#again DO NOT WITCH HUNT THE USER

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

"Yes, Please tell us what this plan was. It must have worked if you are able to tell us." Reigen was curious about the mission himself. He figures it was a well thought out plan. Or a secret plan?

"Okay, so that explains a lot so it didn't seem like it was a bad thing. Even with the building was going to be coming down anything." Reigen sighed. "Or because of that curse spirit causing horrible things to happen."

"Though, that shouldn't have him being so angry with you like that Daichi.."

[arcanegifs]

Just some things I wanna say:

You are always free to not like the work I do. You can hate the show’s characters, ships, and what nots. You can 100% disagree with the opinions I or other people have.

You are NOT allowed to send hate or send malicious intentions (such as being an asshole and spoiling me S2) on my inbox. Harassment is never okay.

To prevent more potential harassment, I’m just closing my inbox and replies indefinitely.

No, I will not post the users, since I think it’s just me that these people have been hating on.

I’ve blocked them, and they’ve blocked me (but for some reason, apparently, love to use my gifs lol) and if no more harassment happens, I’m all good.

No witch-hunting people. I don’t like seeing people fight over silly things. Again, harassment in any form is never okay. Blocking and moving on is the best option.

Thankful for supportive friends who have been with me the entire time. Ily guys <3

With that, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore. Just gonna focus on S2, which is coming next month 💙

[lady-ace]

Injustice Spectre

(Injustice Ghost, Part 3. Heads up for general injustice stuff. I spent a while researching some characters, so i hope this won't be too OOC.)

The soul haunting the watchtower was appearing more and more frequently, though seemingly too shy to approach.

The little boy, who's name nobody knew (as he didn't tell anyone, and everybody didn't want to ask), was nicknamed 'Little Warrior' by Diana after they met. Little Warrior was, for some reason, less hesitant to approach Diana than all the others, especially Clark. Everyone could noticed how the spirit would startle whenever Clark made sudden moves, or how he would flinch if he came too close.

They decided not to question it.

The boy was also starting to speak to them more often, something that brought the superheroes joy. Even though the ghost didn't speak too much, he always tried to help. More than once he was caught floating around the kitchen, baking something for them, be it cookies, cupcakes or sometimes even pies.

/ / /

Some time later, Dinah was heading to the recreation room of the watchtower after a long day of watch duty, and spotted the TV on.

The lights of said room were off, only the brightness of the TV was lightning up the place, giving away that someone was sitting in front of the TV, watching it.

Dinah couldn't help but watch curiously as the mysterious 'Watchtower Ghost' sat in front of the screen, watching the news with what she assumed must be a longing look.

The news that day were nothing special, just announcing that it was generally peaceful all round, with the occasional news that a rogue was caught thrown in.

'I can't disturb him' is what she decided on after seeing the boy hugging his knees, looking up from the floor to see what the news that day would tell him about the world.

She left quietly, leaving the phantom to his thoughts.

/ / /

Everyone was worried for Captain Marvel, magic users moreso. The hunt for Circe was long, and the visits to the watchtower were brief or even inexistent (in the other two remaining Marvels case, they refused to rest until they found Cap), searching nonstop for the witch who was believed to be responsible for the world's mightiest mortal's disappearance.

It was a call that gave Diana, the only on-duty and available hero at the moment, the information that the hunt was over.

“We found Circe.”

Constantine uttered from the other side of the call.

“She's in a abandoned warehouse in Fawcett.”

Zatanna adds, whispering as well.

“We're waiting on the ceiling, a part of it gave away.”

This time, it was Captain Marvel Jr's voice.

“Hurry, please.”

Mary Marvel murmured, a note of urgency clear in her voice.

“On the way.”

Was the princess' response, as he sprinted away to the zetas, leaving for Fawcett as fast as she could.

As the Zeta started and Diana went in, the ghost, still invisible at her side at the Zeta, smiled.

“I can finally see them again.”

Little Warrior thought, the scenery of the watchtower now gone, and in its place only the vision of Fawcett's streets remained.

/ / /

“Do you see the runes a little better there?”

Mary asks Zatanna and Constantine —who were on the other side of the old warehouse's destroyed roof— with the league communicator. She's hiding with Freddy in the part of the roof that's front facing Circe, meanwhile Zatanna and Constantine were on the other side, trying to take a better look at the runes, and what could they mean.

“No, but i swear this bloody circle is a locating spell of some kind.”

Came Constantine's hushed response. The symbols and runes on the ground all around Circe glowed a vibrant pink, contrasting against the darkness of the warehouse. Circe seemed to be reading her grimoire, of which floated in front of her, probably trying to add the finishing touches to whatever spell she was trying to perform.

“Can you try to read the page she's on without being spotted?”

Freddy suggested, and Mary agreed with his idea, nodding at him. It could be risky, as to be spotted would lead to an fight without Wonder Woman as backup, but it could also lead to a major advantage of knowing what the witch was trying to do, making them have the upper hand.

“I could try, i’m not really sure. It's a bit far away.”

Zatanna answered, peeking a bit over her hiding spot to try and see what Circe was looking at her grimoire.

“..It's supposed to track something. Yeah, you were right.”

Zatanna agreed, now retreating back to her hiding spot.

Just then, the brief click of two golden boots sounded behind Mary and Freddy. Wonder Woman has arrived.

Circe, on the ground, seemed to jolt, her grimoire shutting closed suddenly, and her head snapping towards Diana.

“Shit, our cover's blown.”

Freddy hissed, looking at Diana. How has Circe already seen her? She came so silently, too!

Diana shook her head as Circe grinned from where she stood.

“Aw, the little princess came out to play? How gracious of you.”

Circe commented, now looking at Diana as if daring her to come fight.

“I'm going down.”

Is the warning they got, as the amazon dropped down from the rooftops and in front of Circe, who opened a portal where the grimoire flew into, before closing.

There was an audible sigh from the other side of the communicator — No doubt coming from the british sorcerer — as he, too, dropped down the rooftop he was hiding in, along with Zatanna, who dropped not too long after.

“It's just the two of us,“

Mary noted, meeting her brother's gaze.

“Ready to find out where's Billy?”

Freddy smiled.

“Hell yeah.”

They both dropped down in the same time, and now, Circe was surrounded.

“Never fighting me all alone, are you, princess?”

Circe snarked, summoning magic that enveloped some debris nearby, turning it into a mighty bear, who growled as it leaped in her defense.

“Let's see how you like it when i even the numbers.”

Once again, more debris got transformed into other animals — a wolf, a tiger, and a goat— all of which launched themselves in the sorceress' defense.

And so, the fight began.

Zatanna and Constantine held the wolf and the goat back, meanwhile Mary and Freddy fought the tiger.

The feline jumped at Jr, trying to claw him, as he dodged and punched back.

The predator was thrown back by the force, giving Mary the opportunity to make a small bolt of lightning hit it. It growled in pain, running towards Mary this time, leaping at her with arms open, claws out and jaws ready to clamp down and bite.

It didn't get the chance, as both of the Marvel siblings punched it square in the chest, the magical animal falling down, becoming debris once again.

The siblings looked up just in time to see Zatanna and Constantine finishing off their own foes with energy blasts, as they, too, became normal debris.

All that remained was Circe and Diana.

Diana lauched a kick at Circe who dodged expertly, pink magic swarming her hands as she shot a beam of magical energy at the demi-godess, who reeled back at the attack, but went in again.

Both of them continued to trade blows, until the other four of Diana's teammates came out on top of their battles.

They all surrounded the sorceress again, until the runes on the ground suddenly grew brighter, a small, pink light shot off the runes, going towards something behind Wonder Woman.

Circe's grin grew.

“Would you look at that? The princess decided to give me a gift. Why, thank you!”

She said, with an amused tone. The others all looked behind Diana, only to see..

It was a ghost.

No normal ghost, Billy's ghost.

He floated in place, as the pink light circled him, giving away his location. It was clear the spirit was trying to be invisible but couldn't, his hands grasping at his hoodie anxiously.

For a moment, everything was silent. You could hear a pin drop.

“BILLY!”

Came Mary's scream, as she rushed to her twin's side, ignoring Circe and the looks of surprise on the faces of the others present. (Except for Freddy, he, too, rushed to the spirit's side.)

“What happened to you?”

She gasped, looking at the spirit of her brother who was looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“M-Mary?”

Came her twin's croaked response, as blood pooled on the corners of his would-be eyes.

The only thing that stopped her from fussing any longer was the voice that came behind her, snapping her back to reality.

“They lead what i wanted right back to me. Isn't that just sweet?”

Circe declared, looking as smug as the cat who got the rat.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!”

Mary demanded, her voice booming as all the rage she kept for the sorceress who kept her twin away from her boiled within her.

The witch had the guts to giggle at her.

“And why would i tell you that?”

She taunted, and before she could blink, both Marvels were upon her.

She couldn't almost get a single spell in with the barrage of punches and kicks the siblings were dealing, the speed of mercury proving to be way too fast, even for her.

When she finally got to make a magic shield to distance them from her, it was almost immediatly broken, and she was face to face with the amazon.

“The lasso.”

Jr mentioned, looking at the Amazon.

“We need to know how to bring him back to normal.”

Diana nodded, as the Marvels went in again, this time trying to hold Circe still while Zatanna and Constantine helped.

Not soon after, the lasso of truth was upon Circe.

“What did you do to him!?”

Mary growled at the sorceress, who struggled against the lasso, even as it burned her.

The ghost floated closer, now on Mary's and Freddy's side.

“I switched him with an alternative self.”

Is the response she came with, clearly still trying to not tell anything of value.

“Why did you do it?”

Freddy was the one asking this time, looking at Circe as if challenging her to lie to him, even though she physically couldn't.

“He's a version of the champion who has weakenned ties to his patrons and cannot support the living lightining, he's basically a foutain of divine magic waiting to be grabbed.”

Circe hissed, still struggling against the lasso of truth.

“Champion?”

Escaped Diana, in surprise. The only person who she saw being referred to as that was..

“Captain Marvel. Shazam's and the gods' chosen.”

Circe snarked, looking at the surprise in the amazonian princess' eyes as she looked at the ghost she'd come to know.

“Little brother?”

Her voice had a slight waver to it, and the ghost flinched back at the nickname, and tried to almost fold into himself to seem smaller than he already was.

“How do we reverse this?”

