#I mean we’re talking about CANNIBALS let’s be real

[dark-frosted-heart]

Roger Barel Main Route - Chapter 13 His POV

As usual, can’t guarantee 100% accuracy on this. I’m doing this for archiving purposes and you can probably find a better translation out there.

(He wanted to eat the person he liked…?)

In this case it wasn’t a euphemism for love, but literally that dead man’s intent.

Roger: —Could it be that…

His cursed sin is…cannibalism?

(I’ve never Cursed One with cannibalistic urges. There’s no past data. But…)

But when you think about everything that happened—It all made sense.

(That guy…was really Cursed)

He didn’t know he was Cursed and didn’t know that his urges were from his cursed fate. He died blaming himself.

(Ah, it happened “again”. I…led another innocent “Cursed One” to their death…”again”.

Roger: “‘Cursed One’s’ tragic fate can’t be altered. In the past, there have been no exceptions.”

That’s so true, it makes me laugh.

Kate: Um, Roger…

???: Hey, hey. A man dressed in all white with a nice smile and parted bangs just told me something.

You were talking about the murder from last night.

(...?)

I turned around and saw a stranger leaning against the counter with a smile.

Kate: And you are…

Nicholas the novelist: Just some insignificant novelist called Nicholas. And these are…

Michael the playwright: Michael, a playwright.

Joanna the caricaturist: Joanna, a caricaturist.

Barkeep: Ah, these three are people of culture who are regulars here. They like to stick their noses in other people’s business.

Nicholas the novelist: We have to! We’re always looking for inspiration for our works.

Man tries to eat a girl with red hair. It’s like the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.

Joanna the caricaturist: Don’t lump this together with a childish fairytale like Little Red Riding Hood. It’s an insult to a sensational incident.

Michael the playwright: A bloodstained girl and a man standing over her in shock. Aha, I have an idea!

(...Ah, I see…these guys…)

The reason why they came to be known as “Fairytale Curses” is because of novelists, playwrights, and the like who created works based on existing “Cursed Ones”.

But nowadays, the relationship’s been reversed and they’re referred to as “Fairytale Curse”.

My curse is the Double-Crossing Hunter.

Elbert’s the Greedy Queen, Alfons the Mirror.

The reason for these names must have come from Cursed Ones that lived before us.

Tonight, another fairytale would be born from a Cursed One.

(I know people are free to create what they want and no one can fault them for that)

(—However)

Michael the playwright: I hope more tragic incidents happen. That way I can create the best stage performances!

Nicholas the novelist: More material for our works! Haha, just kidding!

Next thing I knew I was slamming my mug down on the table as if to cut their laughter off.

Roger: They didn’t die to be a spectacle for you lot.

Michael the playwright: Ah, erm…

Nicholas the novelist: Um…We didn’t mean to make fun of people’s deaths.

Joanna the caricaturist: That’s right. Just having jokes at a bar.

I heard voices repeatedly try to defend themselves within my distant consciousness.

I was already well aware that the “sinfulness” of “Cursed Ones” couldn’t be understood.

That’s why they’re “curses”.

Roger: —Just kidding.

Michael the playwright: …Huh?

Roger: You were starving for stimulation, so I thought I’d surprise you.

Michael the playwright: …Wha

What the heck! You scared me!

Roger: Ahaha, sorry.

Michael the playwright: That performance was so real. Want to join my troupe?

Nicholas the novelist: You can scout later. Let’s have a drink as thanks for surprising us!

Roger: Yeah, sure.

They’ll never know what we “Cursed Ones” mourn over or what’s fated ends are.

So I just pretended that nothing happened. This “acceptance” was a technique I took up to get by in this world.

—However, there was one person beside me that didn’t agree with this acceptance.

Kate: Roger…

There was a hint of anger in Kate’s voice and disapproval in her eyes. 

(...Kate, you’re too nice. You’re the only one willing to stand with the Cursed)

Kate was a kind person and now held feelings for the Cursed, Crown included.

That’s why there wasn’t a need to feel worried or hurt anymore.

Roger: Hmm?

I downed my beer and ruffled her hair like usual.

Kate: Stop…

Roger: We heard what happened. The investigations’s over so there’s no point in digging any deeper.

Kate: I don’t think that’s how you truly feel.

(—Yeah, you’re right, Kate. It’s not…how I truly feel)

When Kate wasn’t looking, I went outside. The rain poured down relentlessly, but I didn’t care.

Alone, pitch-black despair that I’d been holding back starts creeping up from beneath my feet.

(If we told Lance “you’re a Cursed One” back then, would things have changed?)

I could imagine all the what-ifs I wanted, but the dead never return.

~~

My dear little friend, you will no doubt encounter despair in the future. However, don’t let yourself be defeated.

~~

I remembered the words of a dead friend, words that I’ve repeated over and over.

(...I’ll be fine. I won’t let despair consume me)

(I’m strong, I won’t be defeated, I won’t be lonely, I won’t let my soul rot, and…I’ll fulfill my ambition)

(That’s why I’ll be fine. …I’ll get back up and continue like nothing’s happened)

(I still don’t know if there’s a shadow watching over me)

And that its existence will save me.

Next

[faewrenbird]

Okay, hold up, you know what? Since I’m at it, I also want to talk about the other big Elden Ring twt fandom discourse that makes absolutely zero sense in the context of the game other than the Good/Evil Miquella/Mohg debate, and that’s the Miquella x Radahn debate da da dummm

I want to preface by saying this is neither an anti nor pro miq/rad ship post. On the contrary, it’s a “it doesn’t even make sense to argue about it at all” post

Every time I see discourse or infighting about this topic (and there’s been a lot. Whole twt communities have cannibalized each other over it), I’m again floored that people think it warrants a debate. Like, genuinely and sincerely perplexed, and this is why:

The basis for the discourse relies on the premise that romantic and familial relationships, sex, and societal expectations in the Lands Between, necessarily mirror those things in reality. And…that entire premise is just…completely flawed and has been emphatically disproven by the source material.

Hot take, but I’m actually hard-pressed to believe that the act of sex even exists in the universe.

Here’s what the game tells us. It asserts that romantic love exists through the tale of Radagon and Rennala. It asserts that marriage exists, and that through marital union, children are conceived. This is where the similarities to reality ends. If we only had these facts to go on, the assumption that the mechanics mirror reality would be a reasonable one to make. But then the game goes all over the place and completely overturns our presumptions.

Let’s see, we have marital union that conceives children. Good. Okay, but also marital union between two selves in one body that conceives children… Oh, and also the conception of children that does not come from marital union at all, rather from the rotted battlefields of war between a brother and sister. Hm. We have a woman who sleeps with the dead, but “sleeping with” might not mean sex, oh, and she can also have a union with a corpse in game that conceives a child. Oh, but she also needs you and a bunch of other people to help conceive the child, which can later be placed over/in(?) the womb(?) of its grandmother/grandfather’s combined body, which then reconceives its father.

Can you see where I’m going with this? Depending on what angle you look at the game from, you could say it’s fraught with incest, selfcest, and necrophilia (also whatever the fuck is going on with Count Ymir). But this interpretation lacks soooo much nuance.

The thing of it is that we just don’t know how the demigods work. We don’t know the how, why, or even the if they have sexual relationships with each other in the way we’re familiar with. Your personal interpretation can be whatever you want and you literally cannot be proven wrong (or right!).

So why the hell do entire friendships get broken over whether you think twinkella wanted his brother’s gravity sword? Who knows? Who cares? You can headcanon anything you want.

People being morally performative over it is also just completely bizarre for the same reason. The relationship dynamics are between fictional gods, they literally and physically cannot be held to the same real life morals as you and I. The whole entire thing is the biggest nothingburger discourse of the fandom, and I bet the devs spent no more than five seconds considering that western fandom might be sending death threats over whether or not you like a little spice in your cosmic-god-rot-infested-golden-soup

[longtallglasses]

coopermyagent’s byler fanfic post

chaptered fics

The Blair Witch Project - (95,803 words) E rating - blair witch project (1999) au, horror, gore, ghosts, haunting etc.

Will hasn’t been handed that many good things in his life. Piece of shit dad, growing up gay in a small town, falling in love with his straight best friend, and oh yeah, spending a traumatic week when he was twelve lost out in the woods that he still can’t recall to this day. But the one thing he always had was his friends. The Party.

However, entering their second year of college the party have drifted apart; maybe a weekend spent making Mike’s student documentary on the Blair Witch can bring them closer again? And maybe Will can still hold onto something good.

OR as a bookmarker once said “will has an unknown past! mike is a gay mess! they go in the woods and everything comes crashing down! on the edge of your seat madness twists and turns all while being erotic? and gorey? and sweet?”

it happens each day - WIP E rating - lighthouse keeper au, horror, cannibalism, gore etc.

Fall, 1977. Dear Mr. Wheeler, We are pleased to offer you the temporary position at Egg Rock Lighthouse. Your experience and passion for the light keeper post is greatly appreciated and we look forward to meeting you and your partner at the start of October. Attached you will find detailed directions on how to find your way depending on your transportation. As you know the lighthouse is quite secluded so we advise to pack accordingly for the coming months. We've also attached a few brochures about the history of the area, you'll find some informative while others quite humorous. You'll come to grow very accustomed to seeing Amaren's phrases around the property. We hope this is the start of a smooth and mutually beneficial working relationship for you at Egg Rock Lighthouse. Most cordially, The Board at Egg Rock

If it takes all night... - WIP E rating - vampire!mike au

Mike needs to get over his feelings for Will before it kills him. Literally. After a night out with a mysterious stranger turns into a surprise vampire attack that he should've seen coming, Will comes in to save his skin with a makeshift stake to the heart. However, the real nightmare begins when Mike starts showing signs of turning into a vampire himself. But Will is willing to do anything to help him survive... anything.

fluffy one shots

We’re So Lucky - (4,192 words) T rating -

Will gets very drunk at a party.

Mike takes care of him and they talk about their first sexual experiences and their desire for each other all while trying to not hook up.

heaven (let my love open the door) - (14,161 words) G rating -

it's valentine's day 1981, the boys give each other candy, but Mike has something extra for Will.

it's valentine's day 1989, and Mike and Will want to finally get a valentine's day to themselves. they both have special things in store.

but flurry you’re my best friend - (5,558 words) G rating -

Will had been sitting close behind him, leaning back on the head board, and now Mike’s upper half was laid out on his lap and chest.

“Oh sorry, I-” Mike is pulling himself up, but Will’s hand is on his shoulder, and it’s burning again.

“No, it’s okay,” and Will pulls him back down, his legs maneuvering around him, until Mike’s back is flush with Will’s chest and Mike no longer has a single thought going through his mind.

In the midst of trying to get five stars on his animal crossing island, Mike accidentally falls into his feelings for Will, literally.

featuring Will being very supportive of Mike's island and Mike wants better gifts from his villagers

one more… please? (tell it like it is) - (4,457 words) G rating -

Mike was in for the shock of his life when Will gave him a kiss on the forehead.

What's even more shocking is how he's now scheming to get more?

It’s Cute - (996 words) G rating -

Will didn’t mean for it to happen. Honestly he had kind of forgotten. He didn’t even really think about it anymore.

But there they were in his bedroom, and Mike had plucked it out from under his comforter, “Is this my sweater?”

i can be your canvas? - (2,058 words) G rating -

Will's all out of blank canvases... but Mike's in the room so...

that hot, huh? - (1,157 words) T rating -

That hot, huh?” Mike teases, his face still smeared with blood. “Shut up,” Will groans, his head tilted back at a sharp angle. He experimentally lowers his head, only for a fresh wave of blood to pour out, sending Mike into another fit of laughter. “I hate you,” Will moans, “stop laughing,” “I- can’t-” Mike wheezes.

bittersweet goodbyes - (1,612 words) G rating - miwi

mike and will have a dramatic goodbye ritual and lucas is so over it.

you're so cute i could eat you - (3,832 words) G rating- miwi

Mike gets a case of serious cuteness aggression when it comes to Will... but Will doesn't really seem to mind.

Two Halloweens - October, 1979 & 1983...

when lost, follow the light - (2,522 words) T rating - cleradin/medieval/royal au

Before setting off to war, Mike pledges his heart as well as his blade to his prince. His prince wants to extend his protection.

angst and or horror one shots

these fatal fantasies - (10,008 words) T rating - guilty as sin? song fic, mike pov

He wanted to stop doing this, he needed to stop doing this. He just worked himself up and he couldn’t escape it. It was driving him insane, he’d wake up in the night and not be able to stop his hand. His mind supplying him with Will and all these inane scenarios where they somehow ended up in his room, or in the basement, or the school bathroom, and everything started happening so fast.

He felt like shit afterward.

Am I allowed to cry?

OR

Mike's mind has been in shambles the entire week leading up to his trip to California. He hasn't spoken to Will properly in months, his friends feel a million miles away, El seems to be doing great without him, people are dying in San Francisco, and Mike has been imagining things he wishes he wasn't. He wishes he could just throw it all away.

i just may be a daredevil (can you feel my heart?) - (10,342 words) T rating -

Will doesn’t have anything to lose anymore, and Mike can’t lose him. The two go hurtling towards an inevitable precipice where the only option might be to go tumbling down together, limbs grappling for each other, flesh melding, and heartbeats syncing in time.

OR

Will’s composure cracks and beats up their middle school bully, finishing the job Mike started. :)

you make me feel like i am free again - (6,351 words) E rating - horror, gore tw

The summer of 1982 is nearing an end. Will and the party are trying to enjoy the last moments of heat before the new school year begins, Will especially. Lonnie just split a few months prior and Will is trying to understand the storm that never seems to stop brewing inside him. That is until one day the storm is unleashed. Waves of blood and rushes of relief are spilled. He should be frightened, he should be horrified, but all he feels is an intoxicating sense of control. Mike seems to enjoy it too.

OR

will's got crazy telekinetic powers? he unleashes wrath upon everyone? and mike cheers him on? miwi being bloody deranged boys.

lesbyler!

a plesio-what now? - (1,538 words) G rating -

michelle and willow make out in a library. that's it.

your kind of pretty - (1,699 words) G rating -

Willow wants Michelle to make her pretty like her...

flashback, warm nights - (1,104 words) G rating -

Snowball songs make Michelle and Willow want to finally do what they've always dreamt of doing.

[nerdysleepybunny]

Hi! It’s me again. Can you do a part 2 of Angel Dust x Reader (platonic) oneshot. Where the reader comforts Angel after dealing with Val. And in return, he comforts them when they are also feeling sad.

So sorry that this took so long to get to! I’ve been super busy with school and haven’t had any motivation to do anything. This fic might not be the best because of that, but I promised you all something so the least I can do is keep my word ^^

🩷☁️N E R D Y S L E E P Y B U N N Y☁️🩷

Fandom(s): Hazbin Hotel

Character(s): Angel Dust (ft. Alastor, Charlie)

Reader: Gender neutral (they/you)

TW: Bad day, hinted depression

Style: Short story

Summary: A while ago, you comforted Angel after he had a bad day with Val. So when you yourself have a bad day, he does the same for you!

