#I am terribly abnormal about this man

[roadkill-punk]

I don't usually share WIPs but fuck he's so pretty I am actively passing away

[eatmeandbirthmeagain]

С Hello, hello, dear author, I am so addicted to your works that I can fully say that you are simply the best writer I have ever seen, I simply melt from your works related to Baldwin,Seriously!I would like to read something sad, so I would like to ask you to write something sad, where Baldwin and Y/N They are married, everything is fine with them, but one day Y/n became terribly ill with some kind of disease,it soon becomes clear that this is a dangerous disease and unfortunately Y/n dies, and Baldwin is saddened and broken.

)(English is not my native language, so I apologize for the mistakes and thank you in advance author!)!!

♧ Everything Is Worse Now - King Baldwin x Reader ♧

♧ Angst ♧

A/N: Hello dear Sevina!! I am so greatful for your support and your such kind words, you have no idea how much they mean to me🫶. Thank you so much for this beautiful and sad request, it was a pleasure to write and I hope you enjoy it!! As always, this is based on the film Kingdom Of Heaven, not the real historical figures. Enjoy!

P.S. Im sorry this is so short, I wanted it to be more like a uhh poem kind of I guess?? Like short and sweet yk?? Idk if I'm making any sence but I hope you all enjoy!! Also SORRY FOR ALL THE ANGST. Next one will be fluffy I prommise 😭😭

TW: Death, Disease, Leprosy, Not a happy ending

It was an abnormally cold evening when it began.

The queen's condition had been faltering for a few days now, but she merely brushed it off as fatigue. Things had been stressful with the threat of invasion any day now, it was only natural to feel exhausted at times such as these.

Nevertheless, the young king was deeply concerned about his wife.

“Please my love, I need you to see one of my physicians. It could be serious-”

“Darling, I can assure you that I am perfectly fine. Truely, there is no need to fret, you have enough to be worried about. Please don't let my condition weigh on your mind” she had told him, taking his hands in hers with that gentle firmness that he so adored.

It only became worse from there. Baldwin had been attending a meeting when he received news that y/n had collapsed while walking the gardens.

He abandoned the meeting in a second and used every ounce of his strength to climb the stairs to the royal chambers where he was met with the horrific sight of his beautiful wife, pale and weak, laying atop their shared bed with physicians working at her side.

He staggered to her side, about to collapse himself, and took her hand pressing it to the cool metal of his mask.

The familiar sensation caused y/n to open her eyes to look at her husband.

She smiled weakly.

“Perhaps I should have been checked out sooner hm?” she chuckled.

Baldwin couldn't help but smile sadly. Even in the darkest times she always managed to make him smile.

Naturally, the young king assumed the worst possible scenario: That his vile disease had been passed to his beautiful wife.

He could barely think of the possibility without breaking down right there and then so he attempted to keep his mind away from the idea.

“My lord?” a physician spoke gently beside him.

Baldwin looked up at the young man expectantly, “may I speak with you a moment?” the physician asked.

The king nodded, giving y/n one last look before walking towards the door.

“Do you know what could be wrong?” he asked, his voice trembling with fear.

“We have a fair idea, my lord. Her symptoms match that of the flu. It is a European disease, this is all we know so far”.

Baldwin's heart sank and felt relieved at the same time.

On one hand, his worst fear had not come true and his perfect wife had not been tainted by his vile flesh. But on the other hand, she was still very ill with a disease he had only read about in books.

He felt light headed but was determined to stay on his feet. He had to be strong for her. 

---------------------------------------------------

Her condition worsened further from that day onwards, as did the rumours in the castle.

Guy was of the firm belief that Baldwin had contaminated the queen with his vile disease and all of his followers and friends were of the same view.

Baldwin himself avoided everyone and everything that wasn't y/n.

Despite the warnings from the physicians that she may pass her disease onto him, thus killing him faster, he didn't care.

“I'm dying anyway, what's the point in avoiding it if she’s not going to be by my side in a few weeks” he told them.

They spent every moment together, taking in their last few days by each other's sides. Y/n could barely move and her fever made her weak but Baldwin could not care any less.

He read to her, prayed over her and spoke of his days to her, even if she didn't have the strength to reply.

This was exactly what she had promised to do for him in his last days, it didn't seem right to be the other way around. They even continued to sleep side by side. Just as if nothing happened at all.

When y/n would wake in the night, brought to consciousness by the low grade fever, she would admire her sleeping husband.

“I’m so sorry” she would whisper.

“I'm so sorry that I have to leave you. It wasn't supposed to be like this”.

---------------------------------------------------

It wasn't until another abnormally cold morning that Baldwin opened his eyes to find her stiff with the icy touch of death.

He sat up and wept at the sight until physicians came to take him to another room. Baldwin was simply inconsolable and he stayed that way for days.

He became a shell of a man. Refusing to leave his chambers or even eat.

“You must snap out of this and tend to your kingdom” Sybilla had told him.

“The land will be in ruins if you continue like this-”

“I care not for the land any longer!” he snapped.

“Let your foul husband have it to himself for all I care” he said with a wave of his hand as he began to cry again.

Sybilla put a hand on her brother's back, “just because she is gone doesn't mean you must go with her” she said gently.

“I see no use in living if she can't be by my side. I'm dying anyway Sybilla, the future of the kingdom matters not to me. Let Tiberias take care of my duties while I am here. Just go and pretend as though I am dead already” he looked at her through the holes in the mask, those blue eyes that used to be so filled with happiness when he was a child were now empty and red with tears.

“I can't leave you like this Baldwin” she whispered, pulling him into a hug.

He closed his eyes and for a moment imagined that it was y/n hugging him instead.

“She would have wanted you to be strong and go on. To lead the kingdom as you did when she lived” Sybilla said, not knowing if her words were even getting through to him or not.

Baldwin sighed.

“I'll do my best, dear sister”

[phoenixkaptain]

The comics always have Tim comment on how normal his childhood was, and I just don’t believe them.

Like, the name “Drake” was set up in comics for years beforehand. Tim Drake is a rich kid. His parents did own an entire industry and Tim’s introductory comic tells us flat out that he spends most of the time his parents aren’t home at boarding and private schools. His parents were gone a lot!

Tim Drake is stated to be so normal. This kid can still clearly remember watching Dick’s parents die, he was traumatized and had nightmares about the scene. Especially if you believe Tim’s never taken a picture of Batman before the events of his introduction, Tim is extra strange because why was his first instinct to take pictures of Batman getting beaten up?! Is that normal child behaviour?? Am I the weird one for not knowing where Dick Grayson’s girlfriend lived when I was thirteen?? How on earth is Tim Drake the normal one?

He’s a stilted talker, absolutely terrible at speaking about important things. He is the Robin who called the most alike to Batman more than once, Ra’s al Ghul calls him a detective on Batman’s level, are you REALLY normal if you’re similar to Batman??

Like yeah, sure. Tim didn’t grow up in a circus. Tim didn’t grow up raised on the streets. Tim wasn’t trained from birth to be an assassin.

I would argue that this makes him MORE abnormal! He doesn’t have Dick’s background or flexibility! He doesn’t have either of Jason’s backgrounds nor his grudge. He doesn’t have Batman to live up to for a father. And yet, he still decides to put his life on the line to fight crime! His parents weren’t even dead!! He just decided that “If Batman and Nightwing aren’t going to take care of themselves, I have no choice but to do it for them.” Sure, he tries to get Dick to help Bruce, but he realizes pretty quickly that that isn’t going to work out.

Tim Drake tried to fight Superboy. You know, Superman’s clone? Invulnerable? Boy of steel? Literally only had one weakness that Tim didn’t have on him at the time??

Tim Drake is absolutely not the normal Robin. The comics really, really want me to believe that the kid who grew up in boarding school while his parents were off on business, the kid who took to being a Robin akin to Batman (ie. invisible, unnoticeable, unknown, a myth), the kid who got beat up by Jason Todd and then went “whoa, Jason Todd is back :),” the kid who Ra’s al Ghul is obsessed with, the kid who built his own vehicle; this kid is normal.

Yeah, okay. He’s perfectly normal. His dad being hinted at as being neglectful and literally abusive with how he breaks his kid’s things? Normal. Tim Drake knowing how to photograph the most paranoid man this side of the Rockies? Normal. Tim Drake deciding that it would actually be neat-o to don a suit that another kid died in to fight against people and beings that could and would absolutely kill him in a heartbeat? Completely. Normal.

Okay, DC. Whatever you say…

[carmillascrusade]

Of Eden III | Larissa Weems x F!reader

Summary: Larissa’s recollection of your life together.

Word count: 3,600

A/N: apologies for the wait, I’ve been making a blanket for my grandma. @barbarasstar

Part two

Larissa dreamed of you that night or, more importantly, she dreamed of the life that you had shared before… 

Larissa watched you speak amiably with the blacksmith, that ever present pleasant smile plastered on your face as you browsed the finger plates. The blacksmith flirted shamelessly but you seemed to pay no attention. You were the talk of the village; a pretty young bachelorette that bought the small cottage lying on the outskirts of Nevermore. 

Larissa had yet to speak to you, your terribly beauty unnerving. She had nothing to offer you- no manor, no respectable name- so she kept her distance, admiring you from afar to save her heart from the cruel rejection that would sprout from your lips if she were to ask for your hand. She could only watch in disdain as the blacksmith continued fawning over you. 

What she wasn’t prepared for, however, was for your gaze to fall on her. Your eyes went wide upon seeing her. You waved the blacksmith off, instead choosing to walk over to where Larissa was seated. She froze in her spot, unsure of what to do. 

“Hello.” 

It was a simple greeting but it caused her cheeks to heat up nonetheless. 

“Hello..” 

You tilted your head slightly at the strange woman sat before you, secretly pleased that she was treating you as you would any other human being. To put it frankly, you were sick of everybody flirting with you. 

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you yet… what’s your name?” 

“Larissa.” She replied stoically. You are not going to charm her like you have the rest of the village. 

“La-ris-sa,” you repeated her name, sounding it out as you did so. “A beautiful name.”

“Thank you.”

Your mouth opened, a small sound escaping it as you went to speak again, before it shut abruptly at somebody jogging over to you. Your eyes narrowed ever so slightly, irritated at the interruption. The blacksmith from before warily glanced at Larissa while approaching. 

“Are ya alright?” He asked, slightly breathless from his jog. 

You didn’t bother gracing him a smile as you replied. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well,” he gestured towards Larissa. “You’re speaking to ‘er…” 

“Why is that an issue?” You gritted out. 

“She’s a freak! You know what they say ‘bout ‘er; they say she steals bairns from their cribs, sacrifices ‘em to the devil she worships.” 

You blinked at him, before looking back at her. “Why? Because her hair is light?” 

“Yeah, that and she’s abnormally tall… taller than any man in the village.” 

Larissa had shrunken into herself, radiating an aura that belied her stature. You hummed while you raked your eyes over her, disappointed when she wouldn’t meet your gaze. 

“Larissa?” 

Her eyes snapped up to your face, turning beat red as you focused solely upon her. 

“Yes?…”

“Say, with that height of yours you must be strong, yes?” You questioned lightly. 

Her brows furrowed, confusion colouring her face as she tried to figure out where you were going with this. “Relatively speaking, I’m rather strong.” 

“I see.” 

You turned back to the blacksmith. 

“Well, I think that settles it.” You stated, eyes flicking to your nails in disinterest. 

“Settles.. what?” The man asked nervously. 

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be spreading rumours about such a lovely woman… especially when she could easily beat you in a fight. Oh! I know. How about you go back to rest of your cruel friends and gossip about me instead.” You sidled up to Larissa, laying your head on her arm for effect before you continued to speak. “After all, how devious am I to have affairs with such a woman!” 

“A-affairs?!” He squeaked. 

“Why, yes! Larissa here has been a very lovely companion in my home… haven’t you, my love?” 

“Y-yes.” She stuttered. 

The man’s eyes flicked frantically between the two of you, searching for any sort of deceit,  before settling on you once more. “Well,” he scratched his head lightly. “If m’lady chooses to spend time with the light haired woman, then I s’pose she can’t be that bad…” 

You watched in glee as he stalked back to the heart of the village. Humming in satisfaction at halting any nasty rumours in the track, you stood up and dusted your skirt off. You smiled at Larissa in parting before beginning to walk away. 

“Wait!” She pleaded. You looked at her with a concerned expression, waiting patiently for her to finds the words she wanted to say. “Thank you… you didn’t have to do that.” 

“Of course I did. That’s what friends do.” You stated it as if it was obvious before sauntering away to whence you came, leaving Larissa gobsmacked on the bench, helpless to watch as you disappeared from view. 

