#MC is pretty atheistic

[leatherbound-breakdown]

Book Title: Spectacle Book 1/4

Author: Megan Rose Gedris

Genre: YA Graphic Novel

Feelings:

[ ] Favorites List

[ x ] Made me laugh

[ ] Had my favorite tropes

[ x ] Need the next one (at the time of writing book 2 has been obtained)

[ ] Didn't like it

[ ] Made me cry

Story Summary:

Pragmatic engineer Anna works as a psychic in the Samson Brothers Circus but she doesn't believe in anything supernatural - Until her twin sister Kat is murdered and comes back as a very demanding ghost. Sharing a room with her sister was hard, but now they're sharing a body while trying to identify the killer. with few leads, a troupe full of secretive folk, and strange paranormal occurrences popping up around the circus, solving the case seems near impossible but the murderer in their midst may be the least of their problems.

Favorite moments | Quotes:

Anna is talking with Ike about his wife, Lucy (a suspect in the murder), and says "How can you like someone while thinking they're going to hell?" I can appreciate that Ike didn't exactly have an answer for that question either. I think it says a lot about both characters, how Ike has more faith in his wife than he does the bible she clings to, and Anna just wants people to say what they mean.

Favorite Characters:

Anna (and her magnificent cloak)

Kat because even as a demanding ghost, she is more of a moral compass on her sister's shoulder throughout the story and I think that influence keeps Anna from being too incredibly jaded by the situation.

The bearded lady brings so much sexual tension in the very small scene she's involved in. She owned every panel she was featured in and I don't even know her name. I have a theory that she and Kat were the best of friends before Kat's demise.

Worst Characters:

The deputy/standing sheriff is a trash individual on his own but I felt like he could've had more development and motivation before he... exploded? He could be a good character and a bad person, but he fell pretty flat for me.

The mermaid also felt very underdeveloped. I'm hopeful that the other performers give more of their backstories as the books continue forward.

Final Thoughts:

I don't usually lean towards murder mysteries and admittedly I went in looking for a graphic novel and got this book specifically because of the very lesbian imagery on the cover. As a kid, I too had dreams of running away to join the circus so it definitely scratched an itch for an inner child that still can't juggle.

I still don't know who the killer is, but now I'm invested.

I have the second book, and my judgments remain very fluid until I can see the whole picture of what it was. I wish I knew what caused the fire-but-not-fire situation that was clearly a setup and just got brushed over in favor of focusing on getting the ringmaster out of jail for the fire.

Overall a fun read, and it's clear that a lot of heart was put into it by the author/artist speaking from personal experience. I'm excited to see this story through to the end.

[astr0logywh0r3]

astrology observations ☽

1.) moon conjunct pluto ppl have an intense relationship with their mother. it’s either a strong hate or a strong love. the mother could’ve been extremely overbearing to the point that the native felt suffocated at times. these people are very secretive with their emotions. it’s like their emotions are inside of a dark and mysterious treasure chest that only they know the key to. the intensity runs high. explosive emotions …outbursts. could have gone to a mental health facility once in their life or been diagnosed with mental disorders.

2.) ik ppl say scorpio ascendants are supposed to be all mysterious and intimidating but honestly i see a lot of them looking very: 🌸🍄🫧

3.) scorpio mercurys are pretty quiet

4.) aquarius moons be liking the things other people hate

5.) when someone starts annoying a scorpio moon they’ll just go and talk to someone else for a while. they’re vindictive

6.) i ain’t never seen a libra sun girl i didn’t find pretty in one way or another

7.) lilith in the 10th house and scorpio mc are super hot placements for someone to have imo. it makes someone seem mysterious and cool 💀 just a lot of sex appeal

8.) so many ppl wanna be impressing scorpio suns 😭

9.) if you got a lot of planets in the 10th house or are sun dominant …you like attention. period.

10.) venus conjunct mars people are so damn magnetic. they usually have a lot of relationships and date a lot of people

11.) 9th house placements love their freedom

12.) venus in the 10th house ppl give girl next door type of beauty to me. it’s a very girly and feminine type of prettiness. people admire them and wanna date them

13.) venus in the 8th house loves the femme fatale/witchy type aesthetic for themselves

14.) saturn in the 12th house can make someone feel really lonely and sad in their life

15.) jupiter in the 1st house/conjunct the ascendant ppl seem larger than life. like ..if you see a picture of them you might think theyre tall but then you realize they’re actually pretty short 💀

16.) sun square lilith women are intimidating and reckless. they do what they want when they want with who they want. speak their mind.

17.) lilith in sagittarius can be atheists and totally reject religion

18.) capricorn risings with the perfect dry humor 💀 they look cool and act cool

19.) virgo risings either have hella big doll eyes or small squinty eyes

20.) pisces suns …y’all walk funny 😭

[lgbtqreads]

Hi! I'm asking for a friend who's not on here (cw religion - if you post this publicly). She's preferably looking for adult recs but YA is okay too.

"I'm on a search for books with lesbian main characters who actually have some sort of positive relationship with faith (prefereably Catholic) but dealing with homophobia in Catholic settings and the knots you can tie yourself in being in the closet really resonate with me. Basically, I am looking for stories where the queer main character's relationship with mainstream religion is complex and challenging but not completely negative. Where religion is both a pain and a balm."

She's read The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School but I'm not sure what else.

Thanks!!

The first book I ever read like this was Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown and I thought it was an interesting handling; I would pass that along, though it’s YA. In Adult, and with the caveat that the religion is Judaism, I love A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee. (Definitely check cws first, especially re: drug use.) There’s a YA graphic novel coming up that I think is also specifically about this (and specifically Catholicism), though I haven’t read it yet - Hey, Mary! by Andrew Wheeler (text) and Rye Hickman (illustration). And also in YA, I loved At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp, which has a few POVs, one of whom is dealing with exactly this as a nonbinary person (also Catholic). 

Another Adult I haven’t read yet but am pretty sure is this is Henry Henry by Allen Bratton, but I’m struggling to think of one that’s adult and has a female MC - I keep thinking of Emily Austin’s Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, though the MC is an atheist in that one and it’s much more about mental health. The church very much plays a role, though, as that’s where she works, and might be an interesting addition to the reading list.

[purplecoffee13]

‘Heaven’s On Fire’ - thin lines pt. 1*

“I want it all, give me what you got. It’s hunger in your eyes. I’m getting closer, baby hear me breathe” ~ Heaven’s On Fire by KISS

Summary: “You meet the infamous rockstar Harry Styles after your opera performance. He is an arrogant and self-centered prick, but you can't help but feel incredibly attracted to him.”

Wc: 4.6k

Tropes: rockstar!Harry X opera singer!MC

Warnings: smut (fem!receiving), Harry being a cocky asshole, degradation, dirty talk, mention of exhibitionism, dom & sub, slight age gap (19 & 23)

A/N: Hey! Welcome to this new series of mine! This will include a little bit of darker Harry, so don’t expect a lot of lovey dovey things here. Isn’t proof read so sorry for mistakes. Also be sure to check every chapter’s warnings before u go on with reading

************************************************

The Opera.