🩷☁️N E R D Y S L E E P Y B U N N Y☁️🩷

You weren’t necessarily sure why you were so pissed off… it was just one of those days, you suppose. Sure, maybe you weren’t the cheeriest. It was Hell, after all. What the hell was there to be so giddy about except no consequences for committing crimes? Not much. You tried to keep your head high for the sake of Charlie and her hotel, but all the effort you put into not spiraling was beginning to weigh on you. You swear you didn’t mean to have an attitude or brush people off. But for some reason, simply having someone talk to you ticked you off. The one that learned that the hard way was Angel Dust.

Out of everyone in the Hotel, he probably suffered the most on a daily basis. If anyone understood a bad day, it was him. He knew Hell. He knew being selfish was necessary down here. But he just couldn’t ignore you; not after all you’ve done for him. The spider’s boots clicked against the wooden floor as he walked behind the couch and bent himself over into a comfortable position, his lower arms idly gripping the backrest while his upper arms wrapped around you from behind. He didn’t quite notice the way you stiffened. “You okay, toots?”

Before you could answer with a dismissive “I’m fine,” Alastor, that creepy fucking overlord walked by. He was likely on his way to Cannibal Town or something. “Ohohoho! I’d stay away from that one today, if I were you. We’re lucky they’re not a cannibal, or they’d be biting us all! Hah!”

The way your blood boiled made you feel hotter than Hell itself. He was mocking you. He thought you were weak. You had half a mind to bite him for real… but he was an overlord, and an actual cannibal. He’d take your life or your soul in a heartbeat, or both. So you took the smart route and removed yourself from the situation; abruptly standing to make your way upstairs.

"Toots-!"

"Fuck off."

You weren't sure why you said it. It was Alastor you were mad at, not Angel. But you couldn't turn back and apologize now... so you continued your path to your bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind you. You couldn't handle the outside world right now. All you wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry.

Angel stood right outside your door, one of his hands held in a fist right in front of the wood... but he couldn't bring himself to knock. He knew you wouldn't respond anyway. If only he had a key- oh.

...

"Angel, I'm not sure if I should give you a spare key to their room. It's an invasion of their privacy!" Charlie tried to defend you, but as much as Angel loved Charlie, he wasn't in the mood for what was right and wrong right now. He knew you werent okay right now, and he refused to just sit by and let you suffer alone.

"Damnit, Charlie, I need that fuckin'key! They're locked in their room all depressed, and I don't want them to-" He couln't even bring himself to say it. He's tried to end his own life one too many times, and he couldn't bear to think of you going through what he did all alone. "Just... please, Charlie." He tried again, softer this time.

The princess of Hell rarely sees him in such a state, and knows that whatever is going on is urgent. So she doesn't ask questions. She only sighs as she summons a copy of your room key in her hand and holds it out to the spider sinner. "Make sure they're okay, Angel."

"I will."

...

After slotting the key into the lock and turning it with a twist of his wrist, the door clicked to prove that it had unlocked. He turned the knob to push the door open and stepped inside, preparing for the worst... and let out a sigh of relief to see you were only in bed. He quickly closed the door and rushed over, climbing onto bed with you.

"Toots? I'm here for you. Please tell me what's wrong."

The night went on with the two of you lying next to each other, with the spider silently listening to all your issues. He stuck with you for the entire night, and when he had to leave for work the next day, he left you with Fat Nuggets. He even took you to a mall and blew some of his earned money on you, just to make you feel better.

🩷☁️N E R D Y S L E E P Y B U N N Y☁️🩷

[ladyintree]

"it'll be all right" i've been chewing on this line and this specific moment for the last few days and i think there can be many different interpretations of it that could so easily work but the one that i've felt from the moment i saw it and the more i think about it, it feels like other tai speaking directly to tai. not van or about the group as a whole or anything else, just reassuring our tai that she's here to take care of her.

because that's what other tai does. she takes care of tai. she cleans up her messes. she takes over when tai can't handle something or is afraid of something or needs a push.

and our tai sees it as a loss of agency, something taking over control of her body, taking away her choices, etc. it's the real reason (at least it always has been for me) that she reacts the way she does when she finds out they ate jackie, why she says "i wouldn't do that." because she just found out she did something that gruesome and she wasn't there, not consciously, and while everyone else is somberly trying to reflect on their first acts of cannibalism, taissa has to not only do that but also reflect on the fact that she did that with no control over her body. i hate the take that "taissa wasn't okay with the cannibalism" (especially the fact that i still have to see people say that a year later) because that's not true, literally later that very episode is her talk with akilah who reassures her that they did that to get home. and tai accepted that. that's why tai understood what had to happen in episode 2x08. she has always understood that. and the truth is, if she had been herself the night they ate jackie, she still would have done it, like everyone else did, like they all were compelled to do when presented with food while starving. but it's the fact that she doesn't get to remember it and doesn't get to have a choice in it that haunts her.

just thinking of various quotes from both actresses:

"is she feral? does she like our taissa? those sorts of questions, we talked about. honestly, in my own opinion, i think the 'other taissa’ just wants to help, but she has no moral compass. she lacks all of that. but I think she wants to help."

"and I don’t think the other tai is evil, I just think she gets things done in a different way. and she enjoys doing the bad things. she doesn’t mind. she kind of relishes in it. but I don’t think that makes her evil. I do think that she has the best intentions in mind, but she’s just corrupt.”

"I really don’t think she’s out to hurt our tai. even though she winds up doing it so many times. 

"I think she really just wants our tai to be the best. and in fact, we talked about this a little bit, there’s a little bit of other tai that would rather just run the show. our tai has proven that she can’t get shit done. so other tai, she’s like, ‘let me let me take over a little while and manage this whole business that we’re doing here.’ I think she would be happy just taking over."

"for me, the other tai really just does not give a fuck. she’s going to do what needs to be done if it’s hurtful, if it’s wrong, it doesn’t matter. it’s just a different shade of tai; a different facet of her personality. so the other tai is still type a, she’s still narcissistic. but she’s a doer, whereas tai is a hider. This other tai will do anything necessary."

back to my point (typical) but tai led the prosecution, tai found him guilty, tai is the one who said herself that there is no other option but to kill him. but when it's tai who picks the card to do it, she freezes.

tai also heard him and is questioning whether he's actually guilty or not. but that doesn't matter, because she led the prosecution, she won (she had to win), and she doesn't give up. and, more than that, she knows what this means on a bigger scale, that even if they found him innocent, shit was bound to fall apart between them all. maybe the fire was just a genuine accident, maybe he's not guilty, but without someone to blame, where do they go from there? isn't it safer to focus their energy on one person, an outsider, just as they have before, than to turn on each other? (another case of why i think other tai starting the fire is such a boring theory but i digress that's not the point!!)

and she liked coach. coach was good to her. coach, who just admitted to having known she was gay long before she came out at doomcoming, who broke his own protocols and risked his job doing so so that he could keep her secret and protect her and van, was always looking out for her. because of the freedom of the wilderness, she got the chance to come out and do it proudly, and he told her he admired her for it, which is something she never thought she'd get, because she can't be out at home, and it was always going to be a risk regardless of their circumstances, but he made her feel safe. and he never shied away from how proud he was of her, like when he helps her get ready for her excursion. she liked ben!! so even if he was guilty, even if he was the monster they made him out to be, even if she could find it in her to just accept that that was the truth, that he was bad, that he deserved to die — she can't just forget who he was before all of that and how important that was for her.

and more than that, what this means for her. they've let people die, and they justify it by saying it's the wilderness that chose, not them. but this is her, pulling the trigger, actively killing someone. and taissa's smart, she knows if she pulls the trigger, there's no going back. that means this is who they are now, who she has to be —  the kind of person who will kill when there's no other way about it (because she's the one who said it. after she's the one who found him guilty). she can say that the wilderness chose her with the card but she doesn't get to say that the wilderness pulled the trigger.

i just love to see her through this episode trying to accept that she has to kill someone. because so many people seem to think that tai just wants to hurt people but that's not who she is? and it's something she's been afraid of before, too.

other tai taking over is a loss of agency that she was desperate to get rid of, and she did, for months. months without sleepwalking or other tai taking over her body / her mind / her actions and she thought she was free. and she might've genuinely been free forever. but then van throws the idea out there and she starts to understand (not fully) that other tai was a coping mechanism, a way for her to disassociate from the things she didn't know how to force herself to face. "out comes other tai to clean up her messes" and now, for once, she knows she needs her. and it's so scary to willingly give up her agency but for once, she's trying to control it, she's trying to be the one who asks her to come rather than it being taken from her. which is why she's open to it, because maybe if she knows how to bring her out, then she actually can have some agency over her.

back to my point (again) but tai is so fascinating to watch in the execution scene because she knows what she has to do and knows that she 'failed' to bring out other tai and that there's no other option. she also knows she's supposed to be brave about this and not falter. she's also crying and shaking and giving herself away anyway. she can't look at him, can't see through her tears. she puts her hood up and tries to cover herself too but to no use (feels like a step closer to why they cover their faces with masks when they hunt later on). she's trembling so badly when she holds the gun up and it's almost time until suddenly, the trembling stops, and the gun is stabilized, and she focuses. tai couldn't handle it, and other tai came to protect her.

so i just really like the idea of "it'll be all right" being other tai directing that to taissa herself, to let her know that she's okay and that other tai is here to do it for her (because "she's a doer, tai's a hider").

and maybe other tai really was gone forever until she willingly brought her back to stay. she'll never get to know if she was going to stay away and that was her only chance to keep her gone. but maybe at least there's a part of her now that understands that other tai isn't just taking control of her body without her permission; she's trying to help her, in her own fucked up way, and maybe she'll start leaning in to that.

anyway gifs under the cut because they're mine so i'm making use of them ✨

[docholligay]

Yellowjackets 2.8: The Hunt

Hello! This is about up to Season 2, Episode 8 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY that of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond this spot, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

I didn’t know qutie where to put some of the details about the selection process for the hunt itself and the hunt broadly, I suppose, but nice sort of “The Lottery” esque touch with the black mark and luck of the draw. I agree with Natalie that if you are going to sacrifice someone, you should be willing to look them in the face while you do it. Even if, from a merely practical standpoint, it would be easier for Shauna to get the leverage to kill her quickly from behind. So I mean for that reason I would have the gal cutting my throat stand behind me, but every other motherfucker better stand in front and watch. Don’t blink. 

And what a testament to the nature of our ability to edit our own memories that they think it was all imagined. My qwuesiton would be, “if not for hunting other girls, what were so afraid of getting back to people? People generally understand desperation cannibalism, if the person died already. If the hunt was not real in your mind, what had you to fear?” Also, Shauna, I refuse to believe that you didn’t write about this in your journals, and I also refuse to believe that you have never reread your journals. You know this is true. 

IN that same vein, if Lottie is trying to give it what it wants…is she so sure it doesn’t want the incredible violence and fear of the hunt itself? Just taking a slug of phenobarbital is great and all, butr it lacks that predatory instinct that the hunt is meant to break out of them. I don’t think it’s just blood the wilderness wants, if we’re going with that, I think it also wants the fear. It wants the instinct. It doesn’t want you to die it wants you to KILL EACH OTHER. There is a wide chasm of difference in that. 

Letting Javi die is the pregression of the step. Next it will be out and out murder, and with what we see of Lottie’s visions during the hunt, I think Lottie is a part of all of the violence and murder. I think she is happy enough to be the driver of it, to feel she has control over it. That’s why the poison thing is fine--she knows damn well it will NEVER be her.

[michaelasworlds-blog]

Daddy’s Girl (An OC Hazbin Fanfic

~~~~

Ch.13: Beyond Repair

Part 2

~~~~

“Valentino’s control over Bean” Art by: @strawijuice

“You mentioned that you felt that nothingness before..”

“When did you first feel it?”

Camp Silver Lake, 1991

🚨TRIGGER WARNING! THIS SCENE CONTAINS CANNIBALISM, VIOLENCE, SLIGHT SMUT!🚨

Six camp counselors sat around a campfire, Bean, Rich, Diana, Shane, Bree and Mike. They were done with their duties putting the kids to bed. Now what?

“Is anyone else regretting taking this job?” Bean groaned.

“You mean you don’t love the hot sticky air and the fact that Frank takes money out of our checks?” Rich asked sarcastically.

Bean rolled her eyes. Frank, their boss, was barely around half the summer; she was a counselor since she was 16 years and whenever someone asked where Frank was Bean had no idea who they were talking about.

“Guys Frank isn’t doing that, he went to the store,” Bree rolled her eyes. “He told me.”

“Oh yeah he told you alright,” Shane motioned, sucking a dick with his thumb and mouth. Bree hit his arm.

The counselors laughed, “You are so gross!” Diana laughed. “And come on Bean, we’re making bank this summer, the minimum wage just went up to like $4 in April.”

“Whatever, I’m hella bored” Bean laid flat on the ground.

“We should play a game!” Rich gasped looking excited.

“Frank told us to stay here till he got back,” Bree raised an eyebrow. “Let’s tell scary stories!” She smiled.

“Boo!” Mike yelled. “No one wants to hear your made up stories about the radio host who was a serial killer.”

“Or the one where the guy led a cult and then got his head smashed by a tv, and tv static means he’s coming through your tv to drag you to hell,” Diana crossed her arms. “My sister still sleeps in my bed thanks to you.”

“That story was actually pretty funny,” Bean giggled. “Imagine someone with a tv for a head, HA!”

“Ok the second one was bogus, but the first one is definitely real! My great grandfather was there, legends say if you hear radio static he’ll-"

“LAME!” Rich interrupted Bree before standing up, “You can tell yourself all those stories but us, we’re playin hide and seek; any takers?” He looked at the rest of the group.

“I love hide and seek!” Bean shot up.

“Hide and seek sounds fun!” Diana smiled.

“I’m down, if Mike is,” Shane looked at his friend.

“Let’s do it!” Mike jumped to his feet. “Let’s play in the woods, Bree you can seek; count to-"

“100!” Bean interrupted. “It’s my favorite number!”

“Guys this isn’t a good-“

“Fine, 100 now let’s go guys!” Shane interrupted Bree, before the counselors scattered into the dark woods.

Before Bree knew it everyone was gone, she sighed. “1..2..3..4..”

“Shane..” Bean moaned, feeling him go up her shirt. “I thought we were playing hide and seek.”

“Don’t worry baby, I know a sick place we could hide,” Shane placed her on the cabin bed biting her neck.

Bean giggles before sucking her teeth, she didn’t wanna miss the game, “But I really wanna play!” She whined.

Shane got off her, “You know hide and seek is for children right?” He huffed in annoyance. Bean sits up in the bed.

