#the way they had to start calling sensible people antis bc if they made it anymore discriptive people would obviously see its insane

[adetheenby]

calling people antis is such a chronically online thing to do like look me in the eyes and tell me ur gonna complain to someone about how antis are ruining the fun of online spaces and when they ask "whats an anti" how are you gonna respond in a way that doesnt make you seem absolutely deranged?

[sharkmobster]

more funtime found family au stuff but this time focusing on funtime freddy and michael's relationship. it's incredibly rambly and turns into off-kilter dialogue but i gotta get this off my chest.

tw mentioned child abuse/death

• doesn't actually like michael (at first) even tho i draw them hanging around each other a lot

• bon bon is the only reason he does loaf around him. (bon bon and bonnet being the only ones who like Michael in the beginning.) They're attached to each other so it's inevitable that they would hang around mikey.

• ft freddy plays really mean spirited jokes on michael bc he's not allowed to harm him. he has to get real creative. (ft freddy has a lot of anger inside of him. people write him off as being dumb and goofy but really that's just a mask that he put up so he didn't scare people away. of course the funtimes know how he is, knows who he is right to his core bc they're all connected on a deeper/technological level.)

• (slaps funtime freddy. this bear can fit so much trauma and abandonment issues in him!)

• can be incredibly vindictive when he wants to be and takes out a lot of his agression on Michael. michael shares the afton name (bc he sure as hell doesn't look like william in my au lol) and that alone is enough for ft freddy to bully him.

• (the funtimes blame william for abandoning them so ft freddy takes it especially personal when his ankle biter comes around to "liberate" them. and on some deeper level freddy is just terrified that michael will abandon them all, just like willy did. he never voices this of course. opting to show his apprehension and fear in a more destructive way, pushing Michael further away.)

• canon ft freddy: sinister but still goofy and knows how to have a good time

my ft freddy: goofy and repressed anger issues, doesn't know how to enjoy himself without causing someone some kinda pain.

• michael gets fed up with being terrorized eventually and confronts him, and ft freddy drops the silly act for a bit just ready to blow up at him. (he can't even place why he's still so angry at michael when really he's been nothing but hospitable and accomodating to their wants and needs but fuck he's just so wound up he doesn't know what to do) michael compares him to william during the argument (cruel and vindictive just like william wanted) and ft freddy nearly rings his neck, absolutely seething but bon bon doesnt let that happen of course. (idk if this is confirmed canon but bon bon was designed to placate freddy. he raises his voice even slightly and bon bon's petting his face, stopping him from getting even more agressive)

• ft freddy shuts down after the confrontation ends (emotionally, anyway) and the blow out itself is completely anti climatic, nobody getting hurt. he ends up isolating himself from the others with bon bon hovering around like a concerned mother hen. Baby and the others give him space but michael (after he cools down anyways) won't leave him alone.

• See the thing is: Michael understands. Michael understands more than anyone what it's like to feel so deeply, what it's like to hate and hate and to keep hating until that rage is your whole life. It's suffocating. and he had to deal with that all on his own, choking on his own grief and rage without anyone to guide him. (his brother is dead bc of him and he carries that with him everywhere he goes, in everything he does.)

• They're living in the countryside of France at this point in time, far off from any wandering eyes, a thick forest surrounding their home. Freddy has a few hiding spots that he scouted out within the first few days of staying there. And that's where Michael finds him, hiding out in a small alcove by the a creek, throwing rocks at the trees (and sometimes wildlife).

• freddy doesn't aknowledge him, ignoring him like a child would and bon bon frets nervously between them, not wanting another fight to break out. Michael tells them that he's not here to fight anymore, he just wants to talk. you like to talk, don't you? and freddy doesn't say anything, running his fingers through the dirt, absentmindedly.

• michael asks bon bon to leave so that they can have a private convo and bon bon freaks out like absolutely not, he might hurt you and michael asks freddy directly like "are you going to hurt me?" freddy still isn't talkative, and he's rigid when he shakes his head no after a bit of silence. Bon Bon asks if he's alright with him leaving and freddy just shrugs, still staring at nothing in the distance. bon bon hesitates for a few moments before finally leaving, telling Michael to call out to him if he's in danger but michael rushes him along.

