#like on the one hand what a perfect allegory for my own difficulties with physical affection and craving and fearing at the same time

[paranorahjones]

okay y'all can make fun of me for this if you want but i had a dream last night

and i woke up wanting to CRY.

that i was basically in a fantasy novel with a whole adventuring party and everything, and myself and one of the other party members were very in love, but the problem was that this guy was basically the equivalent of a fire genasi from dnd (except he looked nothing like that) and he was quite literally extremely hot to the touch (like, painfully so) and at one point we were having a sweet moment and he tried to place his hand on my cheek but it burned me, and he felt so bad about it and very sadly said "If I loved you less, perhaps I could touch you more."

implying that the heat he gave off was amplified by how much he loved me.

[textsacc]

[01:56] セン: hi i went to study baseball. [01:56] セン: um. [01:57] セン: drawing yozora with a baseball bat is a missed opportunity. [02:00] セン: okay so maybe its for aesthetic. [02:00] セン: so [02:00] セン: thats fine [02:00] セン: but [02:00] セン: hear me out [02:00] セン: i now have opinions on yozora/sena for baseball [02:06] セン: so in baseball, theres one designated catcher, apparently, who acts as the backbone and effectively works as the leader with the most important job out of everyone, because they're the only one that gets to see the entire field and give instructions to others

that's yozora because she's club leader, and effectively club can't happen without her orders, but also because she's the smartest, schemiest person in the club, so it makes sense for her to strategize for her team. it also comes with the heavy burden of responsibility and getting hurt a lot to try and catch the ball (see ch. orion for more info)

for maximum efficiency, the catcher has to work effectively with their pitcher. the pitcher can be swapped in, usually they swap every 5 people or so, because a pitcher's work is super demanding; this means that the catcher has to know each person well enough to maximize their throw-catch rate, which essentially falls to the leader anyway, aka its still yozora-best-fit there [02:11] セン: now the pitcher usually consists of 4/5 people on rotation, so it could be literally everyone else on the team who's eligible for play (rika, yukimura, sena, kodaka) but the reason why its super important for sena to be the pitcher and for yozora to be the catcher is because of personal catchers

Because of the close mental relationship and trust that a successful pitcher must have with his catcher, a number of catchers throughout history have become preferred by pitchers on their teams, to the point that the catcher will almost always (especially during the regular season) start along with the pitcher. The catcher is then informally referred to as that pitcher's personal catcher. Personal catchers are often used for pitchers that specialize in throwing knuckleballs, due to the difficulty of catching such an inconsistent and erratic pitch.

you can theoretically swap out any pitcher during the game, sure, but you can't swap out catchers if i understand it correctly. literally anyone else on the team could be a catcher but they wouldn't have the same synergy as a leader would after they've bonded with everyone unless they did the same thing

which, technically, none of them have except for kodaka, and he sucks ass at everything to begin with, so he's not even qualified physically to do it and placing bets on him to do it would weaken the team performance significantly [02:24] セン: its like trying to get aigis instead of minato to lead the team in p3; like yeah itll work but at what cost

anyway yozora's secondary is sena in terms of performance, but since she's lacking in the social awareness department it's very difficult for her to accurately guess what her pitcher's going to do, and i'm not even going to get started on rika/yukimura if that's the case

so finally, why is sena the perfect personal pitcher?

