#he doesn't consider himself good or evil and moves forward according to what he believes in

[saras-devotionals]

Quiet Time 3/11

What am I feeling today?

Just really wish I wasn’t awake right now. I was struggling to fall asleep last night and I only got a few hours of actual sleep. And my cat have been meowing and scratching at my door for about two hours now and I wish she’d just give up because I’m so so tired. I’m also back in school and this week is just going to be so hectic and I’m just not looking forward to it. I just feel like crying and giving up.

Bible Plan: healing what’s hidden

Holding on to Hope

God doesn’t operate as humans do. He uses the foolish to shame the wise. He makes a no-name shepherd into a king. He lets the last go first. He prays for his enemies. He turns the other cheek. He overcomes evil with good. He defeats death itself by submitting himself to death. And he births hope out of suffering.

Yeah you gotta admit, but human standards, God operates in a really weird way that most of us struggle to understand.

Don’t give up. Keep holding on to hope because God is faithful to provide it and because you are not alone in the struggle. Trauma may have been what brought you here, but soon enough, God’s redemptive love for you will take you to places so rich with joy and purpose you can’t even imagine them yet!

Right on time with the last thing I wrote was that I want to give up, isn’t it cool God can work like that? That He’s just always aware and gives His word in such a timely manner? Yeah He’s pretty awesome and just mind boggling and insane to fully comprehend.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

The formula this passage gives us: suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. Of all the ways we’d expect hope to be produced, suffering wouldn’t have been at the top of the list. And yet, here we see that it is the unlikely place where hope is actually found. And you know what, it makes sense, because what would call for the need of hope if we didn’t suffer at some point?

Ephesians 3:20 NIV

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,”

Yeah that’s so true and sometimes I forget it when things don’t always go my way. God is literally all powerful, like insanely so. And sometimes I can be selfish with that, asking for things for me when really I don’t deserve anything. Why should He give me what I ask for? There’s no reason! But all the more reason to be grateful when He does!

James 1:2-4 NIV

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

We all know there are no quick fixes to trauma. It’s going to take patience and grit but do. not. give. up. What does he mean by “let perseverance finish its work”? I’m inclined to believe that he meant something like this: Don’t give up when you’re already partway there. Don’t let it all be for nothing. Yes, the pain is awful, but if you keep moving forward, it will mean something someday. Somehow, this terrible experience will be recycled for something good even though it doesn't make sense right now. And I really do believe that from past experiences. We don’t go through things without reason, trust that it fits in the plan some way down the road.

[dragon-kazansky]

A rose in shadows - Chapter two

Chapter 2- John's getting married in the morning

John enters the flat after giving Gladstone a nice walk. He lets the dog off his leash once the door is closed behind him and he stand to his feet, tucking the leash away.

"Mrs. Hudson?"

There is no response.

"Oh, Mrs. Hudson?"

Still nothing. He goes up stairs and knocks on the door with his cane.

"Holmes? You in there?"

It's silent. He opens the door and lets out an amused laugh as he sees the whole room is surrounded in plants. This is of course Sherlock's doing.

"Your hedge needs trimming." John jokes.

Watson pushes some leaves to the side with his cane and enters the room. There are plants in every direction. He cannot see anything at all.

"Where am I?" He hears an airy whisper through the trees.

"I don't care where you are, as long as you're ready." John comes to an opening and some turkey's gobble to his right. He looks at them.

"I'm waiting." Sherlock's whisper breaks out.

John turns to the window and sees Sherlock looking out the window, or at least, it's supposed to seem like he is. Even John can see it's a dummy in Holmes' clothes.

"I'm not going to play this game. Remember, I have to catch the last-" A dart hits him in the shoulder. John looks over his shoulder to see it, then raises his eyes over to the animals gathering on the opposite of the room. There is a goat with the turkey's now. "-train."

"Oh, that's you dead I'm afraid." Sherlock says.

"You win." John sits down with a newspaper, sounding as unenthusiastic as possible. A parrot flies across the room. John scans the trees for any sign of the mad man. "I lose. Game over."

Sherlock shoots another gun which pierces through the newspaper that John was holding up.

"Still don't see me."

John folds the paper down and looks ahead.

Sherlock laughs and moves away from the wall. He is wearing a full body suit that blends in with the pillar and bookshelf across from where John is sitting. He was very well hidden. He removes the mask when he stands in front of Watson.

John doesn't look impressed.

"I'm not going out with you dressed like that."

"Would you prefer I joined you in the fashion faux pas of wearing fine military dress with that heinous handmade scarf... clearly one of your fiance's early efforts?"

"Oh, how I've missed you, Holmes."

