#YOU ARE DEFENDING ROOFIEING PEOPLE

[gwandas]

acotar!feyre seeing people claim she wasn't SAed UTM after she washed her mouth out three times after that forced kiss

[northsoulss]

jealousy - leah williamson

(a/n: haven’t written for myself in ages, so have this fun little fic about our fav english footie player😋)

scrolling on your phone, you had just finished your monthly routine of drinking with leah to celebrate the month ending. she had just gone to the bathroom, joking about how she was busting as she waddled her way there. when you heard a glass clink on the table, you looked up to see a gin tonic placed in front of you. “oh, i’m sorry i didn’t order this?” you push the drink away, confused.

“well that guy over there paid for it.” the bartender points to a greasy looking guy, a creepy grin on his face. you grimaced, the bartender sharing a similar look and shrugging before turning back to clean martini glasses.

just as you were about to take a sip of the drink, you felt a firm hand rest on the back of your neck, making you flinch. “you okay? i thought you said you were done for tonight?” you instantly relax knowing it’s leah, but she doesn’t take this as a good sign. you’re on edge, and when you are on edge, she’s on edge. leah looks at your drink, eyeing your surroundings to see if anyone paid for it.

“well i was, i just closed our tab. it’s from that guy.” leah looks in the direction you gestured to and immediately saw the man you were talking about. she looks back at you to see hesitance in your eyes, and she immediately saw red. in a fit of jealousy, she chugged down your drink, slamming it on the table.

“tell him i said thanks.” leah says sarcastically to the bartender, only getting a knowing nod in response. the man’s eyes widened seeing leah’s possessive grip onto your waist, her eyes staring holes at him. he left the bar moments after, leah’s tense hand not leaving your side. you look up to her to see her cleched jaw and furrowed eyebrows — you found her hot as hell in that moment.

“ready to go babe?” she looks down at you, the gentle smile on her face vastly different from how she reacted earlier. you smile dumbly at her, and she hoists you up from your seat, hands not leaving your side till you reached the car.

the car ride home was silent, leah’s hand squeezing your thighs through your dress. you glanced over to see her fist resting against her temple, anger displayed on her face. you only clenched your thighs tighter, only hoping she’d do something to you when you get back home.

instead of her slamming you into the wall and manhandling you as you hoped she would, she helps you take off your coat before going immediately to the bedroom. not a word was said to you after coming back from the bar which was incredibly unusual. not wanting to prod in case something else happened, you sighed and went to shower so that you can get your thoughts off the creep from the bar and leah’s sudden silence.

you knock on your bedroom door and step in, seeing leah standing on the balcony with her bathrobe wrapped around her. worry instantly fills you, thoughts racing and you join her, leaning against the railing. she makes no move to look at you, knuckles turning whiter and she grips her sleeves.

“leah, what’s wrong?” you say gently, your hand finding hers.

“i’m just upset over what happened at the bar..” she mumbles, her fingers now interlinking yours, warmth spreading through her cold fingers.

“what? why?” you couldn’t understand why she was upset over such a small matter — you were over it, and you’re probably not going to go back there for another month or so.

“what if someone roofied your drink? what if i didn’t come in time?” she finally looks at you, eyes wide with anxiety, ceases along the sides of her mouth deepening as you sigh.

“look, baby. nothing happened. you can’t control what other people do, yeah?” she’s now in your arms, face smushed into the crook of your neck. she hums and you feel your entire chest vibrate, your warmth slowly creeping over her cold skin.

“leah, i trust that you’ll be here for me, and you need trust that i can defend myself if things go south. is that okay?” she peeks at you, her frown gone, eyes now peering into yours intensely. she presses a kiss to the corner of your lips, and then one to your forehead.

“i love you.”

“love you.”

©️northsoulss 2024, all rights reserved.

[elysianholly]

This fucking guy

My villain origin story is people claiming that Riley's biggest crime in the series was being boring. He wasn't just boring. He was a passive-aggressive chauvinist who the show bent over backward to defend. A while back on Reddit, I made a list of reasons why Riley sucks. This is that list, and I'm adding to it.

The only reason he punches Parker is because Parker is mouthing off about a girl Riley likes. Everything about this interaction suggests that Riley has heard him say similar before, and hasn't cared until the woman in question was someone he had a vested interest in.

He calls Buffy stupid for not wanting to date him (if this guy slid into your DMs and called you stupid for turning him down, lbr, this would not lead into a healthy, lasting romance)

He immediately puts himself in competition with Buffy. Even at his most inoffensive, he says things like "I don't even know if I could take you."

He has an inherently chauvinistic view of the world (established in The Initiative)

He is upset that Buffy had a significant relationship before she knew him and assumes Buffy boinked Angel in The Yoko Factor

He uses abuser language to excuse his shitty behavior like, "I love you so much I can't think straight."

He decides that Buffy doesn't love him all by himself

When he decides that Buffy doesn't love him, he confides in Xander and doesn't communicate his relationship issues with Buffy

He wants to help Buffy but only in jobs that are "manly." In No Place Like Home, for instance, he nopes out when Buffy suggests he help with the spell to identify what might be wrong with Joyce. Even if there wasn't a lot for him to do, he could, idk, stick around to be moral support for his partner who is trying to figure out what might be attacking her mother. That seems like a pretty standard partner thing to do.

He gets upset that Buffy "doesn't get all worked up over him" the way she did with Angel when "getting all worked up" in CONTEXT means "isn't constantly miserable."

He is sad boi at Buffy in OoMM for also prioritizing her mother's health after she believes Riley is healed rather than sticking around to play nursemaid

He wants Buffy to show emotion over Joyce at a time when Buffy literally cannot (if you've never had a parent in the hospital with a life-threatening illness, maybe you don't know that there are times/places to break down and "in the hospital" where you're supposed to be strong isn't one of them)

He doesn't care that his girlfriend's mother is sick, possibly with something life-threatening; he cares that he got to be the hero of the piece, the shoulder for Buffy to cry on. His only reaction to any of that was to be hurt that Buffy didn't respond the way he thought she should; no concern for her well-being or Joyce's, just Riley getting his feelings hurt because he wasn't the center of Buffy's universe or the rock for her to lean on when all went to pieces

This is further confirmed by the way he just doesn't mention Joyce's absence at all in As You Were. When he leaves Sunnydale, it's after Joyce has had a successful operation. He returns and she's not there and no questions? No condolences? It's because he doesn't care.

He doesn't ask about Buffy's death when she lets him know she died.

He starts separating himself from the Scoobies and then gets mad for not being included

He literally cheats on Buffy with vampire sex workers (there are people who say they were not sex workers, but in a show where monsters are metaphors, you have to be especially dense or willfully obtuse to not realize this is what they are)

Riley intentionally puts himself in a position where he might be killed or turned specifically to SPITE BUFFY, which demonstrates his lack of consideration for what she might have to do later if things go bad

Riley blames Buffy for being roofied by Dracula (again, monsters as metaphor)

He never apologizes or owns that he was unfaithful

He blames his infidelity on Buffy, actually

The first time Buffy learns Riley isn't happy, she's told she should've seen it, which is classic victim blaming and happens from Xander AND Riley (and a good amount of fans who want to excuse that behavior)

He is fine with torturing sentient creatures, and in fact had a stake made specifically so he could torture vampires without killing them

He goes behind Buffy's back all the time

Riley was not boring. If he were boring, he would be inoffensive. Dull to watch but not rage-inducing. But he is rage-inducing because, despite all the passive-aggressive gaslighting bullshit he gets away with, people in this fandom still believe he was "Buffy's best boyfriend." That she was to blame for the deterioration of this relationship. That he was the healthiest of the Buffyverse men. The show does, too. That's why Xander (Wh*don's mouthpiece) gives that sanctimonious little speech to Buffy (the audience in this case) in Into the Woods to scold us for not treating Riley better. Then they double down in As You Were to make Buffy fawn all over herself to let this gaslighting asshole off the hook for everything he put her through.

Riley's sin is not being boring. It's that he was actually awful. Wh*don himself once called Riley a "healthy relationship" for Buffy, and if that doesn't tell you something, there's no talking to you.