Personal catchers are often used for pitchers that specialize in throwing knuckleballs, due to the difficulty of catching such an inconsistent and erratic pitch.

a. she's definitely wanting to throw knuckleballs. since they're almost a sure-fire way of leading the opponent batter astray, this means that all she has to do to ensure an out for the opponent team is to get her own team's catcher to just. catch shit. b. her stamina, strength and recklessness probably already add onto the effectiveness of the top -- the winning strategy here is to be as chaotically powerful as possible, which she does (see ch. orion for more details) and because it's a solo play she's allowed to go ffa instead of holding back to help her team out

c. i point out the synergy between yozora and sena in the following - i. werewolf (hotsprings) - ii. basketball (orion) - iii. romancing saga 2 (drk/pld)

tldr they're super fucking gay, but also yozora is able to go through the impossible mental gymnastics to support/hinder sena and it shows. because of how good their game rapport is even especially without communication, their tactics on the field are going to be amazing with how crazy sena's pitches will get and how yozora will do almost anything to get herself to follow through and catch them

d. sena is probably going to be able to last the excrutiating work of pitching on the field for longer than anyone expects, which means more impossible hits for the opposing team, which means a higher chance of winning the game [02:28] セン: e. as long as sena isn't the catcher (i think), she can also bat against the other team, and we know she'll be good at batting because of how much physical prowess she has. itll be especially good because the batter is the only offensive one on the field at that point of time, with everyone else on the benches as the opponent team fills up the field with defense -- she'll basically have a trip exerting herself on solo-mode if she's made to bat (which is entirely possible) e.i. also she's probably super lucky so she'll get to make a lot more successful hits than expected e.ii. yozora would probably be terrible at batting, but not to say she doesn't try -- she'll probably be one of the better batters on the team overall, but normally catchers don't take the offensive, they stay on defense (haha like a tank)

[02:29] セン: most of the reason they'd make a good battery pair just lies in c but a and b are also really good points, d and e are just if im not wrong [02:30] セン: f. yozora literally bleeds for sena i cant stress this enough (orion) so like her being the catcher is totally fucking apt because they have to be super padded to play catcher otherwise they'll be injured like 90% of the time [02:30] セン: thank you for coming to my ted talk,

[02:41] セン: hi im gonna run over some tldr quotes from butterfly soup to hammer in the idea of yozora/sena is literally perfect especially when put into the baseball allegory

(Noelle pitching) "Noelle doesn't have enough upper body strength to throw it that far."

"With a knuckleballer pitching, the catcher has to focus so hard on stopping it that runners on base will have an easier time stealing." "So basically, it's hard to throw right, it's hard to control even when it's done right, and it's punishing if you miss." "Knuckleball is the pitch of someone with nothing left to lose."

- The ball ricochets off Liz's mitt and catches her bare hand, striking her thumb at a painful looking angle. - Liz's thumb has turned a swollen purple. "Are you okay?" "I'll live..."

"I chose it because... uh.... it's hard to catch." "So Diya has to be the one to catch it. Since it'll hurt everyone else." "Diya's immune to it because she's special."

"Is it really that surprising? Diya (catcher) has always been good at sports." "No, but you don't understand! This goes beyond being 'good at sports'!" [02:58] セン: "A lot of knuckleball pitchers end up having one catcher who specializes in catching that pitch just for them. They're called personal catchers. The two of them get traded together, as a set. It's like a weird baseball marriage." "I should learn how to throw a knuckleball, and you can catch it for me!" "Wait, but didn't they just say it's really hard to catch?" "So what? You're like a baseball goddess!"

(Min, as pitcher) "I don't need anyone. I'll do everything all by myself. I'll become so happy and successful that everyone who was ever bad to me have to beg on their hands and knees for me to forgive them."

[alittletournesol]

Inferno {JongKey} part 1/10

foreword ; chapter 1 ; chapter 2 ; chapter 3 ; chapter 4 ; chapter 5 ; chapter 6 ; chapter 7 ; chapter 8 ; chapter 9 ; epilogue.

Chapter 1: Prisoner

The angel gathered all the memories that preceded his awakening in this jail, but the things he remembered were fragmented. He could only see his leaving from Heaven to the mortals’ world as he was accompanied by some other angels like him. Then, it was a black hole.

The only thing he knew at that instant was that it was a necessity to escape this place, not to say a matter of life or death. The forced presence of an angel in Hell couldn’t be a positive sign, however, he had to hide any kind of panic or weakness from infernal eyes : he had been taught this way.

