#He did remain loyal to her for over 30 years in the sense that he didn't seek to marry anyone else in all that time

[herefortheships]

What do you think BJ will do after marriage??? Do you believe he can be with Lydia without cheating on her with another woman?

I believe that he might peek at other women, especially when Lydia isn't around lol, but I do not think he would act on it.

We're talking about a man who longed for the same woman for over 30 years. Sure, he might have eyeballed a few women along the way (heck, he checked out Delia 💀), but I highly doubt, given the opportunity, that he would cheat on Lydia once they are finally married.

Betelgeuse's undying love for Lydia aside, there is also a marriage contract. Let's look at the alive person x dead person marriage contract, which would allow him freedom in the world of the living. As far as I saw, one of the terms of the contract is that not even death can separate them, and it also says that the marriage is for eternity. He wouldn't go and break an actual eternal bond of love and companionship as that for a nice pair of boobies or something. We would have to see if infidelity on his part could nullify the contract as well, since agreeing to being bonded through eternity should mean they agree to being entirely exclusive to each other. He wouldn't forfeit his much desired freedom in the living world for something so trivial, and especially not when he's finally bonded to Lydia, whom he really does seem to be completely in love with.

That said, the man has been a sleazy ass demon for over 600 years, and he isn't blind. He likes women (though women don't seem to like him at all lol), so he's sure to take a peek or two. Hopefully he would make an effort to stop checking out other women once he's finally married to the one lady he referred to as the love of his life, but I think he'd still let his eyes wander every once in a while, even if he wouldn't pursue other women and actively cheat. I'm sure Lydia would peek at other men as well; she's only human, after all, and therefore not perfect either.

If they marry in the afterlife (when Lydia has passed away), though, we're talking about eternally devoting themselves to each other. That's the end of the line right there; once the choice is made to be together through eternity it wouldn't only be dumb but also irrational to cheat. I don't think Betel would do more than peek at other ghost ladies, assuming Betelgeuse and Lydia don't just end up taking the soul train together and going off to the great beyond in the end, to have their eternal peace (which for me would be lovely and their perfect ending). I think once Betelgeuse marries Lydia his soul will be freed and he will no longer be a demon, and he will be able to move on to the great beyond next to her. I'm sure once they get to that place there will be no one else to even look at than each other. We're talking about a vow to spend eternity together; neither of them would break that, not even someone like Betelgeuse.

[mikosouza]

— BASICS

Name: Miko Souza Age / D.O.B.: 30/04.14.1994 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality: Cis Male, He/Him, & Unsure Hometown: Hemlock Springs, WA Job position: Clerk at Ready Player One Education: Current Student (third year) Relationship status: Single Positive traits: (loyal, compassionate, courageous, reliable, confident) Negative traits: (reserved, temperamental, brazen, workaholic, pessimistic)

— BIOGRAPHY

death tw, car accident tw, bad parenting tw

(TW: MENTIONS OF DEATH, CAR ACCIDENT, BAD PARENTING TW) Miko was born in Hemlock Springs to a family who didn’t have much to offer in terms of money and materialistic things. His sister joined the family early during the second year, but not too long after the arrival of his baby sister his mother passed due to a terrible car accident on her way home from work. Her death changed Miko's father forever, and life as Miko knew it.

His father took care of them at the best that bare minimum could offer. Once Miko was old enough, he began caring for both himself and his sister. His father drank away any extra cash they and, and eventually he stopped caring about the well-being of his kids. Still, it didn't stop him from drilling into Miko that HE would carry on the family name and there was no other path his father could see, or want, for his son. For the longest time, Miko followed that path.

He took over caring for his little sister and he was proud that there wasn’t a day his little sister would say ‘I want..’ and not be able to have whatever it was. Even if his father did not care to be around much, Miko made sure there was nothing but love in the household for his little sister.

(TW: DEATH MENTION, CAR ACCIDENT) Every Sunday Miko would take his sister to the park. He enjoyed showing her that life was as normal as it could be without a mother or a father around, and he was always trying to get her to be as much of a kid as possible. She was his world from the moment she was born. When Miko was thirteen, he took his sister to the park one tragic Sunday. He looked away from her for a SECOND and that’s all it took for her to run in the middle of the street for a rouge ball. By the time he had he turned to look at her all he saw was the car’s impact and his sister disappear beneath it. And as much as he screamed, cried, and tried his hardest to get her to respond to him, nothing changed the fact that his little light of joy was gone. His father never allowed him to forget that this was his fault, something that's remained cemented within him to this day.(end trigger)

As Miko got older he began to discover that his stomach seemed to tighten in knots whenever an attractive guy smiled in his direction. He found that his nights of passion with beautiful women no longer fulfilled him, but he couldn’t make sense of what was happening. He didn’t push further into his curiosity either because it infuriated him to think that he’d have to add another thing on the seemingly endless list of things for his father to be disappointed in him for. He had to carry the family name, somehow, and he did not need to add further bumps in the road. It didn't stop his mind from wandering.

He began to dive into school in order to keep himself busy. He's very passionate about marine life, and he is currently in his third year of college for his bachelors in the field. While he goes to school, he also works as a clerk at ready player one. Miko loves the job there and it does help pay the bills. thankfully, financial aid (so long as he keeps up good grades) helps over his studies. He is honestly just a guy with a big golden heart and some horrible puns to go with it.

CONNECTIONS & PLOTS:

A step sibling: his father isn't the most honest man. maybe this sibling occurred during an affair or after his mom passed. either way, we can plot it out and discuss!

Close Friend: he would love someone who he can talk to about any and everything with. he's a huge nerd, so he'd probably be constantly talking this person's ear off about something like dnd, sci-fi, ocean life, etc. true ride or dies type vibes!

Roommate (s): this can be open to one or two muses! the more the merrier, and we love pets up in this house! Miko is very friendly, but he also is probably the most quiet and shyest of the group/duo. would love like a new girl type of vibe!

Ex-hook up: perhaps this could be a summer fling that happened or just a drunken night! either way, we can make it awkward or angsty! could also be that they hooked up and now just joke about that night.

& MORE TBD

[aestheticallyuncanny]

Did some more art to express Esperanza's story! Long reading ahead!

The first image is when her father's best friend, Enrico, found her outside his apartment building. He thought someone was trying to break in, but when he realized who he was looking at, the kind man immediately scooped up Esperanza in his arms, getting her cleaned up.

Esperanza was beyond relieved to see the man she considered her uncle, the two embracing each other with a sense of relief. Though, they both were confused as to why the other was there.

After Esperanza expressed her sins, she listened to Enrico as he explained his own. Apparently, while he was alive, he saw that her father, Manuelo, was struggling to provide for his little girl while also trying to fund his shows.

Wanting to help, Enrico did the unthinkable, and got involved with the mob. He stole money, and gave it to Manuelo, but would find himself drowned at the bottom of a lake for snitching on the mob.

After hearing this, Esperanza begged Enrico for forgiveness, apologizing and blaming herself for all the tragedy that befell their family. Enrico reassured her that he did not regret it, because he got to see his niece happy and fed before he died, and his best friend stable. And that made it all worth it.

The two would live together for 3 years, happy to have family again. Enrico would begin to help Esperanza get gigs at the clubs in hell, so she could provide income for their rent. Sadly, Enrico would pass away protecting Esperanza during an extermination, leaving her alone once again.

For 30 years, Esperanza gained popularity and was being bought out to perform at the various nightclubs, until a certain charming overlord would take notice of her, and offer her a deal.

Wanting security, and knowing if she worked for an Overlord she would be a lot safer, Esperanza signed her soul to a deal with Husk. She would perform and use her popularity to bring people to the casino, while he made sure she had everything she needed and wanted.

During their time together, like I said in the last post, the two became very close friends. Esperanza trusted Husk, and not once did he ever take advantage of her. He was a gentleman, and cared for her very deeply.

She would often tease him about the bell-bottom jumpsuits he would put her in, considering he died in the 1970s and liked the look on her.

The two would spend many night together, talking and laughing as they shared stories of their lives. Someone did once ask Husk if she was his "broad", or a plaything, but he made sure to put that demon in their place.

"Babydoll ain't no toy. And she isn't a fucking pet either. She's someone I trust very deeply, and you better fucking respect her unless you want this bottle broken over your damn head."

And this bond would remain even after Husk lost his soul to Alastor. When he relinquished Esperanza's soul back to her, he told her to run and get his other loyal employees to safety.

At first, Esperanza didn't want to leave Husk, willing to lose her life for the man who kept her safe and made her feel happy again, but Husk yelled at her to leave. That he wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to her.

With tears in her eyes, she gathered her friends and got them all to the safehouse, where she used the key he gave her to access all their funds.

It was because of Enrico, and because of Husk, that she got to where she was. She used every penny she earned to build her club, and she still attributes her success to those who took a chance on her.

She felt it only right to name her club 'Manuelo's', after her father, but made sure to honor the other important figures in her life as well. The swing band that plays in her club is called "Enrico's Ensemble", the members being made up of some friends she made while working under Husk. They heard her story, and were happy to help her achieve her dream.

Meanwhile, the signature drink at her bar is called "Husker's Vice". And it happens to be her top seller.

She performs almost every night at her club, never having grown tired of the thrill it gives her. Even after over 70 years of it, Esperanza doesn't plan on retiring her pipes anytime soon. ♡

[nostalgiachan]

Four more entries in my 100 OC Challenge! As always, new versions up top, first drawings of each at bottom, character info below the cut.

#29: Hime Kokoro (SHUT UP)  Idea: Beyond "Sin's Love Interest," I've got no clue anymore. Story: Year Zero

Oh, honey. Honey. I did you so dirty, girl. Not as dirty as Luris, certainly, but dirty. Or at least I think I did, because I cannot for the life of me remember what Hime was supposed to get up to. 

Well, for starters, what we see of her is that she's Sin's closest (and only seen) friend amongst Lord Gerardis' captains. Despite the fact that she gets a POV chapter, the chapter is more focused on their trip out to where Absolution was found than anything really involving establishing her as a character.  Regardless, I remember that she was obviously supposed to be the one legitimately nice person in the whole of the White Tower. 

Also I pretty fucking blatantly based her appearance on Orihime from Bleach. Teen Nost wasn't even trying to hide it, honestly. 

As for her role when our "heroes" get to the White Tower, I honestly can't remember. I don't remember if she was going to attempt to fight them in a sort of "I don't want to fight Sin, but I have to remain loyal" deal. I almost certainly didn't figure out what happens with her and Taris, what with them being identical twins. But like the rest of the heroes, she does survive and probably waits around for Sin to come back from his wandering the Earth in penance because that's what nice girls like her do. 

If I ever get around to The Rejiggering, beyond the obvious "giving her more agency and overall purpose," I definitely would want to put more emphasis on her "morals vs. duty" conundrum. And, you know...change her name.

#30: Absolution Idea: Mysterious genocidal tree man, also hella gay Story: Year Zero

At last, the guy I was most curious about how much his design would change now that I'm not just slapping a brown skin tone on an anime face, but am actually considering semi-realistic facial features. Still a work in progress, but we're getting there. 

Absolution is probably the one character in this whole story I don't see changing too terribly much outside of digging more into the nature of his being, or possibly making him even more eldritch. 

But yes, as stated numerous times through the other characters, Absolution is the mysterious man found in the mysterious glowing tree with the ability to create life from nothing. G finds him, plans to use him as part of a double team with Sin in his world domination plans, but Absolution decides "Nah, fuck that" and kills G when our heroes reach the top of the White Tower. See, for reasons I don't think I fully developed beyond "Wouldn't it be cool (and also kinda hawt)," Absolution was obsessed with Sin, or at least the bioweapon inside of him, and wanted to activate him and wipe out the entirety of the planet, leaving nothing but the two of them. He does a hell of a job at first, too, activating the Great Destroyer with a kiss, but Sin manages to contain the damage to just the Inner City. 

So, you know, RIP rich folk. 

Absolution's pretty upset that his husbando doesn't want to kill absolutely everything, but he figures, "Eh, if I smack you around a bit, you'll come to your senses and we can get to killing." That doesn't go well for him, and Sin kills him after a big dumb anime fight over the ruins of the Inner City.

As for the reworking, I mentioned before it'd probably be a more interesting idea if Sin and Absolution were both part of the same mysterious bioweapon plant race; it'd also certainly go a ways towards better establishing why Absolution's fixated on Sin beyond "I'm just a nihilist, I guess, lol." Beyond that, the damage would absolutely not be contained to just the IC. Everything needs to get fucked. Maybe our heroes survive, but ain't no winners with doomsday weapons around. I also see Sin and Absolution pulling a mutual kill, possibly with a cheeky little "they're regrowing somewhere else, maybe in Lacryma's ruins". Iunno.

#31: Luris Idea: Sexual assassin. That's unfortunately it. Story: Year Zero

At last, we get to probably my most unfortunate character, the culmination of the "Mostly Here to Be a Sexy Villain" trifecta alongside Mulore and Maria. Only this time, she actually has sex. Like, I'm not kidding when I say her whole character is probably the nadir of my teenage internalized misogyny and my adolescent notion of what made mature writing mature. Full disclosure.

Luris is the most trusted captain and bodyguard of G, and rumors abound they may have a little something going on behind the scenes; at least, Sin seems to think so.  Her specialty is sexpionage (and no, I didn't come up with that pormanteau) and assassination, and G so values her work that he even allows her to occasionally target Inner City civilians in order to keep her skills sharp.

Her primary role in the story comes down to one chapter. She manages to not only locate Sin in the Outer City, but to find the very rebel base itself. She presents herself as having defected from the White Tower after hearing about G leaving Sin for dead, and claims that she always loved Sin, but knew that he wouldn't choose her over "that prude Hime," so if she couldn't have his love, she wanted his hate instead. But from the first word, Sin doesn't buy it.  He allows her to start to get intimate with him, but only to get her into a vulnerable position on his bed so he can stab her to death. He makes sure to say some pretty goddamn terrible things about her to the microphone in her earring which he knows is feeding audio back to G.

And that's it. The sum totality of her character is "she's a black widow and then she fuckin' dies." And honestly, as much as I don't like mercy killing a character, in the rejiggered story, the best thing to do would probably be to cut her entirely. But I feel like Teen Nost did her too dirty to just take her out behind the shed, so I should really come up with something more substantial for her to get up to.

#32: Winter Idea: Shy little ice mage who has to fight her friends Story: Love Like Winter (based on the album "decemberunderground" by AFI)

Now here's a story I'd definitely like to revisit, even if it's fairly simplistic.  I totally should've drawn these next few characters before the Year Zero cast, since they predate them, but I didn't actually upload the one drawing I did of them to deviantART, so I forgot to include them until I'd already started the Year Zero kids. But whatever. 

So this is Winter, a teenage ice mage who lives in a hidden city housing the last of humanity. She and her best friends, the fire mage Summer and the shadow mage Silence, were training to become proper mages and join a monastic order dedicated to protecting the city from the demons which threatened them daily.

One day, the three of them learned of forbidden rituals which could unlock incredible magical power within the user, provided they 1) "survived" the process and 2) kept their sanity. Silence, being young and reckless, wondered why the monks wouldn't take them through this process; obviously, if all them went through the ritual, they'd have more than enough power to drive back the demons and reclaim the surface world. Winter was much more against the idea, for the obvious reason of "it tends to kill people," but Summer was on the fence about it. 

That was, until Silence managed to not only figure out what the ritual entailed, but to successfully complete it. Now imbued with powerful dark magic, she took to the surface and started cutting swathes through the demons with monsters of her own creation.

Seeing just how well she was tearing through their mortal enemies, Summer sought her out and asked her to take him through his own ritual. But while the two had managed to overcome hurdle one of the process, they hadn't completed hurdle two: the keeping of the sanity. And it wasn't long before Silence decided that because she was the one who was finally clearing the demons out, she should be in charge of the city instead of those dumbass monks. Summer decided since he owed Silence for this newfound power, he was along for the ride. 

Which left Winter with the unenviable job of having to kill the two of them. The monks now had their hands full with trying to stop both demon incursions and Silence and Summer, so they tasked Winter with tracking down and defeating her former friends, for who is the last person that they'd see coming? 

Well, despite her best efforts, this turns out to be a bad idea. Though Winter managed to break through Silence's ranks with her trainee abilities, between her lack of power and her hesitance to fight her friends, she couldn't stop Summer. Winter barely managed to escape and return to the order, where she came to the conclusion that she was unfortunately going to have to fight fire with fire (or fire with ICE, huh? HUH?!). She was going to have to go through the ritual herself. Initially, the monks were reluctant, but it quickly became apparent it was the only option they had. 

Thus, she finally learned what the process was: the ritual practitioner would be consumed by the element of their choice to the point of death. If they were truly attuned to this element, however, the element would reanimate them, allowing them to freely channel this power through their form. For Winter, this meant drowning herself in a frozen pool of water. Thankfully, the process worked, and she returned to Silence's tower ready to beat some ass.

Though still not completely ready, since there was another hang up: she was completely in love with Summer. Like any good teenage protagonist, she'd originally thought Summer was in love with Silence, but after the death ritual, she wasn't going to play that game anymore. She was going to beat Summer's ass, make him see reason, and confess her feelings. 