[lavenderdreams205]

spn thoughts as requested

tw & spoiler warning

they should have kept the grungy filter and aesthetics from the early seasons

bring back the southern / midwest gothic vibes

dean would've listened to and loved 90's & 2000s grunge - I know that the whole "there's no good music past '79" is a key part of his personality but pre series/early seasons dean is soo nirvana / Weezer / smashing pumpkins coded

there is too much flannel in the later seasons - I miss the carhartt and leather jackets so bad

BRING BACK DEANS JEWELRY

there's so much about cas that we don't know. there's all the episodes where he just isn't there and they never tell the viewers what he's doing or where he went

on the same note, cas's personality isn't nearly as flushed out as sam's or dean's are. who is his favorite musician? what's his favorite place to travel to? why does he like the pimpmobile so much? does he actually like the trench coat or does he wear it just because it's there?

so many people characterize cas as a little guy, and while he is cute, it's important to remember that he's also an incredibly powerful eldritch horror who leads angelic armies and brands Michaels vessel just because

dean is bisexual and in love with cas - I won't take the time to list all of the reasons here, but you can definitely find those reasons somewhere

i would've loved for them to use the handprint as a physical manifestation of their bond instead of having it be just a scar that fades with time

i'm actually really ok with the way cas dies, I think it makes sense for his character and provides closure (for him, at least, not for dean)

the parallels of cas and dean meeting in a barn and then dean dying in a barn

cassie is deans first love, cas is his last

the imagery of the empty as cas's wings in 15x18

why do the subtitles spell cas as cass, its awful

there's a few lines in the early seasons that seemingly reference dean getting roofied / sa'd and are subsequently played for laughs, Jensen Ackles confirmed that dean would've done underage sw when John didn't leave them with enough money. I believe that this trauma is a major reason that dean never accepted his sexuality

the way deans alcoholism is overlooked and joked about is actually insane

having dean be completely ok after 15x18 is also insane, especially after the widower arc where the show specifically shows it's viewers how deeply dean grieves cas when he dies

deans death is literally so stupid. I get that the show is trying to make a really meta point about the characters not having plot armor anymore because chuck is gone, but dean deserved to find peace. if the events of the show had never happened and pre series dean had never gotten pre series Sam back into hunting it would've ended the exact same way - dean dead on a hunt and Sam dying from old age

dean spends as much time on earth as he did in hell, and while he would never be the same, I like to believe that if he had been allowed by the narrative to live longer he would've gotten back a little of the twinkle in his eyes that he had before hell

in 15x20 Bobby says that cas helped rebuild heaven but if he was there he would've gone to see dean. additionally, there's no way cas should have been able to escape the empty. this is such a glaringly obvious plot hole and it drives me nuts

I would've liked to see cas's wings in the show - not just the shadow of them

the only time I tolerate serious discussion of wincest is in the context of ethel cain

i am a Sam disliker - while he does have many positive qualities, I have a really hard time getting past him not looking for dean when he was in purgatory and him joking about deans alcoholism and other traumas

i like Sam the best when he's with Eileen, I think they're adorable together and I'm mad they killed her off

I am a chronic jack defender, that boy has done nothing wrong

it would be interesting to explore cas and jacks relationships with their respective genders

there's no way being forced to murder the dean clones didn't affect cas, we only saw him kill the last one but the first few he had to kill had to have been devastating

i'm really disappointed by 14x13 Lebanon, we get the scene with John and Sam but I would argue that dean has significantly more reasons to be upset with John and it's unfortunate that the episode just glossed over this - I believe a screaming match between the two would have cleared the air a bit and been at the very least cathartic for dean

i'm fairly sure that it's canonical that John sent dean away on his 17th birthday to kill lesbian ghosts. my personal hc is that John suspected that dean was bi and sent him to teach him a lesson

i saw a post on here comparing hunting culture to biker and cowboy culture and viewing those things through a queer lens and I thought it was fascinating - there's so much spn could've done if it cared about the show more than money and losing viewers

every time cas and dean beat the shit out of each other, it serves as further proof of their relationship rather than discrediting their relationship - ie demon dean and cas fighting in the library is used to parallel Cain and Collette. it could even be assumed that their love is stronger because Cain killed Collette but dean left cas alive

The purgatory love triangle was so silly

once dean worked through all of his trauma and toxic masculinity he would've been a swiftie

all of the main characters have old / vintage cars but in like season 13/14 dean sam and cas just collectively own and use this really ugly silver truck from the 2010s. its such a small detail but it absolutely ruins my viewing experience every time I see it

dean is actually really smart but most of the fandom overlooks it because Sam is characterized as the smart one. if you know anything about cars you know it takes an insane amount of brains to build a car from scratch (he did this with baby multiple times throughout the show) also he just makes an emf meter using basically nothing. if dean had been given the same opportunities he gave Sam, he would've been an engineer or something

i will always be a John hater, if this man has 0 haters, I am dead

[nobedofroses]

October 31st

pairing: warlock!Joel Miller x f!reader

warnings: mentions of magic taking away consent, kidnapping, restraints and blindfold, alcohol, being roofied, but I will spoiler that none of this is done by Joel!

words: 1.7k

a/n: Okay, so I had a hard time coming up with this and while some of the lore is kinda wild, I think i liked where it ended up. (also this is au!joel, so he's less grumpy and more talkative.) Kinda fun, and open ended in some ways for you! thanks for reading this october! Happy Halloween!!

🎃🎃🎃

You weren’t sure where you were. You had been plied with drinks that you were now sure were laced with something by members of the town council. They said that you had been chosen for this Hallow’s Eve sacrifice to the warlock that held the fate of the town in the palms of his magical hands. You thought the drinks had been to calm you down since you had gotten a little hysterical. Not that anyone could blame you since you were ostensibly being given up to kill. Now you knew the drinks were to make it easier to bring you here, so you couldn’t put up a fight. Wherever here was. 

The council had said that you were chosen by lottery, but you wondered. You were an unmarried, childless woman who had not remained chaste and “pure” as all unmarried women were expected to. But since you lived on the outskirts of town and kept to yourself, you never thought the choices you made would come back to bite you. Apparently the wrong people had been paying too close attention. 

Coming back to the present, you decided to test how much you could move. Your arms could turn over but not lift past a couple inches, restraints on your wrists attached to the cot it felt like you were on. Your legs could move apart but were the same in that you could lift them up. You definitely weren’t naked but based on the amount of air you could feel around you, it was something that was thin and didn’t cover much. 

The worst part was that you couldn’t see anything, you had a blindfold on and maybe if it had been light you could’ve seen light at the edges but it must have been dark wherever you were. You weren’t gagged but there was no point in screaming as the people who were in charge put you where you were and you knew everyone else was scared of them. 

But that didn’t mean you weren’t scared. You were likely just minutes from death. Whenever the warlock showed up he would consume the energy of your soul or stab you or whatever warlocks did to their victims. You weren’t sure because you’d never seen a warlock victim. Which meant they all died. 

Your breathing was rapid as your mind spiraled and you wondered if maybe you’d have a heart attack before he could get to you. But you stopped short, held your breath when you heard footsteps. They were unmistakable and you panicked further, finally finding your voice. 

“Who’s there? Who are you? What are you going to do to me?” you called out, your voice shaking. 

“Do to you? I like to think of it as ‘do with you,’” came a deep man’s voice, a soft twang present in it that matched the people who had lived in your town their whole life.

“Then w-what? What with me?” you amended bitterly. 

“That depends on you,” the man said. 

You scoffed, “If it were up to me, you’d let me go.” 

“Mmm, can’t do that. If I let you go, you have to go back to your town,” he told you. 

“And?” you didn’t understand why he made it sound like that’d be so horrible.

“Well, it was your town who sent you here. If I wanted to punish you, I’d send you back there. If you complete the ritual with me, then I can let you go somewhere much better than that place. It’s not like you liked livin’ there, right?” he asked, casually making this wild conversation. 

“I— I liked my house,” you defended. 

“There are houses in many other places than there,” he said and you knew your argument was terrible. 

You changed tack, “Well, if you think what they’re doing is so horrible, then why don’t you tell them to stop sending you sacrifices?” 

“Would that I could, sweetheart. The town is cursed because of somethin’ someone in my family did for the town council and I only have enough power to counteract the curse and keep it from killin’ everyone with the sacrifice. And I can’t deal with any of them directly because people can’t enter or leave the town except for the sacrifice,” he explained. 

You sighed deeply, not feeling any better for being correct that he was going to have to suck out your soul’s power to fuel his own. 

“The whole town will die if I don’t?” you asked, thinking that maybe if it was only the council that was going to die you’d be okay with it. 

“Die? That’s not what the sacrifice is. Sorry, shoulda explained better. The sacrifice is your deepest desire,” he told you and suddenly there was a hand stroking down your arm. You got goosebumps even though his hand was warm and tried not to shiver. 

Obviously, not dying was good. But you still didn’t understand, “What if my deepest desire is to live? Does that mean nothing happens? Or am I giving up living? What—” 

“Okay, I’ll be more explicit. If I fulfill your deepest sexual desire, the strength of your lust is what I will draw power on. Does that make sense?” he said in blunt terms that completely shocked you. 

“What are you, some kind of sex warlock?” you asked incredulously. 

“No!” he sounded affronted like he knew some sex warlocks and he did not like being compared to them. “It’s because the original spell that brought on the curse was in aim to take away people’s ability to consent or not consent to sex. It was fucking horrible and that’s why magic cursed them and so now to hold off the killin’ part of the curse, I have to draw power from truly consensual desire.”

Your head was spinning, but your focus caught on one aspect of what he said, “Wait, what if the sacrifice doesn’t consent.” 

You heard his weight shift and he hesitated, almost like he was… embarrassed? 

“Well that— it hasn’t been a problem yet,” he finally admitted. 

