronger now than anytime in the past, really. They’re about as close to mainstream as they’ve ever been. They got a Chris Pine movie coming out. They’re in the “generic” phase of popularity, where “playing D&D” is shorthand for the entire tabletop experience in all but the minds of the nerdliest of nerds (I include myself in this group, Deadlands4Ever!).

I’m not sure surmounting the brand recognition is possible for any new game (at least not on a short time scale), which is where the battle is going to be fought. Pathfinder has the strongest play, probably, if they can survive the legal fees they’re about to be assailed with. Sounds like Kobold Press is making some moves, too, and more power to them. Good luck, everyone.

However, WotC could have had an enormous second weapon in their arsenal, one they’ve systematically dismantled since around 3rd edition: their IP. Nowadays, I doubt many new players know anything about the D&D IP, and I don’t mean that in a grognard / gatekeepy way. I mean, the company used 3rd, 4th, and much of 5th (with exceptions) to wipe their own IP away in the name of ease of use. Which obviously worked for them - they clearly have the new player base they were looking for.

But, believe it or not, D&D used to have big iconic characters. Elminster and Tanis Half-Elven and the Dragon of Tyr. Fiction books on the best seller list. Spinoff game lore books in the dozens about each setting, packaged in full boxes with maps. Branded video games that introduced huge groups of non-dice rollers to places like Baldur’s Gate and Sigil. They had a mainstream Saturday morning cartoon show, for chrissakes.

Somewhere around 3e, though (when WotC took over), they started to seem embarrassed of their own IP. They released fewer novels, they alienated their own authors. They stopped making campaign settings (leaving 3rd parties to occasionally do it, but with little support or marketing), letting Dragonlance, Spelljammer, PlaneScape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft wither on the vine. Generic Fantasy World A and B became the primary setting (Greyhawk in name only for 3e, the wildly beige “Points of Light” setting for 4e).

They certainly stopped trying to make movies or cartoons with their IP. Video games set in D&D worlds became thin on the ground, mostly just a half-hearted MMO no one remembers.

Why wasn’t there a Drizzt movie or cartoon? According to Telegram, the character sold 35 million novels and was on the New York Times Best Seller list dozens of times.

5e tried to make a course-correction. In the rulebooks, you started to see names like “Bruenor Battlehammer” in rules examples instead of the generic “Tordek” and “Mialee.” Curse of Strahd was probably the strongest IP exercise, single-handedly resurrecting Ravenloft and one of the brand’s most iconic villains for millions of new players.

But even these attempts have been lacking any real teeth. Ravenloft eventually got an anemic “Van Richten’s Guide” fully five years after Curse of Strahd became popular, a book that lacked sufficient detail for a true campaign setting - or sufficient flavor to excite newcomers. Dark Sun remains on a shelf. Dragonlance only recently started getting attention, but even those books have been premade campaigns pretending to be campaign settings. Spelljammer is probably their most notable effort in 5e, which actually came with multiple setting books, probably a callback to the heyday of Spelljammer (when D&D loved introducing you to new worlds).

But this isn’t about campaign setting books, though that shit contributes.

It’s more that WotC spent the past two and a half decades making D&D as generic as humanly possible, without all of the flavor and characters of their most interesting settings, and burying all of their actually valuable IP.

And now that people are looking to jump ship, the company has nothing more than branding to lean on.

I hate to say “I told you so,” but, well, shit. Turns out all those cool stories and settings hundreds of people worked on and millions of people loved had some value or whatever.

[iviarelleblr]

A Locked Tomb theory I don't think I've seen, though my tag browsing has been by no means comprehensive:

As a preface, @onefleshonepod made this reply-post recently about the population attrition in TLT possibly being because resurrection requires a ten-to-one soul loss. This does track with the fact that everyone is VERY clear that resurrection has a great and terrible cost, but I have a counterpoint. I just don't want to keep hijacking the original post they leapt off from because it's good and not at all related to this, so I'm making this its own thing.