• it's just them now, nothing but the sounds of nature around them. michael asks how he's feeling and freddy shrugs again. Michael strikes up a one sided conversation, stepping closer and closer to him over time not really getting any kinda response out of him but eventually, during his rambling, freddy finally looks at him and says "Y-You just don't get-get it." and then goes back to the silent treatment.

• Michael's quiet, having made his way up to standing right next to freddy (he's only a tiny bit taller than him when he's just sitting like that). he nods his head, considering something for a while until finally he goes "Did I ever tell you about what it was like? Ya know. Being William Afton's golden child?" freddy doesn't say anything but he pauses from drawing circles in the dirt, tilts his head just a fraction to let mikey know he's listening.

• michael stares at the creek. "He wasn't the most outwardly loving father. Wasn't really the nicest one, either. But, I wanted his approval so bad, I'd do anything for it." Freddy slowly turns his head to watch him carefully. that's got his attention. "I did a bunch of stupid shit back then, all cause I wanted to be noticed by him. But all that attention went to my little-" and michael draws in a sudden breath, pained. stays silent for a moment, working up the courage to speak. "I did something awful to my brother. All for my father. And it's an awful thing to say but his death didn't matter. Pops didnt bat an eye and Mom was too far gone by that point after Elizabeth...." he looks back in the direction of the cottage. "Well.... you know what happened to Elizabeth." Freddy's stare is hard and unyielding. "He's gone now and I was the only one who cared enough. His fuckin' abuser cared more for his passing than his own father did."

• "He threw me into the basement. Did you know that?" Michael bounces from one foot to another, anxiety written into his very bones. he's lost in his rambling now, having never spoken these words out loud to anyone. "I killed his son and he locked me away in the dark for three years." Freddy fully turns to give Michael his undivided attention, stock still, hanging off of his every word. "I got out. Eventually. I ran away and lived on the streets for years until someone got a hold of me. Told me my old man was missing, presumed dead. Got a pretty penny from the fazbear business he co-owned with Mr. Emily. Things were going good, I guess. I was overwhelmed for the most part, didn't do anything other than bounce around from hotels every few days. In some way, I felt like he was still out there, watching me. I just kept running. And then i found out about you." He glances at freddy and looks away quickly when he finds an unblinking visage staring back. "Found out about all of you. Locked away in a storage facility for over 30 years. In the dark. All alone." an incredibly long silence stretches out between them, freddy fidgeting, hyperaware of every noise going on around them.

• "You think I don't get it. But I do. I think I understand you more than anyone could." Michael's staring back at him, raw emotion across his face, eyes soft with empathy and that's what makes Freddy turn away from him. Suddenly uncomfortable. "I don't want to fight with you. Not you. Not Ballora, or Foxy, or Eli-" He visibly winces, but regains his composure. "...I just... need you to understand that I want to help."

• Freddy's never been so quiet, and it's such an odd sight. Michael's not sure if he should say anything else or if he should leave the bear alone. the bear speaks up, finally "W-We could've kill-killed you."

• "That was always a possibility, yeah. I woulda deserved it." Freddy's not sure if he likes the way Michael talks about himself sometimes. "I needed to get you guys out of there, though. That was more important than whatever could've happened to me." Michael huffs. "Besides, if I hadn't bailed you guys out then I would've never gone to Paris. Ballora has good taste in real estate, I think." and despite everything, freddy lets out a sudden breath that could've been mistaken for a sensible chuckle. Michael smiles anyway.

• Things settle down afterwards, though there's no bite to Freddy's jokes now. They're not as close as Michael wants, Freddy still keeping his distance, keeping his walls up but it's something.

• Freddy starts watching horror movies with him late into the night and until dawn. Doesn't let Michael sleep in afterwards and he might just regret this but it makes Freddy happy. Things go back to normal in the cottage, as normal as things can be for a motley troupe like them anyways. Michael starts laughing at his jokes more.

[ikkinthekitsune]

One of the strangest and most fascinating things about the Old Testament, to me, is that it’s perfectly happy to offer the spotlight to opposing viewpoints, often in adjacent or near-adjacent books.

Take the seven books considered to be part of the wisdom literature genre, for instance -- Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, and Sirach. 