“Friends…”

It had only taken three months into her friendship with you for all the horrendous rumours about Larissa to cease. Apparently, the village’s respect for you was so strong that, in turn, they began to respect her as well. She no longer had to live in fear of the villagers. She was no longer an outcast… all thanks to you. 

“Larissa!” You shouted from where you stood across the market square, waving her over as you did so. 

She grinned at you and found herself by your side within a second following her brisk walk over to you. Your arm linked with hers as soon as she got close enough, allowing you to tug her along to the market stalls you wished to see. 

“How would you feel about coming over after this?” You asked with a shrug of your shoulders, acting unbothered at whatever her answer may be. “I’ll make your favourite stew.” (Okay, maybe you were trying to bribe her.) 

Larissa looked down at you, her eyes leaving the potatoes she was scrutinising in favour for falling onto your face. Despite you proving your wish to simply be her friend time and time again, she still found herself sceptical of your intentions. Yet you hadn’t done anything to gain her distrust- she just couldn’t believe somebody would want to befriend and spend their time with her. 

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” 

You grinned up at her and took the potatoes out of her hand. “Of course not. I like having you near…” 

Larissa gasped at your words which caused your cheeks to don a vibrant shade of red. “I-“ you stuttered out, praying that the ground would open and swallow you up as it did so. Having feelings for another woman was wrong- a sin. If word got out that you were a sinner, you would be outcasted or, even worse, burned at the stake for your crimes. 

“Are you insinuating what I think you are?” Larissa’s face was stony, unreadable even to you. 

“W-would that be so bad?” Your voice lacked its usual confidence as you replied. 

She turned on her heel, swiftly marching off into the direction of her house without saying a word in reply. Your heart plummeted in your chest, breath hitching as the world seemed to slow to a halt. What have you done? 

You ran after her, breaths coming out shorts on ragged. The tears brimming in your eyes made it difficult to see but you persisted nevertheless. If she were to tell anybody, not that you thought she would, your life was over. Your dress wasn’t fairing well with the sticks and mud that lined the floor; the bottom of your skirts becoming heavy and difficult to manoeuvre the father you travelled. 

By some miracle you reached her. Although you weren’t expecting her to swivel so that she could face you, eyes blazed with fury, mouth twisted into a nasty sneer. You stumbled into her, slightly because of her demeanour, but mainly because she knocked you whilst turning. 

“Larissa, please!” You were begging at this point. 

“Do you think this is funny?” She barked. 

She didn’t even let you speak before continuing her angry rant. “Do you enjoy playing with people’s feelings? Is that why you’ve rejected every single bachelor in this god forsaken village? Is it?!”

You stared at her, mouth agape; the knife she stabbed into your heart with her departure twisting and turning painfully, leaving your already aching heart into a bigger mess than what it was a moment before. She was unpleased with your lack of answer.   

“Well?! Answer me!” She shouted, hands reaching out to shake your shoulders- harshly but not enough to hurt. 

“I- what are you talking about?!” 

“You! You could play with anybody else in this village, break any heart that you wanted with so much as a whisper of the word ‘no’. So, why? Why have you chosen to make me the centre of your whoreish games?”

“You think that I’m a whore?” You whispered defeated. 

“What am I supposed to think? Huh? When all you do is flaunt yourself around the village for all to see!” Her anger was palpable, but you just couldn’t understand why. 

It was becoming even more difficult to breathe and before you could think too much about your actions, you ran. 

Larissa hadn’t seen much of you recently. Well, the whole village hasn’t. You had hidden yourself away after the incident, feeling physically incapable of leaving the sanctuary of your small cottage. 

It had been less than a week and the village was already suffering from your loss. Your presence was like that of the sun; warm and enveloping but dangerous all the same. Your path destructive, burning anybody who dared get too close. 

But you hadn’t been the one to burn Larissa. No, she had torn your heart from where it beat within your chest.  It was ridiculous really. A woman you had known for less than  two months and she had turned your whole life around in the matter of minutes. 

If only she had communicated with you. This could have all be avoided. 

She caught you as you were in the middle of harvesting vegetables from your garden. Your face was shielded by the hood of your cloak, granting your eyes relief from the blaring sun. The soil moved with the coaxing of your hands, soft huffs of effort were exhaled when you reached a vegetable determined to stay in the ground. 

Larissa was content to watch you. No matter how many times she may deny it, she craved your presence terribly. These past few weeks without you has been torture. And she never wanted to experience that again. 

Never. 

Somebody clearing their throat startled you out of your task. The oddly shaped carrot you were holding dropped back into its bed with a soft thud due to your surprised state. Your head turned at the speed of light, startled by the current person intruding on your property. What you weren’t expecting, however, was to see the woman that plagued your dreams (and nightmares) to be stood at your gate. 

She stood with a shyness that belied someone of her stature. Her hand shot up, awkward and jerky in its movement to wave at you. Your own hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it returned the wave, your fingers curling into your palm rather than shaking your hand from left to right. 

She cleared her throat again before offering a meek ‘hi’. 

“Lar- what are you doing here?” You didn’t want to beat around the bush or evade a conversation that needed to be had. 

“I wanted to see you…” her admission was quiet, the wind drowning most of it out, but you heard her as clear as day. 

A short, mocking laugh could be heard from your place on the ground. A scoff following soon after. “You wanted to see me? And why would you wish to see a whore?” 

You thought that you were over the last conversation you had with Larissa but you could feel your cheeks flushing with anger as soon as you were reminded of that day. How dare she say those awful things about you and then come here as if nothing happened? How dare she think so lowly of you but still beg to catch glimpses of you?

“I- please, you know I didn’t mean that!” She defended herself, tone accusatory as if you were the one in the wrong. 

You picked your vegetables up before standing. The dirt was brushed off your knees as best you could with dirt-caked hands, ultimately making your skirts even more muddier than they were before you had stood. “And prey tell, what did you mean?” 

Larissa recoiled at your biting tone. Her lips pursed into a thin line once she realised that you wouldn’t just let her back into your life. “Please,” she sighed out. “Just- let me inside? We can talk there.” She was close to begging at this point, but if begging was what got you to humour her she would gladly do it one hundred times over. 

“Fine.” You snapped. 

Larissa trailed after you, like a puppy following after its owner. You held open the front door for her, stepping to the side so she could enter. She ducked through the doorway before returning to her full height in your living room. 

“I’ll be with you in a moment. I need to put my vegetables in the kitchen.”

She fidgeted nervously as she glanced around your living room,  committing as much of it as she could incase you decided that you never wanted to speak to her again after this. The fire roared where it stood, crackling loudly in the otherwise silence of the room. Flames licked at the fireplace, dancing mesmerisingly, drawing Larissa in the more she watched. Your walls were lined with the tapestries you had spent hours of your life creating; the latest one, Larissa noticed, captured a mass of blonde hair facing a market stall. 

No. It couldn’t be.. could it? 

The living room itself was scarcely furnished. Enough to live comfortably, but not enough to consider you wealthy by any means. She hadn’t heard you approach, too busy taking in her surroundings to pay attention to much else. 

“So, what is it that you want?” You asked bluntly. 

“I- I already told you. I wanted to see you.”

“Right.” You pursed your lips and nodded your head in false agreement. “Well, you’ve seen me now. So if that’s all…”

“I’m sorry.” 

Your head shot up to look at her, surprised at the sudden apology. 

“I’m so, so very sorry for what I said. I let my insecurities control me and I was awful to you. It isn’t an excuse, I know. But please believe me when I say that I never meant a word.” 

You were stunned speechless. Your eyes blinked rapidly, mouth opening and closing like a fish as you fought for anything to escape your mouth. “W-what? Insecurities?” 

She nodded her head in a sullen manner. “You- you know what the villagers think of me. I… I thought that it was another one of their cruel jokes. Why would a beautiful woman be attracted to me of all people? But you wouldn’t do that to me.”

“No. I wouldn’t.” You stated. “You asked me, that day, why I rejected every man’s advances. Have you figured it out yet?”

She laughed at that. A short, self-loathing laugh for she had mulled this over ever since that day. “Yes..”

You smiled at that. “How is it that a woman so intelligent can be so stupid at the same time?” You questioned. 

She went to open her mouth, eyebrows pulled down in slight indignation. “Ah! Let me finish. Larissa, the only person I could ever want in this village is you.”

“And the only person I could ever want is you.” She breathed. 

She looked at you with a childlike wonder. You were everything she could have dreamed of and more. The two of you had been dancing around one another since the very start, unfortunately Larissa was just too blind to see it. 

Until now. 

“Larissa! Where are we going?!” You questioned, voice trembling with fear as she dragged you along the beaten down path leading into the forest. 

She had entered your shared cottage in a frenzy, eyes wild and hair frazzled before she settled her gaze upon you. You hadn’t the time to think as, in an instant, she was dragging you from the comfort of your bed and outside with no further explanation.

Rough stones and stray twigs dug into the soles of your bare feet. Goosebumps rose on your flesh as the frigid air nipped your skin. Larissa came to a halt in a clearing, an otherworldly glow emitting from the alter in the centre. 

“Larissa?” Your voice trembled, whether that was due to the cold or your rising fear, you didn’t know. 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” She whispered, eyes transfixed in the knife floating above the alter. It seemed to drink in the moonlight, pulsating with a subtle, almost imperceptible energy.  

“Larissa… maybe we should go.” You tried again, tugging on her arm in a vain attempt to get her to leave. She payed you no mind. Instead, she dropped your arm and walked towards the alter. You were helpless. Rendered useless as you could only watch her grasp the blade. 

The moment her fingers clasped around the hilt, a surge of power coursed through her. She gasped into the night air, her eyes widening in shock as a searing heat spread up her body from her palm, mapping a direct path to her heart. She tried to pull away, take back control, but her hand was fused to the blade by an unforeseen force. 

Her head was thrown back in a mixture of pain and ecstasy; her face that once held shock, now being home to a crazed grin. Image after image flashed through her mind in rapid succession- visions of ancient battles, soldiers clashing beneath stormy skies. The face of a god imprinted itself in her mind, omnipotent in its omniscience. The power of the blade passed through her, setting her nerves alight with energy as it filled every fibre of her being.  

Her body was glowing a pale orange, her hair changing from its beautiful blonde to an icy white. And then, as fast as it happened, she dropped to the floor- unconscious. 

Larissa had been acting… differently ever since she took you to the woods. She had gathered a mass following; believers of the god ‘Andraste’ with Larissa as their preacher. You had been afraid at first. Afraid of what she was preaching, what she had become. But in the silence of your shared nights, you could see a flicker of the woman she had once been… and it was enough for you to stay. 

It hadn’t taken her very long to gather a large following, and then somehow she had obtained a castle and maids. You were treated like a queen, fawned over by Larissa and her servants. 

But it wasn’t the same. 

You missed the quiet nights you would spend with your blonde lover in the comfort of your cottage. When the only thing that mattered to you was each other. Now, Larissa was preoccupied with running her religion, or whatever it was. You were just an afterthought most days than not. 

You sat in the chapel, deft fingers lighting a candle in prayer. You weren’t praying to anybody in particular, you had never really been the religious type, but you were hoping that somebody out there was listening. 

Larissa was supposed to meet you once the sun settled in the horizon, but she was yet to be seen. You sighed softly, the flickering of the candles in front of you the only light source in the room. She was supposed to speak with you, listen to your worries about her and what she was becoming. She had promised that she would be here. 

A rustle sounded out from somewhere in the dark depths surrounding you. You swivelled on your heel and into a standing position as fast as you could, heart skipping a beat. Your eyes searched the dark as best you could from where you stood in the dimly lit room. Albeit ultimately finding nothing. 

“Larissa?” You questioned into the darkness, eyes straining to see something. Anything. 

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. 

Your heart sounded out, irregular in rhythm. Your hands flicked nervously, fingers twitching in anticipation. “Larissa? Is that you?” 

The silence stretched out. It felt like you had been looking for the source of the sound for hours before you finally settled down onto the floor once more. Another rustle. One too close for comfort. 

However, you weren’t fast enough for as soon as you turned your head a dull pain resounded in your temple before you ultimately succumbed to an inky darkness. 

Larissa was late. She knew that she had no excuse. You had asked for just a moment of her time and instead of being there waiting for you, she was selfishly seeking more power. She had only been drawn from her slumped form over the ancient scrolls sprawled across her desk due to Maura, your favourite maid and companion, reminding her about your meeting. 