That surprised you. All the other women who had been chosen the last decade had been down to fuck this random warlock to protect the very people that put them in this place and had tried to do worse to others? Was he just like ridiculously handsome? Hung? This whole situation was melting your brain. Maybe that was why the other women did it. After he explained everything, they were so confused they would let anything happen. 

“Here, now that you know you’re not gonna die and hopefully won’t try to kill me, I’ll undo your restraints.” 

No promises, you thought to yourself but didn’t say anything. You felt those large, warm hands undoing the restraints at all of your limbs and then reached up yourself to snatch off the blindfold and sit up. 

Even though it was dim in the room, any sort of light was blinding for a second and you had to blink and rub at your eyes for a moment before you could see anything clearly. Finally, the man came into focus. 

Suddenly the consenting part made a little more sense. If you had seen this man at the local tavern, you probably would’ve tried to lure him back to your place to fulfill some desires. He was tall, broad, with dark brown hair dusted with grey and strong features. The beard was also very intriguing. You briefly wondered what it would feel like between your thighs. 

Then you tried to shake yourself out of it, because here you were, lusting after this man that the town council had chosen for you to fuck. This was so fucking strange. 

“What now? I don’t consent,” you told him, just to cover your bases. 

He held up your hands, which wasn’t the placating gesture he thought it was because your eyes were immediately scanning the size of them, imagining them against your skin. Fuck, was there an aphrodisiac being pumped into the room? 

“How ‘bout we just get to know each other?” 

An hour later and you knew a lot more about this Joel. If what he said was true, if his name was even Joel. But you found yourself believing him. He was earnest and seemed honest and the more you two talked, the more comfortable you felt. You started to rationalize that even if you were going to sex with him because you were chosen by a group of terrible people and because of their terrible deeds, it wasn’t like it was such a chore. Like you had thought before, you would’ve been interested in him regardless, if you had been able to leave the town or he had been able to visit. And a chance to get your deepest desire fulfilled? That didn’t come around everyday. He was magic, so he should be able to make it happen no matter what, right? 

And then you could leave. You wouldn’t even want to go back for anything, just take off for a better place with better people and better opportunities. And, the good people in town wouldn’t die! 

It was like Joel knew the moment you had changed your mind before you said anything. He asked, “Are you ready to tell me your deepest desire now?” 

Your whole body got warm, with embarrassment, with anticipation, with desire. 

“Yeah.” 

You told him. His eyes went wide and then a grin grew on his face. “You’re not gonna believe this, but I think you just described the deepest desire I didn’t even know I had.” 

The next day, you and Joel discovered that the town’s curse was broken. Apparently two people’s deepest desires being fulfilled at the exact same time carried enough power for Joel to break the curse. As soon as it was done, Joel reported the town council to the rest of the town’s residents and they were dealt with accordingly. No more would these terrible people trap the rest of the town with their wrongdoings. 

You and Joel took off, together, the next day, after celebrating the victory at the local pub. You did lure him back to your house for one last round of fulfilling desires before you got on the road.

🎃🎃🎃

[fandomwe1rd0]

In defense of Morty

I mean...I did one of these for the drunk, abusive, old man...it's only fair if I do one for the sweet, good-natured grandson whom he traumatized.

Now, like the Rick one, I will not be defending Morty's actions despite the title. While I think Morty is A LOT more easy to defend than Rick, I will not be defending him, I seek to understand why he did what he did, and not to defend it. Cool? Cool.

Sooo let's choose 3 especially bad things he did. One of them is ask Rick to make a love potion for Jessica...that was...oof...yeahhh that was bad. 2nd is killing innocent people in purge planet that was...something. And last but not least, killing people while using the death crystal. This will be an interesting one folks!

Okkk let's start off with him asking Rick to make a love potion for Jessica, sweetie, I love you but this wasn't cool. Rick wasn't too far off when he called it a "roofie-juice serum" you're making someone do something they normally wouldn't do so you can uh...do...activities with them. Not cool sweetheart. But, this was done to show Morty's naivete. In season 1, he was all in all a pretty innocent and naive boy, I mean, he was TRAUMATIZED the first time he shot someone in season 1, now he's cool with shooting anyone. Season 1 was about breaking down that innocence, asking for a love potion is a pretty childish idea, since when you're a kid, you don't think too hard about consent or any of that, and think that if you give them a love potion, that's the equalivilent to consent, obviously now we know that's not true, but when you're a kid, it doesn't really sink in and, like it or not Morty is, wait for it, a kid. He also DEFINETILY does NOT have a healthy view on what love is, due to his parents being to only adults in his life besides Rick, and Rick has cynical views on love, and his parents argue all the time. He doesn't know what love is, and that would probably be the healthiest thing to "love" in his books. Is it healthy? No. But since he doesn't know what healthy love is, he would consider that healthy. He also acknowledges that he was partially to blame, while Rick takes none of the blame. Why are people so much harsher to Morty about this than they were to Rick? Rick is the adult. The smartest man in the universe. He should've been smart enough to refuse it, but he didn't. He never accepted his part of the blame, but Morty did. What Morty did wasn't right, but he doesn't know what healthy love is, which is a part of why he's obssessed with Jessica.

Okkk next up Purge Planet! Oh boy what an episode. So quick brief on what he did in this episode, he went to a planet that was purging. Morty at first was hesitant to participate in it, wanting to just go home and not watching the purge, at first he was pretty clearly on the side of good, but eventually gets into it and goes out of his way to kill people who were purging, but even some innocent people that were just trying to hide. He was clearly not in the right headspace, he was letting all the repressed rage he's been bottling up for who-knows-how-long. Now while death and destruction don't really matter in this universe, so it isn't that bad in the context of the show, I already started writing this soooo it's too late to turn back. Besides there's not that many outwardly bad things this kid did soooooooooo. Alright back on track, now, obviously not defending murder (unless it's the murder of mr. Jellybean or Planetina fuck them bitches) but let's take a look at the person who he spends most of his time with. You guys know who it is. Rick! Now Rick is a pretty violent person, he usually kills in self defense, but there was a handful of times where he didn't. Most famously Mr. Jellybean, we can all agree that he deserved it though. Now Morty hangs around Rick all the time, and Rick forces him to shoot people, the very first time was in the pilot, where he told Morty to cover for him and when Morty said no, Rick lied about the people chasing them being robots. There were mutiple times where he has been forced to shoot people. And Morty clearly holds a lot of resentment towards Rick, I mean it's clear as day, he even threatened to kill Rick in this very same episode, Rick forcing Morty to be violent, along with the repressed rage he has, is a lot on the little guy. So when he finally has a chance to let out that repressed rage, no matter how unethetical, he's going to do it. Is it right? Ha. No. But we are not here to defend him, we are here to understand his actions better. And it's worth mentioning that he felt horrible afterwards, Rick very rarely feels guilt for his actions, yet people give him a lot of flak, Morty feels guilt and is a literal child. He deserves more slack than people give him, his actions here were not right, but combinding the repressed rage, stress, and violence, this makes perfect sense.

Last up! The crystal episode, now the episode starts with Morty leaving Rick for dead. He attempted to shoot Rick in season 3, so this isn't all too surprising, besides, Rick does treat Morty pretty horribly on a day to day basis, so it makes sense that Morty would be done with it by now, I would've been done with Rick after season 1. Besides, that's not the real issue here, the real issue is how many innocent people he killed in the process. So another quick brief on this episode, Morty finds a crystal that tells you how you're gonna die. Despite Rick saying the crystals aren't useful, Morty uses one of them nonetheless, he sees that if he does things in a speific way, he will be able to die with Jessica, so he does exactly what he needs to do so he can die with Jessica. This is more proof on his obssession with Jessica, but we already covered it, so I will not elaborate on it. So, he kills people so he can die with her. I will do a quick kill count, he kills appromiately (This is an extermely rough estimate)

2 bullies. (One bully wasn't killed but was stuck to the wall)

Servely injured 2 policemen (They were still alive but permentently disfigured)

17 miltary people (Damn)

And that's about it. I'm fandomwe1rd0, and this has been the kill count, (heh, dead meat reference)

Ok so he kills a lot of people here, like a lot. But also, Morty just isnt happy in his life. Really Jessica is what makes him happiest, which might also be an explaination for his obssession with her, but that's a topic for another post, maybe, if people are interested. Now he sees a way he can be with her, and he'll do anything to chase that happiness, it's not right, it's not healthy, but he wants to be happy so bad that he'll do anything. He also takes responibility for his actions, which is something Rick doesn't do, so cut Morty some slack, ok?

Now all of the things I've mentioned are very, very bad. But I like seeing how we can understand these characters and see the reasons why they do what they do, they always have a reason for it, and that's a testamate to how great the show is and how human the characters are. Morty has done a lot of bad, but there are reasons behind them that show us the poor broken scared kid that Morty really is.