To start with, they don’t even agree about what it means to be wisdom literature.  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Sirach all offer what’s probably best described as worldly wisdom, offering suggestions as to how to get ahead in life that are so pragmatic and rooted in the culture of their time that some of them (particularly with regards to women and the discipline of children) are repugnant to modern sensibilities.  Ecclesiastes in particular is incredibly cynical, almost to the point of nihilism.  “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” isn’t just its most well-known phrase -- it’s perfectly representative of a worldview in which we’re all going to the same place, and while you might be able to live longer if you’re righteous, you can’t even count on that much.

Job addresses the problem of evil as well, but its structure and content are entirely different.  It’s an incredibly poetic take on an argument between a man who suffers unjustly and his “friends” who insist that he must be guilty of some hidden wrongdoing because they refuse to believe that the righteous would be allowed to suffer.  And, in the end, it doesn’t pretend that it can offer a satisfying answer to the problem of evil (God’s response is to ask questions of Job that no human being could answer), other than that a good person should acknowledge that there is a problem instead of accusing those who suffer of having done something to deserve their suffering in order to let God off the hook.

Interestingly enough, Job himself kind of seems to have been looking for something rather New Testament-like -- he notes that God “is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both” and says that, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another."  There also seems to be something of an implication that the nature of God, as it was understood at the time, was so far removed from the nature of man that no meaningful answer to the problem of evil could be provided within the contemporary framework.  God’s answer addresses the question only tangentially, taking full responsibility for nature red in tooth and claw while justifying nothing.  (Incidentally, the position taken by God in the Book of Job is probably one of the most effective arguments against the idea that Darwinian evolution is contrary to the revealed character of God that I can think of.)

And then there’s Wisdom, which starts with what almost seems like a deliberate shot over the bow at the worldview presented in Ecclesiastes (”For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, ‘Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. For we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts; when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.Our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and be scattered like mist that is chased by the rays of the sun and overcome by its heat. For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back.’”).

Even more intriguingly, the Book of Wisdom has very little interest in offering worldly wisdom of its own.  Instead, it does three rather extraordinary things for a book written in the 1st century BC:

It claims that a cynically anti-resurrection worldview inevitably leads to what sounds an awful lot like the death of Jesus -- ”Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”)

It presents wisdom as what might be most appropriately described as a Rule 63 version of Jesus and offers a prototype for the doctrine of the Trinity.  No, seriously: “The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her, and love of her is the keeping of her laws, and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality, and immortality brings one near to God; so the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.” “There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.” “With you is wisdom, she who knows your works and was present when you made the world; she understands what is pleasing in your sight and what is right according to your commandments.” “For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory.” “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and people were taught what pleases you, and were saved by wisdom.”  To wit, that’s omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, serving as both an image of God and a guarantee of immortality, and existence prior to the world’s creation -- the only way to posit such a figure in the Judeo-Christian framework without falling into polytheism is the Trinitarian solution. And, depending on how one interprets “unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high,” it might have actually spoken of three divine persons.

It associates wisdom with a swiftly-approaching judgment on heathen idols, “because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination, snares for human souls and a trap for the feet of the foolish,” which is quite prophetic if one holds to a Girardian interpretation of the Crucifixion (namely, that by taking upon himself the role of victim but refusing to be silenced, Jesus undercut the mechanism by which all sacrificial religions and other such idolatrous social dynamics operated).  There’s even a line introducing this prophecy of judgment that could be passed off as a direct reference to the Crucifixion -- “For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.”  And, once you add the concept of the scapegoat mechanism into the mix, claiming that “the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil“ changes from something naive and anachronistic to an insightful and lasting truth about humanity, and claiming that “though living in great strife due to ignorance, [idolators] call such great evils peace“ makes perfect sense (peace gained through the sacrifice of scapegoats is obviously a great evil).

To make the Biblical canon of wisdom literature even more complicated, Psalms and the Song of Solomon often seem not to have anything to do with wisdom at all.  Psalms is a collection of lyrics for songs used at worship services (many of which are, like, 3,000 years old and still entirely relevant, which is kind of amazing in and of itself), so it’s to be expected that its content varies significantly, but I’m not sure how the Song of Solomon was assumed to deal with wisdom except insofar as King Solomon himself was famously wise -- it’s an incredibly sensual piece of love poetry.

But, yeah.  For seven books in the same genre included in the same canon, it’s hard to imagine a more disparate set.