If he was Lucifer’s prisoner, he had to prepare for the worst.

Since the Lord of Darkness had been brought down milleniums before, marking the victory of the good against the bad, there was no doubt that he was pondering his revenge. His slyness was limitless, so the angel didn’t feel surprised at all by his abduction ; he only felt offended since he hadn’t been able to defend himself better.

However, he chased this thought away as quickly as possible because he had been taught that failing wasn’t something to take with anger or disappointment. “Failure is only the opportunity to accomplish the things in a better way” the Archangel had told him once, as he had lost a fight training against one of his brothers. Nevertheless, he didn’t forget any of his defeats, only doing his best to hide this trait an angel shouldn’t develop : pride.

This pride that was boiling through his veins overstepped his wish to remain calm and made him pull his own wrists and ankles as he tried by any means to free them from those chains. The racket he was doing resounded so much in the jails that it was impossible that no one heard him. That was perfect, that was what he wanted : to be noticed.

He let a broken scream escape his throat as he pulled harder but a loud laughter interrupted him, making him look up with his eyes widening. The angel instinctively bent his knees to adopt a defensive position, looking everywhere to catch the noise’s origin. But it seemed like this evil laughter… came from everywhere. It was resounding in the entire jail but also in the prisoner’s mind, making him frown and lower his head.

“So, you finally decided to honor us by waking up ?”

A loud and deep voice came from nowhere, making the walls tremble and the corridor’s candle’s flames almost die. The angel raised his head and waited a few seconds before a huge blaze appeared in front of him. The burning flames were so close to his body that it forced him to kneel to avoid this infernal heat. Sweat ran down his face and torso, tracing some furrows on the dirt that was covering it.

The spectacular fire slowly vanished to make way to a tall silhouette, a man made of dry lava. His skin was dark brown, almost black, and it was dug with red and orange lines that reminded of the way a volcano’s floor cracks when it erupts, letting hot liquid lava spring from it. That was it, he was a volcano threatening to explode at any time. But the most terrifying wasn’t his body, it was his head. It was large, and the angel could make out a huge mouth full of fire and two piercing eyes that looked like two powerful flames.

The climax was the two massive horns that sprung from his forehead’s sides, making him imposing and truly dreadful. When he saw the angel’s look, he suddenly bursted into an evil laughter, throwing his head backwards as his flaming throat seemed to explode just as his blazing scars.

He was the Lord of Hell, Lucifer in person. Most of people would have screamed, fainted or begged for mercy in front of him. But not an Angel.

“Ahh, you make me laugh.” The Lord said as he pretended to whip a tear. “I didn’t know an angel, I mean, a soldier in God’s service, could be that dirty. You’re just His dog in reality, a truly dirty dog.”

The angel didn’t answered, he only stared at his enemy with fury in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he slowly stood up, his arms and legs spread at their maximum to help me not to loose his balance. His chains were tensed up, but he tried to ignore them.

“How does it feel ?” Lucifer asked, overhanging him with his whole flaming body. “How does it feel to be a prisoner, you, a soldier ?”

“I won’t stay here for long, be assured of that.” The angel finally answered, his voice low but not less firm.

“Oh, I see ! You think you can escape my world this easily ?”

“There is no world I can’t escape from.”

“Well, I’m not afraid to bet. You’re being way to harsh, is it because of fear ?”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Not afraid, my ass. You’re sweating like a pig only by looking at my impressiveness. See, I will be a good host and turn into something that looks more like you. It will be easier to talk this way, don’t you think ?”

Saying those words, Lucifer smirked and raised his huge hands to make fire emerge from both his own body and the floor, engulfing him. The angel frowned again and looked away in order not to feel the burn on his skin, but when the flaming tornado started to reduce, he turned his head towards it. The Lord’s body was slowly shrinking until it got a human size, and when the flames vanished around him, the divine creature couldn’t help but frown.

