#ordinal numbers for kids

[udable]

Learn Ordinal Numbers 1 to 100: Fun & Easy Guide for Hindi and Urdu Speaker | Udable

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic idea: Corporate Rivals

Bruce is really excited to hire a boy genius from a small time town. He found him by accident while scrolling through some creative writing competition past winners on various school sites. He originally wanted ideas for his own contest for the annual Wayne Young Writers Scholarship when he stumbled up Amity Parks Youth Authors.

Daniel Fenton's science fiction had won second place, and Bruce thinks he only lost due to the judges not realizing all the science of the gadgets his charaters used were real. Real, well explain and proper research. Daniel obviously knew his stuff and knew it well.

He had reached out to Daniel with a science scholarship opportunity, wanting to see what he would come up with. He gave him a basic assignment asking him to fulfill a prompt "Software or Hardware development for disabled" in either theory or model. If he created something worthwhile, Bruce would send him ten grand.

Daniel did not disappoint, not only doing the theory paper but also sending back a prototype of a pocket ASL translator. It would be an app on a phone that would have an AI watching through a camera of the person doing sign language and say out loud what the person was saying. It had a few bugs here and there, but for a high schooler, those were very impressive accomplishments.

Bruce found himself sponsoring the boy for early high school graduation. The young Fenton boy was a genius just like his parents, but he lacked proper motivation. Bruce suspected it was due to his school not challenging him enough much like Tim.

When Daniel got his diploma Bruce offered a few rid to Gotham University with the condition he would be a employee at WE. Daniel agreed under the condition it was as a proper employee and not a unpaid intern. A little daring for a kid getting already a amazing deal but Bruce liked his moxy and agreed.

Daniel Fenton was to be a worker in the RD department for WE tech in one week.

He couldn't wait to introduce him to Tim. Two young geniuses would get along swimmingly with their shared brain prowess!

______________________________________

Tim hated the new guy.

They were the same age, but everyone acted like he was amazing for finishing high school and starting university while also being a top WE reseacher and Devloper at such a young age.

Oh Tim was CEO, but as many people have whispered, he didn't graduated Highschool or have a GED so the only reason he got to be CEO was because of nepotism. Danny on the other hand got his position through hard work.

Which was ironic, seeing as the company has never done so well since Tim came on board. Their sales, PR, and production numbers all tripled because of him. Danny, on the other hand, was a sloth with little to no ambition. He didn't even work well with others! He mostly did solo projects and everyone seemed fine with that since genius "need their own space"

Tim has been networking since he was three years old, and failure to do so had always reflected badly on him and his company. He spent his entire life careful choosing his words and his actions. Even his appearance, what he wore, his hairstyle even the hand gesture when he talked, were planned before hand.

Then comes Fenton, who avoids crowds, dressed in the worst formal wear Tim has ever seen . Black jeans were not formal!- and acted like this important office was just a after school hang out spot. Now Tim was much more laid back than his board co-workers, who were all in their fifties or older, and even more relax then the mangers or superiors of lower stations but even he could not understand Fenton blaring music, bags of chips lingering everywhere and his ordination skills were none existing!

Not to mention the fact Daniel didn't believe in using computers unless he had to. His office was covered in towers of paper that he scribbled and work on! It was such a waste!

And yet, despite all of that, Daniel was rapidly becoming an asset to WE. His ASL translator app wasn't finished, but it had everyone buzzing with excitement and would be well received when it was released with Wayne Phones as a built in app.

Tim tried to avoid him as best he could least he get offended by his lack of work proper behavior

Daniel Fenton did not understand what it meant to put your all into something that you lost yourself along the way. Best to ignore him.

________________________________________

Danny couldn't stand his company CEO. Timothy Drake reminded him a little too much of the A-listers but without the bulling bit. Somehow, that made it worse.

Timothy was popular because he was well liked. He didn't need to relay on his good looks or aggression to make other yeild to him like Paulina or Dash. Even if he was ridiculously good looking to the point, Danny confused him for a siren when he met him.

He had the ability to walk into any room and take command if it. Timothy didn't even need to speak, his very presence commanded attention and awe. Not to mention how great he was at his job.

WE had always been a popular corporation but under Timothy's command they rose to one of the most important corporations in the world. Bruce Wayne was raised to run a company, Timothy Drake was born to run it. There was a large enough difference between the two that anyone could see Timothy was superior at running things.

Danny was nothing like that. He couldn't talk to people, couldn't make them like him, and often he was overlooked for his sister or his wacky but loveable parents.

He was the other Febton. The one that was there and nothing else. A few months ago he was even considered the dumb Fenton, who somehow was skipped over for intelligence.

Then he wrote a little story and everything changed.

Danny turned out to be a proper Fenton, after all, having gotten the attention of Bruce Wayne for his mind. His parents haven't been so proud of him in a long time, and he found himself accepting the job position after graduating high school early before he knew it.

Along with the job came a move to Gotham city. He went after debating it a great deal with his family and friends, but the deal was too sweet to turn down. Now he was in Gothem and he knew absolutely no one.

Danny didn't know how to make new friends here. Tucker and Sam had been the ones to approach him at the beginning of their friendships. He also was scared of getting close to his co-worker less they suspect his Phantom powers.

He knew that Metas was not welcome, and he thought Batman wouldn't care that he was technically dead and not with a meta gene.

So he focused on his work, avoiding large crowds and keeping his head down. He would turn on music to help pass the loneliness and would gater papers to write down his thoughts less they made him mad by running around his head all day.

This anxious insecurity was something Timothy Drake would never understand. He just shone like a fallen star, dazzling the masses with his neat press suits, easy charisma, and intelligent bedroom eyes. Best to ignore him.

________________________________________

Dick never really ventured to WE now that he moved out. He made a habit of trying to visit Tim every two weeks for lunch to fix this. He also really wanted to spend more one on one time with his little brother now that they reconsidled from Bruce's timeline fiasco.

He was still well known by the employees, even new ones, so when Dick arrived to the lobby he was waved in by security. The receptionists were all huddled together muttering to eachother and missed his entrance since security didn't call out to him.

Dick could tell the gossip they were talking about was juicy based on the way Lola was wiggling her eyebrows and Stacy and Isaiah's reaction.

He creeps closer to the front desk, hoping to hear something good.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Isaiah asks.

"WE doesn't have anything like that. Not since Thomas Wayne married his old PA and had Bruce. I think it's cute that Mr.Drake is following in his adoptive Grandfather's footsteps."

Dick paused, shocked. Tim liked someone at WE!?

"They aren't even dating yet, Lola"

"Yeah but you can cut the sexual tension with a- Mr. Grayson! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. How can I help you?"

Dick blinks. "Oh I'm here to see Tim for lunch. But what was that about Tim you were saying?"

The woman pales as the other two quickly become busy with some email or another.

"Oh, um, I'm so sorry, sir. I shouldn't have -"

"It's fine I don't mind a little chat between co-workers. I'm just curious"

Lola stares before nervously blurting "Rumor has it that um, Mr.Drake has a thing for Daniel Fenton"

"The new boy genius?" Dick thinks about it considering what he knows of Tim's type and his past preferences in partners before nodding "That tracks actually"

He says his thanks and hurries away to Tim's office unaware he may have confirmed a relationship between Tim and Danny.

The gossip circles in WE exploded with the news everyone careful not to let the two subjects hear a whisper.

[taffywabbit]

I touched on this during a stream last night but like. the thing that's probably really confusing about Mormonism is, if it's so wildly restrictive and puritanical and alienating, why do people actually want to JOIN the religion and claim to like it and feel that it improves their quality of life?

I've talked at length before about how, like any good cult organization, the church weaponizes rejection from outsiders and a deliberate sense of self-perpetuated othering to keep people trapped in the organization and feeling like they can't trust "the world" - they're only safe and understood and accepted within the confines of this very specific and unattractive in-group who have all been messed up in the same ways they are.

but like, as much as the statistics show that Mormons don't actually get many new converts for the amount of money and resources they spend on missionary efforts (and thus have to focus on long-term retention through the above methods, and also compelling their members to have a dozen kids who will grow up Mormon, in order to grow/maintain the church's numbers), some outsiders DO join, and some members who are more resistant to the feelings of isolation DO remain in the church out of a sincere belief that it makes them happier and more fulfilled. so like, what's up with THOSE people? how do they convince themselves this horrible restrictive lifestyle that cuts them off emotionally from the rest of society is what they actually want?

well, I'm sure there are a lot of deeper psychological factors that vary between individuals, but if you think about good old-fashioned Puritans and why THEY were so focused on the constant denial of basic earthly pleasures, you can get a little insight into this. from what I've figured out in the years since I left, a lot of this religion's supposed emotional benefits boil down to moral relativism.

most people want to feel like they're a good person, and some people have a really hard time feeling like they're a good person unless they have someone who is "worse" than them to compare themselves to. a lot of Christianity in general runs on this - the more evangelical or puritanical a sect is, the more you hear them speaking dismissively of outsiders and nonbelievers and heathens, and sometimes even talking about "purity" (ew). Granny Baker down the street could be the sweetest kindest old lady who volunteers at the food bank every Tuesday, but if she's not an avid churchgoer, especially in your particular chosen denomination, then she's still inferior to you in some meaningless intangible way and you get to feel like you're special for doing nothing. that's pretty much it! Christianity for a lot of people is just about getting to feel better about yourself without needing to improve in any actual substantial ways. you read your special book, say your prayers, sit in a church for an hour every week, never ever think any gay thoughts, and boom! you're "righteous" and god loves you, so who cares if Granny Baker thinks you're kind of a judgy asshole.

Mormons, though, take this to the next level. it's ALL about moral escalation, baby. it's not good enough to just do the basic Christian stuff - you need to prove you've joined GOD'S ONE TRUE RELIGION by being even more holy and special than any other Christians, too! they think drinking is frowned upon? well not only do Mormons NEVER drink or smoke or do drugs, they don't drink coffee or tea either! regular Christians go to church for an hour every Sunday? Mormons go for 2-3 hours, plus potentially some extra meetings if they have additional responsibilities in some kind of council or whatever, PLUS all kinds of other shit during the week to make sure they're in the church as often as possible. PLUS adult Mormons are supposed to attend several-hour ordinance sessions at a temple (those bigger fancier pointier churches that nonmembers can't enter, where all the REALLY cult-y looking stuff goes on) as frequently as they're able. regular Christians (if they're kinda old-fashioned) try not to work on Sundays? Mormons aren't supposed to do ANYTHING on Sundays besides church stuff. don't buy things, don't do schoolwork, don't go to the movies, don't listen to music that's "irreverent", etc etc... at EVERY level of this lifestyle your priority is to make sure you're extra special and holy and living a more devoted life than anyone else so you never have to question if they're more kind or benevolent or accepting or, y'know, actually Christlike than you. you follow all your little arbitrary extra rules and thus win a game that nobody else is playing.

something especially funny that non-Mormons may notice is that SOME Mormons take it EVEN FURTHER, too. not content to just do the bare minimum as set forth by the church's many councils of wrinkly businessmen in Utah, they make up ADDITIONAL personal rules for their family to live by, so they can be extra sure they never step anywhere CLOSE to being morally inferior to anyone. this is why you may have met Mormons who also say they don't drink cola or caffeinated soda or any soda at all, or who don't play video games on Sundays, or who not only don't swear but don't even say substitutes like "crap" and "dang it" and "freaking". (hey guess what! I was all of these at one point! my parents gave up on that last one after a while tho lol.)

they'll often tell you these extra house rules are part of their religion too, even though they're technically not in the books anywhere... and in a way they're not wrong, because that IS largely what Mormonism is about on a cultural level. you don't have to care about being homophobic or racist or uncharitable or various other things that come with essentially just being a Utah Republican But As A Religion, because every week you get to go to a place that praises and affirms you for being better and smarter than everyone else by following all the special little secret arbitrary rules that make you Morally Invincible and immune to anyone else's judgment.

so how does this tie into why people find the church interesting and want to join/stay? well of course, a desire to always win your internal comparisons against others goes hand-in-hand with a desire to be privy to secrets and tricks and obscure knowledge that others aren't. it's not just that Mormon beliefs can make you feel righteous - they ALSO make you feel smarter than all the other dumbasses out there who couldn't figure out that literally all you need to do to be happy is Stop Drinking Coffee and also Give 10% Of Your Income To An Organization With A $100 Billion Stock Portfolio. they entice you with the promise of teaching you stuff that everyone else is apparently just too dense to comprehend, and make you feel clever and special for recognizing the Truth. it's not just a social in-group you're being invited into, it's an EXCLUSIVE CLUB full of SECRET KNOWLEDGE with HIGH STANDARDS and only SMART COOL PEOPLE get to join! if you're going through some rough times or your self-esteem is low or you feel vaguely guilty about your life and don't know how to feel better, you are a lot more likely to be ensnared by what they promise you. (trust me! when I was a missionary they literally trained us to ask questions that would help us efficiently target those people!) and then before you know it, you're isolated inside that ecosystem, normal people find you intimidating and weird, it's hard to get back out, and the church won't leave you alone if you do. oops! aren't cults fun?