And she does all three in spectacular fashion, winning Summer over to her side and convincing him to help her fight Silence, since she was the strongest of the three even before the death ritual. The three have a hellacious battle, but by that time, Silence's sanity was so far gone that after wearing down her body, Winter and Summer had to infiltrate her mind in order to return her to sense. It's magic, you know how it is. 

Whether or not they manage to bring her back, however, has flip-flopped over the years. Initially, they did, and they convinced the monastic order to simply imprison rather than execute her. But later, I started to think that maybe she actively chose to stay locked within her own mind in a catatonic state out of penance, and would only come back when she felt she'd reflected enough on what she'd done. 

But at the very least, Winter and Summer get a relatively happy ending together.

Originally, Winter's superpowered mode was basically just standard aura-floating hair-glowy eyes stuff, but doing the redraw, I thought, "Wouldn't it be cooler if I incorporated the dying part more and made her look frostbitten?" I dunno how well that comes off, but y'know. I tried.

[sleepysnk]

I GOT THIS IDEA FROM A FRIEND @trashgremlin36 so ima feed y'all willy simps AGAIN. i wrote this late so my bad for any spelling mistakes or grammar errors 😀✨. HE NEEDS FLUFF BYE OKAY. i hope you guys enjoy 😏

She's Not You

Pairings: Willy Tybur x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Slight angst

(Y/N) shivered as she walked along the streets with her now boyfriend Willy. The chill fall air made her skin cold.

"I told you.. wear a jacket or something," Willy said, laughing a bit at his girlfriends actions.

She looked at him with annoyance. "Uh it was your idea for the shirt! Don't lie there," she replied, rolling her eyes playfully.

He intertwined his fingers with hers and smiled down at her. "I'm just messing with you. Look, we should head home if you're cold. Don't need you catching a cold," he said, stopping beside a store.

"Wait... is that Gucci? I want to go to Gucci," (Y/N) said, staring at the store next to her. "Please! I promise I'll be fast." she pleaded, staring up at Willy with pleading eyes.

Willy smiled at her cuteness, taking out his wallet and handing her his card. "Go crazy, but be back quickly." he replied, kissing her head. "I'll have the car ready for you love," he added, taking out his keys.

She took his card and grinned as she walked into the luxurious store. The worker greeted her as she walked around, before she could never afford Gucci. Even thinking about clothes as a college student made her bank feel nervous. She was originally just Willy's sugar baby, he always gave her money, he even paid off her debt. She was incredibly thankful for him.

That's when the spark formed between them about six months into the agreement.

Though only being about five years younger than him, she felt something, as well as Willy. Then one day, he just came clean to her about it. Of course, she didn't deny what she felt, and here they are now.. in a serious relationship.

(Y/N)'s eyes wandered around the different items in the store, from expensive handbags worth more than her rent, to perfumes and colognes that smelled amazing.

"$1000? Damn.." she said, placing the perfume onto the counter.

She wandered deeper into the store when she felt someone's eyes on hers. When she turned she saw a woman with black hair staring at her. Feeling uncomfortable, she moved a bit away. Until the woman spoke.

"You're (Y/N) (L/N) right?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

She felt awkward talking to this woman, who looked oddly familiar. "U-Um.. yes?" she replied, furrowing her brows. "Who's asking?" she asked, nodding her head.

The woman chuckled which made (Y/N) confused. Was the woman mocking her?

"Oh sweetheart.. do you even know who I am?" she asked, laughing a bit more.

(Y/N) shook her head, maybe she got her confused with someone else? But how the hell did she know her name? She's never seen this woman in her damn life. It made her freaked out knowing someone knew her.

Before she could speak a hand was on her shoulder. "(Y/N)- oh, funny to see you here Anastasia," she knew that voice to be Willy's.

"It is funny to see you too Willy," the woman who she assumed to be 'Anastasia' replied.

(Y/N) swallowed, feeling the tension becoming thick between them. "U-Um.." she said, looking back at her boyfriend who had a serious expression on his face.

"Here darling, take the keys and go to the car." Willy said, holding out his keys for her to take.

"Darling? Is this your new mate?" Anastasia asked, eyeing (Y/N).

Who was she? Did Willy know her or something? She knew he worked with many people, and many people knew who he was. He was a well-known CEO, and most people respected him for his business.

"In fact she is, but I don't understand why you're even speaking to her. Personally, I don't know how you even know her name either." Willy said, clenching his jaw.

Anastasia laughed, staring at her. "People talk Willy, your line of business isn't exactly a secret. In my opinion, you can do better. Did you find her at a strip club? I never knew you liked the younger crowd either," she said, crossing her arms.

Ouch.

(Y/N) felt a sting in her heart at her words. Was this an ex-girlfriend or something? Why was she being so rude? Insecurity washed over her as she stood there. Did she really look bad?

"Look Anastasia, I'm not arguing with you on this in the middle of a store. What happened between us is over and final, get over it." Willy said, seriousness dripping from his voice. "Come on (Y/N)," he said, taking her hand in his.

Anastasia gritted her teeth watching as the two exited the store. "Pathetic," she said, looking around the store once more.

(Y/N) got into Willy's car and sat there taking in what had just happened. She still had one question, who was that woman? She recognized her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

The drive home was silent and awkward. No words were spoken between the two, but Willy knew something was wrong with her. (Y/N) was never this quiet, she was usually talkative, but now she just seemed uninterested.

Arriving home, (Y/N) got out of the car and made her way up to the apartment they both shared. The tension was becoming too much for Willy, she seemed pissed. Did she even know that was his ex-wife?

(Y/N) felt sick to her stomach. The woman's words echoed into her head, she felt her confidence hit the ground. Which is usually never like her. She tossed her clothes and put on a more comfortable outfit, lying down on the bed they shared. Her mind replayed the whole scenario a million times. Whoever she was, the woman was beautiful, her black hair, and her attractive face gave it away. Maybe she was some fancy assistant Willy hooked up with awhile back, she was aware he had many flings before meeting (Y/N).

Who could blame the woman for those words? Compared to (Y/N), the woman seemed more professional. She was still young, that woman had to be around his age. (Y/N) let the insecurities rush into her head.

-

(Y/N) sulked for the next 30 minutes about everything that went down. She wasn't even sure where Willy was, he usually would follow her into their room, but he didn't which was odd for him.

Placing her phone on the nightstand, she heard the door opened to their room.

Speak of the devil.

She looked back seeing Willy leaning against the doorframe. He seemed to be studying her, something he was good at.

"I noticed you were upset so I gave you time for yourself. Mind telling me what's going on?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

(Y/N) sighed, standing up and leaning against the wall. "I don't know... it's just.. everything that happened today was bothering me," she replied, avoiding his gaze.

He loosened his tie and sat down on the edge of the bed. "(Y/N) what that woman said wasn't true. You don't look like a 'stripper' and you sure as hell don't have to worry," he said, looking at her.

(Y/N) looked up, his eyes staring right at her. "Who even was that woman? Does she know you or something?" she asked, furrowing her brows with confusion.

He let out a sigh. "That woman, Anastasia, is my ex-wife," he replied, looking down at the floor.

It all made sense.

(Y/N) knew of an ex-wife before, Willy made her aware after noticing a wedding ring on his table. He stated that before meeting her he was going through a nasty divorce, his ex-wife was apparently a basket case. It was him who filed for it, but he never exactly went into detail on why he wanted one. It was all a mystery to her.

"O-Oh.. I see," she said, chewing on her bottom lip. "I could see why you married her, she's beautiful." she added.

His eyes averted to look at his girlfriend seeming upset. More upset than before actually.

"(Y/N)... please, come here." he said, reaching his hand out for her.

She hesitated but made her way in front of him, fingers wrapped around her hands. His eyes stared up at her.

"Do you even know why I divorced her?" Willy asked, raising a brow.

(Y/N) shook her head. "No.. you never really went into much detail that day. I figured it was too much to ask," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

He sighed. "There's multiple reasons my love, for one Anastasia wanted so much from me. She wanted children four months into our marriage and we didn't even have a place yet, then she accused me of cheating on her on multiple occasions. Which wasn't true at all, I always remained loyal throughout our marriage. There were days we had that were good, but it all turned sour about a year and a half in. We argued everyday, from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed, we argued. She'd send people to watch me at work or if I wasn't home early enough she'd get pissed off," he explained, staring at the floor. "Then one day, I found her in bed with one of her co-workers. That's when I filed for divorce," he added.

(Y/N) stared down at him, taking in all the information. He really went through all of that? It made her sick to her stomach.

"She was beautiful yes, but behind her beauty was an ugly truth. I loved her, I really did, but I wasn't happy anymore. The divorce was horrible as well, she didn't want one, but luckily my lawyer got her to sign the papers." he said, playing with her hands.

(Y/N) nodded. "That's horrible, I couldn't imagine putting you through that. She sounds so bad," she replied.

Willy chuckled. "You're telling me, but that's besides the point. What my point is, (Y/N) she's not you. Don't compare yourself to Ana, she's way different than you. You have nothing to be insecure about," he said, staring up at her. "Trust me, I can see that your heart is pure." he added, kissing her hand.

His words began to put her at ease. (Y/N) knew she was better than Anastasia, she could never imagine putting Willy through something like that. It just isn't inside of her.

"You're right, I don't think I can imagine myself being like her." she said, laughing a bit. "She just seems so.. professional you know? And when she said that stuff to me, it kind of hurt." she added.

He nodded his head. "It's understandable, for some reason Ana always had something to say about other women. Trust me, that kind of attitude is unprofessional, but don't worry darling, you're special to me and I don't care what she has to say." he replied, giving her a smile.

She stared at the ground. "I guess you're right," she replied, smiling a bit.

Willy looked up with a grin. "You want to know a secret?" he asked, nodding.

(Y/N) looked down at him with confusion. "Sure, what is it?" she asked.

He chuckled a bit. "She still tries to come back to me every now and then. I've had to turn her away millions of times," he said, rolling his eyes.

Her brows raised and a laugh escaped her mouth. "Really? I mean.. isn't there something in divorce papers that says you can't see them or something?" she asked. "I also wanna know how she knows my name," she added, shaking her head.

He shrugged. "Couldn't say, she probably saw us together a few times, but trust me, you have nothing to worry about. I'll never go back to her, you're the only one I love." he said, putting his hands on her hips.

She felt sparks come from his touch, her heart fluttering at his words. "I guess you're right," she said, putting her hands onto his.

He smirked. "When have I ever been wrong?" he asked, looking up at her. "Now.. come here, let me make all of your insecurities go away, hm?" he said, pulling her body closer to his.

[chromosome23hq]

august 11th, 1997, 6:05 am, silverhouse apartments

One fine morning, with a mug of coffee in one hand and a watering can in the other, Billie Foster was not prepared for the crack of a gun to kick her into a vision. A crowd. A masked figure. Mayor Peter Webber, now with a hole in his forehead. So many lives altered in one fell swoop that the crowd overwhelmed her. A small stampede had Billie stumbling back into her apartment. Coffee in her monstera and water soaking her feet. She didn't get a chance to see anymore details, only a masked figure and an untimely death.

It’s not something Billie can just ignore, especially when it comes to the death of a public figure, much less the mayor. She needed to tell someone, an officer of some sort who can protect the mayor from anything. It’s when she remembers them, the Omegas. It’s a part of their job description to protect the weak and innocent, which includes the mayor. A heavy and deep sigh leaves between her lips. This is not how she wanted to start her morning. 

august 14th, 1997, 11:45 am, somewhere in the city

This has to be the most boring protection assignment in the world. For the past few days, all Yazmín Navarro Montes’ (also known as Siren) done is escort Mayor Peter Weber everywhere to defend him against an assassination threat. He still has his bodyguards, but extra cushion with Yazmín here, as Prism described it. Of course, it’s unspoken that this also works as great publicity. She had wanted nothing to do with it, which meant Prism had to pick her for this. Her luck always worked that way. Today, she’s starting to wonder if this threat was real at all, or a phony stunt to benefit the mayor and the Omegas. There’s been no suspicious figures lingering around his office or home, no attempts, and no threats sent to him. 

Still, Yazmín doesn’t slack on her job. She always has an eye out, ready to push the mayor out of the way or stop a would-be killer. They’re outside for a few minutes when something starts to bother her. There’s water everywhere she can sense, then suddenly there’s a spike. It’s nowhere near winter, but something freezing just entered the vicinity. No one stands out in the crowd, until—

Already running behind schedule after sleeping in late, Ethan Sato pays no heed to his surroundings as he cuts past a gentleman on his journey to class. He’s cursing himself internally, vowing for the umpteenth time to start going to bed earlier, when his internal monologue is drowned out by a wave of terror. Ethan stops in his tracks, his heartbeat thundering, panic squeezing down on his chest. Breathe, he needs to breathe. He takes in one, shuddering breath, knowing that this—whatever this is—isn’t his, then turns around and he sees—

“Oh, my God.” He claps his hand over his mouth. Behind Ethan is the Mayor, haloed by his own blood as he lays on the footpath. It takes Ethan a solid minute to process what he sees, what he feels, before he scrambles backwards, yelling, “Help! Somebody help!”

As soon as his co-worker had walked in, Jaewon Oh had scampered off for his break. An entire hour away from inane questions was exactly what he needed. Deciding to take a stroll to his favorite nearby coffee shop was done automatically, he ate there almost everyday. Unfortunately for him, his hour was coming to an end and so he made his way back with an extra sandwich in his hand. 

He was contemplating whether or not he could get away with leaving the store early when he saw it. Or, rather, them. A person in a mask appeared seemingly out of nowhere and Jaewon, curious, watched as they walked ahead of him with purpose. something about this didn’t feel right, he wasn’t sure exactly what was going on but there was a sinking feeling in his gut. 

Should he do something? No, yes? He was just about to shake off the feeling, not wanting to get involved in business that wasn’t his own, when he saw a man ahead of him go down. It took him a moment to register that it was the mayor and said mayor had just been shot. The masked figure was running and Jaewon watched, frozen to his spot, as they did so. On the sidewalk ahead of him the mayor lay dying, the particles of energy around him turning a meek gray as the life left him. 

Jaewon took several steps back and pressed himself against a storefront, brows furrowed. it couldn’t have been a normal bullet, a gun going off was loud. this had been too quiet. suspicion rose in him, humans could quiet a gun, sure, but not to that extent. could … could it have been a mutant? Jaewon looked back at the scene that was now filled with people, all as terrified as they were shocked, and wondered. It certainly seemed like a possibility. shit, he’d just witnessed the mayor getting shot, the mayor being killed. Soon enough police sirens would echo down the street and detectives would go looking for bystanders. Not wanting to be questioned, he quickly walked in the opposite direction and stewed in his own theories.

Sitting on the stairs of a building that had been ‘under construction’ for five years now (he’d been keeping track of time—the crew seemed to have abandoned it), David Castillo withdrew his flask and took a swig, eyeing the passersby—trying to find who best to focus on. Woman with the dog thinking about how the groomers screwed her poodle’s nail polish up completely? (he didn’t agree, they looked marvelous)—she walked by too fast. Man with the shirt that read ‘D.A.R.E - to keep kids off drugs’ and was already thinking about that sweet weed he would score later? Also too fast. 

That was the only problem with a staircase in the middle of an ‘under construction’ type of place!

Voices swirling around, from those thinking about their affairs to those thinking about their loyal spouses, he shook his head viciously. 

And then a strong voice emerged. 

Strong emotion.

Strong passion.

Strong thought.

‘Got ‘em.’

Followed by screams—real ones.

And a silence. Even amongst the screams... a silence.

It’s too late. 

There’s barely any noise between the mayor standing in front of Yazmin, and dropping to the ground. Blood is everywhere. Some of it’s even on her suit, her hands. She had bent down to hold the wound without thinking, before realizing it’s all too late. 

There’s people running away in the crowd, and that’s how she knows the shooter isn’t far ahead. She’s running before the bodyguards do, head going through anyway she could to slow them down. Every option can lead to civilian injuries or worse. Shit! Yaz speeds up, water rising from her side pouch and striking out toward the assailant’s ankle as they round the corner. It misses by an inch. 

As she enters the alley, she sends a dozen sharp edged droplets at the wall with a yell for them to stop. But no one’s there. The only evidence that remains is a spray painted symbol.

august 17th, 1997, 5:34 pm, ramer cemetery 

Peter Webber is found dead on sight. Upon inspection, they’re unable to find a bullet but water is found. Because of Yazmín’s ability and past criminal record, the suspicion falls onto her. Banks and schools are closed early that day, and remain that way until the funeral. National news channels cover it nearly twenty-four seven, wondering how the mayor of one of the most prominent cities in America was shot in broad daylight and by who. All channels in New York cut into their current programming to broadcast the funeral, from the funeral home to the drive to the cemetery. Crowds line the streets during the procession to show their love for the beloved mayor, as well as grieve his loss and the loss it is to the city. His children and wife thank those for being there with them through this difficult time. The vice mayor, who was sworn in days before, tells the city they’ll get through this together and follow the vision Mayor Peter Webber had.

august 18th, 1997, 9:30 am, new york city hall

This isn’t the first time that Han-Byul Song (also known as Prism) stands surrounded by cameras, microphones, and journalists waiting for what he has to say. But he can say that it’s the first time dealing with them like this. Individuals who once looked at him as if he was like them, now they see him as something else. It doesn’t sit right with him, none of this sits right with him. However, he’s a professional and never the type to let someone see him when he’s at his lowest. With a straightened back and squared shoulders, Han-Byul begins his statement. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the city, my name is Prism and as you all know, I’m the current leader of the Omegas. We are tasked with protecting the lives of the innocent, both mutants and non-mutants. Recently, we were given the mission to watch over and protect Mayor Peter Webber, sending one of our own to act as one of his bodyguards.” His eyes fall on Yazmín, the young mutant standing beside him with a cold stare and a rigid body. “Despite our best efforts to protect the mayor, we—” Failed. The words fall from his tongue but it doesn’t feel like he’s the one saying it. He can see the questions that are ready to leap out of their mouths, the hunger in their eyes, beasts. They were all beasts. “However, this doesn’t mean that our mission ends here. We’re now undergoing an investigation to look for and capture the person behind this. Once we find this individual, we’ll bring justice to all of you but also Mayor Webber.” 

