#ALSO U HAVE THE GROUNDWORK TO BE ABLE TO MAKE HER

[neyafromfrance95]

galadriel & sauron vs. morgoth theory + trop.

we all love the theory that sauron and galadriel would eventually fight side by side against morgoth.

if u think about it, trop is a perfect groundwork for this theory.

in trop, it is implied that sauron and galadriel meet by eru's design and their connection is destined. but why?

sure, galadriel has a hand in sauron's defeat, but so do many others. why does galadriel and sauron's relationship have to be so special and significant on the cosmic scales, above everything else?

in lotr, galadriel passes the test by the end of the 3rd age. she outgrows her pride and selfish need to rule without sharing her power with anyone and determination to rule the middle-earth even if it means becoming a terrible tyrant.

but it's interesting how later frodo sees galadriel through her phial's light:

“frodo took the phial, and for a moment as it shone between them, he saw her again standing like a queen, great and beautiful, but no longer terrible. he bowed, but found no words to say.”

i wonder if this is a subtle implication that galadriel has finally became worthy of succeeding her father one day. her father is the high king of the elves in valinor, and while he has sons, no one is as great as galadriel. tolkien himself commented on galadriel's commanding stature in valinor - "the equal if not unlike in endowments of fëanor." and "(galadriel) being mighty among the eldar, obtained this grace (entering valinor) for him (gimli)."

it has been generally agreed upon that since tolkien wrote several versions of it, galadriel’s story is convoluted, contradictory and inconsistent. but one thing has always remained at the core of her characterization - she is a politician who desires to be a leader. so ofc she would still be a politician in valinor, but it's interesting to imagine she would become a queen after outgrowing her greed and her time in the middle-earth was a neccessary test to shape her into a perfect leader.

considering trop canon, it can be said that even after everything, if sauron was to repent, galadriel would be the one to vouch for him or bring him up in a conversation regarding the battle against morgoth (and the first of all valinor to march to fight again).

another thing to note is that now, the only connection to the physical world sauron would have after the destruction of the one ring is galadriel's scar that binds them by blood! they have been bound by the sea, their admission of cosmic connection, nenya, and their souls are basically merged.

trop interestingly underlines the undertones of galadriel and sauron's comparability - they are mirrors that represent the light and the dark, but also galadriel is a natural born leader and sauron is a natural born follower. underneath sauron's desire to possess her, is the desire to serve and worship her as his queen!

and more importantly, his repentant phase in the show was when he was following her, when his presence actually was healing for galadriel.

so what does all of this have to do with haladriel vs. morgoth theory and how trop lays a groundwork for it?

galadriel's authority in valinor, sauron being bound to her, and galadriel being the one who makes sauron actually go back to his maiar purpose that valar ordained - the one who provides servitude and healing, all of this would make galadriel the perfect candidate to bring back sauron and make the valar consider his repentance.

as for sauron, by then, he would have enough time to get humbled and face what he knows subconsciously - he was meant to serve the light of his leader, not some silly ass rings. and by then, as we said, galadriel would have became even more perfect of a leader, maybe closer to how sauron saw her - a queen for all, a perfect antidote to morgoth. (and having outgrown her pride, galadriel would be able to admit her love and be by sauron's side as well.)

sauron says that after morgoth was defeated, he could feel the light of the one (eru) again and he knew if he ever was to be forgiven, he needed to heal everything he had helped ruin. he comes to see that light in galadriel. by helping her, he gets to receive "forgiveness" from the one he helped ruin ("i'm sorry for your brother, for everything" -> "whatever you did, be free of it"). he tells her that he never believed he could be free of it (morgoth's darkness) until fighting by her side (following her lead, serving her, healing her) and he wishes to bind that feeling (of being bound to galadriel's light) to his very being. and his subconscious screams at him that nothing he does will ever give him what he wants unless it's galadriel by his side, unless it's her light he worships ("your beauty still overshadows everything i could possibly write" ->"worship the light of its queen").

his repentance is tightly intertwined with his bond with galadriel and him coveting her light. he believes that he can be free of his bond to morgoth's darkness if he binds himself to galadriel's light instead. it's just that he can only truly repent if being bound to her light happens on *her* terms. in that case, they can be the force of the good together, pulling each other back from the darkness.

(it is interesting how in sauron's vision, his crown disappears once it's aligned with the sun, as if galadriel's light destroys it. girlboss taming her malewife but make it epic.)

whatever it is, i need one of u haladriels to adapt this theory on screen one day in the future.

[momentofmemory]

If you were going to add an episode to Teen Wolf, what would it be about?

Oh i so got u bestie; i have so many thoughts about a bonus episode in between Codominance and Sword and the Spirit (5x13 to 5x14)!! The overarching theme of the episode would be trust—how it's been broken, how it's been healed, who you choose to put your faith into (and why), etc.

A-Plot

Scott seeks out, finds, and confronts Deucalion, in response to discovering Theo is looking for him at the end of Codominance. I think you could still keep the tension of whether or not Deucalion is double crossing Scott or triple crossing Theo, and then that final showdown will feel less out of nowhere

The main people involved here would be Scott, Kira, and Stiles, as Kira processes what all happened with the skinwalkers, particularly re: her test, and gets some closure between her & Scott re: her fox

In order for it to make sense that she goes back to the skinwalkers after Codominance highlighted how much she doesn't want to be with them, this episode would have to do some groundwork of her realizing she wasn't in control when she killed the oni and "beat" the test. We see her break her sword in the next episode, so i think maybe she should try to use it again in this one—and fail. This provides some really interesting stakes for Eichen & Scott's faith in her

Also i think scira deserve a talk about scott lying to her, and feel like this could be related to the crater in his chest he also won't talk about. I think his trust in Eichen could really elevated if Scira had a scene where Scott tells her the truth about just how big her fox is, and he trusts her not only with that information, but that she can still do it

Also also Scott and Stiles actually talk about Scott dying for heaven's sake!!! We needed it so bad and I think this would be a good time for it, especially as Kira finds out about it for the first time. Then we get a sciles hug bc i said so

How their varied fears of the nogitsune vs kira's kitsune plays in very heavily here, too

Ahem so anyway this resolves with a tense scene between Scott & Deucalion where you're really not sure if you can trust him at all, and afterwards Scott is worried he's making a bad call—and Stiles says it's okay, because he doesn't trust Deucalion, he trusts Scott, and Kira follows him up by saying that either way, this time, the pack will be there to back him up.

B-Plot

I hate Eichen so bad but I think it would've helped if Lydia had had scenes with Valack when she's more cogent/given more agency—maybe something that clarifies what he was doing with Peter at the end of s4 and how that led to her?

I feel like this would have to be in a mindscape, same as she has with Meredith, so Lydia is able to respond coherently/isn't just a prop to talk at

This could also clarify some of Valack's goals/motivations more concretely and foreshadow Lydia's victory over him in Lie Ability

C-Plot

Instead of Theo telling Malia he'll help her at the end of Codominance, their arc would be drawn out over the episode. This would heighten the tension of her having to depend on him, while allowing her to wrestle more explicitly with whether or not she's looking so she can kill the Desert Wolf, or to save Deaton

At the same time Scott is reckoning with his death, Theo is reckoning with Scott's resurrection—prompted, perhaps, by Corey having realized Scott was scared of Theo in the tunnels, the same way Corey was scared of Scott

Misc

I'd love a scene with Liam & his Dad—a werewolf reveal, preferably, +Liam processing his choices re: Scott & Hayden with someone that loves him, but is removed enough from the situation to comment on Liam's responsibility

I could get a Deaton & Corinne scene, as a Treat<3

[arthenaa]

To be or not to be (CHAPTER 2)

Auror! Sebastian Sallow x Fem! MACUSA Auror! Reader Series

Story Summary: To prevent a war between humans and wizards, you and Sebastian are tasked with your respective agencies to save the fate of the wizarding world from the hands of a dark wizard in the Philippines.

Chapter Summary: After almost getting yourself arrested and controlling the urge to strangle Sebastian Sallow, you try to remain civil by being the bigger person. More things happen and you meet more people as you set sail to the Philippines.

Chapter warnings: cursing, nothing much really again, plot groundwork, mentions of discrimination and colonization, seb likes to tease u, ominis being adorable and cat like, gladys being gladys i love her sm,

Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1

Notes: WOOHOO CHAPTER 2 BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6k words again enjoy this chapter. hiraya is my daughter i love her. if you want to be part of the tag list to get immediate updates on the next chapters just reply here or on my future posts on to be or not to be !!! see u on chapter 3 miluvs

It was a matter of a few hours before the head Auror would contact you once again to travel. You had already packed your things and made sure to check your necessities (checking your pocket for your wand constantly as a result of the altercation this morning). Now all you needed to do was wait.

Currently hauled in one of the suites provided by the ministry, you sat idling on your bed, eyes trained on the large windows showcasing London. Your hands found comfort in the soft duvet as you continue to admire the scenery in front of you. Gladys sits on one of the chairs against the wall positioned close to the window. Comfortable silence engulfs you both, with Gladys’s coin flicking and the London bustle as your background noise.

You allow yourself to be distracted as your eyes glance towards Gladys’s coin tricks; Watching as it twirls on her knuckles before flicking it up into the air and catching it effortlessly. You somehow get entranced by it that you weren’t able to notice that she stopped. Gladys clears her throat to get your attention.

“Yeah?” You look up at her, clearly still distracted by her previous actions. The woman blink slow like she was trying to access the deepest parts of your mind. You somehow get nervous under her watchful stare. “Are you trying to mind-control me or something?”

“Why do you always assume that I’m going to do something to you?” She raises an eyebrow in mild amusement as she crosses her leg over her knee. She begins to continue rolling her coin against her knuckles as she raises her elbow on the arm rest. You shrug at her question.

“… You’re quite intimidating.”

She lets out an amused scoff before flipping the coin in the air then catching with her other hand and flopping it against the back of her other hand. She lifts her hand off, assessing the coin before looking up at you. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion.

“Heads.” She comments offhandedly before resuming with her coin tricks. You raised your eyebrows to gesture for more explanation. “Heads, I leave you alone. Tails, I give in to the urge to smack you in the head.”

You gasp in horror. “You decide inflicting violence on me through a coin?!”

“I’m not intimidating.” She purses her lips as she becomes more and more entertained with your behavior. “Also it makes things… interesting. ‘Decided through a little game’. Doesn’t that make life more fun?”

“You’re evil, y’know that?” You sneer jokingly as you stand up from your seat on the bed. You head over to one of the coffee tables where a fresh pot of tea is placed. With a wave of wand, the tea pot levitates and pours you a cup of tea. You look back at Gladys who resumes her coin tricks as you wait for your drink. “What’s the coin for anyway?”

Gladys glances at you for a second before looking at the coin on her fingers. “Keeps the voices at bay. When I focus my mind on one thing, it’s the closest I have to silence.”

You nod in understanding. You were somewhat aware of how legilimency worked but you weren’t aware about how hard it was. Hearing different voices all at once can become quite an emotional stressor. You weren’t sure you would be able to handle it. You pour another cup of tea for your companion to help ease her down. Gladys turns to you in surprise, hand pausing with her coin as you pull the other chair to sit adjacent to her. You give her a cup of tea to which she receives gratefully. Taking a sip of your beverage, you decide to start another conversation regarding the case.

“Any deductions from the files you’ve received?” You start off as you take a sip from your cup of tea. Ooh, is that lavender? No wait—Chamomile?