[wallterwall]

POSTAL

(2007)

By Uwe Boll

MAN:

Tower two.

Stand by.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

That's affirmative.

Congratulations, Nabi.

We are at the doorstep

of our martyrdom.

Praise Allah.

Praise him!

Soon we will be greeted

by Allah, the one true god,

and by the cheers

of our forefathers

and by 99 perfect virgins

who will worship us

for all eternity!

I thought it was 100.

What's that?

they promised me 100.

what's the difference?

If they're telling you one thing

and they're telling me another,

maybe they don't know

for sure.

Maybe.

Maybe the exact number

of virgins is not precise.

I mean, if it's in the 90s,

I can live with that.

Or 75.

Hey, I'm not greedy,

but what if it's 10?

Well...

What if it's 10, but we have

to split them between us?

Then you'll have

five more virgins

than you have right now,

right?

We're talking

about eternity here!

How long will five virgins

last you -- maybe a month?

They're not going to be virgins

for long, right?

Look, would it make

you feel better

if we called the big guy?

Yes.

Take the stick.

- Okay.

It's ringing.

Osama, yes, it's Asif.

No, we're on it.

It was fine, but security

takes forever, you know?

What are you going to do?

Anyway, look,

Nabi has a question.

Will you talk to him?

No!

[ mutters indistinctly ]

You do it!

Hello!

Yes.

Uh, it's about the virgins.

Really?

It was 100 when I signed up.

[ sighs ]

He said

it's not that many anymore.

Too many martyrs

in the first go-around.

You've got to be kidding me.

Does he know where we are here?

Give me the phone.

Take the stick.

Osama, it's Asif.

Right now, can you tell me

the number, absolutely,

that you can guarantee

Nabi and myself,

as far

as virgins are concerned?

[ pounding on door, indistinct talking ]

No, that's fine.

MAN:

Do it!

Come on, man!

He can't guarantee

more than 20.

MAN #2:

Open the goddamn door,

you bastards!

MAN #3:

We're gonna f***ing

kill you, you motherf***er!

MAN #4:

Lying pieces of sh*t!

MAN #5:

Open the door!

MAN #6:

- Open this f***er!

Screw this, right?

I'm glad you said it first.

Okay, get on the intercom

to the passengers.

We are changing course

for the Bahamas.

Bahamas!

Aah!

[ indistinct shouting ]

We're going to the Bahamas!

[ indistinct shouting ]

Aah!

[ whistling ]

[ gunshots ]

MAN:

...Has again expanded

the definition of marriage,

this time to include any union

between a man and a woman,

a man and a man,

a woman and a woman,

a man and a collie,

or a woman, a polish sausage,

and a long weekend.

The standoff with Mr. Cruise

Has now stretched

into its eighth day.

Cruise continues to insist

that police are violating

his parental

and religious freedoms,

citing human sacrifice

as essential...

Today on

"Good Morning Paradise,"

mayoral candidate Eugene Wells

joins us to talk about

the new political landscape,

and the newest toy craze

of the year --

Krotchy dolls.

Stay tuned. It's gonna be

a super-dupe show.

Turn down that f***ing TV!

I can't hear my show.

[ indistinct shouting on TV ]

Yeah,

nothing's good on anyway.

Just, uh, preparing

for my interview.

Fight!

Aw, you fight like a p*ssy.

No one's gonna hire

your sorry ass.

Why don't you go suck up

to your Uncle Dave already?

[ gagging ]

God damn it!

What the hell

is going on out there?!

Ugh.

Nothing.

Make sure you pick up

that welfare check!

Kiss, kiss,

sweetie pie...

[ speaks indistinctly ]

[ squishing ]

Come on!

Come on!

No.

Bad boy.

Bad boy.

I told you --

no poopies in our yard.

No poopies in this yard.

You only poop in

the next-door neighbor's yard.

[ gunshots pinging ]

Feces in the yard.

[ sighs ]

That's a violation

of trailer-park

ordinance number 101-40.

Stop eating the poop.

I'll add that to the list.

Th-the list?

The list. Great. The list.

W-what else?

What else

you got on the list?

Ordinance number 143-11.

Yesterday around lunchtime.

Now, I don't care what you two

do in your own bedroom,

but ordinance number 143-11

says if I hear your lewd

lovemaking after 10:00 a.M.,

I get to file a grievance

against your sorry ass,

which is

exactly what I'm gonna do!

Oh. Oh.

- Oh, okay.

Well, at least I wasn't boning

my sister, you inbred hick.

Oh, for your information,

hillbilly,

I wasn't even here

yesterday afternoon.

[ laughs ]

[ sighs ]

I hate this town.

Matt!

- Whatever!

This f***ing sucks.

And NASA,

The National Aeronautics

and Space Administration,

does not exist.

All the space missions

that we've heard about

since we were little kids

in school --

creations of Hollywood.

We did not land on the moon.

There is no John Glenn.

Well, there's a John Glenn

who's a Senator...

Hey, hello?

You, professor.

What is this,

a reading library?

Yeah, yeah.

Two minutes, buddy.

Ah, no "two minutes" now.

You buy now, or bye-bye.

Bye-dee now now.

Ah, go on, bye-bye.

Go on.

Bye-bye.

You bye-bye.

Goodbye. Goodbye.

- Hey.

Don't let the door

hit you on the way out.

Daddy, Mohammed says he needs

to talk to you again.

What about?

What else?

Okay, so, what did she say

about me exactly?

That slut.

# killer, yeah,

and rhyme till I die #

# with an AK-47

from side to side #

# jihad killers #

# man, it's hot in here #

# you just to stake that

out of this atmosphere #

# jihad killers #

My brother.

Any police come around today?

Anything suspicious?

No, nothing, Mohammed.

Trust me...

you are safely hidden here

for as long as you want.

Well, that may not

be for much longer.

Oh?

We have news

from Afghanistan.

News? Oh.

It is all coming together.

The shipment

left three days ago.

Oh.

Praise Allah.

When, uh, will be it here?

Tomorrow!

The time has come for us

to place our swords

to the genitals

of the infidels.

[ exhales deeply ]

Whoo-hoo!

[ chuckles nervously ]

[ groans lightly ]

[ keys clacking ]

Gah.

I see

you noticed the heads --

motivational.

Those are

every f***ing bastard

that I had to climb over

to get this job.

Jesus.

[ laughs ]

Foul.

They're paper-mache.

They're --

he thought they were real.

[ chuckles ]

Sit down.

Let's get started.

So, I hope you don't mi--

I hope you don't mind

the recording.

Uh, we're gonna use it

as training later.

Ready?

Uh, yeah, yeah.

It's good.

What the f*** is wrong

with you?

It's, uh --

the chair is actually --

All right,

we're on a time clock,

So let's get started,

shall we?

Yes, sir.

Good.

Well...

Um, so, I'm here

for the job, sir.

Right.

You're a factory worker.

I was.

I was a factory worker, but

the factory got closed down,

so I got laid off, and --

I've interviewed 15 other people

for this job.

What makes you think

you're better than them?

Well, I don't know

if I am better than them.

Well, god damn it, pal.

If you want this job, you better

reach out and grab it.

You better put

those f***ing heads on the wall.

You know what? F*** it.

Let's go to the questions.

What is

your greatest strength?

Um...

I'm a really good team player.

Wrong.

[ keys clacking ]

What is

your biggest weakness?

Um, I'd say I work too hard.

Wrong.

How would you move a

mountain using only a spoon?

A spoon?

If you were in a box,

how would you think outside it?

I bought all these goddamn English CDs

For you

to say f***ing "glass"?

It's "glasses."

You f***ing foreigners

come over here,

and you f*** up

the language,

and this b*tch

is f***ing up the traffic!

Come down, Greg.

You f***ing calm down!

This flat-ass b*tch

comes over here,

she takes over

the convenience stores,

and they eat up

all our goddamn dogs!

Go and help her.

Come on.

WOMAN:

What's the holdup?!

You're right.

I'm trippin'.

I'll just get out of the car

and make sure she's doing okay.

She's an old lady.

[ sighs ]

I feel bad now.

[ woman shouts indistinctly ]

Hi.

The light is green.

[ speaking native language ]

The light is green.

You could have

went through the light.

The light turned gr--

what did you say?

[ speaking native language ]

What'd you say, b*tch?

Aah!

Why don't you stir-fry that?

[ man laughing ]

WOMAN:

Holy f***!

MAN:

Damn!

Yeah, that'll get her moving!

Man.

What happened over there?

B*tch called me n*gger.

[ indistinct conversations ]

Ooh.

Whoa-ho-ho!

Did you see that?

Yeah.

[ chuckles ]

One date with me,

she'll look like she's been hit

with a mayonnaise truck.

[ both laugh ]

That's right, Mr. Stickum.

[ both laugh ]

Yeah, I hope she comes back.

You got to hold it.

[ whimpers ]

Thank you.

Okay.

All set?

- Yes.

What do you got?

- I will have a medium...

[ inhales sharply ]

[ squeaking ]

No, you know what?

I'm gonna have a large.

I'll have a large mocha.

Okay.

No.

No, you know what?

Maybe a -- maybe a vanilla.

Okay.

W-w-what do you think

goes better with bagels?

Unh!

You had 10 minutes

to make up your f***ing mind!

What is it with you people?

Can somebody please tell me?

I mean, we sell coffee.

That's it, nothing else.

You're not buying a car,

I mean, right?

Make a f***ing decision, huh?

How about it?

I know.

Here we go.

You're gonna have

a regular coffee.

Careful -- the beverage you're

about to enjoy is extremely hot.

Next?

Uh...

What?

I, um --

Two lattes,

no foam, please.

[ rock music plays ]

I can't believe

this is the first time

you've ever been here.

Huh.

I mean, all these f***ing idiots

calling me Uncle Dave,

And here I am --

I actually am your Uncle Dave.

[ chuckles ]

Yeah.

So, when was the last time

I saw you?

The bachelor party,

right before the wedding night.

Oh, f***, yeah, right.

That was fun.

I wonder

if that donkey survived.

[ inhales deeply ]

Well, what do you think

of the place?

Ah, it's -- it's amazing.

Yeah. I kind of owe it

all to you, you know?

Me?

Well, we always talked

about running a con like this, right?

- Yeah.

[ why did you have to send like seven of these ]

[cannibaleather]

Damn you know they really weren't lying it is worth taking the chance and shaving all your hair off/doing something equally noticeably harsh with your appearance. I wasn't originally trying to, i was going for a different style but i'm still early days at learning how to cut my own hair and scissors are a nightmare in the mirror (how do you co-ordinate your hands mirrored???? i cant do it fucking un-mirrored???), so when i fucked up i just took the number 4 shaver head and buzzed it all off and like. I felt the fear right before doing it of 'oh my god people are going to see me like this. people are going to comment on it', i felt 20 years of thoughts people have implanted in my head of how i have to look, of the pressure of femininity and ideals i never ever wanted to partake in and yet still feel shackled by even now as a man.