Mary started the interrogation again, staring at Circe with hate.

Circe laughed. Laughed as if this was all a game, and she won.

“That's simple. You don't.”

Is her answer, with a tone of finality. As if she was certain.

...and the lasso allows no lies.

“The spell can only be reversed by the one who casted it, and i am never. NEVER. Reversing it.”

Circe grinned at them, she grinned happily and smugly and how Mary wanted to punch that stupid grin right off her face—

Billy put his hand on her arm.

He looked at her like she was a precious gem he'd lost, and was sure would never be found again, and yet—

“Mary?”

The ghost of her brother looked at her and then at Circe. Mary was sure she must have looked downright murderous after Circe's comment. She didn't want to think how she must have scared Billy.

“Stop, please?”

Billy asked, and it broke her heart. This really was and wasn't her brother. Even as a ghost, he doesn't want Mary to kill Circe. Mary could have laughed at this, yet, she couldn't bring herself to.

Mary wordlessly looked up to see Freddy and with his knowing gaze (he knew, he understood.) and the others, concerned, sad, surprised.

“..We'll bring her to the watchtower's cells. We'll find a way to bring Marvel back.”

Said Zatanna, breaking the silence, opening a portal and going in along with Constantine and Wonder Woman, who looked back a bit before entering.

This wasn't going to be easy.

/ / /

Grief was a weird thing.

The brother Mary knew was gone. Off to another universe.

But, at the same time, he was here, in hers.

The spirit of his brother, who came from a fucked up version of reality where Superman became a dictator and the league became the supreme power to rule the earth, killing those who opposed them.

Mary knew it must be as weird to Billy as it is for her to come to terms that this isn't technically my sibling.

They both lost their siblings unexpectally. Neither of them got to say their goodbyes. To hug their twin.

One moment, they were there. The next, they weren't.

Mary still couldn't bare to see herself in the mirrors when de-transformed (regrettably, it also hurts sometimes seeing Billy, knowing her twin from her universe is gone and will be gone forever) to the point both her and Billy agreed to cover up all mirrors.

It was more than weird just.. losing your twin. Just like that, you won't ever see them again.

...

Mary talked to Billy again.

It was a bit comforting to have someone who knows what you're going through.

He lost his Mary. As she had lost her Billy.

He was not my universes' Billy, but he was still my brother, my twin.

Is what Mary decided.

Billy is not replacing her lost brother, just as she isn't replacing his lost sister.

But they could still be family.

/ / /

It turned out, even though Billy couldn't transform into Cap anymore, he still wanted to be a hero.

“I want to help. I NEED to help. I did too much damage already.”

He still had the gods' blessings, just a little bit weaker. He could still fight for what was right—for a better tomorrow, for a better world— with his family by his side.

And thus, Marvel Eido was born. (from the greek word Eidolon, meaning ghost, phantom or apparition.)

The brand new member of the Marvel family, coming from another universe.

(And that is it! This last part fought me all the way. I might make an 'extra' scene/oneshot and maybe elaborate more on why Circe switched Billy with Injustice Billy, but, as of right now, this will be it. Thanks for reading! :) )

[ladykailitha]

Steve's Rewind

Just an idea I had stewing in my brain, buckle up this is going to get angsty as fuck. Thanks to my discord for helping me with some of the fiddlier details.

Here we go.

The Harrington family were once a clan a powerful magic users, though their bloodline is diluted now they barely have the smallest spark of it left in their blood. It allows them to use the device left to them by their ancestor. Althenea’s Life Spool, or the Spool most of the time.

It allows the user to go back and do over one event at the cost of one year of their life. In addition they remember the previous timeline. It is handed to the eldest child on their 16th birthday.

Usually only members of the Harrington clan remember previous timelines, but when Steve meets El, he finds out that the experiments done to her and the other children make it so she can see the previous timelines, too.

She commends him for the two times he’s used it so far.

The first time was on Nov. 12th, 1983. The night he went to Jonathan’s to apologize about the camera. The first time, he ran. Their screams ringing in his ears as he flees. Only now all the Byers family is dead, along with Nancy and the Mind Flayer breaks through to the surface world, screaming like a banshee.

He doesn’t know what will happen if he runs back into that house, but he knows at least he’ll have tried.

And while it doesn’t work out perfect, he’s pretty satisfied with the results.

On Oct. 31st, 1984 he thinks about using it again, but doesn’t. He doesn’t know what event started the relationship with Nancy to go south. So he leaves it be and silently deals with the broken heart.

On July 5th, 1985. Steve learns that El can see the previous timelines too and asks him to rewind so Hopper lives. Steve tells her about the cost and she turns pale. He asks her if she still wants that and she shakes her head. No. That would not be fair.

Then on Mar. 29th, 1986, she comes to him again. This time it’s all of Hawkins that swings in the balance and he agrees. He was just waiting for her to return so that they could plan out what needed to be changed.

So they hatch out a plan: Give everyone an extra twenty minutes to get into place. Towels in the vents of the trailer. Time for Hopper et al to kill the demogorgon, time for Jason and his cronies to find the Creel House, come up empty and leave, time for El to get into a better place to protect Max. Steve stocks up on flares and torches to bring as much heat as possible to the Vecna fight.

They win, Eddie and Max escape unharmed, Vecna and Upside Down falls. Everything is good for awhile.

Eddie and Steve start dating and they’re really happy. Until Steve arrives to their favorite gay bar a little late because of work and finds Eddie in a corner with another guy and just leaves.

When Eddie stumbles home that night Steve tears into him and threatens to break up with him.

Only Eddie starts crying.

Like full on sobs and the truth comes out, that guy had roofied Eddie and was assaulting him.

Now Steve is devastated and cleans Eddie up, putting him to bed. Then he calls El. Tells her he’s going to rewind the events of that night. And at first she argues against using the device for something so trivial especially one that didn’t end in someone’s death. If he wouldn’t do it for Hopper, what’s so different about this moment.

He reminds her that Hopper is alive, that his being in the Russian prison camp is part of the reason they were able to defeat Vecna and she concedes. Asks again why this is worth a year of his life and he explains that it’s not about his relationship with Eddie. They talked and Eddie already forgave him and said that he would have done the same thing. It might take a bit, but they’ll be fine.

No, the reason Steve wants to do this is because Eddie has suffered so much. Because none of the other Party members got introduced to this shit by watching a nice girl who had done nothing wrong, twisted and torn apart before their eyes.

That the witch hunt and getting off the murder charges had put a dent in Eddie’s confidence. This would destroy it entirely.

This is about a person who deserves a boyfriend who would give up everything for him to show him how loved he is, even at the cost of one year of his life.

El eventually agrees.

Steve goes to the back of the closet and pulls it out. But Eddie finds him, tells him he overheard him talking to El and he won’t let Steve do that. He’s not worth a year of his life.

Steve kisses him gently and explains what it is and what it’s done. Sometimes things work out for the better, sometimes they don’t. But always, always, always the change is worth it to the user. It’s why after nearly five hundred years the Spool has not been used up, because the string is finite, it will run out one day. But each person that has been gifted it knows the change is always worth it.

Once his father rewound cheating on his mother. The demogorgon that killed Barb, killed her instead and the world ended. He hated having to go back rewind that moment, but he knew the consequences of that moment needed an empty house that day.

Eddie sighs in relief. The moment can be rewound. So he puts his trust in Steve. That his boyfriend whose family has had this device for literal centuries knows the cost better than anyone, understands what hes’ doing.

Steve rewinds the moment and they are stronger together for it.

Steve will use it only use it one more time, when the birth of their daughter kills Robin who was their surrogate. They wait a year and everything turns out fine the second time.

Then on Julie Barbara Munson’s 16th birthday, her papa gives her his most precious item. A small spool of red thread.

[radiance1]

This au again but we shall have Sam aged down, like minor age here. Still got her castle an allat but DC and DP are one and the same here leggo.

Sam had HAD IT with the covens. She's so, so tired of most of them, they just, won't leave her alone.

What the hell does a girl have to do to get them off her trail? She moved her castle, once, twice, more than three times. THREE. TIMES!!! And all that seemed to do was make them want her MORE.

She moved her castle as a fuck you, but seemed to just throw them a carrot instead.

She is just, so tired of them and the worst thing about this is, she can't even force them away either. Sam is powerful, she knows that, moving a castle on a whim is a powerful feat of magic, and she (accidentally) made the goddamn philosopher's stone and it fused itself with her, thus giving her basically eternal life.

But she knows better than to fuck with entire covens when she hasn't even finished her studies yet as self-imposed as they were. There is probably a school for magic, she doesn't know if that actually exists, but she isn't going to one of those because, well, she doesn't have an invite to go but that's besides the point.

Case in point, Sam has the raw power, not so much the training and expertise where she can go against a full-blown coven yet and multiple at that. She also knows that them not inviting themselves in was due to basic courtesy and that just lets her move her castle to another area and the thing is, she doesn't know just how many times she can keep doing this before they just decide to break in the next time they find her castle.

She's lost quite a bit of sleep over this, she will admit.

She is glad that they were rather diplomatic in their approach rather than forcing her to comply at their earliest convenience. But all in all, she's just. So, so tired of being hunted down by covens because what? She's a fledgling witch that needs guidance or whatever?

Well, they aren't wrong but still.

She's met one of the coven leaders before, nice old lady. Didn't try forcing her to join, or even asked really, but just warned her about the other covens wanting her power for one reason or another and left as quick as she came.

Again, nice old woman.

So, Sam needs a magical... supervisor? Mentor? Whatever, just someone she could use to shield herself from the covens.

Her answer came in the most unexpected way, really.

Her next hiding spot was one Gotham City. Why? Because the city rife with crime would make just the greatest of hiding spots, really.

Can you tell she's running out of options?

It's gotten to a point that Sam would just, take the attention of Batman himself if that means she doesn't have to interact with the covens for one more day and boy did she get his attention.

Batman brought not just one, but two magic users. Zatanna and Constantine were their names, and Sam already finds herself eyeing up either of them to be her potential magical shield.

Now, how does she pop the question, is the question.

[helsensm]

hate to break it to you, but liu kang and kung lao are actually cousins. i enjoy your art a lot and scrolling through your blog, so seeing you and your friends support liulao makes me concerned. i hope you understand and are mindful about what you ship going forward <:(

I sense some condescension, anon, but since text messaging cannot accurately convey tone, I’ll take this as a genuine warning. Thank you for your concern, but do not worry, I’m old enough to be mindful about my ships and I do my research, since I have no interest in shipping relatives in any media, and it CAN be tricky with the universe as complex and lore heavy as mk.