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

Seeing Ian in season 1 puts into perspective the amount of BS he had to go through. Like when I think of things I wish were addressed with more weight, Ian's abuse at the hands of older men is one of them. I know Ian doesn't see it that way but others do (Mickey and Lip) and it feels like it's constantly glossed over. Lip says he wanted to call the police on Kash but he couldn't bring himself to do it. A scene of that would've reinforced just how wrong it is, instead of the situation ending with Kash is a sad middle-aged man and that's why Ian shouldn't want him. Not, Kash is a predator and Ian is a victim.

We can also talk about how both Lip and Debbie are victims of grooming. Grooming was never seriously addressed on the show.

i’m actually so pissed that grooming was never addressed as it was such a big issue for ian, debbie, lip, and also kind of carl but not really (with lori i think her name was, his boss). the only time grooming is ever brought up is with tami but it’s just a one episode thing and it’s irrelevant to the plot tbh.

ian’s situation devastates me because he never ends up thinking it’s wrong. he was constantly objectified by these older men he was with, too. to them he was seen as just a “boy toy” or the “forbidden fruit”. not only were his relationships with kash and ned creepy, but the guys at the club, too. for example, the one who dragged him out of the club, barely conscious, after giving him a roofie. ian graciously accepted the pill like he was used to it, and he probably was. he let this guy drug and grope him, and i always see people saying “imagine what would’ve happened if mickey hadn’t come” and i’ll tell you what would’ve happened, he would’ve been raped. and i can guarantee you with how used to it he was, it had happened before. and i’ll say more about this with lip and debbie, but i firmly believe the reason he indulged into these relationships was to fill the void frank created.

debbie’s situation is also devastating. if you recall, when lip was trying to convince ian that what happened with kash was wrong/grooming people is wrong, he said “ok so what if it was debbie and a 30 year old dude”, ironically, in the next season she gets with a 20 year old dude who for some fucking reason, a good percentage of the fandom sympathizes with/sides with. here’s the real deal: matty groomed her. he was into her, knowing she was 13, but didn’t want to have sex with her, in fear of himself going to prison. prison was the only thing stopping him, he said it himself that he thought she was sexy and wanted to. and before anyone says anything about how debbie did tell him she was 16 at first when he first started to like her, he could obviously tell. the point was that it was obvious she was lying. and yeah, what debbie did was wrong. i’ve said a lot about this before, but what he did was wrong, too. he led her on, flirted with her, promised to have sex with her, slept in the same bed as her, and also talked to all of her friends for some reason, he was a creep!! no grown adult should be hanging out/flirting with an adolescent girl, and it scares me that people defend him. like i said with ian, she was trying to fill a void. not only that, but she was mirroring fiona’s actions. she had seen her sister get into unhealthy relationships, so she did just. and the worst thing was debbie didn’t even like him, it was just comphet. so it was some adult with a one-sided crush on a teenager. creepy. at this time, frank was dying and fiona was working/locked up, she needed attention because she was lacking it, so she went to him for it because she knew he’d give her it.

lip’s situation i have less to say about because technically, he was an adult, but regardless, it was creepy as fuck. more so, his attachment to her was creepy. this is what happens when you get groomed, you grow attached. and lip was so fucking attached it destroyed him when she ignored him. like his siblings, this was to fill the void a parent created. but this time, frank isn’t responsible, monica is. i’ve never really spoken about this despite having a lot to say, but lip and monica’s relationship effects him a lot. i hate to say this, but he’s treated women like shit because of it (i’m not saying he always does, but he has- i’ll explain more in depth sometime) and his mother abandoning him clearly altered his perspective on women. i think that monica leaving made him (and every other sibling, especially debbie) grow attached easily, and i think it also made him lose respect for some women because he just saw his mom in them. i saw a post that explains this a lot better than i am right now so if i find it i’ll definitely link it so it makes more sense.

[chloe-caulfield94]

A Miracle I Chose Not to Perform - a LiS fan poem

On a surprisingly sunny and warm day in October

a genuine miracle was about to happen

In spite of the consequences of their actions

(and fitting conclusions to their character arcs)

emerging from the ocean and coming their way

the following wonderful people would be spared:

A promising young artist would be allowed

to keep making his haunting works

after just a brief three year stay

in an institution run by those

who clearly fail to comprehend

that in pursuit of real art

sacrifices must be made

Some shallow graves simply need to be filled

with whores

I mean sluts

I mean models

if truth and beauty are to be discovered

An ambitious businessman would be allowed to keep

the spirit of entrepreneurship alive

by selling his intoxicatingly enticing wares

to the most challenging customers of all – schoolchildren

And I’m sure that such a nice, hard-working man

would soon find a new, suitably young match

to replace the one he killed with his product

One that would understand

that after a hard day’s work

(and tasting his own stash)

a “man” has the right to explode into a blind rage

A devoted school principal and brave boys in blue

would be allowed to keep supplementing their incomes

(which are absolutely inadequate, when you factor in how much they care about the people they teach, protect and serve)

with envelopes coming from

a pillar of local community

for keeping the young artist’s career

under wraps

A valued member of the student body

would be allowed to teach

many a more stuck-up prudes

a lesson using her phone camera

having never been made aware

that other people have feelings too

All those wonderfully revolting things

would be allowed to happen

for a low tall Price

of just one murdered girl

What is the murder of a single girl

if it allows the putrid entrails

of a scenic Oregon town

to keep on churning

An irrationally angry girl

who had the audacity to confront

the boy who'd merely roofied her

Big deal!

He only wanted to

do something beautiful to her

and he would have

had she not unceremoniously fled

while she was still alive

How rude!

But you can’t expect class

from a scholarship kid in tattered clothes

Forgive my sarcasm dripping from the page

I will now speak plainly

The miracle described above I chose not to perform

I decided that just this once

friendship

should carry more weight

than the cruelty of evildoers

One ghoul pierced her heart

with a bullet-tipped spear

Another placed a red crown of thorns

on her forehead

Conquering her fear she didn’t cry

„Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani”

No, instead she handed me

the final nail

and begged me to hammer it

so that others might live while she would die

But despite her bravery

in the face of oblivion

(or perhaps because of it)

a blue-winged seraph was sent down

to defend her life

Nobody would miss her

the promising artist said

and if I had let her cross be raised

I would’ve proven him right

Nothing ever is worth someone

being murdered

Nothing ever is worth someone

dying alone, abandoned, hopeless and afraid

And for that reason

unlike two millennia ago in Palestine

expiation was denied

to those who required it the most

but deserved it not

I made sure of that

by pulling the would-be Christ of Arcadia Bay

down from her cross

Even though two nails

had already been driven

her hands, feet, heart and brow

bear no holes

My supposed crime is digging out of her heart

a bullet fired by

the promising artist

Shouldn’t the fault lie with the one

who aimed the gun and pulled the trigger?

I never claimed to be a hero

and if saving a friend's life is a sin

then I’m the greatest sinner

(and unrepentant one at that)

Once you cut out all hope

from your own friend’s heart

and you nail their body to a cross

once you’re smiling over their coffin

bloody knife and hammer in your hands

once you selfishly reduce

the light of their life

to a memory locked away

in your brain

then you can judge me

But know that

I don’t care about the verdicts

of ghouls

Isn’t it written

that whoever saves a life

is considered to have saved

the whole world?

So by digging the bullet out of her heart

I saved her world

my world

our world

the world

She was the Price to be paid

for sparing Arcadia Bay

from its fate

I refused that bargain

because who in their right mind

would pay with the world

for a town?

All the fine people described at the begininng

casual in their cruelty

banal in their evil

learnt an important lesson

(and for some of them it was their last):

sometimes hatred and disdain sown

become a Storm reaped

So on an unsurprisingly cold and stormy day in October

the miracle turned out to be

how such a tiny town could've fit

so much cruelty

before it burst at the seams

and that the seeds of the Storm

sown by its dwellers every day

took that long to yield crop

[belle-keys]

The People versus Grace Blackthorn (Meta)

So this is Part 3 of my little breakdown of the characters in The Last Hours, and here we have one of my favorite characters. I invite you to listen to Meg Myers as you read. Here we have Grace Blackthorn, who I would argue is one of Cassie's most complex and sympathetic female characters and antagonists across all series.

Preface: I will reference sexual abuse and grooming a few times in this (not in detail though), so just keep that in mind. Also please note that I absolutely recognize from the get-go what Grace did to James, Charles, Matthew, and others was indeed sexual assault (or at the very least, is akin to it) and that the bracelet was the magical equivalent of a roofie. I'm not particularly interested in breaking down Grace's actions or their obvious, undebatable moral depravity as much as I'm interested in her intentions, her childhood, her emotions, her complexity, and her character's treatment in the story. And moreover, I wanted to write this just because people in this fandom generally have no appreciation for nuance in a woman when men are somehow always forgiven, even for making indefensible choices.

This is not so much a defense of Grace Blackthorn as it is a deep dive into the awful treatment of her character by other characters in the context of the story and also by the narrative. A heads-up: While this isn't really about my personal feelings, I didn't particularly like what the story did with and did to Grace Blackthorn. If you absolutely hate Grace or characters that are like Grace, characters who have done unspeakably awful things and yet remain not merely the sum of their acts, then just skip this, because I have more favorable things to say about her character than about the way the story handled said character in Chain of Thorns.