But then i did it and it took under 30 seconds to have it all gone, no going back, and it looked fine. It looked good! And it felt good! It's not the style i was going for but what it is is a declaration more than anything; it runs completely against all that horrible intrusive self hatred and self policing, it runs against the expectations of the world around me, it feels like making a more concrete statement of my manhood than i have done before. I've had my hair short for years, but shaved OFF feels so much more drastically masculine in the eyes of the cishet world around me. It makes me more noticeably different.

I was so braced too for comments but the people in my life told me i look good, even people who'd been too nervous previously to shave my head for me. I know as well that i can get the style i originally wanted way easier now by just controlling which parts of this grow out, i get to have my hair grow out like my siblings got to as kids, the way i always wanted to; shaved down to nothing and slowly built up into a style. I look good because i did something I've been too afraid to do, i look good because i let myself be confident in a choice for once. It's so easy to spend so much time softening a version of yourself down to be more palatable to others, picking a hairstyle or clothing style that is balancing between masc enough for you but not masc enough for the world, being just loud enough about who you are to keep dysphoria at a minimum but not so much to make people uncomfortable. But FUCK that, go all the way. You deserve to do what makes you feel the MOST like you, what feels the BEST. Don't settle for half measures anymore, be fucking loud, take up fucking space, the people who matter will love that version of you and anyone who doesn't isn't worth your time. Cannot recommend taking a pair of dog trimmers to your hair enough, just shave that shit it's your hair, fucking do what you want.

Also hey people have gotten out of my way WAYYYYY faster in the supermarket today, people fucking shift now lmao. Win.

[hussyknee]

Opened Tumblr and Red White And Royal Blue is number 1 trending. I remember reading through some of your posts on the book, and i think you mentioned there was going to be an adaptation?? And that you were dissapointed with the casting and scared the adaptation will fall short of the substance of the book–or something like that.

I assume the reason it's trending might be because of some recent update about the series or movies production. So what are your thoughts on it?

Aha. Ahahaha. Hahahahahahaha.

Yeah there's a movie that came out last week. It was not just a royal disappointment, but so racist it was like spending two hours being repeatedly slapped in the face.

*rolls up sleeves* This is going to be a long, spoilery Rant. If you liked the movie, don't look under the cut.

The positives: Nicholas Galitzine was perfectly cast as Prince Henry and did his best with what he was given. He and Taylor Zarkar Perez as Alex had great chemistry and were quite unself-conscious in the love scenes. Some of the scenes in the first half (any time Zahra was on screen, the TV interview, the hot and hilarious Red Room scene) were worth the price of admission. Henry explaining the way he negotiated his role as a prince with his sexuality was unexpectedly moving. Amalgamating Secret Service Agents Cash and Amy into a trans woman of colour was a great choice that moved what would have been a side character into the main cast, and Aneesh Seth ate the scenes with Taylor. Rachel Hilson infused her role as Alex's best friend Nora with naturalistic warmth. Major props also to the intimacy co-ordinator. The whole thing with the hands during the sex scene was intimate and erotic.

That said.

I could have made peace with the fact that the characters were obviously much older than the just-out-of-university kids they were in the book. But I wasn't prepared for the character I know and love as Alex to not even be in the movie.

Things that defines my son and personal avatar Alex Claremont-Diaz:

short king rights

ADHD perfectionism

abandonment issues because of parents' divorce

has so much trouble letting people get close to him that his lifelong best friend is his protective, parentified older sister

chaos gremlin

repressed bisexuality

angry intensity and ambition of a burning star

cannot shut up or modulate himself to save his life, puts the offensive in charm offensive

very defensive of his worth as a person of colour in politics and an overachiever because of it

full of swagger and obsessive drive while being five inches away from crashing and burning at all times

Who Alex was in the movie: a laid-back fratty only child with nothing wrong with his life and this one uncharacteristic, inexplicable grudge against this poor white dude.

Said grudge against Henry was made out to be a non-issue that Alex only made into a big deal because he was an immature, petty asshole. Being dismissed by a privileged white person that was handed everything you have to fight for and then being compared to him for years no matter what you did is such a resonant experience for PoC and they just...shat all over it so Henry could make fun of Alex. They even changed what Henry said at their first meeting in the book so that they could make it sound even more ridiculous.

Henry himself was mangled less obviously, mostly because of his actor. But he was made this uwu soft boi out of a Victorian novel who had done nothing wrong in his life ever, instead of an inherently high-strung but hedonistic and fun-loving young guy struggling against institutionalized homophobia and lack of mental health support.

Which, you know, fine. I didn't expect this movie to capture any of the nuances in the book or even accurately portray the characters. I wanted to see two hot guys romance the fuck out of each other and have sexy times.

But producer Greg Berlanti's brand isn't just failing to meet expectations, it's creating new and exciting ways to fuck over women and minorities from wholecloth. Unlike the book, the villain of the movie is not the homophobic, abusive head of the British Royal Family. Nor is it the GOP Presidential candidate who in the book has the boys outed to sabotage Alex's mother's Presidential campaign. Instead, the villain is a queer Latino political journalist motivated by sexual jealousy. This character was created expressly for the movie to replace both Alex's gay best friend from high school as his first same sex encounter and the heroic gay Latino senator who was the key to unravelling the GOP plot in the book.

How do you amalgamate two characters of marginalized identities, one of whom is a heroic figure, and make them the villain instead of the characters that represent cis heteropatriachal white supremacy?? Because as I predicted, the King isnt even a bad guy. He's more a befuddled blustering old dude who even validates the boys' relationship although he's too concerned with appearances to consent to it.

What the fuck. What kind of racist, homophobic, white apologist, spineless CW bullshit is this????

(Also what is with Alex going on about being working class?? Latinos aren't working class by default?? The boy grew up the son of two senators and was captain of the fuckin lacrosse team??? He hasn't been working class a day in his life?? Henry even ribs him about it when he sees Alex's childhood home?? Are they going out of their way to make Alex look stupid??)

Given all of that, plus cutting out the book's principal Latina character (Alex's sister), and refusing to make Alex's mother President Claremont a divorcee with a blended family, an ugly pattern emerges in the treatment of this movie's women and minorities. In the book, Henry's mother is emotionally absent because the death of her husband precipitated a mental health spiral that she finally pulls out of when her son is outed. In the movie, she had left her kids behind after Arthur died and fucked off to Botswana for environmentalism (interesting choice) and never comes back. In the book, Henry's older sister Bea is a leather jacketed rocker rebel child as protective over her brother as a lioness over her cub– a sibling dynamic mirrored in Alex and June's relationship (this book is about parentified older sisters actually). In the movie she was made into his younger sister who had no personality other than flowery dresses and being his girlish confidante. Henry's Nigerian best friend Pez who is canonically a flamboyant, larger-than-life, billionaire genius had like three lines in the movie and might as well have been a cardboard cutout. Alex's best friend and US Second Granddaughter Nora's Jewish identity was completely erased (as was her whole personality). Worse, they cast a non-Jewish Black woman in the role and left her to handle the blowback for it, which is Berlanti's typical M.O. Oh, but the UK prime minister who was in the movie for five seconds was a Black woman! Totally not a token to shield against any accusation of racism and white liberal douchebaggery!

How the fuck do they expect props for "representation" when they erase, minimize and tokenize literally everyone who isn't a cis white guy?? Not even heterosexual rom coms with all-white casts are this hostile to women and non-white people.

On a purely technical level the movie was terrible too. The sets looked cheap and artificial, there was no crowded, high-energy feeling in any of the election scenes. One of the book's pivotal scenes sees Alex literally storming the castle by standing outside Kensington Palace getting drenched in the rain and shouting for Henry to get his ass down there until he's nearly removed by security. In the movie Alex is quietly let in by the staff and wanders into Henry's room inexplicably wet, like he'd been standing under a showerhead, and begins monologuing at Henry. The late night V&A excursion and slow dance in the book, that was a reflection of Henry's wistful, joyful inner world, is vacant, still and aimless in the movie. Alex made his historic public address to the country about their relationship without Henry, before he could even get to him (and the King wants to claim the emails are fake afterwards??). The fucking emails! Were! Missing! Except for like, one. Waterloo vase where?? Why would we even care about the emails being leaked if we never even got to see the intimacy and aching tenderness and open love in them??

They also kept shoehorning in lines from the book into the dialogue so that key lines like "History, huh?" sounded painfully clunky and awkward. Between Taylor's wooden acting, atrocious pacing and the self-conscious script, all the story's most romantic moments landed with a splat. You couldn't feel the emotional stakes in any of it. I deadass stopped watching twice because I was so bored and had to make myself sit through the last part.

(Maybe it's because I'm asexual and my love of smut, great as it, depends heavily on context, but– what was the point of Taylor's gratuitous bare-ass shot? Was that compensation for having kept the guys' crotches five feet apart at all times? What?)

Look, I was ready and willing to give director Matthew Lopez his flowers but he gave us a box of calcified shite. This is why I keep calling representation politics a white supremacist grift. It's a way of making cosmetic, token changes in exchange for retaining the core status quo with all its bigotry and bias while using our own artists and characters as a shield. It makes our talent both vulnerable to and complicit in the narratives spun by white institutions. No amount of female and queer Black and brown people at the helm will serve us justice if the ship belongs to white colonizers.

The best that can be said about the movie is that it makes the book look brilliant by comparison. And the book itself is a half-assed attempt at QPoC representation and generally middling, but draws in pathological fangirls like myself by having a compelling main couple and main cast, beautifully tender love letters, being peak white USAmerican Brand Hopium, and hitting every fanfic trope with a mallet. Being a mediocre white mess that gets a little worse when you look too closely at it is a prerequisite for me to obsess over something.

But if you want to an actual good book with the same appeal, read Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material and Husband Material. Those are iconic. Hall's books are less "diverse" (how I hate that word) but a lot more honest and queer. (Queerness is fundamentally leftist* motherfuckers. Neoliberal queerness is just white bourgeois resentment at being marginalized).

*Well, Arden St. Ives trilogy isn't, but sometimes you just wanna get fucked by a billionaire in the fun way.

[efingart]

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog! (no pressure!🎀) 🌸

Why are these always so hard? 😅

Uhhhhhh

My favorite video game series of all time is actually The Legend of Zelda. (Did you all think it was CoD?) I've played almost all of them. The only ones I'm missing are Skyward Sword, Spirit Tracks and A Link Between Worlds. My favorite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

I have Ordinal linguistic personification and grapheme–color synesthesia. It was a lot stronger when I was a kid, but I associate personalities and colors with certain letters and numbers. I actually used to dislike the letter E because she was very assertive almost. a bully. (E is green)

I really love pineapple on pizza. My go-to pizza order is pineapple and black olives (sweet & salty). I didn't realize it was also Deadpool's pizza order (not burnt though) until the movie came out. Though I don't care to enter the debate, I'm from Chicago, I've heard it all already.

So total weirdo! Checks out!

[blackcandlesinwinter]

It's really disappointing that discussion of class politics is so stunted on this site. Like most commentary you see is either "anyone who buys pre-cut vegetables or home decor is bourgeois and should be beheaded" or "only the billionaire class is truly rich and deserving of criticism." And these are both just such immature views.

Like, if your understanding of class is at the level of "you're too rich if you have throw pillows" you're really not any better than the hard-line conservatives who complain that a homeless person doesn't deserve help because they could just sell their car, or a jobless person doesn't need help because they still have a cellphone.

But on the other side, sure, there's a huge gap in power and wealth between what we might call the "upper middle class" (UMC) and someone like Elon Musk. But the upper middle class still has specific class interests which strongly incentivize and perpetuate wealth disparities and white supremacy. In fact, this class has a HUGE harmful impact on socioeconomic realities, in some ways maybe moreso than the billionaire class. And that's worth pointing out and critiquing!