With that being said, here’s where you are wrong, anon. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are canonically NOT related – at least the versions of them that people ship.

Just a week ago, lovely user rasta-bot covered the “cousins issue”, you can check this post or I’ll just repeat the main idea here. They were only made cousins in the original 1995 movie because this specific universe (and by extension MK Conquests universe since it's a prequel to the movies) has Liu Kang as the Great Kung Lao's descendant as well. However, this is what the mk co-creator and Lore God™ John Tobias said about this change:

In no other game Liu Kang was the descendant of GKL or Lao’s relative. In the original (and prev) timeline he was an orphan, raised by Shaolin monks.

And if you are referring to the 2021 movie, alas, you’d be wrong again. In the movie Liu Kang has no family, he tells Cole about his past, but people love to refer to the scene with a translation error. The mistake was pointed out by several native speakers online, but everyone can easily check it by themselves, even if they are not familiar with the language, just by doing a quick google search. This took me 2 minutes:

1. Turn on the Chinese subtitles.

2. Look at the first results of “師兄 meaning” goggle search.

source: wiktionary.org

source: chinese.yabla.com

source: hinative.com

It is totally fine if you don’t feel like shipping these two, you have all the right - everybody has different preferences. I also don’t like certain ship dynamics even if they are “legal” in any way. 😁 But I never encountered liulao shippers who would endorse inсеst, and it’s sad to see how this confusion nearly becomes a witch hunt, scaring and demotivating artists and writers.

[gacha-incels]

after over a month it’s easy for some to forget the extreme misogyny that is at the heart of the PM/Limbus Company wrongful termination. I’ve seen people refer to it as a vague legal battle, twitter users overreacting, just protesters that “hate project moon” or simply that Vellmori “was fired”. This entire situation happened because Korean men on DCinside thought putting a run of the mill fashion choker on Sinclair and having Ishmael in a skin-tight diving suit meant there was a feminist working for Project Moon. In a logic jump that would make even Alex Jones blush, they said Sinclair’s choker obviously meant the artist sees men as slaves. Frequently in South Korea men like this often go on “feminist hunts” where they will try and get women fired and ruin their lives for expressing even the most basic support for women’s rights. When they found out a male artist drew the Sinclair and Ishmael IDs, they specifically stopped going after him because he is male. Instead, they found out there was a female artist working for Limbus Company, Vellmori, and subsequently tried to ruin her. In their digging they found deleted tweets of hers which, again, showed support for basic women’s rights and condemned sex trafficking and molka. Then, in an act of q-anon tier paranoia, these men went through the Limbus Company CGs and found what they thought was hands drawn specifically to do the 🤏 emoji(korean incels go through their own personal 9/11 every time they see this image. I think they tried to cancel Starbucks over it once? ironically, I saw the latest summer male costume in FGO has the character always posing with pinched fingers. I guess the incels can let this one slide because that gacha is overflowing with scantily clad women who want to fuck you and a very concerning number of little girls in microbikinis?). They wanted Vellmori fired because of these years-old deleted tweets and illustrations of hands. They did this because they hate women. Vellmori was targeted because she is a woman. These men are misogynists who are part of a hate group.

Now, instead of telling these guys to stop bothering PM employees or the law will become involved (something they have literally done when their restaurant’s staff was getting harassed), Project Moon’s CEO quickly wrote a post acquiescing to these men’s complaints including the “ideological” posts by Vellmori, who he said was let go because of this. The reason why so many female fans have dropped the game and deleted entire accounts of fanart is because we saw Vellmori get fired immediately after the misogynistic witch hunt against her. She was fired for saying abortion should be legal, she was fired for condemning the rampant hidden cameras put in women’s public toilets and changing rooms, she was fired for condemning the Nth room case. In accordance to her contract, these years old tweets had even been deleted. She was fired because delusional men thought they saw pinched fingers in her art and wanted her to suffer for it.

If you are on the fence about the boycott spearheaded by Korean fans, you need to ask yourself if accepting this rampant misogyny is worth playing a glorified casino game over. No matter how “generous” you see Limbus Company, it’s a gacha game like any other. If they wanted a “live service” game, they would have made one. If they wanted to simply tell a story, there wouldn’t be a .png casino tab with an option to pay up to $70 multiple times to gamble with, nor incentives to log in daily. They made a gacha game because this style of game makes the most money.

[pinkyjulien]

I did not expect hostility over my Flat Chest mod, so I'll half acknowledge it and kill some of the assumption before they take roots in other people's minds

No, I did not make this mod *because* I refuse to support Na's flat chest mod

Initial Mod idea was a working "binder" for Fem, something you'd equip to flatten the chest- like a real life binder, basically. It's part of my To-Do list of June, for Pride

The mod evolved as I got more ideas, I also started working on a body replacer, it's basically ready to ship as well, but I decided against it; not to step on toes and causing confusion with two "flat chest" body mods, knowing there is also another one in the work from a fellow modder

(the binders themselves will come much later, and will be available for both fem and masc body frames!)

Again, the mod started as a "binder"- I mentioned it multiple times, either in servers where I started sharing the idea, and in the tags of my mod post

"Binders" are not costumes. They are gender affirming aid, something a lot of person use; I've made a couple of "wearable" / "switchable" body parts mods in the past already, including a trans masc vagina, I really hope you don't see this as a costume as well?

In the universe of Cyberpunks, implants and synth skin are used by everyone, for all kind of purpose; GNC people, trans people and gender-fluid people would probably use implants and cyberware to sculpt themselves, feel comfortable in their body

Who's to say some rich citizen wouldn't have some fancy switchable body pieces- hell it's even canon in game, Mr.Stud and Mrs.Midnight? Switchable boobs are already a thing, I don't see what's wrong with switching up for a flatter chest

The survey's results aren't out yet, so I couldn't know. But that's beside the point, as my mod isn't a "bandaid" for any issue this fandom may have

If the name is causing trouble, I'm open to changing it; but the main goal, again, was to flatten the vanilla fem V chest, and I think "flat chest" is pretty straight forward for nexus users

Mmmh. Sorry but, no

Everyone is different and handle their own space differently, and I do not want to support people who did me, or my friends, any serious mental health damage. Be it from harassement, witch hunt and whatnot

I won't be dragging in there old drama from 2 years ago, but I simply won't support someone who tried to get a friend of mine fired from their work place, threatening to send a 30+ pages google doc to their leads and boss, and dragging all of their personal beefs to the public on multiple social medias. They ruined my friend's mental health, and I simply won't forgive nor forget.

That is my right. And I wish people would accept and respect that.

I won't tell anyone who to support or what mod to use/not use, NOBODY should tell you what to do, what to support, who to like or dislike; and nobody can control who I must support and what I must do. Simple as that

And I'm glad the flat chest body mod exist for people who wish to use it! I'm offering another option that I'm sure some people will find useful

Thank you :)

People already gave me trouble in the past for "doing work that already exist"

Those past few weeks has been eventful when it comes to "drama" especially involving Zwei, who's notorious for having a modding monopol and gatekeeping ideas in general

Let's not bring that same mindset here, yeah?

Everyone is free to mod what they want, whatever body they want, to refit what they want!

Again, just to point it out, mod isn't there to fix a problem, that's just a mod I wanted to make

It's a brand new mod, meaning it needs refiting; I did not test the flat chest bodymod, nor tried the already existing vanilla refit. And I won't, for the reasons I cited aboved a few lines before.

I'm glad you agree! Nobody has to do things they don't want to

You call it disingenuous, and I call it having principles/self respect; again, crazy how different people are from one another, and how we just can't assume everyone work and react the same as we do

I see, I see, the name is a big issue; I'm open to suggestion, feel free to leave a reply and I'll see what catches my eyes

Cause It's still my mod, so I get to decide

Anyway, hope this cleared up a few things, and sorry this made people upset!

For everyone else, thank you for the support 🧡

[sokkastyles]

(a.p.p.) in re: this post

i'm a lurker in the fandom and i guess i missed out on this bit of drama; it's actually driving me insane that i can't figure out who and what specifically this is about on my own. you don't have to, but if you want to, i'd love to hear the entire pot of tea on this 👀

Okay, I've been trying to stay out of it because I don't want to point fingers, that user and I are both on a mutual block, I do not want to interact with her, and I believe she feels the same. Also, she is the victim in the most recent round of Katara Adultificationgate: Electric Boogaloo, although she's also a hypocrite who attracts drama because she keeps trying to make herself seem morally correct.

The long and short of it is that this user was, a couple years ago, trying to police zutara shippers in her own community for writing darkfic. They aligned with other users who were going on a witch hunt with the stance that it's okay to write darkfic as long as you're doing it "in the right way." With the exception that of course the way they write it is the right way. Because of course they alone are the only one capable of understanding all of the nuance involved in writing about heavy topics.

Now, this person is being attacked for writing darkfic, and is again trying to defend themselves by saying that they're writing about their own trauma, or condemning the violence portrayed.

But what's funny about the current wank is that the content of her fic is like, nearly identical to one that was being targeted in the wank two years ago. It was a fic about Katara being assaulted by men of the NWT. Which, as far as I can tell, is also what the current fic at the center of this is about as well. Only the user who wrote it has been defending it because it's meant to be an expression of her own trauma, or because the themes are about healing and condemning the act itself. Which is all well and good, but the problem is when you get into the issue of trying to police who can write about sexual violence, and in what way, and that is exactly what she was doing before. And that's also at the heart of why she's getting hate now. Every attempt to justify herself just gives more fuel to people who think you need to justify yourself for engaging in fandom a certain way.

And the thing is that KA shippers making the accusations will not see a difference, no matter how hard you try to insist that you're writing about dark topics in the "right" way. Neither they nor her have a right to decide who can write about dark topics and in what way. You can't engage in a good faith argument about how to be sensitive when shipping zutara with someone who thinks shipping it, period, is an irredeemable sin.