There are questions, lots of them, and he answers, some of them. There isn’t enough or maybe that’s what he tries to tell himself as Yazmín takes his place to read over her apology. He’s listening but also not, he’s mainly just watching her and the crowd. Even though she was there acting as a bodyguard, she’s a suspect. Just because of her ability, just because she’s a mutant, just because they needed a scapegoat. 

OOC INFORMATION:

Mayor Peter Webber died on August 14th, 1997 and his funeral was held on the 17th. Various radio talk shows and news articles report on his death. Your muse can react however they want to this! 

The masked killer is Daichi Kato (played by Admin Kashia). No muse is aware of him killing the mayor, outside of Magneto. Yazmín is under the suspicion of partaking. 

This marks the true beginning of The Brotherhood showing themselves to everyone, which also means they’re recruiting people in. Your muse has the decision to join them but be aware of the true purpose of The Brotherhood! The spots are unlimited. 

If you play a Xavier student or staff member, things will be tense as Charles plans on what to do next.

And that’s the way the pussy crumbles.

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Della Arc Finale and Shadow Into Light  Combo: The Shadow War! or The Last Stand of Lena DeSpell (For at least a year)

Hello all you happy people! And today the two arcs of Ducktales i’ve been covering unite for the season 1 finale! It’s been a hell of a ride: We’ve had a family reborn, gay subtext, a warriors homage, an underground adventure, a vacation with the gods, gay subtext, a giant shark made of money, a trip to old Scotland for some family fun shouting, gay subtext, a trip into Lena’s innermost nightmares that also involved a sasquatch for some reason, a heart stopping reveal, a heartbreaking argument due to said reveal and gay subtext. It’s been a hell of a ride and while the Lena train will go on, I feel both acomplished and happy to have finished up the Della arc in such a short time. Never doing that again mind, as it took up my entire schedule and pushed any other ongoing projects out, but i’m still proud to have pulled it off. 

When we last left off.. yesterday, The truth came out, the boys lashed out at Scrooge, Scrooge lashed out at everyone, and we all cried. Now Magica looms, our family is broken again and it’s up to two unlikely people to bring them together again. So join me under the cut for some parent trapping, some adventure and even more Weblena subtext than usual, as we enter the Shadow War.

Part One: Night of De Spell! 

I”ve come around on the episodes being treated as two parts in reuruns and on Disney +. They were BUILT to be chunked up later as there are clear breaks between episodes, said chunking is to make reruns on tv easier.. and it makes my job easier as it gives me clear act breaks. I’ll still cover them all in one article, but it makes it easier to recap it when I have two clearly defined acts, something that’s been a struggle when reviewing episodes that just aired like Let’s Get Dangerous! and the Last Adventure!, hence why I switched to breaking down the episode instead for the latter. So I really can’t gripe about something that dosen’t really affect anything negatively, at most it just adds credits to both episodes, and HELPS me a lot. 

And it really helps with this one as like most of the episodes for the Della arc... the first half of the finale is two plots that don’t really intersect that much aside from Magica mimicking Scrooge on the phone to keep him from going to the dinner. Other than that they don’t really impact each other until the end of the first part. So i’ll be covering both plots separately, and then just the episode as a whole for part two. 

Good. Let’s get quackin. 

Everyone But Scrooge and Lena in Parent Trapped:

It’s three days after the end of the last episode and everything still sucks: Webby is desperate to try and get her family back but none of them are hearing it and Dewey and Huey are taking it an extra mile and throwing their mementos from their adventures in the bay. Louie however dosen’t want to and it’s the one bit of an otherwise great episode that does not work for me as he’s not keeping it for sentiment: it’s a solid gold Kopesh. As someone who makes about 30 bucks a month and gladly sells stuff he doesn’t need, this annoys me on a fundamental level. Sell the damn thing and buy yourselves some food or some ninja turtles dvds like me. 

So Webby is worried they might leave soon and she’ll be back to almost no one but Launchpad assures her they aren’t going anywhere.. right as Donald, desperate to help the boys cheer up and relating to what their feeling, offers to take them where they always wanted to go: Cape Suzette! Spin it!

The Sea Ducks’ even on the flier. Baloo was a legend.. I hope he enjoys his retirment on Cocaine Island as Secretary of Goodtimes under President Snowflame. So our dynamic duo spiral into panic at the thought of loosing their family and best friend respectively. 

Webby: Someone’s gotta remain calm here Launchpad: So you? Even Launchpad knows he isn’t the adult in the situation between him and an 11 year old girl. So they come up with a plan. It’s time to parent trap those sons of bitches. They’ll host a heartwarming dinner reminding them of all the good times, invite Scrooge as the suprise guest and then spring the parent trap. Probably also sing Let’s Get Together given the two people we’re dealing with and given Beakley’s age she likely showed Webby both. Sidenote... I really wish we’d seen more of these two. It’s a team up we only got this once but both Webby and Launchpad being friendly weirdos with a lot of heart but not a lot of common sense made them the dream team and make this part of the plot hilarious and help lighten the mood given the heavy stakes. 

So later that day, we cut to Huey and Lewey who are looking into Cape Suzette.. and find themselves not as excited anymore. They wanted to go all their lives.. but it’s clear that traveling the world.. it’s just another port town, not much more or less adventuerous than Duckburg, and was likely only appealing because it wasn’t here. They’ve flown higher now, seen more and while they won’t admit it... they probably really DON’T want to leave Scrooge forever. it sounded good a few hours ago, it sounded great 6 months ago but now.. it’s just not the same. Dewey is all for it.. but that’s because Dewey was the one who took everything the worst. He put all this effort into finding his mom, into this whole big hunt... and also put all his faith and love and future into scrooge, so having that all puleld out from under him without the maturity to get that he lost a lot too, combined with his natural stubborness, has lead him to dig in. But before hec an convince the other Webby and Launchpad slip them the invitation. The boys accept, probably because with a child’s handwriting it could only be either Webby or Launchpad.. Donald set out traps for Doofus after the last time. 

So they take over the kitchen with Donald confused and upset and then just grumpy after.. they explain their making a farewell dinner. And one of them is his friend. And the other one is his boys surrogate sister. And their offering to make him free dinner and brought all the fixings when he’s out of a job

So naturally their attempt at a parent trap is about as subtle as a Killdozer through your living room, with Webby having made replicas of all their adventures out of food. Launchpad provided drinks.. that are melted popscilces (”There’s a riddle on the stick”). God bless you thoughtly dumb thoroughly beautiful man. So naturally this really isn’t working at all, not helped by Scrooge not showing up thanks to Magica, and Beakley showing up because Webby made the crucial mistake of thinking Launchpad could think bout anything but Darkwing Duck, Planes or a Darkwing Duck Shaped planes clearly so he gave her an invitation telling her NOT to come. 

Webby’s attempt to get them to remember Scrooge fondly gets no-sold, though in a very touching way as Dewey, clearly sensing what she’s trying to do instead picks Uncle Donald, with Huey, Louie and Launchpad all joining in saying he’s Loyal (Dewey, who also uses it as a jab at scrooge because he’s being a little shit this episode, and not in his usual fun way or Louie’s usual fun way), Thoughtful (Huey), Passionate (Louie) and that he likes his sailor suit (Launchpad). It brings the duck to tears and as a big fan of Donald, I love this a lot and it shows that, even if Dewey is doing it to take a jab at his uncle, they really do love and apricate their uncle and all he did despite perferring scrooge for the last 6 months. They may love their rich uncle.. but Donald’s there Dad and nothing can take that away from him.. not that a lack of an emphasis on  his role as their adopted dad in season 3 didn’t try. They love him and wether they realized that because of what happened with Scrooge or always felt this way and just never expressed it, i’ts sweet. For the record I feel while they loved him it took till this for Dewey and Louie to appricate him while Huey, being a sweetheart and the most like him out of the three, always did. Launchpad attempts to use a bouncy castle to fix things for some reason.. the inner machinations of his mind are an enigma.... or just this on a loop. 

You make the call. Beakley naturally, being a spy with decades of experince and someone with half a brainn, figured out their parent trapping them.. but to the suprise of both and the audience she agrees. The family’s been apart too long and she’s fully on board with keeping it together. It makes sense both just in the context of season one and with the reveal of the finale. For the former, she’s watched Scrooge be miserable and withdraw for a decade, and was the one who acitvely encouraged him to spend time with the boys. Sure she wasn’t happy about them moving in, but that settled quickly and last episode she was every bit as worried about the boys as she was her own daughter. She WANTS her best friend to be happy and knows he and his family are stubborn as hell, and knows that our dream team’s heart is in the right place.. but they have about a third of a brain cell between them when it comes to social situations. The finale just adds to it by not wanting Webby to loose her dad or the rest of her family because her dad’s being an idiot. And as a third I just thought of, now we know Beakley’s only ever had one family member before joining the McDuck family, she likely wishes she’d had one and dosen’t want Scrooge to loose that.  It’s also a VERY touching moment: Webby forgave Scrooge easily out of desperation, Launchpad did because he’s nice.. but Beakley while justifably pissed at the time and pulling Webby out of there til lhe stopped being a shithead, given the “your not family” comment, despite having EVERY reason to shun him too.. she gets that right now her best friend needs her to keep his family from running off. 

She also wins easily, making a pie that scrooge liked and taking it away saying they don’t want a reminder of that “awful man”.. before giving them Scrooge’s side of the story, if through double negatives Launchpad dosen’t get. She points out he spent nearly all his money, that their mother was her own woman who made the decision, and that Scrooge spent TEN YEARS looking for her, the entirety of her lives and only stopped because he was on the brink of loosing everything. That starts to turn the boys minus Dewey, but the killing stroke is her pointing out a very simple fact: he lost someone too and all their doing is cutting out their family and costing him more people for something that wasn’t ENTIRELY his fault and he spent a decade trying desperatly to fix. 

This gets Donald, whose the first to say they should go home. “This family has been apart too long.” To me, while I wish the show had built it up more.. i’ts Donald realizing how WRONG he was. He shunned his uncle and while he was right to be mad.. Scrooge did everything he could to fix things, and not trying to reconcile cost him a decade with the only family he has left that he cared about. Cost the boys their uncle and is NEVER what his sister would’ve wanted. And now he’s enabling the boys to make the same mistake he did, his own anger in the past making them think their resitment and shunning is okay when it’s not helping anyone. All he’s done is hurt someone he loves, someone who is easily his second father and teach his boys to do the same. That has to stop. It’s a great bit of character. 

Huey and Louie are natually easily convinced while Dewey refuses to at first and cries.. before joining in, letting go of his anger too forced to finally realize the truth, or at least what I feel it is: He attacked scrooge because he didn’t want to admit his mom wasn’t perfect, that after all this time he found out she DID do something bad, if not villiaonous, by leaving them and taking the rocket before it was ready, something reckless and selfish, and admitting Scrogoe wasn’t the only one responsible.. was admitting she left him. He finally lets go... just in time for a giant eruption of purple from the mansion. Wuh-oh.. as for why let’s go back a few hours. Boys?

Scrooge and Lena in Night of De Spell!

So a few hours ago Magica is still using Lena’s body, to the point that when Lena is able to force her out for a second she genuinely FORGOT she was there. That’s horrifying..nothing to add there that entire sentence was just really fucking terrifying. 

So naturally she plans to use Lena’s body to get back to the mansion only to find out the kids left from Launchpad (this is before he entered the other plot), but gets in anyway by manipulating him by faking that webby said something about him being weak. 

That being said.. he is in a VERY bad place, beginning the series running gag of characters eating nothing but Pizza and having pizza boxes everywhere as a sign of depression, as the mansion is littered with it despite, as mentioned before everyone only having been gone three days. He’s not even wearing his robe, instead wearing a dirty undershirt and rolling around. He’s so horribly depressed and miserable.  Magica being kind of nuts can’t fathom why he’s miserable and keeps trying to make him Tea.. which leads to something like this for about 7 minutes. 

Granted i’ts more by accident he avoids  Magica poisoning him but still. Also before we move on I have to give props for the animation here and Kimiko Glenn’s performance. She plays Magica perfectly (as Magica only uses her own voice when not around scrooge), and the animation shows off the diffrence between owners of the body incredibly well.

Eventually Magica realizes he’s not faking it and dosen’t want an easy win. She’s waited a decade and a half for this she wants at least some fight. So she manipulates him, talking about family (Not that sh’es a good family member but we’ll get tot hat), and how it weighs you down.. likely also beliving given what we know about her backstory, that he belivies that. That what he said to poe back then was accurate, not realizing.. he changed. 

So he decides to go back to baiss and get rid of everything.. except the dime and Magica being too eager for it gives the game away, so she simply bites him and takes it and... frees herself with the power of the eclipse. After 15 years Magica is free, at full power and quickly imprisons our heroes. 

Scrooge naturally tears into Lena before blaming his family for it.. before she shuts him up, pointing out that Magica got in here BECAUSE his family was gone. Had Webby been here she would’ve realized something was off and stopped her, as would the rest of the family. With no one left to watch his back and his insincts dulled by misery, he was an easy target. She WISHES she had his family. She realized too late that what she wanted wasn’t freedom.. it was somewhere to belong, somewhere where she’s loved and people care about her. Actual parents or parental figures, a warm bed, and a place where no matter how much you argue your welcome at the end of the day. To have a home. Scrooge takes both things in and thanks her for making him realize he was a moron, she was right.. and that if she helps him get out of this.. she has a place in said family.  Naturallly though given this is only part one their beaten easily once they escape: Magica turns Lena back into her shadow, more on that in a minute and traps Scrooge in the dime, and so part 1 ends with Magica ascending at full power and Donald giving the natural response “Aw Phooey”. Time for an intermission...

Part 2: Day of the Ducks!

So we pick up where we left off.. with Magica’s manical laughter and Dewey wondering.. who the hell is this? Webby fills him: Ancient sorceress,  mortal enemy of scrooge usual stuff between them. Except in this version she’s leagues more powerful. She’s also voiced by Comedic Actress and Former Doctor Who Star Cathrine Tate who I haven’t complimented enough int he roll but will now. She easily rolls between comedic and thretaning in an instant and was perfect casting, able to be delightfully hammy.. and unspeakably vile and abusive. 

Back to the plot Magica proceeds to make things worse by moving her base from the Mansion to the bin... and summoning ALL the shadows of the citizens of duckburg. We also get a few neat scenes as a result: Glomgold tries to force his to stay but gets dropped in the bay.. and suprisingly is not a throaway gag but a gag that leads to the setup of his plot next season and the introduction of Kev, who comissioned this episode,’s faviorite character. More on that someday. Fenton does some stargazing.. and naturally when his turns into an evil shadow ghost tries to summon his armor.. and instead his shadow steals it. 

Finally Gladstone’s... gives him 20 dollars because of course it does. All nice littlle nods and in fentons’ case setup for later. 

So while Magica begins her gloating, she had a long speech prepared, our heroes back at the boat try to come up with a plan. They do end up getting unexpected reinforcements: Gyro, Manny, and Little Bulb all show up as their shadows emerging destroyed the glass in the underwater lab. “That’s it no more underwater labs! it’s volcano’s and abandoned castles from now on!”. Well the last one worked for the Mads for a while. i’d of gone for it. Though fair play while they do keep Gyro’s cool underwater lab next time we see it and the windows break security shutters activate to prevent another flooding. Likely Scrooge wouldn’t pay to move the whole thing i’m betting. Fenton also shows up so with most of the supporting cast at this point in the show present, they can begin the raid. 

Donald does try to squak out a plan.. but it’s here an intresting idea of the series pops up: No one can understand donald. Well some people can, but not everyone can and even the boys mostly take it from context.. or at least Dewey does. This causes Donald to angrily chase Dewey around

So Gyro, not having the time for any of this, shoves a thing in his mouth, phrasing. This is the Barksian Modulator, a nod to Carl Barks and how Donald could speak in the comics and thus gives him a Don Cheadle voice.. wait.. does this mean comics Donald is voiced by War Machine too? I’ll table that. The point is he can speak clearly and in the sliky tones of Don Cheadle. Not as sexy as Keith David but i’ll take it. I also appricate Cheadle being fully game for this, doing a silly promo video about his roll here, likely taking a bit of a pay cut to do voice acting, and even doing donald’s trademark untitllegble raises. I do WISH donald got to give his badass speach in his own voice as Anselmo would nail it, but he got plenty of good performances before and after this and the gag of having an academy a golden globe and sag award winning actor with tons of charsima as Donald’s intelligble voice was too good to pass up. He even gives out an ah phooey! Such a legend. 

