Green hell spirits of amazonia guide

Green Hell

2018.05.18 07:53 macmoosie Green Hell

Welcome to the Green Hell community. Please be sure to read the rules and guidelines before posting. We are not affiliated with Creepy Jar, though they are aware this community exists.
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2013.07.01 02:05 Survival Game News

This is a place to discuss the Survival genre of gaming.
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2016.10.20 16:00 Andis1 Nintendo Switch - News, Updates, and Information

The central hub for all news, updates, rumors, and topics relating to the Nintendo Switch. We are a fan-run community, not an official Nintendo forum.
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2023.06.02 21:35 notfrumenough Baruch Hashem! I want to hear: How has the almighty helped you in life? Have you ever witnessed a miracle?

Shalom and Gut Shabbos! I would love to hear people’s stories of how Hashem has guided, supported, protected, nourished and healed you in life, if any of you are up for sharing. I would also love to hear stories of miracles if you or someone you know has witnessed any.
Now, I do believe that creation itself is a miracle, and everything in this world is a miracle as Torah dictates. 🥰 It’s so easy, though, to get caught up in doubt and yetzer hara.. so if any of you have undeniable stories of Hashem’s hand working through your life please share!
I will also share mine. Trigger warning!!
I’m a domestic violence survivor. In my late 20s I was bullied into a relationship that could only be described as actual hell on earth. (I’m 40f now) I was being beaten, strangled, isolated, accused, controlled.. My finances were devastated, I lost friends, I lost my faith in G-d. I was absolutely certain that I would die at the hands of an eye-bulging violent man. I started feeling like if G-d would let this happen to me, a sweet and loving person, there must not be one.
In one instance, the guy was hitting me in the head repeatedly and started to strangle me. He was on top of me and I couldn’t get him off of me, and my vision started to black out and I started to pass out. I couldn’t see anything but black spots. It seemed like that was the end for me.
Suddenly I heard a loud pop and the guy went flying across the room and hit the wall. My vision started to come back and I started to wake up. Dude was yelling at me “you bitch you broke my rib you bitch” as I scrambled to the phone to call 911. The police came, photographed my injuries and put him in jail. I had no idea what happened, and to this day I have no idea what threw him off of me.
Or rather, I do know. It was one of Hashem’s angels.
It would not have been physically possible for me to do that, even if I had been fully awake, and nobody else was there.
Have you all heard the midrash where (tl;dr) as Joseph was carried away as a newly sold slave he was in a caravan of sweet smelling spices? Which was abnormal at the time, as caravans usually had animals and dung in them. The midrash tells us the sweet smelling spices were a message from Hashem saying I am with you, this is the plan, you need not fear. While Joseph was understandably terrified thinking his life was over, he was actually on a direct path to becoming one of the rulers of Egypt, and saving the world from famine. The sweet smelling spaces in the caravan that day were an indication of that.
I can’t pretend that my own challenges stopped there but that’s for another day. I ended up suffering for years from ptsd and anxiety, uncontrollable crying and flashbacks, and a phantom hand on my neck.
As I embarked on a healing journey I started looking back on my experiences looking for those sweet smelling spices. Looking for the ways in which Hashem has let his presence be known and shown me love. I can’t deny that my life being saved that day was anything short of a miracle, the work of Hashem, my own sweet smelling spices.
This line of thinking has guided me though much suffering and helped me heal from ptsd. The more I look, the more I see Hashem’s miracles big and small. The more I see his hand in everything and his spark everywhere. The more I trust that everything is exactly as it should be, and there are no mistakes.
Today my counselor did another assessment, the third one in the past seven months, and stated that my symptoms are reduced so much since I started going that I no longer qualify for a diagnosis of ptsd.
Being free from abuse, free from anxiety and trauma is a silent miracle but a miracle no doubt.
I just want to praise Hashem, Torah and Judaism for this gift as studying Torah and diving deeper into a practice has pushed me through my healing process. Also for saving my life, Thank G-d. Baruch Hashem.
Please tell me your stories of miracles and sweet smelling spices! I want to hear how Hashem shows up for all his children in small ways and big ways. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
submitted by notfrumenough to Judaism [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:33 MetalSello Empress Heavy Menace vs. EHX Hell Melter

I'm currently on the lookout for a new distortion pedal/preamp to add some serious kick to my guitar tone. I've been eyeing a couple of options, but I could really use some guidance from the community here.
First up, there's the EHX Hell Melter. It's an HM2 clone with some sweet additional features like a noise gate and a dry blend. I must say, the dry blend caught my attention - pretty cool stuff! However, here's the thing: I'm not really into Death Metal, and I'm not sure if an HM2 clone is the right fit for me. I'm more into a range of metal subgenres, including Doom/Stoner, Trash, and Nu Metal.
Currently I only own 2 pedals. An EHX East River Drive which is a Tube Screamer clone and a Green Russian Big Muff which I use for getting Doom tones. Both run into an Orange Terror Stamp.
So, I started looking into the Empress Heavy Menace. At first, I thought it might be another HM2 clone, but after watching a bunch of YouTube videos, it doesn't sound like your typical chainsaw HM2 tone. I must admit, it got me intrigued!
Now, I'm stuck in a decision-making limbo. Which way should I go? I'd love to hear your recommendations, personal experiences, and any advice you might have. Maybe some of you have tried either of these pedals or have other suggestions that could suit my diverse metal tastes?
I'm all ears, my fellow shredders! Help a fellow metalhead out. \m/
submitted by MetalSello to guitarpedals [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:31 Mesraleros Struggling to figure out why my lawn has so much yellow/brown

Hi Everyone,
I'm hoping to get your thoughts on what could be the issue with my lawn. I'm finding that majority of my lawn is quite thin and has a lot of yellow/brown.
In the front yard it's a little thicker overall but there are major spots that are brown. In the backyard it's generally thinner, but it's a spread of brown with thin green grass mixed together. Most of the brown grass comes out quite easily with a bit of a tug.
I should note I've tested my soil and the levels seem to be fine. I've been following the beginner's guide with granular fertilizer, and then later on liquid application of humic acid/kelp.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
submitted by Mesraleros to lawncare [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:19 Alpinia_KR Kaiserreich Beta 0.25.1

As pleased as we are with our Ukraine rework and the great reception it received, no large rework like this would be complete without some last-minute bugs that crept in on the final stages of testing. To remedy this, this hotfix should get rid of the most game-breaking bugs, and keep things running more smoothly. Enjoy!
Changes
New Decisions
GFX
Music Mod
Mapping
Other Changes
Fixes
Notable Fixes
Other Fixes
We hope you enjoy playing Kaiserreich as much as we did making it!
- The KR4 Team: 84F8D8, Alpinia, Arvidus, Augenis, Blackfalcon501, Carmain, Chazem, Chiang Kai-shrek, Chiron29, Cody, Conchobhar, DuoDex, El Daddy, Fedex, Flamefang, Gaboemi, Gideones, Hamfast, hildagrim, Ido, Igor050301, JazzyHugh, Jeankedezeehond, Jonny BL, Juliet Wehrwolf, Kano, katieluka, Kennedy, kergely, KFateweaver, Klyntar King, Krčo, Luwofe, Matoro, McOmghall, ~mw~ // miwaco, NukeGaming, Owenomaly, PPsyrius, Pelmen, RagnoStrangeros, Rnk, Shiroe, Sonny O’Cad, SuperGreenBeans, suzuha, The Alpha Dog, The Irredentista, The Italian Jojo, Vidyaország, and Zimbabwe Salt Co.
submitted by Alpinia_KR to Kaiserreich [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:06 TrueGod92 A Profane Prophecy Fulfilled.

In early may 2023 I sat in church with my family. The preacher Approached his podium looking war torn sad, and with a worried look on his face. He raised his hands and said. "I've had dreams of god speaking to me. Hes telling me so much. It's almost incomprehensible to me his words they burn my ears as if a red hot iron is being forced into them. What I can gather from him is that the end times are close, and the seven trumpets shall call it forth. Now my children As your preacher, my intention are to deliver a sermon that not only explains the significance of the seven trumpets being sounded but also encourages individuals to reflect on their own lives and prepare themselves for the end of the world.
The seven trumpets are significant in the book of Revelation as they represent the final warning of God's judgment on the earth. The first four trumpets describe catastrophic events that will result in widespread destruction and devastation. The fifth trumpet describes a swarm of locusts that will torment those who have not been sealed by God. The sixth trumpet describes an army of 200 million that will bring destruction upon the earth, and the seventh trumpet announces the final judgment of God.
The sounding of these trumpets serves as a warning to all of us that the end of the world is near, and we must prepare ourselves accordingly. As we read in the book of Revelation, the effects of these trumpets will be catastrophic, and those who have not prepared themselves will face a terrible fate.
Therefore, we must examine our own lives and make sure that we are prepared for the end of the world. We must ensure that our hearts and minds are focused on God and that we are living our lives according to His will. We must repent of our sins and ask for God's forgiveness, so that we may be sealed by Him and protected from the judgments that are to come.
In conclusion, the sounding of the seven trumpets serves as a warning to us all that the end of the world is near, and we must prepare ourselves accordingly. We must make sure that our hearts and minds are focused on God, and we must repent of our sins and ask for His forgiveness. Let us heed this warning and prepare ourselves for the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen."
Finishing up he smiled at us all as he pulled a pistol from his robe putting it in his mouth squeezing the trigger and blowing the back of his head apart. Painting the statue of jesus christ behind him with a grotesque mosaic brain matter, skull fragments and so much blood. After the cops were called his building in the church were searched. The two nuns that accompanied him hanging and they're chambers and bleed dry. In his quarters They found the he used the blood and painted on his walls repeatedly. The seventh trumpets shall sound they shall sound. This was painted and cover the entirety of his room. After this was done the church was closed and we never went back.
Then it happened The two witnesses show on june 7th 2023, in an attempt to save humanity, they spread the gospel of God explaining to all those who were willing to listen, but most turned a blind Eye with this. The two witnesses then had no choice, but too have the first of seven trumpets sound. The first Trumpet sounds with the echo across the world. More of a vibration than a noise many people had not known it went off. After it had stopped Hail began to fall from the sky with a drastic change. The Hail went from solid small pieces of ice to pieces of Red hot glass as it hit the ground it burnt everything in touched. Within two weeks it spread across the world. Because of this most of the world's vegetation Burnt to the ground, leaving nothing but melted glass and ash across the lands. With this a three hundred day war breaks out across the world. Nations began to fight for what food was left in the world. As april approached the war ended with no victor. With hundreds of thousands dead the world went into mourning. Realizing that the war caused nothing but harm to the world. Bringing the sadness and pain to all those that had to be involved. Countless families torn apart so many wounded so many dead. Children without fathers or Mother's, wife's mourning Their husbands. mothers screaming and crying over the lose of their children. The world fell silent as it realized that if they had listened Maybe none of this would have happened. None of that mattered now. Now there was too much pain, too much anger, and too much hate. The world blamed god for all this tragedy that had happened to them as a whole. They cursed it's name. Those who had faith in God, Started to doubt they felt as though God itself had left them. How could something so powerful, So all-knowing do this to them. It wasn't fair, was God acting out like a child? How could God be all-powerful and be jealous that not every single being on the Earth showed it Love and loyalty. what kind of power hungry thing Was God? if this is what god was They didn't want to believe they didn't want to follow. They wanted to forget they wanted to abandon it. Seeing this the witnesses called out to the world. Trying the best they could to get everyone to understand why God was doing what it was doing. This caused more problems than good. People started burning churches to spite god. No longer were churches safe no longer could families go and feel safe and at peace. Now churches were taboo and known to be a place of death.
Not having convinced the world the witnesses called forth the second trumpet to sound. The sound of the second trumpet was unlike anything humanity had heard. To most that could comprehend the sound described it as if thunder was crying out in pain. On the last day of April the sky looked as though it was being torn open by the sound of the trumpet. Stopping abruptly people from all over the world could see that the sky had in fact had been torn open like a wound, and from that wound spilled an asteroid that resembled a blood clot. The asteroid was said to be the size of mount everest. Slowly it fell towards the earth. The closer it came to earth the more people felt a sense of dread and sorrow. Knowing that once it hit all would be turned to ash. People stood in shock as the mountain of an asteroid split in to smaller pieces and falling to the world's oceans. Hitting the water with such forces tsunamis to accrue across the plant killing thousands. Over the next few day the pieces decayed into the waters turning them into a viscera soup, killing roughly a third of all sea life. People started smelling the rot that came from the now think blood like ocean waters. Noticing the animals dying out and rotting giving the bloody ocean a acid like state causing those who lived on the waters to die slowly and painful. Soon people left the oceanside for they no longer could fish for food to survive.
In less than a year the world's oceans became a gelatinous mass of blood and gore. Spreading sickness and suffering to most if not all of the world's population the sickness only caused pain and discomfort but never death.
By July 2026 the Temples that once held weekly services to worship and praise God, were now completely abandoned and avoided by all that still lived. Knowing that their voices would fall to deaf ears the witnesses sound led the third trumpet. The sounds a weeping was heard throughout the disease ridden word. Knowing that a new plague approached the weak and trembling people hid the best they could. A flash of green light flooded the sky as a second asteroid came for the heavens. This one devolved in the air turning to light rain. Only hitting the lakes ponds and every other body of water. Seeing that nothing had changed the slowly dwindling population went back to what lives they could live. Unfortunately over the next year many died of was thought to be from dehydration no matter how much water they'd consume. Looking back the people that were left realized that all the waters had been poisoned. Those who survived learned what was safe to drink and what caused a slow labored death. The ones who died suffered incredible pain as their insides turned to a mess of rot and decay. Slowly they'd rot throwing up their literal guts and organs until nothing was left. At the end of the year only a quarter of the earth's population was left. Roaming what was left of the war torn lands searching for some sense of peace only to find rage pain and death at every corner of the world. Then the witnesses sounded the forth trumpet it was a quiet dull sound the next few weeks. The skies began losing light as if the sun was dying. The night sky was now a void of darkness with no stars in sight and a fading moon. Slowly darkness was all the people knew. Christmas came that year some people tried to show they had faith once again. Setting up small groups to share the holiday spirit most were meet with hatred but some were welcomed with loving arms. With their all seeing eyes the witnesses observed with hope that the world was going to change for the betterment of all. Then the new year started with a major power claiming that they held the right to command over what was left in the world for they had more of a population and those who disagreed would be delt with a swift and painful experience. This well, this caused so much to happen and none of it was good. People started looting fight and killing just because they knew they could. There was no rules anymore and people took full advantage of that. What's no hesitation? The witnesses sounded the fifth trumpet. The trumpet Sounded as though A million babies were screaming out in causing everyone to drop to their knees and hold their ears. The sound penetrated them, causing mass hysteria. With an hours of the Trumpet sounding hells Pit of torment Tour open from the Earth's crust and from it, a rupted millions upon millions of locust. Please locust tour through homes, buildings, and people. The sound that they made made people tear At their ears shoving Anything that they could get their hands-on into their own ears Just to stop the sounds from entering their body. This went on for 5 months, then abruptly all that's a locust died. Falling from the sky, as a terrible reminder. Once they all fell to the ground the sixth trumpet screamed out calling forth an army of two million undead warriors, for the next eighteen months they search and brutally attacked and killed close to a third of the male population leaving nothing but death in their wake, once they had accomplished their task they caught fire burning up the locusts and their own bodies to dust. As a calmness came over the world the witnesses came forth speaking of the coming of christ itself, and those who are righteous shall know peace and all others shall know pain and death. In a show of power the witnesses disappeared in a flash of bright blue light and a clap of thunder that shook all that was left. The sky opened as a voice echoed through the ears of all people. Tellimg them to fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness and show that they have true faith in God for if they don't it would strike them down sending them to hell. With much fear, anger, pain, and hatred. People of the world lashed out, calling the so called one true God a false God a sad and jealous God end they would not Worship follow or do, as is it commanded and for it's so-called chosen one, it could also turn back and never return. For they As people of the world would find their own way they could live. Be happy and grow they would turn this world back in to something lavish and beautiful once again. Screaming out to gods so-called prophet youre not needed. Your God is not needed here all of this pain, death and destruction, it was caused by you. And we will be the ones to rebuild it not you Your profit, not your witnesses, us. And only us now close your gates to heaven and hell. Leave us to our own we've already turned our backs on you so you do the same. We don't want you and we don't need you. The sky closed and went dark leaving only the last few survives scattered across the wasteland that was once earth.
submitted by TrueGod92 to u/TrueGod92 [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:04 smuckythesmugducky Jesus Christ. Why Is Stable Diffusion so Terrible with Faces

Yes, I know you can InPaint to fix, but i feel like the range of quality is so vast, some days I can get very realistic, photoreal faces, the next prompt totally warps faces into picasso-like monsters, no matter how many negative prompts I try. Don't even think about adding a LORA. Faces will get FUBAR'd. If anyone can point me in direction of a comprehensive guide to overcoming crap faces in SD, would greatly appreciate, hell, I'd even be willing to pay a pretty penny for someone to create one. SO FRUSTRATING! Do you think this will eventually be "fixed/overcome" in a later version of SD?
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EDIT: And yes I realize a bulk of my issues may be due to....my ignorance on how to use the tech! But I will say I've done quite a few hours/days/weeks of research and still seems I'm unable to achieve consistent quality
submitted by smuckythesmugducky to StableDiffusion [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 21:00 Key-Win7744 Your thoughts on "Sleeping Beauty" (1959)

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https://preview.redd.it/86lwshpxjn3b1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=462aed2363352b65cc46234dd66ee54dcfd32890
Overview
Walt Disney was excited about Sleeping Beauty. He envisioned it as his masterpiece. It took almost a decade to produce, and the process cost six million dollars, making it the most expensive Disney animated film yet. It had to struggle through numerous production delays and changes in creative direction, and, when all was said and done, it was a box office failure. But there are a lot of great movies in this world that started out that way and went on to become absolute legends, and Sleeping Beauty is one of them.
Point by Point
In Conclusion
There's no doubt that Sleeping Beauty is the best film in the line yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if it holds on to that spot at least until we reach the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s. It's so good that it'll doubtless take something like The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast to topple it from its throne. This truly was Walt's masterpiece.
Current Ranking
  1. Sleeping Beauty
  2. Lady and the Tramp
  3. Pinocchio
  4. Bambi
  5. Cinderella
  6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  7. Alice in Wonderland
  8. Peter Pan
  9. Dumbo
  10. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
  11. Fantasia
  12. Melody Time
  13. Fun and Fancy Free
  14. The Three Caballeros
  15. Make Mine Music
  16. Saludos Amigos
submitted by Key-Win7744 to DisneyPlus [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:54 Mista9000 Perfectly Safe Demons -Ch 13- Kidnappers hate this one weird trick!