I know another component to this is that people are accusing her of racism because the fic involved Katara being assaulted by members of her own/sister tribe, or the idea of her being saved by Zuko. And the thing I will say about that is that while it is valid to express discomfort with those kinds of works or to speak against those particular tropes, it is NOT valid to attack someone over it or say they can't write that kind of fanfiction, or judge their intentions. I'm not going to speak about how indigenous people should feel about such content, but I am going to say that no one, regardless of their identity, has the authority to speak for an entire group of people.

I do understand the issue with the portrayal of violence within the indigenous community by someone who is not indigenous, and I understand the issue with depicting her being saved by someone outside that community. However, these arguments are being misused, because the people doing the arguing hate zutara in any form. If they really cared about the savior trope, they might examine how it is present in canon, with light-skinned Aang being the one to "save" Katara from languishing in the SWT so that she can learn waterbending. Especially considering how her homeland is depicted as backwards and Katara needing to escape it, something EIP parodies but which is still present itself in the narrative. One of the most recent posts made also screenshotted an old interaction where an indigenous fan accused a zutara shipper of "wanting Zuko to get on his wild side with Katara" on a post that said nothing that could possibly be interpreted that way. The post was about Zuko having Hakoda as an in law. The person who made the accusation made it because they hate zutara, not because the zutara shipper was actually being racist. And, I mean, if an indigenous person is caused so much pain by the very existence of a ship, the proper thing to do is not seek out content for that ship that is going to trigger you. Personal discomfort, even due to experiencing racism, does not mean you speak for an entire community. Especially one as wide and varied as "indigenous people," which describes a huge number of ethnic and cultural groups, not a monolith of people who all singularly feel the same about a cartoon ship from 2005.

If you asked an indigenous person not embroiled in fandom nonsense how they felt about these issues, I guarantee you they would not care about the ship war. Some might even be offended at the idea that Katara is even supposed to represent them, considering that her character is a mishmash of cultures and played by a white actress and talks like a white kid from California.

Which all boils down to the same thing. The only thing you can say is "this makes me personally uncomfortable." And the solution, although people may not want to hear it, is to not engage with that content. Nothing else. This was true back then, and it's still true now. And it's true for both sides.

If you want to know what indigenous authors have to say about the issue of representation, though, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Gerald Vizenor have all been heavily criticized both within their indigenous communities and without, for their portrayal of violence, both against native people and native on native violence. For every person who says that intercommunity violence is "bad representation," there is also the opposite issue of the denial and victim blaming that also happens within these communities. In particular, Alexie has been accused both by people within and outside the community of writing a white savior narrative, when he was writing about his own experience, and the story is much more nuanced than that. (And yes, I'm aware of the allegations against Alexie, but that doesn't discount what he's had to say about his own experience, both in the ways he's spoken up about being tokenized by whites and the ways he was criticized for being "bad rep" within his own community).

And it's telling that some of the things I am seeing antis say now about the current fic is identical to what "well meaning" individuals said about the fic that was targeted years ago. And during that time, the author did not even speak up about why they wrote the fic. And I'm gonna say something else people might not like: they shouldn't have to.

Nobody has to justify why they wrote fanfiction or divulge information about their trauma, identity, or history, and the people demanding that are ALWAYS going to find a reason for why it's wrong for you to do what you are doing.

I'm seeing people say things like "but why did she have to write about Katara?"

Because fuck you, that's why.

This is the exact same argument leveled against porny fic. Whether your fic is meant to have a deeper moral point or not, the argument is the same. And you don't owe anyone an explanation.

But antis and radfems don't like that argument because they can't weaponize it.

[spilledmilkfkdies]

Hi, me again! I was just wondering, following the ‘what if the wizards were actually surrendering’ ask, if the wizards really did give up fairy hunting, what do you think they’d do? (Sorry if I’m sending you too many asks, I just really like your takes.) Thank you!

Hiii sorry it took me a sec to get to this one!! I'll put a link to that ask right here for anyone who's wondering, since it's been a bit. Never worry about sending too many asks either, like I said a while back; I'll get to them eventually! If it takes some time before you hear back from me, sincerely <3 My bad <3 Was a little occupied with another fandom this time and actively participating in both got to me djsksdk

Moving on though!

In my mind they've really already been living normally, like between locking away the fairies and Roxy's magic making itself known I mean- Of course the logistics of it are a bit um. All over the place. Considering they're immortal, sort of. Do they have legal documents? Real or fake? Did they have any mortal friends and how would that work? And JOBS?? The way none of these are obstacles for Duman btw, that's why they killed him, they didn't want him to roam and do whatever anymore. Real and Canon.

Now in a post-alt ending-S4 timeline, the one where they did surrender, do we assume that they just can't use their magic, or that they don't have it anymore? Because that'd probably change the way they live afterwards pretty drastically. Aside from the fact some of them heavily depend on magic more than the others (Ogron and Duman get help smh), HORRENDOUS case scenario, they might all be mortal. For the sake of my own mental health though, I'm just gonna say they do still have magic and are in fact not mortal, just give them a fairy parole officer, some magic blocking thing, keep them around and use them for "good" stuff after a rehabilitation period or something. That's what I'd prefer anyway.

What would they be doing during said rehabilitation period? Started out as a bit of a shared joke, but tbh Anagan model career WHEN. He'd struggle with the lack of useable magic the least too, so he'd probably thrive during the whole thing more than the others, and as he should. Besides Anagan I don't have a whole lot ngl- I mean, I'd like to think Duman had lots of jobs back in the day, not sure if I mentioned that before, but I might make a separate post if I didn't, just because I have thoughts but other stuff to talk about rn sjsjksk

Ogron and Gantlos don't have a lot either MY BAD, but I do think Ogron might be more likely to have friends, maybe surprisingly. Meanwhile Gantlos has a bigger chance of being able to hold down a stable job. What job? Great question! I'm not sure yet. If that changes I'll be sharing with the class!

Moving on once again!! What could the "good" stuff I mentioned above be exactly? Education.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But are there no. Wizard or witch school on Earth?? I know they ended up opening a fairy school later on, but those aren't the only magic users suddenly learning of the dormant magic in their roots. Let's take the comic character Gregory for example. He learns he's a wizard, he tries to enroll into a wizard school(?) off planet. Nothing inherently wrong with going to a school off planet- The Winx did it too, lots of magic users do it, what is wrong though, is being turned down and having no alternatives. And even worse?? They tell him it's because. There's a darkness in him?? Or something?? I could excuse it slightly more if it was a case of "Oh your magic is dark aligned and this is a light magic school" because wizard canonically are known to be both, right? But aside from the fact that, again, there are no alternatives for him, as far as he knows, telling a newly awakened magic user that he's basically too evil to teach is CRAZY I'm sorry??

Here's where I cutely insert the Wizards of the Black Circle. Have them become the place to go when your magic energy alignment is dark (because it doesn't inherently have to mean evil and they're worthy of education in this essay I) on Earth, or even just. Any magic user who isn't a fairy. Just give them another Terrestrial option, options are always good. I think that'd be really neat.

You might sit here and go "The evil wizards are gonna teach the next generation of wizards? Could history not repeat itself??" Well. Yeah. But are the Terrestrial fairies not teaching their next generation now too? The same fairies who canonically turned on humanity at some point? These are all 'what if' scenarios, I'd just like to think that with proper communication this time around, things will be different and both fairy and wizard get to work towards that together. I'm normal and have slept a reasonable amount.

[fleacollar999]

w-werewolf ideas? -pleading eyes- (but only if ur up for it)

Hello, friend, I am finally here with my treatise on Medieval Werewolves. So this is going to be more like a Brief History of Werewolves as I Can Remember It Off the Top of My Head, Over A Year Since I Read Most of These Sources, than maybe the list of werewolf fucking ideas you might have been looking for. I hope you will agree that this rich history of werewolf lore is a GOLDMINE when you view it with the monster fucking lens. Now, the story I've been working on only has incidental werewolf-fucking, it's not a Monster Fucking story, but I will do my best to help you.

WEREWOLVES ARE REALLY FUCKING OLD. The first recorded "beast-man" is in the Epic of Gilgamesh (~2100 BCE), where Enkidu is a "bull-man" that Gilgamesh helps to find his humanity. Not werewolf specific, per se, but monster fuckers have been around a while. The most famous early werewolf is Lycaon of Arcadia (I believe a date of around 400 BCE), a king who fed Zeus the flesh of his own son cause he thought it would be funny, I guess. Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf, or wolf-man, and that's where the word Lycan comes from. This also establishes a connection of werewolves with cannibalism.

So now I am actually going to fast forward to the Middle Ages. There is a rich, rich history of werewolves in Europe, particularly in the Slavic and Baltic regions. In Renaissance Germany, werewolf trials were held alongside witch trials. The Malleus Maleficarum, written in 1486 and was like *the* handbook for witch hunting, contained passages on identifying and capturing werewolves. (I'm pretty sure. Like I said it's been a year since I read this stuff.) So what did medieval people believe about werewolves?

There were many ways to become a werewolf. You could have the bad luck to be born on Christmas Day or (interestingly) the night of a New Moon. If you drank water that collected in the pawprint of a werewolf, you too would be cursed. If you died and an animal jumped over your corpse? Werewolf. In Livonia, it was said that if you spoke a certain incantation over your drink, you would become a werewolf upon consuming it. There were also ways to be a werewolf were one had more agency in the transformation. A wolf-pelt belt (often called a "wolf-strap", which cracks me up for reasons we won't discuss here) could be used to transform yourself into a wolf. To become human again, all you had to do was remove the belt. Some people believed you could do the same with a wolf skin. There are stories where if a werewolf's clothes are stolen while they're in wolf form, they will remain that way-- you can read about one such story, as recorded by tumblr user @qqueenofhades here! In Elliott O'Donnell's 1912 book simply titled Werewolves, there is a description of a ritual to summon some dark entity called "the Unknown" who could supposedly grant you powers of lycanthropy. Maybe don't do that. (This book also discusses other, non-European forms of Lycanthropy!)

There are ways for a non-lycan person to return a lycan to their human form; one can return their clothes to them, one can call them by their Christian name (sometimes 3 times, sometimes just once). There are accounts of a witness recognizing the werewolf due to some identifiable injury or something, and once they speak the werewolf's name he will turn back into a human.

Some ways to recognize if a person is a werewolf or not: do they have hair growing on their palms? If you cut them, is there hair growing inward from their skin? Are they just so, so hairy? In Swedish tradition, I believe, it was said that werewolves looked just like regular wolves except they had no tail-- so a werewolf would run on three legs, holding his fourth leg out behind him to look like a tail. Some werewolves still have human eyes when transformed.