So he gives a big inspirisng speech and a new motto of “Ducks never back down” that Dewey uses afterwords to diminishing returns. Andddd has the kids stay on the dock for their saftey SEEMINGLY having leanred nothing. Seemingly being the key word. Just to jump ahead a bit his assault team of him and the other adults goes decently: They are overwhelmed, but Fenton is able to improvise a ray gun, and then uses little bulb to turbocharge it. It’s awesome and shows the guys got talent with or without the suit. Beakley keeps the boat safe as she can (and gets as frustrated as donald, which is great, showing i’ts not so easy is it?)< and Gyro gets captured and is disapointed when he tells magica he’s only an aquantince when asked instead of a friend, though let’s be fair here... Scrooge REALLY does value gyro and did not want him to die. Are they friends... eh I dunno, but I do think he’s more than aquantince. Gyro also deserved it after putting Manny and LIl Bulb up against each other for the job. That will teach you to try and unemploy keith david! Launchpad also gets the awesome task of crashing into the bin as a distraction, though Magica keeps tossing him back, which at least does the job... he also gets a TRULY magnificent moment where he leaps onto the plane, singing his own version of the darkwing duck theme song. Fucking amazing and a shame they never called back to this at any point once Darkwing was introduced. I’d pay money to see them both do that. 

So meanwhile with the kids, they naturally say nerp to staying behind. But they need someone who could help them bring them in. In Webby’s actual words, which I am not paraphrasing nor manipulating “Like a noble teen ne'er-do-well who can break into anything, including your heart?” And just in case you think i’m reading too much into things this is her face after saying that. 

That my friend is a face that just SCREAMS 

There’s no straight explination for this face or this line, and for anyone whose going to bring up the sisters thing in the finale 1. Sisterhood is complicated and sometimes not literal and 2. she was trying to keep Webby from walking into what she thought, correctly, was a trap. I’m doing this NOW because I forgot to in the review, and want to make it painfully clear i’ts okay to ship them as long as you don’t do sex stuff. Their chlidren. It’s gross. Don’t. It is precious. 

So they head to Lena’s and find the place deserted and kinda messed up.. and find her Journal which reveals her secret origin: 15 years ago, though her age is not exact and even frank’s said that and while we do see her fully formed as a teen, that might of been an artistic thing we don’t know. Point is 15 years ago Lena was born when Scrooge sealed Magica’s phsyical form away in a dime during their final battle on Mt. Vesuvius, her base in the comics and original series, so she constructed Lena out of her shadow to act as her minon. 

Webby of course is heartbroken, feeling Lena used her and all that bad stuff, though the boys comfort her, saying she’s still got them.. not getting the diffrence between familial love and romantic love but point is they know how Magica got out and what she did with scrooge, but they still need to get inside.

Huey, I think, Gets an idea and they swim underwater to emerge from Gyro’s flooded lab. Louie also gets his Kopesh back. 

Naturally though their own shadows go after them but Dewey cleverly disapates them: since their shadows they need light to exist, and a simple hit of the fuse box disapates them. Presumibly since Magica was forced to make Lena into a more indepdnent and unique being, she’s immune to this hence why this has only happened to magica’s shadow before.

So they continue making their way up, facing Louie’s old nemisis THE STAIRS in a whopper call back.. only to find the bulk of the shadows, inclduing ShadowdGizmoDuck, waiting.. only for Donald to show up just in the nick of time. Turns out het PLANNED for all of this: he knew they wouldn’t stay put if he told them to and would find their own way in, thus allowing his force to be the bait. Fucking brilliant. 

So our heroes head inside while Donald takes on an army single handed.. if with his modulator bugging out.. and given he and Beakely enter the bin via the office entrance later, he BEAT THE GIZMODUCK ARMOR. If you needed proof donald is a legend, there you go. Goodnight.

Anyways our heroes head inside, and when asked what they do, Dewey manages to give his own badass line “Do what we do best make trouble”. What follows is an awesometastic final fight with every one of the kids using their own talents against Magica in one epic clash. Huey simply asks the questions he has while dodging Magica, throwing her off ballance, and nearly getting her weakness out of her. Louie uses his faster speed at burrowing in the gold to easily dodge her and to get her to break a mirror and claims it was a curse. While she dosen’t buy it he eventually uses his silver tounge to wear her down... and leave her open for a kick to the ribs. “Ow my ribs”. Magica drops the dime and it’s clear our first two boys were just the warmup. This is the headliner and she is pissed, coming at Magica with everything. While we’d seen how badass Webby was all season.. this is her crowning glory. The moment that shows she’s not just the best of the kids she EQUALS Donald and Della in martial combat, if not in experince and easily keeps the pace with Magica, railing at her for taking her family and her friend away. Magica tries gaslighting her by saying Lena wasn’t real.. only for lena to come back. 

In one glorious moment, Lena shows off how far she’s come, defying Magica at FULL power to return and fight back, keeping her off webby and giving Dewey, who magica kept from getting the dime seconds earlier, heads for the dime. She’s gone from going with her aunt for her own selfish reasons.. to fighting her with everythig she has left knowing she won’t surivive.. and Webby gets proof that Lena really did love her. Wether she tricked her or not.. she loved her.. and sadly enough to die for her as Magica, after telling Lena “your not family” after Lena calls her aunt, seemingly destroys her and a furious webby attacks in grief and rage. The “your not family part” also gives horrifying context to magica’s abuse: she likely abused Lena.. because Lena wanted family.. and Magica just wanted a minion.. and now we know her backstory.. she already LOST the only family she thought she had and hardenred herself, refusing to loose anyone again and thus took it out on an innocent child like the heartless monster she is. 

However while Lena’s temporary death didn’t stop Magica.. it gave Dewey a dewstraction and he got the dime back. He tearfully apologizes to Scrooge.. before having to run again, but both have genuinely and finallyr econclied, putting away their own anger and pride and hurt and restoring the family good. Dewey uses the dime to block as Magica corners him.. and that desepration move frees Scrooge. We then get another hell of a fight as Scrooge easily counters her, uses his cane as a sword.. and THANKS HER. As far as he knew without her he’d of lost his family..w ith her , and with Lena, he found the strength to welcome them back in and they came for him when he needed them. This , given the Poe thing, infuraties her MORE, though this time she deserves him making her feel bad and using his douchebaggery against her, and he disarms her of her staff, which breaks on Donald’s head. Magica is dewpowered without her staff and without her amulet which was absorbed into Lena. Laucnhpad also gets a moment by bodyslamming her from the plane. She escapes, why they don’t go after her I have no fucking clue seriously guys what, but the point is for today our heroes have won. The bin, mansion and most of the city may be damaged.. but the family is whole again, cemented by scrooge callign out his nephews names (Minus dewey.. but intetoinally this time) and saying “Curse me kilts i’ve missed you”. After years of pain, hurt and sorrow..the family is whole once more and as they enjoy a midnight swim together, the future is all ahead of them. 

But there’s only one thing.. or rather one person missing. And as we close out the episode and the season we cut to the moon.. where Della is watching a newscast.. and sees her boys for the first time. And we hear her for the first time. SEQUEL HOOK BITCHES. 

Final Thoughts on The Shadow War!:

Shadow War is an EXCELLENT capper to the season and both it’s arc, tying both together beautifully by having Scrooge’s misery over his family leaving him vunerable to Magica. Any complaints I can muster are minor nitpicks, it ties in everything that had happened up to this point into a neat bow while leaving two big sequel hooks for next season for each arc. Though it’d take their sweet time, and some weird rescheduling from Disney ,  to get to the Lena one. It’s heartfelt, satisfying and awesome in every measure and is only the weakest of the three finales because the other two had even more shit to work in after seasons of hard work building up this world, with larger stakes and what not.  It also has great symmetry with Woo-ooo and had the series ended here, and taken out the stinger.. it would’ve been decently satisfying. Thankfully it didn’t and we got two more knockout seasons after this and a whole other arc to cover at some point.  It’s still utterly fantastic and still worth your time. Now for something new as this is the first story arc for a series i’ve finished, and as such ...

Final Thoughts on The Della Arc:  I”ll get to the Lena arc, both for this season and as a whole, once I finish this retrospective. But for now how does the Della Arc hold up after all this time? Decently. It does have i’ts problems: The pacing is pretty bad: the arc is staggered out fairly but the size of it’s mystery coupled with the lack of any real info about Della for the entire goddamn season when this is her first big roll in anything, is annoying and will never not be even though we now have all the answers. 

So while i’ts not perfect.. it’s still pretty damn good. They took one of Disney’s greatest lingering questions that went purposfully unanswered.. and answered it.. turning it into a masterful series of character pieces and using it to drive Dewey as a character. This was his arc and it shows depth to him: in most episodes he’s mostly pluck and adhd, but the arc shows off the hole left by not knowing his mom, his determination.. but also his selfishness and stubborness. It really fleshes the kid out and makes you root for him even when he’s fucking up a lot. The character work with EVERYONE, from Dewey in general to Webby and Donald in Ithaquack, to the other boys on the sunchaser to Scrooge in the last two/three eps, to Beakly in the same.. ther’es just lots of great stuff in this arc and way too many great moments to dismiss it. The pacing may of been shot, we may not have learned mcuh about della.. btu sometimes adventure is about the journey not the destination, and the journey AND where it took us were both phenominal so yeah. It’s a good arc. Not the series best, but a good start. 

As for the Lena Arc i’m saving my throughts on that till we finish it as unlike this arc, which leads into the next but isn’t 100% connected to it, her arc extends for the rest of the series character wise, story wise and weblena wise. So we’re not done with this retrospective and i’ll save my thoughts for when we get to season 3. But Covering the della arc was a lot of fun, exausting but fun, and again any future arcs that aren’t paid for will be staggered out and any interlocking arcs that are paid for will have both paid for. Now with that out of the way..

NEXT TIME ON SHADOW INTO LIGHT: Lena gets SO JEALOUS as Webby makes a new friend and everyone gets a new faviorite as Violet is introduced! Meanwhile Beakley is desperate to prove to her 11 year old grandaughter she has friends and decides to befriend launchpad. Shenanigans insue. See you next week!

Next Time on this blog: It’s back to Amphibia! It’s time for some Zelda action as our heroes go to the first temple. I’m expecting either a giant spider or a shadowy ghost version of andrias. Don’t let me down show!

Until then, stay safe, follow me on patreon and on this blog and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

Behind The Album: Load/Reload

Metallica’s sixth and seventh studio albums were released in June 1996 and November 1997 respectively. The two albums can be taken into consideration as almost a double album as most of the songs on each album were all written around the same time. The records would see the band venture completely away from thrash metal into the realm of hard rock, blues, southern rock, and even country. A majority of Metallica’s loyal fan base would be completely alienated by the album and the new Metallica image brought out during its promotion. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich once again acted as the primary song writers for the record, which began at Ulrich’s house in California in 1994. They would bring in almost 30 demos to Plant Studios when recording began in 1995, so the decision was made to split it into two separate albums. The artist that influenced the songs on Load included Kyuss, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Primus, ZZ Top, Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Oasis, Alanis Morissette, and Garth Brooks. Lars would have this to say about the criticism towards their new musical direction. “This album and what we're doing with it – that, to me, is what Metallica are all about: exploring different things. The minute you stop exploring, then just sit down and fucking die.” For this album, Hetfield and Kirk Hammett began to experiment with blues style riffs and guitar styles, while Ulrich began to simplify his drumming style getting rid of the double bass drumming he had utilized on every album to date. Hetfield’s lyrics abandoned any consideration of politics or society at large, but instead became very personal about his depression and sadness regarding his late mother and Cliff Burton. Other tracks focus on his own depression in dealing with these issues. Metallica was trying to gain a looser vibe with the music on this record, so Hammett for the first time on an album played rhythm guitar. For this record itself, the run time comes in at almost 80 minutes making it the longest LP the band ever produced. They needed to cut out one minute of the “Outlaw Torn” in order for the cd to play correctly without skipping. The back cover of this album had this explanation on it: “When we were doing the final sequencing of the 'LOAD' album, the record company told us that we couldn't go a second past 78:59, or your CD's wouldn't play without potentially skipping. With our 14 songs, we were running about 30 seconds over, and something had to give, so the cool-ass jam at the end of 'Outlaw' got chopped.”

The cover of the album was a photograph created by Andres Serrano that combines bovine blood and his own semen in between two sheets of plexiglass called Semen and blood III. The album does not specifically name the photograph, but instead only refers to the photographer's name. James Hetfield hated the use of this picture as the cover. He would say, “Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of Load was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid crap that they felt they needed to do.” The album also saw Metallica remake its logo, an alternative symbol the ninja star, cut their long hair short, dress in designer clothes, and wear eyeliner. Once again, Hetfield absolutely despised these changes to their brand and image. “Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole 'We need to reinvent ourselves' topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego. I couldn't get into it. The whole, 'Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going to be '70s glam rockers.' Like, what? I would say half – at least half – the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling.” The backlash from their fans was significant as they felt completely betrayed by the band's new image. Years would pass before they would gain the trust of the diehard fans once again.

Load would represent a commercial success for the band as it stayed number one on the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks. And in its first week, the band moved 680,000 copies, making for the most successful week in the band's history. The record would go on to be certified as five times platinum selling 5 million copies. The critics were mixed on the album noting the change to hard rock. Rolling Stone liked the record. "The foursome dams the bombast and chugs half-speed ahead, settling into a wholly magnetizing groove that bridges old-school biker rock and the doomier side of post-grunge '90s rock.” Melody Maker was not as enthusiastic about the record saying that there were moments on the album where you needed to ask the question, has Metallica gone soft? AllMusic found the record to be boring, the same song over and over, and poorly played. Lars Ulrich would say this about the mixed reviews towards the album. "With Load, it was disappointing that some people's reaction to the music was biased by how they dealt with the pictures – the hair and all that crap. People have come up to me years afterwards and said, 'I never gave the record a fair chance because I couldn't get beyond Jason Newsted wearing eyeliner.' But 'The Outlaw Torn', some of that shit is pretty fucking awesome."

The follow up album Reload would be released in November 1997 with similar commercial success as it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart selling 436,000 copies in its first week. This would be the last album that Jason Newsted would play on with the band. As noted previously, the original intention was to release the songs as a double album, but then it was decided that doing so many songs might have issues. Kirk Hammett would say this about the recording sessions with producer Bob Rock. “We were gonna do them both as a double album, but we didn't want to spend that long in the studio. Also, if we did a double album, it would have been a lot more material for people to digest, and some of it might have gotten lost in the shuffle." Reload became the first album that the band featured another singer as Marianne Faithfull lended her vocals to “The Memory Remains.” Once again, the band used a photograph from Andres Serrano mixing bovine blood and his semen. Critics for the most part liked the album, but they did note that the music seemed to be heavily influenced by southern rock. One of the big takeaways for some critics was the fact that Reload felt like the leftovers from the Load sessions. This also showed in the fact that the record was only certified platinum three times.

[coreastories]

Modern Royals: 7 times the queen of Corea stole our hearts with her smile

The queen is 30 years old, the second youngest queen consort of the modern world, next to Queen Jetsun of Bhutan, also 30 (the queen of Corea is older than Queen Jetsun by 1 week!)

Corean media is tightly reined by the Royal Court, or perhaps they are simply too loyal and too in love with their young monarchs to do any dedicated or defiant digging

The Royal Public Affairs Office of Corea knows what it’s doing, or perhaps they don’t? Depending on their intentions, by keeping their queen shrouded in mystery, they’re just stoking our curiosity about her! 

The queen’s influence can be seen in the recent releases from the Royal Public Affairs Office, however, which includes a Q&A about the queen (comically answered by her Unbreakable Sword), and never-before-seen photos of the private study in Gwangyeongjeon, the king and queen’s private residence. 

This photo was widely syndicated alongside the Queens Day Q&A. We believe it’s part of a suite of portraits, because we now have the photo we glimpsed on the king’s desk in their private study! 

The queen is wearing the same clothes, the same hairstyle, and the same smile. Dare we say perhaps the king was behind the camera? This author loves the sweetness of her face. 

It’s not within the typical conventions of beauty, but beautiful just the same. 

One of the first photos of the young queen, taken at her first public appearance with the king, when they opened the new digital diagnostics wing of the Pyeongyang Children’s Hospital. 

This author can just imagine that nose scrunch charming the king to fall head over heels in love. Here, the queen was laughingly acknowledging the loud cheers of the audience, media, and hospital staff. 

Also released with the Queens Day Q&A packet, here’s the queen in a very casual setting and quite a sweet pose with her Unbreakable Sword, Jang Mi-reuk. 

The friendship between them is palpable. We’ve heard a similar bond exists between the king and his own Unbreakable Sword, Jo Yeong. 

Don’t let appearances deceive you-- the giant bear in the pink jacket can break your neck in one fast maneuver, or sever your brain stem with a single bullet from far, far away.

One of the rare photos of the queen wearing substantial jewelry. We've asked around and it seems to be a bespoke piece from the royal treasury, although Chanel has a very similar design.

According to rumors, the paparazzo who took this photo has not been heard from since-- not in the sense that he disappeared, but his work certainly did. And not a single Corean press agency will name him or admit knowing him.

This might be due to the fact that this photo was taken at the royal stables, a breach of privacy and security that the Royal Court and the Royal Guards will not tolerate and see repeated. 

Also according to rumors, the palace staffer linked to the paparazzo was found and dismissed faster than you can say “good shot.” 