Of all places, that's where Harry's team had decided to send him to give him some 'good press'. It was absolutely ridiculous. He wasn't even allowed to bring a date. They knew he'd run off with them.

In a black suit, Harry stood outside in the common room of the theatre, waiting for the dreadful announcement that the two hours of high notes and absurd costumes could commence. He ran his hands through his now long hair, which he had spent a year growing out. It was freshly washed, and parts of his curls were still damp.

A guiding hand was put on Harry's back by Rob, his manager, and he was led to their seats. Harry was still being a grump to his manager, but Rob was used to it by now.

Harry had tarnished his image enough over the past two years, and he was in dire need of a clean slate. The media would only be so nice before sales started to decline.

It was a difficult job, what Rob had been put up to. While Harry's band mates knew how to keep their antics hidden from the public eye, Harry reveled in being in it. Mikey, his drummer and lifelong friend, had once called him a proper psychopath after two consecutive nights in a sex club somewhere deep in Hollywood.

There was no denying it, Harry had completely changed from the moment he came into the public eye. He wasn't the sweetest kid, but he'd always been pretty decent. But the flash of the cameras, the whiskeys and the lines of coke were enough to change a man. For the better, he thought. The people around him had a different opinion about it, but he didn't care. As long as he delivered on stage, no one batted an eye at him.

And he did deliver, both on stage and off of it. More than half of the bands' songs were written by Harry, whose impeccable songwriting proved itself time and time again.

But over the last few months, there had been one too many brawls at clubs, where paparazzi would catch a coked out Harry trying to beat up some local guy. It was also becoming difficult for the media to keep track on the amount of women he was fucking, and above all, his outspoken, atheist outlook on live didn't help much either.

So, Rob had sent Harry to a few socially acceptable events, where he'd have to make small talk and be nice, and look like he was actually dressed for the occasion.

Harry hated it, and he despised Rob for thinking going the opera would be a good idea. Nevertheless, he sat down, slightly slouched, and tried not to sigh too hard as he waited for the lights to dim.

It'd be a good way to get some sleep; he'd need it.

Harry had already closed his eyes for a few minutes when all of a sudden an angelic voice hit his ear drums, your voice. His eyes softly fluttered open, and he was met with the sight of an actual angel. Well, at least he thought.

On stage, you singing with such adoration and love in her voice that Harry could feel it, and despite not knowing what the play could've possibly been about as he had not informed himself, he knew your character was supposed to be in love. 

From that second on, Harry's eyes were wide open. He'd rest them whenever you were not there, and was wide awake as soon as you, his little nightingale, would bless the room with your presence and your voice again. As the opera slowly worked its way to its climax, Harry leaned over to Rob.

"I need you to get me backstage."

"Why?" Rob turned to his client, a frown on his face.

"She has a beautiful voice. I want to tell her in person." He turned to his manager, who was eyeing him skeptically. Of course he thought Harry was getting in there for a quick fuck, and while those were exactly his intentions, he didn't need Rob to know. "What? You were the one who wanted me to have respectable acquittances."

"Right... you're right. I'll be back in a minute." He said before getting up and tasking care of Harry's commands.

Harry couldn't do anything else for the rest of the play other than think about his little nightingale in all the ways he wanted to have you.

(((|)))

Opening night was the most nerve racking thing you had ever experienced, but despite your fears, the opera had played out wonderfully. The overwhelming amount of applause at the end made you tear up, and the first few minutes back in your changing room consisted of nothing but staring out into the distance, thinking about how lucky you were to have ended up where you had.

You had always wanted to sing, ever since you was a little girl. You had always had the gift, but your parents didn't really believe in the unstable career that came with singing as a profession. That was, until you were accepted for the role of Liesl von Trapp in a sound of music musical held in the region's biggest theatre and ended up being scouted by your current manager, Reece.

This role was your ticket into the business, he'd said. After this, you would be able to work your way to what you truly wanted to do. Write songs. It was all you've ever wanted to do, but your operatic voice was the gateway into record deals.

'You need to be heard first, then you can write your story'. That's what Reece had told you, and you trusted him. Your succes was money straight into his pockets, so he would do what was best for you and your career, at least you assumed.

Your rattling mind was interrupted by a knock on your door. You watched through the mirror as the door opened, and Reece popped in.

"Good job, Y/N, truly." He said as he walked over to you. You turned around to get up and gave him a hug, your stomach tingling at the smell of his perfume. Reece always smelled very good.

You had slowly started to develop a slight crush on your manager. At first, you weren't attracted to him at all. In fact, you knew he had a girlfriend of a couple years so the thought never even entered your mind.

But then, one night, after a business dinner, Reece offered to get a drink at the local bar. You agreed and together you took off the a dive bar near the restaurant. It was a very fun night and you both got quite tipsy, and barriers had slowly faded. His hand lingered on yours very long, as did his gaze. And he knew just what to say to make you blush, then outwardly admitted he liked to get you flustered.

Since that night, Reece has been a confusing push and pull game for you. Some days he is extra touchy, others he acts like you're not even close to being friends. He doesn't like it when you talk to other guys, he'll act very distant and walk around with his jaw clenched, but at the important events he always brings his girlfriend. It's excruciating, but the second he touches you, all the bad parts of him fade into the nothingness.

"There is someone who wanted to compliment you in person." He says with a smirk on his face, and you tilt your head at the twinkle in his eyes.

You had to try your hardest not to let your mouth fall open as none other than Harry Styles walked through the door. His tall frame, dressed in a black suit, strolled into the room with his hands on his back. His long hair fell over his shoulders and you didn't think you'd ever seen a prettier man in your life.

"Harry, this is Y/N Y/L/N. And Y/N, this is Harry Styles." Reece introduced you two as you walked towards Harry to shake his hand.

"I know— I mean, nice to meet you." You corrected yourself quickly in hopes of not seeming like too much of a fan girl. Harry and his band had made some awesome songs and you had always been fascinated with his songwriting. You felt like you were in a dream.

"Nice to meet you too." His low voice made your cheeks heat up, and he caught it. The corners of his mouth tugged up, and then he turned to Reece. "My manager wanted to talk to you. He's outside."

Reece nodded, but stayed put. "I'll contact him."

Harry's nice gaze turned a bit cold. Could that guy not take a hint? Or did he not want to? Nevertheless, Harry didn't like not getting his way. Then, as if the gods had decided to favor him, Reece's phone rang. He silently excused himself as he slowly walked towards the door.

"Hi baby... yes, I'm in Y/N's dressing room right now— no I'll be right down there." He said, looking at you the whole time. You tried to ignore the pang in your chest at the sound of him talking to his girlfriend, who he of course belonged to. "Come on, babe, you know— okay, okay, fine."

He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket, a sigh leaving his mouth. "I'll be back shortly."

Then, Reece was gone. Open field, Harry thought.

He didn't miss the way you looked at Reece, but he didn't give two shits about that. Harry could make you forget about him in fifteen minutes, if you'd let him.

You were standing in front of him, not very sure of what to do or say, so Harry decided to be the one to talk first.

"You did a really great job on that stage." He complimented you, and you looked down at the floor, a sweet smile on your face while you fiddled with your hands.