A lot of the pop culture lore about werewolves comes from the 1941 The Wolf Man, which really brought the werewolf into modern times. You can check that out if you'd like, it's interesting stuff, but not in the scope of the research I've been doing.

OH MY GOD FLEA you just did a HUGE info dump on werewolves, this is not what I wanted. Yeah, I know, but you triggered my special interest gag-reflex.

But like.... Character A loves Character B and finds their clothes one night, takes them to wash, and a big hairy beast starts following Character A???

Character X gets attacked by a bad guy in the woods but a big ass wolf fends him off and gets a slice down his face. The next day Character Y has a nasty facial wound that seems somehow familiar??

The bond of being able to recognize your lover even when they're in animal form, even when you didn't know they could do that????

And I mean MY GOD just apply A/B/O shit to werewolves HELLO (that's what started this whole spiral for me).

I particularly like medieval monster fucking because the Middle Ages are just very interesting to me. There is a lot of political and religious stuff going on, a lot of culture clashing and forbidden fruit and what not. Remember how I said that there is a rich history of werewolves in the Slavic and Baltic regions? Those were the last areas of Europe to get converted to Christianity. And they resisted, HARD.

Livonia, the Baltic area where you could enchant your beer to make you a werewolf, has a famous account of a man on trial for being a werewolf. "Hell yeah I'm a werewolf," he said. "Me and my werewolf buddies go down to Hell three times a year to fight the Devil and his demons." If I recall correctly they weren't sure what to do with this guy because he *confessed* to being a werewolf and hadn't really done anything wrong. I believe there's another Livonian tale of an abandoned castle where all the werewolves gathered once a year. And something about werewolves breaking into your basement and drinking all your beer and stacking all the barrels up to the ceiling just to be little shits I guess?

Anyway, I think this is super interesting and I know this is not like "Medieval Werewolf Headcanons" but just get out your horny goggles and I am SURE you can find some good shit in this WAY TOO LONG POST.

Peace and LOve

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Protecting the Aspen Witch

Hey, sorry this isn't very specific, but I was rereading Protector earlier and wanted to know if you could maybe write more from that universe? Brain's not braining much rn, so I'm afraid that's the most detailed I can be haha. But any h/c from that universe would make me extremely happy. Maybe they actually have a conversation about Virgil's trauma? – anon

Read on Ao3 Masterlist

Warnings: panic attack/dissociation

Pairings: DLAMPR

Word Count: 4798   

 Virgil’s got a simple code when he’s not on a hunt. Don’t hurt whatever you don’t absolutely have to, and odds are, it won’t hurt you. Now and then there’s a bit of an, um, incident where that doesn’t quite work out as well as they’d hoped, but by and large they get by.

On another quest to the Aspen Witch, something goes...a little awry.

Truly, going to see the Aspen Witch isn't the worst quest in the world. In another set of circumstances, he would be grateful for such a well-traveled road, or even just to be able to go somewhere that he knows.

In this world, however, he thinks that the next time someone needs something from the Aspen Witch, he'll tell them to go themselves.

(He won't, he knows he won't, but he likes to imagine for one moment that he might consider it.)

In any case, at least this time he's not bartering for something on behalf of someone else. He's making a delivery on behalf of Elise, a sweet girl in the village who accidentally pissed off the wrong warlock. (See, this is why he'd never actually be able to tell someone else to go, because either he's bartering, which means it's for something that'll help a lot of people, or it's for someone who would definitely be in grave danger if they tried to go alone.) The warlock hadn't taken too kindly to Elise's accidental questioning of their source of magic, even though that wasn't what she was intending at all, and bestowed a powerfully cursed amulet into Elise's possession while she slept. The amulet held a potent attraction charm to coerce Elise into putting it on, and once on, induced paranoia so severe the poor girl's screams could be heard all the way from Virgil's home.

Needless to say, he's taking it far, far away to be destroyed.

He accepted nothing more than a small bag of coin—smaller than his pouch of agrimore dust, the family wasn't exactly in the position to spare a lot of money—and promised Elise to see to it that the amulet never touched her again. Truly it was just a matter of keeping it wrapped in skeldor hide until he reached the Aspen Witch to limit the potency and then, well, then the Aspen Witch would have to know what to do.

Part of him wondered if he would see any of the Five—of course there were five of them and of course they were known by some ridiculous name—when he set off, but there weren't any strange things in his garden, nor did any of them decide to appear when he beds down at the boulder, across the bridge, even when he gets into the valley. No, he manages to make it all the way to the Aspen Witch without running into any of them.

If he were still the adventurer he was years ago, he'd take that as good fortune. If he's going off of what he knows now, he knows enough to be a little wary of their absence.

And if he's being truly honest, something he does try to refrain from outside the safety of the walls of his home, he might be a little disappointed.

He shakes himself out of his thoughts as he approaches the Aspen Witch's grounds. He winces when he stumbles right into the brambles of the crimson thornbushes and feels them tear through his cloak. His fingers almost twitch to his dagger, but then he steels himself. These are the grounds of a magic user, after all, and he would treat them with respect even if he suspected these plants to be totally normal if he decided to slice them open.

With the changing of the seasons, night falls much earlier than it had the last time he ventured this far. The sun is already at the tops of the trees as he approaches the door, several candles already flickering through the windows. He takes a deep breath, takes a moment to check that everything is still where it's supposed to be, and knocks on the door.

"Yes?"

"I am the adventurer known as Virgil. I have come to deal with the Aspen Witch."

"Ah, Virgil! Yes, come in."

He feels something in the door shift and he pushes it open. The bell over the top of the door rings. The Aspen Witch smiles at him from behind her table of treasures; a brickleback spine sits under her hands where she is…obtaining something from it. She sets the tool she's using down with a clink and reaches to pick something up from her side.

"I have prepared for you a drink," she says as Virgil sits, "to ease your burdens."

"I would like to know what is inside it."

"Sunflower nectar, moon blossoms, and honey. It is meant to relax you."

"I recall a similar drink being offered the last time I came."

"You are correct, I offered you a similar drink."

"I would like to know if this one is different than the one you offered last time in any meaningful way."

One of her many rings taps against the edge of the cup. "It has less of the added moon blossoms than the last, which renders it less potent."

Less potent? "I have slaked my thirst at the last waterfall."

Something flickers across her face and she smiles, moving the drink aside. "Another time, then. You are still reeking of curse energy, but this one is different. I would like to know why."

"I have brought you a cursed amulet in the hopes that you would relieve the burden of its intended recipient."

"Show me." Virgil extends the amulet, still wrapped in the hide, and she takes it. She sets it on the table and runs her fingers over the leather strap holding it in place. "This is a fine specimen of hide, Virgil. I would like to know where you obtained it."

"On a past contract."

"I would like you to be more specific."

He says nothing. The Aspen Witch looks at him for a moment longer before she laughs and shakes her head.

"Perhaps another time." She undoes the leather strap carefully and withdraws the amulet. It glistens in the candlelight as she turns it back and forth. "This is a vindictive magic. I would like to know how you came into contact with it."

Is it his imagination, or does the Aspen Witch sound…put out? "The village I live near to. The curse befell a child."

"I would like to know the origins of such a curse, if you would share."

"It is my understanding that the child's intentions behind a question were misunderstood and the magic user sought the consequences they saw fit."

The Aspen Witch's fingers twitch on the chain. She examines the amulet anew and toys with the link near its base. Something darkens in her expression and Virgil tries to keep his hands still. "This was bestowed upon a child, you have said."

"I have said that it was bestowed upon a child."

Her mouth tightens. "I would like to tell you why this is unacceptable."

A chill runs through the cabin. "I would like to ask for clarification on your last statement."

"You may ask."

"I would like to know what it is you find unacceptable: that the child was bestowed a cursed object, that the child was bestowed this cursed object, or that I have said that it was a child to whom it was bestowed."

He must be imagining things because it looks like her expression softens, even the slightest bit. "The second of your list. It is unacceptable that a child was bestowed such a curse. I would like to explain why."

Thank fuck. "I would listen to an explanation."

The Aspen Witch lays the amulet back down on the hide and reaches for something else. She takes a long stick from a drawer and snaps it over the amulet. As the pieces of it start to drift down, they take on different colors and hover in the air.

"Curses have three main derivations," she says as she does so, "either they affect the accursed's mind, their body, or their soul. Mind curses are difficult to break as they require some level of consent from the accursed. Body curses are the most varied but are not that difficult to break, especially if they are familiar with the curse itself."

They look down to see the particles have turned a vivid bloody red. The Aspen Witch's nails scrape against the table.

"Soul curses are vile things," she spits with more emotion than Virgil has ever seen or heard from her, "and they can erase a person if they are not done with extreme skill."

Virgil's mouth runs dry. "I…would like to know what you mean by 'erase.'"

"No," the Aspen Witch says lowly, "you do not."

Alright, no, I do not. That's good enough for me.

With a flick of her wrist, she disperses the particles and wraps the amulet back in the hide. She takes a deep breath and steadies herself—what the fuck has Virgil walked into if the Aspen Witch has to steady herself?—before she looks at him again.

"I would like to know what you intend to provide as payment."

"I recall you mentioning the value of curse energy upon our last visit."

"You would offer the energy of this curse as the payment for removing it."

"I would offer the energy of the curse as payment for its removal."

The Aspen Witch looks at him for a moment longer before she nods and stands, retrieving the amulet from within the hide and sliding the hide over for Virgil to take. "I accept this payment."

He takes the hide silently and puts it back in his pack, watching as she walks over to another table. She places the amulet in a pestle and takes various jars down from the shelf above. He watches as she sprinkles things over the amulet and soft motes of light begin to emerge as she murmurs under her breath. When the glow is strong enough to rival one of the candles, she takes the mortar and brings it down.

Three things happen at once.

First, he sees pieces of the amulet shatter, ricocheting hard enough to dig grooves into the walls of the house.

Second, there is an overwhelmingly loud boom.

Third, something crackles outside and the whole building shakes.

The Aspen Witch's head whips around, staring not at Virgil but over his shoulder in the direction of the door. The mortar falls from her hands as she narrows her eyes. Virgil holds his hands up slowly, indicating that he's not about to do shit right now, and he carefully turns to look over his shoulder.