[Chapter One]
Prev and Next
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Late at night, in the back of a warehouse.
Grigory squirmed against his restraints. The rope binding his hands was coarse and too tight, causing his hands to lose feeling. A bored council guard stood nearby, but was mostly ignoring him. He wasn’t going to get far with his hands and feet tied together. It was worse than he had thought possible. They are very much going to kill him tonight. This was even worse than either Stanisk or Aethlina had speculated, and he just knew that they would use his role in this disaster against him in future disagreements. However, he might be overly optimistic worrying about a future that might not include him.
Grigory thought over what he had left in his notebooks, contemplating if it would be enough for someone to continue his work. He wasn't sure. It was a lot more than he started with, but there weren't a lot of qualified scholars looking to follow his footsteps. The best outcomes for a lot of different paths all need him to survive.
Grigory tried not to be distracted by the ropes digging into him, and frantically wracked his mind for any sort of escape plan. He had a single imp totem on him, and they left him with his satchel nearby. That’s something. He would need to be untied to invoke it, and a single perfectly safe imp wouldn’t change the balance of power much. Perhaps if everyone but the four executive members left, he and Stanisk might have a chance to overpower them. Well he could at least be distracting while Stanisk overpowered them. They also hadn’t checked his satchel yet, so maybe he could bribe them with the ten thousand glindi engraved gold bar he brought to pledge his support? Bribes are a type of negotiation, and being tied up while they already had the gold put him in a frustratingly weak position to start negotiations. Not getting executed by the organised crime successor to the Council of Demonologists wasn’t on his list, but he still felt it was important.
Grigory could clearly see and hear the meeting continue in the centre of the warehouse. A small detail that he noticed was just how small the sums were. Robberies of a few hundred glindi? The value of a business protection racket being ten glucks a week? Had the runaway success of his imp-made goods distorted his value of money? Pandemonium Partners profited a few hundred thousand a month, and the big safe in the workshop’s basement held about a million glindi, mostly in heavy gold bars. That was after the expenses, taxes and salaries had been paid. Maybe bribes will work here.
Another trend that emerged was how cheap lives appeared to be. Stole a knife from the boss? Death. Miscounted the take? Death. Didn’t show up to the job? Finger loss. How they attracted or retained any talent at all was its own mystery. On that note, we wonder if he enormously overpaid his people? These goons were killing each other over sums of money close to what he paid each of his security goons a day, which in turn was a fraction of what he was paying his partners. All the people he hired seemed excited when he told them the starting salary, and not a single one asked for a raise. Not the time for that! Focus on the matter at hand! Grigory continued to look for anything that he could use to escape.
All too soon the business part of the meeting was concluded. Two of the Council's guards wheeled out a cask of beer, and a crate of cheap clay mugs. Not great news for plans that require being left alone. In singles and groups the ‘Demonologists’ started to come over to where he was tied up. To drink cheap beer and look upon true evil in his demon summoning face.
“Hullo gentlemen! This is all a silly mistake, I’m sure we can work something out,” Grigory said with a calmness and pleasantness he didn’t feel.
A gangster in a threadbare tunic and patched leather pants started going through his coat, and then his satchel. His notebooks with neatly written titles were thrown on the floor, and the minor spell reagents placed on top of a nearby crate.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed far too loudly, ensuring everyone saw him pull out the slim gold bar, about the size of a knife handle. “This can’t be real?!” The gangster saw how everyone near him stared, mouths agape at the bar in his open hand. The bar’s engraving of the Royal Mint of Hiruxia glinting in the flickering rushlight.
“Back off! I found it!” He held the gold tight in his fist and drew his dirty, nicked knife from his belt with his free hand. Quicker than a blink of an eye every member had their blades out and the men at arms from the edges moved towards the commotion.
“PUT IT AWAY!” boomed Arcanist Devorio. He reasserted control of the situation with palpable menace. “The prisoner and all his goods are the property of the Council! Put it down on the table, Tricky Tupo!”
The gangsters grudgingly resheathed their weapons, and Tricky Tupo passed the bar to the Arcanist without making eye contact.
“Holy shit, it is actually real gold!” Devorio muttered after inspecting it for a second. “Where the hell did you steal something like this?”
Something in his phrasing crystalized a plan in Grigory’s mind. An insane, reckless, dangerous plan. Grigory tried not to smile when he replied, “Not stolen at all, well not from our plane of reality.”
“You summoned it?” the well dressed head of the council asked incredulously.
“Oh no, not at all! I stole it from the treasury of Hell! You see that’s the point of having a perfectly obedient demon, it does what I say, and not what the Lords of Hell say,” Grigory lied. The Hellplane wasn’t organised like that at all. There was no such thing as a treasury there. He still wasn’t sure how to sell it, but he hoped there was enough ignorance and greed in the room to do the heavy lifting for him.
“Demonologists have never stolen from hell! As far as I know. I think?” The arcanist was in uncertain territory.
“Mostly true! But we steal minor things all the time, like magical energy, or arcane secrets, but the exciting advance I wrote to you about was stealing things like minerals or artefacts and sometimes regular boring gold.” Grigory was hoping he was priming their greed enough. He worried he was being too subtle.
“Well, it looks like you have a new job! You steal Hell gold for us now!” The Arcanist-turned-crime-lord was back in familiar territory of coercing people into giving him what he wanted.
“Oh I couldn’t!" Grigory feigned reluctance. “I don’t have the right equipment, I haven’t done the full balancing equations for today’s planar alignments! I should go home and get what I need, and I’ll be happy to come back tomorrow and we can get a fresh start on this.”
“Not a chance! You’re doing the ritual this instant, or your blood will cover this entire floor!” Davenio countered.
Grigory, aware that excess blood could damage goods, decided against arguing. “Alright, you win, I’ll have my imp steal another dozen gold bars tonight, I guess. But that’s it! I’m leaving after that!”
“Hah! We’ll see about that!” The arcanist cut Grigory’s bonds while staring straight into his eyes.
Grigory rubbed his sore wrists, and looked at the fifty or so people that had gathered around him. Cruel smiles and the stink of cheap beer surrounded him, but he had a plan. “First I’ll need to summon my imp, to help me set up the ritual!” Grigory found himself speaking like a showman at a fair, with exaggerated gestures and in a loud clear voice. The assembled thugs, goons and crime lords backed up to give him some space. Aethlina suggested obscuring the details of invoking a demon, which was a great idea. He slowly and rhythmically chanted in demonic detail how he likes his tea, with lots of hand gestures and steps and ritualistic looking movements. After a few long seconds he pulled out the imp totem from his vest, waved it around like a wand for a bit before doing the quick gesture of invocation to actually invoke the imp. With two small clicks the tiny imp landed on the rough floorboards of the warehouse. Several goons gasped, and one of the lady goons even shrieked a bit. Truly a sad state of affairs when someone calling themselves a demonologist is startled by a tiny perfectly safe imp!
Grigory picked up his notebooks from the floor, and found the one titled ‘Charts, Formulas, and Tables.’. Doing some mental maths, and modifying a few old spells and rituals on the fly, Grigory gave his imp simple directions in demonic. He could have just spoken plainly, but he was aware he was also putting on a show. Keeping everyone’s attention was important for the next part.
“Ahem, is there any furnace ash, or the like? I’ll need to create a circle in ash or wax or sand.” A few people turned to look for what he needed, and Grigory returned to working out the planar alignment in his notebook. They returned with a canvas bag of stove ashes, he looked them over and nodded. “Does anyone have a silvered steel blade I can use? Anyone at all? No matter, I have one!” Grigory pulled out the small pocket knife he used to cut his food with. It actually was silvered steel, since that also came up from time to time in his line of work. Besides it was interesting to learn that was the only silvered steel blade in the room.
Grigory passed the bag of ash to the imp. He gave detailed instructions on the shape, symbols, and spacing of the elements, all crucial to the huge circle taking shape in the middle of the warehouse floor. The assembled crowd of dirty, dangerous, and desperate deviants started to look concerned. What had started as a bit of mean spirited fun was fast turning into the exact thing they knew was evil incarnate. A path to Hell was being built in front of them! A few moved to leave, but the others called them names and threatened their reputations, forcing them to stay and watch. There was a good reason to stay, there was about to be a lot of gold for everyone. In theory.
At last the preparations were complete. Grigory slowly walked the entire outside of his circle to make sure it was unbroken. He had done similar rituals before, but always with hours of double checking, and never with an audience. His hands were sweaty and shaking as he tore a page out of his notebook. Quickly, he scribbled down a final set of instructions in demonic script and handed it to the imp.
“Merp!” it said in agreement.
Grigory turned to address everyone. He saw a very worried Stanisk standing off to the back, and he subtly gestured for him to wait. Steadying his nerves for a second he addressed his gathered kidnappers, “Soon you will see a small tear in reality! Plug your ears, lest the screams of the damned drive you mad!” Grigory looked around, to make sure everyone was properly alarmed, and activated the ritual.
With a crack of thunder and a hurricane blast of dry wind that reeked of hot iron and sulphur Grigory’s surprise appeared in the centre of the circle. A towering rage demon, its black armoured hide covered in dancing hellfire, its wolf-like face filled with jagged fangs, and its shoulders brushing the rafters of the old warehouse. The assembled criminals looked up from the floor and saw the bipedal nightmare towering over them. They stood stalk still, not knowing how to react, nor sure what exactly was happening.
Grigory stood up straight and turned on the crowd, in a commanding bellow he condemned them, “What kind of idiots let a master demonologist do any summoning ritual he wants?! Look upon the true power of hell and despair!! Your petty schemes are –”
Grigory’s gloating was cut short by a foundation shaking roar from the demon. It started grabbing people at random, and biting them in half, throwing hunks of torso against the wall with splattering force. In accordance with the note, Grigory’s imp hopped up on the table, grabbed the bar of gold from where Arcanist Devorio put it, and sprinted figure eights between the demon's legs. With everyone’s fear AND greed now focused in the same area, Grigory took his stuff and ran for the door. Most of the so-called ‘demonologists’ were trying to escape, but a few were focused on the imp running with a gold bar held over its head. That was as much as a labourer would make in a year, and they couldn’t just walk away from that. The massive demon continued to kill and dismember with glee. The sound of tearing meat and snapping bones was even louder than the screams of the dying. As far as distractions go, Grigory was pretty proud of this one.
Grigory started for the door they had entered by. However, it was jammed with people trying to escape. He stopped at the edge of the chaos, trying to gather his thoughts. As he did, a better solution appeared to him. The demon grabbed one of the cutthroats that dove at the imp’s gold, and threw him at the wall with enough force to vaporise him. The impact filled the whole side of the warehouse in a steamy red mist, and sprayed meaty chunks over everything. The demon howled with laughter when he saw how people popped when thrown into walls.
The important part for Grigory was that there was now a second exit. An exit covered in gore and bone fragments, but entirely clear of goons. Signalling Stanisk, he made his way out through the wreckage. Slower than he’d like, and getting blood and worse on everything, but a clear path. The demon had stopped feeding entirely and was just throwing people as hard as he could, first at the floor then at other people. Its roars of rage were now peals of terrifying laughter. The air in the warehouse was thick with a mist of blood from the high energy impacts.
“I assume it knows not to kill us?” Stanisk asked in a ragged voice once he caught up to Grigory.
“Yes, but only not to kill people in purple. So don’t take off your tabard! It was the best I could do!”
They struggled out into the cool night air of the yard, free of the stenches of hell, gore and terror.
Stanisk looked down at his tabard, so soaked in fresh blood that it looked black. He ran even faster to the wagon.
“So this thing is just going to destroy the city until someone slays it then?” Stanisk asked, as they ran to the cart while frantically gesturing for his two guards to turn the wagon around and get it rolling.
“Oh no! Just until midnight” Grigory explained after he dove into the moving wagon. He wiped his blood soaked hands on his blood soaked robes, to no benefit.
Stanisk stared backwards at the destruction unfolding behind them. The demon had brought the warehouse down around himself and was clearly visible from the road. It was still energetically killing and smashing. “That's more than an hour! You reckon it’ll come for us?”
The single horse dragging a cargo wagon with four men on it was maddeningly sluggish
Grigory fumbled around for something to get the blood and bone fragments off his glasses. Finally finding part of his undershirt clean, he wiped them and he replied,“Oh my no,It’s bound to the summoning circle. Within a hundred paces.” They both watched as a few people fled on horseback, and a wagon rattled away at a gallop. Mostly it was a mess of shouting and terror. Knife fights broke out as people tried to commandeer the remaining horses. Horses were panicking and bolting without riders. Some survivors just ran away on foot. With every fresh kill the demon laughed so loud that Grigory felt like it was coming from his own skull.
“What the hell happened in there, sirs?” asked the terrified guard driving the cart.
Grigory turned around to answer, but Stanisk put a hand on his arm and answered instead, “Those filthy witches in there tried to kill us with a demon, but Grigory outsmarted them and turned it on its creators. Keep driving Kedril, we should be safe in an intersection or so.”
“Light preserve us all!” Kedril the driver said. “Is that a real demon Sir?”
Grigory watched the demon grab one of the goons fighting in the yard and threw him in a high arc towards the city centre. The demon’s arm cracked like a whip as it threw. The ragged corpse left a trail of blood mist as it arced far overhead.
Grigory answered calmly, “Yes.”
Grigory pulled out his demon totem from his robes, and devoked the imp, causing a gold bar a block and a half behind them to clatter to the blood soaked warehouse floor and slide into some debris. He was surprised how calm he felt. By all accounts his plan was in shambles and he’d stirred up a dozen hornets nests. Facing certain death and prevailing did wonders for one’s perspective.
Grigory looked over at Stanisk, and he was looking less calm. Which was entirely fair. A lot of uniquely horrific things happened tonight. Stanisk’s mouth was a tight line, face pale and eyes bloodshot. That might have just been blood from before, that got in his eyes.
“We can’t go through town looking like we bathed in the blood of the innocent, take us to the Golden Anchor’s warehouse on Glibstone Street. We own that place, we can clean up and change there,” Stanisk tersely told the driver.
Grigory countered, “First off, the previous owners of this blood were far from innocent, and secondly that’s across town, let's just lay in the bed, throw the rainsheet over us, and go to the main workshop.”
Stanisk groaned and tried to rub the blood off his face while he thought it over, but just smeared it around.
“Fine, Kedril, Remember to do a few triple left turns to make sure we aren’t being followed, like we discussed last month.” Stanisk undid the oilcloth on the side, connected it to the mounting points, and slid underneath.
“I think we need to review our plans!” Grigory whispered.
“Shhhh, cargo don’t talk.” Stanisk whispered back. The soldier cupped his head in one hand, and covered his eyes with the other and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. Grigory rolled onto his back and stared at the cloth in front of his face. He tried not to dwell on the odd whip crack sound coming from behind them, nor the horrified gasps of the two guards on the driver’s bench while he mentally updated his plans.
****
A few hours later Grigory was bathed, wearing fresh clothes and feeling much better. He sat contemplating at the kitchen table in his workshop. He was troubled by what this was going to mean for his business and for himself. Stanisk was still in the tub cleaning up, and the two guards had been dismissed for the night. It was shortly after midnight now, and that meant more to Grigory than it did other nights. He hoped no one innocent died tonight, but he was also a little surprised how little he was bothered by the destruction he unleashed this evening. Considering it was the first time he took another human’s life, albeit indirectly, he expected a stronger emotional response. Part of this was a clear case of kill or be killed. Another part was these people were awful people. Grigory worried this might mean he had more subconscious bias against the value of the lives of the economically disadvantaged, but that’s probably not it. Being biassed against people that were willing to kill him made more sense, but also he knew the coming years mean that will become the same as willing to kill most of the world.
Grigory put on some fresh tea, and set out another cup for Stanisk when he was done washing. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his worst fear, being mad with power and using that power to violently kill everyone he perceived as an enemy, wasn’t as far-fetched as it was before. These were the goons that might have killed his mentor, Archmage Willoford. Avenging a mentor was a reasonable rationale, at least in songs and plays. Grigory knew that wasn’t his motivation tonight. And besides that was the inquisition from the sounds of it, these ones just celebrated his mentor's execution, which isn’t really moral grounds for demonic dismemberment. He also knew he could have summoned a stench demon or a screaming demon, or just non demon based rituals he could have used to escape without violence. He didn’t even offer to bribe them, just straight to violence. Grigory wasn’t sure he liked finding out who he really was when lives were on the line.
His introspection was interrupted by a sound coming from his workshop door, and he sagged with relief when he saw it was just Aethlina. Relief that was short lived, because the questions started immediately.
“I assume you had something to do with the demonic giant that threw seventeen people into the side of the Cathedral of the Light?” the elv asked, without reproach or scorn.
Grigory took a second to answer. “I had something to do with the presence of that demon in our plane of reality. I had a little to do with either the people it chose to throw. Nothing to do with where it chose to throw them nor its accuracy. Interesting it threw them at the Cathedral, you’d think it would have some kinship with the church? They both love burning people.”
“By all accounts the accuracy at least, was excellent. All the bodies hit Cathedral Square. The Cathedral itself requires extensive repairs to the nave, and two flying buttresses collapsed. At least according to the terrified lady I ran into.” Aethlina paused for a few seconds in case Grigory chose to share more details.
Aethlina asked mildly, “How rude of me. I meant to ask, how did your meeting go tonight?”
Stanisk came out from around the partition wearing fresh clothes. “The fucking witches weren’t even witches! They were just shadow blighted gangsters what stole the demonologists reputation! Broke as shit, and twice as dumb!”
Stanisk grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the shelf and sat down at the table, ignoring the cup and the pot of tea. After drinking right from the bottle he continued, “It hit the actual main Cathedral? The one right in the centre of town? That’s like an hour walk from where we were! A catapult wouldn’t have thrown a person half that far!”
“The one and the same, The Grand Ubrafadter’s residence is in that square, so I assume what follows will be the sort of witch hunt the city has never seen before.” Aethlina turned to Grigory, “May I also assume your reasons for staying in the city are weaker and your reasons for leaving are stronger than they were yesterday?“
“There were definitely survivors, and I was introduced by name. I can’t stay here, probably not in the empire at all. I don’t think they know the name of the company, but Stanisk and I were wearing the company’s sigil, so it might not be long for them to work it out.” Grigory rubbed the bridge of his nose without taking off his glasses. “I guess we should start planning our exit immediately.”
In a rare show of emotion Aethlina smiled for a second, “We are leaving on a ship named the Widow’s Remorse, it’s provisioned for us and departs on the morning tide, in about nine hours. The captain agreed to wait until we were in open water to hear our destination. He and his crew also suffer from a rare medical condition where their memory fades entirely anytime they are given a bag of money. The ship can carry thirty-five passengers, so the guards can bring their families. I’ll describe the places I think we should go, after we are in open waters.”
Grigory was both very impressed and a touch alarmed. “Did you know what would happen at that meeting? Did you know what I was walking into?”
“No, I had mistakenly assumed you were on top of that, and took you on your word about them. The odds of them being what you expected were poor. I also had a detailed plan in case they kidnapped you.”
Stanisk burst out laughing, “Imagine if they kidnapped you, Boss! All trussed up like a rotisserie chicken! Hah! I guess I’ll get packed and meet back here to get everything organised! I’ll miss my townhouse, but I’ve had enough of living in Jagged Cove, it's loud and crowded.”
Stanisk stood up, and turned to leave, but paused mid stride. “Miss Aethlina, how big of an investigation do you reckon it’ll be? Reckon they could keep after us after we leave?”
“Likely.There are cases where the inquisition spent entire centuries on the trail of heretics and their descendents. Those heresies were vocally opposing an aspect of doctrine. This may be the first heresy in which a building-sized demon flung citizens into Cathedral Square. I assume yes, they will be interested in following up.”
“Alright, I’ve got an idea that might buy us some time. Grigory, are there any specific numbers that are significant to demons?”
“Um, not actually, but the older texts are filled with references to threes and eights I guess?” Grigory said with a shrug.
“Perfect!” Stanisks' smile strengthened and he turned to Aethlina. “Can you think of eight nobles, eight businessmen, and eight clergy the city would be better off without? Here, write 'em on this!” He slid her a notebook page when she nodded.
Grigory leaned forward,”I’m not sure what you are going for?”
“In the army, there was a famously clever bird that would trick soldiers, called a red heron. We are going to make a whole flock of ‘em!” Stanisk excitedly explained. “Oh, draw a demon circle on this page, doesn’t have to work or anything, like the one from the warehouse”
Grigory began his sketch. “I don’t think red heron is quite right, but I’m catching your drift.”
While they wrote, Stanisk went to the carved chest where all the imp totems for the workshop were stored, and invoked twenty four of them. Taking Aethlina’s list and Grigory’s sketch, he ordered each imp to sprint across town and use hellfire to scorch the circle into the street in front of the home of a specific name.
After the final imp bounded out of the building and was leaping along the rooflines Stanisk returned to his partners. “Now they’ll have too many leads! Hopefully folk see the imps and hellfire, that’ll be even better!”
“We can just outvoke them in an hour or so, that's easy enough. Great idea, Stanisk!” Grigory said cautiously, still thinking through the plan.
“If your big demon didn’t cause a public panic, I can’t imagine a better way to finish the job.” Aethlina replied.
Stanisk smiled and shrugged. “It wasn’t my good looks alone that kept me alive this long! I’ll send some runners to gather the lads and get this show on the road. Human runners I mean!”
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2023.06.02 20:47 ArchaicChaos Pneumatology 2. The Paraklétos (John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7, 13-14)