Like, the way the UMC pushes to draw school districts so that their children never have to share schools with too many poor or black kids (resulting in wealthier neighborhoods having well-funded schools while poor neighborhoods which collect little tax revenue have underfunded schools). Like the way that MC and UMC folks will fight tooth and nail to prevent low-income housing from being built in their neighborhoods, resulting in effective segregation of cities and suburbs by class and race. Like the way that wealthier Americans will use the police as their weapon to harass and drive away homeless people, people of color, and poorer people from their communities and their streets for their own comfort. Like the way that UMC folks may not be 1%ers, but they still have enough wealth to take advantage of tax loopholes and tax-sheltering schemes to avoid paying their fair share. Gated communities. Anti-pan-handling ordinances. White flight. Gentrification. Tens of thousands of golf courses. Rampant consumerism and waste. Not to mention the number of careers within this class which specifically exist to perpetuate and support the existing class divides.

And, importantly, I'm talking about CLASS here, not individuals. I have no doubt that there are plenty of individual UMC folks out there who are specifically fighting against these things and are trying to use their wealth to make their communities better for all. But those would be people who are working against their class interests. The upper-middle class as a whole has class interests that are fundamentally opposed to the interests of those with less wealth, and which are largely aligned with the interests of the super-rich. Working against one's class interests is also extremely challenging, particularly if you were born reasonably wealthy, since your class will have shielded you from fully understanding the problems you're trying to solve. Thus, attempts to help are often misguided or ineffective, and sometimes ultimately end up serving the wealthy more than the poor. That may not even be intentional, but it's how class works and perpetuates itself.

I dunno, I guess I'm just frustrated that every time any critique of the upper-middle class seems to venture onto this site, it immediately seems to get derailed with either "kill them all!" or "you're not allowed to criticize the wealth of anyone not in the top 0.1%!" I'd love to see people start to think past that dichotomy.

[paytato435]

Chapter 5: The Stinkpot

Ordinance I

Casey began shaking horribly as the bellhop yokai dropped him into a chair. He instinctively went to massage his hands, but a sudden change in the number of digits made him jump. 

He should know better. It’s not like he didn’t know who he was. Instead he ran his fingers through his hair. That was fine. He was fine. 

He had to be fine.

“Give it back,” his voice cracked.

Big Mama giggled.

“Look at you, poor little turtley-boo. How long have you been hiding?”

Don’t give her a damn thing. His eyes flitted over to the ribbon between Big Mama's… whatever you'd call her hands… (when had she shifted into the giant spider shape?) and back to the ground. His heart was pounding.

“If you can’t hold a weensy wittle conversation with me, Casey, I’m going to have to send you back home like this,” Big Mama sighed.

“No!” Casey jumped up, as if a bucket of ice water had just been poured over him, forcing him to action.

“Don’t worry, sweets,” she winked four eyes at him. “As long as you keep teeter-talking to me, your secrets are safe with me.”

Casey’s stomach churned. He couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. He’d rather die.

“I- I can’t…”

Big Mama sat back in her chair, drumming her legs on the desk thoughtfully.

“You aren’t in a position to refuse me,” she told him.

That was evident.

“Answer my questions, and answer them honestly. Do you understand?”

Casey nodded, and sat back down into his chair.

“What are you?”

Oh boy, what a way to start.

“I’m a mutant.”

“Clearly,” Big Mama folded her legs in what Casey could not imagine was a comfortable position, but it seemed to work for her.

“How did this happen?”

“I was a human,” Casey hesitated. How much could he get away with hiding?

“I was mutated into a turtle,” he finished, but he kept thinking about what he knew was going to be Big Mama’s next question. She was going to ask him…

“Why?”

Leonardo burst through the doors of the lab without knocking. Donatello sat with Draxum at a table in the center of the room, going over lab results together.

"You fucking bastard," Leonardo growled, storming up to Donatello's seat. He grabbed his brother by the arm and threw him against the wall.

"Hey!" Draxum shouted. "What do you-"

Leonardo spun on him. "I thought we went over this, over twenty years ago!" Leonardo screamed at him.

"What the fuck is this ordinance?" He asked Donatello, who was climbing slowly back to his feet.

"Leo, I know it's unorthodox,"

"Unorthodox?! This is inhumane! What would Pops say?"

"It's necessary, Leo."

"It's not right," Leonardo persisted, clenching his fists.

“With all due respect Leonardo, the Splinter Project has been reviewed by all of our colleagues. It’s safe, reproducible, and effective.”

The ‘Splinter’ Project. The fucking nerve of these guys to give it such a name.

“Your colleagues are less than a dozen people, none of which are actual geneticists!”

“They’re as close as we can get. And don’t kid yourself, child. You know this will work, you just don’t want it to,” Draxum growled.

“Of course I don’t want it to! This goes beyond just the procedure itself, it's a violation of people’s autonomy! You can’t just turn a bunch of human children into mutants without their consent! That’s just fucking evil!”

Donatello rested his arm on Leonardo’s shoulder, but the slider shrugged him off.

“We know it’s fucked up, Leo,” his voice was quiet, reserved. “But statistically speaking, humans are dying on the field four times as quickly as their peers. Yokai and other mutants have a significantly higher survivability rate against the Krang. These mutations would help save lives.”

Leonardo deflated a little. What Donatello said was true. They couldn’t keep fighting like this. Humanity was literally withering away in front of their own eyes. He looked over to Draxum.

“When you made us, it was the other way around. Our humanity makes us stronger.”

“Our sympathy isn’t going to win over the hearts of the Krang,” Draxum stated flatly. “We need super-soldiers.”

“Are we going to mutate livestock too? What are we supposed to eat? Are our vegetables the last hope for Earth when we give them sentience too?” Draxum narrowed his eyes, but didn't answer.

“This is fucking insane, I’m not going to let you do this.”

“It’s already been approved,” Donatello told him, walking back over to his table. “We voted on it.”

“And you didn’t even ask me? I’m the leader of this resistance!”

Donatello didn’t look at him when he spoke.

“It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Both April and Mikey approved it. We didn’t ask you because… it would have been a conflict of interest.”

“You…”

“I’m sorry, Leonardo.”

“Don’t apologize to me! Apologize to Casey, apologize to Casey Junior. You can’t take this from him! He’s just a fucking kid! His mother would have never-”

“I know!” Donatello interrupted. “I fucking get it! I do! But do you think she wants him dead, too? It’s our job to keep…”

“It’s my job to keep him safe,” Leonardo corrected him. “I’m his guardian, I’m in charge of him. You’re insane if you think I’m going to let you turn him into a mutant without our consent.”

“We told you Leo, it’s not about consent.” Donatello sank back into his chair. He looked defeated. “I don’t want it either. I really, really don’t. But we have to. This is bigger than us.”

Casey couldn’t say any of that. He couldn’t even begin to. He had to come up with something else, some other reason, something boring, something believable, but his mind was blank. There was nothing but the truth. How could he explain away his apprehension? How could he explain how he had something so valuable and rare as a cloaking charm on his person? He couldn’t.

But he also couldn’t afford to let Leo know the truth.

Casey didn’t notice he had stopped breathing. He needed the ribbon back. Without it, all the questions came with it. The future needed to stay where it was; far away from here, where no one could find it. And yet here he was, failing miserably to protect the people closest to him. 

From themselves.

His eyes were glued to the rug under his chair.

“Give it back,” was all he could keep begging.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Big Mama’s words were like ice down Casey’s neck.

Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t hidden himself in the first place. He could have come up with a better story than this. Maybe there was one he could tell Leo that he’d believe. He felt like throwing up. There was nothing he could say to him right now. His head was spinning.

Big Mama was saying something else, but he couldn’t hear her anymore. Why was that? There were patterns in the rug that were suddenly clearer, but at the same time made him all the more dizzy. When did he fall?

He closed his eyes to try and get the spinning to stop, but all he saw was his sensei’s face, screaming, completely broken. He couldn’t let that happen again.

“It’s not worth it.”

Casey’s eyes snapped open. He was on the floor. He couldn’t see Big Mama from this angle, but he could hear her.

When she appeared from around her desk, she was in her human form again.

“You pathetic little thing…” she bent down and rubbed tears away from his face that he didn’t know were there.

“They’re really going to know something is up if you leave here like that.”

Casey tried to move away from her touch, but he was still so… he didn’t even know. He was shaking, he was terrified, he was cornered.

“I think we could help each other, little one,” Mama cooed, straightening up. “You’re clearly a lot softer than you look, so I’m going to make this easy for you. You help me with a little something, and I won’t ask you any more questions.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No,” she smirked. That sounded about right. Still, he relaxed, even though he probably shouldn’t. She had offered him a way out. He couldn’t not take it.

Somehow, he pushed himself up off the floor. He felt so weak, embarrassed even. He had completely lost himself.

“You see young man, I have a splendocious friend of mine who is perhaps in a… similar situation to your own.” Big Mama tapped her fingers together. “She’s having a bit of trouble adjusting to life in the Battle Nexus. I think she needs a friend to keep her company.”

“What?” Of all the things Big Mama could have asked, that was the last thing he would have expected.

“Here, I’ll bring her in.” Big Mama pressed a button on the desk beside her, an intercom. “Bring in my silly little stink bug,” she ordered.

Doors opened at the opposite end of the room, and what walked in was decidedly not a stink bug. 

She was a rather small, dark green turtle mutant, with yellow stripes running down from her neck and over her shoulders in a zigzag pattern. On her face were four yellow spots, two of which settled on her cheeks. She didn’t look at Casey as she entered; her eyes were glued on Big Mama as she walked up to her. Big Mama turned her to face Casey, and rested her arms on the young terrapin’s shoulders.

“This is my newest little champion!” Big Mama introduced. “I don’t have a name for her yet, although Stinkpot has been growing on me. Poor thing absolutely reeks when she gets scared. I want you to help her… not stink.”

“She doesn’t have a name?”

“The poor thing doesn’t remember who she is; not since we found her, anyway. She’s not one for talking either. I thought, well, we have another turtle friend here now, maybe we can get her to open up more.”

Casey had a lot of questions about the turtle, but his head hurt so bad, and he was in such hot water he didn’t dare push it. He just nodded in silent agreement. Sure, whatever, he’d do it.

“She’s my little… project,” Big Mama mused, petting the turtle’s head. “I want you to come visit my little stinkpot and be her friend for a couple hours everyday, that’s all.”

“Ok.”

“And as long as you are here, this-” Mama waved his ribbon. “-stays with me. As well as any other possessions on you. You’ll get them back when you leave.”

Casey bristled at that.

“I’m doing you a favor, little one,” Big Mama cooed. “I don’t usually let my little helpers wander about as they please. Besides, you wouldn’t want to leave this poor girl all alone here by herself, would you?”

Casey looked over at the musk turtle. She was looking past him, at nothing in particular. She stood at attention, but like some kind of zombie. Something was seriously wrong with this girl. And if he didn’t get his cloaking charm back then he’d have to face his friends and family as a turtle.

“I imagine this is supposed to be a secret just between us, too.”

Big Mama smiled. “You like your secrets, don’t you turtley-boo?”

Casey let out a shaky breath in resigned agreement.

“Good, it will only be for a couple weeks. I need her ready for her big debut. She needs a sense of presence, charisma! Anything really, but a silly little stinkpot, understand?”

Casey nodded again.

“Wonderful! It’s all settled then. We’ll start tomorrow. I heard you’re also starting school. Up with the humans, I assume?”

Casey just glared.

“I’m sure you’ll love it,” Big Mama smiled. “Not that I would know, but I do remember what it was like to be your age. Full of life and not a care in the world.” Her gaze traveled far away for a moment, but then she leaned closer to him.

“Enjoy it while you can, sweetie. I want to hear all about it.”

-

Tamagotchi?

So, what brilliant lie did Casey come up with to explain why he had suddenly disappeared?

“Sorry, I got lost.”

Nobody fucking believed that.

“How did you get lost? You were right behind me!” Leo pointed out.

“I… I’m sorry,” Casey hung his head in shame.

“You were gone for over an hour. Where did you go?”