It was the first time he was seeing Lucifer under a human form. And as the allegory of temptation he was, his physique was perfectly beautiful. His face was flawless and symmetrical, with a pale skin and two dark orbs circled by big lower eyelids. His fleshy lips were smirking and it was enough to understand who he really was ; the Devil. In order to emphasize his dark appeal, he was wearing an entire black suit that matched his black styled hair.

He was the darkness themselves, no wonder that mortals fell in his traps so easily if he appeared as this deathly beauty in front of them.

“Fine, now we’re alike.” He said as he adjusted his cufflinks. “I have to confess that I love this human form, I can smell my own sex-appeal.”

“So… this is the Lord of Hell.” The angel stated, raising an eyebrow as a provocation. “Maybe we overestimated you all this time, in the end.”

“Oh, you want to play to the most provocative with me ? Tsk, you chose the wrong opponent. But let’s go back to business, right ? I won’t beat around the bush, I want you to tell me how to invade my dear enemy’s world.”

“I beg your pardon ?”

“No need to be that formal, how cute you are for an angel soldier. Let me repeat it, but don’t miss it twice ! I want you to tell me how to invade the Heaven.”

“I thought I misheard the first time, but it seems I didn’t. My apologizes, I can’t help you.”

“Aha ! I don’t think you can’t. I think you don’t want to tell me, and I understand that ! After all, you’re the good, I’m the bad, all that shitty stuff we all know, blah blah blah. But don’t worry. I will make you talk.”

“Don’t be that sure. I’ve never been really talkative.”

“I have to admit a thing. Among all the angels I ever met… you’re certainly the one with the biggest pride. Isn’t it forbidden for a creature of God to be that proud ? I could bet you’re one of my own kind.”

“I would choose death instead of being part of your people.”

“And that’s logic, since you’ve been taught this way. What a pity, there is no possible dialogue… Let’s move to the physical talk then !”

Lucifer smiled and snapped his fingers, the noise it made resounding against the jail’s walls. No sooner said that done, three gorgeous female creatures appeared, circled by fire. The angel had learned the different species that lived under the Earth, and he didn’t have any difficulties to recognize what he had in front of him : Furies.

They were known for their lethal beauty, but someone unaware of their true identity would certainly fall in their traps. The three of them had a human form, their bodies shaped at perfection and dressed with black leather’s clothes that let their chest, stomach and thighs being seen. Their long black hair were running like waterfalls on their back and surrounded their beautiful and sharpened faces.

But their red irises matching their lipstick couldn’t lie.

“May I introduce my best soldiers ?” The Lord said, slowly walking behind the women as he put his hand on their left shoulder when he named them. “Here is Hate, then Revenge, and last but not least, Tenacious. My darlings, I promised you an angel, so here he is.”

Saying this, he raised his hand to caress one of the women’s cheeks and blew a kiss to the others before he stepped backwards.

“How do you find them, angel ?” He then said, his eyes staring back at the prisoner.

“Charmless.”

“Let’s see if you find this charmless, you son of a bitch.” The middle woman spat as a leather whip appeared in her hand.

The angel’s eyes just had the time to notice the swords and the mace in her sisters’ hands before a harsh pain hit his arm as the whip’s crack was still resounding. The women took it as a signal and they started to hit him, mercilessly cutting his skin and breaking his bones. The prisoner couldn’t help but scream because of pain, unable to protect himself nor to answer the relentless attacks on his locked body.

He could feel his skin being ripped here and there, he could smell his own blood as it was running down his body from the dozens of wounds. He could hear his bones break, his legs and arms loosing their joints just as his rib cage. His screams could be heard beyond the Furies’ laughters, and they were resounding in the whole infernal world.

Watching the scene from behind, Lucifer was smirking as he rubbed his chin. He even bit his lower lip when the angel spat on one of his women, the Furie responding to it with a mace smack right on his shoulder, breaking it. After a few minutes of pure torture, the Lord snapped his fingers once again and the Furies stopped any movement, stepping backwards as they put their weapons on their back.