“Are you bad?” She looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

He shrugs, “I at least want something before you bail on me.” Bean smirks starting to slowly rub Shane’s penis through his tight shorts. Shane moans, biting his lip.

“Let mommy give you what you want,” Her voice became seductive, as she pulled his pants and boxers down in one motion. She put her mouth on the tip of his erected member making Shane groan.

Shane closed his eyes, as Bean began to lower her mouth further down his dick. He pushed her head down to go lower, distracted by the warmth of her mouth around his cock. His feeling of euphoria was then replaced with pain, “Ow! Hey take it slow baby- ow! Hey!” He screamed , trying to push her head away Bean did not let go. It was off she was latched onto his length, blood began rushing from Shane’s crotch as his screams became louder the deeper her teeth sunk in. She kept biting until..

RIP!

The young man watched in horror at the gaping bloody hole between his legs. Bean slowly stood up smirking, her face and shirt were covered in Shane’s blood; she barely looked human anymore. The whites of her eyes were now black, and she bore sharp teeth that were covered in blood. The girl climbed on top of him, Shane was frozen in fear as the creature neared closer to his face.

“Your dick tastes like herpes,” Was all Bean said before she ripped out Shane’s throat, silencing him for good.

“Ugh this was such a bad idea,” Diana whined to herself.

Diana was lost in the woods looking for a place to hide, she settled for hiding behind a tree. It had felt like hours, how long did it take to count to 100?! It was muggy and hot outside, and she wanted to go to bed! Maybe Bree was pulling a prank-

“AHH!” Screaming in the distance startled her.

The counselor scanned her surroundings in fear, “Bree?!” She called. “Stop fucking around!”

Diana heard the screaming again and again and again! At this point screaming was coming from every direction, she didn’t know where it was coming from.

The young woman almost jumped out of her skin, when someone grabbed her arm. Diana quickly turned around, almost hitting Bean in the face. “Holy crap! Bea, what happened?” She noticed her friend was crying. “Is that blood?” She noticed the counselor's shirt was covered in blood.

“It’s- it’s not mine..it’s Shane’s..he’s dead,” Bean sobbed.

Diana was horrified, but kept it together for her traumatized friend, “Hey, don’t worry,” she touched her shoulders. “Let’s go to Frank’s cabin and call the police.” Bean nodded.

The women hugged each other, Diane was frightened. However, a large grin slowly spread across Bean’s face.

Bree laid on the grass looking at the night sky, she had finished counting hours ago, she was not going to look for those dipshits. As soon as Frank got back with the beer she’d tell him they weren’t listening. She wondered how long it would take for them to-

“AHH!!” Diana’s voice broke Bree from her revenge plan.

Bree quickly stood to her feet, “Dee?!” She yelled. She was met with silence. “Bea! Mike! Shane!”

She looked into the dark forest..

And decided..

It wasn’t worth it.

Bree was sure Diana was fine, she was the dramatic type. And maybe Shane caught on to her prank and told everyone to go to bed. Bree decided it was time for bed-

“SOMEBODY HELP!!” That voice sounded like Bean.

“Shit.." Bree groaned, running into the direction of the scream. It led her to Frank’s cabin. “Bean?” She called for, entering the dark cabin. Sobbing was heard coming from Frank’s office.

Bree ran into the office, there Bean stood hyperventilating in front of the desk, “Bean..what- AHH!” She screamed at what she saw.

Mike was in Frank’s chair, dead. His eyes gouged out, his throat was torn open and he seemed to be missing some teeth.

Bean jumped, seeing Bree, “Where were you?!” She screamed.

“I was looking for you guys!”Bree yelled back. “I told you we should’ve stayed together!”

“Shane’s dead! And so is Rich!” Bean cried.

Bree covered her mouth horrified, “We need to call the police! Where’s Diana?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Go find her!”

Bean ran off. Bree went over to the phone where Mike’s lifeless body was, she pushed it onto the floor, “Sorry.” She picked up the phone but didn’t hear any noise, Bree realized the cord was cut or bit off. “Oh shit,” They were stranded.

“Hey Bree,” She heard Bean’s voice. “I found Diana. Catch!”

Bean then threw Diana’s severed head at Bree. Bree quickly jumped out of the way screaming, as she stared at the head in horror.

Bean started to laugh evilly, “You’re a lying bitch Breana!” She was so distracted with laughing that she didn’t realize Bree had hit her with the phone before taking off. “OW!” Bean fell to the ground.

Her eyes became black as she glared where Bree had run.

Bree hated the forest! She hated it in the daytime and especially at night! But she didn’t want Bean to see her leave the camp exit.

She ran, not stopping for anything, not paying attention. However what did stop her was the tree she came into contact with, she smacked right into it falling to the forest floor. “Shit,” Bree sat up holding her throbbing head.

Bree looked up seeing Rich pinned to the tree by a stake, she stood up gasping.

She backed away from the tree starting to hyperventilate, however she stopped seeing something strange in the distance.

It appeared to be a man? No, a deer? Whatever it was she couldn’t look away, Bree started hearing a weird static noise the closer she got to the creature.

She was so distracted that she didn’t see Bean come up behind her with an axe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bean was pretty sure at this point her therapist would need a therapist, she had no idea how Dr.Cross was able to sit and listen to all this without imploding.

“When you were done, did feel any different?” She asked.

Bean sat to think about it, “I think I remember feeling like it wasn’t enough, like I needed more.”

“More?” Dr.Cross looked at her. “More of what?”

"Red..when I was in that state, I was obsessed with the color; it was all I saw. It was all I wanted, and most of it was in a person’s body,” Bean stared. “That’s the main reason I’m here, I wanna what’s going on with me, and if there’s like a pill or some shit I can take.”

Dr.Cross sat forward, “Well Bean, it’s not just about medication and therapy; you have to put in the work and help yourself as much well.”

Therapy was confusing, if she could, why would she be here.

“Let me ask you something,” Dr.Cross closed her book, “Does this feeling come to you every time certain people upset you?”

Bean looked away and back at her therapist, “You wanna know if anything happened with my stepdad before I murdered those kids,” she figured it out. She knew something like this was coming.

“How’d you guess?” Dr.Cross’ tone was full of sarcasm.

“Well the day I left for camp he said ‘see you in 6 weeks’,” Bean felt a shiver down her spine thinking about it. “I was scared at first, his words stuck with me then angry because I wasn’t strong or big enough to even fight back..later that week I felt the nothingness, I had always felt I don’t know I guess trapped..”

Dr.Cross looked at the girl with sympathy, it was clear she wanted change and of course it would be hard. Bean had to find the strength to find a change.

“Do you still feel this way?” She asked.

Bean nodded. Thinking about how he was always around, and now..

He had found her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After brutal shoots and feeling like all of Hell had took a dump on her, Bean’s feeling of nothing became feelings of excitement.

It was finally the day that Bean had been waiting for, the movie premiere! She was mostly excited to wear what Velvette had made her.

All of last week had become a blur, she had blocked Vox out, not answering his phone calls or texts and Alastor.. he could be buried under Hell for all she cared. Vox could go to..both of them can go fuck each for all of eternity!

Bean didn’t care. Jerks.

The only two sinners she cared about was Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb, She missed them, and since Valentino was bringing Angel as arm candy she could try and speak to him.

Bean didn’t really have a plan, so when she got into the limo after Val, Angel and other sinners and hellborns, she pushed someone out of the way sitting next to the spider demon.

Angel glanced at her, and she looked up at him waiting for a reaction, he sighed, “Hi-"

“I need to speak with you,” Bean whispered, interrupting him.

He sighed, “Latte ya don’t gotta-"

“I’m sorry for being a brat, I didn’t mean all those things I swear, I just wanted to be the perfect actress everyone thought I was, it was stressing me out then Vox yelled at me, and Val and Alastor and Barktholomew didn’t even recognize me, he called me a sellout!” Bean rambled.

Angel looked at her with widened eyes, before smiling, “Latte I accept your apology, I’m sorry for taking your stuff and yellin’ at ya.”

Bean smiled glassy eyed, “Are we..undone?”

He rolled his eyes, “Yes, we’re undone,” she immediately hugged him.

“Hey!” Valentino glared at the sinners. “I was talking!”

The two looked at each other staying quiet.

“Oh by the way,” Angel told her. “If you get any cryptic like messages tonight it’s Cherri, we were gonna kidnap you and give you an intervention.”

“Wait what?” Bean tilted her head. A second later her phone went off, it was a text from an unknown number. She opened it revealing a picture of Barktholomew with a knife to his neck, it was obvious that this was Cherri; her hand was holding his head up.

Bean blinked with a blank expression, “Wow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sugar: But daddy! Why are you so angry?!

Stepdad: I just don’t think he’s right for you!

Sugar: *gasps* But we’re the same age!

Stepdad: You know that’s not what I mean..

There were gasps heard all around the theater as the movie played, Bean honestly didn’t think the movie was all that but she did like the explosion scene she did.

She nudged Angel, “I’m going to the bathroom,” she whispered, before getting out of her seat and leaving.

Bean whistled a tune walking down the empty hall and into the restroom, she scrolled through her phone while sitting on the toilet, “Ha! Oh Barktholomew..” She laughed at a picture Barktholomew, he was so photogenic.

Before she could respond to a text from Charlie there was a knock at her stall, “Um..occupied?” She said, with attitude in her voice. It was clearly locked and she was NOT THAT SHORT! You could see her feet.

“Oh, my mistake,” a very familiar voice made Bean freeze up.

She stared at the door in silence, not even moving an inch.

It couldn’t be him..

How’d he get here?

Wasn’t this a private event?!

No, maybe she was hallucinating. People sound like each other all the time..

Bean tried convincing herself of the best, but she couldn’t hear it over her heart beating. After waiting for what felt like hours, she stood up flushing the toilet. She then slowly reached for lock, it was like a horror movie, the music intensified as she got closer to opening the door.

Deciding to rip the bandaid off, she unlocked and kicked the stall open. Nothing was there. No one was there.

Bean sighed, she felt like she was going crazy..maybe she was..

She starts washing her hands, and as she looks up in the mirror there he is.

“Hey Bea..” Stefan grinned at her. His face was pale white and looked as though it were cracked over his left eye where a red light was.

Bean closed her eyes, “You’re not real.. You’re not real..” opening her eyes back, Stefan was now right in front of her. She screamed, the red light from his eye started to brighten; making Bean feel paralyzed.

Before he could even touch her, the sinner threw up acid all over his arm, “AHHH!!” He screamed as the acid seeped his jacket and onto his skin. “You little-“

“BEAN!” She heard Angel yell, kicking the door open.

The bathroom lights flickered and Stefan was gone. Bean stared into space sliding onto the floor.

Angel ran up to her, crouching in front of her, “What happened Latte?” She wasn’t able to answer, she couldn’t get a word out, but Angel knew. He knew who this was. “It was him, wasn’t it? He was here..” Bean only gulped in response, she couldn’t move, or talk or even look at anything..

The spider demon immediately took out his Tommy guns, “Fuck the premiere! Non mi fermo finché non trovo il bastardo e lo riempirò di buchi!” He shouted in Italian.

Translation: I’m not stoppin till I find that bastard and fill ‘em full of holes!

Bean had no idea what Angel said, but by the looks of it he was ready for a fight, “No!” She stood up.

“Bean, let me handle-"

“No! Just listen please!” She cried.

“I’m not lettin’ that monster get away with hurtin’ someone I care about!” He shouted.

“If you care about me you’ll listen!” Bean erupted, she didn’t want her friend getting hurt; even if he won she wanted him safe, “This is not what I want!”

Angel put his guns away, “Okay, what do you want?”

What did she want? It certainly wasn’t to find Stefan. Or watch the rest of that 4 hour movie..she sighed, “I just wanna go home..”

Angel smiled at her, putting his arm around her, “Alright.”

The two left. Heading home. To the Hazbin Hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How does it make you feel when people don’t listen to you?” Dr. Cross looked up from her notepad.

Bean twiddled her thumbs, she thought of the best way to put it. “It’s like I’m on a boat in the middle of a loud storm, on the boat are people that don’t like each other; they’re arguing about how to get out of the storm's path..but what they don’t know is that we’re all headed towards disaster. I try to tell them but they keep arguing, blaming and fighting each other, what I say doesn’t matter so I sit, listening to the storm rage on and the people get louder and louder watching the boat move closer towards our destruction.”

“How interesting,” Dr. Cross breaks the few seconds of silence. “Who are the people in the boat?”

“They’re different every time,” Bean doesn’t look at the therapist. “But it’s always the same outcome, when the storm comes it doesn’t ever matter what I want, it doesn’t matter how I feel. They try to find someone to blame, which leads to destruction and never a solution..”

Dr.Cross looked at the sinner sitting across from her, “I don’t think that’s entirely true this time,” Bean looked at her confused. “You’re here talking out your problems, which in my opinion is setting you on course to the solution.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two sinners walked into the hotel looking like they had crashed a party. Angel was exhausted from having to walk, for some reason there were no taxis out! Bean on the other hand was still shaken up about what happened, he had finally found her..there was nowhere she could run. Nowhere she could hide.

“The hell happened to you two?” Husk was pouring a drink for Angel.

Angel sat at the bar, leaning on the counter, “Crazy fans, you wouldn't understand,” he smirked. “ Or would you?”

Husk rolled his eyes, passing him the drink, “In your dreams.”

“I’ll make sure to wish on a star,” the spider demon winked before laughing. “Latte! Get over here and have a drink!” Angel turned to Bean. However, she ignored him and walked into the kitchen, hiding under the table. “Latte?” Angel’s voice became concerned. He walked over lifting the table cloth, Bean was under the table curled in a ball, covering her face; he reached touching her leg but she flinched away. “Hey,” Angel smiled, “Whenever you come out, I’ll be waitin with a shot with your name on it.”

Then he left her alone. Leaving her with her own thoughts.

What if he came here?

Would everyone hate her?

Would they throw her out? Where would she go?-

Alastor’s whistling interrupted her thoughts, Bean internally groaned, she did not need nor did she want this right now.

“My dear, what are you doing under the table?” Alastor lifted the table cloth, revealing Bean lying under the table.She laid on her side looking into space, with a blank expression on her face, “Bean you are aware that you’re on the floor right?”

She stayed silent, saying nothing. Just staring. Alastor didn’t know what to do, they had argued but he was over it.

“Hmm..” Alastor stood up, leaving the kitchen. He noticed Husker and Angel Dust at the bar, the overlord startled the two shadowing. “Well well well Husker and his beau, what are you two chatting about!” Alastor leaned on the counter.

Husk groaned, “I just wiped that.”

Alastor dragged his finger across the bar counter then booped the former overlord on the nose, “Missed a spot.” He laughed.

“Whaddya want smiles?” Angel rolled his eyes.

“Well if you haven’t noticed, your little blue friend is under the table,” Alastor gestured to the table.

“Um..she’s..upset,” The spider took a drink from his glass.

He knew something.

“Upset? About what?” The Radio Demon stepped up to porn actor.