"Thank you." You replied, forcing yourself to meet his eyes as you didn't want to be rude. "I... uhm, I really like your music. Your songwriting is amazing."

"Yeah?" Harry smirked, taking the smallest step towards you, and your eyes widened like a deer in headlights. You were very nervous for a multitude of reasons, and his raspy voice didn't make it any less scary to talk to him.

"Yes, I can always feel your lyrics, even if it isn't a necessarily familiar experience for me. I don't know how you do it." You beamed as you turned around and walked towards your vanity desk, grabbing the pitcher on it and pouring some water into an empty glass. "Would you like some water?"

When you turned around with the glass in your hand, Harry was standing in front of you, leaned against the back of the couch behind him. You extended your hand out, and he took the glass from you.

"Thank you." He said, and you nodded.

"Was it not too boring? The opera, I mean." You couldn't help but ask. You'd always felt like they were a bit of a yawn, but being on stage was so thrilling that it wasn't half as boring as it might've been for the audience. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"With you in it? Absolutely not." He shook his head before taking a sip from the water, and you couldn't contain the smile that crept onto your face. Harry thought it was adorable, how much his words affected you, the rose colored cheeks that came with it. Your doe eyes that looked up at him with a desperation to please, to be liked. It was innocent, and that was dangerous, for the both of you.

Harry just wanted to take you right then and there and show you all the ways you could please him, then reward you with a string of orgasms for yourself. But he had a feeling that was a bit of a foreign concept to you, something that only made him want you more.

You were leaning against your vanity desk with your hands leaning on the table, when Harry got up and stalked towards you. Just the way he walked was so intimidating and a bit scary; you felt like you had to run. Your heart began to beat faster with every step he took towards you until finally he stood in front of you, way closer than necessary. He leaned forward and you felt your breath hitch in your throat, the smell of his aftershave making you a bit dizzy. A thud on the desk made you jump ever so slightly and upon looking down you saw the glass back on the table.

When your gaze met Harry's again, he had stepped back, knowing exactly what he needed to now. It was evident in his face; he knew you were attracted to him.

You tried to steady your breathing, gripping the desk until your knuckles turned white. He caught you off guard, and you were feeling so many things at once, but somehow it was overruled by the ache between your legs.

"Are you a virgin?" He asked, and at that very moment, you felt like pleading the earth to suck you under.

"What?" You asked, offended by the question. Not because it was necessarily insulting, but she didn't like to think she had the word 'virgin' written on her face. It couldn't have been that obvious, could it?

"I'll take that as a yes." He tilted his head. "So you're not fucking your manager?"

What the fuck?

You were flabbergasted by the rudeness of Harry. You knew he wasn't exactly the sweetest guy around — you didn't miss the news articles about him — but you thought he'd at least be decent in conversation.

"What?! N-no!" Your eyes were wide and you didn't know what to say. If Harry would tell people that you were sleeping with your manager — which you weren't —, Reece would never look at you again. He'd drop you and then your career would be destroyed.

"How old are you?" He went on, not paying attention to the quiver in your voice and the stressed out look on your face.

"Harry, why would you—"

"I asked you a question." He stepped in front of you, towering over you now. The low growl was extremely stern and the sheer sound of his voice made your stomach turn. Whether that was in a good way or bad way, you didn't really know.

"Sorry." You looked up at him, too scared to take your eyes off of him and accidentally pissing him off again. "I’m nineteen.”

Harry’s cock strained in his pants at the way you immediately obeyed him. Your age did explain your virginity though; he thought you were older. Four years was not a very big age difference, but your sexual knowledge did differ a lot. But that didn’t matter, he’d teach you.

“Good girl.” Harry whispered as he took your hand and stepped backward until he could sit on the back rest of the couch again. You slowly walked with him, it only seeming fit if he was holding your hand. He wanted you to follow, and you wanted to follow him. He was unprofessional, and rude, but you still wanted to do everything he said.

“How is it that a pretty girl like you has never been touched before, huh?” He asked, the sweet tone of his voice distracting from the vulgar question that had your eyes nearly pop out of your sockets. When you didn’t answer him, he decided to make up some theories himself. “Are you waiting for your knight in shining armor, hmm? Or are you waiting for your manager to dump his girlfriend and decide to fuck you instead?”

That hit you like a slap in the face. You knew you wouldn’t be able to deny it with a straight face, so you turned around. But upon trying to get away from him, he pulled you back by your wrist until you were standing between his legs, your back against him. He snakes his left arm around your waist to pull you into him, and your eyes widened when you felt something you knew you shouldn’t be feeling.

You did not want to get in trouble, and your heart was racing at the awareness that the door was not locked, but you panties were ruined anyway. If confused you, why the knowledge of this being bad, forbidden or even risky, was making you all the more hot for it.

“It’s okay baby, your secret’s safe with me.” He purred, mouth on your ear after stroking your hair away from it. You spotted the sight of you two in the mirror, and you had to restrain yourself from letting out a whimper.

Harry was good at body language, and thus he knew you wanted him to touch you, even if you were too afraid to admit it yourself. There wasn’t an explicit yes yet, but there wasn’t talks of a ‘no’ either so Harry would carry on.

“You know, baby, I can teach you a thing or two.” He spoke up again, his fingertips stroking over your thigh as he talked to you. You swallowed, not being able to think straight with his breath in your neck and his hands on you like this. “Have you all prepared for when your little manager makes up his mind.”

That piqued your interest. You were quite insecure about the whole situation with Reece, especially because he was so much older and more experienced. You had never even seen a cock in real life, and while you had watched and read a thing or two, you didn’t have any actual sexual experiences — vibrator excluded.

You had always been quite the introvert, and no one ever sparked the desire in you to have sex. You were also the one to run away when things got too real or too intimate, and the unattainable part when it came to Reece is what made your attraction turn into a full blown crush. You could want him from a distance.

But what if the day indeed came, and you were unprepared? Then what? You didn’t want to disappoint Reece. You wanted it to be worth it for him, if he’d ever leave his girlfriend.

“What do you say, baby? Will you let me show you?” He asked, and then started kissing your neck. Involuntarily, your eyes started to roll back, and you felt yourself starting to relax in his hands, but that was only for a second before you came back to your senses.

“Harry… we— I don’t want to be unprofessional.” You squeaked out, trying to pull his arm off your waist, but you weren’t nearly strong enough.

“Weak excuse.” Harry scoffed, his fingers nearing the fabric of your black mini dress, now dangerously close to your soaked underwear. You shut your eyes tightly, trying to think of a better reason not to do this, but your mind wasn’t helping you at all.

“The door is unlocked.” You sounded out of breath, and it made Harry grin. You were trying so hard to resist, it would be easier and more enjoyable if you just gave in.

“That’s true.” Harry agreed, and you sighed, not sure whether it was out of relief or disappointment. “But you like that, don’t you? The idea that you could get caught any time.”

Harry’s fingers were grazing your panties, and he chuckled at the feeling of drenched fabric against his hand. He let you out of his grip and moved you until you were standing straight. He waited for a few seconds, but you weren’t moving. You were waiting, for him. The smirk on his face reached from ear to ear as he reveled in how right he was about you. He hiked up your dress a bit and pulled down your panties, letting them fall to your feet.