Grace's Bitter Ending

It's quite strange how Cassie chose to wrap up Grace's arc in Chain of Thorns, because there was definitely a shift in the treatment of her character. Grace's character arc felt incomplete at best, which is really the only way I can think to describe her character's journey in ChoT despite the story having humanized her for the entirety of Chain of Iron. Grace Blackthorn wasn't villainized by the narrative, let's get that straight, Grace did actions to villainize herself, but the other characters in Chain of Thorns have even less of a nuanced perspective on Grace Blackthorn's background and story than the readers do, which is saying a lot.

Grace's arc ends on an acrid note: She has no friends, her relationship with Jesse has been permanently tainted, the one person in the main ensemble who was willing to defend her is quite dead, and she has retreated to the fringes of society. No, I'm not implying that she needs to be forgiven by James or any character for what she did - that's not even something I'm factoring into this discussion, and her forgiveability and forgiveness by the good guys is neither here nor there. But the path was paved for Grace to have a redemption arc, and you could also argue that she did what she needed to do to have said redemption in the context of the narrative, even if she didn't get redeemed in the eyes of the characters. But she got neither, which makes for a hollow conclusion to a stunning morally grey character. I was not expecting sympathy from the other characters towards Grace inasmuch as I was expecting a ChoI-esque sympathy from the narrative, especially considering that we're that she willingly went to the Silent Brothers, confessed to Cordelia about the gracelet, finished developing fire messages, and also helped the gang save London without expecting forgiveness in return for her actions. If we were to separate our personal morals from the equation, we would see that Grace's lack of a solid conclusion in ChoT, despite the story's obvious success in humanizing her and explaining her actions prior, makes an unflattering point: that redemption is simply unavailable to some, despite all the precedence in the world.

Chain of Thorns failed to reconcile the sympathetic, humanizing elements of Grace that we were given in Chain of Iron with the overall plot, the characters' perceptions of her, and with the narrative. It's incongruous, and it’s incredibly black-and-white storytelling that has only pushed for the demonization of Grace's character.

Burning the Witch

Most of the fandom's hatred for Grace started in Chain of Gold, and I have a hard time believing it's just because Grace was immediately characterized as this apathetic, gothic ice princess. The reality is that most readers already hated Grace before they even realized she was involved in shady demon bracelet shenanigans. And it's because she was getting in the way of their ship, that is, Jordelia, which, in some sick and ironic twist of fate, is part of the reason half the fandom also hates Matthew. Yes, I ship Herondaisy as much as any of you, but that's beyond the point. What I'm saying is that it seems so many people hate Grace and have been calling for her death or for her Marks to be stripped because their vitriol comes from a place of... shipping wars, and not offended morals. But it also comes from a place of internalized misogyny (which is very easy to apply to Grace, as she's not just a female antagonist, but also a very soft and feminine female character). After all, Grace's own femininity and Tatiana's own internalized misogyny were the factors that facilitated Grace's seemingly inherent capacity as a villainess in the trilogy. Let me say that again: Grace was forced to be the villain by virtue of her womanhood. Such a progressive trope! Some of Grace’s hate also comes from the fact that Grace (and Alastair) are perhaps the most relatable characters of the The Last Hours gang. The global readership is in no way as wealthy or as privileged as James or Lucie or Cordelia. The readership of The Last Hours, however, can keenly relate to Grace's isolation and loneliness because we all spent almost two fricking years trapped in our dorms and houses because of quarantine and social distancing. And frankly, on a purely statistical basis, most people's parents are likely to display qualities more akin to Tatiana’s than Tessa’s. I cannot think of a fourteen-year-old in the world who would not listen to the orders of the one person on whom they're entirely dependent, especially when it's an abusive caregiver who's involved lest they face death, abuse, or exile. Grace is a lonely, isolated girl who's been repeatedly sexualized in the story, who has no friends, and who struggles with her own actions and feelings, and that is incredibly relatable to a 21st-century adolescent female audience which definitely can explain, in part, the pitchforks. It's not an easy experience to see a piece of yourself in the villain.

The Venn Diagram of Victims and Perpetrators

Let’s bring some facts into the discussion, and a lot of what I have to say here are things that this post by @thousand-winters and the anon in the post reminded me about (so thank you). Grace was repeatedly hit by Tatiana and she was forcibly pimped out in Paris by Tatiana to seduce grown men when she was twelve. She was dependent on Tatiana and the threat that she would be cast out into the world or hurt if she did not obey. She was brainwashed by Tatiana to think the Herondales and Lightwoods were her enemy, was forced to put the bracelet on James when she was fourteen, and likewise, it was made quite clear that Grace took no pleasure in serving Tatiana. Grace was also prohibited from being a Shadowhunter, or at least, from training as one. She was interrogated by the Silent Brothers repeatedly (even in jail she wasn’t safe), and was prohibited from having any friends or companions, save her dead brother (who she was also commanded to seduce). It is correct that Grace was a perpetrator by the very definition of the word, but why is it always that this negates readers’ recognition that she was also a victim of her own circumstances, a victim of unspeakable trauma herself? And despite all of that, she was not even given the honor or closure of finally killing Tatiana.

And what’s worse is that the other characters who experienced trauma in their own stories, like James and Cordelia, got extremely favorable endings and closure to their individual traumas, as it was recognized that they indeed faced trauma. Grace’s own childhood trauma, none of which she was responsible for, was never addressed by other characters nor by the narrative as something from which she rightfully deserved healing. Despite the intense suffering she has undergone and the hand she’s dealt in life, it seems that what she has faced as punishment is still not enough the appease the readership’s bloodlust. The clash between her nature and her nurture was not even weakly echoed in the story’s conclusion. It was never recognized by the characters or by the narrative that Grace could indeed be the biggest perpetrator as much as the biggest victim of abuse, of grooming, of isolation, or of helplessness. Chain of Thorns, most of the main ensemble, and even the fandom have refused to acknowledge that multiple things can be true at once, thereby stripping Grace, à la lack of media literacy, of her complexity of feeling and of the harsh multiplicity of her character. Chain of Thorns, by virtue of Grace’s bitter ending (see first subsection), has ordered for Grace the sentence of Hell when a contemplation of Limbo is far more appropriate. How is it that we can sympathize with Sebastian Morgenstern by virtue of five poetic last words and yet refuse to acknowledge the complexity of Grace’s character after three whole books of backstory and explanation? Grace cannot and will not be absolved by the fandom, because the parts of her that warrant any absolution have been erased and neglected.

Kit Lightwood, Attorney at Law

As you can tell, I've been having some fun with my titles and subtitles. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Christopher was supposed to be that voice in the narrative that saw the nuance and acknowledged the shades of grey that comprise Grace Blackthorn (quite literally - her literal color palette is grey and silver, which is neat; it speaks to flecks of dust and the glint of blades). He was the only person in Chapter 24 who spoke in favor of Grace, in that he did not excuse her actions but pleaded for a degree sympathy towards her. This was perhaps my favorite thing that Christopher Lightwood has ever done, but then he immediately died. Grace Blackthorn was left to the jury without counsel after that. That scene was difficult for me to read, and not because anything James and the gang said was untrue (nothing they said was untrue about her). But rather it seemed like that entire conversation was designed, in tone and metatextual treatment if not in content, to remind us who were the good guys, the heroes, the victims. And yet again, the scene failed to acknowledge in any way, save Christopher, that Grace's own actions of perpetration were directly a result of her own victimhood. I don't believe she's owed forgiveness or sympathy, and I don't think there's any ethical argument you can make to say that she should be forgiven either (that doesn't factor in at all). But again, there was a failure to acknowledge that she was also a groomed child and that she was Tatiana's ward and pawn, someone simultaneously volitional yet powerful. I was especially surprised at Jesse's own lack of awareness of the fact that Grace had little to no choice in her actions. There was no recognition of the reality that Grace was severely mistreated and hurt by Tatiana because she was a girl (note that Jesse was loved by Taiana by virtue of him being male and the Blackthorn heir), because she was not Tatiana's blood (something Tatiana reminded her about), and because she was given the power of ensorcellment against her own will because she was a pretty girl. At best, Jesse was incredibly blind to what Grace suffered, and at worse, he was so protected by his male privilege in Tatiana's household that he failed to acknowledge the part that Grace's own evil powers played in bringing him back to life. Moreover, he has clearly been bestowed in Chain of Thorns a personality and unshakeable moral code that was designed to immediately ingratiate him to the Thieves and their own sense of, uh, impenetrable and sanctimonious honor. His own instantaneous condemnation of Grace reveals an obliviousness at best and unbelievable apathy at worst, and Jesse Blackthorn is the last character for whom this response made sense.