She had rushed down the winding corridors and across the courtyard as fast as she could. Although it seemed that she was not fast enough. Her heart sunk once she reached the chapel, a soft call of your name went unanswered. The only clue that you had been there at all was the freshly lit candle in the centre of the alter. No… 

Larissa was so certain in your relationship. She foolishly believed that your blind devotion to her would be enough for you to stay. Despite her pushing you away, despite her neglecting you for months; she thought that you would be by her side forever. But she was wrong. The soulless chapel a sickening reminder that you were no longer by her side. 

You left. 

[lovetogether]

We’re gonna write a Dale “fan” “fic” . Be nice

The door inside the wall inside the door inside the wall inside the door inside the wall inside the door inside the. Hang on just a minute, I’m starting to think there’s more to this. An endless array of disappearances only for reappearance completely anew? It’s abnormal. I walk away from time with the stature of a man on his way to kill himself, I had the enthusiasm of a child. One of those, the kids you see in the park, yeah. About to set off on some imaginary adventure built upon false ideas of a world larger than oneself. I think I was scared, but I didn’t feel scared. I had to leave. The reality which I was faced in was not one I knew to be true but moreso aside my actual reality, I felt I needed to shift almost, to get back to what was my true life. I think I’ve always been hungry. There’s something terrible happening and I’ve known it’s been happening and I knew it would happen and I am doing nothing. I have to do something. I think existing as I am now is a disgrace to living itself but I’m happy to be alive. Things follow me and I know they’re following me and I knew they’d follow me and I’m doing everything. I think it’s two, four, five years since I last was, yet here I am. I’m on a course for direct collision, with what I don’t know, but I’ve always known since I was born. Something calls to me and I don’t know what it says but I know it tells me to keep going. I think I am perpetually on the brink of a life changing revelation. I’m very important. The world revolves around me. It always has, everything has always been this way. I don’t exist outside of others sight or acknowledgement. Touched or having been touched - I think of myself as violated yet comparable to packaging which is to say I am to be violated if you want what’s inside. I see in the corner of my eye an evil which is at the core of every organic thing and I must in my power work as hard as possible to snuff out this evil but I fear this evil is from within me. The world revolves around me, so everything started with me. I knew the minute things changed because I felt it and everybody can’t shake the feeling, “how do we go back?”. Like a portal of I were to walk into a door I’d see a hallways and at the end would be a man exiting the door on the opposite side. That man is me, as to look into the hallway I must exit the last room. I see myself in front of me like some twisted up idea of dissociation. I can call this me a clone but it is - for all intents and purposes - me. It’s always been me, it’s always been us. The idea of me is a collective of others, versions of me, or rather not me, existing in relation to me to make me. I am only one, but there’s more. He’s been missing for a long time - me - an idea of me - the lack-thereof, you name it, your words not mine. But I think they’re mine. I’m selfish but isnt selfishness just an anagram for selflessness? There’s no H nor I, me, myself, I don’t know. I often feel detached from the people around me because I cannot exist in context to others without some kind of plot. There is no casualness to my presence. Put the pieces together and you get me and me is just an idea which exists to fail. I only exist in context to her.

[mossy-green-aka-ferrythem]

I haven't really read much on Limbus due to not playing it, but man, Outis deeply concerns me. Like everything about that woman feels... off. She's got that war-criminal energy with her. Like someone who's done terrible things, and even now, has deception on the mind. Really interesting to see how this thematically plays into her Abnormality EGOs and IDs... I think the one that sticks out to me the most is the Magic Bullet EGO suit (mostly because it's some of the coolest shit ever), with what the Der Freishütz represents, and how, from the snippet's I've seen, echo the same sentiments as the Abnormality. Can't say too much because I'm not informed on Outis, but I am informed on LobCorp and (Most Of) Ruina. Idk something just feels off about Outis, the fact that she uses Odysseus's Pseudonym rubs me the wrong way as well. Something big is brewing... but it will take a long while because MAN Project Moon is really trying to play the long game with Limbus Company!

[wolfcubx2]

Terrible plans

The first time they met was at a bar. She was on Midgard try to avoid her brother and his friends; avoid their never ending need to be on this quest or that. It didn't help that today was one of the days she couldn't stnd the thought of being male, it had been building all week. Thor like always was entirely unbothered by this fact, calling her sister instead and going about as usual. His friends on the other hand- well the less said about them the better in her opinion.

He was leaning against the bar, one drink in and and flirting with a couple mortal women. For obvious reasons this ment he reminded her something of Fandral, the only member of the warriors three she didn't entirely hate.. Her next thought however was that they shared very little similarities when it came to appearance. The man was tall for a mortal thought not abnormal so. With short cut brown hair and grey-blue eyes, he was handsome she decided, not bulky like the warriors of Asgard but fit and lean in a way that said he most likely knew how to fight.

Which was why she couldn't help playing a little trick on him. It was a simple trick one that didn't really require seider, a mortal could do it if they were skilled enough. He had noticed her staring, and they held eye contact for a while before she smirked. Turning away she vanished in to the crowd, the fact that the bar was well packed making it all the easier.

She wasn't leaving, there would be little point to her trick if that was all she did, instead she snuck up behind where he was standing.

"Another brandy please."

She called out to the bartender, enjoying how her voice made the man beside her jump. She smirked at him, her eyes conveying a small amount of mischief. After a second he let out a low whisle.

"That was some trick. You definitely got me good."

His face was all smiles now, before he wave the bartender down and ask him to put her drink one his tab.

"My thanks."

She said her smile softing, but he shook his head smile still on his face.

"No need, I'm James Buckman Barnes, but everyone just calls me Bucky."

James said after a moment.

"Kiol Silfur."

She responds, it's not her true name but it's certainly close enough. James smile again.

"So Doll how do you feel about a dance."

"I'd say that sounds quite enjoyable James. "

.....

Loki pauses his eyes drifting back to his brother's mortal lover. He hadn't been trying to hurt Thor when he told him to say his goodbyes. Even if she survived this mortals lived such short lives... this was something he knew from experience. But then again it wasn't as if Thor knew about James, and while there was a certain star spangled man who also remembered him as he was Loki wanted nothing to do with a man who could not even protect his own sheildbrethern, noble sacrifice be damed.

Au Loki met Bucky back before the war. They dated for a while and at some point Buck even proposed. The problem was Bucky only knew Kiol, so worried Bucky wouldn't except her/him Loki doesn't answer and instead returns to Asgard leaving him a note. [I think that perhaps I do love you James, but you do not know me as I truly am.. I won't return for a great deal of time. If your heart has not changed and still does not when I tell my truth then you may know my answer to be yes.] When Loki comes back five years later the war is over and James has been declared dead. It doesn't make much difference as far as the time line goes until Thor: Dark World. Where instead of immediately going back to Asgard and taking Odin's thrown decides to visit Earth, or more specifically a certain person's grave. The idea is that he was in fact stabbed so, between being slightly weaked and distracted because 70 years is all that long for his people, Hydra ends up grabbing him. Where Loki ends ups catching a glimpse of the Winter Soldier before and after a wipe and comes up with a really terrible plan to save James. Hydra doesn't have a way of truely stopping him from using his magic, but between drugs and a extremely strong shock collar they can stop obvious magic, and they just sort of assume the drugs keep him from thinking straight. Which is probably true considering his plan to help Bucky is to plant suggestions in the Hydra scientists studying him. The idea of breeding a superior super soldier using him or rather her at the time and the Winter soldier. So while their "breeding" them in the most literal sense Loki uses his magic to begin healing James' mind and more importantly place a protection against the wipes. It doesn't immediately make a difference, and Captain America: Winter Soldier still happens. But Bucky comes back for him/her/them and the story would go from there.

Loki’s terrible plan- get myself knocked up by my ex maybe sorta fiance to save him from the psyco spy organization we are both trapped in. Good thing I'm a shape-shifter.

Like all my plot posts I may or may not write it myself at some point but I posting this in the hope that others will use my idea to make something amazing.

Kiol (anagram for Loki) Silfur ( Silver in Icelandic)

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary497

2/5-6-7/25

wednesday - thursday - friday

i know what it looks like...

but no i didn't stay up all of those days. really what i did was something so dumb but it seems to have worked so like... wowww!!!! and i am so glad it worked. this thursday - friday has been an excessively lovely period of time. like beautiful my goodness. so... where to start... well wednesday, i did the stupid thing and slept through that whole day, sleep is a loose word, i did a lot of laying with my eyes closed, but in and out of visions of kinds, i did have a dream but didn't write it down, a kind of concert, in a barn, but outside the barn, an infinite dark expanse beyond some edges of grass and those kind of fences, the cute shaped fences of farms, the kind that have two long things through posts. long and non-uniform thick branches, without bark. there were 2 shibito like figures, i shot at one, it was headless, it couldn't die. the man singing in the concert, a vkei-ish guy, was actually a demon. and then... a mansion up in the north of nevada, very 2005, if that makes any sense. i remember it being christmas morning but most vivid is the crystal of the chandelier, it caught light in a strange way, not abnormal, it was just highlighted.

so i woke up at 6 am, and kind of did normal stuff. i struggled with a song but i think i got it to sound good. i'll listen later, i am really happy with it though, based on how i felt when i was like, that's it, i was like, i did it!!! but who knows if i really did it. i'm kind of dumb. and i'm super overstimulated... in a good way though. just kind of like, wee woo wee woo wee woo, like goreshit's music, frankly. i also had too much caffeine today... okay.., let's start with... selfies??? and then pics, stuff i saw, and then the whole night... as best as i can put it:

(slight outfit change after this)

i didn't drink all of the monster but i had most of it... i also had a glass of coffee and a cappuccino, which wasn't as strong as i thought it'd be. normally caffeine makes me feel like a terrible dying insect trapped in an infinite labyrinth of cybernetics, but i guess that was the right feeling for tonight, there was no terrible anxiety, just a super exciting flow.

so first we started in my gf's mom's car, her brother's gf in there too w/ her mom being driven somewhere too... there were some antics... we told the gf about kanye's new clothes and her brother loves him so much so she decided to instantly buy them for him... we didn't imagine that would happen when we said 'kanye's new nazi clothes' but that is the world we are in. her mom talked about trump banning trans athletes now and that insane image of all the little children surrounding him. i don't want to get too down into something so miserable but, of a lot of things, that image in particular, that video i guess, feels so much like the pageantry of fascism, at this point.

after the car ride where we all thought about the coming wave of fascism, or, not coming, i guess we are awash in it. i need to finish that book... by this guy... about fascism and how to analyze its reappearance what makes it separate from what occurred in the past, to better handle/think on it. anyhow, after the car ride, we went to a cafe, i got the cappuccino there and also mochi butter. i explained a bunch of this ziz stuff to my gf. she asked me 'is it true if you're a radical vegan you can't have friends' and we all know the answer is 'no' but it's like insane, to see people say that. we talked a long time about what those people think. but the show was at 9!!! and gasp!!! it was only 5 or 4 then? so we had to walk to get me food, at this chicken place, with really good fried chicken, and then walk to get her food, at this vegetarian taco place. we talked about a lot of the same stuff. i said something about infohazards to her, that remains interesting, that these people have total faith in them + think you need to be exposed to them to prove to you that if you are out of line with it then you need to get into line with it and thus be good and prove that you are true good or whatever. which is a strange and rather religious way of thinking of things. i am reticent to say it's a proper cult still, but i think that's maybe primarily for reasons that are outside of the context of the situation itself, as in, i worry about giving ground to a culture that desperately wants a new jonestown or... a better parallel might be the mansons, right? ai alignment obsessed radical anarchist vegan mansons. the veganism and the ai alight very tightly in fact, they inform one another here. anyway, this is all getting beyond me... after the food, we walked... oh, today was so chilly and windy but i didn't get mad at the wind really. my short bangs make the wind rather manageable. but it made it very cold, we went to buffalo exchange. there was nothing particularly good there, except a silver jacket my gf wanted, she had to resist it. the only reason she didn't get it was because of the show.

we were only there for maybe 20 minutes, after that we walked to a bar where we spent the rest of our time until the show, it was a funny place, it had all this banksy-ish graffiti on exposed concrete walls, some rugs on the ground, playing french music, the way to the bathrooms had these chainlink fences on the interior. it's called la petite boheme. it's a silly place and basically ugly but the people who work there are nice. my gf liked a drink she got there before but this time she chose poorly. we kind of flirted in there a while, is all i can say about that... here are some photos i took in there:

i found that 'the who' poster rather funny. and i don't know. i like using flash on water... sue me...

after that, is when i got my white monster. when i posted the white monster in a server a bunch of people started talking about good flavors of monster but that only really matters if you're using it like a soft drink... it's strictly about the effect for me, and white monster is only 10 cals + inoffensive, so it wins. if it were good i would be like, i want more. it's an ideal place for it to be. speaking of calories... because of my long sleep, i didn't eat for over 24 hours and i know that's bad.... but honestly i did look at myself in the mirror and felt kind of good about myself... evil of me...