"Have you? Why?" Sherlock leans in close to him. "I've barely noticed your absence. Then again I'm knee-deep in research and I have Y/N for company." He turns his back to John as he looks around the room. "I'm extracting fluids from the adrenal glands of sheep and designing my own urban camouflage. All the while verging on a decisive breakthrough in the single most important case of my career, perhaps of all time." Sherlock leans in again.

The leaves by the door rustle.

"Mrs. Hudson, Y/N, how are you both?"

You follow the landlady into room.

"Oh. Oh, I'm so pleased to see you, Doctor." Mrs Hudson says. "Thank you for inviting me tomorrow."

"And thank you for looking after Gladstone." John stands up to greet you both.

"It's good to see you, John." You step over and smile at him. He returns the favour. You don't miss how Sherlock rolls his eyes beside you both.

"Dear, dear... sickly sweet nanny, might I have a word?" Sherlock takes a step toward Mrs. Hudson. He pulls the cloth which was on the tray Mrs. Hudson was carrying. It reveals mice trapped under a clear case. "Yummy. Fess the snake, woman."

"You feed it."

"Touchy, touchy." He takes the tray from her and backs away slowly.

"Doctor, you must get him to a sanatorium." She pleads with John. You chuckle quietly as you remove the dart from his shoulder. "He's been on a diet of coffee, tobacco, and coca leaves." Mrs. Hudson explains. "He never sleeps." You nod at Watson as he looks at you. "I hear multiple voices as if he's rehearsing a play."

"Leave him to me." John chuckles.

"Don't you have a goat that needs worming?" Sherlock asks, popping up behind Mrs. Hudson.

"Oh, how kind of you to remind me." Sarcasm drips from every word. "So much to look forward to. What would I do without you?" She turns and leaves. "Good luck with your patient, Doctor." She calls over her shoulder.

"Why are you here?" Sherlock asks.

You look Sherlock dead in the eye.

"He's getting married tomorrow."

John stares at Sherlock.

"Oh! Embrace me." Sherlock pulls him in to an awkward hug, he pulls out the dart which was still in John's back. "Watson's getting married."

"You've lost a few pounds, Holmes."

Sherlock steps back. "Yes, you've picked them up, noshing on Mary's muffins, no doubt." John chuckles. "Pour us a brandy. The stag party has begun!"

"I'll leave you two to it then, shall I?" You chuckle and gather your coat which has been draped round the back of a chair.

"It was good to see you, Y/N." John smiles and kisses your hand before letting you turn to the door.

"Yes, you too. Do try to keep out of trouble Sherlock, and John, don't drink too much." You smile at the boys. Sherlock barely spares a glance your way and John nods at you before looking at his best friend with a furrowed gaze. You leave them be.

 Sherlock disappears behind the curtains that had been drawn closed, closing off the other side of the room.

"It is our last adventure, Watson. I intend to make the most of it."

John opened the curtains and found himself face to face with something completely different from the rest of the room.

Diagrams, maps, photos, newspaper clippings and other notes handwritten by Sherlock himself, were all pinned up on the wall leaving no space at all. Red string was pinned up across each piece, connecting everything one way or another. This is Sherlock's investigation on Moriarty.

"I see you've made good use of my old office." John comments.

"Do you like my spider's web?"

"Is that what you call it?"

"That's what Y/N called it, I just stick to her ideas." Sherlock peeked out from behind the screen he had gone to get changed behind. "Follow that strand."

John follows it.

"Question: What do a scandal involving an Indian cotton tycoon, the overdose of a Chinese opium trader, bombings in Strasbourg and Vienna, and the death of a steel magnate in America all have in common?"

John follows the strands to see they all point to a photo of a man.

"Well, according to your diorama, Professor James Moriarty."

"Indeed."

"Mathematical genius. Celebrated author and lecturer."

"Boxing champion at Cambridge, where he made friends with out current Prime Minister." Sherlock states.

"Do you have any evidence to substantiate your claim?" John asks.

Sherlock chuckles as he steps out from behind the screen. He grabs a strand and follows it down to the wall near him where an article is pinned to the wall.

"This."

John steps over and looks at it. Beside the column was a photo of a man, above read 'DR. HOFFSMANSTAHL'S FATAL HEART ATTACK.'

"Now do you see?" Sherlock asked.

"Dr. Hoffmanstahl's death?"

"Yes. I've heard you speak of him, extolling his virtues." Sherlock says.

"Hoffmanstahl was at the forefront of medical innovations, a true pioneer."

"Just the other day, I averted an explosion that was intended for him."

"Says he died of a heart attack." John looks at the paper.

"Has all my instruction been for naught?" Sherlock looks at John disappointed. If it was you he was talking to, you would have understood right away what he was getting at. In fact you had been. "You still read the official statement and believe it." It's a game, dear man, a shadowy game." Sherlock poured a drink. "We're playing cat and mouse, the professor and I. Cloak and dagger."