The angel fell on the floor as soon as he got released, his body covered with blood, dirt and bruises. His breath was panting and rough, his lungs and throat hurting him at each inhalation. Going down on a knee before him, Lucifer sighed and caught him by the jaw, forcing him to raise his head and making him moan with pain.

“I know you will recover from each wound you got.” He said, his voice dreadfully deep and soft. “Will you tell me what I want to hear or should I ask my darlings to break your bones once they’re reattached to each other ?”

“G-Ghh…”

“Excuse me ? I didn’t understand. You should speak louder.”

“G-Go in Hell.”

The angel opened his eyes as he said those words, and his usually golden irises had turned dark brown, almost black.

“Oh, where did your angelic eyes go ?” The Lord of Darkness laughed before he threw the angel’s face on the floor. “I love this, did you notice it, darlings ? Once you broke an angel’s body, its gold eyes turn to human brown ones. Weak eyes.”

As he stood up and dusted his suit, Lucifer laughed and stepped backwards, staring at his prisoner with flames in his eyes.

“I’m already in Hell, and better than that, I am Hell.” He said, his voice becoming loud and resonating as his body was surrounded by fire. “We’ll come back later and you must talk.”

Proclaiming his threat, he disappeared in his blaze, the Furies vanishing with him.

The angel coughed and didn’t make any move, closing his eyes. He could feel his body slowly recover already, his bones fixing themselves and tying to each other as his cuts were starting to stitch and his bruises fading. As soon as his ribcage got back to its rounded form, he took a deep breath, his lungs being fulfilled with air again.

His eyelids found the strength to lift, and he only saw stones and dirt in front of him. Sighing, he did the only thing he could do at that moment : he waited for the next fight.

When the blaze appeared in the middle of the huge royal quarters, the two young humans quickly stood up from the sofa that was placed in front of a tremendous fireplace. They ran to stand before the living fire, looking at each other with something that mixed fear and apprehension then staring at the flames. When these disappeared by flying to the fireplace, joining their sisters, Lucifer’s body came out, making them shiver.

“Master.” The young men said as they bowed together.

“Ah, darlings. Just the men I need !”

The master smirked as he approached them, snapping his fingers to make them straighten up. During a few seconds, he only stared at them, observing their faces. They were almost the same height, despite there were two years between them, but the only thing they had in common was the almond shape of their eyes. It was that same shape Lucifer had chosen himself when he was under his human form.

The elder among the two humans was tall and thin, and his skin was pure white. His face seemed to have been shaped by some divine entity and his black hair created an edge contrast with his skin. The tempting detail of this face was a small cut on his right eyebrow, a scar that the Lord found truly attractive.

The younger’s face was more… angelic. Unlike his mate, he had good cheeks and he looked like a child with his long auburn hair that fell on his fragile shoulders. His irises were light brown and always filled with a submissive fear ; he would always stand a step behind the other man, who had develop that habit of slightly spreading his arm to… protect him ?

“What is it with those eyes ?” Lucifer asked. “Did you see a ghost ? Key ?”

“No, Master, it’s just that… You are human.” The elder named Key answered, bowing right after he said that as he seemed to wait for a punishment.

“Oh, that. Yeah. Stand up straight, I won’t do anything to you, seriously. Am I that bad to you ? Uh ? Taemin ?”

“N-No, Master…” The ginger said, his trembling voice making the Lord smirking.

“Fine. I am bad only when you deserve it, but you’re both really obedient, aren’t you ?”

He slowly approached Key’s face, caressing his cheek with the back of his hand. The young human stayed still as his friend was looking at the situation with stress in his eyes. The last time their master had caressed his cheek this way, he had slapped him right after.

“Aren’t you ?” He repeated, pushing the thin chin upwards with his finger.