John 14:16-17, 26: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you to the age— the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see Him nor know. But you know Him, for He abides with you and He will be in you.... But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.
John 15:26: When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me.
John 16:7, 13-14: But I tell you the truth, it is profitable for you that I should go away; for unless I go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you... But when He the, Spirit of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. He will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will disclose it to you.
Translating "Paraklétos"
The translation above (BLB) uses the term "helper," other translations will variously use: advocate, comforter, intercessor, counselor, etc. These are all translating the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklétos). The word itself is variously translated, not because it is difficult to understand, but because we don't have one solid English word that encompasses everything the Greek word means. This word describes someone who is para, or "close" by another and is in defense of them. This can be in defense in regards to comforting or helping with a problem, but this word is also used in legal defense, someone who advocates on another's behalf as an intercessor before a court or an audience. This is why all of these translations are used. Each does represent a different aspect of what this word means. In context, Jesus is comforting his apostles in these chapters. John 13-17 (and part of chapter 18) are all of Jesus' last night before his trials begin. John 13-16 is the "upper room discourse" where Jesus has his final words with his apostles. Chapters 14-16 are mostly repeating the same few points over and over. Namely, that Jesus will show us the way to the Father through the Spirit which will comfort them after he dies. He will soon die, and they will be comforted by the Spirit of truth. John 17 is called Jesus' "high priestly prayer," this entire chapter is Jesus' prayer to the Father. Chapter 18 is when Jesus is captured and taken to be tried. These statements about the Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, or paraklétos, are found in the above listed verses in chapters 14-16. Jesus is comforting his apostles by telling them things before he goes to his death. He goes on to explain that he will ask for another comforter to come and comfort the apostles after he is gone. For this reason, the context seems to me to be best translated as "comforter," or "helper," because this Spirit is coming to comfort and help the apostles through the period of time after losing Christ, and as they go one their great commission. For the course of this article, we will generally leave the word untranslated for this reason.
Who is the paraklétos? The Holy Spirit
The paraklétos is the Holy Spirit. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another paraklétos, that He may be with you to the age—the Spirit of truth... But the paraklétos, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name..." (John 14:16-17, 26). The Holy Spirit is the paraklétos that the Father will send in the name of Jesus. The paraklétos, Holy Spirit, and Spirit of truth are all equivalent terms referring to the same thing. The paraklétos is the Holy Spirit.
The 3 Trinitarian Arguments
In these passages, many Trinitarians will use them to argue three points.
-1 That the Holy Spirit is a person, due to the fact that "he" is used and not "it."
-2 The Holy Spirit is someone other than the Father or Jesus because the Father sends him, Jesus sends him, and the Spirit is "another" being sent. It follows that if the Holy Spirit is a person, and another, then you have a third person of the Trinity here.
-3 The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father due to what is said in John 15:26, the Spirit ἐκπορεύεται (ekporeuetai), or, "goes forth, proceeds from" the Father. In the doctrine of the Trinity, the procession of the persons (how the Son and Spirit come from the Father) advocates that the nature by which the Father generates the Son is through begetting, while the Spirit proceeds, or spirates. Depending on the stance on the filioque, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, or the Father through the Son.
Argument 1, "He"
Looking at argument 1, we find that the Trinitarians do have a particular point here. In Greek, you have grammatical gender. A particular word will have grammatical gender associated with it. Common examples are "logos," or "word," which is grammatically masculine, and "sophia," or "wisdom," which is grammatically feminine. The Greek word for Spirit Πνεῦμα (pneuma), is grammatically neuter. When using a pronoun associated with the subject, the pronouns' grammatical gender must match the subject. So, if we use a pronoun associated with a grammatically feminine word, the corresponding referring pronoun must also be in the feminine gender. Our subject here is "Spirit." Which is grammatically neuter. Therefore, the associated pronoun should be grammatically neuter. However, something different occurs in these passages that we would not expect to see. While referring to a grammatically gendered word, the gender changes to a masculine when the referential word is used.
"But when He (ἐκεῖνος, ekeinos, masculine), the Spirit (Πνεῦμα, Pneuma, neuter) of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself (ἑαυτοῦ, heautou, masculine), but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. He (ἐκεῖνος, ekeinos, masculine), will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will disclose it to you." (John 16:13-14)
As we can see, while the referential pronouns are referring to a grammatically neuter word, we have them in the masculine. Compare this to Matthew 15:22:
"And behold, a Canaanite woman from the same (ἐκείνων, ekeinōn, neuter) region (ὁρίων, horiōn, neuter) having approached, was crying out saying, 'Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.'"
The subject here, being "region," which is grammatically neuter, is paired with the same pronoun used in John 16:13-14 above, but it is also in the neuter gender.
Grammarians say that John is "breaking the rules of Greek grammar" by doing this, and this is for the purpose of referring to a person. The reason why John would change the grammatical gender from a neuter to a masculine is for the purpose of showing that the subject is specifically masculine.
Some Unitarians' Response
Many Unitarians argue that the Holy Spirit is not someone, but, something. It is "God's power," or "an active force." It is a rather impersonal object that's used by God, not a person. If the above argument from the grammar is correct, then this would disprove the Unitarian claim. It is my understanding and opinion that the objection above is correct, and this does disprove the Spirit in this case to be something rather than a person. The Spirit is not "it," but properly, "he." My argument is not against the case made for the grammar, but my argument is against the Unitarians, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, that claim that the Spirit is nothing more than an impersonal force. Under the study notes in the NWT (New World Translation, the translation made by the Jehovah's Witnesses), they say the following:
Study notes on John 14:16:
When Jesus spoke of the holy spirit, an impersonal force, as a helper and referred to this helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving’ (Joh 14:26; 15:26; 16:7-15), he used a figure of speech called personification, that is, referring to something impersonal or inanimate as if it were alive. In the Scriptures, it is not unusual for something that is not actually a person to be personified. Some examples are wisdom, death, sin, and undeserved kindness. (Mt 11:19; Lu 7:35; Ro 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12; 7:8-11) It is obvious that not one of these things is an actual person. God’s spirit is often mentioned together with other impersonal forces or things, further supporting the fact that it is not a person. (Mt 3:11; Ac 6:3, 5; 13:52; 2Co 6:4-8; Eph 5:18) Some argue that the use of Greek masculine pronouns when referring to this “helper” shows that holy spirit is a person. (Joh 14:26) However, Greek grammar requires masculine pronouns when the activity of “the helper” is described since the word for “helper” is in the masculine gender. (Joh 16:7, 8, 13, 14) On the other hand, when the neuter Greek word for “spirit” (pneuʹma) is used, neuter pronouns are used.​
Study notes on John 14:17:
spirit: Or “active force.” The Greek term pneuʹma is in the neuter gender and therefore, neuter pronouns are used when referring to it. The Greek word has a number of meanings. All of them refer to that which is invisible to human sight and gives evidence of force in motion. (See Glossary.) In this context, “spirit” refers to God’s holy spirit, which is here called the spirit of the truth, an expression that also occurs at Joh 15:26 and 16:13, where Jesus explains that “the helper” (Joh 16:7), that is, “the spirit of the truth,” will “guide” Jesus’ disciples “into all the truth.”
Study notes on John 15:26:
That one: The Greek demonstrative pronoun e·keiʹnos is in the masculine gender and refers to the helper, which is also in the masculine gender.​
Study notes on John 16:13:
that one: Both “that one” and “he” in verses 13 and 14 refer back to “the helper” mentioned at Joh 16:7. Jesus used “the helper” (which is in the masculine gender in Greek) as a personification of the Holy Spirit, an impersonal force, which is in the neuter gender in Greek.​
link to the Study Bible of the NWT
In other words, the NWT is arguing that the reason these pronouns are in the masculine, even though they are paired with the neuter "Spirit," is because they refer back to the word "paraklétos," which is grammatically masculine. They are saying that John is not changing Greek grammar to note that the Spirit is masculine to indicate that it is a person, but that these pronouns refer to the masculine word "paraklétos."
Then they explain that the reason why God's "active force" would be called "the paraklétos," and doing things that someone would normally do, not something, such as bearing witness, testifying, hearing, etc, is because this is simply personification. They then give a list of other things in the Bible that are personified to justify the fact that the Bible does this at times.
Their end result is to uphold that the Spirit is an impersonal active force that God uses, and Jesus here reifies the Spirit and speaks of it as if it is a person doing personal things.
Objections to the Jehovah's Witnesses Response
Does their answer fly? I don't think so. First, I am not convinced that a good grammatical argument could be made that the referential pronouns are referring back to "paraklétos" and not "Spirit."
Second, while personification is a common figure of speech in the Bible, it does not justify this to be the case here, it only posits it as a possibility. The notes of their study Bible give no definitive proof of either claim thus far. How do we explain the Spirit as doing all of these things if it is merely a personification? One example they give is that of wisdom, in which it is personified in the statement, "wisdom is proved righteous by what she does." We can explain this metaphor. The results of what someone does from wisdom is the personified action. But with the Spirit, how it comforts, and how it testifies is never explained by these notes. While personification is assumed, we should have an explanation for how these personified metaphors apply in reality. In other words, if we are going to assume metaphorical language, we must have an explanation for the metaphor. Far too much is said in these passages to just assume it to be metaphorical.
Third, they argue that, "God’s spirit is often mentioned together with other impersonal forces or things, further supporting the fact that it is not a person." They argue that the Bible mentions "holy spirit and fire" or having "joy and holy spirit" this emphasizes that the Holy Spirit must not be a person. However, by this same logic, in the passage in question, the Holy Spirit would be proven to be a person. Since the Holy Spirit is mentioned as "going forth from the Father," who they admit is a person, why wouldn't this mean the Holy Spirit is a person here? What about Matthew 28:19, "the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?" The two things mentioned alongside the Spirit are persons, even by JWs standards, so why should we not use this line of reasoning to assert that the Spirit is a person? Even in the infamous verse in the NWT of Genesis 1:2, where God is mentioned as being with his Spirit, we should then infer that the Spirit is a person. As a side point, this would also disprove their theory on Proverbs 8:22 being about Jesus preexisting as God's wisdom and being created. Why not use the same "personification" argument here with wisdom? Why not argue that because wisdom is mentioned with other things that are not persons, such as the Holy spirit in their own listed example, we should conclude that God's wisdom is not a person in Proverbs 8?
The arguments here are circular, and I do not buy them to be accurate. It is to start with the assumption that the Holy Spirit is entirely impersonal and then to make ad hoc arguments to justify the assumption. When we read in these passages that the Holy Spirit is how the apostles will be comforted, shown truth, and will testify to them, this can not merely be a personification. How does the Spirit comfort and testify to us?
The Holy Spirit, More Than Power
The Holy Spirit is not just a force God uses, nor is it just God's power. Zechariah 4:6 says: "Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.'" Some argue that this "might" and "power" refers only to human might and power. God does not say, "Not by your power, but by my power." The contrast isn't between just human power and divine power. It is between power and God's Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's power (Luke 1:35) but is not than simply this. The Spirit is also God's word (Psalm 33:6), God's wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31), God's presence (Psalm 51:11), the angel of his face (Isaiah 63:9-10), God's intercessor (Romans 8:26-27), the mind of God or the communication of it (1 Corinthians 2:11), and much more. To reduce God's Spirit down to just his power is to ignore the entirety of Pneumatology and the many statements about what God's Spirit is and does. How, then, should we define the Spirit to encompass all of what the Spirit does? The Spirit is the nature of God. Compare 2 Peter 1:4, "partakers of the divine nature," with Hebrews 6:4, "partakers in the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit communicates everything God wishes to communicate. That is to say, every communicable attribute of God can be communicated by his Spirit. It is his very self. God is Holy, and God is Spirit (John 4:24). The Spirit of God is what he is. God is power. God is love. When we receive his power, his love, when we receive his Spirit.
The Spirit communicates the person of God to us. There is what's called the "transcendence, immanance problem" in philosophy. How can God be transcendental, residing in heaven far above us, and yet omnipresent, here with us? How is he both transcendent and immanent? God is a person, and he resides in heaven. And yet he also resides in us, and we reside in him (John 14:23, 1 John 2:24). The Spirit is how he resides in us. The Spirit of God communicates the person of God to us. His own presence resides in us. This person resides in us by his Spirit.
The Lord is the Spirit
When Jesus was raised from the dead, he received this same Spirit in full (Acts 2:33, 1 Corinthians 15:45, Colossians 2:9). In the same way God resides in heaven and resides in us, so also does the Son by the same Spirit. These are not two different spirits. The Bible says that we only know one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4). Jesus was raised from the dead by God's Spirit, and he himself became clothed in that Spirit. It became his own nature. This is what a new creation is. A man of flesh who is now Spirit. When Jesus was raised from the dead, he says that he has flesh and bone, unlike a spirit (Luke 24:39). Yet, he appears in locked rooms and in a different form (Mark 16:12). He breathes the Holy Spirit onto his apostles (John 20:22). Jesus is the same body that rose up from the tomb, the same body nailed to the cross, with the same holes in his hands and side. Yet, he has the Holy Spirit within, his own breath, his own life source. "The second Adam, Life-giving Spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45). No longer a body of flesh with life made to be a living soul, but a body with the Spirit of immortality clothing it.
Who is the Paraklétos? Jesus Christ
In the topic passages, we are talking about the paraklétos, who we have clearly identified as the Holy Spirit (which is not a very contested claim). If we read 1 John 2:1, we find: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you might not sin. And if anyone should sin, we have a paraklétos with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One." Jesus Christ is identified as the paraklétos "with the Father." John is talking about the risen Christ and says that he is the paraklétos. "We have (present tense verb) a paraklétos with the Father." Is Jesus, then, the Holy Spirit after resurrection? Yes. "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all having been unveiled in face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.... For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, 4:5). As plainly as it can be, the Lord is Jesus, and Jesus is the Spirit. How many spirits are there? "One Spirit" (Ephesians 4:4). Jesus Christ has been made the Holy Spirit now that he has been resurrected. So, too, will we be "who are being conformed to the same image."
The Holy Spirit "Was" Another
The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, all of these terms refer to one and the same Spirit after Jesus' resurrection. A common objection raised is that the Holy Spirit is something that comes down upon Jesus at his baptism. "I saw the Spirit descend and remain upon him" (John 1:32), and other objections which show a distinction between Jesus and the Spirit. This is not to the point. We, now, receive the Spirit as a down-payment (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:14). You put a deposit on something that you do not yet own but have some partial claim to. The Spirit is granted to us as a partial reward for what is to come at resurrection and glorification. The Spirit that we have now is not ours. This is the same for Jesus in his ministry. God gave Jesus the Spirit as a deposit for what he would receive in full at resurrection. The Holy Spirit becomes the Spirit of Christ only after resurrection. To argue that the Spirit is someone or something else during Christ's ministry does not change the facts presented here. Jesus becomes the Spirit. That is the resurrection body Paul speaks of at length in 1 Corinthians 15 (verse 12 ff). A body of glory by the Spirit of the Lord of glory. This is why we are the body of Christ. Because Christ has been raised in a body of Holy Spirit, and when we partake in that Spirit now, which is his body, we become his body. This is truly what Jesus means when we ask us to eat his body, his flesh, and drink the blood of his life. What has the body of Jesus become? Life-giving Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, a Person? Who?
John 14:23 says: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make a home with him." This is just before and after he has introduced the paraklétos to us. When we receive the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of the Father and will be the Spirit of the Son, then both the Father and Son are in us through that Spirit in us. One Spirit in us, the presence of both of these persons. 1 John 2:27 says: "And you, the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But just as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him." What is the anointing we receive? Is it not the anointing of the Holy Spirit? When we are anointed and receive the Spirit, then we abide in Him, and he abides in us.
When people argue about the Holy Spirit being a person in John 14-16, the argument does not prove the Trinity to be true. The question is, "Who is the person of the Holy Spirit?" There is no reason to assume that the Holy Spirit is another person, not the Father or the Son. When "he" abides in us, the Spirit of truth, in these verses, is the resurrected son. He, the risen Lord, will be in us, with us, and testifying to us, comforting us. This is not personification of something. The personal presence of Christ is in us. He is immanent. He is with us, as our paraklétos from the Father.
Argument 2, "Another" Paraklétos
"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper." Jesus says that the Father will send another. How, then, can I say that this is Jesus? Because the resurrected Jesus is another helper, a different helper than the Jesus in his ministry. This is what they did not and could not yet understand. Paul refers to this resurrected Jesus in the same way. Romans 7:4, "Likewise, my brothers, you also have been put to death to the Law through the body of Christ, for you to belong to another, to the One having been raised out from the dead, so that we should bear fruit to God." We died in Christ, to belong to another in his resurrection. In this context, Paul is talking about the union of Israel to the old law, and he likens this covenant to a marriage covenant. At the death of one party, the covenant is broken. "'Til death do we part." After death, the covenant is broken. There is no law holding the marriage together. Likewise, Israel died to the law when they died together with Jesus in their baptism into his death. Water baptism. We die to ourselves, we die to the flesh, which the law governs over, and we are raised in the Spirit. Spirit baptism. We receive the Spirit of another. The risen Jesus. Have you ever wondered why Acts 13:30-33 says that God had to beget Jesus when he was raised from the dead? Have you ever wondered why Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5 call Jesus the firstborn from among the dead?
Paul also says this in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17: "Therefore from now, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have regarded Christ according to flesh, yet now we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, the new has come into being." The Jesus that went to the cross to die was the first comforter. The comforter in the flesh. But this flesh was nailed to cross, and what rose from the grave was another comforter. A new creation. This is why we are also a new creation when we are "in Christ," by dying with him in baptism and raising with him in the same Spirit that raised him from the dead.
"I will send another paraklétos. We have a paraklétos with the Father, Jesus Christ." Another. The resurrected Jesus. A new man, a new body, begotten of God again, life-giving Spirit. Jesus is saying that he will send the Spirit of Christ to us. And when we receive this Spirit of Jesus and the Father, they are abiding in us, at home in us, and we abide in the them in that same Spirit. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to the place I am going." Where did Jesus go? Was he not ascended to heaven? He isn't talking about going to heaven when you die. He's talking about where you will reside when you receive his Spirit. "Seated with Christ in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 2:6). This is now for those of us who have been filled with the Spirit, and heaven has been opened to us (see Acts 7:55-56). Notice that Paul uses the aorist tense, which is a past tense verb in this verse. God has already, past tense, seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Paul goes on in verses 8-10 to explain that his audience has already received forgiveness and grace, and they have already been created in Christ for good works. That is to say, they have already received this Spirit. they are seated with Christ already in heaven. Not when they die, not after resurrection, but now. "I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you" (John 14:18). He says this just after he speaks of the paraklétos coming to comfort us. Jesus isn't talking about coming back at his return. This isn't comforting to them. He still has not returned. He's talking about coming back in the Spirit.
John 14:16-17, 26 Explained
John 14:16: "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you to the age—."
Jesus will ask the Father on our behalf as mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and he will give us another helper. Not the helper they had in the flesh, a new helper in the Spirit. The risen Christ. And this Spirit of Christ will be in us until the end of the age. The Church age. That is until his return.
John 14:17: "the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see Him nor know. But you know Him, for He abides with you, and He will be in you."
The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, which guides us into all truth. The world does not receive the Spirit of Christ. They have the Spirit of the world. They do not know or see the Spirit we have received. They do not understand or faith. But the apostles know him, the Spirit of truth, because they see the Spirit in Jesus while he is alive. They will have that same Spiritual deposit when they receive him.
John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you."
The Father will send in the name or authority of Christ. God will have given Jesus all authority (Matthew 28:18). We receive the Spirit in the name of Jesus. He is our way to the Father. The Spirit will teach us all truth, so that we have no need anyone should teach us (1 John 2:27).
John 15:26 Explained
John 15:26: "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me."
The Spirit goes out from the Father. It is essentially part of him, which goes forth. But this part of him is given to Jesus, who participates in the shared Spirit. This is what makes us a family. We will all share in what the Father is. The Spirit of God is sent from the Father through Jesus, and that Spirit will bear witness concerning Christ. This means that when we receive that Spirit, we show and display the mind and nature of Christ, and Christ is formed among us. "We will be like him." This is not about a distinct person proceeding forth from the Father's essence as a new and separate center of self-consciousness. The consciousness and personhood of the Spirit are the same consciousness, the same person as he who sends it. If the Father sends his Spirit, the Father is in us. If the Spirit proceeds from Jesus, then Jesus is in us. Since the Spirit becomes a shared Spirit that both are sending, then both are in us by this Spirit. This is why Jesus says that he will send the Spirit from the Father. His Spirit is that which he received from the Father (Acts 2:33), and they both are present in the same Spirit. This is why the Holy Spirit is sometimes very vague in the NT as to which person sends the Spirit. Because it is very much a blended act. Romans 8:9: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." The Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ are all interchangeably terms here. All are the same thing.
John 16:7, 13-14 Explained
John 16:7: "But I tell you the truth, it is profitable for you that I should go away; for unless I go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."
If Jesus does not die on the cross, the Spirit can not be poured out to us. Why? Because we can't be a clean and holy temple for the presence of God to reside in if we do not become sinless by dying to our flesh in Christ. If Jesus goes to the Father, he will send the Spirit to us. Because Jesus does not receive the Spirit in a way that he can pour it out upon us unless the Father elevates and raises him. Jesus must be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51).
John 16:13-14: "But when He the, Spirit of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. He will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will disclose it to you."
The Spirit guides us, individually, into all truth because each of us individually receives this Spirit personally when we are anointed. "He will not speak from himself, but whatever he may hear, he will speak." The Spirit does not possess a separate consciousness from the Father or Son. The Spirit says nothing from himself, the one speaking in the Spirit is the one who sends the Spirit. What Jesus communicates through his Spirit, this is what we hear. But this paraklétos is the risen Christ. He, the resurrected Jesus, does not speak from himself. He speaks what the Father has told him. "A man who told you the truth I heard from God." Hebrews 1:2 says that in these last days (a reference to the resurrected Christ), God has now spoken to us in a Son. The Son does not speak from himself. He speaks only what he has heard from the Father.
Applicable and Explanatory Context
Other scriptures from this discourse from Jesus illustrate his points.
John 14:2-4: "In My Father’s house there are many mansions. And if not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to the place I am going."
In my Father's house are many mansions. Places of residence in the Father. Receiving the Spirit of Christ is not just about the Father and Jesus being in us, but about us also being in them. Being in them where they are. Seated at God's right hand in heaven. "Seated in the heavenly places."
John 14:11-12: "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, the one believing in Me, the works that I do, also he will do. And he will do greater of these because I am going to the Father. "
We should believe that the Father is in Jesus by his Spirit because of the works that the Father does through Jesus (Acts 2:22). The one believing in Jesus will do "the greater of these works" (not "greater than these). The verse literally says, "the [one] believing in me, the works that I do he also will do and greater of these will he do because I go to the Father." He's talking about us doing the works he did and the greatest of those works. The greatest work Jesus did was love his neighbour and share the gospel. These are the works we are to do "because I am going to the Father." We do the works of God too because we are to receive the Spirit of God just as Jesus did. This is how Jesus demonstrated perfect love. This is how Jesus was guided into the truth of the gospel. Because he received the Spirit of God, and so also will we.
John 14:20: "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
In what day? The day we receive the Spirit of life. We will know Jesus is in the Father because we will experience what that is like. For those of us who have received this Spirit, we know that we are in God, God is in us, and we are in Christ, and he is in us. "In that day," the day you receive the Spirit. We will understand how the Father in him did the works because they will be in us doing their work as well.
John 14:21: "The one having My commandments and keeping them, he is the one loving Me. Now the one loving Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him, and will show Myself to him."
"I will show myself to him." How? As the paraklétos. Heaven is opened. "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know; God knows—such a man, having been caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows— that he was caught up into Paradise, and he heard inexpressible words, not being permitted to man to speak." (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)
John 14:23-24: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make a home with him. The one not loving Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine, but that of the Father having sent Me."
"We will make our home with him." Think back to, "in my Father's house are many abodes." We receive them in us when we receive their Spirit. The words we hear are that which he received from the Father. "He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak." Jesus will teach us the truth from God as the word of God. "In these last days, God has spoken to us in a Son."
John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear."
Jesus, here, is our comforter, leaving with peace. Jesus will give us peace once again when he returns to us in the Spirit. As another comforter.
John 14:28: "You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I."
Jesus is going away through death to ascend to the Father. He is coming back in the Spirit to us. Jesus knows his apostles will be sad at his death and his ascension in losing him. But this is how Jesus comforts them. They should rejoice because he is going to come back again to comfort them. "The Father is greater than I." His reason for mentioning this is because the way in which he can comfort and strengthen them in the Spirit he will send and receive from the Father is greater than the way he can comfort them now. They should rejoice at Jesus' leaving them. Not because they want to see him go, but because they will understand that he will come back to them in the Spirit once he does. He must ascend to the Father to receive his Spirit and inheritance to be able to pour out that blessing on us.
John 15:4: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither you, unless you abide in Me."
They can abide in Jesus by the Spirit he will pour out upon them.
John 16:16: "A little while and you behold Me no longer; and again a little while and you will see Me."
You will see me. Not someone else named the Spirit of truth, but you will see me. Jesus. We will see him where he is in heaven when we receive him to ourselves in the Spirit.
John 16:19-22: Jesus knew that they were desiring to ask Him, and He said to them, “Do you inquire among one another concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while and you do not behold Me, and again a little while and you will see Me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and will lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be grieved, but your grief will turn to joy. The woman has pain when she is giving birth, because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the child, she remembers the tribulation no longer, on account of the joy that a man has been born into the world. Therefore, you also indeed have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."
Their pain will turn to joy when they see him again. He will come back to them as their comforter. They will be grieved when Jesus dies, just as a woman who has a child is in pain during the child birth. But after the pain comes relief and reward. After losing him, they will receive him and see him again, in the Spirit. "No one will take your joy from you." Even when Jesus ascends, they will still rejoice because they have not lost him. They still have him by the Spirit.
John 16:33: "I have spoken these things to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world."
Summary
The paraklétos is Jesus, who is the Holy Spirit in resurrection. When he ascends to the Father, he receives his inheritance to pour this Spirit out upon us. "Therefore having been exalted at the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you are both seeing and hearing" (Acts 2:33). This is when the Spirit is poured out on Pentecost. Jesus pours out the Spirit from God because he has received his promised reward. "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One" (1 John 2:1). Jesus is going to be raised as another. A new creation. In doing so, he will grant us the Spirit he has received in full, yet we only now receive as a deposit of what is to come. We will receive this same Spirit in full when we are changed and raised up to glory. "When he, the Spirit of truth shall come, he will guide you into all truth." That is the Spirit of Christ. The personal presence of Jesus himself.
submitted by ArchaicChaos to BiblicalUnitarian [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:46 XunknownXsilhouetteX I'm not safe