“First one—lavender,” Gladys nonchalantly says, referring to your guess of flavor. You pause for a moment, not yet used to her abilities to access the mind before nodding. She takes a sip first before resuming on continuing her response. “Regina Salazar is of pure blood ancestry. From what I’ve learned of wizardry lineage in the Philippines, originally sectioned in tribes, these pure-bloods would use marriage to have tribal connections and to form united fronts. Naturally, after the colonization of Spain, they had to adapt and took different surnames influenced by Spanish culture to avoid being detected by No-Majs.”

You nod in understanding, watching as Gladys pulls out the folder with a flick of her wand and settling it on the coffee table in front of you. The page flicks to the suspect’s main information and intel. You lick your lips as you assess the information in front of you. Gladys continues her collection of background information. “Overall, because of the whole colonization thing, Philippines has to be one of the—if not the strictest regarding No-Maj wizards or half-bloods. Half-bloods take long processes and series of interviews and checkups before they’re approved by the office. Like a fucking criminal taking parole.”

“Must be a discrimination fest in there.” You scrunch your nose at the insinuation. No-Maj discrimination was already quite severe in the wizarding world. You couldn’t even imagine the severity of it in a place that publicly declares its hate for their kind. Gladys shakes her head in agreement. Your eyebrows then furrow as a question comes into mind. “But Regina has a friendly relationship with No-Majs? That contradicts the whole motive, no?”

“Certainly,” Gladys huffs in frustration as she raises her hand to pick at the dry skin on her lips. She then turns a page to a partially filled page with only the information of the area discovered north of the Philippines. Gladys motions to the page with a light knock of her knuckles against the surface. “It has something to do with this, definitely.”

You tilt your head in confusion as you analyze the vague information. “How are you certain it’s connected?”

Gladys takes a sip of her tea, licking her lips for any lingering residue. “I don’t. It’s just something we’d have to find out.”

_

“What’s up, old man? On your coffee break?” You smile at your former mentor who quietly sips his coffee in the wee hours of the morning. You had spotted the man lingering in one of the ministry’s large empty rooms (presumably used for large events). You assumed this would be the place of traveling with the equipment and size of it all. It could definitely fit a portkey large enough to travel multiple people. You couldn’t help but approach the man and ruin his solitude. Your mentor breaks into a grin at your arrival and he immediately welcomes your presence with a raised arm, inviting you to a hug.

You run like it’s innate for you to immediately dive into his arms, hugging his waist with glee as he squeezes you to his side. The silence is comfortable as you allow yourself a moment of peace. Elliot releases you with two pats on the back before pulling away. He tilts his head, certainly not expecting you to be this early. “Still resorting to that damned nickname, kid?”

“You literally still call me kid.”

“Touché,” He chuckles as he takes a sip of his beverage. “What’re you doing up? Finally exhausted Joanne’s mind-reader?”

“Mhm, literally face-planted on the bed. Had to deal with me yapping both physically and mentally. I think I killed her. Also don’t call her that, she just might haunt you back from the dead.” You scrunch your nose as you joked. Elliot laughs at your jesting.

There’s a lapse of silence before Elliot starts a conversation once more.

“How’s the Sallow boy so far?” He asks with a glance towards you, assessing your body language at the prompt of his question. Your former mentor had the knack of observing first before proceeding on which course to take. A habit that he, unfortunately, brings everywhere even outside of work. The mans was a detective even in his own personal relationship that it was considered annoying. You had learned to deal with it though. Elliot often joked that by the time he was 70, you would be the only person who could tolerate him.

Elliot immediately knew from the way your shoulders fell and the down direction of your facial features that you didn’t have a good impression of Britain’s representative. You huff a sigh as you tuck your hands inside your pockets. “… He’s okay, I guess.”

“Liar.”

“You and your damned eyes. Have you ever considered not noticing every detail?” You deadpanned. Elliot smiles in amusement at your behavior.

“He was following protocol though. Nothing to blame on a man following rules.”

“Oh, I will be the reason you die someday.”

“Oh! The fear! How could I live now!” Elliot dramatically yells to which you smack his arm at. The man giggles like a fucking school girl and you had to remind yourself that this was a grown ass man and not an 11-year-old kid. You wonder if the nicknames should be switched.

“I tried to make amends okay! Technically, he was the one who didn’t scale his puny little ego down so why should I make the effort?” You complain as you lean against the wall he’s leaning at. Elliot leans against your side to which you return the small affection with the rest of your head against his arm.

“Did you say it nicely?” He responds.

“Nicely? What do you mean nicely?”

“You tend to…” He trails off as he makes absurd gestures with his free hand. “Sound not so nice when you make amends.”

You give him an incredulous stare to which he tries to avoid with a sip of his coffee.

“I don’t do that?”

“Yes you do, Y/N.” He smiles innocently. “Remember that time when I had to not only mentally but physically convince you to apologize to that witness just because he was rude to me? You were basically ripping that man apart in your head and I don’t need to be a legilimens to know that.”

Elliot raises his eyebrows to further emphasize his point. You stare him down, trying to challenge the older man before giving up as you turn your gaze to the other side of the wall with a cross of your arms. He stares at you for a few moments before chuckling. That case was ages ago but it had been quite an annoying one. The witness had been difficult to deal with and considered Elliot to be a wizard of low standing because of his lineage. He had refused to cooperate at first but was eventually convinced with the help of another Auror present at the scene. You had almost tried to strangle the man if it weren’t for the old man’s jokes of reassurance. They were jests to lighten up the mood but you knew better. Be the bigger person, kid.

You had to suck it up and apologize with gritted teeth. A regret you continue to have until this day. A shame you weren’t able to curse that man without losing your job.

Elliot pats your back once more to lighten up the mood. “You’ll get along, kid. You’re a presence is a force to be reckoned with. We just hope it doesn’t clash with his.”

Elliot smiles before finishing his coffee beside you. You sigh as a vague response. Just as the old man says, be the bigger person.

-

“Alright! This portkey holds quite a distance as its built for intercontinental travel. The travel time will take a few minutes but it should be fairly short enough to not cause any sort of pain or dissonance with the mind and body.” Ryona Bassett discusses as rotating door is presented in front of you. You take a glance around the room to assess the people expected on the trip. Gladys Hale stands to your left, suitcase in hand as she rolls her coin on her knuckles. Ominis Gaunt, a relations officer you had been introduced shortly a few minutes ago, standing on your far right. Then Sebastian Sallow, the man who had saved you from your imminent death from the hooves of a horse, to trying to obliviate you then and there, then arresting you, to finally be revealed to be your partner in the span of a few hours, stands to your right. The four of you would be heading first while your mentors will wait for the assessment of the situation before following you out into the field.

You let out the sigh as this is considered to be the nth time you had travelled using a portkey. You hope the weirdness of the experience only lessens the more you get used to it.

“You will be greeted by your division captain who will guide you inside the governing office of the wizarding community. Things after that will be debriefed to you by the head of the office. Are we clear?” Ryona finishes as her eyes assess the four of you. You all answer with curt and firm responses. Howard and Ryona turn to each other with a look, some sort of telepathic message only communicated through their eyes. You could almost feel an unspeakable tension before the minister steps forward to address one more thing.

“The fate of the wizarding word rests in your hands. I hope you’ll be able to deliver well, Aurors.” He nods with a smile before motioning the door with his hand. You watch as a bright light emits from the other side. You exchange looks with Gladys before you feel the brush of a finger against your arm. You turn your head towards the culprit with an apprehensive glare. Sebastian peers down at you with a seemingly innocent smile.

“I’ve thought about your offer,” He says your last name with such gentleness it makes you feel uncomfortable for a moment. You lock eyes with him as his eyes never seem to leave from yours. It made your palms sweat from how piercing his stare is. “I’ve decided to give it a chance…”

“Really?” Your facial features relax in relief that it almost makes Sebastian coo at your adorable decision to let your guard down for a moment. He lets a sliver of mischievousness bleed into his smirk.

“Mhm,” He hums as he assesses your face. It almost looks like he’s looking at your lips with the way he’s staring you down. He scrunches his nose before continuing his response. “If you admit that I’m right.”

Your face falls as soon as you hear the words and the brunette erupts into a heap of chuckles before he walks away from your side then walking over to Ominis with a pat on his back. The poor blonde only furrows his eyebrows at him, chastising him for his poor cooperation. Sebastian only shrugs before he casts one last look at you then entering the rotating doors with a push against it. Ominis follows after.

You let out a sigh, deciding to not let yourself get annoyed by his little act but the woman beside you think it’s quite amusing. You hear her low chuckle as she flips her coin into the air and catching it effortlessly as she steps forward to make her way to the rotating doors. She casts one last glance at you as she pulls her hat down with a smirk. “Really? You’re just going to let him have that?”

Your jaw clenches in amusement as your hatred and urge to kick Sebastian Sallow off his high horse doubles over the last few minutes. You would try and plan your revenge now but a cough from Elliot and a nudge of his head immediately reminded you of your current situation. You nod with haste as you grab your case before making your way to the doors. You send one last smile at the old man as he sends you off with a short wave. You push the glass doors, letting the light engulf you.

Then suddenly, everything was black.

-

The world is a blur.

Your senses are in a disarray and you couldn’t sense where you were exactly with the fogginess your brain was currently in. You try to will yourself to blink or move any part of your body, trying to get a feel your current situation.

It was certainly a bit warmer than London, windier as well. Ryona said there won’t be any dissonance. Goddamn liar.

You could feel a presence on your side, a weight keeping you up. Then a voice.

“Y/N?”

It was faint but it was there.

Mom?

“Y/N, wake up. Fuck.”

No wait, it’s Gladys.

“Don’t tell me she can’t take portkey travels?”

Is that the annoying fuck?

“Do you ever plan on keeping your mouth shut, Sebastian?”

The other guy. Blonde? What was his name… Ominous? Something like that.

“Move.”

Now this was unfamiliar. You feel yourself sit upright with a few set of hands. Your eyes seem to not be cooperating as it remained shut. You suddenly smell something strong and pungent. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it but it creates a sudden shock in your system causing you to jolt awake. Your body is forced to move and a cramp forms on your leg as you groan in pain. Gladys, seated beside you, sighs in relief. You take a second to process your environment.

It seems that you’re in some sort scenic view, with the ocean in front of you. Rocks crackle beneath your weight as sand trickles down on the elevated surface from where you’re seating. It almost seems like a calm and refreshing view to see during a vacation but then you’re aware of the 4 piercing stares directed at you.

You recognized the three; Sebastian stands a few meters in front of you with arms crossed, Ominis kneeling on your right and Gladys on your left. That leaves this other guy who’s kneeling in front of you. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion at the sudden addition to the group.

“Good, the herbs worked.” He smiles like a teacher praising a student’s work. “Must’ve hit quite hard, no? Filipino healing potions tend to have strong effects.”

He pockets the vial of questionable liquid and herbs before he raises his wand and casts a dimmed ‘lumos.’ “Follow the light with your eyes, senora. I need to check your responsiveness.”

You follow without questions as he moves his wand left to right. He then asks you to grip his hand with both your hands then try to push his palm towards him. You were able to do them, albeit weakly. It seems to satisfy the man enough though. The man nods in understanding before the wand quickly apparates away. “Your responsiveness seems okay enough. Long distance travels like these leave wizards in a weakened state. I suppose you don’t get that much portkey travel? Your body seemed to shut down on its own. Alright, let’s get you standing.”

Gladys and the man help you in putting your weight on your feet. Still confused by the whole ordeal and the silence from your colleagues, you blink in confusion as you allow yourself to rest some of your weight in Gladys’s hands. “I-I’m sorry… But who are you?”