And it IS a good shot. The Royal Public Affairs Office apparently agrees,  since the photo has remained online. 

That is such a sweet smile and we can only imagine what the queen was looking at so lovingly. Hmm. Or perhaps that’s the sweet smile of someone with a precious, joyful secret? 

More photos await as we approach Queens Day! 

#CoreaNews #CoreaFiction

[ayankun]

Ok so let’s talk about this

In 10x3, Soul Survivor, Sam is trying to cure Demon!Dean while DwindlingGrace!Cas is painstakingly driving cross-country to assist.  Cas is being escorted by Hannah, an angel who is loyal to his cause but is also an angel’s angel, celestially aloof and lacking all the weird emotions he’s picked up from hanging out with humanity too much.

Hannah is also importantly perceived female (foil to Castiel’s perceived male) and is playing the narrative function of Damned Temptress.  It’s lampshaded in this ep, but it’s a recurring theme that Hannah, in one way or another, even if only as an allegory for Heaven’s collective business, stands between Castiel and his need to be close to the Winchesters (read: Dean).

So in this ep, Hannah (Heaven, et al) needs Cas, and Sam (Dean) needs Cas, and Cas explicitly prioritizes Same (Dean).  Sensing that Hannah does not agree with this prioritization, he attempts to clarify the situation:

The textual subtext here is that he’s using his acquired human communication skills to say one thing while meaning two things, an unnecessary subterfuge which Hannah calls him out on.  He’s talking literally about “no detours,” referencing a literal wrong turn Hannah made previously while at the wheel.  What he means, though, is that Dean (and whatever Heaven needs after that issue is resolved) takes priority over whatever “distraction” Hannah may prove to be to Cas because she’s female.

He’s trying to let her down easy, my guy.

And that’s text, that’s canon.  That’s non-negotiable.  The character of Hannah boils down to a threat of distraction that will keep him from his goals.  And in this episode, his goal is literally and only Dean.

So what got me thinking, at 4:30 AM, was, now that we have the chance to go back and reinterpret canon events through the filter of canon!Destiel (by which I mean, Cas’ confirmed romantic feelings for Dean), does his “no detours” (no human-style romantic entanglements) policy hold water?  Wouldn’t Dean, at this point in time, also be counted among the possible distractions?

Let’s go back to the start of the episode, where Cas gets to have a teachable moment with Hannah:

(sorry these caps are so dark, geez Ackles, turn on a light next time)

And now let’s go to the end of the episode, and maybe you can see what the difference is:

You see what he did there, right?  He went ahead and said what he felt, rather than trying to play by the rules of human conversation etiquette.  It’s an acknowledgement that his relationship with Dean is inherently different to his relationship with Hannah.

And then he straight up lies to Dean’s face, to try to protect him, just like a good emotionally-compromised human would:

(also, the second he says this, this fucking cue starts up, and it choked me up the first time and it’s choking me right now)

If you’re watching this for the first time in 2014, the current canon is that Dean and Cas share a “profound bond,” Cas is family to the Winchesters, and he is currently acting out of this loyalty and compassion towards them to put their needs before the needs of Heaven.

If you’re also a Destiel shipper, then you’re willfully reading into this the additional nuance that Cas is making a point to dissuade Hannah’s advances specifically because he’s already involved (to some extent) romantically with Dean.  I think that’s a fair subtext for this time frame!  Given that the angel character who represents Castiel’s responsibilities to Heaven was written as female, and how that responsibility is explicitly conflated with romantic "distraction” in this episode, the intent to directly contrast Castiel’s interactions with her and Dean is pretty evident.

But here in the year of our Chuck 2020, knowing what we know now, in terms of “canon,” this second interpretation, which for SIX YEARS has been optional -- up for debate, even -- is now retroactively confirmed canon.  But it was there all along, ready to be recontextualized in the event somebody happened to make a deathbed confession.

Like, at this exact moment in time, 9:24 AM Thursday morning, hours before the season’s penultimate episode airs, I’m 100% sure, canonically speaking, Castiel’s feelings are (and always have been) unrequited.  I believe this is the way the text was written, the way the explicit story beats have been presented.  BUT if somehow in the remaining minutes of showtime Dean’s reciprocal feelings are explicitly expressed (either in dialogue or some unambiguous use of cinematic language) I would be completely convinced and satisfied with that reveal.

What a wild ride, you guys.  I can’t wait to rewatch this whole freaking thing end to end.

[yukiwrites]

Sharing Everything

Thank you for the support and patience as always, @breeachuu! This one was so fun to write, I hope you like it! ;v;)

Summary: Wolfram worried about Dimitri, especially since his close aide was presumed dead. Besides, he wanted to say by his friend's side and help him through this turbulent time, be it through battles, grievances or finding old friends again.

Commission info HERE and HERE!

__________________________

After defending the monastery from the imperial forces, the group, under Gilbert’s advice, started to call itself, ‘the Kingdom Army’, since now they had the legitimate King within their numbers.

However, these very numbers were too few to be able to be called an ‘army’ per se. With their current forces, they would be barely able to protect the monastery, let alone conduct a head on assault on the empire. For the moment, they needed numbers to strengthen their ranks.

Rather, they needed everything that went into maintaining an army: funds, resources, people, soldiers… Their forces were composed of the loyal knights that followed Gilbert’s attempt of searching for the prince; the Knights of Seiros under Byleth and the former classmates (with whatever help from their Houses they could bring).

With what they currently had, there was a dire need of help to make up the bulk of their army -- and the only place they could look to at that moment was at the dukedom of Fraldarius, Felix’s home.

“Once we settled here, I sent word to Lord Rodrigue about His Highness, but perhaps I should send another one, for precaution.” Gilbert commented once they all sat down for a meeting. “The dukedom might be busy fighting in the frontlines, but they’re the largest remaining loyal territory, so our options aren’t much at the moment…”

“I’ll send word to my old man about it, but I’m sure whatever news about the boar there will be enough to have him running.” Felix grumbled as usual, openly glaring at Dimitri, who stood cross-armed by the wall instead of sitting down amongst everyone.

Wolfie glanced between the two of them, wondering who they were talking about. From the looks of it, this Lord Rodrigue person seemed to be someone who held Dimitri at a very high regard. That was good! Dimitri needed all the support he could get, honestly.

Having that in mind, the half-manakete waited anxiously for the reply, though for different reasons than his peers. Of course, he wanted them to have the numbers to fight back as much as anyone, but the most important part was to have another ally by Dimitri’s side. Wolfie could see how having people around him started to affect Dimitri little by little.

He spoke more now, outside meetings -- though they were short, usually one-word replies -- and made himself scarce around places people were busy cleaning. Wolfram also saw Dimitri take walks during the night (while he stretched his wings), lingering on places that seemed to have held importance to him in the past: the Goddess Tower, the garden right outside the ballroom as well as the… entrance to the Holy Mausoleum.

Wolfram could imagine what sort of memories each and every one of these places brought Dimitri, but to only watch and be unable to help- it was agonizing.

He respected Dimitri’s decision to be left alone, so he simply did everything he could AROUND Dimitri to be of help to him, be it delivering his meals or just hanging around him during slow afternoons… But to watch him wander during the night, unable to sleep as he was haunted by the past… that was too much.

Wolfie silently landed beside Dimitri as the prince headed back to the cathedral, his sensitive ears picking up some mumblings coming out of Dimitri’s lips.

“It’s not like that, Glenn…” Dimitri trudged towards the center of the cathedral, illuminated by the moonlight that seeped through the holes on the ceiling. “Please, do not doubt my resolve.” He looked up, as though he was talking to someone of a higher plane than his. “Father, Stepmother… And you too, Dedue. I shall bring you her head. Once I do, finally, you will finally be at peace…”

Wolfram’s heart ached at the mention of Dedue’s name, as though Dimitri was actually talking to the dead. Clutching his chest, Wolfie felt a lump in his throat prevent him from saying anything. Instead, Dimitri turned to him, unfazed, as though he knew Wolfram was there all along.

The exhaustion behind those once-clear blue eye of his made Wolfie’s nose itch with upcoming tears. “Dimitri, um-”

“What do you want?” Dimitri’s voice ran cold, like a running river, deep within the mountain. His gaze was glazed over with exhaustion, but his body was firm, leaving no openings for any sudden attack.

Trembling as he struggled to hold back his tears, Wolfie bit his lower lip, looking down to Dimitri’s feet. “I just… came to check on you. I was stretching my wings and saw you walk around the monastery, so I got worried and-”

“I have never felt better, Wolfram.” Dimitri’s low, deep-reaching voice squeezed Wolfie’s heart like it had a hand of itself. “As we prepare to launch an attack on Enbarr, we move ever closer… I move closer to having her head.”

Crushed under the weight of Dimitri’s grief and pain, Wolfie simply nodded, unable to hold back the tears anymore. “Mhm, we’ll do our best do win this, Dimitri… for you, for everyone.”

Dimitri slowly closed his eyes, raising his head to the moon. “Yes… for everyone who’s died so far. The dead will have their revenge.”

Wolfram felt some sort of disconnection between what he and Dimitri meant, despite their words being basically the same. Dimitri was being haunted by the darkness of his past and by the death of his loved ones, so his words held meaning in that sense.

However, was it truly alright for him to guide his every step through the will of the dead? Wouldn’t that be… sad? His human lifespan was already short as it was, so to focus it on anything other than oneself would only make him suffer, no?

Still, although his actions would lead to his own self accomplishment, it would also mean the end of the war -- and wasn’t peace a worthy objective to fight for? Wasn’t it the whole reason many of the people around Wolfram had dedicated their lives to? If it was okay for THEM to fight for peace, why was it different for DIMITRI to do so, spurred by his own ideals?

He was suffering, yes, but if he said that he would feel better once everything was over, then who was Wolfram to say otherwise?

The half-manakete couldn’t say anything, despite his mind working tirelessly to unravel that knot his brain had become. Dimitri simply trudged back to a dark corner where the moonlight didn’t reach to sit down and close his eyes as Wolfram stood in place for a few more hours before the light of dawn startled him into running back to the dormitories.

Word from Lord Rodrigue was well received by the army, as he had agreed to send reinforcements and supplies to their cause. The only condition, or rather, the necessity, was that they had to meet halfway between the dukedom and the monastery, at the Valley of Torment, since Fraldarius was the center of the frontlines.

The name of the place itself was enough reason to make one worry about going there, but Dimitri seemed pleased with that outcome, as he had smirked and said that the imperial dogs wouldn’t go through the extreme weather to stop them.

Regardless of where, their next step was finally set in stone: to the Valley of Torment to receive Rodrigue’s men, so they could finally begin their war against the Empire in earnest.

A week or so after Wolfram had told Caspar and Dorothea about his secret, the shorter man asked to be brought during one of these ‘wing stretches’ of Wolfie’s.

Wolfram wasn’t a physical type fighter, so finding a comfortable position for him to carry Caspar around was difficult. Caspar could be short, but he was well fit and full of muscles, so he was heavier than what Wolfie could handle.

He had suggested Caspar to fly on Aquilo, but although that would also be great, Caspar wanted to know how it was to actually fly with wings on one’s back, so they found a better solution for the both of them: Wolfie would hold both of Caspar’s hands and fly around with Caspar’s feet dangling in the air. Of course, the one who would hold himself would be Caspar, since Wolfram’s arms wouldn’t have that much strength. Besides, Wolfie would focus all of his forces on his wings so that they could keep flapping, but the most he could do was a short 30-minutes flight around the close buildings.

That apparently had been enough for Caspar, so they decided to do it on alternate days, to give Wolfram time to recover his strength. Once Caspar bragged about it to Dorothea, Wolfie offered to carry her as well, but she seemed hesitant on flying without the proper apparatus, so she politely declined.

Instead, she liked to hear more stories of Wolfie’s family back home -- every time he talked about them, his whole face lit up with joy. In Dorothea’s eyes, the poor boy needed some joy in his life at that moment; he looked somber and somber every passing day, as he did his best to be of help to Dimitri and Byleth.

To Wolfram, those talks helped him cement an idea he had had during the five years he spent guarding Byleth during her Slumber: he wanted to tell her everything -- and that meant all of it, not the shorter version he had given Caspar and Dorothea.

He had to tell Byleth his true role and who had sent him on this mission; it felt only fair to do so towards one who now shared a power similar to his own.

Deciding on his next course of action, Wolfie would tell Byleth everything once they returned from the Valley of Torment. He didn’t want to drop such big news on her out of nowhere, especially when she was so busy she looked more haggard every day.

It was a good decision on Wolfram’s part, since the general atmosphere of their army changed completely once Rodrigue and his men arrived. There were more people to feed, but the morale was higher than ever, especially after the win against the Grey Lion of the traitorous House Rowe.

Rodrigue had also brought with him the treasure of the royal family, Areadbhar, the Hero’s Relic compatible with Dimitri’s Crest.

Now their army had the estranged King, the royal weapon, the loyalty of his faithful subjects and some numbers to start advancing on their quest towards the imperial capital.

There were objections, sure, but the course was always set: they had to end the war as quickly as possible if they wanted to save anyone, be them dead or alive. Besides, Wolfram wanted whatever was best for Dimitri and Byleth, so he would follow their decisions and stay by their side no matter what.

During the ensuing meeting, they had decided to take the Great Bridge of Myrddin; it was a relatively close place between the borders of Garreg Mach, the Alliance and the Empire, so they would need to request aid from Claude to be able to successfully cross it.

The plan itself had many details to be talked about, so apart from Gilbert, Rodrigue and Byleth, everyone else was excused -- though Dimitri’s presence would be greatly appreciated, he excused himself after the bigger decision had been made. Before leaving, however, Wolfie expressed his need to talk with Byleth in private, so the professor told him to wait for her in her quarters.

Walking the same path he had done in the past toward his shared room with Dedue made Wolfram wince as his eyes trailed towards the now empty room. Shaking his head, he entered Byleth’s unlocked room and sat by the desk, crossing his hands to put his thoughts in order.

He honestly thought that Byleth would take a while to arrive, but she was back much quicker than he imagined. Though, in truth, he had just been lost in thought for a long time in human’s standards.

“Are you alright? What did you want to talk about?” Byleth took off her coat and hung it, sitting across Wolfie without even freshening herself after the long meeting.

“Ah, I’m fine; thanks for asking, though.” He smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s just that, no matter how much I think, I don’t know how to say this… And I already said it once with Dimitri…” He mumbled the last part, remembering how he was also mumbling when he revealed everything to Dimitri five years ago.

Byleth thought for a moment before adding, “is it about that transformation you showed on the day of the invasion?”

“Ah, so you remember it. I was wondering how much you saw before you fell into the Slumber…”

“Slumber?” Byleth tilted her head to the side.

“Yeah, I think whatever happened at that time when your hair changed colors gave you the same powers as, well, as my species.” He bobbed his head to the sides. “Back in my world, those who have the blood of dragons have at least a few Slumbers during their lives. My Mother said it was to stabilize the power inside them, since they only get stronger as the centuries pass...”

Byleth took one hand to her chin in thought. “Hm…”

The idea that there were other worlds wasn’t foreign to her, as she herself had been thrown into a world made of pure darkness. It was surprising, however, to find out that there were more people who resembled Sothis and Rhea than she had imagined. To be called a whole new species? That was new.

Wolfie pressed on. “I came to this world to be close to the Heart of Immortals, as our, um, goddess commanded it.” He looked around as though he had said something forbidden, wincing for a moment as if he had been pinched on the ear. “So when I saw you, I knew I had to stick close to you as I felt the Presence of the Heart within you.”

Byleth moved her hand to her silent chest. “You could feel it? But not even Rhea seemed sure of it at first…”

“The dragons in this world seem different from mine? From what I saw, Lady Rhea didn’t use a dragonstone, nor did anyone seem to notice how there were two others among them…” Wolfie mumbled before adding, “back where I’m from, we learn from infancy how to feel the currents of power within living beings, mostly to be able to feel the presence of the dragon blood inside other people. We’re not very much in number, see, so it’s good to always be able to tell when there’s one of us nearby.”

Byleth remained silent, simply nodding. There was much for her to digest, what with being called a new species and dealing with the help of another world entirely; but it was at least good news to be able to discover more about herself -- and perhaps about her lost friend, Sothis.

“We will need to talk more about this, Wolfram. Thank you for giving me all this information.” The professor finally said, opening her clear eyes with conviction. “I’ll call on you to ask more questions in the future.”

“Sure!” Wolfie nodded happily. “It’s great to take this weight off of my chest, but it’s even better to be able to help in any way I can.”

“Mhm, thank you again.” Byleth smiled calmly. “Please keep on staying by Dimitri’s side until then, I can see how hard you’re trying.”

Wolfie looked down, embarrassed and sad at the same time. “Yup, leave it to me.”

They said their goodbyes before Wolfie left to his shared room with Caspar. He walked slowly, letting the cold night air keep him company until he reached the second floor. In his mind, he thought of ways to be of help to those people who had accepted him so readily within their ranks. He felt more at home than ever before, surrounded by those in whom he placed his trust.

As they marched towards the Great Bridge, Wolfram could understand why it was called ‘great’ in the first place. As he was scouting from the sky, he saw its massive size in comparison to other large bridges used to move large numbers of people.

Once Wolfie came down to report the size of the imperial forces waiting for them, there was a brief discussion of their plans.