So, after John's interludes in Harrow-Nona's dreams, I had a truly cursed thought: this wasn't the first time he resurrected them. He talks openly of modifying their memories, and what is history except the memory we choose to keep?

The objects Palamedes scries in Gideon chapter 12 are several thousand years apart in readings, despite appearing that they should be the same age. We know John's power is pretty incredible. We know he resurrected his friends at least once. But what if he kept altering the molecular age signature on the House so that they wouldn't get suspicious, but occasionally missed a spot, or got incomplete coverage every time?

Sure, we know that this set has existed for ten thousand years since the last Resurrection. We are given here the fact that Pal can't scry anything older than that ten thousand year limit accurately, under normal circumstances. But what if John put Canaan House, or the whole of Earth, into necromantic stasis after the RBs started to attack? Right around the time, say, that Alecto was put in stasis herself?

The deciding factor, for me, is that one of the things Pal scries is just fifty years old. We've already been told that nobody's been here in that time frame to the present except maybe the constructs like Teacher. They wouldn't have been leaving random young objects around in corners near the hatch to the testing area.

But that doesn't explain why some objects there might be three and nine thousand years old, when supposedly the place was only opened up after the Resurrection and closed up within about a thousand years and has sat unoccupied for the nine thousand years since.

So it is that I propose that John required at least 8000 years of resurrecting the system, losing some to attrition as the cost of the repeated efforts, perhaps 10% of the total each time. I don't know what circumstances might have led to their repeated failure, but I can't help but feel this is a viable possibility, from the way he talks about the first Resurrection, and how the events leading up to it differ from what the Lyctors told us in Harrow.

The primary evidence I can find against this amounts to "Pyrrha remembers G-'s deadname in Nona" which isn't even necessarily against my theory, if John isn't as good at memory wiping as he thinks he is, just like he's not as good at changing the age signature of Canaan House as he thinks he is.

Then, nine thousand years of stasis threw off the dating again, like if you had an object from a thousand years ago and brought it forward in a time machine, the carbon dating would be all wrong and show it to be brand new. But I feel like the population loss is down to both repeated resurrections and possibly that necromancy poisons the people in contact with it, so that all the Houses are slowly withering in population, which concentrates the necromantic power in those still living.

I think, though, that to John, the greatest cost of the Resurrection isn't the souls themselves, exactly. In part, I think it's the feeling of power as he channels it through himself and then has to let it go. In part, he still loves the Earth in his own toxic way, and burning her up slowly may, figuratively or literally, cause him pain. It's also possible that he's had a reduction in his capabilities since the first time, since he's burned off so many souls and so many of his resources. Maybe the cost of using power is realizing it's finite, and his gig is 90% done.

[stormvanari]

i bring thee a bunch of random TC facts i made:

-Beetle Milk is a variant of Spider Milk. It tastes like almond milk.

-Sonore can only sleep when there’s too much noise, such as a thunderstorm

-The reason why Darian and Loopy have similar bow ties is because the former councilor’s is a gift from Loopy. Darian’s was given after rescuing the to-be Abomination Councilor on the run from the Emperor’s Coven, who were trying to brand her.

-Adding to above, Loopy was one of the many missing (wild) witches until reappearing in post-WAD (before the Epilogue)

-With the exception of Cherry and Ilya, none of the Titan’s Councilor joined a coven

-Ilya was one of the researchers during the early stages of the sigil-removing process.

-Jerbo is still working under the Titan’s Council, even after RED stepped down from their seats

-Dracord is a BI version of Discord. The Titan’s Councilors have a private and personal server where things get a bit too silly (all 9 are there only)

-Darian’s ability is fueled by memory. He can only summon weapons he knows, including how they work. Otherwise, his tail and basilisk form are his only weapons. Darian has an assload of images of rifles in his mind

-Salty is a member, specifically a first mate, of Sonore’s “Demon Realm Expedition.” You can say they’re on the same boat (literally), and it’s evident that the two demons became friends after their first few missions beyond the Boiling Sea together

-Loopy can literally make finger puppets. As a master Abomination witch, crude appearances of witches she knows are shaped on each of her fingers, and the hair that has this can combine into two “hand (or hair, in Loopy’s case) puppets” for each pigtail

-Ilya and Cherry go way back in Talarus Institute, the former as an ex-principal and latter as one of the Healing Councilor’s students. Becoming members of the BI’s new government felt like a school reunion, but a bit awkward because Cherry’s temper...well, worsened the last time Ilya saw them before the tryouts and the school fire.