“Elias Alcantara. Your Division Captain.” He answers with a smile, charming enough to swoon you but not enough to distract you. Christ. This was the officer that the minister and head Auror was talking about. You nod in understanding, slowly pulling yourself from Gladys’s grasp and allowing yourself to stand on your own two feet. “It’s understandable. Most maharlikas get the same symptoms as you on their first travel. We often use portkeys to visit magical tribes due to distance of their locations from the PhilMaj.”

“Maharlikas? Like Aurors?” Sebastian chimes in, body leaning towards the conversation. Elias places his hands on his hips as he turns to look at the young man.

“Precisely. Although, our Aurors do vary in terms of magic.” Elias turns to assess his surroundings. He seems to be looking for something.

“Are you waiting for someone, Captain?” Gladys says with a raised eyebrow. Elias turns to her for a moment before going back to looking. It’s not long before a call of his name catches your attention. A woman rushes towards you with great speed, apparent excitement evident on her face. You notice their similarities in terms of clothing. A uniform.

The thin sheer fabric with exquisite designing on the center of their upper clothing gives a symbolic nature to it. You were sure it held some sort of meaning with the way the pattern and the swirls was formed. The woman wore a black ankle length skirt while Elias wore black slacks. The only difference in showcasing their rank was the color of the upper apparel and the pin on the collar.

You began to sense this magical community’s levels of strictness bleeding through the uniforms of these officers in front of you. Having enough with analyzing the new addition to the group, you focus just in time for Elias to introduce the woman. “This is Hiraya Rivera; she’s assigned as Philippines’ representative on this case.”

“Yes … That’s me … Or just Raya for short. I already… uhm, know you all, so...” She says with much enthusiasm to the point that it makes her awkwardly adorable. Your group only returns the introductions with stiff smiles. It doesn’t seem to bother her however as she clasps her hands together. “Oh! They must be tired. We should go now.”

Elias nods in agreement before following with his response. “Of course. A final debrief will be done shortly on our arrival to the base. This will allow us to proceed with field assessment and investigation.”

The two share looks of approval before moving along and motioning for the others to follow them. The four of you stare at their backs as they move closer to the bay. Normally, wizardry governing offices were meant to be hidden in plain sight and only wizards should be able to see them but so far, all the four of you have seen is a blank scenery of what is supposedly the Philippines’ wizarding governing office.

“Um, to where exactly?” Ominis inquires for the benefit of the group. Hiraya turns around, assessing your confused expressions before smiling as she nudges her head towards the captain who walks towards the shallow parts of the water.

The four of you follow begrudgingly, letting the cold waters seep into your shoes. Ominis clings to Sebastian’s arm, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden change of temperature as he grips his wand tightly within his other hand. Gladys seems to not mind the cold at all as she lets out a sigh and picks up her pace to match with Captain Alcantara. The wind blows against your hair, ruffling your robes as you try to pull them closer against you. The waves pull you closer to Sebastian’s side.

“Not expecting this kind of entrance!” Sebastian tries to shout over the loud splashing of waves against the shallow waters. The waters have already reached to your thighs.

You allow yourself to be slightly pushed by an incoming wave. “Certainly has to be one of the most unique ones I’ve seen.”

Sebastian glances at you with a smirk. “Thought about what I said, Y/L/N?”

You let out an annoyed huff as you faced him with a deadpan stare, giving him no answer as you move towards the front, leaving the two boys to their own. You could faintly hear Sebastian’s light chuckle over the harsh winds. You’d rather be dead than give him the satisfaction of hearing what he wanted to hear.

Okay, maybe…. It was on his jurisdiction to arrest you.

But was it really your fault? He could’ve handled it in a more civil way after he had found out you were a witch. You could’ve been nice and understanding as you were an Auror yourself. But the day had not been the best one and dealing with a man who has now made it his mission to piss you off by not taking you seriously because of your little altercation, has definitely started to put you in a not so civil mood. But of course.

You have to be the bigger person.

Curse you Elliot Fontaine for being a shitty fucking role model. Too imperfectly perfect to be one. The right amount as others would say.

The trio in front of you suddenly stops in their tracks as the water had now reached your hips. It was silent at first. The type of silence that made you unnerved. It was like you were expecting something to jump out of nowhere.

You should’ve held your tongue on that one.

You feel the ripples of water cease into a calm and the sudden eeriness of it all tripled by a dozen. Elias and Hiraya draw up their wands but as the three of you (with the exception of Ominis who is still clinging quite tightly on Sebastian’s arm) follow their movements, Hiraya only stares back with a shake of her head. Gladys turns to you with an apprehensive stare as the three of you slowly lower your wands.

Then the ripples start again. This time more chaotic and aggressive.

A sign of aggression and power. You could almost cower in fear as high pitched noises fill the air. Ominis and Sebastian clutches their ears in response at the howling noise. You see shadows in the water, circling your little group then it jumps. It was hard trying to make a figure out of it as it somehow manages to control the waters as they jump into the air.

Sebastian could make out three creatures circling them. He wasn’t sure if this was part of an initiation but the calm demeanors of the local Aurors at the front seemed to be his last thread of sanity in this very disturbing and panic-inducing moment. The circling stops as the creatures finally end their laps by surrounding them on each side.

They rise from the waters and you could only stare in awe as green scales with fish like heads emerge from the waters.

“What’s happening?” Ominis whispers in Sebastian’s ear. The brunette is entranced in fear by the presence of these domineering creatures.

“You don’t wanna know.” He replies, quietly. The silence is tense and uncomfortable as these creatures with large fins and predatory stares guard your group in a circle.

It’s Captain Alcantara who breaks the silence. “We’re expected. Bisita sila ng Datu.”

(“They are visitors of the Datu”)

The creatures make gurgling and chirping sounds before the so called leader, standing in front of Captain Alcantara, nods its head.

“Very well, Maharlika. Ibigay ang daan.” The leader says in a low and deep voice. It almost sounds too inhuman. Nevertheless, the group of creatures then swim once again underwater. Their figures form in a blur as they began to swim fast into circles in front of your group. A small whirlpool begins to form before the creatures swam back and then towards the whirlpool, using some sort of pressure that bursts the moving waters up. You had expected it to explode into your face, but the waters remain still above you forming an archway to a tunnel pathway. The waters beneath you slowly descend as they put you down slowly onto the sandy path. You see the creatures on standby in the walls of water. They send you a bow of respect before moving along.

(“Lead the way”)

“C’mon, the tunnel closes fast. The longer it stays up, the longer the risk for exposure.” Elias motions the four of you still stuck in a trance. Hiraya smiles as she pulls on your arm, encouraging you to walk with her. Just as Ominis and Sebastian enter the depths, the entrance immediately merges into what it once was. Sebastian lets out a huff of amusement before leaning close to whisper what just happened in Ominis’s ear.

You would think of the gesture endearing if it weren’t for the constant reminder of your dislike for him in your head.

“Apologies for the short freight, that was their main purpose to scare intruders. The Siyokoy tribe can be quite aggressive. Anyways, this way,” Captain Alcantara leads as whisps of blue flames light up as they trudge through a sandy path. You follow the officer, admiring the blues of the tunnel in awe. You watch as school of fishes pass by and numerous sea creatures appear above you. This was marvelous.

Silence lapses once more as the only sounds of the trek below was the sea life surrounding you and the crunch of your shoes against the sandy pathway.

It’s Hiraya who breaks your short solitude. “You’re Y/N Y/L/N right? Elliot Fontaine’s protégé?”

You turn to her with a smile. Her overall demeanor and personality seems too bright for your taste. It definitely is too blinding whenever she smiles. “Yeah—Well, was his protégé. Got promoted.”

You sheepishly reply to which she gasps in surprise. Eyes widening and mouthing forming a wide smile. God, she’s expressive too. “Congratulations! That’s incredible. I’m happy for you, senora.”

It’s awkward once again. The urge to say something back gets lost in your thoughts of thinking of another topic to start. This sends you in a spiral of trying to make your social relations skills work. It seems that Gladys has noticed your inner turmoil as she sends a look of amusement back at you from her position with Captain Alcantara. Your eyes widen at her as a glare to which she only chuckles at.

Thank Isolt Sayre that the gal broke the silence once more.

“I’ve seen your cases a few times on the transmission.” Hiraya timidly comments as she fiddles with her fingers, arm still intertwined with yours. You’ve never met an awkwardly introvert extrovert before. Was that even a thing?

She locks eyes with you in what you could say was pure admiration. “I admire you as an Auror is what I wanted to say… Both you and uh… Senor Fontaine.”

“… Thank you.” You nod shyly. “I’ll make sure to let him know.”

Hiraya bites her lip to control her excitement. You can deduce that this young girl had only been accepted recently. Talk about huge potential. Immediately placed as an Auror representative for a case that could indefinitely mean a war against humans and wizards? What kind of skills and capabilities is this girl hiding?

You decide to find it out yourself.

“Have you only graduated recently? Seems like a pretty big case to start off.” You say with genuine curiosity. Hiraya blows a raspberry as she guides you away from a protruding rock sprouting from the ground.

“Well, it’s been 4 years actually? So I guess that’s still fairly new. So um, off topic but um… Marahuyo en Mahika is a school led by Aurors, well babaylans to be specific.” She lists off. Your eyebrows must’ve furrowed in confusion as she leans in to continue. “Babaylans are shamans, most of them are women. They also wield magic quite differently. Instead of wands, they use weapons. Fascinating, right?”

Your eyebrows widen in amusement. “Weapons?”

“Yep. Well, originally Maharlikas or y’know our Aurors were like that too but they eventually had to adapt to the use of wands. Babaylans are old old. They keep the ancestral culture alive which makes them very important figures in the community.” Hiraya nonchalantly continues. “When you get praised and recommended to the Datu by a Babaylan—Datu is, what do you guys call your… The um… head?”

“Overall?” You suggest. From your peripheral, you see Ominis and Sebastian lean closer to listen in on the conversation. Hiraya nods then you continue. “It’s either President or Minister. Depends on the community.”

“Right. So basically, when the overall head gets a recommendation from a Babaylan. It means big,” Hiraya glances at you to assess your reaction. “They have inner connection to Bathala. They recognize your innate capabilities for magic and your potential for something greater…. Not to brag but yeah, it was mostly why I reached the higher ranks faster. Why I’m being mentored by PhilMaj’s greatest captain.”

Elias hears this. “That better be genuine.”

Hiraya giggles. “Why would I lie?”

You huff in amusement at the girl beside you. Techinically, you didn’t know exactly which field she was recommended for but to have a reliable witch beside you definitely eased your worries. Before you could further admire the literal sunshine hanging off your arm, you were suddenly aware of the large waterfall like entrance in front of you. Too distracted by Hiraya’s chatter, you had failed to realize that you were already at the entrance of the community.

Hiraya turns to you with a giddy smile as Elias pulls out his wand and waves it in a pattern before the waterfalls part gracefully and a whole new scenery is laid in front of you. You enter the place, watching as children flutter around, squealing as they chased one another. You eyed the Spanish influenced architecture and the stone pavements to the dome structure that protects the whole town. It seems to portray a version of day and night. Wizards and witches roam the streets as vendors selling levitating egg waffle balls (the closest thing you could describe it as) and many kinds of delicacies.

“The air is pristine and clean.” Ominis observes to which Gladys hums in agreement. He allows himself to be led by his wand. The waterfall doors immediately led to a small version of a town square. You would immediately be bombarded by the town’s festive nature by the time you enter place. Street lights decorate the place and you watch in amusement as a horse-man? Man-horse? Basically, A horse for an upper body and a man for a lower dressed in formal clothing walks on the other side of the street.