I'll keep this short
I live with my parents, I am trans, my mother is extremely emotionally and mentally abusive, my father is not much better. (They're both bigots)
I've thought for a while that my situation is unfortunate, yes, it sucks, yes, but that I'm generally not in too bad of a position, and that this situation while bad is managable and I'll just get out of it when I'm 18.
Recently, and especially today, I've realized that is not true, I am unsafe, I am in danger, and it feels weird to say that but it's true.
I have a couple of years left until I'm 18 and while a bit dramatic yes I don't know if I can make it until then, I have nothing left and this situation is a hell that I could never imagine if I wasn't living through it.
My parents scared me for life, I freeze or flinch at every small movement because I'm afraid it's them, every time I have to talk to them my mind and body feel like they're on fire, my mind and spirit are basically broken I'm not safe like this I'm scared, I know what I have to do but I can't bring myself to do it, to shove every little part of myself down so deep that it'll never show, I already did but I need to do it more, I need to be a truly different person with everyone, in the most literal sense possibly.
I have no one I can go to, I am alone and I'm scared that by the end of this I'll shut down, completely, and I'm scared that I'm gonna unalive myself, maybe not now but I can't say with certainty I'll make it for long enough to get out of here
It's fucking destroying me, it's making me angry, resentful, it's eroding every piece of me and even if I do survive what the fuck do I have left?
I'll delete this in a few hours probably
Edit: happy pride month (half sarcastic)
submitted by XunknownXsilhouetteX to lgbt [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:45 SelfReliantSchool [TX] [H] 150+ Graphic Novels & TPBs [W] PayPal (buy 2 get 1 free!)

Various graphic novels and trade paperbacks. All are in great shape unless noted. A picture link is after most of them; I'm still taking photos, so if there's one you're interested let me know, and I'll get a pic of it. This weekend (June 2-4) I'm doing buy 2, get 1 free! (Lowest priced one would be free) Shipping based on weight and zip code.
100 Greatest Marvels of All Time: #13-10 - $2 - https://imgur.com/rNewcTM
100 Greatest Marvels of All Time: #17-14 - $2 (sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/2FnhlPE
100 Greatest Marvels of All Time: #9-6 - $2 (sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/z4E5O4V
30 Days of Night - $3 - $3 - https://imgur.com/CJB1GGQ
Amazing Spider-Man: 24/7 - $6 - https://imgur.com/jT9twsa
Amazing Spider-Man: American Son - $6 - https://imgur.com/HmIiOgP
Amazing Spider-Man: Animal Magnetism - $6 - https://imgur.com/3lnIZLk
Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day Complete Collection Vol. 1 - $40 - https://imgur.com/A3clBf8
Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day Complete Collection Vol. 2 - $35 - https://imgur.com/di9xX6T
Amazing Spider-Man: Death And Dating - $6 - https://imgur.com/L1adKnF
Amazing Spider-Man: Died In Your Arms Tonight - $7 - https://imgur.com/00QFmdN
Amazing Spider-Man: Happy Birthday - $3 (wrinkled) - https://imgur.com/nwIh2DW
Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Past - $7 - https://imgur.com/4GboUoP
Amazing Spider-Man: Skin Deep - $5 - https://imgur.com/7U7RTCB
Amazing Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter - $3 - https://imgur.com/cOwEGNm
Amazing Spider-Man: The Gauntlet Vol. 1 Electro & Sandman (HC) - $8 - https://imgur.com/0jb6cfx
Amazing Spider-Man: The Gauntlet Vol. 3 Vulture & Morbius (HC) - $8 - https://imgur.com/xTPStET
Amazing Spider-Man: Unintended Consequences - $5 - https://imgur.com/0nPH7Yp
Angel: After The Fall Vol. 1 - $10 (HC) -
Avengers / Defenders War - $3 -
BatGirl New 52 Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection - $6 - https://imgur.com/KOH1m5W
Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth - $9 - https://imgur.com/RCvzrmS
Batman New 52 Vol. 1 The Court of Owls - $7 - https://imgur.com/JLHQVgn
Batman New 52 Vol. 10: Epilogue - $5 (HC, price sticker) - https://imgur.com/upqdfYt
Batman New 52 Vol. 8: Superheavy - $7 (HC) - https://imgur.com/4BHcXXK
Batman White Knight - $10 - https://imgur.com/DQZIqJk
Batman Year One - $6 - https://imgur.com/RabKR4H
Batman: Knightfall Vol. 1 & 2 (sold as set) - $20 - https://imgur.com/3cwlOD7 https://imgur.com/p22J3S3
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - $8 - https://imgur.com/IWPpn2q
Batman: The Killing Joke Deluxe Edition - $9 (HC) - https://imgur.com/UhkEiHZ
Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther? - $5 - https://imgur.com/teJvWTj
Black The Birth of Evil Book 1 - $2 -
Black Widow: Kiss or Kill - $4 - https://imgur.com/qJ3I97S
Black Widow: Last Days - $5 - https://imgur.com/eRNhfGG
Black Widow: The Tightly Tangled Web - $7 - https://imgur.com/V2BqYaV
Buck Rogers Vol. 1: Future Shock - $3 -
Camelot 3000 Deluxe Edition - $8 (HC, ex-library, 2 stickers on DJ) - https://imgur.com/avwuHtK
Captain America Corps - $5 - https://imgur.com/QWrw958
Captain America: Man & Wolf - $15 -
Captain America: The Legacy of Captain America - $7 -
Captain America: The Trial of Captain America - $8 -
Carnage: The One That Got Away - $4 - https://imgur.com/1Xj46Mx
Civil War - $5 (minor water damage) - https://imgur.com/rm72NpD
Civil War: Fantastic Four - $5 - https://imgur.com/OI9yDOE
Daredevil and The Punisher: Child's Play - $6 - https://imgur.com/HlirjI9
Deadpool Vol. 1 - $10 (HC, dj has minor wrinkles) - https://imgur.com/Uy822b6
Death of Superman - $5 - https://imgur.com/s5PIffB
Deathlok: The Demolisher - $4 - https://imgur.com/hQQyVEc
Dracula: The Company of Monsters Vol. 1-3 (set of 3) - $7 -
Earth 2 Vol. 1 The Gathering - $4 - https://imgur.com/zNVON2s
Empire of the Dead - $4 - https://imgur.com/eXh325C
Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 - $14 -
Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 - $14 -
Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 - $14 -
Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4 - $14 -
Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 - $14 -
Essential Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 - $14 - https://imgur.com/DtiqSuv
Essential Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2 - $14 - https://imgur.com/ONsWarr
Ex Machina Vol. 1: The First Hundred Days - $3 -
Fanboys vs. Zombies 1-5 (set of 5) - $10 -
Fantastic Four Ultimate Collection Book 1 - $8 - https://imgur.com/PejerKZ
Farscape Uncharted Tales: D'Argo's Lament - $3 (HC) - *--
Farscape Uncharted Tales: D'Argo's Quest - $3 - https://imgur.com/Vzx8vSC
Farscape: Strange Detractors - $3 (HC) - https://imgur.com/xmF0rh6
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Derailed - $5 - https://imgur.com/Fd8qzp2
Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told - $5 - https://imgur.com/L7JGeXD
Green Lantern: Traitor - $4 - https://imgur.com/bTYYNGo
Grimm Fairy Tales: The Piper - $3 -
Gwandanaland #2369 - Skywald's Nightmare Vol. 1 - $10 - https://imgur.com/CRBb3tf
Gwandanaland Monster Series 17 Classic Castle of Frankenstein Vol. 7 - $6 - https://imgur.com/E0vqv4O
Harleen - $15 (HC) - https://imgur.com/Xijtmvx
Harvey Horrors Witches Tales Vol. 3 - $6 - https://imgur.com/HZbVLfm
Harvey Horrors Witches Tales Vol. 4 - $6 - https://imgur.com/yiMXuD3
Heroes Vol. 1 - $5 (HC) - https://imgur.com/eY9T9Gw
Heroes Vol. 2 - $5 (HC) - https://imgur.com/pgN8mkX
Incorruptible Vol. 1 - $2 -
Incorruptible Vol. 2 - $2 -
Infinity Gauntlet - $15 - https://imgur.com/BESwkQA
Injustice Gods Among Us Vol. 1 (HC) - $5 - https://imgur.com/YCQHhYB
Injustice Gods Among Us Vol. 2 (HC) - $5 - https://imgur.com/wLeuCMl
Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 - $15 (HC, still shrinkwrapped) - https://imgur.com/eKkLcpp
John Woo's 7 Brothers Omnibus Vol. 1 - $4 - https://imgur.com/4qhb001
Lazarus Vol. 1 - $2 -
Legends of the Dark Knight Vol. 3 Jim Aparo (HC) - $15 (HC) - https://imgur.com/M5VRtek
Low Vol 1: The Delerium of Hope - $4 (tear in cover and first few pages) -
Marvel 1602 - $8 - https://imgur.com/FPZn0gb
Marvel Zombies - $5 - https://imgur.com/MVFHFOf
Marvel Zombies Christmas Carol - $4 (HC) - https://imgur.com/P1ngbBU
Marvel Zombies: Battleworld - $3 - https://imgur.com/xutylJL
Marvels - $5 - https://imgur.com/IBxSFim
Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice Vol. 1 - $3 -
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 2 - $4 -
Planet of the Apes Vol. 1: The Long War - $3 -
Planet of the Apes Vol. 3: Cataclysm - $3 -
Planet of the Apes Vol. 4: The Half Man - $3 - /
Prelude to Infinite Crisis - $3 (price sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/yoQhEbW
Raise The Dead - $5 (HC) - https://imgur.com/PGBblng
Red Hulk: Planet Red Hulk - $8 -
Red Hulk: Scorched Earth - $8 -
She Hulks: Hunt for the Intelligencia - $5 - https://imgur.com/UsseE8N
Snowpiercer: The Escape - $5 - https://imgur.com/1UsrgyO
Spawn Book 1 - $5 -
Speed Racer: Official 30th Anniversary Guide - $3 - https://imgur.com/4bHISfx
Spider-Man The Next Chapter vol. 1 - $10 - https://imgur.com/jrtwlV6
Spider-Man: The Other Evolve or Die - $10 - https://imgur.com/KtMBkb4
Spread Vol. 1: No Hope - $4 -
Star Wars Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes - $5 - https://imgur.com/CFELhgG
Star Wars Vol. 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger - $5 - https://imgur.com/CPJ3CfX
Superman: Speeding Bullets - $4 (shelf wear) - https://imgur.com/39T04DV
The Curse of Dracula - $3 -
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1 - $6 -
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 - $4 -
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 - $4 -
The Life Eaters - $4 (HC) -
The Magdalena Vol. 1 - $2 -
The Magdalena Vol. 2 - $2 -
The Magdalena: Blood Divine - $2 -
The Thing Classic Vol. 1 - $9 - https://imgur.com/lBxq8do
The Twilight Zone Vol. 1: The Way Out - $3 -
The Twilight Zone Vol. 2: The Way In - $3 -
The Visitor: How & Why He Stayed - $3 -
The Waking - $2 -
The Waking: Dreams End - $2 -
The Walking Dead Compendium Two - $15 - https://imgur.com/8TvZthy
Tom Corbett Space Cadet Vol. 1 (HC) - $10 (HC) - https://imgur.com/fVNVPEq
Tom Corbett Space Cadet Vol. 2 (HC) - $10 (HC) - https://imgur.com/yuEMMk9
Trick 'r Treat: Days of the Dead - $3 - /-+
Tron: Original Movie Adaptation - $10 -
Ultimate Annuals Vol. 2 - $3 (price sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/o92IX6W
Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates: Death of Spider-Man - $6 - https://imgur.com/acGohIA
Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade vs. The Avengers - $4 - https://imgur.com/jpmYEKN
Ultimate Comics Hawkeye - $3 (price sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/Nkm46nD
Ultimate Comics Thor - $3 - https://imgur.com/rScJJqO
Ultimate Galactus Vol. 1 - 3 (set of 3) - $10 - https://imgur.com/B9nrZYl
Ultimate Spiderman 1: Power and Responsibility - $5 (some edge wear) - https://imgur.com/sX539fM
Ultimate Spiderman 10: Hollywood - $8 - https://imgur.com/aAQou85
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1: The Tomorrow People - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 12: Hard Lessons - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 14: Phoenix? - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 16: Cable - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 2: Return to Weapon X - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 7: Blockbuster - $3 -
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 8: New Mutants - $3 -
Ultimates 2 Vol. 1: Gods & Monsters - $2 (price sticker on cover) - https://imgur.com/GPuQe8D
Wolverine: Blood Debt - $3 - https://imgur.com/nezZNAX
Wolverine: Logan - $4 (wrinkle on top edge) - https://imgur.com/JyFHIzI
Wolverine: Old Man Logan - $6 - https://imgur.com/96xOeki
Wolverine: Origins & Endings - $6 - https://imgur.com/2GzKdLW
Wolverine: The Reckoning - $10 - https://imgur.com/fOsgqlQ
Wytches Vol. 1 - $5 - https://imgur.com/rJ1ZEo2
submitted by SelfReliantSchool to comicswap [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:37 The_Biggest_Wheel (1085 Spoilers) Chapter 1085 Was a Game Changer - They Aren't What You Think They Are

There is a Tl;dr at the end
If the Gorosei (or The Five Elder Stars) are fighters or not has been a long running debate in the community; a debate that Chapter 1085 seemingly just ended - they are. However, the latest Chapter didn’t just simply confirm they are fighters.
https://preview.redd.it/3cxs1xx2fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=799b5dcc1ddff4acbd5710910d8a144d3babbdd7
While initially there seems to be a bit of a bait-and-switch going on with the panel of Gorosei all grabbing the classic flint-lock pistols seemingly indicating that they indeed are just politicians, we are soon greeted with a panel that not only confirms their fighter status but also elevates it to another level.
https://preview.redd.it/lu0p2ad4fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3a1401eb3ec7b6b16f1fb6af957d87c813ea583