anyhow in the smokeshop i got the monster, there were these guys:

they were really cute. i like them a lot. friendly creatures. my gf hates birds but she didn't hate them so much it seemed like. i hope those little guys are okay in that bright ass smoke shop. oh, in the bar, i saw an image of like a chameleon biting someone. it looked insane. it seems like a joke image now. but i hope it's not. it had insane looking teeth? was i taken for a ride??? maybe,,,

and then i drank most of the monster and my gf had some and then it was time to go up, for the show.

we got in during soundcheck, it was rather chill. the first person to play tonight was dj 54kura (sakura). they were pretty cool!! they made music using i think 2 dreamcasts maybe? i don't know how that works but i saw them switching the vmus out, and i liked that they opened us up w/ breaks that didn't have so much gabber-y stuff going on, having the rest of the night to reflect on that, at the time i was like, i want harder, i want faster, but thinking back on what they were doing i think there's a lot of really fun stuff going on there with the loops and the drums reminded me of this at times, somehow:

the clickyness of them, really focusing in on the transients of the breaks, it was really satisfying in that way, so more art-y in a way, that i think is a needed contrast to the rest of the night, and an especially good way to begin. also, as they played, i saw they were wearing a blood brother shirt. after they ended their set and a local dj started setting up, they were by the bar and i saw them walking past me i said, your set was cool i love your shirt, and they seemed so happy anyone noticed the shirt and said, i love them they're like the reason i make screamo music, and i was like, oh that's so cool!!! and then they went to go get a drink and then i went over and was like, what band are you in?? and they were like, oh i'm in this band called terrifying girls' highschool, and i was like oh wtf, i know them!!!

and then i said i make shitty daw screamo (basically) and they were like, i love that!! they told me they run this label called emocat, or co-run it, and i should submit something maybe. so maybe i will. who knows if i'll even be remembered or anything like that... it's just really nice meeting people i'm so glad i jumped out of my shell to talk to someone about a band we both like. i'm normally too afraid. but the people around goreshit seem really cool. that was another thing i was like oh wtf i thought you were local, but that band's kind of a thing in some circles and if they were from here i'd def know, but they came from vancouver to support goreshit. i don't know. i guess i feel lucky to encounter people from outside this little nightmare-place and for them to be really nice... something i thought about tonight a lot was how nice people can be...

the second set was better than i thought, datnamedoh is good and he selected good tracks and kept the energy really high, he did some corny stuff i didn't like so much, some scatological meme-y stuff that i don't think this stuff needs (goreshit gets the pass because he's so much more playful and unmoored from the general memes of rn + is a bit more dangerous with it i think), but beyond that, good songs, good sound, there were times he let it get super nonsense-y and leaned into that this stuff is free to go noise. and i think that made me respect him a lot more. there's times he's been kind of an ass to my friend's gf. but tonight he was pretty nice. maybe he was just going through something then that made him be like sort of an ass, in a way everyone noticed. but he seemed to really enjoy himself, up there tonight, and he helped me get more into the idea of dancing a little more.

the third guy was jinxdb, who is generally okay but comes off as a bit of an asshole for sure. out of a lot of the djs in the scene, he feels a bit like a social climber who makes his mixes 'eclectic' in an effort to dream about what it'll be like when he can do a boiler room set. but he did a lot of straight hardcore, and that was appreciated. at one point dropped in some metalcore which was silly but okay, it's funny people use that for halftime drops now. that's one thing that no one but he seemed to do, those trap-y halftime slowdowns. he also did this gabber peanut butter jelly time remix and that took some wind out of my sails, but he also put some wind in my sails too...

after that was:

he was awesome, we ended up right up front, i danced so much i felt like puking. i got hit on twice during his set... the first is a maybe, she just walked up to me and said i was really hot and my hair is cute and made me do this heart symbol thing with her. i think that is maybe just a compliment, but this other person, they walked up to me and were like, what's on your shirt, i said, dead dead demon's dedededededestruction (or however many it is (or i made it however many it had to be then)), and they said, huh? and (repeat) and they said, oh, what's that, and i said, a really good manga. they said, is there an adaptation i said, the adaptation isn't good at all, they said, well that's okay, have you seen land of the lustrous, and i said, what's that, they said, it's like steven universe and it's like 3d anime after those awful berserk movies, so they knew how to make it good, and i said, oh wait it's the gem people anime right? i've seen, or, seen it around, yeah, they said, yeah, uh, you're really cute, i have been looking at you from time to time, and i have worked up the courage to say that you are cute, and i said, thank you!! and then they walked away, and then told my gf what happened, she got a little handsy then to prove i am already owned. oh, and both of these people said my bangs are really cute. i kept dancing, i had to oscillate a lot, in intensity. our friends, my friend who i recorded with, he was there tonight, along with his gf, when they showed up i said, send me the thing we did, and we should do that more and he said he's down. so he's down for that. he showed up around jinx's set, along with another friend, and also everyone who recognized us came over and said hello and that was like a lot of people in the room and that felt warm and nice to have a little cluster of people i know well to just okay but it was all nice. it was fun dancing around all the people, it's been a long time since i've felt that. the music, i think, more than most other nights, even from local people, they knew they could push it so they did, and when the music starts pushing at you it seems to get a lot better and make you want to do things, when it's inhumanly fast it drags you into its pace, it makes you joyfully move in a way that is strange and violent, at least it makes me do that... i kept thinking about this when i danced, i realized i sort of do this with my fingers, little pointing fingers like the guns here:

this and ian curtis dancing and my weird and wrong interpretation of moving my feet to footwork that my friend and i worked out a long time ago, a wrong way of moving, or wrong in that context, but right to our bodies i guess, a specific way we came to feel the music. i thought about all the people doing hardcore dancing, the way we used to when we were teenagers, and how we seemed like the only people in the city (and i know this is wrong, there were people our age hearing the same stuff and dancing in their rooms here too, and there were people trying to get stuff together, and there were people younger than us too wishing it were possible to go somewhere and move that way, it's just that now there finally is a tiny scene for it), but it really felt like it was so few people, and it was kind of lonely and we were trying to make the case for the music but we had no real road out of just our immediate friends, so we just threw parties for them. not even that many, just a couple, still, that was our attempt.

but feeling oddly out of time, i kept thinking, before halfway thru jinx's set probably, i can't go hard like i used to, but surely i found myself there again tonight, dancing so hard i felt like hurling, a pain all over my body, moving in step with kicks well over 200 bpm in places, trying to keep up as long as possible, a kind of dangerous feeling, a total sacrifice and burning thing, lovely lovely lovely, and sweating and a mess.

it's hard to articulate the extremity of it, just being there in my body as a positive thing, being a messy cute thing with my gf and friends, i didn't even say, she's loved goreshit since she's been 10, so this is like, huge for her to see, and she like didn't even say hi to him, she just admired him, somehow she noticed something crazy and sad, she said, his arms, that's how you can tell he's a real one, and i said, huh, and she said, all his cutting scars. after his set ended jinx did like 30 more minutes, i spent most of that time in the bathroom. even sweaty these bangs kind of held up well enough, that's a plus with these, too. and then that ended, club started closing, i sat apart from everyone just kind of decompressing, and a guy walked up, and he was basically very nice, he talked to me about my shoes and how crazy it is that my gf and i have the same sized feet, that he moved to vegas in 2009, that he was homeless in detroit, he said about all that:

i showed up here because i was homeless in detroit. i flew out and my dad picked me up and made me go to a job interview right away. but i should have asked for more money. he told me to say a low number and i said it. i did the same thing in a relationship. she said we can be friends with benefits and i said great, great, but then she said, or it can be more, and i was like, i shouldn't have said yes. you know.

so it was obvious he was the third person tonight experiencing some kind of interest in me. something really funny he brought up is that he knew the guys in wolf eyes and attended a bunch of their side projects over the years, hundreds of times, but only managed to see them together as wolf eyes like 5 times. he also told me about an ill conceived black dice-following act where he and his friends would do noisy improv on modular synths and cut it up and arrange it, but they'd all get so high and get lost doing cable management that the jam would be a little weird feeling, and then he'd never get to cutting it up.

lots of people in this world, i really think i like a lot of them, or in an abstract way. but i feel warmth for people right now. when my friend met goreshit, goreshit really had a whole conversation with him about music, steve albini got brought up, they talked about melt banana, really sweet guy who took time to talk to everyone and really appreciated all of it and had real conversations w/ the people who came out. idk, that moves me a lot. it'd be fine if he just left you know, but he was really like, idk, sweet... he's a sweet person...

just listening to this now... the sample is super funny. i love music... i love dancing until it hurts, i love dancing becuz it hurts... i always close my eyes and move around, that seems bad, maybe, but i love experiencing the intensity as closely as possible... now i need to sleep though, i'm gonna be so sore, but that's okay. it's fun to be sore for things you love. i love my friends. oh, i made a new friend today, he is rather nice, idk if i'll see him so much but i told him to look into airwindows plugins for making music, or mastering especially. he's very enthusiastic about music. i hope to see what he makes, soon. hopefully he like dms me on insta i guess, or talks to my friend, also.

long and good day... it's crazy how full life can be, at times!!! this isn't even the last concert of this week, wowwowowowwow!!

so,

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tdgap-official]

The Demon God’s Angelic Prince—Part 3

Their outing ended soon after, though it could be debated when it really ended. They never parted ways or said goodbye, walking back to Rayyi-la together and to the palace, called the Pyl because of the royal line's name of the same letters. From there, they made their way to the prince’s wing.

Ember flopped down onto his bed in a rather unprincely manner while Umbra stood awkwardly in front of the door. Ember glanced in Umbra’s direction, taking in his appearance once again, before speaking.

“You know you can sit down, right?”

Umbra shook his head, declining, “Thank you, but I’m perfectly fine standing, Your Highness.”

“I insist. And please, drop the formality. We are no longer strangers and I dislike being called titles such as ‘Your Highness.'”

After saying this, Ember set down his flower and held out the same hand that was previously holding the gift and pulled Umbra down onto the bed. The other allowed himself to be pulled, quite reluctantly. He ended up falling face-first on the mattress—a position that Umbra wasn’t in for long as he was quite determined to stay proper. Ember sighed internally. How stiff could this guy be? They were in Ember’s bedroom and Umbra really couldn’t even relax a bit. It wasn’t like he was going to do anything to Umbra; Ember really wasn’t into that. Especially not with men. Certainly.

After some time Ember did finally coax Umbra into loosening up. They laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling and talked about this and that. They conversed about any random topics they could come up with. In the end they fell asleep like that, talking until their tiredness took hold of them.

Ember was the second of the two to wake up in the morning and found that Umbra was long gone from the room. How unfortunate. He vividly remembered their late-night conversation and could only feel disappointed that they were not able to continue it. He took a few steps out the door. No sign of Umbra.

Determined to find his new friend, Ember sneaked out into the gardens. Hopefully his parents and brother weren’t awake; no one was allowed in the gardens before dawn. There would be a sure scolding awaiting for both Ember and Umbra if they were found out.

It happened to be that Umbra had just gone out into the gardens. In the darkness, the two men bumped into each other, and then apologized and exchanged their good mornings. Such a meeting was not abnormal, yet Umbra seemed inexplicably awkward. There was no reason for this, Ember thought. He did not think of himself as intimidating in the slightest. In fact, Ember had to be the most approachable member of all of the royalty. So, Ember deduced, Umbra must’ve been skittish by nature. That made it truly a mystery as to why Umbra was so close to the king. That man had often gone on and on in entire monologues about how one should never trust such people. Given this, Ember found himself in a dilemma. Umbra could not possibly be jumpy, nor could he be acting like this just because of Ember’s presence.

“Your Highness.”

Now, maybe Ember was simply perceiving the other man’s attitude wrongly. His thoughts always did tend to wander. They were now. Fuck…

"Your Highness! Are you unwell? You've been staring for—well, nevermind. That's just you being you, isn't it?" Umbra spoke, getting quieter and quieter as he progressed as if he was growing embarrassed.

Umbra then held out a couple of flowers as if he needed to pay a compensation for some terrible deed he'd done. Ember, of course, grabbed them, but not without first giving Umbra a rather questioning look. Yes, it was understandable to be reserved with someone when first meeting with them, but after having multiple conversations, why would someone become even moreso closed off? 

"Are you fine yourself, Umbra?" Ember decided to question. 

"I am quite well, Your Highness. Did I worry you? Haha, do not worry…"

After such an awkward exchange, Umbra made his leave and Ember was left out in the gardens. He was alone once again. The poor prince didn't know how to react to the sudden absence of his dear new companion and thus went right back inside after the other. However, once inside, Umbra went one way and Ember went the other.