“Senor Cardel!” Hiraya calls at the same horse-man who looks up at the call of his name.

“Senora! Sigues siendo hermosa como siempre!” Senor Cardel greets with motion of the tip of his cigar before chuckling as Hiraya giggles at his compliments.

(Milady! You look beautiful as always!)

Hiraya turns around to see 4 sets of eyes looking at her in confusion.

“Was that a … horse?” Gladys asks, hesitant. Captain Alcantara laughs.

“That was Senor Cardel. A local here in Manila. He’s from the tikbalang tribe.” Elias comments. Gladys sounds a hum of disbelief before continuing to follow the young officer.

As you reach the main town hall, a large path then leads to a large building with grandiose architecture. Gladys glances at you with a knowing look as the four of you alongside Hiraya stand alongside each other.

“This is it right? The governing office?” Sebastian mumbles as the 6 of you watch three people exit the building. There were 2 women and a goblin approaching your little group. One wore a Spanish influenced type of traditional clothing while the other was covered in sleek black with golden jewelry adorning her neck, wrists, and even a form of headband around her forehead. A cloth in exquisite pattern surround her from the shoulder to her hip. A blade is rested on one side of her hip, hands resting on the handle. The goblin, in similar fashion to that of the first lady, approaches behind the two.

“You’re here just as our resident babaylan, Ysmeria predicted.” The woman dressed in beige traditional clothing walks forward. Ysmeria, the woman in black only stares as she analyzes the group before her. Eventually, her eyes landed on you. You couldn’t handle the heaviness of her stare and so you look away.

“Capitan Alacantara, salamat. You have served well and will continue to do so.” The woman praises the young man who nods in respect before taking a step back. The woman then takes a few steps closer to where you four are, kind gaze trained on each one of you.

“We have awaited your arrival. I am Corazon Del Rosario, the ruling Datu. Welcome to the Philippine Bureau of Magic and Wizardry.”

_

A/N: and that is chapter 2 WHWHHWHEHEHEH WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES MWA MWA <3 as u can see from this chapter, magical creatures are v much intertwined with society nyehe. More lore explained hihi AND THE INTRODUCTION OF FOUR MORE CHARACTERS!!! Will update the face claims nyehehe lmk your feedback as always!! It always makes my heart warm when I read your responses J

Datu – rulers, chiefs and monarchs in precolonial ph

Babaylan- shamans, often female, who use connect to the spirits and nature to heal and protect. Can also be warriors or leaders.

Siyokoy – underwater creatures depicted to have fish like features

Tikbalang – creatures who guard the mountains. Depicted to have a horse for a head and a human body.

[jazlynriddle]

Welcome to your life - Pt 2:

Acting On Your Best Behaviour Ch 9:

Summary:

They'd seen it in their fellow orphans often enough to recognise the pattern and were now forced to admit, despite their hopes to the contrary, that Isidora had likely suffered similar side effects.

No… they'd always known she had. The Keeper had just wanted the power that Ranrok had, enough to convince themselves that they would be able to handle it better than that naive woman.

With the start of the Keeper’s sixth-year in Hogwarts, comes a whole slew of headache-inducing challenges from the most unexpected of places. Between insignificant pests throwing wrenches into their plans and tedious teenage drama, that the Keeper is entirely unprepared for, they wonder if they'll make it to their NEWTs without losing their sanity.

Or worse, Ominis or Sebastian.

Warnings: Sebastian x MC x Ominis! Drug Addiction! Spoilers! Slow-burn corruption! Dark content! Fucked up 1800s orphanages! MC has no love for Anne or Solomon! Dubious happy ending (it's happy for MC, Seb and Ominis at least).

You can also read on AO3! (chapter specific warnings below)

Notes:

Warning: More fluff and more character study! I feel like so many chapters have been sweet that you guys might be wondering when this fic is actually going to be as dark as I warned.

Just, trust me. It's going to be really really dark but I just need to lay groundwork before we get there! There's slow burn romance fics, and then there's this fic, which is slow burn descent into hell instead.

I just go where the story naturally leads, and I think the fucked-up-ness has a greater impact when you can see how things got fucked up, like in Sebastian and Ominis' canon story honestly.

This sixth-year is a lot of preparation for the story to start taking an escalator down into the depths of madness where I can unleash my full horror visual novel descriptive potential xD

Sebastian sighed as he placed his hand on the Keeper’s forehead, their head resting against his leg while they slept on their side on the couch beside him. He was relieved that after a little over four hours their fever had finally broken. He and Ominis had spent the entire time taking turns to maintain and stabilise their lover's temperature.

While it hadn't been the most fun way to spend an entire Saturday afternoon, it had actually felt good to be able to care for the Keeper in a more tangible way. Hearing the Keeper attribute their victory over their addiction to Ominis and himself had been… well, he wasn't sure how to describe it.

Honestly, it had surprised even himself how affected he'd been by their murmured words.

Sebastian would never admit it aloud, but his many failures wore on him. He'd failed to save his sister with the relic, he'd failed to convince his uncle that he could save her, hell he hadn't even managed to convince Ominis of that. The last two months had felt like yet more failure, failing to outsmart the bullies, failing to find a way to help his partner with their addiction, failing to find a way into the Undercroft.

It had stung when the Keeper came to them with a plan, cooked up by Onai and her group of 'better friends'. The fact that, in the end, it was neither him nor Ominis who managed to contribute substantially to an actual solution, had hurt his pride.

A part of him understood that it was technically the Keeper themselves who'd figured out a solution to their own problem. That they'd simply used Onai and her friends. Still, it felt wrong, that wasn't what was supposed to happen. After the Keeper finally opened up, and actually asked him and Ominis for help, it was supposed to be the two of them who saved the day.

So, while Sebastian wasn't sure what he and Ominis had done to earn those words, he knew that hearing the Keeper say them, had really gotten to him. It made him feel a lot of feelings, and this time, he wanted to understand them, rather than simply feel them.

He'd learnt that much at least.

"Here." Sebastian glanced up at the sound of Ominis' voice, and was greeted by his gentle smile along with a steaming cup of tea. "You're only ever this quiet when you're tired. Would you like me to take over for a bit?"

Sebastian chuckled, accepting the tea but shaking his head. "Nah, it's fine, I was just thinking."

"You were? Now there's a surprise." Ominis teased, lowering himself to sit on the floor in front of the couch.

"Har har, very funny, Ominis." Sebastian rolled his eyes and took a sip from his cup.

"How do they look?" Ominis asked, reaching up and loosely grasping the Keeper's hand with his own.

"Better, I think they're out of the woods." Sebastian sighed at the tea's relaxing warmth, before setting his cup down on the table. "Hopefully they'll wake up naturally before our housemates start returning after dinner."

"Think they'll remember what they said?" Ominis asked with a dreamy smile and Sebastian felt his chest warm again.

"Knowing them, probably." Sebastian grinned, glad to see Ominis wear that expression again, it felt like forever since he'd seen that calm and peaceful smile.

Deciding that it was fine since the common room was empty, Sebastian gave in to the urge to run his fingers across Ominis cheek and lean down to press their lips together gently.

Ominis made a soft sound in surprise but easily relaxed into the kiss, moving his lips gently against Sebastian’s, and Sebastian happily gave him control of the pace. It had been ages since they'd had a few minutes of peace and just enjoyed each other. The warmth and comfort of each other's presence.

"...why are you guys always starting without me?"

At the Keeper’s voice, Sebastian felt the corners of Ominis' mouth curl upwards against his lips and felt his own follow. With a last lingering touch against his lips, Ominis leaned back to speak.

"I thought you liked a good show." Ominis grinned teasingly as he stood, listening to the Keeper groggily push themselves up into a sitting position.

"I do, but I think I'd rather be a participa-" The Keeper's words were interrupted by a yawn and they shook their head for a moment, before frowning. "Did I say something weird before I passed out?"

Sebastian grinned and Ominis chuckled, which seemed to be all the confirmation the Keeper needed, and they covered their face with a muffled groan. "Ugh, yeah no, I remember, let's just-"

The Keeper made a cutting motion with their open palm while clearing their throat, and Sebastian snickered under his breath at the rare sight of the Keeper flustered.

Shooting Sebastian a glare, the Keeper asked. "What time is it?"

"Tempus." Sebastian flicked his wand. "A little past five."

"Hm." The Keeper frowned. "The bullies still haven't found us?"

"They're probably searching the other side of the castle or even yet searching for each other." Ominis suggested thoughtfully.

"In that case, we might as well take advantage of their incompetence. We can make a quick trip to Feldcroft for some privacy." The Keeper smirked, making to stand, and immediately losing their balance.

"Gah-" Sebastian quickly slipped his arms under the Keeper's to keep their knees from hitting the floor. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sebastian peered down at them. "That was close, you alright there?"

"Yes…" The Keeper grimaced, they were weaker than expected. Well, at least Sebastian still had the reflexes that saved them a detention back in the library.

"Merlin’s beard, I know you want to get going quickly but you literally just passed out from a fever a few hours ago. Can you please be more careful?" Ominis pinched the bridge of his nose with an exasperated sigh.

The Keeper grumbled under their breath, but understood that he was right, they shouldn't let their urge to taste the Pain energy once more overwhelm them. They sighed, letting Sebastian move their arm to his shoulders so he could support them.

As the Keeper stumbled by with Sebastian, Ominis took their other arm, supporting them from the other side so that they could move even faster. The gesture, despite his chiding, warmed their heart and together, the three of them quickly made their way over to the floo.

"I'll go first, then." Sebastian carefully removed the Keeper's arm and stepped forward.

The Keeper's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I can floo just fine."

"Sure you can!" Sebastian grinned as he disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

"Are you sure you-"

"Yes, Ominis, I'll be fine. I can floo just fine on my own!" The Keeper insisted, stepping out of Ominis grip and into the floo powder.

The moment they emerged from the ash on the other side however, the Keeper lost their footing on the uneven flooring and gravity began to drag them towards the rocky ground. They braced themselves but to their surprise, felt themselves slam into something comparatively soft instead.

"Oof-" Sebastian released a lungful of air from the impact as he caught the Keeper against his chest. "And that's why I went first."

The Keeper's grumbling was muffled in his shirt and Sebastian laughed breathlessly. "You know, when I wanted you to fall for me, this wasn't what I meant."

The Keeper felt their face warm at Sebastian's words as Ominis stepped out from the floo in a cloud of ash.

"Are they alright?" The sound of Ominis' feet hitting the ground came accompanied by his worried voice.

"Yeah, just a bit winded I imagine." Sebastian quipped as he cradled the Keeper in his arms proudly.

"Hey, I can at least talk for myself." The Keeper sighed with a resigned smile as Sebastian loosened his embrace to support them again.

"I'd save my breath if I were you, we still have a bit of a walk." Sebastian grinned as Ominis moved around him to take the Keeper's other arm again.

The Keeper huffed lightly, shaking their head. "I must be going soft."

Fortunately, the short walk wasn't too bad with Sebastian and Ominis' help, and the Keeper sighed in relief as Sebastian lowered them onto their bed while Ominis got a cup of water for them.

Admittedly, it was nice being cared for this way, if a little unsettling. How quickly they had gotten comfortable with receiving help and showing weakness around their partners. How quickly they'd lost their barriers and ego with these two. Yet, it didn't feel like a bad thing.

These were the contradictory thoughts and conflicting feelings in the Keeper's mind as they reached into their satchel and withdrew a jar of pain energy. Before, they wouldn't have even considered taking it in front of anyone. How things had changed…

"Hard to believe that human pain can be both addictive and a source of strength…" Sebastian frowned, gazing at the jar contemplatively as he sat on the bed beside them.