Casey shifted his weight from side to side. Play up the embarrassment, he thought to himself. If he just kept shutting down, eventually they’d back off. He knew them well enough to know they weren’t about to interrogate him.

“I don’t- I got scared,” he lied.

“From being out?” Mikey asked. He had returned from his lesson with Draxum.

Casey nodded, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t even know if they were genuine or not. “I just… kind of freaked, I don’t know…”

Mikey stepped forward and gave him a big hug. A moment later Leo and the others joined in too.

“We’re just glad you’re safe,” Raph told him.

Good. They would let him go now.

And they did. They let him go and eventually everyone started to wind down for bed.

“Are you sure you want to start school in the morning?” Splinter asked as Casey prepared his lunch for the next day. His stomach was in knots at the moment, so he only packed himself a ham sandwich and a banana. He knew he’d be just as much of a wreck tomorrow as he was now.

“Yeah. I have to keep trying,” he insisted.

“If you need anything, you call right away,” Splinter reminded him. “We can pick you up anytime.”

Casey nodded. He knew that, but with the new threat on his mind, going outside suddenly didn’t seem so scary.

When he showered, he couldn’t keep his eyes off the little black ribbon safely resecured around his ankle. Nobody had ever noticed it before. It was just there. Nobody saw things that they weren’t looking for. That’s what he had thought. Sewn and folded  tightly into the fabric was the smallest fragment of an emerald that used to be a much larger cloaking brooch.

The fucking irony of Sunita being the one to catch him. He knew her from the future. She had passed when he was younger, but April only ever had good things to say about her. What had happened to get her to work for Big Mama?

Well, it was probably about as bad as what she had against him.

-

“Donnie, can you check this knife out? We got it from Synth,” Raph set the knife down on the kitchen bar counter. Both Mikey and Donnie perked up at the sight of the new knife.

“Is that a paring knife?” Mikey asked.

“I think Synth said it was a… Tamagotchi?” Leo guessed. “Raph do you remember?”

Raph shrugged. The conversation with the blade master seemed ages ago since Casey had disappeared.

“You’re lucky it’s not a Tamagotchi or you would have killed it by now,” Donnie commented, pulling his goggles down and examining the paring knife. “It doesn’t appear to have any mystic properties. It’s just a normal knife.”

“Mikey, Synth said Leo’s not allowed to touch it,” Raph explained. “Do you know what it’s used for?”

“You can use it for lots of things,” Mikey shrugged. “Garlic, avocados, tomatoes, small potatoes…”

“What about onions?” Donnie suggested. He was scrolling through his tablet.

“Uh, yeah. If it’s small enough. Yellow onions probably.”

“It’s Tamanegi,” Donnie reminded Leo, showing them his screen. “It’s Japanese for onion.”

“Oh yeah! That’s it!” Leo smiled. “We should probably write that down.”

“You’re an idiot,” Donnie rolled his eyes and picked up the knife.

“Be careful, you don’t want it to get mad at you!” Leo warned.

“Mad at me? What kind of nonsense did Big Mama’s friend tell you? It’s a knife.”

Leo and Raph took turns catching Mikey and Donnie up to speed, but Donnie still looked skeptical.

“That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not even mystical. A knife’s a knife,” Donnie asserted.

“Well, it’s what I’ve got,” Leo shrugged. “How am I supposed to make friends with it?”

Donnie snorted. “You’re on your own with that,” he set the knife back down, losing interest.

“Maybe you just need to cut onions until you cry all the water out of your body,” Mikey suggested.

“Do you think knives are sadistic?” Leo asked in a worried tone.

“Pft, he’s even using big words,” Donnie nudged Raph.

“Hey! I got that one from you!” Leo narrowed his eyes on his twin.

“Guys we need to get serious about this,” Raph interrupted, taking a seat at the bar. “This Synth guy is sus; Casey disappeared immediately after our meeting and now he’s completely shut down. I don’t think we should be pursuing this.”

“I’ll admit that Casey disappearing was freaky, but if anything, it makes me want to do this all the more,” Leo argued.

“Are you crazy?”

“No, but I have a feeling we aren’t going to figure out what happened to him otherwise,” Leo explained.

“I mean, you could talk to him?” Donnie suggested.

“Casey doesn’t talk to anyone about himself,” Raph pointed out, rubbing his index finger on the countertop. “Kid seriously needs therapy.”

“He talks to me all the time,” Leo looked at Raph, confused.

“Yeah, and he’s been opening up to me a bit,” Mikey agreed. “On our last walk, he told me I could fly!”

“Fly?! That’s crazy! how do you fly?” Leo asked, momentarily distracted.

“I don’t know but we’re going to try and figure it out!” Mikey shook his hands excitedly.

“Donnie, has he been talking to you at all?” Raph asked, feeling like he was missing something.

“Not a whole lot, but he’s helped me with the Turtle Tank quite a bit.”

“He what?!” Raph couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was not the Casey he knew at all. He made small talk, sure, but Raph couldn’t even remember if he’d had a full conversation with the kid. He’d offered to take him out to the zoo, he’d offered to watch movies with him, he tried to talk to him in the mornings at breakfast, but Casey almost always shut him down. “He doesn’t ever talk to me.”

“I’m sure he’ll open up to you at some point,” Mikey said, doing his best to reassure him. “You probably just need to give him some time to adjust to all this.”

Raph crossed his arms and rested his head on top of them. He was being avoided. He could understand why a stranger might avoid a 6 foot teenage dinosaur-looking turtle, but Casey was supposed to know them. He didn’t seem scared of Raph, anyway. If anything, he just seemed uncomfortable, awkward even. He wondered if Casey was annoyed by him. Maybe he should stop trying to talk to the kid.

Donnie cleared his throat with an unnecessarily loud cough. “Ahem. Perhaps we should focus on the problem at hand? If things go south with this Synth guy, we need a backup plan.”

“Did you have something in mind?” Leo asked, also leaning over the countertop next to Raph.

“To be perfectly honest, this reminds me a bit of the fish and ladder factory,” Donnie pushed the knife over to Leo. “I think you need to make do with what you got. And in the meantime, I’m going to study how to scientifically forge the best katanas for my dum-dum brother.”

“You’re going to make me a new pair of swords?” Leo asked, wide-eyed.

“Of course,” Donnie smirked. “I already know everything about how you use your weapons and I have your exact measurements. Making a weapon that is as unique to you as your own hand should be a cake walk.”

“I like the idea, but why would Casey have not suggested you make them in the first place?”

Raph just so happened to see Mikey make a concerned face for a moment, but when Mikey caught him looking, he straightened and gave him a smile.

“Maybe future me was too busy,” Donnie shrugged. “There are a lot more fun and complicated things to engineer than swords.”

“Just maybe don’t give him a flamethrower attachment,” Raph pleaded.

“Simplicity is probably for the best,” Donnie agreed, tapping away at his tablet, likely taking notes. “I’ll see what I can come up with. Leo, let me know if you have any bright ideas.”

“How about a laser attachment instead?” Leo offered.

“Absolutely not!” Donnie and Raph both yelled at the same time.

“I think it would be pretty cool,” Mikey crossed his arms.

“Thanks, hermano.”

“You still need a job though,” Mikey pouted.

-

Homesick 

Casey was the most restless he had been since he had arrived in the past. How was he supposed to sleep knowing that not only did he have to appease the whimsy of a freaky spider lady, but also he had to go to school tomorrow?

He had already thrown up once after dinner, but he was considering making an encore.

No, he couldn’t let the worry get to him. Everything would be fine. It’s not like anyone at school was going to know he was any different from them, right?

Who was he kidding, he didn’t belong anywhere!

Casey sat up in bed and looked over to Leo across the room, who was sleeping soundly. He didn’t know how they all did it. With the exception of Donnie, it seemed the turtles always slept so well. He’d tripped over Leo sleeping sprawled out in the living room once in the middle of the night, and he hadn’t so much as twitched.

They slept like the dead.

Casey’s stomach lurched again. That was a poor choice of words.

He pulled out his phone and opened his video library. He wasn’t tired anymore. Maybe he would just stay up all night.

The collection of videos Casey kept on his phone was sacred. It held the only evidence that his past existed. If there was one thing he would thank Donatello for, it was his insistence on recording as much as he could. There were so many conversations and events from his past he could revisit anytime he wanted. If he forgot where he was, he could pretend he was back there, that things hadn’t ended the way they had…

The file he pulled up was a video feed from many years ago. He could pretend he was looking through a time gateway; if he knew how, maybe he could somehow fall back through and go home.

-

“Master Michelangelo, what’s ninpo?”

"Little dude, I've been wondering that all my life," the old box turtle sighed, uncrossing his legs and stretching out on the floor.

There weren't many quiet evenings anymore nowadays, but when there were, little Casey Jr. always made the time to come and visit his favorite uncle.

"You know what it is, sensei said so!"

So that was it. Leonardo was probably "distributing responsibilities" again. He'd had a habit of that lately. He couldn't seem to decide whether he was a hands-on kind of parent or a hands-off one.

Cassandra had always been doting on little Casey, and she followed him everywhere. Michelangelo knew Leonardo wanted to be like that too, but that was really hard when you were also running a team. Splinter's hands-off approach was probably a factor too, but Michelangelo never mentioned it. That would be the last thing Leonardo wanted to hear.

"I suppose I could tell you a little bit about what I know," Michelangelo smiled.

Casey sat down across from Michelangelo as he briefly thought how he could possibly explain something so undefinable to a curious seven year old.

"So, where did you hear about ninpo?"

Casey rolled his eyes up to his eyebrows and rolled his feet back and forth on his heels like they were windshield wipers.

"Hmmmm… Uncle Don was being mean to sensei. He said there's no way sensei could beat him in a fight if he didn't have ninpo."

"Oh? They were fighting huh?" It seemed the stars were still in the sky, too.

Casey nodded very seriously, and Michelangelo had to do everything he could to suppress a chuckle.

"So then what happened?"

"Sensei said he didn't need ninpo to beat up his five-headed brother."

Michelangelo bit his lip. He couldn't believe he'd missed this conversation. 

"And then?"

"And then Uncle Donnie said Sensei was…" Casey paused, clearly worried about something. 

"What's wrong?"

"Sensei said I can't repeat what Uncle Donnie said, but that it's not a nice word," 

Casey looked down at the ground.

Ooooo? He'd have to get the details from Donatello later.

"So then Sensei got mad and we had to go get soup. Uncle Donnie apologized to me but he was laughing so I don't think he meant it."

"No, he probably did not," Michelangelo said without thinking.

Casey's eyes went big.

"Ah! No! Casey… I mean he didn't mean to hurt your feelings, or your sensei's. He loves you both very much."

Casey didn't look like he believed him.

"Let's go back to ninpo. Uncle Donnie said your sensei doesn't have ninpo, and he's kind of right."

"But what is it?"

"You know your sensei, Uncle Donnie, and myself are brothers right? We're a family."

"And you're my family too!"

"That's right! When you were born you became a part of our family too. And our family has a special gift that is sometimes found in members of our family; the Hamato clan."

"I thought I was in the Jones clan," Casey scrunched his face in confusion.

"You're in both!" Michelangelo chuckled at Casey's use of the word clan. "Your mom was a Jones before she became Hamato. But she had family before too, that were also Jones, but not Hamato."

"That's confusing."

"It is," Michelangelo nodded. "Families are big and complicated. But, they are also very strong when they are together. Uncle Donnie and I have our ninpo power because we work together as a family."

Michelangelo crossed his legs and held out his hands. Casey took them curiously.

"Don't let go, ok?"

"I won't."

Michelangelo's hands began to glow, and Casey immediately let go. The box turtle couldn't help but chuckle.

"I told you not to let go."

"You were gonna catch fire!" Casey yelped, looking concerned.

"I'm not going to catch fire," Michelangelo rolled his eyes. 

It was clear from his pout that Casey did not believe him.

"Fine, little man. I'll just float in the air all by myself."

And so he did, just a few inches off the ground, but Casey stared at him in disbelief.

"You can FLY?!"