Angel didn’t know what to say, he looked everywhere instead of at Alastor. “Boss,” Husk glared. “She’s been under there for hours and doesn’t wanna talk about it.” Angel smiled at him.

Alastor looked at the sinners, narrowing his eyes. “You will do anything to protect him,” he cut his eyes at Husk.

“Don’t know what you mean,” he walked away from the two.

He wasn’t sure what to do, but Alastor thought of something that could work. He started making his way to the table but Angel stopped him, “Al look, she’s not doin’ great; she’s-"

“Don’t ever call me Al if you want to keep all your arms,” Alastor threatened.

Angel backed off, before facepalming watching the titanic hit the iceberg.

Alastor lifted the cloth, Bean hadn’t moved an inch, “Tell me what’s wrong,” his smile spreading across his face. She remained silent. “Mon cher you’re breaking my heart, where’s that pretty smile?” He waited for an answer, but was once again met with silence. The overlord sighed standing up, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad, life had destroyed her and Hell cut her arm off and stuck it in the fan. “Very well.”

He picked his staff up and started messing with the radio, it was static at first, then it went to soft jazz and finally switched to what he wanted.

Alastor starts to whistle the beginning to “Can’t Smile Without You” He began moving side to side with the music, “Don’t make me dance alone dear, it’s quite embarrassing without a partner.”

He begins to sing

(Alastor)

You know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you

I can't laugh and I can't sing

I'm finding it hard to do anything

Alastor noticed Bean was still under the table, “What do the kids say? Ah yes, ‘don’t leave me hangin’!”

He really hoped no one came downstairs and saw Alastor dancing by himself, not that he would care but still..

You see, I feel sad when you're sad

I feel glad when you're glad

If you only knew what I'm going through

I just can't smile without you

Bean began to slowly sit up at the sound of the music, she got from under the table and tilted her head at the sight of Alastor dancing and singing by himself.

You came along just like a song

And brightened my day

Who would have believed that you were part of a dream

Now it all seems light years away

She walked up to him, tapping him on the shoulder he turned his grin becoming wider, “There she is!” Alastor held out his hands to take hers, he didn’t want to move too fast knowing everything she had been through.

Bean looks at his hands with hesitation, she slowly takes them. “Sing with me,” Alastor pulled her into the parlor, Bean tried not to smile as they started dancing.

(Alastor & Bean)

And now you know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you

I can't laugh and I can't sing

I'm finding it hard to do anything

You see I feel sad when your sad

I feel glad when you're glad

If you only knew what I'm going through

I just can't smile

Alastor twirled Bean, making her laugh.

(Bean)

Now some people say happiness takes so very long to find

Well, I'm finding it hard leaving your love behind me

(Alastor & Bean)

And you see I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you

I can't laugh and I can't sing

I'm finding it hard to do anything

You see I feel glad when you're glad

I feel sad when you're sad

If you only knew what I'm going through

I just can't smile without you

They stop dancing and without warning Bean hugged him, Alastor stood shocked then hugged her back. It was silent for a moment until he heard the sound of someone taking a picture. He looked up seeing Angel Dust standing in the corner with his phone out.

“Delete that or die.”

After a shot with Angel and a few laughs, Bean decided that she wanted to get some sleep.

“Come my dear I’m heading to the radio tower, I’ll tag along,” Alastor suggested.

“Okay,” Bean smiled.

The sinners made it inside the elevator in silence, once the doors closed Alastor cleared his throat.

“I believe I owe you an apology sha,” he turned to her.

“Really?” She rolled her eyes.

“I apologize for the way I acted towards you, the things I’ve said were completely unacceptable, I appreciate the things you do to help, and not just me, everyone,” the radio demon smiled at her.

This smile felt different, it made Bean feel safe, wanted; kind of like when Angel or Cherri smiled at her.

Alastor and Bean got off the elevator, “I accept your apology and I forgive you,” She smiled at him then quickly frowned, “Do not ever call me your time period’s version of a slut!” She pointed at him. “Don’t be a coward, call me a slut next time!” Bean jokes.

The overlord laughed, “You have my word. She was about to open her bedroom door when Alastor grabbed her arm. “One last thing,” she turned back around to him. He held her hands looking into her eyes, “You are doing your very best, and I for one am proud of you,” Alastor said without his radio filter.

Bean smiled at him, this was new! First Cherri, and now THE Radio Demon telling her he was proud of her! After the last two months she’s had, this was what she needed and wanted to hear. She wanted to hear this when she was alive..

Alastor cleared his throat, “Well I should be off! Bonswa, chèr mwen.”

Translation: Good night, my dear

Bean waved as he started down the hall, “Bonswa!”

Translation: Good night!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Looks like we’re out of time,” Dr.Cross looked at the clock.

“What?!” Bean looked at her phone in shock. “It’s already been an hour?!”

“Yeah time flies when you have so much to say,” the therapist chuckled. “But if you want we can schedule our next appointment, until then do you have any questions for me?”

“Hearing all of that, what do you think? About me?” Bean asked.

“I think you’re a sweet person who was taught all the wrong things in life and now you are doing the best with what you have and what you’ve been given,” Dr.Cross held Bean’s hands smiling. “It’s hard to make the decision to change, but you. You are on the path to change, and that my love is something that you should be proud of.”

Bean smiled, hugging Dr.Cross. Weight had been lifted off her body. Bean knew now that she was broken.

But she was not beyond repair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bean left the office, making it back to the hotel. Sinners were scattered around either eating or gossiping. She made it into the elevator heading up to the 7th floor; she walked up to room 708 knocking on the door. Eugenia opened the door.

“Bean?” She was surprised.

Bean took a breath,

“I need to talk to you.”

(Here’s part 2!! Hope you enjoyed it!!! 😊)

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

“therefore you and me” by eve

literally is so Hannibal and Will.

(Bear in mind it’s actually in Japanese, it sounds clunky in English but in Japanese it flows beautifully. Mmm music)

——————

Hannibal: “A clock without hands”

Will: “that doesn’t mean anything”

this makes for GREAT symbolism god, encephalitis arc so true.

—————————

Hannibal: ”paired up they mean something, my avatar! It’s 2 in one. you and me!”

Hannibal: ”don’t let go of what’s beloved, you are love itself.”

honestly I am thinking of how ultimately Hannibal’s identity as the Chesapeake Ripper became theirs together, it is their avatar you can’t have one without the other.

——————————-

Hannibal: “But see you that’s not correct. Because you have chosen and as a result, it’s ironic how you’re here. shunned like you were a ghost. But you see that’s just fine. Don’t gloss it over and say it’s terrible. Because, I and myself, we’re all ghosts. Very selfish ghosts.”

Will: “Therefore?”

Hannibal” therefore! You and me you and me you and me lovey dovey!”

Mostly the whole “you sent someone to murder me, I sent someone to murder you, I say we are even Steven” thing, and how that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Will, I can see Hannibal talking about how he knows Will wants to gloss over their shared hunting together what they’ve been through and how he helped a cold blooded murderer and be normal again. Yet hannibal knows Will and knows he will come back eventually.

——————————

Will: “as a result of trusting, as a result of being betrayed”

Hannibal” therefore! You and me you and me you and me lovey dovey!”

Will grappling and coming to terms with loving Hannibal core

———-

Will: “as a result of being you, as a result of not noticing”

Hannibal: “forever, forever, forever, lovey dovey”

I can imagine Will feeling still absolutely destroyed by how he didn’t realize Hannibal was in fact Hannibal the cannibal, and how he is still utterly devastated and betrayed by not knowing Abigail was still alive, until Hannibal took her away from him again.

———-

Will: “so we can live? So we can die?”

Hannibal: “forever, forever, forever, lovey dovey!”

This is what Will says cannon, (in my head) when they are on the cliff for REAL. And also probably when they break out and when they kill the dragon and also other bits, and also when Will gives Hannibal fake Freddie lounds meat.

they are absolutely murder husband’ing

————-

Will: “what do you know, and what will you choose?”

Hannibal: “you and me! you and me! you and me! lovey dovey!”

this is what they say on the cliff aswell, but mostly this.

god I love this song.

———————————

here is the song btw

I love this song so much

[cutepastelstarsalior]

Clone high season 2 live blogging

Episode 6

:( the dinner is going to be sold

Yeah I can see why some people don’t like the dinner because of the racial segregation….

Did some guy just buy to eat the dead wife????

👀 disabled Joan!??? Let’s goooooo!!!!! Detective Joan!!!! Awe cute Joan had a cat <3

“Psylly legs is build up nostalgia the legs get psylly”

….So Joan is just stimming???? (I thought she’d had restless leg syndrome)

If people bullied Joan because of her medical stuff, why didn’t Joan help Ghandi when people hated on him for his adhd? Also man does this town have an ableist history…..

Blood pack!!!!! Same big mood with the doctor not handling blood 😩

Yay Joan’s weird French films!!!! DAVID FUCKING TENNANT???!!!!!! <3 ohmgggg I love him as 10

Heyyy trash Mandy Moore lady is back!! :0

Did I meant I love the colors in this show? I do…

Noooooo jfk cheating on Joan? Wait…or not? Hmmm I feel like kissing another girl is bad…..FUCK is this is Total Drama and the Bridgette and Geoff scene >:( damn it!!! (Yes I know that they are 2 different shows but listen……hyperfixation™️ also my mom thought CH was TD lol)

Yay jfk and Harriet told Joan the truth….oh no Joan is going through so many emotions and drinking :0 hmmm 👀 (idk why but the little montage of Joan going rapid through different emotions feels like something bpd???)

Episode 7

Confucius parents took his sister to Bali but not him :( awwww his family didn’t care if he got lost in the dessert. Man Confucius family sucks, no wonder he tried to hard to be popular online, he just wanted attention :(

:( Abe and Joan army friends anymore noooo. Damn. Abe lost Joan and Ghandi, this dude is going through it….

My favorite background clone is Cathrine the Great, I think her design is so cute <3

The bus crash and now JFK brain is bigger….i think you have internal bleeding there bud…

“As a woke straight male ally let me put my lips on this unconscious black women to show how woke and straight I am” ……..topher bud….

Why is George Washtion Clever peanut man getting bigger??

Mr b using a short to cover his head <3

Ew why is jfk vice like that….

“Lo-fi haunted ghost screams” 👀

Smart jfk…Joan taking the lead. I feel like something bad will happen OR this is a dream.

:0 DJ Mr b!!!!!!

Cannibal dessert zombies….. scary!!

JFK calling people darling is cute :) <3

If jfk brain is smarter while in hot weather/if he’s overheating why didn’t this happen when he’s in the gym or doing sports? 👀

Smart jfk face : ☺️🫤

The husbands trying to snort each other 😏👀

Arroyo are gully in southwestern us….meaning the clone home is somewhere between Texas and California….

Joan wants someone who is emotionally intelligent and emotionally available….she and Abe become friends again……I’m guess they’ll end up together?

Episode 8

Oh snap they actually broke up! Also they co-own a tortoise? Cute

..,,,making the whole school sexual……😬 interesting…

“Where do you want the seaman to drop their load”

“For starters in my mouth” HA….🫵🤨 I know what you are doc

Frida having a crush on Cleo! Was not expecting that…Cleo doing her weird flirting again…was DEFINITELY not expecting that….

Harriet x Confucius is a cute ship….their such nerds <3

😬😬😬 the teacher flirting with Abe…:ma’am that not ok

“Virginity is a social construct” asexual Abe real!!!!!!!

I was going to say seaman I love you but I realize that sounds absolutely horrible out of context….

Singing pirates I love you and you talking about lgbt identity..

Topher the pirates thing you’re into Abe….. 👀

JOAN DONT PUT THE TOURTISE IN THE WATER JOAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!! Oh thank goodness Abe rescued the pet

“It’s ok if a minor and a teacher are together” not the fuck it’s not lady!!! Topher why are you filming this???? Call the police????? Topher please 😬😬

Oh thank god she dead. But ahhhhhhhh still hella uncomfortable!!!!!!!!!

The “statutory-rape-death-by-orgasm situation is very troubling” MR B WITH THE FACTS!!!!!!

“So we’re not telling the police?” You can Mr b! Please call the police. Mr b I love you so much for looking out for the students.

Topjer blackmailing Abe because he (topher) is into Joan…..🤨🤨 are you topher?? Are you really??

One one hand, I’m like this is a stupid subplot, Abe just tell Joan how you feel who care about topher and his blackmail. But on the other hand, this situation kind of feels realistic? Like a weird way to talk about victim blaming?

Oh thank god something positive in this shit show….yippie Cleo and Frida got together!!!

Joan underwater with the emotional music…her screaming underwater…..cinema™️ :) Joan and jfk having a nice talk :)…:noooo rip Shelly the tortoise

Background gay couple yay :)

Episode 9

Noooo the husbands are fighting AGAIN….oh yay Joan and Mr b time!!!

Omg Mr b lore!!!!

He has a human twin brother??? HES RELIGIOUS????? Oh snap biracial Mr b 👀

Wait nevermind…. Awww Mr b didn’t know he was a robot :( and nether did his twin

:( noooooooo!!!!!!!! He left his brother 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

OH MY FUCKING GOD Mr b was a sex worker

Noooo Mr b please contact your brother!!!!!

Awew yay Mr b life getting better!!! :0 he got married!!!

Noooo his wife cheated on his and his son wasn’t biological his!!! :(

YES!!!! The twins reunited!!! :0 awew he’s an uncle now!!! Wow 2 nices and 2 nephews!!

NOOOOOOOOOOO HES BROTHER DIED!!!!!!

👀 Mr b was an actor!!!!

🥺 awww he thinks of Joan as his daughter!!!!!!

NO MR B DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!

Oh thank god doc saved him!!!!!!! 🥺

Oh my goddd…..the cliff!!! The choices!!!!!!!

THETE FAMILY AND HE CRIED!!!!

Favorite episode!!!!!!!!

Episode 10

Oh thank god, it’s the last one!!!!

Ponce’s dad is back!!! :)

It’s the last day of the school year…the teens are 16, so there sophomores???

Clone high college :0 oh!!! I was wonder what would happen to the senior class!!

West Dakota?????

Since the sisters didn’t make it into the death maze, do they life? Get immediate killed? I forgot that the government is trying to groom the most successful clones. So I guess this is a survival of the fittest….and since the OG clones were from the first project, this is a very new things. (Trying to make a mental timeline thing.)

The four amgias….

NOOOOO VINCENT DIED (maybe not?)

4 boys who are friends-ish

4 girls who are friends

Battle of the sexist 👀

Also both groups are the main cast….ok not topher he’s more of a side character…but still..

Yay Abe and jfk friendship :)

Ok so this is my 2 favorite episode.

This gives me minor hunger games vibes. The whole government watching kids fight to the death part; not the trying to stop the government and corrupt dystopia part…

Oh hey! That weird one type flute thing, forgot about that! :)

Frida has 2 different shoelaces :)

Joan leaving the group because Frida chose her girlfriend over Joan. I mean, that understanding to be angry, but I don’t think she should leave the group….