"Really?" The Keeper hummed. "I think it makes perfect sense. It's hard to let go of one's pain, even when it's poisoning you. Both you and I have used our pain and suffering as driving force and motivation. If you think of it that way, this is exactly how pain behaves."

"And if you let yourself drown in it, you become a monster that only wants to hurt others." Ominis added, taking a seat on the other side of the Keeper, offering them the glass of water.

The Keeper nodded in thanks and accepted the glass, draining its contents in a few swallows. Sighing in relief, they passed the empty glass to Sebastian for him to set down on the bedside table.

"Yes, pain is a strange thing. It is at once a barrier of protection and a dividing wall. It separates people, making it hard for those who have suffered to connect with others unlike them. Yet it also brings people together, together in shared suffering." The Keeper smiled, taking a deep breath, and placing the jar on their lap.

They'd once thought their suffering had been worth it to meet Sebastian and Ominis. They were glad they still felt the same way.

"I won't let pain control me." The Keeper took Sebastian's hand in one and Ominis' in the other. "I will be its master and become stronger for it. I will use it to protect both of you."

"Excuse me, but who are you calling a damsel in distress?" Sebastian grinned broadly. "I'll have you know that it'll be me protecting the two of you."

"Great, I guess I'll let both of you do all the work then, best of luck." Ominis waved his free hand in a flippant gesture.

"Hey!" Sebastian protested, unable to hide his smile while the Keeper laughed, their heart lighter than it had ever been in their life.

This must be what happiness feels like.

Ominis took a moment to enjoy the pleasant sound of the Keeper's laughter, waiting for them to calm before tightening his grip on the Keeper's hand. "In all seriousness, however, we'll be holding you to your word."

The Keeper nodded resolutely. "I won't let either of you down."

With that, the Keeper released their hands and picked up the jar again. Twisting off the cover and drawing their wand, feeling the desperation surge once more. Their hand shook again, causing their wand to clack against the side of the jar loudly as they tried to stabilise their grip.

To their surprise, the Keeper felt Sebastian's hand over their own, supporting them as they drew out the energy and raised it before themselves.

They closed their eyes and allowed the sweet burning energy to flow into their body. Almost instantly, the Keeper felt the ever-present stress of the last two months ease. Their body still felt awful, aching from the accumulated stress, but their soul basked in relief and the tightly wound muscles under their skin loosened steadily.

It felt like being able to take a full breath of air after living on a mountaintop for days.

The urge to draw out another jar immediately began gnawing at them, but they quashed it, pushing down the itch with a vengeance.

Releasing a breath, the Keeper opened their eyes, and flicked their wand. "Lumos."

The Keeper grinned in triumph at the steady glow of light. It flickered slightly from time to time but was already far more stable than it had been when they'd last attempted the spell. No doubt their magical control would gradually return to its usual state as their body readjusted.

"How do you feel?" Sebastian asked, uncertain if he was unsettled by the red glow in the Keeper's eyes or if he was aroused by it instead.

"Better." The Keeper smiled reassuringly, relieved to feel more like their usual self again.

Ominis smiled, hearing strength return to the Keeper's voice, and he held out a hand. "Good. Now, give me the extra jars I know you collected."

The Keeper blinked twice, before huffing lightly and pulling out two jars from the satchel with a resigned chuckle. "No getting around you, I see."

"Two is one and one is none. Don't think I've forgotten what you said." Ominis gave a small smirk as the Keeper placed the jars in his hands.

"You're too sharp for your own good." The Keeper shook their head with a helpless smile. "I guess you'll be hiding them here somewhere."

"Actually, I'll be placing them, right here."

To the Keeper's surprise, Ominis leaned past them, groping for their satchel, to place the jars back into the Keeper's bag.

"Wait. What?" Sebastian's eyes were wide with confusion.

Ominis shrugged. "If you end up in a sticky situation, you might need the extra jars and we may not always be able to get back to Feldcroft to collect them."

The Keeper stared at him as Ominis continued. "Besides, I trust you. None of this works if we don't trust you. So, I choose to trust you. With everything."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, and the Keeper felt their tear ducts burn, they laughed quietly. "You are… unbelievable. Thank you, Ominis."

Sebastian felt his heart swell with affection, as the Keeper covered their face with a hand, their voice trembling on the last words.

Ominis really is amazing, being able to choose to trust, rather than just feeling it. Sebastian smiled, feeling proud of his lovers. He knew he wasn't the brightest when it came to feelings, so he was grateful to have two partners who could do what he couldn’t.

He would catch up to them.

One day.

The Keeper glanced around as they stepped into the Three Broomsticks, easily spotting the bullies hovering on the upper floor like the last time they'd met Natty's group here.

They had been mildly amused when they'd gone through the diaries yesterday at Feldcroft and found that the bullies thought that the Keeper’s poor magical performance last week might have been a trap. Explaining why they hadn't tried to duel the Keeper directly despite having seen their weakness.

The two idiots had congratulated themselves on their wit and intelligence when they came to that conclusion. It had been enough to make the Keeper laugh for an entire ten minutes. Just when they thought the bullies couldn't get any more daft.

To the idiots' credit however, they'd shown up in Feldcroft just an hour after the Keeper and their partners did. Having correctly guessed their location, preventing the Keeper from getting a report from Tynx during the visit, but that was fine since they'd managed to finish going through the diaries at least.

Seeing that the rest of the Natty group had gotten here first, the Keeper made their way over to the table with a small smile.

"There you are, how'd it go then?" Garreth greeted with a wide and excited grin.

"Smoothly enough, here." The Keeper placed the two journals on the table as they took a seat. "I changed the appearance of the covers with a charm, so the bullies won't be able to recognise them."

"Brilliant! Good thinking there." Garreth grinned excitedly as he picked up a diary and immediately began thumbing through it.

"How are you feeling?" Poppy asked as she eyed the Keeper’s eyebags with concern.

"Perfectly fine, you needn't worry, Poppy." The Keeper gave her a reassuring smile, they were certainly feeling better than they had all week, thanks to everyone's help.

It was curious. Even though the Keeper felt the most gratitude towards Sebastian and Ominis, they could also feel a small amount for this group. Without the unknowing cooperation of their friends, they wouldn't have been able to achieve this outcome so easily and painlessly.

"Did you guys manage to transform back without being seen?" The Keeper asked with a small frown. Honestly, they'd rather the bullies not realise that this group were helping them against the two of them.

After all, as the famous philosopher Machiavelli once said. 'No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.'

"Yeah, it was pretty funny watching Selwyn run around in confusion for an hour." Poppy giggled with a mischievous glint in her eyes and the Keeper snorted lightly, at least someone was having fun.

"What in Merlin's name is this!?" Amit exclaimed and the Keeper looked over to see him staring at an open diary.

The Keeper chuckled, they could guess what had garnered that reaction from the Ravenclaw. "Those bullies’ best attempt at English apparently."

Amit looked appalled. "Ugh, even Gobbledegook was easier to read."

"I've seen worse." Garreth shrugged as he flipped through his, somehow seemingly capable of understanding the garbled mess of squiggles on the pages. "Blast! There's missing pages in here!"

The Keeper's eyes widened as though they were surprised, inwardly however, they were relieved that they'd removed and burned any incriminating pages yesterday. They hadn't been expecting any of their friends to be able to read the bullies' handwriting, but they were nothing if not cautious and fortunately, that had paid off.

The Keeper frowned, leaning over Garreth's shoulder to peer at the torn strips of paper along the journal's spine. "Perhaps they hid any incriminating evidence elsewhere. They are Slytherins after all, I suppose there must be some level of cunning in their skulls."

"Where could they have hidden those pages though?" Natty frowned, her tone wrought with frustration and the Keeper felt the slightest pinch of guilt for their part in that.

Natty would be feeling a lot more of that frustration if the Keeper had their way. The last thing they needed was more attention on the bullies and by extension, themselves. While Natty was a friend, the Keeper didn't like her enough to risk themselves or what they were protecting for her.

"I'm not sure." The Keeper shook their head. "I suppose we could try searching, but I wouldn't know where to start."

Poppy sighed despondently. "After all that effort… I guess we'll have to try something else."

"Well, I'll still give these a read, there's still some excellent material in here that we can use to make things unpleasant for those bullies." Garreth grinned as he shoved the diary he was holding into his bag, before plucking the other out of Amit's hands.

"I suppose while Garreth is going through them, we'll just take turns escorting our friend around." Natty suggested and the Keeper had to withhold their grimace. Great.

Poppy nodded vehemently. "That's right, we can't let those bullies have another chance to hurt them."

Amit also nodded. "Agreed, we can meet up again next weekend and see if we can think of another plan."

With that settled, after finishing their butterbeers, the group gradually dispersed to run the errands they'd set aside for their operation yesterday and the meeting today. The Keeper sighed internally, while they were grateful for the effort, keeping up appearances for this whole thing was immensely tedious.

As Poppy disappeared through the door, leaving Natty alone with the Keeper, she hesitantly spoke up. "I noticed yesterday that Selwyn was following Gaunt."

"Was he?" The Keeper asked, feigning nonchalance.

Natty nodded, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "He was, I don't suppose you'd know why."

The Keeper gave her a tight wry smile. "Do you really think I'm the only person they're bullying?"

Natty's eyes widened, and she flinched at the Keeper's suggestion. She hadn't considered that possibility at all and found herself deeply troubled by it. If Gaunt was also being bullied by Selwyn…

"If you want to believe that you're the only one who doesn't have the option of tattling to an authority figure, so be it."

Then she had essentially condemned a bully victim for not defending another bully victim. Natty felt guilt gnawing at her insides. Had she prematurely judged Gaunt and shamelessly victim-blamed him without realising?

Uncertainty welled within her chest.

Seeing that their words had disturbed Natty, the Keeper stood. They would let her come to her own conclusions. "I'll see you tomorrow, Natty."

With that, the Keeper left the pub, with the bullies trailing them out as always, leaving Natty to her thoughts.

Notes:

Hogwarts Legacy's story honestly has some of the most unexpectedly well-weaved layers of symbolism in a fictional story that I've seen since the 2018 movie, Annihilation. With the way they address Pain as a concept being so potent, elegant and most importantly of all, blunt and easy to understand with a thematic reading.

I do hope I've been doing it justice with this fic x'D I also feel like most "righteous-minded" assholes start out actually trying to do a good thing, but simply didn't realise that they need to consider that they might be wrong, while they were young enough to learn it, and thus also never learn to apologise when they're wrong.

As an opinionated person myself, I am constantly trying to learn as many perspectives as I can, to try my best to support an opinion that is comprehensive, rational, objective and understanding. There is no argument that I won't consider, and I don't discard any of them as invalid without justification.

Thus, I can say with confidence that Sebastian doesn't deserve to be sent to Azkaban. An objective overview of his story, the way it was told and supporting evidence point to the Developers wanting us to spare him.

The parallel with San Bakar killing Isidora and Player killing Rookwood. The fact that Solomon is literally the final boss of his story. The sheer amount of literary effort that went into showing his reasoning and circumstances.

The fact that Ominis literally says "I don't want to lose Sebastian, but I don't think we have a choice." and that the game will give you a chance to back out from the option of turning him in. The fact that Sebastian learns from his mistakes if you show him mercy, and in contrast, he gets worse if you turn him in.

All these point to the Devs trying to teach the players understanding and compassion. To look beyond the crime and instead to what caused the misguided actions of a naive, inexperienced and earnest child.