God Hand

It’s hard to put into words the feeling I had while seeing this reveal happen; as someone who has recently started to read Berserk (at Volume 6, Don’t Spoil!), the best way I can describe it is to compare it to the reveal of/the first time we see God Hand.
https://preview.redd.it/lvi0z4u4fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3b5eeb4f5eec3bb4ab9d7f5285108292744b98e
I know it might be silly to compare the generally goofy Manga (with serious topics) like One Piece to such a graphic, heavy and brutal story that is Berserk, but the general feeling evoked in me by these two scenes was the same. Oda is known for his silhouettes, often obscuring what the person looks like, but the way he drew the Gorosei in their “silhouette forms” feels different than usual; you can go back and compare it to how he drew his older work to see the difference. It is way closer to how he drew Kanjuro in his “vengeful spirit” (Kazenbo) form.
https://preview.redd.it/mrtjtpb5fn3b1.png?width=938&format=png&auto=webp&s=62256d244c32b1254fb7a08cec791acad78a3b89
They feel ethereal, amorphous and other-worldly. They feel as if The Void itself is shedding its human form; as if the silhouettes we see them in ARE their true forms. This feeling is only amplified when you add Immu into the mix. The translator’s note notes that “Mu”, the way Immu refers to themselves stands for “Void” and you see that in the many panels they appear in.
https://preview.redd.it/11t7q1u5fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff6ab14ad165734dad14d1f3fad033ac256b9329
This shot of Immu from above gives us the best example of what I’m talking about; Immu doesn’t feel like a silhouette but rather as dark matter enveloping the chair it sits in. And let’s not forget the “arrows” it uses to attack Sabo and Cobra; it’s very reminiscent of Pride, a Homunculus from the Full-metal Alchemist series and another ethereal being.
https://preview.redd.it/hntyf2k6fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=cb460163c1eb45d200e305cc201bc714a92c14b0
I can only imagine the powerful Devil Fruits that they have… if they even have any…

A New Power

It’s hard to imagine these forms to be a result of any other power than Devil Fruits, it’s the primary power system of the series for the past 1000+ Chapters after all, but it wouldn’t be the first time the series threw a new power into the mix.
https://preview.redd.it/oeo7k637fn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=60b60825420e49320eb569135eed686e836c55a5
Haki started to make its first appearances after around 550 Chapters and for the most part after its introduction it has been a staple of Luffy’s (and others) power-up throughout the New World. Well, we are yet again approaching that 550 Chapters milestone and it’s very likely we get another new power introduced into the mix; or rather, a power of the past.
It hasn’t been something that’s been discussed a lot lately (or at all), but we already saw glimpses of new and unexplained abilities; Voice of All Things being one of them as well whatever Luffy used to communicate with everyone while he was drowning.
https://preview.redd.it/w0tmg6r7fn3b1.png?width=882&format=png&auto=webp&s=767e50f615bcfa2292557228c99a275c00d82cca
I personally have long been a proponent of the idea that everything in the story, ability or phenomenon, could be explained with science, even the Devil Fruits, but in the light of recent events I’ve started to become a believer…I’ve started to believe in a mythical side of One Piece. The Sun God Nika, The Voice of All Things, and now Immu and Gorosei, all of these things scream “magic” to me with the way they are portrayed and I’m kind of wishing that’s the case.
https://preview.redd.it/vrm35p78fn3b1.png?width=681&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f086212f16709d93a91c784c658b47163d401ec
Now, to take Sabo’s words here literally would be silly. However, whatever he saw clearly was “hellish” and inhuman. Just look at the way Wapol reacted to it; if it was something as simple as few Zoan users then I don’t think Wapol would be so scared (we are talking about a man who ate his subordinates to create this monstrosity) or that Sabo would call it “Hell”.
Seriously, this man was so mortified he just ran without even caring where he was heading towards
I’m not suggesting the Gorosei and Immu are quite literally Demons from Hell but I’m not saying they are far from it either. This whole reveal feels like something out of classic horror movies where Vampires (or another thing) take on human form pretending to be regular humans just for the protagonist to discover their true identity; and I don’t think what we’ll get will be far from it.
https://preview.redd.it/z6176bgdfn3b1.png?width=833&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c2b27eec9682d4332fcd488129d5810fee11feb
We know all kind of different races exist, we know there are space pirates and we know Skypeans came from the Moon so why can’t the Gorosei and Immu be something other than human? Maybe the reason why Devil Fruits were made WAS to combat these creatures…

What Are They

Just to make it clear, I’m not saying that Immu and/or the Gorosei are actually amorphous blobs of darkness, that would be pretty uninspiring character design, nor am I saying the powers they have are strictly result of something other than Devil Fruits. The Devil Fruits are still a massive part of the Universe and it’s very likely that the powers they have comes from them. What I am saying is that Immu and the Gorosei are not human… probably…
https://preview.redd.it/zv3w9q5efn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=6149a6622bee770e94e46df53a5a69ada746a235
The origin of Celestial Dragons has often been brought into question before. Many theories were made discussing the “Celestial” part of their name and bringing attention to the “space suits” and “space helmets” they are wearing. There seems to be even more “space imagery” with the name of one of the Gorosei being Saturn (you know, a Celestial body), which undoubtedly means the other ones will also have planet-themed names, as well as what seems to be a Constellation on the Empty Throne on which Immu sits.
https://preview.redd.it/9dusq5qefn3b1.png?width=661&format=png&auto=webp&s=fdd995d1dc3b58a9465af2194cb4bcaad4b8ac49
Shonen, or any long running story in general, have to constantly up the stakes and make new reveals/twists that would keep the readers engaged. Again, I keep saying things sound silly but trust me, there is a reason why so many stories do this; it’s been proven to work. Look no further than One Piece itself:
But what happens when those things become obsolete as well? What comes next?
https://preview.redd.it/275afcvffn3b1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=71193bace9685099c7d2c10a20dbf3fa456f190c
That’s right; ALIENS!
Just look at the most popular Shonen, Dragon Ball (and also Naruto). When Goku defeated the Demon Lord Piccolo and became the World Martial Arts Championship (Strongest Under The Heavens), Toriyama introduced Saiyans and with them the idea of Aliens. Suddenly, Piccolo wasn’t a Demon anymore but rather a member of alien race and suddenly, a whole new arena for Goku to fight in was opened. We know Oda is a big fan of Toriyama and his work he even went on the record to cite Goku as an inspiration for Luffy, and One Piece as it currently is lends itself to this idea quite a bit.
https://preview.redd.it/8cgd0efgfn3b1.png?width=817&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5d79fce208dc681f39bc8037001e776fc8c93cc
We have an unexplained advanced civilization of 900 years ago that had the technology more advanced than even the current time, we have the aforementioned Skypieans that came from the Moon, those who rule the World by the name of Celestial Dragons, Immu and Gorosei with their otherworldly appearance and the giant death weapon that can destroy Islands. All of this could be connected and answered with a single idea – visitors from space.
The advanced civilization (Ancient Kingdome) would be the result of alien settlers who Immu and the Gorosei would be a part of, explaining their appearance and advanced technology. You know how Zoan users when transformed into their animal take on the characteristic of their human form into the mix? The forms we see the Gorosei would be the result of that.
The Dragon Fruit is the best example of this as we have two users of the “same\" Fruit. You can see Kaido’s Dragon form has his “Oni” horns while Momo doesn’t have any of that.
The Celestial Dragons, like Doflamingo and his family, would be just the regular humans, rulers of the 20 Kingdoms that Immu got on their side to wage War against the Ancient Kingdom, against which they rebelled, promising them the same status of the Celestial Dragons (that's why they wear "space suits" while Gorsoei don't); and the giant flying thing that we can see destroying Lulusia Kingdom might just be the spaceship they came on (like the ships that Skypieans used to come from space).
https://preview.redd.it/cpk3ta2pfn3b1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ade1bdc578951183fa868f2b7030ae40b3da2c7
Are Aliens too off-brand for One Piece? Maybe, maybe not. After all, this is a story about Pirates, on a ship, exploring the vast World of One Piece and what is better to be explored than the vastness of Space - the Final Frontier...

Tl;dr

Judging by how the things in Chapter 1085 were portrayed, I highly doubt Gorosei and Immu are simple Devil Fruit users. The comments from Sabo about "Hell", the amorphous appearance of the Gorosei as well as Wapol's scared reaction seem to indicate there is more to it. I think that Oda is about to introduce a new aspect of the story with Immu and Gorosei not being of this world...
submitted by The_Biggest_Wheel to OnePiece [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:37 mamypokong I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about lost of faith

In shadows' embrace, where doubt resides, A heart's journey, where faith subsides. Once vibrant, strong, with unwavering light, Now adrift, consumed by the endless night.
Questions echo, doubts silently creep, Shattering the pillars of beliefs deep. Where once stood convictions, now a void, Lost in the labyrinth, faith destroyed.
The stars once guides, now distant and cold, The truths once cherished, their stories untold. The whispers of doubt, a relentless storm, Leaving a soul battered, tattered and torn.
But in the darkness, a flicker remains, A spark that refuses to yield to the pains. Hope's ember ignites, glimmers in the haze, A beacon of solace in faith's maze.
For faith, not confined to a single creed, Can be found anew, in each seed, In love's embrace, in nature's grand design, In acts of compassion, in moments divine.
So let not despair extinguish the light, Embrace the unknown, keep searching despite. For in the quest, we find faith reborn, A journey of the spirit, weathered but adorned.
submitted by mamypokong to religion [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:36 the_hot_one83 long time no see!!!! A Osmofolia Duet review (be chill am dyslexic)

it been a month (sorry but am even more poor now so i cant buy anything, i still have a few but i have to space it out)
am i sitting here at 10 pm (i write the review in multiple days sometimes lol) making a review because i have to declutter my cloths and am TERRIFIED, yes absolutely is it wort it yes
it a few days later and now am watching the fast and the furious am at the 8 right now, ill probably be done by tomorrow, it a fun marathon, right now the best one is the first, but like as a kid my fav was always the 3 one, guess when we grow up our taste grow up too lol
what's a duet: it a concept created by osmofolia (am pretty sure as i never seen it before) where a perfume is made by 2 perfume, so lets say you have exquisite corps that's the perfume you buy, when you receive it you gonna have 2 bottle, vanilla milk and smoked lavender musk, when you layer them on your skin, they become exquisite corps! but the fun part is that you have 3 perfume, and the 2 bottle you get are amazing layering notes (as it their hole purpose) so you can add them to any perfume you want
LIKES: tea, patchouli, tart fruits, close to skin smell, greens (grass, moss, leaf's of all sort (tomato leaf yum)), atmospheric/realistic, citrus, frankincense, cedar, most fruits actually, soil, roses, lavender, salt, sage, cannabis, rosemary, cozy gourmand, marshmallow, smoke, cinnamon actually most spice, pine/fir, violet leaf/violet, i like stuff that feel wet (fog, ocean, rain), ambergris
DISLIKES: ozone, aldehyde, oud, sandalwood, cinnamon leaf, big silage, white floral, especially tuberose and gardenias, but also just florals in general, alcoholics, vetiver, perfumy perfume, most milk, tar, when company say “for woman” or “for man”
HATE OR LOVE no in between: Hay, jasmine, incense, pink pepper, fancy woods, most resins, iris/orris, petrichor
to your attention: this is not really a critique, but it still normal i don't gush over everything, am talking about my taste not trying to sell you anything, i like all the company i talk about and if i don't i will say it. i am a bitch but don't let your feeling get hurt over a little dumb post please ;) love yall lets do this
​
HONEY DUST you mean pollen right?
notes: pollen, hay, honey, beeswax, powdered sugar
though: so on the bottle there the name of the duet (what a spellcaster leaves behind) and a number not the name of the note, and when i got them i was too lazy to look it up to make sure i wrote the right name so i just did it by memory, so now on my bottle it written "pollen" lol. i do think it perfect for this perfume it super dusty to the point were if you have pollen allergy i would tell you to stay away from this, it also gives me the same harshness grass perfume give me sometime but it not at all green wish is kinda weird too maybe the hay? idk but it welcome, this perfume is the mix of comforting sweater and seasonal allergy, weird but i love that in a perfume
color: golden yellow dust of pollen in a gold ornate jar sitting on a red tinted wood table
+
ANTIQUE BOOK if vanilla ice cream and white wood had a child
notes: paper, leather, glue, old book, cedar, vanilla, cetalox
though: every single book fragrance is either super chemical or super woody marshmallow there just no in-between and this is a woody marshmallow that dry down to a sandalwood-y thingy, i don't hate it but i do think it better as a addition to another perfume then by it own. but on it own i think it perfect for the book ladies that are a little (a bit) more conservative then me (and always ladies in a non gendered way lolll i just have a booktok person in mind and shes a woman, but it not a woman perfume none are)
color: a hard cover book with no letter printed on any of the page (your gonna say, oh a drawing pad, nah, a small hard cover where they just made a mistake on the print and there nothing) and also you know the wood you can find around lake and the sea, it super white and soft, that but in a 2x4

WHAT A SPELLCASTER LEAVES BEHIND cream pollen
notes: pollen, hay, honey, beeswax, powdered sugar, paper, leather, glue, old book, cedar, vanilla, cetalox
though: this is interesting the antique book note almost lost itself in the honey dust, but then you smell honey dust on it own again and your like ok i see it much more chill on the dusty-ness, i get it i get it, it also a perfect on the name i love it! what a spellcaster leaves behinds it so descriptive and cute and definetly perfect for the perfume, you can imagine the scene, a big dusty book closing, the dust particule going everywhere, someone closing a candle and then a door.
color: a huge dusty, very dusty book, with gold corner and yellowing pages
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VANILLA MILK sweet brown milk (smell better then it sounds)
notes: cream, caramel , heliotrope, vanilla, milk, musk
though: that's not for me, for sure, i mean to be fair my skin don't work with anything milk, my only love is milk shaka from Damask Haus, to me this is sickly sweet, but i don't think most would think that, if you like a milk caramel this is for you for sure, this is concerning because of the realism, i mean it smell like warm milk, and the thick light brown caramel that looks like melted plastic but actually taste pretty good, just very artificial, witch is weird cuz caramel sauce is so easy to make and i don't get why restaurant and ice cream shop don't make it themselves it like 3 ingredient, butter, sugar and cream, (brown sugar if you want butterscotch) but anyway you also have a bit of a floral note but it just adds to the warm milk, really interesting i see this being very popular with the gourmand people
color: a room temperature glass of milk forgotten on a oval shaped table, you know the big ones in wood, with a super big feet underneath, they always have some middle piece of broderie made by some grand mother and and a flower pot full of fresh flower (white heliotrope this time) on the other side of the table there a caramel cream pie
+
SMOKED LAVENDER MUSK gay fur
notes: lavender, smoke, oakmoss, musk
though: lavender smoke is a pretty common mix, i don't particularly care for but i love this, it fun it sexy and the lavender pretty realistic. if you know a bit about queer history, lavender been a symbol of gay-ness (lol) since the end of the 19th century, and idk if it since i know this fact that i believe all lavender perfume are gay, well this not the exception (i really don't think there one, it like violet) idk know why exactly but this perfume is just very queer to me, only downside, cuz it really smell good, it that it doesn't last super long contrary to vanilla milk that's super persistent
color: light purple fur coat, and a black leather cat suit with cowboy boots and a big chunky belt, but truly it just a smoke lavender love

EXQUISITE CORPS They are cold like porcelain
notes: lavender, smoke, oakmoss, musk, cream, caramel , heliotrope, vanilla, milk, musk
though: you know i bitch a lot about name accuracy but this is spot on, does it smell like a crops, i mean no, not that i know of (and idk every dead i seen was in dust form not corps form) but it has this cold creaminess mix with the floral it just exactly the name. this is amazing if you put just a little bit of the vanilla milk (my opinion, but don't you think this concept is amazing for that you can dose your 2 perfume to make exactly the combi you prefer) i just think it better when it the smoky floral that take the lead it more mortuary less floral caramel
color: cold, soft but lifeless skin. resting on a pile of white and purple flower, white coffin, 2 small marble column on each side to witch rest on top flower pot. people crying
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7/11 STEAMED MATCHA LATTE a dammed good matcha latte
notes: steam, matcha, warm milk, green tea, cream
though: this is the best of them all, by far, on it own, it just so perfect, the matcha super realistic, it super creamy it has this amazing grass quality and i just sweet enough, as a tea note lover THIS, IS perfect. i were it the most out of the 6 and any combination of the 6. oh last thing it kinda also smell like white chocolate just so you know but there literally nothing else i can say to this perfume it a perfection in simplicity
color: white chocolate and matcha ganache, i kinda want to make a matcha latte recipe but it would be too long cuz there way to many step to make a fancy matcha latte, you'll have to imagine it lol
+
COLD RAIN ON PAVEMENT perfectionism
notes: cold air, humid air, puddles, rain, concrete, tar
though: i hate ozone/aldehydes, but objectifly this one is not too bad, osmofolia has a goesmin single note that is actually realistic rain this one is not (to me) but it still adjacent, it wet, bright, soapy and and a bit floral, i mean ofc i wont like a perfume that give me a headache, but that's not the perfume fault right like, i know this perfume is beautiful, it gives me Ghibli rain scene, like in Arrietty, Totoro or Kiki the Little Witch, it rain but in a very aesthetically pleasing way, am doing a fast and furious marraton but after i feel like watching all the ghibli movie
color: walking next to a flower shop after the rain, a little brightness in the thick of the concrete jungle

ON THE CORNER OF JINHU ROAD too pretty
notes: steam, matcha, warm milk, green tea, cream, cold air, humid air, puddles, rain, concrete, tar
though: every one that read my reviews know 2 thing for sure about me, i hate ozone/aldehydes like we seen right before and i have weird references, well weirdly i don't hate this, i mean not on me it would still give me a head ache like ozone/aldehydes always do but it pleasant, i think it the creaminess, it kinda chill out the harshness of cold rain on pavement, but it still has the buzz-ness, it like a soapy, after the rain drinking a matcha latte (that has some kind of white floral syrup in) it pretty, too pretty for me
color: walking next to a flower shop after the rain, a little brightness in the thick of the concrete jungle but the flower shop is also a coffee shop and you get yourself a matcha latte
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MIX AND MATCH, if you get it you get it if you don't you don't ok
Matcha + Milk = Brown Sugar Matcha Latte
Matcha + Lavender = Dirty Matcha
Matcha + Book = White Chocolate BonBon
Matcha + Pollen = Fancy HoneyBee With Her Little Tea
Milk + Book = Alpha, Eating At The Library
Milk + Pavement = Frolicking, Naked After The Rain
Milk + Pollen = Sexy Picnic
Lavender + Pavement = Smoking In The Flower Field
Lavender + Book = Gay Woodworker
Lavender + Pollen = Ashtray, Potpourri
Pavement + Pollen = Electric Bee, Buzz Buzz
Pavement + Book = Little Bookstore In Old Montréal
Pollen + Book = Reading in the Sunroom
​
i could do a combi of 3 perfume but that just to much work, but if you do please share in the comment your favs lolll
this month as been kinda hell, am still working on my move (to no where lol) and am nowhere near done, now am starting to make the boxes (tomorrow) and it stressing me the fuck out, anyway on that note, how do you make pr? loll (half joking) cuz yeah i miss doing these review, but dont worry i still have maybe 5 review left if i don't count the discontinued stereoplasm
​
also, have a great night love xoxo
submitted by the_hot_one83 to Indiemakeupandmore [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:36 shane-parks Ayahuasca's Role in the Evolution of Consciousness