-While Ilya demonstrates apathy in the present, deep inside is a small group of emotions he tucked away after the burning of TI’s original incarnation. Those emotions began to leak out once he works with Cherry in the council, sometimes showing bits of his therapist-like side

-Yurei used to work in a similar job like that one ghost(?) demon that Eda hired to spy on Raine

-There was skepticism regarding Darian becoming an Illusion Councilor, but the basilisks’ votes helped him: *upon recognizing that pretentious voice on the crystal ball* “HE’S ALIVE????”

-Jasmine is quick at catching things flying at a speed of a bullet

-Cherry calls the fruits they’re allergic to as “shitrus”

-Ripley used to write fanfiction a lot as a track student, and she still does as an adult!

-Ripley’s a lesbian

-Yurei’s agender (applies to its corporeal form in the Ghastly Ages)

-Loopy’s aunt, who currently works as the manager of the Bonesborough Carnival, was the previous Abomination Coven Head before Darius. Thus, Loopy worked as a ringmaster and this former role made her a primary candidate for the Titan’s Council

-Yurei is described as the leader of the council, due to its no-nonsense nature

-Combining the fury of Darian and Sonore is the most terrifying combo the BI will ever see: it’s gonna be the storm of a lifetime

-A single swing of whatever Berylis wields (ex: brewball stick) can explode a griffin

-Jasmine has yet to snap

-Of all the councilors, Gus barely interacts with Loopy (hint: coulrophobia)

-Aside jazz, Sonore’s also a metal (music) fan

-Ripley originally worked as a part-time librarian

-Darian currently lives in a town near the University of Wild Magic (in order to reconnect with his old basilisk buddies)

-Jasmine has amazing survival skills. However, she slowly “withers” when exposed to snow for a long time

-Darian doesn’t know who this “Meep-0” humans have been referring him as, since they claim the stranger has a striking voice as the “floating British roomba”

-Since the rebuilding of the BI, Cherry has been going to therapy for a while. Being part of the council made them mellow out slowly.

-Ilya hates going up on slopes by foot

-Berylis technically acts like the Announcer from the SSB series (4 and U)

-If the Coven Heads represent the BLU team, then the Titan’s Council are the RED team:

Offense: Berylis (Scout), Sonore (Soldier), Loopy (Pyro)

Defense: Cherry (Demoman), Ripley (Heavy), Darian (Engineer)

Support: Ilya (Medic), Jasmine (Sniper), Yurei (Spy)

[the-haunted-office]

Shinigami Doomsday (Death Note AU)

(Image created using this picrew!)

Name: Doomsday

Age: ∞

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Biromantic, Asexual

Species: Shinigami

Abilities: Doomsday has the same abilities as any other Shinigami - she can kill humans by writing their names in her Death Note, therefore taking their remaining lifespans and adding them onto her own. Also, as a Shinigami she can see a human's remaining lifespan as well as their name. She can walk through material objects and barriers and fly. A human will not be able to see or hear her unless they have touched her Death Note. And she is essentially immortal and impervious to all harm, with the exception of the one way of killing a Shinigami - by making them fall in love with a human and killing someone for them, therefore artificially extending their natural lifespan.

Personality: Pretty similar to her main verse, Shinigami Doom is a prankster and a troublemaker. She likes to visit the human world and move things around in their homes for fun, including making them think their appliances are possessed. She does have a mean streak, though - if she doesn't like a particular human, she just may kill them out of spite.