To support attempts to improve orphan care legislation, mental health care for both veterans like Solomon and traumatised kids like Sebastian, and of course education, to prevent tragedies like this from happening.

Sebastian is the way he is because he is full of love. Love messes with the head, even for adults. For a kid who watched his parents die at his feet and is watching his twin die slowly in agony, that love becomes twisted with pain and fear. No child can handle that without adult guidance. Any that do are the 1% that grow up to change the world together as activists.

For people who don't see this… honestly, I don't know how to help them.

[sporesgalaxy]

Please tell me more about anime norse mythology i am deeply invested from only two posts

well, if u look in the tag theres some more character designs.....the story is extremely not finished being made tho. summer srendarrsmercy and i have some groundwork laid out but there's a lot of stuff to fill in still. and also my memory isnt the best and these r the notes i took last time she and i had a long talk abt it

so Im sure I'll miss details 2 say the least

•••

But uhhhhh I guess the gist is that like. It's based heavily on the Poetic Edda + Prose Edda + some of Summer & I's favorite fragmentary info........but aalso we have taken a ton of artistic liberty just for grins and giggles.........and the theme is maybe probably going to have to do with overcoming your fated demise with the power of anime friendship.......

So. First of all. Odin fucking left on a Journey a long ass time ago, told no one where he was going nor why, and Asgard has just kind of been trying to figure out what to do with themselves for a while now.

there is some kind of magic school that 4 of the 5 main characters go to (dont worry abt why theres a magic school. we came up w a reason I literally cant remember rn. Im sure the reason explains the following 2 things better as well). Hel can't be very hands-on but she is sort of overseeing this whole magic school thing. Her brother Fenrir is still bound by the magic ribbon but has been given enough slack to help her out with this.

the 2 MAIN main protagonists are Sunna, daughter of Sol the Sun Goddess, and Hjuki, who was informally adopted by Mani the Moon God (along with his younger sister Bill). Sol and Mani are being chased by wolves rn though :( (There was some more stuff going on w that that I know Ive forgotten as well aggh)

& maybe introduced as Rivals & then later teaming up w them we have Loki and Sigyn's daughter Narfi, along with her cousin (slash informally adoptive brother), Odin's youngest son Váli.

Presumably these teens will get up to some shenanigans. Folks familiar with the Rival Teen Duo will b aware that they have a terrible tragic fate. They Do Not Know This.......Yet. :( This kind of stuff is why we have to destroy fate w the power of friendship bro

Meanwhile on Midgard this elementary schooler is making crop circles every day and she does such a good job and we love her for it.

But seriously Magic was Lost Somehow on Midgard and she and Hjuki are the first humans in a long time to be able to wield it. She takes to it much more naturally than Hjuki, but is too young for magic school and also maybe is so powerful that she might be seen as a problem and therefore needs to be kept secret on Midgard.

[jackdaw-kraai]

Could u please explain what you meant about the children and their view of gender? I'm sure you have before but I feel like I'm missing some context? Love ur work btw

*knuckle crack* Let's go, lesbians.

Okay, so for this, let's lay down the groundwork first on what "gender" even means to Luke and Vader, which you can find in this post: https://jackdaw-kraai.tumblr.com/post/638335926427353088/this-is-the-first-time-ive-been-able-to-identify

Got that?

Good.

Now let's expand on what kind of "gender" roles the Children have.

Considering they’re the roles usually chosen by young children the differences are pretty minor, but the gist of it is that Daughters are expected to take on tasks regarding ground, Sons regarding tasks concerned with the sky, and Children tasks regarding water. Kids get a taste of all of them when young, and choose from there.

A Daughter would be expected to learn how to forage everything from food to building materials, grow plants and fungi, read the desert paths for danger or safety, shape clay and rock, and track animals along the ground.

Sons would be expected to learn to forecast the weather by watching the sky, learning how to pick out targets from far away against the glare of the Suns or dark of night, navigate their way by the stars or Suns, hunt all that flies or climbs the mountains and track them too, and function as swift messengers.

Children are expected to learn how to find water in all its forms, capture and purify it, be able to turn it into all manner of useful things, learn and teach to swim, and hunt in the rare places where that is possible too.

Obviously, no one skill set is sufficient and all kids learn a bit of everything, but it’s the specialization that matters early on. Luke learned his skills with plants and the like from his Aunt, a Daughter after all, but in essence, every role can be chosen by anyone. An AMAB could chose to be a Daughter, a AFAB could be a Child, and all of that is completely normal and expected.

What’s in your pants pretty much only matters if you’re planning on making a kid instead of adopting one, and again, the latter is so common on Tatooine that Vader doesn’t even think to assume that Luke may be related to him. Ever. At all.

Another thing to note is that these aren't the only roles there are. Children have chosen Spirit and Magic as their roles. Animal and Mind. Fire and Gods. In the 2.5 million years of their existence, pretty much everything that could have been chosen, has been chosen.

Father, Mother, and Parent are an entirely separate axis to this as well, mind you. A Daughter can function in the role of Father, and a Child can function in the role of Mother if they want to, which makes sense if you look at what's expected from each of those roles.

Fathers are expected to be the protectors from what comes in from outside, Mothers from what lies within, and Parents usually from what lies Beyond. It has nothing to do with who birthed what or even any kind of birth at all.

It's also why Fathers have such a strong presence in the society of the Children. Slaves rarely get to be Fathers, after all, not unless they're willing to make significant sacrifices, and consequently the role carries an incredibly personal weight and meaning to the Chained and the Freed.

(Yes, that means that when Shmi says “there was no Father” it carries more hidden meanings than you can shake a stick at. And she’s also subtly throwing shade at Qui-Gon which he can’t understand or hear.

It’s basically a combination of calling him an ignorant outsider in a very polite way who’s meddling with what he doesn’t and isn’t trying to understand, as well as subtlety berating him for thinking that there is such safety for a slave, as well as indicating that she knows what he’s going to hear without him realizing what she hears.

She’s essentially in one sentence establishing herself as Qui-Gon’s superior when it comes to her Son in a very subtle way and he doesn’t even realize it. Saying "you can take him, but you won't ever have him." It’s a warning, a test, a threat, and an explanation in one.)

[allofthefeelings]

Now instead of focusing on bad faith harassers, let's be on brand and talk about Natasha! I'm thinking of how little Nat got a small taste of family experience (even if she knew it was fake), which ended in Alexei and Melina abandoning her back to Red Room torture. In what ways does that trauma play out as she forges found family relationships with Nick, the Bartons, and the Avengers?

Anon, this is mean, and I both like and respect that.

So I was actually really surprised when David Harbour explicitly mentioned that they took the girls out of the Red Room and then put them back, not because we couldn’t figure that out- Nat’s history would be very different if she spent a few years as a murderbaby and then grew up the rest of the way playacting a normal life- but because this isn’t just something we’ll quietly be like “oh fuck” about, it’s going to be, if not an emotional pivot point of the movie, at least something they’re explicitly dealing with.

This- unsurprisingly- gets long.

(Brief digression: It is wild to me that while there has been a lot of speculation and even (supposed) spoilers of plot, I’m still not really sure what Nat’s emotional through-line from the story is, OR major information about how the movie is presenting the Red Room! Obviously some of that is the mystery, but it feels like there’s so much we just don’t have yet, almost 9 months after the movie was supposed to come out. Amazing, and building my anticipation, but also making me even more unsure of my speculation’s grounding!)

So pre-SHIELD, Natasha only knows family as something that gets torn away: her parents, who she never got to know (assuming they don’t retcon that from Endgame), and then this hyperreal family that shatters once the mission is over. And obviously they lose the grown-ups- they’re adult spies- but the evidence seems to indicate that Nat and Yelena didn’t manage to keep their connection either. I mean I realize the Murder Child Factory isn’t like college, where you can periodically message your old classmate on Facebook, but we don’t know- did they try? Were they kept separate by the Red Room? Or did they learn that every connection was dangerous so early that they actively kept separate from each other? No matter what it is, everything Natasha had, she lost.

And how long was the mission? Did she have three or four weeks that they escaped into that stuck so much she came back to it years later, like a deadly summer camp, or was it months or years of her life? This is all SUCH important context: did Nat have so little that a tiny event was all she could cling to, or did she live her life knowing that she could spend so much time on one thing and the second the mission was over it would disappear like it never happened?

But no matter what it is, it puts Nat accepting Clint’s offer in a whole new light; he said “come join our team” after she lost her real family, she lost her fake family, she ran away from the Red Room and spent years as a mercenary- how do you trust that offer when the ground beneath your feet has never been steady? And the answer seems to be Nick and Clint; they were her rock, and they showed her that no matter how much she pushed they weren’t going away.

I want to know how that worked. Did she work to push them away and they refused? Did she try to be exactly who she thought they needed her to be, which we know was her default response as late as Winter Soldier at LEAST?

HORRIBLE DIGRESSION: I’m not sure I buy into this myself, but I wonder if her cold businesslike approach in parts of Iron Man 2 were still her trying to be the perfect objective operative for Nick? Like I really cannot get past that Nat was around 25 IM2, and while we don’t have an age range for the sterilization from AoU, it was Scarlett in young-age makeup and called "graduation”- so coded, what, eighteen years old? Which gives her seven years to have defected (she was clearly not ready to defect before the procedure or she would have), worked as a mercenary, been recruited, and risen in the ranks in SHIELD. Even if she was able to be professionally on point (because the Red Room does not tolerate less than perfection), what if she was still feeling out Natasha As Person by then? I wonder how IM2 holds up under that light, when Professional Nat is Nat She Thinks Nick Wants, and in the four years between that and Cap2 she grows from Professional Nat to the kind of person Nick would have the “keep the circle small” conversation with and I don’t even know if this works but it’s giving me feelings?

And it’s similar with Clint; I’m not sure how to even make the math work where they had more than five years for Nat to not just fight viciously to get him back- we’ve seen she fights for her teams, because it’s the job- but she’s 27 when she shows a ridiculous amount of vulnerability when he comes back (”you know I do”- by then she’s come clean about her past to him).

And Clint’s KIDS, god. We know by the time she’s 30, she’s close enough to his family that Cooper and Lila think of her as an aunt figure and they name Nate after her. And that she lets them? Nat is a character who we know builds up walls, and I don’t think she’d take letting children into her life lightly. It’s not just that Clint trusts her to keep his family secret; she’s attached to them and they to her and she clearly considers Laura and the kids as well as Clint family, when family was something she never had before.

Moreover- based, admittedly, on the tiny slices of life in AoU- her relationship with the Bartons seems pretty normal and healthy. Like, there aren’t artificial boundaries and there also aren’t the weird lack of boundaries that sometimes come from an adult who doesn’t know kids. THAT is what I find myself wondering about a lot: where did she learn that? Was she feeling it out herself? Or did she rely on, say, the way she connected with Nick, as the idea of how a father figure should be?

OH NO NOW I’M THINKING ABOUT ALEXEI AS THE FATHER FIGURE SHE HAD, WHO ABANDONED HER, AND NICK AS THE FATHER FIGURE WHO DIDN’T, AND ALEXEI AS THE RUSSIAN STEVE BUT STEVE DIDN’T ABANDON HER EITHER AND WAS SHE ALWAYS WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP.