[sonderinghiraeth]

Who We Are || Loki/Reader Chapter Three

A lot of things change in your life, but the bar never fails to stay the same.

Niall's was oddly quiet tonight with no sign of live music or open mic. Only the buzzing of neon lights and the low tone of random Irish blues melodied your ears when you entered. A few regulars eyed you when you entered, but soon went back to their drinks when you gave them a little wave. It was abnormal for you to come to the bar alone. You always had Lauren or another friend in tow with you to walk each other home. However, desperate times called for desperate measures.

You took a seat at the bar, the bartender greeting you with a smile.

"Look who's back, it's only Monday." He commented, already pulling out a glass from the cooler.

"Cosmopolitan. It's already been a long week." You muttered, brushing your hair back.

"Oh really? How so, dig in." The bartender, whose name was Andy, urged you.

Andy was a genuine character. He went to Columbia University with a major in Business, and that's all you had ever got out of him.

"Got this guy who's being rather intrusive in my life." You attempted to be as vague as possible, resting your chin in your hand. Your thoughts lingered back to the raven-haired God who was more than likely tearing your apartment to shreds at this very moment.

You dreaded going to classes tomorrow. It would just be another bicker-fest that would lead to a rather threatening and arousing altercation between the two of you.

"Need me to take care of him?" Andy partly joked, but you knew he would be serious if you asked.

You laughed, shaking your head. "It's nothing that serious." You lied. "He just gets into my business way too much, and I don't know how to say no to him."

"You've always had problems with turning stuff down." He mentioned, handing you your cosmo.

You sighed in relief, squeezing in the lime and taking a rather big swig of the glamorized vodka cranberry.

"I know, but this guy is different. He just knows how to press my buttons in all the worst ways."

"Sounds like you're in love."

You gagged, swiveling in your barstool. "No, I am far from it."

Andy laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "Suit yourself."

You took another swig of your cocktail, predicting you would already be ordering another. You still weren't sure how to go about telling anyone. Soon, Lauren and Kayden would try to drag you over to the frats, or you would have to go to work or school, and what if he showed up? Word would spread like wildfire among dead timber that Loki was here, and he was in your apartment of all places.

"Well if it isn't cowgirl."

Your eyes practically rolled into your brain when you heard those words, knowing exactly who was coming to burden your already terrible no-good night.

Two men crowded around you, sitting at the barstools on either side of you. You never bothered to remember their names, but they were regulars to Niall's, much to your dismay. They had made multiple pitiful and creepy attempts to try and get you to go home with either of them.

"We haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?" The man to your left mentioned, a Pabst Blue Ribbon in hand.

"Actively avoiding you." You retorted.

"Oh, so much for that southern hospitality." The one to your right teased.

"Leave her alone." Andy piped up, polishing a draft glass. "She's stated too many times that she has no interest in the two of you."

"Oh come on, she's our cowgirl!" The one to your left finished his draft, eyeing your drink.

You quickly finished it, passing it back to Andy. "Might as well have another if these two are going to pester my one moment of peace."

"One moment of peace?" The right quirked an eyebrow, leaning onto the bar.

"Yes, my life is busy. I don't waste it flirting with men at bars." You quipped, hurriedly downing the second Cosmopolitan that Andy handed over to you.

"Flirting with you isn't a waste. I can be your cowboy, and what's that one song? Save a horse, ride a cowboy."

You wanted to gag, taking a look at Andy that screamed 'Please get them to leave'.

"Okay, you're crossing the line of harassment, boys. I'm not afraid to boot you again." Andy threatened, making his way around the counter to the two of them.

They both burst into a fit of excuses and pleas, waving their arms in all different kinds of gestures. "Oh c'mon! We haven't seen her in forever!" The shorter one exclaimed as Andy gestured them to the door. "We were just teasing her, she takes things too literally!"

"You can see her again another night. Go home." Andy shooed them all the way to the door, garnering a good bit of attention from other customers at the bar.

You wanted to shove your face into your arms and scream. You couldn't go home to peace and quiet, and the bar wasn't any better. You had nowhere to escape yourself until Loki left.

"I'm sorry," Andy called your name, walking back around the counter. "How about a glass of wine? If you have a third cosmo this fast I'm afraid I won't be able to let you leave for a while."

You sighed, opting to lean your arm onto the counter. "Just do a light Daiquiri."

He nodded, turning around and prepping the blender for your cocktail.

"So this guy, is he in college with you?" Andy tried another attempt at casual conversation, but it really just stirred more anxiety within you. You hated white lying.

"No, I just met him out in public." You wanted to keep it as vague as possible, tracing the rim of your martini glass.

"That's a red flag for New York."

You snorted, trading your martini glass in for your Daiquiri.

"How was your hometown?"

You cringed, taking a sip. "Eh, I don't wanna talk about it."

"You're being quiet. You're usually bursting at the seams to tell me all the details." Andy mentioned, leaning on the counter. "I'm not pushing, but I won't judge."

You smiled, already halfway done with your drink. If it were anywhere else someone would have guessed you were pregaming. "It's different this time. Let it muddle for a while and then I'll tell you."

"If you insist. I'll put all this on your tab." He nodded, walking away to assist another customer. Finally, some quiet.

Your mind wandered to what Loki could be doing right now. You prayed that when you came home everything would still be in one piece. In reality, he was probably digging through all of your dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets.

Why you?

It could have been in Colorado, Texas, Alaska, or even North Carolina. It could have been some old man who would have reluctantly taught him the ways of the world to give him comfort in his lonesomeness. It could have been a bimbo that would have gladly worshipped at his feet and catered to his every whim. No, it was your sorry sap self that he chose to approach.

Stop.

You couldn't. You hated that Loki knew how to get under your skin so easily, even if he was the god of it. It was also the fact that your body involuntarily responded to him that angered you even more. No man had ever managed to wrap you around their finger in months like he had in one day.

You finished your Daiquiri, slowly standing up from your barstool to pretend you were sober. You knew you weren't, you were spiraling.

"Good night, Andy." You called to him, waving as you put all of your concentration on walking straight until you got to the outside.

"Have a good night." He called after you, but you were still too busy focusing on your stance.

Once out of the bar, you let out an audible sigh of relief and slouched over. Unfortunately for you, you had barely made it a couple of feet before far too familiar voices pierced your ears once more.

"Cowgirl! We've been waiting for you!" The two of them cooed, and your better judgment told you to go into the bar and ask for Andy to walk you home, but the fightin' side of you screamed to tough it out and just get home.

"Then you've been waiting for nothing." You retorted, hurriedly heading in the direction of your apartment. You stumbled, cursing to yourself.

"Come on, just once. We would love to see how cute you've dolled up your place. We know you have the best sense of fashion just by the look of you." One of them purred. Again, there was one on each side of you as you walked.

"Leave me alone." Your voice faltered, causing both of them to laugh.

"If we wanted to, we could whisk you away right now. It wouldn't be that hard." One of them grabbed your hand, pulling you to the side.

"Stop." You attempted to pull your hand away, but his grip was tighter than expected.

"Come on, just one kiss." The other one grabbed onto your other hand, causing you to duck away from the both of them.

"No." You stepped back, stumbling over a trash bag on the sidewalk. The man to the right of you caught you by the armpits.

"Looks like she's too drunk to stand, we better take you home." The other teased. lifting you back to your feet.

"Stop, I'll call Loki." You slurred, forgetting the aspect that you had a tendency to become twice as drunk once the liquor in your system moved around.

"Loki? She really is drunk, Chandler. She's blackout."

You cursed at them, or at least you thought you did. Now that you think about it, maybe you should have brought Loki along.

In the midst of their blurred muttering, you could make out short phrases such as "Let's just do it here really fast" and "Dude she won't remember by morning". You really needed to stop getting so drunk by yourself.

"You called?"

You felt the two pairs of hands let go of you, but they hadn't run away.

"Hey! Let go of me!"

You managed to look up through your blurry vision, blinking away the drowsiness as you made out a third figure among the two troublemakers. You sighed in relief, assuming that Andy had heard the three of you bickering outside of the bar.

The third figure lifted one of the men up by the collar, pulling him close. "Get near her again and I will have your head or worse. Do you understand? I will pull you apart limb by limb until you are nothing but a head." The voice was much lower than Andy's, you made another poor attempt to focus your eyes. You currently had the vision of a housefly.

You finally came to the realization that the figure in front of you possessed horns. Oh, the actual devil had come to take you now. How did this keep happening to you?

The figure slammed the man to the asphalt beside you, the other haphazardly helped him up as they both took off running down the alleyway to your left.

That left just you and the devil.

"You won't be going anywhere by yourself anytime soon." The voice became more familiar to your ears as it approached closer. You glanced up, realizing who had unlikely come to your rescue.

Loki scooped you into one of his arms, helping you stumble along the sidewalk towards your apartment.

"I hadn't realized that you're such a hot commodity." He commented, finally taking you into both arms to carry you the rest of the way. He smelled like your body wash.

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day." You slurred, lolling your head back in his arms.

"Don't expect much more."

You felt the leverage of going up the stairs, digging your face into Loki's arms to prepare yourself for the blinding light of the lobby way.

"I didn't expect to get this drunk. I was scared they were going to spike my drink, so I drank fast." You poorly ground out an excuse for him, like he even needed one.

"Something tells me you said the same thing last night when you were drunker than Stark."

"I wasn't that drunk."

"Your actions spoke otherwise."

You heard the jiggle of your apartment door. Had you really made it all the way up the elevator without even noticing? You just kept your head limp, resting in Loki's arms.

"Do you do this every night?" The starch of your couch welcomed you. You shook your head.

"Just loving being back in New York." You let your head hit the cushion, sinking all the way into the throw pillow.

Silence lingered, and finally, your thoughts breached from your mind. "You could've left me there to die and you would have had this apartment all to yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous, I still need a maid." You felt Loki's weight down on the other side of the couch.

If you were sober, you would have cussed him. You laughed instead. "I will not be your maid. I will hardly be your roommate."

"We will see."

A beat.

"Why do you care so much about my family?"

Your eyes were closed, but you still wanted to talk to him while he was open to conversation.

"Family is important."

"What is left of my family is lonesome. None of them view the world the same as me."

"I can understand that. Rest now."

"You wouldn't have a clue. You're a God."

You felt a throw blanket toss over you, and that was all it took for you to welcome your drunken sleep.

-

The morning sun never came.

You blinked your eyes open, putting your weight on one hand to lift yourself up.

You glanced around the living room, catching sight of one of your throw blankets duct-taped to the upper sill of the window, shielding you from the light.

Your memory of last night was murky. You could hardly remember the exact timeline of events that went down. You remember those two assholes, and you remember being picked up by Loki.

"She stubbornly lives to see another day." Loki's voice came from the right of you. You turned to see Loki lounging upon your loveseat with your copy of Jane Eyre in hand.

You groaned, falling back onto the couch. "Every time I get drunk I do so in hopes that you were just some nightmare."

Loki stifled a snicker. "It is some people's grandest dream to serve me."

"Those people must live low lives." You muttered, reaching for the glass of water on the coffee table and the bottle of NSAIDs.

"You're welcome." Loki stood up and headed into the kitchen to prepare a cup of coffee. "You're a spoiled brat."

"Thanks." You called after him, taking two pills followed by a huge gulp of water. You finished the glass in three sips.

"What time is it?" You felt around for your phone, finally standing up to hear the satisfying crack of your joints.

"It is 9 a.m."

"I have to go to class."

"Then I suppose I will be attending."

"You will not be attending. Do you know how fast news would spread that you were still in New York if you went to a college campus?"

"How can I trust you will not get belligerently drunk on the way back? You have a horrid habit."

"I won't get drunk in the dead middle of the day. You can't come to class with me."

You trotted off down the hall, closing the door to your bedroom and digging through your dresser drawers to find an appropriate outfit.

"What of last night?" Loki asked through the door.

You paused, grunting to yourself as you slid on a pair of jeans. "What of it?"

"I saved your life."

"You saved my life to benefit yourself, but if you're looking for a thank you, then thank you."

Once dressed, you opened the door to your bedroom and went to the bathroom to freshen up your hygiene. Loki followed in your wake.

"I demand you stay here."

You laughed through your toothbrush, almost coughing on the toothpaste.

"I demand you stay here!"

You spit out all of the paste in your mouth, washing it out and putting your toothbrush back in its holder. "No."

"No?"

"No. I am going to class. My future is in my hands and I don't foresee you handing me a diploma." You went back into your bedroom to look for your backpack.