“We are, Master.” Key answered, his eyes meeting his.

“Good. And to answer you, I am human because I just met an angel.”

Taemin couldn’t avoid an exclamatory cry to escape his throat when he heard the last word, and Lucifer laughed while walking towards the pedestal table. There was a bright Baccarat crystal half-filled with whisky placed on its center, along with a short but large glass next to it, and the master poured himself some of the alcohol. He ignored the water carafe and caught his glass, drinking it pure.

Keeping quiet, he headed to the huge armchair before the fireplace and sat down, crossing his legs in a terribly sexy but manly way. That was how Lucifer was : always chic and tempting. After all, it was after his name that mortals created the expression “agent of the devil” !

“You heard me well, I met an angel.” He said after he drank a mouthful of whisky, emptying the glass and handing it towards the humans.

“Is it true, Master ? Did you really capture an angel ?” Key asked as he ran to the table, catching the baccarat and coming back to serve the Lord.

“Did you doubt ?”

“O-Of course not ! I mean… I just heard some whispers about it, I wasn’t sure if it was true. But I wouldn’t doubt of your competences.”

“You better do. Yes, we captured an angel, we only have to make him talk now.”

“Make him… talk…?” Taemin repeated, staying a few step far from his master.

“He’s not on holiday, what do you think ? Ah, Key, I thought you would teach him better than that. I’m disappointed.”

Key swallowed with difficulty as his friend gasped, fearing for him. But since he was in Lucifer’s service for a longer time now, the raven haired human knew when his master was joking. And at that moment, the smirk he made couldn’t lie.

“Don’t worry, Master, he’s a slow learner but he will know everything he needs to know soon.” He assured, giving the smirk back.

“I like that.” The master said before he drank down in one. “So, where was I ? Ah, yeah, I was going to ask you a favor.”

“A… favor, Master ?”

“Yeah, you heard it right. You see, the way we make our prisoners talk is a little bit… how to say it… messy. You serve me well, so I will allow you to do something else from now on.”

“I will do as you wish.”

“I hope so. During our hostage’s sojourn in our place, I want you to go to him after each… talk, that I will have with him. You will clean him, I hate dirtiness.”

“But what if he doesn’t let me approach him…?”

“Did you say “but”, Key ?”

“Y-Yes Master, but I didn’t oppose your order…! I’m just afraid not to be able to do my work if this angel doesn’t let me do it.”

“If he shows some reluctance, just call for help with your collar. I will send you one of the Furies to make him yield.”

Key nodded but couldn’t help but go pale ; he was truly afraid of these three fatal women, and he would always do everything he could to avoid them. The one with the whip was haunting his nights and often made the only rest time he had turn into a nightmare. No way, he would handle things alone even is he had to die from it.

“Well, you can go, he’s in the last cell.” Lucifer said, putting his hand in his suit jacket to take a key out of his inside pocket, handing it to his servant. “I will stay with Taemin. Darling, sit on the bed and take your clothes off.”

“Now ?” The oldest human raised his eyebrows, taking the key as his eyes followed his young friend who was slowly walking towards their master’s king size bed.

“Yes, he must have recovered from his wounds now. Stand straight, arms along your body and close your eyes. Take your time, and don’t you dare free his wings.”

Gulping but without showing any fear, the human obeyed and felt a heat wrapping his body. Flames were rising from the floor and surrounding him, following the rhythm of Lucifer’s hand slowly going upwards. Key was waiting for a strong pain because of burn, but nothing happened ; he just felt as if he had been wrapped in a thick sheet and when he opened his eyes with curiosity, he only make out the quarters vanishing, his young friend staring at him, half naked on the bed.

When the flames disappeared, the human found himself holding a heavy bucket in a hand and some pieces of clothes in the other, in a huge corridor of which walls and floor were made of large and irregular stones. All along the walls, there were countless doors with only a small barred opening on their top part, and between each door, a candelabra with three weak candlelights was stuck in the stones.