And this is not your question but it just hit me how much, post-snap, when the world was falling apart because half of everyone disappeared, did this feel familiar to Natasha? How much was “Well, of course everyone leaves, it’s amazing it lasted as long as it did?” How much was Natasha not sure of the right way to grieve because she’s never been able to grieve before, losing people was just what happened and you had to push through it? So she just threw herself into her work and threw herself into her work and expected everyone else to also but one by one they peeled away, seeking out ways to escape the darkness, but all she’s ever known is that when you lose your connections you just have to make yourself better and fight harder because that’s all there is left? How much was the idea of bringing family back, even if she couldn’t be part of it, the thing she’d been holding out for forever, since she lost her family and she lost her fake family and she lost the Red Room and Nick and Clint and Laura told her it would be real this time but she was always afraid to believe that was true? How much was this the groundwork that set her up for Endgame?

ANON I AM U P S E T.

[betelgeusing]

blah about the latest ep of Ted Lasso under the cut don’t read if u haven’t seen

this is all pretty obvious too but I’m feeling things and just want to talk ok

but obviously the concept of fatherhood is important to Ted, he talked at length about his own (good) dad in the last season, and he’s talked some about the good fathers of some of his team and also how the shitty fathers of others have failed them

and I mentioned a few weeks ago how despite this, and despite acting as a solid father figure and role model for the guys on his team, he’s basically an absentee dad to his own son? like he does his best but he can’t visit much and the Christmas ep was pointed about how there’s only so much you can do via facetime/skype. and I speculated that being kind of distant in his own son’s life has to weigh on him and that we’d see the effect of that sooner or later

anyway I think it’s clear by now that his panic attacks are directly triggered by a combination of over-stimulation and intense feelings of guilt about being a failure as a father

like the first one we saw, he was putting off signing his divorce papers and was clearly in an emotional state about it (it’s hard for him to accept that he failed at being a husband despite all his goodness), and then being in the karaoke club surrounded by people and lights and noise just tipped him over the edge

this time, Deborah reminded him that his wife left him, and he gets a call from his son’s school about a problem his kid is having and he’s an entire ocean away and can literally do nothing about it, even though it was a mild issue and was resolved immediately (but distinctly not by him), then the game with its high stakes (and all the people and lights and noise) triggered another attack

and at first I thought it was emotional stress related to his divorce, but now, I don’t think it’s about his ex wife (at least not for the most part, though I do think he hasn’t been able to deal with the idea that he wasn’t able to make it work and make her love him), I think it’s about his kid. I think he holds himself up to a standard of perfection re: masculinity and also fatherhood, and he has no idea how to cope with feeling like he’s failing to live up to that impossible standard. he just doesn’t know how to handle the feeling that he’s a huge hypocrite (I’m not calling him a hypocrite, I just think that’s his biggest fear)

anyway Dr Sharon’s got this, they’ll be all right, but it’s interesting to see how the groundwork has been laid and how it’s paying off now (especially in a season where Ted has definitely stepped back and other characters have the spotlight for the most part)

[prorevenge]

Force me to quit? Fine, let me collapse your whole organisation

My wife thought I should submit this but I'm not sure if it's pro revenge enough for you guys. Anyway...wall of text incoming.

So about three years ago I was asked by a friend to help out a wheelchair bound disabled chap called Gary who wanted to go swimming but none of his care staff apart from my friend were willing to take him, I agreed because I've worked in care at all levels previously so I was fine with helping a chap out.

I was there a month or so before they asked if I was willing to take on actual shifts there. I was so started very part time initially.

The shifts were a waking night/sleep from 23:00 till 12:00 the next day, and a single four hour shift between 15:00 and 19:00. I was given a couple of day shifts and I was tasked with picking up any shifts because of holidays or illness by other staff members.

He had four other staff, my friend Ash, a dude called Jake, one called Craig, and the most problematic Lisa.

Lisa picked up one sleep per week and a couple of day shifts, the problem is that she was a raging alcoholic who just didn't come to work if she wanted to go out drinking instead. But Gary fancied her a bit, and she was very touchy feely with him I think to manipulate him as he's very lonely.

Jake wouldn't work a weekend and would only do two sleeps, plus he didn't like doing any house work and he didn't like doing personal care because he thought it was gross.

Craig would only work three sleeps and never a day shift, he didn't believe he should have to do any house work at all he wouldn't even make a bed. Things were changed in the scheme to suit him, Hoover's had to be emptied and cleaned every time you used it, no sheets were kept on the carers bed as he didn't think he should change them, the young guy had to be put in his PJs by the day staff as he didn't want to do that either.

Again, like I say, nobody was willing to take him swimming and now I knew why.

Please just allow yourself a moment to understand that two staff members had at least 65% of the alloted hours but would not do any housework or personal care. Craig has worked this job for a decade and made at least £1800 every month without fail but without having to do any work and for half the week he just has entire days to do nothing. Easy money.

These three staff members are seemingly bulletproof and nothing they do gets them dismissed. Lisa had at this point been suspended three times during my tenure for being drunk and abusive on duty. At one point she was suspended for ten weeks while they let everything blow over.

So I get taken on to mainly make up for the fact his mother is off on the sick as she has had surgery on her knee. But after about a year or so I became aware that his mother is being paid a full wage every month but without statutory sick pay being noted on her payslip.

I immediately know what's up. She is in control of his account that the local authority pays money into that he then pays his care staff from. I also find out that he is also using this account to fund his lifestyle, including adult chatrooms, clothes, and gifts for his staff. He is quite blatant about it, laughs about it often.

I find this really galling because I pay tax to my local authority every month, like every family in the UK, and that pays for everything in my area including social care.

So I report this to the local authority and get absolutely no joy. Very disappointed in this I decide to continue working there but save all the evidence I can for the future. I also convince him to keep a hand over book for the staff to note what their activities were that day so anyone curious can track what things staff are and aren't doing.

Anyway up until last week I was working for him for about 30 hours a week and handling a lot of the day to day problems. But I get a text from his mother saying she is returning to work the following week so my services will be reduced to a single four hour shift once a fortnight. I said thank you but no thank you and I worked till my final paycheck and called it quits.

Now as a last ditch attempt to get someone to listen I send a lengthy email to the emergency care team at the adult care service where I detailed absolutely everything.

I got interest, and today somebody came out to interview me.

They were incredibly interested in what I had to say and confirmed my initial email kickstarted an investigation into his situation. They told me they had been building a case against his situation for a while and that it stretches back the entire twenty years he had been able to pay for his own care.

I had documented that his mother had paid herself for working 9 hours every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for every month that I had worked there. She had submitted timesheets herself to the local authority that documented this. She had also submitted the timesheets to the council that showed the same days that she was apparently working she had arranged for other staff to work them, namely me and two others. She had also sent messages to me that documented her communicating with me to continue to cover her shifts. The handover book documented what had been done that day, she never wrote in it obviously. Medication charts at the property documented who gave him medication that day, she never signed it.

So yesterday morning he was called to the council to explain to them why his entire contingency fund was gone, this was meant to pay for sick pay, maternity pay, and any other unforseen monetary problems he may encounter. There was nothing left. He admitted some guilt and cut them a cheque for £5000 on the spot, this money was something he came into recently after his grandfather had died.

That was a humongous admission of guilt.

Then when the social worker met Gary at his address yesterday and after some probing he admitted that yes he was aware of the conspiracy that he and his mother operated and yes he was paying her a full wage every month knowing that she was not working.

Again, jackpot for that social working and an even bigger admission of guilt.

The social worker was meant to then interview the mother but at that point she knew it was knowingly criminal and that he and his mother had entered a criminal conspiracy to defraud the council over a potential twenty year period to the tune of a quarter of a million pounds at least.

She contacted the police and left them to arrest the mother and interview her.

I was told I will be contacted in due course to be interviewed by the police as would all other staff.

I was also told that he would no longer be in control of his staffing at all and there is no way that the other staff members would be taken on by the care organisation that would have to be brought in to run his care. The only other person who would interview for his position would be my buddy as he had a faultless record.

I'm jobless at the moment but hey I take a foreign holiday next week and I'll put in the groundwork in to get a new job for when I arrive home.

Edit. Just in case I didn't make it clear, those workers who were seemingly bulletproof was because they were aware of the deception and it'd be unwise to dismiss them. Something the mother was absolutely right about because I immediately ruined her grift.

(source) story by (/u/fastdub)

[the-coldest-goodbye]

Sansa Stark - NSFW Alphabet Headcanons

Sansa Stark x fem!reader

Requested by Anonymous

A/N: I wanted to write something that acknowledged the trauma Sansa would have after her experiences. Because of that, this is less smutty than other NSFW alphabets I’ve written for other characters. It can be hard to figure out how to write trauma and recovery, so quite a bit of this is based on my own experiences with overcoming trauma. I hope I did an okay job.

TW: Mentions of abuse, rape, trauma, and Sansa’s struggles to overcome them.

Also, if you haven’t yet, make sure you check out my SFW alphabet headcanons for Sansa.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Sansa requires a lot of aftercare to feel safe and secure. Cuddle up with her, get extra snug with some furs, and stroke her hair. Check in with how she’s feeling. It’ll mean a lot to her knowing that you care for her wellbeing. Her sexual experiences with you are nothing less than beautiful and loving, but they can still elicit some bad feelings, thoughts, and memories stemming from her past trauma, especially near the start of your physical relationship. Hold her. Listen to her. Make sure she’s warm. Maybe take a bath with her and brush out her hair. Most importantly, stay with her. Don’t rush off. She needs the security of knowing that you care about her and that you won’t leave her when she’s vulnerable.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

She has a difficult relationship with her body. She’s covered in scars, very real reminders of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Ramsay. Sansa rebuilding her appreciation for her body is a long process, but it starts off with her coming to like her hands. She loves the way her fingers look entwined with yours, the way they gently explore your skin, the way they can make you moan in pleasure.

Her favorite part of you is your neck and shoulders region, especially loving to place kisses there and against your collarbones. When you hold her, she’ll bury her face into the curve of your neck or rest her head on your shoulder, feeling secure and at ease.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Sansa finds nothing more beautiful or erotic than how you work so diligently to make her wet and how you then savor her juices. Her only physical experiences before you were with Ramsay, and he didn’t care whether or not it felt good to Sansa. In fact, he got more sick and twisted pleasure from having her suffer. Seeing the way you spend so long teasing her and stimulating her to make her wet and then seeing how you absolutely adore her juices, licking up every last drop, means the world to her. One of the most erotic moments she ever had was the very first time you brought your fingers up to her mouth after you gently dragged them through her folds, urging her to taste herself. Ramsay took pleasure in her pain. You took pleasure in her pleasure.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

I’ll explore this a little more under “W = Wild card,” but Sansa’s dirty secret (that you obviously come to learn) is that she’s not straight. In a society like Westeros where strict gender roles reign, queerness is taboo, particularly for someone as high-profile as Sansa.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Sansa’s not experienced when it comes to sex because her experiences with Ramsay weren’t sex; they were torture. She’s very slow to pursue a physical relationship with you, and it’s a learning experience for the both of you as you begin to open up to each other, explore your likes and dislikes at a mindful speed, and become more comfortable with each other. It’s a slow process, but it’s important not to push it too far or too fast.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Initially, Sansa would prefer being on top or having the two of you both laying on your sides because it helps her not feel completely powerless. As she becomes more comfortable with your physical relationship and works through some of her trauma, she sometimes allows you to be on top, but it would take a long time to build up that level of trust for her to feel fully comfortable in that kind of position.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Sansa is quite serious, but she can become a bit more playful and giggly once she feels more secure and becomes more confident during sex. It takes a while to get to that point, though, and sex will never be something she takes lightly. She views it as a very real commitment to each other, and so there will always be a fairly serious undertone during intimate moments.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Her hair down there is naturally pretty short and neat, and so it doesn’t require much upkeep to remain tidy, if any. It’s a similar shade to the color on her head, perhaps a little darker.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Sansa is used to being used as someone’s plaything, being treated like a literal object. Therefore, it’s of utmost importance to her that you two have a strong connection during any sexual act. To keep the experience feeling very real and very human, Sansa likes to make eye contact or be face-to-face. She always tries to remain fully present when the two of you are together. It feels like you’re the only two people in the world when you’re together. It’s never spur of the moment, and the build-up of passion that leads up to the sex really emphasizes the undeniable connection between you two when you make love.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Sansa rarely masturbates.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Honestly, Sansa wants and needs things to be pretty vanilla between you two in bed. Most kinks would either make her feel uncomfortable or foolish. 