"Wanna fly with me?" he held out his hands again.

This time when Casey took Michelangelo's hands, his whole body was lifted up with them. And this time, he didn't let go.

"I'm flying!!" Casey squealed.

But all too soon, Michelangelo brought them back down again.

"How'd you do that?!"

"I used my ninpo."

"Can I do that too?"

Michelangelo shrugged. 

"If you have ninpo, maybe. We don't know everything about it yet. Sometimes it shows up in people, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you don't figure it out until you're old and grumpy like Jiji."

Casey made a face.

"That's not fair. I want to fly again."

"We can fly together whenever you want," Michelangelo assured him. "And maybe you can help me figure out how it works."

"Yeah yeah! Lift me up again!"

So Michelangelo did. He would have carried Casey around everywhere if he could. He wished they could all fly away from here.

"Could sensei fly too?"

"No," he answered softly. "He could make portals, or doorways from one place to another. It let him move very fast."

"But sensei's already fast!"

"He used to be faster than me!" Michelangelo chuckled.

Casey's eyes widened in awe.

"That's crazy."

Michelangelo nodded.

"Why isn't sensei fast anymore?"

Michelangelo sighed. "We don't know for sure," he explained. "If I had to guess… I think he just misses your mom and dad. Ninpo is all about family. When he finds that connection again, then maybe he'll get his ninpo back."

"But Mom and Dad won't come back."

Michelangelo shook his head.

"No, but that doesn't mean we can't stop loving them. They're in our hearts forever."

"Sensei said that too!"

Michelangelo smiled. Of course Leonardo knew that. Of course he knew that his family was still here for him, living or dead. And yet he still struggled. Grief was a complicated thing.

-

Casey wasn't sure when he'd passed out, only that he was grateful he did. When he looked at his phone screen, the feed of Master Michelangelo's room from nine years ago was still playing. There were actual years worth of things in there he barely remembered. The room was empty now, but the ghost of Master Michelangelo would soon be back, going about his day as he did before their base was destroyed. Casey had a collection of all the security footage of every camera there.

He briefly wondered when Donatello had gotten so paranoid.

Prev. Masterpost Next

Notes:

I had a big fucking list of notes here and then realized nobody is gonna read that, so I'll just wait to see if anybody wants to ask me what the fuck just happened, lol. Anyway, future Donatello, amirite? hahahahahahahahaha

I have to go add a metric fuck ton of tags for all the characters in this chapter now ok thnx bye! (Is there tumblr etiquette for how many to use? Idk I'm just rolling here.)

[ducklooney]

5, 21, 22, 23 for asking and yes, what do you like to draw in terms of have you been passionate about ducks for a long time?

Oh, hi. Hmm…good questions, although you asked a little too much. Also, the questions have been changed under the ordinal letters of the alphabet rather than numbers, but never mind. I'm going!

5. (E) My blog started four and a half years ago (next year it will be five years since I've been on Tumblr), mostly out of dissatisfaction, and to join a new collective that has similar interests as me. Interestingly, I joined when it was Donald's 85th birthday. XD Yeah, I already enjoyed the Ducktales reboot back then (even though it disappointed me in a lot of things at the time), I was still sad that no one mentioned the other Duck media, especially when we talk about the comics, Quack Pack, The Legend of The Three Caballeros and I wanted to take that job into my own hands. So I posted various posts about other Donald Duck media and let me tell you, I succeeded in that. Unfortunately, due to numerous obligations related to the university and at home, there were times and often when I was away for a long time. Still, I'm grateful to the Ducktales reboot for reawakening my feelings of nostalgia and re-reading the Donald Duck comics I used to read when I was a little boy.

21. (U) Actually I am, but more that I am a Christian believer and that I believe in God the Creator, as well as in Jesus who saved us from our sins, as well as in the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I study and read the Bible and go to church. But I'm not a fanatical believer, plus I don't force anyone to believe what I believe. Everyone has the right to their own religion. But I don't like it when my faith is abused through bad mockery and attacks on being a believer.

22. (V) I don't know if you mean the person I love or me personally, but I will answer both. I like in a person who is very pleasant and kind, who likes to draw and respect others and someone who is close to me. And I like to draw, read, write, and sometimes ride my bike outside, when the weather is nice.

23. (W) I don't like it when someone copies me without asking me, without me being mentioned, I don't like it when they insult and when they lie, I especially don't like it when someone insults me in dirty ways, as well as abuses my name as something worst. And I don't like sweet-talking people, I don't like it when someone blocks me, just because we have different views, and I don't like it when someone breaks their promises (either mine or someone else's). And I don't like it when someone insults my religion.

And this particular question, to answer you, I've been drawing since I was young, certainly when I went to school, but I didn't like to draw and I often had terrible drawings. I'm talking about when I drew in the traditional way. I think I have the hardest time painting with water colors. As for drawing itself, and coming back to it, I started four years ago, unfortunately I drew mostly very badly, but over time I learned some methods (and now I practice) and perfected it. If you look at my first drawings and my current drawings, you will see a big difference. I try my best though. Now I need to practice drawing and coloring backgrounds as well as portraits. And as for the ducks, well, I've been watching the classic shorts and reading the comics since I was a kid, but when I was in my teens, I stopped. Yes, I watched a lot of cartoons. In return, the Ducktales reboot is ironically credited, and I've come to love the comics more than before, even collecting those comics. Either online or I buy them. However, I prefer the classics the most, because it is still the best that will always remain. The Legend of The Three Caballeros and re-watching Quack Pack and other cartoons made me even more devoted to ducks.

I hope I satisfied you with your answers. And yes, I tell others to feel free to ask me, if you are interested in something. And yes, those are my opinions and sorry if anyone is offended by this, it's not my intention, just stating my views.

And yes, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

[noneatnonedotcom]

Somewhere on a Train

You are Jaune Miles Arc and you’re on a train surrounded by men far more experienced than you who have fought through both bloody battles in Kansas and Mexico both veterans who know the art of war and have been perfecting it longer than you’ve been alive.

And the fact that they’re all listening to you is weird enough but for the last week or so the only question on your mind has been… why the fuck are you on a train!? THE PLAN CALLED FOR STEELING A BOAT! HOW DID YOU FUCK THIS UP SO BAD?

It started in New Orleans when one of the men got distracted by a … lady of the night, and you had to get him out of trouble before he got the entire rebel army down on your head. While talking your way out of that the very helpful lady explained where all the military hardware was and where you should take yourself and men to join up with the rest of the rebs. While there you saw pretty much everything they had being loaded onto a train that looked like an ironclad and you were about to call off the mission as being too dangerous when the powder at the warehouse touched off and your men took it as you signal to attack.

The next couple of minutes were a desperate dash to the head of the train cutting through men all the way

(a splash of something almost scalding hot was on your face as the desperate eyes of a man looking into your)

And then you were riding away in a train with all the rebel’s supplies.

But it didn’t stop there, word got around to the other forts that you were getting the hell out of the south, their commanders sent riders to you as you were loading up the ordinance of your own fort and Marcus handled setting up the meet-up point while you “supervised the men” managing to catch a rebel who’d been hiding in the back of the train since you left.

Poor guy, you felt bad so you let him go, apparently he was talking you up back in New Orleans because you were now a military genius or something. He did say you were fourteen though so he could go fuck himself.

Your mom would absolutely tan your hide if she found out where you were. Anyways the next couple of days were a series of semi-successful run-and-guns as you sent men with henry Repeaters ahead of the train every morning before you came into a meet-up point. Set up a perimeter and all that.

That turned out to be a good idea because the number of skirmishes that you had been stuck in has now eclipsed your age. Granted that’s not as impressive as it sounds but it’s still a lot for a week.

Each time you met a new officer you tried to give them command, and each time your men cried about your humility and the officer told you to keep leading.

YOU WEREN’T LEADING! YOU WERE RUNNING AWAY FROM CERTAIN DEATH!

And now here you were in the officer’s cabin, it wasn’t really special it was a dining car that you had put your family sword in after you had it cleaned and fell asleep in, and now everyone but the officers were afraid to enter it.

Of your new … peers? You had come to rely on Pryce to be your translator, the man spoke calmly and with a deep voice. It reminded you a bit of your dad, either way, the Kansas man was used to breaking down military lingo into simple speech and back so he was your lifeline among these veterans.

He was the one who took your idea of just tossing some dynamite off the back of the train to slow down the rebs chasing you and turned it into an actual military operation with skirmishers and ya know, less chance of you blowing yourself up.

And still, the officers looked at you like a genius for it. Though to be fair you’re pretty sure it’s just all the momentum you have behind you at this point, no one wants to be the one to step up and say that you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s gotta be it, they’re afraid they’ll be bowled over if they try and stop you.

Oh well, today you roll into union territory and it’s officially someone else’s problem.

Not like they’re gonna promote a kid to be a general after all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You are Marcus E. Derringer and you serve under the most brilliant military mind in United states history, perhaps even the world! Who else could have struck such a blow against the rebels? Who else could have made an army out of all these disparate men?

But he was so self-conscious, he didn’t see himself as a genius. Perhaps it was because it was so effortless for him? After all, flying must seem simple to a bird and swimming easy for a fish. For jaune war was simply second nature.

He had this charisma to him, something you didn’t notice until the chips were down, and his ability to read an opponent is second to none, he predicted every rebel attack so far and countered every one masterfully.

All this from some kid who lied about his age to join up.

Yes, you knew about his age, the fact that he couldn’t shave yet was a huge red flag, but you didn’t see how it mattered. The union needed heroes to lead the men and jaune was just what the union needed. When you got to safe territory you were going to mail the petition you had to get the young hero commissioned as a general.

All the men had signed it too, he would be so happy!

[algebra-as-praxis]

First post!! I wanted to show you how deep a rabbit hole you can dig with a very simple concept like, "What does 'four' mean?"

I have a number line.

So, I'd like you to imagine that you've sat down across from me on your first day in class, and I put some kind of math worksheet with this number line on it that gives you a very simple-sounding task: "Circle four."

If you are like nearly every one of the older students I've had, you'll circle the number 4 on the line. And I'd say something like, "That is a perfectly reasonable response to this request. There is nothing wrong with what you've done. But aren't you suspicious about how simple this question sounds? Did you see that there was a twist coming?"

On a number line, the place where we've written 4 is not actually the value 4. It is more like the position 4; we would call this the ordinal number (a number used to track the positional order of things; another example of an ordinal number is the word "fourth," which tells you that there are three other things before that one).

So, if you just circled the number 4, you definitely circled the position, but the thing you circled isn't worth 4. If you were going to circle the thing that has the value (or cardinality, since we're counting individual objects) of 4, it would look something more like this:

This is because in order to have the value of 4, you need everything that came before it! Imagine counting out candy while your kid sister steals and eats the candies you counted already. When you get to your final number, that number is not how many candies you have, but rather how many you counted cuz your sister's got 'em all! For the value of your candies to stay the same, you need all of them to be there!

"Four" could also look, less straightforwardly, like this:

The distance from the start of the circle to the end is four; and since we're circling the line, the length of the line that is circled is four. If we imagine the circle starts (from the left) at the position of 2.3, it would have to end at the position (from the right) 6.3. If we find the difference of the numbers at these positions, we would be doing the equation 6.3 - 2.3 = 4.

A quick summary:

The position of a number is shown with an ordinal number.

The actual physical quantity of the individual items is shown with a cardinal number, which we more typically call the value.

We can find a value inside the ordinals by finding the distance between any two ordinals, via subtraction.

Okay... But notice we've used two words here that seem to imply the same thing: difference and distance. Let's clear this up real quick:

Difference is the result of subtraction. Generally, if we want to find the difference between two things, we subtract the first thing from the second thing:

second - first = difference

But that's not a rule, so much as a norm. In reality, if you wanted to find the difference of two numbers, the person asking had best be very clear which way they want you to do it, because if you reverse this you will get the negative of the result above!

For example, if you were asked to find the difference between 6 and 15, you would do 15 - 6 = 9. But if it's not clear and you instead did 6 - 15, you get -9.