It was the first time he was somewhere else than in his master’s quarters and he couldn’t help but shiver, facing this wing of Lucifer’s manor : the jails. Screams and husky moans could be heard from each cell and Key walked with cautiousness all along the corridor until he ended up in front of the last cell.

It was the biggest room of the jail and it was connecting the left cells with the right ones, but it was also used as a torture chamber. No wonder why the angel had been brought here and not in a normal cell… Gathering all his courage, Key approached the door and tip-toed to reach the opening with his head. It was so dark inside since the candles had been blown, he couldn’t see anything.

“Fine… Let’s do it…”

After he whispered some cheering words to himself, he made the black key enter the door’s lock, and turned it with a metallic clack. The door opened with a dull grinding noise and the human’s heart started to pulse faster as he entered the cell, carefully closing behind him. He then walked along the walls to reach the extinguished candles and he put his trembling pale hand on the candelabra’s base.

That was his only power in Hell : as soon as his skin touched the cold metal, flames emerge from the candles. He couldn’t create unlimited fire nor he couldn’t control it, but his master had allowed him to always be able to light something with only his touch. This way, he wouldn’t spend hours trying to grow a fire like he had used to do when he had had to with the quarters’ fireplace.

He lighted the three candelabras of the room and inhaled deeply before turning over, his back stuck to the wall. A few meters from him, there was… a man. Key’s eyes opened wide. He didn’t feel disappointed or whatever, but he was truly surprised by that so human aspect this angel had. Was he only an angel ?

The man in front of him was crouching, his head lowered and his body only covered by a dirty kind of rag. He couldn’t see his face but the candles’ light helped him to make out the chains linked to metallic large bracelets that were circling his wrists and ankles. Putting the bucket on the floor, the human slowly made a step forwards and slightly leaned his body towards the prisoner in order to see him better.

He almost threw up when he made out the reddish color of the body and cloth. Blood. This so called angel was completely covered with dry blood and… dirt. Key couldn’t even see what was his skin color nor his hair color.

“H-Hey, you.” He called, his voice almost stuck in his throat because of apprehension. “Do you hear me ?”

Since he received no answer, he made another step towards the prisoner and called him again. Only silent answered him, and he frowned as he approached closer. Was he dead ?

“Hey, will you ans-AAH !”

Key jumped backwards as a scream of fear escaped his mouth, and he heavily fell on the floor. As fast as he could, he moved on his bottom to retreat against the wall, his breath panting. Facing him, two golden orbs were staring at him as the other man had just tried to jump to his throat, surprising him and almost causing him a heart attack.

“ARE YOU MAD ?!” The servant shouted, his voice still trembling because of fear. “IS THIS HOW YOU GREET PEOPLE ?!”

The angel suddenly raised an eyebrow as he sat up straight, making Key frown. What ? Did he have something on his face for him to stare at him this way ?

“W-What ? You just tried to kill me and now you’re giving me that intrigued look ?” He asked.

“What are you ?”

“Excuse me ?”

The golden irises seemed to reduce as the prisoner raised his hand with a chain noise, pointing at Key.

“What are you ?” He asked once again.

“Alright, so first, lower your finger.” The servant said, letting a small sarcastic laugh out before standing up. “Because you’re an angel doesn’t mean that you can disrespect me, understood ?”

“I-I beg your pardon ?”

“Yeah, you better do. I can’t believe it.”

The angel frowned as he stared at the intruder. Who was this arrogant person that came to disturb him ? And what was this kind of… human costume ? The only Lucifer’s minions who could have a human form were…

“Are you a Furie ?” He asked as he tried to stand up.

“Wow, wow, stay still ! Sit, sit !” Key said loudly as he stepped backwards, his arm extended before him to protect himself. “If you try to jump on me again, I will throw the whole bucket on you, do you hear me ?”