This is not a kink per se, but Sansa does tend to be a bit more dominant in bed. She’s actually fairly vers, but she tends to take a slightly more dominant role in bed since she would want to be the one to set the pace and to take the lead to feel more empowered and confident in the experience. It’s a big deal when she is able to trust you enough and feel comfortable enough with you to just lay back and let you take the lead with pleasuring her.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Sex is something she would save for the bedroom. It’s the only place she’d find it appropriate.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

It takes a long time to get Sansa going. First and foremost, she needs to feel loved, secure, and empowered before anything goes down. You need to lay the groundwork much earlier and build up to it slowly over the course of the day with knowing glances, sly smiles, gentle touches, and loving words. There needs to be a development of tenderness and intimacy to make her want to bed you. She isn’t DTF at the drop of a hat.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Sansa would refuse to do anything that made either of you uncomfortable or that would hurt either of you. She is particularly turned off by bondage, gags, and pain. She isn’t into anything too rough or fast, and she also wouldn’t be into extreme dom/sub dynamics. Also, she wouldn’t feel comfortable with being penetrated, at least not for a long time.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Sansa starts off preferring to give oral rather than receive because she’s not ready to have anything like that done to her; but as she grows more comfortable with physical intimacy with you, she comes to enjoy giving and receiving equally. She doesn’t quite know what she’s doing at first, but she’s a fast learner and eager to please you, wanting to hear you whimper and feel you writhe in pleasure because of her.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Your earlier sexual experiences with Sansa are slow paced and shy because of her hesitance, but she becomes more sensual (but still fairly slow) as she grows in confidence. She would much rather take her time and savor the experience. Fast or rough sex would be avoided at all costs, and she would feel relieved that you understood and were fine with that.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Nope, no quickies here. She needs a slow build-up and lots of aftercare.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

At the beginning of your relationship, her past trauma makes any and all sexual interactions feel like a risk. It takes Sansa quite a long time before she even considers physical intimacy with you beyond kissing and cuddling, and so she isn’t game to get experimental too quickly in your sexual relationship. As she gets more confident, though, she’ll get more willing to try out new positions and techniques, but she still wouldn’t be willing to try anything too kinky or risky.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Usually one round is enough for Sansa to call it a night, but sometimes she might surprise you with a second round. Early on in your physical relationship, it takes her a fairly long time to reach orgasm, though, because she’s get stuck in her head and wouldn’t stay present in the moment. When she’d manage to shift her focus to being more in the moment with you, she’d cum quite a bit faster.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

She doesn’t own any toys. If you wanted her to use any on you, she’d be willing to give it a go. She likely wouldn’t want you to use them on her, though.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

As Sansa becomes more confident in her abilities to pleasure you, she sometimes can be a bit of a tease, liking to vary speed and pressure to keep you on your toes.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Sansa is pretty quiet in terms of volume. At first, she would be so quiet that she was very clearly lost in her own head instead of enjoying the moment. You wanted to make sure she was having a nice time, so you encouraged her to speak up and to tell you whether or not she liked what you were doing. She would be shy about it at first, but she would come to communicate quite a bit during sex, telling you what felt good, what didn’t feel good, what she wanted you to do, etc. It meant a lot to her that you always listened to her and empowered her to call the shots while physically intimate. When in pleasure, she moans and gasps lightly and whispers out, “Oh yes, Y/N! Right there. Right there.”

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Sansa Stark ain’t straight!! (My *personal* headcanon is that she’s a lesbian; but for general audience purposes, I’ll just say here that she’s some flavor of Not Straight.) As a child, her fixation on finding her Prince Charming and her idealization of knights in shining armor was a result of their society teaching her that her only goal was to become the perfect wife to the perfect man and to give him the perfect babies to carry on his family name. It’s compulsory heterosexuality, baby!!

Her sapphic awakening came when she developed a crush on Margaery. Their interactions were particularly impactful on Sansa, especially when Margaery would imply that she was attracted to women. Sansa spent a long time repressing her feelings because it doesn’t follow the strict gender roles in Westeros, and so having Margaery imply this really put the idea on the table for Sansa to explore.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Her body is fairly slender with light curves. However, she’s covered in scars and markings from Ramsay. She’d keep them covered up as much as possible because she didn’t want to see them.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Sansa’s sex drive is not very high. Sexual intimacy would happen only if/when she felt ready. She would never want to be used like a sex toy again. She hopes that she’ll have a partner who respects her enough to understand that she needs time instead of pressuring her into anything. 

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Sansa requires quite a bit of aftercare, so she doesn’t fall asleep quickly.

[theuntamednarrator]

#3 for Story! (MDZS getting to know u asks)

questions from here

Bring back Jin Zixuan. Kill Jiang Cheng.

You can bring one character back to life, but you must pick someone else to die in their place. Would you do it? How would this effect the story?

Okay so I already brought back Cangse Sanren for a happy ending let's try for something a little more devastating. I am in the mood to hurt myself emotionally. Sorry friend, I don’t know if this is what you wanted.

JZX rushes off as per canon but this time JYL with her canon my-WWX-spidey-senses-tingling grabs JC's arm and asks him to go with her husband because she has a bad feeling

JZX is waiting with JC and JYL for WWX's arrival at JinLinTai, which is where JGY finds them after ugly cousin takes off with the Lan  and Jin disciples

JZX and JC arrive at Qiongqi Path just as UC and WWX are about to come blows

This time, when WN moves to strike, JC is close enough to act

He throws himself in front of the blow meant for JZX

JC gets JZX’s final words “a-jie is, is still, waiting for you”

JZX catches him as he collapses and it’s the Nightless City JLY-dying scene except with JZX as JC and JC as JYL. Also JZX doesn’t push WWX

◇◇◇

First way it goes is that the rest of the plot goes pretty much as it did in canon except JC is not at Nightless City so LWJ has nobody but himself to hate if WWX still goes over the cliff which he absolutely does if JYL somehow still manages to make it to Nightless City and dies

JGY still needs to find a way to kill off JZX so probably makes sure that happens at Nightless City as well (unless JZX has to stay alive in this hypothetical, in which case JGY probably pulls a post-canon LWJ where his older brother is SL but in such deep mourning that he takes over as acting Sect Leader and Chief Cultivator)

Jin Ling is raised entirely by the Jin and is therefore 50% more diplomatic and 90% more miserable

Without JC and with Lotus Pier still recovering it’s laughably easy for JGS and JGY to absorb Yunmeng Jiang into Lanling Jin’s territories

Their next sect leader is the closest thing to an heir that Lotus Pier has afterall!

There’s a lot more territory to go around and JGY could frankly use the help so MXY is treated very well and never feels the need to reenact the Yiling Patriarch to exact revenge

Possibly JGY marries MXY to a Jiang/Meishan Yu/Baling disciple and sends his brother to Lotus Pier as his proxy

NHS’s alternative revenge plot is betrayed, he is either executed or exiled and JGY seizes Qinghe Nie as compensation for their sect leader's treachery

LWJ stumbles across Yi City and the mess that is XY while going where the chaos is. He rescues a-Qing and XXC

This is a lot harder without the groundwork exposing all of JGY’s crimes and in the end they’re not successful

LWJ confronts LXC with his suspicions about JGY based on some things XY said beforehe died

LXC looks at what’s happening and decides they need to confront JGY

JGY locks LXC up the same way Qingfeng-jun locked up Madam Lan, which LXC agrees to provided JGY promises not to hurt LWJ

LWJ takes LSZ and LJY and flees, meeting up with XXC and a-Qing near Yi City

The five of them retire to Baixue Temple and start the orphanage/cultivation school songxiao dreamed of (SL will join them later)

They watch helplessly from afar while JGY governs the united sects

◇◇◇

Second way it goes is that WWX is so distraught over killing JC that he lashes out like he does against the minor cultivators outside Nightless City

Everyone within a hundred metres is pinned to the ground and slowly suffocating while WWX sobs over JC’s body

WN tries to get him to leave but WWX screams at him to go away “what should I do now? what should I tell my sister?”

WN goes back to Burial Mounds to get WQ in the hopes that she will be able to help

This is not a happy ending

Meanwhile LXC, LWJ, and JGY come looking for their disciples and stumble upon the scene

LWJ and LXC manage to dispel the resentful energy with xiao/guqin and in the process discover SS and the evidence of the hundred holes curse on him

From JZX they hear about how UC was attacking WWX and WWX was defending himself and lost control

Happy ending would be everyone realising that SS and JGY had planned the ambush and confronting him before it escalates

JGY realises this and has to think quickly. He announces that SS must be in league with WWX. He pulls an NHS and yells for LXC to lookout! and LXC stabs SS, who looks very betrayed for three seconds before he dies

WWX allows himself to be restrained but just laughs when they demand a lock on his spiritual power because there’s nothing to lock (he doesn’t have to worry anymore about revealing the core transfer because JC is dead and can’t find out)

Everyone is horrified but ofc JGY is just like “well but what about the stygian tiget amulet? that’s more powerful than a core you should hand it over.”

WWX agrees to give it to LXC. JGY eventually convinces LXC to give it to him to study

JYL collapses in grief when her brothers are brought in, one is chains, the other in a shroud

LWJ goes to the cell where WWX is being held and begs him to let him help but WWX is lost in his grief and tells him to “piss off”

LWJ leaves and goes to the Burial Mounds where he rescues not only a-Yuan but all the other Wen remnants as well. He takes them to Yunmeng since - with all the chaos over JC’s death - no one is likely to notice twenty civilians showing up out of nowhere

While he’s away there’s a trial and the Jin demand that WN and WQ surrender themselves as well. Much as in canon they announce that they’ve killed the three demonic scourges

LWJ loses it and nearly kills JGS, JGY, JZX, and a bunch of other people at the conference

He still gets the lashes and three years seclusion

By the time LWJ emerges from seclusion the Jin have taken over Yunmeng in Jiang Yanli’s name as Young Madam Jin. Granny and Fourth Uncle are worried about discovery so Lan Wangji takes on a-Yuan as a disciple except he’s much older now and the war is long over which means questions. He pulls it off with LXC’s help but it’s a close call

By the time NMJ dies and NHS hatches his revenge plot the Jin are far more powerful than in canon. Jin Guangyao has, by then, managed to bump off UC, JZX, and JGS

JGY has tried using threats against JYL and WQ to make WWX help with their experiments but he refuses

He doesn’t really need much help though since he has the amulet and XY

They probably end up killing WWX and WQ around the time JGY and XY successfully create their first fierce corpse OR they leave them locked up below JinLinTai for a decade and a half

If they live, NHS’s revenge plot basically relies on him and MXY somehow breaking WWX out of the cells while LWJ is around to find him and be pulled into the investigation

If they die, the resurrection and post-resurrection go pretty much as per canon except after the second siege of the Burial Mounds they go to Cloud Recesses not Lotus Pier, since Lotus Pier is occupied territory

This is also not a happy ending but less unhappy than the first one