The door is still intact, but something in his instincts prickles along the back of his neck. He looks back.

"I would like to know what that was," he says as quietly as he can.

"Yes," the Aspen Witch says as she begins to walk over, "so would I."

Great, magic stuff happening that the magic user doesn't know. This is just great.

She passes him in the chair and opens the door, leaving it wide enough for Virgil to peer over her shoulder. He stands, very slowly, and tries to angle himself so he can see what's going on.

Another magic user—he's assuming, after what just happened, but he thinks it's a pretty safe guess—stands in the center of the plot of grass in front of the house. A sigil is burned and seared into the ground, and he winces.

This isn't going to go well.

"You are trespassing," the Aspen Witch says with her words full of ice and fuck it, Virgil's ready to run, "you will cease to do so."

"You destroyed something of mine," the warlock says, extending a hand, "that gives me the right to see it reversed."

"You are the foolish one who sought a soul curse upon a child?"

"I sought what was due to me for such a slight," they spit back, "as well should you know that we aren't to be questioned. And how did you hear about this, is it from the thick-headed bull that leers over your shoulder?"

Virgil's just about to edge his way out of this conversation, thank you very much, when the Aspen Witch's hand, the one behind her back, twitches.

"You will not speak of him like that."

What's going on?

"Why not? He's an adventurer, isn't he?" The warlock laughs, high and cruel and Virgil needs to get a hold of himself before something bad happens. "They're all the same, big and dumb and grunting animals that only care about coin and stopping magic users."

The words strike a chord in his chest and he tries not to let the hurt show to obviously on his face.

"Is he your pet?" The warlock's smile turns into lascivious. "Did I interrupt you in the midst of something? You of all people should understand, then, is it any harm that I wanted to make one for myse—"

The warlock doesn't get to finish their sentence as the Aspen Witch's hand flies out and a mass of thorns erupts from the earth, ensnaring them in a tangled web of crawling plant life. Virgil's hand lands on the hilt of his sword and he just as quickly wrests it away. He's not looking to make himself a target in this after all.

"Touchy," the warlock laughs—take a fucking hint, just get out while you still can— "did he tell you about that cute little thing in the village, then? Has the great Aspen Witch gone soft?"

"You are welcome to test that assumption at your earliest convenience."

Don't fucking test it. Get the fuck out. Be smart for twenty consecutive seconds and fucking run, you idiot.

The warlock doesn't. Instead, they start on about some great speech and self-aggrandizing, but Virgil sees one of their hands make a somatic component and he doesn't think.

Truly, it might be him that's gone soft. There was a time where he would already be gone, or tucked away inside out of sight. There was certainly a time where if two magic users starting casting on each other, he would not be anywhere near it.

But, he can only be who he is, no more and no less. So when he sees the component taking shape, he moves on instinct to shove the Aspen Witch out of the way and get his gauntlet up to take the full force of the spell.

The world goes black.

***

    "—il! Virgil!"

Distantly, he registers the sound of a voice. The air crackles.

"Virgil! I would—oh, hells."

Something is dragging him. His head bumps something. He's hauled up and propped against something—a wall?

"Virgil," the voice says again, he knows that voice, "Virgil, open your eyes."

He does, only for blurry things to swim in front of him. He closes them again.

"Virgil." He definitely knows that voice. "Virgil, you must open your eyes."

He tries again, blinking a few times. The first thing to come into focus is the candle on the table closest to him. The second is the hand on his shoulder, laden with rings. Only when he traces the hand to the arm up to the head does he realize who was speaking to him.

"There," the Aspen Witch says in a rush, "there. That is better."

All at once, the memories of what happened flood his brain. The amulet. The warlock. The somatic component. The spell—

Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. He interfered with a magic battle. He took a spell meant for the Aspen Witch. He touched the Aspen Witch without permission, he shoved her out of the way, he—he—

"Stay," he hears as two hands land on the sides of his neck, "do not go where I cannot find you, stay here."

He blinks. The Aspen Witch is closer now, her eyes scanning his face. He swallows.

"Don't speak," she says when he opens his mouth, reaching and pressing something warm into his hand, "drink first."

I would like to know what is in it, he tries to say, but all that leaves his throat is a ruined gasp.

"It is the same drink I offered you before," she says, as though she could hear him—can she?— "it is unchanged. It is to help you relax. Drink."

He's already risked too much to afford to say no. He raises the drink to his lips and takes the smallest of sips. The warm, sweet liquid is like a balm to his sore throat and he takes another sip right away. The Aspen Witch watches him closely, one hand still on his shoulder.

"I…" He swallows, testing his voice. "I am…grateful for the drink."

"I am relieved to hear it helped." She cups his hand around it. "I will provide more should you wish it."

"Are you—I would like to know if you're—" he coughs— "if you're alright."

Her expression twitches and he knows he doesn't fully suppress his flinch, not with her this close, not with her looking at him like that. "You took a spell that was meant for me. You saved me. You defended me. And you have been hurt because of it."

Her hand moves slowly from his shoulder to his cheek.

"I…do not know what to do," she confesses softly, "we did not agree on payment."

"I do not require payment," he says as quickly as his throat will let him, "I did not—you don't—this is not an act that would require payment. You do not—I would—fuck."

He isn't lucid enough to do this. He can't do the careful and wary conversation that he has to right now, he can't—he can't—

"I will not bind your tongue," the Aspen Witch says, her hand still gentle on his face, "you…if you wish, you can speak."

No, he can't. He can't because he'll fuck it up and then—then—

Her hand leaves his face. "I will call the Five."

"No!"

Everything freezes.

He just told the Aspen Witch what to do. He just told the Aspen Witch no. He just—he just—oh, fuck—

"I mean—I m-mean—"

"I am not angry," she says, "I…you do not need to be so afraid. I will not harm you. I would like to know why you do not want your sweet ones to come and help you."

"I—my what?"

"Your sweet ones. The ones who care for you and whom you care for." She tilts her head, hair falling to one shoulder. "You do not wish for them to come, and I am curious."

"They're a lot," he manages and she laughs.

"Yes, they are. But they know you. They would help you."

"They're—" he takes another drink and feels his tongue relax. "All of this has happened because another magic user intruded on your grounds."

"These would be invited, and they would be to help you. I could bear no ill tidings against them, not when you are in need of assistance I cannot provide." At his face, her smile saddens. "You are afraid, and I cannot help you, for you are afraid of me too."

…well, there's really not much he can say to that.

"I will call them," she says carefully, so carefully it's almost a question, and he nods. She nods as well and stands. "If you would like more drink, I would wish for you to say."

Less than a few moments later, after she's gone to a table out of sight, he hears Roman's voice.

"Aspen Witch," and oh, fuck, he never thought he'd be so relieved to hear one of them, "you have called us."

"Come," she calls, walking toward the door and opening it, "your sweet one is hurting."

He blinks and in an instant, Roman is there, cupping his face, looking all worried and he can't stop the tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Roman sees them, because of course he does, and then he's cooing and leaning forward to kiss his forehead.

"Oh, baby," he whispers, "baby, what happened?"

"What happened," he hears Logan ask at the same time, "is he alright?"

"He came to me with a cursed object and asked for its removal. As I destroyed it, the warlock responsible appeared and attempted to wrest it back. He…jumped in the way of the spell."

He hears a flutter of fabric and looks up to see both Janus and Remus at the table where the amulet was destroyed. Remus curses and Janus hits the table and the noise bounces around his head—

"Shh, shh," Roman murmurs, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, "eyes on me, baby, stay with me. There you are, with your pretty eyes, shh, that's it, you're doing very well."

"What sort of spell," he hears Patton ask, "is it still there?"

"I banished it as soon as the warlock was dealt with. He—there should be no lingering effects. I do not understand."

"Mortal minds are fragile," Logan says softly, "and Virgil has been an adventurer for many years. He has encountered a great number of things, magical or otherwise, and it would be unreasonable to assume that they have not left their marks."

"Baby," Roman calls again, and Virgil looks back at him, "hey, there he is. The others are just trying to figure out what's going on, but you and I are gonna take care of you first, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, I just want you to keep looking at me, okay? All I'm gonna do is touch you, okay? No magic, no casting, just touch." His fingers start to card through his hair and Virgil immediately feels his eyes get heavy. "You can close your eyes if you need to, just lean against me, I've got you, I'm right here."

The adrenaline from everything finally starts to wear off and Virgil feels his body decide to give in. He sags forward into Roman's waiting embrace, eyes falling shut as Roman starts to murmur sweet nonsense. After another moment, he hears Patton come over too and another hand scratches lightly between his shoulder blades. He nearly whimpers from sheer relief before he remembers that he's not at home, he's in the Aspen Witch's house, and the Aspen Witch herself is less than a few feet away.

He wrenches himself back awake, looking up at her, and to his surprise, she looks…upset? He glances at Logan, just to her left, and Logan simply smiles.

"Hello," he says softly, "are you alright?"

"I think so."

"Good, that's very good. You jumped in front of a spell and you didn't know what it was?"

"Wait," Roman says, "you did what?"

He sets his jaw and looks at the ground. Patton shoots a look at the two of them. "Don't scold him, can't you see he's already upset? Don't make it worse."

"Sorry, baby," Roman murmurs, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "I'm not mad."

"Neither am I," Logan says, "but I am…confused."

"You shouldn't be," Janus says, finally moving away from the table, "he's Virgil, of course he jumped in front of the spell."

Well, that's not helping anything either. He feels his face start to burn and tries to pull away from Roman, but he's held fast. He swallows the instinctive wave of panic and buries his face in the crook of his shoulder.

"Aww, are you embarrassed?"

"You are making things worse," the Aspen Witch says, a bite to her tone, "I called you to help, not to hurt."

"We won't tease," Roman promises, both to her and to Virgil, "we're finished, you have my word."

Did…did the Aspen Witch just defend him? What in the fuck is going on? He risks a look at her and their eyes meet and something…something feels wrong.

"Virgil?" Patton's hand stills on his back. "What's wrong?"

"I am…also confused."

"What about?"

There's no polite way to say this and no, he isn't going to risk it right now, so he just looks from Patton back to the Aspen Witch and hopes that somehow, they'll get the gist of what he's trying to say. Sure enough, it takes Patton one look between the two of them before he's smiling.

"Oh, she's just jealous."

"What?"

"I would ask that you don't speak for me," she hisses but she sounds far more like Elise than the Aspen Witch.