Conclusion: Estella can’t come to the phone right now because she’s dead

By way of conclusion, I'd like to say that I thought Grace was a promising retelling of Dickens' Estella at the start. And Cassie has explicitly stated that the idea behind Grace was to explain such a character rather than to make her sympathetic, which, Cassie has somewhat succeeded in. Nonetheless, Grace's character did absolutely nothing new with Estella and nor did it allow for a fair deconstruction of the femme fatale trope. We know little of who Grace Blackthorn is, despite having a very clear picture of her motivations, her background, and her emotions. And it's weird because we do have brilliant, complex, nuanced characters like Alastair and Matthew in The Last Hours. Grace Blackthorn has been stunted by her abuse, her upbringing, by her powers, by the gracelet, but also by her place in the story from a metatextual perspective, facilitating a slow and deliberate fandom crucifixion across all platforms. And all I'm left with is... why?

[1800naveen]

Shout-out to @wingsdippedingold for making the post about how Tik toks find UTM Feyre and Rhysand romantic! Click here for the post!

I'll see Tik toks like that when I scroll on the search page and it awakens something in me. Like I'll be wishing heinous shit on people who romanticize it. There's this one with Feyre, Rhys, and Tamlin that went like this: Feyre, dancing the night away. Rhysand, watching out for her. Tamlin, just sitting there.

"Tamlin didn't do anything to help Feyre!" Amarantha was watching that man like a hawk. If he showed emotion to Feyre, the situation would escalate and that's not good for anyone. And he sent her away because he KNEW that he wouldn't be able to help her. Do people forget book 1? Too busy finding UTM hot to remember.

"Rhysand did what he had to do to protect Feyre! He's a good guy!" He drugged her with faerie wine and made her dance for him. When she would go throw up, he made her dance for him again and again until she threw up. RHYSAND GIVING BILL COSBY A RUN FOR HIS MONEY!! (Will be making a post about these two later, after I take a nap).

"UTM Feysand, so hot!" What happened to Feyre, I hope it happens to you. That's the equivalent of a random putting a roofie in your drink. Let that happen to you, it won't be romantic anymore, will it?

You guys know that audio that "That's why yo mama dead"? Will be making a Rhysand slander post to that later.

To anyone who defends Rhysand about his actions UTM:

[box-architecture]

"So Dream's date went well I see." Hannah noted idly as she began to take samples.

Sam's stormy expression further soured. "No personal-life discussion at work."

"That's not what you were saying yesterday." Hannah smiled, a thin veneer of benevolence. "Mr. 'Dream, where did you meet him? Where are you going out, Dream? What time will you be back? Is it just dinner?'"

"All good questions to ask your roommate." Sam defended, moving away from the computer to start examining the body's flesh. Hannah's facade fell away to reveal something far more puckish.

"Of course. I'm sure it was incredibly important to know what dessert they would having. Wouldn't want the date to roofie his ice cream."

"They weren't having ice cream." Sam snapped. His face was flushed teal. "They probably just went to his house and- had sex."

"Ooh, that look like it hurt to say. You want to take five?"

"I'll tell security you shut off the basement cameras." He pointed a finger at her threateningly. Hannah looked amused. "You can't keep using the sarcophagus room to-"

"To what, Sam?"

With a jerk, he spun around to face Tina. She had an eyebrow raised, labcoat folded over her arm. Briefly, he tried to point his finger at her, before flushing further and dropping his hand.

"You know." He said, albeit mildly strangled. She leaned in and smiled sweetly.

"No, I don't. Tell me about what Hannah does in the sarcophagus room."

After a moment of sputtering, Sam deflated like a balloon. It wasn't really surprising. The man had always been all bark, no bite. It made him kind of funny; kind of annoying, too, but these things had their gives and takes. Hannah patted him on the back.

"Oh, Dream's here!" Tina's exclaimed joyfully, and Sam's wilted demeanor vanished instantly.

"Dream!" He brushed past Hannah and descended down the platform, hurrying over to meet a disheveled blonde man who was shimmying on his lab coat with one hand, leaning on his cane with the other.

"And there he goes." Hannah sighed. She bundled up her samples and set them on her moving tray. Tina hummed, still watching the men.

"Do you think he knows?" She asked. Hannah snorted.

"That he's in love? Sam would have brought out champagne and roses Day One if he did."

"No, Dream." Tina insisted. Hannah paused, looking up to squint at the pair.

Sam tied Dream's coat for him, brushing off the nonexistent dirt and likely rambling. Dream, slowly, reached out to cup Sam's face with a tenderness that Hannah had only ever seen him give to the dead. There was a moment of surprise, and then Sam melted, leaning into a hug. It allowed him to completely miss the forlorn, obvious yearning that flitted over his roommates face.

"No," Hannah decided. "He's an idiot. He would have done something stupid by now to force himself to 'get over it.'"

"You're right. He would have flown to Paris or something." Tina agreed. She plucked the sample tray from its cart and leaned in to whisper in Hannah's ear. "I'll put these in your office. Meet me in the sarcophagus room?"

Hannah smothered a giggle and nodded.

--

Uhhh notes:

you are not immune to Forensic Anthropologist Awesamdream AU

Dream and Sam are roommates, who tend to spend time together by watching marathons and eating ice cream on the couch together. Sam and Dream notably don't eat ice cream with other people, unless the ice cream is handed to them or it's a required thing. Sam considers it Their Thing That's Theirs Only For Them and Dream, quietly, also thinks of it like that

Hannah and Tina have sex in the sarcophagus room. Notably they turn off the security camera to do this, or go in the blind spots. This is illegal probably.

Dream grew up with Sapnap and George, but for Reasons they are no longer friends. Dream met Sam in school and Sam had the biggest crush on him, but they ended up separating at some point and going in different directions. When Sam transferred to this branch of forensics and met Dream again, Dream was notably covered in scars, walking with a cane, and a lot colder.

Dream tends to be distant with his coworkers and warms up over time, but Sam is Immediately allowed in his space and can be as touchy as he wants.

[hiraeth-witch-11]

Bond to Happen Part 17

Warnings: depression, guilt, references to suicide/attempted assault/murder, Billy Russo is his own warning. Shit is going to get dark before we get our happy ending.

Word Count: 2000ish

Masterlist

The panic begins to set in. You’ve never felt this weak, this powerless, and disconnected in all your time as a magic user. It takes a moment of deep breathing before you can even sense the smallest spark of power, flickering in and out. “I can barely even feel any of it, no auras, no static, no buzzing.”

“Breathe with me, baby. What can you feel?” His cooling aura washes over you. It’s faint and you can’t feel the emotion behind it, only its presence.

“You. I only feel you.”

“It’s okay, you’re probably just drained.”

“Oh my gods. I killed them.” Memories continue to rush back to you in fragments as you struggle to keep your breathing steady. “They’re both dead?” You look to him for confirmation.

Billy nods. “You saved both our lives, Blue. You did the right thing.”

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” you say to yourself. Everything feels so heavy, so hopeless and repetitive and painful. You will always be stuck in this cycle of violence and you hate that you have no power over it.

Billy holds you tighter. “Talk to me, sweetheart,” he whispers into your hair pleadingly.

“I’m so tired of hurting people. I’m so tired of being in pain all the time. I just want it to stop.”

Billy takes a deep, steadying breath. “From what I’ve seen, you’ve only hurt people who were going to hurt you. There is no shame in that.”

“And if hurting them made me feel better afterwards?”

“Sweetheart, what aren’t you telling me? I know there’s more to this than what happened earlier. How can I help you if you don’t trust me?”

So you tell him. You tell him about the blonde who roofied you and the men who tried to kill you in the rain.

“I didn’t want to, I really didn’t. They were going to do awful things. I couldn’t help it, I just reacted. Everyone is so afraid of what witches are capable of, and I pretend like I’m harmless. Like I’m some good person. So people aren’t afraid of me. But they should be. Everyone should be. I killed for the first time drugged out of my mind, a fledgling witch against a man twice my strength. I ripped his throat out and walked away from it. The second time, I was so weak, so starved of energy, and I brutally murdered 4 men. I thought I had left that all behind when I came to New York. I thought I had been doing so well. I’d gotten into trouble, but I didn’t kill again. Until you were bleeding out in front of me. I am the monster they expect me to be. Maybe not right now, maybe not tomorrow. But even weak and beaten, all it takes is a push and I will do terrible things.”

“You defended yourself-”

“I used an appalling amount of force when there were other options. I didn’t care, I didn’t look for another way out, I just tore their life away from them. And it made- it makes me feel strong- I never feel strong anymore and I hate it at the same time.”

“It’s okay to feel strong, sweetheart. There’s nothin’ wrong with that.”

“Maybe,” you say dismissively. “Those people yesterday-” you hesitate before continuing.  “they didn’t seem to be trying to kill me, but they definitely wanted you dead. Why is that?”

Billy’s arms stiffen around you minutely, just for a moment before relaxing. “I used to work with them. I can’t really tell you anymore than that, but suffice to say they don’t like me.”

“Why do you think they were after me? Who was the boss they mentioned?”

“I don’t know, they might be working for someone new. But you tell me, why would they be interested in you?”