Yessss jfk breaking topher phone!! :) now Abe won’t be blackmail anymore!!!

Gay energy jfk x Abe

Lone wolf Joan….hmm maybe she is the most powerful/sussefual clone they made? 👀

Joan setting traps to capture her friends!!!! She IS the most dangerous clone!!!

Ok Joan keeps putting people into holes, either she doing that so she the only one to hit the button and go to college OR she doing that to save everyone from the death maze?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHJHH Joan foster mom standing by Joan, using her daughter and grooming her to be the next leader!!! AHHHHHH I love it!!!!!!! Sidhaisn

!!!!!!!!! Them using the clones as backups!!!! Me think how it was weird that the government would let a clone die so easily!!! They won’t!!!!! The government controlling them to be successful puppets!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! The angst, and tension!!! The betrayal!!!!! Love it!!!!!

👀🥺 doc think of the clones as his children!!!!!!

They lost their memories!!! But Joan giving it back!! Her caring about her friends!!!!

Oh my god the stupid little hands gesture!!!!!! <3

….

That’s it??? THATS the ending? The mother showing everyone what Joan did during the death maze? And everyone being anger at her?

Ok, I feel like the twist to that, if there a season 3 is that her friends will forgive her.

Ok! Thought time!!!!

Ok, the fist half of this so is ROUGH! Like it has an idea (government wanting to groom the kids to be a successful leader) but the comedy and drama got a bit out of hand for the plot. I think want to say around 7-8 is when the show gets more, lore like? Or as close to plot as possible.

This season is VERY Joan centric. It gave her SO much character development. At first I thought it wouldn’t work, it made Joan feel like one of those not like other girls, and loser girl gets popular troupe. The whole love triangle with jfk and Abe was a bit rough. It was weird that Joan decided to be with jfk, after sleeping with him on prom night. But I guess since Abe was with Cleo and Abe only paying attention to Joan after she change herself, it make a TINY bit of scene.

The writing try to make it seems like Joan still loves Abe with that sexual dream she had, but I feel like after that episode, it wasn’t brought up again until episode 7. When Joan wanted jfk to be more emotionally invested in her. Also the whole Abe being in love with Joan? Also the random Abe getting mistreated it felt…..odd?

As for the other characters; out of the OG cast (Abe, ghandi, Joan, Cleo, jfk) only jfk had some character development. At first he was sexual with some emotional intelligence (when he comforts Joan at prom, him and Abe talking in the thinking dock, the whole ponce situation)….in season 2 he was more sexual with some minor emotional scene. I feel like episode 7-10 is were jfk is the most emotionally here.

Cleo….she basically only has 2 episodes for her character development. Episode 4, and Episode 7-8. In episode 4, she gets the crown and gets power hungry, after Joan apologizes to Cleo, she and Joan become friends-ish. In season 1 Cleo and Joan spend a lot of time together, because their parents were dating. They mostly argue but were friends-enemy? So Season 2 feel both a continuation of their season 1 relationship AND just a way to re-write Joan and Cleo relationship.

As for the other episodes? It basically her and Frida because friends to lovers. To be honest while the ship is cute, I wish it was more slow burn?

As for the new clones Harriet and Confusious. I’m mixed. Togher they make a cute couple. But separately I like them more as individuals. Harriet is the most developed out of the 3 new clones. She was awkward and a bit anxious (I think?) around episode 1, then as the show progressed she only hang around Frida, then she became closer friends with Joan. In episode 5 it’s really were Harriet feels the most….developing? She gets angry and worried over feeling Joan about how she feeling about the play! But she expresses herself and that cool!! She also has a weird little friendship with Frida, the 2 of them make a weird little group.

Confusions. At first I didn’t like, he was just a random guy who I hate his outfit. By episode 5, he gets some personal! He wants to have people pay attention to him! And by episode 6- 7, that when you know I bit more about him! He has a rich family who ignores him! His family likes his sister more and seem to emotionally neglect him. He’s a bit lazy and like to go with the flow and not have to work.But besides that…..I can’t think of anything else to say?

Frida. She’s…..there. She hangs out with Abe and Joan and Cleo sometimes. She paints, skateboards, and is the most popular girl in school. Besides that? There not a lot of info about her. It seems like this season had a few too many characters so they made Frida fade into the background…

At first I hate the new Joan new mom. (Candid? I can’t remember her name) I felt like she was a random character that didn’t need to be there. I felt like she was just there to replace the doc and just be annoying? But as the show progressed she was more of a background character that was silly. As for the final; I feel that were she shines the most!! Her wanting her foster daughter to rule the world, that idea is so cool!!!!! I love how she talk to Joan, how proud she was, and how she was going to use the clones as backup or to try to make them more perfect!!! She’s a character a feel like could work If she wasn’t stuck in a comedy.

My b my beloved <3

Topher is a dick. Hate how he blackmails Abe and try to push him and the gross teacher thing. Hate hate the show decided to do that. Like man!! If topper was really into Joan and wanted to blackmail Abe he could have done it a different way!!!!

The humor in this show….don’t feel there? I had like, a few chuckles but that was mostly because from the Doc. Or like from physical gags like the slow float or the couch catching on fire. The animation is fluid and I could see it like, a few times. The colors are a bit brights but I love the background!!! As for the voice acting….its a hit or miss.

5/10

Very Rough start but love the final 3 episodes.

[notsoimportantaoi]

.INTRO. i go by mochi in these waters, i am 33 and reside in gmt + 1 timezone – but i function in est time zone due to work. .WRITING. to sum it up - 1 to 3 paragraphs, third person, past tense. i usually match my partners length, but i hate purple prose so it's never excessively long unless my muse goes off on an emotional tangent. it rarely happens, but...it might. starters - i love sending and getting starters, but i do prefer them to be plotted ahead of time. inbox - feel free to send me all the asks + memes! it’s the best way to start talking! .TRIGGERS. my only triggers are gambling and hair eating / hair chewing / hair in food. i can't handle that and will throw up. there are also some things that i don't write - rape, cannibalism, miscarriage. i would also appreciate it if you could tag animal abuse / death. i do post about the last bit, i just prefer not to be blindsided, you know? .DNI. i can not stress this enough – if you are a minor, please don’t follow me. this blog contains mature themes and shit that is not meant for anyone under 18. i wont interact with anyone under that age either, and i would actually prefer you to be over 21 if we’re shipping, because i am 33 and the ick factor is real. .SHIPPING/SMUT. plotting and chemistry is the key. if we, as writers have it, our muses will probably have it as well. i am over the age of consent, everywhere. aoi, however, is not. so, no smut unless it's in an older verse. fading to black is good with me! she's not overly touchy-feely person, but when she's in love, it'll happen. probably. .MAINS/EXCLUSIVES. i usually don’t do exclusivity. we all bring something new and amazing to the table, and i want to experience all of the amazingness everyone has to offer. however, if we have amazing chemistry and are friends, and my muse can not imagine interacting with another form of that specific muse... it can happen. as for mains -- ( and i am fine with having more than one main ) it just means your memes // starters // replies are taking priority over anyone elses. it also means we talk ooc and i send you pics of my dogs and random memes. .TAGGING. you’ll find ooc posts, random reblogs and canon typical violence here. i do try to tag everything, but i am human and i make mistakes. if i miss out on tagging a trigger, i am really sorry! please message me, be polite and ask me to tag it. i’ll do it. i want you to be comfortable. no matter how minor or unusual, just let me know and it’ll be done. the format i use is ‘trigger tw’ ( eg. blood tw // hair chewing tw // candy wrappers tw ). ooc posts are simply tagged with ’ooc.’

[incrediblemelk]

At MIFF this year I saw Hello Dankness, the new film by Soda Jerk, which won several festival awards. Using Soda Jerk's signature pop-piracy sampling style, it draws heavily on American film and TV depictions of 'the suburbs' to stitch together an account of the US's post-truth journey into the heart of dankness, from the 2016 presidential elections onwards.

As their artist statement says, "We tried to scream, but all that came out was a meme."

It was literally the first time I had thought about the "dicks out for Harambe" meme since 2016.

Hello Dankness quite extensively samples This Is the End (2013), which left me with a hankering (a dankering?) to watch the film. When I saw it pop up on Stan last night, I thought, "Now's the time."

I missed the film when it was new, because there was a preview screening clash where two screenings were scheduled on the same night, and I chose the Pacific Rim screening instead (a film with which I became obsessed).

It's such a fascinating time capsule of the Apatovian heyday of gross-out 'manchild' and 'stoner' comedy. At the time it was mostly hailed as a self-indulgent minor entry in a subgenre already running on fumes.

But when I rewatched it last night, I was struck by how fresh and culturally relevant it still feels. Has public discourse just got danker over the past decade?

There's a whole act in the middle when the narrative momentum sags as the central group of frenemies barricade themselves in James Franco's house. But now to me it reads like the Covid-era lockdown malaise, when an initial fun buzz ("let's do all the drugs!" "let's make Pineapple Express 2!") gives way to boredom, bickering and a sense of mounting threat from outside.

It's also pre-#MeToo and yet it's prominently about unpleasant, self-obsessed men trying to reassure each other that they're 'good'.

There's a scene where the group get so worked up about their need to reassure Emma Watson that they don't pose a sexual threat to her that she ends up being convinced they're absolutely going to rape her, and ends up leaving, along with all their food and drink.

(Watson notoriously refused to participate in a later scene where Danny McBride has become the cannibal king of ruined Los Angeles, with Channing Tatum as his gimp.)

It was striking to watch an apocalyptic moral punishment come for people like James Franco and Jonah Hill.

Meanwhile, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel, who end up in heaven dancing with the Backstreet Boys, have basically turned out to be IRL mensches.

Even Craig Robinson, who's had some drug troubles, seems to be living a pretty wholesome life.

In a Daily Beast podcast appearance from May 2023, Baruchel said, "Jonah and I don't get along super well – or at least didn't back then." When the host observed that this comes across strongly onscreen, Baruchel replied, "Yeah, no shit it fucking does!"

Baruchel also recalled:

It was this weird thing of mining personal shit. But not for catharsis … mining it just for comedy. So mining it in the most monetized, capitalist way of, "we’re going to dig up real personal shit," but nobody’s going to go home feeling better about it. We’re just going to turn it into a fucking product.

We never talked about any of the real shit. Like, it never came up for real. Because we’re both 1982 kids, which means we were raised in a great misogynistic tradition of not talking about shit. Especially two boys … we'll air grievances. When we're mad at each other and say that, but it’s very rare to be vulnerable.

I don't know why I'm so frequently drawn to stories of male friendships, but at their best, the Apatovian cycle does create a mainstream space for male vulnerability – even though they frequently can't help undercutting the intimacy with 'no-homo' mockery or self-mockery, or diverting it into jokes about dicks and bodily functions.

As Baruchel said in 2020, "Crass, male gazey shit is definitely in the DNA of the thing, but so was heartbreak and wearing your heart on your sleeve and not being blessed with with every fucking advantage. They’re deeply human things, and were really imperfect and super honest and devoid of vanity."

[sito-rp]

Crimson Files Podcast

*intro music fades out – eerie tones with soft drums*

Emma

“Hey everyone, welcome back to Crimson Files, your favorite deep dive into the dark and unexplained. I’m Emma, your resident skeptic who believes most things can be explained with a little logic and a lot of police work.”

Jake

“And I’m Jake, the one who’s here to remind you that not everything is as it seems, and sometimes, Emma, things go bump in the night for real.”

Emma

“Oh boy, here we go.”

Jake

"I mean, come on, Emma, what we’re talking about today? This one’s got paranormal written all over it! We’re diving into the case of the Glen Bay Church Murders, where — get this — multiple bodies were found in a state that, in my humble opinion, points to something beyond our understanding.”

Emma

“Okay, Jake. Let’s start by laying out the facts before you go full ‘X-Files’ on us. Here’s what we know: Late last night, police in Glen Bay got a call from a woman walking her dog near an abandoned church in East River. She hears screaming from inside—blood-curdling, terrifying screams—and immediately calls 911.”

Jake

“Right. And then when the police show up, they find multiple bodies inside this old, creepy church. And here’s where it gets weird—”

Emma

“No, no, let’s stick to the real story. The bodies were discovered in what’s being described as a ‘disturbing state.’ That’s police-speak for violent injuries, probably linked to a drug deal gone wrong or some other crime that got out of hand. The victims were known to frequent the church—probably squatting there, using it as a hideout.”

Jake

“Or! Or maybe it wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill crime scene. Maybe we’re dealing with something more supernatural here. The bodies, Emma — some of the reports said they were ‘partially eaten.’ Now, unless we’ve got some weird new trend in crime scene clean-up, how do you explain that?”

Emma

“Jake, have you ever heard of wild animals? Stray dogs, maybe? This is an abandoned church. It’s not exactly sealed off from nature. If the bodies were there long enough, it’s possible some animals got to them.”

Jake

“Oh come on, Emma! These weren’t nibbles, these were chunks missing. This wasn’t a raccoon going through the garbage. This was more like — well, and hear me out — werewolves.”

Emma

“Werewolves? Seriously?”

Jake

“Think about it! Full moon was just a few days ago, the bodies were discovered right after and there’s a history of strange occurrences in that area, too. A couple years back, locals reported hearing weird howls late at night. There’s been unexplained livestock deaths on nearby farms.”

Emma

“So you’re really trying to connect this to werewolves? Jake, sometimes people just do terrible things. Maybe there was a fight, and in the chaos, someone bit someone else or worse. You know how violent some of these drug-fueled situations can get. There’s nothing paranormal about it.”

Jake

“I’m not saying it has to be werewolves, but the whole ‘eaten bodies’ thing isn’t exactly a standard crime scene. There’s something more here. And you know what else? Officer Jordan Delaney — she was first on the scene — said she’d never seen anything like it before. And she was involved in that crazy cult case last year. Even she was rattled by it.”

Emma

“Okay, I’ll give you that, the scene clearly disturbed the officers. But that doesn’t mean we have to leap to supernatural conclusions. There’s a lot we don’t know yet. It could be a serial killer. There could be some cult activity. But none of that requires the existence of werewolves.”

Jake

“I’m just saying, Emma, you can’t ignore the possibility. I mean, look at the way the victims were found. There’s a pattern of savagery here that feels... primal. Cannibalism doesn’t seem likely in this context, so what else could it be?”

Emma

“Jake, we’re only a few days into the investigation. The police are still gathering evidence. For all we know, there could be some logical explanation we haven’t heard about yet. Remember how freaked out everyone was when they found the bodies in that cult case last year? Turned out it was just a deranged leader making his followers do unthinkable things. No supernatural explanations required.”

Jake

“I hear you, but I’ve got a gut feeling this time. Look, if we’re seeing bodies being eaten in a city like Glen Bay, of all places, there’s more going on here than some average murder spree. Whether it’s werewolves, some kind of experiment gone wrong, or something we haven’t even thought of yet—this case is bigger than a simple crime scene.”