"Tell him yourself, then."

The Aspen Witch scowls at him for a moment before she sighs and looks at Virgil. Her mouth twists around as if searching for the words before she sighs again.

"Your etiquette for magic users is exemplary," she says, "and you…for all that we have interacted, I do not know much about you."

She gestures around.

"The Five have your trust, they have your words. They…have not known you for as long as I have."

Oh.

Oh.

"I can't help you," she continues, "I…am upset by this. I would—I—"

She closes her eyes for a long moment and then opens them once more.

"I want to help you, Virgil, I want you to let me help you."

He likes to think that on a normal day, perhaps he wouldn't be doing something like this, but this isn't a normal day, and he's already broken that glass. So he reaches out a hand to the Aspen Witch, and when she takes it, he uses it to pull her a little bit closer.

She comes and crouches next to Patton, holding his hand as though it were the most precious thing in the house. He's not quite sure what to do with that.

"Are you alright?"

She nods. "I am alright."

"I liked the drink."

"I am glad. I will offer it to you again."

"I will accept it."

"Listen to you both," Remus snorts, and Janus whacks him upside the head. "Ow!"

"Ignore him, you're both doing wonderfully. Carry on, pretend we aren't here."

And you know, that's a bit too much for him to deal with right now. So when he feels the tug in his gut to start feeling things again, he closes his eyes and goes limp in Roman's hold, letting tears spill from his face. The Aspen Witch jerks in alarm but Patton must be saying something to the effect of this is normal, he's just overwhelmed, you gotta let him be a crybaby sometimes, but he's not paying attention because he's too goddamn tired.

Distantly, he registers Roman stroking his hair again, Patton's hand on his back, and the Aspen Witch beginning to squeeze his hand every few seconds, but with the apprehension of someone who's never pet a horse before trying to interact in a way that won't upset either of them. It's quite a surreal experience, really, and he thinks he can be forgiven for not wholly understanding what's going on.

A lot's happened today, and it's late. He should be asleep.

"He is hurt," the Aspen Witch says and everybody wakes up a bit at that, "let me help him."

"What's wrong?"

"The thorns have hurt him on his way through. I have a salve for them."

"Virgil," Logan asks, "is that okay? Can we help?"

He mumbles a vague agreement and he hears Janus laugh. "Poor thing's all sleepy. He needs a rest, is there somewhere we can tend to him?"

"Upstairs, there is a bed."

"Can I carry you, baby?" Virgil nods and Roman lifts him up almost effortlessly. "There, come on, upstairs, now."

As they pass the table, he forces himself to rouse and look to find the Aspen Witch. "The amulet—the child—"

"The child will suffer no more, the curse is gone." She puts her hand on his shoulder. "Now rest. Mortals are fragile, you must allow yourself to be cared for."

"He's not very good at that," Remus stage-whispers and Janus hits him again. "Hey! Stop it!"

"Stop being an insufferable ham sack, then."

"He's right," Virgil mumbles as he's put down on a bed, "I'm really not great at it."

"You're getting better," Logan says, sitting near his head, "now, you can try and sleep. No harm will come to you, you're safe here."

He looks over at the Aspen Witch, holding a tin of salve and a soft towel. She smiles and nods. "No harm will ever come to you under my roof, Virgil. I will see to it that you are safe."

"I…am grateful for that."

"As am I."

Not how he saw the quest ending, of course, but indeed, far from the worst quest in the world.

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[twstedpometea]

Addressing the "No Harassment" rule people are still breaking.

Hello everyone it's been about 5 months since I last posted anything Ugigiugi-related. However, I was recently messaged over something I still have to address because some of yall ain't listening to what many of us have been saying since this Ugigiugi drama began. This will be a long post.

There has always been a rule of "No harassing" people about the Ugigiugi situation.

This rule has always extended to people who do not want to see/hear the drama in the Twst fandom but also to people who used to/currently follow Ugigiugi. Anyone who's followed my blog knows I've already had to talk about harassment/spamming before but it seems no matter what people keep breaking this rule.

I was recently messaged that one (former) follower of Ugigiugi was being harassed. This same person who messaged me is someone who has helped save/sent us some of Ugi's now hidden art and given us some art sources since the drama unfolded. They have already explained to me that they only follow Ugigiugi on DA now for the sake of keeping an eye on her activity and nothing else.

Now I'm aware there are several reasons people still follow Ugigiugi on DA. I know some people follow her by watching her profile. Others use tabs/HTML links to said profile and so on. Whatever reason doesn't matter people follow people for different reasons. That being said once again I am still seeing this type of harassment going on and it needs to be addressed. I was sent these screenshots and have permission to post these by the person being harassed.

So first off. This is STILL harassment. I'll keep saying it till the cows come home. Harassment of any type is against what a lot of us here have been saying to not do. Secondly, Let me correct people here on something. A watch doesn't equal a "boost" or supporting number on a profile. DeviantArt doesn't work the same way Tumblr or Twitter works when it comes to boosting a profile to the "popular" side of a Social media page. Engagement/activity/views on art pieces are what boost the algorithm. (More so you have to be breaking BIG NUMBERS to get your profile on the front page) That being said? Ugigiugi's numbers have dropped since she was exposed. She used to be pretty close to 600 watchers. She's now down to 315. So if anything she's lost half of her numbers, and with her no longer posting on DA she's lost traction as of this time. Thirdly, it's juvenile to be going after Ugigiugi's "watchers". At that point, you're just looking to start a witch hunt for people. Ironically, you're also going after the people who have been helping me and others since the drama unfolded. I need people here to stop going after people like this. You shouldn't be harassing anyone. It doesn't even matter if they're a watcher/or a fan of Ugigiugi or someone who might be helping keep an eye on her. We've stated time and time again, to not be harassing anyone. PERIOD! I'm going to go ahead and say this if anyone is getting harassed about the Ugigiugi stuff please just go ahead and block or report them. I'm getting very tired of having to repeat the rules because people are looking to use their "ugi hate" on someone. As for whoever this Cerulea--blue person? I don't know if they are a user here or if their under a different name on Tumblr but if you see this post? Kindly, stop. If you have so much energy to be doing something then go source Ugigiugi's traced art (there are still plenty of unsourced pieces) or something more productive than harassing people. You are literally not helping no one at all and you are just breaking the rules and boundaries a lot of people have been set about this drama. -TwstedPomeTea

[g-witchsulettaneedsahug]

Been wanting to scream about this for a while now, figured now is a good as ever time to do so.

So Gundam: Witch From Mercury really leans heavily into the whole witches and witchcraft theme, which is interesting for a sci-fi show. Not to say that they don't do it gloriously tho and in this post I will be pointing towards some of the symbolism that I noticed in the show.

The series starts with the first witch we see inside a Gundam Mobile Suit, none other then our dearest Elnora Samaya, also now known as Prospera Mercury. During the prologue, before anything else, we see her and once she exists the dark of the cockpit its revealed that she has fiery, blood red hair.

(Source: prologue G-witch)

Historically, witchcraft has been associated with red heads because of the many prejeduces against them. Red heads are a minority who have been associated with a lot interesting figure, from Judas who betrayed Jesus to the depictions of Lilith. This has given redheads a negative connotations in the Western World.

Next we see that the head researcher leading this project on GUND-format is also a woman, an older woman at that. Dr Cardo Nabo is the visionary leading this project, dedicated to the cause of making the GUND-format work in conjunction with humanity, in order to improve their lives and perserve their future. She knows that humanity, if it wishes to expand further into space and continuenits next steps into exploration and living outside of Earth, will need technology in order to aid their bodies in order to survive and thrive.

Older women involved in a form of medicine is an other motif in witchcraft and witch stereotypes. Witches were often involved in medicine and care. Cardo is the italian way of refering to a thistle, a purple green prickly flower that was said tp have medicinal properties in the middle ages.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

During this prologue and later in the show it is revealed that the reason why the Vanadis Institute, of which Dr. Nabo was the head of, was doing resesrch into the GUND-format in conjunction with Mobile Suits because that was the primary way to get access to money for further research. Military funding through Ochs-Earth, an Earthian military company, would allow the Institute to further their goals and to show the viability of the GUND-format.

However, they encountered difficulties during their research. Mobile Suits are far larger and more difficult to control then prostethic limbs. The higher the permet score used by an individual to control more of the suit, the more the chance of death grows. Anything higher then score 3 caused deaths to the user because of, presumably, a data overload caused by the Permet link.

This caused a lot of ethical debates and strife, presumably, where the GUND-format was cast into a dangerous and even inhuman light because of its potential to not just kill others but also the users themselves. This led to the eventual forceful suspension of the project by the council, during which Cathedra used the Dominicus Forces to attack and kill all those present on Fólkvangr, the asteroid where the Vanadis Institute was located. Those present on Fólkvangr were both staff of the institute as well as their family. Everyone who was involved or related to the development of the GUND-format were killed in what is essentially a witch hunt.

Fólkvangr is an other reference to witchcraft, as in Norse Mythology this is a heavenly field in the afterlife ruled over by Freyja, a goddess of many things including magic (to see and influence the future). An other name for Freyja is Vanadís. Once again, this is a reference to paganism and witchcraft within the G-Witch universe thats quite obvious. Ochs also may or may not be a reference to the Old English word for "Oak" (not too sure about that one), if this is indeed true then this may be a reference to Thor, god of Thunder and Lightening as well as a warrior. I considered connecting oaks to Yggdrasil, the world tree, but that is an Ash tree, not an oak.

During the discussion in which the Mobile Suit council werebdeciding the fate of further development of Gundam Mobile Suits, Delling came forth and said that they had to "Wield the hammer of witches" in order to put a stop to the development of Gundams. The "hammer of the witches" is a reference to the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century guide on hunting and persecuting witches.

During his speech at the conference, he also calls the fact that gundams kill not only other soldiers but also their wielders a curse, once again a reference to witches. Prior to saying this he also says however that humans should kill humans, instead of humans being killed by just technology (really simplifying this) but essentially what he is saying is that the Gundams killing their wielders is unnatural and goes against the normal way of things.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

The irony of this is also the name of these organisations. Cathedra is a literal reference to the throne upon which a bishop sits, Dominicus means "of the Lord/Lord's". Both are a reference towards christianity and its opposition to both withcraft and paganism.