"What are you even studying?"

"Communications. I'm going to be a speech writer or an editor." You slung your backpack around your shoulder and headed towards the door with your keys and wallet in hand.

Loki yelled your name, grabbing your wrist as your other reached to pull the doorknob. "If you do not stay here then there will be consequences. I must be tended to."

"Are you scared to be by yourself or something?" A hint of a smirk pulled at your lips, slowly letting go of the knob.

"No, you are my servant. You've already proven to be a sorry excuse for one, but that does not mean I won't exert my force to mold you into a good one." He threatened.

"Your Highness, I suggest you let go of me before I uppercut that chin of yours." You retorted, snatching your hand back from him.

Loki snatched it back, dragging you dangerously close to him. You could feel his hot breath bristle through the strands of your hair. "That mouth is going to get you into a world of trouble."

Your eyes widened, and your brain told you to take a step back, but you were frozen in your current stance. "Let go of me." Your voice was weaker than intended.

Loki took his other hand to clamp upon your neck, thumbing around your jugular. "I will not hesitate to carve a piece out of that neck of yours." He mocked your threat, then abruptly let go of you.

"Go to this 'class' then return to me immediately. You would be ever the wiser to follow my commands you brat."

He slammed the door behind you, leaving you to the screaming of your own thoughts in the hallway.

Your foresight is impeccable.

Classes made your brain wrack more than you would like to admit.

It was only two days of living with Loki and he was already all you could think about. Every single possibility ran through your head on what could possibly happen next.

Even when Lauren and Kayden tried to strike up a conversation you were short and the tone that cinched your voice was more than evident. You knew the topic was about to loop around when the two gave each other that look.

"Okay, listen-" Lauren began, but Kayden interjected. "Did something happen at home?"

You shook from your thoughts, whispering just below the voice of the professor. "No, it's just stressful being back."

"Come on, we know that's not it. You love New York." Lauren sloppily wrote down a note off the projector screen.

"Just because I love New York doesn't mean I can't be stressed with getting used to the busy schedule again. The online work was easy."

"All of your classes but two are online anyways." Lauren commented.

Kayden smirked at Lauren. "Did you meet somebody? You only get this quiet when you have a crush."

You pretended to gag, shaking your head. "No, no crush. Far from it."

"Oh, but there is somebody."

Your blood pressure spiked, and your heart rate picked up at Lauren's words. What were you to say? Usually, you tell them everything under the moon. They would know something is up if you were secretive about this one thing. They would find a way to find out. Should you tell them? Would it be easier to just tell them instead of them finding out on their own?

Horror peeled through your veins thinking about what could possibly unfold if they showed up at your apartment unannounced. Loki was not about to kill your friends.

"Guys if I tell you you have to pinky promise this with like a double stamp that you will tell no one, you won't freak out, and you will be as open-minded and understanding as you possibly can."

"God I hope you're not fucking your cousin."

Lauren shoved Kayden, who contained her fit of giggles. "We triple promise."

You sighed, shoving your face into your hands. Here goes nothing.

"So like, that Loki guy is living in my apartment right now."

The two of them fell silent. Their expressions dropped to a contortion of equal amounts of confusion and horror.

"I'm sorry, you mean the guy who you literally left home to escape?" Lauren leaned over the table, the conversation became much more quiet. "You're joking."

"Yeah, him."

"How? Was he there when you came home? Did he rob you? Threaten you? I thought he was arrested!" Lauren shushed Kayden.

"He was arrested, and then he went home his dad or something banished him back down here without his powers. So he's like, a wimp right now." You wouldn't exactly say a wimp could choke you out with one hand, but you had to play this off like it was no big deal as much as you possibly could. "He stopped me on my way home and uhh.. I was drunk. I didn't really know what I was doing."

"So this God of mortal terror is staying in your apartment because you got drunk."

You sighed in exasperation. It sounded much more embarrassing aloud. "Yeah,"

"Oh my god. Oh my god. How are you not dead?!"

"He claims he wants me as his maid and upkeep. He's actually kind of hospitable in a really weird way. You gotta remember he's without his powers." You couldn't believe you were defending him right now.

"Does your mom know?"

"No, and she will not know."

They both quietly groaned your name, and you groaned back at them.

"Are you going to call the police?"

"No! I'm not getting involved in all that! I'd rather reluctantly have him sleep in the guest bedroom for now until I figure out what to do."

"Then where are we going to sleep after the frats?!" Kayden pouted.

"On the couch." You simply replied.

With that, class was over and you hadn't paid a lick of attention. All of the other students around the three of you rose and headed out the doorway.

You awkwardly stood up, your backpack around your shoulder. "So, guys. I'll see you around. You're still welcome to come over, I guess. I know this is a lot."

As you walked past the professor, she called your name.

"It's good to see you in class again! Don't forget next week we'll be having a career seminar with a few agents from SHIELD."

Her expression was chipper as ever, and you prayed she couldn't see the sour crinkle in your nose. You were about to be face to face talking to SHIELD agents next week who probably already knew your name, age, social security number, oh, and that a hell-raising God was squatting in your apartment. How many times were you going to be forced into this treacherous cycle?

"Oh yeah! I'll be there, thanks for reminding me!"

This couldn't possibly get any worse.

[theholidayslingerlikebadperfume]

no because genuinely though, i had NO IDEA people preferred to cook things over bake stuff until very recently in my life and it genuinely BOGGLES MY MIND that is a common mentality for people to have because i think it genuinely exposes how autistic i am actually am for real. i

know people hate when you make your entire personality related to your disability issues or whatever but autism has genuinely explained SO. FUCKING. MUCH. of who i am and i find new ways to link my personality traits to it every fucking day i live with the knowledge of having this disorder [i hate this phrasing but i cannot think of a better way to phrase it rn] and it's genuinely like.

yall seen that elyse meyers video that's like "getting diagnosed at 29-ish or whatever with autism is like wow this changes absolutely nothing and everything at the same time and for the rest of my life" that is exactly, EXACTLY how i feel about my own autism diagnosis.

it's something you cannot understand, i dont think, unless you were diagnosed with a personality disorder as well [i personally think autism could be called a personality disorder but thats my unscientific and probably terribly uninformed opinion do not take this beyond a grain of salt ok] later in life where you're just like wow. holy shit. it's been autism [or other disorder] this entire time? it was just autism? im not an evil bitch? im just autistic???? how much of it was autism. was it all autism. holy fuck, it was ALL autism.

i think what a lot of it is that i had no context for any of my life experiences until i learned about ASD and i started thinking of my life in that particular context and it was a light bulb moment for me personally.

like, oh, im fucking normal, yall bitches are just fucking rude and mean for no fucking reason. got it.

and its like how do u NOT make everything about your disability when your disability affects literally EVERYTHING.

i prefer to bake over cook because i find baking to be more rigid of a medium than cooking is and i like that rigidity. it's like, of course, a lot of it, i think stems from people misunderstanding what disorders are and what it means to be mentally ill. people view it as being another "species" of human altogether. they view it as having either "normal" human traits or "abnormal human traits" they DO NOT view it as having an INBALANCED approach to handling your specific human traits that appear in everyone but appear more frequently to the point of detriment socially in you specifically for some reason.

and when you grow up being viewed at as abnormal but without a reason why because nobody wants to call you a weird freak to your face, it's impossible i think to not recontextualize everything in your life through the new lens of perspective once you're finally validated and taken seriously in your experiences.

anyways this is getting so long and boring but like i just.... even my desire for baking man. even that is because of the autism, huh.

[misscrawfords]

I've been feeling absolutely nothing at all in regards to my father's death since returning to the town where I work. It's like nothing that happened back home over the summer actually took place. Apparently this sort of new phase of denial is normal, but it feels really weird. Every now and then I have a sort of flash and then my mind screams at me and it goes away again. But I can't help feel like it's all going to come crashing down around me at some point. I feel really melancholy this evening and lonely (not abnormal for me) but I'm not really thinking about it directly or anything. I just think/feel it... sideways. IDK.

I've got a weird set of feelings towards men at the moment. Because on the one hand, while my father was ill and dying, I saw the absolute best of men- strength, compassion, support, kindness - and sometimes where I wouldn't have expected it. It buoyed me up and gave me hope. But I have also been totally ignored the entire summer by a man I considered a close friend who couldn't even do the bare minimum and post a message of condolence on facebook, let alone contact me directly. I am so disappointed and disillusioned. Whatever I might have felt for him, a) I definitely don't now and b) was clearly not in the same ballpark as him. Meanwhile, the random guy from uni who I was talking to a bit at the beginning of the summer faded away and although I actually asked him out (well, asked if he wanted to come with me to an exhibition but that's basically asking him out, RIGHT?) because I am no longer afraid of rejection, he never even bothered to reply. His loss. But what is WRONG with the men I choose to be interested in? Why are they incapable of communicating or showing any interest back? I know I'm not super hot but what about me is making them lose any interest they ever had? Or why am I going for such utterly useless men? When clearly there are kind, generous, humorous, giving, intelligent men out there! Because this summer proved it! It's so baffling to me. And frustrating. Are single men who apparently want relationships just genuinely not interested in interacting with and showing interest in women who show some interest in them? Or is it just me?! Again... IDK.

I'm seriously considering dealing with all my issues by writing Harry Potter fanfiction. I KNOW OKAY??? But this summer has been... all manner of terrible and I'm trying to figure out who I am - really and truly figure it out. As my mother pointed out to some relative recently, "She really did identify to such an extent with Hermione Granger" and maybe I just need somehow to retreat to that safe space of my adolescence and explore who I am through Hermione Granger again. I know JKR is no longer someone to admire, I get it, but HP fandom (rather than the books which I've actually only read once) has always been such a safe space for me. Again... I don't know.

I don't know much at the moment. I think I should go to bed.

[silver-tooth-the-panther]

I have a question that has bugged me.

How would your Half-Demon Tanjiro! AU react to my Muzan Au?

While I am here, can I request some Zohakuten noms with my oc: Kiriku?

He is a harpy type of demon, and is more bird like. His personality is strict, and hates it when weak people are being hurt/ picked on.

Take your time!

(Here’s your fic! Sorry it took a while, but I’m dealing with a lot of personal stuff. As for your question, the half demons would definitely be surprised by your AU. Tanjiro and the Hashiras would probably be incredibly protective and quick to fight until they proved to them that they weren’t a threat. The demons though would probably be really scared. They just don’t want to go through what Muzan put them through again. This fic takes place in the modern era and Zohakuten looks like an adult.)

Traveling Within a Harpy

(A Zohakuten Vore Fanfic)

Warnings: some blood, rescue, soft vore

“Damn it! How the hell did this happen?” Zohakuten growled angrily as he ran through the forest. He was sent on a patrolling mission with Rengoku’s team. Nothing too abnormal. However, things changed when Giyuu saw a woman, covered in blood, stumble out of an abandoned warehouse.

Then, a group of men burst through the doors, grabbing her and telling her to get back inside. The team couldn’t just stand there, so they immediately took action. The clones formed Zohakuten and decided to come out from the back where the forest was. Everyone else approached from the front.

The team was quick and they burst through the warehouse walls. They found the group of men tying the woman to a chair. They looked shocked and a bit scared when they saw the group of half demons. Luckily, it took barely any time to get those thugs to the ground. Rengoku agreed to take the injured woman to a hospital while the others stayed and cleaned up.

Unfortunately, one of the thugs wasn’t fully unconscious. He immediately made a sprint towards the hole in the back wall. “Hey! Get back here!” Zohakuten gave chase to the thug. He chased him all the way to the heart of the forest until the thug collapsed from exhaustion. “Finally gotcha!” Zohakuten panted as he kicked the thug. “Monsters like you don’t deserve to live.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” A strange masculine voice called out from above him. “What the- Who are you?!” Zohakuten turned his head to face the strange voice. There he saw a large being flying in the moonlight.

The being had long black hair and sharp, green eyes. Most of his chest was covered in a white bandage and there seemed to be some jewelry around the top of his head. The strangest part about him were his magenta wings and bird-like legs. “I’m Kiriku. The Harpy demon.” He said in a calm voice.

Kiriku gently landed in front of Zohakuten and the thug. Although Zohakuten’s appearance has matured, he still was incredibly short. So the harpy towered over him. “You must be this world’s version of Zohakuten.” Kiriku purred as he slowly approached the small demon.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Zohakuten growled, stepping back. He didn’t want the demon to know that he was intimidated. “No need to worry, dear. I’m not going to hurt you.” Kiriku smiled at him before walking over to the unconscious thug. “I can merely travel to different universes. That’s why I know your name, but I don’t know much else about you.” The harpy nudged the thug with his talon.