In a swift move, he pulled you back against him again, your bare ass now pressed against his jeans. He groaned at the sight of it, but focused back you. Then, he caught it, the way you were staring at you and him through the mirror. He met your eyes through the glass, and feeling like you’d been caught, you quickly looked away. In a matter of seconds, Harry’s hand was on your chin, directing your head back to the tall reflective glass.

“No, no. Watch yourself.” He ordered, before grazing his fingers over your slit. You gasped at the contact, and your head tilted back ever so slightly. Harry took it as a sign of full compliance; he knew better than to wait on a verbal answer by now. He knew you wouldn’t admit it, because it would be easier to pretend like it didn’t happen afterwards.

From that moment, Harry begin to suck on your neck as he rubbed circles on your clit, and held you in place with his free hand.

“You never answered my question, love.” He said lowly. “Tell me, do you like the idea of getting caught?”

“Yes.” You whispered, the confession feeling to scandalous to say it in anything other than a hushed tone.

“That’s what I thought.” Harry said proudly, fingers nearing your entrance. You whimpered in slight pain when two of his fingers slid inside you at the same time. It was easy, because of how wet you were, but it besides your vibrator there had never really been anything in there before, and it had been a while since your vibrator.

“God, you’re fucking tight.” Harry groaned in delight, mostly to himself. His fingers curled inside of you and your entire body jerked up. He held you into place with his other arm, but the devilish smile on his face wasn’t missed by you. You were still watching his every move through that mirror. “And so reactive.”

“Harry… what if someone walks in?” You tried to argue, and you weren’t even sure why because if it were up to you, his fingers would stay inside of you forever. But you still felt like you were breaking the rules, like you were betraying Reece. Which, you instantly realized, was absolutely ridiculous because he was currently with his girlfriend.

“I think we just established that you wouldn’t care very much about that, and I don’t either.” He rasped, his fingers pumping in and out of you at a lazy pace. “And you’ll do whatever I tell you, won’t you?”

You sighed. “Yes.”

“Exactly.” He planted a few kisses in your neck. “So even if someone would walk in, I wouldn’t stop until I have you cumming all over my fingers.”

You let out a soft moan at the sinful image he created with his words, and he let his free hand travel to your clit as he started fingering you faster and faster.

“Yeah? You like that, baby?” His voice was becoming more strained with every second, because he was trying his hardest to keep himself from cumming inside his pants. Especially when you hummed in agreement.

He didn’t have this problem with other people, but then again he didn’t take this much time with others. You were different, in this sense. Harry knew that he needed to ease you into this, otherwise you’d never agree. And there was something about you, he guessed it was your pure aura, that made him want you more than he had ever wanted a girl before. He needed to fuck you, so he wouldn’t mind taking a detour.

“Can you see it yet, him walking through the door and seeing your little pussy getting wrecked by my fingers?” He knew you were getting dangerously close to your orgasm. “Tell me.”

“Shit— yes!” You cried out, not being able to think straight with that vision clouding your mind.

“But you wouldn’t stop me, would you? You’d let me fuck you with my fingers until I’ve had enough, right?” He asked, but you knew these were all rhetoric questions. Harry knew you were completely at his mercy, and somehow he had found out how much you got off on that too.

“Yeah— ah! I… would.” Your legs had began to shake and you knew your high was just around the corner. Harry wasn’t slowing down, and neither were the gasps and whimpers that left your mouth as he worked his magic on your clit with his other hand.

“You’d even let me fuck you in front of him if I wanted to, wouldn’t you? Fuck you stupid against that mirror while he watches you fall apart for me. You’d get off on it.”

“Harry!” You begged. You just wanted a release at this point, and you were on the brink of it. He rubbed your clit harder, and you began to see stars.

“Go on, you can cum now, knowing you’re nothing more but a desperate slut, just begging to be my personal fuck toy.” He said, as you came all over his fingers with a string of agreeing words leaving your mouth. “There you go, you wanted it so bad, huh? Good fucking girl.”

You panted as Harry’s fingers worked you through your high, and you had let your body lean against him, too tired to hold yourself up. You were extremely out of breath, but barely had time to recover when there was a knock on your door. You stepped forward, away from Harry, and pulled your dress down. Turning around and leaning against the vanity just like you were before Harry decided to give you an orgasm.

In the mean time, Harry had leaned down and grabbed your panties, quickly stuffing them in his pockets.

“C– come in!” Your voice sounded hoarse, but you acted like nothing happened as an unfamiliar head peeked around the door. Harry turned around to see who it was and smiled at the man who had knocked.

“Hey, Rob!” He said, sounding way too smug and casual for your liking.

“Thought I’d find you here.” Rob said, sounding a little bit disappointed with Harry, and you crossed your arms, feeling too naked, still. It felt like this Rob guy could see right through you and Harry’s antics, and you were feeling very exposed at the moment. Harry got up and winked at you before making his way towards the door.

“It was nice to meet you, Y/N. See you soon.” He said, earning a frown from both you and Rob. Harry didn’t look back as he walked out the door, Rob following him as he said his goodbyes too. You awkwardly waved, feeling extremely confused, turned on and fucked out at the same time.

You sighed, exhilaration coursing through your veins. You jumped when Reece’s voice sounded from the other side of the room all of a sudden.

“Hey, you alright?” He asked, suspicious with the look on your face. You faked a smile, and nodded.

“Yeah, just… overwhelmed.” You shrugged. Technically you were telling the truth. You were overwhelmed, just with the orgasm you just had rather than the show of tonight.

“Let’s go to the party, I need to introduce you to some people.” Reece said, sending that there was something with your answer that didn’t make it entirely truthful.

“I’ll meet you out there in a minute.” You smiled innocently, and he nodded before walking out the door. You sighed the moment the door shut, and leaned down to grab your panties, only to realize that they weren’t there.

Bastard!

…..

Masterlist

[sojourners-melancholy]

ASPEN PARK (my @apt502-if mc)

they/she (nb) / 25 / 5’8 / musician / lesbian

appearance: thin, straight black hair that barely falls past their shoulders / olive skin with a warm undertone / dark, coffee brown eyes / mole near the corner of their right eye / wears round, wire framed glasses

ROs: L and Cal (maybe A too)

tidbits about aspen below !

got a side gig as a church pianist to keep up with living expenses despite being an atheist (money is money, y’know?). the church has 5am morning services every week, and because they can never seem to sleep at a reasonable time, they end up staying up all night and then sleep in until the afternoon. said sleeping schedule may or may not be the culprit of the soft, late night/early morning cooking ruckus that the other 502 roommates hear oftentimes. but hey—at least being up for the sunrise is nice.

falls asleep at the piano more often than not. their poor, a-little-too-well-made bed seems almost a little lonely at times. hopefully that’ll change soon (wink wink nudge nudge). the thought of selling their mattress for rent money has definitely crossed their mind at least once though.