If, however, someone wanted to know how far apart these two numbers are, they would not be asking the difference but rather the distance between these numbers. The result would therefore be the absolute value of either one of these subtractions:

|15 - 6| = |9| = 9, |6 - 15| = |-9| = 9 Same result!

This is in actuality the real use of absolute values. Absolute value is typically shown as "the distance from zero," which is kind of true? But it's really for finding distances of any kind -- in fact, it's later used to mean exactly that when you get into complex algebra (that is, algebra with imaginary numbers) and linear algebra (matrices and vectors).

But that's for later.

[simperator]

Haeresis Dea - Chapter 5

A03 Link

Secrets. Everyone has them- Sister Imperator knows all of them.

“Oh Nihil, would you calm down? You are not losing your honour!” 

“Come osi insultarmi questo modo!?”

Primo, Secondo, and Terzo all exchanged glances before indulging in an almost synchronous sigh. If anyone in the Clergy ever wondered what the elusive, shadowy, and secretive meetings between Sister Imperator and the Emeritus family looked like- well, it looked a lot like this. Nihil loses his temper, Sister Imperator refuses to placate him which infuriates him more, and his sons sit there to witness the trash fire. Only this time, the stakes were much, much higher. 

Often in meetings that got this heated, it was about the status of ordination, administrative errors, or handling quarrels between Clergy members. This time, it was about a total upheaval of what everyone had gotten used to for the past couple of decades. No one really likes change that way, especially Nihil, especially when it was about him swallowing his pride for once.

“I have done nothing but push our cause and now people all over the world believe in our doctrine!”

Sister Imperator let out a long, frustrated sigh. She knew this conversation wouldn’t be easy, and she understands Nihil’s upset. Although everyone under him sees him as a pompous playboy and his own family sees him as an idiot, his little Ghost project did put the Unholy Church on the map. The three brothers look to Imperator, desperately hoping to get him to stop having a fit. 

“With all due respect, Papa, that was almost thirty years ago. Our numbers are dwindling, the amount of people converting is at an all-time low, and our numbers are going to continue to plummet if we don’t do something soon.”

Nihil slumped down at his desk, tapping his fingers impatiently on the wood. These meetings were painful for countless reasons, but any of the brothers could tell you the tiny chairs they are held hostage in across from their father was up there. Sister Imperator raised her head to look down at Nihil, and both of them knew she was right. Ghost, as strange and campy as it was, did bring them a lot of attention. The church has not had publicity like that in a very long time- partly because Nihil was busy not raising three kids and Sister Imperator was completely AWOL for almost 10 months not long after the pair returned to Italy, and partly because the high Catholic population in the surrounding areas they, figuratively and literally, would be crucified galavanting Satan-ing all over the place. 

“Well,” the Satanic pope growled. “What have we got?” Imperator excitedly clapped her hands together, falling back into the uppity, professional air she was so good at exhuming. “We’ve got them!” She glided past the brothers, showing them off like they were infomercial products. “Your sons! The heirs of papacy! Don’t you think they should be of use?” Terzo scowled, not bothering to hide his contempt. “Oh yes, that’s what we are, something to be used.” Primo rolled his eyes. “Quiet, fratello.” he never meant to be condescending, but unfortunately patronizing is what Primo did best, and Terzo did not ever take kindly to that. 

“Quiet? Why should I be quiet? If we’re the so-called heirs to this fucking papa thing shouldn’t we get to have a say in something? For once?!” Imperator sighed heavily as the eldest and youngest began a very on-brand spat. “Maybe you could make some decisions if you didn’t act like such a child, there’s order to these things Terzo, you’re a cardinal now you should know that.” Secondo just stared at hands folded hands, trying to tune out the bickering. Funnily enough, Nihil was doing the exact same thing. 

“And one of these days you’re going to be papa.” Imperator interjected, pointing to Terzo “And so are you, and you.” She gestured to the other two. “You three have to find a way to work in harmony if that’s ever going to run smoothly, if you can’t compose yourself with your own brother how will you lead a church.” Secondo tapped his knuckles as he thought about the prospect of papacy. Sister Imperator had a point. Primo has the knowledge but absolutely no social skills in order to be a well-liked and respected leader, Terzo had all the charisma of a great papa but absolutely no drive to do anything about it, and Secondo…

“Who says we have to be papa.” 

His voice was low as if mistakenly saying it out loud, as the lot of them stopped in their tracks to stare at him. Nihil was the only one who spoke. “What?” Secondo swallowed a dry throat, beginning to regret saying anything. “I mean, if we’re not fit to be papa, why be papa?” Secondo tried to make himself sound as unconfrontational as possible, a task similar to defusing a bomb with this family. Nihil’s eyebrows furrow, Imperator, Primo, and Terzo all fearing what would fly out of his mouth next. 

Surprisingly, it was sympathy. “Secondo… how could you say such a thing.” Primo and Terzo’s shoulders relaxed at the older man’s tone. “The bloodline has taken up the role of papa for millennia.” Sister Imperator walked past the boys to stand next to Nihil as if she was standing in for the role of their heartbroken, disappointed mother. Nihil relaxed his arms, looking at all his progeny. “Are you saying there is anyone in this Clergy with enough skills to be papa? More than any of you?” The Emeritus brothers looked in all directions, uncomfortably. They would never let Nihil or Imperator know it, but there absolutely was. Cardinals that have dedicated their whole life to Satan, their belief unshaken. Sisters of Sin who have raised countless children to be pious and loyal to the church. Deep down, the brothers were really not that important. And honestly, not as qualified as they have been led to believe their whole life. 

Imperator glared knives at Secondo for talking out of turn whilst Nihil looked, for the first time any of the boys could see it, visibly hurt. He didn’t let his sons believe he had emotions for too long, his face dropping into one of disdain. Pushing on his hands, Nihil stood up, his form looming over everyone else in the room. Terzo swallowed, not wanting his brother to get the verbal (or physical) lashing of a lifetime alone he piped up. “Secondo does have a poin-” “Are you ashamed to be an Emeritus?” 

The question hung heavy in the air, the tension unrelenting as it pierced through Nihil’s sons. Sister Imperator looked at him, wondering where he got this strange familial panache from. She shook off the feeling of worry for the boys and looked at them, expectantly. Primo, Secondo, nor Terzo dared speak for a good couple of seconds, Nihil staring straight through them. Secondo decided that he was going to let him have it, even just for this once, even for honesty’s sake. “You do not give us much to be proud of.”

Primo and Terzo were stunned, their brother sharing the very thought the two had been saddled with all of their lives. They felt a weight off their shoulders, and with it, a silent note in both of their minds that they are forever indebted to Secondo for this. Nihil clenched his fist, his face twisting into that of an unreadable form of fury. Imperator put one of her hands on his shoulders, attempting to calm whatever storm was about to devastate the room. “What he means to say is that we have been in a rut, Papa.”

A lie so obvious even Nihil knew it, but having someone fawn to his needs was just the trick for him to sit back down with minimal emotional and property damage. Imperator, ever the emotionally detached, continued on with the meeting as if a massive familial overhaul did not just unfold in front of her. “Now, I think it would be best if we heard from you three! What do you think we should get our numbers back up!” Her stiff-upper-lip chipperness fell entirely flat on the silent men. 

Nihil spoke again. “If the three of you are so sure on your judge of character, perhaps Secondo and Primo should be made cardinals today, and then all three of you can ordain or excommunicate whoever you like.” Secondo was dumbfounded, he was only a priest, and now he’s a cardinal? Whether or not Nihil was being petty or these were his true thoughts was completely lost on everyone, so Imperator decided for him. “What a wonderful idea Papa! A strong family foundation of a papa and his 3 cardinals! You’ll all get a taste of the life!” 

“Wait-” Primo piped up. “Terzo is the only one of us who was a diaconate, how are we going to catch up that quickly?” Despite their status and Primo’s dedication to the church, neither of them has completed the process of being a deacon, Terzo only weaseled his way through out of Imperator’s spite. He wasn’t just blowing off clerical duties because he was a problem child, he was blowing them off because he didn’t believe in it. His love of secular music was one thing, but soon he started to directly reject some Satanic teachings. He spoke out against the subtle misogyny of Prime Mover rituals, the way the church spends more on papal robes than giving to the needy, Terzo was en route to leaving the church entirely.

So what does a good father do? With the help of Imperator, forcing Terzo through the process as quickly as possible from priest to cardinal. All while ignoring the fact he way way too young and skimmed over the process of being a bishop and archbishop and letting it slide because, well, he’s Papa. This chapped Primo’s ass for years and still does up to the time of the meeting since he was still an archbishop. Primo, outside of the shock, was actually rather delighted to be ordained as a cardinal early. For Secondo, this was a waking nightmare. 

“You can’t be serious.” Secondo pleaded. Nihil nodded slowly, knowingly. “If you are not proud to be an Emeritus it’s simply because you’re not reaping the benefits of being one.” Terzo was the last one to speak up against this sudden, petty, hasty decision. “You mean we can excommunicate whoever we want?” Cardinals had the power to ordain and vote on whether or not a Sibling could be excommunicated. But, what Nihil was implying is that at the drop of their biretta, they could just kick someone out. Injustice and favoritism were obviously rampant, but that was going much, much too far. 

“Sister!” Nihil’s voice spiked cheerfully, it was kind of sweet how when he spoke her name he lit up, but creepy as hell contrasted with his borderline abusive nature. “You’ve spoken to some of your subordinate Sisters earlier today, we will prepare a Rite of Dedication for Primo and Secondo!” Sister Imperator was beaming, but no compassionate joy was behind her smile. It was the kind of smile that mirrored animals baring their teeth when they know they’d got their prey trapped.

“Oh! Happy day!” She sang. Primo let the information sink through his skin, straightening his back with pride and smiling slightly. Terzo looked scared, not a primal fear but knowing something is coming, and it was not good. He looked to Secondo, utterly stumped on how to help his brother. Secondo’s thoughts were equally hopeless.

Copia’s hour and a half of trying to calm the stood-up and shaken-up Novitiate were all in vain. Of course, spending time with her friend was able to keep her from having a nervous breakdown, but her brain was still reeling. The poor girl had been walking so fast that she and Copia made it back to the cathedral from deep through the cemetery trails in half the time it normally takes.

Secondo only knew this because as he was outside of his father’s office, head in hands, he heard a soprano voice sprawling and a tenor accented one meekly following, he couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Thank Satan, Secondo knew that seeing her face would calm him, she had already seen him cry (sort of), and she was just the person he needs right now. He doesn’t care if Copia is watching and will gossip about it, he smiles a smile of relief in her direction, rehearsing an apology for abandoning her on their walk. “Sorella!”

She deliberately strides right past him. Not just that, she was sniffling wildly, her face reddened with her cheeks tear-stained. Secondo’s heart breaks, even at the sight. He doesn’t care about how his life is going to change forever against his will, he just wants to hold the Novitiate as she held him.

“Sister! Come back!” Copia called after him. Secondo’s head whipped towards him, stepping toe-to-toe with him. Secondo did not revel in intimidation tactics, but he knew how his stature loomed over everyone he met, and if Copia was behind any of this, he wanted him to be fucking scared.

“What happened while I was gone.” Such a calm tone surfaced a world of pure, unabashed fury. Copia turned white under Secondo’s shadow, face dropping. “Nothing, Father. Just, frustrated at her status, that’s all.” He got the words out surprisingly smoothly, but he knew Secondo had no time or patience for sputtering.

Secondo straightened up, standing down from Copia. As much as a bumbling fool Secondo thought of him as he was an honest bumbling fool. He looked towards the direction the Novitiate went- and noticed she was completely gone. Secondo’s eyebrows furrowed with concern, oh how we longed to take away this pain. Well… 

With his newfound title as cardinal… he could. Ordain or excommunicate anyone he wants, the Novitiate’s dream could come true at the snap of his fingers. This fact dawning on him was the one good thing to come out of his status, seeing her smile and finally feel at home will have made it all worth it. Then, maybe when he is papa, he could make her…

“Cardinal.”