Emma

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll keep you all updated as the investigation unfolds. My bet’s still on some kind of psychotic breakdown or drug-related incident. But as always, Jake’s holding out hope for a paranormal headline.”

Jake

“When the truth comes out, don’t say I didn’t warn you! For now, we’ll keep digging into this one — and if any werewolves show up, you’ll hear it from me first.”

Emma

“Or maybe from the police, Jake. Probably from the police.”

*outro music fades in*

Jake

“Alright folks, stay tuned for next week’s episode—where we’ll be talking about disappearances in the national parks and, yep, you guessed it — whether Bigfoot might have something to do with it.”

Emma

“Oh boy…”

*outro music continues*

[the-penguin-of-baskervilles]

“Walmart is overrated,” you told him, turning the radio down. “Besides, small towns are so cute!”

Mmmhhh… spoken like someone who’s never lived in an extremely rural area. I’m drawing the conclusion that she’s from a town or a city based on this.

Anyone who’s had to drive two hours to get groceries and stock up for a whole month while they’re there (because they’re not making that four hour round trip again unless they absolutely have to) would say that. I’m not judging her because all my college friends were city/town kids and they were this way, too. (Wait. Does that mean I would be Bob in this scenario?) But for real I once had to explain to a friend at college that there’s a difference between a fuel transfer tank and an auxiliary fuel tank… which immediately led to a conversation about why I knew the difference. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Bob’s reaction to her comment is so real. He’s not cynical, he’s just sick of the inconveniences of small town living. 😂

Ooohh… local legends? I’m listening.

“I would have killed to live somewhere like this with such fun local legends.”

Good point. I would feel the same way.

Possibly because the only local legends in my area is about 30-foot-tall, man-eating creatures that roam a particular canyon in the mountains looking for unsuspecting humans to capture, toss in a large basket, and take back to their camp before eventually consuming them whole. Anything would be better than a tribe of giants with cannibalistic tendencies, right?

“They say these creatures come out of the depths to prey on humans on the land, dragging them into the depths never to be seen again.”

Okay, so the mermaid legend thing is basically the same thing as the Tsawhawbitts I grew up with, but at least they’re not cannibals… I hope? Let’s say: cannibalism status unknown, but preying on humans is a definite yes.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Susan snapped

I love this bit of dialogue because it’s so authentic. Whenever someone talked about the local legends it was always like an uncle or a male cousin, someone trying to scare me. And yeah, my Mom would be pissed later, when I had nightmares and woke her up in the middle of the night. 😆

Also, I now have a face claim image of Bob’s father as the doctor from Hart of Dixie.

For your reference, this is my current head cannon of what Bob’s dad looks like:

The most anyone talks about where I’m from is Bigfoot.

I mean, at least Bigfoot isn’t a cannibal! Whoops. Is my childhood trauma from cannibal monster stories showing? 😬 Sorry!

I love that Mickey has long hair in this story! Excellent styling decision on your part. Also, where is Jake? We’re missing someone. 🤔

Ah, Missouri. They have a very high density of Walmarts. My entire state has less than 20. I guess I can understand better about why the reader doesn’t know what she’s missing, considering where she’s from.

Ooohh, Mandy? Who is Mandy? 👀 That was a very curious interaction and a poor cover up on Bradley’s part. Okay, Mandy seems like a treat… NOT! What did Jake do in a past life to deserve her?

“C’mon, sunshine,” Bradley said with a roll of his eyes at the couple across the bar. “If we stay any longer, I might lose my hearing.”

This is an amazing line 😂

The ending was great. I can’t wait to read the next chapter!

Meet Me at the Sea: Chapter One

Meet Me at the Sea: Chapter One

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Summary: Your best friend, Bob Floyd, had insisted you join him for the summer at his family's home along the Carolina coasts. You had been hesitant at first, but ultimately agreed to his request. Now, here you were in a new town with strange locals who spoke in hushed whispers and cryptic retellings about glistening scales, glowing eyes, and haunting songs that echoed from the sea. You didn't believe them at first, but when you wake up on the beach one morning after having fallen overboard the night before, you can't help but think that maybe you hadn't imagine the strong arms and deep, green eyes of the man that had saved you.

Trigger warnings: Alcohol consumption, Sassy Bob, Flirty Bradley, Supernatural elements, Siren calls. I think that's it?

Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: Here is chapter one!! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I am enjoying writing it lol I'm so excited to continue this one. Just a quick reminder to you all that I will be out of town Wednesday-Saturday, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update as I will be attending a wedding! As always, reblogs, comments, and likes are greatly appreciated! 18+ ONLY!! You can also follow me on AO3 under sailor_aviator where I will be posting updates as well!

Series Masterlist || Jake "Hangman" Seresin Tag List

You crossed the bridge to North Island a few hours later, the sun hanging low in the sky, but not quite to the point of setting. You marveled at the expanse of water that stretched on beneath you as you drove.

“Not sure why the founders wanted to settle way the hell out here,” Bob grumbled beside you. “We’re too small to even have a damn Walmart.”

“Walmart is overrated,” you told him, turning the radio down. “Besides, small towns are so cute!”

“Not when you’re forced to live there every day,” Bob retorted with a roll of his eyes. You rolled your eyes back at him, repositioning Rusty who still sat on your lap.

“You’re too close to it to see all the charm it has to offer.”

“I give it two weeks before you eat those words,” he smirked. You reached over to smack his shoulder lightly, and he looked over at you in mock shock. “Don’t hit the driver!”

“Well, maybe the driver shouldn’t be such a cynic,” you teased, leaning back. Bob chuckled as the car reached the other side of the bay, passing the crowded beaches. “Does North Island get a lot of tourists?”

“Only during the summertime, really,” he replied. “It’s a calm, quiet little town with white beaches and pretty views all over the island. The founders have really played into the local legends over the years, so we have a lot of souvenir shops dedicated to those.”

“What local legends?” you asked him, quirking a brow. Bob flushed, the tips of his ears turning a bright red.

“It’s dumb,” he grumbled, but you were listening intently now.

The two of you drove through the downtown area, people milling about and enjoying the end of the summer day. The dinner crowd was beginning to pick up and you could hear the music blaring from several different buildings.

“No, come on,” you grinned. “You can’t drop that little tidbit and then not tell me.”

“Alright, fine,” he sighed, glancing at you. “For as long as the town has been around, there have been stories of…things in the water.”

“What do you mean? Like a really big fish or something?”

He shifted in his seat, turning down a side road that led away from town.

“I mean,” he hummed, “things like mermaids.”

You laughed at that, and Bob grimaced. “I told you it was dumb,” he muttered.

“No, no,” you giggled. “It’s cute, really. I love mermaids!”

He rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t if you grew up surrounded by them.”

“There you go being all cynical again,” you scowled. “I would have killed to live somewhere like this with such fun local legends.”

Bob pulled down a gravel driveway and past a grouping of trees. You saw a grand, white house perched at the edge of the hill overlooking the water. A porch wrapped around both the first and second floor, and you saw a path lead down the hill towards the beach.

“I’m glad one of us is excited to be here,” he chuckled, coming to a stop on the blacktop as you stared at the large house in front of you.

“You live here?” You asked, looking over at him in shock.

Bob had the decency to look sheepish as he turned off the car. “Yeah, this is home.”

At that moment, a small, blonde woman opened the door with a wide grin. She rushed out onto the porch as a burly, spectacled man stepped out behind her. Bob opened his door, and you followed suit. Susan Floyd rushed down the steps and up towards you, wrapping you in a warm hug before turning to give her son a matching one. Richard Floyd gave you a warm smile as he clapped his son on the back.

“You two must be exhausted after that drive,” Susan cooed, ushering you into the house as the two men moved to get your luggage out of the car. You smiled warmly at her and allowed her to lead you into the house.

“I’m not too tired,” you told her as she sat you down in a stool by the island in the kitchen. It was a spacious room, opening up into the dining room. A set of glass doors led out onto the back porch, the ocean sitting front and center in the beautiful view of the beach below.

“That’s good,” she hummed, stirring the pot on the stove. “Are you hungry, sweetie? I made some of my special spaghetti. It’s Bobby’s favorite, you know.”

Bob groaned as he stepped into the kitchen with his father. “Mom, I’ve told you. It’s not Bobby, it’s Bob.”

Susan smiled at the younger man affectionately. “Yes, of course dear. Were you hungry?”

“Starved, actually,” he smiled, plopping down in the seat next to you. Susan began piling noodles and sauce onto two different plates before setting them down in front of the two of you. Bob uttered a thanks before shoveling a healthy fork full into his mouth. You giggled, watching as he ate like he hadn’t eaten in months. You took a much smaller bite than he had, humming at how good the sauce tasted. It had a hint of red wine that pulled out the flavors of the garlic and herbs.

“How’s it taste?” she smiled at you, leaning against the counter.

“Ifs delisus,” Bob said through a mouthful of noodles. She scowled at him before throwing a napkin at him.

“Don’t talk with your mouthful,” she scolded before turning to look at you expectantly. You chuckled before nodding your agreement.

“It’s delicious, Mrs. Floyd.”

“No, none of that,” she scowled. “Call me Susan.”

“Yes, Susan,” you smiled. She smiled at you before turning to clean up the rest of the kitchen. Bob inhaled his first plate of spaghetti, and Susan was quick to load his plate up with more.

“Has Bob told you any of the town’s history yet, y/n?” Richard asked you from his spot at the dining room table. Bob groaned, hiding his face in his hands as you smiled.

“He told me about the mermaid legends,” you grinned. You saw Susan pause out of the corner of your eye as Richard gave you a wry smile.

“I don’t know if I would call them mermaids,” he mused, giving a pointed look at his son who refused to meet his gaze. “But our town has a long, storied history, yes.”

“Oh?” You asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Richard hummed, leaning back in his chair. “No, mermaid is an insulting term for what these creatures are. They’re fierce hunters, preying these waters with deadly accuracy. Sometimes they even hunt on land.”

“What do you mean?” You frowned. Susan gave him a warning look, but he continued.

“They say these creatures come out of the depths to prey on humans on the land, dragging them into the depths never to be seen again.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Susan snapped at him, Richard giving her an apologetic look. “I don’t want to hear any more of that nonsense tonight. Why don’t you make yourself useful and go take out the trash?”

Richard heaved a sigh, standing to obey her. He passed you with a wink, dropping a hand to your shoulder.

“I’m sure you have nothing to worry about, y/n,” he smiled, turning to head out the door. Susan sighed, turning to look at you once she heard the door close behind him.

“I’m sorry about him,” she grumbled, shooting a glare at where her husband had just disappeared. “He loves those crazy stories. Don’t even pay him any mind, okay?”

“I don’t mind!” You assured her. “I think it’s all very interesting. The most anyone talks about where I’m from is Bigfoot.”

“As much as I would love to hear you go on your bigfoot theories tirade again,” Bob spoke up, rolling his eyes. “I thought you might want to go out tonight.”

“Bobby, I’m sure she’s tired,” his mother started, but you shook your head, turning excitedly to look at your best friend.

“No, it’s fine!” You chirped. “I think it would be fun to go out and get to see the sites. Where did you have in mind?”

“I was thinkin’ I could take you down to the Hard Deck,” he mused.

Susan rolled her eyes at him. “You want to take her to a bar of all things?”

“Why not? The gang is going to be there tonight, I already texted them to make sure. They’re anxious to meet her.”

Susan seemed to brighten at that. “Oh, you’ll love’em, y/n! They’re such a good group of kids, and I just know they’ll love you too.”

“So we have your blessing then?” Bob joked, earning another scowl.

“Yes, you kids go out and have a good time, but don’t be out too late! I think your father said something about wanting to take the boat out tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, ma’am!” He mock saluted, earning a smack to the top of his head this time. You chuckled at the two of them as Bob rubbed the back of his head. He turned to look at you with a scowl at your obvious amusement. “C’mon, I’ll show you your room.”

The night was warm despite the cool breeze blowing in through the window from the ocean, and you chalked it up to the densely populated bar you now found yourself sitting in. You had followed Bob inside, having to grab his hand in order to keep from getting separated amongst the crowd.

“Bob!”

You turned to see a group of five seated at a large table on the far wall next to the patio. The only woman in the group raised her hand to grab his attention, and Bob eagerly dragged you over to them.

“Hey, college boy,” grinned a tanned man with long, curly hair that was slicked back. “How’s it hangin’?”

“More importantly,” said the dark-skinned man across from him, looking at you, “who’s your friend?”

“Guys, this is y/n, my best friend from Duke,” he gestured to you with a grin. “Y/n, this is Mickey, Reuben, Natasha, Javy, and Bradley.”

Each of them waved to you at the mention of their name, and you waved back with a small smile. The mustached one, Bradley, grinned up at you before shuffling over on the bench.

“Ain’t no need to be shy, sunshine,” he winked at you, gesturing to the now open seat next to him. “We’re all friends here.”

You sat down slowly next to him, Bob scooting onto the bench across from you and next to Natasha.

“So, y/n,” she smiled, leaning forward with intrigue clear in her eyes, “where you from?”

“Oh, I’m from Missouri,” you smiled at her.

“Missouri?” Mickey snorted, earning a ribbing from Javy. You chuckled, feeling your cheeks heat up.

“Yeah, it’s not glamorous or anything, but it’s home,” you explained.

Reuben leaned around Bradley to look at you. “So you were in the same major as Bob, right? How did you even get into that?”

“Oh, I’ve always had a fascination with the sea, I guess. Felt like I might have been a mermaid in another life,” you joked, and the group chuckled, earning a look from Bob as you looked around uncertainly. “Did I say something funny?”

“Nah, sunshine,” Bradley grinned. “It’s just cute is all. Imagine you being a little mermaid.”

“In fairness, I was five,” you blushed, and he reached down to pinch your cheek gently.

“Don’t go gettin’ shy on us again,” he drawled. Javy rolled his eyes, taking a sip from the glass of beer in front of him.

“You’re almost putting Jake to shame right now,” he chuckled, causing Mickey and Reuben to both snort. Bob looked around the bar, brow furrowing.

“Speaking of, where is he?” He asked the rest of the group. Bradley let out a low chuckle, resting his arm behind you as Natasha rolled her eyes at the name.

“Mandy has been especially clingy, as of late,” Reuben frowned, peering towards the bar with a pointed look. Bob turned, frowning at what he saw. “Been dropping hints left and right for weeks. She barely leaves his side.”

“Well, yeah,” Bradley scoffed, taking a swig from his bottle. “I’m not surprised since it’s almost time for-”

Natasha cleared her throat, giving a pointed glance to you.

“Almost time for what?” you asked, looking around at the table. No one said a thing, giving small glares at Bradley who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He cleared his throat and looked down at you, an easy smile spreading across his face.

“I just noticed that you don’t have a drink, sunshine,” he said. “Why don’t you come with me to the bar, and I’ll get you something?”