has a messy room—it’s littered to the floor with music books and binders and stray sheets. (somehow the bed is still untouched in the middle of all this. don’t ask why.) every single one of those is solely just music they’ve played or written (and of course they brought all of it to nyc; she “might need it one day”). they all have varying levels of notes scrawled on them, but each one has a couple dates written on them—one for when they started learning/composing them, and the others for when they were performed.

classically trained as a concert pianist while they were still in school, but ended up picking up some jazz near the end to find more music-related work. doesn’t regret switching majors over to music from architecture midway through college (this is ignoring the student loans though).

personality falls more on the quiet side; can seem pretty cold at first, but it’s actually just them being awkward. the quiet demeanor stills stays as they get comfortable, although then it has more mild/gentle undertones—kind of like a bear.

deadpans a lot, which can be a bit confusing with her monotone voice at first (sometimes it’s intentional!) but you get used it. they used hate it when people (rainn) would get the two mixed up and tried to make their voice more emotive-sounding, but eventually learned to stop caring and even started playing into it (“what do you mean you still can’t tell?” “shut up! i know you meant to do that!”).

definitely has that slowburn type charm; the one where you don’t think much about (maybe even find a bit boring) but find yourself choosing to hang out with more and more as time goes on and bam! one random day, you unexpectedly make them laugh. it’s a real, genuine laugh���the one where they’re going on until they can’t breathe and their cheeks are hurting from laughing so hard. and it’s at that moment, when you’re laughing with them, where it feels like when the first ray of sunshine hits you after a long, overcast day and you get all warm and fuzzy and—shit.

fuck.

you’re in love.

but hey, the sun’s finally out; maybe it’s about time you go outside and enjoy it too. you don’t know how long it’s going to be until it hides again, but maybe—just maybe—you won’t be so scared of it going away this time. because, rainn or shine, the sun will rise again. and i think it’ll be nice if you’re there for it.

[fiddles-ifs]

don't know if you've talked about this before but if nazeri is a Muslim and mc is an Atheist, is that something that could ever cause problems in their relationship? do you think any characters could have some type of strain in their relationship when one believes in a god/s and their partner doesn't? I've seen a lot of problems with this stuff in real life especially when it's a christian/atheist relationship because the religious person will get stressed and feel like they need to "save" their partner by converting them or else they'll go to hell, so from what I've seen a lot of those relationships break up in real life. I was curious on how similar/different it would be with your characters and the mc. How well do they deal with the differences I guess.

Btw I was not trying to be disrespectful with this question at all, and if it made you uncomfortable, I'm really sorry.

It doesn't particularly cause a lot of friction? Nazeri is content to stay in their lane when it comes to personal beliefs like religion. Obviously if you have a Gentlemens' Discussion about it, they're going to bring up what makes them happy about being Shi'a, and occasionally they might encourage their partner to attend ṣalāh just to see if they like it or not. Nazeri themself is pretty loosey goosey about their own beliefs, and some of the more religiously inclined consider them. Kind of a "bad" Muslim?? To their dismay.

Religion is a tough subject in a world where monsters exist but you can't tell anybody about them. In a lot of ways, Nazeri is using theirs as a crutch to stay sane. They try not to bother with anyone else.

One area that would grate on Nazeri would be alcohol, especially functional alcoholic Trackers. This has less to do with religion and more to do with the MC's overall health, but they also don't like the stuff in their house.

[thedeal-if]

Progress Update June 18

Hey!

I've updated the demo!

No new content yet, but I changed the images. I wasn't really vibing with the original ones.

Speaking of content, Chapter 1 Part 1 update is done!

I still need to review it, but that will have to wait a couple days (I have to hand in my bachelor degree's thesis like... this week haha).

Chapter 1 Part 2 is turning out pretty good, I enjoy writing mc suffering.

Chrissy's present attitude, Josh's too, Villanelle's first official appearance... The mysterious woman and Aliyah's optional first appearance 😭 this was so fun to write.

Optional explicit sexual content won the poll, I've seriously never seen that many people agreeing on something.

We'll have to wait until any sexual content between MC and the ROs appears, but this has made me change a bit Lilith's introduction as well as the circle of Lust.

I'll provide an option to choose between more explicit descriptions and a more toned down experience.

Spam: I've a personal acc now where I'm posting behind-the-scenes content on the deal! (aka me, an atheist, learning about religion)

@msizzydizzy

Once I update the demo I'd like to reorganize my tags, they're giving me ocd.

[skylineheights-if]

Do you have any facts about MCs Mom?

I don't have a whole lot of interesting ones atm; she's pretty much the only character that I don't have fully fleshed out! She doesn't make a lot of appearances in the story - at least, not in a physical form. She lives on the opposite side of the country so texts/calls and memories/thoughts are about all the interactions are currently limited to.

HOWEVER!!

I wanted to add this bit to a previous question about her, but decided not to unless someone asked. And, this is the perfect spot to spill the beans.

I don't consider the information under the cut to be a spoiler, but I'm sure someone else might. Proceed with caution!

MC's mom knows what they are. She knew what their father was, too. Not at first, but eventually she found out. This is why she kept the truth of MC's father from them for so long. This also plays into why MC may decide to feel betrayed. MC's moms reasons are that she was trying to protect her child, and she was trying to come to terms with the fact that she procreated with an actual biblical angel. I'm thinking that she was probably either atheist or agnostic before getting pregnant, so it really destroyed her world view and is something she is still trying to come to terms with.

[thefvrious]

@blumhouses sent -> spencer charnas

full name: ozzy victor stryker nicknames: oz birthday: april 12 age: 37 gender/pronouns: cis-male, he/him hometown: east los angeles, california sign: aries religion: atheist orientation: pansexual occupation: sergeant at arms of brothers of mayhem mc family: john patrick stryker (father), verity stryker (mother), lucine stryker (sister), sutton stryker (brother) +: reliable, adventurous, driven, sociable -: troublemaker, violent, antagonistic, blunt blurb: ozzy is the second of three and grew up a pretty uneventful life. his parents split up when he was twelve, but it wasn't particularly scarring, and he got to spend time between both households -- and got two of each holiday, which wasn't so bad, he decided. at least his parents were happy and so were his siblings. an average student, oz got into a lot of trouble for his argumentative mouth and easy fall into violence. all his fighting landed him in alternative school where he received his high school equivalency. for a while after finishing school he was on a path to nowhere, a downward spiral. then he met some guys in the motorcycle club and realized he could be chaotic and make a life from it. so, he joined up, and is now the sergeant at arms for the la chapter.

[helladventurers]

Damn I had a pretty fucking cool dream last night, complete with eldritch abominations and shit 😫

Basically the end times had come and everything was going to shit as society and the world itself was crumbling, and people basically started creating and worshipping Cthulhu-esque gods, making rituals in their names in hopes that it would bring their god to the power level to be able to create a new world in their insane image after the current one was destroyed.

My character basically belonged to a faction that had created a small girl as their deity, and ofc wanted to turn her into the strongest out of the gods so she could bring their absolutely dogshit vision of an ideal new world into fruition. Unfortunately for them, the mc started making a bond with the little girl (who couldn't speak but was clearly not ok with being used as a deity).