He wasn’t even looking at Copia, who was glancing his eyes in either direction. “I beg your pardon?” Copia knew what the conversation was about, him and his roster of fellow priests have been the smallest in years- and it's not like Papa Nihil was getting any younger. Sister Imperator often relays this to him, giving him a strange sort of connection to the Emeritus family.

“Cardinal… Emeritus.” Secondo turned to him, an expression entirely unreadable spread on his face. Copia let the words hang in the air before responding, an unsure smile spreading across his still-white face. “You said you’d do it?” Secondo nodded. “Oh! Congratulations! You know, your family has such a fascinating track record, three cardinals before reaching the age of thirty-five! It’s unprecedented! It’s-“

Secondo did not care for pleasantries. “Where did she go?” Copia was glad to drop the routine, his face along with it. “She’d be in her quarters if she was anywhere…” Secondo turned on his heel without thanking him and stalked down the hallway, leaving Copia with the tension and weight of knowing Secondo is fast-tracking, cheating.

Going against his gentlemanly upbringing, Secondo would feel bad about intruding in the Sister’s quarters later. Right now, he wanted to comfort and be comforted by that wonderful woman. Paying mind to the sound of his footsteps, he looked on either side of the hallway of dormitories, he finally reached one towards the end of the hall, closed shut. Secondo pressed his ear towards the door, expecting muffled sobs, but instead heard the scratching of pen onto paper.

He knocked twice, at a volume almost inaudible. It began to dawn on him that he could possibly be intruding on her, and how selfish it seems to thrust one’s own problems onto another person clearly upset. Conflict and Secondo are like oil and water, more than anything he would bust the door down, sweep her off her feet, and cradle her, telling her everything will be alright. 

But he can’t always have what he wants. 

Swallowing defeatedly, Secondo begins to creep away from the door, waiting for a beat to make sure the door doesn’t fly open as the Novitiate begs for his embrace. A few moments pass and there is nothing. Secondo lets out a disappointed exhale and hesitantly leaves, the sound of his heavy footsteps muffled by the carpet. The sound of lighter, more pointed, footsteps came clopping closer towards him, the sound is the thing that snaps him out of his slump.

Much to his chagrin, it was Sister Imperator, no doubt coming to scold him for his behaviour at the meeting earlier. Surprisingly, she was sprightly, not only acting like nothing was wrong but seemed actively excited. “Ah! Secondo! Come to tell the Sisters about your promotion!” She chirped. God, Sister Imperator was hard to read. On the outside, she was a well-to-do administrative head of the ministry, but an air of unease emanated from every pore. Sister Imperator was like an omen that something bad is going to happen. 

“No… I was just checking on one who seemed upset.” Secondo, as much as he was put off by Imperator, knew better than to disrespect her. Imperator’s lip twitched as if Secondo has used the wrong dialogue prompt, but kept her attitude light. “I see. How kind. Well, you mustn’t be loitering around here, you must reconvene with your father and brothers, there is much to prepare!” 

Secondo nodded wordlessly, walking directly past her. No one, especially him, was particularly keen on spending a lot of time with Sister Imperator, especially when it seemed like she had been scheming. Imperator watched as he left, taking notice of the one closed door. The Novitiates. 

She approached the door, knocking twice with a firm hand. ‘Novitiate? Aren’t you supposed to be on housekeeping duty today?” She waited for an answer but instead, the door flung open in front of her, with a very panicked Novitiate standing before her. “Yes! I finished the laundry and I was just coming back from a walk with Copia and these allergies are just making me look so-” the words fell out of her as if she haphazardly rehearsed them before seeing Imperator. 

“Right, well, you must clear out our dining hall of tables and chairs, we’re going to be hosting an event soon.” Her voice was unsympathetic, calculated, and agonizingly neutral. The Novitiate wiped her nose before seeing speedwalking past Imperator, who did not even bother to watch her leave. Instead, Sister Imperator stood at the Novitiate's open dormitory, tapping her nails on the door frame. 

With absolutely no regard for privacy, Imperator began to scan her dormitory. Outside of the unmade bed, everything seemed to be in order, as Imperator demands everything to be. All except the scattered paper on the desk that was shoddily covered by a spare habit. The paper under it lacked the ministry’s watermark and did not look like the handwriting of anyone Sister Imperator had seen before. Having such a high-ranking position that involved administration Imperator had grown very accustomed to handwriting, the type of paper, and the formatting of letters in the ministry. For once, this piqued her interest.

Glancing towards where Secondo and the Novitiate left Imperator decided to let herself into the dormitory, inspecting the papers. It was a letter between family members no doubt, whoever the Novitiate had been writing to did not know the formatting exclusive to the ministry. Imperator was just about to let it go because she read the words “come home.” in cursive red ink, and decided that it was a matter that deeply affected her. 

Sister Imperator picked up the letter and began reading it. 

My Baby,

I understand that this place means a lot to you, that you have spent countless hours learning their beliefs and acquainting with those Satanists. But darling, please, come home. If you have not been ordained in their church it is because God has a better plan for you, a plan where you can follow in his path and be saved from that horrible place. 

It was my biggest regret letting you stay there, I could’ve raised you myself. But instead, I was a fool, leaving you in the hands of those hedonistic Satan-worshippers. You are an adult so I cannot force you to do anything. I know how much this place means to you. But sweetheart, I beg of you, do not fall for their tricks any longer. 

You are having these doubts for a reason because you know what path is right. Do not let yourself be ordained, come home. You have a real church and a real family who loves you very much, we have all been praying for you. Please, I beg you as your mother, come back to us. It is God’s will, do not fight it any longer. 

Please write back soon,

Your Mother.

Sister Imperator was surprised, but this was not her first rodeo with the Christian families of converts writing to the ministry, calling them a slew of obscenities and demanding them to return. However, this was the first time the word “doubt” was brought into the picture. Doubt. The word seared at Imperator’s head. Is the Novitiate having doubts about the church? About everything she has sacrificed her whole life to build? Doubts about the Olde One’s plans? 

She swallowed her revulsion and let a subtle disappoint wash over her instead. Imperator had grown a fondness for the spunk of this Novitiate, and to think she would be leaving so soon when she could of been of great use to the ministry… for Imperator’s plans. 

“What a shame” Imperator whispered to herself, straightening the letters all into one neat pile. “She was so promising, too.” Folding the habit gently next to the papers, she quietly left the dormitory, closing the door gently behind her. Taking a deep breath in, she set forth to enact the next phase in her little plan. Giving Primo his first ex-communication. 

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Josiah Celebrates the Passover

1 And Josiah kept a passover unto Jehovah in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah. 3 And he said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, that were holy unto Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders. Now serve Jehovah your God, and his people Israel; 4 and prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brethren the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a father’s house of the Levites. 6 And kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of Jehovah by Moses.

7 And Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover-offerings, unto all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s substance. 8 And his princes gave for a freewill-offering unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

10 So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to the king’s commandment. 11 And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them. 12 And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to offer unto Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. 13 And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. 15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters were at every gate: they needed not to depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the commandment of king Josiah. 17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. 18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. — 2 Chronicles 35 | American Standard Version (ASV) The American Standard Version Bible is in the public domain Cross References: Exodus 2:4; Exodus 12:1; Exodus 12:6; Exodus 12:8-9; Numbers 1:8; Numbers 7:2; 1 Kings 22:34; 2 Kings 23:21-22; 2 Kings 23:29; 1 Chronicles 9:10; 1 Chronicles 23:26; 1 Chronicles 25:1; 2 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Chronicles 29:22; 2 Chronicles 30:16; 2 Chronicles 36:1; Ezra 6:18; Ezekiel 36:38; Zechariah 12:11; Matthew 8:29; Matthew 9:23; Revelation 16:16

[the-firebird69]

You see a lot of crazy things on Twitter and YouTube and you should not and those are going to get shut down so very soon. A lot of people want chaos and to murder everybody and we want to stop them we're going out and grabbing equipment we're getting very little resistance we're going to make products and we already are and they know it and they don't really care and we're making tons of stuff tons of soap tons of shampoo tons of toilet paper huge amounts of it and we're making some parts for cars not too many we're making a lot of clothing certain types ones you can wear the other companies are going out of business rapidly and they should finish and we're taking all their stuff over everywhere there's a whole bunch of them jackasses who think they make money by not selling a thing and they're getting killed going in debt losing everything going on the street dying to delusional freaks. Does a huge number of people who can't believe what John remillard is saying I know the ship is there I don't think you can do anything and our son and daughter say you don't know what he's been doing and he said forcing people being able to hit you here and he says oh and there's a game going on all day and night and at one time you were part of it and you just checked out just started being a dick so he's starting to think about this people around him are hitting him and they want to and he's allowing it and facilitating it and he's doing other stuff with the ship they're having a war he's hitting things and he says well that's interesting yeah starting fires now he's threatening us all and for some reason you don't get it and he'll check to see if there's material this is what he doesn't really need to hit that this other stuff to hit oh you know that's around and it might not hit here but the debris feel might and he says oh my God fuel tanks and things like that and he knows where they are and it would throw things away the hell out here so he's starting to figure it out a little Taylor ships too and ordinance all sorts of things he can turn on and control if you get some kind of advantage so he is starting to think about it and Terry cheese knows what's hot and he can show you.

We have a situation here our son announced what could happen if that blue and it's global people are now getting up and they are going to go after time enough he's been threatening this kind of thing and there are people who know Mac proper Mac Daddy some of his kids everybody is under extreme duress who are leaders and others can't get it and John remillard forgot about it a lot of things he looked into and he can't remember but he's being blocked as well as injured there's a lot of stuff going on here and the guy is a menace to our son and it needs to be stopped we're going to go after him and take him down there's other things too. But this is a gigantic announcement that yeah he's doing it and globally they're figuring out

Thor Freya

Olympus

It's very massive yes

Hera

Zues

[universeofchirai]

the day I got high on that math meth

DUDE HEAR ME OUT HOLY SHIT

my only exp in cough drugs has been weed, and I AM ACTUALLY NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAY THAT MATH IS ACTUALLY FUCKING DRUGS, NO KIDDING.

So I was continuing Naive Set Theory, and I was reaching the end of the book essentially, and I'm at the part of ordinal arithmetic. Now the thing about math is it can be a pain to try to understand and the way to understand is to try to visualise which can be an absolute pita. BUT I swear this has never ever happened to me before but I was trying to understand properly the concepts of ordinal addition and multiplication with visualisations and some rough writings. Then after understanding, I wanted to understand the multiplication for infinite sets.

So w + w = w2, where w is the set of natural numbers, w2 is like w U w+ U (w+)+ U ... ad infinitum. Now I was thinking, how do I visualise this. w2 makes sense in the way it's like taking the union of the constructed w x {0} and w x {1} which would essentially result in writing out w twice one after the other but both being distinct. So now w2 is also defined as I did above. So I was trying to draw the parallel. So you need to construct the ordered pairs for which the first element is lesser than or equal to the second for example, in terms of inclusion say. So in the prior, that network is like w(1) horizontally to w(2). BUT in the latter, the network literally goes OUTSIDE w to get to w+ which is w U {w}, and all the rest of w++, w+++ and so on. And THIS MAKES SENSE, it's PERFECT. If from the prior case, we write the elements of the first w as 1i, 2i and so on, and the second one as 1j, 2j and so on, the network from 0i to 0j in the prior is that of 0 to w+ in the latter (if I'm not mistaken) i.e. you SKIP the first element acc to intuition (which would have been w), but it still works cause infinite.

Thinking about all of this while being a little sleepy and closing my eyes, trying to visualise all of this was SO INSANELY TRIPPY. Like I felt light headed in the front part of my head, the kind you might when you're high, and wasn't able to think of anything straight apart from this. I was literally at some point also getting CEVs.

I think it is a combination of drowsiness and intense focus but whatever it is, I can never forget this experience, and this might just seal the deal w math for me. Let's see though, we got some time.