"I thought it was spider and fly?" John looked at him and then down at the bottle Sherlock had put down. Formaldehyde.

"I'm not a fly, I'm a cat."

"Not a mouse, but a dagger. You're drinking embalming fluid."

"Yes.  Care for a drop?" Sherlock exhales slowly after drinking from his glass.

"You do seem..."

"Excited?"

"...Manic..."

"I am."

"...Verging on..."

"Ecstatic?"

"...Psychotic. I should've brought you a sedative."

"I'll give mt life to see his demise." Sherlock said. "He must be stopped before his evil machinations come to a crescendo."

"What about Y/N?" John asks.

"What about Y/N?" Sherlock bites back.

"I couldn't help but notice how.... lonely she looked when she left. I thought things were going well for you both?"

"Aren't they?"

"I don't know, Holmes." John furrowed his gaze at his friend and then sighed. "Ans how will he do all this?" It was clear Sherlock wasn't in the mood to talk about you, perhaps you would talk to him later.

"Don't be a dingy bird. Bad people do bad things because they can." Sherlock was more interested in talking about Moriarty right now. "No one, not the victims, the police, the governments, not anyone..."

"Except the great Sherlock Holmes..."

"Correct."

"...On this diet, will work it all out."

"Right."

"Or thereabouts."

"Thereabouts, not quite there."

"Here's to your good health." John raised a glass, filled with alcohol. Sherlock raised what was left of his choice of drink. "Dingy bird."

Gladstone whimpered and them dropped to the floor.

"What have you done to Gladstone now?" John goes over to his beloved dog.

"Ricinus communis. The fruit is highly toxic."

"He's barely breathing."

"What an excellent opportunity. This may be just the thing." Sherlock kneels down beside John and stabs Gladstone with a needle. The dog whines. "Sorry, do you mind terribly if I try my adrenal extract?"

"How many times are you going to kill my dog, Holmes?"

Gladstone barks as he gets up quickly off the floor and scurries off.

"Took off like a monkey from a box. I may need one of those in a few hours."

"Consider it a wedding gift." Sherlock handed over the small roll the extract had been kept in.

John made his way downstairs.

"Watson, might we use an alternative exit?" Sherlock asked. John turned on his heel and faced Sherlock who had dressed after him.

"Is there something different about you?"

"I'm under observation." Sherlock was wearing a long beard and had a pipe in his mouth, his coat was old and scruffy.

"As you should be."

"You drive."

Both men left through a different door.

Tags:

@hufflepuff-pide-honey-badger @theatricalbride @phantomofhogwarts @awyr @fandombeehive @charmed-asylum @sigynbandraoi-blog @procrastinatingmurder @madshelily @photography-to-all @sitkafay @melancholicsthings

[broken-winged-sparrow]

Alright so this is what happens when the warrior wishes to keep her child but if she doesn't then what? Is abortion condemned in the world of the Lay? Is it considered murder much like a lot of people on earth seem to believe? By the way I'm sorry If I'm tiring you with so many questions, your answers are so impressive and insightful I just can't help it.

Somehow, I knew this ask was coming.

The only time it is 100%, without argument and without doubt, on both sides of the Abyss, considered murder is when a woman is forced to miscarry or otherwise lose her child against her wishes.

Now, natural miscarriages happen, and they are accorded a great deal of respect, especially among Asmodians who, due to their generally more active and intense lifestyle, sometimes have trouble carrying to term; a lost pregnancy is treated the same there as if a born child had died of an accident, with all the same funerary rites and traditions. Only the strong survive in Asmodian culture, but that doesn’t mean the dead are not respected for their efforts. The Elyos consider a natural miscarriage as a time of grief and reflection, but they place a great deal more importance on procreation and the continuance of bloodlines, especially in the upper echelons of society, and this leads quixotically to many such Elyos blaming themselves. This is the most pronounced among the Helios, where a woman who is barren or simply has trouble conceiving and carrying a child, in a House were blood is paramount, is considered lesser than her sisters.

An Elyos woman post-miscarriage might hide away in deep-seated shame, faced with a rival arrogant enough to humiliate her for her failure to bring life into the world. An Asmodian woman post-miscarriage will simply tear that foolhardy rival’s throat out for disrespecting her passed child, presuming she can get there before her mate or family members do.