About: I'm building her backstory as I go! Basically Doomsday just likes to have as much fun as she can as a Shinigami. Inspired by Ryuk's doings in the human world, Doomsday once ripped her Death Note in half and gave it to a human in a challenge against another Shinigami to see whose human would last the longest before they got caught or died. Doomsday won that challenge by manipulating her human into killing dozens.

Appearance-wise, she is humanoid but has the body shape of a withered anthropomorphized rabbit. Her legs are bent backwards, she has a black cottonball tail, but has clawed fingers and toes instead of pads. Her skull is completely fleshless, and her eye sockets have no eyeballs - instead, there are curved glowing white lights that look like crescent moons. She wears the mask of a black rabbit over her face, which is actually part of her face and can be removed at any time. She wears her typical silver pinstriped black three piece suit, but under that her ribcage and spine poke through holes that are ripped out of her body. Most of the time her wings are not visible, but she can sprout them at will.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT... while Doomsday's primary objective is to get your muse to use her notebook and will threaten to kill your muse (and CAN technically kill your muse) for refusing to do so, your muse can absolutely 100% at any time give up ownership of the notebook. This will cause your muse to lose all memories associated with the notebook, including Doomsday and the existence of Shinigami, and they are no longer beholden to it or its rules. Doom can throw as big of a fit as she wants, but she can do nothing about it. She must comply and take her notebook back. And although she can kill your muse out of spite, obviously godmodding is bad so she won't kill your muse - unless you want her to!

All of this to say - no matter how much pressure Doom puts on your muse to use the notebook, please don't feel pressured in our threads! I personally will not be offended if your muse gives up ownership and that ends our Death Note threads. It's how the game is played!

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tY3PsBcuPkDPWngBzNSOG?si=be33607cf9f74091

[chrysanthemumgames]

okay, so he kills plants, but how do mushrooms react to hades?

Well it sort of depends. Mushrooms are still a form of life with a growing process and they can, of course, die. Typically Hades coming into the proximity of something exerts a, let's say "death-ward" force on that thing. Mushrooms are not an exception, in the sense that their vital functions, through which they do things like absorb water and nutrients from their substratum, shut down. (Or the substratum is exhausted and there may be a profusion of mushrooms before withering and death; it really depends on the underlying circumstances of the mycelium when the force is applied; where it is in its life cycle, etc).

Were he not to contain this deathward force, then, it would kill them.

While decay and death are often closely related, he does not always cause decay; rather, this is a specific symptom of a certain mix of domains—his own native Death and some Time he acquired but does not yet have full mastery of. So certain things that thrive in circumstances of decay aren't able to "cancel" the death part or anything. Death is primary, if that makes sense.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a biologist. If this seems inconsistent with science, it probably is, mea culpa. Fortunately, the story involves magic, so there's that.)

[thatweirdguyinthebushes]

hey i don’t know if you’re still doing it but d(augustus evergreen), f, and m for the ask game? no pressure to answer, ^-^.

god i need to update augustus evergreen

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with Augustus Evergreen? I have a playlist if yall want it, but the primary ones are last words of a shooting star by mitski and seventeen by marina. F: Share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it. this one from withered!

Jack rubs at the skin over his heart like he's soothing an old wound. "I just —  it was the wedding. It was making me think about —  about life. And I think, if this is ever used, if it ever falls into the wrong hands… that's never happening again, is it?"

"It won't fall into any hands except ours."

"But —"

"Manifold. End of conversation."

"Sorry, sir." Jack is quiet for a moment. "Happy birthday, by the way."

Tubbo blinks. He checks his communicator.

Jack's right. Up there, at the top, it reads December 22nd. It's close to midnight, almost done with, but it's there.

"Oh," Tubbo says quietly. "I'd forgotten. Thank you, Jack."

Jack is silent.

I really like this one. Lots of ambience and then Jack's quiet caring despite Tubbo's horrible treatment of him.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

not at the moment, but i just posted this new marvel au!