They eventually managed to save the girl, and form a kind of "atheist/neutral" faction to the dream LOL, where they would oppose the other people's deities and stop their rituals before they could bring their deities to complete reality-bending, world making gods, and rather let the world die its natural death rather than giving power to a unscrupulous man made eldritch abomination.

... unfortunately, even the newborn, not fully powered yet deities proved too strong for the faction to take on 💀 after a couple of failures in both stoping their rituals and in killing one of the newborn gods, the very same young girl from the start of the dream decided that she would support the faction, turning herself into the god she was born to be, so with her support the faction could destroy the other gods and let the world die its natural death.

After that it was basically our faction preparing a ritual of their own and working to keep the other faction's armies at bay so they couldn't interfere with it. Stuff kept going to shit and the ritual kept getting interrupted or requiring extremely difficult to obtain materials to continue. It eventually reached a point where the young girl appointed the mc who rescued her as her champion, and towards the end of the dream they even managed to kill one of the gods, who went to their ritual site to personally stop their summoning ritual.

Unfortunately the dream ended before it could reach a conclusion 😖 whether their faction succeeded in letting the world die, another one finished their ritual first, or even if the young girl's sudden change of heart was 100% sincere remains up in the air. The idea of them succeeding in their ritual but the girl having ulterior motives that she gets to realize once she fully obtains the god level powers the ritual would give her, or somehow perversing their wish with her alien mind, feels right with the tone of those kinds of stories, so I'd go with that as my headcanon ending.

[lolly-dolli]

That wasn't even the weirdest part of the book or the controversy surrounding it either and I'm mad I can't just. Reach into the aether and manifest them IRL to show it to people. I remember being legitimately mad in the dream because the setting was kinda neat but got ruined by the like. Actual plot

Okay so like

The author was this semi-infamous blogger shitlord dude (think like. "Mid-2000s forgotten Channel Awesome member who hopped on the commentary over videos of CRINGE CHILDREN bandwagon for a bit but is really only known for being smug and not that actually funny" energy). I think his only real claim to fame other than being Smug and Not That Funny was a picture of him in a pinstriped fedora holding an empty, still-dusty crystal goblet that he 100% bought from the nearest thrift shop along with the fedora as props for this specific photo and making an overexaggerated DreamWorks face while looking towards the viewer as if they were both privy to something they both considered to be embarrassing happening just offscreen? I VIVIDLY remember the image and that people constantly posted it when dunking on him though)

Anyway, one of the reasons he was semi-infamous was that he was known to have a weird fixation on some badass tomboy gundam-looking anime-type character, and he'd written this weird dark-and-gritty kind-of-fantasy post-apocalyptic novel where the world is all walking dead-y aesthetics wise but instead of zombies there's The Fae, and also part of the apocalypse is that there are "no more true virgins," but still a need for Virgin Sacrifices to The Fae in A Ritual that also involves soup (not like, people soup, the virgin just had to have a bowl of soup near them, I guess), so the meaning of virgin has changed, but somehow still includes not having sex????? Weirdly enough the dude was staunchly atheist, and the book had a bunch of platitudes relating to God being dead, because no loving god could ever have allowed this to happen, only for the main character to go on a Ready Player One-tier "Stop believing in fairytales and wake up," rant. This happens at least three times.

Anyway the thinly veiled self-insert MC and his thinly veiled waifu-insert love interest are both virgins being hunted down by the fae for some reason, except MC is a Big Strong Man Virgin so I guess that means he must protect the cool badass love interest lady even though she is Tough and Not Like Other Girls (keep in mind these are like 30 y/o characters) because she's a Girl Virgin and I guess also some kind of Special Real Virgin, so she's like. The Last True Virgin maybe and the fae want her for like. A Prophecy or something IDK, but also he Saved Himself For Her so that means he's More Worthy Of Her 30-Year-Old Virgin Coochie, I guess.

Anyway the book became a massive meme because you made a video on it and the Funny Thumbnail had a picture of some other Smug Internet Guy the author had beef, possibly over the anime girl, with Starscourge Radahn looming ominously above him as you look at the camera with a very "ő_ő" sort of face while wearing a pretty sick antler crown with Funny Text that said "NO MORE VIRGINS" right above smaller text that said "GOODBYE TROUT POPULATION," which among reviews of books featuring Egg Suns and Oxycodone Hats and Space Squids and Jake Thorn The Demon isn't all that odd, but it took off because of a viral clip someone cut out of you trying to explain, as calmly as one can through trying to hold back raucous laughter, how the love rival (clearly and proudly based off the aforementioned Guy He Had Beef With) got killed by the moon for not being a virgin when he tried to rescue the love interest.

As in, "the moon came down and hit him like a meteor, crushing and killing him instantly," and this is meant to be a 100% serious death in the book. I think the moon itself is implied to have been fae-connected and also somehow a sapient being capable of having decided to be judge, jury and executioner for this one random guy and then just...never be mentioned again, I guess.

The dream ended with me ranting to my friend over discord (after going down an hours-long rabbit hole researching this dude and going more and more batshit as I reported my findings) about how "the stupid 'no more virgins' setup could've maybe worked if they'd gone with the other definition of virgin as 'pure of heart' because the apocalypse happened and now it's like an Appalachian flannel axemurder survival horror nightmare world or something, I dunno, but he was cumbrained and horny for anime woman with a pixie cut who has definitely already canonically fucked so the premise and setting is wasted"

I wish I could recreate the thumbnail it was so so good

Anyway thank you for providing hours of free, weird book-based content both in my waking and unconscious hours, they bring me great joy

I just woke up from a dream where you reviewed a book where the moon is a sapient being that killed a guy for not being a virgin and a clip of you trying very hard to keep your composure while explaining this scene became a bigger meme than the weird dude who wrote it (who was quite odd in his own right)

I wish the moon was a slut shaming god

[writingwithcolor]

Do small hints of a character’s Jewishness work, or do more harm than good?

@oatily asked:

I’m writing a HP fanfic and the mc has a Jewish friend. He’s really politically active, the one who radicalizes mc on stuff like the oppression of werewolves, the slave labor of house elves etc. Generally really smart passionate guy. I grew up atheist and pretty much completely outside of religion. I think I would need to take multiple college courses to fully understand any religion, but I still want to provide good rep. I’ve read a lot of Shira’s blog, but are there any subtle ways to include his faith without having an in depth understanding of the religion? Or should I just not mention his faith at all if I do not completely understanding the details of Judaism? I’m willing to put in the time to research ,and I already have quite a bit, but I think it would take me years and many classes before I felt proficient in my understanding. I guess my question is: Is it enough to put in small hints like the character eats kosher and goes home for Jewish holidays or does only mentioning these surface level things do more harm than good?

WWC NOTE: this question was answered to fill a gap in coding questions around Jewish characters, and it just so happened to be about HP fic. We at WWC, including specifically the Jewish team, do not condone the TERF-ness (or racism, anti-semitism, transphobia, or fatphobia) of JKR. We hope that the principles we used to answer this post will be useful for writers of other fandoms and for original fiction as well.

Mentioning surface level things is fine if they’re the right surface level things.

For example, someone who “goes home for Chanukah” is clearly only going home because that’s when the Christian-rooted school calendar says there’s a holiday, but if someone went home for new year’s (Rosh Hashanah) or Yom Kippur in the fall, or for their family’s Passover seder in the spring, that would feel accurate.