Despite it being against all sense of decency and rightness to do, sometimes enemies and rivals will attempt to harm or kill the unborn. This sort of behavior is condemned as the most foul of evils no matter from where in Atreia you hail; despite this universal outcry against it, it still happens. Soldiers strike down the innocent and hide behind the shield of duty. Jealous rivals for affections of mates slip poison or even simple herbs into drinks. Abusive mates lose control. In all of these cases, the death of the unborn against the mother’s will is viewed as murder most heinous, and the punishment for those caught perpetrating such acts is commensurately horrid. Intentionally or even accidentally causing the death of the unborn is the kind of thing that Daevas are jailed or executed for. Expulsion from society into the vast empty waste of the Abyss is considered a mercy by comparison, and one such criminals don’t deserve.

On the other side of the coin, however, we have those ladies who have found themselves with child and do not wish to be so. Viewpoints differ across the whole of Atreia and even in different regions of the same continent; there is no one true opinion on such a divisive topic, though I can give you some generalities.

In the case of children “ungently bred” - the polite, socially acceptable way to denote that a child was a product of rape - the Elyos are much more likely to keep the pregnancy, as many Elyos believe (in accordance with the huge cultural importance they set on bloodlines) that natural-born children are gifts from the hand of Aion. That said, such bastards are never allowed to forget their heritage or how they came into the world, and their mothers sometimes hold the children accountable for the sins of their father; there are too many children who are deemed unwanted in this way. Often, the only way these kids find loving homes is if they are given to another Elyos house, one where their mere presence does not evoke such terrible memories of trauma and violation. In contrast, an Asmodian who finds herself with an ungently-bred child is most likely to simply allow nature to take its course; if she miscarries naturally, then that is acceptable, but if the child is strong enough to survive and live to breathe free air, then she generally embraces it with the whole of her heart and love, and her family follows suit. Kaith is a good in-story example of such a bastard, as his brother loves him with a fierce and unwavering dedication, even while others scoff at Kaith’s ancestry.

In less violent cases - say, a mated pair find themselves accidentally expecting before they are ready to have kids, or a woman has a one-night-only tryst and has no interest in being a single mother, or a woman is physically vulnerable to the point that giving birth might put her health and life at risk - well, there are thousands of cases, you get the idea. In those instances, there are herbs that are known to cause a miscarriage if taken in large enough doses for a long enough period of time, and these herbs are commonplace enough that even a countryside maid might gather or purchase them in sufficient quantity. If a prospective Daeva mother is close friends with a healer or Cleric of requisite skill, such healers can induce a similar effect with magic. (it is worth noting that the opposite is also true, in that such a healer can sometimes prolong a pregnancy for a time if a woman’s body attempts to birth the babe too early for the child to survive outside the womb.)

All of these methods are most effective early in the pregnancy - and as any healer or Cleric worth their salt can tell very early on if a woman is with child, sometimes before the woman herself knows, as long as said woman is being regularly seen by a medic or healer of some kind, she has plenty of opportunity to end an unwanted pregnancy before the child develops. Herbalists who cater to poorer areas often provide the required herbs for a nominal or even waived fee, and registered healers, Ascended Clerics, and battlefront medics are all trained in the dispensation of these herbs, and if they have sufficient skill and magical ability, in the techniques described above.

Asmodians in specific often believe quite ferociously in a woman’s right to choose whether or not she should bear children - and few Elyos would deign to argue such a point when, to their view, by not bearing children, you are only passing up an enrichment upon your own house and thereby weakening your own position, meaning less strength of position when facing your rivals. There are no stigmas and few sanctions on induced miscarriage/abortion in Atreia as there are on Earth; the religious structures here do not translate there at all, and natural failures to thrive are unfortunately quite commonplace anyway. A loss of unborn life, no matter how it happens, is a sad occasion, but mortal women and Daevas alike lose very much wished-for babies every single day in Atreia. Not to mention that there’s a fucking war on, and in it Daevas representing hundreds of years of thought and effort and potential regularly perish. It seems silly to the Atreian way of life to get caught up over the issue when they fight every single day just to continue existing. Ain’t no babies getting born if everyone is dead.

That said, after a certain point, the above methods cease to be effective and the unborn child begins to become viable. Where this line is drawn, precisely, varies not only from region to region but from person to person; the only thing they can all agree upon is that once the pregnancy has moved forward past that point, miscarriage/abortion is no longer an option and the mother must proceed with good faith through the birth, though she is under no obligation to raise the child herself. This is sometimes seen in the case of mistresses becoming pregnant, or even fertile surrogates arranged to bear children for male heirs when their mates or wives are unable to do so; if the father persuades her to bear the child despite her reservations, he is expected to take upon himself 100% of that woman and child’s financial and social burden until she reaches term. Such ladies are generally feted as queens for the entirety of their pregnancy, and then give over the child to its father to be raised. It’s rather rare to see the mothers convinced to stay and participate even a little in the raising of these kids, but we’ve actually already seen one historical figure who was the product of exactly such a relationship - Osric Rivenstone.