You gave one last look around the table before nodding slowly. “Yeah, okay. I could use a drink.”

You stood, Bradley close behind you, and you looked over at Bob. “You’re usual?”

“Please,” he said, giving you a tight lipped smile. You returned it softly, following Bradley up to the bar.

“Bradley,” hummed the older woman behind the bar, green eyes narrowing in on him as she saw you next to him.

“Penny,” he smirked, leaning against the counter. She walked over to the two of you, placing a hand on her hip as she frowned at him.

“What can I get you?” She asked him.

“Two beers and?” He turned to you, eyebrow raised.

“A jack and coke, please,” you smiled at her. She returned the gesture warmly, moving to make your drink.

“You best be careful around this one, honey,” she drawled, eyeing the man next to you. “He has a habit of goin’ around breaking hearts.”

“Penny, you wound me,” Bradley cried in mock hurt, gaping mouth quickly turning into another grin. He shot you a wink. “I would never do that to sunshine here.”

Penny snorted, handing him two beers and you your glass. “Right. You’re no better than Seresin over here.”

She jerked her head to the other side of the bar. You followed her gaze, seeing a blond man turn at the sound of his name. He glanced over to where Penny was looking at you and Bradley leaning up against the bar. He had an easy smirk on his face that rivaled Bradley’s, and when he turned his green eyes to you, you swear your heart stopped beating for a moment. His eyes were like sea glass, a frosty, almost moss colored green. It was like the world faded to black around you as you looked at him. You felt something that you could only describe as a tether snapping into place as his eyes bore into yours. If you didn’t know any better, you could have sworn his eyes started glowing as he continued to stare into the very depths of your soul.

“Y/n?”

Your eyes snapped to the side where Bradley was watching you worriedly. You shook the silly thoughts from your head. “I’m sorry, what?”

Bradley chuckled down at you, a hint of worry still tugging at his lips.

“I was just asking if you were ready to head back to the others?”

“Oh,” you trailed off, glancing back at the stranger across the bar. He was still staring at you, face unreadable. The brunette standing next to him looked very put out as he continued to ignore her.

“Jake!” She hissed at him, gripping his jaw and turning his face to look at her. “Are you listening to me?”

Jake looked down at her, a puzzled expression on his face. “Huh?”

“You are so dense sometimes,” she snapped, dropping her hand back to her side. The stranger, Jake, glanced back over at you, and the brunette followed his line of sight, scowling when she saw you. Bradley let out a low whistle before nudging you with his elbow playfully.

“Would sure hate to be him right about now,” he joked, an exaggerated grimace making you giggle. “Mandy is no joke when she’s pissed.”

“Jake!” Mandy shrieked. You chanced another look across the bar. Mandy looked like she was about to blow a fuse as she stared daggers between you and the man at her side. Said man was now frowning, eyes darting between you and Bradley. “I’m talking to you!”

“C’mon, sunshine,” Bradley said with a roll of his eyes at the couple across the bar. “If we stay any longer, I might lose my hearing.”

You followed him back to the table silently, still feeling the heavy weight of two green eyes on your back.

You slept with the window open that night, eager to feel the sea air on your skin as you slept. Your curtains billowed lightly as the moonlight poured into your room. You tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position to fall back asleep in. Your bed wasn’t uncomfortable, quite the opposite in fact, so you weren’t sure what had woken you up. You glanced at your phone, the numbers on the screen showing that it was far too early in the morning to still be awake. You huffed out a sigh, listening to the waves as they crashed against the shore below. That was when you heard it.

You weren’t sure what it was at first, it was so unlike anything you had ever experienced. It was a low hum that slowly turned into a lamentful cry amongst the breaking waves. You tossed your blankets back, quickly getting up and padding over to the window. The cry turned into what you could only describe as a song, not too dissimilar to one a whale would make, but this sounded almost…human? You peered out the window, heart racing as you continued to listen to the strange song. You felt a yearning unlike any other crescendo inside of you, calling to you from a distance almost like it wasn’t even your own. Your mind began to feel heavy, hazy with what, you weren’t sure. The song continued, calling to you, begging you to follow. Your eyes grew lidded, skin warm as you felt the call seep into your skin, drowning everything out but the inherent need to obey. You turned, taking a step towards your door.

A dog began to bark, causing you to jump and the song to stop. Shaking the cloudiness from your mind, you looked out the window once again. You caught sight of what you could only describe as a fish’s tail, silver scales gleaming in the moonlight, rising up before disappearing back beneath the waves.

[garudabluffs]

The human race-to-extinction finish line ____is . . .

"the human race-to-extinction finish line____is a mirage made-in-heaven by bloodthirsty cannibals here on Earth"

"We hold these fundamentalist truths to be self-evident" :

as reported by DEMOCRACY NOW! today,Tues. 12/05/2023

Climate Crossfire: From Gaza to Ukraine, How War & Military Spending Accelerate Climate Chaos

"Broadcasting from COP28 in Dubai as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, Democracy Now! investigates how militarism and war fuel the climate crisis. “The jets, the tanks, the bombs, the missiles, all of these things that we are seeing raining down on people, they’re all fossil fuel-dependent,” says Deborah Burton, co-author of a new report that shows increased spending by NATO nations will divert millions of dollars from climate finance while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. “We are absolutely going in the wrong direction.” Shirine Jurdi, a women, peace and security expert with close colleagues in Gaza, lays out how women are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis and the global war machine. “If we want to talk about real impacts and outputs out of this COP, we really need to look at militarization.”

DEBORAH BURTON: "I mean, I think the first thing I want to say, sitting here alongside Shirine, is, I don’t think we can be seeing a more extreme example of a war machine in operation than what it is we’re seeing and hearing from Gaza. I just want to say that Israel is the 15th-largest military spender in the world, and it’s spending $24 billion a year on its military. And you’re seeing this let rip on a population that really cannot defend themselves."

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting from COP28, the U.N. climate summit in Dubai.

As Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, we turn now to look at how militarism and war fuels the climate crisis. A new report warns that increased spending by NATO nations will divert millions of dollars from climate finance while increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

We’re joined now by two guests. Shirine al-Jurdi is a women, peace and security expert from Lebanon, member of the MENA — Middle East North Africa — task force with the Women and Gender Constituency at COP28. She’s also a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Lebanon and the MENA and regional liaison officer at the Middle East and North Africa Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. And Deborah Burton is here. She’s co-founder of Tipping Point North South. She leads their Transform Defense project, focused on military emissions and spending, climate change and climate finance, co-author of the report, “Climate Crossfire: How NATO’s 2% military spending targets contribute to climate breakdown,” published with the Transnational Institute.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Deborah [Burton], let’s begin with you.

DEBORAH BURTON: OK.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about what you have found in this report. We’re going to go specifically to the conflict just hours from us right now, in Gaza, and what that means. But broadly, talk about the link between NATO, war and climate change.

DEBORAH BURTON: I mean, I think the first thing I want to say, sitting here alongside Shirine, is, I don’t think we can be seeing a more extreme example of a war machine in operation than what it is we’re seeing and hearing from Gaza. I just want to say that Israel is the 15th-largest military spender in the world, and it’s spending $24 billion a year on its military. And you’re seeing this let rip on a population that really cannot defend themselves.

So, what we’ve been working on with Transnational Institute and Stop Wapenhandel in the Netherlands is this report, “Climate Crossfire.” “Climate Crossfire” is actually a companion piece to a report we wrote last year before COP, and that was looking generally at how military spending accelerates climate breakdown. So that was the general picture. This year we’re looking — we’re focusing on NATO.

NATO is a 31-member-strong military alliance. And just to give people a kind of general little bit of context to help orientate themselves, global military spending now is $2.2 trillion per annum. It’s rising. It’s risen something like 20% in the past 10 years. NATO accounts for half of that, so $1.1 trillion per annum accrues to NATO. And this is all before Ukraine and Gaza, so this is all going to start taking a sharp incline up.

Generally, in terms of emissions, the global military are estimated on patchy data, because they don’t fully report, but something in the order of 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And again, to put that in context, that is more than the 52 countries of the African continent, that come in at — that’s somewhere in the order of 3.5 to 4%. That’s the total greenhouse gas emission burden — it’s hardly a burden — for 52 countries. The global military come in at 5.5%.

So, to look to NATO, to come to NATO, which, as I said, is a 31-member military alliance, accounts for half of military spending, in terms of emissions, it currently would rank — if it were a country, NATO would come in at 40, the equivalent of the Netherlands, for example. And with its 2% of GDP request, what NATO are asking their 31 members to do is to increase on what they’re spending now and get their military spending, annual military spending, up to 2% or more of GDP. OK?

AMY GOODMAN: In fact, actually, President Putin is expected to be here in Dubai tomorrow.

DEBORAH BURTON: "What can we say? I mean, you know, it’s clear here at COP, and certainly in terms of this issue that we’re working on here, the military emissions story. And it’s primarily because of Ukraine, and now with Gaza. Suddenly, we are able to get some oxygen of publicity — you know, we’re here now talking about this — because of this collision between conflict, wars, conflict-related emissions — which, I should say, is not in that 5.5% estimate. This estimate of 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions accruing to the military does not include conflict, doesn’t include conflict.

So, with Ukraine and now Gaza, we are able to illustrate, to show, to, as I say, bring oxygen and publicity to the fact that there is an absolute correlation between military spending — so, the more you spend on your big-ticket, gas-guzzling, fossil fuel — totally fossil fuel-reliant hardware — the jets, the tanks, the bombs, the missiles — all of these things that we are seeing raining down on people, they are all fossil fuel dependent. There is an absolute correlation between military spending and the emissions that come from that hardware. And we are going in the wrong direction. We are absolutely going in the wrong direction. And the NATO 2% target, for example, is completely counter to all climate targets."

AMY GOODMAN: And this is from Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: “Due to technological developments affecting the potency of bombs, the explosives dropped on Gaza may be twice as powerful as a nuclear bomb.”

SHIRINE JURDI: Exactly. That was even like two weeks ago, before the ceasefire. So, I could see — like, now I was even scared to see, because, I mean, it’s too — you cannot even watch these bombs that are being — yesterday I was watching — I follow several journalists, and I was watching her, and she was saying, “Now this is a massacre. If these, like now, bombs are being used while we are told to go to the south to a safe space, but there’s no safe space, so this is meant to terminate us.”

LISTEN READ MORE Transcript Climate Crossfire: From Gaza to Ukraine, How War & Military Spending Accelerate Climate Chaos | Democracy Now!

[nightingaelic]

Reactions to a vampire courier? Companions plus Benny, Ulysses, Graham, House, Caesar, and Yes Man. (sorry if that's too many :x)

TW: Blood (maybe obviously)

Also I don't normally feel some type of way about AUs but the idea of Joshua Graham encountering a vampire courier is giving me shivers

The courier was a little... strange. Not in any way that stood out to the average wastelander just by looking at them, everyone in the Mojave had their quirks and the courier was no exception. Hell, you get shot in the head and come back, you're bound to have a screw or two loose. They were unquestionably a night owl, but so were half the people on the Strip, who only started to wake up after the sun had gone down and the slot machines were singing their loudest. They usually had bags under their bloodshot eyes, but every caravan driver from here to the Hub was short on sleep.

On the other hand, the courier had some habits that were a little beyond surface-level eccentricities. For one, no one had ever seen them eating, not once. Even when the King laid out a spread of pre-war snacks and liquor or when the buffet at the Tops was refreshed, they politely declined and took a swig from the canteen that they never offered to anyone else. They were also rather odd about bathrooms, insisting that anyone accompanying them remain outside on watch and let no one else through the door until they were finished. But the undeniable moment of oddity came one night in October, when their companion rounded a corner in Freeside after a trip to the Atomic Wrangler and discovered the courier behind a rusted dumpster, holding a man against a brick wall with their teeth buried in his neck.

The courier drew back at the interruption, blood smeared across their face. "I'm not- it's not what- he- oh, fuck."

Arcade Gannon: Arcade stared open-mouthed for a moment, before snapping violently back into the present. "Is he dead?"

"Umm..." The courier glanced at the man they were holding, whose head was lolling against the bricks. "Yes? Mostly."

With no patient to resuscitate, Arcade rounded on them. "Six, what in the ever-loving fuck are you doing?"

The courier tried to wipe away the blood that was dribbling from their chin, but they only succeeded in spreading it up their jawline. "Well, I, um, I was trying to..."

Whatever excuse they were searching for eluded them, so they dropped the pretense. "I was feeding, Arcade."

"Feeding? What, like some kind of-" Arcade's eyes widened and he cut his sentence off early in realization. "No. No way. That's not- vampires aren't real!"

That earned him a look of intense skepticism. "Arcade, we've fought off plant monsters and rattlesnake-coyote hybrids together. I have a gun in my pack that lets me teleport."

"Oh, okay, so you have some kind of iron deficiency and you're delusional." Arcade laughed, the sound high and harsh in the quiet alley. "Great. Fuck."

Craig Boone: Rather than engage in an abandoned alley, Boone immediately backtracked to a busier street. He was unsurprised when the courier didn't follow him: Even in Freeside, someone covered in blood was sure to be noticed and questioned.

Boone left town that night and made for Novac. He was pretty sure the courier would follow him, but he didn't know where else to go. At least he knew they were coming. A few people in Novac asked about where he'd been, what the courier was up to, but eventually they stopped asking.

A couple of weeks went by. Boone was on the night shift again when the door into the dinosaur swung open to reveal the courier. He'd heard someone coming, their feet on the stairs, and he already had his gun pointed in their face. "We will never work together again," he said, before they could open their mouth.

"Boone, can you just-"

"I don't want an explanation." Boone shook his head. "I don't need one. I already did you a favor, leaving New Vegas without putting you back in your grave. This is over."

The courier took a deep breath. "71."

"What?"

"71. I've killed 71 Legion soldiers and left their bodies empty under the Mojave sky." They looked down and shuffled their feet. "I've tasted their fear. They're more scared of me than the Burned Man, now."

Boone studied them. Ever so slowly, he lowered his gun.

Lily Bowen: "Put him down, dearie," Lily chastised them. "You're playing too roughly with that man. And watch your language around your grandma!"

The courier looked down at their victim, at their torn throat and limp limbs. "He tried to mug me, Lily. It wasn't pretty."

"He looks like he's had enough," Lily insisted. "Set him down. Gently."

With a sigh, the courier obliged and lowered the man to the ground. "I'm sorry, Lily. I should have told you earlier. I don't mean to be rude when I turn down your cooking, I just... I can't seem to..."

"Hush, now." Lily produced her enormous handkerchief and gathered the courier up in her arms, dabbing at the blood on their face with a corner of the cloth. "You've gotten it all over yourself, haven't you? We can clean that right up, but it looks like Grandma's going to have to do a load of laundry. You made the mess, so you get to help."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: Raul swallowed nervously, something he'd noticed he was increasingly doing around the courier. "You know, we get murciélagos down in Arizona that do the same thing. They won't leave the brahmin alone."