The following post is my interpretation of messages given to me by the medicine and the tribes of the Amazon. This is an amalgamation of the stories of multiple tribal sources. This is based on my experience and should not be considered universally true. However, I hope it may help others understand why they are being called to work with the medicine.
Long ago, when humans first began to walk the earth, the trees were already old and hard. The plants already had names and all of nature was communicating with each other in their own manner. These first humans were very different from ourselves. They were primal and wild, but they also had something we modern humans do not. They could hear the language of nature.
These first humans had few distractions and we're entirely focused on survival. They formed groups and tribes to aid in this survival. They would hunt and forage together, and when they did so they spent much more time observing the nature that surrounded them. As these humans observed the natural world, they developed a reverence for the gifts of nature. They had gratitude for what nature provided. This gratitude is a universal language of divine origin, and nature could hear this language of gratitude and gave in return.
It was in this time of gratitude that the plants began to feel affection for humanity. The intelligence of these plants began to send emissaries as gifts. First came Father Tobacco, he was a very strong spirit and he had his own gifts. One such gift was his ability to communicate with all beings, to protect the young growing plants from insects and guide them to maturity. The plants saw these early humans as young, and in need of the lessons Father Tobacco could provide. These humans also had a unique gift, they could make fire.
So it was that Father Tobacco and humans began to communicate. Humans would build a sacred fire and throw the leaves of Tobacco on this fire. And Tobacco would teach the humans all the things he knew through his smoke. First he taught them how to make pipes, so each could communicate directly with him if they chose. Next he taught them about the roles of humans in their tribes, some hunters, some protectors, and some healers. As he spoke about the healers, he began to call in other plants and animals that would help the humans in their most desperate hours.
All tribes I have encountered say that first came Tobacco, but each begins to differ on what came second. For some tribes it was the frog medicine we know as Kambo or Sapo. For others came the wisdom of Mother Coca. For others still came the pure vine of Jagé or Ayahuasca. Why did Tobacco not teach every tribe the same thing? Because each tribe lived in different places, around different spirits, and had different purposes.
In this forum we explore Ayahuasca, and so that is the lessons we may focus on here. When Father Tobacco introduced the tribes to Ayahuasca, he taught them to first soak only the vine in pure water. This was a test of sorts, those who would drink the water and could speak to the medicine were the healers that could share the medicine Ayahuasca with others. But first they had to make a sacrifice, they would have to leave their tribes so they could better hear the plant away from the distractions of tribal life.
When these first healers left their tribe, they would only drink the vine water and eat what nature provided. They would hunt or fish or forage only for themselves. They would build their own huts away from their tribes. So that their closest friends and allies would be from nature itself. These healers when fully connected would learn sacred songs, they would learn to add various plants to the Ayahuasca water, they would smoke Tobacco and he would teach them to boil the water with fire to speed up the process and make the medicine strong enough for anyone to hear.
Ayahuasca would also teach these healers how to teach other humans. Before these healers could reach mastery, they had to first teach another what they had learned from the plants. The most important early lesson these healers taught their students was how to speak to the plants directly. They would tell them to build their own huts away from their tribes, to drink the soaked vine water, then let the plant teach the student the rest. Each student would bring their own understanding to the process of these early diets. Because each of the students had different and unique gifts to share.
Through the ages, the healer humans have built a lineage of understanding that brings us to our modern era with the medicine. But always the plants have been the first teachers, and always the true healers have taught their students how to listen the plants. So that unique insights and gifts of each new healer may be added to the lineage for future generations to build upon.
As humans began to multiply and fill the earth. Many of us have forgotten how to hear the song of nature, and so we find ourselves more and more in a world disconnected. Disconnected from nature, from each other, and even from ourselves. The plants have always been here for us, speaking to us, but we forgot how to listen. This is especially true for what we call the civilized or non tribal world in which most of us live. However this time and civilization we live in is very very special.
Even 50 years ago, travelling across the world was a much more daunting task than it is today. We can travel to the deep jungles or highest peaks within days from anywhere in the world. And this travel itself is a gift that Ayahuasca is helping us use to heal ourselves. Because we live in this time, we can be called to drink the medicine Ayahuasca to improve our own understanding and to heal. We can drink the medicine and carry that medicine back into our civilized world and share our own songs. The songs and stories we share help others find their own way to the medicine and build more and more gratitude for the bounty of nature that has been lost to us. As this spreads our consciousness as a species expands, and the gratitude itself becomes a healing salve that reconnects us to our own individual gifts.
If you have even thought about drinking a cup of medicine, you are hearing the call. Mother Ayahuasca asks you to come reconnect, heal, and feel gratitude. But she can not make you drink, you must choose to for yourself in your own time. If you would choose to drink the medicine but have no idea how to make that happen, reach out to me. I am glad to help you on your own journey.
Many blessings brothers and sisters. May your journey be swift and your lessons profound. Beyond all other wishes, I wish you to feel welcome in the family of nature!
submitted by shane-parks to Ayahuasca [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:33 yupanda 24 days in Japan. Osaka - Onomichi - Shimanami Kaido/Matsuyama- Hiroshima/Miyajima - Kyoto - Takayama/ Kamikochi/Matsumoto - Tokyo

Hi lovely people,
We just came back from our first trip to Japan and it was truly a memorable trip. We spent over 3 weeks in Japan from 07th May until 30th May. WE LOVE JAPAN! Can't wait to come back.
A little bit about us: We are both ~30y olds and enjoy a mix of urban, outdoor and culture during our holidays. We are foodies, but not hard-core as in we don't specifically organize our trips around restaurants. There are so many restaurants in Japan, it is hard to get a bad meal. We enjoy just wandering around neighbourhoods. Mostly low/mid-budget stuff with a splurge once in a while.
Our travel itinerary can be found here
General comments
Japanguide has a nice overview of all the passes : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

Trip report

PS. I am not mentioning everything we did in this post. I will just mention highlights. It is still a long read though ;).
D1 - D2 Osaka
We landed at Kansai airport. Before our trip, we also bought train vouchers for Osaka online (https://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/). Best decision ever, because the journey was rough and we were exhausted by the time we landed. We only had to exchange our vouchers at the station and off we went.
Osaka was nice city to start with as it is a more manageable "smaller" city whilst recovering from our jetlag. Despite being smaller, I do think it is worth a visit. Osaka is so iconic at night. We stayed at a spacious Airbnb near Kuromon Ichiban market.
Skip Shinsekai: We visited during the day and it felt very empty to me. More like a tourist-trap, the eateries didn't look appealing to me. Maybe during the evening this area is more fun.
D3 Nara
We did Nara as a day-trip from Osaka.
D4 Onomichi
After staying in Osaka for 3 days, we headed west for the Shimanami Kaido. We decided to stay in Onomichi (Hotel Beacon Onomichi) for the night before we started our two day bike trip. For this part of our trip, we picked up our 7-day Setouchi area pass at Shin-Osaka JR station. I just want to mention that I really love the hospitality of the staff in Japan. The JR office people were so nice and helpful. We reserved our seats for the shinkansen and off we went to Onomichi. Onomichi is a lovely little seaside town to just stroll around and take in the views. I really recommend spending at least half a day here. Don't skip it!
D5 & D6 Shimanami Kaido -> Matsuyama
The next day, we picked up our reserved cross bikes from the general bike rental and off we went. Honestly, biking the shimanami kaido was the highlight of our trip. We took two days to bike the whole way, one day would definitely be too rushed for us. We stopped at Ikuchi island (Shimanaido NEST) for our halfway stay.
The sights along the way were great! It was so much fun to go down-hill, the uphills were do-able. We had great weather also, not too hot and no rain. Everything was clearly indicated, we just followed the blue lines. I felt very safe biking in Japan. PS. My butt did hurt from the saddle, so be warned! Bring some cushioned pants if you want to be safe side.
https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ for more info and bike rental
We decided to bike one-way from Onomichi to Imabari and we have no regrets. I liked that we ended the bike trip with the longest bridge (4km!!). Imabari is very industrial, but after the fun long way down from the last bridge and being exhausted from biking you just want to get to the station and stuff yourself with pastries from the bakery at the station and go on to your next destination. Thus, we immediately took the train to Matsuyama. Originally, the plan was to enjoy the famous onsen in Matsuyama, but we didn't have enough time and we were also pretty tired. After checking-in at the hotel, it was already 4, we made our way to Matsuyama castle but unfortunately, we were too late to go in. It was still nice to view it from the outside and walk around the park. We planned to do sightseeing in Hiroshima the next day, so there was no more time to explore Matsuyama further.
D7 Hiroshima -> Miyajima
After Shiminami Kaido, we headed towards Hiroshima/Miyajima. We took an early ferry from Matsuyama. The ferry was included in the setouchi JR pass, so we gladly took advantage of that. It's a nice way to get to Hiroshima, just one last view of the Seto inland sea. One remark: if it is not JR serviced transportation, you do have to obtain separate tickets. Normally, just showing your setouchi JR pass is enough to get onboard the train, but for the ferry you do have to go to the ticket desk and show your JR pass to obtain the ferry tickets.
Surprisingly, it was very hard to find affordable good accommodation in Hiroshima. It was the weekend and two weeks before G7, so maybe that was the reason why it was harder to find accommodation. In the end, I found a nice simple hotel on Miyajima island and it was a good decision after all! After a long day in Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima to stay two nights. Staying on Miyajima island is lovely especially when all the day-trip tourist leave.
D8 Miyajima
Honestly, Miyajima is truly magical. Another highlight of our trip! We started the day early to get ahead of the crowd and that made it all so much more enjoyable. Seeing shrines and temples without a crowd is truly 1000x better! If you can stay at Miyajima island, do it! You don't have to splurge on expensive ryokan (although it would have been nice). We stayed at Sakuraya, which was very budget-friendly.
One remark, our hotel didn't include dinner and all the restaurants on the island close quite early. Luckily, with our setouchi JR pass, we could take the ferry for free, so went to the mainland for dinner. Just keep this in mind, when booking your stay.
D9 - D13 Kyoto
We took the early train to Kyoto and checked in at Tokyu stay Sanjo-karasuma. We had 5 days to explore Kyoto and by this time we had lost our FOMO a little bit and also decided to take it a bit more slow. We still ended up walking a lot anyways but at least we were sleeping in.
The day we arrived,15MAY, was supposed to be Aoi matsuri so we headed to Kamo river to see the festival. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed due to the slight rainfall and we had no clue! but we were next to Kyoto botanical garden and we decided to visit that instead!
I didn't mention everything we did in Kyoto here. We also had so much more planned for Kyoto, but didn't get around to it, which was totally fine! We were also a bit temple-fatigued by that time and needed a slower pace. Hopefully next time, we can visit some of things we skipped. Furthermore, some days were incredibly hot (30 C degrees and humid) or we had whole days of rain. On those days, we decided to go shopping instead.
D14 - D15 Takayama
After spending 5 days in Kyoto, it was time to leave the city and head for the Japanese alps. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we changed to a limited express to Takayama. It took around 3 hours to get to Takayama, but we didn't mind. Train travel = resting time for our legs! Also, the views from the train were great!! I really enjoyed this train trip to Takayama. We arrived around noon and immediately checked in at our hotel (Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama). We had two nights in Takayama to explore the town.
D16 Kamikochi -> Matsumoto
After checking out of our hotel in Takayama, we took the 7am bus to Kamikochi. We were only going to spend a day here, and then continue our way to Matsumoto to stay overnight.After ~1 hour of bus, we finally made it to Kamikochi. The Japanese alps are amazing. I wished we stayed longer in this area, but just the bus ride alone to Kamikochi was already a great with the views. We decided to hop off at Taisho pond bus stop and walk along all the major sights in the park. We had no specific plan. Just hike around as far as time allowed. For lunch, we stopped at this cute teishoku restaurant, where we ate katsu curry, a big lunch to fuel our walking. We also saw wild japanese macaques and lots of wildflowers where blooming during our time there.At the local shops, we bought some yummy pastries to snack on. I had the tastiest baumkuchen with cheesecake center and my partner had a chocolate ganache cookie. I really regret not buying more kamikochi pastries to take home while we were there.After spending the day walking around, we hopped on the 4pm bus towards Matsumoto. Checked in at Tabino hotel lit Matsumoto, where I relaxed in the onsen.
Tips:
D17 Matsumoto Tokyo
After sleeping in, we did some sightseeing in Matsumoto before we moved on to Tokyo. We really liked wandering around in Matsumoto. Lots of cool shops with local crafts. We didn't know but the biggest national crafts fair is held in Matsumoto. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for one day, but next time we would love to visit this crafts fair!
Matsumoto Castle - I really like the interior of the castle. It has been renovated, but still contains that castle feel. It is 5 story castle and you are allowed to climb all of it. It also included a pretty extensive gun/weaponry exhibition. Do arrive early because you do have to line-up within the castle to get from one floor to the other. This is due to the steep stairways, on which they allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Matsumoto city art museum - There was a nice exhibition from Yayoi Kusama. We didn't know but Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto. It is a good replacement exhibition if you aren't able to snatch up tickets for Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo.
Nakamachi street and Frog street - street with persevered houses with craft shops, cafes, brewerys. What more do you want.
After spending the day in Matsumoto, we took the train to Tokyo, our last destination of our stay. We decided to stay in Ueno (Hotel resol ueno). This hotel was located close to Ueno JR.
D18 - D24 Tokyo
Last 7 days in Tokyo. By this time, we were just enjoying everything at a much slower pace. Tokyo is huge! Staying near the JR line is indeed a must like everyone said. I could go on hours about Tokyo, I am just going to mention some highlights here.
That's it!
For 24 days, we spend around ~2500 euro p.p. (excl. 1000,- flights). This amount includes food, transportation, entrancefees and shopping/gifts. so average is ~100 euro/day. We didn't track every cost. Hotel costs were 900,- pp, which ranged from 50,- to 120,- per night accommodations. The conversion yen/euro is also great at the moment, so it might have contributed!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Let me know if there are any questions.
submitted by yupanda to JapanTravel [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:20 Acrobatic_Jaguar_658 Guys or girls, how do you feel when you tell your date how beautiful/handsome you think they are, but they don't return the sentiment right away?

This has happened to me a few times and I feel like a POS about it. I'll go out with a guy that I'm not like insanely attracted to...I'll think he's just okay. But I don't believe in counting out a potential date just because they're not Brad Pitt or something lol. Especially if there are a ton of green flags and attraction can always grow.
But a handful of times (def not every time), I'll meet a guy for a first date and he'll say "oh you look just like your profile. You're so pretty" or "you're so beautiful". And I'll thank them really sincerely and tell them they're sweet, but I don't respond with "thanks and you're so handsome/cute/etc". Each time, I feel like they notice and I feel so horrible. It's not because I'm not into them, I'm definitely into them enough to go on a date. And I like to think I'm still plenty engaged in the date and complimentary, just not about looks.
And, also, please don't take this as me thinking I'm hot shit. I really, truly am not. For every guy who thinks I'm "so pretty," I know there are 15 guys who are "meh" about how I look lol. What do you all think/feel when you're on the receiving end? Should I just buck up and tell them I think they're handsome anyway? I usually feel like a complete POS for the rest of the date. And if they never call me back or don’t want another date, I’m always like “it’s bc you didn’t tell him he was handsome!” lol
submitted by Acrobatic_Jaguar_658 to dating [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:19 ThatOrangePlayer Marvel Projects I'd want to see

Marvel Projects that I want and I haven't seen anyone talk about
​
Captain America's return of the stones Series
​
Mantis Series
​
Star-Lord special / Series
​
This one could either be a Hercules Special or Series, or even a Thor 5
​
Afterlife Series
submitted by ThatOrangePlayer to marvelstudios [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:16 karnson [WTS] 🥝Ships, Normal and cost saving CCU's and Paints🥝

Hi everyone! All of the costs you see listed below include fees, what you see is what you pay. My timezone is GMT+12 in case you’re wondering why I may be taking a while to reply to you, however rest assured I will when I’m awake!
 
If you’re new to trading on reddit, read this guide on how to link your RSI account to your Reddit account and then just reply below with … well anything really (so I can see your RSI account in the flair) then drop me a DM with what you’re after.
 
If there is something you want but don’t see listed such as a specific LTI CCU’d ship or if you have any questions on trading or CCUing then please feel free to drop me a DM. Note: I will not trade using chat’s and any chat requests will be directed to use DM’s. This is because chat’s can be deleted but DM’s cannot so it is safer for us both to use DM’s.
 

Referrals 🎖️

If you haven’t yet created your account, please read this guide on the referral system and consider using my referral code which is STAR-LN2R-X9QF. If you would like me to add a referral to your account it will be $25.
 

Specials

   
Specials Insurance Melt Price Notes
Hull C - IAE Standalone 10Y 350 415 Hull C due for release and price increase in 2023
Hull C - CCU'd LTI 345 280 Hull C due for release and price increase in 2023
SRV - IAE Standalone 10Y 150 180 SRV due for release and price increase in 2023
SRV - CCU'd LTI 145 130 SRV due for release and price increase in 2023​
 

Ships 🚀

   
Stand Alone Ship
Ship Insurance Status Melt Price
325A 10Y Flyable 70 85
600i Explorer 10Y Flyable 475 565
A1 Spirit 6mo Concept 175 210
Apollo Medivac 10Y Concept 275 330
Ares Ion 10Y Flyable 250 300
Ares Inferno 10Y Flyable 250 300
Avenger Titan Renegade 10Y Flyable 75 90
C1 Spirit 6mo Concept 110 135
C2 10Y Flyable 400 475
C8R Pisces 10Y Flyable 65 78
C8X Pisces Best In Show 2952 10Y Flyable 45 55
Carrack 10Y Flyable 600 715
Constellation Phoenix 10Y Flyable 350 420
Corsair 10Y Flyable 250 300
Crucible 10Y Flyable 350 420
Cutter 10Y Flyable 45 55
Dragonfly Black 10Y Flyable 40 50
E1 Spirit 6mo Concept 150 180
Eclipse 10Y Flyable 300 360
Fury + Leatherback Paint + Invictus Jacket LTI Flyable 50 80
Fury MX + Leatherback Paint + Invictus Jacket LTI Flyable 50 80
G12A 10Y Concept 65 78
Galaxy (base) 10Y Concept 380 455
Liberator 10Y Flyable 575 685
Legionnaire 10Y Flyable 120 145
Mule 10Y Flyable 45 55
Perseus 10Y Concept 675 805
Ranger TR 10Y Concept 40 50
Razor EX 10Y Flyable 155 190
Reclaimer (nameable) 10Y Flyable 400 475
Redeemer 10Y Flyable 325 390
Sabre 10Y Flyable 170 205
Sabre Comet 10Y Flyable 185 225
SRV 10Y Concept 150 180
Starfarer Gemini 10Y Flyable 340 405
Storm 10Y Concept 80 100
Vanguard Sentinel 10Y Flyable 275 330
Vulture 10Y Flyable 140 170​
 
NOTE The LTI CCU’d ships below are built to give the highest melt value. If you prefer one with a lower cost (and melt) then let me know and I’ll see what I can build using WB and other cost saving CCU’s
 
LTI CCU'd ships Insurance Melt Price
400i LTI 245 205
Corsair LTI 245 205
Eclipse LTI 295 255
Hull C LTI 345 285
Hurricane LTI 190 165
Reclaimer LTI 395 340
Redeemer LTI 320 265
SRV LTI 145 135
Vanguard Sentinel LTI 270 235​
   