If you were smart, you would have noticed the evasion and turnaround tactics at that moment. But you weren’t smart. You were blindly trusting of a man who had never been anything but perfect in your eyes, and you refused to see anything wrong with him.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” you sigh. “I just…”

“Just what, baby?”

“I just want it to stop, I want some peace. I’m so tired of all of this hurt and fighting just to exist.” Small tears slip from your eyes directly onto his neck as you sniffle. Billy is silent for so long you aren’t sure if he heard you. “I want to say something, sweetheart. First, I want you to know I’m not angry at you, I could never be angry at you. You got that?”

You nod against him.

“Look at me,” he says softly and you raise your head to meet his gaze. “No one’s life is worth more than yours; not mine, not those asshole mercs, not anyone’s. Don’t you ever go doin’ something that you know is gonna get you killed ever again. You hear me?”

“Billy, I’m not going to just stand by and watch the people I care about die when I can help them,” you argue petulantly.

“And suicide is the answer then?” Billy’s face is twisted into an almost sneer.

“It’s not- it wasn’t. I’m not-. It’s a spell, it’s not suicide.”

“A spell to kill yourself, that sounds like suicide to me.”

You turn your head to avoid his eyes, they see too much and it’s almost painful to look at him right now. He lets the silence stay, heavy and thick for a moment, in the air.

“Blue, do you want to die?” He asks, hand reaching for your’s slowly.

A sob rips itself from your lips. “I don’t know,” you whisper as the tears fall.

“Oh baby, come’ere.” He pulls you close to his chest and hums soothingly.

“When I was 13, I was … struggling. I was in a new home, no friends, no baseball. My shoulder still actin’ up and I was so angry at everything- everyone. One night my foster parents were out and I went lookin’ for some booze to take the edge off. I found a gun instead. I don’t know what was goin’ through my head but I picked up that gun and just…. Well, whatever I was gonna do, it didn’t matter cuz the front door opened and I ran outta there like my ass was on fire. I spent years after that doin’ reckless shit, not really carin’ if I lived. Everyone saw me as some pretty pity case and I hated it. I honestly don’t know how I made it to 18. Joining the Marines probably saved my life. It gave me direction, something to point my anger at. Focus, a team, control. For the first time in so long, I wanted to live.” Billy takes a deep breath. “I’m not sayin’ this to make you feel sorry for me or anything. I just want you to know you’re not alone. We’re in this together, we just need to find you that something that makes this a little easier. Something that grounds you or focuses you.”

“You’re a really good friend, Billy,” you murmur, unsure what to say. There are 3 words you want to say, words your whole body seems to be screaming at you to confess to him, but you swallow them down. 

“Just promise me you’ll try, or at least talk to me when this shit starts gettin’ too heavy for you,” Billy begs you. 

“I promise, Billy.”

*******

That evening, an unknown number called Billy’s phone. 

“Russo.”

“You have something I want,” Rawlins said.

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, Rawlins.” 

“Your little witch. Name your price.”

“She’s not for sale,” Billy says evenly. 

“You always have a price, Russo.”

“Not this time. She’s been useful. I think I’ll keep her around for now.” 

“Don’t tell me you’ve gotten attached,” Rawlins scoffs.

“You know better than that, Rawlins.”

“And you know I always end up getting what I want.”

“Good luck with that. After that stunt you just pulled, you’ll be lucky if you ever end up anywhere near her.” Billy hangs up and sets his phone carefully on the table so he doesn’t throw it in his anger. He had known Rawlins was behind the attack, he just wasn’t sure why Rawlins would be so fixated on you. Maybe Dr. Hobbs would have answers after she finished examining the blood and hair samples she took from you. Regardless of the results, Billy needs to move fast to make sure no one can take you from him.

“Speak of the devil,” Billy mutters to himself as his phone rings again. 

“Dr. Hobbs, what do you have for me?” Billy asks as he picks up the phone.

“She’s a Fate, specifically from the Clotho bloodline. Most commonly called Weavers.”

“Like Greek Fates?”

“That is a classic example.”

“And what’s that mean?”

“It means if you get her healthy, there are few creatures more powerful.”

“How few?”

“1 or 2 on each continent. Depending on age and species, maybe a dozen in the world.

Of course, that is assuming she is fully fed and confident. As is, a human could kill her easily.”

Billy growls at that. “How does she feed? She’s mentioned touch. What do I need to do?”

“It’s hard to say. There is very little literature about her kind. She would likely be able to tell you more than I can. It looks like consensual physical contact, generally from a particular person close to her, often called an anchor, is most effective.”

“And how do I find her an anchor?”

“I could only guess, Mr. Russo. Any answer I give you would be purely conjecture.”

“I understand. Tell me.”

“I think that the anchor is a more specific term for bondmate within this species. It’s likely that you may already be the equivalent of an anchor to her.”

*******

“Hey Matt, what’s up?” You mumble as you answer the phone. You had been trying to nap away your emotions.

“I have news, is now a good time to talk?”

“As good as any. What’s going on?”

“We have some bad news, Blue.” Foggy sounds apologetic.

“Lawyer bad news?”

“Unfortunately,” Foggy answers.

You tuck your legs up underneath you and grab your favorite throw pillow, pressing it to your chest as you put the phone on speaker. “Rip off the bandaid.” 

“Someone submitted a request for guardianship to the WBI.”

“Okay, we’re prepared for that, right?”

“We are. The difference with this request, is they have extensive evidence of positively received courting behaviors. They are alleging that there is already a bond being formed between the two of you.”

“That’s ridiculous! What courting behaviors?”

“Drinks, food, gifts, dates, and nights spent together.”

“I don’t do any of that with anyone. I mean except for our friends.”

“To make sure we are all on the same page, can you list your friends that you would engage in this behavior with?”

“If you make the definition of ‘date’ some sort of outing and ‘nights spent together’ as sleep overs, then it would be the two of you, Frank, Karen, and Billy.”

“No other dates, outings, or nights over with anyone outside of that list?”

“No, I only spend time with anyone else in work situations.”

“We have the evidence if you would like to review it.”

“Can you email it over?” You open your laptop and review pages and pages of documents, receipts, texts, even pictures of you.

“I don’t understand,” you say in confusion. 

“Are these accounts accurate?”

“Yes, this all happened. Um, can I call you back?”

“We really should talk more-”

You hang up on Foggy, pure disbelief shooting through you. Your stomach drops and anxiety prickles against your skin. Your breathing is quick and shallow.

This is all Billy. The coffee, the food, the zoo, game nights, Central Park, the site visit during the storm, the night after Stevens, the night after Central Park. All of this is Billy.

-----

Buckle up, yall.

[rtlstuff]

Watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin as an adult in 2024 I really do not like the love interest, Trish. Buckle up cuz I'm gonna tell you why.

Firstly when she believes she's on the phone to a telemarketer she jumps to vicious insults and says

"Go sh**t yourself in the f*cking head. Hey, why don't you just, you know, get a knife and run into it?"

She says this to (what she thinks is) a telemarketer. Not a scam caller. Just someone with a job trying to make a living by selling laundry detergent. Seems a bit dramatic.

Secondly, it's rich of her to judge someone's job choice when she owns a dumb business that makes no sense

Likely that business wouldn't last more than a year irl. She has a store front with all her items for sale on display but doesn't actually sell anything there. Dumb. How she can afford a house in the suburbs is a mystery. Perhaps she comes from money?

Thirdly, when her daughter comes to her and tells her she wants to go on birth control so she can have sex (which is incredibly responsible and mature of her) Trish freaks out.

Instead of listening to her daughter she starts a huge fight with her because:

"I want her to keep it in her pants until she gets to college."

She wants to go the abstinence only route, despite her daughter being open an communicating with her that she does not want that. Trish doesn't even want her to go to the health clinic until Andy convinces it's a good idea. Only valuing a mans opinion and ignoring her daughter bodily autonomy? Not very feminist.

Fourthly, when Andy says he likes the idea of starting his own business she immediately jumps to him selling his collectables.

Something which he later admits is not something he wants to do but she defends herself by saying

"I'm trying to help you grow up, Andy"

Which is a sentiment that may have worked 2005 but now it just feels judgemental. There is nothing wrong with collecting stuff. A collection like that can be important to someone and it's not necessarily a sign of immaturity. Let people enjoy what they want.

Then in the next sentence she gets a two insults in one:

"I mean, my God, you ride a bicycle to work in a stockroom."

Insulting a healthy and environmentally friendly method of transportation while also insulting his job(Insulting others jobs is a pattern clearly). A job in which he has been promoted and has a certain degree of security to. And don't forget her 'job' is selling other people's stuff on eBay so where does she get off!

Lastly when she comes to talk to him at his home, she just enters his home without him being there and starts rummaging through his stuff.

She starts jumping to conclusions like seeing a mint and assuming the worst

"This your date drug? Your roofie?"

Then she just assumes he's trying to kill her or something out of nowhere. She's been on 20 dates with this man. Let him be around her children. Let him take her teenage daughter to a health clinic without her. And just because he's weird around her when she wants sex that must mean he's a serial killer. Absolute idiocy.