“It matters not if they were waiting for us. I will kill them all, be it one or one hundred.” Dimitri sighed as though stating the obvious.

“We’re planning so we’re able to share the burden, don’t be like that.” Byleth tried to console, though that simply earned her a glare from Dimitri.

“What would you do, if you saw the people who stole everything from you? If you saw them right before your eyes, living carefree lives and feeling no guilt.” he raised his chin to look down on the short professor. “Would you feel nothing? Do nothing?”

After a moment of silence, he continued. “ Five years ago... Did you not deem the woman who killed Jeralt to be unforgivable? I am most certain that you did. You couldn't let her get away with her crime, so you took up your sword in pursuit.”

Byleth took a short breath, then nodded in defeat. “It’s true.”

“Precisely my point, so there is no need to concern yourself over ‘burdens’. I already carry the will of the dead.”

Felix clicked his tongue in annoyance. “You're wasting your time. There's nothing to be gained from exchanging words with a boar that has lost its mind. Every last one of us has lost someone we care for. But we choose to suppress our anger and go right on living. Revenge can't bring the dead back to life.” he shook his head and shrugged with a grimace. “What the boar is doing is simply stacking more corpses.”

After Felix said that, Wolfram couldn’t hear much of how the discussion came to an end. Since the words felt like they were directed at the knot in Wolfram’s brain, the half-manakete couldn’t help but sit on them for a bit.

Although Wolfie never really got along with Felix (and he also disliked the way he treated Dimitri), his words rang true. Perhaps the way Wolfie could help Dimitri would be within that principle…

Regardless of his feelings, the battle for the Bridge was nigh.

From atop Aquilo, Wolfie served as messenger and as an useful hit-and-run unit to strike at the soldiers protecting the ballista. That was the most dangerous weapon for him and his winged friend inside that enormous bridge -- not even the demonic beast or the long ranged mages would be as dangerous as that single weapon, so he had to take it down fast.

During one of such moves, Wolfram heard a familiar voice amidst the noise of steel meeting steel.

It was Dedue.

“Your Highness! Apologies for the late arrival.” The large man huffed, barely winded from running miles while wearing heavy armor.

“Dedue?!” Wolfram shouted from the skies, turning Aquilo’s reins towards the rear from whence Dedue came.

“You’re aliv-” Dimitri’s eye shook as he took one step towards the scarred face he had known so well. “How?”

“I will tell you everything later, but for now-” Dedue held his battle stance, looking at Dimitri when something caught his eye from the direction Wolfram came. He widened his eyes and hardened his jaw by reflex, “watch out!” He shouted.

Seeing the change in Dedue’s expression, Dimitri quickly glanced at where he had been looking, frowning deeply once he saw the ballista pointed right at Wolfram’s back. Just at the same time Dedue shouted, Dimitri flung Areadbhar towards the tower, destroying it completely.

The lance flew past Wolfram’s shoulder, landing on the tower he was coming from with a loud explosion, as though someone had used fire magic or something; but it was simply the strength of a single man.

Dimitri stomped towards the place Wolfram landed in shock, his blue eye gleaming with rage. “Don’t be careless.” He said in a grave voice as he stepped past Wolfie to retrieve his lance.

Shaking, Wolfram watched Dimitri’s back as he seemingly forgot he was in the middle of battle. “T-thank you-”

“Are you alright, Wolfram?” Alarmed, Dedue approached. “Please take better care of yourself; we can’t afford to lose you.”

“Y-yes,” Wolfram gulped, unable to stop the trembling. He even forgot how surprised and relieved he had been moments ago after seeing Dedue. “Thank you for worrying, Dedue.”

The large man simply smiled, nodded and left to be by Dimitri’s side. “You should take a rest, I shall inform the Professor of your condition.”

Wolfie’s body was cold and even his pupils were shaking. He had fought many battles at that point, but this was the first time he felt so close to death.

He couldn’t even stop to think of how Dimitri had saved him.

“Are you alright, boy?” His voice trembled. “L-let’s take shelter over there for a bit…” he dismounted Aquilo to pat him on the head, pulling the reins towards their camp right down the bridge.

Aquilo seemed to take it all in stride, so Wolfram was the one being consoled rather than the other way around. It took him a few hours to calm himself down, so when he came back to the battle, it was basically already won.

Dorothea saw him from afar and approached once Wolfie landed, worry written all over her face. “Wolfie! Are you alright? When I didn’t see you during the battle, I assumed-”

“Nyaha, thanks for worrying, Dorothea, I’m fine now!” he lied, forcing a smile. “I just got surprised by an arrow aimed at my back and was resting for a bit.”

“Oh, you silly boy, you don’t need to pretend to be okay with me!” She pulled him into a hug, though since she was shorter than him, it looked as though HE was the one hugging her. “I’m terrified every single day when we go to battle, so there’s no need to hide being afraid.”

The trembling returned, but now Wolfie had a warm hand and a friendly shoulder to rely on, which he did. He rested his head on Dorothea’s shoulder and sobbed quietly, enjoying her pats on his back.

Once night had fallen and the bridge was conquered, Wolfram finally felt well enough to welcome his lost friend with a genuine smile on his face.

“Dedue!” He ran up to the taller man, holding his big hands with his own. “I’m so glad you’re okay… So glad!”

Smiling, Dedue squeezed Wolfie’s hands. “Thank you for worrying, Wolfram. From now on, let’s do our best to support His Highness.”

“Mhm, mhm!” Wolfie nodded happily, drying a few stray tears that drenched his face.

“Wolf, man!” Caspar slapped Wolfram’s back, completely unaware of the atmosphere. “I didn’t see you during battle after a while; where were you?”

“Ah, I-I didn’t feel well, so I retreated.” Wolfie smiled awkwardly, rubbing the place Caspar slapped.

“You okay now?” Caspar looked around Wolfram before smiling and nodding to himself. “Alright, let’s go, then! I wanna show you around this bridge! I came over all the time when I was a kid, so I’ve been telling peeps where’s what.”

“Heehee, alright, let’s go!” Wolfie nodded, then turned to his other friend. “Let’s go, Dedue!”

“Yeah, man, c’mon!” Caspar pulled Wolfram who held Dedue’s hand, so the three young men went around the bridge and its towers under Caspar’s guidance.

They had decided to raise camp on the bridge itself, rather than leaving a detached part of their army to guard it and retreat back to the monastery. Besides, their next battlefield was right in front of them -- the Gronder Field, where they had had a mock battle between Houses five years ago.

Well, Wolfram had arrived right after that battle, so he shared no such memories with his classmates, but he could still feel their tension. Dorothea was especially shaken, since she was someone who abhorred all that fighting from the start -- and now, to be forced to fight their former classmates? She felt sick.

Wolfie stayed by his friend’s side during the time it took them to prepare for battle. It would probably be a three way battle, since the messenger they sent to the Alliance was still to send word back.

Byleth and Gilbert were hoping that Claude would be able to help them again like when he diverted the imperial forces’ attention away from them during the battle for the Bridge, but it seemed as though they would need to force their way through any and everything in that upcoming battle.

To Dimitri, that didn’t seem to mean much, but Dedue, Wolfie and Byleth knew better. He was much too focused on being freed from the tight grip the dead held over him to be able to focus on anything other than Edelgard.

It was said that she would appear in the battle herself, so Dimitri had been more obstinate in his convictions than ever before. He didn’t listen to Byleth when she said not to rush into battle, nor did he listen when he managed to catch up to Edelgard amidst the roaring flames of the explosions she had caused.

Watching them from the sky, Wolfram held his breath during their battle. Dimitri roared like a real lion, using everything he had in his attacks, shattering Edelgard’s armor and wounding her in a way that seemed beyond repair.

“Your head is mine now, MINE!” Dimitri threw Areadbhar to stop Edelgard from retreating, intent on tearing her limbs apart with his bare hands when Hubert teleported beside the emperor and took her away from danger. “Get back here! GET BACK HERE!” Dimitri roared, steamrolling through the heaps of soldiers that bodyblocked him from pursuing the retreating forces.

“Your Highness! You’re alive!” Rodrigue galloped to where Dimitri was, fighting his way through the soldiers that started to overwhelm the prince. “We have to retreat to the Bridge of Myrddin! The imperial reinforcements are coming!” He rushed to pull Dimitri’s hand, but the prince pointed to where Edelgard had disappeared to.

“She’s still alive! Pursue her!!” He shoved the men around him like they were life-sized dolls, his bloodshot eye focused on Fort Merceus, that stood in such a great distance it was but a dot in the horizon.

Amid the confusion of soldiers, corpses and smoke, Wolfram couldn’t see well what was going on at Dimitri’s position. He was about to lower Aquilo when he saw an unusual movement from one of their soldiers -- she was a maiden that had been recruited recently, who had been ordered to deliver messages here and there.

Instead of doing what she was tasked with, the girl headed towards Dimitri’s position with obstinate focus, as though she was about to be released from all of her suffering. Before Wolfie could even blink, he saw as the girl took out a knife and jumped at Dimitri’s defenseless back, stabbing him between his neck and shoulder.

“Argh…!” Dimitri groaned, falling on his knees from the pain.

“Diiid I take you by surprise?” The girl laughed madly, pulling the knife out only to stab him again.

Wolfram stopped breathing. He started seeing everything move very slowly. “Dimitri! Aquilo, fly, boy! Fly!” He urged his wyvern to fly with everything he had, but Wolfie could see that he wouldn’t make it in time before she struck again. Dimitri wouldn’t hold on if she aimed for his neck again… “NO!” Wolfram jumped out of Aquilo in desperation, transforming as he zoomed towards the girl with his weapon in hand.

He was seeing red.

Not Dimitri, not him! He thought as his brain shook with the impact of ramming into the girl right after she landed the third blow. He could hear the sound of blade piercing flesh, unknowing if that was his own weapon on the girl’s blade on Dimitri’s neck.

“Dimitri!” He gasped as he got up from the girl’s lifeless body, turning around quickly. The sight that greeted him was Dimitri holding Rodrigue’s fallen body instead. Breathing quickly as his senses were exponentially enhanced due to the transformation, Wolfie saw everything in slow motion.

“Rodrigue!!” Dimitri shouted, his voice shaking. Color had returned to his face as though to remind him he still numbered within the living.

“Are you safe…? Tell me it wasn’t in vain…” The thin man raised his hand to Dimitri’s blood-soaked cloak. The wound wasn’t deep, but since it was on the neck, it bled a lot.

“No, no, NO! Don't die... Please, don't die, Rodrigue!” Dimitri’s chin trembled. “Father, Stepmother, Glenn... They all died and left me behind…”

Wolfram clutched his chest in sympathy, his own eyes shedding tears to a man he knew for such a short while but who held such a great importance to his dear friend.

Rodrigue coughed blood, his voice thinning out as life ebbed away. “None of them... none of us... died for you. I'm dying for what I believe in... just as they did.” He caressed Dimitri’s cheek one last time, smiling with the last of his strength. “Your life is your own. It belongs to no other, living or dead. Live for what you believe in…” His voice faded, and his hand fell limp beside his body.

“Rodrigue…!” Dimitri sobbed as he clutched the still warm body. Wolfie held back the urge of hugging him there and then, wanting to respect his friend’s space to grieve.

Besides, he felt a burning stare on him, so after finally taking his gaze away from the scene, he saw how many of his classmates and fellow soldiers looked at him with appalled expressions. Widening his eyes, Wolfram noticed that he was still transformed.

As though in a daze, Wolfie called back his wings and scales, so shook he didn’t even know where to begin thinking.

There was too much going on.

Noticing the air of confusion, Byleth quickly asserted the situation and barked orders here and there for the people to get back to their senses. “Ingrid, go bring Mercedes right away, and Sylvain, call Felix over here. You and you there, go search into that girl and find me everything you can about her.”

The way she calmly but effectively put the people to work made them focus on the most pressing matters, though there was still shock in their minds.

There was so much going on.

On top of all that, it started raining on their way back to the Bridge. Since Gronder Field was a wide plain, the terrain soon became hard to march on, but none of the soldiers complained about it. They marched back in silence, under the thundering sound of the rain muddying their boots.

Wolfie couldn’t take his eyes off of Dimitri, so he simply followed the march back to the Bridge, unable to think about what to say to everyone else. Instead, he couldn’t take Dimitri’s tear stained face out of his head.

He looked so… miserable. He had been a man who had lost everything not only once, not twice, but now three times. It was enough grief to break a lesser man, and Dimitri had collapsed under its weight for a long time.

Wolfie was scared of what Dimitri could do now that he had lost the last of the family he had ever had. And so, he saw how Dimitri had watched their classmates bury Rodrigue at the Bridge’s graveyard and left for the stables.

His heart aching, Wolfram followed from a ways behind, the rain muffling his steps. He saw how Dimitri passed by the horses, pegasi and wyverns dragging his wounded body, uncaring of his own wellbeing. Then, he passed the stables and headed to the exit that led to the woods.

“No…!” He was going to leave! “Dimitri!” Wolfie ran up to the staggering man, blocking his way.

“What do you want?” Dimitri asked with a heavy voice. It carried SO much weight it made Wolfram wince.

“Where are you going? The dormitories are that way…”

Dimitri lowered his head. “It doesn’t concern you.”

Wolfie bit his lip. “It does! You’re-” he hesitated before lowering his head so Dimitri could look him in the eyes even with his lowered gaze. “You’re going to Enbarr, aren’t you? By now, she must’ve left Fort Merceus…”

“And what is it to you?” Dimitri sighed deeply, and Wolfie noticed how his lips were blue from the cold rain.

“I’m worried about you! I want this war to end as much as anyone, but your wellbeing matters more to me now than ending things quickly.”

“How selfish. Should I let the dead wait any longer when their respite is right within my grasp?” Dimitri clenched his fist.

Wolfie shook his head. “You know, I’m still confused about all this. It took me a long time to think about what to say to you in this sort of situation.” Wolfie felt his own body shaking from the cold, but compared to the freezing fear inside his chest with the thought of losing Dimitri, that was nothing.

“Do not even start with the nonsense about how I should move on with my life for their sake. That is merely the logic of the living. It's meaningless. Those who died with lingering regret... They will not loose their hold on me so easily.” Dimitri’s body slouched over, so tall and imposing, yet so exhausted and spent.

“Mhm, I didn’t even think about that, honestly. It’s just… humans’ lives are so short. Are you alright with dedicating your life to something someone failed to do while they were alive and then wasting your own life with that? Isn’t it better to do what you think it’s best and honor them as best you can? I don’t know any of them to say ‘hey, they wouldn’t want you to do that’, but I know that I wouldn’t want you to do that. Neither would Byleth, or Rodrigue, or Dedue… We, too, want you to be alive and do things you want to do.”

“Short lives, huh…” Dimitri scoffed, though Wolfie’s words held weight on his chest. “Tell me, Wolfram… What should I do, then? They all died because of me. They died in my place; I was the one who was supposed to be there, haunting them. And yet, the one left alive was me, to carry on their burdens; their wishes.”

Wolfie sneaked his hands into Dimitri’s, bringing them to his own chest. The beating of his heart contrasted with the heavy rain, but that was somehow soothing to Dimitri.

“You suffered enough, Dimitri. I think… I think you could forgive yourself a little. Maybe try to do something you want to do instead of what they tell you. After all, it’s your life.” Wolfie smiled, unable to tell if the water dripping from his face was from the rain or from his tears.

Dimitri slowly placed his head on Wolfie’s shoulder, warm tears falling from his nose. “As the survivor of that day, am I… Am I allowed to live for myself?”

Instead of replying, Wolfie wrapped his arms around Dimitri’s head, squeezing him into a the hug he had been wanting to give ever since they met again.

Despite both of them being drenched in that rain, the warmth of their bodies… the warmth that was characteristic of the living… it was still there.

“Your arms are so warm… have they always been?” Dimitri sobbed into Wolfie’s shoulder, hugging him back with the urge of a lost child who had finally found their purpose. Closing his eyes, Wolfie did everything he could to be there for Dimitri, even if that meant sharing what little warmth he could in that rain.

[letterstoleia]

Important Lessons Learned from Gabby and Brian

As an author and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, I’ve learned a lot about the predictable patterns of unhealthy relationships. After years of personal experiences, research, and outreach, I’ve learned to recognize the tell-tale signs of abuse. I am not a licensed therapist, social worker, police officer, or minister. So please understand I shared my thoughts as 3 a.m. musings. When a few people asked me to make the post public, I agreed, reluctantly. I had no idea this message would resonate with so many people. I've worked back through the original post to explain a bit better how I'm feeling. I realize not everyone will agree with me, and I respect all opinions and views. All I ask is that we engage in respectful discourse on all sides. Thank you all.

In recent days, the tragic events involving Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie have given us a lot to learn. This case is still under investigation, and I can only make assumptions based on the textbook patterns of abuse I’ve witnessed too many times to count. I also recognize that multiple families are grieving, and I have tremendous empathy for everyone involved. However, many survivors will resonate with at least some of the following insights, and I’m hoping we can use this tragedy to shift the way we as a culture approach the complicated issue of domestic abuse.

Let’s examine 30 important lessons this couple teaches us:

1. Followers on social media saw a smiling, happy couple, full of love and wanderlust, setting out for a cross-country adventure while documenting all the joys of young life. In many cases, targets become very good at smiling through the pain.