One way you could make sure that your surface level mentions are the right details to add rather than subtract verisimilitude, is to trade beta-readings with a Jewish friend and ask specifically for suggestions of places in the story where the little mentions would make sense. For example, if they’re in a history class and the teacher is talking about a particular time in history when we weren’t allowed in England, the kid might chuckle aside to his friend “my ancestors weren’t even allowed here that year.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_England

(Or less depressing, “oh hey, that’s the same year my folks came here from Russia/Germany/whatever”)

Kids in that series are also sometimes around the right age to become b’nei mitzvah, or to have had that just happen, so “and now on top of all these spells I have to learn my Torah portion?” or to mention some amusing incident that happened at his bar mitzvah reception if it was a couple of years ago, that’s another way to throw in a casual reference. If the kid is magic-born maybe the kiddush cup or fancy pen or whatever that his parents gave him for his bar mitzvah has magic properties. Come to think of it, going home over the weekend for his little sister’s bat mitzvah would be another good thing to work in, speaking of that age.

--Shira

How does the character's faith shape his passion for social justice?

Hello 😊 I love the sound of your activist Jewish character and the fact that the character’s existence actually addresses some of the problems with the source material.

The word you’re looking for is Tikkun Olam, an important Jewish middah (value) that translates to ‘healing the world’. One way to include the character’s faith in the story is to lean into how it shapes his passion for social justice:

· Does he have a particular rabbi or other spiritual leader who is his Tikkun Olam inspo? For example, my brother is Orthodox and vegan, and he loves to quote Rav Kook, a 19th/20thC rabbi and advocate for environmental justice and animal rights, as they exist in Jewish thought.

· Does he have a chavruta (Torah study buddy) and is he learning something that supports his views on discrimination?

· Were his ancestors activists at key moments in Jewish or world history?

As for other aspects of Jewish identity, there is actually already a fanfic about this, so I would recommend starting there. Again, not sharing this in support of JKR’s views – see below – but the fandom belongs to the fans, not the author.

- Shoshi

What does the character do on Saturdays?

I think the key to a lot of other questions about this character is going to be, “What does he do on Saturdays?” That is to say, what denomination is this kid from and how observant is he personally? This may only directly come into play if you’re specifically writing a scene stated to occur on a Saturday, but it’ll inform what mentions of Jewishness even make sense for his character. So let’s think through Jewish life at Hogwarts for a moment:

Denomination:

Are there enough Jewish students that they have a weekly visiting rabbi holding services on campus? Do Jewish students go off-campus to services at Temple Beth Anakim or Congregation Adath Kesem (Reform and Orthodox respectively) in Hogsmeade (I just made them up)? If so, an Orthodox or Masorti group of kids might go to Hogsmeade before dinner Friday and not come back until Saturday night, and thus be missing from action that took place in between, while a Reform group might only be away from Hoqwarts for an hour and a half Friday evening. Or he might choose not to go at all, either because he’s from a secular or non-observant family, or because he’s not comfortable in services for reasons of his own, or because the plot needs him around, in which case maybe pretending to be sick to get out of going to services without raising attention could give him some rounded characterization.

Observance:

As ever a quick reminder that denominational affiliation and personal observance are related but not 1-1 correlated. A character who regularly attends Orthodox or Masorti services might not personally have a problem writing, using money, or doing other activities that observant Jews typically avoid on Shabbat, or they might do them but have Feelings about it, or they might scrupulously avoid them. A character who regularly attends Reform services may not have an inner conflict about doing these things on Shabbat, but they might be sick and tired of being judged by more observant Jews about it--or they might be more personally observant and have to defend that practice around other Reform students.

Now, I’m not saying you have to include a detailed examination of your character’s inner feelings around their Shabbat observance in order to have them pop into the plot, say “Hi, house elves should have rights, see ya later,” but knowing the answer to this will help you come up with what does fit in your plot as far as what’s actually Jewish about your Jewish character.

You offered some beginning thoughts about this, but here are some additional quick questions about Jewish life at Hogwarts:

Does your character keep kosher? Where does kosher food at Hogwarts come from? Does the castle kitchen have a separate kitchen where specially-trained house elves prepare meals for the Jewish students? Is it apparated in from outside? Is it the same, better, or worse than the non-kosher alternatives? If he doesn’t keep kosher, does he have feelings about it? Does he joke about kashrut while eating a cheeseburger (have house elves heard of cheeseburgers?) or does he eat his black bean burger on a separate plate while wishing it tasted as good as your main character’s cheeseburger smells?

Shira mentioned b’nai mitzvah; If your story takes place in year 1, 2, or 3, your Jewish character is not only learning the difference between leviOsa and levioSA, they’re also learning how to decode and pronounce a not-insignificant portion of Hebrew scripture, as well as chant it according to a pre-medieval system of musical notation. Who are they studying with, and when do they practice? If they’re older, then did your main character come to their Jewish friend’s bar mitzvah? Why or why not?

Shoshi mentioned continuing Jewish education and connection: aside from the technical study, how does your character study Jewish history and culture, that he can draw on it to power his progressive politics? A chavruta would be another Jewish student they meet with specifically to study Jewish text, while a Jewish professor might be a role model or may be teaching them extra subjects on the side.

Ultimately, though, what hints you drop that reveal your character’s Jewishness are going to get easier to figure out when you can be confident answering what does your character do on Saturdays.

- Meir

[bloodandrunes]

Are any of the ROs religious? Or have any opinions about the gods? Besides Aariz anyway, he's made it pretty clear what his stance I the subject is

Aariz, Adys, and Zara are all atheists. Aariz’s lack of belief largely stems from trauma, though he still prays from time to time out of habit he picked up from Dalia and a religious MC. Adys doesn’t like being told what to do with his life, and Zara just believes in money lmao.

Idar is agnostic. He doesn’t believe in the gods, necessarily, but on the other hand, he’s not about to run the risk of potentially angering higher powers. So he still goes through prayer routines and the like, just in case. It’s more superstition than any case of real religion.

Ralys is religious, but while she believes in the Pantheon, her attitude towards it gods is relatively neutral. Her take on them is very much, “What have you done for me lately?”

Dalia and ??? are both devoutly religious. What separates them, however is while ??? finds comfort in her religion, Dalia’s own piety is very much a burden to her. Being one of the Blessed (those born with heterochromia), can, ironically, very much be a curse as well.

[ramonag-if]

How Ahlf react if MC ask him what would his god think about the things that he the king and the blood guards had done all In his name

Ahlf didn't believe in any god, not even Solus by the time he left the Blood Guard so he was pretty much an atheist when the MC came to live with him.

Ahlf scoffs, "The gods do not exist for if they did, they would have claimed our lives sooner than the Blood Guards claimed the lives of innocents."

[devildomdisaster]

Home

After dreaming of escaping to some magical world Mc ends up in the Devildom.

Gender-neutral reader

Content warnings: Mc has anxiety. Religion. Atheist Mc. Brief blasphemy on Mc's part. (This does not accurately reflect my views on religion and there is no offense intended).