“That must be why Lord Tanjiro hasn’t converted him yet.” Zohakuten mumbled to himself. Kiriku perked his head up. “I’m guessing this man was doing something terrible. I smell blood on him and it’s not his.” Zohakuten nodded. “Yeah. My team and I saved a poor girl from his gang’s grasp.”

Kiriku’s eyes glimmered with interest. “Really? You saved someone?” His voice was filled with wonder and curiosity, not sarcasm. Zohakuten nodded once more. “We demons don’t kill anybody anymore. We are now actually referred to as The Dark Angels or Half Demons.”

“I see.” Kiriku purred with interest. “Things certainly have changed since I was last here.” He gazed up at the stars, fondly. “Well I better get going. I don’t want my team to worry about me.” Zohakuten turned to leave, but his knees buckled and gave way.

“Oof!” He yelped as he hit the ground. Kiriku sprang to his feet and went to Zohakuten’s side. “Are you alright?” He asked calmly with a hint of concern. “I’m fine. Just tired is all.” Zohakuten tried to get up again, but his legs were simply too tired. “God damn it!” Zohakuten growled.

“Here, I can help you.” Kiriku spread out one of his wings to help Zohakuten up. “I can take you back.” Zohakuten grabbed the wing and stood up. “How do you plan on doing that?” Zohakuten grunted. Kiriku chuckled nervously and fiddled with his feathers. “Ever heard of pouching?”

Zohakuten’s eyes widened. “Yes. I have, but why would you want to pouch me?” Kiriku gave him a soft smile. “I just want to make sure that you get home safely.” Zohakuten furrowed his brow in disbelief. “Why should I trust you?” The harpy continued to fiddle with his wings. “Do I smell untrustworthy?”

“No..” Zohakuten sighed. “Fine, but you will let me out when I get back.” Kiriku chirped happily. “Deal!” Before Zohakuten could say another word, his head and shoulders were trapped inside the harpy’s jaws. “Not so fast!” Zohakuten struggled out of surprise, but quickly stopped himself. He felt the harpy pick his body up off the ground and tilt his head back.

Zohakuten then entered the demon’s throat. He grumbled to himself as he was carried down by the warm and soft tube. The demon’s heartbeat became louder and louder with every swallow. It didn’t take long for Zohakuten to reach the harpy’s stomach.

The warm pouch-like organ held the small demon gently. The walls moved with every breath the harpy took and the sound of his heartbeat came from all around him. “Are you okay in there?” Kiriku chirped softly. “I’m fine, but give me a heads up next time!” Zohakuten growled.

“Alright! Alright! I will.” Kiriku shook his head and stretched out his wings. “So where do you live?” Zohakuten eased his body against the soft tissue. “By the Butterfly Donation Center in Tokyo.” The harpy nodded. “Got it.” Zohakuten then felt the walls move around him. He presumed it was because Kiriku had finally taken off.

Zohakuten sighed as he curled up inside the warm organ. His eyes grew heavy as the harpy continued to fly. Instead of fighting his urges, he took advantage of the moment and fell into a deep sleep.

[moonchild-things]

Chapter Eight: Beachside Summer Story!

Summary: Being a psychic is not an ideal life, at least for Saiki Kusuo. Didn’t you read/watch The Disastrous Life of Saiki K to know that? Still, this isn’t about him, not really. Instead, let’s focus on his one and only friend, Akari Watanabe, who is also quite abnormal. You might not believe that Saiki would actually have a friend, but that’s what fanfictions are about, right?  

Word Count: 4081

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MORNING TIME WAS SOMETHING THAT AKARI HATED with all her being. With the sun coming through her window, birds chirping their greetings, and annoying morning people starting their day with a scary amount of enthusiasm, it was the bane of her existence. All she wants to do is sleep in, especially since it was break time from school. The perfect time to let her sleep for however long she wants. Her family understood that fact. If they didn't, they risked facing her wrath.

From time to time, she enjoyed some mornings. It wasn't like she always had terrible starts to her days. However, the usual components that made up a morning mainly consisted of annoying, shiny things that usually gave her a migraine. Mornings that were a bit overcast or training were something that she appreciated. Or even when she didn't have school, though when that happens Akari sleeps in for as long as she can. Which is what was happening right now.

Though one thing that definitely had her up and awake was the sound of her little brother screaming at the top of his lungs. Akari was instantly out of her bed and sprinting down the stairs to find Rikuto and why he had suddenly screamed bloody murder. If there was one thing that would get her up, it was definitely the sound of her family members in distress.

Her yellow eyes were sharp as she jumped down the stairs and turned the corner to look for her brother. At the moment, it was only Rikuto and Akari in the house, if she remembered. Her mother had been forced to take a day off by her father because they all knew she had been working herself to the bone for such a long time. She needed some time to just rest, which their father was more than ready to provide for her with a nice day out. He'd most likely take her to a park or something to just spend a nice peaceful day with her. Though that didn't matter, what mattered was finding out why the hell Rikuto was screaming.

She found that the front door was wide open, which is certainly something to be concerned about. Though she wasn't that worried once she noticed the two people in the doorway. "Heya, gal pal!"

The biggest idiot known to man, Nendo Riki, was currently standing at her front door with a stupid smile. He was decked out in beachwear with quite a few beach items on his back. Next to him, quite obviously annoyed was Kusuo. He looked like he did not want to be there in the slightest bit.

'He sure looks upset.' Akari thought to herself and approached them.

Kusuo glared at her heatedly, 'Of course, I am.'

"Hey, Nendo," she greeted him softly and took a glance around trying to look for Rikuto. "I, uh, heard my brother."

"Oh, that kid who screamed?" The moron asked, "Yeah, he ran and hid over there." Nendo pointed to the couch in the living room where the trio of teens was able to catch a glimpse of black hair hiding behind it. Akari raised her eyebrow at her brother's behavior.

Rikuto was visibly shaking as he peeked out from his hiding place. His face was pale, paler than Akari, which was saying something. "M-M-Monster!" He called out shakily pointing at Nendo.

"Oh." Akari simply said, now understanding what had happened. Rikuto must have opened up the door and been greeted by Nendo on the doorstep. With his less than friendly appearance, Rikuto must have screamed at the sight of the moron. Nothing to worry about. She turned back to her friends, "Well, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're headed out to the beach!" The idiot shouted, causing Rikuto to squeak out in fear behind them and run out of the room to find refuge in his own bedroom. The older teens didn't acknowledge him as Nendo continued to smile down at the girl. "I saw my pal's house on the way there and he said you lived right across from him. So now we can all go together!"

Akari stared at him with wide eyes. The beach? She never goes to the beach, for good reason. "Oh, well I-"

'You're coming with.' Kusuo cut her off with a mental demand before she could decline. She stared over at the pink-haired boy to see that he was glaring at her rather harshly. He obviously didn't want to be the only one to have to go to the beach and socialize.

Akari pouted, 'But why?'

Kusuo's green glasses gleamed in the light as he stared down at her, 'Because I won't suffer through this alone.'

Akari huffed at him and crossed her arms over her chest, 'You just want to see me go through the same pain, huh?' Kusuo didn't say anything else, just continued to glare from under his tinted glasses, which gave her an answer. Akari nearly had half the mind to sneer at him, 'Truly a sadist.' She turned to Nendo, who was completely oblivious to their mental conversation and was just quietly waiting for her answer. She sighed loudly through her nose, "Let me grab some stuff, all right?"

"Awesome!" Nendo jumped up happily as Akari reluctantly walked off to grab some essentials for the beach.

She surely couldn't go to the beach without a plethora of sunscreen and also her favorite sweatshirt. Though it was really only her favorite because it was a tad bit oversized. She liked the feeling of being swallowed up by the extremely soft fabric(It isn't hers, but Kusuo never explicitly asked for it back, so she's kept it). It would be quite stupid of her to show up at the beach dressed in her pajamas. So she had to get the correct clothes, to make sure that she was covered up from head to toe. As if this girl would actually wear a bathing suit to the beach, come on. Akari hates the sun, what gave you the idea she would even think of wearing a bathing suit. Some nice leggings would go really well with her stolen sweatshirt, the perfect outfit for the beach!

Seeing as it was break time for school, it wasn't much of a surprise to see that there were quite a few people at the beach. Just another reason why Akari didn't want to be there. I mean, she could have just said 'no' to Kusuo's demand and shut the door in their faces to stay at home and sleep. However, one does not simply say 'no' to Saiki Kusuo. Her life most likely would have become a living hell for some time after this if she had not gone with them. He would make sure that she regretted not obeying him to go to the beach. So, to save herself from future misfortune, Akari had no choice.

That being said, both Kusuo and Akari were now sat underneath an umbrella on a beach towel. Unlike the other beachgoers, neither teen was lounging around in the sun or running around having fun. For one thing, they both didn't want to be there, at all. So they just sat underneath an umbrella, sharing a towel to sit on while watching Nendo and Kaido playing around in the water. Another thing, Akari did not want to be in the sun for an extended period of time. Her skin was extremely white, which makes her susceptible to getting sunburnt super easily. So to prevent it, she had put a generous amount of sunscreen on nearly her entire body and also wore a sweatshirt that was a tad bit too big for her. In doing so, she protected her body to the best of her ability. She definitely didn't wanna end up as a burnt chicken nugget at the end of the day.

Akari could understand why people like the beach. The calmness that came with watching the waves lapping at the shore and the gentle warm breeze that drifts over the sand is a nice scenery to see. There were just a few downsides to the beach though, that Akari found to be unavoidable. That's when there are a ton of people around screaming and splashing in the water, obnoxious guys flirting with any and all girls they can see, the scorching sun rays, and the annoying kids kicking up sand by her. If those things were to disappear, then Akari would enjoy the beach far more than she currently was.

"Don't you know how to swim?" Nando taunted Kaido while standing in the ocean water, "Wimp!"

Unlike the big idiot, Kaido hadn't gotten into the water at all. He hadn't even taken his shirt off yet even though they had been here for a while. Though both Akari and Kusuo were wondering where the blue-haired boy had come from, since they had only come here with Nendo. Guess they just wanted to add him to this episode, no need to question it that much. "What are you saying?" Kaido shouted out as he started to cry, "I can swim."

Akari deadpanned while getting herself comfy on her shared towel, 'That's a lie.'

'His eyes can, at least.' Kusuo commented on the fat tears that were streaming out of Kaido's eyes.

Kaido then fell down in the ankle-deep water, "Water!" He cried out and squirmed around in the few inches of water that he had fallen into.

The two teens under the umbrella stared at him boredly. Saiki raised an eyebrow, 'It would be impressive if he drowned like that.'

Akari eyed the poor boy as he pathetically flailed around in shallow water. As strange as the sight was, would he actually drown like that? Given his luck, it's pretty possible. 'Should we help him?'

Kusuo was about to deny helping the poor eight-grade minded boy when they heard the pounding of feet coming up behind them. Whoever it was, shouted as they got closer to the struggling boy, "Are you all right?"

'No need.' Saiki commented to Akari as they watched someone dive at Kaido to "save" him. The water crashed around them as Kaido's savior's pants fell down revealing a recognizable ass. 'Could that butt be...'

In all his amazing glory, Kaido's savior was the one and only Hairo Kineshi! The passionate and firey class representative! "Oh, Hairo!"

The red-haired teen flashed them all a smile. A smile that nearly blinded Akari just by looking at him. He was far too bright for her taste if she was to be honest. He could chase away every shadow with that smile, including Akari. "Nendo?" He asked while approaching his classmates, "And Saiki, too?"

Nendo pointed at the silent girl next to Saiki that the passionate boy hadn't seen, "Don't forget Watanabe!"

"Ah, Watanabe," Hairo chuckled while scratching the back of his neck, "I didn't notice you there."

Akari gave the boy a small wave from her spot slightly behind Saiki, "...Hi." As class representative, Akari thought that Hairo was her perfect pick for the job. He was so firey and supportive of all of his classmates and tries to push them to their best ability. That is what any class representative should be. Though he can easily become far too much for Akari's liking when he tried to involve people in things that they didn't want anything to do with. Thankfully, Hairo never really notices her, so she doesn't get dragged into any of his annoying team-building exercises or other shenanigans. Another blessing that comes with her powers.

"What are you doing?" Nendo asked while tilting his head.

Hairo walked over and placed his damsel in distress onto the sand. The blue-haired boy scuttled across the sand like a crab as he seemed grateful to be back on the shore. As a heroic aura radiated off of him, Hairo proudly placed his hands on his hips, "I'm volunteering as a lifeguard."

A man suddenly yelled out in distress before the teens could continue to talk with each other, "I'm drowning!"