2. When the public was shown body camera footage captured by Moab City Police officer Daniel Robbins, (who pulled Laundrie and Petito over after the 911 call on August 12), some viewers assumed Petito was suffering from mental illness and Laundrie, while nervous, was the steadier of the two.

3. Other viewers assumed both partners were equally at fault—the old “it takes two” myth that doesn’t really apply to most abusive situations.

4. Some people even assumed Petito was the abuser and Laundrie was the victim.

5. These three assumptions probably crossed everyone’s mind as a possibility (they did mine). Healthy minded people tend to give others the benefit of the doubt, especially when someone is being accused of a negative act. Also, we can all understand that mental illness is a difficult situation and can tax even the kindest most gentle of souls (and the people who love them). Unfortunately, in many cases, this thought pattern leads us to assume the victim is mentally ill or that the victim is to blame for an altercation.

6. “Victim blaming” can happen even in the worst cases of abuse because we don’t see the longitudinal story unfolding. What we don’t see is that the target has managed to keep things together until she reached her threshold, at which time we may see her crying, yelling, or breaking down emotionally. By exhibiting those behaviors, many might assume the target is “crazy,” and it’s natural for us to feel as if the more stable person is more trustworthy.

7. If we listen carefully to Laundrie’s conversation with the officers, he even laughs and says, “She’s crazy.” (17.09) Then he dismisses it as a joke. Of course, he’s already put this claim in the officers’ minds (and by the nonchalant way he says it, many might assume it’s not the first time he’s said these words.)

8. So while viewers (and officers) start wondering if perhaps the target is “crazy,” the abuser plays the part of the poor, patient partner who has to deal with this irrational person. In the video, Laundrie mentions Petito’s anxiety and her OCD, painting her as an unstable partner. (Please note: I’m not at all justifying any physical violence against either party. No one should intentionally harm any other person. Period.)

9. A typical abuser would be skilled at convincing people that he’s innocent, while in fact he’s been acting very differently behind closed doors, pushing his target to this point intentionally and feeding on her emotional break. Many abusers LOVE to see evidence that they’ve hurt their target. They LOVE to see their target in pain. For this reason, “breaking” the target is usually the goal from the start. In cases of abuse, it may take an abuser hours, weeks, months, or even years to break the target, but he won’t stop until he gets that reaction, and then he’ll point the finger and say, “See? She’s crazy. I’m just trying to keep her calm.” And then he’ll do it again. And again. And again.

10. As a result, some people will buy into that false narrative. Even the target can be brainwashed to doubt her own truth. Which may be one reason we see Petito making many excuses for Laundrie’s behavior and taking the blame for everything.

11. In contrast, we see Laundrie blaming Petito, insisting he never hit her and saying he was just trying to keep her calm. He’s charming. He comes across as the loving and loyal partner. He’s joking around with the officers and even gives one a fist bump in the end. All the while, his fiancée is at risk of being charged with domestic assault and possibly spending the night in jail.

12. Later, we’ll hear the 911 recording that (it seems) the responding officers were not fully informed of at the time: “I’d like to report a domestic dispute.” The 49 second audio recording continues as the caller says, “The gentleman was slapping the girl.” When the dispatcher asks him to confirm that the man was slapping the girl, the caller responds, “Yes, and then we stopped, they ran up and down the sidewalk, he proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car, and they drove off.”

13. But long before the 911 call was made public, many survivors could already see through the spin playing out on the video footage. They easily recognized the “red flags” because these cycles become the norm for victims of long-standing abuse. Many targets eventually become conditioned to believe everything the abuser does is her fault. Covering for the abuser, accepting all the blame, trying harder to make the abuser happy—this warped reality becomes the only truth a target knows.

14. Also, it seems clear that Petito doesn’t want her fiancé to be in any trouble. She’d rather pay the price and protect the man she loves. And because she probably believes he only acted this way because of her mood/behaviors/anxiety/OCD/job, she doesn’t want him to be blamed. This is also the norm in abusive relationships.

15. Many experienced and well-trained officers see right through this typical pattern. Others buy the cover-up story. And, sadly, because some officers are also abusers, some side with the abuser even when they know exactly what’s going on. Throughout the video, we get the sense that Officer Robbins senses there’s more to the story.

16. I credit the police in Petito’s situation, especially Officer Robbins. The four responding officers (two of whom were park rangers) remained calm, they separated the couple, they interviewed them individually, they split them up for the night, they consulted the domestic violence shelter … many would say they did everything right considering the information they had at the time.

17. I imagine the officers involved may be suffering from tremendous guilt and wondering if they could have prevented Petito’s death, but I want to give credit to the officers in this case. While it’s easy to look back and say maybe they should have handled things differently, knowing what we now know, I was impressed with how well they treated both Laundrie and Petito (and, sadly, I was thinking how rare it is to see that level of respect and professionalism in most cases of domestic violence, particularly in the South where I’ve been most involved with survivors’ stories.)

18. After Petito was reported missing, many people expressed shock in response to the Laundrie family’s refusal to cooperate early in the investigation. Petito reportedly lived with the Laundrie family for more than a year. Anyone can see that this family will do anything to protect their son, even at the cost of an innocent young woman who was a real part of their family and soon to be their daughter-in-law. While most of us can certainly understand parents wanting to protect their son, most would agree they crossed a moral line when his fiancée went missing.

19. But perhaps it goes deeper than that. Perhaps what we’re seeing is a system of enablers who not only allowed their son to abuse Petito (which may have been a factor in her reported anxiety) but also a system of gaslighters who may have always been shifting the truth to keep Petito confused and make her believe she was the problem.

20. It’s not a far stretch to assume Petito was caught in a system of abuse. And once a target is caught in that psychological web, it’s extremely difficult to see a way out. Reality becomes flipped.

21. It’s also worth noting that Petito and Laundrie had been involved in various levels of a relationship since their teens. This is also commonly observed in dysfunctional partnerships.

22. These immature relationships work beautifully when both partners grow together and mature emotionally. But when one wants to keep the other down, naïve, and under his control … and the other is growing, learning, and maturing … it doesn’t work.

23. We hear Petito tell the officer that Laundrie didn’t think she could succeed with her travel blog (3.25). It seems clear that he didn’t believe in her and that he was trying to make her doubt herself.

24. Throughout the conversation, he implies that he locked her out of the van because she wouldn’t calm down. But when we listen to the full video, it seems he was upset because they’d spent too much time at the coffee shop with her working on her website when he wanted to go hiking. This suggests that because she wasn’t in the van when he was ready to leave, he lost his temper.

25. In the moments that followed, the altercation became physical. Reportedly, Laundrie squeezed Petito’s face with his hand, cut her down verbally, and criticized her.

26. Some would argue that this escalating abuse typically persists until the target reacts emotionally and/or physically. If this case follows the norm, Laundrie may have been trying to break her spirit, intentionally.

27. Why? Again, if this case follows the typical situation, it would likely be because Petito’s focus wasn’t 100% on Laundrie. She had found this new job she enjoyed. She was succeeding at it, and it was allowing her to connect with other people. (Remember, she’d already left her job as a nutritionist to travel around the country with Laundrie.)

28. In a healthy relationship, the new job might be considered a positive opportunity for Petito. Especially considering Laundrie admits they have very little money (not even enough to afford a hotel room to prevent his fiancée from going to jail). But in an unhealthy relationship, the abuser wants the target all to himself. And when that doesn’t happen, he can become increasingly violent.

29. Petito now had this one little piece of her life that Laundrie couldn’t control, so if we’re looking at textbook patterns, perhaps her blog angered him. Perhaps he didn’t like all the attention she was getting on social media. Perhaps he punished her for it. And then a cycle developed. Even though she was doing nothing wrong by building a new career.

30. The next thing we know, we have a missing person, a recovered body, a young man on the run, and several families destroyed. Too much grief to measure. And the truth is, it will happen again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, until we learn to recognize and respond to abusive situations in healthier ways.

The overall takeaway?

When we see someone at her emotional end during a domestic dispute, we shouldn’t assume she’s crazy. We shouldn’t buy into the false narrative given by the abuser. We shouldn’t believe the cover-up story by the target who has been conditioned to carry all the blame and shame. And we shouldn’t assume they’re going to be okay.

Instead, we should all learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. We should learn to recognize the warning signs of abuse. We should engage in respectful, fact-based conversations about trauma bonds, abusive cycles, and emotional intelligence. We should be familiar with terms like gaslighting, hovering, love bombing, enabling, triangulating, and projecting. We should stop blaming targets and help them reclaim their truth. And we should stop repeating the age-old myths that keep targets trapped in these dangerous and all-too-often deadly cycles.

Finally, while I’ve used the most common scenario of male-on-female violence in this article, we should recognize that abuse crosses all barriers and can impact anyone regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, age, or socio-economic level. And we should stop assuming these situations will get better in time. Personally, I haven’t heard of one abusive relationship that became healthier. Not one. Not with therapy. Not with church. Not with prayer or forgiveness or complete surrender. When an abuser is determined to destroy his target, he will not stop until that target is erased from this world or stripped from her life. And in many cases, he’ll walk away without any consequences, often taking the target’s finances, home, vehicle, reputation, or even her children with him.

Please don’t let the next statistic be you or someone you love. For support, contact the Domestic Violence Hotline. From a safe phone, call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text “START” to 88788.

[seeneverything]

today i decided to replay nick’s dlc! not only to catch back up and remain canon, but to look into his journals and the notes / environment around a little deeper to see if i can discover anything more about him, the game’s story, and the timeline of the game.

i have to say it somewhat surprised me that nick has handwriting that’s legible. i figured it would be similar to sally’s -- very here and there with hardly any grammar, punctuation, and horrendous spelling. yet nick’s journals though brief, are quite linguistic. a pleasant surprise.

but without further ado, my metas are under the cut! a very long read so i hope you enjoy it. i tried my best to divide it into some sort of organization as i could. <3

GENERAL LORE :

ever wondered what an original joy bottle looks like? well, nick has one.

it’s tucked in the far back in his kitchen, behind a light on his shelf. initially i thought it was some random drug and it was more proof of the dlc being pre-game. but if you look closer, the words underneath wellington wells’ emblem say  “EVERY DAY, JOIN THE FUN”  which is a clear indication of what it actually was. and beside the emblem, just to the right, if you really squint, it says  “FLAVOR:”  but it’s hidden and you can’t sneak around to the other side. however, considering how old it is, especially from the wear and tear on the sticker, one could probably imagine it being haworth’s own vanilla.

which intrigues me. i wouldn’t doubt that nick was one of the very first people who got the initial batches. virgil dainty found him when he was still a young poet in his teenage years. meaning he probably snatched him when he was around 16. if we play it out like he was 16 when the train came and took all 13 and under, nick would be around 32 during the base game. but i honestly doubt that since the make believes released more singles than albums, and they released the album around the time of strawberry’s release, as inferred by the cover of the album. so for now and to me, nick is somewhere between mid-late 30s.

speaking of joy though, does anyone remember the whole debate about the type of joy nick was taking in the dlc? it wasn’t any type at all. in fact, it was something sally made herself.

“Vibing my guitar always helps me remember things. Like where I put my Sally Specials.”

Those reds and yellows are just another one of the many street drugs that Sally sells to her clients. Probably something like rainbow and the like, but much, much weaker and not as long-lasting. After all, Nick has to take five at one time to black out. Probably at least three of them to feel any sort of a buzz at all.   ( as a side note, it personally makes me wonder if sally had anything to do with the production phlash. i’d love to see if there were any notes of it anywhere. )

I had a headcanon a while back that the woman using the power cell was using a sex toy. After all, she has a suitcase that’s cleverly hidden under her bed. If Nick believes it’s this, it makes sense that he’s aware of the “fun part of town,” unlike Arthur and Ollie once in the Parade. Yes, he goes there for sex and relief, but also because he makes deals with the owners to sell adult-themed merch. Wouldn’t be surprised if there were dildos, lube, even lingerie like Nick’s threads -- very, very plausible if there are full sex dolls.

With the Sally Specials and the Joy Bottle being so old, it could still be proof that it’s pre-game as well. After all, if Nick is still around Sally ONLY to obtain to drugs from her, then it could be easily inferred. After all, Sally remembers her time with Nick in the past together, not in the present. And that is pre-1964.

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT NICKY :

it’s absolutely no secret that nick hates himself. from the scratches on the mirror that hide his face and spell  “USELESS,”  to the inferred suicidal attempts from downing entire bottles of joy with alcohol. the puke is always so rancid in the sink. but there’s also this, too.

it’s funny how nick tends to keep scratching at his head and his eyes. the persona is who he’s trying to cover up i imagine, considering that there are multiple voicelines in the game that says he never meant to cause any harm. and he never meant to commit all the unpleasantries that come with being a rockstar. one of them being infidelity and adultery, and another being a general asshole to the public. overtime i believed that nick gained celebrity syndrome. which is essentially just being a karen on steroids. nick believes he doesn’t need to pay for anything, and he also has the innate ability to give orders to people. just because, in his mind, he’s the best in the world. the avalon’s manager wants to get back at him once and for all for his bossy attitude. but he’s not the only one who feels that, either.

petunia does as well.

nick’s love-life is an extremely complicated one. aside from the the various forms of substance abuse and exposure to said substances, nick has always had his rockstardom become the center of his universe. see, this is all headcanon but, i personally believe that nick was coddled as a child by his overbearing mother. mama told him the world would love him. and mama told him that the world would never hurt him, and that it would be perfect and easy to get through. but then he saw just how hurtful people could be, and just how much hate the world had to offer. and to him, at that. it was extremely difficult to find love in anything and anyone. especially himself. so finding petunia was very, very reassuring. after all, she did promise him, as nick said during the boss fight, to be the lighthouse on all his rocky shores. indicating that she would be the one to lead him back home, and make him stable. and i’m sure for a while, it did.

canonically, until nick lightbearer overtook norbert pickles. he found so many more people who loved him that way. and thus, he let the life of his own stardom take over everything else. including his love life. even more so when the birds threatened hatred and slander to his name if they couldn’t shag him. and if they didn’t manipulate him, nick was so afraid of losing another fan that he wouldn’t care. it felt good anyway, why not fuck people? he keeps a fan, doesn’t worry about being hated, and keeps the life of love toward him going.

not even thinking about petunia in the process. and instead of showing him that he didn’t need all the fans, instead of showing him that he needed to remain faithful and loyal, she lashed out and belittled him from every other corner. though he did deserve it for encouraging her into polygamy and bigamy and definitely by his demanding attitude(later in the note it mentions how he was a henpicker), she did not help his mental state in any capacity. petunia, the moment she didn’t help him anymore and show him the love he thought she promised him, became nothing more than someone who belittled him. truthfully nick never meant to hurt her, but it’s seen through his celebrity ideology that he truly believes in quantity over quality. a sad shame. nick’s mental state is so fucked he doesn’t even really know what true love is by this point. meaning he could potentially be easily manipulated without realization.

despite all this though, i found this to be especially intriguing:

a little hard to read, but this is during the scene before he fights the fans at the contest. his journal reads:

“They think I’m an IMPERSONATOR? Have I lost the Lightbearer aura? How much lower can I sink?”

this heavily implies that nick sets his own idolism over his chances of being a murderer. meaning that somewhere, deep in the crevasse of his subconscious, nick is so desperate for some true love and still can’t grasp hatred that he is clinging onto his persona for as much love as he can. even if it’s fake. thrice as intriguing when one learns that, during his breakdowns, he always explains how he wants his fans to know who he really is:

“i wonder if i remember how to sound polite,” “things are sure to look up once i’m not soaked in hemoglobin.”

an intelligent, young man who was so wrongly brought up into the world by an attached mother who never taught him what punishment really was. nick has been using his celebrity name as a clutch for so long that he’s having difficulty remembering who he really was, or if he can ever be norbert pickles again. he cannot handle being a celebrity, and he never could because of what his mother taught him and grew him to be. yet somewhere deep down, he knows his true self is there. but what nick doesn’t know how to do is accept the hatred of the world enough, especially to him, in order to ever take norbert pickles out.

it’s a constant mish-mash. he can hardly handle the hatred from being a celebrity, but what he does handle from stardom is what keeps him going with it. a war between nick lightbearer and norbert pickles. but neither side has proper ammo because the battlefield is strife with a lack of vegetation.

nick lightbearer in himself is an irony. he shines so bright for everyone around him but yet truly, the light is most needed for himself.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

29th April >> Fr. Martin’s Reflections / Homilies 0n Matthew 11:25-30 for the Feast of Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor: ‘Come to me, all you who labour’.

Feast of Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 11:25-30

You have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

   ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 11:25-30

You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and have revealed them to the childlike.