In conclusion, Trish is an awful human being. Very judgemental, not a feminist, and jumps to he worse conclusions at the drop of a hat. Andy could do better and unless she changes their marriage won't last.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[potters-little-ferret]

a character (or characters) you like but everyone else hates, and a character (or characters) you hate but everyone else likes

Bored. Ask me for my most controversial Harry Potter opinions. I’ll be brutally honest with zero fucks given.

—

Characters I like but everyone else hates:

Severus Snape: I know he has his fair share of supporters but you have to tread carefully, lest you be set upon Snaters who will tear you apart for saying anything remotely positive about him.

Lucius Malfoy: I think he’s an interesting character who I wish was fleshed out more. Most of the fandom has dumbed him down to an abusive dad in order to make Draco look better, but I’ll always be a proud member of the “Lucius adored his son” club.

Characters I hate dislike but everyone else likes:

Sirius Black: He bullied people purely for his own amusement and had zero regrets for putting Severus through hell even as an adult. He even defended he and James’s actions and try to claim Snape only hated them because he was jealous. Really gross behaviour that everyone seems to overlook or defend.

Molly Weasley: She was horrible to Hermione, deliberately giving her a tiny Easter Egg while giving Ron and Harry giant ones, which upset Hermione greatly - all because she believed a journalist who was notorious for lying, a woman she earlier in the book criticised for making shit up about Arthur.

She also treated Fleur like shit because she “didn’t deserve her son” and made all these assumptions about her without bothering to get to know her first. Fleur had to prove herself in order to be “worthy” of her respect.

Oh yeah, and she recounts a time to Ginny and Hermione when she brewed a love potion at school and they all laugh about it as if it’s hilarious. Keep in mind that love potions are the wizard equivalent of a roofie.

[eva-knits12]

My take on Danny Masterson's sentence.

Trigger warning: rape and sexual assault.

I try to avoid celebrity gossip and the drama that surrounds it, but sometimes, you just can't avoid it. The Danny Masterson sentence is one of these things that we just can't avoid, and what happened, and the celebrities and the church of Scientology defending his actions is just wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you heard that actor Danny Masterson was recently sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting women. Now, we don't always know 100% of the details. We may even write this off as that there are two sides to every story. We may even give these people a pass because "it was a one time thing," "he or she made a mistake", "if you don't vocally consent, then it's not rape," etc. We've all heard these excuses, and they are enough to piss me off.

Now, I have experienced sexual harassment in my teens, but I will not go into detail about that. It was wrong, but I was in my teens. As an adult, I recognize that it was wrong on so many levels, but my parents and I did what we felt was right, and reported it to school authorities, who just swept it under the rug. If this happened to me today, I would be getting the legal system involved.

With Danny Masterson's victims, how much do we really know? I'm pretty sure that there was a lot more that happened privately that was eventually made public. If I'm not mistaken, some of these victims may have been under the age of legal consent, which is 16 in most states.

One of his victims was an ex-girlfriend who reported it to the Church of Scientology. What did they do? They made her look like the bad guy, while he got away with raping her scot-free. She didn't go to the police because with that cult, you NEVER go to law enforcement. The sick part was a lawyer for the church said that it wasn't rape since they were in a relationship, and she had consented. Danny had violated her bodily autonomy and he may have possibly used a roofie, or some other drug. I say possibly because as I have already stated, we don't know 100% of the details. Only two people know what really happened, and there was a good chance that she was drugged.

For a while, all of these victims were either intimidated into silence, or bullied into silence by the church of Scientology. When they finally worked up the courage to go to the authorities and report it, it may have been too late. I'm not sure what the law regarding rape and sexual assault is in California, because I sure don't live there. I live in suburban Detroit, where the laws regarding rape and sexual assault are way different. By the time the victims finally reported Danny Masterson to the authorities, they had left the Church of Scientology, so when they left, the statute of limitations had already run out.

The first victim held Danny accountable. The sick part? His wife, Bijou Phillips stood by him blindly! If I were in that position, my first thought would be to take my child or children and run for the hills, then file for divorce! They also have a child, a daughter I think, and what lesson does that teach her? Does she think what Daddy did to these women is normal? Does she think that it's normal for Mommy to be defending this sick man? Does she have any stronger male and female role models in her young life who can model what true strength is and give her that much needed discussion about consent?

When more victims spoke out, and well after the authorities were involved, Danny was finally arrested. The victims feel vindicated, more so now that he is in jail. Finally, he is being punished by law for his actions. The sick part? The Church of Scientology still defends his actions.

His friends who are not in Scientology or even associated with the cult, are defending him. I'm not sure if they're being paid off by his team, and they are just as sick as he is for defending him. Some of those defending him are women, which just makes this situation even sicker!

My personal take is that Danny Masterson is a rapist and a predator. Cut and dry. I hope his victims are seeking therapy because they are going to need it in order to move forward and move on with their lives.

Everyone was shocked when he was fired from his Netflix show when all of these allegations came out, and I wouldn't be surprised if he is now blacklisted from Hollywood. We all know of Bill Cosby, who had the exact same fate as Danny Masterson. I mentioned that Danny Masterson is a Scientologist, and that the church defended his actions.

We all watched That '70's Show. We all related to those characters because we all knew those characters and were one of those characters. I related to Eric, and we all knew an Eric, a Donna, a Jackie, a Kelso, a Hyde, a Fez, a Laurie, a Rhett, a Kitty, a Midge, and a Bob in high school. I admit that I watched That '70's Show, and I kept watching it. It was a quirky, funny teen show, and it was much different than Dawson's Creek.

Danny Masterson and the cult he is in are NOT above the law. Nobody is above the law.

[self-loathing-angel-of-thursday2]

Beautiful Spouse’s Rewatch Thoughts SPN 07x04 Defending Your Life

“He’s a Grade A freak. Not an S level” “How many times do they say to the other to “trust me?” “Just trust me bro” ”that’s some intense frogger shit right there” “They really take their LARPing seriously” “No, you’re not ok” “Why do the sketchiest hallways have the best lighting?” “Sam doesn’t know Dean killed her?” “I was about to say that. Fkn dad jokes, man” “double crappy” “You could always go to NA, but he doesn’t have a problem so it’s fine” “The fuck was that look for? OH nice” “That was easy” “Just burn the bones montage and moving on” “oh yeah” “Fkn dog juiced him” “KRISPY KREMES?” “OH THAT”S TOTALLY DIFFERENT BAG. BUSTED” “Oh it’s the same bag.” “We’re just over here examining Jensen’s bag” “What’s his problem?” “He doesn’t eat apples?” “He could start an orchard and call it Jensen’s Apples and make so many corny jokes” “the fuck” “These aliens have got some fkn good roofies, man” “If I was this guy, I’d be more worried about those 2 guys. You’re sounding crazy but these guys take you seriously?” “both” “What’s his problem?” Dean tends to drink a lot after Cas dies

Laughter

“Yeah these kids aren’t crazy at all” “Decent line for what it’s worth” “boobies” Dean just had like 6 shots

“She’s not his usual type. She’s the bait” “oh getting fucked by farm implements” “yessss it’s red. Mmmm. Dirt like properties. It hits the ground like dirt would. It must be dirt” “He looks drunk as fuck. He never looks drunk really” “Who got snatched?” “Oh” “Dude. Is this guy going to piss into the cushion?” “You fucked up now. Jesus Christ” “To be fair, it wasn’t their best salt line” “Oh a neat tiny little pile of dirt. One dixie cup’s worth” “Sam sniffs dirt. I know the apple orchard this came from. The one with the implements” “What the fuck” “He speaks English really good. God damn” “What a fkn dick” “This is the weirdest Egyptian costume I’ve ever seen. It’s a judge outfit but it looks like they put red hots on the thing, too. I’m hungry for red hots now” “Is this an important episode or something?” “I’m mostly impressed that Osiris knows shit about American courtrooms. I don’t know shit about American courtrooms” “Who’s next? Another brunette? The woman with the kid” “I mean, that’s not who I thought it would be” “some poor-ass intern had to go all through the episodes to make that montage” “What if you’re a fucked up person and don’t feel any guilt? Does Osiris still care?” laughter

“What the fuck” “I feel like he forgot his line, said that, and then just went with it” “What does that mean? 24 hours?” “So all these people went to a barn and got judged by American Osiris?” “Is this like the Virgin Mary in the salt line? See how the salt line is fucked?” stared at the salt line disturbance for 5 minutes and discussing what it looks like “That’s a fkn nice ass room” “Swanky hotel” “Can’t they go to the Meijer and pick up ram’s horn? They’re in Dearborn” “That’s more salt”

“That’s how I carry my salt in an old used white gas can” “Who the fuck came out?” “Why is he such a guilty bitch all the time?” “what a gassy bitch” “jerky” “Beef jerky” “Why did she zap out right away?” “he’s not a scuzz bag now?” “could have made an asswiping joke” “No I see Lucifer when I wipe my ass” “Of course you wouldn’t use that line for some ass wiping butt stuff”