CCU’s ➡️

Standard CCU's from buyback
From To Melt Price
Freelancer 350r 15 19
Constellation Andromeda 400i 10 12.5
Prowler 600i 35 42.5
Prospector A1 20 25
Carrack A2 150 180
Hammerhead A2 25 31
Constellation Andromeda Apollo Medivac 35 42.5
Constellation Andromeda Apollo Triage 10 12.5
Constellation Andromeda Ares Ion 10 12.5
Constellation Andromeda Ares Inferno 10 12.5
325A Avenger Titan Renegade 5 7
Nomad Avenger Warlock 5 7
Cutlass Black Buccaneer 10 12.5
Mole C2 85 102
Redeemer C2 75 90
Valkyrie C2 25 31
300i C8R Pisces Rescue 5 7
600i Explorer Carrack 125 150
M2 Carrack 80 96
Constellation Aquila Caterpillar 20 25
Eclipse Caterpillar 30 36.5
Mole Caterpillar 15 19
Cutlass Black Centurion 10 12.5
Constellation Andromeda Corsair 10 12.5
Mole Crucible 35 42.5
Starfarer Gemini Crucible 10 12.5
Prospector Cutlass Blue 20 25
STV Cutlass Red 95 115
Dragonfly Black Cutter 5 7
Mustang Beta Cutter 5 7
STV Cutter 5 7
Roc DS Cyclone AA 5 7
325a Cyclone MT 5 7
125a Cyclone RC 5 7
125a Cyclone RN 5 7
125a Cyclone TR 5 7
Blade Eclipse 25 30
Constellation Andromeda Eclipse 60 73
Prospector F7C Hornet Wildfire 20 25
Prospector F7C-M Super Hornet 25 31
Constellation Taurus F7C-M Super Hornet Heartseeker 5 7
Prospector Freelancer MIS 20 25
125A G12A 5 7
Prospector Gladiator 10 12.5
Nomad Gladius 10 12.5
Cutlass Black Gladius Valiant 10 12.5
Carrack Hammerhead 125 150
Odyssey Hammerhead 25 31
Gladius Hawk 10 12.5
Nomad Herald 5 7
Herald Hull A 5 7
Nomad Hull A 10 12.5
Caterpillar Hull C 20 25
Mole Hull C 35 42.5
Starfarer Gemini Hull C 10 12.5
Centurion Legionnaire 10 12.5
Freelancer Legionnaire 10 12.5
M2 Liberator 55 66.5
600i M2 45 54
Prowler M2 80 96
Gladius M50 10 12.5
Constellation Andromeda Mercury 20 25
400i Mercury 10 12.5
Carrack Nautilus 125 150
Freelancer Nova 10 12.5
MPUV-C Nox 10 12.5
STV Nox 5 7
C2 Prowler 40 48
Valkyrie Prowler 65 78
Terrapin Railen 5 7
Defender Railen 5 7
Ballista Razor 5 7
Freelancer Max Razor EX 5 7
Mantis Razor EX 5 7
Ballista Razor LX 10 12.5
Mole Reclaimer 85 102
Valkyrie Reclaimer 25 31
Constellation Aquila Redeemer 15 19
Mole Redeemer 10 13
325a Reliant Tana 5 7
Ballista Retaliator 15 19
Vanguard Warden Retaliator Bomber 15 19
Prospector Sabre 15 19
Prospector Sabre Comet 30 36.5
Constellation Taurus San'tok.yāi 30 36.5
Vanguard Hoplite Scorpius 7 5
Constellation Taurus Scorpius Antares 40 48.5
Ballista SRV 10 12.5
Mole Starfarer Gemini 25 31
Freelancer Talon 5 7
Freelancer Talon Shrike 5 7
Constellation Taurus Terrapin 30 36.5
Caterpillar Valkyrie 45 54
Mole Valkyrie 60 72
Redeemer Valkyrie 50 60
Blade Vanguard Harbinger 15 19
Vanguard Sentinel Vanguard Harbinger 15 19
Terrapin Vanguard Hoplite 15 19
Constellation Andromeda Vanguard Sentinel 35 42.5
Vanguard Warden Vanguard Sentinel 15 19
Mercury Vanguard Sentinel 15 19
Ares Ion Vanguard Warden 10 12.5
Corsair Vanguard Warden 10 12.5
Constellation Taurus Vulcan 10 12.5​
   
Cost Saving CCU's
From To Upgrade Value Melt Insurance Price Number
Constellation Taurus Hurricane 20 5 - 10 7
Constellation Andromeda Vanguard Warden 20 5 - 10 1​
   

Paints 💥

Time limited paints
Paint Price
2951 Auspicious Red pack (Nomad & Freelancer) 16.5
2952 Auspicious Red pack (Sabre and Constellation) 20.5
2952 Fortuna pack (400i & 600i) 28
2953 Auspicious Red pack (Carrack and C8 Pisces) 28
2953 Fortuna pack (Hammerhead, Redeemer, Vanguard) 42
400i - Fortuna 14
600i - Fortuna 20
Ares - Lovestruck 14
Arrow - Lovestruck 7
Avenger - Invictus Blue and Gold 7
Buccaneer - Ghoulish Green 9
C8 Pisces - 2953 Auspicious Red 7
Carrack - 2953 Auspicious Red 23.5
Caterpillar - Ghoulish Green 14
Constellation - 2952 Auspicious Red 14
Cyclone - Lovestruck 7
Dragonfly - Ghoulish Green 6.5
Drake Cutlass - Ghoulish Green 6.5
Freelancer - 2951 Auspicious Red 11.5
Gladius - Invictus Blue and Gold 9
Hammerhead - Fortuna 23.5
Herald - Ghoulish Green 9
Hercules - Invictus Blue and Gold 20
Hoverquad - Lovestruck 7
Lovestruck paint 6 pack (Arrow, Scorius, Cyclone, Hoverquad, Nomad, Ares) 40
Mercury Star Runner - Fortuna 14
Mule - Ghoulish Green 6.5
Nomad - 2951 Auspicious Red 9
Nomad - Lovestruck 9
Redeemer - Fortuna 16.5
Reliant - Invictus Blue and Gold 7
Retaliator - Invictus Blue and Gold 14
Sabre - 2952 Auspicious Red 11.5
Scorpius - Lovestruck 14
Vanguard - Invictus Blue and Gold 14
Vanguard - Fortuna 14
Vulture - Ghoulish Green 11.5
7 Pack Ghoulish Green (Mule, Herald, Vulture, Caterpillar, Buccaneer, Dragonfly, Cutlass) 59​
 
Concierge Paint
Paint Price
C8 Pisces Code Blue 7
C8 Pisces 5 Pack 20
Centurion - Beachhead 10
Centurion - 3 paint pack 24
Cutter - Groundswell 7
Fury - Leatherback 7
Galaxy - Protector 19.5
Lynx - Moonrise 7
Mule - 3 paint pack 10.5
Mule - Smokestack 5
Scorpius - Tiburon 14
Spirit - 3 paint pack 30.5
Spirit - Crimson 13
Spirit - Intrepid 13
Spirit - Olympia 13
Storm - Summit 9
STV - Blue Steel 5​
submitted by karnson to Starcitizen_trades [link] [comments]

2023.06.02 20:11 Demonicking101 We Need a Deathworlder! Pt 66

Chapter Sixty Six: Plotting with Puppy
Entering into the entrance hallway of the apartment Simone tentatively holds up her hand to inform the other two women to wait.
”Something wrong?” Chak asks before looking down at Zrume who sits at her side vigilantly.
The animal’s ears perk up and nostrils flare silently, keeping her own tabs on the situation.
“Hope not, but…” Simone replies in concerned thought, “While I was stranded on the Gratt homeworld and just getting to know Meeki, she was chased and attacked by big burly dogs like Zrume here. Not the same breed of course, but I wanna check in with her before waltzing in, you know? Her only experience with dogs being like that, she probably needs a warning.” she informs.
Chak’s eyes widen slightly and she quickly nods.
“Oh, of course. Yes, that’s a good idea.” she agrees before placing a lower limb on the mutt’s big head.
“Surprised you accepted taking it! You seemed very scared of it at first.” Sonla comments, having been keeping her own distance from the animal thus far.
“She’s a little scary, certainly. Definitely intimidating in size and stature…” Chak grants, “But that look in her eyes… she’s without a doubt a very good natured girl.” she says while gently petting the dog.
“I think so too, but we’re gonna have to be careful introducing her to everyone and make sure she knows who’s a friend. Don’t want her thinking any of them approaching you is of concern.” Simone says before walking ahead to enter the apartment, “You guys wait here, I’ll just be a sec.”
Entering the apartment proper, Simone looks around the circular center hub space. There’s a faint smell of pizza in the air as the empty boxes are still resting on the counter island in the kitchen area. However there is no sight of either Gratt or Terran outside their disheveled mess in the center media couch.
Simone would have felt a but more concerned with how late the three seems to be sleeping in, but the evidence around reveals that they just have been up late having fun while they can.
However, knowing that she still can’t surprise them with the pouch, she walks over to the Gratt’s room and knocks her knuckles against it.
Though when Troy answers it dressed in nothing but a blanket Simone looks over to the other room doors confused.
“Oh, morning dude. Sorry, did I forget who’s room is who’s?” she asks in a chuckle.
“Nope.” the sheepish man replies as he rubs the sleep from his eyes, “Uhm… shoot. Yeah, uhm… Meeki and Nodrin are just waking up too, need me to get ‘em out for ya?” he says as his cheeks redden.
Simone’s eyes gradually expand in realization as she tilts her head enough to see the partially collapsed fortress of pillows and blankets. Nodrin pokes their head and upper torso out from the draping wall in a stretch, while another pair of loving Gratt hands massage their torso in the usual process of separation.
“Hmmmm… morning good Simone.” Nodrin groggily utters as they more fully pull away from their softly chittering partner in a crawl out.
Returning her eyes back to Troy to grant the nude Nodrin a bit of privacy, Simone clears her throat and rubs the back of her head.
“Wow… It looks like you guys had a hell of a time. Uhm… congrats? It seems like it went well. Right, ahh… Yeah...” Simone rambles with several streams of thoughts going through her mind, but she eventually snaps to it by raising her voice slightly, “Meeki? Nodrin? I need you two to get dressed and step out asap. There’s something I need to run by you guys before Chak comes into the apartment.” she calls out to the Gratt before winking at Troy and stepping away and scavenging one of the few remaining cold slices of pizza in the fridge.
“Okay!” Meeki’s voice replies before Troy closes the door to get dressed himself.
Simone updates Chak on the situation with her Lens as she leans against the kitchen island, and only waits for about a minute before the three hurry on out more appropriately garbed. For the most part.
Troy is still shirtless as he wanders out and approaches the kitchen area and starts digging through the cupboards.
Meeki and Nodrin run up to the island by Simone and sit up on the stools. The female wears a gray shirt that’s way too big for her, answering why Troy’s outfit is incomplete.
“Well I’m not seeing much guys, we can try ordering in again. But there’s enough to work with here for some quick and dirty pancakes. Not seeing any syrup or jam, but I think I can make something real quick with these frozen fruit packs in the freezer. Maybe I’ll just throw ‘em into the batter and see if it works out?” Troy tells the duo, seeming to have picked up a conversation they were having while getting dressed, “Oh! And bacon! At least… something that looks like bacon. Definitely not from a Terran animal so I can’t be sure if it’ll cook the same.”
“Sounds much good!” Nodrin agrees as they rest their head in their hands, watching the half dressed Terran get to work, very much enjoying the show.
“What we need to discuss?” Meeki inquires the nearby redhead.
Simone nods before finishing off the slice in her hand.
“Chak and I brought some new friends back home with us, and I wanted to give you a heads up. Probably should’ve messaged ahead… but let’s just say we were a bit distracted. One of them is a Vorook named Sonla. She’s a bit of an infiltration expert and I have a good idea of what she can do in case things don’t go to plan. That said, hold back on details with her for now.” Simone says, to which the Gratt nod, “And… the other is a security service animal that was gifted to Chak by the Z’ah’tuck ambassador. Long story.”
“And I thought we had a wild night… Did you even manage to have that date?” Troy says over his shoulder as he mixes wet and dry ingredients in a bowl.
“Yes, actually. It was amazing, all this other stuff happened afterwards. Anyway, Meeki, Nodrin. I want to clear it with you before bringing the animal in because… it’s a dog. Meeki, I know for a fact that your introduction to dogs was harrowing to say the least, because they were the animals those Gaia people used while invading your home.” Simone addresses the two green folk, seeing a bit of confirmation of her concern in the responding fearful Gratt eyes looking to the entrance door of the apartment.
“The four legged beasts with fur?” Meeki inquires a bit nervously.
“Yep. But I assure you that this one will mean you no harm. Those Dogs that attacked you before were raised and trained to do so. But dogs themselves are domesticated animals that are broadly safe to be around, as long as you don’t make yourself a threat to them. And even then, they may just cower from ya rather than fight. That said, Chak’s new dog Zrume is trained to be a kind of bodyguard. It’s important to know to not act aggressively towards Chak when she’s ‘on duty’, alright? However I’d like to socialize her with you guys here in a sec while she’s ‘off duty’. You know, to make sure she understands you two are friends and permitted near Chak in times of crisis. Is it okay with you two to let them in?” Simone elaborates.
“So… this dog is nice?” Meeki questions for full confirmation.
“Chak called her a sweetheart herself. And I completely agree. As long as you don’t bum-rush Chak for some reason as soon as she walks in, you will be perfectly fine. Just don’t stare into her eyes until she’s comfortable around you. For dogs direct eye contact can be seen as a threat.” Simone answers, “Ready?”
Meeki blinks as she watches the door for a moment longer.
“Yes. Is okay to bring them in.” she nods.
The redhead pats Meeki’s shoulder reassuringly and messages Chak, informing her that she is cleared to enter.
Everyone within the apartment turns to get a look as the entrance opens up to the Cali princess holding a leash to an animal that weighs more than she does.
Meeki relatively takes hold of Nodrin’s hand, but otherwise remains calm as the god is brought closer to the kitchen area.
Chak stops and pulls up a list of provided commands that the canine is trained in.
“Zrume, at ease. Safe zone.” she states firmly, hoping that she did it correctly.
Immediately, Zrume’s posture loosens and even becomes a little wiggly as as she looks down and begins sniffing the ground and nearby furniture within range of the leash’s allowance. Although the leash straightens out, the gentle creature doesn’t pull against her owner’s grip, instead simply shifting her focus to something else.
Quickly that focus comes upon the two Gratt still sitting on stools. Coming closer with caution, Zrume approaches the strangers carefully.
“Lower your hands with palms out, let her say hi first.” Simone advises.
Nodding Meeki slowly obliges, twitching slightly as the animal starts to sniff her clawed hands. Then in a side-rub against Meeki’s legs the dog opens its mouth in a relaxed grin exposing her tongue.
Feeling like permission is granted, Meeki starts to pet Zrume’s shaggy fur along her vertical back.
Nodrin then lowers their hands as well for another sniff-inspection before being enthusiastically allowed to join in on the petting.
Meeki’s nerves gradually fade as the animal proves to be indeed very friendly and well mannered. Nothing like the animals that intended to tear her to shreds way back when.
“Hello Zrume.” she says in a relieving sigh.
At the sound of her name being spoken by this new person the dog arches her head back and up at the Gratt female. Her expression being only what can be defined as ‘goofy sweetness’ with big expressive eyes and a heavy swinging of her happy tail.
Simone covers her mouth, trying to not snort a laugh upon seeing the dog’s dorky nature. Removing her bag from her shoulder she turns to look at Sonla who has been very quietly looking around the apartment and the folks within.
“And this is Sonla. Sonla, this is Nodrin, Meeki and Troy.” the redhead introduces with a moving hand gesture.
The monkey-like lizard stood up from walking on her knuckles to give everyone a wave.
“Hi.” she says a bit awkwardly.
“Welcome to the circus!” Troy greets as he pours his pancake-fruit mixture into a heated and buttered pan. Leaving it for just a moment he leans over on the island and gives the Vorook a big smile, “Want any pancakes? I might have made a bit too much batter while trying to even out the texture.” he offers.
“I’m an obligate carnivore, so no thanks.” Sonla replies as she settles back on her thickly scaled knuckles.
“Oh, sorry, right. My bad.” Troy chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck, “Uhh… what about some bacon? The animal is uhm…” he turns sound to closely read the chilled packaging for the answer, “Premium cloned loamph? Not really sure how ‘premium’ cloned stuff is, but we got it!”
The man flips the package in the air with one hand while the other gives the lizard lady a thumbs up.
“Yes!” Sonla immediately replies as she maneuvers up to the remaining stool by the island, and adjusts it to compensate for her shorter stature.
“You got it!” Troy says with a finger-gun before turning around once more to tend to his cooking.
After a short while seeing the dog is handling the situation well, Chak takes off the leash. Zrume takes this opportunity to step away from the Gratt and further explore the space around her.
“She’s very nice.” Meeki says as she watches the animal sniff around everything that was in her path, “She play or no?” the Gratt inquires curiously.
“Oh yeah. I imagine she’d be happy to play things like fetch and tug-of-war. In fact Chak already ordered toys, food, a bed and a waste pad system to be eventually delivered to the Kwip-chap.” Simone answers before her fiance pressed up against her in a side hug.
“It’s only sensible to be prepared now, rather than later.” Chak defends in a chuckle as she keeps an eye on the pouch, “I just hope the children will like her.”
“I’m sure they will.” the redhead replies as she gently rubs the Cali’s back.
Meanwhile Sonla finds herself staring up directly at Nodrin with an unreadable expression.
“You… alright?” Nodrin asks.
“Why do you have four eyes?” Sonla bluntly counter-questions.
“Ah- uhm… because I was born with four? As most Gratt are. Four eyes not all that strange when it comes to other species. Truba, Carvv and Hallo as examples.” Nodrin answers, confused by the question,
“Well duh, but I mean why does your species have four eyes evolution wise?” Sonla clarifies, “Carvv and Hallo have four to see different light spectrums, and Dillo needed six to look upwards for falling debris in sandstorms and cliffsides. Runeani have eight! I think that is because they needed good depth perception.”
“Oh, so you much study biology science?” Nodrin assumes.
“No. It’s just kinda creepy to look at without context.” Sonla bluntly responds with a shrug,
Nodrin leans back a bit, finding themself a bit offended.
“Much rude… but if it make you comfortable to be around us then I’ll answer the best I can.”
“Sorry. But yes, it’ll help.” Sonla says, although to the Gratt her tone can stand to be a bit more apologetic.
“Very well. They help get more clear vision in dark places. Mostly they help us with close inspection and far distance seeing.” Nodrin explains before pointing at their pair of eyes furthest from the center of their face, “But outer eyes are much special. Our ancestors were aquatic animals and so Gratt’s outer eyes still have extra clear lids to see underwater.”
“Oh. Aquatic?” Sonla questions, “Where did head fur come from then? Are you like mammalian?” she adds with more genuine curiosity.
“I… don’t know…” Nodrin admits, “Gratt study past ancestors much, but we still know little. Though hope new tech from the stars can help with all our sciences.”
“I saw Terran article that said we closely resemble… uhm…” Meeki inserts herself into the conversation before trailing off as she forgets the classification used, “One moment…” she utters as she navigates her Lens to find the article she found, “Ah! Synapsids! Not exactly like, but much comparison. So we are compared to ‘Mammal-like reptiles’.”
Sonla blinks before looking back as the roar of bacon hits a hot pan.
“Huh… Neat!” she replies, “Vorook can’t really swim very well. We tend to sink and even if we don’t we are too top heavy so our heads get stuck underwater. Very funny to see, but also sad. But we are really good at climbing! We can hold on to and dangle from things for long periods of time!”
“But not holding on to speeding shuttles roofs, huh?” Simone teases, as she maneuvers her positioning to get a better line of sight on the sizzling bacon.
“N-no… Well maybe, if it didn’t get so cold so fast.” Sonla says,
Troy looks back at his fellow Terran with a furrowed brow.
“What did you guys get yourselves into?” he says as he breaks into a bewildered laugh.
“I’m sure you’ll know soon enough when you get the chance to look at the news. But by the end of it Chak managed to secure overwhelming Z’ah’tuck support for her and her efforts to take back the throne. Like… military support. Granted, they have a lot to gain from it, but so do we.” Simone reveals as she finds herself a bit closer to the plate where the man was putting down the greasy strips of crispy goodness.
Chak then lets out a genuinely humored giggle that borders on outright laughter.
Confused, Troy looks to Simone then to his other side where Chak is looking. Having somehow sneaked up on him, Zrume sits there while gazing up at him with big pleading eyes with a little line of drool dripping from her maw. Noticing that he is boxed in he turns to Simone and aims his tongs out at her.
“You already pillaged our leftovers, you can wait a few minutes for bacon!” he states sternly in his fake parental tone before turning to the dog.
“Sorry pupper… way too much sodium for you. It’ll upset your guts real bad.” he sweetly apologizes.
As he addresses the canine, Simone swiftly reaches over and silently snatches two hot strips from the plate and retreats back before he is able to notice.
“You motherf-” Troy laughs once he sees both Simone and Chak snacking on the stolen goods, but knowing he would do the exact same drops it immediately.
Simone smirks in victory as she wanders over to the circular center couch to make herself comfortable as they all wait for their other Terran comrades to return from their own mysterious mission.
-
“Well that wasn’t a complete disaster…” Brandy mutters as she strides ahead of Thorn and Devin with her arms crossed while marching into the apartment entrance hallway.
“Hard to believe we weren’t caught after that water tank collapsed… Almost didn’t have the time to scrub us from all the crossing security footage.” Devin groans in a low grumble.
“Getting caught? How about -oh you know- nearly crashing that tanker shuttle into a residential area!?” Brandy snaps back.
“Not my fault that the pilot passed out.” Devin argues.
“Sorta was, that kinda happens when you jumpscare a Zernth from behind like you did.” Brandy counters.
“It was either lose the target or try to convince the Zernth to turn left.” Devin sighs before he feels a mechanical hand press on the back of his shoulder.
Pushing him to hurry up, Thorn catches up with Brandy where he plants his other hand.
“Mmhmm. Not our best work. But we got the bastard and actually convinced the Squilla ambassador to help us out in our little operation here. Other than some spilled water, we managed to pull it off without a hitch. I say we all learn from the experience and get to what’s further down the trail. Remember what’s at stake.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But still… it’s those stakes that make every mistake feel like I’ve wronged the entire universe. Like it’s heavier than it has any right to be.” Brandy replies as she reaches the door, “One fuck up and who knows how many people will be hurt from it down the line…”
“Aye… but in the grand scheme of it all your actions have had the same weight your entire life, because it led you here doing what you’re doing. Still, you're right, it’s a lot to bear on the heart.” Thorn grants, “My advice? Take a note from Simone’s book. Just keep moving forward and rest in the arms of whoever you want to hold ya.”
“I honestly don’t know how she copes. It’d drive me into a downward spiral of stress and paranoia going through half of what she has.” the woman huffs as she reaches to open the door via indicator.
“Don’t compromise who you are, and preserve your capability to love throughout all of the hell life will march ya through. It’ll hurt, but it’s worth it because that’s how you win life.” the old man states right before the door opens.
“Yooo! Bout time! You guys want some cold pancakes? I can reheat ‘em if you’d like!” Troy cheers from the couch with two Gratt resting at his sides.
“I hope you three have moved from the couch at some point…” Brandy says with an exaggerated eye roll, “Have a good night?”
“Yeah we did!” the man answers both of Brandy’s sentences at once.
“I’m going to set up to get our finalized planning underway. Ten minutes.” Devin notifies as he peels off to his room.
“Good. I hear we have a new member to the crew?” Thorn says as he strides in with his hands on his hips.
As if summoned, Sonla’s head peeks out from behind the other side of the couch.
“That’s me! Master infiltrator Sonla at your service!” the Vorook introduces herself, now standing proudly upon the headrest.
“Master eh? Good… We’re definitely gonna need a master’s handiwork in our lil’ operation.” Thorn chuckles as he scratches at his five o'clock shadow.
“We were also told that we have a doggie?” Brandy asks as she looks around for any trace of the animal.
“Yup! Simone and Chak were just showing her off to their kids in a call.” Troy explains as he thumbs to their room.
As if summoned by Troy’s opposable digit, the door opens with Chak once again holding the leash of the dog.
“Welcome back, I hope everyone is alright?” the princess inquires as she guides Zrume out to meet Brandy first, “At ease, safe zone.” she reminds the animal.
“Why hello there! Oh my goodness I’ve never seen a breed quite like hers before! Like a big pitty and… African painted dog maybe? Has the color at least. Definitely some others mixed in there too, hint of mastiff or something else chunkier? But still all the pretty in a fluffy package!” Brandy says as she scratches under the dog’s wide neck, which is very much approved.
Though the angle of Zrume’s ears change to one of caution and alertness. Turning her head towards the old man who had yet to approach she released a low growl.
“It’s okay Zrume, safe zone.” Chak assures, but the animal’s stare remained intense on the cybernetic man.
Seeing the confusion and concern on everyone’s faces, Thorn raises his hand.
“Don’t worry about it, dogs and I don’t really mix. A shame really, but it’s something to do with how my non-organic bits emit a sound they find very agitating. Like a walking annoying dog whistle. I’ll see if Devin can do anything about that, but in the meantime it’s best if the dog and I keep separate.” he explains.
“Oh damn. Yeah I guess dogs never really approached you before. Bummer. I guess while we sort things out we’ll have her chill in our room.” Simone says apologetically.
“And I’ll bunk up when she needs some runnin’ around time.” Thorn nods back appreciatively, “She’s downright adorable by the way.”
As Chak turns back around to lead Zrume back in her room for the time being, Troy’s eyes go wide and he points at Simone dramatically.
“Shit dude I almost forgot! Someone came asking for you by name.” he reveals.
Looking to him with a bit of fear in her eyes Simone gave him her full attention.
“Who?” She demands.
“Don’t worry I never confirmed you were actually here and she seemed… not like the people we’re up against. She was a tall thin lady who said she was a friend of yours from your academy days? She left a contact card and before you ask, yes I scanned the hell out of it. She seemed to really really want to talk to you.” the man explains as he feels around his pockets and when he finds nothing he shoves his hand down the crevice of the couch until he victoriously pulls the card out of the furniture-void.
He holds it out to which Simone accepts hesitantly.
“Yeah, okay…” she mumbles while looking at either side of the card.
“Just be careful, our options of people who we can trust from your military career are thin at best.” Thorn cautions.
“I know. And… I think I know who it is. Honestly I have no clue how involved she is, if at all… but it’s quite the coincidence she shows up now of all times.” Simone admits.
“Is she gonna be a problem for what we’re planning to do?” Brandy asks.
“If she has nothing to do with the Terran terrorists, then I don’t think so. I’d ignore this completely, but I ought to at least know what she wants to talk about, clearly she knows I’m here anyway. No point in avoiding it, especially if she seeks me out during our operation regardless of her intentions we’re asking for trouble. The other big issue of course, is that she’s still with the Terran Union. This could just be a ploy to get me arrested and into Union custody.” the redhead says as she taps the card in the palm of her other hand.
“Then wherever she wants to meet I’ll come with you.” Chak announces as she returns to her Terran, “I’ll even request for Ambassador Zrreak’s attendance if possible, or at the very least have a representative of his there to show that arresting you would be a terrible political nightmare for the Union.” the princess adds sternly with an affirmative nod.
“Damn you're so hot when you get like this…” Simone replies in jest to alleviate her own nerves, “But yeah, I appreciate it.”
“But first before any of that potential shit-show…” Thorn says as he crosses his arms, “It’s time we put our main plan to paper. We have a president to possibly kidnap and hold at gunpoint after all.”
“Oh… wow. That’s a bit more than ‘less than legal’...” Sonla mutters with wide eyes “Good thing I’m a master of explosives too…”
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2023.06.02 19:45 Tremere1974 A Scale of Vengance