Lucifer picks a random human to be the second exchange student. Diavolo and the others expect them to be well, human. And they are, just not quite like they are expected to be. They think Mc will be reluctant to leave their whole life behind for a year before they eventually settle into the program. They don’t expect Mc to jump at the chance to escape their life. To be relieved at being anywhere but where they were.

Of course, Mc is scared, they get summoned to literal hell and go to a school full of demons, but some strange part of them is relieved. Sure their whole world got shaken to the core. Sure they went from atheist to finding out hell is real, heaven is real, God is real, which means in Mc's humble opinion, that God has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. Letting humans destroy themselves, and the planet all in the name of free will sounds more like God made a bunch of children then became an absentee parent.

Still though, this may be the single best thing that has ever happened. It’s ironic that ending up in hell makes them happy. But being whisked away from the mundane world has always been an intoxicating dream and who are they to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Finally, they feel something, even if it is jumbled and confusing, it’s better than the numbness they’ve grown accustomed to. Their anxiety doesn’t disappear entirely. That’s not how anxiety disorders work. But everything about life changed so suddenly, so drastically, that it was enough of a shock to the system to cause things to shift in the right direction. There was no longer a need to worry about money, about the suffocating nature of working full-time for minimum wage. Of student loans and the limited prospects their degree provides, despite promises otherwise. Or of the expectations society has for their gender. Besides, it’s hard to feel lost and purposeless when your purpose is just to be, to live, to be irreparably human just so demons can learn about you. They get to feel like there’s a reason for being. They no longer feel as if they must sacrifice happiness for survival.

It doesn’t fix everything. A change in scenery, even a drastic one, doesn’t fix trauma or chemical imbalances in the brain. But it does help. And once they come clean to Lucifer or Diavolo, there is the best magic in the three realms cooked into a potion to treat their anxiety disorder delivered to their door each week. Not to mention it has none of the side effects human medication has.

Over the course of the year, Mc creates a family out of the brothers and exchange students. They learn about themselves and about the three realms. They find things that make them truly happy. They feel free for the first time in a long while. The brothers and the others make them feel valued, wanted, loved for who they are, flaws and all. Of course, they miss their family, but they have also made themselves a family in the Devildom. A good one, it might be a little broken, but it’s a good one nonetheless.

And then the year ends. They send Mc back to the human realm, back to a world that feels less like home than it did when they left. They do their best to go back to their normal life. Back to applying for good exciting jobs and not getting them. Back to nine to five routine. It’s hard trying to pretend everything is normal. Trying to be everything they didn’t have to be in the Devildom. Sure they had to study there but when you are presented with actual magic, studying seems rather more enjoyable.

It’s not all bad though. They see family and friends again, although they can’t be truly honest about where they traveled to last year. They are a long way from where they were a year ago. Maybe they don’t get the jobs they want, maybe rejection still stings just as much as it ever did. But they are far more confident than they ever were before. Braver too. After facing down literal demons your average human isn’t so scary anymore. It gets lonely sometimes, being away from the demons they’d been living with, not seeing the angels or Solomon. But they’ve got their demon sweetheart(s) and found family checking in with them via their D.D.D, which Mc is relieved to find works in the human realm.

It takes a while for Mc to readjust to the human realm, they have to get their feet under them all over again. Maybe they even get better footing this time.

Once they finally start getting their life in order Solomon shows up. For a brief moment, Mc has the urge to stay. To tell Solomon to go to hell, literally, without them. They think about everything they’ve accomplished after getting back and fear having to start over again. They fear leaving their home again and the inevitable homesickness that follows. But the fear is brief and quickly overtaken by the love they have for their demons. Besides home isn’t a place anymore, not really. And when Mc goes to the Devildom for the second time seeing everyone again feels like finally coming home.

[julia-highstorms]

Eli Sipes

I’ve been meaning to make a character profile for both Kiera (my MC) and Eli, and when I found out that there was going to happen a Wake the Dead Appreciation Week (hosted by @wtdapreciationweek ​), I knew this was the perfect opportunity to post it! So, since today’s Eli’s day, here are some things I hc for him as well as his playlist.

Wake the Dead fanfic masterlist

(Look at his smile, he's so handsome)

Character Profile

Age: 28

Birthday: September 3

Star sign: Virgo

MBTI: ISTJ

Height: 5'11" - 180 cm 

Personality: Loner, down-to-earth and slightly pessimistic, (over-)prepared, efficient.

Some headcanons:

Eli is an early riser and late sleeper and has a very light sleep. He sleeps around 5 hours per night. He'd never been much of a sleeper, but after what happened to his family, it got worse.

When he was a kid, he and his brother grew up in a familiar neighborhood full of kids around their age. His best friend was a girl named Riya Patel. (I intend to write about her sometime in the close future) 

Eli was a good student - he was already in school when the apocalypse started -, although he didn't enjoy studying as much as his brother. In an alternative non-apocalyptical universe, he would have aced high school without much effort.

He wouldn't have gone to college right after graduating high school, rather getting a job. He would be pretty good in highly stressful jobs that required a cool head, like a firefighter or paramedic.

Relationship with Kiera:

They hadn't had the best start: she invaded his property with the others. He saved her from a drone but then was ready to shoot her dead. Kiera doesn't have any hard feelings because of this, she knew he was protecting himself.

But Eli was kind enough to give them a safe roof - even if it was brief - and Kiera was thankful that he tried to save Brynn in a shitty situation.

Kiera went to all that trouble to get his family's memoirs to him. Although she had been reckless, Eli was moved by this and started admiring her.

He tried to spare Kiera from seeing Brynn's death, but still felt guilty for not being able to save her - like he wasn't unable to save his own family -, although Kiera understood him.

Their mutual grief on losing their families pushed them to get closer to each other, even though Eli has always tried to set limits.

Their great respect and admiration towards the other - Eli considers Kiera a fair and strong leader, and Eli's the best fighter and most prepared person for the apocalypse that Kiera has ever known -, helped them create this emotional bond and they both started to develop stronger and romantic feelings towards one another.

They are both down to earth and have a realistic view of the world, but Kiera is a bit more reckless and charismatic, while Eli thinks more strategically and is more prudent.

They are both strong willed. Eli struggles to open up and speaking isn't his strongest suit, and Kiera gets angry at it, while he gets mad at her, because he thinks that she puts herself in unnecessary danger.

Despite their differences, he's slowly opening up and she's working on thinking a bit more before reacting. Their admiration, respect, trust and care towards each other definitely will help them keep a long-term relationship.

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Playlist:

Drones - Muse

21st Century Breakdown - Green Day

Devil Town - Cavetown

The Kids Aren’t Alright - The Offspring

When I Was Young - Blink-182

Mad World - Michael Andrews, Gary Jules

Run Boy Run - Woodkid

Reapers - Muse

Natives - Blink-182

Thoughts of a Dying Atheist - Muse

Always - Blink-182

(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult

Future Starts Slow - The Kills

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Tagging: @keviriass @smetje24689 @gipsydanger17 @calliope-luve @euphorichappiness10 @tinfoilhat2719  @kinda-iconic ​ @wtdapreciationweek