Hairo was already sprinting away towards the man in need of help, "I'm on my way!"

'He's always so eager,' Akari thought as she brushed off the sand from her oversized, white sweatshirt.

"Volunteering on a hot day like this? He sure is enthusiastic." Nendo commented. Really, it's probably around 35*C out here! How he could continue to have so much energy to run around in this heat is both impressive and terrifying. Also, 35*C is about 95*F, in case you needed the conversion. Nendo then turned to the teens under the umbrella, "Hey, pal, gal pal, aren't you two going to swim?"

Kusuo shook his head and buried his head into the book that he had brought, "Don't mind us."

Akari shook her head at the idiot, "Sorry, Nendo." She flashed him a small smile in apology, "We don't feel like swimming."

The giant of a teen huffed, "What is this? Nobody is swimming. It's no fun to swim alone." He popped on some sunglasses that I'm sure he thought improved his appearance. I didn't. "I guess I'll hit on some girls."

Kusuo raised an eyebrow, "What are you saying?"

"With that face of yours?" Kaido asked snarkily. Yeah, there was no way that Nendo would get a girl looking like he did. Sorry, Nendo, but I don't think any girl would go for a guy looking like him.

"Why not try walking on water?" Kusuo suggested, "You would have a better chance of success." Oh, look, foreshadowing!

Akari shook her head and cringed slightly, "It's a good thing to be optimistic, but don't give your hopes up." Even if she wanted to try and cheer the poor guy on, she had to be realistic. It was better to just tell him not to get his hopes too high since she was certain no girl would agree to talk with him.

Nendo brushed off their words and shook his head, "For a man, looks don't matter." He flashed them a thumbs up, "What matters is the spirit."

Soon enough, Nendo went off in search of some ladies to flirt with. Though just as suspected, they all turned him down within the first few seconds. Even though he tried, they all waved him off. It also didn't help that he chased after them afterward. He really needed to work on his communication skills.

While Nendo went off looking for any woman who was willing to have a conversation with him for more than a minute, Akari and Kusuo stayed bundled up on the towel. They made sure to stay as protected by the umbrella as they could, considering neither of them, especially Akari, wanted to get a sunburn or something. The long-haired girl leaned against Kusuo's shoulder while reading the book over his shoulder. While Kusuo wasn't exactly a fan of physical contact, there were times where Akari was allowed to be closer to him than most. Of course, she never went out of her way to be close to Kusuo. The last thing she would want to do is make him uncomfortable. Though if he was, he would make it clear to her and straight-up tell her to stop. He had yet to do so as they read the book together. However, Akari can usually tell when he was uncomfortable, so she would back off if she saw the irritated twitch in his brow when he wanted to be left alone.

'This is actually kind of nice,' Akari thought to herself as they finished a page. She glanced at Kusuo from the corner of her eyes. 'I guess it was okay that you forced me to come with you guys, Ku-kun.'

He didn't spare her a glance as they continued to read together. 'Maybe you won't question me next time.'

Akari huffed while rolling her eyes. She will admit, there are plenty of times where she was forced to do something or go somewhere with Kusuo because he gave her no other choice that she ended up enjoying. Just like now. Though every time she said that she didn't necessarily regret leaving her shadowy domain, Kusuo always teased her about it.

'I still think you're a sadist though,' she commented. Which is true, Saiki is one of the more sadistic anime characters I've seen, don't you agree? He's kind of like Kyoya and plenty of others... Uh, excuse me while I go rewatch Ouran High School for the 100th time.

The barest hint of a smirk graced his lips, 'And you're a masochist for agreeing to come with.' Akari sputtered for a moment, slowly becoming red for having been coined a pain-loving person. They then heard Kaido's and Nendo's shouts as the smaller teen was now buried in some sand. The result of having gained the attention of the women that Nendo had tried to woo. Kusuo sighed heavily, 'He sure is embarrassing.' Then he disappeared, leaving poor Akari by herself as he floated in a tube in the ocean. He wanted to be left alone, that much Akari could tell. He would probably just swim down to the bottom of the ocean where he likes to be alone whenever they were at the beach. Akari would join him, but she can't hold her breath like him. So she'd rather not drown, thanks.

"Where did our pal go? To the toilet?" Nendo asked as he lumbered back over to their spot, "Gal pal," he spun around to face Akari. The black-haired girl was now trying to catch a few minutes of shut-eye since she had nothing better to do. "Where'd pal go?"

Akari shrugged her shoulders and tried to get comfortable on the towel, "I'm not sure… somewhere to be alone probably."

"And he left you alone!" Nendo gasped dramatically at even the thought. He had rarely seen his two pals apart from each other. So he could barely imagine seeing Akari by herself. "Pal, where are you?" He called out before he eyed something from the shoreline that caused him to jump right into the water, "Look at that girl. She's drowning!"

Akari eyed what was happening. She had no doubt that Nendo would be able to help him. He's an idiot, but he's a strong idiot with a big heart. Nendo could easily save that girl. Though, she glanced around the beach, where was Hairo? He's the lifeguard so where was he while this poor girl was drowning?! All of a sudden, Kaido followed after Nendo and started to swim out alongside him. Akari would have called out to him, but he was already so far away before she could even stand up. He couldn't swim, right? She may or may not be slightly worried about her idiotic friend now.

She finally caught sight of the passionate teen and ran over to him. Abandoning her shady paradise, she thought that it would be better to get the lifesaver than her own preference to stay out of the sun. "Hairo!" Akari called out to the fiery boy. Of course, she had gained his attention straight away since he had never heard her speak that loudly before. "There's a girl out there drowning and Nendo went out there to get her!"

The red-haired teen nodded and gave her a thumbs-up, "I got it! Thanks, Watanabe!" He then sprinted off into the water to start his swim out there.

Akari watched from the edge of the shore as Hairo jumped after them and swam to the distressed teens. At this point, Kaido and the unconscious girl had now needed to be held up by Nendo. The large teen had seemed to have a handle on it. Eventually, Hairo got close enough to help out Nendo. Though he only ended up in the same predicament as Kaido and the girl as his leg cramped up. So now, Nendo had three people to lug back to the shore. At the sight of the teen struggling, Akari was nervous about them. There wasn't much that she could do herself since she was, physically, not that strong. And there weren't any shadows for her to use to possibly save them. However, she certainly wouldn't want to expose herself for having strange powers to anyone.

'Stop worrying so much.'

She was dragged out of her thoughts at the smooth voice that invaded her mind. Akari jumped slightly but calmed herself down with a deep breath. 'I can't help it, they're our friends.'

'Not friends.' Out in the ocean, Kusuo scoffed as he swam up to the struggling teens, 'Did you forget that I can help them.'

The shadow-manipulator bristled slightly at the reminder that her best friend was an over-powered psychic who could save them with a snap of his fingers. Still, she was just relieved, 'So you're going to help them?'

'It'll be annoying if I didn't.'

Akari giggled, 'So heroic!' He may not be admitting it now, but he cared about their friends. Yes, they were his and Akari's friends. Kusuo could easily just make them leave him alone, but he tolerated them enough to spend time with them. Sure they were annoying and idiotic most of the time, but Akari knew that he found them to at least be aquiqntences.

So(as foreshadowed beforehand), Nendo found himself "walking on water". Though it was really just Kusuo holding up Nendo by his feet. How Nendo didn't notice that someone was holding his feet, is beyond Akari. Despite that, Kusuo easily carried the four to safety.

As the sun started to disappear behind the horizon, the now safe group all stood on the sand. Akari gladly placed herself next to Kusuo and used a towel to dry off his wet hair. While the others were happy to accept the fact that Nendo had miraculously walked on water, Akari knew who really saved them. So she was definitely going to show her gratitude to him when no one else would. "Thank you very much." The now conscious girl said reluctantly and coughed as she addressed Nendo, "I'm sorry I was rude to you earlier."

Nendo was more than happy to get that from her. Since she had been one of the girls to turn him down rudely before, he was more than happy to accept her apology and gratitude. Kaido commented on it as they watched the woman walk away, "Knowing you, I thought you might demand compensation for saving her."

"I would never do something so lame." Nendo shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing, "If she falls in love with me, though, that's that."

Kaido laughed, "Fat chance."

"What did you say?" Nendo raged, just about ready to jump his friend for making fun of him.

Kusuo smirked, 'Well, one person has fallen for him.'

"I'm in love, Riki Nendo." Hairo thought to himself. Obviously, the one to have been enraptured by Nendo. Tears of admiration ran down his cheeks while he stared after the giant buffoon. "I'm in love with your way of life."

'Though, it's a guy.'

Akari glanced over her shoulder to spy at the weeping boy. She laughed lightly at the love-stricken expression on Hairo's face. 'Coming to the beach today was quite fun,' she smiled slightly. She glanced up at Kusuo with a sly look in her eyes, 'So, Mr. Hero, I think you deserve a reward for your heroics.'

Kusuo let out a small huff in amusement, 'I'll accept the usual.' It felt nice, to have someone recognize what he does. Sure, he hated having attention on him so he kept his powers quiet. However, when he does something like save lives, he's more than happy to have someone thank him for what he did. It also helped that it was Akari doing it. If there was one person he glad knew about his abilities, it's Akari. While she can understand what it's like to have powers, she knew what it felt like to not be thanked every time she did something good with those powers. They related to each other in that way.

'Mhm, I thought so.' Akari hummed, breaking Kusuo out of his thoughts about her, 'Pretty sure there's leftover coffee jelly in the fridge. If not, I'll make you some!' The little skip in her step was quite obvious now that she was more than happy to reward her friend for what he had done.

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[schraubd]

Corruption in the Family

By now, you've no doubt heard about the ongoing corruption controversy regarding Justice Thomas failing to disclose numerous financial gifts from a billionaire conservative friend. To a large extent, the usual suspects are lining up to criticize Justice Thomas and the usual suspects are organizing to defend him. But I want to focus on one thing in particular, embodied by this tweet from former Thomas clerk and Notre Dame Law Professor Nicole Garnett.

I've known Justice Thomas for over 25 years. He is the rare person whose goodness matches his greatness. It breaks my heart that so many are willing to go so far to attack a good, and great, man for political gain.

— Nicole Garnett (@nsgarnett) April 13, 2023

I am sympathetic to Professor Garnett here. I truly am. I've often pondered how I would respond if a loved one -- a mentor, relative, parent, friend -- was credibly accused of corruption or some other dire crime. How would I handle it if the judge I clerked for, the late Diane E. Murphy, whom I absolutely adored, turned out to have accepted millions of dollars in "gifts" without proper disclosures?

Even in writing that sentence, I wanted to hasten to add "now, I could never imagine Judge Murphy doing such a thing." Which is true, I can't imagine it. Judge Murphy was an extraordinarily kind, generous, and humble person; universally respected by peers of all ideological persuasions. She was the furthest thing from a financial grandstander.

But that's just the thing: in most cases like this, the crime is unimaginable to the perpetrator's loved ones right up until it happens. It is a myth, I think, that most wrongs of this nature are only committed by persons whom, once the truth comes out, their closest relations will be like "you know what? He did seem the type." It's always going to be a shock to someone.

Be honest with yourself: when it comes to the people closest to you, would you actually know if they were doing something wrong akin to what Justice Thomas is accused of? "Know" not in the loose sense of "I know their character," but in the strong sense of "I'm familiar with their accounting practices"/"I've seen their disclosures"/"I know what's going in and out of their bank accounts"? We don't know. It would come as a shock. If you woke up tomorrow and your parent was arrested for skimming money from their job, you'd be blindsided, and not really because you have a blind spot as far as your parents are concerned. The truth is, you would have probably had no way of knowing what they were up to until the investigation actually broke. It really would be unfathomable, even were it true.

So I do sympathize with Professor Garnett. I don't think she's myopic in identifying Justice Thomas as a personally warm and generous human being (something I've heard from multiple sources). I don't think it is a function of self-delusion that she didn't see this coming.

But the fact is that, for essentially every scandal like this, the perpetrator has loved ones for whom the scandal comes as a terrible, unfathomable surprise. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. That doesn't mean it wasn't wrong. For the individuals affected, the dissonance between the person they know and the crime alleged is beyond abnormal, it is a terrible, almost irresolvable discordance. From the vantage of broader society, that discordance is utterly and mundanely normal -- it characterizes every single case.

And so ultimately, this response to Professor Garnett gets it exactly right:

Justice Thomas might possibly be — and we’ve heard this from multiple sources — the kindest, most generous justice on the Supreme Court. That doesn’t change the fact he’s involved in a massive ethics scandal of his own making. https://t.co/eO6YYXWe7c

— Fix the Court (@FixTheCourt) April 14, 2023

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