Hello! This story is based around u\MelasD 's Amelia the level zero [Hero] universe where its citizens operate under a game-like system for the use of magic. If you wish to read ahead a bit, more is posted here on the Amelia subreddit. Thanks for reading!
A Scale of Vengance, Part one.
We knew the [Hero King] was coming, and others may say the Island Fortress of Last Anchorage was unprepared for his arrival, but against the [Hero King] what can anyone do?
When our nation joined the coalition against him, we sent our patreon, the great Sea Dragoness Carana, not expecting to lose her within moments of the start of the battle. We also sent the majority of our military strength to fight on the mainland, who were slaughtered to the last soldier.
So, to say we were unprepared is to say we failed to act. When the [Hero King] decided to take our island, the outcome was preordained, and our position at the end of a Island Archipelago meant evacuation was largely impossible, even if the [Hero King] was not using our own ships we had used to move our Army to the mainland to invade us.
I found out though, that when hope seems lost, sometimes a final roll of the dice can alter the fate of the world. I Am Talia, and this is my story
.***###***
I woke up, readying myself for another day of tutoring, as befits the 16 year old Third Prince of a Minor nation. I was expected to serve in the military protecting the Kingdom of Last Anchorage, but until very recently the idea of an Army from an Island nation as anything but a purely ceremonial unit had been the butt of many a joke told in local taverns.*Knock Knock* I heard the servant of the day, likely Jannytt checking on me.
“I’m up, I’ll be down for breakfast soon.” I said to the door, and soon the sound of footsteps heading away from the door allowed me to loosen my hold on my dagger, a gift from my Uncle who led the army against the Tyrant king, riding the Great Dragoness who shared her nest with my ancestor, a pact that time could not erase.
Tensions were high, and there were undoubtedly those who thought slaughtering the Royal family would save our island, so tensions were high for all of us in the castle. I dressed in haste, but did not leave my dagger behind when I arrived at the eating table of my Father.
My Father was leading by example, eating no more than what was rationed to the average commoner, as our Island could not feed all its people by what grew in its tropical soils no matter how much the [Druid] blessed it. We had been a nation of traders for hundreds of years, and now we were the last bit of land not held by the Tyrant King on this side of the Icarian Sea, so without trading partners we starved, from the poorest commoner to my father the King.
We ate the Gruel served to us without a word said, not even bothering with bringing up prisoners to use as poison checkers. The Tyrant King had no need of poisoners, as such could be used against himself. We all knew that there would be no quarter taken or given when the Tyrant arrived, and the thought made my stomach rebel and smiling sadly, I gave the remaining portion to Princess Maria, my 10 year old sister who smiled as I roughed her hair before standing up to leave, the dinner table being a family place, where decorum could be waved off, and we be a family, if only briefly.
“Prince Talio, I have need of you today, your studies are canceled though your tutor will accompany us.” The King said, looking out the window at the shorebirds circling on the thermal that most days blew up the seaside cliff that Castle Carana was built upon.“Yes, Father” I said, before following. We walked as my father led us outside the Castle, surrounded by my classmates, the remnants of our Military Academy in full armor. The City Guard was keeping the peace, but conversely were the force most likely to act to end my Family’s reign and thus their allegiance was best not tested.
We arrived at the Temple, where the [Priest] was holding yet another service, keeping the people’s hopes for a miracle up. Hope was all we had to sell, after all.We of course had a private balcony overlooking the temple plaza, so we sat down to listen to the end of the [Priest]'s service.“I have had a message from our patreon deities, the Tyrant King’s abuses have been heard, and we have been given a boon, a Holy Miracle to bring a new Guardian about as was written upon our founding. Do not lose hope, my people, no darkness lasts forever.”I leaned over to my Father “Hope we get that new guardian fairly quickly, huh?” I said, half in inquiry, and half knowing damm well only a dragon could protect our island from Invasion sans a miracle of some sort.
As the commoners filed out, we mingled among the few ship captains attending who served as lords in Father’s court. It was a courtesy and a rare opportunity to mingle outside of a court setting, as being under the Deity, all were equal in her temple.I was curious as to today’s events when my tutor, Lady Benning arrived. She curtsied, as was formal for her, and as Father’s attention was elsewhere, I gave her permission to rise.“A big day for you, my Prince. And Quite the honor too.” She said, clearly excited, and seeing I knew naught about why and what she referred to, that was half her smile, getting the drop on my information gathering was a habit of hers. If I ever became king, she would be my head knight if I didn’t or couldn’t take her for a concubine.
Her [Swordsmaster] skill was impressive, but she was the whole package brains and brawn, though sadly a decade older than I, so I didn’t press on courting her, though having had her for a tutor for the past three years gave me plenty of opportunities to.
“I hope so, if the [Preist] is right, and you know I’d do anything to prevent the Tyrant King from winning.” I said, offering her an elbow, which she took, as we walked to the center of the temple, where our hopes had been laid…literally.
We approached the central Dias, and together With the [Preist] stood a hooded woman wearing robes as we approached the central dias. I activated my skill [Judge] which allowed me to see the truth of things, and looked at the Stranger’s status.
Lady Kara Veela age 55, [Prophet] lv**Skills: Foresight, Prophecy, Judgement
My Knees almost buckled. Lady Kara, the Stormcrow, the harbinger of disasters was feet in front of me. This obviously did not portend well, but honestly with the [Hero King] on the way, she probably had brought buttered popcorn for a ringside seat.My Father, however, had always welcomed her, and in truth had sired 3 kids on Lady Kara, my half siblings, who fortunately were considered illegitimate for the line of succession, though they had been knights and ministers in service to our kingdom. This did nothing to improve relations between my late mother and her, however.
So seeing her here was a bit of a shock.As my father reached the duo, he took her hand and kissed it and even those weathered features she boasted managed to show some color. Good on you, Dad!The [Priest] smiled before patting me on the back “You are looking well, my Prince. Today, you stand to do a great service to our world as a whole.”
I bowed “My duty is clear then, though my path remains clouded, good priest.”
Oddly, it was Lady Kara who answered for the priest.”Your actions today may save more than your life, but play a part in fighting the corruption of the void that is creeping across our world.” These words were spoken with the power of prophecy, and I knew to not argue the point.
I did feel awkward, moreso as My Father, The Priest, Lady Kara, and My Tutor, Lady Benning took places in the great spell circle, where runes guided the formation of great magics. This left me in the circle with the pedestal, on which stood the sole Dragon’s egg that our guardian left for us.As the circle activated, I asked “What do you wish me to do?” As I reached out to it, feeling the egg’s surface, and after a second’s contact I felt the warmth within, and a faint pulse of magic kept in time with my own heart’s beating.
“Embrace it, let it know you want a new guardian” The Priest's low voice said clearly, and so I did, focusing my feelings of watching the former guardian play in the sky and waves, jealous that I’d never experience that kind of freedom, or have that kind of strength to defend those I care about.
As I did so, I felt an echo from within the egg, beckoning me, showing me what it meant to be a dragon. I have to say, being seduced by a guardian spirit was kind of nice, all in all.As the visions of power and flight unfolded, it felt more and more like instead of watching a dragon, I myself existed as the dragon, and for that moment, I let myself go, reveling in something that had been a dream since I first saw our dragoness protector.
****===****
As he watched his son disappear, consumed by the power of their magic, funneled through the circle, and the magic granted by the deity that watched over them, he knew that he’d seen his son for the last time as the magic finished, and he dropped to his knees.
“Llywnd, it was necessary.”
The warm hand of my concubine and best friend Lady Kara comforted me as she kneeled down, embracing me as I wept for my son, for my kingdom, and not least, for myself.For a moment, I wasn’t King Llywnd, but simply a father, selling his bloodline to defeat a great evil, not wholly different than many a parent who had watched their children board a ship to fight the Tyrant king’s army, and who never returned to their arms afterwards.
I cursed Kalustus Kal, or whatever the whoreson who the system called [Hero King] was calling himself, losing myself in grief and hate, just a Man, in an extraordinary circumstance.Another hand rested on my shoulder and a soft voice reassured me.
“I’ll watch over your son, you have my oath that my blade will serve your family for as long as I draw breath.”
I looked up into the eyes of the [Swordsmaster] “Thank You, though if you wouldn’t mind watching over Maria too?”
“Of course,” She said, no fancy oaths, no pomp or pride involved. The simplicity of that broke me from the moment’s weight, and a Palanquin was brought out to transport the Egg to the docks. I stood, my legs betraying my resolve as I reached out and touched the Egg
“Be safe, and remember always, your Father’s love.” I whispered, then kissed it, feeling the magic flare briefly, feeling my son’s soul leap within, before we parted, forever.
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2023.06.02 19:40 SnooGoats8671 Refreshing Recollection? The easiest two points on the MBE

Refreshing Recollection? The easiest two points on the MBE
Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.
https://preview.redd.it/iolau37ifm3b1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=382cb13d6c986d95a44ed9aea4e79b8bd9cc4502
They were alone and afraid after entering this dark new world of the UBE
https://preview.redd.it/2g0uuqcggm3b1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c6c94fd602d823dea4186ac9b5c997956e768ce
Until one day they met a friend to guide them
https://preview.redd.it/3ksejoutgm3b1.jpg?width=1734&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f72fe9191a04e1e520f9de6d46ac20658aa06ee
and everything changed.

Alright everyone sorry for my high-effort trolling this Friday morning let's actually get focused.

I know most of you probably know this but I will come out and say it:

You can use any thing in the fucking world to refresh someone's recollection

I worked briefly in the Maricopa County PD's office as a young college student and one time I saw them lead a live horse into the courtroom to refresh someone's recollection
I had a super old iPhone at the time but I took this picture of it
Anything can be used to refresh recollection
Even thing could be used to refresh someone's recollection
https://preview.redd.it/rqmqovinlm3b1.jpg?width=477&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27577a4ecd0d51eba24c81f2422fe2980d5ddbe5
So could this thing
https://preview.redd.it/6hknri9plm3b1.jpg?width=893&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6e5bf546ec5c12e6148d9fbb204a124fb48f791

My professor in law school would always joke that you could bring in a bowl of spaghetti and just start eating it in front of the witness to refresh their recollection

His moms spaghetti he's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
Alright you guys get the picture

The rule is this:

If a witness can't remember some shit at the trial and they say that, your attorney may present ANY OBJECT, DOCUMENT, hell even sounds or smells (you could hit somebody with some lavender incense), to refresh their recollection.
There are just a FEW rules we must follow:
The witness can't read from a refreshing document while testifying (lol, then the attorney would just hand you a sheet of paper with the right thing to say on it)
The opposing party may inspect the document and cross-examine you with it
The opposing party may introduce parts of the document into evidence
So how will they try to trick our impressionable and tired minds on the MBE?
Let's get into the tricks.
​
Take the photographs and still frames in your mind.

Trick #1: Opposing party can inspect and cross-examine on it

This is simple and I just outlined it but they like to test the fact that the opposing party (if the judge allows it) may examine the document or item used to refresh recollection and cross-examine a witness on it. This makes sense. We don't want any fuckery happening whereby the examining lawyer just "coaches" the witness by passing little notes back and forth haha. This isn't grade school love letter passing.

Trick #2: They will use something to refresh that seems... unfair.

They had a sample problem where a police officer couldn't remember what a witness said on the stand.
So they used his partners police report to refresh his recollection. The other side objected.
I know what you're probably thinking.... what the fuck. That is some serious bullshit. He will just look at his partners statement and formulate his statement to be in line with his partners.

IT IS STILL FRIGGEN ALLOWED TO REFRESH MY GOAT GANG. WE CAN REFRESH WITH ANYTHING.

They can also cross-examine him on it so the chance of any nonsense happening is LOW.
Us at the beginning of June trying to learn this shit

The Final And Most Common Trick: They will try to trick you and act like it's a refreshed recollection, but they are actually testing recorded recollections.

The main difference is this: The refreshed recollection allows the witness to testify with their OWN memory "rejuvenated", the recorded recollection means they have no memory but they did at ONE TIME and they wrote it down... so they can now read it out loud and enter it into evidence.
A recorded recollection requires you to:
Not remember the shit
Have had personal knowledge of it at one time
and
Have written it down in the past AT A TIME WHEN YOU HAD A CLEAR MEMORY OF IT
The classic example is someone pulling out a pen and paper and jotting down a license plate before the person speeds off
Obviously they won't remember all those crazy numbers and letters, but they did at one time - and now they can read it and enter it into evidence.

If an attorney tries to get a diary admitted for example they will say some slick shit in the problem like "she maintained this diary and accurately recorded the information on a daily basis, but now she cannot remember it at all." The attorney now seeks to refresh her recollection.

THEY WILL ACTUALLY SAY THE WORDS "REFRESH RECOLLECTION" BUT ACTUALLY BE TESTING RECORDED RECOLLECTION. WTF.
BE AWARE OF THIS.
IF THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT SOMEONE RECORDING SOMETHING DOWN IN THE PAST - EVEN IF THEY SAY "THE ATTORNEY TRIES TO REFRESH THEIR RECOLLECTION" - WHAT THEY ARE REALLY TESTING IS PAST RECOLLECTION RECORDED
The answer will be something to the effect of "it should be read to the jury and admitted into evidence even if the plaintiff does not remember it."
Anyway, enjoy your Friday my loves.
Gearing up for an amazing Friday
We will be back. July will be ours. Every day I dream about it.
https://i.redd.it/ttol45vp4n3b1.gif
- Goat Tumnus
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