At that time Jesus responded: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

   “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Feast of Saint Catherine of Sienna

Catherine was a truly extraordinary woman. She was born into tumultuous times (1347-1380). The Black Death prowled the land; armies fought each other on behalf of their client-cities; the Pope had left Rome for Avignon. She came from a prosperous family and her parents wanted her to marry well. However, she felt strongly called to live as the bride of Christ. She lived a life of solitary prayer for three years before re-joining her family and working with the sick, the poor, prisoners and plague victims. After a powerful, ecstatic experience of Christ in 1374, she commenced her public role, mediating in an armed conflict between the city of Florence and the Avignon-based papacy. She travelled to Avignon to Pope Gregory XI insisting that he return to Rome. Her mission was a surprising success. However, shortly after his return to Rome, Gregory died. The College of Cardinals elected Urban VI who turned out disastrously. The cardinals, regretting their choice, elected another Pope, but failed to persuade Urban to retire. The church now had two rival Popes. Catherine remained loyal to Urban, judging that for all his faults he had been validly elected. Shortly before her death she had a vision in which it seemed as if the church like a mighty ship was being placed on her back. She died at the age of thirty three. Catherine was both a mystic and a woman of the world, who served those in greatest need and involved herself in the great issues of church and state of the day. The gospel reading is very suited to her feast. Jesus speaks both as a mystic and as one who serves those who are overburdened. He blesses God his Father, as one who knows the Father in a way no one else does, just as his Father knows him as no one else does. Jesus also speaks as one who invites all who are overburdened to come to him for rest. His intimate relationship with God flows over into a loving and caring relationship with all who struggle under heavy burdens. Catherine, like Jesus, was a mystic in action. We are all called to be mystics in action, people who are called into an intimate relationship with God and his Son and then sent to live out of that relationship by bringing God’s rest and loving presence to all who are in need of it.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena

Catherine was a mystic, and like other great mystics, she enjoyed an intimate relationship with Christ. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that ‘no one knows the Son except the Father’. Yet, Jesus also declares in that gospel reading that the Father reveals these things to mere children. The Father reveals the Son to those who become like little children, those who, like Catherine, are deeply aware of their dependence on God and are completely open to all that God can give us. We are all called to know the Son as the Father does; in that sense, we are all called to be mystics to some degree. The Lord’s invitation, ‘Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened’, is addressed to all of us. He calls out to all of us to come to him, to come to know and love him as he knows and loves us. Catherine’s mysticism did not withdraw her from the world; she was deeply involved in what was happening in Europe and in the church in her time. After a profound mystical experience she had a sense of Christ calling her to serve the wider world and universal church. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other letters of note. When the Lord calls us to himself it is not to take us out of the world but to send us into the world afire with the flame of his love.  

 And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena

Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. She was born in 1347 and died in 1380, at the age of thirty three. At a young age, she decided to give herself to the Lord, and she resisted the attempts of her family to find her a good husband. Rather than joining a religious order, she became a Dominican tertiary. After a three year period of prayer and seclusion she set about serving her neighbours, distributing alms to the poor, ministering to the sick and to prisoners. After a profound mystical experience she had a sense of Christ calling her to serve the wider world and universal church. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other letters of note. She also wrote her great work, the Dialogues, describing the contents of her mystical conversations with Christ. Catherine’s mysticism did not withdraw her from the world; she was deeply involved in what was happening in Europe and in the church in her time. She persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. She insisted that the Pope’s place was beside the bones of the martyrs. Shortly after his return, Pope Gregory died. He was succeeded by Pope Urban VI who turned out to be a disastrous Pope. The cardinals regretted their decision and elected a second Pope but could not persuade Pope Urban to retire. The church now had two Popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon, a situation that was to last for several decades. Catherine remained faithful to Urban, in spite of his faults, because he had been duly elected. She was convinced that the wound in the body of Christ could only be healed by great sacrifice. She prayed that she might atone for the sins of the church, and shortly afterwards collapsed and died. Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time. That is the calling of each one of us. We are all called to be mystics to some degree. The Lord’s invitation, ‘Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened’, is addressed to us all. He calls out to all of us to come to him, to know and love him as he knows and loves us. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love.

 And/Or

(iv) Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena

Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. She was born in 1347, the daughter of a prosperous wool dyer, and died in 1380, at the age of thirty three. At a young age, she decided to give herself to the Lord, and she resisted the attempts of her family to find her a good husband. She insisted that she was betrothed to Christ. Eventually, her father relented. Rather than joining a religious order, she became a Dominican tertiary. For a three year period she devoted herself to prayer and seclusion. Early on in this period, she was tormented by doubt, but this gave way to mystical encounters with Christ. After three years, she began the second great phase of her career. She set about serving her neighbours, distributing alms to the poor, ministering to the sick and to prisoners. She began gathering a group of followers about herself, men and women, priests and religious. After a profoundly mystical experience she had a sense of Christ calling her to take a further step, to serve the wider world and universal church. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other leaders of note. She also wrote her great work, the Dialogues, describing the contents of her mystical conversations with Christ. Theses writings were dictated by her as she only learnt to write towards the very end of her life. It is evident that Catherine’s mysticism did not withdraw her from the world. She was deeply involved in what was happening in Europe and in the church in her time. Because of the chaos and dangers of Rome, the Popes had left Rome for Avignon. She worked to persuade Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. She insisted that the Pope’s place was beside the bones of the martyrs. Her mission in person to the Pope was a surprising success. Shortly after his return, Pope Gregory died. He was succeeded by Pope Urban VI who turned out to be a disastrous Pope. The cardinals regretted their decision and elected a second Pope but could not persuade Pope Urban to retire. The church now had two rival  Popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon, a situation that was to last for several decades. Catherine remained faithful to Urban, in spite of his faults, because he had been duly elected. She was convinced that the wound in the body of Christ could only be healed by great sacrifice. She prayed that she might atone for the sins of the church, and shortly afterwards collapsed and died. Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time in Europe and in the church. She was such a light because of her deeply personal and mystical relationship with Jesus. The Lord’s invitation, ‘Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened’, was one she responded to every day of her life. Her life shows us very clearly that the life of faith has both an inward and outward dimension. The Lord calls out to all of us to come to him, to know and love him as he knows and loves us. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love. Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1970. In doing so he was stating that her life and writings have something important to say to the church of every generation.

 And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena

When Jesus declares in today’s gospel reading, ‘my yoke is easy and my burden light’, he is saying that his teaching, his understanding of God’s will, is not something burdensome. Rather, his teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. If his teaching is received and lived, it lightens the burden of oppression; it brings joy. That is not to say that Jesus’ teaching is not demanding. His teaching is demanding but not burdensome. That is because Jesus does not ask us to live his teaching out our own strength alone. He empowers us to live out his teaching. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus does not say, ‘Come to my teaching’, but ‘Come to me’. He doesn’t say, ‘learn my teaching’, but ‘learn from me’. He calls us into a personal relationship with himself. Earlier in that gospel reading, Jesus spoke about the intimate relationship he has with God his Father, ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son’. Yet, this is not a closed relationship. Jesus wants to share with each one of us his own very intimate relationship with God; he wants to draw us into his own personal relationship with God, his Father. He wants to reveal his Father to us, to share the love of the Father with us. ‘Come to me’, Jesus says, and through me come to the Father. It is in coming to him and his Father that we receive his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and so are empowered to live his teaching and, thereby, to become fully alive as human beings and his joyful servants in the world. This two-fold movement of coming to Jesus and going forth in his strength expresses well the contemplative and active dimension of the Christian life. We are called to be contemplatives in action, like Catherine of Siena. Catherine was a great mystic or contemplative, but her mysticism did not withdraw her from the world. She was deeply involved in what was happening in Europe and in the church in her time. Catherine stood out as a beacon of light in a dark time in Europe and in the church. She was such a light because of her deeply personal and mystical relationship with Jesus.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

Nothing Will Ever Come Between Us - Harry Styles One Shot

Request:

I have an idea that I don't know if you are interested harry and reader being school sweethearts with people trying to separate them with telling to Harry to cheat on her or trying to tempt him but he always remain loyal to Reader.

**

You’ve seen in it a ton of movies or read it in a few books about how certain people find their person as soon as they were born or at least when they were younger. You are one of those people. It happened the day you were born actually, when your mother met another mother who had given birth to a son at the same hospital. They hit it off quite well and been friends ever sense. Since both you and the son were the same age, they loved setting up playdates and even having a few joint birthdays. 

When you were ten, you actually lived in the same neighborhood, which brought you and Harry even closer. Going to the same school and spending time with one another as soon as you were home, everything was perfect. As the two of you got older, it was obvious that your friendship was moving into crush territory. It officially hit the mark one summer evening when you planted a kiss right on Harry’s lips at the age of twelve. His cheeks quickly turned red causing you to giggle. 

“Uh, well, not that we've got that over with,” you said. “That means you’re my boyfriend now.” 

“I-Okay,” he blushed though a smile. 

Ever since then, the two of you were a bit inseparable. Nothing really changed other than you two would hold hands and give a bit of a peck on the lips ever now and again. However, when you both were teenagers, is when the relationship changed. You were falling in love and you were happy. 

But then, something happened. Harry went to the X Factor and became the Harry Styles he was today. While, you were proud of him and excited for the future that lied ahead for him, you were also afraid of losing your best friend and your first love. He reassured you that everything would be okay and he promised to call you as much as he could. 

Of course, that wasn’t very often given his schedule, but the two of you made it work. Many of your friends thought it was so cool that you are dating him, but some of them also made sure and tell you that he was most likely not being faithful. You knew he wasn’t capable of hurting you like that, but you also knew he was a typical teenage boy living in the limelight with hundreds to thousands to millions of fans, who were mostly girls you’re own age. 

But you trusted Harry and he never gave you any reason to believe he had been unfaithful. Unfortunately, though distance was proven to be hard and you found both of you arguing about missed calls or visits, etc. But you did whatever you could to make it work. 

As the years went on and both of you got older, more and more people couldn’t believe that either of you were still together. You had your own life at University, with friends and the chance to date other people. For as many people who were telling you Harry was most likely cheated on you, there were just as many telling Harry you were probably doing the same. 

“She has her own life, a new life,” they would say. “Just like you. The two of you are young with your own life ahead of you, do you really think you should still be with someone you’ve with since you were twelve?” 

“Yeah, I do,” he would respond. “Because I love her. She’s my best friend and I can’t imagine my life without her.” 

“And do you think she feels the same with you?” they would ask. 

“Yeah, I do. I know she does,” he said. 

“How?” they asked. 

“Because when you know, you know,” he said. 

Now, you would be lying if you said there weren’t times where you two thought about breaking up, usually when it’s when you two were fighting, but as soon as the other said it, it never lasted long. You would visit on tour as much as you could or Harry would spend time with you on his off weeks, which helped a lot.

It was hard being out with friends or seeing other couples out having a good time knowing your boyfriend was thousands of miles away, but you knew he was living his dream, this once in a lifetime opportunity. You had him to yourself for sixteen years, you could share him with the world for a few years. 

When it came time for the band to take a break and him to venture into solo projects, the two of you moved in together since he was home more and that was really when your relationship was put to the test. Since neither of you had been together for than a few weeks or months at a time, it was a bit of struggle getting used to be around one another most of the time. 

There were a lot of annoying moments, but they were all worth it. Even after all the years you’ve together, a few people still tried to question if you two really should be together and if you were just settling. Especially, since neither of you had dated other people. 

You would always say, “Why would I waist my time with someone else, when I know Harry is the one I’m supposed to be with. I know it’s cheesy and maybe a little weird, but we were born on the same day, only a few hours apart, at the same hospital, and our Mum’s met and the rest is history. If that doesn’t say meant to be, then I don’t know what it is.” 

Which brings you to this moment, the one where you’re walking down an aisle to meet him, so that you two could officially be together for the rest of your lives. And after this, you two would then talk about starting a family. Harry wanted at least two or four kids, while you were okay with two or three. He always said if you have three, you have to have another one because then it’s even. Everyone will have their person and won’t be left out. 

You couldn’t wait until the two of you were parents, and then grandparents. Techincally, you could wait for the latter, and wanted that moment to happen in like 20 or 30 years from then. But you imagined yourself sitting with him out in the backyard or around the fireplace and telling your children and grandchildren the love story of you and Harry. 

From the first moment the two of you met in the nursery, to falling in love and saying I do. How the two of you made it work through everything even when others doubted you and someone would ask, how did you make it work? 

“It’s simple, really,” Harry smiled looking down at you. “When you love someone so much that you can’t imagine your life without them, you don’t let anything or anyone come in between you.”

“Simple as that,” you nodded before pressing your lips against his, just like you did all those years ago. 

**

Thank you for the request! :) 

[saventhhaven]

Gut Instinct

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader

Tags: protective!Dean, stranger!Dean, flirting, demon

Word Count: 1,110

(Gif not mine)

"Have a good night," you called after your last customer. As he drove away into the darkness, you let out a relieved breath, locking the door behind him. Technically, you had been closed for nearly twenty minutes now, but you had gotten caught up in a conversation involving the best classic rock artists of all time. This job didn't have the best pay by any means, but you stayed because of how much you enjoyed it. Back in high school, you had come into this record store one day and fallen in love. The rest, as they say, was history. Glancing down at your watch, you sighed. It was almost 12:30, and you hadn't even started the list of closing tasks you had to do before you left. You were more than ready to go home. In the past week, Maya, your least favorite co-worker, had quit, which, quite frankly, was fine with you. She had worked here for nearly a year, and not once had she done her job right. Although you had been hoping to not be the only person working there all the time, the only thing she had done was make your job more difficult. As happy as you were to have her gone, though, all of her hours had fallen to you, unfortunately. You sighed again. It had been a long day. Right now, you wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and not get up for at least a month. At this point, you didn't even care if you hadn't eaten dinner yet, but you knew that your stomach would say otherwise once you got back to your apartment.

As soon as the door was locked, you didn't waste any time in getting back to work. It was your responsibility to make sure that the register's count was on before you closed it for the night, straighten up any of the displays if they were looking unruly, and just make sure you didn't burn the place down.

As you put cash from the register into the safe below the counter, the hairs on your arm stood on end. Someone was watching you. You made a conscious effort not to look out the large glass window as you glanced at the security camera feed. If there really was anyone out there, they weren't in the parking lot, at least. If they were, you would have seen them. Honestly, you weren't sure if that made you feel better or worse. It was entirely possible that the whole thing was in your head. But at the same time... you fought off another shudder. Your mother had always told you to trust your gut, and right now, your gut was telling you that something wasn't quite right. The thing was, you couldn't call the police. What were you supposed to tell them if someone came all the way out here just for nothing to be wrong? "Sorry, officer, I just had a feeling that someone was out there?" No way, you finally decided. This wasn't the first time you had felt paranoid during a closing shift, and it wasn't going to be the last. Giving a slight shake of your head, you went around to the other side of the counter to grab the broom. When you realized it wasn't in its assigned spot, you groaned, irritated. A parting gift from Maya. So, where the hell was the damn thing? Your stomach did a little flop when you noticed it across the shop, leaning right against the large window. Of course, it was. The one time you were freaked out about the window, you had to go right up to it. Typical. You steeled yourself, puffing up your chest as if that would help your courage.

"Come on, Y/N," you said roughly to yourself. "Don't be a pussy. It's literally just a window. It's the same as every single night. You already checked the security feed, and there isn't anyone out there." Letting out a ragged breath, you speed-walked over to the broom and grabbed it. You chuckled to yourself, rolling your eyes. "See? That wasn't so ba-" A dark mass rushed at the large window, smashing through the glass effortlessly. The broom clattered to the ground as the thing tackled you, effectively knocking the wind from your lungs. "Get off of me!" you screeched, screaming bloody murder as you struggled. The man pinning you to the ground laughed darkly, his eyes flashing to pure black.

"Pretty face." Straining against his hold, you let out another scream. "Oh, strong, too," he noted as he gripped you tighter. "I think you'll do quite nicely." The man's head snapped back unnaturally, and thick, black smoke, the same color as his eyes, poured from his mouth. The substance crept across your chest with a terrifying sense of direction as you continued to hopelessly fight.

"No!" The smoke drew closer to your mouth, threatening to overtake you. "No!” The sound of a gun firing echoed through the store, and the man on top of you jolted, his body flashing a bright orange before finally going limp. You pushed him off of you, scrambling back as you tried to catch your breath. What the fuck just happened?

"You okay?" Another man climbed through the now-empty window frame, being careful to avoid any remaining shards. You grabbed the broom again and stood shakily, brandishing the thing as a weapon.

"Stay away from me!" He held his hands up as a sign of peace, but the gun still in his hand didn't go unnoticed.

"Easy," he said placatingly. "I'm on your side."

"You shot him?" was all you could ask. The man nodded.

"I did," he answered honestly. "That thing that attacked you, that wasn't human, all right? It was a demon." You were seriously starting to consider the possibility that you hit your head on the counter when you stood up from the safe. Through the fog of your slight panic, a realization clicked.

"You saved my life." A total stranger. Why? The man, seeming to sense your air of bewilderment, gave you a kind smile.

"Don't mention it." This made no sense. Demons? What was this, some sort of fucking... Poltergeist shit?

"But how-" Police sirens cut you off, and the man glanced over his shoulder, heaving a sigh.

"Sounds like that's my cue," he admitted. Without another word, he went to unlock the door, much to your surprise.

"Wait!" you exclaimed. The man turned around, eyebrows raised in question. "What's your name?" you were finally able to spit out.

"Dean. Dean Winchester." He shot you a wink. "See you around, gorgeous."

Thanks so much for reading!

Like always, links to my masterlist, taglist, and inbox (requests are open!) are in my bio! <3

My Everything Loyals:

@cole-winchester​ @alexwinchester23​ @1-am-made-of-stardust​ @thorukindig​ @fiftyshadesoffandom6783​ @hobby27​ @supernaturalenchanted​ @organicpurplepants​ @odysseyofasiren​ @defenderrosetyler​ @youshrimpdickfucknugget​

Dean Darlings:

@calaofnoldor​