“You seem too fearful to be one of them…”

“Wait, are you assimilating me to those atrocious women but not women ? Do I look like them ? I mean, seriously ?”

“If you’re not a Furie, then what are you ?”

“How the fuck can’t you recognize a human ? Don’t you watch us from above sometimes ?”

The angel’s eyes widened as he stared with shook as the raven haired male. A… human ? A simple human ?

What was a human doing in his cell with a bucket for God’s sake ?

chapter 2

[thesocialrevolutionnaire]

Cognitive Dissonance, Irrationality and the Obstruction of Knowledge & Truth

Something I feel that religious people in particular, (especially fundamentalists) need to be aware of, is this thing called cognitive dissonance (a term coined by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger). It’s an incredibly uncomfortable feeling of psychological stress, caused by the upholding of two or more conflicting beliefs, ideals and/or values simultaneously. It typically occurs when one is presented with new information that directly contradicts with what they already deem to be true. I know this because I’ve personally experienced it myself (even now still to this day) back when I was going to church and actively practicing (there’s a reason why it’s called ‘practicing’) my faith in the Christian god of the holy bible. But it was actually one of the things that encouraged me to get to a place of self-reflection and critical thinking. Without it, I would most likely still be as lost as I was then; but then again perhaps not actually, come to think of it. I would probably be amongst the rest of the religious community going about my life in ignorance to the truth, and completely void of any kind of logic or reasoning. And the most retarded thing, is that I’d no doubt be happier and more carefree for it too. See I constantly fell into the trap that I feel every religious person falls victim to; the pursuit of happiness and comfortability over the much more noble, significant and seemingly never-ending search for knowledge and truth. But don’t get me wrong, I can understand why people do this. The prospect of having to navigate, for the most part alone, through an existence as complex and fragile (and at times just downright bizarre and confusing) as ours, is really quite daunting. Now allow me to quote some scripture for the purposes of providing some context to my argument:

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

What we have here is an attempt at trying to assert that seeking god resembles a path that is narrow and hard to tread, but if you’ve ever met a Christian; better yet, if you’ve ever been a Christian; better still, if you in fact are a Christian, then it’s much more inferential that the opposite applies, that is in terms of difficulty. But the path can remain narrow due to the limited and restrictive nature of having to conform to the systems of belief inherent within all religious pursuits.

Now I’m not here to spout snobbish remarks as some of you may be thinking right now (rather it’s the ones that spout rhetoric, double-talk and religious propaganda that you need to worry about) I genuinely feel that it’s my duty or purpose to speak out against irrationality, and to explore and identify precisely what it is that causes us to feel so lost and powerless – to the point that we just throw our hands up (quite literally in some cases, depending on which denomination tickles your fancy) turn to an imaginary friend, and then proceed to give ourselves up, rendering us even more helpless, lest our illusive and sometimes even malefic (once again depending on which god you think is bigger and better) shows us mercy and grants us an eternal life that I believe well and truly exists outside of this seemingly physical (it isn’t, as quantum mechanics has been quietly discovering bit by bit over the years since its inception) plane of existence. Whew! That was a mouthful!

Based on the information I have presented here, I can deduce that the very source of doubt and uncertainty we struggle with in regards towards the beliefs and faith we may have in god, can be attributed to cognitive dissonance. It’s one of the things that I feel woke me up to the realisation that god does not exist; only human thought and inspiration, as these are obviously extremely powerful things in the universe. They shape our perceptions of the very fabric of reality and our existence – a perfect example of this being Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave‘. Hell, even just watch ‘The Truman Show‘ or ‘The Matrix‘, as the themes explored in these films are similar in nature to those represented in Plato’s (and even other philosophers’) attempts to explain the nature of reality; and it might also be easier to comprehend it that way solely due to the fact that the format is easier to consume. Plus they are also both great films in their own rights, so enjoy; and good luck to you in your (hopefully) new-found pursuit of knowledge and truth!