The courier took in his anxious stance and sighed. "Raul, I'm not going to hurt you. Prometo. It's okay."

"Sure boss, but I don't think the hair on the back of my neck is going down anytime soon." Raul smiled, but it was more of a grimace. "Or it wouldn't, if I still had any. Como..?"

"No clue." The courier shrugged and held their hands up, letting the corpse they'd been holding slide to the ground. "I think it had something to do with me surviving Benny's best attempts to do me in, but a bullet is a bullet and I don't remember if I was like this before, or..."

"Or only after." Raul chuckled. "Jesucristo, and here I am thinking I'll outlive you like most everyone else I've known."

"Yep."

"Should I start calling you el chupacabra?"

The courier grinned, a bloody smile with sharp teeth.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Fuck," Cass echoed, scrambling to pull her shotgun from its holster. "Knew I had too much, can't even- who are you and what've you done with the courier? Some kind of cannibal, wearing their skin? Alien? Shapeshifter? I'll blow a hole in your liver to match mine!"

"Whoa, Cass, it's me, it's me!" The courier dropped the man they were holding and held their blood-stained hands up. "Same old Six, just... maybe I wasn't straight with you about why I don't order anything at bars."

"Goddamn right you weren't straight with me!" Cass gestured at the body on the ground with the barrel of her gun. "Who's the fucker on the floor and why are you two pints in on him?"

"Just trying to get my drink on," the courier muttered.

Cass repaid this facetiousness with a jab of her shotgun, and they raised their hands higher. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! You tell me, how do you tactfully tell someone that you're a creature of the night and you need to drink blood to survive?"

"Creature of the night? You're fucking loopy." Cass' eyes narrowed. "There's plenty of critters in the Mojave that only come out when it's dark, but most of them don't tear into..."

She trailed off into curses when she realized she was wrong. The courier smiled hesitantly and lowered their hands an inch. "Hey. Let me chuck this failed mugger in the dumpster and we can talk about it like a pair of civilized folks?"

Veronica Santangelo: Veronica squeaked and fell back a few steps, banging her elbow against the edge of the dumpster. A jolt of confused pain shot up her arm, and the Scribe couldn't help giggling harshly at the sudden assault on her funny bone.

"Not- laughing... at murder," she managed to get out between hisses of pain. "Oh, for the love of... right, you're not getting out of explaining what you are, exactly, just because I'm indis-indisposed!"

The courier couldn't help laughing at the squirming Scribe, but they did their best to stifle it. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I um... I guess I don't really know... what I am?"

"There's books!" Veronica burst out, pointing at the courier and their victim wildly. "I've seen them, in old libraries. Creatures that feed on blood, only come out at night, don't show up in... in mirrors, of course, no wonder you're weird about bathrooms, I should test... Dracula! That's it, you're a Dracula!"

"A Dracula?" The courier held their hands up, as if seeing them anew. "Never heard of them. Are they... bad?"

"Well, traditionally, yes." Veronica made a face and rubbed her elbow. "Black cloaks, sleeping in coffins, seducing and manipulating everyone around them... and people don't like it when you take their blood, in my experience."

"Whose blood have you taken?"

"This isn't about me, Six!"

ED-E: The eyebot bobbed wildly and made noises of concern, blips and blats and a flat burst of trumpets from some old jazz tune.

"I was hungry," the courier protested. "And this asshole pulled a knife on me and wanted all of my caps. Probably more than that, if we're being honest. He wasn't doing the world any good, but he did me some, for sure."

ED-E flipped between old clips of a Silver Shroud radio show. "Well, isn't this a deep, dark <static> secret? <static> In a situation such as this, the best anyone can do is <static> try to control it!" The robot added some more concerned beeps for good measure.

"I'm trying," the courier said with a sigh, looking down at the dead man they were holding. "You know I wouldn't hurt some random person, ED-E. Not if I could help it. The Mojave's full of bad people, enough to keep me going if I'm careful."

Rex: The hair on Rex's spine stood up, and he let out a long, low growl. The courier froze for a moment, before realizing that he was growling not at them but at the man they were holding.

"He's dead, Rex," they reassured the cyberdog, lowering the corpse to the floor for inspection.

Rex sniffed the body over, taking in the copper scent of his blood and the Freeside stink on his clothes. He sniffed the courier too, each of their hands they held out to him and the thick headiness of adrenaline. He whined and wagged his tail twice.

"Good boy," the courier said, straightening up. "It's about time I turned in, anyway. Let's dump this guy and split."

Benny Gecko: Benny crossed his arms. "You know, Six, if you're dead set on getting your kicks in Freeside every now and then, you might want to ease up on the passions with the next greaser you snag. This one's torn all to pieces."

"I wasn't- what kind of-" The courier dropped the man they were holding and sputtered. "Christ, only you could make a midnight murder awkward, Benny."

"Murder?" Benny raised his eyebrows and looked from side to side theatrically. "Who said anything about a murder? All I saw was some dreamboat and the best apple butterer of New Vegas playing back alley bingo, officer."

The courier's eyes narrowed. "Not gonna rat me out? Tell the King or somebody that I'm..."

"What, taking a page out of the White Glove Society's book?" Benny held his hands up. "None of my business. Well, if you ever come for me with that look in your eyes, though, that'll be a different story."

"Not much you'd be able to do," the courier pointed out. "You already tried and failed to kill me once."

Ulysses: Rather than react like any normal wastelander might've upon encountering someone attacking a man with their teeth, Ulysses just stood there, taking the scene in. "Heard tales of a tribe like you. East, farther east than even I've walked... a coven hiding in tunnels, emerging only when their hungers grow too strong to ignore, strong enough to pull blood from the veins of the world around them."

"Well, I don't hide in tunnels." The courier grimaced and heaved their victim up over their shoulder, depositing them unceremoniously in the dumpster. "Unless some disgruntled Frumentarius sends me out to hunt mutants under Hopeville."

"Perhaps you have more in common with those predators than I assumed," Ulysses admitted. "But then, your path has always run red. Blood of the Old World, blood of the new, blood of the Bull and the Bear..."

The courier rolled their eyes as they peeled off their red-stained coat and tossed it in the dumpster as well. "Don't talk to me about blood. I know you've seen just as much as me, but it doesn't mean the same thing when I look at it."

Ulysses cracked a hint of a smile. "You see life where I see death. Two sides, courier."

"Yeah, yeah. If you're not going to try to kill me, come on. You can wax poetic and lecture me about which road I'm walking while I take a shower."

Joshua Graham: "A creature far from God," Graham said in his most reproachful tone. "Forever damned for the souls of the innocent they've taken from the earth. Aren't we a pair, courier."

"You can fuck right off with that attitude." The courier dropped the man they were holding and wiped their hands on their coat. "He tried to kill me first. For some caps."

"The crimes of others do not absolve you of your own sins, courier," Graham continued, leisurely retrieving his gun from its holster. He held it up in the muted neon light that filtered through the alley, turning the weapon this way and that. "Though I confess I am also looking for absolution in this way."

"Are you going to kill me?" the courier asked, eyeing the gun as well.

"I've no doubt it would leave this world better than when you walked it," Graham replied. "But my own opinions are not enough to seal your fate. Perhaps we should find this man's family and hear their feelings on the matter."

The courier took a step forward, then another, until their chest was right up against the pistol's muzzle, pressed against the fabric of their shirt. "Go ahead. Try."

And though Joshua Graham was sorely tempted to pull the trigger, though the courier made no move to stop him, something in their eyes... some faraway pain, older than the desert itself, fresh as the blood on the ground, stayed his hand.

He lowered the gun, chastised, and the courier walked away.

Robert House: The Securitron that bore Robert House's face on its screen leveled a minigun at the courier. "Whoa!" the courier protested, dropping their victim and putting their hands out. "Can't we talk about this?"

"And what have we to discuss?" House sounded absolutely disgusted. "I believe you're familiar with my contract with the White Glove Society. If they wish to continue their current prosperity in New Vegas, cannibalism is strictly forbidden. You are subject to the same terms and conditions, as one of my employees."

"Terms and condi- hold on, hold on, you never asked me whether I was a cannibal," the courier replied. "Are you talking about that document you had me sign, way back when I agreed to help you fight the NCR and the Legion?"

"The very same."

"How is that fair? That thing was over 200 pages long, I didn't grow up in the 21st century, I don't have a degree in... okay, okay." The courier waved their hands. "Cannibalism is a no-go. This isn't cannibalism, this is vampirism."

"Which falls under the definition of cannibalism," House replied, his annoyed tone still detectable over the sound of the minigun spinning up. "Section 3.65, subsection F. Next time, read the fine print."

Caesar: The Legion's great leader pivoted in an instant from surprise to quiet anger. "Clean yourself up, courier. I expect to see you in my quarters within the hour."

He turned and left the alley swiftly, letting his powerful stride and swinging cloak cover his shaken confidence. The people of Freeside cowered as he passed, shrinking into the shadows as he made his way back to the Strip, but the fear in their eyes was not enough to erase the image of the courier bent over in bloodlust, holding their victim in total subjugation.

The courier found him on the top floor of the Lucky 38, gazing out over the city he had conquered and named his Rome. "Leave us," Caesar bid his Praetorian Guard. They bowed and departed the room without question.

"You asked to see me," the courier said nervously, shifting their weight from foot to foot. They had changed clothes, and no trace of blood remained on them.

"I did." Caesar beckoned them to the window next to him. They stood in silence for a moment, watching the lights wink below.

"I'm a well-read man, courier," Caesar said finally. "I know the legends of the Old World, and I recognize the marks of one of their nightmares in you. I order you to tell me the truth: Do you fit the full definition of the creature they called 'vampire,' or do you simply mimic the things to add to your fearsome affect?"

The courier didn't answer right away. When they did, their voice was soft. "I pretend to be nothing. I am what I am."

"And everything that comes with it?" Caesar pressed. "Darkness, the blood of the innocent, eternity?"

"Yes."

Caesar turned to face them fully. "Then I, Almighty Caesar, command you to make me as you are."

Yes Man: "Now that's a twist I didn't see coming!" Yes Man said, his happy tone only slightly tempered with uncertainty. "Boy, am I glad I don't have a circulatory system right now!"

The courier shushed the Securitron and looked around the alley surreptitiously. "Yes Man, I swear to god, if you blow my cover I'm disassembling you."

"As I've told you before, I can't technically die!" Yes Man reassured them. "And I certainly wouldn't want to endanger you and your hobbies, but my volume mixer is tied to my enthusiasm simulator and I can't adjust it! You'll just have to hope any passersby aren't interested in following my friendly voice into an alley!"

"Then go back to the Lucky 38 and we'll talk later," the courier insisted, through gritted teeth.

"I technically never left! But if you mean this Securitron, sure thing!" Yes Man zoomed away on his single wheel, whistling the whole way back to the casino where the rest of his consciousness was housed. He kept whistling as he ran probability algorithms, only pausing when the courier returned after a few hours and crossed their arms in front of his main screen.

"Hi there!" he said joyfully. "I've just been cross-checking Mr. House's records on noteworthy disappearances in the Strip, and I've flagged eight of them as potentially being connected to you! I don't want to assume your intentions, but if you don't want to be found out, I've developed a plan for choosing your next victims that will help you remain undetected in New Vegas for 184 years! Give or take a few!"

The courier put their head in their hand and sighed.

[samismusicjournal]

Ethel Cain’s “Preacher’s Daughter”

1. Family Tree (Intro)

This song is so cinematic, I love it. It’s a walking-in-slow-motion song and very badass. It’s a powerful elegy about generational trauma (”The Fates already fucked me sideways” meaning she was doomed from the start due to her circumstances).

2. American Teenager

A tonal and emotional shift from the previous song. Very fun and angsty.

3. A House in Nebraska

We really explore Ethel’s artful lyricism in this song. The images are so distinct. It’s a very mournful song that anyone going through a heartbreak would probably vibe with and cry to.

4. Western Nights

There’s a very desolate and resigned atmosphere to this song. It talks about being “in love” with someone with serious problems and red flags.

6. Hard Times

This is such a sad song about abuse. It has a similar resigned tone to Western Nights, like we’re experiencing the abuse in real time, just having to let it happen. It’s terrible to think that someone who you idolize and respect and love so much could hurt you so bad.

7. Thoroughfare

I love the folksy vibe this song has. It has a romantic western/rock feel to it. Oh my god I’m listening to it now and it’s quickly becoming one of my new favorite songs. It has the same adventurous and devil-may-care attitude that America’s Horse With No Name has.

8. Gibson Girl

This is another badass- sounding song, but this one is about the dark parts of her new relationship. She’s being objectified and drugged by someone she thought she could trust.

9. Ptolomaea

Instantly, I’m creeped out by this song. It is so doom-filled and foreboding, it sounds like the soundtrack to a nightmare.

10. August Underground

If what I’m reading is correct, Ethel is dying in this song, and she’s being held hostage by Isaiah. For not having any lyrics, this song sure does pack a disturbing punch. I recognized the title as the infamous snuff film, so it makes sense that the subject matter is so terrible.

11. Televangelism

What I read about this song is that it’s her ascension into Heaven after her brutal death.

12. Sun Bleached Flies

This was the first song I heard before listening to the album in its entirety. It came up on my Discover Weekly on Spotify, and I really liked it. Now, hearing it in the context of the album, it’s even more emotional. This is Ethel processing her traumatic journey. At the end of the song, she admits that she never stopped loving Willoughby, her first love.

13. Strangers

Isaiah takes Ethel out of the freezer and eats her, but she warns him that she will be “turning in his stomach and making him feel sick.” She also laments the fact that she will never get to see her mother until she gets to Heaven, and that her mother will “wait up” for her when Ethel appears on the side of a milk carton as a missing person.

Final Thoughts

This is a haunting story. It shows how people trapped in the cycle of abuse are more likely to find themselves in troubling situations. Although Cain’s demise of being cannibalized is a little extreme, it serves the album well by using the shock factor to make the listener pay attention. The whole story just makes your heart ache for her because all of her circumstances are so unfortunate, and none of them are really Ethel’s fault. Generation trauma that was handed down to her by her father’s abuse, her strict religious upbringing, losing her first love, losing her second love in a shootout, running away from home, and being betrayed by one of the only positive male influences in her life. I’m definitely going to do more research into the story of this album because I’m very intrigued by it. This was a great listening experience, although I would never have figured out any of the plot if it hadn’t been for the numerous articles and Genius annotations I read. I like when artists include little hints as to what’s going on in the story of their music, and Cain does a decent job of that (especially the part where she is cannibalized). However, the loss of her second lover in a shootout with the police after a robbery was not clear to me at all. Neither was the transition between her being drugged and her death. But knowing the story makes this album all the more enjoyable. I’m glad people online have come together to figure it all out. Will definitely be listening to Thoroughfare a lot over the next week at least!