Now we have established whom exactly this show calls "Witches", these are the people involved in the manufacturing, research, development and piloting of the GUND-format and Mobile Suits using said format, be it for medicinal or war uses. If you are associated or sympathize with the use of this technology, you are considered "a witch".

Putting this into context, we can now also look at the name "Witch From Mercury". Who does this refer to? I've seen people argue that this might be Aerial or Prospera, but I sincerely disagree. As of the knowledge we have come to learn of in both the short novel as well as everything from episode 16/season 2 episode 4 onwards, we can assume that Suletta was the only one actually raised on Mercury and who feels any connection to the planet at all. Suletta, as both a pilot of a Mobile Suit using the GUND-format as well as the daughter of a witch (Elnora/Prospera), is a witch.

(Source: G-witch teaser announcement)

Now onto my FAVOURITE part: the 2nd ED Red Birthmark. Oh boi this baby has some of the more blatant witch references, I absolutely love it ngl. Starting with the name itself, historically one of the methods to hunt for witches was to check for birthmarks/skin marks. Having strange birthmarkings or an insensitive patch of skin was basically proof enough of you being a witch, again a part of the witch hunt theme.

The song, which I am convinced is from Miorine's perspective (tho maybe/perhaps Aerial, tho thats a small maybe), makes references to seeing into the future, not liking whats in it and changing destiny yourself. Once again, these are themes of clairvoyance, the sort of magic Freyja is associated with (aka Vanadís). Witches were often said to be able to look into the future and change things as well.

Next we have the visual parts if the ED. I'm sure we all ate utterly in love with.

From 0:44 to 1:00 we have this beautiful sequence of Suletta dancing and conducting GUN-bits.

First Suletta creates a stylized version of the Triple Goddess Symbol, a well known pagan icon amongst both witchcraft practitioners as well as wiccans. The symbol contains 3 moons in different phases; waxing, full and waning. The symbol represents the 3 phases of the goddess; the maiden, the mother and the crone. This is both the life lifecycle of a girl as well as the eay that wisdom is often bestowed upon a person, from the elderly to the adults to the children. You could even argue that this could represent Dr. Nabo, Elnora/Prospera and Suletta.

(Source: G-witch 2nd ED)

Following this we have 5 Suletta's dancing together in which one can assume is a circle dance. Circle dances bave historically been associated with both witches, pagans and cultists. Something ritualistic.

Anyway I'm tired now but there are like way more witchcraft references in the whole show that I can't get into right now cause I'm tired lmao. Anyway have fun with the above, peace.

[cyphyra]

oh yeah so on serious topics-- ive seen a lot of witch hunting for certain users on this site, some of whom i've interacted with extremely briefly in passing. these users were known to be exceedingly problematic in previous years, which obviously fucking sucks

the disconnect i keep seeing is, when is holding them accountable finished? when does making them feel the weight of their actions turn from justice to doing something similar to what they were doing?

hold people accountable. yes. but don't fucking hang it over their heads for years and years, especially if they've made a substantial effort to change. villifying people who did bad in the past does nothing but hurt them when they're trying to be better, especially if they've done what they can to apologize and make it up to anyone hurt by their actions

if it comes out years after they said they've changed that they just kept doing shit behind closed doors, hold them accountable again. it's literally that simple.

of course this varies between who it's applicable to, i believe that people who have actively changed others' lives irreversibly shouldn't be held to this same kind of grace, and should still be scrutinized, but constantly trying to run people off the internet for having wronged others is a literal exercise in futility

[greetingfromthedead]

Magic!AU Mortal Companion (Vash x GN!Reader)

Plot: In a world of magic, there are those who shun it and a magic user will do what they have to to stay safe and undetected.

Series: Oneshot

Pairing: Vash x GN!Reader

Raiting: Everyone

Tags: comedy, no use of "y/n", a touch of angst, cozy, old age, magical world, magic users, immortality, denied feelings, caretaking, some fluff

Word count: 1.6k

Author's Note: A double upload from sooty cause the bunnies are on the loose. Got inspired by a prompt on Reddit.

As the rain pours down behind the window, Vash rocks gently in his chair and watches the fire dance in the hearth. Evenings like these make him nostalgic, and his mind drifts to memories of the days you saved his life. You found him in the forest, wounded and alone, and nursed him back to health. First, you had to painstakingly drag him home, of course. He had barely gotten away from the king's witch hunters, who didn't take mercy on mages either. Vash had caught the attention of the king, who intended to employ him instead of dishing out the usual punishment. But Vash knew too well what that meant. Mages like him were gathered up and sent to exterminate all kinds of magical creatures that could pose harm to the kingdom, like dragons and basilisks, or to hunt down rare animals for their medicinal use, like unicorns and fairies. Some of the more twisted mages, or perhaps those most afraid, even turned on their own kind, dragging out other magic users to be put to death. It was a dark and dangerous time for his kind in the kingdom.

That faithful day had been a while ago. 64 years, to be exact. He still remembered it vividly, as if it had happened just yesterday. For his long life, it might as well have been yesterday—nothing more than the blink of an eye in his millennia of existence. He had grown so tired of running, hiding, and living a nomadic life, so he welcomed your invitation to stay with open arms. You had your little farm and were glad for his help once he got back on his feet again. Vash enjoyed this change of pace and a peaceful, domestic life. He felt happy, and a few years down the road, you two got married. There was no love; it was a marriage of convenience, just to keep the tongues from wagging and to not draw attention. And it worked. You two got to live in harmony; nobody came looking for Vash, and he got to thank you for saving him by making your life a touch easier.

To match your aging, he secretly brewed potions to change his appearance too. He kept his herbs and ingredients hidden in a secret stump within the forest behind your house. Over the years, he thought about coming clean to you about his nature a few times, but he realized he had dug his grave already. It was too late to admit to keeping such a secret from you for so long. For humans, decades aren't just fleeting moments. And he didn't want to put his loyal partner in danger either by knowing such a secret. Perhaps you would have chased him away or even given him out to the king. No, that last part isn't true, but he cares enough for you to keep his secret to himself.

Vash's heart grows more weary with each year. The wrinkles on your face have become deeper, your hair has turned pure silver, your movements have become slower, and everything seems to take more effort than before. He has slipped some potions into your tea in hopes of lessening your aches and pains, but he doesn't talk about it. He is much the same. The magic he uses to turn himself into an old man changes everything about him but his mind.

Vash looks over to you, reading a book, your glasses slipping down your nose. He smiles softly as he observes the way you furrow your brow in concentration and how your wrinkly fingers glide over the page. You didn't get married for love, but he can't deny that he has grown to care deeply for you, even if he doesn't say it out loud. You have never shown him any more affection than on the day you saved him from the forest, and he does wonder if you view him more like a piece of furniture at this point. He doesn't mind, though. He has just grown a little attached to you; that's it, really. How could an immortal fall in love with a mortal? It doesn't make sense and will bring nothing but sorrow and regret. Still, the thought of what the years are doing to you breaks his heart. He knows your time must be near, despite your sharp mind and vibrant smile. No potion can change that.

He will stick by you till the end and then move on. The world has become a slightly safer place, and magic users aren't being shunned and put to death any longer. He will go out into the world and pay forth the kindness you showed him. He will go and help people, curing illnesses that obey his magic and using his powers to bring light and hope to those in need. But for now, he will take care of you.

The thought feels bittersweet in his chest as he knows your time to depart is drawing near. You have been a good friend to him, and while he does everything he can to not admit it to himself, in another life you might have been something a lot more. If he could have been selfish, he would have fallen in love. If he were mortal, he would have gladly been head over heels for you. But alas, he will live on, his youth returning to him as soon as he takes the antidote to his potions, and you will rot in the earth.

Darling, when will it be your time?

When will this old fart kick the bucket?! You think to yourself as you feel his gaze on you. He still has the same soft gaze he had all those years ago. He became your husband shortly after you found him bleeding in the forest. Everything about his appearance in your life was very convenient to you, except that you had to drag him to your house without the use of magic, as he was fully conscious. He provided a great cover for you as you hid from the witch hunters. The typical profile for a magic user, especially for witches, is that they live nomadic lives, have a close tie to nature, especially forests, and usually don't settle anywhere obvious. In an attempt to not get spotted, you did all you could to not fit the stereotype. You settled in a village with many other people; you have your own home; you try to be social; and you attempted to live a regular life. It was great luck that you found someone willing to share your house and even to become your husband, hopefully throwing any and all attempts by the king to put you to death off course.

Things started to get a whole lot more complicated a few decades after you set up your perfect disguise. At first, it was your annoyance with aging; you had to pretend to be a regular human, and that included getting old. But the creaking knees and sore back were new to someone blessed with eternal youth. And you did not enjoy the experience. Soon after, the old king died and, in his stead, ruled his son, who turned out to be a man of the new age. He forbade the hunting of magical creatures and disbanded the witch hunters; all magic users were welcome to live life out in the open. You thought about abandoning all you have here to go out into the world again, this time without fear of persecution. But you had your husband. You didn't hold love for him in your heart; he was just a convenient cover for you, yet he didn't know your secret. It didn't feel fair to turn his life upside down when he had done nothing wrong. He has always been a very kind man and you couldn't bear to hurt him. A strange friendship had formed over the years, but it was clear that it could never progress beyond that. He is mortal, and you would have to carry the pain of grief over his short life for millennia to come.

So here you are, sitting in front of the fire with a body so unsuitably old, waiting for your husband to die. What a life! For the last few decades, you have slipped herbs into the fire warming your house and spiked his drinks with medicine to make old age as bearable for him as possible. You choose to think of him with a hint of distaste, often asking the straightforward question of when he will die. You don't show it to him; you don't know how he thinks of you, but you try your hardest not to let the affection bloom within you. It wouldn't be fair to anyone, and you've felt enough grief and pain already. You've had enough. If only he were a witch or mage—anything magical graced with a life that can only be cut short by a silver blade. You would have loved to share your life with someone as kind and funny as him without having to hold back your racing heart. But alas, he is just a mortal. And perhaps it's for the best. He has always liked people; he's the life of a party; his compassion knows no bounds. He would never have survived the witch hunters. He would have hated to be pushed into a secluded life like most of your kind.

You lift your eyes from the book you've read a hundred times already; your fingers have been tracing the words you cite from memory. You look over at Vash, and you return his soft smile.

Darling, when will it be your time?

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